It's almost time!

Just wanted to quickly check in! Our blog has been kinda quiet lately, mainly because we've been so busy trying to wrap up all of the details! Here's what we accomplished in September:

DIY/Buy Decor: Yep! I bought most everything online and shipped it to my mom. She'll be transporting everything from Phoenix to Las Vegas. She also ran around town picking up various decorations from Michael's. Thanks Mom and Ed! We'll assemble everything once we get to Vegas.

Buy Erik's Suit: Yes we did! We got a very nice Tommy Hillfiger suit from Macy's and it was on sale!

Buy Wedding Bands: Erik surprised me and showed them to me 2 weeks ago. I can't wait for everyone to see my ring and hear the story behind it!

Finalize Ceremony: We finished this up with Reverend Linda and recruited a few people to take part in the ceremony.

Finish Programs: All done! And so cute.

Write Vows: Almost done. We've both started at least and I just need to edit mine. I was very misty-eyed writing them at Panera this weekend. I must have looked like a nut!

Set Reception Menu: This was a tough decision because there are so many options. But it's set! (Although I came home today and heard about a "new" appetizer at The Platinum. I may need to make a last minute switch).

Order Paper Stuff: It should all be arriving tomorrow. We might print a few more things at Kinkos, but it's done for the most part.

Buy Accessories: We are both accessorized! Jewelry, tie, etc.

Select Songs: Yes! Ceremony and First Dance songs have been selected.

Dance Lessons: Oh yeah! Get ready to see some fancy footwork.

So that is it! The only thing left to do is to.... GET MARRIED!

Can't wait to see you all there. We will have 43 people joining us. I'll leave you with the rest of our RSVPs (we also got a few through FB, email, phone, but sadly, I do not have photographic evidence of this.)

So I'll put the Obama's down as a maybe. Still waiting to hear from Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

Reception Menu is Set

Just under 3 weeks until the wedding and there is plenty to be excited about, especially the food to be served at our reception on Saturday! We hope to break all wedding food conventions and please your palette with an array of delicious finger foods. We've heard nothing but rave reviews about the food at The Platinum prepared under the direction of Executive Chef James Chan. Here's a look at our menu...

My mouth is watering while I write this blog post! See you soon!

Friday Night Plans

Everything seems to (finally) be coming together, so I thought I'd share a bit about our plans for Friday night. We'll be having a welcome party in a large suite at THEhotel.



And when I say large...I mean large. The suite is 2000+ square feet. I don't know about you, but that's bigger than my house! We considered doing a rehearsal dinner in a restaurant, but the more we thought about it, the more we liked this option. It will be a more casual get-together, and by avoiding a sit-down dinner, our hope is that our friends and family will have more time to meet one another. Plus, we wanted to be able to include everyone attending our wedding...you're all traveling a long way to witness our marriage, and we want to have as much time together as possible.

So the party will start at 6:00. We'll get in touch with everyone that afternoon to let you know the exact room number (we're planning on posting on facebook, twitter, sending texts, and word of mouth to get this information out). Dinner will be catered by Magianno's. Here's the menu!

Appetizers and Salad

Garlic Bread Focaccia
Italian Focaccia bread brushed with garlic butter and toasted, topped with Parmesan cheese and parsley

Italian Tossed Salad
Iceberg lettuce, arugula, Kalamata olives, red onions and pepperoncini. Served with Italian vinaigrette

Vegetables

Fresh Grilled Asparagus
Asparagus sauteed with garlic and olive oil

Broccolini with Lemon and Garlic
Broccolini sauteed with garlic, lemon and olive oil

Pasta Dishes

Rigatoni "D"
Rigatoni pasta, herb-roasted chicken, mushrooms and caramelized onions, tossed in a Marsala cream sauce

Taylor Street Baked Ziti
Pomodoro sauce and ziti topped with a layer of melted Provolone and Parmesan (italian sausage on the side)

Entrees

Chicken Parmesan
Breaded chicken breasts baked with Provolone cheese and marinara sauce, served with spaghetti marinara

Seared Pork Scaloppine
Pork medallions in a brandied green peppercorn sauce

Soooo good!

And of course, we will have plenty of libations on hand. We're planning on wrapping things up around 9:00. 1) Because I need my beauty sleep and 2) so you party animals can hit the town!

So that's the plan for Friday! Stay tuned for more event information for those of you who will be in town on Thursday.

Gifts

We've started getting the question "where are you registered?" so I thought it might be helpful to post an answer for everyone. You may have already found our registries under the "Gifts" tabs on our website.

When I started attempting to register for gifts, I actually had a really hard time trying to figure what to put on the registry. We've been living together for over 7 years, so you can probably guess we're all set when it comes to blenders, toasters, etc. In addition, we've been doing our best to declutter our house. All of this together made putting together a registry stressful. I didn't want to register for a lot of things we didn't need and have a bunch of kitchen appliances take up our precious storage space.

I thought registering for gifts should be fun and not so stress inducing. So Erik and I talked about some alternatives. We both really loved the idea of a honeymoon registry! Neither of us have traveled overseas (unless you count my trip to Ireland in 1983) and it's something we've really wanted to do together for a long time. Like so many other things though (*cough* this wedding *cough*), we've put it off in the name of practicality. I had to finish grad school, we need to save for a house, etc. I love giving gifts that people wouldn't normally buy for themselves, so I thought sending us on a honeymoon might be something our friends and family would be interested in!

As we talked about our dream honeymoon, we tossed around a couple locations, but really, nothing says romance like Paris, right? So that's where we intend to go next summer on our honeymoon! You can see the registry here.

We had a lot of fun setting up the registry, and picking out some of the things we wanted to do while we're in Paris. There's also an option for you to tell us what you think we should do! As long as it's within reason (no bungee jumping, etc.) we'll do it! Once you reserve a gift, you have a few options. You can contribute through PayPal or print out a certificate to give.

We've also created a smaller, traditional registry at amazon.com. Like I said, there's not too much we need, but I was able to come up with a few things. :) As you probably know, we moved into a house back in May, so gift cards that will help us with home improvement or decorating would be welcomed.

Of course, the most awesome gift is having our friends and family joining us in Las Vegas! We are so thrilled and grateful to have wonderful people to celebrate with.

And now for some silly pictures. Here are some pictures of us opening our very first gift from my cousin Jason, Abbie, and Charlotte Lydon!

Erik closely inspects the package.

I think the blurriness nicely conveys the excitement of opening our first gift.

Very cute prints!

And here are some pictures of our first honeymoon gift from my good friend in the psych department, Lynne Rogers. She contributed toward a romantic dinner in Paris. :)

I'm happy that we have more and more fun wedding activities to do lately! And receiving gifts is super fun!

P.S.--We're 45 days away from the wedding! Wowser.

September To Do List

Woah...time is flying! We're at the point in planning now that it's mostly small details we're working on. Sometimes it feels like everything is coming together...other times it seems like our to-do list is STILL ridiculously long. Regardless of how we look at it...regardless of whether things get crossed off the list or not, we're getting married in less than 7 weeks! Pretty exciting!

So here's what we accomplished this month:

Book Florist: Check! Our bouquets are going to made by Pam at The Palette.

Dress Cleaning: Uh huh! The dress cleaned up perfectly. I was a little worried, because it was really dirty. But it looks good as new now!

Dress Fitting: In progress. Going in for alterations this week.

Plan Thursday Night Dinners: We're pretty close to having this all finalized. Chris has been working on the Ladies' dinner and Matt has been working on the Gentlemen's dinner. We'll be posting more info about all of this soon!

Plan Menu for Friday Night: Yessiree! Erik's been working with his parents and we're almost all set to have Magianno's cater the Friday night party.

Order Cake: Yeah! This was actually a fun item on the list (seems like fun items were rare this month). Erik placed our order with Retro Bakery and I am sooooo excited to taste it.

DIY/Buy Decorations: I haven't made as much progress here as I would like. I've had a hard time pulling together ideas that I like...but I think I'm finally getting there and Cara's been helping :)

Buy Erik's Suit: We've done a little shopping, but haven't bought one yet. Hoping to hit up the Labor Day sales this weekend.

Design Additional Paper: Erik has been designing up a storm! He's been working on programs, signs, and all sorts of other details.

Write Ceremony and Vows: We have most of the ceremony completed. We decided on readings and asked a few people to be involved in the ceremony. :) As for vows, I haven't written anything yet (and I'm pretty sure Erik hasn't either), but we've tossed around a few ideas. I'm really looking forward to the ceremony. I feel like we've created something that really reflects us and will make our guests feel included. It's gonna be awesome!

Buy Wedding Bands: Erik's been pretty hush-hush about this (he's in charge of buying the rings). Every time I ask lately, the answer is "it's under control." I don't think he's bought them yet though. He's neither confirmed or denied.

Some other smaller details we've accomplished: bought our plane tickets; booked our suite at The Platinum; I bought some shoes; we selected boutonnieres; made arrangements for my dress and Erik's suit to be picked up and pressed in Vegas; started sampling wines for Friday night (tough job, but someones gotta do it!).

Our to-do list for September...FINISH EVERYTHING! A disclaimer for the next few sentences: We are really very very excited for the wedding, and the excitement is growing. But O M G we are both very very sick of the planning process. We've spent most nights and weekends lately working on this and we are ready to have our lives back. Last week, we went out for the 2nd Friday in a row (that has been unheard of since...March I think). Anyway, it felt miraculous. So we are very ready to stop planning and start celebrating. And the good news is we're almost there! So here are the main things that need to get done this month:

DIY/Buy decorations.

Buy Erik's suit.

Buy wedding bands (assuming Erik hasn't secretly already purchased them).

Finalize the ceremony and finish the program.

Write vows.

Select the menu for our reception.

Order all of the other paper stuff.

Create our Saturday timeline to give to vendors.

Buy all of our accessories (jewelry, tie, etc.)

Select First Dance song (and any other "important" songs).

Dance lessons? Not sure we'll be able to fit it in, but it might be fun.

So that is about it! Am I forgetting anything? (I seriously hope not.) We're hoping to make a big push over Labor Day and the next week or so and get as much finished as possible. It would be really nice to relax a bit before our 3-day extravaganza in Vegas.

P.S.--Today was the RSVP deadline, so please mail (or call or email or telegraph, etc.) yours if you haven't already. Both "yesses" and "nos" are going to help us finalize our plans.

Vegas Favorites

Our trip to Vegas will be the sixth trip out there! In fact, as I went to gather pictures for our post, I realized our first two trips predate our digital camera. Here are a few of our favorite places/things to do in Vegas, along with lots and lots of pictures:

Restaurants

Mon Ami Gabi: A french steakhouse that will not disappoint you with the food or atmosphere. Located in Paris, it is directly across from the Bellagio fountains. If you go, request outdoor seating so you can see the Bellagio show!

October 2008...Tim and Emily at Mon Ami Gabi. The fountains are right across the street!

I want to go to there.

Alize: If you're looking for a special, upscale dinner, you might like Alize at the top of Palms. You'll feel super fancy, riding the private elevator up to the restaurant. One of the best meals we've ever had! Request a window seat, and you'll be able to see the whole strip!

October 2006...Top of the Palms, looking out at the Vegas lights. 

Strip Burger: If you want a good burger, this is the place to be. Located at the Fashion Show Mall, it also has a fun outdoor bar, perfect for people watching.

Canelleto: Good Italian food, and perfect atmosphere. Sit "outside" (which is really simulated outside near the canal. Gotta love Vegas.) and you'll see street performers.

October 2006...My Aunt Mary and Uncle John at Canelleto.

Firefly: If you're willing to travel off strip, try Firefly, a local favorite. Super yummy tapas and sangria and reasonably priced.

January 2011...With Ed and Mom at Firely. Delish!

Le Village Buffet: Vegas is known for it's "gourmet" buffets, and it's definitely something to try out at least once. The Paris buffet is my favorite so far. Featuring french food, you can go on the weekend for brunch and have unlimited champagne. Yum.

October 2008...Champagne brunch in "Paris."

All you can eat dessert? Okay!

Wynn Buffet: Another gourmet buffet and Erik's favorite. The Wynn buffet features food from around the world. The desserts were certainly very yummy.

December 2006...The aftermath of the Wynn buffet.

Ellis Island: Vegas is also known for it's "off menu" specials. (See a list here). We had to give it a try, at least once. We opted for Ellis Island (which happens to be right next door to The Platinum) and asked for the $7.99 Steak Special. For 8 bucks, you get a 10 oz steak, bread, potato, green beans, and a beer. It was surprisingly good! This place is definitely old school, and you'll have to wait for a table, but it was an experience worth having. If I remember right, I think their beers were only $1.

December 2006...Tim tries to fit his whole steak in his mouth at Ellis Island.

Snacks and Treats

Jean Philippe Patisserie: Absolutely delicious dessert. If you have a sweet tooth, you should definitely stop by. They're located in Bellagio, and recently opened a second location at the new casino, Aria.

Vosges Haut-Chocolate: Described as a "chocolate boutique," they specialize in unique and unexpected chocolate combinations. Hands down, the best is the bacon chocolate bar. You have to try it! You can find them in the forum shops at Caesar's Palace.

Mermaid's Casino: If you're really looking for some gluttony, head downtown to Freemont Street, and head to the back of Mermaid's Casino. Here you can get deep fried twinkies and oreos. I've tried them both and they are the deep-fried goodness you would expect.

October 2008...Don't judge me. You know you want to try it!

Grab a Drink

Rhumbar: You'll see people walking around Vegas with "yards of rum" (or footballs or other fun shapes). If you want one too, head to Rhumbar at the Mirage. Yummy flavors! Try Mango Madness.

January 2011...Walking around the mirage, with a lot of Rum.

Magaritaville: It's a little cheesy, but we had fun dancing with friends to '80s and '90s music. Don't buy the souvenir glass. It seems like a great idea (when you've already been drinking), but do you really want to lug it around? No.

January 2010...Dancing at Margaritaville with friends.

Bill's Gambling Hall: If you really want a cheap drink, you can get $1 Daiquiris at Bill's, located on the strip. Sure, they're dixie cup size, but they're strong and sugary!

Of course, if you want free drinks, do some gambling. Or sit at the penny slots. Just don't forget to tip the waitress.

October 2008...Video poker, free drinks, and stupid faces with Emily and Tim.

Shows

The Amazing Jonathan: This was actually pretty fun. It's a raunchy, comedy/magic show. One of the least expensive shows too; you can usually find coupons in the booklets you'll see in the taxi cabs.

Mystere: I wasn't sure I would really like a Cirque show, but in the end, I thought it was awesome! (Of course, the rum and cokes I drank before and during the show may have contributed to this). This was the first Cirque show in Vegas, and is now the most reasonably priced. For any show tickets, I would go to a Tix 4 Tonight booth (there are few locations on the strip) the day of the performance to get discounted tickets.

October 2008...Mystere! (Plus some rum and coke on my dress).

Hotels

If you're not staying at The Platinum, there are lots of other hotels to choose from. Always look for promo codes or package deals on their websites.

The West Wing at MGM: This tower at MGM is totally modern and has a nice, swanky lounge downstairs. When we stayed here, I think we got 2 free drinks, $50 dining credit, and free club passes for like $60 a night. Great room and great bargain!

October 2006...Our room at the West Wing. Small, but nice.

The Mirage: We stayed here on our most recent trip, and really liked the hotel room. The Mirage is in the center of the strip, so it's easy to walk to a lot of places from here. Modern, comfortable room. Look out for resort fees. This is true for most of the large casinos. Many of them have started charging resort fees as much as $20 a night. Something to consider when you're booking.

January 2011...Our room at the Mirage. Pretty spacious and a very comfy bed.

Hotels we did not like: Stratosphere or The Riviera. Both were rundown and not really in the best part of the strip. Along these lines, when you book a room at one of the casinos, if it's labeled something like "classic room" that's basically code for "not remodeled." I would avoid these.

Free Sights to See

You could spend a day or two just walking through all of the massive casinos. There are lots of free shows and sights. Here are some of our favorite sights to see: The Bellagio Conservatory, Fountains of Bellagio, Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace, the Canal and Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venitian.

 January 2010...At the Bellagio conservatory. The decorations always reflect the season.

So there you have it! All of our Vegas recommendations. Have you been to Vegas? What are your recommendations? If this is your first trip? What are you looking forward to seeing/doing?

P.S.-- As an added bonus, here are this past week's batch of madlibs from the "Yes!" RSVPs. We've heard from about half of our invited guests. Keep 'em coming!

More Wedding MadLibs!

The RSVPs have been rolling in every day! So I thought I'd share this past week's batch of "Celebrating this night will be _______." And a few more pictures of our pretty invitations.

And a few pictures of our pretty invitations:

Yes, I realize "White House" should be two words. But, I spent about a million hours addressing these, and I wasn't about to redo it.

If you're counting, so far, that's 24 people joining us in Las Vegas! I must say, I am impressed by the MadLib creativity!..And yes, for those of you who haven't mailed your RSVP yet, you should totally consider this a challenge. :) Can you top these MadLibs?

August To Do List

We've got about 11 weeks to go and we've accomplished most of the big things! From here on out a lot of the focus is going to be on the details. Here's how we did on last month's to-do list:

Book Hair/Makeup Artist: Check! Lori White will be doing our hair and makeup.

Book Florist: Hmmm... guess I didn't actually do this. I've decided who I want to go with, but I should probably inform them of this decision.

Book Officiant: Yep! Rev. Linda will be performing our ceremony. We had a skype meeting with her a few weeks ago and decided on most of our ceremony.

Finish Registry: Yes we did! We created a honeymoon registry as well as a more traditional registry.

Update Website: Check! Erik changed it a bit to match our invitations. We also added some information about other events. Friday, we'll have dinner and drinks at THEhotel. Thursday, we're planning to have a little gender segregation with dinners and bachelor/bachelorette parties later in the evening. We're still working out the details.

Design Invitations: Obviously, yes. Erik did a great job deal with a very particular customer (me).

Send Invitations: Yes indeedy!

Work on Writing the Ceremony: We planned a lot of this with Rev. Linda. We still need to pick some readings, decide on a few details, oh, and write those vows.

Shop for Wedding Rings: Erik reports that he's been looking. He's being very secretive.

Make Dress Fitting Appointments: Ummm...no. I keep forgetting about this. And that's probably why I keep having dreams that I show up to the wedding and realize I never had it fitted and it falls off me.

Get Dress Cleaned: Dear pretty dress, I promise I will get you cleaned up really soon.

Here's what we're working on this month:

All the stuff that we need to finish up from last month: Book Florist, Dress Cleaning, Dress Fitting.

Plan the Thursday night bachelor and bachelorette dinners and parties.

Plan menu for Friday welcome reception.

Order the cake.

Start DIYing and purchasing decor.

Buy Erik's suit.

Design additional paper (programs, signage, etc.)

Buy wedding bands.

Work on ceremony and vows.

So that's where we're at! I'm not sure what I'm more excited for October 22nd or October 23rd...Our wedding day or the day when all of the planning is over. :) It's about 50/50.

P.S.-- Our blog recently surpased the 1,000 pageviews mark (as of right now, 1,093 to be exact). I feel special. Thanks for stopping by!

First RSVPs!

Look what we got in the mail today!

Not one...not two...but THREE RSVPs! Woohoo!

Three big winners! First friend to RSVP goes to .... drumroll ... Wind Goodfriend! First bridal party member to RSVP ... it's a tie ... Chris and Wally Okpych! And finally, first family members to RSVP goes to Fred and Dolores Brandt, Erik's grandparents! Their prize? A feeling of superiority.

Of the three, only Chris and Wally interpreted "Celebrating this night will be ________" the way we intended. As wedding madlibs!

To be fair, 1) We realized this was open to interpretation, and it had potential for confusion. and 2) I told Chris what it was for. :)

So if you're counting, as of today, that's 5 confirmed guests. Keep those RSVPs coming!

As an added bonus, Erik and I decided we should pose in the most ridiculous ways possible with our first RSVPs. (Sorry for the blurriness...took these really quickly.)

So who looks more ridiculous? Ann or Erik? Our comment section is fixed (knock on wood) so feel free to vote below!