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All Dressed in White

My dress has arrived!!! I will obviously not be sharing photos of this but I am very excited that my dress has arrived safe and sound. I am doubly excited that I will only need minor alterations mainly in the length -there’s a shocker! Þ

Now that my dress is taken care of all I need to do is find a veil, bridesmaid dresses, and tuxes. yikes!

 

Married!

My sister Kara and her boyfriend Andy were married on Friday! I am so excited and happy for them! Andy has long been considered part of the family but it’s still nice that it’s official. They had a small civil ceremony with only 4 attendants. It was a major surprise to both familys that they had secretly wed on Friday morning. Check out her blog for all the details -> Kara & Andy Got Married

Kara and Andy on the steps of the old courthouse

 

Busy Bee.

Wow, a lot has been going on over the last few months. First off I ordered my dress! yay! My Mom and 2 of my sisters, Kelly and Laura,  went with me to try on dresses a few months back. I think they had a good time playing dress up with me. I finally made my decision and ordered my dress about 3 weeks ago, now its just a waiting game to see when it arrives.

Anthony and I also took a vacation to Orlando, Florida earlier this month with his family. We had a great time and yes we went to Disney! We also went to a winery, hung out by the pool, and a water park(by far the best part). It was very nice to get away from the office and just relax and have fun for a week. The beautiful weather was definitely a bonus, sunny in the mid-80s the whole week!

Anthony, Jessica and his family

Last week I got together with Jessica and Liz, two of my brides maids to shop for their dresses. We had way too much fun, I think I enjoyed shopping for their dresses more than my own! Afterwards we all went to dinner. It was nice to just hang out with the girls. Ashley living in Louisiana unfortunatly couldn’t come with us, but loved our choices and quickly went to try them on at her local bridal store. Now all we have to do is make the final choice and order. Though we might go back one more time just to make sure. We will see…

 

Feeding the Soul

Thank you to everyone who voted in our Menu Poll. The votes have been tallied and the menu is now set. We met with Eric from Duffy’s last week and have come up with a great menu for the reception. I am particularly excited about the appetizers! We will finalize the menu and have our tasting in January, we are both looking forward to that!  

We have also had our first meeting with Father Collin, who will be marrying us. It went really well and we now have the church reserved for September 12, 2009.

 

The Bling.

It has come to my attention that I have missed sharing a piece of the engagement with everyone…my bling. I have decided to rectify the situation immediately. Without further ado here is the ring…

 

 

Isn’t it pretty!

 

 

Inspiration

Below are a few photos that have inspired us to go with a Purple and Green wedding. As many know, our original plan was a Tuscan Vineyard theme. We wanted to capture the warmth and family feel of Tuscany and our love of wine. Our original color was a burnt orange but after picking our venue and looking at available brides maid dresses we have decide orange just won’t do. Therefore we will be going with a lovely deep aubergine purple and a nice sage-vine green. The possibilities are endless with these colors and while purple seems to be quite in fashion at the moment, I haven’t seen anyone really combine purple and green together. They are both warm and inviting and give a definite vineyard feel.

 

Mmmmm….Food!

 

Reception Site

So, we picked a reception site and date. Just praying that the church is available on the same day, as we have not yet met with the priest to confirm everything. 

The winner is—– The Ballroom at Duffy’s on September 12, 2009!!!

 It’s in one of the historic buildings in downtown Hagerstown, just a few blocks from the church, St. Marys. We are really excited about it!.  It has been renovated but they kept all the old building charm like the pressed tin ceiling. It has everything we were looking for and the staff has been extremly helpful so far. Check out the pictures below, or go to their website -Duffy’s on Potomac

                

*photos courtesy of Duffy’s on Potomac

 

The search is on…

We have been searching high and low for a reception facility in our area. We are over a year out from the wedding so we shouldn’t have any problem with not getting our date, but so far we haven’t like much of what we have seen.  Our first choice was a vineyard, since that fits us to a T, but they either have no indoor facilities( such as bathrooms) or are extremely expensive.  We then started looking for something that has an indoor/outdoor space such as an inn. Then we can still get that garden/vineyard feel. Well even that is hard as it turns out. So we have narrowed it to 4 choices which we went to look at last week.

Antienam Iron Works (very rustic, outside, looks over antienam creek, does a pig roast)

Inn at Buckeystown (garden elegance, historic town, tent outside)

Delaplaine (historic district Frederick, patio on Carroll Creek, art gallery, fresh & clean look)

The Ballroom at Duffy’s (downtown Hagerstown, 3rd floor loft, no outdoor space, urban chic)

All 4 are VERY different, its going to be a hard choice, each one has its pros and cons. The first two have that outdoor tuscan family feel while the other two are very convienently located to hotels, church, and nightlife. We need to make a decision soon since some of the dates in Fall 09 have already been taken. Yikes…better start thinking.