Potential Disaster!

Ok, I just got this e-mail from my Friend Juli in Lodi:

"I got a delivery notice from Sender (Crooks) that requires my signature and a postage payment of $.39."

So now I am worried that more guests will receive an extra charge for postage although I went to the post office with the invitation to have it weighed and purchased wedding stamps. I called the post office in North Bergen (where by the way we hand-delivered the invitations) and they said to come in today with my invitation to speak to a manager...not good. So I could potentially have all the invitations sent back, this is crazy!

Stuff that I need help with

• Shopping for wedding stuff-I need to look for a cheaper versions of my hair piece, gifts(obviously bridemaids are excluded from this trip), ring and the list goes on. So you can help me greatly by scheduling time with me that includes shopping :-)
• List of things to do for out of town guests-I was thinking about ordering a subway map as well as getting bus schedules for whatever bus runs from the Airport to NY. A list of must see attractions in NY and how to get there would be cool. Jersey also has a few things too. So any of you gals who loves to research could really help me by putting this together.
• The slideshow! I haven't even begun this one...
• Wedding stationery-I am not the most creative person so I need help creating and printing up the programs and menucards.

Still no dress...and other fun things

So today my dress is 26 days late but who is counting! I also got my sample mugs in the mail from discountmugs.com. They are actually much better quality than I expected and I am just trying to decide between the black or the clear mug. DFH doesn't think that any of his friends and family drinks chocolate or tea but he has no suggestions for a better favor so I can't conceive of something else. I was thinking about putting a 1 liner on the mug plus our name and wedding date.

I have not been able to make it to Ikea to explore decorations options although I want to go so badly! I have given myself until August 17 to get decorations finalized so I will have something soon...I promise. As of now, I have hired pretty much every vendor that I need except for the coordinator and the limo. What I am really needing to do is to shop for stuff on my list of things to buy. So I am going to need all of you to make sure we are shopping for something everytime we make a date during the next month ;-)

Work is still really busy and I can't see a light in the end of the tunnel but we have a new consultant so maybe that will smooth things out a bit.

Invitations are ready!

It took 6 people and 3 hours but the invitations are all stuffed and ready to go ;-) Special thanks for Adaobi, Ebony, Kristen, Thalia and Tyana for the manpower and to Kristen for feeding us (like I said before, I love food at the Kris' house). It took so much time because I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to coordinate the assembly line...so needless to say, I am not a good person to coordinate this type of stuff. I also realized that I made a mistake on the invitation with the number for the church I put 900 instead of 1009 which puts you like a block...but I fixed it on the directions to the church so follow those instead of the address on the invitation. At the very least the people who read this board should make it to the church!

I stayed in Brooklyn last night and today I was able to choose my "something borrowed" out of my aunt's jewelry box, I am soo excited...its a fabulous bracelet! Now all I need is some great gold and diamond earings and my wedding jewelry will be complete.

This week I will go to Ikea after work to see about more options for the centerpieces. I am going to MA next weekend for a wedding so I don't expect to get much done before the month is out. I do need to call the wedding coordinator that Leticia recommended and make sure I get her on board to coordinate the rehearsal and the ceremony. I would hate to be that bride looking crazy at my rehearsal so I think is best that I hire some professional help. That's all for now.

In California

Just in case you are wondering why the blog hasn't been updated this week, I am in California for training. I am supposed to take the red-eye back home tomorrow but Jetblue is not sure if the flight is on or if it is cancelled. I am supposed to do invitations on Saturday so hopefully I can get on a flight tomorrow night. Iwill be calling Bridal Elegance again tomorrow to find out what's good with my dress though ;-)

Ahh, St. Thomas awaits after it's all said and done...

I didn't do anything this weekend but I thought about it...

With T-minus 3 months to go, I did not do a single wedding related thing this weekend...but y'all know me by now, I work in ebbs and flows. I was dying laughing over the comentary on the board, hehe! I feel like I have had a proper panty-vention and apparently Christina Millian's hair do is the one for me. I just thought I should mention that the flowers I had posted are $150 a piece...so I am going to have to find the knock-off version of course.

While waiting to see Harry Potter (which was awesome by the way) my neighboor Jaimie who also reads the blog (Hi Jaimie!) encouraged me to start calling the bridal salon every week about my dress. I was supposed to be here June 30th and she assured me that I will not be a bridezilla if I start calling. The dress is coming from Spain...do they work on CP time there too? Damn! Another update, DFH went with the Ivory tux and my Mom and Ebony encouraged him (I am not mad though...although I am mad at Ivory size 15 dress shoes, not cute!).

I am leaving to California for training this Wednesday and I will be returning on Saturday at 7am in time to do Invitations at Kristen's on Saturday night. I believe all of the bridesmaids plus one of my honorary bridesmaids will be there...I am really looking forward to it. This is it girls...invitations are going out!

To-Do list follow-up, Hair choices, etc.

I am actually home before 7pm today...so excited! I am on my couch watching "Code Name the cleaner" while eating cereal while trying to come up with a plan to tackle all of the stuff swishing around my head. Yes I am seriously multi-tasking and I am eating cereal for dinner. Cereal is saving whatever figure I have right now; I am a stress eater so eating cocoa pebbles gives me the sugar fix with half the calories...its a miracle food! Anyhow, I digress. There are a couple of outstanding items that I am still awaiting to hear back on from the readers of this blog...you know who you are:

• Playlist


• Sample groom's cake
  
• Dried branches report

I just remembered that I wanted to take a dancing class with DFH. I know there is a dancing studio in Noth Bergen so I am going to call to see about that...we all know exactly how much of a disaster the first dance could be for us in particular, hehe. I also want to start scheduling monthly facials, which may be wishful thinking but hey, it's all good.

So I am still contemplating hair styles, I am debating between wearing it out or up. I am also contemplating a headband or flowers in my hair. The internet has not turned out to be a good place to find head pieces for me so I am just going to start scheduling some shopping time to find that and other wedding stuff. There is a veil shop in the East village that I really want to visit. Here are the Hair styles that I have found:

Here are some accessories:

Post your store recommendations

One more thing...anyone has any recommendations for great intimates stores? I was just wondering if there are more choices besides Vicky's secret and the gap that people love.

Invitations, Tuxes and Out of town guests...

This weekend Todd and two of the groomsmen (the other 2 had questionable excuses) went to get fitted for the tuxes. The Groomsmen diced to wear all black with a Fuscia Tie, which is alright I guess. I wanted Todd to wear a black Tux with an Ivory, shirt and tie...sounds simple right? Well, when they brought the swatches out, Todd thought it looked bad and the lady in the story was saying that nobody ever gets that combination. Then she went on to suggest that he wear all Ivory with a Fuscia tie,which I am not too warm on. So I am going to have to research some more pictures to find something that will work. I was really trying to not be involved in the Tux affair....

I was running errands all weekend and I attended the K-Diva's baby shower so I didn't make much progress. However, I did start writing out the group rate information on the Hotel Directions card that the Marriott sent me. I also purchased the stamps so I should have everything ready by the weekend of the 21st. I will be going over to Kristen's at 6pm with some snacks on Saturday the 21st to do the invitations. Anybody who wants to come over and help just let me know, there will be plenty of work for everyone!

I was talking to my friend Kyra this weekend (she posts under the name "Kentucky" and I met her in Memphis) who raised a very valid point: What is there to do for the out of town people? I haven't given the out of town guests much thought up until this point but I guess I need to get a packet together with options for them. I am sure there is a bus from the Airport to New York if they want to go shopping and dinning. I didn't budget for a welcome basquet but I probably need to get some together...ok ladies, I am really going to need some help on this one!

As you can see I am updating the blog more frequently, the complaints about my tardiness have been duly noted ;-) I also called the bridal shop about my dress, nobody answered but I left a message.

Tuxes maybe?

So after a month of friendly reminders, Todd is working on getting his groomsmen together to get fitted for tuxes this weekend...however, I am not holding my breath because they always have scheduling issues.

This is the tux that he likes, I am trying to gently persuade him to go for a tie instead whatever that is around the neck. So what have I been up to? Nothing! I have been so busy every weekend and during the week that I haven't worked on anything at all...in fact I am still trying wrap up some work right now and I am taking a break. I did have a conversation with my Aunt Silvia and she has been helping me find packaging options for the favors on the internet. As you know, I am doing packages of hot chocolate or tea. Here are some of the packaging options:

I am not exactly crazy about this one but it may look nice in white with Black lettering. They have cutter ones but those are above budget.

I am not sure how I feel about the envelope, I need to see it in person to make sure that it is not too chincy looking. I haven't seen anything else that I like...maybe I should have figured out the packaging first and then found a favor to fit in it...ladies take note!

My next big project is getting everything together to mail out the invitations. I just ordered directions from the Marriott today and I need to print out ones from the church and buy the stamps. I think I am going to do them the weekend of the 21st, I was going to do it next weekend but I want to go see Harry Potter and hang out with Mom dukes for her B-day.

I am also getting more serious in my research of a wedding band for DFH. I even ordered a plastic sizing tool from BlueNile to get his size!

Ok, I better get back to work so that I can have tomorrow to slack off...or maybe shop a bit before heading to see Transformers ;-)