3 weeks left!!

This will probably be the last post before the wedding as it is getting so close!!

I had my final dress fitting this past Wednesday.  The fit was absolutely perfect.  For jewelry I will be wearing my fiance's grandmother's pearl necklace, a pearl bracelet that my parents gave me for my birthday, and sapphire earrings that my fiance is getting me for the wedding.  My mom made my veil for me-- sewing Swarovski crystals onto tulle one by one.  She is so awesome!

I had my hair and make-up trial a couple weeks ago.  I was thinking about a partial updo at first, but didn't like how that looked at the trial.  Instead I'm going for a sort of low, loose updo that will look something like this:

Menus, programs and favors are all assembled and ready to go thanks to many helping hands over the past few months.  We even agreed on a seating chart with hardly any bloodshed!

Justin and I have been taking dance lessons for the past couple weeks and having a lot of fun.  In addition to some private lessons for our first dance, we have been going to group classes and learning many other dances.  We even got my parents to come along and get some lessons of their own. =)

It seems like everything is all set and ready to go, but I have a feeling a few things might spring up on us in the next couple weeks!

It's getting closer...

Wednesday was my fiance's birthday and we celebrated by doing wedding stuff!  We had a meeting at Silver Swan where we met with their new chef and tried some delicious food.  He served us coconut shrimp, smoked trout, olive/tomato tepanade, gazpacho for hors d'oeuvres.  Then we had a petit filet mignon and chicken for the main course, served with grilled asparagus, carrots and potatoes.  All of it was so delicious!!  We also talked with Taylor about other little details like seating, dishes, and the order of events.  The wedding is getting very close and exciting!


Also on Wednesday we got our marriage license from Anne Arundel county.  The fiancé and I both laughed because everyone keeps asking us if we are related in any way... I guess they have to make sure.  After that we stopped by the French Confection to drop off some design ideas for our cake.  We're thinking about some sort of branch design, sort of like the one below, but with orange flowers...And maybe a little more spread out branches.

While we were there we picked up a birthday cake for him-- yellow sponge cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream.  These are some of the flavors that will be in our wedding cake and we were reminded how delicious they were!


We have been talking with the concierge at our resort in Aruba.  So far we have arranged for a morning sail with snorkeling at 3 stops, including the Antilla Shipwreck from WWII and two shallow reefs.  We have also talked with them about possible deep sea fishing and scuba diving.  I can't wait!!

In other good news-- we have an apartment!  My fiancé called the apartment complex in Charleston this week and they said they have a Rosemont (the 2 bedroom unit we wanted) becoming available October first.  Perfect timing!!


Now we're working on getting together all the little details-- menus, programs, favors and more.  I have my first dress fitting next week!

Aruba!

After much, much, much research and debate about where to go for our honeymoon we have finally decided on Aruba.  It is outside of the "hurricane belt" of the Caribbean and has beautiful beaches with average temperatures in the high 80's and practically no rainfall.

Bucuti & Tara Resort

My fiancé discovered the Bucuti and Tara resort and when he started reading the website to me it sounded like I had written a dream resort myself.  The hotel is geared towards couples and away from from families with children.  It is a small resort situated on 14 acres of beautiful beach.  They have created an eco-friendly and sustainable resort, which I learned the importance of when visiting Costa Rica over winter break last year.  The rooms are gorgeous, with balconies overlooking the ocean (on a West facing beach-- perfect for sunset!!)  They have great honeymoon packages, and we learned that the Aruba tourism bureau itself also has a complimentary honeymoon package!  This resort is very reasonably priced as well--- much better than what we were looking at in Costa Rica and Los Cabos.  After finding this place we wondered why we had wasted so much time looking anywhere else!!

checking more things off the list...

Yesterday we had a reception planning meeting with Taylor at Silver Swan.  We picked out table linens, talked about seating arrangements and started thinking about a timeline.  Silver Swan has undergone a lot of renovations since we booked it over the summer.  They have removed the large bar that they had before and now have more space for tables and flexibility in set-up arrangements.  They also got new carpets and added some more landscaping outside.  Everything looks really nice!

new seating area without the bar

new landscaping, fence and Adirondack chairs outside

table linens we picked out- midnight blue with organza overlay, white napkins (mom showing a beautiful sample centerpiece!)

We also ordered invitations yesterday.  I can't wait to see how they look once they're printed!

I have had a hard time finding shoes to go with my dress.  Apparently you can't buy white shoes in stores, so I was limited to buying online.  The first pair I bought looked really nice, but they were terribly uncomfortable.

The second pair were a good style and pretty comfortable, but when I received them in the mail they looked terribly cheap... frayed edges and badly made.

The third pair was nice, but they were a little bit over the top and I just didn't love them.  They were super high so I was worried about my feet hurting.  I was also worried that the big tuft of tulle was a bit much and that they were so "bridal" looking that I didn't think I could possibly ever wear them again.

After buying and returning 3 pairs of shoes online, I fell in love with the 4th pair that I ordered.  They are absolutely perfect!!

Next up should be dress and flowers.  I haven't heard from the bridal shop about my dress being in yet, but I am hoping it comes soon!   We have met with a couple florists and have got some good ideas going, but haven't made a decision yet.

6 months to go!

Our wedding is 6 months from today and everything is really starting to come together!

I think I have finally come to a decision on colors.  The bridesmaids dresses will be navy blue.  I like this color because it is formal, looks good on everyone, and will complement the orange I love so much.  The best man will be in a navy-colored air force uniform, so everything will go together nicely.

Last month I went with my sister and Brittany to pick out a bridesmaid dress for them to wear.  We decided on this dress in navy blue:

I was very glad to have both of them with me to pick the dress.  Brittany being the most curvy of my bridesmaids, and my sister being the most petite, I was thrilled that this dress looked great on both of them! 

We also had a few cake tastings last month.  Our first one was at Fiona's and she had decent cakes, but charged extra for everything she could think of and gave us very limited choices.  We also had a tasting at Sweet in Ellicott City.  We LOVED their chocolate chip cannoli cake and their cute little store front bakery.  The winner however was a bakery that we have been going to for a long time for cakes-- The French Confection in Ashton.  We still have one more cake tasting on Friday, but we're pretty sure about our choice right now.  We picked out flavors that we liked at the tasting, so we just have to come to a decision on the design.

We're also working on setting up some flower consultations.  We were supposed to have one yesterday, but the poor girl forgot about our appointment because her father was just diagnosed with brain cancer and she was about to leave for Germany to go see him.  We have an appointment next week at Sandi's in Annapolis (the little shop outside gate 3, for those familiar with USNA).  We stopped by her shop yesterday, but she was very busy and didn't have time for a full consultation with us.  Lately I like the idea of a "sunset" bouquet, featuring orange, yellow and maybe a little pink. 

our first home!

We spent this past weekend in Charleston scoping out places to live.  Justin's friend Mike will be living there next year also, and came with us to find a place.  We looked at about 5 different apartment complexes and were able to decide unanimously that we liked Greystar, Daniel Island the best.  We put down a deposit, so the next step is to sign a lease when it get's closer to September!  This place stood out from the other apartment complexes because they included a washer/dryer with rent, 2 covered parking spots and had a nice surrounding area.  Daniel Island has a few shops and restuarants close by, and backs up to the athletic fields of a Catholic high school.  I see some future Friday nights sitting on the porch watching football games!

 Pool at Greystar Daniel Island Village

We are on the waitlist for 2 different units:
 
The Seabrook is the 1 bedroom unit we like.  It has a relatively large study which could be used as a guest room.  It also has a nice large patio that spans 2 rooms.

Seabrook- Floorplan

Seabrook- Porch

The Rosemont is the 2 bedroom unit we looked at.  It has a nice corner porch that could comfortably fit a table and chairs.  They have a lot of these units so it's a bit more likely one of these will come available.

Rosemont Floorplan

Rosemont- porch

Edgewater Plantation (another Greystar property) was a close second, but charged extra to rent washer/dryer and for covered parking.  The surrounding area wasn't quite as interesting either.

 Edgewater- living area

Central Square, Watermark was another place we looked, but we didn't really see anything special about it.  It is a brand new place and is supposed to have retail soon, but right now has a lot of empty spaces.

 Watermark- kitchen

Belle Hall was another place we looked, but again didn't see anything special and had a rude saleslady.  We were only able to look at a 1 bedroom model unit, which we didn't really like.

 Belle Hall- Living area

We were unable to meet with anyone at Palmetto Place, but drove through anyways.  We didn't really like the location, or the fact that it was still under construction.

Palmetto Place

See more pictures here!

Honeymoon!

Justin found out today that he will go to nuclear power school in October!  We are both really happy about this because it means we get to take a honeymoon!!  (June and August were the other choices).  Justin is also really excited because his other submarine friends got October too.
We were really excited to start planning our honeymoon, but quickly got overwhelmed when we realized how open ended the possibilities are!  Here's some of the options we've looked at so far:

Caribbean
There are a lot of beautiful places in the Caribbean.  My biggest concern there is hurricanes, but some islands (towards the South and West) are supposed to be much less at risk for getting hit.  Aruba is recommended by many, but it's a flat desert island, which isn't as appealing to me as some of the islands with more beautiful landscapes.  It's also supposedly more of a party scene, which isn't exactly what we're looking for.  Barbados, Bonaire and Curacao are also in the supposed "safe zone."  The Cayman islands and the Virgin Islands are also options.

 

Cap Jaluca- Anguilla

 

Curtain Bluff- Antigua

 Peter Island Villas- British Virgin Islands

St. Lucia looks really beautiful and has mountains, rain forests and coral reefs.

 Ladera- St. Lucia

Jade Mountain-St. Lucia

Mexico/Central America
Mexico, Belize and Costa Rica also offer good options, and are a bit further away from the so-called "hurricane belt."  Mexico would probably be a more cost-effective option than most of the Caribbean islands.  Playa del Carmen is very pretty, but something on the Pacific coast might be better to avoid any possible east coast weather.  Maybe Puerto Vallarta or Los Cabos.  Acapulco is probably a bit too much of a party town for a relaxing honeymoon.
I have had a slight obsession with Costa Rica since I studied abroad there last winter break.  It was the most beautiful place that I had ever been, and I fell in love with the landscapes, foliage and animals there.  I would love to go back, but would also love to see other beautiful parts of the world.  Belize also has a lot of the biodiversity and beautiful landscapes that I love.  The Cayes off the coast of Belize are an option too.

Paradisus- Playa Conchal, Costa Rica

Silk Cayes, Belize

I don't think a hotel would fit here, but maybe we could swim there!

We briefly looked at the Pacific Islands, but they are so far!! I don't think I could handle a flight that long, and it would be really expensive to get there.
More ideas to come!