Same New Bliss

What's weird is that the whole 'wedding bliss' thing doesn't feel any different from any other day. We're always like this :)

Planning has begun and we've already secured our locations, thankfully. We got right on top of that as soon as we came back in town from visiting my parents for Thanksgiving. It took us just about 2 weeks to come up with a guest list, plan who's doing what as far as personnel, figure out ballpark total costs and secure both event venues. Pretty good I might say, for those who don't believe planning weddings in short time periods can be done...

√ Locations
We looked at 2-3 other places for each ceremony and reception venues before choosing. Both locations will be atop the beautiful Lookout Mountain. The church we found is Lookout Mountain United Methodist, which is small, simple, old and quaint. We loved it. Plus the pastor/wedding coordinator there is very knowledgeable and helpful. The reception will be at the pavilion at Rock City, less than a mile from the church. It's so gorgeous there. You can see 7 states from the cliff lookout. I'm excited to have the party outside, I always thought it would be neat to do so, even though I was never one of those girls who planed their wedding from the age of 10 or something. I did imagine once that after being pronounced man and wife, we would swing out of the church on a rope like Indiana Jones...

√ The Dress (this paragraph is Jonathan-Safe)
Over Thanksgiving my mom and I went shopping for dress fabric. I was impressed by the selection Jackman Fabrics had.. and we found the perfect fabrics! Once we did, I had a huge feeling of relief about this project, and I knew that it was going to come together exactly how I'd imagined it to. I've also found a new pattern to use, and have completed a mock up. I'm ready to start the final thing, whenever I get the gumption to dive in...and whenever I have a good chunk of time when I know Jonathan won't pop by while I have it all laid out on the floor. Gosh I really wish I had a real sewing table, rather than a tv tray table, heh.

√ Materials
I finished the Save the Date card design, which will be mailed as soon as I can gather all of the out of towners' addresses. We're also putting together a wedsite, if you will, containing useful information for guests and family. It's not complete yet, but it'll be listed on the Save the Date card for your reference. I'm happy with how it's turning out.

There are a lot of details that come with all of this big-event planning. It's not stressful to me, though. I'm used to multitasking and managing tedious projects because it's the nature of my work field. I'm also not getting caught up in the planning and focusing too much on the event and not the marriage, duh. It does however take a lot of attention. Tasks don't accomplish themselves if you don't attend to things, another duh.

I asked Mia to be my flower girl. She's so funny, and the most adorable red-headed 6 year old ever. For the past month every time she saw me she asked, "Has Jon asked you to marry him yet!?" No, I would say. But yesterday after church I told her I had some news! Jon had asked. She had a huge grin. "And I have a question for you, Mia.. would you like to be my flower girl?" Her eyes lit up with an even bigger grin, "Yeeeaah!!!" I told her what she'll do basically, and that I picked out a really cute dress for her to wear. She's going to be great, a little actress at heart too.

And Christmas, Oh Yeah!
All the projects and tasks we've been working on makes time fly so crazy! I can't believe it's already Christmastime again. On Christmas Eve we are heading to Huntsville/Nashville/Huntsville to spend the holidays with the Meeks/Overbeys. I'm looking forward to meeting this bunch, they sound like fun. Jonathan and I are doing our Christmas on, oh yeah tomorrow! I've been torturing him with extremely vague and misleading hints about the gift I got for him. It's extremely entertaining to totally confuse him. You'll find out tomorrow! As Nathan says (because he knows what it is) "You're going to poop your pants when you see what she got you." And you will, figuratively.