Marcus and I managed to get a few more things checked off our wedding planning to-do list without even going to Maryland! First, a few small things:
1. After doing some research online, we have decided what we want to do for our favors! I don't know why we didn't think of it before, because it's SO us. We are going to do playing card decks that have our wedding info on the box (and I think also on the backs of the cards)! This is what we're looking at: http://www.customwedding.com/cards.htm
2. The same day we got that done, I also spent some time researching online for gifts for my bridesmaids. I knew what I wanted to get them, based on their personalities, but surprisingly, it took me a while to find something close to what I was looking for. I eventually found something that worked, so I went ahead and ordered them. They were delivered to me on Wednesday, so that's another check off the list! And no, I'm not posting a link to what they are in case my bridesmaids read this ;-) Now I just have to figure out what to get for my maid of honor (my sister), because I wanted to get her something different/special.
3. Well, I guess this isn't THAT small, but I'm listing it with the small things because we've only made the plans to do something, we haven't actually done it yet. Now that our contract is finally signed with the photographer, we've been emailing back and forth with them to try to set up a time for our engagement photo session. It worked out really well, we are actually going to be able to do it while we're in Maryland Labor Day weekend! We have to get up early on Monday September 6 (photo session starts at 8:00 am, yikes!), but we're going to do it at Washingtonian (which, for those of you who don't know, is this really cute little center with stores and restaurants, a movie theater, etc., and it has a lake with a walking path around it and a walking bridge connecting one side of the center to the other.), which I'm super excited about, because it's a place that Marcus and I have gone together many times, and we both really like it, so it's a significant place for us. Yay!
In addition to all of those small checks, we also have one BIG check: we have officially booked our honeymoon! We will be going to Sandals Halcyon Beach, an all-inclusive resort in St. Lucia, for 7 days! The only bad part is that our flight leaves at 6:00 am the morning after the wedding, but it was the only available flight that wasn't ridiculously more expensive. And we probably weren't going to get a whole lot of sleep that night anyway, right? So we're really excited about our honeymoon, now that it's an actuality instead of just some thing in the future that has yet to be planned. Much thanks to Marcus's mom for helping us plan it and for footing the bill! We are so lucky to have such supportive parents through this whole process!
So it's been a productive week. I also went to Kohls yesterday and got an outfit to wear for the engagement photo shoot. It's pretty simple, and very me (according to Marcus, lol), and I'm excited for the pictures! I hate posing for pictures, but I love looking at them later, so in this case it's a necessary evil. Stay tuned for more updates!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Photographers Galore
This weekend, we traveled up to Maryland again. It was originally supposed to be just a fun, relaxing trip for the holiday weekend, but of course we ended up having to meet with a million (ok, only four, but it felt like a million!) photographers along the way.
We drove up halfway Thursday night, got into the hotel around 11:30 (we made really good time!), slept for a few hours and got on the road Friday morning around 7:45. We left earlier than usual because we were meeting my parents at the first photographer's house in Reston (on the way up, but about the same length trip time-wise as just going straight to my parents' house, since it's farther west). We had NO traffic the whole way until we got onto the Beltway (of course), so we still managed to get there on time, at 1:00 pm. The first photographer was ok...she was nice, and my mom really liked her, but I thought she was kind of disorganized and all over the place.
After meeting with her for about an hour, we drove the rest of the way to my parents' house, had about 45 minutes to unload the car...
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we also brought a whole bunch of our engagement presents up with us to store at my parents' house for now. YAY for no more giant pile of boxes in our living room!
So anyway, we had about 45 minutes to unload the car before we headed out to meet with the second photographer of the trip. We got to her house right on time at 4:00 pm. I liked her better than the first one, but my mom had the opposite opinion (of course).
After that, we went to a nice dinner at Bonefish (yum!), then headed back to my parents' house, where the third photographer (which was actually two people, a husband and wife team) arrived just as we did! We were running a little late and they were a little early for the 7:00 meeting we had planned, but it worked out just fine. They were much younger than the other two photographers we had met with, and my mom was concerned about their relative lack of experience (they had only been doing wedding photography for 6 years as opposed to the 15-20 years of experience the other two had). They were nice, and I liked them, but we decided we weren't really thrilled with any of the ones we met with that day.
Saturday was our "down" day. We got up and went to the crepes place to have lunch with my friend Laura, and then didn't really do much the rest of the afternoon. That evening, we went over to the Bolger Center (our venue) to see it set up for an event. It was cool to see, and we definitely got a better idea of the size and space the room will have for our wedding.
On Sunday, we got up at 10 to go have brunch with my grandma and Bernie (mom's mom and her "husband" - they never actually got married, but they've been together for about 15 years), and then to visit my other grandparents (dad's parents). We came home at 3:30 to meet with the fourth photographer. Thankfully, we LOVED him, and my mom has already looked over his contract and approved, so we have our photographer! His name is Steve Canning, his albums are beautiful, and he's a lot of fun and easy to connect with.
After he left, the Schwartzes (family friends) came over for our annual 4th of July dinner, games, and going to my mom's office to see the fireworks. It was a great time, as always, and we were very sad to leave yesterday (Monday) morning.
Next on the list: CAKES! My mom has sent us links to the websites of several cake designers, so we need to look through them and figure out what we want. We'll be going up to Maryland again in late August or early September, and we will hopefully be doing cake tastings and maybe even our engagement photo shoot! Should be another crazy busy, but fun weekend.
We drove up halfway Thursday night, got into the hotel around 11:30 (we made really good time!), slept for a few hours and got on the road Friday morning around 7:45. We left earlier than usual because we were meeting my parents at the first photographer's house in Reston (on the way up, but about the same length trip time-wise as just going straight to my parents' house, since it's farther west). We had NO traffic the whole way until we got onto the Beltway (of course), so we still managed to get there on time, at 1:00 pm. The first photographer was ok...she was nice, and my mom really liked her, but I thought she was kind of disorganized and all over the place.
After meeting with her for about an hour, we drove the rest of the way to my parents' house, had about 45 minutes to unload the car...
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we also brought a whole bunch of our engagement presents up with us to store at my parents' house for now. YAY for no more giant pile of boxes in our living room!
So anyway, we had about 45 minutes to unload the car before we headed out to meet with the second photographer of the trip. We got to her house right on time at 4:00 pm. I liked her better than the first one, but my mom had the opposite opinion (of course).
After that, we went to a nice dinner at Bonefish (yum!), then headed back to my parents' house, where the third photographer (which was actually two people, a husband and wife team) arrived just as we did! We were running a little late and they were a little early for the 7:00 meeting we had planned, but it worked out just fine. They were much younger than the other two photographers we had met with, and my mom was concerned about their relative lack of experience (they had only been doing wedding photography for 6 years as opposed to the 15-20 years of experience the other two had). They were nice, and I liked them, but we decided we weren't really thrilled with any of the ones we met with that day.
Saturday was our "down" day. We got up and went to the crepes place to have lunch with my friend Laura, and then didn't really do much the rest of the afternoon. That evening, we went over to the Bolger Center (our venue) to see it set up for an event. It was cool to see, and we definitely got a better idea of the size and space the room will have for our wedding.
On Sunday, we got up at 10 to go have brunch with my grandma and Bernie (mom's mom and her "husband" - they never actually got married, but they've been together for about 15 years), and then to visit my other grandparents (dad's parents). We came home at 3:30 to meet with the fourth photographer. Thankfully, we LOVED him, and my mom has already looked over his contract and approved, so we have our photographer! His name is Steve Canning, his albums are beautiful, and he's a lot of fun and easy to connect with.
After he left, the Schwartzes (family friends) came over for our annual 4th of July dinner, games, and going to my mom's office to see the fireworks. It was a great time, as always, and we were very sad to leave yesterday (Monday) morning.
Next on the list: CAKES! My mom has sent us links to the websites of several cake designers, so we need to look through them and figure out what we want. We'll be going up to Maryland again in late August or early September, and we will hopefully be doing cake tastings and maybe even our engagement photo shoot! Should be another crazy busy, but fun weekend.
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