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I’m Married!

So…I got married. Yes, I know this post is only about 2 months late, but do you know how crazy one can become after the…

Wedding Update: I’ve Lost My Marbles

One week and it’s official: I have lost my marbles. It is so crazy that in just one week the big day will finally be…

Wedding Countdown: Two Weeks!

Two weeks. TWO WEEKS. OMG, the two week countdown is here! I thought it was so bizarre once one month rolled around and I was saying to people, “I’m getting married in a month.” But now two weeks?! Okay, I’ll try to stop saying that. Puzzle pieces are falling into place. Final numbers are being tallied. Balances are being paid. Week of and day of schedules are being written. My days are getting filled with appointments – for wedding dress fittings, hair highlights, a meeting with the photographer and cake lady. The gifts we bought for our wedding party are being delivered and packaged. Our marriage license has been applied for. Family is going to start coming in just one week – so excited to see my mom! These last two weeks are going to be fairly maniacal, but the end result will be so worth. Husband and wife. This year of engagement has absolutely flown by, and I’m sure these two weeks will as well. My Twitter statuses might get a little out of control but if you want to follow my excitement, I’m @chicklitplus. Two weeks…until I’m a bride. Pinching myself.

Wedding Update: Less Than One Month!

In twenty-four days, I become a wife. Holy buckets, where has the time gone? This year has flown by, and now my days are filled with last minute details – confirming with my vendors, making a play list for the DJ, planning the rehearsal dinner. We just applied for our marriage license last week and now have that bad boy in our possession. My mom will get to Iowa in just two weeks and I will be so glad to finally have her here and going through this with me. The week before the wedding is started to get filled with appointments – hair, nails, soldering the rings, final dress fitting and pick up. Our ceremony outline and songs have been confirmed, our decorations are being delivered, and the RSVP’s are still trickling in. We have a spare room in our house that was dubbed “The Wedding Room” once we moved in, and now you can barely cross the threshold because it’s jam packed with boxes. I have my second dress fitting tonight and my maids will be learning how to bustle my dress. I’m so excited for this one because I’m curious to see how it will look. My train is quite large and there are seventeen hook and eye boppers for the bustle, so it’s going to take some time to get done! But I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product 🙂 I have to make this post short because well…I’m getting married in twenty-four days and up to my eyes in stress and my to-do list 😉

Wedding Update: The Countdown is REALLY On!

Have I said before the countdown to the wedding is on? It’s REALLY on now! With just about 40 days left until I say I Do, it seems the amount that was being put into the wedding plans is now doubled. A day doesn’t go by where I’m not confirming with vendors (let’s not get me started on that sore subject!), putting together a DIY project like our cardbox, or one of the other many preparations that goes into pulling a wedding off. I’ve had my first dress fitting, complete with shoes, veil, and jewelry, and my second fitting will be in just three weeks. My maids learned how to lace up my corset at the first fitting, and the next will be all about the bustle  My bachelorette party will be August 10 so the final plans are getting in place for that. I’ve had meetings this last week with our florist to see her designs for our bouquet, and with the officiate to go over the final ceremony outline. My family who lives out of state has booked their flights and the bridesmaid dresses are all in. It might seem like what could possibly be left on my list – but there is a lot! Pocket squares need to be ordered for the guys, gifts for our wedding party needs to be ordered, we need a final count on who gets a flower (who is a VIP), we need to secure our marriage license, decide on reception songs to be played, and make our rehearsal dinner invites. And that’s just stuff that should have ALREADY been done, I’m just behind on. Whew! That honeymoon is looking better and better as the day get closer and my stress levels rise. But I’m trying my hardest to keep the end goal in sight – that in almost less than a month I get to marry my best friend…and steal his last name!

Wedding Update: Here Comes the…Stress

Don’t call me a bridezilla. This is the sentence that I say in my head over and over as my wedding date gets closer. I don’t like yelling at people and I am very non-confrontational, but this wedding has brought out a whole new side of me. Why am I yelling at people? The latest fiasco (in the line of many) is that our jewelry store forgot to order our wedding bands. Yes, we went to the jewelry store in May, looked at bands for two hours, had three people including a manager help us, yet no one went ahead and pushed the order through. So when I thought to myself, where is our phone call about the bands being in, and decide to stop off at the store, imagine my extreme pleasure in being told, “I’m sorry, it looks like the order didn’t get put through.” Cue yelling. We’ve also had salespeople “forget” to order the bridesmaid dresses so now my maids barely have time for alterations, and even a hotel simply decided our contract and deposit to block off rooms for our guests wasn’t good enough and gave it to a different wedding party. So please, don’t call me a bridezilla when I yell. I wouldn’t have to be yelling if these errors weren’t being made. The wedding planning would still be stressful, don’t get me wrong, but now I have zero confidence in any of my vendors. I have now becoming the paranoid bride that is calling all of her vendors – from the officiant, cake lady, florist, reception hall manager, etc – to check, double check, confirm and re-confirm everything is set and I will get no more surprises along the way. Is stuff still going to go wrong? Yes, I have no doubt. That happens. But I have to say the amount of human error that has happened so far has me quite displeased, stressed, and not sleeping well at night. But that’s why I have this blog – so I can vent – right? I’ve been putting a few charming tidbits of what’s going wrong on Facebook and Twitter, and I love the email messages I am receiving from other past brides regaling me with their horror stories. They are helping me calm down, see the light at the end of the tunnel, and show me that one day I will look back and laugh and hopefully tell another woman all my sad stories so she can feel relief. I accept that no wedding is perfect and that the planning process will put stress on any bride-to-be.
Well, that was quite the rant! Can you tell this latest miscue just happened and is fresh on my mind? Let’s talk about something more uplifting…like my invitations! I haven’t shared them with the virtual world yet, so I’m happy to use this post to show them off. My first dress fitting is next week, and I finally purchased my shoes as well, so I’m all set for that appointment. Some items we are working on now: our wedding slideshow, buying gifts for our wedding party, and finalizing our ceremony timeline and vows. Less than two months to go and no matter how stressful this has become, I’m still so excited to become a wife and marry my best friend. Just don’t call me a bridezilla.

Wedding Update: Nightmares!

My wedding is just under three months away and I have started having dreams – more like nightmares – every night this past week about the wedding. I have dreamt about my dress not fitting, wearing the wrong dress, the DJ playing my music at the wrong time, lost veils and garters, the groom not finding a ride to the wedding, my bridal party not showing up. What is going on here? As I’m telling people this, a lot of married women are telling me they went through the same thing – and some brides even still have these nightmares, years after they said I Do! I’m glad I’m not alone, but man, these are not fun. I wake up every morning so stressed about another item I need to check off the list or my overactive mind finds a new scenario that can go wrong on the big day. I never imagined planning a wedding would become this stressful, but as we get closer, I can definitely see the toll it’s taken. Invites are going out next week (only three weeks behind according to my The Knot checklist!) and I can’t wait to see if I start dreaming about those next. Off to hunt down a cocktail – or maybe just a piece of chocolate 😉

Wedding Update: Three Months Away!

Well, I’m sad to report that my camera with the handy little video option has died. I haven’t been able to figure out how to prop my phone up long enough for me record a video on there, so I’m just going to have to resort to the old-fashioned way to talk about my wedding – writing! I am now just under 3 months away from becoming Mrs. Janning, and plans are starting to overtake my life. What am I working on now? We just picked up our invites the other day, so next on my list is buying a zillion stamps, stuffing the envelopes, printing our mailing labels, and getting to the post office. We are also trying to finalize our ceremony, and I’m very happy that I have finally picked out all the music. It was a lot harder than I thought finding songs for the wedding party to walk down the aisle to, myself walk down the aisle to, and then recessional, but I finally got that crossed off my list!
We are still working with our male wedding party to get them in and get fitted for their tuxes! Yes –we went with Vera Wang tuxes and I’m jealous of them! We have until August to get it done and I’m sure it will be just fine, but men are quite difficult to finagle I tell you! The guys are wearing grey tuxes and black bowties, and I can’t wait to see them 🙂
My dress fittings are going to start next month, so I’ve been on the hunt for shoes. My dress is the perfect length … for flats. No heels for me on my wedding day, and I’m actually okay with that. I’m afraid I would be so nervous I would trip or do something equally stupid, but it’s been quite the task trying to find cute flats that go with a wedding dress. My mother was so generous and purchased my bridal jewelry and veil so I’ll have those items with me for my fittings, but I need SHOES!!
Taking a deep breath. September 7 is going to be here in the blink of an eye, and I’ll be so excited to share as much as I can on the big day and then of course after 🙂 Thank you everyone for your kind words and emails that I am getting. I can’t wait to be a bride!

Wedding Video Update: 5 Months to Go!

I’m happy my camera is working this month so I could do another vlog for my wedding post! Please ignore the mess behind me –…