Another bridesmaid

Today Michelle agreed to be a bridesmaid in my wedding :) Yay :)

Dress Shopping Appointments

October is dress shopping month! My mother is coming down to shop with me twice; on one of those times, Ryan's mother, my sister, and hopefully Ryan's sister-in-law will be coming with us. I'm excited :)

I went to Google Maps, put in my address, and did a search for anything bridal related in the area. Then, I spent this afternoon making appointments.

According to the folks at the JMC Boutique at the mall I usually avoid like the plague, no appointment is necessary. If I want to try on dresses, I can just show up. This seems weird to me, but what do I know? lol

Another place told me that I could come any time to just look at the dresses, but I would need an appointment to try any on. Which is kind of the idea.

I skipped the place with completely terrible reviews. I considered just going to try dresses on - maybe I'd find something I liked, which could then be purchased from somewhere more reputable - but I think there's enough other places to try first.

One place insisted their prices are comparable to all local stores: their dresses start at $1,400. Wow, lol.

End result is that I have 2 appointments for the Sunday (when everyone will be here) and 1 for Saturday (when it will just be my mom.) Efforts continue...

In other news, Ryan and I have started talking registry... Our talk goes like this:

Ryan - As rice cooker?
Me - Yes!
Ryan - We do not need a rice cooker.
Me - Why not?
Ryan - We have a rice cooker. It's called a pot.

Le sigh :)

From the plains to...

My father is not sure whether his real mother will be able to make the wedding, what with riding her pony and fighting the soldiers of the long knives... but I have a feeling she'll make some sort of appearance :)

How Do I Not Have Any Photos?

My cousin has asked me to email her my favorite photo of Ryan and I together.

This should be an easy request.

Except... I don't have any. This is what happens when two camera-phobes live together...

Hopefully Ryan's sister-in-law can take some pictures of the two of us when she comes to visit soon. Then there will actually be proof that we do indeed spend time together, lol.

Ring Troubles

My ring guard is already coming loose... I got the ring in May, got the ring guard put on a few weeks later, now it's September...

If I can't manage to keep a ring guard on for longer than 4 months, the rest of my life is going to be very long :)

Quotes and Families

From Parenthood...

Girl - "Dad, you and Mom, do you have, like, some stupid agreement about not acknowledging each other's flaws?"

Dad - "Yeah, it's called marriage"

...

Speaking of dads, I talked with my dad yesterday and he had an idea for the wedding (obviously.) Will have to see whether it is possible, but so far I like it.

And that's all I can say at this time - it's top secret! :)

...

I heard a woman bad mouthing her daughter-in-law (soon to be ex) the other day. Made me think about how nice it is that Ryan and I both have parents who accept and even seem to like our choices in spouses :) This bodes well, right? :)

Really, really seeing the place

Emailed our point of contact at the wedding location to see if it would be possible for my parents (mother) to view the location. I have already seen it, but I'm the only one.

Received an email back saying they would be happy to set us up with 4 complimentary tickets so we can experience the whole thing.

Um, yes please.

So yay, this should be fun :)

Yay!

Today the pastor emailed me back - and she said yes!

I am pleased. We've talked about other options in case this didn't work out, but I'd much rather be married by a pastor I know, by someone involved in a church I actually attend. It seems so much more meaningful.

So, this is good :)

Websites and Pastors and Dresses, Oh My...

We have a website now: www.theknot.com/ourwedding/kristen___&ryan___. (Insert our last names for the _____.) Please note that I put my name first. I figure if I'm the one changing my last name, I get to be first in the website address :)

Let's see, what else has happened...

I asked my sister to be my maid of honor and she did say yes. Then she told me she's been keeping a tally with her coworkers about how long it would take me to ask, lol. I guess I'm slow :)

I also talked to the new pastor at church about officiating the wedding. I broke the cardinal rule of whatever and said "I have a strange question..." Of course it's not a strange question, but I was nervous, lol. She seems really sweet and she was very nice about it all. She said yes, we could definitely talk about it. Which I think is good. She also said her marriage counseling is longer than most; well, I've never been married before, so I wouldn't know if it was longer or not. So, I guess that is moving in a positive direction. I sent her a detailed email with all my contact information, the location of the wedding, the date, etc. I haven't heard back yet. Ryan says he will believe it when she says a definite yes. Fingers crossed...

(Can I just say, I find the prospect of marriage counseling a little daunting? Ryan is unconcerned, lol. Does anyone know what it actually entails?)

And there is more dress shopping on the horizon! Ryan's family is coming for a visit in October, so we're planning for all the women to go shopping together. This will be my mother, my sister, Ryan's mother, and Ryan's sister-in-law. I make jokes, but I'm actually excited. It's a unique opportunity to drive all of these people crazy with my lack of shopping skills - usually we go one at a time :) I think it'll be fun :)

I want to see more Jessica McClintock dresses. I keep talking about it, but maybe I will actually plan something? We'll see!

What We've Been Up To...

Okay, so I haven't posted during the entire month of August and I can't really say I've accomplished anything either... oops.

Some wedding stuff did happen though!

My friend Anielka and I attempted to go dress shopping together. Except we made plans without thinking to exchange phone numbers and so she couldn't call to say she was running late. It ended up being a bit of a comedy of errors :) End result: I went to my appointment at the little local shop by myself and then we met up and went to David's Bridal together. There, we were told we'd have a 20 minute wait... 1.5 hours later, we gave up and just left :)

I did notice that most of the dresses I liked were by Jessica McClintock. Note to self: look for more Jessica McClintock dresses. (See, that's progress!)

But now, expect more progress, because I've sought Michelle's help with invitations (and flowers, and cake.) She's already put together questionaires and stuff :)