invitation station...

IS CLOSED! At least that's what I told Chris last night when I finished our invitations.

Chris says it took so long because I took so many pictures of everything... Which is true, but I wanted to document all my hard work. That's okay, right? Well, our save the date got in on some pictures too:

My grandmother gave me this Bermuda bus from her last trip to Bermuda, and we just happen to being going to Bermuda for our honeymoon, so I thought it was appropriate! I'm not going to share any more pictures just yet, just in case someone's reading this... I don't want to ruin the surprise :)

 

I'm sure I'm excited I'm finally done with the invitations and Chris just thinks I'm silly. 

Also, in non-related wedding news, while I was in "photoshoot mode" I made Chris take a picture of me with another one of my accomplishments....

My diploma from SUNY New Paltz :) It came in the mail a few weeks ago and we framed it. Haven't found a place for it yet, so it just hangs out in the computer room for now.

That's all. Hopefully I'll post pictures of the invitations in a week or so after I'm sure everyone has received them!

updates! updates! updates!

We've changed the ceremony and reception site once again! Chris and I have been slightly worried about the secluded field for several reasons: the ground, getting guests there, electricity source, distance away from parking, etc... So he came up with a new idea. We will have the ceremony and reception in the backyard, but the tent will block the house so it is not in the photos, etc. It solves a lot of problems and I think it will work just fine! 

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Shoes. As you know, my shoe search has been quite a task. I finally ordered two pairs of shoes a couple of weeks ago: Jessica Simpson Hill Wedges and Rocketdog Memories DB. I got the Jessica Simpson ones in the mail and I'm still waiting on the second pair. I like them but I'm not head over heels in love with them, which I feel you should be with your wedding shoes. I'm also seriously considering wearing my cowboy boots. Yee-haw!

Cake. We had an appointment at the Pastry Garden scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, but then it snowed and they closed so we rescheduled it for Thursday afternoon. I love cake tasting and if I wasn't on a diet I would make it my profession! We ordered three samples to taste: vanilla cake with fresh berries and buttercream frosting, chocolate cake with raspberry mousse and chocolate buttercream frosting and marble cake with chocolate ganache and buttercream frosting. They were delicious. Then we ordered a sample cake of a combination of the layers on our wedding cake. I picked that up on Saturday and we had it for dessert with Chris's parents Saturday night. That cake was vanilla and chocolate cake with strawberry mousse and chocolate ganache. It was delicious, but we all agreed that the ganache was a bit too overpowering. So we keep gravitating more and more towards a strawberry shortcake. It is going to look like my inspiration cake:

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It will be frosted on the outside with buttercream frosting. The bottom layer will be chocolate cake with strawberry mousse and the top two tiers will be vanilla cake with strawberry mousse. And it will have piles of strawberries on top of each pillared layer, as in the picture. The cake will be decorated with dots:

This is our sample cake. We want it to be smooth on the side of the cake though, they have ridges on our sample cake. It's so cute though, isn't it? Also, we will get a 6" cake of our wedding cake on our first year anniversary. I love that!

 Christopher and I practicing for our big day! 

Photography. As I previously mentioned, Chris and I met with the photographer from D&G Studio and it went okay, not fantastic but okay. We also met with another photographer this past week and she was amazing. I guess I can say we met with our photographer :) She was very nice, friendly, bubbly and conversation was easy. We were there for an hour and it didn't even feel like it. Her name is Vivian from Vivian Photography. Also with the photography, we rented her bridal suite for me and the girls to get ready in the day of. It's super cool and I'm so excited. I'm glad we made the decision to hire a professional photographer and that we found her. Here's a picture of "Space" (aka the getting ready bridal suite):

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Stationery. I still haven't finished the invitations and RSVPs yet. My printer keeps running out of ink and it is annoying me. I spent $35 in one week replacing the cyan and yellow ink cartridges and now the black ink decides to run out. *Sighs* I'm not sure if my February 20th goal will be met. We shall see. 

Rentals. Chris's to-do list for the past week has been to research tent and johnny on the spot rentals. I know he's made some progress, but I'd like to get those booked ASAP. 

Well, that's enough wedding updates for now! 

Finding my sole mate...

I never ordered those shoes. I just haven't found a pair of shoes I LOVE yet. I came so close today though... Only to find out they are sold out in my preferred color -- Not even first preference, my second color preference!

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They're not pink, but other than that, they're practically perfect. *Sighs* They're only available in black. How difficult is it to find a pink (peep toe preferable) flat or wedge? VERY, apparently. So the search for my "sole mate" continues....

In other wedding news, Chris and I met with a photographer today. It went well. I'm going to call the other photographer I've been e-mailing tomorrow and set up a meeting with her. If all goes well, hopefully we will have a photographer booked by next week!

I've also been working on our invitations and RSVP cards this week. I have a couple options so far and need to narrow it down and finalize. I'm also using a different font from what I used on the save the dates. It's a lot prettier and I'm really excited about it. Especially since it's a $99 font that I got for free. My goal is to send the invites out by February 20th! I've already got the kit in my hands, so it's just putting it all together.

The shoe dilemma continues...

Chris and I met with Rev. Stu, our officiant, on Monday. We were both a little nervous going into it because if we didn't like him we'd have to start the search over again. Luckily we like him! So he is all set to officiate our wedding on April 24! It is going to be short and sweet.

Also, I finally went to Pearl Vision to get myself a new pair of spectacles for two reasons: One, it's been two years and I'm due for a new pair as I can't see a thing from far away; and two, I don't think the specs I currently have are "wedding appropriate" so I wanted to get a pair that were a little less fun and a bit more sophisticated:

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Mission accomplished. The website doesn't have the color I got them in, gunmetal. They are pictured in light blue. I was pretty upset that my insurance covered less than half the cost of them though. *Sigh* I know, I should be happy I have insurance at all at this point.

More exciting news... On Tuesday, we booked our honeymoon! We are cruising to Bermuda for seven days aboard NCL's Norwegian Dawn. And the best part is we're staying in a suite! A Penthouse Suite with a sitting area and a balcony. Here's the floorplan from NCL's website:

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It's going to be a lot of fun! Also, we leave the day after the wedding, which is what I've wanted all along. Jessica is a happy camper :)

My shoe dilemma has taken over my life! I think everyone I talk to on a daily basis is probably annoyed about my inability to find shoes I like! So the search has continued... But I think I have narrowed it down to two pairs of shoes that I like...

Meet Option #1:

My apologies for the small image. I blame it on the source. So these are simple flats by Rocketdog. I like these because the ruching on the front of the shoe matches the ruching on my dress. And they are sparkly. What girl doesn't love sparkly things? Another plus: They're only $40. Definitely will be able to wear these shoes again. They're "throw them in the suitcase for the honeymoon" worthy.

 Meet Option #2:

These would obviously be in pink... Again, the source is not very cooperative with saving images. These are Jessica Simpson's Hill Wedges. "Jessica would be wearing Jessica" Christopher said. I like these because... Basically, I think I'd rather wear wedges than flats. It seems more appropriate since I can't wear heels. Sometimes the idea of wearing flats just seems boring. So I just think these are little more fun, I guess. The wooden heel isn't ideal for wedding attire, but I think it makes them less dressy and therefore more ideal to wear again after the wedding. These also could accompany me on the honeymoon.

Ahhhhhh, decisions. So basically I am going to order both pairs of shoes and decide which shoes I like better. Hopefully I will be able to make a decision after trying them on in person with the dress.

Alright, I think that's about all for today.