Housekeeping!

I wanted to make a few housekeeping notes about the site. For one, I really shouldn’t be allowed to touch it but when I got the new pictures I got REALLY excited about adding them to the site and thus screwed a few things up. Like for instance, my bio is now gone. It has gone away without leave and it didn’t tell me where it went. I now have to go back through my e-mail and find it and/or re-write it. So sorry. Also, you may have noticed that the guest counter went back to zero. That would be my fault as well, since I was so pumped about getting the new pic up on the home page that I accidentally got rid of our super fabulous over 1100 visitor counter. Boo. Basically anything that is screwy about the site you can just chalk it up to my incompetence. You can also e-mail us at thegishwedding@gmail.com and tell me about any errors or problems that still exist with the site. I’d really appreciate it, that way I can fix them. Because as much as I like stalking myself and pretending I’m seeing the site for the first time (you don’t do that?) I still might miss something!

In other news, Joey’s bachelor party is THIS WEEKEND!!!! Neither of us have any clue where he is going/what he is doing. So expect a post about that as soon as I know and another post as soon as he’s home safe. Check out the “Events” section for photos because I’ve put one of his pals up to the task of ensuring there is at least ONE picture taken for the website.

I think that’s it for now. 45 dayssss!!!

Love,
Sarah

Tea Party!

After another long weekend- where by the way, we passed the 50 day mark!!!- I finally have some time to write about my Bridal Tea which took place on August 14th in Pennsylvania. It was hosted by a family that has been in my life since before the womb- my parents’ very close friends, the Vesseys.

The Tea Party theme was something I picked out when I was 7 years old. No, really! My 8th Birthday Party was a Tea Party and all my friends brought their dolls and we drank tea catered by A Taste of Britain and we dressed our dolls in outfits matching our own. Fast forward to my engagement… I always thought a tea party bridal shower would be so fun! So I mentioned this to my Mom. And here we are!

The invitation said that hats and gloves were optional… but not for me! I completed my entire outfit almost a month beforehand and even modeled it for bridesmaid Kendayl who swore she was going to steal my dress (you can borrow it Kens!). Here I am with my Mom, who is wearing a “Mother of the Bride” hat with a peacock feather stuck in it, courtesy of my Aunt Patti… AKA The Queen of Hearts….

The color theme for this shower was matching our wedding colors… so, if you haven’t picked up on this already- purple with a splash of orange. My Mom also incorporated the color of her dress into the nametags. It was small and probably can’t be seen from this photo… oh well, another surprise!

Another cool thing about the way this shower was done is that there was a lot of family history hidden around the house. For example, my Mom wore the necklace she was given as a member of my Great Aunt’s wedding party when she was 9 years old. She also found a towel cake that my late Great Grandmom Helen had made for my Mom’s bridal shower! How COOL?!!?

Finally, around the dessert table (which included the cake made by my lovely sister and MOH Laura) were two marriage certificates. One was my Grandmother’s parents from the 1920’s, and one was THEIR parents’, from the 1900s. Awesome. (And totally more beautiful than the ugly blue and white one that Joey and I just got…)

Here is an up close and personal picture of the gorgeous cake. Laura worked really hard on it (there was A LOT of cake in the kitchen when we arrived…) and it came out great!

The tea party was a huge success and I was so lucky to have been blessed with so many friends, family, and gifts. The last thing that I will leave you with is that if you’ve ever seen Alice in Wonderland, you know that you can’t have a tea party without…..

The White Rabbit, Alice, and The Queen of Hearts…

Only 48 days to go!! Things are getting very crazy so I apologize in advance if I’m not able to get updates out as soon as I want to!

Love,
Sarah

Wacky Weekend

OK I realize I have been severely slacking on the blogs. Life has been a little nuts lately and last weekend was wedding-central, like it is every time we go up to PA for a weekend. Since all of our vendors are there, we have to do all our appointments on the weekends when we are at home… this leads to some extremely busy weekends!

First things first. Our photos came back from our wedding photographers, John and Kimberly Sanderson. They did an amazing job and you can see some of their work around the site, and on the newest photo album tab. We have received so many compliments on the pictures but really the credit goes to the photographers themselves. I cannot wait to see our wedding pictures!

So last weekend. Um.. where do I start. I guess I’ll start at 10:30pm on Thursday when Joey got off work and we packed Doc into the suburban and headed out of town. Fast forward 3.5 hours to find me driving the suburban, Doc lucky to be alive, and Joey eating a Wawa hoagie. That’s how our weekend started.

Friday morning we woke up bright and early, and left Doc with my Mom while we went to get our MARRIAGE LICENSE! Wooohoo! It’s so funny how you learn things about someone you thought you already knew… like that time he announced he plays golf. Or that time when we went to get our marriage license and he knew EVERYTHING about what you can/can’t take into the courthouse. Um.. is there something you aren’t telling me? Anyway, the marriage license process was easy and fun. Yes, fun. We giggled when they asked us if we were related or if we were insane. Mature? Not us! After about 5 minutes we walked out there with this little piece of paper that once signed, binds us for life!

After returning to our illegally parked car, we headed off to Exton to meet with our pastry chef who is designing the cake for our wedding. We tasted 5 different flavors of cake and mousse icing, and they were all delicious. I think we are going to go with the raspberry mousse… trust me it’s delicious.

We also discussed the design/look of the cake. That, my friends, will have to be a surprise!

It was only lunch time, but we had already gotten so much done! We went back to my parents where Joey got to relax and hang out with Doc and Dakota for the rest of the day. Laura (my sis and MOH) and I had to get back into the car and go to my very first DRESS FITTING!!!!! Maria, the woman who is doing my alterations, is so wonderful. Bridesmaid Steph recommended her to me (Thank you!). My dress actually fit really well! Other than the bustle and a little in on the bust area (yes, IN), I didn’t need any other alterations. It was really fun to finally be able to put on the dress I’m going to be wearing on my wedding day!

After the dress fitting, it was time to relax and have fun. My Mom and Laura went to the Vessey’s to prepare for my AMAZING Tea Party and Joey and I decided to meet up with my brother, Alex and his girlfriend, Corinne, at the local bowling alley.

Craziness ensued.

Saturday I was treated to the most lovely tea party and bridal shower by my Pennsylvania friends and family. It is really hard having two families in two very different states, and the only option to allow relatives that can’t travel was to have two. It was really lovely, and I’m going to do a separate post about it so I can share lots of pictures.

Joey’s Mom came up for the shower on Saturday (so nice of her!) and she drove Joey back home afterwards. So I was stuck with our naughty child for the rest of the weekend. On Sunday my cousin, Jaime, and I went to meet with our DJs and we had a great visit. I know our party is going to be so much fun!! With a few surprises, naturally. After the meeting was over, we packed up the suburban, I clipped Doc into his carseat (calm down, it’s a harness with a loop for the seatbelt), and we headed back to VA in the pouring rain and terrible traffic.

Whew. After lugging all our loot up the stairs into our apartment, it was starting to look like we had just moved in. We got so many wonderful gifts and I am so thankful for each and every one! Now to unpack them……

52 <- almost to 50! Days to go!
Love, Sarah

2 MONTHS TO GO!

I remember when I wrote my 6 month update… now we’re down to 2 and I feel ready…. Sort of.

Most everything is planned, now I just need to execute. There are only a few little details left to be done. This weekend, I’m heading up to PA to attend my Bridal Tea… SO EXCITED ABOUT THAT. Stay tuned for pictures on both my Blog and Events tab! I am also having my first dress fitting, cake tasting, and meeting with the DJ. OH and we’re getting this little unimportant thing called a MARRIAGE LICENSE. There really is no turning back! ;)

What else is left to do? Well, we need to finish our arts and crafts, the wedding program, order the favors, wrap our gifts, make all our final payments (ugh), and enjoy our last 2 months as single people! Joey’s bachelor party is at the end of this month (no clue where they are going so don’t even ask) and my bachelorette is at the beginning of September at the beach. From then on, I’m sure it will be a whirlwind of weddingness that won’t stop until October 11th!

I am so excited to become Sarah Gish… in 2 months exactly from today!!!

Love,
Sarah

Me vs. The Mail

Just wanted to announce really quick that I mailed the invitations this morning, so there is no turning back now!!! Bridesmaid Kendayl helped me address the envelopes last week, and over the weekend I stuffed, stamped, and sealed all of them and brought a humongous brown shopping bag full into the post office this morning. Crystal City post office… probably not my #1 fan today.

Anyhoo that’s all I have to say for now. I’ll be back tomorrow with our 2 MONTH update! (OMG!)

62 days to go!
Love,
Sarah

Survey Says...

-How long did you date before you got engaged?
About 2.5 years.

-Did you get the ring you wanted?
Yes, we picked it out together.

-Was the proposal a complete surprise?
I knew it was coming but did NOT see it coming that weekend at all. Especially when I thought he was at work all day!

-Do you wish you had a bigger/smaller diamond? If so How big or small?
Nope, my diamond is perfect <3

-Did you cry when he proposed?
No, I was way too shocked to cry!

-Was the proposal romantic or creative?
It was short and sweet. Perfect for the two of us. I told him I’d kill him if he proposed to me in front of other people or on the jumbotron at a large sporting event…

-Where do you want to go for your honeymoon?
We wanted to go to Disney World, but since we’ve been there *ahem* a few times already we decided to go for a loooong cruise!

-Are you buying his wedding band for him?
We bought our wedding bands together.

-Have you gone over your original wedding budget?
Earmuffs, Mom! -Most definitely.

-What day of the year will your wedding be?
Sunday October 10, 2010

-What kind of weather?
Perfect fall weather- high 60s/low 70s and sunny! PRAY FOR SUN!!!

-Inside or outside?
Outside :-)

-Church/justice of the peace/other?
Presbyterian

-How many people will be there?
150-ish

-Time of day?
4pm

-Any kind of theme?
Purple. With a splash of Orange. And splash of Disney… ;)

-How many bridesmaids? Who would they be?
6
My sister (MOH)
Steph (Highschool BFF)
Kendayl (College Pal)
Shirin (College Pal)
Amanda (College Pal)
Gage (Post College Pal)

-What kind of cake/what will it look like?
Not sure yet…. Round, lots of tiers, maybe fondant, maybe not!

-Where will you have the reception?
The hotel where the ceremony is taking place.

-What kind of dress will you have/color/material?
My fiancé could be reading this… you can never be too sure!

-What kind of flowers in your bouquet?
White ones.

-Kind of engagement ring?
white gold tiffany band with solitaire diamond

-Kind of wedding bands?
white gold, mine has diamonds, Joey’s does not.

-How will you wear your hair?
Out of my face... I've got some dancing to do!

-Who will be important to be there?
Our family and some friends. Wish we could invite EVERYBODY!

-Will the reception be big or small?
Big-ish. More like medium size.

-What will the groom wear?
Tuxedo

-How long on Honeymoon?
12 days :-P

-What will you do?
Cruise, relax, consume adult beverages, etc.

-Will it be modest or costly?
We splurged a bit….

-How old will you and the groom be?
I will be 26 and he’ll be 25. I like ‘em young!

-How long will you be engaged before you get married?
10 months

-Live together before or wait till married?
Live together

-Take a long time to plan the wedding or will it be simple?
I’m having a BLAST!!!!

-Will you do it yourself or with family or hire someone to plan the wedding?
Planning myself but taking lots of advice!

-Will you write your own vows or use something pre-made?
Pre-made.

The end.

67 Days to go!
Love,
Sarah

Love in Bloom

Oh my goodness… it’s AUGUST! The wedding is 2 months and 8 days away and things are slowly coming together! On Saturday, my beautiful bridesmaids and Mother-in-law to be threw the most gorgeous, classy bridal shower for me and my Virginia friends and soon-to-be relatives. (All the pictures are borrowed from my Mom.) I received SO many thoughtful and generous gifts. Joey and I are so very lucky to have such wonderful friends and family!

The theme was “Love in Bloom” and there were flowers EVERYWHERE. It was so gorgeous.

I even got my own parking spot!

Bridesmaid Gage made the cake!

There was tons of food!

THANK YOU GIRLS FOR A WONDERFUL SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who was able to come to help celebrate!!!

69 days to go!
Love,
Sarah

Sweet Like Honey

I realize it has been a little while since my last update, however due to some important life events like my 26th birthday and a weeklong trip to San Francisco (for work, people!) I have been away from my desk.

Today’s post is about our HONEYMOON! Since we just put down our final payment and we are officially going, I figured I’d spend some time raving about how awesome it’s going to be and what my worries are-cause it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t worry about SOMETHING.

As you probably know from reading our website, we’re leaving the morning after our wedding (ok, not such a smart move) for the airport and flying to San Juan, PR to embark on an 11 night cruise around the Caribbean. Clearly I’ll be packing my pirate stuff.

For the next 2 weeks (almost) we’ll be gallivanting around 8 ports of call, 2 days at sea, and drinking rum punch until we forget that we just signed our lives away to each other. <-joke. Unless Mother Nature decides it’s not meant to be that way.

*Cue music: Dun dun dunnnnn*

October, as you may already know, is smack dab in the middle of Atlantic Hurricane Season. Is our honeymoon going to get ruined by a hurricane? So far, those who I’ve brought this up to have assured me that the boat will cruise around the storm, but what if this is the MOTHER of them all? What if we can’t even take off? What if our flight is awful and I die of anxiety? Good thing I bought the trip insurance option and have a plethora of sleep aids in my medicine cabinet….

On to the excursions. We started checking out the looooong brochure last night. There are so many different things to do! We could swim with sea turtles, dolphins, or shipwrecks. We could check out scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (what? We’ve already signed up for that? Duh!). We could play with monkeys or kayak down insane jungle rapids! So many decisions to make, and less than 11 weeks to make them in!

Please share any words of cruise wisdom that you might have! Email us at thegishwedding@gmail.com and tell us your favorite port of call, excursion, cruise advice, or anything else you may want us to know before embarking on this long trip together!

75 Days to go!
Love, Sarah

PS: I just noticed that sometime in the last week we had our 1000th visitor! Thanks for checking out our site and following along in my crazy wedding planning adventures! Look out for a website re-vamp soon with new engagement photos, and don’t forget to stay tuned after the wedding for a lifetime of Gishtasticness.

Less Than 3 Months!

The T-3 month mark happened on Saturday, which was a crazy, long wedding-filled day and I had zero time to blog or even think about blogging. This weekend was extremely successful and we got a lot done! So without futher ado…

Friday I worked a half day, and Joey, Doc and I packed up the car and headed to Paoli a little after lunchtime. We left Doc with my parents, and headed out to Strasburg, PA to meet with our wonderful wedding photographers! Included in our wedding day package is a “Getting to Know You” photo session, so of course we took full advantage of this! We had an awesome time. I can’t wait to see the pictures, and of course, I will update the site with some summer shots since it’s a little wintery at the moment! We went to two locations- a gorgeous wildflower trail and (a blast from my past) Strasburg Rail Road. I spent so much time here as a kid, it was really freakin’ cool to take photos there with my husband-to-be.

After our amazing photo session, Joey and Doc headed back to VA for a manly weekend together. I got some things together for Saturday and hit the hay! Saturday morning came very early! My Mom and I got all ready and headed out to Florist #1 bright and early. We finalized all of the reception flowers (centerpieces, cake, etc.). I’m so glad I can check that off my list! Then it was time to get in the car for a surprise bridal shower….. but not for me! One of my childhood best friends, or I guess she could be referred to as family, is getting married the weekend before me!

Congratulations Christy!!
Me, Becky (MOH), Christy (Bride), and Kim (this is her picture)

I enjoyed the Parisian theme, remnants of Disney stuff, and spent way too much time at the chocolate fountain. It was a blast! Before too long, it was time for me to get going. I had a hair and makeup trial to attend. I left my Mom at the shower (she’d find a ride, right?) and headed off to the salon for the most exciting part of the weekend. I’ve heard horror stories about trials before, so I was a little nervous. But everything went great. I was so pleased with how everything looked and I know it will come together perfectly on October 10th! Sorry, no pictures due to a very sneaky groom!!!

The last thing we did on Saturday was finalize the invitations. I was exhausted by the time I got home but I knew if we didn’t make the final decision, we were going to be way behind. So the invitations have been decided upon (and will go out in about a month)! PHEW!

Sunday morning I met with Florist #2 (and got to hang out with bridesmaid Steph!!) and finalized all of my personal flowers and the ceremony flowers. It is going to be so beautiful I can hardly wait!!!!

Then it was off to a train to Virginia. What a crazy but successful weekend. 90 days from today I’ll be getting all ready to go! There’s so much to do and I am ready to do it! Stay tuned for more updates because now things are really going to get crazy!!!!!

Love,
Sarah

100 Days to Go!

Oh Goodness! After today, we’re in the double digits! Wedding plans are coming along swimmingly <-for you, Gage. The entire month of July is completely booked with wedding things. We’re having our first photography session, hair and makeup trial (me, not Joey), meeting with our Officiant, meeting with BOTH florists, making arts and crafts, AND not to mention that my birthday is July 18th and I ALSO just got an invitation to my bridal shower at the end of the month! It’s going to be a crazy one, that’s for sure. We were also supposed to have our cake tasting which I was moy excited about, but they just called and asked to reschedule so I’m slightly bummed. I guess this gives me another month to work on my “wedding diet”… Right.

In other news, I’m preparing for another season with the Capitals as coach of their cheer squad, the Red Rockers. So if you know any pretty ladies in the DC area who love hockey and can do a little dance, send ‘em my way!

Recently I’ve been in love with ordering things online. Currently, I’m waiting for our personalized Thank You Notes and a little somethin’ somethin’ for my bridesmaids ;) OH and I almost forgot, some American Flag running shorts for the Autism Speaks 5k on the 4th of July. Now that’s American!

Other than making appointments and ordering non-necessary wedding things from the internets, life has been pretty relaxing. It’s been nice not to have to rush off to the Caps game after work and to be able to come home and hang out with Doc. We’ve also recently upgraded our entire home theater system, thanks to this cute guy I know. So life is good at the Soon-to-be Gishes. Hope all’s well in your neck of the woods too!

I’ll be back a little bit after our 3 month mark, since it happens to fall in the middle of a JAM packed wedding weekend!

Love,
Sarah