Online RSVP is a Godsend

I know that people have varied opinions on having guests RSVP on the internet vs. through the mail, but let me just say that the time-saving tool that is the online RSVP has been amazingly awesome. When guests respond, I get an email sent to me and it keeps me constantly updated on the head count for our caterer. Guests also enter their email addresses so if FI and I have any questions (or need to tell them that extra "and guest" they added is NOT coming to our wedding) we can correspond easily. People really have no excuse not to RSVP now since most of them use the internet daily anyway, and the best news is no worrying about response cards getting lost in the mail! Hooray for technology!

My favorite part

I must say my favorite part of this whole planning process thus far has been writing our own ceremony. FI and I got the green light from our minister to customize the ceremony to our liking, so we just ran with it. Every aspect is just so "us." We already knew we were writing our own vows, but being able to have free reign to personalize all the rest of it is just great! We are so glad our officiant is so flexible :) Here's our ceremony as it will be taking place on the big day...

Our Wedding Ceremony

*Grandmothers, mothers, and bridal party enter to “Heavenly Day”

*Bride enters to “Hear You Me” (Mothers will light taper unity candles before bride processional)

Minister: It is with great pleasure that we gather today to witness the joining of two hands and two hearts in holy matrimony. These two people, Cortneyloo and R, have fallen in love so deeply, so completely, that today, they make a bond, a sacred covenant before God, whereby their hearts, their bodies, and their souls shall be united as one in marriage for the rest of their days.

Who blesses the marriage of this woman to this man?

Bride’s parents: We do.

Minister: And who blesses the marriage of this man to this woman?

Groom’s parents: We do.

(Bride will present her mother with rose at this time and parents will take their seats)

Minister: Cortneyloo and R, look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to each other – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same. For after today you shall say to the world –This is my husband. This is my wife.

The bible teaches us that love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud, it is not rude. It is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.

Please take each other’s hands, so that you may see the gift they are to you.

(Pause for bride to hand bouquet to Maid of Honor and take Groom’s hands)

These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever.

These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future.

These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other.

These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind.

These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and as in today, tears of joy.

These are the hands that will give you strength and support when you need it.

And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.

At this time, the couple has chosen to recite their own vows.

R: Cortney, you are my best friend, my soul mate; the one I am meant to be with for the rest of my life. I have practically grown up with you, and now I want nothing more than to grow old with you. I feel so blessed that God has put you in my life, and standing up here with you today I feel an overwhelming sense of joy. I love everything about you, like the way you laugh so hard at things that you make no sound or how you beg me to bring home every stray animal you come across because you have such a big heart. I love you not only for the person you are, but for the person I am because of you. I promise here and now in the presence of God and the people we love to always be faithful to you, to be patient with you-even when you make me stay up until one in the morning to get the Christmas tree decorated “just right”, to be honest with you, and most of all I promise to always love you the only way that I know how; completely, sincerely, and more each day than the last.

Cortney: R, you are my best friend, my soul mate; the one I am meant to be with for the rest of my life. I have practically grown up with you, and now I want nothing more than to grow old with you. I feel so blessed that God has put you in my life, and standing up here with you today I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I love everything about you, especially how you have a special structured way of tucking me in at night or how you find crazy ways to show your love for me like singing “happy birthday” to me in a crowded grocery store over the loudspeaker. I love you not only for the person you are, but for the person I am because of you. I promise here and now in the presence of God and the people we love to always be faithful to you, to be honest with you-even if that means telling you how much I spent on getting ready today, to be patient with you, and most of all I promise to always love you the only way that I know how; completely, sincerely, and more each day than the last.

Minister: Cortneyloo, having heard these words of devotion that R has spoken to you, do you take him to be your husband, to live together in the covenant of marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and cherish him, for better or for worse as long as you both shall live?

Cortney: I do.

Minister: R, having heard these words of devotion that Cortneyloo has spoken to you, do you take her to be your wife, to live together in the covenant of marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and cherish her, for better or for worse as long as you both shall live?

R: I do.

Minister: May we have the rings?

(Maid of honor and best man will hand over rings)

Cortney will you place the ring on R’s finger and repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed. And with all that I am and all that I have, I pledge my love to you now and forever.

R will you place the ring on Cortney’s finger and repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed. And with all that I am and all that I have, I pledge my love to you now and forever.

(Minister will hold up engagement ring before reading next part and then hand it to groom.)

The engagement ring is a symbol of promise and intention. Now the intention is realized and the promise fulfilled. Please place the engagement ring on Cortney’s finger over the wedding band to symbolize that the love that brought you together will always protect and sustain your marriage.

Now the couple will commemorate their marriage by lighting a Unity Candle.

(Bride and groom will walk over to the candles)

Cortneyloo and R, the two distinct candle flames represent your lives before this day, individual, unique and special. Please take the candle symbolizing your life before today, and together light the center candle to symbolize the union of your individual lives. As this new flame burns undivided, so shall your lives now be one. From now on your thoughts will always be for each other rather than just your individual selves. Your plans and goals will be mutual, your joys and sorrows both will be shared alike.

Although you are now entering into marriage, that does not mean you lose your personal identity. Rather, you will both use your individuality to create and strengthen the relationship of marriage. Therefore all three candles remain glowing. The individual candles represent all that makes each of you the wonderful and unique person the other admires and respects. The Unity candle in the center symbolizes the union of your lives and your families as well as your shining commitment to each other, and to a lasting and loving marriage.

(Bride and groom will at this time walk back to minister)

Cortneyloo and R, you have affirmed your love and loyalty to each other through your vows and the giving and receiving of rings in front of your family, friends, and God himself. Because you have shown your willingness to share life together, it is my privilege to pronounce you man and wife. R, you may now kiss your bride.

*”Warning Sign” will begin playing

Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great joy and pleasure to present to you for the very first time, Mr. and Mrs. E!

(Bride will present groom’s mother with rose before walking back up the aisle)

Something special

You know how you have the whole "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" that you have to incorporate into your attire on the wedding day? Well the picture above is technically my "borrowed" items even though I'm not wearing them like the usual tradition requires. Really I would just classify them as "something special." Our wedding has plenty of non-traditional components, but I'm glad to be able to keep with family tradition and use the cake serving set my grandma has kept all through the years as well as the toasting glasses my parents and all of my aunts and uncles on my mom's side have used in their weddings. Don't you love how they are set up all runway style in front of the pink background? haha Hopefully one day FI and I will have a child of our own that can use these heirlooms in their wedding too. Now that would be really special.

Please feed the vendors

In talking with our photographer the other day I learned that oftentimes when she is working weddings she goes hours without food. Why is this? Because in their blissful planning, the bride and groom usually forget to have a meal prepared for her. Now this is a person who is arriving to meet with us at 1:00 and will be at our wedding until we leave around 8:30 or 9:00. That is a long time to be going without a meal. She said she once even had to take a short break from photographing a reception and get some juice because her blood sugar was getting so low that she was dizzy. I think there is a lesson to be learned here, ladies. FEED YOUR VENDORS. They are going to be spending so much time making your day all that you dreamed of so the least you can do is give them some grub. You don't even necessarily have to provide the same meal your guests are eating if expense is an issue, so long as they have something to munch on during the day. I found out many caterers have separate sandwich dishes they will prepare especially for this purpose. We will be feeding our photographer along with our DJ since they are going to be spending most of their day with us. It's not only a nice gesture, but a guarantee of good work. Because really who performs well on an empty stomach?

Thanks sis!

I'd been needing to find an appropriate dress for the formal dinner on me and FI's honeymoon cruise, but I kept putting it off because money has been tight here lately and all the dresses I really liked were upwards of $100. My sister recently went to prom, however, and wore a little black number that's actually a David's Bridal BM dress that I thought would work perfectly. Only problem (or so I thought) is that she is a size 4 and I'm a size 6. It doesn't seem like a big difference but I'm wider in the hips and have a little more on top so I didn't place my bets on being able to borrow her dress. Well let me just tell you all that I fit into that sucker. It's a little snug, but breathing is overrated anyway. I'm going to rock it with some silver heels and it didn't cost me a dime. I love having one less thing to buy! So thank you, sister/MOH of mine. It's nice to be able to borrow from your closet in true sibling fashion just like old times :)

It's feeling official

FI and I took a trip on down to the Register of Deeds and got our marriage license yesterday! I don't know why but just having that simple piece of paper makes it feel so much more official. Not that that's a bad thing...I'm psyched! And the wedding is getting super close. Some days I'm so anxious and stressed over getting all the details just right that I can't stand it, and other days I have the chance to really stop and remember why I'm so truly happy for August 2nd to come around in the first place. Today is one of those days where I had a spare moment to myself and realized how truly blessed I am to have this amazing guy in my life and in a little over a month and a half we are going to be man and wife. It's just such an awesomely overwhelming feeling. After knowing each other for 9 years and dating for over 6 1/2 of those, I'm ready to make it official already and get started on living out the rest of our lives as a true married couple!

A productive weekend

This past weekend my mom and I got a bunch of wedding stuff accomplished as far as DIY projects. I'd really put them off for too long and it feels good to have some finished products to look at! We made the photo boards we'll be displaying our pictures in at the reception, our vases wrapped in vellum for the glowing table centerpieces, got the ribbons tied to the hundred-some-odd bubble tubes we bought, and got the ribbons glued to the vases and votives we'll be using for the remaining centerpieces. Still got quite a bit to do, but we're getting there! Here's some pics of our hard work:

Crate & Barrel is my hero

Long story short...I purchased all my vases for my centerpieces at Michael's some many months ago with the exception of the small 6" vases I needed because they only had two in stock. I went back to the store and checked every week for a new shipment but the shelves remained empty. I thought maybe people were scooping them up faster than they were coming in so I started checking every other day. Still no vases. I asked the salespeople when some more would arrive to which their response was "corporate makes the orders, we just place what we get on the shelves." So I drove a few towns over and checked there. Nothing. I checked in Asheville while I was there for some wedding stuff. Nothing. I even checked THREE stores while I was in Florida on vacation with no success. You wouldn't think 6" vases would be so hard to find but I couldn't find anything similar at other stores either! So after a couple of months of the shelves sitting empty I kind of figured Michael's quit carrying those vases but I was super bummed because I needed them to complement my other two various sized vases for the tables. Then I discover by sheer luck while browsing their site that Crate & Barrel has 6" vases. Score! They totally came to the rescue and saved the day. I'm very excited that my vision will be properly executed now :) Rave over.

No passport required!

I can breathe a huge sigh of relief right now because FI and I just confirmed through our Carnival travel agent that we won't need passports for our honeymoon cruise after all. We booked our trip many months ago before the new travel regulations were in place, and we were afraid we would now have to shell out the dough for passports for both of us as well as additional money to expedite the process now that it's less than 8 weeks away on top of everything else we've got on our plate right now. Turns out even though we will be traveling in international waters, a passport isn't required when the cruise leaves from and returns to the same port. This is such great news! That's $320 we can now use towards paying off the rest of these wedding vendors who are going to be wanting their money soon haha

DIY Invites

Invitations are the one detail of the wedding that I really wasn't very concerned about. I don't get excited about paper products like some other brides do, so I of course jumped on the opportunity to buy blank invitations at Wal-Mart for $12 and print the wording out on a home computer to save some money. I wasn't at all interested in pocketfolds, embossing, or invitations with inserts since all the info that guests need is on our wedding website. All I really wanted was a sheet of cardstock that told people where and when the wedding was. What I got is a pretty sheet of cardstock that tells people where and when the wedding is :) My mom has access to a heavy duty quality printer at work so she kindly offered to print the invitations for me. She's been a huge help throughout this whole process! I purchased the ribbon and little square rhinestones at Michael's to spruce the invites up a bit and I'm very pleased with how they turned out. I'm even more pleased that they were so cheap!

I think we can make room for you Mr. President

I am going to be sending a wedding invitation to the President himself. Actually more than likely it will end up in the hands of some random person at the white house who is in charge of sorting mail, but regardless I will be sending out an invite for Barack and Michelle Obama. Of course I don't expect them to show up on the big day...but I recently learned that if you send out a wedding invitation to the President you get a nice congratulatory letter in response. Thought that would be pretty neat to have as a little keepsake :) Here's the address for the white house along with a few other celebs of sorts that you may want to mail one to:

Mr. President and Mrs. Obama
Greetings Office Rm. 39
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, District of Columbia 20500

Pope Benedict XVI (will send a papal blessing)
Prefettura della Casa Pontifica
00120 Citta del Vaticano, Italia

Mickey & Minnie Mouse (will send a letter of congratulations with signed photo)
The Walt Disney Company
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521