Listen to This!!

First off, I want to apologize for going MIA. My intention was to write at least once a month in my blog- clearly that didn't happen. But to make up for it, I'll be posting twice in a row!

Photo of Drymill Road Band from their Myspace Page

December was a busy month with the holidays and traveling to see family. That said, I trudged on in my search for an upbeat, fun, and easy to work with bluegrass band. I totally gave up on my plan to see bands live over the summer. So I spent a lot of time in December sorting through Gigmaster.com and other sites. After emailing back and forth with a number of different band leaders and even conducting a couple phone interviews, I narrowed it down to the Drymill Road Band. This band has some great music posted online, is responsive and flexible, and has played weddings. My favorite part of the phone interview was when I asked my contact, Robert, if the band knew Hava Nagila. Robert laughed out loud and admitted that they had never played it. That said, he was sure all of the band members would get a real kick out of playing it on their bluegrass instruments and would love to learn it for our wedding. After our chat on the phone and contacting a couple of references I was ready and happy to book them. So, I did it! I found my bluegrass band for the wedding! Now I just need to figure out what songs I want for the ceremony, first dance, and other important moments.

Also in December (I said I was busy!) I finished making my Save-the-Dates. In my last post I wrote about the materials I bought, and in December I finalized my wording and put them together. It was a lot of fun and I think they came out well. Most people got an email Save-the-Date, though. That I did in Power Point. I found Power Point to be the easiest program for layering and manipulating the images without the file getting too large. Once the Save-the-Date was all set I saved it as a pdf and embedded it in an email. It was so much fun to make that I told Mike, "I should make all my party invitations like this!!" Maybe that would be a bit much...

Well, that's my update for now! Check out the Drymill Road Band and stay tuned for Update #2 coming soon!

Lots of Little Pieces

For a day that was not originally going to involve wedding planning, I got a lot done! It all started with a trip to Alexandria. I love going there to walk along the water and poke in and out of shops. The old buildings and bright waterfront make it a welcoming and relaxing place to be (once you have found parking, anyway). So today I meandered down King Street, toured the Torpedo Factory, and stopped at Bread and Chocolate for lunch. I also went to one of my all time favorite stores, The Paper Source, and that is where the wedding stuff started happening.

For the most part, my Save-the-Dates are going to be sent out via email. I will post more about those at another time. For those family members who are not up to speed on email, I decided to put together some simple, paper save-the-date cards. And where better to brainstorm than the Paper Source. An hour later I walked out of the store with supplies for the save-the-dates, invitation ideas, and a seamstress!

While working my way through the walls of paper options, one of the seamstresses I had contacted called me back. Her name is Diana, but on her website she goes by Maryland Seamstress. She was really friendly on the phone and listed out her unbelievably good pricing. I had already read her reviews online and her previous brides were all very happy with her work. Another puzzle pieces is falling into place! My fittings won't start until April but she is already booking appointments for the spring, so I'll add mine to her list.

But back to the paper... The women working at the Paper Source were really helpful and pointed out papers that would be easy to print on in sizes that would be easy to mail. Picking out papers was a lot harder than I thought! Even though I am sending out just ten to fifteen save-the-date cards, I want them to look nice. After going through all the reds, oranges, yellows, and browns, I decided. I picked an orangey-red backing with an off-white floral printer paper. Plus I got recycled paper envelopes to add a touch of fun. The papers aren't exactly my wedding colors, but they compliment them enough that I can definitely use the extra paper in other wedding projects.

After so much success, I kept going on my wedding planning "high" at home. I added email addresses to my guest list, ordered my wedding shoes (there were only 2 pairs left!), and- well, I am blogging about it. So that's my surprisingly productive day!

Big Steps

I am happy to say Mike and I now have a photographer and a caterer signed and set!

Our photographer is Madeline Marshall. She takes great journalistic style shots and seems like a good person to work with.

For catering we are going with Putting on the Ritz. We attended a tasting with them not long after our tasting with Hunt Valley. The food was great and the staff seemed flexible and professional. We started the tasting with a hot artichoke dip that was divine and continued on through some interesting and yummy appetizers such as Asian Beef Salad in Phyllo Cups. The other really stand-out dishes were the Lacquered Salmon and Asiago Mashed Potatoes. Plus, when we had some questions and critiques for the pasta dish, the rep, Bobby, was very flexible and said we could even provide a recipe if we had one in mind! After a few weeks of deliberation and one other tasting we decided to go with them. We are still working out the fine details of the menu (and the pasta recipe) so perhaps there are more tastings to come!

My mom, who came to the tasting with us, reaches for a pear, brie and almond cup

So with the photographer, caterer, and even some of the decorations squared away it is time to focus on the band. Originally I had this whole scheme about seeing a band every month over the summer and getting a good feeling of who was out there and what I wanted. Yeah, that didn't happen. So now I am starting over. Let me know if you know any bands!! I am looking for blue grass and/or jazz. I will keep you posted on what I find!

First Taste

As I am writing this blog entry I am actually munching on some of the leftovers from last night's food tasting. That's right, Mike and I went to our first tasting with a caterer! It was not exactly what I expected, but it was definitely fun, informative, and tasty.

Our first tasting was with Hunt Valley Catering. Logically it was located in Hunt Valley, north of Baltimore. Mike and I braved the evening traffic and headed up there after work. The catering business is set up in the same building as a fire station, which made it a little hard to spot. However, it was a very cute place and the representative made us feel right at home. We chatted a little about details and then she started bringing out the food.

First came the appetizers. The spanakopita, sesame chicken skewers, and pot stickers were really yummy, as were a few of the other options. As the food was coming out though, Mike and I began to realize, this was not the food we had specifically asked about trying. I guess they have a standard spread they have people taste. I was a little disappointed since there were dishes we wanted to try and couldn't. Regardless, we plunged on through the appetizers to the main course. My hands-down favorite was the sweet potatoes with apple chutney. The picture above does not do justice. They were really excellent, as were the seasonal veggies and the Chicken Chesapeake (below).
After all the food was tasted, the representative sat down to talk with me the day of time-line, linens, and other details. All in all it was a good tasting, I am curious to compare it to other tastings as they happen. I will definitely know to be clear when requesting certain foods to taste next time. I also have a better idea of everything the caterer does on the day of the wedding. Mike and I are definitely looking forward to the other tastings coming up in early September. Stay tuned!

Catching up with Life

It has been months since I last wrote in my wedding blog. And I am sad to say, I have done very little for my wedding since getting my dress.

So what have I been doing with all my time?!

For those of you who don't know, I have changed careers. I spent most June and July preparing for and adjusting to my big switch. I am now working part time while I gain volunteer experience in my new field and prepare for graduate school.

Last week I had a bit of a wake up call. One of my bridesmaids came over to see the dress and we chatted about the wedding. She reminded me that I really needed to start thinking about caterers. So far, I have been so a head of the typical time-line that I never really worried. In the case of caterers though, she was right- it's time to start looking! Since Gramercy Mansion only allows you to use a caterer from their list, a lot of the work is done for me. At the moment, I am sorting through menus and pricing tables figuring it all out. I am definitely looking forward to going to tastings, though!

I was mostly too busy to plan, but in the past few months I did get my dress in the mail. It came in a surprisingly small box. I pulled it out and tried it on. It's going to need some adjusting, but its definitely the one I ordered! I'm so excited to have it in hand. I'll probably wait until April to do a fitting, though. That said- if you know a seamstress in the area, let me know!

I also have been on the hunt for a photographer. It was the one part of my wedding planning I could do easily from home. I spent hours combing online portfolios and lists of photographers... Hopefully I will have more news on that front soon.

So that is my mega life and wedding update! I will try to be better about posting, and I'm sure I'll have some fun updates after doing the tastings.

To end this post, here is a picture of yummy looking food. Enjoy!

Picture courtesy of http://blog.adhack.com/

No Lace?!

Friday I bought a wedding dress! I'm still a bit in shock, but it's a good kind of shock. I came up to New Jersey to see my parents and go dress shopping with my mom. We went first to a small store in NJ and then took the train into New York. Though the store in NJ was nice, there selection was limited. We left there with a favorite dress in mind, only to find it again at RK Bridal in New York.

RK Bridal on a week day was a totally different store from the chaos of my last visit (on a Saturday). There was a hand full of other brides going through the racks and trying on dresses. No place was it too crowded, and the women working there seemed happy and relaxed. I put my name on the list and there were only 4 names a head of mine. My mom and I had just enough time to search through the racks and pull 7 dresses to try on. Included in my 7 dresses was my favorite dress from the store in NJ (WToo Mariella). I also had the Dessy Destinations 1021 and 1016, from my previous visit to RK.

After trying on all of the dresses, it was clear that the dress I had found in NJ just didn't hold a candle to some of the others. We narrowed it down to three dresses, and then finally to two. But here's the kicker. Only one of the final two dresses had lace! One dress was the Dessy Destinations 1016 and the other was WToo' Carolina. My mom and I left the store and went across the street to Starbucks to ponder. While the 1016 has lace and is very form fitting, the Carolina is stellar dress. It has an interesting texture, a 1940's feel, and a great shape and flow to it.

Back in RK Bridal we looked at the two dresses side by side and it was pretty clear which one we both thought was the best. So we picked it up and headed over to the front desk. They took my measurements, let us take pictures, and put in the order. My dress will arrive in August!

In the end, I'm ok with not having any lace on the dress. The point of the lace was to have an interesting texture, the Carolina definitely delivers on that. Plus, it still has a vintage feel and a flattering shape, not to mention there was no other dress in the store quite like it. Now I need find a seamstress and a nice bright color for the sash! I am also going to take some of the train off and turn it into cap sleeves. I think it will be a light, fun, and classy dress for our garden wedding.

Here is a close up of the fabric.
Just a tease, though, you'll have to wait for the wedding to see the dress!

A Tip for the Photographer Search

For the couple of brides-to-be who read my blog, I have a great website to share with you! I recently ran across the Wedding Photojournalist Association while looking for photographers online. It's a great database that give clear pricing information and notes award winning photographers. It's nation wide and you can search by state. Enjoy!