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Lucy-Jared's Bday & Kid City

April Showers Bring May...Blackberries

According to "professionals" we should have locked in our florist back in January. Who thinks about flowers during Winter in New England? Apparently The Knot thinks by putting a pink "!" next to the checkbox on "THIS MONTHS TO DOS" will make me conquer this task quicker. Like I need a pink exclamation point to tell me I'm behind. The "gurus" over at The Knot obviously don't take real world circumstances (or bank accounts) into consideration. Come on, you have a multimedia editor and youth crisis counselor financing their own wedding; bear with us, people! Please, back in Jan, all Joe & I knew was that we were getting married. We did a whole lot in those first four months, as you can tell. It wasn't even until the end of March we even had a place to hold our wedding! We figured we'd just have you all follow us down to City Hall on 9.26.09 and maybe have a pubcrawl after.

Flowers! Who cares about flowers when you don't even have a freakin' place to party!?

Since Joe & I have stepped up our game since January (actually have a place, someone to marry us, and someone to play a few tunes for our guests), my mission this month (four months late), is to get a stinkin' florist. However, every FAQs list online for florist is for your typical "wedding florist" and there's no way we're paying that kind of mark up. We're going with a wholesaler, who I have no idea what you are supposed to ask...and I absolutely dread making redundant phone calls around to vendors. (Wedding planning ain't all it's cracked up to be ladies). But speaking of "crack," I think Joe only bought my new Crackberry so I wouldn't have excuses to not get wedding $%&* done. What can I really come up with when I have phone, email, and internet at my disposal no matter where I am?

Oh yeah, "Sorry babe. I was blogging!"

Luna de Miel

"I have one thing that counts, and that is my heart; it burns in my soul, it aches in my flesh, and it ignites my nerves" ~Eva Peron

What better way to start our new life together, than to get to the roots! Faraoni roots...Joe and I will be venturing to "The Paris of South America," Buenos Aires, Argentina for our "luna de miel" and could NOT be more excited!

When we first started talking about this honeymoon business way-back-when, Argentina was a hot topic--especially Joe's desire to explore his family's culture--and if I'm going to accept the Faraoni name, I better learn some background info as well. Of course, with economy being the other indisputable hot topic, we were forced to look into other options, and yes, Disney Cruise, was a major front-runner for a while due to Joe's ESPN/Disney ties (aka discount).

"Honeymoon" kept making it's way farther and farther down the "To Do" list and was put on back burner for a while, UNTIL Joe stumbled across some deals online. With the help of some very knowledgeable coworkers, some researching, and very little convincing, Joe won me over (again).

In all actuality, it was one of those things we just had to go with our hearts--as we've done for most of this process. Despite the ups and downs, the "what ifs," and researching, this was just another case where we knew from the beginning.

And as our friend Til says "if [we] put as much thought as we have into planning our wedding, into everything we do, we'll be alright."

Buenos Aires, here we come.

Plugging in...

Have you guessed where we are going yet?

Well we booked it last night. Things couldn't have fallen into place better then they did in the last couple of days concerning our honeymoon...

I can't wait!

I found this on Gizmodo... how timely.

Back to Basics

Amidst all the chaos that has ensued during our planning, I'd say approximately 2% of our energy has gone into thinking about the ceremony. And it showed when we sat down to meet with a Justice of the Peace last night.

"So what were you thinking?" she says. [insert awkward silence by Joe & I] Thinking? Uhhh, we were thinking...we want it short...?

Sara (who is now booked as our JP!) is the sweetest, most genuine woman I think we have ever met. "She's like an older version of [co-maid of honor] Emily," Joe says as we're walking to the car. That pretty much sums up how perfect she is for our wedding.

Contrary to Joe and I being completely unprepared (other than bringing our checkbook that we didn't need), Sara had a plethora of information about 'tying the knot' in Connecticut--and as a bonus--weddings at the Old State House.

Sara and her therapeutic voice were just what we needed at this point in our planning. Throughout all the information, details, and options she gave us, it was very important to her to remind us (how ironic) why everyone is coming to see us in the first place. Of course everyone wants to eat, drink, & be merry, but the important part is that everyone is celebrating because Joe & I will legally have to put up with each other for the rest of our lives!

I mean......because Joe & I will have publicly fortified a bond that already exists with the blessings of our friends and families--on such an important day.

Progress.

“Progress is the activity of today and the assurance of tomorrow” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ain't that the truth!  Sing it Ralphie... Ralphie? --> "You'll shoot your eye out"  I couldn't help it.  I digress.

This Waldo guy must have a quote for everything!  I think he's the guy that even coined the, "Beer - helping ugly people have sex since 1862" phraseology.  I mean, hell, he was around in 1862.  Waldo was way ahead of his time.

In all seriousness, Marisa and I have really made progress in all parts of the wedding plans.  We have selected a photographer, we only need to send in our deposit on a DJ, are in the early stages of selecting/designing invitations and have a tasting this Thursday to figure out what y'all folks is eating on the day of our nuptials. Yum!

Kathy, Marisa's Mom, has been busy arranging hotel accommodations for everyone and meeting us in Hartford to indulge in food and beverage for the wedding.  She's in the finalizing steps with the hotel, so stay tuned.  Thanks Kathy!

My better half, and I mean that in every way possible, has been relentless in asking my opinions, dragging me to appointments, and lugging snacks in her "bride bag" to all our meetings.  She has been so great in all this, a bit stressed but great.  I can't even begin to explain the amount of research and time she has put into this process, especially in the last month or so.  I am marrying an incredible woman.

Anyway, once details are finalized we will be sure to post them here for all to see.  We won't purposely leave you hanging.