Countdown to the Wedding

Things are moving along

Well, Nick and I have finally started to make some decisions about wedding stuff. We knew want we wanted it was just a matter of finding it. It's funny how when you stop searching endlessly for something you find it right under your nose. Well, that is the case with our wedding venue. We have decided on a place near Columbia that offers an outdoor wedding with open air reception space all on the same grounds. I'm kind of relieved we aren't doing the destination wedding thing. We traveled to New Orleans, Miami, and were looking into other areas of Florida. To be honest, Columbia really makes the most sense. Nick and I met at Addison's and Columbia is where our home is, together.

Also, miraculously, I found a dress. Yes, after trying on dresses at 8 places I managed to settle in the on the dress of my dreams. I honestly didn't believe I would have that "moment of realization" but, I did in my own way. The only thing that sucks about this is that, of course, I cannot show Nick until the big day when he is the one person who I want to share everything with.

Now we face our next big hurdles... photographer, food, and tackling invitation ideas.

I heart Miami

What a crazy week(s) I have had. It all started a week and a half ago on Wednesday... I left work to hop on a train to KC. Sally greeted me with a sleeping Jason in tow and we headed to her house to make little gift boxes for the wedding. Having small child-like fingers came in handy. Danielle and Theresa (along with Sally) had planned an all day bachelorette extravaganza beginning poolside. It was quite the fiesta complete with a pinata (that wound up in the cheese dip). After getting significant sunburns (Theresa wound up with a lovely outline of a pinata from the sticker tattoos) we headed to the power and light district. Tons of fun was had including Sally riding the bull and tons of free booze from some nice men.

I had decided that since I would be in KC already it would be a prime time to get some beyond necessary dental work done. Needless to say I wasn't expecting to have to get a tooth extracted. Yuck! I wound up on vicodin for the day and night which only made the rehearsal dinner more exciting. Saturday was Sally and Jason's wedding. It was beautiful. Sally and Jason both said yes and we danced until we were kicked out...

As things turned out we had to fly out to Tampa at 7am that Sunday. Nick's sister Karina graduated on the 6th (we were told the 2nd which is why the crazy scheduling). While in Orlando I had a wonderful wedding dress shopping experience. Nick's mom and sister took me out to 3 places including another trip to David's Bridal. I must admit I was not looking forward to dealing with DB again but, I was pleasantly surprised. I believe after that trip I may have found the dress I plan to wear.

On the ride down to Miami I came up with a potential wedding idea. I love love love love LOVE Miami. Something about it has always felt magical so, in the car I said, "we want a destination wedding. Why not Miami?" and then the idea of NYE came up. Soooo now we might get married on NYE instead of waiting until next year. While in Miami we wound up visiting a beautiful potential location. We've got an idea of where to have the rehearsal dinner. Nick's cousin's girlfriend happens to be a wedding coordinator and his other cousin has offered to help. Marisa has also offered to help with planning too so between the three of them and my all star maid of honor, Sara, I think I have all of my bases completely covered. I've also started researching vacation rentals near that location. It's all very exciting. I just need to discuss with the family and see what they think.

The trip back to KC was pretty hectic. We had to get on the road from Miami at 6am in order to make our flight at 1:30 out of Tampa. We decided to wait and get gas on the highway. At one point I turned to Nick and said, "it's ok if we wait just so long as we don't run out of gas in the middle of the everglades." On the highway we are under a quarter tank when I see a gas station sign that reads "last gas stop". We keep going on down the highway looking for an exit or turn around to go back to the gas station but, 15 miles go by and nothing. Thats when the gas readers beeps and reads "low fuel". Previously this had happened while we were driving and it said that we had maybe 40 miles left in the tank. So from that point on I am watching the miles go by. When we got to 10 miles left I though "well at least we have onstar." It was moments later that Nick pressed the button... a recorded message came up and said if this is an emergency call 911. So, onward we went. 0 miles left of 40 and Nick is almost eating his thumb he is chewing on it so fiercely. The off in the distance we see an exit and, it has gas. Luckily we made it and arrived in Tampa with time to spare.

We had a layover in Charlotte, NC and previously we had been told to pick up our boarding passes at the gate once we had arrived. The woman at the gate informed us that our flight had been overbooked and that we might not get seats. She later went on the PA and offered free RT tickets to anyone wiling to give up their seats. Nick and I sat and watched as everyone boarded the and eventually they called us up. They only had one seat available and we weren't willing to separate so, we were forced volunteers. They compensated us with 2 RT tickets, put us up in a hotel for the night, and gave us vouchers for dinner and breakfast. We made it out of NC at 8am on Sunday. Fun fun.

Needless to say, Nick and I have made it back to Columbia and it looks like we have our flights paid for our next FL trip.

David's Bridal

I think I'll start posting all of my fun wedding planning experiences from here on out. Starting with my first excursion trying on dresses. I called and made an appointment with David's Bridal while I was in StL for the memorial weekend. I'm not someone who spends a lot of time on trying on clothing at malls etc.

Let me start off with what happened as we were about to walk into the megaplex of bridal dress stores...

Sara, Laura, my mom, and I were enjoying the nice sunny day when a very unhappy woman/bride to be (she was roughly 28 tops) comes stomping out all huffy like with another gal following (maid of honor?). Immediately she scrounges through her purse pulling out cigarettes and while flicking the lighter she goes into a rant, "I set an appointment for 2 o'clock!" Her friend nods acknowledging her remark. We walked into the store just as we heard her begin to offload all of her problems.

While standing at the front reception desk the unhappy customer from outside comes storming back in. A person we would assume is her mom asks if she would like to try on more dresses. "I DON'T WANT TO TRY ON ANYMORE DRESSES... (yelling even louder) I JUST WANT MY BRIDESMAIDS TO GET FITTED!!!" It took all we had not to start laughing. I felt like I had just watched a live mini episode of Bridezillas.

The front desk ladies seemed nice enough. They told me the lady would would be assisting us was helping another customer and would be with us in a moment. They told us to begin looking around. We began just taking a couple of dresses that looked nice off the rack. Apparently this is not what you are supposed to do as we were reprimanded moments later by the DB worker who we had the appointment with. We were off to a really great start.

To make the rest of the story short I was only able to try on 10 dresses in like one and a half hours. The lady helping was very rude and didn't listen to what style of dress I was looking for. She was far more interested in the other bride that she was helping. Don't get me wrong I was fine with her helping someone else but, she was being nice to them but completely rude to us. Maybe we were just a poor match but even so you would think a sales person would be professional and want to get a commission.

No, I do not love David's Bridal. Or at least not that David's Bridal.

*sigh* the weekend

So, this was Nick's and my first weekend at home post engagement. It was nice to sit on the couch. Sleep. Watch a couple of movies. Eat Chinese food. Do laundry. Make our dog Tobie drink Hydrogen Peroxide in order to get him to vomit up all of the amoxicillin he ate that were for Matilda's urinary tract infection(she had 14 days worth of meds for it and she was only on day 2 when Tobie ate the rest). This happened on Friday night. Needless to say we were pretty worried about him but, it seemed as though it was pretty much out of his system after the initial round of vomiting. I ran out early on Saturday to go by the vet's office to pick up replacement meds for Matilda and some for Tobie. Thankfully he is all better.

It's about time...

So, as many of you already know Nick and I are officially engaged to be married. We have joined this illustrious club that currently has many other friends in it. Seems like weddings are happening left and right.

Both of our families are very happy for us. I couldn't be more excited to be joining his family. I adore everyone and already feel like a part of the family. Nick and I are very excited though, we aren't in a super rush to start planning and getting stressed out about the details. We're thinking a small intimate wedding possibly a destination wedding. I was thinking about a parade with some elephants and penguins maybe... belly dancers...

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