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The Wedding Day

The day started off with the girls getting their hair done. It didn't take that long. Everyone was able to do whatever they wanted and the stylist were able to pull off some great work. I was very impressed-everyone looked fantastic. Erin brought a fake hair piece to use on herself but ended up not using it and then offered it to me. It matched my hair perfectly and really added some volume-which I don't have. Olaf ended up loading all my photos from the wedding day onto his hard drive so I don't have anything to post for pictures yet. I also do not have my professional photos yet. I will add photos when I get them.

After the hair dos we went to the hall. Some of the girls headed over early and started setting up. By the time I got there most of the stuff was already set. Jessie did a great job on the flower arrangements-they were beautiful. Having the black napkins to break up the all white table cloths really looked nice also. We had about a half hour to get ready for photos. We all crammed into the bathroom and became really close fast. We took a few individual photos while we waited for all the girls to be done. Once everyone was done we took the girl group photos. We headed outside and took some there. Outside were two shiny silver and red Corvettes. They belonged to the owner and his son. Since the girls were in black and I was in white we went with the stand out red car. I can't wait to see these photos! A car would drive up and the girls would all scream for me to take cover in case it was Jon (who didn't want to see me before the wedding). When we were done we went into the "office" for K&J. It was the boys' turn. I haven't seen any of these and don't really know what kind of poses they even did.

The girls and I waited in the office until almost right before the start of the ceremony-then we headed out the kitchen and came around to the back door. We were going over the essential wedding stuff; something old=my bracelet was from high school prom, something new=dress, something borrowed-this stumped us until Erin yelled "MY HAIR!", something blue=my hankie tucked into my cleavage.

The officiant was supposed to be there at 3:30 to go over the ceremony. 5 min before the ceremony was supposed to start-he showed up. I was not a happy bride, but at least he was there. I had the entire ceremony outlined and had what he had to say word for word typed out. We gave him our vows and asked that he feed us the lines. We asked if he needed us to write our names on them so he knew whose was whose. He said he was fine. When the ceremony started he was not fine. He read the outlined ceremony word for word-straight through to the end. He skipped over Margaret and Jadah doing readings and then fed us our lines 2-3 words at a time. I'm surprised anyone even understood what we were saying. He almost pronounced us before I looked at him and between gritting teeth said, UNITY-GET OUT OF THE WAY. Seriously, he skipped over the part in the outline that said Unity Sand. He pronounced us, we headed out. Started gathering for the receiving line and he came over to congratulate us. I didn't want to shake his hand. Everyone backed away as I voiced my concern about how he performed. I asked for my check back and he gave it back. I would have also liked my other payment back, but he did show up and when we returned from the honeymoon we already had the official license in the mail.

The rest of the night went smoothly. Margaret and Jadah had decided pretty much as soon as they were skipped by the officiant that they would do their readings during the dinner before the toasts. They each added a little something at the end that of course got me teary. Dinner was great-the plates were kind of small so I didn't get a chance to eat some of the items. My mom brought home all the leftovers and froze them, so we had them when we returned on Sunday and for the past two days. Jon had Monday and Tuesday of this week off so dinner has been pretty easy for him with leftovers. There was lots of dancing and drinking (videos will come later also)-I hope everyone had a blast because we had so much fun we ended up leaving earlier than expected. Around 10pm Mike drove us to our honeymoon hotel next to the airport. The beds were smaller than our one at home, so funny thing, our wedding night we slept in separate beds.

Next posts will be the honeymoon-one day at a time...

**there are too many photos for blogging. To see wedding photos go to facebook or myspace.

Catch Up

So it was a busy few days leading up to the wedding day so I didn't get a chance to write about the rehearsal, dinner, and Fogo.

We had rehearsal on Thursday October 30 because many of our friends are first time parents and we thought it would be nice for them to enjoy that first moment with their kiddies. When we showed up for rehearsal I noticed a couple people in costume. I didn't think much of it because I saw the same outfits on facebook-I just figured they were coming from a party or going to one. Then others showed up in more elaborate costumes. Mike and Margaret were a couple of playing cards. Everyone had conspired about this for quite some time via email. Since my parents email was not working, they didn't get the memo. Knute had just came back from Amsterdam so he had a good excuse for not dressing up.

We got into the hall a little late, but everyone was great and we were able to run through the ceremony a couple times with the music. Then we were off to the Machine Shed for dinner. Everyone had fun and plenty to eat.

On Friday I went to Midway Party Rental and picked up the napkins. Then I headed to a few other stops. We were meeting a group for lunch at Fogo. Olaf, Mike and Dave met us there. Jodi and Brian came to our house and we rode together. It was the first time for Jodi, Brian and Dave. I think they enjoyed themselves. About an hour after we got done eating Jodi's parents called and asked if she would be ready for dinner-way too full. It is a meat smorgisboard.

After lunch Jodi helped me get last minute stuff for the wedding. Then we headed to her brother's house to go trick-o-treating. When done she took me to the hotel. There was a hand off with Tamara-who spent the night with me. I was so wound up that I couldn't sleep and just wanted to keep talking. She finally said, if we go to bed now we'll get this amount of sleep. I still ended up waking up before the alarm...nerves/excitement.

Next up...the wedding day!

Counting down...

we are down to less than week.
I had my trial run for hair, and a makeup consultation.
Turned in my dress to be pressed.
Margaret bought a serving set for the cake cutting.
I bought a vase/container at World Market for our Unity ceremony. Anyone that knows me knows I am a do it yourselfer. We went to Things Remembered and they said the mouth of the vase was too large for them to be able to etch on it. So we went to Michaels and I bought the stuff to do it myself.
Jon is having his bachelor party on Thursday after the rehearsal dinner, so I am helping clean the Moritz house tomorrow. I also need to pick up the serving set from being engraved.
Just about everyone has rsvpd (thank you), so Sunday we are going to go through who is sitting at which tables. Not so much in each seat just at each table.
Jon and I are going to pick up the rings on Sunday and I am getting my nails done.
Monday I have to give the final count to K&J.
After that we just need to pack for the honeymoon and do the last minute stuff like stopping the mail and turning in our absentee ballots. Can't forget to vote!

Engagement Celebration

The party was a lot of fun. It was a great time for everyone to meet the wedding party and the other families before the actual wedding. Thank you everyone that was able to come.

Wedding flowers

Yesterday Jess, Jadah, Margaret and I went to the hall to see what was needed for flowers. Not much is needed except the centerpieces. We started by meeting Jess at her work-she works in the floral department and does a lot of weddings. Since getting our dresses she has been thinking about the style, colors and came up with a beautiful yet simple bouquet.

The bouquet shown is not exactly what she put together-it has a few more flowers in it than we will. Ours will also have banana leaves surrounding it for the punch of green.

The boutonnieres will look similar to the ones below.

Dress Shopping

4 of the 5 girls, plus Jodi's mom, Nate and Olaf met at David's Bridal in Oakdale. The first dress I tried on not good, second one I liked but decided to try on a few more just to be sure I liked it. Nothing could compare. No alterations needed unless I lose a little in the bust or waist area. It was unanimous with everyone there-even the guys (that's why they were there). The guys were giving honest opinions to the girls and me on all the various dresses. We all found what we were looking for. Here is your quiz:
A.

B.

C.

D.

Or E. None of the Above. -remember Jon still reads this blog :)

The girls had fun trying on dresses too!

Wedding update

I haven't done a lot on the wedding front lately. There has been a lot of web surfing. I am currently trying to get addresses for the invitations. I have the invites and all the stuff to make them, but haven't had the time or energy to start putting them together.

I hope to go dress shopping at the end of the month. With the web surfing I have come across some dresses on ebay that can be made to your measurements. I am thinking I may just try on dresses for their style and then look online. Jodi comes into town that weekend and with everyone else local I was hoping to get everyone to come so they can look for their dresses also.

I have yet to talk to the guy at work about photography.
We haven't looked into an officiant either.
These are a few of the things that I have been most nervous about getting done-dress, invites, photography, officiant. Everything else seems taken care of.
I haven't shopped for flowers yet either, but once Jess is free I'm sure that won't be difficult.

Photos are in!

We received both sets of photos that were taken through my work for the invitations and announcement. I like one better than the other. Now that we have the photos I can get started on the invitations. I wish I had the photos scanned so I could put them up-I guess you'll just have to wait to get your invite!

Itching for Wedding

Since going to Jenni's wedding I have been thinking about our wedding quite a bit more. Now that the house is getting near complete on the top level, I have started to think more about things on the wedding front. I am getting more excited to look at dresses and look at flowers. Jess is still in school-working very hard on many final papers, so the flowers thing isn't going to be for a few more weeks. Dress shopping I wanted to have Jodi there so it may not be until this summer (maybe June since she will be here for the Twins/Brewers game). Jon and I are getting a photo taken this weekend through my work that hopefully we can use for our invitations and announcement.

Free Bread! (and other random thoughts)

I came home from work with a huge headache but I tried to take a nap because we had an appointment with Kurt at K & J catering this evening at 6:30. We created the menu for the big day and also gave him our questions on what we can expect from them. He had asked us if we had found a cake yet, Carrie said no and he recommended Dorothy Ann Bakery and pointed behind us where there were a large assortment of business cards. After we had received our quote for the hall and food, Carrie started looking at the business cards and noticed a post card sized one for Dorothy Ann Bakery. It said they were having wedding cake sampling and consultations from 5 to 8 on the 21st. So we hurried down there to try their cake. On the first bite my headache finally started to release its grip. Lets just say that we have an order for the 1st of November (the cake flavors that we picked will not be released until the day of the wedding. NO EXCEPTIONS!).

The bakery "sweetened" the deal by giving us a free loaf of bread.

CAKE!

We had cake tasting today. We went to Keys Cafe in Woodbury. It was good cake. I am more a cheesecake person, so this was really Jon's call. He liked the chocolate the best. Our budget is not allowing for a fancy tiered cake, so we would have to go with two sheet cakes-one white, one chocolate. We are thinking there will be more testing down the road. I'll take more suggestions. Jessie suggested a place in Hudson, I think we will look into that one also.

Ceremony/Reception

It's two in one. What a deal!

Check list

Date...check
Choose bridesmaids/groomsmen...check
Ceremony site...check
Reception hall...check
Caterer...check
Invitations...partial check
Book honeymoon...check

Decisions

I feel like I am going very fast with planning. Jon and I are going to see the caterer tomorrow, that will also be the site for the ceremony and reception. Once this is set, we can do the invitations, book the officiant, dj, and photographer. We are going to make our own invitations using a service in Stillwater. I have a lot of it already planned out, it's just a matter of follow through at this point. I know what I want I just have to find it, buy it, make it or book it.

The Proposal

Friday I went to art class with Jodi. We thought the boys were just playing video games while we were working. Not so much. When we got home Jodi and Brian had to go to birthing class, so Jon and I were going to go to dinner. Jon wanted to stop at the hotel to drop something off. When we walked in there were these beautiful flowers. Then he said to go in the bedroom. I had to walk across the room to turn on the light. When I turned around, on the bed was a bouquet of roses and then I looked and Jon and he was down on one knee. He asked me to marry him and I said yes. Then he told me to sit down because I looked weak in the knees. Honestly I was, but I also couldn't sit still either. I started calling as many people that I had numbers for saved in my phone. His parents knew because they were hiding the ring. My parents knew because he went and asked for their blessing (which they gave). After all my calls we went to dinner at Mi Cosina. I love this restaurant. We went to Target and I bought 2 wedding magazines. Then we met up with Jodi and Brian again. Jodi helped me go through the mags cutting out ideas. Jon is so hands on with the whole wedding planning. I love it. A lot of the ideas for music, attire, location have all come from him. He even thought of this-he got some bath stuff from Target and an extra bag of rose petals and then put this together.Stay tuned for more details...

How It All Started

Jon and I first met at Jodi and Brian's wedding. They actually paired us up together to walk down the aisle. Nothing more really came of that. Jon said he was interested at the time, but knew that I was with someone so he didn't pursue. I ended up getting married.

Four years later, and 7 months ago, I was separated from ex and had an extra ticket for a work banquet. As I'm walking around an exhibit at work I get a call from Jodi. Jon had gone on my myspace page and saw that my status had changed to divorced. He text messaged Jodi 20 times asking questions about me. He finally asked her if he could have my number to call me. Jodi called me and asked if it was okay. I said sure. I didn't know why he would be so interested. I talked to him on the way home and then we chatted online for hours. A few days later I asked Jodi if she thought he would want to go to this dinner with me. She said to ask-so I did-he accepted. We met up at the Hilton. He came to dinner with me and then we headed back to the hotel. It was a very nice evening.