Sorta bummed

So, I'm starting to think i made a mistake with the venue we chose for our ceremony/reception and it's bumming me out. When we first met with the coordinator at Abington, over a year ago, there were certain things I wanted to do and was told would be no problem. First, I wanted our dog to at least be at the ceremony and I was told he could come to the ceremony but not the reception, then once we signed the contract, it was suddenly against the rules altogether! Second, I asked about having a photo booth and was told that would be fine, then apparently, between the time I originally asked and the second time I brought it up, someone had one and it didn't go well, so now it's no longer allowed. It can be outside, but then I'd have to rent a tent to cover it. I suggested making our own photo booth and I got, "They take up a lot of room as well," in response! I also asked about hanging paper lanterns inside the reception area, they can only be hung on the outside edge, which, let's be honest, looks kinda dumb. Then I suggested stringing lights across the top, she had a reason why that wasn't a good idea as well. I'm getting really frustrated, I honestly would have chosen another spot if I'd known it was gonna be like this! I did a search for wedding photos take where I'm getting married and found one where there is a shadow cast on the ceiling and found out it's called Gobo lighting, I did a little research and found out I can buy the projector for like $170, but thought that seemed a little excessive for one day. I emailed one place about rentals and they've yet to email me back. Then the lady from Abington suggested a DJ that works with them a lot, so I called him, yeah his packages start at $1200! That is really not in the budget, we're already unsure of where we're getting the money for what we've already booked! So, now I just feel like my wedding reception is going to be a room with a cement floor and no dance floor and no lighting or decorations. I'm really not happy right now. I should have just gone with the more expensive venue that had everything included!
I know it's about the marriage and not the reception lighting, but let's be honest, if I didn't care, I'd have gotten married years ago in a courthouse!

Martha Stewart does it again!

Now that my invites are out, and we've already started receiving responses, I wanted to start figuring out how to do the seating chart.  I thought someone, somewhere along the line, had told me about some online application, so I decided to check out Martha's site and who knew she had all these tools!  You should all check this out!  It even lets you put in your room dimensions!  I love it!

Invitations have been mailed (and delivered)!

Tomorrow will be two months until the big day! I mailed out the invitations Thursday. My mom helped me Tuesday night and the fiance helped me Wednesday night, we focused and got all the invitations addressed (I printed them from my computer using a free font I downloaded that matched the one on our invitations), stamped, stuffed, and sealed! It was a such a huge weight off my shoulders when we were done! And of course, here are some photos. We got the invitations from Wedding Paper Divas, the grey envelopes from Jam Paper (the invitations came with only white envelopes which wasn't working for me) and the pink envelopes for a store near me called Xpedx, but they have very similar ones at Paper Source (Paper Source just took forever to send me samples and I couldn't chance how long the actual envelopes would take if I ordered them).

Shecky's Girls Night Out

I'm going to Shecky's tonight with a friend.  I'm hoping to get some bridesmaid gifts or maybe even some wedding jewelry for myself!  If nothing else, the gift bag should be good!

The Ceremony

My fiance and I are (hopefully) getting married outside by my uncle and I need to figure out what that ceremony is actually going to consist of since there will be no religious mass or anything.  Any ideas?  We plan to write our own vows, but beyond that, I have nothing!  In all honesty, I wish we could just be married and skip the whole walking down the aisle, being on display in front of everyone we know.  I don't like being the center of attention and every time I think of the ceremony I feel like vomiting.  Same goes for the first dance.  Yeah, can we skip it?  Ugh.

Less than two and half months to go!

The big day is fast approaching and I have to admit, I'm starting to feel the stress!  Here's a bit of what's left to do and what's to come (plus, it'll help me figure it out as I type).

I need to get my shoes dyed (I finally found a place that will do it today!)

I have to either make my veil or order one

I have to order the envelopes for my invitations like yesterday (I was not a fan of the white envelopes the invitations came with)

I need to order bags for the cookies (favors)

Order paper lanterns

Stickers for the cookie bags

Weddings bands (the fiance got his, but I swear he got the girl one by accident, it's super thin, so I'm working on getting him to exchange it)

I'm having some trouble figuring out what to get my bridesmaids as gifts, but I need to do this asap

Finish the direction/hotel info. inserts for the invitations

Address the response cards

Order a return address stamp for the invitations (this also needs to be done like yesterday)

I really need to finish anything to do with the invitations and MAIL THEM because the response card says to respond by September 1!

Figure out table numbers

Decide how to set up place cards

Order the tuxes

Decide on dinner place and spa for bachelorette

Get my skin to clear up

Lose 5 more pounds by Aug. 13 (1st alteration)

That's all I can think of right now.  Back to work!

I think I'm gonna do it!

I've been contemplating getting my personal training certification for awhile now.  And ISSA is running a promotion right now (which ends tomorrow) so the cost would be $100 less.  I've discussed it with Bradley and my mom and they both support me on it.  I'm just a little hesitant because the money could certainly be used towards the wedding.  But, at my current job, I have a lot of down time (read: bored out of my mind time) and I would love to use that to study for my exam, so I could be just about ready to be certified once we return from our honeymoon and start our new lives together.  I'm not a huge fan of my current job, it has nothing to do with what I went to school for or even have an interest in, and the pay is crap.  PT appeals to me because I have a definite interest in fitness (even if I might not always want to workout), I like the idea of setting my own hours, and I think it'll make me more of an expert when I want to freelance write for fitness magazines (I went to school for writing), plus the flexible hours will hopefully eventually put me in a better position to have more time to write.  I've never been excited about having the same office job, M-F, for the rest of my life.  I'd like to do something that gives me more room to work on many things at once.  I also think PT will pay better than my current job, which is important if Bradley  and I ever want to have a family.  Ick.  I need to make up my mind asap!  Why do I over think things all the time??