A bonus post for those faithful readers

An old school (kinda) picture of us and a link to the song that was playing when we got engaged :)

September 2nd it is!

Another delayed post, for which I apologize, but we've set a date! As noted above, we will be exchanging vows on September 2nd, 2011, so mark your calendars. The ceremony and reception will both be taking place at Westbury Manor in Westbury, NY. We both really like the place, as I mentioned in the last post, and the Banquet Manager (can't bring myself to abbreviate that to BM, haha) there is really top-notch. I would highly recommend her to anyone currently looking, even though we haven't been working with her for all that long yet. She gives me the same good feeling that I had with the woman who sold me Marielle's engagement ring.

Highlights include: outdoor cocktail hour in the beautiful gardens (hopefully!) featuring Keyth Hart (again hopefully!) on the keyboard, awesome french doors in the ballroom that open onto the ceremony site and will be open during the entire reception, I can choose whatever kind of beer I want (although only in bottles), they include the flowers for the ceremony, and since it's going to be a Friday (they can't accommodate a ceremony on the weekend), we'll be the only wedding there that day. Marielle's idea of the highlights may differ slightly, so you can ask her if you want more details, haha.

Currently we're working on getting the bridal party together and beginning to centralize our priorities. The MASTER TO-DO LIST is in the works. The guest lists are coalescing. The almighty budget is starting to firm up. Vendors are being discussed. We're amongst it, in other words.

I nearly had a coronary when I saw Marielle's bookmarks folder in Safari for the first time. Not just because of the pure volume of links she has amassed already, but because of the apparent organization scheme she uses for them, which is barely (and I stress the barely) controlled chaos. But, to her credit, she has begun deleting them as she narrows things down. I know from experience that she has an inherently ordered method of thinking and evaluation, so I'm trusting her for now.

This was a bit scattered, but I feel updated. More posts to come! We should have some fun pictures soon!

More visits

Last week Marielle and I visited three more locations together: The Metropolitan in Glen Cove, Westbury Manor, and The Sandcastle in Franklin Square. Each had unique offerings, and since I had only seen one other catering hall prior to this trip, it was an eye-opening day for me.

The Metropolitan had a pretty cool two-floor setup, with the cocktail hour happening on a balcony above the ballroom. Also, it would have been a nice setup for our cocktail hour entertainment (hopefully Keyth Hart @ http://www.mysmoothsounds.com/), since he would have been setup on the ballroom floor and spotlighted from above. However, we didn't love the chairs that they had in there, and would probably have had to incur some extra expense to bring different ones in. Overall, it was a nice place and I had a good feeling about their food, but we felt that it didn't really suit us properly. Also, the only outdoor area was small and right on a busy road, though screened. Still, not a huge fan.

Westbury Manor was beautiful and Felicia, the Banquet Manager who assisted us, was very accommodating. It has great options for both indoor and outdoor cocktail hours (although I much prefer the outdoor, obviously) and the ballroom is a good size for our party. It also has really nice old windows surrounding the entire room, which we liked, and french doors behind the sweetheart table that open up onto the gardens (right onto the spot where the ceremony would take place earlier, in fact) that can be open during the entire reception. We'd have to have it on a Friday if we went there, as they can't do a ceremony for us on the weekend, but the the tradeoff is that we get the place all to ourselves all day, which is great. In fact, the only negative thing I've heard about the place is that it was abit confusing with two events overlapping a bit at a friend's wedding.

The Sandcastle was a really nice place as well, much newer, a little guido, but eager for our business. The Banquet Manager there was nice (Will), although the owner was a slight turnoff. The outdoor cocktail hour space was magnificent, and although we didn't get to tour the gardens where the ceremony would take place as it was raining by then, the pictures of them were gorgeous. Mainly, the value here was incredible. They presented the entire package including tax and gratuity for a "seven-hour" event (one hour of hospitality with full open bar and some food before the ceremony), unlimited everything in the cocktail hour including raw fish, and, here's the kicker: an all-inclusive 7-day stay at their hotel on the isle of Crete, which looked pretty sweet as well. So, wow. Problems we had though: no windows in the ballroom; again, slightly guido atmosphere; the owner was pushy and arrogant; and the place was just a bit overdone in general. But that might well be the perfect location for someone else! That honeymoon looked great.

So we're leaning toward the Manor. We're meeting with Felicia again this coming Tuesday to nail down some more date options and discuss pricing. I was really glad that I enjoyed visiting there so much last time, as Marielle was already very taken with it. It has lots of different rooms, plenty of dark wood, and an olden feel that lends an air of gravity to everything. And of course the gardens were lovely as well, as pictured above.

As much as I loved the atrium at Flowerfield, they really are just too pricey. And Marielle has visited about 15 places now, none of which she likes so much as WM. Stay tuned for more updates once we re-visit. Looks like our venue is almost decided :)

Well, it took us long enough...

...but if you haven't heard, Marielle and I are finally engaged!

The proposal took place at the Arboretum in Great River on a sunny and beautiful Saturday in the middle of May (that's the 15th, if anyone is keeping track).

After catching her breath for a few hours, Ma immediately went into planning mode and has diverted a large amount of time already to researching venues and visiting facilities that seem promising. I've accompanied her once so far, to Flowerfield in St. James, which was lovely. A bit pricey though! We are going to visit The Three Village Inn and Chateau Briand together as well in the next week or two as they both seem like good competitors.

We're exploring dates in June, August, and September 2011 most heavily right now, but are still open to other months.

At the moment, I'm trying to more fully realize my role in the planning of this shindig and start working on the areas I'm going to be responsible for or in which I can relieve some of the pressure on my lovely ladyfriend.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep up here with any big developments that go down! Thanks for reading :)