Andrew and I were in the middle of watching “A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding” (clearly my idea) when we received a text from his cute mom.
“6 months until June!!!”
SIX MONTHS, Y’ALL. To be quite honest, the wedding has felt so impossibly far away these past few months, but something about reaching the 6-ish month mark (If you remember, I won’t be sharing the exact date until we get married!) has me in a puddle of excitement. For some reason, reaching six months until our wedding month feels so real.
So for today’s Wedding Wednesday post, I thought I’d share a planning update with y’all! You can read my last one here. I’ve capitalized the items we’ve checked off since my last update!
✓ Church
✓ Date
✓ Photographer
✓ Reception Venue
✓ Band
✓ Hair & Makeup
✓ Honeymoon
✓ DRESS
Well HELLO huge update, am I right? Y’all… I cannot believe I found my dress! I will be sharing so many more details later, but let’s just say it took me so much longer than I anticipated to make a decision. No, you don’t understand. It took FOREVER. I think it’s a mix of being super picky and having so many options here in Dallas, but either way, it was quite the adventure and I can’t wait to spill the full story soon! I will share a fun secret for now… I’m meeting with the designer this Friday to finalize the details and get my dress ordered. Any guesses on what type of style I’ll be wearing?
✓ ATTIRE FOR GROOMSMEN
Unlike my dress hunt, deciding on attire for Andrew and his guys was such an easy decision! While Andrew hasn’t picked his exact ensemble yet, he’s planning on using Mister Tuxedo, a shop right here in Dallas, for him and his guys. Fun fact, this is actually where my father got his tux when he married my mom! :) I can’t wait to share more about this process… perhaps we should do a “tuxedo try-on” post featuring Andrew? Leave a comment if you feel this is a MUST like I do!
✓ BACHELORETTE PARTY
I’m not spilling the details yet, but let me just say I am already counting down the days until my bachelorette party! The process of putting together and planning it has been a dream. Now,I know that technically the maid of honor is the one who plans the weekend, but my sister Steele is new to the wedding thing and asked if I would weigh in on (AKA help plan) the big details. I was actually so excited to say OF COURSE, because I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted right off the bat. We don’t have all of the details nailed down quite yet, but let’s just say, it’s going to be even better than I could have dreamed… a special team I adore may or may not be involved… :) That’s all I’ll say for now!
✓ FLORIST
Just like the process of finding my wedding dress taking so much longer than expected, the process of deciding on a florist was just as lengthy! I’ll say it again… there are so many incredible options here in Dallas that it can make actually deciding difficult. We met with so many incredible teams, but at the end of the day decided on the one who could deliver exactly what we were looking for within our budget. That was key for us, and I can’t wait to share more about this soon!
✓ ENGAGEMENT SHOOT
Andrew and I finally took our engagement portraits with our photographer John, and let me just say, it was literally one of the most fun evenings of my life. John sent us the full gallery last week, and I literally cried looking through them! I’m selecting all of my favorites to share with y’all here in the next couple of weeks, along with deciding on “the one” we’ll use for our save the date! There are so many that I’m wondering if y’all would be interested in dividing them into two separate posts? We photographed two different looks, so I’m thinking that breaking those into two posts would allow me to share way more with you without getting overwhelming. Let me know your thoughts!
✓ GUEST LIST
Perhaps the hardest task of wedding planning we’ve experienced thus far has been finalizing the guest list. We’re planning on a wedding of about 300 guests, and while that seemed so big initially, it was crazy how quickly those numbers dwindled down when we started putting pen to paper. I’ve literally stayed up at night fretting over hurt feelings, but we have finally come to an official list. Whew. I wouldn’t wish this process on anyone!
✓ PUTTING ENGAGEMENT PARTY DATES ON THE CALENDAR
This afternoon, I’m having my mother and future mother-in-law over to my apartment to finalize wedding shower dates! We’re expecting this to be really tricky to plan because of Andrew’s rotation schedule (he doesn’t get an official schedule until a couple days before he starts his monthly rotation) but I feel so lucky to have the two “mamas” on this that I do. They’re unstoppable! (And fun fact, they met and became friends while planning an engagement party for mutual friends before Andrew and I even got engaged!)
While I definitely feel relieved to have so much checked off of the list, there are still quite a few things that need to get done this month and by early January. The next tasks on my radar?
☐ Officially Ask Bridesmaids
Here’s the thing. Most, if not all, of my bridesmaids already know they’re in the wedding. We’ve either talked about it for years, or it’s naturally come up in recent conversation. I actually called a few of them to check on bachelorette party dates and had to stop myself in the middle and say “Wait, you know you’re a bridesmaid, right?” Between the holiday craziness and being a pretty unorganized person (I like to call it “creative tendencies”), I haven’t “officially” asked. Which I feel awful about! So, this month, I’m going to create a cute “bridesmaid proposal” to send to all of them! Although I’d love to do a big package, it might just be through a heartfelt letter. Those have been the most meaningful “bridesmaid proposals” I’ve ever received, and since time is of the essence, I know I can get them out efficiently! Thoughts?
☐ Register for Wedding Gifts
Let’s just say… Andrew and I have no idea where to begin. But this needs to get done, haha! Any tips on where and what you registered would be greatly appreciated! This is something we’re looking to do this month. (And Andrew is really thrilled about getting to use the little scanner gun. Like, reallyyy thrilled.)
☐ Order & Send Save the Dates
This one is pretty self-explanatory! We just need to select a photo, and the finalize where we’re going to have them made. But let me tell you… easier said than done!
☐ Choose Wedding Cakes
One wedding planning task I’m so excited to undertake… choosing our wedding cakes! And crazy enough, Andrew is excited about this one, too! :) We’ve received a lot of great recommendations from friends and wedding vendors about amazing bakers, but have yet to reach out and schedule appointments. If you have any Dallas wedding cake recommendations, please send them our way!
☐ Finalize Bridesmaid Dresses
Eek! I’m so excited! I’ve decided on my bridesmaid dresses, but haven’t told my girls yet. Once we get a few details finalized, we’ll hopefully get this done here in the next few weeks!
☐ Secure Hotel Block
While Andrew and I don’t predict having a ton of out of town guests since our families are both here in Dallas, we definitely want to secure a hotel block for those that are traveling from farther away!
☐ Reception Rentals
Now that the big details of our reception have been decided, I’m so excited to move into the true “design” process. Part of this, I’ve learned, is bringing in rentals (like chairs, stage fronts, etc) to really make the reception especially beautiful. If you’ve used any rental companies here in Dallas that you just loved, would you let me know? I haven’t even started on this!
It’s fun to look at all we’ve done, but I’ll be honest… it’s a bit overwhelming to look at what still needs to be checked off! I’m just reminding myself that it will all get taken care of, and to really enjoy the process… even if it’s crazy! :) After all, we have an incredible, talented and capable team already assembled and at the end of the day, this whole thing is really about the marriage, not the party!
Before I sign off, I wanted to let you know that if you’re also engaged, be sure to check out my Instagram later today! I’m posting details on a wedding-related giveaway that you don’t want to miss!
Love from Texas,
Kate
P.S. I am constantly getting requests for white dress recommendations, so here are a few new arrivals I’m loving!
