Chapter 33: Rest Time is Over

So we haven't been updating very frequently since we haven't been doing as much for the wedding. Meeting with and booking all of the vendors was probably the hardest part of the planning process. Now that we have all of that done, we have taken a rest from the wedding preparation. However, now we are ready to start back up! We've made a list of the things we need to start doing. Joe and I are going to work on planning the rehearsal dinner, decide on flowers (color and type), look at tuxedos and the list goes on.

I've looked at the bridesmaid dresses but we haven't ordered anything yet. Joe and I will be going to look at tuxedos tomorrow. Hopefully we will have more frequent updates as we continue to move forward with the wedding plans.

Chapter 32: Senior Year...

Joe and I have made another photo album which you can view by clicking the link on the right column. Most of the pictures are of holidays or other photo worthy occasions during our senior year at Penn State.

After going through our pictures, we have realized that our senior year is almost done. It's sad. Looking back over the past two semesters, it has all gone very fast! We will be graduating in just 6 weeks and will be done at Penn State...

Chapter 31: Food!

So before we have a meeting with our caterer, we wanted to see what type of food would be preferred for the main dish. We have set up another poll (to the right) to see if our guests would like chicken, beef, fish (most likely salmon) or a vegetarian selection. Rania, our caterer, mainly keeps a vegetarian diet so we would expect the vegetarian meal to be very good!

Feel free to leave comments if you have any suggestions.

Chapter 30: Updates

We recently received an update on the progress of our house! They are knocking down the old deck and will be building a new one starting this weekend. All of the security and other electrical elements are wrapping up and the insulation should be done this week.

Since things are now quickly moving along after the winter lull, we will be needing to make some big decisions. Flooring, cabinetry, vanities, paint color, etc. will need to be selected in the coming weeks. We are planning to do dark cabinets and a light counter top in the kitchen. We hope to have a light hardwood floor on the first level and carpeting for the second and third. A trip to Pittsburgh in the next few weeks may be necessary...

Chapter 29: Honeymoon Decision

Even though Fiji was the favorite honeymoon spot on the poll, Joe and I have decided to go with our initial desire, Hawaii!
After some research we chose Kauai and The Big Island to visit. Kauai is known as "The Garden Island" because of its natural beauty. We will stay here for 6 days before hopping to The Big Island. The volcano on this island is still considered active and you can walk up to the molten lava flow (don't worry it's safe)! We will be staying in a bungalow right on the beach. We are very excited!

Chapter 28: Back to School

Joe took the red eye from Vegas last night and arrived in Pittsburgh at 7:30 this morning. I met him in New Castle before we headed to Penn State. We picked up my roommate, Dorann, and made the 3 hour trek back. We only have 8 more weeks left in the semester!

Yesterday, my mom and I went to Pittsburgh again. We had 4 meetings in total (2 florists and 2 photographers). It ended up being another productive day. We are going to go with Lilli-Maeg Specialty Florals and The Brand Studio (photography). We now have all of the vendors we need for the big day!

Chapter 27: The Dress!

My mom and I returned to Catan's today. Objective: Find and buy the perfect dress. And we accomplished just that! After trying on the two dresses that we had been debating on Sunday, we made our final decision! I would really like to post a picture of the dress but I don't want Joe to see it yet... So all I can say is that it's white. :)

Chapter 26: Vegas & Pittsburgh

Joe has been in Las Vegas since Sunday. He is playing in some of the Wynn Poker Tournaments while he is there. He entered one of the tournaments on Monday and ended up doing very well! Approximately 180 people entered the tournament and Joe made it to the final table which was played on Tuesday. Joe headed to the final table 5th out of 9 people and got knocked out in 3rd place. He was very happy with the finish! He plans to play a few more tournaments this week.

Today, my mom and I went to Pittsburgh for a few meetings. We met with two different photographers and visited a few different hotels to consider for guest accomodations. Overall, we thought the day was fairly productive. We liked one of the hotels a lot and just hope that they have enough availability on September 13th. As for the photographers, we were not quite settled on one and might even expand our search for different options. I feel as though I have made a lot of progress over spring break and it has been nice to be home to have my mom help me!

Chapter 25: Wedding Dress Shopping!

After my dad shoveled the driveway this morning, we were able to leave the house! Suzi came over and she, Katie, my mom and I headed to Catan's Bridal in Strongsville. Catan's is supposed to be one of the largest bridal salons in the country! And it did have a huge selection of dresses. We looked through many of the dresses and picked out 8 that we liked. The sales assistant took us to a private room that had a pedestal surrounded by mirrors, seating for Suzi, Katie and my mom and a changing room for me. It was nicely set up. I was surprised to find that I liked 3 out of the 8 dresses; it was much easier than I thought it would be.

We walked through the showroom once more and only picked 2 other dresses to try on. However, we still preferred the 3 dresses from the first batch. I decided to try these 3 on again to see if we could eliminate any of them. I found one that I liked best and the sales assistant then showed us veils, jewelry and shoes! Even though we all loved the dress we weren't sure it was "the one." So, we decided to go to another bridal salon with the plan to return if we didn't find something better.

We stopped for lunch to refuel before heading to David's Bridal. There were a lot of people at David's Bridal and we had to wait a while before we were able to try on the dresses. I tried on 4 but did not like any of them as much as the dress from Catan's. We did not end up staying long. We were exhausted after the day but felt as though we had been very successful!

Chapter 24: Snowed In

The plans to go dress shopping have been delayed due to inclement weather. Over the past 24 hours or so we have gotten a lot of snow! We measured this afternoon and there were 9.5 inches accumulated and it is still coming down. It is very pretty to look outside at the winter wonderland but it is hindering our plans to find a wedding dress.
Katie finally arrived yesterday after a very adventurous travel day. She left her apartment in Boston at 6:30 AM and didn't get here, to Solon, until 8:30 PM. She had a flight from Boston to Detroit then Detroit to Akron. Her flight from Detroit circled Akron but was unable to land because of poor visibility. They ran low on fuel and landed in Toledo to refuel. Once on the ground, they found that one of the airplane instruments was broken and needed fixing. The airline then provided Excursion Limos to transport the passangers and their luggage to Akron. It was a long day and she was happy to be home.

Chapter 23: Taking a Break

It's Spring Break! Joe and I drove to his home today. I will be heading back to Solon tomorrow with Mrs. Patrick to go dress shopping with her, my mom and Katie (who is flying in from Boston tomorrow morning). Katie will be staying the weekend and hopefully we will have a dress picked out before she flies home on Monday evening.

Joe is going to Las Vegas for the week. He is leaving on Sunday and will be joined with his Dad and friend, Bob Preston. They will be playing poker tournaments and enjoying warmer weather.

Chapter 22: Honeymoon

Now that we have decided on most of our vendors, we think it is time to start thinking about a honeymoon. Joe and I had initially been set on Hawaii, but we thought it would be fun to have others weigh in on where they think we should spend our first few weeks together as husband and wife. So there is another poll, please vote!

Also, my wedding dress shopping excursion was not very eventful. It was almost a little disappointing; the store didn't have a great selection of dresses. Still, it was nice to get a sample of what it's like to try on wedding dresses.

Chapter 21: Furniture Plans

We found this great program on the Wolf Furniture website that allowed us to enter the dimensions of any room and then add furnishings. We were able to see where we think furniture will go and we had a lot of fun doing it! The site allowed us to add windows, doors, appliances and even the spiral staircase! Here is what we came up with. What do you think?