Where I'm at

It's so easy to get confused with what has and hasn't been done, what needs to be done soon, and what can be done later. I thought I'd sort my jumbled thoughts by blogging about it. Rather boring, but bear with me.

One of the problems I'm having is that every different planning guide I look at tells you to book certain things at different times. For example, one may tell you to book a hairdresser six or more months in advance, while another says to do it just two or three months beforehand. Very confusing!

Anyway, here's what's done according to the "9-12 months prior" checklist on my iPhone wedding app:
- Choose date: 14/04/12
- Choose venue: Rydges Hotel
- Choose wedding party: Maid and Matron of honour, two bridesmaids, best man and groomsman all chosen and informed (and agreed!)
- Start guest list: guest list completed (three or four extras may be added) -- save-the-dates sent
- Choose wedding dress: wedding dress purchased, alterations to be scheduled later
- Reserve photographer: done, my marvellous uncle. :)
- Choose honeymoon: UK honeymoon booked and regular payments being made
- Reserve entertainment: music for ceremony and reception both organised, deposit paid for classical trio
- Choose invitations: invitations matching the save the date cards to be ordered from Vistaprint
- Choose favours: favour boxes have been purchased and contents pretty much decided upon (see below for more info on our secondary favour)

Here's what the app says I should have done by now, but I haven't:
- Book officiant: we're meeting a celebrant tomorrow morning, hopefully if we like her I can tick off this box very soon
- Choose rings: WTF?? Why do we have to choose rings 9-12 months beforehand? This one won't be happening for a while; speaking for myself all I want is a plain gold band, so this can be sorted in the last three months as far as I'm concerned!
- Choose men's attire: once again, this doesn't need to be done for a bit, but anyway, we know that the boys are probably just going to go and check out the range at Ferrari when the season catalogue is released
- Choose florist: I've emailed a florist in Subi that I've seen a few good testimonials for, so hopefully I can schedule an appointment with them soon
- Choose cake: really, again so soon? But I've started researching it a little bit. Will be ducking into the Cheesecake Shop soon to see what sort of thing they have on offer.
- Choose bridesmaids' dresses: this is a work in progress, but we have an appointment in two weeks' time at least.

That's it for now, although I have ticked off a couple of things in the "6-9 months prior" section, which is somewhat encouraging!

Now, as for these secondary bonbonniere I mentioned before, there's an American company called Chessex who make custom dice. Since my fiance is a roleplaying geek, we thought it would be cool to have a six-sided dice with our names and wedding date on the one-side. An example of their work:

Very very cool, and I'm awaiting an email reply from them regarding a quote. They're not very expensive at all, which is awesome. Oh, and ours will hopefully be in the same colours as the one above, since it matches our red and gold theme. :)