September 11th:
Michael is such a great groom to be! This Saturday, after getting whooped at our early morning soccer game, I dragged him out to Occasions in Natick. This bridal salon had come recommended by a friend of a friend, but before Trang and I went, I wanted to check it out first. So off we went. It is a very cute salon - actually a house, and they were so friendly and had a pretty decent selection of bridesmaids dresses - most especially compared to Yolanda's! So I found about 10 to try on, and Michael was oh so helpful, poking though the racks, bringing me dresses, offering his opinions, zipping me up - you name it! Out of the dresses I tried on I really liked about five of them - but I still don't LOVE any of them. Hmmm...well the Spring 2000 line is coming out in October so I may just wait for that. But, if we order our dresses at Occasions in October we get a 15% discount because it is the store's anniversary - its not much but it will help! So Trang and I are going back on the 18th to try to narrow some of the decisions down.

Transportation:
Well, this seems to be moving along at least. I think we are going to get one of the limousines and the 41 passenger mini-bus from NJL Transportation in Medford. All in all we will need three limousines - one for the bridal party, one for the Rothenbergs, and one for the Bustins. NJL only has one 10-person available right now but Ed there said he would call around to some of his friends to see what they had available, so then it would still be like going through one vendor rather than two. Hopefully that will work out! We decided to rent the mini-bus because regardless of whether the ceremony is at my church or at Tufts chapel, it will still be very difficult for the out-of-town guests to navigate those crazy Somerville/Cambridge roads. To prevent any mishaps we decided it would be better to rent a bus to shuttle guests between the Hyatt and the church/chapel and back to the Hyatt - so stay tuned for more details!

September 18th:
Trang and I made our second attempt to look at bridesmaids dresses, this time out to Occasions in Natick, where Michael and I went last weekend. This trip was the polar opposite of our trip to Yolanda's. No mishaps (no blown tire this time!) no rude sales ladies...it was great. We had an appointment at 10 am so I picked her up (after a little confusion at the T!) at 9:30 and off we went...well ok it was closer to 9:45 so we were actually a little late getting there. But one we got there, Maureen helped us out, showed us our fitting room and told us to look around, and try on whatever we liked. Trang tried on probably about ten dresses and of those we narrowed it down to about three. So next Tuesday all of us ladies (except Bonny who is now away at school!) are going to trek out there and cast the votes. Should be an adventure to say the least! And while we were trying on bridesmaids dresses Trang saw one she thought she would really like to have in her wedding so told me to try it on - and then asked me to be in her wedding! And of course I said yes! It is so great to be going through this fun and rather stressful time together - and great to have someone to vent to!

Stay tuned for the big dress decision....though you will have to wait until April to see the final choice!

September 19th:
Well as of today we have been engaged nine months. I can't believe how fast time has flown! Crazy. So we decided since it was such a beautiful day and our engagement anniversary we would take a drive up to Portsmouth, NH and look at wedding bands and a new engagement ring setting. We had been up there earlier this summer and had really liked a set we saw in a store there (Finn & Co.). So we drive up, Michael's friend Victor was in town so he came with us, and walk around the town for a bit and finally meander over to the jewelers. UGH - there is a big sign on the door that says "Closed this Sunday, September 19th." Of all the bad luck! No rings for us today! We stop in a couple other jewelers but don't see anything we like. So as a consolation prize we stop at Marshalls on the way back home and I get a great new top to wear for our engagement pictures the next day. Oh well - we'll head back up either next weekend or the following one for the rings :-)

September 20th:
Today we had our engagement pictures taken and I am keeping my fingers crossed they came out ok! Our photographer, Carl, met us at the Arlington Public Library which has soon really beautiful grounds around it. All of the pictures were taken outside with natural light and lots of greenery. Carl used both black and white film and color, and I am really anxious to see how the black and whites come out. Don't worry - as soon as we get some back I will post them up here!

September 23rd:
Well, got the engagement pictures back today. Can't say I love them but I don't dislike them enough to have them done over! I guess no one really like photos of themselves. At least we had fun taking them!

!!IMPORTANT UPDATE!! September 28th:
Let me just say that I have been impatient all month waiting for a message from Tufts about whether we could use the chapel for the wedding or not. I feel like this whole wedding planning has been me just endlessly waiting for someone to call me back about something! Finally I couldn't take it anymore, so I called and left a message. And the sexton called me and said we GOT THE CHAPEL! Was he going to call me anyway? Oh well...the point is we got it and are both so happy and relieved. Now the planning truly begins!

September 29th:
I really don't know where the time is going! How can September be over and I still have so much to do! Things are crazy right now with the house so the wedding stuff has kind of been on hold - but no longer! We must get a move on it! However, we are having the floors in our house refinished this week so we had to pack up the little that was unpacked and cram it and all the furniture in the kitchen for three days. On top of this stress, last night a house exploded in Cambridge because the fumes from the polyurethane ignited with the pilot light or something crazy like that. And yes we have a gas stove. I was a nervous wreck all week! But in the middle of all this we did find time to once again head out to Occasions in Natick and vote on a bridesmaids dress. Unfortunately Kim and Bonny couldn't make it but they said they trusted the rest of us! So it was Trang, Hang, Pam and me doing the dress thing. It was fun - well I had fun I don't know if the girls did since they were doing all the work trying the crazy dresses on! But it was really fun, we had some good laughs at some of the dresses! And then we pretty much unanimously decided on one (sorry you all will have to wait until April to see them!). But we didn't book the dresses that night, we wanted to talk over the options and pricing and even consider buying them from a store on the internet. So we chatted about it all over dinner and we remained in agreement so now we're going to go back in October to do the ordering! I can't tell you how happy I am to have this part done - I was beginning to have nightmares!