After a few set-backs and misunderstandings over the last couple of days, I think I’m moving forward again. At the moment its 2am and I have only one day left! In this day I’m hoping to get salon treatments done (acrylic nails, pedicure, wax), get the fudge I plan to bring as favors (40 minutes away), hire a pet sitter, finish packing and my mind is blank after that right now.

Luckily my brother (who just got married last weekend!), offered to help me with the printed materials! I’ve roughed in the itinerary, welcome letter, stickers, favor tags, CD labels, etc and he’s going to print this all for me and assemble the CDs! I would think wedding chores would be the last thing he would want to do right now, but maybe he has an appreciation of how much work goes into this. While I have other people that have offered to help, I haven’t been organized enough to accept it. I’m from a family of procrastinators so my brother is someone that will help me scramble at the last minute and not give me (too much) grief!

The Dress!

Today I picked up the dress (and my party outfit and the groom’s pants – all from different placed). She’s hanging here in my living room. Now I’m worrying again about getting her down there. Its not huge and ‘poufy’ but is big enough that it could cause trouble. I’ve done a lot of reading to try to figure out how I ‘pack’ it. Brides have had all kinds of experiences with the airlines from fantastic to horrifying.

I’ve read accounts of attendants that will hang the dress in the first class closet but think I’ve also read posts that say these closets may not be available in some of the smaller commuter planes (or they are confronted with a flight attendant having a bad day who refuses to ‘bend’ the rules). When the closets aren’t available, some brides have gotten lucky with an empty overhead or seat or even had a crew willing to let it fly in the cockpit.

Others have had the horrible experience of a flight attendant that made them cram it in their carry-on. Some brides, reading about experiences like that didn’t want to take the chance with cramming in a carry-on so instead chose to fold it into a large checked bag, only to be a nervous wreck wondering it it will get damaged or lost.

I do plan to try to carry my dress on as my personal item but admit I’m uneasy because the plane is full! I wouldn’t worry at all if I saw empty seats but it looks like space will be a premium. Since I’m bringing so much with me, packing in the checked bag is not an option, not that I really think I’d do that anyway. So please, wish me luck! If my fiancé and I were flying from the same city I wouldn’t worry because he’s a ‘medallion’ member with the airline and has a knack for being able to schmooze just about anyone – “Mr Charming”. We’ll meet up during the lay-over, but getting down there could be interesting.

This is one time I actually plan to get to the airport early! I’m thinking I’ve had enough problems in the last few days that its time for things to start going my way, right?