Congrats GMUBunny! Your dress is very nice :-). That's great that you have a POC at the reception site, we had one also. I don't know what I woulda done without her! It sounds like you are doing a lot of crafty things for the event! That's great. The only think I made were the baskets that the flowergirls used. It was fun though! Looking back, I wish I had done more.

Your wedding sounds like it will be such a beautiful event! Best wishes and congrats again!

Thanks, zchiprincess! The venue isn't the one I originally wanted, but when you're on a budget you take what you can get. Perks of being a military brat are that you get stuff for free. The venue doesn't cost us anything. We just pay for food and the DJ. We have a deposit down, but that goes toward the food. If we break our date, though, the club will keep it.

I love my gown, but those pics from Casablanca do it no justice!!! I finally got pics of myself in the sample gown, and it has much better detail shots. I just hate the fact that I'm swimming in it, and it's not exactly how my gown is going to be. I'm raising the waistline 3.5 inches because I have a short torso and lack of boobage. Here's the link to my theknot.com bio, which has everything from pics of Mr. Bunny and me, to my DIY stuff! Please ignore my hair. I need to have it cut!

My theknot.com community bio

GMU that dress is going to be beautiful on you!

I had the same thing happen when I tried on my dress... the sample they had in the store was 4 sizes too big and they just sort of had to hold it on me. I've got my very own proper sized one in now, but the day I went to try it on, my camera died!

Soon I should have some pictures of it properly, but here's what I've got for now....

I hope this works...

Ginger- AOL has issues when it comes to registration confirmations, so I can't get mine from ultimatewedding.com. Who is your designer and what style is it? I'll find bigger pics of it so I can really see the details. It looks beautiful already from the small preview pics in your photo album thing.

Don't you just love how the sample gowns NEVER fit right? I think I tried on 2 gowns that fit like a glove, and they were both Anne Barge (the 2 in my knot bio). I fell in love with the first one and it was so out of my range (try $5000) that it made me cry. I can't wait to get pics of my actual gown. If my digital camera dies, I will pitch a fit and make my mom go to 7-11 and buy me more batteries!

I just updated my knot bio with engagement pics, but they're crappy quality. My scanner doesn't work, so I had to just double zoom with my digital camera. It gives you an idea of what the happy couple looks like now, so I guess it's better than nothing!

Are you finding it hard to juggle wedding planning with school?

I'm not in school anymore. I have Crohn's Disease and had to drop out. I plan on going to community college once we're settled and trying to get some sort of education. All is not lost :)

I don't know if you were directing your question at GMU specifically or to all of us, but...

I'm not in school either - I've been out since 2000. It is a little hard planning around a full time job and from a distance, since the only time I can meet with vendors is on weekends or late evening weekdays (like 7pm or later) , but so far it's not been too difficult - just taking care of as much as possible over the phone.

would you believe I don't remember? :) I'll have to look it up at home. I can't seem to find anywhere I wrote it down!

i think if you are organized you shouldn't have a problem. my sister planned a beautiful wedding for her and her husband last year. she had 11 months to plan it, lived in a different state from where the wedding took place, travels m-f every week, and probably works 80 hours a week. and she got it done without a problem. of course we all helped her out where needed, but she's a big control freak and didn't let us help out too much!

My sister had one and she paid her a ton, it turned out great, but when I got married I was planning 2 years in advance so I did it all myself. My mom begged to get one, but I said I want to do it myself and didnt want someone else in charge. I think it tunred out just as awesome but I was the one in charge of everything and I liked it that way. There wasnt much stress involved except on the day of the reception cause I wanted it all to look good, but then again I went away and took 30 close friends and family to the ocean and we got married, THEN we came home and had a big reception later on at home.

If you dont think youll have time and dont want to worry much and have the money go the planner route. If you like to do things yourself, dont get stressed easily, and want to save money,do it yourself.