Counting Down - Friday

I'm finally ready to get back to wedding recaps.  Though, after this post I'll probably take another break from recaps until I get my pro pictures back.  Recapping will be so much more fun with the professional shots from the day!

Friday morning, Addy woke us up and we grabbed some breakfast.  My parents generously offered to take Addy for a few hours while C & I took care of some wedding stuff.  Seriously, nicest thing ever.  It was so relaxing to do these things without chasing a 2-year-old around.  I love Addy but she can get into some stuff.

So we dropped her off with them and ran to Target for last minute supplies.  One cool thing we did at our reception was provide a Kids Table that was full of toys and coloring books and NO glass or china or silverware so all the kids at our reception could have somewhere to hang out.  Or have somewhere to steal toys from.  So we raided the dollar section at Target and picked up some other things for ourselves.

We then picked up my MOH and headed for the park.  We grabbed the park coordinator (who seriously seemed like she would have rather been anywhere else then with us) and made her do a walk through with us while I peppered her with questions.  The result was that I felt much better at the end and we got permission to put our signs in the ground!

We then had some lunch together and planned our lunch order for the next day and just hung out.  C dropped us back at the hotel where we visited for a bit and then said hi to some guests in the lobby.  After that it was nail time!

 It was nice to sit around for a bit and get nails done but it took far too long and we barely had time to get ready before the rehearsal started!  We ran back to the hotel and changed and headed off to the park to practice!

Here I am with our amazing DOC going over a few details.  I will say that at this point I was starting to get tired of all the questions but that's what happens when basically everything is in my head and not common knowledge.

We ran through everything once and made decisions on the spot and decided we were all smart enough to get it.  MISTAKE.  We should have gone through just a little more in detail, especially the part where our moms brought up our rings.  I mentioned that before.

After that, we picked up my dress from the cleaners and headed to our rehearsal dinner.  Dinner was chaotic to say the least.  Addy didn't want to sit at all, the servers needed to know what to bring out, everything was loud and I was stressed.  Plus, we forgot a diaper bag so we had no diapers for Addy and I *almost* left my own rehearsal dinner to find the nearest store to buy some diapers...  Thank goodness it didn't come to that and everything was fine.

I think I ate a bit of salad, a couple bites of appetizer and 1 piece of pizza for the night.  I just could not relax.

Here are C & I thanking everyone for coming and starting to hand out gifts.  I wish I'd taken some time to thank all my girls but emotions were running so high I just couldn't.  I tried to thank my parents and basically got out, "Thanks..." before having to cut myself off.

I did get to spend some QT with Addy though, here we are playing Peek-a-boo for a bit after everything was done.

Once dinner was done, back to the hotel to put Addy to bed, visit with the girls and get some rest.  For some reason, C & I decided to spend that night apart and he had a guys sleep over while MOH Kelly slept with me.  I can't say for sure if that was a good or bad idea, I think I would have slept poorly no matter what but poor Kelz had to put up with me since I was pretty restless.

I alternately felt really nervous and kind of nauseous for a lot of the night.  It didn't help that there was a party next door to us until 2am.

One last picture to show off my dad's gift to me.  My dad traveled to India for work and got back 1 week before the wedding.  While in India he picked up a necklace & earring set for me.  He tried really hard to make sure it was blue since he knew my wedding colors were shade of blue.  The stones of the necklace are coral and I think they're SO pretty!

Good job Dad!

Budget

This is a post I really debated about writing but I figure if I'm going to talk about the wedding, I should talk about ALL of the wedding.  And I'm stalling again because I keep forgetting pictures!

So today you get kind of a budget breakdown.  I should point out that going into this, C & I didn't sit down and say, "We can only spend X amount of dollars total" and then break it down even further.  We did talk about each and every purchase before we made it though and talked about if it was worth it.

Also, C's dad helped us out immensely with expenses.  Our budget probably would have been 1/4 of what it ended up being if it hadn't been for him...

All that said, going into our wedding we set a figure of $20K for the whole shebang.  We did not, however, talk about if that would include our rings, traveling expenses, etc.  Some things are kind of fringe expenses.  I didn't bother to worry about things like haircuts & facials (I had one) to prep or all the money I spent on acne meds or shoes or clothes I bought for showers, bach. parties, etc.

The biggie: The reception was $13,600.  This covered: dinner for 99 people, bar service for 80, late night snacks, all linens and china and any other service items, our cake (big one!), our honeymoon suite, 2 rooms for our parents for the night, an upgrade to chair covers, and setting up the cookie buffet.  Oh, and brunch tickets for our entire wedding party the next morning.

The ceremony ended up costing us approximately $1K.  Between the rental for the pavilion, the chair rental, the parking fees, the fees to clear out the tables and decorations this made up about $1K.

Side note: you may notice that I'm a wee bit fuzzy on some details.  I didn't keep track of every single thing so there will be estimates here and there (or all of them).

Paper goods were about $700.  Invitations, STDs, menus, programs, table numbers (vellum paper), our banner, bags for hotel guests, the seating chart are all included in that figure.

OOT Bags: $75 for all the goodies our guests received (water, aspirin, granola bars, chips, gum, etc.)

Other decorations probably cost us $300 for wooden signs, the guest book/photo book, beads & masks, and I'm including favors.

DJ: $1350 well spent.  Zero regrets.

Photographer: $1650 includes all rights to all photos, second shooter for the entire day, 9 hours of shooting, the backdrop for the photo booth and a good time.

Wedding coordinator: $675 that I would spend again in a heartbeat.  One of the single best expenses we had.  This included travel fees, rehearsal coordination, decorating the entire ceremony (chairs, banners, signs, etc.), making sure everything was in place for the reception, and packing up everything at the end of the night.  They stayed until 11:30pm to make sure everything was taken care of.


Florist(s): $760 between the florist for the bouquets & corsages ($530) and the centerpieces ($230).  Loved my bouquet.


Magician for cocktail hour: $250.  This is one expense we definitely didn't need and I feel like we may have paid a little much for that.  It was only one hour but everyone loved it as far as I can tell.  Meh.


Bridal attire: $1165 includes dress, alterations, undergarments, jewelry, and shoes.  Considering I originally tried to limit myself to $1000 for dress alone I feel pretty good about this one!  Dress was $700 used, $200 for alterations and $15 for the new sash.  I got SO MANY compliments on my dress and I absolutely loved it.  I wouldn't have changed a single thing about my bridal look.


Beauty: Hair & Make Up were $140 + tip.  Worth it to have someone come to me so I wasn't running around.  Plus, have you seen me?   Awesome!


Groom's attire: $0.  Tux rental was free w/ groomsmen including shoes and the tie tack (I'll get to that) was a gift.


Gifts: A fuzzy $600.  We tried to spend approx. $60/person.  Not sure how well we did with that.


Rehearsal Dinner: Um, $400-ish.  I honestly do not remember that total.

Rental cars for transportation: $200 for both of them.


Optional expenses: Rings were $1600, Hotels were $300, Gas & travel would probably be $150, Getting dress pressed was $77, etc.  I'm not including these OR any other wedding related trips we made (there were 3 before the actual wedding).


That seems like everything...


The Grand Total is...


I'm scared...


$24, 465 including rings.


Hm, $4,500 over our original guesstimate (is that a word?).  I'd say that's not too shabby considering we had no idea what things would cost when we first started planning.  I could definitely drive that number up if we added in more things but those are the biggies.  If you're using this for a guide, you wouldn't have things like trip expenses included anyway.


I feel our costs are reasonable for our time of year, day of week, region, and headcount.  I'm actually ok with that number up there because most things were necessities.  The only things I would consider trimming were the magician and some of our venue costs.  We ended up going over our minimum slightly and we could have kept better track of that.


According to surveys, the average wedding costs $22-27K.  I'd say we're pretty good then.

Regrets

Friends, that right there is a sneak peek from our photographer and definitely NOT a regret!  She told me that's minimal editing but I'm loving what I'm seeing!  I wish C's body line was better but I still love it!

The last few days I've been thinking about the wedding and things that I missed.  I figured if I wrote a blog about it that I would feel better and realize that none of it is really a big deal.  Most of it is missed picture opportunities, nothing big.

1. I wish I'd remembered to get a picture of the 2 of us and both sets of parents together.  We took shots of us and each set of parents but didn't put them together.
2. We used sparklers but C & I didn't take them outside to do cool shots with them.
1. I should be happy we even got to use the sparklers - that was a battle from the beginning!
3. We never got any pictures of C & I being just lovey or lost in our own world (that I know of, we haven't seen all the pictures yet)
1. I should point out that C is totally not that kind of guy though, to just take a walk and forget the photographer.  He doesn't care about pictures like I do.
4. C is a high school teacher and I completely forgot to request "Don't Stand So Close To Me" which is a running joke cause he's pretty damn good looking!
1. We did have tons of special songs though with choreographed dances and everything so I'm not too upset
5. I wish that we'd gone through the ceremony notes better during the rehearsal.  At one point our moms brought up the ring dishes with our rings.  One dish was still in the tulle bag it came in.  Both moms kind of dumped them and ran.  I wish I'd taken the time to say, "OK, bring up the rings (all the way up, C's Mom barely climbed the stairs) and give each of us a hug before you sit back down."
1. I also wish I'd told someone that the song was supposed to start DURING that ring debacle instead of after it so C & I stood there for the full song staring at each other - not a bad thing but the timing could have been better.
6. I wish I hadn't felt ill for approximately half of our reception.  I literally wanted to throw up.  No idea what caused this and I never actually did but I contemplated it for a good 30 minutes.  I should have taken something for my stomach at the beginning of the day to avoid any stomach issues later on.  I barely ate any of my dinner at the reception and I was looking forward to it!
7. And finally, I wish we'd dealt with the Addy situation long before our reception so I didn't have to stress out for about an hour wondering what we were going to do with her for the night.
1. Side note: this is no one's fault (definitely not yours Sarah) that things didn't work out.  We should have planned better and not waited until the last minute to make the alternate arrangements.

Most of all, I wish I remembered more of it.  The more I think about it, the more blurry it all gets!  It's like it never even happened and it was just one crazy dream.  I'm hoping seeing the pictures will help with that.  Ladies - is it the same way for you?

I will get in to some of this in more detail as we go.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll remember some more pictures to post when talking about Friday & the rehearsal.

One word: plan out your Must Haves before the big day because there is far too much going on for you to just remember.  Must have photos, Must have songs, Must Have actions from people.  Go over details even if you think you're being a wedding nazi.  It will help in the end!

Countdown

Let's back up a few days and I'll take you through the days leading up to the Big Day.

Wednesday I worked (well, "work" is questionable since I'm sure I was distracted all day) and we packed up the car and headed to St. Charles.  Addy was pretty good over the 7 hours (you stop more with a 2-year-old) and Thank God for portable DVD players.  She even slept for about 2 hours in the car before we got to the hotel.

We rolled in around midnight, brought in only the necessities and called it a night.

Addy woke us up around 7am and we had a leisurely start to our morning.  My parents had arrived on Wednesday as well so we saw them for breakfast and invited them to our venue that morning.

We arrived at Pheasant Run at 10am for our meeting with our coordinator there.  We dropped off the following supplied:

• OOT Bags (HUGE hit)
• Cookies
• Photo Booth Props
• Random decorations (L-O-V-E letters I hand painted, beads & masks, guest book, etc.)
• Cake topper & special forks 
• Table Numbers & Menus

It was so great to be rid of those things.  Mark took everything and told me not to worry one bit.  Then we sat down for "the talk".


We went over our final numbers and our BEO (Banquet Event Order) which addresses every single thing we've ordered for our event.  What rooms we're using, how many tables we need, linens, set up, meals, etc.  We walked through everything and then wrote the biggest check I've ever seen.


We talked about the weather and Mark revealed that he's got a couple buddies working the control tower of the local airport and he was keeping an eye on things for me.  He said he'd call them both Friday and Saturday and let me know how things looked.  He had reserved the room just in case but graciously said he wouldn't charge us if we didn't use it.  What a relief to know we had a back up plan and that money wouldn't go to waste just because the weather is unreliable.


After that, we jumped in the car and ran to the florist.  I dropped off our Flower Girl Basket which they filled with blooms and my grandmother's rosary for my bouquet.  I didn't get to see any flowers so I still had no idea what I was getting at that point!


We headed back to the hotel to figure out some lunch and then C left to pick up his parents at the airport while I convinced Addy to take a nap.  She didn't go down easy but she slept for 2 hours in the end which she needed.  I took a small nap myself and then worked on cards for my BMs and glued the seating chart down.


When C got back, he grabbed my dad and his dad and headed to the tux shop to pick up their formal wear.  Addy & I walked around and visited my mom.  After tuxes, my dad & I ran to the cleaners to drop off my dress to be pressed and then met everyone for dinner.


We had reserved a table for 8 at this tapas place which sounded fun.  My parents had met C's mom in the past but never his dad so we all had a Welcome Dinner together.  I think C was a little nervous but everything went really well and we had a great time.


Back to the hotel to get some rest so we could do more running the following day!


Note: we didn't have a working camera so I have no pictures leading up to the wedding.  I may find some on Facebook and steal them for this blog.

Come Rain or Come Shine

I'm here!  I'm married!  It was WONDERFUL!

I meant to come back and do a kind of "sign off" post but I ran out of time.  I'd started it but never finished it and so it never got published.

The day was amazing.  We were so lucky to have the rain hold off for us, we even got the sun peeking out a few times!  That was a miracle considering that up until about an hour before the ceremony we weren't sure if we were going to move inside or not.  On Friday they were predicting 80% chance of thunderstorms the day of our wedding.  You can understand that I was a little stressed out.

And so the ceremony went off without a hitch is our gorgeous pavilion and I was one happy bride.  I loved my dress, I loved the way everything looked together.  There's such a feeling of pride when you see all your details come together and you get comments from guests about your touches.  How grateful they are for the flip flops for when their shoes start to hurt or how perfect the robot cake toppers and seating chart are or how cute the favors are.  It's such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and also validation that your hard work doesn't go unnoticed.

I have a few pictures to share and I think tomorrow I can start walking through the days leading up to the event.  I can do a budget post at some point and also vendor reviews.  Just trying to kill time until my pro pictures arrive.  

Until then, these will have to tide you over:

Addy was so great, walked up with Kelly and held her basket.  She looked SO cute!

My dad bought a new Stetson and polished up his boots for the big day.  Here's your first glance of my dress

Our Kiss!

Family shot!

Here's a shot looking at the pavilion set up.  I love the architecture of the wooden beams!

Here's a shot of the back of my dress and my handsome groom!

Cake!  This was *almost* perfect but the ribbon was supposed to be navy blue instead of red.  Not a big deal at all, I took it in stride.

Enjoy!
 

Saved!

My awesome SIL has saved the day and rescued my vows from her blog feed!  Thank you Sarah!  So now I don't have to struggle with rewriting them, I can just tweak them!  Yay!

Another Yay! my parents came over last night and we loaded up their truck with favors, OOT bags, and some other random stuff for the wedding!  It's such a relief to me to have that stuff with them because I was starting to get concerned about how much will fit in our car.  My SUV is big, but it's not as big as I though.  

Fortunately, all that's left is our clothes and some odds & ends but nothing too large.  

A lot of brides say it goes too fast and I'm starting to see that now.  I can't believe that next week it will all be over and then what will I do?  I've been working toward this and looking forward to it SO much that I am feeling incredibly melancholy about the whole thing.  I honestly wish we could have planned like a full week of wedding activities just because all our favorite people will be in one place and I want to stretch that out!

We finally have the music settled and I looked at my list yesterday and everything is crossed off!  Amazing!  We did it!

A few last things to do.  

• Print & Mount the seating chart
• Finish painting my letters
• Put 2 songs on the iPod
• Pack up the car! 

This time tomorrow I will be itching to get the heck out of work and into the car!

I Vow

To bad mouth blogger for losing one of the most important entries I've ever written!  Arrgh!

The vows post is NOT coming back and I'm trying to rewrite them and it's not working because I'm caught in this place of knowing I did a great job the first time and trying to remember them and thinking I should start from scratch because I'll never get them back.

If any of you have them in your feed somewhere, could you copy & paste them and email them to me?  I'm going crazy!

Other topics.  Over the weekend I accomplished the following:

• Haircut & color to "freshen up"
• New tires on my vehicle
• 8 DOZEN cookies
• Purchased undergarments for my dress
• Purchased cards for my 'maids
• Packed up OOT Bags (Corey really did this...)
• Finished the table numbers
• and pawned off the Thank You sign to my SIL's mom

I have just a few things left to do:

• WRITE VOWS (Thanks again Blogger...)
• Find the f-ing Flower Girl basket we were "gifted" by my Step-Gma
• Paint the L-O-V-E letters I bought
• PACK

And I think I can consider that the end.  If it's not done by tomorrow night, it's not getting done.  That's it.

My parents are coming over tonight to pick up things that we're sending down with them.  That will be nice to get some of that stuff out of our house.  It's so cluttered at the moment.  Then we'll work on packing up ourselves and hit the road on Wednesday!

I can't believe it's Wedding Week!