Bridal Party

Ok, so, my "maids" are all in a row: Valerie is my matron-of-honor and the fire fairy, Jami will be the water fairy, Cynthia is the air fairy, and Jennifer (Michael's best friend) is the earth fairy. Bill has agreed to officiate. But, Mike needs to ask his groomsmen to stand with him. Well, except for Jonathan cause he's been in on stuff from the beginning. Mike doesn't want to be pressured into asking anyone else (especially his chosen best man) until he's ready. I've agreed to back off and let him do it on his time so long as he promised to ask before the summer. Cause by then the guys will need to go tux hunting. So, it's all good and I can scratch one more thing off the mental list. I'm getting more excited about it again. :o)

Our First Deposit

We have our entertainment! Mike and I met with the DJ last night. His name is Walter and he's been in the biz for 18 years. He's a jack-of-all-trades in that he does planning, consulting, dj stuff, etc. We like him and think that he will be just what we need. His company is called Music and More. . .To Go We settled on his "Palmetto Elegance" Package which includes:

3 hours of continuous music, digital sound system, and music library.
Use of the MMTG Request Book and request/dedication sheets.
Customized music selections and ordering of special music.
Unlimited email Q & A access plus 3 hours of face-to-face planning time.
On-site coordination of photographer, caterer, and other vendors during reception.
On-site production and direction of all activities from bride and groom's arrival to departure.
Emcee services, to include presentation of wedding party, first dances, toasts, etc.

We can upgrade to the "Grand Affair" package if we aren't required to hire someone else to deal with directing the wedding itself (because the location says we have to). If we upgrade to that, he'll coordinate the entire day!

I am so excited about this. Makes me feel loads better knowing that we have someone with a lot of experience around to help make things run as smoothly as possible. This way I don't need to ask friends and family to help out with the organization so we can all have fun! Can't wait!!

Let the Fun Begin

So, we have a little over ten months until the big day. Time to get planning in earnest. We went to one final bridal show this past Sunday. Good thing we did cause there were people there we hadn't seen before. I specifically went because I wanted to talk with the DJ I want to have for the reception. We saw him and his wife at the last minute but that was cool. He has actually gone into a partnership with some others and they are renovating an old venue by the canal. We went to see it and Michael realized that he had been to a reception there a while back. The place was let rundown but it has awesome possibility. So, that is an option for locale.

When we got home, I sorted through all of the brochures and stuff I had from the times we've gone and put them in my organizer. I had bought a little notebook for lists and stuff and started compiling them. Michael wants me to do a comparison chart of places so that we can narrow things down even more before seeing places.

I also started my initial guest lists and stuff so I have a rough idea how many people I need to invite. Fortunately, after listing everyone I could think of, the number is within our range. whew

I need to call the DJ today because I haven't received a response to my email. I think I may not have been clear enough in my message. Or he's not in a rush to book cause he knows our date. Whichever, I want to talk packages cause he does more than DJ. He also coordinates and I think that would be most helpful since I am not hiring a planner. So, I'll keep you posted.