We have a church!!!!!!!!

I am super excited because we have a church!!! We have been looking for one that would allow us to get married for 5 months!!! Mr. Newport just sent news that we got Ok'ed at a church in the same town as the reception sight. It is a huge relief.

Now on to the DJ search. We have three appointments booked and 2 more we are interested in. I know 5 seems like a lot, but I think the DJ's more than anyone need to be seen in person. We want someone with a great personality who will make sure the night flows smoothly.

I'm not really sure what question to ask, does anyone have any advice?

The Story of Us-Part Two

The first half of the scrapbook was really wordy, so on the second half, I tried to include more visuals. As I said before, we didn't have an easy start. After our first date, we didn't plan on more. Then after becoming really great friends, we gave it another shot. Our second date, we watched "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days".

Another easy page: 8x8 paper, the movie insert from my dvd. A print out of what happend and a picture. Super simple!
This page isn't done yet, it's a work in progress. I just have to add a picture of the promise ring Mr. Newport gave to me.
There were a lot of little memories, that I couldn't really turn into whole pages, so I made a top ten list of my favorite memories over the past five years.

Then of course, I had to add pictures and memories from the engagement getaway. This page here is the best picture we got of the two of us. I then wrote down all the places we went and the things that happend while in Newport those two days.
This shot was a re-enactment, and I added the menu from the place we got our picnic sandwiches from.
Lastly, I added a quote from the day. I love quotes, so I had to do it, and I really want to remember that line forever. It was too cute and so us. I added a picture and a few embellishments to top it off.

So that is "The Story of Us"! I left a few blank pages to add in any more big moments that come our way! :)

The Story of Us- Part One

On our fifth anniversary, Mr. Newport finally got a scrapbook, entitled, "The Story of Us". I have saved a lot of momentos over the years, but somehow this scrapbook ended up being really wordy. I tend to make scrapbooks with lots of visuals, but when making this one, I somehow had lots of stories. Which makes the title even more appropriate. I like doing title pages. I think they set the tone of the book. in my early scrapping years, I used to just dive in, but lately, I tend to be more thoughtful about how I set them up. I really want books that tell a story, while sharing favorite memories.

I made this title page super simple. I bought a pad of 8x8 pages in plain colors. I used one of my favorite pictures. I wanted it to be recent. This was taken over the summer at a friends wedding. Then using stickers, I wrote out the title and our names. I added a couple pink hearts to add a little something extra!

This page was another easy one. When creating our wedding website, I asked Mr. Newport to write "Our Story" from his perspective. I thne wrote mine, so when i came up with te idea for the scrapbook, I thought these would be perfect as the intro. pages! I don't like using regular printer paper in scrapbooks, because they discolor easy and aren't too sturdy. I used photo paper that we had lieing around. It gives a bit of a glossy look. You just have to make sure that you edit settings before printing so it comes out right. I always make sure to mark to use high quality and that I am using photo paper, otherwise the quality is really bad.

I added Mr. Newport's story to a piece of glitter 8x8 paper for the background. I used white card stock as a header and used alphabet stickers for the title. I then cut out a picture of our freshman dorm sign to add as a little embellishment. One of the cheapest scrapbook pages ever! Not too many supplies used!

I like using old momentos, I typically add ticket stubs, airplane tickets, cards, maps, flyers, or anything I can get my hands on to make the memory stand out a little more. For this scrapbook, my favorite momentos happend to be AIM conversations. I am so glad I saved them for all these years. Mr. Newport happend to ask me out for the first time via AIM on Halloween!

This page has teh same format as the others. I used photo paper to print out our conversation and added halloween embellishments I had left over from card making.
This page showcases the story of our first date. It was at Ben & Jerry's, which explains the ice cream embllishments.

This page has the lyrics from songs we used to leave as away messages for each other. We didn't hit it off right away, so our dorky selves left away messages as subliminal (not really) messages for the other one.

All supplies were purchased from A.C. Moore. I like A.C. Moore because if you go to their website, you can get a coupon between 40%-50% off one item each week. Sometimes teh ydo special coupons off your whole purchase, but I know for sure I can get a large discount off at least one item everytime I go. Scrapbooking supplies aren't cheap, so I love A.C. Moore for thei coupons and many sales.

Do you scrapbook? Where do you get your supplies?

5 years of Daffodils and Cactus

Last week we celebrated 5 years by seeing, "He's just not that into you" and going out to dinner. I gave Mr. Newport his scrapbook and I think he liked it a lot. He was smiling and laughing while he read it. We didn't have the best start in our relationship, so it is funny to look back on our beginning.

In the scrapbook, I made a list of my top 10 memories with him. One being getting daffodils our freshman year when he came home late from parties. We lived in the same dorm and he would show up late at night or the next morning to my room with a daffodil he picked on his way home to let me know he was thinking of me.

The first time I got one from him I was taken by surprise, because it isn't a common flower to give. but they happen to be my favorite. My father always grew them in the front of our house and it makes me think of our neighborhood. After Mr. Newport gave it to me, I realized they are grown all over Newport. Which made me love Newport even more.

One of my other favorites on the top 10, was the time Mr. Newport gave me a cactus. I was having a really bad semester. I was having roomate troubles and was really stressed out. He showed up to my room one day with a cactus. He told me he wanted to get a cactus because everyone gets flowers and he wanted to get me something special. They also last longer, so it could give me lots more smiles than a bouquet of flowers. We even named it! One of our first dates, we watched "How to lose a guy in ten days", which prompted us to call the cactus, "Our love Cactus". We had the cactus for almost three years, until it died the week he proposed. It made me kind of sad.

So I was super happy when he came home from work last Friday with a bouquet of Daffodils and a new catcus. He also got me a Happy 5th Birthday card, to which I said it's not my birthday, but he said its the birthday of us. He always makes me smile, which is one of my favotire things about him.
His presents were probably the best he has ever given me. I tend to be more sentimental than materialistic. Now that we are saving for the wedding and our future, it forced us both to be creative about our presents for each other. Typically, we go on vacation for our anniversary, or I would get him tickets to a hockey game with really great seats and he gets me jewelry. Then we go out for a fancy dinner. I was really happy with the thought behind his gifts, it makes me smile that the little things that mean a lot to me, mean a lot to him too.

Has wedding planning or finances caused you to be more creative? What are some of your favorite sentimental gifts?

Duty Calls...and it's delicious

When acting as MOH in sister Newport's wedding, there were so many duties delegated to me as the Maid of Honor and I have to say, I was completely up for every task. Especially the cake tasting. I made sure to taste every piece brought to us at sister Newport's tasting.....at least three times. It was a big responsibility and I thought I should take it seriously. No cake went un-tasted.

We went to Konditor Meister in Braintree, MA. They have a great selection of cakes and fillings. Sister Newport ended up choosing four different flavors. One for each tier. She likes variety!

We had many favorites. My favorite was the banana filling, but sister Newport thought it wasn't right for a fall wedding. We tasted many all season flavors like chocolate-chocolate, marble, oreo, chocolate forest, etc. I tended to lean more towards the "summery" flavors.

My favorites were the carrot cake (which I usually don't like!), vanilla with banana filling and vanilla with lemon filling. The lemon is very refreshing, perfect for a summer wedding. The banana is just all out delicious and I don't care if it is considered a "summer" flavor", I may need to include this in my fall wedding, if it is available and just as good wherever we get our cake.

Sister and Future brother in-law Newport went with Carrot cake as the top tier. It is the groom's favorite (we learned that due to the density of the cake, it only works as the top or bottom layer, not good for middle layers), Tiramisu as the next highest, Pumpkin with maple filling as the second to last layer and chocolate-chocolate as the bottom layer. They chose the crowd pleaser for the bottom layer. If that doesn't scream fall wedding, I don't know what does!

What I learned:
1. Keep season in mind.
2. Pay attention to the density of your layers (your baker should know this, if not, your in trouble!).
3. Lot of details=Lots of money.
4. Make sure you use a crowd pleaser for your biggest layer, choose the flavors that aren't as popular for smaller layers.
5. If you purchase your own cake accessories, it can help save on decorating costs.

They had mutliple showcase cakes throughout the space. Here are some favorites:

The window display

Very intricate!

My favorite! A super nautical cake! I love the anchors. I just happen to be super traditional
and want a white cake and Mr. Newport wants his people topper, so I'm pretty sure this wouldn't work!

What are some of your favorite cake flavors at weddings? Do you have any great tips for choosing a cake and/or the flavors?

The Engagement Shoot

We scheduled our engagement shoot for May, after we had gotten engaged. We wanted to take pictures at our alma mater, so we decided to do it after commencement, but before tourist season. That left us with few date options.

For some reason I thought our shoot had unlimited time, but it is actually only an hour. I should have known better! So, I needed to narrow down the locations for the shoot. We are using the pictures for our Save the Dates and our wedding website, and mayeb a few other various projects. We wanted variety in locations, poses and outfits.

The Hotel area/Starting point-

We decided to create a plan:

Meet photographer on the wharf, where our hotel room is located. Take a few shots on the pier, head to Thames/downtown area, move to Salve (our alma mater)/The Cliffwalk, move to Third Beach and then depending on how we are feeling....Ocean Drive

Must have location shots:
* Take a picture on the balcony
* Take a picture on the pier
* Coffe shop shot
* Newport Wave
* Anywhere on Thames Street
* Ochre Court/Salve arches
* Hunt Hall (our freshman dorm, where we met)
* The Cliffwalk, Love is Life tunnel
* The Cliffwalk, Forty Steps
* Third Beach, various shots

Then for must have shots, not related to location:
* Holding Hands
* "The gaze", (When you stare into each others eyes), it is my dad's favorite, he always does it!
* Swinging around, Mr. Newport did this right after he proposed on the beach, so we will recreate that moment
* Save the Date, written in the sand
* Laughing picture, I don't want a fake laugh, but I love when photographers capture a really happy real laugh- since I'm hoping for it, I'll probably realize I'm laughing and ruin it!

Did anyone else plan out their engagement shoot?

The Guest List - Part Two

I made my list of cutting "rules", in my last post. Here are some of the issues with having rules:

The hard part is the friends in-between. If I only see them 2 or 3 times a year, in a social setting, should they be invited? There are a few girls from college I hang out with, but we never hang out alone. We don't call each other. I like them, but when it comes to cutting time, should I keep them over someone else that I am closer too, but don't see as often?

Salve grads at a friend's wedding, this past summer

Dates are hard, too. I was once interrogated by a bride on my love for Mr. Newport. We had been dating for about two years and we were planning on living together before the Bride's wedding. She pulled me aside at a party and was asking wherther or not I loved him (at this point he had given me a promise ring and basically announced, he would eventually propose). I thought it was clear we were in love and I didn't understand why she was so interested in our relationship. Then someone pulled me aside and explained the wedding guest list was being put together.

Jim and I at a cousin's wedding, this past summer

I don't want to have to judge people's relationships. It makes me uncomfortable. Who am I to say how in love you are at any point in your relationship? Some people fall hard and fast, while others take time. Everyone is different and I don't want to assume or ask anything.

I find this very frustrating. How do you decide who gets a date? If you have been dating for X amount of months/years, you get a guest? What are your thoughts on this one? Is there any good way to cut down the list, without hurting or offending people?