February already!

January certainly sped by, which is really unusual for me. It's probably because of the odd weather, Hillary's 1 in 48 class, and the wedding planning.

The wedding is slowly taking shape as a reality. I never had a real wedding, so all this etiquette and ceremony is so new to me. Some of it is pretty cool. Some of it doesn't make a lot of sense.

But it will be a beautiful event.

We found a photographer, Moroco Photography. It's an all female studio, which I think will work out. The kids wanted to have some of their pictures taken at The Butler. However, the longest they could be there was till 5 PM. And since that's the time of the ceremony...So we're booking Stambaugh instead. It's only $75. So we're going to book it. If it rains, they will definitely go there. But since they have one of the most beautiful places in Youngstown for their wedding and reception, they may not bother with Stambaugh. It's always good to have a back-up.

I started booking rooms for out of town guests and for the wedding party to get dressed, and was informed that that week-end there is a huge girls' softball tournament in town! So we ended up at the Quality Inn of Belmont. I didn't really want anything in town. But we looked at their jacuzzi suites, and they are really big and really nice. And they're giving them to us for $99 a night. (The only other suite hotel that had vacancies had jacked up their prices for that week-end to almost $200 a night!). So that's done.

Also have a limo. And a caterer, Thimely Events. They spectialize in smaller events and they run the cafes in the local library system. It's amazing how rudely some of the other caterers treated the kids when they found out the wedding was going to be small! And Karen picked out attendants dresses. (She finally asked her cousin, Nicole to be attendant #3!) They will be orchid with ivory sashes. Very simple and very pretty.

And I told them Gary & I would pay for their suite on their wedding night, so they're staying at Julia's Bed & Breakfast. If it is available it will be The Governor's Suite. 2nd choice is the Napoleon.

I also have my dress, which I am both surprised and happy about.

Tomorrow we're going to pick out and hopefully order invitations.

So that's it for the wedding to date.

I've been scrapping, trying to exercise, and just hanging out otherwise. It's what you do when you retire!