Rehearsal dinner

It's been a week since the wedding and I haven't really blogged about the whole event yet. So here it goes.

The day of the rehearsal. Jaci and I drove to Cottage Grove to meet my mom, sister and Britt to get our pedi/manis. It was nice to sit back and relax. The fact I was about to get married the next day didn't seem possible.

When we were done we headed to the hotel to check in and get ready for the rehearsal. I put on my cute little blue dress and was really excited. This is all happening?

Downstairs the wedding party and parents had a drink in the bar and settled in. The rehearsal went great and everyone knew their places.

We had dinner at Buca di Beppo and I think I ate my weight in food. It was sooo good. We also handed out the presents to the wedding party and our parents. I was pretty excited for that. I got the maids cute necklaces to wear for the big day (and I knew they would wear them later) and pashminas from India. They loved them.

Anyway, the whole thing was very relaxing and fun. It was great to see everyone interacting for the first time. Here are some photos:

Here comes the bride...

The maids.

Jaci, Britt and me.

The happy couple.

I was really hungry...

Mrs. Stenman

I'm officially married! I got the marriage certificate in the mail and now can go about getting my name officially changed. How weird. Every time I look at Eli and see that ring on his finger I think "Wow, he's my husband."

It's going to take me awhile to break down everything for you. The night before with the rehearsal and groom's dinner, getting ready the morning of, taking photos, the ceremony and reception.

Everything felt like a whirlwind.

I don't have the energy to go through everything so instead I will give you the cutest story that I heard from the day.

My cousin's 4-year-old daughter Aoife was at the wedding and completely excited to dance and see the bride. At the ceremony when Eli and I were standing up front, my cousin pointed the bride out in her wedding gown. Once Aoife saw me she asked "Where's her prince?"

My cousin then, of course, pointed out Eli as my prince. How adorable is that? Here is a picture of Aoife and I. She looks so excited :)

One day and counting...

Wedding weekend is finally here! I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning. I have butterflies in my stomach and am anxious, but in a good way :)
I do have one last-minute stressor. Eli's grandma, who we didn't think was going to come to the wedding, is now coming. It's wonderful that she's coming- we both want her to be there. She had a stroke a few weeks ago and was supposed to have surgery today (Friday), meaning that she wouldn't be able to come to the wedding. But now her surgery was postponed so she could come.
And I just found out last night. And my final numbers were due Wednesday. So late last night I sent an e-mail to the wedding coordinator, hoping that we could get something worked out. It shouldn't be a big deal, but it still adds stress.
It's no one's fault, but I hate that I'm worrying about this the day before the wedding. So I'm guessing that the wedding coordinator gets in in about an hour. So hopefully I'll hear from her then.
Other than that... today I'm doing final packing and loading up the car. Eli gets home from work around 11 and he's going to shower and get ready. We're heading to Jaci and Cory's where I'll drop off Eli and pick up Jaci to head to the cities for mani/pedis with the maids and my mom. 6 p.m. rehearsal and 7 p.m. groom's dinner.
I can't believe it's already here!
This will probably be the last post until the wedding. I'll be sure to fill in the details then.
OH- the wedding coordinator just called and it's no issue about adding grandma :) I think I'm just at that point where when someone springs something new on me I kind of get worked up... Imagine that.

Two days and counting...

Today is my first day off before the wedding! I have a full day planned. I have to clean my house, because I don't want to come home from the honeymoon to a messy place. Then I have some errands to run, thank-you cards to write and will probably start packing. I also have some more presents to wrap.
The weather for Saturday now says 64 degrees and partly sunny. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
I actually have been sleeping well the last couple of nights. We'll see how long that lasts.
I'm so excited :) Almost as excited as Jessie was in that episode of Saved By The Bell where she took all those caffeine pills and passed out while singing "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it..."

Tuxes

First, the National Weather Service says it will be 61 degrees and mostly sunny on Saturday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...
Eli picked up his and Cory's tux last night. He brought it home and took it out of the bag and it was black. Black. Not charcoal like I thought. Eli went to confirm the order last week and saw that it said black but didn't think anything of it. He says he remembers that we could get the suit we wanted in charcoal. I don't remember this, but it's entirely possible that it's true.
I'm not complaining too loudly. Eli feels bad. It's really not that big of a deal, just a little bit of a bummer. Oh well.
He tried his on and it looked pretty sharp. He wasn't happy with the fit. It fits in the arms and shoulders, but was made for a guy his height but 20 pounds heavier. I told him it's a rented tux and won't be perfect. He looks good in it though :) And the shoes are pretty awesome. They're box toe. Very sharp. His tie was wrinkled though so he was going to go and see if he can get it steamed or something. Otherwise I could iron it, but I think the tux place should fix it.

It's quickly approaching...

The weather for Saturday was just posted as being 58 degrees and sunny. Let's all hope it stays true!
The date is quickly approaching. Last night I slept like crap because all I could think of was the wedding and what all to do. This will probably be typical for the rest of the week. I can't believe it's going to be this Saturday! Woohoo :)
My concern of the day: hair appointment. The woman doing our hair is going to come an hour earlier than plan, just to make sure she has enough time. This is fine, but I no longer want to go first. I am having my hair curled and I do not want to have it done at 8 a.m. and then wait four or five hours before pictures. Somehow I don't see that lasting. So I will probably make Kris go before me, and maybe Jaci depending on time, and then have mine done. The stylist better have serious hairspray!!
I am filled with random thoughts. Last night I had drinks with Jaci and I think I kept just saying completely random things the entire time about the wedding. But this she understands.
Concentrating at work is difficult, but today is my Wednesday. Fortunately I have a ton of stuff to do before the end of tomorrow, so I should stay busy. But still, the mind wanders :) But everyone at work understands. I covered a council meeting last night and everyone was asking me why I was at work when I should be getting ready for the wedding. That was nice, I thought.
Yesterday I got pretty much everything confirmed. We are good to go!
I can't believe it's all happening this week!!! Longest week EVER!

What a week!

My crazy week. It's soon coming to a close and by the end of today I will be made of Jello, I believe.
I spent about 10 hours this week making place cards. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal to make them myself and it wasn't hard to do. It just took forever. But they are done. They aren't anything special, but they serve their purpose. So whatever.
I almost had a meltdown when I look at the hotel paper work and saw that I could only have 16 tables and I had created 17. Luckily I called the wedding coordinator and found out she could add another.
I also had a stressful conversation with a guest about how she couldn't bring uninvited people to the wedding. She didn't seem to grasp this notion and we'll see who actually shows up the day of. I was really upset about the whole situation but have decided that I simply can't get stressed out about it. It's not worth it. It's me and Eli's day and that's all that matters. I'm going to make it clear to my mom, my maids and the wedding coordinator that I don't want to hear about any drama on the day of the wedding. Cause I will stress out about it and it will blemish the day. So if you are reading this and are attending the wedding, if you hear of drama- don't tell me until at least a year after the fact! Bring it to my mom or my sister and they will deal with it :)
Luckily my mom and my sister are awesome at handling these things. So they can do it... now I just have to tell them that ;)
Today we have our big final meeting at the St. Paul Hotel. I have to drop off a bunch of stuff for them cause they do all the decorating and put out centerpieces (thank goodness).
I also am the keynote speaker at an AP Job Fair today. I saw the fliers for the event and they highlight my speech as a selling point. How funny is that? But wish me luck and hopefully it goes well :)

Just shoot me

Less than two weeks away and I have soooo much to do! Work is crazy this week too so I'm trying to fit everything in. But right now I'm listening to She and Him's album "Volume I" and it is fantastic! Eli surprised me the other day by coming home with the album and with Jenny Lewis' new album. He also bought MGMT, but I think that was for himself... But it was nice of him to get a little gift for his stressed-out bride-to-be.
We have our final meeting with the hotel on Saturday so I'm trying to get everything ready for that. I still have to print up the placecards after I had issues with the premade cards we bought. Our printer was pushing them too fast so it was all messed up. I just bought some card stock, though, and will just cut them out myself (I have one of those huge paper cutters that you had in elementary school so I'll be accurate).
I also have to e-mail the interpreter but I of course lost her e-mail. Eli found it again for me, though, so yeah him! I have so many wedding papers laying around that I easily lose things. Dumb.
I also should just take a moment to give a shout-out to Eli for being so helpful. He works 70 hours a week but still finds time to help me in little ways and it's totally needed right now! He even cleaned up the house Monday night!!! What a guy.
I've been dealing with phone calls this week from people looking for money for the services they are providing for the wedding. Of course my parents are out of town pretty much now until the wedding so I'm trying to take care of everything. But that's totally a mom job. Don't worry, I'll give her crap later.
So I'm just pushing through trying to get everything done. We're approaching the home stretch...

So much to do in so little time to do it

First, can I just say it's 62 degrees in my house right now? Ridiculous. I could turn on the heat, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I'd rather bundle up.
As the days get closer to the wedding, I realize how much stuff there is to do. And because my husband-to-be works so much, I'm kind of on my own. I already did all the invitations to the groom's dinner. It was a job he should have done, but didn't have the time to, so I filled them out and mailed them.
I'll probably also have to do all the thank-you notes for our shower. That reminds me I also have to get stamps.
We're not done buying presents for everyone either. So I have to get on that. I also have to wrap all of those and write out thank-you cards.
I'm down to two missing RSVPs so I'm making calls this morning.
I have to get myself organized, too, for my meeting with the hotel. There are seating charts to make and place cards to fill out.
There are hair appointments to have and new shoes to wear in. The week before the wedding I have to do all the calls to the vendors to make sure we're all on track for the big day.
I think I should start making lists. I also need to make lists for what to bring to the final meeting with the hotel and what to bring down to the cities for the wedding weekend.
I hate sitting at work and thinking of all the wedding stuff there is to do. I'm not exactly overwhelmed or stressed right now, but I'm just feeling "Okay... I have to get to this."
We're in the home stretch... right?