HOLY SHIT, IT'S DECEMBER?!

I'd meant to write this on Monday evening, but then I forgot. And then on Tuesday night we were putting our Christmas tree up and it hit me: IT IS DECEMBER. I am getting married *THIS MONTH*.

Over the last 6 months, all my planning has been done with a single proviso in mind - so long as it's sorted before December, there's plenty of time to address any issues or come up with backup plans. That included potentially forgetting to organise something; as long as I remembered before December, it'll all be fine!

Well, there is now no more "before" December, because we're IN December. Fortunately, rather than anxiety, the realisation that IT'S DECEMBER is actually creating tons and tons of energy and excitement! HOLY SHIT, I'M GETTING MARRIED THIS MONTH AND THAT'S AWESOME!

We're currently sitting at 2.5 weeks out from the wedding and there isn't much left to do. I went from having some planning or decision-making to do pretty much every other day since getting engaged to, well, not having anything left outstanding to confirm or finalise. And that's   a good thing because hooray I'm organised, but also a bit of a bad thing because now I'm this excited bundle of nerves and energy and I don't have any projects or outstanding tasks through which to shove it all.

Here's a quick recap of the stuff that's been done since my last Report Card post:

• Confirmed all the music for the ceremony and the reception
• Confirmed our ceremony script
• Confirmed our schedule for the day with drivers and photographers
• Had hair/makeup trials done to my utter delight
• Had our pre-wedding photo shoot
• Chose our menu
• Set out floor plan
• Received all outstanding RSVPs
• Received all decorations
• Completed construction of things that needed constructing
• Sorted out the wedding favours (FINALLY)
• Groom's suit ordered and in progress
• Groom's cufflinks purchased
• Bridesmaid jewelry purchased & received
• Bridal accessories purchased & received
• Picked up my wedding dress - IT IS IN OUR HOUSE RIGHT NOWWWWWWWW

In just over a week, we'll be having the Tea Ceremony in Singapore with our families. I know I talk a lot about the Perth wedding in this blog but that's mainly because the Singapore side of things is being taken care of by my extended family. I actually can't believe that it's coming up so quickly, and that a week from today I'll actually be in Singapore prepping for it!

OH GOSH. SO EXCITED. CAN'T CONTAIN.

One Month Out

We are now one month TODAY out from the wedding day.

HOLY SHIT. The excitement is building and it's palpable! There are still things that need doing but all the bare bones are sorted - we've had 3 meetings with 3 different suppliers in the past week and with each subsequent meeting the picture becomes clearer. SO EXCITING!

There have been a few hiccups over past weeks that I haven't posted about yet, mainly because I have been determined not to dwell on them too much. Hiccups are becoming more stressful the closer we get to the wedding, not because they're BIG IMPORTANT things going wrong, but because there's just less time in which to solve them. What I'm finding totally helps though is knowing that we have backup plans in place and that my A-Team is on-call and excellent.

After tonight's meeting with our celebrant, I fully expect to have things like the schedule and runsheet all finalised, with the few outstanding bits being sourcing music, a couple of outstanding RSVPs, and sorting out the wedding favours. It feels like I've had *something* to do for the wedding pretty much since day 1 and it's feels weird that the list is steadily growing shorter.

Which explains why I'm suddenly exercising more - not to lose weight, as I'm under strict instructions from my dressmakers not to lose anymore weight - but to burn off all the anxiety and excitement and energy. Whew.

GUYS. I'M GOING TO BE *MARRIED*. IN A MONTH! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The 3-Month Report Card

It's the last Friday of yet another month, which means I got to wear jeans to work and it's time for yet another progress report!

Since my last report card, here's what we've managed to accomplish:

• Received my ring (it's beautiful and I want to start wearing it nooooow)
• Ordered and received Blake's ring
• Attended my first dress fitting
• Sent out invitations to the Perth Ceremony
• Booked a place for me to stay the night before and of the wedding
• Booked chauffeurs
• Chose the supplier for our wedding cake
• Ordered and received my wedding shoes
• Ordered and received a number of other accessories for my wedding dress
• Ordered wedding favours (again)
• Ordered a few other surprises for the wedding day
• Arranged a pre-wedding photo shoot with our photographer

At this stage in the planning, though, deliverables start popping up. Items we've ordered are coming in now, and a more concrete idea of how things will look on the day slowly solidifies from the murky, misty daydream. The second-guesses begin in earnest, and this means that things start going wrong.

Many of these hiccups will be shared and talked about in their own little blog posts, though, so I'm not 100% keen on sharing them here. What I will say is that there's yet to be a big drama because there's still plenty of time to remedy any issues. It's hard to predict whether or not this will still be the case in a month's time!

The 2-Month Report Card

Technically, last Friday (the 22nd) was the 8-week mark, but I'm going with the last Friday of each month as the "monthly" mark. I don't know why I had to justify that to anyone (possibly because some of you are pedantic nerds as that is why I adore you), but there it is.

Anyway, following on from the 1-Month Report Card from, well, last month, here's the latest in the wedding planning:

• Ordered Viv's ring - due to be delivered next week!
• Bought shoes and accessories to go with Viv's Perth wedding dress
• Booked our DJ's
• Booked hair and makeup people for Perth
• Booked flights and accommodation for Singapore
• Finished designing our invitations
• Sent out invitations for the Singapore ceremony
• Finished the Perth Celebration pages on the website
• Finalised our guest lists
• Ordered flowers for the bridal party
• Chose music for the formalities
• Chose my bridesmaid's dress
• Confirmed our groomsmen

Coming up in September: transportation, ordering Blake's ring, sending out invitations, dress shopping for the Tea Ceremony, choosing any extra decor, and drafting our runsheet.

Plenty of people have told me that "whoa dude, it's not a race". First, OF COURSE IT IS AND WE ARE WINNING AGAINST NO ONE GO US. Second and more seriously, the point of getting through all of it as quickly as we can is so that at some stage, we can just go "everything from here on out is extra". Happily, we've just about hit that point - the big things are pretty much done, and anything that doesn't get sorted or goes wrong from here is non-crucial or not a high enough priority for us to worry too much about it.

Plus, I'm an anxious, near-neurotic person, and most of you are now nodding to yourselves because yes, Viv, we know. One of the benefits of a short engagement is that instead of sitting around worrying about things, I can at least get them done because, well, I have to! There's actually not that much time left in the grand scheme of things, as some components take time to deliver. Thankfully, Blake's also been on top of the things he's in charge of, which is an awesome feeling and WE ARE TOTALLY WINNING THIS NOT-A-RACE.

The 1-Month Report Card

As of last Friday (4 days ago), we've been engaged for one month. In that time, here's a short list of what we've managed to pull off so far, in no particular order whatsoever:

• Booked venues for Perth and Singapore
• Designed invites for Perth and Singapore
• Booked a photographer for Perth
• Booked a celebrant for Perth
• Bought Viv's Perth dress
• Chose our wedding colours
• Ordered party favours to give to our guests at the Perth celebration
• Booked the perfect makeup person
• Chose our rings (not yet ordered)

My current tasks are to actually place the order(s) for the rings, look at accessories for my dress, and book flights/accommodation for Singapore. And maybe choose a hair person, but I figure that can wait. As it is, my family has been brilliant at managing the Singapore side for me and I haven't had to worry about a thing on that end.

Blake's jobs are to organise the wedding cake and the DJ, mainly because these are things he wanted that I didn't prioritise but wouldn't mind having.

What's starting to freak me out is that we've reached the point in the planning process where we actually have to let go of some dollars. And by "some" I mean a "buttload", with plenty more buttloads to follow. It's awfully intimidating and I almost want to put it off, even though that doesn't mean much since it's money we'll have to pay eventually anyway.

It dulls the excitement a little bit, but knowing that we get to make these decisions on our own because it's our money is actually a nice feeling. I reckon I just have to keep that in mind as the guilt re: THE GUEST LIST starts to set in.