DPF: And Away We Go!

Today starts the week of our annual Family Reunion. Ever since my mother was a baby the family has taken a week out of the summer to get everyone together in the Poconos and enjoy the sun, some good food, some beer, and a card game or two by the pool.

What better way to celebrate spending the weekend with my cousins than this great clip from Dance Club?

Ohhhh, the good ole days.

Backposting like the Best of them

I'm working on a few back posts. Check 'em out if you want. A lot of hilarious photos in most of the posts!

1. Laura's Bridal Shower
2. Quarter Century Extravaganza
   
3. Party in the USA
4. Date Night with Casey
5. MDW FTW
   

WW: Coming Together

I had a near panic attack last week. At first, everything was looking up. I had found the discontinued paper I needed from Paperworks. I had ordered all the envelopes I needed from Envelope Mall. And they looked fabulous when they came in the mail.
I went to see some venues with Laura and had met a great photography duo whose prices were great and work fabulous. I felt like we were finally ready to make decisions and put down deposits.

I felt good. It seemed like everything was finally falling into place.

But then when I emailed Pat & Jess of Casey Connell Photography to tell them we wanted to book them. Their reply was really sad. They had just been booked for the day before ours for a wedding in Cape Cod and were worried that because of the holiday weekend, they wouldn't be able to get back to Troy in time. I was so sad. They were not only the least expensive out of all the photographers we were looking at, they were a two photographer team AND their work was right up there among some of my favorite.

Suddenly I was in a mad dash to find more photographers. I stumbled upon a few other sites and contacted another two photographer team in the area whose prices were right on par. Meanwhile, I double checked with the other two photographers I had previously met (Heather of HBT Photography and Keira Lemonis) to make sure my date was still available and they hadn't been booked out from under me too! Heather was still free but Keira had another bride sniffing around my date.

I liked both Keira's and Heather's work. They both have a great style to their photography. Keira was slightly less expensive than Heather but they both offered everything I wanted out of my photographer.

I panicked a little. The new photographers I had contacted weren't available to meet me until mid-August and I like to meet vendors to get a feel for their personality and how professional they are. The only other time they had available to meet me was Saturday afternoon. I didn't really want to take a drive up JUST to meet a photographer especially since I had Job#2 Sunday morning and had to be back, but I figured I could if it was necessary.

I got home and told my parents the whole story. We three sat down and looked at all three portfolios online and I told them how I felt about each of the photographers (or at least the two I had met thus far), and asked them if it was worth it to go up to meet the third photographer Saturday and not wait till mid-August, in case in the meantime someone booked Keira and I didn't have her as an option any more.

I realize I'm ridiculous and looking back I really did just run around like a chicken with my head chopped off but this was seriously destroying my calm. I had finally figured out the drama over our invitation paper, had nearly decided on a reception venue, and now the damn photographer I wanted was unavailable.
Finally my Dad basically told me to shut-up, go with my gut, and go with the photographer I thought would do the best job. So Friday afternoon I emailed Heather and told her to please pencil us in and send us the information for the deposit and her contract. She has us down for July 3rd but I won't feel completely finished with things until I get her that deposit which should be sometime next week. I'll have Laura hand it off to her possibly.
Once the whole photography thing was settled, we turned to the reception venues. We had narrowed it down to a country club and a new hotel.

Country Club Pros

• Was cheaper per head
• Beautiful golf course greens and grounds to take photos on
• Included tax and gratuity in the package price
• Didn't include centerpiece or cake (but that seemed fine to me)
  

Hotel Pros

• Everything was under one roof
• Courtesy shuttle to and from the airport and train station
  
• There's a sports bar in the hotel
• "Children" are considered to be ages 11-20 so they are half price, which is awesome because most of Jason's cousins and a few of mine will only be 20 or younger!
  
• Blocked room discounted rates
• Everything is included (cake, chair covers, linens, bar, centerpieces, etc.)
  
• They were extremely flexible (I could remove things willy nilly from the packages)
• Actually located IN Troy, which was nice, since that was the whole point of this
• Beautiful garden outside for photos
  
  

Country Club Cons

• Private Club, so no one could golf, and no one could wander outside the ballroom
• Seemed a little snooty for my taste
• No chair covers and the chairs were kind of ugly
• Banquet Manager was a bit doofy
• Didn't seem as flexible and basically told me I didn't want to do anything DIY at all (the nerve!)
• No hotels anywhere nearby

Hotel Cons

• Slightly pricery per head
• It's a hotel so there's a possibility of strangers wandering around
• The ballroom is a little bland (no natural light)
  

But with some decor, it can look nice! (Anthology Designs)

Basically what it came down to was if we were going to have our "destination wedding" and make everyone travel (and if I can't have my Key West wedding or my Barn Country Chic wedding) then we would make it as easy for guests as possible. The Hotel could offer us a lot more convenience than the Country Club, so that is what we're going with.

Saturday morning we sat down and speakerphone attacked the Banquet Manager at the Hotel. She answered a few more of our questions and verified/clarified some other details and she's sending us the contract!
Also that morning I got an email from the Pastor at the Church I really wanted to get married in. We were having major issues finding one that would let us as visiting parishioners get married, but he said yes! And Fr Ed can still marry us too!

And check out how GORGEOUS this church is!!!!!

Is it not TREMENDOUS?! (Photo by Joe Elario Photography)


So...to sum up...
Church: Check
Priest: Check
Venue: Check
Photographer: Check
Bride & Groom: Check

Yessssss

It's really official...

I am in fact the WORST blogger ever.

I promise I'll be better. Starting with a decent Wedding Wednesday post tomorrow and back posts about EVERYTHING.

c25k: Again

After another long hiatus from the gym, I got there this morning to do a work out.

Felt awesome afterward, went to work at Job#2 and felt pretty good about things until I hit hour 3 of my 4 hour shift. I started feeling AWFUL. Headache, slightly dizzy and nauseated, wasn't a happy camper.

Thought maybe it was because I hadn't eaten enough and I'd been to the gym and on my feet for so long burning more calories than usual. Barely made it home.

Almost got sick over my lunch.

Was really shaky.

Dad immediately started shoveling water down my throat. Literally, must have drank a few gallons at least.

Severe dehydration.

No good.

Damn heat!

Oh Happy Day!

I know I usually only talk about Wedding related stuff on Wednesdays but honestly, I CANNOT contain myself!

Not only did we have a fabulous morning of decision making (more on that Wednesday) but seriously, it was such a shpadoinkle day!

Casey called and told me that her and Momz were going to a crazy one day only liquidation sale they had found at a warehouse a few towns over. Most of the fabrics were table cloths and catering stuff, so she figured I'd be interested in wedding related crap at deep discounts...boy was I ever?!

Off we went and entered into this balls hot warehouse with ceiling high shelves FILLED to the brim with table cloths, table runners, table skirts, chair covers, chair ties, napkins, everything you'd ever want and need, in all different colors and fabrics.

Now the venue we decided to go with includes chair covers but chair ties or sashes I've come to research to be $0.60-$1.00 to rent/buy EACH. I flat out told Casey that if we found chair ties in my color scheme that were $0.50 or less I'd buy them for the wedding.

Boy did we ever find what I was looking for. They had chair ties on sale but not enough in any color I was looking for. The most they had in a royal blue linen was 70. But, what they did have were table cloths of satin.

We measured the chair ties that they had pre-made in the warehouse and they were about 96" long and approximately 5" wide. The table cloths I found in a beautiful blue satin that matches the invitation paper perfectly were 90"x132" and the going rate for them was $12/table cloth (I know from my chair tie searches that these satin table cloths can go for up to $35 a piece, so already a good price). With the trimmings we approximated that 22 chair ties could be made from each table cloth. To be safe, we'd need 180 chair ties (I doubt we'll wind up making more than 150, but better safe than sorry.)

I grabbed 10 table cloths (hey, I can make a few table runners for the sweetheart table and the escort/gift tables too!) and asked her if she'd be willing to take $60 for them all. She said no less than $75. I said throw in two industrial sized spools of matching thread and you've got yourself a deal.

DONE!

Umm...hello? Let's figure out how much money I just saved, shall we?

Let's say the two spools of thread were $5, just so we have an even number to work with. $70 for 10 table cloths is $7 each. We can make 22 chair ties out of each table cloth, so basically $0.32 a chair tie, with at least two table cloths left over to trim into 4 table runners at $3.50 a piece.

I like those numbers. I WIN!

WW: Branding

For Jason's birthday one year/his graduation from college, his sister Amanda bought him one of the greatest gifts ever. It was literally a brand. I kid you not. She bought Jason a branding iron with his initials on it so he could brand his meat.

Jason was thrilled. Who knew he could get so excited over branding?!

I should have known that he was interested in that sort of branding because it involved meat. The branding that I work on is more graphically based. But here and there Jason still surprises me with his interest in my design work.

The past few days I've been kicking around ideas for our wedding's identity. I do a lot of work with paper, so I want it to be a paper wedding. Paper flowers, paper centerpieces, paper decorations, paper anything and everything. The verdict is still out on the paper flowers. I bought a kit and we'll see how they come out. But if I stand against anything, I stand against shoddy craftsmanship, so if the flowers don't look right, we'll ditch them and go for something more ... alive.

My first task was to design us a monogram. I knew I wanted something that was simple, but would tie in the dots design I had thrown together as a doodle to decorate our invitations with.

I sent Jason a few versions and he totally chose the one I loved. Usually when I have my heart set on one thing, Jason will choose the opposite. But I think we've come to a decision!

Today I put together a mock up of what I'd like our pocketfold invitations to look like and Jason seemed okay with the design. His only comment was "The loopy font doesn't appeal to me per-say due to my limited fontography skills/knowledge and the whole engineering mindset" I told him that when marrying a graphic designer, decorative fonts might be involved.

Here is a little sample of the pocketfold, belly band, seal, and our monogram.

The squiggly plus sign, as Jason likes to call it, is actually two infinity symbols layered perpendicularly. I think he liked it because subconsciously he's familiar with that shape.

Ages ago I picked out all the paper I wanted to use, however I should know already that everything I think will be easy while planning this wedding, is really going to turn into some catastrophic wild goose chase.

This week I've been tracking down paper. I should have heeded Jim and Laura's advice, or rather, their mantra: "Hesitation Kills!"

Back in May I had Tom at Anchor Paper quote me some Astrobright Glisten cover in Lunar Blue to use as our pocketfolds for our invitations. He warned me that it was being discontinued but up until last week we weren't sure how many people we were inviting and heretofore how many invitations I would have to make.

So now I have 3-4 different people contacting vendors and searching for my perfect paper. Although I don't care if it has a metallic finish, my mother seems to think for a wedding invitation it is mandatory that it sparkles in SOME way.

Thus far I've only found one vendor who still has some in stock. Only problem is it would be twice the cost I was originally quoted by the ever so awesome Tom. That's not the most exciting thought...having to pay double because Wausau decided to discontinue this line of paper.

WHY!?! Why must my perfect paper be so hard to find?!

Hopefully our ordering lady at the office can track someone down who has it in stock. I have faith. Otherwise I'll just have to not have sparkly paper. Which won't really thrill my mother, but them's the breaks.

WW: Starting Over?

After a not so restful sleep Friday night and a startlingly loud phone call from my father at 9am that literally left me feeling like I had been hit by a truck...Jason and I met with Fr. Ed over at the CC+C.

Basically once we got engaged and my dreams of a small Key West wedding were overruled by us wanting all of our family to be there, we started making a few important decisions:

1. We would get married in a church. It isn't necessarily crazy important to either me or Jason that we MUST do this, but we decided we would. His parents are very involved in their church and my mother and grandmother are very churchy people as well. So, instead of having a fight with them or disappointing them by saying we didn't want to get married in a church (which I'm not saying in any way that we have strong feelings against it), we decided straight off we'd do it for our families.
2. We would get married in NY's Capital Region. Let's face it, we both live an equidistance from where we met (at school) and we weren't going to make just one side travel all the way to the other side. Plus, traditionally it would be in my hometown and the last thing I wanted was a big Long Island wedding.
   
3. We would invite all of our families. Again, this hearkens back to the fact that we are trying to make it easy for them to come. Halfway between our two families is a familiar place, so that's what we chose. We don't want to not include certain people and we want to be able to invite all of our first cousins and friends.
   
4. No babies. We are both firm in this, and luckily there really is only one person in our family right now who has a young baby so this isn't an issue.

Other than that we were really open to things. I mean obviously I have some things that I want, ie a slightly more casual feel to the wedding. I don't want it to be stuffy and traditional, but I don't want it to be flipflops and jeans either. I want to wear a tea length dress, not that I'm against floor length, but I think I'd prefer it. I wanted a Sunday wedding instead of Friday or Saturday. And we both really want to make it as stress free as possible.

We spoke with Fr. Ed and he seemed amenable to marrying us which is great. I'm not the hugest fan of the CC+C as a venue for our ceremony. The biggest drawback is that it is a cultural center so different religions use the space. Which in the big picture doesn't matter at all to me, but the floor is concrete and has all these really strange markings and characters on it. If we could cover up the floor with something, I wouldn't mind the place at all in fact. It'd be really super easy to get guests to and that time of year there is ample parking.

So we'll see about that. I still have a few churches in the area to call, but I have a feeling we'll be falling back on the CC+C.

After our meeting there, we drove up to the new Athletic Village that was just built on campus to see what it was like. Wound up running into my parents doing the same thing and caravanned over to the Barn.

I love Pat's Barn. It is perfectly rustic and modern at the same time. I visited with Laura and Julibean awhile back and was dead set on having our reception there. They both agreed it would be perfect. My parents liked it too.

But they shared in Jason's concern that it was probably too small for our reception. Apparently our families really are just that big in numbers. So we talked about it and we're going to say goodbye to the Barn methinks. Jason was having trouble conceptualizing the space anyway, apparently it was a little too far out of the box for his tastes.

Now we're looking into a few country clubs and the like in the area. I think we've found a really great one that is well priced and we might have a connection through a friend to it. Plus it's only 10 minutes away from Troy so it might just be the perfect location. I'm going to go visit next weekend.

Slowly but surely we're making progress. At least the guest list is done. I already have a concept for the invitations and I'll probably buy enough material to make 200 of them, just to be safe. I want to get as much done as possible so it'll be easier later.

In the meantime I still have to redo my portfolio and website and start searching for jobs in Virginia. And you know...eventually move there.

Heat Wave!