Somebody give me a list right now or else…..By: Blogger Olivia

So my trusty on-line wedding planning guide Forblackweddings.com dictates that by now-roughly 10 months away-my fiancé and I should have an “A” list guest and a “B” list guest list…Yeah right….clearly you guys are not from the south, where word of mouth IS a formal invite and it is in absolute poor taste not to invite every single member of your great-grandmother’s church!

But, I think I can handle it because I am a PLANNER! I organize everything-down to the last detail. So imagine my surprise when I say to my fiancé, “Boo, do you have your list?” To which he replies, “Huh?? “Your list baby….of those people you and your family want to have invites sent to” I say…”Oh yeah, let me call my mom” he says…Satisfied that I am on track I pull out my laptop, log on to the website, and wait for the email when the names and addresses of the people who are near and dear to us. My honey hangs up the phone and says “she just sent it to you”. I open the email attachment mentally preparing to import the names and addresses effortlessly when I realize it’s a 13 page document. I scroll down to the last page, 223 people? Oh hell to the no!!! I say to my fiancé, “now you know this is not going to wash. We decided on a total of 250 people including wedding party and my family and friends are not even listed on here!!” My fiancé quickly turns his attention to me and we start to go through the list. Who are these people? All of your mom’s co-workers? Their neighbors’ church member? Is he in Iraq? NO NO NO!!!! I say. We agreed on 250 and 250 is what is going to be….Yes I know that there are people who have invited themselves….but we are sticking to 250…..or we are eloping!

So we head on over to his parents’ house to discuss this list. “Oh I’m glad you all are here…I forgot to put some people on the list”, his mom says. Now she means no harm and I know she is super excited, but you are WAYYYY over in your numbers! I’m almost afraid to ask my mom for her list because at this rate there will be 500 people easily…

And so the sage continues………

Olivia

“It’s not about you” By: Blogger Olivia

So how do we go about telling our family and friends that we are engaged? This question was one of the first ones, I asked Mike shortly after his proposal. A part of me wanted to yell it from the rooftops…but a larger part wanted to simply bask in our new found status. However, being from the South we already knew that news had a way of traveling at lightning speed-especially when we weren’t being the messengers so we decided that we would personally tell our families and find a better way to tell our friends.

Our chosen method was to discreetly change both our Facebook “relationship statuses”. Since it was nearly midnight by the time we left dinner the night of the proposal we figured that would be a perfect time. Little did we know that EVERYONE was seemingly online in the middle of the night, so when I changed mine I instantly started to get posts to my page with things like “haha very funny” and “you play too much” (did I mention that I have a sick sense of humor)….So no one believed me until he changed his! From roughly 12:30 a.m. until 2:00 a.m. I responded to messages of congratulations and well wishes. We felt so loved. I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

That smile was short lived, when around 8 a.m., I started receiving phone calls and questions like “oh I know I’m a bridesmaid right?” and “can I go with you because I don’t want to be wearing an ugly dress girl!” I’m sitting here thinking “are you serious?” I called Mike in tears (he was of course sleeping well). I could not believe that we were already being bombarded with all these demands and requests! We hadn’t been engaged 24 hours yet! We had even set a date yet!

But I would not be punked! I did what any self-respecting plan-things-down-to-a-tee first time bride would do in this situation. I turned off my phone…..logged off Facebook….and went back to bed!

How did you announce your wedding?

Talk to you soon!


Olivia

Mike and Olivia - By: Blogger Bride Olivia

Welcome World!!!! You have just entered the made-for-TV-movie that is our engagement and upcoming wedding. I’m Olivia and my fiancé’s name is Michael. We are both native South Louisianans and we love all things SOUTH! Our wedding is planned for November 2012, which seems like it’s a lifetime away!

My fiancé is an amazing man and let me say up front that I am blessed to have him in my life. We met at church but if you know us you know it was not at all that simple. HE STALKED ME!!!! Although we were at the same church I did not know him. He requested me as a friend on Facebook, and I accepted because he was a member of the church. My thought was “oh one of my church members”. I also knew he was related to my pastor so I wasn’t worried about him being a psycho! Well one weekend I went to visit one of my sorority sisters in Dallas. She and I had just come in from a fun night out and I decided to check my emails. I had an email from Mike and although I was hesitant to respond I did. Many emails and phone calls later and here we are...Boring story? Don't worry if you ask Mike his version, it will contain flying monkeys and unicorns!

The Proposal: After a very long and stressful week we decided to go do what we do best....EAT. We met with his sister and brother-in-law under the guise of planning a surprise event for his parents. During the evening of food and fun, Mike slipped a little black box onto the table. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the box and immediately freaked...and I guess as they say the rest was history.
Our plan is that our wedding will be a weekend of fun, family, and fellowship. It will be classy and elegant, while maintaining our southern sense of style with food and music. We can’t wait!! And we can’t wait to share our planning with everyone.

Talk to you soon,
Bride Olivia

I Vow! By: Blogger Bride Elizabeth

The past couples of weeks have flown by and now as I look at the calendar November is less than two months away. With the time getting shorter and my to do list getting longer, one important thing had yet to be done. My future hubby and I had yet to sit down and work on our ceremony and order of service. I have always felt that the ceremony was the most important part of the wedding for me. It’s the moment that you vow in front of GOD and your family and friends to take this person for all that they are, and that you will love them unconditionally. My fiancé and I finally sat down armed with a wedding ceremony book that our minister gave us to add our own personal details to our wedding ceremony. We sat down and planned together the greeting to the dismissal with blessing (smile) We were even able to sit down and pick out scriptures that are special to us as a couple. The best part was when we began to think about our wedding vows. We have decided to write our own vows. I am so excited and anxious to hear what we each have written to express our love for each other.


For the ceremony I want people to feel as though they have taken a sneak peek into our relationship. I want it to be intimate and romantic. I already know that I’m going to be a big water bucket. It is incredible to me to think about after six years of ups, downs, joys and pains. But, I will walk down the aisle only to arrive at the altar standing with my partner in life and in love. Everyone says that the moment will go by so fast. Above all else when we are in the church in front of our family and friends I want to live in the moment. I want to soak up all the love that I can stand. Oooo wee I am getting all misty eyed and emotional just thinking about it. You know, that is what it is all about that moment when you are standing there pledging your love. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Elizabeth
 

Just Breathe By: Blogger Elizabeth

As I look at the calendar on my desk that was gifted to me by a co-worker at my workplace bridal shower. I see the numbers staring at me 100 days to go! What the what!! I say. Just the other day I remember my fiancé slipping the ring on my finger and the roller coaster of wedding planning began. Even though we are as close to our moment as husband and wife. I sometimes feel like where did all the time go?

I sometimes think have I really taken the time to enjoy our engagement. Cherish these moments as a fiancé, the phase were you are preparing to be someone’s life mate. Or have I been so consumed with wedding planning that I have forgotten to soak in the moment? I have heard recently from the mom of one of my flower girls “You are handling it all with a lot of grace.” “You may be going crazy on the inside, but you are doing an amazing job of not showing your stress! “ Very impressed!” I said; well tell my fiancé that, he sees all my crazy moments.

It’s true, I have done a pretty good job of containing that inner bridezilla that all of us brides have. I must admit, I always feel as if I am forgetting something, that I will forget something. So I make sure to check and recheck the checklist. With three months left to go, I have been left uwith no choice but to “JUST BREATHE.” That’s what I am telling myself. Because I am a teacher, school starts in a couple of weeks, and I will have to place the majority of my attention on my 20 first graders who could care less that Ms. Fairley, is getting married soon. I have to Just Breathe, and know that the people I have around me like my FABULOUS wedding planning Rechelle Ward of A-ward winning events (shameless shout out), my reception venue coordinator, my fiancé, and my amazing bridesmaids and other friends and family will step in and help where it’s needed.

This wedding will go on, and even if everything is not as I dreamed it would be. At the end of it all I will be Mrs. Galbreath on November 19, 2011! So as I stare at the calendar that is on my desk, I remember to take the moments and cherish the rest of these next couple of months, to enjoy my soon- to be hubby. And just reside in the moment that we are in. Like someone told me recently “These three months will go by in a week!” So in the meantime Imma just breathe!!!

Happy Planning!

Elizabeth

Magic in the Music

The other day my fiancé and I had our wedding planning update talk. We discussed all the LONG list of things we have to do for our upcoming wedding. It’s hard to believe that it is only four months away. In spite of all the things on our list the one that got us most excited was the music. Whenever I dream about the time when my now fiancé and I would get married, I never dreamed about how my wedding dress would be, what type of flowers we would have, or even what colors I wanted (besides purple lol). The one thing that I had planned down to the tee was the music. Before I had the ring, I knew what song I would walk down the aisle to.

As you read this, at some moment in time you know you had the same thought about that special song you would use to take that walk towards your future husband to be. Yeah, I know go ahead shake your head, but I believe and always have that music sets the tone. Music has such magical qualities. You can be listening to a song on a radio and it takes you back to a memory that you thought you had forgotten. Music can take you back and you can recall what you were doing, who you were with, and how you were feeling. Music has the power to evoke emotions like no other. So before I even got engaged, I would take the time to listen to music, and I would jot a song down that I heard that I could see us using in our future wedding ceremony and reception.

The time has come that I can actually dust off my list of songs I really have to narrow down my choice of songs to use for the ceremony and reception. My fiancé and I have decided that during the time before the ceremony the guest will be listening to a collection of smooth jazz and r&b songs to set the tone and the mood. The other day while we were discussing music for the ceremony, I was excited that we actually agreed on a song for the wedding party processional. My fiancé and I defiantly have very different styles when it comes to picking out the music, the first thing he said after listening to the song was, “That’s great baby, I like the beat” I looked at him with the “say what?” look. I said “The beat, did you even listen to the words?” Nevertheless I realized that music for me when picking our wedding and reception is much more than just the beat. I want our guest to be able to listen to the words of the songs, and feel as if they are getting a intimate peek at our relationship through song. One of the hardest things for me at this moment when it comes to planning is not the invitations, picking out the right food, the favors, the dress. To me the hardest thing is picking the right song to walk down the aisle to for the Bride Processional. Before I got engaged I told you I had every single song picked to a tee, even my special “bride song”.

Now that it’s four months away, I still am not sure. Say what you want but to me next to the vows, the most intimate moment of my wedding will be walking down the aisle with my father towards my future husband. I want a song that expresses all the love, and joy, and happiness I feel as I walk towards him in preparation to become his wife. So right now I am back and forth between two songs, and only a few people have heard my choices. I know, I’m keeping my song choice under tight security, much like my wedding dress I want that to be a surprise for everyone on that day. I know that looking at bridal websites like forblackweddings.com has helped me as to given me different music choices for our wedding ceremony and reception. Just the other day I know I emailed the list of songs for the Mother-Son dance for the reception from forblackweddings.com to my fiancé to help him with his music selection. I really want to know from my brides to be and those that have already jumped the broom, is there really “Magic in the Music”? Did you know right away what your special “bride song” would be? What type of music are you incorporating in your wedding ceremony and reception?


Happy planning

Elizabeth

Don’t forget to RSVP… Please!! Blogger Bride: Elizabeth

It's five months until our forever, so I decided to order the wedding invitations. This is the only task on my to do list that causes me to cringe. Is cringe the wrong word? Maybe I should add worry into that to. Ordering the invitations signify so much, for one it means that the guest list “should” be finalized by now. It also means that I have to face the fact that we have the dreaded four letter word to worry about RSVP! I have always heard horror stories of how couples, who are getting married, always have the hardest time dealing with the guest and RSVPing. Our wedding is somewhat unique in the fact that we are deciding to give our guest a choice of three entrees at our reception. These entrees are ones that my fiancé and I especially love and are special to us and signify our relationship. The guest can pick from a Thai dish, Mexican dish, and a Classic Southern Style Dish.

On our invitation RSVP cards, not only do you have to check whether or not you will be attending, but you also must place your name beside the entrée that you would like to eat at our reception. Even as I was placing the order all I could think about was, our guest better RSVP! Most of my future brides that are in the planning process or even those that have already gone through it can relate. RSVPing is important, when people RSVP you are able to tell your caterer, or reception hall how many guest they can prepare food for, it helps the couple decided about the seating chart for the reception, as well as helping you determine if there are any extra cost that you will acquire due to the number of guest that respond by RSVP. Now I know to explain all of this to your wedding guest is unnecessary, but sometimes I wish I could, so that they will understand when I begin to do my “Bridal Hunt” for their RSVP.

My fabulous wedding planner, Rechelle Ward of A-ward winning events has graciously told me that she would handle the RSVPs and will do the “dirty work” of making sure people respond in a timely fashion. I have strategically ordered my invitations early, and I will be sending them out September 19, 2011 with an October 19, 2011 RSVP return date. Yeah, I know a whole month before the wedding. There is a method to the madness (smile). I know in the end, I can't FORCE anyone to RSVP on time, even if I whip out the “Bridal Hunt you down” threat. All I can do is do my best on my end to make things as easy for the guest as possible, and in turn making things less stressful for myself and my future husband to be.

Brides out there, and all the vets of wedding planning, what has been your experience with RSVPs and guest counts for your wedding.

Was it as stressful as people made it seem? Do you have any suggestions on how to make it easier?

Until the next time!! Happy Planning


Elizabeth

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