Registering...better with a girl friend

So I have been pretty not into this whole registry process. To be honest, it is pretty overwhelming. There are like a billion and one stores to choose from, not to mention everyone's and anyone's opinions! So registering (or "registration" as my fiance likes to call it), has been put on the back burner.

Upon arriving at our friend's place yesterday (another soon bride-to-bee) for a fantasy football draft, we, as the girls, obviously had to find something to do to entertain ourselves. My response to getting manicures was "No-Williams Sonoma to register." I cringed with excitement-not what I had in mind. But, as I roamed the aisles with a fellow bee, the registry grew, become filled with items needed to make the very home I want.

Registering with a female counterpart in the same boat as me, the clueless boat, was so successful, and so much fun; we were able to bounce ideas, tips and product uses off each other, without feeling overwhelmed or completely uneducated!* I walked out of there feeling confident of my future kitchen, and look forward to our next 'Registration' day.

*Mom, you are still my favorite female to register with. :)

Creative placecards

Want to do something different for place-cards? Try a table all aglow. At one of my girl friend's wedding a couple of weeks ago at the Ballroom at the Ben , I walked into the cocktail hour to a round table full of beautiful candles (non-scented*) with guest's names typed on a piece a paper and wrapped around the candle with an elegantly knotted black bow. It was simply fabulous! (Note, image attached is not from her wedding).

Want some more - for an added touch, garnish the table with rose petals, or center the candles around a simple arrangement. Just be safe and make sure all is arranged to avoid a fire hazzard.

*Savings Alert* Without confirmation from my friend, I am assuming these "place cards" are less costly than professionally manufactured ones, or ones done by a calligrapher. Though spending money on the candles, and ribbon, these items can easily be found at dollar stores or wholesale party stores). However, using one of the many artsy computer programs offered to create names and table numbers, will definitely save you dollars.

*NOTE - Scented candles would not work in a situation like this (unless you are having a very small and intimate wedding). Be considerate of your guests, as some may be sensitive to smells.

Take time to enjoy

I haven't posted in a while, and with reason; I simply am taking the time to enjoy being engaged.

With an engagement doesn't just come a man asking you to be his partner, and a diamond on your finger, but the almost immediate planning of your big day. Lately, with so many acquaintances becoming "les fiançailles," it has been a constant day-to-day topic of discussion about who is doing what, when, where, how and why and...enough! It's easy to get caught up in the whose who of wedding planning and forget what is actually going on...HELLO, like, I AM GETTING MARRIED! I am going to be someone's wife, I am making a promise to someone to love and cherish him for the rest of our lives, no matter what he does or doesn't do, until we die. You think the wedding is a big deal; this is a BIG freaking deal!

I believe myself to be a smart little wedding bee, because with the wedding hoopla that has taken over our country, I knew the competition I was in for in planning my big day. So I did rush to book the biggies (venue, band and photog). So for now, until I start trying on dresses and hyperventilating, I am taking some time to relax and enjoy my summer as an engaged woman.