Wedding Madness, or how I spent my spring break, Part II

On the Friday before my shower, Bren, Emmy and I headed to meet with Pure Joy to finalize our menus and rentals! I am so glad that that is done! I forgot to take photos of the place settings, but it doesn't really matter anyway because we are still deciding on linens. They are SO expensive so we're looking into buying them, or renting them from an online company. We tossed around the idea of making overlays or runners but ultimately decided that that would be a crazy idea with less than 3 months left. I think we're either going to go with basic ivory linens with an organza or satin overlay, or with crushed satin or pintuck linens. It turns out to be about the same price, so we'll see.

We also decided on the menu! We'll be serving:

Appetizers: Cheese/bread station, Mac 'n Cheese, Chicken Quesdillas, and Mini Sliders (YUM!!)
Salads: Summer salad with strawberries and vinaigrette dressing, and caprese salad
Main course: Chicken roulade (with spinich, goat cheese and pine nuts) and grilled tri tip
Pasta Station: 4 kinds of pasta with various sauces and mixers
Dessert: Gelato and wedding cake!!
Bar: Usual assortment of sodas, iced tea, and waters, Beer, wine, and a Cosmo and Margarita

I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

After my wonderful shower, I set to tackling my HUGE to do list. I printed it out and showed it to my mom, and she got a little worried about everything that I had to do. Well, that was really all I needed to kick my booty into gear.

First, we spent all evening Saturday and all day Sunday assembling invitations!! I am so happy to say that they are stamped, licked, addressed, and just waiting to be dropped in the mail!!
We had quite the fight with sealing the darn things. Licking and gluing with a glue stick didn't work, so we finally had to turn to some gel glue pens. Now I'm a little worried that they won't ever come apart... but better than opening in the mail!!
I also read somewhere that you could send an invite to the President, and they'll send you a formal congratulations in return! How neat is that!! I'm definitely adding that to my scrapbook.
After we finished that, my mom and I headed out to run a bunch of errands I had on my list. We went to 6 (!!) stores that were ALL closed! For Easter!! I couldn't believe it. Even Macy's and Nordstrom's was closed! My theory is that all the stores can't afford to pay their employees time and a half for the holiday, since the economy is really sucking right now. So I headed home on Sunday and had Easter hot dogs with Jacob (I didn't plan that one out very well...)

I spent this whole week working down my "to do" list. I finally ordered my veil and crinoline (we gave up on the idea of making the veil) and went with the ivory cathedral length veil (100") long! I still haven't picked out jewelry yet, but I still have time. I also ran all of my errands on my list (Target, Walmart, Michael's about 3 times, Costco, Petmart....) and I think I've finally got everything I needed! I found 2 awesome flower girl baskets (50% off Easter sale!!), got the paper goods for the rehearsal dinner, a bunch of craft supplies, all the stamps for the invitations, stuff for the French memory boards I'm making to display the family wedding photos, and god only knows what else.

These signs are going to hang on the back of our reception chairs!
The menu frames for the food stations
Table number candle holders! This project took a lot longer than I thought... but I love them!
Guest book pens!

The flower girl baskets are also in progress (had to spray paint them), as well as the OOT bags. I've finally purchased all the supplies, and now they just need to be assembled. I think I've finally got everything cleared up with our DJ as well, and will be able to have a flamenco trio at the ceremony and cocktail hour! I also made about 25 mason jar candles for the next and final bridal shower, and they're still cooling.

Oh! We also decided on what we're going to do for our placecards! The inspiration:We were originally going to do escort cards with corks, but that was getting way too complicated (set up, display, etc). So now we're doing this! Plus, everyone loves some candy, right! I ordered some raspberry candy sticks and grabbed some ribbon at Walmart. The calligrapher already has the cards, so we'll only need to tie them on when they come in July!

Our last major project that can be completed now is the wrapping of the darn favors. This is taking freaking forever. I think we'll probably rent a movie and work on them tonight. Anyone a talented gift wrapper? Want to help!? We'll love you forever!!! :)

Also, we've started the moving process! We looked at our calendars and realized between wedding stuff, 3 graduations, work, school, and other stuff (Matt and Lauren's wedding!! Bachelorette and Bachelor parties!!) that our only free weekend was... this weekend. So I've also been packing and going through all of our things like crazy, and my parents are coming tomorrow to help out. I'm proud to say that I've packed more "garage sale" boxes than "keep" boxes, so that's a great sign!!

My goodness, this post is exhausting me. A lady is coming to look at Jacob's car in a bit... cross your fingers!