As of today, the wedding is exactly 18 days away. That’s an eighteen with a ‘1’ and an ‘8’. 18! Almost two weeks! For my loyal followers, thats exactly 592 days since our engagement, and it is incredible how fast it actually went. I was trying to find the most appropriate picture to summary our Lauren and I are feel right now, but nothing truly embodies our current emotional state, so instead here’s a picture of a REALLY cute puppy, because that’s what we need right now…a cute picture of a puppy.

With 18 days to go, Lauren and I are working nonstop to finalize final details, work with our vendors and overall trying to reduce our stress levels to ensure everybody will have a great time celebrating with us. With that in mind, there’s a few extra details I wanted to pass along to those of you who will be attending.

Seeing how the reception is scheduled to last until 10:30, there may be some of you that wish to extend the party a little further. For those of you staying at the Holiday Inn, you’ll notice that the Ameristar Casino is directly connected to the hotel. If gambling isn’t your style, the bar and grill located directly outside the Casino, Amerisports, will have live music until 1:00am with no cover charge. They have a full bar at reasonable prices and even a dance floor, if the mood suites you. That night, Taxi Driver will be performing and you can find out more by following this link. Please note that you must be 21+ to enter the bar. On a similar note, if you are in town on Thursday night (9/15), the same bar has Country Thursdays and will feature the Dylan Bloom Band, again with no cover.

The morning after the wedding (9/17), the Holiday Inn will have a free breakfast for guests beginning at 8:00am and continuing to 10:00am. Because we have 30 or so rooms booked for the wedding, they have graciously allowed us to take the General Dodge Banquet room during that time so we can all be present to enjoy each other’s company. Lauren and I will be down around 9 that morning, so please come by before you leave!

These activities are meant to enhance our everybody’s stay as I know a lot of you have come a great distance to celebrate with us. The wedding is only 18 days away (!) and I can’t wait to see you all there!