Tuxes, dresses,and cakes, oh my!

Well, we're another step closer to being prepared for the wedding. We emailed all the guys today and let them know the tuxes we picked out. We got them through A Step Above Bridal, which is where my dress is from. The guys will all wear black notch lapel tuxes and french vanilla shirts. The dads will have black ties and vests while JM will have an ivory vest and white and ivory striped tie. The groomsmen will have chocolate brown vests and chocolate brown and black striped ties.

This is the tux and JM's ensemble...Then this is the swatch for the groomsmen's...My dress came in last week so Mom, Lynds and I went over on Saturday morning and I put on the whole she-bang. It's still wonderful! And I still need to name the dress!!! For those of you who don't know, the first one who buys one of Antonio Fermin's designs gets to name it! This is a MUCH harder task then I had imagined. So much stress!!! I would love to name it 'The Shannon', or after seeing myself on Saturday, 'Princess Shannon'. But, my mom used Grandma Haines's inheritance money to pay for it, so I feel I should pay tribute to her somehow. 'Elaine's Love' (Connie's idea) or something of the sort. Anyone have any suggestions?!? Maybe I'll make it a contest...whoever comes up with the name I use wins something. Hmmm...I don't really have any prizes!

We also decided on a cake. Ritz Charles will be bringing the cake as well as the food. They won out pretty much solely on price. I was amazed at how good of a deal they gave us. Anyways, it will be the 'Ritz Buttercream' frosting, yellow cake and chocolate truffle filling. This is what it will look like (minus the flowery thing). The main color will be more of a lime green and then the borders will still be chocolate brown.We still have to decide on a cake topper. No clue what to do about that. We may just go with a big 'L'. How creative!

Our engagement photo session is in a couple of weeks and will be done by our photographer, Erin Hession. We had been planning on having it downtown on the canal (with Kodi, of course), but a friend of mine did hers at the Oliver Winery and the pictures turned out amazing!!! I emailed Erin today to see if that was an option. Also, it's my last name, and we're going to a winery for the honeymoon, so how fitting!

I think I need to hit the hay now. I'm not working tomorrow except for a class at 3, but I'm hoping to check out a couple of places and find out about bridesmaids dresses. Less than 10 weeks now...need to get my butt in gear!

I'll blog later about the honeymoon, rings, and hopefully other things that have been accomplished!

Catering Tasting

Last Friday JM, Mom, Dad, Lynds and I went to the Ritz Charles to taste a few samples so we can make a decision on the wedding menu. It was really neat, they had a table set up on the dancefloor for us so we could see the china, linens, etc. that will be used for our reception.

This is how the tables will look, minus the diet coke can! We will be using these ivory tablecloths, but we are having chocolate cloth napkins. The centerpieces come with the catering (the votives with the mirror). I haven't decided whether or not to add some rose petals, leaves, or whatever, in addition. The family tables will have centerpieces made by the florist...but it was way too expensive to have one at every table!

We are going with the buffet option, in which we get to chose a salad, a couple of sides, a veggie, 2 main meals, and then rolls. We were able to try 3 of the main dishes, so the first one we tried was the london broil. The chef came out ahead of time and explained everything. He had marinated it for 2 days in a tomato basil. The rose is made out of tomatoes. It was excellent.

Then we tried the key lime chicken. I didn't want to do the usual chicken with sauce or gravy, so I thought this would be different. It was marinated in lime and honey and then it was cooked so the marinade became a glaze. I thought this was amazing. The chicken was sooo juicy.

We then tried the beef brochettes, which I had no clue what would be! They were awesome. It was flank steak on skewers with olives, pearl onions, artichokes, and some type of sweet pepper. It was then sprinkled with feta cheese. The chef said it was Mediterranean inspired.

While it all was amazing, we could only pick two. I wanted a red meat and then a chicken, so we obviously went with the key lime chicken. It was a tough decision between the brochettes and the london broil, but the brochettes won out. We thought it was a very unique dish to have at a wedding and sooo tasty!

Then we tried 3 different cakes to see what icing, cake flavor and filling we liked. The icings we tried were cream cheese and buttercream. It was a unanimous vote of the buttercream. We then tried the white, chocolate and yellow cake. That was a toss up, but in the end, yellow. It was moist and didn't take away flavor from the rest. The fillings were almond mousse, cafe mocha and chocolate truffle. The cafe mocha was way too coffee-like. I really liked the almond mousse, but the majority vote was for chocolate truffle. We're not for sure that we're going to have the Ritz do our cake, but if we do, this will be the cake.

It's a wine/beer bar. There will be a white and red wine and then the two beers will be Coors Light and Mich Ultra. That may change, but for now it's what we're going with. Cocktails will be cash only.

We still haven't decided on appetizers or sides, but that should be taken care of in the next week or so.

Hope everyone had a happy Father's Day!

We may have found it!!!

As you know, finding a place and a date for our wedding has been quite the predicament. And by predicament, I mean pain in the @ss. Anyways, JM and I decided for a different approach. Screw having a neat, unique place, and let's spend less and maybe save for...I don't know...a house?

So, JM, Mom and I went to the Monon Center tonight to check it out. We liked it!!! Thing is, we'll be cutting a TON of costs, so in exchange, there's a particular photographer I want who is slightly pricey. The only dates in October that the photographer and the Monon Center have open in common are Oct. 17th and 24th...both Fridays. But, we get a discount on just about everything because it's not a Saturday!

I REALLY want the 24th (day after my 30th birthday...how fitting!), but another bride is going to look at the Monon Center tomorrow morning for a couple of dates, the 24th included. I just left the lady a rather desperate message and said that we discussed it and we definitely want the 24th...we'll come in tomorrow and pay the deposit! I'm hoping she'll at least sway the other bride away! If not....keep your fingers crossed that the photographer is open on the 17th! She was open the other day, I'm just hoping she isn't already booked!