As you probably know, I'm a married woman now. I had a wonderful and memorable wedding and I will be writing about the day soon, but I want to present the entire event in chronological order from the early preparations to the final farewells. That means, we must start at the beginning! And that would be the "before the wedding" preparations.

Let's talk about the last 12 months (on a general level - I don't want to bore you). All my free time was consumed with wedding preparations. I tell you, weddings are like a second job. There is always something to do, and it grew increasing busy as the wedding date approached.

You may remember my earlier post about my mom coming to visit, my Last O'Neill Days. That weekend was entirely dedicated to wedding preparations. I picked up the caramels from JonBoy and my mom and I spent many hours stuffing tiny paper bags with the caramels and a little note. Then tying it with a tag and twine. They turned out really cute though, don't you think? Here's the final product at the wedding reception. These bad boys doubled as favors and escort cards - crazy clever.

Every day I was doing something...creating checklists, checking off checklists, contacting vendors, getting ideas from blogs, coordinating schedules, emailing, creating & finding last minute decorations, etc etc. Whew! Definitely a second job. Perhaps this is why you didn't see very many blog posts from me.

However, I wasn't the only person working hard on preparations before the wedding. Nada, my now mother-in-law, was busy making the ceremony programs and the welcome bags. She did a fantastic job. The welcome bags were handed to guests as they checked into the hotel. Inside there was a personalized water bottle that said: Love | Heather + Josh | September 29, 2011. Also there were personalized H+J M&Ms. Not to mention, Washington grown apples, granola bars, a Don Brown photo postcard, a map of Seattle, and more goodies. Too freaking cute.

And the programs, they were adorable. Nada bought a monogram seal with H+J and used it in many things for the wedding, including the program. Inside was a nice message about each bridal party member and a few notes on the ceremony itself. Very well made - practically professional.