Accomodations

Hello everyone!

If you are keeping up to date with our wedding planning via this blog,  then here is an important update!

The Holiday Inn Express no longer has rooms at the discounted rate.  Apparently only 3 people made reservations even though we had asked for 19 rooms!!  You can try and see if there are any openings without the discounted rate, but I can't guarantee it.

I am waiting to hear about the number of rooms left at the Days Inn in Santa Rosa, which is also apparently now called the Palms Inn.  If you call them, you must ask to speak with someone named Kent, otherwise the front desk staff gets very confused!

Also, if you are reading this, can you please email me at beth@bethandrobert.com and tell me where you will be staying and if you'd like to take advantage of the shuttles we have arranged to pick up guests and bring them back to both the Holiday Inn and Palms Inn.  There is room for 30 people to be picked up at the Palms Inn and 50 people to be picked up at the Holiday Inn.

Thanks!

Beth and Robert

32 days!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind!  I don't even know where to begin with this post!

I'll start with the most recent events:

Sunday, my bridesmaids threw me a wonderful bridal shower.  Having my friends and family there was wonderful.  Lots of laughs and lots of fun times.  Big thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated with me, and for those that couldn't be there, you were missed!

Plans are almost finished.  For anyone interested, there will be shuttles from the Days Inn in Santa Rosa and the Holiday Inn Express in Windsor.  Email us if you are staying at one of those hotels and if you are interested in taking the shuttle!

We took a day trip to the venue a few weeks ago to see the few changes that have been made and get an idea on where to put everything.  It was a very helpful visit, and helped solidify a lot of ideas.  Next week, I will share a few different wineries that we suggest visiting while you are there!

The dance for my dad and I are done.  We had a great time at Boogie Woogie Studios.   The first dance for Robert and I...is coming a little slower than I'd have liked, and its not Robert's fault.  He is actually doing pretty well (even though the only arguments we've had over this whole wedding revolves around dance steps!).  Our instructor is interesting.  She's really nice, but she changes the choreography almost every session.  We've had to add two more sessions to the original five and we still aren't really done with the dance.  We have one more on Tuesday night, and we will see where it stands from there.  If we don't get it finished, we may just go to Boogie Woogie studio's in Foster City and work on it there.

Other than all that, things are coming along!  I can't wait to see it all come together!

2 months!!!

So, I have not posted in awhile, as I'm sure you are aware.  I started working at a summer camp a few weeks ago, and our internet has been spotty at home.  Its working on this computer, so I suppose an update is in order!

Since my last post we have:

• Gotten the tuxes rented
• I had a first trial for my hair
• ordered manzanita branches and other decor
• Put the final payment on the venue
• Sent out several rounds of invitations
• Added more things to the rental order and took a few things off
• Started taking dance lessons with my dad and Robert (my feet have only been stepped on about 3 times between the two of them so thats not too bad!)
• Got the call that my dress is in!!  I've been playing phone tag with the salon for the past few days, but I hope to have the first fitting scheduled by Tuesday!  

I cannot believe that in just two days, it will be August!  Where did July go?  This month will be extremely busy.  A wedding I was hired to do floral design for, birthdays for my dad and brother, bridal shower and finishing up all the crafts for the wedding!  Robert pointed out that this will probably be the last "slow" weekend we have until after the wedding! 

 Next Sunday we will be taking a day trip up to Geyserville to check out the venue one last time.  The owner says she made a few changes to the layout, and we will be able to see what everything will probably look like at the end of September!  

I think thats all for now!  

If its not plates, its napkins

The Great Plate Hunt of 2012 has been resolved (well, mostly.  We still need to find dessert plates), but of course once that got resolved, The Great Napkin Conundrum of 2012 rose its ugly head.  A little back story:

On Tuesday of last week, my bridesmaid Brandi and I headed up to Sonoma to check out a rental place.  After a short detour in Petaluma thanks to my GPS, we finally made it to the right spot and started a rental order.  Tables, chairs, linens, etc.  The nice lady got all my information and said she would get me a quote in a few days.

On Thursday, I got the quote and nearly died.  With just tables, chairs, napkins, plates, table cloths and a dance floor, the total quote was $4900!  Of course I had picked the most expensive napkins since they were the only ones in the right color!  $600 for 200 napkins.  I immediately started looking for other options.  The rental company also had cotton napkins for $1 each, and $200 was much better than $600, but I still was not satisfied.  I realize that they are just going to be used to wipe BBQ sauce off of hands and faces, but I want my table settings to look nice.  Even if no one notices, I will, being the planner and detail freak I am.

After a few nights (and I'm pretty sure several crazy dreams about napkins), I finally found an amazing solution!  I typed in to the wonderful Google search engine : "wedding napkins bulk" and was led to a site where I found 200 white napkins for $106 with shipping and tax!  Sure I will have a ton of napkins to deal with at the end of the night, but compared to spending $200-$600 on napkins for rentals, I am feeling really good about this purchase.

Now to figure out how to make the napkins look nice while sitting on the table.  My amazing mother has been playing with different ideas that will be simple and pretty so at the next craft night, we can put them together!

Other than all that, things are coming along.  Our wedding website went up this week and the electronic invitations are getting worked on as we speak.  Our invitations for family have been shipped and will hopefully arrive next week so I can get them put together at the next craft night!

This week, I meet with my amazing floral team and can't wait to see what they come up with!  Most of the crafts are almost done, and our wedding favors are being designed.

84 days left!  I can't believe it!

96 days and counting...

This past weekend was a whirlwind of wedding activities.  Saturday morning, I took the final bridesmaid in to pick her dress out.  Eight girls, eight dresses!  I just hope that when the dresses come in there is very little to alter!!!  Now we just have to get the guys in to get their suits ordered.  In the afternoon, my friend Allison, owner of Cake Done Right, came over and brought us some amazing samples of her delectable cakes.  We tried the chocolate back in February for Roberts birthday, so we decided to try a lemon chiffon, red velvet, mud cake and Irish Car Bomb inspired cake!  So many different flavors and so much cake!  The lemon chiffon is the winner all around.  We also decided to go with the regular chocolate and the Irish Car Bomb cake.  So there's another thing checked off the list!

Sunday, the ladies on the board for the floral design club threw me a bridal shower.  It was strange to go to a bridal shower and knowing it was for me.  I've been to so many for other friends and family.  It was such a lovely afternoon with all these friends that I have made since starting to take classes three years ago.

The show Robert has been working on finally went up this weekend which means he will be around a little bit more to help with some of the planning...hopefully!

The other update is the great plate hunt of 2012.  We are trying to figure out a way to save money and be "green" so we have been playing with a couple of different ideas on the dishes.  One of the suggestions has been to use bamboo plates which are biodegradable.  The plates look really nice and its definitely a more cost-effective idea.  The other idea is to buy dishes from the dollar tree store and re-sell them after the wedding.  We still haven't decided as of yet, but hopefully we will come to a conclusion by the end of the week!

Well, its time for me to sign off and get to work!  Last week of the first session of summer camp starts today!

Planning a wedding...the drama never stops!

This weekend was the soiree for my parents 30th anniversary.  It was a lot of fun and a wonderful way to celebrate 30 years of marriage.

Now that this party is over, its time to start getting on track with wedding details again.  After this week, Robert will be around more, which will be really helpful.  As I am typing this, he has yet to finish asking a few of his friends to be groomsmen, but his deadline for asking is by the end of tonight (Sunday).  

Now for the drama I mentioned in the subject line.  Last weekend, we went to Benicia to see an old friend of Roberts who owns a barbecue catering company called The Bibber.  The food was amazing and we made the decision to switch caterers.  

Now, remember the caterer that forgot about the tasting we had scheduled with her?  I am still not sure why I gave her another chance, but we weren't having luck finding anyone else.  After we finally were able to try her food (which as my father puts it, was mediocre), she announces to us "Great, lets go in my office and sign the contract".  There wasn't even any chance to think about whether we wanted to retain her services or not.  Everyone who was tasting with us was also in shock at her abrupt and rushed behavior.

Robert and I decided that we were going to walk in there and tell her we still wanted to think about it before signing anything, but when she handed us the contract, it stipulated that we could cancel for any reason 3 months prior to the event date with a  full refund of our deposit.  When we saw that we decided it couldn't hurt to sign with her while still shopping around for something better.  Well, we found it with The Bibber.  

A couple of days ago, I sent an email to Chef Cecilia telling her that we no longer wished to have her as our caterer.  I told her we found a family friend that was willing to do it, and we were sorry for any inconvenience.  Well, the next morning, our phone rings at 7:30 AM.  Yes, you read that right, AM.  I was still in bed and decided to let the machine get it, and a few minutes later, my cell phone begins to ring.  I don't get the best reception at the house and I didn't recognize the number, so I also let that go to voicemail.  Well then the house line rings AGAIN!  

I decided it must be urgent for whoever was calling to call so many times, so I got up and answered the phone.  I was then given a lecture on how we had a contract and why would we sign with her if we had no intention of using her in the first place.  I reminded her that her contract stipulated  that we could get a refund and cancel 3 months prior and her response was "Well, yes, but this has never happened before".  After I got off the phone with her, I was in shock at the lack of professionalism this company has shown in my dealings with them.  I would have suggested her to other people because her food was good, but after that phone call and how she handled herself, I will discourage anyone from using this company for their event.  

We are still waiting on an official quote from The Bibber, but the food is well worth every penny.  They also suggested using bio-degradable bamboo plates which I was wary about at first, but when I saw them, I was surprised by how nice they look.  It will not only look different and interesting on the table, but it will be environmentally friendly and save us a big chunk of money!  Thats a win on every level!

Other than the catering drama, things are still coming together.  Four of the eight bridesmaids that will be standing up there with me have found their dresses (I am letting each girl pick a dress that they feel comfortable in as long as its the right color!)  Another craft night is scheduled for the 29th of this month.  We've also asked friends and family to donate items that they are getting rid of to a garage sale that will help raise money for the wedding!

I also signed us up for a wedding service called Honeyfund.com.  Its a way for guests to send monetary gifts to the couple instead of sending a gift.  If you'd like to send a gift that way, you can go to our page at https://www.honeyfund.com/wedding/bethandrobert.

I think thats all the updates for now.  See you next week!

It's all in the details

Now that all the big to-do items are completed, I've been spending my time on the smaller details including invitations for family and close friends, the wedding website, and much more.

Yesterday, we went to Stanford Shopping Center and registered for a few things that will round out the stuff we already have.  You can go to the Williams and Sonoma website or Macy's to see our registries.  I almost felt bad during the Williams and Sonoma registry.  The woman helping us kept directing everything to me.  I still feel that this whole event is about me and Robert as a couple.  I don't like the whole focus on the bride only thing.  I will be trying to figure out more ways to focus on both of us as a couple.

There is still so much to do, but for a few days, I will set aside wedding planning details and focus on my parents 30th anniversary party!  It just never ends!