Wedding Overload!!!

I cannot guarantee that I'll be able to blog again before the wedding day, but I'm definitely going to try!! In case I can't though, this is going to be kind of a long blog. Soooooooo much to catch you all up on since last week!! Might as well get it going now!

My two best men surprised me with a bachelor party weekend in Vegas that began last Friday night. It goes without saying that it was a good, good time! I've known those guys for 18 or 19 years, and although we've gotten older, things remain the same. I don't even consider them friends, but family just like my blood. Anyway, I got back to the Denver area Monday evening, and man did I have stuff waiting for me!! I turned in the number for our wedding the other day and signed the event orders as well to approve everything. I haven't had a chance to do some changes to the website, but please DO NOT use the RSVP link. I will be removing it in the next day or two when I get the opportunity, but please contact Monica's mother, Monica, or myself with any changes or questions. Regardless though, we're all set! 8 days to go! Yeah!!

Our honeymoon cruise was cancelled, so we've now rebooked on the Carnival Valor. If you didn't read my last blog, the reason it was cancelled was because we were due to go on the Carnival Splendor. The ship that had engine issues and caught fire in the Pacific the other week. They've cancelled all cruises through the end of the year, so we had to make adjustments. We actually like the itinerary better. We'll be gone the same amount of days, but this time going to the Cayman Islands, Belize, Isle of Roatan, and Cozumel. Not bad at all!!

Alrighty, so upcoming...our rehearsal dinner is tomorrow night! This marks the beginning of the crazy wedding festivities. Mel and Adria fly in tomorrow and they'll be at the dinner also, so we're very excited about that. My grandmother actually flew in Saturday, so she was the first to get out here! Bachelorette and another bachelor party follows on Saturday evening with the crazy partiers going to the wedding. Beyond that, it's your standard frantic wedding stuff. My daughters fly in Tuesday evening, Monica and I have to get our license, a bit more shopping to do for the wedding, and in between all of this wedding business, there's Thanksgiving next week! Who were the nutjobs that decided that having a wedding the day after turkey day was a good idea? Hahaha.

Have any of you checked out the ten day forecast? We'll be in the mid to upper 60s here in Denver, and Loveland will hit 59 today. Wedding day forecast is looking to be in the 44 degree range so far and no snow forecasted. Should be a nice and easy drive! No issues! Yes!! Lastly, I have one other thing to announce, and this is a biggie...

We are providing alcohol at the wedding!!! The numbers have worked out, and while we aren't going to be providing alcohol for the entire time, it will be for a good amount of the reception, and we're glad to be able to do this for our guests! So still bring cash because it will turn into a cash bar at some point, it just won't be at the beginning. Wooohooo!!! And with that, I gotta close this thing out. I hope I'll be able to hit you guys up again sometime soon, but if not, I'll give you a complete recap of the wedding later!! Yeah!!!

Snow!! Yeah!!

Look at that snow outside! I'm loving it! I think it's a well known fact that Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons. Oh I can appreciate the warmer months, but something about the colors changing, the mountains covered in white, the nice cool air...I just really like it. Not to mention that Fall/Winter means football! Now forever and ever Fall/Winter will also mean Monica & Chris' wedding anniversary! Yeah!

Tomorrow is the last day to RSVP for our wedding! Most have already let us know either way, but if you haven't, please, PLEASE let us know! For those that have gotten married, you know how important it is to get an accurate number because every person that says yes gets accounted for with food, and whatnot. If you tell us no or do not answer, we assume that's a no. And then up and showing up when you haven't been accounted for is NOT COOL and we can't guarantee that you will eat, and I'm telling you that we have a NICE spread! Let us know if you haven't! Thanks!!

If you've seen me on Facebook the last couple days, I've been making wise cracks about the Carnival Splendor. If you read my blog back in April on the 27th titled "Cruisin," I talk about Monica and I booking our honeymoon. You should've seen my face the other day when I found out that the exact same boat we're boarding in 17 days caught fire enroute to it's first stop in Mexico!! I think there's a very good chance that Monica and I will be the first post-fire voyage for Splendor, and I'm excited! They've already cancelled the cruise for the 14th of November as the boat is just making it into San Diego today. I'm hoping they cancel the one on the 21st too which would mean ours on the 28th would be in line to be the first voyage after the nationwide news! Monica thinks I have issues, and admittedly I probably do, but so what! Lol!! Regardless, pray for us although Carnival and cruising as a whole has a great track record, and with these incidents being so rare, I'm confident we'll be fine! Plus Splendor is a gorgeous ship! Yeah!!

Okay what's coming up...My two best men are taking me somewhere for my bachelor party. I have no clue, I just know we're leaving tomorrow evening. That's pretty much all that's going on this weekend. Obviously there are other things, next weekend will be the rehearsal dinner, my grandmother, Mel, and Adria come into town next week, and more parties on Saturday the 20th! Crunchtime is definitely here! 15 days till the big day! We have the ceremony completely nailed down as we were able to sit down with my dad and go through the entire thing beginning to end.  Monica's mother has the reception in the bag as well. I was nervous before, but I believe I'm pretty calm and confident. Enjoy this day everyone! I will! Yeah!!

Its FRRRIIIDDDAAAYYY!!!!!

Three weeks from today we'll be walking down the aisle!! Monica yesterday called me a "groomzilla" because I'm freaking out a bit, but i can't help it! I'm not even nervous about marrying her, I'm just nervous about everything going off as it's been planned. I know zero weddings go completely as planned, and I know I'm worrying for nothing, but as we get closer, the more and more I worry!

We've had more developments on the wedding front. Monica and I have ordered our wedding broom, and that should arrive today. We also received engagement photos from our photographer, Sarah Saiz. I'm telling you all, if you need any types of photos done, check out her website at http://www.sarahsaizphotography.com/, contact her and get them done. She does excellent work, is down to Earth, and you will just get an overall great vibe from her. We're extremely happy that we do not have to worry about the photos at the wedding due to such a great photographer. Anyways, I'll leak some of those photos as I have time   :-)

Last night, we got other things handled. We went shopping with Jenn to decide on some parts for our favors and then to also decide on a vase for the sand we're pouring. So many things to this wedding! We sat with Monica's mother for about three hours Wednesday night to discuss how everything is going to go, including writing out the entire ceremony. I've been working with the site for our rehearsal dinner, and that's turned into a bit of project by itself! I know we'll miss this process when it's all done, but man is it really tough, especially when trying to do this with a full time job!

We get some relaxation this weekend. I am doing nothing wedding related tomorrow. In fact, with the new Harry Potter movie coming out, YYYEESSS!!!! Welona, Viv, Monica, and I are doing a Harry Potter marathon tomorrow. Yup we're nerds, but so what. On Sunday we will do a bit of wedding stuff as we need to go through the ceremony with my dad. After Giants football of course!!

There's your quick rundown of the week. My blogs are being typed quicker and quicker due to lack of time. I literally didn't get to sit down on my couch last night till about 9pm, and by that time I wanted to pass out. Here I am at 6:30 in the morning jotting my thoughts down before getting up and beginning the work day. I hope everyone has a great weekend!! Yeah!!!

October is almost over!!

With the date being October 27, we are less than a month away from the big day!! Our room rate officially expired Monday night, but thankfully a phone call to the Embassy Suites got us another week. The problem? Well some of you were trying to reserve rooms and we had sold through our complete block!! So they gave me what I believe was seven more rooms (three or four of which has already been snatched up) and gave us another week because of the mistake. I can no longer guarantee the room price of $79, although at the time of this blog going up, we still have our group rate, and there are a few rooms still available. Yeah!!

Plans went as they should've last weekend. Monica's dad and I hit the tuxedo shop, and Monica's mother and Monica hit the bridal store to verify alterations and whatnot were accurate. They have yet another appointment on Saturday, and I think that's the final one in which she will actually be able to take her dress. I'm hitting the tuxedo shop with David (Monica's first cousin and usher) on Saturday and then we're sitting down with Monica's mother and going through everything to make sure every single thing is covered. It's so easy to miss something!! I think on Sunday, we're going to sit with my dad to run through how the ceremony is going to go as well.

I was going through previous blogs, and I realize that not everyone is going to read those old things!! I did have some valuable info in there, so I'll try to repost some of that stuff on upcoming blogs to answer some questions. One I get asked from time to time is the menu. Waaaayyyy back in May, I posted the menu, but here it is again!! Oh and yes it's a buffett!

Sweet Corn and Roasted Poblano Chowder
Wedge Salad
Coleslaw
Roasted Red "B" Potato Salad
Tri-color Melon Salad, Mint Infusion

Raspberry-Chipotle Barbecue Chicken
Marinated Grilled Ribeye Steak
Shrimp and Vegetable Kebabs
Poblano Corn Bread
Corn on the Cob and Fat Tire Baked Beans
Salt Roasted Yukon Potatoes

There are two or three desserts, one of which is an incredible pecan pie, but I can't remember what they are! Ah well. We've of course tasted it and wow. Very, very, good!!

Lastly, I have another thank you!! She hosted the bridal shower, she's organizing the bachelorette party with Monica's sister, she's assisting with table decorations, and she's even singing at our wedding. I'm of course referring to Jennifer. She's been a great source of many ideas, and we're even using quite a few of them. I assure you this wedding would be different if she weren't a part of it, and we're glad she is. Love ya Jenn! Thank you!!!!!

Enjoy your Wednesday everyone!!

Happy Friday!!

35 days until the wedding! I still don't have cold feet no matter how much I mess around either! Yeah! Lol. Well, happy Friday. Today is the 22nd of October, which means....there are only FOUR days for you all to take advantage of our rate from Embassy Suites. I realize that not everyone reads past blogs (or even current blogs, lol), so maybe somehow you don't know how the pricing breaks down. If you are coming to the wedding, planning on drinking, or just don't want to drive back home when the reception officially ends at 10 PM (notice I said officially, lol. Doesn't mean we'll stop partying), then you need a room. Our room rate is $79.99 for two people!! Compare that to the $144 you would be paying if you walked in off the street, and we all know how great a deal that is. I have to keep reminding because it's inevitable that someone is going to call and ask me or Monica if we can get a room for that rate past October 26, and we cannot. They specifically said that those rooms will need to be released so they can get the hotel filled for the Thanksgiving weekend. So midnight on the 26th, say good-bye to that rate. If for some reason you still don't know how to reserve your room, that Accommodations link along the top should help you out   :-)

Only wedding updates are Monica heading to the alterations shop to try on her dress again on Saturday. This is post alterations and the dress should fit pretty closely to how it's going to in 35 days. Needless to say, I'm not invited to this appointment, lol. That's okay because her dad and I are doing tuxedo fittings tomorrow as well. We have the photos being taken of us at Botanical Gardens next Saturday, and then we officially hit the home stretch as November will be here!! Rehearsal dinner details coming soon to those involved!!

Speaking of those involved, keeping with my thank-yous leading up to the wedding, I'm going to give a quick thank you to my dad. For no other reason than just going with the flow. For those that didn't read that blog, my dad will be performing the ceremony for Monica and I. While that in itself is a huge, huge deal and deserves a massive thank you, whenever I've mentioned something to him about the wedding, he's never complained, but just gone with it. THANKS POPS!!! There's a certain soon to be cousin-in-law that I gotta thank next week!!

Enjoy the weekend all, and watch Monday night as my Giants continue to bury the Cowboys! Yeah!!

Closer....closer....

We creep closer and closer to the big day!! Does that countdown on our main page really say 43 days!? Monica and I have kicked it into high, HIGH gear! I'm going to start this blog out with a big reminder. There are only 12 days left to take advantage of the $80 special room rate we have at the Embassy Suites. I went through the normal booking phase on the Embassy Suites website today as if I was just some random person wanting to stay that night, and the lowest rate for the rooms that night are $144, and it goes up from there. I continue to stress that $80 (well...$79 to be exact) is a very good rate that we cannot extend past midnight on the 26th of October.

Junior bridesmaid dresses have arrived for my daughters! I've only seen pictures of them on the web, but I'm quite sure they came out looking stellar. We have all of the decorations and table favors we're going to use all set as well. We're going simple and elegant, not corny and cheesy. So we really hope you all like. Let's see next up on our calendar is a trip to the tuxedo shop for Monica's dad and I. Then Monica and I have another photo session (I know right?) with our new photographer as she really wants to get even more engagement photos of us. It's included, she wants to do it, so how can we say no? We'll be getting them taken at the Denver Botanic Gardens (that's the picture on this blog), so they should look very, very nice like our others!!

I think Monica spilled the beans on our cake flavors for the big day. I can't remember, but I don't think she actually spilled design details. We seriously found the greatest cake decorator on the planet. Her prices are unbelievable, and she just has a great, great down to Earth relaxing mood. We even decided to do a Groom's cake that we were previously not even thinking about. I'm excited about the design of it and how it's going to come out. Welona and Adria have come up with some decent guesses of what it could be via Facebook, but I'm making everyone wait. I really don't think there will be much surprise though, lol. As for our actual cake, It's going to keep with the theme of our wedding, which is simple, elegance. The decorator just sat back while Monica, Yolanda (her mother), Viv (her sister), and I ate cake, looked through her portfolio, and talked. She listened to every word we said and put it on paper and man the design kicks butt!

Alright, gonna close the blog with another thank you. This one is going out to Monica's oldest (she's not too old, lol) sis, Adria. The incredible handwriting of each and every invitation that's been sent out is because of her. She flew out specifically for Monica's bridal shower and assisted as much as she could in the planning of that as well. She's helped with the graphics on this website, designed our monogram that you will see in the wedding, and just has done everything a person can do from Seattle. She's been a great source for Monica and I to bounce ideas off of as she's only five years from going through all this herself!! I'm quite sure Monica cannot wait for her to get back to Denver next month so she can help with many of the details and to help calm Monica's jitters down as well!! Adria, you rock, and just like your mother, there are many pieces of this wedding planning that wouldn't have been successful without you. LYS!! Hehe. Next week, I have someone on my side of the family to thank. Laters all!!

It's happening next month!!

I know, I know. Many of you have let me know that I've slacked on the blogs over the last couple weeks, and so much has been going on! You know it's funny. Everytime I talk to a male about the trials of planning a wedding, I get a backwards look and the response is normally along the lines of "she handled it all, I just showed up." Oh believe me, there are times I wish I let Monica take care of it all! However in the end, I figure that even though all attention will be on her, it is kind of my day as well. I don't think it can be successful without me being there, so I want to have a part in the planning! We're almost there! Next month! Yeah! So onto what's been going on...

A couple blogs ago I thought we had found our cake decorator, but unfortunately due to legal issues with the hotel, we couldn't use her as she's an employee of Embassy Suites. Blah. Oh well, tonight our cake decorator/baker saga comes to a close as we meet the woman that I'm positive will be desigining our cake for us. She's coming by our house tonight and bringing wedding cake. Not a bad way to spend a Monday evening!

This wedding is constantly changing. We were going to do personalized shot glasses for everyone, but that's now changed to something different. We were going to do centerpieces one way, but now we're doing it a different way. Many of you know about our photographer saga, but thankfully that has been solved as well! I'm used to the fact that details will be changing constantly until the day actually happens. This is kind of fun, but I think both Monica and I are ready for this to be over so we can enjoy our time on the cruise ship!

I was doing some thinking the other day about the toughest part of planning a wedding. Sure dealing with multiple vendors is tough due to the coordination of all the schedules. Then there's coordinating the wedding party's schedule with getting them in for tuxedo or dress fittings. However, I think the toughest part is telling people no. Since this is our first (and only!) wedding, we have welcomed any and all suggestions. It's just tough to tell someone that we don't think their idea would work with the vision for our wedding. Thankfully Monica and I have been on the same page throughout this and there's been very little we haven't agreed on. So what I'm saying is, continue to give us ideas, we welcome them! Just please don't be hurt if we initially say yes, and then because we've changed our mind on something it renders your idea not useable for our day.

Speaking of planning the wedding. I'm going to close this blog with a huge, HUGE, HUGE thank you. Monica's mom was fresh off planning Adria's (Monica's oldest sister for those that don't know) wedding five years ago. She knew what worked, and what didn't. I'm telling you all that we wouldn't be as organized, or as close to being complete without her help. I don't believe Monica or I knew all of the tiny details included in planning a wedding, and Monica's mother has helped us with nothing but a smile on her face. She's been there through the appointments, the countless trips to Loveland, the festivals, and she'll be with us tonight offering her advice on our wedding cake. We cannot say thank you enough for everything you have done and everything you are yet to do. We appreciate it more than you know and we love you!!

For others that have helped, thank you as well, and over the next many blogs I'm going to be giving you special shout outs also! Lastly, you have THREE WEEKS from today to reserve your room for the wedding! The killer rate is still valid, and remember they will not charge your card to reserve your room!! Laters all!!

Summer ending! Almost time for a Fall wedding!

I'm soooooooo glad it's FRRRIIIDDDAAAYYY!!!! And a very special happy birthday to my fiance! 365 days and counting till she says good-bye to the twenties for good! Hehe. We're going to have a great dinner tonight, and I bet you all cannot guess what kind of food we're having! If you guessed seafood, you were wrong, lol. Of course it's Mexican food! I'm blessed enough to get to have some world famous Archuleta cooking. It's even more special because the entire Archuleta crew will be in attendance as Craig and Adria are in town! Yes!!! With that said, the main reason they made the impromput trip to Denver is to say good-bye to Grandma Rosie, Monica's maternal grandmother. Rest in peace!! You will be missed!!

Switching gears to wedding stuff....man is it busy!! I remember the days when I could just go home from work and simply relax in front of the television or computer. Not anymore! With 69 days to go, this wedding is coming at us very quickly. Combine the wedding with the recent decision that Monica and I are going to move in the middle of October, and you have two very overwhelmed people! It is kinda fun though, hehe.

Upcoming wedding stuff includes yet another trip to Loveland to meet with the photographer and florist. We probably have a cake tasting that same day as well if we can line the schedules up. We know what we want the cake to look like though, so it's just a matter of finding the right flavor of the cake. Other than that trip, which I'm really thinking may be our last before the big day, we keep moving along. Speaking of moving along, I just looked at the calendar and we're a little under 4 and a half weeks out of our deadline for hotel room bookings! Once Oct 25 passes, there's nothing I can do. You want to get in at our special rate! If you're going to stay overnight (just $80 for two people gets a two bedroom suite) then you need to reserve soon! Your credit/debit card won't be charged beforehand, and it gets you all set so you don't have to drive home that evening. You won't want to because we plan on partying!!

Have a great weekend everyone, go Giants!!! YEAH!!!!

Another trip up north!

You know, I gotta tell ya…if I wasn’t excited about the wedding before, I’m now REALLY excited about it! On Saturday the 4th, Monica, Monica’s mother (Yolanda), Jennifer (Monica’s cuz and bridesmaid), and yours truly took another trip up the beautiful city of Loveland. We had a long sit down meeting with our wedding coordinator and we also were fortunate enough to be up there at the same moment another couple was having their wedding reception. In a word....WOW. The setup was extremely elegant, and I honestly have zero complaints. I really, really think you all are going to like it. We have finally found a cake decorator, and after checking out her portfolio, we’re very, very pleased! Now we have the tough task of heading back up there for a cake tasting (I know, I know…times are rough, lol). Vote in the poll to the right!

We’re now seeing the RSVPs begin to trickle in, and since no one has complained yet, I will assume that everything is working fine! We have a little over a month left for you all to reserve rooms. Remember, the date to reserve a room is different than the final RSVP date. The Embassy Suites will release the block of rooms we have on October 25, and that killer rate that we have will be no more. There’s nothing that I can do about it either! Reserving a room only requires a debit/credit card, and your card won’t even be charged until wedding time.

Short and sweet! Less than 80 days and counting…QUICKLY to the big day! I’m not sure I will post again this week, so everyone have a great week, and GO NY GIANTS!! Yeah!!

RSVPng now allowed! Yeah!

We have FINALLY finished, and you all can RSVP for our wedding! The invites went out Thursday evening (well most of them, we still have addresses we need to get) from Washington, so you may begin seeing invites as soon as today, but probably early next week for most. It's pretty exciting! Monica and I just looked and the official number is 218 people invited including children! Woah!! And that number might climb a bit more. We're officially less than three months away from the big day, and I can't stress how hectic things are! So many little things to do, and it feels like we need so much more time.

I've made subtle changes to the website over this week, and I'm gearing up to change the entire page's interface once again because I can never just let things be, lol. Let me know if you run into any issues whatsoever or if you have any suggestions. The biggest change I made was deciding to go with a different site to handle the RSVPs. You will notice that if you click the RSVP link, it will open another window. The link that's printed on your invitations still work as well.

Quick blog today as we have to get out of the house to finish wedding registry stuff (and speaking of that, I finally finished the Registry page), and Monica has some shoe shopping to do! Have a great weekend all!

New pictures!

Another day in paradise! Almost exactly three months till the big day, and of course things continue to stay busy on the wedding front. Tonight we're heading to do the wedding registry at a couple stores, and later this week Monica and her mother will be shopping for her shoes. Sucks because once again, I was told I couldn't go! Hahaha   :-)

Big change to the website this week. I've completely redone the photo album page because to be frank, the other one sucked. So please click that pretty link at the top, and it'll take you to the new one that went live just late last night. It includes 10 new exclusive pics from our photo shoot with Jennifer Martinez (bridesmaid for those that don't know), along with the other pics I already had up on the old photo album page. I like the plain black background, and when I convert this site to something else following the wedding, I may use the format that I have on the new photo album page. In any event, please let me know what you think! I'll be putting up more photos as I get them! I know I haven't put up any photos from the bridal shower, but that's because I haven't received any other pics from Jenn and Adria! I know you two ladies took great photos! Send them on over!! One last thing about the website. I've checked it out in other web browsers, and it looks pretty bad, so I'm looking into making this thing a bit more scalable for you Firefox, Chrome, and Safari users. Personally I think you should stay with the king, and roll with Internet Explorer, but to each his own, hehe. Just be patient like you already have and deal with it till I fix it. I do know that if your vertical pixels are no more than 768 (1366 x 768 for example) then it looks fine, but of course there is a myriad of different resolutions. I'll try to look at it and fix it tonight, but as of right now I can only promise the site is viewed correctly in Internet Explorer!

Invites go out the day after tomorrow! I have to give another shout out to Adria for helping us greatly with her caligraphy skills. I don't know how Monica and I would've gotten them addressed anywhere near as classy and stylish as she has done them. The guest list is pretty much complete, so if you're reading this and you don't receive an invite sometime next week, you want to blame the bride! Lol. We still haven't loaded in names so you all can RSVP, but like I promised, you will be able to very soon. We are trying very hard to get everyone in there. I'm hoping by Thursday evening, but definitely by the time invites start popping up in your mailboxes! And again, remember to reserve your room! Our incredible rate is good for only two more months, and we'd love to have a great breakfast with all of you the morning after our wedding.

I'll close this blog with more shout outs and thanks to everyone that has helped in our wedding planning. From Monica's mother pretty much being with us step by step, to Adria helping from afar with website design, bridal shower planning, and invitation addressing, to Jenn opening up her house to the crazy ladies in the wedding, taking our photos, and just being available and giving us great ideas. Thanks to you great women and everyone else that's helped so far! We greatly appreciate it! Yeah!

100 day countdown!!

Another milestone has been hit as we've reached the 100 day mark before the wedding! It seems like plenty of time, but if you've ever planned a wedding, you know that it's not! Some updates since the last blog...a few of the bridesmaids' dresses began showing up. Monica's wedding gown is in, and she and her mom are going to try it on and decide on alterations tonight (I tried to get invited for the trip, but was told no sadly, lol). Other updates include my wedding band being ordered, and we received our wedding invitations. Adria happens to be the best, and she's going to be addressing them for us since she's great at calligraphy. They should be going out next week! And the last update, the other day Monica and I finally got together with Jenn (thank you!!) to take some pretty cool photos. We'll share them as we get them, but the picture on this blog is from that photo shoot.

The next couple weekends, outside of picking up my wedding band from the jeweler, will be pretty quiet on the wedding front. Like I just said above, wedding invitations will be going out and you all will be able to RSVP (preferably online), but overall it's going to be a quiet couple weeks until September hits and then things get a bit hectic. Very quick blog today! I hope the rest of the week goes well! Laters!!

Wake me when it's over!!

I’ll start this by saying that yup that’s a pic of my sister at the bridal shower. I don’t have any other exclusive pics yet, but since Katrina fell asleep pretty early that day, and Adria got a great pic, I’m obligated to post it! Lol!!

Okay, so as of today, we have 114 days till the wedding! Those who have planned weddings before know exactly what I mean when I say that I cannot wait to have my life back. It feels like every single weekend we have something wedding related to do, and it continues to increase more and more. I’ve begun to even question if we’ll ever have it all done! But anyway, onto what’s been going on…

Monica and I went and selected the tuxedos that all of the men will wear. There were some creative differences with the woman helping us, but in the end, we decided on a Calvin Klein all black tux for all the men. I’m going to rock a black vest and a black bow tie with of course a white shirt underneath. I wanted to go as classic as possible. Plus I don’t get to wear a bow tie every day! I told Monica that since I don’t get to see her in her dress till the big day, there’s no way that I’m allowing her to see me in the tux getting fitted beforehand. Yeah, I’m being a brat, but so what, haha.

Wedding invites have been officially approved! We’ll probably have them in the next week to two weeks, with our target mailing date around the 25th or 26th of August. We haven’t had a chance to load the names into our RSVP database yet, so like I said last time, I hope we’re able to do it very soon. One thing that you are allowed to do though is reserve your hotel room! I see that many have already reserved rooms, but just remember that our special room rate expires on the 26th of October and there’s nothing I can do about it. I also don’t know how many of each room is available, so obviously the earlier you get your reservation in, the better. If you’ve forgotten where to go to get our special rate, just click on the Accommodations link and the information is right there.

Other than that, we’ve decided quite a few things…we know what the broom is going to look like that we plan on jumping over. We have decided on the favors that all the guests will receive. We’re in the process of deciding on overall decorations. We’re also in the process of figuring out the agenda. This is the first wedding I have ever planned, and I cannot believe how much there is to do! Happy hump day everyone!

Yet another update! Yeah!

Hey everyone! It's been 13 days since my last posting. It hasn't been because of lack of content, it's due to me being suddenly extremely busy and not having as much time to blog as of late. I'm really trying to do this once a week as there's so much I need to talk about, and I'm going to be sure to do it if it kills me!

So as you can see from the pic on this blog, lol, Monica recently had her bridal shower. It was held on the 10th of July at her cousin Jenn's house. It was an all-night affair, and I'm working on getting some exclusive pics that can only be seen here on our photo album so Adria and Jenn send me some!! Monica will be sending out thank you cards very shortly, but I wanted to tell everyone that had anything to do with the bridal shower THANK YOU! Monica didn't even want one, but I'm glad she was overruled and she was given one anyway. She had a blast, and I'm glad she was able to let her hair down.

We met with Sophie Ulibarri the other day and we finally got things situated with our invites. I'm confident that she's going to do an incredible job, and she also has great prices! So if any of you are getting married (*cough* Catherine *cough* lol) and happen to be undecided on invites, at least contact Sophie (contact info at the bottom of this blog) and talk with her. She has excellent ideas, and can be a valuable resource. And speaking of invitations, the RSVP section of the website is live!! You can't actually RSVP for the wedding yet because we haven't loaded in everyone's names in the database yet, but you can at least see what it looks like. The page isn't anything special, and to be honest it's just an embedded website from the Knot.com, but it gets the job done with minimal work on my end, hehe. As always, please let me know if there's anything I need to change or if you have suggestions.

That's it for now! We're finally doing tuxedo fitting, colors, etc on Saturday, and we're shopping for my daughters' dresses this weekend as well. It should be an interesting time, lol.

(Sweet Zion) Paperie
Sophie Ulibarri
sweetzionpaperie@gmail.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetzionpaperie

It continues to be a challenge!

Every single time I look at the number of days until the wedding, it seems to be WAY closer than the last time. We have about four and a half months, and it feels like we have so much left to do. Between dealing with a photographer that's beginning to annoy me, deciding on a wedding cake, dealing with invitations (that one is close to being taken care of), going to get tuxedos fitted, bridesmaid dresses ordered, junior bridesmaid dresses ordered, figuring out how the ceremony is going to go, decorations, etc, etc, etc. Oh man. That was just the items I could list off the top of my head! It really seemed like a lot of time before, but we're definitely getting down to it!

Monica is having a bridal shower this weekend, and although she was undecided in wanting one, she lost and she's getting one anyway, lol. I'm in the slow process of finishing the last two pages on the website. If you've clicked all the links, you know that those pages are the RSVP and Registry pages. While the RSVP one is still a couple weeks out probably, I do have the beginnings of the Registry page almost available (should be up later today). It'll show just Monica's registry for the shower, but it's the beginning of something anyway.

I honestly can't believe how annoying and stressful it is to plan this thing. Coordinating the schedules of so many people, dealing with deposits, trusting vendors, and just plain making sure that all of the i's and t's are crossed is just an overwhelming thing, and I'm speaking from the male's point of view! No wonder there are bridezillas, lol. Monica and I went out with the plan on making this wedding as classic, elegant, and simple as possible without breaking the bank. I do believe that we're going to achieve this, but it's certainly been a challenge and as we head into the home stretch, I have a feeling that we haven't even begun.

Finally, if you've checked out the site, there's a new link, Quiz. I used a third party website to create a quick little 'how well do you know Monica and Chris' quiz. Check it out when you have some time. Oh and in case you're wondering, the pic in this blog is of Puerto Vallarta which happens to be one of the destinations for our honeymoon! Enjoy the rainy Wednesday everyone! Yeah!

Less than 6 months to go!!

Sorry I've been missing in action for a bit. Monica and I took a trip to DC and helped my parents move back to Colorado. It wasn't the smoothest move, but we made it and as you can see from the picture we took on the right, DC's tourist areas are still incredible!

We have another change to the wedding party, and we promise it's the final one. Monica's cousin, Jennifer Martinez-Almanza (think that name is long enough!?) is now a bridesmaid. I'm happy about this selection because Jenn is definitely one of my faves in Monica's family even though she likes crappy boxers, lol. Jenn's house is where the bridal shower is being hosted, and I'm sure she'll be an integral part in planning the bachelorette party. We love her, and you can see her great pic in the Wedding Party section of the site right now!

Only other things going on is dress shopping, dress shopping, and a little bit more dress shopping, lol. Monica has officially ordered her wedding dress, and unfortunately despite my best efforts, she hasn't cracked and I still haven't seen it. All I know is some wedding designer, Da Vinci, is the one that made it. I'm sure she'll look incredible. Also I know all the ladies are going shopping for dresses on Friday. We're 155 days from the wedding!

Finally, does anyone know of any cool wedding traditions? As a testament to my heritage, we're going to 'jump the broom' following the ceremony. Monica and I haven't looked that much, but what kind of traditions during a ceremony are used by Hispanics? Let us know! That's all for now! Laters!!

Correction: I mentioned Weld County in my previous blog. Thanks to Catherine for letting us know that Loveland is actually Larimer County! Oops! I have contacted Larimer and everything is still a go! Glad we didn't show up at Greeley trying to get a wedding license. Thanks C!!!

Keeping it in the family!

Hola everyone! We've been quiet on the wedding front for a couple weeks, but things are heating up big time! According to the countdown on the 'About Us' page, we have only 171 days to go until the big day!

So some of you may be wondering why in the world I have a picture of my parents on this blog. Well there are two reasons. First it satisfies my mom's request to get some recognition on this website, lol, and the other reason is that we have decided on an officiant for our wedding. It will be my dad that will do us the great honor of marrying us! In this great state of Colorado, you do not have to be licensed to perform a marriage. I have contacted Weld County (where we're getting hitched), and the two people wanting to be married can simply sign the certificate with or without witnesses and that's that! Well since we do want to have a ceremony, my dad is going to perform it, and Monica and I will sign the certificate afterward with my dad signing as a witness. So now both dads will have a job at the wedding! Yeah!

Switching topics, I think the wedding dress is being purchased this week, so that's a good thing. You girls are odd. I don't get why you have to get a dress nearly six months ahead of time! I mean really! Does it honestly take THAT LONG to get the dress sent to Denver and get the adjustments made!? Lol, I know I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. We're still deciding on who is going to handle the wedding cake, but we've gotten much closer to the wedding invites and we're a meeting or two away from having that nailed down.

Finally, I've made a small update to the Events page about the Bridal Shower. I don't exactly know anymore details other than what's been put there, but I'm sure that the ladies in charge of planning it will give me info as they get it right? Laters all!

They're just flowers!

Who knew there was so much to picking out flowers for a wedding!? Oh man. This past Saturday we went out to Loveland and tried out the food and spoke with the woman that will be doing the flowers. I can honestly say that I've been attentive for this entire wedding planning process except for that meeting. I think I checked out mentally after about 20 minutes and it went for a little over an hour! Discussing flowers! I do understand though. I just didn't realize all of the flower planning that went into a wedding! There was the discussion about the bouquet Monica will have and then there's the discussion for the bridesmaids, and maid and matron of honor. And of course the flowers need to be slightly different so the maid and matron stand out a bit. Then there's the groom's little whatever that goes on the tux, and then the best men get their little flower, and then the groomsmen get theirs. It's enough to pull my hair out. Then there's the flowers for the mothers, the flowers for the centerpieces, the flowers for the arch. Can't we just head to King Soopers, buy a bunch on sale and just do something with those? Hehe :-)

In the end, the flowers were decided. We're rolling with white roses, calla lilies (always been my fave flower), and blue dendrobium orchids. Don't even ask me how all of those are going to be arranged, or placed, or bouquets, etc, etc, because I have no idea. I know those are the three main ones, although there will be other types as well. Whew!

Alright so now that my flower rant is out of the way, the food. Oh man. GOOD, GOOD, GOOD. I don't think there will be anyone disappointed by the spread we'll have, and combined with the fact that it's all you can eat, we should all be pretty happy. It was all nice and official. We met one of the chefs, was served by one of the waitresses, and they were able to answer any questions we had. I have zero complaints, and my mouth is watering for more of that unbelievable bourban pecan pie.

Lastly, due to Craig's possible deployment (stinkin military!!) I'm having to replace him as a groomsmen in the wedding. Hopefully he's still able to attend, but to be safe it was decided that he should be replaced. I really wanted someone from Monica's side of the family to stand with me as she has my two sisters standing with her. So coming to the rescue is Monica's cousin Josh. I really went back and forth on this since he has a weird love affair with the Nuggets, and we all know I hate that team, lol. In all seriousness though, I love that guy and initially when deciding the final groomsmen it was a toss-up between Craig and Josh. We went with Craig since his wife will be standing with Monica also.

Anyway Josh and I are putting aside our sports differences and he's taking Craig's place. He's a great selection, plus you will all get to see that Josh rocks a tux as well as anyone. I'll have the Wedding Page updated with his pic soon. Yeah! Till the next entry, laters all...

Shopping, shopping!

We're now under 200 days until the wedding! The time continues to fly by, and it'll be here before we know it! This past weekend was the first of probably quite a few dress shopping trips. For some weird reason I wasn't invited as Monica said I can't see the dress until the wedding! Dumb traditions!

To be honest, hanging out in a dress shop while a woman tries on dress after dress after dress isn't my idea of a good time. Instead, I went and saw Iron Man 2 with Welona! Yeah! Monica at least accepted my input on the wedding dress. We browsed quite a few wedding sites and I pointed out dresses that I thought looked good. I'll tell you what though. There are some hideous wedding dresses out there! The picture that I have included in this blog is the pic of the dress that I liked the most out of all the dresses we looked at.

This weekend is more wedding planning as we'll be heading back up to Loveland with Monica's mom and sis, Vivian. We get to taste the menu for the wedding and we'll meet with the florist. They're also going to be performing a ceremony for another couple so we'll get to see how they setup for weddings in person. Oh and speaking of the menu, I don't know if I ever said what it's going to be! Did I? Anyway, we're doing a buffet, and here are the items...

Sweet Corn and Roasted Poblano Chowder
Wedge Salad
Coleslaw
Roasted Red "B" Potato Salad
Tri-color Melon Salad, Mint Infusion

Raspberry-Chipotle Barbecue Chicken
Marinated Grilled Ribeye Steak
Shrimp and Vegetable Kebabs
Poblano Corn Bread
Corn on the Cob and Fat Tire Baked Beans
Salt Roasted Yukon Potatoes

Sounds pretty good right!? Enjoy the week all!

Cruisin!

The other day we officially booked our honeymoon! Yeah! This decision was rough as we were originally going to do Italy, but now that the wedding has moved up, going to Italy in November/December isn't advised. Then we were thinking Argentina, but it would require quite a bit more planning than we really wanted at the time. So in the end, we decided that we're going to go on another cruise. I say another because we did a very short one two years ago to the Bahamas. It was our first, but this one we just booked is quite a bit longer and it's cruising the Mexican Riviera. Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas will be our stops along the 7 days. It should be quite a bit of fun and it doesn't hurt that the cruise ship is brand new (well two years old) as well! Oh and lastly, you should check out my mom's website HERE. She's our travel agent and the one that booked our honeymoon. She has great rates and can help you with vacation and travel plans! Now that our commercial break is over...lol

Not much else on the wedding front, although Monica and I discussed the bakery we're going to go with. We also discussed photography and the florist as well. We have an appointment to meet with the florist the same day we head up there for the tasting of the food. She still hasn't given us any prices which kind of makes me a bit nervous, lol. I also understand it's tough to give a price when there are so many different kind of flower combinations that you can do. I still don't want us dropping over $1000 in flowers though either.

I see some of you have booked hotel rooms already, so it's definitely working. Let me know if there are any problems! That's it for now. Take care!

Guys go to bridal festivals!

I honestly have never planned a wedding before, so I didn't know all the things that go into it. I mean we've got wedding books, magazines, and brochures for days. All of these different vendors wanting our business. It's pretty crazy really. One place to gather all these companies together in one place is at a bridal festival. Now, I had never been to one, and I didn't even want to go to this one but I could tell Monica wanted me to go. So last Sunday, Monica, her mother, and I all headed back up to the city of Loveland to attend their bridal festival at some ranch out there. This festival was one we wanted to attend because we wanted to know what kind of vendors Northern Colorado had because we're getting married right there. I was pretty surprised that I wasn't the only guy, but there was no question that this event was directed toward the ladies.

Our mission was to find a florist, photographer, a bakery for the cake, and just whatever else we came across. Our budget has been increased from when I initially posted last year due to the amount of people we're expecting. And I'll tell ya, a lot of these vendors didn't want to help us keep our costs low!! We're spending a bit more on the photographer for the wedding, but we decided that this is going to be the only way we can remember the wedding, so our budget needed to be increased for that portion. The company we're rolling with actually will provide us two photographers for the entire day, full access to all the pictures, three photo books, and a few photo mosaics (Google the word if you don't know what it is). All in all we're getting a very good deal. Monica fell in love with another flower, a blue dendrobium orchid, and I have a feeling we'll be seeing some of those at the wedding. If you don't know what one of those looks like, check the picture from my blog posting on Tuesday. It has a picture of one.

One of the cool things about these festivals was all the prizes they give away. We didn't happen to win any, but Monica was VERY close to winning us a free honeymoon! She was selected with seven other brides to dig in a cake for one of six keys. They then all took turns attempting to open a lock box. Whichever key opened the box, won the vacation. Monica's didn't open it. Ah well. Check the video out at the bottom though, and you can see the cake madness, hehe.

It was a good trip up to Loveland, and we now have a photographer, florist, and a possible place to do the cake, although we have to go back up for a tasting. All the decisions to make for one night is just crazy. Happy Friday all!

Location hunting!

A couple weeks ago, Monica was in the middle of the most stressful time for accountants…tax season! She was working weekends, late during the week, etc. Just not the most enjoyable time. During this time though, we needed to get a place hammered down so we could officially say what day we were going to get married! Monica’s mother, Monica, and I had checked out a few places on Lookout Mountain, and while the price sounded right, after talking with Monica they just didn’t seem to be the place we wanted to get married. You see, I had a vision, and I’m glad it was in-line with Monica’s. The vision was that we have a place where everything occurs. Ceremony, reception, lodging. We don’t want guests having to drive home afterward because we plan on having a wedding in the evening. This is where the Embassy Suites Loveland comes in. Monica and I knew we wanted the wedding outside of Denver, but not too far, and when I came across the new hotel they have just north of Denver in Loveland, I knew as soon as I saw it that it was the place.

Monica and I really liked the pictures and it appeared to have what we were looking for, but we needed to find time to go up there and see the place. Well with tax season going on, I became one of the few men in history to go look at a wedding site solo. Monica trusted my judgment and she gave me complete decision making rights on this trip! Yeah! Now, I don't know how many of you have ever stayed in an Embassy Suites before. One of their main selling points is that every room is a suite. I mean who doesn't like to stay in a suite? This Embassy Suites that I toured though is a Hotel, Spa, and Conference Center. It got the extra special treatment, and they just opened their doors one year ago. To say this place is huge won't be doing it justice. You will just have to see for yourself, or go to the Accommmodations link and look at their pictures and virtual tours. This is by far the best Embassy Suites I've ever been in and I made the decision that we were going to have the wedding there.

Hehe, of course Monica was included in this decision as we found time in the middle of the upcoming week to head out there with her mom, and both women liked the place just as much as I did when I saw it a few days prior. We signed the contract right there. We were able to get incredible room rates. $79 for one or two people. That's in a suite!! They provide a free breakfast in the morning, and it's not a lousy piece of toast and an apple. They have a chef there so you can tell him what kind of waffles, omelets, etc you want made right there on the spot. They then have a large breakfast bar so you can compliment it with bacon, sausage, fruit, cereal, whatever. Every evening for guests they have a cocktail party from 5:30 to 7 in which they serve free beer and wine!! Now this won't apply for us since Monica and I are getting married at 5pm and most will be staying one night, but that's pretty cool! So again, the room rates are $79 for one or two people, $94 for three, and $109 for four. The rooms all come with either two queens or one king and they all have a pull out sofa.

I'm pretty glad that Monica is open to my opinions about this wedding as well. I know a lot of guys dread this stuff, but it's kind of cool. This past weekend we went to a bridal festival, and I'll blog about that later. I promise you that I didn't want to go to that, but it actually turned out to be pretty entertaining. Monica was very close to winning a honeymoon for us and although she didn't win, I have some video of her digging through wedding cakes looking for keys, lol. Laters all.

Blue!?

Wow! It's been four months since I've posted! Well there's a reason for that. With Monica and I planning on having the wedding in June of 2011, there really wasn’t a need to post anything as I didn't have any news. Well that's all changed! I'm sure most have heard that we've moved up the wedding date to November 26, 2010. Let me extinguish the main rumor...NO SHE IS NOT PREGNANT! Lol. We've been asked numerous times why we moved up the date and it's all really simple. I turn 32 in October, and I want to be done having children by the time I'm 35. Monica doesn't want children till marriage, and she wants two. Moving our wedding up 8 months means she can get pregnant sooner. It's also cheaper on the pockets to have a Fall/Winter wedding instead of a Summer one. The main reason that we decided to move it up though is because we figured, why not? What're we waiting for? So it's all set! November!

I think I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to stand on the sidelines and just show up on the wedding day. I want to be a part of the planning process too! It's my day also right!? There's been quite a bit of wedding talk around the Archuleta/Johnson household and one of the main ones up to a few weeks ago centered around colors. If any of you know Monica, you know that she has this obsession with the color blue. I mean, I love the color too. In fact it’s my fave by far. However we ran into a small bump in the road when discussing potential wedding colors because with a Fall wedding, I’m more wanting a burnt orange and brown, or something Fall like. With that said though, I’m perfectly happy with blue! Monica’s been hearing it from a few people that she should scrap blue for more ‘Fall’ colors and I disagree. So in addition to deciding on a date, and a location (check the website, I’ll blog about the site in a few days), we’ve also decided on wedding colors. They’re going to be sapphire blue & white. Personally I think they’re great colors, and I’m glad the bride stuck to her guns.

I just wanted to put in a brief entry to let you all know that I’m back and will be at least through November! I have a lot of things to talk about. Everything from me going to select our location solo, to heading to a bridal show with Monica and her mom this past weekend. Yeah! I hope the week is going well for you all and I’ll get back at you in a day or two. Check the website! You can make hotel reservations now!