We have plans!

Today we returned from a week home. It was great to see people but it was more of a business trip of sorts. We had the mission to see how much wedding planning we could do in a week. On Monday, we saw the reception site and met the coordinator for our reception. We also interviewed a photographer and had dinner with friends. On Tuesday we met the pastor who will perform the ceremony and John got to see the church (I used to go there when I lived in the area). We were supposed to meet another photographer but she is moving out of the area next year so she canceled our appointment.

On Wednesday morning, we met with another photographer before I got my hair cut and colored. I really liked his eye but then I knew that to some extent because I had found him online and looked at his portfolio before the appointment. Wednesday night, we had dinner with John's mom and brother.

On Thursday, we met with the florist that I used to go to when I lived in the area. I used to stop by on Fridays to buy a rose. If I had a tough week, I'd buy more flowers. As I kept coming in, they got to know me a bit and would sometimes let me go in the back to pick whatever flowers I wanted (as long as they weren't for a wedding). Since I was in there often enough, I got to see what their work was like for weddings. I also use them whenever I send flowers in the area and people always compliment the flowers. During the meeting, I showed the woman my wedding idea book and she told me what would work or not. When I showed her examples of dresses that I was considering and she went into the back and came back with a perfect bouquet for my bouquet. It was exactly what I wanted. Then we talked about the other bouquets and the table centerpieces and again, she went into the back and came back with a perfect bouquet. It was wonderful. It was the colors that we wanted and had many of my preferred flowers in it! And the price was even in line with the budget (which I hadn't told them my budget beforehand)!

We met with a different florist on Friday but they didn't seem to hear what I wanted and didn't go make up examples for me to see. They were nice, but just not as personal as the one we are going to go with.

On Saturday, we went dress shopping! Two of my bridesmaids went to one shop to scope out dresses. They then met my sister and me at the shop we were at and I had just finished trying on dresses. After I had made a decision on my dress, we decided to go see if another shop had a particular bridesmaid dress for my sister to try on. We ended up back at the first shop which happened to have the one dress that I had liked and was on the list to try on. but the first shop didn't have On a whim and since we were there, I tried in on. And Renee and J liked it better than the other one. And it looks fabulous. But then both options look fabulous, just in different ways.

Saturday night we went to my favorite pizza place with a big group of plans. All in all, a great trip home...