TBT: The Wedding Planning Diaries

Sometimes I like to take a look back and see where I was a year ago on this blog. As we approach Born to be a Bride’s second anniversary in July, this will be an even more sentimental and enjoyable process for me. I’ve kept a journal since I was about five years old, but the past several years have been very spotty in that regard. This blog is my journal in many ways, and sharing it with you is just cherry on top of the sundae in my own process of becoming a bride, and now a wife. So, where was I last year?

On June 5th, 2013, I posted about thank-you notes for our bridal shower. As irony would have it, Josh and I brought the final haul of shower gifts home to our apartment just a few weeks ago. When we lived in Dallas, it seemed expensive and daunting to ship everything there. We figured we’d wait a year until we’d recovered from the wedding expenses and ship it all then. Little did we know at the time that within a year, we’d be living a five-hour drive from my mom’s, and we’d be able to pack up the trusty Durango and bring it all here. (Mom is thrilled to have her guest room back, by the way).

At my shower, with some of my favorites.

You might remember I made a book of cards from the shower(s) and I plan to do the same with our wedding cards. But it was even more nostalgic and wonderful, a year after the fanfare of my beautiful bridal shower on Long Island, to open up the 80% of our gifts we hadn’t yet used. Suddenly, we have mixing bowls and silver frames, crystal vases and fancy knives. And more wine glasses than any two people have a right to own — but fear not, friends. They’ll all be used. There is also a stripper pole now, because of course. Funnily, that is the one item my handsome husband hasn’t yet brought up from the car to the apartment. I imagine if you didn’t know me and you saw the contents of my trunk, you’d judge me — just a little.

So, last year at this time I fretted over getting my thank-you notes completed from the bridal shower, but I got them done shortly thereafter. Today, just two days shy of the nine-month mark since our wedding, I shamefully have about 15 notes to get out. It’s been a crazy year, but that’s no excuse. I now have my assignment for this weekend. What one nagging item remains on your current wedding to-do list? Email me!

Weekend in the Rain

Misty weather and dismal skies in Washington, DC this weekend. I had a bunch of freelance work to catch up on yesterday and then my husband whisked me off for some kabob and a stroll around our soon-to-be neighborhood in the afternoon.

Today we’re meeting with a registry consultant to go over the mess that became of our china selections (brides, beware: your registry issues will not end the day of your wedding) and then we’ll eat dinner in and watch some TV.

I am getting better and better at making this face, that looks exactly like my mother’s.

Regrettably, I have no DIY project for you this Sunday but I do have big plans for the upcoming weeks, so forgive me. Here’s what’s on my itinerary for working with my hands this weekend: the rest of our thank-you notes must be penned! (In case you’re awaiting yours, I apologize. It’s been, you know, a bit of a busy two months since the wedding).

These turned out so great, my mother-in-law put hers in a frame!

As far as the thank-you notes are concerned, might I suggest you check out Zazzle? We had a series of great experiences ordering our save-the-dates, custom stamps and thank-you’s from them. The paper is of great quality, the designs are largely customizable, and the more you order, the bigger discounts you get. I love our postcard-style notes. The only flaw is they don’t allow me to be as verbose as I’d like, but when you have so many to do, that’s probably a good thing.

No, that’s not our address anymore… you have NOT missed another move!

Thank You, Thank You

Remember those thank-you notes I promised to bang out right away? Well, the past couple weeks have flown by and I still had not unpacked from New York. No, your math is not off. I was in New York over a month ago. Feeling like a truly dysfunctional twit, I peeled back the top of the suitcase Saturday afternoon and dove in. Hangers were removed and returned to the closet (still not quite sure why I was traveling with five hangers?), dirty clothes were put in the hamper and the box full of shower cards found a new home on our one-stop wedding workshop, also known as the coffee table.

My shower cards… some funny, some sentimental, all special. After this box, their next and final stop is a scrapbook. Methinks that will have to wait till after the wedding.

Opening these cards a second time and actually being able to read them without my mom hurrying me on with a roomful of ladies antsy to get to dessert, was a treat. The day of the shower, my maid-of-honor, sister-in-law, best friend extraordinaire kept a very detailed little bride journal denoting all gifts and their givers to keep me on track. This weekend, I wrote each thank-you after reading the related card, which created a more personal feeling than the standard Thanks so much! Love the gift! 

A bride-to-be guest book can serve as an excellent place to list your gifts and keep track of thank-you’s that have already been written and sent out.

I can’t guarantee your MOH will have handwriting this beautiful, but make sure she takes note of everything you receive at your shower.

As long as all of these find stamps and make their way to the homes where they’re intended before my wedding, I’ll feel okay about it. But what did we learn from this scary lapse in organization? Take your own advice, ladies!

This adorable tea towel is just one of the unique gifts I received for my shower that were not on the registry. Others included a lacy apron, lingerie, and a stripper pole. Well, then!!

A Million Thanks

There’s much to be read about the etiquette of thank-you notes these days, and being a bride naturally means you’ve got to read up. When we were kids, we were always made to send a hand-written note of thanks for any gift, large or small. And even before we were able to write, Mom would craft the note and have us paint on it or decorate it with stickers while explaining the importance of the gesture.

The gifts for our wedding have started to arrive and wow, this is fun. Every few days, we’ll get home from work and find a box waiting inside our apartment. Even when it’s something we knew was coming, it is so exciting to tear open the package and discover what treasure lies within. But Josh is a man, and a working one at that, and his desire to create a thank-you list and rattle off the notes is thin at best.

That’s where I come in.

From what I’ve read, any shower gifts should be acknowledged with a note from just me, because while the gift is for us both, the party was intended to shower me with happiness. Any gift addressed to both of us earns him a prized spot on the bottom of the note where he scrawls his signature upon my instruction. But what about the stationary?

We plan to order thank-you notes that match our invitations and those will be sent us from both of us, post-honeymoon. The return address will be ours and it will start with Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Gerson. Chic! Can’t wait. But until then, I am reading that it’s customary to use the maiden’s name and stationary. I purchased several boxes of pastel and sparkly thank-you notes from Papyrus literally days after we got engaged. They seem quite fitting to who I am as a person and as a bride. Writing them helps me to relive the opening of each gift, while sending them lets the gifter know how much their thought meant to me as a bride and to us as a couple.

If you have not yet received a note from me on your recent gift, do not fret! I am rolling them out in slow succession not because I am lazy or busy or ungrateful, but because I genuinely believe that these notes need to mean something. And as a writer, I like to take my time in capturing these feelings as I jot them down. But this is important, brides-to-be: get those shower thank-you’s out well in advance of your wedding. The women in your life put time, effort and love into getting you those items long before your big day. They deserve to read about how much you appreciate it before they book their travel and find babysitters and cocktail dresses for the event itself.