Lots to Report

Sorry about not posting yesterday - things were a bit hectic. So Tuesday night, Maggie and I went to David's Bridal to try on bridesmaid dresses. We found one material that we liked the dresses and that the prices were quite reasonable. When Lauren comes into town this weekend, I'll take her to both places to see which she prefers. I also am happy to report that I have asked all of my bridesmaids now. Here's the list:

• Matron of Honor - Maggie - Maggie babysat me when I was little and she's like a sister to me. We spend most holidays with Maggie and her hubby and 3 amazing kids.
• Maid of Honor - Lauren - Lauren and I met during our junior year of college and just clicked. I feel like we've been friends for forever. We really "get" eachother! She lives far away but you'd never know it based on how much we keep in touch.

Bridesmaids:

• Annie - Annie and I went to high school together. We've been great friends ever since and have lots of embarrassing photos that will not be coming out during the wedding process!!
• Bridget - Bridget and I went to high school together and have lots of hilarious (blackmail) stories from those days. She just got married in October and I was honored to be a part of her wedding!
• Leah - Leah (or as I call her - Laya) probably is receiving her card today in the mail, but she doesn't read the blog so we're good! Leah and I were extremely close while in Spain together. Once we returned home, our friendship has remained just as strong.
• Katie - Katie (or I often will refer to her as Lewis, or possibly abah) and I went to Spain together to study abroad. We weren't that close while abroad, but when we got back, we coincidentally ended up as roommates and we formed such a tight bond. We act like complete goofballs together.
• Junior Bridesmaid - Abby - Abby is Maggie's daughter and I've known her since she was in diapers. She's the sweetest girl and absolutely beautiful - her Dad needs to be careful once the boys start looking at her!
• Flower Girl - Ellie - Ellie is Maggie's youngest and is my god-daughter. She's a riot and she sometimes acts like she's my age. I will not be surprised if she steals the spotlight on our day!

Yes - I have a lot of people. I was trying to narrow it down but simply could not do it! Can't wait for them to be by my side on the big day. I would love to post Ian's people but he still needs to talk to one of them.

We met with Freed Photography last night. They have several photographers based on experience and different package prices depending on who you hire. We LOVED Russell and Pablo's work. We were so pleased with their work that we're going to go ahead and go with Russell we think. I think it's important to meet with him before we sign a contract though (since we just met with one of their reps last night). I expressed my concerns and the girl we worked with was fabulous. She said she'd throw in the engagement session for free and that we'd use that as the meeting time. If it turns out that we don't click with Russell, we'll walk away with no strings attached. She was fantastic. I have a call into her to find out when we can get the engagement session done since as of Friday the 23rd, I will be on crutches for several weeks and in a cast. No photo sessions for me after that! I'm hoping that he can fit us in this weekend but we'll see!

So I have some bad news about the STDs. We were using a photo that one of my friends from college had taken as the photo for our STD (I am not going to name just to keep this person anonymous). However, when I told her about it she asked that we credit her ON THE STD! Umm - say what? We certainly wouldn't dream of using her photos and making it seem as if it was our work. We offered to credit her on the website and in our program - but she was not happy with that. My fear in putting her information on the STD is that a) there is so little room on the STD as it is, and b) it would make it look as if she had designed them which would be horrible since Lauren is in fact, the person designing them! It's a super long story but basically she asked us about 2 years ago to take photos so that she could have couple photos in her portfolio. We agreed as long as I could develop a few photos for us to use. So she took the photos and then I paid 1/2 for the prints to be developed, and then after I chose the ones I wanted, I paid for those to be developed as well. Up until now, I've just framed the ones I liked and they're in our house. I've gotten tons of compliments about them and recommended her to a lot of people. By the way - this is not her profession - it's a hobby. I just think it's absurd that as a friend, you would demand such things. So we said forget it- we're not recommending her anymore and not using the picture anyways. I would've thought it would've been great for her work to be sent out to lots of young couples invited to our wedding who I'm sure would've been interested in knowing who took them. But not my loss! Also - she probably reads this blog but I don't care - this is stuff that she should know - this is not what a true friend would demand! Especially when I paid half for the prints to be stinking developed! Thoughts on this? Quite a few people have said to just go ahead and use the photo - but at this point I don't want to give her one ounce of exposure.

So that leads me to say that Mrs. Twink and her hubby might take them for us this weekend!! Their recent photos have been AWESOME and I can't wait to give credit to people who are truly our friends and are super excited to get experience!! Thus far, things that are meant to be have just fallen into place. So - I know that this will fall into place as well!