Schwedding!

Mrs. Schweitzer Reflects...

2011-09-03T22:46:00.000-07:00

Well, what a wonderful wedding weekend we had! Even after all that planning, I couldn't have imagined a more perfect wedding day. The ceremony was beautiful, the timing on everything was almost perfect, and the dance floor was never empty. In the past two months since the wedding, I've heard so many compliments from so many folks (from those who were present at the wedding to random facebook friends and everyone in between)... I'm feeling like all that hard work of planning certainly paid off in the end. And a big thanks to everyone for the kind words. I'm just thrilled that everyone had a great time and that peeps are enjoying the photographs.

Speaking of photographs, you have to check them out! My brother over at Matt Ferrara Photography did just a phenomenal job capturing the fun, love, and emotions of the day. Here are just a few of our favorites (and photos of many of the details I've blogged about!):

My green shoes!

All of the pieces of the invitation and the save-the-date

Getting my make-up done at Creative Corner

The groom is all set and ready to go!

Putting in my veil

I didn't feel the butterflies yet. They arrived as I walked down the aisle!

Leaving home.

Right before we entered the church for the ceremony.
I LOVE the blue dresses and green flowers.

He probably doesn't like this picture, but it makes my heart melt.
He's trying to hold it together as he sees me for the first time on our wedding day.

Down the aisle with my dad

Joyfully singing the opening hymn, "Morning Has Broken"

My sister's bouquet

Our mothers sharing a happy glance while presenting the gifts

Love is in my eyes

The first kiss!

Excited to be married

Smiling for the crowd as we exit the church

The wedding party

Groom and groomsmen. The gray suits and navy & green ties looked wonderful!

Bride and bridesmaids. These were the gifts I purchased for them on etsy.
Each bmaid also received a unique key necklace. They're wearing them here.

Under the trees on the quad at the URI campus

We found this twisty blue sculpture on the URI campus and used it for
some great photographs.

Adventurers at the TF Green skybridge

Heading off on our next adventure. We got a round of applause when we entered the skybridge
from folks waiting in line for their rental cars.

The favors

Table numbers and centerpieces

The cake topper made by Kate Niemer!

A surprise from my parents!

The head table

The card box. This piece of luggage was actually used by my grandparents on their honeymoon!

The seating cards!

Our tack-the-map guest book

Our tack-the-map guestbook

Our first dance - "Darling I Do" by Landon Pigg & Lucy Schwartz

Father/bride dance - "Free Falling" by Tom Petty
We used to dance to this song before all father/daughter dances in elementary school..

Mother/groom dance - "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Iz

John's brother makes an awkward joke during his best man speech.
The reactions are priceless.

The back of my gown

Another shot of the cake topper, with me cleaning off Johnny's nose in the background

Singing "Is This Love?" by Bob Marley to my groom

Photobooth
[purchase photobooth photos at: http://mattferrara.zenfolio.com/p462233120
and use the password - radison (yes, spelled wrong)]

Dance party photos

Dance party photos - my grandfather Pop-Pop

Buck Sexington made a surprise appearance!

Perhaps the last dance?

There are about 300 more photos on facebook posted in my profile, so if you're interested in seeing more, head on over there.

In the end, what advice do I have to give about weddings and marriage? Let's see...

1. Everyone tells you it's going to fly by in the blink of an eye, and it does. I didn't really believe them, but I found myself, at 12am when the music wrapped up and we were walking around saying our goodbyes, thinking to myself, "Wait, is it really over?" As much as you want to make it last forever, you'll have such a blast that there's no way to avoid it speeding by. Just take in every moment and savor it the best you can.

2. Don't hold in all your emotions until they can't possibly be held in any longer. I made this rookie mistake. It resulted in me bawling my eyes out down the aisle. Now, I wouldn't change that for anything, but looking back, I know that it was a result of me just keeping all my nervousness and butterflies to myself through the whole morning. Let it out! That's what your bmaids and family are there for and it will make your memories of the morning getting ready even more meaningful and memorable.

3. Make sure you find a way to say hi to everyone who has made it to your wedding. We did a receiving line at the reception and then even made it around to half of the tables (wish we had had time for all the tables) during the dinner. Many of your guests have gone to great lengths to make it to your big day so make sure you don't miss anyone. Seriously, if our wedding day had been 10 hours longer, the extra time would have been spent just chilling and chatting with all our awesome friends and family. We wish we could have given everyone more of our attention!

4. Planning a wedding is a lot of work. Paying for a wedding is not easy either. So much work and so much money just for one day - we all must be crazy, right? I was feeling like that towards the last few months of the planning, but once you reach the big day, you'll see. It really is all worth it. There's nothing like seeing 9 months of hard work come together so beautifully. All the pieces of your never-quite-put-together vision, finally put together. Every last minute spent agonizing over flowers and seating charts, every last penny spent making sure the gown fits perfectly... all worth it.

5. Married life is AWESOME. After all is said and done, that's what you have after a wedding. A long, beautiful life of marriage. A forever buddy. Someone to be there with you through any and everything. There's nothing more beautiful or meaningful than that. 'Cept maybe having kids. But we're going to wait a while on that one. For right now, we're just enjoying our new life together and working our hardest to make everyday as love-filled and romantic as our wedding day. Here's to the many adventures ahead!

So I guess this is it. Since our schwedding has come and gone, there's not much left to blog about. Perhaps in the future I'll post some memories, random crazy stories about my gown fittings, or the priest who yelled at us, or the random appearance of Buck Sexington... but until then, I want to say a HUGE thanks to everyone who's followed my journey and supported the schwedding planning. It's been great to share all the experiences with each of you. And what a great "journal" this will be for me to look back on 20 years from now, right?

For now, I leave you with our wedding video by my younger brother, Jeff Ferrara. His first ever, and an amazing summary of our wedding day - John & Steph's Big Adventure.

Enjoy & God Bless <3

BACHELORETTE party

2011-07-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, my sister and friends threw me an AWESOME bachelorette party. The whole night of fun was in Newport and it seriously was a blast from the beginning to the end!

All the ladies met up at my parents' house and then (after a few cute pictures) we headed to Newport to catch the Newport Dinner Train. That night, the train was putting on a broadway revue show for their guests. They sang songs from musicals such as Grease, Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Sound of Music. Let's just say it was ... pure CHEESY! The singers weren't professional enough for it to be an awesome show, so instead, we enjoyed chuckling to ourselves at the ridiculousness of it all and singing along to the best songs. At one point, I even got called up to help the singer dance to the number "Dancing Queen" from Mamma Mia. The whole train was clapping and cheering for me. I hammed it up big time and a few guests told me I stole the show!

From there, I knew we had to go to karaoke next. So I suggested it and when you're the bachelorette... ask and you shall receive! We headed to a bar we found online (searching on the train) called Jimmy's Saloon. It was basically empty when we got there which was great because we got the stage first! I started with a little Alanis Morrisette and nailed it. I love karaoking that song. I also did "Oops! I Did It Again" by B. Spears and dedicated to my hubby-to-be. Obvi I was aiming for ridiculous/hilarious. Then the ladies also did other songs like, "It's Raining Men," "My Humps," "Love Shack," and "No Scrubs." Lauren and I ended the evening by singing, "White Trash Wedding" by the Dixie Chicks. Very appropriately hilarious, if I do say so myself.

We seriously all just had a fab time being goof-balls, enjoying the people watching, dancing and singing the evening away. It was perfect and I'm so thankful to my sister for putting it all together for me... and to my great friends/family for partying with me too! And I must throw this out there... probably the best part of the evening was watching the REALLY awkward loner at the bar (the one who sat alone the whole time and got up every once in a while to karaoke some random rap songs) get up to dance to a Rhianna song, shaking his little booty and gyrating his hips faster than I've ever seen. Good thing Sarah got video. We'll remember that forever.

Thank you so much ladies! You made the night better than I could have ever imagined.

Here are some pics of the fun/happy/silliness:

All the ladies, ready to head out to Newport

Dancing on the train to Dancing Queen
It was very tricky to pull off, with the train moving and all!

This one's hard to see, but we're all posing in front of the Newport Dinner Train.

The ladies singing "It's Raining Men"... getting the crowd pumped!

Dancing to "SHOUT!" The guy in the plaid was AWESOME
at karaoke. Great voice. Fun dancing :)

everybody's workin' for THIS weekend!

2011-07-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the ball keeps rolling. I've gotten almost everything on my ta-da to-do list finished... and with no surprise, there's still more to do! It's pretty great though. I feel like the end of all the planning is almost here and soon it'll just be time to relax and enjoy the wedding! If there's any advice I have to give about the final week of wedding planning, I'd say get it all done by two days before the wedding at the latest, if you can. I've been working my tail off these past two weeks, but the pay off is that the two days leading up to the wedding, I can be a calm-as-a-cucumber, to-do list free bride. So here's what I've gotten done in the past week:

Perfect programs for the ceremony
My brother Matt took over on this project and they look great! They still need to be printed, but they're basically done.

Design and print signs for the reception hall
These are all set! Matt designed these as well. He used the fonts the we used on the invites and save-the-dates so all the printed things sort of go together. I'm not going to show pictures of any of these now though... I want them to be a surprise to all the guests.

Design and print inserts for the luggage tag favors
Matt designed these as well (seriously, he's awesome) and FedEx Office took care of the printing today. I tried Staples first but they were going to be a bit more expensive. Lesson learned, if you have printing needs, choose FedEx Office. Other lesson learned: FedEx Office = Kinkos. Kinkos doesn't exist anymore. That was confusing for a little while.

Make the tack-the-map board
My dad helped me put this together tonight. We decided not to use a map of the whole world because all our RI guests wouldn't have had room to fit their tacks on the map (insert RI-is-super-tiny joke here)! Plus, we don't have anyone coming from out of the US. Problem solved! So, we ended up finding a great vintage map of the US at Staples the other day that we glued down to the cork board tonight. We had to glue blue ribbon borders around the map since it didn't quite fit on the large cork board we had. Oh well! It actually looks really neat. Can't wait to have our guests tack their locations on to the map! It'll look even better.

This was before we added any of the ribbon...
a very early version of the tack-the-map project.

Meet with the DJ
I met with the DJ (my brother's friend Chris) about a week ago, the same night I worked with my brother Matt on all the printed stuff for the wedding. It seems like the night will flow smoothly! He knows all the songs I want to be played (which will be collected by my brother, loaded on to my computer, and played from my iTunes on the night of the wedding... saving money!), when to introduce things, who to introduce, etc., etc. I was a little nervous about music before I met with him, but I'm much more comfortable now. We still have a lot of music to find and load on to my computer, but this should come along over the next few days.

Work on speech for rehearsal dinner
I let John take care of this and he did an AMAZING job on our speech, trying to convey our deepest gratitude for all the wonderful things our friends and family have done for us... not only to help in planning the wedding, but just overall throughout our lives. I'm so glad I let him take over on that. It should be very moving that evening :)

Make bags for out-of-town guests
This wasn't on my original to-do list, but my mom had the idea to put together some bags for the out-of-towners staying at the Radisson. We found some of those reusable grocery bags and filled them with information about Newport, RI, directions to the church, water bottles, snacks, my dad's ideas for touring Newport, RI and my top 5 list of things to try in RI. I'm excited for our guests to see/use them!

Perfect the seating chart
This was one of my most challenging tasks in prepping for the wedding. It was just really difficult to get the right combinations of guests in the right numbers at the right tables. Then, after finally figuring it all out, I had to write it all out for the Radisson, which ended up being a stressful event in and of itself... because included with writing it all out, I had to list the food counts... chicken vs. beef vs. vegetarian vs. kiddie meals. The numbers kept turning out wrong. We ended up with 130 guests, but the food wasn't adding up! It took me a little while of counting and re-counting and re-re-counting, but eventually I figured it out. All's good in the hood now! My suggestion though... don't offer more than one meal option. It'll make the seating and organizing WAY earlier. Just my two cents!

While I'm here in RI working on all this wedding stuff, John is still back in Houston putting our apartment together! He is about 96% moved out of his apartment as I type this and has been working on moving all his stuff over for about two weeks now. I felt bad leaving him behind to put our new place together, but he's doing such a great job! It's so exciting to talk about "our" apartment! I'm not used to saying that. Can't wait to be his official roomie!

And even more exciting is that I get to see him again in about 48 hours. He arrives in RI on Wednesday late into the evening. Before he arrives, we'll be having dinner with his parents and siblings (because they fly in before him!) at my parents' house on Wednesday night. Then, after that, just a few short days left til the wedding! I really can't believe this... it's almost here!!

Bride on a Mission

2011-07-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

I'm getting stuff done! Here are the few things I've checked off my to-do list.

Travel home to RI
This was probably the easiest task on the list. Not going to lie, it was a stressful day of travel (had to deplane the first plane for mechanical issues and got pushed to a flight 5 hours later. Then had a "lost luggage" scare in RI after landing.) A long day, but made it home safely with the gown!

Run to the craft store to buy stuff for reception hall decorations
This has taken us two days. I'm pretty sure we've gotten all the supplies we need. We've been to about 10 different stores buying lots of different do-dads (corkboard, vases, string, sharpies, etc.). We'll probably need to do a few last minute runs, but I feel good about getting almost all the shopping done.

Make the seating key cards and attach to keys
It's taken me a few hours to get this all together. Yesterday I stamped every one of the envelope cards, then labeled all of them with guests' names. Today I attached the keys to each one. All that's left is adding the table numbers... but we haven't 100% figured out where everyone is sitting yet, so we'll have to wait for that.

Finish bridesmaids gifts
They're all bagged and ready to go! I had lots of fun putting these together. Can't tell you any more because my b-maids are probably reading this now.

Have a make-up trial run
It turned out great! This was a pretty easy task too. Just sit in the chair and let the professional make you pretty :) We had to adjust the lip color a few times, but in the end, I think we got it right. Loving the smokey eyes...

Have another final fitting with my gown
Well... there's a bit of craziness to this one. I mentioned a few posts ago that after my final fitting in Houston, I wasn't 100% happy with the way the gown was fitting. So, I set up an appointment at Sassy & Classy here in RI and went in expecting to make just a few small adjustments. An hour later and that wasn't the case... one look at the dress and the seamstress could instantly tell that it needed a lot of work. We took in the sides more, fixed the completely crooked hem, changed the bustle completely, and even discovered some pins that the seamstress in Houston had left in the gown! Talk about crazy. I'm a little stressed about how much it's going to cost to fix it all, but to be honest, by the end of the appointment I felt SO much better about the way the gown was fitting. Looking back on pictures from today, I can finally say that I feel that I look like a bride in my gown, whereas before (after fittings in Houston) I never quite felt that way. Sorry I can't show you pictures of this one, but you only have to wait a few more days to see anyway :) I can't believe I've kept it a secret for this long!!

Tomorrow we have another meeting at the Radisson to finalize plans with Linda, the event coordinator. There will probably be more to report in the afternoon. Stay tuned!

Reception Vision & the To-Do List

2011-06-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

I've already shared a bunch of these pictures, but here are my ideas for the reception all in one fun inspiration board!

The top left is what I've asked for the cake to look like and the bottom right is what Kate Niemer is working on replicating for our cake topper! The keys up top will have guests names attached on a key card, helping guests to figure out where they'll be seated. The hard-to-see pic in the top right is tables with white table clothes, silver chairs, and blue napkins... the exact look we're going for. I hope it works out with the maroon/yellow rugs and golden chandeliers. Hrmmm. Below that is the tack-the-map board that guests will tack with their spot of origin... we're going to work on that next week. Then there's the head table (love all the candles), the teacups, which will be on a lot of tables, and a view of the courtyard at the Radisson. It's nice to see it all come together like that.

So, am I freaking out right now because the wedding is less than 3 weeks away? No-sir-ree! I'm going to be honest, blogging about the whole planning experience has actually helped me stay on top of all the planning. There aren't many things left to be done, so this bride is one calm cucumber. It also helps that she's had the past 1.5 weeks off from work (teaching) and has more free time ahead leading up to the wedding.

You're probably wondering now, what does Stephanie have left to do in the next 18 days? Well, I'll tell ya. Here's the ta-da to-do list! (I say ta-da because it's very manageable):

Travel home to RI
Perfect and print the programs for the ceremony
Design and print signs for the reception hall
Design and print inserts for the luggage tag favors
Run to the craft store to buy stuff for reception hall decorations
Perfect the seating chart
Make the seating key cards and attach to keys
Make the tack-the-map board
Meet with the DJ
Work on speech for rehearsal dinner
Finish bridesmaids gifts & purchase other gifts
Have a make-up trial run
Have another final fitting with my gown

... and that about sums it up. Yes, you read that last one correctly. After my last fitting (where I claimed on facebook that my dress "fit like a glove"), I tried the gown on again and it just isn't perfect. I think I may have been bloated when I tried it on. Plus, I wasn't super happy with the way it was taken in in a few spots, so basically, I'm going have one last final fitting in RI (at Sassy & Classy) to make sure things are perfect. They'll also be steaming my dress for me! Bye-bye wrinkles. I'm taking my gown with me in a carry-on on the plane home to RI, so the steaming will be a must.

Sorry, I've got to run! Time to work on checking more off that ta-da to-do list!

DIY Photobooth Project

2011-06-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are! About 3 weeks away from the big day and things are progressing nicely.

Recently, I took on a small project to keep myself busy in these days leading up to the wedding. My brother Matt is going to run a photobooth during the dancing hours of the reception. He explained that most of the pictures taken during the dance portion of a reception end up all looking the same. So, instead of snapping away at the sweaty folks of the dance floor, Matt's going to be snapping snazzy photos of our guests in fancy photobooth fashion. He mentioned that I should buy some props. Well, this is where I up the ante... I decided to make some props instead!

I used some shops on etsy for some inspiration...

From etsy user ThePaperStache

From etsy user thelittleblackshop

And then created my own little masterpieces:

The assortment!

Cuttin' out some 'staches.

I look good with a 'stache and bowtie!

I'll probably purchase a few other props to throw in the mix... maybe a tiara, or a crazy hat, or a feather boa. In the end, I'm just really looking forward to seeing hilarious pictures of our guests gone wild.

A Bride on a Budget!

2011-06-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

Over the past 9 months, this bride has tried her hardest to stay on a pretty strict budget. And I feel as though now that I'm almost on the other side of it all, I've got some wisdom I can share with those who are just starting to go through this crazy wedding planning thing and help you avoid spending $50,000+ for just one night of fun. I won't break it down penny-by-penny for you, but I will give you some helpful hints for getting to the altar with out breaking your (or your parents') bank.

Set a budget and stick to it.
I can't stress this enough. As soon as my parents gave us our wedding budget, I went on over to weddingwire.com, signed up for a free account, and used their budget planning tool to figure out exactly what amount of money would be spent where. From limos, to flowers, to my gown, to the food... every costly piece of the big day was estimated and accounted for before we started spending any money. That way, I knew I wasn't allowed to fall in love with a $5,000 way before I went crazy trying on gowns, thus preventing me from getting my heart set on something out of the budget. Talk about a stress reducer!

Use your resources.
You may not realize it, but your friends and family are made up of awesome people who are extremely talented in many ways. And I highly encourage you to figure out what these good folks are good at... and then ask them to do it for your wedding! The best part is, most of them will offer their skill to you in place of a wedding gift. A pretty sweet deal, if I do say so myself (and I do). As for me, my wedding planner, florist, photographer, videographer, hair stylist, invitation designer, reception musician/dj, and personal first-dance teacher are all family members, friends, or friends of friends. And I couldn't be a bride on a budget without them.

Dream big, but not too often.
There are going to be some things you just really need to have for your big day. And I'm going to tell you right now... that's totally ok. But, the key is that you can only have a few of these "really important things" on your list. For me, it was chiavari chairs. I had to have them. And by the way, they're not cheap. But, that was basically the only "must have" on my list. Oh, and the limo big enough for the 12-person wedding party. Yes, expensive. But, one of only a few splurges. Once you decide what the big ticket items are going to be, put aside the money for them and then make sure to be more flexible and frugal with pretty much everything else on your wedding-spending list.

Find cheaper alternatives.
Or in other words, shop around before you settle. So, you fell in love with the $5,000 dress even though you knew your budget was 1/5th of that. Oops! Well, the good news is, you can still make it in under your budget and have the gown of your dreams. You'll just have to do some research. Usually you can find used or even unworn wedding gowns for sale online. Or, you can check out your local bridal consignment shop. For me it was Merry-Go-Round in Houston, TX (where I found both my gown and my veil for half of their original prices). Or, even better yet, you can usually find a gown similar to that expensive designer one at a more budget friendly gown shop, just made by a different designer. When you think about it, there aren't many designs out there for gowns, so you're bound to find an almost identical gown made by another designer somewhere out there. And, never forget to check out etsy.com for anything and everything wedding related. The sellers on that site are more than happy to custom make pretty much anything you need for your wedding and usually at reasonable rates.

Do it yourself.
Don't be afraid to tackle some wedding projects on your own. You can save hundreds (even thousands) just by spending a few extra hours working on something for yourself. For example, if you're not careful, you can spend thousands on your wedding invites alone. Why not design them yourself? There are plenty of sites out there that print them for cheap... or you can buy some cardstock at your favorite paper-carrying shop and print them at home. Then, have a small party with all your bridesmaids and have them help you assemble and address the envelopes. Sure it won't have the fancy, swirly calligraphy, but who's going to keep the envelope anyway? Just be careful with DIY projects. As the bride you've got plenty to do, so don't take on too many tasks for yourself.

Overall, just remember to relax, smile, and have fun. Planning can be stressful, and trust me... it's even more stressful when a strict budget and an over-priced wedding industry are involved. But, if you heed my advice and plan that budget early on in the process, I promise it'll all work out and be 100% worth it in the end.

And if you have any "bride on a budget" tips from planning your own wedding, please feel free to share...

Words of Wisdom

2011-06-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

John and I are in the process of picking out the readings and music for our wedding mass. We're almost certain that this will be the 2nd reading at the wedding. It's beautiful.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3: 12-17

Congratulations are in order...

2011-05-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

My sister is engaged! Congrats to Lauren & Dave.

She'll be my maid of honor and she just asked me to be hers <3

Lauren, all the happiness and love in the world is what I wish for you. I'm so happy to be able to share the "engaged" part of our lives now, even if only for two months longer. And don't you worry, I'll let you know how wonderful married life is once I get there. You can always count on me for advice :)

So here's to Dave & Lauren and a lifetime of joy and marital bliss. Love to you both!

The 2 Month Lull

2011-05-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

I've never really felt overwhelmed by any of this wedding planning stuff (future Stephanie, please read this one week before wedding and remember to breeeeathe), and right now is no exception.

Actually, the only thing we've been working on over the past month, wedding-related, are invitations. And by "we" I mostly mean my brother Matt. We emailed each other back and forth for a few weeks, discussing what the pieces of the invite should look like, breaking down the invite text word-by-word, making final edits on the designs, making final, final, final edits on the designs, quadruple checking everything (we almost spelled "afternoon" like this... "afteroon" ... oops!). And at the end of a few weeks, we had this amazing invitation ready to be sent off to the copiers.

As the invites were being printed, I spent a few hours with coworker and friend Kate (who also helped me find my wedding gown!) addressing the envelopes on a Saturday. When the invites arrived, I ran around town trying to find the perfect stamps for the envelopes and the RSVPs. Then, I stuffed, stamped, and sealed all the envelopes, and then they were off! We've even gotten a few RSVPs back and I didn't even send them a week ago. How great!

So, that was the invitation-sending process, and like I said, that's all we've done for the wedding lately. We've gotten to this "2 month lull" as I like to call it. We're 2 months out from the wedding and there's not much left we can do until we get a little closer (e.g. seating cards, arranging centerpieces, purchasing decorations, etc.). And that's why you haven't heard from me much lately... because I don't have too much to say.

Oh, 'cept I should probably show you the ADORABLE bikini I bought for the honeymoon. This bride has lost 15 pounds since she started her weight loss journey, so she figured she needed to buy a new suit to show off her new curves to her new hubbie :) I leave you with a preview...

Sneak Peek

2011-05-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

At the reception, we're going to have a slideshow playing composed of pictures of John and me. Some will be pictures of little Johnny, some of little Stephie. Some of us as awkward teens, some of us at graduations, and some of us throughout our relationship and engagement.

My future mother-in-law had the task of collecting pictures of little Johnny (as well as other pics of grandparents, siblings, etc on his side for other uses at the wedding). I recently took a peek at the pictures she put together and love EVERY one of them. How could I not love diving into a part of John I didn't get to see?

So, here's a sneak peek of the slideshow, just for you. Some of my favorite little Johnny pictures...

John giving nose kisses to his mom.

He didn't want little Eric to get all the attention, so he hammed it up for the camera.

Weeee! Down the slide!

He still looks the same. So precious.

Trying to handle being a big bro. Kathleen is not cooperating.

Cheesin'!

If our kids look as cute as he did, we're gonna have some precious kiddos. Thanks for the pics, soon-to-be Mom-in-law :)

Recent Purchases Have Arrived!

2011-05-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

Luggage tags... check! They're perfect.

Bridesmaids gifts... check! Girls, you're going to LOVE them.

Napkins... check... them out :)

They're not exactly the right colors, but they'll do. Don't you love the monogrammedness?

Groomsmens' socks... check! And check them out...

They look so cozy and fun. Better prepare the photographer/my brother to take a sweet sock shot of all the boys.

Keys for escort cards... check! They look SO awesome. Can you tell they're wooden?

Other recent purchases include John's belt and shoes and my earrings. He still needs a nice white dress shirt and I'm on the hunt for some shoes for the reception. After we purchase those two little pieces, our wedding day attire should be all set. John's mom offered me the opportunity to wear her mother's bracelet on the big day. It'll be my something blue, as it's made of sapphires and diamonds. Perfect! I feel honored to wear it :)

Currently, I'm working with my brother to complete the invitations. They should be ordered and on their way to our guests' homes in the next two-ish weeks. All I can say is... they look AMAZING. He's worked so hard on them for us, and it definitely shows. Pictures will be posted after guests have received them... don't want to ruin the surprise.

Also, I forgot to mention that the rehearsal dinner venue has been booked! John's parents (with the help of a few suggestions from my parents) picked out the restaurant 1149 for the event. If you're a Rhode Islander, you know this place is a delicious and hip spot in the middle of the state, and you're aware of how awesome it'll be for a rehearsal dinner. We're very excited about their choice.

Other than that, everything is basically at a lull right now. We're working on getting more paperwork for the church and soon we'll be putting together readings and music for the mass. We'll also start working on getting music together for the reception, pick up some more decorations for the reception, design different paper goodies for the wedding day, and other random things that make the big day go 'round. I know I say this often, but I'm pretty shocked at how quickly time is flying and how nicely (slash easily) the details are coming together. Call me lucky, I guess... or maybe just lucky-in-love. Aww shucks! 74 days to go!

Sponsor Couple, NFP, & Marriage Prep

2011-04-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

John and I have been meeting with our sponsor couple and working on other marriage prep requirements for a few months now.

As part of our marriage prep through St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) down here in Houston, we meet with a sponsor couple 5 times over the course of 6 months and discuss various topics relating to marriage (aka the good life after tying the knot). Topics have included prayer, finances, sex, family, communication... and things of that nature. It's been really nice discussing these major players in marriage with an older, more experience, really neat Catholic couple. They're in their early 30s and have been married for 10 years now. They're super friendly and artsy, and have given us some great advice about the road we're about to travel.

pictures make blog posts better

In case you're curious about Catholic marriage prep, I'll list some of the other things we've had to do in our preparation. We had to take that FOCCUS test (I mentioned it in a post a long time ago), meet with a deacon at SVdP twice to discuss said test's results, collect various pieces of paperwork (baptismal, first communion, and confirmation certificates, and affidavit's from both sets of parents), read and reflect in a question-and-answer book called "For Better and Forever" to accompany visits with our sponsor couple, and attend an Natural Family Planning (NFP) class.

Let me talk for a second about the NFP class I went to. It was eye opening. There are many different forms of NFP, but I had heard a lot about the Creighton Model and decided to attend a class on that one. In 45 minutes, I learned more about my girly cycle than I've ever known up 'til now in my 24 years of life, and I'm shocked at how it all works... and how little most women know about it. Did you know that with simple daily observations you can figure out whether or not you're fertile? And the majority of the time, ladies, you're not fertile. If you track your cycle well, and abstain from "loving relations" (wink... if you know that I mean) for just a few days every month, you can avoid ALL forms of contraception FOREVER! And studies have shown that when done correctly, the Creighton Model is 99.5% effective in helping couples avoid pregnancy. Better yet, when you do decide to have kids, it can help you figure out if you have problems with fertility, why they exist (if they do), and what needs to be done to fix the problems (if possible). And all it takes are a few daily observations!

pictures make blog posts better

Whew, I got a little carried away with my NFP explanation, but I was seriously shocked by most of what I learned in the class. It was great! I wish all women knew more about their cycles and how our bodies naturally work to achieve/avoid pregnancy. It's all prettttty darn neat. SCIENCE!

So, that's the bulk of the Catholic marriage prep. Most churches offer a weekend engaged encounter retreat or 6-month long series of classes in place of the sponsor couple, but we're super happy with the choice we made. We've gotten so much out of our marriage prep, and especially from our sponsor couple. In our opinion, the church (at least SVdP) has done a great job in creating programs to prepare their engaged couples for the beautiful, life-long, life-giving, serious, and sacred sacrament of marriage. So, no complaints here. Only smiles.

*My apologies if I've come off as overly Catholic in this post. I'm just really excited about all the great things the church has done right for John and me in our marriage prep and wish to share with anyone who wants to listen :)

Green

2011-04-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

I've always loved the color green. Basically, ever since I realized that it looked good on redheads, green and I have been the best of friends.

I know I mentioned earlier that when we were deciding on wedding colors, we based it off the fact that green was going to be one of them. This narrowed things down quite a bit, as green doesn't go well with many colors. So, after a bit of research, the choice was easy! Green was a MUST and navy blue just so happens to compliment it very well. So, there you have it.

Well, while checking out my favorite wedding blogs today, I came across this quote in the description of a wedding that used green and black/damask as their colors:

"Green is symbolic for nature. Growth. Harmony. Freshness. Green is also the most restful color for the human eye and suggests endurance and stability."

Endurance and stability! That definitely makes green the perfect color for a wedding :)

And now, for some more green (to help you feel restful, harmonious, and stable)...

My shoes have been dyed green...

... to match John's tie!

And this one's just because he's so darn handsome when he adjusts his (green) tie.

recent purchases

2011-04-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

I've bought oodles of fun things on etsy.com recently. I've mentioned etsy before, but I'll throw it out there again... it's awesome. All handmade stuff from people just like you and me interested in selling their arts and crafts. It's heaven for brides. I go on there and am able to find almost anything I need wedding related.

Today I bought this:

from user annapanik

It's a flower for my hair! I'll be wearing it at the reception. I mentioned it to John and he said, "I've always thought you'd be beautiful with a flower in your hair." How sweet is that? Well... your dream comes true, Mr. Johnny boy.

I've also made some fun purchases for my bridesmaids! I can't mention exactly what I've gotten them (as I think most of them read the blog), but it involves jewelry and cutesy handbags :)

And I have my eye on this veil:

from user romancingtheveil

That's sort of the look I'm after for my veil. It's a bit longer than I'd like, but I love how the amount of tule isn't overwhelming and the pencil-thin edging is a nice touch. The one I want will be at about finger tip length.

On theknot.com (another great resource for wedding planning brides), John and I found these lovely napkins:

theknot.com

We ordered the pattern you see upfront... they say, "Eat, drink, and be married." How precious is that? They also have our names on them and our wedding date. We ordered 100 in that bright green color with dark navy lettering, and 100 in the navy color with silver lettering. A fine, fun little detail if I do say so myself.

John has also been extremely helpful in putting together the plan for the favors for our guests. My mom came up with the idea to give out luggage tags as favors (to go along with the "travel" theme). John and I did some research and we decided quickly that we didn't like any of the pre-made options available online. They were either too cheap/flimsy looking, too cheesy, or too far out of our price range. So, John took over and found these online:

from embroiderthis.com

We only purchased one (to make sure it's what we want), but the plan is to get 175 of these, and fit them with something that has a design similar to our save-the-date. That way, we don't have to buy one with a cheesy design, or that doesn't quite go with all our color/theme plans. And my brother Matt has already agreed to help us design the inserts (thanks bro!). On the front of the insert, it'll say, "thank you" or our names/wedding date, and the backside will have space for guests to write their name, address, phone number, etc (to make it useable as a luggage tag). It'll be a fun, little DIY project for me and the fiance.

We still have some important wedding purchases in our near future, including groomsmen gifts, escort card materials, supplies for the tack-the-map "guestbook," and a few other fun decorative elements. I'll keep you guys posted as more purchases are made :)

Fitting #4

2011-04-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I had my 4th dress fitting. 4th! Can you believe that? And I still probably have about 2 more left.

I know I posted about a dress-fitting disaster that happened a while back, but things have been running smoothly since then. The bustle they ended up making looks pretty great and keeps the long train of the dress up in a fashionable way.

We've officially added two straps to the dress as well! When I went in for my 3rd fitting, there was still only one strap on the dress (that the seamstress had made). When I asked her why there was only one, she said she thought I only wanted one. Huh? One strap? So silly! So now there are two. And we've placed them almost perfectly along the strapless neckline of the dress. It's seriously a lot of work to position them just right. Even looking at pictures right now (which, sorry, you can't see yet!), I'm thinking we moved the straps a little too close together in the back. It'll just be more adjusting for fitting #5.

Also, because of my recent dieting and exercise, my gown is fitting even better these days. There was barely enough room for my bust when I originally bought the dress, making me just a liiiiittle self conscious about it... but now I have plenty of room up top and we discovered at the fitting that I don't even need to wear a bra with it anymore! How freeing :) hehe. So far I've said goodbye to 5.5 pounds and I don't miss them at all! And seriously, if you're thinking about losing weight, check out loseit.com. It's soooo easy to use and makes weight-loss simple!

I've gotten off track. Basically, the fitting went really well. The last thing I did was try on the belt (I posted a picture of it a while back) with my gown for the first time and it looked lovely! The seamstress and a few of the ladies working there said (no joke) it was the most beautiful bridal belt they had ever seen. How's that for encouraging?

Now, I wait til fitting #5... which isn't til mid-June!

Wedding Bands

2011-04-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

John and I purchased our wedding bands last weekend.

Mine is the one made to match my Ritani engagement ring. We picked out platinum. It's almost identical to the band on my engagement ring. In the picture, it looks like the rings don't fit quite right together... that's because it was the sample ring! It was about 1 size too big. Don't worry, the wedding band will fit very snugly when it comes in.

My rings!

John's is a Novell 4 millimeter (that's the width! - very slim and European), milgrain palladium ring. Palladium metal is almost exactly like platinum except it's lighter in weight and not a precious metal, making it a much cheaper option. It scratches and wears the exact same way, though.The milgrain is hard to see in the picture, but they're little metal bumps around the edges of the ring.

Johnny's ring!

That last picture gives you a better idea of what milgrain looks like. I love it! Fancy, right? It reminds me of my dad because his wedding band has milgrain. Because I grew up looking at my dad's ring, when John and I started looking for bands for him, I kept suggesting milgrain... it was almost like it was planted in my head that a man's wedding band is supposed to have milgrain! Well, John ended up loving it, so there you have it!

They should be arriving in the next few weeks. That's one more thing to cross off the schwedding to-do list. Fab!

Centerpieces, Flowers, Etc.

2011-04-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

During my week home, I had the opportunity to hang out with the florist (my mom's long time friend, Niki) and work on ideas for flowers and centerpieces. Here's the skinny...

There will be three different types of centerpieces. One centerpiece will involve three antique tea cups, planted with african violets and a vase of white flowers between them. The second centerpiece will have a stack of three antique books topped with a small, clear bottle holding white flowers. The third centerpiece will be a mix of different antiques (old milk jugs, a lantern, crackers tins, etc) accompanied by a vase of flowers. Each table will also have 3 votive candles. Some tables will have maps laid under the books, vases, tea cups, etc. to go along with our adventure theme.

Here you can see some of the tea cups, a stack of old books, and
a tiny vase atop them. Also, our florist (Niki) is in the background.

As for flowers, we have a variety of white flowers and leafy green plants (to pull in the green colors of our "blue and green" theme) and maybe even some succulents! Each bridesmaid will carry a different white flower (white roses, white hydrangeas, amaryllis, carnations, and I can't remember the rest), and my bouquet will be a big combination of all their flowers.

Niki was so helpful while I was explaining my ideas ... she knows her flowers well and came up with some great arrangement ideas. And she also has a great artistic eye for things such as centerpieces. We even put together some more ideas concerning the seating cards, tack-the-map piece, and gift table.

Also, a recent addition to our reception decor: my parents booked a rental of 150 silver chiavari chairs (because the chairs at the Radisson are red & gold and no bueno) AND uplighting for the room. We'll also be renting navy blue napkins to bring in the blue of our "green & blue" color scheme.

If you've never seen chiavari chairs before, they're all the rage in the wedding scene. Especially when the reception hall you're renting out only supply VERY outdated and heinous-looking chairs. Here are some pictures of the chiavari chairs and uplighting.

Silver chiavari chairs

Uplighting! Ours will probably be a mix of blues and greens.

100 days!

2011-04-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

You read that correctly, folks. We're at the 100 day mark in the schwedding countdown! Can you believe it? It's been 197 days since our engagement. Wow, we'll be married before we know it!

I know I promised a post about the centerpieces and flowers about a month ago. Expect to hear more very soon. Just think a large variety of pretty, white flowers, tea cups, vintage books, random antiques, and small vases. That about sums up the flowers/centerpieces :)

More to come later, but for now, I'm CELEBRATING!

100 days!!!

HONEYMOOOOOON

2011-03-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

We're headed to ARUBA!

After much deliberation and research, John and I have decided on our honeymoon destination. We'll be flying out of RI at 8am the day after the wedding... Aruba bound!

We've known for a while now that we wanted to go somewhere in the Caribbean. Our top priorities in choosing destination were beautiful beaches, yummy food, relaxation, and fancy hotel room. We figured it was highly likely that anywhere in the Caribbean would fit the bill, so we started researching all the different islands... did you know there are around 7,000 in the Caribbean?! Obviously most of them you wouldn't go to for a honeymoon, but the point is, we had a lot to choose from!

For a while we were thinking about going to St. Maarten/St. Martin (a half French, half Dutch island in the Caribbean). We liked that there would be two different cultures meshed into one big, beautiful island, but research kept pointing us to Aruba. Every review we read and every bit of research surrounding weather/hurricane seasons were telling us Aruba was the best choice (did you know Aruba is outside of the hurricane belt? Major plus! Especially since most of the islands' hurricane seasons involve the month of July).

So, we caved :) and we decided on Aruba. Then, we started looking at all the different hotels, resorts, high rises, etc. We looked at the Radisson, the Marriott, the resorts that friends have stayed at, we debated all inclusive vs. not all inclusive, we looked at maps of Aruba and reviews of restaurants in the areas of the different places of stay. In the end, we kept coming back to Bucuti (much like we had returned to Aruba over and over). Everyone RAVED about it in every review we read, and it's one of tripadvisor's top 10 romantic spots in the world. Also, they cater to honeymooners and couples, and no kids are allowed (love kiddos, but maybe not on the honeymoon). So, how could we say no? Even the price was right!

Therefore, tonight, we buckled down and booked both our flights AND the resort. We're so excited about our choice and CAN'T WAIT for July 17th. The only day we're more excited for is the one before it :)

Here are some fancy-shmancy pictures of the resort:

The resort from the beach

Nighttime loungin'

Pool loungin'

The beach from the resort

These chairs are waiting for Mr. & Mrs. Schweitzer <3

Our room

Play-by-Play for the Big Day

2011-03-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

My mother, the florist, and I met with the wedding coordinator at the Radisson yesterday. While there, we went through the entire wedding day, creating a minute-by-minute plan for the big day. It took a while to get all the information together, as we also discussed the meal, the centerpieces and seating cards, colors for linens, and other details related to vendors, but in the end we felt really accomplished and very organized for the wedding.

Linda, the coordinator, noticed that one of the big things John and I want for the wedding day is a feeling of "fun" for everyone. First and foremost, we want to be married by the end of the day, but after that comes an atmosphere of fun for all our guests. We really want it to be one heck-of-a-party that guests talk about for months to come! Therefore, she helped us to plan out the evening in a way such that guests will always have something to keep them entertained. Here's the general schedule for the evening (though I will keep in mind that the schedule can be fluid, because otherwise I might end up turning into a time-crunching Bridezilla!)

3:00 - 4:00: Catholic Marriage Ceremony

4:00 - 4:30: Receiving line

4:30 - ?: Bridal party takes pictures

4:30 - 5:30: Guests make their way over to the Radisson

5:30 - 6:30: Cocktail Hour at the Radisson

6:30: Main ballroom is opened and bridal party arrives

6:50: Bridal party is announced

First dance for Bride & Groom :)

Blessing by Priest

Champagne toast by Father of the Bride

7:00: 1st course is served

Father/bride dance

2nd course is served

Mother/groom dance

3rd/main corse is served

Bride & Groom cut the cake

9:15: Best Man & Maid of Honor speeches

Dessert is served

9:30: Dance party begins!

Tons of dancing

Dollar dance

Tons of dancing

Toss the bouquet

Tons of dancing

Toss the garter

Tons of dancing

11:45: Farewell to Bride & Groom

11:55: The last dance

12:00: Party ends!

Whew!

Well, there it is. I'm sure there will be about 25 adjustments before the big day and about 50 on the day of, but it looks pretty good to me for now.

Some other fun details we decided on: there will be a slideshow running of pictures of John and I (baby pictures all the way up through our relationship) during the meal for guests to enjoy and a photo booth run by my brother during the dance party. We're also going to have TWO desserts! Mmmm. Oh, I should probably fill you in on the delicious meal we have planned.

Passed Hors D'Oeuvres (during Cocktail Hour):

Spanakopita

Sweet potato and coconut chicken mini fajitas

Grilled vegetable bruschetta

Scallops wrapped in bacon

Chicken satay tandoori

1st Course: Minestrone

2nd Course: Mixed green salad with assorted dressings

3rd/Main Course: Grilled chicken breast with tomato cilantro sauce OR

grilled sirloin with spinach, red peppers, and portabellas (plus a veggie option for vegetarians)
Served with oven roasted potatoes and green beans with roasted red peppers

Dessert: Wedding cake (flavors tbd) AND

a chocolate truffle pyramid with raspberry filling (OMGoodness to DIE for!)

That's basically all the planning we accomplished with Linda. Today we worked on some more details, including plans for flowers and centerpieces. Expect to hear about those in my next post. Until then, I leave you with some pictures of the inside of the Radisson ballroom.

That upper right corner will the where the head table and dance floor are located.

These are the chandeliers in the room. Perfectly vintage, right?

This is the view of the room from the head table. In this space will
be our 21 guest tables, photo booth, gift table, bars, and slide show projector.

Bridal Showers bring July Weddings

2011-03-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

My mom and sister surprised me with a bridal shower yesterday!

I arrived in RI on Saturday, planning on spending a week wedding planning during my school's spring break. I was already aware that the bridal shower would be happing this week, because it's the last time I'm going to be in RI before the schwedding, but as far as when the shower would be happening this week, I had no idea.

As my parents pulled into their driveway, I noticed a blue Honda from ME parked in front of the house... and instantly knew Emily was here! I was so excited, I hardly let the car come to a complete stop before jumping out to see her. I ran into the house, gave her big hugs, and started getting more excited about the shower. If Emmy (bridesmaid) was in town to visit, I knew the shower was probably going to be the next day.

Well, the next morning, my mom told me to put on the nice dress that I packed, and two more of my bridesmaids showed up... first Justine, then Kate. I was so excited to have some of my girls together! And I definitely knew what was going on. We left the house and Kate blindfolded me in the car! She and my mom figured there had to be some sort of surprise to the day (since I already knew the shower was happening). But their plan was foiled by my great sense of direction! Even with Kate driving around in a circle at one point, I knew exactly where we were the whole car ride.

When they took the blindfold off, I was standing in the Remington House Inn, in front of all my loving female friends and family. After walking around the room to hug everyone, Lauren gave a wonderful mimosa toast (I teared up a little bit!) and the eating began! Then, gifts! Then, cake!

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon. It was so great to be surrounded by family and friends, who were so excited for me and more than generous with their gifts. And to have almost all my bridesmaids (missed you Kathleen!) in the same place for the first time, now I'm even more excited for the wedding!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the bridal shower...

They blindfolded me!

Ready to remove the blindfold

My cousins and aunts waiting to say SURPRISE!

SURPRISE!

Lauren giving her toast

Trying to be cute

A fake gift! My Aunt and cousin sent me these plates from
Crate & Barrel in the mail (to help me avoid shipping costs).
In order that I had a gift to open from them at the shower,
they printed the pattern of the plates and pasted it onto paper
plates. It was so confused, then greatly impressed by creativity :)

My bridesmaids told me each ribbon I broke represented a
baby for John and me. We're making silly faces because I
thought I had just broken a ribbon!

Bride robe :)

Trying on my new lingerie

Matt, my photographer and brother

Memere (my grandmother) and Lauren (sister and MOH)

Justine and Emily - bridesmaids extraordinaire :)

The bride & bridesmaids :)

Thanks to Lau and Mom for a great shower! <3

Blog Award!

2011-03-05T22:45:00.000-08:00

About a week ago, Cathy over at fiscally chic gave me the "7 Facts Blog Award." (thanky!) As a result of receiving the award, I'm supposed to list 7 random facts about myself here on my lovely schwedding blog. Well, obviously I have some blogging inspiration right now, so let's just keep the ball rolling and get this going...

1.) That's little me! Fact #1 is that I'm a natural red head. I've been a ginger since the day I was born. And not once have I ever dyed it... not even with cute blonde highlights for the sun-bleached summer fun look. (please excuse the awkwardness of the above photo... I can't figure out how to get the copied image of the image in the upper left hand corner to disappear!)

2.) My favorite food is pickles! Plain pickles, fried pickles, spicy wickles, pickles wrapped in cheese, pickles dipped in honey mustard. If it's got tangy, salty pickles involved, I'll eat it! Well, unless they're bread and butter. I don't know what my issue is, but I can't handle them. Anyway, here's a picture of me and Emily (one of my bmaids) sharing a giant pickle at her rehearsal dinner. She gave it to me as a bridesmaid present that evening and I couldn't hold off eating it for even 10 minutes.

3.) I lived in Rhode Island for my first 21 years. It's the best little state there is and I miss it more each day I'm away from it. So happy to be getting married there. And here's a picture of me in Newport, RI back in 2008 (my last year as a RI resident).

4.) Music is a pretty big deal in my life. I played piano for 9 years, sung for 10 years (I was the #1 alto singer in the state of RI in 8th grade... pretty big deal, right?), and taught myself how to play the ukulele. I'm not a superstar at piano, voice, or uke, but I have fun pretending. That's a pic of me hitting the high note at the end of "God Bless America" at my college graduation. Just me, the band, and 20,000 people in the audience. No big :)

5.) Teaching is what I do best. Or it's what I try to do well, anyway. I taught science for one year in St. Louis and am on my second year of teaching math down here in Houston, TX. Algebra I is my forte. I also dabble in Geometry and Algebra II.

6.) I LOVE a good bargain. Seriously. If I get something discounted or for cheap, I can't help but walk around the rest of the day and tell everyone what a great deal I got on whatever it was. Or when someone compliments something I'm wearing that I got on sale, I immediately tell them how cheap it was. Example: the green sunglasses you see in the above picture... $3 at Target. So maybe this is why I'm (somewhat) enjoying the challenges of being a frugal bride?

7.) If you haven't figured it out already, we're getting married on July 16, 2011! I can't wait to marry my best friend, my adventure buddy, my sweetest love, and the best man I've ever known. You get a treat with this fact... introducing our official schwedding website: www.weddingwire.com/johnandsteph

Well that was fun! I hope you learned something new and/or interesting about me. And now, to pass on the "7 Facts Blog Award" to some of my favorite blogs. Happy fact-telling, ladies!

what if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

My Journey to Self-Sustainability

E. Olwell Photography

Tack-the-Map Guest Book

2011-03-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

I mentioned this guest book idea in an earlier post. Instead of signing a tradition guest book, guests will instead place a pin in a map to indicate where they travelled from or (going along with our adventure theme) "where their adventures began."

Well, as I was perusing one of my favorite wedding blogs (weddingchicks.com), I came across the exact idea, played out at a couple's wedding. This will be helpful for us when we design ours. Cute, right?

(photo by visionari)

Bridal Belt & Bmaid Dresses

2011-03-05T21:48:00.000-08:00

I purchased a belt for my gown on etsy.com (from user Daniel12). I haven't had the chance to try it on with my gown yet, but I have the feeling that it's going to work out just fine.

And here it is:

Also, we officially have a pregnant bridesmaid (congrats to Em and Bubs). Don't worry... I put my superior internet search skills into attack mode and found a maternity bmaid dress almost identical to the one the other bmaids will be wearing within 5 minutes. Check it out:

I think they're pretty darn close to each other. Obvi the maternity dress will also be navy (and not Easter-Sunday pink). Em is going to get it hemmed to the length of the original dress a few weeks before the wedding. It's going to work perfectly and look great. Go me!

The Groom's Suit

2011-03-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

Here it is, folks. John has picked out and purchased his suit (and green tie). I thought I'd post a pic for your viewing pleasure.

Isn't he just the most handsome groom-to-be around? Love him!

wedding workouts

2011-03-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

This bride is busting her butt to get into bridal (and honeymoon) shape!

I joined the Y about a month ago and coworker/friend Veronica has been my workout buddy ever since. We take Zumba, Step & Sculpt, Spinning, and BodyPump classes together! Last night was BodyPump and my body is so sore!

I've also started tracking my calories on loseit.com. It is awesome. Well, the grumblies in my tummy aren't always awesome, but the way the websites works is pretty great. You input your current weight and your weight loss goal, and it spits back the amount of time it'll take to reach it (for me, at the pace of 1 lb per week). Each day, you log the food you eat and it calculates your calories for you. And when you exercise, you get to each extra cals! Mmmmm. There's also some peer pressure involved. You can find your buddies on there and see their daily calories and workout summaries! So far I have friended 4 buddies on there, and we keep track of each others' gains/losses while gently encouraging each other to keep with it.

This might all sound a little conceded, but I feel like many marriage prep regimes involve the bride and groom making their efforts to look their best on the big day. Don't get me wrong... I love John just the way he is and I know he feels the same about me. Heck, we could each gain 100 pounds and still be happily married come July. Honestly, it just feels good to push myself to be more healthy. Right now I have the wedding motivating me and hopefully this motivation will turn into a lasting habit. That way, John and I have as many years with each other as possible (as we'll be avoiding many health complications).

Anyway, to stay motivated now (and to push through the tummy grumbles and sore muscles), I need your help! Find me on loseit.com and friend me. Or let me be talk about being a health nut for a while. Congratulate me when I lose a pound. Tell me I look saucy, sassy, and bride-iful on my wedding day :) And I'll make sure to thank you for the support.

Save the Dates!

2011-02-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

The save the dates are in and about ready to be sent out! And we think they're perfect. My brother (Matt) did an amazing job designing them and getting them printed in a very timely manner. Here's a pic:

A new gown?

2011-02-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

Check out this sweet, vintage gown and veil set:

After all the mistakes they made with my gown this weekend, I'm thinking of just starting new and wearing these pieces I found. They would go perfectly with the vintage theme.

What does everyone think?

Dress Fitting & Deets

2011-02-12T22:09:00.000-08:00

To all my brides out there:

Were the dress fittings ever stressful for you?

Today I had dress fitting #2. There will be 2 or 3 more fittings until the schwedding (5 months away!) so there's certainly room to fix things up, but I wasn't majorly impressed by the way things went for fitting #2.

When I put on my dress, they couldn't zip it up past my waist (it got stuck at the chest area). Normally, I would taken this as the obvious sign that I've gained a little weight, but I know this is not the case. In fact, I know I've lost weight. I've kicked it into gear and am going to the gym 4 to 5 times a week now. As it turns out, they took in the chest area WAAAAY too much. We're talking 2 inches too much... seriously. They're going to add 2 inches back to my bust area. Thank goodness, because I was spilling over (in the front AND back) and the girls did NOT look good. They must have just forgotten that I was a busty girl, but seriously, I was kind of upset by it.

Then, on to the bustle. Apparently I have very expensive bustle taste because I prefer the look of a French bustle on my dress (I'd done some research and saw pictures of brides who've worn and bustled my dress before). But this requires a lot of work on the seamstress's part. We're talking sewing 30+ ties into the dress. And to top it off, the train is LONGGGG and heavy, so the woman working on my dress was struggling to bustle it the way I wanted (even with a picture to reference). She ended up creating a reeeeeally ugly bustle (it just looked like a big POOF) that Veronica and I both agreed was no bueno. But, she just sort of looked at us and said she wasn't going to be able to do anything better (maybe she just lacked the skills to do a complicated bustle?). This saddened me because during fitting #1 I showed them pictures of the bustle I loved and they said it would definitely be possible. Well, I wasn't sad for long because another seamstress popped in and figured out a way to bustle it that was sort of a compromise of the ugly one and the one I loved, but with no ugliness to it. I was really happy with the new bustle so we shall see how it turns out.

I guess it was just a little stressful because you're paying a bunch of money to give someone your already pricey gown, just to have them play around with it a bunch of times until it hopefully looks and fits right just right.

Here's to hoping it looks wonderful 5 months from now. I'm pretty sure it will because they listened really well to my input today after the bust issue and the ugly bustle. We shall see!

And then Veronica and I ventured out to High Fashion Fabrics to look for some beaded appliques for belts. Here's my favorite one:

Pretty :)

Aside from the dress fitting, all other wedding planning deets (details) are running smoothly. We're narrowing down the guest list so we can send the Save the Dates. They've been ordered and will hopefully be sent out in the next two weeks. They are PRECIOUS. My brother (Matt) did an amazing job designing them and we can't wait to share them with family and friends. I'll post a picture of them soon.

Also, I've been working on creating a budget that lists all expenses and totals below the amount of money we have for the wedding. I'll be honest, guest lists and budgets are definitely a bit stressful (and go hand-in-hand, btw... the more you invite, the less moolah you have for other things), but we're getting through them just fine. You've got to keep your spending under close check in order to stick to your budget... but by doing this I have a feeling we're going to be just fine and under budget by July 16th. And married. That's the important part :)

Photo Dump

2011-01-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

Our theme is vintage adventure. We were originally inspired by the movie Up! (which is where John's proposal idea came from). From there, we decided that maps and other fun adventurey things would be incorporated into the theme/decor. Somehow, vintage keys got involved (think "unlocking" the adventure) and also tea cups, tea pots, and old books. I don't know if they all go together yet, but just think old trinkets and I think they'll some how work out.

So now, I'm just going to dump a bunch of photos on you guys to give you an idea of some wedding details (stolen from other weddings) that give us inspiration for our theme and feel of the day.

It all started here, with some vintagey Up! inspirations.

How can you have Up! without the grape soda bottle caps? They sell these on etsy.com.

I love the colors here, and the adorable clutches that each girl is holding.

Beautiful green & white flowers

Close up of green & white flowers. Also, the green of the dress is one of our colors.

Another flower shot

This is a different type of bouquet, still incorporating the green & white.

I love the green bottles here. We probably won't end up using them at our wedding, but I love the colors anyway.

The candles lining the head table are so much fun. And I love the idea of turning the b-maids' bouquets into vases of flowers. They quickly become a decoration at the reception and stay hydrated at the same time! How practical!!

Not in our colors, but still... I love the look of vintage books. And think about it - novels are totally ADVENTURES! Perfect for the theme :)

Not sure what our save-the-date or invites will look like yet, but I love the map and color scheme here.

I am SO in love with this cake. I love how simple it is, yet it still has some sass & fun with the different textures. I think it would look amazing with this cake-topper...

I originally fell in love with this when I found it on etsy. Since then, Kate Niemer (co-worker and dress shopping buddy extraordinaire) has volunteered to make it for us! I think it has a trinket-y, old fashioned feel to it.

We really want skeleton keys to be a part of our big day in a big way. Just love the look of 'em.

Skeleton key escort cards on a door? Yep. Consider it done. And how vintagey, right?! We found these wooden skeleton keys on etsy.com to help make this happen...

Don't you love these save-the-dates?! They're a little out of our price range, but I figured I'd include a pic as another visual for the escort card idea.

I just love succulents. Not sure if we'll be able to incorporate much of them, but love them just the same.

My mom is getting old tea cups and tea pots to pot flowers in. They'll be used as part of the centerpieces on the tables. Again, think trinkets.

Here's another ADORABLE idea. Instead of a guestbook, have guests put their thumbprints (in our colors) on this precious tree, then sign underneath. Voila! Instant piece of artwork for future home. And if we had an older looking frame, it'd totally fit in with the theme.

Another idea is to have guests put a thumbtack in a vintage map to signify where they came from or where their "adventure" began. We could use this as the guest book, then when the wedding is over, we can hang it in our house and have guests continue to put thumb tacks in it for years to come!

Dressing the Schwedding Party

2011-01-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

So, I have my dress. It's gorg. That detail is out of the way. Now it's time to deal with the rest of the wedding crew. What's on my mind, you ask? Well, here we go.

The bridesmaids will be in an elegant, chic, and simple dress in navy blue:

Would you believe I found it on target.com? Did you even know Target (pronounced Tar-jay) made bridesmaids dresses? I was having so much trouble finding something simple, navy blue, with straps, and affordable. On a whim I checked out target.com and voila! I find this gem. The ladies all seemed happy with it, so it's been ordered and will hopefully be a hit down the aisle on July 16th! And here's a secret: you can see me wearing it in the pictures from the engagement party post. I bought the dress for myself to try it out and wore it to the engagement party. So, obviously that means it can TOTALLY be worn again... I know, I'm such a nice bride!

The girls will all hopefully be wearing these cute flowers in their hair (to mimic the white flower that'll be in mine):

I'm also thinking that a shoe with some glitter would look amazing on the girls and be so flirtatious/fun for the big day. What do you think of these?

I love the first pair because they're so sexy and shiny. And the second pair is great too... they'd be comfy AND sparkly. Stylish AND practical. I have another secret: I own the second pair of shoes and I feel like a princess every time I slip them on. They're amazing! Basically, I'm open to any glittery shoe that the ladies find... and the shine on the shoes will compliment the shine of my bling ring. Just sayin'...

You're probably wondering about the boys now. John and I have chatted and we're leaning towards gray suits. We know it's not as dressy as black tuxes, but gray suits just look more vintagey and more stylish (in my opinion) in general. So, as John and I were sitting down to enjoy our delish Panera lunch yesterday, I have this vision of the wedding party. As you already know, the ladies will be in navy blue. I'm thinking, boys in their gray suits with navy blue ties (to matchy match the ladies). I should admit now that I've always thought the groom should have something different about his wedding suit that makes him stand out from the rest of the men in the party (as the bride definitely stands out from her bridesmaids). Then it hits me... have him wear a green tie instead of the blue. This way, we're incorporating the forgotten green into the bridal party's attire for the day and it's on my favorite person :) But it doesn't just stop right there... then I think, wait a second... I'll have my shoes dyed green to match his green tie! The bride and groom will match in their own special way, just as the bridesmaids and groomsmen will match. AMAZING. Here are some pictures I found that help the inspiration:

Except that's not my shoe. I bought these beauties last week (to wear to my first fitting this weekend!!):

Now I just need to have them dyed. Let's hope they're comfy shoes, as I didn't get to try them on and they're not returnable. They'll be arriving in the mail hopefully by tomorrow.

And to tie it all together, how fun would it be for the groomsmen and my handsome groom to be wearing these saucy socks:

Ahhh! I'm so in love with all these ideas. I'm so thankful that they came to me over Panera lunch yesterday. It took me a few minutes to convince John that it was going to be a delicious combo of greens, blues, gray suits, and sparkly shoes, but I think he's on board now.

So the wedding-day attire is basically decided. Now I just have to figure out jewelry for the ladies and myself, flowers (probably just green and white), make-up, and the hundreds of other details that play into the big day. Any suggestions for jewelry, flowers, etc. are more than welcome!

Schwengagement party

2011-01-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

The week before Christmas, John and I flew to Johnson City, TN to visit John's family for the holiday. John wasn't going to be able to be home for Christmas (he was working in the ER... eek!), so his parents decided to throw us an engagement party the weekend before Christmas! This gave us the chance to meet a lot of their close coworkers and friends while we were in town only for a short while.

What made the party even better, you ask? Well, my parents flew in from RI to go to the party as well! So obvi our parents met for the first time. All you Nervous Nancys out there are probably wondering how it went - let's just say it was WONDERFUL! From what John and I could tell, the parentals had a grand ol' time getting to know each other in the great state of Tennessee.

Here are some pictures of the engagement party and weekend in TN for your viewing pleasure:

Me, John, my dad & mom at the engagement party. Open your eyes, momma!

John and I cheesing for the camera, our parents making chit-chats in the background

John's parents, his brother, and my parents... all dressed to impress!

Toasting the engaged couple

Enjoying the toast

John and his bro Eric

Kissy pic!

Visiting the Bristol Motor Speedway for my mom, the NASCAR fan

The whole gang enjoying pizza at the Mellow Mushroom

My mom and John's dad just so happen to both own windvail blue Mustangs

Enjoying our flowers from John's Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom

They found a toy version of their Mustang at a local candy shop

Now, doesn't it look like we all had a great time! We certainly did, and we are all so grateful to the Schweitzers for showing us a fab time in Tennessee. They are always wonderful hosts and blew us away with a spectacular engagement party. Couldn't have asked for more!

Bridal Hair Styles

2010-12-30T07:37:00.000-08:00

My cousin, Sarah, did a trial run on my hair last night. She only did one hair-do and I thought it was wonderful. Check it out.

There's a slight poof in the back and the bun is to the side of my head. I also love the part in the front. It's a very elegant look. The only question is - where do we put the veil if the bun is off-center? I want to wear it low on the back of my head, so maybe we just center it in the back, even if that means it's not over the bun.

I'm starting to look like a bride, don't ya think? :)

And to step up the hair-do one more notch, I want to wear a (fake) white flower in my hair. They're very popular these days and you can find a zillion of them on etsy.com at lower-than-bridal-shop prices. Here are some of my favorites:

Thank you to Sarah for being awesome and volunteering to do my hair and my bridesmaids' hair for the schwedding! We're all going to look soooo pretty.

Marriage Prep

2010-12-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

John and I started our marriage prep at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Houston, TX this past weekend. Coincidentally, John and I met at speed dating put on by the St. Vincent de Paul Foundation as a found raiser. Oh, and we got engaged 4 days before St. Vincent de Paul's feast day. Perhaps St. Vincent is the patron saint of our marriage. And making him an even more appropriate choice as our wedding's patron saint, he is considered patron saint of hospitals (where John works day-in and day-out) and volunteers (I was a part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps for 2 years, during which I met John), among many other things. We have a saint on our side. Neat!

I was thinking I should write about the whole marriage prep process, as it's a huuuuge part of the wedding preparation for both John and me. Yes, it's true that there's a lot of physical stuff to prepare for the marriage during our engagement (e.g. dress, tux, flowers, decorations, reception venue, cake, hotels, etc.), but more important than any of this is the preparation of ourselves spiritually and emotionally. We're both in this for a lifetime, so we have to make sure we're ready for that come the big day more than anything else.

On Saturday, we arrived at the St. Vincent de Paul Parish Center around noon to take the FOCCUS test - a 156-question pre-marriage inventory. After bride and groom take the test (separately), the scantron-like answer sheets are shipped off, analyzed somewhere by some computer system, and sent back to be reviewed by priest and couple. Well, we haven't gotten our results yet, but look forward to seeing them. The test has questions that cover a variety of categories including lifestyle expectations, personality match, communication, religion and values, parenting, sexuality, marriage readiness, key problem indicators, and family origin.

To take the test, you read each statement and either mark agree, disagree, or uncertain, depending on your personal feelings towards each statement. Here are some sample statements from the test (taken directly from U.S. Catholic Bishop's website):

We are in agreement about the husband and wife roles each of us expects of the other in our marriage relationship.
There are qualities about my future spouse that I do not respect.
We have discussed the ways our families solved problems and how this may affect our problem solving.
We disagree with each other over some teachings of the church.
My future spouse and I are open to having children.
I am concerned that in-laws may interfere in our marriage relationship.
My future spouse and I can talk about our sexual fears, hopes and preferences.
We are in agreement about how we will make financial decisions between us.
I sometimes feel that this may not be the right person for me to marry.
My future spouse and I agree that our marriage commitment means we intend to pledge love under all circumstances.

After answering 156 questions of that nature, you can imagine that you have quite a bit to discuss with your future-spouse. Well, John and I spent most of the rest of the day chatting about how we answered the questions, how we thought each other would have answered certain questions, and began to go over some of the topics we had never discussed before (mainly financial stuff). It was great! And that's the true purpose of the test anyway - it's not to tell you whether or not you should be getting married to this person, it's to get you talking about the big ticket marriage items before you sign up for a lifetime of marriage.

So in a few weeks, we'll be getting our results and sitting down with a priest to discuss them. When the tests are analyzed, it gives you percentages based on how well you matched in each one of the major categories. If we don't match on some of the questions (which we've probably already discussed anyway), those questions get flagged by the test analyzing system and topics of discussion are printed out with the test based on the non-matchy stuff.

Also, after the new year, we're going to be meeting with a sponsor couple. This well-established Catholic couple will be meeting with us 5 times to discuss all the topics that we briefly encountered on the FOCCUS test. They'll even meet with us a few months after the wedding to check in with us. We're looking forward to having this relationship with another Catholic couple in Houston, to see us through some of the most important months of our courtship :)

And I'll leave you with a hilarious story that involves a friend-couple of ours who went through the same marriage prep process as us before they were married. The groom of the couple, nicknamed D, encountered the statement on the FOCCUS test, "I have a problem with the amount of alcohol my future spouse consumes," and thought it would be funny to answer "agree," in that he wished she would drink more. Well, the bride, nicknamed V, did not think that this was funny. And V reeeeally didn't think it was funny when the priest who reviewed the test with them kept questioning her about her drinking problems.

Oh, how fun it is to play little tricks on your future spouse, especially when a priest is involved.

Dear readers,

2010-12-08T18:16:00.000-08:00

I've decided that I can't hold it in any longer.

I would like to show you guys the beautiful dress that I will be wearing come July 16, 2011.

It is amazing.

It makes me look sooooo good.

Like a 15 out of 10.

That's probably the highest score I've ever given myself.

So here it is.

The moment you've all been waiting for.

Drum roll please.

Hahah! Made you look!

So it technically is my gown. It's my gown in a bag!

You thought you were going to actually see the gown? Oh, so gullible, you.

I promise to post pictures of me in the gown from every angle possible after the wedding happens.

We're almost at the 7 month mark, folks. Start the countdown now :)

Dress Obsessed

2010-12-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

The dress shopping experience has been... well... an experience (to say the least).

Shopping at Priscilla of Boston

It all started back in October. I decided to get the ball rolling early on the gown shopping. I figured, why not? The idea of going into a bridal shop and trying on pretty wedding gowns was quite appealing to me (I mean, what girl wouldn't enjoy this?) so away we went. I took co-worker and Glee-friend Veronica and roommate Ann with me. First stop: Priscilla of Boston. Bad choice. Not only were the gowns all over $2000, but none of them looked great on me. Oh, and their sample gowns are all size 8. If you didn't know, wedding gowns run about 2 sizes bigger than your normal pants size, so ladies, prepare for that before you go gown shopping and don't let it upset ya. In case you're wondering, my gown size is 12. Woo-hoo double digits!

Anyway, Priscilla was a bust. So, onward we went to Houston Bridal Gallery. They had gowns in larger sizes with lower prices and prettier/more flattering styles. I actually fell in like with one of the gowns there. It was strapless with alternating patterns of lace and a cinched waist. It flattered my skinny parts (waistline) and detracted from other parts by flaring out on the hips. It was pretty but I wasn't 100% sold. Plus, the gown was a bit out of my price range, so I didn't let myself get attached. I headed out still with high hopes and then put a halt on gown shopping for a month.

I wanted to take my mom and sis gown shopping with me since they're the two most important ladies in my life, so I knew I was going to have to wait until I was home in RI to have them with me. Thus, it was quickly decided that Thanksgiving vaca would be the perfect time to shop together. We went to three different bridal shops: Sassy & Classy, Bridal Garden, and Cinderella's. With my lovely entourage (Mom, sis, sister-in-law Meg, cousin and hairdresser Sarah, and bridesmaid Kate), I modeled about 30 dresses that day. I found a beautiful one at Sassy & Classy that I thought had potential to be "the one" although I was a little nervous about the flimsiness of the dress and the sweetheart neckline (scooping strapless top = lots of cleavage).

And this is when I started to go lace-crazy. Everything I tried on from hereafter was going to have lace and look vintagey. Why? Because I like the elegance of it and it compliments our theme perfectly (vintage theme - to be discussed later).

So next, we moved on to Bridal Garden across the street. No contenders there. I tried on a bunch of lace ones but nothing was better than the one at S&C or the one back in Houston. So...

On to sushi lunch break. Delish.

Finally, we hit up Cinderella's. Wouldn't you know, they had the same lace gown that S&C had! I started to think that it was a sign. I tried on a few other dresses there, and then put the S&C lace one back on. It was beautiful and definitely vintagey. It fit my body well. It made me feel like a bride.

But then the pressure started. The flamboyantly gay bridal consultant/owner with spikey hair showed me a calculator with a price figure marked way below my budget. He was going to sell me the sample gown at half the price of the dress. Then he showed my mom which made her happy. Then the woman who was helping me into the dress kept saying, "You look amazing. You look stunning. You look beautiful." And they told me I needed to come in the next morning before my flight to try it on again to make a decision. Oh, and they also said that gown makers close up shop during the months of Dec and Jan so I basically had to purchase a gown now if I wanted any hope of having it in time for my wedding.

And then a mild freak out ensued. I was feeling overwhelmed and was tired from a full day of gown shopping. There's a lot of pressure being up on those pedestals! I asked to take the gown off and then got out of there pretty much as quickly as I could. Phew. Pressure was off. I was starting to think clearly again.

But then we got back to the house and John and I started watching a movie. Not even 2 hours after having left Cinderella's, the lady who was helping me into the dresses called me on my cell phone to ask me if I had changed my mind about the gown. Talk about pushy! Well, at that point, I took this as a sign - the opposite of the sign I had seen/felt earlier in the day.

So, the dress shopping ended, and I knew I was going to be leaving RI without a gown picked out and without my mom, sister, and amazing entourage to be there when I tried on more dresses. Thinking about this caused some tears in the airport during our layover in Atlanta. I wanted my closest relatives/friends to be there with me when I tried on/picked out/ bought "the one" but the reality hit me in that uncomfortable airport chair that there was pretty much no way that was going to happen anymore. I had to pick out my dress soon so that there was enough manufacturing time between now and the schwedding and I wasn't going to have my family/bridesmaids/friends in Houston to do it with. And to top it all off, I was feeling overwhelmed and thinking, "I'm just never going to find the right one. Maybe my body isn't meant to look perfect in a wedding gown."

Well, with some encouragement and tear-wiping from John, I picked up my chin and started calling around making appointments at bridal shops in Houston. I even did some gown shopping alone and it wasn't that bad! I went to David's B by myself (on a whim) to try on gowns this past Tuesday and though I didn't find "the one" I got some ideas.

Then, the day came. The day that an average, ho-hum, gownless girl became a stunning future bride with the perfect gown. Sounds dramatic, right? Good.

It was Thursday. Kate Niemer (stellar coworker and Houston Jesuit Volunteer) was getting out of work early along with me so we decided to spend our extra free hours gown shopping. Seriously, I was on a mission and every waking/non-working hour was going to be spent in the search for the gown. First shop on the list - Marry Go Round.

Ok, I need to take a second to sing praises to this bridal shop. It's a consignment bridal gown store meant for brides-of-the-past who are looking to sell their worn or unworn dresses and brides-of-the-future who are looking for discount gowns in perfect condition. The idea is brilliant! And you can tell it's brilliant by the number of gowns the shop has! There must have been 20+ gowns in my size and then more in the back that weren't yet sorted onto the racks!

So, I go to town picking out dresses. They had so many lace ones! And I even picked out some that didn't have lace but I still liked. Well, about 7 or so "not the one" dresses in, one of the store workers pulls out a dress that she wants me to try on. She said that it had just been brought into the shop at noon that day by a bride who hadn't worn it at all. The bride's wedding venue had changed so her designer dress wasn't the right style or fit for the feel of the evening anymore.

Well, it fit me like a glove. I can't say much except that it's not lace. It's better than lace. It's just pure amazing all in one gown. And how did I know for sure that it was the one? It was a collection of the following things:

I gave it a grade of an A, instantly.
I didn't want to take it off.
I didn't want to try any others on, even though I still had more in the dressing room and was originally planning on going to another shop that was having a sample sale.
I wanted to buy it immediately so that another bride-to-be didn't have the chance to come in and buy it.
I wanted to keep trying different accessories on with it.
My mom and dad both loved the picture Kate sent to them.
Kate was excited for me.
I was happy.

So it was a long process (and you just got all the details... because I knew you were crazy curious), but it was all worth it in the end. Oh, and I'm under budget by about $200. Sweet!

And, I've decided that the gown is going to be top secret til the schweddin' day (save my bridesmaids and mother, of course). Now, if you know me well, you know that this is basically an impossible feat for me but in the past 24 hours, I've kept it on lock down, so we'll see how I do keeping this secret for the next 7.5 months.

As we left Marry Go Round (with gown in hand!!!), Kate and I posed for this very special picture. And no, none of the gowns featured here are "the one."

A special thanks to Ms. Kate for being such an integral part of my big decision! She was so encouraging and made the shopping experience tons of fun. You can read the story through here eyes/ears/brain at her loverly little blog: http://niemerjvc.blogspot.com/

Oh, and if you'd like to see pictures of all the gowns I tried on that weren't the one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stepherrara/sets/72157625016954743/

I said yes to the dress and I'm 100% elated!

Rhody Love

2010-12-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving week was spent in Rhode Island with the fiance and my lovely family. We had so much fun doing a bunch of wedding related stuff, and it started immediately upon landing! We called a (free) Radisson shuttle from the airport and were taken directly to the hotel within 20 minutes of being in RI. It was great! The Radisson is actually right across the street from TF Green Airport so it will be suuuper convenient for our guests flying in from outta town.

We arrived at the Radisson and Linda (the wedding coordinator) welcomed us almost instantly. She showed us the cocktail room where guests will get delicious beverages and snack foods during a reception hour (... btw, we're renaming it "happy hour"). Then we saw the ballroom. It's perfect! It'll be a great space for one heckuva party. We then saw the courtyard which Linda said will probably have decorated trees - with strands of lights. I love this! It'll give such a magical feel to the courtyard.

After the tour, we sat down and chatted with Linda for a while about vendors, decoration ideas, and just life in general. She seems like a great chicka who's going to be a lot of help during this whole process.

My parents and sis (with Lindsey) joined us around 4:30pm at the Radisson for a sample tasting of our dinner choices for the wedding. It was so great to see my mom, my dad, my sis, and my niece after having been away from RI since June. And we all got to enjoy an amazing meal together. We tried so many delicious foods! Pesto pasta, tossed salads, steak, chicken, potatoes, veggies, and tons of desserts. By the end of the meal, were stuffed, but we pretty much knew exactly what we were going to pick for our 4-course wedding menu upon putting down the utensils. All I can say is, it's a meal to look forward to. Especially the dessert. Especially if you're a chocoholic.

The next morning, John and I headed to Christ the King Parish to meet with Fr. Matt for our pre-nuptual inventory. We attended noon mass first, then shared delicious greek food from International Pockets during our meeting/chat. Though he probably won't be saying our wedding mass, it was great to meet with Fr. Matt to get this first Catholic detail checked off our wedding prep list. Fr. Matt is such an awesome guy, so of course we had a great time. And John and I were smiling ear-to-ear as we answered the pre-nuptial questions. We're just so excited about marrying each other! And Fr. Matt totally picked up on the happiness.

Since the parish is basically on the URI campus, we picked up Jeff (little bro) and brought him back to the house with us for his Thanksgiving break... but not without stopping for some bubble tea first. Mmmm so yummy! We then headed home and had a wonderful night with my sis (Lauren) and her boyf (Dave) at The Remmington House for dinner and The Crowe Bar for drinks. And I got to see one of my bridesmaids at The Crowe Bar! Justine was there with her hubby, so we had a grand ol' time catching up and chatting about the schwedd. I hadn't seen her since her wedding over 2 years ago (since she lives in Maine), so it was so loverly to spend some QT with her.

The next day was Thanksgiving, which we spent with aunts and uncles on Mom's side of the fam. We spent time bonding with the relatives and John fit in perfectly. The evening was spent chatting, football watching, fooding, and playing hilarious games (e.g. Toss the Cookies).

The last day of our short vaca in RI was spent wedding dress shopping with Mom, Lauren, sister-in-law Meg, cousin and hairdresser Sarah, and bridesmaid Kate. I must have tried on 30 gowns. I'll give a more detailed gown-shopping account in my next post as it'll be all about the whoooole gown search.

After the unsuccessful gown shopping trip, my mom hosted a party at the house for all relatives and close family friends to meet John. No joke: John was the belle of the ball! He worked the crowd like you wouldn't believe. He was only by my side about 25% of the night. The rest of the time he spent getting to know my aunts and uncles and high school/college friends by chatting them up. He thought they were all quality people, and I think they felt the same? Can't wait for him to meet my dad's side of the fam!

Well, Rhody, I miss you already. Hopefully the next trip home (Christmas) will be just as fun! And hopefully there will be more wedding planning to do. I'm really liking this stuff!

Marry me, Stephanie!

2010-11-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

I realized today that I hadn't shared the proposal story yet. Well, for those curious, here is a detailed account of the proposal told in the 3rd person, as it will appear on our wedding website (which has not yet been revealed!):

It was just a regular Thursday night at the end of a long September. Stephanie was returning home from a spiritual women's group meeting, and John was relaxing in his apartment, playing video games, waiting for her return. After the meeting, Stephanie's roommate (Ann) encouraged her to go spend time at John's apartment. She considered just going back to her apartment with Ann, but Ann gently nudged Stephanie towards John's front door.

Upon entering, Stephanie found John playing video games at his computer - nothing out of the ordinary. However, when he noticed she had arrived, he jumped up from his chair very quickly and quit the video games instantly - really out of the ordinary. He asked Stephanie if she wanted to go out for dessert. You see, it was technically John's night off, since he didn't have to work the next day, so he wanted to go out and have some fun. Unfortunately, Stephanie declined, explaining that she still had lesson plans to write and needed to be up very early the next morning for school. So she began working.

Not even a minute later, John excitedly exclaimed that he had been working on a surprise for Stephanie while she was away at her meeting. He went into the other room and came back with a wrapped present that had the shape of a large photo album. Stephanie asked, "Is this a photo album?" and John answered, "How'd you know? Just open it..." So she opened the present and found exactly what she had expected: a photo album. The cover of the album read "Our Adventures," much like the album from the movie "Up."

As they turned through the pages together, Stephanie found pictures from their whole relationship. John had printed out his favorite photographs of the two of them and labeled them each with cute, little captions. Thoughts began to cross Stephanie's mind: "Is he proposing tonight? No, he can't possibly be proposing. I know he doesn't have a ring. Stop thinking he's going to propose! There's no way." But, MUCH to her surprise, as she turned to the last page, she found a picture of John, down on one knee with the ring in hand, and another picture of the words, "Will You Marry Me, Stephi?" in John's handwriting. He was proposing!

Stephanie didn't know what to do with herself. She couldn't believe John had actually tricked her! He ran into the other room, grabbed the box with the ring, came back and dropped to one knee, asking her to marry him. She said "Of course!" and put he put the beautiful ring on her dainty, little finger. She also could not stop saying, "You tricked me! You tricked me! You're a tricker! I can't believe you tricked me!"

After the initial excitement of it all, they spent the rest of the night smiling with one another, sharing a glass of sangria, and enjoying some celebratory cake bought by Stephanie's roommate Ann. The lesson plans could wait another day...

Fun with (scanner) guns

2010-11-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

Things are progressing.

The reception hall has been booked and we've already set up a sample appetizer/dinner/cake tasting for our visit home to RI for Thanksgiving. Delicious food is definitely something to be thankful for :)

Save the dates will hopefully go out in December and John's parents are thinking of throwing us an engagement party the week before Christmas in John's hometown (Johnson City, TN) for family/friends who won't be able to make it to the wedding. Both of these require that we have our registries set up, so that's what we've been working on all weekend.

We decided on 3 places to register, as each offers some fun things to choose from for us and our guests: Macy*s, Crate&Barrel, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

I don't think we were expecting to be getting it all done so soon, but seeing as the engagement party was just brought up, we felt the need to start a gift list. You could say the registry experience has been a whirl-wind these past two days. It's been super fun, but also intense at times. I mean... we're picking out the furnishings/do-dads of our future abode! And it can be really overwhelming, especially when you're at three different shops with all these different options and haven't really sat to ponder, "what color scheme would be good for the master bedroom?" yet. I don't think we realized what kind of undertaking it really was until we got to the stores and began to pick things out.

Well, two days and about 10 hours of pseudo-shopping later, we've put together some pretty solid registries. What's great is we can still go into the registries online and add, delete, or update anything we want, so nothing is extremely permanent. Also, even if something we decide we don't really like a few months from now ends up being purchased, we can always return it for store credit. These thoughts make the process a little less daunting (as the permanence of it is gone)!

Also, the scanner guns make it less stressful and even more enjoyable. We are masters of the barcode. Check it out...

Note John's flip-flops with his dress clothes. Registry shopping requires comfortable attire.

Stun guns aside, we've discovered another fun thing about registries. Heading back from Crate&Barrel this afternoon, both John and I agreed that we felt as though we had just gone on a major shopping spree, yet felt even better about it because we hadn't spent any money. Seriously, what a great way to fill a desire to shop-til-you-drop-and-empty-your-wallet without actually emptying your wallet. Sign up for a wedding or baby registry at your favorite shop (we won't judge), go scan your favorite items 'til your heart's content, then leave without spending a dime. Although you won't have any bags in hand on your way out the store, you'll still feel like you've shopped out all your energies and you won't feel any remorse about cleaning out your bank account. Ahhh, the joys of registries.

Reception Hall: 92.4% Definite

2010-11-02T20:58:00.000-07:00

The location of our reception has been the big question mark as of late. As I mentioned before, my darling mother (with my dashing father) has been going on meetings and talking with wedding-reception coordinators since the engagement like it's her job. John and I are so grateful to the both of them doing this for us. We wouldn't be 92.4% sure about the reception venue if it weren't for them. So, before I announce exactly where the wedding partay will probably be taking place, let me explain a bit (... quite a bit) of the process that has been going on.

Since the start, John and I said we wanted our reception venue to be something unique. I won't lie, I was somewhat inspired by a coworker who is having his wedding reception on the top floor of a beautiful library in Chicago, IL. So, the interwebz searching began. I also got some ideas from some family members (my bro Matt and cuz Sarah). Pretty quickly my heart (and some of John's too) became set on this:

Cheesy? ... yes. Hilarious? ... duh. Extraordinarily epic? ... well, obviously! The Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT hosts weddings on weekends right inside the actual aquarium. So while our guests were dining on their foods and sipping their cocktailz, they'd be able to go up to fish tanks and interact with the sea creatures.

Needless to say, we were instantly sold. I mean... this is screaming unique. Can you think of a wedding that you've attended that is more out of the blue than this? (pun intended)

But, then we hit a wall. My momma was not happy. My dad wasn't thrilled either. And in addition, my Memere just thought it was weird. They made some good points, too. It would be far from the church and not to mention, just the food at the reception alone would have eaten up our entire wedding budget. (pun intended again)

Another pic of the Mystic Aquarium

So, we put the aquarium on the back burner and started looking into some other venues. Next up, I fell for the beautiful, elegant, classic Federal Reserve in Providence, RI. It used to be a bank and was converted into a reception hall many years ago. The inside is gorgeous. The bank teller counter has been replaced by a drinky drink bar, the ceilings are high and ornate, there's a balcony inside that overlooks the whole reception hall, the floors are marble, and the place just screamed unique. To be honest, I started the whole reception search thinking we'd have the reception in one of the mansions in RI, but that was quickly squashed by the big dollar $igns associated with each. Therefore, I think what really drew me to this place was it's resemblance of the inside of the mansions we couldn't afford. Check out these pictures:

The pictures are definitely a little outdated, but they give you an idea of the inside of the hall. So, I tell my mom that I'm interested and she sets up a meeting with the owners. It turns out that it's actually under new ownership. It's called the Dorrance now and it doesn't officially open for business until December. One of the new owners worked for this place for 10 years organizing wedding receptions while it was still the Federal Reserve. The other woman was her brand new partner... meaning they hadn't run a single function together. My parents ended up getting a really bad vibe from them (i.e. when asked about pricing for the food, they were given a random price quote and were told that a nice guy down the street is the caterer... strange much?). Unfortunately, my (second) dream hall was no longer a reality.

Two other ideas that came up were two barns in different parts of the state, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI (pictured on the right), but neither idea went very far (they both required furniture rental and caterer hiring). We emailed a few Country Clubs in RI, but each of them was booked (I mean, our wedding is only 8.5 months away now). There was also the Ocean Cliff in Newport, RI. My parents actually met with the wedding coordinator there and quickly realized that it was going to be WAY out of our price range. The landscape there is beautiful (right on the ocean with the Newport Bridge in the background) and the food sounded delicious, but to have an afternoon reception there (which is cheaper than an evening reception), it was going to cost thousands of dollar$ over our budget... and that didn't even include the alcohol! Lame.

Ocean Cliff en la noche

Now you're probably wondering... how did you go from alllll of these ideas to being 92.4% sure about a reception hall? Well, in pops the Radisson Hotel. My mom had suggested the Radisson as a reception site pretty early in the search. I put it in the back of my mind and spent most of my efforts coming up with the list of duds you just painstakingly read about. Well, once it looked like all those places were out of the picture (and I got a random email from the coordinator at the Radisson checking in on us), we decided to further investigate. We quickly discovered that we would be getting a LOT of bang for our buck$ if we decided to have the reception there. Check out everything they offer in their wedding reception package:

Cocktail hour before the reception
Four course meal for each guest (made by chefs at Johnson & Wales University... the same folks who catered my parents' wedding)
Wedding cake
Linens/tablecloths/etc.
Ice sculpture (yes, you read that correctly)
Champagne/wine toast
Mirrors and votive candles to highlight our centerpieces
Discounted hotel rooms/suites for our guests
Use of the hall from 5:30pm - 12 midnight
Shuttle to and from airport for our guests
Room for Bride & Groom at the end of the night

AND we would be under-budget by thousands of dollars. The frugal part of me just cries out with joy when I think of how awesome this deal is. AND to top it all off, having the reception at a hotel makes it suuuper convenient for our out-of-town guests (of which we'll have many... since John and I are just sooo friendly).

Basically, John and I just can't say no. We talked about it and decided that (after all that research on reception venues) the reception hall isn't the most important part of our big day after all... it's about having all our awesome family and friends in the same place, and showing them a great time. We decided that (especially with all those extras included) the Radisson would help us affordably do just that!

And the only reason that it's 92.4% definite (as opposed to 110%) is that my mom hasn't called to book it yet. We're expecting this teeny, little detail will be taken care of tomorrow :)

The Ballrom at the Radisson

Radisson Courtyard

So, it is unique? ... not really. Is it fancy and mansion-like? ... nah. Is it going to stick out in the memories of our guests as the most amazing reception hall they've ever been to? ...nope. But, will it still be epic? ... you betcha! You can't have a Schwedding without epic-ness of some sort!

Oh, and all the money we'll be saving will help us pay for the grand honeymoon we've recently started talking about. If anyone has suggestions for a beautiful island getaway (we're talking crystal-clear waters, white sand, perfect temperatures, and fun adventures), we're all ears.

The Schwedding Party

2010-10-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

We've chosen a wedding party! We will have 5 ladies and 5 guys to help us celebrate our big day. I've written up a little background info on each of the bridesmaids and a reeeeally little intro to each of our groomsmen. If you notice, we actually have two Best Men. I like to joke and say that we have a Best Man (Eric Schweitzer) and a Great Man (Mike Corte), but both are technically Co-Best Men. John just couldn't choose between the two (and I can't blame him... they're both awesome). So, without further adieu...

Lauren Ferrara Maid of Honor

Lauren and I have known each other since the day she was born. Though we didn't always have the most loving of relationships in our younger years (i.e. bottle-stealing, gum-stealing, shouting matches, etc.), we have grown to share a beautiful bond that only sisters (15 months apart) could share. I couldn't have asked for a better sister or better person to share my big day with. Even though she probably doesn't realize it, she has taught me patience, unconditional love, and compassion. She currently lives in Coventry, RI and is a wonderful mother to my favorite little niece, Lindsey Marie.

Kathleen Schweitzer Bridesmaid

Kathleen is probably John's favorite sister and will definitely be one rockin' bridesmaid on the day of our wedding. She has been so friendly and fun since the day we first met (for stir-fry at Crazy Bowls) and has recently become someone I go to often to share wedding planning details. She currently lives in St. Louis and is studying at St. Louis University as an undergrad in communication sciences and disorders. Can't wait to call her sister!

Kate Arsenault Bridesmaid

Kate and I met at a training in 2006 for our summer jobs at Camp Westwood YMCA. We were both camp counselors to kiddos (ages 7-10) and instantly bonded over the craziness of our job. Although I only worked at Westwood for one summer, our relationship continued to strengthen after the job ended. We would hang out in coffee shops, go on shopping sprees, drive around RI, and talk about life, love, and all the in betweens. Although we live over a thousand miles apart, we still share a strong bond, especially in our chosen professions: she's an English teacher in RI while I'm a math teacher in TX. Kate's been a loyal friend since day one and I know I'll be able to rely on her during all this wedding planning stuff!

Emily Gagne Bridesmaid

Emily and I met at URI back in 2005. I was in a sorority, Phi Sigma Sigma, and she was thinking of pledging. The first time we really bonded was at an ugly sweater party (see picture) and were basically inseparable after that. We would spend hours with each other, listening to the Wicked soundtrack, sewing quilts, and just being silly. After Emily's sophomore year, she decided to move back to Maine to enter nursing school, but we continued to stay close. I was honored to be bridesmaid in her wedding about a year a go and now she'll return the favor by being a beautiful bridesmaid at our wedding in July!

Justine Capraro Bridesmaid

Justine and I go waaay back, to the 7th grade in fact. I remember the day we met so clearly: I walked into English class and the only seats left were at an empty group in the back of the room. Justine left her group to join me in the back and we've been friends ever since. Back in our younger years, we spent endless hours on the phone and hanging out. We would watch movies together, talk about any- and everything, and even take trips to CT (or maybe just one, scary, sleepless trip). As we grew older, our busy schedules took us separate ways, but we continued to stay in touch (through snail-mail, phone calls, facebook, etc), and over two years ago, I was asked to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. It was so wonderful to be a part of her special day and I can't wait to have her be a part of ours!

Eric Schweitzer Best Man

Eric is John's little brother. John loves his little brother like, well, a brother. They enjoy video gaming together, mainly of the zombie-killing variety. Eric also looks really good in orange (... and John told me to say that).

Mike Corte Best Man

John and Mike have known each other since freshman year of undergrad at St. Louis University. They've been besties ever since. As far as I can tell, John looks up to Mike as much as Mike looks up to John. It's really a beautiful thing. Whenever John speaks of Mike Corte, he always speaks in hyperbole (i.e. "Mike Corte once killed a grizzly bear in an arm-wrestling match") and ends with, "Mike Corte, Great Man."

Reuss Anderson Groomsman

Reuss and John also go way back. They've known each other since freshmen year as well. They met in the halls of Marguerite Hall on the SLU campus, becoming good friends instantly. Reuss was studying aviation science, and John, computer science. Recently, John took a trip to Florida to hang out with Reuss for a International Fall Festival at Epcot in Disney. Rental of a bright yellow Corvette and drinks around the "world" ensued.

Jay Sherfy Groomsman

Jay Sherfy is also a Great Man, according to John and others. John met Jay in Marguerite Hall as well. You could say he was a pseudo-floormate. They've known and enjoyed each other's presence for many years now. This is a picture of them after almost being mauled by a bear. Luckily, they blubbered like little girls and the bear had mercy on them.

John Derus Groomsman

John and John were neighbors during John's senior year and quickly became good friends. John D. once threw a bag of trash onto John S.'s balcony and it smelled bad. John S. retaliated by doing the same. John S. doesn't actually know why it happened, but it was funny at the time. Their friendship was sealed in an "animated discussion" on the relative merits of Van Halen during different time periods. Also, this picture has no relevance to their relationship, but it's nice... no?

Wedding blogs are fun!

2010-10-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

Hello world wide web!

This is my attempt at becoming a wedding blogger: blogging all the joyful details of the highly anticipated Schweitzer wedding (AKA Schwedding) planning :)

I would be lying if I said I hadn't read other bride-to-be's blogs and wished I could be on their end of the blogging page. The whole wedding planning process just seems like so much fun (and stress too, btw), so why would I miss out on the opportunity to make it even more lively and interesting? Hence, the blog, for your enjoyment and mine!

Although John and I have only been engaged for 2.5 weeks now, we already have a bunch of details nailed down. Thanks to an amazing family and circle of friends, we're going to be able to cut some corners and alieviate stress by utilizing the following:

Flowers will be done by my mother's friend, Nikki (a legit florist), who also did the flowers at my older brother's wedding (Matt). She will only charge us for the cost of the flowers.
Speaking of my older brother, not only has he offered to make our invitations (he does graphic art) and only charge us for the cost of the materials, he's also going to be our wedding photographer... for free! Check out his amazing work at Matt Ferrara Photography.
Oh, and he has a cool friend (Chris) who is probably going to be our DJ. Matt has all the music equipment, since he was in a band for many years, and his friend will DJ from an iPod. Perfectly inexpensive!
Engagement photos have already been taken! We had an awesome time with photographer Brandice Pierre (a coworker of mine), who offered to take the pictures for free! She is just getting into couples photography, and wanted to practice on us. Perhaps it's because we're just so darn cute together? Check out our photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2283006&id=14300639&l=b2632f8dc5
We've chosen a church! The wedding will be at Christ the King Parish in Kingston, RI, the church on the URI campus. I loved going to mass there during my college years, and it's the place where I really grew in my faith... so naturally, it's the best choice for our wedding mass. What's even more awesome about the church is that they don't charge to have weddings there! They only ask for a donation. Compare that so some churches in Newport that charge over $5,000 just to get married there and I say we got quite the deal!

John and I have also decided on our wedding colors. It had actually been on my mind quite a bit over the past few weeks. I knew that green needed to be a part of our big day (umm... hello! It's not my favorite color, it's my OBSESSION), but I didn't know what to put it with. I also knew that I didn't want to put my bridesmaids in too bright of a color, so any color we chose to go with green was probably going to be worn by the bridesmaids. Anywho, after debating between green/pink, light green/light blue, brown/green, green/coral, green/black, and so many other choices, we decided on the classy, yet fun combo of navy blue and apple green (with hints of teal/turquoise). Check it out... this neat lady over at theperfectpalette.blogspot.com puts together color palettes for to-be brides. I found one that looks a lot like what we're envisioning.

Living 1,794 miles away (yes, I just google mapped that) from the state that we're getting married in is certainly going to pose some challenges, but luckily my momma has accepted the title of Schwedding planner. The big up-in-the-air detail is the reception venue. I currently have my extremely helpful mother running around the state of RI, visiting each of the reception sites John and I are interested in. We're definitely going to have to figure out this detail soon, as the Schwedding is officially less than 9 months away! More to come...