weekend wedding recap

Now that we've reach the year of our wedding (yay!), we've really got to ramp up some of the planning! tomorrow will mark 3 months that we've been engaged, and we've gotten a lot done:

• place & date (for ceremony & reception, which also includes food and cake)
• band
• photographer
• ceremony musicians
• officiant
• hotel for room block
• save the dates/invitations (STDs are printed, invitation sample is in the works)
• the guest list finalized
• DRESS
• bridesmaids dresses (store, color, just need to figure out the final styles for all the 'maids)
• 1 registry done

and there are still a few things that i know we need to figure out:

• flowers/decor
• hair
• make-up
• honeymoon
• shuttle bus for guests
• 2nd registry location
• set-up the tux rental (we know where that will be too)
• the little things (all the details, bridal party gifts, rings, songs, etc.)

so this weekend, i dragged my fiance to a bridal show. now this is the 2nd one we've gone to--the first one was to sign our contract with the photographer, and we actually met our invitations person at this event. And little did I know that I received information and met the dress shop owner where I got my dress.

but i wasn't looking to eat my way peruse through this show. i was on a mission. (so no cake was tasted! yay!)
#1. find a florist
#2. find hair/makeup
#3. talk to jos. a bank about tuxes
#4. find a shuttle bus company


i think we found a florist (depending on her availability), i have a good idea for hair/makeup, i talked to jos a bank about tuxes, and we have some options for the shuttle bus, but i'm not totally happy on that front. this show was only about 30-40 min from where we're getting married, but everybody pigeon-holes themselves into their little region. within their region, a wedding could be 30 min from where they are based, so it's tough to hear that "we may have to charge more for the driving distance."

i know we need to get it together with some of these things, as these people get booked fast for saturday weddings in the summer, but jeez, give me a break. i feel pretty impressed with that list of things we've accomplished in 3 months (which may i remind you also included a funeral, thanksgiving, and christmas?). so when one of the florist options was like "you need to book NOW," that's pretty rough to hear. i know we're a little behind the 8-ball since we picked a date that was only 10 months after we got engaged. 


i, for one, am not willing to wait a long time to get married, so i'm not looking to put it off until 2013 just because people have longer engagements nowadays. sheesh. [sorry for the rant]. 


anyway, i hope to have some good updates next weekend. we have our first official meeting with our wedding coordinator at our ceremony/reception site. my dad is going to be in town (and staying with us--yikes!), so he'll get to see the place for the first time. 


happy monday!