Next up: Photographer

Just an update - we finally did hear back from Prep and we have confirmation for June 21, 2008 at 5pm. I also have sent off the deposit for the Westin Grand. So I'm happy to say that the church, reception location and dress are taken care of! I love lists so I'm excited I was able to cross those things off.

I've decided that I'm going to focus on one aspect of the wedding per week. This week on our list of to-dos is finding and narrowing down our list of possible photographers! Monday night Ian and I went through the Washingtonian Weddings site and emailed almost every photographer listed to get rates and look at their websites. It's a great resource although it also means that typically the vendors are quite expensive. But I'm fine with that for this vendor because photography is our one splurge item - we will hire who we like the most.

I have just started getting into blogs on The Knot and have decided that the DJ we already met with is overly priced - by quite a bit. I think this is one area we can try to go way under budget. If you've been to any weddings recently with a great DJ, let me know!

Found THE Dress

I'm very excited to have found THE dress:) I cannot post pictures but Stacy and Kim I will email you pictures! I found it at Distinctive Designs and fell in love with it. Lewis, my brother's gf Brianna and my mom were with me. After we put the deposit on it and purchased the veil and slip, I went home and started panicking thinking "But what if this isn't the right dress - what if when it comes in, it looks horrible on me?" and so on and so on. I think this is a fairly common fear so I just have to have faith that the bridal shop measured correctly and that everything comes in beautifully. Now I can cross that off my list:)

My grandfather was honored at Georgetown Prep on Friday night - it was quite a lovely event. Seated at our table was our priest who's going to marry us. It was the first time we met him and he's amazing! He is the sweetest man and jokes around a ton. We also sat with a faculty member for Prep who told us that he will track down the man at Prep that we're waiting to hear from about the church. All in all, it was a great event and was fantastic to touch base with some more contacts there.

We went to consult with a DJ yesterday at Absolute Entertainment. After sitting to chat with us about our music preferences, he did a 15 minute demo of the types of music he envisions for our cocktail hour, dinner hour and dance/party time hours. There was not one song he played that we didn't love. He really got a feel for the type of music we like, and what type of wedding we're going for. Loved him! We will shop around a little more to find out some other prices for DJs. What is appropriate for 6 hours?

We went to a newer restaurant in Potomac on Saturday night, Bezu, and loved it! My brother took us there to celebrate our engagement. It has an asian-french fusion cuisine and a cool little atmosphere. I would highly recommend checking it out!

How was everyone's weekend?

Slightly Nervous

I emailed our ceremony location on Monday confirming that we're going with the 21st and asking them to send me the contract so I can send them our deposit. As of yesterday, I still hadn't gotten a response. I called and left the guy a message yesterday. He emailed me with this:

Katie,
One thing about Prep is that things do not happen quickly. Netither date has been approved yet. Although you have a hold on both of them, I am waiting confirmation. I will let you know as soon as that comes through.
Thanks for your patience

Say what?? What exactly does that mean? I thought the only approval we needed was from a Catholic organization in DC, which we already have. I quickly emailed him back stating my confusion. I waited until an hour after I knew he'd be done with class before I called him - no answer, so I left a nice message just asking for clarification.

Finally this morning, I get a call. He said he has to verify with the building and maintenance staff that we're good to go on our date. My question is, why would he have given us that as an option if he didn't know? To make matters worse, he said that this can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. I explained that we have until Wednesday to put our deposit down on the reception site before we forfeit that date. We don't have weeks! And if we don't get Prep, we are having the wedding in Baltimore - so I can't even assume that I'll have the ceremony in DC and still use the Westin Grand. He is hoping to get back to me today or Monday at the latest. Stressing about this at the moment!

Okay enough venting - onto more fun things. My brother and his girlfriend are coming into town this weekend and staying with us. We have a pretty big event tonight at Prep, as my grandfather is being inducted into their first ever hall of fame as the 2nd inductee! We have cocktails at 6 and dinner and awards from 7-12. It's a very exciting event for our family!

Tomorrow morning I am going to Distinctive Designs tomorrow morning. A fun fact about this store is that Sandy, the owner, was the 1st runner up on The Apprentice! She was super sweet on the phone. I am also going to I Do, I Do which is a consignment shop, but that also carries brand new dresses. I was a little sketched out about going there until I heard that several young brides from the neighborhood I grew up in got their designer dresses from there for about 1/8 of the regular price. Score! Hopefully we'll have some great luck tomorrow. Sunday, we're going to Absolute Entertainment in Baltimore to meet with a DJ candidate. This is the only DJ company in the Baltimore/DC area that does demos for the bride and groom. They feel that just as couples get to have tastings, and trials and meet face-to-face with possible vendors for every other aspect of the wedding, the couple should have the same treatment for their music. I spoke with the guy yesterday and I loved him! Super sweet and totally enthusiastic! And when hearing that Ian is from England, his response was "Omigosh if he has an English accent I will LOVE him". I think he might try to steal my future hubby!

First Bad Experience

Last night's dress shopping did not turn out as fun as Saturday was. The woman that helped me at the store is the owner and was not the nicest to say the least!!! I started out by talking to her about previous dresses I've tried, what I've liked, disliked, and what I'm staying away from altogether. She informs me that she has THE perfect dress for me - I'm scepticle at this point since I've barely met the woman. She shows me a lace dress that was NOT my style (over the top and basically older looking), I responded that it was a lovely dress but not for me - her response "it's a beautiful dress - I think you need to try it on to see". I said - nope. So we went onto the next dress - I explained that there was a part of it that I didn't like, she had the exact same response - that I need to try it on to see. At this point, I said "I'm really sorry - I am going to be blunt and if I don't like a dress, it doesn't mean the dress is horrible, it just means it's not right for me." She got offended and said for me and my mom to just pick out the dresses and let her know when we're ready. We were only allowed to pick out 5 dresses and then supposedly based on what I liked or disliked based on those dresses, she would go out and find THE PERFECT dress for me. I had my doubts.

One of the first 5 dresses I tried on, she said "ohh this is flattering on you - it accentuates your small waist and hides the bad part" as she points to my hips. NICE! I will be the first to admit that I carry my weight in my hips/butt, etc. But to point it out and call it bad?! She had me in a bad mood from the moment I walked in! I then put on another dress and she told me right away that it doesn't look nice because it doesn't hide the "big part". Thanks lady.

Bridget and my mom were picking out other dresses for me to try - and the woman actually fussed at Bridget and told her to stop picking out dresses for me to try because I already had two that I liked. Correction - I had two that were pretty but that I would never buy - I didn't LOVE either of them. My mom told the woman that I didn't have a dress I loved yet, and the woman said "getting more dresses will just confuse her".

As most females know, once you hate the situation or environment you're in, it's very hard to love anything you try on. I could've tried on the exact same dresses from Saturday's dress shopping that I loved and probably would've hated it last night because of the environment and the way I was being treated. The last dress I tried on was quite beautiful - and Bridget and my mom loved it on me . But I am walking away from it because I can't even see the dress for what it is at that shop! And it turns out, I can't find the dress elsewhere because it was made exclusively for this shop (by a dressmaker in the area).

I've called another store in Bethesda, Promise for the Savvy Bride, and made an appointment during lunchtime next Wednesday. I'm hoping to have better luck there. It's disappointing that the woman had to be so rude last night especially because the dresses were way under my budget! But I just firmly believe that I should at least like the person I'm going to be working with since I have to see the person several times and I want to be so excited every time I go. Something will fall into place!

Reception Details

Just and update - I spoke with our wedding coordinator at the Westin Grand today and we are officially booking it this week. Very excited!! Here is information for everyone. We are blocking 25 rooms to start with. Book them as soon as possible! Then we can always add more to the block. Rooms are anywhere from $159-$179 (depending on what I'm able to negotiate). The ceremony is at 5:00pm, and the reception will follow at the Westin at 7:00pm. There will be one hour of open bar for the cocktail hour, then an hour of wine service during dinner, and then 3-4 hours of dancing and open bar afterwards. We are trying to work out a way for a bus to pick up all of our guests staying at the hotel to drive them to the ceremony and back - I'll update you as we figure out those details. We are having three options offered for dinner - one of them is a vegetarian option. Okay that's all I have about that for now:)

Today's post isn't that exciting - but as we get more things accomplished I'll have more pictures and hopefully more exciting news.

I think we've persuaded Ian to do a guest post one of these days. I think the topic is going to be wedding song choices for our first dance - he wants people to vote or something like that.

Going to look at dresses tonight after work - I am pumped up to find THE dress! Wish me luck:)

The Verdict is in

We've decided on the Westin Grand. I am sooo excited:) I called the event coordinator today and left her a message. She's not in today so I'm sure I'll hear from her tomorrow and then we'll go sign whatever we need to later this week. So - the official date is June 21, 2008. Now that that's settled, I can move onto the more fun planning details.

On Saturday, I went to try on dresses at Hitched with my mom and Sarah. We had a blast. I found 4 dresses that I fell in love with but I can't post pictures because the boy reads this. So I will just say that the dresses were Kenneth Pool and Judd Waddell designs. We had the best time and loved the girl, Sasha, we worked with. However, when I asked for the prices I soon realized that none of the dresses I loved will end up being THE dress simply because of their prices. The cheapest dress out of the 4 dresses is $4200. I knew the shop was in Georgetown so I was somewhat expecting this enormous price. But honestly, I can't justify spending that much on a dress I will wear once. I will continute looking tomorrow night at Bridal Images in Rockville with Bridget and my mom.

Saturday night we had a lovely dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Twink at the Ambassador Dining Room in Baltimore. I LOVED this indian restaurant. I had been hearing Ian rave about this restaurant since I've met him. We had great wine and fantastic company! We love those two. And on top of it, their enthusiasm for our wedding is sweet!

Yesterday, Ian and I took our moms to a cake tasting at Creative Cakes. We decided we like the vanilla and butterum flavors. Although they didn't have an fillings to try so I think we still might have to inquire into that. We also took both of our moms by the Westin and they both loved it! Hopefully, our guests will too!

After we sign everything for the Westin, next on my list to tackle are the Save-the-Date cards, booking our photographer/videographer, finding and ordering my dress and my bridesmaid dresses.

How was everyone's weekend?

Decisions, Decisions!

We have some big decisions to make this weekend! We visited 5 different locations yesterday. We ruled out 3 places - Hotel Palomar, Zola, and Hilton. Hotel Palomar was quite beautiful - but we felt it was a little too trendy for a wedding and the space isn't as big as we want it to be. The woman at Zola was TERRIBLE. We were in and out in 5 minutes. We had an appointment with her and she came and couldn't remember what type of event we were looking to have, how many people, or what room we had talked about. Besides the woman, the space was just too small. But I still love Zola's restaurant - it's amazing! And Hilton doesn't have their ballroom available but were offering the Atrium. Although it is quite beautiful, we didn't feel it was quite private enough.

We narrowed our choices to the Westin Grand in DC, and the Bethesda Marriott. We first went to the Bethesda Marriott. It recently went through major renovations and when I inquired for prices the person who responded was a great girl I went to high school with. We felt so welcomed by her when we arrived that it already set the stage for us. The hotel is very pretty and she showed us the rooms and the suite we'd have and we loved it. The ballroom has it's own wing with a lounge area, huge hallways, a separate room for the cocktail hour, and a huge ballroom that it quite lovely. On top of it, it's right in our price range and we wouldn't have to cut our guest list. Our main issue is the decoration of the main ballroom. Here are the pictures:

The carpet and curtains are difficult colors to work with. It just seems quite busy to me and it's going to be hard to incorporate any hot pink in there (which is one of our colors) and not have it look tacky. It would be perfect for an autumn wedding - but this just doesn't scream summery wedding to me.

We then went to the Westin and fell in love. There really isn't one thing we'd change about the space. The cocktail hour area is right off of the ballroom area and it opens up into a little patio/courtyard that is stunning. The ballroom area is all hardwood floors with columns and has a dimly lit lounge area and bar as part of it. We looked at pictures of several weddings and really the room allows you to do so much! Ian and I walked out and just had the biggest smiles on our faces. We also loved the woman we'd work with throughout the entire process. We also like the menu better at the Westin. The only drawback about the Westin is that it is over our budget. We want to make it work! Here are the pictures:

This is a Christmas party picture - so those trees and the piano are not normally there:

And here is a wedding or some event. The entire left hand side of the room are those windows/doors that open up to the patio. The lounge is off to the right side.

Now we are faced with the decision - we know either place we'd have a good time because after all it's our wedding day, but do we settle for something that we're not quite as happy with, or do we buckle down on our budget and find ways to make the Westin work? Ian kept asking, will we looked back at our wedding photos and think, aww it's pretty, but it would've been that much better at the Westin?

We are sitting down tonight to try to work out our budget to see where we can cut costs. I also have a call into the event person at the Westin to see if there are ways to cut the costs. For example, as part of the menu, we select a dessert and they bring out pastries to each table, but if we're having wedding cake, can we cut out the cost of the dessert to bring the cost down a little bit?

So - regardless of whether we choose the Westin or Marriott, the date will be June 21st because neither place is available on the 14th.

I am going wedding dress shopping tomorrow morning at Hitched and then going out to dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Twink in Baltimore - excited to see those two! Sunday, we're going cake tasting with both of our moms at CreativeCakes. Busy weekend! Hopefully, we will have decided on the reception location by Monday! Have a great weekend:)

Officiant - check!

I have been asking around for recommendations for a priest for our wedding. I was raised Catholic and it is important to me to be married in the Catholic church. Ian was baptized in the Church of England (protestant), but did not practice growing up. So we have to be careful who we get to serve our mass - it needs to be someone a bit more liberal because A) we live in the same apartment and B) I want to make sure Ian and his family are comfortable. So I contacted a priest and he is available for either date. He is a bit out there, but I love that! He also asked right away what religion Ian's family is, and when I responded, he said right away that he's glad he knows so that he makes sure he includes them in the mass so they don't feel left out. Like him already!

Tomorrow we have off work to go look at 4 reception sites. The first one is about a 5 minute drive from the church which is super convenient, and it's a hotel which is awesome as well since we'll need rooms (and not have to have transportation after the big fiesta!). The other three places are in DC - which is about a 30 minute drive and also convenient to hotels. I'm hoping that one of the places tomorrow will stand out and we'll love it! I'll let you know how it goes:)

Reception Location Reviews

We went to look at 2 wedding reception sites on Saturday, OldEbbittGrill and the Mansion at Strathmore. Old Ebbitt Grill is crossed off of our list. While it was very grand and the price was reasonable, the space seems very cold. The space is in this marble lobby of an office building. The room was set up for a wedding, but for instance, the cake was set up in front of a business's door. So in all of the wedding photos of cutting the cake, a business name on the door will be behind you. There's also a neon green banner running along the entire perimeter of the restaurant - and it looks a bit tacky. We just didn't feel anything great when we were there.

The Mansion is absolutely beautiful and would be perfect for a group of 70. But because we will probably end up with about 150 guests, we'd have to seat people in 3 separate rooms for dinner. We are keeping this as an option because we could put a tent behind the mansion to accomodate our entire party for dinner and then just have the cocktail hour and reception inside the mansion. But then is it really worth renting the mansion if we're not going to spend much time in it?

We both are taking off work on Thursday to go visit the Pookshill Marriott, Hotel Palomar in DC, and the Westin Grand in DC. I'm waiting for phone calls back from several other locations to try to get an appointment to view it on Thursday as well. Geesh - this planning process is difficult for anyone who has a full time job - most places are only available for viewing on weekdays from 9-5.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations!! I've added them in my notes for each category.

We went and registered at Crate and Barrel yesterday. I hate malls! Thank goodness I am marrying a guy who loves shopping so that he can help get shopping done while I sit and get all anxious and annoyed with all the people around me:)

Ceremony Location - DONE!

We have officially received notice that we are able to be married at Georgetown Prep's Chapel!!!Here are some photos:

We are thrilled! The history behind this is that my Grandfather worked there for 37 years as a teacher, athletic director and coach. He died before I was born, but we still have events in his honor and he's being honored by being inducted into their first ever Hall of Fame in 2 weeks. My uncle attended high school there, as well as my brother. The Chapel is absolutely beautiful. I took Ian and his parents by there on Sunday and they fell in love with it as well.

So now we know that our wedding is either June 14th, or June 21st, 2008. Pencil it in!

Next on our list is going to visit reception sites this weekend. We are leaving both dates open since some places may already be booked for one versus the other. Hopefully we'll have the reception site booked in the next week! We're going to visit Old Ebbitt Grill, Strathmore, Woodlawn Manor, Pooks Hill Marriott, Westin Grand and a few others.

I have to mention that everyone has been amazing in their suggestions and advice (Thanks CharmCityKim!). Keep it coming!

Also - anyone with florist recommendations, cake companies, photographers!, etc. - please give me the names! MrsTwink - can you email me the cake lady you used?

And now that we're getting more organized and getting into things, I can really make use of my awesome wedding planner and organizer that Lauren got me:) I'm a dork but I love it!!

Cakes and Invites

Soooo - still no update on the ceremony location. I wish I'd just have an answer either way so that we can move on and focus on the reception site. I left a message for the person today and haven't heard back. I'm hoping when I get home tonight that there will be an answer in the mail! I am not a big fan of being in a stand-still! For the time being, I have started looking at different bios on the Knot. During one of my searches, I found this Knottie and fell in love with the design of her invitation and cake.

The only difference is that I want some type of hot pink incorporated in there.

I love the comments. To answer questions - we have not officially decided on everyone in our wedding party. Ian is waiting to see how many girls I have. I have a Matron-of-honor, Maid-of-honor, junior bridesmaid and flower girl that already know. Speaking of bridesmaids - I am in search of bridesmaid dresses that don't look like uniforms. I would love to work with a company that offers a ton of different dresses that are cut differently. I want my girls to be comfortable, and they all have different body types. Anyone know of such a company that would offer the same material for dresses but different necklines? I took a look at a couple sites and sent it to two of them and neither one of them picked out similar dresses - yikes. All I know is that they're wearing black dresses. We'll work it out somehow!

Taking notes

This weekend was one of my bestest's weddings. It was a blast and a great place to take mental notes! Her flowers were very simple yet elegant - I liked them! I will post pictures once I have all of them. The band was amazing as well as the ceremony music. It was a huge wedding - over 300 which will not be our case. But I loved almost everything about her wedding.

I still have not heard back about the ceremony location. We are continuing to look for reception locations but have not had much luck. Either the place is too expensive, or it's perfect and we love the way the pictures look and then we've called and there isn't any availability for June. I have to believe that eventually things will fall into place. I think I will be much calmer once the ceremony and reception locations are set!

I'm starting to interview for a day-of-coordinator. I have only heard amazing feedback on getting a DOC. The idea of taking the pressure off me or my family to make last minute phone calls to vendors or to do crisis management on the day of is amazing to me.

And while although I have gotten some amazing location suggestions - they are mostly out of our price range. We've been fortunate enough that our parents are helping us in a large way, but we still are being crazy about how much money we spend on everything. We refuse to start off as newlyweds in debt!

I read through my first bridal magazine and read through my first bridal book sent to me courtesy of my Maid-of-honor, Lauren. Got some great ideas and it's the little things that have me excited. Ian has also narrowed his choices for tuxes/suits. We went yesterday to check out some places to register. We're trying to narrow that down next weekend. The good thing about being only 8 months away from the big day is that everything goes so quickly - the bad thing is that everything goes so quickly. It means that amount of stress in a shorter amount of time!

I will post pictures soon.

A Waiting Game

Thanks for the comments! I checked into some of the places and although they are beautiful - they are a bit out of our price range.

We are still waiting to hear back from our #1 choice for our ceremony. We have to get permission from the Archdiocese of Washington to be married here because of a rule this chapel has. I sent in my letter to be exempt from this rule on Tuesday and got an email today saying this:

"Could you please send me the name of your fiance and your home address?"

I did so right away but this leads me to wonder whether they are sending us a rejection letter or a letter of exemption to their rule. Lauren pointed out that they probably wouldn't ask for the fiance's name if they were simply sending a rejection. Any thoughts? I am waiting in anticipation as finding out the ceremony location will lead us to know whether we're having everything here or in Baltimore. Either way - hearing that they at least need this info means I should have an answer in the next couple days.

We are heading to one of my bestest's wedding on Saturday. I have bridesmaid duties all day tomorrow and have to be up at 5:30am for hair on Saturday - do they know I don't do well getting up early? But I have to say I'm very excited to take notes at the wedding for our own big day! Have a great weekend and hopefully my next post will have news about our ceremony location!

And so it begins

The more research we do - the more shocked we are at the amount of stress that comes along with this planning. I know people say how stressful things can be regarding the cost of things - but we didn't realize the extent until now! Does anyone know good reception sites? Where have you been to a reception in the DC area that you liked? Or even the Baltimore area since we're looking at a ceremony place there?

I made my first appointment to go look at dresses at Hitched for October 20th. I am very excited!

Ian's brother has made it known that he cares what the guys are wearing - so Ian has already started looking for what the guys will be wearing. He's very excited for three things: cake tasting, registering and picking something slick to wear for the big day. He's more excited to register than I am!

Leave me comments people!

And we're off!

I guess neither one of us was expecting the whirlwind that accompanies getting engaged so we both have been (pleasantly) surprised by the feedback we've gotten from everyone. What has not been as pleasant is realizing that if we're trying to get married in June 2008, we've got to get moving!


So far we have narrowed down our ceremony locations. We are waiting to hear back about one but it looks as though our wedding will be on June 21st or June 28th. We'll let you know as soon as we know. I also will post pictures of the location once we've confirmed it.


I have figured out who will be standing up there on the big day with me and while Ian has figured it out as well, he has no idea how to tell each of them! Any fun suggestions for telling guys?


Here are some pictures from the night we got engaged and from brunch the next morning to celebrate.