Bridezilla To Be Becky

Vendor Review: La Scala Italian Bistro, Dublin, Ohio

2011-07-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

As you may remember from previous posts, choosing a venue for our reception was tough. I do a little event planning for my day job and consider myself more than capable of throwing a catered dinner for ~150. I also had a good idea of what one should cost. I was floored by how much the word WEDDING increased the prices of every venue and menu. Oh well. We struggled with it, but made some tough choices and in the end made a great decision.

We chose La Scala Italian Bistro in Dublin, Ohio. We came to our decision based on the following factors:

Price: La Scala's pricing was all-inclusive. There were no additional charges for the room, set-up or the event coordinator. Additionally, their food prices were very reasonable and we received a large discount for our off-season wedding. Their open bar prices were relatively high, but everything balanced out and still saved us money.
Atmosphere: The restaurant has two large reception rooms, both recently renovated and lovely enough that decor was unnecessary (if we didn't want any :).
Ease: Did I mention an event coordinator was included in the price? How awesome is that?
Reputation: La Scala is a well-known, family owned restaurant. We felt that having a restaurant relying on consistent business gives them a greater incentive to throw a great party. Wedding guests who have a great time and love the food are more likely to return to the restaurant for dinner, right?

So, how did it work out in the end? Perfectly. Seriously.

Kathy, the event coordinator, was amazing. She met with us a handful of times before the wedding, answered emailed questions promptly and made it clear that her job was to execute our vision. We dropped our decor off the Thursday before our wedding and the dessert off the morning of. She had everything set up perfectly and kept the party running smoothly.

The food was FANTASTIC! I hate the informality of buffets. I also hate tracking everyone's plated meal selection via reply card. Pain! La Scala has a family style buffet that was the perfect combination. Each table received generous portions of every dish we chose so everyone was able to have a little of everything... or a lot! They kept the bowls and plates of food coming! Everything was served hot straight from the restaurant kitchen, not luke warm from chaffing dishes (another pet peeve of buffets....). And it was all delicious as I expected from La Scala. We chose vegetable lasagna, chicken parmesan and prime rib for our main courses and garlic mashed potatoes and zucchini romano for sides. A salad, bread, spumoni ice cream and iced tea were also included in the price. All of it was delicious. The biggest crowd-pleasers were the lasagna and zucchini romano.

The space was beautiful.

I don't think any of these pictures do it justice.

And the price was right. We came in right at our budget, no surprises in the bill. Our large, Italian family got a kick out of the restaurant's atmosphere and the fantastic Italian menu.

I think the very best part of it all is that we can go back whenever we want. I see many celebratory dinners enjoyed at La Scala in our future. I see bringing our kids for dinner and telling them, "this is where your mom and dad had their wedding reception." How cool is that?

Good job, La Scala. You've got us for life!

Apologies and Excuses

2011-07-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

In the past three months I have written three blog posts.

Disgraceful.

I have a million excuses and loads of apologies. I hope some of you are still out there to receive them!

So, what have I been doing with all my extra non-blogging, non-wedding planning time? Here you go:

Working.

Our busy season just wrapped... the months of May and June were hellish from 8:30 a.m. - 5+ p.m.. that's all I have to say about it.

Kicking-Off my Etsy Store, Becky Seymour Designs.

I know. There's not much there yet. Prior to June 22nd, I'd only made things on an as-needed basis for myself, my friends and babies I think are cute (not the ugly ones!). More items will be coming in August when life SLOWS DOWN (puh-lease?). In the mean time, please like the Becky Seymour Designs Facebook page and for crying-out-loud, BUY SOMETHING! Or send me a request for a custom piece. Despite the chaos, turn-around is quick, I promise :)

So, stay tuned. I'm starting my vendor reviews and it should be particularly good reading for any Columbus, Ohio area brides. I'll dish on what I loved and hated about them all... but mostly loved cause I picked some rockin' vendors.

And I'll leave you with one Becky Seymour Designs happy customer: my niece, Lexi.

Clearly, she's one of the cute ones, especially in a custom hair bow from her favorite aunt, right Lexi? Right.

Becky Seymour Designs has Launched!!

2011-06-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

It's official!

I am thrilled to announce that my Etsy shop for Becky Seymour Designs is LIVE! The shop features handcrafted floral hair pieces and jewelry and specializes in custom wedding designs for brides, bridesmaids and flower girls. Also, any of the handmade items you've enjoyed through this blog can be custom ordered through Etsy, including seating charts, programs, hair pieces and bouquet additions.

More product will be coming soon! In the mean time, browse the shop!

Ivory Satin and Tulle Hair Clip and Broach, $20

Custom Present for My Groom

2011-05-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Huge apology to all of you for the month-long hiatus from blog posts. I find the further I get from the wedding, the less motivation I have for writing recap posts. Don't get me wrong, I love this blog, you lovely readers and chatting up how FABULOUS our day was, but it's just not on my mind as much as it used to be. Life has moved on and with spring comes house projects. Although the rain is keeping us from much-needed landscaping, we have been productive indoors, installing new venetian blinds and working on new pieces for my soon-to-be-launched Etsy store. More to come on that project later...

Gift for my Groom
I often say how blessed Matt & I are to have talented, creative friends. One of those friends was a great help with a big headache of the wedding-planning process: the gift for my groom. I met Grace Hester of Grace Hester Designs at a wedding last summer. She and Matt work today at her day job. In the evenings she's a wife, mom to two adorable little girls and a super talented designer. You can read all about it at her lovely blog. When I finally decided to give Matt a keepsake that included the lyrics to our first dance song and our new, shared name, I immediately asked Grace to design it. And what she came up with was perfect:

Our wedding colors happen to be very similar to our bedroom colors, so here's the print, framed and in its new home.

Ignore the mess, please. Our bedroom is NEVER clean, I swear...

Grace has a version of our print and so many fun, cheeky prints worth checking out. I'm thinking about adding the Love Lives Cozy print to our room next. Thank you, Grace, for your great work! We love and cherish it!

"Sexcuses" That Will Ruin Your Marriage

2011-04-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Thank you, TheKnot.com for your assistance with planning my wedding. Your advice on 13 things NOT to tell my bridesmaids and top wedding day regrets and how to avoid them were clearly vital to my planning process as were your phenomenal tips for saving money like, "only hire a day-of wedding coordinator" and "don't buy off-season flowers." Invaluable. You managed to make me feel broke, cheap and stressed with each new article and e-newsletter. It was quite motivating...

I was THRILLED when, just four days after my wedding, I found I had automatically rolled-over into The Nest. The minute the dust settled (had it?) on our wedding, you kindly began filling my inbox with what is inevitably NEXT in my life: cooking, cleaning, saving money and getting myself preggers ASAP (who writes this stuff, my MIL?).

Today I was especially thrilled to learn that I can save my marriage by simply sucking it up and having more sex. Clearly putting out is the only way I will be keeping the wonderful, attractive, and easily distracted man I caught, even when I don't feel like it.

And don't forget to lose weight while you do it with the best calorie-burning sex moves cause the second easiest way to lose your man is by getting fat.

DIY Wedding Favors: Homemade Apple Butter

2011-04-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

If favors aren't edible, they're a waste. Seriously. Although I'm sure you only invited 300 of your absolutely CLOSEST, BESTEST friends, I'm also sure that 99% of them (ok, all of them except your mother and grandmother) do NOT want a to decorate their house with memorabilia from your wedding. If you're lucky, they'll frame a picture of themselves with the bride, but they'll probably look drunk because, let's face it, they DO care about the open bar. Which is why I opted for the best wedding favor, the kind that is homemade, edible yumminess.

My mom has been canning apple butter for years and she gets 100% of the credit for our delicious favors. She has kindly agreed to share her recipe! Everyone say THANK YOU Amy! And check out her blog where she hosts tons of giveaways.

Caramel Spice Apple Butter (Adapted from the Ball Blue Book)
Yield: 9-12 Half-pint jars

8 – 9 lbs Apples, cored & quartered (to yield about 12 cups apple pulp)
4 cups Sugar, divided
1 cup water or apple juice
2 teaspoons Cinnamon, ground
½ teaspoon Ginger, ground
½ teaspoon Cloves, ground
½ teaspoon Nutmeg, preferably freshly ground
2 Tablespoons Lemon juice

In a large saucepot or Dutch oven, combine apples and add the water or apple juice. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until apples are softened. Press through a food mill or sieve. Return pulp to saucepot; set aside.

In a large skillet or saucepan, heat 2 cups sugar over medium high heat until sugar begins to melt, shaking skillet occasionally to heat sugar evenly; reduce heat. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is melted and turns a rich, golden brown. Be VERY careful, as the caramelized sugar is extremely hot. Keep a bowl of ice water handy in case you get burned.

Carefully pour caramelized sugar into apple mixture in kettle (mixture will spatter!) The caramelized sugar will harden like candy, but will eventually melt. Stir in the remaining sugar and spices. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, stirring often, until thick enough to round up on a spoon. Stir in lemon juice. Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process in boiling water bath 10 minutes for half-pints and 15 minutes for pints.

Amy recommends tasting your apple butter and adjusting the spices as desired.

We printed the labels on top using images from our invitations (suitcase) and another family member, Tammy, did all the calligraphy. Thank you Tammy!

Becky's Vintage Inspired Accessories

2011-04-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Earrings

Rhodium, Swarovski pearls and crystals... handmade from Lulu Splendor on Etsy!

The Hair Piece/Fascinator

A custom, handmade creation by Artsymorena on Etsy who came highly recommended by my hair stylist, Brittany! I loved the pop of turquoise-y blue!

The Bracelet

Faux-pearl bracelets from Icing.

Seriously... I tried to spend more money, but I couldn't find pearls in the right color anywhere else!

I think it all came together quite nicely :)

The Dress: Vintage, Classic and Oh, So Very Me!

2011-04-06T17:09:00.000-07:00

In many ways I am a very typical girl. I love pink, high heels and pretty, sparkling things. But I was never the little girl who dreamed of her wedding day. And I also never imagined my "dream dress." As the planning process began, I started thinking long a hard about what I wanted. I knew it wouldn't be the typical, princess ballgown.

I consider myself to be classic, a little stylish with a bit of vintage and whimsy. I knew I wanted a vintage-style dress and lots of lace. I also knew I preferred something with STRAPS. I say "preferred" because I knew it would be difficult to find. Strapless dresses have dominated wedding fashion for the past ten years, but as a busty, fuller-figured lady, I'd prefer to have a little bit of strap holding me in (You know what I mean, girls? The ladies have a mind of their own sometimes...). I was thrilled to find that straps are coming back in style and I had several, lovely and fashionably options. Here is what I selected...

Front

Baby Got Back

It's House of Wu Private Collection and I found it at Wendy's Bridal in Dublin, Ohio.

One of my bridesmaids, Aarti, was in town visiting from Brussels, Belgium (seriously) and since she lived so far away and was missing all the wedding fun, we decided to spend a day doing "wedding-ish" things. One of them was dress shopping. We picked some funky dresses, neither of us were taking it seriously. But when I put on this dress, I knew it was the one. It was just so very, very me.

I've never been able to find much about the designer and I've certainly never been able to find my dress online or in magazines, which is weird, but makes me love it more. It's all lace and pleated organza loveliness. It had straps but felt sexy. I could move and dance in it to my heart's content.

I can't say enough about how wonderful my experience at Wendy's was. Everyone working there was lovely, from my sales attendant to my seamstress. They understood what I wanted and were kind and patient with every step. I had several not-so-great experiences due to overly-pushy sales people and being completely misunderstood (not listened to?). I've been to tiny, upscale salons that were horrifically overpriced. And I've mentioned my complete disdain for a certain gargantuan discount bridal chain (puke). Wendy's was the perfect middle-ground. They had a HUGE selection in a wide range of prices and they treated me very well. Love them! I've sent all my bride-friends there and one of them just bought her dress at Wendy's last month. Yay!

Dessert Buffet

2011-04-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hello my lovely readers! We have finally returned from our honeymoon and I am back to blogging! I am so excited to share more details from our wedding. Now that the big day is over, I can spend a month or two reminiscing through this blog. Oh, how I love it..

There were several traditions that we decided not to incorporate into our wedding, some because of the cost and some because they just weren’t our style. One of the budget-busting traditions that we cut was a large, tiered wedding cake in lieu of the trendy dessert buffet.

My mom is well-known for her cookies and she has made them for several of my cousins’ weddings. I knew we would be including my mom’s pizzelles, anise cookies, butter balls and Italian nut bread on the dessert table.

I also wanted to add macaroons and cake pops because I love both and knew they would be a hit.

By the time we added up all the cookies, it seemed silly to have a huge, multi-tiered cake. Instead we decided to have three round layer cakes, each of a different flavor (vanilla cake with lemon filling and vanilla butter cream, chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate butter cream and carrot cake with cream cheese icing) and a couple small sheet cakes in the back. We ordered the cakes from Piece of Cake in Columbus, Ohio and they were kind enough to do some simple scroll work and piping in the butter cream frosting. They were so sweet! And the cake was TO DIE for! Seriously, YUM!

Here’s a breakdown of the cost:

$219 for ~151 servings of cake
$45 for macaroons
$30 for cake pops made by Heather Dodds (if you're in the Cbus area and need cake pops, I HIGHLY recommend her and I can give you her contact info:)

I have no idea how much my mom spent on ingredients for the cookies she made, but even if it was upwards of $100 (which is probably over estimating), we still managed to come in around $2.60 per person. Not bad, considering how pricey wedding cakes can be.

Also, we had WAY too much cake for our 155 guests. We had originally intended to only have around 100 servings, but my parents overruled us and ordered extra. Thanks mom and dad! We were eating cake forever....

I decorated the dessert buffet with bunting. The small bunting on top of the cake that said "LOVE" I found online from the TomKat Studio. The larger bunting that said "LOVE IS SWEET" on the front of the table I also found online, but I cannot track down the site! If I do, I will update this post with the details.

All photos courtesy of our fabulous wedding photographer, Jessica Miller Photography!

Join me in supporting the March for Babies

2011-03-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

This year I will be participating in my 8th March for Babies for the March of Dimes. During my freshman year of college I volunteered at the Cincinnati, Ohio March of Dimes and assisted with their spring 2002 neighborhood walks. It was an amazing experience and I have supported the cause through my own walk ever since.

Becky, Matt & Henry at M4B 2011

Today in the U.S., 1 in every 8 babies will be born prematurely. Some of them won't survive, and others will have health problems that could last a lifetime. The funds we raise in WalkAmerica support research that saves babies' lives. The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

I`m very excited to be a part of March for Babies again this year. If you sponsored my walk last year - THANK YOU! With your help, I set a personal record and raised over $500! Please help me reach my goal again this year by making a donation to my walk. You can make a secure online gift at my personal walk page.

Your gift will fund March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And it will be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care.

Thank you for helping me give all babies a healthy start!

Presents for the Parents of the Bride & Groom

2011-03-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

A few posts back I shared how to use Etsy's Alchemy feature for personalized wedding items. Unfortunately, Etsy has decided to close Alchemy for the time being. Since my experience was quite successful, the news was disappointing and I hope they come up with a new and improved version soon. We used Alchemy to purchase our parent gifts.

I posted a request for picture frames personalized with our names and the date of our wedding and received MANY bids from talented ETSY vendors. These are the frames we "commissioned."

These beautiful frames came from Etsy Seller Mehndiart09. We are so thrilled with how they turned out and hope our parents love them too!

Bridesmaid's Gifts on a Budget

2011-03-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

I can't say enough how amazing my bridesmaids were throughout the wedding process. They threw me two FABULOUS parties. They helped multiple DIY projects including our photo booth and flowers. They handled every bump along the way without stressing me with the details. Most importantly, the put up with bridezille-to-be-me for months.

And they coordinated their rehearsal dinner dresses without even meaning to! LOVE!

I wanted to be sure that my gifts for them were functional, fun and unique for each girl, without breaking the bank. After scouring the internet and giving it lots of thought, here is what I came up with!

- Turquoise pashmina from Amazon.com (for obvious & practical reasons... a February wedding is bound to be cold!)
- Beauty Rush lip gloss from Victoria's Secret (in a color they could wear the day-of and every day!)
- Candle (I found these about a year prior on clearance and grabbed them!)
- Lolita martini or wine glass (I LOVE these glasses. They come in fun themes, are hand-painted and each comes with a yummy drink recipe on the bottom. I saw them long before the wedding and knew I wanted to get them for my maids! Each girl received a different glass.)

I had been keeping an eye out for Lolita glasses for about a year, but never saw them priced below $25. I lucked out when I found one glass on clearance and the rest at Macy's where I was able to use my 15% off coupon. In all I spent about $30 per bridesmaid, which was a deal and I think they all loved their gifts (I hope!!). They deserved them and so much more!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-03-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday and I received the loveliest present. My photographer, Jessica Miller, sent me a sneak peak at our pictures. Eeeeeeeeee! She gave me TWO photos on facebook and I can't WAIT to see the rest.

DIY Passport Wedding Programs

2011-02-22T19:50:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: Order these adorable Passport Wedding Programs for YOUR wedding at my new Etsy shop, Becky Seymour Designs!

You may remember my exciting purchase of a Print Gocco last summer. I had many elaborate plans for using the adorable Japanese screen printing machine for wedding projects. Unfortunately Adobe Illustrator and my home printer won out and the poor Print Gocco was only used once. But the results were lovely and well worth the splurge to buy it!

What IS a Print Gocco, you ask? Check it out online here.

I used mine to print the covers of my passport programs!

We designed the cover and inside pages in Adobe Illustrator. The cover I screen printed with my Gocco. The inside pages included our wedding party, ceremony outline, in memorial and a list of things to do between the ceremony and reception (always important when there is a gap!). We scattered vintage passport stamps throughout the pages. The inside pages were printed on my home computer.

My husband (then fiance!) and I had an assembly party with our DVR and a glass of wine.

And here is our finished product!

I love them! And they fit our theme so well. Success!

I'm a MRS!

2011-02-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Matt and I were MARRIED this past weekend. Our wedding wasn't perfect but it was a blast. I can't wait to share more from our special day with my readers.

Did I stay in my budget? I'll be revealing all the details over the next few weeks. For now, I am enjoying some QT with my husband.

Sneak Peak: BHLDN Bridal

2011-02-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

When I heard that Urban Outfitter (the parent company of one of my favorite stores, Anthropologie) was coming out with a bridal line I swooned. And then I turned meanly-jealous. Knowing that these lovely dresses were coming just an eensy-bit too late for me to wear them hurt my heart just a little. I had to wade through piles full of polyester and pick-ups to find my dress. Luckily my dress was there, between cupcake mountains of virginal white that made me nauseous. But I would have killed to wear one of these lovely BHLDN dresses. Not a pick-up in site, thank god.

The prices are a little steep for ladies in my budget bracket. Bridal gowns range from $1,000-$4,000 and bridal party dresses from $200-$400. Although I'd seriously consider breaking the bank for the chance to wear one of these dresses. Perhaps I should be glad the opportunity missed me :)

Thank you to 100 Layer Cake for the pictures.

8 Days!

Officially in the Single-Digit Countdown

2011-02-10T08:18:00.000-08:00

Yikes!

So, what am I doing today with just 9 days left until our wedding? I am going to the ballet with my mom, sister and one of my bridesmaids. We are seeing BalletMet's production of Cinderella. I am so very excited!

I feel like Matt and I are in a good place at the moment. We have 95% of our wedding "To-Do" list complete. Only a few small strings are left to tie up and we are knocking more out every day. I am taking pictures of everything and I can't wait to share the final products with my readers (after my guests have seen them first, of course!). This wedding has been planned in bits and pieces, by collecting things along the way. I am finally seeing the pieces come together (in my livingroom.... stacked to the ceiling!) and it looks better than I imagined. I think our theme kept us cohesive throughout the planning process and I can't wait for everyone to see the results!

Real Bridezilla Moment

2011-02-07T13:47:00.000-08:00

What a Monday! I am enjoying a day off of work to work on wedding projects after a FABULOUS Bachelorette Party Weekend with all my besties. I had a few errands to run so I went to the mall with my future mother-in-law. We decided to check Men's Wearhouse to make sure the groomsmen were all sized.

Here's the problem. My fiance stopped in to check on things two weeks ago and then had our order totally wrong. Wrong vests, wrong ties on every member of the wedding party. So he corrected them.... or so we thought!

When I went in today, they were STILL wrong! So I was working with one of their employees to fix our order when his co-worker came in. The co-worker remembered taking the corrections from my fiance, and he started arguing with me that they were done correctly, when I was just told that they weren't. He kept arguing as I walked out the door, so I turned around and yelled at him... It wasn't one of my finest moments. It was 100% real bridezilla.

It left me feeling mean and pretty crappy. I've prided myself on being level-headed and rational. I don't think I've had any really blow-ups or meltdowns. Thank you, Men's Wearhouse, for bringing on my first.

Also, which of these vests do you think is turquoise?

Men's Wearhouse considers the top vest to be turquoise. The bottom is pool. Our official colors are red and turquoise, but I am definitely going with the bottom vest. Hopefully they don't up-charge me for the last minute change, cause that one was all me!

12 Days!

DIY and Homemade Wedding Favors

2011-02-02T19:08:00.000-08:00

My mom rocks. Seriously. She is very good in the kitchen and those skills are playing a big role in our wedding... and saving us some money along the way. Our favors are one of her homemade goodies, but I don't want to ruin the surprise until after our wedding. In the mean time, here are some of my favorite DIY and homemade wedding favors. They were a great inspiration in deciding on our own.

Maple Syrup from theknot.com
I love the pretty fabric toppers on these jarred treats. Adorable!

These pretty, printable favor cones from Martha Stewart. Fill with candy, cocoa or cookie mixes and personalize!

Homemade Soap with instructions at Bridal Buds!

If only I was having a summer wedding... Cherries! Idea from Wedding Bees.

I can't wait to reveal my own favors soon. So soon!

17 Days!

Red and Turquoise Shoes (with a little vintage...)

2011-01-31T13:51:00.000-08:00

I love the brightly-colored wedding shoe trend and, from the beginning, I've had my heart set on a hot pair of turquoise pumps. They ended up being almost impossible to find. After several failed internet purchases (too big, too small, too teal...) I gave up and went with red. Red shoes are classic, sexy and, most importantly, easy to find! Phew!

I found a stunning pair of towering heals at DSW for just $10 (with a $10 rewards coupon). Steal! I added turquoise feathers and a pair of vintage earrings with a little hot glue. The earrings match the vintage bracelet I will be wearing on our wedding day.

And a close-up of the jewelry:

What do you think? I'm feeling like the turquoise feathers are a liiiiitle loud, but I kinda love them. I dunno :)

19 Day!

Photographer Meeting & Must Have Photo List

2011-01-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

Today we are meeting with our photographer, the fabulous Jessica Miller, to discuss the day-of wedding plan. To prepare, I put together a list of photos we'd like to see from our wedding day. I took suggestions from several websites, including the Knot.

Ceremony

Ushers escorting guests to their seats
Ushers escorting moms to their seats
Close-up of groom waiting for the bride
Bridesmaids and groomsmen walking down the aisle
Ring bearer entering
Wedding party waiting at the altar
Bride and Dad walking down the aisle
Close-up of bride just before she makes her entrance
Bride and groom at the altar
Altar from the back during ceremony
Wide shot of audience during ceremony, from bride and groom's point of view
Readers during mass
Parents crying/watching
Faces of bride and groom as they exchange vows
Close-up of bride's and groom's hands as they exchange rings
The kiss
Bride and groom proceeding up the aisle, guests' smiling faces at their sides
Bride and groom hiding so guests leave

At The Church

Bride and groom together
Bride with her parents
Bride with her immediate family
Bride and groom with her parents
Bride and groom with her immediate family
Groom with his parents
Groom with his immediate family
Groom and bride with his parents
Groom and bride with his immediate family
Bride and groom with all parents
Groom with groomsmen
Bride with bridesmaids
Bride and groom with groomsmen
Bride and groom with bridesmaids
Bride and groom with whole wedding party

At the Statehouse

Romantic & fun shots of the bride and groom
Formal & fun shots of the wedding party
Pictures of bridal party shoes
Picture of the bride with each bridesmaid
Picture of the groom with each groomsman

The Reception

Shot from outside reception site (to set the tone)
Reception details: guest book, centerpieces, decorations, favors table, dessert buffet, photobooth
Bride and groom at head table
Parents' table
Guests' tables
Close-up of friends and family making toasts
Bride and groom's first dance
Parents dancing
Bride and Dad dancing
Groom and Mom dancing
Kids playing or dancing
Bride laughing with bridesmaids
Bride and groom cutting the cake
Bride and groom feeding each other cake

Additional Shots

Bridesmaids/bride bouquets
Groomsmen boutonnieres
Wedding rings
Bride’s hair/hair piece/jewelry
Shoes

Vintage Inspired Wedding Makeup

2011-01-29T08:27:00.000-08:00

Today is my makeup trial run. Sticking with my vintage theme and feel, I've compiled an inspiration board of looks I'd like to channel the day of my wedding. I love the porcelain skin, bright eyes and even brighter lips of the 1960s, so I've included looks from Christina Hendricks and January Jones in Mad Men.

What do you think? Any favorites among them? Do they fit with my hair inspiration?

3 weeks from today, I will be getting married!

2011-01-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

Where is the time going?

24 Days

Bridezilla Becky's Favorite Wedding Blogs

2011-01-25T19:09:00.000-08:00

Through my year of wedding-planning, the best resources have been my fellow bloggers. They have been a constant source of ideas, wisdom and inspiration. Here are a few of my favorites:

A Practical Wedding
Meg and her team of writers, guest bloggers and readers are an amazing community. They tackle issues beyond planning a wedding... they take a huge, fearless leap into the reality of becoming and being a wife. They discuss the complex issues of modern marriage with sage advice and a great sense of humor.

The Budget Savvy Bride
I owe a huge thank you to Jess for helping me discover my fabulous photographer through a BSWOW (Budget Savvy Wedding of the Week), to guest blogger Lesley for showing me how to use Blogger to create our wedding website.

Ruffled

Amazing vintage wedding inspiration from Amanda. I drool over every bit of this blog.

Check them out, fellow brides and friends. They are worth the read, wedding planning, or not!

25 Days

Becky's Tips for Registering

2011-01-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

Registering for gifts was a blast. Shopping is one of my all-time-favorite hobbies and one that I consider myself to be pretty darn good at it. However, registering was slightly trickier than what I expected. What I wanted was someone to give me a scan gun and let me loose. What I needed was a significant amount of planning. Here are a few tips, tricks and questions to ask yourself before you go crazy with registering.

1.) Evaluate what you already have. Matt and I have lived together for a year and a half. We tend to buy things for our house as we want them, so we didn't necessarily need all the "typical" registry items that couples starting from scratch might need. There's no sense in replacing a perfectly good item if the money can be better spent elsewhere.
2.) Pick items to be upgraded. Some of our things are nice, but I would love to have a higher-end version. Items that we use all the time, like our toaster oven or a good coffeemaker, are always worth splurging on. Register for a few splurges - items that are a better version than what you would typically buy for yourself.
3.) Register for the basics. I don't know about you, but I buy flashy. Brightly colored pieces and seasonal decor catch my eye and I love changing things up with them. As nice as they are, it's important to have a solid foundation to build on. Most of our registry items are white or neutral colors. They are classic and I can use them for years, regardless of my color-palette of the moment. Save the bright, trendy, timely pieces for your own purchases and stick to staples that will last you much longer.
4.) Wait. I know it's hard, but wait to register until the week before any invitations are sent. I guarantee that it will save you stress and headache. As is the nature of a retail operation, items get shuffled through stores, they run out, they are discontinued, they are gone. The next thing you know, the bedding set, shower curtain or dining set that you planned the rest of your decor around is gone and you have to replace more than just the missing item. This happened to me, so I am speaking from painful experience. Ouch.

A Tiffany's Themed Bridal Shower

2011-01-23T17:48:00.000-08:00

I am a bad blogger bride. Just a few days ago I pledged to blog each of the last 31 days until the wedding. And yesterday, just a few days into the countdown, I missed a post.

I have a great excuse, I promise. You see, it was my BRIDAL SHOWER! A very busy, wonderful day full of friends, family, girly games, yummy food and presents. It was lovely and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The theme of the shower was Breakfast at Tiffany's...

...filled with pretty Tiffany blue and red decor...

...a Tiffany box cake...

...martinis and more Tiffany boxes...

...and more brightly colored cocktails!

Thank you to the best bridesmaids in the world, Courtney, Julie, Amanda & Liz....

...and my momma.

For a wonderful shower. I am such a lucky, lucky bride.

27 Days!!

Questions to Ask Your Videographer

2011-01-21T16:05:00.000-08:00

Tonight we are meeting with out wedding videographer. Ok, we're having dinner with some good friends, one of whom happens to be a videographer and has kindly offered to film our wedding. Have I mentioned how talented our friends are? Photographers, graphic designers, videographers... we're truly lucky.

Anyways, we are getting together tonight to have dinner, do a little pub trivia and talk about videography, so in preparation, here are a few good sites to check out before hiring/meeting with your own videographer:

The Knot: 12 Questions to Ask Your Videographer

Frugal Bride: Choosing Your Videographer

Wed Net: Tips for a Terrific Wedding Video

29 Days!

Using Etsy Alchemy for your Wedding

2011-01-20T19:37:00.000-08:00

I love Etsy.

It has been a wonderful source of inspiration and hand-made goodies for the wedding. Browsing through the shops has given me ideas for my own wedding DIY projects. It has also given me the option to BUY when I give up on my wedding DIY projects (sometimes it's worth the $15 to buy the mini-bunting and save my sanity and eyes from the strain of making them myself).

Alchemy is one of the coolest tools on Etsy. It's the opportunity to describe what you want, name your own price and let the vendors and crafters come to you with bids. They come back with creative ideas and great prices. Sometimes they greatly exceed your expectations.

How does it work?

1.) Come up with a hand-made goody you want, but can't find for sale already in one of Etsy's many, many shops.
2.) Go to the Etsy Alchemy site, choose public alchemy request and then add new request.
3.) Describe what you want in detail, name your price and post!
4.) Wait for the offers to roll in.
5.) Once the offers are in... and I'd give it a couple days.... close your posting and read through the responses. Decline the obvious 'Nos' and respond to possible 'Yeses' with more details and questions to clarify expectations on both sides.
6.) Accept an offer! Be prepared to pay anywhere from a small deposit to the full priced agreed upon when you accept the offer.
7.) Enjoy your new, custom-made item!

I have placed several orders through Alchemy and I will happily report back soon with the results... after the wedding ;)

For more details on using Alchemy, check out Etsy's How Alchemy Works page.

30 Days!!

Vintage Inspired Bridal Hair Styles

2011-01-19T09:35:00.000-08:00

In honor of the "Final Countdown" to our wedding, I am going to attempt to post every day for the month leading up to the wedding. That's right, I'm adding to my work-load voluntarily. Everyone make a note. If I lose it in the next month, it is entirely my own fault for setting my goals high and adding unnecessary work to my plate. Good lord....

My hair trial is one week from today and I just sent off an inspiration board to my hair stylist. I am hoping to channel a vintage 1920s or 30s look, without the formality and glossiness of their finger waves. I want something lighter and looser but with a vintage feel. Here are the styles I like from across the internet:

What do you think? Do you have a favorite. I'll be wearing a large hairpiece but NO veil. I'll be sharing the hairpiece soon. It's still in-progress and I am super excited to see how it comes together.

31 days!

I am getting quite antsy.

2011-01-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

There are just 32 days until our wedding.

YIKES!

I have a long to-do list of last minute details that is driving me NUTS! We have dancing lessons, final meetings with priests, caterers, photographers, make-up artists and hair stylists plus trying to maintain a workout schedule. I am trying to be as productive as possible with my evenings and weekends, while still giving myself time to relax. However, the time I spend "relaxing" is really just forcing myself to sit on the couch doing nothing wedding related, except stressing and obsessing about the fact that I am doing NOTHING wedding related.

That's it. I can no longer relax. Relaxing just causes more stress. Ugh!

Last week my Vice President asked how wedding planning was going now that "everything should be about done, right?" I explained to him that the last month is crunch time and I am VERY busy. I tried not to give him the evil eye while answering, but I may not have succeeded. Oops! I am very bad at hiding my true feelings these days. Oh well....

One nice distraction this past weekend: Our first niece born! Welcome to other world, Alexandria Rose!

Our Travel Themed Wedding Invitations

2011-01-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

Now that invitations have been mailed and RSVPs are rolling in, I can finally reveal one of the biggest DIY wedding projects we tackled: invitations! A friend of ours is a graphic designer who is working to build a portfolio. He very kindly offered to design our invitations for free - woohoo!! I gave him our theme, vintage travel, our colors, red and teal/turquoise, and a few examples of invitations I liked, mostly modern, graphic invitations. The resulting design was perfect. We couldn't be happier.

Without any further ado, here are our wedding invitations!

TA-DA!!! Aren't they adorable!?

RSVP Front

And back:

We went with postcard RSVPs to save on postage and instead of printing tons of "information cards," which would have added significantly to our total costs, we printed inexpensive business cards using Vistaprint. We put all the information about where to stay, what to do and where to buy us presents on our wedding website.

We put them all together with a teal belly-band stamped with red international mail stamps we picked up at Michael's.

Paper and envelopes were ordered online from Paper Source.

Final Cost Breakdown:
$71.96 for Paper/Envelopes
$82.36 for printing the invitation and RSVP cards from Got Print
$27.76 for business cards and return address labels from Vistaprint
$73.44 for 102 stamps (1st class and post card)

Total Cost: $2.51 per invite including postage! Not bad at all :)

We are thrilled with how they turned out and have received tons of compliments. They're modern, quirky, whimsical and fun. They set the tone for our wedding just perfectly. Thank you, Mike!!

I am the QUEEN of deals!

2010-12-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

In the last month I have been given the opportunity to review two websites that allow customers to personalize holiday cards with pictures and text. I just posted my thoughts about Shutterfly.com (love them, use them all the time!) and I will be doing a similar review for Urbanity Studios on The Budget Savvy Bride where I guess blog. Both sites were kind enough to give me 50 free holiday photo cards for doing a review of their website. Unfortunately, Matt and I had already decided NOT to do holiday cards this year. Our wedding invitations are going out this month and we couldn't rationalize spending the additional postage on holiday cards as well. I'm not sure if you've heard this before, but weddings are expensive!!! I know, tell me about it, right?

So when I was offered these free cards, my first thought was to go ahead and order them, and hang on to the cards for next Christmas. Then, as I was personalizing the holiday cards with our engagement pictures, I had the most brilliant idea: turn them into Thank You cards for the wedding!!!! I chose cards with customizable text, changed "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" to "Thank You" and VOILA! One hundred almost FREE Thank You cards. Yippee!!! Here's my Thank You card from Shutterfly. Their site has the ability to share your cards online in your blog, facebook page or twitter feed - how cool is that! Gah! I love them!

Classic Sky Blue 5x7 folded card

Unique party invitations and greeting cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

So, I'm sure you're thinking, 'Great, but how does this help me?' It's true, not everyone has a blog to lever for online freebies. The moral of the story is GET CREATIVE! Sign up for emails from your favorite vendors and watch for opportunities to turn the unexpected and inexpensive into something fabulous for your wedding.

Any other great deal stories from my fellow brides out there? I'd love to hear them!

Tired of Boxed Holiday Cards? I Have a Solution!

2010-12-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of Shutterfly.com. In the past year I have used Shutterfly for tons of great gifts and projects. Last Christmas I used Shutterfly to make a calendar for my parents using pictures from my recent trip to Europe. I also made myself a small photo book out of pictures from the same trip. Both the calendar and photo book were easy ways to keep pictures I love on-hand to share with others or enjoy myself without taking up lots of picture frames and wall-space.

Last spring I used Shutterfly to make prints of our wonderful engagement photos. All the prints, from 6x4 to 11x14, were beautiful, quality prints. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Shutterfly did justice to my most important memories.

All of these great experiences are why Shutterfly was my first stop for photo holiday cards. I am always looking for new ways to share our engagement pictures with family and friends and I will be featuring them photo cards like one of these:

Aren’t they cute!? So much better than boxed, bland holiday cards. I swear I see the same ones every year! We can personalize each of them with our own message, names and the date of our quickly approaching wedding. Perfect! It can be another reminder to those we love that we are looking forward to spending a very important day with them soon.

So if you're a last-minute shopper (like me!) be sure to check out Shutterfly for you personalized holiday cards.

This review is based on my own personal experiences with Shutterfly.com since 2009. Shutterfly is providing me with 50 free holiday cards for writing this review - yippee! But that did not change my opinion in any way about their fabulous products. Thank you Shutterfly!

99 Days

2010-11-12T06:36:00.000-08:00

We are officially in the double-digit count down. The "to-do" list is long and growing. And with the swiftly approaching holiday season, I am feeling more than just a little overwhelmed. Still, I am doing my best to work through it, crossing things off as I go, making compromises to get things done and trying not to feel guilty when I sit on the couch, take a huge sign of relief and allow myself the pleasure of doing NOTHING wedding related for an evening.

In the past week we checked off the groomsmen attire. My vision of suits and kitschy ties was thrown out by logistical issues. The ease of a tux rental was just too appealing. I am disappointed, but realistic. It had to be done.

We have also increased our guest list by over 25 people. I now have to adjust the number of tables, centerpieces, invitations & programs. I'm glad I have procrastinated so long on all of these projects. It will make adjusting the numbers easier.The increase in budget is a little frightening, but I'm trying not to think about it. Long ago I took the advice of a bride featured on A Practical Wedding and focused on making our day the our "first act of hospitality as a married couple." Hospitality means being gracious, right? And so, gracious I will be as we increase the number of everything....

Glove Swap? Sign Me Up!

2010-11-04T07:01:00.000-07:00

I just signed up for the Cold Hands, Warm Heart glove swap, thanks to Busy Girl Nicole who clued me in! If you're a blogger who LOVES cute winter accessories and making new friends, head on over to Sandy a la mode to sign up!

Amanda's Shoe Clips

2010-10-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

As I already mentioned, this month my cousin, Amanda, got married. It was a great opportunity for me as the maid of honor to observe her planning process and practice a few things for my own wedding. Because I am the family crafter, I offered to help with as much of the DIY as Amanda was willing to pass off to me. The final list included her garter, ring bearer pillows, silk flowers for bridesmaids’ hair, and shoe clips for the bride.
I had made pillows before, so those were easy. I used these DIY instructions for the garter and it turned out perfectly. As for the shoe clips.... Well, here you go!

1 . Supplies - I stopped and Joann’s and picked up a few fabric remnants in white and ivory satin and tulle. There was more than enough fabric to play with and remnants are 50% off! I also had a pair of vintage clip-on earrings I’d found a few months earlier at a local vintage shop. I used a small metal cutter to clip off the earring back. The alligator clips pictured were what I originally planned to use, but they were too tall and long so I switched to the bobby pins.

2 . Cut 3” wide strips of fabric. I started with several fabrics, knowing I could play with layering to find the look I wanted. I ended up using only one strip of the white satin for each clip. Layering with the ivory tulle was “too much.”

3 . Fold your fabric strips in half length-wise and pin. Sew a wide running stitch (the widest you can do on your machine) down the length of the fabric. I only ended up using a piece that was about 8-10 inches long for each shoe. I cut the fabric after stitching the entire length. It was MUCH too long, so feel free to trip it down and save some time or keep the full length and layer it like this.

4 . To ruffle the fabric, pull on one of the two threads at the end of your stitches and push the fabric down to create a gathered effect. Even out the gathers and pin in a circle.

5 . Hot glue the back (least pretty side!) to a circle of felt.

6 . Secure/hide the raw end of the fabric with a bit of hot glue.

7 . Secure a bobby pin to the back with a square of felt and more hot glue. Be sure you hide the bobby pin completely behind the flower.

8 . Turn it over and secure the gem/earring/button of choice to the front with more hot glue.

9 . Repeat for shoe clip #2.

And voila! It was one of the simplest DIY projects I’ve ever done. If you don’t have a sewing machine, use a wide hand-stitch. Don’t they look beautiful? Amanda ended up taking them off of her shoes and putting them in her hair by the end of the night... that might have also been after a 4 hour open bar :) In her hair or on her shoes, they looked lovely!

I've Been Challenged!

2010-10-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

The lovely Grace Hester has started a new game and asked to learn more about me in 140-characters or less. Here is Grace's 'About Me' that kicked it all off:

As a twitter-lover myself (follow me!), I gladly accepted! It took several edits to decide which of my the many words you can use to describe me made the character-limit. Clearly I could go on about myself for days... ;)

For more inspiration check out Busy Girl's About Me in 140-characters or less, make your own and share the link!

Amanda's Wedding and one of my favorite venders: The Flowerman

2010-10-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was my cousin Amanda’s wedding. Amanda is also one of my best friends and it’s been so fun being engaged and wedding planning together. Several months ago I talked Amanda into meeting with the Flowerman, a well-known florist in Dayton, Ohio that had recently opened an office here in Columbus. The Flowerman is unique because it offers various version of “do-it-yourself” wedding packages. You can arrange as much or as little of your flowers yourself with the help of a few friends. The more you DIY, the more money you save! And, of course, they provide the flowers, space, supplies and a fabulous instructor to teach you as you go. Amanda will be the first to tell you that she is not a crafty person, she leaves that to me, but she did let me drag her right into this one and I am so happy she did!

Amanda chose to have the Flowerman make her bridal bouquet and we tackled boutonnieres, corsages and bridesmaid bouquets ourselves. It took us a little over two hours to make everything and I think they turned out quite beautiful! Of course we had Melissa from the Flowerman walking us through each step and she did a fabulous job!

The most important lesson we learned is to re-cut the stem each time a flower is removed from water for more than a few seconds. A fresh cut, usually at an angle, reopens veins that can quickly close. And be sure to put the freshly cut flower right back into water after the cut. If you plan to DIY your flowers, be sure to keep that in mind!

Photos courtesy of me!

I just put a deposit down with the Flowerman for my own wedding and I am so excited to play with more flowers! And now I have a well-trained group of volunteers, right? Hopefully I can talk them into doing it one more time for me!

Are any of you ladies considering DIY-ing your flowers?

The Flowerman did not provide me with any free or discounted services or products for this review. It’s just my honest opinion of one of my favorite wedding vendors. They rock!

I'm in a Wedding Rut!

2010-10-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

Help! I'm sure the few of you reading this blog have noticed that the posts have been few and far between of late. There are a few reasons (coughexcusescough). The first being that I have been insanely busy at work. Ugh! Isn't that always my excuse? The second being that the few blogs I've written have been guest blogs over at The Budget Savvy Bride. Check them out! The final, and probably true, reason is that I am in a Wedding Rut.

Yikes!

I've finished the Big Things. We have the places and times, photographer, dj, flowers, bridesmaids dresses and my wedding dress. Now is when I take the scary leap from the Big Things to the details and the details scare me. I'm collecting items for centerpieces, but the process is slow mostly because I am picky and have a difficult time committing to something. The list of little things feels daunting: guest book, registering, jewelry, hair pieces, shoes, ties, table numbers, favors, photo booth.... the list is epically long! We are closing in on four months and I am already overwhelmed!

So, today I am off work to help my cousin before her wedding this Saturday (congrats, Amanda!!). And after Saturday I am starting a real "to do" list with due dates and deadlines. And a workout plan because somehow I am dieting and STILL gaining weight. Ugh.

Let's hope I find some renewed enthusiasm and energy soon!

Catholic Engaged Encounter

2010-10-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Matt and I attended an Engaged Encounter weekend. EE is a marriage preparatory retreat held by the Catholic church, primarily for couples marrying in the church, but also for non-Catholic couples interested in growing their relationship. EE fulfills Precana requirements for most churches.

For Matt and I, EE was mandatory to be married in our church. Although I am Catholic, I don’t consider myself to be religious. I was truly dreading the weekend, concerned about how much religion would be present in the talks. The website claims EE is applicable to all couples, religious or not, however I knew some church-related issues like Natural Family Planning and sexual abstinence would be covered. I was skeptical.

My skepticism was compounded when we reached the retreat center. It was only about 45 minutes from home, but we were required to stay over both nights in large dormitories: girls in one room and boys in another. The room of 50 creaky twin beds looked like something out of a horror movie. I knew it was going to be a rough couple of nights.

I am going to include a breakdown of our EE weekend, in hope that it will be helpful for others facing the same fears I was. I had a hard time finding out any definitive information about what the weekend entailed through searching online. I believe that the more informed and prepared you are, the less anxiety you will feel. So here’s how the weekend went:

Friday
We started around 8 p.m. with introductions of the two couples who would lead the weekend. They were local volunteers through the national program. Usually a priest is also involved, but ours became ill the day before and wasn’t there for the weekend. The couples leading our EE weekend were sincere and kind, but very hard to relate to.

After introductions were the first two sessions: Encounter with Me and Encounter with We, examinations of who we are as individuals and as a couple. It ended with a prayer session and we were in our separate beds by 11 p.m. with a 7 a.m. wakeup call.

Saturday
Saturday dawned on some very grumpy EE attendees. Although most of the boys seemed well-rested, the girls all grumbled about getting very little sleep in our sparse accommodations. I personally remember checking the time at least once every hour throughout the night. I dozed a bit in between, but the morning was a struggle.

Saturday was a long, drawn out day of 10 sections that almost all went like this:

20 minute personal story from the couples leading EE on the topic
20 minutes of individual writing on the topic with questions to consider
20 minutes sharing our writings and discussing with out partner.

Over and over and over...

The process of writing and sharing wasn’t bad, but the topics seemed redundant and some required much less time than was allocated. Saturday’s topics included:

Disillusionment & True Joy
Openness in Communication
Signs of a Closed Relationship
Decisions in Marriage
Human Sexuality
Natural Family Planning
Unity: Called to be One
Morality in a Christian Marriage
Forgiveness in Marriage
Becoming a Family

The Natural Family Planning (NFP) presentation was especially comical as the presenting couple failed at it, which led to their first child. TOO FUNNY! I am actually open to using NFP, not because the church approves it (which I could care less about, my body, my decision!) but because I hate the concept of being on medication indefinitely for any reason. I like the concept of knowing your body well enough to be able to make educated decisions about your ability to procreate at any particular time in your cycle. TMI, I know. But I did find this to be one of the more interesting presentations, outside of the religious pressure to stop using contraceptives because some old man called the Pope tells us to. But I digress...

Although the day got better as it went one, overall Saturday was long and drawn out. By the end I was emotionally and physically exhausted, mentally checked out and begging Matt to make the 45 minute drive home and back in the morning so I could sleep in my own bed. Just after he finally agreed we had our final two scheduled events: a group discussion and prayer session. I was pleasantly surprised to find that these were the highlights of the weekend. They both went well, so we decided to stay the night and I slept much better (thanks to a couple glasses of wine after the evening ended!!! Alcohol fixes everything... LOL).

Sunday
Sunday felt, if possible, even longer. The priest conducting our closing mass couldn’t be there until 2:30, so the remaining three sections were stretched over about 5 hours. We were all ready to be on our way home and I doubt any of us gave much thought to our responses, resulting in an unproductive day. We covered the following:

Betrothal
Two-by-Two: Marriage as a Vocation
Wedding: The Beginning of our Sacrament

After mass, we were finally free. Luckily I left Monday morning for a work trip to California. I think Matt and I needed the break from each other and constant one-on-one conversation about our relationship.

In summary, here is my critique of our Engaged Encounter weekend and the program in general:

Content:
The material is a bit outdated and out of touch with modern couples. About half of the topics were interesting and half were redundant. Matt and I had already discussed about 80% of the questions and topics covered, which made us feel really good about our relationship and the foundation we are building on. I can see how EE might initiate important conversations for those who may not have already had them. For those conversations, the program is worthwhile.

Schedule:
A weekend is too long. If you have the option to do a one-day version or a series over several evenings, choose that one. The marathon sessions just leave you exhausted and at some point you will mentally check out. It’s not productive to hit that point.

Venue:
If you do a weekend version, check out the venue. I hope it was cushier than ours. Sleep was impossible.

Presenters:
The presenters make or break the program. I doubt this is information you can search out ahead of time, but if possible, ask for reviews from previous attendees. Although I know our presenters meant well - they were volunteering an ENTIRE weekend to a program they believe in - they were not easy to relate to. They were religious to a level we weren’t and married much later in life, both of those issues clearly shaped the majority of their decision making throughout their marriage and made it difficult to apply their experiences with ours. Their efforts were appreciated, but the weekend would have been much better had the couples leading been more “like us” and the other couples there (who seemed be be “younger” and Catholic, but not overly religious). And a little bit of training on how to speak in front of an audience couldn’t have hurt either.

Religion:
The topics included God to a point that made me uncomfortable a few times, but not too many. I definitely think most Christians and Catholics would understand and appreciate the inclusions. If you aren’t particularly religious, it wasn’t hard to just ignore those questions or change them a bit to be more applicable.

In Summary:
I will rarely recommend EE, except perhaps to younger couples who would benefit more from the discussions. The little we got out of it was just not worth the time or effort. There were a few redeeming factors, but just not enough.