Just typing that post title gives me butterflies – less than 10 days to go?! I’m feeling good, though!!

Kate Murphy via Once Wed

Since my last update:
— My wedding gown has arrived in CT! The wonderful ladies at my bridal salon agreed to ship it post-alterations.
— We finally decided on a song for our first dance!
— I finished a whole heap of signage: our large menu board, our station menu boards, tented cards for passed trays, dessert signage, boutonniere cards, and reserved table signs, as well as various little flags and food pick thingies. WHEW!
— We finalized details with our bandleader
— I wrote my personal vows, and John is currently working on his
— We invited guests to brunch on Sunday
— I had my final call with our day-of coordinator (love her!)
— Meanwhile, Marget made an AMAZING graphic for our rehearsal dinner favors, and my Mom has been a busy bee overseeing house improvements, locating boxwood bushes, polishing silver, and tracking down easels!

A few of the tasks still on the list for the remainder of the week:
— Write notes to go along with gifts
— Finish slideshow
— Confirm final details with caterer and send final balance
— Finish bar menus after confirming with caterer
— Compile lists of all guests/vendors for wedding and rehearsal and send to USCGA base security
— Confirm details with rehearsal dinner location
— PACK
— Write our toast – planning to do this on the drive up to CT!

There are still a few things on the to do list for this weekend, so I expect to be back with a final update post a week from today! In between, I’m hoping to share my second bridal shower and bachelorette adventure!

Our Macy’s registry informs me that there are 11 days left until our wedding – exciting! It seems as good a time as any to tell you a little bit about where we registered, and what we registered for.

We signed up for our first registry in August 2011, very quickly after we were engaged. We knew we had an engagement party planned for September, and we wanted to give people a few options should they be looking for gift suggestions (I don’t think anyone took us up on it, but that’s okay!). We decided on Macy’s because we had heard good things about their policies (returns, incentive programs, etc.) and knew they had a wide variety from which to choose. We’ve been happy with the choice! More than a year in, I would say Macy’s has been the most popular with our guests. Here are a few of the favorite goods we registered for:

The ones marked with an asterisk are gifts our guests have already chosen for us!

1. Le Creuset 5.5 Quart Round French Oven | 2. Martha Stewart Collection Ice Bucket with Tongs* | 3. Martha Stewart Collection Glass Food Storage Set* | 4. Keurig B60* | 5. Lenox Tuscany Classic Champagne Flutes* | 6. Calphalon Contemporary Stainless Steel Cookware* | 7. Spode Nectar Dinnerware* | 8. Kate Spade Trimble Place salad plates | 9. Kate Spade Larabee Road bread and butter plates*

One thing I have to note: As the dish washer of the household, I especially appreciate the Le Creuset and the Calphalon, because not only do they cook beautifully, but they are SO easy to clean! Nothing sticks to them – it’s amazing!!

On to Crate & Barrel! We originally registered at C&B because we wanted a certain china pattern, but we found several other things to like there, as well. A few of our favorites:

1. Cuisinart Griddler* (this thing is AMAZING!) | 2. Wusthof Classic Black 7″ Hollow Ground Santoku* | 3. Heritage Hill glass jars* (we’re storing flour and sugar in these) | 4. Gourmet 5-Piece Placesetting* (very light and elegant in the hand) | 5. Staccato dinner plate* (goes with everything) | 6. Small all-purpose scoop

Our final registry is at Amazon. It hasn’t been too popular with our guests yet, but I have high hopes for these last few weeks!

1. Brahms Mount cotton herringbone throw | 2. GoPro HD camera | 3. Peterboro insulated picnic basket* | 4. Teak Fermob folding bistro chairs | 5. Weck 1-liter juice jars (set of 3)* (perfect for picnics!) | 6. Porcelain heart-shaped 6 oz. quiche dishes (set of 4) | 7. O Holy Night canvas print (want this SO badly, even though we’d only be able to use it one month out of the year!) | 8. Magnolia print | 9. Marche baskets | 10. Large woven seagrass baskets (planning to use these as laundry baskets)

If you’re engaged or married, where are you registered, or where did you register?

Surf City

In retrospect I sounded a bit frazzled in my last post (which, admittedly, I was), but I just wanted to pop in and let y’all know I’m feeling much more on top of things these days! My to do list for this week only has 22 items on it (which may sound like a lot, but most of them are pretty simple, like “buy Cheerwine,” and some are just things like paying final balances to vendors!). Plus, we spent Saturday at the beach and yesterday at church and then out to dinner with friends (in between wedding tasks, of course), both of which helped to clear our minds. I’m excited to finish out this week strong, and then spend the one after it relaxing and celebrating!

I’ll be back with a post on our registry tomorrow, and a planning update on Wednesday!

xo

Oh my. This has been a rough week in terms of wedding planning – the most to do, and seemingly not much time to do it. We did get a few things done, but I’m hoping to finish the week strong so that next week can be all about organizing and packing.

Another task we completed this week — mapping out a wedding day car schedule, so our 16 bridal party + family members can get around in five cars on 10 different legs… without leaving anyone behind

Since my last update:
— I finished scanning all our slideshow photos and we’ve loaded them into the program – now just need to add finishing touches
— We finalized our wedding day schedule (we also timed out our ceremony to make sure our estimate was accurate!)
— We chose songs for all important moments (except first dance – still trying to decide on that one!)
— We made the final selections for our bar
— I printed the wrappers for our favors
— I sent the ceremony programs, welcome bag inserts, and maps out to be printed
— I’ve painted a first coat on our remaining large reception signage
— I mapped out our menu board and bought the additional paper needed for the rest of our signage (oh signage…)
— We sent final payments to several of our vendors – exciting!
— My veil arrived!
— I wrapped gifts for my bridesmaids and our greeters, readers, and pianist

A few of the tasks still on the list for the remainder of the week:
— Finalize details with our bandleader
— Finish the slideshow
— Write our toast
— Finalize our personal vows (eep!)
— Invite guests to Sunday brunch
— Finish the bar menu signage
— Assemble our menu board
— Make reserved table signs
— Find something to hold our cards at the reception

Wish me luck!! Hoping to get something up besides an update in the next week!