OOT Ideas

Mr. S and I are so appreciative knowing that our friends and family will be travelling to see us say "I do". Choosing the location was an easy choice for sentimental reasons, but I do feel bad that everyone will have to travel. We really didn't have a choice on travel, because either of our home towns would still cause a large number of our guests to travel.

We've tried to come up with ways to make their stay comfortable. None of these ideas are really earth shattering, but I still think these little details make a difference.

1. Send Save the Dates. - Our wedding isn't during the summer or on a holiday weekend, but due to the travel involved, we felt it was important to give our guests advance notice. We sent hotel block information as well as a link to our wedding website. Our room blocks end 2 months prior to the wedding, which is when our invitations will go out. The save the dates were a great way to give advance notification.

2. Create a website with useful information. We've included directions, local restaurants and attractions and will use it if any updates need to be sent.
3. Give clear directions- I'm horrible with directions, so clear directions are always super helpful when it comes to weddings or any day in life. We have links with mapquest directions on our website for each location.
4. Set up Room Blocks - try to find great deals. We spent huors trying to find hotels with quality, affrodability and convenience.

5. Welcome Note- we plan to leave our oot guests a welcome note to let them know how appreciative we are that they have made the trip to our wedding.
6. Printed area information in a folder or oot bag for the non-tech savvy or those who may not visit your website- this includes maps, area attractions and restaurant information.
7. OOT bag/welcome treat. - we plan to fll up bags with snacks for guests who may be hungry after a long drive.

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8. Morning after Brunch- Some of our guests will have a long car ride home the day after our wedding, so we thought it would be nice to feed them before they get on the road. And it's another excuse to hang out with all our firends and family!

Are you having a lot of oot guests? Are you planning to do anything to make their stay more comfortable? Anything I should add to our list?

Disappointments & Silver Linings

The biggest disappointment during our wedding planning is something I'm still trying to get over. If you've been following along, you may remember Mr. Newport and I met in college. I knew early on he was the one and envisioned getting married at our school's chapel, Ochre Court. Ochre Court is the most significant mansion on the school's campus and hosts not only the chapel, but also many of the school's events. It's where Mr. Newport and I had our first dance and many other amazing memories during our four years of school. I knew it would be the place I said I do. At least I thought I did.

Prior to proposing, Mr. Newport looked into the requirements of getting married at the chapel. On top of being too pricey for us, they also maxed out at 150 guests. At that time we assumed our wedding would be 300-we've now gotten it down to a little under 200. But we knew it was not do-able. We tried to come up with different options, like having a smaller ceremony, but we didn't like excluding anyone. I was really disappointed and I'm still not over it. I keep wishing some way we could get everyone to fit, but even if we could they only have ceremonies when school is not in session, so that limits it to pretty much summer and winter break and smaller breaks inbetween. So at this point everything is booked and on a date that is during the school session, so it's a definite no.

Since we can't get married there, we decided to do our formal photos on campus. I was hoping to do them on the lawn behind Ochre Court. Then I saw a wedding with a photo session at Ochre Court on the Faith Dugan Photography blog. I knew we could take photos on the lawn, but I didn't know it was an option to take photos inside Ochre, as well.

I was so excited to see Faith's post. I've been so disappointed about not having our wedding there, but now I know we can at least take our photos on campus. It isn't quite the same, but when I thought about it, this may actually be better. If we had the ceremony there it would be a bit more awkward to have our photos taken there after the ceremony, since all of our guests would be around. I'm a bit camera shy and having a huge audience would not help. Now we can leave the church and head over and get amazing shots like this couple.

Here are photos of the couple inside Ochre Court. I think they are absolutely stunning!
This is where our college hosts the "snoball" semi-formal dance, which is where Mr. Newport and I had our first dance. The stairs actually lead to the admissions and alumni offices.
We also went to the Halloween dance and senior cocktail here. So many great memories within these walls.
Then outside of Ochre Court is a gorgeous lawn right on the Cliffwalk overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. I love the amazing photos Faith captures of this couple. I can't wait to see what our photographer will do!I'm in love with the wedding party shots, it's such a great location for both shots of us as a couple and larger group shots. These photos make me so happy, when I'm feeling down about not getting married at Ochre, I know I can turn to these photos to cheer me up.

Did you have any major disappoitnments during planning? Did you find a silver lining?

Thanking the Girls

I LOVE tea. My friends and I have gone out to tea many times, just for fun. It would seem the obvious choice, to bring my bridesmaids out for a bridesmaid tea. Easy enough choice, I always knew this would be the case.

But then I started thinking things through, due to my love of tea, my Massachusetts shower will be a tea party. I didn't really put two and two together, but since we're already doing a tea, it seems repetitive to do two teas during the bridal events. Not that I wouldn't enjoy it, but I also started considering timing. One of my bridesmaids lives in New York, she was also a bridesmaid for Sister Newport and couldn't make it for her bridesmaid tea. I want her to be included, but understand she can't come home for every event. So I decided to make the bridesmaid event during the wedding weekend, so everyone can attend. The only day I'll have all my bridesmaids there is the day before the wedding. We have the rehearsal that night, so an afternoon tea wouldn't make much sense anyways.

I decided to make the day before a true girls day. These girls are amazing. They've thrown us an amazing engagement party, they are all helping to host my MA shower, throwing a bachelorette party, and are all spending a good amount of money on the dress, shoes and accomodations. Plus they are all just awesome friends in general.

I want to do something to really thank them for everything they are doing for us. I looked around at different locations and decided to go with the Castle Hill Inn for the bridesmaid luncheon. It is a beautiful inn overlooking the Newport bridge and the Naragansett Bay. After lunch, we'll head to a salon in Newport to get our nails done. Then spend some time relaxing at the hotel together before the rehearsal. I'm excited that the day before the wedding will be a fun filled relaxing day with my girls. Mr. Newport hasn't planned anything yet, but I'm sure he and the guys will plan a fun day as well.

Are you doing anything special to thank your bridal party?

Beef or Chicken?

We recently had our food tasting and let me tell you, there were a lot of unexpected surprises that day. For one we started the morning on an impromptu wine tasting in Sakonnet on our way to Newport.

Going to our tasting, I was pretty sure of what we would pick, at least for the entrees. The ABC has 3 different packages. Within each package there are set entree options. So no matter what you pick, the pricing is the same. So when I saw Filet Mignon was an option, I knew for sure it would be on our menu. I love a good filet!

I also knew we would get a chicken option. Most of my family members are picky eaters. So this again was a definite on our menu. The ABC has two chicken options, chicken picatta or marinated and roasted breast of chicken with mandarin sauce. Chicken picatta seems like it would be a much better choice. I'm a reformed picky eater, so thinking of my own tatse buds I thought there is no way I would have wanted the chicken with any sauce. I used to like really bland food. Picatta sounds like a safer choice for picky eaters.

When it came time to set up our tasting, we were to give the ABC four options we'd like to taste. We opted for the two chickens, the filet, and a new york sirloin. Mainly because we could try up to four options.

New York Sirloin

Filet Mignon with twice baked potato

Mandarin Chicken

Chicken Picatta

After tasting the food, I did a 180. Mr. Newport loved the New York Strip and I loved the Mandarin Chicken. Not what we expected, but we are really happy with our choices.

We also surprised ourselves by deciding to include a pasta cource. I was having trouble deciding if we should include an extra hor' deurves or the pasta course. Mr. Newport and I were leaning towards the hor' deurves and our Moms liked the idea of the pasta dish. After trying the penne in pink vodka sauce, we were sold. It was one of my favorite parts of the tasting! We ended up with choices we weren't expecting, but happy with what we chose. Did you serve all time favorite dishes for the wedding, or go with something you weren't expecting?

"You're my Lobster"

Most brides are on some type of budget, and wedding dreams sometimes need to be toned down or completely cut to make the budget work.

When we started planning our dream Newport wedding, I had big ideas. I wanted it to be a weekend affair with events throughout. Then reality set in.... a.k.a. the budget. My dreams of additional events were toned down, and we had to figure out what would give us the most bang for our buck. We decided to go with a morning after brunch as a send off for our guests. I'm so excited about the brunch, but I would have loved to treat our guests to a welcome dinner in addition to the brunch.

I had dreams of a traditional lobster bake. Can you imagine the possibilities?

I am in love with this rehearsal dinner shown on the Brian Phillips Photography blog. Click on the link to see more gorgeous photos!

I love the lobster details in this rehearsal dinner, photos by Snap! Photography, another RI photographer. The event was planned by Raina of Raina Dawn Events.
We had a senior event during our college years hosted at Kempenaar's Clambake Club in Middletown, RI. The photo possibilities would be fun! They have a built in photo area, as seen in the lovely photo by Newport photographer Faith Dugan. The site also has volleyball nets and horseshoes, which would make for a fun welcome event.

And no event is complete without a little inspiration from Martha. How cute are these diy place cards and invites?

What wedding dreams did you have to tone down or completely cut due to your budget?

Registry Favorite

When we first started registering, we weren't really feeling it. It's hard deciding what you need, when your living with your mom/MIL. No house/no apartment=no fun registering. We couldn't pick out anything with colors, because we have no idea what our future home will look like.

The one thing we knew we wanted for sure, was a nautical bedroom. When we first went to block hotels, I fell in love with the hotel's bedding and room decor. I pretty much want to steal their whole design. I love the two toned navy and white walls, and I love the simple bedding.

Here are a couple shots of one of the rooms at the Newport Hotel and Suites: And here is the set (Italian Percale, Marine by Hudson Park) we registered for at Bloomingdales:I love that our bedroom will remind us of our wedding weekend! Cheesy, I know.

Do any aspects of your home remind you of your wedding?

The Wedding Weekend

I have always dreamed of going on a mini vacation with all of my closest loved ones. My maternal grandmother initially instilled the idea in me. Before she passed away, she dreamed of having all of our family members go on a trip together. This family included her 8 children, their spouses, 25 grandkids, their significant others, and a few great grandkids. When she first brought it up, it was supposed to be a weeklong trip, a cruise, a trip to Disney or a trip to our roots in Ireland.

After some family discussions, and indecision, the weeklong trip was demoted to a weekend in New Hampshire. She wanted to bring her family to the Mount Washington Hotel, where her husband, my grandfather had worked in his early years, for a long weekend. Again, after family discussion and indecision, the trip never happend.

My grandmother never lived to see her family getaway come to life, but it's finally going to happen. Both myself and my cousin are planning semi-destination weddings in New England. This upcoming August, my cousin and his fiance are getting married in New Hampshire overlooking the White Mountains, then in October, we'll all be together again Newport.

Photo by Onne Van Der Wal

I have been dreaming of a family getaway since my grandmother came up with the idea, and I'm even more excited that this getaway will include all of my family. Mr. Newport and I are excited that we will have all of our closest friends and families together for a whole weekend. After years of dating and telling friends stories of each others lives, our worlds will finally collide in a fun packed weekend. We are so excited about the weekend, we opted not to do a honeymoon and will extend our stay in Newport in case anyone else stays in town. With a few days to ourselves, of course.

In reality, we will be there for just about a week. Some guests have already indicated they be spending a few extra days in Newport.

During the course of the weekend we are hoping to come up with an extra event to show our guests our appreciation for their traveling, and to make the trip more enjoyable.

So far we have tossed around a few ideas like a night on the town in Newport, a morning after brunch, a pizza party, a softball game, or maybe a wine tasting. We have yet to look into most of these ideas. Some are more ideal for smaller crowds, while others would be fun with a big group.

Keeping in mind we are on a budget, do you have any fun ideas for events with the guests? Are you planning a wedding weekend?

Rehearsal Dinner: Check!

When it came time to look into rehearsal dinner locations, I had only one spot in mind. There is an amazing Italian restaurant in Newport called Sardella's. It was "our spot", when we lived in Newport. By junior or senior year, we pretty much went on a weekly basis.

It is also the place we went to celebrate our graduation with my family, the place we went for Valentine's day, birthdays, anniversaries, family and friend's visits to Newport, and of course on the night we celebrated our engagement. I was really hoping to have our rehearsal dinner here. The thing is, I didn't want to be pushy or demanding. My future in-laws have been exremely generous throughout the wedding process (and life in general) and haven't made any real requests. Since they have offered to host the rehearsal dinner, I didn't want to tell them where to have it.

When they came to visit for Christmas, we planned a day in Newport, where we could show them the wedding venue, look into rehearsal dinner locations and morning after brunch spots. When it came time to talk about the rehearsal dinner location, FMIL Newport recommended Sardella's. We both obviously loved the idea, but thought they'd want to look into a few more places. We were wrong, actually I was wrong. We had thrown around a few spots, as we are more familair with the area. Luckily Mr. Newport's parents know how much it means to us, and decided to just have it there. We didn't even look anywhere else.

The day after Christmas, we drove to Newport, and took a look at the space. Although we have been there multiple times, we hadn't seen the event rooms. We decided on a small room towards the back of the restaurant. It has a stone wall with inserts to put candles. It's technically outside, but enclosed. I'm already imagining an intimate rehearsal dinner, with our closest friends and family, eating great food, drinking great wine by candlelight at "our spot".
Are you having your rehearsal dinner at a location with some sort of significance to you and your fiance? Was the search for a location easy, or did you need to look around a bit?

Room Block Tips

Room blocks were quite the adventure for us, as you can read in our experience here.

After lots of research on what to ask and what to beware of, then going through the experience, I felt like I should share my new found knowledge with someone!

When blocking rooms, it's really important to ask the right questions. Some hotels have hidden charges that you forget to ask about, then they show up on the bill.

• Room Block set up fee- some hotels have an administrative fee for setting up the room block. We only came across one and it was $25.00. Two others waived this due to our reception site having a deal with the hotels.


• Unused room fee- some hotels will charge you for rooms in a block ,that go unused/unbooked. We luckily did not run into this.


• OOT guest bag fee- some hotels charge to either pass out or deliver oot bags to guest's rooms. I've heard this can be $2-$5 per bag. We again, luckily did not run into this.

Important Questions

• How many rooms can be booked?
• Can more rooms be booked in the future, if the original block is filled?
• Is there a group discount rate?
• What are the rates for different types of rooms?
• Can you block our guests near each other?
• If there is no group dicount rate, do you offer any other dicounts such as to Triple A members?
• Is there a fee to set up a room block?
• What happens if we do not fill all of the rooms we blocked? Is there a charge?
• Is there a deadline for when rooms need to be booked by our guests?
• Is there a minimum night stay requirement?
• Does the room rate include breakfast?
• How are Out of Town bags handled? Delivered to room or handed out at front desk?
• Is there a charge for Out of Town bags?
• Do you offer any specials for the bride and groom?

Did you have to set up room blocks for your guests? Do you have any additional tips or questiosn to share?

Blocking the Rooms

Blocking rooms in a tourist town is great because you have lots of options. But....with that comes some not so great things. Like these hotels don't need our business like say, a hotel in a random suburb. So what does that mean? Well... we had trouble finding hotels that would give our guests discounts and/or would allow guests to stay only one night.

After my first two calls, I realized this wasn't going to be easy. So with my list of requirements in hand, I got to calling and e-mailing every place I could find within 5 miles of Newport.

My requirements were simple.
1. A good rate
2. At least one option without the two night stay
3. Convenience
4. Quality

Blocking the rooms has been one of the most stressful parts of planning so far. Typically when you plan something for the wedding, it only affects your budget. The hotel block affects the individual budgets of most of our guests. With the way the economy is, we wanted to be very concious of this and reserve rooms that fit different budgets.

We also knew that many of our guests would only want to stay one night. Many guests are only an hour and a half away, but would like to spend the night- not two, which is typical in Newport. This was actully the hardest part. I assumed since we aren't having the wedding in season, a couple places would be more willing to break this. We only found three places who were willing to let us block with one night stays. We only went with one, as the other two didn't fit other requirments, mainly cost and quality.

Convenience also played a factor. When guests heard there are hotels across the street, many got excited that after the reception they could "stumble home". Luckily there are three options directly across the street from the reception. In the end, these three won out as part of our four total hotels. It's nice because not only are they convenient to the reception, their less than 10 minutes from the ceremony, 5 minutes from downtown Newport, across from the Beach, located next to many reasonably priced restaurants, and it's nice that three of these are located next to each other. Guests will be closer.

Lastly, we looked for quality. I called at least 15 hotels and knew that each had to fit at least three of the four qualifications. Well, I ended up finding a couple with really great prices, but those were also really terrible quality. I was hoping to find something under $100 a night, and I did, but they just weren't places I'd feel comfortable recommending. I looked up each hotel, motel and inn's reviews. Some were horrifying. I decided quality is more important than price. If guests would like a cheaper room, I did give a link on our website, so they can make the choice themselves and decide what is important to them.

We ended up with 4 choices.
1 with amazing quality, not so amazing price, no discounts, 2 night minimum, very convenient.
2 with great quality, great discounts, 2 night minimum, and very convenient.
1 with ok quality, no discounts-but best price, 1 night minimum, convenient.

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We ended up really happy with our selections, after lots of research we feel confident that they are the right choices and well rounded. Although, I hope our guests are happy, as I am still worried about the costs.

Did you have trouble making room blocks for your guests?

Proposal Adventures

After Mr. Newport proposed, the real fun began- the pictures!

I happen to love pictures. I take way too many photos, I'm known for my quick facebook photo updates- as in they are up the next morning- before you are. I scrapbook. I stalk photo blogs. I'm pretty obsessed. I thinks it's my obsession with capturing a memory of a second of time that you can never get back. With a photo you get to hold on to that moment forever. Some people are content with their memory, I on the other hand am much more visual.

Surprisingly, after our proposal Mr. Newport was the one to initiate "the photo shoot". I was so caught up in my happiness that I didn't really think to take pictures- so not like me, I never forget to take pictures.

After some time basking in our newly fiancee'd status, the camera started clicking.

First came some photos of the ring..
Then some photos of us.....
Then a facebook special, in which Mr. Newport tagged all of our coupled friends (O yes he did!)...
After the photo fun, came the mandatory calls. We actually didn't do too many right away, just our parents and siblings. My family saw it coming, but his were a little surprised. Which shocked me because the diamond he proposed with was the same diamond his father proposed to his mother with 3o years ago! He said they gave him the diamond, and he just never told them when he was officially doing it. So needless to say, my future mother in-law had the best reaction---she was speechless. I would be too! I would have assumed he'd tell her, but he said he only told my father prior to doing so to ask for his permission.
After the calls to family, we headed to our alma mater, Salve Regina University, to reminisce. We walked through campus stopping at all the places that hold special meaning to us, including Hunt Hall, which was our freshman dorm where we met.
Later in the evening, we had celebratory drinks on the deck at Bannister's Wharf and made the rest of the calls. The woman at Bannister's saw us sitting on the deck and told us we were about to miss a beautiful sunset and recommended we move to the deck on the other side. Gladly we did. We saw the most beautiful sunset while calling all our closest family and friends to tell them the happy news.
After the beautiful sunset and making quite a few calls, we headed to dinner at our favorite Newport restarunt, Sardella's (favorite because in college you can't beat the 2 dinners for $12.00, $20.00 if you include a bottle of wine special every Mon-Wed in the winter, we went at least once a week and it is absolutely delicious!). It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Then....the next day was more Newport fun and of course, photo taking. We headed to an apple orchard in nearby Middletown, went for a ride on Ocean Drive and spent a little more time on the beach and at Salve. Perfect Fall activities.

At the end of day two of our proposal adventure, we headed back home and were greeted by decorations, friends and family. Absolutely perfect.

Was your proposal more than a one day affair? How did you celebrate?

The Proposal

It's been exactly one year since Mr. Newport asked me to marry him, and about a year to go until we say "I do"! This past year flew by and I know the time is just going to seem to go even faster until the actual wedding. Some people were amazed at the length of our engagement, just about two years, but I'm really enjoying this time together.

So how did he propose? Well....

Mr. Newport proposed almost exactly five years from the day we met. To be honest, neither of us remember the date we met, but it was in October of 2003 at Salve Regina in Newport, RI. (I'll get to that story later) Five years after our first introduction, Mr. Newport took me back to the very place we met.

He planned the whole thing out perfectly. When we arrived in Newport, the weather was perfect. It was a beautiful fall day. It's my favorite time of year and my favorite kind of weather.

I kept thinking it was the perfect time to propose. Newport is my favorite place, it was five years from the date we met (seems like a good time to propose to me), it was my favorite season, and I had been bugging Mr. Newport for awhile. I told my mom, my sister and a few of my closest friends that I thought he was going to propose. It just seemed so perfect. I had thought quite a few times ( a couple different trips to Disney, other trips to Newport, a trip to NH on our four year anniversary, Christmas, etc. etc.) before that he was going to propose, so telling my friends and family I thought this wasn't anything new. Even though I told them, part of me still wasn't sure because I had felt so sure the other times, too.

The one thing that made me a little more sure this time was the fact that Mr. Newport told me his parent's were giving him the diamond his father proposed to his mother with. Up until a couple weeks before the trip, I thought there was no way he would propose because he and his parents hadn't seen each other in months and there was no way to get the diamond. Then I saw a message on his cousin's myspace page about going to Jersey. That's when I became about 75% sure it would happen. His cousin lives in MA, so do we. She was taking a trip with her family that Mr. Newport never mentioned, he usually tells me when his aunt and cousins visit in Jersey. I thought they must be getting the diamond. Then, Mr. Newport never went to visit them, or so I thought. I went back and forth on whether it would happen. I searched for more clues. I know, I'm terrible. I hate surprises. I find more joy in figuring things out before they happen than actually getting surprised. Poor Mr. Newport, he tried really hard!

Then no clues came, Mr. Newport was being really sneaky. I didn't want to get my hopes up since I had so many times before. Then a couple days before our trip, Sister Newport kept insisting that she and FBILN meet up with us for dinner the first night we go down. That's when I started asking her for clues, but I got nothing other than the fact that she said she wanted to be there if he did propose. Which led me to believe that it was going to happen. At this point I became 85% it was going to happen.

Then came the morning we were to leave for Newport. I knew we were going to have a picnic on the beach. I figured I'd wear something comfy, since it tends to be windy and a little cool in October on the water. I asked Mr. Newport if sweatpants were ok, he said I should wear something a little nicer. Note: Mr. Newport fell in love with the girl in sweatpants and tells me I look beautiful in them all the time, so I was surprised. Then I saw what he was wearing- a nice button down shirt and jeans- a little fancy for a picnic on the beach. At this point, I was 90% sure it was going to happen that day.

So after a long drive with much anticipation, we arrived in Newport. We stopped at our hotel to check in, then headed off to grab some sandwiches from our favorite cafe for our picnic. We got our usual of two griddled English cheddar sandwiches. We drove to the next town over to our favorite picnic spot.

As we got out of the car, Mr. Newport told me he had to get something and to go ahead. I was 95% sure at this point that he was getting the ring and about to propose. Yet, I still tried to block it out of my mind, as I had been so sure many times before.

We walked down to the beach, which was nearly secluded (one other person on the far end) and Mr. Newport laid out a blanket. We ate our sandwiches and reminisced about some of our favorite times in Newport. After our lunch was finished we were rambling on about our childish fight that we've had for 5 years- who love's who more (yes we are that couple, and yes we say it everytime we hang up the phone....I love you more...no I love you more...click)), Mr. Newport at this point said I love you more and I'll prove it.

Mr. Newport knelt down on two knees....at this point I was 100% sure it was about to happen. At this point the story gets fuzzy. I know he gave a little speech and I remember it being sweet and being utterly happy. Yet, I have no recollection of any of his words other than his first of proving he loves me more...and his last..."Will you marry me?"

At which point, I told him your only supposed to get down on one knee. Blah, yeah I said it. And yeah, my family made fun of me. Then we laughed. He got down on one knee, and.......the phone rang.

One of my bridesmaids called at 10:00 on a Wednesday morning. She just had to ask me something, aka she wanted to know if he had done it already.

We ignored the call and I said yes.

We spent awhile on the beach savoring the moment. It sounds cheesy, but it really was the most amazing day of my life so far.

Even though I was X% sure it was going to happen leading up to the proposal, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I had originally wanted him to do it sooner, or in other places, but if he had I wouldn't have gotten my dream proposal, the dream proposal I hadn't known I wanted all along. So many times I told him I don't care how it's done, I just want to be your wife. But, once I had the amazing proposal in a place that meant so much, I am happy he waited and did it perfectly. The poor guy just had to deal with a lot of nagging and disappointment along the way.

Did you know when your fiance was going to propose? Did you have to go through some disappointments before getting your dream proposal?