Photo Hunt Round Two

We have been doing some major hunting for a photographer. I searched a few Internet databases, with little success. Then Thom spent one evening combing what seemed like the entire Internet for a photographer.

We both seem to like the photographers who take candid pics, and who capture the feeling of the day. I guess the general type of photography we like is called photo journalistic.

We have looked at over 50 photographer's portfolios on their individual websites. We liked about 15 of them, and started comparing their packages.

Photographer packages are just as crazy as the reception site packages. No two photographers offer the same amount of "stuff". Once again Thom and I made a sweet spreadsheet to compare all of our options.

We decided on the top five photographers, and are planning meetings with them throughout this week. Hopefully we can lock down a sweet photographer by the end of next week.

Our Logo

That creative sister I was bragging about earlier on this blog has agreed to make a logo, crest, emblem, or whatever you want to call it, for Thom and I to use on all things paper related during the wedding.

She will be graduating this spring with a Communication Technology Degree with an emphasis on Graphic Communications- Graphic Design to us not so savvy folks. She is going to work her magic to design a logo to be used on our Save The Dates, Invitations, Thank You Notes, Programs, Place Cards, etc.

Thom and I took her out to dinner tonight to show her a few ideas for the logo. We gave her a few suggestions, but we also gave her the creative freedom to come up with something great!

And now she will have a few cool things to add to her portfolio.

Thanks Again Dev!

Bride Wars, A Bridal Party Outting

The Bridal Party and I had our first official outing this Saturday night to see the new movie Bride Wars!!!

Unfortunately my sister had to work on Saturday night; fortunately, she works at the movie theater so we were able to bring the Bridal Party activity to her and she was able to get us into the movie for free... I love it when a plan comes together.

The movie was great and it was super fun to hang out with all of the girls!

Let me introduce you to my bridal party, from left to right. ~Thanks to Shelly (another Bride to be) for taking the pic.

Jacqui is the Maid Of Honor (MOH). I have know her since my hay days in travel softball on Finesse - yup the shampoo sponsored the team. We used to braid each other's hair to prep for big games, I could show you more pictures but she might kill me before I say "I Do!" She also worked with me at Nissan, and is now working as a recruiter for a local hiring agency. She is already making herself "To Do" lists for MOH things, and she probably already has her toast written out!

Lacey has been my friend since High School. We had some great spring breaks together- Florida in High School, and Jamaica in College. She is a jock too, but she just kicks a spotted ball around and chases it. She is super organized, but fun loving all at the same time. She is working at an auto supplier in accounting, but we manage to keep each other sane over the phone throughout the work day.

Devin is my younger sister. While I must confess she is a better ball player than I am, I could also dig up some much more embarrassing pics of her than I could of any one else in the bridal party :). Then again, she has access to super embarrassing photos of me too. She will be graduating from Eastern Michigan University this April - Yeah!!! And even though she may deny it, she is totally spoiled! :) She may be younger, but she is the realist ("There is good and bad about everything!"), definitely the fashion advisor, and the creative one in the family.

Then there is me, the bride to be.

Lindsay, has also been my friend since High School. Her and Lacey came as a package deal :). She used to chases a spotted ball down a field too, and she terrorised the beaches of Florida with Lacey and I on spring break. Don't confuse her for a ditz, that will only push her to succeed more. She is in her first year as a teacher in "Hick-ville" as she calls it, but we all know is loves it.

And that is the Motley Crew. I am sure you will be hearing more about them!

We Have A Date!

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have A Date!!!!!

Thom and I will be exchanging vows and celebrating our marriage with all of you on
Saturday October 24, 2009.

We will be sending out Save The Date cards, and of course formal Invitations .

Photo Hunt

It turns out that the photographer we were referred to, and whose style of pictures we both liked, is actually not available for our potential date. Even though we are 99% sure we will sign with our reception site tomorrow and lock down a date, you never know what can happen!

Needless to say we are on the hunt for a photographer. I knew the chick we were referred to had a great deal, but I didn't realize just how great that deal was until I actually did some research on other photographers.

Thom is leaving the photographer up to me, he figures he likes the pics hanging on the walls in my house, so he will like the person I pick to shoot our wedding. Can't really argue with that logic.

I have been searching the Internet for photographers, and then going through each of their individual websites to make sure I like their style, then calling them up to make sure they are available. Good thing Thom and I have developed a system to attack these vendor hunts, otherwise I would probably be very frustrated by now... this is why rich people hire wedding planners. But just think, if we had a wedding planner what would you have to read about on our GREAT blog!

But never fear, we will find an awesome photographer. Thom and I are planning on sitting down this weekend and review each of the photographers' options to make a decision.

Things In The Works

We have got tons of things in the works for the wedding.

We think we have a reception site... We visited two sites before the holidays, and then had a marathon day of visiting 5 reception sites just before the New Year. Being the engineers that we are, we made a sweet spreadsheet and did some serious number crunching to figure out which location was best for us. We came up with a tentative winner, so we called them up to have the site put on hold for our date. We have an appointment with the site this Saturday to finalize a few things, and hopefully sign on the dotted line.

Thom is working on getting thing squared away with the church, and I am getting a feel for the hotels in the area and what type of deal they are willing to give us. We wanted to make sure we were good with the church and have some decent hotel options before we make anything official with the reception site.


I made some appointments for Saturday the 17th for Mom-Ross, Devin (sister and bridesmaid) and I to go look for my bridal gown, Mom's Mother of the Bride dress, and maybe even some bridesmaid dresses. I have a surprise for my Mom on that Saturday too!!! :)


We are in the process of hunting down a photographer. A friend has referred us to one that seems very promising and totally within our budget which is a major bonus!


Thom and I also started scanning the Internet for a band to play at the reception. If you know of any awesome bands around the Farmington Hills area let us know!

More Pictures

By popular demand... here are some more pictures of Thom and I.

This picture was taken in the summer of 2006 shortly after we first started dating, and is one of my personal favorites :)

The second pic was taken this summer at the 2008 Indianapolis Moto GP Race. The orange hat keeps popping up, because it is our favorite rider Nicky Hayden's number.

This photo was taken on New Years Eve a year ago, after we got home from one of the best dinners ever at Mitchell's Steakhouse.