I Found My Purse

I have been looking for a cute & fun purse that I could use for the wedding day. I didn't necessarily want something white; my ideal would be a fuschia-pink color.

I finally found it! Not only is it pink, but it looks glitter-covered - without the glitter being able to fall off everywhere because the tiny sequins are in the fabric - AND the inside is a blue/teal color that's very similar to the bridesmaid dresses. It has spots for my credit cards, ID & money (just in case) and can hold everything I think I'll need: makeup (for touch-ups), kleenex, a camera, my phone and some other small emergency kit items. I couldn't not buy it!

With the day off today, we're planning on running 8 miles, working on some projects around the house and I'll hopefully get some more of the ceremony planned out. I love days off.

-Lisa

Two Thousand Twelve

Yep: 2-0-1-2. That means it's officially our wedding year... AHHHH!

There are a lot of things to look forward to this year: both sides of parents coming to visit in January, trips to both St. Louis and Cleveland (dates - tbd), bridal showers, a bachelor/bachelorette trip to Vegas, the rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony, wedding reception & our all-inclusive honeymoon to Jamaica! There's also already one wedding to attend on the books, and at least one of our friends will be having a baby. Who knows who else will be getting engaged, married and/or pregnant.

It's still weird to me to know that our friends and us are at that point in our lives. It's always seemed like that point was so far away, but knowing that it's actually closer to the near future than the far future is kind of scary - but pretty darn exciting.

Happy New Year to everyone!

-Lisa

BBQ Decision & Browns Game

I'm going to rewind a little bit to a few weeks ago. Mr. Sweeney came out to visit, and we went to Texas BBQ House & Bobby Q's to do some BBQ tasting.

There's no arguing that Bobby Q's has really good food, but we had a unanimous winner...

The taste of the food, the personality of the restaurant (if there is such a thing) and the proximity to Patrick's house all contributed to the win. As long as they come back with the right information, prices and details, we'll have them as the caterer for our Rehearsal Dinner!

Over the weekend, we also went tailgating before- and attended the Browns/Cardinals football game. The seats were amazing, and although the weather was cold/rainy AND the Browns lost a heartbreaker, it was a really good game and I had a lot of fun.

The guys frying up some food

Alicia, Mal & Mandy TRYING to stay warm

A double rainbow!

View from our seats

I hope that everyone has a great New Year's weekend and enjoys the remaining day and a half of 2011.

-Lisa

Alterations Planning

My dress is scheduled to arrive in the next couple weeks, so I decided it was time to figure out the seamstress to do my alterations. I was disappointed by the reviews of the seamstress that's a part of the shop where I bought my dress, so I ruled her out quickly.

I did some further research online tonight... I had planned on using the same lady that did Mandy's alterations - b/c she did an incredible job - but apparently the shop is closed! I tried calling, and the # is not in service. Then, I read that yelp.com says that they closed their doors in June. Neeeeext!

The Knot has local message boards, and I read many reviews of people/companies that do alterations around the valley. One name kept popping up (b/c of her good reputation on quality of work and price), so I sent her an email to get the ball rolling. I'm hoping to have my first fitting when both moms are here in a month, so fingers are crossed that the date works. If not, they should be able to see the dress anyway!

It's crazy to think that I tried on the dress about 6 months ago, and we're so close to it being here.

I've received word that the main details for the bachelor/bachelorette trip to Vegas are coming together... and when I say that, I mean the date and the hotel. I've been kept out of the main conversation about details, but from what I heard yesterday, I'm now getting REALLY excited.

-Lisa

150 DAYS

We're under the 5 month mark now AND down to 150 days til the wedding!

I've been working on the wording for the ceremony, and I think that's going to be a much tougher task than I thought. There are so many variables and different ways it can be put together. I want to make it personalized and really special for the two of us, but also make it enjoyable/special for all the guests. I'm enjoying it and know it'll eventually come together. It'll probably wind up being fantastic, but as of now: it's a rough work in progress.

A draft for the programs is also in the works, so if anyone has unique requests/suggestions of things to include on there, let me know!

-Lisa

We'll Have Live Music!

Earlier this week, we met with Eily from Sweetwater Strings. She's the owner and one of the musicians... she was very nice, and is also Irish with red hair.

After taking time to think/talk it out, listen to song samples from various combinations of instruments and get some suggestions from Mr. Sweeney, we're going to have a guitarist and a violinist for the ceremony.

We're really excited about it and are almost halfway through figuring out the songs we want to be played. Patrick and I have a lot in common, but our tastes in music are definitely not identical! We both have come up with songs that the other isn't a fan of, so who knows which songs we'll end up with... It's a fun process though!

We'll have our DJ for the Cocktail Hour (or "Happy Hour" as Patrick wants it to be called) and the Reception, and going through the songs that will - or will not - sound good as instrumentals is helping us to get the list together for the DJ, too.

I'm pretty sure that the only big thing we need to check off the list is the baker. We've met with one already, and we have a tasting set up with a second option on January 5th. We should be able to decide which one we want to go with pretty quickly after that.

-Lisa

Ready for Christmas

We've spent the last couple evenings decorating our trees (yes, treeS - the dogs have one of their own) & Patrick's house. We had some luck finding red ornaments & tinsel garland tonight, so that added the final touches.

We'll be spending Christmas Day at Mandy and Mal's house, but this house is now officially ready for Santa. Merrrry Christmas!

-Lisa