6 days! And I'm CALM (-ish). Adam's still alive. I haven't gotten ready for our honeymoon yet, but thankfully I think we are OK for the wedding, especially since I am off starting Wednesday.
I am already sad for this all to be over, because wedding planning has been such a HUGE part of my life for 18 months. It's like waiting for Christmas, but Christmas comes every day.
Some more projects to work on this week, but I think I have finished one of the big ones - that took me over 13 HOURS to complete. Let's see if you can guess what it is.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
10! - Michelle
How are we 10 days before the wedding? FOR REAL! I feel like yesterday we were 500 days away. HOLY COW.
Working on seating charts this weekend with my wonderful, FABULOUS, PATIENT mother. She's absolutely the best and I am a total b.tch this week, so I'm glad she's putting up with me.
You know how bad I am? My MIL (mother in law [to be]) called to check up on me. The poor woman is handling the rehearsal dinner and is worried about me. I must be worse than I thought.
As A said, he thinks I am creating issues for myself. Maybe I am, but I am very excited at the prospect of some time on a beach.
Working on seating charts this weekend with my wonderful, FABULOUS, PATIENT mother. She's absolutely the best and I am a total b.tch this week, so I'm glad she's putting up with me.
You know how bad I am? My MIL (mother in law [to be]) called to check up on me. The poor woman is handling the rehearsal dinner and is worried about me. I must be worse than I thought.
As A said, he thinks I am creating issues for myself. Maybe I am, but I am very excited at the prospect of some time on a beach.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010 - Michelle
AHHH!!!! That's what I felt like when I woke up every day for the last week. We're officially UNDER the one month mark - HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? I feel like it was only yesterday that I was nagging Adam to get engaged, and now we're getting married within a month. Quite literally, within a month, I will legally be a Howe. Yikes!
There are a few things I need to get figured out - like jewelry. I am meeting my hair guy tomorrow and my makeup girl on Monday evening. I need to work on a schedule for the day of, and give the final numbers to everyone. Very scary. We're finalizing fun things now, like our first dance song, what kind of cake we want, and what books I'll be reading on our honeymoon (any suggestions?). I just am a little sad that we're almost done with this adventure. Sure, there's another adventure awaiting us (one which allows Adam to use the new coffee maker), but after dating for 7+ years, I'm sad that this chapter is closing.
One of the most chaotic things on our plates right now is the fun of RSVPS. Why? Well, you see, the USPS has decided to eat some invitations, mostly ones going to people out of the Chicago metropolitan area. Obviously, this is an issue. We realized earlier this week that more than half of the responses hadn't arrived. We did some digging and found out that not all invites were received. So we feel really dumb, and also dumber because since we hand-made all of our invites that they're all sent out and we really don't have any extras. I feel like an idiot, and moreso because it seems to be people we're hoping to see that we haven't seen in a LONG time. I guess that's why you hope you only get married once - this is a lot of work!
We met with our florist, The Blossom Boys from Beverly, the other night, and they are FABULOUS. They mentioned to us when we first met them that if you don't feel comfortable with a vendor to not continue with them. This saved us when we dealt with a bum DJ. They are incredible, and I recommend them to anyone and everyone. Love love love them! I learn things from them EVERY time I'm there.
We're also finalizing the details of the actual ceremony (if the organist would email me back...) and it's really fun to have so many people involved in the ceremony. I hope a lot of people can make it to the church, especially because my dress is fabulous and everyone needs to see it when I'm walking down the aisle. It's the one time in my life that I will be totally self-absorbed.
So now that I've taken the time to update, I realize I need to do this more often before the wedding. After the wedding our lives will be boring, and there won't be the pitter patter of little feet for at least a few years, so hopefully this excitement will last for a while!
There are a few things I need to get figured out - like jewelry. I am meeting my hair guy tomorrow and my makeup girl on Monday evening. I need to work on a schedule for the day of, and give the final numbers to everyone. Very scary. We're finalizing fun things now, like our first dance song, what kind of cake we want, and what books I'll be reading on our honeymoon (any suggestions?). I just am a little sad that we're almost done with this adventure. Sure, there's another adventure awaiting us (one which allows Adam to use the new coffee maker), but after dating for 7+ years, I'm sad that this chapter is closing.
One of the most chaotic things on our plates right now is the fun of RSVPS. Why? Well, you see, the USPS has decided to eat some invitations, mostly ones going to people out of the Chicago metropolitan area. Obviously, this is an issue. We realized earlier this week that more than half of the responses hadn't arrived. We did some digging and found out that not all invites were received. So we feel really dumb, and also dumber because since we hand-made all of our invites that they're all sent out and we really don't have any extras. I feel like an idiot, and moreso because it seems to be people we're hoping to see that we haven't seen in a LONG time. I guess that's why you hope you only get married once - this is a lot of work!
We met with our florist, The Blossom Boys from Beverly, the other night, and they are FABULOUS. They mentioned to us when we first met them that if you don't feel comfortable with a vendor to not continue with them. This saved us when we dealt with a bum DJ. They are incredible, and I recommend them to anyone and everyone. Love love love them! I learn things from them EVERY time I'm there.
We're also finalizing the details of the actual ceremony (if the organist would email me back...) and it's really fun to have so many people involved in the ceremony. I hope a lot of people can make it to the church, especially because my dress is fabulous and everyone needs to see it when I'm walking down the aisle. It's the one time in my life that I will be totally self-absorbed.
So now that I've taken the time to update, I realize I need to do this more often before the wedding. After the wedding our lives will be boring, and there won't be the pitter patter of little feet for at least a few years, so hopefully this excitement will last for a while!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010 - Michelle
We are officially within the 5 month mark - YIKES! We need to get our invited printed pronto!
We have secured a DJ, so now we're sure to have an awesome time. Our old (read: fired) DJ is even sending our deposit back, so that's even better news. I really didn't want to have to get into a battle of wits with him. We met with something like 8 DJs and picked Dennis because he knows what he's doing, he's very personable, and we love the set up he has, along with the planning materials. The dance floor will be full all night long, so put your dancing shoes on!
We have secured a DJ, so now we're sure to have an awesome time. Our old (read: fired) DJ is even sending our deposit back, so that's even better news. I really didn't want to have to get into a battle of wits with him. We met with something like 8 DJs and picked Dennis because he knows what he's doing, he's very personable, and we love the set up he has, along with the planning materials. The dance floor will be full all night long, so put your dancing shoes on!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday, 21 April 2010-Adam
It's been a busy couple of weeks. After a few months of doing almost NOTHING related to wedding planning, things are starting to pick up. The big stuff is pretty much all done, but it's been nailing down the finer details, along with the much larger issue of finding a new DJ.
We decided to hire the front-runner from Shellie's last post. After getting e-mail from around thirty DJs, setting up interviews with eight, and actually interviewing six, it came down to him (Dennis) and one other guy. We actually had a pretty hard time deciding between them. We were very comfortable with both of them, they seemed very competent and experienced, prices were reasonable, etc. and we thought that each of them would do a good job for us. In the end, we wound up going with the guy we had been referred to by our videographer. All things being equal, we thought it wise to trust professional judgment, and our videographer has done a dozen or so weddings with our DJ. That's a bonus, not only on the basis of professional judgment, but because we know that the two of them can (and will) work together as far as coordinating the events, etc.
We're very excited, I might add, about our videographer. He was recommended to us by a friend who used him for her wedding. Having seen her wedding video, we were impressed with his work, and decided to meet with him to see if we thought we should hire him ourselves. We had really only toyed around with the idea of having a videographer at all; in some ways, it seemed kind of superfluous, and most of the professional wedding videos I have seen have been pretty low-quality, with bad sound, etc. (on the other hand, my sister Melanie's wedding video was shot with a Handi-Cam and is amazingly good, especially considering who shot it). Tom's work doesn't seem low quality at all, and we talked it over and decided that we would rather look back and say "I guess we didn't really need a videographer" than look back and say "I wish we had one good video recording of our wedding ceremony." When we met with him, we were immediately as comfortable with him as we were with Peter, our still photographer, so we decided "What the hell, let's go for it." It helped that he gave us a pretty healthy discount, of course, for having been referred by a previous customer. Tom is the one who recommended Dennis, our DJ, to us, and he had fantastic things to say about him, so when we finished interviewing all of the DJs, and it came down to Dennis and one other guy, we allowed Tom's recommendation to tip the scale in Dennis' favor.
We've also met with our florist (The Blossom Boys) twice now, once for an initial meeting, a second time to tweak the proposal. It's great to be so completely enamored with yet ANOTHER of our wedding vendors. Shellie and I could probably spend all day with those two, discussing/debating/gossiping, etc. It may seem foolhardy, but I don't mind telling you that they're the only florist we've met with and the only ones we're going to meet with; we're just so comfortable with them, and they're both so helpful and accommodating, it seems foolish for us to look elsewhere when they're exactly what we were looking for. Plus, the fact (for me, at least) that they're in the storefront where I purchased all of my prom/dance corsages, Chris and Betsy bought their wedding flowers, from them, etc. is a cool little sentimental benefit for me.
So the hall... we went there this past weekend and met with Steve. I don't think we really got anywhere with him regarding the tasting (he suggested we go try a bunch of different things in high-end restaurants to come up with what we wanted to eat), neither of us decided that it was important enough or worth it to push the issue. We picked one dish we want to try, got the tasting set up for June, and if we don't like the dish we taste, then we'll go with something different. For now, we decided on our chair covers, napkins, head table arrangement, got the floor plan, and nailed down our appetizers, soup, salad, dressings, ice cream, etc. as well as getting the owner to add five cases of Old Style to the bar package. That way, everyone (including me) should be happy with the beer selection. We have to narrow down what else we get (liquor-wise) but that part is taken care of.
I think, now, we can honestly say that we are just getting down to details; choosing bridesmaid/groomsman gifts, centerpieces (with which Shellie's Aunt Dawn has so graciously volunteered to help us), etc. I'm very happy that the big stuff seems to be taken care of, because that means we can minimize the stress level of the next five months.
We decided to hire the front-runner from Shellie's last post. After getting e-mail from around thirty DJs, setting up interviews with eight, and actually interviewing six, it came down to him (Dennis) and one other guy. We actually had a pretty hard time deciding between them. We were very comfortable with both of them, they seemed very competent and experienced, prices were reasonable, etc. and we thought that each of them would do a good job for us. In the end, we wound up going with the guy we had been referred to by our videographer. All things being equal, we thought it wise to trust professional judgment, and our videographer has done a dozen or so weddings with our DJ. That's a bonus, not only on the basis of professional judgment, but because we know that the two of them can (and will) work together as far as coordinating the events, etc.
We're very excited, I might add, about our videographer. He was recommended to us by a friend who used him for her wedding. Having seen her wedding video, we were impressed with his work, and decided to meet with him to see if we thought we should hire him ourselves. We had really only toyed around with the idea of having a videographer at all; in some ways, it seemed kind of superfluous, and most of the professional wedding videos I have seen have been pretty low-quality, with bad sound, etc. (on the other hand, my sister Melanie's wedding video was shot with a Handi-Cam and is amazingly good, especially considering who shot it). Tom's work doesn't seem low quality at all, and we talked it over and decided that we would rather look back and say "I guess we didn't really need a videographer" than look back and say "I wish we had one good video recording of our wedding ceremony." When we met with him, we were immediately as comfortable with him as we were with Peter, our still photographer, so we decided "What the hell, let's go for it." It helped that he gave us a pretty healthy discount, of course, for having been referred by a previous customer. Tom is the one who recommended Dennis, our DJ, to us, and he had fantastic things to say about him, so when we finished interviewing all of the DJs, and it came down to Dennis and one other guy, we allowed Tom's recommendation to tip the scale in Dennis' favor.
We've also met with our florist (The Blossom Boys) twice now, once for an initial meeting, a second time to tweak the proposal. It's great to be so completely enamored with yet ANOTHER of our wedding vendors. Shellie and I could probably spend all day with those two, discussing/debating/gossiping, etc. It may seem foolhardy, but I don't mind telling you that they're the only florist we've met with and the only ones we're going to meet with; we're just so comfortable with them, and they're both so helpful and accommodating, it seems foolish for us to look elsewhere when they're exactly what we were looking for. Plus, the fact (for me, at least) that they're in the storefront where I purchased all of my prom/dance corsages, Chris and Betsy bought their wedding flowers, from them, etc. is a cool little sentimental benefit for me.
So the hall... we went there this past weekend and met with Steve. I don't think we really got anywhere with him regarding the tasting (he suggested we go try a bunch of different things in high-end restaurants to come up with what we wanted to eat), neither of us decided that it was important enough or worth it to push the issue. We picked one dish we want to try, got the tasting set up for June, and if we don't like the dish we taste, then we'll go with something different. For now, we decided on our chair covers, napkins, head table arrangement, got the floor plan, and nailed down our appetizers, soup, salad, dressings, ice cream, etc. as well as getting the owner to add five cases of Old Style to the bar package. That way, everyone (including me) should be happy with the beer selection. We have to narrow down what else we get (liquor-wise) but that part is taken care of.
I think, now, we can honestly say that we are just getting down to details; choosing bridesmaid/groomsman gifts, centerpieces (with which Shellie's Aunt Dawn has so graciously volunteered to help us), etc. I'm very happy that the big stuff seems to be taken care of, because that means we can minimize the stress level of the next five months.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010 - Michelle
Last week I started the week with a sinking feeling. I didn't know why, I just didn't think it would be a good. Unfortunately, my feeling proved to be somewhat true.
This week we've been meeting with DJs. Our original DJ seems to have flaked out on us, and so we're moving on. Basically, we had a DJ we loved, and he ended up being unavailable on our date, so he recommended some more DJs to us. We talked to them, and put a deposit down with one of them. The kid (he's younger than my brother, which we didn't know until this past week) is in school at ISU, and hasn't returned voicemails or emails. I tried to get a hold of him on Facebook, and he ignored that too. He finally returned Adam's call, and Adam didn't call him right back, but did call the kid's uncle (the original DJ) and basically told him what was going on. The uncle calls the kid, the kid calls us back and starts giving us all sorts of excuses (he doesn't check that email - though it's the only one he gave us, maybe there's something wrong with his email - it's yahoo, and he didn't get our voicemails). We learned our lesson and met with 4 DJs this week, and we have 3 more next week.
So DJ's:
DJ 1: He was nice, but a salesman. His company has awesome "extras" but of course the extras all cost more - WAY more. Though we liked his style, and we liked what his company could offer.
DJ 2: We wanted to like this guy more than we did. Seemed like an all-around NICE guy. Told us how he was doing this full-time after he got laid off from his job. But definitely seems more like a guy we'd like to hang out with at a bar than a guy we'd want to DJ our wedding.
DJ 3: So far our front-runner. Matter-of-fact, personable, and his company does weddings in way we like - we can have as much control or as little control of the music as we want.
DJ 4: Seemed nice enough, but wasn't impressed by much of anything he said, and didn't seem entirely prepared.
We have 3 more we're meeting this week, and then we'll make a decision. YIKES!
Then the hall: We're trying to make a tasting appt with the hall. Well, evidently they don't like that we want to taste more than one dish, so they want to charge us for the other ones. Moreover, they don't want to do them all at one time, they would prefer that we come out each time they have a wedding that is offering that dish. Adam went back and forth with their coordinator, and the owner (who we booked through) and so we're meeting with the owner on Thursday after work. YIKES! I am hoping we can get this straightened out - I DO NOT want to have to try to find a hall this late in the game, especially because we booked ours about 2 weeks after we got engaged.
So that's the drama for this week. We went to pre-cana today, so we're ready for the church. That reminds me that I need to get confirmation of me having my first Confirmation...I need that before we can meet with Fr. Tom again. 'Round and 'round we go...
This week we've been meeting with DJs. Our original DJ seems to have flaked out on us, and so we're moving on. Basically, we had a DJ we loved, and he ended up being unavailable on our date, so he recommended some more DJs to us. We talked to them, and put a deposit down with one of them. The kid (he's younger than my brother, which we didn't know until this past week) is in school at ISU, and hasn't returned voicemails or emails. I tried to get a hold of him on Facebook, and he ignored that too. He finally returned Adam's call, and Adam didn't call him right back, but did call the kid's uncle (the original DJ) and basically told him what was going on. The uncle calls the kid, the kid calls us back and starts giving us all sorts of excuses (he doesn't check that email - though it's the only one he gave us, maybe there's something wrong with his email - it's yahoo, and he didn't get our voicemails). We learned our lesson and met with 4 DJs this week, and we have 3 more next week.
So DJ's:
DJ 1: He was nice, but a salesman. His company has awesome "extras" but of course the extras all cost more - WAY more. Though we liked his style, and we liked what his company could offer.
DJ 2: We wanted to like this guy more than we did. Seemed like an all-around NICE guy. Told us how he was doing this full-time after he got laid off from his job. But definitely seems more like a guy we'd like to hang out with at a bar than a guy we'd want to DJ our wedding.
DJ 3: So far our front-runner. Matter-of-fact, personable, and his company does weddings in way we like - we can have as much control or as little control of the music as we want.
DJ 4: Seemed nice enough, but wasn't impressed by much of anything he said, and didn't seem entirely prepared.
We have 3 more we're meeting this week, and then we'll make a decision. YIKES!
Then the hall: We're trying to make a tasting appt with the hall. Well, evidently they don't like that we want to taste more than one dish, so they want to charge us for the other ones. Moreover, they don't want to do them all at one time, they would prefer that we come out each time they have a wedding that is offering that dish. Adam went back and forth with their coordinator, and the owner (who we booked through) and so we're meeting with the owner on Thursday after work. YIKES! I am hoping we can get this straightened out - I DO NOT want to have to try to find a hall this late in the game, especially because we booked ours about 2 weeks after we got engaged.
So that's the drama for this week. We went to pre-cana today, so we're ready for the church. That reminds me that I need to get confirmation of me having my first Confirmation...I need that before we can meet with Fr. Tom again. 'Round and 'round we go...
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Saturday, 27 March 2010--Adam
So I guess it's been a year since I bothered to post on this thing...
As one of my few posts said before, everything has really been proceeding along swimmingly. We've booked the hall, a block of rooms at a nearby Days Inn for the guests, a photographer (who is only like the coolest dude in the world), a DJ, met with Father Tom, registered for pre cana (that's something I honestly NEVER thought I would do), picked out the tuxedos for the groomsmen and I, Shellie has her dress, the bridesmaids have their dresses, booked a trolley, bought invitations, and met with one florist, from whom we hope to have a proposal today or sometime very soon. We've also booked our honeymoon in Cozumel.
I guess that means we pretty much have everything done, or at least all of the big stuff... Shellie, of course, believes that we have millions of other things to do... I suppose we do need to worry about things like centerpieces and whatnot, and whether or not we're going to have a chocolate fountain, etc. For right now, though, with six months to go before the wedding, I'm really happy with the state of our preparations.
Getting really excited for things to happen now.
As one of my few posts said before, everything has really been proceeding along swimmingly. We've booked the hall, a block of rooms at a nearby Days Inn for the guests, a photographer (who is only like the coolest dude in the world), a DJ, met with Father Tom, registered for pre cana (that's something I honestly NEVER thought I would do), picked out the tuxedos for the groomsmen and I, Shellie has her dress, the bridesmaids have their dresses, booked a trolley, bought invitations, and met with one florist, from whom we hope to have a proposal today or sometime very soon. We've also booked our honeymoon in Cozumel.
I guess that means we pretty much have everything done, or at least all of the big stuff... Shellie, of course, believes that we have millions of other things to do... I suppose we do need to worry about things like centerpieces and whatnot, and whether or not we're going to have a chocolate fountain, etc. For right now, though, with six months to go before the wedding, I'm really happy with the state of our preparations.
Getting really excited for things to happen now.
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