Vacation Mode

So after lots of delayed flights and waiting for shuttles to our car, I finally got back to my apartment and in my bed around 4AM last night.  That left my plenty of time for a refreshing 2 hour nap before I had to go in for the Welcome Back breakfast for the school year.  (Not so great to get up at 6AM after only 2 hours of sleep, especially when you're still in vacation mode.)

I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but I graduated with Masters in Teaching back in 2011.  I spent last school year subbing and ended with a long-term sub position at a school where I was offered a job for this school year.  I officially accepted my very first teaching position and today was the first day of work.  No students this week, just us teachers getting ready for the start of the year.  It's going to be a VERY busy week!

That said, I have pictures of my vacation to Tampa (a.k.a. pictures of my trip to Disney world - for the first time!)  I will be posting them soon.  Unfortunately, like I said this will be a busy week, so I probably won't post until the weekend.  Maybe later depending on our plans for the long (4 day!) weekend ahead.

Vacation

I will be in Tampa, Florida for some much needed vacation time.  I won't be back until next Sunday!  That means no wedding planning for a while, just 9 awesome days of "us time" for me and my fiancé!

Engagement Pictures

So my dad (i..e my engagement pic photographer) has been slowing sending me the pictures.  He took over 5,000, so he is going through them and editing the good ones.  Below are a few that I've got so far.

Team Bridesmaids

So my bridesmaids are spread out all over the Northeast.  My Maid of Honor  and my two sisters (bridesmaids) are in Maryland with each of them being at least 2 hours away from one another.  Another bridesmaid is in Nantucket and the other is in Connecticut.  And, as you know, I am here in Michigan.  With this in mind, I wanted to find a way for all of us to easily communicate and work on plans.  I decided on making a Team Bridemaids website, which turned out to be the perfect solution.  Between using the website and a shared board between all of us on Pinterest we have all been able to work together even though we are so far apart.

If you are interested I used the Google sites to make the webpage.  I included a link to our Pinterest board, a link to Google Hangout for when we have our "get-togethers", and links to a few helpful sites.  Here is a screen shot of the site.  I included information about the big day, a page of our engagement pics, a calendar with important events, a little bit about each bridesmaid (including how I met them, my favorite memory of them and a picture of the two of us), a message board section, and the story and pics of our proposal.  And all the over to the right I have the countdown to the big day!

My ladies all really liked the Meet the Team section.  I thought it was a nice way to show them how much I appreciate them and make them feel like they really are an important part of my big day.  Also, the message boards have been extremely useful, even more than I could have imagined.  It has been a great way for us to bounce ideas off each other and make decisions. 

If you have any questions about making your own site please feel free to ask. And in case you were wondering, Google Sites is completely free to use and you can make your site private.  Only the people that I specifically invite to the website (i.e. my bridesmaids) can see it.

The Bridesmaids

I officially asked my all of my bridemaids today and they all said yes!  I'm so happy.  My maid of honor and two of my bridesmaids are my three best friends from college.  My other two bridemaids are my two sisters.  In total, my bridal party has 5 people.  My fiance plans to match that and also have 5 people.

So, you might be wondering how did I ask them?  Well, since I wouldn't be able to see any of them in person, I had to think of a way to ask them long-distance.  I deciding that sending something wasn't a personal as I'd like it to be.  If I'm giving them a gift, I'd rather give it to them in person.  Since I'm seeing them in September, I plan to give them a gift then.  However, for now I came up with something to do.

I used kizoa.com to create a slideshow to send to my friends.  I made a slideshow of college days together and added in a poem about memories I had with them.  Each slide was a picture of us and a line of the poem.  The last line of the poem said, "And that's why I'd love for you to be party of by big day and in a very big way."  Then the final slide said, "Will you be my bridesmaid?"  The site was very easy to use and allowed me to send out the slideshow to my friends via e-mail. 

All of the girls loved it!  It brought back such good memories of all of us and left a couple of them crying.  (I know I wanted to when I was making it.)  After seeing the slideshow each of them called me up and said yes!

Now I just need to get my fiance to ask his best man and groomsmen.  Any suggestions?

Feel free to share how you asked your bridemaids and/or how he asked his groomsmen.

Franklin Plaza

So it's official!  We will be having our ceremony and reception at The Franklin Plaza.  The plaza is absolutely gorgeous and I have heard nothing but great things about it and the people that work there.

We might have been a little over zealous with the pictures, but it was so exciting to find the place!

The Bridal Suite 

Cocktail Hour Room (upstairs)

Ceremony Set-up (plus chairs, etc.)

Dining Room

The Bar Area

The bar itself used to be the counter for the bank tellers.

The Stairs (lead up to the Cocktail Hour area)

The Gift Room/The Bird Cage

Coat-check Area

This was the actual vault that was used when the building was still a bank.

The Flowers

Candelabras (Centrepiece one each table)

The Birdcage (again, for the cards that the guests bring)

The Ladies Room Downstairs

The Venue

So we flew out Wednesday night on our delayed flight only to wait for our second delayed flight at our layover.  We were expected in at 11 that night, but got in around 1:30 in the morning.  After getting back to his parents house, we were able to get a nice nap in before getting up and ready for our 8:30 appointment.

To recap, we had our list narrowed down to 6 places:  The Franklin Plaza, Mohawk River Country Club, The Georgian, The Desmond, Century House, and Longfellows.

Our first appointment was at The Franklin Plaza - it was absolutely gorgeous.  As soon as I stepped inside, I just kept thinking - this is it.  Well, it turns out it was.  We both absolutely love it there.  We are going to try to get back in to meet with Joe today or tomorrow before we fly out to ask our final questions and hopefully reserve a date.  

I will be posting pictures and talking more about The Franklin Plaza later, but if anyone has any questions about the other venues, please feel free to ask.

EDIT:  Check out my posts about the Franklin plaza here, here, and here.