I am a control freak... there, I said it.

I am a control freak. I openly admit it. However, in recent weeks I have decided that maybe I am a little out of control in my control freak nature.  I like symmetry and I like things to match, but maybe I am going too far.  A matching color across the board is just as good as a matching dress.  Wouldn't it be better if people actually looked good and felt good in what they were wearing as opposed to matching down the line?  No, of course I want them to match down the line, but I am being ridiculous and impractical.  What am I rambling on about you might ask yourself? Bridesmaids dresses.

I have made a decision about bridesmaid dresses.  Yes, I know I already said I had made a decision.  Yes, I know that I had them picked out and on my "wish list" at David's Bridal.  Yes, I remember I had a plan.  No, I am not going to take this back in 6 months in an "Oh my God, what have I done?!?" moment.  

Here's the deal:  I have decided that all of my bridal party (yes, that includes little Mia) will get to pick their dress.  For Mia, I am going to narrow it down to two or three that I like and then she will pick her favorite.  It's her day too.  As for my Bridesmaids and MOH: as long as they are capri blue, tea length or shorter (and obviously, church appropriate), my friends can wear whatever makes them happy.  Because let's be honest, I'd still like to have friends after the wedding (Michelle and Brittany -- we're family, you're stuck with me, so my being nice doesn't apply to you so much) and what looks good on one person might not look good on everyone else.  I have to keep in mind the fact that my bridesmaids and MOH all vary in height.  Hadley claims to be 5'8 while Michelle is a mere 5'1 (and that's being nice), so tea length on Hadley is closer to ankle length on Michelle.

While I am on my sanity streak, I also gave some thought to giving up the brown tuxes.  I am still very much on the fence about this idea (and as Brandon constantly reminds me, the wedding is really far away and I don't have to make a decision now), but really I don't see why brown tuxes need to happen.  What started this thinking?  Greg is really tall and I am concerned that a brown tux will not be available for my giant friend. 

So there you have it, the control freak is giving up some control.  Don't expect this to happen often, or ever again.  It may just be a lapse in judgment due to stress and lack of sleep.  

He always find a way to make me smile...

So today while I was at work I got an email from David's Bridal saying that my wedding dress had come in and was ready to be picked up.  The dress was ready a month early... eek!  I was so excited that I had to tell Brandon all about it because I knew that after working 12 hours he cared about a dress and would be just as excited as me.  So tonight when I was telling Brandon about my wedding dress, I showed him the picture on the David's Bridal website and we had a wonderful exchange that I feel needs to be shared with the world. Ok, I need you all to get over the fact that I showed him my dress.  First of all, Brandon's mom said it best (and was 100% correct) the dress looks different in real life than it does on the website, so there.  This combined with the fact that I can't keep a secret from him for a week and there was NO WAY I was going to keep a secret from him for over 475 days, were my reasons for showing him the picture. This was our conversation:

Me: Well it won't look exactly like this picture, I will have a broach over that knot.
Brandon: Will it make your boobs look bigger? (Ladies and Gentleman, my dream man)
Me: No Brandon, a broach is a pin.
Brandon: Oh... bummer.

Welcome to my life :) This is the reason I am in love with Brandon.  He is so simple and so wonderful.  He imperfections make him perfect to me. 

table seating charts make my knees weak

Warning: the following blog post may make you judge me and question my sanity.  This post is not for the faint of heart.

The other day I was making mental lists of things that need to happen between now and the wedding.  Yes, I am well aware of the fact that my wedding is 494 days away, thank you very much, but I am a self-diagnosed nut job and I like to be overly on top of things.  Please, we request that you save all judgment for the end of the post as we are just getting started here.  Brandon and I have to do the following between the time we got engaged and wedding:

• set a date and send out save-the-dates
• buy wedding invitations (what? I'm organized)
• get wedding bands
• find and hire a DJ
  
• find and hire a photographer
• find and buy a wedding dress
• pick out dresses for bridal party
• tell bridal party of dresses
• take engagement pictures :)
  
• have cake tastings
• hire a bakery
• have more cake tastings (what? I like cake)
• buy gifts for our bridal party
•  meet with the vendor (FRIDAY!)
  
• make a seating chart *sigh*

So obviously I put things on the list I had already done -- it makes me feel more accomplished and yes, I know I am missing things that need to be done.  I am simply trying to make a point.  What is the sigh after making a seating chart about? I will tell you what that is about.  I am ECSTATIC at the idea of making a seating chart. My knees go weak when thinking about making a seating chart.  Please, keep the judging at a minimum, we've already talked about this once I don't want to have to address it again.

I am sure there are people out there who see things like this:

 and this:

and go absolutely crazy.  Not me.  I get excited at the prospect of putting together the seating chart.  It allows my control-freak nature to take full force in an acceptable way.  I am looking forward to when the invitation reply cards start rolling in so that I can start making a seating chart.  I am thrilled at making a huge color coordinated poster board chart with little tables and chairs (drawn to scale) to be filled with sticky notes so that I can move people around freely.  I get goosebumps thinking about using the seating chart application on theknot.com.  Am I crazy?  Probably, but I am so ok with that.

To make my excitement about this item on my to-do list even greater, Brandon and I came up with an idea to name the tables after significant things/events in our relationship.  Obviously we are not the first to do this; however, I really love this idea so I will take credit as the creator if someone asks.  An obvious one is "Snowmagedeon" since that is when Brandon proposed to me. I am sure there are others that seem fairly obvious to people, but I am hoping that the rest can be a surprise... if I can keep my mouth shut for another 494 days.  But let's be serious, we can't count on that happening.