I'm baaaack!

hello there! long time no speak. i've missed you! i'm sorry i've been gone so long, but i was busy doing some sorta important things like getting married (!!!!) and enjoying a glorious 11 night honeymoon in negril. i've blogged off and on about our wedding for a year and a half. so - it is only fitting that i take some time to say goodbye to my wedding. so what does this mean? recaps! painfully detailed recaps decorated with beautiful photographs. i want to do this for two reasons. firstly, i'd like to document the whole shebang for myself. i find that if i don't write things down, they escape me. in twenty years or so, i think it will be nice for neill and me to be able to look back and read a complete narrative of our wedding. secondly, i want a chance to revel in the wonderfulness of the day and share the joy with all of you!

but

i can't recap just quite yet. because really, what would recaps be without our pictures? nothing. thats what. so the recaps will begin once i get our pro-photos. i promise you, they are worth the wait. don't believe me? see a teaser after the jump!

[all photos by Alix Klingenberg]

Getting My MRS Degree

So the big day is almost here! I don't have much to say except that I'm genuinely excited and starting to feel like a "bride". Or rather, I'm starting to feel like myself as a bride. On Monday I was in Nordstroms and I told one of the sales associates, hesitantly, "I'm getting married this weekend". It felt new. Like trying on a new piece of clothing. It didn't belong to me - yet. It was so fun to say that I basically worked it into every conversation I could after that. Something about speaking it aloud really started to make me feel like a bride, not just some one planning a wedding.

Anyways, now I'm basically just screaming from the rooftops I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!! I don't even care that it is going to be hot as fuck and rainy. Nope. Because you know why? I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't care whether or not everything runs smoothly. You know why? I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't even care that we'll probably have to take pictures inside. Neill and I are going to MARRIED (in case you didn't get that) and that means we'll be in photos together for the rest of our lives. (swoon)

The next few days are going to be quite busy and then Neill and I are leaving for our honeymoon, so this might be my last real post as a fiance.The official end of wedding planning posts. I don't think I'm 100% ready to give up wedding talk on this blog though. My bestie doesn't know this yet, but I'm going to ask her to write some posts about her experience of wedding planning. Eeee! I'm already excited! And now she can't say no because its already on the internet. HA.

Anyhoo, planning this wedding has been awesome. and I'm so glad that I've had this blog to document all of my thoughts and ideas. A bit thank you to my fifteen readers for being interested in my (largely unedited) ramblings. Even though most of you never comment, I appreciate knowing that someone out there is digesting what I just thought.

Digest this - I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tear of . . . Joy(?)

because i have no shame and i like to tell you everything, i'm going to be completely honest about how freakin coocoo i've been lately. yesterday, i think i cried five or six times. 

meltdown # 3 (because I know that there were tears shed earlier in the day): Passport drama. We have passports. They are up to date and we've used them in recent years. So, when Neill's travel agent aunt asked us if we had our passports sorted out we both nodded and congratulated ourselves for being so prepared. Come yesterday, WHERE THE FUCK IS MY PASSPORT??? (Said at a very high decibel with tears and door slamming). Neill found his passport. I could not find mine. This was obviously Neill's fault. I retreat to bedroom, empty sock and underwear drawer, still can't find passport, crawl into bed and resign myself to the fact that I've ruined our honeymoon. This was actually the time that I got up to yell at Neill for not helping me find my passport. He finds it. I'm relieved and feeling silly for yelling so incredibly loud and using the f word. Neill wipes away my tears and "shhhs" me and says nice things like "you're under a lot of stress". I give Neill my passport to hold on to - on the wedding rings.

meltdown #5: The gym. I go to gym. Man behind counter says I look calm for being one week ago. I confide in him that I've already cried many times. He seems uncomfortable. Why did I overshare? Now he probably thinks I don't want to get married. My face gets red and I go upstairs. On elliptical. Think that working out will help me calm down. weather report comes on tv. I cry. I regain composure. Back to working out. Start thinking about my dad walking me down the aisle (which he isn't, but I'm imagining if he was) and I cry. I hope lady next to me thinks I'm just sweating.

Meltdown #4 was about the Welcome Letters. But Neill wised up and gave me my way, so that was only a minor meltdown. Although I think I did lay on the bedroom floor for a few moments trying to regain composure.

don't i sound like an awesome human being? haha. no. whatevs.

Meltdown #1 and 2 were probably about the weather. i've shed more than enough tears for the words "hot", "humid", and "thunderstorms". mentioned to my mom that it might rain, she admitted that she has been checking the weather. i couldn't believe she knew and was being so sweet as to not stress me out about it. i know its something small, but i just thought that was the most loving thing.

goal of today? no meltdowns.

Windy City Rollers Bachelorette Party

The first stop for my bachelorette party? A roller derby game! At half time, I was even asked to take a picture with the team.  I think my sash and veil caught some one's attention :)

 me, grace, and the chicago red hots!

We even got moved down to court side seats after this was snapped! The game was actually my favorite part of the whole night. I loved the the beer, potent rum punch, nachos, good friends, and watching the ladies kick ass.

Inspecting The Hair From All Sides

I cannot muster up any more words on hair and makeup. To get caught up, read about what my hair inspiration was HERE.
 

Close up of the back & front, soon after it was done.

These pictures were taken by Neill at about 6 o'clock and the only think I touched up was my lip gloss. Yay for staying power. 

Overall, I really liked it. It felt sooo secure, which was one one my major concerns.  My only thought is that maybe I'd want it more to the side. When pictures were taken straight on, you could barely see the side poof. I don't want pictures of just my big round head. Something like this (pictures from here)

See how sidey that looks?

Anyways. I don't want to talk any more about this. I just can't stand to spend another minute thinking about what my hair is going to look like. Frankly, I look like crapola most everyday so anything will be an improvement!

It's Like Rain On Your Wedding Day

Thank to Neill for providing me a great memorial weekend post (that had absolutely nothing to do with memorial day!). My google analytics tells me that posting a link to a blog post on facebook brings in lots and lots more readers.

Anyhoo, now we are just back to lil' ol' me and my crazy bridal brain. I can't wait to have my normal brain back. These past few days have been BAD. The combination of getting my period, the hellish heat, and being so close to the wedding is just a recipe for bitch alisha to roar her ugly head. And damn. I've been roaring.

The latest tantrum occurred on Sunday, when I realized it could very possibly rain on our wedding. At that point, the weather was forecasting scattered thunderstorms for the days leading up the wedding. Well, technically, the 10 day forecast only went up to four days before the wedding, but that was enough for me to fly off my rocker. I'm not proud of this, but I sobbed for probably an hour. And told Neill that if it rained I wasn't going to go the wedding because it was POINTLESS and it would all be RUINED. oh yes. I'm insane.

Thankfully, I got my rain fears out of my system. My theory is that since I freaked out about rain already, I won't be nearly as bothered about it on the day of. As of now the forecast is looking a lot less rainy, but the temperature keeps going up each time I look at it.

Please God, if you're there, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't let it be hot and humid on my wedding day. PLEASE???? Obv I only pray about the most important things. Luckily, I've got my maid of honor and her mother praying to the weather gods too. I swear those ladies have a direct line to the mister himself so I feel a little safer.

When I sat down I was planning to write yet another post about my hair, but I guess this post will just be about the weather -  the most interesting topic that everyone wants to read about, RIGHT???