We set the date!

Leonard's of Great Neck, July 3rd, 2011!


We're so excited!

Crunch Time

It's not that we are approaching any significant date, but it seems like every time I log onto my Facebook newsfeed, I see that another couple has become engaged. While I'm very happy for them, I am getting really stressed out about booking a venue! We have a date we love. And a few catering halls that we really like. And our goal is to pick one this week.

Chateau Briand: It seems that the staff here does not know how to return a phone call, and the food entrees did not have much flavor when we last attended an event here. The place is gorgeous, and I love the outdoor facilities for the ceremony. But, regardless of how much I love it, it makes me nervous that they don't return my calls!

Swan Club: This place is BEAUTIFUL! It's right off the Long Island Sound, on the water, and the back of the catering hall has gorgeous gardens. There are paths that wind all around. The ceremony would be inside but in a room with windows as walls. The cocktail hour would be in a room with vines hanging from the ceiling, and the reception would be the one big party at the Swan Club that evening, and we'd have a huge room that overlooks the water. Downsides are that it's really difficult to get to and very low key.

Leonard's of Great Neck: This place is huge and ritzy! There are tons of rooms, which means there will probably be multiple parties that day, but the place is just humongous and beautiful. There are chandeliers all over the place, tons of photo ops on their winding staircase, and an option of an outdoor ceremony (or an indoor chapel). The reviews rave about the amazing food (BOTH the cocktail hour and entree are supposed to be amazing, where most places show their best work on just the cocktail hour foods).

Basically, we're leaning towards Leonard's of Great Neck. It looks so extravagant, and the bridal reviews are just amazing. And they wrote down our date without a deposit, so they'll call us if anyone else is interested in that time. They gave us the exactly ceremony and party time that we want, which is a 5:00 ceremony and 5:30-10:30 party. I really want an elegant evening party, so that really works for us. I know Neal wants the big catering hall feel-like-a-King thing, which he should have on our wedding day.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays, I'll keep you posted in 2010, Happy New Year!

Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell

Oh my goodness we have been busy!

Engagement/Wedding Updates:

Engagement Party:
It was so nice to see everyone and have a delicious meal and spend an evening out in the warm summer air, which I am desperately missing today in the middle of what feels like a monsoon.
Please check out this link to find photos from the party (thanks to my future farther-in-law, David!):
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcsmjFk1bNWM

Dresses:
I've been shopping a little bit, but we definitely have a good amount of time so I'm trying not to fall in love with anything yet. At this point I know what I like and generally what I'm looking for. I want something really unique and artistic, probably a mermaid or trumpet style and definitely strapless. I tried on some weddings gowns with Jackie, since she is shopping for her wedding which is this coming July. I hope to have something picked out around this time next year, so I'm just looking until then.

Catering Halls:
We decided that Chateau Briand is our top choice at this point. We haven't had any time to go in and book a date, and we're a little hesitant because they will not provide us with a tasting. Considering we've already had a tasting at two other places, this is very out of the ordinary. I know a bunch of people who have been married there though, and everyone says that the food is great. I just love the scenery and architecture there and Neal loves the party room.
Check it out at http://www.chateaubriandcaterers.com/long-island-weddings/


Our Lives:
In other news, as you can probably gage from our lack of blog updates, we've been ridiculously busy. I've been at school nonstop for homecoming and other class adviser responsibilities, and working at home on lesson plans and the two graduate classes I'm taking through NYIT for my Masters in Instructional Technology. Neal has been taking classes at Queens College, completing field work hours in a Jackson Heights middle school, and working full time. He now spends six days a week instead of five. In the Spring he'll be student teaching in a high school in Flushing right near Queens College. We've also been busy with other things such as celebrating my birthday and hunting for rocks and minerals (a great birthday adventure). Also my sister, Amanda, stayed with us for a few weeks in September, so it was nice spending time with her.

I've also been busy trying out new recipes. I'm working on my cooking skills to keep my future hubby happy! Really though, I'm proud of my chef skills. Last weekend we had my parents over for spinach and feta cheese stuffed flounder fillets. This weekend we're going OUT with Neal's parents for Indian food, I'm so excited!


That's our lives! Really busy, and thankfully we have some time before the wedding. Excited that the holidays are coming up, can't wait to have a break from school. Hopefully I'll have time to post again soon. Take care everyone, and stay warm!

Peace, Love, and Family

The apartment is finally set up! My posessions are moved in and I am officially living there. Neal's furniture is there and he will be moving in this weekend. Our parents were nice enough to start us off with some beatiful, comfortable furniture. Neal's parents bought us an amazing pillow top mattress and my parent's bought us a couch. These are very similar to ours:


This weekend we had our first dinner party. Neal's parents, my parents, and my grandparents all came over for appetizers, dinner, and drinks. It was so nice to be able to host for everyone (and wow, it's a lot of work!). I put together a bunch of appetizers including my specialty- spinach dip in a bread bowl. There was acutally room for all of us in the apartment, I'm so glad we all fit. Can't wait to have more parties!

Engagement party plans are moving along. We sent out invitations to family and are waiting for some RSVPs to decide what time we will invite our friends. RSVPs are due on Friday so we'll see. My parents booked a tent and Neal and I will be ordering the food soon.

So the apartment is set up and we are getting situated, we even have Franklin Square library cards now. My grandparents and Aunt Marcy gave us our engagement gifts early to start us off, so now we can actually cook with our new pots, pans, and toaster oven! One of our last purchases for the apartment is this beautiful mezuzzah. It's perfect for us and I can't wait to hang it:

More updates soon!

Summer Lovin'

BIG news: Neal got a transfer down to Long Island! He starts at his new branch, about two minutes from our apartment in Franklin Square, on June 15th.

It's almost summer, and we're ready for a hectic couple of months. Neal and I will both be busy adjusting to work and taking classes. We'll also be moving and planning an engagement party.

This weekend we started the move. We moved a bunch of my stuff into the apartment, and we got a brand new 42" 1080p HD LCD flat screen tv! Our parents gave us some awesome gifts - Neal's parents bought us a queen sized pillow top mattress, and my parents are going to buy us our dual recliner microfiber couch. So exciting!!

On Saturday, I started sending out engagement announcements/party invitations. The first batch went out to family. It took me about nine drafts to finally get the perfect invitations but I designed them myself on photoshop. I'd post an image here but there's too much personal info on it. For our party, we decided to have "two sittings" so that we can fit everyone in our backyard. Basically, we are going to have our family and older. My parents are renting a 20ftx30ft tent for the party with 60 chairs, 6 tables, and it also comes with lights so we can party all night or as long as we can last.

Now I must take a couple minutes to relax before bed, I'm still beat from packing, unpacking, and organizing so much of my stuff. Nightynight!

Apartmento

We found an apartment! It is untraditional for us to live together before marriage, but this commute is really tough! We're going to be moving into a great one bedroom apartment in Franklin Square sometime during June. Neal's working on a transfer down to Long Island, and he starts Queens College the last week in June, when I start camp.

Below is a scaled blueprint (1 box = 1 ft.) of our apartment that Neal and I made last night on Paint (click on the picture to see the full image, the bedroom appears cut off below!):

We also made our first craigslist.com purchase! We traveled to Fresh Meadows, about 20 minutes away, in Queens, and a nice young family sold us a great table for our apartment:



In wedding news, today we took a few engagement photos and are getting ready to send out Engagement Party invitations. Look for those soon, coming to a mailbox near you!

We Like to Party!

The summer is sneaking up on us and we are so excited to celebrate. We have started planning our engagement party for this July. I'm working on the invitation to our party instead of doing school work - messing around on Paint Shop Pro is much more fun. We are trying to be creative about these things.

We have narrowed our venue search down a bit. We've looked at a bunch of catering halls and have even narrowed those down to a few that we like. We have a favorite right now, we'll see what happens as it gets closer. We still have so much time that it seems almost unreasonable to book right now. We are not tied to a specific date so we are in no rush to book.

I have also started looking at dresses online, mostly at David's Bridal. I'm partial to them because of their reasonable prices. They also have a great petite selection and a fabulous website where brides post under the dress they chose, and most of them also add pictures. It helps to see real people in the dresses rather than just stick thin, tall models.

In other news, Neal and I are both starting grad school in the latter part of this year. Neal will be starting CUNY Queens as a part of their education program, studying to be a Math teacher, and I'll be working on my MAT in Instructional Technology at NYIT.

Between our jobs, school, and wedding plans, we have our work cut out for us over the next two years- what an exciting time for us! Expect your engagement invites soon!

Preliminary Searches.. Summer 2011, here we come!

In order to choose a venue, we need a number. So this past weekend we made lists and did the math, and our numbers are ridiculously high. Our number one priority is to have all of the important people in our families/lives there. Now all we need to do is find the perfect venue.

As I see it, there are a few (but really many) options.

1. Combo: Hotel/Banquet Hall
2. Combo: Temple/Banquet Hall
3. Catering Hall
4. Dinner Cruise

Combo: Hotel/Banquet Hall:
We really like this idea because it's almost like an all weekend hotel party! I'd much rather see my family and friends for an entire weekend than a five hour event. It would be beneficial to have everyone in one place for the weekend. They even have fabulous deals that include all of the entertainment, floral arrangements, etc. I called some wiser family members who mentioned the unnecessary cost of hotel rooms for out-of-towner-s who have relatives to stay with in the area. I'm not sure how many of my family members would go for that. It's still under consideration because I'm pretty much in love with the hypothetic idea.

Combo: Temple/Banquet Hall:
This option still stands. Temple Tikvah, formally known as Temple Emanuel, does have the catering facilities and can be a pretty venue, but it's somewhat dark, and possibly a little squished considering our massive guest list- not really ideal for the light summer wedding we want. The Temple/Banquet Hall idea is one that needs more research and exploration.

Catering Hall:
The typical wedding option. A catering hall might be the best bet because it is typical. It will be easier to book DJs that they normally work with, florists who know their set up, etc. They also all have specialists that assist with the planning. They are used to cooking for large amounts of people, and tend to have a nicer menu. And many catering halls are a decent distance from motel/hotel/inns.

Dinner Cruise:
This could be an elegant and memorable choice. We really like the idea because it has so much potential, and it is the most unique option. It would also probably be the most expensive and shortest party. Just another idea.


Till next time...

Our Engagement Weekend!

This was an awesome weekend!! It started with a very fancy dinner at Mighty Joe Youngs, and a really romantic proposal. Neal got down on one knee and everything. It was amazing!

Pictures:

Isn't it beautiful?! :-)