Color overload.

I can't escape from the colors. I'll explain why shortly. First of all, some wedding-planning updates:

I found a dress! I can't say much about it, because Ben will read it and know what it looks like and we just can't have that happening. (NICE TRY, BEN!!!!!). BUT, I can tell you about the experience. I made two appointments and had all my girlies there-all four bridesmaids and my mom. The first appointment was at Bridal Exclusives in Tigard, since they were having a trunk show (read: discount!). I didn't really know what to expect and wasn't really convinced I'd find anything I'd like that day. I went into it with ideas of what I liked and didn't think I'd like/would look good on me. The day before, mom and I had gone into David's Bridal real quick to just look around. I lasted about three minutes there before I got overstimulated and overwhelmed and we left. So I didn't have high hopes going into Bridal Exclusives. Except it was a totally different experience there. My cute little consultant, Patty, told me to pick one dress of each style: A-line, fit-and-flare, ballgown, mermaid, etc. And then once I tried on all the styles and decided which shape looked best, I could go from there. I went into this thinking the ballgown style would look bad on me, but I actually really liked it! That's not what I got though (NICE TRY AGAIN, BEN!!!!). Anyway, I went to the store with one style in mind, and so I made sure to try that one on. And I loved it. And nothing else quite compared. And it was more than I wanted to spend....So I tried it on, walked around in it, fell in love with it a little, then headed to David's Bridal. After some champagne. YUM. Then mom had to drive....Anyway, we made it to David's Bridal and I immediately wanted to turn around. The place is crazy. There are dresses EVERYWHERE. And they are all covered in plastic with bright flourescent lights everywhere and a million dressing rooms filled with a million brides-to-be. I hurriedly tried on a few dresses then ran out. And back to Bridal Exclusives....Now, I had it in my mind that maybe I could convince them to knock the price down a little bit more. So when they didn't, I had a little meltdown...and the lady (Shelly this time) ran to get my mom cuz she didn't know what to do. And all my mom and sisters told me to just get the dress, it was still close to what I had budgeted, I just was hoping I wouldn't have had to spend my full budgeted amount! And I just couldn't make myself do it! But then Shelly, my hero, told me she'd give me free side alterations ($90 normally), and then everything seemed doable! So, I got the dress! I couldn't believe it! I was so sure I wouldn't find one that was the style I liked, with the budget I had, that was long enough (HOW were all Bridal Exclusives' dresses long enough?!?!), that looked like I wanted it to when I was wearing it....but I did! Success! One more thing checked off the To-Do list!

Next on the list: find someone to marry us. We aren't really that involved in our church, so kind of felt weird asking someone there to marry us. But it's a huge church (three locations, eight services, about 1000 people per service...that's a lot of people!), and it's not like the pastors really know a lot of the people anyway. So I decided I'd just email someone and see what happened.

First of all, let me tell you how much I love this church. Not only are the sermons amazing and eye-opening, but the people are so great. I had the opportunity to meet the head pastor (well, former head pastor, his son now carries that title) the other day in one of my classes. The professor of my Speech and Hearing Disorders class also goes to Solid Rock, and the pastor's wife, Diane, has cochlear implants after she started going deaf at age 26. So she came to our class to talk to us, and brought her husband, Phil, along with her. During the break in class, Diane was walking by me and said I looked familiar and I told her that my fiance and I go to Solid Rock. So Phil also came over and introduced himself. And we talked for the next five or 10 minutes. They were just asking questions about me, talking about church, etc. They were just so sweet and genuine, and it made me love that church even more. They could have just said, "Oh cool, you go to Solid Rock, nice to meet you" and moved on. But they took the time to just chat and find out about me and my life. And I was almost more excited about talking to them than I was about the Rock calling me "honey."

Anyway, I decided to email the Downtown location pastor, Gerald, find out about having someone from Solid Rock officiating our ceremony. So he agreed to meet us after the service on Sunday to talk to us. So after watching WICKED (AMAZING!!!!), we ran to the church to meet up with him. He asked us a few questions to find out about us, talked to us about the premarital counseling and just went over things real quick. He is a super friendly guy and we love his sermons when he speaks. So we are super excited to have him do our ceremony! As long as his wife gives the okay for the date anyway :) So, another thing checked off the list!

Next: registering for gifts. Who would have thought this would be so difficult. I can commit to spending the rest of my life with Ben. No problem. But how on earth are we supposed to commit to a color of dishes for the rest of our life!??!?! How do you choose these things?!?! We looked at every dish in the store. On two separate days. And every combination of colors possible. And we CAN. NOT. DECIDE. Towels we can change. Placemats we can change. Dishes are spendy and you don't want to have to buy a new set when you realize yours are ugly or out of style. HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE?!?!!?!? So, we are probably going to end up with all white or something. I don't know. I can't handle making any more color decisions! The nice thing is that Ben and I like all the same color combinations, and he was good at putting colors together. But we just didn't fall in love with anything! Bah. Too difficult. Maybe we'll try again next week and have some magical brainstorm of inspiration. Or we'll get all white. HELP!