And then the six month mark hit a few weeks ago, and we're now looking at 170 days until I get to marry my best friend and EVERYTHING IS FAST FORWARD... but I'm so pumped. Our day-of coordinator sent me our updated timeline yesterday and there was one bit of time set aside for "bride to be bustled" and then "bride and groom have first dance" and I got a little teary, and then couldn't stop smiling-- I'm so stinking excited for all of this, I almost cannot stand it!
Even more exciting is the fact that we're getting to that time where wedding events are starting to happen! One month from today I'll be home with some of the best and closest women to me in the world, enjoying my very first bridal shower! They've kept me completely in the dark about all of the details, so other than the guest list and vacation, I'm clueless (and I love it!!). It will be so nice to be home with Brian for a few days to relax and enjoy time with my people. I have big plans for a haircut on Friday afternoon, and my Daddy will undoubtedly be firing up the grill because ribs are Brian's "thing" and my dad makes the best!
Now, for checking things off of my obnoxious to do list!
PRE-CANA-- check!
Holy moly, y'all. Two weekends ago we had our pre-Cana retreat at a little Catholic center about a half an hour away from where we live. The class started at 9am, which meant we had to be on the road by 8:15am at the latest. Go ahead and cue the grumpy fiance, add in a humid, rainy morning, and top it off with the fact that the class was from 9am-4:30pm, and you had two very unexcited soon-to-be-newlyweds. When we arrived, they directed us down to a conference room for coffee and muffins, and said we could find everyone else across the hall. We had no idea what to expect, thinking there would maybe be 2-3 other couples, and this would be a really intensive one-on-one kind of day. Nope-- TWENTY other couples sat there looking just as excited for the day as we were.
After 7 hours of small group work, lectures, and a full Mass, we received our lovely little certificate saying that we had passed (alleluia). We'd had big plans to go to dinner and toast to our success at a nice little spot on the water, but we were wiped. out. So what did we do instead?
We drove straight to the only Tex-Mex restaurant around and drank beer-ritas the size of our heads with a side of chips and queso, obviously. And then we went home and drank wine and ordered takeout Indian food because REWARDS are just necessary sometimes.
Although we didn't have a choice to NOT take the class (in order to be married at our church, anyways), I was really glad at the end of the day that we had to sit through it all. There was something kind of comforting as we went around our small groups and shared our grievances and the things that we love about our partners-- I realized that I'm not the only one who wants to throw away all of his socks when I find stragglers just laying around on the floor, and that having to compromise on TV time because a game is on (regardless of the team, it's just the fact that a game is on and apparently must be watched) is a common thing. And I think it comforted Brian to realize that it was not a coincidence that he heard the word "Pinterest" float around that room 57 times and that his fiancee has not completely gone over to the dark side alone, and that girls as a whole tend to cry at the drop of a hat, particularly when elbow-deep in wedding shenanigans. There were writing exercises for ourselves, and writing exercises that we shared with each other, and something about it made getting married so very real. I am the biggest culprit of getting caught up in the "I'm Planning A Wedding!" side of being engaged and worrying too much about stirrers vs. straws, the stamp on our cocktail napkins, which font should I use for signage, so having that one full day where we had to sit back as a couple without any interruptions and focus on the marriage part of our wedding brought it all back home for both of us. Our wedding is one day but our marriage is FOR-E-VER (points if you said that like Squints from the Sandlot), and THAT is pretty damn exciting!
GROOM/GROOMSMEN SUITS-- check!
This past Saturday we headed out to find suits for the boys, and Brian (of course) had them chosen in approximately 10 minutes. When we first started planning, we had both agreed that we liked the less formal look of charcoal gray suits, versus tuxes. I do love the classic, elegant look of a tux, but our ceremony is at 1:30pm, and I just feel like it's a little more formal than the direction we've pictured for our wedding, and Brian was pretty set on not having his guys waste $200 on a tux rental, which is understandable. We went back and forth and I finally told myself to pick my battles with this wedding planning, and let Brian have at it to choose suits for himself and his groomsmen. The majority of his groomsmen work in the corporate world where an investment in a new suit makes sense, so off we went to make our decision!
There was one point where we had 8 different suits in
I can't find a picture of the suit, but the color is similar to this (minus the vests):
WEDDING BANDS-- partial check!
We technically have plenty of time before we need to choose our wedding bands, but let's be honest-- if I have a chance to go in and look for a suitable lifelong partner for my engagement ring, I'M GONNA DO IT. I was also kind of (really) excited to see a ring on Brian's hand! He is definitely not a jewelry guy, like doesn't even wear a watch, so it was a little weird at first seeing that lovely band on his finger, and I'm pretty sure he was equally weirded out! We went through all of the metal options and widths and designs and... good gracious, there are lots of options for the menfolk! But we both agreed on one that looks great and complements his personality and lifestyle (the man works at a desk and in meetings and plays golf, so he didn't exactly need the titanium), but are going to go in a little closer to the wedding to make the final choice. We did have a small conflict when I pointed out, very jokingly, that the ring may affect his golf game and he looked totally stricken, and then said he would just take it off when he golfs. I THINK NOT, DEAR SIR. We'll see where we get with that one...
I absolutely love the one that we chose for me too-- it has the same style and feel as my engagement ring but is a tiny bit different so that they're each their own thing. I don't plan to have them soldered together, so they don't necessarily have to match and lay flush against each other. SO, that was fun!
This week had a REAL fun loop thrown into the mix. All along, we've planned to have a 2pm ceremony without a full Nuptial Mass, which would allow us plenty of time to get to our reception venue for pictures afterwards. We aren't doing a First Look, so while we'll take as many pictures separately as we can pre-ceremony, we'll still need pictures after, and since Daylight Savings Time falls the weekend before the wedding, we're literally racing against daylight for pictures! We assumed there wouldn't be any issues but after speaking with our priest earlier this week, we realized that he most definitely was going to STRONGLY insist on a full Mass. After using my legit negotiating skills, I not only got him to agree to letting a ceremony or full Mass being left up to our decision, but he also agreed to a 1:30pm Mass instead of 2pm. I feel like a got a Catholic gold star-- this priest is extremely old school, so the fact that he was willing to work with me was epic! SO, we're now having a full Mass at 1:30pm, and it will be fabulous.
This is the wordiest Wedding Wednesday (on Thursday) ever, so I'm outta here!
