Yesterday I was looking back at posts I wrote way back in March 2007 (when I started NikkiLynn.net) and I came across this one. It says “Monday was record heat in Minnesota for March 26th…81°!” which gives me hope that we might have a nice, warm, sunny day for our wedding in 3 months. I guess we’ll just wait & see. One thing I’m hoping to do is secure an indoor location to get some family portraits regardless of the weather. If anyone around Minneapolis has ideas I’d love to hear them.

So far I looked into:
* Como Conservatory: $25/30 minutes, only the bride & groom are allowed
* Cowles Conservatory at the Walker: $45/90 minutes, entire wedding party is okay

Other ideas we’ve heard are:
* The Guthrie
* The Landmark Center
* Mill City Museum (more for outside than inside)

Who has other ideas? I think we may try to take the light rail downtown if the weather permits but otherwise something around South Minneapolis, Columbia Heights or Brooklyn Park would be ideal. All I know is that I NEED to have an indoor location solidified because the weather is so unpredictable…so far the Walker Conservatory it is (don’t get me wrong - I know that would be beautiful!).

Ok…honestly, who starts a weight loss program 5 days before Christmas?! Me, I guess. And because of that stupidity I am starting out in the hole. Oh well - now I have an even bigger challenge!

Chris & I hosted Christmas Eve at our house last week and while we prepared 5 pounds of turkey meat for tacos…only about 2 got eaten. Ugh. Needless to say, we’ve been eating a lot of tacos over the past week and it showed up on the scale. Thankfully, last night as we were laying in bed we both agreed that the wedding “diet” has to start now! I’m excited to have the wedding as a winter inspiration so that I’m already looking & feeling great when spring rolls around.

Current Graph:

It doesn’t look too good right now, but I think in the next 10 days I can drop 4 pounds (especially since a couple are probably water weight) which will put me right back on track. We’ll see I guess!

So, technically the only thing required to get married is to have someone there who can sign the marriage certificate. Well - as of just about RIGHT NOW we have one of those people! Last night we met with George Maverick of Budget Weddings and I just signed the contract & paid a deposit to have him perform our ceremony. Yay! Everything else is gravy…he’s the only requirement according to the state of Minnesota.

I’m excited to write out our ceremony & our vows and see what kinds of ideas George has to offer us!

As an added bonus, we may have found our florist. Budget Weddings is offering a deal in 2009 where if you return your silk flowers after the wedding you get 45% back…that is definitely something I’m looking into!

{begin pep talk}
Ok, Nikki. Take a deep breath. I know there are only 100 days until you’re wedding. Don’t worry. Everything will get done.
{end pep talk}

ONLY 100 DAYS!!! I’m filled with a mixture of extreme excitement and total panic. I think excitement wins though. We have made a lot of the decisions already & that feels great.  One of the most important ones that is left is to find someone who can perform the ceremony and we’re making progress on that so I think I’m going to enjoy the holidays and see what else we can get done during our time off from work.

I am also officially kicking off the 100 Day Dash to be the most beautiful, healthy person possible on my wedding day! My goal as of right now is to lose 10 pounds…one every 10 days. Really, I should be able to exceed that but if I can be down 10 I will be very close to my personal goal and will be extremely happy! My plan is to reduce my calories (via WW tracking hopefully) and increase my exercise. I am committed to tracking everything I eat which has worked well for me in the past. So…wish me luck!

Wow - I feel a huge sense of relief. In the past week (3 days actually) we have made serious progress on wedding stuff. I have a long way to go, but seriously, this is awesome.

1. Invitation design started (almost done actually)
2. RSVP cards located
3. Possible envelopes ordered
4. Center pieces picked out (now we just have to purchase enough of them!)
5. Card Box purchased
6. Bridesmaid dresses purchased
7. Deposit sent to DJ
8. Appointments made with possible officiants

So..so…SO AWESOME!

Photo by manmadepants used via Creative Commons.

Ok…wow…time for a deep breath and a little reorganization! Four months from today I will be marrying the love of my life! This past week has been good - we haven’t made any serious decisions, but we are set up to make a couple very shortly. (And, Chris & his dad bought their suits last weekend so that’s one less thing I have to remember.)

What’s done?
* Ceremony/Reception hall booked
* Dress purchased
* Photographer located
* Food selected
* Photo booth reserved
* All suits purchased

Still to do (big items…there are plenty of small things left too!):
* Entertainment
* Person to perform the ceremony
* Determine how much Beer/Wine we need & find a bartender
* Bridesmaid dresses
* Centerpieces
* Invitations
* Flowers?
* Marriage License
* Pre-marriage sessions?

Yikes! That’s a lot. I plan on having at least a plan for the first 6 by the end of the first week in December.

Trip of a lifetime or trip we could (and probably would) take again?

I know those aren’t the right words for what I’m going to explain but here’s my question…if anyone has thoughts on the issue PLEASE leave a comment. Did you take a “once-in-a-lifetime” trip or something that is likely to repeat for your 5, 10, 25, 50 year anniversary? And…are you happy with your decision?

Chris and I have a lot of options for our honeymoon. We could use my timeshare and get an apartment somewhere for a week which would be relatively inexpensive and would allow us to decide between going out or staying in each night. We could go to Disney World and have a fun, playful honeymoon. We could also go to an all inclusive resort and chill…being served everything our hearts desire. Finally we could take another trip like our European trip of 2008 which would be a huge adventure.

Sometimes I think that’s the problem with weddings…there are TOO MANY OPTIONS! I don’t really know what to do. We are flexible with when we go…in fact we’re okay with pushing the trip out to sometime in May if that makes a better trip possible…and that makes it even more difficult I think! All inclusive sounds great for a honeymoon…relaxing after our wedding. But then again we LOVE traveling to new places and experiencing new things. Seriously…I’m confused. What should we do?! I know that no matter what we decide it will be perfect.

Obviously this isn’t first priority right now but we’re definitely thinking about it.

So, 3 different couples I know (who just happen to all know each other) went with the same DJ service provider for their weddings. I’m thinking they all ended up with different actual PEOPLE because their experiences were so completely different. How is a person supposed to select the entertainment for the evening when it’s not consistent across a company?!?!

Here are the 3 stories:
1. Great experience!
2. The DJ was okay. No real complaints but they could have been a little more social.
3. The DJ was not prepared for the start time (in fact, not even dressed appropriately when the wedding party arrived) and didn’t follow any of the guidelines that the couple set as far as songs to play. The reception hall had suggested a different company but the Bride decided to go with what she knew. Unfortunately she feels this was the wrong decision.

And here’s a 4th story from another company (the one the reception hall in story 3 suggested). My co-worker got married this year and they have only good things to say. They thought the DJ did a good job of keeping people on the dance floor & interacting appropriately. I think we are going to request the specific DJ they worked with and hope to have a similar experience…keep your fingers crossed!

The other option is to go with a live band which would be super awesome but is about 5x as expensive. Ugh. Why are weddings SO EXPENSIVE?!?!?!

Photo credit to phil h via Creative Commons.

I was off on Friday & we had Sex and the City: The Movie out from Blockbuster Online so I started out my morning with that one. I LOVED it. I’m not sure if I’m just emotional because I’m getting married or because life has been crazy or what, but I teared up a few different times! Anyway, this has made me want to watch the TV series so hopefully I’ll make time. I’ve even thought about setting up the DVD player downstairs with the series so I could just watch it while doing some rebounding.

After that was done I put in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, also with SJP. Love it! Anyway, it was a great way to spend a day off…combined with some cleaning and a trip to the Post Office to drop off our Save the Dates! OMG! Save the Dates have been sent out! There’s no turning back now!

Six months to go until my wedding and I had my first wedding nightmare. Seems kinda early to me, but I guess we’re on a quick timeline so who knows.

Sometime in the last week or so (can’t remember the exact day) I woke up to a bad dream about my wedding day. Here’s how it went: I was getting dressed for the wedding at Jayne & Tim’s house (family friends). Instead of my gorgeous wedding dress I was wearing my (also gorgeous, but in a different way) bridesmaid dress from Liz & Casey’s Wedding last August. Weird, but not the weirdest. Once I was dressed I realized that I didn’t bring a copy of our ceremony with, and for some reason I was in charge of that. It was saved in my Email so I asked if I could use the computer and of course Jayne said yes so I got set up and all the sudden some of her family members were there & they wouldn’t let me use the printer! I know Jayne’s family…they’re not even close to mean. So, so strange. I was freaking out because I needed to have the ceremony & I couldn’t print it! That’s all I remember.

So, I wasn’t planning on having a full rehearsal because our ceremony will be so simple…but I might be changing my mind after that! It will be interesting to see if this type of dream continues.