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!!