We thank each of you for your support, as the week has most certainly been unforgettable.  The 7 Days In September has morphed into 7 Days In January.  We’ll be sure to cherish all the memories!

We look forward to seeing you all this afternoon, as well as tonight.

Until then, as Nana would say: “Take Care Of Each Other.”

Love Always,

Jonathan and Gail

It was the first really heavy snowfall here in Utah (or so I think).  We’ve had snow several other times over the last month, but this one seemed pretty thick.  We’re definitely looking forward to the weather in Scottsdale.  Is it wrong that we miss it already?  Honestly, we’re very happy here, because you can’t throw snowballs for the dog to catch in Phoenix:

We also took some time yesterday to get our third Christmas tree together up.  Our first two trees, Buckwheat the first year (it had an afro) and Chris the second year (named after the young man at Target that helped us pick it out), were nice, and is followed this year by the beautiful Snowflake (it had little patches of snow on it).  We spent the evening decorating it.  We cuddled on the couch with the fireplace lit and listening to Sarah McLachlan’s Wintersong CD, it really was the picture-perfect evening.

Looking forward to some nice Hawaii weather in late January/early February!

However, the problem that has blessed her the most is the fact that she cannot depend on her driver’s side window to roll down.  She pushes the button and sometimes it goes, and sometimes it does not.  While for most this would be seen as a huge inconvenience, leave it to Gail to find the positives.  It has stopped her from visiting numerous fast-food restaurants with a drive through window.  So, that desire for a Cherry-Limeade from Sonic on the drive home is now out of the question.  The same is true for any other quick stop for something less than healthy.

Night after night, Gail is forced to keep on driving until she can get home and enjoy a nice, scrumptious, appetizing, healthy salad.  Which, of course, she is forced to make for herself, as Jonathan doesn’t need any because he stopped at Oregano’s for a late lunch with friends enjoying pizza and a huge loaf of garlic cheese bread.  His weight?  On that, he follows the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

But Gail isn’t worried, she was smart enough to require checking of the box for the extra protection on the honeymoon reservations, so she has the opportunity to replace him with somebody else if necessary on the trip.  Just in case the weight gets the best of him and she needs a replacement.  Mai Tai anyone?

UPDATE 12/17/2006: Gail stated today that her previous vehicle also had a faulty driver’s side window.  The interesting fact: it too was a GM.

1.  Get engaged.

2.  Set a wedding date almost two years later thinking you have plenty of time.

3.  Work hard to plan for the wedding.

4.  Take a break thinking you have plenty of time.

5.  Leave your job for a new job only to find out it isn’t that great.

6.  Leave that job for another new job.

7.  Have your significant other change jobs too.

8.  Move to Salt Lake City, Utah.

9.  Realize you have a ton of work to do before the wedding.

10.  Start the house buying process.

We can verify that those steps work very well.  Through all of it though, we’ve done quite well.  We’re very happy with everything, and we’ve had plenty of support.

We did, however, try very hard as soon as we both were here to get the invitations completed and sent.  We knew we wouldn’t look good if they were sent after the respond by date.  But we had to have the date as it is because of the various needs for the guest count.

Here’s a quick guide on where to place blame if something is incorrect:

Inner and outer envelopes: Groom

Contents within the envelopes: Bride

Crooked stamp on the outer envelope: Groom

Crooked stamp on the inner envelope:  Bride

No stamp on return envelope: Bride

The marriage license was simple.  A little too simple.  The good news is that we are not First Cousins.  Well, we could be, but the state of Arizona wouldn’t know because not only do they not ask for a blood test, they don’t even ask for any form of identification.  You simply fill out the form and you’re done.  Regardless, it was nice that something for the wedding was very simple, and hey, at $65 it’s the cheapest thing so far!

We have also since visited the Pointe again to get an idea for the layout and setup for another wedding.  It answered a few questions, and raised a few more.  A lot of our stress will be resolved when we get responses to the invitations.  So far, we have everybody listed as either a yes, no, or a maybe.  Once we have definitive answers to the attendance, a lot of other things will fall into place.

The invitations have arrived, and look exceptionally great.  No errors noticed, yet.  The tricky part will be addressing the envelopes and preparing them for mailing.  That will be the next fun we have!

What was scary was they actually include the following option/disclaimer when ordering the invitations:

Gail stated that we have to check the box, or else the last few months worth of discussions over the invitations would be for nothing.

We have our cake topper now as well, which works out nice as we plan to do our tasting tomorrow for the cake itself. 

Additionally, the information about tuxedos will soon be sent out to those necessary and the information will be published on our site.

The project plan has certainly helped, as it has kept us on track for accompishing our tasks.

We’ll be sure to update again after tomorrow, as I’m sure we’ll have plenty to say about the cake tasting and obtaining the marriage license!

We’ve gotten an electronic version of the floor layout at the Pointe, so we can decide how to arrange tables.  We’ve also obtained an example on how a previous wedding was set up for ideas.  We were planning on open seating, but may look into an assigned seating arrangement.

We’re planning our cake tasting for October 6th, and are also looking into obtaining the marriage license that day as well.

As a side note, do you know who another secret winner is for weddings?  The US Postal Service.  You have to buy so many stamps (we’re looking at over 150 invitations), plus you have to buy twice as many so guests can mail back the RSVP.  In 2006 for the Phoenix area (including Scottsdale and Mesa) there were an estimated 22,868 weddings.  Let’s just assume there was 100 invites per wedding.  39 cents per stamp, two per invite, for one wedding that is $78 in stamps.  For all the weddings in the Phoenix area that’s $1,783,704.  That’s not bad for just one city.  Even if you buy the stamps in bulk, you have to make sure your invite isn’t too heavy that it requires additional postage.  You can do the math, so you can see how much they make when they raise the cost per stamp by just one or two cents!  And just when you think you are done, you have to run back to the post office to get more stamps for the thank you cards!

As for wedding planning, not a lot has happened lately.  We followed up with the DJ to make sure there was nothing else needed to do for awhile.  We have continued to make our payments to the Pointe, and are ready to probably head over there soon to discuss table layouts and our design plans.

We’ve agreed upon the invitations, as well as the verbiage, and are now double checking exactly what it is going to say so we can place our order.  We expect that to happen in the next week.  You’d be surprised how much you can debate the verbiage on a wedding invitiation.  The good thing is that by the time you are done deciding it, neither of you will really care what font style you end up using, as you were tired from all the work up to that point.  We plan to order 150 invitations, but hopefully we won’t need them all.  In case our guest list changes between now and then, we wanted to have extras available.

We still have not set up a time for our engagement photo session.  We’ve had a hard time finding a suitable location.  We want somewhere that provides beautiful surroundings, as well as different surroundings as we’ll have the opportunity to change outfits and make the pictures unique from each other.  Although we wanted something that had a special meaning to us, we’re starting to become more flexible.  If anybody has suggestions, please let us know!

Back to the wedding planning…the register pen that the couple had bought online was nice, but the guest book just wasn’t what was expected.  It’s being returned, and the search will continue for just the right one.  Here’s a sneak preview of the pen:

We’re meeting with a vendor this weekend for a real unique experience (private grand opening celebration).  Unfortunately, we’re not able to provide any more details.  Some things have to remain secret!

We’ve also got appointments scheduled with one DJ, and another one will likely be scheduled for next week as well with a different one.

We’re also meeting with a few videographers when we get time, however, time is one thing we haven’t had much of lately.

It’s amazing all the little things that have to be remembered, such as tipping the vendors as necessary, providing the special songs, making sure we get gifts for those that are partaking in this joyous event, and even remembering to have a box ready for the cake topper.   It’ll be tough enough to plan everything ahead of time, let alone remember everything we are supposed to do on that very busy day.  We are, however, planning that upcoming trip to Las Vegas in June… Don’t worry, we won’t elope.  We don’t think…

The family and friends “picnic in the park” event that we hosted on the 22nd went really well.  It was a lot of work too, but we had a lot of fun.  Everything went as planned, and it was a great opportunity to hang out with friends, as well as introduce those that hadn’t met to each other.  We’ll have to plan another one in October when it cools off again.

Nine months left!