Five more months until “I do”

For us, yesterday wasn’t just about the Easter Bunny, too many desserts, and that annoying Easter basket grass. April 8 also meant that we are literally FIVE months away from our wedding! I have to admit, I am breathing a few sighs of relief- initially I somehow thought that we were only four months away. Cue some major panic attacks until I redid that math!

Alas, we have just under five months to go until the big day. While I’m feeling pretty confident about all of our planning, I need to kick Brian’s butt into planning gear for the rest of this spring/summer. You see, he is under the impression that we can just plan one thing at a time and it will somehow all get done. I, on the other hand, realize that we have nearly as many to-dos as we have days to the wedding. Boys. Although I can’t entirely blame him- we’ve both been so busy we have barely had time to see each other let alone discuss wedding deets.

Instead of deluging you with my mile-long list of wedding tasks, I’ll just share a few that are on our immediate radar. Hopefully once we have these taken care of we can focus on some of the smaller, more intimate details.

• Our caterer. Fortunately, we have it narrowed down to two different pig roast companies (yes, if you didn’t know already, our wedding will be a backyard, upscale bbq affair). I’ve already spoken with the two companies and they have provided estimates, so now it is just a matter of making a decision. Of course, one has more experience, options, etc. but they also come with a much higher price tag- go figure. So now we just need to determine which details are the most important. Fortunately, the caterer with less options is perfectly fine with us adding our own items to the buffet, so we can easily supplement on our own for less cost if need be.

• We need to finalize a DJ. Again, we have it down to two companies. It should be an easy choice- Brian has worked with one of the companies at a wedding he shot last year. The catch? They don’t do off-site ceremonies, just the reception. The other company can do off-site ceremonies for an extra $400. The downside? Brian has never worked with them, so we can only judge them based on online reviews and sound bytes. As much as I don’t want to deal with extra vendors, we’re almost leaning towards having the DJ Brian knows do the reception and having the other company just come in for the ceremony. Decisions, decisions. 

• Speaking of decisions, we need to figure out where we want to go for our honeymoon. I don’t know why we are slacking so much on this one. Well, I’m not necessarily slacking, but I won’t point any fingers. But we really do need to get moving on this one. Fortunately, a lot of travel deals can come up in the months before a trip, so I’m not too worried, but it’s just another thing I would like to have booked and out of the way. I’m still pushing for Costa Rica, but every time I mention that is where we are going, you-know-who responds with “We are?” So, it’s time for me to get pushing on that one too, otherwise we will be honeymooning on our one year anniversary! At least I ordered my passport a while ago so I’ll have it in plenty of time, even if we don’t go anywhere…

• This is a random one, but we need to look into permits. Since we aren’t going the traditional venue route, we need to check with the city on things like noise levels, liquor licenses, and parking. Hopefully no one will call the cops on our backyard affair, but we still want to have all the proper permitting in order before the big day. 

Whew! Just these four things make it seem like a lot. Fortunately, they represent the majority of the BIG to-dos we have left on our list. Obviously there are many more important things to check off, like buy rings, get our marriage license, etc. but the four above seem like the most daunting. Once these are checked off, I’ll feel completely comfortable plugging along on the rest of the list. Because I can’t wait to get to the to-dos like “make handmade mason jar chandeliers” and “order candy for the vintage candy table.” I have so many fun, creative touches to craft that I can’t wait to share with you! Which I promise to do as soon as we tackle some of these monsters so I can get to them. 

So, married readers, what was the most fun/daunting/time-consuming part of your wedding planning? And my unmarried readers, what are you the most excited about when it comes to planning your future big day?

As always, I’ll keep you up-to-date on all wedding planning details here, and on the wedding page!