Silver linings....

The above is one of the best silver linings in life.... a bombilioni, an amazingly delicious cream filled Italian version of a donut, I love donuts in a completely unhealthy way!

Anyway, yesterday I had a rare and uncharacteristically zen moment. I decided to take one of those every cloud has a silver lining type approaches to things. I am quite sure it will not last too long but here are the positive "silver linings" that have come out of the craziness that comes with planning My Big Fat Boston Wedding.

1. My mother is occupied by planning My/her Big Fat Boston Wedding and subsequently no longer has time to set me up on "blind friend dates", yes they are weird and even more awkward than normal old fashioned blind dates - these set-ups have started with intro's such as "Colleen, she works in Boston, in HR, moved to Boston from NY because her boyfriend was in Boston and she has no friends, you are basically the same person! Plus I know her mother and she says her daughter is nice"
2. In the quest to rid myself of all traces of armpit fat I am going to the gym and getting some quality cardio workouts in (side note: today at the gym I saw my old trainer who looked shocked that I was at the gym of my, seemingly, own will)
3. My dreams have never been quite so interesting to re-tell the next day
4. I have so many excuses to spend way too much time browsing on etsy
5. If I email Corey with the subject line reading "Wedding - Please Read" he actually reads them and I can sneak in completely un-wedding related rants/thoughts
6. Vendors are, or pretend to be, completely in love with all my thoughts and ideas
7. I won in an epic photo booth Battle against Carol aka my mom
8. Most importantly, I get to taste the left and right side of the menu and nobody will judge.... its for the wedding!

Wedding Bands.... a rare breed of people

The most important thing I have learned in the quest for the perfect band for My Big Fat Boston Wedding is don't judge a band by their name.... they all have awfully cheesy names. (Sidebar.... who thinks the guy on the far left in the above picture looks remarkably like Josh?)

It is hard to find a band that plays everything from Motown to Billy Joel to Rage Against The Machine (or Rage on the Machine as my dad calls it) but I am convinced there is one somewhere out there! It is also really hard to choose a band based on audio samples but it is even harder to crash another party on a random Wednesday or Saturday at 9:30 to hear them live. Fortuantly for me, the Ritz reccomended Music Management. They listened to what I wanted and made suggestions. They are also very familiar with the ballroom and will deal with all the details, big plus for me!

Below are our three favorites and we need to narrow it down because I am pretty sure we can't fit all three in the ballroom! Have a listen and let me know what you think (no need to sugar coat it)

Joey Scott & The Connection - we like them for  their vocal talents, they say they will learn any song and the fact that they have their very own sound guy!

The Hip Pocket Orchestra - their song samples are great and show that they can do everything from Jackson 5 to Beyonce to Gretchen Wilson (obvi not my pick)

Superband - they have the best mastery of modern music and sound great! Added bonus.... they play Dropkick

Vote/comment away! (no promises that we will take any one's opinion into consideration.... ha ha)

Amazing-ness!

Yesterday was a rough day in the world of My Big Fat Boston Wedding. First, the wedding has taken on a life and bank busting budget of its own. Second, I bought my dress while it was here on trunk show, aka I can't see it/try it on again until my actual dress comes in from the designer, which has been the source of a few "I picked the wrong dress" panic attacks. Third, I still don't have all the address and have got additional last minute guest list additions adding to current guest list which was already quite a "fatty".

This of course led me to a mini-breakdown which resulted in a denouncement of all wedding plans and a solemn declaration that I am moving to a "food truck" theme.

This of course led Jessica to the world-wide-web and the discovery of this little gem I like to call Taco Truck Heaven... if you can get past the onslaught of grammatical errors I encourage you to read the entire article.

Obviously I immediately emailed this to my dad and told him not to worry we are having a taco truck on the Boston Common for the reception. Below is how the conversation progressed (read bottom to top):

From: Geraghty, Scott

Done!  Shall I let your mother know or will you

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From: Geraghty, Colleen

I could be famous!! Plus I could use my $1,000 charitable giving company match!

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From: Geraghty, Scott

It would need to be more creative.  A homeless box bar…All cash proceeds to support a shelter.  Could probably get press on this.

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From: Geraghty, Colleen

Brown bag it?

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From: Geraghty, Scott

Then we can give up the room?  How will we handle alcohol in the Park?

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From: Geraghty, Colleen

We have the entire Commons at our disposal!

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From: Geraghty, Scott

I understand the truck…position it down by the stairs on Tremont.  The problem would be with the BBQ pit.  Smoke in the ballroom, I think, would be a bit over powering.  Don’t you think?

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From: Geraghty, Colleen

Why not go all out and get both J

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From: Geraghty, Scott

I am not sure if you are looking for a Taco truck or a BBQ pit??

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From: Geraghty, ColleenSubject: Crisis Averted

These people have AWESOME wedding ideas! Make sure to scroll down….

200 Days....

My Big Fat Boston Wedding is in 200 days! 200 days seems forever away but I am sure it will be here in no time. Here is what we have left to accomplish:

• Actually mail out the STDs (save-the-dates)
• Pick a band
• Taste and order cake
• Set the menu
• Hair & make-up test runs
• Engagement pictures
• Find some jewels
• Make sure the guys get fitted
• Finalize invitations
• A bunch of DIY projects from menus to table numbers to welcome guest bags for the out-of-towners (get ready Jessica)
• Have a million dress fittings
• Find a veil
• Most likely have 1,000 more wierd dreams

Most importantly this also means I have 200 days to get my tush into gear.

I have been really good about going to the gym. This weekend I was convinced that I gained 4 lbs in a week.... then I weighed myself in my birthday suit today and I was my good old normal weight, who knew jeans weighed so much!

We went to the gym on Saturday, Sunday, today and we are planning on tomorrow and Thursday. Corey is not a morning person and I can only go to the gym first thing otherwise I have all day to come up with reasons why I don't have to go to the gym. This morning the alarm went off and Corey decided that he couldn't get out of bed because it was still dark outside - I told him that I can't drive stick so in order for me to go to the gym he had to go also. This didn't do much, I then appealed to the accountant in him and told him that there was a direct correlation between my inability to loose LBs and his inability to get his butt out of bed, that did it!

And thus continues the battle of the armpit fat....

Dreams, Nightmares and Everything In Between

I have always been a terrible sleeper, it takes me forever to fall asleep and I can't stay asleep, I'm basically a walking Ambien commercial. If I get 5-6 hours of sleep a night I consider that a good night. I am still getting my normal 5-6 hours of sleep a night but those hours are now consumed by wedding dreams from the normal, to the weird to the straight up bizarre.

For example, on Saturday night I had a dream/nightmare that after the ceremony I was given a different bouquet that was round with a handle (think little flower girl bouquet). Not only is this not at all what my bouquet is supposed to look like but this one doubled as a salad bowl. Yes, I had to eat my salad out of the round ball bouquet, and ladies I wasn't the only one with this salad set up. Even stranger I distinctly remember thinking how this bouquet ball could be used at a later date to hold a pita pocket....

Here's to the next 5.5 months and seeing how much weirder things can get....

V is for Victory....

In the battle of "Carol vs. Colleen & The Photo Booth" Colleen & The Photo Booth have reigned supreme (who doesn't love Iron Chef?). It is official - there will be a Photo Booth at My Big Fat Boston Wedding! It is a great photo booth (see above) from Seacost Events and believe me there are a lot of not great photo booths out there. This photo booth prints two copies of each strip, one for the guest and one for the guest book! It also gives you the option to print in color, black & white or sepia, fancy!

I would like to point out that this is the photo booth my mother forwarded me from The Knot so really she is responsible for me finding the perfect photo booth and there was a coupon and that coupon got me $100 off PLUS and extra hour for free - giving my mom more time to enjoy it.

Everyone better ooh and aah over my photo booth at the wedding. I am going to suggest that my mom makes a speech announcing the opening of the photo booth. I want to prove to my mother that it really was the best idea ever!

Fun fact: Benefit Concepts (our flex spending reimbursement company) is going to be really confused when they get the photo booth contract I faxed over with my denist bill for reimbursement... I was just so excited to print the contract.... ooops!

KaBoom....

That is the sound of my dad passing out in NYC... yup, I can hear it all the way up in Boston. With save-the-dates comes final headcount! For those of you who don't know; my dad loves me, he loves great food, he loves great wine but he also really loves to save money. The final headcount has topped off at 209... the poor guy was really hoping for 140. After I explained that we all have a lot of family (Corey and my friends combined make up 59 guests - aka 28% of the guest list) I could tell that he was on the verge of a Father of the Bride moment:

Matty: Can I put Cameron back on the list if he promises not to eat?
George: You know, that's not a bad idea. Who else can we ask not to eat? My parents and your mother.

After pointing out that statistics say 15-20% of invited people do not actually attend we were in a much better place. Did I point out that I may have take a page from Dan Tosh's book and created a statistic to favor my cause.... not at all!

All I know is this wedding is going to be a fabulous time and I am certainly going to be eating!

Save the Date!

Stephanie at Kreativees saved the day, both literally and figuratively! After the first batch went MIA Stephanie was beyond accommodating and sent me a second set for free... in two days! They came and they are exactly what Corey & I wanted, simple and not fussy at all. Everyone will have to wait in suspense until they get mailed out. She is also doing my formal invitations and I am really excited to get started on that project!

I also ordered a custom stamp from Note Trunk - I also had issues here, I ordered one and got my own address wrong.... don't ask. Robert was so nice and actually refunded half the cost of my first stamp even though it was my own fault!

Stamping is much harder than I thought it would be but I figured a DIY project here and there is good for a girl! I am trying to master how to get the stamp straight and centered while attempting not to smudge it, there is a fine line between not enough ink and too much ink.

For those of you keeping score Colleen & The Photo Booth has another successful day.... my mom (Carol) actually forwarded me an email she got from the Knot for a discount on a Boston photo booth; done and done! I think she is starting to come around. As a side note we did having the following conversation:

Mom: "I keep getting these wedding emails"
Colleen: "I think you probably signed up on a wedding website or something"
Mom: "Oh, I think I signed up on the knot.com"
Colleen: "Makes sense"
Mom: "Yup and last night the Knot was sending me hairstyles but I was too tired to look at them"

The marvel of modern technology!

Flowers Flowers Everywhere....

Flowers are hard! Thankfully Orly at Tangerine Creations is helping us sort through flowers. It is really hard to explain what you want for flowers when you don't know the names of any flowers. This is how the conversation went:

Florist: What types of flowers do you want to see incorporated into your wedding
Colleen: Well I know I like Peonies
Florist: Unfortunately Peonies are an early Spring flower
Colleen: Oh, well I also like those white sort of fluffy looking ones that look kind of like Peonies

And so on and so forth. She is a VERY patient and VERY helpful lady, thankfully. Plus points for her - she said a photo booth sounds like a really fun idea, I have started working the photo booth into every wedding meeting to test the waters and see what people think Colleen & The Photo Booth - 5,  Carol - 0!

My mom has all sorts of ideas about flowers.... and all these ideas are different than mine - here's how this conversation went:

Florist: We could do something like this for the center pieces
Colleen: Oooh, I really like that
Carol: That's not going on my table!
Colleen: (to the florist) This isn't really my wedding, I am just a guest :)

I was thinking about it today and I cannot tell you one thing we decided on besides boutonnieres. Its all a blur and by the time we finished I was in desperate need of a cocktail!

Carol vs. Colleen & The Photobooth

As previously stated I am trying to only fight for things I really want.... the photo booth has become a battle!

Colleen: "Mom I am going to have a photo booth at the wedding"
Carol: "Colleen, just because we live in New Jersey does not mean we are from New Jersey"
Colleen: "Well it would be a really fun thing for the wedding guests and all my friends think its SUPER cool"
Carol: "Well all your friends are SUPER tacky"

So on and so forth. For those of you who aren't aware, I can be relentless when I put my mind to something and put my mind to this I have! It is a photo booth that prints photo strips while you wait, in 5 seconds! The best part is that it prints two copies, one for the guest to keep and one to go into the guestbook (obviously will be used to embarrass said guest for years to come). I think the best guestbook will be the one full of photo strips with comments after everyone has been cocktailing it up for a few hours. You can pick color or black and white and there is no limit to how many photos you can take - they also provide props but the idea of clothes/wig/etc that other people have worn grosses me out so there will be none of that.... unless my mom wants to buy a few!

T minus 7 months!

My Big Fat Boston Wedding is exactly 7 months from today! This is both super exciting and crazy at the same time! After waiting more that 7 years for the proposal it is amazing to think that in 7 months and 5 hours I will be married. Just think if I hadn't gone to UVM, lived with Liz in the honors environmental dorm, rushed Tri Delt, become a Tri Delt (eventually... thanks Di), spent way too much time in the Sig Ep basement, evently went as Corey's formal date, watched him fall out a window, then had him throw me in the snow, fell in love and agreed to move out of the best city on earth we might never have ended up here!

Its amazing to stop and think about the people/things/events that help get you to a certain place/point in life. This thought makes it a perfect time to talk about my wedding party! Sorry guys, but I'm skipping over you.

First and foremost, I heart my wedding party. I am lucky enough to have five birdesmaids in addition to my Maid of Honor (Paige, aka the Lamb). Picking a wedding party was hard but for good reason! When it comes to friends I am more of a quality over quantity kind of girl; if I could have had a 14 person (basically all the friends I have) wedding party I would have but that probably would have added more worry to my church debacle trying to find a church with room for 28 attendants plus me and Corey! The maid of honor spot was a no brainer; obviously I picked my sister (I feel bad for brides with multiple sisters). I thought about friends who I have had for a while, the girls who have been in it for the long haul and have been through the major "Colleen & Corey" events. Megan has been my friend for as long as I can remember and Di, Liz, Brooke and Katie were there for all four glorious years at UVM and ever since! They are going to be fabulous bridesmaids and I can't wait to have them in my wedding!

Stress!

Planning a wedding is stressful, anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or insane! It is hard work trying to maintain a balance between what the families want and what the couple wants (good time to note that the groom needs to quickly learn he wants/like what the bride wants/likes). I have taken the approach to picking the few things I really really want (can we say photobooth!) and giving over pretty much anything else. This is the classic pick and choose your battles, do I care how envelopes are addressed? not really, do I care how the plates are set down and picked up? not at all, do I care about having a photo booth? you bet your buns I do! When I asked Corey if there is anything he really wants/needs to have his answer was "Well I would like to end up with a wife and I want some tuna"

There are also bumps along the way, some small some the side of the Empire State Building. The latest "bump" is a big one.... M.I.A Save the Dates. USPS says they were delivered on March 1st, do I have them? No. After having a slight fit with the automated voice at customer service I got connected to a very nice lady with absolutely no information about anything. You would think when you call USPS, a company that delivers thing as a business model, they would be able to tell you what address said package was delivered to, nope. They don't actually have access to delivery address but she did assure me that it was delivered to Boston, MA - well that's SUPER helpful, if I start looking through Boston now I might find them by October 8th.... wish me luck and really wish USPS luck in finding my pacakge before I go down to my local post office and give an earful to one of their pension earning public servants.... after all I am from NJ and I will let my "Jersey" show!

Party Dress!

It happened again! The bridal party has been pushed back by a delivery from the mailroom! Don't get me wrong, I really L-O-V-E my wedding gown but it is long and sort of heavy so I figured after the first dances and dinner I will change into a party dress - this will allow for maximum dancing/drinking. Everyone knows Corey's dancing is more like an epileptic in the middle of a seizure fit so I need a dress that can keep up with those dance moves! I found this Sue Wong dress at Bloomingdale's and it is just what I was looking for; very light, moves well, really comfortable and doesn't require a strapless bra. The picture doesn't do it justice but it is sparkly and will look fabulous with the shoes!

Shoes!

I had every intention of dedicating this post to the who's who of the wedding party then the mailroom dropped off a package for me.... wedding shoes - the wedding party will just have to wait! I was reading one of the four million wedding blogs out there and stumbled upon http://www.shopheylady.com/ - the shop was created by twin sisters who were sick and tired of going to events and always ending up with tired, sore, beat up feet. They promised fashion and comfort with a manageable heel hight - I was sold. The biggest issue I had was what style to choose! I knew I wanted some bling and I knew I wanted my shoes to be my "something blue" so these are what I ended up with! They came in a beautiful box with a shoe bag and handwritten note along with them, classy. While they don't quite go with today's black tights I had to try them on, they fit perfectly and are just as comfortable as the site promised, its true love! The struggle now is going to be keeping them in their box for the next 7+ months.... 

Colleen vs. The Armpit Fat

First of all I am saving everyone the horror/scarring effects of me finding a picture of armpit fat on the "world wide web".

I found, and bought, a beautiful wedding gown. I think wedding dress designers must be cruel people, I wear a size 4 in a normal off the rack dress - they ordered my gown in a size 10 saying that would give us room to tailor it down, well I sure hope we are going to tailor down a 10! The dress I tried on was a sample size dress and was a bit too small which accentuated the armpit fat. Without giving away too many dress details (not that I think Corey knows what a blog is or how to go about reading one) the armpit fat is in no way, shape or form cute and the dress is beautiful. I am now in a full on battle with my armpit fat, this is one aspect of the wedding and I do not want to be big or fat!

Normal people would say "ok just go to the gym" but the gym and I have a love/hate relationship, I love to hate the gym. I sucked it up and got a gym membership, I have gone twice this week and just to put it into perspective Jessica so kindly pointed out that this is more than I went all of last year. My new found sort of desire to work out has meant that everyone at work has to hear about how much my armpit muscles hurt but I am determined to lose this armpit fat! Plus I figure going to the gym will give me a good argument to present to my mom when I can't lose the armpit fat and need her to just suck it out!