Jonathan & Tricia's Wedding

Finally Here!

2010-05-07T06:52:13Z

The wedding day has finally arrived! The weather forecast is good, everything is in place and in a little more than 12 hours we will be getting married.

Thank you for coming with us on this journey. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Church and reception. Now it is time to get some sleep.

Thanks,
Jonathan the Groom

Bahamas Here We Come

2009-09-16T03:27:06Z

Let’s play a little game. What do the three pictures below have in common?

That’s right! We booked our honeymoon. Tricia and I will be taking a magical cruise on the Carnival Pride to the Bahamas. Spending 7 days soaking up the sun as we stop at Port Canaveral before heading to Nassau and Freeport before returning to port. This will be my first cruise, my first trip with my wife-to-be, my first trip out of the country, my first trip to Florida, and my first trip to the Bahamas.

We’ve very excited that we will be able to enjoy a balcony stateroom where we can have meals, enjoy the view, and savor a week of leisure. Guess it is time we get passports.

Wedding Party Complete…Mostly. Now Church Helpers

2009-09-07T07:02:38Z

I promised Steve I'd use a respectable picture but I can't find one and this photo brings me immense joy. Steve I'll get a respectable photo of you I swear.

Tricia and I have made a lot of progress regarding those participating in the ceremony at St. Mary’s. She has her matron and maid of honor (what’s the correct plural on this anyway?) and I have my two best men. We’re still deciding on who will do readings, bring up the gifts, and if we’re even having a ring bearer and flower girl. But, one thing we have decided is to have two ushers.

There’s two ways to handle ushers. One is to have them be part of the wedding party. Since we’re keeping the wedding small we decided to have ushers not be part of the wedding party. Instead, they will help us with the important seating of guests in the church. I am really happy to say that one of the ushers is one of my two best friends.

Ryan looking pensive

My friend Steve has known me for ages and we’re very close. He’s a smart, fun, funny, and charming guy. I am so ecstatic that he agreed to be an usher. This is something he will excel at and I know he will make people feel as home as he walks them to a pew.

I asked Steve awhile ago over dinner at Not Your Average Joes, which I recommend, and he seemed genuinely surprised by my request. Knowing that he will be part of this special day helps me to know that people will be seated expediently and efficiently. There’s an interesting twist to all this. Since my father is one of my best men that leaves my mother without an escort to her seat. She told me that she wants my friend Steve to help seat her. It is a great feeling when everything falls into place.

Jess and her Mini Cooper. My Explorer eats Mini Coopers for breakfast.

For the second usher I asked Tricia’s cousin Ryan to lend a helping hand. Tricia and I met her cousins Jess and Ryan for dinner one evening at the Olive Garden. Tricia asked Jess to do a reading and I asked Ryan to be an usher. They both said yes. We’re very excited that they will be participating in our special day.

Jonathan the Groom

Dance to the Music

2009-09-07T06:52:30Z

“Get up and dance to the music!
Get on up and dance to the music!
Dance to the music, dance to the music, dance to the music, dance to the music”

As you can guess from the above lyrics to Sly and the Family Stone’s song Dance to the Music this post is all about music. Tricia and I are happy to say we have made some music selections for the wedding. Through the kindness of my Aunt Elaine we have been listening to a CD of songs performed by the cantor and organist of St. Mary’s Church in Dedham. From this we have chosen some music for the mass.

First, Tricia has decided she wants the wedding party and her to walk down the aisle (the processional) to Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. This is a beautiful piece of music that has an infusion of a regal tone to it. So wonderful and beautiful like my bride to be.

We also decided to have Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by Johann Sebastian Bach for our recessional. I think this is a reverent, joyous and splendid bit of music. It is my hope that it helps to lift the celebration even higher as we make our way from the church to our pictures and then to the reception at the Chateau.

We are still working on the two vocal choices for the mass and the responsorial psalm. I am leaning towards Schubert’s Ave Maria and We Have Been Told by David Haas for the vocals. I also like Psalm 98: All the Ends of the Earth Have Seen the Power of God for the responsorial but none of these have officially been chosen.

Lastly, Tricia and I are both very excited to say we have chosen the song for our first dance as husband and wife. We will dance to Sea of Love (Remastered) by Cat Power. This version is most recognizable from the film Juno, which Tricia and I both love. We both gets shivers down our spines and tears in our eyes (the good kind) whenever we listen to this song. Its raw emotion and acoustic sound fits us so well. I love you Tricia.

We will also have a few musical surprises at the reception and more to come for the mass. Some genres to appear at the reception are: Country, Rock, Video Game, Anime, Pop, and Dance. You will see some modern country artists, some Dave Matthews Band, Lady Gaga, and High School Musical (perhaps also a little Led Zeppelin or Rolling Stones) materializing at the DJ’s fingertips. If there’s any songs that are special to you please let us know. A special wedding, anniversary, birthday, or other song…it is all good. Only thing not appearing at the reception besides rap is any line dance music. No Macarena, Chicken Dance, or Electric Slide. Sorry.

-Jonathan the Groom

Summer Update: Photographer Booked, DJ Met, Marriage Prep Finished and more

2009-07-20T03:01:01Z

Chapel at Espousal Retreat Center

I had such high hopes for my iPod touch helping me to post on here more often. Instead if has been very helpful keeping me on track of wedding appointments. Since I last posted Tricia and I have covered a lot of ground

On June 13th we went to New Hampshire and met with our DJ Chris Brunelle of Party Time Productions. We met him at his home and were treated to cookies his wife made. He is a fun and interesting guy who clearly knows his stuff. We spent an hour or more discussing music. What bands and genres we like (Dave Matthews Band, rock, and country). What we want to avoid (Hip-hop/Rap, line dances). What songs will be danced to (My mother and I are dancing to Where You Lead by Carole King from her Living Room Tour…yes the link will take you to iTunes to hear a snippet). We also discussed some of the ceremonial things we’ll do like first dance, cake cutting, and speeches. He gave Tricia and I some homework because we have an eclectic taste in music. I’m tasked with compiling some essential anime and video game music to give him.

More recently we met with David Antocci of Engaging Moments Photography. He came from Rhode Island and has shot a lot of weddings. He came to the Endicott Branch Library to meet with us and we discussed more about photographs than I knew was possible. I handled the leg work for photographers and both Tricia and I fell in love with his photographs and his style. He has created a custom package for us that provides exactly what we want. We’re getting both a proof album and proofs on CD so we can print our own copies. His samples were incredible and he has a nice online setup where anyone can order the prints they want. I was sick the weekend we met him but managed to pull it together to have a great meeting. We like him so much that he will be taking our engagement pictures on the Endicott Estate.

The next activity we had planned was our marriage prep for the Church. We went to the Espousal Retreat Center in Waltham for their program. It came strongly recommended by my pastor. The program consisted of a Saturday evening and then all day that Sunday. The program was thorough and very helpful. Tricia and I had a lot of fun and loved being able to focus so much time on us and our approaching marriage. There was one activity, in particular, that I enjoyed. We were asked to answer the question “Why do I want to spend the rest of my life with you?” and had to answer it in the form of a love letter to our beloved. We had 15 minutes to write and when completed had to read it to our fiance. I wrote up a storm and ultimately ran out of time. I went to find Tricia, they split the couples up for each of the activities, she looked up at me and said “I’m not done yet.” The weekend concluded with a beautiful mass in their chapel. Since that weekend I’ve felt more in love with and closer to Tricia. It helped to reinforce something I’ve known in my heart from the moment I saw her…that I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her.

I know these blog posts are supposed to be short. So I’ll wrap this up for now. But there is more to tell. As Dave Matthews says “You and me together, we could do anything, Baby You and me together yes, yes.”

Jonathan the Groom

Spring 2009 Update

2009-05-24T20:35:30Z

I just got a new iPod touch and I can use it to post on here of there’s a wifi connection. We’ve chosen our photographer and he’s very good. Everythings coming together and we do our precana soon. Thanks for reading.

-Jonathan the Groom

DJ Chosen. Photographer Next.

2009-07-20T02:16:09Z

Tricia and I can check off another thing on our list. We have chosen Chris Brunelle as our DJ. He did the music at the wedding of her friend Angie who gave him a glowing recommendation. This leaves us with all the difficult music choices to ponder. She did all the leg work for DJs so I’m covering the bases for a photographer.

I’ve done some introductory looking but will eagerly accept any suggestions that people may have for photographers. There’s an elusive Dedhamite who does wonderful pictures that I’ve looked into and I’ve also found a list at the Massachusetts Wedding Guide. It has a lot of photographers and will take some time to check details for each.

We face a unique challenge with photographs because we don’t want much. We want the traditional posed photographs but we don’t need a lot of candids. We picked up disposable cameras for each table so guests can take pictures that we’ll develop. We don’t want the fancy sepia prints and only a few of the black and whites. We don’t need any fancy wedding album because we’d like to make that ourselves (it’ll be fun and romantic). We just need someone to take some photos and develop them without giving us a lot of stuff. This is proving problematic because most seem to be larger than life photographers when we need someone low key.

Considering just over a year away from the wedding we’re in excellent shape. We have the church booked, the reception site booked, we’re doing our wedding prep in July, Tricia has her dress picked, and the bridal party is set. The DJ, an usher, and other details have also come together.

As always thanks for following our journey.

Jonathan the Groom

Wedding Dress? Check. Reception site? Check.

2009-03-20T16:26:11Z

Well, I feel accomplished! We have two major things we can check off our wedding “to do” list: the dress and reception site. I finally found my dress after all of the escapades from the post before. I won’t go into too much detail about it because a certain groom-to-be will be reading this and I don’t want to give anything away until the wedding day for him! But, I will say that I decided on a dress from the shop in West Roxbury. I spent a day with my two maid/matron of honors, my mom and best friend, going to two different stores to view two dresses that I had fallen in love with. It was agreed that both were very beautiful, but I just felt happier in the one from West Roxbury. So, it is on order and I will be getting it towards the end of July! I also ordered a veil that matches perfectly. And that’s all I am going to say! :-X

The Venetian Room at the Chateau

The next thing off our list is the reception site. We did decide to go with the Chateau after looking at five places. The price, location, and setup were right. Other places, like the Holiday in and Four Points Sheraton do a great job (it’s their business!), but we still got that “this is THE ONE” feeling from the Chateau. I booked the room and put down the deposit. I got the contract in the mail yesterday, so all Jonathan and I have to do is look it over, ask any questions we might have, sign it, and send it back. We’ve chosen to go with the buffet: http://www.chateaurestaurant.com/_files/pdf/NorwBuf.pdf. We think it will make the event more social than a fancy sit-down dinner. See photo of our reception room above.

It’s all starting to come together and it’s making me more and more excited!

Tricia the Bride

Reception Site: Dedham Holiday Inn

2009-03-02T05:25:53Z

Dedham Holiday Inn's Grand Ballroom

Last Saturday Tricia and I visited the Holiday Inn in Dedham. It is on our list of possible reception sites and fits one of the three types of reception sites we’re looking at. We’re looking into restaurants, halls with in house food, halls with bring our own food.

The Holiday Inn has a lot going for it. It is located near St. Mary’s and is very accessible off Providence Highway and Rte. 128. The Grand Ballroom (see picture at left) was newly redecorated and looks amazing. There’s wonderful lighting, a spacious dance floor, nice carpeting, and a movable wall to section the room for a more intimate setting.

When we toured the facility we saw several rooms. The first two were nice but too small and still undergoing renovation. The Grand Ballroom is the nicest and also the largest. It is too large for us because it can hold up to 250 people, more than double our intended numbers.

The facility handles weddings differently from other places we’ve looked in that they have pre-set packages. The packages differ in what they come with ranging from discounted rooms for guests and a limo to an included DJ and free night for the Bride and Groom. The package Tricia and I like is called the Gold Wedding Package. It covers a lot without going over board and seems to fit most of our needs.

There are some included items that are not applicable to us for one reason or another but I’m sure they would be willing to swap things around to make it work…if we choose to go with this venue. I’m still head over heels for the Chateau, I had good tinglies down my spine when we left that place, but Holiday Inn is a strong second.

I do have one concern with the Holiday Inn and that is the food. They do the food on site and they have some nice offerings listed on the menu. However, I don’t know what the food tastes like. They offer a tasting menu for the Bride and Groom if we go with them but I’d like to know how the food is before making the decision.

We’re checking into a few other places but I expect we’ll have a decision within a month. As always thanks for your love and support. Plus, a big thank you goes to Tricia for doing all the leg work on the reception sites. Thank you beautiful I love and appreciate you.

Jonathan the Groom

The Best Men

2009-02-25T05:53:11Z

I am really excited to say that I have chosen my Best Men and they have accepted the honor, privilege, and duty of celebrating my wedding in this special way. You may think you mis-read Best Men but I assure you that you did not. I am having two best men in my wedding. I have long known that I want two best men and I’ve known exactly who I wanted.

Dad at Work

The tough part wasn’t choosing them but asking them. I’m someone who does a lot of research and in all my wedding reading I have not come across any suggestions covering good ways to ask someone to be a best man. So I played it by ear and did it one at a time.

The first person I asked is my father. Mother Nature had just unloaded a heap of snow on us and I was outside cleaning off the cars when my dad came back from a trip to Dunkies. He and I were chatting and I told him that I had an important question to ask. That’s when I unloaded the question. There’s few people in my life who I truly admire and my dad is one of them. He is a good man, a good husband, a good father and in short

Murf

everything I aspire to be. I know he has always been there for me and always will. There’s no better person to be a best man. As much as I’m my mother’s son I’m my father’s son and moreso every day.

After my dad said yes I needed to ask the other person. I wanted to ask one of my friends and I knew exactly who. My friend Michael, who we call Murf, is just the guy. I met him through my friend Steve and known him for four years but it feels like we’ve known each other much longer. He is intelligent, caring, reliable, and friendly. One of the nicest guys you’ll meet, but don’t let him know I said so, who won’t hesitate to do something for a friend. And did I mention he’s a chef? He’s made many a great meal over the years and I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying my fair share.

I asked Murf on our way back from a trip to a local bookstore. We’re sitting in the car and I floated the question. It took him a moment but he said yes. Then a few moments later I think it actually hit him because he said “Wait, what do I have to do?” Priceless!

Needless to say I have two great gentlemen standing up with me at the ceremony and I know we’ll have a blast leading up to it. Thanks and God bless!

Jonathan the Groom

Jonathan and Tricia in Rockport