The Finishing Touches

Wow. Right now there are only 4 days until our big day!

Greg and I have spent this past weekend putting the final touches on all of the little projects we have going on. The seating chart is complete, the timeline is almost finished and our wedding ceremony is planned.

We are both quite excited about the wedding, the celebration and of course, the honeymoon! Sunday we will be heading over to England for 4 days and then over to Ireland! We cannot wait for the adventure - together!

Well, with all the craziness that we have been dealing with... We have to laugh. When people send us funny things, we laugh and laugh hard!


We hope you find this just as humorous! This photo is from Greg's birthday party a year ago this past May. Someone who I am related to with really good digital imaging skills came up with this! Don't worry Greg doesn't have his tongue pierced...yet!

We will be seeing you all so very soon!

Watch Your Mailboxes!

It is official! At about 9:20 am a very large quantity of invitations got dropped off at the local post office near my house. I am hoping that a majority of them make it to the intended recipients, but after the wedding shower invitation fiasco... who knows!

I was very nervous dropping them off. I have read and re-read these things hoping that I got them all right! I didn't see any misspellings or inaccuracies, but that doesn't mean they are there. I also had to purchase just a few more stamps because I was about 10 short for the response cards! Those will go out tomorrow - or Saturday because it is late and I am tired!

So the shower is in just 10 or so days! I cannot believe that time is moving so quickly! Greg and I are excited to get many of you together to meet and chat and enjoy a nice lunch!

See you all very soon!

Penguin Suits

Earlier this week Greg finally picked out the tuxedo that he wanted to wear and the tuxedos he wanted the guys in the wedding to wear.

We went to President Tuxedo just to price it out. We ended up getting the tuxedos from there because we felt they gave us a good deal. They gave everyone a discount and were patient with us looking and deciding.

Greg decided he wanted to have a slightly different tuxedo than the rest of the guys, but I made sure their tuxedos will still match! We did almost end up with Cornflower Blue vests and ties! I don't know how it happened except for Greg and I have a running joke that I will let him get a powder blue suit. So he was joking with the girl at the store and I think she accidentally wrote those color codes down instead of the color we asked for!

No worries though, we just called and told her about it, she checked into it and fixed it. I would have been so angry if on June 25th, the guys went to pick up their stuff and cornflower blue vests and ties would have been there... Man! Now I just have to get Greg to call the guys and explain the deal and what to do!

Guys are so lucky though... They don't have to pay all that much and whatever they get doesn't have to stay in their closet for ever never to be worn again! LOL!

We Get To Have Our Cake And Eat It Too!

We tackled yet another big one on the list this weekend! We finally ordered our cake!

I think it is safe to say that Greg and I were a little more than annoyed and suprised by the cost of a piece of cake. Never mind the tackiness of some examples and the horrible taste of others... We didn't really know what we wanted to do because we refused to pay so much money for something we were not impressed with!

After flipping through many wedding magazines and cake books we thought out all of our options. Do we want to go all out? Do we want a fake cake with a sheet cake in the back? Do we want to just forget the cake and have a dessert table? Yikes!

This weekend we had another appointment with a woman who makes cakes. We spoke on the phone a few times, I explained how we just wanted simple and it felt like no one could just do simple anymore!! She agreed and promised she could and would do simple.

Greg and I met up with her, after about 10 minutes we had our cake design picked out and she had our color samples cut from my little samples of fabric that I have. We paid her and left with the little mini cake that she made us.

Yeah.. yeah... we bought the cake from her before we even tasted it! That is because we could tell by the little cake she made us that it was the right frosting!

For less that one third the cost of a cake from out here in the city we got exactly what we wanted. Once we got home and tasted the cake... we were soooo pleased with our decision! I don't think I have ever seen Greg so enthused with cake in my life. There is hardly any left from the sample one! We may have to call her sometime in the next 110 days to get another one! LOL!

One Down, Two to Go!

Greg and I have a small list of things left that we need to investigate for our wedding. We need a limo, tuxedo place and a cake.

This past weekend we finally took care of the limo portion of the wedding and it felt pretty good to check one more thing off of our "to-do" list! After calling many places within quite a large radius... we decided to go with a very local place with a wide variety of cars.

Of course, I really wanted the 1956 Cadillac limo. We couldn't get it because it didn't hold enough people. We ended up getting a pretty nice limo at a very affordable price.

We did start the cake hunting. A little bit of tasting and getting ideas on what we like and don't like from some local places. Of course that was a yummy task to take care of!!

Tasting Our Dinner

Greg and I finally had a tasting at the reception location. As a consumer, I found it so strange that venues will not let you taste the dinner you may or may not be eating until you book the hall! We had trust in the Mabry Center that the food would be just fine... but like anyone else spending a lot of money on a reception, we wanted to be sure.

Finally a date worked out that Greg and I could make it to the hall. It ended up being Saturday, February 2nd. I also timed it to have one of the chair cover vendors come to the hall. I was able to have my chair covers chosen before the tasting - which was one more thing that I didn't have to worry about!

Once the tasting started it was pretty straight forward. Get up, get food, taste it, if you like it have more... or not. Try the fondue machine, drool over and step away slowly and carefully! Like most of the other gals there, we used the excuse that there was fruit under that yummy chocolate that made it OK to eat! LOL!

In the end, Greg and I discovered a few things that we didn't like a few things we liked and even more things we loved. I am very glad that we had the opportunity to try some of the food before having to choose a menu in just a few months! I think three to be exact!

Checklist Update!

So far at the knot.com I have completed 39 items on their little to-do list. Unfortunately today I received an email telling me that I was slacking on my wedding planning. Supposedly I am over due on 13 items on their handy checklist.

• Contact newspapers to announce your engagement (you may need to have an engagement photo taken as well). Not so sure we are even doing this!
• Finalize the guest list. I am trying - really I am!!!
• Start looking into registering for gifts. Already!?!? Yikes!
• Request demo tapes from ceremony musicians. Hmmm.... Do we really want those violinists?
• Think about how you might want to wear your hair. Again, trying...
• Begin looking for a baker to make your cake. Cake tasting --- yummm...
• Brides: Start shopping for bridesmaids dresses. Does trying to schedule a date count?
• Make sure your maid of honor and best man are aware of what you expect of them. Like what? Making sure I don't go crazy?
• Register for your wedding gifts. I thought we already went over this???
• Brides: Decide on the bridesmaid dresses. Again, wasn't this above somewhere.
• Purchase and send guests save-the-dates if your celebration is over a holiday weekend or at a faraway locale. Ugh, I don't know about that one...
• Book a baker, choose your wedding cake design, and send a deposit. I thought it said to look above... We must really be behind!
• Brides: Collect necessary measurements from attendants or pass along vender information so that they can order the dresses themselves. Hopefully this is not necessary and they will get dresses together when we go shopping...

I think it is the lists like this that are stressing me out! Geesh! Hopefully this shower business will be finalized soon and more stress will be relieved!

Another Money Saver!

I am quite determined to save money on this wedding in any way possible. With just under nine months to go I have decided it is time to start practicing with making my own head piece and veil. With the assistance of my Aunt Jenny, Greg's mom and my friend Elizabeth I have been deciding what supplies I need, how to design the stuff and what I might change to make it better.

A little over a month ago, my Auny Jenny and I went to JoAnn Fabric in Portage and bought some odds and ends to get some ideas for a veil. After lots of surfing on the web and playing around I think I know that for the cost of $20 at the most I will have a lovely pearl trimmed finger-tip length veil... Instead of a plain somewhat sparkly veil for $150!!

Then Greg's mom and I went to JoAnns in Utica. We were there a while and Greg even tagged along because dinner at Macroni Grill was involved... We found tons of things to use on a veil and head piece. I got pretty pearls, swarovski crystals, clear beads and wire. $10 and 45 minutes later I had a headpiece. A headpiece that my friend who does hair said will be perfect to use!

Bammmmm! I saved even more money! Greg does not understand. If I could rent a wedding dress and all the goods along with it for FIFTY whole dollars - I wouldn't understand either!

I found THE dress!

I finally found it! Well, I found it a while ago so I should say, "I finally bought it!" The very first time I tried on dresses with Melissa I found it, I just didn't know that I found it at the time.

I went back to the store with Jenny at happened across the same dress. It looked familiar but I wasn't sure if it was the same one. I put it on and it fit like a glove and I fell in love... I danced around in it and made sure it would be comfortable sitting in it and all that good stuff. The only problem was that the dress was a little above my price range.

The women at the store were awesome enough to give me the style number and designer name. Of course I spent the next few days looking for the dress on the internet. Low and behold, I found the dress for almost $300 less than it was in the store! After shipping and insurance, I could save $250!

I found a local seamstress to look at the dress and tell me her opinion on the alterations. She charged about the same as the store that sold the dress so I went ahead and bought it online! I even got to order the propper length that I needed. As we all know, I need a little extra help in that area :)

So - in a few months or so, I should have my wedding dress!

I would offer a picture of it, but since Greg also looks at this site - I can't! Sorry!

Finally Booked It!

I cannot believe we have been engaged for a year and two months already... Do you know what that means? In 10 months we will be married! I think it is about time we finally booked our hall in writing right? We should have done that a few months ago!

Originally we wanted to have our wedding reception at my work in one of the halls there. Once I priced out the dinner with our catering company I quickly realized the reality of it all. The catering company at my work charges way too much for food!! It is not my work that charges too much money, it is the catering company that works out of there that is a rip off!

Anyhow, quite a long time ago Greg found this hall called the Mabry Center. It is very close to the church and close to local hotels and expressways. The venue is only 4 years old and is not out dated like the other places in the area that we could afford.

It took a while to find a number to contact someone at. When I finally got ahold of them we set up a meeting and checked it out. The prices were awesome, the menu was great and from what we met of the staff - they all seemed just fine! We put our name down for our date and the sales rep told me she would call if anyone wanted our date.

We kept in touch here and there, but with time moving so quickly I wanted to just get hall finalized for us on our date. Just yesterday, I finally put down the deposit on the hall! It was a reassuring feeling to know that we can check that off the list officially and that I can tell work that I won't be having my reception there.

Things are very slowly coming together... Now... about the dress...

Another Show

The wedding planning has been pretty uneventful lately. To me that is good because I have three weeks of my semester left at school and then I start my final one!

My friend Amy and I went to a bridal show at the Troy Marriott. It was kind of crazy there, but somehow it was organized. I got more ideas and more useful information from vendors. Again, I did not win any door prizes, but my friend won a few things - so that is cool!

I did get to meet the woman who is doing the body boot camp that I want to join when I graduate school. It got me a little more excited about joining, especially when she introduced me to a girl that is enrolled in the class now. I wish I could start taking the class now!

I need to be patient. I plan on joining in July.

Are we going to actually spend money?

Greg and I still haven't actually spent any money on the wedding aside from the rings that he purchased over a year ago! We have decided that we want to put money down on the reception hall so we can start getting rid of that big expense, but the hall is waiting for their 2007 menu to come out so we can get the contract situated and signed. I do have an appointment scheduled for next Friday where I hope to get a contract and give a deposit!

We might also have our photographer picked out! I was a little worried about being able to find someone who was willing to hand over the images that we get taken in good quality digital form... For those of you wondering what that means, reprints will have a cost of where ever the images are printed!

I met with a photographer from AKA O'Mara studios. Anna is the photographer and I got a great vibe from her! Her pictures online were good and her printed images were even better in person. I think (and I hope) that I asked all the right questions. I know I probably missed some, but.. what can I do?

Now - in the next week or so, we may be putting money down or a photographer and signing a contract with her! That seems like an awful lot of things taken care of!

The Checklist

According to the knot, we should have the following items completed so far.

To my suprise we have all of this and then some things completed!

• Begin envisioning your wedding. check - completed many many years ago! Just kidding.


• Decide on a budget. check - that's been the hardest part so far!


• Make sure to insure your engagement ring. check! - did that as soon as I got it


• Pick your preferences for a wedding date and time. check - June 27, 2008!


• Begin asking family AND friends FOR local wedding vendor recommendations. check


• Brides: It's never too early to begin thinking about your gown. check


• Start interviewing caterers. check


• Scout out reception sites. check - we have our place!


• Start looking for an officiant who suits your style and spirit. check - of course.. Fr. Mike!


• Get organized! Start a notebook for all of your wedding-planning paperwork. check


• Brides: Begin looking at pictures of gowns online and in magazines. check


• Choose a color scheme. check