Full Set of Photos

Want to see all of the photos, not just the best of?

Go to http://www.weddingprints.com/EventLogin.aspx?sid=131798

The password is Goldstein.

I don't like any of the belly shots.

Overall, I liked the outside a lot, but the ones in the little alcove look really Gothic. I think I like the ones with the words Maritime Center in the background to use in the newspaper.

Enjoy!

Engagement Photos!!!

Our wonderful photographer Meg just finished and uploaded her favorite of her engagement shoot pictures to her blog.

http://creativeimagecollections.wordpress.com/

We had a great time doing the shoot with her. We started off at the Norwalk Maritime Center (aka the scene of the crime), then we ventured out onto the streets of SoNo for some freezing pictures. And yes, we are sitting in the snow for some of them, but it is worth it! And yes, my signature scarf did make it into a bunch of the outside pictures!

Dress

I got a call today from the bridal shop, and my wedding dress is in! I need to find a time to go and try it on. I am excited because I bought it 3.5 months ago, and I forgot what it looks like on me. Bad timing though, because my parents are going away tomorrow for the next week, and I wanted mom to come with me. So either I will take Heather with me, and I will wait till mom gets back. But I can't wait to try it on again!!!

Firetrucks!

So were supposed to meet with our wedding coordinator on Saturday at the Waterview to pick out table clothes, centerpieces, finalize the menu and cake, etc. Aron and I picked his mom and set off for the Waterview. We planned to meet my parents there, and we left plenty of time because my dad said that powerlines were down on the road on the way there. It was no problem, we detoured, and we wound up at the Waterview with plenty of time. As we are turning into the lot, I see flashing lights ahead. As we get closer, I see that the flashing lights are everywhere, and they are mostly coming from firetrucks.

Now, as a future bride, that is the last thing you want to see while pulling into the venu where the entirety of your wedding will be held.

So, remaining extremely calm, we get out of the car to investigate, meanwhile, firefighters are walking in and out of the building, but on the oposite side from where my festivities will be taking place. A man who works there is sitting in a car, and he gets out to greet us and ask if we are there for a meeting. He tells us that there was a break in one of the pipes in the sprinkler system, and we might be able to go in soon, and just wait in the car for now.

Minute later, Mandy, our coordinator, walks out. She informs us that the break was pretty serious, and there is a lot of flooding, the ceiling is caving in, and there is no power because water got in the electrical system. They can't turn on any power until an electrician comes to look and see if it is ok to turn the power back on. So we have to reschedule again. And when Aron walks in to ask her another question, it strongly smells of gas. Apparently there might be something wrong with the gas lines.

If our wedding was sooner, I would have been freaking out. But I figure that 6 months is more than enough time to get this fixed. So we have rescheduled for Feb 7. I just feel bad for the wedding that was happening there last weekend!

33C Robert Treat

Tomorrow marks exactly 2 years since Aron and I officially decided to move in together. We were on our way home from something BBYO at the Woodbridge JCC when I got a call on my cell phone from a woman at Robert Treat Apartments. I had found the apartment complex on rent.com a few days earlier and left a message to say that I was interested in coming to look. So we decided to venture over on the way home. They gave us a key and let us go explore the 2 empty aparatments. The first one we walked into is the one that I am sitting in right now. We ran around and took pictures and I knew right away that I liked it. We did visit the 2nd aparatment, but I didn't like it as much. The kitchen was too small for me.

So we went home and talked about. My impulsive self was ready to sign immediately, and Aron's more cautious about big decisions wanted to think about it and look around some more. But my impulsivity won out and I convinced him that we should put down a deposit. The next day was MLK day, so I brought Ann with me to look and drop off a check.

Next thing I know, we are back on the following Friday signing a lease and waking up early the next morning to start moving our stuff in. The day we moved in was freezing cold and really windy. It was miserable and long, but we essentially got it all done that day, thanks to much support (and patience!!) from Ann and Tom.

The weekend we moved in was also the first night our parents met. The only way that my dad would let this happen was if the parents got to meet. So we brought in pizza from aross the street, and our dads sat on the couch and bonded while the mothers helped us unpack the kitchen.

I still can't believe we have been here for 2 years.

Engagement Photo Shoot

Last night, Aron and I went to the Maritime Center (site of the proposal) to meet our photographer and do our engagement shoot. At first, we definitely felt awkward trying to just act natural. It is hard to be told to act natural when you know the camera is clicking away. But after a little while it got a bit easier. We shot pictures pretty much all over the place, anywhere that Megan liked the light. We did get some shots in front of the shark tank, and we got a shot in front of the giant sea turtles, even though it took forever to get one to cooperate and swim where we needed him to.

After we finished at the maritime center, we spent another hour shooting on the streets of South Norwalk. Megan had scouted out some places she liked before hand, including a little alcove covered in vines. We had fun, but it was freezing outside!

So in about 2 weeks, we get to see our photos. These are the ones we are going to use to make the sign in book for the wedding.

Rabbi

Aron and I trekked to Ridgefield last night for a meeting with the Rabbi and a Friday night service. The Rabbi is really nice. He is only a few years older than us, and relatively recently married himself. He is pretty open to anything as far as the ceremony goes, and he will marry us whenever we want. We told him we officially want to use him. He said that entails 2 meetings where we discuss with him exactly what we want and stuff like that.

We also stayed around for the Friday night service. It was nice, but much much more reform that I used to. They read from the Torah on Friday night, since they do not have a Saturday morning service. Also, since it is reform, they treat woman as equals, unlike in conservative, where woman essentially have no place in the service. I did enjoy attending, and the people were all very nice.

Overall, I am happy with the Rabbi, and I don't mind attending a few more services there between now and the wedding. Too bad it is so far away!

We finally found a good videographer!

So we had our last videographer meeting last night. This was with a place called video affair in Hamden. Within minutes of walking in, Aron and I both knew that we would not be hiring these people. Here is why:

-The first thing they did when we walked in was try to sell us invitations, before any mention of any video.
-The guy insulted our venue! We happen to love the Waterview, probably not a good idea to trash it to the bride and groom! He repeatedly told us that it was the worst place ever acoustically, and the people would miss everything that the band says.
-They handed us a "menu" of add ons, and they charged extra for everything imaginable. So to get all we wanted, they were going to keep upselling us.
-They were really disorganized. They didn't have sample DVDs ready to pop in right away, and they kept searching for ones to show us, then changing their minds and popping in different ones.
-They kept talking to eachother about memories from previous weddings. Hello! I am here!!! Talk to me!!!

So, with that, we will not be going with these people. I am a little bit bummed, because the work the woman did was really really nice. But I don't think we would get along with them well enough, especially after all of the things I listed.

So we are offically going to go with Glenn Andrew Productions out of Brookfield. I looked him up on weddingreports.com and he had 19 reviews dating from recently to almost 5 years ago, and all gave him 5 stars and said that they loved him. No one had a bad thing to say. Also, he seemed like a really nice guy, and he was willing to do everything we were looking for at a really reasonable price. Plus, he doesn't charge for add ons.

Rabbi meeting on Friday, then Florist next Tuesday. And Waterview meeting on the 17th. Then I think we are good for at least a little while.

Another Videographer

Aron and I are headed to Brookfield today to meet with another videographer. We were supposed to go on Wednesday, but canceled due to the snow. This is the one that I found through theknot.com and that Aron spoke to on the phone for almost a half hour. We are not going to make a decision today, because we are meeting with a videographer in Hamden on Monday. The one in Hamden had an amazing video from our side of the Waterview on the website, so I am looking forward to that meeting. I am glad that the crappy videographer in monroe showed us a video from the Waterview, so now I have an idea of what I don't want.