so much, so little

I have a "To Do" list a mile long and less than a month to get it done. Yes, I'm talking about wedding planning. Everything is coming together, slowly but surely, and with a little bite to the pocketbook.

I keep hearing about people having to take out seconds on their homes to pay for weddings. I can not imagine doing that. I am freaking out at going over my $8000 budget because he ended up having to pay for a photographer (who I get to meet on Thursday). What are some of these people thinking.

It is pretty much the small details that need to be taken care of. I need to touch base with vendors and decide on some small reception type things. Remember my wedding is pretty much a reception with a wedding tossed in the middle.

Here is just a little bit of a run down on what still needs to be done:

1. Wine tags - the wedding is at a winery so almost everyone will have a wine glass. Instead of buying the wine tags I saw online, which were shapped like wedding bells, my mom and I are going to make 200 dragonfly wine tags. For those of you who don't know, I LOVE dragonflies. I really only need about 120, but might as well make some extra. We are going to die cut them with my Sisix machine and then emboss some silver on them, punch a hole and add some black ribbon. We will have silver sharpies there for people to write their names on them.

2. M&Ms - we have to order the custome M&Ms. We decided not to do favors. No sense in giving people something that will just end up in a landfill. We are going to rent bowls and have bowls of M&Ms on each table, that way people can have a little something sweet. Oh, that reminds me, we have to rent the bowls.

3. Guest book - we are doing a photo album guest book. I have two students coming to the wedding who will be in charge of making sure they take everyone's picture. To go with the pictures we will have 4x6 handmade paper for the guests to write us a message. The message will be inserted in the album under the picture. Much more interesting than a book with everyone's signatures.

4. M's clothes - we have got to buy a suit for that man. He didn't want to do it while we were in escrow (I don't blame him, I didn't want to do anything while we were in escrow), now he wants to lose some weight. The wedding is less than a month away...he needs to get off the stick.

5. B and L's clothes - we need to find dresses for the girls. L has a backup dress, which I would like her to wear, I think it is totally cute, but she wants to shop, so that is fine with me. B will be a little harder, she can't make a decision to save her life. Her mother does everything for her. Should be interesting.

6. Flowers - at first we were going to go with silk flowers, now I am thinking I might want real ones. I do know that we are doing Gerbera Daisies (my favorite). The flowers will be for the centerpieces and on the wine bars. We are doing vases out of wine bottles.

7. Wine Lables - I have designed a wine lable for the centerpieces. I am not totally happy with it, but I know some graphic designers who I am going to ask to help me spiff it up. Then my new neighbor who works for a graphic designer said she would print them for us. I feel strange going to her house and asking her about it again, but she offered, right?

I actually think that might be all of the big stuff! WOW!!!!! I think I have it down to only 7 big things that need to be done. There are lots of small things, but not a lot of big things. This is great!

So, now I am off to get some small things done.