Matt and Jess

Just a quick entry to let people know that Matt and I have gotten our wedding bands this past weekend. They’re BEAUTIFUL!
I know that its a superficial thing, but it has made me so happy to be able to check that task off of our list.
I can’t wait to be able to wear it all of the time!

Now to my rant.
I ordered a long-line bra from a company online to wear under my wedding dress. I did about three evening’s worth of research and price comparing before making a decision. I ordered it earlier this month and then scheduled my first dress alteration appointment for this past Saturday (the 25th). I was provided a tracking number and order number from this particular company. They followed through on their end of things and the package was delivered to our local post office on OCTOBER 18TH.

I called the post office on Thursday ( the 23rd… a full five days after the tracking page said that the package had been delivered), and they didn’t have a package there for me) . After about three different phone calls, the consensus was that my package had been stolen, but that it HAD been delivered.

So what am I supposed to do now? I’ve contacted the company to see if they’ll take pity on me and resend the package (with signature required, I hope!), but I’m not really holding my breath. I’ve asked the postal worker who does our route to deliver ALL packages from here on in to the apartment office. There’s really nothing i CAN do, but sit and see what happens, I guess. Here’s my advice: ALWAYS send packages where a signature of some sort required!

By the way:  Matt has disabled comments on the “July Update” blog entry.  We were getting tons of spam on that one that he had to wade through each time he logged on.  If you have a comment on that blog entry, just post to one of the other blog entries.

I had heard back from one of my friends asking about whether or not she could invite her boyfriend.  I suppose Jess and I dropped the ball on that issue.  Our intention was to invite the “immediate family” of the person invited, so if the invitation went to parents, the children are invited.  Significant others are invited.  We don’t want to turn it into a sitcom teenage party with the parents out of town or anything but you are free to bring along guests.  We want you to be with your loved ones, especially considering the time of year the wedding is at.  You can always contact the mother/s of the bride/groom or us to get clarification.

Hope to see you in a few months!

Welcome to those who haven’t been here yet and thank you to those who have been here (and have left comments!). 
Things are getting down to the wire at this point and I’m more than excited about it. I went and got a haircut this evening, since my last one was about 6-9 months ago (oops), and one of the things the stylist asked me was: “Are you nervous about your wedding day?” I simply replied “No”. 
I am excited, anxious, stressed a little (about all the plans), and even scared about forgetting something, but about the actual ceremony, I’m not afraid one bit. Matt and I have been together over two years at this point, and while I know this isn’t the longest relationship in the world, I think that we’re both ready at this point. I’m not going to make people “Puke Rainbows” (my sister’s expression, thanks Mary!) with how sappy I could get with things, but suffice it to say, I’m in love and my head and heart agree on it. 

Please take a minute to check out the pictures that Matt posted (in one of the navigation tabs). I think they’re pretty cute, but leave us a comment and let us know what you think! 
The first 5 were taken by Pete Taylor, one of my co-workers, and the second set of 5 were taken by Sarah Bilotti, who will be the photographer for the wedding. 

Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see on the site, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to cover in the blog. My goal is to do a blog every week to week and a half from here on out. Let’s hope I can do that! 

Take care everyone and I look forward to hearing from you!

Three months until the wedding. I don’t know about anyone else, but that seems like it’s a CRAZY figure!

I’m feeling a little bit of a lot of emotions: joy, anxiety, happiness, contentment, nervousness, etc.

What’s making me the most anxious is our laundry list of “to-do’s.

Here’s a sample of what I’m talking about:

- Do the cake deposit

- Do the flower deposit

- Decide on music and readings for the ceremony

- Get the dresses for the rest of the wedding party

- Decide on decorations for the ceremony

- Get the rest of the materials for the wedding favors

- Send out the invitations

- Dress alterations (falls solely on my shoulders J)

- Get shoes for the females

- Finalize catering menu

- Design (and get the priest’s approval) of the program/ print the program

I’m sure there’s more, but I’m not sure what it would be at this point.

I’m very excited that a friend of mine and Matt’s has agreed to play the violin at the wedding. I have often thought about that but thought it may be too expensive. Thank God for friends, right?

On the same token, Thank God for family! A lot of our family members have been helpful in different ways. Whether it’s been emotionally, financially, or even just as a distraction for a while, it’s greatly appreciated. What a great family to be a part of. I can’t even express how lucky we are to have such a great support net.

Three more months and my last name will change, but I truly think that this has helped me get closer with my side of the family as well.

Here’s a question to see if anyone is actually reading this: At a reception, is it better to have more time for people to socialize (amid light background music) or more time for dancing? Please let me know what you think!

Okay, since we now have just about five months to go, I figured it was a bad idea to keep people in the dark!

In all honesty, things have been rather hectic, to say the least. For those of you who don’t know, Matt and I have moved up to Germantown, Maryland. This is about 30-45mins away from Washington DC (NOT IN TRAFFIC). And for those of you who know me, this is a big, and I mean REALLY BIG change. I grew up in Athens, West Virginia. My town had one stoplight, and when they built the big pharmacy, CVS, in the middle of the town, I thought it was a huge deal! Now, I’ve been watching a new 8 story building being built right across from my office, and they’re starting one right beside us. Who knew that so many people could work in the same 20 minute area? Who knew that so many people could live in the same town?! Well, it’s been an adventure so far and I don’t expect it to be slowing down anytime soon!

I am glad that we had this opportunity. I liked being in the Blacksburg area, but its always amazing to see how other people live, outside of rural Appalachia.

Matt and I are both working for companies that we enjoy. I’m doing something that I never, in a MILLION years, thought I’d be doing. I’m on an IT (yes, that means information technology) team. I don’t do any kind of programming or software engineering, that’s Matt’s domain, but my job title is “Training and Technical Assistance Specialist”. I get to work with States, Tribes, and Territories in the United States. Instead of being involved with social programs focusing on children, I am able to be one step back from it. Grants fund child care programs. In order for states, tribes, or territories to get the grant (or keep it), they have to report back about the demographics (and other things) of the clients they serve. I help people understand HOW to report these things; I look at different data and see if we can make sure no reports go in to the granting bodies with errors. I get to travel to some of the different places and do Site Visits once in a while, but most of my responsibilities are to answer questions about data and reporting to the agencies that receive this funding. So far, I like it a lot!

I guess now on to what this blog is truly supposed to be about! Wedding plans are going along rather nicely still. We’ve decided on a bakery (after being able to do a yummy taste testing!), and also, we’ve pretty much solidified our wedding party. I’m really starting to get a little bit nervous about things, mainly because all of my planning stuff is still packed away in a box (or in multiple boxes… I can’t really remember!) And I don’t know what is next on the to-do list.

I think that we will be doing invitations in late September, early October. Matt and I will be finalizing our registries in the next couple of weeks, as well. Thank you to those who have kept up with things. I’m hoping that now that it’s getting so close, I’ll be more apt to blog often. One can hope! Take care and I hope to talk to everyone soon!

We are at a new address.  Please contact one of us or one of the Mothers for the address.

I have heard tell of a new post by Jess sometime soon, so stay tuned. 

This past weekend, my friend Rachel and I went to go have the first meeting with the florist for the wedding. The meeting went wonderfully (the woman we talked to was very helpful, didn’t try to "sell" us on things like a lot of other vendors would, and was very easy to talk to) and I feel confident in the decisions that I made. Of course, nothing is set in stone until about 4-6 weeks before the wedding.

As a bride-to-be, I’ve been doing the responsible (and smart) thing when it has come down to the details… research. I honestly don’t know how people put together weddings in any less than 9 months without getting gypped.

What I mean by that is, you attach the word "wedding" to a product, and it seems that retailers take the liberty of marking the price of it up at least 20%. I’m not an unreasonable person, and I know that a lot of wedding needs are specially made, and I expect to pay more for that. However, when I look online for a simple pair of white satin house shoes to wear for the wedding (no one sees my feet… so I can wear whatever is most comfortable!), and type in the search terms "wedding slippers", the products that come up cost at least $30.00. This may not seem unreasonable for a pair of shoes; however, they’re not really worth that much. I do another search for house shoes, then narrow my search from there and I find the exact shoes I want, and they’re $12.00.

Do you see what I mean? I guess this rant is better saved for another blog. :0)

One of the many good things about having a wedding in the month of December is that a lot of the "decorating" is done for you, due to it being Christmastime. I’m using that fact to my advantage, more than anything! I love how lush Christmas trees are, and as long as they don’t sport a 10ft tall plastic (or plaster!) Santa Claus on it, I’m pretty happy with the way it looks! The reception hall will have at least one in it, and the chapel usually has one in it as well.

So back to the main topic- I was meeting with the florist and I expressed my concern about being on a budget. She understood what I was saying and mentioned that a lot of brides do things a little bit differently now than even just 10 years ago. Some people like to have a lot of flowers for the ceremony and reception, and that’s a personal choice, but it’s not a "requirement".

An example of what I’m talking about is with the ceremony itself. There are the customary flowers for the bridal party, and for the mothers, grandmothers, father, and grandfather, but other than that, I’m playing the minimalist. This isn’t just because I am on a budget (it is a factor, don’t get me wrong), but because I want the chapel to be its own decoration. It’s a beautiful place with relief sculptures, and a military theme. Also, I will be working in decorations like tulle, small lights (like Christmas tree lights), and the unity candle setup. One thing that I keep in my mind going through all of this is: you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a classy wedding.

Jess asked me to write a blog entry about what the engagement was like for those that weren’t there.  While this is generally her blog, I figured I’ll write a little something about it.

To give you a bit of context–I had made the decision over Christmas that I was going to propose to Jess.  I went through the conversation w/ Mom and Dad discussing the plan, etc.  At that point, I started thinking about how to propose.  In mid March I had decided a general plan and felt it was time to ask my to-be Mother-in-Law for Jess, to which she had no problems, so I went about some of the details.  I had decided on May 19th as the date I’d propose.  (It was our 1 year anniversary of dating, as well as Jess’ graduation day, so both families would be down in Athens to celebrate.)

Jess had one time told me that her view of reaching a particular level of accomplishment was to own napkin rings.  So, her anniversary present was going to be napkin rings…with a little something extra.  Her engagement ring, which I had chosen from Blue Nile.  The plan was to head back to Blacksburg to celebrate our 1-year anniversary.  We’d take a walk over to Virginia Tech’s campus to War Memorial, where we ended our first date and open our presents.  At that point, she’d open her present, see the ring, at which point, I’d propose.  ("Awwww……..")

In Athens during the day, everyone wanted to visit and spend a lot of time together.  We went back to Mom’s apartment and we visited.  It went on for longer than I anticipated; everyone knew what the next step was and I figured people would excuse themselves or suggest we get on the road so we had time to be by ourselves for the evening.  No such luck.  On the way back to Blacksburg, we were exhausted.  We had been all over the place that day.  I was rather quiet on the way back and Jess was worried that something was bothering me, but I just dismissed it as being tired.  By the time we got back to the apartment, Jess was saying "no" to the War Memorial trip, and I acquiesced.  We opened up presents at the apartment.  (She gave me an incredibly sweet gift–a hand-made throw blanket and a journal that she had written stuff about us in over the past 6 months.)  At that point, I gave her her present.  At first she we really just plain excited about the napkin rings and I don’t remember for certain but I think I had to sort of direct her attention to the box in the middle.  She looked at it and thought it was a pretty jewelry box and opened it up and saw the ring.  She just said "Oh my God." and put her face in her hands and started sobbing.  I think at that point I mumbled through a whole "I love you more than anything" speech and asked "would you marry me?"  She grabbed the ring out of the box and put it on her finger.  I asked "Is that a ‘yes’?"  And she giggled and said "Yes!".  At that point we started to make the calls.

I’m sure Jess has a different view of the night, but this is what I can piece together from my recollection.

Good news, everyone!

I FINALLY FOUND MY WEDDING DRESS!!!!

Some people may see this as just another task on the to-do list for a wedding, but this was the one thing that was plaguing me. Let me try to explain a little bit better.

Many of my friends know that I’m a planner… I like to know what I’m doing, and I like to know it in advance (for the most part).

Other things about our wedding are already planned, or on their way to being planned. All the little details that other brides’ sweat (like decorations for the reception, or what to register for), I have no concern about. Matt and I are very thorough and we’ve gone through and discussed and/or planned most of the aspects of the wedding. With that being said, the one detail, and one of the more important ones to me, I had not been able to get or even really find. I think I had been to try on wedding dresses- not once, not twice, not three times, not even four times, but FIVE times by the time that I had gone with my Mother this past weekend.

I was starting to think that I’d just have to settle for some dress that I didn’t particularly like, just as long as it didn’t cost over 500 bucks.

My mom had talked with a friend who had mentioned this department store in a town called Sharon in Pennsylvania. It is where the friend’s daughter had found her wedding dress for cheaper than she had found anywhere else. On the off chance that we might find SOMETHING there, my mom and I took an adventurous road trip to find it (and believe me when I say that it was an adventure… full of conversation, getting lost, and even watching the Amish "drive" by in their carriages that have no heat!).

Once we found the store (and then finding the bridal section of it), I chose three dresses that had caught my eye. None of them worked. I was feeling a little bit disgruntled at that point, but then I figured that I really didn’t expect that much out of the trip. The sales lady came to check on my mother and I, then went and got a different dress in a larger size that I hadn’t thought of. I put on the dress, looked in the mirror and told my mother "This is my dress". We went to the three way mirror out in the dressing area of the store, and I looked at it fully. The dress looked like it was MADE for me. It had all of the things that I had wanted in a dress: embroidery, a romantic looking overlay, the possibility of straps, and a nice sized train. This dress also has a matching wrap and an absolutely perfect headpiece that my mom bought for me.

I am so excited, I can hardly stand it! I’m almost tempted to let Matt just see the thing so I can show it off!

Well, I guess that’s enough rambling for right now. I might have more next weekend, after I see the florist. Keep your fingers crossed!