Closer

We are less than two months away from our big day! I cannot believe how fast the time has flown by! It's getting closer and closer to the time that Matt and I will officially declare our love and commitment to one another and to the world!

Our wedding planner Marie from Bordeaux Events has been a dream to work with. She has answered countless questions, organized everything on short notice (four months is not a long time to plan a wedding!), and so much more, and she has done it all with a smile.

Our invitations from Magnet Street Weddings have been sent out (everyone has raved about how beautiful they are!) and we are booking guests in our 10-bedroom beach house on a first-come, first-served basis.

There are so many plans being discussed and finalized and we have a really cool surprise in the works! We actually were *this* close to surprising everyone with a huge flash mob on the beach to this song:



Flash Mob America did their best to try to make it happen for us, but it just didn't pan out. (I'll still get to realize my dream of being in a flashmob when they come to DC September 7 though! Can't wait!)

Matt and I will still walk down the aisle to this song after saying, "I do." It just won't be in the midst of a bunch of people flash mobbing our wedding, lol. I think everyone will be pretty amazed at our other surprise though, so stay tuned! (remember we will be live streaming the wedding...just watch here at 6:30 EST, September 17).

We have selected our food choices from our caterer Argyle's. They will be serving:
Appetizers

• Scallops in a lemon and garlic crust with a lemon basil buerre blanc.
  
• Three style hummus bar with crackers and pita.
  
• Mini crab cakes sauteed to a golden brown served with a Chipotle red pepper remoulade.
  
• Coconut shrimp dipped in Tempura batter and rolled in coconut, fried and served with a tropical rum dipping sauce.

Entrees

• Cheese Manicotti - tender crepes rolled with filling of ricotta parmigiana and fresh mozzarella cheeses, baked in a rich marinara, topped with fresh mozzarella.
  
• Shrimp Daniel - large shrimp filled with a crab stuffing and served with a creamy crab remoulade sauce.
  
• Pistachio Crusted Chicken Breast- served in a Dijon herb wine sauce

Sides

• Rosemary Potatoes - roasted triangles of potato tossed with rosemary and onion
  
• Mixed grilled vegetables dusted with citrus herbs
  
• Garden salad
  
• Rolls

Of course we will have a bartender on hand to serve plenty of drinks as well. I wish we could live stream the food and drinks to our online guests!

Our decor plans with our designer/florist Renee from Renee Landry Style are coming together nicely. We will have our phrase "So Much" in the backdrop at our altar (probably on a flowing curtain held up by two white trees or posts) and white, Twitter-shaped birds will be mixed in with our reception decor.

A few tables will have rustic-looking birdcages as centerpieces (along with some creative touches like branches and candles) and others will have candlescapes and/or flowers. White, Christmas-style lights will be abundant and we will have floating Lucite candle barges in the pool.

We are going for a shabby-chic look overall...casual w/ a bit of bling. I'll be wearing my hair down with a Nicole Richie House of Harlow-esque headpiece like this:



...only white with a hint of small flowers on the band. Oh and I decided on a dress! It will be this one from H&M's Conscious Collection:



Casual and beachy. Matt will be in khaki's and a white, button-down shirt. And we will both be barefoot.

For the reception, however, I plan to glam it up a bit and do a costume change into something like this:



I still haven't found something I'm absolutely sold on yet, but it has to be fun, cute and playful like the Betsey Johnson dress above.

We have selected an officiant to preside over our ceremony. Bob Woody from the White Doe Inn is a warm and friendly, inter-denominational officiant and will work with us on creating the perfect ceremony. Our faith is the most important aspect of our lives, so it will be key in our wedding.



We were really impressed with Bob's openness to customizing the ceremony to our liking. We can add on special touches such as sand blending as well as a family union celebration that we can include our kids in. Whatever we finally decide on, we are confident Bob will make it special.

Finally, we have decided to have two songs to dance to since we've had such a hard time narrowing them down. Thank you so much to everyone who voted! The majority picked "Feels Like Home" by Chantal Kreviazuk.



As much as we love that song, Matt still wanted the second runner-up "Crazy Love" by Michael Buble. And I found myself really feeling sad that "Everything" by Lifehouse was in third place.



So that's how I knew we must have both "Crazy Love" and "Everything." We will open with Lifehouse and close with Buble. If we wouldn't feel like total dance floor hogs, we probably would've thrown "Feels Like Home" in the middle, lol.

So that's the latest in wedding planning news! And believe me, there are plenty of details I've spared you in this summary, surprising as that may seem considering the length of this post!

50 days to go. 50! I can't believe our day is almost here! And we can't wait to share it with all of you!

Disclosure: We have received discounts and comp products from various vendors AFTER having chosen them. We want the best for our wedding and would have chosen each vendor regardless of whether or not a discount was given.