Happy New Year 2013~The Year We Will Tie The Knot!

Happy New Year everyone, I am so excited to have finally entered 2013, The Year We Will Tie The Knot!

The past month has been crazy at work, as I signed a contract with the hospital to take on 4 extra shifts a month, which has made work a priority, instead of life outside of work. I was able to decorate the house beautifully for the holidays, and now the daunting task is at hand where all those gorgeous holiday decor must come down and be stored away for next year. BUT, one must not forget that by celebrating the New Year, we are also ringing in the year Michael and I will be married, and I don't want wedding planning to be swept to the side. So, I'm back reading THE BOOK, my trusty month-by-month wedding planner, and I'm throwing December and January's list together to stay on track!

In December, we entered into Chapter 4, Nine Months Ahead, which focuses on Personalizing the Reception, and features the following To-Do List:

1. Choose a theme.

2. Select table linens.

3. Rent or buy decorations.

4. Select invitations and announcements.

I didn't write a post about this last month because when I briefly looked at this chapter, I said to myself, "Oh, already did this!" To keep everyone in the loop however, I'll quickly run through the list. The first listed item is choosing a theme, which Michael helped direct me to when he told me he wanted "a simple wedding with not a lot of foo-foo-ness." I scoured Pinterest, and keeping with Michael's request of simple, his country background and my love for all things vintage, came up with theme of Vintage Country Chic, which brings thoughts of Mason Jars, all things burlap and lace, and a soft color palette to mind, like the one below.

When selecting table linens and decor, those who were privy to come to our engagement party in California in November, were able to see a sneak peak of my mother's interpretation on this theme, and our wedding will be like her decorations, but more! My mother, Nona, and I have been scouring thrift stores, craft stores, and garage sales, on our own time, slowly accumulating nick knacks that go with our theme. I can't wait to bring them all together, lay them out, and put our vision together. I have also been blessed with one of my bridesmaids, the lovely Lauren, and her sweet mother Liz, have the same love for all things vintage, have stated they would share their beautiful, skillfully acquired treasures with us to help decorate our venue as well. And touching on the last listed item of selecting invitations, good 'ol Pinterest has come in handy again, leading to a DIY template so I can stick with our simple theme and low budget, and make our own invites. It will be a lot of work, but anything crafty and hands on gets me excited! I'm thinking of recycled brown paper and lace, perfect for our rustic, country chic wedding.

Moving on to this month's chapter, and sliding into Eight Months Ahead, I was happy to see that once again I am ahead of the game, and have mostly covered this months theme of The Bride's Gown (and Other Wedding Attire). This month's To-Do list includes:

1. Shop for the bridal gown.

2. Shop for wedding party attire.

3. Determine groom's attire.

I was so eager to try on dresses when we first got engaged, that not even a month after Michael had put a ring on my finger, I had already found the dress type I wanted (thank you internet and Pinterest!), and without much further ado, made an appointment at a chic bridal boutique in Tampa (after my mother gave me her blessing to go dress shopping without her), taking my dear friend Shannon to give me her darnest, honest opinion (which she tactfully does so well). Not even thinking I would buy a dress that soon, I went to my appointment with the sole idea in mind of, "I'm just here to find a dress style that looks good on my body", only to like almost every dress I put on! Shannon was very helpful to narrow down my likes to a "love", a lacy, fitted number that fit my body beautifully, and our theme wonderfully. With a hefty $2,400 price tag, I did what I usually do, and found the same type of dress, but for cheaper, scoring almost the same dress from a used wedding dress site for a quarter of the price. The icing on the cake, my dress was never even worn, still had the tags on it, and was an impulse purchase of the previous owner, who later found a better dress and couldn't return the original!

When asking my special ladies to be my bridesmaids, I included our wedding palette (see above picture), and gave them the option to choose their own dress, in the color palette and styles similar to picture below.

Thinking I had done my bridesmaids a huge favor in being able to have the freedom to choose a dress that fit their body type, in a color that also fit their skin color, I got a reality check when a friend told me the grief they went through when they were given the same "freedom" for another wedding. She spent hours, days, and even weeks trying on multiple dresses that the bride didn't like, or wasn't the "right" color. So, when I was home in November, my bridesmaids and I put our heads together to come up with an easier solution; a bridal line that offered different style dresses, but in the same color, taking the guess work out the dress hunt. Can't wait to see my girl's dresses once they're all in!

Now comes the hard part, #3 on my to-do list, the Groom's attire. I have shown Michael tons of ideas that I like, think he will like, and fitting for our theme and time of year, only to get un-excited reactions of "Ehh, that's okay," to "Nah, I don't really like that". Ahhhhhh!!! We will be working on this one through till the end, I can already see how this will progress, especially since we are still waiting on his fourth groomsman choice...thank goodness we still have Eight Months to decide!