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!

Otherwise Engaged

If you are reading this, you most likely know my big news- I'm engaged! My day started on Saturday with Miles picking me up at my apartment to take me ice skating at Woolman Rink in Central Park. I was looking forward to this all week because it was on my "Things I Must Do While Living in New York" list. The day didn't disappoint- we had a blast skating and enjoying all the scenery. After we finished skating, we headed over to Rockefellar Center to see the tree before heading back to my apartment so I could change before dinner. It didn't take me long to get ready, but Miles kept checking on me to see when I was ready. I walked into the living room where Miles was and he asked me to turn around so he could get the full effect. He isn't normally so interested in my outfit, but I didn't think much of it until I heard a song start playing mid-spin. Months earlier, I had told Miles that when I was a teenager I thought that I would know that I was in love when I heard a specific song playing in my head...I'm sure anyone reading this can understand exactly why this made sense when I was fifteen! When I turned around, Miles was in front of me and said that he thought I looked beautiful but something was missing. He pulled out the ring box, said some wonderfully sweet things and asked me to marry him! Of course I immediately said yes, but I felt so overwhelmed that was about all I could say for a good five minutes- one of the few times in my entire life that I've been completely speechless! Miles had a wonderful dinner planned for us, so we hopped in a cab and headed to the Upper West Side. We managed to call our families and a few friends in the short ride uptown, but Miles and I wanted to celebrate together and enjoy dinner by ourselves before we made any more calls. I had just gotten off the phone with my friend Kristen when we walked into the restaurant and was completely shocked to see her sitting front and center as we walked inside! I think there are about 8,000 restaurants in New York City, and Kristen and Jack just happened to pick Compass as part of their Christmas celebration date. It was so fun to see them right after we had gotten engaged! After an amazing dinner, we headed back to my apartment to celebrate with some champagne Miles had somehow snuck into my fridge without me knowing. It was the perfect day!

Random Weekly Recap

I am so excited to go home for Thanksgiving! My brother just finished building a house and my sister just moved into a new house, so I have a lot of possible options for places to stay next week. I got the cutest text from my nephew this morning- He asked if I wanted to spend the night with him at his new house during Thanksgiving because "the neighborhood is really nice for jogging." Bradley knows me well!

A few other random things to recap the week:

• I saw Maggie Gyllenhaal this week, just wandering aimlessly around Chelsea. Last week I saw Matt Damon eating at Shake Shack- the poor guy couldn't even get a bite of his burger without a million cameras flashing. I cannot fathom what that sort of life must be like.
• I gave Christie (my roommate) and Miles a little Christmas gift yesterday morning. I know it's early, but I wanted us to fully enjoy these precious stockings:

• Miles and I went to see New Moon on Friday night with with 8 of our other friends in Murray Hill. We waited in line for over an hour (even though we all bought tickets weeks ago) and I've never experienced such an "interactive" movie. Let's just say the crowd was pretty expressive!
• We went to China Town yesterday with Christie for dim sum and bubble tea. It was awesome- I wish I had a photo because our table was on the second story and looked out over China town. I highly recommend Dim Sum Go Go!

Tomorrow night I am volunteering with some other Junior League girls to serve Thanksgiving dinner at All Souls church, so I'm about to start packing for Conway after I get my long run in for the week. Happy Thanksgiving!

Free Shoe Stampede

Today at work at approximately 4:00 PM ET, someone got on the PA system and said, "Attention, ladies- the moment you have all been waiting for has arrived. There are free designer shoes in the East conference room." You should have seen the madness that ensued immediately following- there was literally a stampede down the hallway to the conference room. I have proof- one of my male co-workers started taking photos on his camera phone once he heard all the high heels running down the hall. I am not one for pushing and shoving in the name of fashion, so I ducked out rather quickly. However, I did reach out and grab the closest pair of shoes before I made my narrow escape. Here's what I netted out with:

While they may not become a staple in my J.Crew/Anthropologie populated wardrobe, I think these shoes will be perfect for some East Village fun!

And with that, I'm now off to my Junior League meeting. How's that for leading a double life?