Prior to getting engaged, I had no idea that people had color schemes for their weddings, so this was one of the things I was totally unprepared for. I flipped through a couple of Martha Stewart wedding magazines and surfed the net, but since I'm not a very visual person, I was at a loss.
And then the answer came to me: my fearless bridesmaids! They are here for help and support, to find solutions to the difficult questions one faces when planning a wedding. Not to mention the fact that they need to wear the colors in their dresses!
So I sent them an e-mail with this awesome link to a website with color schemes. A flurry of e-mail then erupted and within two hours, we had our color scheme settled!
P.S. Feel free to go through the website and weigh in with your opinions of what our colors should have been! Maybe you'll find out you were right!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The Quest for the Dress Part 2!
Wow, I am so sorry it’s taken so long to update our blog! There is so much to tell! First off, the quest for the dress part deux!
As you know, one’s Maid of Honor (MOH, for short) is key to the quest for the dress. Not only do you want her support in the search for your dress, but you definitely want to make sure that she looks glamorous (and not awful) in hers. My MOH, Meri, joined me for dress shopping at Manhattan Bridal in Dedham, near both our homes in Boston. The woman we met was kind of awesome—she had this very systematic way of choosing a dress. I got to wander around the boutique and then choose all the dresses I liked. I would put each on and she would say, “Do you like this one more than the last one?” And if I said that I did, then that dress was the new favorite. I was only allowed one favorite at a time.
What was kind of funny about the whole experience is that while she had me pick out the dresses I liked first, she kept interspersing them with so-called ‘different’ dresses. Let me pass my executive, bride-to-be, dress shopping expert opinion on so-called ‘different’ or ‘unique’ gowns. They are awful! Or, I should say, at least they’re awful on me! I can’t tell you the number of dress consultants who tried to sell me on the mermaid look, which is great for someone who’s tall and whose curves match those of the mermaid dress. But for a 5’2 chick with a tiny waist and disproportional hips, it is an egotistical nightmare! Every time I put one on, I was transported back to high school, when I was convinced (like many other high schoolers) that my entire self-identity rested on the size of my hips! So for all you small waist, big hip women out there, do not, I repeat, do not try on the mermaid dresses! Save them for Ariel and the tall folks out there!
The one tragedy at Manhattan Bridal is that we were only allowed to take one picture, so I’ve attached it below. We later return to Manhattan Bridal to pick out Meri’s MOH dress!
As you know, one’s Maid of Honor (MOH, for short) is key to the quest for the dress. Not only do you want her support in the search for your dress, but you definitely want to make sure that she looks glamorous (and not awful) in hers. My MOH, Meri, joined me for dress shopping at Manhattan Bridal in Dedham, near both our homes in Boston. The woman we met was kind of awesome—she had this very systematic way of choosing a dress. I got to wander around the boutique and then choose all the dresses I liked. I would put each on and she would say, “Do you like this one more than the last one?” And if I said that I did, then that dress was the new favorite. I was only allowed one favorite at a time.
What was kind of funny about the whole experience is that while she had me pick out the dresses I liked first, she kept interspersing them with so-called ‘different’ dresses. Let me pass my executive, bride-to-be, dress shopping expert opinion on so-called ‘different’ or ‘unique’ gowns. They are awful! Or, I should say, at least they’re awful on me! I can’t tell you the number of dress consultants who tried to sell me on the mermaid look, which is great for someone who’s tall and whose curves match those of the mermaid dress. But for a 5’2 chick with a tiny waist and disproportional hips, it is an egotistical nightmare! Every time I put one on, I was transported back to high school, when I was convinced (like many other high schoolers) that my entire self-identity rested on the size of my hips! So for all you small waist, big hip women out there, do not, I repeat, do not try on the mermaid dresses! Save them for Ariel and the tall folks out there!
The one tragedy at Manhattan Bridal is that we were only allowed to take one picture, so I’ve attached it below. We later return to Manhattan Bridal to pick out Meri’s MOH dress!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The Quest for the Dress!
Well, this is the blog post many of you have been waiting for…
The Quest for the Dress!
Like many other brides-to-be, I was so excited to begin my quest for the perfect dress, and I did my best to make the most of it! Armed with my mom and fearless friends, I tried on dresses ranging in price from 100 dollars to 10,000 dollars (and yes, that was, um, a bit out of the price range!) and went everywhere from David’s Bridal to the famed Kleinfeld store in New York City! I can’t wait to share the adventures and some dress pictures with you! Of course, THE dress will not be shown in this blog post, but I hope you’ll get a kick out of some of the dresses we considered as well as some of the, well, more memorable rejects!
Our quest for the perfect bridal dress began the Friday after I got engaged. Eric had just left to go back to Milwaukee, and I was staying with Julie, Quinn and babies Elle and Aidan in New York City. Since my mom was planning to come and meet the twins that day, Elle and Aidan (of A&E Wedding Planners, Inc.) decided that it would be a great idea to surprise her with dress shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue! So when she got to the city, A&E got into their strollers, and Julie, my mom, and I all went down to Saks! There we met Katerina, our first bridal consultant, who showed me a variety of styles of dresses.
Now, essential to the quest for the wedding dress is my feeling towards what I affectionately call “meringue” dresses. Ever since I saw Four Weddings and a Funeral at the age of 10, I have been deeply skeptical of what I call the “meringue” look. (To learn more, click on the link and go to minute 5:50.)
I have always sworn away from the “meringue” look, thinking it was just a bit too poofy—okay, a lot too poofy—and that it was a silly thing to wear on one’s wedding day. Should you be elegant and refined at your wedding? So being anti-meringue, I imagined I’d probably wear a nice, elegant A-line dress. Though perhaps imagine is too strong of a word. The truth is that I never gave much thought to what wedding dress I’d wear because I was busy thinking about what music would be performed at the ceremony, who would give the homily, etc. Hallmarks of a priest-to-be, I guess. But this would turn out to be much to my detriment in wedding dress world, because I quickly discovered there are all sorts of things you need to know about your dress: do you want to wear silk or taffeta? Do you prefer crinoline or a hoop? Do you want your dress to have box pleats or shirring? On day one, I didn’t know what any of these things even were. All I could explain to Katerina is that I did not want to look like a meringue on my wedding day. So here are some of the dresses she brought out:
And here’s Wedding Planner Aidan’s take on the situation:
"I like it, but it's not THE dress."
Next Katerina brought out an A-line dress with wider flare. Behold the back of the dress and Wedding Planner Aidan’s opinion:
"That's better, Aunt D, but still not it."
Next Katerina, despite my objections, suggested I try on something with a bit more of a princess-styled skirt. Here she is fastening the clips to the back of the gown, and I have to say that the second I saw myself in it, a miraculous transformation happened....
The sugary poof of the skirt made me smile and giggle! And though this was not to be THE dress, I had gone from being a skeptic of the meringue to a lover of the meringue in under 30 seconds. It was fun and, yes, maybe it was a bit goofy, but I understood the allure now: I felt so happy in my meringue dress! For whatever reason, I just wanted to giggle all the time! And after all, barring a career as Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, when else in life was I going to get to wear a dress like this? Baby Aidan was a fan too; he gave the dress a bit smile.
Finally, we rounded off our trip to Saks with a dress that my mom saw another bride try on. Unaware of the 10,000 dollar price tag, she asked if we could try the dress on. Baby Elle, who had been thoroughly unimpressed by all the other dress options, perked up when I emerged in this dress: she smiled and cooed and giggled! Sadly, it was, uh, a bit out of our price range!
The 10,000 dollar dress.
Aidan seems proud of everything we accomplished at Saks. But I think Elle is pretty disappointed I didn't go for the dress of her dreams! Maybe she'll buy it and do some alterations for her flowergirl dress!
Though our visit to Saks didn’t yield any dress decisions, it did help us narrow down our dress style, which was really helpful when we went to our second destination: David’s Bridal. As Julie described David’s Bridal, it was “a stop on the train to the dress destination that every bride should take.” And I would agree with that. My personal opinion was that a lot of the dresses that looked good in the catalogue weren’t made of very high quality fabric in real life, and that you could get better quality dresses at similar prices from other companies. Nonetheless, it was a good place to go for comparison shopping, and one of the places where I discovered how friendly brides-to-be are! There were 3 or 4 other brides trying on dresses with me, and they would say, “Ooh! I like that one!” or “Oh no, the other one was better!” We also met a lovely girl who was there all by herself, so she adopted me and my mom (no one should go dress shopping alone) for added support!
Some serious meringue at David's Bridal!
So at the close of the Quest for the Dress Week 1, no dress was purchased, but much was learned. We learned the difference between taffeta and silk, between silk and satin, between sheering and boxed pleats, between mermaid and meringue, but we were still dress-less. But like any good quest, the search for the dress is as much about learning as it is about reaching the final destination! So here’s a summary of what we discovered so far:
Stores visited: 2
Companions on dress quest: 4
Dresses tried on: approximately 16
Dresses purchased: 0
Stay tuned next time for when Meri, Maid of Honor extraordinaire, becomes involved in the quest for the dress and for a special appearance by a historic dress….
P.S. Please pardon any font inconsistencies; blame blogger, not us!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Engagement Freebies!
So one of the things that I, Danielle, have been surprised and thrilled to discover is the number of things people want to give you for free when you get engaged. Free cake, free compliments, free magazines, free dress-trying-on, and most surprisingly, free dinners! Of course, all these people want to sell you a version of whatever they're offering for free, but nonetheless, I get a spark of joy whenever I get a little perk of free-ness!
My favorite thus far has been an evening outing that the girls took when we were location shopping. Even though the Waterview was booked up for the fall, they encouraged us to come to their expo night, when they had free dinner, free drinks, lighting, and music so prospective brides and grooms could swoon over the venue. My mom and I decided to make a girls night out of it, and we went with Attendant Dawn as well as Jen and her daughter, Emma, who live across the street. We went in two cars, since Emma is still in a car seat and we couldn't all fit in one vehicle. So our adventure began in two vehicles, and immediately baby Emma was suspicious:
Emma: Mommy, where's daddy?
Jen: Daddy's at home.
Emma: Where's Tre-or [her way of saying Trevor, her bro's name]?
J: Trevor's at home with daddy.
E: Where's Greg?
J: Greg is at Danielle and Peggy's house.
[Pause]
E: I want to go home.
J: We can't go home. This is a girl's night out! We're going out with the girls!
E: Oh.
But if baby Emma was concerned about going out at night without her dad and bro, her worries immediately melted when we arrived at the Waterview and she saw unlimited numbers of her favorite food: cupcakes. In addition to being a joy all night, as we sampled sweet and sour chicken and martinis with Skittles in them, Emma enjoyed taking turns sitting on all our laps, eating whichever cupcake was currently in front of her. And so baby Emma discovered what it took me 29 years to learn: being engaged is the sweetest thing ever!
My favorite thus far has been an evening outing that the girls took when we were location shopping. Even though the Waterview was booked up for the fall, they encouraged us to come to their expo night, when they had free dinner, free drinks, lighting, and music so prospective brides and grooms could swoon over the venue. My mom and I decided to make a girls night out of it, and we went with Attendant Dawn as well as Jen and her daughter, Emma, who live across the street. We went in two cars, since Emma is still in a car seat and we couldn't all fit in one vehicle. So our adventure began in two vehicles, and immediately baby Emma was suspicious:
Emma: Mommy, where's daddy?
Jen: Daddy's at home.
Emma: Where's Tre-or [her way of saying Trevor, her bro's name]?
J: Trevor's at home with daddy.
E: Where's Greg?
J: Greg is at Danielle and Peggy's house.
[Pause]
E: I want to go home.
J: We can't go home. This is a girl's night out! We're going out with the girls!
E: Oh.
But if baby Emma was concerned about going out at night without her dad and bro, her worries immediately melted when we arrived at the Waterview and she saw unlimited numbers of her favorite food: cupcakes. In addition to being a joy all night, as we sampled sweet and sour chicken and martinis with Skittles in them, Emma enjoyed taking turns sitting on all our laps, eating whichever cupcake was currently in front of her. And so baby Emma discovered what it took me 29 years to learn: being engaged is the sweetest thing ever!
Baby Emma and her cupcake!
The Location Saga
Every girl dreams about her wedding. She dreams about a white dress, flowers, colors, a catering hall. But Danielle's dreams were of a different sort: she would while away the hours as a child considering what music the choir would sing at her ceremony, how what priest would do the ceremony, and what setting of the Eucharistic prayers would be used. By the time she reached her adult years, she hadn't developed any ideas about dresses or flowers, but she had become convinced that she knew just who she wanted to perform the ceremony and just where she wanted the ceremony to be done: Yale Divinity School's chapel.
The chapel was a special place for Danielle, since she'd attended services there almost daily for five years. She'd seen the room renovated from its former state to a pristine hall with glistening windows, tons of sunlight, movable chairs, and a brand new organ. She thought the space would be perfect, and so when it was finally time to plan her wedding, she assumed that booking the chapel would be the first port of call.
And then she discovered the Two R's: the Reality of the Reception. With a wedding ceremony had to come a wedding reception. But where to have a reception around Yale? The college didn't allow alumns to host events in most locales, and neither the Tumminios nor the Hansens had much knowledge about reception sites in the area. But they had to book something and quickly if they wanted to get married in the fall! Here's how things unfolded.....
After their first dress shopping experience at Sak's, Danielle, Peggy, A&E went on a stroll down 5th Avenue to the Yale Club. They didn't think they'd actually have the wedding there because D wanted to have the ceremony at Yale, but they wanted to check it out because the location would be terrific. Once they got to the Yale Club, they met Donna, who showed them around and lavished attention on A&E. A flirted with everyone and even got the nice folks at the Yale Club to lower their hotel room prices! Danielle and Peggy were both really taken by the convenience, the great service, and the beautiful venue. But Danielle really wanted to have her wedding at the Divinity School, and she was committed to not becoming a bride who put her reception ahead of her ceremony. So the Yale Club went on the backburner....temporarily at least.
A&E at the Yale Club, getting ready to head back out into the cold. They were happy in their strollers the whole time, except right at the end, when E wanted to be part of the action!
The chapel was a special place for Danielle, since she'd attended services there almost daily for five years. She'd seen the room renovated from its former state to a pristine hall with glistening windows, tons of sunlight, movable chairs, and a brand new organ. She thought the space would be perfect, and so when it was finally time to plan her wedding, she assumed that booking the chapel would be the first port of call.
And then she discovered the Two R's: the Reality of the Reception. With a wedding ceremony had to come a wedding reception. But where to have a reception around Yale? The college didn't allow alumns to host events in most locales, and neither the Tumminios nor the Hansens had much knowledge about reception sites in the area. But they had to book something and quickly if they wanted to get married in the fall! Here's how things unfolded.....
After their first dress shopping experience at Sak's, Danielle, Peggy, A&E went on a stroll down 5th Avenue to the Yale Club. They didn't think they'd actually have the wedding there because D wanted to have the ceremony at Yale, but they wanted to check it out because the location would be terrific. Once they got to the Yale Club, they met Donna, who showed them around and lavished attention on A&E. A flirted with everyone and even got the nice folks at the Yale Club to lower their hotel room prices! Danielle and Peggy were both really taken by the convenience, the great service, and the beautiful venue. But Danielle really wanted to have her wedding at the Divinity School, and she was committed to not becoming a bride who put her reception ahead of her ceremony. So the Yale Club went on the backburner....temporarily at least.
A&E at the Yale Club, getting ready to head back out into the cold. They were happy in their strollers the whole time, except right at the end, when E wanted to be part of the action!
So after visiting the Yale Club, Danielle and Peggy picked up Eric and returned to CT to do some serious venue shopping. Joining them was their friend and attendant Dawn, a CT native who had lots of wisdom about the area. They began their location scouting at the Waterview, a catering hall near Danielle's parents' house. It was right on the water and rumored to have terrific food. Though many dates in the fall were already booked up, D&E liked the place. The problem: it was about a 45 minute drive from the Divinity School, and wish so many out-of-towners coming to the wedding, everyone agreed it would probably be a far drive. Nonetheless, it became a contender.
The Waterview. Out the window is the water!
From there, the location scouts left the area around the Tumminio household and ventured up to Middletown, a location between the airport in Hartford and the Divinity School. They checked out the Wadsworth Mansion but left as soon as they arrived--the location was too small, didn't have an in-house caterer, and the group would have to be split between two rooms. But the upside of being in Middletown: they were near one of Danielle's favorite restaurants, It's Only Natural. So they refueled at ION before continuing their search.
Next up was Hartford, where the seriously hard-core searching began. They toured a converted department store turned catering venue downtown (Dawn had a negative childhood memory of the old department store that Danielle took as a bad omen), a small hotel in Avon (too small), one of the 10 oldest restaurants in America (beautiful place for dinner, but the catering hall was a new and unmemorable add-on). By the end of the whirlwind tour, it was close to five o'clock and everyone was zonked. So they headed back to the Tumminios, Dawn picked up her car, and Peggy stayed at home while the youngsters went to do some final location searching in New Haven.
In the dark, they headed off to the Branford Yacht Club, which they decided was too confusing to get too. From there they headed along the water to Anthony's, a thoroughly Italian catering hall that brought Danielle right back to her childhood when her relatives lived in Brooklyn in a flavorful world filled with riceballs, pasta, and cannolis. Unfortunately, the space wasn't in shape to hold their guests. Finally, they rounded off their search with dinner and a bottle of wine at Leon's, an Italian restaurant right on the water that turned out to be too small for their party.
Which brought them back to the Yale Club. With the most elegant venue and best reviews thus far, Grand Central Station right across the street, Penn Station within a ten minute cab right, easy access to airports, and more to do in the surrounding area (i.e. Times Square and the Empire State building both within a 15 minute walk), the location seemed more and more appealing. Moreover, since Danielle had a friend who worked in a nearby church, they could still have a beautiful and personalized wedding ceremony. In fact, both Danielle and Eric realized that having a wedding there would be much more elegant and unique than they'd ever dreamed possible, and that made them both really excited!
And still, there was the Divinity School, with its bright windows and happy memories. It was a spiritual home for Danielle, and someplace that she thought would bring her a great deal of comfort on her wedding day. But she also knew that with no nearby catering hall, it wouldn't be a very hospitable and comforting place for her guests. She remembered the genesis of her wedding rules, how annoyed she'd been at long layovers between ceremonies and receptions where she'd known no one. She recalled her annoyance when she'd had to rent a car and got lost navigating her way around parts of America she never expected to see, and she remembered her fatigue at having to drive home from those same rural parts of America late at night, with only a map and no street lights to guide her. She didn't want to raise the same kinds of frustrations in her guests. After all, this was the first time that she and Eric would show the world their relationship, and she wanted to make a good impression.
She realized that a choice needed to be made: stay true to the old dream her single self once held, or grab on to a new one in which she and Eric celebrated their relationship by giving a gift to their guests: a beautiful and unproblematic wedding day.
They booked the Yale Club.
Next up was Hartford, where the seriously hard-core searching began. They toured a converted department store turned catering venue downtown (Dawn had a negative childhood memory of the old department store that Danielle took as a bad omen), a small hotel in Avon (too small), one of the 10 oldest restaurants in America (beautiful place for dinner, but the catering hall was a new and unmemorable add-on). By the end of the whirlwind tour, it was close to five o'clock and everyone was zonked. So they headed back to the Tumminios, Dawn picked up her car, and Peggy stayed at home while the youngsters went to do some final location searching in New Haven.
In the dark, they headed off to the Branford Yacht Club, which they decided was too confusing to get too. From there they headed along the water to Anthony's, a thoroughly Italian catering hall that brought Danielle right back to her childhood when her relatives lived in Brooklyn in a flavorful world filled with riceballs, pasta, and cannolis. Unfortunately, the space wasn't in shape to hold their guests. Finally, they rounded off their search with dinner and a bottle of wine at Leon's, an Italian restaurant right on the water that turned out to be too small for their party.
Which brought them back to the Yale Club. With the most elegant venue and best reviews thus far, Grand Central Station right across the street, Penn Station within a ten minute cab right, easy access to airports, and more to do in the surrounding area (i.e. Times Square and the Empire State building both within a 15 minute walk), the location seemed more and more appealing. Moreover, since Danielle had a friend who worked in a nearby church, they could still have a beautiful and personalized wedding ceremony. In fact, both Danielle and Eric realized that having a wedding there would be much more elegant and unique than they'd ever dreamed possible, and that made them both really excited!
And still, there was the Divinity School, with its bright windows and happy memories. It was a spiritual home for Danielle, and someplace that she thought would bring her a great deal of comfort on her wedding day. But she also knew that with no nearby catering hall, it wouldn't be a very hospitable and comforting place for her guests. She remembered the genesis of her wedding rules, how annoyed she'd been at long layovers between ceremonies and receptions where she'd known no one. She recalled her annoyance when she'd had to rent a car and got lost navigating her way around parts of America she never expected to see, and she remembered her fatigue at having to drive home from those same rural parts of America late at night, with only a map and no street lights to guide her. She didn't want to raise the same kinds of frustrations in her guests. After all, this was the first time that she and Eric would show the world their relationship, and she wanted to make a good impression.
She realized that a choice needed to be made: stay true to the old dream her single self once held, or grab on to a new one in which she and Eric celebrated their relationship by giving a gift to their guests: a beautiful and unproblematic wedding day.
They booked the Yale Club.
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Proposal
While Danielle and Eric had many adventures between Iceland and the present, for now we'll concern ourselves with one particular excursion to New York City and a brief but meaningful Q & A.
Background of note: Danielle and Eric enjoy reading, including sometimes reading together. They'd just revisited a childhood favorite of Danielle's, The Westing Game (which they recommend to you all, by the way). Also, on a previous road trip to NYC, Danielle had mentioned a number of locales around Manhattan of which she was particularly fond.
So, Danielle and Eric had decided to make New York City their destination for a New Year's Eve celebration - of the new year, their anniversary, and Danielle's birthday, and their friends J&Q's return to the Big Apple (with babies A&E in tow).
Eric had requested that Danielle reserve New Year's Eve day for an anniversary surprise. And so, after waking bright and early on December 31st, Eric presented Danielle with a mysterious envelope labeled "Personal and Confidential. To: Danielle Tumminio Re: The Hansen Game"
Danielle opened it to find instructions to a Westing Game-esque treasure/scavenger hunt around New York! Each new envelope would contain two clues: one would reveal a word of the next book Eric thought they should read together, and the other would reveal the location they'd visit next.
The first clue was "Go to the Apostle, the Evangelist, the one from Patmos." Danielle knew immediately they were headed to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine!
(On the way, they stopped for Eric's first NYC bagel, of course.)
So, arriving at the cathedral, they explored it in detail, marveling at its beauty and grandeur, finding Danielle's favorite room and trying out the acoustics, then guessing at the nationalities of each of several chapels placed around the outer walls of the cathedral.
They made their way back up to the entrance to investigate the next clue...
Danielle and Eric in the nave at St. John the Divine
The next clue was "Next, find a creature so large, only 6 of them could fit end to end along this entire cathedral." Danielle considered this for a moment before deducing it could only be the blue whale room at the Museum of Natural History!
A short subway ride later and they stood at the entrance to one of the coolest museums around! They plotted a course to take them through the museum, past immense and amazing dinosaur fossils (Eric's inner second grade paleontologist was having a great time), woolly mammoths, dioramas of a plethora of human cultures, before finally arriving at the blue whale room.
Danielle and Eric were thrilled by the sight of this model of such a great creature, suspended from the ceiling, as if swimming through the very air. They took a seat on some benches beneath the great whale to examine the next clue. This one was a piece from a board game they'd played with friends called Betrayal at House on the Hill. The clue said to "write down the location of that game, then add food and drink to the first word, and replace the last word with its color." Danielle considered this momentarily before concluding their next destination was Tavern on the Green!
Danielle and Eric underneath the giant blue whale at the Natural History Museum!They took a lovely walk along Central Park, admiring the serenity of the park, covered in a dusting of snow which had fallen that morning, making for a wintry landscape, and then abated to allow Danielle and Eric some nice weather for walking. Arriving at Tavern on the Green, they walked right in despite it being the restaurant's last day of operation!
They enjoyed the elaborate decoration, some sumptuous dining, and couldn't help but chuckle at the obnoxious conversation of the couple next to them. The waiters were both attentive and detached, as they wouldn't be coming to this job tomorrow. They apologized that they had no dessert menus to show them, as people had taken them all. And yet, Danielle and Eric suspected it wouldn't be the last that would be heard from Tavern on the Green.
Eric at Tavern on the Green. Aren't the chandeliers great? And doesn't the woman behind Eric and to the left look vaguely like Caroline Kennedy?
During their meal, they perused the next clue - this one was a doozy! It was some sort of encoded message, with numbers taking the place of letters. The key, it said, was Danielle's age when she first met Eric. After tapping into her inner cryptographer, she translated the message...which was another riddle! "Where does today meet yesterday?" it asked. Danielle's first answer (a very sensible one, repeated by several of their friends when posed to them) was, "Midnight!" Digging in again, she recalled that same riddle from a Sesame Street special called "Don't Eat the Pictures!" where Big Bird, Snuffy, Oscar and the rest visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art - and that was the answer to the riddle, "at a museum." Unless, of course, it's a science museum... but regardless, off they went to the Met!
They scaled the impressive steps, entered the huge lobby, caroled at the huge Christmas tree, felt patriotic in the American wing, nodded properly at several elaborate recreations of 17th century European interior decoration, and jousted at the Arms and Armor section before finally finding the Temple of Dendur!
The temple was situated at one end of an expansive room, with a moat running around the central raised portion. Benches were set along the perimeter of that raised portion. One entire wall, floor to ceiling, was windows, illuminating the room with the glow of a winter afternoon, the fresh snowfall lying on the hill outside, except for one industrious snowman.
Danielle and Eric strolled slowly into the ancient remnants of the Egyptian temple, feeling the history of those thousands of years. Then they took a break on a bench opposite the temple to work on the next clue.
" 'Next clue, next clue, liberated cattle' doesn't have the same ring, does it?" was a tricky one, but eventually Danielle translated that to mean "Ollie ollie oxen free," indicating the next location was Ollie's, a classic Chinese & noodle restaurant. Without missing a beat, she asked, "We aren't going to eat again alread, are we?" Eric laughed and said they could put that one off until another time, and just get the clue. It said to go back to the first clue and read between the lines...or down along them. Danielle produced the first clue from her bag and immediately found another clue, hidden in the first letters of each line of the original clue! It said "False goal, instead ask." Danielle asked, "So we're not getting the name of the next book we're reading? And ask what?"
Now, Eric had a few more clues and locations available (which they visited later), but time was growing short for the reservation Danielle had made at The View (the revolving restaurant atop the Marriott Marquis on Times Square) and the time felt right, so he told her she'd unlocked the "super secret final hidd en clue." From his coat, he produced another small envelope, removed from it a map of the world and handed it to Danielle. He also took out a small jewelry box, while she was inspecting the map...which may have been a distraction, or may have been to ask her where they should go on their honeymoon...
Danielle and Eric post-engagement at the Met.
Danielle wasted no time in saying yes and they had a very lovely kiss, surrounded by museum goers, timeless stones, and a snowman!
They made their way out of the Met, engaged in a whirlwind of wedding discussion, hopped a bus past Rockefeller Center toward Times Square, navigated their way past numerous police barricades using their trusty letter from the Marriott, even getting a police escort at one point, before having some champagne and dessert at The View.
Then, it was back to J&Q's for more celebration (J&Q were in on it and couldn't wait for Danielle and Eric to return), and even baby A woke up just before midnight to ring in the New Year with them.
And that was just the beginning...
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Introducing Danielle and Eric
Hey everyone! We're Danielle and Eric and we're getting married in the fall of 2010! We set up this blog so our friends and family could follow the preparations for our wedding. We hope you enjoy our adventures into the world of dress shopping, venue searching, registry making, and, most importantly, cake tasting as much as we are!
But first, here's a bit of intro about ourselves: Danielle hails from Long Island and Eric from outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They met eight years ago in, of all places, St. Andrews, Scotland, where they were both studying abroad. There they were brought together by their mutual friend Monica, another American student. Together, Danielle, Monica, Eric, and their friend Emilia formed the GAWK--the Great American Wok Club. To make up for the fact that the university dining halls closed on the weekends, the members of the Great American Wok Club met every Sunday night in one of the dormitories at St. Andrews. With four bowls, four sets chopsticks, and two woks, they made everything from stir-fries to Indian curries and pancakes. And thus formed their friendship.
Eric, Danielle, and Monica in St. Andrews. Note how the date on the left side of the folder is 16 years too early! The month and day are probably correct.
Eric, Emilia, and Monica at a meeting of the GWOK. We were eating Indian food that night in Danielle's room. You can see her leg in the bottom of the screen as she took the picture from her little sailor bed!
Monica, Danielle, and Eric at the St. Andrew international student ball. The gals shared red lipstick that night (if D remembers rightly!)
But not their romance. Though they laugh about it now, neither Danielle nor Eric paid much attention to the other at the time. Danielle thought, "Nice guy, but he's awfully quiet," and Eric thought, "Seems like a nice girl, but she's very loud." And perhaps their relative loudness and quietness would have found other partners, had not Monica brought them together a second time (dum dum dum).....
Seven years later, Monica and her fiance Rob invited Danielle and Eric to their wedding. Due to a series of poorly thrown weddings (and the fact that she never really enjoyed weddings to begin with), Danielle had developed an elaborate set of Wedding Rules which she invoked whenever anyone in her life announced their nuptials:
Danielle's Wedding Rules
1. I will not travel more than 100 miles for a wedding
2. I will not buy a new dress for a wedding
3. I will spend no more than 100 dollars a night on a hotel room for a wedding
4. I will retain the right to request seating at a different table if any of the following criteria come to pass:
A. I am the only female at a table filled with obnoxiously happy couples and one single, awkward man
B. A majority of people I know are seated at another table
5. I will only attend a wedding if invited with a date, excepting those instances in which five or more of my friends are also invited (what's worse than being 'that person' standing at the bar with no one to talk to?)
6. I will not attend pre-wedding dinners or post-wedding breakfast, as everyone looks better at the wedding reception, says everything worth saying at the wedding reception, and isn't hung over at the wedding reception
7. All wedding rules are rendered null and void when I am a member of the wedding party, excepting the rule #5.
And so, when Monica's wedding arrived, Danielle, being single at the time, called to announce that unless she found her a date, wedding rule #5 would kick in and she would have no soloist for her ceremony. "But of course!" Monica said without hesitation. "You can go with Eric. He's coming by himself too!"
So Danielle and Eric's paths crossed again, this time not on the wintry plains of Scotland but at a bonfire in Maryland. Both were surprised to find that the other had grown respectively quieter and louder, and, perhaps more importantly, had a passion for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As the evening was drawing to a close, Danielle said, "You know, I'd really like to go to Iceland for New Years," and Eric said, "Hey, I'll come with you." Danielle thought that would be nice, so she agreed. And therein began an adventurous romance that would take them from St. Andrews to Maryland, Rejkyavik, Boston, Milwaukee, New York, Chicago, Cedar Rapids, New Haven, and beyond.
And that was just in the first year....
Danielle and Eric living it up in a game of Potato Butt at Monica's wedding.
But first, here's a bit of intro about ourselves: Danielle hails from Long Island and Eric from outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They met eight years ago in, of all places, St. Andrews, Scotland, where they were both studying abroad. There they were brought together by their mutual friend Monica, another American student. Together, Danielle, Monica, Eric, and their friend Emilia formed the GAWK--the Great American Wok Club. To make up for the fact that the university dining halls closed on the weekends, the members of the Great American Wok Club met every Sunday night in one of the dormitories at St. Andrews. With four bowls, four sets chopsticks, and two woks, they made everything from stir-fries to Indian curries and pancakes. And thus formed their friendship.
Eric, Danielle, and Monica in St. Andrews. Note how the date on the left side of the folder is 16 years too early! The month and day are probably correct.
Eric, Emilia, and Monica at a meeting of the GWOK. We were eating Indian food that night in Danielle's room. You can see her leg in the bottom of the screen as she took the picture from her little sailor bed!
Monica, Danielle, and Eric at the St. Andrew international student ball. The gals shared red lipstick that night (if D remembers rightly!)But not their romance. Though they laugh about it now, neither Danielle nor Eric paid much attention to the other at the time. Danielle thought, "Nice guy, but he's awfully quiet," and Eric thought, "Seems like a nice girl, but she's very loud." And perhaps their relative loudness and quietness would have found other partners, had not Monica brought them together a second time (dum dum dum).....
Seven years later, Monica and her fiance Rob invited Danielle and Eric to their wedding. Due to a series of poorly thrown weddings (and the fact that she never really enjoyed weddings to begin with), Danielle had developed an elaborate set of Wedding Rules which she invoked whenever anyone in her life announced their nuptials:
Danielle's Wedding Rules
1. I will not travel more than 100 miles for a wedding
2. I will not buy a new dress for a wedding
3. I will spend no more than 100 dollars a night on a hotel room for a wedding
4. I will retain the right to request seating at a different table if any of the following criteria come to pass:
A. I am the only female at a table filled with obnoxiously happy couples and one single, awkward man
B. A majority of people I know are seated at another table
5. I will only attend a wedding if invited with a date, excepting those instances in which five or more of my friends are also invited (what's worse than being 'that person' standing at the bar with no one to talk to?)
6. I will not attend pre-wedding dinners or post-wedding breakfast, as everyone looks better at the wedding reception, says everything worth saying at the wedding reception, and isn't hung over at the wedding reception
7. All wedding rules are rendered null and void when I am a member of the wedding party, excepting the rule #5.
And so, when Monica's wedding arrived, Danielle, being single at the time, called to announce that unless she found her a date, wedding rule #5 would kick in and she would have no soloist for her ceremony. "But of course!" Monica said without hesitation. "You can go with Eric. He's coming by himself too!"
So Danielle and Eric's paths crossed again, this time not on the wintry plains of Scotland but at a bonfire in Maryland. Both were surprised to find that the other had grown respectively quieter and louder, and, perhaps more importantly, had a passion for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As the evening was drawing to a close, Danielle said, "You know, I'd really like to go to Iceland for New Years," and Eric said, "Hey, I'll come with you." Danielle thought that would be nice, so she agreed. And therein began an adventurous romance that would take them from St. Andrews to Maryland, Rejkyavik, Boston, Milwaukee, New York, Chicago, Cedar Rapids, New Haven, and beyond.
And that was just in the first year....
Danielle and Eric living it up in a game of Potato Butt at Monica's wedding.
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