Engagement Party

March 30 — UPDATE — Pictures uploaded! See our Photos page, or go directly to the album on Wedding Photo Swap (code: 1374345275, password: znysubdt).

August 24 — Whitney's parents Howard and Bette threw us an Engagement Party at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club this Saturday. When Bette first proposed the idea, we decided to make a vacation out of it. This gave Eric an opportunity to meet more of Whitney's family and friends. A great time was had by all.

Cats and Dogs

We boarded the cats before leaving at a boarding-and-veterinary clinic, which was sad. They will be well cared for, but we miss them. We've only had the kittens Fafhrd and Mouser for a little over a month, and we hope they will remember us when we get back! Guinness Cat will most likely sulk for a month to punish us.

Ada Dog came with us. She's an old hand at traveling by now (she drove with us to Bette's house last Christmas). She was raring to go from the start, sitting in the driver's seat while we grabbed coffee in Minneapolis. We stayed overnight in Chicago at the Hotel Monaco, as usual.

Ada did her best to fit in at Bette's house, with all the other dogs (Willie, Benny, and Bella — as well as Courtney's dogs Amelia and Jackson, and Ashley's dog Sadie).

It reminded Eric of a scene in Seems Like Old Times...

Friday Dinner

As we already mentioned, Whitney's sisters Courtney and Ashley visited, as well as Uncle Brian and Aunt Shirley. Shirley took everyone to the Hunt Club for dinner Friday night (Thank You!), where Eric met Howard and Ann.

 

Afterward, we stopped at the Yacht Club for hummers.

 

Engagement Party

Saturday evening was the Party, and everyone looked stunning. Whitney wore a new dress, and Eric tried his best to look as good as she did. The party was a great success, and many people told us how wonderful it was to see Whitney again, meet Eric, and talk with people that they hadn't seen in years — it was like a reunion.

Thanks to everyone that was able to attend the Engagement Party, meet Eric, and wish us both luck! Along with everyone else, we had a great time. We are appreciative of everyone for their cards and gifts. And thanks again to Howard and Ann for hosting us, and Bette for organizing.

Rest of the Trip

Before leaving Grosse Pointe, Eric had an opportunity to eat dinner at Olga's Kitchen for the first time since ... 1982? 1983? Their gyros and spinach pie did not disappoint.

Next, we're heading up North to Atlanta, Michigan where we will spend the remainder of our vacation.

Ada Dog

No post from Whitney and Eric is complete without a good Ada Dog story. We had to get a dog-sitter for Friday and Saturday night (Thanks, Matilda!) — after lessons learned when we left her alone one evening. As we pulled into the driveway, Courtney said, "Eric – your car door is open!"

Eric calmly figured that someone might have broken in looking for something (there was nothing to find).

Then: "Eric – Ada is in your back seat!"

Huh?

Sure enough, there she was.

We parked the car and coaxed her out, only to have her jump in the backseat of Bette's car, where she refused to budge. Until we asked her if she wanted dinner.

When we went up to the house, we discovered the aluminum recycling scattered on the garage floor. We concluded that she had opened the inside garage door and gotten into the recycling (she is a trash hound). After that, we figured that she must have opened the front door, walked across the driveway, OPENED ERIC'S BACK CAR DOOR, and jumped in to wait. Her separation anxiety had gotten the better of her. Thankfully, Eric's car was still there, so she didn't run off. At first, we thought someone might have seen her running around and put her in the backseat, but that didn't make any sense. Why would a stranger put a strange dog into a random car on the street and leave the door open? In addition, when Ada goes to work with Eric, she always enters his car from the driver's side rear door — the same door that she opened with her nose.

We already know she can open Bette's doors from the inside, latched or not. She had opened the garage door last Christmas, and was waiting patiently in the doorway with all the other dogs when we returned home from dinner one night.

That dog is too smart for her own good.

Save The Dates

August 10 — We've started collecting addresses and sending out Save The Dates this week. There's a good chance you're reading this blog because you've received yours.

We hope that you find our little web site informative and entertaining. It's a work in progress, so don't mind the dust. Feel free to check back for updates. If you'd like, leave a comment. We look forward to reading them.

Wedding Party

July 20 — We thought it would be fun to have a so-called "Wedding Party Party" where everyone could meet and get to know each other a little better before the actual wedding day.

Whitney's sister Courtney flew from Michigan to visit for the weekend, and we had a great time while she was here.

Thanks everyone that could make it, we had a blast!

Procrastination

August update — Wow, procrastination really got the better of us. Our last blog update was four months ago. Back then, we decided to "take a break" for a few weeks from the wedding planning. We didn't mean to take the entire summer off! No worries. All the essentials were taken care of, and we deserved a break.

Still, we weren't idle all summer. Whitney's mom Bette came to visit and go dress shopping. Success! They found both the wedding dress and the bridesmaid dress. Even better: all the bridesmaids liked it! We also explored Minneapolis and checked out the attractions while she was here.

We will be adding a few more posts to catch everyone up in the next couple of days...

Wrapping up the planning...

April 10 update —  Planning is nearing completion, time for another update!

It's been another month of planning under our belts since my last post. Previously, we had settled on a venue, but still had a lot more choices to make.

We've now picked our photographer (Hi Katie!), DJ (Adagio Djay Entertainment – see their Facebook Page), and bar caterer. We've narrowed down our food and cake caterers to the final few, and tastings are scheduled for the next few weeks. By the end of April, we hope to have our final selections and contracts finalize. Nearly all that's left is the dress!

We've been looking at a LOT of invitations, trying to find the perfect look. We still need to finalize the guest list first, though.

Whitney has been thinking long and hard about the wedding colors and style. We've both been poring over lookbooks and bridal magazines in the evenings for weeks!

We have a venue

It's March 3 — approximately one month since my last post... Time for an update.

After researching and visiting several great venue choices in Minneapolis-St.Paul, we've picked one: the Semple Mansion in Minneapolis. Whitney still needs to reserve a date this week (hopefully May 2014), but it's full steam ahead now. We just need to finalize the invite list, pick a theme, design some invites, and send the Save The Dates!

We need to finalize our pick for caterer soon. We do have our #1 choice in mind already, though.

Whitney has her engagement ring now, so it's official. She also finished moving in with me. :-)

We're getting married...

Whitney and I are getting married. It's Jan 26, so it's been exactly one month since I asked her to marry me at her Mom's house. What's happened since?

 • We have books from friends and the library, and researched online
 • We found several venues we're interested in
 • We found an engagement ring
 • We started our guest list
 • We picked our wedding party
 • We had lots of discussions and traded ideas with Whitney's Mom, Bette
 • We attended our first Wedding Expo at the Minneapolis Convention Center

We still need to visit venues, narrow down our choices, pick a caterer, and then settle on a date (Spring 2014). Then we can design and send announcements / save-the-dates. It will be a small wedding, but hopefully we'll find a place where more people can come to a post-reception dinner dance — we have to see what the policies are at the place we ultimately pick.

To keep costs down, and also because we think it's a great idea, we're investigating DIY projects. I like the personal touches DIY can bring, such as unique invitations, or table centerpieces, or whatever. So that's taking up some of our time, too.

Whitney also needs to find a Wedding Dress. I'm trying to help out as much as I can in all areas of planning, but I think I'll leave that to her, the bridesmaids, and her mom.

Whitney has started moving in with me, which requires lots of time in itself!

Finally, there's this Wedding Website (Blog) which we've put together. As of this first blog post, it's not complete, nor official (no one knows about it yet!), but it will be soon.

Yay!