I want to let everyone know how Andrew proposed to me, because it really is quiet funny. He suggested that we ‘get hitched’ one weekend, and said that there was a Hitching Company in town that let’s you go for public carriage rides. I must have been totally exhausted from work, because I never thought anything of it. Andrew had reserved a time for us, and prepaid, because I would never have agreed to go on a spontaneous $100 horse ride. Our friend Pete was there, with his camera, and Andrew made the excuse that Pete had never been in a horse carriage before. So the three of us start the ride, and Pete starts snapping away pictures, and Andrew keeps talking about horses, and the way life used to be, and how some traditions are really great. I laughed the whole time, because they were both being strange and wonderful. The ride was really romantic, though, because you get to see some of the nicer places in the city. When the ride ends, and we pull back up to St. Anthony’s Main, he gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. I almost fell off the carriage. It was romantic, and I was so happy that we have pictures!

Save-The-Dates: I sent out a mass email on facebook letting everyone know that Andrew had proposed, and that we needed their mailing addresses. Facebook is fun because everyone can hear everyone else’s comments. And it’s less serious, which I loved.

Andrew and I love Kowalski’s. It’s like the gourmet version of a Whole Foods grocery store, and I think for the most part they use organic ingredients. Andrew’s parents decided that there should be a small gathering at their place the week before the wedding, and there was talk of grilling, but as the date approached, and more and more family members confirmed that they would be there. Andrew’s mother wasn’t about to make potato salad for thirty people. So with two weeks to go, Andrew’s mother went down to Kowalski’s and arranged to have a cold buffet and dessert platters. I helped with the arranging of the food once it arrived, and they made every tray look amazing. They have lots of choices, and you get lots of food, and it is all so delicious and in excellent quality. Andrew and I were used to splitting sandwiches there, so it was a real treat. I think it was also nice that we were all able to be at his parent’s house, too, rather than in another restaurant or bar. At that point, we had gone out enough, and it was nice having a calm day but still have delicious and gourmet food.

When Andrew and I had gone before to the restaurant, we had seen ATAS play. ATAS is the restaurant’s eastern European band, and they really add to the atmosphere of the restaurant. They are really, really great. They play all the great old dance songs, some crazy Eastern European dance songs, and they make it really fun to get up and dance. We wanted to make sure that they would be at the restaurant that night, and to see if they could be ‘our’ band for the night. I really didn’t want any DJ, because live music is always better. There is a dance area at the restaurant, and we were able to coordinate it so that our group would be able to hit the dance floor with the band playing without any worry or concern that we would be taking over someone else’s party. This took a bit of coordination, but we managed to get everything organized. The band was also really good about learning the song we wanted to dance to, a Neil Young song. We had the band, the dance area, and an amazing array of dance songs to listen to. It was fun, and it made the whole evening unique and memorable.

Between all our close friends and family members, plus some co-workers, Andrew and I had between us a guest list of about 150 people. We estimated that we would need a venue that could hold about 100 people, which is rather hard to find because most wedding venues are for bigger parties. We thought about the St-Petersburg Restaurant, just because we had been there before, and looked into whether it could host a wedding party of about 100 people. Aside from being really elegant, with a great menu, this place was extremely reasonable. They didn’t charge us for the room, just per person for the meal, and then we had a choice of additional charges for the decorations. They were really accommodating, and let us know that we could bring in our own cake and centerpieces. It was really easy to work with the staff. The menu is incredible, and we had the option of going buffet style, which we did just because of the number of vegetarians. For those who aren’t vegetarians, I recommend trying the caviar, but maybe not the really expensive caviar for your first bite. It took a while to like the taste, but now I love it.

Andrew was going to rent a tuxedo, rather than buy a tuxedo. He has a nice suit, which he wore when we went to the City Hall to sign our wedding papers, but he wanted to be over the top for the wedding ceremonies. He went in the store, booked an appointment to be fitted, went and got the car oil changed, ate lunch, and went and was fitted for a tuxedo. I think he was lucky to get a fitting on the same day, or even the same week. He said that it took about two hours, which included picking out the suit, being fitted, and then choosing accessories. My only complaint was that he went by himself, but he said it was much faster that way, and he thinks the staff liked him all the more because he was on his own. The suit looked good, fit well, and he was able to keep it in good condition all night, though at one point I saw the jacket on the floor and though we would have to pay for it.

We chose Dick and Jane Letterpress because we really like the look of letterpress. I think it’s really classy, and it’s not something that can easily be reproduced. We looked into making the invitations, and getting the stamps and paper and all the supplied, and we quickly calculated that the costs of getting the supplies to make 100 cards would easily be the same as ordering 100 cards. We had a wedding budget of about $5000, which is a lot more than we thought we would have, and it fit right in our budget. Also, we were really able to express ourselves creatively with the two owners, who listened to us, offered their input, and made some really beautiful cards. I also want to say that this was the chance to support a local business, so I am aware that you can order cards online for cheap, but we made sure that the money was going into our community.

This is rather near where Andrew’s parents live, and they know the store very well. I went in with Andrew and his mother, and we spoke with someone about bouquets and corsages and simple centerpieces. The restaurant said that we could bring in our own flowers, which I loved, but it seemed kind of hard to think of what would suit the atmosphere of the restaurant. Seeing as the bridesmaids had fuchsia dresses, and the bridal party had a vintage look, we came up with very simple and elegant centerpieces. They were very small, but they added small splashes of color rather than big bursts of color. I loved how subtle the flowers were, how great the staff was to work with. Everything was delivered on time, the cost was just right, and everything worked out very well.

The restaurant was letting us bring in our own cake, so we looked around at several bakeries to see if we could get a better deal elsewhere. Cakes range from about $1 to $6 a slice, but we were looking at the cheaper end. We also looked at the idea of getting cupcakes, and finally decided to get cupcakes and a small cake for us to cut. We went with Rainbow’s End, even though they were a bit more expensive than a regular mom and pop bakery because they could make the cake vegan. I’m not vegetarian, and neither is Andrew, but my best friend is and we were going to have several vegetarians at the wedding. It also helps take the guilt out of eating two or three cupcakes on the wedding night, which I did. We went to several consultations, and they were just as nice as the other bakeries we visited. It was nice seeing how clean their shop was, too, and I think the selling point was how good they could make vegan chocolate.

My bridal party was composed of sister and my best friend, so we only needed to find two dresses. At first, they tried looking at vintage stores, but I am much more comfortable wearing used clothing that either of them. I didn’t want to pressure them, but I did want them to be wearing dresses in the same color that were nice. We went to the Brookdale Center and started looking at dresses and found the most amazing and flattering wrap dress in the world at the Limited. This is a store that sells work clothes for women, fairly good quality, average price, but very work office orientated. The dress we found must have been for a work party, because it was this raw silk material in fuchsia, and it was stunning. The skirt went out, so it looked vintage. It was sixty dollars, which was really reasonable for a dress that they would be able to wear again. I bought the same dress in black because it’s not often you find a great dress. They wore their own shoes and jewelry, and they looked great.