Please Please Please... just one good day

[kyzmit]

Well, I figure I should stop whining and complaining about everything all over this board and break down and just try to get it all out. So... hopefully over the next few days I will. Either that or I'll abandon this idea because it's too depressing.

I know in a lot of ways I was blessed in life. I went to good schools, had a fairly stable family life, and things generally end up working out. So I should be happy, but quite honestly, life hasn't been easy, I usually just squeak by, and I'm a high stress person as it is.

This wedding planning isn't going any differently, and I'm terrified that it's going to be one more day that I'm supposed to be happy and have to pretend that everything's fine, but in reality I'm completely miserable and have to attempt to hide the fact that I'm crying every time no one's around.

[kyzmit]

Ryan did a great job hiding the fact that he'd already purchased my ring (he kept asking me if I wanted to look at this store or that store while we were on vacation). We went up to Vermont to my mother's cabin for a week the end of August 2004. I was exhausted, having just finished my independent study paper for my final credit for my master's degree in statistics. I wanted to have fun and we decided that since I'd just bought some new hiking boots, we should go hiking. I mean... we were in the middle of the Green Mountains, right? So I get a few books to try to find a nice leisurely hike, since we really hadn't done much recently. He tells me he wants someplace really scenic and that has a good place for us to have a picnic since we have one of those wine backpack things that we'd never used. So I spend 3 days trying to figure out what would be good and different and maybe a little secluded.

Silly me, I picked Mt. Pisgah. It's beautiful, overlooking a lake, etc. and not too far from the cabin... mapwise... I forgot that the North Country is pretty impossible to get to from the Champlain Islands especially with all the construction and tree cutting that happens in August... so it took nearly 4 hours for us to get to the mountain. We started climbing... and Ryan's hiking boots began showing their age... the soles had deteriorated and were literally falling off the shoe. So we stopped halfway up at an overlook called Pulpit Rock. He took some pictures and showed me how to use our new ***era, then had me put it in my pocket... not an easy task. I looked up to find him kneeling before me with the ring I'd fallen in love with in his hand. Of course, I said yes. We ate our sandwiches, carefully climbed down the mountain (his shoes were... nonexistant at this point, so he was getting kinda grouchy) and drove back to the cabin.

[kyzmit]

Picking a date was easy enough for us; I wanted to get married in the summer, my birthday's in August, and I didn't want it too close to that... We picked July 16, 2005 with no problem.

The issue was where to have the ceremony. I had never really thought about my wedding... I kind of wanted to have it in my uncle's apple orchard and have him officiate since he's a JOP, but... I live in Rochester, New York and the orchard is in South Hero, Vermont (one of the Champlain Islands, about 20 min. from Burlington). I knew if we did that, lotsa people wouldn't be able to come. If we had the ceremony in Rochester, I had no church I wanted it at, no officiate I wanted (we know a reverend, but he's a little too religious for me), etc.

I figured planning a wedding in VT when I live 8 hrs. away and can't travel often (we've made one trip there in the almost year since we got engaged) would be a huge pain and I didn't want that much stress... But Ryan knows that it's always been my secret little dream and he loves VT too, so he was pushing me to do it in VT, regardless of anything else... And his mother's advice was to forget about our friends coming because we wouldn't be friends with them in 15 years anyway. Personally, I'd rather be happy with my friends on my wedding day than thinking about who I will and won't be in contact with in 15 years, but... whatever.

Finally, one morning he took me out to breakfast, and basically told me we were getting married in VT and he'd already spoken to a few of our friends and they were going to come no matter what. He said we could order the flowers, cake, and dress here and his aunt could bring it up in her ***per... we could borrow their tent, tables, and chairs and everything would be easy and fine.

That made me feel better about it, so I agreed and started planning... only to find out that we would still have to rent everything up there, it would be much better to get our flowers there, and at that point, I decided I didn't want to bring a couple day old cake to my wedding.

So... the stress level has been insanely high. The good thing about it is that I'm forced to do most of my planning via e-mail and online and don't have to make appointments and actually talk to people, which I really hate doing. The bad news is that it takes 15 e-mails and faxes to get everything sorta figured out and it takes forever and I have no clue what the food is going to taste like, cake is going to look like, etc.

[kyzmit]

I think the flowers are the one thing that I really haven't had a problem with at all. I made a generic letter and mailed it to every wedding-related business in the Burlington area that I could think of to get as much information as possible.

We aren't having many flowers (just bouquets and boutteniers basically), but I know absolutely nothing about them, so I basically went with the first florist that responded. I e-mailed her some pictures I had found of flowers that were the color blues that I wanted (or at least looked it in the picture) and made an appointment to meet with her when I went up for a weekend to a bridal show there.

Connie was absolutely wonderful, really made us feel at home, and was extremely patient with my cluelessness. After pointing to the same kind of flower and asking her what it was about 10 times, we decided that my blue flowers were going to be delphiniums. We're using stock, delphiniums, and caspia for the bridal party and adding Bells of Ireland to my bouquet and Ryan's bouttenier. I have absolutely no clue how it's going to look. They're all kinda pointy and not what I usually think of as bouquet style flowers. I won't see it until 2 hours before the wedding, so I'm a little nervous about it, but... it's ok. We're also putting some delphiniums and some kind of greenery that I have no idea what it is on the cake. I've basically left that up to the florist and the baker, so... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they know what they're doing.

[kyzmit]

I hate wedding cakes. They're ugly and usually taste pretty crappy. All I wanted was a 3 tier cake with blue ribbon around the base of each layer. White cake, buttercream frosting, maybe a filling.

We didn't have any luck finding a good cake when I went to VT, so I decided to leave everything to do with it up to my mother and sister. My sister lives in VT and Mom's about halfway between them and us, so it worked out ok. It took about a month for them to really get going on it, but they spent a weekend talking to bakers and tasting cakes and were really dissappointed for the most part. Then they found a place that was delicious and could do a fairly plain cake.

My sister brought a 8" cake, decorated differently, with the same frosting, filling, etc. that my cake will have. I think it's delicious, but everyone else seemed to think it was still too sweet (the frosting is very sugary). I've decided I don't care how sweet it is, I'm not having her mess with the frosting any more (she had already cut the amount of sugar in it significantly, apparently).

I'm nervous about what my cake's going to look like since I have no idea what flowers are on it and they said they would have to do some beading looking stuff to make it look right... I don't see why, but... That's why I'm not a cake person.

[kyzmit]

I hate my gown. Every time I put it on, I hate it more. But it's the best I could find and it's bought, and I can't wear the kind of dress I want anyway.

I'm very skinny with a large chest and kinda broad shoulders. Spaghetti straps slide off. Halter tops look horrible. Dresses with sleeves just don't fit right. I wanted a kinda slinky dress and none of the A-line crap, but... they just don't make those that fit me.

I went dress shopping with my FMIL and... it was pretty horrible. We went to 4 shops and tried on so many dresses and they all looked pretty bad. We finally decided that I needed a strapless dress with a sweetheart or scalloped neckline. Finally, we went to David's Bridal, where one of my friends is a manager, and found 2 that I kinda got excited about. I really liked the bustle they showed me on the one that fit a little better, so I went with that one. My mom ***e into town a couple weeks later and I showed her both of them. She liked the runner up, but was disappointed with the dress I'd chosen... But decided that it may just be because it was white and the other dress was cream, which looks better with my skin. I ordered it in ivory.

Now when I try it on, I feel fat and foufy. I had to get 4.5" platforms because they can't shorten the dress enough because of the beading. When I went for my fitting, they told me that it was impossible to do anything but a french bustle, which I hate, with that dress. I don't really understand since before they had held it up... I guess it's a butterfly bustle or something, but it really showed off the beading on the train. The french bustle shows off my big butt and the beading kinda looks ridiculous. But... I won't see the back of my dress that day and have told the photographer not to take many pictures of it once I'm bustled, so I'm dealing.

[Marsha]

ok where is a pic of this dress? Let us be the judge! I'm really trying to understand what the real issue is. Im not trying to be mean, but this should be a great time for you. Are you shure you want to get married? Are you still in love? Maybe no matter how hard this is, postpone and take a few weeks for yourself. Get better be 100% maybe you need some more time. I know you have things rented and such but honestly it would be easier to move the dates and give time to make things 100%. Hunny i wish you the best i want the best for you, but this shouldnt be so hard at this point. If you really hate your dress, try to go to davids bridal and see if there is a dress on the rack in a decent price range that you can get. If u really hate things then its only you can that change them. Its much easier to accept now, then in a few weeks when u still feel like this and it wasnt the wedding at all. (also cheaper) Its o.k. to call it off no matter what people say its you that has to be happy. Dont think about anyone right now but yourself. Seriously its o.k. to be shelfish right now. I wish i could help you, but i dont know what you need more. Im here, we are all here for you. if u want to talk to somone on the phone ill give u my number, i just dont want you to feel this way! let us help you.

[kyzmit]

After searching for my dress, I knew it would be difficult to find a dress for my sister to wear since we're built essentially the same. My sister is also not a dress person... her idea of dressing up is generally a clean pair of jeans. I wanted her to be comfortable in it... and she was already putting up a fight with having to wear a dress as it was.

When I went to VT, I used my knowledge of what didn't look good to try and make it easier for her, but I knew I'd never get her in a strapless dress. Luckily we found a really nice mock 2-pc. with a tank top that looks good on her and she seemed really comfortable in... It's the first time I've seen her kinda excited about a dress. We picked a color that looked good with her skin and went to lunch with my mom and FMIL. Now... I knew my sister wasn't going to get her hair done and probably won't wear makeup etc. My FMIL... was horrified by that and we all ended up in a big fight because Becca was still trying to get out of wearing a dress and absolutely refused to wear stockings. I have no problem with that. I wouldn't wear stockings either, but my boustier has garter straps, so I kinda have to. My FMIL threw a fit when she heard this. She thought my sister was going to look horrible without her hair and makeup done and thought my idea of a low ponytail was ridiculous. My sister thinks my FMIL is a meddling wack job. The wedding's in 3 weeks and my FMIL still thinks that she should buy some stockings for my sister and spring them on her while we're getting ready.

I have one other bridesmaid, who I actually don't see very often, but she's an amazing person and always really supportive, etc. She never got fitted for her dress, so I guessed when I ordered it. DON'T DO THAT! When I saw her at my bridal shower, I realized that the dress I'd ordered wasn't going to be big enough for her since she'd gained some weight. I didn't want to be rude and mention her weight gain and I knew I should have ordered a size larger just to be sure... The dresses took 6 months between ordering and delivery and there was only a month until the wedding, so I knew I couldn't get it replaced on time. After searching the internet for the same dress or a complementary dress or something, I finally called the store to see if they could do anything... they said that if they ordered a new one it would cost $50 more for shipping, I couldn't get a refund on the other dress, and it may not arrive before the wedding, much less getting it from VT to NY for alterations.

Luckily, we realized that the smaller dress would work for my sister with very few alterations. 2 weeks ago, my sister was supposed to pick up the dresses from the shop and bring or mail the other dress to Karen... apparently plans were changed and I have no idea what's going on now since I was admitted to the hospital for a week and no one's mentioned it since... So I'm hoping that the dress was mailed and everything's fine, but... for all I know it's still sitting at the shop in VT.

3 weeks to go and I bought them jewelry, but have no clue about the dresses or what shoes they're wearing. My sister's pushing for flip flops, so I think I'll get her some for after the ceremony... hopefully she gets something for during it.

[kyzmit]

ok where is a pic of this dress? Let us be the judge! I'm really trying to understand what the real issue is. Im not trying to be mean, but this should be a great time for you. Are you shure you want to get married? Are you still in love? Maybe no matter how hard this is, postpone and take a few weeks for yourself. Get better be 100% maybe you need some more time. I know you have things rented and such but honestly it would be easier to move the dates and give time to make things 100%. Hunny i wish you the best i want the best for you, but this shouldnt be so hard at this point. If you really hate your dress, try to go to davids bridal and see if there is a dress on the rack in a decent price range that you can get. If u really hate things then its only you can that change them. Its much easier to accept now, then in a few weeks when u still feel like this and it wasnt the wedding at all. (also cheaper) Its o.k. to call it off no matter what people say its you that has to be happy. Dont think about anyone right now but yourself. Seriously its o.k. to be shelfish right now. I wish i could help you, but i dont know what you need more. Im here, we are all here for you. if u want to talk to somone on the phone ill give u my number, i just dont want you to feel this way! let us help you.


It's a bad picture, but here's my dress and a good picture of my bridesmaids' dresses.

I was okay with the dress before I saw one that is absolutely perfect, except it won't fit me (slinky, spaghetti straps, and beautful beading). When they changed the bustle, I really started to not like it... I think it's mostly disappointment from that... And I'm really skinny, so basically everything that fits my chest makes me feel fat, so... it's stupid I guess. My friend keeps telling me how Ryan's going to be blown away by it, so... I guess it's just me in a dress that's the main problem.

Anyways... of course I'm still in love... and this wedding is happening on July 16th if I have to hold everyone hostage; I'm not putting myself through this hell any longer than absolutely necessary.

All I really need is a place to blow off all the frustration without Ryan going nuts (every time I get a tiny bit upset, he starts stressing out and ... I just can't deal with that). And knowing that I'm not alone...

Actually, I think this log is very good for me because writing it... makes me think that yeah, everything's gone wrong, but... it's all silly little stuff in the long run... And everything does end up working itself out.

In a lot of ways the dress is perfect. It's got a corset back so it doesn't need to be altered really... It's got a kinda Celtic flair to it that really fits with the wedding (even though at that point I had no clue what we were going to do). It just really disappoints me that they can't show off the beading in back when it's bustled because the beading on the back is really what made me fall in love with the dress when I tried it on. I was never really big on the front.

[kyzmit]

dang those pictures are small... sorry about that...

Here's the link to the gown on David's website:
http://davidsbridal.com/bridal_gowns_detail.jsp?stid=1585&prodgroup=10

[kyzmit]

I delegated finding a hotel to my in-laws since they're supposedly really good at negotiation. I asked them to do this in January. I was getting badgered by people about where they should stay starting in March or April. I waited on mailing out the invitations because they were close to picking a place. When I found out that they'd picked a Days Inn that's well known for drug overdoses and dead bodies, I said "screw it" and said it was fine. This was less than 2 months before the wedding and everyone had to travel, so I figured we'd deal with it. I printed cards with the information and put them in the envelopes, just to be told less than 5 minutes after I'd finished that the block of rooms hadn't been confirmed fast enough and some sports team had booked it. So we opened every envelope and resealed them without hotel information. Finally, about 3 weeks ago, I was told where people could stay and a price and whatever... but many of the guests had already booked rooms at other hotels.

Apparently, Burlington is a tourist town and their hotel prices are really high... I didn't think $100 for a room in a nice hotel is that bad... We offered 2 hotels, a B&B, and gave information on local ***psites, etc. We offered free lodging to members of the wedding party at my mother's cabin. Now, one of our groomsmen is saying he can't come because he's broke and can't afford a hotel room. Him and his girlfriend have been nothing but problems and I'm about an inch away from beating the crap out of both of them. My sister's been authorized to run interference, if they do come, to make sure that Sabrina doesn't try to make the day about her (like everything else always is).

[kyzmit]

Okay... when you ask someone if they can cater offsite, it would be nice if they told you the truth. I spent almost 2 months going back and forth with a caterer that works out of a hotel and apparently their food is amazing. We're actually going to have the rehearsal dinner there because it's the only place everyone suggested. We figured out the perfect menu so that I won't go hungry (I'm a vegetarian) and won't get pasta sauce all over my dress and don't have to pick around summer squash and junk like that. It was supposed to be $35 a plate, which I thought was pretty high for chicken and pasta, but whatever. After I got the contract from the caterer, I got a phone call letting me know that I probably didn't want to use them. They had just found out that they would have to rent so much equipment, etc. to have it offsite, the price per plate was essentially going to be bumped up to $65. Not cool.

They were very helpful in suggesting other caterers and I was able to find one that could cater offsite for about $25 a plate for the same menu (at least... it should be the same). So... it was a minor crisis, but was able to be taken care of fairly quickly considering that I was trying to book only 4 months in advance instead of the 8 I had originally planned on. I know people who have eaten food by the original caterer, but no one really knows much about the new one, so I hope they're at least pretty good.

[kyzmit]

We wanted to take a cruise of the British Isles, but by the time we found one that we kinda liked, the cost was too high. We're going to try to save up and do that next summer for a second honeymoon or something.

We "won" 2 nights at an all-inclusive resort, watched the stupid cooking things, and got our voucher. We decided we'd do that and add a few days. We activated our thingy and waited for the information to be mailed to us so we could start booking it... and waited and waited... and finally just decided to book the dang thing directly through the resort and screw the free days... maybe we'll use them next year too. It ***e out to about $1200 for both of us for a full week there... not too bad considering the cruise had a downpayment of that much per person.

I was going to book our plane tickets... and realized on June 20th that I apparently made a mistake when making the reservations. They were for June 18-24th, not July. So I called them, expecting to basically be told to go to hell since technically I was supposed to be there then and didn't get the trip insurance or any of that crap. Much to my surprise, they were extremely accommodating and let us switch to the correct dates without any penalty; we ended up spending an extra $250 total because we were switching from a discounted time into their peak season.

I just got our plane tickets booked with USAirways yesterday... it was a pain in the butt because it kept rejecting my FHs miles account number and I had to start from the beginning about 5 times. It never let me pick seats, so I hope I can be by a window for at least part of the time. I love flying and am SO excited to finally get to again (I haven't since... Thanksgiving 1998).

We still need to go shopping for the honeymoon. We have no money, but I'm gonna buy some new clothes anyway. I'm hoping that I can find another bathing suit before we go or once we're down there... Since I'm a 32F, it's nearly impossible to get ones that fit and support and can actually be swam in.

The sucky part is that I just got out of the hospital. I had a kindey and liver infection and mono. So... I feel like crap and am getting grouchy all the time and it's just not cool. Anyways, so since I've had these problems recently, Ryan's not letting me drink anything but water basically. And I have to find out from my Dr. how much alcohol and other things I can drink. It's really going to suck to have an all-inclusive honeymoon where I can't utilize the free drinks.

[kyzmit]

I'm really excited about the music for our ceremony. I got a really cool Irish Wedding CD by Druidstone. It's called The Vow and it's all really preatty. Yesterday I picked out a few songs to play before the ceremony, decided to try and shorten the processional song since it's 4 minutes long and there's only me and 2 bridesmaids walking down the aisle. We're going to use "Haste to the Wedding" as our recessional. I'm also going to have 2 songs playing after the recessional while people are getting carted off for the reception (literally, we're having a tractor ride to get people to the tent). They're by Gaelic Storm and I absolutely love them... "Stain the Grout" (which has the same beginning as "Haste to the Wedding", but includes more bagpipes where Druidstone uses flutes) and "Cab Ride to Kingston".

I'm kinda worried because we're making our own CDs instead of having a DJ and we haven't really done much with getting music for the hors d'ouvers and reception... I was going to use the Fantasia soundtrack for dinner, but Ryan thinks it's overplayed... he's trying to convince me to use the Last of the Mohicans soudtrack, but I don't know what it sounds like, so... maybe.

Our first dance is going to be "When You Say Nothing At All" by Allison Kraus and Union Station. We haven't picked a song for the father-daughter mother-son dance yet... I had to cancel our dance lesson since I was in the hospital and she just had her first grandchild, so she'll be out of town until about a week before the wedding... So hopefully we'll still be able to do it since my ballroom dancing lessons were in 5th grade and Ryan's never taken any.

We haven't picked a song to announce the wedding party... and aren't going to have music for the cake cutting, garter, etc. cause I'm just not bothering... too much other stuff to figure out.

Hopefully we'll work on that tonight and get some of it figured out... Ryan's going to work on putting them in a good order and fading and all that on Sunday and we'll burn it on Wed. I think.

[kyzmit]

Okay, so... I've been thinking a lot about what still needs to be done (SO MUCH) and the problems that we're having right now with the groomsman and all that crap... and I'm thinking it might not be so horrible.

If our groomsman doesn't come, I have another friend who will be there who almost was asked to be part of the wedding party originally. He's got the same first name, so the attendant gift will be ok. I hate that we ordered personalized cuff links for him though... I don't think he deserves to be a member of the bridal party since he hasn't been at all supportive and they've been adding to our stress all year. The good thing is, if he doesn't come, his girlfriend won't either. I don't hate her as much as I used to, but... she's very self-centered and I really don't want to spend a whole weekend listening to her rattle on about her cat and worrying that she's miserable because she doesn't know anyone and hasn't bothered to actually talk to the people that will be there when she has an opportunity to.

I'm giving them till Monday to figure out if they're coming or not. It's frustrating because he doesn't seem to realize that he's being a horrible "friend" and makes us feel used. He doesn't seem to care that I will never forgive him (I've forgiven too much of his other crap over the past 5 years) and that his "best friend" will never talk to him again if he doesn't straighten up and stop being a selfish, inconsiderate *****. Also, if he doesn't come, we're GOING to get the $50 he still owes us for the computer we sold him last April, and we're also going to have him pay us back for the tux deposit.

Anyways... maybe it won't be so bad... as long as everything kinda gets done beforehand... I think instead of crying, I may be laughing my butt off at all this $h1t. I hope.

I am SO stealing Ryan's punching bag and old gloves and putting them in my basement. Maybe I'll **** pictures of his mother and groomsman to them :p . Luckily, I've been blowing off steam to the other groomsman for the past week or so and he's... awesome. He claims he's not coming to the wedding because he's got to look for porn on the internet that day... and he doesn't have money to stay anywhere so he's going to get trashed and sleep in a ditch (or with my cousin). He's also rescuing us by borrowing a sound system from Gregory Paul (a really cool unique musician friend of his) for the weekend.

[Lacey]

Sweetheart, it is going to be ok. I promise. Just keep getting your frustrations out, that is what we are here for. As I read I just felt so bad for you. But, you are going ot have a gorgeous wedding. The apple orchard sounds wonderful. I would love to have a location like that. And your uncle is going to make it so special because he knows you and can make the ceremony personal. As for the flowers and the cake, call the baker and the florist and ask for osme details. If you are worried about the flowers being too pointy maybe have some blue and white roses or sweet peas tossed in to soften the look. Personally though I think they sound pretty. Adn with those and the cake, think of them as surprises. Your cake sounds simple to design so don't worry about that. None of us really know what those items look like anyway until we see them on the wedding. All the pictures in the world can't promise us an exactness.

Is that you in the wedding dress. Because if it is, I think you look great. If you are worried about the bust size, you still have time to find a minimizing bra. Also, talk to another seamstress. You should be able to get the bustle you want. I was told by my lady that almost any dress can have any bustle, it is just a matter of work. And, since it is just a bustle it shouldn't cost all that much to have fixed. Heck, drive down here to Pittsburgh and I'll take you to my seamstress. :D She can do anything.

I don't know if I am making you feel better or not. I hope that I am. If you need to talk private message or email me any time. No bride should feel bad about her wedding day. It should be a dream come true for all of us. Just remember the wonderful guy you are marrying. Think of your sister who loves you so much that she is willing to wear a dress for you. Think of your friend who cares enough to step up to the plate and be a fill in groomsmen. Remember your uncle who loves you and is going to have a terrific ceremony for you. You are blessed with some good people, embrace them. If nothing else, July 16 is 3 weeks away. You can survive 3 weeks. :D

[kyzmit]

Yeah, the bad picture is me... my dress is ivory, not white, but... it's close enough.

I actually spent... a couple months looking for a bustier that fit... there's only one store in my town that carries anything my size, so I ended up ordering online and it fits pretty well... I'm going to have to pin it to my dress since it shows a little in the back otherwise. (It's so depressing to walk into a store that advertises that they have everything from a 32AA to a 60MM and for them not to have anything that fits.) I'm not going to wear a veil, although I think I have a tiara (my friend at David's says she's giving me a Swarovski tiara, but I'm hoping she's not serious since it costs so much). My hairdresser (her daughter) keeps telling me "we'll see" about my hair, so I know she has an idea, but is basically planning on winging it. My hair's *really* fine, so it doesn't go or stay up very easily.

My uncle (actually, great uncle) is the most awesome man in the world. He's a farmer, businessman, B&B owner, JOP, volunteer EMT, council chairman... he's got a private airstrip (but sold his helicopter), a petting zoo for kids... he gave me my first real job and was the best boss ever... I love Ryan so much for forcing me to get married up there even though it's so stressful. He always tells me he'll never forget the first time he met my uncle; we drove up to his store in my mom's van and I jumped out and ran to hug him... My mom turned to Ryan and said "You better get over there and introduce yourself. He is the most important person to her you're ever going to meet."

It's also really cool because I just found out that not only was my grandmother married in a house on the same street by her uncle, who was a reverend, but the first marriage performed in the town was performed by Ebenezer Allen, my great great great (or something) grandfather. The bride: his neice. The location: the church on that same street... the one my parents were married in.

We still have such big stuff to do (we haven't found a wedding band for Ryan!), but... I think it might all work out. If not... as my FFIL keeps saying "July 17th is going to come no matter what happens."

Lets see... other than Jason, what mini-crises am I dealing with now (it's always something)?
1) no clue what's going on with the bridesmaid dresses
2) still feel like crap and only have one more pill to take before I'm supposed to be "all better" :mad:
3) no clue about the music and only assuming the sound system is completely taken care of... but for all I know we only have a speaker and a portable CD player and no mic (but that's ok... we don't have an MC either)
4) no ring for Ryan or garter for me
5) no clue what to get for our fathers :confused:
6) got one of the letter to mom necklaces for our mothers and I have to find something different for a poem or whatever since it talks about God and... I don't.
7) haven't heard anything about the attendants' gifts I ordered weeks ago. :confused:

Man... I guess it's not that bad anymore, but... people kept making comments about "at least you've got your health" when I was getting stressed about other stuff and things going wrong. Now I don't even have that! :(

[Marsha]

ok i went and saw the pics of your dress.. and umm its beautiful! i have the same size chest and i cant even wear a strapless so feel lucky. Let alone find astore that carries my size bra's. ALso, things are going to b o.k. Take it easy and relax. Your health will geet better start taking abunch of vitiman C and Vitamins on a daily basis. Mono is tough, sleep lots and drink lots of gater aid and water. other then that What is it that i can help u with? I have a extensive list of songs, i can burn and send to you. I can call places that have your dresses, anything im here for you! cheer up things are going to get much better

[Lacey]

I have really fine hair too. When I was little my mom used to refer to it as kitten fur. Since it is so fine how about a nice pretty neat chignon at the base of your neck? That would be so elegant. Or if your wedding is a little less formal a nice low pony tail with a deep side swept front. Those both worked for Caroline Besset Kennedy and she was considered a very elegant lady. Maybe you could even arrainge for the florist to have some pretty little blue flowers to tuck in your hair too. It would be WAY less than a crystal tiara and could double as your "something blue"

So now let's address these mini crisises ( I think I spelled that right ).
1. Do both of your maids have their dresses? If they do call and find out how it is going and what needs done. If there is work, get online and find a seamstress in their area to make sure those dresses fit. If they don't have their dresses, get them to a David's Bridal or other store that carries dresses in various sizes that they can go and pick up with minor alterations. And remember, the dresses don't have to match, just be the same color.

2. Get some rest and stop stressing. You aren't going to feel better if you keep getting so worked up over things. Its easy to say but try it. Have you tried yoga or just meditative walking? That will REALLY help clear your mind.

3. You already have the answer to your worst case scenario about the sound system. If there isn't a sytem ready you have a back up plan, use it. And, why not have your uncle MC. He is good enough and loud enough to marry you outdoors with no mic, right? And, it isn't as though it would take up his whole evening. Find a trusted friend to make sure the cd's keep moving.

4. What kind of ring does Ryan want? I used to sell jewelery in college. If he is in the market for just a plain band in gold or platinum Zales and Kays both have a nice selection and carry a variety of sizes. If he wants something different, you know what you have to do this weekend. It might cost you a little extra though for priority shipping. as for the garter, what do you have in mind. Maybe Marcia and I can help.

5. Think about your father's. I can't help you there since every dad is different. Get them something that is a reflection of them and what they enjoy. It doesn't have to be the same thing.

6. I'm not sure what you mean about the letter necklace pom for mom.

7. Call and check on the attendant's gifts. Did they take the money from your credit card or bank account. Get online with that conformation number that they sent you or start making calls. YOu paid for service, demand it.

Now, what else do you need? Remember, it is going to be fine. You have a husband and family who love you and a ton of girls here willing to do just about anything to make your wedding work.

[Marsha]

why are u buying gifts for parents?

[kg4eoh]

It's a bad picture, but here's my dress and a good picture of my bridesmaids' dresses.

I was okay with the dress before I saw one that is absolutely perfect, except it won't fit me (slinky, spaghetti straps, and beautful beading). When they changed the bustle, I really started to not like it... I think it's mostly disappointment from that... And I'm really skinny, so basically everything that fits my chest makes me feel fat, so... it's stupid I guess. My friend keeps telling me how Ryan's going to be blown away by it, so... I guess it's just me in a dress that's the main problem.

Anyways... of course I'm still in love... and this wedding is happening on July 16th if I have to hold everyone hostage; I'm not putting myself through this hell any longer than absolutely necessary.

All I really need is a place to blow off all the frustration without Ryan going nuts (every time I get a tiny bit upset, he starts stressing out and ... I just can't deal with that). And knowing that I'm not alone...

Actually, I think this log is very good for me because writing it... makes me think that yeah, everything's gone wrong, but... it's all silly little stuff in the long run... And everything does end up working itself out.

In a lot of ways the dress is perfect. It's got a corset back so it doesn't need to be altered really... It's got a kinda Celtic flair to it that really fits with the wedding (even though at that point I had no clue what we were going to do). It just really disappoints me that they can't show off the beading in back when it's bustled because the beading on the back is really what made me fall in love with the dress when I tried it on. I was never really big on the front.


I think your dress looks absolutely wonderful on you. I think you are just being overly critical because it wasn't what you first envisioned. However, you look wonderful in it.

[kyzmit]

You guys are so sweet and so awesome you make me want to cry.

With all the problems we've had, I'm constantly waiting for the other ball to drop... and it always seems to.

Let's see if I can respond to everyone before I start my next vent... (It's a dousie, but I've been preparing myself for it.)

Marcia: Someone who understands! Strapless dresses were basically the only ones that worked on me... which was actually kinda cool to learn. It took forever to find the corset, but it fits almost perfectly... and with the dress it works fine except that one pesky spot in back, but... my bridesmaid worked with me at a clothing store and did incredible work on the manequinns(sp?), so I think she'll be able to hide a safety pin pretty well... and I got some of that double sided gown/strap **** stuff to see if that works well... the corset also works well under the dress I have to wear for my friend's wedding in September, so it's nice to know it will be put to use again. Currently I'm trying to figure out the bikini top thing... I found one in FL about 4 years ago that we modified to fit me. It's a triangle top and having all that weight against my neck killed after 5 min. in the store, but Ryan is amazing and tied it off into... like a trapeziod pully system on my back... I need help tying it on, but it's only got 2 ties and once they're fixed, either one can be untied accidentally without me falling out. We're going to cozumel for the honeymoon, so I want more than one bathingsuit... I've found a couple bottoms so it'll look a little different, but... at least 2 tops would be nice... maybe I'll find one down there.

We're getting our parents gifts because they give us so much and we never give them anything... For our mothers, we got these necklaces that have a little pendant on it that is shaped like an envelope and the flap opens to reveal a little piece of paper. It comes with a little poem that's really sweet, but is also very religious near the end and I'm not Catholic anymore, so telling my mom that through her "I've come to know Jesus" is kinda stupid. I'm not sure what we'll do for that... I wanted a poem or something, but we may just
try and write something sentimental. I found a really neat pair of marble bookends for my dad... they're more than I wanted to spend, but I didn't get him a father's day gift and we decided to go light on Christmas this year and they really just struck me as perfect. We're thinking about a tie tack for Ryan's dad (at his mother's suggestion), but haven't found one that hits us yet.

Lacey: Yeah... mine's always been referred to as cornsilk... And those are some really great ideas if the thing Morgan wants to do doesn't work out. I'm actually not buying the tiara... my hairdresser's mother (a friend of mine) is giving it to me. Well... she thinks she's giving it to me, but there's no way I'm keeping it... it's just too much! I'm wondering whether or not she'll remember to give it to me before I leave for the wedding (as I said, it's in another state), but... it's not a big deal either way... Well... I've never been a tiara loving person, and never would have bought one, but... ever since she told me I "have to have one for that dress", the idea has slowly started to grow on me... I mean... I'm not a dress, makeup, and hair person either, but... I'm gonna do that. I also just bought a skirt for my honeymoon,so... I guess a little not me is okay :p .

The dresses are kinda going to be okay... the smaller size will fit my sister well with alterations and I'm not at all worried about the larger one fitting my friend... however I still have no idea what's going on with the alterations, if the otehr dress has made it into town for Karen to get altered, etc. I sent them both an e-mail today, hoping they've been doing it behind my back since I haven't been feeling well... but I think it will be okay. Worse comes to worse, there's always safety pins and creative relatives that may be able to do something. I don't know what they're doing for shoes yet, but... I really don't care anymore either. As long as they're happy and comfy, it's fine.

I love yoga, but I'm really stiff and sore lately, so I can't do much and it takes forever, which is frustrating. Ryan and I usually walk on the canal, but I'm getting tired really quickly. I'm actually using tanning as my little stress relief (not too often, of course). As for vitamins, I can FINALLY start taking them again. The medication they had me on was really sensative to many of the things in my multivitamin, so I stopped taking them for a bit.

We realized that we didn't go to one of the biggest, best priced jewelry stores in town, so we're going there tonight... or tomorrow and hopefully finding something. He wants something fairly plain and just decided on white gold instead of titanium (that was part of the problem; he couldn't make up his mind so he thought it was pointless looking).

I finally found the e-mail verifications from the attendants' gifts and e-mailed them yesterday... waiting for a response and if they don't do it soon I'm gonna get ahold of the credit card company, etc...

Thank you all so much for reassuring me about the dress. I'm just self-conscious and nervous and everything, I think. The bustle thing doesn't help, but... it really isn't a big deal.

[kyzmit]

I have to go, but made note of a rant, so I'm gonna do it super quick and probably follow up tomorrow.

JASON IS A CRAPPY FRIEND WITH A PAIN IN THE ***** BRAT OF A GIRLFRIEND AND I AM *NEVER* BEING NICE TO THEM AGAIN!!

I've put up with enough of thier *****.

Yup, that's right... 2.5 weeks before the wedding and the groomsman decides he can't come for financial reasons even though we've practically promised to pay him to come (we offered transportation, lodging, food, tux rental... every expense they claimed they couldn't afford and then some)

[kyzmit]

Okay, so I'm sure I've probably already said it here, but Jason has told us he "can't" be in or come to our wedding in 2 weeks because he doesn't have the money right now and can't afford traveling out of state.

He's known about the wedding since last September, when he said he could definately be in the wedding and would have plenty of time to save up, etc. His girlfriend has been making every conversation about how she won't know anyone and he'll be busy with stuff and she'll be all alone... ever since. Now... I couldn't stand her before... I didn't want her at the wedding, hated that I had to invite her... but according to him, I'm her best friend because she's super shy (or super self-centered, maybe?) and just can't make friends and her only friends are his sister and me. We've tried to set up get togethers with them and other members of the bridal party and friends that are coming and all this stuff so she'll get to know people, maybe make some friends, whatever. Every time we do, one of them makes an excuse to not come.

So we make sure she knows that other than getting ready for the wedding, during the ceremony, some of the pictures, and dinner, he's gonna be around. The bachelor party isn't going to be in Burlington, so she's not gonna be stuck at the hotel alone and she can come with me and get ready with the bridal party while the guys are doing their thing.

Then whenever Ryan and Jason talk, he mentions how worried she is about us not remembering to invite her, despite us making sure we had the correct spelling of her last name and us showing him the guest list with her written on it. Then she doens't have anything to wear... so I offer some of my clothes cause we're about the same size... Ends up, his parents decided to take the whole family, including her, on a cruise for a week. His mother buys her a hundred something dollar dress... so she has something to wear for the wedding. Cool... whatever.

So she's worried about the meal because she still doesn't know anyone and I won't let her sit at the head table with him (even though it would be "so much easier and nicer" for her) and she can't eat in front of people she doesn't know and why does he have to sit at the head table and blah blah blah... so I put my foot down and say "You're 20 years old, you can sit by yourself, in silence, for 30 min. He can pull up a chair with you once the dinner's over." So she pouts and whispers to him and tries to convince me more and whatever.

Then, the night before my bridal shower, he calls up saying she's not going because she has too much schoolwork... so we say.. please... and he admits that she's scared about not knowing anyone (isn't that part of the point of a bridal shower? to meet other women that will be at the wedding and are a part of the bride's life?) and she didn't get me a gift and doesn't have enough money to get anything nice. So I get on the phone and get him to hand her the phone and say that she doesn't need a gift and anyone that says anything is rude and we'll just say they left it in the car or something. She doesn't need to spend money on gas because we'll pick her up and bring her, even though it's way out of our way. She's coming with me, so she doesn't need to know anyone already and we'll pick her up a little early so she can meet my mom and sister beforehand. Then she complains about not having anything to wear... so I say nice jeans or casual pants are fine... and look all night for some clean clothes for me that are kinda dressed down so she doesn't feel uncomfortable. I end up hating the only outfit I can find, but wear it anyway... wouldn't you know, she dresses up (not too much, just... I was definately the most dressed down person there). Fine. Whatever. And we hijacked them to make sure Jason got fitted and we paid his deposit ($30) since they were broke. (We are too, but that's what credit cards are for, right?) We talked to my mom and she, for some unknown reason, fell in love with Sabrina and now defends her because "I know you don't like her, but she was very very pleasant with me." Ugh.

Anyways, so she complains about sitting alone some more. We make a nice dinner for the 4 of us. Afterwards, we end up driving them home and hanging out at their apartment to watch a movie instead of our house. She spends the entire evening showing off the junk they bought on the cruise and working on something on the computer (the one they "bought" from us and still owe us $50 for). We start a movie. When she's done with her work, she gets up and goes into the bedroom. A couple minutes later, she calls him in there... they talk for a couple minutes and he comes out and says she's going to bed, once the movie's over (it's almost halfway), we should probably get going. Fine, cool. So a couple minutes after that (if even), she calls him again. He comes back immediately and says that he's really tired and it's best if we leave. (Now, I know for a fact he's not getting any, so her only motivation was her saying she wanted him to be with her while she slept.) So we borrow the movie so we can finish it and go. I write her an extremely nice card to thank her for coming to my bridal shower and I loved talking with her and... the guy in the cubicle next to me is scared and doesn't trust me now because I'm apparently an incredible liar (nah... just good at thank you notes).

[kyzmit]

So yeah... he calls us up and says he might not be able to go and we say why not, he says they can't afford a hotel. No problem. They can stay at my mom's cabin, no charge. Free food even. So that's fine and he thinks it'll be okay... so he calls a couple days later and says he can't afford the tux. We say fine, we'll pay for whatever he can't. No big deal. We want them (ugh) there. Cool. Great... no problem, he'll come... So then he calls and says he's not sure the car should be driven on an 8 hr. trip and gas is really expensive... We say ok... hang on... so we get him a ride with my bridesmaid and her boyfriend. Sabrina's met Karen, Jason's met Jason and Karen, they all get along ok... sounds good. They say yeah, we'll split the gas, or less if they can't afford it. So... that's every single expense that they would have fo the 3 days in VT. She doesn't work, so she's not loosing money. His job is open 24/7 and he knew about the wedding before he took it, so theoretically he has the days off without loosing hours that week. Everything's good.

So he calls again less than 3 weeks before the wedding. He can't come. They can't afford it... we say "What can't you afford?" He says, basically, the trip... I just can't afford to spend the money and the landlord raised our rent and... ok... They live in RENT-CONTROLLED housing... the whole reason they live in the boonies is because it's super-cheap and NOT going to get more expensive. Anyways... so we say fine... whatever... don't come... we'll find someone else... thanks for the advance notice and being such a great friend. We'll talk to you after we get back from the honeymoon... we've got shtuff to do.

So he calls the next day "I'm really sorry man, I really wish we could go, but you know how it is, we're pretty broke... you wanna hang out Friday?" umm... no... we have wedding stuff to do and... you're not part of the wedding. So he calls THE NEXT day... "I'm sorry dude, I was thinking... since we can't go the least we can do is help out a little... how about we give you some of the money we owe you and then you'll have some pocket money for the honeymoon. Why don't you come hang out Friday?" no man... we told you... we're busy. We'll talk after the honeymoon. If you want to pay us back, drop it by the house or work or whatever.

So he calls the next day... "Hey man, you still have those movies, right? Cause my dad wanted to watch one of them with me... I was thinking... how about we get together Friday and you can bring the movies and I'll pay you back... I can give you all $80." (okay, so they can't afford to come to my wedding for free cause they're broke, but they can give us almost $100... yeah, but it has nothing at all to do with Sabrina, she's really upset they can't be there) No dude, we're busy. We'll get you the movies. "Well... I was thinking... how about I come to your job Friday and I'll give you the money and you'll bring the movies and we'll talk a minute." Fine, I'll give you the movies on Friday... whatever... So Ryan's livid and I'm about to kill him and he doesn't realize that he has TOTALLY lost his "best friend" and "brother". So Ryan says... I know he's gonna come in and wanna ***** about Sabrina and probably not bring any money and it'll be right when we're closing so he'll want to grab a beer or hang out... So I say to watch the lot and when you see his car, leave the movies with your coworker and hide in back and have him make an excuse for you. He says cool... So then he calls J and says that he's just gonna drop the movies off on his way to drop me off for work on Friday... so J says cool.. we'll talk ("no way in hell", thinks Ryan).

So this morning, we drop by and Ryan walks in and Jason goes "Hey, bro! :D " and Ryan tosses the movies on the counter and says "There you go :mad: " I can just picture J. :confused: :(

Anyways. So Ryan's decided he's writing J a letter on the plane so we don't ruin our honeymoon and he's gonna tell J off and unless he's got something really really good and thoughtful and insightful to say, he and Sabrina have just lost their "best friends". Which is actually kinda relieving cause I won't have to talk to her anymore and be nice... and quite honestly, I've tried to right his stupid butt off more times than I can count... but it looked like this time he was really starting to change... if not for her.

[kyzmit]

If Ryan's mom doesn't stop calling us 3+ times a day, I'm gonna kill her. If she says that they need to fatten me up to be sure I'll fit in my dress one more time, I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop asking the SAME EXACT QUESTIONS every time she calls, I'll kill her. If she doesn't leave me alone at my final dress fitting, since she's insisting on coming, I'll kill her. If she rubs my arms and back and comments on how exciting everything is and she can't wait and can't I and blah blah blah while we're with them for the 4th (if we absolutely must), I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop bragging about the **** rehearsal dinner and how wonderful it's going to be (basically, better than the wedding), I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop acting hurt that we're not opening the wedding gifts right away so she can see them, I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop insisting that the parents are there when you open the presents, I'll kill her (I've NEVER heard of that). If she doesn't stop suggesting a Present Opening Party so she can watch us open everything, I'll kill her.

If she drives up to VT with us on the EIGHT HOUR CAR RIDE, I'LL KILL HER and have her buried in the Adirondacks on the way up!

[reecey]

If Ryan's mom doesn't stop calling us 3+ times a day, I'm gonna kill her. If she says that they need to fatten me up to be sure I'll fit in my dress one more time, I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop asking the SAME EXACT QUESTIONS every time she calls, I'll kill her. If she doesn't leave me alone at my final dress fitting, since she's insisting on coming, I'll kill her. If she rubs my arms and back and comments on how exciting everything is and she can't wait and can't I and blah blah blah while we're with them for the 4th (if we absolutely must), I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop bragging about the **** rehearsal dinner and how wonderful it's going to be (basically, better than the wedding), I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop acting hurt that we're not opening the wedding gifts right away so she can see them, I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop insisting that the parents are there when you open the presents, I'll kill her (I've NEVER heard of that). If she doesn't stop suggesting a Present Opening Party so she can watch us open everything, I'll kill her.

If she drives up to VT with us on the EIGHT HOUR CAR RIDE, I'LL KILL HER and have her buried in the Adirondacks on the way up!

WOW! sounds like my sister! Its gonna all work out - you can just decide to not open the presents until you're alone with Ryan :) If she doesn't like it, I guess that's just tough rocks for her! I know you don't want to be mean to her because she has such good intentions, but maybe you could tell her that you really feel that its a private moment between you and ryan to open the presents and that you'd be more than happy to have her come over after everything's all done to see what wonderful gifts you received.

[Lacey]

If Ryan's mom doesn't stop calling us 3+ times a day, I'm gonna kill her. If she says that they need to fatten me up to be sure I'll fit in my dress one more time, I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop asking the SAME EXACT QUESTIONS every time she calls, I'll kill her. If she doesn't leave me alone at my final dress fitting, since she's insisting on coming, I'll kill her. If she rubs my arms and back and comments on how exciting everything is and she can't wait and can't I and blah blah blah while we're with them for the 4th (if we absolutely must), I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop bragging about the **** rehearsal dinner and how wonderful it's going to be (basically, better than the wedding), I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop acting hurt that we're not opening the wedding gifts right away so she can see them, I'll kill her. If she doesn't stop insisting that the parents are there when you open the presents, I'll kill her (I've NEVER heard of that). If she doesn't stop suggesting a Present Opening Party so she can watch us open everything, I'll kill her.

If she drives up to VT with us on the EIGHT HOUR CAR RIDE, I'LL KILL HER and have her buried in the Adirondacks on the way up!

My FMIL insisted that my FH, myself, his other sister, and his sister's new inlaws all come ot my FMIL's house to watch the FSIL and her new husband open gifts. That was 3 hours of my life that I will never get back. They had to open each gift, Then they had to pass the card around so all 10 of us in the room could read it. If yu didn't read it she called you on it. Then they had to pass around the gift so that we could all see it. I thought I would have a nervous breakdown! I don't give a frog's fat ***** what my FSIL's bath mats look like. Eventually I will be visiting and have to pee. I'll see them then!

Personally I will be opening my gifts with my then husband in the privacy of our home. She can stop buy sometime and see what we got. I know for a fact that neither one of my parents care about what a beautiful picture is on every one of those ****ed cards!

[kyzmit]

My FMIL insisted that my FH, myself, his other sister, and his sister's new inlaws all come ot my FMIL's house to watch the FSIL and her new husband open gifts. That was 3 hours of my life that I will never get back. They had to open each gift, Then they had to pass the card around so all 10 of us in the room could read it. If yu didn't read it she called you on it. Then they had to pass around the gift so that we could all see it. I thought I would have a nervous breakdown! I don't give a frog's fat ***** what my FSIL's bath mats look like. Eventually I will be visiting and have to pee. I'll see them then!

Personally I will be opening my gifts with my then husband in the privacy of our home. She can stop buy sometime and see what we got. I know for a fact that neither one of my parents care about what a beautiful picture is on every one of those ****ed cards!

That's exactly how I feel. The worst part is, that's what they do at Christmas too. Each person is handed one present. Then you go around the room and open them one at a time, ooh, ah, take a picture. Move on to the next person. Then the next round of presents. They even do this with the socks... all 3 packages per person. Yeah, it makes opening presents last forever, but... it makes opening presents last *forever*.

In my family, we rip everything open. If we get to a present that isn't ours, we toss it across the room and hope it doesn't hit the person or break. At some point we'll get tackled by each person with a big hug and "I love you, it's perfect." Half the time we have no clue who's present we're opening or who's opened ours; last year I found a gift card from my brother still in the tree almost a week after Christmas. We don't sit around and be creapy and nosey.

If they're saying this is something that's done simply because it's one of the "family value" things they do in the midwest, I'm gonna be even more upset and laugh my butt off. I'm good friends with my 3rd cousins and we have a family picnic every year and a reunion every 5 or so; the only relative of his they actually have contact with besides Christmas cards and the wedding invitations is his "grandfather"... his father's uncle; he hasn't spoken to his real father since he was 17. Family values my *****.

[kyzmit]

Our friend Phil has most wonderfully agreed to be our new groomsman. Ryan's really happy because he always felt bad that the only thing Phil was originally supposed to do was read part of a poem. (I just wouldn't let him have more groomsmen because I didn't have anyone else I really wanted to make a bridesmaid.)

Yay!! Crap... I just realized... Pam and Phil are reading a poem together... hmm... I guess I'll have my sister hold on to their son while they do that :o ...

[kyzmit]

I ordered personalized cufflinks for Phil, so he'll have ones like the rest of the guys... I sent them to my sister's house and paid the fortune for express shipping (nearly double what the item itself cost!) so I really really hope they get there on time. I got an e-mail telling me that it had gone into production yesterday, and they're usually shipped out within a couple days of that... and it's 2 day shipping... Cross your fingers.

Here are the cufflinks we're getting for the guys (by the way, we have an extra pair that says "JAD" if anyone wants them. I sure don't want to give him any presents now :p ):

[kyzmit]

I'm wearing the ones with gems... mine will be blue... and one of the bracelets. The others are for my bridesmaids.

[Lacey]

All of your purchases for your attendants as so pretty. Nice job! Can I have a neckalce too? :D Just kidding. Anyway I am glad you have your friend Phil. He sounds like a true friend. You need to be surrounded by those right now.

As for the gift thing, my FIL do the same thing at Christmas. THen they go on for like 10 minutes after you oen the gift about how nice it is. I am like "Jesus Christ it is scarf..move along people nothing to see here." I am only child so at home Christmas moved at the pace that I dictated. It started when I wanted it to and it went as fast as I wanted it go. Not to mention that I was a little bit spoiled so I could really drag it out. At his parents you have to be there at a set time or breakfast. Then you have to open gifts and have lunch. Then you have to visit the grandparents. They had no idea what to do with me the last few years. His mother would call to lay out the plan and got the response of "Its our day off, we will be getting up when we get up. We will get to your house about 2 hours later. We also have my parents and grandparents to visit. Don't hold breakfast and lunch for us."

[kyzmit]

I was going to rave about how we finally found a plain silver (white gold) button cover for Ryan and it's nice and cheap and because we were at that site we found the perfect tie tac for Ryan's dad... but I just got an e-mail saying that the company they order from is "closed" until July 18th... and the wedding's the 16th, so that won't do. But the company's called Heaster Lawson Business Products if there's anyone else who's having the same difficulty. The button cover's only about $14, but they have a minimum order of $25.

[kyzmit]

All of your purchases for your attendants as so pretty. Nice job! Can I have a neckalce too? :D Just kidding. Anyway I am glad you have your friend Phil. He sounds like a true friend. You need to be surrounded by those right now.

As for the gift thing, my FIL do the same thing at Christmas. THen they go on for like 10 minutes after you oen the gift about how nice it is. I am like "Jesus Christ it is scarf..move along people nothing to see here." I am only child so at home Christmas moved at the pace that I dictated. It started when I wanted it to and it went as fast as I wanted it go. Not to mention that I was a little bit spoiled so I could really drag it out. At his parents you have to be there at a set time or breakfast. Then you have to open gifts and have lunch. Then you have to visit the grandparents. They had no idea what to do with me the last few years. His mother would call to lay out the plan and got the response of "Its our day off, we will be getting up when we get up. We will get to your house about 2 hours later. We also have my parents and grandparents to visit. Don't hold breakfast and lunch for us."

Phil is our hero :) We're both actually in their wedding this fall, so it's really nice that he can be a part of ours now. I'm very happy with our wedding party now... every member in it would do anything and everything they have to no matter what to make us happy and are some of the best friends and family you could ever wish for. I'm getting happier by the day that Jason's no longer coming... I don't have to deal with him or his girlfriend, Phil is a much better friend even though Ryan and J were closer... in the sense that Jason's like the younger brother that you're always trying unsuccessfully to keep from getting into more trouble and he's not listening and doesn't learn from his mistakes :rolleyes: ... but they were like brothers for years.

The jewelry is actually really cheap... I think the necklace and earring sets were $22 or so and the bracelets were $8 or something. Not bad and I think they'll look great with the dresses... nothing fancy, of course, but economical and can definately be used again.

Ryan actually is an only child, but... his parents are the kind of people that are always together, usually in the same room (Ryan actually gets kinda upset when I leave him in a different room to do something and don't come back within 15 min.), they buy matching shirts and stuff... we always get matching shirts from wherever when they go on vacation. It's creapy weird sickening. The Christmas thing is at their pace because it's "showing respect for the people and the gifts they gave you and enjoying time together as a family." Yeah... my family respects them by wanting to get them all opened ASAP and get started on the thank you notes :p

[kyzmit]

We ordered an 8 pc. (plus one extra mug) wedding set that comes with 2 toasting flutes, 3 boxes, and 3 mugs (choice of 2 styles of boxes and mugs) from acustomengraver.com (net?) We had to e-mail them since we hadn't heard anything and the wedding was getting close, but they're supposed to be delivered today and hopefully they're all good.

Here's what we got (personalized with names, date, etc.):

[kyzmit]

Okay, so it's not wedding related, but that last guy's lucky I'm a phone technician or else he'd be lying on the floor right now... just cause I'm a girl and the guy he spoke to last didn't tell him to do what I told him to.

If you don't know what a driver is and think update and upgrade are interchangeable, you have no right asking me if I "listen to the problem, converse with someone about it, and tell it to the customer." What am I a ****ing waitress? Did I put him on hold even once? NO. He gave me an issue, I asked if he'd updated his product, burner drivers, and OS. Who doesn't know how to update Windows? Or thinks that just because you have XP you're all good to go with everything?

Stupid people are bad enough, but rude, condescending, men are just asking for it. These people don't seem to realize that I have their phone number, full name, address, e-mail address... and can do a heck of a lot more than screw with their product registration. Not that I would, but I certainly could and if they're so smart, they should realize that and try to play nice.

[reecey]

Okay, so it's not wedding related, but that last guy's lucky I'm a phone technician or else he'd be lying on the floor right now... just cause I'm a girl and the guy he spoke to last didn't tell him to do what I told him to.

If you don't know what a driver is and think update and upgrade are interchangeable, you have no right asking me if I "listen to the problem, converse with someone about it, and tell it to the customer." What am I a ****ing waitress? Did I put him on hold even once? NO. He gave me an issue, I asked if he'd updated his product, burner drivers, and OS. Who doesn't know how to update Windows? Or thinks that just because you have XP you're all good to go with everything?

Stupid people are bad enough, but rude, condescending, men are just asking for it. These people don't seem to realize that I have their phone number, full name, address, e-mail address... and can do a heck of a lot more than screw with their product registration. Not that I would, but I certainly could and if they're so smart, they should realize that and try to play nice.


I don't miss those days :P

[Niffer&yert]

Okay, so it's not wedding related, but that last guy's lucky I'm a phone technician or else he'd be lying on the floor right now... just cause I'm a girl and the guy he spoke to last didn't tell him to do what I told him to.

If you don't know what a driver is and think update and upgrade are interchangeable, you have no right asking me if I "listen to the problem, converse with someone about it, and tell it to the customer." What am I a ****ing waitress? Did I put him on hold even once? NO. He gave me an issue, I asked if he'd updated his product, burner drivers, and OS. Who doesn't know how to update Windows? Or thinks that just because you have XP you're all good to go with everything?

Stupid people are bad enough, but rude, condescending, men are just asking for it. These people don't seem to realize that I have their phone number, full name, address, e-mail address... and can do a heck of a lot more than screw with their product registration. Not that I would, but I certainly could and if they're so smart, they should realize that and try to play nice.

Lol. I used to work at princess cruises and I would get calls from very rude people. I too had access to all the info above. I used to joke with a co-worker that i was going to send them bags of poop from Princess. lol
People, suck. Tell them your planning a wedding and dont need their attitude.

[Kelly1Mickey]

Okay, so it's not wedding related, but that last guy's lucky I'm a phone technician or else he'd be lying on the floor right now... just cause I'm a girl and the guy he spoke to last didn't tell him to do what I told him to.

If you don't know what a driver is and think update and upgrade are interchangeable, you have no right asking me if I "listen to the problem, converse with someone about it, and tell it to the customer." What am I a ****ing waitress? Did I put him on hold even once? NO. He gave me an issue, I asked if he'd updated his product, burner drivers, and OS. Who doesn't know how to update Windows? Or thinks that just because you have XP you're all good to go with everything?

Stupid people are bad enough, but rude, condescending, men are just asking for it. These people don't seem to realize that I have their phone number, full name, address, e-mail address... and can do a heck of a lot more than screw with their product registration. Not that I would, but I certainly could and if they're so smart, they should realize that and try to play nice.

This might give you a giggle. As I have mentioned before, I work at a timeshare resort. Well, one of our owners is a HUGE pain is the *****. We have problems with him constantly. Well, he checked in this week and before his first night was over, he was instructed by the GM not to speak to any of the staff. If he needed anything, he was to go straight to her.

Anyway, on Sunday, he got into an arguement with another owner and got punched in the face. That by itself thrilled me! BUT the really great part was when I was able to present the man that did the punching with a gift certificate for dinner! It was his thank you for beating up the bad guy! My company has a great sense of humor!

[reecey]

This might give you a giggle. As I have mentioned before, I work at a timeshare resort. Well, one of our owners is a HUGE pain is the *****. We have problems with him constantly. Well, he checked in this week and before his first night was over, he was instructed by the GM not to speak to any of the staff. If he needed anything, he was to go straight to her.

Anyway, on Sunday, he got into an arguement with another owner and got punched in the face. That by itself thrilled me! BUT the really great part was when I was able to present the man that did the punching with a gift certificate for dinner! It was his thank you for beating up the bad guy! My company has a great sense of humor!


oh now that is TOO funny! :) Kinda reminds you that every dog has his day! :)

[kyzmit]

oh now that is TOO funny! :) Kinda reminds you that every dog has his day! :)

Yeah, I get a huge kick out of walking into my old retail jobs and ripping apart people who are being messy or rude... Can't get fired now!

BTW: not that there's anything wrong with being a waitress... but I'm not one and to assume that I take the "order" and pass it on to some "master chef" tech support GUY is so horribly insulting.

They're not much better today. I'm f-ing swamped :(

[kyzmit]

YES!!! We finally figured out what song we want to use for the mother/son and father/daughter dance! It was so hard getting anyone to help me narrow the "eh" choices I found; I asked Ryan over a month ago to listen to them and I still haven't heard any feedback and I sent all the lyrics to his mom and her only response was to make an offhand comment about how kind and generous she could be. So she read it, but obviously had put no thought into my actual question. (I actually hate that song.)

Anyways, so last weekend we were getting ready to go out the door and PBS was on and there was a WXXI "Be more..." commercial on and we loved the song in it and realized it was perfect, but I didn't think to write down the lyrics and thought maybe I recognized the voice... and we haven't seen the commercial since (although we learned a lot about the psychology of animals :p ). Ryan remembered one lyric "take my breath away", but since there are about 50 versions of the song with that name, which this isn't, we knew it would be impossible to find. Today, Ryan called me and told me he called WXXI, explained the problem (we don't remember which commercial it was, we don't know anything about it, but we need you to tell us the song) and that he isn't insane, just wants to make me happy... and get out of looking at the list I gave him, I think... and they said all the new commercial songs are from the American Tune album by Eva Cassidy. Turns out track 10 is called "You Take My Breath Away." So YAY, we found it.

Of course, Ryan's upset with me now because I was trying to explain to him that since I wasn't eating, standing by a clock, etc. when he called me, and he kept hearing crunching or ticking or something, I couldn't stop the noise and I was paying attention to him (I was walking down a hallway!) and he got upset because apparently I was yelling at him. You'd think I would have gotten nasty looks for walking down the hall at work yelling at someone on my cell phone... especially from the company President who was standing in the same hallway. Anyways... the 4th time I had to explain it, I was kinda ****ed and he'd been going off on me for about 5 minutes already... now he's upset because I won't answer my cell phone... because I'm at work and my job is to talk on the phone so I kinda have to do that :rolleyes: So yeah... I think we're going to have a great dance lesson tonight :p

(When he picks me up, he'd better apologize and explain how horrible his day was dealing with the airhead owners and not having anyone to help out since his manager's on vacation. (He got in a huge fight with them yesterday too.)

[kyzmit]

37 minutes left of work... yay... Okay, so I'm REALLY starting to hate my job now that they have me answering TS phone calls when I never got any TS training for the products and haven't even used any of them in months. E-mails are one thing cause you have plenty of time to look for an answer or think about it, but... MAN... These customers are super rude too!

Anyways, so we've copied all the songs off the Irish CDs we want to use for the ceremony, reception, hors d'eouvres, and dinner and put them into files... We've ordered the ceremony music. We still have to pick out the regular reception music, put everything in order, and burn it to CDs... oh yeah, and find another sound system because GPs isn't powerful enough to do the reception even though it will handle the ceremony (well, the one he will let us bring to VT with us... you know how artists are with their equipment) and Hertz has already rented out the sound system we would need (which is exactly why I've been trying to get Ryan to verify the equipment since... November). Anyways, so hopefully we'll actually have a way to play music that people will be able to hear.

The Irish artists we're using are:
Gaelic Storm - Special Reserve and How Are We Getting Home? albums
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack
Celtic Harps album
The Chieftans - The Long Black Veil (it's got lots of cool rock guest singers)
Flogging Molly... don't remember which album
Druidstone - The Vow

Our first dance song is "When You Say Nothing at All" by Allison Kraus and Union Station.

[kyzmit]

Last night, Ryan and I sorted all the music for dinner and ordered it... now we just need to cut the empty spaces off the ends and burn the dinner and ceremony music to disks.

We picked more music for the reception, but so far we still have only about 2 hrs. worth... we're going to his parent's house tonight to get more "old people" stuff... Then we're going to Media Play cause we got a coupon for there the same day we spent a bunch of money and we're gonna get that credited and maybe pick up some non-crappy party-mix-type CDs... If they exist :p

Anyways... I think putting the hors d-ouevres music in order should be pretty easy; all the songs are Celtic rock music and they have the same types of tempos so none of them should be too jarring. Hopefully we can do that within an hour...

I think I'm just gonna slap the reception music together so that we never have the same artist back to back and hopefully it will sound good... It took a few hours to put the dinner music together and that's just a 1.5 hr. playlist (no, we don't expect to use it all, but... JIC)... There's no way in hell I'm working that hard on a 6 hr. playlist with lots of music I don't really like.(eww... I actually said ok to the Beatles and Dylan)

We have to have this all done in the next 2 nights or we won't be able to bring it up with us... and there's still packing and other last-minute things to do!

[kyzmit]

Ryan just called me after talking to our friend, Rob. Rob is the person we were originally borrowing our sound system from, but due to him selling it back in November and us not really realizing it until June, we have none now... for the reception, we have a small one for the ceremony. Anyways, so Rob has a friend Tim, who used to be in a band with him (Weis-Guize; they were pretty awesome and sponsored by Budweiser). Anyways so he said that he hasn't had a chance to talk to Tim about it yet, but he has the sound equipment and thinks we can borrow it... YAY! (the one good piece of news so far today, figured I should make sure to put it in) So we may have equipment to bring with us Wed. when we leave.

Anyways, so the reason that Rob didn't talk to Tim last night is because he was at the hospital... which didn't surprise me at first because he got some 3rd degree sunburn on his nose on the 4th of July and almost was admitted Friday night... turns out, it wasn't him who was in the hospital. It's his daughter, Morgan, a really good friend of mine... she got 1st degree sunburn on her shoulders and woke up feeling like crap on Saturday, but she stuck it out for her sister's graduation party and was starting to look a lot better... well, turns out she has pneumonia. So... one of my best friends is in the hospital and I'm not going to be able to go see her before we leave probably... but I'm gonna try to find out which hospital she's in and try.

Wel... Morgan's more than just my friend. She's also my hairdresser... so the relavent part to this forum is that it's less than a week before my wedding and my hairdresser's in the hospital and will hopefully be out by then, but I'm not going to make her drive all the way to VT to help me out when she just got out of the hospital! So I have no hairdresser, am not sure where I'm getting my nails done (hopefully University Mall has a nail salon in it... every mall around here has at least one), and I don't have anyone to do my makeup (I don't usually wear it and neither do any of the girls in my family and I don't trust Ryan's mom to do it for me... her makeup isn't bad, but... it's middle-aged-midwestern-woman, not glowing-bride). So hopefully I can con one of the ladies at a makeup counter at the mall into doing something for me... I guess I'll just have to tell them a couple of these sob stories and promise to buy a crapload of makeup :p

So yeah... And I just checked the weather report for So. Hero/Burlington next Saturday. Guess what. It's supposed to rain all week. Nice, huh? Actually, I found a site that said it was supposed to be a 30% chance of rain each day and another one that said that it's just supposed to be partly sunny with no rain that day, so... hopefully the 70% chance of no rain most days will happen and no rain wins! It's supposed to be almost 90 as well! I don't mind that, but my guests probably will.

I did get a heater for the tent to move air around and hopefully keep it warm when the sun goes down or it gets windy. The tent comes with flaps we can roll down. We should have enough room in the tent to have the ceremony in it without getting in the caterer's and baker's way. We're going to buy X-mas lights to string everywhere so it's not too dark (yeah, forgot to get lights). And if people need to use the restrooms... we'll have to figure out some sort of tarp arangement for them to get to the portapotties without getting too wet.

I'm just trying to figure out what else could go wrong so we can combat that... our groomsman's truck is fixed, so he should have no problem getting up there and he's said he's going to put his motorcycle in the bed (with the sound equipment?... sounds like a maybe not good idea) just in case it breaks down. Our other groomsman (J's replacement) has been told that under absolutely no circumstances should he leave straight from work (at 12AM after a 36 hr. shift) and we may kill him if he actually makes it to the reheasal since that means he didn't get hardly any sleep and he's gonna have his fiance and baby in the car. The bridesmaid dresses are taken care of, but I'm afraid my sister's going to kill herself in her shoes since they have a 2.5 in. narrow heel and she's a teva and sneakers person... but the other bridesmaid wears heels all the time and got wide heeled 1 in. shoes, so she's more than happy to switch if Becca can't handle it.

Oh well... Pretty soon we'll just be riding the wave. Hopefully we're prepared enough for everything.

(My co-worker in the cubicle next to me thinks I should have a movie made about all this. Hey... I know an indy filmmaker!)

[kg4eoh]

Kyzmit, I know you are getting excited and/or naseous at this point. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help!!

[NYjerseygirl]

Hi kizmit, I've seen you around the board and thought I would visit your jounral :)

Boy are you having tons of wedding stress! what is wrong with people? I'm so sorry that the planning hasn't gone as smooth as it should for most brides, God only knows how many times I cried and went bridezilla on people during my planning process. I will try to keep up to date with your journal and hope it all turns out all right! good luck!

[kyzmit]

Kyzmit, I know you are getting excited and/or naseous at this point. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help!!

Actually, I'm quite nausious right now... I spent all night (literally) packing and working on music. I hope I don't get too many calls today :(

I'm just waiting for something to go horribly wrong with the pictures... besides me having huge circles under my eyes and it pouring out :p

We leave tomorrow... as soon as possible, but we've got a lot of errands to do in the morning.

[kyzmit]

Well, we had trouble burning the music (for some reason it was taking forever) and running errands took unexpectadly long. We ran the errands and fought the burner for hours before we ended up putting all the music on our friend's laptop (mine's finnicky). We finally left for VT Thursday morning after getting essentially no sleep.

We arrived in South Hero after a fairly uneventful drive at 3pm and drove straight to the Town Hall to get our marriage license since they closed at 4 and aren't open Fridays. There I realized that I put my current name on the application instead of the new one, but... I'll just have to go about changing that separately... once I figure out how.

Friday was very hectic. I don't remember most of it, but it went fairly well. We realized that we'd somehow forgotten to pack a bag of toiletries so we needed to go to the drugstore and buy a bunch of stuff (I still haven't found it either, which is really frustrating since I'd specifically put it somewhere in the way so we wouldn't forget it; I'm pretty sure Ryan moved it since it was in his way.) We had a lot to talk to my uncle (JOP) about and realized that their stereo system was close to the windows so we could use that for the ceremony music and we would only have to move the laptop, not the entire sound system. I went to get my nails done at a salon near our hotel, and instead of doing just french tips like I asked, she painted my entire nail a silvery blue (the polish I had bought was in the bag that got left behind)... so I hated it... although after a week of it now, I guess it's not too bad.

When the rental company brought the tent and tables, it looked like they had too many banquet tables, and it turns out it was the exact number of the ones I had accidentally added and later corrected, so we had them take almost all of them back... then I realized Saturday morning when we were setting up that some of them were our buffet tables. So we ended up having to scrounge around to find some for the caterer to use... luckily we had enough tableclothes, so it looked ok. The had also forgotten to give us the inflator piece for the helium tank, so that set us late on Friday since we had to wait for them to come back to give it to us. Ryan and I ended up getting to the rehearsal almost an hour late and in a really bad mood. The rehearsal went okay, except we couldn't get the unity candles to stay lit for more than a few seconds because of the extremely light breeze. Dinner was great, but I spent quite a bit of time talking to my sister who was desperately trying to track down Karen and Jason, my other bridesmaid and her boyfriend (who was going to do a very important reading) who no one had heard from all day. They finally arrived, after a huge traffic jam and a very long detour. We realized that neither they, nor my hairdresser and her boyfriend had been able to make hotel arrangements, so they all ended up leaving early to try to find a hotel room. Due to a bunch of events in town that weekend (including a huge beer festival), Morgan and John had to stay at a HoJo in the next town... I have no clue what Karen and Jason ended up doing. While Morgan got my hair in curlers, the guys went out to get a beer... during which they realized that lines everywhere were insane because of the beerfest, Ryan ripped the nail off one of his fingers while putting the seat up in the backseat of the car, and twisted his ankle (another trip to the drug store on Saturday for an ankle brace).

[kyzmit]

Saturday was insanely busy. It looked like the rain might hold off, but it was supposed to start at 3:00, exactly on time for the ceremony. There was very little wind and it was about 95 degrees and very muggy. Ryan and Kevin spent most of the time buying chords, setting up the sound system, and testing the music in both areas. Phil was exhausted, so we set him to work cleaning the chairs. My sister, her husband, and my brothers set up the tables and positioned the centerpieces so that they could be filled later. They were supposed to be little votive holders with floating candles, which we didn't want to melt.

My haidresser ended up arriving at the B&B late, and we were interrupted a bunch of times by my cousins while I was trying to get ready, but I still managed to be ready early... but no one knew where the boys were. They'd disappeared, apparently to change at the hotel, and no one could get ahold of them. So we sat down and waited and waited... and I heard they showed up at about 3:15. My sister ***e up to me and said that she and Ray had worn their wedding rings just in case something happened with ours (they don't wear them except when they're appart for a few days). And then told me that something had happened to ours... well... mine. I had decided not to put my ring with the rest of the stuff to brign to the B&B, but had left it at the hotel with all the other stuff the guys wold need when they were getting ready. Ryan had picked it up (in the box) and showed it to Kevin, on the other side of the bed. He then put it back down on the bed and they rushed out. Then they had to mess with the music some... and I realized that although the music could be heard fine outside, I couldn't hear it inside and we had no clue where the breaks were in the song (it's 3.5 min. long, so we had some interesting timeing). I ended up just sending people out at what I thought might be the right points....

When I got out there, it was unbearably hot and muggy... everyone was soaking through their suits, but it wasn't raining. The ceremony went fairly well... except Ryan was pretty rigid when I ***e out (apparently when I first walked out, he got budged by Kevin since he was leaning forward at an odd angle with his mouth wide open... so I guess he liked the dress). He had sweat running down his face... I felt so bad for those guys in their black tuxes :( . The ceremony went great... Karen did a great job faking that she new exactly what to do (they'd missed the rehearsal), the wreath took forever and my sister started crying when she read her part, and the unity candle just did not want to light... even though the air was completely dead for most of the ceremony, a light breeze appeared just then. After... way too long, we finally got the ****rs to stay lit long enough to bring them both up to the pillar when Ryan's immediately went out and mine stayed just long enough to light the candle and recognize that it was actually lit. Then they all immediately went out... Oh well. (I actually think it's really funny, considering that the only reason I put that part in was because I knew Ryan's mother expected to have it... and it's the only thing that really went wrong...) At the end of the ceremony, the recessional music started playing... and immediately stopped... then started again when we were halfway down the aisle... I guess the laptop was freezing.

Immediately after the ceremony, Kevin grabbed the laptop, dashed to his truck, and raced over to the tent to set it up. We rushed through the family/bridal party pictures since we were already way off schedule and my sister had to get to the tent to give the catere more instructions. Finally everyone took off and Ryan and I took some more pictures, some medium formats and infrareds, and learned that my uncle's classic ford (a woody named Winnie) was finally running great, so he drove us off through the field.

[SarahK]

sounds like it went mostly good, so far.... :)

[Marsha]

hurry get some pics up i cant wait to see how pretty u looked!

[kyzmit]

We arrived at the reception, said a quick hello to a few people. Since the icing was starting to melt, we cut the cake first. We decided for simplicity's sake to toss the bouquet (made it to the group on the send try, right into the arms of my friend, Pam, who's getting married in a couple months). Ryan was jeered for not shoving his head under my dress (which was being help to my bra by about 10 safety pins since I'd lost enough weight that it couldn't be tied tight enough), which probably would have gotten him accidentally kicked with my 4.5 inch heels (which I'm pleased to report were much more comfortable with stockings on). Of course, I accidentally took the wrong garter so I had to hide it whiel he got the tossing one. It took him 4 tries to get the garter to someone... first he undershot a tiny bit, then they let it sail right over their heads... Then he shot it directly at Phil, who's marrying Pam... who ducked. So Ryan brought it over and whipped it in his face.

Kevin did a verynice, totally improvised, toast... which was very nice and basically was a tiny glimpse into their adventurous history together (When driving to VA beach; "You know how to get there?" "It's south, right?") and how I always put up with him (Who wouldn't? He's awesome!), etc. Then we started the buffet. We had about 2 bites to eat before we went off to take more pictures, this time with Kevin and Becca. I managed to get my food down, drink a couple sips of champagne, and start on a piece of cake when we realized that everyone else had finished eating and we really should get music started... so we did our first dance... which went great except that either Ryan or I forgot one of the moves and we ended up with an interesting half-spin, almost-crash-into-each-other thing. The parent's dance went fine also... Luckily, the brace really helped Ryan's ankle, so he only limped a little. And the reception went on with a little more dancing, my dress nearly falling down once or twice, and Morgan and John having to leave early on because her dress ripped. I got to talk to my friend, Lena, and my cousin, Lisa, each of whom I hadn't seen in almost 10 years. I also saw my dad's brother's family, but didn't get much time to talk to anyone... I just hope someone got a picture of Karen and Jason chasing each other around the tent posts with the bubbles because that was hillarious.

When we realized we were getting dangerously close to having to clean up, we hopped in the car, drove down to the cemetary to talk to my granparents and leave my bouquet for them. Although I go there everytime we're in VT, it's the first time Ryan's actually come in with me, so that was kinda nice. My granfather died when I was a baby and my grandmother died a couple years before Ryan and I met, so he didn't know them at all. He did know my uncle who was buried there a couple years ago.

When we were on our way back to the hotel, I realized I'd left all my clothes, wallet, hotel key, etc. at the B&B and hoped someone would find it... then realized that Ryan didn't have his key either... it was another casualty of rushing out. So I in my gown and he in his tux went to the front desk for a new key... and figured we'd use our obviously newlywed status to see if they would keep the pool open a little late for us since we wouldn't be able to use it otherwise. They said they'd keep it open an extra 30 min (which gave us almost an hour). So we rushed upstairs, got me out of the dress, into our suits, and went down to the pool and hottub for about 45 min.

[kyzmit]

(oops... almost forgot... after we got out of the pool, we hung out with Kevin for a little bit before he drove back to Rochester during the night to spend more time with his sister before she left town again. And for anyone wondering if we had sex or were too tired... I honestly can't remember, but I think we did?)

We went out for breakfast and window shopping on Church St. with Ryan's parents, aunt, uncle, and cousin. They called his other uncle, who was unable to come, and I finally got to speak with him. He seems really nice. Then they left town and we met up with Morgan and John and went out to lunch at RiRa (a really cool irish pub) and more window shopping. Then we found out that Hurricane Emily was going to his Cozumel (the first hurricane to hit it in 30 years) and the island was being evacuated and... yeah. So we spend all night trying to get ahold of the resort to find out what to do... and realized that no one would be in the office until 8 the next morning... and we were supposed to take our first flight at 6. So we found out that according to USAirways, they were still flying into Cozumel, but would reroute people if they needed to be. So we stayed up all night packing and trying to actually talk to someone from USAir... didn't happen, of course... we would get put on hold, get to the front of the queue, and either be sent back to the beginning or hung up on.

[kyzmit]

So after... about an hour and a half of sleep, Ryan and I got up and were carted off to the airport by his parents. Who very creapily stood near the glass on the other side of security for the almost 2 hours until our flight left.

So we flew the first leg, to DC, and called the resort just after 8am... where we were told that we could definately reschedule (which would have been fine if we weren't both halfway through our only vacation time this year) or go to a different resort (neither of which we were really interested in). In order to possibly get a refund or get switched to another resort, we had to call the reservations manager who didn't get in until 10am. So they said to get on our next flight, so we did... and called them just after 10 when we got to NC... where we were told she was in a meeting and would call us back in 15 minutes... after almost an hour, we called again and no one answered... over the next couple hours, we were told they were working on it and that as far as they knew, the Cozumel airport was closed... despite that our flight to get there was departing in less than 30 min. So we missed our flight and didn't get any response from the resort except that we might be able to go to a different resort on Wed. So we decided to go to Vegas, called my brother-in-law to make hotel reservations for us, switched our tickets, and called the credit card company to contest the resort charge (the hurricane getting in the way is understandable, but they should have had a backup plan, should have contacted people to tell them not to come beforehand, and should have given us some kind of actual information at some point over the course of the 8+ hours we spoke to them that day.

So we flew from Burlington, to DC, to NC, to Pittsburgh, to LV (first class teh last leg!). We got there at about 11:30, waited for our luggage, got to the Luxor, waited forever in line (okay... checking into a hotel is NOT rocket science, people. Especially when you have reservations. There's no reason for each person checking in to be standing up there asking questions for 15 minutes.) found out that my brother-in-law had signed us up for non-smoking rooms... because we usually don't smoke around them... and wound up with a suite at no extra charge. Se we went upstairs and went to bed.

[kyzmit]

When we woke up, we saw whtie stuff on the bottom of Ryan's bag... and opened it to find that it had been searched by the TSA and they hadn't rebagged our toiletries... so half a bottle of sunscreen was poured all over one side of the suitcase... and then found a half-full bottle of toner as well... When toner and sunscreen mix, it makes an interesting muddy brown that is nearly impossible to get out of clothes... so we wpend most of the day washing his clothes in the sink and wringing them out in towels and hanging them to dry... then decided to find out what we would need to buy because "Vegas clothes" are much different than "Cozumel clothes." So we did a little window shopping. Wednesday we went out and bought some stuff, including a really nice $150 french cut shirt, Versace tie, and a very expensive jacket. We took the jacket, tie, and another shirt they threw in for free because we liked it so much, but only wanted to buy one if we were getting the jacket. They kept the french cuff shirt to shorten the arms by an inch and said they'd drop is off at the hotel the next day. We then went to check out the hotel and the adjoining hotels (Excalabur and Mandalay Bay).

[kyzmit]

We called Ryan's grandparents (they live near the airforce base) and set up dinner for Friday, bought tickets for Ka for Friday night and Blue Man Group on Saturday. I took a really long bath and we spent some time at the pool... which was kinda diappointing because, 1. people stare at me in a bikini (one guy actually was videotaping me until Ryan went over and yelled at him) and 2. although there are 4 crowded hot tubs, the pools are only 3.5 ft. deep. The shirt still hadn't arrived when we went to dinner that night, so we decided to do room service for dinner and got a movie in the hotel room and relaxed a little.

Still nothing on the shirt for most of Friday... We went outside and checked out the Tropicana and MGM... Then we got on the monorail and went down to Bally's. It started raining while we were passing Bellagio and we went into the Alladdin to get dry and try to find the bikini shop that claimed in it's add that it had up to size E (it's impossible to find my size). On our way, we found a cool CSI: Vegas shirt, a flying tinkerbell (I love tink), and a little teddy bear in a fireman's outfit for Charlie, Pam and Phil's 1 yr. old (Phil's a volunteer firefighter).

When I got to the store, it was a bit overwhelming... although it's small, there's a LOT of suits. And they actually did have some that fit, so I spent a minor fortune on a few suits and coverups and now when I find separates bottoms I like, I should have a top that matches okay... not that I'll need bottoms anytime soon.

We then went back outside just in time to see the fountains at Bellagio do their little dance, which was kinda cool. Then we went back to the hotel... still nothing on the shirt... and got ready for dinner. We ate with Ryan's grandparents at an italian place in Mandalay Place and went back to the room to get ready for Ka (Cirque de Soliel at MGM). The store called Ryan's cell phone while we were at dinner (the one that he'd purchased it for, of course) and we told them to leave it at teh bell desk and we'd pick it up in the morning. I was really tired and actually ended up falling asleep during portions of the show (which I could kill myself for doing... I really should have gotten more or the medication I used to take for narcolepsy, but... didn't.) for a couple minutes here and there, but from what I saw it was really really awesome. Then we went back to the hotel, got some dessert, and went to bed.

[Marsha]

We called Ryan's grandparents (they live near the airforce base) and set up dinner for Friday, bought tickets for Ka for Friday night and Blue Man Group on Saturday. I took a really long bath and we spent some time at the pool... which was kinda diappointing because, 1. people stare at me in a bikini (one guy actually was videotaping me until Ryan went over and yelled at him) and 2. although there are 4 crowded hot tubs, the pools are only 3.5 ft. deep. The shirt still hadn't arrived when we went to dinner that night, so we decided to do room service for dinner and got a movie in the hotel room and relaxed a little.

Still nothing on the shirt for most of Friday... We went outside and checked out the Tropicana and MGM... Then we got on the monorail and went down to Bally's. It started raining while we were passing Bellagio and we went into the Alladdin to get dry and try to find the bikini shop that claimed in it's add that it had up to size E (it's impossible to find my size). On our way, we found a cool CSI: Vegas shirt, a flying tinkerbell (I love tink), and a little teddy bear in a fireman's outfit for Charlie, Pam and Phil's 1 yr. old (Phil's a volunteer firefighter).

When I got to the store, it was a bit overwhelming... although it's small, there's a LOT of suits. And they actually did have some that fit, so I spent a minor fortune on a few suits and coverups and now when I find separates bottoms I like, I should have a top that matches okay... not that I'll need bottoms anytime soon.

We then went back outside just in time to see the fountains at Bellagio do their little dance, which was kinda cool. Then we went back to the hotel... still nothing on the shirt... and got ready for dinner. We ate with Ryan's grandparents at an italian place in Mandalay Place and went back to the room to get ready for Ka (Cirque de Soliel at MGM). The store called Ryan's cell phone while we were at dinner (the one that he'd purchased it for, of course) and we told them to leave it at teh bell desk and we'd pick it up in the morning. I was really tired and actually ended up falling asleep during portions of the show (which I could kill myself for doing... I really should have gotten more or the medication I used to take for narcolepsy, but... didn't.) for a couple minutes here and there, but from what I saw it was really really awesome. Then we went back to the hotel, got some dessert, and went to bed.
for as many things that went wrong i hope u had a good time. I dont mean wrong but so crazy, ya know. I cant wait to see pics soon and congrats!!!!

[kyzmit]

We got up kinda late and went out to the strip and monorail to take a look around again. Ryan had fond memmories of CircusCircus when he was little, so we took our time getting down there and checking out some of the other casinos and stuff; we didn't gamble at all... He was really disappointed when we got there because he of course remembered it 15 years ago when he was a lot younger and it was one of the only child-friendly places around. He got in an even worse mood when we went to an italian fast-food place there and his order was tiny and almost twice as expensive as mine, which wasn't the type of pasta I'd ordered...

We headed back to the hotel and picked up the shirt on the way. When they gave it to us, the plastic garment bag was ripped partially open, but the bellman thought it had been like that when it was delivered. We brought it up to the room, where Ryan looked it over a little and realized that the collar was all dirty, there was lint all over it, and it didn't even look like the shirt he'd bought (the weave didn't seem right). So instead of lying out in the semi-sun, which I'd been thinking about all day, we went back to the bell desk, spoke to a manager who said they couldn't clean the shirt before our dinner, but would clean it for free since they couldn't prove whether or not the bag was intact when delivered, and we told them we were gonig to go talk to the people at the store to find out what was going on since they'd obviously had some kind of problem anyway.

[kyzmit]

So we went to the store and found out that they couldn't verify whether or not the bag was ripped either. When we actually pulled the shirt all the way out of the bag, we realized that it was most definately not the right shirt (we could have ordered one just like it for $45 in Rochester) and there was black stuff all over the cuffs. Come to find out the reason the tailoring took so long was that when the original shirt ***e back to the store, it had the black stuff all over the cuffs, so the salesman we were working with had fought to get us a new shirt... but they didn't have another one his size, so they sent a "comparable" shirt over... and either didn't notice or ignored the fact that there was marker on this one and the shirt looked like it had been danced on and... yeah... so we gave them the jacket and shirt back and said since they attempted to defraud us, we wanted a refund for both, but at this point would keep the tie. They said that the manager would be back in 30 min. (4:30) and he would be able to help us... so we went and got a piece of cheesecake and wandered around a little bit and went back at almost 5. He still wasn't there, but would be "shortly" or within a couple hours. So we decided to go down to the pool before it closed and come back on our way to dinner. So we did that and went back to the store at about 8. We let the manager know we were in a hurry to get to dinner and had show tickets for that night... he said he needed to leave the store again (this guy apparently hardly ever WORKS at the store he's the sole manager for) and we should go have dinner and he'd do it "just how you want" for us afterwards. That was good enough for us, since we were really hungry and he'd agreed to giving us a refund (when the store policy is exchange or store credit) on the shirt and jacket.

So we ate dinner (so yummy, with some great wine) and went back to the store... in a huge hurry because we were going to have to push it to get back to the room and change before the show. When we got back to the store, we had to wait until the customers that were there were finished (not entirely sure why because the manager was only assisting with the sale) and then he gave Ryan and blank piece of paper and told him that he could not process the refund through the store and we would have to write a description of what had happened as documentation of the situation, which he would then send to the main office and have them process the refund. So Ryan's not very good at writing quickly and he likes to be very detailed and was really upset (understandably) at this getting sprung on us, especially with so little time... so we said we'd bring it back the next morning and raced off to get ready for the show.

We were supposed to be at the theater by 9:45, but didn't make it until just after 10, luckily the show didn't start exactly on time, and we were on the aisle in the mezzanine, so they seated us quickly and we were able to settle for a few minutes before the show started. It was GREAT. On our way out, we bought a program, CD, and t-shirt. When we were trying to leave the theater, I dropped the ring Ryan had made out of streamers (they use copious amounts of white streamers for the show) and looked down to see his foot on the worth $600+ diamond and sapphire bracelet he'd given me last week (no, he didn't pay anywhere near that much) and I realized that my wrist hurt... like it had been ripped off or something. We examined the clasp and decided that it must have gotten caught on some streamers and was loose when we left the theater... Anyways, so I decided that we'd made it to the show on-time-enough, had gotten a discount on the program and CD, and hadn't lost my bracelet by the sheer miracle that I'd dropped something the same time it fell off. We were going to get a refund for the clothes that Ryan had bought for the trip and not worn, found plenty of bikinis for me... I had also seen a Triple Sapphire slot machine in the casino and decided that it was a lucky day and maybe I'd get lucky on that machine... so we went up to the hotel room to get some dessert before going down to the casino again (so I could finally get to play some slots before we left town). Well... once we got up there, Ryan's leg started to hurt and he lied down while I tried to find our flight information since we had no clue when we were supposed to fly out. He ended up falling asleep and I couldn't wake him, but realized that we were going to have to run to the store as soon as it opened and dash off to the airport if we had any hope of making it on time. So I packed almost everything up and jotted down some notes about the information he needed to give the store manager, and decided that since it was almost 4 and I needed to be up by 7 in order to get breakfast, write the thing, finish packing, check out, etc. I didn't have time to go to the casino... and didn't want to by myself anyway.

So I went to bed.

[kyzmit]

So... Ryan isn't exactly a morning person... in fact, we're both night owls, but I can get up in the morning and he... can't... So it took much longer than I thought to get him up. His back was still hurting really bad and he was very agitated about the shirt and upset with himself for falling asleep on me when he knew I'd really been looking forward to going downstairs and that I'd had to pack pretty much everything myself... which is actually the same thing that happened when we were packing to go to VT and again when we were getting ready to leave VT. Anyways, so I convinced him to get in the bath and see if he could get less hurting and calm down a little... but after about 10 min. he got out and said his back was getting a little better, but it wasn't helping him calm down at all. So I got in the bath for a little bit while he called his father to vent and get some advice. We took a shower and got dressed and he started to write the information down... and after almost an hour realized that we had to leave *NOW* if we were going to have any chance of making the plane... so we said screw it to the note, called his father to get the company's corporate information so we could mail the letter after it was typed up and complete and whatever. I figure... they have the shirt and jacket, which is good enough for me as proof that they were approving the refund, so we would get the money from them later and if we had to contest the bill, we would and would easily win.

[kyzmit]

So we raced down to the front lobby only to find a HUGE line of people waiting for cabs... so we jumped in the line and I started feeling horribly sick, instead of just the slightly dizzy/nausious that I'd been feeling pretty much the entire week. So I started feeling really faint, cold sweat, white as a sheet... which I'm getting surprisingly used to, but really worried Ryan and scares the crap out of everyone who sees me completely fall apart like that (basically, I go from looking kinda tired and out of it to on my deathbed in the course of a couple minutes). So I "sat" down like I always do which bothers people when you're in the middle of a line and generally hurts since at that point, me deciding to sit basically looks like my legs totally fall out from under me... I actually banged my knee pretty hard when I landed. After a few minutes, the line had moved forward pretty far and I still didn't feel better, so I got up and Ryan helped me over to a bench-type area (i.e. flat enough to sit on), assured me that although we would probably miss our flight, we could definately get something else home, and told me to breathe because I was ok. None of which actually helped, but... he was trying.

Pretty soon I realized that 1. I wasn't going to be let on a plane if I didn't look 300% better by the time we got to the airport and 2. could lie down on whatever it was I was sitting on. So I scared people even more... especially the girls that were trying to find out what was wrong with me... by "lying down"... and almost cracking my head on the marble due to the forementioned speed control issue. Anyways... I started to feel a little better and when Ryan got to the front of the line I managed to get up and force him to stay in line instead of abandoning leaving until I felt better. I almost fainted before we got a cab, but on the way to the airport I started feeling much better, provided I get something to drink ASAP to help fight the dehydration. We finally got to the airport about 15 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave and obviously had to stop and get booked on a different flight (which many people had to do, actually). We were told that both our bags were overweight and we'd have to pay $100+ dollars to get tehm sent back unless we wanted to race to buy another bag and repack before we got on our plane... which were REALLY didn't have the time to do and probably would have cost the same amount of money. Now... although I did buy a lot of bathingsuits, our luggage was not noticeably heavier than when we ***e, so I don't understand why we were charged one way and not the other (when we would have had plenty of time and additional suitcases to pack in). Anyways, so we left our bags with the TSA guy, let him know we had TSA locks in case they had to get in them (he was upset that other people had just dropped the bags and left) and ran off to find some breakfast/lunch before our flight left. We ended up almost missing the flight because the express restaurant guy moved slower than a snail and had absolutely no direction. Turned out we were in middle seats, one behind the other, so of course no one wanted to switch with us so we could sit together... so we bugged them the whole trip by passing things back and forth over the seat.

When we got to Philly, we ran around trying to find the shuttle to our gate, waited at the gate that had been announced and then found out they'd just moved the plane to a different gate so we had to run to that one... finally, we made it on the plane to get home... but had no clue when we were supposed to get back to Rochester because the guy hadn't given us a revised itinerary for our new tickets.

We got in at almost midnight and went to get our bags... but we were among the 10 out of 32 people on the flight whose bags had apparently not made it. So it was was after midnight before we were able to leave the airport with promises that the bags would be dropped off at Ryan's store ASAP. We drove to an all-night diner, had a little food, went home, opened a couple wedding presents, and went to bed... and got up with barely enough time to get to work this morning.

And that was my summer vacation... I mean... honeymoon.

[kyzmit]

Thank you guys so much... I can't wait to see the pictures myself, actually. As soon as I can, I'll get some posted... Jeff said he'd have them ready when we got in town, so I hope he gives them to Ryan at work today... it may end up waiting until Thursday though.

We didn't take any pictures in Vegas, I don't think, but I might try to do something with the video he took.

So now all that's left is changing my name, having our in-town-reception (we're just doing a BBQ with the new grill his uncle's sending), and finding a new job. Hopefully those all go well and easily and I can FINALLY RELAX!

[girlnpink01]

I just read your journal and I must say I am glad to see you made it through. I also live in Rochester, and I am actually honeymooning in Vegas myself, although my trip was planned! My wedding is in 11 days, so I will remember to leave for the vegas airport extra early, I know the transportation out there is crazy! I'm so happy for you! Congrats! :)

[kyzmit]

I just read your journal and I must say I am glad to see you made it through. I also live in Rochester, and I am actually honeymooning in Vegas myself, although my trip was planned! My wedding is in 11 days, so I will remember to leave for the vegas airport extra early, I know the transportation out there is crazy! I'm so happy for you! Congrats! :)

Congratulations! You're actually getting married 3 days before my birthday as well! I hope your wedding goes as well as mine did, although not nearly as hot :p

I would definately recommend leaving for the airport early, as the lines for cabs are very long (although they move quickly), and the airport is, of course, very large. Gate assignments also change quickly.

Although I don't really discourage shopping at Mandalay Place or the Bardelli stores, I would definately recommend being absolutely positive you love everything you buy and DON'T let them tailor anything. Their clothes are expensive ($100-$2000+ per item), so I don't really expect you to go there because you should have whatever nice clothes you want with you, but if you do, ask for Aaron and tell him you know us (Ryan and Katie). He is very nice, very helpful in general, and the most forthcoming person we spoke to about our situation, probably partially because he just started working there.

In addition, you'll have a much better time if you plan at least most of your shows, etc. and purchase tickets before you leave. Ka (MGM) and Blue Man Group (Luxor) were wonderful, and I would recommend seing at least one of them if you can.


I forgot to mention that I was told by nearly everyone at the wedding that it was the most beautiful ceremony they had ever attended, was original and meaningful, and it was the most beautiful dress they had ever seen and I looked amazing... but I think that's partially because most of them had never seen me in anything at all dressy :o


Today's update: I just finished typing up the 3 page letter to Bardelli (and the Attorney General and BBB) for Ryan to look over and add to later. Hopefully we can get it mailed out tonight and get our full refund ASAP. I will be so glad to have this situation over so I can focus on changing my name, cleaning my house (which I basically haven't done all year), and getting a new job (I hate it now more than ever).

[kyzmit]

Well, it's not the prettiest, but I figured since my sister e-mailed me a picture she took of me dancing with my father, I'd try to post it for you guys to see... Hopefully it posts ok. I'll get others up as soon as I get them also. I also found out that my aunt and uncle are going to use some of our pictures to advertise for their B&B since it's such a perfect wedding package place with the B&B, orchard, rose garden, classic car, and on-site JOP :D

[jt2lang]

You're so beautiful!!!

It sounds like everything was hectic, but y'all have your entire lives to spend together now. :D
Congratulations!!!

[kyzmit]

You're so beautiful!!!

It sounds like everything was hectic, but y'all have your entire lives to spend together now. :D
Congratulations!!!

Thank you... You're too sweet :o

Whoa... I didn't really look at my hair before now and couldn't see it/didn't care that day... no wonder everyone kept asking how much of that was my real hair! It's so thin and flat normally and Morgan made it look like... I actually had some!

[SarahK]

Thank you... You're too sweet :o

Whoa... I didn't really look at my hair before now and couldn't see it/didn't care that day... no wonder everyone kept asking how much of that was my real hair! It's so thin and flat normally and Morgan made it look like... I actually had some!

LOL. I was just about to comment on how pretty your hair looked when you posted.

[ca_dawson]

Oooh you look so beautiful! Can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!

[kyzmit]

Oooh you look so beautiful! Can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!

Normally, I'd call you a liar, but... Morgan did an amazing job on me that day and although I didn't look in the mirror much, I think I can't deny she really knows her stuff.

[ca_dawson]

Normally, I'd call you a liar, but... Morgan did an amazing job on me that day and although I didn't look in the mirror much, I think I can't deny she really knows her stuff.
LOL! Don't be so critical of yourself! You did look gorgeous and it's the TRUTH! :D

[girlnpink01]

So I definatly wont be shopping for clothes out there at all. I've been to vegas like 10 times *family lives in the area* so I know the weather, and I am packing accordingly! We actually bought our tickets to the Blue Man Group already, and I wanted to see the Circque De Solei *totally spelled that wrong* because I've heard amazing things about it! We are staying at Treasure Island cuz its in the middle of the strip. I'm totally freakin excited!!!! I'm so glad theres another rochesterarian on here! Rock on girlie, and post those pics on ASAP!!! :p

[Marsha]

what bathing suit store did u go to?

[kyzmit]

what bathing suit store did u go to?

It's called Bikini Bay and it's in... the shopping plaza that's attached to Aladdins, whatever that's called. The girl there was really cool... the ones I really liked and fit pretty well were actually by Body Glove (I didn't even know they were still in business), but I got some that were made by their company too.

[kyzmit]

So I definatly wont be shopping for clothes out there at all. I've been to vegas like 10 times *family lives in the area* so I know the weather, and I am packing accordingly! We actually bought our tickets to the Blue Man Group already, and I wanted to see the Circque De Solei *totally spelled that wrong* because I've heard amazing things about it! We are staying at Treasure Island cuz its in the middle of the strip. I'm totally freakin excited!!!! I'm so glad theres another rochesterarian on here! Rock on girlie, and post those pics on ASAP!!! :p

SueChick is also from Rochester and jt2lang is having a seond reception in Canandaigua, if I remember right...

I can't wait until the pictures get back (which reminds me, I have to get his $$ for him)... apparently he's still developing them.

[Marsha]

SueChick is also from Rochester and jt2lang is having a seond reception in Canandaigua, if I remember right...

I can't wait until the pictures get back (which reminds me, I have to get his $$ for him)... apparently he's still developing them.
thanks maybe i can get a new suit this year

[kyzmit]

Okay, so I'm getting really really ****ed about this whole stupid Hurricane Emily thing.

The resort still has not tried to contact us at all about the situation with any information about a refund (which is what we need) or options to take the vacation next year (they said before we could do it within 8 months, but we don't have any vacation time left until next July) or an apology for being complete *****3$ or anything.

I was getting ****ed at the credit card company because they said that I had to fill out some form and mail it within 7 days (which would have been Monday), but I never received it... Last night I realized that tehy did send it, but to my MOM, even though it was my credit card and I was the one that called and all that crap. So... basically just really lucky that I decided to break the law and open her mail. Then I find out that they want a copy of my phone statement showing when we tried to cancel the reservations (which we didn't; the company TOLD us not to come!) which isn't available because our billing statement ended the night before, so I won't have access to that for another month! The only good thing is the paper they sent says I have 10 days to fill it out instead of 7, so if I can get as much info as possible and send it in tonight, they may actually help us out... other than if they truly to consider this us "cancelling", the resort's policy is no refunds, which is completely unfair in this situation since we were willing (although unhappy about it) to go to a resort in a different country; they just promised that we could and took it back a couple hours later when we tried to.

AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I'm just hoping that we can get our $1.4K back, but at this point if they tell us we have to go there and let us do it next year, I'll be willing too... but I'm going to badmouth their company to everyone regardless.

How do you not have any kind of plan to deal with acts of God? How do you tell people to keep traveling and that you'll get them somewhere and then just wait until they're on the last US leg of their trip and basically tell them to go screw themselves? I understand the hurricane is an act of God, but it is the company that won't give us any information about anything; I see that ast them being negligent and cancelling our reservation. It also ****es me off that they have no information on cancellations or refunds on their website, just a note on the reservation confirmation that online reservations can not be refunded... and I wouldn't have done it online had I known that earlier... Not that their policy is any different for phone reservations, probably. It has no information about acts of God or the resort closing or anything like that...

I'm just so frustrated and upset and worried that we're going to end up actually having to pay these jerks for nothing as well as paying for everything in Vegas and... IT'S NOT FAIR! :mad:

[Marsha]

Okay, so I'm getting really really ****ed about this whole stupid Hurricane Emily thing.

The resort still has not tried to contact us at all about the situation with any information about a refund (which is what we need) or options to take the vacation next year (they said before we could do it within 8 months, but we don't have any vacation time left until next July) or an apology for being complete *****3$ or anything.

I was getting ****ed at the credit card company because they said that I had to fill out some form and mail it within 7 days (which would have been Monday), but I never received it... Last night I realized that tehy did send it, but to my MOM, even though it was my credit card and I was the one that called and all that crap. So... basically just really lucky that I decided to break the law and open her mail. Then I find out that they want a copy of my phone statement showing when we tried to cancel the reservations (which we didn't; the company TOLD us not to come!) which isn't available because our billing statement ended the night before, so I won't have access to that for another month! The only good thing is the paper they sent says I have 10 days to fill it out instead of 7, so if I can get as much info as possible and send it in tonight, they may actually help us out... other than if they truly to consider this us "cancelling", the resort's policy is no refunds, which is completely unfair in this situation since we were willing (although unhappy about it) to go to a resort in a different country; they just promised that we could and took it back a couple hours later when we tried to.

AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I'm just hoping that we can get our $1.4K back, but at this point if they tell us we have to go there and let us do it next year, I'll be willing too... but I'm going to badmouth their company to everyone regardless.

How do you not have any kind of plan to deal with acts of God? How do you tell people to keep traveling and that you'll get them somewhere and then just wait until they're on the last US leg of their trip and basically tell them to go screw themselves? I understand the hurricane is an act of God, but it is the company that won't give us any information about anything; I see that ast them being negligent and cancelling our reservation. It also ****es me off that they have no information on cancellations or refunds on their website, just a note on the reservation confirmation that online reservations can not be refunded... and I wouldn't have done it online had I known that earlier... Not that their policy is any different for phone reservations, probably. It has no information about acts of God or the resort closing or anything like that...

I'm just so frustrated and upset and worried that we're going to end up actually having to pay these jerks for nothing as well as paying for everything in Vegas and... IT'S NOT FAIR! :mad:
CALL THE resort itself and talk to a manager. Then call the sales department and talk to them about giving u a written statement about how they handled the incomming guests. As the whole world probably knew about a hurrican, credit card companies will still charge you and no matter what rules for something like this can be broken! Dont just talk to some shlub answering an inbound call at the cc co. Talk to a manager, write e mails and insist on talking to somone who handles refund and credits.

[kyzmit]

CALL THE resort itself and talk to a manager. Then call the sales department and talk to them about giving u a written statement about how they handled the incomming guests. As the whole world probably knew about a hurrican, credit card companies will still charge you and no matter what rules for something like this can be broken! Dont just talk to some shlub answering an inbound call at the cc co. Talk to a manager, write e mails and insist on talking to somone who handles refund and credits.

Yup... since Ryan spoke to them all day Monday (as I've mentioned, I hate phones and trying to have me deal with a situation like this is... generally not a good idea) and it's his day off today (lucky bastard), I'm having him call Marisol (the reservations manager and apparently the only one able to authorize refunds) today and demand the refund... if they won't give it to us, we'll figure it out from there... If they let us have 12 months to take it instead of 8 (which I think is 12 months from the date we made the reservations), I'll agree to go next summer... but I won't be happy about it, but... I understand you can't always get what you want (especially from a company that I just learned ALWAYS overbooks their resorts, so we probably would have ended up getting moved to a different resort when we got to Cozumel anyways).

Yeah, and the lady I spoke to was definately a shlub... she only sent me information on disputing the $1.1K charge, not the second one for $200-something, sent it to the wrong person, and was a real b*** on the phone.

[kyzmit]

Okay, so earlier I mentioned that we'd found a white gold button cover for Ryan to wear at the wedding and a tie tac for a gift for his father, but when I ordered them with express shipping to get here on time, they sent me an e-mail saying it would be out of stock until July 18 and did I still want it... so I sent them an e-mail back saying the wedding was the 16th and maybe I'd order the button cover sometime later, but to cancel the order. ...

Well, yesterday, I got an e-mail from them saying that my order had just been shipped! Okay, so I kinda blew it off cause I had other stuff going on and I was going to e-mail them today, but figured since they were still trying to charge me the $23.60 for 2-day shipping (yeah, right, like I'd pay $25 for express shipping on something that's coming almost 3 weeks after I ordered it), I should probably find out the tracking number and all that crap and get the original order information and stuff before writing them...

So today I clicked on the little "track your shipping" link thing.... and it brough me to a page that said "Thank you. Your order has been placed. ... This order has been cancelled. ... Order Status: Shipped" and when I track the order, it looks like they tried to deliver it, but since Ryan had it sent to the name "Wright Images Ryan" when the store's name is "Wright Images" (Instead of name: Ryan S., Address line 1 "Wright Images", etc. like I always do), they're clueless about what to do with it.

So...
1. Why did they ship an order that was cancelled?
2. Why did they ship it with the 2-day shipping when it's not within a reasonable time period to expect that (if I hadn't cancelled the order) I would have wanted it with the huge shipping fee to get it a day or two earlier?
3. Are they charging me for the product since the order was cancelled (therefore, I have revoked my authorization for the account to be charged)?
4. If not (which I doubt, of course) am I still being charged for the shipping, or is that something they would pay since it would have come out of the money I paid them (not a separate transaction to UPS)?
5. What kind of idiots are running this place????

[Marsha]

Okay, so earlier I mentioned that we'd found a white gold button cover for Ryan to wear at the wedding and a tie tac for a gift for his father, but when I ordered them with express shipping to get here on time, they sent me an e-mail saying it would be out of stock until July 18 and did I still want it... so I sent them an e-mail back saying the wedding was the 16th and maybe I'd order the button cover sometime later, but to cancel the order. ...

Well, yesterday, I got an e-mail from them saying that my order had just been shipped! Okay, so I kinda blew it off cause I had other stuff going on and I was going to e-mail them today, but figured since they were still trying to charge me the $23.60 for 2-day shipping (yeah, right, like I'd pay $25 for express shipping on something that's coming almost 3 weeks after I ordered it), I should probably find out the tracking number and all that crap and get the original order information and stuff before writing them...

So today I clicked on the little "track your shipping" link thing.... and it brough me to a page that said "Thank you. Your order has been placed. ... This order has been cancelled. ... Order Status: Shipped" and when I track the order, it looks like they tried to deliver it, but since Ryan had it sent to the name "Wright Images Ryan" when the store's name is "Wright Images" (Instead of name: Ryan S., Address line 1 "Wright Images", etc. like I always do), they're clueless about what to do with it.

So...
1. Why did they ship an order that was cancelled?
2. Why did they ship it with the 2-day shipping when it's not within a reasonable time period to expect that (if I hadn't cancelled the order) I would have wanted it with the huge shipping fee to get it a day or two earlier?
3. Are they charging me for the product since the order was cancelled (therefore, I have revoked my authorization for the account to be charged)?
4. If not (which I doubt, of course) am I still being charged for the shipping, or is that something they would pay since it would have come out of the money I paid them (not a separate transaction to UPS)?
5. What kind of idiots are running this place????

one day/ 2 day /3 day shipping means.... the number of days it takes to ship. Not the number of days after u place an order. it does cost more to do 2 day shipping, alomst 4 dollars more in most cases, so techincally they shipped it and u got it in 2 days. soorrrryyyyy!

[kyzmit]

one day/ 2 day /3 day shipping means.... the number of days it takes to ship. Not the number of days after u place an order. it does cost more to do 2 day shipping, alomst 4 dollars more in most cases, so techincally they shipped it and u got it in 2 days. soorrrryyyyy!

Yeah, I know... and actually, regular shipping was only $5 or so, so the 2 day shipping was actually almost $20 more... but the real point is I'm ****ed that they sent this stuff when they have in their records that the order is canceled. I'm going to find out if they charged me the $100 for it and if they did, they're gonna hear from me (I'm returning it for a full refund, including shipping since I specifically told them *not* to send it)... if not, they're not gonna hear from me cause I like free stuff :p

It's just funny that I asked for 2-day shipping because I needed it that week. I canceled the order when they said it wasn't going to be in stock until 2 days after I needed it and told them I might place an order with them sometime in the future... so they cancel the order, refund my credit card, and then ship it 3 weeks later, as a cancelled order. :confused:

And actually, because of the UPS idiot that has the address and store name, but can't figure it out for whatever reason, it's going to be a couple days late, so it's not within 2 days.... which I know is Ryan's fault cause I told him not to ship it that way :p so I'm gonna pick on him because of it. Almost makes it worth it.

[kyzmit]

Well, I'm glad I printed out the page that said that both the order was cancelled and that it had been shipped because now it's changed to "Thank you. Your order has been processed." So I e-mailed the company and gave them the original order and credit numbers and told them not to ship the order because it hasn't been authorized. According to the UPS web site they've sent us a postcard saying to call them with more info on where to deliver, but we haven't received that yet either.

Ugh... what a pain in the butt.

[kyzmit]

(whine, whine whine)

I want my pictures! Everyone else has seen everyone elses pictures, but I've only seen a couple and we haven't gotten the disposable ***eras developed yet because Ryan was going to have a friend do it at work without their boss knowing. Well, his parents bought the ***eras for us and apparently thought it was a good thing that they were APS, even though they didn't know what that means... and there's no way they can do APS without their boss knowing since they have to ship it out to another company to have APS pictures put on a CD. UGH.

And Ryan's seen some of the pictures because Jeff's been photoshopping them at work, so... basically everyone's seen pictures and is showing them to everyone else, but I haven't and I'm getting ****ed.

[kyzmit]

Well, Jeff's still working on the photoshopping and development of our pictures, but Ryans' parents have theirs developed and I had my MIL upload them to my snapfish account... I'll try to get some of them posted here... (I don't have a whole lot of time anymore since they "fixed" the e-mail system so now I'm typing when I'm not talking :( )

[kyzmit]

Hmm... Sorry they're so small... I'll have to work that out with other pictures later... I'm not good at this picture posting stuff :p

Let's see... the pictures above are me (duh); Becca (my sister), me, Ryan, and Karen (best friend); me, Ray (great-uncle, JOP, location owner), and Ray.

The pictures below are us arriving at the reception and the dance with our parents.

His parents somehow managed not to get any pictures of his groomsmen or baby Charlie (who I adore) :mad:

[kyzmit]

Here's some more pictures!

[kyzmit]

and a couple more...

[kyzmit]

A couple weeks ago, Ryan's parents had us meet them for breakfast and told us that since we hadn't planned an in-town reception yet (we haven't had time), they'd reserved an American Legion Post for us for the 25th... yeah 3 weeks from then... and said that they'd take care of everything for us, so we wouldn't have to worry about planning it... and took the time to pat themselves on the back again for having a perfect and well planned rehearsal dinner... which quite honestly, I don't think was so perfect. I mean... the place they chose may be highly recommended, but they don't have ANY vegetarian food... and I'm a vegetarian... but they can "learn" how to make my favorite pasta dish Capellini Pomadoro... so... yeah... I didn't think you really could make a bad Capellini Pomadoro... but when it's not made with capellini... and doesn't have tomatoes in it... it really makes you wonder how competant the cook is. Anyways...

So them "taking care of everything" now includes:
"Making the invitations"... after I prepared the guest list, got the addresses, gave her the icon, gave her the paper, gave her the template... and approved the 3 sentence invitation... basically, she printed and stamped... with my leftover stamps.

"Booking the reception hall," which is basically a really ugly, really echoey, really smelly room.

"Deciding on the Menu"... umm... I could've sworn that when they asked Ryan what he wanted he asked me what (meat) I thought they should have... the only vegetarian dish they can make is... well something I love, but only in the dead middle of winter cause it's too heavy and hot. I decided the vegetables. I decided what kind of cake to get. I decided where the coffee and cake tables are going to be... why the coffee has to be where the food is instead of out where people are going to see them before dinner is served, I don't know, but... at least they're not hiding it on the other side of a huge wall anymore.

"Deciding on the decorations"... yeah... right... so basically that includes asking me what we still have that we used at the wedding and me deciding how and where I want it. And editing all our wedding pictures and putting them in a slideshow and making an album (umm... why do we need both?) and...

Basically, they forced ME to plan another reception when I TOLD them that I DON'T HAVE THE TIME (oh yeah... and they're "helping" with my job search by focusing on fixing my resume for a job at the community college she works at for a job they've already selected someone for and won't be hiring his replacement until next year.. when I'll have to apply for IT.) Anyways... and they expect me to be super happy and grateful and are practically throwing a fit about spending $8 a head for dinner and dessert for 50 people... ok... so $400... that's how much my mom spent on the wedding cake. That's just over 10% of what my dad spent on dinner for the wedding... Ryan's acting like it's a lot of money (which, yes, we don't have to spend and is very nice of them... and why we were going to plan a potluck picnic... plus if we did that, it wouldn't be as structured and... might be fun)... but...

I guess the thing that really frustrates me is they act like they're buying us a freaking house! If it's so much money, why did they insist on inviting so many extra people? Why didn't they follow any of the, much cheaper, ideas that Ryan and I were talking about? And why can't they EVER listen to me when I say I'm busy and stressed out and can't do this crap anymore? Ryan's always lecturing about respect and "midwestern family values" and it's becoming increasingly obvious to me that his family loves the ideas that being from the MidWest miraculously makes them better than everyone else... but they're not (hence why only *e* of his extended family members even responded to the wedding invitation).

I am so sick of being looked down on becuase we're "rich NewEnglanders", which we're not, and they're the "caring loving helpful MidWesterners" which... they're not.

[Jen062406]

A couple weeks ago, Ryan's parents had us meet them for breakfast and told us that since we hadn't planned an in-town reception yet (we haven't had time), they'd reserved an American Legion Post for us for the 25th... yeah 3 weeks from then... and said that they'd take care of everything for us, so we wouldn't have to worry about planning it... and took the time to pat themselves on the back again for having a perfect and well planned rehearsal dinner... which quite honestly, I don't think was so perfect. I mean... the place they chose may be highly recommended, but they don't have ANY vegetarian food... and I'm a vegetarian... but they can "learn" how to make my favorite pasta dish Capellini Pomadoro... so... yeah... I didn't think you really could make a bad Capellini Pomadoro... but when it's not made with capellini... and doesn't have tomatoes in it... it really makes you wonder how competant the cook is. Anyways...

So them "taking care of everything" now includes:
"Making the invitations"... after I prepared the guest list, got the addresses, gave her the icon, gave her the paper, gave her the template... and approved the 3 sentence invitation... basically, she printed and stamped... with my leftover stamps.

"Booking the reception hall," which is basically a really ugly, really echoey, really smelly room.

"Deciding on the Menu"... umm... I could've sworn that when they asked Ryan what he wanted he asked me what (meat) I thought they should have... the only vegetarian dish they can make is... well something I love, but only in the dead middle of winter cause it's too heavy and hot. I decided the vegetables. I decided what kind of cake to get. I decided where the coffee and cake tables are going to be... why the coffee has to be where the food is instead of out where people are going to see them before dinner is served, I don't know, but... at least they're not hiding it on the other side of a huge wall anymore.

"Deciding on the decorations"... yeah... right... so basically that includes asking me what we still have that we used at the wedding and me deciding how and where I want it. And editing all our wedding pictures and putting them in a slideshow and making an album (umm... why do we need both?) and...

Basically, they forced ME to plan another reception when I TOLD them that I DON'T HAVE THE TIME (oh yeah... and they're "helping" with my job search by focusing on fixing my resume for a job at the community college she works at for a job they've already selected someone for and won't be hiring his replacement until next year.. when I'll have to apply for IT.) Anyways... and they expect me to be super happy and grateful and are practically throwing a fit about spending $8 a head for dinner and dessert for 50 people... ok... so $400... that's how much my mom spent on the wedding cake. That's just over 10% of what my dad spent on dinner for the wedding... Ryan's acting like it's a lot of money (which, yes, we don't have to spend and is very nice of them... and why we were going to plan a potluck picnic... plus if we did that, it wouldn't be as structured and... might be fun)... but...

I guess the thing that really frustrates me is they act like they're buying us a freaking house! If it's so much money, why did they insist on inviting so many extra people? Why didn't they follow any of the, much cheaper, ideas that Ryan and I were talking about? And why can't they EVER listen to me when I say I'm busy and stressed out and can't do this crap anymore? Ryan's always lecturing about respect and "midwestern family values" and it's becoming increasingly obvious to me that his family loves the ideas that being from the MidWest miraculously makes them better than everyone else... but they're not (hence why only *e* of his extended family members even responded to the wedding invitation).

I am so sick of being looked down on becuase we're "rich NewEnglanders", which we're not, and they're the "caring loving helpful MidWesterners" which... they're not.


I'm sorry, but there's no need to cut down "Midwesterners" as you call them. I'm from the Midwest, and I am sure they are other people on here too who don't appreciate the stereotype.

[kyzmit]

I'm very sorry... I don't mean to offend anyone and quite honestly, I think it's a wonderful stereotype that probably does apply to many people in the Midwest... My frustration arises from the fact that they are constantly throwing the stereotype of a community-focused mentality and close-knit family... down-home, respect, etc. values, in my face... Where, stereotypically, New Englanders (which technically I'm not.. I'm MidAtlantic, but close enough), are more... selfish, goal oriented, don't know how to properly raise a child (which I've seen plenty of first hand and agree that as a stereotype, it unfortunately often appears to apply)...

I certainly don't mean to criticize or insult anyone by that comment, especially people from or close to the MidWest.

If the stereotypes were true in this case, I would be glad to admit that I'm a horrible person and would love to emulate them... the problem is that many of the ways that they (as a family, not necessary speaking for people from the MidWest in general) claim that they are a close-knit family (THEY base this on the stereotype about people from the MidWest vs. people from the North East, I am simply repeating it as their reasoning). However, his father is not in contact with ANY of his family, except an uncle through marriage, and for the most part has not been for the past 30+ years... so although their immediate 3-person family is... frighteningly close... my extended family is much much closer than theirs... I am very good friends with 2nd and 3rd cousins... Ryan has only met 2 of his first cousins.

And I know I've beat this to death, but... basically it's THEIR criticism of my family and our values, with little to no actual foundation, that upsets me.

[Jen062406]

:) I'm very sorry... I don't mean to offend anyone and quite honestly, I think it's a wonderful stereotype that probably does apply to many people in the Midwest... My frustration arises from the fact that they are constantly throwing the stereotype of a community-focused mentality and close-knit family... down-home, respect, etc. values, in my face... Where, stereotypically, New Englanders (which technically I'm not.. I'm MidAtlantic, but close enough), are more... selfish, goal oriented, don't know how to properly raise a child (which I've seen plenty of first hand and agree that as a stereotype, it unfortunately often appears to apply)...

I certainly don't mean to criticize or insult anyone by that comment, especially people from or close to the MidWest.

If the stereotypes were true in this case, I would be glad to admit that I'm a horrible person and would love to emulate them... the problem is that many of the ways that they (as a family, not necessary speaking for people from the MidWest in general) claim that they are a close-knit family (THEY base this on the stereotype about people from the MidWest vs. people from the North East, I am simply repeating it as their reasoning). However, his father is not in contact with ANY of his family, except an uncle through marriage, and for the most part has not been for the past 30+ years... so although their immediate 3-person family is... frighteningly close... my extended family is much much closer than theirs... I am very good friends with 2nd and 3rd cousins... Ryan has only met 2 of his first cousins.

And I know I've beat this to death, but... basically it's THEIR criticism of my family and our values, with little to no actual foundation, that upsets me.

Sorry I took such offense kyzmit, I just get sick of the stereotypes. I'd get sick of them throwing it in my face as well, it's not right. They don't have a right to judge your family, or your values..or compare it to theirs. I've seen plenty of selfish people living all over the country, and also a lot of kind, loving people as well.

Seems like they can be pretty controlling. I was kind of in a situation like yours with my FMIL. But I brought it upon myself. lol. Have you tried to talk to your FH about this? Maybe he can ask them kindly to step back a little bit. Good luck.

[kyzmit]

Totally understandable... no one likes a stereotype.

The annoying part is they truly are super sweet people with the best intentions and they're genuinely concerned... I was really sick a couple months ago, and they both visited me in the hospital every day and made sure that between the time either one of them got out of work and the time Ryan could come in that someone was there. You feel horrible for being upset with them and complaining to Ryan is generally pointless because "they mean well".

He's also decided that he's not getting in the middle anymore. He's usually a pretty good buffer because I get really frustrated when she asks the same question over and over and over until you give her the answer she wants:
"Are you sure we shouldn't invite your aunt to the Rehearsal Dinner? Your mom doesn't want to invite her sister? I would want my sister to be there. Are you sure we shouldn't invite her? I'm just gonna go ahead and send her an invitation. It won't hurt to ask." - BTW my mom and her sister get along fine... just Mom knew Sue was probably going out with other relatives that night and didn't really care about coming.

Anyways, after the last time that she called about the guest list for the in-town reception and I told him (he answered... I don't pass the phone off to him or anything rude like that) to let her know I was working on it and I'd e-mail it to her later that night...

Well... basically she asked about the addresses of 3 more people... when I was waiting for her to get off the dang phone so I could go online and get their addresses. I guess neither of them were really getting the point that I *didn't have anything new to tell her right then and would e-mail her the info within an hour* and I was starting to get pretty testy after having to repeat myself, word for word, about twice a minute...

He decided he's not getting in the middle anymore and if she calls and wants to ask me anything she's gotta talk to me and we can duke it out if necessary... which isn't a good idea cause I try to be really nice to her until I snap and then everything gets really messy between us because she's walking on eggshells, I feel bad and am still upset, and he's siding with her cause she was only trying to help, which makes me just want to shake some freaking sense into him.

But, the good news is that this morning I accepted a job in Corning... an hour and a half away... that's right... we will no longer live within 10 miles of them. They can't be offended if we don't stop in to chat on the way home from work (right down the street). I will not have Sunday morning breakfast (which is an all-day thing) sprung on me. I will be making MUCH more money (still not rich, but not uber-poor), so we won't have to borrow grocery money and feel indebted... Life will be better.

And I'll think they're semi-wonderful people again... although as my sister said when she met the joined-at-the-ankle-knee-hip-shoulder-and-head family: "They're kinda weird." which makes him fit right in with my family :-)

[Jen062406]

I just saw a picture of your dress. It's really pretty! :D I tried on the same dress but it looks 100 x better on you.

[blushing_bride_2be]

Beautiful dress. It looks great on you really. Good luck on your wedding plans and I am sure it will be great! Welcome and congrats! Sorry for being a bit late! Hope you find the site helpful and more!

[kyzmit]

Beautiful dress. It looks great on you really. Good luck on your wedding plans and I am sure it will be great! Welcome and congrats! Sorry for being a bit late! Hope you find the site helpful and more!


Thank you!

Yeah, I'm actually not around much since I got a new job... just too busy and I still don't have phone service in the new apartment.

Let's see... the good thing is I don't have to deal with my MIL too much, since we're now 2 hrs. away instead of 10 min... the bad news is I pretty much haven't seen any of my friends in a month.

Ryan got bored the other day and called Jason to see what was going on with him... 4 months since the wedding and he still hadn't bothered calling us. He said that he figured why bother since we hated him anyway... which isn't really true... the thing that really ****ed us off was him not bothering to call us.

Let's see... we're still trying to get our money back from the resort in Cozumel... as far as I know that hasn't been resolved, but the cc company is dealing with it, so I'm not sure. We did get a full credit from the store in Vegas... and our friend's wedding was last weekend and it was really great... we froze our butts off though.

Anyways... better get back to work.

[kyzmit]

Just figured I'd put a little update in before I have to get back to work.

The last month or so's been really tough because I've been living in a totally empty apartment in Corning... a small town I where I don't know anyone or anything. We officially moved on Saturday, so now instead of an empty apartment, I have one full of boxes... but I plan on busting my butt to changed that within the next couple days.

The new job's good, but much different... and I almost wish I hadn't bothered going to college and getting a degree and just worked retail my whole life... it was a lot easier and more interesting... and even fun at times... but the money sucks. I'm sure it's just the laziness and nervousness in me speaking.

Ryan's been living in Rochester still, so I only got to see him on weekends and it was horribly lonely. He was just laid off from his job last Monday... basically they've hired way too many people in the last few years and got wind of him moving soon, so... they gave him a reason to leave earlier I guess. Hopefully he finds a job down here soon. Luckily I'm makeing enough more here that we can still pretty much cover bills, but... we were really looking forward to having expendable cash and that's not going to happen for a little bit now.

Of course, even now that Ryan's here, he's not here. He stayed until this morning, then drove back to Rochester to pick up some more stuff... I have Friday off so we're going back up Thursday night... I never thought I'd say I miss Rochester, but... I do. Horribly. I miss the places I liked to go and walk and shop and... I really really really miss my friends. I don't miss my old job, but I miss the one I had before that... I'd accept it again in a heartbeat if I could afford the pay cut.

Well... now that I'm horribly depressed right before my meeting, I guess I better go. But on the upside, Ryan and I are doing great (when we're together) and it's still pretty exciting that we actually have our first "real place"... even if I do want to move out of this town and into our own house ASAP... And it's exciting to have a career. Finally.

[blushing_bride_2be]

Don't stress girl! I understand about working alot. Well congrats on planning your weddign and just relax and snuggle up with you man and just let the day go away!