Off to Turkey

In about 10 minutes Gina and I will jump in our cab and fly out to Istanbul. Before I go I want to show you what could be the most awesome picture ever.



See you all in a couple weeks.
(Photo Credit: Sarah Gerstner)

We're married!

So, the day we've been planning for 14 months finally came and went. It's true what they say that the wedding day goes by in a blur.

All in all, the day was perfect... and we would not have done anything differently. As Chris has said, we surrounded ourselves with good people and here are some shoutouts to them.

Our photojournalist, Liz Lynch
Our priest, Rev. Anthony Marques
Our dj, Phillip Andrada
Our catering sales manager, Melinda Hofelich at Colonial Heritage
Our florist, Cathy Nester at The Flower Cupboard
Our cake designer, Theresa at Cake Ladies
Our Rolls-Royce driver, Bob at Royal Coach
Our family and friends
and all the others that were involved who made our wedding day what it was.

I keep asking people about it to see what their point of view was of our wedding. So, feel free to post your comments and post links to your pics from the wedding.

Here are a few that we've received:
Mer's pics: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=19erwr8h.75892jz5&Uy=-93y8pq&Ux=0
Laura & Ian's pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/projectedimages/sets/72157601827998289/
Kim's pics: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=ev8b28j.chtcyhmf&Uy=-sahw21&Ux=0

Help us play D.J.

Over the weekend I started to compile a list of songs to add to our post-rehearsal dinner iTunes playlist. Problem was I was compiling music from what I already have which isn't exactly appropriate for the event. We would like your help in coming up with song suggestions to add to the playlist. Use the comment section to leave suggestions but please include both the artist and song title.

Moving pots and close calls

I moved most of my pots, pans, and cutlery to our William-Sonoma registry from Macy's. I found the prices were comparable or better at W-S. W-S actually carries items in the store, whereas Macy's doesn't really carry the All-Clad in their stores. Also, W-S gives you 6 months to use your registry completion discount v. 90 days at Macy's. So, if we don't get everything, we can save to buy it later.

Chris and I have been worried about his passport arriving in time for the honeymoon. He applied in May (it's his first passport... he's only been to Mexico and Canada) and with the delays in passport processing it could take up to 13 weeks! So, we've been sitting idly, waiting to hear. This morning, he got an email saying that his passport was in the mail... Yay! I don't have to go on my honeymoon alone :)

It's hard to believe that our wedding is WEEKS away. Craziness. We applied for our marriage license yesterday, so we've got everything to make it legal.

It's raining presents!

Now where do we store all of them? Yesterday was the last of my bridal showers. I had my family one last weekend and my friend one yesterday. Both showers were awesome thanks to Tita and Ellen and also to their helpers... Rachel, Michelle, Regs, and Arlene :) Food and decorations were amazing and I'm really touched by all the work that went into these showers.

We got a LOT off our registry and it seems there's only big ticket items left -- our china, bedrom duvet and sheet set, our flatware, my Kitchen Aid mixer, pots & pans. I'm looking forward to using all these new things in our home and I'm going to have to invite lots of people over for dinner based on the gifts we got :-p

Last night, I went out to Clarendon Ballroom with some of the girls for a local bachlorette party. It was the appropriate place to say good-bye to my singlehood since I spent most of my single days at CB. They made me dress up in a veil and tiara and I had a "bride-to-be" tee that Katie gave me. It was fun dressing up... got a lot of high fives and congratulations from random people. There were also about 4 or 5 other bachelor/bachelorette parties that we ran into. One bachelor was getting married the same day as Chris and I. It was fun dancing since we haven't been out like that in forever.

What's the cow, chicken, and carrot?

Most people received their invites over the weekend and several people have asked what the entree options were, so I'm going to list them on the blog for people's reference.

Cow = Beef tenderloin medallions
Chicken = Pan seared Chevre & cranberry stuffed chicken with fruit nut chutney
Carrot = Vegetable Napoleon (grilled veggies - portobello mushroom, eggplant, zucchini, squash, etc layered with cheese)

Both beef and chicken are served with the following:
- Shrimp Scampi in a garlic cream sauce
- Side of Rice
- Side of seasonal veggies

Vegetarian option served with rice.

Also, for kids under 11, they will be served chicken fingers and fries.

Invitations are out!

Our wedding invites went in the mail today! Yay! It's such a huge relief to have these out. We got them on Monday evening and I addressed them by hand on Monday and Tuesday nights. Chris and I stuffed, stamped, and sealed most of them last night. Towards 10:00 pm, which is Chris' bedtime, we took a break and he fell asleep on the couch. I was getting annoyed because I wanted to get the invites out today. Mind you, I was crabby from my lack of sleep from addressing envelopes til the wee hours of the morning. So, Chris promised that we would do it in the morning. We got up earlier than usual and finished while watching ESPN SportsCenter.

There was a big debate over including directions in the invite. My family felt that they should be included, Chris didn't want to add anything to take away from the look/feel of the invitation, and I was on the fence. So, we'll probably send out a separate letter to those who RSVP "yes" with directions and other helpful info for the weekend.

Some wedding planning updates:
- Key West was awesome and definitely a fun time. El had designed these really cute "Gina's Bachelorette Entourage 2007" t-shirts for one of our nights out.
- Chris had an equally awesome time in Wisconsin.
- I went down with my parents 2 weeks ago and we have all the reception food and ceremony music picked out.
- We put a deposit on my wedding band this week, which we found at Protea Diamonds. It complements my engagement ring well :) Chris is still searching for his band, but found one that he liked at Protea too.
- Chris and a few groomsmen ordered their rental suits last weekend complete with vest, tie, shirt, and shoes.