The Jewelry Party with Crystal

Last Saturday, the bridesmaids surprised me again! This time it was a bridal shower! About a week earlier, Crystal had emailed me to ask me to go with her to a "Charity Jewelry" party and then shopping and dinner on Saturday, August 16th. I was so excited about the party and shopping, but we had already scheduled a meeting with the Deacon to plan our ceremony that day. So, with much prodding from Ryan, I emailed the Deacon to ask him if we could reschedule our meeting. No problem. The meeting was rescheduled, and I was all set to go to the jewelry party and go shopping with Crystal. I honestly didn't think anything of this, just that it would be fun to hang out with her. That week, I had my first dress fitting, and Linda and Crystal were kind enough to join me - what fun!! Ryan and I also had our traditional "last supper" with Stacey (my niece) before she heads back to college. As the week went on, I began to get suspicious of this supposed jewelry party. Not only was this Stacey's last weekend at home before going back to school, but I also knew that Melissa (another bridesmaid) was coming to MD the same weekend to look at some reception venues for her own wedding. I woke up at 2:30am on Thursday night with a revelation that my bridal shower was going to be that Saturday. I could not have been more excited, but it was killing me that I couldn't talk to any of my friends about it! I did tell Ryan my suspicions on Friday night, but he just played dumb and acted like he knew nothing about it. On Saturday, I headed to Crystal's house and when I got there, everyone was patiently waiting for me (I was running late) to surprise me! So exciting!! Everything was beautifully decorated, the spread of food was awesome, and of course there were lots of yummy desserts and favors! In addition to all that, everyone completely spoiled me (and Ryan) with amazing gifts. I really don't think I have laughed or smiled that much in a long time (aside from the bachelorette party)! Thanks to Crystal for hosting such a great party and to the bridesmaids (including Crystal) for thinking of everything! I know I say this often, but I am truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends to celebrate with! Only 28 days to go until the wedding... But who is counting!! See below for a slideshow of the highlights from the bridal shower.

The Countdown Begins

We are at the 30-day mark today - the big day is quickly approaching! And, that means a few things...

1) It's starting to feel kind of real now. Yes, I know we have invited people and I have a dress and we've booked a million other things, but for so long I've been saying "We have so much time, we'll get it done." Now, with 30 days left, I'm a little freaked out about how it will all get done. On paper, we don't have much left to do, but it still seems like a lot.
2) If you want to book a hotel room at Pier 5, Admiral Fell Inn, or Brookshire Suites, you have 10 days to do this. The last day that they will accept reservations for the block of rooms that we have reserved for our guests is August 30th.
3) You also have 10 days left to RSVP for the wedding. By now, you all should know how much I love getting mail, so please, please, please send me those RSVP cards! Some of you have told me that you're coming, and I am very excited about that, but with everything else going on, please don't expect me to remember this when it comes time to do the seating chart!

On a different note, my bridesmaids threw me an amazing bridal shower this weekend, and I want to thank them for such a great party and everyone else for coming to the party and for spoiling me (and Ryan) with so many wonderful gifts. There will be a new post shortly with pictures and the story of how they tried to surprise me!

Reminders...

Just wanted to remind everyone to RSVP for the breakfast on Sunday. Please email me if you need Ryan's mom's contact info.

The deadline to reserve a room at the Courtyard under our block of rooms for the discounted rate of $199/night is August 20th. If you would like to stay at the Courtyard, please get those reservations in!

The deadline to reserve a room at Pier 5 Hotel, Admiral Fell Inn, and Brookshire Suites is August 30th.

The Finished Product

Here it is... the finished bookcase.

And, here it is with some books in it... (the bookcase isn't leaning, I just can't take a level picture) We can finally unpack the office!!

A Little Wedding Info...

We mailed the invitations last week, and we've already started receiving RSVP's. I absolutely love getting mail so my favorite part of the day is coming home and checking the mail to see who has replied. In the invitations, there should be an invite to breakfast on Sunday. The time on the breakfast invite is 9:30am - 11:30am, but this is going to be more of an "open house", so if you wake up on Sunday and just don't feel like getting there right at 9:30am, it's ok. You are welcome to join us anytime you'd like as long as you're there before 11:30am. The wedding website (http://www.chick-lenoirwedding.com) has been updated for this, but I thought I'd put it on the blog as well.

The Bookcase

Here it is, the new bookcase... It still needs to be painted, but I thought I'd share the first picture of the thing that started the whole woodworking craze. I think it looks great!