Hhhmmm our DJ is an MC so we didn't have to worry about that so much.... ask your DJ, maybe he/she is an MC. Ive usually seen the DJ do it at most weddings since they are already kind of center of attention and have the setup, sound, microphone, etc... sometimes it's more stress than it's worth hiring someone professional to do it. Find a cool DJ, that does not have a store front but has all the professional equipment. They do it much much cheaper. Our DJ is $700, he's an MC and he'll be there 2 hours before the ceremony to set up, the whole ceremony & reception and is available for $75 an hour after the allotted time if we kept the hall longer (the hall is not available though)... he sets up and breaks down on his own time. He's been doing it over 20 years. The guy is great and does all his marketing word of mouth, so with that and no store front, he is able to beat the competition price-wise all the time!

I am not having ushers for my wedding. The girls are walking down solo I think and the groomsmen are my fiances 2 sons (18 & 15) and they will probably stand up at the alter with him the whole time.

We are having no kids under 12 at our wedding either. My mom is going to man the card box and put it in a car or our hotel room after the ceremony.

I was engaged 7 years ago. And the mothers (mine & his) seemed to think they had a LOT of say in the wedding plans then too. This time around my mom lives 2500 miles away and does not have any say with not being here and his parents are just not like that. Everything for this wedding is all his & mine for ideas! I love it because i'm doing everything my way! Makes things much much easier/better! :)

wanted to share picces of my dress & bridesmaid dresses!

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And my bridesmaids will be wearing this dress in a dark navy. I sort of want one for myself!

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WOW! How beautiful!!!!! :) The bridesmaid dresses would be perfect for even after the wedding, they could have them cut and hemmed to be shorter and wear them out in the summer, on cruises, as guests to other weddings. They are really pretty!

Your gown is gorgeous!!! I can't wait to see pics! :)

Thank you so much!! :D I knew I wanted that style and I knew I wanted lace. Funny story about my dress! I actually picked out my bridesmaid dresses before I found my dress. I went dress shopping initially with my sister, my mom, my grandmother (they came up from MA to shop with me) and later in the day my fiance's mom & sister joined us. Lots of opinions to say the least. I did find a dress that I really liked....but didn't love. Something was stopping me from committing. I mean it had everything I wanted...sweatheart neckline, all over lace and trumpet style. But I just couldn't commit! I probably tried on about 20 dresses that day. I felt bad because everyone made the trip up to New York and I really wanted to say yes to my dress with everyone there. So anyway, I started looking online again and nothing was really catching my eye. And then I started looking at Fall 2012 dresses - which I knew was dangerous because stores don't get inventory for those until the spring...which was too late for my wedding. Well I saw this dress online and KNEW I needed to try it on. I called the designer and they said to check with local stores to see if there would be a trunk show. Mark Ingram in New York was having a trunk show...and I asked them to request that this dress be there. They said they would request it but couldn't guarantee since there was just one sample floating around. Well the day of my appointment they confirmed it was there. I went after work alone and FELL IN LOVE! It was so weird because I knew I loved it but needed validation that this was the one! My consultant was so sweet and she said to come back with someone...so I went back two days later with my friend. She also fell in love instantly. She took a picture of me in the dress and I sent a text to my mom. She replied "THAT IS YOUR DRESS!". I am happy she got to see it on me before I bought it. And I am so glad I waited and found my perfect dress! The belt you see - I plan on wearing to the reception...I think it will be too much for the ceremony since I will be wearing a vail.

My bridesmaid dresses are awesome and are so flattering! They are perfect for an evening fall wedding. I love long dresses (wear them more often than not to weddings). So my girls knew they would be wearing long. I do think when they say they love their bridesmaid dresses they mean it. And that is a great idea to shorten the hemline. I seriously might purchase one...lol!

Sounds like you got a good DJ and MC! Our DJ is my fiance's uncle. He is not a DJ, like he doesn't do it for a living, but he has done a few family weddings so Scott's family wanted to ask him to do ours. He did not seem thrilled with it, or at least his wife didn't, so I am apprehensive to ask him to do any more. It sounds like he won't exactly be doing much anyway, just playing a song list he'll make beforehand, and throwing in a few requests. We are renting the equipment for him, and he's just going to let it play while he sits and visits with the family.

Your dress is gorgeous!!!!!!!!!! I love the bridesmaids dresses too. They actually look really comfortable!

Thank you!!

Here are my bridesmaid dresses, except in teal with a black belt, and we've ordered them without the flowers.

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And here is our church for the ceremony. It is surprisingly not much more expensive than other churches we were looking at! This one is a very old cathedral overlooking the river. The price includes an organist to play on the old pipe organ and I think it will be beautiful! It has always been my dream to get married in this church. At night it is all lit up on the skyline and I am just in love with it! Interesting fact... this is where the Queen and other members of the royal family worship when they visit the city.

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Yes, beautiful!! I really like the fit and flare style and the lace.

Linz, your bridesmaid dresses are very lovely. I wish I could wear a dress like that, but whoa... Im way too heavy & old for that! LOL :)

Your church is gorgeous!!!! I want to see pics of it all lit up, I bet its amazing looking!

My ceremony is in the same place as my reception. Not a church either... its my fiance's 2nd marriage, so we can't do the church thing even if we wanted to.

You would be surprised! The ruching on the dress hides a lot and both of my bridesmaid fell in love with it because of that! They both have kids and were worried about something that would show their tummies too much, but they both looked stunning in that dress!

I'll attach a picture from the website of it lit up at night :)

We toyed with the option of doing the ceremony in the same place as our reception too, and that's what we would do if the few churches we liked were already booked.

Are you guys doing pre cana classes?

Yup! Start pre-cana on Feb. 8th. ekk!

Btw - Love your church Linz...it is gorgeous. I am obsessed with beautiful old churches. I'll get a picture of mine up in a minute!

We really wanted to do pre-cana and when we talked to our pastor, he said he likes to do it a little more informally. He wants to just meet with us and just talk about things instead of doing actual classes. That's okay with me!

I am obsessed with old churches too! This one was actually in competition with one more old stone church in an older residential area of town. It reminded me of the old English countryside churches we visited last summer when we traced my family's history there. I was in the churches my ancestors were married in and I thought it would be cool to do something similar for our wedding. We had booked this cathedral and then decided to go back and see if the other one was still available instead. But, it was booked so we stuck with the cathedral! But everything happens for a reason and I'm glad we're getting married in the cathedral anyway!

My ceremony is at St. Cecilia's Parish in Boston. It was establised in 1888 so there is a lot of history and beautiful artchitecture. I really wanted to get married in an old beautiful church.

Here is a picture of the inside.
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Oh wow that is gorgeous!!!

I think part of the reason I am obsessed with old churches is because when we got engaged in Italy we visited a lot of beautiful churches...and they were amazing! I love cathedral churches...you are going to have an amazing walk down that isle!!

I know, we went through so many churches in Europe and I thought nothing could compare! They are just breathtaking!

Scott commented when we went to the church that the floor actually slopes slightly down towards the altar. He said that's a pretty nice feature because even if I decide I don't want to walk down the aisle anymore, I can't really stop it. He'll just put wheels on my shoes.

Here is an interior picture of my church, from the altar looking back.

Thank you! How is planning going? Did you decide to move your date?

Is there a garden or a park nearby that you could do a beautiful outdoor ceremony at?

Aww...I bet as you walk down the isle you will think of what he said. That is really cute! The inside of your church is beautiful!

I think I will probably just be thinking "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry" lol. If he cries I know I will. When he proposed he had tears in his eyes, and then I was like "Oh my gosh" and I started crying, and then he started crying harder, and we were just standing there bawling lol! He handed off our camera before he proposed so now we have all these pictures of us getting engaged and doing an ugly cry! :( I need to learn how to cry prettier before the wedding lol. It's so embarassing.

Oh my gosh! I love that! I bet Matt cries at our wedding. He always gets teary eyed at his friends weddings. If he cries I definitely will too! AND I AM SUCH AN UGLY CRIER lol lol! Just need to think...dont mess up my make up lol!

Ok ladies...I know wedding planning is tough and stressful so I figured this would give you a lil laugh! My co-worker sent it to me...

My fiance cried when he proposed! I was shocked! I mean he is not the crying kind of guy at all! But it was nice and cute! :) We have these pics where his face is all red and his eyes are glassy... but not me, I never cry! LOL :cry8: :eyetearss

Hahaha well I am definitely hoping Scott does not cry at the wedding. But I know it's useless to hope! Sometimes when we're watching tv something really sad on tv (or really happy!) I'll tear up a little bit and I will look at him later and his eyes are teary too.

I never used to be like this at all! It all started when I was MOH at my best friend's wedding, and I was watching her husband as he said his vows and he teared up, and I teared up, and since then I have gotten emotional at every wedding! I always just look up at the ceiling and blink and think of something else, but at my own wedding I don't think I should do that lol!

Okay I can't wait to watch this when I get home from work! :)

linz that church looks amazing!! I studied a lot of church architecture recently in a couple of art history courses and have completely fallen in love with them. I wish David would be ok with being married in a church, but that is not going to happen.

I have an appointment on Monday with a bridal dress shop that does all custom dresses, that you can RENT for about $300-$400 (or buy under $1000). And, since we are moving the wedding date to end of August now, that can work beautifully.

Overall I just wish we could do the Vegas wedding like we planned. I think it would be the most romantic and least stressful.

Oh I hope you can find a dress you LOVE on Monday!! Those are amazing prices! I made sure my dress was under $1000 because my parents said they would buy it and I really didn't want to put them out too much. Luckily the dress I fell in love with was one of the cheaper ones (and I did try on others that were way more expensive!)

I think Vegas would have been great too. When we were there a few years ago I said we should just get married while we're there, but we knew our moms would both be pretty upset lol! But now, I think that would have been the way to go!

I thought it would be more of an issue getting married in the church I wanted because Scott's family is quite religious and they attend church every Sunday and go to all the church events and whatever. They are Lutheran and my family is Anglican. They are close enough, but his family seems to be very pro-Lutheran everything! When Scott brought up the Anglican cathedral, his mom asked if there isn't a Lutheran church we could get married in instead. But Scott explained my family is Anglican and I guess she got over it. It could have been worse! And my dream cathedral won that battle lol :D

I picked up my band over the weekend! OMG.. its gorgeous!!!! Its such a terrible waste to keep something of such sparkly prettiness hidden away in a box for 2 months! hahaha I just can't believe how quickly its coming up though... 2 months today! I am ahead of the ball for just about everything so Im really happy that Im not a stressed out bride! :) Actually I don't really feel like a bride just quite yet. Maybe during the last month or something when the Jack & Jill happens, it will feel more 'real'.

Picture please!!!! :D Talk about keeping it hidden away... mine came as a set and I have had the band since JUNE!!!!!!!! :eek: I won't lie, I put it on about once a month and admire it in the mirror lol!

Why don't we post pictures of our engagement rings and wedding bands? I will have to see if I can find a picture of mine because the store it came from doesn't sell them anymore!

Ha I guess they sell them again because it's back on the website!! Here's my set. The middle part comes out as the engagement ring, which I'm wearing now. I add the "bling" surrounding it on our wedding day :) Scott and I had actually gone looking at rings and this is the one I fell in love with. I just really wanted a Canadian diamond and this was not made with Canadian diamonds, but I let go of that dream! When he proposed and I saw this ring, I was just amazed that he remembered! Not only that... it wasn't the same ring. He had a ring custom made based on that design, with a Canadian diamond in the center. He's a keeper.

Pictures
 

Have any of your family members/ friends made you guys take cheesy pictures together after you got engaged? My grandfather who titles himself an "amature photographer" asked us at our engagement party to pose for a photo he called "tying the knot". Basically he had Matt and I sit on either end of the couch and hold each end a ribbon with my ring tied to it. He went as far as framing that photo (in a beautiful lenox frame) with the caption "tying the knot". hehe he is funny. But it was slightly awkward posing for that photo lol!

Here it is!

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