Well, it is wedding week and I am UNBELIEVABLY calm and beyond excited!!! I have so many emotions going through me right now. I’m excited, scared, anxious, emotional, tired, energetic…ALL IN ONE! I am getting married in 4 days and I never thought it would get here fast enough. I’m sure, before I know it, I will be posting pictures from the honeymoon and reminiscing about these last few days of anticipation before the wedding.
Today is my last day at work and I walked in to my cubicle COMPLETELY decorated! I have streamers all over and heart balloons and rose petals practically overtaking my desk. My girlfriends from work had breakfast waiting for me and a few little gifts, including a white velour sweatsuit that says “soon to be Mrs. Shade” written on the back. It is SOOO cute! I have been wanting one for the LONGEST time but refused to pay the $100+ that they charge online. So, my girlfriend, Andrea, made it for me. I’ll wear that the morning of the wedding while I’m getting my hair and makeup done. They also surprised me with a girl’s lunch which was so fun.
I have literally done nothing all day today. I looked up the weather report earlier today and caught myself just staring at it and smiling. The latest report says that it is supposed to be the nicest day of the week. Sunny and 42 degrees. I was hoping for a little snow…but I would rather have it dry than a blizzard. Who knows…maybe it will end up snowing on Friday night so when we wake up on the wedding day, everything will have a nice coating.
It’s funny how I’ve changed in these past few days. I honestly don’t care about any of the little details NEARLY as much as before. My mentality is that we have all of the essentials for a good wedding---if the little details don’t fall into place, it won’t matter. All I care about is marrying Doug! I actually get butterflies in my stomach when I think about it! I haven’t gotten butterflies in YEARS! I’m so giddy lately. Everyone keeps telling me to enjoy these next few days and cherish EVERY moment and I am trying so hard. It’s times like these that you wish you could just make time go slower or push the pause button and cherish the moment.
My days have completely filled up for the rest of the week. I am running around tomorrow and Thursday and then we’re already at Friday. I have a hair appointment at 9:00 am and then Jass flies in at 10:00am. It looks like a few of us are meeting for a lunch at 11:30 and then we have our mani/pedi appointments at 1:00. Then, I guess I’ll do some last minute packing and get dressed for the rehearsal and dinner. It’s crazy to have an hour by hour itinerary!!! It really makes it seem like the day is just going to zoom by!
I’m so excited for Saturday to be here!!!! This will most likely be the last time I am able to blog until after the wedding and honeymoon. BUT…I promise…the next one after the honeymoon will be a LONG one with lots of details and lots of pictures!
Lookout, Punta Cana…Mr. and Mrs. Shade are on their way!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
"Something is always going to go wrong..."
“Keep a sense of humor. No matter how perfectly you plan your wedding, something is always going to go wrong. Accept it and laugh about it. Getting upset isn’t going to make it better, and the person that said laughter was the best medicine wasn’t kidding!”
I have had to remind myself of these very wise words multiple times this weekend. I decided to use the extra days that I had off of work for Thanksgiving to tackle the remaining, large projects (ceremony programs, escort cards, seating arrangement (ugh), table numbers…) for the wedding and reception. I decided a while ago that I was going to design and make my own ceremony programs. I knew the type of program that I wanted and so last weekend, I spent hours (LITERALLY) printing and designing these programs just perfectly. The programs are actually called “layer” programs. There are 4 pages total and each page “steps down” from the one in front of it. I know it is hard to picture, but, they are really cool! It was a trial and error type of thing to get the wording perfectly “stepped” down from the previous. So, when I say I spent HOURS…I was not kidding! I bought a black backing for these programs that has two holes at the top to hold all of the pages together with a bow. I decided to buy a hole puncher and start punching all of the holes myself. Well, we have 150 guests with 4 sheets per program. That’s A LOT of holes to punch! My girlfriend suggested I take them to Kinko’s and have them punch the holes for me. Since I work in King of Prussia, I decided to take them to the one right down the street from where I worked. I had never been to this one before…but, they are all the same, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!
I dropped them off and the kid that took my order ASSURED me that he took notes on EXACTLY what I wanted. For some reason, I still felt really uneasy about it all. I ended up getting out of work early on Wednesday so I went over to pick them up. The programs were COMPLETELY destroyed. They punched the holes in the wrong spot and they didn’t even come CLOSE to lining up to the black backing. I lost it! I just stood there and bawled in front of the poor girl at the register. She was so taken back that she ran to get her manager. I was so devastated that I had spent SO MUCH TIME getting these programs just perfect and now they were ruined. The Manager realized that it was their error and offered to re-print all 600 pages of the programs and then punch the correct holes. What a waist of time and 600 pages of ink! I was so bummed!!! I agreed and said I would be back on Thanksgiving Day to pick them up. (Can you believe they are open on Thanksgiving Day?!?!)
Let me just tell you how amazingly awesome Doug is! He was SO supportive throughout this entire ordeal and so understanding. Most guys would laugh and think “it’s just paper.” Doug was so understanding!!!
So, after brunch with my family on Thanksgiving Day, we drove back to Kinko’s. AGAIN…they messed them up! We had to have them cut the programs down so that the “stepping effect” would work AND the holes were still not perfect. I was so frustrated and Doug kept reminding me not to stress over the little details. I look at these programs and all of the flaws instantly pop out to me. Everyone else looks at the programs and they don’t see any flaws. So…I have had to remind myself over and over to just laugh at the things I can’t control. At least we will have programs, right?
Thanksgiving was really nice and really relaxing! We had dinner at Doug’s family’s house and ate SO much. His Dad is an AMAZING cook!!! Everything is homemade and unbelievably good. So much for the pre-wedding diet!
On Friday, Doug and I got up early and went to the Montgomery County Courthouse to get our marriage license. Several people at my work told me that we needed a witness for this, so we brought my Sister, Ashley. It turns out, we did not need one. She posed as our photo journalist instead. :) I put a few pictures of this above. I have never been to the Courthouse before this and it was absolutely crazy that we were going to apply for a marriage license! Doug and I could not believe how easy it was to do! We answered a few questions about our parents and our occupations and then we put our right hand on the Bible and swore that everything we said was true. (I thought it was really cool that they still incorporated the Bible into this process!) Then…we paid $45 and had our marriage license. That’s it! It is actually official today. She said that we are officially married (based on the certificate) but not legally. It didn’t really make sense to me, but it sounds cool!!! I guess nothing else matters. It’s all just little stuff from here on out.
Tonight I am going to try and finish up tying all of the little bows onto the ceremony programs and, if I have time, put the black backing on my escort cards. The only thing left to do is print out the menu programs (which I actually think Doug will do tonight) and then put the backing on those.
We are 12 days away today and I couldn’t be more excited. After having the programs out of the way and getting over that hurdle, I don’t feel stressed anymore. Just REALLY REALLY excited!!!!!! I can’t wait to be Mrs. Shade! :)
I have had to remind myself of these very wise words multiple times this weekend. I decided to use the extra days that I had off of work for Thanksgiving to tackle the remaining, large projects (ceremony programs, escort cards, seating arrangement (ugh), table numbers…) for the wedding and reception. I decided a while ago that I was going to design and make my own ceremony programs. I knew the type of program that I wanted and so last weekend, I spent hours (LITERALLY) printing and designing these programs just perfectly. The programs are actually called “layer” programs. There are 4 pages total and each page “steps down” from the one in front of it. I know it is hard to picture, but, they are really cool! It was a trial and error type of thing to get the wording perfectly “stepped” down from the previous. So, when I say I spent HOURS…I was not kidding! I bought a black backing for these programs that has two holes at the top to hold all of the pages together with a bow. I decided to buy a hole puncher and start punching all of the holes myself. Well, we have 150 guests with 4 sheets per program. That’s A LOT of holes to punch! My girlfriend suggested I take them to Kinko’s and have them punch the holes for me. Since I work in King of Prussia, I decided to take them to the one right down the street from where I worked. I had never been to this one before…but, they are all the same, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!
I dropped them off and the kid that took my order ASSURED me that he took notes on EXACTLY what I wanted. For some reason, I still felt really uneasy about it all. I ended up getting out of work early on Wednesday so I went over to pick them up. The programs were COMPLETELY destroyed. They punched the holes in the wrong spot and they didn’t even come CLOSE to lining up to the black backing. I lost it! I just stood there and bawled in front of the poor girl at the register. She was so taken back that she ran to get her manager. I was so devastated that I had spent SO MUCH TIME getting these programs just perfect and now they were ruined. The Manager realized that it was their error and offered to re-print all 600 pages of the programs and then punch the correct holes. What a waist of time and 600 pages of ink! I was so bummed!!! I agreed and said I would be back on Thanksgiving Day to pick them up. (Can you believe they are open on Thanksgiving Day?!?!)
Let me just tell you how amazingly awesome Doug is! He was SO supportive throughout this entire ordeal and so understanding. Most guys would laugh and think “it’s just paper.” Doug was so understanding!!!
So, after brunch with my family on Thanksgiving Day, we drove back to Kinko’s. AGAIN…they messed them up! We had to have them cut the programs down so that the “stepping effect” would work AND the holes were still not perfect. I was so frustrated and Doug kept reminding me not to stress over the little details. I look at these programs and all of the flaws instantly pop out to me. Everyone else looks at the programs and they don’t see any flaws. So…I have had to remind myself over and over to just laugh at the things I can’t control. At least we will have programs, right?
Thanksgiving was really nice and really relaxing! We had dinner at Doug’s family’s house and ate SO much. His Dad is an AMAZING cook!!! Everything is homemade and unbelievably good. So much for the pre-wedding diet!
On Friday, Doug and I got up early and went to the Montgomery County Courthouse to get our marriage license. Several people at my work told me that we needed a witness for this, so we brought my Sister, Ashley. It turns out, we did not need one. She posed as our photo journalist instead. :) I put a few pictures of this above. I have never been to the Courthouse before this and it was absolutely crazy that we were going to apply for a marriage license! Doug and I could not believe how easy it was to do! We answered a few questions about our parents and our occupations and then we put our right hand on the Bible and swore that everything we said was true. (I thought it was really cool that they still incorporated the Bible into this process!) Then…we paid $45 and had our marriage license. That’s it! It is actually official today. She said that we are officially married (based on the certificate) but not legally. It didn’t really make sense to me, but it sounds cool!!! I guess nothing else matters. It’s all just little stuff from here on out.
Tonight I am going to try and finish up tying all of the little bows onto the ceremony programs and, if I have time, put the black backing on my escort cards. The only thing left to do is print out the menu programs (which I actually think Doug will do tonight) and then put the backing on those.
We are 12 days away today and I couldn’t be more excited. After having the programs out of the way and getting over that hurdle, I don’t feel stressed anymore. Just REALLY REALLY excited!!!!!! I can’t wait to be Mrs. Shade! :)
Monday, November 12, 2007
Bachelorette party in NYC
WOW! Where do I even begin??!?!? What an amazing 24 hours this has been!
My entire bachelorette party was a surprise to me. (Actually…the date was supposed to be a surprise, but I found it out. Oops.) I was told that Doug was going to pick me up on Saturday at 1:30 and to pack an overnight bag. That’s it!!!!!!! Doug said I was on a “need to know basis” and I didn’t need to know at this moment. So…I tried my best to enjoy the surprise. Doug ended up picking me up and driving me to my Aunt Kristin’s house in Valley Forge. The girls had planned a mini lingerie party for me there and they had snacks and fun gifts…LOTS of fun gifts! ;) We hung out for a little and then the girls told me that we were going to NYC. I was SOOOOO excited that we were going there! I couldn’t believe it!!! :) I LOVE NY and no matter where we were going, it didn’t matter. It was going to be in NY!!!
My friend, Joy, ended up driving us up to NYC in her SUV and we got to the hotel. Ashley had done SO much research on the hotel and found a place that sounded AWESOME and it even said that Madonna had stayed there. When we got into our room, all we saw was a sink in the middle of the room. We all stopped dead in our tracks and asked where the bathroom was?!!!!! Turns out that the bathrooms were shared….as in, everyone on the floor (20-30 rooms) had to share the same bathroom!!!!! It was the most bizarre thing I have ever seen!!! The entire hotel was really odd. The elevator was SUPER tiny and Erin was freaking out! She had to take the steps EVERY time (and we were on the 6th floor) :) When I stood in the hallway of the hotel, I tried to put both of my arms out and couldn’t even stretch them completely out without hitting the walls. VERY ODD! Luckily, we were only in the hotel for a few hours.
We got to the hotel and started getting dressed. Ashley, Erin and I were in one room and then Kristin and Joy were in another. Stephanie (our Best Man’s wife) ended up meeting us at the hotel and got ready for the evening with us. Kristin gave me a white feather boa and a “bride to be” crown with a veil attached. Then, Stephanie got two pins for me to wear and a candy bracelet (that was VERY embarassing). HAHA! I don’t know what it is about bachelorette parties and having that stuff. I guess it is just a big preview of what is to come after the wedding? WHO KNOWS. Anyways…there was a lot of that kind of stuff and it was EXTREMELY embarrassing!
So, we get to our dinner place and little did I know the type of entertainment that awaited me there. The place was called Lucky Cheng’s and all of the guys were dressed up in costumes and some were dressed as girls. It was HYSTERICAL but the strangest thing I have EVER seen!!! Ashley had ordered an entire bachelorette package for me. They even pulled me up on stage and had a banana eating contest. (I absolutely HATE bananas!!!). It was all so funny! They had a HUGE cake (I'll let you imagine what the cake looked like) and they had a balloon guy that came around and made "interesting" balloons for all of us. Mine ended up getting strapped to my waist and I carried it around with me everywhere we went. It was such a fun night and SO crazy!!! I really don’t know how I didn’t get beat up walking around on the streets of NYC with a GIANT balloon that looked like....well...I'm sure you can imagine... strapped to my waist. Everyone loved it and seemed to think it was as funny as we thought it was.
The girls all did such an amazing job of thoroughly embarrassing me and taking me out the last time as a single girl.
Now the wedding is REALLY here. Less than 1 month to go………………..
My entire bachelorette party was a surprise to me. (Actually…the date was supposed to be a surprise, but I found it out. Oops.) I was told that Doug was going to pick me up on Saturday at 1:30 and to pack an overnight bag. That’s it!!!!!!! Doug said I was on a “need to know basis” and I didn’t need to know at this moment. So…I tried my best to enjoy the surprise. Doug ended up picking me up and driving me to my Aunt Kristin’s house in Valley Forge. The girls had planned a mini lingerie party for me there and they had snacks and fun gifts…LOTS of fun gifts! ;) We hung out for a little and then the girls told me that we were going to NYC. I was SOOOOO excited that we were going there! I couldn’t believe it!!! :) I LOVE NY and no matter where we were going, it didn’t matter. It was going to be in NY!!!
My friend, Joy, ended up driving us up to NYC in her SUV and we got to the hotel. Ashley had done SO much research on the hotel and found a place that sounded AWESOME and it even said that Madonna had stayed there. When we got into our room, all we saw was a sink in the middle of the room. We all stopped dead in our tracks and asked where the bathroom was?!!!!! Turns out that the bathrooms were shared….as in, everyone on the floor (20-30 rooms) had to share the same bathroom!!!!! It was the most bizarre thing I have ever seen!!! The entire hotel was really odd. The elevator was SUPER tiny and Erin was freaking out! She had to take the steps EVERY time (and we were on the 6th floor) :) When I stood in the hallway of the hotel, I tried to put both of my arms out and couldn’t even stretch them completely out without hitting the walls. VERY ODD! Luckily, we were only in the hotel for a few hours.
We got to the hotel and started getting dressed. Ashley, Erin and I were in one room and then Kristin and Joy were in another. Stephanie (our Best Man’s wife) ended up meeting us at the hotel and got ready for the evening with us. Kristin gave me a white feather boa and a “bride to be” crown with a veil attached. Then, Stephanie got two pins for me to wear and a candy bracelet (that was VERY embarassing). HAHA! I don’t know what it is about bachelorette parties and having that stuff. I guess it is just a big preview of what is to come after the wedding? WHO KNOWS. Anyways…there was a lot of that kind of stuff and it was EXTREMELY embarrassing!
So, we get to our dinner place and little did I know the type of entertainment that awaited me there. The place was called Lucky Cheng’s and all of the guys were dressed up in costumes and some were dressed as girls. It was HYSTERICAL but the strangest thing I have EVER seen!!! Ashley had ordered an entire bachelorette package for me. They even pulled me up on stage and had a banana eating contest. (I absolutely HATE bananas!!!). It was all so funny! They had a HUGE cake (I'll let you imagine what the cake looked like) and they had a balloon guy that came around and made "interesting" balloons for all of us. Mine ended up getting strapped to my waist and I carried it around with me everywhere we went. It was such a fun night and SO crazy!!! I really don’t know how I didn’t get beat up walking around on the streets of NYC with a GIANT balloon that looked like....well...I'm sure you can imagine... strapped to my waist. Everyone loved it and seemed to think it was as funny as we thought it was.
The girls all did such an amazing job of thoroughly embarrassing me and taking me out the last time as a single girl.
Now the wedding is REALLY here. Less than 1 month to go………………..
Monday, October 29, 2007
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, October 22, 2007
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!!!!!!! :)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
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!!!!!!!!! :)
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!!!!!!!!! :)
Monday, October 8, 2007
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. :)
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. :)
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