Bon Voyage, Save-the-Dates!

I sent off the save-the-dates today and boy did that feel good. They were delayed going out while my mum sorted out all of the hotel arrangements. Most of our 140+ guests will need to stay overnight because they will be traveling a long way (some coming from out of the country, even!) so blocking out hotel rooms was important to do. I had started the process a few months ago but got frustrated that no hotel seemed to fit exactly what we needed. Some wanted a deposit on all the rooms, some were too expensive, some just plain wouldn't block rooms, etc. When my mum went to finally book rooms, unfortunately a lot of the availability was limited. She persevered, though, and managed to book almost 70 rooms in a few different hotels in the area, so I'm glad that's all sorted out!

I included info about hotel bookings in with the save-the-dates so that our guests know which hotels to call.

We have also made some progress on the ceremony venue fiasco. I am going down to Mystic on Saturday with two of my bridesmaids to look at a beautiful farmhouse venue that is situated on exquisite grounds with flower gardens. The owners have been very gracious so far on the phone and I am looking forward to meeting them this weekend. If I decide to change the ceremony venue to the Farm location, I will just let the Lighthouse know and we will be all set.

Also this week I have been talking with officiants in the area, but nothing has been set yet.

So it's been a busy week! In addition to all this wedding planning, Kenny and I have been looking at houses to buy and made an offer on one yesterday, so now we just get to play the waiting game and go back and forth with counter-offers. I am not too excited about that process but once we are all moved in to our very first home, it will be worth it.

Ceremony Venue Headaches

Personally I've never heard of a ceremony venue that doesn't allow chairs or flowers, but that is what our ceremony venue is telling us is the case. Does it say this in the contract or did anyone ever say "hey, you know your guests will have to sit on the grass or stand the whole time, right"? No, but I am just glad I'm not finding out about this on September 18th. Good thing my mum even called to ask for a recommendation for a chair rental company, because otherwise a major meltdown I mentioned above would have been imminent on my wedding day, and seriously, who wants to cry over chairs or the lack thereof?

So now we're on the hunt again and thinking about changing the ceremony venue. We're looking at a couple different places, and this weekend two of my Bridesmaids and I are going down to Mystic to scope a few possibilities out. We'll also be looking at hair salons and florists.

My life has gotten exponentially more insane because Kenny and I have been house-hunting and this week we'll most likely put an offer in on one that we've fallen in love with. Bring on the endless documents to sign our lives away to!

In other news, the entire town of Mystic apparently has no more hotel availability for blocking out rooms, but my mum has spent literally days on the phone calling around to every possible hotel in the area and has managed to book 50 rooms. Since 90% of our guests will need to stay overnight, this is a huge relief. I never thought hotels would be so packed this early for a date that's past Labour Day.

So if you're a bride-to-be planning a wedding, make sure that you can have chairs for your guests to sit on during your ceremony (I wish I were kidding) and block your hotel rooms asap.

The Save the Dates are Here!

I LOVE the way they came out. These were ordered through VistaPrint, whom I've worked with on a few projects. I would highly recommend them to anyone.

Gift Registries

Kenny and I attended a "Sip & Scan" event at the nearest Macy's location last night. It was a good way to kick off our registry experience, because to be totally honest, I was intimidated by the thought of having to create a gift list.

Macy's provided appetizers and lots of consultants to help us through the process. We checked in, got a scanner and list of recommended gifts, and were sent on our merry way. We were there for almost two hours scanning stuff. It was hard to get started but once we scanned a few things, we started enjoying ourselves.

The cool thing was that after we were done, we handed the scanner in and the consultant uploaded all of our choices to the computer. She then printed out an updated list of gift categories that we didn't have a lot chosen in, so that we know what we need to work on or register for at other places.

We didn't register for everything at Macy's, because we also want to register at Bed, Bath, & Beyond and also Crate & Barrel.

If you want to check out what we picked, here's our page!

Finally!

Here is the finalized design for our Save the Date's, which will be printed on magnets and sent out to our guests. I am soooo glad to finally have these things done. My mum has graciously offered to deal with ordering them and sending them out, which is a huge weight off my shoulders, since I really ought to be looking at invitations soon and they are going to drive me crazy.

Goals for this week

Visiting Kenny's family in NY this past weekend was good because his family delivered a much needed kick in the butt to get going on this wedding planning. It's funny that we had a rush of bookings (caterer, photographer, venues, etc) in the fall and then we have done nothing recently. His family was mostly concerned about the save-the-dates, which I wasn't even keen on doing until I realized how many people want them. My mum has graciously volunteered to be in charge of the save-the-dates project and I just recently gave her the finalized guest list, so I am hoping they'll be sent out soon. Kenny really wants to do magnets that people can put on their fridge.

During the 4-hour drive home from NY last night, we set goals for ourselves. September seems like a long way away but it's really not, and it will be here before we know it. We decided we really need to book the rest of the vendors (like, yesterday) and Kenny also needs to ask whom he wants to be his groomsmen and start looking at tuxes. We also need to block hotel rooms, since that information will be included on the save-the-dates so that guests can book their rooms and plan their trips.

This morning I got right to work and booked the DJ. Neil Roma from Spin Enterprise came very highly recommended, and has worked at our venue many times before. The thing I liked most about our reception venue (the Mystic Yachting Center) is that they are very selective with the vendors they work with, and make recommendations only for people/companies that deliver a great product for a great price. At least now I know our guests won't be sitting in silence and staring at each other for the entire reception :) and instead will be entertained with a good selection of music.

Kenny's task for this week is getting the hotel rooms blocked, and arranging transportation for our guests from the hotel to the reception site, since there is limited parking at the Mystic Yachting Center, and we'd feel better if people weren't driving after a long night of partying, anyway. I had called various hotels back in September and didn't end up booking any of them for a number of reasons that I have briefed Kenny on so that he can deal with them. I am confident that he'll be able to get the rates we're looking for and breakfast for our guests.

Rings!

We picked our rings up this morning!