So, before I get into today's call, let me rewind to a call I got about 8 days ago from the lady at the Boutique where I am getting my bridemaids dresses. Back in October, me and a couple of my bridesmaids went dress shopping, and I was sooooo excited to find a dress that I adored. Not only was it exactly the kind of simple, elegant dress I was looking for, but it appeared to be universally flattering, which was really important to me. Going into the whole bridesmaid dress thing, I was trying to be very conscious to A) not pick a hideous dress B) not pick a ridiculously expensive dress, and C) make it as stress-free as possible for my gals to purchase the dress. Since my wedding is not for another 8 months, I planned to give everyone until the end of the year to get their dresses ordered. Sounds pretty reasonable, right? Wrong. Apparently the wedding gods were not so keen with that plan. I got a call from the boutique owner last week letting me know that the dress designer was shutting down that line of dresses and I have until November 18 to get all my orders in. Ummm....can we say stress?! So after a frantic email to all of my b-maids, they all said they could rally and make it happen. Even thought they're all awesome for agreeing to the rush order, it was so not the way I wanted everything to go down. I guess this means that their bridesmaid gifts need to be extra awesome :).
Moving on to the call I got today....as some of you may recall from this post, I was lucky enough to find and purchase a fabulous wedding dress over labor day weekend during a girls' wedding weekend in Atlanta. For anyone who is not familiar with the process, it typically takes about 6-8 months for a wedding dress to come in once ordered. So, I was expecting to get a call sometime after March letting me know my gown was in. I did not, however, expect to get that call at 2:30pm this afternoon. Ummm, yep...my dress came in....and it only took two months! I know this doesn't seem like a big deal, but what you don't know is that I have 10 days to pick it up from the store! Apparently the dresses are only insured for 10 days and must be picked up in that time frame. Okay, great...no problem. Oh except that I live in Lexington, KY not Atlanta, GA...and even with the pedal to the metal, it's a 5.5 hour drive. That, folks, is what we call stress... So even though it freaks me out to do this...I am sending my sister to pick up the dress and bring it to me next weekend. The truth is, I am sure the dress is in perfect condition, and my sister is a neat freak perfectionist type so I know she will thoroughly inspect it before she leaves with it. But I'm sorry, only a bride is going to notice the details....and the fit....and the color....and any other tiny little thing that may be wrong with it. But this over-stressed bride is not going to be there to check, and that adds another level of anxiety to things that I really didn't anticipate. Plus, it brings up the inevitable question of this: What the HECK am I going to do with the dress for the next 8 months?! I feel sure that as soon as it goes to the back the guest closet at my parents' house there will be some mysterious house fire that attacks only that room and in contained only to the contents of the closet. It would be just. my. luck.
Sorry, I know those last two rants were a bit on the Debbie Downer side of things. My apologies. But I am curious...to all my married and engaged readers out there: Do you find the whole wedding planning thing as exhausting as I do? Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely beyond excited to marry my guy. I would do it tomorrow if I could. But I sometimes worry that all the "stuff" on our wedding to-do lists is going to get in the way of the excitement that we should be enjoying during this time in our lives. Does anyone else feel that way? Aside from the dress distress I'm going through right now, I am also knee deep in trying to get together out wedding website, pick out our Save-the-Dates, and most importantly...trying to get our guest list together. I can barely think about that without getting a nose-bleed.
One thing I am looking forward to though is doing our gift registry. We are going to tackle part of that this weekend. I really don't know what to expect with that, but really I am just looking forward to spending the day with K and spending it shoppping too! It's a win-win. So that brings up yet another question...where should we register?? I know that Macy's will be where we register for the majority of our gifts due to the fact that it's easily accessable to pretty much all of my guests (local and out-of-towners). But, I would also like to register for a few things at a more "specialty" kind of place....I am leaning towards Pottery Barn....but again, recommendations welcome.
Anways, sorry for the wedding overload. Sometimes is feels good to just do a little pulse check with the rest of the universe and make sure I'm not the only crazy girl out there that feels like the planning can be overwhelming. Any tips out there from my married/engaged gals on things that you did/do to not get lost in the planning and enjoy it while it lasts??
6 comments:
1. Remember, the wedding is one day, and it's a day to celebrate your marriage, which is the more important thing. No matter how much you plan every detail, something will go differently than you planned it, but the day will still be wonderful, and one you'll remember for ever. The "stuff" only gets in the way if you let it - keep the right perspective about it, and you'll be able to enjoy it instead of stress about it.
2. We registered at Pier One for fun house stuff - loved it. Also, did you know you can register with Pampered Chef for kitchen stuff - theirs is seriously the best and I wish I had known when I was getting married. (Full disclosure, I'm a consultant for them) :)
3. When I ordered my dress, they told me 12 weeks. Two weeks later I got a call that it was in. It survived the closet, and still looked great on the wedding day. :)
We got engaged and married in approximately 10 weeks. No time for stress that way! We did have a freak out when our pastor had to cancel because he had thrown his back out. Luckily my dad's pastor took over and he did an amazing job. It'll be perfect ... Even if it's not perfect.
gf! let me know if i can help in any way! i feel so bad for you! I suggest BB&B for registering..i mean, they have EVERYTHING! plus you can actually use their coupons when you buy a wedding gift!
One thing my husband taught me long before we got married was that everything will work out. Just stay positive about the wedding and it will all work out. Remember that the whole planning process is a time to have fun and be creative with your man, your family and your friends. All of this should be fun and exciting, not draining. And the day of, the things that go wrong, you won't even notice them because you will be having so much fun!
Obviously you will have hiccups along the way, but just remind yourself that it's one day of your life, but it means you get to spend the rest of your life with the man you love! And that is the most important part!!
As for registering somewhere for fun stuff, do it at a place that you LOVE! That way you are will find lots of things to put on your list!
I love reading your wedding posts because it reminds of planning my wedding and I had so much fun doing it! So keep them coming :-)
I haven't been dress shopping yet... Probably need to get on that! We now have 10 months left in our engagement and I'm slowly starting everything. TRYing to not become overwhelmed. ;)
Any advice on 'what not to do' is greatly appreciated!
I really enjoyed the planning part of it because I like to do that kind of stuff, but I have seen my friends experience the stressfull side. We cut out a lot of extra details that we didn't want to spend money on and didn't feel were necessary for the day which cut out a lot of stress and coordination. We doubled our holiday cards as our save the date and had them say "Marry Christmas! Get it?" But that really fit our personality and the style of our wedding which was not a black tie affair. I did very few DIY projects because we didn't have the time or the money to spend on them. No programs, no favors, and we hired a DJ that practially doubled as a wedding coordinator. The day pretty much ran itself with that guy. Best of luck, you will be a beautiful bride!
Bre
www.breezyinbloom.blogspot.com
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