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!

Stuffing, Sealing and Sticking

The invitations, response cards, envelopes and directions are all finally printed. I am finally able to get started with the sorting and stuffing of the envelopes. Over the next few weeks I plan to take it slow and just stuff the envelopes and seal them up and get them ready to go.

I need to go to the post office with a full invitation set up and make sure I have the proper postage on the envelopes! I have read and hear so many horror stories of people not putting proper postage on their envelopes and getting them all returned to them in the mail! That would not be fun!

Only one more week left until the shower R.S.V.P's are due! After that - there is only 2 weeks or so until the shower! I cannot believe how fast time is moving! I think we are both very excited for all of our hard work and planning to pan out into a celebratory event!

The Baptism

Yesterday Greg was baptized into the Catholic church! It was such a beautiful ceremony. It was also a 5 hour long event! I am proud of Greg for the commitment and the hard work he did to get to this point!

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!

Second to Last Fitting!

Woah!

Is it almost here already? With a little over 100 days to go, I have been working on getting my wedding dress alterations done. I found a great woman a few miles from my home that does alterations. She barely charges anything and is really flexible with meeting with me to work on my dress!

I had one set of changes done to the dress already. This time I got to put the dress on and it fit! It wasn't too big and I wasn't worried it might fall off. It was just the perfect length too! We worked on how the bustle would look and work... so it will stay up and not have people trampling on it all night long.

The dress is still just as comfortable as ever! It definitely was very exciting to get to put the dress on and know that the big day is very close to being here!

The thing I like most about the dress being at the alterations place... is that I know Greg cannot sneak a peek at it while it is there!

Now if only I could find the patience to sew 9 feet of pearls onto my veil.... 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!!

The Honeymoon is Booked!

It is official on Sunday, June 30, 2008 Mr. & Mrs. Gregory Hall will be in the air over the Atlantic Ocean heading to London England. Once our trip is over in London, we will then head to Dublin Ireland.

We have our flights and hotels booked. We may book a few day tours but otherwise we plan on exploring the countries on our own as we go. There are a few things that are "must do's" for us...

1. Stonehenge
2. Kissing the Blarney Stone
3. St. Patrick's Cathedral
4. St. James Gate / Guiness!
5. The London Eye
6. Parliment
7. The Royal Air Museum

There are so many other places we want to explore, but we will just have to see what we are able to accomplish in such a short time!

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!

It Arrived in One Piece...

What a day Tuesday was! My dress finally arrived in the mail via UPS from Kansas! I was able to track the shipment through the internet. It was so stressful to watch the dress move across the Midwest and not know if it was the right size or the right length that I requested until I finally had it in my hands!

When I was getting ready for work Tuesday morning, I logged on and checked the status. The dress arrived in Detroit at 6:30 in the morning and was loaded on a truck for delivery to me at 6:45 a.m. I kind of thought when I got to work it would be waiting for me, but it wasn't.

Finally around 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon the security guard called and gave me a jokingly hard time. I went down and got the dress. Once I got over the shock of how small the package was, I opened it.

I discovered that the dress was in absolute perfect condition! I went to one of the artist dressing rooms and tried it on because I had to... It was a little big but the length was perfect and fit wonderfully! The dress was exactly what I was expecting!

I am so grateful to have found the deal on eBay. I emailed the woman who sold me the dress and thanked her for the deal because without that I am sure I would STILL be dress hunting!

Whew - that is a big stress reliever. Now I just have to stare at it in the bag for 7 more months.

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!

Pachelbel's Canon in D

In preparing for the actual wedding cermony, the church has given us a booklet with song suggestions. One song that always makes me think of a wedding is Pachelbel's Canon in D. Most everyone knows this song. When I hear it I usually get teary eyed.

This comedian is absolutely hilarious. He doesn't change my high opinion of the song, but he does make me laugh my butt off! I think you will be hearing this song at our wedding! ;)

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!

Reserve Your Room Online!

We all know two things for sure about me...

1. I am an organizational freak!
2. I love to save myself and anyone else I can ... money $$$

That being said, I know it is early, but I was very excited when the manager at the reception hall told me about a nice hotel nearby that offers free shuttle service to and from the wedding reception. Not only does that mean no cab fare, but also no drunk driving from our inebriated friends and family! That is really important to me, so I hope this whole plan works out!

Here is the deal...

Currently, there are 10 rooms on hold for the night of June 26, 2008 and 15 rooms on hold for the night of June 27, 2008 at the Courtyard by Marriott at 30190 Van Dyke Ave Warren, Michigan 48093.

All reservations at the discounted rate and in our reserved block must be made by June 1, 2008! Just mention the Wilson Hall Wedding to get your discount or use the handy links below to reserve a room online!

If we get at least 10 bookings at this hotel, there will be free shuttle service to and from the reception. The rates for the room will be discounted and breakfast the morning of June 28th may also be discounted! (We will find out later!)

There are two styles of rooms to choose from. To receive the discounted rate
on the web, you must use the links below! Book now and lock in the rate!

• A room with 1 king bed.
• Or a room with 2 queen beds.

Don't forget to mention the Wilson Hall Wedding to get your discount! You may also call: (586) 751-5777 or (800) 321-2211. Click here for more details about this hotel and a map!

Of course Greg and I hope to see everyone get rooms and not drink and drive, but we know that cannot happen! But, we can do our best to help everyone out!

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...

Bright Beginnings

Yesterday Greg and I participated in a 6 hour retreat at St. Edmunds Catholic Church in Warren. It was a pre-marriage seminar that is designed to open the doors of communication on a lot of things that young couples probably don't think to talk about before they decide to get married. Luckily for Greg and I we talk about almost everything and took today as an opportunity to keep talking and sharing our thoughts about what our future will hold.

We discussed how we feel about each other, each other's families, what we have in mind for our future family together and how we intend to bring up our children. All these things we have discussed and this seminar just solified that for us.

There were a lot of people there, which was a little overwhelming at first. Once we got going though - we quickly realized we were there for us and no one else would know what we were discussing between the two of us.

The speakers for this seminar were good. The preist, was the preist for St. Edmunds. The other two speakers were the two people that put the retreat together. They were both good speakers, but the guy, John, was very engaging. He had a great presentation about him that reminded me of the comedian Jim Gaffigan. Even when he was talking about serious things that were not funny, I wanted to listen and listen good.

Now that that step is over, we only have a few more things to do as far as the church goes!

Exactly One Year

I guess it is ok to start counting down now? I have counted down everything else from graduating school to a cool band coming to my work. Now that there are officially 365 days and 1 hour left until we get married... I think it is safe to say we can begin the official countdown. Thats 365 days I have left to worry if I picked or will pick the right flowers, or the right DJ or the right photographer. So fun!

Wow. I cannot believe that Greg and I have been engaged for one year already! It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we were up north at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore enjoying peace and quiet and nature. I wish we had the time and the money to do that again this summer - everyone needs quiet time like that!

We have officially signed the contract with the DJ company Jammin' DJ's. I am excited about that because their price is unbeatable and they are just cool! And just so all of you know now, Greg and I have agreed there will be no chicken dance, hokey pokey or macarena at the reception. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news folks...

Next on my list of things to do is start looking at flowers. I have no idea what anything is called, I just have an idea of what they look like. My cousin will be helping me with that part. She has a trustworthy person that I might be working with. Hopefully she will be OK with my tiny budget and able to work magic with the ideas I have!

We Found a DJ!

On Sunday, Greg and I went to see a DJ in Clawson. Oddly enough Clawson is where the photographer is also... Thanks to a co-worker of mine I was able to get in contact with Jammin' DJs. The owner of the company has been very prompt and good with emails and with answering all of my questions I have had for him.

A side note about Jammin' DJs is that the owner of the company is also the lead singer of the Mega 80s. The M80s are a local band who do awesome cover songs and are very energetic with their shows. To see the owner / lead singer without his outfits on and in normal street clothes was quite suprising!

I finally scheduled a time that was good for all three of us to meet at his office. We got there around 3 pm and I think Greg immediately fell in love with the guys office! There were video arcade games lining both of the walls and it smelled like vanilla in there. I fell in love with the 2 Mac computers he had and all of the editing equipment in the back of the office.

We talked to him for about a half an hour about all of the options we had and what the benefits were to using them. One thing I really liked about him was that he didn't speak in terms of "When you hire us we will do..." rather than "When you hire a DJ you should look for this..." So even if we didn't go with his company, we would have plenty of knowledge to make an educated decision about all of this!

We didn't sign a contract with him, but when we left his office, Greg and I pretty much agreed with dug his company. The price was right, they had tons of options and a great back up system. I will probably be getting ahold of him within the next week to make a deposit and sign the contract!

Get Notified!

After telling everyone and their mother about this site I realized there was a little problem.

How is anyone suppose to know when to come back and check out the site?

So... Me being the nerd I am, I went ahead and set up an email subscription for the service. I see quite a few of you already signed up after having the link up for a week or so now. That is great!

There are 40 more days of school left before this wedding begins to really get planned!

Only 450 days to go!

It seems like the wedding day is so close, but really it is kind of far away! We have 450 days until the big day. We still haven't done much planning since the last update, but I will be graduating soon and I am sure it will pick up then.

I need to schedule an appointment with the church to go over some information that we have filled out already. Greg and I also need to schedule time to sit down with a DJ in Ferndale that was recommended to us by a co-worker. With school it is just too hard to find time to meet with people... but in 47 days that will not be a problem!

Last Thursday I started an aerobics class in Warren at the Community Center. It sure did kick my butt, but it felt great! It is only 1 day a week, but it will help me to prepare for the boot camp I want to sign up for in July!

We have started the round of wedding showers and weddings for the summer. For the next 4 months or so, I will be attending other people's events and keeping a mental list of things I would like and not like to have when my turn comes around. For starters, spiked punch. My cousin had spiked punch at her shower and it definitely helped lighten the mood! :)

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!

First Bridal Show

I bravely went to my first "Bridal Show"... And I didn't make Greg go with me! I made Jenny go with me instead ;)

A very talented photographer that I know got me passes to the Brides to Be bridal show in Clinton Township, Michigan this past Sunday. I was a little nervous about going because I didn't know what to expect and I don't like large crowds of people like that. It was hot, crowded and some of the vendors were pushy. It was nice to see ideas and things I know I do not want... My favorite thing to get to see was the centerpieces for rent that were not expensive and looked nice. I cannot recall the vendors name, but I am sure I have their paperwork in my big ol' bag I got when I registered!

We got there just in time to sign up for the door prize drawings, which was the main reason I wanted to go. I was hoping to win a honeymoon or something! :) A few very lucky girls did win.. so there is hope yet!

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