Bridesmaids

I am so excited about the group of girls I am privileged to have as my Bridesmaids.

Jenny is my Maid of Honour. We have been close friends since my freshman year at URI and she has always been there when I needed her. We took the EMT class together and sang Mandy Moore's Candy more times than I can count while driving back and forth to Lincoln RI three days a week. We enjoyed many late night get togethers and Kenny and her boyfriend John are also good friends. They are the quintessential double date couple and the four of us always have an awesome time together.

Sarah is my best friend from high school and while we haven't remained as close during college, I still value her friendship more than anything. I love her sense of humour and whenever we chat on the phone it's like we never even lost a day. She lives in Boston and is a huge Red Sox fan and I am so happy she's going to be able to be a part of our wedding.

Samera is another close girlfriend from college whom I met Freshman year through URI EMS. She is so much fun to be around and always amazes me with her perseverance and passion. She is super organized, which will come in handy when I am going crazy during the final week!

Kaitlyn is another really good friend from URI who is now all the way in Colorado going to med school. Our whole group of friends is SO proud of her for following her dreams, even if she had to go all the way to CO do to so. We miss her dearly and I am SO happy she can be a Bridesmaid!

Kristen is one of Kenny's sisters. She currently lives in the DC area and Kenny and I went to visit her last summer. She is one year older than me and we have a lot in common. I really wanted to include her in the wedding party and I am thrilled that she can do it.

I sent each girl a card with one of these paper fold-out people chains. Each little "person" represents one of the bridesmaids. From L to R we have Kaitlyn (she loves surfing), Samera (she loves soccer), Jenny (she is always wearing adorable dresses and is a RN), Sarah (she is showing her team spirit by wearing a little Red Sox hat), and Kristen (she is an athletic trainer at GWU).

I couldn't ask for a better group of girls. We are going to have the best time and make some fantastic memories.

Ceremony Venue...check!

Wow, we are on a roll. This week not only did we secure our reception venue, but we also found the perfect spot for the ceremony!! We decided on the Old Lighthouse Museum in Stonington, CT. I came across it by chance on the internet and immediately loved it, so yesterday Kenny and I drove down there to check it out, and then today I sent out the deposit!! I can't believe it. I feel so accomplished!

Here are some shots I got of the Lighthouse building and grounds:

The Lighthouse!

This is the view from the back yard.

We will set up the ceremony right on the waterfront overlooking the Little Narragansett Bay. Let's hope for good weather because the only downside to this location is that there is no rain plan!

The Lighthouse is about 15 minutes from the Mystic Yachting Center (where we are holding the reception) so here is our tentative time line:

4:00 pm: Ceremony
4:30: Ceremony ends, wedding party leaves to take photos
5:15: Cocktail hour begins at the Mystic Yachting Center
5:30: Wedding party returns, visits with guests
6:00ish: Reception begins (paaaar-ty!)
10:30: Last dance

On top of that, we have more or less decided on a caterer. Cloud Nine Catering in Old Saybrook, CT can do everything we need, and under the budget!! Woohoo!

Kenny has taken on the task of finding a DJ and coordinating the cake.

decision time!

On Sunday we went to Mystic again to visit the Mystic Aquarium after I had fallen in love with it through photos I had seen on a brochure and their wedding website.

It was a very nice place and luckily we were able to see it all decked out for a wedding that was happening that evening, but in the end we decided not to go with it. I highly recommend anyone in the area check it out if you are looking for a venue, though. Kathy Lloyd, the Mystic Aquarium Director of Sales, was so helpful and positive, and I really enjoyed meeting her. I appreciated the time she took to show us around even though she was trying to put the finishing touches on the space for a wedding at the very same time.

Here are some photos of the Aquarium:



The ceremony is held right in front of the Beluga tank!



The aisle.



One of the resident Beluga whales.



Ceremony area.

Looking down from the second floor balcony to the reception area:



(this is an awful photo; there are much better ones on their website, liked above)

So, after careful deliberation, we have booked the Mystic Yachting Center for September the 18th, 2010!!!!!! We are both thrilled.


I spent most of my evening yesterday contacting bands, caterers, and hotels. I also need to find a photographer and florist. We want to do the ceremony on a local beach so I have to figure that out. I think Kenny's job will be the cake. He is notoriously colour blind but thankfully that does not affect his tastebuds so he should be fine picking out a cake flavour, and then I will help out with the cake colours!

So now that we get to move on to planning the real details of the wedding, how much do you lot want to know about this? I'm afraid if I sit here happily rapping away at the keyboard, there will be no surprises for our guests when they come to the actual event.