Mini-Vacation to Texas

I've been off work the past week. (More explanation on that soon.) So I've been spending all this time off to work on the wedding and a few other odd things I needed to take care of.

On Monday, I sent out the bulk of the invitations. There were 134 envelopes! Chris and I still have twenty or thirty to finish as we're finishing collecting addresses from people. It feels good to hear from people that they received the invitation. We take a lot of pride in the invitations because Chris designed them as well as picked out the paper. I helped assemble and enjoyed thinking about our friends and family as I put them together. It's neat the little labors of love are getting into their hands! I've even been hearing lots of compliments on the design. My mother's friend said they were "the most inventive wedding invitations" she's seen.

On Tuesday, I went over and over my To Do lists. I was preparing for my trip. On Wednesday, I flew back to Texas where I've been for the rest of the week. My mother and I have spent all of our time preparing for the wedding weekend. We've done plenty of shopping, ordering, planning, meeting, and list-making. Plus, we had some social time with Chris's mom and hopefully filled her in on all the details. I'm confident that we did everything we needed to do* and we are prepared for the event!

It feels SO, SO, SO good to be prepared. Plus, I'm now able to get excited about the wedding rather than worry about it. I'm looking forward to seeing all the family, my friends, Chris's friends, my parents' friends, his parents' friends...! It's going to be fun and I'm going to feel relaxed. Which is the best wedding gift I could ask for!

Some of the highlights of my trip were meeting with a couple women who will provide their services for my wedding. First, I met with Emily who bakes cakes out of her home. Check out pictures of gorgeous and inventive cakes on her Flickr stream. I'm acquaintances with Emily's brother, Luke, which is how I learned of her skill. We chatted on the phone briefly before meeting, but once I met her, I knew she was perfect. Emily's style is much like my own and I totally trust her design. Plus, her prices fit nicely into our budget. I'm really looking forward to seeing and eating the neat things she bakes for me!

Second, I met with Ashley who is a photography student at University of Texas in Arlington. She was recommended by one of the photography professors. Meeting with her and her boyfriend, Ross, confirmed she's a perfect fit for the event. Ashley reminds me a lot of myself as a junior in college. She's ambitious and creative and curious and thoughtful. While she doesn't have much experience, I'm thrilled to give her a chance to get some experience. I look forward to her creativity and love that she "gets" the vision Chris and I have for our ceremony. Ashley and Ross are exactly the kind of people I would be friends with and I hope we can continue a friendship after this event.

The trip was very productive and fun. It was great getting to hang out with my parents too! I extended my stay a little bit in order to attend the memorial service for Zac. It was good to spend some time with his family and especially his brother, Ben. They're all handling things so well and even helped make me feel better. I got a little weepy and Ben was quick to remind me that Zac would kick me for crying. So I was able to smile and remember all the good times with him. I'm glad I could be there.

*OK, truth be told, I have one more thing that needs to be done. I need to order chairs. But I'm pretty sure that can be done over the phone any time in the next couple weeks.

Comments