9 days to go

Doug had to leave early this morning for a shoot. So I have been up since 5am. I am looking forward to today. I went to Om Spa in Dearborn and got a facial. My skin was SO dry. It was nice to relax and have someone take care of me for a little bit. It was a great experience. I could totally get hooked on going to spas. Too bad it is so expensive. Other than that, I sent a final count to the caterer for food and got all the details figured out with the florist. So tomorrow morning I will be mailing the last two checks for vendors. Then I am totally all paid up! Yeah! I stopped at Joann Fabrics to get the materials to make Mile's ring pillow. I decided it was way cheaper to make it myself and I found the cutest DIY on MSW. We received a couple gifts in the mail today too. A sweet picnic basket from the Fitzpatricks and 2 sets of the silverware we registered for from Doug's neighbors the Landers. So exciting!

10 Days to go!!

So here we are, only 10 days to go. The big countdown! I have 111 meal cards drying on our dining table right now. The ink is pretty thick and the cards not very porous so some of them are taking forever to dry. As you can see, Miles is already working on his beauty sleep for the big day. My mom paid off the cake today - thanks mom you're the best!! I also got the tags for the birds completed with names and table assignments. Honestly, I am feeling very stressed about the stuff I have to tackle. I am not nervous about getting married - just finishing up the details!

guest book

So thanks to martha stewart, we have a guest book idea. I kept going back and forth on what to do until I saw this. I bought a couple of jars on Save on Crafts. They arrived yesterday and are HUGE. I also ordered yellow envelopes and white cards and guests can just write their sentiments on the card, throw it in an envelope and place it in the jars. I can then go back later and glue the front of the envelopes to pages in a book - like little sleeves. It makes for a cute book and a neat table look.

wedding hair

Here are some pics that are inspiring my wedding day do.

St. Louis Shower and Marriage License

I don't have pics yet, but as always I am sure Sara took some great pictures! It was a very busy weekend. Unfortunately, I had to work on some Lincoln stuff during my visit but when I was working we had a great time! Saturday I managed to find my stylist who will be coming to the Four Seasons where I am staying to do our hair. Driving to salons and such the day of sounded awful. So we are going to have the stylist come to us. Julie at Studio Papillion in Des Peres did a GREAT job on my hair. It looked great for once in my life!

Sunday was the shower which was great! Doug has a wonderful family and the really made me feel welcome. I get so embarrassed in front of groups of people - I get so shy!! It's funny to think I am almost thirty and still feel like a 6 year old in a group of people. HA. It was so much fun and the weather was incredible. I really am so lucky - Doug's entire family is so wonderful. Not to mention I am SO excited to have a sister!!!

Monday we woke up super early to go get our marriage license from St. Louis county in Clayton. Everyone was very nice and it was super exciting! It is crazy to think how close the wedding is!

Invites done, out, and featured on beastpieces.com

Doug did and amazing drawing of peony that became the main design element on our invites. That and the use of Burgues Script made for a very elegant invite. We had the invites created using letterpress with a company called Studio on Fire out of Minnesota. They were by far the cheapest letterpress out there and easy to work with. Once we received the invites, I tied each one with a ribbon and sent them in custom silkscreened envelopes. We requested that guests rsvp on our website and it actually has worked out very well. Even the non-internet savvy folks managed to do it. Yeah for not wasting paper, energy and postage.

Kicking it with the bridesmaids!!

My bridesmaids and Doug surprised me with a weekend in Chicago!! It was awesome to get away and hang out with friends and my future sister-in-law! We got a massage at Bliss which was incredible. I have always wanted to go there and it was freaking amazing. The girls surprised me with a full body massage - I wanted to melt the rest of the day. I think I'm addicted. The eucalyptus steam shower.. oh man. So great. We also saw 2 back to back comedy shows which were hilarious at Comedy Sportz. Then of course followed up Sunday morning with some Ann Sathers Cinnamon rolls. My favorite! I can't get any luckier with such thoughtful friends. It was an amazing weekend I will never forget. I'm tearing up just thinking about it!

160 birds completed!

Hooray! All finished!! I sewed all the bodies over a few weeks and then closed all the tails Easter weekend. I have 160 of them which has turned out to be more than I need. I will probably end up using some in the Card Cage for decoration and then at the guest table. I am going to be putting tags on them with people's name and seating assignment. My florist is going to hang them from 3 trees as guests enter. I can't wait to see it all come together.

Ring bearer collar

How cute is this collar! I found it on etsy and I am hoping to get one made for Miles with a yellow poppy and ribbon.

DTW shower!

Yeah! I had my Detroit shower the weekend before Easter. It was so much fun. I got to see a lot of people I really miss and don't get to see as often as I would like. We did the toilet paper bride game and even had a fashion show to music where the girls were judged by Doug and Brandon (the best man). It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun!

My first sponsored pet - meet Baby!

So for an April fool's joke, my friend Alexis and I were talking about a way to play a joke on Doug. We went through a number of ideas before coming up with telling him I bought another dog. Which turned into the idea of me fostering a pet and telling him I signed up. But of course, once I started looking at the pets, I felt awful! Poor little things at the last chance rescue in Howell, MI. That's when I ran across Baby, a special needs Boston Terrier without a home. Since Doug would kill me if I fostered any more pets, because we already have 2 monsters at home, I am going to sponsor a pet each paycheck. This is my first sponsored pet - Baby!! I hope she finds a home. So sad, I wish I could take them all home with me.