blubelle2's Red wedding

OK so I thought that I would start a "wedding blog" so that all you ladies would be kept updated on what I've accomplished so far and what is going on here in NY (hopefully I'll be good at this and it will not be just wedding related)! And since I'm starting this so late in the game this first post will have a lot of info. :)

Vendors: I got pretty much all of them! I have been referring to them as the "Dream Team", although I think I may be the only one who finds this amusing. Here's a little bit about them:

Photographer: Arthur Remanjon. He's amazing. We just had our engagement photos taken on Saturday (I will have the link to the online album soon!) and it has just made me so much more excited to work with him on the big day. You can see some of his other work at www.remanjon.com.
Videographer: Black Tie Video (the guy is named Jim Skipper). He's a talker, but he's excellent. My parents were the biggest skeptics about the necessity of a wedding video until about 1 minute into one of his sample clips.
Caterer/Baker: Chef's Expressions. We only had a choice between two vendors, and we thought that Chef's was more in tune with what we wanted for the evening. We are working with a woman named Bonny, who we think is fantastic. We are having a tasting in August (not of our menu specifically because they're a small company, but they are hosting a wine tasting and dinner). They also have a baker, so they will be doing our wedding cake - and the best part is, it's free! I met them first at a bridal fair, so they threw in a little extra perk because of that!
Florist: Floral Impressions. I got a great quote from her after a really great meeting with her back in May. I'm really excited to see what she'll come up with!
DJ: Santana Entertainment. She's quite a talker, but she really knows what she's doing. She will do the music for both the ceremony and reception. She was by far the most qualified person that Evan and I met with and talked to, and she is going to be coordinating with all you guys to make sure that we all know what is happening when so that no one misses anything important (i.e. they don't do the cake cutting while I'm attempting to pee haha).
Officiant: Rabbi Floyd Herman. He also was the rabbi at my parent's wedding and at my bat mitzvah, so it's nice that he is familiar with my family.

Let's see, what else have I done already. I bought my dress (by James Clifford, which coincidentally also happens to be Evan's grandfather's name), and reserved the hotel block (this info will be in the newsletter that you will all receive soon).

Currently we are working on finalizing the guestlist, picking out designs for the save the dates (commonly referred to as STDs on the knot, which makes me laugh every time I type it) and the invites, probably to come from Chelle Paperie down in Hamden. Evan and I saw one that we really liked from there, and Im' pretty sure it's in our budget! Also, after a lot of discussion, Evan and I will be taking a honeymoon after all, so we are working on planning that (it will take a few weeks since we are using rewards points/miles and they have to transfer over) but we are looking at a resort in Ixtapa, Mexico. (http://www.tideszihuatanejo.com/)

And lastly, now that the engagement photos have been taken, we can start looking into our guestbook. We are going to have the photos printed onto pages in the guestbook (one side of each spread is a photo and one side is for signing), so when we can look through all the photos we get to pick which ones we like best. This is the one that we will probably get, but we have to decide how many pages to get: http://leathercraftsmen.com/guestbook.html#. Mom thinks that with 200 people coming, 10 sides won't be enough, so we have to talk to our photographer about pricing and all that fun stuff.

Non-wedding related update: We just adopted a kitten (who cries constantly and likes to climb us) and are going to be getting a puppy soon (see photos to the side). We are also still saving up for an apartment, so no shopping for me for like 10 months. So sad! We are considering Forest Hills Gardens in Queens (about 20 minutes from Evan's office). I haven't seen it yet, so Evan and I are going to try to drive up there this weekend to take a look around. We won't start looking until March or so, because we'll have to jump right on it when we see something, and we still have another year on our current lease.

Wow, that was a lot... and a lot of work just got ignored. Now I have to run into a meeting, so I guess I will update again soon! HOpe you're all doing well :) xoxo