Post-wedding life

I thought things were supposed to calm down after the wedding! Instead, life has been a crazy mix of writing thank-you cards, replacing our old household items with gifts from the wedding, a little househunting, and a whole lot of getting ready for Christmas. Not to mention, that whole pesky name-change thing. People get married and change their names every day, you'd think the process would be simple, but it's a pain in the behind.

Aside from the above, very little has changed between Mike and I now that we're married. I like to joke that he's stopped doing housework, but while I'm here typing up a blog entry, he's scrubbing something in the kitchen. We're just getting used to calling each other "husband" and "wife," and that's pretty much it. Everything is great, and hopefully I can get some more updates if things slow down.

And now I'm Mrs. Theresa Barcelona!

Now that I've finally got a moment to stop and post....I'M MARRIED!

The wedding went off without a hitch, it was everything we hoped it would be and more. The ceremony was lovely, the reception was a hoot, and Mike and I ended the night happy and exhausted.

At the ceremony, I cried. A lot. As I came out to walk down the aisle, apparently one of the younger kids turned to his mom and asked why I was sad. His mom replied, "Sometimes people cry when they're happy." He then asked, "But how can she make a baby if she's crying?" This is why you invite kids to weddings. :)

Speaking of kids, our two ringbearers and two flowergirls were amazingly adorable. The two ringbearers didn't make it all the way down the aisle, but boy were they dapper in their little tuxes. The two flowergirls not only made it down the aisle, but stayed with us up on the dais the entire time. Halfway through the ceremony, I looked at them and realized they were still standing, and I leaned over and told them they could sit if they wanted. They promptly sat down, and continued being quiet and adorable the rest of the ceremony.

One of our favorite parts of the ceremony involved a number of our friends and family standing up where they were sitting and reading short quotes about love. A lot of people have asked about the quotes, so here they are:

Short Quotes

1.) The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.

-Moulin Rouge

2.) The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever.

-The Notebook

3.) I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it.

-City of Angels

4.) This is true love, do you think this happens every day?

-Princess Bride

5.) You’ll learn something about men and women – the way they’re supposed to be. Caring for each other, being happy with each other, being good to each other. That’s what we call love. You’ll like that a lot.

– Captain James T. Kirk

6.) Would it make a difference if I said no one could possibly love anyone as much as I love you?

-The Butterfly Effect

7.) Love is like pi – natural, irrational, and very important.

– Lisa Hoffman

8.) My dearest friend if you don't mind, I'd like to join you by your side where we can gaze into the stars…and sit together now and forever for it is plain as anyone can see, we're simply meant to be."

-The Nightmare Before Christmas

9.) Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

– Robert Heinlein

10.) Live long and prosper.

– Spock

I'll post again soon about the reception. Anything else people wanted to know about from the ceremony?

T minus 1 day.

So the wedding is tomorrow! It's been so busy around here, the past two weeks have been filled with favors, programs, presents, and decorations. I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow, and I promise to post pictures....after the honeymoon!

T minus 17 days and counting!

So.....the wedding is 17 days away.....EEK!

I've been far too busy with, oh, wedding planning, to actually update my wedding blog. Irony, much?

Over the past nearly two months, things have really fallen together with the wedding. We've got a photographer, a florist, a DJ, and a menu. My dress is in the process of alterations, and I have my somethings old, new, borrowed, and blue all lined up. We're working on a place for the rehearsal dinner. I have shoes, jewelry, and undergarments. Favors are bought and assembled. Table assignments are assigned. Bridesmaid, flower girl, and ring bearer gifts are purchased.

The honeymoon is scheduled! Yippee! We're going to Disney for the honeymoon, and because of my dietary restrictions, we have reservations for all of our lunches and dinners. We're eating pretty much every cuisine Disney has to offer: Japanese, Italian, African, Moroccan, Hawaiian, and good old traditional American steak house. While we're in Florida, we'll be visiting Kennedy Space Center (for him) and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (her). This is Mike's first trip to Orlando, and my third (though it's been over five years since I have been to Disney, and I've never stayed AT Disney).

We're really doing surprisingly well. I feel as though I should be in "crazy bride" mode right now, but there's not a lot to be crazy about. Are we just really well prepared or am I missing something?

Bridal shower and more wedding planning

Last Sunday, my Matron of Honor, Geri, hosted a wonderful bridal shower for me! It was in Pennsylvania, at the house that she and her family moved into a week and a half before the shower. She made a beautiful food spread, along with some lovely favors. Mike's mom made a gf cake for me, and I received many wonderful gifts! Mike and I have slowly been phasing out our old things and bringing in the new stuff, and its always exciting to get to use brand new things.

The wedding itself is just over two months away, and most everything is where it should be. We've got a few things to handle in the next week or so (tastings, honeymoon planning, etc), and I've got to schedule my dress fittings soon, which means I need to get shoes ASAP! We're really looking forward to the big day, and the week of relaxation that will follow.

And Now, For a Much Postponed Update!

Hey guys! I bet you thought I forgot about you! Or was busy! Or...something. Yeah, mostly I've been being lazy since graduating. It's been a slow time with the wedding, so there's not a lot to post about, and I'm hoping some pictures from our engagement party will be posted.

Speaking of the engagement party! On June 12th, my wonderful mother and her wonderful husband hosted an engagement party for Mike and I at their home. We had a fun mix of people, including college friends, work friends, and SCA friends. My dad and his wife, Mike's parents, my sister, and one of my cousins rounded out the family side of the attendees. We had some awesome food, including mom's husband's chili (with steak and deliciousness!), gluten-free brownies, cake, and an amazing spread of finger foods. Everyone seemed to get along really well, every time I turned around it seemed like everyone was chatting with someone different. We also got some lovely (and unexpected!) gifts, though just seeing and spending time with everyone would have been more than enough.

In other wedding news, we have found our photographer. We met with Derek Morrisey from Impressions Photography (www.pickimpressions.com) at our house last week, and we really liked him and his work, and he's very affordable. It is possible, however, that he will be mistaken for my father, especially when taking pictures!

Flowers are still being figured out. The florist I went to had a price that was more than twice what we want to spend, so we have some research and thinking to do on that front.

And on an only slightly wedding related note, Mike and I went to visit our best man, matron of honor, and their one year old son this weekend. The day we got there, they found out that they are pregnant for the second time! I'm so thrilled for them, and luckily we picked a dress that will still look fabulous with a pregnant belly.

That's all for now with the wedding updates, hopefully I'll have more to post soon!

Flowers

So today, I go off to my first lone appointment. I'm headed to Danielson Flowers in Shrewsbury, MA, to have my first floral consultation. Mike is in Florida, and even if he weren't, I probably wouldn't drag him along to the initial floral visits. I'll definitely go over the information with him, but he doesn't need to sit and watch me talk about flowers.

However, this does mean that I need to prepare myself in a few ways. I need to have all the questions I want to ask in mind. I have to remember everything I need to bring (wedding binder, bridesmaid shawl, pen and paper). And I have to prepare myself to talk to someone I don't know about something I don't know much about. That is the only reason I really wish Mike were going to be there, since he's good at talking to people. Ah well.

Since this is the first appointment, it will certainly be educational. This place doesn't do pre-priced packages, which may or may not be a good thing. I'll find out what they can do, and how much they can do it for. And if it doesn't work, I'll move on. Anyway, wish me luck!

Bridesmaids and Registries and Hotels, Oh My!

Things are really starting to get rolling with the whole wedding thing! First things first, the exciting stuff...I've finally gotten my bridesmaids all lined up!

• My matron of honor is going to be Geri, whose wedding Mike and I met at. We've been friends since I lived in Vermont, and stayed close even as she moved to Pennsylvania and I moved to Rhode Island, then Massachusetts. Her husband Nick is going to be Mike's best man.

• My sister, Nikki, is going to be a bridesmaid. Though she and I had some trouble getting along when we were younger, we've gotten much closer once we stopped living under the same roof. :)
  

• Lisa, who has been a friend of our family for over 15 years, is going to be a bridesmaid. She and her husband have been a big part of my life for years, including a summer where I lived with them and worked at her high school. Mike and I consider them to be good friends.

• Last, but not least, Jana, who I met when I started working at Barnes and Noble, is going to be a bridesmaid as well. We don't get to spend as much time together as either of us would like, but hopefully that will change once school lets up!

Next up: registering! Mike and I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond on Sunday to get our registry put together. We were paired up with a bridal consultant who walked around the whole store with us, and helped come up with things we wouldn't have thought of on our own. We didn't have to pay for it, and they don't work on commission, so it was a pretty neat thing. On the downside, it did take us almost four hours, and I was hungry and tired by the end, so I wasn't on my best behavior. It's done, though, and once we go through the registry tonight to get rid of the things we don't actually want (after a while, you just start scanning EVERYTHING), we're going to update our wedding website and send out virtual save-the-dates.

Finally, we're trying to get a block set aside in the hotel that is across the street from Old Sturbridge Village. Mike called them yesterday (how awesome is he, right?) to find out what the deal was, and it turns out that if we don't book 80% of the rooms in our block, we have to pay the difference. There was a lot of "What the heck??" response on my end to that. So we're trying to figure out how many rooms to set aside, so that we have enough (they're almost completely booked for Friday night already, and we're worried people won't get rooms if our block is filled), and so that we don't have so many that we end up paying for them. Any thoughts from people who have done the "block" thing in a hotel? We would prefer not to go to another hotel, since the next closest nice hotel is a couple miles away, and the same room rate.

So next steps are save-the-dates, photographer, and florist!

Going to the Chapel...

On Sunday, Mike and I went to the Federated Church of Sturbridge. This church is minutes from Sturbridge Village, looked nice on their website, and best of all, doesn't require a year of counseling before allowing a couple to get married (since our wedding is in 8 months, this is kind of a thing).

We decided it would be a good idea to go to a Mass at the church, and luckily they had one that wasn't too early, so we headed out to Sturbridge on Sunday morning. Everyone was extremely nice, and their Mass was much less formal than Mike and I were used to, since both of us have Roman Catholic backgrounds.

The church was beautiful, and we were invited to have coffee after Mass, where we talked to a number of members of the congregation as well as the pastor. One of the people we met is a photographer, so we might have found a one-stop shop!

We're unsure about whether we are going to use their pastor or find our own officiant, but we are definitely going to have our ceremony there, and since that's settled, we are going to Sturbridge Village on Saturday to sign our contract. Once that's done, we'll really have to get our butts in gear with save-the-dates and all that good stuff.

Bridesmaids, Dresses, and Veils

Last night, I went to David's Bridal with my mom, my sister Niki, and two friends (Jana and Lisa). I had gone and tried on a bunch of dresses and narrowed them down to four, this trip was to get opinions on the dresses and mostly to get the bridesmaids into dresses.

I had prepared for this trip by going through one of the D.B. publications and circling every dress I thought I might like, as well as the colors that stood out to me.

Jana and Niki were awesomely patient, trying on every dress the consultant brought over, and putting up with my reactions to the dresses. Lisa lucked out, getting stuck in traffic and arriving once we had pretty much made a decision, and only had to try on a few dresses. My mom, as any of you familiar with her well know, does NOT like shopping. She took on the "keep it moving" role. We didn't like it, she sent the girls back into the dressing room. She even tried to chase down another consultant who accidentally stole our book.

We narrowed it down to two dresses, and after looking at the colors, we've pretty much decided which dress and color, I just want to get my other bridesmaid (who lives in PA) to try it on and give her stamp of approval.

After the girls were done, it was my turn. As I tried on the dresses, I knocked each one out of the running. Finally, I put on the last dress, and let's be honest, I knew that this was the one. It was the first dress I tried on the first time I came in to D.B., and it was still the one I loved. I showed the girls and my mom, and they gave their approval. My mom said, "Why did you need us here? You already knew." That's my mom for you. They helped me pick out a veil, and I bought the dress and veil! I'm so pleased to have this taken care of, things are going smoothly so far.

Next up: Choosing invitations.

A Story About My Fiancé; or, How We Got Our Reception Site

As is often the case, it would seem that I spoke (or wrote) too soon when I posted about the continued reception site search.

Mike called the woman we met with at OSV (as Old Sturbridge Village will henceforth be known) on Friday. He told her that we had thought about it, and decided that we really couldn't manage to have our wedding before the end of April. He went on to tell her how much we loved the place, and how we really wanted to get married there, but that we just couldn't afford their regular price. He asked her if there was any way they could give us that price for November, and after a short check with her boss, she said yes!

So we're looking at the two dates they've offered us in November, and we will shortly be setting a date! I'm so excited, and yet again feeling very lucky to have Mike.

And the search continues...

Time for a little update.

A couple weeks ago, Mike and I went out to two potential reception venues to decide if we liked either of them enough to move forward to setting a date.

The first place we went was The Publick House in Sturbridge, MA. It was nice, and the woman there was nice, but we decided it wasn't really what we were looking for. We also crunched the numbers when we got home, and it is also more than we are looking to spend.

After The Publick House (and a stop at a diner for a late breakfast, since we were running early for our next appointment), we went to Olde Sturbridge Village. Unfortunately, it was terrible weather for a visit, since it was cold and extremely windy. We loved OSV, particularly the reception area. They have an on-site ceremony hall, which is nice, but not quite what we had been thinking of. This would probably be our ideal site, except that we can't afford their normal per plate price, and their seasonal discount that we can afford is only good until the end of April. We thought about it, and after much debate decided that given how hectic our lives are right now, and how many things are already scheduled during that time, that it would be crazy for us to try to pull off an April wedding.

So we are going to keep looking. We have a couple of appointments set up for the next few weeks, but given my schedule (two weeknights of school, two weeknights of work, one weeknight of internship, as well as four weekdays of school and/or internship), finding time to visit potential venues is tough. We're soldiering on, and I'll be sure to update as we have more news!

To Party or Not To Party

I've been tossing this thought around in my head a while, and I finally put it up on Facebook last night to find out what some of my friends think. Is a bridal shower truly necessary?

Responses ran the gamut, from "YES, PRESENTS!!!!" to "Do whatever makes you and your sweetie happy," and from "No, but daily showers are," to "We/I didn't have one." (all responses paraphrased)

My real reasoning against bridal showers (and kind of against engagement parties, but that's a horse of a slightly different color) is actually that I don't want more presents. Maybe it is a symptom of being young and just on this side of financial comfort, but I don't want to put my friends and family in a place where they feel obligated to spend more and more money on me. Engagement party, bridal shower, bachelorette party, and then the wedding itself. Presents, travel, lodging, clothing, on and on. I don't want my celebration to turn into a burden for others.

On the engagement party thought, I've decided that an engagement party (or possibly two, to accommodate our MA and PA/NJ contingents) can be arranged such that gifts are not expected. It's apparently not appropriate to write on the invite "No gifts please," but I'm sure that through word of mouth or how we word invitations, we can get it across.

What are your thoughts on presents/parties/etc?

Say "Yes" To The Dress

So this Friday, I have my first appointment to try on wedding dresses. I've started to look at some, and I'm kind of at a loss to what I really want. I like the idea of strapless, but I don't like the idea of yanking up a dress that is falling down all night. I like halter tops. I don't want anything too fancy, but I'm not sure if I want a completely plain dress either. Much like venues, there are just so many options!

I printed out pictures of a couple dresses that I like, and I'll bring those along with me, and hopefully a friend of mine is coming along (I planned poorly, and scheduled the appointment at a time when most people can't make it), and maybe these things plus a knowledgeable sales person will give me some guidance.

Bridesmaid dresses are also something I've been thinking about, since I've got to pick those out soon too. I like the idea of a tea-length dress. I'm unsure about whether I want everyone to wear the same dress, or if I just want same color and bridesmaids to pick out a dress that suits them at the appropriate length. I also have to figure out color, which will hopefully come once we decide on a venue. So many choices!

Finding a Venue

One of the most challenging things so far about planning a wedding has been trying to narrow down the choice of venue for the reception. Since we are trying to keep to a budget, that knocks a number of venues off our list, but there are still so many! Hotels, restaurants, golf clubs, halls, the list goes on. And though we are in Massachusetts, it's so easy to travel to other states in New England that a wedding in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, or even New York is not really out of the question.

I've been trying to narrow some of these things down, despite not really knowing what type of wedding I want or can afford. Mike and I went to a wedding expo yesterday, and that sort of helped.

There are a few places that we like and think we can afford, so we're going to try to visit them, and figure out if we love or hate any of them. This is our (current) short list:

Blissful Meadows Golf Club (Uxbridge, MA)
Publick House Historic Inn (Sturbridge, MA)
Old Sturbridge Village (Sturbridge, MA)
Colonial Hotel (Gardner, MA)

I'm Getting Married!

Hi internet! I'm Theresa (which you probably know if you've come here), and I'm getting married! No, I don't know when. I will, soon (hopefully), but there are a lot of decisions to be made to get that date set.

My fiance, Mike, and I got engaged on December 28, 2009, in the company of our friends Nick and Geri, whose wedding we met at. We've been together for about 2 1/2 years, and we're hoping to get married sometime in 2010.

What's that? You want to see the ring? Well, okay, twist my arm...



Beautiful, right? The large diamond has been in Mike's family since 1923, it was a 16th birthday present for his great-great aunt. It means a lot to be able to wear this part of his family's history.

So, this blog will be my place to talk about wedding planning without annoying my Facebook, Twitter, or LiveJournal friends too much. :) So much to talk about! I can't wait to get started.