Welcome to Rachel and Michael’s wedding website! As the big day gets closer, we’ll be updating this site with how the plans are going, so check back occasionally. I (Rachel) will probably be doing most of the blogging, but maybe I can coax Mike into writing an entry or two. Leave a comment and let us know you visited!
Recently, Mike and I were able to tour one of the hotels we’ve chosen for a room block, the Holiday Inn. This hotel is brand new, after opening just over a month ago. I must say, we were very impressed by what we saw!
The hotel rooms are very nice. They all feature a mini fridge and microwave, as well as a flat screen high def tv with CABLE (this is exciting to me, as I currently do not have cable). If you’re interested in a bit more space (especially if you’re traveling with a larger group), consider booking a “suite”, which has a couch and a small sitting area.
The rest of the hotel is very nice as well. There’s an indoor pool and a small fitness center, in case you want to work off some calories from wedding cake. The hotel also serves a large continental breakfast. I’m not sure of everything they serve, but I definitely saw a sign for “cinnamon rolls”. Awesome.
If you’re interested in staying somewhere in a quiet part of town (but still just a short drive away from the wedding venue), this will be a great place to stay. Visit our Hotel Information page for details on how to book a room. Please comment if you have any questions about the hotel, and I’ll make sure to get them answered for you!
(Regarding the Sheraton, Mike and I have not toured this hotel yet. We hope to do so, but in the mean time, know that it comes highly recommended from several of our friends!)
This weekend, Mike and I got to do one of the most enjoyable parts of wedding planning - registering for gifts! I must say: walking around a store with a scan gun is extremely tempting. I had an overwhelming urge to register for things that I never wanted to see again, just so I could hear the satisfying beep of the scanner. BEEP! What fun!
We wanted to register at a few different places, to make sure there was a convenient option for anyone who wants to get us a gift, so we are registered at Crate and Barrel, as well as Target. You can find links to our registries on our registry page.
Additionally, Mike and I are extremely grateful for the generosity of our friends and family. However, we know there are plenty of other good causes out there that are even more in need than we are. Because of that, Mike and I have each selected a charity that is near and dear to our heart, and we encourage any of our wedding guests to make donations to these charities, either in addition to or in place of a wedding gift for us. Links to these organizations can also be found on our registry page.
All of the sudden, the wedding planning has kicked into full speed again. As I mentioned before, I had my first dress fitting last week. Can I just say… I LOVE my dress! It’s absolutely perfect. I’m already a bit sad that I’m only actually going to be able to wear it for 6 hours of my life! But, c’est la vie.
Mike picked out his tux this weekend as well (and yes, Mike did pick it out - I let him make (almost) all the decisions!) He’s pretty excited about it. He and the groomsmen are going to look great!
Also, our invitation designer (also known as my future mother in law!) finished our invitation design, and they’re absolutely beautiful! I’m so excited about them. They’re absolutely perfect! I would post a picture here, but I still want them to be a surprise.
Counting down the days to the wedding, we are now in the single digits (95 days - but who’s counting?) I can’t believe how quickly the time is passing! I’m so glad we scheduled the wedding so far ahead in advance, and got so much of the planning done early. I don’t know how we would have done it otherwise.
One year ago tonight, Mike asked me to marry him! I can’t believe it’s been a year. We celebrated by braving the snowy roads and heading out to dinner at the same restaurant where he proposed. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to spend the night!
Wedding plans are going well well. Next weekend, I have my first dress fitting, and we also plan to go pick out Mike’s tuxedo. (Clearly, when I say “we” will be picking out Mike’s tuxedo, I mean that “I” will be picking out Mike’s tuxedo - there will be no powder blue ruffled tuxedos at our wedding!)
I hope you’re all getting as excited for our big day as we are. I can’t believe it’s only 110 days away! We still have rooms available in our hotel blocks, so please reserve your room ASAP. Be sure to let us know if you have any trouble getting a reservation!
Well, it’s Christmas Day, and after having our family plans foiled twice (once by an ice storm, and now by the flu - Mike has it, and I’m hoping I don’t get it!) we are spending Christmas together, just the two of us. Well, I suppose it’s the 3 of us, if you count Lucy.
Mike and I opened presents last night (yes, we are impatient - but it just means that we now have an extra day to enjoy our presents!) and I was so excited about one of Mike’s gifts to me. He created a book with pictures of the 2 of us throughout our relationship. It’s a “timeline” of everything since we met, from Grease to New York City to our cruise together last year to the engagement party, and everything in between. It was so sweet! And yes, I cried.
Having all our Christmas plans ruined makes me surprisingly… happy. It’s such an amazing feeling to know that, even when nothing goes as we planned, I still get to spend this amazing holiday with an amazing man (and a super cool dog). It’s such a great feeling.
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your Christmases are full of… no ice storms, and not having the flu!
Well, the Save the Dates have been sent! For anyone visiting the site for the first time, welcome! Leave a message if you want and let us know you visited. Check out the Hotel Information page for details on the rooms we have blocked off at local hotels for the night of the wedding.
Wedding plans are going great - I can’t believe we’re getting married 6 months from tomorrow! I got my dress in already, which is great since it means one less thing I’ll need to stress about as it gets closer.
Check back here occasionally, since we’ll post information about the wedding and how plans are going. Leave a message and let us know you visited!
As we get closer and closer to the wedding (less than 200 days now!), we’re getting more and more things done. It’s nice to check things off the to do list!
One of the things we’ve done is get blocks of rooms at a few hotels near the wedding site. Check out the Hotel Information page to get info on the hotels that are available.
We’ve picked 2 hotels: one downtown (in walking distance from the wedding site) and one farther away, for those who might prefer to stay somewhere outside of downtown. The room blocks will stay open until about a month before the wedding. Please send us an email if you try to reserve a room and they’re all booked!
Barely 6 months to go - it’s coming up so soon!!
It’s hard for me to believe that our wedding is 7 months from tomorrow! We are getting so excited!
I don’t want you to think I’ve been shirking my blogging responsibilities. I’ve been updating my blog at BridalBuds about once or twice a week. However, I don’t want to repost all of those on this blog, because I don’t want you to know too many details about our wedding, or it won’t be as exciting for you!
I did buy my wedding dress last weekend! That was pretty exciting. I found a picture of it in a magazine, and after trips to a few different stores, I tried it on, and I knew it was the right dress!! I’m so glad to have another big decision made.
Recently I started blogging for a wedding blog called Bridal Buds; you can check out my first post here.
Wedding plans are going well. I can’t believe we’re less than 8 months away now!
At the beginning of January 2009, Mike and I had no plans to get engaged anytime soon. However, thanks to a date night with a long wait for a table at our restaurant of choice, we ended up strolling around the mall, and fell in love with a beautiful ring. A few short weeks later, the ring was mine, and I was Mike’s!
While at a different mall today, Mike and I passed another branch of the same jewelry store, and stopped in to have my engagement ring cleaned. 20 minutes later, we left, with a once-again shiny engagement ring, and… our wedding bands! We had no plans to buy them, but we finally each found the PERFECT ring, and thanks to a very talented (and not over-pushy) salesman, we decided to go ahead and get them, rather than risk never finding the perfect ones again.
Yet another thing we can cross off the to-do list - yeay!