Only three days now. How did this happen? I can’t believe we’ve been engaged for a year and a half now. Planning this wedding for a year and a half.

Most everything is done. I have a couple of little errands I have to run, mostly revolving around gifts we’re giving people.

James has to do the program design, which really shouldn’t take him long, and then we have to print it somewhere. He wants color, so some place with a color copier, I guess.

And we have to write our vows. I have a rough draft, but we haven’t had a moment to sit down together and go over them.

But the house is clean, the curtains are up and our first house guests have arrived. I’m trying to relax and go with the flow, but, well, I’m getting married in three days.

We’re legal! We got our marriage license at lunch today. Very exciting.

I took Carolina (James’s sister and a bridesmaid) shopping last night. We got her shoes and a couple of things and I bought most of the odds and ends I still needed. I came home and put together welcome bags and wrapped various things and basically was hyped up on wedding until almost 2 a.m.

So today has been rough. I have to do laundry when I get home and I want to start finishing up the napkin rings, now that I have the wire.

If we can just get the house clean, I think we’ll be in good shape. Oh, and find my credit card, which seems to have vanished. It has to be in the house somewhere. I just can’t figure out where.

I did, however, have a wedding nightmare last night that has left me pretty unsettled. But things have gone amazingly well here at the paper this week and I only have to work two days next week, so there’s that.

Second hair trial finished and we have achieved pretty pretty princess!!!

Of course, with 10 days to go, James and I have both come down with head colds. Figures. So all that time I spent cleaning the house for the party Saturday is wasted, since we’re being all sick and lazy and dirty.

Shopping tomorrow to pick up those last few things. Also meeting with the florist.

The checklist is growing smaller. Almost everything is done.

Now I just need to kick this cold.

Okay, technically, my shower in July was the beginning of the celebrations. But tomorrow is our work shower and Saturday is my bachelorette (and I’m working on something for James). The wedding is just two weeks from Saturday!

I still need to talk to the florist and redo my hair trial (I was not happy with the first go round, but I think I know how to fix it). And a few other odds and ends. I feel a bit scattered.

Tomorrow is our walk through at the Wake Robin, too, and last night we met with our DJ. My dad called about 30 minutes too late, but he finally picked a song for our dance (which has been stuck in my head all day).

It’s going to be a crazy two weeks!

Here’s an update from mid-August (how did that happen?!?):

Everything is just as hectic as I was worried it would be, but I think we’re coping okay. Mostly. Except for those nights I end up sleeping 12 hours or the times when James falls asleep at the computer desk.

Things accomplished in the past two weeks:

• The groomsmen have all be asked and have confirmed their willingness to participate.
• Tuxes have been ordered, and my brother even sent in measurements from Oregon (though the tux place called; they have “important questions”; I’m a little concerned about that).
• Wedding dress fits and plans are underway for minor alterations.
• Tiara has been purchased.
• Make-up trial has been completed. I am so happy with my “look.”
• Hair trial will be this Friday (now that I have the tiara).
• Marriage license application has been mailed.
• Rehearsal dinner menu is planned.
• Ceremony is written (just needs final approval from the minister).
• RSVPs have been rolling in. The official respond by date was Friday, so now I have to start pestering people for their responses.
• Bachelorette is planned (Body Shop party and then sleepover; there is some talk the bachelor party will be the same night, but I haven’t been in on those discussions).
• We have a meeting set up with our DJ for next week.
• I have bought welcome bags and have planned a couple of items to put inside them.

Major things left to do:

• Finalize plans with florist.
• Walk through at the Wake Robin (scheduled for the 21st).
• Pay bills!
• Write vows.
• Pay for and pick up marriage license.
• Make ring bearer pillow, now that we know we’ll have a ring bearer.
• Clean the house before we are inundated with house guests.

When I look at the calendar, I get kind of freaked out, but overall, I know that we could get married today and have everything that’s important to us in place. Well, once we get the marriage license in our hands, we will.

Somehow, I sound calmer than I really am.

I am dreading August. I think I am actually afraid of it.

Everything at The Journal is changing. The owners decided to cut their losses and shut down our print shop. We have an antiquated press and cannot afford to upgrade. Some people were laid off and all our deadlines have changed, since we now have to get our pages to an outside printer.

James has been, and is, instrumental in this process. He has a lot on his plate now and is very stressed out with all the meetings and preparations and putting out fires before they start.

Then, at my other job, we have a new chef, new menu and new procedures. And I have to buy black shirts for the new uniform.

We’re doing a tasting of the new menu Friday, which I’m looking forward to. If the main dishes are as good as the desserts we tried, it will be a very good thing indeed.

And then there’s the wedding. Only 39 days to go, according to The Knot. Yikes!

I made a list last night of everything we still have to do. It’s long. And I’m sure I’m missing something. I’ve already thought of another thing and forgotten it. Sigh.

But the napkin rings are coming along beautifully. I’ve got 60 that are just waiting for their final touches. And I really like the paper I’m using in them (thanks, Sharon, that’s from your box of leftovers), so I think I’m going to make escort cards out of it, too.

That’s what I forgot to put on the list: escort cards, table numbers, seating chart. But I can’t do that until the RSVPs are in.

It’s going to be a hard month.

I met up with Kara and her girls, Emily and Maya, in Pittsfield last night to work out flower girl dresses. The girls are 6 and absolutely adorable.

Kara’s mom is making their dresses, so we headed over to Jo-Ann Fabrics to pick out a pattern and material.

Here’s the dress we picked:

The girls also said they wanted to throw petals, so I’m going to get some of those fabric petals from Michaels (probably in green, since the church has a maroon carpet) and Kara said she has baskets. So we’re pretty much set.

It was so much fun to hang out with them. They’re getting so big! I bought them each one of those stuffed Audubon birds, you know, the ones that sound their call when you squeeze them.

Kara said she can’t wait until I have kids and she can buy them annoying toys.

Invitations are in the mail! I had so much fun addressing them, imagining every person reading them and coming to the wedding.

When I dropped them off at the post office, the worker there, Jill, was so sweet. At one point I said, “No turning back now!” And she said, “You wouldn’t really want to.”

She’s right. I can’t wait to marry James.

In other news, the copper arrived tonight and I’ve begun the napkin rings. The copper is a little tougher than I’d like and my wire cutters don’t work as well as I’d like, but I’m making progress. I have 8 ring bases made, 4 folded and 4 more cut. I still have to buy the glass, but I’m in good shape.

We went to Six Flags New England over the weekend with Sarah (bridesmaid) and Wendy and had such a blast. So nice to get out and not worry about work, other work, money or wedding for a few hours. And the Superman roller coaster was amazing, and that’s coming from a roller coaster whimp.

I cannot believe how many things are getting done. I was really worried about two weeks ago that there would be no way to pull this off. But somehow, we’re being really productive.

The biggest news is that James has a best man. Mark, who works with us at The Journal, will fill the position. James and Mark have known each other for years. Mark was a sort of Big Brother to James way back when. He’s very supportive and proud of James. I think it was the perfect choice.

And Mark is very excited, too. Within about 5 minutes, he was online looking up his duties. James is in good hands.

I also have my shoes. I ordered from Endless.com and it was a wonderful experience. The first pair I ordered were just a little too small — the plastic straps were cutting in too much. I returned them and ordered a size larger with no problems (well, technically my credit hasn’t shown up yet, but I didn’t have to pay for postage, and I have shoes that fit, so I’m happy).

I wanted to post a photo, but the site has a fun flash feature that lets you look at the shoe from every angle. I got the Tiffany Slide in bronze. They match the jewelry I got for my bridesmaids perfectly.

Other big news is invitations! They are designed, printed and sitting in my kitchen. James and I are headed to Target for the express purpose of buying a fancy pen for me to address the invites. I’m off from both jobs for three days this weekend, so I should have plenty of time to address them. And I’ve already bought all the postage (much cheaper than I was planning; I thought it would be at least $100, but it was only $60; shows how well I can add).

We met with Shaffin at the Wake Robin on Tuesday to talk about our cake. I convinced James that it was okay to have carrot cake in a wedding cake, so we’re doing three layers: white cake on bottom, carrot in the middle and white on top. Buttercream frosting. We have a cute cake topper picked out but not purchased and the baker is going to talk to our florist about getting some blooms for decoration.

For some reason, the cake isn’t a big deal for me. I want it to taste good and look nice, but I don’t have a dream cake and I really don’t care much about the decorations. So we’re just trusting that it will be pretty. Everything else they do is great, so I’m not worried.

And I know that invitations to my shower have gone out, but that’s about all I know about that. I’m trying to be good and not press for details, but it would be so easy, especially when a coworker slipped up and told me she got an invitation.

The other thing that is taking an enormous amount of restraint is staying off the Bed, Bath and Beyond website. I figure when stuff starts to move off the registry, the shower is getting close. But I’m going to try not to look until after the shower. At that point I’ll have to look so I know whether to add more stuff.

This weekend will be full of relaxing, spending time with James (we work and live together and lately still feel like we never see each other), addressing invitations and making napkin rings (if my copper mesh shows up today like it’s supposed to).

And then things will really start to get crazy…