49 Days

49 days from now, I'll be married. As the day nears, I get more and more excited and - thankfully - much more relaxed. Now that I have all the big to-do's out of the way, I'm finally able to focus on the reason for the planning instead of freaking out about all the things I have left to do.

The invitations went out this week. When I dropped them off at the post office, it felt as though I left a couple bricks behind, too. My shoulders needed that.

We emailed our wedding website address to people, too, and the guestbook comments are beginning to flood in. Every time I go on to read them and the emails that follow, I feel loved and blessed to have so many people who support this marriage. In the early days of being engaged, I had dreams during which we arrived to our reception, only to discover barely anyone had bothered to show up. I know that mostly had to do with my panic of not being able to pick a date and begin planning, but still. I don't have those those dreams anymore...

Tomorrow morning, I will have my first wedding dress fitting. I have the shoes and the bra, and even though my stomach isn't as flat as I might like, I'm so excited to feel the alençon lace with my fingertips again, and watch as they pin the dress to my curves, making it all mine, mine, mine.

Tomorrow afternoon, I will attend my bridal shower. Roughly forty of my dear family members and friends will be there to witness me "oooh and ahhh" with each gift opened. The presents aren't the part I'm looking forward to most, though. I can't wait to see all of these women in one room together. These are the women who helped mold me into the women I am today - the one who fits so perfectly with the amazing man I'm about to marry. I wonder: if I hadn't known even one of those people, would I still be that person?...

And then, tomorrow night, we will continue the festivities at a hotel, where there is a mini bachelorette party/slumber party being thrown on my behalf. Since the real party will be in May in New York City (YAY!!), some of the people - my older sister/matron of honor, included - won't be able to attend. Therefore, they wanted to throw me a tamer version, of which I'm sure will turn at least a little wild later in the night. With me, it always does. ;o)

On the eve of these celebrations, I feel so completely happy and excited about this journey before me. I have a man who I love more than I thought possible, who loves me equally and passionately in return. I have dreams and hopes coming true, and even more in the making. With all of the whining I've done about all this wedding planning stress, it makes this stage of the process completely worth it.

In 49 days, I'll marry my best friend and lover, all rolled into one. How lucky am I?!

I need a smack on the head - UPDATED

You know what I wouldn't suggest doing during your stint of stuffing, addressing, and mailing out your wedding invitations? Forgetting to put a stamp on the return RSVP envelopes until AFTER you've sealed them. Yeah...

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE, my friends!!!!!

*sigh*

UPDATE:

I just realized that I typed "mailing out" in the above sentence, when I actually meant "sealing" the envelopes. Seriously, I need TWO smacks on the head!! The good news is that I realized my mistake before the invitations were actually sent out, and was able to open all the sealed envelopes and put stamps on those bad boys. I'm so glad I caught this so no one had the chance to open my invite and see that I didn't put a stamp on the return envelope. Alas, my dignity remains suspended on it's thin, dangling thread...for now, anyway. ;o)

Shopping = Sucky

I'm a lady - of course, I use the term "lady" lightly here - and like any lady, I like to shop. As a matter of fact, back before I had a house, fiance' and dog, you could find me shopping just about as much as you could find me out drinking with friends and living it up. After all, I was the girl with nineteen pairs of jeans in rotation at any given time (picture this: I used to use my ghetto-booty as a tool to pick up men). Now, I'd rather pop open a bottle of red and chill by the fire with my main man and pup. Between you and me, not only am I surprised by this fact, but also shocked I'm actually willing to admit it.

One thing I'm having a particularly tough time grasping, however, is why the fun has been completely zapped from shopping. Now, I actually view this past-pasttime as a chore. Grocery shopping officially blows and I resort to my corner store for milk and bread more often than not. Clothing shopping gets continually difficult as I remain a 'tweener (not a girl, not yet a woman-willing-to-sport-mom-butt). And lately, I've been introduced to a new kind of shopping: Wedding Shopping.

I ask myself everyday how people managed to plan weddings before the Internet became mainstream. Having said that, I still find myself driving around town an awful lot lately, looking for some obscure and yet-found item I never thought I would ever need. Patina paint? Yes, please! A large flower-shaped paper punch? Don't mind if I do! Mother-of-the-Groom dresses by the boatload to bring Up North for an Easter weekend fashion show (my in-law's live in the sticks, and they like being stuck there)? Uh. Huh.

*sigh* I'm exhausted and I haven't even started gathering RSVP's yet. And don't even bring up the subject of putting together a seating chart because I'll cry, I swear I will!

My wedding planner has mentioned doing personal shopping for me, but I was previously too worried she wouldn't be prudent enough to weed out the tacky. Now? I might enlist her with the wise advice to simply step away from the gold and gaudy. Any advice for a harried wife-to-be? I'm a card-carrying lunatic, and I'm not afraid to use it...

Girls, Girls, Girls!

This past weekend was great. I was supposed to have gone to Chicago to visit my best friend (and bridesmaid), but on Friday afternoon, she called to tell me she was feeling sick and thought it was best that I stay home. Having the weekend suddenly open to do whatever, I quickly got other plans in the works and ended up spending the weekend with some of my favorite ladies in my life.

On Saturday, I went to Grand Rapids to spend time with my mom, sister, aunt, and friend. We went mother-of-the-bride dress shopping (for the THIRD TIME), which has proven to be more difficult than wedding dress shopping! Seriously. There are some fugly dresses out there for mothers' of brides. You would think there would be some options out there that didn't fall under one of two categories:

1. Hoochie of the Bride
2. Granny of the Bride

But, nooooo! There has been no happy medium, thus far.

There was one serious contender (which we actually bought, just in case), but my mom complained about it making her boobs look flattened out. I thought I had just the fix for that, and yelled out loud for everyone to hear, "Cindy (our friend who was there), go grab my mom some cutlets!" Two minutes later, I was stuffing the silicone bra inserts into my mom's bra, with her cracking up the whole time.

Then, to make it all the more hilarious, I went and grabbed one of those full-body suctiony girdle things for my mom try on, since the dress we liked didn't come in her size and we wanted to see how it would look once she lost a couple pounds from the diet she's on right now. Let's just say we monopolized the dressing rooms, and having five women there in one stall? It's fodder for laughs all around (my poor mom)!

We followed up the shopping with lunch and a movie - '27 Dresses.' It was the perfect way to end the day. Sure, we didn't find the perfect dress for my mom, but we're hopeful.

On Sunday, I met up with my other best friend (and bridesmaid) to find shoes for her and my other attendants to wear. We had lunch, shopped, and then went to get mani-pedi's. It was such a nice, relaxing weekend, and I was so happy to be able to make these last minute plans with people who love and care about me.

At one point, I looked around and asked myself, "How can wedding planning be bad when you have women this wonderful to help you?!" I truly felt blessed.