The Wedding Slideshow

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29 Days - Damn, I'm productive!. . . and tired

I am knocking tasks off my wedding to do list like it is going out of style!   

Tonight, we went to dinner at our good friends'--Andrew and Marisa-- house.  They have this little thing that Sam and I dream of called "a yard" that allows you to do crafty things,  like garden or spray paint wedding stuff.  I alternated between discussions of a potential trip to the Bahamas in the Spring (yes, please!), chasing my baby love, Mia, around, and spray painting the cupcake tower and some other wedding decor on their sidewalk.  With exception to Marisa's and my 30+ bug bites, the endeavor was a huge success.  (Mia also got to see four doggies, which sent her into baby heaven.)  

I also crossed programs off my to-do list last night.  I remember when my sister's wedding came around, the programs were kind of a panicked afterthought.  I wanted to avoid calling my eight months pregnant sister in tears for programs, so I knew I just needed to get them done. Of course I didn't want to pay for them either, so I spent an hour and a half last night searching for a free template for wedding programs.  Boring! This yawnfest plus my 10 hour day at work resulted in me falling asleep sitting up, but I am proud to say that once I woke up, I found a template and typed up the programs!  Once I get paper, we will be golden.

You may be thinking, if Rachel is falling asleep while sitting up, she may need more sleep.  I agree with you and have instituted a new 11 pm bedtime.  Of course, its 11:26 pm right now, so that shows you how well I do with bedtime schedules. . .

41 Days - Sam - "That's practically a month."

Not quite, Sam, but close. :-)

We're zeroing on W-Day and I thought I would share some tidbits with you as the countdown continues.

• The room rate at the Hotel Lombardy has been decreased by $10.  The room rate is only available until August 16th, so book soon!  For guests that have all ready booked at the Hotel Lombardy, the hotel has ensured me that guests will be guaranteed the lower rate.  Go Team Munn-Batkins!
• The room rate at One Washington Circle Hotel is no longer available.  
• RSVPs are streaming in!  I was initially very concerned about the number of phone calls I would be making after the August 17th due date to see who would be joining us in September.  I have been pleasantly surprised, so thanks!  If you haven't responded yet,  there is still time; If you have, high-fives for you!
• My bridal shower and the Munn Family Reunion were last weekend, which I can only describe as overwhelmingly wonderful.  I'd like to thank my mama, my Aunt T, and my bridesmaids, Bridget, Michelle, Elise, and Heather for putting together a beautiful shower.  Also, a big thanks to my aunts, cousins, and friends that attended.  I was so happy to see you all and it really made me excited to see you again in September.  After my Bridal Shower, around 90 members of my family (my grandparents, their eleven children and their spouses, my cousins and their spouses, and now their children, too) got together to celebrate the 64 years my Gram and Boppy have been married and the legacy of love they have created with a local band, bouncy house, and beachside bbq.  I've said it before and I will say it again, I feel pretty blessed to have such an awesome family.  I also see where I get my party planning skills because it was a pretty kick-ass party. 
• And now for some final planning details

• Wedding musicians are expensive in this town!  I just got a quote from our church's organist that blew my mind.  First, he told me how much an organist would cost, which I was sort of prepared for.  The mind-blowing part came when he doubled that amount to include a cantor, who would sing only one song!  Imagine me sitting there with my mouth wide open in horror.  (See Right.) Seriously, I was nauseous after that phone call.  When Sam and I discussed the quote, we decided very quickly what was necessary and what wasn't for our day.  Bye-bye cantor.  The Responsorial Psalm will not be sung, but spoken by a loved-one, and most of our guests can get by on doing the Hallelujah without a prompt from an over-priced voice.  Anyhoo, that'll be a fun phone call. . .   
• My dress is no longer 18 inches too long!  The dress fitting process did not come without its own stress, specifically changes to the dress were made that I did not OK, but its over and it fits.   This has been another exercise in letting go of what I cannot control.
• I had my hair consultation a few weeks ago.  My 'do was beautiful. I then went out without an umbrella. . . that was a mistake.
• Sam is in the midst of planning the itinerary of our amended honeymoon - an East Coast brewery tour.  Paris is on hold until next year.  Instead, Sam and I, armed with our GPS, ipods, and rental car, will be making stops along the northeast to sample American and Canadian craft brews and taking in the start of Fall in New England.  Our beer glass cabinet is not going to know what hit it!
• I have a few more crafts up my sleeve, which involve the cupcake display, aisle decor, welcome bags, and some reception decor.  This will take various amounts of spray paint, ink, glue, and an ample dose of patience.  Wish me luck!

66 Days - rolling with the punches

The past few days have been an exercise in acceptance and moving forward.  Dwelling doesn't help anyone, least of all yourself.

Examples:

• The Bachelorette Party was a great time with some wonderful ladies.  Unfortunately, it didn't start off on the right foot.
• One of my bestests had heat exhaustion and at the last minute couldn't make it to the party.  I was really sad to not see her, but it wasn't her fault that my bachelorette party followed a week of 100 degree weather causing her to spend the weekend sick in bed.  
• We missed the bus to NYC for my bachelorette party by five minutes.  Correction, they gave away our seats to standby passengers because the train to the bus stop was cancelled and made us late.  The next bus was booked, so Bridg booked us tickets on the next train, which was a lot more expensive but it was a solution that got us in town on time. 
• We got to NYC where my friends were waiting for us and I had a great time.  I couldn't let the negativity surrounding the start of the day affect me because my girls came a long way to see me and the last thing a bachelorette party needs is a pouty bride.
• My printer has become haunted by the spirit of Martha Stewart and the Etiquette Gods.  When trying to print the invitation envelopes with a pretty font, Martha et al. made my printer eat five envelopes, which couldn't be wasted.  I could have panicked, (seriously, I thought about it), but frankly, I don't have the time.  The invitations need to go out this week, which means Martha gets her way and I am handwriting the invitation addresses.  No picture perfect envelopes for this couple.  The wedding industry complex is probably gasping in horror.  Oh well.  I read a lot of blogs with picture perfect stationary and my first instinct was to worry that my handwriting wasn't good enough.  I didn't want people to judge our wedding because the envelopes aren't perfect.  Then I realized the people coming to our wedding love us and they don't care about picture perfect envelopes, so I shouldn't worry about them either.

There are 66 days left until W Day and I would be fooling myself if I thought everything would be perfect and obstacle-free.  Nothing is perfect and that's all right.  The best thing I can do is accept the imperfections and move on because at the end of the day, Sam and I will be married and that's all that matters.  (I read this post from A Practical Wedding, one of my favorite wedding blogs, which kind of hit it all home for me.  I was never one that wanted to get married at 20, but this young girl seems to have everything in a proper perspective.  At such a young age, her thoughts on marriage and wedding planning are objective and display a maturity that I didn't have as a sophmore in college.  Check it out if you have a few minutes to spare.)

So, moving forward. . .This will be the last update for a few days.  Wedding planning, and work are about to get nutty.  Thank goodness Sam has been good about making me dinner and keeping me sane.  Here are some things on the wedding radar:

• The invites will be out by the end of this week/beginning of next week. 
• My first dress fitting is this Saturday.
• Our friends Paige and Will are getting married this weekend! :-)
• I must must must send the cake topper to Laufa to paint!
• We need to finalize the ceremony readings and our vows.
• Wedding programs!

Ugh, I'm done thinking about it.  See you next week!

123 Days - Update by Photo

When my mom and Aunt T were in town, some of my girlfriends got together to help me with a DIY project for my centerpieces - gold-leafing bud vases.  I read about the project in a December issue of Real Simple.  Let me be straight with you; there was nothing simple about this project.  We got half of the bud vases accented with gold leaf before I decided that it would be nice and add dimension to the reception if only some of the bud vases were accented with gold. . . A very big thank you to my mom, Aunt T, Marisa, Beth, and Adrienne for helping me.  The vases look beautiful!  Thank you for humoring me.  (Also, a big message of love to Adrienne, who brought Georgetown Cupcakes for my Mom and Aunt T to have a tasting!)

Since Sam and I decided to brew beer for our big day, we knew that we couldn't have normal champagne flutes for toasting our marriage and so began the Epic Beer Glass Search of 2010.  I looked EVERYWHERE for beer goblets and chalices to personalize.  In a day of frustration, my bridesmaid and college roommate, KB, graciously offered to help me with my search.  Ask and you shall receive, friends!  She is a GENIUS and officially the Queen of Google.  Within a matter of hours, KB produced the perfect personalized chalices.  The Rachel and Sam chalices arrived a few weeks later as early wedding presents from KB.  I am blessed to have such a wonderful friend!

We are very proud to announce that our littlest friend, baby love, and flower girl, Mia (She is all of that and more!) is officially walking!  Woot, Meemers!!  Now, here's hoping she is ready and willing to show her moves down the aisle in September.  No pressure.  

Four months to go!!

Let's review. . .

I wanted to give you a few wedding day details that Sam and I have settled on since we got engaged at the end of April.

1.  September 2010 - We had a few reasons for selecting September. First, to give ourselves time to save to pay for a wedding.  Second, to give my parents time to relax after my sister's October 2009 nuptuals.  And last, it won't be too hot.  (See reason #2)

2.  A DC Wedding! 

-  Sam and I decided our wedding would be in DC because this is our home and this is where we fell in love.  It would certainly be less expensive if we plan our wedding in the North Country, but there are only so many venues and vendors in the North Country and I didn't want to be a copycat to my sister's wedding.  Plus, there is so much to see and do in DC!  Since moving here in 2005, I have found it to be completely surreal to live in a place steeped in culture and history.  There are monuments, museums, historical homes, the National Zoo (One of our personal favorites!), and fabulous restaurants.  The best part - a lot of these places are free!  I love vacations where I don't have to pay to see the sites! :-)

3.  Friday night - We decided to have our ceremony and reception on a Friday night because it is less expensive and with our financial goals of home-buying and paying off our student loans, we need to be able to cut excess costs.  Rule # 1 of keeping your wedding costs low - Booking a reception site on a Friday night instead of the more expensive and more sought after Saturday night.  We  understand that this may make it difficult for some of our guests to attend, but we are hoping that the wedding and the charm of DC will encourage our guests to take a long weekend to see the sights and enjoy all that DC has to offer.

That's it for now.  More to come soon!