Thank You

It's been almost 2 months since our wedding, and things really have not gone our way since then. We consider ourselves very lucky to have had a beautiful wedding day, (almost) exactly as we had hoped!

I sincerely want to thank everyone who came to be a part of our special day, everyone who helped to make it possible, and of course thank everyone for the very generous and thoughtful gifts. You have all been, in more ways than one, a huge blessing to us as we start our new life together.

This is in no way meant to replace a formal thank you note, but I just wanted everyone to know that we are very grateful. We ordered thank you notes through our photographer, and are still waiting to receive them - so I am sorry we haven't gotten around to sending them yet!

In case anyone was wondering what I meant by "things have not gone our way"...we've had a very interesting past 2 months! Everything from flight troubles for Franchesco's family to a completely failed honeymoon trip (we were not able to go on our cruise as expected, so we had to pay for an entirely new, last minute vacation in Florida) - we've seen it all!

Here's to hoping that married life brings some good luck our way in the next few months :)

We could win $200!

Please go to www.facebook.com/minted and find our engagment photos - like and/or comment on the photos, we could win $200!

Thanks :)

We Did It!

Well, it's been a week and a half since the wedding - we did it! We tied the knot!

I have to say, the week leading up to the wedding I was feeling very stressed and nervous that the wedding would not turn out the way I had planned. I was sick for a day or two early in the week, so some of my last-minute tasks ended up getting postponed and being even more last-minute. Franchesco's family came into town on Wednesday 2/1, so I wanted to spend some time with them, but I also felt like I was running around for a couple days like a chicken with its head cut off...shopping trips, printing ceremony programs, putting together the candy buffet...

The evening of the rehearsal made me epecially nervous because the whole thing just felt very chaotic and unorganized, and I was worried that nobody was going to know what was happening on the wedding day and it would be all my fault for not having organized the details well enough or early enough. The lack of organization was worsened by the language barrier, as we needed to translate every step of the way for our visitors from Brazil. The night before the wedding, I was barely able to sleep because there were still last-minute "to-do's" bouncing around in my head all night.

Luckily, all the stress and minor problems are beginning to fade from memory, and are being replaced with all of the wonderful memories from the week and the wedding day itself. Somehow everything came together for the wedding day, and although not everything turned out picture perfect, I couldn't be happier with the way our special day went and that I am now Mrs. Franchesco Borges :) And surprisingly, I'm a little bit relieved that the planning process is over!

I want to give a big "THANK YOU" to everyone who was there to celebrate with us. I truly hope that everyone had a wonderful time at the wedding! I especially want to thank Franchesco's friends and family who came all the way from Brazil to be with us. I have some truly great memories that I hope will never fade!

Speaking of memories, I'd like to finish this blog post recounting some of my favorite memories from the week. The actual wedding went by so quickly (5 hours really is not long enough), but many of my best memories are from some of the other smaller moments of the week:

• Playing music and singing along in our living room with Emilio and Enildo. What a great time and a great way for both sides of the family to get to know eachother!
• Dona Nilza and her constant picture taking. Thanks to her we'll be able to look back and remember all the little things and not just the big events.
• Brazilian food - it was so great to enjoy homemade Brazilian food and see my family experience a little bit of Brazilian culture. Thanks again to Dona Nilza for all of her hard work in the kitchen!
• The "Man Cave." I will never forget walking into our basement and seeing my Dad and 5 other Brazilian guys huddled around a computer laughing and having a good time together despite their different languages and cultures. I am SO happy that Franchesco's family loved my family and vice versa. A big thank you also to my parents for hosting everyone in their house and making sure that everyone had a great time!
• Franchesco kissing my hand after putting my ring on during the ceremony. We may have fumbled through our vows and shared an awkward nervous kiss, but that moment when he kissed my hand really melted my heart...
• The end of the wedding night when the DJ had stopped playing but nobody was in a rush to leave. People were still standing on the dancefloor or sitting at their tables chatting and enjoying themselves. It made me so happy to know that everyone had a good time.
• The pictures that friends and family took at the wedding and have given to me on CDs. Seeing all the smiling faces in the photos made my day!
• Coming back home the morning/afternoon after the wedding, with beautiful flowers from the wedding displayed on the table, fresh coffee and homemade cinnamon rolls. Possibly a minor detail that many people wouldn't notice, but I could just feel the love that my parents put into preparing coffee and breakfast for everyone each morning.
• Lastly, I'll never forget my dad all dressed up for the wedding! But not only that, he was incredibly dependable and helpful throughout the whole week when I was stressed and overwhelmed. Even the morning of the wedding, anything I asked him to help with, he was on it. I couldn't have pulled it all off without his help! I love you Dad! Thank you so much for everything!

I know that there are many other moments that were very special to me and that I will always remember, but these are just a few that came to mind. If you want, feel free to leave a comment with some of your favorite memories from the wedding :) There was so much going on that day, I'm sure I missed a lot!

I'll be working on an online photo album of pictures, and I'll definitely keep everyone updated once I get the photos and video back in a couple weeks. In the meantime, check out the pictures from the photo area at the reception!

http://tonygibblephotography.zenfolio.com/02042012_borges_portraitarea

Now begins the countdown to our honeymoom...4 days!!

One week to go!

I could hardly sleep last night I was so excited! It felt like the night before Christmas! I had to wake up around 3:30am to head to the airport, but there will be time for sleep later :)

It's amazing the amount of attention you get at the airport when you're walking around with a wedding gown. I should've spent a couple extra minutes to do my makeup this morning!

The great news: I just got bumped up to first class, with the whole row to myself! What a great start to the day :)

Washington DC here I come!

The prayers are working!

Weather Forecast

I forgot to mention that I've been checking the extended weather forecast for the last few days now. Everyone keeps telling me I shouldn't bother, because we are still more than a week out and the weather forecast is going to change every day until then. Which it has...but I still feel the urge to keep checking!

When I first checked, it looked like some snow and ice the night before the wedding (ahhh!), then it changed to being mostly cloudy, to partly sunny, then to some rain the day before the wedding but clearing up the day of.

NOW it's looking like rain for 3 straight days :(

Rain is probably the worst possible outcome for the wedding day in my opinion (not including a freakish blizzard that prevents everyone from being able to come). I would love to have a little bit of snow to set the mood, or a sunny day, or even a partly cloudy day....but rain would be the absolute worst. It just feels so dreary when it rains, especially in the winter when it's a cold rain. I would much rather have snow anyday.

Pray for snow! :)

Counting down...

I can hardly believe there are only 3 days until my bachelorette party in Washington, D.C and only 10 days until the wedding! As if getting ready for any trip isn't stressful enough (at least for me!) I'm getting ready to head back to PA for my wedding. Talk about pressure! I'm working on a running list of things I need to pack so I can be sure not to forget anything. I also need to do some laundry and pack all of my clothes in the next 2 days. My flight leaves very early on Saturday morning so I need to be ready to go in advance.

The wedding really doesn't seem as close as it actually is. There are SO many little things to do before then that it almost feels like the day will never come. But I'm okay with that...it can take its time getting here because I will need every minute to prepare!

I've submitted the guest count and seating arrangements to the hotel, and now I'm working on some things like ceremony programs, escort cards and wedding favors. The good news is all the big things are taken care of, but the bad news is you'd be amazed how many little details there are to keep up with. I feel like everything is on track, but I still can't help but feel a little nervous and anxious about it all.

In addition to some of the things I already listed, I also need to work on a list of songs for the deejay (for what we will play during specific moments of the reception and also a 'must play' and 'do not play' list) and a wedding day schedule so everyone knows exactly what is happening when. Everything from getting our nails and hair done in the morning, to having pictures taken, to when dinner is served and when we will do the bouquet and garter toss and everything in between. Once I have this schedule ready I'll need to share it with the whole bridal party, the deejay, the photographer, the videographer, etc.

Wish me luck as I finish up the last details for the wedding! I'll be taking it one day at a time, and for now I'm just working on what I need to get done before I head to Pennsylvania on Saturday morning. I'll worry about the rest after that :)

I CAN'T WAIT TO CELEBRATE WITH EVERYONE!!!

Less than 3 weeks to go...

As of last Saturday, there were only 3 weeks to go until our wedding. I clearly forgot to update our blog over the weekend...there have been plenty of other things to keep my mind occupied lately. All I know is that the thought of only 16 days left gives me a little bit of anxiety. It feels like there are still hundreds of things to do, and not enough time left to do it.

When I think about it rationally, however, I realize that I am probably overreacting and stressing out for no reason. For the most part everything is on track, and I'm sure that all of the details will come together beautifully on the wedding day. I just have to try to ignore the irrational thoughts that try to tell me otherwise :)

I guess it's only natural, after a year of planning and preparation, that any human being would be nervous. At least that's what I'm telling myself!

4 weeks to go!

I can hardly believe we are only a month away from the big day :)

I accomplished a lot during my week back in PA for the holidays, and now I feel like I'm just putting the finishing touches on everything... there are a lot of finishing touches...

Here's everything I've gotten done recently:

• Final meeting with The Cork Factory Hotel, including the menu tasting and cake consultation
• Meeting with the deejay
• Shopped for rehearsal dinner centerpieces and decorations
• Had a trial hair appointment
• Purchased a veil and other accessories for my dress
• Purchased a flower girl dress and shoes for Madison
• Started working on wedding favors
• Ordered a "groom's cake" for the rehearsal dinner
• Scoped out some locations for the rehearsal dinner
• Met with the pastor to plan out the ceremony
• And last, but not least, attended a lovely bridal shower hosted by mom and Alicia

I had a fun week trying to get some of these last few things accomplished, but I have to admit once I realized how many little details I had to take care of I started to feel a little overwhelmed. I'm feeling a little better now, and I just have to keep reminding myself that i still have a couple more weeks before everything needs to be done! (of course, a couple of weeks is not really a whole lot of time...)

On another note - thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with me at the bridal shower! I had a great time and it was fun to see some family and friends that I don't get to see very often. I also really appreciated all of the wonderful gifts - which will help Franchesco and me to finally start decking out our new apartment :)



Keep checking our wedding website for more information before February 4th!!!

Our Wedding Website

Engagement Anniversary :)

Today is exactly one year since we got engaged :)

It's also the day I got my wedding band AND a new diamond engagement ring to match! And we didn't even plan it to be exactly one year after!

Needless to say, I made Franchesco get down on one knee and "pretend" to propose again with the new ring ;)

Less than 6 weeks!

I'm late with this week's post, but that's for very good reason! I was able to come home for the holidays last Friday, and ever since I've been busy with wedding preparations. I've accomplished a lot so far, but there is still a lot to take care of before heading back to Minnesota!

I'll update everyone on my progress as soon as this crazy busy week is over!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

7 weeks...

You guessed it....there are now only 7 weeks until our wedding! It may sound like we still have plenty of time to finish planning, but with it being the holidays I feel like the time is just going to fly. I have to admit that I'm starting to feel nervous/stressed about all the details coming together for the wedding day, but I have to remember to enjoy the process, because I've ALWAYS looked forward to this big day!

I have a few updates on Franchesco and his family that I forgot to share with my last update. Franchesco received a letter from the USCIS with a date that he has been scheduled to go and do some fingerprints. It is one step in the process to getting his green card, but we were pleasantly surprised that we heard from them only about 2-3 months after submitting all the paperwork. From what a friend has told us, once Franchesco gets the fingerprints taken, it could only be another month or so until his interview for his green card. Although waiting for the green card is not nearly as hard as waiting for his visa (because we can be together while we wait!), it will still be great once Franchesco finally has his green card and we no longer have to worry about it. In other good news -- Franchesco's family received tourist visas to be able to come for our wedding!! They interviewed a couple weeks ago and received their visas, so they've booked their flights and are ready to come for the wedding :) So far it sounds like about 8 of his friends/family will be coming to the wedding from Brazil, but we are still waiting to hear for sure about a couple others. I'm so glad that they'll be able to share this special day with us!!

As far as wedding planning goes, my wedding dress is being altered right now, and I've been shopping around for shoes and accesories. I've found several pairs of shoes that I love, but I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to go with Ivory to match my dress, purple to match the bridesmaids dresses, or blue to be my "something blue." Any thoughts from readers out there? All along I've wanted to do purple, but now I think I'm leaning more towards blue...

I also need to work on collecting pictures of cakes, hairstyles, decorations, etc. that I bring with me to appointments that I have set up for the week after Christmas. I definitely have a lot of shopping to do while I'm home as well. I still haven't gone shopping with my flower girl, Madison, for her flower girl dress...and of course there are TONS of other details and little things to buy. I made a long list, but I won't bore you by sharing it here :)

RSVPs have started rolling in, so I'm getting more and more excited the closer we get!

But first things first...I should probably work on finishing my Christmas shopping.....

Love these websites!

2 websites I'm obsessed with lately:

etsy.com
A website where you can buy tons of handmade stuff - they have everything! I've been looking for a sash to wear with my wedding gown :)

pinterest.com
A place to organize and share all your favorite things by saving pictures straight from other websites. My favorite use is obviously to collect pictures and ideas for our wedding, but the site can also be used to find/share recipes, re-decorate your home, etc. Thanks Angeli for introducing me!! If you haven't checked it out, you should! (I get the feeling that for some reason it's more of a girl thing...)
(Follow me at http://pinterest.com/jnf5000/)

8 weeks to go!

There are only 8 weeks left until our wedding, and I'm going to try to commit myself to updating our blog each week until the wedding. I have so many updates since the last time I wrote...where to begin?!

The New Normal
Franchesco and I are settling into our new life now, since getting back from Brazil at the beginning of August and moving into our new apartment at the end of September. Everything is new...new jobs, new cars, new apartment, new furniture...but we're settling in just fine! Most couples have big life adjustments to make after their wedding, so I guess we're just getting a head start ;) My only complaint would be that Franchesco and I have almost no time together because of our opposite work schedules. His only day off is Monday, and every other day he works until later in the evening and doesn't get home until close to the time I go to bed. We are able to have breakfast together sometimes on the weekends, depending on when Franchesco wakes up, and we can have dinner together on Monday nights. That's about the extent of our time together. It's hard not having much time to spend together, but I guess that's just something we'll have to live with for a while...

Wedding Dress
I changed my mind about the wedding dress I bought last February, and decided to keep shopping around to find the perfect dress for our wedding. Alicia came to visit us the week before Thanksgiving, and I was very thankful to have her help shopping for wedding dresses! We found a beautiful dress that I'm very excited to wear on our wedding day! Now I just have to start shopping for accessories, and I have an appointment for alterations tomorrow. I'd share a picture, but then it wouldn't be a surprise on the wedding day!

Wedding Invitations
I was very lucky to have Angeli offer to do some beautiful calligraphy on our wedding envelopes! Everything for the invitations is now done, and they were sent out in the mail yesterday!!

Wedding Music
I had a lovely Skype conversation with my good friend, Sarah, about music for our wedding ceremony! Sarah will be playing flute along with my good friend, Carina, on piano and Franchesco's cousin, Emilio, on violin. I'm very excited about the songs we've chosen, and I'm so thankful to have friends that will be playing for our wedding!

Wedding Rings
Franchesco and I have been shopping around for wedding rings, and will be buying them in the next month or so. This might be one of the only times we will ever shop for something we will wear our whole lives!

Parties, Parties
My mom and Alicia are planning a bridal shower for me while I'm home for Christmas. It's actually going to be in the morning of New Year's Eve. Very festive, I'm sure! We are also planning to do a Bachelorette party in D.C. on Saturday, January 28th. So many fun things to look forward to!

Honeymoon
We booked our honeymoon for February 20th, about 2 weeks after the wedding! We're going on a cruise from Tampa, Florida to the Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico. Can't wait for the warm weather!

Other Wedding Plans
I'll be home for Christmas from 12/23 to 12/31, and that week I'll be doing a lot of the final preparations for our wedding. I have meetings with vendors (photographer, florist, deejay, etc.) and also a meeting at The Cork Factory Hotel to finalize our dinner menu and do a cake tasting! I'm sure it will be a very busy week, but also very fun!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and are enjoying the Christmas season! I'll be seeing many of you very soon :)

Wedding Dreams (or Nightmares!)

Last night I had my first, of what I think will be many, dreams about our upcoming wedding. It's a sign to me that the big day is getting closer and the stress will likely continue to increase in the coming weeks. It may be odd that I'm sharing the details of this strange dream I had, but I thought it was funny and so I just had to share!

In my dream, we had just finished up our wedding ceremony and our guests were supposed to be headed to the cocktail reception before the dinner started. However, there was another wedding ceremony that was starting just after ours ended, and our guests decided to stick around and watch the next wedding too. I was upset that everyone was staying to watch the next wedding (isn't it bad luck to see another bride on your wedding day?) and so I talked with my parents to see if they could coax everyone into the other room for the cocktail hour. So the guests started getting up from their chairs, and they began to leave one by one! I was really upset that we were losing people before the reception had even begun!

Meanwhile, I was on my way back to my hotel room with Alicia because I realized I had forgotten to shave before the wedding day! I was so shocked that I had forgotten before such a big, important day! It was like the wedding day snuck up on me before I had time to prepare (which was pretty realistic, considering I had the dream about the wedding day when in real life I should still have 2-3 months to finish planning!) I was even nervous about going to the reception, not knowing what the final product would end up looking like, if I would have the lighting that I wanted in the room, etc.

I did, however, get a glance at the ballroom just before I woke up, and the lighting I had my heart set on was there :) Now that I know how important that lighting is to me, it will be easy to let the rental company know about my final decision. Ironically, they emailed me back today with a quote of what the lighting will cost and the layout of the lighting in the ballroom :)

I will also be sure to tell EVERYONE about the plans for the wedding day so everyone will know about the cocktail hour and the reception, and nobody will leave when the ceremony is done! It's a very unlikely scenario (the reception is the best part!), but it can't hurt to be extra clear about the day's plans :)

Eleven Eleven Eleven

If you can remember back to when I started this blog after Franchesco and I got engaged, you might remember that we were originally considering 11/11/11 to be the date of our wedding. It would be so crazy if the big day had been today! I'm feeling grateful for the extra couple months to finish planning :)

I've finally uploaded the majority of our engagment photos to facebook! Check them out here if you haven't already:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.10101731646563294.3704027.9310995&type=1&l=aee74a5ce9

 

 

 

3 Months!

As of today, there are only 3 more months until our wedding! I'm getting really excited, but also much more busy with planning!

Updates:

• We booked our videographer! I was delaying making my decision because my favorite videographer also happened to be the most expensive (no surprise there...), but finally decided to go with the one I liked the best. We are going to be using Christopher Lee Films and his videos are amazing! Check out some of his wedding highlight reels:

http://vimeo.com/28371138

http://vimeo.com/26222545

• I've also finally decided on bridemaid dresses! We went shopping a few weeks ago, and everyone agreed on the same dress (I think I posted a picture). Well, the other day I was in a local David's Bridal store to buy one of the dresses for Franchesco's sister in Brazil, and I saw the same dress - but in a long style instead of short! I was so excited, because the long dress will be so much more appropriate for the time of year and the formality of the wedding. And to top it off, the dress is on sale and is $20 cheaper than the short dress. So I've changed my mind and we'll be going with the long dress instead of the short one!
• Angeli is going to do calligraphy for us on the invitation envelopes. I'm so excited to see it when it's all done! We'll be sending invitations probably the end of November or the beginning of December, so start getting excited about that!
• At the end of October we got all of Franchesco's paperwork sent it to apply for his green card. We don't know how long the process will take, but at least our part is done (for now!)
• Next up we'll be making arrangements for our honeymoon, and also working on planning the rehearsal dinner.

I'm sure there will be more updates over the next 3 months as the wedding gets closer and closer! Enjoy the weekend!

99 days :)

Only 99 days until our wedding! Last time I wrote, I promised some updates on what we've been up to lately, so I'll try to post more at some point this weekend.

Enjoy the weekend - and check back soon!

Invitations ordered!

I ordered our wedding invitations this evening! I had to order them a little early so that we could get them sent out to Franchesco's family in Brazil in time for their Visa interviews. The rest of you should see your invitations sometime in November or December.

We ended up going with a little bit of a unique design so that we could incorporate both English and Portuguese :) I don't want to give everything away, but they are going to look a little something like this:

In other news:

- We received the rest of our engagement photos from Brianna, so I'll be posting those soon!

- We bought a new car last night! We got a 2008 Toyota Camry a few weeks ago, and now it was time for our second car (since we don't live downtown anymore so we both have to drive to work). We got a new 2011 Jeep Compass. I'll share more details later!

- We are also getting more serious about our honeymoon plans, most likely going to do a cruise about 2 weeks after the wedding (Franchesco's family will be staying to visit with us in the weeks following the wedding, so we're going to do the honeymoon just a little bit later.)

- Last, but not least, we have about 2 weeks left until we have to submit more paperwork for Franchesco's green card. At the end of this month it will already be 90 days since Franchesco entered the country, so we've got another $1,000 and lots of paperwork to submit to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). Wish us luck with that process!

Goodnight :)

Website Updated!

Our wedding website has been updated to include registry and hotel information. Check it out!

www.theknot.com/ourwedding/JacquelineFarrell&FranchescoBorges