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