OMG 16 more days?!

RSVP Summary:

224 Guests have accepted

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General Update:

1) Rehearsal Dinner-- originally we were going to have it at my brother's house with food catered by our favorite kabob place. ummm with 45-50 people we realized this was totally unrealistic. So instead we're having at Red, Hot, & Blue which is this awesome BBQ place in between the hotel & the church (like literally in the middle. haha) The manager there was incredibly helpful and accommodating with our budget and creating a fixed menu for our guests to choose from. I <3>

2) Photos for centerpieces: had a helluva time printing out all of the photos onto 4x6s and cutting them in half. Then punching holes in them and tying ribbon on them so that they can hang from the branches. Hours of labor completed during the Michigan vs. Notre Dame game (how sweet was that victory?!?! hehe) About half of them are vertical and the other half are horizontal.

3) Bi-fold programs instead of tri-fold programs: (Front, back, inside) Honestly we did this because it will be SO much easier to fold.

4) Pew Bows: DONE!!!! This is what it will hopefully look like in the church:

5) Photobooth Services: After having trouble with our printer, we decided that instead of dealing with the headache, we'd hire Mick Lerlop to do our photobooth. He did photobooth services for someone we know (photo below)... nice huh? He charges $280 for 3 hrs and provides prints for all of our guests. When we bought our own background, lighting, photo paper, etc. it cost close to $50... We were able to return all of those things we had bought. whew!

6) Poms-- Remember how we won the giveaway for the party poms? Here they are nicely packaged!! SO great and excited!!!

7) Double-checking vendors, hotel, church, etc. -- we drove to Herndon on Tuesday to meet with our hotel coordinator, Jay Bhalla. He is EXCELLENT! His level of customer service and flexibility has been such a huge blessing to us! Because he is so accommodating, we highly recommend the Crowne Plaza Dulles Airport (i promise we're not receiving any benefits for saying this haha). Anyhow, the church is going through construction but we'll have the ceremony hall look kind of like this (minus the step ladder and the music stand haha). but yes those ficus trees + 2 candleabras with ivy & flower decor.

8) Upcoming Events: I'm so excited!!! My bridal shower & bachelorette party are coming up this weekend. I cannot wait to just party with my girls and have some fun! Mr. Mercy gave me some stern rules however:

• No bumping & grinding: there should be a 6 inch rule between me and whatever guy. and that means 6 inches from the outer most part of my front (aka from the boobs) not 6 inches from my stomach. I believe it also applies from my backside as well... considering my ass is flat... i guess it'll be 6 inch from my back haha.
• No Kissing: that means lips, cheeks, or hands. He says cheek kissing is okay if a) we were in Europe and that was the custom there or b) we're in a black church during greeting time. hahaha.
• No Strippers: obviously... but that also includes any form of strip poker or anything else. we tried to cover all bases for the purposes of obtaining full disclosure of expectations.
• No "close" photos with any other guys... originally he said no photos with any guys at all... but I stated that that was quite ridiculous for the spirit of documenting my bachelorette so he simply added the condition that they cannot be "close" pictures... (note the ambiguous definition of "close").
  

hahah he cracks me up :)

9) First Dance: Our friend mixed our songs together for the first dance and sent it to us yesterday! I'm SO excited for it... gotta put on my dancing shoes-- just gotta sway side to side...

TO DO:

1. Make guide for all people helping out with the wedding: with contact info of every person, schedule, pictures of how to set-up each space, etc.
2. Get branches for the centerpieces
3. Do table seating + print out respective labels for cupcake boxes
4. Print & fold programs
5. Make slideshow: only for the 1st reception because we decided not to go through all that hassle for the 2nd reception. I'm going to try to use smilebox for this because that program seems so easy to use! Besides, it comes with music already included!
   
6. Buy remaining gifts for entourage
7. Mr. Mercy needs to create the dinner playlist, the dancing playlist, and the song for the father/daughter and mother/son dance.
   
8. Make flower bouquets & other floral arrangements: Flowers will arrive on 9/28/10
9. Buy surprise for guests from Shoppers: (on 10/1/10 & store at hotel)