Friday, January 30, 2009
Going to the Chapel
Ok, it's actually a church, but we officially booked it yesterday! We met with our priest for what turned out to be a fairly casual meeting. He asked us a few questions about ourselves and then asked the church required questions, such as if either of us had been married before. Since I'm in the RCIA class, he knew that I was not baptized, but that I would be at Easter. After we satisfactorly aswered his questions, we were offically put on the calendar!
We're actually the first wedding they've booked for 2010. It seems early, but now that I know we have the date for sure, I feel comfortable looking for other vendors. My next goal is to get the reception site I've got my eye on. Of course, I want to check it out first and look over their catering options.
As for the church, we don't need to do anything for about a year. We'll start the marriage classes about 6 months before the wedding. I'm sure I'll be calling the parish office with questions before that though.
It's so nice to finally be able to tell people an exact date now when they ask! I felt so proud checking off something on the wedding checklist.
How soon did you book your ceremony venue? Did you get the date you wanted?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Ring Shopping Part 2
So Thursday finally came and Catholic Groom and I headed downtown for the jewelry store. We got there before the scheduled opening time of noon and already we could tell there would be a crowd. We actually ended up parking a couple blocks away as the store's parking lot is quite small. I don't know the exact time we walked into the store, but it was already open when we arrived. The crowd must have been bigger than they thought and they opened early.
The store was packed and I had to fight my way through the crowd to get to the bridal cases. June, the saleslady we worked with previously was helping in that area, so we were glad to work with her again. Since the there was such a crowd and few salespeople, we had to wait our turn. While we waited to talk to June, we browsed the cases. I picked out two settings that I wanted to take a closer look at when it was our turn.
Everything in the store was marked with the original price and the new sale price. I confess that I pretty much only looked at the sale price. I was looking for something relatively inexpensive. As a result, I did not know how much my setting originally cost.
June was finally able to help us and she remembered that I wanted a princess cut diamond. Turns out, they only had 2 loose princess cut diamonds left! June immediately told us one of them was flawed and told us we wanted the other one. Um, ok! (I should mention that CG is the supervisor of the jewelry department at a department store, so he knows a bit about diamonds.) Anyway, June took out the settings that I wanted to see and placed the loose diamond in them so that we could see how it looked.
They both looked very nice and I did like them both. They were very different from each other and both were unique rings that I had never seen before. I am terrible at making descions and it was hard for me to chose right then. I felt very pressured to make a choice becuase June had other people she still had to help. She never rushed me, but the crowd was making me feel closed in and uncomfortable.
June asked Catholic Groom which one he would have picked if he had come in alone and he picked the simpler ring. I decided that I had come in alone, I would have picked the fancier ring. (I have expensive tastes...I have a feeling that's going to become more and more apparent throughout the wedding planning.) So, we decided to go with that rind since it obviously the ring I loved.
June wrote up the order and told us the earliest we might have it was Saturday. And just like that, we had an engagement ring!
A few days later, when CG went to pick it up, they gave him the apprasial. He told me the amound and I was shocked. I really did have expensive tastes! But, CG paid less than half the appraised value. We lucked out on getting a gorgeous ring and a bargain price. I hope that's one of many bargains we'll get for our wedding.
I'll talk about the propsal later, but for now, I'll leave you with a picture of my ring.
The store was packed and I had to fight my way through the crowd to get to the bridal cases. June, the saleslady we worked with previously was helping in that area, so we were glad to work with her again. Since the there was such a crowd and few salespeople, we had to wait our turn. While we waited to talk to June, we browsed the cases. I picked out two settings that I wanted to take a closer look at when it was our turn.
Everything in the store was marked with the original price and the new sale price. I confess that I pretty much only looked at the sale price. I was looking for something relatively inexpensive. As a result, I did not know how much my setting originally cost.
June was finally able to help us and she remembered that I wanted a princess cut diamond. Turns out, they only had 2 loose princess cut diamonds left! June immediately told us one of them was flawed and told us we wanted the other one. Um, ok! (I should mention that CG is the supervisor of the jewelry department at a department store, so he knows a bit about diamonds.) Anyway, June took out the settings that I wanted to see and placed the loose diamond in them so that we could see how it looked.
They both looked very nice and I did like them both. They were very different from each other and both were unique rings that I had never seen before. I am terrible at making descions and it was hard for me to chose right then. I felt very pressured to make a choice becuase June had other people she still had to help. She never rushed me, but the crowd was making me feel closed in and uncomfortable.
June asked Catholic Groom which one he would have picked if he had come in alone and he picked the simpler ring. I decided that I had come in alone, I would have picked the fancier ring. (I have expensive tastes...I have a feeling that's going to become more and more apparent throughout the wedding planning.) So, we decided to go with that rind since it obviously the ring I loved.
June wrote up the order and told us the earliest we might have it was Saturday. And just like that, we had an engagement ring!
A few days later, when CG went to pick it up, they gave him the apprasial. He told me the amound and I was shocked. I really did have expensive tastes! But, CG paid less than half the appraised value. We lucked out on getting a gorgeous ring and a bargain price. I hope that's one of many bargains we'll get for our wedding.
I'll talk about the propsal later, but for now, I'll leave you with a picture of my ring.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Ring Shopping
Now that I've received my ring, I can tell you about it!
When Catholic Groom and I had been dating for about 5 months, he dragged me to a local jewelry store. I felt it was entirely too soon to be looking at rings, even if I did know that I wanted to marry him. Catholic Groom rationalized that he needed to know what I liked so that when it was time to buy, he would get what I wanted. Catholic Groom is adamant that we support local businesses at much as possible and this store was his first choice, so I decided to humor him.
We went to the store, looked around, and were helped by a very nice woman named June. At that time, I picked out a princess cut diamond solitaire with channel set diamonds on a white gold band. June let CG know what it would cost and what he could get financed. At this point, I actually had to talk CG out of buying anything. Again, I felt it was too soon and I was insistent that I not know when he bought the ring. I have no patience and if I knew there was a ring, I would be on pins and needles until it was on my finger. I reminded CG that I did not want to see a ring until Christmas at the earliest and we left without buying anything. We did promise June that we would be back.
Fast forward to November. CG must have had rings on the mind. One day, while waiting for me to get ready, he pulled up the local jewelry store's website. It doesn't have much content and mostly links to companies that make diamond rings. I just shook my head and figured this was a clue that he would be going shopping soon.
On our way out the door, I flipped through the mail and noticed a flier from the jewelry store. They were closing! This came as a shock since the website didn' t mention this news. Since they were going out of business, they would be having a huge sale. They would reopen the next Thursday and prices would be slashed up to 70% off.
I knew that CG and I had to check out this sale. I told him that we would be there when the doors opened and began praying that we could get a good deal.
When Catholic Groom and I had been dating for about 5 months, he dragged me to a local jewelry store. I felt it was entirely too soon to be looking at rings, even if I did know that I wanted to marry him. Catholic Groom rationalized that he needed to know what I liked so that when it was time to buy, he would get what I wanted. Catholic Groom is adamant that we support local businesses at much as possible and this store was his first choice, so I decided to humor him.
We went to the store, looked around, and were helped by a very nice woman named June. At that time, I picked out a princess cut diamond solitaire with channel set diamonds on a white gold band. June let CG know what it would cost and what he could get financed. At this point, I actually had to talk CG out of buying anything. Again, I felt it was too soon and I was insistent that I not know when he bought the ring. I have no patience and if I knew there was a ring, I would be on pins and needles until it was on my finger. I reminded CG that I did not want to see a ring until Christmas at the earliest and we left without buying anything. We did promise June that we would be back.
Fast forward to November. CG must have had rings on the mind. One day, while waiting for me to get ready, he pulled up the local jewelry store's website. It doesn't have much content and mostly links to companies that make diamond rings. I just shook my head and figured this was a clue that he would be going shopping soon.
On our way out the door, I flipped through the mail and noticed a flier from the jewelry store. They were closing! This came as a shock since the website didn' t mention this news. Since they were going out of business, they would be having a huge sale. They would reopen the next Thursday and prices would be slashed up to 70% off.
I knew that CG and I had to check out this sale. I told him that we would be there when the doors opened and began praying that we could get a good deal.
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