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…

Though I feel like I have a million details swimming around my head, things are beginning to get done.
I’ve booked mani, pedi, hair and make up for me, including trials, and made the offer to my bridal party (who are very slow about getting back to me — nudge, nudge).

We paid off and picked up our rings! The day we did, I think I showed them to everybody I ran into. They are so pretty and I am so happy with them. Now the question is whether to get them engraved before or after the wedding.

Travel arrangements have been made for James’s father’s side of the family.

I have recruited help to cook the rehearsal dinner.

I just ordered the bulk of the material for the napkin rings. I had some debate over whether or not to go through with it, but I’m really in love with them. Plus, I only have to make 100, and I have three days off next weekend. Completely off, from all jobs. Even if I only do 10 a day, that’s only 10 days.

The invitations are at the printer. We will see a proof tomorrow, and then Joe has promised me I will have them before the Fourth, so I can use my three days off to address them. I really want to get them in the mail that following week.

Progress is being made. It’s getting exciting!

Edit:  Oh!  I almost forgot!  I also booked Joel Blumert, local guy and awesome blues guitarist, for our cocktail hour.

James finished the invitation design last night and sent them off to the printer! They look great and I’m really excited for everyone to see them (one thing I am not going to reveal here, at least not until they hit mailboxes).

It’s getting real. Once the invites go out, it’s only a couple of months! I’m getting excited, but very stressed out, too. I feel like there’s still a lot to do and not enough money to do it with.

I cut up some more magazines tonight because I hadn’t played with my wedding book in a while.

I added an invitations page with a couple of ideas on it. I tried to print out some flowers and a cake that I really like, but the printer is dying, just about out of ink.

James picked out a few boutineers that he liked. I love when he gets involved in stuff. He also saw some flowers that I was cutting out and said he really liked those, too. I don’t have the names of them right in front of me, but they’re something a little bit different from the usual roses.

But, of course, it wasn’t as easy as just picking out some stuff that he liked. He asked me what I thought of his choices. And I said, “It’s up to you. You’re the one who will be wearing it.”

I thought I was doing the right thing, the thing he has asked me to do: Let him have an opinion. But he thinks that I’m not helping him. He says he doesn’t know anything about this stuff and that he values my opinion.

I don’t know how to balance keeping him involved and letting him make choices with giving my opinion and help when he needs it. His reactions confuse me. He wants to have a say, but he wants my input.

We decided to set aside some time each week, probably Sunday nights, to just talk about wedding stuff. Hopefully that will help to resolve this issue. I feel like I’m walking on a tightrope.

I saw a description on a wedding board of how someone made her own guest book. It looked so easy, I just had to try it myself.

Of course, with over a year to go before the actual wedding and only an inkling of what the style will be, I was not ready to create a guest book. But many sites and magazines recommend you have a three-ring binder with notes and ideas. And what’s wrong with making it look pretty?

James and I headed to Torrington today and visited a few stores. First stop was Staples for some basic supplies. I got the three-ring binder and some divider pages (since I planned to glue stuff to the pages, I wanted something sturdier than notebook paper). I got glue sticks and some pastel sharpies. Pastel sharpies? Wow, I am getting girly.

We also looked at some do-it-yourself wedding invitation kits. We found some that were okay, but nothing we were thrilled with. But there was some nice paper that we decided could work.

Next was JoAnn’s. Did you know that JoAnn’s is no longer in Torrington? Neither did I. So we headed off to Wal-Mart, the store of last resort. I got some white fabric with roses and some batting. We also looked in the wedding craft section and found some invitations we liked even better and are seriously considering. They have little picture frames on them for real customization.

We were barely in the door before I ripped into the craft project. It’s been a while since I’ve tackled anything other than knitting.

I’d say it was about an hour to put the book together, then several hours going through my stack of magazines for pictures to cut out. But here it is:

The outside of the book, covered in fabric with some fun wedding ribbon and doo-dads glued on. The batting underneath makes for a nice puffy feel. I just stapled the batting and the fabric to the binder. Unfortunately, some of the staples went through, but that’s what the doo-dads are for. Glue gun for those.

The first page, which made good use of the pastel sharpies. Our names and wedding date, plus a cute sticker from Wal-Mart.

An example of an inside page. I cut out things that I like and grouped them by subject. You can see the various subjects on the tabs on the side. This is the dress page (obviously).

This was such a fun project. We’re too far out from the date to work on any craft projects for the actual event, so this will tide me over for a bit.

Do you have any idea how many Web sites there are dedicated to weddings? It’s absolutely insane.

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.