Party Pictures

Here are the engagement party pictures, courtesy of my amazing mom!

What Is...?

My bridesmaid, Jessica, made a wedding version of Jeopardy for our engagement party for the wedding party to play. It was actually a lot of fun (we played girls versus boys) and I loved the actual game! I took a picture to share on here. I'll put up some of the questions once I get the game from my parents' house. (We had too much to bring home so we couldn't fit the game in our car.)

Have a look!

The Day After

Never forget 9/11/01

The engagement party was great! We had a really great time and there were quite a few people there. My family, as always, made a TON of food and everyone loved it! We also had way too much alcohol; my grandfather left drunk last night throwing the out the F-bomb every other word.

One of my bridesmaids, Jessica, made a Jeopardy game that the wedding party played. It was a lot of fun and everyone playing was a good sport. Almost all of our wedding party was there with the exception of three groomsmen (one in North Carolina, another forced to work, and the third just MIA). I'll be sure to put up pictures that my mom took whenever she gets them up on Facebook.

Sadly, one of my bridesmaids is going through a really tough time and has realized that she can't be a bridesmaid. I understand her problems are serious and so I have excused her from her duties, with love and sympathy, and have replaced her with a good friend from the Gap I work at now: Shannon!

Matt and I are now back at home, about to update my scrapbook and start thank yous for the gifts we received.

Celebrating Us

My parents (well, my mom really) decided to throw an engagement party for my fiance and I. Of course, we were engaged in March, but my family is always fashionably late. So mom sent out the invitations (that I ordered from Vistaprint, I love them!) and the party is set for next Saturday, the 10th. I'm really excited about having everyone together for the first time! Not only will our families be there, but most of the bridal party is coming as well. A lot of them don't know one another so it will be their first time meeting one another. Plus, it'll be a good way to break the ice. These are the details that I have helped my mom plan:

• For food we decided to do just appetizers and snacky foods and, of course, desserts. My family loves food and we always have a ton of food at parties. Usually people end up eating too many appetizers and then no one has room for dinner, so we figured we would just skip dinner and go to dessert. (Sounds good to me!) Of course, we still planned a large menu, with plenty of booze, but at least there won't be a second course.
• My mom decided that she wants to do games. (I'm still a little unsure, but I figured we'd see how they went.) Jess, one of my bridesmaids, is helping Mom with this by doing either a Newlywed or Jeopardy-type game. I think my mom is also doing a question based game where people have to guess whose paper they have based on the answers. I'll let you know how the games go over, especially with the males.

I think that's all that's really been planned, not that there is much else to do. I'll let you know next week how it goes!

The invitation for the engagement party

It's Never Too Late

Apparently I have decided to really venture into blogging.

My fiance, Matt, and I got engaged in March of this year and we have already started planning the wedding. I think I'm driving most everyone around me (especially Matt) nuts with the planning details. So to get them out, I'll post to the entire world. Not only that, but I'm hoping that I can help future brides with their planning. (I've been contemplating becoming a wedding planner...after my wedding.)

Here's a rundown of the wedding so far:

• We picked our ceremony and reception venues (not the same place): St. Dominic Chapel at Providence College for the ceremony and the Providence Biltmore for the reception. As to picking a college's chapel: Matt graduated from PC in 2009 and he absolutely loves the school. He was their mascot (the Friar) for two years and has held basketball season tickets for since he was a freshman. We live in Rhode Island now and plan on staying here and I wanted to include some aspect of PC in the wedding. (I refused to let the Friar attend the wedding.) In addition, we don't belong to a church here and we want a Catholic ceremony. Thus, we agreed on St. Dominic Chapel. As for the Biltmore, we spent our first anniversary there and I absolutely love the hotel. It's a vintage, 1920s hotel with a penthouse level ballroom that has exquisite views of the city. It was a given...and love at first sight.
• We decided on wedding colors, well I decided on them and Matt agreed. We are doing mainly black and white with rainbow accents. Sound tacky? It's not, I promise. The bridesmaids will wear black dresses and each will have an accent color (my maid of honor with have red, the next bridesmaid will have orange, etc. down to my flower girl in pink) and the groomsmen will wear corresponding vests and ties. However, most of the decor will be black and white.
• We have recruited our wedding party! Here's the final roll call:
• Maid of Honor: Juliana, my friend and roommate from college
• Bridesmaids:
• Jess, a former coworker and close friend
• Cristina, another friend and roommate from college
• Margaret, a friend from high school
• Junior Bridesmaids:
• Nicole, Matt's 15-year-old sister
• Hannah, my 10-year-old sister
• Flower Girl: Olivia, my 5-year-old sister
• Best Man: Nick T, Matt's friend and roommate from college
• Groomsmen:
• Ryan, another of Matt's friends from college
• Nick C, a mutual friend that I went to college with
• Lars, a mutual friend that I went to high school with
• Rich, another mutual friend that I went to college with
• Junior Groomsman: Devon, my soon-to-be 13-year-old brother
• Ring Bearer: Cole, my 5-year-old cousin
• We have sent out our save-the-dates! We are doing all of our stationary through Vistaprint. They are AMAZING, especially for those brides (like myself) not willing to spend thousands of dollars on invitations and the like.
• We have found our photographer, dj, and officiant (the college doesn't provide one)!
• Jess Warzoha, a friend from college, is doing our photography! She does a great job and has already had some great offers (including shooting Drake's CD release)! I'm so excited to work with her, starting next Saturday with our engagement photos!
• We're using Living Reel Productions for our music at the wedding! Eric is very professional, cooperative, and helpful! He's already done a great job and, an added bonus, doesn't cost an arm and a leg!
• Our officiant is one of Matt's former professors from PC (they're a Catholic school), Father Albino Barrera. We've had an initial meeting with him and I really like him! He's easy to listen to so our guests won't fall asleep, hopefully!
• My parents have planned an engagement party for Matt and I next Saturday at their house! Most of the wedding party will be attending as well as close friends and family from both sides. Of course all of these people are also invited to the wedding, so no hard feelings yet!
• Our guest list has been started and agreed upon! A HUGE part of the planning, and a huge headache for many couples, we got an early start. We started by listing our family and friends that we both wanted, then asked our parents for additional guests. Luckily, our parents are all easy-going so it wasn't very dramatic or painful.

I think that's all that has been done so far that's finalized. I will update my completed list as the months race by!

I am so excited about marrying Matt! I'm just hoping I don't drive everyone around me crazy with the details.

Some pictures!

St. Dominic Chapel

The Providence Biltmore

Our save-the-dates (with our last names blacked out)