Cool Website!

My friend Kelly, from high school, just linked me into this super cute website http://www.thewhitepetal.com/ - lots of great ideas!

Ring a Ding Ding!

I also forgot another accomplishment that we can tick off the list! Last weekend we found Mike's wedding ring, and are awaiting its arrival in the next few weeks. This past week, we also found my wedding band. While I had hoped to have a ring made from my Grandmother's diamonds, they were all different sizes and nothing really worked together. So I started to look for something already made.

We went back to our favorite spot for wedding items; yes, Costco. And we found the perfect ring and it should be here tomorrow!!

Wardrobe? Complete!

The last four days have resulted in some more wedding accomplishments!

Thursday I went in for my first dress fitting! It was great to see my beautiful dress, all for me! My friends Emily and Monica were there, as well as my mom and sister. It was a bit anti-climactic, as the dress was really, really big, and I couldn't really envision how it would look when it is actually fitted to me. I know it will be better the next time, but I wanted to have a better vision of what it would look like! I did find a head piece for the big day though, so that was exciting.

A more challenging task has proven to be finding the perfect shoes. I went to Nordies the day before the big fitting, hoping to be divinely inspired by a gorgeous pair of shoes that screamed, "Dum Dum Dum Dummmmmm" But instead, I was underwhelmed with mediocrity. I loveloveLOVE shoes, and I am, honestly, a bit saddened that I can't adorn my feet with a gorgeous pair of dainty high heels. But we are getting married on a lawn, and that just wouldn't be practical. Plus, given my amazing coordination skills, 20$ says I would be laid out flat on my face 1/3 of the way down the isle. (This may happen anyway, but flats lesson my chances). So I decided to go with sandals/flats. I found 2 pairs of sandals that I liked, one in lime green (one of our wedding colors) and one in purple (the other wedding color). Then, I found a sequin adorned pair of converse in pink. I bought all 3. Showed them to Mike who was obviously underwhelmed as well...so, back to square one! I definitely will no be settling for a lame pair of shoes. Yes, I know that nobody really sees them. Do I care? No. I need to know that my feet are dressed just as well as the rest of me!

Friday my girlfriends came over for a night of invitation stuffing awesomeness. We had

quite the assembly line going. One of us stuffed the RSVPs, one of us stamped, one sprinkled

embossing powder, one blew the embossing powder dry, and then we stuffed it all together! Now I have to start addressing them. I want to take them in small batches and then mail them out at the beginning of May.

We headed up to Truckee this weekend for a whirlwind trip for snowboarding and dad-visiting. On our way, we stopped at the Tommy Bahama outlet in Vacaville. We have been looking for this specific color silk shirt for our wonderful groomsman - one that we saw last summer and haven't seen since! The TB store here in San Jose suggested that we try the outlet store because they often have more colors, and, they are cheaper! Yes please! So, we went there Saturday and worked with a super helpful and friendly woman who helped us get all of our shirts lined up. We brought home 6 of the 8 plus a shirt for each of our dads (same shirt, different color from the groomsmen). Really excited to have that done, and looking forward to see how handsome they all look!

We are still working on folding the 1,000 oragami cranes, and thanks to our wonderful family, we are making a lot of progress! Mike's cousin Ginger has turned in 300, his aunt has 200, my dad is making 200 as well (5 a day - plus he's discovered a method to make it more efficient!). Now, to figure out what to do with all of them!

Checkity Check Check Check!

We have made some major strides in our wedding planning the last few days - thank goodness! To be honest, some things were really starting to stress me out!

The most stressful thing, as I have previously blogged about, was our honeymoon. I felt like we kept on getting excited about a place, only to find out that 1) We ran a 90% chance of running head-on into a natural disaster 2) it was going to be FREAKING HOT or 3) it was WAY out of our price range. We started out our honeymoon quest wanting to go to somewhere like New Zealand. Great idea! Ya. July = winter in New Zealand. Out. Fiji. Too expensive. Greek islands, ditto.

So, we decided to enlist the help of a travel agent we found on Yelp. She helped us put together a few packages, and then we she realized what a pain in the ass we were, she enlisted back up from another agent. We were really excited after our initial phone call with this new agent, because she seemed to understand what we wanted, and thought we had a lot of latitude with our budget. She turned us on to the idea of Puerto Rico (have to admit that whenever I hear that I always think of West Side Story .... such a nerd. I blame my dad for introducing me to that musical :) ) She talked to us about the phosphorescent pools and the zip lining, and it just sounded exactly like what we wanted. So, we waited, and she sends us something that is totally in our budget. Then, I looked closer. It was totally within our budget, but only included the hotel and the flight! What!? No food. No transfer from the airport. No excursions (such as the phosphorescent pools or zip lining). Uh, what do you hear when I say budget, travel agent lady? Anyway, we tried not to feel dejected for too long, and went with a place that is always trustworthy, and never lets us down. A place where you can get anything from frozen chicken breasts to car batteries. Engagement rings to tire rotations. That's right people: we went to Costco.

We started scanning their packages, and found a lot of cool options in parts of the Caribbean that aren't ridden with natural disasters. Our interest was piqued and so we continued our investigation. We found that the Dominican Republic had a lot of really nice all inclusive resorts and lots of fun activities (golf, cigar factories, rum distilleries, zip lining) We were quickly falling in love with the place. When we started to look at some of the resorts, we were sold.

We will be staying at the Majestic Elegance Resort in Punta Cana, DR. An amazing resort, where we will be enjoying a swim up room with an outdoor bed and private jacuzzi, all inclusive amenities, VIP service and lots of relaxation. (we also put ourselves in the "adults only" section so we won't be disturbed by the chorus of voices of vacationing children...) Check out the hotel link below.

Awesome Resort

So, that was one huge checkity check check CHECK off the list! That was on our way to San Fran this morning, where we continued the quest for Mike's wedding band.

For those of you who don't know, searching for a band for a man is a difficult task. Most men don't wear a whole heck of a lot of jewelry, and so having a ring on their finger is a new, and strange feeling. For this reason, we haven't had a whole lotta luck in this department. We knew he wanted a more low key metal (such as titanium or palladium) though at one point in our search he was pretty much sold on a platinum band at Tiffanys. For a while, he was trying to convince me that he needed not one, but TWO wedding bands. One for every day, and one "blinged out" option that was for fancier occasions. No I am not joking and yes this is the man I want to marry. He just cracks me up. Lucikly he moved on from that relatively quickly.

Today, my MOH and one of Mike's groomsmen (who is coincidentally married to my MOH) took us to Union Street in the city, where a large collection of jewelry stores are located. We went to 3 jewelry stores, and each was a very unique experience. I should also say, that I am looking to have a wedding band made from some of my Grandma Charlotte's old rings. We were very close, and she has passed away, and so I wanted to have her be a part of my day somehow. So the first place, Mike found a few rings he liked, but nothing he was super excited about. So, I asked about my dream ring, and was quickly shot down by the "charming" clerk, who essentially told me that what I wanted would look terrible with my ring, and then suggested that I just stick a few of the diamonds from my Grandma's ring onto my engagement ring! Uh, NO WAY! We moved on.

The next place was actually where Em and Nick got Nick's ring. We liked a few of their things, but the one Mike liked best was going to be too high maintenance, as the finish would rub off and continually have to be revamped. They gave me a lot of suggestions at this place regarding the possibilities I had with my diamonds. My dream ring wasn't really a possibility, but they had a lot of ideas. I left my rings there to be evaluated and so that they could measure all of the stones, and then we moved on again.

The third try was a success. Mike found 3 rings that he liked and they definitely all suited him well. He eventually went with a brushed palladium band - very plain and timeless. We put the deposit down today, and will return in about 2 weeks to pick it up! I am so excited that he found something that he loves!

Also, my dress arrived on Thursday of last week, and I will be returning to the store for my first try on this Thursday! I can't wait to see my beautiful dress again. I am currently on the hunt for my jewelry (I want antique/vintage looking stones) and a hair piece (I am looking for white feathers, instead of a veil). Hopefully these things will magically fall into my lap!

Next on the list is to finalize our rehearsal dinner site, but that feels like cake now that we have so many things accomplished.

Stay tuned!

And They're In!

The invites came in Wednesday, and even though they were delivered to my school (somebody had to be there to sign for them)...I managed to not open them! I waited until Mike got home, and let him do the honors. They are awesome and so worth all of the revisions and changes that we made! Can't wait for the big day that they announce!

>>>Even the box is pretty :)

Mike didn't let me see them for a full minute or so - payback is nasty people. You can see the glee in his eyes...

He finally let me see them...took his sweet time...

Hooray! That's us! Hope to see you there!

Vote for the Grujiis!

We entered this fun contest today! It's kind of a pain because you have to register to vote, but please do!

http://www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entries/21289

Please Mr. Postman!

Most of our save the dates went off like a rocket in the mail yesterday! (We are waiting for Jack & Sandy to get home from Vietnam tomorrow for a few more addresses) My TA stuffed and labled them, and though I have to say - things weren't quite as straight as I would have liked....they are still on their way to you!

Can't wait to hear what you think!

Got in Trouble...

So, today, a very very very exciting package was sitting on the front porch. I peeked at the end, and what did I see? Oh our very wonderful Save the Date goodies, designed by our great friend Jen! I was so excited! I could barely wait long enough to take Taiko on a potty break! I ran upstairs and ripped open the package - primarily to see if the things would fit in the envelopes that we are sending our save the date cards in. (Probably should have checked that before we ordered, by the way...) I tried to pull the one off of the side, but I was too impatient and tore into the box. Inside were two neat stacks of our goodies! So exciting!

I took some time to put them around the house so that Mike would be really excited and be in the wedding spirit....well. That. Didn't. Happen.

I gchatted Mike that we had gotten our goodies and that they were "AWESOME." His response was not what I expected. "You opened them? Without me? Again?" (I forgot to mention that I also opened our Save the Date announcements before he got home... He was not as excited as I had anticipated... :( I am in a bit of trouble, but the bright side is that they are going out this week!

I feel a bit like Monica, from friends. There is an episode after she and Chandler get married. She comes home to a house full of gifts. Chandler is out with Ross recreating their wedding pictures because he thinks that he lost the disposable cameras (his only "task" for the wedding day.) Monica can't help herself and opens all of the gifts before Chandler gets home! (my theory is that there is a Friends/Sex in the City/ or Seinfeld reference for everything!!)

I need to remember to pull back and not be selfish and open things on my own - it is me and MIKE's day and I need to remember that! Excitement just takes over - but I have to refrain! I'll update next week to tell you if I am able to do this or not...invitations ship on Monday!

To Honeymoon or Not?

Wedding plans are coming right along - I haven't been able to stop planning! I enjoy it very much, and I relish in the opportunity to be able to orchestrate such a great day of celebration for everyone! I have my TA stuffing Save the Dates (STD's ...) today and tomorrow - goodies for those come in Thursday, and then they are off like a prom dress! I can't wait for you all to see them - they are super simple. NOt like something is going to jump out of the envelope dancing or anything, but a lot of love went into them!

What is proving to be a bit of a challenge is the honeymoon. It's no honeymoon :) We really want to take advantage of this celebration and take a unique and special trip to start our lives together - one that we might not do again in this lifetime. However, do we want to be paying for this trip for a lifetime? Yikes! It's expensive to go on a trip of a lifetime! We are registering for our honeymoon trip, because we really don't need much in the way of typical registry items. But still, it's a bit stressful! We have a few plans in motion right now, researching Fiji, NZ and the Cook Islands. Hopefully we will be able to figure out an amazing place that won't bring us home to stress!

We'll keep you in the loop, but how cool does this place look!?

Awesome Resort

In production!

Yahoo! Our invites are in production! Can't wait to see them live and in person! Thank goodness Mike suggested that I double check the address - I originally had 3796 and it was supposed to be 3786! Phew! Here's a super sneaky peek!

Invitations!

Together with their families

Stephanie Griesmer and Michael Fujii

Invite you to celebrate their wedding on

The Seventeenth of July, Two Thousand and Ten

At Five o' Clock p.m.

Bella Montagna

3796 Quimby Road

San Jose

Adult reception to follow.

There are so many ways to say this - but luckily Mike and I agreed on what would be just right for us!! We get proofs of the invites in 3 days!!

Invitations!

Together with their families

Stephanie Griesmer and Michael Fujii

Invite you to celebrate their wedding on

The Seventeenth of July, Two Thousand and Ten

At Five o' Clock p.m.

Bella Montagna

3796 Quimby Road

San Jose

Adult reception to follow.

There are so many ways to say this - but luckily Mike and I agreed on what would be just right for us!! We get proofs of the invites in 3 days!!

We Have the MOST Amazing Friends

We are truly just so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people. We always have been, but since we have been engaged, it is so great to have people ready to celebrate with us and help us make this next phase of our lives really special.

Our friend Jen designed our Save the Date goodies, and while I will let you wait and see the awesomeness in completion when you get them in the mail, I will give you a sneak peek. (See above, duh!)

Website!

Also, don't forget to check out our ever changing website! Lots of info!

Can't Stop Till You Get Enough!

I thought I would put wedding planning aside for a while after the action packed Christmas break. But I have found that that is not really possible to do! Hopefully in the next 2 weeks, we will be able to have things cool off. Until then, this is what is in the works!

We are looking at a contract for an awesome guitar player to play during the ceremony. He has a really great repertoire, and will learn 2 specialty songs for the ceremony as well. Check out his site and you can hear some of his work. I am so excited about this part - I have seriously wanted to have acoustic guitar at my wedding since I was in high school! I love love love it!

www.johnchapmanguitarist.com

Our wonderful friend Jen is working on our Save the date goodies - we got one part in the mail and she is graciously helping with the other part! She sent us the first draft and we are making a few adjustments, and get another draft this weekend! It's so great to have such awesome friends. Love you girl!!! We are also looking at stamp options - so weird the stuff you think about. I mean, honestly, nobody really cares about the stamp. Or do they? My dad probably will take notice - he's into stamps. And I remember the stamps Em and Nick had on their invitations. So maybe it is worth looking into....just a little bit though. I'm not trying to get stamp fever or anything.

We have sent in contracts to all of the hotels that we are using for the weekend - so people can start booking those rooms! We reserved space at 3 hotels and are hoping that people find one that suits them. We also hope lots of people book at the Valencia because if we get a certain number of nights booked, then our honeymoon suite is free! Yayayaya!

I have also decided to treat myself to a Personal trainer at my gym. Mike and recently re-joined and they offer you one free session. I really liked this guys style (Mike didn't though. Thought his pants were too tight. And SMALL!) I had my second session with him tonight, and I am really looking forward to it! I just want to feel good and confident on our wedding day. I am not trying to lose a bunch of weight or anything. I still want to look like me. Just buffer.

It seems like every day we are getting something new in the mail. This week we got part of our Save the Date stuff, and an invitation sample and a new camera that we bought as an early wedding present to each other. It's kind of exciting to get stuff besides bills in the mail!

We have decided on invitations - I won't tell you if they are from the first round or the second. But they are AWESOME. Very simple. Very "us" - cheese and all! I sent in the contract for those tonight, and am looking forward to seeing our names on them! I can see it now....Together with their families, Mike and Stephanie ask you for the honor of your presence as they celebrate their MARRIAGE!! (can I put in fine print - "It's about freaking time?" or would that be tacky?)

Guitar player

Save the dates

Hotels

Dress - called

Personal trainer

Save The Date

Save the Dates will be going out in the next week or two...here is a sneak peak at ONE element...

So Many Decisions!

So, it has been about a month since my last post, and I literally haven't had time to raise my head up from work for long enough to think about wedding details - nothing beyond the fact that I am still excited to marry Mike in just over 7 months!

So, now that I have a (well deserved, and long awaited) break from school, I have had time to rally Mike and I to think about some of the "smaller" details. There is irony in the word "small." I mean, sure, we will have places for people to sit, things for people to eat, and someone to marry us on 7.17.10. But the "small" tasks take the most thought and planning.

First of all, we are quickly hearing and realizing that many people are planners, and have already made plans well into the summer - and, people are also having weddings that same weekend! Geez! So, we have realized the necessity of getting our Save the Dates out there, and our invites ordered. So, I went on there today to start the ordering process after having received our desired samples. And what do I see? Oh, nothing but about 25 brand new designs all categorized, "Summer". !!! And of course, I love love love some of them. So, we are back to square one with the invites, but will surely rest on a decision soon. But, how could you pass up beautiful new designs like -

Or -

Or -

Clearly, tough decisions lie ahead.

We are currently designing some Save the Dates - with some help from our most amazing friend Jen. We are trying to make use of the wonderful engagement shots that we got as well - so much to think about! Keep your eyes peeled for those in the next few weeks.

We are also thinking about where we want people to stay the weekend of the wedding, and where we will spend the night after the wedding. We have already booked a block of rooms in downtown San Jose - right next to a great park, two museums, and tons of great eating venues. We have a call into another venue as well, and are hoping to hear back from them soon so that people can start making reservations. There are so many summer events in San Jose - we don't want anybody to be out of luck! We are really hoping that it works out for the bridal party to get ready and for Mike and I to stay at the Hotel Valencia in Santana Row, which was actually one of the places we were thinking of having the wedding itself. It is very modern, and fun, and there is so much to do and enjoy in that area.

We are combing through the guest list again and again to make adjustments - making sure that we have only the people that really are a part of our lives in a meaningful way. It is really difficult to assess something like that. We aren't from the camp of inviting people we haven't seen in years just because. We don't want to be reconnecting with people or introducing them to our (will be) husband or wife while we are trying to enjoy our celebration. This, I think, will prove to be the most difficult part!

All the while, we are trying to enjoy every minute, and the fun of creating a day of celebration for the two of us. It is has been such smooth sailing so far, knock on wood, and we are really lucky that our family is really supportive, and doesn't really have many demands of what the day "should" be like, and who should be there. Hopefully there will be some more definitive decisions soon!!

So Many Decisions!

So, it has been about a month since my last post, and I literally haven't had time to raise my head up from work for long enough to think about wedding details - nothing beyond the fact that I am still excited to marry Mike in just over 7 months!

So, now that I have a (well deserved, and long awaited) break from school, I have had time to rally Mike and I to think about some of the "smaller" details. There is irony in the word "small." I mean, sure, we will have places for people to sit, things for people to eat, and someone to marry us on 7.17.10. But the "small" tasks take the most thought and planning.

First of all, we are quickly hearing and realizing that many people are planners, and have already made plans well into the summer - and, people are also having weddings that same weekend! Geez! So, we have realized the necessity of getting our Save the Dates out there, and get our invites ordered. So, I went on there today to start the ordering process after having received our desired samples. And what do I see? Oh, nothing but about 25 brand new designs all categorized, "Summer". !!! And of course, I love love love some of them. So, we are back to square one with the invites. But will surely rest on a decision soon. But, how could you pass up beautiful new designs like -

Or -

So Many Decisions!!

Yikes - It's been a full month since I've had a moment to really come up for air and think about the wedding. I was buried (still am) in work and final papers and trying to make it through the end of the semester. But, as soon as Christmas vacation hit, I was back on the wedding trail!

The first thing I needed to catch up on was the invitations. It seems like there are quite a few people who are busy or have made other plans for our wedding weekend already, so we are feeling the need to get on our Save the Dates and order our invitations! We were all set to order from the narrowed down choices we made a few months ago, and then I go on the invitation site to start ordering, and what has happened? Oh nothing but about 25 new designs all especially for summer weddings, that's all. GEEEZ! So, now we have about 3 new options that we are considering and it's back to square one! I really didn't think I cared all that much about the invites, but when all these new designs came out, I couldn't possibly stay with what we had chosen!

The next thing I wanted to tackle was the hotels and where people would be staying. Though this seems like a small feat on the surface, it is really kind of complicated because you have to think about where you will be getting ready, sleeping, where the stylist will meet with you, where you will take your pre-wedding shots, etc. That's a lot to think about! We booked a few guest blocks at some hotels downtown and decided on one for the bridal party as well - it is actually one of the venues that we were considering for the wedding itself, and I am so stoked to be staying there. It is a very cool, posh area, and has a bar that is open into the night so that if we are up to it, we can continue the festivities after the wedding!!

We also started looking into a guitarist to play for the processional and recessional. This was also a bit difficult because many artists only play classical music, and that really isn't the vibe of the day, so we wanted something a bit more casual and fun. Our wedding coordinator made a few recommendations, but one guy was already booked, one guy sounded too religious for us, and the third guy had a pretty bland proposal of what he would play for the day. No thanks. I'm not bland. So I ended up doing a Google search on "Guitarist, San Jose" and found this amazing guy who I am currently emailing with. Listen to his samples under "Pop" and you will understand my being drawn to him.