Yes, yes, Rakel! We need details

Congratulations and welcome!!!

Hi Rake - I agree - you're not that far behind. If I were you I'd do Save the Dates to give your out-of-towners a heads up, as it's too soon to send invitiation IMO. STDs require very little detail - basically just a date and city/state. That will definitely buy you some time. Good luck and let us know what we can do to help.
Cindy

I'm so excited! Despite being essentially laid up for the time being, I have managed to maintain my weight loss. I have no work clothes that fit so I guess this little break is a good thing!

I talked to my sister/MOH and I think we'll go with full-length strapless bridesmaids' dresses from Aria in leaf green silk shantung. Very cool! Plus, the invitations are coming together beautifully and the bouquets of pale pink roses and white freesia I fell in love with will look great with the dresses. Things are moving right along!

How's everyone else coming with their plans?

Wow! So many responses!

I thought I was so behind but the more I read about Weddings, the more I am getting a little more comfortable about my timing. I hope to have the invitations sent out by the end of this month, and then I should be right on target for a 6month advanced notice -- although most of my immediate family already knows that I'm getting married and the invitations are just a matter of solidifying the details.

I have decided to have the wedding at 3:00pm on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 (Easter weekend) at my Church in Sanford, Florida. The reception will either be at my church, or at my apartment complex's club house (depends on how many people RSVP). My colors are black, dark grey, powder blue, and a coral red. I'm going to ask one of the members of my church if he is interested in making our wedding cake. He used to be a professional cake baker/decorator but is retired now. My pastor mentioned that he may be willing to make our cake for the cost of the ingredients. I haven't seen him in awhile but the next time I do I will ask him how much he would charge and see what he says -- I don't want to assume he'd do it for next to nothing and would rather let him offer if he wants to... but either way, he's really good and really nice, and I'm sure he will help us out!

I'm getting the invitations printed up by someone I found on Etsy. We're actually doing a trade -- I'm going to make her a website (I'm a web & graphic designer) and she's making my invitations and various other paper things I'll need (programs, etc). I *finally* decided on my invitation design... I have discovered it's next to impossible to design for oneself ... I went through about 6 or 7 designs before I decided on mine. It's so much easier to get to a certain point with a client and make them choose! I'm attaching it here so you all can see what it looks like I think my problem is that I was trying to make it too fancy and that's just not me.

I found a dress on Lane Bryant that I liked, but I don't think they are making any more of them. The site says to contact stores for availability so I will probably go dress shopping in about 3 months. I would have bought the dress already but to be honest I hope that I am not still wearing the same size in 3 months!

I'm working on making a wedding site for us, I just bought the domain last night!

Rakel, I know what it's like to be your own client on a design, too! As an artist, I passed the invitation and program design duties on to a graphic designer friend of mine so I wouldn't go completely insane. Your colors sound like a very pretty combination. Lane Bryant makes wedding dresses?

Ah yes, I think I pretty much went nuts. I'm really happy with the final results though!

They do! I don't think they usually have them in stores though, but you can find them on their website. The one I wanted is the 3rd one down in the 2nd column: http://lanebryant.charmingshoppes.co...bridal_dresses

Hi rakel

I just wanted to encourage you that you certainly CAN get all of this done before March 22nd, 2008. I had a short engagement. I was officially asked April 17th, 2007, and I was married August 12, 2007. I had a beautiful, fun, enjoyable wedding, and now I get the fun part, being married! (PS ladies, still no pictures...)

Anyway, don't buy into any of the hype that you cannot do do a wedding in a short period of time. It can be stressful, and probably will be at times, but it is doable.

I thought I would pass along one more thought. If you care about etiquette, some will say that invitations should only be sent out 30-60 days in advance. I have even seen people say that it is rude to send them out earlier. If you have any ultra-conservative guests, that may be good to know. So, if you decided to send out your invitations closer to your wedding date, you would want to do something for your out-of-town guests. This would either be save-the-dates or just calling those key players for your wedding.

Good luck to you! Enjoy the process, do things the way you want, and have a happy marriage.

Why is it rude to send them out earlier than 2 months prior? Pretty much all of my family lives at least 5 states away so I'd want to give them plenty of time to make arrangements if they would like to come. I think I'll just send them out by the end of this month as planned. It's unbelievable how much "etiquette" there is to follow with this crap, it kinda makes me not want to do it at all. People can't just relax and be happy for the couple? Geez.

LOL, I was sooo there a few months ago. My mom had great advice- learn the rules so you know which ones you're breaking. My sister got me Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette updated by Peggy Post as an engagement gift and it has been a wonderful resource. I've read other books that place etiquette across the board- even going so far as to suggest the exacty oppostite is correct- but I figure the people who care probably know Emily Post (read: my older relatives) and she hasn't steered me wrong yet. I've broken a couple but I know I did, I know why I did and I'll have a ready answer if asked.

In the end, most people are focusing on how happy they are for the couple but proper etiquette actually conveys a lot of information, from how formal the wedding will be to whether the bride will be keeping her maiden name.

After I got over my initial, thank-god-Emily's-dead-or-I'd-be-in-jail reaction, I appreciated having direction!

It isn't rude to send invitations earlier than recommended but it may make collecting the RSVP's more difficult. You may find yourself making a lot of phone calls to nail people down, regardless of when you ask for the cards to be returned. You may also find yourself sending out duplicate invitations and needing to provide guests with itineraries when they arrive because the original invitations will be long gone.

Hang in there!

Yikes, I think I am too poor to double the postage, lol. I'm making a website for it that will have all the information. I know not everyone is savvy enough for that but these days most everyone knows somebody so I don't think it will be a huge problem.

Rakel, you could also send an Evite-style Save The Date via e-mail. I have a friend who did this for the majority of her guests and then made phone calls to the older, less tech savvy relatives. There are several free options.

I'm struggling with creating our registry. Being over 30 and having two complete households to combine, the only things we don't have are china, crystal and silver. We're also planning to sell our house within the next two years so it's hard to know what we'll want for the new place. My dad suggested registering at a bank

Post card is a good idea! I was thinking of printing up business cards with the website on it... I figure, a business card? They could stick it on the fridge or in their wallet? I just dunno, I'm trying not to spend a whole lotta money because I don't have anything except what my dad is giving me ($2k)... I HATE BEING POOR.

Rakel, have you already established how are you allocating your $2K budget? I imagine that will dictate some of these decisions.

You can have a great wedding for this amount- I helped a friend plan a wedding for 300 people with a $4k budget (total, including her dress) and we even found a way to do a family style dinner for everyone- but creating a budget and sticking to it is critical.

I started my own wedding budget by compiling two sets of numbers- what things actually cost and what I was willing to spend- and worked from there to get everything to conform to my bottom line. So far, I've managed to spend either the amount I budgeted or less- any extra is honeymoon mad money! I may be the first bride to ever bring a wedding in under budget...

Wait, so do you register for a shower? Do you include stuff on your regular registry and people pick from that? My oh my....

I have picked a total of 4 items off of Macy's and Target. We need stuff, sure, but I can't figure out exactly what And the more I browse through Macy's, the more overpriced I think it is.

Casual dishes... check
iron skillet and grill... check.
serving platter....check.

I'm sure I'll think of something...

Several people have told me Macy's is a bad idea because they discontinue items and rotate their stock frequently. I've gotten great referrals to Bed, Bath & Beyond- I guess they'll let your guests use multiple coupons and even competitors' coupons but will refund you the full purchase amount when you return the items for cash or store gift cards. Plus, they will answer your questions and make suggestions as you complete your registry.

Thanks! We need to discuss the "all new stuff" philosophy... the thing is, we have not stopped buying things!

As for overpriced, I know we look to get gifts based on the amount we are going to spend- most recently, we bought wine glasses and bar glasses for our friends. The price of each item was high but the item itself would be something they'd keep and the quantity got me to the amount I wanted to spend. If you love it, register for it!!! Someone will buy it for you.