88 Miles An Hour...

88 days until the wedding.

So much is going on and yet so we are waiting for so much. Waiting for invitations. Collecting addresses. Next Monday we have an appointment with our Photographer. so excited. hopefully he will be just what we want. Mid-September bring our food tasting at the North Shore Holiday Inn on Touhy. Yeah! time to eat. Next week, we'll schedule our cake tasting too. YUM! this is definitely the best part. I guess that also means putting in extra time at the gym.

Other than thinking about food, I have flowers on my mind. Not only for the bouquets but also the boutonnieres, church, and the tables for the reception. The nice things about the reception is the flowers are included. I just have to tell them what I want. I talked last week with the lady at the Holiday Inn. She gave me an idea about centerpieces, colors, candles, vases. So many decisions. Here are a few of my inspirations:

144 days and counting

Ok. here's the bridesmaid dress. i didn't post it a couple weeks ago when they came in.
:)

145 days and counting....

Ok yesterday was 145 but yesterday we bought my wedding band. woowho!
:)

how exciting! we were at the AT&T store since my phone wasn't working, again. Steve said oh look there's a Jared's, want to stop? so we did. I tired on several but kept coming back to one about the same width as my engagement ring with 5 diamond chips in it. SO beautiful! Steve says if you like it let's buy it. yeah! It had to be re-sized to 7 3/4 . how weird. i have always been sized at 9 but she checked this size of my engagement ring and it's also a 7 3/4 and once it's over my knuckle it's the perfect fit... go figure. Steve tired on more rings than I did but didn't find "the one" for him. We'll keep looking.

150

150 days from today is our wedding.
:)

We signed a contract with the DJ. We're still waiting for the list from my mom. She was supposed to send it before they left for the lake... too late. We need to order the invitations soon. In the mean time we'll work on the wording for the invitation and start to plan an order for the ceremony, well the whole day.

169 days and counting...

The dresses are in. Got a message from David's Bridal saying the bridesmaids gown are in. Back out to Schaumburg.
:)

180 days...

Steve had Friday off. After running a few errands and changing the locks of the condo on me, he drove over to Tag's Bakery in Evanston. this is one of the bakery choices that the Skokie Holiday Inn works with for the wedding cakes. Steve walks in, while he's checking out the selection a lady comes up behind the counter and asks if he needs some help. Steve explains a little bit why he is there and the lady says, "oh i wish i knew you were coming. i literally would have baked you a cake."



Steve explained that he wasn't there for a cake testing, just checking out the selection and using it as an excuse to buy some sweets. He spends about 30 minutes chatting with the lady, who turns out to be one of the owners. Steve picks out a few things for us to taste and gets the phone number to arrange a cake testing for us in the next couple of weeks. This really is the best part so far. it's probably good that we only have two bakery to choose from, other wise I might not fit into my dress in six months. These were wonderful options that Steve picked out. Our favorite were the two totally chocolate looking ones. the most plain one, just covered in chocolate frosting had yellow cake and a smooth white layer. The other one with the piece of chocolate on top with the swirls and jimmies on the side had three smooth chocolate mouse type layers with chocolate cake. Steve had a much better, warmer experience at Tag's Bakery than I did at Rolf's Patisserie.

I went to Rolf's a few weeks ago at lunch time. First of all it was located next to the dreaded car dealership. That should have been the first clue. Next I walked into a very plain store, this is not a cute cafe bakery where you go to meet and eat goodies. This is a place where you call to order your cakes and goodies to be picked up. I was greeted by the only person in the place. I walked around for a minute checking out the selection. When i came upon the fun looking cakes, I asked what each of them contained. The lady spoke so quickly, I choose by looks since I didn't catch her fast explanation of each one. They were as yummy as they looked but were not cakes at all. We still enjoyed tasting them but I was turned off by the appearance and the reviews of the bakery. The cakes were good but the cake tasting experiences were not good, very cold and rushed.

I think it won't be hard to choose between the two for our wedding cake.

6

6 months to go. WOW! the time is really flying by.

200

200 days from today is our wedding. How fitting that I received a message that my dress is in. Yeah! how exciting. :) All of the big items are done.
Saturday Ann-Marie and I had a productive day of bridesmaid dress shopping. The nice thing about David's Bridal is they have every dress in every size. So you find a dress you like the style and fit, then pick a color. Most dresses come in as many as 40 colors but they don't have every color in every style. Ann-Marie and I grabbed a bunch of dresses in her size of various styles and headed to the fitting rooms. Ann-Marie tried on dresses, I asked questions, I took pictures, we looked at colors. I brought some flowers in colors that I want for my bouquet for inspiration. After trying on a few dresses another group of bridesmaids moved in to the area. They had a dress in the color I wanted. So Ann-Marie hung the dress over her head for a picture.

This is the color I want with the flowers.

This is the dress style that Ann-Marie and Anna will wear. I like the straps in the back.

I like how it comes with a wrap. Nice for November. It was interesting as Ann-Marie tried on dresses. She said I think I like the longer ones better. Me too! Another good point for a November wedding.
Now the little details and ordering the invitations will happen over the summer.