Sleepy Hollow provided the best casual and fun atmosphere for our rehersal dinner. My fiance and I are "outdoors" people, and having a barbeque on the back patio, overlooking the golf course, is my ideal way to spend any July evening, let alone the night before my wedding.

I had planned on going to my usual salon to get my hair done, and then I realized that I would be driving an hour and twenty minutes on my wedding day. Not exactly a low stress situations. I heard about Hair by Mari from a friend at work, and was intrigued that she would come to your house. After a "test run", I hired Mari to come to my parents' house and do hair for anyone and everyone who wants it. I was happy to be able to treat my bridesmaids without having to bus them all around the Cleveland area to do so. Mari does a great job.

I wanted center piece cakes for each table at my wedding. I'm not much of a "theme" person, and had hoped to be able to personalize each cake to the people sitting at it, but figured this would be an added expense. For most of the bakeries I visited, it was an added expense. Cake's by Nadine, however, has allowed me to design 25 different cakes (in a variety of delicious flavors), without adding on any sort of "wedding surcharge". The frosting is light and delicious, without being too sweet, and their creative range has me redesigning cakes every week. Whatever I think of, they can do!

I chose a Touch of Class for their luxury coach. It had the elegance of a limosine, but the practicality of having room for 12 people (6 of them in dresses). I remembered from Prom night that as exciting as a limosine ride is, there's nothing elegant or romantic about sliding down seats and trying to walk hunched over in formal wear.

I got in touch with Jessica through my family's social circle. At first I was hesitant to include a family friend in my vendor search, I didn't want to feel "obligated" to pick a particular photographer. I told myself I'd be objective and professional, and she would understand. I interviewed several photographers, and then Jessica, and all my fears were for nothing. Jessica had a beautiful portfolio and came across as far and away the only person I wanted to photograph my wedding. She offers completely customizable photography packages, and I felt like I could get everything that was important to me, without having to pay for anything I wasn't interested in.

While wedding dress shopping, I was so used to the cavernous supper stores that my first thought of A Bride's Design was "Oh, this won't take long". The shop is small, but the dresses Laura stocks are superb. The owner/operator is a seamstress/dress designer, and several of the dresses on the rack were designs made specifically for her shop. She was able to suggest alterations and material changes that took a great dress and made it my favorite dress.

I really wanted a wedding favor that people could enjoy without feeling guilty about buying yet another knick nack that would end up in the trash. My fiance and I met and got engaged at a library, so I was hoping for a book related theme. Unfortunately, actual books were too expensive (I was salivating at the thought of being able to hand out books to a "captive" audience) and everyone else was pushing bookmarks. Despite (or perhaps because of) being a voracious reader, I never use bookmarks. I intend to, I have them organized at strategic areas on my house, but msot of the time I'm wandering around reading and end up grabbing whatever scrap of paper is handy to hold my place. I didn't want to pass out 250 bookmarks knowing that half of them would probably end up in a drawer (and then the trash).

The plantable Hearts from Botanical Paper Works helped me come to a compromise. While some people will use them as bookmarks for years to come, the ones that don't want to can plant them for flowers (or just throw them in the bushes, nature will take care of the rest).

This church is where my fiance and I both grew up attending mass. It is a large, open space. The walls are plain brick, but the altar decoration is a beautiful sculpture of the risen Christ on a background of beaten metal. Also, there is a floor to ceiling stained glass window at the back of the church, providing lovely color and light.

I kind of cheated in choosing the Hilton Garden Inn, it was where my older sister had her wedding reception four years ago. Her wedding had been small (about 150 people), and the Hilton Garden Inn provided a "progressive wedding." This meant that guests met in one lovely room for appetizers and cocktails, moved next door for dinner and speeches, and then moved to a third room for dancing. The hotel automatically blocks off the whole suite of rooms for the entire wedding, so guests were able to move back and forth between dancing and comfortable seating in the first cocktail room.

My wedding is (unfortunately) much bigger than my sister's, so I couldn't fit into the progressive wedding rooms. I assumed that meant I couldn't have my reception at the Hilton Garden Inn at all. I was in luck, however, as they just added a ballroom in early 2008. While my guests will start with a cocktail hour in the same room my sister used, they will walk down a hallway to a large ballroom for dinner and dancing in the same room. A large ante-room with a coat check and restrooms will also have some "soft seating" (chairs and couches), so people will still have a nice conversation area to get away from the music. It's amazing how well the Hilton has accomidated first my older sister and now me... I wonder what they'll have available when our youngest sister gets married.

I found The Green Kangaroo listed on The Knot, and clicked because of their fun name. I was impressed by their invitations and inserts, but soon fell in love with their hand drawn area maps. For some reason, a cartoony map that shows the church, the reception, my parents' house... it all made it seem very personal and sweet. I ordered some samples and the invitations were very high quality. Also, being undecided on colors, I had mentioned I was interested in the green/blue color family. They sent me a ton of paper and ink samples to choose from. I was worried that all this customer service and quality meant that I couldn't afford them, but I shopped around at a wedding show and found the same invitation I wanted for $2-4 dollars more than I was paying at The Green Kangaroo.