So, as previously mentioned, Jesse and I have decided to honeymoon in a lovely place that looks tranquil, beautiful, and luxurious, called Virgin Gordo in the British Virgin Islands. We will be staying at Little Dix Bay Resort for 7 days, and are looking very forward to the trip, even now with 7 months to go before we leave! Since Jesse’s work is kind of stinky about how time off is taken, we will be having our wedding, and then heading back to work the Monday after, not taking off for our honeymoon until the Monday after that (i.e. Nov. 5th). This actually works out pretty well, I think. This way, we can celebrate Halloween here in town (which is always fun for me and him…we like passing out candy to kids, and I like dressing up for work and everything. Ooh! He gets to dress up for work this year, too, if he wants! Last year, Halloween fell on a day off for him, so there wasn’t any point. Um, don’t ask me where this Halloween tangent came from. My mind is still trying to adjust to that damned daylight savings crap we had happen this past weekend…), and rest a bit after the wedding, and the dog doesn’t have to be in boarding for such a long amount of time successively. She really misses us when she gets boarded. (And we really miss her too, we’ve found!)

As you can see in the post prior to this, I’ve shared the news that the bridesmaid dresses have been found, and all bridesmaids are making their efforts to get measurements and sizes to the matron of honor (who is currently searching for a new title, since she hates the way “matron” sounds…I told her it’s her own darned fault for getting married before me, but whatever! Any suggestions on new title for the “matron of honor” are being accepted in the comments section of this post…), so we can get them all ordered and on their way to us ASAP! All girls seem very happy with the choice, which makes me happy as well! It’s a very pretty dress…

Since we’ve found the dress, we have a very solid idea of what we will be doing for tuxes. They’ll be black, and then the groomsmen and the ushers will wear a “truffle” colored vest and tie, while Jesse will wear a “champagne” colored vest and tie. We’re planning on checking out tuxes in April or so, which is pretty well on track with the checklist from The Knot. Is it bad that I use that thing as a wedding bible these days? Thank goodness for little helps like that checklist!

Last night, Jesse and I met with a florist to discuss the ideas we have for decoration, bouquets, boutonnieres, and all that good stuff. After an initial issue with time management (we had agreed to meet at 6 p.m., and she thought we had said 6:30), we sat down and got to work, and I really wound up liking her a lot! She was very happy with the design I’m drawn to for our centerpieces, and said that since she’d like to have something like that in her own portfolio to show to future clients, she’d be willing to give us a discount on them, even…which will be nice, but since I don’t have any frame of reference, she could just SAY she’s giving us a discount when really she’s charging a normal price for them, so whatever. I don’t care. We’ve chosen roses for our flower, and will not be varying from that except in my bouquet and the bridesmaids’ bouquets, so that should keep costs down to a certain point. Since my Twin has given me a certain spectrum of costs for things, we’ll have to see if this chick we met with can stick anywhere near the idea I have. I didn’t mention any numbers last night, but I’m expecting the proposal to come in a day or two, and then we’ll have something to work from.

I’m not going to mention any of the design ideas out here, though, so I’m sorry! I want some things to remain a surprise for most of the guests, so it won’t take away from their experience of seeing it all for the first time when they see me walking down the aisle/when they walk into the reception/etc…

As on track as things may seem, I’m feeling more and more like it might be time to call a coordinator for some help on things. I certainly want to make sure we get the best help we can for that day, so setting that in stone right now wouldn’t hurt at all, I’d think. And then if I need help with stuff like finding the right kid-sitter for the reception (and possibly for the Thursday and Friday night before the wedding, too), and getting that section of the party set up perfectly, I can rely on someone who has more expertise than I do with finding that sort of “vendor” here in town. But I want to wait until after we meet with the caterers to discuss options they have for bringing in rental furniture, and seeing about having a buffet of kid-type food for the kids available in their little area, and all. Hopefully, we’ll be meeting with them in a couple of weeks. I need to take next week OFF from wedding meetings!

More to come in updates this week…Jesse and I went to our Catholic Engaged Encounter weekend this past week, and I would love to chat about the experience out here. Probably tomorrow or Friday…we’ll see what the work schedule does.

Happy Wednesday!