Things I Am Freaking Out About: Three Weeks to Go

1. The reception site is much smaller than I'd anticipated. Fire safety rated for 79 people on each of the two floors. Which, with our estimated guest count of 150, is a problem. I'm currently praying for nice weather so we can use the deck outside for additional seating and room without being all squished in together. And trying not to think about it at all is also currently a method of choice for dealing with the panic.

2. Still haven't taken my dress in for alterations, though pretty much all it needs is a bustle.

3. After last meeting with minister, decided to construct our own ceremony since I didn't really like the available options. Mostly complete, but now needs approval before I can start trying to create programs.

4. Trying to write my own half of our vows. Andrew whipped his out in about fifteen minutes, but I'm struggling to find the right words in a small amount of time to use. Also want to print in program so relatives with hearing problems don't feel left out, so kinda running out of time.

5. 21 days to go=no time to order things for the wedding unless it's a rush order. Pretty much. May still attempt ring bowl and cute, but non-personalized, napkins.

6. Sat down with Andrew and ordered gifts for groomsmen yesterday. Still working on parents and bridesmaid gifts, since cheesy useless somethings seem so...ick...as options. After a frustrated evening starting thinking photo frames would be sufficient...note to self: try to stay away from photo frame gifts.

7. Since reception site is smaller than anticipated, now also looking for chair and table rental company. Hopefully people RSVP or else they may not have actual seats at the reception.

8. I have decided, with three weeks to go, that I would like someone else to plan my wedding so I can just show up and have a good time. Admittedly, this is far too late for such a decision and leads only to more misery as I further procrastinate the things I need to get done.

9. Must give Andrew nearly daily reminders to call people (ie. groomsmen, church people, etc.) to make sure that we will actually have music for the wedding as well as men in tuxes at the front. Doesn't really think about what still needs to be done, but is willing to do any tasks I assign to him...it just takes time to make lists of what I need him to do that I don't necessarily have.

10. Figuring out insurance is a pain in the neck.

At Last, It Works!

Don't they look good together? The interplay of colors, cohesiveness in theme? The way they are strangely entertaining?

The Hershey's Kiss stamps are no longer on the website, but that did give me an incentive to order the homage to Yoda for our invitations when the website finally let me order this afternoon.

I even called Andrew to confirm that it was okay to order Yoda instead of the Tiffany stamp that I've been using for all my other mail for the past year, but he was as enamored of the idea as I was.

Love him, I do.

Updates!

Andrew's wedding band arrived today, looking stellar in its pretty black velvet box that was shipped in a white jewelry box inside a Fed-Ex box. For free 3-day shipping for all wedding bands, it arrived a full day early. Great customer service so far and I can't wait until Andrew tries it on. The engraving on the inside of the band is clear and perfect. Couldn't really be happier with it.

Contrariwise, (since I couldn't resist using this term Andrew's housemates brought up a few days ago) the United States Postal Service is really getting on my nerves. Not only have they pretty much announced that they'll be raising rates every May from now on (hello, right in time to royally mess up wedding invitation stuff), but they've also had a broken postal store website for most of this week. Which is not good since I was finally planning on ordering my postage for my wedding invitations and getting them into the mail ASAP.

Of course, they were quick to inform me that I could always call and order stamps. But I'm not comfortable giving out my credit card information over my unsecured cell phone number. At least with my computer I can scour it for spyware and viruses before and after the transaction. Not to mention the fact that what would I be ordering?

It seems to me that the only place on the entire USPS website where you can actually see the stamp designs and denominations being offered is through the postal store. Not very helpful when you just know that you're trying to avoid the ugly-as-hell $1 that is the closest denomination offered to what you've been quoted each envelope will ship for.

Which is also just peachy. What is the point of saying that something will cost 97 cents to mail if you don't actually offer any reasonable postage way to create this magical number? I had it all figured out using the all-too-cliche 58 cent pink wedding stamp and the outdated 39 cent Hersheys kiss stamp, but the last time the website actually let me on the latter had already disappeared.

Not cool, USPS. Not cool at all.

Engagement Pictures for all to see!

Finally! I got the cd for the engagement pictures we took at the beginning of January, freezing in snow at Keeneland Park in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to check them out, look at our website's Multimedia Gallery at the album "Engagement Pictures." Here's a small sampling:

Yes, we are freakishly pale.

I love how the space between us in this one kinda looks like a heart.

What do you think?

My Always Valentine

Andrew sent me flowers for Valentine's Day. Beautiful yellow roses with pinky/red edges and a cute little teddy bear. Sorry the picture is kinda dark but they are lovely.

I'm so proud of him for taking the initiative.

And I love roses. So very much.

And I love Andrew. So very much. Much more than roses.

I have learned, though, that I should be thankful mom convinced me to go with a florist for the wedding, since I think we can all agree that my flower arranging skills are nowhere near DIY wedding level. Actually, my flower arranging skills pretty well suck.

Doesn't matter for today, though. Roses are gorgeous no matter what you do with them.