I got the call that my dress had come in, so we took a family trip to the mall yesterday to pick it up. At the counter I got a few compliments from random people in line on the color, which the photos don’t do justice to. I re-tried it on this morning (just in case) and I’m so glad I didn’t take the store model: turns out there were supposed to be two sashes around the middle - the store model only had one. The dress is now hanging in the coat closet so I don’t take up a hobby of wearing it all the time.

In other news, I have begun writing the ceremony and my vows and I’m trying to get Gary to decide whether he’ll write his own vows or not. Other than that, it’s been quiet on the wedding front this week. We’re now at 5.5 months and counting, and I wrote up my big fat list f everything I still need to take care of (which includes 156 items - mind-blowing…) So hopefully there will be some more headway made soon and I’ll be back to posting regularly.

Our wedding menu tasting at our caterer’s was last Wednesday, and I was too excited to remember the pictures I wanted to take so you’ll have to wait until the wedding to see all the wonderful food we’re feeding you ;)

Gary, Nic and I met up with Gary’s mom at Bak’d in Mesa and proceeded to eat some of the tastiest food ever. The portions were huge, the food was extremely flavorful, and the staff is easy to work with. It went very well, and now I can’t wait to eat again!

Our Menu:

Appetizers
Buffalo Chicken Empanadas
Smoked Chipotle Chicken Floutas
Fruit & Cheese Skewers

Salad
Southwestern Salad w/ Jalapeno Vinegarette Dressing

Sides
Southern-Style Mashed Potatoes
Mexican Rice
Grilled Veggie Medley

Entrees
Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Breast
Jack Daniels BBQ Shredded Beef

Other Stuff
6 types of dinner rolls w/ honey butter
Gourmet coffee station
Iced tea, raspberry lemonade, soda, water, etc.

Well I had to drive about 120 miles, round-trip, but I got the exact dress I wanted. The dress at the store was damaged, so I got to order it through the catalog for half the price. $39.99 = world’s cheapest wedding dress. Score! They’re shipping it to the store closest to me so that I don’t have to drive halfway across the state again, and it’ll be ready to pick up on the 28th. Here’s the pic I took in the dressing room:

This is going to sound sappy, but when I went to the counter and told the woman I had a dress on hold, she brought it out from the back and I got a little choked up. It may be a lime-green cocktail dress, but it’s still my wedding dress. The only thought that went through my mind was, “This is the dress I’m going to marry Gary in.” It’s perfect.

After settling that nonsense, I went to Macy’s to look for the ties and vest I wanted to get, but no dice. Instead I was accosted at the makeup counter (looking for waterproof mascara) and was roped into a “trial wedding makeup session”. The technician and I ended up having a lot in common and it was really fun. She managed to cover up the eczema on my cheeks and we found a shade of eyeshadow the same color as the dress. Here are some indoor and outdoor test pics. I think my eyes are a little dark, but they say it’ll show up better in pictures. You’ll just have to pretend my eyebrows aren’t out of control…

Tomorrow our friend Kelly is taking our family engagement pictures, and I’ll be posting a few on the site as soon as I get them. I also talked to our wedding-day photographer about the style I want (casual and photojournalistic instead of the “fashion model” photography he’s trying to push on us) and confirmed our menu tasting with the caterer for Wednesday the 20th. It’s coming together!

I’ve been looking online at the merits of self-seating versus having a seating chart at the wedding, and it looks like people are split 50/50. Originally I wanted to leave it up to our guests to decide where they wanted to sit and who they wanted to sit by (especially since we have only 50 guests), but I’m reading that some people think it’s rude not to have a seating chart, or would rather be told where to sit to avoid confusion.

As a wedding guest, which would you prefer? Would you rather be assigned a seat so that you know where you need to be, or would you like to choose your own place? Or a third option is the compromise of being told which table to sit at, but choosing your own place. Your opinions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Our mailables came today! We have lime green envelopes, the announcement postcards and save-the-date magnets I designed. I’ll be mailing the postcards and magnets in the envelopes to the people we’ll be inviting, and then the postcards just need stamps and they become regular announcements to the people we aren’t able to invite. The coloring printed a little differently between the magnets and postcards, but I think they turned out REALLY nicely and I’m really glad we decided to go this route. And the envelopes are a super-bright green so they won’t be lost in the junk mail.