Wedding Wednesday: What the eff is with these dreams?

On Monday night I dreamed that all of my teeth fell out.  Not like one or two wiggly teeth-- no, all of my teeth just up and crumbled out of my mouth.  So there's that.

Last night I dreamed that I was back home in Texas and when I opened up the back door to my dad's truck, bags and bags of chips started pouring out.  All of my favorites were there-- Fritos Scoops, blue tortilla chips from Trader Joe's, Cheetos, the thin homemade chips from my favorite taqueria (what can I say?  I love a good chip).  I'm going to mark this one up to not having a single chip for the past month.  And it's not like I eat chips on the daily, but I guess when you miss something that you really enjoy, you miss it mind, body and spirit.

One night last week I dreamed a dream that I actually remembered having had before.  I was at the church (only it was the church I grew up in, not the church we'll be married in) and I could see everyone seated inside.  My hair and makeup weren't done and I was in pajamas and everyone kept telling me that I couldn't go inside the church and that I only had twenty minutes to get ready.  So I ran around crazy, trying to run through doors but the doors kept leading to nowhere.  I threw some makeup on, put my hair in a done-bun, and put on my wedding dress (but not really my wedding dress-- my dress trumped my dream dress).  And then I woke up.

Kindly do not analyze my dreams-- I am 17 days away from walking down the aisle and do not need to hear "Well those doors leading to nowhere mean that your marriage is DOOMED!" so just send over a note if this brand of crazy visits you on the regular too.

On the bright side, I've hit the downhill slope of planning.  This is my remaining list:

Final dress fitting (tomorrow) 

Hair/makeup trials (next Wednesday and Friday) 

Print ceremony programs and menus (tomorrow)

Package favors once delivered (Wednesday before the wedding)

Welcome Bags (putting together with my parents when they fly in next weekend)

Finalizing entrance songs and play/do not play with the DJ

Finalizing must-take photo list with photographer 

Seating arrangements (sweet Jesus, this one is a gigantic pain in my ass)

Wrap bridal party and attendant gifts

Finalize day-of itinerary for everyone

Pack for the HONEYMOON!

Reading that makes me feel a bit better-- it's all stuff that we're finalizing in the next couple of days, which is good!  I've definitely hit the point of just wanting the planning done, the day to be here, and to be MARRIED.  Oh yes, and to spend a week on the beach in Mexico, please.  Off to run more wedding errands on my lunch break, in a downpour no less.  At least it's Wednesday!

five on friday!

one. pure barre
Tomorrow morning will mark two weeks of me attending Pure Barre and I can honestly say that I'm completely addicted.  It's the first time I've ever really worked out in any way beside from cardio/weights and it just FEELS good.  After all of the running I've done in the past few years, my left hip and my left knee have been killing me and trust me-- there's nothing that makes an almost-30 year old feel REAL old than having achy hips and knees.  I don't know if it's the deep stretching, or just the stretching every day, or the 55 minutes of non-impact constant movement, but I feel better than I have in a long time.  

I was previously working out consistently with the wedding coming up fast, but I was burning out on the same old daily routine.  I've been 5-6 times both last week and this week and it's become my "me time."  This is big.  If you know me, my "me time" used to be me wandering the aisles of Target with Starbucks in my hand.  Now, if I'm feeling tired or not 100% wanting to get there, I tell myself that I mentally need class and get myself there.  The best part about it, aside from all of the LTBing, is that the class is intense enough where you have to focus on your movements from start to finish, so you really can just forget everything else on your mind for that hour.  It's saved my sanity these last couple of weeks!

two. christmas cheer

I'm all about enjoying each holiday to the fullest before moving on to the next (I'm looking at you, Target, with your Christmas lights and wreaths currently bordering the aisle with candy corn and Halloween costumes), but I stopped into HomeGoods on my lunch break yesterday and absolutely HAD to take this sign home with me!  Elf is one of my favorite movies ever, and I can't help but smile every time that I peek at it in our apartment.  Check your HomeGoods but I also found the sign on this website... which I will be scouring later this morning.  The Jolly Christmas Shop?  Sign me up!

three. wedding hair and makeup

I have a general idea of how I would like for my wedding hair and makeup to look, but after lots of searching and Pinning, I keep coming back to the lovely Duchess Kate.  The woman is flawless and just always looks so classic and elegant yet young and not too fussy.  I'm wondering if I can just take these pictures to my salon and say "Make me the Duchess, please." 

 

four. singin' in the store

This makes me laugh every time I read it.  There are more and more trips to the store these days, may it be the grocery store, Target, or the mall, where I find myself singing along (to myself, promise) and thinking "They are spot. on. with this music today!"  It's so true though-- it's music I love because it always seems to be from my high school days... TEN years ago.

 

five. CARBS

I've cut out carbs, dairy and sugar these last few weeks leading up to The Big Day and while it's gone pretty smoothly, I am definitely finding myself craving pasta, pizza, potatoes... ya know, the good stuff.  This Browned Butter Alfredo Pasta would do just fine to satisfy my carb cravings.  Oh yes, this will do.

Have a happy Friday, lovelies!  I have a busy weekend of finalizing wedding details and my second dress fitting tomorrow morning, then a good ol' date night at home tomorrow night.  Sounds like a good one to me-- enjoy yours as well!

ONE MONTH!!

I'm getting married one month from today!!  I think that I have finally hit the point of being undeniably excited and READY, so stinking ready.  For so much of the engagement, I've been stressed and consumed by the planning since I did it all completely on my own, but now that we're down to the little things (getting all of the finalized signage, menus, programs, etc. printed off, putting together out of town bags, having my hair and makeup trials), I feel like I can finally relax and just enjoy and soak up every minute of this last month of being engaged.

It sounds kind of silly, but I'm feeling a little bit sentimental about not being engaged anymore.  I feel like the last 13 months have positively flown by-- wasn't I just buying my first wedding magazine and folding down pages of ideas for my dream wedding?  Weren't we just looking at venues and making my list of things to do (which has exponentially grown-- my brother recently saw it and said it gave him anxiety just looking at it)?  When we first got engaged, so many people told me to just relax and enjoy it because we'll be married before we know it.  This, I have to admit, is true.  I was a girlfriend for 7 years, and I'll be a wife forever, but I was a fiancee for such a short time, and it was fun while it lasted.  In retrospect, I think that the generally short period of time to be a fiancee is limited because it is bound to drive you batshit crazy, either from planning or from sheer anticipation of getting to marry your best friend.

In case you're wondering, I'm borderline crazy from both.

With my mom being so far away in Texas, I just kind of shouldered the responsibility of planning and ran with it.  At times, it was a lot, almost too much.  We certainly have had wonderful support from both sides of our families, but when it came time to make a decision, the simple act of choosing a font could send me into tears.  I would debate for DAYS over what looked best, and I would have these thoughts that made this color versus that seem like an end of the world decision.  It was obnoxious and intense and there were times when Brian would ask me "Are you sure things will go back to normal after the wedding?  Because I like non-wedding planning Katie a lot more..."  Agree, my dear.  I like her better, too.

So while I know the next four weeks are going to fly by, I also want to remember them and treasure them and really focus on our relationship and how big what we're about to do is.  I think that I've let that slide a little bit here and there, focusing too much on the wedding instead of the marriage.  The wedding is one day but that marriage is forever, and I feel so incredibly lucky to be embarking on this journey with the love of my life, and I want to remember that and I want him to know that.

What advice would you give to someone the month before their wedding? 
What did you most look forward to once you hit the final countdown?

my favorite season.... and dress drama.

There is just something about the calendar changing over to October 1st that always makes me so happy.  It's the month that kicks off my favorite three months of the year, and it never grows old-- I still get excited when I start to see Halloween decorations at Target and front porches decorated with pumpkins.  And, I can't forget to mention, that I look way better in fall/winter clothes than I do spring/summer.  My pale skin was made for jewel tones, not sundresses, and my hair thrives in the cool, autumn air (I kid you not, it's like I have a new head of hair these last few days).  

The change of seasons in New England certainly played a large part in my motivation to move here from Texas, and I try to soak up every little bit.  The cool weather, changing colors of the leaves, that crisp bite in the air... I love it.

This October is undoubtedly going to fly by because... I'm getting married in 37 days.  THIRTY-SEVEN DAYS!!  I don't know how on earth that happened, how I'm already in the thirties for my countdown, but it's happening.  I posted an obnoxious list several months ago and I've honestly been too busy checking things off to keep anyone updated on its progress.  I can safely say that all of the big things are done, and I'm checking off the little minutiae that are left, like table assignments that can't be completed until we get our RSVPs in, ordering our favors, etc.

There was an enormous snafu with my wedding dress that I feel like I should share.  My dear friend Caitlin and I made the hour-long drive to the bridal salon the first Saturday in September.  I had my shoes, my jewelry... everything they had told me to bring for my first fitting.  We were taken back to a fitting room and I was told to go in, get into the dress, and the seamstress would start her thing.  WELL.  I pulled the dress on, had a flouncy moment with myself (and may have twirled a bit), and then I went to hold the back together to try to zip.  Um... there was no zipping.  There was no zipping because the left side of the zipper was by one shoulder blade and the right side was by the other shoulder blade, a good six inches in between.  I started to panic a bit (ok, a lot) and opened the curtain for Caitlin to come in and assess the situation.  When we ordered my dress I ordered one size down from my measurements and had lost enough weight and toned up enough to easily fit into the size that I ordered, so when I couldn't zip the dress my first thought was of course "Oh my God, I'm too fat to fit into my dress!"... which is exactly what every bride wants to think when she puts on her dress for the first time.

SO, the seamstress comes in, starts trying to pull the sides together as I tell her  that my ribs are there and there is no way the dress will close.  I knew things were bad when she sprinted out of the room to find the owner, who came in super calm (honestly, a little too calm for my panicked state) and said "Well, let's see here."  She looked at the tag on my hanger (which was correct), the tag on the dress (which was the size I had ordered), and then got out her measuring tape.  She measured the waist of the dress, and hurried out of the room "to make a quick phone call."

Apparently, the manufacturer of my dress had stitched the right tag... onto the wrong dress.  The dress was half the size that I had ordered for myself.  PERFECT, right?  The owner said that there was nothing to worry about, all would be fine, blah blah, but all that I could think was "My wedding is two months away.  You told me coming in early September would be plenty of time.  I now basically don't have a dress."  Over the next few days, and a lot of rage from both me and my mom, the owner determined that they could either offer me the sample dress from the salon at a discount (no thanks) or a dress in a color that I didn't want (again, no thanks).  If I opted out of both of those options, then they would have to order a new dress and wait a month to have it shipped to me.  So that's where I am today.  My dress is on its way to the salon, and I have to fit multiple 2-hour roundtrip drives in this month for fittings.  At this point, I just want my dress.  They offered to cover my alterations, which I'm going to take them up on, but it just put a bad taste in my mouth overall.  What really gets me is my dress came in to them in APRIL.  It sat in their salon for 5 months and they never noticed that the size didn't match the actual dress.  Shouldn't that be someone's job, to check those things?

So in the next few days I'm off to Southborough for Fitting 1, Take 2.  Aside from that, things are just peachy, thank the Lord.  I just want everything done so we can relax and enjoy this last month of being engaged, because I have a feeling it's going to fly by.

Ladies, for anyone out there who's been through the wedding dress fittings, how many alterations were required?  They initially told me I'd need four appointments, plus the pick-up date, and with the 2-hour round trip, that's too much for me this last month before the big day.  I know it differs based on the dress, but having an idea of what you girls have experienced would be so helpful!