The Last 6 Days Before the Wedding...Day 4

Previous Posts in this series:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

This day technically started long before I was awake enough to realize it! Mr. 2SB had woken up at 3:30AM because his ankle hurt so bad. I woke up and asked if he was ok, he said he was going to go lay on the couch and ice his ankle. I was 1/2 sleeping and said ok and watched him hobble out of the room (Yes, my parents let us sleep in the same bed before we were married). I woke up around 8:30 and proceeded down stairs. I thought Mr. 2SB was joking around with the blanket over his head by pretending to sleep (this happens regularly in our house) so I pulled the blanket off his head, but I woke him up. I asked how he was doing and he said not good. Mr. 2SB is not a big doctor person, so I asked the dreaded question, "Do we need to go to Urgent Care?" When he said yes, I knew he was in a lot of pain! I hurried and got ready. He crawled up the stairs and some how made it through a shower and off we went.

They just opened a new clinic in my hometown and they are still doing some construction on the outside, so we went in the one open entrance and had to walk to the opposite end of the building to Urgent Care. Filling out the paperwork took the longest, but once that was set, Mr. 2SB was taken to the back. He didn't want me to go with him, so that's when I was text blogging for ya! He was only gone a few minutes when he hobbled through the waiting room on his way to Xray. Once he hobbled back, his name was called again right away. Not too much longer he came out walking a little better. He had sprained his ankle and was in an air cast. The doctor was confused because usually sprains are in the front of your foot, but his was in the back. We had orders to ice for 20 minutes every hour and to keep taking Tylenol. We went home, got Mr. 2SB back on the couch with some ice. He was quickly falling asleep, so I headed out to get my nails done before we had lunch with my parents and brother J.

Nail appointment 2 went way better than the first one! I was happy with the results, since this was the same place we were going to be getting petticures at on Thursday morning. I headed home and Mr. 2SB declined lunch since he had been sleeping since I left. I met my family and told them all the news. I then asked my mom if she would run errands with me that afternoon. She was excited that I had asked and didn't want me to do them alone!

This was our game plan:

• Find gift bags for gifts (found at the $1 store...spent $27 on a lot of gift bags...score!)
• Get frames for guestbook table (we had one of our E-Pics and then 2 - 3 picture frames with our grandparents and parents wedding pictures in them)
• Get styrofoam board & large permanent marker for signs leading people out to the reception. Last minute decision, but easy to do!
• Print pictures for previously mentioned picture frames
• Pick up programs (turned out great)
  
• Find unity candles (just bought 3 separate candles in our wedding colors...easy and cheap!)
  

I think that was about it, but we were all over town...good thing its a smaller town! We were gone for a few hours! When we got home Mr. 2SB was feeling a little better. We decided to get all the gifts ready to go. (I forgot to share the gifts with you...which I'll do on Monday for a Day 4a post!) We got the groomsmen and the ushers the same gifts. They were shipped to my parents house and while we were wrapping, we found out that two of the items had shattered. A quick call to the company we ordered them from and we had replacements on Thursday...just in time!

We finished the night up by watching "The Biggest Loser" finale (my mom and FSIL B watched it together all season...I could have cared less) while my dad and brothers were golfing. I wrote out notes to all the bridemaids and felt pretty accomplished with what we had gotten done!

The plan for the next day ~ Mr. 2SB and I had a few more little things to do, my mom and I were going to finalize design details with our reception location and we were set to have an evening a part - guys at my parents house and the ladies out on the town.

On Monday, I'll let you in on the gifts we got for everyone and then Tuesday I'll go into day 5...do you think we were back in Urgent Care? You'll just have to wait and see! (Monday might be a 2 post day because I have some exciting news to share...and no, I'm not pregnant!)

Hope you all have a great weekend, but to tide you over, here's a sneak pick at some of our flowers, which were amazing!

These were our pew decorations and were later used at the reception. Picture was taken by BM C. If you need a florist in Southern MN, make sure you check out Cherie! In case you forgot, we went with the above picture instead of another DIY project...so glad we did!

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The Last 6 Days Before the Wedding...Day 3

Previous Posts in this series:

Day 1
Day 2

We woke up at a decent hour and Mr. 2SB got the rental car and we were on the road by 10:30. I had been talking to my family most of the morning. People were very anxious to see us! We got to my parents house and my dad had stopped in from work. We unloaded, chatted a bit and then my youngest brother, J, came over. Although we had our meeting with the reception location at 7PM, my dad and Mr. 2SB some how persuaded me into allowing Mr. 2SB to go golfing instead. Mr. 2SB and I discussed a few last minute things and I gave him a free pass!

J, Mr. 2SB and I went to lunch and then we met my mom back at their house before my fitting. I grabbed all my necessary items (corset bra, shoes, purse, etc) and we were off. My personal attendant/FSIL, B, met us at the bridal shop so she could practice lacing me up and bustling my train. The appointment went well and fast! My mom and I parted with B (she had to get back to work) and we dropped my dress of at the dry cleaners to get steamed. We then headed home. I was going to get my nails done, but opted for a nap instead! I woke up feeling really refreshed! So, my mom, Mr. 2SB and I met my dad for a few quick drinks before they headed out golfing and we out to the reception site. We split ways after that. My mom and I were going to have another drink, but she decided to leave her keys and cell phone on the bumper of the car my dad drove to the golf course! We drovely slowly to the course and when we got to the parking lot her keys and phone were exactly where she left them...don't ask me how...it just was!

We had a good laugh and were off to the reception site! I had a check from Mr. 2SB's parents for the alcohol, my parents were covering the food and we had a check for the rest (decorations, security, clean-up fee, etc). We ran into an issue with my parents debit card since their daily spending limit was lower than what they owed. The site trusted us enough to take care of it and come back later to settle that part. We discussed music selections, introductions, speeches, etc, and we were out of there! I talked to the other owner, who wasn't at our meeting, the next day and we were going to go over design details with her on Wednesday.

We met the guys back at the house, my brother M was now with Mr. 2SB and my dad. B joined us for dinner. This is when Mr. 2SB decided to tell me that was walking along the cart path, looking at some new townhomes and talking at the same time, when he rolled his ankle and fell down. He fell so hard that he grass stained his pants. He said he was fine and we all had a good laugh! We all chatted until way to late in the night and eventually turned in. I was ready for a long night of good sleep because the next day Mr. 2SB and I had a lot of errands to run and he was supposedly subbing in golf league for my dad.

If you have ready my text post from May 12th, you know how our day 4 started, but did it get any better? Was Mr.2SB limping or walking fine the day of the wedding? Well, you'll just have to stay tuned!

And another pic to keep you interested.

With my sister/MOH - it was her camera, but I don't remember who took the picture!

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The Last 6 Days Before the Wedding...Day 2

Previous Posts in this series

Day 1

(I forgot to mention in my post from yesterday that while I was getting into bed our last night in CA, I slammed the top of my foot into the corner of my dresser drawer. It hurt really bad. I woke up limping, but I think the adrenaline healed the rest.)

The day had finally come...we were leaving for MN! The week or two before this I had been sleeping well, but when I woke up in the morning, that was it. No more sleeping! As soon as my brain realized my eyes were open, it started spinning with lists upon lists! I was up and ready to start the day around 7AM. We had breakfast and finished packing. By 10:30 we were out the door and to the airport. I was really excited about our flight since my sister had upgraded us to 1st class! This was a first for me and I was pretty excited! We got to security and our carry-on bag (which was full of presents for everyone) got pulled to the side. I had packed this bag early in the week and couldn't figure out why they had pulled it. It was because of this...

Source

It was for my personal attendant and one of the items listed on the outside of the package was a "cutter". Which I believe is the middle round thing on the bottom of the picture. Since neither Mr. 2SB, the TSA agent or I couldn't "find" the cutter, they let us through. Still trying to figure it all out, but whatever!

Once they announced that 1st class passengers could board, we went on! We found our seats and got comfy and started to drink! We weren't necessarily trying to get drunk, just taking the edge off! We both started with a bloody mary (which was mostly vodka). Once we were in the air we both got a Mojito, which was even stronger than the 1st drink. Mr. 2SB had one more drink after lunch (I had a greek chicken salad and he had a rueben sandwhich). He took a nap and I started watching Bride Wars.

We landed and since we were in 1st Class our luggage was priority so it came out right away! That might have been the best part of flying that way and not paying for luggage helped too! My sister/MOH picked us up. We grabbed some dinner and headed to her house for the night.

She had called earlier in the week and wanted to do a make-up trial since she wouldn't be in our hometown until Wednesday night. She did a fantastic job and we were done in a lot less time then we figured...which always helps! We tried to go to bed early 10:30 CST which was 8:30 for us. We tossed and turned a lot, but eventually made it to sleep!

Our plan for the next day was: get a rental car, drive to my hometown (only an hour), my dress fitting & meet with the reception site to settle the bill. Which will be in tomorrows post! Do you think we stuck to the plan?

Since this post was a complete bore...here's another teaser picture from our lovely photographers!

This was taken after the ceremony, but before the reception

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The Last 6 Days Before the Wedding...Day 1

I've been struggling a lot at where to start in telling you all about my best day ever! I quickly realized that I need to share our journey in the 5 days we were in MN before the wedding and our last day in CA. It was not all fun and relaxation.

I'm gonna start on Saturday, the 9th. We started the day like any other Saturday with running some errands, doing the laundry but we were also starting to pack. I knew I was going to get acrylic nails put on for the wedding because my nails just aren't that great. I thought if I could do it before we left, they could grow out a bit and look more natural. So, off I went! I first went to the nail salon that I had been to before. There was an hour wait, so I thought I'd go check another place and if there was a wait there too, I'd go back to the 1st one. There was no wait at the 2nd one, so I sat down. Well...they turned out horribly! She used the white tips, which is fine, but she put them 3/4 of the way down my nail bed! I left fairly pleased and figured they would grow out in time and look fine. When I got home, Mr. 2SB said they looked bad, which got me thinking. There was no way they were going to grow out enough to look good in 6 days. So I went back to the salon. After a long and loud discussion with the nail lady, all she would do was take them off. She wouldn't give me a refund nor re-do them at no cost. She also wouldn't call her manager, but later gave me her cell phone number.

By the time she finished, I figured my poor fingers had had enough and decided to wait until we got to MN to get them done again. The whole situation had me in tears because I was so frustrated! I told the lady I was getting married and my french manicure was mostly white! I'm not a nail technician, but I do know that it was wrong! I still have yet to call the manager and might just let it go, because in the end, it really doesn't matter. Mr. 2SB was really great through it all and probably just wanted me to stop crying...which I eventually did! I'm sure the stress of the wedding didn't help this situation either!

We ended the night by getting some pizza and having a few beers! In other words....a perfect ending!

I hope these posts don't get too boring, but I'm still waiting on our pro-pics! Even though this day was bad, I didn't realize it was just the beginning! ***Gotta love cliff hangers!***

To keep you interested and coming back...here's a picture from our wedding day! This was taken while I was getting laced up into my dress. This was probably one of the few times I wasn't smiling the entire day!

Picture courtesy of my sister/MOH

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When bad pictures happen to good people!

A lot of our guests are on Facebook and they have been uploading pictures like crazy! I had over 300 emails when I got to work yesterday and about the same items in Google Reader! I guess the world doesn't stop when you get married!

I hope to start some re-caps next week, but wanted to share this "ugly cry face" picture with you...because that's how much I like you! This was during my sister/MOH's speech...which was fantastic, by the way! Hey...at least my make-up looks good...right?!?!


I hope you all get a long weekend and the weather is nice for you all too! Happy Memorial Day and I'll be back next week!
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Teaser!

If I had to use one word that described our wedding day I would say...AMAZING! I can't wait to tell you all about our week and of course, the wedding! Not everything went perfect, but in the end it really doesn't matter! I got three pics this morning from our photogs...so check this out until we get back from Vegas!

Read more!

for now I'm just laughing! Read more!

did something to his foot and can't walk. He just walked through to get an x-ray so we'll see what happens but my groom is limping! It could be worse so Read more!

We made back to MN with no hassle and first class was great! However I'm currently waiting in the urgent care lobby! Mr. 2SB went golfing yesterday and Read more!

And we're off!

I remember starting this blog and wondering how I would feel when I sat down to write my last post as a single lady. I couldn't imagine that it would feel this way! Before I get too sappy, a lot of crap happened this week...aka fires! Here's what's been going on behind the scenes.

• My biggest stresser has been money. Both of our sets of parents and ourselves are contributing to the wedding. We didn't have a set budget in mind, but we weren't going to go overboard. My parents initially gave us a set amount, but when my mom and I have been talking about certain things, she'll say, "Oh, we'll pay for X." Not realizing that all those x's greatly go over their set amount. They are covering the food and at least one other thing. They still haven't completed decided (does not make me happy!). Mr. 2SB's parents have always stated they'd cover the grooms dinner (which I apparently didn't tell you about...but its just at the hotel where everyone is staying. We rented out one of the meeting rooms and some family friends will be catering it for us). They have recently upped their offer to include all alcohol and the DJ. This is way more than we were anticipating, but we accepted! I also got the bill for our reception place today and I was so excited (funny...huh?!?!). Since we signed our contract early last year, we locked in the old prices. Our total bill is at least $1000 less than what I expected! How awesome is that?!?! So, I guess its true...sign the contract early! Woot woot!
• My 2nd biggest stresser has been the wine. We're offering x amount of beer and wine. I was not happy with what our reception location was suggesting and we went back and forth at least 20 times...this number is probably low too! We finally decided and I'm really happy with what we chose. And since I was factoring in current gratuity and not our contracted gratuity, we'll be saving some money there too!
• We booked our mini-moon to Vegas! We'll be flying out Sunday morning and leaving Wednesday afternoon. We got our round trip airfare and hotel for just over $600! Obviously this was an unexpected cost, but decent cost for last minute! I'm excited to go to...I've only been to Vegas once and it was for about 24 hours, so I'm excited to get the full experience!
• Weather - I've been looking since Monday and the forecast for Friday changes everyday. It has gone from 50 and rainy to sunny and 70 and now it's at scattered thunderstorms and high 60's. Whatever...can't control it, but like to stalk it!
  

I guess that's about it, but it seemed like a lot to handle! We fly out around noon on Sunday. Here's what our schedule looks like, in case you're wondering what I'm doing next week...cuz I know you have nothing better to do...haha!

• Sunday - fly into MSP. My sister/MOH picks us up. Head to her house for dinner and make-up trial #1.
  
• Monday - rent a car. Drive to my hometown. Dress fitting at 1:30 (hoping this goes well). Finalize details and settle bill with reception location at 7PM.
• Tuesday - go see florist to pay bill and give her green ribbon for BM bouquets.
• Wednesday - get in make-up trial #2. watch mom and FSIL B play volleyball while I enjoy some drinks (hopefully my sister/MOH will join me)
• Thursday - mani/pedi's with mom, sister/MOH & FSIL B in AM while boys golf. Early afternoon family and bridal party start to arrive. 5PM rehearsal. 6PM dinner. Hang out with other out of town guests afterwards. Try to get some sleep.
• Friday - Wedding Day - 9am hair appts. 11am to the church to get dressed and meet with photogs. 12PM guys show up - see Mr. 2SB. 12:30 - limo shows up so we can go take pics outside. 2:15 - family pics at the church. 4PM ceremony. 6ish reception. PARTAY!
• Saturday - 10:30AM brunch with family and bridal party. 2ish leave for airport. 8:30 get back to CA.
• Sunday - 10AM leave for Vegas and get back Wednesday at 6ish.
• Thursday - back to work and reality....big fat BOOO!!!

So that's it! I'll try to send some text posts next week to keep you posted on how its going!

Thank you for following me through this planning journey! It has been fun to have some people to plan with and bounce ideas off of! I know I haven't meant any of you, but you have all helped in getting me to this day and I can't thank you enough! I'm excited to see what its like on the other side! I just need to remind myself to stop, breathe and take it all in next Friday! I can't describe how I feel right now because it is constantly changing! Overall, I'm excited, nervous, anxious, relieved (more-so next week at this time), and stressed! I know the day will go exactly how its supposed to and I know it won't be perfect and that's ok!

Thanks again my lovely readers and I'll be back in full force as a Mrs!
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Showin' some leg!

No, I didn't run off and become a short dress bride! It's garter talk time! I have never worn a garter...ever! I think high school girls are now wearing them to prom, but that wasn't the case when I went to prom.

When I thought about my garter, I didn't know what to get. There are some very pretty options. Mr. 2SB is Buffalo Bills (football...in case you didn't know) fan and I thought it would be fun to incorporate that some how. I headed over to Etsy and my search was over very quickly!

I came across GartersByKristi and saw this lovely set of garters!

Image and item can be found here

So, I placed my order for one set - minus the white poof on the top one. In a few short days, they arrived. I was going to try to keep them a secret from Mr. 2SB, but he was with me when I went to the office. He thought they were silly, but liked them at the same time! I think they're growing on him though! We had some people over a few weeks ago and he made me show them to them...just from the box, not on my leg!

Here's what I saw when I opened the package:

I'm really happy with how they look! Anyone else think garters are uncomfortable? I'm thinking of not wearing them until after the ceremony. Think that's ok?

Check out Kristi's store if you need a garter! Good price, fast shipping and no hassles! Can't beat that!

Do you make your garter personal? What does yours look like?

***We're leaving on Sunday for MN, so I'll be back later today with a recap and my last big post before the wedding. I'm going to try to send some text posts next week, but they'll be short. I've got some great news to share with you later!***

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Programs

I almost had my post ready to tell you about my bouquet charms, but my camera battery is dead, so you'll have to settle for seeing our programs instead!

I looked around at different blogs, but based the inside of ours after Amber's, which you can see pictures of here. For the mass part of the inside, I looked at some examples from family friends who were also married in a Catholic Church. For the outside, I wanted to incorporate our other paper products (invitations, thank yous) which were resembled off of the cake stands. I designed the programs on GIMP, same as the STD, invites and thank you cards.

I'm way too lazy to blur out our information, so know you'll know our full names. (Just an FYI - I'm having one of those days again...this wedding needs to be done with...ASAP!)

They will be printed in full color and just folded in half. No inserts, no ribbon, just folded paper! As my mom said, "People will just throw them away anyway!" Yes, mom, you are right! So imagine these are folded in half and you'll get the general idea.

back cover & front cover

inside pages

If you click on the pictures, you can see a larger picture.

We decided to go with printer in my hometown. My mom should be seeing a sample tomorrow, but I'm not too worried (something will happen with these now...I just know it!). They are printing and folding them for $0.60 each. We are having 150 printed, so total cost is $90 (plus tax I'm sure).

Another thing off the list! How did you handle your programs? Read more!

Bouquet Charms

When I started thinking about how I could include my grandparents who have passed on, more than just mentioning them in the program and having a memorial floral piece, I saw other brides using bouquet charms! What a great idea! I initially had asked my mom if she had a locket I could "borrow" (borrowed, blue, old, new thing). At that time, just my grandpas had passed on, so a locket would have worked. When my Nana passed away in July, this changed and I don't know that they make a locket that holds 3 pictures. So I was on the hunt for something else!


I came across this picture frame charm online at Joann Fabrics, but as with most things online, I couldn't really tell what size they were and couldn't find the dimensions online. Since they were $1.99 for a package of 3, I knew they couldn't be that big. Remember that wedding focused weekend we had, well part of that entailed going to onee the Joann Fabrics in the area. It's not the closest to our house, but its the biggest and has the best selection! It took me a few minutes to find these because I wasn't exactly sure what size package I was looking for. When I finally found them, I thought they were a little on the small side, but once I thought about having three on my bouquet, I thought the size was perfect!

Here's what they look like straight out of the package.

I thought I would be able to use the pink ribbon I already had, but it was way too wide. So, I got creative! While looking at the ribbon, I noticed that the edges of the ribbon would be the perfect width. So I cut two strips and applied FrayCheck to both sides.

Once the ribbon had dried, I cut the edge off.

Since I didn't have any flowers in the house, I decided to see what they looked like, so just tied one around the plant I have. I liked what I saw and completed the other two. (Yes that's an AquaGlobe on the right!)

This weekend, I finally added the pictures of my 2 grandpas and my Nana. Here are the end results.

The left two pictures are my Grandpa and Nana, my mom's parents. In the picture, I'm actually in the middle of them at my high school graduation. It was unfortunately the last picture I had of the three of us. The picture on the right is my dad's dad. He passed away when my mom was pregnant with my sister, who is the oldest grandchild on my dad's side. His picture is from their wedding day. I thought it was appropiate!

How are you planning on honoring your family members who have passed on?

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Reception Slide show

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday, but had mentioned before was how I was slaving over was our slide show that we'll be showing at our reception.

We decided to have three songs for ours - 1 for pictures of me growing up; 1 for pictures of Mr. 2SB growing up and 1 for our pictures together. We chose our own songs and decided on the 3rd together. It is fairly long - about 11 minutes, but hopefully it will keep guests entertained. I used One True Media and I don't think this could have been any simpler! I uploaded our pics and arranged them how I wanted. I paid one month of the $3.99 premium membership and then paid $27.63 for a DVD (including tax and shipping). One True Media is with in an hour of where I live, so I had our DVD with in a few days. The quality is great and I'm so excited for our guests to watch it!

No one has seen this but me and Mr. 2SB, so please take a look! The last 19 slides are my absolute favorite...watch and you'll see why (at time stamp 9:25)! It was Mr. 2SB's idea to add the pictures of our parents and grandparents in...I take credit for the quote!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What do you think? Read more!

Wow

...so much has happened and gotten finished/decided over the last 24 hours, I could write enough blog posts for 2 weeks! Since I don't have two weeks...we'll do a recap!

• We decided our our first dance song and the song that we'll dance with my dad and his mom too.

Our first dance




Dance with me and my dad and Mr. 2SB and his mom

• Menu choices were decided. We'll be serving roast beef, chicken with some sort of gravy, baked potates and a mixed vegetable. It also comes with salad and dinner rolls. Fairly standard, but hopefully most people will find something that they will like...if not...too bad!
• Our reception location suggested we use their centerpieces with fake flowers. In other words, all my time, effort and money that went into the cake stands would be thrown out the window. They don't know it yet, but this will not be happening. Oh, and she brought this up to me last night...lady, it's less than two weeks before my wedding and I am not going to be changing the entire look of the reception now...too late!
• We bought our guestbook this weekend. It's fairly standard...nothing too special. I can't find it online, but it will serve its purpose!
  

And the biggest thing...our honeymoon is postponed. After stalking the Carnival website for the last week, they have re-routed all ships that were supposed to go to Mexico through the middle of June. We could have kept our cruise and gone to Astoria, OR, Victoria and Vancouver, Canada. Like I side before, nice places to go, just not for our honeymoon. We'll be figuring out tonight what we'll do. Right now, we are thinking of going to Vegas from Sunday through Wednesday. Just to get away for a few days and then take our cruise this fall.

Alright, I think we're all caught up! I still have more to share with you this week (programs, garters, bouquet charms...to name a few)! Barring any other world wide pandemics, we should be good to go! Read more!