getting lost in stupid stuff

[audball]

Sorry about the nails!
Hopefully you'll hear back from the lady and she can take care of them for you!

Do you have any friends to give suggestions of another good place to go if you need to? I even started asking random people who work at grocery stores and doctor offices! People love a good compliment (Your nails are always so beautiful!) and are often happy to tell you where they go.

My hair/makeup lady wrote back. She'd be happy to do them for me, but it would be pretty early on our wedding day and I was looking forward to having the quiet alone time with FI before the hoopla gets started.

She did say that it's not possible to add a false tip with Shellac because of strength and durability. It could be done, but she wouldn't expect it to last more than a few days. She recommended I look into getting a gel manicure as opposed to a gel polish (Shellac, Gelish brands...) manicure because they'll be able to add the length on my one broken nail.

I called the salon I had an appointment for on Monday and cancelled because they won't add length regardless of manicure type.

I'm going to try a place a I used to go to later today and see if I can get the gel manicure done there. I'll find somewhere local for a pedicure on Monday since I've got all day long.

I don't have anyone I know in person that gets regular manicures done so I have nobody to ask! At least I have my hair/makeup lady to fall back on the morning of the wedding if I can't make anything else work, but I really want to keep that quiet time to just me and FI if I can help it.

 

[audball]

Sorry for the vent!
I'm just super frustrated and lonely right now.

Aww, big hugs TP! It's got to be hard on you. I know it's hard on "A" as well. I'm glad that you were able to point out to your DH what was going on and that he agrees it isn't okay. Teenagers are a pain...hopefully with more time and stability she'll realize the family you all are. I hope you're feeling better today!

 

[madelise]

How do I stop being miserable? One of SO's biggest problems with me is that I always compare myself to others. It's the way I was raised. My family always raised me to compare myself to people who are better or have better. And guess what? I'm 25 years old and still comparing. I'm never as smart as someone else, as pretty as someone else, or have good enough stuff as someone else. It drives him crazy, and of course it hurts me cus it really kills my self-esteem.

This is affecting every part of me. My school work… and now this, the wedding planning.

On Friday, SO went with his parents and his brother to go check out a venue for his brother's wedding… the one that's going to be coming up this March for a girl he has not even proposed to yet. Of course I was nosey, so I googled the address to find the location.. and it's beautiful. Grand. Very luxurious.

Just one week ago, I went to check out a venue with SO and my friend/planner. I fell in love. It's more beautiful than I can ask for, and is within our budget. Of course, I'd love to go even lower because that will make sure everything else (photography, videography, florals, photo booth, etc) are also within budget. It's beautiful, but it's not grand or luxurious. I have this sadness inside of me now.

I loved my proposal. It was so sweet, and he really caught me off guard, which is not an easy task. And I have the whole event forever in pictures. It was at one of the most beautiful places in Southern CA. It was beautiful, and it was awkward-- very us. And really, that's all I wanted. Us! To be engaged! To know that all our talk about the future is real and not just some dreams we come up with that are leading me on…

And now I'm helping his brother with his proposal to a girl I've never met… helped him with the ring.. and gave suggestions for the proposal. He shot down my idea to tell me he wants something more "grand". He's going VIP. You know-- the stuff you see on YouTube. I don't even want anything like that, but I still feel sadness..

The last blow was our engagement celebration stuff. His mother was out of country for almost a month, so we had to wait for her to come back to plan a family dinner (with my family). She refused to set a date before she left the country, saying she was too "busy" to figure it out. How busy can you be that you can't look at your calendar? So my family waited in limbo for that whole time, and even after she came back, it took a few days. So we set a day for our family dinner. Finally. We're doing a low-key family dinner at a Chinese vegetarian restaurant that is the furthest thing from "nice". My grandmother suggested dressing up the place with two centerpieces, so I'm ordering that. Whatever. And then I was able to pick the night before for our friends' engagement dinner. I personally contacted about 20 people to tell them the plans and to finalize it, including FBIL. Oh. No. FBIL tells me that night is his engagement dinner, so he can't make ours. What the f*ck? You think I would have heard of it. So I'm pissed off like crazy, contacting everyone all over again to switch it to this upcoming Saturday night, which is actually a horrible day for me since I still have midterms this week and next!

But FBIL's engagement party is going to be "grand". He hasn't even proposed. And the very next night, our families are just going to some dinky little Chinese restaurant to have an engagement celebration. That's all. If our dinner was before his, I don't think I'd mind as much… but literally the next day?! And worst is, I asked him if I am supposed to go to that, and his response is "I don't know". What the f?!

I'm in tears over this whole thing. I want to cancel it altogether, but I've already contacted so many people. Twice.

I keep trying to be rational, and am telling myself that I'm being frugal financially because I am not working anymore, and graduate school is tying up finances.. something that is good for our future, and something that I should be proud of. But then the stupid comparing little girl in me goes, "why don't I deserve a big fancy engagement party?"

I really feel like the FILs just don't care about us. We got engaged, and his mother told me to keep it a secret because FBIL wants to propose. And now this. All this grand grand stuff for them, and I'm in the backseat. FI doesn't care, obviously.

I just wish I don't care. I just don't know how to not care. And FI is being driven up the wall because he thinks my whole comparing personality is the worst feature of me. Ughhhhhhhhhh. Here I am, Miss Madelise, getting caught up in the stupid stuff..

 

[TooPatient]

Madelise -- I'm sorry! Your bil and mil sound awful!
I know it is much easier said than done, but don't stress about them. Your proposal was YOU. Your venue is beautiful and perfect for YOU. I've spent my life having people compare me to others and compare what we had (or more often didn't) to others. It is super hard to get past that. I'll share the secret with you.... once I figure it out!

The best I've been able to do is remember that it is about DH and Me. It doesn't matter if it is too fancy for some or not fancy enough for others or anything else. That doesn't mean that I didn't ever stop and cry because I wanted more or different. It just means that I took time every time something was getting to me to sit down and go over how US everything was turning out to be. Sort of like the old saying of counting your blessings. Forcing myself to list out all the good helped.

Are you able to back away from helping your BIL with his plans? You've got so much to do with school and your own wedding that it doesn't seem unreasonable to just say "Oh! I'd love to help but have exams I have to study for. Maybe next time!"
Maybe not having his plans in front of you so much will let you focus on what is perfect for YOU without something right there to feel like you have to compare against.


Big hugs!
(oh... and come vent/cry here all you need. I think that helped keep DH from going crazy while I went crazy planning!)

 

[madelise]

Thank you so much TP, you're the sweetest. The upset and crying comes and goes. This morning when I posted, I was upset. Now I'm back on a high of the roller coaster, and I'm not caring. I know I'll be upset again at another time. I'm done with helping BIL with his plans. The ring was pretty much the only thing I helped with much. Other things are more just conversational. Not offering to help doesn't mean that I A) am not still nosey and B) won't end up hearing about it all anyway.

I'm just scared I'll burst into tears at my own family engagement dinner.

And then I laugh cus I'm so emotional even when I'm not pregnant. I can't imagine how sensitive I'll be when I am. Oh boy.

 

[TooPatient]

Thank you so much TP, you're the sweetest. The upset and crying comes and goes. This morning when I posted, I was upset. Now I'm back on a high of the roller coaster, and I'm not caring. I know I'll be upset again at another time. I'm done with helping BIL with his plans. The ring was pretty much the only thing I helped with much. Other things are more just conversational. Not offering to help doesn't mean that I A) am not still nosey and B) won't end up hearing about it all anyway.

I'm just scared I'll burst into tears at my own family engagement dinner.

And then I laugh cus I'm so emotional even when I'm not pregnant. I can't imagine how sensitive I'll be when I am. Oh boy.

Wedding planning is so emotional! I don't know how anyone can (or if anyone can!) plan a wedding without crying at least a bit.

I'm glad you're feeling a bit better.

Don't worry too much about crying at your engagement dinner. I was horrified I'd burst into tears at our wedding or the dinner after. When I thought about it, that didn't sound too horrible -- a bride crying at her own ceremony or reception is usually seen as happy so no one but me would know if it was something other than happy crying.


I had the strangest dream last night...
I dreamed I was reading through posts here on PS and read something funny I wanted to reply to. Then when I wanted to insert an emotie, I discovered that someone had added a whole bunch more and re-arranged my favorites so I couldn't find them anymore.

 

[TooPatient]

Audball -- Almost there!!!!

I hope you have a wonderfully relaxing day and find a great place to have your nails done!

 

[recordaras]

*hugs* madelise.
I can very much relate to what you're going through with the FILs. We got engaged during our vacation, and had planned to celebrate with them the weekend after the weekend that we got back (the next weekend we were going to visit grandparents to tell them in person). So Saturday morning comes along, we're planning on going out later that day, we call them and... they have other plans. "Other plans" being having friends over (that live 10 minutes away and that they see at least 2x week).
I was SO upset! I mean seriously, your only son just got engaged, and you find meeting with your friends more important than celebrating with us??

It doesn't help that my parents are on the other side of the Atlantic, and I know they would have given so much to be able to drink some Champagne with us to celebrate...
Same thing with the planning. My mom is a continent away, so are all my close friends. I was kind of expecting my FMIL to volunteer to go dress shopping with me, and my FI even strongly hinted at it ("Hey mom, recordaras is going to try on dresses in the town next to you tomorrow morning!"), but to no avail. And I will be the first to admit that it was kind of sad and lonely to be going on these visits on my own at first, but then I remembered that I could just Skype with my mom!
In all honesty, I've come to terms with the fact that nobody is going to be as interested/excited about my wedding as I am, so I've stopped expecting people to be interested and want to take part. In a perfect world I'd be surrounded by my closest and dearest who would share the excitement, but alas.

 

[audball]

Updates from 2 days out! Got my manicure and pedicure done today. Not the luxurious experience I was hoping for by choosing an upscale salon (since I had to cancel there), but price was lower and they did a good job.

Everything on my "needs to be done before the wedding" to do list is officially done. All we have left to do is get our marriage license tomorrow and we have all of our documentation and fee in exact cash ready to go. We'll be packing up tonight and leaving bright and early tomorrow!!

Thank you to all the wonderful brides here that helped and gave support through the crazy planning process! I can't wait to share all the details of our special day after we get back next weekend!

Dust for safe travels, ease of completing our last (and most important!) to do item, getting marriage license, and wonderful weather during our stay!

DONE:
His wedding band
Her wedding band
Her dress
His suit/shirt/tie
Booked hair/makeup for day of
Booked elopement package
Booked additional nights stay
Selected officiant
Selected cake style/flavors
Purchased cake topper supplies
Booked dinner reservations for wedding dinner
Booked photographer
Ordered flower selections
Wrote personal vows
Finalized ceremony script and got it approved by the officiant
Scheduled engagement pictures
Purchased new point and shoot camera for trip
Purchased garment bags to transport wedding outfits
Purchased outfits for engagement pictures
Purchased clutch
Purchased stationary (small cards/envelopes) to write vows on for ceremony and to have as a keepsake
Purchased fun socks for Groom
Purchased bridal hair accessory
Purchased undergarments for dress
Made spa appointments for pre-wedding beautification!
Assembled vows/stationary
Assembled/finished cake topper
Restrung pearls finished picked up
Purchased bridal shoes
Borrowed wedding earrings
Got dress altered
Got engagement ring polished/replated
Got together final payments/cash tips for vendors
Went to spa appointments for beauty treatments

IN PROGRESS:
MARRIAGE LICENSE

TO DO:
Make sure all vendor bills have been played in full (after the wedding)
Review wedding vendors online (after the wedding)
Thank you cards (after the wedding)

 

[recordaras]

How incredibly exciting, audball!!! Best of luck to the both of you - wishing you the greatest weather and an incredibly romantic wedding.

 

[audball]

How incredibly exciting, audball!!! Best of luck to the both of you - wishing you the greatest weather and an incredibly romantic wedding.

Thanks recordaras!

I promise to take the time and catch up with everyone else after I get back!

 

[TooPatient]

Yay Audball!!!!

I hope you have a safe trip and your stay there (and especially your wedding day!) is more perfect than you've ever dreamed! I'll be thinking of you and hoping for cool weather, easy license getting, and everything else nice!

 

[wakingdreams53]

TP congratulations! I've written at least 6 messages to you, all to be eaten by my internet connection Regardless, I'm super happy for you Mrs. TP! <3

Madelise, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine having to compare on such a close scale. Your venue sounds incredible though, I think you'll have a beautiful wedding, just remember that it's for you. It doesn't have to fulfill anyone's dreams except your own.

Audball, OMG, almost there!!! Your date is 30 or 31? Aka, Halloween or not? You've shared such incredible progress here, I'm so excited to see your photos and congratulate you.

In personal news, we really really really don't want to wait 2 years lol. We were in NoCal and it was so great being introduced as his fiance. We don't really discuss the wedding, but I'm on OBB a lot, so I told him about it-- they had an awesome lollipop bouquet I showed him today. I have zero desire for any wedding planning except for the pretty white dress and putting an awesome ring on his finger. So, I think we're moving it a year up, to almost exactly a year from now!

 

[audball]

Yay Audball!!!!

I hope you have a safe trip and your stay there (and especially your wedding day!) is more perfect than you've ever dreamed! I'll be thinking of you and hoping for cool weather, easy license getting, and everything else nice!

Thanks TP!!

 

[audball]

Audball, OMG, almost there!!! Your date is 30 or 31? Aka, Halloween or not? You've shared such incredible progress here, I'm so excited to see your photos and congratulate you.

In personal news, we really really really don't want to wait 2 years lol. We were in NoCal and it was so great being introduced as his fiance. We don't really discuss the wedding, but I'm on OBB a lot, so I told him about it-- they had an awesome lollipop bouquet I showed him today. I have zero desire for any wedding planning except for the pretty white dress and putting an awesome ring on his finger. So, I think we're moving it a year up, to almost exactly a year from now!

Thanks WD! Our date is the 30th (the day before Halloween). It's the 3rd anniversary of the day we first met.

And I totally don't blame you for not wanting to wait! I also love reading on OBB. Congrats on moving up your date!

 

[antiquesparkler]

Aud! So excited and happy for you! Safe travels to you and the soon-to-be-Mr. I will be thinking of you tomorrow!

 

[LoveLikeCrazy]

AUD!!!!! it's TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEE!!! i hope your day is AHHHMAZING!!! can't wait for the recap!!!!!

 

[TooPatient]

Not sure where to post this as there isn't a "stupid stuff" thread in newlyweds...


I just had a wedding dream-nightmare

I had this awful dream that it was our wedding day (all over again!) but that I'd let my mother talk me into doing something at Grandma & Grandpa's house. So I was getting into my dress in the garage (dirty, filthy, actually used garage...) with no help and then my mother tried to get me to throw wedding guests out because they "aren't family". My aunt used Grandma's 12+ year old stereo to play some garbled music as someone pushed me around the corner into the living room. Rabbi was sitting in a recliner and insisted that DH and I sing a duet together on a song neither of us had ever heard without even a piece of music to look at. Grandma tried to drive us to the reception (Grandma can't drive...) but didn't know where to go. My aunt finally got out of another car and took over for her. We ended up in the basement of one of the schools my mother works for with random people serving us not very good food on paper plates. The cake was pieced together out of leftover cake parts and was a single layer with packaged cookies covering the already cut end.

Thankfully my alarm clock went off and I was spared any more!


I supposed that it will take a bit to quit having dreams like this since we were engaged/planning for something like 5 years

 

[audball]

Updates! All I have left to do is review my AMAZING vendors online and finish my thank you cards!

DONE:
His wedding band
Her wedding band
Her dress
His suit/shirt/tie
Booked hair/makeup for day of
Booked elopement package
Booked additional nights stay
Selected officiant
Selected cake style/flavors
Purchased cake topper supplies
Booked dinner reservations for wedding dinner
Booked photographer
Ordered flower selections
Wrote personal vows
Finalized ceremony script and got it approved by the officiant
Scheduled engagement pictures
Purchased new point and shoot camera for trip
Purchased garment bags to transport wedding outfits
Purchased outfits for engagement pictures
Purchased clutch
Purchased stationary (small cards/envelopes) to write vows on for ceremony and to have as a keepsake
Purchased fun socks for Groom
Purchased bridal hair accessory
Purchased undergarments for dress
Made spa appointments for pre-wedding beautification!
Assembled vows/stationary
Assembled/finished cake topper
Restrung pearls finished picked up
Purchased bridal shoes
Borrowed wedding earrings
Got dress altered
Got engagement ring polished/replated
Got together final payments/cash tips for vendors
Went to spa appointments for beauty treatments
Got our MARRIAGE LICENSE!
Made sure all vendor bills were paid in full

TO DO:
Review wedding vendors online (after the wedding)
Thank you cards (after the wedding)

 

[audball]

What a crazy dream TP! Glad you woke up from that nightmare!

 

[audball]

HUGE thanks to all you wonderful ladies for your well wishes and sweet comments leading up to and on our wedding day!

 

[wakingdreams53]

OMG TP, that's a genuine nightmare! Luckily you awoke free of planning, already married!

I don't want to post a new thread because BWW isn't very frequented and I have to stare at my thread after weeks lol. My question is this: How do you balance planning a wedding and the rest of life? I get distracted... easily. This doesn't help the fact that I have papers to write and I'm looking up wedding sh!t instead

Either y'all have much better self-discipline than I do or you've got methods! Plea for help,as my grades are dwindling and the whole goal is for me to get my bachelors and then get married. I don't want the latter to affect the former, otherwise I'm back to the original "wait 2 years"!

 

[recordaras]

To be completely honest, I'm having trouble with this myself. All my downtime at work (and even some non-downtime) is now spent on pinterest and such, but I'm hoping that it will get easier as we go along.
If I have something important to do, I try to set rules: no wedding stuff till I've finished X amount of work. That helps stay motivated most of the time.

 

[recordaras]

I find this so hard to believe, but in the past week I've booked two very important vendors! And best of all, both were willing to work with us budget-wise. I can't believe we've been so lucky so far (knock on wood).
We booked our amazing florist, whose work I've been following for many years before I even got engaged: Floral Artistry by Alison Ellis
And our incredible photographer: Hannah Weddings

By the way, choosing a photographer was quite the struggle. I went to film school and even had a photography business at some point, so I'm *very* picky when it comes to photography. None of the VT options I could find seemed like a good fit and I was even considering finding somebody in MA and paying a hefty travel fee... But then I came across these guys by pure chance and it was love at first sight.
Then I kept putting off writing them and email, because if they weren't available, or didn't do custom packages, I had no backup plan and would have been completely heartbroken... The whole prep process was pretty nerve wracking, but what a relief that everything turned out so well!

 

[TooPatient]

OMG TP, that's a genuine nightmare! Luckily you awoke free of planning, already married!

I don't want to post a new thread because BWW isn't very frequented and I have to stare at my thread after weeks lol. My question is this: How do you balance planning a wedding and the rest of life? I get distracted... easily. This doesn't help the fact that I have papers to write and I'm looking up wedding sh!t instead

Either y'all have much better self-discipline than I do or you've got methods! Plea for help,as my grades are dwindling and the whole goal is for me to get my bachelors and then get married. I don't want the latter to affect the former, otherwise I'm back to the original "wait 2 years"!

I woke up so glad to be married and took a few minutes to remember just how wonderful it all was!

This was HARD!
I had to do what Recordaras suggested ("I'm going to get through the next page of my paper and then I can have 30 minutes of wedding stuff.") but even with that it was hard. After the BIG parts were done, we had a lot more down time. The planning seemed to go in cycles of lots to do then little to do. Picking the important stuff and then not stressing over the little things was great too.

I also tried hard to let other people help me find stuff or make decisions where possible (the ladies here are awesome at finding pretty much everything!). After making a decision, I tried hard to just move on.

My list of stuff "done", "to do" and "in process" in this thread helped me keep track of stuff and see the progress so I could feel better about setting it down and focusing on other stuff.

 

[TooPatient]

I find this so hard to believe, but in the past week I've booked two very important vendors! And best of all, both were willing to work with us budget-wise. I can't believe we've been so lucky so far (knock on wood).
We booked our amazing florist, whose work I've been following for many years before I even got engaged: Floral Artistry by Alison Ellis
And our incredible photographer: Hannah Weddings

By the way, choosing a photographer was quite the struggle. I went to film school and even had a photography business at some point, so I'm *very* picky when it comes to photography. None of the VT options I could find seemed like a good fit and I was even considering finding somebody in MA and paying a hefty travel fee... But then I came across these guys by pure chance and it was love at first sight.
Then I kept putting off writing them and email, because if they weren't available, or didn't do custom packages, I had no backup plan and would have been completely heartbroken... The whole prep process was pretty nerve wracking, but what a relief that everything turned out so well!

Beautiful photos
I can see why you had your heart set on working with them! Are you doing e-pics too?

Your florist looks amazing too!


You are making great progress! Glad they were willing to work with you!

 

[recordaras]

Oh my goodness, TooPatient, I can't even begin to express how happy and excited I am to be working with such awesome vendors!
I think it helps that our wedding is on a Sunday, so when we were asking them to work with us budget-wise it's not a situation where they'll be potentially missing out on a full price Saturday August wedding to accommodate our lower-price custom package.

I had actually contacted 3 florists, as I was pretty sure Floral Artistry was out of our price range/not interested in such small events. One wasn't available on our date, one emailed me asking what I had in mind, I replied with a long detailed email including our estimated budget and... never heard back, while Alison was the only person who spent over an hour talking with me on the phone, encouraging me to send her pinterest links and generally being so nice, helpful, and most importantly enthusiastic about the whole thing in spite of the fact that it's such a small order. She was also sweet enough to give us a sizable military discount, which brought our pre-tax total to under our desired budget!

And the photographer - there I just honestly had no backup plan whatsoever. I think we got incredibly lucky - they've only had their wedding photography business in VT for about a year, and aren't as well known (yet!) as a lot of the other VT photographers (most of which can't even come close to Hannah Weddings as far as I'm concerned...), so between that and the Sunday wedding there was more room for flexibility.
We haven't yet decided on the engagement shoot. If we do one, it will probably be no earlier than May (not sure I want a 2 hour outdoor session in Vermont winter!), so we'll just have to see where we are budget-wise by then. I really want to do one, especially since I'm so uncomfortable in front of the camera, but we'll see!

Also, I think wedding nightmares might be a new PS trend - I had something about a cake that woke me up at 4:45 and I wasn't able to go back to sleep, ugh.

 

[audball]

I'm officially done! I got all my thank you cards finished last night and reviewed and thanked all my wedding vendors today. Woot!

DONE:
His wedding band
Her wedding band
Her dress
His suit/shirt/tie
Booked hair/makeup for day of
Booked elopement package
Booked additional nights stay
Selected officiant
Selected cake style/flavors
Purchased cake topper supplies
Booked dinner reservations for wedding dinner
Booked photographer
Ordered flower selections
Wrote personal vows
Finalized ceremony script and got it approved by the officiant
Scheduled engagement pictures
Purchased new point and shoot camera for trip
Purchased garment bags to transport wedding outfits
Purchased outfits for engagement pictures
Purchased clutch
Purchased stationary (small cards/envelopes) to write vows on for ceremony and to have as a keepsake
Purchased fun socks for Groom
Purchased bridal hair accessory
Purchased undergarments for dress
Made spa appointments for pre-wedding beautification!
Assembled vows/stationary
Assembled/finished cake topper
Restrung pearls finished picked up
Purchased bridal shoes
Borrowed wedding earrings
Got dress altered
Got engagement ring polished/replated
Got together final payments/cash tips for vendors
Went to spa appointments for beauty treatments
Got our MARRIAGE LICENSE!
Made sure all vendor bills were paid in full
Reviewed wedding vendors online
Wrote and mailed thank you cards

 

[audball]

I don't want to post a new thread because BWW isn't very frequented and I have to stare at my thread after weeks lol. My question is this: How do you balance planning a wedding and the rest of life? I get distracted... easily. This doesn't help the fact that I have papers to write and I'm looking up wedding sh!t instead

Either y'all have much better self-discipline than I do or you've got methods! Plea for help,as my grades are dwindling and the whole goal is for me to get my bachelors and then get married. I don't want the latter to affect the former, otherwise I'm back to the original "wait 2 years"!

WD! Hang in there. I feel like plannings comes in waves. I totally get being distracted -- we may sound like we had our stuff together, but trust me, I think most brides feel your pain! There were definitely weeks at work where nothing I should have gotten done was completed because I was researching wedding things and spending too much time on Pinterest. It happens.

I think the best thing you can do is start with a list of must haves for your wedding. Things you can't imagine getting married without. Those are the biggies and usually required the most work/research. Try and pick a day or two each week (weekends are best for most people) to knock out one at a time. Try not to focus on too many big vendors at a time. Weekend one, date/venue. Weekend two, photographer. Etc. In a matter of a few weeks/months, you'll have your big must haves done and can then focus on the little/less important/but still fun things.

And post here! To Do lists helped me stay on track and realize just how much (or how little) was left so I could work to gauge my time as best as possible.

Good luck! I love that your wedding date is the day after my first anniversary!

 

[audball]

To be completely honest, I'm having trouble with this myself. All my downtime at work (and even some non-downtime) is now spent on pinterest and such, but I'm hoping that it will get easier as we go along.
If I have something important to do, I try to set rules: no wedding stuff till I've finished X amount of work. That helps stay motivated most of the time.

Yeah...been there! Setting rules is a good thing to do and time limits is usually another good thing. It's too easy to sit down and say, I'm going to figure out X, to still be sitting there frustrated and even more confused too many hours later...