Coming soon to a mailbox near you!

So, we did it. After all the hours of sweating, bending over, and lots of teamwork it's over with & I couldn't be happier. Get your mind out of the gutter -- I'm talking about our Save The Dates! They are addressed, stamped, and ready to go. Thank goodness!

I had no idea how much went into Save the Dates & trust me, I did them the easy way. I ordered a simple save the date on Shutterfly, ordered yellow envelopes (to go with our navy, yellow, and white color scheme), and bought an "all you need is love" stamp at Michaels. Not only was hand addressing them tedious, but getting people's addresses took much longer than I thought! Come on people, it's our wedding! It's a super special moment followed by a super, awesome party. You're invited - we just need your address! Anyway (pardon the rant!), we are still working on the last few stragglers but the majority of them should be arriving in your mailboxes within the next week or so. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Here's a picture of an envelope. Not sure why I chose this one. My handwriting looks horrendous! Sorry for the blurriness too - I didn't want to put her full name or address. Check out the cute little stamp the corner. That's my favorite part!

We're all good in God's eyes!

Just wanted to update y'all & let you know that Ryan & I are officially done with our Precana requirements to get MARRIED! It was an awesome experience & we learned so much. Old St. Pats did a wonderful job of incorporating major topics that need to be discussed without making it scary or awkward. In fact, I caught myself talking at my hair salon to a group of women about how awesome it was. Um...what? Yeah, I did that.

Anyway, here's the proof:

I hope you all are getting excited for Thanksgiving. I know I am! Ryan & I are taking his parents to Fontana, WI for the 1st time on the 27th & we're so damn excited to show them the sights. We're meeting with florists, stopping by the rehearsal dinner location, having our tasting at the reception venue, and will probably enjoy a few brews at Chucks! We'll also be sending out Save the Dates out soon, so keep an eye out for them after Thanksgiving ;-D

Precana -- is that even a real word?

I've always dreamed of getting married in a church. The tradition, the words, the blessing, and the sanctity of it all has always drawn me in. To repeat words in a sacred place that generations upon generations have celebrated their love seems so timeless to me. It's an extra special touch to our very special day.

While Ryan & I aren't the most "religious" people, we definitely are spiritual & believe there is something bigger than ourselves out there. We don't go to Church every Sunday or pray every night because we see God in our daily lives & in the people we meet, help, and share our lives with. It was relieving to know that Ryan was on board to have the Church be part of our wedding day.

St. Benedict's in Fontana said we could do precana in our home church. Thank goodness! We ended up signing up for the precana classes at Old St. Pat's here in Chicago. I absolutely love this church because they make it fun to go to church. Yes, I know. It's hard to believe, but it's true. The congregation is young, the priests are so friendly & really connect with whats going on in the world, and they accept & love everyone. Woohoo!

We had our 2nd session yesterday & are still absolutely loving it. It's much more focused on talking & communicating versus the religious aspect of marriage. They give a little talk on 2 major parts of marriage & then ask us to go & talk about them on our own. Ryan has been unbelievable about opening up & being honest. I do think it has made our relationship stronger & it's made me fall even more in love with him. I wish everyone who is getting married had to go through this program because it really does help us realize whats important & not to sweat the little things. I am so lucky to have someone so willing to give all that he can to our relationship (and he's lucky to have me too :)!

STD, say what??

No no, not that kind - Save the Dates! I am struggling with this whole save the date process. I want it to be fun & unique, but I just don't have it in me right now. We have these beautiful engagement pictures & I would love to incorporate them, but I want something unique. So many people use magnets, which I love but it just seems over used at this point. A simple postcard would be nice, but I'm afraid people may lose it. I got this really awesome idea from the blogs I read - a coaster!



It seems pretty simple & inexpensive, but do I really have the time to stamp close to 200 coasters? We'll see....I'll keep y'all updated!