Well, I bought my dress! I bought it online at David's Bridal.com. You can search for style #BR1037 at http://www.davidsbridal.com/ if you really want to see what it looks like ahead of time. It should arrive at our place anytime between tomorrow and Friday. UPS says tomorrow, David's Bridal says Friday. I hope it's tomorrow! Thursday I go to the local DB store to purchase the accessories (lingerie, "Just Married" flip flops, you know, the basics) and score some discounts for my bridesmaids.

We FINALLY are making decisions on when and where this wedding thing is supposed to happen. I found out that while the City of Hollywood requires that you submit a permit accompanied by a $265 check in order to set up chairs, an arch and a runway, the City of Ft. Lauderdale (which has a MUCH prettier beach, by the way) let's you set all that up without submitting a permit which means FOR FREE. I love "FREE." It is first come first serve, however, and while the City says you can't block off an area of the beach from the general public, there's nothing wrong with setting up early!

In addition, I scored a low area room rate of $75/night at the Ft. Lauderdale Marriott North. They may host the reception as well, depending on whether or not Mario and I can afford their offers. Another option is a city community center (whether Hollywood or Ft. Lauderdale, along their beaches).

As soon as we have the reception venue secured, I can send invitations, but I should figure out the transportation for those guests that will be staying at the hotel and needing to commute to the beach. There's the Sun Trolley in Ft. Lauderdale for rent, but I haven't gotten pricing information yet.

Can I just say that sticking to budget is a bit difficult?

My goal is to have the important things (when and where we're getting married and celebrating; invitations to out-of-town guests sent out) accomplished by the end of this month.

The rest will be a piece of cake.

Getting Excited, But Way Behind!

Well we did some wedding planning/researching today. I guess 6 months isn't normally very much time to plan a wedding. I haven't completely settled on the dress I want to wear. I know what style: strapless/super-thin strap tea-length dress with empire waist, white preferred. But when we went into David's Bridal today I asked to see the tea-length dresses they have in stock, and there were only 2 ivory ones. So those are possibilities. When we went into Men's Warehouse/Tux, the girl helping Mario register was shocked that I hadn't picked my dress yet ("Will your dress be white or ivory? I need to know because if it's white and his shirt is ivory, he'll look dirty; if it's ivory and his shirt is white, you'll look dirty."), but honestly I was laid-back about it.
I don't get what the big deal is. Part of me says "Yeesh, it's about the vows, not the hype"; we are professing our commitment to love each other the rest of our lives in front of all our closest friends and family in order to invite them into our commitment to help keep us strong and to share in our love. That's what this is all about; so why does it matter that I don't have my dress picked out yet when we still have 7 months to go?
...And another part of me is the clammy little girl inside having a panic attack with visions of color-coordinating disaster plaguing her mind. Everything I ever hated about other couple's weddings comes back to me now when I'm planning my own. I have encountered more than one wedding which left me with the following opinions: "Wow, this is really tacky: the flowers are all fake, the dresses are all tulle and taffeta, and the meal is finger foods - at 7 o'clock at night! And I drove 4 hours to get to this wedding while the bride and groom never made arrangements for me to at least stay at a wallet-friendly hotel."
Now there's this third lobe of my brain that says "A classy wedding is wonderful for guests, but remember that you have to pay for all these things - certainly not the guests! - so tacky may have to be the standard you're willing to live with!"
Appropriately so, my reasonable and diplomatic self usually steps in about this time and says "We should find a balance of all three of these elements to pull off the perfect wedding - and the Perfect Wedding is perfectly possible. What makes it Perfect with a capital P is the seriousness and romanticism of an affordable, yet comfortable and inviting wedding ceremony and reception."
Perhaps after a successfull experience, I should be a professional!

...Oh, and, Note to Self: Don't underestimate the general unhelpfulness of people in the wedding industry who are forced to work on national holidays.