Food Tasting, etc.

Our tasting on Friday evening with Ryan went very well! We tried one appetizer item, two chicken entrees, and two beef entrees. The appetizer was a shrimp wrapped in bacon, with a chipotle BBQ sauce. It was sooo good, so we'll certainly be having those. The two chicken entrees were a lemon dill chicken and a chicken scallopini. Ryan was a little worried about mass producing the chicken scallopini, and after trying both we decided we liked the lemon dill chicken better anyway. For the beef entrees, we tried his german pot roast and a bourbon beef tenderloin. And the bourbon tenderloin was by far the best item of all. It was absolutely fabulous! The one negative about the tenderloin is it's going to be slightly more expensive. We're not sure how much yet, Ryan was hoping to get a good deal with his butcher. He is coming up with a quote for us on a per person basis, including appetizers and the tenderloin, so after we receive that we'll see if the total price is still within our budget.

After our tasting that evening, we drove to Jefferson City to have "real" dinner at Madison's Cafe. It was one of the restaurants we were considering for the rehearsal dinner, so we thought it was a good opportunity to try the food and see what we thought. Madison's serves Italian fare and is within blocks of the hotels where the guests will be staying (http://www.madisonscafe.com/). And, funny enough, they have a location right here by us in O'Fallon. After our dinner, we decided the food was decent and the location couldn't be beat. We spoke with our waitress about rehearsal dinners, and we ended up booking it! The room we have holds up to 75 people, and Nate and I were estimating at least 50 off the top of our heads. As far as decisions remaining on the rehearsal, all we really have to do is pick 3 to 4 entrees off of a set menu they gave us, and then figure out how we want to handle drinks. They didn't even need a deposit!

Our final accomplishment of the weekend was determining a cool layout for the reception hall. We wanted to do something different, and Nate came up with a way to utilize a different entrance to the building...and hide the buffet line! So, I hope it works out. Luckily, my dad had drew up the plans when the building was being built, so we were able to use the plans for the building and some quarters to represent tables to kind of play with the layout. Our favorite layout is displayed below. We are using the side entrance to the building. The tables will be lining the left and right sides, with an open aisle down the middle that leads to the head table. The cake table will be in the middle of the aisle, and the buffet tables will be behind the backdrops of the head table. We "think" this will work, so it's all just speculation now, but it's still a lot of progress and exciting to think about. I hope our decorator lady agrees that this layout is feasible.

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And The Winner Is...

I know, I know...I took a VERY long hiatus from blogging. But I do have excuses. I've been working my hiney off for a major software release in early December, I had a marathon weekend of Christmas shopping, I've been trying to catch up on work around the house... Oh, who cares about that stuff! I'm sure nobody wants to hear my lame excuses. ;) On to the wedding talk...

So, the biggest happening of the last few weeks is that we FINALLY have chosen a photographer. And what a big relief that is, let me tell you. We decided that style ranked above all other components, and we both have a thing for guy photographers (not sure what that's all about...), so our photog of choice is the one and only Stephen Seward! You can check out his website at http://www.stephenseward.net. And this time, it's a for sure thing--the contract is signed, the deposit is in, and we're in discussions with him about engagement pictures. Yay! We're thinking late April for the engagements pics in an urban setting. We need to scope out some cool locales.

We also have a tasting with our caterer, Ryan, this Friday evening. And I do say our caterer because we've reserved him and sent in a deposit...so a lot of the big things are starting to come together. Now I'm just nagging Nate about a DJ....nagging in a nice way, of course! ;) Anyway, we're going to be trying some options for our main entrees, as well as a couple of appetizers. Nate's been in talks with Ryan over the phone trying to pick out just the right food, so this should be fun!

I also recently discovered a great wedding resource for St. Louis brides. The site http://www.stlwed.com has wonderful recommendations on accommodations and vendors. And the best part....a forum where brides can talk to other brides! It's absolutely fabulous. Now if I am ever unsure about something or need advice, I know one resource I can turn to. It is a little less helpful for me since our wedding won't actually be in St. Louis, however the forum alone is well worth it.

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Invitation Ideas

So, we recently got some books of sample wedding invitations to look through, thanks to my aunt Donna who owns and runs Linn Printing. However, in looking at them, we didn't see a whole lot of samples that had the modern feel we were looking for. After doing a little searching online and randomly stopping in the Papyrus store in the Galleria, I discovered the layered invitation. I love the look because it is very simple and modern, and I can incorporate our wedding colors of burnt orange and brown into the layers. Here is an example I found on The Knot that resembles what I am talking about:


I was thinking we could do the burnt orange for the bottom layer, brown for the second layer, and an ivory for the top layer where all the wedding information will go. For those of you that know anything about wedding invitations and/or paper and printing however, you know that layering an invitation only adds more cost...not less. But, after talking with my aunt over email, it sounds like she can get the colored card stock relatively cheap, and we can print in whatever font and color we want....and, as long as I'm willing to put in the grunt work and assemble them (a.k.a. glue--we're having a gluing party, girls!), then we can do them in an affordable fashion.

I just ordered a sample invitation online tonight, and plan to show it to my aunt at Thanksgiving so we can start the ideas flowing. The one con of the square invitation is that it will cost more to mail, so we may end up doing something rectangular to save on postage. If any of you have any other creative invitation ideas, I would love to hear them!

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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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