Well this past weekend was super busy and rather productive surprisingly. Kyle and I drove up from Connecticut to Rochester to go to the 585Wedding.com Bridal Expo at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center. We were very excited to go and find more vendors. But honestly the expo was a huge disappoint. We had been to one bridal show before at the Woodcliff Spa and Resort in Victor, NY but it was our first time going to anything like that and it was incredibly overwhelming.
Let me paint a picture for you. Imagine a large room filled to the brim with women. Scatter a few guys through the crowd, but really it is just brides, mostly ranging in age from 20 to 40, with all their bridesmaids and mothers. And everyone is trying to talk to the 50 vendors there to get the best deals and learn all the necessary information. It is loud, crowded, and just crazy. So for Kyle and I the Woodcliff bridal show was too overwhelming. We were unprepared for what it was.
But this time I was ready. I had a clip board (so that I didn't have to bend over to fill out all the forms - and there are a lot of forms. All vendors want your contact information). I had a pen (super important for all those forms I just mentioned). I had a backpack (so that I had somewhere to put all the papers and business cards that I collected). And finally I had my tablet there with me with a list of all the questions I wanted to ask all the different vendors. I was ready for this bridal show. But even after all the hype it was given, the show was a let down. It was smaller than the first one we had gone to and not all the vendors on their "participating vendors" list were even there. This was frustrating because there were two photographers that I wanted to compare to the one at the top of my list and they weren't there. Because of that I will probably be going with my original choice which is too bad for the other two
The reason it was so small was because more than half of the room was taken up the "fashion show." For the fashion show two wedding dress designers showed off their dresses and two tuxedo rental companies showed off their tuxes. To me I felt like it was a waste of time. I can look at all of that online and had.
But the show was not a complete waste. I was able to meet the photographer that I am leaning towards and ask him some new questions that I hadn't had the chance to ask him yet. Kyle and I were also able to score a killer deal on Tuxedos. By signing up that day each of our groomsmen will only spend one hundred dollars total on: their tux, their shoes, their shirt, their vest, and their tie. Which is a great deal. We can also include both of our fathers in that deal. And to top it all off: Kyle gets his tux for free. It was a spur of the moment decision but the price was just too good to pass up. Especially considering we only had to put twenty dollars down right then!
Other than the show, we were able to accomplish other things. I asked my maid of honor and matron of honor to stand with me (they both said yes!). And Kyle asked my brother to be one of his groomsmen.
We also asked our officiant: Marc. Marc is a close family friend of my family and we couldn't be more excited. Marc is signed up online to be an officiant in the state of New York. He was the officiant for my brother's wedding as well. Kyle and I are not very religious so having a friend marry us means a lot.
While home I was also able to see some decorations my mother had bought. She bought 20 black medium sized lanterns to be the focal point of the centerpiece. The lanterns all have fake candles inside (since we can't have open flames anywhere on the property - which is a good idea considering the entire venue is made from wood). She also bought two large plastic copper distressed urns with fake flowers in them, thinking they could sit upfront by us during the ceremony. I'm not sure yet what she spent on them but I will make sure I let you know.
Keeping you posted,
Casey
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
360 Days
Well, the weekend was not very productive in terms of wedding things. Don't get me wrong. I did do something. We sat down with Kyle's parents and asked who they would like to have at the wedding and then we jotted down their names and addresses into TheKnot.com's wedding guest list program. TheKnot's program is very helpful, at least what I've done with it so far. You can enter in a person's name, their spouse, their children, their street address, their phone number, their email address, and their relation to you or the groom. You can then further use that least to keep track of who you've sent invites to, who has responded, and who is eating what at the wedding. But for the most part we just enjoyed the nice weather on Sunday and cozied up in front of the TV on Saturday while it rained.
I did want to use this post to explain my 365 day wedding exercise/diet routine. Now, I'm not necessarily new to dieting or exercise. I've done WeightWatchers before. I've been to the gym before. I know what needs to be done. I'm just not good at sticking with an exercise or diet plan for the long haul. Things always seem to get in the way like holidays where you just have to stuff your face with all the delicious food in front of you. But I'm hoping that this time works out better. This time I have a clear goal, not one that is just made up in my head. I have 365 days and that's it. I'm not looking to be the next heavyweight champion. I just want to be healthy, to be in the average/healthy section of the chart for my age and height.
I tried to figure out the best way to tell you guys about my goal and my weight without actually giving away too much information but honesty is the best and easiest policy. So I weighed myself yesterday and I am 176 lbs. As a 5 foot 7 inch tall girl in her 20s I should be between 118 – 159 lbs. Therefore I have made my ideal weight goal to be 150 lbs by October 10th, 2015. 26 lbs in 365 days which is 1/2 lbs every week.
I want to lose weight but I don't want to make myself miserable doing it. I will diet but I am not going eliminate every bad thing from my life. I love Fritos and I love diet soda. I can't eliminate those. I will eat/drink less but they are like my beer at the end of the day. They relax me.
Casey's 8 Diet Rules:
1. Drink more water
2. Don't drink your calories
3. Avoid unnecessary carbs
4. Don't add cheese
5. Only dark chocolate
6. More fruits and vegetables
7. Only eat out of bowls or plates, never the bag
8. Don't feel guilty about a bad day
For my exercise portion I am keeping it decently simple to start. As I mentioned before I have been to the gym before. I have an idea of what needs to be done. That is why I am going to do an even amount of cardio and weigh lifting. Yes, weight lifting. One big misconception is that lifting weights is only for people that want big bulky muscles. That's not true. Lifting weights does build muscle. But Increasing muscle is important, because it also increases your metabolism, which means that you burn more calories in a day. Now the first 3 to 4 weeks of exercising are the worst. You're sore. You're crabby. It is just not any fun. But after those 4 weeks your exercising starts to create endorphins and endorphins make you happy. Exercising will make you happy.
Because your body needs time to recover I will be rotating my cardio and my weight lifting each day. At this point I can not run a mile straight but if I push myself I can run/walk 2 miles within thirty minutes before I truly hate what I'm doing. Therefore every other day I will use the treadmill for 30 minutes. At this point I don't care if I walk or run, only that I push myself to do my best and actually move for all 30 minutes. That is a good enough goal for now.
Now this is all in my house type exercising. I don't have any fancy machinery besides a treadmill. All of my weight lifting exercises use only two 8 lbs hand weights.
For the weight lifting I have outlined my routine below. It consists of 3 sections: 1. Arms 2. Legs 3. Abs
For each move in each section I do 10 reps. Once I complete the whole routine I repeat as many times as I can within an episode of Criminal Minds on Netflix. I usually get through three or four. The naming of each move is not official. I am not a trainer. I don't know all the technical terms. This is just what I call them.
Arms:
1. Shoulder Press
2. Shoulder Fly
3. Front Arm Raise
4. Bicep Curls
5. One Arm Kickbacks
Legs/Glutes:
1. Squats
2. High Knees
3. Standing Side leg lift
4. Standing Back leg lift
5. Kneeling leg raise
6. Kneeling leg curl
7. Side leg lift
Abs:
1. Sit Ups
2. Crunches
3. Flutter kicks
4. Hip Up
5. Hip Up + Leg raise
6. Arm Dips
Over time I am hoping to increase the number of reps and the weights that I use but that will take time. I will be sure to keep you guys posted on any updates and weight loss. If only you could just wish the weight away!
Feel free to message me with any questions or tips. I'd love to hear them.
Only 361 days to go!
Casey
*Disclaimer - I do not own these images. These were taken from Google.com/images
Friday, October 10, 2014
365 Days
Hello everyone! My name is Casey and I am going to be getting married in
exactly 365 days. Yes, that is right. Our big is going to be October
10, 2015. And I can't wait. Honestly I have no holds or questions
that is the right thing. I know it is. We have already been engaged
for one year and it feels as though that year FLEW by. Looking back,
I'm thinking I should have done a bit more planning in that year,
rather than waiting until now. Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20.
I am creating this blog to share with everyone what the process is like and what you need to do to plan a wedding. I am going to share all of the wonderful experiences as well as the problems that will naturally arise and make me want to pull my hair out.
But before we go any further let me tell you about me and my fiance. Kyle and I met the third week into our freshman year of college back in 2009. I was friends with some of the girls in his dorm. We were hanging out in one of their rooms when he stopped in to say hi. He heard me playing music on my laptop by one of his favorite bands and had to come over and say hi. Next thing we knew he was sitting on the ground next to me as we scrolled through my iTunes library comparing musical taste. After that we couldn't stay away from each other. I brought him mountain dews (his favorite soda) when I came over to the dorm and soon he started hanging out with us more and more each day. Then we were always sitting next to each other. Finally he asked me out at 5:26 in the morning in the dorm's laundry room...It is incredibly difficult to find some private space in a dorm building. After four years of happing dating we graduated from college together, him with a degree in 3D art and me with a degree in Graphic Design. After spending the summer mostly apart, I moved into his family's home in Connecticut. That Fall when we went back to the visit the school on the weekend of our four year anniversary he proposed. And now here we are almost exactly one year later, with exactly a year until our big day. Just 365 days to do what feels impossible: plan a wedding.
The amount of...things...that have to be done to plan a wedding is just ridiculous. I know you can hire a wedding planner to do everything but let's be honest. You are spending THOUSANDS of dollars already. Why spend any more than is absolutely necessary? I'm a fairly capable and organized person. I know I can do this if I real put my mind to it. Besides I have a wonderful fiance who is completely willing to help as well as fabulously helpful parents who volunteer for anything that needs doing. So we have decided no wedding planner. We can do this ourselves.
In the first year of our engagement we have figured out our:
1. Date: October 10, 2015 (Columbus Day weekend)
2. Reception/Ceremony Venue: The Twin Silos in Livonia, NY
3. Estimated guest number: 120
4. Color scheme: fall colors (red, orange, yellow, brown)
5. Style: rustic elegance...but NOT COUNTRY (people don't seem to get that one)
6. Hotel for out of town guest: Hampton Inn, Geneseo, NY
7. Caterer: Partyman Caterer in Avon, NY
The style and colors were easy. I am going to be honest here. I already had a wedding “board” on Pinterest for the past billion years. I'm a girl. I have thought about my perfect wedding for years. So colors and style were already picked out in my head. I just needed Kyle to approve and he did without any argument. Now I'd like to point out something on that topic. When we started this process I told Kyle that I really wanted him involved in this process. I don't want this to be MY wedding. I want it to be OUR wedding. I don't want to be that Bridezilla that makes all the decisions with the groom just saying “yes, dear” to whatever she says. Kyle agreed and said that if he had an opinion he would voice it but if he said he didn't care then I have to believe that he truly doesn't care and that I can do whatever I want. I felt it was very important that we had that discussion. It kind of sets the tone for our future together. This is a partnership, not a dictatorship.
Picking the date was relatively easy. We knew we wanted October, since our anniversary was October 4th. Problem was that the 4th in 2015 is a Sunday and most of our guests will be from out of town so that was not going to work. So originally we were shooting for the 3rd. His family is from Connecticut, mine from New York, and most of our friends scattered through New England. So no matter where we picked a lot of people were going to have to travel. Since my parents are helping us with the wedding costs we took the traditional approach and looked around my hometown. We knew we wanted something that felt rustic with a lot of trees, since it would be fall and we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful fall foliage. Because of the trees we ended up looking at A LOT of golf courses:
1. Shadow Lake – Penfield, NY - http://www.rochestergolfcourses.com/plan-an-event
2. Blue Heron Hills Golf Club – Ganada, NY - http://www.blueheronhillsgc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=30
3. Ravenwood Golf Course – Victor, NY – http://www.ravenwoodgolf.com/event-facilities
But the problem was that they all felt like a golf course club house inside. I don't know if that makes sense to you. But to us it just felt too boring inside. There wasn't enough life. Shadow Lake was at the top of the list but it just didn't wow us. The grounds were beautiful and the bar was really cool but we worried people would get stuck there and not dance. Blue Heron Hills was also beautiful, with a built in dance floor and nice big bar, but the room was an odd shape. Ravenwood just felt too boring and probably too small for our party.
Other places we looked were:
4. Hickory Ridge RV Resort – Holley, NY
http://www.hickoryridgegolfresort.com/weddings
Pros: beautiful, big, rustic feeling room with a large stone fireplace. Big wooden beams in ceiling. Beautiful golf course grounds
Cons: Too small. Too far away for all guests
5. Timberlodge at Arrowhead Golf Club – Akron, NY
http://www.arrowheadgcwny.com/timberlodge/
Pros: perfect rustic feel. Wood everywhere. Beautiful outdoor stone patio.
Cons: no place to change and get ready there. Outside of building was just so ugly. Rvs parked too close to the building. Far away from hotels and all guests
6. The Lodge at Welch Allyn – Syracuse, NY
http://thelodge.welchallyn.com/
Pros: BEAUTIFUL, huge, rustic, wedding planner
Cons: SUPER EXPENSIVE...like give them your first child expensive
In the end Kyle and I were leaning towards Hickory Ridge because it was the closest to the vision we had in our heads of what we wanted. But then my aunt asked if I had looked at any of the barn venues in Avon. We had briefly looked at the Avon Century Barn but it was booked for like the next ten years so we dismissed that idea very quickly. But she mentioned that there was a man converting his dairy barn all by himself to be an event venue. So we went to have a look in the Spring of 2014. That was the first time we saw The Twin Silos. It was still under serious construction. The floor had just been put in. The bathrooms didn't exist yet. There was no porch, just a mud pit. There were no lights. Nothing. But is was PERFECT. We could see his vision and it was exactly what we wanted. We talked it over that night and signed the contract the next day.
The Twin Silos at this point has been completed and held multiple weddings. It is a large open room with a side attachment kitchen for caterers. There is a coat room, a LARGE porch down the side of the building, and finally two bathrooms located inside of the SILOS. Yes, inside the silos. As you sit on the toilet you can look up and see all the way up into the silos. Be careful not to fart though...the echo will be ridiculous! There is also an extra, normal bathroom for the bride so that she can easier manage her large dress. For the most part around the barn it is farm land. But the best part of this venue is the amount of time you have for your wedding. We have the venue from Thursday to Sunday! We have days to decorate and an extra day to clean up, which is just the best! But we had to pick a different weekend than what we originally planned but in the end it worked out for the best. It is Columbus Day weekend so all of our out of town guests will have an extra day for travel.
And we weren't the only ones to the see the potential of the Twin Silos.
Since we booked he has the barn booked solidly every weekend through
2015 and has already upped his price another $1,000. I am very happy
for the owners: Donna & Steve. They are honestly just the nicest
people and it is incredible that he did almost all of the renovation
by himself. You can check out their website here: http://www.thetwinsilos.com/home.html
Finally we had to pick our caterer. This was actually very easy. Everyone is the Livonia/Avon area recommended Partyman Caterer, including a few of my relatives. So we went to check them out. Amanda was very helpful with answering our questions and showing us what they had to offer. They will be in charge of food, chairs, tables, and linens. We looked over the menu and the looked at pictures of the food on Facebook, as well as reading tons of reviews on WeddingWire. There was nothing but super positive reviews. Everyone loved them. We also found out between now and our wedding they will be catering many weddings at the Twin Silos. This will be helpful because they will have time to figure out what works best for table layouts in the space and how to serve smoothly and efficiently there. We haven’t tried to the food yet but the reviews were nothing but great so to us booking them was a no brainer.
So that's where we stand now. We have a bridal show in Rochester in couple weekends so hopefully we'll find some good stuff there. We still need a DJ, a florist, a baker, a photo booth, a dress, a wedding party, stationery, and much more. I probably will not post every day but when something happens you can be sure that I will be here to let you know. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. I've had people helping me through all of this so if I can help someone else it would be my pleasure.
Talk to you soon!
Casey
I am creating this blog to share with everyone what the process is like and what you need to do to plan a wedding. I am going to share all of the wonderful experiences as well as the problems that will naturally arise and make me want to pull my hair out.
But before we go any further let me tell you about me and my fiance. Kyle and I met the third week into our freshman year of college back in 2009. I was friends with some of the girls in his dorm. We were hanging out in one of their rooms when he stopped in to say hi. He heard me playing music on my laptop by one of his favorite bands and had to come over and say hi. Next thing we knew he was sitting on the ground next to me as we scrolled through my iTunes library comparing musical taste. After that we couldn't stay away from each other. I brought him mountain dews (his favorite soda) when I came over to the dorm and soon he started hanging out with us more and more each day. Then we were always sitting next to each other. Finally he asked me out at 5:26 in the morning in the dorm's laundry room...It is incredibly difficult to find some private space in a dorm building. After four years of happing dating we graduated from college together, him with a degree in 3D art and me with a degree in Graphic Design. After spending the summer mostly apart, I moved into his family's home in Connecticut. That Fall when we went back to the visit the school on the weekend of our four year anniversary he proposed. And now here we are almost exactly one year later, with exactly a year until our big day. Just 365 days to do what feels impossible: plan a wedding.
The amount of...things...that have to be done to plan a wedding is just ridiculous. I know you can hire a wedding planner to do everything but let's be honest. You are spending THOUSANDS of dollars already. Why spend any more than is absolutely necessary? I'm a fairly capable and organized person. I know I can do this if I real put my mind to it. Besides I have a wonderful fiance who is completely willing to help as well as fabulously helpful parents who volunteer for anything that needs doing. So we have decided no wedding planner. We can do this ourselves.
In the first year of our engagement we have figured out our:
1. Date: October 10, 2015 (Columbus Day weekend)
2. Reception/Ceremony Venue: The Twin Silos in Livonia, NY
3. Estimated guest number: 120
4. Color scheme: fall colors (red, orange, yellow, brown)
5. Style: rustic elegance...but NOT COUNTRY (people don't seem to get that one)
6. Hotel for out of town guest: Hampton Inn, Geneseo, NY
7. Caterer: Partyman Caterer in Avon, NY
The style and colors were easy. I am going to be honest here. I already had a wedding “board” on Pinterest for the past billion years. I'm a girl. I have thought about my perfect wedding for years. So colors and style were already picked out in my head. I just needed Kyle to approve and he did without any argument. Now I'd like to point out something on that topic. When we started this process I told Kyle that I really wanted him involved in this process. I don't want this to be MY wedding. I want it to be OUR wedding. I don't want to be that Bridezilla that makes all the decisions with the groom just saying “yes, dear” to whatever she says. Kyle agreed and said that if he had an opinion he would voice it but if he said he didn't care then I have to believe that he truly doesn't care and that I can do whatever I want. I felt it was very important that we had that discussion. It kind of sets the tone for our future together. This is a partnership, not a dictatorship.
Picking the date was relatively easy. We knew we wanted October, since our anniversary was October 4th. Problem was that the 4th in 2015 is a Sunday and most of our guests will be from out of town so that was not going to work. So originally we were shooting for the 3rd. His family is from Connecticut, mine from New York, and most of our friends scattered through New England. So no matter where we picked a lot of people were going to have to travel. Since my parents are helping us with the wedding costs we took the traditional approach and looked around my hometown. We knew we wanted something that felt rustic with a lot of trees, since it would be fall and we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful fall foliage. Because of the trees we ended up looking at A LOT of golf courses:
1. Shadow Lake – Penfield, NY - http://www.rochestergolfcourses.com/plan-an-event
2. Blue Heron Hills Golf Club – Ganada, NY - http://www.blueheronhillsgc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=30
3. Ravenwood Golf Course – Victor, NY – http://www.ravenwoodgolf.com/event-facilities
But the problem was that they all felt like a golf course club house inside. I don't know if that makes sense to you. But to us it just felt too boring inside. There wasn't enough life. Shadow Lake was at the top of the list but it just didn't wow us. The grounds were beautiful and the bar was really cool but we worried people would get stuck there and not dance. Blue Heron Hills was also beautiful, with a built in dance floor and nice big bar, but the room was an odd shape. Ravenwood just felt too boring and probably too small for our party.
Other places we looked were:
4. Hickory Ridge RV Resort – Holley, NY
http://www.hickoryridgegolfresort.com/weddings
Pros: beautiful, big, rustic feeling room with a large stone fireplace. Big wooden beams in ceiling. Beautiful golf course grounds
Cons: Too small. Too far away for all guests
5. Timberlodge at Arrowhead Golf Club – Akron, NY
http://www.arrowheadgcwny.com/timberlodge/
Pros: perfect rustic feel. Wood everywhere. Beautiful outdoor stone patio.
Cons: no place to change and get ready there. Outside of building was just so ugly. Rvs parked too close to the building. Far away from hotels and all guests
6. The Lodge at Welch Allyn – Syracuse, NY
http://thelodge.welchallyn.com/
Pros: BEAUTIFUL, huge, rustic, wedding planner
Cons: SUPER EXPENSIVE...like give them your first child expensive
In the end Kyle and I were leaning towards Hickory Ridge because it was the closest to the vision we had in our heads of what we wanted. But then my aunt asked if I had looked at any of the barn venues in Avon. We had briefly looked at the Avon Century Barn but it was booked for like the next ten years so we dismissed that idea very quickly. But she mentioned that there was a man converting his dairy barn all by himself to be an event venue. So we went to have a look in the Spring of 2014. That was the first time we saw The Twin Silos. It was still under serious construction. The floor had just been put in. The bathrooms didn't exist yet. There was no porch, just a mud pit. There were no lights. Nothing. But is was PERFECT. We could see his vision and it was exactly what we wanted. We talked it over that night and signed the contract the next day.
The Twin Silos at this point has been completed and held multiple weddings. It is a large open room with a side attachment kitchen for caterers. There is a coat room, a LARGE porch down the side of the building, and finally two bathrooms located inside of the SILOS. Yes, inside the silos. As you sit on the toilet you can look up and see all the way up into the silos. Be careful not to fart though...the echo will be ridiculous! There is also an extra, normal bathroom for the bride so that she can easier manage her large dress. For the most part around the barn it is farm land. But the best part of this venue is the amount of time you have for your wedding. We have the venue from Thursday to Sunday! We have days to decorate and an extra day to clean up, which is just the best! But we had to pick a different weekend than what we originally planned but in the end it worked out for the best. It is Columbus Day weekend so all of our out of town guests will have an extra day for travel.
And we weren't the only ones to the see the potential of the Twin Silos.
Since we booked he has the barn booked solidly every weekend through
2015 and has already upped his price another $1,000. I am very happy
for the owners: Donna & Steve. They are honestly just the nicest
people and it is incredible that he did almost all of the renovation
by himself. You can check out their website here: http://www.thetwinsilos.com/home.html
Finally we had to pick our caterer. This was actually very easy. Everyone is the Livonia/Avon area recommended Partyman Caterer, including a few of my relatives. So we went to check them out. Amanda was very helpful with answering our questions and showing us what they had to offer. They will be in charge of food, chairs, tables, and linens. We looked over the menu and the looked at pictures of the food on Facebook, as well as reading tons of reviews on WeddingWire. There was nothing but super positive reviews. Everyone loved them. We also found out between now and our wedding they will be catering many weddings at the Twin Silos. This will be helpful because they will have time to figure out what works best for table layouts in the space and how to serve smoothly and efficiently there. We haven’t tried to the food yet but the reviews were nothing but great so to us booking them was a no brainer.
So that's where we stand now. We have a bridal show in Rochester in couple weekends so hopefully we'll find some good stuff there. We still need a DJ, a florist, a baker, a photo booth, a dress, a wedding party, stationery, and much more. I probably will not post every day but when something happens you can be sure that I will be here to let you know. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. I've had people helping me through all of this so if I can help someone else it would be my pleasure.
Talk to you soon!
Casey
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