Today is January 28th … which means there are exactly seven months to go until I become Mrs. Wiley!
Because we did much of our wedding planning before the holidays, we’re feeling pretty comfortable with our progress. (Not to mention that we secured 2008 rates with our vendors!) We have our venue and coordinator, caterer, photographer, and my dress. My wonderful and talented bridesmaid, Kristen, has offered to make our floral bouquets. And we’re pretty certain we’ve found our DJ.
According to our checklist on thekot.com, we need to get moving on the following:
- Gift registry: First we need to take inventory of what we have between my apartment, Nick’s apartment, and my parents’ basement. We have lots of kitchen gadgets, but we do plan to ask for a Kitchen Aid stand mixer and a sturdy set of pots and pans. We’re also considering unique registry items like a home brewing kit and honeymoon excursions. Speaking of the honeymoon …
- Book honeymoon flight and accommodations: Both Nick’s parents and his aunt and uncle have been gracious enough to offer us their time shares. We made a list of our top three Caribbean destinations, unfortunately we chose the most popular spots and they’re already booked for August. We prefer not to stay in a standard resort, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we come across an affordable rustic villa. But we do have to decide soon!
- Attire: I’m looking forward to dress shopping with my bridesmaids next month. I hope we can find a persimmon color, or something similar. And each girl will choose her own style. But more importantly, as far as attire goes, Nick needs to decide what color suit he’s going to wear. Is khaki too light for his skin tone? Is navy too dark for our woodsy venue?
- Save the Dates: This weekend we’re hoping to get our photos taken by another talented friend of mine. We’re envisioning a sweet simple shot to include with our save the dates. Our goal is to get these in the mail before the beginning of March.
- Rehearsal dinner and out of town guest accommodations: In progress! We were thrilled to have Nick’s parents and siblings in town the other weekend to help with these plans. We LOVE the atmosphere at The Eagle’s Nest in York, and we’re returning in a few weeks to sample the food. And we have two hotel options in mind.
Another HUGE decision to make — one that is not faced by all brides and grooms — is where we’re going to live. Nick is at a Lily conference in Jacksonville this week, hoping to connect with district managers in the central Pennsylvania area. Ideally we want to be in State College (vs. northern New Jersey). We shall see.
All in all, we’re enjoying the process. The toughest part is the 200 miles that separate us, but we hope to change that soon!