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3-29-08 Only 91 days to go! Spring is trying really hard to make it to Northern New York. The snow is melting and the sun is out! It makes me anxious for summer! Things for the wedding are really coming together. Last weekend we had our cake tasting at Touch of Icing in Waddington, NY. Kathy did such a wonderful job. She made us 3 mini cakes in 3 different flavors. I loved tasting the different combinations and the different frosting. Since we have a three tiered cake, we chose three different flavors. YUM! We stopped in to see Brittany and Julie at The Carol Lee Shoppe. I found some adorable shoes that I wanted to try on with the bridesmaid dresses, so we stopped in to see how the shoes would look with the color and material of the dresses. They looked great! So ladies, I will be mailing you a pair of shoes to go with your dress! I think you are going to love them. Not only are they cute, but they are comfortable too. We also stopped in at The Body Shop. This is where we (the bridal party) will be getting our hair done the day of the wedding. We are all booked for that Saturday. I met with Melissa, who will be doing my hair, and she is great! They do have a website if you would like to see what they have to offer: www.bodyshopfitnessandsalon.com Invitations will be coming your way shortly so don't delay booking your hotel rooms. There are a block of rooms set aside at The Best Western and the Comfort Suites. Reference the Catton/VanBrocklin wedding for a discount. Let's have some fun! The day before the wedding Brad and I would like to spend some time with our friends. The boys will be spending the day golfing at either the St. Lawrence University Golf Club located at the Best Western or a beautiful golf course located in Lake Placid. The girls will be heading to the Mirror Lake Spa in Lake Placid where we can focus on pampering ourselves! We will explore the beauty of Lake Placid and then relax at the spa with a manicure/pedicure. For those of you who will be around on Friday, please join us for a day of FUN! For those of you in the wedding party.....the wedding rehearsal will begin at 5:00 in Gunnison Chapel followed by the rehearsal dinner at Phoebe's restaraunt. www.mirrorlakeinn.com We hope spring finds everybody happy and healthy! We can't wait to see you! 2-21-08 The bridesmaid dresses are ordered!!! Yes! All of the girls have chosen a dress, they have been ordered, and should be in the second week of May! I can't wait to see them. Yesterday Brad and I had a few wedding appointments to attend. Our first stop...Appleton Arena. We had to pick up our WEDDING PLANNER! Hi Brenda! I have known Brenda forever, throughout high school as well as college where I worked for her for 4 years. Brenda is going to help us "GIT ER DONE!" Brenda is our go to girl. She is going to help make sure everything gets done so on the day of the wedding Brad, myself, and our parents can relax and enjoy the moment! Thank you Brenda! Brad and I also had a meeting with catering services at St. Lawrence to discuss the reception. It went so well. We went through what we wanted for the food and I am impressed! Absolutely impressed! It is going to be so much better than I could have imagined. Harlan and Laura are amazing and so very helpful. The only thing that I am going to share is that instead of a buffet we are doing food stations.....the rest you will have to wait and see!! After the meeting we went to Eben Holden to discuss where eveything will be placed. Thank you Laura. I can't wait to see the floorplans! It was a full morning! After Eben Holden we met with Kathy from Touch of Icing who will be making our cake! We chose the style and colors of the cake, but have yet to choose the flavors. We have a cake tasting scheduled for March 22! The style.....whimsical, funky, eye catching! It is going to be a fun cake!!!
1-21-08 I can't believe that we are in the new year...2008 and just about 5 months from the wedding! Last weekend Brad and I went to the Carol Lee Shoppe to finalize our tux decisions. Brad had narrowed down his decision to two. To help him decide, Brittany and Julie ordered sample jackets from the tux company. When we got there, Brad was able to try on the jackets! He looked so handsome in both of them, but one of them really stood out! I'm so glad he was able to try them on. Once Brad had chosen his tux, then we chose the tuxes for the men. We went with a solid black tux with a three button jacket, a solid color vest and a striped tie. The men will be wearing a clover color. It actually matches the girls' olive dresses perfectly. Brad will be wearing the color sand in his vest and tie which will match me. We chose a latte color for Dad's vest and tie. I can't wait to see it all together. After we decided on the tuxes, my friend Shari met us at the shoppe. She was there to try on dresses and hopefully choose one. She tried on many dresses and there was one dress that stood out above the others. She looked amazing in this dress! Brittany and Julie wrote down all of the information and Shari is all set for the wedding! While Shari was trying on dresses, I was busy picking out my veil. I found a very simple veil that goes nicely with my dress. I had so much fun looking at tuxes, dresses, and veils! As always, Brittany and Julie have been fantastic! I was having such a hard time finding a hairdresser for the big day, and Brittany and Julie solved my problem! They highly recommend The Body Shop, which is a salon in Potsdam that does an amazing job with wedding parties. I called to see if they have my wedding date available and they do! So the girls and I are all set to have our hair done on the day of the wedding! YEAH! The best part is that when we come in to get our hair done, we can drop off our dresses and Brittany and Julie will steam them for us. When our hair is done, the dresses will be ready too! After all of this at the Carol Lee Shoppe, Brad and I headed in to Canton to meet with Brenda at White's Flowers. We picked out the flowers for the wedding party, chapel, and reception. We are going to stick with gerberas and hydrangeas. It felt so good to get all of this stuff done! This past week, Jessica was able to stop at the Carol Lee Shoppe and try on some dresses. She also picked out which dress she will be wearing for the wedding! WOW! Things really are coming together. Even though I feel like we are getting many things done, there are many more things that need to be decided! YIKES! The big day will be here before we know it! 12-9-07 Very exciting things happening! Mom, Jessica, and I went to The Carol Lee Shoppe in Potsdam last Friday to pick out my wedding dress. We had a fantastic day. I was pretty sure which dress I wanted, but I tried on a few more just to be certain. (and because it is so much fun!) It is the dress that I've liked since the first day.....and I still love it! It was great to have Mom and Jessica there to help me make all of the big decisions. They loved the dress too! We picked out a necklace, earrings, and I am very close to choosing my veil. WOW! Everything is starting to come together! Britanny and Julie at the Carol Lee Shoppe have been fantastic. They made the dress shopping so much fun! My heartfelt thanks to the Carol Lee Shoppe! Brad and I are very excited to work with you over the next 6 months! Brad and I also spoke with Reverand Brand about officiating the ceremony. He is the Canton United Methodist Church Reverand. While I was living in Canton, Brad and I attended the Methodist Church there and we got to know the people and especially Reverand Brand.....you to Myrt! The church was a very warm and welcoming place and Brad and I felt right at home! When we asked Reverand Brand to officiate we were met with a very enthusiastic YES! He was very excited for us and gave us big hugs! In his exact words......."We are going to have a blast!" In my head I'm thinking....Yes, yes we are! We will be meeting with Reverand Brand after the new year to discuss the ceremony. Give me an I....I! Give me a T...T! Give me an A....A! Give me an L....L! Give me a Y......Y! WHY? Because that spells ITALY! Yes folks, Brad and I booked our honeymoon and we will be heading off to Italy for 11 days. Although St. Lucia edged out Italy in a last minute comeback for the honeymoon poll.....we really had our hearts set on Italy! We will be flying into Rome where we will spend 4 days there checking out the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Square, the Basilica, the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum. Then it's off to Tuscany where we will visit the Verrazzano Castle and enjoy wine tasting and lunch. We will also visit Florence, where the highlight will be Michelangelo's David; Lucca, a preserved medieval town, and Pisa where the amazing leaning tower of Pisa stands. We will end the tour with 4 days in Venice. The highlights here will be St. Mark's Square, the Byzantine Basilica, Doges Palace, and the Bridge of Sighs. I can't wait to float through the canals on a gondola! All along the way we will be accompanied by a tour guide who will be there to answer all of our questions and to make sure that we don't miss a thing! For these 11 days, Brad and I will be savoring......la dolce vita! CIAO! 10-21-07 Brad and I have been hard at work trying to plan the music for the wedding and the reception. After a lot of research, we have chosen The Great Music Company as our DJ for the reception. They have a fantastic website you should check out www.greatmusiccompany.com. They have been wonderful to work with so far and we are looking forward to hearing them at the reception. They are booked to play at the reception from 5-10pm. We have also been working on the music for the wedding. We have been in touch with the Trilium Trio. They are a string trio that played at my friend Shari's wedding and were fantastic. They do have our wedding date available and we are in the process of creating and signing a contract with them. The trio will play while people are entering the church and when the parents and bridesmaids walk down the aisle. They will also play for the cocktail hour, from 4-5, at the reception. Very exciting! As for the music when I walk in......my high school band director will be playing Trumpet Voluntary accompanied by an organist! YEAH! He will also be playing Trumpet Tune for the recessional. I am so excited to hear all of this beautiful music played in the chapel! We are also trying to get someone to ring the chapel bells before and after the ceremony. For those of you who aren't familiar with St. Lawrence, the chapel bells ring every day at 5:00. It is an SLU tradition, one that Brad took part in for four year as he rang the bells while he was a student at St. Lawrence. We hope to include this tradition in our special day celebrations! It is hard to believe that we have only 8 months to go! We can't wait to see all of our friends and family and share this moment with all of you! We love you all! 8-17-07 WOW! We have been very busy these last few weeks but have managed to get a few wedding items checked off of our list. Last week we had a phone conference with a husband and wife photographer team from Rochester and we absolutely loved them. They were friendly, professional, and knowledgable. We booked them this week and are very excited to work with them. The company is called Images Unveiled. Check out their website and amazing photos at www.imagesunveiled.com! We are very lucky to have snagged them up considering two other couples had requested them for our wedding date too. SAVE-THE-DATE! We are working very hard on the save-the-date cards. So hard, in fact, that our poor printer has paid the ultimate price. May it rest in peace. I promise they will be in the mail soon! I was also able to visit the Brush Alumni House on the campus of St. Lawrence University. It was built in the late 1800s and is available for use by alumni. Brad and I have rented out the four rooms in the house for the weekend of the wedding. We thought it would be a wonderful place for the ladies in the bridal party (and their significant others) to stay and a beautiful place to get ready on the day of the wedding. Check out all that the Alumni House has to offer at www.stlawu.edu/alumni/brush.html! 7-27-07 Mom and I went dress shopping yesterday in Potsdam at the Carol Lee Shoppe. So much FUN! I don't know how I am ever going to choose. Each dress that I tried on, I liked for different reasons. In the end, there were two dresses that were our favorite. The girl that helped us out was fantastic and I really loved the shop. You definitely can't be shy when you are trying on wedding dresses. There is something to be said about standing in a dressing room in your bra and underwear and a pair of high heels while a complete stranger helps you dive head first into dress after dress. I can't wait for the moment, when my complete stranger helps me dive head first into a dress, and as I poke my head out of the other side I know for sure that this is "the one"! 7-17-07 Brad and I took Mom to see Eben Holden yesterday! What a beautiful room! It really has changed a lot since we were students at SLU. The room still has the fireplace and breathtaking cathedral ceilings.....but has now been equipped with a sound system, a center dance floor, and wall to wall carpeting. We explored the room and the outdoor porch, throwing out different ideas of how each space could be used and arranged. Has anyone seen the show Bridezilla? I think for just a split second I turned into the star in the next episode, when my boo boo lip came out and I threw an ever so tiny temper tantrum over where I thought the cake table should go............oops! Sorry about that Brad and Mom. I have come to my senses and I realize that I need to save those temper tantrums for much more important issues! Even with my slight break with reality, we had a great time and came up with some very good ideas. I can't wait to see what the room will look like once we get it all decorated. In my photographer research I have found two that look very promising, Images Unveiled and Denicola Photography. I'm getting some more information that may help Brad and I make a decision. If any of you have any suggestions I would love to hear them! 7-12-07 YAHOO! We are finally less than a year away and it is time to get planning! When the website crashed we lost our other entries so here is a little update! We officially reserved Gunnison Chapel for the ceremony and Eben Holden for the reception. Both are on the campus of St. Lawrence University which is a gorgeous campus located in the small town of Canton, NY. If you would like to explore St. Lawrence, please visit their website... http://web.stlawu.edu/ We have also decided on the colors for the wedding. The primary color is going to be green with accents of pink. The pastel colors seemed right for our Spring/Summer wedding. Oh the many shades of green.....glass green, sage, lettuce, celadon, clover, pistachio, hunter, etc. One designer's sage is another designer's lettuce. To keep ourselves sane we will be using the generic names of green and pink. PHEW! So what are we up to now? We have fallen in love with Michael's. That store has it all! We found galvanized buckets, milk jugs, pitchers, and watering cans that were 50% off so we bought out everything in the store. We decided to use these as the centerpieces at the reception. We are in the process of painting them all green and then we are going to use funky ribbons to break up the color. We have a few done and so far they look fantastic! I'm off to research photographers and DJs. Until the next time...
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