Now Where Are We?...

It's official! We have 363 days until our wedding! Or as you may say:

A year always seemed like the perfect amount of time to plan a wedding, and I think most of the folks in the industry agree. Over a year is hard to plan because some vendors don't book that early and less than a year (6 months) has vendors all booked up and feeling rushed. Our Rabbi flat out told us that he wouldn't marry us if we came to him 6 months before. Yikes. I certainly don't want to rush anyone! My planning mantra as of late has been: pick something you like, don't ask questions or compare, and get the 'ish locked down in a contract ASAP!

Jean Ralphio is like, 'Girl, celebrate! You just signed away another $2000 deposit!'

In the past month we have gone pretty far in our relationships with some of our main contractors. Here's where we stand:

• Venue is booked! 2/15/15. We're still working on squaring away the timing because here's my other theme of this wedding (sing it in a sing-song voice): logistics suck! Trying to figure out when we can start decorating and getting set up and when the door should open for guests and when I'm actually going to walk down the aisle is proving to be more tricky than I ever imagined. I foresee some spreadsheets and flowcharts...
• We have a deposit and contract ready to be sent to our caterer! This is a caterer who frequently does weddings at our venue, so I was like, 'Cool. Sign us up!'. They're affordable, reputable, nice, they have tasty buffet options and I think they will be awesome at organizing the dreaded buffet logistics. May the odds be ever in their favor. 
• We'll be meeting with the floral/decorating company that is recommended by our venue in March. I can't wait to hear how expensive all my floral desires will be during my Valentine's Day weekend wedding...
• We have a photographer! Another easy choice that probably deserves his own post. Joel actually showed me his pictures first a few years ago and I've been smitten ever since. So like any good animal of prey, I stalked him and then lunged, and wouldn't you know it? He's been looking to photograph a wedding at our very venue. It was written in the stars... the photographer would be OURS.

I feel pretty ok about where we are right now in our planning process. I have the week off from school to get some more plans into motion. I need to see if we can get a videographer ready, pick out some save the dates, schedule our engagement shoot and maybe look into a DOC. Through all of this planning kerfluffle, what am I using to organize all the appointments and deadlines?

The Holy Grail: My May Book

The May Book has been a godsend in terms of recording all of the appointments and how they collide with both Joel's availability and my work availability. Usually, I'm a 'keep it in my head' girl, but wedding planning is a whole new ball game. It's my crucial piece of sporting equipment, like a helmet or a jock strap, that protects me from loosing my cool. My next post will go into more of my 'A Beautiful Mind' organization methods. 

Did you have any big vendors that you KNEW you wanted to use, so you just booked 'em? No second glances or comparisons? Should we have compared more?! ::gulp::