Why hello there

Did you miss me?

First, the confession: I've blown my budget.  This whole exercise, therefore, is a crock.  I realized that unless I cut my wedding down to 50 people, there was no way I could come under $10K, which is both depressing and insane.  Anyway, my dear mother has offered to help me with my poor little wedding by covering anything above my budget while still planning for the same thing: 200 people for ceremony and non-alcoholic cocktail reception + immediate family and wedding party for dinner.

Second, the good news: My bridesmaids all said yes and they've been a big help so far.  We scouted some locations for the ceremony and I decided on Fort Scaur in Somerset because it has some nostalgic sentimental value for me personally and it's got a gorgeous view of the harbor and the sound.  I found a dress!!  I love it, but I won't post a pic though because I don't want my future hubby to see it.  I can tell you that it is an ivory lengha with gold beading and it is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.  I've decided on Lido for the intimate dinner and my fiance and I are going to nail down our menu choices this weekend and I'll hand in the deposit on Monday.  He's realllly excited about the menu.  My bridesmaids have also all agreed to wear yellow (two actually requested it) which makes my life so much easier since I wanted to have a yellow theme going on.  One of my friends is starting a catering business specializing in sweets and will do my wedding cupcakes at a very reasonable price.  Another friend has offered to help me out with wedding stationery.  And possibly the best news is that one of my best friends switched her date to September, opening up a Saturday in June that we have scooped up.

Still to be done: I need to confirm Fort Scaur with Parks, sign the contract and make the deposit at Lido, and start scouring caterers.  Finding my bridesmaid dresses will probably be a bit difficult, so I need to figure out a plan of attack for this.  I need to book a back up location in case of horrible weather, but I think I am going to forego a tent for the wedding/reception as it won't really be necessary to shield from the heat in early June and the part of Fort Scaur that I want to use isn't really tent-able.  I want to do as much of this as possible before I go on my business trip next week, but work is super busy this week/next week so wish me luck!