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 bought my dress over the weekend. It was an amazing stroke of luck.

I made appointments at two salons, both in Waltham: Bride’s Choice and Yolanda’s. In that order.

Sarah and I headed out about 11 am for our noon appointment at Bride’s Choice. We got there about 15 minutes early. There was no one in the front room, except for a few mannequins displaying tuxes, bridesmaids gowns, flower girl dresses and, yes, wedding gowns. We looked around a bit before finally venturing upstairs.

At the top of the stairs was a doorway into what can only be called a warehouse of dresses. Row upon row, all bundled up in plastic. I have never seen so many dresses in one place.

The room at the top of the stairs had a mirror with a pedestal on the right and dressing rooms on the left. A counter displayed tiaras and other jewelry.

A small Italian woman was helping another girl with a dress. She said she’d be with us in a minute, and we just looked at tiaras for a while.

When she was ready for us, the saleswoman turned us loose in the warehouse and said to pick out anything I wanted to try on.

Sarah was my runner, bringing the dresses I picked out to the front of the room. I must have picked out about 20 dresses, each of which weighed about 25 pounds. Sarah later said she was glad we decided not to go to the gym that morning.

I was exhausted after going through all those racks. Now I had to try on all these dresses I picked.

The saleswoman set up a dress for me in the dressing room — literally. She set it up so it was standing on the floor and all I had to do was step into it. These dresses were so big!

I stepped into it and came out. She zipped me up and helped me to the pedestal.

I was transformed. A big grin came over me. There, in the mirror: I was a bride! I felt elegant and beautiful. I really couldn’t stop grinning.

The first three dresses I tried on I went over to the big mirror to check and the saleswoman began to worry that we were going to have to make this trek for all of them. But as I tried more on, I was able to see right away whether I liked them or not. Alright, I liked all of them, but some were definitely better than others.

The saleswoman culled a bunch for me, too, based on the floor sample size. She said some of them I just wouldn’t be able to try on at all because they were too small. They can, of course, order larger sizes, but they were having a floor sample sale, so any of those I picked that clearly wouldn’t fit she got rid of.

In the end, I kept coming back to the second dress I tried on, a Mori Lee floor sample that fit perfectly (a size 16, which I tried not to notice; I’m somewhere between a 10 and a 12 in street clothes, so this could be upsetting if I think about it too much). It was also the cheapest I tried on. Both Sarah and the saleswoman were pulling for it (I don’t know if she works on commission, but I really appreciate that she told me she liked this one best even before she looked at the price tag).

I cancelled my appointment at Yolanda’s: I bought it. I know I said I wouldn’t, but the price was too good: $350, with tax. I had the money and I was not going to find anything like this at this price, not even online (I looked!).

As for alterations, it will need very few: The straps tend to slip off my shoulders and it’s a little long (though Anne and Sarah think that if I wear a crinoline and heels, the dress might not need hemming). My friend Kara’s mom already offered to do it for me. There’s no beading at the hem, so it should be pretty simple.

But now I have to worry about it not fitting if I lose weight! This seems so backward.

I can’t believe there is a wedding dress lying on the bed in my guest bedroom. I keep sneaking peeks at it when I go by. James has seen some of it, of course (it’s in clear plastic and we live together; it was unavoidable), but I’m trying to keep him from looking at pictures of me in or even looking at it too long. I’m not horribly superstitious, but it makes me nervous.

I’m not entirely secure about the idea of buying a dress online, without trying it on, but there are so many great deals to be found on the Web. And a lot of people were saying this site was good. And I’ve heard a lot of other people raving about various other online dress purchases, including some who had dresses custom made for about $300.

So I looked around, and I came up with two dresses I like. Unfortunately, the site won’t let you copy the photos, so I can only post links.

Melinda

Faith

Melinda is more of what I usually think about when I think wedding gown. It’s the style I am most drawn to.

But Faith immediately made me think of The Princess Bride. I’ve always wanted a dress like that.

James really likes Faith, but I think I’m leaning toward Melinda. I’m hoping to be able to find dresses like them in stores to try on, so I can at least make sure the style is flattering on me.

But at $399 plus about $19 shipping, these are looking very attractive.

A guy we work with gave me a save the date magnet he got from a couple he knows (they changed the date, so the magnet is useless). I love it! We are totally doing that. But the real reason he gave me the magnet was the Web site on the bottom: The Knot.

I checked it out and I am totally hooked! I browsed a whole bunch of invitations and saved a bunch of styles I liked. James is going to design ours, but it helps to have some ideas going in.

I also looked at a lot of dresses. I’m not going to try anything on any time soon (we’re not getting married until September of next year), but it’s so fun to look. I definitely like the tight bodice with a big skirt and a long train. I’m not entirely sure how I want the back to look, but I want something interesting, since everyone will be staring at it through the service.

But, oh, those beautiful dresses are expensive. James asked me how much I was going to spend on a dress, and I said, “Hopefully not more than the ring.”

I’d really like to spend $500, but I feel like that might be difficult to do. But not more than $1,000. That would be criminal.

Looking at the prices of the dresses freaked me out a little bit. The invitations were managable, most around $1 each, but the dresses! We don’t have a budget yet and I don’t see how we’re ever going to afford to do anything. I just got a debt consolidation loan to pay off my credit cards, and I really don’t want to wrack up balances again. I’d love to be able to pay for everything in cash (or at least pay off the balance every month). That’s going to make it tight.