Baker – Crawford Wedding Blog of soon-to-be Mr & Mrs Dennis Crawford

Archive for the ‘The Wedding’ Category

So I was reading somewhere where it said that you should give your guests a wide selection of choices for your registry items…. and being that we have a lot of things already… and are a big fan of the unique and different…. this is certainly a challenge for us!   So, I found a couple out-of-the-way stores that have some really nice items……. but we didn’t want to give out 7 different registries to people….

We found a unique web service called MyRegistry.com which consolidates a lot of them!

http://www.myregistry.com/public/Dennis-Crawford-Amanda-baker

Everything except our Bed Bath & Beyond registry incorporated into this one service nicely!

I can’t vouch for it… how easy it is… but I can say it seems to be a nice “one-stop” way to look at most of our items… except the Bed Bath & Beyond items…

Feedback is certainly always welcome!! Let us know if it works… or doesn’t…. so we know!

We have ordered our wedding bands….. that’s exciting!!  I went with a modern flat white gold band with brushed finish in the middle …. and Mandi just happen to see this diamond ring that was in yellow gold that actually matched up perfectly to her engagement ring!!  So the Jeweler — JP Jewelers in Oswego (big props to Jamie the owner!) is going to have his goldsmith (who I also met and who did Mandi’s engagement ring!) custom made her a white gold ring identical to the ring she saw today!

It is going to look stunning…. I can’t lie.  I’m excited!!!  Although, where’s my bling!?!?!?!?!?

I found the most perfect wedding software ever…. “iDO”.  I wish I had found this before we had done any wedding preparations as this piece of software really does it all.  It allows you to input all your guests, it manages your lists, invitations, RSVP’s, meal selections… it even will graphically do your seating charts for you!   And when the wedding is over, it’s your wedding gift thank you manager!

Since I put this on Mandi’s laptop, she’s been managing the RSVP’s that come in….. it’s very cool.  I have to admit.  I won’t lie….. i’m VERY impressed by this piece of software.  I’m sure we’ll have more to say about it once we have dug into it a little bit deeper….

…more to come!

…by now you should know that all the invitations ARE MAILED!!  It was a very tedious process and let me tell you — a lot more work than I had previously thought!  It’s no trivial task, I will be tell you that… but it was actually a lot of fun.  Guys — just a piece of advice — get involved with your wife-to-be in all the wedding stuff you can.  Sure, it’s stressful… but it’s rewarding.  It’s a breath of fresh air that the invitations are done and we can cross one big thing off our list!   Now, let’s let the RSVP’s roll in!

For those of you who are curious about “where is Dennis & Mandi going on their honeymoon…?”  — the information has been posted!!  Click above on “honeymoon” for all the information where we will be off to after our wedding!

With all the “seizures” in the past month or so, I haven’t had a chance to get to this. But I have some very important things and people to acknowledge.

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:
Mommy – Thank you so much for not only helping to put on such an amazing shower, but for making me the woman I am. I wasn’t the easiest child, but every day of hell I put you through got me to where I am today…and I’m sure I’ll be repaid from our kids The decorations were amazing and all the effort was way too much! Thank you for taking care of me after I fell. I know it’s hard on everyone for me to be sick and no one know why, but your support helps me everyday.

Daddy – Thank you for all the help with the set up and everything you do to help us out any chance you can get. You’ve been there anytime I needed you. Physically with all my training and mentally with well, everything. You always stood by my side even though you may not have agreed with the decision I was making at the time. Thank you for staying all day and making sure I was taken care of once I was conscious again

Mom Crawford – Thank you for EVERYTHING! The crystal goblets are beautiful and we both appreciate all your help with the wedding! And of course, the cookies were DELICIOUS!

Dennis – Thank you for all your help. I’ve never heard of a guy helping out as much as you did for their Bride’s shower. I appreciate it so much. Taking care of me again, the setup, tearing everything down and making sure you were here in case anything happened again. I love you and thought it was the sweetest thing that even though I was surrounded by people you still wanted to be here in case I needed you.

LoriAnn – First of all, thank you for being you and always being there for me whenever I need you. Even being in Boston you are there for me. The shower was amazing and all the games were so fun! We’ve been friends for so many years I almost can’t count that high We’ve had our ups and downs, but we always found each other again.  It’s amazing to know that I will always have my best friend by my side.

My sisters – Thank you  so much for all your work. The invitations were beautiful! I got so many compliments. The nametags were a great idea as well. I have been told so many times since that day that I’m very lucky to have such an amazing family. We weren’t always the most loving sisters, but I appreciate everything you did to make me who I am. From all my scars (Darcy) and my spoiled-ness (Cass) to my newest sister making me constantly look over my shoulder to protect my butt…thank you for being there and for standing up for me on my big day!

We love you all and love all our gifts. You were all so generous and it was great meeting some of Dennis’s family and seeing some of mine that I hadn’t seen in a while!

Thank you all for coming and for helping to make sure I was taken care of. We got over 30 bottles of wine and so many accessories. I can’t wait to use them all. Everyone was so generous and all the gifts were amazing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who put in their own time and money to make it such a perfect day! Minus the seizure part

Jack and jill invites will be sent via text and Facebook very soon!

Thank you again. I couldn’t ask for more amazing people in my life! Love you all

Mandi’s Bridal Shower is TODAY!!!!!

If you cannot attend the bridal shower – don’t worry!!! You can use view all the fun LIVE from the event by clicking:

http://www.liveshare.com/#&id=1351833

But….. if you CAN ATTEND – and if you have an Iphone, Android, or web enabled phone — JOIN IN THE ACTION!!!   Go to your App Store and download the “LiveShare” client.   Integrate it with your Facebook Account, and have Mandi invite you to the live stream!   The more… the merrier!!!!

We went into Target today with the purpose of updating our registry…. and we walk in there and their KIOSKS WERE DOWN!  How is this possible?!?!?!  So we had to drive to another store to update it!  They sure didn’t make it easy!

We grabbed the laser scan gun and it was the slowest machine ever!  In the middle of walking around the store – we finally found an outdoor bistro furniture set for the back yard that we really liked!  We go to scan it and must have spent 10 minutes — literally — trying to scan it!  First the scanner lost connection with the network.  Then when it finally did connect back up – it wouldn’t recognize any of the UPC Barcodes!!!!!  Note to TARGET: you really should make this process easier!!!

Anyhow, we did update the registry.  We’ve been making pretty regular updates to all of them…. Just making sure everyone knows that they change often!

Hey everyone! I need some ideas on who to call for makeup for the wedding. I’d like to be able to have a Pre-wedding trial if that helps narrow it down at all. ALL ideas welcome.

As I sit here and blog to you about the invitations, they are being ordered! We decided to keep everything all matchy matchy and went with the ones that match my shower thank you notes.

The shower (with a couple little fiascos) invites went out last week. I’m not sure how, but there were some mix-ups with the addresses and stuff. I’m hoping everyone got them and want to send a HUGE thank you to my sister Stephanie for taking the time to make what I’ve heard are beautiful invites

I can’t believe we’re 3 months away! There’s still so much to do!

For those of you that are interested… although we think registering for gifts is quite presumptuous… it is something that has become expected to do.

Since we’ve already been asked by many of you…. Here are the links to our registries, and our Registry Numbers.

Target:

We sat down and day after day we tried to figure out what we needed…. that was tough. We started looking and thinking and we finally came to the conclusion that there’s a handful of things that we actually need. The logical choice was Target. The number one thing we desperately need is a NEW GRILL! (Dennis: Thank you MOM AND DAD for giving me your 15 year old hand-me-down and after replacing the burners and controls multiple times… finally it gave out.) Not that we expect anyone to give us the big expensive grill we want…. however, gift cards would help us get the one we really really want! In addition, it has a lot of other practical things that we could really use. Target made the most sense for people like us who have a lot — but could use some real-world things!

URL: https://www.target.com/registry/wedding/2J2XWOW5WTH0S

Registry ID: 013399700685884

Bed Bath & Beyond:

Ok, we admit it… we wanted to go into a store with a gun to scan a bunch of stuff and pretend we were superheroes with a laser gun. It was pretty fun! Bed, Bath and Beyond did have some great stuff and again — practical things — that we could really use. It wasn’t just about acting dorky and running around the store!

URL: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regGiftRegistry.asp?wrn=%2D1891399481

Registry #: 5828732

Crate & Barrel:

Well, there was some really fun and funky stuff that we couldn’t find at Macy’s, Bed Bath and Beyond, Pier One, Target, etc. Since we don’t have a Crate & Barrel locally in Syracuse — and since we like unique things — Crate and Barrel made a great choice as a third option! We absolutely LOVE the wall art, kitchen items, outdoor stuff, and the cookware stand! Unique products….. for unique people like us!

URL: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Gift-Registry/Guest/View-Registry.aspx?grid=4718825

Registry#: 4718825

Happy hunting and can’t wait to see you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Mandi & Dennis

We decided a long time ago that we would register at Crate & Barrel, but I knew there wouldn’t be enough things on there to give people options, so we decided on Target and Bed Bath & Beyond as well. Let me tell you this, we just got done at Bed Bath & Beyond and it was way more fun than the online stuff at Crate & Barrel!!! I got to use the cool laser gun and other than almost blinding dennis once, everything went well. There’s so much stuff we wanted! I even let dennis use the gun a couple times

Check the registries out for all three of them…let me know if you see any duplicates

Well, I keep trying it on because since Dennis and I started dating…I’ve put on 25 pounds! Yes 25 pounds. That was like 1/3 of my weight when we started dating! But it fit!!! I can’t gain another pound but it fit!!!! And now all the bridesmaids have their dresses at least ordered. Clara went and got hers ordered last night. We are going to have the best looking wedding party ever!

I did my page…check it out

…to please post her “our story”? Please?!? Mine just flowed freely. Hers…… Unwritten.

Can someone please poke and prod her?

Please… And thank you.

I created the usernames for Mandi and myself – so now you’ll know who’s blogging when.  Figured that was the easiest way to do it.   Also just posted the information on our Registry — since we’ve already started getting questions and people going “hey, there’s nothing on your Macy’s registry!”   Yes, i know.  It’s just been very hectic to get everything coordinated and such — so we made a first pass at putting some things into the Crate & Barrel and Macy’s online registries…. we’ll have to go into Macy’s and use that gun thingy – i think that’s pretty cool!  I just want to run around the store pretending i’m a super hero with a laser stun gun…. i dont even want to add items! I just want to pretend and look cool.  I wonder if they have holsters for the scanners… hmmmm………….

DRAW!!

Well, we ran out of Save The Dates!  Yup!  See what happens when you order “what you think is enough” of something — only to get to the end and….. yeah.  Not So Much!!!!   So anyhow, I (Dennis) finished up the last of the Save the Dates – at least the ones we could do…  and now had to order another 30 more.  It’s good to have spares anyhow — last minute additions — forgetting someone… someone you didn’t think of… scrapbooking.. whatever!  So they’re reordered along with lots of other fun stuff.  (Address Labels, Shower Thank You Cards, etc.)  All these things ADD UP!  $300 here.. $250 there… yikes.  I’m being nickled and dimed to death and we haven’t even gotten into the heavy stuff!  Oh boy.

I think i need to create Dennis & Mandi usernames so we can both blog here…….  Ok, i’m on it.

So Mandi has sent out about 17 or 18 save the dates! I’m so proud of her. She doesn’t want me to address them because I supposedly have bad handwriting. Yeah. I really don’t when I want to! But anyhow she doesn’t want me to address them. And the US Mail rate forostcard stamps goes up in just a matter of days!!!!!

Sweetie….. Put me in coach!

Ok, I’m very excited. With vacation and then with the on and off migraines, I’ve had such a hard time getting stuff done for the wedding. I’m so glad that I don’t have one of those fiance’s that doesn’t want anything to do with it. He has found us a photographer and a DJ to meet with AND he made and ordered the save the dates. They are so unique too. And as always, he got a great deal!

Lori has really started working on the shower and everything. For being so far out of town, she’s doing a great job. I obviously don’t need to do a dress fitting. But the girls do. And Clara has to get hers still. Other than that, they are pretty much set too.

I”m trying to decide on gifts, but the issue is, if I buy them their accessories, it’s kind of a one time thing for most of them. 2 of my sisters NEVER get dressed up. Im actually thinking of telling them not to bother with jewelry if they don’t want to. But what else can I do? Any ideas?

My mom is working away at all kinds of things. I don’t want to give all the exciting things away I should have the Save The Dates on Wednesday so they’ll be going out very soon! And that means tomorrow I’ll be going crazy getting the guest list done!