CJR's Page

Goin' to the Chapel

That, my friends, is the church I will be married in. First United Methodist Church in downtown Fort Worth. Isn't it gorgeous? We will be married in the chapel of the church which is significantly smaller than the sanctuary but more beautiful (I think). It will offer a more intimate feel for the ceremony as well. The moment I walked in the chapel I felt peaceful and calm. It was like my soul knew this was the right place to marry my love.

Originally, I wanted to be married in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. It would have been far more cost effective but they make it nearly impossible to pull off without causing me a headache. They didn't allow chairs at all (which I thought was odd) and they only allowed a two hour block of time for all of the pre-ceremony, ceremony, and post-ceremony happenings. Plus, they had no inclement weather plan that would accommodate more than 25 people. I decided pretty quickly after touring the place that as much as I'd love to get married in a garden, I was not willing to risk my sanity to do it. So we started looking at churches and I'm so glad we did!

If you ever have a chance to visit First United Methodist Church in downtown Fort Worth, I highly encourage you to do so. It's an architectural treasure in the heart of an amazing city. I can't wait to get married there!

Hey, Mr. DJ, Put A Record On...

Huzzah! Another big TO DO out of the way! This week Lobster and I made a joint effort to find ourselves a good, but affordable, DJ. This was no easy task. But we divided and conquered! Basically, I did all the research (I'm good at that) by finding the best rated DJs in the DFW area on WeddingWire and then gathering more information from the Star Telegram Bridal Show last weekend and busted out my super sleuthing google skills to find out more about the candidates. I had the pleasure of meeting one guy from DJ Connection Dallas at the bridal show who was very informative and had a great personality. And he quoted me a great price. I liked him immediately. But, being me, I still had to research the snot out of every other candidate I found. I really make a lot of work for myself, don't I? Don't answer that.

Anyhoodle, I fired off about a dozen email inquiries and most of those that came back were a bit disappointing. They were all so flipping expensive! $1,500 for a DJ??!! Seriously?? I had budgeted $600. . . because I'm naive and have no idea what anything costs. I quickly realized we weren't going to find a good DJ for that amount (key word being "good"). But I was determined not to spend a whopping $1,500 either. 

So we continued our email inquiries, but in the meantime, Lobster started making phone calls. One of the calls he made was to the DJ Connection dude I met at the bridal show. They really hit it off (and they even offered to train Lobster to be a DJ, which is an entirely different post). They had really good ratings on WeddingWire and they seemed professional and entertaining but not in a cheesy way (which was a must for us). AND they offered us a price that was WAY closer to what I had originally budgeted. Not spot on, but close enough for comfort.

After a couple of days of discussing the pros and cons, Lobster finally called them back and booked them. Woo! So now we have our DJ and I'm really excited. A little nervous because you never know what you're going to get with a DJ, but we did the best we could with the information we had. I guess that's all you can do, right?

Book a DJ...CHECK!

Put Down the Gun!

This weekend Lobster and I went to the Galleria to look for his wedding band. We went to the jewelry store where Lobster got my Shiny and the matching band and he found a very cool Tungsten band that was (amazingly) within budget. We didn't put a deposit down because Lobster wants to keep looking, but it was good to get an idea of what he wants wrapped around his finger for the rest of his life.

While at the Galleria we decided at the last minute that we might as well start registering for gifts since one of the stores we knew we wanted to register at was just downstairs. So we hightailed it to Williams Sonoma and got signed up for a registry. The nice sales woman explained the process and showed us how everything worked.

And then she handed us The Gun.

The woman, God bless her, began to hand me The Gun and I quickly corrected her, pointing out that this store was, in fact, Lobster's mecca. He nearly snatched The Gun from the poor woman. Lobster looked a little nervous at first, but as soon as he zapped the first item he was as giddy as a school boy.

To say that Lobster went nuts is a bit of an understatement. More than once I had to use my veto power. For example:

Lobster:  "OOOHH! We need this!"
Me:  "What is it?"
Lobster:  "It's a [insert random, useless item here]?"
Me:  "We don't need that."
Lobster:  "Yes, we do! It's awesome!"
Me:  "How many times since we've been together have we ever had a need for [refer to useless item here]?"
Lobster:  Pause. "Well, we might need it someday."
Me:  "Put it back."
Lobster:  Giving me a dirty look. "FINE!"

He would then run off to zap more items. I can't be sure that I caught all the useless ones, but I sure did try. Later, we went to Crate and Barrel where I proceeded to go nuts with The Gun. Lobster was not as excited with the home goods as I was but as soon as we got to the kitchen section, he perked right up. We spent a good eight hours registering and we were both exhausted.

When we got home I realized that we hadn't registered for any linens. I just hadn't found any that I liked enough. So I did a bit of research online and finally found exactly what I was looking for at Restoration Hardware (be still my heart!). So I registered online and I was a happy, happy girl.

I think it's going to be funny when we get a bunch of kitchen stuff and Lobster's going to be the one that freaks out about it. I will be pleased as punch, too, because it means that he will be cooking more. Bwahahaha!