Checklist Progress- Vendors Galore!

I’ve been a terrible wedding blogger lately, but it’s partly because I’ve been being a good bride. The first 9 months of what is destined to be an epic 20 month engagement was all about day dreaming and wedding porn and crunching numbers to determine our options. Now comes the actual work- and checking off boxes on The List.

In the last couple months we chose our venue and booked the church. Now, it’s all about the vendors. Progress to date:

- Confirmed our photographer, my friend and former tennis coach David Kenas. Dave does sports photography as well as art and, as luck would have it, weddings. He’s a fantastic photographer, and I’m so excited to be working with a friend. Check out some of his work at dkshots.com.

- Chose our DJ, another easy decision- Sounds to Go DJs is owned by old family friends. The current owner, having taken over when his father retired, is my old neighbor and MRHS ’98 classmate Mike, whom I used to ride bikes with in a huge pack of kids in the

Cloverdale Circle

neighborhood we grew up in. My brother worked as a DJ for them for years in his twenties, they're a Best of Weddings vendor by The Knot, and they have a fantastic reputation. Score!

Congrats!

- Contacted a hotel for a block of rooms for the wedding night. It’s none other than The Berkeley Hotel, the place we’d looked into previously for our wedding. We won’t be getting married there, but I’m quite happy that we’ll be staying there on our wedding night, and hope our guests enjoy it too! It's an oceanfront hotel on a summer weekend, so it's not cheap. I’ll probably investigate a back up, but this is where I and much of the bridal party will be staying, so it's good to nail one down. We'll be signing a contract in January. Check!

The pool at The Berkeley

The view from the rooms

And aside from vendors, there’s been some other progress:

- Dress shopping. Gah. I should’ve known this would be my Everest of wedding planning. I am really indecisive, picky about fashion, not a huge fan of wedding gowns, still feeling a little weird about this whole ‘bride’ business, and in the middle of a fitness journey- which all adds up to blerg. I’ve been sort of shopping, but not fully. I made the mistake of falling in love with a dress, dreaming about it for 4 months, then trying it on and discovering it looked totally different from the pictures online. (Duh.) But, alas, I have given in and booked an appointment at Kleinfeld’s in November- they have a huge selection, and I love Say Yes to the Dress, so I figure it’s a good plan. (Today’s Friday and I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit that I’m really looking forward to coming home from my Strength from the Core class tonight to a SYTTD marathon. Living the fast life here in NYC.) The appointment is next week- fingers crossed!

My consultant, if I'm lucky ;)

- Centerpieces- the other bane of my bridal existence. I have made some progress there, though, and am currently getting quotes.

- Oh, and next week we get to pay another deposit to the venue. making it even harder to back out now. (JK, JK)

When I got engaged I signed up for The Knot to use their all encompassing checklist, and promptly became intimidated by the vast amount of work putting together a wedding can require. It feels really good to check things off now and have them disapear from view. To quote my Obama t-shirt, PROGRESS! Yes!