I've been working way too much, but all that is done now and I'm in full on wedding mode. It's 8 days until the wedding. ... Eight days. ... Eeeeeep!!!

I really should have called you by now if I haven't heard from you, but I haven't so I'll be emailing or calling you shortly. I really do hope that you're coming.

There is still so much to do like helping guests with attire fit for a Pride and Prejudice wedding for those who want to dress up because not every one has the inclination which is perfectly okay with me as the most important thing is to have our guests there to celebrate the day with us.

My first piece of advice is exhaustively review Jessamyn's Regency Costume Companion. Every time I'm directed back to this site because of new search criteria I've entered, I find something new that these wonderful people have compiled. In the many, many hours I have spent on the internet looking for just the perfect things for this wedding, no one site is as comprehensive as this one.

The second piece of advice is to watch A&E's Pride and Prejudice. Colin Firth makes an excellent Mr. Darcy. Some other films and TV mini-series you might seek out can be found at Jessamyn's Bookstore in the Videos of Regency dramas section.

Here are some simple tricks for knowing whether or not you're on the right track for your Regency wear. Guests can take or leave any or all of these suggestions. As above, Regency era costuming is not required.
MEN

• Hair should be between short and medium length. Facial hair should be non-existent except for sideburns.
• Jacket or coat should be longer than today's usual length. Tails are great, but not strictly necessary. There are lots of details with a true Regency tailcoat that are not needed to get the general feel for the era.
  
• White poofy shirt with white cravat are fairly easy essentials to the look.
• Waistcoat or vest should be straight cut across the bottom at the waist.
  
• Tight pants were the style. The ladies had to know what they were getting somehow.
  
• Plain black slippers or shoes with a large buckle were the footwear with long trousers.
• Generally the trousers, waistcoat and coat were three different colours.
• Acceptable accoutrements include top hots, canes, leather gloves.
  

• Hair should be worn up, typically with a hair accessory of sorts such as two ribbons or small flowers.
  
• Dresses had empire waists, poofy upper sleeves, and hung to the floor.
• Plain ballet flats or slippers are acceptable footwear.
  
• Bonnets were the most common hats, but there were other styles of hats worn at the time.
• Other accessories could be parasols, gloves, fans, or reticule (small handbag).
  

• Make up is key. There are many good websites for decent zombie make up including So You Wanna Be A Zombie, Zombie Maker, and one livejournaler's Zombie Costume/Makeup! compilation of links.
• Clothing can be simplified from the above lists to ripped poofy shirt and pants or empire-waisted dress with appropriate dried blood spatter.
• Modern clothing for any zombie in attendance is permissable.

• Gift registry can be found here: http://www.freegiftregistry.com.au/suziandjeremy ; to access the listing, "MrDarcy" will need to be entered. We haven't had a lot of time for shopping so the list is kind of sparse right now. When in doubt, a donation to your charity of choice in honour of us will do nicely.
  

1. Are chimney sweeps acceptable? Yes on two conditions. The first is that it must be a young child. And secondly, the child must be a gift to the couple. ;)
   
2. Here is Miss Brown's Guide to Regency Dress for Women in PDF format.
3. And Miss Brown's Guide to Regency Attire for Men.
4. Get your cravats here!
5. Gift registry has been updated. 7/28
6. If you haven't received your invite yet, please let me know.
   

I got butterflies in my tummy tonight when I was thinking about the wedding. All the bits of fabric for my dress are done being embroidered and it's sooo pretty. It's my wedding dress! It feels like magic. I didn't expect all these feelings of joy and bliss. Where did they come from? I didn't expect anything to change between us, but it is better than it was. We are getting married because it was already awesome, but now it's better. Butterflies are wonderful and exciting.

There were lots of things I was worried about when we got engaged and one of them was that I wasn't going to be able to enjoy making wedding plans and the engagement period. Cheruby is so good for me. I know that I choose to be happy or unhappy with situations, but it's so much easier when I've got someone in my corner telling me that this choice will make me happier or is better for me.

My seamstress's kids were quite disappointed when Cheruby didn't come with me the last couple times I went to see her. He made quite the impression with "Extreme Jenga". I really enjoyed listening to him play and have fun with them. I also really liked the look on his face when he saw me in the mock-up of my wedding dress. That was a good look. I want to remember that look.

Work is even going well. The project is on track for the most part and I'm actually getting time to prepare for my piece which will really come into play from Thursday to Tuesday coming up. I'm not scared though. I think it'll be okay. And I'm puzzled at how well things are going, but pleased. I guess I'm waiting for something to go horribly wrong, but nothing has. I'm just going to keep smiling and keep going. I'm really looking forward to being part of this project going live.

To all those in my life that I have been neglecting - I'll be back soon. Really soon.

I have to say that wedding plans are coming along very well thanks to my Cheruby. He's taken the initiative with most things and gotten them done and we don't have a lot left to do, it seems. Everything is just ticking along and we're on track, and, if you can believe this, I'm not being completely fanatical about it.

My mom came to visit last night and she's such a doll. I love her so much. We went to fabric stores and craft stores and talked about wedding stuff, but we also talked about all kinds of other stuff and I relaxed and so did she and it was great. She kept feeling like there was something we should be doing, but I had to keep telling her that there was nothing to be done right now and that was okay. I would typically expect it to be the other way around in this situation.

My wedding dress fabric finally got here and there are some issues with the embroidery that I already chose so I have to choose some new stuff. It's going to be beautiful, whatever I choose. But I get to look at pretty pictures and tell people what I want. What's not fun about that?

And I've just discovered one more way in which Misha was a jerk. Jerk. Heh.