Shawnee Inn = Love.

I'm due for an update, according to Sean (yes, he checks this religiously, which is cute.) Ok, so a few things have happened. We fell in love with the second venue we visited. The first was too country & too small for us. Plus the lady who showed us around was brisk and unfriendly- she didn't have excitement about her venue, so how were we supposed to?! Our second visit was well worth it. We visited the Shawee Inn & Golf Resort in the Poconos (http://www.shawneeinn.com/banquets.aspx) last weekend. It had been my favorite from the websites, but I wasn't expecting to love it the way that I did upon seeing it. The building stretched out for miles and had a rustic and old-fashioned look to it from the outside. We walked into a gorgeous, fancy lobby with a fireplace and a really nice bar area. Our coordinator, whose name is Simone, came to greet us and I loved her right away. Such a sweet, pretty, and energetic girl. She made me excited about Shawnee, and had us laughing the whole time. When we were in her office, she had a million thank-you cards covering her walls, so I knew right away that we would be lucky to have her coordinating our wedding.

She showed us the main ballroom, which we loved but unfortunately won't be able to book because of the minimum amount of guests they require. She showed us our options for ceremony and reception sites. There are basically endless options, since the premises are so vast. We could have our ceremony outside, or our reception outside, or both outside, or both inside, on any part of land we want basically. I decided on an indoors ceremony and reception. I prefer indoors because of possible inclement weather, plus I feel it's easier to hear when indoors and you don't have to worry about heat & things like that. So I am choosing the Waring Room for the ceremony, and the Delaware Room for the reception. The Delaware Room has a big dance floor and glass doors that show the Delaware River and the beautiful scenery outside. There is also an outside area with a little bistro that would be great for people that want to step out during the reception. Here is other information about the Shawnee:
1. They can do rehearsal dinners either in their restaurants or as an outdoor bbq/campfire right next to the river.
2. They have a full-service spa and salon which can do mine and my wedding party's hair, nails, massages, everything the day of the wedding.
3. They will be giving us about 2 bottles of complimentary champagne during the wedding day haha.
4. A custom wedding cake is included in the package price that we choose. And I mean CUSTOM. This women's cakes are incredible and I get to pick anything I want, check out her website: http://www.procakeart.com/Weddings.html
5. Our honeymoon suite is also included in the price, as well as a bridal suite for me and my wedding party to get ready in the day of.
6. They will be giving us 20 rooms at a "discounted" rate for out-of-town guests. Their rooms ARE small and expensive however, so I also have a list compiled of cute bed & breakfasts nearby for anyone who would like to go elsewhere.
7. Their food choices can easily accomodate the Italian theme we chose. We will be most likely choosing the Waring Plated Dinner, which is listed on the Shawnee's website. Simone said the chef could customize our menu with us, which we will most likely be doing.
8. Bevarage packages are definately expensive and we may not have it in our budget for an open bar (sorry guys.) But we ARE trying to at least do 2 hours open bar, and then after that maybe a cash bar.
9. For anyone who's interested in turning this into a get-away weekend in the Poconos, there are SO many things to do both at Shawnee and neighboring locations. Feel free to contact me for more info on that. We are planning on staying at Shawnee both Friday and Saturday nights, since Friday night will be the rehearsal anyway.

So, my girls and I are planning a Saturday in February for dress shopping. I am in love with Maggie Sottero's dresses, so I am calling around to see who carries her line. I'm also hoping to find beautiful bridesmaid dresses that my girls will love- black with some type of pink accent, and whichever style of dress they would like. Have been looking into photographers, DJs, florists, etc. and Simone provided us with a helpful list of their preferred vendors. I have my side of the guest list just about completed, and Sean has his, but we are still tweaking it here and there because ideally, we want a maximum of 85 guests (which is not easy because I have 60 guests just on my end that I'd like to invite- I have a huge family on the Daubenspeck side).We have about 15 more months though, so I'm not gonna go too crazy too soon. It's all very fun, but I know once it gets closer, it may be more of a chore and a stressor than fun & games. Either way though, we are blessed to have families that are helping us out with the bulk of the costs, and wonderful people in our lives who are offering ideas & suggestions left and right. We appreciate everything so much & love you all. Til next time...

Italy, Italy, Italy.

So I start school again tomorrow, and as of now I will not have much time to plan and write in here. However, I will try my best! A few good things have happened in the past week: I found the dress I want, we picked a theme for our wedding, we picked our song, and we have appointments at venues this week (since the snow this weekend ruined our plans). Ok so first things first- the theme. I've been toying around with the idea of an Italian theme, since my mom's side of the family is Italian and I've always had a love affair with Italy. I mentioned it to Sean's mom and she loved it and offered some great suggestions, so I asked Sean if it was okay with him and he said yes! So our theme will be Italy- ranging from Italian food, Italian music, a cannoli cake, white, green & red linens & flowers, and invitations made with postcards of Italy. Also, our placecards will be set in a wine cork, an idea I got off of a website. We may even find posters/pictures of Italy to frame or hang around the reception site. I'm VERY excited for all this. My mom and Sean's mom are very crafty so I'm sure they'll be able to help with making things. Next- our song. We've picked (and it's tentative) for our first dance- "I'll Stand By You" by the Pretenders. I've always loved this song and luckily Sean does too. Next and most importantly- MY DRESS!!! Loved Maggie Sottero dresses and Sean bought me a bridal magazine this weekend in which I found my dream dress. It's totally not the princess, poufy style I had originally wanted- but it's amazingly perfect regardless. The back is the selling point- it's just incredible. I have my heart set on it. Lastly, we are checking out a venue this Thursday and then hopefully checking out the Inn at Reading too. I'll keep yas updated! Here is my dress, feel free to drool, cuz I did :)

Hairstyles...again.

Ok, so I still like the last hairstyle I posted but I was looking at a few more today and realized I might want something fancier and more detailed, like the pictures I have posted here. I definitely want to somehow combine all these into my own unique style :) I know 2 things for sure: 1.) I don't want it completely up, I want it half-up, half-down, and 2.) I want a "bump"- not sure what the OFFICIAL name is, but it's a popular style and is shown in a few of these pictures. Since I will be wearing a tiara, a bump is perfect because it'd showcase the tiara nicely. Found a venue in Bethlehem I really liked- the Green Pond Country Club, but after contacting them, they already are booked for the date we chose. Since nothing is set in stone yet, we could consider changing the date if we really fell in love with that country club and they had another date available. Still calling places- Sean wants to visit the Poconos ones this weekend if possible. Hope everyone had a great holiday and thank you all for your input :) Special thanks to my amazing maid of honor Hillary who has been looking into things nonstop, planning & getting me excited about the big day (as far away as it may be!)- I appreciate your enthusiasm and dedication so much. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for an Italy honeymoon (of course it has to be Sean's decision too- and we have to make sure we would have the money for it, but I'm reallyyyy reallyyyy hoping and praying. Been to Italy once before & am totally head over heels in love with that country and have always wanted it to be my honeymoon spot someday- most romantic place in the world!) :p
P.S. Picked the song I want to walk down the aisle to- Sean & I both agreed on it immediately while listening to songs on my MP3 player- "Fields of Gold" by Sting. Seems corny, BUT it's just one of those heartwrenchingly emotional songs and if you listen to/read the lyrics, it's just the PERFECT song to walk down the aisle to and symbolize the start of a new life. Found this explanation of the song's lyrics online, which made me fall in love with it and deem it perfect for the ceremony even more!:
"The story is chronological. It is about courtship, marriage, and eventual death. The two people in the song meet, court, fall in love (at this point, he reveals that he has never really made such a strong promise/commitment to someone) but feels he is ready to now. "See the children run," (their offspring) and the "jealous sky" refer to the Heavens. Even Heaven is jealous of their love/relationship. The esteemed sun is jealous. Eventually, he dies and tells his love that they will always remember their love specifically, when she thinks of him, he wants to be personified as such... walking in fields of gold."
..I'm just hoping it doesn't make me cry like it did when we were listening to it! Haha, I'm a major dork...

Songs & Hairstyles

Sean and I have been discussing small details such as ceremony & reception songs. We are so excited to have one of my best friends and bridesmaids, Gina, sing at our wedding. I also got good news today from my maid of honor, Hillary. Her good friend Ozzy's mom works at David's Bridal and they're trying to hook me up with a discount on a wedding dress. That'd be very helpful because the dress is one thing I'm allotting a good amount of our budget towards. Come on, I'm a girl, I need to have the fairytale dress that I've always dreamed about. That's the one thing I won't budge on! So, back to songs. I love most country music and Sean does not. That being said, country songs are usually have some of the best and most romantic ballads, and I found many I would love to dance to for our first song. Sean, however, would prefer something along the lines of the Beatles or something classic. We'll obviously have to compromise somehow. I have my heart set right now on Rascall Flatts "Take Me There", Brad Paisley "She's Everything" or a Shania Twain ballad. He would prefer "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney, which is a good song but...I don't know how thrilled I'd be with it being our song. We will discuss! I'm still not sure what I want to walk down to the aisle to, but I did listen to "Storybook Love" from the Princess Bride as an option, and liked it, as well as "Only Time" by Enya and "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge. I'm more of a contemporary girl, so I'd prefer those types of songs to, say for instance, the wedding march or something traditional like that.

As for hairstyle, I found the perfect picture of how I want mine done. I'm thinking I will dye it darker because that will look good for pictures, and then have extensions put in as well. Then I want it curled a little and pinned back on the sides, as the picture shows above. I think it's the perfect style for me because I knew I didn't want an updo or anything too polished, plus Sean loves when my hair is down and curled slightly.

Also have made a pact to myself to lose 25 pounds before the wedding. That may sound like alot, but I think it's the perfect number in order to slim down a bit and tone while keeping my curves (hopefully). I have plenty of time to make this happen, and I know I will since I have a goal in mind- and a gym membership!