20. MORE. DAYS! Yikes!!!

Tomorrow marks exactly 20 days until “the biggest day of our lives,” and I have clearly been overly consumed with tying up the odds and ends of preparation. I have become a horrible blogger, and the worst part about it is, I told myself that a month prior to the wedding I would start blogging more than ever. Unfortunately, time has just not permitted me to do that; however, I have so much to share with everyone, and in the next 20 days, I hope to become a more avid, dedicated blogger!

A very excited face... this is how I feel about getting married in 20 days!

I have discovered in the last two weeks that as a bride, the last month is the most stressful, crucial part of the planning process. No matter how early you plan and how much you get knocked out in the first several months of a year-long planned wedding, you will still have more to do in the last month than you ever thought possible. I used to question the sanity of my friends who decided to get married three to six months after an engagement. I always thought, ‘what’s the rush?’ Well, the rush is simply getting it over with!!! Tres and I have enjoyed every second of our 13-month engagement, but there have been more times than one when we have looked at each other and said, ‘I wish we would have done this months ago.’ ‘I wish we were married now.’

For an engaged couple, time flies so quickly, and when you have over a year to plan, you don’t think about the morning you will wake up and it’s 20 days until your wedding – because you never actually thought the day would come. For brides who only have 90 days to plan, they are, for three months, thinking about everything they must get done, and their ideas don’t just sit inside their brains with zero action taken – these brides get busy!!! Not to mention, when you have a year to plan, you have plenty of time to make decisions, change your mind, book vendors. At three months, there are no weighing 100 different options, once a decision is made, there’s no time to change it, and frankly, a lot of vendors are probably already booked up, so you have to just take what’s available. A year ago, being a “speedy bride” sounded like torture to me, but I currently think otherwise – although, I am almost 100% sure my perfectionism would have not permitted me to be a speedy bride!

Family: Grandmother, Mom, and Sister-In-Law

Speaking of perfect, last weekend, I attended the PERFECT shower thrown my six of my wonderful bridesmaids. My best college girlfriends: Ginger, Sara, Tracy, Amy Claire and my best high school friends: Stephanie and Erin, collaborate to throw me the most beautiful, perfect shower. All I did was come up with the theme: HATS, and the girls got to work! Here’s what I liked most about this fantastic shower:

1) The décor- Ginger thought up the color scheme and it turn out beautifully. I was overly impressed with the ambiance, the flowers, and the complete girlish theme! And Stephanie printed out several of our engagement pictures, framing them all in brown frames around the tables – it was the perfect touch!
2) The location- We had the shower in downtown Memphis at a restaurant that is actually in the same building I live in. Not only is did the restaurant set the theme to the shower flawlessly; it was convenient to be able to take the elevator straight upstairs to my condo to drop off all my great gifts!
3) The food – This restaurant’s food is superb, and Ginger and Stephanie did a great job picking out the menu. We were served a fruit plate, mouth watering chicken sandwiches, spinach dip, smoked salmon, and of course wine galore!
4) The cake – One look at the picture, and you might just melt! Not only did the cake taste fantastic, but it was the perfect piece of décor to the hats theme!

5) The outfits – EVERYONE WORE HATS… just as I hoped! It’s not every day in this era a gal can just get dolled up in a pretty dress and floppy hat and not get odd looks. I have to say, hats shower or not, we still got looked at peculiarly, but it was so much fun !
6) The gifts – Tres and I were given SO MUCH STUFF at this shower! I was truly shocked at how much we received from the friends and family there and how much was sent by those who could not make it! I have been crossing my fingers to get our china and am excited to say, we now have nearly half of it!
7) THE COMPANY – I am so grateful for everyone who came to the shower. My wonderful family was there, of course, as they are always so supportive! I had the majority of my bridesmaids there – some which traveled long distances to make it to the party! And I had friends there from college and high school who I had not seen in ages - not to mention two of my best co-worker friends! It was wonderful visiting with everyone!
8) THE HOSTS – My girls have been so considerate and supportive throughout my year engagement, and throwing this shower for me was just the icing on that beautiful little hat cake! The six girls who threw this shower for me have always been there for me, and I can honestly say, they will all be on my and Tres’ 50th Anniversary Party list when that day comes!
Everything is passing so quickly before my eyes… I’ve had my bachelorette party, I had my final shower last weekend, and the wedding is just weeks away. As a woman, you throw showers for your best friends, you go to their bachelorette parties, and you’re a bridesmaid in their weddings. For me, I never imagined any of that actually happening for myself. But several years later, someone has thrown showers for me; I’ve opened a number of gifts I will hopefully use for the rest of my life; I have dressed silly, danced a lot, and drank too much at my own bachelorette party in Chicago; and 20 days from now, I will put on a white dress and walk with 9 beautiful bridesmaids – some of which I have seen all of these same things happen to. These things have happened to me, and it’s all been a blur. I’m sure the wedding will be just the same, but the only matter is the commitment I will make on October 17! Here’s to brides and grooms around the world – may everyone who chooses to make that promise keep it forever!

1 Month to Go… 1 Shower left… 1 Bridesmaid Gift Down!

Martha came over again... haha!

I have been overly busy, extremely stressed, and a horrible blogger – yes, I know. So with that being said, I am going to continue to be a horrible blogger and make this post really quick!

First things first – It’s September 17. Guess what that means? It means that in 30 short days I and the fiancé will be getting hitched. It honestly seems like just yesterday when theknot.com sent me a “12 Months to Go” update. Planning a wedding really is one way to make a year go by in a flash. I truly cannot believe Tres and I are to this point! So for all of you planning weddings out there: don’t think you have all the time in the world because a year is like a month in wedding planning time!

So you are probably thinking I am way behind in planning by the way I am expressing my feelings on “one more month left.” Actually, I am not THAT behind at all. Here’s the deal: All the big stuff is done, and it’s been done for awhile. But, we have so much little stuff that I had completely forgotten about that needs to be done that is constantly on my mind. It’s all stuff that is so minor that the show will go on regardless, but when it comes to stuff like this, I am a serious perfectionist – I make myself crazy that everything is proper etiquette, that people are going to love it, and that it makes me and Tres happy.
The girls' gift!!!

From welcome bags and the little, personalized treats I want to put in them to recording the CDs for our ceremony and first dance songs, to sending out the rehearsal dinner invites, to creating a song list for the reception, to having a final ceremony meeting with our minister, to purchasing Tres’ gift, to buying wine glasses for the wine ceremony, to making the “last phone calls” to finalize everything before the big day – I AM DYING OVER HERE! No joke people, I honestly can’t remember EVER a time in my life when I was this stressed out. I can’t stop thinking about the 100 things that need to be done, and when I say I can’t stop, I mean… CAN’T STOP. It’s all I think about, my mind races all day, when I go to bed at night I fall asleep thinking about what I need to get done the next day, when I sleep I dream about wedding details, and for the past two nights, I have woken up at 4:00 am and laid there awake for two hours thinking about everything. Horrible, I know, and if I don’t stop I honestly think I may have an anxiety attack because I have felt one come on a few times! I know I am being ridiculous because no matter what happens, we will still get married, and it will still be wonderful, but if I can make it perfect, I am certainly going to try!

The worst part is I am completely responsible for driving Tres mad. Before we ever got engaged, he told me the scariest part about getting engaged to him was that your entire relationship becomes “about the wedding.” Because he said that, for this entire year, I have kept my mouth shut and ONLY brought up wedding stuff when absolutely necessary. But now? Oh no…. not anymore! The wedding is ALL I talk about, and not because I WANT to (I’m actually 100% over it, and wish we would have gone to the court house… seriously), but because I HAVE to!

So this weekend, I plan to take a little break. Tres is out of town, and my best friends are throwing me a wedding shower! It will be a total girls’ weekend, and I can’t wait! I am hanging out with my parents tonight; getting up early in the morning for a full-spa day (alone) at The Peabody Hotel – getting a massage, mani, pedi, having lunch at the spa… the works; going to get my makeup done; then having a blast with my girls, family, and friends at the shower! It should be lots of fun, as the theme for the shower is “hats.” We will be totally decked out Kentucky Derby style in fun dresses and huge hats – how “southern” are we?!
All NINE of them!!!! I love all my girls!

As far as the pictures you see in this post –ARE THE GIFTS TO MY BRIDESMAIDS! Yes, of course this “shoegal” is giving her bridesmaids shoes as a present. They are gold to go with their pretty pink dresses for the "pink and gold southern-vintage theme!" I debated and debated on giving the girls their presents before the wedding, but after much thought, I thought it would be best for them to have the shoes to get fitted for their dresses. Lucky for them, I have another gift to give them at the Bridesmaids Luncheon the day before the wedding, so they won’t be completely deprived! And as you can see, Martha Stewart came back to my house this week and wrapped the presents. Since the shower colors are blue and red, I went with a matching look for their gifts, as I will give them the presents at the shower! Haha… I love getting crafty! I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! And for those brides out there… God bless you and your plans! Get them done SOONER than later!

Happy Engagement Anniversary!

I honestly can’t believe it… exactly a month ago today, Tres got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife! We were visiting beautiful San Francisco and had just returned from Napa Valley where we toured and tasted several wineries… it was truly the best place he could have asked me to marry him! Not to mention, the best time in our lives!

For so long, I never saw myself as the marrying type. I never thought I would find a man worth marrying, honestly. I just never made getting married a priority in my life. I never saw marriage as a goal in life or some sort of place on a timeline… I saw it as something that may happen to me one day, but maybe not. After meeting Tres and talking to him about it, he said always felt the same way. He, too, never imagined himself the marrying type, yet two years later, we both decided we were definitely the “marrying type” – we just hadn’t found the right person yet, and that’s when our beautiful engagement happened!

We took our time throughout our relationship – making sure there were no hidden issues or problems that would one day sneak up on us in life! There’s no doubt that two people that get along and respect each other the way that we do are meant to be together – no snags or rips in this relationship… at least not yet. I know we will run into the occasional thread coming out or button falling off, but I refuse to ever let what we have now get ripped to shreds. I am confident that this relationship is a timeless piece of Chanel clothing that will forever be intact!
In a mere SIX WEEKS, Tres will be standing at the altar waiting to take my hand, and I will be more than excited to give it to him – forever! We are both so blessed, and I know God will bless us in marriage for life! If you haven’t read our engagement story – here it is… my VERY FIRST POST EVER!