Even though I was in the Keys for the first half of this month, we still checked a few things off our wedding to-do list! If you haven’t yet, check out my posts on wedding planning I did before we were even engaged, 9 months before the wedding, 8 months before the wedding, and 7 months before the wedding.

Menu Tasting

Our venue offers a menu tasting prior to the wedding so we can make sure we like our choices. We are so glad we did this because we changed quite a few things! If you read any part of this post, read this part because it’ll help you decide what meal to select when you RSVP!

First we tried the appetizers and let me tell you, you can’t go wrong. We had bruschetta, spanakopita, and bacon wrapped scallops. All 3 were good, but the bacon wrapped scallops were to die for – and I don’t even like seafood! Definitely don’t miss those during cocktail hour.

Jared had selected a caesar salad, but when he tried it, he said it was wayyy too anchovy-y and asked for a house salad instead so we will be doing a house salad now.

The three meal options we tried were a citrus chicken, marsala sirloin, and vegan pasta. The citrus glaze on the chicken was just not good. It was too sweet and creamy. Jared said it was like the icing on Stabrucks’ lemon pound cake. The steak marsala was good. Really the vegan pasta was my favorite dish. It had wide, flat noodles in a tomato paste with squash and zucchini and it was tasty. When we spoke with the chef after our tasting we asked to change the chicken to a chicken marsala instead of the citrus glaze. We also switched the veggies from roasted to steamed because they were very dry roasted.

So the options for meals are steak marsala with carrots, broccoli, and potato wedges; chicken marsala with carrots, broccoli, and rice; or vegan pasta. Really both the chicken and steak are good meats so whichever you prefer between the two would be your best bet. However, don’t knock the vegan pasta! That may just be what I choose and I’m the farthest thing from a vegan.

Buy Nana and Mother of the Groom dresses

Jared and I spent a Sunday afternoon with Nana and Jared’s mom, Jeanie, shopping for their dresses for the wedding. We went to Macy’s at the UTC mall because they had a great selection and some awesome sales going on! Nana and Jeanie each tried on a handful of dresses and both of them knew when they put “the one” on. They chose gorgeous outfits that look so stunning on them! They’re a surprise for now, but trust me, it will be worth it when you see how beautiful they are in their outfits! The best part is we got INCREDIBLE deals on both of their outfits, which Jared was very happy about since he was paying for both!

Book rehearsal dinner

We were eating dinner the other day at O’Brick’s in downtown Bradenton when we realized they have an entire room for private parties. It has its own separate bar and everything. That sparked the idea to hold our rehearsal dinner at O’Brick’s! We absolutely love the food and drinks there and the space is just the right size. We met with the event team and selected our menu and it could not be a more perfect space!

Shop for Grandma of the Bride

While we were in the Keys, my grandma had gone to Something Blue, a local bridal boutique to start looking for dresses for herself for the wedding. When we got home, Grandma, my mom, and I went to Macy’s since we had such luck shopping for Nana and Jeanie there. Grandma LOVED the first dress she tried on and it looked stunning on her! She didn’t buy it that day, but went back later and purchased it. We forgot to get any pictures of me and her without the dress on and we don’t want to spoil the surprise so enjoy this terrible photoshop job at blacking out her dress!

Figure out what to do with COVID-19

This one was tough. We got engaged right as everything started shutting down due to COVID-19 and we never thought our January wedding could potentially be affected by this pandemic. Yet, here we are months later and it’s still going on. So many of our friends have chosen to postpone their Fall 2020 weddings and my heart breaks for every one of them. However, the way we see it (and with January still 5 months away) there are two possibilities: A) everything could be perfectly fine by January or B) everything could still be this bad next year if we choose to postpone.

Because there are so many unknowns, Jared and I decided to continue with our wedding planned for January 2, 2021 and not postpone. The biggest issue is that about half the guest list is comprised of my family from New Jersey. While there is not currently a mandatory quarantine upon return from visiting Florida, we don’t know what the future will hold.

Regardless, we are going to follow whatever guidelines our venue gives us and adjust accordingly. If we can only have 50 guests, we’ll narrow down the guest list. If we have to wear masks, we’ll find the cutest masks we can. My mom is going to have our alterations woman save fabric from hemming her dress in case she needs a mask made of it so she’ll match! If we’re able to proceed as normal, we’ll proceed as normal.

We 100% understand that some people may not feel comfortable being in a large group or may choose to not come because of other COVID factors like a quarantine when they get home. We want everyone to stay safe and healthy so we understand that everyone will choose to do what is best for them and their family. We wish this wasn’t something we had to think about, but it is our reality. We are very fortunate that our reception space is huge! We’re actually using two joining rooms because even before COVID was a thing, I wanted to make sure everyone had enough space to move around and people weren’t constantly bumping in to each other. So for those who choose to attend, you will not feel like you are too close to those around you. That was something I was very particular about when looking for venues.

Either way, we will have a blast with those who are in attendance and will feel loved and supported by those who are wishing us well from afar.