It's hard enough to plan a wedding, but it's even harder to plan one 600 miles away from where it's going to be held. So I crammed about a million appointments and an amazing bridal shower into one weekend and now feel much better about the fact that it's just more than THREE MONTHS AWAY!!! YIKES!!!
FRIDAY
Brent and I landed in the freezing cold Detroit late Thursday night, and I started my crazy wedding-planning weekend Friday afternoon by meeting up with my cousin, Breanne - who's also one of my bridesmaids - for lunch along with my mom and sister, who's my maid of honor.
OK, OK, so that was just for fun, but then we did go across the street to Atlas Bridal so I could get fitted for my amazingly beautiful wedding dress and the maid-of-honor dress that I'll be wearing for Brea's wedding. While we were there, she tried on her wedding dress and we took pictures because that will be the only time we'll be wearing wedding dresses together! (I'd post those photos because I love them, but then Brent and Mike might see them!)
Ninety minutes later, my sister, mom, and I scrambled over to Central Park West - which is where my reception will be held - to meet Brent and his mom to go over the little details, like napkin colors, tablecloths, centerpieces, food choices, etc.
Here's how spoiled my soon-to-be husband is. We decided to offer our guests chicken Dijon and roast beef at our reception along with twice-baked potatoes as one of the side dishes. But the woman helping us plan our reception told us that the kitchen staff will make us whatever we wanted to eat. I quickly told her I was perfectly happy with chicken Dijon and a twice-baked potato. Both were fantastic at the bridal tasting.
After thinking about it for a minute, Brent requested that they prepare salmon and red potatoes for him. Seriously. As if the day isn't going to be special enough for him, he thinks he needs a special meal. I'm going to become your WIFE and life-long partner that day, honey!
Afterward, we had about two hours to kill before meeting with both of our parents for a nice, relaxing dinner, so we spontaneously drove to his sister and brother-in-law's house to play with our nieces.Time with the little ones went by way too fast before we had to jump in the car for dinner at PF Chang's, which has special meaning for me because that was the restaurant where Brent and I went to dinner the evening he proposed to me.
This visit was a bit different, though. Brent and I met up with both sets of our parents and right after we sat down, our waiter took one look at our table and said, "Wow, so we have three generations, here, huh?" What?!?! Our parents are all about the same age, so we were left wondering which set of parents were supposed to be the grandparents. "Well, there goes his tip," Brent's mom said as the waiter was corrected and slunk away from our table.
The rest of the dinner, however, was fantastic, even though we walked in the restaurant when it was cold out and walked out in the middle of a torrential snowstorm. That, however, didn't stop us from heading to Starbucks for some coffee and a wedding invitation discussion, which the guys totally hated, but whatever.
SATURDAY
I had to look especially good today because after meeting with the cake lady, Brent and I had an appointment with a photographer for an engagement photo session - even though we've been engaged for over a year. But I didn't care. Brent could quite possibly be the least photogenic person on the planet, and he knows it, so he avoids being in front of the camera at all costs. I have exactly two photos of us together that I like, so it's high time I get a new one!
Our appointment with the cake lady was definitely Brent's favorite because he got to sample the cake, so that left him happy during our nearly hour-long appointment where we designed our cake and picked out many delicious flavors. YUM!
And we were even on time for our engagement shoot, even though the snow hadn't stopped and Brent and my mom were literally forced to push her Dodge Neon out of the cake lady's driveway.
This particular photographer had a studio in her basement, which was great. What was weird was that though she positioned us in about a dozen different positions - us facing each other, him behind me, him in a chair with me standing behind him, etc., she took exactly one photo of the two of us in each position. So when it came time to choose photos for her to print up for us, a few positions that I thought would have been cute were ruled out automatically because one of us blinked or one of us (Brent) wasn't quite ready for the photo to be taken.
Even so, there were three photos of us that I loved - even though the heavy winter sweater I was wearing added about 10 pounds to my body (Man!) - so I made sure to order all three of them!
Dinner tonight was reserved especially for my friends, whom I SOOOOO miss in New York. And though I would have loved to have quality time with Jon, Maureen, Ryan, Iggy, Susan, and little Sophia, I settled for a nice, long dinner for the five of us to catch up at the Elephant Bar while Iggy focused his energy on jokingly feeding his one-month-old daughter ribs and beer.
SUNDAY
I was so glad that we turned the clocks forward an hour today for daylight savings time because that meant that I didn't have to wait as long for my bridal shower!
The party was hosted at my future mother-in-law's home and was given by her and my future sister-in-law, Stephanie. And boy did they go all out with the food and the decorations!
I wore my "bride-to-be" crown for nearly the whole party and was showered with amazing gifts that ranged from bed sheets and a hand-made quilt to a toilet plunger and cocktail shaker. Thanks to everyone!
Brent took a nap upstairs to avoid all the women and woke up to eat leftovers. A typical guy all the way.
Since the party was the last wedding-type event of the weekend, Brent and I capped off the
weekend playing Euchre with his parents by their fireplace Sunday night before heading to my parents' house on Monday so my mom could drive us to the airport.Even though I wish I would have had more quality visiting time with family and friends, that looks like it will just have to wait until AFTER my wedding day!
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