Justin and Amber

So what good is a wedding blog to our guests and family if we don’t update it? Well… Not much…

So here I am giving you an update on why there have been so few updates… It goes like this: “We’re getting married this Saturday.”

See the one thing you really dont realize going into the month prior to the wedding is exactly how much work is left on the table… Let me give you the quick run down of events and time consuming things you probably didn’t factor into your already busy lifestyle (I know I didn’t, very well at least):

• Showers and Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties – These events take planning, just like the wedding does. There are invites, gifts, favors, food, and location to deal with. Depending on how many your planning on having, this portion can be as much, if not more work, than the wedding itself. On the upside, bridesmaids/groomsmen generally do a good portion of the planning, which helps a lot. This is where I say a special thank you to Nikki, Ashley, Amy, and Richard for all the hard work they put in (sorry if I forgot anyone, but I think those were the people in charge of various events)
• Dance Lessons – These take time people! And most people wait until the month (or 2) before to do them. Worth having though if you plan on dancing.
• Rehearsal Dinner – This one is hard to miss, but it really does eat up a large chunk of time. Like the showers, the time isn’t so much the event itself, but the planning. Again, the groom’s parents generally are in charge of this, so you can get some help here. (Thanks mom and dad)
• Shopping – Shopping? For a Wedding? Yep! Things that you have to purchase (or rent) prior to the wedding include: Clothes (both rehersal and wedding outfits/dresses/tuxes), Gifts (for wedding party), Stuff (for honeymoon), Toys (anything you want to get before you marry your signigficant other that you don’t think they’ll let you get), Stuff (anything you need for your new home that you don’t think you’ll get for your weddig).
• Moving – Assuming your not already living with your significant other… Moving takes time, and some planning to, if your like me and need to work.
• Work – Just realize you still have to work during all this (most likely)

So that’s just a short list of the chaos that is going on in my world at the moment.

In other news, I look forward to seeing you all in just 4 days!

Planning a wedding has been no piece of cake. No matter how many times I look online at a pre-made checklist, or ask friends who have gotten married, there is always something else that needs to be adding to my to-do list. Every time I am able to check something off of that list, I feel no more accomplished because I still see the many things left to do. These past couple of weeks though, I have done a lot of things to prepare for my wedding and marriage.

The biggest change so far was buying a house! Justin and I purchased our first home together and I (along with my cat) moved in at the beginning of June. Justin will be moving in once we are married. After being together as a couple for over 5 years now, and knowing each other an additional 2 years, I am so ready to be living with him. We are waiting to live together because of our religious and personal beliefs, but gosh it’s about time! It has never seemed closer than it does today though, and every day it gets both easier and harder to wait. Having a house is great though! I don’t have to be quiet or wash the dishes if I don’t want to. The nice thing is, it’s my house and I want to wash dishes!

I have gotten many things done for the wedding. We have ordered our favors, and just so you know, custom M&Ms are outrageously expensive so we didn’t go with those! We have booked our limo with Cities Limo who seem like a great company! Justin and I are starting dance lessons soon which will hopefully help me to not feel like a fool on the dance floor! Our registries are finalized, flowers, cake, and photos are paid for, and dresses are being altered.

There are still many things left to do. We (as in me, or me and my bridesmaids) have to make the placecards, finish the favors, and do 1 million other things! Our honeymoon is just about booked– we are still going to Disney! I am excited and nervous about that, since I am not a theme-park kinda girl but nevertheless it should be fun.

But in 7 weeks, and 5 days, none of this will matter. All of the stress felt, the money spent, and the hours consumed to plan the beautiful wedding of Justin and Amber will no longer be important. What will be most important is I will be married to my best friend, and we will have started our lives together as husband and wife.

7 weeks and 5 days….

So we mailed out invites on Saturday, and a good number of people have already gotten them. Pretty exciting!
One of the things we are trying to encourage with our invites is that people RSVP online using their assigned “Response Code”. The custom written tool allows people to update our address book, correct any spelling mistakes we may have made to people’s names, and tell us whether or not they are coming… In less than 30 seconds.

But more than that, it’s allowing us to see our RSVPs faster than one could imagine. In fact, we have already gotten 18 people (6 families) RSVP’d. Congrats Wade on being the first person to RSVP from an invite .  It’s exciting to know whether or not people are coming so fast… much cooler than waiting for snail mail.

One other advantage to this method is that people can update them after submitting. For example, let’s say your a guy with a girlfriend, and for some reason you break up with said girlfriend between when the RSVP was sent, and when the wedding actually happens. In the old way, you would have to call us to update the name of the person coming, OR, wouldn’t be able to tell us that a second person was coming (perhaps you decided to “pick up chicks” at the wedding (not recommended)). With the new way, you simply log in again and update your details. Pretty slick eh? It’s not a one-shot deal like normal RSVP cards.

But as with all innovations that involve computer programming, or humans in general, it may still have a bug or two in it. If you happen to hit of those said bugs, please please please, let me know so I can get it fixed right away. If your response code isn’t working, give me a call and I’ll let you know what the proper one is (Amber thinks she may have misnumbered 1 or 2…).

Of course, if your not technically savvy, your probably not reading this, but you are surely welcome to send in the response card.

Less than 3 months to go people!

P.S. I might publish my RSVP Wordpress plugin (it’s almost perfectly packaged for re-use). It still needs a few tweeks though… If your interested in my plugin, stay tuned at http://www.rinsefirst.com/.