Ranunculus

As a horticulture major, I love plants, I love foliage, and I especially love flowers. Therefore, when it came time to pick out our wedding flowers, I was more than enthused! I love seeing the different combinations of flowers put together. I love to see how you can create a completely different feeling by pairing different combinations of flowers, and I love talking to other people who know what the industry has to offer. It's great to be able to speak with someone that you can bounce ideas off of until you are sure that you are both on the same page, and it's even better when they have some insight into something that would fit the look you are going for that you didn't even know of!

We found our florist, and she is awesome!

We were referred to Sarah from some of Brian's friends who were married in 2009. When we saw pictures of their flowers we knew there was potential. When we sat down to talk to her about what we wanted and didn't want, she was all ears, and despite us having a pretty good idea of what we wanted, she helped us create our perfect combinations of flowers.

They are wild, romantic, lovely, and alluring. They capture your eyes and your heart and make you fall in love all over again. They will delight our summer evening wedding. They are perfect, they make us smile, and most of all, they represent us.

Tahiti or Fiji or Spain. Oh, my!

We're just under 6 months away from our day. It's amazing how fast it really is coming upon us, but with snow on the ground in Columbus, a new Winter storm headed this way tonight, and nearly 3 feet of snow in Maryland, the very thought of summer still feels like quite a ways away! We know it will be here before we know it so we are trudging away through the snow and still making wedding plans.

We are in the process of deciding on our florist so that is in the works, and our newest endeavor has been our honeymoon. (This has been a topic that we have touched on before but is now our focus, and a great focus at that!) I would've thought this would be an easy part. Pick a place you both want to go, book it, and voilà. Boy was I wrong.

Brian and I have both been though nearly every option in the Caribbean (or so it seems), but we have yet to even decide on a location. Not because we can't agree but because we've set the bar pretty high with our engagement spot in Jamaica. We are looking for something very similar to Jamaica, but since we've been there we'd like to think a bit out of the box and head somewhere else.

We are looking for an adult-only and an all-inclusive resort. We like spas, beaches, activities, relaxation, and luxury, but within reason of course. So far we think our best bets will be the Riviera Maya in Mexico or Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Antigua, Turks and Caicos, and St. Lucia are also options, but we still haven't decided. Hawaii is an option, but is not very high on the list. We are open to other suggestions. We've looked into Spain, the Greek Isles, Bora Bora, Tahiti... Some of these places are way out of our price range, but I'm just emphasizing that we are open to anything!

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

PS: I wasn't kidding that Maryland got nearly 3 feet of snow:


PPS: Wouldn't this be a great snow blower advert?!

Save The Date

Brian and I both had an idea of what we wanted our 'save the date' to look like pretty soon after we got engaged. In fact, we actually managed to complete them well before we needed to! Now that we've actually gotten them sent out, I thought it would be nice to post a picture of them. Believe it or not, once we had decided to do our save the dates this way, this was the first photo booth we went into, and our first take. (We had a couple practice ones the day before!) We made the signs that are in each photo and then photoshopped our information at the bottom of the photo. We then sent them off to be put on magnets, and voilà! We made our save the date!

Our last touch was our presentation. We put together a design with card stock of what we hope our wedding colors will be similar to and sent them off to our recipients. All in all, we were both pretty impressed! Here's our final product:

Rock the Microphone

Ok, I know we've veered off the wedding path for the last few blog posts but that doesn't mean we've not been working our tails off figuring things out. (Actually, it's been pretty low key. Nothing too exhausting.) So, now that we're back on to wedding stuff, I can officially announce that we have booked our DJ! Encore Entertainment will be delighting us with their presence at our reception, and once again, we are very happy with our decision. We have heard a lot of great things about Rob, our DJ, and are confident that he will be able to keep the flow of the night moving along smoothly.

Also, Picture the Love, our wedding photographers, has posted some of our engagement photos on their blog. You can view them by clicking here.

And last but certainly not least, speaking of photography, Brian had the awesome opportunity to attend the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, CA this past January 1st to photograph the Ohio State Buckeyes versus the Oregon Ducks game. With a field pass and roof access, he was able to capture some incredible shots. To view and / or purchase his prints click here.

With that, I suppose we ought to get cracking on more wedding planning. Our next objective is our florist.

Welcome Home, Jack!

The past four days have been filled with excitement from our new puppy, Jack. He came home with us on Friday night and has been such a good boy since then. He has the sweetest personality, but is a little bit shy when it comes to new people and new things. We are working on introducing him to the world! So far, Bun and Jack have gotten along quite well. Bun hasn't moved out, yet, so I think that's a great sign! There's potential for these two, I tell ya!

(Click on Jack to see more photos!)

The Name Game

(Welcome, 2010, but we've got more important things on our mind right now:)

Today is the day we bring home a friend
A puppy! You see, we’re expectin’.
And since the hour is upon us now,
We have got to think of a name somehow.
There’s Tum Tum and Fido and Lucky and Max.
There’s Buddy and Buster, we’ve even seen Jax.
There’s Fluffy and Stinky and Bacon and Ace
If we actually considered some of these, it would be a disgrace.
We’ve been through the lists; we’ve spoken to friends.
But what’s in a name? It all depends…
He was born on Halloween, and will be 10 weeks old.
And training him outside is going to be cold.
He’s silver in color and seems as sweet as ever.
We literally have 4 hours to think of something clever.
Speaking of time, we really can’t wait.
To pick up our puppy. It’s officially a date!
So we’ll continue to brainstorm, till we think of something cool.
Because in just a short while, we’ll be covered in drool.

Collards, Black-Eyed Peas & Hog Jowl

New Years Day is fast approaching, and according to folklore, collards, black-eyed peas and hog jowl, when served together, promise a year of good luck and wealth. Sounds like a great way to start the new year. Speaking of, that means in less than 14 hours we will be arriving in 2010, and in just over 8 months we will be attending our wedding! 2010, here we come! (We are still so excited!)

Our Christmas holiday was lovely. We saw family and friends, had lots of good food, and had lots of good fun enjoying each others company, playing games, and lounging by the fire. We also had a white Christmas which we haven't had in a long time. We tried to build a snowman but the snow was so powdery that we really couldn't form anything or pack it down so we left him to lie on the ground. All in all, it really was a beautiful holiday weekend. We really couldn't have asked for more.

Polar Express

It's Christmas Eve. Less than 24 hours til Christmas, and the holiday is well underway. With a festive 'ugly christmas sweater' party under our belts, we are in full holiday-go for the countdown to Christmas. Ironically, we ran into Santa last night fulfilling some last minute gift wishes in Columbus, OH.

Fortunately enough, Brian and I will be spending the holidays together! He is flying in to Maryland on Christmas and I am very excited that he will be able to join in all the fun!

With that, we are ready! Full steam ahead! Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight! (Santa asked me to pass that along last night...)

Due Amici

In Italian, due amici means 'two friends'. In Brian & Erin talk, due amici means 'we've got a rehearsal dinner site'! Both meanings fit the title well because not only have we really found a great rehearsal dinner site - Due Amici (had you any idea that it would be called that?!), but Brian and I both are two wonderful friends to each other. So, with 228 days til the wedding (227 til the rehearsal dinner) and 5 days til Christmas (4 til I fly home), we are still making headway with our wedding planning!

What's even better, folks, is Due Amici and The Venue at Smith Brothers have some very similar characteristics which Brian and I have both been drawn to. The exposed brick, the lovely lighting, the elegant atmosphere, and without really even trying I think we're kind of stumbling upon a 'theme'...almost. (I suppose it could just be a common atmosphere...)

Nevertheless, we are excited to have one more item checked off of our list of things to do. Still on that list are the DJ, the florist, the bridesmaid dresses, the groom and groomsmen attire, oh, and the honeymoon, among other things. With 2010 right around the corner, I think we are doing quite well with our planning.

On another note, as 2009 is wrapping up, we have decided to expand the family with the addition of a new puppy!

He will be arriving on January 8th or 9th, and along with our preparation of a new puppy - gathering of toys, putting away shoes, reading about puppies, thinking of names, purchasing a bed, rearranging for a kennel - we have also been preparing Bun for his new puppy friend. We've yet to determine Bun's reaction to the situation, time will only tell, but it's sure going to take some transitioning to get used to this one.

All in all, we are extremely excited for our puppy to be here. Even though we still don't have a name picked out, and we will be house training and walking our new puppy in the middle of winter, we are just ecstatic about his arrival, and are looking forward to introducing him to Bun and all of our other family members.

(And hopefully, just hopefully, we will later be able to add a new dynamic duo to the due amici list: Bun & Puppy. Either that, or the title of our next blog post will be Due Nemici - two enemies.)

Holiday Spirit

Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had a wonderful Columbus Thanksgiving this year. We celebrated with Brian’s Dad and family first, and then headed to his Mom’s a bit later. It was so nice to see everyone. We had some delicious food and were all around grateful for the day. We even got to see the first snow flurries of the year!

And speaking of holidays, we’ve decided to spend our Christmas holidays with our own families this year. We figured we’d deal with the swap thing next year when we actually have to! I’m looking forward to heading to Maryland and having a Christmas Eve sleepover. There’s no way to not be in the Christmas spirit then.

So, in lieu of us celebrating our holidays apart, we decided to put up our Christmas decorations so that we can fully enjoy them for the entire month of December. I’ll tell you what - it’s amazing how simple decorations can transform an everyday living space into the North Pole. Every time we turn on the Christmas lights I smile. It’s just so warm and cozy, and such a fun time of the year. Now, it really feels like Christmas!! Happy Holidays!