Four Surprises [Wedding]

I mentioned in the previous entry just one of the things that didn't go as planned for the wedding.  As I mentioned the cake was nothing like what we expected, there was a change with the catering 3 weeks before the wedding, and the wedding was moved inside due to rain earlier in the day of the wedding.  There were also some things that I didn't know about that my dear loving groom had set up and planned everything for!  Though, I guess there were technically five surprises- I had no clue what the guys were wearing.  Tony's thought was I shouldn't know since he couldn't see my dress before the wedding lol.  

The morning of the wedding I awoke to this on my bed:

The wedding location was in a military base on the lake.  Also on the lake in the base there are cabins and huts to rent; so my grandparents helped us rent two of the cabins for the night before the wedding. I stayed in one with two of my girls (Candice and Amanda) and Tony stayed in his with one of his guys and a friend that flew in for the wedding (Gabe and Ben).   I'm thankful we were able to do this, because it was a fun night and made for a smooth morning and day preparing for the wedding.

We were in our respective cabins, it was almost midnight, and I still hadn't had my goodnight kiss!   So we went over there for me to get it before it was midnight.  Candice and I headed back to the cabin, but Amanda wasn't right behind us so I knew something was up but didn't know what.  Then I started to turn over to look and I heard "turn back over, Shannon!!" from Amanda.  So I did, but a couple minutes I looked over and saw the above.  Tony gave them to her to put on my bed before I woke up the night before.  Aww!

We were in our respective cabins, it was almost midnight, and I still hadn't had my goodnight kiss!   So we went over there for me to get it before it was midnight.  Candice and I headed back to the cabin, but Amanda wasn't right behind us so I knew something was up but didn't know what.  Then I started to turn over to look and I heard "turn back over, Shannon!!" from Amanda.  So I did, but a couple minutes I looked over and saw the above.  Tony gave them to her to put on my bed before I woke up the night before.  Aww!

The second surprise I don't have a picture for, but here's a picture of the back of my (in my opinion) gorgeous dress!  We didn't have anyone chosen to be a flower girl, but instead I asked my cousin to be a Razzi™Maid [a little something I came up with.  Razzi is short for Paparazzi because I asked her to record video while walking down the isle and of he wedding. ]  I'm a photo and video junkie so this was obviously something that was more 'me' [and therefore 'us'] then having a flower girl.  

Unbeknownst to me, my lovely groom decided to find a way to have flower petals thrown before me coming down the isle.  As I started to come down the isle the guests at the start of the back row threw some petals at me.  At first I just thought the guests had brought some petals to have fun.  Then more people threw some, and more as I walked down the isle.  And to be honest, so much was going on that I didn't really thing about why they were doing it, and found out later that Tony had planned it all.  Actually, he had even done some experimenting to try to make the petals stay in the air longer, and thus look even better for the pictures.  Always thinking for what will make me happy.  :c)

For the third surprise- it's a bird!  it's a plane!  What the heck are we looking at?  

Tony had someone serenade to me as we were about to start taking our pictures after the wedding!  This one is a little more self explanatory so there won't be a long explanation like the others.  But here's video from it [thanks to the Razzi™maid!]:

The fourth surprise was Spaghetti!  The original menu was Italian themed, but then we ended up going with Sonny's BBQ when we hit a hiccup with the original menu.   So that I could still have Italian at my wedding (anyone that knows me knows how much I LOVE Italy and Italian food)  Tony had spaghetti made. 

Bottom line: I had the most wonderful groom for my wedding who was full of sweet surprises.  And a husband who continues to be a sweet loving man, on most days heh.  

Disaster Cake!

The wedding cake was not something on the top of my importance list when I was planning the wedding.  If you know me, you know photography was one of the main things that mattered to me.   I just wanted to make sure the cake was delicious, and visually appealing!  I'd thought of going the cupcake route, but was blinded by the price of the 3 tier cake at Wal-mart.  I know, I know..Wal-mart?  Really?  [Note: You get what you pay for!]  My grandmother had gotten an awesome birthday cake, and cake for our family reunion from Wal-mart.  The designer was awesome and was able to do what she wanted, and they tasted delicious.  I knew they were awesome at those cakes, but was unsure about wedding cakes.  I looked up reviews online and found a mixture of reviews.  There were good and bad.  Though, since I'd tried the others I figured we could give them a shot.  I now know, it's best to stick with them for sheet cakes, unless your event is in a room temperature 60 degrees or lower, which I will explain below.

This is the cake I decided to order for our wedding.  I thought that it looked modern and elegant.  There was just something about the black and white.  I loved it!  However, our colors are purple and blue, so I asked for some minor changes.  I asked if the ribbon bands could be changed to blue on the bottom, purple on the middle, and blue on the top.    The designs would stay black.  I had some small purple lilies that matched the bouquets to go on the top.  

This is the cake we received.  I guess there was a misunderstanding as far as the color change goes.  *sigh*   They told me that the frosting on the bottom layer was left SO messy!  Thank goodness for Ann for all that she did to help with cleaning the cake up!  The frosting is buttercream, instead of fondant that's normally used for wedding cakes.  Therefore, the cake started "melting" pretty much right away.  The cake topper ended up falling about 3 times.  The first time it not only fell but slid because the tier was leaning from the melting that was going on. 

It tasted good, so in the end I guess that's what matters.  ^note the piece that broke off here too.

[Photo taken by my uncle, and stolen from Facebook: I hope he doesn't mind]
Apart from the above, and my groom throwing a piece on my hair.  I had no other qualms with the cake.  Like I mentioned, for birthday cakes, and the like (sheet cakes)  Walmart cakes can be awesome; however, I would not recommend one for a wedding unless you are having a simple ceremony with a 1 tier cake!

Wedding Wednesday

It's time for wedding Wednesday! Ok, well this is the first one, but I've been thinking of doing this kind of update for weeks now lol. If you remember, I'd started a blog called The Indecisive Bride. Then I decided just to include everything here, life and pictures. Anywho, there's been a lot of progress in the wedding department! I can't believe tomorrow will be March! October will be here before we know it!

Tony's had the DJ and the catering set up since the beginning. That left everything else to plan.

Location: We had scoped out a couple locations, but one thing or the other just wasn't right. But we've found and booked a location! It's a hall in a national guard base right on the lake. I think it's going to be awesome, obviously, but love that it's going to be on the lake. There was one hiccup so we weren't sure about going with it. At first they said we had to use their caterer, but that would have been way more $$$ then we were planning on. Tony spoke with them and the issue was we can't use their kitchen. Since my grandparents live near there, we're going to work around that and be able to have the food made and then brought in.

Photographer: One of my friends that's getting married in October also found a great photographer couple on the Knot and shared the information with me. We've booked them and get a free engagement session we'll be doing in May. Go check out http://www.bestphotographyfl.com/ they are awesome! :c)


Dress: I found my dress! I thought this was going to be so much harder to decide, but I guess I know now when they say you know you know. lol. It was on clearance and the thought of it not being there in the future. It just felt right with it on heh. However, I got it for a size smaller then I wear. So, I need to get to work on that. It's a corset back, it fits I just need to get down so that it looks like it should.


Save The Date: I created this and sent it to the printer. Can't wait for them to come in. :c)

See ya later!

Wedding Venue: Scouting in St. Augustine

I have another blog called the indecisive bride, but since I'm trying to build this blog up more I think I'm going to post wedding planning entries over here too.  

Yesterday Tony and I went over to St Augustine to scout potential locations there.  One location that I like the idea of is the beach.  Though, we are in Florida so there are all kinds of beaches.  And, no, a beach is not a beach.  We ruled out the one we visited on Sunday.  I'd forgotten it was one that people could drive on.  I don't think that would work so well. lol.

We didn't have a plan when we went over there, just looking around.  It started raining once we got over there so that kind of sucked, but we drove around after we checked in to the hotel. 

We drove toward Vilano beach [this was before I remembered it was one people drove on lol]. We were driving down A1A just to see if something stuck out to us as a potential place.  There were a couple places we saw and wrote down to look up later, nothing impressive enough for us to stop, until we saw....

A castle!  In St. Augustine...it's across A1A from the beach.    So, just an idea, but if we end up having the wedding there we could go across the street to the beach to take some pictures also before the reception.  Tony thinks it would be awesome to have a unique/different wedding location such as this one.  Unfortunately I forgot my SLR camera battery at home [OMG!  such a crime to be in the nation's oldest city without my camera...besides cell phone camera lol.  But this trip was more about time with Tony and I so I guess it's all good..lol]

We didn't get a closer look because it's private property, but we will definitely want to schedule a tour.  

The ironic thing about this is, Tony had been talking with someone at work about finding a unique wedding location.  We this guy told Tony about a castle, and Tony came home and told me to look up a castle in Villa Nova.  I'm a Googlemaster, but I couldn't find it.  As we were driving we see this one.  It was down the road from the carousel, which is a landmark the guy told Tony about.  So this was the one he'd been talking about.  How he got Villa Nova from Vilano I have no clue. LoL.

I was reading the history of the castle on their webpage.  It was built by two guys without the help of other laborers.  It was done in remembrance of Jesus Christ and modeled after Irish Castles of 1000 years ago.  They consulted with historians to created a castle that would resemble an Abby or early Christian Church.  It was done as an expression of art, and not a tourist landmark.   Another interesting fact, especially from a photography point of view, is the 88 windows in the building with no glass at all.  Oh, how I imagine the natural light!  [Even if we don't end up picking this as a wedding location I so want to ask if they would let me do some photography- anyone want to model if so? ;c)] 

If you are interested to know more about Castle Otttis you can find it on their website. :c)

From what we did get to see, the castle looks very pretty.  The above picture was the only one I got from my cell phone, plus it was still dreary from the rain.  From the pictures online it looks awesome.  

Near the beach!

Who knows if we will go with St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Gainesville, or...Italy?  Guess we will see! lol.  At least we are looking at all options and making a decision together.

Day 7:  I am thankful for the roof over us :c)


Let's See what develops.

Location Attempt #1

I found a location this week that I thought looked awesome, at least online.  And, based on the online pricing information seemed reasonable.  I e-mailed the contact for more information, and to see if they were still open for next October 6.  Unfortunately, they are booked for October 6 :c(  Bummer!  Well, they have the morning open, but we both aren't really morning people so I want the wedding late afternoon/evening lol.


People keep saying I need to find a location, but at least I'm trying!  LoL  One place I think would be nice is a beach, however there's other locations where the ceremony and reception can be at the same place.  So, still looking and thinking! :c) 


Anyone in the Gainesville/Jacksonville area with venue ideas?  

The Proposal

Hello!  This is my first post for this blog, and I may as well start at the beginning of this adventure.   Earlier this month (June 2nd, 2011 to be exact)  My then boyfriend surprised me with a trip to Discovery Cove.  It was one of the best days ever!  More on that day below,  I guess I should actually start with how we met.

We met online 4 years ago in June 2007 through a site called "Hot or Not."  They had the option where you could say "Yes" or "No" if you would like to meet someone.  Tony has told me that my picture appeared a couple times and he put no because he thought I was "out of his league"  Luckily, my picture showed up again and he said yes.  The rest is history.

Cut back to June 2nd, 2011.    We headed down to Orlando on June 1st.   Tony had planned the whole vacation for us.  All I knew was that we would be going to Aquatica & Universal Studios,  and that our friends Beth and Gabe, whom have Universal annual passes as well, would be coming down on the Friday night.   Tony and I headed down to Orlando on Wednesday.  On the drive down he told me one of his surprises, that we would be going to Discovery Cove on Thursday.

Discovery Cove was amazing.

First we visited the Aviary and Coral Reef before our time slot with the dolphin swim.

After that we went in the lazy river they have.  Towards the beginning there is a cave you swim through with waterfalls on the outside.  Once inside there's a secluded cave part on the side with a hole in the top where you can see the bamboo.  It was a very awesome setting.  When we first went into that part Tony was getting aggrivated and making comments about it being crowded.  I suppose I should have wondered something because it was only 2 other people in there at the time and he was getting upset lol.  Once they left he proposed to me, and I say Yes! :c)  He then told me that our friends actually weren't coming down, that was just part of the story so I wouldn't catch on.  Very sneaky, but very good lol.  We spent the rest of the day at Discovery Cove.  The vacation was awesome, Friday afternoon we headed to Universal Studios, Saturday was Aquatica and Sunday we headed home.