Anyone ever heard of this phenomenon?

It's a little thing called "Dress Anxiety" and I think I have discovered this new and terrifying term this week in a not so fun way.  I had my dress fitting Sunday, supposedly my final fitting, but the dress wasn't ready.  No biggie except when I put it on, the thing fit different than I remembered.  Is this all in my head, or has my trainer/torturer Nicole changed something in my body shape.  My slightly curvy (I like to say voluptuous) figure that seemed to look great in the dress when I bought it, seems to not fill it out quite the same anymore...
Do I screw the training and eat oreos and pizza until the wedding?  Nicole and I think not.  Do I get the dress adjusted some for my hopefully even slimmer profile by the wedding?  Or is this all a big subconscious ploy of my glutton for punishment brain to make me second guess my dress??  I've seen this on "say yes to the dress" and it never works out the same; one girl got a new dress and one just tweaked hers a little.  Oh what I wouldn't give for Randy to pick out my dress...
I love my dress, right?  I tried on others and kept going back to this one, right?  Surely I can adjust this dress to fit the way I want, right?!?  I can't stop thinking about this and I'm not sure what to do.  I'm thinking I need to go to the store and try on my dress again to see what the hell I'm talking about~ they have to let me even though its in alterations, right?
And why do I feel like every post is a "freak out" post and not an actual update?  I hope this doesn't become a pattern...

Not much new here in wedding land

Hi all~ thought I would check in but I don't really have any updates.  Had my second fitting today, which was fairly uneventful as my dress wasn't ready to take home yet...And I can't post pics because Sean looks on here, so no fun visuals or anything either!  Yeah I'm boring today.  We decided on which of my 2 pairs of earrings I will wear (the bigger blingy ones won out) and which veil I will wear (the simple longer one won out here) so that was good to have those decisions out of the way.

 Everything fits well, maybe a little looser at the top than it used to be which  is good but worries me slightly.  Don't get me wrong, I want to slim down, but not too much cause I don't want to play around with my dress too much more!  Brings me back to my original idea of switching out the zipper to a corset tie back; that way it has some room for adjusting (and can be tightened to help me suck it all in!) =)  My plan is to wait another month and if I feel like I may need it changed, my next fitting in the first week of May and I can figure it out then.  Talk about waiting till the last minute~ I'm sure I will be freaking out if it really has to happen less than 6 weeks from the wedding, but no use worrying about it yet, right????

And I just realized our invites will mail out in about 3 weeks~ ALREADY?!?  Yeah I gotta finish those babies....And we have got to get together for another project night sometime, as I still feel like there are a million things to do.  Mad rush at the beginning and then a huge lull~ gotta start back up again soon!

Somebody PLEASE remind me!

Please remind me that there is no need to go crazy over the paper not matching and that it is not the end of the world if one flower is folded crooked.  Please remind me that this is a celebration and that I'm supposed to be excited to have fun and not stressed about the details.  Please remind me that the wedding photos are still just pictures and 99% of them will be stored away in an album forever anyways, even though everyone says they are all you have left.
 I will have more left~ I will have my husband.  If I have a hair out of place, or not perfect makeup, it doesn't matter and I'm probably the only one who will notice.  No one will see the quartz paper isn't exactly the same as the opal, even though they are both white.  No one will remember if there is any decoration on the pews at the church and no one will care if I don't have extra bling on my belly band for the invitation.
Why does it seem like 3 months isn't enough time to find a dress for the rehearsal dinner and have my hair/makeup trial, and learn our first dance?  
I am trying to figure out why I've been so anxious about this whole thing and I can't explain it.  I've learned after planning Nico's parties that I like planning and personalizing parties to who we are.  I guess that's what I want to do with the wedding.  I want it to be beautiful and fun and unique, but most of all I want it to be an extension of who we are.  Since we are pretty boring (some would say modern, some say lazy) people in general, I guess I need to work on minimizing the excess.
  Am I going to be more laid back now that I've realized this?  Probably not.  But Please remind me of this when I am freaking out.  

Drumroll Please

Introducing our table mockup:

Ok- Yes my camera blows, and no, these aren't the squares (they are the runners) and yes, there are supposed to be hydrangeas on top of each empty glass holder...But still- its a mockup =)  Notice the black satin overlay with the awesome purple runner =)  Ok, so it's a rough mockup, but you get the idea!  And here is a pic with the white vases (which I've found the rest of by the way~ so I have over 20 now just in case I break any or something crazy!):

This shows a better idea of the table size as well as the lovely chairs we will not be putting chair covers on...And I'm not bitter at all about that...
Once again, you'll notice not every vase has the paper flowers in it, but I was already lugging this box into giovanni's to the tasting, so I had to bring as little as possible!  Here is a better pic of the chairs:

I swear they are blue in the ballroom, but the worker swears they are the same as these, so at least they are purple...trying to make myself ok with them, so humor me!

Now both of these pics have my votives with the damask, but the venue provides plain votives pictured here:   

I threw one of everything in this pic, but it won't really be that mixed up!  Which candles do you think look best?  I guess if I use both styles, it might look too busy and have too much around the candy for people to get to...My plan is to get some hydrangeas before the next walkthrough , along with having everything else ready to put on the table,so I can actually have all the pieces and play around with it some more.  Hopefully I can make up my mind by then!  

Any opinions?

"don't let the details become bigger than the purpose"

This is my newest post it note by my computer (attached right under my screen actually).  Pretty self explanatory I think =)  In my mess around my desk, and the whole house recently, this is one note I'm going to keep up so I can remember it.  I kinda feel like that's what this whole wedding is becoming; just me working on 50 thousand details and completely losing sight of the reason for the whole thing in the first place!  And believe it or not, this little post it note with a quote (I found randomly on one of the many wedding blogs I check regularly) is helping keep me grounded.

On that note, I'd like to share news about a HUGE meeting we had with Giovanni's today~ our tasting!  I wasn't sure what to expect or how they were going to serve anything, but I came armed with my gigantor wedding binder as well as a box of pieces for the table setup so I could play around with how the centerpieces and overlays would look (more on that later!).
I didn't get any pics, so you'll have to believe me when I say almost everything was YUMMY =)  I searched to find good internet representations for your viewing pleasure:

First off, the sausage puff (will actually be italian sausage so much better than this pic, but you get the idea!

Next is the crab cake, which Sean knew he wanted before we even tasted:

Then we tried this fancy sounding pastry filled with things I didn't think I would like, but actually turned out delicious: called a spanakopita (or as Nico called it: spankopita!)  :

The next choice was mine and most likely mine alone, but it had to be done.  We are officially serving mini grilled cheese during cocktail hour: 

Oh Yeah~ totally perfect as I could eat grilled cheese every day =)
They will be mini triangles, like if you cut it into quarters at an angle (just like I do for Nico!) and just like my grandma always did for me....Wish I could get grandma's grilled cheese for the reception but I don't think that would work...

Then we moved onto entrees, and without tempting you with our non-choices, I'll let you know what we ended up with as our main course:

Actually a horrible pic, but once again it is all I could find quickly~ chicken de jonghe, ours has one bone sticking out fancy like and a good sauce drizzle too =)  It was the favorite by far, so it won even though I thought for sure the fish would be better (other options included chicken marsala (my usual fav) and crab stuffed orange roughy (Sean's original fav)!)   Along with that will be the julienne veggies:

 And roasted red potatoes:

So what do you think?  Are you as hungry as I am??

Anything new?

Strangely, I feel like my updates are about less and less actually getting done~ but yet I feel so much busier every day!  I came across one solution to my problem with the paper flowers, and the answer may lie in yet another form of paper flower.  This one much easier and quicker I swear!
So I was searching through "aisle decor" and "per decor" and such for inspiration and its amazing how few options there really are to go non flowers and non bows.  The majority of images were of pomander balls, which I have to admit I had never heard of before wedding planning so don't feel bad if you have no clue what these are!  The paper flowers that were going to be a ball (but now may be reception decor) could be one form of a pomander of sorts, but many are made with flowers, either real or silk.  These babies can get expensive!  I saw everywhere from around $10 to $60 just for the fake flower ones~ and theres no way I can justify that on aisle decor for the church!  Enter the tissue paper flower pomander.  Here is my first attempt (or I guess I should say my second since I took the first one apart...:

Now this was SO much quicker, but I'm still unsure if I like the look of it.  My plan is to bring the finished product to the church when we meet with the musician next week and just try it out and see what I think.  I feel like it's missing something~ and I did add one rhinestone inside each paper flower, but they just seem kinda blah~ what do you think??
I am also debating ivory tissue paper with purple ribbon to maybe alternate or just throw a few small ivory ones in the mix...Maybe I just need to shell out the money and buy some made with silk flowers.  At least it won't look like a big ball of paper...

I'm sure the UPS man is getting very tired of coming to my door but we got yet another package a few days ago, something rather small and insignificant in the scheme of things, but I still love it and am super pumped:

It's our guest book pen.  Yep with a huge black ostrich feather on it!  Ha- completely unnecessary but totally worth it. =)  Makes me smile just to see it








  I've had to take time to work on Nico's upcoming birthday parties (thats right I said parties as in he is having 2!) so hopefully more to come later!

Now....

Okay now that I am moved in and mostly unpacked, but stealing internet still I can check the site. I think another day is in order for us to pow-wow together instead of via blog. I'm basically free anytime I have to coach some nights but am always free after 6(except mon when I have yoga) hah I'm doing my share for the weight loss-no back fat- pictures too. The vases are cute, I think they will work. I hear you about not finishing flowers we have a ton still. Let me know anytime I'm needed I will come help!!

Decisions, decisions

First things first, I keep changing my mind and need some opinions please!
I've posted pics of the generic table mockup, so you have an idea of what I'm thinking...Here's the deal~ I'm estimating 20 guest tables, and these are the huge 10 person tables so I need a centerpiece that won't get too lost, right?  Half the tables will have the 8-10 inch cake on a stand and the plan was to have the square cube vase under to hold the hydrangea and everything.  Then the other 10 tables have the giant vases/jars of candy with candles and/or hydrangeas around that.  Problem?  It's me so of course!
  First, I only have around 35 of the squares.  This is of course after deciding I wanted to put 3 of these on the tables (or at least the tables with cake).  So either there are no flowers on the candy tables or I have to come up with another 30 of those holders which are conveniently no longer sold at the dollar store (cause I checked!)
Enter solution number 1:

A small white vase with Love in purple~ totally perfect and I bought all they had (only 6 of them!) =( Guess where I found these babies?  Target, in the dollar aisles of course~ so love them even more!  Want to see what I did with it (just a mockup, not complete or anything!):

Remember the paper flowers for the aisle decor at the church??  Well the church may just have to go undecorated cause I don't know if we can make another million of them- which I still haven't finished enough for even the church yet  (kindof joking, kindof serious here...the church is really beautiful all on its own...)!!  As for the mockup above,  I glued a rhinestone in the center and stole a few of Nico's pipe cleaners to use as stems and those were SO easy, they just slide right in the middle with no glue or anything!

So- the question is~ do I use the cube/hydrangea combo for the cake tables or the candy tables and this white vase/paper flower combo for the other?  Or is there some awesome idea I am completely missing here that should be done?

Option 2-  I have a TON of glass jars and containers for candy, so do I scratch the whole idea of the cakes on the tables and just put candy as all the centerpieces?  I'm feeling like if I am mixing and matching the hydrangeas with the paper flowers it might be too much to mix and match the cake/candy also...What do you guys think?? I'm on overload and can't seem to make a decision!!!  Also, if you ladies wouldn't mind hitting up your local target for these white vases, I will reimburse and pay shipping and everything if needed!!  I would need at least 24 more I think...

As for other news, I had these pics on my camera the night I was playing around with the flowers and just had to share them.  This is how Nico terrorizes our poor dog Sophie:

Top picture is Nico's toy that has velcro arms and legs that he wrapped around Sophie and she kept growling at the poor stuffed toy!  2nd picture is Nico putting popcorn on top of Sean's head knowing Sophie would climb on him to get it.  Yep, that's popcorn sitting on his head...And Nico wonders why Sophie doesn't like him!  =)




But I'm wandering~ back to a few new things that I'm super excited about:

Ordered these for the boys (Connor, Nico, and Zach) with this awesome fabric I found~ if you look close you will see it is a damask print with a rock and roll mixture of guitars and speakers and what not, but thats not even the best part.  Look at what's inside

Its got crayons and a pad of paper stashed inside.  I almost want one for myself!  Think they will like it??  

I have a few more pics, but I'm thinking this is long and I really want feedback on the centerpieces and what you guys think, so I'll save the rest for another day =)  

I'm going to be...

a buff bride!
No, seriously, you think I'm joking?!?  =)  I have realized I am completely letting myself go.  Pants are fitting a little bit tighter, my bra is even less comfortable, and I'm stressing about how my arms are going to look in my dress.  Will anyone else notice my arms or the back fat I feel I have when I wear my dress?  Probably not, but I will and I don't want to have to deal with seeing that in 80 million pictures after the wedding!  So I have a plan, and her name is Nicole.
Everyone, please meet Nicole:

She would probably drop me immediately for posting her pic, but shes got it on her website, so it's not like she was hiding it =)
Who is Nicole, you may be asking by now~ well she is my new personal trainer.  Yep, I signed up this morning for a 12 week session of 3 day a week workouts one on one with either Nicole or her equally buff husband.  She's really awesome and is completely flexible with my schedule.  Even said I can bring Nico if I need as long as he entertains himself and doesn't A-screw up my workout or B- play on the equipment =)

I start tomorrow with a complete evaluation, which means, weight, measurement, and pictures (UGH)~ but then the workout begins and hopefully much better pictures in my future!! Though I will never rival Nicole's picture, I am looking forward to some much needed stress relief as well as taking care of myself and hopefully getting rid of the back fat issue =)
And the second best part?  Sean gets to do this with me (if timing works out!) So he will get the same eval and can join me for workouts and go on his own 1 day too.  I don't have a buff bride and buff groom picture...

anything...

that can be shipped to me that i can help with?