Save The Date

At the beginning of this process I felt completely overwhelmed with all of the big decisions I needed to make. My first moment of pure joy in wedding planning came when I found my dress and my second moment came about a month ago when I saw my Save the Date for the first time. I worked with my talented friend and bridesmaid Kristen to design a Save the Date card for our out of town guests. Kristen did an awesome job bringing th vision to life and I love the finished result!
Please note that I said "out of town" guests. I didn't send Save the Dates to our Arkansas guest since they won't have to make travel plans for June 18. So, please know if you are reading this your invitation is forthcoming!

Decisions Made...Finally!

After much angst and turmoil, I have big news: I've finally chosen wedding colors! On June 18, 2010 I will be surrounded by pale pink and champagne. It's such a relief to finally choose something and go with it! I've taken a random poll of friends, co-workers and even one person I had known for five minutes, and the general consensus is that I'm a "pink" person.

I've also chosen two bridesmaid dress styles from J.Crew that I love! I'm waiting for the "summer pink" color swatch to arrive in my mailbox, hot off the J.Crew press, before I make a final decision. I'm either going to go with champagne dresses and pink flowers or soft pink dresses and white flowers. I think it's really strange that I have literally debated bridesmaid dresses for months and I managed to choose my wedding dress in one day.

Yesterday Kristen (one of my bridesmaids) and I celebrated my birthday with a girly brunch and manicures. After that, we went shopping and I found jewelry and shoes for my wedding dress. I love everything I've chosen so far- I can't wait to see it with the dress! I'm headed home next month for my first dress fitting and I'm also having my first shower. I'm excited- I've become a master at throwing showers over the years but I have no idea what it's like to be on the recieving end!

Miles and I also chose our wedding bands last week on Valentine's Day, so I'm ordering those this week. I'm also working on invitations right now so I can take those with me to Arkansas next month. My mom has forbid me to address ANY wedding invitations. Finally, my horrible handwriting is finally working in my favor! My "Jessica and Miles To-Do Before I Do" list is getting shorter by the day.

From Russia With Love

I know it's been awhile since my last post...I don't know how it's February all of the sudden! I'm comforting myself with my lack of new posts by reminding myself that the term "engaged" implies you are busy. : )

Here's a status update on the wedding plans:

• I think I have finally found a caterer- I'm planning on signing on the dotted line tomorrow! I'm so relieved that I have another big item off of my list.
• We are sending out Save the Dates to any guests that don't live in Arkansas and/or people who have no clue what's going on for June 18! I'm hoping to get those by this weekend so I can start addressing them and getting those out the door.
• My wedding dress will be in on March 12! I can't wait to try it on for the first time when it will actually fit properly. I'm planning on flying to Arkansas the following weekend for my first fitting.
• I still haven't chose "wedding colors" and this has been a source of great anxiety. I've always thought I would have yellow bridesmaid dresses but that idea went out the window when I found the yellow ballroom we will be having our reception in, so it's back to the drawing board. I like far too many colors- it's a problem. I've had a few nightmares where the whole wedding ends up looking like a giant Easter egg...not exactly what I'm going for here.
• Tiffany (one of my NY bridesmaids) and I went to check out some bridesmaid dresses on Sunday. The shop was super cute with a lot of options, as you can see here:

I loved a lot of the dresses, but the customer service was so horrible I couldn't bring myself to actually give them my business. It was very "Pretty Woman," bridal style. The lone attendant literally ignored Tiffany and I for a full hour after my appointment in favor of the one other prospective bride that was also browsing, so we ended up leaving. I was tempted to toss out a "I have money to spend here!" Julia Roberts-style, but I figured that wasn't the classiest response so I restrained myself.

I'm a member of the New York Junior League, and our Winter Ball pre-party was on Friday night. Miles, Christie and I went and it was so much fun! The theme was "From Russia with Love" so there was a lot of vodka and fur stoles floating around the house that night.

Miles and I

With Sabrina and Christie

Our voluntary "shift" at the check-in table

On Sunday, I met up with my fabulous friend Jenn at Tea & Sympathy in the West Village. The place was adorable and Jenn and I had fun despite the frigid January temperatures. Look at how cute our teapots were:

Better Late Than Never

I haven't posted since before Christmas, but it's with good reason- the last few weeks have been such a whirlwind! The holidays are always a super busy time, but when you throw a ring in the mix it seems like things get even more hectic. Miles and I had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend time with both his family in Texas and my family in Arkansas. We even managed to make the five hour drive from Arkansas to Oklahoma to see one of my best friends, who is the proud owner of a new adorable puppy that I just had to go see! We had a wonderful time and I wanted to show you what my favorite gift was:

Miles gave me these cute cosmetic bags with my new monogram- I love them! Interestingly enough, my initals will go from spelling "JEW" to "JEM." Upon learning this fact, I've had people inquire if I am jewish for my entire life. I think I will welcome the switch from that question to "where are the Holograms" or something of that ilk.

We've also set a date for the wedding- mark your calendars for June 18, 2010. We've knocked out a lot of items on my "To-Do before I Do" list:

• Our reception will take place in the ballroom at the Woman's City Club in Little Rock, Arkansas (http://www.jllr.org/?nd=jllr_headquarters). I'm so excited- I literally couldn't imagine getting married anywhere else but Little Rock!
• We booked an amazing violinist to play for guests before and during the ceremony. This was one of the most fun parts of planning so far. During the time Miles and I were home for Christmas, we actually had an impromptu "audition" at my grandparents house. I'd like to think the mid-afternoon concert helped spice up their afternoon as well!
• We also booked a DJ, but being the control freak that I am I couldn't sign the contract until I emailed ALL of his references and was fully assured that I could hand-pick all of the music for the reception.
• I booked an AMAZING photographer- http://lancejohnston.com/. This was high on my wedding priority list and I'm so excited we got Lance on relatively short notice!
• We also did some scouting for potential rehearsal dinner sites and have narrowed it down to several good options.

We also started a registery, which I thought would be great fun but that scanning gun actually stressed me out. It just all felt so final....Miles ended up taking control of the gun and that helped move the process along! All in all, I'm feeling good about the progress we've made so far. I've done research into a lot of the other "big" items we need to get booked (florist, caterer, etc.) so I think those things will come together fairly quickly. Stay tuned!