May 22, 2012 we were engaged in Holland, MI ( to read the whole beautiful story please see our wedding website http://www.riesenbergjones.ourwedding.com/ )
As soon as we returned from our engagement vacation, I immediately started an account on theknot.com (a MUST)
We started thinking about possible dates. And of course this is where a huge decision came. Jason is going to start the hiring process for patrol around September. If he gets hired in then he will go to the academy for 16 weeks. Then after that he will go through field training for another 12-14 weeks. And the hiring process is unpredictable and could take a rather long time. So we were really unsure of it we should pick a date or wait out the hiring process. But I'm way too excited to wait. So we decided to do a early spring wedding. (less than a year away!!!!!! panic mode)
I already knew the ladies I wanted to pick to stand by my side. It was important to have my sister, Mary Jane as my maid of honor. Family is very important to me, and I wanted to honor my sister in that way. My sister-in-law, Megan is more than a sister to me, not to mention an AWESOME wedding planner (just needs to be paid in beer), and so we decided to have two maid of honors. Colleen my dear best friend is a bridesmaid, and who has been so supportive and so excited for us since the beginning. She has been through everything and is always there.
Jason's sister Joy is another bridesmaid. She just got married and ready to plan ours. She is very excited about the wedding, and tells everyone we are engaged, even if they already know.
So chosing my lovely ladies was the easy part. But I wanted to make each one feel special and let them know how much it would mean to me if they would be a part of our wedding. I searched pinterest none stop looking for ideas. I found it. Most (okay all) of my ladies enjoy their wine, so this just seemed like a good choice.
Me deciding to have two maid of honors, made Jason's picking rather easy as well. He has two brothers that mean the world to him, and family is also really important to him as well.
He is going to have Jared and Jacob as his best men. Ryan my brother (and Jason's boyfriend) as a groomsmen. And Matt, a friend from highschool as another groomsmen. (he still needs to ask Jared and Matt though).
We started looking at possible wedding venues (way harder than I thought). I really liked the idea that my brother and sister-in-law had about having the reception at a hotel so the guests didn't have to drive. So we started looking at that option. But that was way too expensive for us. We were looking in South Bend, and everywhere we looked was just so expensive, or not the best. So we started looking in the Elkhart/Goshen area. I was hugely surprised by the price difference. So we decided on that area.
We looked at the Bread and Chocolate Company in Goshen. A beautiful place, reasonably priced, and in a good location. There were a couple downfalls though. The event planner was dreadful, so unhelpful, rude and unprofessional. It was like I was wasting her time. She handed me the normal folder and said email me if you had questions. She was willing to offer any advice help, and acted like it was a chore to try to sell her venue. It also didn't have a room for me and all my girls to get ready. Two major downfalls.
We looked at the Athenian Ballroom in Elkhart. The room was okay, kinda small, and looked old and dingy. It could work for us. The guy we worked with was awesome though. He gave lots of advice, willing to help, spent as much time as we wanted, even though he was EXTREMELY busy. He didn't rush us at all. He was really personable and you could tell her loved his job.
We looked at the Crystal Ballroom at the Lerner Theater in Elkhart. And me and Jason instantly fell in love. It was all newly remodeled, gorgeous decor. The two ladies we talked to were more than pleasant and so helpful. We knew that this would be our place. We took my dad, my best friend Colleen, and Jason's mom with us to look at it. And everyone agreed what an awesome place it was. We looked at pricing. To rent the room for a normal Saturday wedding would be $2000, but then you had to meet a $8,000 minimum. On a Friday it would only be $500 and there were no minimums. So that was an easy decision for us. (Even though I REALLY want a Saturday wedding). We don't want our families to spend too much money for our wedding. We want everyone to just have a great time, and to celebrate our love for each other.
We have not booked the place yet, but I am taking my mom and my sister on Friday to look at it, and hopefully we can book it then!!! (so exciting!)
We have so many fun good ideas that we want to incorporate. Most of these ideas we are keeping hidden from everyone until the wedding.
We are still looking for florist, cake people, dj, and I really don't know what else.
There is so much to do, and all of it is so exciting, so exciting that I haven't been sleeping because I have been pinteresting and knotting, and doing all kinds of research to make it a perfect day. I'm so lucky to have some great people in my life that are helping as well!
I'm excited to keep planning and keep blogging!
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