We have gotten a lot of planning done in the past few weeks, and all the work so far has culminated in sending out our online invitations last night. It is awesome to already see RSVPs in our wedding email inbox, complete with hilarious song requests from our family and friends (infinite loop of Soulja Boy, anyone?). I am using The Knot's guest list manager to cross-check our responses from Paperless Post and to include those relatives that received paper invitations. I am going to try and stay on top of this process so that it doesn't become a huge headache two months from now, but so far I am really happy with the advantages of wedding interwebs tools.
Our officiant Ruth Ellen Hasser also sent us a rough draft of the ceremony last week, and it is a great start! Despite how much I enjoy writing, I have always been hesitant about creating our own vows as unstructured statements to each other; how can you possibly find the right combination of words and emotions? Ben, however, had a strong preference for writing our own vows and I eventually agreed to it. I look forward to having an element of surprise in the ceremony.
My dress arrived in Oklahoma several weeks earlier than estimated and it was then shipped to our new Wisconsin home. Yes, I did screech and run outside barefoot as I saw the UPS truck pull up. I have scheduled an alterations appointment for the end of July and my lovely friend Kristen will be visiting from Minneapolis-St. Paul that weekend to join me for it! Although most of it fits extremely well, I can't wait to see the dress at length I can walk in.
And, believe it or not, I finally did make my veil. I will dedicate a separate post to it, although it won't actually be an in-depth tutorial; I was so unconfident about it turning out alright that I purposefully neglected to take pictures of the process! After being eaten alive by too many yards of tulle and making one wrong cut, I thought I'd never finish the project. However, it all worked out and I think the veil looks exactly like what I tried on in the boutique where I found my dress.
The photo/guest book arrived, and unfortunately it did have a few printing defects (like ink splotches on intentionally-blank pages). However, My Publisher's customer service was outstanding and quick-to-respond with a replacement order. What should we do with the less-than-perfect copy?
Finally, we spent this week's Wedding Wednesday updating our registries at Honeyfund and Target. We wanted to keep the Target registry pretty minimal since we already have most things for our home (we did, in fact, give in and buy an awesome Shark vacuum last week rather than waiting 3 more months for one) but have had trouble deciding on a few items we really need (actual dishes, knife set, etc). We really don't want to go overboard and add a 3rd registry, so we may just drop some detailed hints to our parents. ;-) We are also considering purchasing an upgrade for our Honeyfund registry in order to remove the ads and give it a more professional look.
Since Ben is still on training shifts in his new job, he gets the holiday and weekend off. We can't wait to finally get our new furniture and explore Milwaukee's celebrations. Have a great 4th of July, everyone!
