My Wedding According to "The Knot"

According to "The Knot" I have 143 things left to do and 12 of them are "overdue." Let's take a look, shall we, and see how much of a slacker I've been...

(Sorry this is so hard to read...)

The Knot makes it sound like such a big deal to be behind and stuff but some of their notices are kind of vague and I'm really unsure of when to check them off. for instance:

- #1 I have the caterer pretty much booked and we plan to send our deposit in this week, pending return email from caterer.

- #2 & #7 I've looked at some DJ services but they're expensive so I'm trying to find a friend to do this since all I need is someone to play an iPod and make announcements. (I'll prob check off 2).

- #3 & #5 I haven't actually decided if I want a florist yet, but I'm leaning toward doing it myself. (Again, I'll prob check off 3). 

- #4 Well, I know there are no requirements since our preacher-man is a friend of ours, but we haven't actually talked to him about what we'd like. But it's super informal so I'm sure it's not a big deal

- #6 We're working on it, we decided on a location and at least have the timeshare ready to be booked. Then we need 2 other hotels and airfare. And we don't have money yet to book airfare though I agree that we should start looking.

- #8 Why yes, I have thought about it, thanks. Though I haven't researched it, but I'm sure I could get that done in a day.

- #9 Registry is in the process of being filled out, but is it ever really done? We're registered at Crate and Barrel, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Peppercorn. Yay!

- #10 Yes, I do need to do this. Most of my BrMs have their dresses, but I need to talk to a few and also Math's girls.

- #11 We've only sorta started looking at this. We're conflicted because it's looking like the rehearsal dinner is going to be about 1/2 the size of the wedding...eeek!

- #12 Invitation wording already?! I JUST got the Save the Dates out less than a month ago! What are they smoking?

It's a good perspective and is helpful to have a list of things to do, but I think their estimates are little bit  too generous (or non-generous depending on how you look at it). Also, there are things that I want to do that aren't on there yet, so I should probably add them.

Gah...way to kill my "productive good feeling", The Knot...

Whew...this bride doesn't mess around!

Since I last updated I have booked two major things:

1). Caterer:
YES!!  We've unofficially booked the caterer and they have been generous enough to let us pay the deposit after the holidays!  I still need to fill out the official contract as well but we have till Jan 16th or so to do that.  Woohoo!  They are called Footers Catering  and are located in Denver, CO.  Unfortunately, the price is better than most I've seen but still when you factor in the # of guests that I'm expecting, it's still a lot of money.  But food-wise it comes to ~$23.00pp.  When you add in rentals of tables, chairs, plates, silverware and all that shit, it's more like around $52.00pp.  Which, is really REALLY not bad.

Plus, the food was really great!  We're going to have apps, like mushroom quesedillas w/ pesto and 2 stations: Pad Thai and Crepes.  I don't want to give too much detail because you'll have to come to find out what all the yummy choices are, but I will say that it is about 75% vegetarian.  Only 1 app, 1 soup and then mix-ins for the stations will have meat in them.  (For the stations, you can elect to just not have meat but can still eat the whole rest of the stuff in it). =)

2). Photographer:
We've found a great local photographer courtesy of on of my high school friends.  He's a young photographer just starting out, but with some wedding experience already.  He's got a great eye for light and effects and is a great price!  He is also letting us put down the deposit in January, which save us for the holidays. ^_^

His name is Chase Hoffman, and he's charging us $800 for the whole wedding from before to after and for ALL our good pics on a DVD.  Amazing rates.  I'd highly suggest you check him out, though he did say that he was planning to raise his prices a bit.  But still a great deal, I'm guessing.  And also a great person to work with. :)

3). Videographer: I have enlisted a friend of mine to do the videography-ing.  The "cheapest" videographers I've found  were $700-$900 and, I'm sorry, but that's just way too much to hold a camera and ask people to give their best wishes to the bride and groom. And since we have all the equipment and Math is great at making videos, we decided that all we really needed was someone to hold the camera.  And yes, we ARE paying him like $200. Plus, I think he will do a very great job.  He's an architect (methodical) and also very people-persony. Whew...cross that off the checklist!

4). Hotel: My mom booked a block of rooms at the Westin Downtown. Rooms are normally like $200/night but she got a deal of like $130 or something like that.  I made a VERY extensive list of details and things to do on our wedding website. So please go check it out, don't let my efforts and roughly 2 1/2 hours of my life go to waste!!  I still need to research cheaper downtown hotels for those who can't/won't afford the Westin. Though I hear that it's a very nice hotel! We'd love for all our friends to stay downtown and join us for brunch the next morning. There's nothing like the party that keeps on giving. ;-)

I still have to find a DJ. Ours was supposed to be an employee from The Artwork Network, but he is no longer working there and the owner didn't give me his contact info so I'm guessing he left on not-so-great terms.  So, that leaves us w/o a DJ so the same applies as above. We will pay you ~$200 to monitor our iPod playlist, make sure stuff cues on time and make important announcements.

I'm also still looking for a florist/deciding if I WANT a florist. I have a couple contacts, but they wanted to wait until after the holidays, which is totally understandable.

We're getting close to having all the big stuff done. Yay!  After that, the fun stuff will start.

Minus 1 Anniversary

I didn't have time to write this the other day so I'm writing up my notes from a few days ago.

July 14, 2011

Well, it's exactly a year until the wedding (366 days to be precise, 2012 is a leap year!). Today we went to a Rockies game (vs. Milwaukee Brewers). We had these sweet club level seats given to us by Math's parents who have season tickets.The Rockies won 12-3. So woo! Afterward we went out with Zibo to a few bars in downtown and I got accidentally drunk off of free ladies' drinks. But Math was a perfect gentleman and made sure we got off the right bus stop while I slept, let me into his office on campus to pee on our walk home and went with me to King Stoopids to buy Gatorade. It definitely reminded me of why I'm marrying him!

So now that I'm officially in the "wedding timeframe" of The Knot (no longer am I the "more" in "12 months or more") I figure that now I should get my ass in gear and start doing more stuff. Booking the venue got one monkey off my back, but also kind of put me in an accomplishment high. However, now I should probably start looking at things like caterers, the officiant (I think we know who this'll be), photographers and all the things that The Knot tells me I need. Oh and work on the guest list. Oh dear God.....the guest list....I have to compile a list of 250 mailing addresses and emails in a format from which I'll be able to make labels later. Please kill me...

But caterers are going to be fun. Once I get over the shock of how much it's going to cost, I think tastings will be exciting. Menu planning too....but knowing me, I'll probably want more than I can afford.:-/ Such is life when you're Lyndsie.

Photographers....not so much fun, except for the fact that all the ones I have in que so far are friends or friends of friends. That'll be cool - I'd definitely rather know my money is going to a friend.

Oh and we need to decide if we want to actually have a string quartet playing Radiohead for the pre and post ceremony. That's part of the issue - getting Math to decide on stuff without him thinking that it's too early. =P

Dance lessons....I have no idea how long it's going to take Math to get some rhythm so we should probably start earlier rather than later. Hehe I can say that because he never reads these anyway. ;-)

Honeymoon - the plan is to do a 7 night cruise then 6 nights or so in a timeshare with friends. Apparently cruises you need to book a year in advance so we have to look at that too. And pricing is important so we knwo how much we should save. Though, that's going to be hard lol. Yay credit cards. And honestly, I don't care if I get debt for this. It's a once in a lifetime thing. Fo sho!

Also, I'm thinking about getting Lasik. I'd love to have it before the wedding and honeymoon, but I don't know if I can afford it by then. It's SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE!  I need to pay off my entire credit card and then we can talk. My goal is January. But I also want an iPod Touch...decisions...haha!


Well my laptop is about to die so this will have to be a 2-part post.  Part two coming soon!