DJ

I had a big day at work today.  Going on temporary assignment for the rest of the year.  Pretty exciting!   But I'm sure that's not what you would like to read about.  Dave and I made a pasta carbonara for dinner then drove out to Ravenna to meet with a DJ.   We loved him and put a deposit down!  I'm so excited to have another thing done.  We have all of our vendors and have paid all the deposits.  This is really happening!!  We are going with Cipriano Productions.  The owner is a nice guy who just loves music.  Tomorrow I am going up to my moms to see my aunts and cousin.  That should be fun and I'm sure wedding stuff will be talked about.  :)  Happy Halloween weekend everyone!

Dresses and Bridal Shows

     Tara came up on Friday from VA to spend some bridesmaid time together :)  We started the weekend with some homemade pasta and vodka sauce and 3 bottles of wine.  It was good to catch up.  Saturday we met my mom and Mari (her exchange student from Japan) in Strongsville to look at bridesmaid dresses.  When we got there we decided it would be fun for me to try dresses on too.  I tried on dresses for about an hour and may have found one!  My consultant, Chookie, was a big Hawaiian lady who was awesome.  She kept telling Tara how to get me into the dresses and calling me Pipsqueak.  haha.  I fell in love with 2 and can't decide what to do!  I am going to go back in a few weeks and try them on again.  Tara tried on some bridesmaid dresses and I think I found that too!  I want my other bridesmaids to try it on but Abbey and Alec seem to like it from the pics :)  It's a burnt orange that I just love.  I didn't think I would find a color of orange that would look good on everyone but I think we have!  I also took a look at tuxes at the attached Tuxedo Junction and found a great green for the vest and tie that matched with the orange like I wanted.  The boys are going to look dashing!  I really felt like I got a lot done.  Catan Fashion really is a one stop shop.  They had photography and cake stores too.  The place was so big, I swear I walked 2 miles just looking at everything, and the back and forth from bride to bridesmaid dresses.

     Sunday was the Today's Bride bridal show at the Sheraton in Cuyahoga Falls.  Sandie (mother of the groom), Jenn (mother of the ringbearer, wife of a groomsman, and friend), Alec, Tara, my mom, Mari, and Aunt Donna all came with me.  It was kinda hard to talk to everyone and visit all the booths with that many people but it was fun!  We tried some good food and cakes. They even had cannolis with the chocolate fountain.  I picked up some information on a DJ and limo service.  We had a chance to look at more tuxes but Dave likes the ones we saw on Saturday.  We got in a photobooth and took some fun pics.  A lot happened this weekend in the world of the Chipps wedding!

*UPDATE*  Here is our photostrip from the show!  https://www.shutteryou.com/events/view/photo/2437767/?viewstrip=1

Engagement Shoot

We got our engagement pics taken yesterday!  It was soo much fun.  I went and got my haircut before so it looked fresh. :)  We were worried about the weather (it was supposed to rain) but it turned out to be perfect.  Not too cold and not too windy.  We got some great pics with the sun peaking out from the clouds overlooking the valley.  We went to an old barn and the basement of the Winking Lizard!  I love old things haha.  We also hit up the train station in Penninsula.  I cannot wait to see how they look!  Our photographer is great, I have known him for a long time.  http://www.easywindstudio.com/ is the address if you want to check them out!  I will be sure to post pics whenever I can :)  We are using one for the Save-the-Dates. 

Busy Day!

I finally talked to a DJ (for 1.5 hours) today.  Not sure if we are going with them but saw them at a wedding recently and loved them.  The party definitely went all night long.  I also bought tickets for the bridal show in the Falls this weekend.  I am excited for that!  I have never been to a bridal show and (most of) my bridesmaids will be there! :)  On another note, we have our engagement pics tomorrow so I spent some of the night getting ready for that!!  I can't wait.  Love, love, love our photographer (more on that tomorrow)  Lots going on this week so I will be updating often!  TTFN!

Haake wedding

Zach, Dave, Mike, and Zach's cousin at Moe's after the rehersal dinner

Mike and Dave



What a beautiful day!  I can only wish for a day next year as nice as we had for the Haake wedding.  Dave was in Zach and Laura's wedding this past Sat.  Mike (one of our groomsmen) was as well and came up from SC on Wed to hang out before the big day.  It was great to see him and we miss him!  We had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone before, during and after the wedding.  Zach had a St. Louis Cardinals grooms cake.  Pretty cool!  Congrats to the happy couple!

Groom's cake

Honeymoon

We are trying to decide where to go on our honeymoon.  We went to Punta Cana in the DR in March and loved it.  The all-inclusive sure would be nice after planning a wedding!  I enjoy traveling to new places though and would love to go somewhere new.  Anyone have any ideas or experiences to share??

1-year!

It is one year till the wedding!!  I worked all day -blah- then went up to the venue to see how things may look this time next year!  We are having our wedding at the Barrington Golf Club in Aurora Ohio. The ceremony and dance floor are outside.  It was about 50 degrees today, I'm hoping it's a little warmer but they have outdoor heaters. It also had just finished raining when I got there.  Everything was beautiful, nice fall colors.  I can't wait to see it decorated and have all my family and friends there!

The Engagement

So I thought I would add some back story here.  We have a lot of pictures of our engagement and this is a great place to display them.  For Dave's 30th birthday I got the FirstEnergy Loge at the Akron Aeros minor league baseball game.  14 family members and friends were invited.  For months I had been asking what he wanted for his birthday since he is hard to buy for.  He always says he doesn't want anything - which can get super annoying because I want to get him something!.  Everytime I asked he would reply "you".  During the Aeros game everyone was called together to sing "Happy Birthday"  I was asked to hold a cupcake (we couldn't bring a cake to the ball game) with a candle in it while people took pictures.  When the singing was over Dave pulled out a ring and said "I told you all I wanted for my birthday was you"  I was really happy to be able to share this with the family and our close friends!  

HEELLLOOOO

Hello!  Everyone keeps asking me to keep them updated on wedding plans and I figured this would be the best place to do it.  I will try to post as we do things.  I will include pics of some of the DIY.  We currently have all of our vendor's contracts signed except the DJ.  I never imagined how many desicions there are to be made!! I am trying to do a lot DIY (with my mom and Aunt...and Dave??? :) ;)  )  The theme is Vintage.  Oh, and the date is 10/15/11!!  One year from tomorrow!!!