Quick update

So we're just under 4 weeks from W-Day & our to-do list is looking GREAT!

• our music selections are coming together
• our entree selections have been sent in and seating chart made
• transfers have been scheduled
• centerpieces are done and ready to be packed
• both of us have our complete wedding day ensembles
• we have all the clothes we need for our safari

It's all starting to come together thankfully. After a few hiccups in the past week or so, I'm definitely starting to reach my limit and want to be in Jamaica relaxing with everyone we love!

Additional Activities

We finally have a full schedule of activities planned for our guests for the weekend! Friday we will have a welcome dinner. There will be a buffet with pretty traditional Jamaican food as well as a Red Stripe and rum punch bar. This will give everyone an opportunity to meet the rest of the guests and start catching up with old friends. It will also allow us to not go crazy trying to greet all of our guests as they arrive throughout the day.

Sunday we have arranged a shuttle to and from Seven Mile Beach. Guests that choose to will be shuttled to Margaritaville to eat, drink, and explore all that Seven Mile Beach has to offer.

This photo of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Negril is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Margaritaville has indoor, outdoor, and beach seating and Seven Mile Beach has many activities, shops, and bars for everyone to explore. We wanted to do something that would appeal to everyone. You can sit in the shade, drink drinks with an umbrella and people watch or you can enjoy all the sun, sand, and surf have to offer or party your face off. We don't care just have fun!

The hotel has also offered to coordinate the transfers from the airport for everyone. I just have to collect all their information and send it along. I used a google form to do this just like I did to collect all the entree selections for the reception.

So far it's going pretty well. 5 responses in the first day.

This information will allow me to group people together that are coming in around the same time and save everyone some money and start the party! The drive is about 2 hours so having company will definitely make the trip go faster! I'm using a google spreadsheet to keep track of all of the information.

Tablescapes

This week my coworker delivered tons of decorations from her wedding a few years ago. We got TONS of stuff - shells, sea glass, & candles. Seriously awesome stuff. This allowed us to really finalize our table designs.

For the reception we decided to use 3 large tables that will fit 8-10 people, 1 round table that seats 5 (My parents, Ben parents, & sister), and a square table for the two of us.

Here's the design for the long tables:

Yes, I measured out the tables on our floor with tape. I have a scale drawing on the computer that we used to visualize the table layout but when it came to the decor on the tables I needed to see it in person and full size. You can see Juno was a huge help observing from the head of the table.

Included in the shells my coworker gave me were ones with slits cut in them that she used as escort card holders. I decided they could function as our place cards that Tensing Pen requires. Here's a close up of them:

Next up was the round table. Unfortunately, I realized I used 1/3 of the seaglass on the long table so I portioned out the seaglass and then took a bit from each table to add to the round table.

After I created those 4 tables, I created bags for each table so it would be easier to decorate once we get down there!

Finally came our table. I'm out of seaglass, but I do have plenty of shells. They may be added to our table if I feel that it is too plain.

Tensing Pen includes white table cloths for all the tables so that's all taken care of now!

HOLY CRAP THIS THING IS ALMOST HERE!

So I spent another weekend getting things checked off the to do list (or at least colored yellow because I've started them). I was just starting to feel like I had everything covered until I got to work today. I basically have 1 month left to get this thing done! While my calendar says 6.5 weeks until I leave my real timeline is a bit shorter you see. March 28-April 1 I will be away for a conference for work. While it's a great honor to be selected to present, the timing is FREAKING HORRIBLE! My plan is to get everything done before this because when I come back I only have 9 full days at home - 5 of which are work days - before we get on that plane to Jamaica. OMG! How am I going to get it all done!

My wedding band is here!

When we began talking wedding bands a long time ago we were both pretty clueless about what we wanted. I knew I didn't want to try to get a band that matched my engagement ring. My e-ring is a bit large to try to add another ring to the same finger. It is also very unique so finding a matching ring would be very difficult. I'm going to move my e-ring to my right hand and wear my wedding band solo.

After that was decided, I got stuck on the idea of combining different metals in a ring and twists, braids, and knots. I spent hours looking and saving pictures of different rings. Here's a selection of the rings I saved:

During the time I was doing this, Ben had a client that happend to work with a jeweler and offered to make our rings at cost. It opened the doors to what we could choose! Unfortunately, when it came time to start discussing designs of rings, their machine broke and they didn't know when it was going to get fixed. Then I found Gemvara.com. They have a HUGE selection of rings with many different metals and stones available. I knew I didn't want any stones in my ring and they use recycled gold so they scored pretty well in my book for these reasons. I narrowed down my search with them and then went to Ben for his opinion. With that, we ordered the Forget Me Knot ring from them.

After 10 days my ring was here. I was shocked at the large box for such a small package but when I excitedly opened it up I saw the beautiful packaging. On the left is my ring box with a bow on it, there is care information on the right and in the lid is a certificate of authenticity.

When I opened the actual ring box I was a bit surprised with how small the ring actually was. I knew it was going to be small but in my head it was a bit larger.

Since I've never tried on rings I had to use a sizing chart I downloaded online so I was terrified my ring wouldn't fit. I timidly slid it on my finger and it fit!

I really like the way it looks on my finger!

Ben ordered a plain wedding band from Amazon the same day and it arrived the same day but it was too small. We sent it back and he is ordering a new one today so in a couple of weeks I'll have pictures of his band as well.

Organization

We're getting down to the wire. The wakeup call really happened when I got a HUGE to-do list from Tensing Pen! This forced me to get real with all the things that needed to happen so after work I got down to business with getting organized.

I first switch our guest list and budget over to google spreadsheets so I can access them everywhere and also created our to-do list in there.

Here's our list with our previously mentioned entree selection form, as well as budget & guest lists as well as to-do list.

Here's a screen shot of the to-do list from last weekend. Yellow means that it is in progress and green means done. I have 3 lists: ceremony, reception, general. Notice how little is done! AH!

I also felt that I needed a constant reminder of how close this thing actually is so I put the countdown on our calendar in our kitchen.

It's getting real!

Feeling organized is definitely helping the stress level. I would probably feel more accomplished if I took everything from theKnot to-do list that I've already done and added it but I don't have time for that!

seating chart

To go along with all the menu planning we did this weekend we also got to choosing our seating plan and asking our guests their entree selections.

To ask entree selections, I made a handy dandy Google Form to email to all of our guests.

5 guests have already responded in less than a day! YAY!

I also began planning our seating arrangements with post-its (YAY my fav!) and a template.

It's hard to see but, there will hopefully be 3 long tables, a circle table with our parents, and a sweetheart table for us. I'm waiting to hear back from Tensing Pen if this table arrangement is possible. I hope it is because I do really LOVE the pictures of feasting tables from weddings!