Everywhere I'd Want to Be

On our wedding night, Jules pulled out his laptop and slipped a pair of headphones over my ears.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Just listen," he replied and hit play.

I saw the tracks on GarageBand start to move and I knew. I knew, but I couldn't believe it. I felt my throat close up and my eyes fill with tears. I'm sure I looked ridiculous with a huge smile plastered on my face and tears rolling down my cheeks, but it didn't matter. I closed my eyes, held Jules close, and let his voice and his song sink in.

I thought Jules singing "I Cherish the Treasure" to me during our vows was going to be the highlight of the day, but it was only a close second. This moment, without a doubt, is (thus far) the highlight of my life.

Wedding Coordinator

Jules and I finally met with the wedding coordinator of St. Denis last weekend. She added a couple other things on our to-do list that we weren't even really thinking of, such as choosing ushers and readers, and the readings for the mass. We were also able to set a date for the rehearsal so I'll be contacting the concerned parties regarding that ASAP.

She brought up a couple of things that kind of hamper my plans such as not allowing flower girls younger than 5 years old (one of my flower girls is going to be 2 years old at that time), and having to wear a dress with straps at least an inch thick (the dress that I already bought is strapless and I don't want to wear a shawl, detachable sleeves, or a bolero over it). It's like all-girls Catholic high school all over again.

But I'll have to think about those things later. Our main focus right now, is gathering pictures and music for our montage. My good friend, Princh, agreed to make it for me and I feel really bad that I still haven't gotten the stuff over to her. :(

And then my family, along with Jules and I, are moving to a new house this weekend. So there's going to be packing and moving and unpacking to do. We're thinking of cutting my 32 hours of work down to 20 so I can get more things done. I don't want to be a stressed and ugly bride. :P

Oh, and we booked the Organic String Quartet to play during the wedding procession and for the cocktail hour of the reception. I'm really excited about them; not only will everything look pretty, it'll all sound pretty too!

Update

It's a little weird that my last post here was a month ago. Things have been on hold because of term papers, projects, and final exams. Now that school's out for the summer, wedding planning is in full blast again.

First off, Jules and I booked a DJ/MC from Have Music Will Travel. They were half the price of a couple other DJ's that we really liked, so we were a little hesitant to book them. Quality over quantity, I always say. But after several good referrals and consideration for our empty wallets, we thought we'd give them a go. I hope we don't regret it.

Invitations are almost ready for the printer. We're finalizing the text and tweaking the design here and there. Feanne gave me some beautiful artwork for it, and I'm really excited to show off her stuff.

We're due for our engagement photo shoot really soon, and possibly a sample-arrangements session from our florist. We still need to send swatches and tux instructions to some members of our bridal party, and we need to book a string quartet for our ceremony/cocktail hour. Camille's working on transportation and hair & make up artists, and mom's got the giveaways covered.

Whew. What else? We're pretty much on track, actually, maybe even a little ahead. Which is good, I like that. I enjoy this stuff.

Priorities

Exactly 7 months 'til showtime and all we've got is a florist and a photographer! Things we need to check off the list this weekend are:

1. DJ/MC
   There's one guy who also serves as a wedding coordinator on top of being the DJ/MC; we really like his personality and he seems very dependable. The thing is, he's double the price of a couple other guys. I guess we don't really need that extra service, except that knowing someone experienced will be able to make sure the reception is on schedule really appeals to us (or me). This is up to Jules.



2. Videographer
   The main decision here is if we want to go with high definition. I have only one guy at normal-def who's decent and cheaper than the HD guy. Right now, I'm leaning toward HD because Jules and I are techies, and hopefully, going HD will help the video last longer. If we didn't go HD, I can imagine our kids 20 years from now going, "Are you sure that's you guys? The video's so fuzzy it could be anyone." o_O



3. Finalize Entourage
   This is mainly the sponsors. Jules is pretty much done with his so this is all me. I need to get on top of those calls. Ugh.



4. Swatches
   I've been to so many fabric stores in the area and I can't beleive how difficult it is to find turquoise! The closest I can find is aqua, but the color I'm looking for has a slightly greener tinge than that. I've been putting off going downtown for the fabric because... I'm lazy.

So the first two are mainly decision-making, and the last two just require me to get off my ass. Okay, okay, I can do that. Ready, set, go!