Here is the next entry from Monica & Chuck, they had a shorter engagement, so did everything on a more abbreviated time frame:
“Things we loved/the best things we did:

* The best thing: getting married!

* We got engaged on Memorial Day in May and were married in October. The planning could only take up about 4.5 months, which were wonderful (and hectic), but we’re really happy to be already married now.

* Three of my very good girlfriends from college, in from out of town, stayed with me for the 2-3 days leading up to the wedding. We had a wonderful little mini reunion… They kept me entertained and relaxed and it was a wonderful way to end single-hood, among close friends.

* Allegria Bridal, in Belmont, was a great place to get a dress and bridesmaids dresses. I recommend them very highly.

* The seamstress who did my dress (Rosa, at Rosa’s Customized Tailoring, Watertown, MA) not only did a fabulous job on my dress, but she also did an impromptu last-minute fix on one of my bridesmaid’s dress. My friend had asked her seamstress (out of town, in a rural area) to put in bust-cups, but the seamstress didn’t have any, so she had cut what we think (we’re really not sure) were shoulder pads in half, and then tacked these in as a pseudo bust-cup. They didn’t quite look right, leaving a sort of horizontal shelf across the dress and my friend was understandably a bit stressed about it. Rosa took a look at the job, tut-tutted a bit about the other seamstress, and then fixed everything there on the spot with new materials, all 2 days before the wedding.

* I had a fabulous florist (Jess Wrobel, in Ipswich) who listened to what general colors and look I wanted, and then who did absolutely everything else on her own. I loved not having someone keep asking me what specific types of flowers I wanted.

* We got married at a site that only does functions, so we won’t be able to go back there easily in the future. A friend who had her reception at the Colonial Inn in Concord mentioned that one thing she loved about it was that it “would always be there” and they’ve been able to go back for their 5- and 10-year anniversaries…

* We took a “mini-moon” for 2 nights after our October wedding, on Cape Cod. That gave us a getaway for ourselves together, but made it really easy to pack for it, and it was a wonderful relaxing 2 days. One of the best parts was waking up at 3 a.m. after the wedding and talking about all the wonderful things that had happened and about how happy we were with everything. And looking at each other and saying “you married me! Wow!”. We were also still able to catch up with some friends in from overseas when we got back. We took our real honeymoon to Hawaii three months later, and had a wonderful time.

Things maybe we should have done differently?
* We probably shouldn’t have left printing the wedding day programs to 4 pm on the day before the wedding, using my home printer. It jammed on the thick paper, and then some small black plastic piece broke off of something inside. A quick trip to the local Staples, handing over the printing job to them, helped to solve the problem, but we were left without time to pick up the printed copies that night, since we were off at the rehearsal dinner. Thankfully, my husband’s best man was able to jump in the next morning to head back in to Staples to pick up the printed programs when Staples opened at 10 am on Sunday morning, and other friends pitched in for a rapid folding session at the reception site before most guests arrived for the 11:30 ceremony.

Things we still don’t understand:
* Men get to rent shoes to go with their tuxes. And they fit! Women would never rent shoes (and they’d never fit!) and women have to spend all this time going around to find exactly the right shoe and right shade, when their shoes will only be under a long gown. What’s up with that?

I hope that this helps. Chuck says to add in “the very overwhelmed groom was very happy to hand off planning to his bride-to-be”.

Thanks Monica! Many of my brides have a great experience at Allegria Bridal, I’d love to stop by there someday.