Yay for friends!

So one of my good friends got engaged on Christmas (Congrats again, Kelly!) and I got to see another good friend who lives out of town yesterday (Hi, Lorin!). It's been a really exciting time. I've felt somewhat like I haven't really gotten much done on the wedding since I can't book anything for another few months, but talking with Lorin made me realize that even though it's not all concrete yet, I've already gotten a lot planned. I have the big picture, some venues are scoped out, invitations are coming together (I'm designing them myself), and I tried on wedding dresses for the first time today! It was pretty awesome, and it reinforced what I thought I was looking for in a wedding dress.

So here's to a productive 2010! Hopefully when school starts up again next week (uggghhhhh!!!) I'll have some peace of mind knowing that things are well on their way.

Happy 2010 everyone! Be safe!

Making progress...

I took a break from obsessing. It was good. Instead I've been playing with designing a monogram to accompany our invitations, programs, etc. It's been really fun! Also, I'm pretty sure that I've nailed down our colors and have an idea of what I'm looking for out of stationary. The vision is starting to come together! :) I'll share what I've been working on once other things are more concrete. I'm going to start looking at venues this week, and Tim and I are going to look at invitations together today. It's exciting to see the whole thing moving closer.

And on a side note, Tim and I have been engaged for 1 month today! ♥

So. Much.Stuff.

I have 1.5 years to plan everything, and already it feels like I'm behind! There's so much to think about... Should we decide on a guest list then find a venue that accommodates everyone, or should we find a venue we like THEN decide on a guest list? Should the centerpieces be candles, flowers, or candles AND flowers? And invitations... so many options (pocket, square, boxes, folded...)! I have trouble deciding what I want to eat for dinner. Seriously. This is nuts. Band, DJ, or iPod playlist? It goes on and on... The last few days have been basically about immersing myself in all things "wedding". At least now, I have a better idea of what's out there and what I don't like. But if I have to spend another hour staring at invitations in slightly different shades of ivory, I may just end up making a Facebook event invite for the wedding.

One thing at a time. One foot in front of the other. Breathe in and out. Ok. I can do this.

Where to start?

Where to start...? I guess I should start by stating the obvious. I'm getting married! Yay! :) After dating for 7.5 years, Tim proposed to me on November 21, 2009, and we're planning on getting married in May 2011 in our hometown of Augusta, GA. I know it seems like a long time away, but we want to take our time and minimize the stress as much as possible. I'm still in school, working on my Doctorate of Physical Therapy; I hardly have time to get a haircut, much less plan and follow-through with a wedding while still doing coursework! So we are going to wait until I graduate in May 2011, and plan to wed a couple of weeks later. I decided to start a blog to capture all the little moments throughout the wedding planning process so I can have them all to look back on later.

Once finals finished for the semester, I finally had time to start planning! I'm super excited!! I decided that one of the first things that I need to do is finalize a date so that we can plan everything else around a concrete date. I went to the church of which I am a member, and was slightly disheartened by the Debbie Downer receptionist. She looked at me like I was nuts trying to get information and book the church this far in advance. She gave me a pamphlet of rules and guidelines to follow (I'm Catholic, so I expected that much... we do like our hoops to jump through!) in order to get married there and told me to come back next year when they have more time. I was kinda bummed... I got up today and thought, "I'm going to be productive today and start making some headway on the wedding planning!" and instead I got, "Sorry. Try again later." When I got home, I decided to call other Catholic churches in the area. A couple of them didn't answer the phone, but the one church that did gave me a much better and more optimistic feeling. The woman I spoke with still said that I can't officially book anything until around March when they get the calendars for 2011 and reassured me that no one else has called about a wedding in May so I'm not in danger of losing the date (yet, at least). She was also very excited about the wedding, and offered her congratulations several times (which the first woman I spoke with didn't do once). Getting off of the phone with her made me feel much more encouraged about everything, and gave me some guidance about what to tackle next. My mom and I decided that for now we will focus more on things that we know we will need regardless of the date, like invitations, favors, flowers, and the dress. So that's what my next few weeks will consist of! I'm really excited to finally be doing something and plan and see everything come together!