My last single christmas!

So it's christmas eve and we're embarking on the last christmas that chris and i will be celebrating as "singles" ... it's a little weird to think about it, but seriously by this time next year, we'll be celebrating our first christmas together as husband and wife and i can't be more happy about the fact.

this is also the first year we're going to try to split christmas time! christmas eve at chris' parents and christmas day at mine...i can't help but wonder what our traditions are going to evolve into as we go through the years?

on a separate note, we're also not exchanging 'gifts' this year, we've just moved into our own apartment and while planning for a wedding and everything we're being sucked dry, so this year we're getting each other a brand new COMFORTER!, not any ol comforter by a ralph lauren DOWN comforter... the things that excite us these days...

but sure as it will snow, we'll go back to lavishing each other with expensive luxury toys by next christmas... I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS SEASON! don't you?

on an updated note: photographer has emailed me back, contract has been signed, i'm totally excited for 2009! it's going to be a fantastic year!

just a thought

but isn't my photographer supposed to get back to me , frequently?

How Cute is this Shoe?!

I have the perfect dress, now i need the perfect shoe and by god i think i found her

(source: jcrew.com)

the J Crew Carmen Shoe in Ivory...isn't she beautiful!!! but at $265 ehhhh
but Dang i love this shoe! time to find an alternative!

(source: bellisimabridalshoes.com)

cynthia rowley's trilogy shoe...mrs onion wore these...SUPER CUTE, but alas don't know if i wanna splurge on these puppies

(source: bellismabridalshoes.com)

Stuart Weitzman Oboe - a wedge!!!! perfect for walking in the grass, alas...i
can't afford these guys either...

(source: zappos.com)

Coloriffics Desire shoe - hmm under $100, MAYBE MAYBE!

(source: zappos.com)

Another Stuart Weitzman bowribbon - oh how i love thee, alas can not afford thee!

(source: zappos.com)

Stuart Weitzman Bowden - seriously this man knows how to make a good wedding shoe! a la miss martini

so i guess we can all figure out that i'm drawn to a particular kind of shoe eh? peeptoe bow heels! fantastic, now if i can only find them for cheapie cheapie, then jenny will be happy happy!

finding the perfect shoe is gonna be as hard as tracking down the perfect dress!

Weekend of Photographer Interviews

Hi Everyone!

SO, we all know i was uber excited to do my first photographer interview...i seriously wished someone gave me some sorta pointer or uhh expectation as to what a photographer interview would be like, because boy can i say it felt like i was going on a blind date for the first time with a boy i had a crush on that i met online! kidding asides...it was friday 6:45 after work on a VERY cold friday evening...i was waiting for Ryan Brenizer at the Oyster Bar...he shows up on time, ::phew:: (being prompt is a VERY VERY big plus in my book, i mean seriously who likes to wait for people right?) so Ryan, Chris and I proceed to make ourselves comfy at the grand hyatt in the lobby i think it was...it was surprisingly less noisy than a restaurant or the lounge or bar believe it or not.

Ryan seriously impressed me... i was smitten, it was love with photographer on first meeting! but i knew i couldn't make a decision on the spot about hiring him because, well i had no idea if that was kosher for a lack of better words and i had a meeting with Bill Xie tomorrow morning, so i tried to come across as calm and collected (although inside i was squealing like a little girl that just got the barbie she was eyeing on for christmas) and told him i'd be in touch more or less. but in my heart i think i already made a decision and i told chris that i think Bill would have to really WOW me to change my mind about hiring Ryan.

Come Sat morning, i was being very good and was waiting for my second ever photographer interview...again this apprehensive first date/ blind date feeling was overwhelming me...but i go through with the meeting with Bill and i have to say i was very impressed with his work too...he shot some great great photos...and i think he might have been cheaper than Ryan to be honest..not by whole lot to be significant...but i have to say even though Bill was my peoples (seriously, he had the same last name as me!) he didn't WOW me as much as i needed him to at this meeting...later that day i decided i would hire ryan and chris agreed that our search was over...jenny is happy :-)

RH Nirvana - part three

after we've seen everything, my mom finally has a date were we can get married (my mother saw a chinese fortune teller for an auspicious date) we called up our top choices to see who was available:

2nd runner up was the thatched cottage, i honestly was prepared to get married and throw my ginormous bash here...but for whatever reason the banquet manager failed to return my many calls...so i decided that i couldn't deal with a person like that...i'm far too neurotic so i had to kiss this one adios, chris was very upset about this...

1st runner up was woodbury country club...we didn't end up choosing this place because they couldn't beat the price of the place we ultimately did choose...in all honesty i think this place has a better reputation, but they were closing their doors and moving at the end of 09...so i couldn't chance anything bad happening on top of it...so i had to suck it up and tell the very nice people at woodbury country club that we would not be having our fall wedding here

and now for the big unveiling...the winner is....

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THE FOX HOLLOW

(source: weddingsitesandservices.com)

After much deliberation, we knew november might be too cold to have an outdoor ceremony...so we had to make our decision based on the other criteria not relating to the outdoors, and fox hollow honest to god will do us perfect...chris exclaimed LOVING the HUGE HUGE pumpkins that greeted us at the front entrance when we visited and really would NOT shut up about how much he loved the pumpkins lol...i know fox hollow will give us an enchanted fairy tale wedding of our dreams...and i can't wait to be married here! thanks for following me on this journey to RH nirvana! CHEERS!

RH Nirvana - part deux

Up next we have Larkfield Manor

(source: larkfieldmanor.net)

www.larkfieldmanor.net

we checked this place out because of its proximity to chris' parents home again, this place had an AMAZING menu, absolutely scrumptious! the outdoor ceremony would've been pretty good...but the downside was the ballroom, it didn't have the right feel...it was a tad subterranean for us (there were no windows) and the grounds honestly didn't wow us, so we passed it up

we then headed over to the historical thatched cottage

(source: thatchedcottage.com)
www.thatchedcottage.com

cute name eh? well let me tell you ladies and gentlemen, this place was BEAUTIFUL! chris looked at me when we saw the ceremony location and he told me he could imagine saying his vows to me here underneath the willow tree with the lake behind us..sounds perfect doesn't it? the price was pretty good, the grounds were wonderful, the food definitely hooked us in...major contender here...we're getting close to RH Nirvana!

alright guys, still with me? ready for more? up next we have crest hollow country club

(source: cresthollow.com)
www.cresthollow.com

i had a couple of years ago attended a wedding here and had fond memories (chris however did not, he got sick at this particular wedding =X) ...anyways...the grounds were AMAZING! great pool, great gardens...ballrooms ehh a little dated i have to admit...but the price! man oh man is it hard to turn our heads away from this one...i wanted to love it...but the prissy princess part of me wanted to have a wedding where none of my friends had one yet...so i mentally kinda ex-ed this one...but WOW the iced tea they served me was definitely the best dang iced tea i ever had!

and then i present to you woodbury country club

(source: woodburycc.com)

www.woodburycc.com

i LOVE LOVE LOVED this place, the grounds, the ballroom, the food! chris and i came to wedding here a couple of years ago too...and we honest to god loved the food...the service was impeccable, the ceremony location would've been perfect it was even within budget! sounds promising doesn't it? we were seriously considering this place

Last on this journey i take you to the north ritz club

(source: weddingsitesandservices.com)

www.northritzclub.com

i really liked this place, the price was good, the food was good, i loved the grounds, i wished i had pictures to show you...but chris was not feeling it.. he felt it was too similar to everything else we've seen already so in the end we passed it up because it looked too...unspecial to him...poo! but i had to admit he's right...it didn't stand out really...

so in the end who did i pick? stick around to find out ;-)

RH Nirvana - part uno

for you mere mortals who don't know RH = reception hall, nirvana meaning uh the highest level of satisfaction/ heaven/ you know that Buddhist plane of perfection you learned about in middle school while studying world religions? yea that...

after chris and i (really when it comes down to it, it's me) decided that we were to have an american wedding instead of a chinese wedding, we began our venue search...the criteria was:

1. beautiful ceremony location
2. gardens and water / fountains
3. non tacky marble and mirrors all over (very common for catering halls on long island ny/brooklyn)
4. fantastic menu
5. within budget
6. not in open water/ harbor views

first stop we went to Harbor Club in Huntington because it was the closest to Chris' parents home

(source: harborclubcaterers.com)
www.harborclubcaterers.com

the banquet manager (matt, very very prompt with answers, make sure you deal with him if you're considering harbor club) and i were corresponding over email for a week before i decided to check the place out, he was on vacation but assured me i can go over anytime to check out the facility... chris hated the fact it was in a harbor, and i felt it was too small for our wedding...so in the end we passed...but Matt was very nice and helpful.

the week after we went to check out fox hollow

(source: foxhollow.com)

www.thefoxhollow.com

this place had a great reputation and chris had already previously been here for a work function, we LOVED the food, the Bill G, the banquet manager we dealt with was super nice and answered all questions we had...the location was near perfect, except we had a feeling the outdoor ceremony would've been too close to the main road and would be a distraction...but the ballroom and everything else was very good...huge contender! but it was only the second place we saw and wasn't sure if it was RH nirvana so we continued looking

the third place we saw was westbury manor:

(source: longislandcateringhalls.com)

www.westburymanor.com

this is actually a sister location to fox hollow, and we LOVED it...it was towards the top end of our budget, but we honest to god LOVE LOVE LOVED it (Mrs. Violet got married here), they even had peacocks for pete sake! but it was not available on our date so we had to let this RH Nirvana place go...sad day it was

Next was the Swan Club

(source: swanclub.com)
www.swanclub.com

this place was really nice, the grounds were GORGEOUS!!! like i can't even tell you how amazing the grounds were...but unfortunately chris and i both didn't feel like we could imagine our wedding here...it didn't have the right feel and we weren't so sure about not being the only wedding there so we passed on this one...i should also mention that they were extremely reasonable with their quote! if it came down to the dollar, i would've ended up booking here

please stick around for: woodbury country club, crest hollow country club thatched cottage and Larkfield manor, AND!!! drumroll please....who we ultimately decided to go with

until then! abiento!