Monday, September 17, 2012

19 days away!

I can hardly believe that I will be a married woman in less than 3 weeks! I'm so excited to be able to call Rob my husband and to celebrate our marriage with all of our family and friends so so soon! I thought I would be sad about not being engaged anymore - no more bridal magazines, obsessively checking wedding blogs, calling Rob my fiance, checking out bridal events and planning every detail, but I'm ore excited to call Rob my husband and to just be married. As much fun as the planning process has been, I honestly can't wait for it to be over and to have our life back. Our apartment is wedding danger zone and my brain is constantly filled with wedding crap. It'll be nice to focus on other things, be a better friend/daughter/sister/wife/volunteer/employee when I have mental clarity back. It will be so great to jump into our life as a married couple and start this new chapter together. There is still lots to be done before the wedding. I'm doing my next fitting tomorrow and we have our final meeting at the venue on Wednesday. Rob is meeting with the a/v company tonight and is finalizing details with our photo booth company. We have plenty of crafts to do and luckily all of my crafty friends are coming over this Sunday to help. We have to confirm some details and finalize day of schedules and plans. Overall, everything is under control and on track! CAN'T WAIT!

Friday, September 7, 2012

29 DAYS!!!!

We're getting married in less than a month!!! We had our bachelor and bachelorette parties this weekend as well as our shower hosted by Rob's mom, sister and sister-in-law. It was a great wedding-filled weekend! My bffs Tara and Ryann took the lead planning my party and they did a great job! It was the perfect "Jen" party. We started the night at Tara's house for games, dinner and gifts. They decorated everything soooo well and they all had matching tanks with funny pictures on them from over the years. LOVED IT! The games were hilarious and everyone was WAY too generous with the gifts! I got so many beautiful things. The food was awesome - different fondues and delicious treats. They went all out! Then we went to a burlesque class at a studio in the West Loop and it was so fun. We all took it really seriously which was pretty funny. We learned some good moves before walking to RM Champagne Lounge, this new gorgeous champagne bar close by. We sat on the patio and it was so pretty! The server sabered our pink champagne and we played more games. Then we cabbed it over to Beauty Bar for manis and cocktails and photo booth fun. I kept saying I wanted a cheeseburger so Tara and Ryann got me one from down the street - talk about good friends :) I ate that with some helpers and then we went to Five Star and tried out our new burlesque moves in their room with a stripper pole - classy I know :) We had a great time swinging around and enjoying the room to ourselves. Just the right amount of crazy for a bachelorette party! It was such an awesome night - I had the best time with all my best friends! Wouldn't change a thing! Rob's party was planned by his bro and brother-in-law. They grabbed dinner at Bad Apple and then did some games of bowling at Timber Lanes before grabbing drinks at one of our favorite bars near our house. Sounds like they had a pretty awesome night too! The next day we went to our shower and we were blown away by all the amazing decorations Amy and Lynn made! It's unbelievable how creative and crafty they both are. Amy used her outstanding laser cutter to make some great signs for around the room. My favorite was the one that said "Make it rain" over the gifts. Pretty fab! She also had garland with photos from over the years and big tissue puff balls that really added to the room. Lynn made these awesome brown paper bag flowers - so cool! Very impressed! We enjoyed yummie food and a very clever game - who said it Facebook style - before opening presents. Once again, we couldn't believe how generous everyone was! We are so blessed and lucky to have such wonderful support from our loved ones. We got so many beautiful things and we're so grateful for everyone in our lives! Now that all the special occasions are over - we're just looking forward to our big day! We picked up our marriage license this week - very exciting! We're working on lots of little projects now - all the finishing touches! We're going to pick out our beers and favors this weekend. It'll be here before we know it - can't wait!