Summer Trip to Emerson

So everyone, we are only 73 days away from our wedding! Very exciting!!
My Bridal shower is next Sunday, the 26th and I'm looking forward to that, the bridal party has been such a big help with the shower stuff, I can't thank them enough!
We have put in our final touches with the invites, they are going to be something I'm sure not a lot of people have seen before... very happy with the idea and they way they have turned out so far.
The bridesmaid dresses are in and we've finalized the groomsmen styles, we also started to order our wedding party gifts, we are excited cause we think everyone will love their gifts! So much getting done!
This past Sunday, Brian and myself, along with Danielle, Liz & Josh all took a ride out to Emerson Park to take some measurements and some pictures so that we can plan some of the final details of decorating and whatnot... this post is for those of you not familiar with Emerson Park... I'm including several photos along with some initial details














This is the reception building at Emerson Park, it reminds me of a rustic older style country club building with the green and white colors... guests will park in the lot adjacent and walk up this path

This is the walkway to the lake and the area in which we will have our outdoor ceremony, quite a long aisle to walk down...


The Adult cocktail hour will be held in the smaller of the two rooms in the building, this room has a large marble bar and doors that directly access the balcony/breezway area that overlooks the lake

The reception will be held in the larger ballroom area, this photo was taken from the stage area where the DJ will be stationed, windows line each side of the room giving beautiful views of the lake and the park

and here are just some photos of the sisters :-)
We are both getting so excited!!

Updates

My apologies for not updating this blog in what seems like forever... I was very excited to start this blog in the beginning and have neglected it as of late, for which I apologize.
So updates/recaps...
We're getting married at Emerson Park, August 26th
We are both very excited at the non-traditional Friday night wedding as we want a party/fun atmosphere and Friday nights are always a good night to unwind.
We have selected our Bridal Party (all will be listed on our wedding website)
We have selected the Brides Maid Dresses and have a good idea about the Tuxes

I ordered my dress in November (but all details are under wraps until you all see it in person)
We booked our caterer for the evening and will be providing a delicious buffet for our guests - Premier Catering
We booked our DJ - Black Tie Entertainment
We booked our photographer - James Bass Photography
We have mostly all the floral items picked out & some nice ideas for centerpieces
We have an idea of how we want our invitations to look like as well
Our theme is really our colors & our monogram, that will be carried out through everything in our wedding!

Amazing Wedding Invites/Save-the-dates

Hey everyone!
So yes, Brian and I finally have an official wedding date AND location!
We are getting married August 26th, 2011 @ Emerson Park in Auburn NY!!!
Any of you who have been following the blog or have read any of my previous posts might be a little surprised by this, it's not in the fall and it's a Friday night?!?!?! We went to Emerson Park a few weekends ago to check it out, fell in love with the building and scenery there and called right away to schedule our date, however every Saturday in 2011 was booked already!
So we decided to sacrifice the day and go with a non-traditional Friday night wedding and we couldn't be more pleased!
Anyway the basis of this post is to talk about Wedding Invites.
My opinion about invites, and basically the details of a wedding is that there should be a common theme or idea that carries though every aspect, something to really tie everything together.
We really wanted to make sure everything tied in together and there was just a elegant and professional and uniform feel to every aspect of our wedding!

My good friend Jason (designer by day) offered to design our wedding stationary and we gave him total creative reign! I just let him know our colors, where our wedding was being held, and that we wanted a modern look to everything!
Well, we couldn't have been more happy with the ideas that Jason presented us with!
We met at Panera last night and Jason presented us with 4 different, completely unique, personalized, amazing drafts for Save-the-Dates, wow were we impressed! (I'm going to see if I can get his permission to post them on here)
Each one had a different style monogram of our initials, incorporated all our colors in elegant and modern ways, it was so hard to choose just one! And we didn't have to pick just one, the best part about it is that we can pick and chose different aspects of each on that we like and change it around (not something you can do with online - print at home invites)

I would definitely recommend Jason to each and every one of you who is looking to have amazing wedding invites done that are unique to you and will stand out from the rest! And they don't have to be the standard invite either, he was mentioning to us how he designed a CD insert for a couple who were sending out different CDs as their invite, so the sky is the limit!

Jason's website is The Creative Details
He is in the process of updating his site so if you'd like to contact him directly email jasoncapello1@hotmail.com

Again, Brian and I couldn't be more happy with what Jason has designed for us! I recommend him to anyone who is looking to have invites done, or really any type of design work!

Brian enjoying his Panera Strawberry Lemonade!

Our Save the Dates

What do you do when all of 2011 is booked, EVERYWHERE!!

This blog comes to you via frustration and an overwhelming feeling of stress!
While the blog has been silent for awhile, Brian and I have not been lazy, we've been looking at several places to hold our ceremony/reception.
Although we did and still do love Caz's park, it would just be a little tough to get everything together for a fully outdoor tent wedding, but we fear not because we found it's twin!!
In Auburn, NY there is a park, a beautiful park that sits right on Owasco Lake, called Emerson Park. Emerson Park is our place!
There is a beautiful Pavilion/Ballroom/Dining room building that is rustic looking as well as completely customizable! All you have to do is Google Emerson Park Wedding and you'll see tons of pictures of happy couples who have held their special days there.
We wanted to be one of them, so we went to visit on Saturday, fell in love and called to book right away. Now we are still over a year away from next September, however the answer I got was "Booked Solid - All Saturdays Next Year" UGH!!
So what do we do? Sacrifice the venue, the date, the day?

The thought we are going with now is the lesser of the 3 evils, we are looking to sacrifice the day!
So maybe a Saturday wedding isn't in our future, but whats wrong with a Friday night wedding?

Reception Venues

Since we're not entirely confident with having a fully outdoor wedding, we've started the task of looking at venues that offer the option of having a ceremony outside and the reception inside. Yesterday we went to Borio's, located on Oneida Lake.
They have two outdoor areas where a ceremony could take place, and a third they don't know about yet ;-)

Pros

• The downstairs banquet room has an outdoor patio that can be utilized on a nice day
• The menu provides the best options in terms of open bar/variety of dishes
• They don't have all the extra fees, everything (ie: tax, gratuity, room fee, etc) is included in their dinner cost
• Lake setting
• Close proximity for my family
• They have a good reputation

Cons

• They normally hold 4 weddings a day (1 in each room, afternoon/evening)
  
• About an hr drive for Brian's family
• Normal "cookie-cutter" banquet facility
• Not sure if they'll allow the changes and tweaks I have in mind?

Regardless of my pros/cons, Borio's is a very nice place and it is ideal for a wedding setting, and it's very popular (4 receptions a day!)
We'll keep it on the list
Below are some pictures I took while we were there, enjoy!

This is the arbor where they hold ceremonies (obviously the picnic tables aren't there)

This is the gazebo area, however, I will not get married in a gazebo, not my style

This is Brian planning out where people might stand and sit

This is the 3rd area they don't know about yet, I pictured in my mind just a simple book stand for the officiant and some flowers, and let the backdrop speak for itself!

This is the patio outside the downstairs banquet hall

The Outdoor Reception

So, as I've stated before, I've always wanted an outdoor wedding, preferably on a lake even. Helllooooo we live in Syracuse NY, where it can snow in June and be 85 in October, so with all this unpredictability, why on earth would I consider an outdoor wedding?
Outdoor weddings are so unique and with the right touches can be made so beautiful...
AND, We've found the perfect location!
Lakeland Park, Cazenovia, NY!!
Below you can see various pictures of the park.
There are some things holding us back though:
#1 being the unpredictable weather
#2 we can't book the park until Jan 2011
#3 we would have to bring in tons of rental equipment (ie: tables, chairs, lights, dance floor) so it's a cost just to get the place set up, not to mention there is only 1 electrical hookup on site, so we would need to rent generators, ugh so much little stuff to remember
#4 who is gonna set everything up?
#5 who will cater, we are going to set up a meeting with the Brae Loch to discuss their options, hopefully they can provide us with some good options
#6 If we do get the park for that day, we have to get various permits in order to have it there and serve food and alcohol and everything
So we have a lot of details to work out. We've been in contact with the woman in charge of the park stuff, and she's mentioned they have never had a big wedding held there, so we would be the first! I like that idea ;-)

Enjoy these pictures of the park, it really is the perfect location

Table Games - Tacky??

So I was recently at the beautiful wedding of our friends Beth and Shawn, there wedding was wonderful and they had this neat little "game" of ISpy. On each table they had a disposable camera and a little iSpy list of things to take pictures of, I thought it was a really cute and creative idea and it helped to start conversation amongst our table.
I know as adults we should be able to carry on conversations, but sometimes when you're thrown in the mix with people you don't normally converse with, sometimes you need something to get the conversation started... which brings me to what I'm thinking for a table "game"

I have got two ideas, now I've heard it's tacky to do table games... so feedback on this would be very appreciated!!

At each table we would have a 8x10 picture of Brian and I, some would be goofy, some serious, whatever... and then there would be a little "thought-bubble" note card for each guest to fill out during dinner, sort of like a "caption-this" type thing...
so each person (optional for people to participate) would fill out their best caption for the photo... the DJ would come around while people are eating and go through and read out the captions, the "winner" at each table would get a small prize...
I figured it would be a good way to keep peoples attention during dinner and create a fun atmosphere... get some people laughing, etc.

Another idea I got from a website I was browsing... at each seat there would be an envelope containing the name of another person at the wedding, the object of the game is to find that person and draw a portrait of them on the back of the card... this game is meant to get people to mingle with one another... at the end of the reception each guest puts their self-drawn photo in a basket to "earn their favor"

I definitely like the first idea the best, but should I do with out any?
On the flip sides, I've read that table games are tacky and should only be played during the bridal shower?
Thoughts on this...