2009 Wedding Tour

2009 has been a whirlwind of weddings, and all things related, from engagement parties, to bridal showers to bachelor & bachelorette parties for some of our closest friends. Here's a run down of all the weddings we attended (and were invited to) this year:

1. Mar 20, 2009: Kristin & Joey
2. May 23, 2009: Carmen & Dawn
3. June 20, 2009: Jennifer & Brian
4. July 25, 2009: Jessica & Shane
5. July 31, 2009: Bridget & Johnny
6. Sept 12, 2009: Liam & Maura
7. Oct 24, 2009: Jace & Sean
8. Nov 8, 2009: John & Amy
9. Nov 21, 2009: Rita & Paul

I think that's all of them! And now we've got our first friend that is pregnant so looks like we're moving into the next stage. We are truly blessed and lucky to have such wonderful friends that we have been able to be a part of their special day and share in their happiness in some beautiful unions.

Slow Cooker Heaven

One of the greatest gifts (or so I think) that we have received off our registry so far is a new crockpot. Some might say I am actually obsessed with my crockpot. But in a day and age where I spend more time in my car than I do in my kitchen, this is the greatest invention! A crock pot allows you to throw in raw ingredients in the morning, leave for work, and let the crock pot do all the work and you will arrive home to a delicious aroma and dinner! Ready the minute you walk in the door. The tough part is when we use it when we are home all day and you have to smell the food all day. Every time we walk by the crock pot we stand over it and look at it and take in the delicious aromas coming from it.

Prior to this we had a very small and very old crockpot (although Mike finds it to be a vintage classic and wouldn't let me get rid of it). I've been able to make all kinds of delicious meals in it, from some beef stew to cooking an ENTIRE chicken in it. Yes thats right, put in an entire chicken and by the time it is ready the chicken is so moist and it literally falls right off the bone. In fact for Christmas I actually got the same slow cooker cook book from both my Mother and my Mother-in-Law. So I am definately thoroughly enjoying my new crockpot! I'll have to post some of my new favorite recipes sometime.

Another Semester - Check

I am happy to announce that I've officially completed another semester towards my Master's Degree. With two more classess finished this semester that brings my remaining total to just FIVE more classes until I've got my degree, and I can't wait for that day! I think this semester has gone by the fastest, the 15 weeks of classes seemed to fly by. This semester I completed: HR Strategy III: Measurement Issues and Creating & Managing Organizational Change. Looking ahead to next semester, I've got Managing Workforce Flow (Staffing) and Managing Rewards Systems (Compensation) coming up next!

Surprise! It's Your Shower

Earlier this month in what was surely a surprise we hosted (one of my best friends) Andrea's Bridal Shower. On a perfect December day and an introduction to the Christmas season, we gathered at Andrea's Matron of Honor's-Mother's House for a small & intimate event.

Put together by all of the bridesmaids it was a beautiful day, filled with lots of Bridal & Christmas Cheer. The house was beautifully decorated and the food was mouth-watering. Each of the bridesmaids brought the food for the event and was passed around by servers. My contribution was hot spinach-artichoke dip (like at Applebees), tomato-mozzarella skewers and a giant salad (with craisons, pecans, Gorgonzola cheese and lot's of other yummy things in it).

When Andrea arrived she was so surprised, the Matron of Honor Rea had to tell her, "it's your bridal shower" because she was so taken aback. She received lots of beautiful gifts and a great addition to their new marriage was that each guest was asked to bring a Christmas ornament to fill their tree. I can't believe their wedding is almost here and in less than 2 months Andrea will wed her southern gentleman!

O'Christmas Tree

Just a glimse of the 2009 Family Christmas Tree

Bee-utiful Bride Rita

Our final wedding of the year was one of my best friends from college Rita. On a beautiful fall, and slightly chilly day in November, Rita married her college sweetheart Paul. He was actually one of my roommates as well senior year when it all began :-) (well not officially our roommate, but it felt like he could be). We were there when it all began that year and hard to believe it's 5 years already!

They were married at Rita's childhood church in Yonkers, NY. It was a beautiful Catholic ceremony with the groom dressed in full Scottish gear - kilt and all! It was a small and intimate ceremony with just her sister and best friend standing by her side, oh and of course her adorable niece and nephew. After a beautiful and personal homily the couple were joined in Holy Matrimony.

For the cocktail hour we had some prime seats and I mean prime. We were right near the kitchen so every appetizer passed right by us and there were plenty to go around, and we tried them all, and all of them were GOOOD. After that it was onto the reception which also incorporated elements of Rita's cultural history. There was a breaking bread ceremony and dancing with the bride (for a small price) and of course the great band playing in the background.

It was a beautiful day seeing the couple tie the knot and being there from the beginning!

Flowers - Check

One more item to check off the list and I couldn't be more excited about it. I had almost canceled the appointment earlier in the week after I had met with two florists and the first met my criteria and budget. Boy am I glad that I didn't cancel the appointment. From the moment I arrived at the appointment till the moment we left I was so excited about every idea put in front of me. Everything just seemed to fit so perfectly and the design work was amazing!

Laurie (owner and designer) of Laurelwood Designs truly knows her stuff and her done her homework. Her picture website alone was filled tons of examples so I was able to browse through in advance and show her just what I was looking for.

For the bouquets Laurie understood the richness I was looking for out of the flowers. The bouquets are going to include: confetti roses, mango calla lillies, brown hyperain berries, leonida roses and other small details. Laurie was a headpiece designer before she went into the floral business so she loves the small details to finish off the wrap of the flowers whether it's incorporating pearls or crystal accents or other things to match. Then for the church we are going to keep it simple with just some beautiful aisle bows, with satin ribbons and fall leaves and berries tied into it.

My favorite ideas revolve around the reception items. I was so excited when I saw a picture on Laurie's website that she does the pumpkins for the name table cards. That was one item I was looking into doing and the fact that Laurie is able to do it and provide the pumpkins and red apples is so fantastic - it's one less item I have to worry about taking care of! Then if that wasn't enough in the center of that table she will CARVE us a funkin (a non perishable pumpkin) with our wedding monogram in it - so the leaves from our save the date that Mike's dad designed - I couldn't believe it when I heard this! And then she'll decorate the table with fall leaves and votives, and do the same on the cocktail hour tables, and our sweetheart table too.

There were just so many great ideas that she brought up during our meeting I was overwhelmed, I don't even think I could remember them all right now. Of course there's the centerpieces for the tables. Which will look similar to the picture here. But Laurie will also incorporate mini red apples into also. I love the candle in the middle and even just the foliage is the perfect share and gives it that rustic fall felling. In addition she'll put votives around it and fall leaves on the table. I knew by the time she was finished going over all of the ideas with us and she even came in right at budget (I was so worried that it was going to be more) I had no doubt in my mind she was the perfect florist for me. I booked her on the spot without even consulting Mike - and he was sitting right next to me! I could not be more excited for working with Laurie and the flowers for our wedding!

Save The Date

Although we're still a good 11 months out from the wedding we decided we would go ahead and send out the save the dates. As we know from personal experience calendars to fill up fast so we wanted to make sure we got the date out there to everyone! (Although all of the important people already know the date already). We were lucky enough that Mike's dad was able to custom design our save the date for us and also that two of our great friends (Anna and Dennis) got us our save the dates as an engagement gift (much thanks to them - they both rock!)

We headed off to Staples to find some envelopes and also label stickers. I came to the conclusion that the envelopes were apparently too small for our printer to handle, so label stickers it was. So picture Mike and I in Staples on a Saturday morning (Mike is hungry and wants to get to Dunkin Doughnuts) and I said since the envelope size we needed did not come with a peel off sticker to seal them, they would need to be sealed. Now I wanted to purchase one of those moisture things, which I estimated to be maybe $5, apparently I over estimated turns it out it was only 99 cents! (Mike now says hind sight is 20/20).

So now it came down to assembly time, we had the box of magnets, envelopes, labels and Mike to seal the envelopes. My side of the production went well, I was in charge of well pretty much everything except sealing the envelopes - as we know that was Mike's job. I was reminded of the Seinfeld episode where George & Susan bought the cheap wedding invitations and Susan died from licking the envelopes.

Although I'm told it tasted disgusting at times Mike did manage to seal all the envelopes. So if you should happen to receive one in the mail and you've read this post you will appreciate that Mike sealed that envelope with love for you and he is forever scarred of envelope taste forever - and next time he'll let me purchase the envelope moistener for 99 cents!

Flowers & More Flowers

In continuing my search I met with another florist yesterday afternoon. I attempted to drag Mike with me but he was having none of that. He claims that guys do not go to florist appointments, although I beg to differ, but anyway... I headed off on my own to the appointment.

The florist did have a lot of experience, that much was clear and her work was beautiful. Her style was quite different than that of the other florist that I met with. Although her work was beautiful I must admit I was disappointed in comparison to the other. The other florist had a great deal of passion and enthusiasm for all of my fall ideas and worked to incorporate all of those ideas into the plan. I never even got to discuss my ideas and theme for the wedding with this florist. Both coming in at virtually the same budget, I'm def going to say this one was off the table.

Now my only decision is do I book the original florist I met with right now or I had two other appointments set up, do I go to those first and then book. Decisions, decisions...

Beautiful Fall Day

On what was an absolutely beautiful fall day (especially for early November) Mike's very best friend from childhood married his best friend Amy in what was a beautiful small, intimate wedding. With their closest friends and family present John & Amy had their perfect wedding. Amy was absolutely a true princess in her poofy, princess dress. It was everything she had wanted and dreamed about for so long.

Following the ceremony guests headed off to The Tides Estate for the reception. We were greeted with a fantastic cocktail hour with all kinds of delicious foods like coconut shrimp, eggplant rollatini, tortellini al fredo, pizza, and of course all the classic salads, cheeses and many other delicious items. After that it was on to the main event where we danced the night away to some classic 80's songs and had a great time celebrating John & Amy's marriage!

Domestic Diva

..... I think not

In an attempt to be all domestic and make a lovely meal for me and the fiance, I thought it would be nice to make a nice oven roaster chicken with some classic sides. Now me not being the culinary wizard, I asked my mom how to prepare the chicken and she said to just put it in the oven, so that's exactly what I did. An hour and a half later I went to take the chicken out of the oven and attempted to cut it to see if it was done. While cutting it I pondered.... "Where is all the white meat?" Only to determine it was on the BOTTOM, I had cooked the chicken upside down....I'm sure 20 years from now I will be a pro at making some delicious oven roasted chickens - a cook's got to start somewhere right? :-)

Halloween's Past

As you know by now the fall is one of our favorite seasons. There's so many great parts to the season that we enjoy. Unfortunately this year we haven't had much spare time to enjoy some of our favorite fall activities. There won't be any new costume's or parties this year, in fact I haven't even bought any candy yet for the trick-or-treaters tomorrow! I'm hoping that things will quiet down and we'll have more time in the future. For now I was thinking back to our past Halloween's together. We've had some great Halloween parties & costumes along the way (although you will notice a trend with Stewie). Anyway here's a look back at our Halloween's Past (2005 - 2008)

Engagement Pictures

Today we took our engagement pictures with John & Lovina Arcara (John Arcara Photography) - the pictures are nothing less than amazing! I know I might be a bit jaded because they are our pictures but they are awesome. When I had asked John about taking our e-pics at an apple orchard he was totally open to it. We started the session out at John & Lovina's house. Lovina was pouring with excitement over all these great local places she had in mind to take pictures.

We started the journey out literally taking pictures in the middle of the road with beautiful trees all around us. It was a little dangerous at times but all in the name of a good picture. In fact one woman even stopped to voice her opinion about our picture location - ironically she was wearing devil ears LITERALLY - I wonder if that was her Halloween costume or true to life?

We also made stops along the way at some random locations, a country road looking driveway with picket fences. Mike and I took pictures sitting o the ground. We moved onto other places like a nearby apple orchard where John had a blue hundred year old chair in the trunk of his car he had brought along. He dragged it out to the middle of the orchard for us to sit on in the middle of the trees - so unique! We even got to play around in some leaves and throw some at one another.

We had a blast with John & Lovina. They are such a dynamic & energetic pair with a lot of creativity and passion for what they do. I can't wait to see the rest of our epics and of course the wedding pictures!

Pumpkins a Blaze

Westchester County, NY is the home of the American Legend - The Headless Horseman which takes place in Sleepy Hollow. So of course they've got all the great Halloween Legends & Events to go along with it's history. "The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze is a Halloween spectacle integrating thousands of hand-carved pumpkins — everything from your standard Jack O’ Lantern to extremely elaborate abstract designs — lit up throughout the landscape of Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., in various arrangements — thematic, conceptual, and otherwise. This event pays tribute and homage to Halloween, and the home of the American heritage of Halloween: Sleepy Hollow Country."

I've wanted to go for a few years now. We actually had tickets last year but were unfortunately rained out. Although two of our friends were supposed to join us when we purchased tickets this year they couldn't make it, so Mike being a good sport went along for the ride with just me.

There were over 4,000 different carved pumpkins. It was amazing. The pumpkins were carved in all shapes & themes. Ranging from a pumpkin patch of black cats, mice, , bats, flowers and more in all shapes and sizes. As we wound through the different sections there were all different themes. They had pumpkins together in a block carved out like the human body, there was a giant pirate ship, aliens, Celtic themed pumpkins, butterflies, and just too many different things to name and remember them all! There was even a pumpkin patch of sunflowers which was really neat.

I have to say I really enjoyed the Blaze and was quite impressed by the amount of pumpkins and the talent that went into carving so many pumpkins!

Marriage Prep

Some refer to it as "pre-cana" others refer to it as "marriage preparation class" the intent of the program is "is aimed at assisting engaged couples to fully understand the Church's beautiful vision of marriage and to equip them with the information and tools necessary to deal with the day to day joys and struggles of married life." We recently completed our Marriage Preparation class at St. Mary's in Pompton Lakes.

The day was filled with different couples and topics all featured around discussing difficult issues with your spouse. Aside from introductions and some nice readings they opened the day with a fun version of the "newlywed game" with 4 featured couples, I have to say the host was actually quite funny and entertaining. After that we broke up into small groups. I was amazed when we walked in just to see how many couples were actually in attendance.

Our small group was made up of about 6 other couples. We spent the majority of our day with this small group. The topics centered around introducing important life topics into your life with your spouse. There were discussions on family life, barriers to commitment/conflict resolution, finance and spirituality. It was actually a really fun day interacting with other couples in a similar to position to what Mike and I are going through. Be it planning a wedding, or questions around living together and dealing with conflict. I was also surprised by the fact that it was ok to discuss living with your partner in an open manner. I had been expecting a priest or not be able to discuss that topic.

The last task of the day given to us was to write each a love letter and discuss our hopes and dreams for our future together. The church will mail us the letters the week before the wedding. I thought that was such a perfect way to end the day - I know I can't wait to read my letter from Mike before our wedding!

Work, School, Wedding

Life has been pretty busy lately. I'm a bit behind on updating my blog, between work, school, commuting, planning a wedding and attending many of our friends weddings and events there hasn't been much time to keep up with it. I am happy though that the semester has been flying by and will soon be over, but that also means that time is just flying by too! I'm taking two classes on two nights a week this semester, one of which I travel to Jersey City for (not a fan of the traffic, it's a lovely ride). But at least after this semester I'll be down to just 5 more classes, so I'm getting there! I am planning to take the semester off of the wedding but if all goes as planned, I'll be graduating the following semester in May 2011 - and I can't wait!

Gotta Have Bling

Every girl's got to have a little bit of sparkle or bling for her wedding day. My mom and I were recently shopping at Macy's and while we were in the jewelry department we both saw this necklace stand out at us and thought it would be perfect for my wedding dress. Since the dress is very simple and doesn't have too much going on, I thought it would be nice to add some extra sparkle and attention with a necklace. This necklace had the perfect neckline to go with my dress, so we picked it up. Can't wait to see how it looks with my dress!

Fantastic Feast

For our "negative one anniversary" (as Mike likes to call it), I just call it our future wedding anniversary we decided to celebrate by going to dinner at The Manor. We choose to do the al la carte dinning, they also offer a buffet option as well. I must say it was probably our fanciest dinner that Mike and I have been to, Mike had to buy and wear a jacket - a requirement for dining there and I dressed up for the occasion as well. Everything thing about our evening and our meal was absolutely wonderful and perfect!

When we arrived we were taken to a table near the window throughout the evening we were serenaded by a wonderful pianist playing right in the middle of the room. The room itself was beautiful, all the classic, traditional style that The Manor has to offer. We were greeted by extremely polite and professional wait staff. Of course you know the way to my heart is with bread. Now this was not your standard dinner roll selection. The waiter came over with an entire platter of bread selections to choose from. The options ranged from olive bread, to garlic rolls, to garlic toast, to cheese "sticks" to baguettes, to even more. And trust me I sampled several of them and they were all delicious. My personal favorite was the onion roll, which had the same pieces of onion inside - and this was only the bread selection!

After we placed our order (I'll get into that next) we were brought out one of the many chef's complimentary meals. They brought out a small rectangular plate that had what looked like a small espresso cup on the left and the right side of the plate held an egg. In the espresso cup was a squash soup, which was so sweet, I've never tasted anything like it before. On the right in the egg was some type of mushroom truffle which was also delicious.

For my meal I ordered from a special fixed course chef's menu so my next course to arrive was a "provencal vegetable and goat cheese parfait" with aged balsamic vinegar. The presentation itself was beautiful, the parfait was in a perfect circle with the goat cheese on top and the vegetables below it. It was delicious! At the same time Mike's first course arrived as well. He had ordered the "lobster bisque" soup which he said was the best he'd ever had. His dish arrived with just the pieces (big pieces) of lobster on the bottom, then as part of the presentation they come and pour the bisque part of the soup in right in front of you.

Following this my next course arrived - my FAVORITE of the evening! It was "wild mushroom ravioli" in a cognac sauce. Words cannot describe how delicious they were. It was was a touch of cream sauce the wild mushrooms in the homemade pasta - FANTASTIC!!!!

After this it was on to our main entrees. For me it was "olive-oil poached salmon" served with wilted baby spinach, hen of the woods mushrooms, lemon grass emulsion. The salmon was absolutely delicious, it seemed to melt in your mouth and was cooked to absolute perfection. So much flavor, it was savory and delicious, certainly one of the best pieces of salmon I've ever had. For Mike, who's clearly a steak man, he had the classic "filet mignon" with truffled mashed potatoes, haricot verts, baby carrots. Although I did not get to taste the filet I can tell you that there was none left, I did taste the mashed potatoes which were delicious.

And just when we didn't think we could eat anymore we were brought along another chef's complementary course. The time it was some type of cheese sorbet (in the shape of an egg) but underneath it was TOASTED COCONUT, a favorite of mine, and a few pieces of pineapple. Also quite delicious.

On to dessert next. I convinced my wonderful fiancee to take one for the team and eat my chocolate mouse that came with my entree so that I could order the "strawberry mille-feuille" vanilla cake, strawberries, vanilla cookie, frozen yogurt souffle, champagne sabayon. What more can I say, it lived up to all my expectations that's for sure. Along with this we were served coffee and a box of the chef's complementary chocolates of which we couldn't even eat we were so stuffed by this point.

All I can say is that it was one of the most delicious meals we have ever been to and I cannot wait for our wedding there and of course to go back on all of our future anniversary's so that I can have even more of the delicious food!

Beautiful Blooms

I don't know what I was thinking at the time I scheduled the appointment but I decided that I wanted to take on another task and start the process of looking for and interviewing florists. I started off slowly with just one florist in mind to start. Actually Mike's hairdresser had recommended her, so that was my first place to start.

I met with Joann from Blooming Brides. She was absolutely wonderful. Not knowing what to expect from a florist for wedding flowers, or if my budget would even cover it, she made the process so easy. She was very honest with her ideas about things in her opinion that worked and didn't work. She had a lot of experience and it was evident that she knew her flowers and knew The Manor quite well.

Joann totally understood my ideas related to the fall and has so many great ideas on how to incorporate them into the flowers. She talked about adding gourds, and mini apples and pumpkins into the table centerpieces, something I had not seen at a wedding before. She also had ideas for card table with cylinders of wheat from a local farm.

As for the bouquets, I loved her ideas of monochromatic shades of orange. She definitely understood my vision for the flowers and events. One of the flowers that she wants to use in the bouquets are the circus roses (pictured on the left) as well as mango calla lillies (the guys will have these also). I was very happy with my meeting with Joann, I think she had a lot of great ideas which would really work well for our wedding!

One Year To Go!

We've officially hit the one year to go mark! The past five months have just flown by so quickly. It feels like just yesterday that Mike popped the big question and we were jet setting off on our trip to Europe to go see London & Paris - on what was I think our best trip yet! I'll still never forget that night and the picture in my mind. And now here we are with less than a year to go until we become Husband and Wife. We can now say the next October 23rd to come around will be our wedding day & anniversary from this one forward - so exciting!

Prenuptual Investigation

No we're not getting a prenup.... apparently that is what the form is called that you fill our with your priest. We traveled over the bridge and through the woods to grandmothers house we go -- no that's not right but we traveled over the bridge and through the traffic to get ourselves to Long Island yesterday morning Although Mike swore no more trips to Long Island (can't say I blame him) we needed to go meet with our Priest that will be marrying us and fill out our 'catholic marriage paperwork.'

With me I brought original copies of baptism, communion & confirmation certificates. Our Priest told us he has never seen such pristine copies and all the documents at one time brought by couples before! After he documented all of our religious dates we got to the question part. There were questions such as have you ever been treated for drugs/alcohol, have you ever been married before, do you enter into this marriage freely, which Mike proceeded to answer - well if you count her twisting my arm, and then were a few questions similar to vows, to which I told Mike that's it, he's stuck with me forever :-) Or maybe I'm stuck with him. And then we signed the document and our paperwork was completed. After we complete our pre-cana at the end of the month we'll go back and plan out the mass, readings, etc. So we are moving right along!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

The fall has always been our FAVORITE season. From the weather (although we seem to be lacking in the fall weather dept) to the trees changing colors (hmm haven't had much of that either so far this year) to apple picking (even apple picking isn't looking so hot in terms of fitting into our schedule this year) - but at least there's always a quick trip for pumpkin picking!

Now I probably would have walked all over the field to pick the perfect pumpkin but Mike likes to get right to the point sometimes . I was happy just getting some funny pictures as you can see below. We had a fun time & got some classic Rachel & Mike type shots. Mike let me pick out 2 pumpkins, one BIG one and one small one. I carried the small one! 29lbs later we were on our way with our beautiful pumpkins.

Super Sonic

For years (or so it feels like) we have always seen commericals for 'Sonic' but there was never a sonic to be seen or heard of - until recently that is! A few months ago we noticed that a brand new Sonic has appeared on Route 46 near our house. But every time we drive by, wether early or late they are always packed. Cars are always spilling out onto Route 46 and at times there has even been a cop directing traffic. So when we had to go to Men's Warehouse, located right next door, we decided to walk on over and check it out - since driving in didn't seem like an option.

I was amazed by how many cars were waiting there to pull into a parking spot and be served their fast food by a server on rollerblades. I attempted to be a waitress at Applebees (that lasted for about a month - I was a horrible waitress) and that was on two feet. I cannot imagine skating around on rollerblades while delivering food and drinks in a busy parking lot. Needless to say I would not be very coordinated at doing so.

We ordered our Chicken Strip Dinner & Drink (for a mere $3.99) and some cheddar poppers on the order board (there's no inside to the restaurant) and sat outside and waited at a table for our food to be delivered to us by a server on rollerblades. All & all it was good food for the money considering it was still fast food. They had a little bit of a different variety than your traditional McDonalds or Burger King. But man did those shakes look good - but I don't think my wedding dress will fit if I had those all the time!

A Go What?

A Gobo. A Gobo ("GOes Before Optics") is a thin circular plate with holes cut in it to create patterns of projected light. Ie: Monograms and any other designs on a wedding dance floor for example (like the one in the picture to the right). One of the services that we can throw into our DJ package for a small fee is getting our own custom gobo.

Going back to incorporating the design that Mike's dad custom made for us - we could potentially use the two leaves with our initials and linked together in the heard as our custom gobo. Which I think would be really cool. Totally not something we need to do but it would be a cool custom extra feature to include!

Wedding Vendors

I have to say the most difficult part about planning a wedding so far has been finding the right vendors. The process has been quite time consuming if you don't know where to start looking. From looking at lists of vendors on the knots, to recommendations on the knot boards, compiling lists and then clicking through websites. For narrowing down the photographer vendor search I must have clicked on at least 150 photographer websites and then had a running lit in word with ratings scale and comments.

Then after you've made your list of who you want to meet with its on to the next hurdle of contacting them for more information, reviewing that and then scheduling appointments to meet with them. And finding time to meet with all these different vendors is no easy feat with my busy schedule. School two nights a week isn't helping any either. Of course from the meeting you can tell who you like and who you don't. After that it's down to decision time.

A few things have sparked writing this post.

1. A vendor that made me feel guilty about my decision
2. Vendors that stalk you!

I'm not going to get into my whole long story about the first item, I attempted to but I was all over the place.... Maybe some other time....

I'm also not a big fan of being 'stalked' by vendors. We've had two particular DJ companies that have left us MULTIPLE phone messages and emails. The one even got my name wrong and called me Renee. I appreciate that vendors are in sales and are trying to follow up on sales leads but please don't called me 8x and keep sending me personal emails, especially if I've responded that I got the info and I'll look it over. One or two follows up is enough, not 7 or 8!

Anyway, that's enough of my vendor search ranting. So I will say finding the right vendor is not easy but hopefully we've found the best for us so far and we've made educated decisions on our choices!

Bride to Bee Rita

The bee-utiful Bride to Bee Rita looked radiant at her Bridal Shower on Saturday, September 26th. The atmosphere was filled with sunshine, yellow daisy's and adorable bee decorations. As someone who dressed up as a bumblebee for Halloween and have screennames with lilbeegirl as it I certainly appreciated the design work! There was even a 'baby bumblebee in attendance.' A family member dressed up her one month old son in an adorable little bee costume - so precious. The food was delicious and the conversations great. Rita had a wonderful day and lots of fun. Before you know it, her wedding will be here - we're certainly looking forward to seeing her fiancee Paul in his kilt for the festivities!! Here's a picture of the bride-to-bee in her beeee-utiful homemade hat!

Dance the Night Away

That's exactly what we're going to do! After a long and frustrating search I'm happy to say that Mike and I have chosen our DJ. We'll be going with Gemini Productions, based out of Wayne - right near our house. It was an interesting search to say the least, meeting with the 80s rocker guy was probably the highlight of my search. I had a leading contender for a while but unfortunately he was looked a good distance away from our house and meeting with him in person became quite difficult to schedule. On a whim I called a place right near our house (actually right next door to one of my favorite wine stores - coincidence? I think not).

I even got Mike to attend the appointment - well for a brief time anyway (he had another softball game to get to) We were very happy with the services offered and the MC himself (his name is Mike - also a good sign). He's worked at the company for a long time and is the assistant manager so he had a lot of experience. He knew The Manor well and had some suggestions for us on where to set up.

I'm also excited because we'll be getting the uplighting that I had really wanted to do - I think it will brighten up the room and give it a great look. We'll also have basic lighting included too for the dance floor.

It's great to have another item checked off on our list - One less thing to worry about!

Bridal Shop Experience

So in our attempt to look at bridesmaids dresses by the designer Saison Blanche, we randomly selected a Bridal Shop that was somewhat close to the other store we were going to be near. There was another bridal salon that I knew had been recommended but it was further away so we decided to go with the one that was closer just to see the dress.

The plan was to go try on the bridesmaid dress that my maid of honor Andrea had selected for us to wear for her wedding (I hadn't seen it yet) and then at the same time look at the dress I had seen by the same designer and we would try on each others dresses and my mom would take a picture.

We arrived at the salon and the woman was less than helpful with finding the dresses. She seemed annoyed that we did not know the style number of the dresses we were looking for. We did manage the located the two we were looking for and then were looking through the racks for some other dresses to try on. While doing this we were admiring one of the dresses on the mannequin so we inquired about to which we were told by the saleswoman, "I don't take dresses off the mannequin", so I asked "ok so do you have another one or something similar", her response - "no." You're a dress shop - how do you expect to sell dresses then if you can't try it on?

We then went on to try on our two dresses, and loved them both! We wanted my mom to take a picture of the two of us - No such luck - The woman was adamant that there are no pictures allowed. Bridal Gowns I understand this policy, you're talking about a custom thousand dollar gowns - but bridesmaids dresses that you can find in any store, a dress that cost a mere $168 that I can go to the next place and try on and take pictures of weren't allowed!

While trying on our dresses, I had on the dress for Andrea's wedding. To which the woman inquired to Andrea, well where did you purchase the gowns, Andrea told her 3x, I'm not from around here, and the woman refused to let it go until she gave her a name of a store!

The woman also couldn't be bothered to get us the color swatches for the dresses. When we asked if we could see them, she was like "oh I don't know if I have them, I'll have to go look." She seemed more attentive to her dog which was roaming around the store and standing on the pedestal than she did to Andrea and I. However when my mom was looking at dresses she was quite attentive.

It was an interesting experience, and although we love the dresses and the price was certainly good - we will NOT be going back there to order my girls bridesmaids dresses - that's for sure!!

We have a Winner

After looking through many pictures online and dresses in person - I think we've found a winner for bridesmaids dresses! I was really looking for a dress that had a v-neck so that it would have straps, I know not everyone loves strapless dresses as much as I do. But the thing that I also really wanted was a sash around the dress that went down the back. While I found tons of strapless dresses with a sash it was much harder to come across a nice v-neck and one that had a long sash, but alas we found the perfect one!

The dress is by designer Saison Blanche and features a "Stylish V-neck, floor length a-line gown with pretty sash band and bow detail in back." I absolutely love the sash part, of course we don't necessarily have to tie it a bow, we can always make a nice knot out of it. I also like that it's not floor length so the girls aren't tripping over it also night!

The dress is shown in the brown color which we also be getting and then instead of the blue sash (as shown) I was looking at the bronze color. This way it will give it a small pop of color without being too overpowering and it's not like a burnt orange color and it should fit in nicely with the rest of the color scheme and still allow me to do orange flowers for the girls, and then possibly incorporate that bronze color into the guy's tuxes.

I showed the dress to all of the girls today and I'm so excited that all of them seem to love it as much as I do. I really think it will look good on all of the girls and be comfortable to wear all day especially since you don't have to wear a strapless bra. Of course we have PLENTY of time before we even have to think about ordering them, but I'm glad that I found something early that all of the girls love :-) Now I just have to stop around for the best price!

It's Ordered

It's official MY wedding dress is on it's way to being produced. Yesterday I placed the order for my wedding gown. My Mom came to NJ to see the dress and it got the Mom seal of approval. Thankfully she didn't have two hours of traffic getting to NJ this time.

It was actually kind of nice that I had two weeks in between finding the dress and actually ordering it. I got the same feeling when I put it back on yesterday and as my mom would attest to I was absolutely glowing. They pinned me into the sample and it was perfect. I love all the details and when it's my dress it will be everything I want it to be. It's so simple and traditional which I think suits me quite well. I can't wait to see it when it's all done and altered to my shape.

I walked around in the dress and my mom took what felt like 50 pictures, I think it was actually, but it's good practice for the big day in wearing my dress. I can't wait for that moment!

I'm very excited that I got to see the dress again and I have some pictures to remember it for the next 9 months. It will actually be in pretty early since I'm still like 13 months out from the wedding. Now I get to pick all the other fun details like shoes, my veil and jewelry and other fun things like that - And did I mention - I'm so excited - I have my wedding dress!!!

Black Bears

So totally random and very un-wedding related but just thought I'd share - that a BLACK BEAR just went by our house! Mike was working from his desk in the basement and while on a conference call noticed the black bear run by, he came running upstairs - and I mean running - and went out on the deck to see him, and there he was walking behind the house. We went down the hill to the left and then we lost sight of him. We did go to the front of the house to see if we could see him there but nothing.

We went back to our work and then no more than 15 minutes later he went by the house again this time going up to the right. This time I was quicker in getting my camera ready. We ran out to the deck upstairs and actually caught him on film. By this point several of the neighbors had noticed him as well and were outside on their deck to take in the sight as well.

Here's a glimpse of our neighborhood black bear. Look for him in the trees!

Something Blue

In daydreaming about my 'something blue' for the wedding I was intrigued about the idea of wearing almost the same shoes that Carrie Bradshaw wore for her wedding in the movie Sex and the City. An absolute favorite movie of mine (if not my number one favorite) it's more than just a movie to me, it's also about my best friends, the countless hours we spent watching the show together, over Chinese food and sometimes even day dreaming and looking at Bridal Magazines way back before we had even found our price charmings!

While the actual Manolo Blahnik's are way out of my price range (although ever girl should probably experience getting a pair of them at some point her life - now is not my point) There is a beautiful pair very similar to those made by designer Martinez Valero for a much more affordable price! Although I can't actually see myself wearing the beautiful blue 4-inch heels like Carrie's, it is fun to day dream about. If blue fit into my color scheme perhaps I would contemplate it even a little bit more but alas it does not go with all my autumn colors. But there is an ivory color :-)

Inspiration Board

So I have lots of fall ideas and I've collected a bunch of pictures. This photo montage reprsents some of my ideas and themes for the wedding

An Irish Wedding

Last weekend we traveled up to Connecticut to attend our friends Liam & Maura tie the knot in a Big Irish Wedding. Irish Eyes were certainly smiling on them as they tied the knot! From the moment we arrived we were greeted by two Irish Bagpipers playing on the lawn in front of the church dressed in their kilts. It was the perfect arrival.

During the ceremony I thought it was great how they incorporated different elements into their ceremony. They had the exchange of the Irish Wedding Coin - "The coin symbolizes Liam's desire to share all he has with Maura. It's kept as a family heirloom and passed down from Mother to Son on his wedding day."

As the night continued on there were many other Irish elements incorporated. One of my favorites was the card box. Which the brides mother had made herself. It was an adorable little Irish Cottage with their name written over the door. The name cards also had a little claddagh decoration on them.

Everything was tastefully done and not over the top. They had beautiful flowers, the food was delicious and the dancing was a lot of fun. I loved the flowers, I envision myself picking something similar a low simple centerpiece with some votive candles surrounding.

Good times were had celebrating the union of the two Irish clans :-)