Wedding Dress Bought, Tuxes Rented, Invitations Sent, and Much Much More to Come!

Hello all, it may feel like it has been a while since I posted. That's because it has! After finding a venue at The Conservatory (one of the first places we looked that became available after they changed their pricing) we kind of took a hiatus from wedding planning. I did get my wedding dress though, it's in my closet in a blue bag. It's the first 'test' of our marriage for Bradley to not look at it, and I do feel bad for waving it in his face when I know he really wants to see it and thinks it's a stupid superstition. Alas, there is nothing I can do about that for now. I need to focus on finding quotes for alterations (it is a little big, just a little, and needs the train removed) and then cleaning (it was the floor model, as the dress has since been discontinued).

My dress isn't the only clothing we've got sorted out. Bradley's tux, along with anyone else in the bridal party wearing a tux's tux, is already reserved at Men's Warehouse. His tux rental includes everything, including the socks. This is great, because it means the only thing left for us to worry about, clothing wise, is getting my dress prepared, whatever I'm going to wear to the rehearsal dinner, shoes for the day of, and my 'something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue'. Did I say only? Seems like we still have a lot to go!

When my mother came into town a couple of weeks ago it was reminded to me (more so than the monthly reminder of paying the venue) that I am planning a wedding. It was thanks to my mother that I realized something, if we want people to come, we should probably send out wedding invitations. Thankfully, I'd already done hours of research on Save the Dates. With 6 months (and five days) until the wedding, we decided to forgo Save the Dates for invitations. 

Date is set, invitations sent, wedding is getting more and more real every day!

A photo posted by Batman The Dog (@baddityboo) on Oct 8, 2016 at 7:13pm PDT

I sent out the invitations on Saturday with some pretty heart stamps from the post office. Including the one to our roommate, which, I know is only, like, 50c, but the principle of sending an invitation by mail to someone we live with seems a little ridiculous. Especially when I know he doesn't care if it is mailed or not. Ah well, less than a dollar, and know I'll know when people start getting their invitations. Of course, it'll get to John (our roommate) and Bradley's family before it gets to mine. Most of his side is local, and if they're not they're still fairly close. With the recent news that my sister will soon be moving out of state, literally everyone from 'my side' is going to be out of state. That's making our Acworth (AKA 1 hour away) wedding a destination wedding for half of the attendants. Which is why we're sending invitations to a wedding 6 months in advance. It is also why we insisted on a Saturday wedding.

After going to the post office I went to Target, because I love Target, and on a whim I stopped by the salon in the same strip. I spoke to a woman and began to get an idea of pricing and the like to get my hair done for the wedding. (Simply because the updo braid I've been obsessed with for years is far beyond my capability.) We talked about how to do my makeup, if I decide to do that, and I showed her a picture of what I was thinking of for my hair. Had I known I was going to stop by I would have brought my scrap book full of creepy cut up heads, but it was a non issue because it is 2016 and I had my phone on me. She gave me her card and instagram information and I really liked her. I think I'm going to go to her for my hair, and afterwards my sister agreed she'd get her hair done too, so we'll both get $20 off!

With the wedding so far out, there is a lot that we can't do yet. (For example, the woman I talked to at the salon recommended doing my hair trial in January.) However, there is a lot that we can.

• Plan the rehearsal dinner. We need to schedule the rehearsal with the venue, and then book the dinner. If possible, we'd love to get catering and do it at the venue, but we need to first confirm with them that that is an option. If not, we will need to look at restaurants around the venue.
• Figure out our 'party favors' for the guests. We've got some ideas, but we need to make the decision and go for it. 
• Purchase small items for the wedding. IE- my shoes, guestbook supplies, etc.
• Book officiant. Can you believe I almost forgot about this? 
• Book photographer. Our venue has a partnership with photographers in the area, so we get a reduced rate, but we need to book them soon or they may not be available. 
• Choose food for the reception. This is actually already booked, we're going tomorrow to taste and decide.
• Plan honeymoon. I, for example, have an appointment on November 7th to get my passport, which I will need for our trip to Dublin.

 One second it seems that there is nothing to do, the next I feel swamped. I'm very happy that we have almost a year to plan, though I can't believe I've been engaged for almost a year is surprising. Time flies when you're having fun!

6 months and 5 days until the wedding.