Christmas 2008

We started off on Christmas Eve going to Gregg's house to have dinner with his Mom, Dad, and Grandma. We had a good time spending time with them and got to eat a lot of great food! Before leaving Gregg's house, he gave me my gift....it was a new 32" HD TV!!!!! I was so excited! It is so much bigger than the old TV I had, and the HD channels are awesome!




When we got home, Gregg and I gave each other the rest of our gifts. I had already given him his new hockey gloves earlier so he could use them in his last hockey game before the holidays. I also got him some new workout clothes and Xbox games, to go with his new Xbox that his parents gave him. He also got me a new digital camera, Rutgers shirt and nice fleece!


Christmas morning we headed down to Sharon and Andrew's house to spend the day with my family. Of course, when we arrived there were toys EVERYWHERE!! Unfortunately, Charlie was not feeling well and he had to stay home. The rest of us got all the gifts together, and the kids opened theirs first. They were very excited with all the cool toys they got. Here are some pictures of the toys that Gregg and I got for the kids:

Here is Ally with her Barbie for President doll!

Here is Nicky with his HUGE Nerf gun!

And, Amanda with her Tini Puppini Dog!

After the kids were done opening their gifts, the rest of us exchanged ours. We did a Secret Santa this year, which was great. We had all picked a name on Thanksgiving, and we only bought gifts for that person. It was great! Helen had me and I got a cool light up night light, and a gift card. Andrew had Gregg and gave him a gift card! We both can't wait to use our gift cards to get some new stuff! We spent the rest of the day hanging with everyone! Here is a cute picture of Gregg and the girls!

After dinner at my sister's house, we left to head up to Gregg's house to see his family. We got to eat some more there, and hang out with everyone, including Gregg's Mom and Dad, Grandma, sister and brother-in-law. We exchanged all of our gifts and again got some really great stuff from everyone! I got some new workout clothes, sweatsuits, and Rascal Flatts concert tickets!!! Gregg got his new Xbox, some workout equipment, and clothes. We both loved everything we got!

By the time we got home, I was exhausted! Gregg wanted to hook up the Xbox and ended up playing it for awhile while I went to sleep!

All in all, it was a great Christmas!!!

A new post--finally!!!

I have really slacked off on the blog lately, partly because we haven't really done anything wedding related in quite awhile. After we booked all the big things, there hasn't really been much to do. I did get to pick up my dress a few weeks ago and it is now hanging at my mom's house. After I picked it up a few weeks ago, I was able to try it on to show my Grandma and Charlie, which was cool since neither of them had seen the dress yet!

I need to start really working on things after my marathon next week. Gregg and I will be heading down to Disney World next Thursday as I am doing the Disney Half and Full marathon next weekend as part of the Goofy Challenge! So, along with running, we will get a little mini-vacation down at Disney! I can't wait for that!

When we get back, I will need to start really working on things. We will need to pick out what kind of invitations we want to get, and what types of flowers we are going to get. I do have some ideas for flowers, but I haven't even thought about invitations yet, I guess I should start thinking about that! I also need to start gathering pictures for our video that will be shown at the reception. I have a feeling that I will start to get busy again with wedding planning after the marathon!

I am going to try to keep up better with the blog, since everyone has been hounding me about not updating it!!

We Booked our Officiant!

We haven't really done much for the wedding lately, because we have most of our big vendors booked and we don't really need to do a lot of the smaller stuff yet. But this weekend, we met with and booked our officiant. We are using Rev. O'Sullivan, who also was the officiant for Gregg's sister and Brother-in-law's wedding last year. We met him on Saturday morning at a diner in West Orange. The meeting was very quick and he just gave us a big packet of information to go through. We basically get to design the whole ceremony ourselves. He gave us examples of vows, readings, ceremonies, etc. We need to go through each part of the ceremony and pick out what we want. We don't need to choose anything till a couple of months before the wedding, so that will be a project for later on.

This week, I need to finalize things with our florist and put a deposit down on that. And, we need to finalize the bridesmaids dresses so we can get those ordered before the holidays.

It is hard to believe that it is less that 10 months till the wedding! Today we are at 299 days, time is really flying, before we know it, it will be August! I can't wait!

Trip to Davids Bridal

The other day, I found out that my veil had come it to Davids Bridal in Wayne. Since Gregg was working late tonight and then going to play hockey, I decided to take a ride over to the store after work to pick up my veil. While there, I decided to buy the undergarments to wear with my dress. I was surprised to hear that they actually had them in stock. So, I tried them on to make sure they were the right sizes and got to take them home today. I am trying to spread out buying all the little things, so we don't get hit with paying everything right before the wedding.

After leaving Davids Bridal, I decided to stop at my Mom and Charlie's house to drop off everything, since I don't really have anywhere to store them at my apartment. My mom is going to store them for me until I need them.

Now that I have my veil, I can start to figure out what I am going to do with my hair. I have a few hair people to call and decide which to use for the day of the wedding. I will have to go for a trial at some point, but I want to try to let me hair grow out a little more before going.

Not much else going on as far as wedding planning. I still have to finalize details with the florist, find a hotel to stay at the night of the wedding, pick out Bridesmaid dresses and get those ordered. There are alot of other smaller details to take care of little by little as well to, so I am sure I will be busy!!

Make-up Trial

I went for my first make-up trial today in Little Falls, with a lady that was recommended by a few people I know. I was very excited about going, but I wsn't sure what to ask for. When I got there, she asked me what kind of look I wanted, and I wanted to laugh...since I don't wear make-up that often, I had no idea. I knew that I didn't want to look overloaded with make-up. I told her that I really wanted a natural look, and she said fine. She told me over and over that she could add more later if I wanted. At then end, I was so happy with the look she gave me, it was natural and I loved it! Here is a before picture:

And, here is the after picture:

I was very happy with how it came out! I am going to book her for the wedding as she did a great job and her prices were the most reasonable out of anyone that I called.

I also found out today that the veil we ordered came in, so I am going to go pick that up this week and then I can look into hair people, and go for a hair trial, which I am really looking forward to.

That is all for today, but I should have more updates as I finalize details with the florist this week!

Save the Dates and other Weekend Happenings

Our Save the Date magnets came in the mail on Friday and they are so cute! We loved them. I had been updating everyone's addresses in my computer, so that when they finally came, I could mail them out. Luckily, I was off on Friday, so when they came I worked on getting the labels printed and on, so we could mail them on Saturday. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, and I was able to finish them pretty quickly.

Also on Friday, I went to Garden State Plaza to talk with a make-up artist who does make-up for weddings. She was so nice, but her prices are a little high for the day of. While I was there, she did my make-up for free, as long as I bought some make-up. She did a great job and I bought some new make-up to wear! Now, if only I wore it on a regular basis!!

On Friday night, Gregg had gotten us tickets to Devils Opening Night at the Prudential Center in Newark. We had so much fun, and the Devils WON!! It was a great game, and we had good seats. We were in the upper level, but we were in the first row of the section, so we had a great view.

On Saturday, we went to Ally's 6th birthday party at my sister's house. There were about 20 little kids there!! We did Arts and Crafts with the kids and had a lot of fun. We had to leave a little early because Gregg had a hockey game, but we had so much fun while were there, and it looked like the kids had a lot of fun as well.

Today, I went out for my 9 mile long run for the marathon while Gregg went home to help his Dad. After running, I came home and just relaxed as I was kind of tired. We are going to eat and rest for a bit and then we are going to play hockey tonight. I am actually playing goalie AGAINST Gregg's team. This should be interesting. I am used to playing on the same team as Gregg, and I like that much better. Well, at least it will be good practice for me!!!

Second Florist Appt.

In the afternoon yesterday, I went to visit another florist in Hasbrouck Heights. This lady works out of her home and only does weddings. She has been in business for almost 35 years, and came highly recommended by a few people that I know. Right away, I liked her so much more than the first guy. She asked about the wedding and my dress, so she could get an idea of the type of event we were having. We went through each area, and she listened to what I wanted and looked at the pictures I brought with me. She even had other pictures for me to look at for ideas as well. It was a lot of fun talking with her about all the different flowers. In the end for the same flowers, the price quote she game me was approx. $1000 cheaper after figuring in taxes and other fees. I was amazed!!!! Her prices were very reasonable and I was very happy with her. One of the main reasons I liked her was the fact that she only does weddings, and she only books one wedding a day, so she and her business partner will the ones making all the flower arrangements, and they also deliver and set them up.

All in all, it was a good day, and I am very happy that I found a potential florist. I may go to talk to a few more, but I am not sure yet.

In other news, we got the proof of our save the date!! It looked so cute, I loved it! The company sends us the proof to approve, and once approved it takes about a week to get them in the mail. I can't wait!!

First appointment with florist

This morning, I went to my first florist appointment. This was the florist that I won the gift certificate from at the bridal show back in August. I had an idea of what types of flowers we wanted when I went, but I had no idea he was going to ask so many questions, that I didn't really have answers for!!!! He did have A LOT of pictures for me to look at for ideas, which was really helpful. He also had a lot of great ideas from weddings he has done at the Tides in the past, in fact, he just did a wedding there this past weekend. We went through each area where we needed flowers, including the ceremony, reception, bouquets, etc. He wrote down what types of flowers I wanted in each one. He also reccommended some other flowers to include to make the bouquets and other arrangements look fuller. He also recommended not doing daisies for any corsages/boutenierres, as they will die fast in the August heat. So, for those he suggest roses. At the end, he added up what each thing would cost and gave me a total. I have to say it was a little bit higher than we were hoping to spend, so if we decide to go with him, we will have to cut out some things, or see if we can work with him on the prices.

I am glad to have one out of the way, so I know what to expect at my next appointment this afternoon. The lady I am going to see this afternoon has done quite a few weddings at the Tides, so I am excited to see her work. I will update later on with what happens later.

Time to Catch up!!

Well, the last few weeks we have been pretty busy with other stuff, and we haven't really done any wedding planning at all. I have been looking for lots of ideas online and getting a list together of what we need to do still, but I haven't really done much.

Today, we finally decided on our Save the Date Magnets. The company we ordered them from was having a sale that ends on Tuesday, so I was motivated to get it done today! I had to work on finding a nice picture of Gregg and I to put on it, and my sister found one that we both really liked, so hopefully it will look good on the one we chose. Here is a picture of the Save the Date Magnet we chose:

It takes a few days to get the proof back to approve, then once we approve it, it takes about a week and half to get them. I guess I need to start getting all the address together over the next week or two so we can send them out once we get them!

Since I am off of work on Tuesday and Wednesday for the Jewish holidays, I want to try to get a bunch of stuff done! I am going to try to make a few appointments with some florists to get an idea of how much flowers are going to be. I would like to get this out of the way in the next few weeks as well. Here are some picture of the flowers we are thinking about for our table centerpieces:

I really like this one as a centerpiece. I like it because of the colors, the only thing I am thinking is to get the orange daisies in Pink, since that is one of our colors. Hopefully, the florist can do something like this.

I still have to finalize what other flowers we need as far as bouquets, corsages, boutonierres, etc. We also need to decided what we would like to do as far as decorations for the ceremony. Here are some pictures of a ceremony at the Tides :
I am hoping the florist can take care of the decorations like this.

Well, I think this will be a busy planning week for the wedding! I will have to update more as we get things done!

Busy Weekend-But no real wedding planning!

Well, this weekend we were extremely busy with a lot of things to do. That being said, we didn't do any wedding planning.

On Friday night, we went to Gregg's house for his sister's birthday party. There was a lot of people there and we had a great time hanging out with everyone.

On Saturday afternoon, we had to go to an engagement party for Curt and Nicole. Curt is one of the groomsman in our wedding. Curt and Nicole are getting married about a month before us and Gregg will be a groomsman in their wedding, so it will be a very busy summer for us next year! Their party was in Middletown at Nicole's parents house. It was nice to hang out with all of the guys that will be in the bridal party for our wedding, as they are all in Curt and Nicole's wedding as well.

Since we were going to Great Adventure on Sunday, we just headed to Sharon and Andrew's house on Saturday night after the party. We got there around 9 and had some time to hang out with the kids before going to bed. Amanda was very mad at me since I didn't sleep by her last week, so we decided to have a big slumber party in the family room, so the kids were very excited. I was the first to fall asleep though, and the kids watched TV with Gregg before falling asleep.

On Sunday, we went to Great Adventure. Sharon, Andrew and the kids have season passes and they get free tickets for September, so Gregg and I, and my mom and Charlie went with them for the day. It was SO HOT!!! We got there at about 10:30 just as it was opening, luckily it wasn't so crowded and we didn't have to wait on too many lines. After awhile, it was just so hot, the kids were getting tired, so we just decided to head home. We had a lot of fun going on a bunch of rides!!

The big news of today is that I am going to run another marathon in January!!! After last year's marathon, I wanted to do the Goofy Challenge at Disney. The Goofy Challenge is really a crazy race, but I have to do it at least once. The Goofy Challenge consists of running a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday during the marathon weekend...yes you read that right, the full marathon is the day after the half marathon!!! Well, this past January, I had said I wanted to do it this year but never got around to registering and next thing I knew it was sold out. I kind of forgot about it for awhile, but lately I kept saying to myself that I wished I had signed up. Well, I recently found out that there are several travel companies that offer package deals where you book at least three nights hotel room and you can add the race entry to your package. So, after some investigating, I found out that we could stay at Pop Century and I could get into the Goofy Challenge!!! So, we decided to go to Disney for another long weekend in January so I can do this CRAZY race!! Funny thing is, that I can't wait!!!

I will have more of a wedding planning update this week, as we have a bunch of stuff to do this week, including booking our hotel block and ordering Save the Date's.

update

Well, since school started last week, I have been really busy and I haven't had much time to do any wedding planning. It is a very good thing that I did so much during the summer, because I don't have a lot of time to get things done during the week now.

Over this past weekend, I was down at Sharon's house for a scrapbooking weekend! On Saturday morning we had a little time before we started scrapping, so we headed over to David's Bridal so Sharon and the girls could try on some dresses for the wedding. We found two Bridesmaid dresses that we really like, they are two very different styles though. Unfortunately, the store we were at did not have my dress, so it was hard to imagine what the dresses would look like next to mine.
We also had the girls try on a few more flower girl dresses, but I think we are going to stick with the original ones they tried on when I went for my dress.
We decided that we need to go back to the Davids Bridal where I ordered my dress, so we could see what the bridesmaid dresses will look like next to mine. So, we are going to try to find a day in the next couple of weeks, when the kids are off of school, so Sharon and the kids can come up to try them on.
Before we left, I showed Sharon the veil that we ordered last week for me. We also looked for some hairpieces that would look nice with my veil, but the kids were getting bored so we decided to head home and look more another day.

Tonight, I made a list of all the things we still need to do in the upcoming weeks for the wedding and I was amazed at how many things were on my list! I never imagined it would be this much work planning a wedding. Some of the things on the list include: finding a hotel/booking a hotel block for overnight guests, ordering/sending Save the Dates, finding airfare for our Honeymoon, figuring out centerpieces/flowers and finding a florist, and that is just the beginning. My goal is to work on these things little by little over the next couple of weeks.

We ordered my dress!!

On Friday afternoon, my sister and the kids came up to go dress shopping with me and my mom. We headed over to David's Bridal in Wayne to see what I could find. I had looked online and in their catalog and picked out quite a few dresses that I wanted to try on. When we got there, we had to fill out some paperwork and they asked me to pick three dresses to start with. Since I had picked about 15-20 dresses that I liked in the catalog before going it was hard to choose only three to start with. In addition, we saw a few others in the store that were not in the catalog. I finally narrowed it down and picked three different styles to start with, and figured we could go from there.

While the salesperson was getting the dresses set for me, we looked around at some flowergirl dresses and other stuff in the store. Ally and Amanda were so excited to walk around and look at the dresses.

When the salesperson was ready, I started to try on some dresses. It was actually kind of hard because they were all so beautiful. Some of them we eliminated right away because we did not like they way they looked, but there were some that we loved. There was one dress though, that I really loved!!! When I put it on, I knew it would be the one that I would love the most, it felt perfect!! It was the second or third dress I tried on, but I kept trying others on to make sure it was the right one. After trying on about 15 or so dresses, I narrowed it down to two, the one that I LOVED and one other that I really liked. We decided not to order it right then so I could go home and think about it a little bit. My sister had also taken a lot of pictures of the different dresses and I wanted to look at those as well.

Well, after thinking about it, my mom and I decided to go back on Sunday to try a few more on, and of course try the two on that I loved from the other day. Well, I found a few more that looked really nice, but I still kept coming back to the one that I LOVED!! It was the last one I tried on and I knew again that it was the one I wanted. We decided it would be the one and decided to order it!! While I had it on, we tried out some different shoes to see what would look good, we tried on some different veils, and headpieces as well.

Before leaving, we ordered my dress and veil. The veil that we picked out has two pieces to it, with a really long piece that can be worn during pictures and the ceremony and then taken off during the reception. It looked beautiful with the dress. The dress takes 4-5 months to order so it should come in sometime at the beginning of January. The veil had to be ordered as well, and that should be here sometime in October.

I would post pictures, but I really don't want Gregg to see the dress and he sometimes reads the blog, so I am not going to post any pictures.

Lots of Wedding Planning

Well, over the last few days I have done A LOT of stuff for the wedding. First, on Thursday it was exactly one year to the wedding, so Gregg and I celebrated by going out to dinner that night!

Earlier that day, I had done some other wedding planning things. First thing in the morning, I met with our Travel Agent to finalize plans for our Honeymoon. We had to book before the end of the weekend as the sale rates that were advertised were expiring. We booked the trip to Sandals Ocho Rios for Aug. 30-Sept. 6, 2008. We are very excited about our honeymoon plans!!! We made sure we purchased trip insurance just in case of any hurricanes. Hopefully, all will be well when we go there next year. The nice thing about working with a travel agent is that they can change your plans at the last minute if there are weather related problems.

The other thing I worked on that day was meeting with a videographer. The company that I visited on Thursday was reccommended by our DJ. The lady I met with was very nice and they do very nice work, but their package did not include as much as the other company I had met with. I had also contacted several other companies and did not get nearly as good as package as we were offered by Multivision. So, we decided to book with Multivision as our videographer. They threw in a lot of extra sections to the video and offered the most coverage at a reasonable rate. They even worked out a payment plan for us to follow to pay it off.

All in all, Thursday 8/28/08 was a very productive day!! We booked our honeymoon, videographer and went out to celebrate one year until the wedding!!

Babysitting the kids!!

Last weekend, my sister and Andrew had tickets to the Giants-Jets Preseason game, so Gregg and I headed down to their house to watch the kids while they went to the game. We had so much fun with the kids and did a lot of different things. We went swimming, we watched a movie downstairs while we ate dinner, we played some air hockey, did some arts and crafts, played the Wii, made brownies, rode bikes and played basketball, amongst other things. Gregg and I had a lot of fun hanging out with the kids and playing. Here are some pictures of our FUN day:

Since it was late when Sharon and Andrew got back, Gregg and I just slept there. The kids were all excited that we were staying and we ended up having a campout in the living room. It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to watch the kids again!

Latest Wedding Planning!

Well, since I haven't updated the blog in awhile, I figured I would give an update as to what we have been doing for the last week. We haven't really done much wedding planning, but I have done a few things.

We still need to find a videographer for the wedding, so I have been working on that. We went on Friday to meet with one in Ridgewood, and they were great. We didn't book with them yet, as I still want to check out a few other places. We have an appointment tomorrow with a second videographer that our DJ recommended to us. Depending on what happens tomorrow, I have a few others in mind that I can contact as well.

The other big thing I have been working on is our Honeymoon. There are a lot of sales going on right now for early bookings for travel next summer. We decided that we want to go to an all-inclusive, as you can't beat the all-inclusives, especially if you like to eat...like Gregg! We narrowed in down to either Sandals or Couples. After some research and talking with a travel agent, we decided on Sandals Grande Ocho Rios in Jamaica. We haven't finalized what particular room we are going to get yet, but they have a room that is a villa with a semi-private pool, and butler service that we may get. We figure that we should splurge on this vacation a little as we may not get to go on another vacation like it for awhile! Here are some pictures from the resort(the second picture is the type of room that we are looking at):

Other than working on video and honeymoon, we haven't really worked on any wedding related things.

We did get to babysit my sister's kids over the weekend, but I will reserve that fun for another post when I have some pictures to upload!!

More Flower Ideas

Since today was the last day of my summer camp job, I figured I have the next two weeks before school starts to get a lot of stuff done for the wedding. One of the big things we still need to do is flowers. I have an idea of what kinds of flowers we like for the bouquets, but I hadn't really thought about centerpieces for the tables yet. I decided to look online for some ideas, and found a few that I liked. Since the tables are oblong as opposed to round, I was looking for lower centerpieces so that people will be able to see over them and have conversations. I like tall centerpieces but I feel like people at the table won't be able to see around them to talk to each other, so we will go with low centerpieces. Like the bouquets, we really like the gerbera daisies in pinks. Here are few ideas I found that I like:

I like the first three, and as I said the flowers would be shades of pink. I do like the last one with the candle, and the ring of flowers I was thinking could have some pink daisies in it. These of course were just some ideas I was thinking about.

I am hoping when we go to the florist, they will have a book or pictures with ideas that we can see.

Ideas for Flowers

This weekend, I am at a meeting in Hartford, CT for the physical education association that I am a member of, we have our conference planning committee meeting. I had some down time last night, so I was looking for ideas for flowers for the wedding. We have to start thinking of ideas, so we can go to florist at some point in the next few weeks. We haven't really finalized our colors that we want yet, but we have a few ideas. I found some pictures of flowers that I really like, but it will all depend on the colors we choose.

Gregg and I both like the gerbera daisies for flowers, and they come in quite a few colors so that is good. Here are some pictures of the flowers I found online that I like:

The first two are only gerbera daisies, the third is a combination of daisies and roses, and the last is all roses. I really like all of these ideas!

Now the next thing is to figure out what kinds of flowers/ideas we have for centerpieces. I also want to look for other ideas for the bouquets. Then we can think about going to a florist!

Yet Another Bridal Show

Tonight, I went to another Bridal Show at the Holiday Inn Parsippany. Originally, Gregg and I were supposed to go to this show to see the original DJ company that I had met with as they were doing a showcase there. Since we booked with Premier DJ over the weekend, we didn't really need to go to this show, but I decided to go anyway since Gregg was working late tonight.

At first, I was not really happy with the show, as it was so crowded and the space was so small, at times it was impossible to navigate through the crowd. At any rate, I ended up talking with a florist, videographer, travel agents, and some other people about wedding stuff. I also talked to the Sales rep from the Holiday Inn about hotel rooms for our guests, as they offer a free shuttle to/from the Tides that we can use if we book a room block there. Gregg and I will have to go back in September so we can see the rooms and get the rates, but it is definetely a possibility for the wedding.

The best part of the show was all the giveaways and door prizes they were having. At the door, everyone got a bunch of door prize tickets that we could put into the baskets at the different vendors. At the end of the show, they were going to pick a winner for each vendor fora variety of different prizes. I was very excited, because I won TWO door prizes!!!! The first prize that I won is $250 off from a florist in Lodi. They also gave me one of the sample bouquets that they had on display at their booth. Here is a picture of the flowers:

These are not my favorite flowers but it was cool getting to bring it home! I have it in a vase, hopefully the flowers will last a little, as they are already starting to die. We will definetely go check out this florist in Lodi since we have the $250 gift certificate.

I also won another door prize, but unfortunately, I won't be able to use it. I won an engagement photo session and free guest book from a photographer, but it is only valid if you book a package with him. Since we already booked our photographer, this will not be of much use for me. The photographer that I won this from was actually one of the photographers that I met with a few weeks ago. The one reason that we didn't book with him was that his prices were a bit on the high side.

So, all in all, it was a nice trip to the show, I am really glad I went even, since I wasn't planning on going as of this morning. I got a lot of great information, I just have to go through it all now!!!

We booked our DJ!!!!

Today was another productive day in our wedding planning. This morning we had an appointment at Premier DJ in East Rutherford. I had heard a lot of great things about this company, so we were excited to see what they had to offer and if they had any great deals. We met with Dave, one of the MC's at the company, and he talked to us about what we were looking for as far as ceremony and reception music were concerned. He also showed us some of the options that can be added to the packages. We were very impressed with all they had to offer. Dave then had us watch a DVD with all the different MC's that we could choose from. We watched 3 different MC's and we found one that we really liked, and it turned out to be Dave who were meeting with!!

While we were watching the DVD, I asked Dave if he knew my cousin Vicki's husband, Rob, who used to work there. It turns out Dave and Rob have known each other for a long time, which ended up working in our favor!!

After finishing the DVD, Dave went over the packages that were available, and right away he told us that he would give us a great deal because we knew Rob. We ended up getting an awesome deal, with so many options. We are getting an MC, DJ, and the plasma TV package. As part of the plasma TV package, they bring a 3rd person, who will take digital photos throughout the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. That person will then upload the pictures during the night, and they will be played on the plasma TV's throughout the reception. In addition, we have to give them 50 pictures, half pictures of us growing up and the other half of Gregg and I together, and they will make a photo montage video that will be played that night.

Dave gave Gregg and I a few minutes to talk about the deal, and Gregg and I both agreed that we couldn't pass up this deal. In the end, we were saving $700-800 on the package, and we are basically get music for the ceremony for free. That being said, we decided to book with them. We filled out all the paperwork and left the deposit!!

We are very excited about getting another vendor out of the way! We are moving right along. Now, the only big vendor left to book is the videographer, which I will work on this week.

We booked a photographer!!!

I haven't really updated the blog this week, because we have been kind of busy. We do have some wedding related updates though!

On Wednesday night, we met with a photographer that I learned about in a few of the bridal magazines and online. I had been emailing back and forth with Bill from Stellaview Studios for about a week. I had first emailed him asking for more information about his packages that he has for weddings. He had me answer a bunch of questions about the wedding and then he sent me a variety of packages that we could choose from. His prices were very reasonable and there was so much included in his packages. I didn't really have a chance to schedule an appointment with him at first, and was planning on doing so, when I get another email from him saying that he was having a 5 day sale!!!! Well, I had to email him back and tell him how much of a discount I wanted off a particular package. So, of course, I ask for 25% (the most offered) off of the most expensive package he offered. Bill emailed me back and sure enough the new package was 25% off!!! I immediately set up an appointment with him so we could take advantage of his sale if we liked him.

Gregg and I ended up going to meet with Bill on Wednesday night. Well, all I have to say is that Bill was such a nice guy. I felt like we had known him for years, he was so easy to talk to. He went over the package with us, and talked to us about how the actual day would look and when we would take pictures. We talked with him about the style of pictures we would like, and we really felt like he would be so easy to work with on the day of the wedding. And, of course, we really loved his photos and his style of photography.

We left there and decided right away that we wanted to book his services for the wedding. I am in the process of working on the contract with Bill and getting that all squared away. In our package, we will get unlimited photos and full day coverage. Bill will be there when I arrive at the Tides to get ready and he will stay all the way till the end of the night. We also get a 10x10 bridal album for Gregg and I and two 8x8 album for our parents. In addition, we get an online gallery of 500 pictures that our guests can log on and see, and 150 4x6 proofs. The package was great compared to some of the other photographers that I called.

If you want to see some of our photographers work, you can visit his website at

www.stellaview.com


I do have more updates for the week, but it is time to go eat dinner and watch the Olympic Opening Ceremonies...there will be more to come later!

Boring Weekend

Since this was the first weekend in a LONG time that we had nothing at all going on, we decided to just take it easy and relax at home. We had thought about going out to the Poconos for the Nascar race today, but we didn't really feel like it, as it makes for a very long day.


On Saturday, we went over to the new 24 hour Fitness center that is opening this week in Hasbrouck Heights, and Gregg and I both joined. The place is huge, and they have alot equipment. I can't wait to go tomorrow to start working out again, and the best part is that they have a pool, so I can start swimming!!!


Today, I spent the day cleaning my kitchen, as we have received some engagement gifts that I had to make room for. I got rid of a lot of older stuff that I don't really use anymore to make room for our new stuff. We received a bunch of really cool gifts over the last month, including a griddle/grill, Kitchenaid mixer, some serving dishes, a new pot, and our casual china that we registered for. Here is a picture of some of the things we received:

We love all the gifts we have received so far, and have enjoyed using some of them already! Maybe getting all of this kitchen stuff will motivate me to cook some more!!!

I didn't really do anything wedding related this weekend, I decided to just take a break for the weekend. This week, I want to try to talk to some more photographers and another DJ.

Busy Wedding Planning Day!

Well, today I did a lot of wedding related things! And I learned that it is not easy to make decisions regarding the wedding!

I had an appointment at a photography studio at 5pm in Fairfield. I was a little early so I made a pit stop at David's Bridal to see if they had any books with their dresses in them. I had an old one from last fall, so I wanted to see if they had a new one. So, I got my books and made my way on to the photography studio.

The photographer that I was visiting was Abella Studios. I had done a lot of research and had a LONG list of questions to ask the photographer. When I first arrived, they had me sit in a room and gave me time to look through the many albums they had on display. This first photographer was recommended to us by one of Gregg's co-workers who used them for her wedding in June. I was VERY impressed by their work and their prices were very reasonable. The other bonus is that they do wedding videos and give a discount if you book both photography and video together.

Next, I had an appointment at 7pm with a Golden Note DJ in Wayne. I had seen this DJ company at the Bridal Show a couple of weeks ago at the Richfield Regency. The lady I met with was so nice, she showed me all the different packages which basically align with the emcee that you choose for your reception. I had her price out three different levels so I could see the difference. Since the packages come with different lighting options, she took me to a room where she demonstrated all the different lights, it was pretty cool!!!!! Again, their prices were very reasonable and they are a strong possibility for the wedding!

While there, the lady I was meeting with mentioned that they have a photographer that they work closely with and he happened to be there at the time, so I decided to talk with him while I was there. He showed me some of his work, and went through all his different packages with me. He was a little more pricey than Abella Studios but his packages include much more. He seemed like a very good option as well.

I am happy with the start I have in finding the right photographer and DJ, I have several more photographers that I want to look into and one or two more DJ's. Although it is a very hard decision, it is a lot of fun going to meet with all the different vendors. Now it is time for me to go show Gregg all the different packages since he didn't go with me tonight!

Trip to Indy--Day 5 BRICKYARD 400!!!

Sunday was the day of the big race...the Brickyard 400!! Gregg and I decided to head down to the track a bit earlier than everyone else, so we could walk around and check out the souveneir haulers and exhibits. We actually found a parking spot relatively close to the track in somebody's back yard. Surprisingly, we did not buy anything!!!!! We had bought a couple of race t-shirts the day before, but we didn't buy any souveniers on sunday...that might be a first for us!!! We did get to see Tony Stewart's new car for next year!

After checking out all the exhibits, we decided to head into the track and into the infield so we could go by the garage area, hoping to see some of the drivers!! It was really crowded in the garage area, but we were able to get a great spot up on top of the viewing area. I was able to get some pictures of a few of the drivers/owners.

This is a picture of Gregg up above the garage area.

The man in the hat is Jack Roush, owner of several Sprint Cup teams.

The guy in the blue hat is Brian Vickers....one of my FAVORITE drivers!!!

After hanging out in the garage area for a little bit, it was time to head back outside the track to go up to our seats, as my Dad, Terri and Grandma would be getting there soon. We had great seats up pretty high just between turn one and two. We were able to see the cars coming off the frontstretch around turn one and through turn two. Here is a picture from the start of the race:

This was actually the most interesting race I have ever been to or even watched. They were having a lot of problems with the tires, and the tires were only lasting about 10 laps. That meant every 10 laps or so, Nascar was having cautions....UGH!! This made for quite an interesting race. It was almost like there was a bunch of 10 lap heat races that you see at the local tracks. Dale Jr. had an Ok race...he was in the lead for a little bit in the beginning, then had a tire problem and went a lap down. He eventually got back on the lead lap and made his way back up to the front, finishing in 11th. Casey Mears had a typical Casey day....nothing spectacular, and finished in the low 20's I think! Jimmie Johnson ended up winning the race...I really am sick of seeing him win!!!

We had a GREAT time at the race, despite all the cautions.

After the race, we headed back and went out for some pizza, as Gregg and I and Grandma were heading home early the next morning.

All in all, it was a great trip, we had a lot of fun and got to see a lot of racing!!!!

Trip To Indy--Day 4 Cup Qualifying and Nationwide Race

On Saturday morning, we all got up early and headed down to the Motor Speedway to see Sprint Cup Qualifying and Practice. We got to park in the infield which was really cool. We walked through the infield and got some cool pictures near the pagoda and the cars on pit road.

We then headed through the tunnel, and up to the seats near the exit of pit road by turn one. We watched qualifying from here, and it was cool, as we got to see the cars just as they were coming out for qualifying and down the frontstretch and through turn one and two. We got to see all our favorite drivers!!!

After qualifying, we headed back over to the infield to catch some of the practice session that was going on. We watched from the inside of the track on a hill in Turn 3...it was cool watching from this vantage point. After a little bit, we decided to head home, so Gregg and I could get ready to head to the Nationwide race.

Gregg and I left a little early for the Nationwide race, as we had to drop Tony off and home first. We got over to Ron and Chrissy's house and talked with Ron for a little bit. Their house looked great, and the baby's room looked all ready! Unfortunately, Ron wasn't feeling well, so he and Tony didn't end up coming over to the race.

The Nationwide race was a lot of fun. There was a lot of great racing, and despite the fact that Kyle Busch won the race, we had a great time!!!

Trip to Indy-Day 3

After a long day on Thursday, we took it easy on Friday. We hung around the house on Friday morning before going out for lunch. Then, Dad, Grandma P, Tony, Gregg and I took a ride to downtown Indianpolis to see the new Colts football stadium. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the new stadium, but it is HUGE!!!!! After we drove by the stadium and downtown a little bit, we headed over by the track and rode down Gasoline Alley, where some of the race shops are. Then, we took a spin by the motor speedway to see what was going on over that way. We would be heading down to the speedway the next morning to see qualifying and practice.

That night, we hung out around the house, and had some steaks and fish on the grill. Everyone else had some of the salmon that my dad had caught on his fishing trip to Alaska. Gregg loved the fish!! I skipped the fish and just had a steak....not daring enough to try any fish yet! After dinner, we just watched the truck race and went to bed early!

Trip to Indy--Day 2

On Thursday, we headed to O'Reilly Raceway Park for the JD Byrider 100. We had to go out there early in the afternoon, as my Dad had to put out Ron and Tony's go karts for display. We helped him get the go karts all set up, and then had time to hang out for awhile before the races started. They had a HUGE tent that was all decorated for the event, and they had some great food that we ate A LOT of!!! The highlight of the event was getting to see Tony Stewart!!!


Around 7:30pm, it was time to head into the races. They were having both Midget races and the USAC Silver Crown race. There was some great racing, and it was a lot of fun watching these races with everyone, including Dad and Terri, Grandma P, Ron, Chrissy, and Tony. We were pretty tired by the end of this day, but we were looking forward to the next couple of days and all the NASCAR racing to come!!!

Trip to Indy

Tuesday night Gregg and I left for Indianapolis to see my Dad and go to the Nascar races that were in town. It is a long drive, so we didn't go all the way on Tuesday night. We left NJ at about 3:30pm and drove till about 1am, stopping for gas a few times. We ended up in Dayton, Ohio at a "beautiful" Motel 6. This motel was so gross!!! I am not usually grossed out by stuff like this, but I was this time! It was a good thing that we were only really sleeping there and then heading out, so it wasn't so bad!

We got up in the morning and stopped for breakfast at Bob Evans before heading out to New Castle, Indiana where Ron and Tony were racing go-karts. We had to drive about an hour to get to the track, and we ended up getting there just as Tony was getting ready to go out for qualifying. He did really well, and it was fun watching him race. These kids are so small, but they go really fast and are great drivers! After Tony drove, Ron went out for qualifying, unfortunately he got spun out by another driver and didn't finish so well.

Since this was a charity event, they had special races to race for a chance to race against Nascar driver John Andretti! There was 6 elimination races, and you had to finish in first or second in your race to go to the BIG race! My dad had some entries from his company into these races, so Gregg and I got to race....well, this was really funny!!!!!!!

I went first and I was in the second elimination race. We had to go over a little early and get race gear to wear in the race, since I had on shorts. I put on my race gear, so now I looked like a real racer.....at least I looked like one! We drove out and had to stop on the first straight and get ready for the start. Well, I wasn't exactly ready when the guy waved the green flag that I got LEFT IN THE DUST!!! Everyone else took off sooooooo... fast, and I was a little slow to say the least. I was so slow....the leaders passed me at least 3 times, but I made it through the whole race....although I thought I was going to drive off the track at least a few times. I ended up LAST in my heat...no surprise there! I guess I will just stick to watching racing as opposed to driving! Here is a picture of me in the race:

After a few more races, then it was Gregg's turn to race! He was in the last elimination race of the day. He was very excited to race! He got all suited up and it was time to get in the karts. Just like me he started off a little slow but quickly got up to speed. But on the second or third turn, he spun out! He had to get going again but at that point he was so far behind the leaders. He also made it to the end of his race, and did a good job. Here is a picture of Gregg:

time to head to the track....more to come later...and I will try to add some more pictures as well!

Bridal Show

Last night, I went to a bridal show at the Richfield Regency in Verona. I wasn't sure what to expect, as this was the first show I was going to, but I was excited at the same time. They weren't quite ready when I got there so I just walked around a little bit checking things out. The Richfield Regency is a very nice place, but it is a bit small. And, they do not have any outdoor grounds either.

At 6:45. the doors opened and everyone was able to go in and talk with the vendors. I got to talk to some DJs, photographers, a travel agent, a Holiday Inn representative, a make-up artist, and some invitation/favor vendors. I was able to get a lot of information and they answered some of the questions I had as to when is best to book services and what kinds of things to look for when booking those vendors. I was able to make a few appointments with people to get further information, so Gregg and I will be going to those in the upcoming weeks.

At about 7:45, they had a showcase with a DJ company, a band, and a bridal fashion show in one of the other rooms. The DJ company that was there was AWESOME!! They were so entertaining in the 15 minutes that they were performing, that I decided to make an appointment with them to get some further information. The good thing about that is that they were offering discounts to people that were at the bridal show.

The band that played was also amazing! I am not really into live entertainment for wedding receptions, but this band was awesome. I was tempted to get some more information from them after their show, but I didn't.

Finally, they had a bridal fashion show, which I was really looking forward to. Well, it was awful!!! They had two ladies modeling dresses and the dresses were all NOT my style!

I left there last night with a lot of information, now I just have to start going to see some of the vendors to see what kinds of packages we can get and what the exact prices are. The biggest thing I learned last night, is that as soon as we know what we want we should book our DJ, photographer, and videographer to ensure we get exactly what we want at the best prices. Every vendor I spoke to said that a year out is a good gauge as to when to have these services booked. That means I have a lot of work to do in the next month or so!

Weekend Events

This weekend, I went to a scrapbook crop in Mahwah, NJ with some ladies I met a few months ago at another crop. I had so much fun, and I got so many pages done. I even started an album with wedding related pages!! I am going to take lots of pictures along the way, so I wanted to start the scrapbook now, so I don't get too far behind! It was so much fun working on the wedding pages, but I was a little sad that I didn't have that many pictures to scrap yet. At least, I am all caught up on the wedding pictures.

This afternoon when I got home, Gregg came over so we could go out to eat for my birthday, since we are usually busy during the week. While we were eating, we were talking about wedding stuff, and we were trying to figure out what colors we want to have. I knew that I wanted some form of pink, but I had no idea of what colors would look nice with pink. So after dinner, we decided to go to Home Depot to look for paint chips to help us choose some colors. We had to go to the Home Depot in Clifton since the Bergen County stores are closed on Sundays. We left Home Depot with tons of paint chips and brochures with every color combination you could imagine!!!

On our way to Home Depot, we passed by the Bed, Bath, and Beyond in Clifton, so I asked Gregg if we could stop there to add some more items to the registry that we started a few weeks ago. We ended up adding a lot of things to registry, including pots and pans, dinner plates, and bathroom stuff to name a few. It is really hard sometimes to pick out items for the registry because there is so many things to choose from!!

We were getting tired, so we decided to head home and take it easy for the rest of the night. When we got home, we looked through the paint chips and I think we are going to go with a dark pink and yellow, although that could change after I go looking for dresses.

This week, I need to go online and look for photographers, and DJ's so I can start contacting them for more information. I also am going to my first Bridal Show on Tuesday night at the Richfield Regency in Verona.

Friday, July 11

On Friday, my mom and I went to the Tides to sign the contract for the ceremony and reception. My mom had never been to the Tides, so she was excited to see what it looked like. My appointment with Tom, our banquet manager was at 3pm, so we went a little early to look around. After we looked around, it was time to meet with Tom to get the contract all settled. As he was writing up the contract, we came up with some questions that he answered for us, while we were waiting. Tom finished the contract, and I had to give him a check for the deposit. It was so weird writing a check for that much money!! He explained all the fine print on the contract, and had me sign all the pages, and we were done!!!

So, it was finally official!! We are booked for Friday, August 28th at the Tides in North Haledon. Our ceremony will be held at 6:30pm with the reception from 7pm-12am.

As it gets closer, we will have to give another payment, and we will have to choose our menu items, cocktail hour food, and what type of cake we will have. I can't wait for all of that, I wish we could do it now!!!!

After we finished with Tom, I dropped my mom off at home, and I went to a scrapbook crop in Mahwah, where I would spend the rest of the weekend scrapbooking!!

The Tides it is!!!!!!!!

Well, after thinking a week ago that the Bethwood would win out.....that has totally changed!!!!

Gregg and I visited the Tides after work today, since he could not come with me the other day when I went the first time. We looked around and took some pictures, and Gregg really liked it! So, we decided to book for 8/28/09. I am so excited!!!!!

They booked the date for us, all we have to do is go back and sign the contract and bring the deposit and it will be official. I made an appointment for Friday afternoon, so after that it will be on to planning for everything else!

Here are some pictures that I took today while visiting:

That is just a few of the pictures I took, I will post some more tomorrow, time to get ready for my hockey game!

Will it be the Tides??

Well, I didn't really do anything today for the wedding, but I did get to talk to Gregg about the Tides. We are going there tomorrow after work so Gregg can check it out. I hope he likes it as much as I did, because it really is beautiful.

I was able to negotiate a little bit with the catering manager. He actually lowered the price per person and the minimum number of guests required, which was awesome! Then on top of that he told us that he would include either a Seafood raw bar during the cocktail hour or the Viennese Table for dessert. We can choose one of the two!!! That is a tough decision, I am not a big seafood fan but Gregg is...but the Viennese table is awesome!!!! Every wedding that we have been to that has a had a Viennese table for dessert was GREAT!!!

So, after talking to Gregg, he seems excited to go. So, hopefully, tomorrow we will make our final decision so we can sign a contract by the end of the week. Luckily, the catering manager was nice enough to put a hold on the date for us, until we decide tomorrow. I already like how accomodating and easy to deal with the Tides has been, which makes me very happy.

I can't wait to get this out of the way, so I can start looking for other things. I actually have found a lot of ideas....so I will have to update that stuff tomorrow!

The Tides in North Haledon

Today, I decided to go visit the Tides in North Haledon. Since Gregg was not completely sold on the Bethwood, I wanted to look at a few other places to see what else we could find. I had heard great reviews for the Tides, so I figured I would give it a try. Well, let me just say, from the minute I walked into the place I was amazed...it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!

The Banquet Manager showed me around, including the Bridal Suite, Reception Room, Cocktail Hour room, Gardens for the ceremony, and everything was so nice, and more modern than the other places we have visited. Here are some pictures from the Tides:

The Crystal Room--Reception held here

Garden Room--Cocktail hour held here

Outside Gardens for Ceremony

We looked at the prices and it was a little higher than the Bethwood, but it is so nice, so I am going to try to negotiate with the guy and see how much lower I can get it. If I can get him to lower the price by $5 per person we should be a go!!!

The Tides was the first place that I walked out saying....I really want to have the reception here. Even though I liked the other places, the Tides was my favorite by far!!! Hopefully, it all works out!

So, I tried to create a monogram today, to use on different things we have printed for the wedding. I was reading on some of the message boards and I came across directions for how to create one. Here is my first attempt:

Not bad for my first attempt...I am going to play with it a little more and see what I come up with!

The First Post!!!

Well, we have been engaged for about three weeks and things have already been hectic! It has been a lot of fun, but a little bit stressful in the process. The big day will be Friday, August 28, 2009! It seems like so far away, but I know time will fly by, with all of the things we have to do! I wanted to start this blog to keep track of everything over the next year!

Right now, we are trying to pick out a venue for our ceremony and reception, and I think we have a winner!!! We are leaning towards the Bethwood in Totowa, NJ. The Bethwood has beautiful outdoor gardens where we can have our ceremony and take pictures. The rooms are a decent size for our guest list, and the price is right! I may go look at one or two more places early this week, but I think the Bethwood will be the winner! I hope to book it by the end of this week, so we don't loose our date there! Here are some pictures from the Bethwood:

I can't wait until we booked the venue, so I can start doing other things!

The next thing I can't wait to go dress shopping. Hopefully in a couple of weeks, we can go and look because this is the main thing that I am looking forward to in all of this planning!

That is all for now, I will updated today if I figure anything else out!!