T Minus 10 Days.

With only 10 days left until the wedding I am feeling more distracted than ever. I have 2 more days of work and I don't know how I'm going to focus at all! My manager actually assigned me to work a project all week that doesn't exactly require a lot of brainpower speficially because she knew I would have the dreaded Wedding Brain. On top of that, the office I work in is currently in the middle of a big move - the last day in this office is actually Friday and on Monday everyone will be in the new building. I, however, will not be in the building until 2 weeks now when I return from my vacation! Hopefully by then I will be refreshed and ready for what I'm hoping to treat as a new start.

AND OH YEAH BY THE WAY I'LL BE MARRIED. Aaaah! This year marks our 7 year anniversary and I can't believe that we are FINALLY getting married. If only my 17-year-old self could see us now. I'd tell her not to worry, that it would all work out. She would get the guy. And I mean really, REALLY get the guy. Lucky her. <3

I feel pretty lucky to have had a fiance who was so involved through this whole process. I was never the girl who planned her wedding as a kid and then just fit the groom somewhere into it - our wedding is very reflective of us as a couple - he's been involved in practically every decision, excluding my attire. While it has been annoying at times to have ideas shot down, I truly feel that is better than just planning the whole thing myself and having the groom just show up, and I also feel like it is pretty indicative of our relationship in general, which has truly been a partnership through and through. I know that I will never be alone in anything as long as he is with me, and that makes the world a lot easier to face on bad days, which we are all bound to have. It's just reassuring to know that I have an unwavering companion, and I'm exceedingly greatful that the way in which we went about the planning of our wedding reflects that solid foundation.

Tonight we have one last meeting with the venue - they hold an Open House on Wednesday nights and tonight set it up to reflect the layout for our event and just go over a few last minute details. Everything is so close now and you would think that meant that we could just relax, but there's so much more to do than I could have ever imagined in the week prior to the wedding. I'm not complaining, but I am a little bit tired! It's alright though, I'll at least be able to sleep in next week, which I need to take advantage of because I probably won't sleep a wink the night before!

Apart from the wedding, I'm also very excited to see friends and family from out of state (and country, even!). I'm hoping that I have enough time to meet up with everyone in the week prior but there's only one of me, so I can't make any promises, unfortunately. I'm just very antsy and giddy - I'm a big ball of excitement and nerves right now, I hope my friends and coworkers don't find me unbearable! This is exactly why I started a blog, so I could get it all out somewhere!

Speaking things nobody else finds as interesting as I do, I finished up 1/2 of our favors last night (and I have the resulting backache to prove it!), so here are some photos of the process!

I didn't take a picture of the package, but these came flat and I folded them all.

Popcorn that matches our color scheme - how could I resist?!

Don't worry, we've included popping instructions. :)

Ready to be ribbon-ed!

Sooo many ribbon curls. I think my scissors need to be sharpened.

The Mostly-Final product!

There's another little piece that's not included in these pictures because it doesn't get attached to the box - it's basically just popping instructions and a little note from Clinton and I, but it's on a really cute (theme-related) background, so that instantly makes it adorable... yes, adorable. Don't argue with me, I'm the bride. =P

Countdowns.

Everything is a countdown right now.

2 days until my bachelorette party.

8 days until a 2 week vacation from work.

9 days until his bachelor party.

1 day until final suit measurements must be submitted.

12 days until my mom, step-dad, and brother arrive from Nevada.

16 days until the wedding.

16 days until the wedding.

Six. Teen. Days. Until. The. Wedding.

Of course I know that it's important to keep sight of what's really important. So many brides seem to focus so much on The Wedding that they forget about The Marriage. I haven't forgotten that in 17 days, I'll be Clinton's wife, and we will start a whole new adventure together. While I'm excited and ready for this, I do have to admit that at this stage in the game, I can see how people make the mistake of not thinking that far ahead. Wedding planning: I'm in the thick of it. There's at least one vendor meeting per week, there's last-minute DIY projects, there's parties and new beauty routines and a whole lot of checks being written (oof!). I am so glad that I took the week before the wedding off. I still have one more week left of work and I just don't know how I'm going to do it. I can't concentrate on anything right now. I have a constant to-do list running through my head. It's like I'm watching TV in my head - what's happening in my regular life is the main show, but the bottom of the screen is scrolling a ticker with a whole bunch of wedding info on it 24 hours a day, and halfway through the show I realize I have no idea what's going on because I've been reading the ticker for the last 15 minutes. It's a little bit overwhelming, but I'm a Type A Personality if there ever was one, so I've at least been keeping things organized pretty well.

Right now I'm just trying to make sure that I have as much information as needed readily available and organized for anyone who asks so there's no confusion. I've spent the past few days re-organizing all my vendor info, writing up several different itineraries, and creating charts to help make decor easier. They might make people think I'm crazy when I hand them out but hey, this day is important to me and I would like for things to go relatively smoothly.

What, doesn't everybody do this? They should.



Guest Table layout.

Something really cool that we are doing that I don't think I have mentioned here is a very unique favor/activity for guests. It's become quite popular to have photobooths at weddings - what we're doing is in the same vein, but about 589546875 times more awesome. Last year while attending a bridal show we found a company called Fun In A Flash. They do the standard photobooth, but they also offer a second, very unique option called a Flipbook Studio. Basically you go and stand in front of a greenscreen for 7 seconds and do whatever you want while a camera takes continuous photos. Once that's done, everything prints and is stapled into a small, business card sized flipbook and BAM - you've got your own tiny 6-second movie in your hand. They print unlimited books for as many guests that want them, and at the end of the night they put all of the "mini movies" onto a DVD for the bride and groom to keep.

I am so excited about this because not only is it super fun and silly, it is also a totally awesome little way to tie into our film theme. Earlier this week we had our last meeting with the owner and tossed around a few design ideas for the cover of our flipbook. Below is a photo of the 1st draft (with some info blurred out so it doesn't show up in a Google search).

I mean come on, is that not awesome?! It is, it's awesome. Inside, the picture that will show up from the green screen is basically just a curtain like in an old-fashioned movie theatre. I'm so excited to see how this turns out - I really hope it is received well by our guests, and I think that it will be.

Also worthy of update this week is a couple more DIY's. Both are really simple but things I'm happy with. In our Engagement Shoot/Save the Dates we used chalkboards. Now before you ask - yes, that is a crab on the chalkboard and no, it doesn't have anything to do with our theme, but trust me when I say that cute little bitty crabs are a totally adorable inside joke kind of thing in our relationship, so they had to be integrated somehow. In the E-pic session, the chalkboard was just plain wood. To spruce it up a little and make them fancy-wedding friendly I just slapped a few coats of gold glitter on the frames. These will be set out with props for the Flipbook studio so that our guests can write on them for their photos if they want to.

Photo courtesy of Erica Shurter

Write on me, please! I peench!

And DIY #2, also extremely easy, is a Movie Night Basket for our Anniversary Dance. Basically the DJ calls all of the married couples out to dance and the last one standing gives us a little advice on a happy union and wins this little prize pack we put together - it's got 3 date night movies in it (Crazy Stupid Love, The Princess Bride, and No Reservations), movie theater candy (Whoppers, Junior Mints, Raisinets, Milk Duds), popcorn, little popcorn containers, some butter flavoring, cheese powder, and 2 tickets to Harkins.

Despite the stress of the last minute, everything seems to be coming together nicely and I'm not anticipating anything going terribly wrong! Now all I have to do is clean out my spare room so my family has somewhere to sleep. I don't know how I'm going to do that, exactly, since my spare room currently looks like this:

Please don't judge me! It's all wedding stuff, I swear!

But, um, I'll figure it out. We just won't have a living room for a few days. =P

Now if you'll please excuse me, I have to go count the days on my calender again.

A Post in Two Parts

This will be a two-part post, simply because I am posting about two things that have nothing to do with one another.

Part One:
Here's something extremely unexciting, but I love it anyway. After hours of scouring the internet, I found several pictures with film strips incorporated and then used some random program to put the words on. I don't know, I'd like to think that most people are smart enough to figure stuff out without needing signs, but it's a great way to add little touches of the theme. This won't be explanation-heavy, the pictures are pretty straightforward.

Very exciting, I know. You've never seen such exciting table signs. Please, please, try to keep yourselves under control!

Part Two:
Bridal Shower Weekend! This Saturday I had a bridal shower hosted by my awesome bridesmaids, Tori and Krystal. There were silly games, slightly embarrassing presents, delicious food, and tons of flowers. It was lovely!

Some photos of the decor:

Favors.

Flower arrangements.

 
Some guests:

With my sisters, niece, aunt, and step-mom.

Playing a game where they had to draw a dress with their eyes closed.

With my bridesmaids!

Future mother-in-law.

 And of course there was present-opening!

New bikini for the honeymoon!

Opening presents!

Here's something funny. We played one game where I had to answer a whole bunch of questions about Clinton - if I got one wrong, I had to put a piece of Bubblicious bubble gum in my mouth. I got 3 wrong - but one of them was a trick question haha! Anyway, Tori was taking pictures and captured THE BEST picture of the day. It is a terribly unattractive shot of me, but it cracks me up because it is so indicative of how I was feeling.

"Please, no more gum!"

After the shower was over, I gave my bridesmaids some hostess gifts I had put together - sort of a "do something for yourself" kit, since they've done so much for me. It included a personalized robe, chocolate bar, candle, and thank-you card.

 After that, Tori and Krystal took me out for dinner at BJ's and then we spent the night at a resort relaxing, drinking champagne, swimming, and doing something ridiculously girly - mud masks! There was also fondue and plenty of gossip. It was an amazing way to wind down after the long day and all of the work they put into it.

View from our balcony.

Sunset on the way to dinner.

Balsamic glazed chicken? I'm all in.

Champagne and fondue!

Before....

And after!

Breakfast - leftover fruit from the fondue and watermelon, prickly pear and mint juice!

Haha! Don't be jealous of how beautiful my clay-covered face is - I know it's pretty intense. =P It was a really great time!

I also had took this Monday off, so today I did something else exciting - went to my first dress fitting! My dress fit me perfectly so it didn't have to be altered at all, really (didn't even need a hem, awesome! I couldn't bear the thought of my beautiful dress getting cut up!) - just needed a bustle put in and to be steamed! I felt like I was in a movie standing up on that pedestal with the woman pinning up my dress for the bustle. I just kept looking at myself thinking how pretty my dress was and wishing I could wear it all the time! I told my step-mom that someday Clint is going to come home to find me vacuuming wearing my gown lol. Such a shame that I only get to wear it for one day! Anyway, after that was done I decided to take a day for myself to do a little retail therapy - I got a ton of gift cards at my shower, so I went and bought a bunch of stuff from Victoria's Secret and Target! New dresses for my honeymoon and of course some slinky stuff. It was really nice actually - I enjoyed the alone time and I haven't been able to buy myself anything in forever because of the wedding budget, so that was pretty sweet! Unfortunately I have to go back to work tomorrow, BUT I only have 13.5 working days left until my 2 weeks off for the wedding! WHOO!

Bits and Pieces.

With all of the big DIY projects now done, everything else is too small to deserve it's own blog post, so occasionally I'll be posting a conglomeration post. Welcome to Mix N Match Post #1.

First up, film reels! I knew from the start that I wanted film reels in our decor. People hear Italian Film Festival Theme and automatically think Movie Theme - I've even had people ask if they should come in costume. (Sidenote: Nobody better DARE come to my wedding in a damn costume. This ain't no Halloween party.) I've seen a lot of movie-themed weddings, but this isn't really one of them. We're not shoving the theme down people's throats - we won't have a popcorn machine or concession candy or a red carpet or clapboards for centerpieces. The theme will be understated and hopefully come off elegant. Since I've never been to a wedding exactly like mine, I won't know until I see it just how how it will turn out, but I'm hoping that my vision comes to life the way that it is in our plans.

When I first started researching (*ahem*, Google searching) for inspiration, I came across a whole lot of "movie" or "Hollywood" related merchandise, but it all seemed too cheesy and in-your-face for my taste. Finally, I stumbled across a website for a store called Hollywood Megastore where I found 10" gold film reels. I ordered one to see if I liked it before ordering a whole bunch of them, and of course I loved it. Unfortunately, when I went to order them they were SOLD OUT. Damn it. I waited and waited and they never came back in stock, so eventually I gave in and ordered the black ones, figuring I could paint them.

They arrived, with enough packaging to recycle into at least 1 tree.

Original product.

Primer, gold paint, clear coat - hould have also bought a mask for my dog because I'm pretty sure she snuck outside at some point and got high. She ran around for an hour like a maniac and then ate all her food.

Sorry for the crappy picture, it was dark and the only source of light was my phone's flash. Gold and champagne film reels, all nestled away and ready to go to the venue.

I'm still working on a bunch of small projects, but none of them are done so I don't have pictures for them today, but I will soon. I'm currently finishing up little pieces of decor, mostly for our sweetheart table, and after that I'll be printing up/putting together programs.

This is my inspiration photo.

 In other news, last week I received something very exciting in the mail! I can't say what it is in case my husband-to-be happens to see this, but trust me when I say that it is the most romantic gift of all time. I totally know that there is no reason to post something like this, but I'm just so excited about it!

See, doesn't that box just LOOK romantic? =P

Next Saturday is my Bridal Shower, and I am really looking forward to it. My best friend (and MOH) is planning it, and it's going to be very "me" based on what she's told me about it. It will be nice to get together with girlfriends and have yummy food and an excuse to wear something cute! It took me awhile to figure out what to wear. I originally wanted to wear some kind of printed floral dress with a white base, but all of the ones that I liked were pink, and the color scheme for the shower is white, black, and a sort of teal/robin's egg blue and I didn't want to wear something clashed, so I'm going with a white sundress and grey accessories.

Sorry this post was so disjointed - I blame Wedding Brain. I'm in a bit of a fog lately and can't concentrate on much. That might also be because I am on a juice fast though - I don't know, too much stuff going on! 5 weeks left! Oh yeah that reminds me, with the days off that I have between now and my 2 weeks off for the wedding, I counted yesterday and I only have 17 working days left! Um, hell yeah. Hell. Yeah.

And to wrap things up, I'll leave you with this hideous dress I saw that looks like an alien's vajayjay. Don't ask me why, I have no more words.

I just... what?