18 Days...

So how many of you are tired of my countdown? Well, it's almost here and I'm still shaking my head wondering where all the time has gone? It's flying by and yet it seems like it's at a standstill. 

Let's see, I am the first to admit I made mistakes in planning and budgeting. Somehow we ended up with 340 people RSVPing. It seems hard to believe that many people want to come. I think it's crazy. I'm sad that many of the people I really want to come to the wedding cannot come, but I understand why many of you cannot come. 

We nearly doubled our guests and went over budget by a number I am horrified to even admit, but it will be ok. My dress is finished and gorgeous. I have a couple of bridesmaids who still need to have their dresses altered. They ordered them from the David's Bridal store here, which closed over the holidays. I am hoping they find someone to get their dresses altered. It has me a bit worried but not to the point that I'm going to stress out about it. It will be what it will be and they'll figure something out. 

I ordered and paid for our cake. Hopefully it will feed enough people. I ordered Bischochitos and Mexican Wedding Cookies from Chocolate Maven to give away as favors. I might order another couple dozen just in case I need a few more, but as of Friday, we'll have a final tally on guests and that's it... no more people can come. I feel like making a ranting post about RSVPs and how upsetting it is when people don't respond, don't even think twice about bringing a handful of guests and I could go on and on but I won't. 

I picked out the music for the ceremony.  I picked out stuff that is accessible and that my priest/pastor would approve of. Everything is in the missal we use at the parish, and I even think he'd be happy that we're picking Ubi Caritas for Communion. Our vocalist can sing it alone. My childhood friend is playing the piano at the wedding and she's bringing a vocalist she works with to sing. Suzette, the vocalist has a beautiful voice. 

I need to get a list to the photographer of shots we want. We have to pay him by this weekend. We have to pay the band soon. The florist is cool and wants his money the day before the wedding. The flowers are going to be beautiful. I think it's expected that the arrangements we use at church stay there-- so, I'm debating whether to get two more arrangements for the gift table and the guestbook table/place card table. What would you do? Would it be tacky to take the arrangements from church and have someone bring them back early the next morning for 7:30 Mass? Would anyone really do that? That is the question.

Saturday, David and I are being treated out to a night on the town. His best man has arranged his dinner and my maid of honor has arranged mine. i hope this heartburn thing clears up by then, because we're going to The Shed, which is really the only place I like to eat New Mexican Food. I'll eat at a few other places, but never red chile. No one makes red chile like my mom/family does other than The Shed. We have a rehearsal dinner the following weekend, even though the rehearsal isn't until the night before the wedding. We'll give our gifts to the bridal party, make toasts and whatever else happens at a dinner like that. It will be small and intimate. It's actually going to be a potluck at the maid of honor's house. It will be better to do it that night than the night before the wedding. I want everyone to rest that night. I'm not even sure how I'm going to do it, but we want to have a mellow night before. 

Two Months Down, Six More to Go

Well, is this thing still working... Today it has been two months since David proposed to me and in six months we will be walking down the aisle. It's really starting to come together. Little by little, there will be a wedding.

This is the dress my flower girl is going to wear, her grandma, my cousin is going to make it. It’s cute without being too grown up and not too little girl. Hers will be in a white with a black bow and sash. She’s a tall girl, so she might be taller than my ringbearer, though they’re roughly the same age.

I'm hoping David's three-year-old niece will be able to walk down the aisle. I've asked the florist to make her a special bouquet.

The colors for the dresses are going to be black, maybe with an white bow, sash or some accent. I like this bridesmaid dress.  I liked it because of the back and it matches the flowergirl  dress.

I think that on top of the black/white theme, I’m going to add a touch of pink, probably a bold, maybe hot pink, to the colors. I am trying to avoid red because this isn’t a Valentine’s themed wedding, despite the date.

Things David and I have done so far:
Of course, booked the hotel and the church is good to go. We booked a photographer. I had no idea that photography was so expensive. After we met with the photographer fort the first time, we were totally surprised that we both wanted to have a video done. The videos that they do at insightfoto are fabulous. We went with them based on a gut instinct, but I liked their journalistic style and the "eye" of the photographer(s). I can't wait. Sometime in Sept. or Oct. we will take engagement pictures.

David and David Sr. are working on music. We thought about a DJ and we got estimates from $200 - $4000 for a DJ. We got a taste of a band, David liked it better than I. I didn't like the energy I was feeling from them and had doubts. Then David got wind of another band and when we heard them it was a no-brainer.  I knew it was a better fit for us. Plus the lead singer is a man and won't upstage the bride. ;) The band is still expensive, but I think it will be nice to have live  music. So Jimmy Stadler is the band.

David's dad is working on finalizing the Mariachis for the night. We're going to have them welcome guests into the reception, do the Wedding March and play through dinner. Then the band will start at 8.

Flowers have also been decided. The first woman I met with flaked out on me. I’m going to have winter white theme bouquet and everyone else will have bold, colorful flowers: roses, orchids, calla lilies etc. I just fell in love with Artichokes and Pomegranates the minute I walked into the shop. I'll have two white flower arrangements for the church, a little bouquet for David's niece, Lauren, and an arrangement for the Blessed Mother to present during Mass. The boutonieres are exquisite and I can't wait to see them. The flowers have got to be my favorite part so far.

We tasted cakes at Chocolate Maven, which were wonderful. I've never had a pastry, cake or dessert from CM that I didn't like. Even the wedding cakes were splendid, albeit a bit too sweet. We went Saturday to meet with Justine from Cuisine from Justine (beyond adobe walls.) After after tasting Justine’s cakes, David and I, were hooked. They’re really delicious-- elegant, rich and tasty without a sugar rush. Cool thing about Justine, she makes a special top to save to eat on our first anniversary. It's packed and ready to freeze so we don't have to use the top from the wedding cake. We will have traditional three or four tiered cake, with white or off-white buttercream icing and a tasty filling. I like # 5 on the cake gallery from Chocolate Maven, but I don't think it's something David really likes. I think the dragonflies freak him about a bit. ;)

I’m planning to order invitations and save the dates and other miscellaneous things this weekend.

Of course, our reception is at La Fonda, in the Lumpkins Ballroom. We aren’t going to fill it, but at least we know if we invited more people we could fit them. We have a food tasting early next month and that will be fun. I'm still not sure if it will be a buffet or a plated dinner.

My dress, which was not what I expected, but the black/white embroidered one would have been way too hard for my mother, so we settled on this. I have a silk Mikado fabric, that’s off-white which I got from www.santafefabrics.com, and I was blown away by the stuff they have in the store. Best thing is that I didn't have to go to Alb. or out of state to buy my fabric.

For favors I was thinking of having biscochitos and Mexican wedding cookies. My cousin said I could enlist all my cousins to start baking.  She is the one who got married in Vegas and has been sending me tons and tons of emails with wedding advice. I'm very blessed to have family and friends.

For the first time in my life I saw Bridezillas. Oh man.. those girls are scary. I vow never to become one. Seriously.

I have a code for hotel rooms at La Fonda and need to get a few other hotels booked for Out of Town guests. I'm going to book rooms at Garrett's Desert Inn, Santa Fe Sage and probably the Inn of the Governor's for hotels close to La Fonda. The rates at La Fonda are $129, while the other hotels range from $55-$79. I'll put up a whole post with that information later.

I haven’t updated the wedding site in a while, but I'm starting to compile a list of things to do, tourist information, Santa Fe and New Mexico history and information, as well as travel and transportation options.  All the info will be there eventually for those of you coming to the wedding or are thinking about it anyway.

How to Get Married in the Catholic Church

There are many, many things a couple must do before the couple's actual wedding day. The first step is to acquire paperwork. If Catholic, the bride and the groom must have updated copies of their baptismal certificates. I made a quick inquiry to the secretary at the Cathedral two days ago asking for mine and David's. I got a call from the deacon who leads the marriage prep there and he was able to find mine easily, but it seems my love was MIA. He was born in Socorro, but he always thought he was baptized at the Cathedral. Turns out, there is a plot twist and he wasn't baptized at the Cathedral after all. In fact, he was baptized here at the San Miguel Church so, now my sweetie's baptismal certificate is on the way and we can meet with the deacon at our parish in August with the proper documents. :)

Step number two to come...