Calm before the storm (make that non-storm, please!)

At the start of this journey, I wasn't quite sure I could pull off the wedding of my taffeta-and-lace dreams with a less-than-six-month engagement. But, the people I trust and love the most promised me it could be done. I am a planner, so this was a hard-sell. Less than a week away from the wedding, I think I can say we've done a fab job. We're the bomb.com. We've (and I strongly emphasize the we, since I could never have done this by myself without going a bit crazy) organized what I hope will be a beautiful wedding with lots of meaningful details, with the help of many of our family and friends.
In hindsight (if it's not too soon to see from the hind), I'd definitely recommend a short (6-month) engagement, especially if you have amazing helpers (like my mom). My only regret was that my mom didn't get to participate in the dress shopping, due to our time concerns for ordering the dress. She was able to consult via emailed photos (what did people do before the invention of digital photos and email???), but it wasn't exactly the same experience. Kind of like swimsuit shopping online--you have to see the look up-close and under warm dressing room lights to get the full effect (although wedding dress shopping is infinitely less depressing than swimsuit shopping, I think you'd agree). Side note: skinny mirrors are genius and should exist in all dressing rooms.
But, it worked out with the dress, and the short engagement has many perks, the primary one being a shortened period to rethink (and second guess) your wedding ideas. I went with my gut and we knocked out most of the major details in the first two months.
The timing of everything in the past few weeks has been hectic (understatement), but I'm feeling calm. I'm writing now from the dining room table in our packed-up apartment. We've packed for the movers--to haul our belongings to the house we just bought--and we're also all packed up for the honeymoon. When we get back, we'll have a new chapter to start, a new (to us) house for our new (married) life. I can't wait.