Last weekend when my mom was here I had a final make-up trial with Mary Dee Housely, my makeup artist. The main reason for going to visit her was to have a facial, an indulgence I have never experienced before. But I had also mentioned that I was hoping to make my eyes look bigger, so she suggested that she would do the eye makeup again for no charge since I wasn't satisfied the first time (just one of the many, many reasons why I truly love working with Mary).



The facial was spectacular. She does everything by hand, the products all smelled so yummy and when it was all said and done my skin was softer and smoother than it has ever been in my life. I had no idea my skin could look the way it does even now, five days after going to see her.


I don't have an after shot, and I somehow never got a picture of me with the new, improved eye look, but that was fantastic too. Instead, I will share this shot with you, because I seriously have no shame :) Mary was hamming it up, too...I believe those are blueberries on my 'eyes' there :).

We're legal!

Mr Corn and I headed to Newport this morning to get our license at the town hall. If neither the bride nor groom are from Rhode Island, you have to go to the city hall in the town where the wedding will be held in order to get the license.

These steps look grand, but in reality the clerks office is on the ground level, so you go around the stairs to a small door under the building. It was rather anti-climatic...but we didn't care.

Here's Mr. Corn filling out his 'side' of the paperwork. One thing that I didn't realize we would need is the officiant's name, address and phone number. Fortunatley, for us, it is my sister, so I know that information by heart. But I can see how that could be an issue if you didn't have that information on you.

Here we are...all licensed to wed!!

ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW!! WOOT WOOT!!!

Update

Mama Corn is here this weekend helping me with the last of the things that need to get done. Yesterday morning was my final dress fitting. My Boston bridesmaid came along to record exactly how to string up the back and do the bustle so that there is more than one person who knows how to do it. The dress is now pressed and hanging from ceiling on our third floor. Turns out I am so tall, the dress doesn't fit in the bag without bunching up at the bottom :) so it is out of the bag and we have sealed off the room. Mr Corn is on strict orders to stay away from the third floor.

Yesterday afternoon my mom made all 60 votives for the reception tables while I finished making the centerpieces. (We wrapped the sea grass in paper so that it wouldn't spread out and get tangled en-route to Newport).


It was GOD AWFUL hot out and we live in a 104 year old house with no air conditioning, so it was pretty miserable and very sweatshop-esque. Thankfully, I was able check the weather in Newport and realize that even though it was 95 with a 102 'feels like' in Boston, it was only 80 with an 84 'feels like' in Newport. It didn't help cool us down much, but it did make me feel better about having my bridesmaids wear cashmere sweaters in only 2 weeks. :)

This morning I am getting a facial with Mary, my makeup lady. She will also do my eyebrows today and do one final makeup mini-trial so we can see if we can make my eyes look bigger. We will spend the rest of the day tying ribbons on the programs until my final dance lesson with Mr. Corn tonight.

Tomorrow is my big meeting with the Caterer and Colleen, my DOC to go over final logistics and and off all my stuff. I'll let you know how that goes, since I have no idea what to expect.

Through it all, I am trying to keep myself grounded and appreciative of the moments. The wedding is only one day, so I am trying to soak up these last days of planning as much as I can.

I know there are a few of us getting married on the 8th...how are you all holding up?

To dream the impossible dream

As it has been noted MANY times on the bee, it is next-to impossible to find a decent Mother of the Bride dress out there these days. The options seem to be:

• Boring beige (albeit with sparkles) MOB dress ordered from a bridal store. To be honest, this dress comes in a rainbow of colors, but it is still prohibitively expensive which is worse when you realize it will only get one wearing.
  
  
  
• Love Boat hooker-wear
  
  



• The same dress every MOB wears because they can't find anything else that isn't the first two options above
  
  

Many, many people have suggested looking at Nordstrom's. In fact, I think the first time I heard this suggestion was on the bee back in early February when I first happened upon the site. I went on the Nordstrom's site and indeed, there were many, many dresses to choose from, which I thought was great.

Ok. Have you BEEN to a Nordstrom's to look for a MOB dress? I can tell you now, there's nothing. My shower was in mid-May in Philadelphia and the plan was to go to the Nordstrom's at the King of Prussia mall after the shower. The thought was that since it is a flagship store, we would have even more of a selection to choose from. No. such. luck.

When we got inside, we asked someone where the special occasion dresses were...we giddily explained we were looking for a MOB dress. The woman pointed to an area of the store not far from where we entered. From where we were standing we could only see an orange be-spangled slinky dress with a slit to there and a V to the other there with a gaudy brooch to nestle between the breasts. Surely there must be something else, we thought, so we turned the corner expecting to see the wealth of options that were online. Again, no. such. luck. There was nothing. There were exact replicas of the orange dress in aqua and a few cocktail dresses, but that was it.

We found another sales associate and explained that we were looking for MOB dresses and asked if she could point us in the right direction and she said, rather defensively, that these were all they had. At this point I almost throttled the woman. Instead, I calmly explained that we were looking for something a bit less hooch. I may have gone a bit bridezilla by continuing on to point out that it was the start of wedding season and I couldn't possibly be the only person with a mother who wasn't a size 2 looking for a decent dress to wear for a wedding. The sales associate just started backing away from me like she was scared I might grow another head.

With no other options, we discouragedly headed out of the store. On our way out, the first sales lady we had seen asked us if we had found anything and I explained to her that the only thing that was there wasn't very MOB appropriate. She looked at us semi-empathetically and said, 'I know, as soon as anything comes in it goes right out the door'. Are you kidding me?? The demand is that great and Nordstrom's can't figure out to stock more? Grrrrr...

We looked at many other stores too; Macy's, JC Penney, Boscov's, Bon Ton, Catherine's, Lord and Taylor; you name it, we have been there to look for a MOB dress. They all have the same three dresses. My mom wanted something special, not something she knew would show up as the MOB dress of 2007 in every bride's wedding album.

Obviously, I am not the first bride with this issue; it has been documented so many times by so many brides just on this site alone. So what is the deal? The demand is clearly out there...where is the supply?

With two weeks left until the wedding, I don't have time to leave you all hanging. We did eventually find a gorgeous outfit that my mom loves and that will coincidentally go with the whole feel of our wedding. We finally found it in a store called W.O.W. (Women of Worth) here in the Boston area. The outfit is silk and the top is hand dyed. It was expensive, but it is made of pieces that my mom can, and will, wear again. I am posting it here for two reasons. One, because my mom looks beautiful, comfortable and happy. Secondly, because I think it is important for all of you with mom's out there to see that there are other options out there if you search hard enough.

Happy hunting, kids. And if anyone wants to open up a MOB shop with me, let me know.

The Mother-of-the-Bride Dress/Outfit

The Rehearsal Dinner outfit

The count down is on

This morning I had an appointment with my longtime friend and stylist, Raul, here in Orlando. Although he won't be able to come to the wedding to do my hair, it was so great to see him and get to catch up and to get a final trim before the big day.

You can read more of the story here if you are interested...it is rather lengthy which is why I refrained from posting it on the Bee.

Next up, flying back to Boston tomorrow and meeting up with my mom to tie ribbons on the rest of the programs, finishing making all of the centerpieces and votives, and a my final dress fitting on Saturday.

Just. Can't. Wait.

As you know, I am in Orlando until Thursday for work. Basically, I am sitting at a desk in a freezing lobby of a hotel by Sea World in case one of the 666 FT Audit Campus hires that my firm just hired has an HR question. Thankfully, we haven't had that many fires to put out.

This has provided me with LOTS of time to sit and contemplate how my wedding is only 18 days away!!

18 DAYS!! YAYYYYYYYY!!!

Some people thought I was nuts to go to Orlando with only two weeks left before the big day, but actually it really pushed me into high gear to make sure everything was all set before I left.

Yes, there are things that need to wait until the last minute...seating arrangements, getting our license, having our final vendor meetings and my final dress fitting. But other than that, we could get married tomorrow if we needed to.

I will admit, well before I knew I was headed to FL; way back, 9 months ago when we first got engaged, I made a promise to myself that just like any other event I have planned in my life, I wanted to be done with the planning well ahead of time...and by 'well' I mean a week.

Of course, I never anticipated that with everything done that can be done, I would be so antsy! Which I guess is a good thing.

So are any of you planning on being ready to go early, or am I the only nutty one?

My Bachelorette Par-tay!

Sorry for the length of this, but I couldn't bear to leave anything out...oh...and I wrote this on Saturday morning on the plane to Orlando, but am only posting it now because I just got to an internet connection :)

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I am on my way to Orlando for the week and I would like to personally thank Jet Blue for not only allowing me the pleasure of seeing the ancient video of Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” (anyone know why she points out the B-A-G of the Baggage sign in an airport in that video please feel free to let the rest of us in on the secret) via VH1 Classics this morning, but for giving me access to Engaged and Underage, where a teenage lesbian couple fought their way to the altar much to the chagrin of their parents. Isn’t satellite TV grand?

My second bachelorette party was last night (the first was the JT concert last Friday with my bridesmaid, Lauren) and it was really, really fun. I am greatly suffering the consequences this morning considering how uneasy I feel in my leather seat as we jostle about a mile above the eastern seaboard enroute to Mickey’s Corporate Office aka Orlando where I will be for the next week for work.

The night started out with a yummy cookie and tea ceremony to celebrate my friend Meg’s birthday which is coming up on Sunday. Then we (my friends Sarah, Meg and I) progressed to Kitty O’shea’s, an Irish pub near were we work, for Blue Moons with lemon wedges, buffalo chicken tenders with blue cheese and ‘Nacho average Nacho’s’. Another friend, Suzi, showed up shortly thereafter with my first wardrobe change of the evening, a sweet baby-blue T-shirt with the word B-R-I-D-E emblazoned on it with glitter paint. (I have since been warned I probably shouldn’t wash the shirt, as the glitter paint is actually washable glitter glue).

Our next stop was Silvertone’s, a fun, garden-floor restaurant near Downtown Crossing with a retro-hip vibe and the best Macaroni and Cheese this side of the Milky Way. Seriously people, it’s made with three different cheeses and served in its own individual crock so you get all the crunchy bits along the edges and then topped with salty bread crumbs. All four of us ordered up the Mac and Cheese causing the table of skinny girls sitting next to us to cautiously ask the waiter ‘Is the mac & cheese THAT good that their whole table ordered it?’ To which he responded, ‘yes’ causing the skinny girls to order one plate and some fish to nibble on.

The wait staff at Silvertone’s has never really been known for being friendly or particularly helpful, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that when I asked our waiter if he was were to choose between the Raspberry Vodka Cosmo or the other Raspberry Vodka drink he bluntly replied, ‘neither, I drink Bourbon.’ Uh, thanks buddy. Sadly, I went against my gut feeling and got a Moody something-or-other that was extraordinarily strong and gross. But since it was my bachelorette party, I thought it was important to drink it all up, a task that was much easier once I poured 1/3 of my glass of water into the drink. It was at this stop that Suzi pulled out the second wardrobe change of the evening that required me to put on a tiara and plastic bejeweled earrings.

None of us could finish our mac and cheese, having stuffed ourselves with cookies and appetizers earlier in the evening, so we got to-go boxes and headed out. We walked off some of our meal on our way to our third and final destination: the Four Seasons dessert buffet, by strolling through the Public Garden (where I received my third wardrobe addition, a molting, white feather boa) and then stopping and window shopping at Perla. We were just commenting on how ridiculously expensive everything was when a seemingly normal business man came up to us and told us a story of how he was going to get underwear for his girlfriend and when they wanted to charge him $625, he asked them politely to hold them for him to come back, which he never did. A weird encounter, for sure, but a nice diversion on the way to the desserts.

Now, the last time I went to the dessert buffet at the Four Seasons I had just started a very intense weight loss program that was through a study with a hospital, so I had to resign myself to a small cup of sorbet. THIS time I was prepared to eat everything in sight. First thing is first. The bread pudding is TO. DIE. FOR. I don’t even normally LIKE bread pudding, but this stuff must be what they feed you on your first day in heaven. It is light and chocolaty and served with a warm cream sauce and makes you want to live at the Four Seasons and have a puppy.

Other fun delights: chocolate covered strawberries (of course), a crepe bar, cheese cake bites, fruit tarts, ice cream with toppings, chocolaty brownie things, mini-mini-cupcakes with what looked like a scoop of sorbet as big as the cupcake on top of them that turned out to just be frosting, and many lovely, lovely dessert drinks.

Shortly after arriving at the Four Seasons, we were joined by a few other friends; Meredith and Christina as well as her cousin who was visiting. Sadly, my Silvertone’s drink experience was starting to affect me and I only got through two plates of dessert and a quarter of my coffee with Bailey’s. The girls ordered a bottle of sparkling wine and I was only able to have a sip of my glass out of fear for my health, but thankfully, I held it together.

All in all, despite my collegiate, inexperienced drinking faux-pas, I had an amazing time. I am so grateful to my friends for hosting this event. It is an experience that I wasn’t too sure I was ever going to get, so I am incredibly thankful. More, I am thankful that I have such great friends who know me well enough to know my inner ham enough to realize that all I needed was a feather boa and some plastic jewels to make me feel like a bride.