Weber Family Shower
Ben's Mom, Sister, and Aunt (Carolyn, Rachel, and Lois) threw me a shower this past weekend and it was so very nice! Everyone is always so welcoming, and I really just can’t wait to get to know all of them better! Rachel obviously wasn’t able to be at the event, but she did plan a little game for us which was the sweetest thing – and completely made me tear up. Thanks so much for doing that, Rachel – I have actually already had a few moments (yes…since Sunday!) where I felt like I needed to read some of the messages to clear my head! ;)
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My Bachelorette Party and Family Shower!

What a fun weekend!! I can't even tell you how awesome my sister is at planning these things - she's putting my party planning skills to total shame! I wish I could upload all sorts of pictures and share all the little details to really show you the amount of time, work, love, thoughtfulness, fun, and care both her and my Mom put into this weekend for me - it was one I will NEVER forget! Thank you!!!!

Here's a summary of the weekend:
The Bachelorette Party started in Baraboo with lunch at 11, at the Garden Party Cafe. Lunch was great - sandwiches, salads, and wraps were just enough to tide us over before a little shopping, and then our Wine and Chocolate Class/Pairing at Bekah Kate's. They were so great there - they showed us how to make a mousse, chocolate zucchini cakes, and a chocolate cookie. All three were excellent - and all three were paired with some great wines! It was a lot of fun though - and they even gave me a little gift as the bride, which was very nice! From there we went to the Dells and checked into the hotel - relaxed a bit, had some snacks (Thanks, Lisa!) and then played a little guessing game with some "special" gifts the girls brought for me (and of course Ben). We freshened up and headed to Ginza of Tokyo for a Hibachi style dinner (yum - I love that place!) and then out on the town for some drinks and fun with the girls. Nothing too crazy - and I'll leave it at that. I will say that for us being a bunch of 30 somethings - many with kids, and many of us not used to the "going out" lifestyle anymore - we did pretty good and stayed out considerably later than I think any of expected! A sign of a good time, right?!

Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, and got ready before heading back to Madison for a very nice "Seasons of Love" themed shower. Amy and Mom had put together little scrapbooked mini-calendars as a favor for everyone - all unique and handmade. They were a huge hit and so super cute! Mom ordered personalized M&M's for us too - which were very cute too! It was at Cool Beans Coffee Cafe, which is a coffee shop by work that I like to go to (if you ever go - get the breakfast burrito - it's the best!). Everyone got to order from a limited menu and then we had (very cute and creative) games, presents, and cake from Carl's Cakes (by far the best cake in Madison). It was so nice to see some family friends that I don't get to see very often, and I really was truly "Showered" with love and an insane number of gifts. It's actually quite humbling and makes me feel so special to have such a great group of friends and family. Thank you, everyone!!!

We have a cake, a suit, and a marriage license!

Ben and I both had today (Monday) off of work and got a few wedding items crossed off our list. We started out by going to Baraboo for an 8am cake tasting (nice breakfast, huh?!). It wasn't at all what we were expecting - she basically handed us a 6" cake (made up of several flavors) and a bunch of little cups of filling and told us to take it with us to try on our own. Weird. We still haven't tried it yet - maybe at half-time of the Monday Night Football game I'm excitedly watching with Ben (was that convincing?)...Brett is playing after all! Anyway - we're on the books to get the cake there - we just need to finalize flavors and the design. Then we were off to the court house to get our marriage license - and no (Dad) we didn't have to do any of the blood test nonsense they used to make you do. From there we went to Mens Wearhouse and got Ben his official wedding suit! I think it was harder to pick that out than it was my dress. Our original plan was for him to get a navy pinstripe - but we ended up with a solid navy. Dan and Joey are both in pinstripes - but I think it's nice Ben will stand out a bit. As the salesperson said - we wouldn't want people to get confused and not know if Dan or Ben is the groom! Haha - what a random thing for him to say, huh? Anyway :) He has a cream colored dress shirt, a very nice silk tie, and silk suspenders to keep those pants up! I'll work on getting a pic of the tie up here so people know - but it's light colored blues, cream, and a nice light colored coppery brown/taupe that will look great with girl's dresses!

Joey's Suit!

Rachel sent a picture of Joey's Ring Bearer outfit for our big day - how cute!! It looks somewhat black in the pictures - but it's actually navy. We actually just bought Ben's suit/shirt/tie today (Monday) and he will also be wearing a cream colored shirt underneath his navy suit. Thanks for sharing the picture, Rachel - I can't wait to see him in it, what a sweetie!

Gianna's Dress!

My sister found a dress for my niece Gianna to wear as Flower Girl - and she is going to look just as cute as ever! Hopefully she'll love wearing it, and she'll have it on for both Friday and Saturday. Amy bought it online, so if it arrived in time, she was going to bring it with her this weekend when she comes for the shower.

4 weeks...yes...that is 28 days...!!!

That's crazy, I know. I'm actually not overly stressed - yet. But, I'm pretty sure it will be hitting any day now. I feel pretty good about where things are at - but I still have a lot of little details to think about. Like, hello...I just realized that I haven't thought about a cake topper in months. But anyway - it's not like that's going to make or break anything, so I'm not too worried ;)

Bachelorette party Saturday...and my Mom and Sister shower is Sunday!

My First Bridal Shower!!

I had my first ever bridal shower last night, and it was so fun! My very good friend, Lisa had a few of our girlfriends over to her place for a night of great food and conversation. Jackie took a bunch of pictures for me that I'll post online here - but in the meantime, you get a picture of the cake Lisa made :) And it actually really looked like this!


The girls were super generous in their gift giving too - we got all of our dishes from Target already (see photo below) - plus an extra set, since Target is ridiculously slow in updating their registry. Rather than return them - we'll just hang on to them and have an excuse to have up to 10 people come over for dinner some night!


Lisa - if you're reading this...thanks again!!! We were supposed to take a group photo too, and totally spaced it. Oh well - we'll save it for the bachelorette party!

Invitations are ready and (almost) in the mail!

This past Sunday afternoon was filled stuffing, stamping, sealing, and addressing envelopes, and thanks to Brook and her beautiful handwriting…they turned out great!! Now I just have to get them in the mail; which, was supposed to be today, but of course – I left them sitting on the kitchen table. Argh! So…they’ll just have to go out tomorrow instead. Here are some pictures Brook took while we were doing them…

Since Rachel and Dan’s (Happy Belated Birthday, by the way!) invitation will probably take the longest to get there…here’s a picture to give you something to watch for! ;)