Happy Birthday Michael

Yesterday was Michael's 25th birthday! It might have not seemed like it because the day was the worst day ever but it was. The started out by going to lunch at Applebees which was a blast but the day got horrible after. Michael had to leave for work by 2:00pm which we were running late from lunch and stopping at the store for milk.
Then I had to leave for work around 3:00pm because I need to go to the store for some supplies for craft I wanted to do with the kids! Work went great!! After work I decided to go to the craft store to get some items for Christmas gifts I was making for friends and family. Once leaving the store my van wouldn't start. With my not knowing anyone that could help out; I freaked out. I called Michael's work for over 30 minutes. I had to call all the way back to Portland to get help. Thanks goodness Chris could get ahold of Will or I would have been freezing like crazy!! The van finally start when we went to work on it today but we drove it straight home and have not worked on it since!
Today was a better day!!

Counting down to Christmas

This Christmas will be our first Christmas as a married couple! It is kind of exciting but not at the same time. This will be our first Christmas that my parents will be divorced. It is kind of hard but we are getting through it and hopefully Christmas will go smoothly.

We are not doing anything big for Christmas. Just want to be with family and friends is enough for us! Trying to get everyone something small and meaningful but not going over board. With the wedding being only 2.5 months earlier than Christmas it put a hinder on our Christmas shopping. Usually we have a lot of our shopping completed before December! Now we are just doing most of it but we are doing a pretty good job and staying under budget!

Look forward to see how things go!

Apple Pie

Today I just felt in the mood to bake and do something in the kitchen. Maybe because today I went to the social security office to change my name. Tomorrow when I wake up I will officially be Melissa Reef! Then comes all the hard work to change my name on all the other fun stuff: bills, credit cards, banks, and etc. Just want to enjoy the day today!


Crust:
***Makes - 2p1 Shell crust or 1-2 layer pie crust
2 C Flour
3/4 C Fat
1 t Salt
3 T Water
1 Egg
*Omit the egg if desired and add 2 more T water
Add 1 tsp of cinnamon if desire

Cut fat into flour; add salt. Beat egg and water. Add fat and flour mixture to egg water mixture.
Bake on 425* for 30 minutes with shiny foil on
Bake on 350* for 30 minutes with foil off
Total bake time: 1hr

Pie Filling:
1 cup sugar or 1/2 cup splenda for baking
1 1/2 tsp apple pie
1/2 t cinnamon
dash of salt
5 cups of peeled and chopped apples
2 T butter

Mix dry ingredients together; Toss fruit with dry ingredients. Dot with butter. Put crust on top. Put slits or cut holes in top crust to release boiling.

Meatloaf

Ingredients:

3 lbs Hamburger ( I prefer 97/3)
2 eggs
Salt and Pepper
3/4 to 1 sleeve of crackers
1 med onion
1 tsp mustard
1 1/2 cup Ketchup
Ketchup on top

1. Preheat oven to 350* and spray 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray
2. Prepare onion (chop into small pieces)
3. crush crackers not to fine
4. In a large mixing bowl combine hamburger, eggs, crackers, onions, salt and pepper. Mix well.
5. Add ketchup and mustard in the bowl and mix well (better if you use your hands)
6. Put mixture in baking dish and round out and flatten to about 2 inches deep.
7. Top the loaf with ketchup (this is so it doesn't dry out)
8. Bake loaf in oven for 120 minutes (watch it to make sure it doesn't get dry on table, if it does put more ketchup on top)

Love in the air!

Well last night was our first cooked meal in our house. All week we have been getting take out and cooking odd n ends. We actually sat at the table and ate together which was lovely. I know we are same as before living in the house together being a lovely couple but being married has made us closer. We have been talking more and actually share more stuff with each other. It is so nice to finally be married to Michael!
Tonight I am making a homemade meal for him. Well at least part of it will be homemade. Making meatloaf, potatoes and mix veggies. I love to cook and find it so relaxing to put a meal that you made on the table. The meatloaf is one of my fathers recipes that I love. It is one of my favorite comfort foods.

Our First Outing

On Wednesday night Michael calls me on his way home from work. He asked how I was feeling because earlier in the week I felt like poop. Scott and Melissa need our money for the Komet tickets they are going to get for the opener on next Friday. Anyways wanted to know if I wanted to go out for dinner in Ft Wayne. Of course, I was because all I have done this week is sit around the house and clean.
End up going to Texas Roadhouse with Scott and Melissa and Michael paid for all of us. He is such a sweet heart! It was really nice to get out and do something with married friends now that we are married. Before we seemed like we were married but wasn't really.
Dinner went great and we ate and mingle for a while before it was time to head back home. I love being married!!

Day before the wedding

The night before the wedding we had our rehearsal with our wedding party and parents. It was nice to get everyone together to go over things. The rehearsal went fine and all the details were sorted out! In addition to the rehearsal we had our nails done, reception site and church to decorate but we managed to pull of a great wedding.
The day was full of surprises and a lot of stress!
First issue Michael and I locked the keys in the van and had to wait for them to bring us the spare. We were always running around late. It all came together and managed to get couple of hours of sleep before the next day of events.
Thanks to our family and friends!

Wedding Hair

Today I finally got around to booking the salon for my hair. I waited to see if my bridesmaids/MOH would be getting their hair done in the salon or doing it their selves. I wish I could have paid for everyone's but I just didn't have the funds. This wedding has put a little dent in our pockets by having to pay for everything ourselves. Hopefully I can repay each one of them for everything they have done for the wedding.

Salons are just so pricey on everything these days. It is going to be $20.00 for my hair to get done for the wedding. I am just so glad my mother is paying for that part of the wedding! I wanted to do it myself but my mother said she would pay for it because she didn't want me doing it myself.

Hotel Room

Michael finally booked our hotel room for our wedding night. I been on him a awhile to book it because I knew there is other things going on in the Portland that day. Well to find out it was cheaper for him to wait. A couple of months ago I went online to price them and they were like $104.00 after tax. Michael got ours for $66.08 after tax. We went ahead and saved like $15.00 by going to Super 8 instead of going to Holiday Inn where I wanted to stay. But oh well its not like we are spending the whole day in the hotel!

Bridal Shower

On September 19th I had my one and only bridal shower. My friend Melissa hosted it along with my mother, Michael's mother and with help from my bridal party (Stephanie and Christina). It was a great shower and I am thankful to have such a great group of friends and family.

I was totally surprised because my best friend Stephanie was there. I sort of got the hits leading up to the day. She was not suppose to be in until September 24 (She lives in California but grew up in Jay County). She made the cakes for the shower! They were great!!!

Here is one of the cakes she made:
It was nice to get all my family and friends together even through a lot did not show. Thanks to all for a great shower! I got some great new toys (kitchen gear) for the house.

Yikes!

What a day yesterday! I got a call from my mother around 10am sayings that our photographer had to cancel due to conflict with his 1st job. He does photography on the side; I guess he can not get off work because we is changing jobs.
I freaked out almost all day because all the photographers that was open was about $1000 which is like 1/2 to 1/3 of our wedding budget. First photographer was only going to charge us $100 because he worked with my mother and knew one of my best friends.
Anyhow the search took part most of the day until around 6ish when I friend called with a solution. A friend of Michael's and Chris Imel parents does a little photography but not a pro. Chris called me stating they are willing to do and it is going to cost nothing to us!
I felt so better afterwards. I slept so well last night but now is tried because I been on the go all day! I did some shopping but didn't only one thing!

Now we have a new photographer!!!

Favors Update

I started making the favors this weekend and realized that I really didn't want to make about 280 buckeyes. We decided to make 140 buckeyes and then 140 red velvet balls. I got the recipe by following a blog on here and she gets some of her ideas from other blogs which this one came from: http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2007/12/red-velvet-cake-balls.html

Each box will have a buckeye and a red velvet ball in them. I would like to come up with an idea that is reduce sugar and no peanut butter for those who can not have buckeyes. Thought about trying to make a sugar free fudge.

Dress

I just had my second fitting for my dress on Saturday. Everything is going as planned. I am losing weight and my dress fits perfect besides in the bust which is where I lost the most weight! I am just so excited to pick it up on the 26th. Stephanie and Melissa is both going to be there and I hope to have my mother to be there too! Exciting.

I wish I could post pictures of it on here but I cannot because of Michael! I guess everyone will have to wait until the BIG DAY!!

Sorry..

Well I just realize I have not posted on here since July which has been a lot of time. We are not under a month to go for the wedding. Working hard to get all the last details finish and trying to pay for everything. I just hoping to have a wonderful wedding day with out any drama.

Princess Wands

While shopping back when for some wedding supplies; I cam across these princess wands. They had to be put together which is why I found them at a craft store for .49 cents. I picked them up for the flower girls as a gift. They were pretty simple to put together. It asked for them to be glued together with craft glue but I ended up using a hot glue gun since I know they will not last long.
I just think they are so cute!

Wedding Shoes

Yesterday I went out with a friend for lunch but before lunch I stopped at Fashion Bug because I was running early like usual. They were having a clearance sale where you buy on item and the second item for $5.00. Well I was not planning on buying anything but I did.

I found the perfect well almost perfect shoes for the wedding. For the wedding I was looking pink shoes because pink and brown are my favorite colors. Well I found these red shoes that are amazing and so comforty even though I only had them on for a few minutes.

73 days until

Time is really flying now! We have only 73 days until the big day which is really exciting. The bad thing is we still have tons of things to do in the mean time. Love planning the big day but at times I wish it would plan for it self.

Over the weekend we had another counseling meeting which went well but got us thinking about the actually ceremony and how we want things to go. I never really thought about the actual ceremony. I know we are doing an unity candle ceremony but we have not thought about if we are doing traditional vows or what not. So the next month we are going to be thinking about that!

On the 8th of August I will be going with my mother and Bridesmaid/friend Melissa to my first alteration appointment which is exciting and scary. Just hoping that I have not gained to much weight since April. I need to start walking and working out for the wedding!

In addition to our counseling appointment we went a groomsman and father of the bride to get clothes for the wedding. We had to switch the colors around because of one JCPenney not carrying the colors we wanted! It just seems like since we did not go with bridal stores and tux stores we are having a major issue with the clothing but almost completed!

Just wanting for my bridal shower and bach party. I am excited!!!

Look forward to more news!!

Invitations

Over the weekend Michael and I printed and made out our invitations. I was going to have friends help out but Michael seemed quite interested in helping to doing all the printing. We will be sending out a good amount of them this week. Then some of them we are handing out like we did our save the date cards. We interesting and nice to stop by to say hi and hand out the cards so we are doing the same. Also, it will save some on the postage which will help out with the money issue. The invitation which is kind of blurry due to the lighting in our computer room.
It reads:

As the trees burst into color
and the autumnal season
arrives
we pledge our faith, our love,
our lives

We,

Melissa Dawn Brenner

&

Michael Ryan Reef

request the honour of your
presence
as we begin a lifetime of love
on Saturday, the tenth of
October
two thousand nine
at two o'clock in the afternoon
Fellowship Baptist

Portland, Indiana

Wedding Dream

Last night I had the craziest dream ever! I dreamed that everything went wrong at the wedding and nothing was planned out. The decoration was not brought to the wedding, card box was used for something else, and no was ready.

I think the wedding stress is finally getting to me. Just hope these dreams do not come to every night because it was quite scary!

Flowers

Flowers are almost completed beside the corsages for the mothers. I forgot one of the bands at my bridesmaid house on Saturday. Also, I need a hot glue gun to put the flower on the metal piece. Below is a picture of the bridesmaids, MOH, toss and mine bouquet.

The boutonnieres for the ushers, groomsmen, usherette, ring bears, grandpas, grandmas, BM, and groom.
The flower halo for the little flower girl *Mariah. I am not for sure if I am going to keep the white flowers of go to Michael's to get fall flowers. I wanted to use this because they are one of my favorite flowers. It does stand out a little bit. I made our niece Jacquelyn a little bouquet to hold since she is not a flower girl but still apart of us.


bouquet of berries for decor at the reception on one of the tables (gift or cake).

Another bouquet I made with flowers. These flowers will be the ones for mothers corsages. Thinking about putting this on my nieces grave the day before the wedding.

Just another step closer to the actual wedding!

I scream for Ice Cream

We finally got the ice cream machine booked for our wedding reception. We went to Fort Wayne on Saturday for a baseball game (Tin Caps). Decided to get into Fort Wayne early to book the machine for the wedding. I won the rental from Bob Muttons Party Rental (http://muttonrentals.com/) in January 2008 at a Bridal Show at the Grand Wayne Center. So be prepared to have a ice cream sundae at the reception!


We are excited to have some thing unique at the wedding. Maybe this will make up for not having alcohol at the reception.

4 months until the wedding

Now is the time to get a major start on the wedding. We have about 4 months until the big day; it is just getting so exciting to know it is coming around the corner.
We finally got Michael's ring in the mail which took about a month. He loves it but said it will take some time getting use to because he has not wore a ring since high school. Now he is has the idea that he needs a black watch to go with his ring. He is such a watch freak but I guess I can not complain because I am a shoe freak.
Alright so back to the wedding details. This weekend my bridesmaid Melissa and I are going to work on flowers together. I had them completed but did not like them so took them apart. Went out and brought more flowers to add in to make them look bigger.
There is so much to do in the little four months. This includes: invitations, reception cards, decorations, food items, veil, and many many more items.

Michael's Ring

Super excited! I order Michael's ring last night and can not wait for it to get here. Found a website that was doing a special through brides.com. They are giving away rings and all you have to do is pay for the shipping and handling. Ended up paying $25.00 for a $256.99 ring!
The website is: http://www.jvljewelry.com/Brides-c165.html. Will post when we get the ring in the mail!

Michael's Outfit

Yesterday we went to Fort Wayne to get out and about and because Michael knows I miss living there. Anyhow we went to the mall of course to walk around after dinner. We thought why not start looking into more wedding items like another flower girl dress, Jacquelyn's dress and men clothing.

We ended up going to the Men's section in JCPenney to take a look at what they had to offer for guys in the dress pants. Michael asked me what I thought he should wear and of course I told him since I am in a nice dress he should be in a suit at least. We are not going with Tux because of the price of the rental.

Came along a suit that I really liked. Michael tried it on and I loved it on him of course. Went ahead and brought it so now we are another step closer to getting married. He is wearing a khaki colored suit. I wish I would have took a picture of him but I will get one later on!

In addition, we picked out the guys pants but we have to want for shirts and ties because of the colors.

Reception

The site is booked! We booked the Women's Building at the Fairgrounds. The site does not allow alcohol beverages which makes some of the guest upset. Oh well I guess! We probably will meet some of our guest at a local bar after the reception to get a few drinks.

Reception will be from 4pm to 8pm with the DJ starting at 3:30pm. We booked a DJ out of Union City, Indiana for the reception.
The site fits into our budget and we really are not big drinkers. This will be like a family get together.

Sorry to disappoint some of our guest!

Bridal Shower

My lovely Matron of Honor and bridesmaid is working out the details for the bridal shower. They are thinking of hosting the shower the weekend before the wedding. I know most of the time the shower is hosted about one to three months before the wedding. With my matron of honor living in California and one bridesmaid living in Kansas it is kind of hard to plan with their schedule.

Look forward to my shower being the Sunday before the wedding! Details will come when they are more into the planning. Of course they are keeping me out of the loop on the planning besides the date! Which I kind of like because it is sort of a surprise in the planning.

I know it will be the best shower because I will have my wonderful two friends planning it and hopefully my wonderful sister-law helping! I trust in you girls!!

Photographer

We have our photographer booked. Of course it is not the photographer we wanted but it is the one we can afford. We had two in mind that we wanted but both was out of our price range. The first photographer wanted $2400 and the second photographer wanted $960. We wanted something more on the reasonable side.

Ended up booking a local photographer from Portland that does photography on the side from their other two jobs. This photographer also was my best friend's photographer for her wedding.

He is charging us total of $100 which is great and fits wonderful in our tiny budget.

Hoping to set things up in the next month or two so he knows what exactly we are wanting out of our pictures.

Update on Planning.

Michael and I have not really been to much in the planning. We have been busy with work and my school work. Have actually have booked a few items for the wedding in the past couple of weeks. The wedding is slowly coming together but still far away from completion.

By October everything will be in place so we can have our wonderful wedding!

Flower girl dress

I have finally found Breanna's dress but still searching for Mariah's. It was a close call on ebay for Mariah's dress but did not win the auction. Anyhow, Breanna has tried on her dress and likes it but just a little big. This is good through because we have a little less than six months before the wedding. It gives her a little room to grow into it.
This the full dress with on side with the sweat on. Michael and I thought this was nice because you never know about the fall weather.

Now the search for the flower girl items (tiara(Breanna), flower halo (Mariah), shoes and tights and Mariah's dress.

Shopping

On April 2 my bridesmaid Melissa and I went shopping for some of the items still needed. It was fun to just get out and enjoy time with her. We had a blast shopping and just hanging out together! Any way a lot of the shopping for main part of the wedding is done. I am getting super excited!!!!

We ended up getting invitations, programs, cake topper, toasting glasses, candle holders for the unity candle, ribbon and items to put together the flowers. It seemed like the day went way to fast but we got most of the items I was searching for that day.

Pictures to come and more details.

Bridesmaid Dress!

I found the dress for the bridesmaids/Matron of honor. I love it and had to have them get it!!!! I am getting so excited! It is a JCPenney's dress so each of them are able to get the dress for the wedding.

Photography Update

We realized that we would love the photographer we picked out but we can not afford her. She cost $975 but we got her down to $800 but still on the pricey side for us. We are trying to cut cost so we do not spend too much money with the economy the way it is. Also, with student loans, credit card bills, bills in general, me not having a car, and the parents being broke. We need to have the simple but big wedding. We are not cutting the guest list just our wants and how much we spend.

We found photographer that will do the coverage we want but only cost $520.00. That will help save $280.00 from the first photographer. Now we just need to book them and maybe to look more into the portfolio so we know they are the right ones for us!

More to come if they are are the ones for us!

Flower Girl

Over the weekend Michael and I went to Fort Wayne to look to get him a new pair of shoes and go to a concert. Well I always have to go to my favorite stores well some of my favorite stores. This time we went to JCPenney's and Target.
Anyhow we stopped at JCPenney's first and I finally found a dress for Brenna but still can not find on that I like for Mariah. Thought I could find it online but it is on the website. I will have to post pictures when I get back from Jay County. The dress is in the van so I can show my mother this week.

Bridal Jewelry

Last night I ordered my bridal jewelry through Kohl's online. I found a necklace that looks almost like the necklaces I got my bridesmaids. It is a little bit more classy! They have a beautiful earrings to match the necklace.
The earrings:

The necklace:


To get a better look at the necklace you can go here: Kohl's. I just love it!

Tux vs suits

We have been thinking about what the men should wear. A few months ago we went to the tux shop that we wanted to go through for the wedding. Well it turns out each of the men are looking at spending 164.00 for a tux to rent but the plus would be that we get free invitations and Michael's tux for free. Together the groomsmen, Best man, fathers, ring bears and ushers would spend $1476 on tux together. It would be roughly 146.60 for each if Michael would pay and split the cost. How can they charge ring bears the same price?

Anyhow this past weekend Michael and I have been thinking about doing our own invitations. Then we would go with suits of some sort that away they are spending about the same but get to keep the outfit like the ladies do!

Now Michael is on the search of what he wants the men and boys to wear for the wedding. Hopefully it comes out a little cheaper and they get to keep the clothing!!

Wedding Update!

Michael & I just have been busy with other things lately but we finally came back to planning our day together. It just seems like everything was going down hill for us. We have had some money issues, family issues to take care of and just work. Now we are starting to get back on track. The past week we have been trying to get things back on track. Personally think we are there now that we realize we have about 6 months before the big day!

I am getting excited to finally to come Mrs. Melissa Dawn Reef!!

The next couple of blogs will tell you what we have been up to the past week or so. We have started to look at different ways to save money but have the big wedding we want! Look forward to my next couple of blogs.

March 2009

Michael and I are still waiting to see if we won the Brickfish Dress your wedding party contest. Thanks to those who voted for us! We came in 51st place so we have an chance to winning the $5,000 from David's Bridal. If we do win the $5,000 it would pay for my dress, bridesmaids dresses, grooms tux, groomsman's tux, parents outfits, flower girls, ushers, ring bears, invitations and a few other items for the wedding. This would help out us out majorly with cost and help our bridal party. We are just hoping for the best!

Once we find out about the contest it is time to start shopping for items. Planning on going dress shopping with my mother the first weekend in April to see what I like and dislike. Pretty sure I have some major ides I want but want to see them in person.

We still need to find an place for the reception. Also, we are still in need of an photographer.

Just ready to get to the wedding day! Then I will not be stressing about all the little details.

More details to come.

6 years!

Six years ago Michael and I was on our first date together well after school. We ended up going to Pizza Hut because there was not many places to pick in Jay County. That was when we decided to become boyfriend and girlfriend. Today marks six years with Michael which does not seem like that long. It is just strange not have married him sooner but I had to wait for him to find the right moment to propose to me. Most of my friends are married or engaged. There is just a couple that is still in the dating scene.
Oh well Michael and I planning our lives together now and that is all that matters now. We will have another 50 to 60 years together! Once we finally get married we will be together for 6 years and 8 months. Time is just flying right by!
Not planning on doing any thing special for the 6 years or Valentine's Day. Just spending time together and relaxing!!!

Bridal Party

Finally have the ladies side of the wedding party picked out. Asked my last bridesmaid last week and now I just have to ask my last usherette/guest book attendant. It is exciting to have things to start to take place for the wedding. Michael has his party picked out but I think he still needs to confirm with a couple of people.
Meet the ladies:

Matron of Honor: Stephanie RalstonStephanie and Melissa meet in Junior High. Late clicked in High School and became best of friends! Ever since they have enjoyed spending time with each other if it is just talking and hanging to shopping. Stephanie is the sister Melissa never had and try to keep in contact as much as they can. Stephanie resides in California with her husband Damon on the Army base.

Bridesmaid: Melissa Kiser
Melissa meet Melissa at Indiana Tech their freshman year. Both were on the soccer team; Kiser was the goalie and Brenner was the team manager. Their sophomore year they became sweet mates then roommates. They just enjoyed hanging out and going grocery shopping together. Kiser resides with her husband in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Bridesmaid: Christina Rivers
Christina is Michael's sister who is younger than him. Melissa and Christina gets along great and seemed to have hit it off. Michael has always had a pretty close relationship with Christina and try to keep in touch as much as they can. Christina resides with her husband Robert and daughter Jacquelyn in Fort Riley, Kansas.

Usherette/Guest book attendant: Lisa Brenner
Lisa is Melissa's cousin on her mothers side of the family. They were born 6 weeks apart which was kind of strange because they mothers are twins. Lisa and Melissa has always seemed to be really close even though they have different friends and ways of living. Lisa resides in Portland with her boyfriend Ted and daughter Mariah (Flower girl).

Flower Girl #1: Breanna Reef
Breanna is Michael's brothers daughter. Michael and Melisa is really close to Breanna and loves her dearly. She will be six years old at the time of the wedding. Melissa got her addicted to going to the mall! She is the sister of the ring bearers Damion and Kevin. Breanna resides in Dunkirk with her mother then visit her father.

Flower Girl #2: Mariah Ausland

Mariah is Melissa's second cousin but seems like a niece. She calls Melissa's parents grandparents because they have been in her life since she was born. Melissa likes to take Mariah out shopping and just to spend time with her. At the time of the wedding she will be three years old. Mariah resides with her mother Lisa and mothers boyfriend Ted who she calls Dad.

That is my ladies for now still have to ask one more to be my usherette/guest book attendant. Look forward to finding out who it is!

Will post the groomsmen/Best Man/Ushers once confirmed. At the moment of time you can check them out at our wedding website: www.mywedding.com/mmreef

Jewelry

The other day Michael and I was out n about looking around. I decided to start looking at jewelry for the wedding. I found and brought the necklace for the Matron of Honor and bridesmaids. I am excited to finally buy items for the wedding. Then today I was looking around Kohl's website and found the necklace and earrings that I want. I will have to hold off until I am to buy them. If you want to check the necklace out: http://www.kohls.com and the earrings are on the side of the page.

The following picture is of my grandmothers brooch. I am planning on using this as my something old or something blue.
Bridesmaid and matron of honor jewelry. Not for sure if I want to get them a bracelet or not.


I am still in the planning process of the jewelry. I am still looking for something for the flowers girls and the mothers.

Photography

We are in the process of finding the perfect photographer. The main problem is the price of wedding photographers. Back in January 2008 we found the perfect photographer but they were priced around $2000 which would most of our wedding budget. That is when we got into looking for different photographers. Each photographer is different in their unique ways so it has been hard. Now I think we found the perfect photographer but it is still on the pricey side. We are planning on going with Annie Frantz and she lives in Ridgeville, Indiana. I think she is still pricey but she is the best we could find for our money. I guess never thought wedding photography would be around $1000. Just wish I could do my own photos and edit them like photographers can.
Check out her wedsite: http://www.myspace.com/anniefrantzphotography

Weekend of wedding shopping

Over the weekend Michael and I just spent the weekend having fun. Well after I got out of CPR class on Saturday. Saturday we went to Battle Creek, Michigan to just hang out and look around the stores and do not forget to go Don Pablo's. Ended up getting our candles for the unity candle ceremony. They are brown to go with our autumn theme. We still have to get a stand for them but we do not think we want the usually unity candle stand. I probably will decorate the main candle but just do not know with what yet... guess I will have to look around on DIY sites.
Then Sunday morning I tried to win some lovely tote bags off ebay for my girls but lost that auction. Hopefully I will find another sweet deal on them. While I was doing that Michael was at his computer working on bills. Yes, he is the one who does the bills. He has the full time job so the money is in his account. Anyways he realized he needed to go to Fort Wayne to pay a bill because of the date. Off to Fort Wayne we went.
Decided to go to the mall to get the free wedding planning book from JCPenney and print registry things off at Sears. We could not print registry things off at Sears because the computer was off. That is when I decided to drag Michael into the tux shop to check things out.
At the moment of time we are going with Louie's Tux shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The site is: http://www.louiestuxshop.com/. We found them at the bridal show we went to in Fort Wayne in 2008. Got a sweet deal from them. Rent 5 tux and get a free groom rent, free invitations(have to pay for them at first) and 1/2 off ring bearer tux. Ended up picking out the tux for everyone.
Michael is going to wear an ivory tux with a brown vest, groomsmen/BM is wearing brown tux with ivory vest, fathers in brown tux with gold vest(my pick) and ushers in brown tux with orange vest(this is Michael's pick). I will have to get pictures the next time we stop into the shop to look at invitations.
Lets say it was a long weekend! I am just so ready to go dress shopping. Thought about going next month with my mother to start looking then go in late March/early April with the girls!

DJ & songs

Last night Michael and I worked on the music for the reception and ceremony. We already have the sound person booked for the wedding because he is provided by the church. For the reception we are in search of an DJ. Well I have been searching online for DJ's around the Portland area that was in our budget. I finally found some that is pretty cheap and has some good reviews. Got Michael to call them last night to put us on their calendar. We are going to meet with them next month when we go home for counseling again. Just hope Michael likes them because they are cheapest I could find. Even my dad thinks we should just have a Ipod reception which I do not want to have! Anyhow the DJ is called Sound Sensation:
http://www.soundsensations.info/index.html

We still have a ways to comfirm our song list but we are getting there. There are some songs on the list that we are sure they are going to be that song for the special event. I am just trying to find a song that fits me for my entrance at the ceremony. I never thought this would be so hard. If any one has any ideas please let me know.

What a weekend!

This past weekend I headed off to Jay County after I got off work on Saturday. I work every Saturday morning! Anyways we had a pack full weekend ahead of us. First off was stopping at Michael's parents because it was Kevin's birthday on Sunday but his parents had the kids only on Saturday. Once we got there we sung happy birthday and the kids ate cake. I decided to take everyone out to Burger King for dinner because I had to get to the bank before it closed at 4:00pm. That evening we had our first session with Mitch (premarital counseling). After the session he gave us a tour of he church and we talked about different things. The session was quite different but it is interesting. We already have a first assignment. Ready for the next session next month.
Then on Sunday we had to move items out of my parents house because of the divorce. Michael's parents let me move the items into their house until we get a house to store them. It was really nice of them to let me since we really do not have much room here at our house. After getting all my things it was time to freshen up. We planned on going to the bridal show at the Community Center in Portland. It was just going to be Michael, my mother and I but Michael asked his mother to go. Then after we left my parents house my dad said he was going. The bridal show was not much beneficial because there was not much information. We did get the number to some place we can call for a reception site.
Now we are just trying to plan this wedding with the smallest budget alive. From the dress to the reception everything needs to cost a small amount. We are ok with this because we are not real fancy people but there is somethings that I would like to have at the wedding. Michael wants it to be really cheap by having a potluck reception. I really do not like the idea but I have to consider his ideas since he is paying for he wedding.
Just in the planning hopefully this weekend we can set down and talk things out to get back on track of planning this wedding/marriage!!!
More details to come on the planning..

Hope something like this doesn't happen....

Check this link out: http://www.freakybestmanspeech.com/

Now Brad please do not come up with something like this!!!

Vote

Just enter an contest at David's Bridal. Please vote for me like everyday. Michael and I could really use this money for the wedding. Things would be a lot stressful if we had this money. We could book our reception site, get the photographer that is great, help our wedding party pay for their outfits! Overall this would be a great things to use.

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