October 18th, 2014

hkda2003

Jean0715. I'm thinking that's what I'm going to have to do. I would hate for anyone to feel uncomfortable. 

I was so mad the other day, I went veil shopping at the same store where I purchased my dress. Even though the veils were more expensive there than any other store I went to, they convinced me that I should have my dress on when I pick my veil so that I know what looks best together... So I agreed, and made an appointment. Well when I got to my appointment, they told me the sample of my dress was sent to another store temporarily, and didn't make it back in time because of the snow! So I had to put on another dress thats was "similar" (hardly). I was so disappointed because more than anything I was excited to put my dress on again! Oh well, I picked my veil anyway. Now I'm just hoping it looks perfect with MY dress!

weeniedogs

Jean0715, thats so exciting that you will be in St. Lucia, also! We will be staying at the Grande St. Lucian from Oct 22-29. What was so attractive about St Lucia was the fact that you could shuttle between each resort so I am sure at some point, we will be eating or visiting at the resort you will be staying at!
I havent had any nightmares (yet!) about the wedding but I am starting to stress about the little things and wanting to get things done right away. I bought our Guestbook today - went to Michael's and they happened to have really nice guestbooks that happened to come in Plum, our color. We also picked up some seals of "O", for my soon to be last name, and picked up a bunch of those since "O" is a very scarce letter to find for anything wedding related!
We sent our Save the Dates out on Friday so I am glad we got that out of the way. My brother spung on us that he will be getting married in June (they just got engaged over Christmas), so that is also stressing me out since I only get so much time off work each year. Since I am having my wedding in Maryland, and my fiance and I live in Florida, its stressful to think I wont have the chance to come up whenever I want to get things done. I hate stressing! 
Glad to hear everyone else is doing well and things are coming along! 

wromero121

Congrats on the date! I wanted the weekend of the 18th and decided on Friday the 17th. So far coordinator, venue, church and photog are booked. We got engaged Oct 2013 and did engagement pics on dec 1st

PrettyGirlLost

hkda2003 said:

My new worry is about bridesmaid dress shopping. I have 6 girls, and they are all very different shapes, sizes, and personalities! I am so worried it will be amazingly difficult for everyone to agree on something. We are going Feb. 1st. Wish me luck!! 

I ordered 10 save the dates so I could make sure I liked them before ordering a whole bunch. They should arrive any day, and I'm very excited! 

Not gonna lie, it will be difficult to find something that looks flattering on everyone if they are all of differing body types as you say. 

Why not tell your BMs what your chosen color or colors are, and your preferred dress length, and then let them choose any dress that fits those criteria?

I have 10 BMs of all different body types and this is what I'm doing because I want everyone to feel comfortable and amazing in the dress they are stuck wearing all day ;-)  At first some were a bit confused by this concept, but now they are all really excited about it.

PrettyGirlLost

Lol I can tell some of you are uber excited/anxious for your weddings. . . I'm not sending out my STDs till February.

hkda2003

I thought about letting them choose a dress, but we have already made an appointment to go shopping together. I suppose we will see how the shopping experience goes, and if no one can agree, I will just let them choose what they want. But obviously the length and general color would have to be the same like you said. As far as the save the dates go, I have been hearing that it is appropriate to send them out 6 months prior (unless there are a lot of OOT guests), so you are still way ahead if you send them in February. You must be excited/anxious as well! That being said, I would like to send mine out RIGHT AWAY, but still not sure when I will do it...

Ojewel

I'm October 18 as well! So exciting!

weeniedogs

Ojewel! 

PrettyGirlLost, when one of my bridesmaids got married, she did the same exact thing for us. She told us black, and knee length, and let us go from there. Though we all had different dresses, it ended up matching so well in the end, and also allowed each girl to fit into their own specific budget. 

I sent out my Save the Dates at the beginning of the year. We have a lot of OOT guests, a lot of our friends being in Florida as we reside in Florida. We are having the wedding in Maryland where i grew up, so a lot of family members will be able to attend but we wanted to make sure all of our friends in different states had enough time to plan ahead - we even took care of booking hotels so that guests can book early. 

Are any of you thinking about doing Welcome Bags for OOT guests? We were thinking about making little bags for everyone who chooses to stay at the two hotels we booked. We are planning on putting a Local Winery Wine in it, as well as snacks, and information on the area we were having the wedding. Kind of a way to thank them one step higher than just favors for coming all of that way to attend our day. 

hkda2003

I love that idea for your OOT guests! I'm considering doing the same thing, but the furthest anyone is traveling from is NJ and NY, so only a couple of hours away. Is it still appropriate to do? I'm sure they will be staying in a hotel for the night...

weeniedogs

I would definitely still consider them as OOT! A lot of my fiance's family is in Pennsylvania and we don't expect them to drive down for one night, only to leave right after the wedding, so they will be probably be staying at the hotel for at least the night. I think its completely appropriate to include them, since they are still making the drive out for your wedding! 

hkda2003

Ok. I think I'll have fun making up the baskets! I'll just need to figure out how many. 

weeniedogs

Well, I am happy to announce that I finally completed my dress attire today! I bought my dress back in Thanksgiving weekend, and today, I found the perfect veil to go along with it - its as if they were made for each other! I was shocked by how expensive veils could be though... I had no idea! I also bought the corset bra and mermaid slip to go along with it. Next is just making sure my bridesmaids get their dresses in good time, as well as flower girl and try to figure out what to do for the gents! 

I am definitely the bride that wants to get things done as soon as possible! Have you ladies gotten your dresses yet or am I ahead of the crowd?  

Jean0715

@weeniedogs I ended up finding my dress back in August. It just came in a few weeks ago. I have my shoes and have an idea of what veil I want. I just need to figure out what I want to wear underneath it. 

weeniedogs

@Jean0715, You just reminded me that I haven't gotten shoes yet. Ah, so many things that I still have to do that is never on my mind! I kind of wanted to do colored shoes (in our wedding color, Plum) but my mom is a bit unsure of the idea. Fortunately, my dress doesn't need a lot of alterations, however, will need to to be shortened for length - but need to find my shoes first! 

hkda2003

I found my dress a couple of months ago, and just ordered my veil last weekend. Veils are wayyyy more expensive than they should be!! I'm going to wear blue shoes as my something blue, and apply some lace to them. I already found the perfect blue flats (my dancing shoes) and decorated them, but I'm just looking for the perfect plain blue heels now. 

I'm starting my weight loss journey! I'm planning on loosing about 15-20 pounds and I'm nervous my dress will be so big that the alterations will change the look of the dress. That would make me so sad. They convinced me to order the dress bigger than I am now (of course they always say its easier to take it in than to let it out). But that means its going to be EXTRA big once the weight comes off. 

I also had another wedding nightmare last night!! That's #3... 

weeniedogs

I am planning on starting my weight loss journey, as well! I am also nervous though, since I bought my corsett bra and slip yesterday and they had me get a size larger than normal so it wouldnt be too tight on me. I have such a hard time sticking to a work out routine, though. I'm not much over my normal weight, but I think a lot of brides wish to be smaller for their wedding day. I definitely agree in buying the dress larger though (I bought my dress in 12), because it's muuuch easier bringing a dress in, rather than out! I hope we can motivate each other on staying on track!

Next weekend, Mike and I will be going out and setting up our registries. According to The Knot, its good to get registries done early, so we wanted to get it out of the way. Have any of you ladies completed these yet? We were thinking about doing Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Kohls. I heard Amazon was a big registry hotspot these days, however, I wouldnt want to do Amazon if a lot of my guest aren't computer savvy. Plus, we wanted to choose Nationwide stores, and stores that are typically easy to navigate and get through. 

hkda2003

Yes, That would be great for us to motivate each other! I haven't done anything as far as registry. We have lived together for years so we don't need much of anything, and would rather get cash! I know there is a "proper etiquette" way of going about letting guests know that, but that's a whole different story! I would like a treadmill and an area rug though! Haha. I'm just not sure if it's odd to register for a couple of large gifts!? Any thoughts on that?

weeniedogs

Haha, its funny you say that - when I asked my fiance where he thought would be a good place for us to register at, he said 'Bank of America'. But I know its definitely rude to bring up anything regarding registries, as it isn't required of the guest to get you something as much as it is a gesture. I will just leave it to my mom to subtly spread the word. 

We have been partially living together for two years now (he works 6 days straight at a hospital and has an apartment in Gainesville, and then 8 off, where he comes back home to Jacksonville where lives here with me)  but there are definitely things we both would like to have - new towels, plate set, luggage, etc. I dont think it is a bad idea though to have a couple large gifts if your family guests would like to pitch in together and go splitsies on them!

ChrisandKate3733

October 18 is our date too!  We booked the venue and chose the date two days after getting engaged.  LOL we were not messing around!  It's his cousin's birthday and he ungraciously let us know he wasn't happy about it.. grr.  But there are SO many family members' birthdays in October it was going to be on SOMEONE's bday no matter what!  Plus we fell in love with our venue and October 18 was the ONLY evening slot available for the whole month!  October is our anniversary month so it was important to us. 

weeniedogs

Congratulations, @ChrisandKate3733 ! Its great to have you here sharing the same special day with us! Thats a little silly that your fiance's cousin is upset that you guys are getting married on his birthday... I would take it as an honor! Plus, he will have one kick ass birthday party celebrating it with you guys! Will will you guys be getting married? How long have you been engaged?

kschork87

Thats our date too! We got engaged this past november. I have save the dates done, booked hte venue, booked my photographer, booked our DJ, got a block of hotel rooms, have an appt with the cake baker, have my hair appointment, have an appt with the florist, and am going wedding dress shopping on Monday! I want to get everything done so I can relax a bit this summer.

kschork87

Average save the date send out time is 6-8 months, we're sending them out a little earlier for our out of town guests who may need to fly in.

wromero121

Ha I'm going wedding dress shopping on Monday too @kschork87!!! 

weeniedogs

Sounds like you all are on top of things! Like, I have said, I sent our Save the Dates out at the beginning of the year. I got my wedding dress in November, and got my veil to go along with the dress last week. I have DJ and Photographer booked. We have Cake Tasting, Floral Meeting and Venue Food Tasting all scheduled (and flights booked!) for May, and I have been in touch for who will be doing my hair and make up. I have been slowly collecting little things, such as Guest Book, and things for Thank You cards, etc. Next, I really want to go Invitations done and look at suits for the guys. 

thefairchildwedding

I love that I found this wedding board!  It is so nice to be able to talk to other October 18 ladies!!    We got engaged in late December but we have always loved October and we fell in love with the eighteenth!  It just sounds so perfect!  I'm a little late on the planning but got busy right after we got engaged and so far I have the venue, the photographer, the dress, the baker, the DJ, and the florist!    Getting my engagement pictures done this weekend and hoping to send the save the dates out quickly after!  So excited to hopefully stay in touch with you all so we can help each other out!  Hope everyone is having an amazing time being engaged!!  

Jean0715

We just booked a shuttle bus for our guests to take them to and from the reception place to the hotel. We didn't foresee this in our budget at first but after talking we decided to make it work. Our friends and families are big drinkers and I want everyone to enjoy themselves and not worry about driving. Only issue is, is that local friends and family are staying in the hotel. I don't know if ill be able to afford welcome bags for EVERYONE. 

weeniedogs

Maybe just keep the welcome bags strictly for true out-of-town guests. The hotel will tell you who is staying where, and just plan accordingly. 

We were also thinking about maybe getting a shuttlebus. The reception from the hotels are fairly close (within 10 minutes), however, depending on which way guests go to and from the venue, there are a lot of curvy roads. Our reception doesnt end until 11:30, so there is an amount of worry of guests getting home safely. We are still working on those kinks though. 

Congrats on your engagement, @thefairchildwedding! We have been bouncing ideas of of each other here since Pg 1 so never hesitate to ask for advice or questions!

PS - I put together our wedding website! I previously made one with The Knot's, but found that I liked Wedding Wire's website options a lot more. Its a working progress! 

weeniedogs

Hey all! No one has really posted in a while, so I wanted to give this thread a bump and see how people are coming along in the planning. Only 230 more days! 

Though we acted a bit early on this, we purchased our invitations a couple weeks ago and received them last week. They are BEAUTIFUL! I couldnt be more happy with them. I purchased them through David's Bridal. I know some are hesitant because of the prices, but honestly, the way they came out, it was definitely worth every penny. We are also working on our favors, and pre-labeling/bow tying everything until we get the fillers (candies) for them. We also purchased our wedding bands the other week, which we werent expecting to be purchasing so soon but we couldnt pass them up when we found the perfect ones. 

Anyone got any new checks on their checklists? 

SehlinBride

marymargaretxo said:

One day before you, October 17th! Congratulations!! 

This is our wedding date too!

sarawifenow

That's our day, too! Yay!