Holy Turkey!!!

What a FANTASTIC weekend we had.  Sadly good weekends must come to an end.  I was sooooo ready to be done with work on Wednesday, the kids were a mess, the teachers were "over it" and you could tell the parents were not looking forward to an extra long weekend with the kids!

Wednesday night we bought into the whole "biggest bar night deal"  totally weren't going to but we got invited to a party at the Amway Plaza, so did everyone else in Grand Rapids, it was packed... but we had fun, saw some friends, and had some great drinks!

Thursday morning we headed to Battle Creek for Thanksgiving with my mom.  We had a great dinner, with just a few people in the fam...then it was off to Scott and Sue's for drinks and pie..and of course wedding talk!  We ended up back at my mom's where more family had decided to gather.  We drank, ate pie, yelled through the house, overall just had a really great time.  I told Aaron that Thanksgiving was tame compared to the Sopko family Christmas (mom's side)  so at least he has a small idea of what it will be like.  Christmas is NUTS!!!!  After we go home, we decided to go to target for a little midnight shopping.  BOY WAS THAT A DUMB IDEA.  I'm a little annoyed with Target.  The only good deals they had were on TV's and to be honest..they weren't that awesome.  People were packed into that store like clowns in a car, and it was a nightmare.  We then had to weave in and out of every single isle to  of the store to check out.  We waited in line for a full hour to buy 2 stupid DVD's and a vacuum.

Friday we headed up to Clare bright and early to see Aaron's grandparents and the Minnesota Monzo's.  It was great seeing everyone, we haven't been up there since June.  We ate tons of leftovers, and filled the family in on wedding details.  While we were there we had a project that we were sent out.  We went to pick up a tree for Aaron's grandpa so he could make bowls...they are beautiful...I've been told we'll most likely get one as part of our wedding present totally looking forward to it.  We picked up this tree from Aaron's dad's cousin...they told us that makes Aaron a cousin once removed (I don't know about that crap, so I'll take their word)  Aaron's grandpa told them we were getting married, of course they were happy for us.  As we left we were all saying goodbyes and they said..."well I guess we'll be seeing you in July at the wedding..."  uuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmm OK.  Aaron and I just smiled and said yea in that really uncomfortable way, then later in the car we were like..oh crap, are we supposed to invite them!?  I don't think Aaron has ever met them before, but I guess now their expecting an invitation!  OY!  Once we got back from Clare we met up with Lassen and Lang and their men for dinner and drinks.  A perfect way to end our Friday.

Saturday we headed to the Mother-in-Law's house.  SO MUCH FUN.  I love going over there.  We of course had more turkey, which was soo yummy and talked wedding once again!  I've been invited to go to the baking day, which should be a lot of fun!

Overall we had a great weekend, it was far too short, but it was so much fun!  We're tired, and our fridge is full of leftovers!!

Most of the wedding talk was about a dress...probably because we're going dress shopping next weekend.  I have a few ideas in mind.  Most of the dresses are lace which fits the vintage theme we have going,   Both of these dresses are very typical of what I have been looking at.



However, I do love this dress...it has pockets!!!!  I'm totally open to trying on all styles, and plan on trying this one on.

 <3 Karissa

Deck the Halls and Roar Roar Roar

I am soooooooo totally enjoying this Monday through Friday 9-5 job thing.  We get so much done on the weekends!  Friday started the room decorating contest at work, so I had all of my kids helping me get our room all set.  I got home and was so pumped about Christmas, I decided we needed to get the apartment ready too.  Usually I am not a fan of decorating early, but I was just too in the mood!

We went to Walmart (I'm not generally a fan of that place...they don't have the cart wipe things..I felt so dirty) but BOY DO THEY HAVE GREAT DEALS.  We got a 6 foot pre lit tree for 40 bucks, a tree skirt, a set of blue ornaments and snowflakes for the tree for a grand total of 55 bucks!  I was so excited.  Now I get to take my small baby tree to my classroom...(Can you tell I want to win the decorating contest?)  We got home and put the tree up!  Of course our lovely itty bitty kitty feel in love with the tree and won't leave it alone.  We've found her under it, in it, eating it, scratching it, batting at it, and fighting under it.  We're totally surprised it's still standing.

Saturday we went to do a little Christmas shopping at Target, got ourselves some stockings, and lights to hang in the kitchen!  I'm so ready for Christmas!!!  We ended up at the mall to get my rings cleaned..and magically got suckered into buying our wedding bands!  We were there for over 2 hours, and picking my ring was the EASY PART.  I looked at 2 rings, picked one (and it was the least expensive of the two!!!) and I was set.  Aaron on the other hand took forever to decide.  He went very nontraditional with his ring.  I love it.  It's black toungsten with a diamond in the center.  Mine is a simple band with channel set diamonds.  The people at Rogers & Hollands know Aaron by name, they we're so nice and patient with us, and really helped us out.  However, they were not letting us out of the store without buying the rings.  We didn't really go in with the idea of buying..but they worked with us so much we said what the heck!  We had to get them at some point right?

Looks like Aaron's except his has a ring had a diamond in the center!

To wrap up our very coupley (yes, I made up a word) weekend we headed to Detroit for the Lions game.  It was so much fun.  Started out as a very crappy game, and turned itself right around in the second half.  The crowd changed, and energy was nuts it was so loud..it was a perfect Sunday!

On a final note, Contract is mailed out for our wedding ceremony, and reception site...woooohoooo!!!!

<3 Karissa

The Nitty Gritty

For the people that know me well, this is all stuff you've heard before...for those who don't know my entire story this is for you.  I joined match.com at one of my lowest points in my life.  I was working at a job that I hated, living alone and where I worked (not a recommended idea) and I had just gotten news that my parents we're getting divorced.  I'm not going to go into a whole sob story about that for 2 reasons..one it's not my business to share, and two..that story isn't really relevant.  Just know it put me in a depression.  I needed affection, attention, love, and someone to just be there for me.  I am in NO WAY discrediting my WONDERFUL WONDERFUL friends who helped me through all of this, but there are some things a girlfriend just can't help with...unless you swim in the lady pond....which I don't.  So I was sh*t out of luck on that one.

On a whim I decided to join..I don't know why, maybe because I was bored, and wanted something new and exciting to look forward to, something to keep my mind off of things, something just plain silly.  Obviously it worked. 

Aaron got the readers digest version of my situation when we went on our first date, I didn't want to overload him with my emotional baggage, but over time he learned tho whole situation.  He was there for me every second, giving me advice when I asked for it (even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear..he was going to tell me the truth).  Listening when I needed to vent, and letting me cry when I needed to.  I remember the night I knew I fell in love with him.  I was crying about something, and he let me talk it out, but then he decided to tell me secrets that he had never told anyone else.  We were up all night talking, about everything under the sun.  I knew then and there we would be together forever.

At one point in time we had the "talk" that I'm sure everyone has when they know their relationship his getting serious..1) Divorce is not an option we will communicate and work through things...Yes I know that certain circumstances can cause divorce, but I refuse to just give up like I've seen so many times. 2) We're equals in this, we may contribute in different ways, but we are partners.  3) Honesty always. 4) To remember we're not just husband and wife, but best friends as well.  These things are so important to me know more than ever, I don't want to be a statistic.

Short and sweet, I just wanted to get things off my chest!

<3 Karissa

Tulle and Balloons OH MY!

Well, we hit the Wave Room last night....LOVE IT.  It's so different, the whole idea behind it is so much fun.  Our guests would have to use the main entrance to Celebration Cinema, but the room is up this big spiral staircase, and overlooks the whole lobby of the theater.  If you've never been to a Celebration Cinema and you're picturing a theater like we have in good ol' BC you're way off!  They are so nice, and this theater is the IMAX and is pretty fancy! 

The room is huge, and is so up to date with the decor..it's so nice.  Of course Aaron noticed the carpet, and he approved!  I will admit it is some of the nicest banquet carpet I've seen.  There is one whole wall of windows, we can decorate any way we want, and the price was right!  I'm so excited.  I've been dragging on this whole thing because everything has been so typical..everyone gets married at a country club, or at a banquet hall, but how many weddings have you been to that are at a movie theater?  I think that it's just different enough that it makes me really feel like it's OUR wedding and not a copy cat of something else.

The only issue we're running into is a ceremony location.  I've been looking at places where we can hold the ceremony and reception, and now we have to worry about finding a whole new location.  The coordinator did tell us that we could use one of the theaters as our ceremony location.  I didn't like the idea at first, now it's kind of growing on me.  I always see these wedding shows with really cool locations, and ideas, and this is so different.  I don't think Aaron is really fond of the idea...however, he did say "your the boss"  I knew I picked a good one lol!  I have a feeling that we would have some very strong opinions about the ceremony if it was done at the theater...so moving on.

We looked at Meijer Gardens, but their pricing for just a ceremony is around 3,000.....nooooo thanks..not for a 15 minute ceremony.  Augh...I can't find anything I like that works, or that doesn't require ceremony and reception. 

On a different note, we started talking about decorations for the room, and the centerpieces...Aaron thought it would be a good idea to use tulle and balloons for the decorations..UHHHHHH NO.  This is not the 80's I refuse to walk in to our reception room under a balloon arch....*insert gag here* 

So to sum it up...Save the date July 28th 2012 The Wave room!!!

Oy!!!!

The title says it all.  It's exactly how I feel right now.  After we came down from our high on Saturday, we really looked at the numbers, and the place we absolutely love is possible, but we don't want to be broke because of one day.  It just doesn't make sense to blow all of our money, and savings on a wedding, when we're trying to build a life.  Soooo with a very heavy heart...I think we're moving on.  On the bight side, the last place we have to look at (tomorrow) has the original date that we like available. 

We're going to see the Wave Room tomorrow.  Apparently Celebration Cinema has a banquet facility.  I've heard good things about the place, we, we like the menu options...PLUS they have a 5 hour bar service instead of a 4 hour service.  http://www.celebrationbanquets.com/photos/.  Hopefully we like it and can book it and be done with the hard stuff.

I'm so sad that Brook Lodge closed before I could get married, I can't get it out of my head what my wedding would have been like if I could have been married there, surrounded by all of my Brook Lodge family.  OHHHH Well :(

Luckily, once we get the venue it will be smooth sailing from there, I know exactly what the rest of the wedding will look like!  I was looking over all of the different sales kits the different venues gave to us, they had all of their initial contracts in the packets.  It was weird to see "Brides Name" and think...oh yea that's me.  I'm not filling this out for someone else this time.  It is still so hard to wrap my head around the fact that I'm the bride this time, and this is our wedding!!!  Please keep reminding me of these things, once I remember them I get excited again.

Lastly I would just like to say, that I appreciate and love all of the support and help that everyone has offered.  I'm trying to include everyone in everything possible, but some appointments and outings are more personal, and honestly a lot more stressful the more people you add to a group. The more opinions that are thrown in, the harder it gets to make any sort of decision.  Please don't feel like I'm intentionally leaving you out of anything, I'm just trying to make things as stress free and simple as possible.



I love fall...going for a Hay Ride!!  Mark the horse pulled us.  For some reason Aaron that the name Mark for a horse was soooooooo funny!

 Keep your fingers crossed for the Wave Room. 

<3 Karissa

The One

Soooo apparently Aaron has some sort of radar that went off informing all of his ex's that he was engaged.  Yesterday this slut bag was texting him all night long, even after he told her he was engaged she asked him to meet her downtown...EXCUSE ME BITCH I WILL CUT YOU!  He stopped texting her, but she continued to text this morning too.  I'm about to call this skank and bitch her out.  Then this morning he ran into an ex at the gym...and she just had to stop and talk to him..really...now that he's off the market everyone flocks to him.  Sorry Taken!

We went venue hunting today.  It was such a beautiful day, if I could be guaranteed a day like today I would book a fall wedding.  However, it's Michigan and the weather is unpredictable, it could be snowing, it could be raining, or it could be 100 degrees outside....so no thanks.

We went to three different places, which meant we drove ALL OVER GR.  We like the first Country Club Centennial County Club http://www.centennialcc.com/banquets/pictures  It was really pretty.  Supposedly they have a driving range, and waterfall where we could do the ceremony....but we didn't see it...so....yea.  We did like the banquet space!

We drove across town, and pulled into this very secluded area drove through the forest and pulled up to this enormous golf lodge looking place. 
Thousand Oaks http://www.thousandoaksgolf.com/Weddings-Banquests_a59272b15ba7b.html  The golf course was beautiful with rolling hills.  We walked into the pro shop, and at this point weren't too impressed.  The wedding coordinator took us through the club restaurant where everyone stared at us like we were the new kids at school...can you say AWKWARD.  We walked into the ballroom, and it was massive!  it's a really pretty light green, with really nice banquet carpet..it wasn't obnoxious.  The light fixtures were beautiful  Their tables and chair were really nice (they'll still need covers though).  What sold us on this place was the foyer.  It was one of the nicest entrances I have ever seen.  It had a huge fireplace, and wrap around couch...so cozy!  Once we talked about the menu and all of the options we were both getting super excited...time to talk available dates.  I knew they had some Saturday dates in July and August because that's what I was told when I called...WRONG.  Dumb dumb I spoke with on the phone had no idea what she was talking about, and our coordinator told us there were no Saturday's in July or August.  I could actually see the excitement leaving Aaron's face, and disappointment was written all over his body language.  I knew my face mirrored.  He decided to cave and said lets look at Friday's, I knew he didn't want Friday's so I caved and changed dates.  We're now stuck with May 26th or September 1st.  Cool great...then she said that's Memorial day weekend, or Labor day weekend...well that explains why they're the only dates left.  Damnit!!!!!  We're leaning towards Sept 1st, so don't make Labor day plans people!  Once we saw the driving range where we would get married, Sept 1st started to look better and better.  We're in the number crunching stage, but I'm thinking we found the one!!!

Just to make sure we covered all of our options we went to the last country club.  Mr. Monzo was suddenly buzzing from finding a place,  I even commented that he had good questions...suddenly he's this "wedding expert"  We pulled in and he started pointing out everything he didn't like.."oh I don't like this entrance, oh and that water tower is horrible"  Lordy, we weren't even inside yet!  We got inside, and I wasn't impressed that the person set to meet us, wasn't there...holy annoyed.  As we were waiting Aaron took a walk down this long hall...came back, and said "I do not want to get married here.  The bathrooms are ugly, and look at this wallpaper, this is a no!"  OOOOOOOKKKK Groomzilla!!!  My goodness, I was laughing at his reaction, now that we had found what we were looking for nothing else was going to be good enough for him.  We found the manager, they opened the door and...I shit you not, my eyes we pulled to the floor..the first thing I saw was the most ugly carpet I have EVER seen in my entire life.  It looked like a red and yellow checkered flannel shirt...it was awful.  It was so tacky, nothing could every hide that.  It didn't help that it was one of the most ugly decorated weddings I have ever seen.  Horrible mustard yellow chairs, a whole in the wall by the dance floor...it was terrible they must have had an awesome photographer take their pictures! 

While we were standing in the room I happened to notice one of the tables was missing a bunch of napkins, so I pointed it out to the manager, who in turn said something the the staff, and the girl snapped back "yea we know we're folding more"  then Aaron heard her say something like "it isn't even her wedding what's her problem"  Well soooorrrrrrry if it had been my wedding and someone else was touring the room and noticed the same thing, I would have wanted them to mention it too..skank bag.  It's easy to forget something like that I was just trying to be helpful!  Whatever, I have no desire to get married in a McDonald's which is what that carpet reminded me of, so we won't be seeing them again!

We had a great day, we're super excited.  We sent out mass texts messages to people asking about Labor Day weekend, everyone said it's cool with them....it's looking like September 1st I will make the change to Mrs. Monzo!!!


I love this picture, don't mind the finger...I noticed it after I uploaded it, sorry!



Totally over it already

We've officially started the search.  We went and checked out a venue downtown last night.  Bridgewater place.  It's right on the Grand River, and has floor to ceiling windows along one whole wall.  I loved it.  It won't really go with the vintage theme I had in mind since it's a really contemporary but it's so pretty.  Only issue I'm running into is the area that they use for ceremonies might be getting turned into a restaurant within the next year.  They can't grantee us an indoor wedding space, and I REFUSE to plan an outside wedding in Michigan with no rain backup.  She did tell us that we could hold the ceremony in the room where the reception will be, but we can't have a rehearsal Friday night if there is a  Friday night wedding booked...we could have a Thursday rehearsal...(gee that's soo helpful, especially when we know we'll have people from out of town coming to the rehearsal, and can't be there that early)...AWESOME.   It's all so up in the air I don't want to book and then get totally screwed.

Aaron was HILARIOUS during the tour, asking the most random questions... suddenly I felt like I was marrying a 4 year old.  He danced on the dance floor to "make sure it was danceable"  he HAD to check out the bathrooms, he also asked if we could have sports center on the giant TV they have in the room...awesome.  We held the date, but still have some thinking to do.  We know we don't want to get married in a church, so we're leaning towards no.  :(    Aaron also didn't like the carpet...I told him banquet carpet is always ugly..it has to be to hide stains!  Also, the ceiling had "scratches" on it...which I didn't notice, but whatev.

We have a whole bunch of tours scheduled for Saturday, and one next Tuesday, hopefully this is all figured out by Wednesday.  It's sad to say, but I'm already over it...The money, the planning, I'm stressed already.  Just because I do it for a living, doesn't make it any easier.  I really just want to be married.  I want a wedding, and the experience...but really the goal is to be married to the man of my dreams.  I think my stress, and the lack of overall excitement is coming from figuring out how to pay for all of this.  We don't want to dip into savings, I have ALWAYS thought it was stupid to drop thousands and thousands on one day, and we don't really want to have our parents paying for everything...so paying for this hoopla is still a mystery.  :/  

On top of all of that, I'm trying to study for my State Farm test so I can get in the office, and actually start making some money.  I have so much to get done for the test, it's putting everything else on hold.  It's possible to plan a wedding in a short period of time, but it really sucks the fun out of it, and takes away enjoying just being engaged....sadly my bubble has burst and reality is starting to set in....this is exactly why people take a year to plan the wedding...so they can enjoy it!  Maybe I'll just leave all of the decisions to Aaron, and see where that leads us!

<3 Karissa