Got these checked off my list...maybe a little ahead of myself, but... :-)
I actually got WAY ahead of myself and booked my bridal pictures back in January. Almost from the outset, I knew that I wanted to do them on the beach in Pensacola where my parents live, as part of the compromise since fiance didn't want to get married on a beach. I thought it would help show the beachy/tropical/Hawaiian theme at the wedding to have a picture of the bride on a beach, set out on the gift table. I Googled wedding photographers in Pensacola and found one who had a bridal session in his portfolio that was just what I wanted, including a few pictures of the bride silhouetted on the beach while the sun set over the water behind her. It turned out that his charge for a bridal shoot was right at the limit of what I was willing to pay. He said that the sun would set over the water in the winter and we booked the session for November. Back in January it seemed a long time away but now it has come and gone! I think he did a fabulous job getting pictures from a variety of angles having me do all different kinds of things. It was fun. I even got my dress wet and had to get it cleaned AGAIN (already had to take it in once after purchase since I bought it off the rack). My friend who passed away in February must have interceded for me with the weather because it was 72 degrees with just a few clouds and not humid. Then, just as we were about to wrap up, the Blue Angels flew overhead! So the photographer had to whip out his camera and get more pictures with the planes. Even in Pensacola it's rare that you see them, so I think it was a little sign from my grandpa who passed away when I was seven, who once served as a Navy pilot. Now I am very antsy and have been checking my e-mail all week every 20-30 minutes and even if I get up in the middle of the night, waiting for the photographer to send me the link to view the pictures after he has uploaded them.
I also wanted to register before the holidays since my boss asked about it so she would know what to get me for Christmas. I convinced fiance that the longer we waited, it would be closer to the holidays and the store would be busy, so we ought to go ahead and take care of it, and maybe it would be a fun thing to do on a Friday. So we went to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday and gave them our information and ran around the store with the scanner. I already knew what china pattern I wanted, I've been stalking it since shortly after the engagement, teehee. But we picked out some other things too so people would have different ideas depending on what they wanted to give us. We actually didn't like the wine glasses that matched the china and picked other ones. And we picked some flatware that actually goes with another china pattern but looks like it should go with ours. This was fun too, perhaps the most fun were the wine glasses ("Oohh these are pretty... What? No way am I registering for $60 wine glasses, I would feel too bad if I broke one!") and the sheets ("Oohh these feel nice...and it's our color... What? $160 for the queen set?!") I'm looking forward to seeing which items we receive.
Cheers to two more checks off my list!
Whoever said it was supposed to be happily ever after is a big fat liar.