The Venue

Marcin and I set aside two weekends in January and February to start our adventure on finding the perfect venue.  We had quite the list mostly including hotel ballrooms in downtown Philly.  We have a lot of people traveling from out of town, and many people from Michigan who have never been to Philly  before, so we thought downtown would be the best place to go. 

The second Saturday morning we went to the DoubleTree Hotel on Broad Street and left there thinking that was the place.  Looking back, I think Marcin was enthralled with the Chocolate Chip cookies they gave us!  I had no idea DoubleTrees were known for giving cookies, but Marcin remembered them from traveling with his mom and sister when he was a kid.  The lady we met with told us one cookie has 17 grams of fat!!!

Our next appointment was at Cescaphe in the Northern Liberties section of the city.  It's a little out of the way in terms of being downtown and Marcin was miserable heading to this appointment.  We were running really late and he kept asking me why we had to go there when we already liked the DoubleTree.  I told him despite the location we had to go check it out because I had been there for another wedding and it was amazing. 

We walked in and I just knew it was the one.  The atmosphere was exactly what we wanted!! The girl started showing us around and telling us everything that was included in the cocktail hour - I saw Marcin start salivating at everything she talked about!  We were sold and he quickly got over that we wouldn't be downtown! 

We brought my parents  back the following weekend and they were sold as well, especially since they were there for the same wedding I was, and knew how wonderful it was.  We wanted a date in October 2010, but in January 2009 they were already booked for Saturdays - which means there are crazier brides than me out there!!  Here I thought we were pretty early in the planning stages.  So November 6th it is and I couldn't be happier :) (It buys me a few more weeks of planning!)

Here are some pictures from their website:

Phillies!!!!!!!!!!!

So today is my first non-wedding related post.  I thought the Phillies deserved their own.  I headed down the South Philly right from work, which was a small nightmare of traffic but very worth it, to meet Deanna.  Why was I by myself you ask?  BECAUSE MARCIN WENT TO THE GAME!! That's right, the guy from Michigan - the Detroit Tigers fan at heart, went to the game and I did not.  I mean, yes he has become a Phillies fan over the years of living in Philly, but really, going to the game??  I think Karma hit him though, because someone spilled a beer on him.  At least the guy bought him a beer in return :)

Chickie's and Pete's was crazy!  There were lots of drunk older women, which was highly entertaining.  And I have never seen so much big hair, tight pants, and cut shirts in my life - and I have been to South Philly a lot!  There was the mom to our left with the Phillies tattoo on her cheek and her mardi grad beads around her neck who danced all night and even attempted to do the Mummer's Strut, but it was not that good.  I learned that Deanna does not know the Mummer's Strut, so I will be offering her lessons before the wedding!  If anyone else needs them, just let me know.  We can take a road trip to my grandfather's because he does it the best :)

So Marcin stayed for the Trophy presentation and Deanna and I headed to Broad Street.  I wasn't expecting it to be too crazy because we kept hearing from the news and our friend who is a cop that they were not allowing it to get crazy this year.  The city was greasing up lightpoles so people wouldn't climb them!!  But at Broad and Shunk it was pretty crazy!  I have a video on my phone of it, but I can't figure out how to get it off my phone and on here!  If I figure that out, then I will post it later. 

It seems like it will be the Yankees against the Phillies in the World Series - they're calling it the New Jersey Turnpike series.  One of our bridesmaids, Michele, lives in New York and is a Yankees fan.  I informed her today that our friendship will take a break until November 6!

Enjoy the pictures.  And here's to a quick World Series, because our wedding and house budgets cannot afford many bar outings.  If you're up for watching it at home, come on over to our place - Marcin will make wings!!

Crazy Mom attempting the Mummer Strut

They Won!!!!!

Broad Street Craziness

The day we got engaged...

Marcin proposed to me on December 22, 2008.  We had our friends, John and Melanie, over (You see that time it was easy for me to say "our" instead of "my", I am assuming that's because they were Marcin's friends first!) Sorry I diverted again - ok starting again

John and Melanie came over for a Christmas dinner, where we drank lots and lots of wine, at least I did!  Melanie brought her fabulous home-made pierogies for Marcin and we had a great time.  They left around 10:00 and Marcin asked if we could exchange an early Christmas present.  I only got him one big thing, so I didnt have anything little to give him.  So I told him I would give him his card, and I would take a gift! haha

My gift was perfume, Ralph Lauren Romance and he loved his card, because of course I wrote a long, sappy note in it.  He quickly closed it and told me to get my coat and dress warm, he had something to show me.  He gave me some line about the city having this cool Christmas thing.  After some arguing on my part, because it was FREEZING, we headed out on a little adventure and ended up on the steps of the Art Museum. 

You see, one night way back in the beginning of our relationship, Marcin and I went for a walk and stopped at the top of the Art Museum steps.  I told him this was my favorite place in the city because of the view and then we never mentioned it again.  HE REMEMBERED!!!!

It was perfect - he got down on one knee and I felt the urge to cry, but couldn't because my tearducts were frozen!  There is one thing you have to realize about the art museum - it is always crowded, no matter what time of day.  There are at least a million people running up the steps like Rocky or at least 2 million cars driving in front of it.  But not at that moment - there was literally NO ONE around but he and I with the Christmas Lights from the Cira Center.

It was a moment I will remember forever.  Here is me with a red nose from the cold.

Here is the Cira Center and my beautiful ring

I started a blog!!!!

So this my first post and I am completely new to this whole blogging thing.  Marcin and I went out to dinner with friends back in June, when I was unemployed, and our friend Shannon suggested I start blogging about my our wedding planning.  I was going to call it "The Unemployed Bride".  I started looking around at wedding blogs and quickly came to realize that there are MILLIONS of them out there and why would anyone care what I had to say about my wedding planning?  So I didn't do it. 

But over the last couple weeks I have been inspired by other brides, aka "Knotties", as girls on theknot.com refer to themselves (I cannot get used to the lingo, it's all kind of weird to me).  So I decided to start one. 

Coming up with a name was challenging for me, as I am not creative at all in that area, so I would like to thank my our friend Sarah for this one!  I really am trying not to be a bridezilla, although my mom told me last week that I was being a crazy bride, and I took offense to it - A LOT!  So while I don't necessarily think the name is fitting for me, I thought it was fun!

Since Marcin and I have been engaged for almost a year - holy crap, I just realized that!!! I can't believe it's been a year!!!!  Ok sorry, i diverted - since we have been engaged for almost a year a lot of the bigger decisions have already been made.  So my first few posts will be about things that have already happened.  But we still have over a year to the wedding, so there is still lots of planning to be done! 

My Our wedding is November 6, 2010!

PS Yes at times, I still say my wedding, and Marcin is always quick to point it out :)