Five Weeks

35 days

240 invited
139 attending
50 declined

RSVPs left: 36

Four verbal RSVPs today:
-my college friend, Tom, and his girlfriend (decline)
-my aunt, Kathy
-our ceremony coordinator, Pat (decline)
-our family friends' son, Joe (decline)

Five weeks, today, until the wedding!

I got my something old today from my gram: my great gramma Leab's pearl necklace! It's beautiful and a new tradition. My aunt and my great aunt both wore it in their weddings, so I'm continuing it! Here's a picture:

Caesar Salad

37 days

234 invited
137 attending
46 declined

RSVPs left: 36

We FINALLY got two more RSVPs today...and they're both declines:
-Matt's college friend, John
-Matt's cousin, Andy, and his wife, Erin
I also got a verbal RSVP, a decline, from my former dance director/teacher, Susan, and her husband, Britton.


My bracelet from Lia Sophia came in today! It is SO pretty and will be perfect for the wedding!

We also got a wedding gift in the mail today from Greg and Liz! It's our salad bowl and servers from Crate and Barrel:

Now I just have to write them a thank you...

The house for the bachelorette fell through over the week and so now we are looking for something else. I've asked to do Providence on Friday night, staying at the Biltmore, and then Saturday in Boston for strippers!

Forty

40 days

234 invited
135 attending
41 declined

RSVPs left: 41

No new RSVPs today, but Matt and I went to see the Avengers tonight. AH-MAZ-ING!

Quick tonight, I bought a new bracelet for the wedding last night. I decided I wanted something different from the pearl bracelet. Here's a picture:

I can't wait to get it in and add it to my stash of wedding accessories!

It's All About the Accessories

135 days

Currently working on: pocketfolds (62/130 done)

I ordered a couple of things tonight! (Matt's Massachuestts tax refund came in and my federal is going in tomorrow.)

First, I ordered the dress that Jess helped me pick out for the after party! I found a coupon online for 20% off so I got it for less than it actually cost ($29.99) which was already the sale price! Here's the one I picked:

Second, I ordered my hairpiece for the wedding! I found one on Etsy from a seller (SarasBoutique) who isn't on vacation. (The shop owner of the original flower that I liked has been on vacation since before Christmas.) It was $17.50 including shipping and I love it! It's going to look amazing with my dress! Here is the sample photo from the listing:

And, lastly, I ordered my earrings for the wedding! I had bought a pair from Lia Sophia a few months back when I started selling it. I love them, but the new catalog had a pair EXACTLY like I had originally wanted. They were $20 with my discount and including shipping and they are absolutely perfect! (I had wanted a similar pair from Swarovski but they were $60. Then I found a similar pair from Claire's but they were cheap looking. Then I found the ones in Lia Sophia that are gorgeous, but they were a little more embellished than I had wanted. I have finally got the perfect pair!) Here's a picture of them:

Lia Sophia "Applause"

I also finally figured out what I am getting for our female readers and greeters. I knew I wanted to get them jewelry from Lia Sophia, but it took me forever to pick out which items. (Big surprise there.) Here are the winners:

"Sonnet" for Cait 

"Reflex" for Alice 

"Heartbeat" for Jackie 

"Double Dip" for Katie

Jackpot!

197 days

First of all, I received four packages in the mail today, two of which were at least somewhat wedding related. The first was from Vistaprint, who must be filling a million and one orders for them to have taken this long. It contained (for the wedding) some fo the RSVP cards, the photoshare cards, the cards for our guestbook, stickers for the invitations, as well as our Christmas cards. The other wedding related package was from Lia Sophia. Most of the jewelry ordered at my party came in (there's a holiday lag so some is on backorder) including the earrings I bought for the wedding!! They are even more gorgeous in person (compared to the catalog) and I absolutely love them! (The other two packages were more Lia Sophia jewelry and the books I ordered from Barnes & Noble; the sequel to The Giver and the first Hunger Games book!)

Second, Matt and I went to Michael's to get new ribbon for my bouquet. I got this beautiful white ribbon with silver glitter designs on it. (I just realized I'm not sure how the rainbow ribbon will look with it, but we'll see.) I also bought another scrapbook for the stationery from the wedding since it won't all fit in with the pictures in the other scrapbook as well as more silver wire for the bouquets (which will hopefully allow me to finish them).

Third, I also received two more brooches in the mail! I got another orange one for Jess's bouquet and a green one for Shannon's.

I'm going to try to finish my bouquet tonight, but will probably post pictures tomorrow!

Clutch Stuffers

I have been looking everywhere for cheap compact mirrors to put in my girls' clutches and I finally found some today at Forever 21! I got metal ones that say BEAUTY on the front for myself, my maid of honor, and the three bridesmaids. I got a plastic rose one for Matt's sister, and two plastic heart ones for my sisters. The metal ones were $2.80 and the plastic ones were all $1.00. Super cheap and awesome! I also love that the metals ones say BEAUTY because it ties into the fact that my wedding dress is based on Belle's dress from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

I also found a hair piece on Etsy for the wedding! It's so beautiful and will look gorgeous with my dress! This is the picture on the shop's site and I'm sure mine will look just like it.

I also decided that I may want to do wedding I Spy. I found a picture of one on Pinterest that has really cute ideas. I'm going to start making the cards on Vistaprint shortly!

That's all for now. I'll be sure to update again soon!

The Brooches and the Bride

I ordered more brooches today and I also received some of the ones that I ordered in the mail!

I got the brooches from this post in the mail, with the exception of the first one (it shipped from a different seller). However, the one that looks orange in the picture is somewhere in between orange and red and won't look right with either bouquet, so I'm not going to use it. (I like it, so maybe I'll wear it but not for the wedding.)

As for the ones that I ordered, here are the pictures:

Jess

(to replace the one that wasn't really orange)

Jess

Shannon 

Hannah

Yesterday I hosted my Lia Sophia starter party (I'm going to start selling the jewelry) and I found earrings that I really want to wear for the wedding. I like the ones that I have, but these are prettier and I love the necklace that matches them. (That means I'll wear them after the wedding.)

Another note: Matt and I were looking at the rings that we had picked out months ago online and they no longer have them. They have replaced them with the exact same thing that is way more expensive. So we went searching for similar ones closer to the price of the originals and found some at Kay! They are only about $10 more than the first ones and are the same thing we were looking at! Now we just need to order them before they disappear too!

mine

Matt's

I also have another addiction: Pinterest. It took me a while to get on the bandwagon, but now I can't stop pinning things! I have gotten some great ideas looking through others' wedding boards, though!

This brings me to my last item: while looking through ModCloth for dresses to pin to my Fashionista board, I found this beautiful off white dress. I think I may buy this as my little white dress for the after party. It's not really clubwear, but it's so simple and I could definitely wear it afterwards (even after Labor Day). I found some amazing orange pumps from Alloy, too, that I think I'll get to go with it!

I think that about wraps up my ridiculously long post for now!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I made my tossing bouquet tonight! (Yes, all in one night!) I followed the same basic steps for the regular bouquets, with the exception of twisting about half of each stem. I used 50 stems in three different size white pearls, 10mm black pearls, and clear beads. I tied it with the same ribbon I'm using to decorate the program baskets.
Here's the finished product:

For more detailed instructions on how to make this, please click here to visit my wedding planning website.

And I finished yet another boutonniere, this one for my page (and cousin) Connor!
Here it is:

Nice Hair Piece

I bought my bridesmaids hair accessories a month or so ago, but I ended up not liking the one that I got for Shannon. So I went back tonight to the mall and found a similar one that I liked better and would look better with her hair. So here are pictures of them all!

Juliana

Jessica

Cristina

Shannon

Nicole

Hannah

Olivia

In the Valley

Matt and I went to the Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury today to meet with a potential videographer. While there, we ran a couple of other errands (this shopping center has everything).
First, we met Jesse of SureShot Videography with the hopes of hiring him for the wedding. Matt and I really only want the ceremony and important parts of the reception taped. We don't need three hours of dancing and honestly can't afford it. We have decided that we'd love to have Jesse as our videographer especially since our package will only cost $600!
Second, we stopped in Joseph A. Bank to see if the colors of the vests we wanted matched the colors of the dresses I had picked. They did! So now we are OFFICIALLY using them for the men's formal wear!
Third, I dragged Matt into Claire's to look at a pair of earrings that I had seen online. They are small hoops with rhinestones and are exactly what I wanted for the wedding. They were only $10 (they were one pair in a set of three) and will be perfect!
And last, we picked up some of the stuff from Michael's for the pearl bouquets and boutonierres. (I got the silver wire, silver, black, and pink ribbon.)

The tuxedos that Matt built online with the correct colored vests and ties. (Jean Yves Tango vests with striped Windsor ties)

 Bali Silver

 Ferrari Red

 Bali Peach

 Capri Buttercup

 Emerald Green

 Royal Blue

 Eggplant

 Bright Pink

 Black

The ushers will wear the same black as our dads, but will have striped ties that we're buying them as thank you gifts.

My earrings

Even Better Than The First

I got (another) package yesterday that was for the wedding! They're my SHOES!! I had bought the other pair from AMI and didn't end up liking them for the wedding. So I found these on ebay for $25! They fit really well, although I will have to break them in. There's a picture in this post!

Pump Me Up

So after seeing the shoes that I posted about yesterday and thinking, I realized that I didn't like them for the ceremony. So I bought a new pair (picture below) off of ebay for $25! I like them a lot better, but Matt had a great idea for the other pair: use them for our after party! What a genius my love is!

Somehow I forgot to mention my receptions shoes! Even though I LOVE heels, I love dancing more. I don't want my feet to fall off, so I bought the flip flops below from Old Navy to match my bridal party reception flip flops!



Hey Mr. Postman

I got a package on Monday, yesterday, and today that all had something for the wedding! Monday I got the last of my bridesmaids' clutches in...finally! It was shipped from the same company as the blue one for Matt's sister so it came from Hong Kong. It's for my sister, Hannah, and is purple and quite simple (she's not a girly girl, so it needed to lack the frills of the others).
Yesterday I got the bags from Current Catalog that I had ordered for our welcome bags for out-of-town guests! They're simple, in various colors of the rainbow, but we'll be glueing our welcome letter to the front of them.
And today I got my shoes for the ceremony! I had found a pair in the store that I really liked but they were $75. These I found on AMI for only $15 and the same basic style (peeptoe pumps) as the originals. They're really cute and, since they're only for the ceremony and pictures, I'm happy that I saved money on them.

Hannah's clutch 

Out-of-town welcome bags 

Ceremony shoes