Planning is going good - I guess I'm sort of on schedule. I found a great site - wedding wire - they have great to-do lists, budgeting, AND a website. here it is - it's still in progress: http://www.weddingwire.com/FenskeOstrander

Ellis House Equestrian center

So now we have then vender - Ellis House Equestrian Center in Minooka. We have our cater & baker - Enjoi Bakery in Morris Illinois. They will also be providing licensed bartenders to serve beverages - we will be providing the beverages - i'm hoping to get hooked up with a beer trailer from work (I work for a beverage wholsaler) we are going to have a buffet style set up with them - saddly I forgot what we decided to have them serve - but I remember that the salad is going to be spanish, with a raspberry dressing with strawberrys & and bacon - similar to one we tried at a different catering place - Gormet Cetering in Sugar grove - they were really good but a little too pricy for us - they also do not have a liquor licence.

Last saturday we picked our cake at Enjoy. Joi made us 3 little cakes of our selection. We decided to try Red Velvet, pumpkin & swirl with cream cheese frosting and regular frosting. They were all really good but we decided on doing the main cake with red velvet & cream cheese frosting - then doing a separate sheet cake for the rest in swirl and regular frosting.  We are working really good with Enjoy except I think they had a really bad experience with their liquor licence stuff - they are very touchy and strict about it - sometimes it comes across as rude - but I think it is because of bad experiences - my guests will not be a problem (I hope :)) I think some people are really stupid about their weddings too - get super upset if they don't get to do exactly what they want when they want... I can't get over how many choices I have with this wedding - I could do anything... it's wierd. i'm use to having a few options to choose from... it's hard deciding everything.... 

So we have the place, the food, the drinks (I'll be watching for water, soda & liquor sales soon!) Then we have the dress - AND it fits. I ordered it online... Defantly can't gain any weight before the wedding - good thing I'll have run a 50k about 3 weeks before.

Our tent place is Channahon General Rentals... in...you guessed it - Channahon. We are renting a 40x80 tent - lights, round tables, a bar, a wedding arch thing, other tables... I also decided I want to have a pop corn maker for later in the night! Late night snacks & Judah and I both love pop corn. 

We also asked my old youth pastor Paul Banister of Cornerstone Church to do the wedding Ceremony and he said he would do it - so that is exiting. We have not decided where to do it yet though - figure we will take a trip to Ellis house in the spring to decide. I want to have fun stuf for people to do through out the night - like bags and other game type stuff. Make it a party - not some formal event. 

I am fairly certain I am going to book Missy from Elite Photography to photograph the wedding. I worked with missy as her assistant when I was in college & I alway liked her, and her work. Since then she is even better and more experienced and she has agreed to give me a lower rate for the day since I just want a disk of the images to do the retouching myself. My dad is a photographer and though I was going to have him shoot the wedding like he did for my sisters - I feel bad, but I really think it will be nicer for everyone to have Missy do it - that will be her only concern for the day - unlike his - he has to walk me down the isle, dress and get ready himself, be in the photoes and talk to guests... I am hoping I will not hurt his feelings too much by booking Elite Photo. It's not that i don't think he will do a good job - I just want my dad to be my dad at the wedding - not my photographer... 

The DJ is my next concern and I have discovered they are expensive. The least expensive one is $590 tax free cash only... She seems nice enough, but a little controlling, and she does not have many lights. 

tasks coming up are: book dj & photographer for sure - finish my invites & print. Get addresses from Judah's mom & start constructing the invites to mail... then start ordering decorations, plates and stuff like that. 

Also we have decided on our honeymoon - we are going to Costa Rica - the Riu - it's an all inclusive with 5 restaurants, a HUGE pool, by the ocean, tennis, trails, by jungle, included paddle botes, snorkeling  wind surfing & more.   

I went to a bridal expo a few weeks ago and got a lot of good info - I also won a awesome suit case! pretty exited about that. I needed one too!

Well that's all for now! lots to do!