FYI - you can keep up with us post-wedding at:

www.JessicaAndJeremy.com

3 months and counting!

Wow! I can't believe how close it is! I am beginning to panic that everything won't get done. My dress came in and I went to try it on last night - it was 2 sizes too big! So I'm going to wait as long as possible to start alterations.

We took Andrea, the flower girl, shopping for dresses and had a nice afternoon. We actually found some that will work well.

We are currently deciding on tuxedos. The shop recommends ivory shirts for the guys, but I'm not sure I would like that!

We decided on a florist finally! Also we decided to have our invitations custom hand made and we are working on getting those printed right now.

We have to go do a food tasting at the Yacht Club this month to decide what entree(s) we want to serve. Speaking of food, we decided to have an old family friend make our cake. She does great work and is very affordable!

My memory is starting to disappear and I am slowly being consumed by wedding planning. St. Lucia sounds SO nice right now! I can't wait to be there with my husband :)

5 months to go

Happy New Year! Now that it is 2007, I am starting to get pretty freaked out! I still have so much to do!

Here is what we have gotten done recently:
-We found a great videographer that was much more in our price range than others we met with so we booked him!
-We met with an old family friend who makes Wedding cakes and she has great prices and even better tasting cakes, we will most likely book her in the next week.
-We arranged a block of hotel rooms at a discounted rate for our guests (includes a shuttle), booking info is on our wedding website that was featured on the Save The Date magnets.

And what we plan to do in the very near future:
-We will begin our registry
-We are going to start looking at invitations
-We need to look at wedding rings
-I am going to order the Bridesmaids dresses
-We are going to meet with several florists

I'm sure there is more, but I can't even keep everything straight!

Lot's of updates!

I guess I need to keep up more with the blog!!

1 - I ordered my dress! I won't post a picture here just in case Jeremy checks in, but I'm excited!

2 - Melissa was in town for Thanksgiving and we decided on bridesmaids dresses.

3 - We have asked the remaining members of the bridal party to join us! Kevin Rosinski, a close friend of Jeremy's from college and a friend of mine since high school will be the best man. Matt Kosal and Mike Gregory, more good friends of Jeremy's (and mine) that Jeremy actually went through the 8-week long process of joining Alpha Kappa Psi with in college will be the groomsmen. We have plenty of more people who we would like to play a part. I'll keep you updated!

4 - we purchased our escort (table number) cards and favors! So excited, but you'll just have to wait until the wedding to see what they are!

5 - We are currently on the hunt for a videographer and a florist. Met with 2 video people and we just have to make up our minds.

6 - Our Save the Date magnets came in! We are mailing them out this week with our Christmas Cards!

Engagement photos!

Here are some of my favorites! If you would like to see more, there is a link to them in the 'About Us' section of our wedding webpage.

More Updates!

We had out engagement pictures taken on Friday. The day was overcast and VERY humid - but at least it didn't rain! We started out around the Art Museum at Cranbrook, but when we walked over near the mansion we were happy to find it unlocked. Our photographer, Dionne, said that it has always been locked in the past so she was very excited to see what was behind the gates! We found a lot of different very cool backgrounds. I can't wait to see the pictures! We can expect them in 2 weeks and Hopefully Dionne can photoshop out the beads of sweat on our foreheads!!!

We booked the honeymoon! We decided on Sandal's Grande in St. Lucia. It was quite the process trying to make it work with frequent flyer miles. It had me very stressed out! The end result is that we are leaving early Tuesday morning after our wedding and returning late the following Tuesday. We are so excited and happy to have this taken care of!

I think I decided on a florist. I am not planning at this point to use a lot of flowers for decorations so hopefully I won't have to shop around too much. I have heard many great recommendations for Nicole who works in the floral department of Westborn Market in Berkley. My mom and I will be meeting with her shortly to book her (hopefully!)

Now I really need to start dress shopping. I didn't think it was a big deal, but from what I've been hearing, 9 months ahead of time is cutting it close! So I've got to get into some salons I guess!!

Update

1 - We decided on a DJ. We will be using a company called Rent-A-DJ who, despite the cheesy name, are very classy and willing to do what we want and nothing we don't. We will have the husband and wife team (the owners) of Kevin & Kelly with us at our reception. And as an added bonus we got a discount from both the DJ and our photographer because we used both!

2 - Speaking of our photographer, we have set a date to have our engagement photos taken. We will be doing that on August 25th. We are going to start looking at possible locations this weekend. First on the list to check out is the Cranbrook gardens.

3 - Now I am researching Videographers and Florists - I'm getting back into the swing of planning! Full speed ahead!

Bridal Party

I have asked several people close to me (and to Jeremy) to be a part of our big day. There are several others who we want to also be a part but we have not asked yet, so I'll just go with what we know:

My sister, Melissa will be my maid-of-honor
Erin Schlappi and Cheri Watts, 2 close friends of both Jeremy's and mine will be my bridesmaids
Andrea and Nick Johnson, my cousins will be out flower girl and ring bearer (so cute)

More to come later

Honeymoon!

We are working on picking a honeymoon location right now. We want to book early in the hopes of being able to use frequent flyer miles.

We narrowed it down to the Carribbean a few weeks ago but we are having a really hard time deciding on an island! We think we want to stay at a Sandal's resort because everything is included there.

We are meeting with a travel agent who is one of the top 10 worldwide Sandal's specialists tomorrow. Hopefully they can help us make a decision!

As long as there is sun and sand and lot's of relaxation we can't go wrong :)

Official Date!

In case you have not heard, we will be getting married on

June 9, 2007!

DJ

We are currently working on getting a DJ, but we are not big fans of DJs so it is hard. We might use my contacts to get a radio station talent to do it on the side. Otherwise it has to be someone who will not talk all night and be annoying and won't show up in an 80's sparkly vest and won't be super cheesy. That seems to be the norm with wedding DJs unfortunately!

Unique reception set up

I had been trying to visualize a different set up of tables rather than the standard rounds, but the DYC had never done anything else. Well, last Sunday they finally had a bride go outside the norm and I stopped by to sneak a peak!

I really liked it at first, but after getting second opinions from a lot of different people I think that round is the most popular for a reason!

Photographer decision

We hard a really hard choice to make. We are lucky that both of the photographers we are considering are very talented and personable. Both also came very highly recommended and I would not hesitate to recommend either of them.

But we could only pick one so after a lot of thought we both decided that Dionne would be the way to go. She is nice and smart and funny and we think she will be able to capture our day perfectly.

We will be scheduling engagement photos with her shortly and I will be able to post those as soon as they are done. Until then you can check out her website www.theshootinggallery.com

Photographers!

The next big important item for us is photography.

I have been doing some research and trying to figure out what style I like. Jeremy, of course, doesn't really care, but that is OK.

I have so far narrowed it down to two choices and we are meeting with both photographers in person to hopefully help us decide which fits best with us.

We are meeting with Dionne from The Shooting Gallery tonight www.theshootinggallery.com

and we will be setting up a meeting with Robert Bruce in the near future http://www.robertbrucephotography.com

Check them out if you have time and let us know what you think!

Photos are the only lasting thing that you have from your wedding (besides the marriage of course!! ha ha) and everyone knows what a picture freak I am so this is very important to me to choose the best.

More Reception Photos

Here is Jeremy at the DYC














Here is a view of the veranda from the docks:















And a view of the front of the building (dockside):

The Reception

Will will be having cocktails, dinner and dancing at the Detroit Yacht Club on Belle Isle in Downtown Detroit.

Cocktails will be on the veranda:

Dinner and dancing will be held in the Grand Ballroom:

The Church

We will be getting married at North Congregational Church in Farmington Hills.

My grandfather has been a member there since the '60s and there is a memorial for my grandmother in the garden there. Also, my parents were married there 33 years ago - in a different building, as this one is new, but the same church.

Here is an interior picture (thanks to knottie FutureMrsTJ):

The Engagement

Jeremy surprised me during a night out to dinner for our 3 year anniversary. He had the restaurant in on it and they gave us a private booth and acted like they were going to all this trouble for our anniversary. Then, after we ordered and the waitress had left Jeremy said he had a question for me and got down on one knee!














I was very surprised that he did it there and then, but that was his goal - to surprise me.

He picked out the most beautiful ring, it is exactly what I've always dreamed of!

Sorry the picture is so blurry - here is an online version. I will most likely get a simple wedding band as shown, but I'll update that when I know what I want for sure!

Welcome to our wedding site!

I am going to attempt to blog my wedding details. Things may be out of order, but at least they will be here