Photographer Update

Well folks, next week is do or die week for finding a photographer. I have an appointment on Monday at lunchtime with Michelle Ross from Under Grace Photo in St. Charles (http://www.undergracephoto.com/). Thanks for the suggestion Jen! And Wednesday I have an appointment after work with Joanna Kleine from Joanna Kleine Photography (http://www.joannakleinephotography.com/). And I am trying my darndest to get an appointment with Stephen Seward (Stephen Seward Photography - http://www.stephenseward.net/#). He had to cancel a previous appointment due to some unexpected life events. I think out of the three - who all look quite good - we should be able to "click" with one of them. The end of next week equals decision time. That is my goal and I'm sticking to it!

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My dress!

The search is finally over...I have found my wedding dress and I absolutely love it! My mom and I went to a trunk show at Demetrio's today, one of the shops we had visited before. For those of you who don't know what a trunk show is, let me explain. Basically, they bring in all of next season's possible dress designs for one weekend for a preview, and let all the brides-to-be try them on. Whatever dresses are purchased the most are the ones that make the cut for next season's collection. So, the hard part about a trunk show for the customer (me!) is that you have to make your decision to purchase a dress then and there because you have no way of knowing if the dress will make it into the collection for next season. So in other words, you reaaallly have to love the dress to commit to it and buy it that day.

Something I think I had working to my advantage is that I had already been to many, many bridal shops and had a very good idea of what I wanted. Yesterday, I had actually narrowed my favorites down to the top 2 dresses out of all the places I'd been. And when I put this one on today, I knew it totally beat out my 2 favorites! On the other hand, there was another girl trying on dresses at the same time as me...and she said Demetrio's was only the second bridal place she'd been to. So, even though she loved a dress, she didn't feel comfortable committing to something that quickly. And FYI, just in case Nate decides to read this, I don't want to put much detailed information about my dress on here. Just know that it's somewhat simple, but totally my style. However, if you're really interested, you know how to contact me! ;)

By buying the dress today, I did get a fabulous deal. First of all, by paying for the dress in full, I received 20% off the price. Additionally, I had the option of putting $100 down towards bridesmaid dresses, in order to get my maids 15% off their dresses...which of course I did! Girls, right now I'm leaning toward maids dresses by Jordan. The burnt orange color from this designer is exactly what I had in mind. There are tons of cute designs--be it one piece or separates. You can check them out here: http://www.jordanfashions.com/default.asp. Finally, by buying my dress today, I got my gown preservation for free, which was a $250 value. So that's one less thing I have to worry about...

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

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This Week = Major Disappointment

Between work and wedding related items this week, I'm not sure which has been worse! I've been working overtime for work all week and going to bed way later than I usually do, and man does it show. But on to the wedding related items because who wants to hear about work?!

So....we had a MAJOR snafu this week. You know how it is when you have your heart set on something and it doesn't work out? Well, that's exactly the feeling Nate and I experienced this week. We had decided on Jon Koch as our photographer, and I called him on Wednesday to get the contract started. He was honored that we had chosen him and took down all our information and was going to send the contract to us within the day. However, when I got home Wednesday evening and checked my email, he had written saying that he wasn't at his office when I called and when he got there he had received a fax with a SIGNED contract for our wedding date!! OMG, I was sooooo disappointed. Someone had beat us by two days... I am now kicking myself for not calling him on Monday, but who would have known that a week would make all the difference? Nate was mad at me for awhile, but I think he's finally getting over it. So much for being supportive... :) I briefly considered changing our date to Oct 11th, but that idea was quickly shot down when I called Fr. Medina, the priest marrying us, to inquire about the 11th, and he was already booked for that date. Now I'm back to square one and searching for a few more photographers that I can go talk to and see their work. I have a feeling Nate is finished with it all at this point...

We also had our Natural Family Planning class on Thursday. It was held at St. Joseph West Hospital in Lake St. Louis and taught by a nurse. For an hour, we learned all about the Creighton Method of family planning. The key word of the evening...."mucus." Nate commented that he was disappointed that it was so boring. He was hoping to be able to make jokes....go figure. Do men ever grow up?!

Then yesterday we had the first installment of our two Saturday session for the rest of our marriage prep. The class was held at Immacolata in Brentwood, right behind the Galleria. The lady that taught us was a social worker by trade, but had been teaching the marriage prep class for over 10 years. The class was video based, with her speaking to us briefly after each section of video. Yesterday we learned about marriage as a sacrament, the stages of a relationship, family origin issues, and sexuality and sexual relations. We also had workbooks and we had to answer questions individually about each section and then talk about our answers as a couple. Nate was rolling his eyes at a couple of points, but I thought overall the class was pretty decent. The teacher was able to make things realistic, and even mentioned when she didn't agree with something in the videos that the Catholic church was teaching. The class was supposed to last from 9 - 2, but we got out at 1:00, so that wasn't all bad! One more to go next Saturday, and we will be complete with all our marriage prep for the church.

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What Else?

Besides talking with photographers this week, I've also been in contact with Ryan, the potential caterer we want to hire for the wedding. I'm trying to get a food taste test setup with him for over the Thanksgiving break. Since Nate and I will be in Loose Creek visiting my family anyway, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity for a food trial. Right now, we're thinking a chicken and a beef entree for the buffet....now we just have to figure out a couple options for each we would like to try. Nate wants the food to reflect a combination of California and Missouri styles, so we'll put Ryan's creative ability to work!

I'm working on getting a block of rooms setup at the Capital Plaza Hotel as well. We'll probably do an open block there, and I think I'd like to also reserve a block of rooms at Hotel La Bella, which is just right down the road. I think giving people a couple of options will be nice, and they are totally renovating Hotel La Bella right now, so it should be in great condition when it reopens. One thing we are definitely doing is we're going to provide the guests a shuttle to the wedding and reception. It'll be a great, safe way for out-of-towners to return to their hotels after the festivities come to an end. I asked Capital Plaza if they have a shuttle, which they don't, however they can provide one for us. So that may be perfect...

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The Hunt Is On But...

We may have found the one! Nate and I had two appointments this past week with potential photographers, and I had had one myself previously in Columbia. I had talked with Kim in Columbia from SilverBox Photographers and she was really sweet, energetic, and we got along really well. However, she was much more than I would like to spend, so price is what ultimately ruled her out. She photographed Tim Allen's (2nd) wedding in Colorado...so if a celebrity can afford her I don't think we can! The second appointment was with a girl at ImageArtistic Photography here in St. Louis. She was very nice and a lot closer to my age, but she didn't do anything to "wow" us, and really didn't have a lot to share with us verbally, she was just mostly answering our questions. We looked through some photos and albums and they were nice, but a lot of the pictures were a little more posed than I would have liked, and we didn't see a whole lot of shots in black and white.

And then we met with Jon from Koch Photography...and let me tell you I think both of our eyes lit up right when we stepped foot into his studio. First of all, he had a really cool loft setup with a big, cozy room that had high-tech equipment and all his work. He had a flat screen TV continuously scrolling through wedding pictures on the wall and big, framed black and white wedding shots he had taken hanging around the room. When we got there, we actually just chatted for a little while before jumping into looking at sample albums and pictures. Jon is a really great guy, has a fun personality, and really encompasses the documentary type style Nate and I were looking for. This may very well end up being the most expensive piece of our wedding, so I'm feeling very happy right now that we've potentially found the perfect fit in this photographer! We have one more appointment setup for this week, so I'll let you all know when we make our final decison...should be by weeks' end!!!

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It's Official

October 4, 2008 is our date! We have clearance from the church and priest, so that's one hurdle out of the way. Nate and I had our final discussion last night with Deacon Ernie, finishing up our review of our evaluation results. The only good thing I can say is that it's over. We started with the religious values section, which Nate and I differ on immensely, and I think that just turned Ernie off right away. I was not comfortable with the way he was treating us - he seemed very narrow-minded in his thoughts and was almost belittling us. And technically, this was supposed to be our second to last session, however he seemed to give up on us about halfway through and told us he'd like to get it all done that evening. Honestly, I just about lost it a couple of times. This was not at all what I was expecting, and it's a shame really. I think we could have gotten a whole lot more out of it with someone else.

On a brighter note, this week I have been making a few appointments with photographers, and we will meet with each of them in a couple of weeks. Finding a great photographer is really important to me, so I want to make sure we find someone who we mesh with, whose work we love, and someone who offers all the package items we're looking for.

And in addition to the blog, I also started on a wedding webpage this weekend. More to come on that!

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The Latest

Since I've been a slacker the last couple of weeks with failing to post anything, I'm going to give you the quick 60 second update on the latest happenings. Nate and I had our second meeting with Deacon Ernie on the 28th. We found out our results from the FOCCUS evaluation, and it looks like we'll be meeting with Ernie twice more. We have to discuss each section of the eval in which we scored below 75% (a.k.a. NOT the same answers), which turned out to be several sections. And I have to say, we--well probably just I--was holding out hope that Ernie would become a little more fun or have some great real-life stories and examples for us, but I have to say I'm really not seeing it. Oh well, just a couple more sessions...

I also took advantage of my parents being here over Labor Day weekend, and my mom and I went out traipsing around to a few more bridal shops to look at dresses. This second trip helped clarify the dresses I really like, so now I have it narrowed down to three places I'd like to visit again and re-try on my favorites. But, I'm going to take a break for awhile...my brain needs a rest!

Finally, the last major development is that I received a call from the chancery in Jefferson City, and they have received our marriage form and everything is approved for us getting married in the Catholic church. What this means is that we now have the church reserved for October 4, 2008!! I have left a message with Fr. Medina, the priest we would like to marry us, to verify he is still available and willing to perform the ceremony on that date. Once he confirms, I think it's safe to say October 4 is official. I'll let you know!

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