Some Final Thoughts from Karen Before the Big Day

  We have had a long day packing for our trip back East, as well as packing  our   things for  the Apartment managers to paint &  shampoo our carpets   next week. Needless-to-say, we are exhausted.  Right now,  not able to think  clearly & write  cohearently.    Yet, we  do want to  provide you  content  of our plans before we   depart Phoenix This  coming Wednesday May 31st.

For the most part, everything is done.  We  will still have some last minute things to do.  WE    still  need  to  decide on the   menu choices for the 4  course    Dinner on Odyssey. Following our  20  minute  Ceremony, we   will have a 4 hour  reception. There will  be lots of good food and dancing   going on. BTW,  The Captain of the  Ship will Marry us &  the Jp will legalized.  We  still need to  get our Marriage Lisence.  Will do that Thursday,   June 1 st.

I have my  Gown. Actually,  I already picked it out &, it is at  my  Folks in New  Hampshire along with our Unity Sand. The Gown is beautiful.  Satin  material, floor length, simple  but elegant. Darrell will  also   send a link to the  Pics of me modeling the Gown as well as  pics taken of us in our backyard,   by  the  pool of  our Apartment
Complex. Our Friend Darcy, was the one whom took the   digital shots. Thanks Darcy.

Darrell   has  ordered his Tux.  He    went to Men’s Wearhouse, took his measurements & forward the   size & so forth  to  a Men’s wearhouse in Boston, where we will pick it up on Friday, the  day before the   big day.

Since we  will be   having our Ceremony on the ship, actually,on the upper Deck, we will not  use  the traditional Unity Candle.  Instead , we  will use the Unity Sand to symbolize our  Union. We  will have  a total of 3 vases.    I  will have one empty one, Darrell another &  the third we will blend   both  his Sand & mine. We chose  a light blue & a pink for me. Not too many colors to  select from &  also, we  wanted a  dark & a light color, so,  when, the two were  blended, it will not look like  dirt.

AS we   said, the  Wedding is in 5 days. We  will be   departing Phoenix Wednesday Morning.  We have a flight at 9a.m On America West &  will  arrive in Boston at 5. My Sister Tara & Brother-in-law Bob will meetus & we will stay with  them Wednesday & Thursday night. Many of our Family & friends will be coming  down either  Friday nightor Saturday morning.  Those of us whom will be in town Friday, June  2, will be  going    out to Dinner to a French Restaurant.  Only 30 to 40 people will be attending  the Wedding & most, are   my  Family & close friends of ours.  Some, I have not seenin years & it will be  nice to see everyone,after all this  time.

More on Odyssey and the Music for the Reception.

Darrell & I will provide you a link to the Odyssey so you can see for yourself what the  boat is like,  all the Events they Cater,  look at the Menu & even get  a history of the Odyssey & Boston itself. WE have had several   Conversations with  the  staff.  They are  very professional, friendly & accommodating. We  can’t wait, it will be a blast!We are working with a Wedding Coordinator & a D.J.     we  already have   our  play list of most of  the   music we want to hear.  WE both like just about all types of music except Rap & Opera.  We also wanted to have a variety to suit all  music  tastes & ages.  Thanks to Jeff  for  assisting us in   selecting our  music.  There is so  much   excellent  music at our fingertips.  .

How We Reached Our Final Decision on Odyssey

Both my Sisters, Mary Beth & Tara, are Married & had their  ideas of an
ideal Wedding for us.  Mary Beth     thought it  would  be very nice having the Wedding at  a  B & B in New  London near Mom & Dad’s.  she  was interested in  planning it for us, saying she  had all  kinds of ideas, contacts  etc.. Tara was  still   discussing the  Odyssey with us, &  we were heading in that direction.  It seemed  more fun & romantic. Also, liked the  idea of  the Staff  planning most of the event for us.  We  were  beginning to realize, how difficult it was  planning a Wedding across the  country &    this  idea seemed    intriguing & much more     likely  as a   wonderful Venue to have our Special day. 

Neither one of us  is Religious yet,  me, especially is very spiritual.   We did not want to have a Church  Wedding but still   have  traditional beliefs. Furthermore, This way, we could have  a  traditional Ceremony & have a Wedding on the water.

Last Summer we  chose the   Odyssey as our Venue for this Event. However, we   waited  months before we actually began the real work in planning. We  all get  busy & caught up in every day life &, once again, put the   planning aside for a While. In late January, There was an Open House on the  Odyssey  and Tara  took a tour.  Overall, she    loved the Boat & the  staff was very friendly. At the time, she was feeling ill &  was not sure  about the food.  She was not sure if we  would   truly like the  menu.

So,  we   decided to  look elsewhere for our location  to have our Wedding. Since I work for  Hyatt,  we began Considering one of the  Hyatt’s to  hold the event. We considered the Hyatt Cambridge as our   location. After  careful consideration, we  realized, we  really  wanted to have  our Wedding  on the  Odyssey after all. So, in February of  this year, we finally, chose our  location.

Decisions, Decisions on the Location…

We have had  several months  to   plan, research & decide on what kind of  Wedding   we wanted.    We have known from the  beginning  that we wanted a small intimate affair but, did not know   exactly where, since, after all,   My Family is from the East Coast  while Darrell’s is here in Phoenix.

Though  we  live in  Phoenix, we   did not want to get Married here,  don’t
particularly  like  it here, though, we   have  good  jobs & a few  very
close friends. Initially, we  were  going to    have a beech Wedding in San Diego in Sept
2005, but, soon after that  idea,  plans changed & we  decided to have it somewhere
in New England,  just not exactly  sure where. 

Shortly after  our discussion of having a beech Wedding in san Diego, we tossed around ideas of having it  in  either  Boston or in New  Hampshire at My Parents Home.   We both love the  Beech  and I have always loved  New England.  I thought it would be   romantic having  the  ceremony on the beech & fun having  something  like a clam bake, & be  near the  ocean. It is beautiful   at Sunset!

After  discussing  our thoughts with family , we realized that a beach wedding was not very practical.  I did not want to have a crowd of strangers   trying  to crash our  party & so on. So, then, my Sister  Tara  came up with the  Idea of the  Oddysey.  She knew I had enjoyed the Spirit of Boston for my  Graduation from Bradford College. The   Spirit of Boston is also a  boat that Cruises the Boston Harbor & I thoroughly enjoyed myself;  good food, company &  music.  Darrell & I both  loved the idea of the  Odyssey for many  reasons.  We could have  our Wedding on the water in New England as we    had liked &, the Crew,  assists in planning the occasion.  Soon after  becoming engaged I  conducted Research &   quickly    became overwelmed on all the information availible ,  some  ” experts” saying one thing, while, another,
saying something  completely  different.  Besides, there was  just way too
much to do & then,  I haulted this  process for  months, thinking, I have ,
” plenty of time ” to     plan this Event, we  knew then,  it would  be in
the Spring of  06. So, I  put it all on the back burner for a While.

7 days until we say we do!

  We are  looking forward to our Wedding with  excited anticipation.  I know, much isn’t  written in our Blog on our plans, very little in fact.  So much to do in  planning  an Event like this.  You know how it is? In  addition to  work &  other  daily living  tasks &  obligations, we got busy &  distracted & thus   have not   spent  the time to provide a   log of activities & the  process of  planning for the  ” big Day”. Since     we will be  Tieing the Knot exactly a week from tonight, I thought we were long overdue   & should   write the  details of   our Special  day for you all.

Odyssey

In case anyone doesn’t already know this, we are, in fact, getting married on Odyssey after all. This has been definite since early February. Sorry we haven’t had much to say here in quite some time… Things have been crazy.

Our Engagement Anniversary

Today is April 1, the anniversary of our engagement. The proposal was broadcast live on Jeff Bishop’s The Desert Skies radio show. You can still hear the Live Marriage Proposal show. Last night, Jeff put on another wonderful show celebrating this anniversary by playing many of the songs from the original proposal show. We thank Jeff and ACB Radio Interactive for making this marriage proposal possible in the form it took.

This evening, we went to Outback Steakhouse for a yummy dinner and are now enjoying the last few hours of the day. Karen must work tomorrow, so we must not stay up much later. We are now looking forward to our wedding in just two month with great anticipation and excitement!

Wedding Planning Chat

Shownotes

• Hyatt Regency Cambridge
• Hyatt Regency Islandia
• David’s Bridal

Download and Listen

Hyatt Regency Cambridge Overlooking Boston

We have decided not to use the Odyssey for our wedding. Stay tuned for all the reasons we’re changing our plans five months before the big day. In the meantime, we’re seriously checking out Hyatt Cambridge as our wedding location.

Marriage Proposal and Engagement

On Friday, April 1, 2005, I proposed on Jeff Bishop’s Desert Skies show on ACB Radio Interactive. Feel free to learn more and listen to an archive of this show.