Time is a ticking away....

Holy smokes folks! It has been a longggggggg time since I've posted anything on here! Well, we are officially down to 8 months and 11 days! Can you believe it?!? We have been so busy with our trip to Florida, celebrating Brian's birthday, celebrating Christmas, celebrating my birthday, and spending time with my sister during her visit here from Hawaii that the last few months have just zipped by! We are almost down to crunch time people!!! :)

So, here is what has been worked on since I last posted!!!

Our invitations arrived! I know it seems wayyyyyyyy early to be worried about invitations, but I got an awesome deal on them and figured they can sit in the "wedding closet" until they are ready to be sent! I worked with Midwest Marketing and they did a fabulous job! I am very proud of how simple, yet beautiful our invites turned out to be! JUST what I wanted!

We officially have a DJ! woot*woot! This is something that I had been trying to find since we started in on this journey. I had contacted about 10 different DJ's with only two responses. One was too expensive and the other one was already booked! Luckily I have a co-worker who is getting married in June and she suggested that I check her guy out. So Brian and I met with him and booked him immediately. He is young and seems super relaxed, yet professional and organized all at the same time. His name is DJ Ricky and I am so excited to see how AWESOME of a party we will have! Our package includes unlimited hours of music, dance floor monogram, and up lighting among other things! Oh, and did I mention that he has been to the Red Barn Farm before!?? That takes a lot of stress off of me worrying if he will have everything he needs....so yeah, so happy to have that checked off the list! If you are in need of a DJ, let me know and I will get you his information!

Our flowers are booked and are going to be done by Iron Rose in Weston, Mo. She not only has worked wedding at Red Barn before, but is such a lovely lady! I am so looking forward to creating some gorgeous floral arrangements for our big day!!!

Over Christmas, two of my bridesmaids and I went to look at bridesmaid dresses!!! After debating between two of them...we have finally picked the one! Here are each of them:

I loved the style of the first dress, but it didn't come in the wine color that I wanted my bridesmaids to be in. So, it came down to color vs. style and in the end color won! So, the winner is the 2nd dress! I also took a poll from all of my bridesmaids and they loved this dress the best! I am now on the hunt to find this dress at the best price! Wish me luck!!!

While shopping on my birthday, I happened to go into Express to use a gift card I had been given over Christmas. I wasn't actually looking for my wedding shoes, but I am relieved to say that I found them!!! I had been thinking about how I wanted some height in my shoes, but I didn't like the idea of being in heels. If you know me, you know that I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl....and that I'm NOT so big on heels. Not only am I worried to fall over in them and get blisters, but I'm also concerned about my heels sinking into the ground since we are getting married outside! So, as a sweet compromise, I decided that I wanted to purchase some wedges! But I didn't want just any wedged shoes, I wanted them to be a royal blue..."something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue". And as luck would have it, I ran across these beauties:

I might jazz them up a bit with a jeweled broach for the front of the shoe, but I absolutely love them! They are super comfortable too and I feel like I can walk in them! hooray! I figured I would go fancier, but I'm BIG on comfort...plus no one will really see them under my dress. Speaking of my dress.....

IT CAME IN!!!!! As I type this, my beautiful dress is hanging in my closet!!! I went to get it and tried it on for the first time and it fit like a glove. I have a few lbs to loose until I feel 100% in it, but I absolutely love it and can't wait for Brian to see me in it. We ordered my veil that day as well and bought a beautiful jeweled comb to put in my hair. So my look is almost set! :)

So my goals for this next month when it comes to wedding stuff is as follows:

*Buy Brian's wedding band

*Get Bridesmaid's measurements and figure out where I'm buying dresses from

*Secure someone to do my hair/make up and bridesmaid's hair/make up

*Book Honeymoon (which is really Brian's assignment)

*Apply for a new passport

*Finalize guest list/start to get addresses

*Schedule Engagement Photos

*Schedule Pre-Marital Counseling Sessions

*Look at/Pick out Tux's for the guys

And anything else I can do! :)

I can hardly believe that we are almost down to 8 months until the BIG day! It is so exciting to me! I can't wait to marry my best friend! Time is just a ticking away....

~Amanda~