The To-Do List

Yeah, I can't promise that there will be another post between now and the wedding. I can't BELIEVE how much STUFF there is to do!

Here's (most of) the list that I started working on Friday afternoon:

Done
Talk with Allie and Mom about cake details, send one of them to the bakery
Confirm final details for cake topper, send payment for balance
See invitation lady to order personalized thank-you notes
Write thank-you notes. Lots and lots and lots of thank-you notes
Attend final dress fitting
Arrange gym membership so that I have a snowball's chance of being able to breathe in my wedding dress
Book flight to Charleston
Look into changing name on licence, passport, social security card, bank account, and obtaining marriage license
Confirm Bridesmaids' sizes
Call church to confirm policy on wedding banns, arrange "interview" with monsignor
Disassemble desk- move to garage to be picked up by buyer
Update spreadsheet with responses and gifts received
Find pashminas for the bridesmaids' in case it's freezing that weekend
Select bridesmaids' shoes
Gifts for people throwing parties

In Progress
Design program cover
Write personal note for program
Format sheet music for program
Program layout (confirm with priest and music director)
Cards of what people seated together have in common (to facilitate conversation)
Find gifts for the brothers playing the violin during the ceremony
Assemble last bit of bridesmaids’ gifts
Engraving for Greg's wedding band
Pack for move
Figure out where to put all the stuff that used to be in my giant desk
Write more thank-you notes
Call dress designer to get J.J.'s dress fixed
Find a wedding gift for Greg
Decide on instrument voicing for processional
Find out when bridesmaids are arriving for shower and wedding
Compile page of "head shots" so that photographer knows who key players are

Not Started Yet
Send list of song preferences to band
Meet (again) with florist to revise details
Design menu card to have on tables
Choose a song to dance with my Dad to
E-mail priest to confirm that he's available for the rehearsal
Select paper and ink color for ceremony program
Wedding cake shaped cookies or cupcakes for choir
Find a harmony for Eternal Father (Navy hymn)
Send letter to Yacht Club to change my membership status to "non resident"
Find out who wrote the hymns we're using for program
Take preliminary location shots at yacht club to send to photographer


Believe it or not, I'm sure there's lots missing- some that I've done, some that other people have helped with, and some that I just haven't thought of yet.

But I love the craziness- I hate being bored, and this stuff is (mostly) fun!

There's so much going on! Work is NUTS with a capital NUTS, but I'm leaving in less than three weeks, which makes things more bearable. My shower is on Saturday, and I know my bridesmaids have planned a fun night out afterward. My last Juilliard concert is on the 16th, and Josh, Courtney and Tyler are coming out to the burbs for one last Sunday night orphan dinner that weekend. After that it's full speed ahead on packing, because I fly down to Charleston the following Tuesday afternoon!

Greg and I will drive up from SC that weekend, then put most of our collective stuff into storage before moving into the Susse Chalet (more on that in a minute.) The following weekend is Easter, and I'll sing five masses. That brings us right to the wedding, ladies and gents, and there you have it! Crazy busy nuts, but I love it!!!

So, I guess I actually have a big update: Greg's training schedule has changed, and so has our agenda for the next 10 months or so.

Long story short(er), we will be going to Groton, CT for about 10 weeks after the wedding. This was originally supposed to follow six months in Ballston Spa, NY (Saratoga Springs), but the order of the two has switched. (I'll spare you the long details, but we're very happy about this!!!)

So, the plan now is as follows:
-Wedding on April 14th
-Week off (to be spent someplace in New England- undecided as yet)
-Greg goes to SOBC (Submarine Officer's Basic Course) April 23rd
-We spend roughly 10 weeks in Groton: Greg works business hours, has weekends off. We'll be living in the Susse Chalet on base- essentially a low-end Best Western from what I hear, but without breakfast. Not our choice- it's cool.
-After SOBC, Greg has all but two days of July off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yes, you read right. That may not seem like much in the civillian world, but he hasn't had that much time off since high school!!)
-We'll leave on our HONEYMOON on July 9th. To say I'm excited is a dramatic understatement. Greg and his Mom have put together an AMAZING trip that I only know a very little about, but it includes Paris and Bastille Day fireworks over the Eiffel Tower. I know a little (but not much) more about the plan, but I will fill "my readers" in on it another night. (I'm HUGELY excited, but I don't want to spoil the surprise!) What I do know is that this trip is an amazing wedding gift from Teresa and Hap, and I can't thank them enough!!
-After the honeymoon, we'll have about a week left in July to move into our first "real place" (read: not a hotel) in Saratoga Springs. That's when reality will set in a bit- Greg will be working rediculous hours and have minimal free time, but at least with this scheduling change we now know that we'll be able to attend Courtney and Tyler's wedding in August and Matt and Emily's wedding in September.
-Since we'll be upstate for an entire academic semester, I'm hoping to get involved with a choir or two and maybe a theatre group. If I play my cards right, I might even be able to sing in Oratorio Society at Hamilton! Hooraaaaaaaaay for singing with Rob again!!!
-Greg will finish school in Saratoga on January 11th. This is great, because it means that we won't have to move across the country over the holidays (we were nervous about that with the old schedule.) The potential down side is that there's a chance Greg may have to stand watch on Thanksgiving and/or Christmas. But we'll survive.
-After Saratoga, it's off and across the country for Lizzie and Greg. Plans currently include either San Diego or Pearl Harbor (if we can) and a puppy (eventually.) Hooray!!

I guess that's about it for now. Well, there's probably lots more, but it's one in the morning and I've already used enough exclamation points in this post!!

Hope all is well with everyone out there. Please drop me a post to calm me down a bit (but not too much- I'm enjoying this!), and then check back in a few weeks. I'll try to manage a post before the wedding... maybe with some pics from the shower... we'll see how the "to-do list" goes!