Brandon and I braved the chance of typical snowy, stormy weather and headed up to Erie this past weekend. We crossed our fingers and hoped and prayed that we wouldn't get caught in a common Erie snow storm and it worked! The weather held out for us on Friday and Sunday which were the two days that we were traveling. We were very thankful for that. We did have some weather issues on Saturday but nothing too bad. My Mom came over for the day and had a pretty dicey drive home but she made it safely, thank goodness!
Our wedding planning began on Friday on our way up to Erie. We had our first meeting of the weekend with Isabell Photography in Uniontown, PA. Brandon and I very much enjoyed the meeting and we both had a really good feeling about the company. After that, we continued our drive up to Erie. We got to Erie around 5:30, much earlier than we expected which was nice because then we had extra time to spend with Aunt Jeanne and Dianne!
Saturday was one whirlwind of a day! Our day started with a meeting with another photographer at 10:00. This is where my Mom met up with us. It was a nice meeting but we were looking for specific criteria that he did not meet. From there, we met Matt Barnes, owner and staff DJ of Walten Point Productions. My Mom and I were very impressed with him and his work. He has done many receptions at the Bayfront Sheraton. Brandon and I decided to sign a contract with him as well as give him a deposit. We all then headed up to the Mall to Tuxedo Junction where Brandon chose his tux and the tux for his groomsman and our ushers and fathers. Brandon's friend Larry met up with us at Tuxedo Junction. He and Brandon then got some time to spend together at lunch while my Mom and I first stopped at David's Bridal to pick up the bridesmaid dresses of which I only thought one was in. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that ALL of the bridesmaid dresses were in. Next, we headed to Aunt Jeanne's house to drop off the dresses and to pick her up. We headed to a jewelry store that had been recommended to my Aunt where we dropped off my Grandma's pearls to be cleaned, restrung, shortened to 18 inches and have earrings made out of the extra pearls from the shortening. I am really excited to be able to wear her pearls for the wedding!
After the jewelry store, my Mom and I had 15 minutes to eat lunch so we grabbed a quick bite at Arby's before heading to the church. Brandon met us at the church where we planned the ceremony music. We were able to hear the cantor as well as the organist play samples of music from which we got to choose what we liked for specific portions of the ceremony. Of course I cried! I don't think this is shocking to anyone. I will definitely need my make up artist to use waterproof make up for the day!! My Mom took off half way through this meeting so that she could get on the road before dark because the weather was getting worse. This ended our whirlwind of a day! Brandon and I both were ready to relax. We headed back to Aunt Jeanne's house where we did just that for the rest of the night. We had a wonderful dinner and many laughs to end the night!
On Sunday, Brandon and I left Erie around noon. We headed to Edinboro to check out all of the changes on campus. It was really quite impressive. Of course since we were in Edinboro, we HAD to stop at John's before leaving. Anyone who has lived in or around Edinboro knows John's. We spent many a night after the bar at John's! I got my usual fingers and fries with ranch and honey mustard and Brandon got his usual hot turkey sub well done and fries with ranch. It was soooooooooooo good but sooooooooooo bad for us! Oh well, it was worth it! On the trip home, we discussed the weekend, especially the photographer and decided to hire Isabell Photography. Brandon called and put down the deposit so we are all set.
It was a great weekend, very, very busy but well worth it! We were able to get so much done!
