86 Days

I spent a lot of time today cutting out the rest of my RSVP cards and website inserts... I'm glad to have it done but I'm not looking forward to doing the same with the directions and the actual invitations, lol.

87 Days

So today we got some really good news and some very sad news.

The good news: The annulment is complete enough so that we can get confirmed in the Catholic Church on Easter Vigil... I guess the OC Diocese has granted the annulment but LA still needs to give it the final OK before they can tell us whether or not we can get married there.

The sad news: My Fiance's uncle passed away. It came as a shock, we don't know all the details yet, but it is definitely a sad day.

88 Days

I love my coworkers! While I was out sick they decorated my cubicle with all these penguin pictures :)

Also, my co-worker Emily made me my wedding countdown... I can't believe we're already down in the double digits! When she first made the countdown I had over 200 days left!

89 Days

I stayed home sick today. I must have ate something that did not sit well with me. I didn't have access to a computer and day-time TV was driving me crazy! (I got waaaaay too caught up on wife swap lol). And I watched a few episodes of 'Say Yes to the Dress'. I like the dresses but there is too much drama...

Once I finally got myself out of bed I worked on cutting out my RSVP cards and my little "website" inserts for the invitations:

Front of RSVP Insert:

Back (actual) RSVP Card

Website Insert

Once all the inserts are done they will make this picture:

90 Days

I got my cake!!!

This is the one thing I have been put

ting off and putting off and putting off some more. So, now it's ordered!

Ok so it is two tiers with flowers in the middle like the first picture...

But the tiers won't be blue, they will be like the tiers from this cake:

And the flowers in the middle will probably be a purple to match the bridesmaids dresses!

91 Days

Today was a really nice day. I spent the morning and afternoon with my step-son-to-be Daniel, my friend Sarah and her son Isaac (my godbrother :)). We took the boys to a McDonalds with a huge playground and they had a blast and Sarah and I got to catch up!

Chris took Daniel and I out to dinner and it was really nice having him back and just getting to spend time together :)

92 Days

Chris is back in town! He got in from AZ this morning and I got to see him for about 5 minutes at the end of my lunch break! (I didn't know he was going to be in the area until *after* I'd taken my lunch lol).

And then we had a nice, calm dinner at El Pollo... this is the high-chair wars: :)

This evening my big project was to try to get my ring to stand up in a book so I could take a picture like this:

Needless to say I had absolutely no luck! But I do want to point out that it is only THREE MONTHS UNTIL THE WEDDING!!!!

93 Days

Today I really did not get too much accomplished today wedding-wise. I tidied up all of the giant invitation mess I made yesterday!

Everytime someone asks me at work how the wedding planning my response is always "I need a cake!" I am so unmotivated when it comes to finding a cake. So I still haven't found a cake, but I thought I'd share this topper I found... :)

Maybe we'll do a "grooms cake" and put this on top! :)

94 Days

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I was feeling like "getting-out" today so I decided to go to Downtown Disney on my lunch break. It's very close to work but not where I should have gone in heels... lol. I saw this in the gift shop and sent the picture to Chris:

I thought it was too cute!

Today has been pretty productive!
I worked on my do-it-yourself invitations. I'd created the design a month or so ago but now I added our engagement pic to the background. These are the two different options that I am deciding between:

Also, a few weeks ago I bought 750 clear labels (I meant to buy the 300 pack but walked out with the wrong ones). So I printed all the guests addresses on the labels and made return adress labels with this monogram:

The outter envleopes are a pearly opal color and I love how they look!

95 days

I purchased the CD today of all our engagement pictures... I am planning on making a photo guestbook and I can't wait to get started on that!

I spent tonight going through a lot of old paperwork. Chris and I are trying to get all our stuff in order (bank statements and previous tax returns) to find out if we qualify to buy a place! His lease is up in May and we are really hoping to find something before then. We've looked online and we have found a few places that (we believe) are in our price range. It's a big, kinda scary, step. I've never been one to take risks, and it definitely seems like this is the time to buy, but you never know. We don't know if they market will go down more (hopefully not since I work at a mortgage company!) or if we'll both keep our jobs forever... you just never know. But even though there are unknowns, I am really excited to take this risk with him. :)

96 Days

This morning was a *very* good morning! I left the house thinking I had lost my keys (all I could find was my spare car key). So I took the train to work and really hoped that I would find my keys somewhere in my car at the Orange train station (I was afraid I'd left them on the train friday night!) I searched my car and my trunk at the station and couldn't find anything... when I got to work I checked my trunk one last time and voila! there they were!

And then about an hour into work I got the really exciting news... my engagement pics were ready to view! Our photographer made a really nice slideshow of the pictures. I could *not* be happier with how they turned out. Our photographer is amazing! (www.broccardophoto.com)

I have posted a few below and click HERE to see the full slide-show!

97 days

At church this morning we talked to the Monsignor about marriage counciling. Usually Catholic couples go on this "Engagment Encounter" (or some title like that) before getting married. Since we're so up in the air about the church he said he'd meet with us personally if we end up getting married there. He is such a nice man!

I've been thinking about our engagement pictures yesterday and it really was such a nice day. We got all dressed up and when we got to just hang out and walk around and kiss and look pretty... lol. I hadn't realized how busy and stressful our lives are until we took a little break from reality and just "hung around" the mission for an hour or so. It was romantic, it was fun :)

Chris leaves tomorrow for a three day conference in Tuscan, AZ for DUCTZ. I'll miss him, but I know it'll be a great networking and learning tool for him!

98 Days

We did our engagement pictures this morning at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. I should be getting the proofs back this week so I'll post when I do. The weather was perfect! The few pictures I got to see on the camera screen looked really good!

It was such a nice morning that after the pictures we decided to go to Sarducci's by the train station for brunch... all you can drink champaign and mimosas!

Right now the biggest issue is where we are going to get married. We had planned on getting married at Mission Lutheran in Laguan Niguel. We are both currently in the RCIA (Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults) at St. Timothy's Catholic Church (also in Laguna Niguel). My fiance is currently in the process of getting his previous marriage annuled with the Catholic Church. If this gets completed before easter (like 3 more weeks!) then we can be confirmed into the church on the Saturday night before Easter and will be able to get married at that church in June. It's such a blessing that we have both of the options available.

Typically we've been told annulments can take anywhere from 2 to 3 years. We got our paperwork in January 24th, 2010 (my birthday :) and it looks like it may get done in time for Easter! He had to have this long (3hr+) meeting with a woman (who I think was a nun) at the OC Diocese office about his previous marriage. A bunch of his family and friends who were at the wedding had to fill out paperwork, and it's been a pretty intense process. So now we are just praying and keeping our fingers crossed that it will get done in time for us to get confirmed at Easter!

99 Days

I can't believe we're already in double digits!

I am doing (partly) DIY invitations. I bought my outter (A7.5) envelopes from envelopper.com, and inner (A7) envelopes, RSVP envelopes, pocket-folds and invitation backings from cardsandpockets.com.. and they just arrived in the mail today! Can't wait to take a look at them tomorrow.

I've gotten a lot of the pesky wedding details taken care of already.

I have...

booked reception site:

Rancho San Clemente Tennis Club

decided on menu:

Pasta Bar:

Bowtie Marinara

Fettuccini Alfredo

Salad

Garlic Bread

Appetizers

and two hours of open bar (beer and wine)!

picked out attire for the wedding party:

Bridesmaid Dresses:

Groomsmen are wearing black tuxes with these vests:

Tomorrow morning we are doing our engagement pictures at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano!

100 Days

I got engaged on August 14th, 2009. A few months into the wedding planning process I decided I wanted to start a blog, but I thought that since I hadn't done it from the beginning there would be no point. So what I decided to do was chronicle the last 100 days counting down to the big day!

So a little background:

This is us:

We met at church about 7 or 8 years ago, but it was not until we reconnected at a friend's birthday party a few years back that we really hit it off. We have been together for a little over 2 years now. I work at a mortgage company in Orange, CA and Chris manages a duct cleaning franchise that services OC, LA, and Riverside county.

Our Bridal Party:

Eric - Best Man

Jamie - Best Man

Ben- Groomsman

Jim - Groomsman

Sean - Groomsman

Bree - Bridesmaid
Frankie - Groomsman

Lindsay - Maid of Honor

Beth - Bridesmaid

Erin - Bridesmaid

Sarah - Bridesmaid

Jenny - Bridesmaid

Daniel - Ringbearer

Robert - Ringbearer

D.D. - Flower Girl