Amy and Josh - Married!

This is a late post, but better late than never, right? Amy and Josh were married on May 31, 2009. There wedding was just gorgeous! It was held at Gordon Lee Mansion and we were sooo happy that it turned out to be a nice day. Our backup plan for rain was in a tent and it would have not been as nice as the front steps of the gorgeous, historical mansion. For more pictures go to www.michellemckibben.blogspot.com.

I have been a REALLY REALLY bad blogger these past few months. There have been a lot of changes and I just haven't been able to keep up with my blogging. I know, I'm a terrible person! Don't think I forgot about you all though...because I certainly didn't. I will be posting more now that I am starting to catch my breath. I will try to put some of my Costa Rica pictures up soon so that you all can see how my husband and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! I am in love with Costa Rica. I miss it dearly. I am thinking that I need to find a bride who wants to get married there. :)

Early morning in Costa...

So, this morning we woke up REALLY early to a crazy-eyed bird making weird noises outside of our window. I was so hoping that it was a monkey or a tucan, but it wasn't...just a big 'ol nasty black bird being sooo loud!

Realizing that we just couldn't get back to sleep (we are still on EST, so it was actually 9:00 when we finally got up after not being able to take the bird anymore) and got in a pretty good workout before our $20.00 breakfast....ugh. I hate paying more than $2.00 for breakfast. What would Dave say, right? Thank goodness we are going to an all-inclusive resort or we would make ourselves miserable each time we had to pay for food. :)

We are getting ready to leave the Hilton Garden Inn and head for the Paradisus Resort. We are sooo excited! Not sure if we will have internet access at the resort, so if not then we will talk to you all when we get back.

P.S. I don't think I will be able to post any pictures since I am not working off of my laptop but the hotel's public computers. But I'll see what I can do.

P.P.S.S. Mom the frogs here are soooo cute! :) Just kidding...I haven't seen any yet. Granny....tell Hailey I will do my best to bring her back a monkey! :)

We're in Costa Rica!!

Well, we love it already. We made it in a little early and it was already dark here so we haven't got to really see Costa Rica yet but I'm sure it will be great. The airport is open air which was cool and it was raining when we arrived, so that was an experience in and of itself. :)

For tonight we are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn that is close to the airport to save some money. Tomorrow we will head on over to our resort, the Paradisus Playa Conchal. We are so excited for tomorrow! When we got to the hotel, the service was superb. Everyone here is so friendly and just waiting to help. However, when we went down to dinner we were going to sit outside and all of a sudden this HUGE RAT came running out in front of me screeching "EECH EECH!" (Okay, I may be exaggerating a little...it was more like a small, black mouse, but still...gross!) Now to redeem the hotel...it is not a hotel that you would think would have a mouse on the patio. It is a very nice hotel, in fact, I think it is the nicest Hilton Garden Inn's that I have ever stayed in.

Dinner was good and we are about ready to go to bed since it is almost 11:00 our time. We want to make sure that we have lots of energy to explore Costa Rica and our resort tomorrow.

We hope that you all have a great week and pray for us that there won't be much rain. We are here on the "rainy season" but have heard that it is no more than what Florida experiences with their afternoon showers. If anyone has to get ahold of us, call the resort which you can find their information online. Otherwise, we will see you all when we get back. Have a great week!

And the winner is.....

AMANDA WOODWARD!

Thank you for all who voted. Amanda had a landslide of votes and her groom truly deserves this cigar set. Amanda, please call me at 423-468-0815 or email me at natasha@allureeventconsulting.com to discuss getting you the set.

All of the stories were great and hope that each one of you can find something special for your wonderful fiance to enjoy at the wedding. If anyone is interested in learning more about how you can have your own hand-rolled cigars at your wedding please contact Jimmy Snyder with Coastal Cigars at:

Jimmy Snyder
Coastal Cigars
Director of Operations
843-225-5233
www.coastalcigars.com

Have a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend!

Bill's 60th Birthday Party

For the past year, I have been giving hints on one of my main projects that I have been working on. Well, the day has come to reveal the big surprise.....it was my grandfather's surprise 60th birthday party! The theme of the night was "Celebrating the Past 60 Years" and boy, did we go all out! On the invitations it told everyone to dress as one of the past decades that my grandfather was alive in 1940s - 2000s. I was so amazed to see how well everyone responded! There were great outfits and everyone looked so much their part! The picture above is of my sister...and as you can guess, she was dressing as the 1940s. I just love this picture that the photographer captured of her. To see all of the pictures you can go to La Vita Photo's website.

The night was a HUGE success! My grandfather was very surprised and had about 120 guests all there in his honor. However, there was a twist in the night and we had one more trick up our sleeves. About a fourth of the way into the night, I asked my grandparents to join me on the dance floor. I gave them a gift, which ended up being empty. Once they figured out that there was nothing in the box, the doors to the facility opened and in came all of the grandchildren with leis. Yes, that is right....we were letting them know that we had given them a trip to Hawaii too! The trip came from everyone at the party. It was indicated on the invitations that we were giving a huge gift and everyone in the party was more then generous with their donations.

I just want to give a few thank you's to a few people in particular:

-Ryan Vorhees for being our dj and providing us with great dance music
-Sandy Bland and all of her staff for making us a delicious meal and taking care of our catering needs.
-Victoria Stapleton at La Vita Photo for being our photobooth photographer
-Kim Burke for the yummy cupcakes!

Do It Yourself Flowers

In these tough economic times, we all need to look at how we can save money on our events. One of the things that I love about weddings is the flowers. They smell so good and look so pretty and I just can't help to be happy when I am around them. But why do we have to pay thousands of dollars for the flowers when we have two perfectly good hands to do them ourselves? Okay, I know that most of you are thinking...I don't know how to do bouquets and centerpieces and even more than that...I don't have the time! Well if you live in the Greater Dayton. Ohio area, you don't need to know everything about flowers to have great flower decorations that you made yourself. There is a company there called The Flower Man and they have the whole "Home Depot" mindset - You can do it, they can help. As far as being time restricted, you can make this a fun thing for your girls to do. You can have this actually be your Brides Luncheon day...reserve a table for your bridesmaids and yourself, bring in lunch and have each girl customize her own bouquet. I love the idea! For more information check out The Flower Man's website at www.yourflowerman.com.

Great Idea: Cigar Bar!

picture by www.ngala.net

At the wedding that I was at last weekend, one of the things that the bride and groom did was a cigar and brandy bar. I loved that idea! Outside of the reception was a small lounge section covered by a cabana tent. In the tent was a Cigar Roller from CF Dominicana Cigar Catering. Everyone loved the idea of having their cigars rolled right there in front of them while they sipped brandy. If you want to give your reception that little extra touch, I would highly recommend that you consider hiring a cigar rolling company like CF Dominicana Cigar Catering.