8 Days to go!

Can you believe we have only 8 DAYS TO GO?! I'm so happy/excited/scared/ jubilated etc.  I don't know why, considering i'm already married but like I told you before, it was only 4 of us. Well 5 with my little person (my son).

Everything is falling nicely into place. I went to pay the final balance on my cake, actually my big sis did since she's gifting us our cake. I had a tasting. A little late I know but the guy had asked me to come back anytime because the day we placed the order, he was running around. I know what the cakes taste like cause we get all our cakes from that bakery. I still wanted a tasting though, to make everything official, you know.  It was my big sis/MOH and cousin/BM and of course my 2 year old drill sergeant. We had red velvet with cream cheese and white cake with vanilla filling. My boy even got a butter less/milk less cookie with sprinkles (allergies). He wasn't too  impressed though. My son is a very healthy eater. Even if he's unaware of it.

On another positive not, my chair covers came today. Thank goodness. I initially wasn't going to do anything but table linens but after I saw the chairs again, I couldn't get over their ivory green color. They just clashed with my color scheme.

I had received an email 2 days ago from UPS saying that they were having a delay due to flooring between Oregon and Illinois and I was seriously freaking out. But today when my buzzer went off and the man announced UPS, I could have kissed him. So now i'm 100 chair covers richer and one happy married lady bride to be.

I only have a few things to do like choreograph a simple dance for our first dance. Get my hair colored and relaxed etc. This should be interesting.

JEM.

A Really Great Place To Shop

I've been looking for really good luggage for our semi honeymoon. We're going to Miami for one week to just lie on the beach and veg out. We'll be going on our official honeymoon next year in St. Lucia. Glorious St.Lucia. The set we have is black and very, very boring, plus it has snow stains.
Anyway I was introduced to CSN Stores recently when I was asked to do a promotion and now I browse their site all the time and found these awesome pieces of luggage. This one  looked kinda cool. I know the mister would like it. He's really into the quiet earth tones. And the price is nothing to sneeze at. At only  $93.99 and free shipping. I mean what more can you ask for? Seriously?

I however am all about the aqua.  This one's $125 and again, shipping's on CSN.  If this gets lost, then airport people are really incompetent. For real! Isn't she a beaut? I think i'll name her Lucky.

 

There are so many more colors and sizes and ranging from really affordable for the budget people like me and for those of you who absolutely have to have  the bestest of the best, they can hook you up too. So if I were you, i'd really check out CSN Stores. All you future honeymooners, for real, go check them out.

JEM.

Almost There

Countdown: 12 days

No. Invited: 116

Rsvp Yes: 90

Rsvps still missing: 3

and still lots of projects.
We made our final payment for our banquet hall and made all the arrangements for chairs, tables and flatware, stemware and dinnerware rentals. We were told that we cannot get to decorate the place until 11 am, the morning of and I think that leaves us enough time to get everything done. Our reception doesn't start till 7pm anyway.

I still have to

• make half of my centerpieces (6)
• complete sitting chart
• make 40  more napkins
• slightly alter one of my lady's dresses
• iron napkins
• make glitter monogram cake topper
• make stand to hang faux-to-booth background
• get trays for cocktail hour
• pack up all the crap and label boxes to be taken to banquet hall day of
• decorate bouquets with ribbon
• find some better eye makeup
• pick up stuff for baker to decorate our dessert buffet cakes

That's all I can remember but i'm pretty sure there'll be more after I consult my lists.

JEM.

More DIY Goodness- Programs

Countdown: 16 days

No. Invited: 116

Rsvp Yes: 90

Rsvps still missing: 10

We're not having an official ceremony so the traditional programs are not exactly appropriate for us. However, i'd already started on my programs way back when and I really didn't want to just discard them (no waste here), so I kinda repurposed them to some sort of keepsake while still keeping guests in the know. Hence the reception program.

I used the same shimmery aqua card stock that I used for our invites to make a booklet. I found some glittery silver letters from Michael's but they only had 4 or 5 of each of our initials so I used the other letters and created Js and Es. As a result, they all look slightly different, which I really like. I found my inspiration from Jeana's programs  from My Dream Ring now called My Dream Life..

I placed our "tears of joy packets" on the inside cover.

Since we didn't have official e-pics, I used our civil ceremony pics so our guests can get a glimpse of what took place.

I wrote up a little sum,sum for my sister in law to read during the pseudo-ceremony. You can click on it to see it better.

The "order of proceedings" is on the next page,

Another picture on the back

And on the back cover, our thanks.

Sorry about the lousy pic.

And that's our program.

JEM.

Our kids' tables will be rad,

Countdown: 17 days

No. Invited: 116

Rsvp Yes: 84

Rsvp still missing: 14

at least as far as they're concerned. Way back when, I asked for opinions about whether to have kids at the wedding. I got very good feedback from all my darling followers with the general consensus being, "do what works for you."

We realized that so many of our guests would have trouble getting babysitters for their kids and some our guests practically begged us to have their kids so we caved. When we first made our guest list, we had 24 children under 10. That was hard to take in but now that we've received rsvps, we only have 16 children so I figure 2 tables of 8 each would be fine with someone supervising their tables. 

I want them to have fun and be occupied so that their parents can have some fun. Unfortunately, our venue doesn't have another room where I could throw put them, so i'm going to just make a corner of the room theirs.

This is the little activity book  and crayons that will be in each place setting. 

       

There are puzzles and pictures to color,

they get to decorate a wedding cake.

      

and draw their own pictures of the bride and groom. One of the ideas that I, um stole borrowed. This one from Happily After All.

I found these really cute aqua/teal and white flower pencils at Micheal's. They were full length pencils that I cut in half and sharpened an end of each. 

These are the centerpieces for their tables. I wrapped some ribbon around a plastic mayonnaise jar and stuck some shimmery butterflies (cut with my Martha Stewart punch) on them. I also stuck some of the little plastic diamonds on there too. I then wrapped the bottom of a tissue pom with a pipe cleaner and made a large flower. I stuck some other flowers and filler in the center and I was done. I'm going to weigh down the jar with sand or rocks. 

During the dessert buffet, I really don't want these little things tripping up the adults so I decided that they'll be served first and made these little cupcake stands for them.  They're from cake rounds that I stuck some ribbon around and the stands are styrofoam balls painted aqua.

Their cupcakes will be brought out  before the dessert buffet is announced and we'll serve them some mini ice cream cones as well. That should take care of the little buggers darlings. They will also have their dinner served first, again offsetting the trample to the buffet. They'll have macaroni and cheese, french fries and chicken fingers. Which kid doesn't like that. I figured I wouldn't use our wedding to try to get people's kids eating their vegs. Plus the adult buffet will have vegs so if a parent is concerned, they can grab some for their kids.

I think that should keep the munchkins occupied for four hours or so, plus they can always come and party on the dance floor.

JEM. 

Our pseudo-ceremony

You guys know we had a civil ceremony and are having a reception August 7th right? 

Well as far as i'm concerned, it's a wedding reception and will be treated as such. Our reception will be treated as if we just finished our ceremony and cocktail hour and just came in. We'll have cutting of the cake, first dance etc. The only difference is that we'll have a 10 minute pseudo- ceremony right at the very beginning. This is what I have in mind.
When we are announced and come in, our guests will throw petals on us. Those petals will be in the aqua cones that I made. Our DOH will pass them around right before our entrance.

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen

We are all here tonight to celebrate the very happy occasion of Jem and Mr. Muscle's marriage.  As we all know they were married in a civil ceremony and I would like you to please join me in saying CONGRATULATIONS!

I think it’s fitting here as I’m sure you will agree that we commemorate their union with a few words.

Each of us knows that a marriage is not created by a law or a religion, but in the hearts of two human beings. It grows out of loving, caring, and sharing ourselves with another.

Marriage is a bold step into an unknown future. It is risking who we are for the sake of who we can be. In marriage, two lives are intimately shared; and the blending of the two must not diminish either one. Rather, it should enhance the individuality of each partner.

The lord works in mysterious ways and sometimes we look at our lives and wonder how we found this person who just seems to match us perfectly. Who is all we hoped to find in a life partner and we know it’s God’s hand at work and for this we are immensely grateful. Thank you Father.

Ladies and gentlemen let’s all bow our heads as we lift our hearts to God to thank him for this blessed occasion.

(Prayer inserted  here.)

I know you must have done this in your civil ceremony but it can’t hurt to do it again. 

Mr. Muscle,  please kiss your bride.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Muscle.

to which I expect lots of applause. Mr. Muscle's cousin is an almost pastor so he will be presiding. I decided to write everything because he said he was a little nervous and he would do it any way I wanted.

I again stole borrowed alot of this from Miss Fancy Pants. She found most of it online so I guess this came from a lot of different sources. I tweaked it and added a little here and there to make it my own. I ran it by Mr. Muscle and he seems to like it but then again it was during a yankee game so he may have just said that to get rid of me.


My SIL wanted to do a reading in the original ceremony so I thought she could still do it so I wrote something for her:
Love
You are born and cocooned by the love of your family
You then grow up and there comes a time when you shed that cocoon to seek a life partner
That's not to say that when you find that person, life is going to be perfect
Nothing is
But you will find someone who is matched to you in spirit and makes your heart sing
Someone who who you can't imagine your life without
Someone who you're drawn to even from across the word
And your heart rejoices
That is when you know you've found LOVE.
I ran it by Mr. Muscle and he seems to like it but then again it was during a yankee game so he may have just said that to get rid of me.

Either way, this is it.

JEM.

Ok back to Planning.

I hope you guys don't think that in no way anything has changed. Well except that i'm now married, ha, ha. It's so cool to say that.  Anyhoo, the plans are still in full swing for August 7th which leaves us 22 days. All our family and friends will be here except the most important. My dad who isn't well and my mom since my stepdad is very ill. They'll be with us in spirit and I want to do something that will involve them a bit.

My idea is to have them video tape a toast  to us and we'll have our DJ play it at the reception. If I can't do it with a projector, i'll just play the sound. I won't listen to it or watch it beforehand so it'll be a surprise to us on the day. I think it's the best I can do. I love my parents so much and however I can incorporate them in our wedding, I will. My sister and brothers will be here so it won't be all bad.
JEM.

Big News Part 2. (Pic Heavy)

We weren't sure when we should have our civil ceremony since as far as i'm concerned, our wedding date will always be August 7th. So we went to the court house to get our marriage license and just chose a random date - last Tuesday. Most people were at work so we asked Mr. M's sister and my cousin/best friend to be witnesses. The four of us and my son jumped in the car and drove down to Manhattan. 

Once we got our license, I scoured the net for a dress and found this pretty ivory dress from David's Bridal for only $99. And most of you may remember my $14 aqua shoes.

                


















I really didn't want to be too over the top because I didn't want anyone staring at me and wondering where I was going so I wore jeans and changed into my dress when we got there.  I was so surprised to see people there in full wedding attire, veil and all and full entourage. Flower girl and bridal party.

Anyway Mr. Muscle wore a nice suit (although not the one we bought for the "real" wedding) and I think we looked pretty decent. The process was pretty clinical and if I didn't know that we would be having a celebration after, i'd be very disappointed and unhappy. You get there and present your info, license, ID and the form you're supposed to fill out; pay $35  and you're given a number.

     

  
We were then asked to wait till our number was called. We were called  to another window where we  presented all our info again and  this time we were asked to sign the certificate. Our witnesses were also asked to sign. We were given another number and asked to wait again.

When we were called this time, we were told to wait in this little waiting area and my cousin turned to us and said "this is it guys, you are about to be married". I honestly didn't feel like I was getting married and crossing a threshold. As a matter of fact, I felt a little sad because it didn't feel very romantic. Most of our loved ones weren't there to see us getting married. Mr. Muscle saw how down I looked so he pulled me aside and told me he loved me (awwww) and said that we didn't have to do it if I didn't want to and we could do it after the celebration in August. I realized then that I was really marrying my darling and nothing else should matter.

I was still a little serious when we came back to sit. My cousin said she wanted the day documented, so she took as many pictures as possible although she didn't take us when we had our little chat because she said that was private.

Mr. M decided to cheer me up by doing some silly faces and then got up and started dancing. It really made me laugh and further cemented how much I love this guy. My son also joined in the dancing but those pictures got messed up. Don't ask me how.

Finally a lady came into the little waiting area yelling over her shoulder "left or right?" to which someone shouted out "right". I had no idea what that meant until she marched past us and went opened a door on the right which was our chapel.

She started rattling off the beginning of our "ceremony" before we even realized we had started. We then scrambled to get our rings out of my son's Thomas the Train bag and she didn't stop for a second. By the time we got the rings and were properly ready, it was time to place them on our fingers.

It was really awkward and our "officiant" really didn't help the matter. She just recited everything like it was her hundredth time (i'm sure that it was). 

Then it was time to kiss. My cousin made some silly remark like careful this woman doesn't hit you or something like that and we started laughing, hence our faces looking like we were about to explode during our kiss.

Our son was running around the room the whole time and playing with his trains.
These are just some pictures we took while waiting to be called:

          

      

                

UNfortunately we didn't take any pictures outside because 1. my SIL got a call from her son's school and she had to go asap and 2. it was hot as a mother trucker last Tuesday.

The night after, we had a little get together for just family at our apartment and that was really fun. we had cake, beer, and of course chicken. We danced and sang and we really had a great time.

So there you have it, that's our story.

JEM.

My Big News!!!!!! PT1

First of all, thanks al you lovely ladies for your congratulations. For those of you who've been following for a little while, you'll remember that I told you about my employment issues or lack thereof and that we had decided to downgrade our wedding. A bit.

The plan was to have a civil ceremony and then a reception later. So our reception was planned for August 7th, our original wedding date and invites were sent out stating that there'd been a slight change to the plans. I won 100 postcards  for hosting a giveaway and used them to indicate the change in plans. The invitation wording basically announced our marriage and gave the details for the reception.

If you click on the image maybe you can read the wording. If you can't, it goes like this

Our names

are happy to announce our marriage and

invite you to join us to celebrate the beginning of our life

together at a cocktail reception

Saturday, August seventh two thousand and ten

Seven o'clock in the evening

Name of the place and address

So everything about the reception remains the same but we won't have an official ceremony before. Mr. Muscle's cousin who's a pastor in training will say a few words before the "partay" starts. So our plans really aren't changing that much we're still taking pictures in the same park that we would have been married in.

I'm sure some of you are thinking if we're going to do all that, why not just have a ceremony, well after all was said and done we would be paying almost $1000 for the ceremony with rentals, officiant fee, travel costs etc. so we just boycotted the whole idea. We went to City Hall in Manhattan and just did the deed. Stay tuned for part 2. Actually doing the deed.

Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging it'll be right after.

JEM.

25 Random Facts Award and Surprise...

I received this award back from Dancy of Beer Budget Bride's Musings and I just love it. he, he

1. I was born in St.Lucia where the population is about 300,000. That's like the number of people living   

    in my building in the Bronx (just kidding) and no everybody doesn't know everybody.

2. I love peanut butter and cheese sandwiches. I know, yum!

3. I used to swear like a sailor but stopped when I became a mommy, well sort of. I may still let one slip when my son is out of earshot.

4. I can't hold my liquor so I don't drink anymore. Although I plan to drink more than my fair share at my wedding.

5. Surprisingly I never smoked weed/ganga/spliff/chronic/grass (you get the drift) but I did smoke 

    cigarettes for 6 months. It got old, so I stopped, since it was all about image.

6. I lived in Toronto for  5 years where I graduated at Seneca College. It's such a beautiful, polite and friendly city. Now I live in NY. Enough said. ha, ha

7. Mr. Muscle is Jamaican but I speak better Jamaican patois than him.

8. I got a degree in Hospitality Studies, changed my mind and got a degree in Accounting then became   

    an office assistant. Now I want to be David Tutera. Go figure.

9. I've become so enamored with wedding planning and DIY projects that I'm going to get certified in 

    wedding planning. See 8

10. I climbed St. Lucia's 2nd tallest mountain. Twice. Although not on the same day. This is me at the top. It's the shorter mountain you see in the picture in number 1. My skinnier days.

11. Like a lot of my fellow bloggers, I want to write a book and started a few times. The closest I ever got was writing one full chapter about men and sex. well mostly men and sexual encounters. Both imagined and real. Ha, ha. I settled on writing poetry and had a notebook full of poems.

12. I lost said book of poetry, all novels, old text books, clothes,  and basically all my stuff from Toronto when my ex roommate decided to hold them hostage or whatever the hell she did when I moved back to St.Lucia. I had planned to have them shipped to me after. She refused to send them and I really didn't think a trip to Toronto to try to find  a few material things was worth it at the time. Plus i'd probably have to bust a cap in her ass. Just kidding. Remember kids, violence is not the answer. 

13. I love, love the sea, beach, ocean, water and Mr. Muscle is the exact opposite. Sometimes I wonder if he really came from Jamaica.

14. People say that after a couple has been together for a while, they start to look like each other. Just look at Mr. M and I. See a resemblance? 

15. Between Mr. Muscle and I, we have 8 parents. Both of our parents divorced and remarried. My son gets a hell of a lot more presents at christmas and birthdays from his Nana, Grandma, Granny and Ms. Paulette; his Papa, Granpa, Uncle Tony (don't ask) and Daddy.

16. I was an elementary school teacher for 4 years and loved it but when the school politics tok over, it became very unenjoyable, so I quit and flew to Canada.

17. My cousin/best friend and I once bussed to Montreal for Jazz Festival and tried to speak French the whole time. Needless to say people were staring at us like we were crazy since our french wasn't french after all. It was hilarious. Oui, oui monsieur.

18. A a teenager and in my early 20s, I had the thickest eyebrows ever and refused to have them done. Don't believe me?

19. My maiden name is my mom's maiden name for some reason and she's remarried and has her husband's name. So my last name isn't either of my parent's name. It raises some eyebrows when I fill out family info on forms. Some people must think I was a foster kid or adopted.

20. I would love to move to North Carolina. I know after living in NY, it will be a much slower and laid back pace but that's really what I want right now. I think.

21. When I was little, I had shirley Temple curls and especially hated when little old ladies said I was so cute. I wanted straight hair like my sisters but my mom wouldn't hear of it. 

22. My son is named Anthony and if I have a daughter, i'll either name her Teresa Lyzette after my and Mr. Muscle's mother. Or i'll just name her Skyla cause I love that name.

23. I just might make it. Almost  at 25.

24. I have huge news for you. Coming soon.Wait for it.

25. WE GOT MARRIED!  YES WE DID! Now you HAVE to come back for my next post.

Thanks again Dancy for starting this post and now i'll pass this award on to:

• Jacin of She Said Yes
• Frugalista of Frugalista Getting Married
• Ms. Sunday of Sunday Bride
• Tamar of The 2500 Mile Wedding
• Erica of Love at eh Lodge
• Tova of The Tova 100 Song ADD fun hour
• Leigh of All you need is Love
• Penga
• Sara of Olive Wedding

The only rule is to pass it on to however many people you like.

JEM.

Congratulations Frugalista

Today Frugalista is getting married and I would just like to wish her and MJ the best wedding day ever. I know you'll be a beautiful bride and your handsome groom will complete the package. Congratulations again.

JEM.

Inspiration

This post was inspired by Dancy from Beer Budget Musings.  She started this random thoughts blog posting which was hilarious by the way and a few other bloggers have joined in the fun. So I decided to take it a step further and actually create an award for it before I jot down my random 25 things. I got to tinkering with Word and Grab and came up with this pretty little thing.

So without further ado, I pass this on to the lady who started it all. Dancy.
The only rule is you now pass it on. It doesn't matter to how many people.  I see that a few other ladies have already listed theirs so it should be easy to get the ball rolling. I hope it comes back to me (hint, hint). Then I can list my 25 randoms. Thanks Dancy!
JEM.