Just what I needed

Well, Jack and I are both back to work today after a great long weekend.  And let me just go on the record by saying that I have the BEST fiance ever! :)  We were invited to Wisconsin for the weekend with friends, but soon after we started making our plans, Jack realized that 2 of his close friends who now live out west were going to be in Michigan this weekend for a party.  Since he rarely gets to see them, I agreed that this was an opportunity he does not normally get and encouraged him to go.  But deep down, I was bummed that I was not going to get to go to WI and enjoy some time away myself.  Well, Jack knew this and devised a plan for us to accomplish all of the things we wanted.  I ended up riding to WI with our friends on Friday after work while Jack drove to Michigan to see his friends.  On Saturday, he took a FERRY from Muskegon, MI across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, WI where he then drove 4 hours north to meet me and our friends for the rest of the weekend.  What a great guy!

 

I will say that a few days of absolute relaxation, some much needed sleep, a few board games and some time in the sun did wonders for me!  Although it is always tough to come back to work after time away, I feel much more refreshed and ready to tackle my To Do List than I have in weeks.  And believe it or not, we still did a couple minor wedding things too.  We narrowed down our invitation choices online and discussed a bunch of minor wedding details on the ride home.  Thanks to our friends for the invitation and thanks, Jack, for giving me the weekend away I really needed.

Admit One DJs

I also wanted to say a couple things about the DJ company we booked.  I'm sure that many companies are going digital nowadays if they haven't already, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

 

Admit One DJs uses PC software to search, load and play all music selections.  The software itself not only provides basic functions that a normal dj cd player provides, play/pause/cue/pitch adjustment/etc, but also automates tasks normally done by the dj.  The ability to count and match beats, create playlists, and load songs in seconds instead of minutes flipping through a cd wallet, allows the dj to spend a lot more time on other things like monitoring crowd response and taking requests.  

 

Being a pseudo-dj myself (no McMixer comments, thank you), the part I can appreciate the most is not having to lug around a 100 lb dj box with a dual-cd player, a mixing console, and a heavy power amp!  The second best part, is not having to haul a bunch of cds or records around and worrying if you've brought enough of the right music.  With an audio library all on digital media, everywhere you go, you have every song in your collection.  Admit One DJs uses a device that is more or less a desktop computer, but much lower profile.  In case you were wondering about the computer crashing or the hard drive failing, all you have to do is plug in the back-up system.  With the price of computer hardware these days, there's no reason to go any other way! 

 

Ok, that's it for my nerd commentary.  I just wanted to say how cool I thought it was :) 

Ready to Dance?

Jack and I have been on the run more than ever this week, but at least things are moving along and we are checking some things off the list.  Although I may always feel like there is lots to do, it is starting to feel more and more managable to me, for which I am truly grateful.  So far this week, we finally booked our airline and car reservations for my cousin's wedding in Washington (can't wait!), did some walking for the Avon Walk coming up (only two more weeks to go), have visited with two different photography companies and one DJ company.  Possibly one of the most exciting accomplishments of the week though was that we booked our DJ company last night.  We ended up going with Admit One DJs, which is the same company that our friends Steve & Kati had at their wedding last August.  We definitely liked they way they handled their event and after speaking with someone at this company for 2 hours last night, we feel confident that they will do a great job for us as well.  Pack your dancing shoes because this is going to be fun!

 

If you have song suggestions, feel free to post comments to this blog entry with your ideas.  I will be honest though, I make no promises that all the songs will be played that night since we were informed last night that the average wedding has about 45 songs I think played during the whole time of dancing.

Website Update

After staring at our website for the last few months in anxious anticipation of guestbook entries and comments, I finally decided (with Mary's encouragement) to slightly change the header of our site.  Previously, the picture of the skyline from the night we got engaged took up most of the screen, and visitors had to scroll down to view any of the content.  I cropped the photo a bit and moved the menu links up.  Hopefully, this will reduce the amount of scrolling :)

Photographers & DJs: Round 1

Just a quick update.  We've had appointments (or "consultations" as everyone in the industry has called it) with three photography studios so far.  Mary and I haven't said about any of them, "wow, these guys are it!", however, the photos of two of the studios we did like quite a bit.  We have one more appointment scheduled for tomorrow.  We've been asking all the standard questions like how long is the coverage?  Is there a location limit?  How many photographers?  Do they have back-up photographers?  Are we obligated to purchase an album?  Do we get the high-res digital negatives?  Of course we'll never cover EVERYTHING, but between Mary and I, I think we're doing a pretty good job covering our bases.  Hopefully after a few phone calls and some negotiations, we will have booked our photographer!

 

Also on the vendor front, we have an appointment with a DJ tomorrow, as well as a good recommendation from a friend of Mary's.  We're pretty sure we'll like the DJ we're meeting tomorrow, as we heard him play at Steve & Kati's wedding.  We're also pretty sure we'll like the other DJ as well, so hopefully we're in a good position.

 

It seems like the photographer and DJ are some the last really really big decisions we have to make.  Not that the florist and transportation and invitations and all that aren't important, but the two are such important aspects of the event.  I mean, the photos are one of the only things we'll have to help us remember our special day, and having great music is what makes a great party.  After that, it will be a hundred little decisions to make, but, hopefully, it will be much easier to make those decisions!