Moving on down the road

We decided to hire Celeste Relle as our photographer.

http://celesterelle.com/

There's a certain artistic quality to her wedding portraits that we really like, and while the package is a bit expensive, I always said that the photography was the one place I was not going to skimp or cut corners on. People will forget the food unless it's really nasty, nobody remembers the flowers, hell most people don't even remember the dress the bride wears after a certain period of time has passed. But the photos, taken by a good photographer, are the true keepsakes of the day. Celeste does this art book with the photos that is leather bound but the photos are printed on book stock pages for longevity in a collage manner, which we really liked. We get tons of prints and a bridal sitting.

My cousin Sarah is an up and coming photographer and she graciously did our engagement photos, which came out nice. I know my family would have liked to have me ask her to shoot the wedding, and I very nearly did. Still, my fiance and a friend of mine who used to be a professional photographer felt Celeste showed more experience and that if Sarah had been just a bit more experienced herself, it would have been an easier choice. As it was, it wasn't an easy one to make, as I really wanted to give Sarah the business. On the flipside, there's a reason why I didn't ask my chef cousins to cater the event, even though they are experienced and awesome.

In short, I don't want the family feeling like they have to work at the wedding. I'll have someone else work so they can enjoy.

We did Pre-Cana back in September, which was only a day and was actually 4 hours shorter than it could have been. It was the Saturday of the LSU-Florida football game and everyone, including the clergy, were all tailgating! The people who were supposed to talk to us about finances, communication and family planning were all out at LSU campus partying down. So the deacon who ran our seminar showed us a bunch of videos and sprung us early!

Now things are really gearing up. I spent some time on the phone confirming with the hotel in Hawaii that we do indeed have a place to stay, and then booked our flights to and from. My sisters and I plan to go dress shopping soon for thier bridesmaids dresses, and once that's done, we can talk to the florist and cake maker at Mount Hope, as well as send in the music list to the DJ. I'm still trying to get confirmation from St. Jude on that end of the ceremony, since they still need some deposits.

And we are scheduled to meet with Father Mike again to disuss the ceremony details.

And away we go!

(it's a bit like climbing up the first big hill onthe roller coaster and being within sight of the peak)

I'm glad we seem to be keeping the wedding within a reasonable amount. A coworker told me recently that her daughter who's getting married thinks she can't have a wedding for less than $25,000. Thats NUTS. Of course I told her all we're doing and how nice it will be and will not break our bank. But I don't think her daughter hears this reasoning too well.