We hired our florist!

Whistlestop Florist of East Syracuse. They were really nice there. I wasn't 100% sure what we wanted and she helped a ton! We're doing green cymbidium orchids and ivory roses for my bouquet. The bridesmaids will have the orchids, red roses, and baccara roses (burgundy). the florist thought adding the baccara roses would look more fall like. The ceremony will have white hydrangea in red cones on the pews. The centerpieces will be square glass with green crabapples in the bottom with the orchids on top and a mix of red and baccara rose petals surrounding, and maybe a candle or two. There will be orchids on the cake also. I'm so excited!

The next big things to conquer are the DJ and the cake (that one will be FUN!). Oh shoot. We still need an officiant also. We're getting there though!

We bought a house!

Over a month ago! I kinda forgot to update this. It's awesome though! We have 3x the space we had in the rinky dink apartment. It's so much fun to decorate and work on. It's kind of distracted me from the wedding plans. We've done lots of painting and have spent a nice chunk of change on things for the house already. I love it!

It's been a while... and a lot has happened.

So... my last post I mentioned meeting with a caterer. Well we did this a while ago and I forgot to update this. We hired Premier Catering based out of Liverpool. We'll be having a buffet dinner. Here's what we're getting:

-3 hours open bar
-cheese and crudite display
-coffee and tea
-champagne toast
-garden salad
-assorted fruit display
-slow roasted prime rib with au jus
-lemon chicken
-tortellini alfredo
-baked fish with lemon butter
-rice pilaf
-garlic mashed potatoes
-fresh vegetable medley
-fresh baked rolls

and then the CAKE!

At our tasting we tried the lemon chicken- which I LOVED! The sauce was awesome. Originally in this package was chicken marsala, which I despise. We substituted the lemon chicken since that is what I'll be eating. Hope it's not too much lemon with the fish too. The fresh vegetable medley was awesome too. It had a lovely herb sauce. He sautees that right on site.

I'm getting hungry...

We hired a photographer!

We met with an awesome photographer yesterday and hired him for our wedding. His work is AMAZING. He is very artistic and takes a lot of time to edit your pictures. Check out his website at http://www.edguarente.com. I am so excited! Engagement photos and Bridal pics are also included. I don't know if I really need bridal pics, but we'll see.

This Sunday we have our tasting with the caterer. Let's hope that goes well too!

Update!

So... I picked out my dress!!!

It was actually the second one I tried on. I tried some more on after and every one did not compare. It is super comfortable, girly, and totally me. I can't go into too much detail for fear Markus will stumble upon it. It's from Spybaby bridal though and I got it half off since it was the floor sample and the dress was discontinued. Yippy for saving money! I would have paid full price if I had to.

We are still looking for a caterer. We ate at Glen Loch to see if we'd consider them. I wasn't too impressed with the buffet. Next weekend we set up a tasting with Premier Catering though. Someone from work said they were good. They've done a lot of events at Emerson too. They're not badly priced. I realize food and drinks are going to be our biggest expense.

The search for a photographer is getting quite frustrating. I almost got scammed by one. Eek! A lot that I have contacted are already booked or are crazy expensive. I understand photography is not something you want to skimp on, but come on! I'm waiting to here back from Alter Image Studios. A girl I used to work with had them for her wedding.

I keep going back and forth with where our ceremony will be. I really love the idea of an outdoor ceremony, but due to uncertainty we may go with our original plan of Willard Chapel. The people who have the other side of the pavilion won't call me back and tell me if they plan on having the ceremony there, what time their reception starts, etc. I'd hate to be doing our ceremony and have their guests showing or something. I'm going to look at Willard Chapel with my Mom on Friday. I've been there once but would like to get a closer look and take pictures. Markus has to work M-F, and the only days they are open are M-F of course. Ugh. He won't have a weekday off until mid-February so he said I could book it and he would see it later.

Next big things to conquer:
-florist
-DJ
-cake
-tuxes/suits?
-bridesmaid dresses

We have linens!

I met with Elizabeth's Chair Cover Rentals today and put down a deposit. I'm getting a package of chair covers, sashes, tablecloths, and gold charger plates. Tentatively we'll be getting red sashes, and white covers and tablecloths. Like this...

Here's a picture of a gold charger plate...

Markus said he'd like red tablecloths instead of the white though. I'd just be worried the red would be too overwhelming. I'm not sure what color to do the napkins either. Red, white, or brown?

It feels good to have a vendor booked. Yah!

9 months... and counting...

So, a little less than 9 months yet. And what have we done thus far? Ummm....

....

....

....

Yeah... not much since my last post. I do have a meeting with Elizabeth's Chair Cover Rentals tomorrow. Next weekend I'll be trying on wedding dresses at Spybaby's bridal for the first time. I also went to a couple of bridal shows last weekend which I have since realized are evil in nature... they are all about making you feel bad about what you haven't done so far and scamming you.

I've ordered samples from Cards and Pockets.com. I want to make a mock-up invite. I plan on embossing and using our new ink-jet Canon printer to make some pocket fold invites. Fancy schmancy eh?

Got a swatch from David's Bridal for bridesmaid dresses in "apple." I'm refining our overall image. Red with accents of green, brown, and gold for a fall feel. We'll have pictures of Croatia in a sepia tone for the table numbers. The caramel/chocolate covered apples are still a must.

We'll be going to dinner at the Glen Loch restaurant in Jamesville. We can also get a free brunch to get a feel for how their buffet is. I'm considering them for a caterer. I originally wanted a sit down dinner, but Markus was leaning towards a buffet. After speaking with numerous people, I feel a buffet is a good choice. There is much more interaction among the guests when they get up for their plates. There is also more variety for you difficult to feed vegans/vegetarians... ahem... Jackie... Jason... ;-P

Well things will be a bit busy for us as we're closing on our home the middle of February and I am taking busy online classes and working full time... Markus has his boards coming up too... Eeekk....................................! Craziness. I'm starting to get really excited about things though.