Photo Gallery | Wedding Wednesday: Week 22
You may know me as News 8's "Good Morning Quad Cities" Reporter, but when I'm not telling you about International Level Crossing Awareness Day (which I'm pretty sure I still don't understand) or showing you how our local Republicans and Democrats are gearing up for the final five months until the General Election, I am planning a wedding!
Welcome to Wedding Wednesdays!
Days Until "I Do" Day... 59
Like most things in my life, wedding planning has become part of the daily routine. What used to be -- Work, Lunch, Nap, Work Out, Dinner Bed -- has turned into this:
Work... but spend breaks answering vendor e-mails and researching DIY projects (or shopping on Etsy for someone who can do them for me, ha)
Lunch... in the dining-now-wedding room while going over and adding things to the timeline
Nap... complete with dreams and nightmares about the perfect lines for my vows, what would happen if a golf ball hit a guest during the ceremony, relaxing nights in Maui, Hawaii (pause for reflection)
Work Out... and then work out again
Dinner... while catching up with Zach and asking questions, answering questions, asking for opinions, and walking into the dining-now-wedding room every 10 minutes when we remember something for the timelin
Sleep... repeat dreams and nightmares
I would be lying if I said I didn't love every minute of stress and success that goes into wedding planning, especially this part where things are really coming together. There is so much excitement right now... from little things like checking off another task to finally handing over that box of invitations to the postmaster. The last week has been full of these little moments that -- just like moments in life -- I'm learning to really appreciate.
Outfits: I was back in Downers Grove this past weekend, enjoying the beautiful summer-like weather with my parents AND with a major goal in mind... completing the outfits. As many of my friends know, I spent most of my time getting ready by trying on countless outfits and making sure my jewelry is right for my shoes and my shoes are right for my wristlet and so on and so forth. I REALLY am my mother's daughter :) So, my mom was the obvious choice when it came to helping me decide what to wear to all these wedding events coming up. Sure enough, by the end of the weekend, we had my bridal shower outfit, rehearsal dinner outfit, and morning-after brunch outfit ready to go... jewelry, shoes, and everything in between. It's simply one less thing to worry about so that I'm able to focus on other things - like the people who will be at these events. On top of that, just yesterday I picked up my bachelorette dress from the tailor... a $17 purchase that I put some money into to make sure it fit just right. If you ever need a local, friendly, and affordable tailor - Georgine is your girl (link below).
http://www.georgineinstitches.com/
Pins: Part of completing the outfits included picking out my "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue." I had been waiting to choose my "Something Borrowed" for a long time -- one of my mom's pins. Some people collect coins or lawn mowers or those creepy PEZ things... my mom collects pins. I noticed her "mark" when she owned her upscale consignment shoppe, Fashion Encore, and wore a pin on her blazers every day. It's something that I think set her apart and maybe that was her idea, too. In the summer, it was sometimes the ice cream cone pin or the tennis raquet pin. In the spring, her beautiful butterfly pins were so sparkly, they nearly popped right off her sharp black blazers. In the winter, pointsettas and beautiful marcasite. And in the fall, really anything else you see on the picture above. It was on Pinterest (shocker) that I saw the idea to put a pin on your bouquet and I instantly knew that's what I wanted to do with one of my mom's pins. I want her to know that she is, in a way, walking with me down the aisle alongside my dad. I think looking at those pins before the ceremony will bring me a sense of calmness... it'll remind me of her patience with me through this whole process and through my whole life, her unconditional love when I've done stupid stuff or said bad things, and her passion for life in following her dream to start Fashion Encore. She's my biggest role model. So... the first pin I chose is a small pin that my Grandma Mitchum gave my mom - her daughter-in-law - to wear on her wedding dress, which is really special to me considering my grandma passed when I was in college. The second pin is just a pin that is full of color and in the shape of a circle... no beginning, no end.
Invites Out, Programs In: I already mentioned it, but the invites are officially out of our hands! All that's left to do is wait for the RSVPs (NOTE: Mail back your RSVPs!). The day before I dropped them off at the post office, I picked up our programs from Heather, which will be glued onto big popsicle sticks to become fans for our guests. If it's going to be 90 degrees in mid-June, I can only imagine what it's going to be in mid-August. It's another big project... but the last one that I'll ask my bridesmaids to help me with.
Two Month Motivation: These remaining 59 days also mean I'm doing what I can to make sure I'm in the best shape of my life on August 11th. I'm not talking about losing weight or anything like that, although I am working out more to tone everything up. I'm also (trying) to get more hours of sleep every day, taking multi-vitamins, eating more fruits and veggies, not drinking pop, coffee, or really anything but water, milk, and wine (nothing can take me away from wine), and keeping the sweets to a minimum (however, wine and chocolate go hand-in-hand in this situation). Again, it's not about shedding pounds... it's about feeling awesome on that day, a day that will be captured in pictures and looked back on for decades and generations.
Looking Forward: I'm literally looking forward to taking a wedding planning break this weekend as we celebrate Zach's 27th Birthday! I'm excited to spoil him a little bit with some surprises I've been planning for months :) After that, it's back at it for the last two weekends in June... our last FREE weekends until August 11th!
