DGG

So maybe this is TMI- but FI and I decided to do this. It may be silly but we started (or stopped, I guess ..) when we started our pre-cana (which is Catholic pre-marriage counseling).. This will be about 2 1/2 months before our wedding.. It is hard but everytime one of wants to give in, the other makes us stick to it.. so you definitely both need to be in agreement for this to work.. I think it will make our wedding night so much more special - and very much anticipated.. it is sort of nice to think that the next time I have sex will be with my husband It really does make it mean more

Those are so great - I wish I was that creative I watched the cricut infomercial several months ago and really wanted to get one - FI told me I was crazy... then again, I wouldn't have been able to make something that nice

I've been feeling the exact same way... I am working more hours now than FI and then when I finally do get home from work or have a weekend off, I feel like all I do is wedding stuff - it's like my second job He will do things if I directly ask him to (and remind him to sometimes), but sometimes it would be nice if he were more proactive and did stuff or thought of stuff on his own. We still don't have his or GM's suits, still haven't ordered his ring b/c he won't settle on one - we will hopefully have this done by the end of the week or I will go crazy..

OMG I am under the 2 month mark now!!!!

Grace - You are right.. if you are paying for everyone else, then you really have to cover theirs also.. I think that's better for invites- it avoids the whole issue of reimbursing her for the cost of making your gift.. and now you can get exactly what you want.. Not that a gift is expected/required, but if you pay over $2500 for accomodations and they can't cover $20 I would be annoyed too.. but it's good you seem to let things go easier than I do Your wedding sounds like a lot of fun - I wish I could afford to do that..

sorry double post

I think you need to take into account your FI's brother is in the army fighting for our country... I'm sure he is scared and doesn't feel like he can just wait around - if he is ready, then he probably wants to let his girlfriend know how he feels about her before he goes away for who knows how long and who knows what will happen there.. so I think it really isn't fair to expect him to take your or your FI's feelings into account when he is sacrificing so much and dealing with so much more than we can even imagine... Since they are young and FI is away fighting, maybe the only way they can come to your wedding is if your FIL pays for their room.. at least their dad is paying it so everyone can come to the wedding - some families won't do that. I'm sure you are frustrated and now is your time to be happy and enjoy the engagement - but it's easy to caught up in that.. realize the engagement and wedding means so much more and no one else's engagement should take away from that.. try to relax, you have a year to plan and enjoy being engaged From my experience, planning a wedding is one of the most stressful things we've dealt with yet - it's easy to get caught up in everything - but when you step back and realize how lucky you are to have someone you love enough to marry and spend the rest of your life with, that should mean more than everything else.. good luck

Quote: Originally Posted by CaboBride2010 just an innocent question but why do so many people not children at their wedding arent they just as much a part of your family as adults sorry just dont get how kids wouldnt be at a wedding.. I can't speak for everyone, but for me the issue is not that we don't want any kids, we just had to limit the list and so didn't invite any of the kids we didn't know. For us, we added extended family on and so we chose to only included these adults since neither of us knows their children and we wanted to keep our wedding somewhat small. We are happy to include FI's 2yo nephew (our ringbearer) and our friends' babies. But weddings aren't really geared for kids and to have to cater to children we don't even know (let alone pay $$$ for them) doesn't seem right to me..

I was having similar problems with one of my best friends - she seemed happy to be my bridesmaid at first, but I felt like everytime I spoke about my wedding or plans with her, she was so negative. It seemed like everytime the wedding came up, she would tell me how expensive the hotel was, how we shouldn't expect any gifts (which I really don't care about), complaining about the dress, etc. Finally, I had enough - so I sent her an email telling her how upset I was and that I felt like she was being so negative and wasn't happy for me. She called me up hysterical saying she didn't mean to be negative - but she explained that even though she is happy for me, it is really hard for her to see another good friend getting married when she is single and thought she would be married and be starting a family at this point in her life... she apologized for making me feel that way - but then I felt awful.. maybe I was so wrapped up in my happiness and wedding plans that I wasn't a good friend to her... I've been trying to be more sensitive to her and even though my life sort of does revolve about wedding planning now, I should try to be more sensitive to her and be there for her also.. It sounds like a lot of you have been through some pretty crappy situations, but it is a shame to lose a friend over wedding plans.. then again, if they really weren't a good friend to begin with maybe it's for the best.. Darcy, I don't know if you spoke to your friend yet - but try to hear her side of the story.. maybe she is just being selfish, but maybe there is a reason she is acting that way.. Good luck

I definitely feel the same way. I feel like I went way over-budget but it balanced out b/c my parents are giving me some money towards the wedding now. BUT - we keep having extra people added on and that is really stressing me out b/c we were barely affording the wedding as it is... I agree it makes me think maybe we should have put off the wedding until the fall just so we could have saved up more money...

I made postcards that I am going to give out to guests in the OOT bags. I also used the rack cards to print welcome letters. I will post a picture later, but the rack cards look really nice - they are a thicker paper and glossy. I am going to use the rack cards as menus and programs - working on that now. The free offer for rack cards expires March 31 so I'm trying to get it done by then.. Before the wedding, I am going to send out "reminder" postcards with details of the other wedding events - I thought that would be a nice touch to get people excited about the wedding - and not as expensive as a whole welcome packet..

I'm going to have the WC put them on the chairs at the ceremony.. if you want ppl to have them at the wedding, it's best to give them out there... otherwise, I don't think anyone will think ahead and bring them on their own..

For my situation, our 2 friends that weren't going to bring their babies now both decided to bring them - which I am happy with b/c I do love children and we are a lot closer to them.. and we did invite them with their 2 babies... But - now I guess we are stuck on saying that no children are allowed for these uninvited children.. Even though these children were intentionally not invited (b/c we do not know them at all or even their parents even thought they are family - and haven't been invited to anything for them in the last 10 years - baptisms,etc), we will look bad for not including them... so I guess what's another $900, right?? I wish ppl realized how much $$ was involved and maybe they would think twice about adding ppl on..

Grace -- Do they all know you are paying for the accomodations?? Maybe they don't realize you were going to do this and you can have them chip in.. If that first friend knew that you would be paying for accomodations and booked her flight without an invite, that's pretty rude... For the second couple, at least they asked.... but I understand your feeling - if it really bothers you, you can talk to them and say it is really going to be close family/friends only and would rather keep it at that.. I hate that it is really these ppl who are being rude, but I don't want to be rude back so I'll probably just give in too...

I tried going to the website just4funtoys - but it's for adult toys Maybe I should try oriental trading instead

We are doing pre-cana which is sort of premarital counseling for our church. Ours is in a group but we also had to each do a take-home test (it was over 150 questions!!) and next week we go over eachother's response. Even though we have been together over 9 years and thought we'd spoken about everything, there were some issues that we never really thought about. So it has been helpful in getting us to learn more about ourselves and each other. Marriage is a big step and we've spoken a lot about our how families growing up lead to the expectations and fears that we bring into our new marriage. I would definitely recommend pre-marital counseling for everyone - I think it really helps you learn more about you and your relationship...and gets you discussing some things you wouldn't have even realized you should discuss.

I love cocoa butter lotion, especially after being in the sun - it is so moisturizing and I never peel if I use it. I love the smell but FI absolutely hates it, so I don't use it anymore.. My absolute favorite is Aquaphor - I use it for dry skin on elbows/knees, on my cuticles, and for dry lips. It's a little more expensive than vaseline, but I have become hooked and a tube really lasts a long time. It is too greasy for the rest of my body, but it gets rid of chapped lips quicker than anything else I can find.. For shine, I also love Clean&Clear oil blotting sheets - they work great when your skin is oily during the day and don't mess up your makeup.

Quote: Originally Posted by Royal_lady10 I really like using aloe vera juice as a toner on my face and hydrocortosine ointment as a moisturizer. I have been using hydrocortosone(sp) cream on my face since high school. It keep inflamation, redness, ect at bay, I have very sensitive skin, so everything either stings, burns, or dries it out.. Not to be annoying, but be careful about using hydrocortisone on the face - the kind you get at the drug store is a low strength (1%) but any steroid cream like hydrocortisone can lead to blotchy lighter-colored patches on your skin. I am a pediatrician so I see a lot of kids with eczema who use these creams a lot and ppl who over-use steroid creams get really blotchy areas esp if you are exposed to the sun - and this can be permanent. So just be careful..

Our decision, we spoke to our parents and they are going to host the rehearsal dinner. We told them the situation and they are going to decide, although I think they agree we should limit it to close family, bridal party, and some close friends. But at least that's not my decision anymore . We are going to send invites (from our parents) with our reminder postcards I made on vistaprint about a month before the wedding. DarcyJAde - I think you do it as a "rehearsal dinner" and just have the included people, then have everyone meet later in the evening for a cocktail party if you can do that. I think only bridal party and immediate family should expect to be included - and you are including everyone in the cocktail party so I think that's fine. I went to a wedding in Puerto Rico last year (FI's cousin) and only bridal party and close family were invited - which did only leave out about 15 ppl - I don't think other people expected anything differently and everyone acted like they were fine with it.

Are you sure it's really broken? Maybe it's just a muscle pull? (hopefully ) I broke a rib last year with my attempt at surfing - that was the worst pain I have ever experienced.. I was taking codeine for a week or so after the injury, but was away on vacation so I was doing some hiking after a few days (the codeine helped ). It took a while to get back into working out b/c I had pain whenever I was breathing heavy.. I think you should be okay with a stationary bike or fast walking.. Definitely stay away from anything that uses your arms or has you bouncing a lot (like running, elliptical). Maybe you can use a stairmaster if you don't move your upper body too much. Try to do leg weights, as long as it doesn't hurt. You can take Motrin before and after working out. Good luck.. and don't push yourself too hard

Are you sure it's really broken? Maybe it's just a muscle pull? (hopefully ) I broke a rib last year with my attempt at surfing - that was the worst pain I have ever experienced.. I was taking codeine for a week or so after the injury, but was away on vacation so I was doing some hiking after a few days (the codeine helped ). It took a while to get back into working out b/c I had pain whenever I was breathing heavy.. I think you should be okay with a stationary bike or fast walking.. Definitely stay away from anything that uses your arms or has you bouncing a lot (like running, elliptical). Maybe you can use a stairmaster if you don't move your upper body too much. Try to do leg weights, as long as it doesn't hurt. You can take Motrin before and after working out. Good luck.. and don't push yourself too hard

That is crazy! I think the government has bigger issues to worry about..

We were originally going to have a welcome party the night prior to the wedding and invite everyone coming, but unfortunately we have to try to scale back somewhere as we are way overbudget and more people are coming than we thought (including bringing children that we didn't invite and trying to find a way to include to be polite). So, I was thinking we might change instead have a rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding. We have only told people about the night before dinner that what be invited either way, so we have only officialy invited people to the wedding. But - we are having 55-60 people at the wedding - For our rehearsal dinner we would invite our wedding party, immediate family (including aunts/uncles/grandparents) and some really close friends. This would be about 40-45 people. Is this really bad? The only ppl who wouldn't be invited to both would be his grandparent's siblings and their children (that we don't know anyway) and were only invited b/c his grandparents asked us to. I know this seems silly, but this ends up being 10-15 people and we need to cut somewhere.. I also like the idea of having only those close to us there for the rehearsal dinner, as that was what I really wanted for the whole thing..

If you got your period after that, assuming it was a normal period (not really light) than you probably not pregnant. Just stay on your regular pills and use a condom next time if you mess up the pills. If you were pregnant, the pregnancy test would be positive about 2 weeks after you ovulated/got pregnant - so you can take a home pregnancy test 2 weeks after starting your new pack and it's somewhat reliable. I've messed up my pills a lot and never got pregnant - although I had plenty of freak-outs like you... try not to get too down before you know anything.. good luck

angie8119 - I think it's sort of up to them since they are throwing it - but if you don't want them to spend a lot of money, just tell them you would be happy with something really low-key at someone's house or something..