Three days before our wedding

We won't have professional pictures back for a while, so I'll recap the days leading up to and following the big day. I posted that we were leaving for Santa Cruz on the Wednesday before our wedding.

We arrived at about 4 p.m. and checked into our rental house. It was even better than I expected! So perfect for this week. Lots of room for our rehearsal dinner and BBQ the day after the wedding.

Living/dining room

Kitchen

Backyard

Hammock...

... and hot tub!

Extra bedroom #1

Extra bedroom #2, AKA bridal dressing room

Bathroom #1

Master bedroom

In a nutshell, this house was way bigger and better than our actual house. As it should be, since one week there cost almost twice our monthly rent!

We also found that the owners of the house (who we've never met) left us a wedding card and bottle of champagne! So nice!! I totally love them. Click here to find out how to rent it.

After we unpacked, we had sushi delivered for dinner, then went for a walk along the ocean - just about 2 blocks from our house.

We went down to a small beach,

and watched the sunset on our way back.

  

Then we went back to our house and relaxed in the hot tub. Honestly, one of the best days ever!

Apple Hill

My grandparents live in Texas but have been in California for the past few weeks because of our wedding. They've been RVing around the state and this weekend they were in our neighborhood!

On Friday night James and I joined Grandma and Grandpa for dinner at Formoli's.

Saturday my sisters joined too, for an afternoon in Apple Hill. We had a picnic at Boa Vista Orchards, where I picked up a bottle of apple wine. It's good - to me it tastes like a very sweet chardonnay [a good description of me too, don't you think?]

We also walked around High Hill Ranch. Isn't this picture of Rose and Grandpa the cutest?!

It's so pretty in the foothills!

Sunday I should have unpacked from the wedding... but didn't. I did get a majority of my wedding thank you notes done though! I think a small blister is forming on my thumb!

For dinner last night we went to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant I've been wanting to try forever but is way too expensive for a normal date. But our one week anniversary was the perfect excuse! Everyone raves about it, but we didn't love it. I'd say it's overpriced and overrated... a fun experience though.

A few more teaser photos

For my parents, who can't see them on Facebook! :)





MARRIED!

We're married!! Our wedding day was PERFECTION. Amazing. So much better than I ever hoped or imagined.

It was beautiful, emotional and so humbling to be surrounded by our loved ones, all of them there to support us. Everything went perfectly. The entire weekend was the best of my life, and I feel like the luckiest wife in the world!

Lots and LOTS of pictures and recaps are coming, of course! I'm obsessed with the few pictures I've seen so far, so allow me to share these fantastic teasers from our photographer!

Oh yeah, there was a rainbow over our wedding ceremony!!

More coming ASAP!

Going to the...

... chapel ocean, and we're gonna get married!

I totally love the title/first sentence of this post and typing it made me choke up! We're taking off for Santa Cruz this afternoon... I probably won't post again until next week.

Even if things go wrong, if we get married then the day was perfect. It's easy to forget that amid all the appointments and projects, but I have to keep it in mind! The point is to marry the man I love - I am so thrilled that he will be my husband in just 3 days!!

Wish us luck!!

Our last weekend as an engaged couple

This last weekend before the wedding was a busy one! And not even with our own wedding stuff... there was just lots going on.

Friday night after work I ran into the downtown plaza mall to pick up a few things - a tie clip for James and a dress for me. Before Macy's I looked at Forever 21 and another teenage girl store. I feel weird and old there! Totally don't fit in anymore. Anyway, I found a great dress at Macy's on clearance for $25 - regularly $99. I also found a tie clip on sale at Macy's, so it was a successful trip.

On Saturday we went to a lamb BBQ at Scribner Bend Vineyards, hosted by some friends of ours. It was so much fun! Delicious wine, fab food and awesome people - we had a great time.

Sunday morning I did a lot of packing for the wedding. This is what the entryway to our house looks like! Almost everything we're taking to the wedding, from candles to wine. We still have to pack our clothes for the week.

Last night was the wedding of two friends of mine, Michelle and Adam. It was held at The River Mill in French Camp - beautiful!

Here's my gameplan for the coming week:

Today/Tomorrow: Working and packing.

Wednesday: I'm working a half day, then we're off to Santa Cruz!!

Thursday: Shopping to stock our beach house with food for the week, plus a mani/pedi.

Friday: Assembling flowers in the morning, rehearsal at night.

And throughout all this I have to try not to catch James' cold. Yes, the groom is sick!! I'm just hoping he's better by this weekend. I don't think I've ever not gotten a cold when he had one. I'm taking airborne, drinking lots of water and getting enough sleep. I don't know what else I can do but I'm open to suggestions!

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

Something old:
The strapless bra I'm wearing under my dress (no image necessary)

Something new:
Almost everything... my earrings, my dress, my bracelet, my shoes

Yes, I'm wearing flip flops at my wedding! They are soooo comfy.... and I refuse to have sore feet on this day. Also, James is only one inch taller than me so that makes a difference too!

Something borrowed:
I made a hair flower for the reception with a silk anemone.
The flower isn't borrowed, but the clip I attach it to will be
(mine's cuter than the one pictured)

Something blue:
"Just Married" undies, a bridal shower gift from my maid of honor

They don't actually look like these, but I don't think I need to show the whole Internet my real underpants :)

Our wedding is in 9 days, people!
Accuweather.com predicts 74 and partly sunny.
Weather.com predicts 67 and SHOWERS!
That is a big difference! Please cross your fingers for sun!

Goal #62: Have a girls day with my mother in law

Yesterday was my second and final wedding dress fitting, which I completely forgot to blog about after my first appointment! I picked it up yesterday and it fits perfectly. Previously, it was way too big in the waist and hips. Every time I tried it on I had to convince myself that it would look good again. Seriously, it was horribly unflattering. I took it to Lana's Studio in Carmichael, and it looks much better now!

My sister/maid of honor and James' mom came with me. Rose had to learn how to bustle it, and I just wanted Rita to see it. After we got the dress, Rita and I went to lunch, then the mall to find her a dress for the wedding.

It was a lot of fun shopping! She found not one but two dresses because they were both on sale for great prices... and she got me a bracelet to wear on our wedding day. Every time I go to Macy's for the past few months I look at this bracelet, hoping it's on sale. It still wasn't, but my savvy mother in law had a $10 off coupon making it much better :)

Later in the afternoon we went to a barbeque at our friends' house. The rest of the 3-day weekend will be low key, I'm just going to try to get as organized as possible for the wedding... in 13 days!

See my list of 100 goals to accomplish before my 30th birthday here.

The final count...

67 guests will be attending our wedding! Which is pretty much perfect! I'm happy with this number :)

The other day I picked up some last minute purchases. I got this tie for my dad. I haven't even shown it to him, but I know he reads my blog. What do you think Dad?!

And I got a basket to put our programs in. I've asked my sister to hand out programs and I don't even know/care if she'll keep them in here. But damnit, I wanted to put them in something other than the shoebox I've been keeping them in!

Much nicer, right?

Speaking of programs, would you like to see them?

I'm hiding all last names and personal info, but here they are.

Here's the cover, embellished with the lighthouse stamp used with our invitations.

The first page:

Page two has the order of the ceremony:

Page three has the names of the wedding party and a thank you to our guests (sorry for the horrible photo quality):

And the last page provides directions to the reception:

These are made simply with two sheets of 8.5x11 paper - the blue is cardstock and the white is nice textured resume paper. I trimmed the white to be about 1/3" smaller all around. Then I used a hole punch and tied them together with ribbon.