Big Additions

After taking my sweet time for the last few months, I finally got around to asking three of my close friends to be ushers in our wedding.  From the beginning I wanted to have ushers so I could include more of my friends in the formal wedding party.  Mary and I went back and forth on the topic a few times, but in the end, with some encouragement from Mary, we decided that the wedding party wouldn't be complete without these final additions.

 

So last night, Chris, Bob, Ken and I all hung out in Downers Grove.  After a couple beers and half-way through our cigars, I asked them to be a part of our special day.  Fortunately, they all happily agreed!  Although it was rather uncermonious, I'm really happy that I was able to share a night with just the guys for this event.  My best man, Steve, I was able to ask in person, however, my other two groomsmen both live out-of-state, and I had to ask them over the phone.

 

The bottom line is that now our wedding party roster is complete (we think).  I have my guys, Mary has her girls, we both have our ushers, ring bearer and flower girl, and of course, our parents and families!

Small Additions

While it's somewhat old news, we forgot to blog about this one.  (You can't really blame us, we've been going non-stop for weeks now!) Mary and I decided to have an un-official (more on that in a second) Ring Bearer and Flower Girl.  We've asked that Mary's nephew, Andrew, be our Ring Bearer and my niece, Annalee, to be our flower girl! 

 

Why "un-official?"  Well, at St. Johns, the have a policy about allowing children of a certain age walk down the aisle.  I suppose it's understandable because it's kind of a long aisle and there is a lot of potential for a child to change his or her mind and just walk the other way!  So although we can't have Andrew and Annalee walk down the aisle, we still can't wait to see them in our wedding party and all dressed up.

 

 

Photo Opp

After much researching, debating, discussing, analyzing, delaying, walking, budgeting, negotiating, we have officially signed a contract with a photographer!  We decided to go with Mr. Stacey Photography.  The name may throw you off a bit, but as with any interesting name, there is a story.  Mr. Stacey Photography is really two photographers, Stacey and Yola.  Stacey is actually a guy (a pretty cool guy, too).  Due to the common association of the name Stacey to a female, they named their business "Mr." Stacey to avoid confusion.  Why not use his last name?  I don't know, but that's not too important to me at this point.

 

There were so many factors to consider in this decision, and while it was all about photography, it was so often comparing apples and oranges.  Some studios offered unlimited time, while others included two photographers in their prices.  So it was really difficult to effectively break down and compare the overall value for our money.  In the end, I think it really came down to the quality of their work.  Mary and I both really liked what we saw both online and in their albums during our visits.  the pictures were clear and crisp, yet exciting and truly representative of how we wanted our day captured.  We also both really like their approach to capturing multiple perspectives of our day, e.g. through the eyes of our guests as well as us.

 

Their service includes a photo album credit as well as a engagement photo session to help us "get comfortable in front of the camera."  Anyone who knows me knows that I like to take a lot pictures, but I'm not used to being in front of the camera too much.  With Stacey and Yola, though, I'm really confident and excited about the great pictures we'll have when all is said and done!

Pre-cana

Well, not only do we have a couple places to visit for posisble reception venues, but I also got a call yesterday from the priest in charge of wedding arrangements at St. John Cantius.  He called to tell me that the date has been set for the Pre-cana class that we are to attend.  It is scheduled for Saturday, March 1st.  At first, the idea of March seemed a ways away, but when I wrote this in my calendar, I realized that February starts tomorrow and that means that March is right around the corner.  With each new bit of our big day that gets scheduled, I get a little more excited and a little more nervous about all the pieces that have to get done yet and the ever-shorter amount of time we have to do them in. But thankfully, I have been telling myself to only focus on the things that we have to work on now and leave the rest of the details until later.  And to top it off, Jack does a great job of keeping me calm about everything.  :)

First Appointment

So although Jack and I have received a number of responses from venues stating that they are not available on September 27th, I still have hope that we will find a reception site for our date.  This part of the process is very overwhelming with the number of options for venues, the fees for each and all of the questions that need to be answered.  But we have only just begun!  We were lucky to get a date for the time of year we wanted and at the church that was our first choice, but maybe that is making it harder to endure all these "no" responses for reception sites.  I have faith that the right one will come along.

The good news is that we received the first response for a place that is available for our date.  I think it would be safe to say that we are cautiously looking forward to this appointment to see the space.  We have to start somewhere and whether this is the place we end up with or not, it will at least be a first try at asking a lot of questions and seeing what is out there to consider.