Quick Wedding Updates...

* I got my dress...its in being altered.

* We met with the priest Saturday...he seems nice...so we are good to go for the ceremony.

*My veils are in...I have yet to pick them up though.

*The Rolfe's scheduled the rehearsal dinner for the 2oth.

*The invites are ready to go!!!

*My shower is September 21st! I am really excited!

A few updates...

*I got my shoes...four months my ass! They were in after only a week!

*My veils and headpiece are in...just waiting on the dress still...

*Travis called the priest St. John's assigned us and we meet with him on September 6th.

*Shoe shopping with the girls this Saturday...hopefully we find a pair everyone likes!

That's all for now!

St. John's Chapel called me today...

and we have our rehearsal dinner scheduled for Thursday, November 20th at 6pm. My other choice was Friday, November 21st at 3pm...yeah...like that was going to happen!

Also, pay no attention to the hair pics...

they are just random shots to give my hairdresser a "loose idea" of how I want to style my hair for the wedding! I need to print them off in September!

Don't mind the random pictures...

I am deleting my camera software off of the computer at my house before the move, and I wanted to save my banner pics on my blog for easy access!:)

Shoes...check!

Yeah, so I had a $200 credit at Demetrios in Troy. It all started when I made a $200 deposit on a dress that I thought was "the one" a year ago. They told me then if I found a dress somewhere else, the deposit was non-refundable, but I could use it on accessories in the store. Well, I decided to make the deposit and then found my dress a few months later somewhere else. So after a year I thought it was time to venture BACK out to Troy and try to use my deposit on something I need for the wedding. My mom and I headed there Saturday and I discovered that it is REALLY hard to get accessories for your dress..when you don't have your dress with you! Plus, when I was looking at the shoes I couldn't remember how high of a heel I Do Too told me to get with my dress, was it a 1 &1/4 inch, 2 &1/4 inch or a 2 & 3/4 inch heel? So I called I Do Too from inside of Demetrios and they looked it up and told me to go with a heel around 2 inches. So I narrowed it down to a pair with a 2 &1/4 inch heel that was the most comfortable to wear for 10 hours or so. Plus, who is going to see my shoes anyway, right? The shoes ended up being $150 with a $20 extra fee to dye them a light ivory color. So, there went my deposit! I had $30 left to buy a garter and I had spent it all. I still can't believe how everything bridal is SO OVERPRICED!

Registry...Check!

Saturday we headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond super early to register for the shower. We were hoping to only spend a few hours (one or two) registering. When we got there the lady that was helping set us up with the scanner told us that we should basically plan on being there ALL DAY! We headed to bedding and scanned a bed set that we liked RIGHT away, two hours later we had scanned all of the bed and bath stuff. Then another two and a half hours later we had scanned all of the kitchen and decor items that we wanted. It was funny because I was getting so frustrated in the bath section that I wanted to call it quits, but Travis kept saying, "We got to stick with it Ramsey.!" It was kind of a role reversal there because I am the shopper in the relationship! But almost five hours later we have our official registry. We decided to just register at Bed, Bath and Beyond because they are everywhere, they had everything we wanted, they ship and gift wrap for free, and everyone can use their coupons!:)

I found a veil...even in the dark!

This afternoon my mom and I headed to I DO TOO in Plymouth, (the same place I got my dress) so that I could order a veil and a headpiece. When we walked up to the door there was a sign that said "Plymouth Manor and I DO TOO are both open even though we have a power outage from yesterday's storms." I thought it was weird they still didn't have power, but we headed upstairs. When we got up there we saw that the only light we would have to shop in was natural light from the windows...and all of the fitting rooms were pitch black. They kept apologizing for the power outage, and I debated whether or not to come back, but I already had my hair somewhat like I was going to wear for the wedding...so we decided to stay. One of the ladies that worked there helped us find the sample dress of my dress and I tried on about ...oh 10 veils and 10-15 headpieces. Thank God this lady knew all about the different kinds of veils and styles because my mom and I were clueless. But after about an hour and a half I decided...on two! I am going to have an eight foot cathedral veil for the ceremony, and then a shorter veil for the reception. And the headpiece I chose is exactly what I wanted. Any by head piece, I don't mean tiara... I see brides on TV with that style all the time and I don't get the appeal...my "head" piece is more like a "decorative crystal comb" to go above my veil. So in four months they should be in. I hope everything looks good together!

The Tasting, Menu Choices and the Shower....

On Saturday, Travis and I and both sets of parents went to St. Johns for our tasting. We were so impressed with the whole thing. They brought us up to one of the suites and they had waiters get us whatever we wanted to drink...and then the food came in. I had no idea how they would do the tasting. Once we had our drinks our event planner came in with copies of the menu of things we wanted to taste. We selected 12 Hors d' oeuvres and 5 entrees to taste. We were all shocked when they came in with these large platters full of six of EACH of the Hors d'oeuvres for us to taste. We had to pace ourselves, and as we tried each one, there wasn't one that we didn't like! But, after taking it over, we selected 3 warm and 3 cold Hors d'oeuvres:

Warm:
*Crispy Asparagus with Asiago
*Portabella and Fontina Puff
*Mini Chicken Wellington

Cold:
*Assorted Brushetta
*Shrimp Salad on a Cucumber Round
*Salmon Mousse en Phyllo

Then the entrees came. I selected five to taste and the neat thing was they all came plated like they will for all the guests. We tried:

*Salmon Oscar, Topped with Crab
*Beef Wellington with Balsamic Marinated Portabello Mushrooms and Gorgonzola Cheese
*Chicken Florentine en Croute with Basil Chardonnay Sauce
*Duet of Roast Tenderloin of Beef and Chicken Coq au Vin
*Duet of Boursin Chicken and Maryland Crab Cake

They were all delicious! We LOVED the salmon but knew that not everyone loves fish as much as the six of us do, so we went with our second favorite entree:

*Chicken Florentine en Croute with Basil Chardonnay Sauce.

So for now that is the menu. Oh, and the salad we choose was their "signature" Caesar salad. And everyone will be served a dessert on top of our wedding cake...so come hungry!

After the tasting we designed our room layout and reception timeline...so that is also done!

The shower....My grandma found invitations she wants to order that match the same color brown as the wedding invitations. Here is a picture of one of the samples. My grandma and I got together for lunch on Friday and she keeps asking me what I want at the shower. I keep telling her that I don't "want" anything. I just appreciate her going to all this trouble. She wants to plan a "Margarita Night" at her house to get the bridesmaids and I together to #1. Drink #2. Eat and #3. Do some things for the shower. I am looking forward to that!

Rescheduling Frenzy

So with my dress not arriving until AUGUST, everything else had to be moved around. I had a dry-run for my hair and make-up scheduled for tonight. I had to call her this week to reschedule, because I didn't have a veil, I need my dress to get a veil. Luckily, she was really understanding and my dry-run is now on Sept 25th. I had an appointment at Demetrios in troy to get my veil this week. But, I also had to cancel and reschedule that because I can't get a veil without my dress! So, I guess I am going to go there to get a veil in September, after I have my dress. I guess that is why they told me that you need to order your dress NINE months in advance. Thank God I listened. Okay enough about the dress.

I got this letter in the mail from St. John's Chapel (which is separate from the reception site) yesterday and this is what the first line of the letter said:

Dear Kristin and Travis-

Father Donald Sopiak has been assigned to preside over your wedding on October 11th, 2008 at 6pm.

Uh... our wedding is November 22nd, 2008 at 6pm. I called the guy who sent me the letter right away and he called me right back and he said that it was just a typo and that he was really embarrassed. I told him that it was okay, I just wanted to make sure that they had us down for the 22nd at 6pm, and they do, so we're good.

Travis' mom is patiently waiting for St. John's Chapel to contact me to let me know the date of the rehearsal so she can plan the rehearsal dinner. It says in my paperwork that they will contact us for the rehearsal date three months before the wedding. We know we are having it at Walnut Country Club, (she works there as their controller) we just don't know if its going to be on Wednesday or Thursday night. But, I did go ahead and make invitations for the rehearsal dinner and they turned out really cute. Can you guess what color they are?:)

Other than that we have our tasting on the 14th and we are in the midst of getting our letter of completion from St. John Newman so we can send it over to St. John's Chapel and contact our priest. I am also meeting with Kathleen at St. John's after our tasting to go over the timeline and the floor plans for the room.

Hopefully I will have more wedding updates soon!

A picture I will always treasure....

A drawing of Travis and I on our wedding day by one of mt 5-year-old students.