dresses, dresses and more dresses

First off, we have a photographer! Emily, a friend of Jenn's who I have known for years takes great pictures.  She's graciously said yes to being our photographer so long as we feed her that day :)
Our current photo plan is to have Emily take all the pictures, but then also ask select family members with good cameras and good eyes to help capture specific times. Like one cousin will do getting ready, one the ceremony, one reception, etc. That way we won't be too taxing on our relatives and we'll also get a lot of photos!

Went dress shopping with Jenn, Katerina and Aly on Saturday. I was in a mood to begin with. Brian was out all night, helping celebrate his brother Trevor's last weekend in Cincinnati and I was feeling lonely having no member of my family coming to help me try on dresses or even helping in the prep. I tried on about 7-8 dresses and just wasn't feeling any of them. I think a lot of it was me. Having trouble really embracing this whole bride thing.

It's not that I don't think we're getting married or that I question our decision to. I just have trouble sometimes believing that good things happen. That this is my real life. I also do not relish being the center of attention. When I get a hair cut, I don't like it when people notice. The attention makes me uncomfortable. I also don't feel the most beautiful right now. We'll truthfully, I never thought I was all that pretty. I have a big nose, and weird teeth and I squint funny. And, although I have lost about 3 pounds in the last two weeks, I'm no where near a comfortable weight. Looking back though even when I was 20 pounds lighter, my body still made me cringe...

And then the dresses, they just weren't me. They were pretty, but not right. And I got overwhelmed very easily. So I made an appointment at a different Bridal Salon for tonight after work. Thankfully, all of my in town bridesmaids are able to make it - which I totally didn't expect. Brian also has off today, so him and I are going to meet there a couple minutes before my appointment so that he can walk through the racks with me and pick some out for me to try on.

Also today, I was able to share all the pictures of the dresses I tried on (David's Bridal lets you take pictures which is totally nice) with Katie. And I pulled a LOT more from online and got some really good feedback from her. Was like I was able to walk through racks with her just online.

I also had Nancy from InRETURN, where I work, make a couple mock ups of Save the Dates. She's going to do more tomorrow but hopefully we'll have those out soon.

Brian and I also sat down and worked out a tentative guest list. our ballpark of 100 was pretty spot on.