Picked up The Dress

On our holiday drive from Streator, IL to St. Joseph, MN, we stopped by the dress shop in St. Paul, MN to pick up Ann's wedding dress. I was very pleased about 2 things:

1. For the bargain price that we paid, the dress looks great on a hanger. I expect that it will look even more stunning on the bride... Actually, I know that it looks even more stunning on the bride, because I have a photo of her wearing it. However, I will not post the photo, because it might spoil your excitement of seeing her walk up the aisle in it.
2. The dress is not pink (as Ann led me to believe). It has a very slight "blush" tinge that I doubt anyone will notice, especially in contrast to the "claret" bridesmaid dresses.

-Scott

Engaged Encounter weekend reservation confirmed

Received a postcard yesterday confirming our reservation for the Catholic Engaged Encounter weekend the first weekend in May. That was our third and final choice of weekends, so these encounters must be popular with the kids.

-Scott

Reserved block of motel rooms at the Super 8

This past weekend Ann & I reserved a block of 22 motel rooms June 30 and July 1 for our guests at the Super 8 in Riverside. It's not the fanciest joint in the metro area, but it's cheap ($69 per night) and located within staggering distance (across the street) from our reception site at the Argosy Casino.

-Scott

Booked our DJ

This past weekend Ann & I booked our DJ vendor, Complete Music. The next step will be to pick our DJ out of the 20+ on staff, and then we'll need to decide which songs we do and don't want to be played. This could prove to be challenging... Ann loves the idea of the Chicken Dance; Scott shudders at the thought!

-Scott

Met with florist and photographer candidates

Saturday, December 10 was another busy day of wedding preparation:

In the morning we met with florist candidate Linda Baca of A Floral Affair. We haven't booked her yet, but Ann is impressed.

In the afternoon we met with photographer candidate Mark Baltzley of Mark Baltzley Photography & Design. We haven't booked him yet, but we are both impressed.

We had also hoped to meet with photographer candidate Sarah Winston of Sarah Winston Photography, but she was ill with the flu. Perhaps her illness has cost her a gig?

-Scott

Reception site decided... finally!

After spending all weekend calculating the cost of holding the reception at the Airport Hilton or the Argosy Casino, we decided that the winner is the Argosy. Every way that we sliced it, the Hilton was significantly more expensive than the Argosy, so the decision was an easy one in the end.

-Scott

Picked up the rings

When I proposed to Ann in September, I gave her a rather nice "rock" in a temporary setting. Shortly thereafter, we went to the jewelry store together to order our wedding bands, as well as a permanent setting for her engagement ring. Now that the rings are in, we just picked them up from the store. This photo doesn't really do justice to her engagement ring, but at least you'll get the idea.

BTW ladies, when it comes to "rocks", I've learned that size (carats) doesn't matter nearly as much as the other 3 C's (cut, clarity, and color). So, don't even bother asking us about its size, because it's big enough!

-Scott

The PREPARE marriage prep results are in!

Ann and I met with Father Karl on Halloween to review the results of the PREPARE premarital inventory that we had taken last month. The purpose of this inventory is to identify potential sources of conflict in our relationship. Fortunately, the results confirmed what we already know: there doesn't seem to be any major area of potential conflict. So, Fr. Karl gave us the green light for the next step: participating in a Catholic Engaged Encounter weekend in early 2006. In the meantime, we need to book a reception site, photographer, and DJ.

-Scott

Oops! RSVP's are coming in already!

I inadvertently activated the online RSVP feature on our wedding web page http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AnnHeinze&ScottHeider. Luckily, only 2 groups of guests responded before I inactivated the feature. I'll activate it again when we mail our invitations in the spring of 2006.

-Scott

Wedding date finalized (we hope!)

Fr. Karl called and confirmed that our date is available. July 1, 2006 is our wedding date!!!!

-Ann

Added engagement photo to wedding web page

I've just added an engagement photo to our wedding web page at http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AnnHeinze&ScottHeider. The photo was taken in Ann's living room 9/11/2005 via the self timer on Scott's camera. The roses were provided by Ann and The Melting Pot fondue restaurant. The sparkly ring on Ann's finger was provided by Scott and Jessica at Meierotto's Midwest Jewelry.

-Scott

Welcome to the wedding blog of Ann & Scott!

The purpose of this blog is for Ann & Scott to share wedding planning news and views with each other, family, and friends. It ought to be a fun journey... thanks for stopping by!

-Scott