Weddingbee Blog

As of approximately 8:11 this morning, the invitations are in the mail. I’ve worked so long and hard on those things, I feel like I’ve given birth to them! I packed them up as carefully as possible last night and then handed them over this morning to a perfect stranger who is sure to mangle and otherwise attempt to destroy those beautiful little pieces of paper. I had lofty ideals about having them hand cancelled, but trying to get that done in the city of Chicago makes the phrase “uphill battle” an understatement. I had done my research; I knew that I could probably get them hand cancelled if I tried hard enough, but that in the end they’ll go through sorting machines anyway. So when I went in this morning armed with my beautiful boxes of correspondence, the conversation went something like this:

Me: Gooooood Morning!

(Nothing but an evil glance from Grumpy McGrumperson post office worker. I quickly decide that the cheeriness is going to get me nowhere, tone it down a notch)
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Well, I’ve done it. I’ve admitted wedding planning defeat. (Yes, I am being a little dramatic) I sent the most pathetic email to our day of coordinator yesterday, swallowing my pride and confessing that I can’t make it through the next two months without her help. It takes a lot for me to admit I can’t handle something myself but with the last few weeks of rehearsal venue changes, broken contracts, bands who can’t keep it together, and all around unresponsiveness from vendors I am going to (I’ll say this as delicately as possible) lose my sh*t.

Vendors - 1 Miss Sundae - 0

Our coordinator is so affordable and truly so wonderful, this was a no brainer for me. I make her copies of all our contracts and hand it all over. She’ll take care of confirming with everyone, setting up a schedule for the day, telling the vendors when they need to be set up, making sure they are where they’re supposed to be, etc. I feel like there actually is a price for peace of mind, and I wrote a check for it this morning.

Sigh.

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I arrived home to a package last week…our envelopes are back from the calligrapher! As you all know, the past few weeks haven’t been the easiest in terms of wedding plans, so having the envelopes in my hot little hands was better than Christmas.

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I had my first fitting on Saturday and of Wednesday afternoon, I still didn’t have any undergarments to wear with my dress. I am someone who requires, shall we say, a lot of support up top so I knew that I needed to seek out a professional. In all honesty, I had been avoiding it. I have had so many bad experiences searching for the perfect strapless bra or alternative garment… the last time I went to a really large department store for help, I am certain that the saleswoman got to first base. It’s definitely an exercise that calls for little modesty.

Anyway, I was to the point where it had to be done. No more denial and avoidance. I had heard of Intimacy before because they claim to be the “Bra Fit Specialists” but I also knew they were pricey, so I had avoided it until now. But on the big day the ladies need to be in their proper places and I also plan on some relatively serious dancing (you know, assuming we DO actually find a band), so they need to stay contained in their designated areas. If now is not a good time to drop some cash on a great bra, when is?
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A few people have asked for details on the makeup used in my last trial, and I honestly don’t have much information. I’ll definitely find out more about what was used, but in the meantime I can tell you about two of the products that were so great I bought them on the spot (I am such a sucker for beauty products!)

When I told Marla that I almost always wear a little liner but still wanted my eyes to look relatively bright (I always wind up looking like a raccoon with darker eye shadows) she brought out Trish McEvoy Base Essentials: Read more…

First of all, thank you so much for the helpful comments and band suggestions! The outpouring of support never ceases to amaze me. We still haven’t reached a resolution but I’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, I finally have some good news to share.

Last weekend I had yet another makeup trial…and I couldn’t have been happier with the results! I found Marla online and I think she might be one of the nicest people on the planet. You know how, when you’re frequently dealing with a lot of people in the wedding industry who seem pretty blah, whenever someone with a personality and sense of humor comes along, it’s like a breath of fresh air? That’s exactly how I felt. Marla is totally professional, understood what I wanted immediately but wasn’t at all opposed to making changes, and is just a wealth of information! She even taught me how to properly trim my eyebrows (which I didn’t know enough to even realize needed trimming. I shall be happy to provide a tutorial if you’re all interested)
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I am going to start with the bad news because, well, that’s how I like to go about things. When I was a kid I would eat all the things on my plate that I hated first, so I could get them out of the way and enjoy the goodness that was my mashed potatoes. Yes that’s right, I just compared wedding planning to mashed potatoes.

Much like Miss Peacock, I feel like all of the advanced planning I went through is blowing up in my face as we get closer to the wedding. The coordinator at our venue quit, there was an interim coordinator, and now there is a new one. Luckily I have been vigilant about saving emails because there have been several instances of “I am not sure who told you that, but it’s not possible.” No matter how many notes are placed in our file and conversations had, I’ve still had to explain every detail to three different people. But that’s nothing compared to the last three weeks…
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Despite my occasional feelings of burnout, I am still crazy enough to take on tasks like this. I just can’t help myself! A few weeks ago, I found this really great paper at JoAnn Fabrics and a few seconds later I found a green satin ribbon that matched it exactly. I wanted to line our invitation envelopes and use ribbon as a “belly band” for the invitations themselves, so I bought all of it on the spot. Which now means that now, I have the lovely tasks of making liners for every single one of our inner envelopes! The good news is, I cut out a template before the envelopes made their way to the calligrapher so that they can be cut and ready to go by the time they’re all returned to me. Its not nearly as hard as I suspected, but I documented the process for anyone else that might need it!

It’s sometimes easier to pull the envelope apart, but I tried to conserve my envelopes, so I measured one that was still intact. I used a regular manila envelope to create the template, and started by cutting it so that it was 1/8 of an inch shorter than the envelope on each side:
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I was so excited to get this in the mail - an invitation to my own shower! Mr. Sundae and I are almost the last of my friends to get married, so I’ve received a lot of shower invitations. I knew it was coming but was still clueless when I opened the envelope…it was completely surreal to see my name in print!

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Part One

I didn’t intend for there to be a part two to this post, but I wanted to pass along something I learned after attempting to have Lola actually wear the collar. But first, a brief refresher for those of you that might have missed the first post and like me, don’t want to go back and read the whole thing. I made Lola a pearl collar so she’ll be stylish for the wedding pictures (she’s not behaved well enough to be in the actual weddding but I refuse to miss a photo op).

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Next month will mark one year since our engagement, and I am tired people. I am tired. Just a few weeks ago I was writing about all the little decisions driving me bananas and suddenly, I don’t care anymore. I think I’ve lost the will to plan.

It must be some sort of phenomenon that work gets exponentially busier as your wedding gets closer. I am swamped, I am exhausted, and therefore all the little things just don’t matter as much anymore. It’s not that I just don’t care, it’s more that the importance I placed on all of it is starting to fade a little. I am just ready to get on with this thing. I am ready to be married.

What if the flowers aren’t the same shade of green as the ties? As long as everyone dresses themselves and shows up, we’ll be fine. Those linens you picked out, what if we don’t have them anymore? Find me a close alternative and call it a day. We have to move the rehearsal dinner to another room, is that alright? As long as there is still food and booze, we’ll be fine. What if I put potato chips in your hair and charge you for two bobby pins worth of work? Then I’ll just do my hair myself, thank you

At the end of the day, as long as everyone makes it there safely and I am able to say “I do” I am a happy girl. Are any of you experiencing this? Is it easier for you to just let things go as the wedding gets closer? Or do I just need a really long nap?

So…I had another hair trial on Saturday. ((Pause for disgusted eye roll)). I won’t tell you where it took place because I don’t want any angry mobs hunting me down after I write this, but it was not good folks. Not good at all. Since the last disaster I was convinced that it can’t be that hard, so I did a quick little mock-up myself:

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The jcrew satin clutch I’ve been coveting (and I know some of you have too) is on sale! Its now $69.99 but another 20% off until Friday. Hello newly purchased wedding clutch…

I might sleep with it under my pillow.

I’ve learned a lot about myself through the wedding planning process. One of the most glaring lessons being, I am a glutton for punishment. I think I’ve made a decision and then I keep looking, and keep looking, and keep looking, almost inviting something better to come along that I just have to have. The escort cards were one of those things.

Before I became completely sick of myself, I made a decision. We’re going with the wishing rock idea where each card will have a black river rock next to it. There will be a sign on the table asking guests to please make a wish on their respective rock and then place it in a large glass container we will keep in our house afterwards. As if I were getting a nod of approval for finally making a decision, I found this in the sale section of PotteryBarn when I started looking for said large glass container:

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Our ceremony and reception sites are exactly 1.3 miles apart - about a 3 minute car ride. Because they’re so close, a mode of transportation for the wedding party never even crossed my mind. Of all people, Mr. Sundae is actually the one who thought of it ((stunned silence)).

My stance on the issue was that I really didn’t care, it seemed like an added expense we could do without. I had actually budgeted for some mode of transportation at the very beginning, but now that I realized it was there, it seemed like money that could be allocated to something else (a candy bar! mini hamburgers at midnight!). But Mr. Sundae wasn’t having it…he wanted his getaway. It must be a guy thing, the idea of renting a large vehicle with a big engine to take you somewhere.
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