Bee-in' busy

I took a break this evening from the wedding work to watch the National Spelling Bee. I actually watched part of it at the gym, but made it home in time to see the last few rounds and the winner. Darn kid didn't even LIKE spelling bees.

Have I mentioned I have a slight obsession with spelling bees? The kid won on serrefine1, which I did not know. I usually don't know the words in the final rounds, but I still kind of get sucked into watching it in a deep concentration. (Sorry, John, for making the conversation brief, but there were only two kids left when you called!) It would've been a dream come true for me to have made it to Washington in 1990, when I was eliminated during the regional bee in a round with 11 others of the 13 left. The word was "auscultation." I wish I had more opportunities to use that word! The director of the National Spelling Bee is speaking at Taft Museum in a few weeks. I'd love to go, but haven't found any fellow fanatics to go with me :)

So anyway, since this is brideblog, not spellingbeefanblog (ooh, I wonder if anyone has that?), I should update the wedding related stuff.

We got our license this morning, and it was fairly painless. We didn't have to wait in line; we just filled out the info on a computer, solemnly swore with our right hands raised that we were telling the truth, handed over some money and headed out with a bunch of paperwork. I'll get a picture of the license up soon; John has it since we went in his car.

I also had my first alteration appointment tonight. It went well, but I had to make decisions I hadn't thought about: how do I want the bustle to look? where do I want the hem to hit? how do I want the straps to look? It was a bit nerve racking, but I made all the decisions. After paying up, I was anxious to leave to get to the gym to watch the Bee, plus I had 3 phone calls I needed to make. But as I was walking out, a brideblog reader who was walking in recognized me. Sorry, June 23 bride, I didn't catch your name, but thank you for reading! If you send me an email telling me where you saw me, I'll send you some CiN Weekly gear for being the first person I didn't know to say hi and tell me you read the blog. I started laughing as I got to my car too, because I realized I was wearing the same shirt today as I have on in the picture over to the right.

1 Um, blogger spell check says serrefine is not a word. It obviously has not watched enough spelling bees.

One Month To Go. Breathe.

It's May 30. How is it May 30? How can our wedding be in exactly one month? Where has the time gone? While we've accomplished a lot, there still seems to be a lot left to do.

And the reply cards continue to come. 8 responses today and 7 of them were YES replies! We will be having a large reception, folks! And it will be fun! I'll have to do the math, but we're running about an 83% YES rate so far, which is bigger than any numbers anyone told me when we were planning. I think today we may have surpassed 50% of cards back. (My spreadsheets are all at home and I'm at the office right now.) The RSVP date is June 9 so there's still more than a week left. I'm just hoping for a minimal number of people we'll have to call to see if they are coming.

Aside from getting my shoes last night (YES!), we also planned various parts of the Mass. I never realized how many prayers you could pick and choose from. There were a lot!

Tonight I'm off to look at bridal party gifts. Tomorrow is my fitting and we're getting our marriage license. Saturday is the last shower ... Never a dull moment.

OMTG. B. again.

SHOES

For less than the cost of this.

Wednesday update: The shoes are in fact white. They're quite bright white, actually. I took the picture with my computer monitor camera (I heart my Mac) and it tends to make really dark pictures. But after three people asked if they were silver, I decided to clarify.

Peripheral tasks of an absentminded bride

As I spent my lovely long 3-day weekend in almost constant motion, I started to analyze what I was doing. And this weekend made it abundantly clear that while, yes, getting married does involve a lot of preparation for "the day," many of the tasks that I am involved in as of late won't make a lick of difference to anyone who attends the wedding.

You know how there's that joke about what your day is like when you're getting older? I would sorta liken this kinda day to my weekend. I was up and down the stairs - basement, first floor, second floor - more times than I can count. See, for every new thing we get, we've been removing old hand-me-downs. So now I have boxes of those things (and we have some college student friends who are going to take some of the stuff, but I want to wait til we have more ready before they come and decide what they want) all over the basement. But we need to clean out the basement because we're going to get some storage shelves built (thanks Dad!). And my fabulous father and a construction-savvy friend of his are also going to reconfigure a small closet in the spare room that will become home to John's clothes. And that means we had to clean that out. And some of that ended up in the basement. So I decided we should put all the "give away" stuff in the garage. But first we need to clean the garage out of creepy crawlies and leaves. And maybe I should take all those plastic bags to be recycled.

Meanwhile, every half hour, another load of laundry would buzz, and I'd stop what I was doing to get that. And then the phone would ring. And I'd check my email. Ooh, and the homeowners insurance needed to be paid, and I may as well pay the other bills. And it's time for lunch. ...

When I wasn't haphazardly running around the house, I was shopping. I went to four malls. And I still don't have shoes. I'm pretty embarrassed by that. Today I'm going back to a bridal shop and probably spending more than I want to - tomorrow is the deadline; the dress fitting is Thursday. But, seriously the shoes are all too high, too low or too horrifically uncomfortable. WHY?!

So was I able to check much off the "list(s)"? Not so much. We have picked two of our readings for the Mass (just can't agree on an Old Testament one). I got $10 shoes for the rehearsal dinner, and I gave up on the blue cardigan and got a white one.

And today I talked to the photographer business and our DJ. And we confirmed plans to go get our wedding license on Thursday.

So things are going well. But I believe the absentmindedness is just going to increase. I will be finding half-eaten sandwiches in my bedroom, an old computer in the kitchen (actually, that was last week. It's now in the basement), a half-filled watering can in the hallway, a mattress cover in front of the TV and lists everywhere.

I still don't think I'm bridezilla, but I wouldn't recommend asking me any "why" questions in the near future (Why are there curtains on the couch? Why is there a crate with 3 computer mouses in the dining room? Why is there a trash bag full of clothes in the garage?) - Or I might decide the top of your head is a perfect new home for the old blue mixing bowl.

Top 10 things TO say to a bride-to-be a month before her wedding

1. "What can I do to help?"
Even if you can't really help pick our first dance song or write our thank you notes, it's a super-nice gesture.

2. "You are beautiful. You will be a beautiful bride."
Sometimes we need to vent about our physical flaws. Reassurance is a nice touch.

3. "Are you getting excited?"
It's such a more positive question than "Are you stressed yet?"

4. "I sent my reply card in."
You are wonderful. Thank you!

5. "Thanks for inviting me to your wedding. I know it will be great. I can't wait."
Again, positive reinforcement does wonders.

6. "I love that (color/dress/song/bridesmaids jewelry)."
We really appreciate a positive opinion. Remember, if you can't say something nice, don't say it!

7. Nothing
Sometimes we need to vent about all the not-so-great things that have happened. A listening ear can do wonders for our sanity.

8. "Where are you going on your honeymoon?"
We can't wait, so we're glad to talk about this - our chance to relax!

9. "Let's hang out soon and catch up."
We're certainly up for chatting and catching up over coffee when we have a chance. We need to be drawn out of our wedding-crazed madness if even for a brief moment. We do want to know what is going on with our friends and family.

10. "Your wedding will be fabulous."
When we're overwhelmed, make sure we know this. We know it all won't be perfect, but it's nice to know you think our plans will lead to a memorable event.

Compiled from personal experience, the advice of friends and random thoughts. Some details changed to protect the innocent/guilty. Please take all of this in good humor!

Any more suggestions?

Top 10 things NOT to say to a bride-to-be a month before her wedding

See No. 10. Photo by David Sorcher.

1. "So is everything finished?"
If you think everything could possibly be finished, we've got an air conditioner at the South Pole we'd like to sell you.

2. Nothing
Return those reply cards, call the bride back, return emails. There's a lot to be done without tracking down forgetful guests/missing vendors

3. "Enjoy every minute of it. It all goes so fast. It's magical."
When there's stress, this is not what we need to hear.

4. "I don't like that (color/flower choice/reading/song)."
That's just too bad, isn't it?

5. "You're starting to act like a bridezilla."
Things might get violent.

6. "Are you feeling stressed yet?"
See No. 1. Of course we're feeling stressed. We're probably not sleeping so well either … and our house is a mess.

7. "So, did you lose the weight you were planning to lose?"
Especially don't say this if we're eating an ice cream cone, a piece of cheesecake or a candy bar.

8. "Is there anything you want that's not on your registry?"
Well, we registered for what we want. And it would be impolite to say we want money, a house in the Caribbean or a new wardrobe.

9. "You're so organized, I bet you've got everything under control."
If by under control you mean the gifts have migrated to every room of the house, we still guiltily have the church hymnal we borrowed, and we still haven't booked the nail appointment or bought shoes, sure. All under control.

10. "Even though you just invited the two of us, we'll be bringing Great Aunt-twice removed Helga, our 13-month-old quintuplets, our foreign exchange student from Papua New Guinea, Fred the donkey and Teddy Ruxpin to the wedding."
(OK, no one actually says this, they just put a bigger number on the reply card. Whether our reception is in the back yard, a hall or the church basement, there's only so much room. If we wanted your donkey there, he would've gotten an invitation.)

Compiled from personal experience, the advice of friends and random thoughts. Some details changed to protect the innocent/guilty. Please take all of this in good humor!

Any more suggestions?

Adventures in returns

(Not the actual item I returned. Just a representation!)

So this past weekend, I made the first of returns/exchanges from the registry. Two people literally shopped at the same time and gave us duplicate gifts. And one of our gifts that had been ordered online (and shipped) arrived chipped.

So I had two missions:
1. Return several small items and get a credit.
2. Exchange chipped item for non-chipped item.

I tell the nice salesperson what I want to do. She takes me over to bridal, asks all the requisite questions, takes my items, enters them in to the computer, prints things out.

SIDE NOTE: While this is going on another couple walks in to make some adjustments on their registry. When the woman spells her name, I realize she has basically my same name - different spellings both first and last. She is getting married the week after me. Her fiance's name is not John, thankfully. I find this very strange and amusing and pay little attention to what the salesperson is doing while making surprised comments such as "wow," "that's crazy." "seriously." "do you get your name spelled wrong all the time too?"

The salesperson finishes up, hands me a receipt and an "Easy Exchange" card. I ask about the exchange of "chip." Whoops, she forgot about that, but there probably isn't one at this location, so she'll need to order one. Fine by me. She hands me off to another woman and says "Can you order her this?" Salesperson #2 says yes.

Off we go to a register. I am carrying the original gift receipts, the new receipt and the card. SP2 asks me more questions (name, address, etc. etc.), and gets a bit huffy when I ask about having it shipped to my in-laws where are gifts are going: "I just need the CUSTOMER address."

I ask if she needs this Easy Exchange card. SP2 looks irritated and asks where I got it. I tell her from SP1. She asks for my info again. Types stuff in. Does something with the card. Then she asks if I want to pay for the non-chipped item with my store credit card.

I'm like "NO. This was a gift. It was chipped. See." (I open box and show her the chip.) "I'm not paying for anything. I want to exchange this. You don't have one here."

Now she looks puzzled and irritated. She says something about shipping. I repeat that I am NOT paying for shipping; didn't the original sender pay for shipping? She goes to get SP1, who shows her how to write off the shipping. For some reason SP2 says she has to credit an Easy Exchange card for that. Whatever. I tell her I'm getting confused. She looks at me and says "Why are you getting confused?"

Now I'm getting pretty irritated. She has me thoroughly confused. She seems thoroughly confused. Then she tells me I have a credit for like $20 or so more than my original credit. I am still confused. I thought she needed to remove the money from the Easy Exchange card. She asked why there was already money on the card. I said I assumed SP1 put it on. She wants to know why I didn't say that. Well, because she didn't ask.

(My cell phone rings and I tell John I'll call him back because I can't talk.)

Now she's more irritated. And says she needs to issue a second card. SP1 comes back and they start talking about what to do. And something about tax, and shipping. And then the numbers are off by 2 cents. And I'm beginning not to care. And I'm wondering if I will ever get "chip" replaced.

And she says she has to charge more for "non-chip" because this is the current price, but she will credit the difference. And I continue to feel more confused.

Eventually I leave the store. With two Easy Exchange cards. Each of them has a receipt taped to it showing how much is on it. I am not at all sure they are for the right or even close to right amount. I have ceased to care. I begin to envision what this might be like in mid-July if we get other duplicates. I begin to think we could take all the ice buckets we get and use them for bathroom storage. (Side note 2: We don't even have one ice bucket yet, but it seems to be the generic "ohmygodwegot7ofthem" item.)

I rehash all this to my mom who has the misfortune of calling about 1 minute later. And then I resume my search for a light blue short-sleeve cropped cardigan for the rehearsal dinner. I continue to be unsuccessful.

Anyone have any ideas?

Born and Found

The last of our potential wedding guests was born yesterday, May 21. Welcome Gavin Shea, my new cousin (once removed? is that what your relationship is to your cousins' children?)! Congrats to Rob and Jen on your new son. I can't wait to meet him and hope you will all feel up to the trip in five weeks. If not, I completely understand!!

There are several other guests who are pregnant, but they're not due until fall (unless I'm forgetting about someone). So this should be the last baby born who could attend.

Also, yesterday, we finally found the person responsible for us meeting each other! I don't know that I have gone into our meeting on the blog. We met at a graduation party for a mutual friend named Carol. Being as she was graduating, she moved out of town fairly soon after that (though she did give John her unneeded microwave, so we have a souvenir of Carol!) We kept in touch with her somewhat infrequently. We'd had plans to visit with her when we went to California in late 2004, but they fell through at the last minute because she had a family matter come up.

The last contact we'd had was about a year ago when she sent John an updated email address. Well, we went to email her to get her mailing address and never heard back, so we figured she wasn't using that email account anymore.

Google to the rescue, and I found a person I thought was her based on the job title on her employer's web site. I emailed and she wrote back saying I had the right person, and she sent her address. So off in the mail today went her invitation, the last one we had that was missing an address.

I'm glad we found her! I was beginning to think it could mean bad luck if we couldn't track down the person responsible for our meeting. We obviously owe her a huge debt, and the least we should do is invite her to witness our marriage.

Thanks Carol! (And also thanks to the other person we give credit to for our meeting, Carla, who hosted that graduation party! But we already knew where she was.)

Six Weeks to Go!

Wow, it's really getting close! Time is flying!

A few highlights to catch you up:

* I picked the dress up on Tuesday. I had tried last Sunday, but the store was closed for Mother's Day. Seriously? My mom would like almost nothing better than to shop on Mother's Day! It fits through the middle, but it certainly needs hemmed and I need to get the straps added as well. I get fitted on May 31. Yay!

* We've pretty much decided on all the songs for the ceremony. Just waiting to make sure everything gets "approved" by the church. I don't think we'll have a problem because we didn't really pick secular music or anything.

* We still need to work on the readings and the music for the reception. Soon. Really.

* Tomorrow I get my makeup trial. That should be fun. I want to go for a mostly normal look with a few extra touches. I don't want to be unrecognizable or cakey in the photos.

* The rest of the weekend there are just small details here and there. We need to take a few gifts back to the store (we really loved them but got duplicates and one of the shipped items was cracked!). And just keeping track of guests, etc. We're up to almost 80 attending. I won't get updates the next few days because my parents are getting the reply cards and they're out of town - at a wedding of course! This is the first of the 3 weddings my sister is in this year. It's in Kansas. Congrats Jana and Jaime!

Funny (condensed version of a) story about my sister and her friend Jana and the parts they've played in each other's marriages. Sarah met her husband, Dan, through Jana: Dan and Jana went to high school together and Sarah met him when she went to visit her college friend Jana in Kansas City for a New Years party right after they graduated from college. The next month, Jana and Sarah became roommates when they both got jobs in Chicago. Sometime later, Sarah introduced Jana to one of her colleagues, Jaime ... and the rest is history. Also interesting: Sarah and Dan got married on May 21; Jana and Jaime: May 19!

So happy early anniversary, Sarah and Dan! May you have many more years of happiness together!

Surprise Shower Pictures

I finally have pictures from last week's surprise shower that the youth group kids threw us! Enjoy!

The beautiful cake that director of youth ministry Sue got for us.

Anna helps make our fabulous card.

Just LOOK at all the fabulous gifts everyone got us. Wow! (Note the menacing kitchen tools we picked to hold up. I do not want to claw John and he doesn't want to cut me with a pizza cutter. It was a joke!)

Some of the high schoolers were more interested than others watching us open the presents!

The members of the group who were able to make it. These - and several others who couldn't come - all designed our card. Special thanks to Sue (left in red shirt) and Grace and Neil (sitting in front in the blue shirts) who were the evening's planners. We were so surprised and grateful.

At the end we went outside for closing prayer, which ended up being everyone praying for us. (Yes, I got a little teary like I said before.) It was a great evening, and these are a great group of teenagers!

THANK YOU ALL!

The newest wedding guest ...

... now has a name!

We got a reply card last week for Baby S., John's brother and sister-in-law's baby who was due May 24.

Well, the 8 lb bouncing baby boy made his way into the world a little early Tuesday afternoon.

Congratulations Paul and Laura, and welcome to the world, Nathaneal Pryor!! (hope that spelling is right!)

We can't wait for you to share our wedding day with us. But you may not be the youngest in attendance. My cousin and his wife also have a baby due on May 24. It's still up in the air if they will be able to make the 500-mile journey to the wedding. But we sure hope they can.

These are just two of the babies I hope to meet the weekend of the wedding (if we don't meet Nathaneal sooner). I've not met the children of a few other cousins and friends. Yay! Babies!

Random Snippets of John and Katie discussing wedding ceremony music

... while watching The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman.
... and perusing the 19 weddings programs I dug out of boxes in my basement, a song list from the organist and a Gather hymnal.
... paraphrased and in no particular order (with John speaking in serif font and Katie in sans serif font)

***

Ah ha! (waves around program). These people DID use Here I am Lord at their wedding!

NO! I still say it's too funereal.

***

Ooh, I know Deanna will know this responsorial psalm. She sang it at (looks at front of program) Sheila and David's wedding.

I'll add it to the list.

***

Look: Katie, Peggy, Rachel and Sheila all used Canticle of the Sun for their closing song. OK, we have to do it. It's tradition.

***

Oh, how about Ode to Joy. Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh (imitates me imitating my 12-year-old self playing that at my first band concert.)

That could be fun. Can we process out to it? (Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh). (imagining marching out).

***

Wait, which alleluia is in the Mass of Life? I don't know what any of these are. Is it al-le-LU-ia, al-le-LU-ia, al-le-LU-ooh- ia?

No, it's all-le-lu-ooh-ia, all-le-lu-ooh-ia, all-le-lu-ooh-ia, all-le-lu-ooh-ia.

***

How about we use the music from the Mass of Remembrance?

No, that sounds too funereal.

***

When do you want to do Bill's song?
Which song?

His Make Me a Channel.

This one (starts humming the traditional Prayer of St. Francis version)?

No, the one Bill wrote. You know. "Make me a channel of your peace. Hum, hum, hum...."

***

(Plucking at violin) What do you think of this Alleluia?

What? Oh, I'm not listening to you. I was watching Andy and Tessa.

I don't think I could do that.

What, you don't like this version?

No, I don't think I could walk across that bridge.

But they're connected to the bridge by a cord.

Oh. Well, maybe.

***

So almost everybody has the same two processional songs. But my sister has them reversed. Can we just use those two?

What songs?

Canon in D and Trumpet Voluntary. Wait, which one is Canon in D?

You know, it's that one: Hm, hm, hm-hm-hm-hm-hm.

Oh, yeah, that's good. Let's do that.

It's sooo overdone. Everyone does it.

So. It's tradition.

Wait, what's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring? Why do I not know how any of these songs go? I've obviously been to lots of weddings with them.

Hm-hm-hm-hm do-do-do-um.

We could use that for something.

***

What about How Great Thou Art?

It's too funereal.

I guess I've just played at lots of funerals.

***

These people don't list any songs in their program.

Maybe no one sang at that wedding. I don't know.

***

Which one didn't get a rose?

Danielle. I can't believe he gave a rose to Bevin. I think Tessa will be the final one.

Yeah, definitely.

50 Days!

I can't believe it's been 50 days since it was 100 days! If the next 50 days go that fast, I better get on the ball!

I'm headed up after work to pick up my dress. Yay! UPDATE (5:41 p.m.): The woman on the phone gave me the wrong hours; when I double checked the store closes at 5 on FRIDAY not THURSDAY like she said. So much for tonight. It'll have to be tomorrow... Sob.

I had also begun to worry about Peggy's bridesmaid's dress. I mailed it on April 29. She got it today. It took 13 days to go about 567 or so miles to Pennsylvania. I could've biked it there faster. Well, maybe. If I were in shape. I had a tracking number on it because I wanted to make sure it didn't get lost. I was concerned when I went online yesterday to discover the dress had left North Carolina on Tuesday morning. My panic alarm went off so I rooted around online to find a phone number to call where I could talk to a real person. Ms. Anti-helpful's words of wisdom. "North Carolina is one of the stoops a package makes when going from Ohio to Pennsylvania."

I don't think she appreciated my humor when I asked if it was traveling on a pony or if Kansas was another one of the stops a package makes going from Ohio to Pennsylvania.

But, thankfully, one day before the post office would put the package on super-high-alert-track-down mode (yeah, I made that up, but they did say I couldn't complain until day 14... ), the package arrived in Peggy's car today. Seriously. Her mailperson is a little odd and leaves packages in their unlocked cars instead of knocking on the door. Strange ... She said the box was a little worse for wear, crushed and smashed, so it's good I put the dress in another box inside the outer one. Thanks John for that suggestion that I rolled my eyes at but abided by.

So this weekend we have three wedding-related goals:

1. Pick the music for the Mass.
2. Pick the readings for the Mass.
3. Pick out some songs for the reception

There's other stuff to do, but these are the high-priority items.

With celebrating my Dad's birthday (it was yesterday but the party is tomorrow) and Mother's Day with John's family and with my Mom, the weekend is already looking tightly packed. But, there are only 50 days left, so we need to be getting stuff done! There are already 46 people coming to this wedding, so we can't disappoint them with bad music and readings!

A Surprise Shower

So after all of Wednesday's craziness (I'm dizzy, but my dress is in!), I debated whether to go to youth group (BYG) where John and I volunteer on Wednesdays. I decided that since the night was one of my favorite annual topics (affirmation), that I'd go and just try to take it easy.

Good thing, because we walked in and found out it was really our surprise shower! (And affirmation!)

The HS'ers were so awesome in all that they did. They made us this fabulously collaged card. And there was cake, punch and snacks galore. We enjoyed the food and then got to the affirmation-poster making (each person puts his/her name on a poster, and then the rest of the group writes positive messages or pastes down pictures that describe that person.) It's always such a positive night.

And then, all of a sudden, the night's leaders (seniors Neil and Grace) told everyone to halt the poster-making, and told John and me to sit in chairs at the end of the room. They told us to share our words of wisdom ...

My brief advice "If anyone has a graduation party, go because you never know who you might meet."

But then we found out the real story, because they brought us out TONS of presents. It was amazing and so unexpected. Director of youth ministry Sue had gone to all 3 places we were registered and bought tons of utensils, pans, pot holders and more. We just kept unwrapping things. There were also two roses, which was very sweet. I guess behind the scenes she had had the HS'ers give her money for gifts and then she went and purchased them. I can't believe that so many of them were so generous because we got so many things. This is my ninth school year (and John's second) volunteering with this fabulous group of teens (well, the teens themselves have come and gone several times over ...) so if anyone wants to make a derogatory remark about teenagers today, just look at the time and effort they put into making this card for us.




The messages were so heartfelt and thoughtful. Working with this group has definitely been one of those experiences where you go in thinking "give, give, give" but end up getting a whole lot out of it as well.

When the night ended we went outside for what I thought was our typical closing prayer. Instead, it was a blessing over John and me where each teen (and the other adults) could bless us and say what they hoped for us in our marriage. Yes, I fully admit I got a little teary and had to go in for a tissue before concluding with BYG hugs.

Sue is going to try to send some pictures of the group, and I will post them if she does. I took these pictures of the giant card when I got home.

But THANKS to all the teens, volunteers and Sue for making us feel so loved and appreciated. It was an awesome surprise!

THE DRESS IS IN

It's been a strange day. I came home sick with vertigo like symptoms. (John drove all the way downtown to get me from his work in West Chester, then spent half the afternoon trying to learn how to work remotely from my Mac. And we all know from the commercials that Macs aren't that good at spreadsheets. A keeper, I tell you!) Anyway, thankfully, two hours of lying motionless in bed and the nausea and dizziness have mostly subsided. Now I kinda feel like I have a killer of a hangover ...

So my mood was lifted when the store called and said my dress is in!! I can't go get it now because I don't have a car (it's still downtown) plus I'm a little iffy on driving still anyway, and the store closes early tomorrow, but Friday, I will pop by and pick it up. YES!

Just had to share the good news.

We have wedding guests

The first reply cards arrived at my parents' house yesterday. 8 of them! Wow, you all are on top of things. Such a quick turnaround. They were all yes replies, so we have 15 guests so far.

And we have had two invitations returned by the post office. One for a bad zip code. Seriously? We put 45244 and it's 45230. Could the post office not figure it out? The street is THREE blocks from the 45244 zip code. I get mail with 45208 and 45227 all the time and the post office seems to figure it out OK.

The other one was missing a stamp, which is completely my fault. Hey, it was late, and I probably just forgot that one. Whoops!

I kinda wish I were the one who got to get all the fun mail, but we decided to let my parents deal with all of that because we have so much else to deal with. Like picking church music. and reception music. and readings. And eventually, I will need to get my dress altered IF IT EVER COMES IN!

*Reminder, guess how many invitations we sent out and win CiN Weekly beads and a pen! Post your reply or email kkelley@cincinnati.com.

Dress: Update

(Ringing phone is answered.)

Me: Hi. I ordered my dress in December and my wedding is next month, and I haven't heard anything, so I wa ....

Store employee on phone: What's your last name?

Me: Kelley. K E L L E Y.

SEOP: First name?

Me: Katie. With a K.

SEOP: Here's what I'll do. They'll call the manufacturer and get a ship date, and someone will call you back.

Me: So how long does it take? When will someone call me back?

SEOP: It usually takes about a day.

Me: So it will be a little while.

SEOP: A day or two.

Me: OK. Thanks.

Click.

Sigh. I want my dress.

Girls' Day Out!

Saturday was my Girls' Day Out, also known as Bachelorette Day. I'm a little old for a whole lot of bacheloretting - and it's really not my scene - so my maid and matron of honor planned a fun day (I was allowed plenty of input, however)! And I was so happy that a lot of friends and relatives were able to join us throughout the day!

We started the day at 10:15 with the Flying Pig 5K. As I mentioned before, this was my first race since I mysteriously sprained my ankle in December. I haven't been doing a whole lot of running and am just now beginning to feel pretty good when running. I wasn't anticipating a good race (I'm slow - a 10 minute pace is good for me!), and I didn't have one, time-wise. My pace was 11:06. Both Raegan (left) and my sister Sarah (center) beat me by a lot. They, however, didn't choose the chip option so they weren't timed.

Front: Anne S., me, Anne H.; Back: Sarah S., Sarah P., Raegan, Mom

After getting cleaned up we met up with several more of my friends and relatives to paint some pottery. I chose a few bowls and plates and had each person decorate hers in a way so that I'd think of her when we use it. They all turned out beautifully, and I can't wait to get them in a week when they're ready!


After pottery, some of us headed out for dinner where we met up with Deanna and Rachel (foreground) and Emily (back right). As we were driving there, a veil mysteriously ended up on the back of my head. Thank goodness it had no attachments! We had a fun, laughter-filled dinner, reminiscing over past fun times and letting my friends and relatives from a variety of circles get to know one another.

Go Tigers!

After dinner we made a quick trip to the CiNco de Mayo festivities at Margaritas with CiN Weekly - of course we had to get beads and some half-price margaritas. Thanks again, Anne H., for being our DD (every bachelorette party has to have a mom-to-be, right?!)


We headed back to my house afterwards for a personal shower, where Maureen and Sheila joined us after having earlier commitments.

I got lots of fabulous presents :-0 ... Thanks to everyone!! Although, I thank my friends for knowing me well and getting extremely tasteful gifts. Still, I will not be showing any of them here. OK, well, you can see them (sorta) :)



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Yep, that's all of them.

Thanks Sarah and Raegan; you two are the best sister and friend/former roommate a girl could have! You threw me a fabulous bash. Special thanks to Raegan for getting all the contributions and making me the book of memories. Special kudos to Sarah for making all the delicious food (and Sangria!) and for help cleaning. And, since I haven't mentioned them yet, thanks to Pennsylvania dwellers Peggy and Katie, who couldn't join us in person but joined us in spirit and sent memories and gifts! (Isn't technology cool? - While we talked on Deanna's phone to Peggy on her landline, Raegan took a picture with her cell phone of me opening Peggy's gift and sent it to Peggy's cell phone. Pretty sweet!) And thanks too, to my future sister-in-law Mary, who also wasn't able to be there but sent a gift.

Last, to everyone who played a part in the day: Raegan, Sarah P, Mom, Kathy, Mary, Anne S, Peggy, Deanna, Anne H, Sarah S, Rachel, Sheila, Maureen, Emily and Katie B - You all are awesome and mean so much to me. Whether I've known you since you were born or only for a few years, I couldn't ask for a better group of friends, relatives and relatives-to-be. I feel so blessed! I am honored that you chose to take part in the fun with me. John and I look forward to sharing our wedding day - and the rest of our lives - with you!

Invitations mailed: 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 4

Sunday afternoon, April 29: Everything set out and ready to go ...

... Except I am still making changes to all of the inserts (directions, hotel info, etc.)

John and my mom start addressing inner envelopes

Late Sunday night, inserts are printed and cut (this is when my hands were covered in ink, which is the picture on my computer screen).

Monday, April 30: Late. Some invitations nearly ready, inserts ready to go in others.

Tuesday night, May 1: Even more invitations and inserts in envelopes.

About midnight Wednesday, May 2: time for the stamping. John had his own unique method.

Thursday night/Friday morning 1 a.m: Yay, all ready to go!!

I took them with me Friday morning, and then dropped them off at the post office at 6:30 p.m. Did you know the Oakley post office is open until 7 p.m? Who knew!? Now that I know, I will keep that in mind! I meant to take a picture at the post office, but I forgot. Sorry.

Then, Saturday, I got word that people in Cincinnati received them. So all is good. Now we wait for the reply cards.

Here's the trivia question of the day:
How many invitations did we mail out?
(We're still waiting on one address, so go with the number as of now.)

Post your answer by 5 p.m. Friday or email your guess to kkelley@cincinnati.com - relatives of the bride and groom are not eligible. Winner gets some CiN beads (maybe a CiN pen too!)

We're getting married next month!

I realized yesterday I could start saying this. OK, yes, it is 59 days, but since it is June 30, that is next month! Crazy.

So a few brief updates ...

1. I want my dress. I want it yesterday. I'm not to the nervous-it-won't-be-ready-in-time state yet, I just want it to come in so I won't stress out. I ordered it in late December and was told 4 months. When I picked up the bridesmaids dresses 4 weeks ago, the employee at the store said my dress "should be here by the end of the month." April is over. I want my dress. To top it off, I can't even see the picture online, so I guess it's gone out of stock. Mine better have been made first.

2. The invitations still aren't quite ready to be mailed. I think there were 18 more to stuff, and then we have to put the inside envelopes into the outside envelopes and seal and stamp them. Tonight? We volunteer until 9 p.m. at church, so it'll have to be after that. But I really want to get them FINISHED. My dining room looks like a tornado spewed invitations all over it, and I've been eating at a little corner of the table so as not to spill anything on the invitations. I have some pictures, and I will do a little time line of the process. The good news? My printer kicks butt! It printed about 500 pages and only jammed up twice and didn't run out of ink. So much cheaper than the copy center!

3. This weekend is the girls day (aka bachelorette day). I'm so looking forward to it. I know the maid and matron of honor have been planning a fun day. But first, we will all run the Flying Pig 5K. I wish good luck to all the Flying Pig bloggers - and everyone else running. My bad shin/ankle and I will be sticking to the short distance. I will be going slow because even slight speed hurts my ankle these days.

4. Did I mention I want my dress?