hello friends, family, and blog lovies, it's becs covering for the lovely MRS. ZDUNOWSKI who got married this past weekend! I'll have a bunch of wedding-related updates coming while Dane and Kristen enjoy some Guiness and some leprechauns in Ireland. But for now, enjoy this beautiful photo (stolen from Scott and his iPhone) of the ceremony. Congratulations to the beautiful couple, it was an incredible and beautiful day. xoxo
Our good friend designed all the paper items for the wedding. That included the invitations to the engagement party, save the date magnets, wedding invitations, table tents, kissing menus, ceremony programs, and reception seating assignment poster. He is amazing and is able to tolerate me. I just printed these off on Wednesday and LOVE the way they turned out! Our tables are named after streets in Boston, where we met and currently live. I bought the table tents at the Paper Source, wrote the description for each street, Scott designed them, and I printed them on my home printer.
Projects still on the to-do list: Programs for the ceremony, Seating assignment poster, centerpieces, Candy bar for favors.
I really love the personal touches this gives our wedding day. It's going to be so amazing when it all comes together!
The wedding is coming up quickly! I could not be more excited. Almost all of our larger things are taken care of (caterer, florist, cake, dresses, tuxes, favors, photographer, DJ) so now it's down to little details. I'm making my sisters' gifts, finalizing programs, and getting favors together. Mom is in NY working on the centerpieces because she's awesome. We just finished the seating arrangements and will probably spend the day running errands.
I actually feel like we have this totally under control. The whole process has been really smooth and not stressful at all. I can't even count how many times I've been asked about the wedding. "Oh wow, it's coming up! You must be stressing out!" or "Have you started to freak out yet?". Not sure what experiences these people had with wedding planning, but this has not been difficult for us. Dane has been wonderful, so I'm not doing it alone. It probably helps that event planning is part of my everyday job, so I had a good feel for how to go about things.
If nothing else I've realized the wedding industry is crazy! There's so much pressure on brides to make everything "perfect". This is "your big day" and you'll never be able to do it again. I hate being told that this is my day and that the groom doesn't matter. Without my groom, there would be no wedding! I certainly think that counts for something. We've taken this on together from the beginning, which has made it fun to decide how to make this wedding our own.
Now that being said, I have had some weird dreams lately about the wedding, and last night Dane even had one. In every dream, something goes wildly wrong. Is this just stress manifesting itself in an unconscious way? Or is this my overactive imagination? Not sure, but here's some of the dreams so far...
I'm running errands the day of the wedding. It's early in the day. Suddenly it's 3:30 PM and the wedding is supposed to start at 4PM. I am not changed, my hair is not done, and am scrambling to make it all work. I end up late to the wedding. Dane is freaking out because he thought I wasn't going to come. Then I wake up.
I'm with my sisters and my mom. We've missed our hair appointments. It's 3PM when we get there and they are closing. Luckily my stylist is nice enough to stay and do my hair, but it's rushed and not at all what it's supposed to be. Then I wake up.
We are at the reception site the day before the wedding. We've brought over our favors and centerpieces, and are setting things up. The site was not our actual reception site, but in my dream it was. People start arriving. I'm confused because it's the day before the wedding and no one is supposed to come until the following afternoon. In the room where we are setting up there are now about 50 of our family members trying to help, but getting in the way, knocking things over and being loud. I run out of the room looking for Charlie (our catering manager) and beg him to make everyone leave. Thankfully he does, and start setting up again. Then I wake up.
Dane's dream: He's getting ready for the wedding with his two best men. After getting dressed and ready in their tuxes, the two best men start playing with eggs. They are throwing them around and catching them. Dane asks them to stop because he doesn't want to get egg on his tux. Then one of his friends throws an egg to him unexpectedly and he gets egg all over his tux. (During this one, he was actually talking in his sleep, and he said loudly "Oh my god!", which woke me up).
If this is the worst that will happen leading up to the wedding, then it's just fine with me. Things will get busy as we get closer, and especially over the next few weeks with everything going on for me at work and personally. I know there will be stress. It seems like an inescapable fact. But, I have an amazing future hubby to keep me calm and a wonderful supportive family and family-to-be to keep me centered.
Has anything like this happened to anyone else?
I was looking at my stats the other day, and "kissing menu" is always the number one search term that brings people to my blog. This is all because of one post I did last year, right after we got engaged when I discovered what a kissing menu is and decided I absolutely had to have it at our wedding.
What I have now found over and over and over is the same examples of a kissing menu. Which are adorable and where I got my idea from in the first place, I thought it'd be nice to include what we are doing. Though very similar, we definitely put our own spin on it and I'm so happy with what we came up with. This consisted of a night where we actually looked up words that rhyme with "Dane" in order to make the first line work. I considered doing away with the first rhyming part, but I know some of my older relatives will have no idea what the kissing menu is all about unless I put directions. It's totally cheesy and I LOVE it.
For those of you who will be attending our wedding, consider yourself forewarned. You have about 26 days to think about what you'll do at the wedding!
To request a kiss from Kristen and Dane, you would usually clink your glass of champagne.
But here on our wedding day, we have thought of another way. We know that each one will help us all have more funThe Kiss for a Kiss – Show us your best kiss and we’ll show you ours!
The “Frankly My Dear…” – Recite a movie quote about love to us
The Fred and Ginger – Show us your best dance moves
The Force – Try to stump us with a Star Wars trivia question!
Get thinking about what you'll do. It's coming up really quickly now and I can't wait!
Please allow me to introduce John, my blog swap buddy! He'll be guest posting here today, check him out at his blog (where you can read my guest post too.) Let's give him a warm welcome!
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The month of June for this year is over and February is still three months away. But the wedding bells ringing are not yet over. You see our friend here Kristen is tying the knot with Dane next month. At this time, I think everything is almost done for the big day. I really don’t have any idea of what’s the motif of their wedding yet or what’s the menu during the reception dinner but I’m having this hunch that it is usually the girl who has the upper hand for this occasion. Well, I don’t think Dane has any problems with Kristen minding the every detail of the ceremony. Besides, prior to this wedding preparation, Dane has had a fair share of planning for something that has lead to this event in their life. I mean the wedding would not push through if Dane didn’t propose to her. I haven’t checked yet the whole blog of how Dane proposed to Kristen but I am thinking that he is romantic enough to pop up the question creatively. I’ll check later of how he did it. As I was saying, the wedding proposal is usually the part where us guys try to be romantic as possible. It is when we try to squeeze our brain for our creative juices to come out. And I’m about to say something about it.
By the way, you might be thinking who the hell is blogging here in Kristen’s blog talking about proposals. I am John of Life Inc.and I am Kristen’s blog swap buddy for the “6th Blog Swap” going on at the 20-something bloggers community. I don’t usually write something about marriage, wedding or engagement proposals but I think that they are the most relevant topics I could work on as a contribution here.
So how about me and my thoughts about all these?
At 23, I still think I’m too young to get married and start a family. I’m still on my way to realizing my dream of becoming one of the richest bachelors here in my country. And so far, I’m still enjoying my freedom. But despite my carefree attitude, I do have a pocketful of cheesiness and romanticism here at my disposal that I’m keeping ‘til that day arrives when I finally realized that I’m ready to start the rest of my life with someone. And since I’m taking over this beautiful blog of Kristen for a day, I might as well share to you the ingenuity and sweetness I’m talking about.
Below you will read the three super romantic wedding/engagement proposals I’ve been keeping up my sleeves. I have never told anyone about it yet and you’re lucky enough to read them here first. So here it goes…
My first idea of a proposal is called “At the top of The Eye”. The idea came from the movie “If only”, the one that stars Jennifer Love Hewitt. By the way, this is the most expensive idea I listed here. The plot: I would take her for a ride at probably the most famous Ferris wheel in the world, in London’s The Eye, not knowing that our friends and families are nearby. I would also bring four mobile phones with me. As the ride starts to climb up to the top, I would play a romantic song with my phone while reading to her a poem. The rest of the mobile phones would be set into speakerphone with our friends and families in the other line listening to everything I am saying. As we reached the top of The Eye, our friends and families would start cheering for me (as scripted) to propose. Overlooking the majestic view of Thames River and the famous landmarks of London, I will ask her to stand while I kneel in front of her and ask her to marry me. Isn’t that romantic? It gets cheesier as I continue with the next one.
The second idea is called “Zorro on stage”. The setting: it has to be in a cozy restaurant with some live performance of soft ballads or jazz in the front or at the center. At the middle of our dinner, I would excuse myself to go to the toilet and don myself with a complete Zorro outfit- mask, sword and cape. I would then proceed to the stage while the light in the whole area is set into dim with the spotlight only on me. Though I don’t have the talent for singing, I would try my best to deliver the song “I want to spend my lifetime loving you” by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena which is by the way the soundtrack of the Zorro movie (the one with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones). I still consider lip synching or having a playback just in case I screw up. After the first chorus, I will go to her and bring her to the stage. I would kneel in front of her, show her the ring and ask her, “Will you spend the rest of our lifetime with me?” After she responded with complete agreement (I’ll make sure she agrees with me), the real singers can go on with the next stanzas of the song while we are dancing in the stage. If you think that’s already romantic for you, wait ‘til you read the last one.
The ultimate proposal idea I have, which is probably the most stupid and yet the most romantic stunt ever is called “A Knight in the park”. Obviously, it has to take place in a city park where they will allow a horse walking around and a sound system to be played or any public place that will accommodate a horse. The plot: in the middle of the day like during lunch hour, I would set a date to meet me at the park or connive with an officemate of her to convince her to go out to the park. Donned in my knight costume, I will ride a horse towards her. While I’m doing this, the sound system should play something from the medieval times like horns or trumpets and drums. Then a pre-recorded voice of mine will play saying something like “My dear princess, I want you to know that chivalry is not yet dead and that King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is still relevant.” Then proceed with a short poem still playing out loud and end it with the question, “Will you give me the honor my dear princess, to be my wife?”
Cheesy as it sounds but I am seriously considering the above stunts to propose to my future wife. I really intend to make a public proposal to let everyone know how I am damn proud of my girl that is why all the ideas I presented are to be exhibited in front of many people. I don’t mind spending a fortune in confessing my love and expressing my desire to spend the rest of my life with her. I don’t care how stupid I may look like in the process.
But at this moment, I will have to burst first those bubble thoughts you have and let those sighs of “aw” subside for it will not take place that soon. But who am I to say that I won’t fall in love anytime soon? Just in case I’ll marry that quickly, I would definitely go back here in this blog to tell all of you which among the three ideas materialize. For now, I hope you enjoy reading what I have for this blog. It was tough for me but I hope I deliver.
To Kristen and Dane, congratulations guys! Cheers for the coming years of happiness!
P.S.
In case you want to apply as my girlfriend or be my future wife, click here to know if you are qualified. LOL!
A few months ago one of my good friend, Scott (aka Soctt, Scotty, or Scottish), came to me with a proposition. Kristen, he said, you're good at planning things (flattery will get you everywhere with me). Remember that organization I've been working with? Santa Claus Anonymous? I'm the Chair this year and I want you to be the Black Diamond Coordinator. To which I said, absolutely anything for you Soctt.
Then about a week later I wondered what I had gotten myself into when he took me to the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston to show me around. The hotel is beautiful, and of course has some name recognition. He gave me a tour of the rooms and ballroom, and then showed me where the Black Diamond would take place. It's really a blank canvas, which is exciting and daunting.
The SnowBall is now in its 23rd year, and is one of the largest all volunteer run events in Boston. Each year, Santa Claus Anonymous hosts the SnowBall, with the entire objective being to raise money for three beneficiary organizations. The SnowBall is really the only thing Santa Claus Anonymous focuses on every year, with the end result being a great party that raises money for children and families in Boston.
So, Black Diamond. Sounds fancy right? That's because it is. The Black Diamond is held before the SnowBall and is for the most generous donors. We are expecting between 150 and 200 people to purchase tickets for the Black Diamond, out of the approximately 1500 that will attend the SnowBall. Now I get to plan this thing, decorate, and assemble VIP gift bags, but here's the catch. NO BUDGET. It's all volunteer run, which means just about everything is donated. Now this is causing some issues for me. I have been contacting places in Boston for weeks now, and only managed to secure 2 donations to the gift bags. I'm really down to the wire for this, as it needs to be basically done before I leave Boston for the wedding in NY in mid November.
That means, blogger friends, that I need help! Who has some connections here that would be willing to donate to this very worthy cause? And better yet, who wants to come?!
I'm so honored to be able to serve as part of Santa Claus Anonymous' Leadership Team this year, and I really want this to be an amazing time. If you are in the Boston area and want to volunteer or attend, just let me know!
FINALLY, Dane and I went to Penn State! I have been asking him for 2 and a half years to take me there to see a football game. The campus was beautiful, Penn State kicked ass (52-3 was the final score), and I had ice cream for breakfast on Sunday morning. It does not get any more perfect than that.
The drive down took WAY longer than Google maps told me it would take. There was tons of traffic, but luckily we had Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on my iPod to take care of us. Plus, we saw the Jesus truck.
After we checked in, we headed downtown to eat dinner. I desperately wanted to go to The Diner. I'm not capitalizing that for emphasis, that's just want it's called. So we go, wait about 5 minutes for a table, then sit down. and wait. and wait. Then watch the people after us get seated 10 minutes later. and wait. and wait. Then see the people seated after us place their orders. The Diner clearly hated us, so we left, which was disappointing because I wanted one of these really bad.
Oh well. We went to The Corner Room instead and it was great. Then we headed over to one of the many stores carrying nothing but Penn State gear and I met a Penn State icon, Joe Pa.
Alright, so maybe it's a cardboard cutout of him. Whatever. I think we look cute together.
Afterwards Dane wanted to show me the HUB, basically the student center, where he used to spend all his time in college because he was a geek like that. We obviously decided to take advantage of the snacks that were there for the students and purchased two boxes of fresh popped popcorn for the low low price of $1. Greatest deal ever. And I LOVE popcorn. Then we headed upstairs and I met this guy.
Had to show my Penn State pride! Even if I was just a visitor in their midst. Dane likes to tell me I can be an honorary Penn Stater. Then we headed over to the stadium, which I learned is the second largest in the country. We had great seats about ten rows back right behind one of the field goals.
The game was great, even though it was a blow out. PSU won 52-3 against Eastern Illinois. I felt a little bad for them to be honest. At half time the Blue Band did the most amazing half time show I have ever seen. Using themes from different movies they did their formations. For the Batman theme, they formed the bat signal. For Rocky, they formed two boxers fighting. For Star Wars, they made Darth Vader! I was blown away at how great it was.
Oh, and I found the real Joe Pa. Do you see him?
After the game, we met up with one of Dane's roommates from college and his family for tailgating. Then he showed me around campus a bit more. We had to wait in line at the Lion Shrine to get a picture, but I was determined to get a photo with that Nittany Lion.
We were exhausted after our day, and both fell asleep. I woke up to Dane talking to himself in his sleep, but that's another story. The next morning we woke up, and went to the Berkey Creamery. Another legend on that campus for it's homemade ice cream produced on site. It was 10am, but we just needed some ice cream. It was fantastic. If you are ever in the area, get some. Or just go to their website and they'll send it to you. Totally worth it.
We headed down to Philly after that and spent the next day with Dane's family. It was a great weekend, I just didn't want to come back! I obviously want to work at Penn State now.
p.s. 38 days until we're married! So exciting!
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