Posted Saturday, May 16, 2009 12:48 PM
VENDOR REVIEWS!
BRIDAL GOWN/ALTERATIONS/BRIDESMAID DRESSES, Images Bridal, GRADE B+: An initial misunderstanding on my part caused some stress early on. They also were not too supportive of some of my goals like dying my crinoline (which I ultimately did not do because I borrowed one) and not wearing a backless/strapless bra. Hate those. Ended up wearing one anyway – still not convinced it was worth its use. Also, after taking the store credit (vs a smaller discount on my dress) I was disappointed to learn that despite having a wall of shoes and many books, too, they did not have any white, non-dyeable shoes. I dislike dyeables. I found my shoes elsewhere and then had to find something else to spend the remainder of my credit on. However the ladies there were very cheerful and timely. They allowed me to borrow a headpiece I had ordered (but was not in yet) for my hair trial. I loved the bustle on my dress and they were spot on with ordering the right size (including custom hollow to hem) and no additional alterations were needed. Their service was very good.
TUXES, MW TUX, GRADE A: Everything fit and everything went very smoothly. When we had two groomsmen drop out/replaced within the last two weeks before the wedding and they made all the correct adjustments without missing a beat. No problems whatsoever.
WEDDING BANDS, Don Basch Jewelers, GRADE B+: I had a very difficult time finding a jeweler that would create the wedding band that I wanted. When several others said it wasn’t even possible (and if it were I probably wouldn’t like it), Don and Don Jr. said they could do it. I liked their enthusiasm and definitely tried their best to understand exactly what I wanted. The ring didn’t turn out quite right the first time so they happily made some adjustments and I like the outcome.
REHEARSAL DINNER, Carrie Cerino’s, GRADE A: Carrie Cerino’s food is top notch Italian! We had a party of 28 and had our dinner in the atrium off the main restaurant. They had us pick out 6 entrees and they printed out the limited menu for our guests. This helped them to serve us faster and it helped us control the cost more. Service was great and they were very understanding and flexible as we started almost an hour later than the reservation was made for.
STATIONARY, Me and Hubby, GRADE A: We designed our invitations, menu cards and programs. People thought we had them all professionally done! I designed them and Hubby painted the watercolors and put it all into Photoshop. He’s got skills, that hubby of mine!
HAIR, Roberts Salon (Michelle), GRADE B: Price was very budget friendly and Michelle was very energetic and nice to work with. The trial went a little better than the final. We started running out of time the morning of the wedding so she anchored everything down and sprayed it into place but the veil was going to have to stay in. Ideally I wanted to keep the veil in if tolerable and as it turns out, it wasn’t an issue.
MAKEUP – TRIAL 1, Clinique Counter at Macy’s Great Northern Mall (Judith and two others), GRADE D-: My experience with this counter was a disaster from the start. I had left makeup to the proverbial last minute (two weeks out) and when I inquired about wedding day makeup Judith told me they could do it but they were “in gift” at that time so they we’re really busy so as long as I don’t mind the trial taking “like, two hours …”. Without many options left, I decided to do it anyway. When I showed up for my trial, it ended up being a tag team effort between the lady who I was scheduled with and a Clinique consultant there from NY. Neither paid much attention to what I said I did and did not like and I pretty much hated the look in the end. So I moved on to a different Clinique counter.
MAKEUP – TRIAL 2 & WEDDING DAY, Clinique Counter at Dillard’s Great Northern Mall (Theresa and myself!), GRADE A: After failing to like my makeover at the Clinique counter at Macy’s, I pretty much decided to do my own makeup BUT I wanted someone else to do my eyeshadow. This worked out great. I didn’t feel like my make up was caked on a ready to wipe off onto the shirt collars and dresses of anyone who hugged me and Theresa gave me soft eyes a bit more dramatic than my everyday wear - just the way I wanted them to be.
FLOWERS, New Leaf Florist (Helen Frantz), GRADE A: Helen arranged the bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres. When started looking for and talking to florists I received a lot of negative feedback. I wanted tulips in my bouquets and I was told that it was a bad idea – they are difficult to arrange, they open up when warm and wont look pretty, etc. I also received strange looks when I said I wanted Rosemary boutonnieres. However, Helen heard out my ideas and got on board right away. All the arrangements looked great and my bouquet was awesome!
LIMO, Accurate Limousine, GRADE C+: The limo (a white Cadillac Escalade) was clean and looked great. My wedding party enjoyed the champagne. The downside was that the driver tried to take a shorter route to Wade Park from 90 rather than taking the MLK exit like I had wanted. He relied on his TomTom and it ended up taking longer as he zig zagged his way to University Circle. My biggest criticism, though, was that he was not at all mindful of photographer who was following him. The limo drove through the tail end of several yellow lights and by taking a much different route than the one I told our photographer to expect, the photographer ended up getting lost. The time we spent reconnecting caused us to lose a significant amount of time taking photos before we had to leave again for the hall.
VIOLINIST, Mary Beth Ions, GRADE A+: We heard her play “Ave Maria” at Christmas Eve Mass and booked her that same night. Her playing is so beautiful and it added a very special touch to the ceremony.
PHOTOGRAPHER, Joshua J. Wood, GRADE A(+): I LOVE the teasers he posted on his blog (http://joshuajwood.blogspot.com/2009/04/april-18th-2009-cheryl-and-thomas.html)! Watch the sideshow for additional photos. Josh was fun and easy to work with, very creative, and he went out of his way to try and make up for the mishap that happened between the church and hall. Josh is from Akron and is not as familiar with Cleveland’s east side so the plan was for him to follow the big white limo. But the limo driver took a totally different route than I had told Josh about and it was running yellow lights. So Josh eventually lost sight of the limo and we didn’t reconnect right away. This cut into our photo time in between the church and hall. Feeling bad about it (and it wasn’t really his fault) he offered to come back to Cleveland the next day for some additional shooting at the park. So we dressed up again (twist my arm!) and took some fun and creative pictures around the bridges on MLK Blvd. I can’t wait to see them!
RECEPTION HALL/CATERING, Imperial Ballroom/Red Letter Events (Ed Sutter), GRADE B: The price was right, the hall was big, and Ed was willing to be very flexible so we went for it. Ed definitely comes across as a salesman and he could be difficult to contact. He is currently in the process of launching a second (or third?) restaurant in the Akron area and in the month before our wedding, he was spending every weekend in Panama City catering and tending bar to the Spring Break crowds. I wasn’t always convinced Ed and I were on the same page but on the day of the wedding, he delivered. The hall looked great and the food and service received good reviews from guests. Ed’s flexibility allowed us to tailor the event to our tastes and budget.
FAVORS, Friends and Family Cookbooks (Kathy LeFevre), GRADE A+: For something a little less traditional, we gave out cookbooks as favors. Before the wedding, guests were asked to submit a recipe and a picture. These were then all put into a nicely printed spiral bound cookbook that we then gave out to each couple/family/guest as a favor at the wedding. Kathy was great to work with, quality was good and they were a big hit - I was repeatedly told by my guests what a great idea it was.
RECEPTION MUSIC, Frank and Dean … and then some (Damion Fontaine and Scott Brotherton), GRADE A+: Hubby and I both really wanted live music but the expense of a several piece band was looking to be out of our budget. Then we happened upon Frank and Dean, or as I lovingly called them, our two guys singing. The music plays off their sound system and they provide the vocals along with a half witty/half cheesy banter that’s all entertaining to listen to. I had said many times in the past that I would be happy to have an all Sinatra reception so this was a perfect fit. Neither my family nor my Hubby's is known to dance much but they were all very entertained by the music.
HOTEL BLOCK, Sheraton, Independence (Derek Baker), GRADE B: The location was perfectly between our church and hall making it a nice gathering place for out of towners and those who just needed a place to kill a couple hours with good company. After both the rehearsal dinner and wedding, we met friends and family at the hotel’s bar (open late) for additional socializing. Some had a drink, some did not. We then also met all of our out of town guests (and some in town guests) there for breakfast the next morning. While a hot breakfast is not included in a standard booking, Derek arranged for vouchers to be held at the front desk for members of the wedding party. We also stayed at the hotel in a jacuzzi suite. The room was clean and the service good. Lowlights were that they couldn’t find our reservation when we first showed up (in dress and tux after the wedding) and since I had to correct the front desk clerk and tell her we were staying two nights and not one leads me to believe that our reservations were never actually booked. But without missing a beat, we had a room and it was ready so (luckily?) no trouble. Also, we were surprised to realize there was no mini fridge to keep our reception dinner leftovers (I had no appetite at the hall but I was hoping to eat my dinner eventually that night). It never occurred to me that there wouldn’t be one when there was one in all the non-jacuzzi suites. I never did ask if we could have one brought to the room – I just sent my leftovers home with Mom and ate them later.
TRAVEL AGENT, Kaufman Travel (Nanci Kucharski using Apple vacations), GRADE A: The only criticism I have is that Nanci recommended a 7 day beach honeymoon over a 10 day on the reason that we would probably be bored of the beach after 7 days and would be ready to go home. I can assure you, Nanci, that we would have LOVED three more days at Couples Negril! However, BIG kudos also go to Nanci for listening to what we wanted from a honeymoon destination and matching us up with Couples Negril in Jamaica! This all-inclusive resort met our budget perfectly and included many activities other resorts do not, which gave us something unique to do every day without worrying about over spending once we were there. We had a worry-free blast of time – it was a perfect fit!
HONEYMOON, Couples Negril, Jamaica, GRADE A: The only criticism I have of the resort was that our wet towels would disappear but weren’t replaced. This included the beach towels that we would be charged for if we didn’t check them in before leaving. However, one call to housekeeping and they would come up with new ones within minutes. As mentioned above, the resort has lots of free activities. We rode the glass bottom boat, went snorkeling during the day twice (and once at night but that did come with a nominal fee), took the catamaran cruise which included a stop at some caves we swam into and a waterslide for those who stayed closer to the boat, played racquetball, attempted waterskiing, and there were a host of other activities we didn’t try before we left. We also received a sizable credit for the spa and salon for booking when we did so we both luxuriated in a couple spa treatments, too. The staff was great, the food was excellent and the atmosphere was very romantic.
- Bride and Groom
Posted Wednesday, May 06, 2009 7:47 PM
Get Me to the Church on Time
I spent my morning trying to shake off the feeling that I forgot something
important. I only had a few scant hours of sleep and I was trying to print
a photo that Honey wanted at the reception hall. It was not going
well, as my printer decided that everything would look better in green - and I was trying to persuade it to print other colors in the spectrum.
I had passed off part of the printing job to future bro-in-law, and had
no idea if he got the job done. That was when the future mom-in-law called
and inquired if I had made travel arrangements to the church.
Whoops!
It wouldn't do to have the groom tardy. A quick phone call and directions
to the best man and my wedding posse and - yes! - they can swing by and grab
me. Pace the floor. Coffee. Shower.
Almost There
Sweetie started texting me all sorts of excited missives. She was getting
ready herself and wanted a little private communique' telling me 'happy
wedding day' and other cute notes.
More coffee was in my
immediate future.
Surprisingly, I didn't rip my tux, cut myself shaving or any other image
ruining mishap, and I made it outside to a beautiful day, in full garb impressing two young ladies who were returning from a jog who wished
me well. Funny how a wedding will melt any woman. My NYC wedding posse
arrived and I bounced between trying to direct the best man to the church
and my parents who were lost, and seemingly determined to drive to Pittsburgh instead
of the church.
I managed to pass off my folks to someone with a better knowledge of the
area, find my groomsdudes, get the familial cuff links I was to wear and
got a little package from my bride to be. In it was a mini Leatherman,
a tool that I cherish and a note telling me to look at the inside of my
'engagement' ring - a joke that fiancee & I had bought that I wore
as the guy equivalent of a promise of betrothal.
She had secretly inscribed it with a quote from Pascal, one I had used on
her to woo her, to intrigue her and ultimately help win her heart. I was pondering this as we got the cue that it was game time. My groomsdudes filed out and I felt the stares of a hundred pairs of
eyes, all on me - waiting to see if I would cry, run or maybe just to see if I didn't trim the nostril hairs properly.
Would Everyone PLEASE Get Out of the Way??
I was relieved at that moment by the opening of the huge doors at the rear
of the church - and 100 guests piled into the center aisle to get a look
at the bride totally blocking my view. People! I thought to myself,
Get Out Of The Way. I tried to step up to get a better view - leaning past
the photographer and just catching the first glimpse of my wife to be...
Words cannot describe it - that moment. I had always thought my wife to
be the loveliest of creatures, but in that moment, I fell in love all over
again. She cast a radiant glow in that dress and it framed her figure
better than Praxiteles could ever have. She was a vision.
The rest of that day (and night) passed by in a blur - but all I remember
was being lost in her eyes - and being content with spending the rest of
my life there...
- Groom
Posted Monday, May 04, 2009 5:29 PM
Just Before I Took the Walk of My Life ...
With my arm in my adoring Father's, I was moments from walking down the isle. This was the moment that I had been preparing for these past 11 months. The sheer joy of it all was very powerful and I was now teetering on the edge of letting my emotions roll down my face. The only time I absolutely did NOT want to cry. See, I'm not a pretty crier who smile can beam through a single tear as it trickles down a flushed cheek. No, no matter how happy I am, when I cry my forehead and chin crunch up, my eyes squint and puff, and my "smile" turns into something tight and strained. This was NOT how I wanted my photographs to begin. If I cried now, there wouldn't be one picture without those signature red, swollen eyes until the reception. I wanted at least ONE pretty, tear free photo before then.
A few deep breaths and some mental distraction and I came back from the edge. And so we walked down the isle to my beloved Groom, avoiding his gaze for as long a s possible (I hadn't stepped THAT far back from the edge ...). And to my delight, I felt everything in those amazing moments AND kept my composure for a little while longer.
How Did I Get Here??
At the reception I kept thinking "WOW! How did I get here?" One day I'm telling myself not to get too attached to this unlikely guy and the next I'm getting married to him! The middle part is such a beautiful blur - a colorful swirl of the best times I have had in my life.
How Do You Feel?
Woot! Everyone keeps asking me if I feel different. Honestly - not much. At least not yet. I'm really happy.
But I was also really happy before the wedding! Getting married hasn't
changed any of that - it's been a celebration of what we already know
and feel. So it's just too soon to feel different. In time marriage
will define us and our relationship more and more. So ask me again - but later. For now, the biggest difference is that I now live with a boy!
Our Perfect (Imperfect) Wedding
As
predicted, time ran out before we had accomplished every little thing
we wanted to in prep for the wedding. We didn't paint lilies on my
rain boots, we ran out of printer ink with no time to replace it, etc.
And perhaps most significantly (as it turned out) we didn't print up
directions for the vendors who were traveling with us through the day.
Ever since the wedding, I keep thinking of something I meant/wanted to
do, but just ran out of time. But that's okay! The wedding was
beautiful and we had such a wonderful time. All those little things
would have been nice but what we had was pretty great!
- Bride
Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2009 1:08 PM
Words of encouragement from our priest, Father Michael.
Wedding preparations have been taking their toll on us. In truth it's not the wedding so much as what else life has thrown our way so close to the wedding date.
Buying (or trying to anyway) a house: I would NEVER recommend trying to buy a house (and close) the week before the wedding itself. My stress multiplied by what I was not accomplishing while house hunting, paper gathering, packing and moving instead. Wedding planning essentially went on hold for a over a month and the final week of wedding prep now has me a bit overwhelmed.
Work: It just so happens that this time of year is very unpredictable in my position. You never know when it will be a busy day or when it will be a slow one. And so far 95% of them have been between 'busy' and 'very busy'. On top of that there have been monthly reports, year end reviews for those who report to me as well as my own self review and a myriad of other issues to suck up every ounce of my time there - in addition to our nightly needs. Under normal circumstances I would have sucked it up and done some of my paperwork from home but there is no time at home either, between houses and wedding. THANK HEAVENS I took this past week off.
Then there is the wedding planning itself: Our hall vendor who is spending weekends in working in Panama City and never answers his phone. Two groomsman had to drop out in these last two weeks prior to the big day. A secondary photographer whose camera irreparably broke and wont be able to shoot the wedding. Plus the expected last minute details.
Sleep is but a memory and time is running out to complete everything that is left - confirming all wedding details, completing our DIY projects, closing and moving into the new house (or not moving ... ), finishing up loose ends ...
Tempting as it is to say "it will all be over soon" it won't be. And I don't want it to be. The wedding is a start, not a end. And philosophy aside, we will still be dealing with securing a home to move into once when we return from Negril. And there will be a whole new crop of month end reports due when I go back to work. And there will be wedding follow up to take care of as well. But by that time, I should be able to pepper in a little more sleep. Sweet, blissful sleep.
So until then, I'll remember to "keep kicking."
- Bride
Posted Wednesday, April 08, 2009 7:48 PM
I repeat - Groomsman down!
But thankfully he wasn't really shot. Instead we are just down one groomsman who, just two weeks before the wedding day, informed us he has a (sort of) new scheduling conflict (another event) and can not attend.
Boo.
Stunned by the sudden notice and it's delivery (via email!) I posted my disappointment on my local message board, its focus on how I feel bad for Honey since he had seen this friend through some very tough times and now he won't be there for Honey on his happiest day in return, and the point that I think a phone call rather than an email was in order under the circumstances.
Little sympathy was offered (fine - not important). But then there was this reply:
"If he is the kind of guy who normally emails before making phone calls,
I can totally understand why he emailed the news. There are some people
who prefer to not talk on the phone, as odd as it may sound. If, on the
other hand, his typical mode of communication is by phone, then, yes,
an email wasn't as appropriate. Still, it was nice of him to let you
know at all." (emphasis mine).
Are you kidding?
So if I am an emailing person, then it's okay to disregard courtesy and etiquette and just email instead. I could have just emailed my invitations. I could just email my Thank You notes. Never mind that this is a blow to Honey, an email will suffice, rather than call and explain directly.
But apparently I was in the minority on this one. As one other poster put it "He probably felt terrible, being the reason for the email and not a phone call." So feeling bad about the news makes it okay to deliver it impersonally.
And then there is my added emphasis. MORE shocking than the groomsman dropping out last minute, MORE disappointing that is was done via email and not apologetically done on the phone, was this statement: "Still, it was nice of him to let you
know at all."
You are right it was nice of him to tell us ahead of time. In fact, I would say it was pretty darn obligatory of him to tell us ahead of time. But to read your statement is to believe that your position is that it would have been within his right to just not show up without explanation.
For me, reading this was more shocking that the (ex)groomsman's email.
But maybe I'm just old fashioned.
- Bride
Posted Wednesday, March 18, 2009 9:21 AM
Having grown up in an old Victorian, I'm naturally drawn to older houses, with high ceilings, wood trim and plaster walls. So it was no surprise that when wife-to-be and I started looking at homes, I was drawn to the older ones.
After looking at several flips, in may different styles and price ranges, we found one that we were both comfortable with, wasn't too large and fit into our price range. It had a certain old feel (or as Honey noted, it looked a bit 'barn'-ish with its silo-resembling turret and mansard roof) but it also was updated with new wiring, appliances and a redone bathroom & kitchen.
We nervously started the application process, having been burned already by losing a house we both liked, and in hindsight; liked maybe a bit more. But, we set our sights on this one as a starter home, and decided that it wasn't our favorite in any category (house, neighborhood, proximity to work) but it had most of what we were looking for and felt that it was a good starter home. It smelled right.
Like I've said - we've been burned before. So, it wasn't too hard to take a cynical look at this one and decide, 'we're not going to get our hopes up'. Especially since it would mean more work, less enjoyment in comparison to other places we liked (or fell in love with). But still, there was an intangible something about this place. Perhaps it was the new kitchen. Or the old bones. Or the pocket door.
So, when the day came to have the inspector cast his critical eye on it, I admittedly, was a bit nervous. He was an older, affable fellow -with a good, stolid name of Chuck. And as he made his rounds, we fell into a guy bonding session, discussing merits of BX cable versus the old ceramic wire and post systems, flange vs carriage bolt type chat. It all seemed to be going smoothly - nothing requiring more than a twist of a screw or the application of hammer to nail to make things right.
That is when our real-estate agent flushed the toilet upstairs.
And it leaked into the kitchen.
And my fiancee's face fell.
And I saw (in my mind's eye) our sturdy old house fall like it was made of wet matchsticks into a pile of damp smoldering cinders...
We re, of course, buying the house anyway.
- Groom
Posted Sunday, February 22, 2009 11:16 PM
Honey and I have been looking at houses - obviously we MUST be breezing thru wedding prep, because hey - we can squeeze in the stress of buying a house on top of getting married, right??
We've had a great time looking at places, liking some, making snide comments about others and generally grooving on the idea that we have similar tastes in what we want in our first house. We both love hardwood floors, lots of light and exposed brick. Don't paint the wood and have a older, more deco influenced style.
Our problem began with liking one on a cute, brick lined street. It was a flip, and the people who did the renovations must have had us in mind when they did it. It had a great little sun room my plants would love - a kitchen I could see myself cooking in; everything was great. Sure, there were tiny nits to pick (such as the kitchen paint, an ugly peachy color) but generally very little that we would change, even liking the window treatments they put up to sell the house. We eagerly told our RE agent that we would be making an offer and start the process of buying it.
We were not prepared for someone else to be putting a bid in as well.
Seriously? In this economy - who would be so brazen? We conferred and asked opinions and came up with the plan that our offer would be list price - there was no way that the initial offer would be for the full amount, and ours would trump the other and we would be victorious.
Nope - our agent came back and advised that we needed to up our offer.
We hastily came up with a figure - hoping that it would seal the deal and we could get back to making our invitations, a far more important goal than this small time stuff...
When we got the email back saying we shouldn't keep our hopes up - a bit of me died. FI was stronger throughout the whole ordeal, she's been through this before. Me, I lost a bit of a future I could almost touch.
Sigh.
-Groom
Posted by
TheWordBaker
Filed under: Anxiety, Housing
Posted Tuesday, February 17, 2009 12:01 PM
This is not the first time I have found a slip of paper slid under my door requesting I leave, pay and/or seek legal council. It's actually my third.
As I was tidying up around the apt. last week I picked up a coat I had lazily cast aside one night, several days prior. Beneath it I found the latest edition of management's notice to evict. The crime (as always) was non-payment. And as it has also been before, it was not my fault. This, however, is not the perspective of my landlord. She, in all her wisdom, believes that system does not fail - while I have ample evidence to the contrary.
Like the time that I paid before going overseas for the last two weeks of the month and dropped off my rent check before I left. They mailed that one back to the address in the corner of the check (clearly an address at which I no longer resided) because it was paid too early.
Like the time that she firmly - but politely - INSISTED that they had not received my rent check after I had placed it in the drop box the week before. I explained that I had no problem with paying them but I wondered what they would do with the 1st check once they found it. Again, she firmly - but politely - insinuated I was a liar as they are extremely thorough. If there was a check to be found, they would have located it. Three hours later they called to inform me the check had been found. In the safe. Naturally there was no need for an apology, and I never heard one.
But these archaic days of checks and drop boxes have since been put behind us and I now have the option to pay by automatic withdrawal online. And all was well for many months until just recently when they, again, failed to claim their payment. This time it was a known glitch in the system. I was auto identified as up for a lease renewal, which somehow causes the system to occasionally stop taking payments. Such was my case, and my debts were forgiven. And while it seems to me that this is something they could have investigated on their own BEFORE threatening legal action against me ... oh well. C'est la vie.
At least this time I received an apology.
- Bride