The Nearlyweds

New Blog

2009-09-22T16:44:00.001-04:00

To find out more about the wedding and our new life together go here:

mrandmrslyons.com

Sneak peek!

2009-09-03T21:36:00.002-04:00

15 days to go!

The countdown

2009-08-30T20:53:00.001-04:00

20 Days until we get married.

18 Days until my bachelorette pary!!

16 Days until my best friend and maid of honor lands on the east coast.

and the most relaxing countdown of them all...

27 Days until our cruise!

Way too busy.

2009-08-25T16:44:00.003-04:00

It is down to the wire. Only about 25 more days until the wedding and I have been so busy. Recently I have finished my pomanders, table names, and made my hair comb.

What I am really looking forward to now is the bach. party with my moh back from Oregon, and the cruise!!!

Hello old friend

2009-08-15T22:28:00.006-04:00

Well I havent posted an update in a while. Life is just busy. Way too busy. This past weekend however I had a second hair/makeup trial and it went great! Much, much better than the first one. I guess we will be driving to Worcester the morning of the wedding, which makes me a bit nervous.

I also made some wedding signs today. I screwed up completely on the games one, but oh well.

My stepdad was nice to make us the groomsmen gifts, which are wooden six packs. He had a few started when I went to visit this weekend.

We will be putting in each gms favorite beer (soda for the youngin's).

Engagement Pictures!

2009-07-22T10:03:00.013-04:00

A few weeks ago at the end of June, Andy and I met up with Nikki our photographer to take some engagement pictures. It was a nice hot day even though we had been getting a ton of rain.
Well she put some pictures up on her blog and here they are! It was a great thing to wake up and see this morning.

I actually had to buy this book during school for O.chem. That class and book were terrible.

We went and visited Bethel, the dorm where we met and lucky for us it was open! So we snuck in (although i was freaking out we would get yelled at the whole time) and took some pictures.

It was so hot that day, and being under the bleachers was such a nice relief.

My absolute FAVORITE picture.

At our new blue football field, that they got back after we graduated. Andy and I will have to make it to an alumni game next year.

In other news, I had my dress fitting yesterday. We have to take it in about 2 inches on each side! I am so glad all my hard work is paying off.

Wedding funk

2009-07-18T16:14:00.004-04:00

I've been in a planning funk lately. I don't really have the motivation to plan anymore, or make anything else. I'd rather the wedding be over with so I wasn't so stressed anymore. But with the help of my best friend and moh Amanda, I designed our seating cards.

Can't wait to put it all together the day of.

Invitations

2009-07-06T17:07:00.005-04:00

It has been a few days since we went out the invites so I'm sure almost everyone has recieved theirs (except for a few people who had their addresses mixed up, grrr). I was visiting my new jersey family this past weekend and got rave reviews about them. It feels so good to hear that since I spent most of this year working on the design and the buying all the supplies to make them exactly how I wanted. Of course they aren't exactly how I wanted them. I could really use a new printer to make everything sharper and some pieces not crooked, but oh well.

So without further ado:
The front:

Opened:

Closer look at the inserts:

I love them. And for less than half the price of the inspiration i found, they are perfect.
Now on to all the other diy projects i have planned.

Invitations are out!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-01T10:45:00.001-04:00

Andy and I mailed our invitations out yesterday! The post office man kept saying how it was a lot of people in our little box. I will post pictures of the finished product as soon as I start getting some rsvps in the mail. I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

I can't wait to see those little green envelopes in our mailbox.

In other news....80 days left. Yep. 80. My to-do list is so long.

I still miss her.

2009-06-26T21:01:00.002-04:00

Invitations

2009-06-18T14:34:00.003-04:00

They are all done! Yes. Done. All of them. I am so excited about this. Whatever small living space we have, has been cleared of all things invites.
They will be hitting the mail sometime in the next two weeks.

I also finished my reserved seating signs. I just need a bit more ribbon and I will post some pictures of those.

I love these!

2009-06-15T18:59:00.003-04:00

How cute are these?! I came upon these centerpieces on once wed and would kill to have these. Andy and I are debating on using this or going for our original idea which would be easier to make.

But still, these are calling my name.

Crazy

2009-06-11T21:22:00.000-04:00

The invitations are driving me crazy.
All I have left to do is print the envelopes and rehearsal inserts.
I can't wait to be done.

One ring down

2009-06-10T16:11:00.003-04:00

Andys wedding ring came in the mail today. Two days after I ordered it!! I can't believe how fast superiorweddingrings.com got it out to me. I love it. Andy does too. We were worried about the size I ordered but it fits great.
It is a titanium band, 6mm cut pipe fitting. I found this style ring from a customer at work. I liked the way it looked and he let me hold it and told me how much he liked how light the titanium is.
Now we just have to get mine.

The Photobooth

2009-06-08T08:17:00.003-04:00

Even though this has become increasingly popular in the past year or more, I have played with the idea of having a photobooth since Andy and I started thinking marriage. I want a guestbook that is more than just people signing their names on two pages in a book that has about 10 pages. We definately won't have that many people at our wedding. So, instead I am planning on making a guestbook where people can draw, or write notes for us or if they want too, just sign their names. There will be spaces for pictures to go in after, of them at the wedding. Hopefully most of them would be from the photobooth.
I've talked to my photographer a bit about it, and it won't be an actual booth. I want to set up a space for the pictures to be taken. And what better place i think than the side of the barn! I can't wait. I really hope people use it and love it as much as we do. Now, I just need to find someone who will stand by and take the pictures.

Tissue Paper poms

2009-05-27T17:47:00.007-04:00

If you are thinking about making these, be prepared for all the work. They take a long time to make, buuuut they look so good when they are finished.

I started off with all my supplies: 5' balls, tissue paper, wire, ribbon, glue gun and glue, and scissors.
Start by aligning all the sheets of paper so they are all even. Then cut the pieces into 5inch x 10inch pieces.

Then fold 4 sheets like you would for a fan, and fasten with a wire twisted around the middle. I found that if you cut the edges so they are round, the flowers look much better than when you leave the edges squared.

Slowly, start pulling up each layer, fluffing up the flower shape. When all are up try to tighten the pieces together. The more you put on a ball, the better they look.

Andy became an expert on this part, and has been helping me make the rest. Time goes by much faster when two people are working on them.
Add some ribbon in your desired length and ta-da! You're done.

Here are two of the finished ones. We still have about 4 to make.

Bridal Shower

2009-05-19T20:53:00.014-04:00

So my bridal shower was this past saturday, and it was awesome! My MOH Amanda and my mom took off with what I have always pictured and did an awesome job. Thankfully the rain held off mostly until the end, but it was pretty cold all day.

The party was pink and girly with a bit of a cowboy theme thrown in. They added some ribbon for a veil on this hat.

These hats were lined up on our deck, and my bms kept joking around during the meal that strippers were coming and these were for them. They said my mom was freaking out cause Andy and his dad were around. They had driven us up from NY and stayed to help cook food before heading to a bar. My bms had me going a teensy bit.

We played a few games. Of course there was the wedding dress made of toilet paper, and then I was asked a few questions about Andy while opening presents. If I got one wrong I had to chew gum. Andy answered a few wrong purposely so I would have to chew. It wasn't very nice.

This is the key to having a good time with the games at showers.

The some of my step-dads family:

Some of Andys family:

My dads side:

My mom, myself, Tracey and Donna:

My awesome bms: We are going to have such an awesome time at the bach. party!

My MOHBFFFF Amanda. The best moh ill ever have. She came up a day early to help my mom shop, and put everything together.

RIP Chloe

2009-04-19T18:43:00.007-04:00

(When we first got her. Looks like a totally different dog)

After 11 years of being the best dog I will ever have, Chloe passed away on friday night. I begged Mark and MOm for years to get her. I worked every angle. Asking everywhere we went. It took a long time to convince mark to say yes. And I still remember that day, at the little league feild when he finally said yes. I was shocked. After all that, we ended up picking her up at the pound and bringing her home to a unsuspecting mom. Thankfully she fell in love with her too.

Apparently starting on tuesday she stopped eating and was getting really tired. My parents brought her to the vet who told us she has diabetes, really low blood cell counts, an infection, and something in her stomach. She had surgery to remove a tumor before, so it was probably another one. They wanted to put her down that day, but my mom knew i would be coming home saturday and told them no so that I could be there.
Unfortunately no one knew how sick she really was. She ended up passing away friday night sometime between 930 and 11. I hate that I didn't go home friday instead. I wish i could be there with her so bad. I hate that she died alone, in the dining room instead of at the vets with us all there for her. I hate most of all that I didn't get to have one last day with her. She just didn't deserve to die alone.
At the beginning of April I went home for a dentist appt and was going to leave after it was over. As I was walking out the door i looked over at her and just had this feeling that I needed to stay longer. That this could be the last time I saw her. So I did. I stayed, and gave her more treats. She was always loving her treats. That is probably how she got the diabetes and all her weight! So I stayed and pet her and took some pictures and just had a feeling. Well I ended up being right. I'm glad I decided to go back and she her again. I'm hoping that her last memory of me is the treats.
It was so weird going home on saturday morning and not having her at the door. I could always count on her being the first person to greet me whenever I came home. Wagging tail and everything. Automatically rolling on her belly for a rub. Instead I went to say by one last time, and get her tag. It really sucks losing both your childhood pets in one year. And it sucks even more that you weren't there for either of them on their last day.
Some of my favorite memories of her are:
- having her follow me every morning when i got up to get ready for school. Always coming out from under my bed, except that day she had puppies in the middle of the night!
-The first day we brought her home and all her fur. It was flying everywhere in the car. I was sure that Mark would see it all and turn around to give her back. Luckily he didn't.
-She never ever barked! It was so rare for her to bark at all. Of course there were some times where she would bark outside and not stop but they were very far between.
-Having to bring her home one morning after she followed me to the bus stop before school. She was always, always getting out and going for a fun run around the lake. I think that was one of her favorite things. Second only to treats.
She was just always always there with me. Wherever I sat, she sat next to me. Putting up her head to be pet, or talking to me like she always did. There are so many memories of her, and I just cant name them all.

I hate that shes gone. It's not fair and it is going to take me a long time to get past it if I ever do. I am not good with death at all. I miss her a lot. Going home is never going to be the same. She should be there.

(After a bath. Starting her weight gain...)

(She loved my cousins! and they loved playing with her)

(Too early even for her to get a treat. I made her play with me before Andy and I left for california in 07)

And here is chloe in her younger days with her bff Kasey (sarahs dog who sadly passed away as well) They were such good dogs together.
I love her, and miss her. And hate myself for not being there.

Inspiration Post

2009-04-15T20:36:00.006-04:00

I have a million and one ideas in my head on what to do at our wedding. So many other brides have come up with amazing things, but they are all just too much for one wedding. So I decided to have a post dedicated to all my inspiration photos. Well, not all but most.

New Job!

2009-04-03T10:41:00.003-04:00

I have a new job! Finally, after living in Ny since last July. It isn't really wedding related but it will definately help with the costs of the wedding and the wedding party gifts. I ended up getting hired at a good time because I get paid for today and yesterday next friday. Now I don't have to wait a million weeks for the first paycheck. Now I just have to change my residency and license over to Ny. I am not looking forward to that.

It's decided

2009-03-27T14:24:00.002-04:00

We are keeping our ceremony on the farm! We decided it is just easier for us to get married on the farm. It will be easier for our guests as well since the ceremony and reception are in the same location. The farm really is beautiful so it will end up being reallly nice.
I've been redesigning the invites lately and I love the way that they came out. I wasn't completely happy with the initial design after looking at them for a while. The new invite is much cleaner and simpler. When I get back onto my own computer I will upload a picture of the old design. Not the new one, since that is a surprise.

Church or not?

2009-03-25T14:39:00.002-04:00

So we are upon a big decision about the wedding. Should we get married in a church or not. Most Holy trinity is right down the road from the reception site and it is where I was confirmed and had my first communion. The church has been renovated completely on the outside and looks great. It is a nice green color and has new landscaping. But, then the ceremony site at the farm is just as beautiful. The view is awesome and open to the environment.

Pros for the church:
-$100 cheaper than the farm
-I've thought about being married there for a while
-If it rains we are still inside

Cons:
-Pre-cana classes starting in april
-Don't know if we would be able to have the music during the ceremony like at the farm
-Times they allow the ceremony to take place. They are really early.

Pros for farm:
-Awesome view.
-Outside.
-Dj is able to set up music so our asile songs are what we want
-No travel for our guests

Cons:
-$100 more expensive than church
-Could rain!

I have to chose soon, since the classes start on the 17th! Any opinions?

6 months to go!

2009-03-19T08:48:00.005-04:00

Officially at the six month mark. I haven't really been doing a lot of planning lately since all the little things can wait and most of the big items are done. I am in between right now. Next month we will be working on putting the invites together before Amanda leaves for Oregon.
Last month we sent out the save the dates which gave me insight into how our invites are going to go. It's stressful making sure you dont forget anyone. I put our wedding website on the card but I don't think a lot of people are using it. Maybe when it gets closer and people need directions they will.
Here is the back of the save the date:

And here is the front:

We put a scratch off sticker on the back over our names and information. I thought it would add a fun touch to them since they dont have to be so formal. Andy helped to put them together which was great cause they took a while.

Updates...

2009-02-24T20:30:00.004-05:00

We are just a little under 7 months until the big day! It's crazy to me that just a while ago we had over 2 years to plan everything. Now the day is coming and you can't stop it!
We have met with one caterer so far and the tasting went amazing. The food was soo tasty and they owners were really friendly people. A big plus to this company is that their bar prices are AMAZING. You pay full price for the first hour and then every hour after that is half off. I mean how can you beat that? However, I looked into other companies and their food prices were lower. Because I was able to find other catering companies with lower prices, I made an appointment to meet with one this weekend. Hopefully after this weekend we will have a decision made about the food.
Oh annnnnnnd....we bought my wedding dress!!!!! It will be coming in May and Im excited about it. Im also a bit nervous because the dress is completely opposite of what I had been looking for and what i had envisioned.
I originally told my bridesmaids that they could pick whatever dress they liked as long as they were the same color. I hate the clone look of bridesmaids and the way that some brides go insane about everyone looking the same all the way down to their hair and makeup. Well wouldn't you know that we try on some dresses and they all pick the same one! Amazingly we found a dress that everyone looks great in.

Here is a picture of Amanda, Nicole and Sarah in the dress we ended up picking. It was the first dress that Nicole tried on, and ended up being the one.

Awesome Video

2009-02-09T16:22:00.000-05:00

So i got this link from a wedding website i frequent and i loved it so much im going to share:

http://vimeo.com/1531870

Honeymoon!

2009-01-31T10:11:00.003-05:00

Andy and I have booked our honeymoon! Im really excited about it even though originally i didnt want to go on a cruise. We went on a cruise last May with our families as a graduation present and had a blast. There were just so many people and I didnt want to spend that much time on our honeymoon with everyone, but I am excited about it now.
We are taking a 7 night cruise to the carribean. We are stopping at belize, cozumel, isla roaton, and grand cayman. The best part about this is that we were able to get a suite with VIP check-in....and this:

A wrap around balcony...which continues around out of the picture! Its not even a balcony anymore its like a deck! Our entranceway also has hardwood floors. At least now I wont feel like im stuck in a small cruise room for a week.
We are hoping to spend a few days in florida after or before the cruise as well.
In other news our tasting is tomorrow so hopefully ill have some good things to say about that.

January has been...

2009-01-27T11:47:00.003-05:00

BUSY! So we have gotten a lot done this month, which is awesome because we have hit the 8 month mark and im freaking out. I was so used to saying the wedding is next year and next september but now its here.
I finished designing the invitations and I love them! We ordered all the supplies from cardsandpockets.com so now the box is sitting here, staring at me, daring me to start putting them together. Im trying to be strong and save them for closer months where i might not have as much to do.
Our std's (save the dates) on the other hand are still being made. There was an email mix up so hopefully we will get the design soon.
We registered at bed bath and beyond! It was fun to do, but i was on crutches for my sprain and that was a pain. We have an appointment for a wedding even at Crate and Barrel in feb. so im hoping that will be better.
I went to try on dress this past weekend. It was horrible. Terrible. The lady kept bringing me dresses that were oppositte of what i asked for and the others they didnt have. I found one dress i maybe kinda like but i didnt get that feeling that everyone says you have about the dress. We are going again in a few weeks for bridesmaid dresses and some wedding dresses. Hopefully the shop down here will have the dresses i actually want to try on.
We met with the florist and dj this past weekend at the farm. We lucked out and will be booking both of them. The florist works at the farm so all our flowers are grown organically there and will be picked fresh the day before the wedding. At least i dont have to worry about the florist being late!

2009!

2009-01-03T15:05:00.003-05:00

The year Andy and I are getting married is here. This means i really have to start getting to work planning the wedding and booking my final vendors. The next 8 months are going to be exciting and stressful all at the same time.

Meet Baxter!

2008-12-06T14:15:00.004-05:00

I have been begging Andy for a puppy since forever, but since we lived in the condo for the past two years we settled on a cat and got Remington who we love. But now that we live in a place where theres a yard we adopted a puppy. Baxter is a terrier mix and is about 6 months old. He is a great dog, already knows to sit and fetch in the 4 days we have had him. The only bad news is that we were lied to a lot by the rescue group. They told us he was 4 months old and was a labradoodle and that is probably why we paid the price we did for him. We took him to his first vet visit today where he told us all the right information as well as some bad news. Baxter has an upper respiratory infection, worms as well as walking pneumonia in his right lung. We have tons of medicine for him and have to rent a nebulizer to try and knock out the pneumonia. Thankfully we have 45 days of free pet insurance!

Here he is on the first day...on the way home!

He loves the car already.

The holidays are coming!

2008-11-02T21:17:00.004-05:00

As we get closer and closer to christmas im getting more excited that 2009 is right around the corner. I remember in 2007 when Andy and I got engaged that 2009 seemed so far away and I could see it in peoples eyes when they asked about the date. I worked customer service so it happened quite a bit. Well now ill soon be able to say, "Im getting married this september!!"
Whats even crazier than that is that we had our first snowfall of the season on 10.29...yes before halloween!

Andy and I had just put up the halloween decorations and the spider webs ended up being ruined by the wind and snow.

Im happy we arent in NJ were some places got 14 inches!

As for Halloween itself, we ended up handing out candy with Andys family on the front porch dressed as the Flinstones.

Photographer!!

2008-10-06T18:51:00.002-04:00

So last month Andy and I met with Nikki from Nikkinicolephotography at the Vanilla Bean. Its a cute little cafe that I grew up around and where I havent been in a long time. We really enjoyed our conversation and Andy actually showed his excitment over a vendor through this whole process. As soon as we left the building he said shes our photographer....so we booked her. We probably wont do our engagement pictures until next spring/summer. I dont mind waiting for so long since we have been engaged for over 1.5 years anyway. We probably wont be using them for anything in the wedding.

I have also decided that we are going to make our own invitations. I fell in love with a San Fran themed invitation online until i found out they were about $15 an invitation! Instead ill be making my own for roughly 300 dollars at the most (instead of 1200 if we bought the other ones).

We have also decided on Hawaii for our honeymoon! My parents have a timeshare and were willing to let us use it next year for two weeks!! Im soo excited. I have always wanted a longer honeymoon and it looks like we will probably get it. If we only end up trading with someone else for a week in hawaii we will be visiting San fran for another week. We love that city and I hope we can go back soon.

Not much going on..

2008-09-05T10:42:00.011-04:00

Andy and I havent been doing much about the wedding lately. Im just looking around for more ideas and ways to decorate, and for favors, and table settings. My parents were kind enough to let us use their time share for our honeymoon which is going to save us a bit of money. We are working through the book trying to find a place to visit and will only have to pay for the flights and our food/drink down there. Andy really wanted a place that was all inclusive like sandals but if i dont have to pay 9thousand for a honeymoon ill gladly give up the all inclusive. The next thing we are going to book i believe is the photographer. I have to call and set up a meeting with them, but hopefully that will all go well. I am all ready to get this planning on a roll, but its hard with out the funds.
In other news andy and i moved to NY. I've been kinda depressed down here since my family and my friends are all in ct. We are trying to find some jobs, but that isnt working out very well either. I just wish the troopers would move through the scores faster. Well we did some improvements to our little house. A lot of painting...with the bedroom still left to do.

So the whole place was painted this really ugly dark green and we definately couldnt keep that. So we decided to paint over it...and bought lots of paint.

We also put a new floor in the bathroom. It was my first time doing anything like that...and yes it was only the peel and stick kind but still.

So the bathroom now has this pattern on the walls:

Taking the inspiration from a rug that i bought at home depot:

The walls in the living room are now red rose bouquet, with the trim and bottom shelving painted oyster shell. I love it red now.

Now all thats left to do is move our furniture in and the other furniture out and paint the bedroom. Hopefully we will get that done this week.

9.19.09

2008-07-26T09:04:00.002-04:00

That's our wedding date! It's official now. Andy and I went to sign the contract with Tyrone farm yesterday and I couldnt be happier with our choice. Since our very first visit Ian has been awesome and willing to take time with us to talk about weddings overall and not just whats happening with their venue.

So the pictures show a little bit of the farm including the view, our ceremony site, and a bit of the barn. I'm really happy that we are going to get married around where I have lived since five years old. It's not in Woodstock unfortunately but Pomfret is just a few mins away. Afterwards we continued on to Mohegan Sun since we had tickets to see Ron White. We had dinner with my mom and Godmother Diane to celebrate, then went on to the show. Ron White was so funny and we had awesome seats.

One step forward...and two steps back

2008-07-15T14:08:00.004-04:00

Sooo...you know that last post where I said we found a reception site? Well I lied. They just charge you so much for things like a tent and dance floor (about 6k for both together) when other places we have visited include that in the site fee for a lot less. We ended up going back to Tyrone Farm which has been my number one choice the whole time. Unfortunately i didnt take any pictures but it is just so gorgeous in the summmer. The flowers are everywhere and we were able to see how it would be set up with the tent over the terrace and the bar tent by the barn. This time Andy liked it more too and we have decided to have the wedding there!! So good thing right? wellll then we found out that may-july is booked solid so the wedding is pushed back to september :( We just want to be married already. But on the bright side they have sunflower fields around the site that will be in bloom at that time. We also met with the florist they have on site there and she was very very nice and made me a bouquet. It was all the flowers they are growing there at the time and was beautiful.

The man in my life...

2008-07-06T11:16:00.003-04:00

So I just wanted to take some time to talk about (brag) how proud i am of Andy! Back in jan he took the NY state troopers exam. We expected results back in about two months, but that quickly turned to late april, then sometime in may and then finally June 30th. Well even though Andy thought he did terrible on the test he scored an 89.5 and placed 4,957 out of 22,000 people!! He did amazing and I am so proud of him. We are hoping to get a call back in the next two years. The scores are good for 4 years. It is a goal of his to become a state trooper and this is just the beginning.

Picture of Andy at the chatham fair grounds for firefighter day. Plus it doesnt hurt that he looks good in uniform. :)

Times are slow...

2008-06-26T22:43:00.004-04:00

Not a lot going on in the wedding department. We are moving at the end of July to new york with Andys parents so we have been busy packing and working.
If i wasnt so against a destination wedding we would definately be having it in san fran. I love that city so much. We both do and i cant wait to go back and visit. The weather is the perfect temp, and there is so much to do. One day we will live there! I have to get out of the north east at some point in life.

Ceremony/Reception site!

2008-06-14T09:23:00.008-04:00

So after being engaged for over a year we have settled on a site for the wedding. Luckily for us we only looked at three places (my area doesnt have a lot of options) and this was the third. And the lucky place is: The Gwynn Careg Inn. The inn is located in Pomfret on 14 acres with a pond. The ceremony is going to be in the spanish gardens surrounded by stone walls, and then the reception will be out closer to the water. We havent officially booked the place yet but we will be going back soon to do so.

First is their puppy Gatsby who was so cute and came along with us on the tour. Andy is standing in front of where the ceremony will be in the gardens.

The proposal story

2008-06-06T11:05:00.008-04:00

Im sure most of those who read this blog know the story already, but I want to do a post about it anyway. Andy and I started talking about marriage really early in our relationship and it never seemed odd to either of us. I recently told my sister Kerri that during those nights when Andy and I used to stay up late and talk I fell in love with him. This was even before he asked me to be his girlfriend. So like everyone says, when its right you'll know.
We were visiting his parents in California for our spring break in 07 and had a lot planned for the whole week. We started the week by driving down the coast to visit Hearst Castle. It was a beautiful house, and I remember thinking that if Andy was going to propose on this vacation...some of these spots would be perfect. But we left and no ring.

Over the next few days drove back to Tj and Traceys house and then Andy and I took a day to visit the zoo. Now we must be kids at heart becuase everywhere we go Andy and I are always visiting a zoo or aquarium. The San Fransisco zoo is the best zoo we have ever been to! The animals are all so close, even the hippos which are my favorite.

So our last full day was filled with lots of fun in San Fransisco. We started by touring Alcatraz which was a first for me. It was fun except for a bunch of little kids trapping me in solitary confinement.

So at the end of the day we met back up with his parents to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. Since our first visit to california i have have fallen in love with the bridge and the area around it. For a while I would joke with Andy and hint that it would be a perfect place to propose. After walking all day however the last thing i wanted to do was walk across the bridge. Andy convinced me to walk just halfway and then back, now im glad i did. His dad came with us while his mom stayed in the car (where i wanted to be with my sore feet!) and we walked. It was soo windy up there. There was a lot of fog around the bridge earlier in the day but luckily it had disappeared by the time we got there. And in the middle is where Andy proposed while his dad was taking pictures (Andy knew i wanted pictures of this moment and asked his dad beforehand). It was amazing and perfect for us, although i made Andy do it again since he didnt get on one knee! By then my feet didn't hurt any more and I couldnt wait to walk back across and call my family!

New beginnings

2008-05-25T08:33:00.002-04:00

So Andy and I are now officially UNH graduates. It's pretty scary but really exciting at the same time. We are going to be out on a cruise for the next week to Mexico but once we get back its head first into the wedding planning! I have an appointment to look at a beautiful place in Pomfret. I'm hoping that I'll like it in person as much or more than the pictures you can see online. Andy and I met freshman year at UNH and have been together through all four years. I'm happy we were both able to help each other through those too fast years, but now it's on to the "real" world. I'm looking forward to seeing what we have to help each other through in the future.

My girls!

2008-05-20T14:29:00.007-04:00

So i officially have bridesmaids! I'm so excited and thankful that they all agreed to be in the wedding. All of my girls really mean a lot to me and have always been awesome friends to me. I wanted to do something different instead of the cheesy will you be my bridesmaid cards you can get online, so i made my own using all the scrap booking stuff i have around. I made them all different for each girl and then wrote a silly question along with personalized messages inside. The questions were of course all jokes and just meant to be funny: "Will you wear an ugly dress?" "Will you be my bride slave?" "Will you hold my dress while i pee?" and "Will you get me a stripper?". Of course i don't really want them to do any of that but they were cute anyway. So i then put together a dinner for us and asked them all with pictures of each of us together at some point.
So...the girls are Kerri (who is my stepsister), Sara (freshman college roomie and one of my best friends), Amanda (one of my best friends who i met working at BRU aka Hell),Sarah (neighbor and friends since we were 5!), and last but not least Nicole (we met during summer orientation for UNH and was my first friend here). For a while I wasnt sure if i wanted to have a maid of honor since all these girls mean a lot to me. However I knew deep down that I wanted to ask Amanda. She has been a great friend to me (and Andy) and is truly a life long friend to me.
So again thank you all for agreeing to be my bridesmaids!

Reception Sites

2008-05-09T15:16:00.002-04:00

On wednesday my mom and I had an appointment at the Mansion at Bald Hill in Woodstock. It's a very pretty house and the rooms are beautiful upstairs. The only downside with it is that the land is a bit small and there's not a lot of option to put the reception tent. If we did decide to have the wedding there, the walk down the aisle where they have ceremonies is awesome and a good length. Since im having both my dad and stepdad walk with me down the aisle it may be a tight squeeze so we would have to look into that.
On saturday we are also looking at the Gwynn Careg Inn in Pomfret. I've looked into them early last year after andy proposed and actually forgot about the site. The inn is actually catered by the Mansion at bald hill so in some way both sites would still be connected. I'm leaning more towards the inn now just because its larger (14 acres) and they have more options to set up the reception. I'm just glad that there are good choices around where I grew up.
Oh, and we also changed our wedding date a bit. Instead of may of next year we are looking into july.

Planning Delay

2008-04-29T15:00:00.004-04:00

So the planning has been put on the back burner lately. Andy and I are both graduating in 24 days (eek!) so that has been our focus. Soon after graduation and our cruise we will be jumping head first into planning again. It's crazy to think that theres only a year to go until our orginal wedding date of May. I thought I had all this time to plan everything perfectly and to do it slowly. Boy was I wrong, the past year has gone by very quickly and we have to get going.
Oh and a little side note, Andy got me the best pink luggage set for my birthday yesterday. I can't wait to use it on our cruise and honeymoon.

It all seems real now

2008-02-19T13:08:00.000-05:00

So after a year of being engaged we had our first wedding appointment yesterday. What started as just a visit with us and my mom ended up with my entire family and god mother tagging along. It was a bit crazy having everyone there but it definately meant a lot that they are all excited about our wedding. Plus it doesn't hurt to have more opinions than just our own.

We went to visit Tyrone Farm in Pomfret. I found the location online and fell in love with the land and the barn! It was raining all day but luckily it stopped long enough for our tour. I've been picturing a barn reception since Andy and I first started talking about getting married and I am so happy that I found the farm. The barn is beautiful and looks great all lit up. The choices for ceremony set ups all have a great view of the valley and the land of the farm. Having the wedding one town over from where I grew up really means a lot to me. Thankfully Andy really likes it too. We had originally planned to have the wedding in May but after seeing pictures of their sunflower patches I'm started to reconsider waiting until fall. It's a bit hard to picture what it would be like on the actual day since we went to visit in winter but their pictures speak for themselves.

Im excited that the actual planning process has finally started. I have had a lot of ideas over the past year and can't wait to see what is going to work out.