Photographers and E-Sessions

We, finally, solved the photographer hunt!

We were very worried a couple of weeks ago when we had done a lot of research and had a lot of meetings with different photographers and then the two we had narrowed it down to disappeared. We just wanted the hunt to be over.

We got a lot of suggestions about photographers and sent out a dozen emails and even set up some times to meet with photographers before we left for San Diego (we really just wanted to have made the decision) and then we got an email from Saint Phalle (one of the people we had narrowed it down to) saying that they had changed their mind and had decided not to retire! We quickly signed the contract and set up our E-Session for when we returned from San Diego.

We were lucky to sneak in on some of the late season foliage during our E-Shoot and were even more lucky to narrowly avoid the multiple rain storms we could see circling the area.

The day was a lot of fun and are SO happy with our pictures, and most impressively, the 2 day turn around time to get them to us!

To see all of the pictures click here http://saintphallephoto.zenfolio.com/rachel-matt-e
The password is slu

Photographer Woes

A little over 8 months until the big day! We actually have things on our checklist that need to be done soon! And one of those things is finally deciding on a photographer.

We started looking for a photographer months ago and after scouring websites, blogs, and friend's wedding albums we met with two. Both met us at a local coffee shop. With both we  had pleasant conversation and looked over some albums one digital and one print. Both were great. One we decided was too expensive and the other didn't have enough experience.

From these first experiences we decided we really wanted two photographers so we emailed a number of husband/ wife teams. We met with one of these teams at their studio/ house and they served us wine on their beautiful deck. It was early fall and the trees were just starting to turn. We played with their dogs, talked for a long time, and looked through many of the albums, both digital and print.

We narrowed our search to this team or one other, who we had seen in action at weddings twice. There were things we liked about each but felt very comfortable with either.

We emailed both teams and asked for bottom line price quotes, including any travel fees, disk fees, etc. One team got right back to us, explaining each part out and giving us a final number. A couple days later they wrote back, again, saying they would cut the disk fee, and therefor lowering the sales tax, also.

We waited for the other team to email us. We emailed them a second time. We waited two days. We didn't hear anything.

We decided on the first team.

On that day first time emailed us a third time, this time telling us that they had actually decided to retire and would not be able to shoot our wedding.

Hmm... Do we re-open the search? Do we call the second team and ask what is up? The photography conundrum continues...

Wedding Dress Shopping

It is official. Matt and I are getting married.

I chose the dress!

Obviously, I can't say anything about it here... But I'll tell you about the day.

I planned the big wedding dress shopping weekend for a weekend that Matt was going to be away. I emailed my  mom, Matt's parents, and my MOH, Lauren, and hoped they would all be available that weekend. As rarely happened-- the stars aligned and everyone was available! Lauren came for the whole weekend (which was great since she is about to move to Tampa, Florida to start a new job) and my mom and Lizzy met us at the apartment before going to our first bridal salon of the day. Dan met us at the store and stayed for 12 try-ons before he had to leave.

The first store we went to was Fiori in Essex Junction, VT. I'll tell you right now that this store had, hands down, the best service (possible of any store I have ever been to). I was helped by Josie, though every associate in the store was choosing dresses and running back out to see me in them. Lauren, the moms, and Dan sat on the big comfy couch while I did my fashion show. Lauren kept fastidious notes on each and every dress marking down what number it was, a quick description, and whatever we said about it. She has some pretty good quotes of the day (such as-- look! I'm wearing a nightgown...). As I said earlier I tried on 12 dresses while Dan was there. He left. I tried on dress number 13 and instantly tears came to my eyes. I saw it. I saw me in it. I envisioned, for the first and only time of the day, me walking down the aisle towards Matthew. (Lauren's notes read, "TEARS!!!") It was the one. I could have stopped right there but I already had appointments at two other stores (and trying on dresses was super fun!).

We left Fiori and headed down to Church St. in Burlington where we snuck in a quick, much needed, lunch and went into store number 2, Sewly Yours/ Once Upon a Bride. This store was so completley different than Fiori. They do a lot of the alterations themselves and even have some original dresses. They instruct every patron and employee to wear white gloves when touching the dresses. It was a very different experience. I tried on 19 dresses at this store.

When we left Once Upon a Bride we stopped for a quick ice coffee and headed to Neadleman's in South Burlington. Again, we had a completely different experience. Like in Fiori we were the only patron in the store for most of the time and had the full attention of all of the (2) associates. Here I tried on 16 dresses, including the Kate Middleton copycat dress, and tiara and copycat ring from Claires (which one of the associates let me borrow for the pictures) and did quite the dress-up-esque photo shoot.

We then returned home to be joined by my dad and Dan who looked through some of the many, many, many pictures taken from the day. We then headed to a, once again much needed, meal.

As you can imagine with 48 dresses, it was a truly exhausting day- both physically and emotionally. but...

I FOUND MY DRESS! and it is the best one ever! (obviously no picture!)

One Year!

Since we are officially one (leap) year out, 366 days away, so I thought I should finally update the wedding blog with some of the many wedding related events that have happened since our last post.

One of the most exciting things to report  is that we have officially booked the United Church of Underhill for our ceremony. This is the church that Matt grew up attending, the church I have attended every Easter for the past many years, and, of course, the harvest market church! The pictures below are from my first Harvest Market in 2006.

We also attended a wine tasting and dinner at the Old Lantern. This was a great opportunity to see the venue set up, use the cocktail hour area for the wine tasting, and try a lot of amazing food! I can't find the menu from the event but some of the things we tried were venison tartlets, escargot in a red potato cup, a local cheese and veggie platter, fresh mushroom macaroni and cheese, saffron risotto, fiddleheads, Wellington style beef tenderloin, and some kind of pork...

 

We have also officially announced our bridal party. 

Best Man: Dave Manz (Brotherzzzz)

Groomsmen: Ken Shaw (Brotherzzz-in-law)

Kyle Walsh (Elementary School Friend)

Andrew Altman (Middle School Friend)

Cameron Luce (Elementary School Friend)

Mikko Hurley (Middle School Friend)

Peter Griffin (College Friend)

Maid of Honor: Lauren Chrapowitzky (College Friend)

Brides' Maids: Sarah (Manz) Shaw (Sisterzzz-in-law)

Heather (Henningsen) Manz (Sisterzzz-in-law)

Flora Holland (Highschool Friend)

Amanda Fuller (College Friend)

Amy McQuigge (College Friend)

Our most recent news is that we met with a potential photographer (and are meeting with another next week) and we started our first registry at Bed, Bath and Beyond. 

We are well on our way and are having a wonderful time planning. We have a number of things in the works right now and appointments are made for wedding dress shopping (JULY 23RD!!!!). 

Big News! A date and place!

We are excited to be updating the wedding blog with some very exciting news!

We have decided on a reception location and date!!!!!

Matthew R. Manz and Rachel M. Smedy will be married on June 30, 2012 and the wedding reception will take place at the Old Lantern in Charlotte, Vermont!

Now the back story:

Last week, April 9th, we went to look at a possible wedding reception site in Charlotte. I had seen pictures of the venue in a number of Vermont-based wedding magazines as well as the Vermont Bride Resource Guide. Knowing how busy weekends can be for the Manz family, I called Dan to see if the date would work. He told me that he basically had an hour free between getting the boat out of winter storage and running rescue. I emailed with one of the wedding coordinators, Julie, and amazingly she could show us around exactly at the time Dan had specified. Even better news was that they would be having their first wedding of the year that day so we would be able to see the venue all set up. 

We showed up at the Old Lantern at 10:30 on Saturday morning with Matt, Liz, Dayle and me (Dan would be joining us in a little bit). Matt and I were a little nervous since this was the first venue we had gone to see. As we nervously walked toward the door Julie came out to meet us. We were welcomed inside the large 1800's barn. She showed us around pointing out the raised stage for a band or DJ, the soundboard on the ceiling, where additional lighting can be set up, how plated and buffet dinners work, and countless other details. Despite our insecurities, Julie made us feel very comfortable- at the same time explaining how weddings at the Old Lantern work and asking us how we would prefer things be set up and arranged.

The more Matt and I looked around the space the more we fell in love with it. By the end of the tour we were both picturing our families and friends celebrating with us in the space. 

We left the venue right around lunchtime and headed to Olive Garden for some debriefing and lunch. Throughout lunch and into the evening Matt and I talked about all of the things we loved about the Old Lantern: the true Vermont feel, the pool table, their willingness to work with our ideas, the existing ambiance, and our host Julie.

We emailed Julie for a formal estimate that night and reworked it over the following week so that it included everything we felt strongly about but was within our budget and then we made our final decision! (And we are really excited about it-- if you can't tell!!!!)

So now our wedding planning can move from the big picture into the smaller, more fun, details.

Let the planning continue!!!

Burlington Bridal Show

Not every couple has the opportunity to attend a huge bridal show only 10 days after their engagement, but Matt and I did! (Though I am sure that if Matt had known it was so soon he would have waited-- ha!) The Burlington Bridal show, hosted by the Vermont Wedding Association, was on Sunday and Matt, my mom, and I attended. The show was set to start at 11:30 and prizes were to be at 2:00. Matt and I were pretty sure we were going to win all of the prizes. It seemed like a long time to be at a bridal show, from 11:30-2:00, so we went around 12:30. Mistake #1! Once we entered the show we found out that to be eligible for prizes you had to get signatures from every vendor there. What ensued was an hour of running around, grabbing business cards and information, and getting signatures. We only stopped to talk with people who really piqued our interest. We  left exhausted, both physically and mentally.

As negative as I have sounded up until this point in this blog entry, we did gain valuable information from this experience. It was nice to see so many different aspects of the wedding planning process. We now have a basic understanding of invitations, dance lessons, venues, photographers, bands, DJs, cakes, makeup, gowns, even life and car insurance.

Some vendors definitely stood out- enough so that I have thought of them a number of times since the event even though I haven’t looked at the cards we took yet:

1. Hey There Cupcake http://www.heytherecupcakevt.com
    The red velvet cupcake I sampled was AMAZING and I keep thinking about it and wanting another. Also neat is that you can order up to 6 different flavors for the big day. So cheer up people who dont like chocolate on chocolate, there might be a choice for you!

2. Lasso’d Moon Invitations http://www.LMDinvitations.com
    I am drawn to invitations-- I just love looking at the different styles and fonts and colors and textures! Oh, I am getting excited right now! It is probably because of all of the graphic design and book making classes I have taken. The problem is, since I have taken this class I might try to do our invitations myself. But I still have to share the ingenious design I saw at the Lasso’d moon booth.Maybe you can just buy the envelopes?

The envelope folds open and holds all of the information inside! I don’t know about you, but when I open a wedding invitation I get so overwhelmed with all of the different pieces- the invitation, R.S.V.P. forms, a map, registry information, etc. It reminds me of the Publisher’s Clearinghouse mailings! You have to sift through to find the hidden sticker to stick onto the main form! Ah! Too confusing! They also have printable invitations and plantable invitations and favors... something to think about...

3. Armstrong Handmade Papers http://www.armstronghandmadepapers.com
    Another invitation place! I told you I was drawn to them! This man, Richard, makes amazing, beautiful, wonderful papers and then you can print your own invitations! And he sent me a really nice email after the event.

4. Photo Booth Planet http://www.photoboothplanet.com
    What a great idea for wedding favors that you just know your friends will abuse...
    Here is the deal. They rent you the photobooth and someone stays to manage it. Every guest gets pictures taken, they get to take a strip of pictures and another strip gets put into a wedding memory book. The guests can then comments on the pictures in the book. Also, the woman manning the booth, Tracy, was awesome. She really spoke to us-- she didn’t just give us the business. If only we could trust our friends.

Maybe you can see how the event may have been exhausting? Next time maybe we will show up on time-- yes, Matthew, there will be a next time!

Letting People Know

Day 6 of the Engagement: Letting People Know

We came back to the US from Ottawa on Saturday and we planned to have a romantic dinner on our way back at in Potsdam, NY at The 1844 House, a restaurant we visited a lot in college but we were so excited that we decided to covertly arrange a dinner with our parents and siblings (without letting on that we were engaged) instead. 

First we called Matt’s parents and planted the idea of going out to dinner. At first Matt’s dad was hesitant since they already had dinner plans, but his mom (who says she suspected something was up) talked him into it. Then we called my parents who are always up for going out (although my mom seemed too eager). 

We planned the drive back so that we would be 10 minutes late to the restaurant to ensure the rest of the 10 guests would have already arrived. We talked in length (only making ourselves more nervous and excited) about different ways to announce the news. We decided we would just go right up to the table and saw “Hello, We are Engaged!” and as we said “engaged” I would pull my mitten off, showing my ring. When we did this the entire table screamed. Literally screamed. Every other patron in the restaurant looked over, some applauded. It was perfect. My hand was shaking as I showed the ring to everyone. Both mother’s said they had strong suspicions that it was going to happen though the rest of the crowd (except my dad who Matt had called to ask his permission on Tuesday) seemed to be wonderfully surprised.

We had planned on only telling our parents and siblings the news that night but after the explosion at the restaurant our adrenaline was so high we just had to keep going. On our way home we called my best friend (and Maid of Honor), Lauren, who also had had suspicions that it would happen in Ottawa and was glad not to be let down. Then we met our good friend Cameron for a drink and told him.

The next day we got up early and started calling. We started with grandparents and family and then called some friends, too. We were exhausted at the end of the day. 


Now, it is even out on Facebook and the comments are still rolling in. 


It was nice having three days where we were the only two who knew of our engagement but it is so nice, also, now that everyone knows!


Hello World! We're engaged!

The Engagement

Matt and I met during our freshmen year of college at St. Lawrence University.
Fast forward six years.
WE ARE ENGAGED!!!!!!

That is definitely the short version of the story. Since the long story would take six years to accurately recount I'll give the medium version:

Just a few of our many favorite memories:

• Sharing a fatbag and brushetta from Sergies 
• Spilling mustard on my wallet while eating a Fenway Frank
• Eating four-cheese pizza outside of the Moulin Rouge
• Bringing home our kitten, Batilda
• Watching hundreds of movies
• Walking by the Parliament Building in Ottawa on a snowy evening

Of course, this last memory leads me into the wonderful description of our engagement.

Apparently Matt had been planning the proposal in Ottawa for months and thought giving me Bruins/Senators Hockey tickets would be a good excuse to lure me to the city we visited so often in college and after. We were lucky that their big winter celebration, Winterlude, was also going on. I got the hockey tickets for Christmas and we had been planning this vacation since.

On Thursday, February 17th we got in the car and headed to Canada. We made it into Ottawa where we checked into our hotel and went to walk around the city we know so well.

On our way to dinner Matt suggested we walk by the Parliament Building. We had been planning to do this after dinner, but since we were nearby I decided to humor him. When Parliament came into sight I started to take my camera out of my bag but Matt said he wanted to walk further so we could get a better view. A little further down the side walk he got down on one knee, held up the ring, and asked me to marry him. After a couple minutes of my shocked crying and excited squeals over the ring, Matt said, "Rachel! You have to answer me!" I said, "Yes! Of course!"

Now we begin our 7th year together with the new and exciting titles of "fiancé".

Oh, and the Bruins won the hockey game!