Sun Moon Stars Girl )-(

Welcome to my little place to vent…

The lucky numbers today are: 3, 6, 15, 38, 40, 44, 49, 59, 60, 64, 68, 75, & 92!

We finished up a very busy week with our second session of Pre-Cana right after flying back to CA. Once again the session went really well and was fun. This evening focused once again on communication, but we also got into discussions about finances and started talking about sexuality. I must say, once again, how happily surprised about these classes I am. They really bring up a lot of interesting points to talk about, as well as are a really good resource for examples of how to deal with those issues from the couple leading the session. It’s also so interesting to see the Catholic church’s view on things. Our next session is this Friday.

One of our last tasks before leaving NJ was to make the flower girl basket. We had already sewn and finished the ring bearer pillow, about a month ago. It took Kris and I a little while to decide exactly how we wanted to put the basket together, but it didn’t take too long to come together. Now both items are stowed away at my parents’ house in NJ, ready and waiting for the ceremony. I’m really pleased about our homemade, customized items.

So on Friday, Kris and I drove down to Delaware with my parents. The fact that it was Memorial Day weekend and everyone was going down the shore made the trip almost unbearable, but we made a good decision to exit the NJ Turnpike after sitting in very slow traffic for nearly an hour. After that, the trip still took almost 5 hours - but at least we were moving. The funniest part happened when we finally got to Delaware and were trying to find the hotel we were staying at. We joked later that its location, practically within the cloverleaf exit ramp area, was the “spiraling pit of hell.” You see, we drove past it about four times - because the location was on a small side street next to the highway, yet this road had obviously once been the main thruway, because the address of the hotel was the same name as the highway! There was only one small turn to get onto the side road, and if you missed it, you had to drive around in a circle again. We never stopped to look at the hotel’s directions, so we’re still blaming Google maps (which are usually pretty good!) for getting us lost. At least once we got there, several other hotel guests were there to commiserate the experience.

That night we met up with Laura for dinner near the mall (which both going to and coming back from were other “we got kinda lost” episodes). We were all pretty tired so we headed to bed early. We had to get up early Saturday morning, too, since the large convocation ceremony started at 9AM (Laura had to be there by 8, which was fine with us because we needed to get seats). Now for a side note - why are college move-in, move-out, and graduation weekends always the hottest, most humid, most unbearable weekends? Is it because a whole lot of people are gather in one place and all moving about? Well, this day was certainly no respite from that type of weather. Sitting in the stadium in the blaring sun, which was killer already at 10AM, was too much for Kris and I, so we had to step out to the shade for a few minutes. We DID, however, get to see Laura (and everyone else) march on in, and we went back up right when “all the honors, rights, and privileges granted by the university” were bestowed upon her and all the other undergraduates, so that was pretty cool. We were also able to beat the crowd out the doors from this larger informal ceremony. Another side note - the University of Delaware does a very large ceremony in the morning, where everyone goes, but only the PhD graduates receive their degrees individually. Then there are a whole bunch of smaller graduations later throughout the day for each college or department. Laura’s ceremony wasn’t until nearly the end of the day at 3:30pm.

After the morning’s festivities, we wandered down the main street at UDel - stopped in a few shops, Kris bought a new hat - and then we had lunch. Just as we were being served, Aunt Linda and Grandma showed up at the Iron Hill Brewery - so we all got to eat together. We took a second trip down the main street for dessert, then went back to Laura’s apartment. She still had a bunch of stuff to move out, so we put as much stuff in my parents’ Trailblazer as possible. One of her housemates was getting rid of a huge TV, so Aunt Linda took that in her car. Pretty soon it was time for the College of Agriculture’s convocation, so we all headed over to that. This smaller ceremony had each person individually announced and walk across the platform, but it was not in alphabetical order, and nobody actually got a degree - instead they got a calendar with the UDel seal on it! Our final stop for the day was Laura’s graduation dinner. All in all a fun, though hot, weekend.

Congrats Laura!

Today while my parents and Kris were in Delaware moving Laura’s stuff back to New Jersey, I finally got to see all my old co-workers at the library! I mostly just talked to Lynn, since I hadn’t seen her in so long, and she looks awesome for just having twins! It was so good to see everyone, and also to meet some of the new people. I found out that two of my reference librarians were retiring - once that happens there will barely be anyone else left I actually worked with! I left telling them that I had my hair appointment at 4pm, and would stop in if I could after it was done.

Well, the U-Haul pulled into the driveway about 45 minutes before I had to leave, so I pitched in with moving everything into either the living room or the garage. I was really happy when I was leaving and Kris asked how short I was cutting my hair. He’s the only person who was supporting me going short - everyone else told me to leave it long for the wedding. I didn’t want to do that for a couple of reasons. The first was that I didn’t really like the long hair, and I was growing to make sure it would be long enough to style for wedding, and also so I could cut it and donate it to Locks of Love. The second was that I didn’t want it long for our honeymoon in Tahiti - since we’ll be on the beach and swimming a lot, it would just be a pain to do anything with. As anyone with long hair should know - it sucks in the summer. I really don’t want to have to deal with it on our should-be-relaxing-honeymoon!

My long-time stylist Pauline did a great job with my hair! First, I am so glad she cut off as much as she did. I think it looks so cute with the “bob” cut I know have. I also really liked the style we finally got, even though it wasn’t what I had in mind at first, and it does have the “typical wedding hairstyle curls.” I am happy it’s out of my face and up - I know it’s going to be really hot and humid in August! Pauline even put in the tiara and the veil, so I got to see what the “final look” would be, and we took lots of pictures to help re-create the same thing in August.

The best part of the evening was that my mom was cool with me wearing the whole thing when we went out to play Bunco. That was great too, I ALWAYS enjoy playing if I can when I’m in town. I got to see a few friends of my mom that I haven’t seen in a while, even though they all yelled at my to take off my veil, and then again when I shoved it in my purse. Little did they know that’s where it had spent most of the day, and beforehand it was shoved in another bag for our trip. It’s pretty resiliant, and wasn’t mussed at all when I took it out and put it in with my dress. As far as Bunco, my grandma won second place, and although I was tied for third, I didn’t end up winning. I still had fun though!

Last night I was able to talk to Judy, the church wedding coordinator. We talked about the basics for the ceremony, and the details for the rehearsal. There are no other weddings scheduled for the same day as us, but there is one the next day, and unfortunately that couple had already taken the timeslot for the Friday night rehearsal I wanted at 6pm. So now we have to decide whether we want the rehearsal at 5 or 7 instead. She did give me some good advice about bringing as many items as possible to the church that night so we wouldn’t have to remember them on the big day - the programs, the ring pillow, and any other items we may be using in the ceremony. She also told me that we may be able to throw flower petals if we have a runner, which I’m really excited about.

Our first meeting today was with our Pastor. We had to finalize some paperwork with him, and go over the selections we have made for our readings and vows. The whole thing only took about 15 minutes, so we had lots of time for everything else.

After our meeting with Fr. John, we met with Paul Milan, the music director. First he wanted to know the same details of the reading selections, more importantly the alleluia and responsorial verses we’d selected, since he has to get the right musical pieces to go with those items. We talked about who we might like to select as our cantor, but I know my mom had someone specific in mind that I’d forgotten to ask her about - so I’ll have to email him that later. He also had some leftover programs he said we could use as examples, which was great. Then he took us into the completely empty church - was which was little weird but very cool at the same time - to play us a few pieces on the piano and then on the organ. We made our selections pretty quickly for the processional and resessional, and then which “Alleluia” we wanted. It was pretty easy, and again did not take a lot of time to finish. The last thing he did was to tell us about his experience taking pictures in the church’s prayer garden, and that he and Judy had a bunch of bows we could use for decorations, which is fabulous because that will save us a little money on the florist, or allow for an extra two centerpieces, which we may end up needing.

We had so much time that we decided to stop by the library. There weren’t really a lot of people there - and especially my friend Lynn who I haven’t seen in two years - but we were told they would all be there tomorrow. That’s great - except Kris had already been recruited to go move all my sister’s belongings out of her apartment in Delaware. At least I’ll be able to stop in, since I’ve got an appointment to get my hair done, and I don’t want to miss it.

Even after going to the library, we still had a lot of time, so we agreed to take the trip up to the Buck Garden again and take a look, since I was so disappointed yesterday that they were closed when we got there. Well, I guess I should have known that this garden wasn’t going to be good either, since the hours were so short. The first thing we realized (after getting a map of the place) was that to get any place decent enough to take pictures, we’d all have to hike through the woods - literally - which is not cool with me, aka “Mrs. White Dress and White Heels.” The second thing I realized, since they had a flyer for the wedding photo permits, is that you have to make an “appointment” for your permit, and the last one on Saturdays is at 3:30pm. With our ceremony scheduled for 3pm, we would never make the garden appointment. Finally, the price of the permit was actually also listed on this info sheet, and at an exorbinant $75, we decided to forego the park idea completely. At least we know, and to me that was worth the extra trip. So we’ll be taking the majority of our pictures inside the church in the santuary and in the church prayer garden, which is beautiful. We’ll also be able to take some pictures at the hotel, because the back garden area is also quite lovely (which I was actually able to see for the first time yesterday - all the other times I’d been there it was barren and cold!).

This morning started out with a trip where Kris and I attempted to visit two Somerset County parks which had been suggested by Gina at the Somerset Hills Hotel as places that might be nice to take our wedding pictures at. Since the information I had gotten online told us to call about obtaining a permit for wedding photos, I wanted to actually go to the parks to see if it was worth it to find out more information. The first park was the Colonial Park, where there’s a really nice rose garden, and an area that’s pictured online with a Gazebo. It was pretty nice, although the flowers weren’t really in bloom, and we didn’t have a huge amount of time to look around. I wasn’t impressed that we’d have to walk in some areas on the grass, and this park, as we realized when we left, wasn’t really “on the way” or as convenient to get to as I’d originally thought.

Our next stop for the day was another meeting with the aforementioned Gina at the Somerset Hills Hotel. Kris and I had spent time picking out our menu choices from the serving dishes to our cake earlier, so it was a breeze to go over those things. The only thing we had to wait on was the entree, salad, and served appetizer choices, but we made those decisions easily on Saturday night. We went over the details for our signature drink, the cake type and filling, as well as the design (it is going to be the beaded design that’s on my dress - it should turn out awesome!), and whether or not we would have bows on the seat covers (we decided no). We met our maitre’d, Steve Benyo, who was also really nice.

However, I think the MOST important thing that we talked about was whether or not the name change would be taking place before the wedding (probably not, or if it is it will be something simple like “Somerset Hills Hotel by Doubletree”) and when the renovations would be taking place. The latest update is that those renovations are assured to “not interfere with our event,” but are also unlikely to occur anytime before September. This is a double-edge sword, because although it’s great the hotel won’t be in shambles and full of scaffolding for our wedding, but it’s also a bummer that we’ll miss out on all the nice new stuff. At least we know now it’s less likely to be something we need to worry about.

After this meeting, we had barely enough time to grab lunch, so we delayed going to the second park until after we met with Catherine, our florist at the Somerset Hills Florist. She was awesome, so accommodating in communicating with me through email, and she’d set up two trial centerpiece ideas for us to look at and work with. We ended up using some of the same flowers, but a completely different design than either of the two pieces she’d already made. They will be short glass vases with purple and blue rocks holding up a bunch of the Dendrovium blue-dyed Orchids surrounded by white hydrangea. It looked really great in the mock-up and I’m excited about the details coming together. The best part was that Catherine gave us the orchids to take home!

Our final stop was to see the garden nearby the hotel, the Leonard J. Buck Garden, which was on our way back home. Unfortunately, the gates were just being closed as we pulled up, and we realized we had arrived after the hours of operation anyway. It was a huge disappointment to me, because I really wanted to see if this garden would have a nicer area to take pictures and if it would be worthwhile to call to ask about the permits. We should have time to maybe go back tomorrow.

I realize I never actually posted that after much annoyance and a feeling of being scammed, we decided NOT to go with After Hours for the tuxedos after all. The last straw was basically when I got a postcard in the mail telling me we had to get all the men measured by March 17th for our August wedding. This was after we found out the “free” groom’s tux wasn’t completely free, there were added charges to everyone’s rental, and the “airfare or cruise” offers WERE too good to be true.

Before we actually made the decision to dump After Hours, I called the people at Dante Zeller Tuxedos to get their “real deal.” I’d already signed up with them at the Halloween Bridal Show I went to in October to get the menswear for about $50 less than AH. So today Kris and I ventured out to re-select the tuxes and get measured - again. Well, not only are the tuxes $50 less, but the people at Dante were super-nice and helpful. The basic tuxes are the same, but both Kris and I like the brand-new jackets we were able to select, as well as the solid color vests instead of the pattern we had previously chosen. Even if I hadn’t gone to the show, this company would have been a better deal. And though Dante Zeller is more of a local company than AH, they will accept a phone call of measurements from any tux shop!

Basically we’re both satisfied, and it’s one more thing we can finally check off the list!

The shower couldn’t really be a secret, since my family and bridesmaids had to plan everything around when I would actually be in NJ. But when I walked down the stairs into the banquet room at the restuarant where the shower was held, I was still surprised! All three of my bridesmaids were right there, ready to snaps pictures - even if some of the shots were in “posed” surprise.

I had a great time! Everyone who helped with the planning did a great job! My mom and aunts made a thousand cookies, and they looked great in every shade from pink to blue, with purple and periwinkle in between. The butter cookies were so cute - hearts and umbrellas - as well as other star “wand” cookies on sticks, which made great decorations! We played some of the traditional games, which Valerie was in charge of, and she did a great job. I just feel bad that I had to steal her clothespin almost right away during that game when she said “wedding!” We played a fun ice-breaker game where you had to find people that matched you - I’ve never played one like that before. We also had the toilet-paper wedding dress thing, with the other two engaged girls - Jerilyn and Valerie - as the model brides-to-be. Valerie had the better dress, but Jerilyn had better accessories, including but not limited to: a veil, necklace, and bouquet. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard as when this was going on! During this game, my aunts were trying to wrap my cousin, Jerilyn, up like a mummy, while Val was missing a bouquet for quite a while.

The food and cake were great. Jerilyn did an awesome job putting together my bridal hat/rehearsal bouquet, while Laura was super-helpful with a list for the thank you’s. Valerie worked on the “Wedding Night Preview,” while I opened the gifts - which turned out a few VERY funny quotes. I got many compliments about the invitations to the wedding, too, which I hope everyone passed along to Donna, who was so wonderful to come down and spend the whole weekend with us. Thanks for everything!

On our way back from Andrew and Sabrina’s wonderful wedding, we were able to meet up with Kris’s parents on the highway. Our paths merged at the Tappen Zee Bridge, and they followed us down to my parents’ house in NJ. All six of us went to mass together at St. Bart’s, so Kris’s parents could get a look at the church and meet Father John (Paladino). Our tasting was scheduled for 7pm, so we stopped back at my parents’s house afterwards to kill some time and pick up my grandmother. I got to show my dress and my sister’s bridesmaid dress to Kris’s mom, which was really exciting.

Kris and I gathered up our paperwork, just to make sure we actually got the items we’d requested at the tasting. We found our recipe for our fun signature drink to have the bartending staff mix up for us. Then we headed out to the Somerset Hills Hotel.

When we got there, there was another wedding reception going on, so we peeked around a bit while we waited for the “tasting table” to be set for us. I’m really excited about having our reception at this hotel - it was the first time Kris’s parents and my grandma had seen it and everyone thought it was beautiful. It was fun to see what the set up would be like for an actual wedding reception, rather than a different kind of party (like the corporate function and bat mitzvah I’d previously seen in the grand ballroom).

We started off with some cocktails and a toast. One of the bartenders came out to talk to us about the signature drink mix we’d come up with (after a bit of discussion of what our actual recipe had been - by the time we’d gotten to the final “round” of trials, Kris and I had neglected to write down the recipe!). She told us that it sounded like a tasty mix (what a nice compliment before she even made it!), and the color should be what we were looking for - a bit of a dark blue-purple. I can say for sure now that our signature drink tastes fabulous! I highly recommend it - just ask for the Kris-Tiney Martini (”Tiney” here is pronounced to rhyme with “martini”)! Yay!

We got to taste two of the several possible appetizers - the first seated served course. We’d chosen Italian Wedding Soup, and Pasta Duet, which was a combination of bowtie pasta in a tomato sauce alongside a cavatelli pasta in (the best) pesto sauce (I’ve ever tasted). Both were really good - we were leaning toward the Italian Wedding Soup, as this is going to be a big Italian Wedding, but we know that may be too hot for August. It contains meatballs, so I know this course would not be vegetarian-friendly, whereas the pasta duet would be ok for vegetarians. However, we could have the Pasta Duet as part of the cocktail hour at a serving station, in which case it would be possible to have both dishes. We’re still undecided on this one for the time being!

The next course was a choice of three of the salads - the second seated served course. Our choices were: Somerset Hills House Salad - Baby greens with proscuitto chips, sliced red onions, Ricotta salada (which was a bit like blocks of mozerella, and very tasty), and served with creamy mustard vinaigrette; Claremont Salad - Mixed baby greens with goat cheese, pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, and red onion tossed in balsalmic vinaigrette; and French Served Tri-Color Salad - Arugula, Belgian endive, and radicchio tossed in Balsamic vinaigrette with a walnut apple garnish. The French Served salad sounded tasty on paper, but the best part of it were the walnuts. We were pretty much all in agreement about it as our least favorite. Both other salads were excellent, but I’m worried about people with nut allergies, so I think our decision was to go with the Somerset Hills House Salad. Skipping ahead a little, at the very end of the evening, the head chef came out to meet us and see how everything was, as well as to see if WE had any questions. So - vegetarians, do not worry! Anyone asking for a vegetarian entree will be contacted to determine which salads to leave off the proscuitto chips (and Ricotta salada, if you want). They said they will accommodate anything, which was a huge relief.

Finally, we were served the entree courses. I’m not going to waste time on the entrees we tried which we will not be choosing; instead I went into some detail on the four entrees we will be serving in the following order: beef, chicken, fish, and vegetarian.

Beef: Chateaubriand - Sliced tenderloin of beef served with seasonal vegetables (likely carrots & green beans), broiled tomato and chateau potato, accomponied by bordelaise and bearnaise sauce, plated tableside.

Chicken: Parmesan Crusted Boneless Breast of Chicken - Creamy sage demi glase and sweet potato puree served with seasonal vegetables (likely carrots & green beans). This dish was our favorite, and what we recommend if you are undecided. Both of us are getting this as our entree!

Fish: Grilled Salmon Fillet - Served with roasted pepper Dijon cream sauce and whipped pototoes, along with seasonal vegetables (likely carrots & green beans).

Vegetarian: Chef’s choice - likely a combination of grilled vegetables including peppers, eggplant, and zucchini alongside seasonal vegetables (likely carrots & green beans).

***These descriptions have been posted on our wedding website for referal as well. We’ll be posting pictures of the chicken and beef entrees in a couple days.