You can call me Productive Polly.

So I have taken it upon myself to close out the year by being productive... no, I have not done my laundry since returning home from Jersey and no, I did not mean productive in domestic things.  I mean, I am going to get some big wedding things done so that I can knock them off the list and feel really good and really confident about the wedding stuff when 2011 starts.  

Last night, I printed all of the wedding invitations, response cards and inserts.  Like I said -- wedding productive.  Today, it is my goal to address the ones that are going to people are will not be moving any time soon: aunts and uncles, obscure relatives, family friends who have lived in the same place forever and have no intention of ever leaving, and friends who just renewed/signed leases on apartments that require you to sell your left kidney to get out of it.  So far, I have gotten three done since I started this morning.  I have a feeling this is going to take awhile... thank God for country music and wine, otherwise I might never get this done.

So I ordered these really cute address labels a couple weeks ago.  I had every intention of putting them on the front of the invitations (you know, where address labels usually go) but it turns out, the envelopes don't close so well, so I will have to use them as envelope seals.  Darn.  I don't really care what context they get used in, just as long as they get used.  I mean seriously -- how cute are they:

I took out our street address... you never know what kind of creeps are out there.

I also sent our dear priest an email asking him what all we need to do on the religious end of things.  I mean, we already did Pre-Cana and I know it can't be that easy.  I need to find out what kind of music the church generally does for weddings.  This is kind of important and something that never occurred to me until... well last night when I was putting together some things for the program.  I mean, you always think about the music you want played, but it never occurred to me that I will actually need someone to play that music.  Duh.  

Well, back to work.  Maybe I will get another three done before I get distracted again...

If my wedding was a pregnancy...

So it's been over a month since I have done anything wedding related... well, not really.  It's just been over a month since I wrote about doing anything wedding related.  It has also been over a month since I requested Brandon write a guest appearance blog post.  Chances are, that will never happen.  In fact, I think if he does ever write a blog post, it will be the day after our wedding and the post will read something along the lines of "This is Brandon and I am now married."  The end.  That's it.  But that's Brandon.  Simplicity -- one of the many reasons that I am absolutely in love with him.  Vomit.  Now that that squishy moment is over, let's really dive into this.  If my wedding was a pregnancy, I would be two weeks preggers.  Now that doesn't seem like a very pregnant person, but think about it -- nine months is really not a long time in the big picture.  In fact, there are just 255 days until the wedding.  That doesn't even sound like a lot anymore, and I think that scares me a little bit.  I mean January is just a few days away, and then we will be in the same year as the wedding.  How did that happen?  Am I going to get everything done or am I going to somehow botch this and forget something like really important? 

Yesterday I went to Staples and I bought postcards.  Now we will have something to put the church address and registry/hotel information on for the invitation inserts.  I also finalized wording on both the invitations (and response card) and the program.  I also learned that Staples can't print our invitations, so it looks like this little lady will be doing it all.  I am definitely ok with that though.  In the long run, it will still end up being less expensive than if I had custom ordered my invitations and had them printed for me.  I think I will start printing the postcards inserts and the invitations in the next few days.  I think it will make me feel a little bit accomplished.  Between now and the wedding there really isn't too much that we have to do and that rocks... or is there?  I just don't know.  

I mean here are the things that need to be accomplished:

• Groomsmen need to get tuxes
• Bridesmaids need to pick dresses
• Girls weekend with the bridal party... not required, but desired :)
• Find the freaking wedding shoes already
• Head count for favors/vases for centerpieces to Aunt Patti
• Ceremony music
• Buy wedding bands
• Address and mail invitations
• Marriage license 
• Seating chart :) 
• Get Tan ... obviously a top priority for me!

I mean, clearly I am missing things that need to be on this list. But generally speaking, that is everything that needs to get done.  Theknot.com is making sure that I am on top of things and helping to keep me on track.  So far, so good.  I mean, I have a draft seating chart if everyone RSVPs (what? don't judge me!), which I think will make my life one million times easier when the RSVPs do start rolling in.  I am on top of this... I think... we'll see...

Feeling Accomplished

So this weekend I was able to get more than 3 things done for the wedding. :)

1. As I blogged about on Saturday, we finalized the menu and details for the rehearsal dinner AND we ordered rehearsal dinner invitation inserts with menu choices. This is huge. I am really happy to have this done. The rehearsal dinner can basically be checked off the list. I have a few little things to check over with the church, but the dinner aspect of the evening is dunzo! :)

2. We bought stamps for the wedding RSVP cards and rehearsal dinner invitations. I figure, postage is going up next year (a whopping two cents), so getting the forever stamps is a great way to ensure that we don’t spend anything more than we should.  See – this whole getting things done way early thing is panning out!  Of course, I got more stamps than I thought we would need, but I figured that was smart because forever stamps will always be good!

3. I made 300 little blue and brown bows. “For what?” you may ask. Well, I will tell you. Once people decide on their dish for the reception, they will be either a blue ribbon or a brown ribbon. Their little ribbon will go on their seating card. This will allow to caterer to know who gets what meal. So when a table gets called, the people will take their place card, then they will be served the correct dish. I also think it will give a little flair to the seating cards.

4. I started my must-have photo list for Cory. I broke it down into 4 categories: Getting Ready, Ceremony, Post-Ceremony and Reception. I am sure that I will think of other pictures as the wedding approaches, but this gives me a head start on making the list. Also, come to think of it, I am sure this is something that I would have forgotten to do if I hadn’t done it now!

5. We ordered our parents gifts :) We got them … Yea right, like I am that stupid. I will say though, that I am REALLY pleased with how they turned out.  Waiting for the final product to arrive is going to be very difficult.  I am just hoping that I don't cave and convince Brandon they should be Christmas presents! I think it is a very unique gift and something that both sets of parents will really enjoy for years to come. So we have almost all of the bridal party gifts taken care of. I want to get a necklace or bracelet for my bridesmaids, something that unifies them, but this is proving to be a little bit harder than I have anticipated. Why am I not surprised?

So I nearly doubled my wish list of things to complete in a weekend.  I am feeling mighty accomplished.  In shoe news, I have come to terms with the fact that my perfect shoe does not exist. I have started to accept the fact that I will have to wear some kind of pump. I guess it’s better that I accept this now and start looking for a realistic shoe than to get down on myself and the fact that my dream shoe does not exist. So now I begin my search for the perfect pump. Wish me luck :)

Rehearsal Dinner... check :)

That's right ladies & gentlemen, we are dunzo... well, with the rehearsal dinner anyways.  It makes me feel very good that we have that aspect of the wedding taken care of, especially after my weird wedding freak out yesterday.  Reflecting back, I will admit, I went a little bit crazy.  If you ask Brandon "a little bit" is an understatement.  

Anyways, last night we had a wonderful evening out... well a wonderful couple hours out anyways.  Brandon and I are pathetic and had a pretty early night.  Anyways, we went to dinner at the River City Grill in Silver Spring, which is where we are having the rehearsal dinner.  We met with the restaurant manager and finalized the details of the dinner.  We came up with a final menu and wine selection.  To top it all off, the restaurant manager, Gzim, gave us complimentary drinks and bottle of wine to have with dinner. He is absolutely fabulous.

We already have the rehearsal dinner invitations in the closet.  And this morning we ordered the menu cards to be sent with the invitations.  We also went to the post office this morning and got a ton of stamps.  So now we have stamps for the wedding RSVP cards and the rehearsal dinner invitations.  It feel so good to get these things done and I am really happy to have this stuff done.  It also occurred to me today that I am really lucky to have Brandon on the receiving end of my crazy wedding planning mode.  He just kinda lets me go and do what I think I need to get done.  I would be lost without him and I think he knows it.  So with regards to my goal of getting three wedding things done this weekend, I have one done.  One down and two to go... I hope.   (And really, if it comes down to it, I will so count this as two things because 1. we finalized the menu for the dinner and 2. we ordered inserts for the rehearsal dinner.)

Dunzo with PreCana… and Other Worries

So we survived. I cannot believe it has already been five weeks (six classes). I remember the day before PreCana wondering if we were going to learn anything, if we were going to resent the class, if we would survive and still be together at the end of it (what? Brandon had the same fear). I think the class has actually helped us and made us a stronger couple. It has definitely brought to light the insecurities and worries in the both of us and forced us to address these things and open up the communication between the two of us. I am definitely happy that we got it done so early into things. I think over all it will make things easier for us. It is nice to have something so big checked off the list so early. We are not done with our Catholic duties though. We still need to meet with Msgr. Filardi and get some details ironed out (like the massive amount of paperwork that needs to be done) and we also need to take the FOCCUS test and review our responses with the Msgr. I will say that this is something that I am actually looking forward to. The almost 200 question test, maybe not; but the final result, absolutely.

In other news, the florist gave me a small anxiety attack today. One that Brandon is going to really hate (sorry babe, your little lady is going into full wedding planning mode). So Roberta (that’s my WONDERFUL florist) emailed me requesting some information – nbd. I can give her some information. What’s that? You want to know the addresses for the locations where I want you to drop off the flowers, got it – no problem… and the estimated times to drop them off? Holy crap, I need to make a timeline for the day. How have I not thought about this? Why has this not crossed my mind? I mean, yea I have a general idea of the desired flow of the day. Oh My God. I have a million things that I haven’t done. Ok, so I need to let her know times, but in order to do that I need to come up with a realistic desired timeline for the day. I need to find out about hair and make-up and who has the best prices and who is the most time efficient. I need to finalize details with the rehearsal dinner. I need to make a list of pictures that I want taken for Cory. I need to talk to my bridesmaids about dresses and who wants what. I need to talk to the church about ceremony music. I need to decide on ceremony music. I need to think about the reception menu. I need to find out about decorating the reception venue. I need to make bows for the seating cards so that the caterers know what meal they are having. I need to - Oh My God – how am I going to get everything done?!? Then I think, “snap out of it Trotter! You have 294 days until the wedding!” Reality? Is that you? Thank God you found me! …If you’re wondering, the answer is no, that so does not get Brandon out of wife-to-be wedding-planning-mode. Sorry darling – this little lady is on a roll. I am making it my goal to accomplish three wedding related things this weekend. Hmm… what do I want to get done this weekend? Bows? Rehearsal dinner menu? I will update on Monday – if not before! Wish me luck :)

Website Change?

So it occurred to me today while I was driving home that I love to blog (probably because I love to talk about myself) and that the blog website address did not really capture the real point behind the blog.  What?  You didn't know that there was actually a point behind my incessant rambling.  Hmm, that's what Brandon always says too...  Anyways, the point is to keep friends and family and of course, my loyal stalkers tuned in to what is happening in our lives; so really simplymywedding just wasn't cutting it.  

Tonight on my obscenely long and traffic filled ride home from work, I made the command decision to change the blog website from simplymywedding to fromweddingtowife because really this blog is to keep everyone updated on this going on from wedding planning to my current chaotic life in general and in less than a year (EEK!) to my life as a wife.  Realistically, life is going to go on happening after I get married.  I mean, did you honestly think my wedding was the end of anything interesting in my life...?  Don't feel bad, for awhile, I did too.  However, in the next couple of years Brandon and I will be buying a home and having kids (ok, well maybe not the next couple of years, but definitely before I am 30), and I am sure people will still be mildly addicted to hearing about what is going on in the land of Brandon & Tori.  So I encourage everyone to sit back and enjoy the ride because while it may be bumpy, it will definitely never be boring :)

Engagement Pictures :)

So as many of you have already seen, we have our engagement pictures!  I am so incredibly pleased with the work that Cory Brodzinski did.  He is extremely talented and he was really able to capture Brandon and me.  I am really looking forward to working with Cory for our wedding pictures, and who knows, maybe other pictures down the road... :)

When we met with Cory in October, it was SO windy!  But we were not able to let that stop the day.  We were determined to get the best pictures and even with the crazy wind, Cory did an absolutely incredible job.  I mean, anyone who can make taking pictures with Brandon tolerable deserves some kind of Nobel prize.  We started our pictures at Big Meadows...

This picture was actually not posed and rather impromptu 

Cory would unknowingly photograph us and it allowed for some really great pictures :)

We then moved into a small wooded area at the edge of the Meadow.  While I was terrified of being eaten by a bear, which wasn't unfounded since I had already seen one bear, Brandon did his best to keep me distracted.

This is one of my favorite pictures of us, ever :)

 We then moved on through the meadow to find another location for pictures before we headed to Little Stoney Man Cliffs (yes, cliffs).  We were able to get some great pictures along the way...

So then the toughest part of the day, where we actually got the best pictures, came around.  Cory wanted to take pictures at the top of Little Stoney Man Cliffs.  Now, for Brandon, this was a terrible idea.  Brandon is terrified of heights.  But Cory told him how great the pictures would be and so Brandon decided that for the good of the pictures, he would get over his fear of heights for a little while.  I could not have been more proud of him.  

What you can't exactly tell from those pictures is that right behind us the cliff ends.  If we had moved back maybe 8 feet, we would fall.  Brandon handled it pretty well.  I mean, he was scared, but he doesn't seem to show it in the pictures.  The part of the day where he was most uncomfortable, got us the best results. Overall, we had an awesome day with Cory and are so incredibly pleased with the work that he does.  In fact, Cory put together a slideshow of the pictures that he took.  (I told you he was fabulous.) 

http://animoto.com/play/G01RhmWAxd9xSlkrUcGkuQ

I encourage people to check out more of Cory's work.  I love him and I know that you will as well.  http://www.corybphoto.com/

November? Already?

So it's November. Where did October go? And how do we make the time slow down? The past few weeks have been very wedding related (and not just for me!). Sometims I think that at the rate things are going, it's going to be the wedding day before we know it. Yikes. I mean seriously, let's recap the last 3 weeks:

October 16th Brandon and I had our engagement pictures done. Then, Brandon and I started Pre-Cana classes on October 21. They are five consective Thursdays in a row and then we have one Saturday session on the 6th. Truth be told -- they are not really that bad. I had decided that this was essentially going to be torture… Turns out, I was wrong. The first class we were given homework: watch a movie. Bonus: they gave us wine and candy to make it a date night. Wine and Candy at Jesus class?!?!? Those are two of my favorite things, ever. Last week at class, they had wings and other snack food. This week they are making us dinner and then we are halfway done. And the weird thing is, be careful as the lightning bolt that is going to strike me down may come through the computer, I feel like I am actually learning things and that Brandon and I are actually benefiting from this. Who knew… Anyways, the movie we have to watch is called Fireproof -- I will let you know how this goes. However, I have heard some reviews for the film and I watched the trailer - it sounds like it will actually be entertaining and enjoyable. Yep, that's right. They are giving me wine, candy and a decent flick to watch. How can I be bitter about the class? Danielle and Justin just had their Pre-Cana class last weekend, an all day event which they had to take personaility tests to qualify for… and they weren't given wine. Yikes.

The Saturday after our first Pre-Cana class, Brandon and I went to SugarBakers and sampled wedding cakes. We found our bakery :) We finalized things, put a deposit down and walked away the proud decision makers. Woohooooo. We are having a beautiful, four tiered, carrot cake and raspberry amaretto cake. The bottom and top tiers are carrot cake and the middle two tiers are raspberry amaretto for those weirdos (aka Michelle) who don't eat carrot cake. The layers are separate, so while it seems like a weird combination -- you don't get both flavors. You get one or the other, don't be greedy.

Brandon and I picked out our engagement pictures. Now we are simply waiting for Cory to finalize them and then we will let people see them :) EEK! I am SO excited about them. The unedited ones were AWESOME, so I can only imagine what Cory has in store :)

Hmm… what am I missing? Oh yea, Michelle and TJ are engaged!! YAY! :)

hmm maybe I should update everyone...

So it would appear, by my lack of blog posts regarding wedding things, as though I have taken a hiatus from anything wedding related. I haven't really. I have been in constant search for the perfect pair of shoes (ugh) and a bakery (double ugh). And really, to be honest, I have been more focused on the whole bakery thing. I have made it my personal mission to find a bakery before I actually continue on with anything else. Stubborn of me? Duh. However, this has been a very frustrating element of the wedding. Good news though and I know I have said it before, but I think for real this time, I have found a bakery! :)

After having that conversation with Dr. Levy about wedding cake (you know, the one where he told me that in the big picture -- it didn't really matter), I talked to Brandon.  He likes carrot cake.  I like carrot cake.  The majority of people questioned like carrot cake.  How did we not think of this sooner?  I am not sure.  He was so insistent on ice cream cake I guess that we didn't think about carrot cake.  Now he is over ice cream cake and has seen the light. How did I find the bakery? Google. And like the florist, the bakery is up near Baltimore.

Here is their website: http://www.sugarbakerscakes.com/index.php I have put a request for a consultation in and we will be tasting cakes on Saturday :) Let's cross our fingers that this one actually pans out!

Also in wedding news, this past weekend Brandon and I ventured down to Skyline Drive with Cory Brozinski for engagement pictures. It was a little windy, but overall the day was perfect. We should have pictures back in a few days and when I get them, you can be sure that I will be posting them on here. Cory is WONDERFUL! It was so much fun to work with him and he really made the entire process so easy, especially since Brandon was apprehensive and unsure of what to be doing. Here is Cory's website: http://corybphoto.blogspot.com/  I highly encourage people to check it out.

filling, flavors and icing... oh my!

So this morning I got into the shower and instead of thinking about the things I have to do to get ready for work, what pops into my head? The cake tasting scheduled for tonight… and the fact that I didn’t call the bakery on Monday and let them know the flavors Brandon and I were interested in.  Crap.  I got to work and sent Brandon the website and made him look it over.  I told him to do some thinking and to let me know his top 4 flavors; meanwhile, I wrote down my top 4 flavors. Turns out – we had some in common, this is good. Phew! Maybe this won’t be too bad after all.

I called the bakery to see what we could do.  I spoke with a wonderfully nice man. I learned about the other specialties of the bakery.  I learned all about the fillings and the icings and the flavors and how those things all go together.  I learned about ideal fillings for certain times of the year. I learned about the downfall of certain fillings with certain icing and certain flavors.  I learned that the whole cake is centered around the filling and not the flavor of the cake, and I learned that all of the work that I had forced Brandon to do was null and void. And then I rescheduled our appointment.

Ok, so we need to start by picking a filling option.  Of course we do. Well maybe if the website had said that, we would have done it that way.  Oh, you mean it’s implied on there?  Of course it is…

I asked Dr. Levy, one of the founding doctors at Shady Grove Fertility (and one of my personal favorites) what kind of cake he would have if he was getting married again.  He said he loved chocolate cake and he really also loved vanilla.  An answer that was unfortunately not very helpful to me.  But then he said something very genuine that I really need to listen to. He said “Tori, I will tell you what I always tell my wife when she is trying to decide between brown cushions and black cushions and green cushions – in the big picture, it doesn’t really matter at all.”

So… does this mean you wouldn’t pick the white chocolate mousse?

working for a wedding weekend

3 days -- that's what stands between me and the weekend and right now it appears as though it will be a very wedding filled weekend and that’s a good thing. Last night I had another wedding nightmare... I know, I feel bad for me too. I still maintain that with over a year to go, I should not be having ANY wedding nightmares! I should be having only wonderful dreams about looking obscenely skinny and tan in my wedding dress… I am shallow, what did you expect?

Last night’s dream wasn’t nearly as bad as the other one. Last night I had a dream that it was the day before the wedding and Brandon and I had not sent out any of the invitations (I'm not sure how that's possible since we aleady have our DIY invitations purchased, we just have to do it ourselves) and I hadn’t made any arrangements with a florist and I had my mom running around (poor Liz) calling everyone in her phone book asking them if they were coming to the wedding. I didn’t have my nails done and I didn’t want to get married with my nails looking so ugly. My dress didn’t look like my dress and I didn’t love it. My mom was trying to calm me down, assuring me that people would come and it would be perfect, but I was not hearing any of it. I mean seriously – my nails looked horrible.

Rest assured, if this does happen (the whole forgetting to send out invites), I will not be without flowers because on Saturday Brandon and I are going to see the florist. Apparently this guy specializes in budgets and hydrangeas. How fitting because I want hydrangeas and I have a budget. So, we have an appointment with them at 11 and then we have a meeting at River City Grille at 2:30. (What’s River City Grille? Oh, it’s just the location of the rehearsal dinner. Yes, we finally found one!) So on Saturday we get to go to the hotel (yep, the rehearsal dinner is taking place in the hotel – talk about convenient!) and speak with the restaurant manager to plan some things out for the rehearsal dinner.  Just thinking about it makes me feel like I have actually accomplished something :)

Hi, I need 12 extra large boxes of Rice Krispies. Thanks.

So Brandon doesn’t love sweets. When it comes to dessert, he likes ice cream cake and Rice Krispie treats. We all know my feelings about ice cream cake at the wedding, but I had never thought about Rice Krispie treats. A girl that I work with, Brandi, had a Rice Krispie treat wedding cake and it was beautiful. I never thought I would call Rice Krispie treats beautiful, but whatever. I decided to look into this a little bit more and it turns out, this is not an uncommon thing. Who knew.

If I am going to have a Rice Krispie treat wedding cake, I might as well make it myself, right? In the long run that would probably be much less expensive than trying to find a bakery to make it. Also – what bakery is going to make a Rice Krispie wedding cake? That’s what I thought. Christina (who is one of my close friends at work) and I decided to do some research on mass production of Rice Krispie treats. For a serving size of 76, we would need (and I am not exaggerating or kidding) 57 cups of cereal, 9 and a half ten oz. packages of regular sized marshmallows (or just 38 cups of mini marshmallows) and 28.5 tablespoons of butter. Please picture my shopping cart at the grocery store. In case you were curious (obviously, you are) that’s five of the really big boxes of Rice Krispies. And I would probably need to double the recipe, and that won’t make me look crazy at all. Christina has promised that if I do make the cake we can go to the store together so people think we’re both crazy instead of people thinking I just REALLY love Rice Krispies :)

It tastes like old classroom

Today Hadley, my mom and I went to look at wedding cakes and sample some flavors at Custom Cake Design in Gaithersburg.  I am really not impressed.  The prices were a little ridiculous for what they were offering, or weren't offering as the case may be.  Of the 15 flavors they had out today, we liked two.  And even with those two, we liked them, we did not love them.  I mean, I know exactly what I want in a wedding cake.  I want three simple things: buttercream, blue frosting, brown scroll.  I don't think the price should go up two levels for having those two colors.  I mean, how hard is it to really change the color of icing? Seriously?  I will come into the bakery with food coloring and I will make the damn buttercream blue.  Does that work for you?  Oh well, I have four or five other bakeries that I am going to look at.  Michelle has found two bakeries that she likes in Rockville and I am sure one of them will end up being the one.  Michelle always knows the right places.  Warning: If you go to Custom Cake Design, do not try the Mango cake.  It tastes like old classroom.

I have also decided that I liked the idea of having cupcakes and a smaller cake.  I mean, why not?  People have been doing some really cute things with cupcakes.  At first Brandon did not like that idea at all, but now he has had a change of heart.

I like the idea of the cupcakes on the side and I like the idea of the cupcakes as part of the wedding tower.  See, I'm not picky!  We could have them in a variety of flavors (if we did them ourselves).  I mean, obviously I would want to have cupcakes with both brown icing and blue icing to match my cake.  Now I just have to find someone to maybe do it.  A girl I went to college with got married last weekend and she made her own cupcakes.  I just don't know that I have the patience to make that many cupcakes.  Roz made 300 cupcakes -- I think I might go crazy after 30 and let's be honest, how helpful do we really think Brandon will be when it comes to making cupcakes?  He may surprise me.  I am just worried that if I made my own cupcakes, they would begin to taste like old classroom.

Like it's going out of style... but seriously, it is.

So I have been wedding planning like it's going out of style.  I have been crazy productive.  I just have to find a bakery and a florist and I am basically done.  I will have all of the big stuff out of the way, anyways.  First step in getting it done, is sampling cakes, right?  Well, tomorrow I am going to sample cakes with Hadley, my mom and Michelle.  I am SO excited about it. It will be nice to get to spend some time with Hadley.  Life has been so crazy for both of us that we haven't gotten to see each other for awhile.  I am excited for my mom to be a part of wedding planning.  Now that the wedding is just over a year away, I think she is starting to realize that this thing is really going to happen.  I also think having Michelle there will make the day especially special.  I will get to have three of my favorite people with me :)

Today Katie and I did something wedding related that was actually a lot of fun.  I needed it since wedding planning and things related to the wedding have been really frustrating for me lately.  I had this vision for our entire wedding since we really started talking about getting married... ew, fine I'll admit it, since before we started talking about getting married.  I had it all figured out from the planning to the rehearsal dinner to the reception and right now, things just don't seem to be going quite how I had envisioned -- but that's life right?  Sometimes things just don't go our way -- even if it is our party and believe me, I will cry if I want to (...and then deny it vehemently to whoever accuses me of crying).  So Katie and I went to David's Bridal today and picked out a dress for the rehearsal dinner.  I had a dress that I loved in mind and had it saved to my favorite's on the website so I wanted to go see it.  Katie fell in love with the dress too.  It's perfect, what can I say?  What's that? My dress is going out of style?  Great. Do you have any more? Oh, ok.  The closest store carrying my dress is in Hampton, Virginia.  Cool, that's only three hours away.  Roadtrip?

Don't worry -- I got my dress and no, I did not make Katie drive to Hampton, Virginia.  It just took a few phone calls and waiting on hold for a year, but I got my dress.  It should be here in a couple weeks :)

my dress :)

Now we just need to figure out our budget for the rehearsal dinner so we can find a place where we can thank our wonderful family and bridal party.  I mean, we already have the gifts for everyone picked out :)  Like I said, we have a lot done.  Part of me wants to do the rehearsal dinner on Thursday and then have a welcome reception for ALL out of town guests on Friday night.  I saw on the website for the hotel something about a complimentary happy hour with the booking of at least 25 rooms.  I have a feeling that we'll need at least that many!  Seriously though, I mean, so many of our wedding guests are from out of town and, as much as we want to, we really can't include everyone in the rehearsal dinner; it's generally supposed to be for the wedding party and the immediate family of the bride and groom.  That number alone is huge and if we invite more people than that, it will be just like having a second recetion anyways.  The happy hour at the hotel would be perfect -- now I just have to hagle them and get it!  Back to the food -- the more Brandon and I have talked about it, the more we like the idea of a simple sit down dinner.  We don't want anything fancy pancy, but we like the idea of sitting down as one big happy wedding family to share a meal.  I will say -- I am still hooked on BlackFinn, but Brandon wants to shop around and sample other restaurants and I am not one to turn down date night with my future hubby :)

Crowne Plaza -- now that just sounds nice.

399.  That's how many days stand between me and the wedding.  Brandon and I have really started to buckle down and knock some things off the list.  The more we can get done now, the more time before the wedding we have to dick around and be lazy bums.  Obviously, I like the idea of being a bum, laying around and getting tan before the wedding more than I like the idea of running around like a mad woman trying to do things like creating programs, getting supplies for the reception, etc.


This past week we looked at rehearsal dinner venues and tried to narrow that down some and we also looked into hotels for out of town guests.  Both tasks seemed to be fairly simple.  I will say, finding a hotel -- much easier than finding a venue for the rehearsal dinner.  I thought it would be the opposite.  I mean there are a TON of restaurants in the metropolitan area and I love to eat.  Why should this be difficult?  And while there are a lot of hotels in the area and we had a pretty solid idea of what we were looking for in a hotel: low price and a shuttle, I thought this would be a much more difficult task.  Maybe because I like eating more than I like looking for a hotel.  I called several hotels in Bethesda and I asked for pricing.  FYI: Bethesda is more expensive than I thought it was... oh well.  Brandon and I already had a plan to go to Silver Spring today and look at hotel, so screw Bethesda - Silver Spring here we come!  We drove down Georgia Ave and BOOM! there it was.  The Crowne Plaza hotel.  Hmm, could this be the one?  After walking around Silver Spring and checking out a couple other places, we went into the Crowne Plaza.  Brandon was excited to go check it out because this was his find and when the boy is good, the boy is good.  The lobby was clean, the people were friendly and other guests seemed very pleased with the pick.  What? You wouldn't talk to random strangers?  Me either, I don't talk to strangers. Brandon did it.   So, we think we have it all figured out.  We'll know Monday when they send us the formal proposal.  I will say, standing there in the hotel, talking to the sales associate, the whole wedding thing felt totally real.  Yikes.


Now we just have to figure out the rehearsal dinner.  At first we really loved the idea of a backyard BBQ.  Realistically this isn't possible because we don't have a backyard big enough and we need to have it somewhere that can handle any type of weather because if it rains, I know this house isn't big enough for (what's looking like) 50 people.  We found a couple places we like, but only one that really stuck out as possible for us.  There is a great place in Silver Spring.  The Firehouse -- it's very cute, very friendly and very us.  However, it is very without an elevator.  So, we can scratch that off the list. The Firehouse  So, really, we like one place, so far.  Blackfinn.  The food is really good (seriously -- best nachos I have EVER had) and the ambiance is perfect.  It's low key, it's inexpensive beer, it's great food, it's close to parking, it's perfect. We are still looking to see if something else comes along, but this is proving to be harder than we had anticipated.  We want to stay relatively close to the church for convenience sake, so that limits us to some extent.  We don't want to go into the city because, besides trying to stay close to the hotel and the church, we want to avoid sitting in too much traffic.  I mean, no one wants to sit in traffic to begin with, especially not our out of town guests who are not used to the DC traffic.  We also don't want a stuffy sit down dinner, it wouldn't be very Brandon and Tori if it was stuffy.  We want something carefree and fun.  We'll have to see what we can find.  I mean, as much fun as it was at the Four Seasons, we don't want to relive the Hillbilly Bone video :)

I'm on a mission from God

With one year, one month and 8 days (eek!) until the wedding, I have started my search for wedding shoes.  Why so early?  Because I am disgustingly picky.  I don't want to wear heals because I am a baby and I don't want my feet to hurt... or maybe it's because I am sane (what? you don't think I am sane?!?) and don't care how freaking cute the shoes are, I want to be comfortable.  I don't want my wedding day to be remembered by blisters.

I am on the mission from hell.  I want something that goes with my dress (duh) -- but they have to be very simple because my dress is lace.  I want something off white since my dress is off white.  I want something that is peep toe because I plan on getting a pedicure and why the hell would I not show off my pedicure in some fashion?  Besides, it's the weekend after Labor Day so it will still be nice outside and I associate peep toe shoes with nice, sunny weather.  This doesn't seem so difficult right? WRONG! Today I looked on several different websites and found nothing. I mean, NO-THING! Ugh.  Not even DSW had something I liked.  I might have to go on an in-person search.  I mean, I have to have them broken in before the wedding -- and not like broken in like "oooh, she wore those in public" broken in.

 To be even more difficult, I need to find a pair of non peep toe shoes.  Why? Because if it rains I need to have a back up pair of shoes. Duh.  What kind of question is that?  When I said this to Brandon he looked at me like I have 7 heads.  I have also given some thought to wearing brown cowboy boots because well, if Brandon can do it -- why can't I?  I almost think they would be just adorable with my dress.  I will consult Hadley and report back to you.  So here is my request, if you see off-white/champagne flats send me a picture or an email and help me out.  This picky little princess needs all the help she can get.  Oh one more thing, because I haven't been obnoxious enough, the shoes have to match the dress I plan on wearing to the rehearsal dinner.  What does my dress look like? Well, I don't know.  I haven't gotten it yet :)

Boys will be boys and Girls will always win.

So Friday night Brandon promised me that he would sit down and look at wedding stuff with me on Saturday.  As you can imagine, I was thrilled!  Secretly, I was doing a little happy dance -- well, maybe it was not so secretly.  I had big hopes for this wedding planning time together.  We would sit and talk about cake and flowers and music.  We would really pick a photographer.  We would fall in love again while planning gift bags.  We would get the readings picked out and I would feel as though we were one step closer to having everything done and being able to really relax.  Not that Brandon hasn't been relaxed.  Somehow he remains calm while I become a raging train wreck.  Anyways, Saturday he got up and was incredibly productive around the house.  He mowed the lawn, he played with Hank, he straightened up the room.  He was amazing...  and then he played The Show.  Saturday came and went and we did not pick the readings.  We did not accomplish anything wedding related.  Well, together we didn't.  I managed to get a few little things done -- but I'm a girl, it's expected.

This morning we woke up and I was determined to get Brandon to settle in and talk wedding.  He was on his computer looking at Real GM (I am sure everyone is shocked) and I was on mine looking at wedding stuff (shocking -- I know).  I brought up the cake and the flowers and slowing started to try to get his feelings on things.  He didn't really have feelings on the flowers or the cake.  In the middle of trying to talk to him, Brandon looked up from his computer (Oh my God! He cares!) and he said "Hey, not to interrupt any of this wedding talk or anything, but Jamey Johnson's next cd a 25 song, two disc album."  Thanks Brandon, I was actually sitting here wondering about that.  Brandon finished looking at things online and decided that since Hank was being so quiet it was time to play The Show.  What's that Bran?  You can't find the controller.  Well duh, that's because I hid it.  Now sit your ass down and let's look at the readings.  Girls rule and Boys drool. 

So now we have the readings all picked out :)  I will say my favorite part of looking at the readings with Brandon was his response to picking out the first reading.  We were looking through the little book given to us by the church called "Together for Life" and Brandon was looking at readings from the Old Testament.  He was quietly reading and I sat here just smiling (first because I WON! and second because he is so stinkin cute in the morning) and I told him which reading I really liked.  Brandon read it and then he looked up at me and smiled and (dumb me) I completely expected him to say "that's a great choice baby, I love it too" -- I must have been in fantasy land because this is what he actually said: "That's right, you came from my rib, bitch."  I don't think I could be more in love with him if I tried.

409.

So today I logged into my Knot.com account for the first time in what felt like ages and it said 409 days until the wedding.  409?!?!?! To a normal person 409 days is a long time.  If we've ever met (which I am assuming we have since you're reading my blog... unless you're a stalker, in which case, welcome stalker, glad to have you here) you know that right now, I am starting to really think maybe a freak out is necessary.  I mean, I have one year, one month and 10 days until I become Mrs. Brandon Wilkinson. CRAZY. 

Since logging into the Knot.com this morning I have been very productive.  I emailed my contact at the church to confirm that we did in fact have the church reserved.  What?  Did you think I was kidding?  I really need to make sure bare shoulders are allowed in the church, but that's a later email.  I am sure my contact can only handle one freak out at a time, people.  I emailed the priest to check in with him.  I let EJ (I can call him that -- I have known him since I was 6) know that I was still getting married, that I had made a lot of progress and that he will think I am crazy when he sees what we've accomplished.  Yes I know that these are all things that, realistically, he already knows.  I also suggested that he come and see the fam (it's been awhile) and meet Brandon.  Somehow this has not already happened.

Today Brandon and I are taking my Dad out for his 62nd birthday -- that's right people, he is aging well.  In answer to what I can only assume will be your next question -- No, he does not color his hair.  I can only hope that I am so lucky.  Why are we taking him out 2 weeks late?  On his actual birthday my father was in Kentucky diving into whiskey barrels on the Bourbon Trail.  It's a tough life that man leads.

Daddy and Me - Day 3 of the Breast Cancer 3Day 2009

Then this afternoon Brandon and I are going to sit down and really do some wedding stuff.  I know what you're thinking and yes, Brandon is peeing his pants with excitement.  At least, he will be when I tell him that's what we're doing this afternoon.  Right now he is fixing the living room screen.  Why is he fixing it?  Because Hank took a flying leap out of a first story window to get outside to Michelle, that's why.  Jumping out windows seems to be Hank's thing.  What... Doesn't everyone's dog like to jump out windows?  

Slacker: (n) a person who shirks her work or duty

So in my last blog I noted all of the things that I had not done, all of the things that still needed to happen (ok obviously not all because then the post would be long and drawn out and obnoxious -- whatever), and a minor victory (narrowing down the photographer).  In case you were wondering (and I know all of my adoring fans are wondering), my last blog did lead me to have a minor melt down and sit in the dark (because we were on day 3 of the power outage -- don't worry I'll get there) with Brandon forcing him to talk about all of the wedding related things that were on my mind.  Poor Brandon.  In all my delirious rambling about wedding things, I did not write about all of the things that have happened in the last, oh let's go with month, since my last blog... Oh it's been longer than a month since my last post? Hmm... maybe I have been slacking more than I thought...

I quit my job at Girl Scouts. Weird.  That is something that even now that I've been in a new job for a month still sounds so crazy to me. It was time.  I was not happy. I loved the place where I worked.  I adored the people that I worked with.  But, I hated what I was doing.  Data entry was not something that I enjoyed, even if my boss rocked.  So I met with my boss, I put in my notice and then I found a new job.  I am now working at Shady Grove Fertility Centers in Rockville as a Patient Services Representative.  I went from helping people with children keep them entertained, to helping people who can't get preggers have children.  If I didn't know better, I might think that I like children.  Now I love the place where I work, I adore the people that I work with AND I love the job that I do.  It's refreshing.  It's a wonderful feeling.

Before I started my new job, Brandon and I were able to spend a week together at the beach.  It will probably be the last vacation I get to really take between now and after we get married.  Crazy to think about.  I mean, the next time I will get to spend any long amount of time away from work, especially at the beach, I will be married. Weird.  It was nice to get some down time with Brandon.  We got to take Hank out onto the beach at the crack of dawn before anyone could yell at us and tell us it wasn't allowed.  We got to spend a day with Danielle and Justin.  And we got to spend some quality time with Brandon's family.  It was absolutely wonderful.  Not to mention, I got EXTREMELY tan.  Ahhh, the beach.

-my boys on the beach-

beers with Pop :)

you gotta know, when you've got a good thing <3

Now that I have essentially recapped the last month of my life.  I will recap the last week of my life.  Sunday was a big day in the world of Tori.  Sunday I had brunch with some of the most wonderful girls I know, I met with the photographer, and Kensington lost power, something we would suffer through, for 4 days.  We had brunch at Open City in DC.  Somewhere I had not been in quite some time.  It was nice to see the girls that I used to see on nearly a daily basis.  Can I just say, there is something so wonderful about seeing friends you haven't seen in awhile and feeling like you just saw them the day before.  

.Sarah. Hadley. Nikki.

.sarah & me.

.me&hadley.

I left there thinking that I must be the luckiest girl in the world.  I went back to the apartment where Brandon and I met with a photographer option, and the meeting went really well.  I was on top of the world... and then the power went out.  Thanks for the reality check.  It wasn't too bad for Brandon and I (at first) -- mostly because we were staying at Michelle's apartment.  Thank God we decided to play House Swap on this particular weekend.  Brandon and I returned to the house on Tuesday night.  It was hot.  It was sticky.  It was foodless. Wonderful.  We managed to find a (not so) frozen pizza, which we grilled for dinner.  Yes, pizza on the grill -- don't  knock it until you try it.  It ended up being the best pizza I have ever had.  Tuesday night we did not sleep.  It was too hot to sleep. Wednesday we called Pepco.  They assured us that we would have power back by 11:30PM.... on Friday.  Wednesday night I got home from work and cleaned out the fridge and freezers -- there was not much left.  We had to throw out a disgusting amount of food.  I called Pepco again Wednesday night -- nothing had changed.  They still didn't expect power to come back before Friday night.  Ew.  Thank God Pepco was wrong.  We regained power on Wednesday night/Thursday morning.  And it's a good thing that it did finally come back -- how else was I supposed to update the adoring public about my life.  Twice in one week, I might add.

Note: Please do not become accustomed to an updated blog twice in one week.  I would much rather you be excited when I do get my life together and post than disappointed at the reality that I am a giant slacker. :)

We've come so far... Oh wait, no we haven't.

As July comes to an end and August begins, I am reminded that we only have a little over one year until the wedding. The check lists that I once obsessed over are flashing in my mind. How did I stop doing anything wedding related? What was I thinking? Have I lost my mind?!? I have A LOT to do. Of course the big pieces are coming together nicely, if I do say so myself, but it's the little things that are driving me crazy. For example, the order of events from exiting the church to kissing my parents goodbye forever (ok fine, not forever -- maybe that was dramatic) seems to stress me out more than the idea of Brandon wearing two completely unmatching socks (and anyone who really knows me, knows that Brandon's daily sock situation makes me want to cry -- a big sock with a black logo cannot go with a small sock with no logo just because the partner for the small sock has been lost and the mate for the big sock has a hole so big that even Brandon knew it was time to throw it out).

We have booked the reception hall and we're sending in the deposit this week. We have booked the church -- however, I think it's about time for my monthly phone call to reconfirm the fact that we do, in fact, have the church booked. I almost want to have someone else call and try to reserve the church for 2:30 on our wedding day to see if they say that the church has already been reserved for the day. I am just worried that because we haven't heard anything about the marriage classes a disaster is going to happen like they don't really have my wedding booked there and I will end up having to get married in a field or something. Ew. Moving right along, I have a reminder set up in my Outlook calendar to call and make an appointment with the florist. Which means I really need to call Knights of Columbus and figure out a general floor plan and how many tables will be used, which will determine the number of centerpieces, but before they can tell me the number of tables, I need to give them a rough estimate of people -- which means I will need a rough number of guests from both sets of parents and Brandon and I have to decide who we like and we who don't like. And just like that, I don't feel like we've gotten anything done… weird.

However, we have gotten closer with the whole photography thing -- and actually closer, not just closer like I had been thinking I was in every aspect of wedding planning. We are waiting on a couple more numbers, but I think we've picked out a photographer :) His name is Cory, his work is awesome and he likes the Yankees. Fun fact: he and Brandon are from the same town in New Jersey. Talk about a small world. We have set a date for engagement pictures and we've discussed wedding details. Stay tuned because once we finalize this, I will be posting some more details about our plans (especially engagement pictures plans) and some of his work :)

Revised for the 90s

My friend Katie is a professional at finding things at thrift stores, used book stores, garage sales, estate sales, etc.  For example, Katie found this awesome NRA shirt for Brandon and he loves it - wears it all the time.  Another golden find of Katie's is a gift she gave me -- half serious, half jokingly -- that I have come to love.  It is "The Working Woman's Wedding Planner" by Susan Tatsui-D'arcy, a revised for the 90s self-improvement book.  It really should be considered a classic.

The Wedding Bible, as I affectionately refer to it, opens with a wonderful Introduction: "Congratulations, Bride-to-be! You are probably feeling excited and nervous as well as the whole gamut of tumultuous emotions that brides have felt for centuries.  However, unlike most of the women who have stepped up to the altar before you, you don't have weeks of uninterrupted time to plan your wedding leisurely."   Obviously, she and I have never met.

I can't say that I use it as much as one would think I would, as a working woman and all, but occasionally I enjoy opening it up for a laugh.  In the budgeting section I am told to "use your phone book's yellow pages and call several businesses under each budget item".  Thank you Google. Thank you Knot.com.  You have taken away that step of the wedding planning process and put everyone's websites in an accessible location and, thank you, for putting the ones I want on the top of the Google search results page.  Thank you for saving me the embarrassment of calling establishments and not knowing what to ask them and then spending entirely too long on the phone with them talking about my fears and concerns.  And I want to thank the aforementioned establishments for having all of the information spelled out on their websites so that even clueless little girls like me might be able to plan a wedding without the anxiety of calling places.

There are a few gems from the Working Woman's Wedding Planner that I would like to share with everyone.  Please note, these quotes do not age the book.  However, there are plenty of those types of quotes throughout the over 250 pages of helpful hints and planning tips.

• You want retailers to know they're talking to a woman who knows the market and can't be fooled or tricked into buying more than she needs or paying more than is necessary.

Really? It's my wedding not my birthday party.  I only plan to have one of these, so really, I don't know that I believe there is such a thing as "more than she needs".

• The bachelor party can be hosted at a friend's house or at a popular bar.  Everyone traditionally toasts the bride.  Some go as far as breaking the glass so that it never be used for a less worthy cause.

If said breaking of the glass happens at a "popular bar" that party will probably move on fairly quickly.  I don't think the "popular bar" will take too kindly to a bunch of rowdy Philly boys breaking their glassware.  Just a thought.  Yes, I think it would be the Philly boys who would break something -- so what?

• The groom's cake is cut and placed into tiny boxes and given to the guests to take home.  You can also seal the groom's cake in a tin with brandy, freeze it and eat it for your anniversary.

"You just came to our wedding, got us a wonderful gift, so please, I insist you take a piece of Brandon's half melted ice cream cake home with you... What's that?  You want the bread maker back? Fine, don't take the cake, but please let me keep the bread makerrrr"

• After your big day, you may want to have a breakfast or brunch with a few people.  It's a nice way to thank those special people for helping with the wedding or thanking guests for traveling a long distance to help celebrate your marriage... If you know you'll be up very late and if you think you'll be drinking more than you should, plan this brunch for early afternoon.

It's like she knows me -- she really knows me!  Thank you Susan Tatsui-D'arcy for this wonderful piece of literature; now can you please make an updated version for the 21st century?

It's Official... We're adults

This weekend was a very wedding filled weekend.   Friday night I had my first, of what I can only assume will be many, friend weddings.  And not like a college friend or professional friend or real world adult friend, but childhood friend... as in someone I grew up with, someone I went through the awkward stages of life with and have known for almost ten years.  Derrick and Kristen got hitched :) Then on Sunday -- Danielle got her wedding dress :)  Talk about a wonderful weekend full of love.

Derrick and I have known each other for, well forever.  Wednesday night was the rehearsal dinner and then Friday night was his beautiful wedding.  They got married at St. Rafael's in Rockville  and I would be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about moving my ceremony location to there.  I mean, if there are rules about bare shoulders at St. John's then I am going to have to pick a different venue anyways.  Which reminds me -- I really do have to call and check about that.  Not the point, the point is the church was beautiful and Kristen was stunning.

 Congrats Mr. and Mrs. William Derrick Brown :)

The reception was unlike one that I have ever been to, but the bride was right: it was very Derrick and Kristen.  The centerpieces, designed by Kristen and made by Derrick, were tall martini glasses with LED lights in them.  It was a mostly cocktail reception, which was delightful.  There is nothing I enjoy more than open bar at weddings :) They did not have the traditional mother-son dance, father-daughter dance, or even first dance as husband and wife -- but believe me, there was dancing.  They used their iPOD instead of having a DJ -- which is smart for anyone who can trust their significant other with music freedom, aka anyone but me.  This is an idea that Brandon and I considered for a very short period of time, but given Brandon's affinity for putting on horrible music after several drinks, we reconsidered.  The food at the reception was to die for (I still cannot get over those little crab cakes and chicken puff pastries) and the cake was delicious.  All and all, I think the Browns pulled off a wonderful wedding reception... AND Kristen was able to have fun and seemed to be very care free -- no Bridezilla moments.  Brandon should start praying that he should be so lucky.

 the delicious cake :)

Saturday morning I made the hike up to Madison, New Jersey to see my college roommates, aka the loves of my life, Danielle and Dee.  Next Memorial Day weekend, Danielle becomes Mrs. Dixon and so this past weekend we went into Manhattan to Kleinfeld to go wedding dress shopping.  Something I think I love doing... in fact, I want to go try on dresses again.  Yes, I know I have my dress, but there is something so wonderful about the experience, both as the bride and as the friend of the bride.  So either more of my friends need to get engaged and go dress shopping, or I am dragging Hadley back to the stores.

If you don't know, Kleinfeld is where they shoot the TLC show "Say Yes to the Dress" and that is exactly what Danielle did this weekend!  She had already gone dress shopping once before and found a dress she loved by a designer she loves, Maggie Sottero, unfortunately, Danielle is not a body builder and the dress was too heavy.  Hence the reason we went to Kleinfeld.  It ended up being the most wonderful experience.  We got into the city early so we had bloody Mary's while we waited for her appointment, we had her appointment, we had a little brunch and then we went home for champagne. Lovely day. 

Kleinfeld was crazy.  It was a mad house.  If you're wondering, yes, Randy is much skinnier in person and twice as flaming.  There was a girl in there trying on a cupcake dress (literally, she looked like a cupcake) and she genuinely thought she looked good -- her family obviously does not love her because they too, told her she looked good.  Another girl in there was trying on dresses and obviously I observed this and shared my opinion.  Don't worry -- I didn't share it with her, but I shared it with Danielle's mom, who agreed with me.  The girl went with a dress that did not flatter her, again do these people have friends?  Yet another girl bought a $24,000 wedding dress -- yes, you are absolutely correct.  That is 60 times more than I paid for my dress.  It was a wonderful experience for people watching and for feeling very good about my dress and my budget and staying on budget.  That's not the point though, the point is that Danielle found her dress :)

Danielle tried on 5 dresses (some good, one bad) and dress number 5 was the winner.  She would come out in a dress and she would "like" the dress, but when she came out in the last one, anyone in the western hemisphere could tell that this was the one.  Danielle cried, her mom cried, I teared up.  She looked absolutely stunning.  I cannot wait for her wedding to see the dress again!  I mentioned before that she loved the designer Maggie Sottero and was disappointed when the dress was too heavy.  Why did I share that little tid bit with you?  Because fate stepped in and without knowing it, Danielle picked a Maggie Sottero dress.  Talk about a wonderful world.