V: Fill up that address book!

Need to get mailing addresses from your wayward friends? Easy, thanks to Google Docs' Forms!

Step 1: Log in to Google Docs and create a new form. [You are the owner, but you can set it s your fiance/mother/etc is an editor or viewer of the document]

Step 2: You will see an Excel like spreadsheet. On the drop down menu "Form," select "Edit form". You will get the screen below. Add questions and headers [you can even make multiple choice responses!].

Step 3: Choose a "Theme" for the design of what your friends will see. Ours is Grey.

Step 4: Send it out via email, either by pasting in a URL to an email or by using the Share feature on the Form doc.

Step 5: Your results are collected in an easy to manage spreadsheet. Ahh, technology is bliss.

Wedding, I'm done with you for a while. We need some time apart.

Yesterday, I made some major decisions and was so relieved. I had researched all of the following elements endlessly and decided to just bite the bullet and just book these services! After all, I leave next week for Hawaii and will need to focus on finding gainful employment, not on finding the perfect ribbon.

On Wednesday, I walked into a bridal shop and asked a woman about veils, flower girl dresses, necklaces, shoes and headpieces, all in the span of about one minute. I think she may have suspected that I had either downed 2304923 cups of coffee or was on speed. This is when I realized that I was turning into...not Bridezilla...but the OCD Bride. Enough! I want my personality back!

Voici, my accomplishments of Friday:

1) I bought my veil-- it is long and very, very glamorous! I purchased it from White Swan Bridal in Vienna, VA. I'm not re-veiling what it looks like though (get it? re-veiling? I crack myself up).

2) I booked my florist. This has been in the works for many months now, but we've finally engaged the service of Melissa Sylvain, owner of Sylvain's Florist in Reston, VA. I'm am going to have a beautiful pale peach, pink and ivory bouquet with some sort of gorgeous ribbon yet to be determined. The bridesmaids are going to be sporting red dahlias, red roses and red lilies with a rich ribbon (I'm thinking velvet). At our reception, we'll have dendrobium orchids and curly willow on each table, we think!

3) I booked my photographer. I'm going with Bella Photography. Their concept is pretty cool- the company first sets you up with a consultant, who interviews you, collects vital information about your style and then helps you to make decisions about which package works best. At that point, you go online to rate up to 200 photos, which will help the consultant match you with a photographer. Bella is a national company, so they could theoretically bring a photographer from New York City to DC at no extra cost to the couple, if that NYC person's style was the best fit. Bella exclusively employs 300 people in the DC area alone and so if your person gets sick, there is always a backup. Also, they give you ownership of all your photos and you don't have to order through them- they give a you a CD that does not have watermarked pictures. Also, if a couple can't afford to buy an album at the time (hello! that's me!), you can order it years later. Finally, it only takes 28 days to get photos back! I'm hoping that this works out because pictures are important. Just in case, I'm going to encourage lots of outside picture taking of family and friends! Below is Princess Sophia of Spain at her wedding! 4) I ordered a cake. Pastries by Randolph makes SUPER delicious cakes and has fantastic reviews. Each tier of the cake has five layers and four layers of frosting, so it's very moist (ugh! hate that word.) Their prices are fair and they make very pretty cakes as well. I like the idea of integrating a cascading ribbon into the cake as well- perhaps I'll use the same ribbon as my bouquet? Hmm! Mom likes the separated tiers, so seperated tiers it is. I think we'll have some flowers in between. I toyed with the idea of cupcakes, but I think I'll encourage someone to get them for some other pre-wedding event!

5) I chose invitations. Although we were initially deciding between William Arthur and Crane paper, we decided that they were too expensive, so we're going to order from Invitations by Dawn. Since they are an online company, we requested a sample to make sure that the quality and thickness of the paper is up to snuff. I love traditional stationery and the invite we've chosen is actually quite beautiful and the most old-fashioned, of course!

OK, that's it. Now I'm happy:

(my little niece! love her!)

Houston, we have a plan!

Miracle beyond miracles - we have a plan to get us to October 24th!

Now, it's no surprise that I was itching to project manage the heck out of this wedding, but Mr. B is known to be more of a go-with-the-flow, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type.  He actually resists planning. It's actually a miracle we get along at all.

I have learned during our many years to be stealthy when asking him to make/agree to a plan. If he thinks a) a fun process or b) his idea, only then will he commit to goals, times, places, etc.

So this weekend, I brought in big sheets of paper and markers and ambushed him during a lazy Saturday lunch. We listed a month at the top of each page, and filled it with things to be accomplished.

He even came up with ideas on how we can bind it into a tear-off calendar! I'm so proud, he lasted nearly the whole 1.5 hour conversation.

But oh boy, comparing our list to what the authorities say we need to have accomplished, we are waaaayyy off track. That's right Emily Post and theKnot.com, suck it. We have a great plan, thank you very much. Of course, this means we only have to more weeks to nail down a reception site and an officiant according to our own list for February. Oy.