5 weeks to go!

Or 35 days.

Either way, it's getting scary. It's both a very long and a very short period of time!

45 days to go!

Hurrah!

I could write about all the things that we've still got to do, but that would waste the time I should be spending on actually doing the things! So, I'll just say this:

I can't wait to be married to the most wonderful man I've ever known! I love my fiance!!

2 months to go!

Very exciting indeed!

75 days to go!

I had a friend tell me I couldn't count down by the day until there were only 30 days to go - she simply wouldn't allow it. Good thing I don't care what does and does not allow!

I think I'll post every five days now. It's getting close, but not close enough! I just can't wait to be married!

Matt and I are going to count down the rest of the days until our wedding by reading through the Psalms, two a day. I'll try to post some thoughts on here, if I get a chance.

Wedding preparations are going quite well (though I can't say the same for my thesis...) The main thing at the moment is finding somewhere to live. We've had two applications to rent units knocked back so far, and we're waiting to hear about another. I'm going to check out a few places in Miranda and Caringbah tomorrow. It's good that I have flexible working hours so I can do these things during the day! It must be so hard for couples who both work 9-5.

80 days to go!

Very exciting indeed!

Oops

I missed the "90 days to go" milestone. That was yesterday. Now it's only 89 days to go!

I'm in a bad mood today. I got an email from my supervisor yesterday with comments on my draft of chapter 5 and the news that I have to rethink a lot of the way the second half of my thesis is structured and rationalised. Not good. At the moment, I'm feeling completely defeated by my thesis.

Why can't we just elope now and I'll finish the thesis later?!

Three months to go!

OK, now this is just getting scary! I can't wait to get married to my wonderful fiance, but when I think about all the stuff that I have to get done by then, I freak out a little. OK, I freak out a lot. Pulling my hair out and moaning is usually involved. Here's a snapshot of what needs to be done:

• Finish PhD (by June 1, otherwise Matt says the wedding is off!)
• It's hard to estimate the percentage completed, but I've got one chapter in nearly final form, two chapters getting close to that, and three chapters that still need a lot of work. Plus the conclusion and introduction. And formatting and referencing.
• 11 weeks of teaching
• I'm teaching three subjects this session. I've got three face-to-face hours of teaching per week (two for history of medicine, one for the scientific revolution) and two online groups for science and religion
• Beyond preparing for and facilitating tutorial discussions, there's all the marking. I get out of the take-home exam for one subject because it's due while I'm on the honeymoon (!), and fortunately I have a whole week to mark all the science and religion journals before the wedding.
• Wedding planning
• Wedding cars
• Hair and make-up (i.e. find someone to do it on the day)
• Dress fittings for me and the bridesmaids
  
• Decide on vows, sermon, readings etc.
• Finalise music and ask musicians
• Decide on stuff for the reception - will there be dancing, what kind of music etc.
• Make and send invitations
• Order bonbonniere, make place cards
• Decide on flowers - I went to see the florist on Monday night, but I had a migraine, so it was a bit difficult to make decisions
• Gift registry
• Probably other things that I can't think of right now
  
• We still need to find somewhere to live.
  
• We put in an application yesterday for a unit that would have been perfect, but we missed out. Oh well. That would have been just too easy! Now it's back to the drawing board...
  

Overall, we're doing quite well with the wedding stuff. We've finished our marriage preparation course with Matt's minister, and that was very interesting and helpful. A lot of things have been done, and I know we'll get there in the end. Actually, it's probably the PhD that's stressing me out the most at the moment.

Still, only three months until I get to marry the most wonderful man in the world! Hurrah!

100 days to go!

WOOHOO!

You might have noticed the countdown timer to the right - courtesy of my pet nerd!

110 days to go!

I've mentioned before that the time is going slowly in some ways, and speeding by in other ways. There's still so much to be done before the wedding - finish organising it, finish the PhD, teach two classes this semester, write two conference papers - but I just can't wait for it all to be done so I can marry the love of my life!

120 days to go!

I'm counting down in days as well as months...

The most important post of the day...

I'm getting married in four months!

Four months seems both a scarily short and a frustratingly long period of time. We're one third of the way through our engagement (two months on Saturday since Matt asked me to marry him!), and the time has gone quite quickly, but still it seems like we've got a long time to wait. It's strange: time until the PhD thesis must be done goes quickly but time until the wedding goes slowly, yet it's the same time. Weird.

Anyway, I am eagerly and not entirely patiently anticipating June 14. Here are some specific things (in no particular order) that I'm looking forward to.

• Wearing the most gorgeous (and most expensive!) dress I've ever owned
• Seeing the look on Matt's face when I walk down the aisle (the best part of any wedding)
• Celebrating with family and friends
• Making a lifetime commitment, before God, to the man I love
• Our first kiss...

Yes, that's right folks. I'm not just looking forward to our first kiss as a married couple - it'll be our first kiss, full stop. Long story. Remind me to blog more about that another time.

130 days to go!

But really, I'm not counting...

140 days to go!

But who's counting?!

A good start to the week

Today has been the most PhD-productive day I've had all year.

True, I've been a little distracted by wedding planning stuff, but I've still achieved a bit on my PhD, and at least I wasn't sitting at my computer, staring at my notes, feeling like crying all day.

It's a start, and it's only Monday! Woohoo!!

Only five months...

...until Matt and I get married!!

Preparations for the wedding are going well.

• I've ordered my dress
• We've decided on bridesmaid dresses (I think)
• We've booked the photographer
• We're closing in on a reception venue
• The church & ministers are sorted
• We start marriage prep on Saturday
• Invitations have been designed
• We've decided on music for the processional and recessional
  

Next steps:

• Finalise reception venue
• Decide whether or not to hire fancy wedding cars
• Talk to florist
• Finalise guest list
• Decide on music and musicians for the ceremony
• Order stationary and make invitations
• Organise honeymoon

It's all very exciting!!

Wedding dress shopping!

I'm about to set off on my first ever wedding dress shopping expedition!

Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved looking at wedding dresses and dreaming about what my wedding would be like. Now that the time has come, I'm a little nervous. In general, I don't like shopping. I've never been completely comfortable with my appearance, and at the moment I'm quite a bit rounder and squishier than I would like to be. I've been trying to lose weight, but I'm not very good at it - I like my food and wine too much!

So I'm a little apprehensive about trying on dresses. I was going to wait a little while, but two of my bridesmaids suggested a shopping trip before we all go back to work next week.

It's pretty exciting that I'm finally getting the chance to find and wear a wedding dress, but even more exciting is the prospect of being married to my wonderful fiance!