This weekend is going to be full of food and wedding planning. Speaking of, I'm too much of a chicken to bring my bouquet with me, so he'll just have to wait to see it. It's unfortunate, but he'll live.
On the downside I won't be able to show my family in December, but they've seen pictures of it. And I'll take more as I keep working on it, so I'm not worried. And from the pictures I've sent to my family, they think it looks beautiful (my mom's words). My mom even suggested I should go into the bouquet making business after the wedding. 
I'd consider it, if I had a job where I only worked 40-50 hours a week.So I talked to the director of operations/assistant to the senior pastor at the church we're going to get married in, and we're going to meet her & the pastor after one of the services this weekend. Yay! We've met the pastor before, though. His family goes there, his mom works at the church & is in one of the worship bands, and his dad is in another worship band. He interned there one summer and is volunteering there now... I tried to tell this to her, but I don't think she actually heard me, so.. I guess she's in for a surprise!
I've made appointments at the two places I've found that I like for our reception, which we'll be looking at on Saturday. Which means that after this trip, we'll hopefully have an official wedding date!
That's probably the biggest stress right now with the wedding planning.And then I'm going to spend Christmas with my family in Colorado, and my mom & sister & I will go dress shopping at a couple of places before Christmas. I'm hoping I'll find a dress that trip so it's done with... but I'm not going to say that I absolutely have to purchase my dress that weekend. My mom said, "Maybe I'll be coming back with a dress after Christmas!" And I said, "Mom. If I buy a dress that weekend, it's coming back with me." I don't see the point of her taking it with her, because she lives on the other side of the country. I wouldn't fly out there to go to fittings, I don't have that kind of time or money. Honestly time is more of an issue, so Mom would be able to come here if she wanted to.
And! I think I've convinced Nix to do the pictures beforehand, so we don't have to have the awkward time in between the ceremony & reception. He told me last night, "Look. I know you like to plan, so... go ahead." I said, "Okay. I want your input, but I'll just tell you when & where you need to be and work through the schedule." He said that was fine. He's helping pick out everything, but leaving the scheduling up to me.
I do like to plan, and so this is perfect for us. The church we're going to get married at has some really great places for pictures too.. and one of the photographers I'm looking at actually goes to that church, so they know the best spots. Yay.Also, I've asked him about getting professional engagement pictures taken, and he's "meh" on it. I don't know if we really need them... I'm sure we could get his mom to take a couple of pictures for us this weekend to put in our Christmas cards (the pictures will only be for the grandparents & the immediate family). And we had my friend take some pictures right after we got engaged, which was awesome. What do you guys think? I mean, we'll obviously get wedding pictures taken and some of those printed out for our future home together... and we could use one of the pictures my friend took or one of the ones his mom takes for our save-the-dates. Hmm. Maybe I'll talk to Mom & future-Mom and see what they think. Probably a good idea.
On the picture front, if you're looking at several photographers, some of them might throw in an engagement session when you book them for your wedding, so if you have a few different photogs you're considering, you might be interested to see if they offer a package like that.