Pete and I were lucky enough to meet the same place I buy shoes, groceries, read my email and follow the Sox - the Internets!  Thanks to Match.com and my sister's wedding and my lack of date to my sister's wedding - Pete and I were brought together through a series of tubes called the internet! 

We start dating, going to Sox games, wedding date to my sisters wedding, meet the parents etc.  It's all going along great!     

Pete & I on my sister's wedding day

    My Sister & Dad walking her down the aisle

So hooray, we're together, we have fun and it's everything I'd hoped for! We moved in together, and it went well too! This year we were lucky enough to get right field roof seats to Fenway Park.  During the 7th inning stretch I got up to stretch with Pete to find that he was tying his shoe - wait a minute - nope proposing.  Despite our discussions about getting married and even getting engaged at Fenway (my form of religion and church) I didn't expect it.  - my friends Jon and Jen were there to capture important moments on film.  We were actually cheered in the right field roof when people realized what was going on. Flowers and champagne were sent over and a few calls were made, but I was back in my seat for "Sweet Caroline"

 

 Photos from the night of our engagement

My ring is absolutely gorgeous.  I knew I wanted three stones, and Pete was able to find something he told me looked like "me"  Pretty funny considering I barely wear jewelry! But yes, it's wonderful and I love it.

 

                                                                

The Engagement Ring (blurry hand shot & clean website likeness shot)

 

The Boston Red Sox played a great game that night, Dice-K with 9 strikeouts and a 4-1 Final against Tampa Bay! The Red Sox eventually became World Series Champions that year - making it an even more memorable season of baseball for us.

                                                        

The Green Monster & the scoreboard in the bleachers - Jon knew I would want the box score for keeps!

 

Let the Planning Begin!

Our Site

Because we have several people from Pete's family traveling we made a choice to get married in NH, I grew up there and it's a little more budget friendly for us and for people to fly into and stay at.

We chose Castleton Banquet & Conference Center in Windham, NH - we can do the ceremony & reception there.  It's on a pond in Windham and we can have a garden ceremony and our guests won't have to worry about traveling in an area that they aren't familiar with.

 

This is where the garden ceremony will be held

                                                        

        Great Photo Op                                                                                          Outdoor Cocktail Hour

 

 Our Wedding Party

Our Wedding Party is one Best Man, One Maid of Honor and 5 each of Bridesmaids and Groomsmen.  Each person in the party plays a special part in our lives. 

   Ann on the right - Bridesmaid           Liz  on the left- Bridesmaid     Jon & George - Two Groomsmen

Ann is my longest standing best gal pal ever - we can shop all day, drink beers and watch sports all night.

Liz is Pete's oldest sister - I will be forever grateful for helping me through meeting the parents.

Jon and George - My two dearest friends. Pete asked them and it means the world to me 

 

                    Glenn - Best Man                  Patty - Bridesmaid              Jen  left- Bridesmaid

Glenn - Pete's Best Friend since forever, Glenn and I hit it off immediately!

Patty - Pete's younger sister, she is one hell of a scrabble player!

Jen - I probably wouldn't have crossed paths with Jen had she not married Jon, but I'm glad she did!

 

 

Bridal Party Attire

Our Colors are Blue & Platinum

 

My sister Megan is my Maid of Honor she selected a Davinci dress that has a sash - she says she'll be the hall monitor of our wedding and everyone better have a pass!  She's probably one of the funniest people I know, I am lucky to have someone who will keep me laughing as the day gets closer. 

Meg's dress will be in platinum with a midnight sash - it's a different designer than the bridesmaid dresses so I'm a little nervous to see them all together.

 

 The rest of the gals will be wearing this After Six A6505

This dress will be in After Six "Midnight"

Left: My BM Ann, she has lost over 20lbs since we ordered the dresses, she's awesome!  Sure enough she is happy to pay for the alterations.  She also plans on wearing this to someone's wedding as a guest, I couldn't be more pleased!

My mom's dress:

I'm really thrilled, I love this dress and my mom feels comfortable in it.  She was talking (like usual) when I took her picture.  I'm so happy that she found something, she really struggled for my little sister's wedding. 

 

We picked Tuxes!  It took like no time at all - I'm so happy

             

 

Pete is Ivory, Best Man in Platinum Tie and Groomsmen in Navy/Midnight Ties

 I bought these for our "negative" anniversary and a fancy dinner.  I bought them with an ulterior motive. Look to my attire to see what I have in mind for my wedding day gift! 

Bridal Party Flowers

Left: I keep looking at these Calla Lillie and Green orchids - I like the white

Right: I can't believe I like this bouquet with pink flowers - but I really like this bouquet

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Bridal Party Accessories

I've asked the girls to pick up some strappy silver sandals their choice.

I'm planning on picking up these for part of the gift so girls can be comfortable during reception!

 

Jewerly

                        Maid of Honor                                                                                   Bridesmaids

                                             

We'll be ordering these sets from Anna Bellagio, MOH in Montana (blue) and BM's in Platinum

 

The No Good Mean Trick I Played!

I had three of my girls with me for the first round of dress shopping, my sisters Megan & Nicole and my friend Ann.  Leaving Jen, Patty & Liz out of the day - due to distance and scheduling. In any case, we didn't find anything at David's.  Either loved the dress and it didn't come in our color or all the dresses in the color were ugly!  I was a little bummed out about the whole thing - but the day was salvaged when Nicole tried on this dress!

I emailed all the girls to let them know I'd found the dress (sending them these pictures) and went to bed, I had woken up at 4 AM the next morning. Two panicked emails from Liz one asking if I was joking and the other sent a few hours later really wondering if I was serious.  I emailed everyone back to tell them clearly I was joking.  I got on the road for an early trip to Maine and Liz called me asking why did I do this to them? She would have had to drop out of the wedding. We had a decent laugh and I was later told by Patty and Jen that they didn't reply because they were trying to figure out how to tell me that they would have to drop out as well.  Needless to say, the dress ideas came pouring in!

 

Stationary

Save the Dates

This is my first DIY project.  I got the template from a friend's wife.  They were married almost a year ago and I really liked her STD's because it was a big Out of Town wedding - and it had a ton of information in it.  When we got engaged, she asked if I wanted the template.  I used the basic idea, but I used my own font and I have a very talented friend who designed the artwork for me,  it's a rendering of the Green Monster at Fenway Park - and the box score used in the artwork is the same score as the night we were engaged.  I think it's a great way to get a lot of info in for OOT's I have our contact info, airport info, hotel info, shuttle info and an itinerary for the weekend, ceremony, & out of town Sunday breakfast.

I have to show the artwork, because even though it's not what I originally had in mind - it was great because Jenn kind of just ran with it.  She's very talented.  She does handmade cards and other artwork

Check her out at www.jennjacobs.com

And here we go - with the printing & the folding

 

Front of the Save the Dates, Jenn's artwork is awesome!

 

                                                              

left picture: Opened up STD, with Magnet from Vistprint - you upload the images and they print them & send it to you - some people have had questions

right picture: blurry - but this was Pete's idea.  we bought a stamp that says "all you need is love" and stamped the back of the envelopes with silver ink.  It's a cute final touch! 

 

       

Pete, manning the laptop in the living room, waiting to tape magnets and stuff envelopes and hopefully get more addresses.  He also got to watch football - lucky guy!

 Invitations

Well, I would like to do my own invites, but I keep putting it off - I'm wondering if that means I'm just not going to do it. I like cards and pockets

 

 thanks toKnottie Chelle NYC for sending her templates for her DIY invites, they really came out great

I'm still working on the spacing and trying to decide if I need a better ribbon.

 

  

I want to close mine with a silver ribbon and use one of my monograms that was created for me by fellow 08/08ers ChelleNYC and McSteakh8r - the real work is which one to pick! 

Thanks ChelleNYC

 

Thanks Steaky

 

 Thanks Steaky Again

You got it, Steak again!

 

Photosharing Card

We'll be using this picture from our epic session - asking folks to please share their digital pics on our snapfish account. I'm ordering postcards from VistaPrint.

 

 

The Bride!

 

Here's the dress I've ordered.  I didn't want to mess with anything - I ordered in my size in Oct, as of January I've lost some weight, so I'll be happy to pay for those alterations

Alfred Angelo #1424 in Ivory/Cafe

 

                                                                  

                

 

This is the dress on me....I think the detail in the back is my favorite.  This time the clips are keeping the dress up not keeping me in! 

 

                            

 

My New Hair Inspiration: MrsMEW

 

Veil look I'm going for:  This is actually from the Target Bridal Collection - $16.99!!  what a steal. 

I bought a veil off the Trash to Treasure board but it was 2 layer and too poofy for me - if you are looking for a 2 Tier Ivory veil let me know - page me on Aug 08 or NH boards

Shoes: They match my dress perfectly, but need to be broken in HARD Core - but I'm considering wearing them for the ceremony and pictures and then switching to some colorful party shoes - we'll see!  Plus Ebay steal @ 19.99!

        

                                                                                  

Bracelet: Sox Bracelet from the Alpha Omega store - technically it's my wedding gift

Earrings: Got these from White Aisle, absolutely stunning

 

 

 

 Cake Stuff

 We met with Shara from Chickadee Hill and her cakes are SO good it's so hard to choose!  But we decided on a 3   tier cake - Top 2 tiers are tiramisu (yum!) bottom tier mint chocolate chip (yum!)

 

Our cake is going to be 3 tiers like the cake on the right, it'll have silver ribbon like the cake on the left and the detail work will be like the center cake but in navy instead!  I'm VERY excited to see how it comes out.  Shara was great at pulling my non traditional taste in with Pete's more traditional tastes. 

This is NOT a grooms cake - anyone that sees it will know it's not the grooms cake! Since we were engaged at Fenway and we like the Sox - I fell in love with this cake from the moment I saw it.

This cake will be done in chocolate fudge with mousse for 50 people! 

This is the cake we definitely know about and it's the biggest reason we are going with Chickadee Hill Cake - then we met Shara and she's nice, then we ate some of Shara's cakes - yummy!

 

Where do I get all these wonderful ideas & keep it light?

 

08/08 of course.

I've never been much of a message board girl, but I figured hey what the heck? I have more fun talking to the gals on 08/08 than one could imagine.  Keeping it light and realistic has really helped me focus my planning in the best possible way.  Humor and honesty truly go a long way with me!

The New England Chapter of 08/08! 

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