Day 24: Whatever Tickles Your Fancy

Today is going to be all about the wedding. With the five month mark only a couple days away, I'm starting to get a little stressed out. I feel like there is so much to do with almost no time to do it all!

First on my list of annoyances, I can't seem to get my last bridesmaid to order her dress. She, too, seems to have disappeared. Since the latest we can order them is December 14th, I'm starting to freak out a little. I don't want to turn into "that bride" but I'm thinking I might just have to call her and tell her to order it now...

Now to the flowers... For as long as I can remember, I've wanted simple centerpieces with simple bouquets. Now, I'm starting to think that this might not be the right way to go. I had originally told my florist that I wanted small centerpieces of rose.the more I think about our reception, the more I think that this is a bad idea. The room is extremely tall and there is a gorgeous fountain in the background that would make short centerpieces look... Well, odd. So I'm think maybe birds of paradise would work better....It would also mean that I would have to change all of my bouquets and boutonnieres, but I think that t would end up looking better. I've yet to talk to my florist about the change, I'm going to email her today, so I don't even know if its a feasible project. But I'm thinking maybe something like this:

My bouquet would look something like this, just not as much... stuff in it

Bridesmaid bouquet

Groom and groomsmen boutonniere

Another idea for the bouquets that I really like

And the centerpieces

I'm hoping she'll tell me that it would be totally fine and we can do it for less (which wont happen, I know that already), but I'm not holding my breath on it. I just think that it would add a lot more to the space... The only thing stopping us now is that little thing called money...

Holy Crap

So we now have less than five and a half months to go. Wow. I feel like that's so close and there is still so much to do! And with the little bumps that come along with planning a wedding, it seems to be a lot of stress that I was not anticipating...

We're having issues with our caterer, problems that are out of our control, and if it isn't resolved soon I might go crazy. And since I work for the building and get all of the little details, I think that's making that issue even worse... As soon as its all worked out, I'll be sure to let everyone in on the madness and stress that I've been dealing with for the past three months. I have threatened my boss that if he doesn't get it all worked out soon, I may have to use his credit card to get a caterer. Because at this point, there is no way I could find a new venue. And even if I could, our invitations are made, hotels are blocked... It just isn't a feasible thing to do.

We were able to get out all of our Save the Dates on Monday, what a relief!! If you're one of Austin's friends and haven't received it yet, wait a couple days and then feel free to let me know and I'll make sure he gave me the right address. Or just wait until you get the invitation since the Save the Date isn't nearly as important. Because without your correct address, we wont be able to send you an invitation and I know everyone is just as anxious and excited as I am! No? Well, I'm excited. And a little nervous. And Austin is getting there.

I also met with a friend of Austin's mom, Beverly, who has graciously offered her services as a decorator to help us with the ceremony and the reception. After meeting with her, I realized how much I hadn't thought about. Like who is going to be downstairs to greet the guests in the lobby? How is the ceremony going to be set up? Who is going to usher guests to their seats, the groomsmen or ushers? Do we want ushers? What decor are we going to use for the ceremony? Do we want engagement pictures set up outside of the ceremony? Bridal portraits in the reception? Where will the quartet go? Oh, the list goes on... Hopefully with a little help from Gloria, our event coordinator, and Beverly things will get worked out soon.

And hopefully I don't drive Austin too crazy with my obsession of all of the little details.

Florist check!!

We are finally able to cross our florist off!I received our quote from Luisa with Amici Events and all of the wedding party flowers that we need will come in under budget! Luisa has also been able not only been able to create a quote for all of the boutonnieres and bouquets, but the centerpieces as well! After two and a half months of searching for a florist and finding nothing that would work, I had almost given up all hope of ever finding a florist.

Could we have a florist?

Austin and I met with Luisa from Amici Events on Saturday to discuss our floral arrangements. I am very pleased to say that, for the first time, I feel like the meeting with a potential florist went well!

Every florist I've met with thus far has given me the impression that they are not really interested in our business. I understand that we don't plan on spending a lot for a florist and some companies don't really want to devote a lot of time for a smaller wedding when they could be devoting that time to a couple that plans on having flowers everywhere, but I still feel like I should have gotten a better impression than I have from the five I had met with before Luisa. Out of the five florists I had met with, I only received a quote from one. And I have been meeting with them for about a month. Maybe its our low budget, maybe its the fact that we're a fairly young couple, maybe its the fact that I had only wanted to have bouquets and they didn't feel it was worth their time and effort, but whatever the reason, florists have been nothing but a headache.

That is, until we met with Luisa.

Austin came along for this meeting because he has started to get more involved in the planning process and he has been a huge help. I had a list of questions to ask her, printouts of what I would have liked for the bouquets and boutonnieres and a picture of the suit the groomsmen would be wearing. We talked with Luisa for about an hour and, not only was she incredibly nice, she was very well informed. She knew that we didn't want to spend a lot on the flowers, but was still excited to be a part of this big day. We also started to talk about centerpieces and she was willing to create a separate quote that included centerpieces. If Luisa can come up with centerpieces for $15-20 per table, it might be something we consider. Luisa understood that we don't want anything large or too tall, but small and simple. We're both keeping our fingers crossed that she can come up with something that will work. If Luisa can work out centerpieces for us at the price we asked, it would be comparable to what we would spend and it would be a lot less for us to work on and less stress.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that we can finally check off one more thing from our to-do list!

Pictures and a bit of agrivation with the florist

As I blogged earlier this week, Austin and I are set up to have our Engagement pictures taken tomorrow. We're both really excited to work with Amber. We also don't have a lot of pictures together, so now we'll (hopefully) get a couple really cute ones of us. We're planning on going to the Dallas Arboretum tomorrow. I think it will ba a lot of fun and we'll be able to really play around with the fun background.

Now, onto my aggrivation...

I have spent the past two weekends meeting with florists. Five of them. Every single one has primised to get me quotes within a couple days. Do you know how many I've gotten? None.

That's right, none. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

I want to give these people money, why wont they get me my information?! I understand that it might take a couple extra days to get a proper quote, but we've been communicating through email prior to me meeting with you. Why not just shoot me an email that says you need more time? I don't get it...

I've actually started...

I've finally started looking into a florist.

I don't know why it has taken me this long to get into the florist, but I've actually started to look into one. I've got appointments set up next week to start meeting with four different consultants, hopefully one of them can come up with something that I like that doesn't cost an arm and a leg! I don't think we will need anything too elaborate since we only need flowers for the bouquets and boutonnieres and nothing for the centerpieces.... But that will remain to be seen.

I'll talk with them to see if they recommend anything for the ceremony, but I am not a flowery frilly kind of girl. I have a feeling that what I want now isn't going to be as simple (or as inexpensive) as I think it will be. I was thinking about hydrangeas in a nice blue, but after talking with Jessica I'm a little worried that might be a bit too much blue. Blue dresses, blue on my dress, blue in the groomsmen attire... Should I really get blue flowers? Hopefully these florists have some ideas! I'm at a loss!!

On another note, I've decided to start taking ballet. Austin's mom has been taking tap and ballet and is starting an Irish dance class at the studio where I will be going. I've always wanted to take ballet but have never had the chance, so I figure why not?! I'll be stopping by the studio today to sign up and get all of my things, hopefully I'll be able to start sometime this week!

I need a florist

So I've come to realize how badly I need to start making appointments with florists. I don't know why, but this is one of the things I'm dreading the most. I really like these, and they have the right blue I'm looking for:

I just cant bring myself to actually start looking for a florist! I've talked to Austin's mom (who has been WONDERFUL, just saying, and I'm really hoping she knows somebody that can help me out. I do feel a little accomplished when I'm still 9 months out. We have the DJ, Photographer, venue, officiant (as of today), the menu, my dress, my Maid of Honor's dress is ordered and I've started the invitations. I will finish the pocketfolds this weekend. I have to! I just feel like I got off to a great start and now I'm falling behind. I haven't been doing wedding stuff for a while, now I realize how much I need to!