Music, dresses, escort cards and more...

I feel a little bit like a broken record when I constantly say "I can't believe how close it is." BUT...I truly CANNOT believe it! I got butterflies on Saturday when we hit the 6 week mark.
Today, we woke up and had our first frost. Normally, that would make me not the happiest because of having to scrape the cars and pull out the jackets and scarfs. Today, it put me on cloud nine. This weather means that the wedding is THAT MUCH closer and I am just a few short weeks away from marrying my best friend. It has been so warm here lately that it doesn't even feel like the end of October! FINALLY...we are in full-fledged fall weather!!!
A lot has happened this past week. The most important is that both my Mom and Doug's Mom got their dresses. YAY! I was getting a little nervous that we were only 6 weeks away and neither one had their dresses. My Mom's dress is STUNNING! It is called "greige" which is technically a mixture of grey and beige. I think it looks more like a slate grey. It is SUCH a flattering dress and looks phenomenal on my Mom! I was able to see the dress that Doug's Mom picked out last night as well. It is a deep plum color and makes her look so slender! She looked so beautiful and was beaming when she tried it on for us. So...the dress situation is all taken care of. Just a few alterations here and there and they are set.
Doug and I were able to meet with the organist that Doug's Dad picked for us. His name is Chris and he was SOO talented! He just got back from studying improvisation in France. Everything that we had picked out for him to play, he knew and loved! PLUS...he is so low maintenance! He is going to coordinate with the violinist, the trumpeter and my soloist, Sandy, to work on a rehearsal date. He made it so easy on me! STRESS FREE... :)
The one area of the wedding that I am having some "anxiety" (I refuse to say stress! Stress is when you get really cranky AND worried. I'm just worried at this point!) on is the escort cards (or seating cards). My ideas have changed so drastically from when I first got engaged until now. Last December, I wanted the wedding colors to be red, gold and creme. Now...I've completely re-vamped the color scheme to be black and white with touches of deep red. I don't really have a theme for the whole day. Just colors to work with. I have been searching and searching and trying to find escort cards that had black and white on them. NOTHING! How in the world could a company NOT make black and white escort cards? Seems so common to me. So, I decided to make them myself....in all of my spare time. ;) Our invitations have a black bow at the very top so after experimenting for several hours with plain white card stock, I finally came up with the idea of having all of the paper products have black bows on them to tie everything together. So, I think the escort cards, the menus, the ceremony programs and the table numbers will all have a black bow at the top of them. I think I am also going to line the underside of the white card stock with a thicker black card stock to match my invites a little more. I have NO IDEA how long all of this is going to take; I'm assuming it won't be quick.
It's amazing the nervousness that runs through your mind when you try to picture the entire event coming together AND LOOKING GOOD this late in the game. I understand why brides get crazy! I have just been trying to focus on the fact that I am going to be married to Doug and that is the real reason of the day. Nothing else really matters in the grand scheme of things. That day is going to be between God, Doug and I. Everyone else is just a spectator, offering support for that day and the years to come.
All this being said........Doug and I still need your thoughts and prayers as we try to stay on top of all that we need to do before the big day....in EXACTLY 40 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SURPRISE spa day with the girls

If I have not mentioned it before, I seriously have THE GREATEST girlfriends in the world! Several weeks ago, Ashley called me and asked me to reserve the afternoon of October 21 for her. She said she could not tell me what was going on and that I would find out the day of. So...yesterday, around 12 noon, Doug and I walked out of Church towards a black car that I TOTALLY did not recognize. Little did I know, it was my girlfriend, Kate, who works at THP with Doug. I was SOOOO confused!!! :)

We ended up driving down to the city where Ashley had made reservations at a spa for massages and facials. Unfortunately, we hit a TON of traffic and ended up being VERY late for our appointments. Ash worked her typical "ash magic" and rearranged the schedules. The spa was called Ettore and it is located inside the Marriott in Philadelphia. It looked SUPER cool and they just so happened to be having a big art exhibit with a local artist. The artist' work looked almost IDENTICAL to Dali's collection. Anyways...they had all of these hor's douvres being butlered and cheese stations set up. It was SUPER cool! The spa itself, was not the greatest. And, actually, I have never had such a bad facial in my life! BUT...it's all things that we laughed at and made fun! We were able to all have lunch together and look at the artwork while being pampered. We even got our picture taken to be placed in the Philadelphia magazine!

It was so cool to have such a nice surprise and have a bunch of my girlfriends all getting pampered and sipping champagne with me! Too bad everyday can't be a spa day!!!!!!! :)

Hair and makeup trial!

So, last Wednesday was the hair and makeup trial. I had had such a bad week last week that I decided to take a 1/2 day on Wednesday. I was SO glad that I did!!! It was so nice to have an afternoon to myself. I ran some MUCH NEEDED errands and then Mom and I had an early dinner at 3:00. By 4:00, we were on the road and entering some SERIOUS traffic in Philly. The place that I have chosen to go with is called Bella Angel and one of their biggest features is that they will come to the bride on the day of the wedding. So...this means that we will all be able to get ready at the Mansion (talk about a beautiful backdrop) instead of cramming into my house. So, since they come to you the day of, you have to go to them for the trial. They were located on Black Horse Pike in NJ. Well, if you know me at all...I am AWFUL with directions and can literally get lost in my own neighborhood (no lie!). We actually made pretty good time getting down there and ended up being a bit early. I was SUPER tired from fighting the traffic so Mom and I decided to try to find a Starbucks to grab a cup of coffee before the appointment. We drove past their location and went down about 10 miles until we finally came across a tiny Dunkin' Donuts. (NO STARBUCKS ANYWHERE!!! What's up, Jersey?!) We got our coffees and then ended up getting SEVERELY lost on the Atlantic City Expressway. We drove around and back-tracked for about 30 minutes until we finally found our way back. haha...should have NEVER gone for that coffee! :)
The place was very small and very un-pretentious! The girl that was working with me was very young and adorable! She graduated with a degree in Art so we had a lot to talk about! I showed her pictures of what I had wanted and we talked about ideas. She did my makeup first (which I was most apprehensive about) and I ended up LOVING it. We had to tweak a few things...and I'm still not 100% sure of the red lipstick...but I ended up liking it A LOT more than I thought I would!
My hair was AMAZING! I came in with a picture of a hairstyle that was so unique and that I absolute adored. The only way that I can describe it is to say a "weave." Basically, she took pieces of my hair and weaved them all together (kind of like a basket) and put it in the back. It was so beautiful and exactly what I had wanted!
My Mom was loving EVERY SECOND of it! They had a trial veil that they let me put on just to get the idea of everything all together. The second I put the veil on, my Mom started BAWLING! She was fine the whole time and then just lost it all of the sudden. It was really cute and really emotional!
After it was all said and done...It was almost 10:00 pm. I was so bummed to take it all out (which took me a good 30 minutes) and wash off all of my makeup. It was CRAZY to think that the next time I would be all done up would be on the wedding day. Crazy, good. Like...I CANNOT wait!!!!!!!!! :)

60 days and counting...

Well, today marks EXACTLY two months until I become Mrs. Douglas Shade!!! Actually, down to the minute. I will be walking down the aisle around 5:00 pm (as long as a certain Groom is not late). It's so crazy to think that there are only 2 months to go! I really cannot believe how quickly this month has flown by! I feel like it was just yesterday that I was walking into work trying to think up a creative way to show my ring to everyone. Now, there are only 8 weeks left. It has actually started to get a bit stressful. Okay, I am lying. A LOT stressful! We were fine up until we hit the 3 month mark (last month). Then...family started REALLY getting involved and REALLY trying to take control. It has been tough trying to set expectations and make everyone happy while at the same time, have our special day exactly like WE want it. It's such a fine balance. I can honestly say that I now understand why people want to elope! It does make it SO much easier and does eliminate a lot of stress and unwanted grief. BUT...I know that when our day comes, we will be so thankful that we pushed through it all and stuck with it. I just keep thinking of the words "I now pronounce you husband and wife" and it brings a smile to my face! I have waited so long to be Doug's wife and I can hardly contain the excitement as I imagine living together and being married!!!!
As far as the planning is concerned...we have pretty much everything done. Doug and I spent all day yesterday assembling and stuffing envelopes for the invites. (Actually, Doug ended up taking a nap and I stuffed) ;) It was actually kind of therapeutic to put all of the invites together. It's going to be crazy to start receiving everyones response cards. I imagine that they will pretty much all come at once and then there will be a few stragglers towards the end.
I have my hair and makeup trial on Wednesday night. I actually just requested to take a 1/2 day at work so that Mom and I can grab dinner before the trial. I'm so excited but a bit nervous that everything will work out. It's so scary booking your hair and makeup! Especially when you don't know anyone specific that has used them in the past. I guess that is what trials are for. I'll be sure to write an update on Thursday and let you all know how it went. I probably won't take pictures...some things need to be a surprise. :)