Accomodations

Hey guys, I don't know if you're checking the blog or changes to the website with any regularity, but I figure I should throw this short update up at both locations. We are going to go with the Pittsburgh Marriott North, which is located in Cranberry, PA and will be $129/night on both Friday 8/3 and Saturday 8/4. Please do NOT call and reserve a room just yet because I have not finalized the paperwork or secured any rooms yet so I don't think you'd get our rate.

If you see this within the next week and you are feeling helpful could you shoot me a message (elduderino08@gmail.com) really quickly to let me know if you're planning to use our discount rate at the Marriott and for how many nights. Thanks much! I am so excited for you guys & gals to take a lot of hotel on our behalf!

-Zach

So many things to update about!!

This blog (and general wedding planning) has been rather neglected the last few months due to lots of travelling and us being just too busy with other things. But, the last week or so has been a nice little whirlwind of wedding activity :)

You might have noticed (since you managed to find our blog) that we sent out our Save The Dates last night! We are super excited to have finished those and at least sort of finalized our basic guest list. And, as a little bit of a side-note, I think it's really cute how they pop out of their envelopes :)

Also, last weekend, my mom flew out to Pittsburgh, and we went dress shopping, and I was finally successful! Dress purchased!!! :) Now that that's taken care of, Caitlin (maid of honor) and Jen (bridesmaid) are coming this weekend and we're going to do more dress shopping! Finding bridesmaid dresses should hopefully be a whole lot easier than finding a wedding dress though...

That's all the update I have for now!

We will definitely be updating the website a lot more in the next few weeks with accommodations info and that sort of thing, so keep checking in!

~Sarah

Gift Registry Saver's Guide!

OK friends, here's the low down on how you can still get us all of the fabulous gifts we clicked on while possibly saving a little green.

Shop around the holidays. I know that our wedding is like, a thousand years away, but stores like Macy's and Crate & Barrel hook it up with the sales during the holidays I hear. I have no doubt that a savvy shopper could score big-time using this method.

Shop Macy's on the weekend. Our Registry consultant at Macy's told us that there are lots of items at Macy's (including several that we picked) that go on sale on the weekends, but are full price on weekdays. So, there you go.

Use them internets. Sarah and I chose to do our registries in-store because of the fun we got to have scanning barcodes. We understand, however, that several of these items may be less expensive if you bought them from Amazon or another on-line retailer. A solution: if you find a screaming savings on the great internet post a message to our Guest Book from 'Anonymous' saying which item you purchased and we will remove the item from our registry and remove the post from the guestbook. If the savings aren't that much online though we would appreciate if you shopped Macy's or Crate & Barrel. They go to a lot of trouble to make Gift Registries an inviting experience in their stores, and we get a little something-something back after the wedding based on your purchasing.

That's the break down so far. If we figure out more money saving secrets, we'll be sure to pass them on. Likewise, if you know of an amazing sale coming up at some point throw it in the comments for the benefit of all!

Gift Registry Creation!

Sarah and I had an amazing and exhausting day yesterday at the mall creating some gift registries. We spent an incredible amount of time wandering around the Home Stuff floor of Macy's with our sweet gun pointing it at a wide variety of home appliances, knives, linens and kitchen tools. At the point that we became somewhat irritated with everything around us we realized that it was already 1:30 and we hadn't eaten (mind you we arrived at 11:30).

After some appropriately greasy "chinese" mall food we were re-energized and ready to kick some more registry butt! So on to Crate & Barrel. Our experience at Crate & Barrel was a little better, the store is cleaner, the staff are more computer literate and the whole registry creation experience just seems a little bit more modern. Many of the items we scanned at Crate & Barrel were smaller items that would replace or improve the quality of kitchenware that we have, but we hit up a couple bigger things and some rugs as well.

After that we went BACK to Macy's and did a little shoe and suit shopping because they had some insane sales going on. I'm not sure when we finally left the mall, but suffice it to say that it was an incredibly fun, incredibly selfish, incredibly exhausting day! Looking forward to some couch time and football today.

We have one more registry coming. Thanks to Danielle and Eric, we discovered the amazing opportunity that is the Honeymoon Registry. Once we nail down a little more specifically what our honeymoon is going to be (we have no idea right now!) we will make sure to get that up and running. So stay tuned!

Make sure to see our next blog post about money saving on gifts.

Excited!

Dress shopping this weekend!!! :)

Cupcakes!

We tasted some last weekend, while my parents were still in town visiting. They were absolutely delicious. And, the bakery is within walking distance from our apartment. I see many cupcake tastings in our future. :)

It's not necessarily where we're going to get our cake, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was...

Armstrong Farms Visit

Last night, as a celebration of our negative firstiversary :) we visited Armstrong Farms and the Westminster Preserve in order to show off our venue to my parents who are in town visiting. The pond was gorgeous, as I'm sure it always is.

We took a little walk out onto the dock, which is where the ceremony will take place. But apparently, Zach and I couldn't actually tell where my mom's camera was...

I had a little fun on an old swing.

The barn was being set up for a wedding this weekend, but we went on a quick walk through it anyway. Here is the outside of the barn.

And the inside, which is where we will dine (downstairs is where cocktails and dancing will be, the picture is not as exciting).

And, we got to meet the goose (see venue pictures on our website for slightly more background...).

Overall, our little trip got me really excited for next year! Maybe it will even get me to start doing some actual wedding planning...

Negative Firstiversary!

One year from today, Zach and I are going to get married!!!

:)