Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A Wedding-In Review :)

This is my husband, Nicholas and I.

We got married on May 7, 2011 in York, Pennsylvania!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous all day and only got a little overcast and drizzly towards the evening, when we were all partying inside for the reception anyway!

We got married at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in York, PA. The picture above is us actually standing in front of the altar, but no picture can really do this church justice. It is gorgeous, huge and the organ when played, sounds like you stepped foot into heaven. I love this church. I also love that there was no need to decorate, minus some altar flowers, because we let the church and it's ornate architecture speak for itself.

 

 
Our Reception was held at The Viking Athletic Association in York , which is located right across the street from the York Fairgrounds. I would have never have pegged it as a good reception location, as it is a large red and yellow building, but looks can be deceiving! 



The facility features a decently sized banquet room complete with beautiful chandeliers, a stage for your DJ, a small dance floor, and room for up to about 150 people comfortably. Here's the thing. If you have more than that, they have to use long cafeteria style tables, and the seating is not very comfortable. Plus you run into issues without room to move around and dance! We had about 105 people at our wedding and could have fit probably another 10 or 15 more very comfortably. If you have 138 people coming or less the facility can then use round tables which SUIT the room much better. 
I did not pay for china, linens or cake cutting. Everything was included in the 13.99 price I paid for food. The only extras I bought were some champagne/sparkling cider for toasts, a 1/2 keg for dinner, a refillable punch bowl and refillable bowls of chips and pretzels for dinner. 
When all was said and done I think it ran us some where around 2300 for EVERYTHING, including some where around a 300 dollar automatic gratuity, which I figured on but it would have been nice to know about before hand.  
Water and soda were all free, we had a cash bar which was VERY inexpensive, and lots of waitresses staffing, getting drinks and bringing out food. The chairs in the room are brown, not blue, like in the website pictures. There are SO many possibilities with the room when you use the right table decorations, and linens. I made all the table decorations myself and I went all out, knowing that I wouldn't be hanging anything on the walls or whatnot. Unfortunately there were some staff changes going on at the time of my wedding which made things not run AS smoothly as they were supposed to but they did a pretty good job. They were aware of special food needs, and made sure to address them. There were several waitresses working the night of the wedding but it still took a little while to get everything out. 
 When I originally chose my photographer, I was willing to pay a little more, to get better quality. I got lucky though and was able to get good quality AND a great price. Nick and I decided to go with Frank E. King Photography and Video based in Dover, PA.  After signing a contract with the company, I learned that a friend of mine, Kevin Fischer, was actually employed by them. 

(717.649.7808, KevinJFischerPhotography@gmail.com)

I requested to have him as our wedding photographer and I couldn't be MORE pleased. He took the time to learn all the names of my wedding party and close family to make getting pictures easier. He was patient with me and my family, which we all know is so important on something as stressful as your wedding day. He was fun! He went above and beyond what was expected, helping to get water for tables at my wedding when the waitresses were busy in the back getting food.  What was more impressive though, was Kevin was in an accident merely one week before my wedding and it required WRIST surgery. He took it upon himself to recruit another photographer (James Hoang) to come with him on the day of our wedding, when we had only "paid" to have one. Just in case, he would need help or his wrist/hand would get tired. He ended up taking many pictures anyway, even with his hurt wrist. Many people came up to me during and after the wedding expressing how pleased they were with the photographers and telling us how great of a job they did.

Fawn Grove Florist and Nursery is a gem of a place located in rural Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania. The shop is owned by my Aunt, Karen Heaps, and is responsible for some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen come out of the southern York County area. She was timely, efficient, patient and had great ideas. When my Mom and I met her, for the initial consultation, my budget was higher. Upon receiving less back than I had planned for taxes, I had to call and scale back my plans. She was able to still make beautiful flower plans even on a lesser budget. My Dad ended up then calling her back later and paying the difference so we could go with the original plans, but I was more than happy. The flowers were unbelievably gorgeous! I had bouquets for all the girls and myself, petals for the flower girl, boutonnieres for the guys and corsages for parents and grandparents.


 

The bridesmaid's dresses were bought at Alfred Angelo! They were absolutely amazing! To save money we had Linda Poff do all of the alterations. She has her own shop in the Dover/Dillsburg area and is very inexpensive! She does alterations, gown and veil preservation, as well as sells wedding jewelry, garters and veils.


The guys tuxes were rented from Men's Warehouse!

 (Rings were bought at Kay Jewelers!)

 
I got my wedding dress at Premier Bridal in York. The shop was great to both myself and my sister! They have a great selection of various sizes and types. Upon Walking in you receive markers to put on hangers. You can walk around pulling dresses that look good or fit your style/budget. After the consultant sees things you have picked she may pick other dresses that she may think of that fit your style. Pictures used to be allowed, but since they are going out of business they have stopped allowing them. The business is shutting down at the end of the summer, but right now, all of the dresses they have in stock are 50 % off!

Our DJ Company was absolutely AMAZING!  DJ Party Entertainment was efficient, timely and so very patient! Brian, our DJ has a full time job as a DJ job on the radio, and helps to run this company as a side job. The company will do Unlimited consultations with their brides and grooms and they helped us choose the perfect music! They edited a Glee song for our entrance and made it possible for us to do the garter grab and toss to music from the popular Mario Video Game. NOTHING short of AMAZING :)  They also made sure to stay involved with the planning, sent us final layouts, double checked with us about names and pronunciation before hand, as well as were sensitive to family needs such as the need to not have strobe lights due to sensitivity!


My videographer was my cousin, Christa Craig! She offered to do our wedding video as our wedding gift. We are SO very grateful! We are very excited to see the finished product! She may be venturing out into the videography world eventually, and would be a great resource to ANYONE if she does!
My cake was made by JaimeCakes which is a licensed home bakery based out of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. When my husband and I first met the baker, we found her helpful, a great listener and very willing to work with us to create a style we loved that was within our budget.  Being a pink and black wedding we wanted a cake that was more on the modern side and less girly for my husband, but still elegant for me. The flavors were fresh and amazing!  She did a four tier pink and black cake with two amazing flavors. She offers a fresh buttercream cake on your one year anniversary,if you choose to cut the top tier rather than freeze it. I wanted that option anyway! My groom and I actually didn't get any of our favorite flavor at the wedding so I called her and on the day that I took my cake display back, she gave a bunch of cup cakes for like 15 dollars!!


Hair: A good friend of mine, Theresa did my Hair! She works at a shop in Red Lion and also sells Creative Memories. Email me if you live in the York, PA area and want her information!

Make Up: Nick's Dad's Girlfriend, Oksana is a Mary Kay Consultant! She donated all of the makeup, as a part of their wedding gift!! She is based out of Lancaster and an absolute sweetheart!! Here's her website! Feel free to browse and place an order! :)

Invitations: Walmart! LOL


Favors: orientaltrading.com

Decorations:  orientaltrading.com and saveoncrafts.com


If you have any questions or anything feel free to email me! linz85@comcast.net

Stay tuned for a special review and coupon code!!!!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Too much to say...

I've been really busy. I promise to update everyone soon, and post wedding pics when I can!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Happy International Babylost Mothers Day!

My heart goes out whole heartedly to all the women that are without their precious angels today. You are ALL Beautiful Mothers!
 Sadly and ironically, today is the one year anniversary of my miscarriage.
I miss you so much monkey.

Our Journey towards Making a Family

Long Version : Our Journey Blog Post
Go here to learn about how we got our start..and where we are now!

Short Version:
11-28-2008- Started Dating

2-14-2010- Got Engaged :)

4-3-2010- First Positive Test- Baby 1 due 12/10/10

5-1-2010- Miscarriage at 8wks2days

12-10-2010- Estimated Due Date for Baby 1

5-5-2011- Second Positive Test- Baby 2 due 1-12-12
5-7-2011- We are Married!! :)
5-14-2011- Miscarriage at 5wks2days

6-16-2011- Repeated Pregnancy Loss blood work
6-23-2011- HSG looks good!
6-23-2011- dx positive ANA- Anti Nuclear Antibodies

07-05-2011- Rheumatologist Appointment
7-11-2011- dx Low Vitamin D levels. Start Prescription Vitamin D and baby aspirin

09/2011- Officially No Longer Preventing

10/5/11-First cycle Actively Trying. AF shows up

11/21/11-Celiac Bloodwork Negative, Vit D still lower than normal, start another prescription. Continue prenatals with Vit. D as well

01-12-12-Estimated Due Date for Baby 2
01/12-Vit D in normal range, start over the counter Daily Calcium with Vit D supplement per Rhuematologist.

2/15/12-Appt with new Ob who is more proactive with Progesterone Testing-suspects progesterone issues.

2/15/12- 5/9/12-Stop trying and start new charting method (Creighton) to watch for hormone imbalance.