So we made a budget for having our wedding at Letchworth State Park (which was my dream inspired by photos I'd seen on the internet). But the budget may not be affordable. We are still planning to go there for my birthday (July 6) and have our engagement photos taken there. But we're now brainstorming ideas for other places to get married.
The traditional places have not been exciting me, though I think we'll at least look at the Avanti Mansion just to give it a shot. Nick wasn't too excited by these places either, as most of them require us to use their catering service and Nick wants to be in charge of the food.
So then I got on this Frank Lloyd Wright kick. I emailed two Frank Lloyd Wright destinations in Buffalo, but neither of those places allow weddings. Falling Waters, which is my favorite Frank Lloyd Wright creation, allows weddings, but that's 4 hours away in Pennsylvania, so I think that's probably out.
I've also been thinking about outdoor city park spaces that might be nice, though Nick hasn't gotten too excited by this idea.
A comic book store would be almost perfect, but they are all *way* too small.
So the latest has been exploring possible art gallery or museum spaces. At least one advertises that they're available for rental, but I'm not sure how many people could fit in that venue. So we'll have to wait and see, I guess.
In any case, I'm trying to get the list of places to see complete before we leave, as I'm not sure when we'll be back to Buffalo again to figure this out. So cross your fingers for us!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
New Wedding Website & Other Updates
A lot has happened since I last posted on this blog. Where do I begin? Maybe I'll go section by section.
Theme:
So we have pretty much agreed upon a theme - Comics, since that's what brought us together. I'd like to subtitle that "He colored my world," but Nick thinks that's too one-sided. But even without the title, we are definitely planning on having a colorful wedding. Beyond that, I may keep things a secret, so at least something is a bit of a surprise that day!
Date:
We are still hoping on 8/20/2011. But we have not confirmed that date with the location yet, so write that in pencil on your calendar for now!
Place:
We are 99% certain it'll be at Letchworth State Park in New York, but we won't confirm that until we've actually laid eyes on it in person. We are traveling to New York in July for Nick's cousin's wedding, so we plan to see Letchworth and complete the confirmation paperwork on my birthday (July 6), so stay tuned!
Budget:
Don't ask. Although several items have turned out to be less than anticipated, even more items seem to cost more than we'd planned, so the figure just keeps going up. Fortunately, we started pretty low to begin with, but still...
Photographer:
We are going to do an engagement session with the photographer we chose when we are in New York in July. So I'll keep her information private until then. I guess engagement sessions are kind of like a paid job interview (we pay her, of course). Hopefully we'll all work well together!
Flowers:
So this one has been fun researching, but I still don't have any answers. I have looked at tons and tons of bouquets. So far, my favorite is the bouquet that my friend from college, Leah Feeney, had at her wedding. The challenge is that most of the flowers I like are not in bloom in August. So I got another great idea from Offbeat Bride: flowers made from ribbons. I love how vibrant the colors look and that the flowers are not limited by the season. So I'm kind of leaning towards doing this. It looks like a lot of work, but I figure I've got over a year to pull it off, right? If you live near San Francisco, I may be calling on you to help me with this project. And let me know if you have any experience in this department, because I, mostly definitely, do not. Cross your fingers I can make it happen!
Attendants:
Nick and I are still figuring out who all will be in the wedding. There are so many people I'd like to ask, but we want there to be a balance between the number of groomsmen and bridesmaids. So for now, I've asked my sister to be Matron of Honor, my dear friends Mari and Johanna to be bridesmaids and my niece Jessica to be a junior bridesmaid. Jessica was all cool and casual about accepting my invitation, but I bet she's more excited than she's letting on! My sister was in town this weekend, so we went dress shopping for both my bridal gown and the bridesmaid gowns. Mari was able to join us on this excursion. I thought this dress was a lot of fun. But from the look Mari gave me, I thought she might kill me if I picked that one. I couldn't ask Nick to come with us, because I didn't want him to see me in my dress if I found one that I liked. And his response when I emailed him that photo was similar to Mari's facial expression, "R U kidding?" So I guess that rules out that one. In the end, we left with just a little bit more of an idea what Nick and I are looking for.
As for groomsmen, I hadn't really thought beyond your basic suit or tuxedo, but again, Offbeat Brides helped me to think outside the box. Unfortunately, Nick didn't get too excited about any of those ideas. So we'll have to see how that turns out.
Guests:
Nick has an enormous family. So another project I got kind of obsessed with was figuring out his family tree, especially on his Mom's side. His Mom has 9 sisters and there are 24 cousins on that side alone. So I created a family tree of photos to help me keep track of which cousins belonged to which aunts. I had a lot of fun putting that together and it's already been helping me. I am just hoping I can memorize faces and names and connections before our wedding. A year sounds like a pretty decent amount of time to get that all figured out. I posted this photo on Facebook and have amused Nick's family with it, as well.
That sounds like more than enough to have accomplished since my last post, huh? I am still leaving a lot of details out that I've been working on, but I have to keep some stuff as a surprise. But lastly, I'll mention, we have a new website. This site is where I'll post all of the finalized information so you won't need to weed through this blog to figure out... Now *where* is the wedding going to be? And now *what date* is it going to be? Those details will all be kept well organized over on our theknot.com website. The URL is http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/NicholasIannone&MelainaEller.
Theme:
So we have pretty much agreed upon a theme - Comics, since that's what brought us together. I'd like to subtitle that "He colored my world," but Nick thinks that's too one-sided. But even without the title, we are definitely planning on having a colorful wedding. Beyond that, I may keep things a secret, so at least something is a bit of a surprise that day!
Date:
We are still hoping on 8/20/2011. But we have not confirmed that date with the location yet, so write that in pencil on your calendar for now!
Place:
We are 99% certain it'll be at Letchworth State Park in New York, but we won't confirm that until we've actually laid eyes on it in person. We are traveling to New York in July for Nick's cousin's wedding, so we plan to see Letchworth and complete the confirmation paperwork on my birthday (July 6), so stay tuned!
Budget:
Don't ask. Although several items have turned out to be less than anticipated, even more items seem to cost more than we'd planned, so the figure just keeps going up. Fortunately, we started pretty low to begin with, but still...
Photographer:
We are going to do an engagement session with the photographer we chose when we are in New York in July. So I'll keep her information private until then. I guess engagement sessions are kind of like a paid job interview (we pay her, of course). Hopefully we'll all work well together!
Flowers:So this one has been fun researching, but I still don't have any answers. I have looked at tons and tons of bouquets. So far, my favorite is the bouquet that my friend from college, Leah Feeney, had at her wedding. The challenge is that most of the flowers I like are not in bloom in August. So I got another great idea from Offbeat Bride: flowers made from ribbons. I love how vibrant the colors look and that the flowers are not limited by the season. So I'm kind of leaning towards doing this. It looks like a lot of work, but I figure I've got over a year to pull it off, right? If you live near San Francisco, I may be calling on you to help me with this project. And let me know if you have any experience in this department, because I, mostly definitely, do not. Cross your fingers I can make it happen!
Attendants:Nick and I are still figuring out who all will be in the wedding. There are so many people I'd like to ask, but we want there to be a balance between the number of groomsmen and bridesmaids. So for now, I've asked my sister to be Matron of Honor, my dear friends Mari and Johanna to be bridesmaids and my niece Jessica to be a junior bridesmaid. Jessica was all cool and casual about accepting my invitation, but I bet she's more excited than she's letting on! My sister was in town this weekend, so we went dress shopping for both my bridal gown and the bridesmaid gowns. Mari was able to join us on this excursion. I thought this dress was a lot of fun. But from the look Mari gave me, I thought she might kill me if I picked that one. I couldn't ask Nick to come with us, because I didn't want him to see me in my dress if I found one that I liked. And his response when I emailed him that photo was similar to Mari's facial expression, "R U kidding?" So I guess that rules out that one. In the end, we left with just a little bit more of an idea what Nick and I are looking for.
As for groomsmen, I hadn't really thought beyond your basic suit or tuxedo, but again, Offbeat Brides helped me to think outside the box. Unfortunately, Nick didn't get too excited about any of those ideas. So we'll have to see how that turns out.
Guests:Nick has an enormous family. So another project I got kind of obsessed with was figuring out his family tree, especially on his Mom's side. His Mom has 9 sisters and there are 24 cousins on that side alone. So I created a family tree of photos to help me keep track of which cousins belonged to which aunts. I had a lot of fun putting that together and it's already been helping me. I am just hoping I can memorize faces and names and connections before our wedding. A year sounds like a pretty decent amount of time to get that all figured out. I posted this photo on Facebook and have amused Nick's family with it, as well.
That sounds like more than enough to have accomplished since my last post, huh? I am still leaving a lot of details out that I've been working on, but I have to keep some stuff as a surprise. But lastly, I'll mention, we have a new website. This site is where I'll post all of the finalized information so you won't need to weed through this blog to figure out... Now *where* is the wedding going to be? And now *what date* is it going to be? Those details will all be kept well organized over on our theknot.com website. The URL is http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/NicholasIannone&MelainaEller.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Searching for a wedding photographer...
I am taking this aspect of wedding planning VERY seriously. We have friends who are photographers (even professional photographers), but I really want to have someone present specifically for that purpose.
If you know us and are reading this, then you already know that we are a family of artists. I am a cartoonist and Nick (my fiance) is an electronic artist of sorts. He made my iPhone app and my comics website and colors my comics. So we've been looking for a talented photographer whose sense of style and artistic eye we like. Although I'm focusing my search in the Upstate New York area, as that is where our wedding will be, I'm keeping my eyes open for super-talented artists in other areas. I'd be willing to pay travel to get someone there whose work we truly admire.
These are the criteria I've been using while looking for a photographer:
-sense of style and artistic eye I appreciate. And is able to capture in my wedding photos - the romance I've seen in photos I've been collecting of weddings (see link below to Flickr album)
-who can captivate both the wedding AND the beauty of Letchworth State Park. This may be illustrated through photos they've taken in that specific park or of a nature portfolio.
-who would be willing to give us the raw images (my fiance Nick, being an electronic artist, can do color-correcting and editing of the photos)
-who is confident enough to direct our gregarious family into some posed shots (including directing my very fun-loving fiance into some more serious poses)
-passes the Nick screening (I'm not sure exactly what his criteria is actually)
If we like the person but end up needing to pay travel expenses, I'm hoping we'll be able to negotiate for a price that we can afford for the work, especially by minimizing the work needed (directing and taking the photos). We can even provide a hard drive to make things as simple as possible.
I've spent DAYS and DAYS on this search already.
One great resource I've come across is an Association of Photojournalists. I've found a number of very talented photographers there and would recommend that site to others.
Another thing I've been doing, is keeping an album on Flickr where I save wedding images I come across on the web that I like as examples of what I want from the photographer. Of course, much of wedding photography is protected on the internet and thus I haven't added those images to my public collection.
Some other ways I'm considering incorporating photography into our wedding... I'd like to create a sign-in / guest book for the wedding with photos in it of me and Nick. I think I'd be more likely to look back and read the sweet messages from friends and family if they were mixed in with photos. I'd also love to have a photobooth - both for entertainment at the wedding and as another means of getting photos of our guests.
So... We'll see how much of this vision I can bring to life! Cross your fingers for me.
If you know us and are reading this, then you already know that we are a family of artists. I am a cartoonist and Nick (my fiance) is an electronic artist of sorts. He made my iPhone app and my comics website and colors my comics. So we've been looking for a talented photographer whose sense of style and artistic eye we like. Although I'm focusing my search in the Upstate New York area, as that is where our wedding will be, I'm keeping my eyes open for super-talented artists in other areas. I'd be willing to pay travel to get someone there whose work we truly admire.
These are the criteria I've been using while looking for a photographer:
-sense of style and artistic eye I appreciate. And is able to capture in my wedding photos - the romance I've seen in photos I've been collecting of weddings (see link below to Flickr album)
-who can captivate both the wedding AND the beauty of Letchworth State Park. This may be illustrated through photos they've taken in that specific park or of a nature portfolio.
-who would be willing to give us the raw images (my fiance Nick, being an electronic artist, can do color-correcting and editing of the photos)
-who is confident enough to direct our gregarious family into some posed shots (including directing my very fun-loving fiance into some more serious poses)
-passes the Nick screening (I'm not sure exactly what his criteria is actually)
If we like the person but end up needing to pay travel expenses, I'm hoping we'll be able to negotiate for a price that we can afford for the work, especially by minimizing the work needed (directing and taking the photos). We can even provide a hard drive to make things as simple as possible.
I've spent DAYS and DAYS on this search already.
One great resource I've come across is an Association of Photojournalists. I've found a number of very talented photographers there and would recommend that site to others.
Another thing I've been doing, is keeping an album on Flickr where I save wedding images I come across on the web that I like as examples of what I want from the photographer. Of course, much of wedding photography is protected on the internet and thus I haven't added those images to my public collection.
Some other ways I'm considering incorporating photography into our wedding... I'd like to create a sign-in / guest book for the wedding with photos in it of me and Nick. I think I'd be more likely to look back and read the sweet messages from friends and family if they were mixed in with photos. I'd also love to have a photobooth - both for entertainment at the wedding and as another means of getting photos of our guests.
So... We'll see how much of this vision I can bring to life! Cross your fingers for me.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Getting Organized
So I finally took everyone's advice and put a binder together. I'd picked up several bridal magazines in the airport on my way to visit my sister and had pulled out pages with bridal gowns and wedding rings that I liked. My sister had also given me some great bridal magazines she picked up for me with advice about favors and budgeting and invitations and such. The end result was a pile of paper that was in chaos. So I now have a binder with sections for:
-budget
-vows
-wedding rings
-photographers
-flowers
-location
-music
-dresses
-honeymoon
-invitations
-guest list
-food
-entertainment
-decor
And I feel so relieved to have everything in a place where I can easily refer to it.
We are tentatively setting a date for August 20, 2011. And we are seriously considering having the wedding at Letchworth State Park. We will be attending Nick's cousin Shannon's wedding in Buffalo, NY in July of this year, so we are hoping to allow time to visit Letchworth while we're in town. I am *in love* with Letchworth from all of the online photos I've been looking through, but I want to be sure that the photos aren't misleading. Plus, we'll also need to make sure there is a picnic area that is in a pretty location, so we'll have shelter in case it rains.
In the meantime, I've kind of been obsessing over flowers. I have been looking through friends' wedding photos that are posted on FaceBook as a starting place to figure out what I like. And I've become quite smitten with my college classmate, Leah's wedding bouquet. I hope she doesn't mind my posting some of her wedding photos here! She got her flowers from her family's garden, though, so she's not even sure what all was in there. So I've been listing some of my favorite flowers out that may correspond to the color combination. Here is the list I've come up with of my favorite flowers:
-tulips
-grape hyacinth
-wisteria
-red bud tree blossoms
-poppies
Now, the first two on the list, I can get from just about any florist. But the last 3 are much trickier. I can buy an entire Wisteria or Red Bud TREE, but no one seems to sell cuttings from these trees. Hmmm... And poppies? Well, I can buy poppy SEEDS off the internet for growing my own poppies, but once again... no cut poppies.
So I'm still brainstorming. Got any ideas?
-budget
-vows
-wedding rings
-photographers
-flowers
-location
-music
-dresses
-honeymoon
-invitations
-guest list
-food
-entertainment
-decor
And I feel so relieved to have everything in a place where I can easily refer to it.
We are tentatively setting a date for August 20, 2011. And we are seriously considering having the wedding at Letchworth State Park. We will be attending Nick's cousin Shannon's wedding in Buffalo, NY in July of this year, so we are hoping to allow time to visit Letchworth while we're in town. I am *in love* with Letchworth from all of the online photos I've been looking through, but I want to be sure that the photos aren't misleading. Plus, we'll also need to make sure there is a picnic area that is in a pretty location, so we'll have shelter in case it rains.
In the meantime, I've kind of been obsessing over flowers. I have been looking through friends' wedding photos that are posted on FaceBook as a starting place to figure out what I like. And I've become quite smitten with my college classmate, Leah's wedding bouquet. I hope she doesn't mind my posting some of her wedding photos here! She got her flowers from her family's garden, though, so she's not even sure what all was in there. So I've been listing some of my favorite flowers out that may correspond to the color combination. Here is the list I've come up with of my favorite flowers:
-tulips
-grape hyacinth
-wisteria
-red bud tree blossoms
-poppies
Now, the first two on the list, I can get from just about any florist. But the last 3 are much trickier. I can buy an entire Wisteria or Red Bud TREE, but no one seems to sell cuttings from these trees. Hmmm... And poppies? Well, I can buy poppy SEEDS off the internet for growing my own poppies, but once again... no cut poppies.
So I'm still brainstorming. Got any ideas?
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Overwhelm is subsiding somewhat....
I think I need to make a binder for all of the information I've been collecting. I'm *finally* getting excited about the wedding. Nick and I have been spending some time each weekend going through the whole list of elements of the wedding to brainstorm what we want. I'm pretty attached to having an outdoor wedding. I found a website where you can see the history of the weather in a specific place for that day for many years back to see what the likelihood is of having good weather that day.
Weather Underground
I'll have to keep that in mind when we *finally* decide on a location. We're still waffling between New York and San Francisco.
We... Well, I should say *I*... have started to panic about where we'll come up with the money for this wedding of our dreams. So for starters, Nick and I opened up a joint savings account, so we can both start contributing to it. I also found a website with some tips on ways to save money. And I liked a few of their ideas:
75 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding
I've also been searching through my Facebook friends who have wedding photos posted, looking for inspiration. I have already found bridesmaids gowns I like on there and flowers.
And on a google search for "Unconventional Weddings," I found an idea I liked for part of the ceremony. This woman gave individual flowers to individual guests at the wedding and she collected them as she walked down the aisle, ending up with her bouquet. I thought that was such a beautiful sentiment and may have to borrow that idea from her.
Weather Underground
I'll have to keep that in mind when we *finally* decide on a location. We're still waffling between New York and San Francisco.
We... Well, I should say *I*... have started to panic about where we'll come up with the money for this wedding of our dreams. So for starters, Nick and I opened up a joint savings account, so we can both start contributing to it. I also found a website with some tips on ways to save money. And I liked a few of their ideas:
75 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding
I've also been searching through my Facebook friends who have wedding photos posted, looking for inspiration. I have already found bridesmaids gowns I like on there and flowers.
And on a google search for "Unconventional Weddings," I found an idea I liked for part of the ceremony. This woman gave individual flowers to individual guests at the wedding and she collected them as she walked down the aisle, ending up with her bouquet. I thought that was such a beautiful sentiment and may have to borrow that idea from her.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Will Travel?
As it turns out, Nick is pretty settled on Buffalo. In addition to all of his family being out there, in making our guest list, he realized more of his friends lived out there than out here. So that seems to make the most sense. So now I am starting to poll my friends to find out who would be willing to fly there. I figure I can ask that first and decide on bridesmaids after, right?
We still haven't made any more headway than that. So we have a rough head count of 150 guests and have decided the wedding will be somewhere in or near Buffalo, New York.
I've also been polling friends who've had weddings recently to find out about their costs. The range seems to be anywhere from $5K to $20K. If I have to save up $20,000, it may be another 10 years before we can get married!
We still haven't made any more headway than that. So we have a rough head count of 150 guests and have decided the wedding will be somewhere in or near Buffalo, New York.
I've also been polling friends who've had weddings recently to find out about their costs. The range seems to be anywhere from $5K to $20K. If I have to save up $20,000, it may be another 10 years before we can get married!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
So... we're engaged!
Actually, Nick got down on his knee before me and popped the question on Christmas Day 2009. Since then, we've both been happy and content just celebrating the fact that we're engaged. Neither of us are in a hurry to have a baby, which seems to be the only reason one might expedite getting one's names onto a marriage certificate. So... two months later, we haven't even set a date yet. At the moment, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the details to attend to. I just got Bridal Planner in the mail today from The Buffalo News, which suggested having a webpage regarding our wedding. I thought that seemed like a great idea, so... here I am.
Day one of planning. Let's see... So far, I have started a wedding guest list. Nick and I share "google documents," as we both have gmail accounts, so I have posted the list there to make it easy for us to both add names as we think of people whom we'd like to be present. That in itself, seems to be a huge, overwhelming task.
I wrote up my list of family members for starters, which already puts us at a count of 40. Nick's mom has 9 sisters, so you can guess my 40 will seem trivial in comparison to his family.
And as for friends? Seeing as I grew up in Maryland, went to college in Ohio and have lived in San Francisco for >10 years, my friends are all over the country. Nick, being from upstate New York and having lived in Wyoming, and now San Francisco, also has friends all over.
Now as for location, I think we've settled on Buffalo. Nick's grandparents live there and would be burdened by a flight to San Francisco. One of my uncles won't get on an airplane and he lives in Vermont, so upstate New York (where Nick's grandparents live) is looking better and better. My family could feasibly drive there from Maryland. And I have a cousin in Canada who would be able to easily make the commute. And although, it's a long drive from NYC, at least my friends there are in the same state (including my dear friend Jenny).
Speaking of friends... So how many of them from out-of-state (especially California) would be willing to travel to Buffalo for our wedding? This has made figuring out bridesmaids challenging to say the least. How do I ask someone to be a bridesmaid and then ask them to fly to Buffalo to be part of the wedding? It would be one thing if it was a destination wedding, like Hawaii, but... as much as I liked Buffalo during our one trip there, I'm not sure it could match Hawaii as a tourist attraction. Though please, Buffalo folks, help me sell this location to those traveling from far away, would you?
Day one of planning. Let's see... So far, I have started a wedding guest list. Nick and I share "google documents," as we both have gmail accounts, so I have posted the list there to make it easy for us to both add names as we think of people whom we'd like to be present. That in itself, seems to be a huge, overwhelming task.
I wrote up my list of family members for starters, which already puts us at a count of 40. Nick's mom has 9 sisters, so you can guess my 40 will seem trivial in comparison to his family.
And as for friends? Seeing as I grew up in Maryland, went to college in Ohio and have lived in San Francisco for >10 years, my friends are all over the country. Nick, being from upstate New York and having lived in Wyoming, and now San Francisco, also has friends all over.
Now as for location, I think we've settled on Buffalo. Nick's grandparents live there and would be burdened by a flight to San Francisco. One of my uncles won't get on an airplane and he lives in Vermont, so upstate New York (where Nick's grandparents live) is looking better and better. My family could feasibly drive there from Maryland. And I have a cousin in Canada who would be able to easily make the commute. And although, it's a long drive from NYC, at least my friends there are in the same state (including my dear friend Jenny).
Speaking of friends... So how many of them from out-of-state (especially California) would be willing to travel to Buffalo for our wedding? This has made figuring out bridesmaids challenging to say the least. How do I ask someone to be a bridesmaid and then ask them to fly to Buffalo to be part of the wedding? It would be one thing if it was a destination wedding, like Hawaii, but... as much as I liked Buffalo during our one trip there, I'm not sure it could match Hawaii as a tourist attraction. Though please, Buffalo folks, help me sell this location to those traveling from far away, would you?
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