Wedding Venues

Ok so our first step in getting started is picking a venue and reserving it. Sean and I had decided we want a place that can host both our ceremony and reception, and we were leaning towards somewhere in the Poconos. Not only is it gorgeous there, but we thought it'd be a nice meeting place since we have so much family coming from other states & Puerto Rico. We picked out 5 places that we like so far- one of them is in Macungie, which is near Allentown, and the other 4 are in the Poconos. We are going to be setting up appointments to look at each one and then pick from our favorites. Here are the websites for each location:

http://bcmountainresort.com/winter/weddingsandbanquets.aspx
Bear Creek Mountain Resort, Macungie (one of my favorites)

http://www.shawneeinn.com/banquets.aspx
Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, Poconos (my top favorite)

http://www.poconomanor.com/pages/weddings.htm
Inn at Pocono Manor, Poconos (Sean's favorite)

http://www.stroudsmoor.com/Wedding/Wedding.asp
Stroudsmoor Country Inn, Poconos (We both like this one alot although it seems very pricey)

http://www.chateauresort.com/weddings/
The Chateau Resort, Poconos (We both like this but the photos seem a bit sketchy)


I've also decided on the color scheme- I would like for my bridesmaids & maid of honor to wear black dresses of their choice with some type of pink accent, like a sash or any other kind of material. I saw a picture of it and it looked really nice. Plus I'd love for my dress to have a little bit of pink at the bottom- kind of like Gwen Stefani's wedding dress but not as bright. I'm going to look into possibilities of dyeing wedding dresses. I know it sounds nuts, but I love the color pink so much and I've always wanted my dress to have at least a little bit of my favorite color in it. And Sean said he wouldn't mind wearing a pinkish tie so...everyone's happy, I hope! We were also talking about moving up the date to the last weekend of May in 2010. We're going to look into this and talk to our wedding party and families about it. This would make it easier for me career-wise plus I'm very anxious for us to get married :) It seems so far away at this point.

Wedding Dresses

My ideal wedding dress would be one that has alot of pouf on the lower half (like a ball gown) and a form-fitting top half with a halter strap. Also I want the top to have alot of silver beading/intricate details. Yes, I'm picky when it comes to the dress...because that's always been the focal point when I dreamed about my wedding while younger. I want it to look like a fairy princess dress- sexy but classy, and lots of material and taffeta! The dress in the middle picture of this blog is AMAZING. It would essentially be my dream dress, with a halter strap added to it though because I don't think strapless is flattering for my body. The dress on the bottom of the pictures is also beautiful, but I would want it in pure white, not ivory. And the first dress, on the top of the page, is very pretty even though it doesn't have the bottom I would want. I like the way they did the halter strap on it though, and the beading is incredible. Still can't decide what color I want for bridesmaids' dresses. Leaning towards pastel pink, but I don't want any of my bridesmaids unhappy with wearing that color. Sky blue would be the next best choice. We'll see. Sean & I are still researching venues- we have a few in mind that caught our eye so far.

And so it begins...

My mom suggested I scrapbook the process of preparing for our wedding, but I'm not much of a scrapbooker so I thought a blog would work nicely instead. I will be updating this frequently with details of our wedding, pictures of possible dresses, ideas, etc. This way, you guys can join in on the process with us and feel free to shoot any suggestions our way! It's going to be difficult to plan a wedding while trying to finish my last year of college, but I'm up for the challenge because I know it will all be worth it in the end. Sean and I are also looking into buying a townhouse/small home once I graduate and we get married..but that will be a whole other aspect! Thank you for visiting our blog..we will keep you updated!!
In the meantime, I created a webpage on theknot.com. It's not completed in the least bit, as we are still choosing the members of our wedding party and our ceremony & reception locations, but it's a start!
http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=9821647992112412&guestpassword=