Costa Rica (part 3)

So far, a very busy week for us. But we're not done yet!! Who says you get to rest on vacation?? Or, in our case, our honeymoon.

Wednesday we had another 'planned' excursion, this one to a volcano. And then some. We'll start with the volcano, Poas Volcano, to be exact. We though, as we drove up there, we'd have a clear view of the crater because it was a beautiful, clear day! But as soon as we got to the park, we found ourselves in a cloud (literally). And there wasn't enough wind to blow it out of the valley where the crater was, so we only had a vague glimpse of it when the wind blew just enough to blow the cloud off a bit. We could see the edge of the lake and the steam coming up. But no full view, unfortunately. Maybe next time we can see a good shot of this one or another one.

But luckily, this wasn't the only destination for this tour. The next stop was Doka Estates coffee plantation - "The Best Coffee Plantation in Costa Rica" - to learn all about this huge export for Costa Rica. For starters, Starbuck's apparently buys a majority of this company's beans, accounting for about 75% of the bean sales for Doka. That should tell you something. But what I found interesting was the whole process. Did you know that the coffee bean is actually a fruit? And what most people consider the 'bean' is actually the seed in the middle. The fruit's skin and outer pulp is removed, which actually leaves a sweet tasting seed (not to eat, but you can suck on it) to dry, most of which is done in the natural sunlight. And it's an off-white - it's not brown until roasted and the roasting is what gives it it's flavor. The longer it's roasted, the richer the flavor. I had no idea so much went into a pound of coffee - it takes 10 lbs of the fruit to make 1 lbs of the coffee as you know it!

After our little tour of the coffee plant (and another great lunch at the plantation!), we headed to our last stop of the day... the Sarchi artisan shop. When Eric and I arrived, we saw an abundance of these little carts being used as decoration throughout the hotel. We later learned that these were replicas of the ox-carts built and painted by people in this very shop we were going to. It used to be the primary way to transport things around the country, which is why so many of their roads are so narrow. The detail that goes into this painting is amazing! And the fact that they still do it as an art form now is very cool - and just as much detail goes into it. The ox-cart seems to be almost a symbol of the region we were in - and I'm glad we got to see the shop because it made us clearly understand and appreciate the little gift the hotel gave us (miniature replica of the cart that we plan to use as a Christmas ornament).

We got back to the hotel in time to enjoy a bit of pool time before our dinner reservation. There was a great breeze blowing across the resort that made it actually a little chilly to go into the water, but it made for great sitting by the pool and having a glass of wine weather! So it was a nice way to wind down before dinner. Which,once again, was a wonderful meal. It was also nice that they kept portions in check, because the food was so good, you could easily eat too much of something! But, oh, it was so good!

Thursday rolls in - our final full day in Costa Rica. We decided to drive down and hit one last National Park (they have about 25% of the nation reserved as National Parks). Carara National Park is know for it birds, specifically Macaws. We already saw a couple of Macaws playfully fighting in a tree along the side of the road on Sunday, so we didn't need to go to see the Macaws. But we did want to see a true rainforest environment, which the southern part of Carara was. There were trees that towered at 150-160 ft in height! It was amazing to walk among these giants! We did see a few animals as they emerged for their morning breakfast. And there were a couple of Macaws circling the tree tops, squawking at each other the whole time. But the craziest things we saw were the ants! Yes, ANTS! There's were thousands of them, all very organized, carrying leaves back to the colony. They were so organized that they wore a path not only in the dirt, but on the gravel trail we were on! We were both fascinated by this for some reason... It made for a nice last day adventure.

After we had out fill of the rainforest, we went back to the hotel to pack up. Unfortunately, we had to head back into San Jose that night and stay at a different hotel. When we initially booked, our flight left pretty early. When it changed, we didn't change our hotel, and we should have. But instead, we took the same, longer, mountainous route we drove on Saturday night back to San Jose and actually enjoyed the views. It was worth it. And the hotel was another nice hotel that helped us unwind some more before a day of traveling. And that's all Saturday was for us... some brunch, and off to the airport we went.

Costa Rica was absolutely wonderful! Eric and I would love to go back now that we know the lay of the land a bit better. And hopefully we will get to do that one day in the future. Until then, we have many memories and MANY pictures - We took over 1200 pictures!! Well, mainly I took them cause I'm camera happy on trips like this. But it was worth it! You can see some of our handy work on my Fotki page. But even that is just a handful of what was taken!

Costa Rica (part 2)

So Monday was our first 'planned' excursion - a canopy zipline tour. We did a zipline tour in Mexico a few years back, so we kind of knew what to expect, though we also knew every one is different. But this one blew the one in Mexico away! First, it started with a 30 minute horseback ride to the top of the mountain. It also had more cables, plus two rappelling lines, and a suspension bridge. To top that off, we took a break in the middle where we could swim in a pool at the base of one of the 11 waterfalls we crossed. I personally took full advantage of this - it was a great way to cool off! Plus, it's cool to say you swam in a waterfall. But the ziplining, itself, was great - it was over twenty cables long, so it was an all day thing, followed by a lunch provided by the adventure company that we did the tour with. And it wasn't just a box lunch of something... it was a full on meal. Again, another awesome meal! Did I mention Eric LOVES plantains and they're served with almost every meal??

We took it easy that night. The ziplining actually wore us out pretty good, but it was absolutely perfect! It turned out that we missed a drenching downpour at the hotel - we barely had a drizzle at the very end of our canopy tour up in the mountains. So it was a good day to be away from the hotel. But we finally we able to watch a sunset at the hotel, and it was a beautiful one! It seems like the sun disappeared in seconds once it started going down. But the colors were amazing every night. We actually ate dinner at the hotel's buffet that night, as well. They definitely had the food pegged!I guess as we looked around, they were still cooking for the majority of nationals that were there - it wasn't quite 'season' yet for tourism, as the wet season was just coming to an end. But I was honestly surprised at how many non-international tourists were there. We really only saw 'tourists' on our excursions!

On Tuesday, we did our own excursion again, this time a little further south to one of the national parks - Manuel Antonio National Park. This was THE park to go to for wildlife per all the tourbooks. At least along the west coast. It was about a 2 hour drive, so we tried to get as early of a start as we could, which was still later than we wanted. But we also made an additional stop along the way... when we went to Jaco, we noticed a crowd parking next to a bridge and walking to the middle of it, looking down. It wasn't just a rare instance - it was constant. They even had a policeman at one end to help control traffic. So we were curious. We stopped on our way to Manuel Antonio Park, and not to surprising, it was crocodiles that were intriguing everyone. Not just a few... probably about 20 of them! Just sitting on some high areas in the river, sunning themselves. Eric and I couldn't, for the life of us, figure out what f=drew them to the bridge. The only thing we could figure was they were soothed by the sound of the traffic. There were other sandbars further out with none at all, so unless they get fed by locals, who knows?

After that worthwhile stop, we got back on the road for the remainder of out drive. We passed through a Black African Palm Oil Ranch, which we didn't actually know it was that until later in the week. Just row and rows and acres and acres of obviously planted palm trees with some sort of harvesting facility in the middle. Then we finally made it to the little town, Quepos, just outside of the park entrance and headed up the winding road that ended at the park. We thought about hiring a guide for just a moment, but then decided to go at it on our own, which turned out to be a good call. There were so many that DID have tour guides that all you had to do was stop when you saw a group of people stopped and someone, usually the guide, would point out the animal they were looking at. Along the main path there were a few monkeys and quite a few sloths. At least on the way in. On the way out we saw, of all things, a deer. And some other animal we're still trying to figure out... guess that's where a guide would've come in handy. I think the highlight (besides the monkeys on the beach) were the Toucans we saw on the way out! A guide was stopped with some people and pointed it out. He said seeing them is always a rarity... and we saw two as we left! A very pretty bird!

Regardless, Eric and I thought the best part was the beaches at the end of the trail - one on either side of the peninsula the park was on. Yet and FOURTH type of beach. This one was comprised of the soft, white sane that everyone has come to expect. No rocks, no seaweed, just a beautiful beach in a cove with no commercial development to be seen. I wanted to stay here for awhile... a LONG while! We both agreed that if we make it back to Costa Rica, these beaches, alone, are worth spending a day at. Unfortunately, they kick you out of the park just before sunset. We took some pictures at the beach outside of the park, first, and then drove a bit and then watched the sunset at the top of the mountain between Quepos and the park and watched it form an open air restaurant with a cargo plane in it. Another beautiful sunset...

Costa Rica (part 1)

Finally... Eric and I were able to take our honeymoon. Destination... Cost Rica!

We were there for a week and I have A LOT to cover, so this will be broken up into multiple blogs. Mainly cause I have a good feeling that my hands will get tired from typing! So here goes part one...

We headed out on Saturday afternoon... go figure - there's limited flights to Costa Rica! So, after all the flying and airport time, we picked up our bags close to 9pm and headed to Hertz for the car.And what a fun car we got! A Diahatsu BeGo! Didn't even know this brand still existed! Pretty much everything in Costa Rica is of the Asian brands... and a Volkswagon truck that they don't sell in the US for a good mix. Very few American brands... we weren't too sure about 'Beep Beep' at first (the nickname Eric affectionately gave it), but it turned out to be just what we needed.

So getting to the hotel... that proved to be interesting... at night. We knew we wanted to get the the 'new' highway, as the locals call it. We asked directions at Hertz, and it seemed easy enough. But we got on the road, and couldn't tell what road we were even on! They don't sign their highway (or any streets) well at all!! We finally broke out the compass on my iPhone and saw we were heading the opposite direction (east) of what we wanted to be heading (west). So, after finding a way off the highway we were on (VERY limited access), we literally drove through a nighttime construction zone (we just followed the locals that were doing it) and got back on the highway, heading in the other direction. Finally, after passing our initial starting point, we saw a sign for Puntarenas, but it wasn't via the highway we were looking for. But the fact that we were heading in the right direction was good enough for us. The county is smaller than West Virginia, how far off could it be??

Turns out we were within 1 mile of the new highway when we were heading in the wrong direction. They didn't explain that we had to head into San Jose to get to it (which was east of the airport).But none the less, we did finally make it to the DoubleTree resort, which more than welcomed us after the long drive! Check-in was easy and they took us to our room, which was thankfully far from the 'nightlife' part of the hotel. We walked into our room and it was decked out is rose petals and a bottle of wine for us, with a note welcoming us to our honeymoon. Which could finally begin after this long day of traveling.

Since we arrived so late, we had no plans set for Sunday. But we had our car. So after a late breakfast and a little pre-planning for excursions later in the week, we headed out in the daylight to see what we could find. Our first destination was Jaco, which was a surf town. It was about a 45 minute drive south along a highway that paralleled the coast (it wasn't a coastal highway, as you only saw the water for a few miles of it). We got to Jaco, which seemed to be a lazy little town you'd expect to find in California. There didn't seem to be much surfing going on, but we found out why a short time later when we headed to Playa Hermosa just a few miles south. To our surprise, the Costa Rica Surf Championship was happening there. What are the odds of exploring that beach on that day?? It was packs full of both surfers and spectators.

Even more interesting was that in our third beach visit, we had a completely different type of beach. The beach at our hotels was very typical looking, though a little more course than what I'm used to in FL. Still beautiful, though. Jaco was a sprawling, flat beach with a darker tan-ish gray sand. And here at Playa Hermosa was a nearly black sand, obviously volcanic by the color, but some of the softest sand I've felt on my feet (rivaling some of the powdery, white sands you find on the west coast of FL). So not only does Costa Rica have an array of ecological systems to explore, they also have a number of beach types to explore!

At this point, we could tell it was nearing sunset. Sunset occurred around 5-5:30ish this time of year in Costa Rica. We hoped back in Beep Beep and drove back to the hotel. We had a dinner reservation to make, so we didn't want to be late. And this would be our first major meal in Costa Rica. To this point, we had just done the breakfast and lunch buffet at the hotel (gotta love all-inclusive places), but even that food was great! So we had even greater expectations for the individual meals. The place we went specialized in seafood, which made sense being on the coast. And it was amazing! First, there was the Ceviche - three different kinds, plus sashimi! Then for an appetizer, I had this seafood bisque type soup that had full pieces of crabs and oysters still in the shells in a tomato based broth. YUM! I'd tell you what Eric had, but I was too engrossed in my meal! The main course was just as delicioso! I had these shrimp kabobs with these huge shrimp on it that were marinated and grilled to perfection. Eric had a sea bass dish that he practically inhaled! So the food completely hit the mark we were hoping!

So our first full day in Costa Rica was a hit and were were even more excited about what was to come in the remainder of the week!

Indy Reception

Our Indy Reception was awesome!!

We had a little hurried rush in our final preparation for the event, but for the most part, everything was taken care of since we hired out all the hard stuff. We didn't have to worry about food prep since we hired a caterer, the set-up was done mostly by the tent guys, and there wasn't too much decor to take care of since we were keeping it relatively simple. But the next thing we knew though, we were within an hour of the start time!

Soon, people quickly started arriving, but I think we were ready. My good friend, Jen, arrived a little early with an awesome cake for us to ceremoniously cut! She reused our cake topper, but the cake, itself, had a different look, which I loved! The caterer was cooking (and it smelled so good throughout the house already!), the bartender was tending bar (just about anything you could want!), and the weather was working for us (Thank you, Mother Nature!). We were worried about it being too hot first... then worried about rain... but the overcast skies just kept things nice all evening. No rain, no heat, and even very little humidity. I think the only 'issue' we had is that people we arriving quicker than we could greet them! But we made up for that later in the evening.

Brad Gates, our caterer, knows his stuff and I highly recommend him to everyone!! If you were here, you know what I'm talking about! Our bartender, Chris, was just as into his craft and kicked some major butt at the bar. We had a couple of specialty drinks that were SO good. One was a pineapple upside down martini and they went down way too easy. The other was a bubble yum shot - again, way too easy. I lost count of how many of the martinis I drank... but Chris just smiled and kept them coming.

We had the perfect turnout, I think - we were right on the money with the guest count we gave Brad in the beginning. There wasn't too many people that we lost track of people. We tried to get around to everyone, and I think we managed to do that alright. I would've loved to hang out more with some people, as I know Eric would have, too. But then who doesn't want to hang out longer with a fun group of people, family and friends both!

And that's what made it nice - all of the people who came. My parent's made it up from FL. We had other friends in from out of town, as well, which made it an even more special event. Plus, we had friends able to come by that we don't get to see too often locally. So it was great to see everyone and I speak for both Eric and I when I say, "Thanks to everyone, for everything!" I hope everyone had as good of a time as we did.

The Tent and Stuff...

The big day is almost here!

For our Indy reception, that is.

The tent was put up today - our neighbor said they were in and out in about 45 minute. Pretty impressive for the size of the tent in the constraints of our backyard. Eric spent the evening decorating the inside of it with our lights and I stayed inside preparing favors and other decor. Just those few last minute items.

We got all of our liquor thanks to our awesome neighbor. It pays to know people in the right industry (she works for a liquor distributor). We should have plenty to go around and then some. Looking forward to the specialty drinks we're going to have - very summery! We'll even have an actual bartender - no pouring your own drinks necessary!

Tomorrow my parents arrive. They have a EARLY flight leaving Jacksonville... I'll still be in bed! But then I'll pick them up at noon and the weekend will begin!

I'm just hoping it goes smooth... no weird hiccups! Keeping my fingers crossed! It'll great to finally celebrate with all of our local friends, though... yay!

More Wedding Pictures!

As promised, I'm sharing more wedding pictures with everyone!

First, there are more pictures on my Fotki page... I've been collecting all the family's pictures, so there are some fun one there. No password necessary here.

Finally, what I'm guessing everyone's been waiting for, a link to the professional pictures!! Go to Sarasota Photo and enter the event code karaanderic. It's as simple as that!

I'd love to here some comments about the pictures, so feel free to come back here and post your thoughts! Enjoy!!

Next on the Agenda...

With the wedding over, Eric and I have turned our attention to the next big thing... our Open House Wedding Reception in Indy.

We actually did a lot of the planning before the wedding. Picked a date, picked a caterer, put a deposit on a big tent for the backyard... so I guess we actually got most of it done... We're trying to do something nice. A slightly upscale summer picnic, if you will... Our caterer uses mostly, if not all, local food, which will give us some unique small plate menu items. He brings some servers to make it nice, and we'll use real plates. I'm not going to wear my wedding gown again, but I'll be wearing a little white dress to represent bridal attire. I'm not sure what Eric will wear yet... But it'll all be kid friendly... yes, there will be alcohol available, but ultimately, it's a family friendly affair.

Now of course, amidst all of this planning, I'm trying to get things moved in. Well, the reception has actually thrown a bit of a wrench into moving everything, as we don't want to fill up the space with stuff with we're going to have lots of people over in a month. So, what do we do? Or rather, what do I do? This is where is pays to have plenty of clothes... for now, I'm 'functionally' living there, meaning I can live there day to day (sleep, eat, get ready for and go to work, come home and chill, etc.), but a lot of the personal stuff will stay at my house, slowing getting packed up for its new permanent residence. I actually kind of like this scenario... I don't have to rush through packing, which means I can go through things and maybe even *gasp* get rid of stuff!!

I really hate packing/moving, though. It's such a pain in the a$$!! Especially when you've been in one place for 8+ years. So much stuff... I'm not looking forward to the process. Can't wait until the ultimate outcome, but really hate the process to get there.

Anyone have a magic wand I can borrow??

Wedding Pictures!!

I finally had a chance to post pictures from my wedding!!

Well, ones I had, anyway... still waiting of the professional photos and the rest of my photos from my family. For some reason, they forgot to share them with me until I asked about them over the weekend. So more will likely be added later.

In the meantime, check out my Fotki page with LOTS of pictures!!

Enjoy!

The Wedding

As much as I’d love to say that the wedding went off without a glitch, I can’t. But I’ll start from the beginning.

We arrived in FL on the Wednesday before the wedding. We had a few things we wanted to make sure we had time to do, like get our license, put together the favors/welcome gift bags for our guests, and just, in general, make sure everything was ready to go. All of this went smoothly. In fact, everything went smoothly right through the rehearsal dinner on Friday. Family all arrived as planned, we spent some time with each side of the family before the chaos ensued, and the rehearsal got everything lined up for the big day. We both wrote our vows and were ready to go for Saturday.

Saturday morning arrives. In an effort to make things go smoother at the reception, I decided to mess with the playlist on my iPhone (my iPhone was our DJ). This was problem #1 for the day, because in my attempt, confussion occurred and I ended up erasing a couple of the songs, but couldn’t tell which ones, and had to try to figure it out. This got me all stressed… our First Dance song was one of the ones erased (“Steady as We Go” by DMB for anyone wondering). I got things back to close to where they needed to be (IOW, made sure all the necessary songs were there), and left it alone. This was all before breakfast, mind you, and delayed breakfast for me. So I had to rush down, eat something quickly, and then meet my sister to go to the spa.

The spa was good. Nothing went wrong here. In fact, it was wonderful! Massage, mani and pedi, and then hair (32 bobby-pins and one rubber band) and make-up to finish it off. So we headed back to the hotel and I was feeling good and looking good. Granted, I had no idea what was going on back at the hotel. I came to find out later that Eric had some issues of his own, mainly with the arbor reservation. But it all ended up okay before the ceremony.

Five o’clock rolls around the photographer was due any time, and I wasn’t ready. This was my fault – I didn’t coordinate well enough with my sister and mom to have them come to my room in time. But they got there, I got dressed, and everything worked fine. Our photographer, Ralph, got there and was taking pictures and was just about to wrap up when the room phone rings. It was Eric, wanted to push up the ceremony to avoid an incoming storm.

Storm? What storm??

I looked outside, and sure enough, there were dark clouds heading in from the east. It’s good luck when it rains on you wedding day, right?? So we wait for the final call from our officiant, Danny, and when he finally did, we headed out and down the elevator. It wasn’t too early from our scheduled start time of 6pm, but I didn’t think anything of it.

We get to the ground floor and step out of the elevator and Danny was just coming in. It was pouring down raining. HEAVY rain! Well… it is FL, and they do get afternoon storms on hot/humid days. But this timing sure was off. It had better be good luck to rain on your wedding! Actually, I tried to think positive… this rain shower was going to make a kick-ass sunset for photos later!

The rain came down pretty hard for at least 15 minutes, then slowed up a bit. They weren’t sure what to do… Danny had another wedding a few miles south of us at 7pm, and it wasn’t raining there. My mom was fighting for my beach wedding as they tried to move it inside. They finally came to a compromise… give the storm until 6:25 to pass, or it would be under a covered area near the hotel’s courtyard – still outside, but not on the beach. Danny was able to get his next wedding to agree to start 15 minutes later, so we were able to wait only that long before something had to happen. This brought my mood down a bit. I wanted my beach wedding!

But would wonders never cease, the rain stopped and they were able to get things dried off and reset back on the beach . But we had to go… NOW! Thankfully, we had a small wedding, or this never could’ve happened! Much over the family we had there, this may not have been able to happen! So we were off and running – literally. I got in place to walk up down the aisle and there were still people getting back to their seats. But I finally made it to the front, and the ceremony began. Short, sweet, and perfect. I could tell Eric had be running around all stressed when I saw him… but he survived. We survived. And I got my beach wedding.

After this point, things smoothed out again. The reception was just perfect… amazing food, perfect small wedding atmosphere, and when we went out for photos during sunset, our guests were content to sit and chat while they finished their meals. And what a sunset it was! Just as I had hoped, the rain that blew through made for a spectacular sunset! Ralph was snapping away the whole time – we should have plenty of wonderful pictures to choose from for both our wall and our families’ walls!

When we were done with photos, we headed back in to cut our cake and have all the traditional dances. The cake was awesome, as to be expected from Publix. And the dances made everyone cry. There were a lot of special family moments throughout the whole celebration and made it even more special and Eric and I were both so excited that everyone who made it did… my grandmother and his grandfather were definitely special guests there as we know it’s hard for both of them to travel. But they did.

After all was said and done, everything was great. Our special day truly was very special and so many memories were made throughout the weekend. I even got some beach time with my favorite niece and nephew on Sunday before they left town. Eric and I spent the rest of our time on Longboat Key relaxing and just enjoying our time together where we could finally just take it all in without anything pending. It was nice. The whole weekend was perfect.

When I get more pictures uploaded to Fotki, I'll let everyone know... it may take awhile, though!

One Week!

I'm one week out from my wedding day. One week!!

The thoughts racing the my mind... the lists of things to do before we leave for FL, the list of things to do once we get to FL, the list of things that might go wrong... I've hit that anxious/nervous state when I'm having nightmares of everything that might go wrong. Those don't make for a good night's sleep...

One week...

And then there's all the things that I know I have to do when I come back from the wedding, including all the name change stuff and the complete move of everything to Eric's house... which may take awhile, actually. I have a lot of stuff and he still has a bit of a construction zone. But we'll deal with it.

I just can't believe how fast it's come to fruition! Time has flown by since we were engaged last December, and even faster since we set our date/location. Is it always like this?? Who knows... anyway... ONE WEEK!!!

One More Weekend in Florida...

This past weekend, Eric and I were in Florida. Again.

This one was a bit more leisurely, but we still had a few minor loose ends to tie up. Hopefully, we are done because I have no more free weekends between now and the wedding! Not to travel, at least!

I was excited because I got my beach time! Unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect day at the beach - it was REALLY windy! I'd go to stand up and a small dune would have formed along side of me! Plus, you couldn't keep your eyes open - or mouth, for that matter - or sand would quickly blind you (or give you something to chew)! I think I was chewing on sand the rest of the day! But the sun was shining and it was, otherwise, absolutely gorgeous! It just felt good to lay in the sun, listening to the waves crashing on the beach. That will always be my serene place... somewhere on a beach, laying in the sunshine, listening to the waves crash on the shore. Always has a calming effect for me...

Eric and I visited St. Armand's Circle again, as well. It's quickly becoming a favorite spot of ours... the fun shops, the nice mixture of restaurants, and there's always some sort of event going on, it seems. Which makes it always busy. But that's part of the appeal, I think.

We cut our visit a little shorter this weekend, too. Instead of our usual late afternoon/early evening flight out on Sunday, we caught a morning flight which put us back into Indy around 1pm. We came back to some pretty dreary weather, which kind of sucked after all that sunshine! I think we're ready for the wedding, though...at least I hope so!

Dress Alterations

Today I went to get my first dress fitting for my wedding dress. I went into it with caution because I've heard of how much this can cost sometimes. So I braced myself for what I thought was the worst...

Wow... that's all I can say! My thoughts of what the 'worst' could be, though not horribly off, was still under what the final bill will come to. At least, it had better be the one and only final bill!

So after that, I'm convinced the whole wedding dress alteration scene is a pure racket! I'm not sure how they can sleep at night knowing how much they charge for things for altering something only to be worn once. And my dress is simple compared to most!! I feel for anyone who might have more detailing that they have to work around when they make alterations - what kind of bill do they get? It's no wonder why more brides are buying real simple dresses off the rack at higher end department stores - no alterations, or even FREE alterations with the purchase!

Anyway... it's done. I can honestly say this was my first real sticker shock for the wedding. The rest of the list I either had no idea what to expect, so there was no shock, or things came in under what I expected. So I guess I shouldn't complain. Even with the alterations, my total cost is still pretty reasonable. But I'm convinced there's no such thing as a bargain dress out there!

A Bridal Shower

You know you're getting close the the wedding date when you have your first bridal shower. Mine was today... so yep, it's getting closer!

Lytta (future MIL), Kelly (future SIL), and Wendy (one of the bestest friend friends ever *grins*) threw me a really nice shower today, complete with beach theme! Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate on that front (a high of 59 and rainy, all day!), but we kept the theme going inside with beach towels draped everywhere and a 'beachfront' cake that Wendy made. It really put me in the beachy mood (and the Buffett mood)!

We had a nice turn out and played some fun games that kept us all laughing. Plus, there was a lot of catching up going on since it had been all winter since some of us had seen each other! It just went by too quickly!! But the warm weather is here (well, except for today, it seems) and the time for backyard get togethers is back! So there will be more time for catching up.

But "Thank You!" to those who were able to make it out! I had a good time and hope you did, too!

Getting Closer...

One great thing about planning a wedding in Florida is ‘having’ to go down to finalize plans. Oh, darn. Well, that’s what Eric and I did this past weekend. And I’m happy to say, I think all the big stuff is taken care of!

On Friday afternoon, we had a food tasting at the hotel to finalize our food selections for the reception. It was a nice surprise to be given a bottle of champagne with our samples. Woo Hoo! We hung out at the hotel for bit since we had no other commitments for the evening – only had to worry about getting some dinner later. Which we pushed back because we weren’t expecting out sampling to be so much! But it was a gorgeous evening and we watched a spectacular sunset from our balcony. But we did end up having a later dinner on St. Armands Circle. Seafood is so much better when it's fresh!!

Saturday we had a few more things to do, the first being a cake tasting at Publix. I don’t understand why anyone getting married in FL would get a cake anywhere else – they have the best cake ever! Nothing like throwing down some cake at 10am in the morning, too. But it went well and got that ordered. From there, we crossed the store to the floral department. Yup – getting my flowers there, too! Publix is known for their customer service, so I had no doubt in my mind that they’d get me what I wanted and not charge an arm and a leg for it. Nor did they push anything more on us – in fact, when I asked about some additional stuff, they recommended against it since we’re having such a small wedding. Way cool!

After that, we headed over to meet our officiant to actually meet him face to face and talk about what we wanted for our ceremony. He was very cool and easy to talk to. I have no doubt he’ll conduct a great ceremony that will make everyone happy.

Finally, after a short breather back at the hotel, we met face to face with our photographer. Again, very happy with my decision there – I’m sure we’ll get plenty of great photos of not only us, but the family, since we’re doing the family only ceremony thing.

So here we are, now, exactly two months away. I still have things to do back here in Indiana (like get my dress altered, pick out my veil/headpiece, etc.). In the meantime, Eric and I are working towards our Indy reception plans for July 31st. I think that’s going to be more stressful than the wedding!

A Sneak Peek

As you are aware, there's been a lot going on as Eric and I get ready for the wedding. We're almost there, to that point where we can take a deep breath and say, "the planning is done!" But we're not quite there yet. especially since we're doing the separate reception in Indy... that has brought on a whole slew of additional planning that pretty much has to be planned out simultaneously with the wedding. But it'll all be worth it in the end!

As far as the wedding goes, there really isn't much left in the 'Major Items' column. At least as far as booking things goes. The details have yet to be hammered out. I still have to get my dress fitted... but I'm waiting until April to do that. We have to make one more trip to FL to detail out things with venders, but I don't see that as a problem. I'm thinking the weekend after Easter for that. My gift to my groom is in the works - can't spoil it here, though, so you'll have to wait!

I will give you all this, though... a sneak peak at Eric's suit he'll be wearing. He got it tailored and finally got it back. It looks really sharp on him! Now if I can just get the rest of the family attire nailed down - it's hard to plan from afar, but so far, so good. I think. I hoping to keep it casual enough that everyone's comfortable in what they're wearing. I'll be happy if I can just tie in my color with the fathers, which Eric's dad already a bought a complimenting tie. I plan to buy one for my dad, as well, so that will help that. My sister is close to finding a dress as my MOH. (Eric's dad is his BM). So then it's left to the mothers... both of which are searching, but without much luck yet! So it's all coming together... just over three months away!

Weekend of Wedding Planning

This was a very productive wedding in terms of wedding planning. In fact, I'm quite proud of myself, and Eric!

After a brainstorm on Friday night, deciding on what to do and when, we tackled Saturday with full steam. Well, kind of... it was a little earlier than I would've liked, but I managed to hold my own. First up, we started with creating our registries. First up, Macy's! And I quickly learned why we brainstormed on our wish list the night before... because if you don't, you could be in there forever looking at things! We spent a good hour-and-a-half in the home goods looking around. One advantage to waiting to get married... between the two of you, you have all the basics! Granted, there still quite a bit out there that would be useful... but I digress. One thing I can say to other bride-to-be's out there... Macy's takes care of you when you register! I was quite surprised!

After Macy's, we hopped across the parking lot to Target (for those in the Indy Area, we made it easy on ourselves and just went to Glendale Town Center to do this). We spent another good two hours here. Seriously... SO glad we made a list the night before! Unfortunately, since the Glendale Target isn't a SuperTarget, we'll have to add more later. But actually, we'll probably have to hit both stores more later. You can't get it all in one trip.

After getting our registries set up, it was time to go suit shopping for Eric. He had been looking already and decided he wanted to buy a nice suit he could wear again. This works well since we're doing a more casual wedding - no tuxes! So we got everything picked out and bought except for the shoes - he can do that later! I meant to take a picture of all of it together, but I forgot to before I left. So maybe I'll post it later - he's going to look sharp! None the less, another thing checked off the list!

Finally, we settled back at the house to try to finalize invitations. At least get the wording drafted and narrow down our selection. Which we did. I'll probably order them tomorrow so we have plenty of time to get them! And after that. we got everything ready to send to the videographer. Another thing checked off! Yay! And lastly, since we're getting married in FL (but still want to celebrate with our friends), we picked our date for our Indy receptions. July 31st, 2010 at 5pm!! So save the date!

On Sunday, it was to be a Bride's day! I met up with Wendy and we went to a bridal show. It was a smaller one - we got through it in less than 2 hours! but it worked well for me to get some idea for the Indy reception. We have NO clue on that yet. Well, I don't. I think Eric has a few ideas on a wish list. We'll see. That's now right in line to be planned as well!

Finally, for those out there that haven't caught wind of it, we DO have a wedding website set up. Please check it out - it's ever changing as we get our details finalized! It'll be the best place to get the latest and greatest!

It's the Little Things

So in recent days, I realized that what I thought was the hard part of the wedding planning (the venue, the dress, etc.) is actually the easy part! What's hard is all the little things (relatively)... the invitations, the favors, the flowers, etc.

Eric and I started looking at all the 'little things' this past week. There are just so many options... which is what makes it hard! Then to top it off, I have one idea, and Eric has a completely different idea of what level of 'formality' we should go with. And don't get me started on color/theme! That's a whole other problem, especially when it comes to flowers! Though I think a lot of that my be my fault... turning it into something more difficult than it should be.

But I can say one thing. I have the rare fiance who, as the groom, actually wants to be very involved in the planning. He doesn't just want to 'show up' and that be his part. My only complaint is his prioritizing of things. But I guess it all needs to be done, regardless!

Shopping and Football

Another productive weekend!! Well, at least on my end.

Saturday, Wendy and I went dress shopping! Wendy got her selection narrowed down last weekend. but I was just beginning! When I walked into the first place, I was totally overwhelmed! Not sure what I was expecting... in fact, didn't know WHAT to expect! But they were very nice and explained how it worked, and I was on my way. I didn't know what I liked, what would look good on me, and only had a vague idea of what my options were. But I managed to find five dresses that would help me in my quest. I figured if nothing else, I'd figure out what I liked and didn't like!

After the first place, I started gearing up for a long day. I just wasn't thrilled with any of them, so I figured I my desires were already too specific. I had done some browsing online, but later I figured out a lot of what I was looking at were last year's trends/dresses... the 2010 dresses had come out since I bookmarked a few of the things I liked! (I can't go into specifics about what I wanted/liked on here due to the risk of Eric reading about it) None the less, I had some time to 'kill' before my next actual appointment, so we made an unscheduled stop at another store. I had much better luck here. Found more dresses than I had tags to try on that I liked, so it turned out to be a worthwhile stop! Even found one like I had seen online... in my online quest, it wasn't one of my favorites, but I was blown away when I put it on. This is why you have to see things on yourself and not trust the waif models online! But we continued on - I still had another actual appointment to get to!

The last place is where Wendy *thinks* she found her dress the previous weekend. And I found even more dresses here to try on than the last place, bringing my total to at least 20 dresses, if not more! Plus, some of these I had seen online, as well, including one of my favorites online. So we spent a good two hours trying on dresses here. Some of the dresses were easy to rule out - they weren't good for a beach wedding. But then there were others... Wendy and I found ourselves comparing them to THAT dress at the other store.

So Saturday night, I narrowed it down to my top 5 to get input from my mom and sister. I tried sending picture messages for dresses, but you just can't get the right light. So I uploaded the top 5 to one of my picture websites (we took lots of pictures of ALL the dresses along the way). I spent a half-hour discussing it with my mom and another 15 minutes with my sister. The consensus was clear... the one dresses that wowed me at the second store was it!

So Sunday morning I spent waiting for the store to open - it didn't open until 1pm! I shoveled the driveway in the meantime, which had become of little icy from the previous show that I wasn't home for (because I was dress shopping!). Finally, I went to buy it. Yep... one weekend, and I found THE dress and bought it. I'm so excited! Now I just have to get it altered, which is mainly just going to be a bit of a hem and a bustle. I've got four months to get all that done. And of course, I must accessorize, including the veil and such. So, by no means is the shopping done, but this is the major portion!

After all the excitement of the dress shopping (and buying!), it was time to watch the Super Bowl... Super Bowl XLIV, Saints and Colts! Everyone in this town seemed to think it was a sure win for the Colts, but I had a feeling it would be closer than they thought it would. And I was right. I didn't expect the Saints to win by the margin they did, but then, they were a Cinderella team of sorts. So it wasn't a bad thing - they deserved it and the City of New Orleans needed it. I can only imagine what Fat Tuesday will be like this week!

Confirmation!

YAY! We got confirmation on our date and location today! And it's what we wanted, which is the best part - no compromise on the date and location. I get to be a June bride on the beach!

We're keeping it really small and intimate - family only type small! It'll be really simple, which makes things a little easier with such a short time to plan. But having the location nailed down is the biggest piece since we're doing everything in one location (none of that crazy driving around!).

More details to come later!

One Step Closer

Well, Eric and I *think* we have a date and location picked for our wedding. At least we hope we do. We're waiting for a confirmation phone call. Which may not come until Tuesday. I hate waiting!

Regardless, it was a productive weekend. Nothing beats actually seeing things for yourself and talking face to face with the people you're working with. Once we confirm the location and date, we're half way there. That's the key component that dictates most of everything else!

But I'm not much less nervous yet. I won't be less nervous until we get things confirmed. In the meantime, my mind isn't going to settle - always thinking the worst is going happen.