Bride Diary: Invitations and Showers
by Kelly Stewart
55, 54, 53…numbers I can’t believe I’m seeing as I count down to the big day! Some days, it seems that the countdown on my website is jumping days by tens! So, we are under the 2-month mark, and I am excited to share that our invitations are signed, sealed, and delivered! This is one of the best feelings of relief for me with the wedding planning thus far. Picking out the invitations was one of the more tedious projects/processes, creating and completing the guest list was a huge job, then addressing all 250 invitations- calligraphy style - just in time before the stamp went up $.02 was quite a task! However, I must tell you about my “invitation party” we had last weekend. Last weekend, my fiancé and I graduated from college, I had family in town visiting, we had our engagement photo session, I had thank you notes to write, and we had to finish all of the invitations by Saturday! Needless to say, there was a lot going on at once.
Friday night was the “invitation party” I mentioned above. What I had planned on just being my sweet mom and I, turned into my mom, my sister, my brother, my brother’s girlfriend, my fiancé, a family friend, and my step-dad all sitting down at the (big) table together working on the invitations! I enlisted a crew, and I was definitely their leader! We had a great time together, and the rest of the invitation process went very quickly and smoothly. For some reason, the men of the group seemed to come and go (go figure), and their jobs were mainly providing music, sticking on stamps, or sealing envelopes! However, we couldn’t have done it without them- I love the men in my life!
On a different note, we had our very first wedding shower two weeks ago! It was a blast! I had four sweet hostesses who had the fabulous idea to make classy looking “Evites” (invitations by email- one great way to go green!) for all 80 people on my shower list, they made a wonderful spaghetti dinner for everyone who came, and decorated using my wedding colors- black, white, with red accents! Minor detail/heads up for showers you may have: only about 30 people came to the shower, so inviting 80 people wasn’t so crazy after all. While my fiancé and I felt very honored and loved having the shower thrown for us, we were also realizing the adjustment it takes to being in the spotlight. While I was eating up all of the attention, my fiancé made sure to divert as much attention as he could off himself. We complement each other very nicely!
Things are really starting to get exciting! Not only am I getting multiple emails daily of people RSVPing to my website, but the wedding festivities have really begun! As a bride with less than two months to go, here is a short version of my wedding schedule for the next couple of weeks:
- lingerie shower is tomorrow (yes!)
- cake-tasting is in two days (yum!)
- practice hair appointment is next Tuesday (I booked my stylist 2 days ago by the way!)
- hair appointment/bridal portraits are next Thursday
- hunt for wedding jewelry and gifts for my bridesmaids and shower hostesses
- pick out tuxes with/for my groom and his groomsmen (we are just a little behind on this one!)
- book my week of/day of coordinator (maybe a little behind on this one too..., no worries!)
- fly to Florida with my fiancé at the end of May to prepare our future house!
With so much going on, I want to share with you a very special piece of advice I received from a newly-wedded friend shortly after I got engaged- over eight months ago: “Plan more for your marriage than you do for your wedding day.” My fiancé and I have worked hard to remember this wise advice. Our relationship is growing deeper and stronger, and our excitement to be married to each other is growing with each day.
I am a very busy, but very happy bride.
