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.