The first official fitness deadline has been set!

Dear Diary,

So I stopped in L&H Bridal last night to make my first fitting appointment. I can't believe it's time to do this already. So I officially have 26 days to lose at least 5 more lbs. Definitely doable. It's going to be a test as my trainer is away this week so I have to fend for myself. 
I'm not trying to look like this or anything:

I just want to be a more toned version of myself:)
It's a good test to show my dedication to the process and the ulitmate end result of just looking and feeling better all around.

Short blog today. Just a friendly fitness update:) haha

My Dearest Diary,
 The Blushing Bride To Be

Extending the Olive Branch

Dear Diary,
 Someone from my past has reached out to me today, very randomly and I wasn't sure what to do at first. It's someone in my family who I was very close with at one time but have since cut all ties with. They sent me a very open ended note wishing me well. I sat and thought about my response long and hard and had to delete a lot of it as I didn't want to sound angry but only wanted to get my point across. This person hurt me very badly and I basically wanted them to know that. I wanted them to know they were missing a very important day in my life, the day i'm going to marry my best friend and this member of my family won't be there to share it with me.

I let them know how sad I was and all I wanted was acknowledgment that they were wrong and an apology. I would think after so many years of not talking things might change a little and people can move on but this was not the case. Instead of the response I so longed for, which was " I'm sorry I hurt you and lets move on," I got, "Other people need to make apologies too and we didn't deserve to get screamed at and there was too much negativity."

I was extending my olive branch in hopes of healing a wound that has been open for far too long.  I learned that some people will never change and I now have the closure I need to move on with my life and still have the most amazing wedding day ever even if a few people will be missing.

As the Rolling Stones say, "You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need!"

Here's to turning over a new leaf and moving on to a brand new happily ever after.

My Dearest Diary,
The Blushing Bride To Be

What do you do if you don't have a song?

Dear Diary,
 Since we are having a band for wedding we have to fill out this worksheet prior to the event so they know what songs to play, who is escorting who, etc.  We knew we wanted certain songs but when I got to the part about our first dances, I was like, "Holy Crap, we don't have a song!" I started thinking of songs I knew we liked or had danced to at one point but nothing that was officially "our song". So I started scanning you tube for first dances hoping for inspiration and all I got was old standards everyone dances too and songs that reminded of old boyfriends I would rather forget.

I took a break from looking and was just driving in my car one day and was listening to my SiriusXM radio. Thank god for that thing. There are like 300 stations on there and they are all awesome. J actually paid for it for a year for me as an early birthday gift. He rocks sometimes. haha

There just so happens to be a Sirusly Sinatra station on there that I love! We both really like Sinatra and my all time favorite song is Summerwind but that isn't an appropriate wedding first dance song. I was just driving along and switched on the station to catch this song with the most amazing message and words and was being performed by Frank himself so it had to be good. I took out my cell phone and used my handy Shazam app (this lets you find out what the name and artist of any song playing is right at that moment) My favorite app on my phone by the way! The song was called "All my tomorrows" and I had never heard it before. I knew i loved it. It talks about things may not always be great but the better times are planned for tomorrow and all my tomorrows belong to you.

So that night when I went home I was talking to J as he had just walked in from the gym and he said to me, "I think I found our song!" I of course looked at him crazy because we really have the most opposite taste in music. He said, "it's this song I just heard by Frank Sinatra called "All my tomorrows". I just looked at him with a huge smile on my face and was like "you are never going to believe this but I heard that song today for the first time too and I knew right away it should be our song". We listened to it together last night and decided it was the perfect song for us.

Here is a link to the song on you tube so you can appreciate it as much as we do: All my tomorrows by Frank Sinatra

Also, let me know if you feel like this is the perfect song for us:)

So not everyone always has a song. In our case we found our song by accident. But as my mom always says, " The moment you stop looking you will find it!" Mom is always right, even though I hate admitting it. haha

My Dearest Diary,
 The Blushing Bride To Be

I wonder if Gypsies think we are weird?

Dear Diary,

So I was watching "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" on TLC and am totally addicted to the weirdness of it! These young girls, I mean like 14, 15, 16 and 17 years old, are having these elaborate weddings. In their culture the women's goal in life is to get a husband. They don't strive for school or a career but instead taking care of a husband and family.

They have these large fairs or picnics where guys go to "grab" a girl and get a kiss. If they kiss you ( and the women pretty much have to obey) they can then pursue you to be their wife. I can just imagine a guy in American culture grabbing me and pulling me aside to kiss me. He would probably end up with a black eye and some sore blueberries if you know what I mean. These are the reasons they make pepper spray and rape whistles. But in their culture it's totally normal.

Here is a pic of the actual event of assaulting, I mean grabbing:



IN order to entice a man these girls dress like nothing i have ever seen in real life. Maybe on Taxi Cab Confessions at like 3am but not on 14 year-olds in real life. These girls are even younger.
Take a look:

Once they land their man the elaborate wedding planning commences. They design their own GIANT gowns that weigh twice and three times the normal dress and even scar the girls who wear them. Some even light up! Here is an example of an actual Gypsy wedding gown:

After all the hub bub of the wedding is over they report for a life-time of duty to their husbands. They have to do whatever they say and are basically the property of the man. I could just imagine J telling me to wash the dishes and scrub the floor before he get home from work. He would be sleeping on the sofa and probably have some sore blueberries as well. ( I think this is what makes American women normal) haha

I wonder what Gypsy women would think of American brides? We are very elaborate but very independent. We know what we want and we go after it. We support our husbands, take care of our families but still are able to have our own goals and careers.

After watching this show and thinking about it I guess having to fill out a few papers, pick a few readings and file for a license pretty much beats getting assaulted, dressing like a whore and becoming someones property any day.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

My Dearest Diary,
 The Blushing Bride To Be

Getting my fitness on. Look out Fergie!

Dear Diary,
 So the realization that I needed to get my rear in gear for this wedding was when I went to try on my dress for the first time. Once my gown came in I made an appointment to go see it and try it on. Not an actual fitting, just wanted to play dress-up:) I knew the size she had to order for me and I wasn't thrilled with it but a lot had to do with my jumbo rack. Can't really control that. haha

So I went and was soooo excited to see it and try it on, that was until  they couldn't get it zipped! I almost started to cry right there in the store. I did not want to be the bride with the back fat!I knew something needed to be done. I knew I had gained a few LBs but not as many as the zipper said.

I was not going to look like this:

That was when I went and signed up for a personal trainer at the gym. I started the first week of June with Becky. She is a very sweet, fit, young Eagles Cheerleader (insert barfing sound here) who is an awesome trainer. She has given me great  food options and works me extremely hard during our twice a week sessions. She sees my potential and always pushes me to do more. I told her having to look at her everyday is motivation enough. She laughs at me. So after three full weeks i'm down 6 lbs and continue to keep up the hard work to obtain my ultimate goal of not looking like an Ompa Lumpa in my wedding gown.
I go twice a week to meet with Becky and two to three other days to do my cardio. It's hard and i'm tempted a lot with food and drinking. I like both a lot so it's just having the self control to say no and make better choices.

I figure if i can do it anyone can do it. You really just have to set your mind to it and go for it. I struggle everyday with my choices but I look at that beautiful gown and know I want J to look at me in it and be speechless. So as i'm writing this today i'm sitting here with my Chobani yogurt, grilled chicken and a peach wishing it was a chocolate milkshake but knowing I conquered just one more obstacle on my way down the isle.

My Dearest Diary,
The Blushing Bride To Be

Four years really flies by!

Dear Diary,
 Today J and I celebrate four great years together! I can't believe it's been four years already. We have never "taken a break" or needed time apart. We have our disagreements but I honestly couldn't imagine my life without him. We have been friends for soooo long and I think that's why it works. We already knew we liked each other and had fun together but deciding to actually take it to the next level was a HUGE decision because we didn't want to ruin our friendship. We knew by taking this giant leap of faith we were putting our future friendship in the balance. You can't reap the rewards if you never take any risks and in our case the rick was worth it. In just under three months I'll be marrying my best friend and we will get to take even more ricks together as husband and wife. I'm looking forward to seeing how this story unfolds.

Here is a funny pic of us back in high school. Yes, we really have known each that long:)

Until next time.
My Dearest Diary,
The Blushing Bride To Be

Seeing the set-up

Dear Diary,
 On Saturday J, my parents and I got to go to the reception hall and see it set-up for a 330 person wedding so that we could get a more concrete idea of what it's going to look like on our day. The bride picked purple as her color ( that was my original color) and it was done very nice. The tables were set beautifully but she used the vase that came with the hall and I wasn't really overwhelmed with them. That is why I bought my own and am making them very personalized to our theme. The flowers she chose were beautiful bright orange and purples and her cake was gorgeous too. Purple ribbon surrounded each layer and a rhinestone G cake topper highlighted the top of the 5 tier cake. It was very pretty. We could see them out of the window taking their pictures on the bright and sunny day. There were people fishing in the lake and the bride was all smiles.

This really helped ease some of our concerns of not having enough room and also showed how professional the people at the hall were. They truly take pride in each and every wedding and make everyone feel special. It made us look forward to our day and how excited we are for it to be here. It was exactly a year ago yesterday that J proposed and we can't believe how fast time has flown by. It will be here before we know it:)

My Dearest Diary,
 The Blushing Bride To Be

Exactly Three Months today!

Dear Diary,
I can't believe it's only three months until the big day. I feel like even though I have so much done there is still sooooo much to do! Invitations going out next week, so that will be good.
~Just waiting for the large vases I ordered to arrive so I can finish those and get them over to the florist so he can do a mock-up for me.
~Still have to do the church the programs but can't finish those until we know if the original Best Man will be in attendance or not.
~Have to pick the readings and send in all of our church paperwork.
~Have to choose the guys tuxes.
~Have to have my first fitting.
~Have to buy shoes( that is a biggie for me!)
~Need to finalize music for band.
~Have to have my wedding band made
~Need to finalize attendant gifts
~ Stop losing my mind! ( i just wanted to throw that tone in there) hahaha

Crazy!!!! I have been just choosing a task at a time and it's really getting done well that way. I know it will come together. Just need to enjoy the weekend now and worry about it later. See you on Monday!

My Dearest Diary,
The Blushing Bride to Be

Italy, France and Spain. Oh my!

Dear Diary,
 I'm very excited to say our honeymoon is officially booked! We had the main part booked but it's actually complete now. We decided to take a Mediterranean Cruise! We are sooo excited about this as neither of us have ever been on a cruise or have gone to any of the places on the cruise so we get to experience it together for the first time. Our cruise doesn't leave until the following Saturday so we decided it would be nice to spend two days on land in Barcelona, Spain before departing. We just booked two nights at a hotel right on the center of the main strip of Barcelona called Las Ramblas. They have great shopping, bars and restaurants here. We are also right near the beach and ports so it's great! The hotel is call Hesperia Metropol Barcelona And here is a great pic:)

We will then depart on Saturday on the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas:

We make our first stop in Toulon, France where we plan to take a tour and see: Saint Victor Abbey,  the cathedral Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica,  Palais Longchamp, and the famous Old Port with the Canebière Avenue. Here is a pic of the Basilica:

Our next stop will be in Nice, France where we plan to travel to Monte Carlo and see the burial place of Princess Grace of Monaco. Not many people know this but she actually lived here in Philadelphia and my grandfather was her actual Plumber:) Her knew her well and it i'm very excited to visit her place of rest and pay my respects:

Isn't she gorgeous!

We will then move on to Florence, Italy where we plan to travel to Tuscany and do a wine tasting day at a local vineyard and learn all about the wine. here is pic of the one vineyard:

We then move on to the city J and I are most excited about, Rome! There is soooo much to see here and we wish we had more then one day here. We want to see the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain and especially the Vatican. We definitely have to stop there because J's Great Aunt is an actual nun for the Pope! She lives at the Vatican and works for Pope Benedict. So you can say we have connections with the big guy above! haha we hope to get see her while we are there but who knows. Fingers crossed. Here is a pic from the inside of the Vatican:



We will then travel to Naples, Italy where we plan to take the Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii Hike! We will see who lasts longer, me or J. Here is a pic of Mt. Vesuvius today:

Then we head back to Barcelona, Spain to fly home from our world wind adventure. We are truly looking forward to experiencing all of this together, as husband and wife. You can bet there will be pictures and lots of them!!

Until next time.

My Dearest Diary,
The Blushing Bride To Be

Personal Touches

Dear Diary,
 The one thing i'm really having a great time with is making this wedding our own. Being able to add personal touches to the event are really what make it special. Without giving too many things away I know that we have done an excellent job of adding our own personalities to this wedding, from the invitations to the cake.

We both love sports, hockey in particular so you can definitely expect some Flyers and hockey touches. I love taking pictures of everything! So you can definitely expect there to be lots of photos being taken. (sorry those who are camera shy)

We both treasure our families so much so you can expect there to be photos of our family to surround us.
I, of course, didn't like the supplied vases for the centerpieces so i'm making those myself to match the black lace and champagne theme of the wedding. We are doing some special announcements with the band and most importantly just having fun! You can never be sure who will show up so keep your eyes peeled for special guests:)

We want everyone to have a great time celebrating with us and feel like family. So no matter how crazy or over the top you think something is, if it's yours, own it and love it. You only get one chance to make a first impression and this is the biggest impression so have the time of your life with it!

Until next time.

My Dearest Diary,
The Blushing Bride To Be

SOOOOO many ways to register!

Dear Diary,
 I was definitely more excited than J when it came time for registering for gifts. People had started to ask when we were we going to register so we went on Martin Luther King day since we both had off from work. I thought it would be fun but J, of course, did not feel so excited about it. That is until he got that price gun in his hand. I let him loose in Bed, Bath and Beyond, big mistake! I would turn around and he would be gone and all I could here were things beeping away! I was cracking up actually when I finally looked online at all the things I know I did not put on there. I'm sure our friends and family can tell as well that I did not register for a golf organizer. haha If that's what he wanted, feel free. It's his wedding too and god knows he could care less about towels and sheets since he has the same bedding from ten years ago that he refuses to get rid of. We have all bought new bedding for him as gifts and he takes it all back. haha

I knew my limits with J. We did the big registry together at Bed, Bath and Beyond but I took my mom with me to Macys' to pick out china and those kind of things. She picked out all of my Kitchen stuff! I have no clue what kind of pot is better than the other and what kind of roasting pan doesn't burn your turkey. Thank God for moms is all I have to say about that.

One other fun registry we decided to do was to register for our honeymoon at honeyfund.com. We thought it would be wonderful to have a little piece of our family and friends on the honeymoon with us. We are taking a Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona to France and Italy. We are soooo excited about this as neither of us have been on cruise or have been to France or Italy. So we registered for excursions while on our cruise like a wine tasting in Tuscany and a Mount Vesuvius hike that our family and friends can purchase for us. While on these excursions we can think of the people that made it possible for us to enjoy. So we really hope that our friends and family embrace this registry as well and we can enjoy the honeymoon we have longed for.

Here is the link to our page so you if you are thinking of maybe doing one for yourself or know of a bride and groom that this might be a great idea for, please share it with them. It's free to set-it up for the basic registry but they have a very inexpensive package like $20 or so to personalize your page like we did.
The Honeyfund.com

There are so many different types of registries now a days and it's nice to know you do have choices and you don;t have to stick with the just the old fashioned basic pots and pans. We tried to register for things for every price point. We hope everyone will find something that they feel will fit in their budget.

We look forward to seeing who decides to use the honeymoon registry as this is a first for our family. I love trying new things!

Until next time.

My Dearest Diary,

The Blushing Bride To Be

The Traditional Italian Serenade

Dear Diary,
 One other big part of planning a wedding, at least in my Italian family, is the wedding serenade. It is mostly celebrated by South Philly Italian families so most people aren't familiar with it. But I knew, even though we no longer lived in South Philly, this is something I have long wanted.

Let me explain the what and why for those who don't quite understand. In Italian tradition the groom and his men are supposed to come to the Bride's Mother's house, because that is where the bride is supposed to still reside until the wedding day, to serenade her with a love song and profess his want to marry to her parents.
This is supposed to take place the night before the wedding but it has become a rather large event over time and it's a lot of work so it's typically done the week before the wedding.

People have turned this traditional event into something like a block party with a DJ and etc. It also gives people the ability to invite anyone they want this way if you were not invited to the wedding you can still be involved in the festivities and see the bride and groom before the big day. I however, want to make it a bit more traditional and keep it true to it's original form. So we plan on having a traditional Italian mandolin player to greet guests as they arrive and to set the tone of the event.

We will only be inviting the bridal party, immediate family and very close friends so we can keep it intimate and special. Since our wedding is so large we wanted to use this as way to do something on a smaller more intimate scale for our families.

Instead of a DJ we are actually having a live band for two hours. A really great band called Northeast Xtension. They are considered  a country rock band but they play all sorts of music and are very good. We are truly looking forward to having them be part of this special event. You can check them out on their facebook page. "Like" their page and get updates on events as well. (Inserting shameless plug here) haha
Northeast-Xtension-Band-Page

So J is really thrilled about singing in front of everyone. It's his lifelong dream! JK He said it will be amazing if anyone will be able to understand him after 10 Manhattans! hahaha So I have no idea what he is going to sing as it's a surprise but all I know is everyone better have their flip cams charged and ready to go.

This is one thing I have waited a long time for and am really looking forward to sharing it with my family and family to be.

Until next time.

My Dearest Diary,

 The Blushing Bride To Be

He shoots, he scores!

Dear Diary,
 When it came time for us to do our save the dates I knew we would do something hockey related. My family is a huge hockey family and so is J's. I grew up watching the Flyers and basically didn't have a choice since my dad grew up with the team as well. He was actually their stick boy when they won the Stanley Cup in the 70's and is currently an off-ice official for the NHL. So you could say that hockey runs in the family. I had this great idea to do a sports themed card and actually got my dad to let us down in the penalty box before a game one night to take a few pics.

Here is one of me and my dad before the game:) 

So once we did that I had to come up with something clever to put on it. We couldn't just say Save the Date. We were under a lot of pressure as everyone I spoke to said they can't wait for our wedding and they were looking forward to seeing what we do so I knew it had to be cute, creative and clever.
Here is the end result:

J is a little Internet shy so i substituted:) hahaha
It got a great reaction from all of our friends and family so I knew we were on the right track. There will also be a few hockey touches at the wedding but you will have to wait and see what we have planned. I hope everyone loves it:)

Until next time.
My Dearest Diary,
The Blushing bride To Be

Am I cursed?

Dear Diary,
I finalized the guest list with the moms and proceeded to take the invitation envelopes to the calligrapher to be addressed. Pretty simple. As soon as I did that people started passing away and people were telling me they not be able to make it at all:( Within a week of one another we lost my cousin, one of the groomsmen's father and a close family friend. I had to keep calling the calligrapher back to change those envelopes because I didn't want to offend anyone when they received an invitation for their deceased partner! My friend at work was calling me the wedding black widow!

Then J's best man and also my close friend had really good and really bad news for us. The goods news was they were expecting their first child! We were are so happy for them because we know how hard they have been trying and how much they wanted to be parents. But the bad news was the baby is expected to be due two days before the wedding. So now J actually had to pick a back-up Best Man and I had to find another reader for church. We had three readers so we are just going to have two and make one person read twice. We are staying positive that J's Best Man and his wife have a happy and healthy baby about a week before the wedding. hahaha We truly want them there but we also understand the situation and couldn't be happier for them.

So I went and picked up the envelopes as soon as they were finished in hopes of ending my curse and so far that has worked. No more bad news. The calligrapher said he has never experienced anything like this before. I told him it's nothing new. Crazy stuff happens all the time to me!!! So now it's time to put the finishing touches on the invites and get them out in the mail before anything else happens! haha

I'll keep you posted on that front.

My Dearest Diary,
 The Blushing Bride To Be

My dreams have finally come true!!

Dear Diary,
 You would think the day J proposed to me would be the happiest day of my life but alas, that moment has been trumped by finally meeting my childhood idols, Donnie Whalberg and Jordan Knight from NKOTB! I was really bummed after deciding not to go to the concert since we were trying to save money for the wedding and could use that $150 towards that. So when I found out that they were planning an after party at the bar I work at part-time I was first to sign-up to work that night. All this happened last night so it's very fresh in my mind and I think i'm still high on the feeling!
I had to be in at 3:30pm and the party didn't start until 11 so the anticipation was killing me. They way they made it sound was like Donnie would have is own private area and Jordan was doing a meet and greet in his own private area so I was just hoping for a few glimpses and maybe a quick pic if i could snap one without getting in trouble.
Come to find out that Donnie and Jordan were going to perform and hangout all night, I almost died! The station I was placed at last night was right by the stage where they were supposed to be but when Donnie came in and through the crowd and realized how small the stage was he looked at me an said, " Clear the Bar, this is my stage now!" So we all grabbed anything we could get our hands to make room for him and he hopped right up on the bar in front of me!!!
He asked the DJ to play some music and the party started! He sang all sorts of songs from New Kids and other artists and just wanted everyone to party and have fun. Jordan finally joined him up on the bar and they sang a few together and Jordan left.
Donnie even sang "Good Vibrations", the song that made his brother famous and it was AWESOME!!!!
So i grabbed my phone and started snapping away!

I will NEVER forget this night, especially after Donnie told all of the bartenders to get up on the bar and join him! It was truly the best night ever!!!

I know this really doesn't have anything to do with the wedding but it was such an amazing, once in a life-time experience I had to share it! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy telling it.

Until next time.

My Dearest Diary,

The Blushing Bride To Be

Invitations: They really do set the tone of an event

Dear Diary,

We are now in the swing of things. Reception booked. Church booked. Band booked. Attendants picked. Now on to the other aspects of planning such as the invitations.

Different things are important to different people. Some people love flowers, others could care less. Some want to make sure the church is decorated to the nines, others could care less. One of my big things are invitations. Invitations always set the tone of an event. If I get a really cheap, home computer generated invite in the mail, (Yes, people can tell) I already get an idea of what the actual event is going to be like. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the DIY projects but if you are going to DIY it better not look like one. Especially wedding invitations.
 
J's thought about them (same as many others) that people look at them twice; once to see when and where the event is when they first receive it in the mail and the second time the day before or day of to see where it is and how to get there. Then they throw them out. I totally understand that. But I do keep the ones I really like as they inspire me for future events I may have.
In the age of Internet everything there were plenty of sites to browse and thousands of designs to look through. We choose black lace and champagne as our colors, which give our wedding a touch of vintage class. So I wanted the invitations to say the same thing. I want people to open them and know our wedding isn't taking place in the backyard (which is fine for some) just not what we want for our special day. I want people to say, " This is going to be a beautiful wedding."

I decided to look on various websites i found linking from every bride's favorite sites, http://www.theknot.com/ and http://www.weddingchannel.com/ to see what special offers were out there. I found a few I liked but I am a very visual person and wanted to see the actual invites in person and for the most part these sites offer free or very low cost samples. I also went to a local invitation place to see what they offered. I found a beautiful and different invitation that I loved but I did not love the price. When I brought home an $1,800 quote to J he fell off the sofa!  Literally, fell off the sofa and next came the look along with his trademark response," Listen Ivanka!" He likes to call me Ivanka Trump because I always happen to pick the most expensive things. hahaha It's kind of our running joke now. However, if he says, " I J take you Ivanka," at the alter then I'll worry. haha

I knew that would never happen and I decided to go with an invitation from http://www.theamericanwedding.com/ . It's a great site with very reasonable prices and higher quality invitations. They were having a great special too and included extras and free shipping. The only down side was I had to assemble them myself. You could pay extra for assembly but i figured i was going to add my own little personal touch to them anyway so why not just do it all. It was also a good excuse to get the girls and my mom involved. I would love to post a pic of the invite but they haven't gone out yet and don't want to ruin the effect. I promise to post it once they go out in the next two weeks:)

Now that the invitations have been ordered, delivered and in the process of being assembled my next step was to take the outer envelopes to the calligrapher to be addressed. Sounds pretty simple right?

We will see.

My Dearest Diary,
The Blushing Bride To Be

Nine and a half men

Dear Diary,
 It was now J's turn to pick his groomsmen. I knew it was going to be hard for him because, unlike me he has sooo many close friends. He agonized over it for weeks. One day he said to me he picked his groomsmen. I was excited to hear his choices and reasoning.
I only have six girls and he was stuck because in his head he thought it had to be even. I told him, "It doesn't have to be even. We have whoever we want and we make it work".
Once he got over that issue it became a bit easier for him. I told him to do the same thing as I did. Think about who is in your life today. Who are you close with? Who would you call to tell good and/or bad news to? I think that really helped as well.

The final tally was eight and a ring bearer. So we thought.

He has a close knit group of friends from childhood so that was a no brainer. He chose one as his Best Man and the others as his groomsmen. Then he added on his friends that he became close with from high school. J and I happen to go to the same high school and college so we had a lot of the same friends so it's like having 8 of my brothers in the wedding. There were two other guys I questioned him about since he didn't include them and he said he had to draw the line some where or we would have 20 guys. I agreed and supported his decision. We chose my 18 month old nephew as our ring bearer so that should be interesting.

Now that the line-up had been set J started asking the guys to be in our wedding and they were all very exited about it. Until one that he didn't include found out he wasn't in it and pretty much freaked! It was one of the guys I had mentioned to J about not including. He called me and asked me why he wasn't in it. I told him I had nothing to do with that decision and he had to talk to J about it. He said he would get his own tux and walk with flower girl! I was cracking up. he also said if there was any one wedding he had been waiting for all these years it was ours so what could  we do? I found the whole situation comical but I wasn't getting in the middle of it. People say girls are the catty ones but in this case the boys were in Groomzilla stage 4! haha
So J being the caring, pushover that he is told him he was in the wedding and apologized for not including him to begin with. And that is how we ended up at nine groomsmen. It's kind of our running joke now every time we see each other.

The girls have been chosen. The guys have been chosen but will everyone be there on the day of the wedding?
Stay tuned

My Dearest Diary,
 The Blushing Bride To Be