Revisions to the Last Post

Well, my mom informed me of a few errors in my last post. Firstly, the suites run for $169 (I accidentally posted $159 in the last email). Secondly, the hospitality suite is not just for the night of the wedding. It will be available for the entire week (Wed - Sat) and stocked with drinks, snacks, etc.

Tasting

There actually isn't too much to say about the tasting- it was good, although there wasn't as much decor as I had anticipated. I was hoping to see more floral arrangements so I could decide if I'm going to use their in-house florist. At this point, I'm leaning toward no... We made some lodging decisions while we were there. There is the main hotel, with the standard rooms and there are also these "houses" outside of the main hotel, which house the suites. So, we reserved the entire "Carriage House", for the bridal party and parents of the bride/groom. So- when making your reservations, you will call Paul Junas (215)616-8506 directly and let him know which room # you will be reserving. We have a rough draft of which room will work best for whom, and will let you know your room #'s prior to booking. That way, we can all be in the same "house". The reason we're going to assign room #'s is because one room is going to be a hospitality room so everyone can have a place to hang out and get food/drinks/snacks/etc. after the wedding is over. Also, this room will be connected to my parents room, so we really had to map out who would be in what room to make sure that all of these plans fell into place. We got the suite rates knocked down to $159/nt (was $189/nt), so that's a nice bonus too! I'm going to post some pics of the rooms- although the quality is lacking on some because I took a few of them on my phone.

This isn't the Carriage House, but it is a picture of one of the "houses" where all the suites are located. This pic was actually taken to show that there's a nice little grassy area right outside our house if we ever wanted to hang out outside.

Bathroom in one of the downstairs rooms

I think this is the room we are planning to use as the hospitality room for those that want to hang out after the wedding:

Each room has a fridge and microwave:


Some of the upstairs rooms have the original beams exposed:


Although there aren't really any common areas in these houses, there is a cute little sitting area outside of the two rooms on the second floor:

Invitations and Tasting @ Normandy

After receiving quite a few invitation samples in the mail, I realized that I was just going to have to make them myself. I was having a hard time finding the exact colors and I wasn't really falling in love with anything I had seen. I know I said I wouldn't do this, but I'm hoping that if I start early enough, it won't be that big of a chore and I can stretch it out over a few months. I tried to keep them pretty simple to minimize the work involved. Here's what they're going to look like (aside from a few edits):

One of the edits I'm going to make is to take out my dad's middle initial- it looks weird. Also, there seems to be a big stink about when the "evening" begins. Technically, it looks like it is 6pm, although- I've found many sources that say that it's not uncommon these days for 5pm to be considered "evening" on an invite. Who knows... does anyone have an opinion on this? I really don't feel like changing it, but if it's really that big of a deal, I guess I could.

I'm getting really excited for the tasting at Normandy this weekend. We'll get to try lots of food and drinks and I think they show us some options for decorations as well. We're going up to my parents on Saturday night and then me, Scott, my mom, and my dad are all going together on Sunday. I'll definitely post about it when we get back.

Wedding Prep

I've been trying to take care of some things that I probably won't feel like doing as it gets closer to the wedding. I ordered personalized napkins and ribbon that just came in and here are the pictures. I really like the napkins:
I also started working on the covers for the program, and here is the start of one that still needs a lot of work:
I've also started constructing an out of town booklet to put in the welcome bags at the hotel. This weekend I did the cover and the first two pages:

Bridesmaid Dresses

Not sure whether I'm going to go with short or long, but I'm leaning toward short. There were a few long ones that I liked that were really lightweight, so I'm going to post some pictures of them first.

Bill Levikoff - Style 520


Saison Blanche - Style 2124 - I realize this dress may not be realistic for a bridesmaid dress, but I had to add it because I thought it was so pretty
Jim Hjelm - Style AV9772
After Six - Style 6592After Six - Style 6589After Six - 6537After Six - 6220

Cute Online Shops & Other Stuff

Some online shops I've come across that carry cute items for potential wedding decor, stationary, etc. (I'm really just posting them here so I don't forgot about them)

• Red Stamp - cute stationary
• Blume Box - wedding decor
• MyGatsby - more stationary
• Paper Persuasions -
• The Flower Shop @ Zazzle
• Print Your Party @ Etsy -
  
• The Container Store -

Also, I got to try on my dress again today :)
I had to go in to get additional measurements for the length of the dress. They needed to know what kind of shoes I would be wearing and I've decided to go with flats. That way I don't have to worry about tripping, sinking into the grass, or being too tall. I saw these from Dessy and thought they looked cute & comfy. I'm a little worried about the heel though- it looks like it might be a little too wide for my abnormally narrow heel. I guess I won't know for sure until I try them on.

Since they won't be visible- and to make them a little more personal, I'm also considering pink or charcoal grey.


I looked at lots of bridesmaid dresses today too. I wrote down designers & styles I liked at the bridal boutique and I plan to search for them online and post pictures. Hopefully I'll be motivated to do that sooner rather than later!

Future Mrs. Cassity

Saw this tank top on The Knot and I had to have it. The letters are actually black, even though they look maroon in this picture. I'm wearing it right now :)