I was never one of those girls who dreamt about getting married. I never put a pillowcase on top of my head or dazed off into la-la land thinking about meeting my Prince Charming. In fact, when I met Grant on April 2^nd, 2008, I told him on one of our first dates that I “never wanted to get married.” Perhaps this is because I am quite aware of how hard marriage can be. I knew that in order to make a marriage as strong as possible, then I would have to offer the absolute strongest, best version of myself and for me, this would require more time. Of course, we can’t really plan out life can we? Looking back at my thoughts I can’t help but laugh knowing what I know now. Grant has made me into the woman that I long ago dreamt to be. Grant has made me believe in marriage and he makes me feel strong, safe and at peace with life. Turns out I found my Prince Charming after all and this weekend we will be married.

The last week leading into your wedding will be the craziest week of your life. It is 100% all you think about. For all of you brides, if you can manage to squeeze a few extra pennies from your budget, save up for a much needed massage one week prior to your nuptials. Trust me, you will need it. There were so many small details that needed to be finalized this week. I picked up my wedding dress and we got our adorable bow ties in for the groomsmen and “ring bearer”. We’ve started collecting everything for the hotels and personal artifacts for the reception. My home office looks like a wedding sweatshop, but as of next Monday I am going to hand in my “bride to be” planning cap and switch into “Bride” mode where all I do is enjoy every single moment.  That’s what this is all about right?

I close my eyes and can’t help but smile when I picture our wedding day. It makes me feel more happiness that I ever knew possible. I can’t imagine what the actual day will feel like, but I am ready for it. Come rain, shine, fires in the kitchen, wine on the dress … whatever, I am happy. And I cannot wait to share the happiness with you after we get in all of our photographs.  Until then. . .

I’m a little out of sorts this week. It’s my last full week before the wedding and I feel like I have nothing, yet millions of things to do. On my master to do list for this week:

1. Juice Cleanse
2. Get newly chipped front tooth repaired & whiten teeth
3. Final facial appointment
4. Frame grandparent’s photos for reception décor
5. Get parent’s gifts
6. Make CD’s for Shuttle Busses
7. Finish Vows
8. Finalize Seating Chart

Yes, the dreaded seating chart is finally complete! If you are a couple getting married and manage to make it through the seating chart without one fight . . . well, actually I can’t decide if that’s a good or a bad thing. The fight happens because you both care about the wedding so that’s a good sign. With that said, just like deciding upon the guest list, the seating chart ranks as #1 nightmarish things we hated doing.

Speaking of nightmares, mine have gotten worse this week. Last night I fell asleep watching Friends reruns on Nick & Nite. There was an episode where Ross is in London marrying Emily but he accidentally says “Rachel” name instead.  (Watch it here.) I suppose I was asking for a nightmare after watching that. Perhaps I should stick with Father Of The Bride reruns from here on out.  We had our final pre-therapy session with Dr. T last week so it looks like I’m going to have to sort this one out the good old fashioned way: Wine and Pizza

So here we are, just under two weeks away and I realized I haven’t take the time to give a shout out to all of our vendors that are going to make our day unforgettable. It’s pimp out your vendors time:

Wedding Design & Planning: The amazing team at Beth Helmsetter Events
Venue: SmogShoppe
Catering: Heirloom
Florist: HollyFlora
Photographer: Lauren Ross
Videographer: LoveSpun
Band: deBois Entertainment
Ceremony Musicians: SuperNova
Calligrapher: Plurabelle
Wedding Cake: Vanilla Bakeshop

It is so crazy to me that the next time I will be writing you will be one week before the wedding!!! Butterflies!! Until then, xoxo

It’s officially our wedding month! Grant and I celebrated the 1-month countdown mark by having a date night and testing out our wedding bands.  We actually wore them out to dinner and felt rebellious and giddy. Now that we’re at the 3-week countdown, I’m starting to think about my vows a bit more seriously. Since Grant and I are writing our own vows, I’ve been jotting down thoughts from time to time but need to sit down and formulate my actual script. I’m awful at public speaking and have to have a script so this is something that’s been making me feel very nervous. I’ve been having nightmares that my wedding day arrives and I’m totally unprepared. So, this week I hope to tackle the vows. It’s tough because it feels like words aren’t enough, other words are too heavy and everything sounds so cliché and like I’ve taken it from some sort of “Writing Your Own Vows” book.  We came up with a “Vows in 3’s” formula so our vows will somewhat mirror each other. Here’s the formula: I’m here because…(three things). I love you because…(three things). I promise…(three things). Wish me luck!

We met with Beth and Susie last week to go over the timeline and all the little details. Here’s a picture of us in the car just before the meeting. We have one more meeting the “week of” for final invoices. I can’t believe this process is almost over. I’m obviously looking so forward to the wedding, but I already feel a bit of sadness that this is almost over. Grant and I picked up our wedding license last week, which is actually pretty easy to do. That night we went over our band to play/do not play list by having our own little dance party with the dogs.  And the next day I had my hair/makeup trial. I’m wearing my hair quite differently than I had originally planned because once you actually have the veil and start playing around sometimes it just looks better a different way. I am so pumped!

So, pretty much every day is something wedding at this point. At night, we’ve found our own little way of counting sheep if we can’t sleep and we talk through the entire wedding weekend, which always lulls us into a deep slumber. Hopefully I won’t have any wedding nightmares to report in the next week to come. . . Until then.

My goodness how time flies by! I feel like it was yesterday we were talking about how many people we wanted at the wedding and now we’re sitting down to go over seating charts. Yes, the dreaded seating chart. I have taken the liberty of going ahead and doing the entire thing on my own (ha). I suppose this weekend I’ll sit down with the fiancé and make sure he’s okay with everything (heehee). It’s really fun seeing the wedding floor plan and picturing who sits where. I like to imagine what their conversations will be, perhaps sparks will fly at the singles table or family friends will make new friendships. Either way the day is getting closer and closer and the butterflies are feeling stronger and stronger.

Last weekend my future mother in law & sister in law to be hosted a Wine Tasting weekend in Santa Ynez with all of my closest friends from LA. The minute the “party bus” pulled up and we realized it came equipped with a karaoke system I knew the day would be a blast and indeed it was. Upon our return my family and I headed to HollyFlora and SmogShoppe where we saw our gorgeous table and flower prototype. I would love to show you the entire thing but I suppose we should keep some things a surprise. However, I’ll give you a sneak peak at my bouquet proto type.

We have our monthly spa appointment tomorrow for facials and massages, only one more left before the big day. And next week I have my hair and make-up trial scheduled. The honeymoon plans have been finalized and we glanced over our registry one last time before things get too crazy. On top of all of my wedding month madness I’m headed to NY two weeks before the wedding for Fashion Week.  As crazy as it sounds, I’m looking forward to getting one last bolt of girl time before the big day. Plus, knowing that Beth and Susie are at the helm leaves me feeling stress free at this point. Tick, tock, tick, tock . . . Until next time . . .

I’m not gonna lie, we’re 1 month away from the wedding and it’s all I can think about. I lay in bed at night going over every little detail … I check StyleMePretty sometimes three times a day … If I could, I’d wear my veil everywhere I go.  And you know what? I love every bit of it.

My Bachelorette Party and Shower took place this month in Texas and Grant had his Bachelor Party in Aspen.  Here’s a picture of my beautiful bridesmaids and I at the “Cowgirl Up” themed weekend. When I walked into the party that’s when the wedding wheels went into motion.  I teared up and realized, “Wow, I’m getting married!”  From that point on I’ve been dedicated to soaking in every moment of this process.  My parents are in town this week and I had my second dress fitting. It was so sweet seeing my dad’s face when he saw me in my dress for the first time.   Next week my Mom and I, and Grant and his Mom, are meeting with Beth to see our “prototype”.  I am SO excited to see everything together.  We also ordered the groomsmen’s bow ties this week from GeneralKnot.com.  They’re custom making a floral print on one side and black on the other. They’re even making a 24” neck for our pup William Potato McBacon (the ring bearer). HA! We got our wedding bands and it’s taking everything I have to not wear mine around the house … okay, so maybe I put my veil and wedding band on secretly this morning while Grant was gone.  Let’s just keep that between us girls, okay?  Our beautiful wedding invitations were mailed out. A collaborative effort between the talented Beth and Plurabelle Calligraphy made for a very unique and creative box, which included a handkerchief and floral printed backing on the actual invite all tied with a delicate pink ribbon. I couldn’t be more proud of our invitations. LOVE.

This weekend I’m off to Santa Ynez where Grant’s mom and sister are throwing a final wine tasting hoorah with all of my LA friends. I’ll be sure to post pictures of the ho-down next week. Until then . . .

My sincerest apologies for all of you who have fallen in love with our Real Life Bride, Jacey (& what’s not to love?!). Our wedding season has been in full effect and sadly the blog always takes a back seat, but no longer (more about that later). This being said, Jacey’s plans are coming along swimmingly and we are in the final count down! We all can’t wait for the day! Below is a little snippet from Jacey herself, and we will continue to keep you up to date on her progress as she has time to share!

It’s Go Time!

A lot has happened over the past few weeks:

• Shedding For The Wedding:  The fiancé and I are starting to get real serious about getting in tip top shape for our wedding. I started doing these classes my bridesmaid, Ashley, recommended called Physique 57. I am obsessed. They put brides in a “bridal challenge” that I am going to start closer to September.  For now it’s been great to have several summer weddings and our bachelor(ette) parties to be motivated about.
• My future MIL (mother in law) came into town to see my wedding dress and do some fun meetings with us.  We picked out the menu and floor plan for our rehearsal dinner.  After that we went to Omega Prop House with Beth & Susie.  They had everything you could ever dream of renting.  Grant loved this big throne chair (see above right) and tried to get it for the reception dinner.
• “Armani doesn’t make a blue tuxado,” said Frank, the wedding coordinator in Father Of The Bride.  Luckily, Grant isn’t in to blue tuxado’s, so we went and tried on a few grey ones at John Varvato’s this week.  He has his heart set on a very dark gray tux-suit.  It’s kind of in between the two.  We’re thinking of pulling the trigger on getting it next week because hey, if the shoe fits . . .
• We also took a pre-madness getaway trip to Palm Springs with the doggies to enjoy the calm before the storm.  We loved staying at the ACE Hotel because we could take our pups and had a great porch to BBQ on.  We decided on our first dance song in Palm Springs.  We had narrowed it down to a few songs, but then one night we had dinner and a band was playing with dancing.  “One more dance,” I said to Grant.  And surprisingly they played “our song” and we danced knowing that it was a sign. Sorry, we’re keeping it under wraps.
• I’m sure I’m not alone in saying I reconsidered every aspect of our wedding after watching countless hours of “The Royal Wedding.” I was glued to the TV and couldn’t be more in love with the “Dutchess of Cambrige”.   My future MIL was telling me that I should wear my hair like she did, and maybe I just will! What do you think?  (See Below …)