Not Your Traditional Bride: 1 Year Out - Post 2: Down to 2 Pages

My poor wall calendar is looking a little too thin lately. Two sheets left - November and December. Where did 2010 go? This time last year I was lauding 2010 as The Year. 2010 was The Year where things were going to happen! Some did...and we're running out of time for those that didn't to join the ranks of "did".

It's November. We are officially out of the period of time where we have to specify "next October" when asked when we're getting married. Since we've been doing that for a little less than 9 months, it's very odd to realize that we are now less than a year out! AHHHHHHHH!

The good thing is that we've been able to get a lot of big things checked off of our To Do Before I Do list.

- We've taken care of all but two things with the rabbi. All we have left to do is take our Intro to Judaism class (so that I can be educated and so he can get a refresher course) and meet with the rabbi after the results of our compatibility test come in, which will be around February or so. For those wondering, I am not converting. Taking the class is simply to be more knowledgeable of Doug's religion, be educated should I ever chose to convert, and gain insight for when we need to decide how to raise our children. I learned a lot from reading The New Jewish Wedding (revised) about different Jewish traditions and some of the meanings behind those traditions. So I'm looking forward to learning more from the class.

- We're penciled in for our current reception location of choice and are in talks about menus. We've booked the temple as our ceremony site although we're considering it our just-in-case option. Now that we have locations nailed down, I feel more comfortable with having to wait until Spring to get information on the Market Building downtown. If it ends up being affordable, then we may end up deciding to do both the ceremony and reception there. We have to wait and see, though. Either way, we have locations for the events.

- I found and ordered my dress (!!!!!!!!) and am still very thrilled about it.

- We've started discussing attire for the wedding party.

- We've finalized our guest list, started gathering snail mail addresses, and are actively working on getting the Save the Dates together.

- Hotel rooms have been blocked at two hotels and we are still working out contract details with a third.

- A few odds and ends still need adjusting on the wedding website, but I'm getting that together so it can launch before we send out the STDs.

- The Father/Daughter dance song has been chosen.

- We've been discussing ways to narrow down our "relationship soundtrack" to decide on a First Dance tune.

- I've decided on the type of photography I want.

- On one of the next visits to Roanoke, the ladies and I will hit up every bakery we can think of to do some cake tastings (we're totally abusing this part of wedding planning). Once we narrow down the places to about two or three bakeries/bakers, then Douglas will join in the tasting process.

For being just under a year out, we're looking pretty good so far! The best part is that we're doing very well with sticking to or being under budget. There is simply no way we can go over, so the more $ we can save during all of this, the better. I've been impressed with us so far. Yay us!

I was going to end this post with a picture of how gorgeous the leaves looked in southern Virginia two weekends ago, but apparently in all the craziness, I forgot to take a photo. So instead, I will share with you that we were in town again last weekend to attend Rally at the Alley at Fork in the Alley to watch the Rally to Restore Sanity with Umpha. There was a good crowd turn out at the Alley and we all enjoyed watching the Rally together. It was a grand ole time!