Last Minute Details

Time is going so fast these days! I leave 2 weeks from yesterday to go to Reston for the wedding. Aack!

The biggest worry on my mind in terms of time is that MJ and I haven't remotely practiced our first dance. We will only be in the same city 7 more evenings and we each have things planned on some of those nights. Oi! I suspect my mother and aunts will force me to get up at the sangeet and dance a little, so I need to practice something for that too.

We of course still have a bunch of details to iron out, but I think we're on top of most stuff. We've asked the various friends and family members if they will do dances, speeches, MC, etc.

I spent last night working on finalizing some key moment songs. I picked my bridal entrance song. That was fun, since most of them are about how beautiful the woman is and how she takes the guy's breath away. Hee hee But, I've also been looking for some ideas for the father/daughter dance. It's hard to find a Hindi one - most of them are extremely depressing and/or slow. Ideally, I'd like to find an old one, but I'm not picky at this point.

I'm also looking for gifts for the two friends who planned my bachelorette party and will be involved in the reception. It's hard to find the perfect gift to express my appreciation for them and their friendship, but I think I have some good ideas. Hopefully they'll like them!

I found out this morning that my favorite cousin in the whole world will not be coming to the wedding. She got turned down for a visa in India. I'm very upset, as we are like sisters and I never imagined I'd get married without her there. We've always talked about how her first trip to the US would be for my wedding. But there are some things that are out of our control I guess...

I'd love to write more, but my brother is on his way over! My family's coming to NY for about 24 hrs and I'm so excited to show them my new place!! MJ's also at his bachelor party in New Orleans this weekend, so it works out perfectly :)

Less than a Month Left!!

My friends are the best! I had an absolutely fantastic bachelorette party! I'm really glad we decided to move it to NYC so more people could join us for different events. We had a wonderful, jam-packed weekend with lots of quality time and fun. The organizers planned a very thoughtful itinerary. I couldn't have asked for a better bachelorette party and I'm so touched that so many people spent so much time & money on lil ole me!

We've finalized our cake order and are focused on getting my hair/makeup artist solidified by this weekend. It's been tough to find someone who's work we like and who does both hair and makeup. They also generally seem to be some of the least technologically advanced people I've met. Many use their husband's email accounts and/or don't have any pictures to show us. How can we sign up with you if we've never seen your work? But I think we're getting close.

As I mentioned before, I absolutely love my new apartment. It's gorgeous and comfortable... BUT I also now have a 45 min commute each way. I don't mind because I can read on the train, but it means I'm not getting home until 7:30 or 8 most nights, at which point I have 3.5 hrs to go to the gym, make & eat dinner, and do a few wedding things before bed. I feel behind on all the wedding details that need to be done and am constantly exhausted. I was going to the gym in the morning, but am too tired now.

MJ and I are scheduled to practice our first dance tonight for the first time! Exciting stuff!

Please Come!

37 days to go. It's crazy how close it is. It feels unreal that I'll be married in just over a month and all this planning will be over.


We have had a few issues with the invitations. Or, rather, the envelopes... We got the invitations custom made in India and they turned out pretty nice and very colorful. One side is in English and the other is in Hindi (something my mother really wanted). We also got matching thank you cards and gift bags made, all out of hand-made paper.

The one thing I didn't realize until I started getting ready to mail them was that the envelopes weren't self-adhesive! So, it wasn't a matter of just licking an envelope closed to get them ready. I had to use a q-tip to put rubber cement on the top and bottom, hold it closed, then put it under a book or box to seal it closed. After it dried, I put gold stickers on, which were also severely lacking in sufficient stickiness. The process took hours! MJ's also didn't have adhesive, but his envelope paper was thinner, so he could just use a glue stick.

Then, I found out last week that some people haven't been getting their invitations! They literally got lost in the mail. I'm so pissed! Fine, we decided, we'll just resend the ones that didn't make it. I looked through the invitations and we have plenty, so no problem, right? Wrong! They didn't give us enough envelopes! And, not only that, the invitations are a weird size, so we can't find any envelopes that fit! What a mess! I've had to hand-(re)deliver some invitations without an envelope because there's really no other solution...

The other somewhat humorous thing is that, in general, our Indian guests have not been RSVPing or booking hotels. Most of MJ's friends, who are not Indian, had RSVPd, booked their hotel, and already sent a gift within 2 days of getting their invitation! LOL

I've spent the past two nights looking through old pictures to find ones we could use in the slideshow my brother is putting together for the reception. It's making me a bit nostalgic though. I'm trying to pick funny ones too. There was a whole string of class pics where I literally looked like I was in costume - one year a sailor, the next a Victorian doll, then a 80's rocker... LOL MJ is one lucky guy!

But, honestly, the biggest thing I've been focused on in the past few weeks is losing weight. I started taking an herbal supplement, I joined a boot camp class, and my new apartment has a gym in the building. I've also been eating a lot healthier and stopped drinking alcohol. I was almost too big for my old size at the beginning of the year, but I've dropped down to at least the one below now. In some brands, I fit 2 sizes smaller now. I hit a frustrating point because the scale doesn't show any differences, but my clothes are fitting better. So, even though I still show as losing 25 lbs, my regular clothes look way too big on me. So my new goal is to fit into this somewhat tight pair of pants 2 sizes smaller than my old size. I can get into them, but they're not comfortable yet. So I'm fairly happy with my progress. I'm sure my mom will still think I look terrible and I'll get to hear it from all my aunts at the wedding, but I've done what I can and feel good about it.

My bachelorette party is this weekend! My lovely friends have planned it and I have no idea what we're doing! They've kept everything a secret, so hopefully they'll be nice to me ;) All I know is when/where to show up and what to pack... I'm really looking forward to it though. It'll be so nice to just have a fun weekend with my girlfriends and not have to think about all the things I should be doing. Time to let loose!