Be aggressive

One thing I've learned during this wedding planning process is how important it is to be vigilant and aggressive when it comes to getting what we want.

I realized this last week when we were working with our hotel contact to make sure we reserve our complimentary bridal suite.

Way back in the winter/spring, we were cranking out our hotel room block contract with Hampton Inn, going back and forth with edits and more things we wanted to include. I confess - I thought Cyrus was being a bit anal when it came to including ALL of the spoken and unspoken things we discussed with the sales manager such as getting a complimentary room, making sure there are no penalties for not filling our entire room block reservation, etc.

But check out this email exchange...

Ina:

Our room block contract says that my fiance and I will be able to reserve a room on Saturday night (August 22) at no cost. How do we go about reserving that room?

Bruna @ Hampton Inn:

We can definitely reserve that room for you, provided that the room block you had on the contract is filled.

Ina:

We talked about reserving our complimentary bridal suite, which is in our contract, and you said that we'll need to fill the majority of our room block for that to happen. Our contract also says that there will be no penalty for rooms not filled by the cut-off date.

Bruna:

We usually do not give a complimentary room to anyone that reserves less than 20 rooms because by providing them with a complimentary suite we would show our appreciation for them sending us that many rooms. Because that was not included into your contract, I will go ahead and make your reservation for you. I will need a Credit Card number for the incidentals so as soon as I receive that, I will go ahead and make your room reservation for 1 night.

BAM! Free room, thanks to Cyrus's vigilance with including EVERYTHING in the contract!

Party planning

I started planning my own birthdays after my 24th. My good friends were planning my 24th birthday and asked where I wanted to go. I'd heard a lot about Makoto, but I had no idea that it was THE Japanese restaurant in DC or, more importantly, that it was $80/person! So in we went, the 10 of us in this tiny narrow strip of a restaurant. Of course they didn't let me pay, and of course I felt awwwful.

Some pictures from that very expensive (but fun!) evening...

High rollers at Makoto

Later that evening at Eyebar. Look! My maid of honor and future boyfriend/fiance! Who knew??

So for my following birthday, I decided - no inconvenience, no hassle.

I paid for the food for my 25th birthday and had friends over at our house for an evening under the stars. For my 26th, we went to a National's baseball game, courtesy of Aaron's season tickets. For my 27th, we kept it dirty and went to Paul Kee's Chinese restaurant! Mmm!

Long intro, I know, but my point is that I liked being in control of my parties so that I wouldn't risk putting anyone in an uncomfortable situation, like paying...a LOT.

So when it comes to my bachelorette party, it makes me nervous and excited at the same time that my bridesmaids are in charge. I told the girls my concerns and priorities, and I know and trust that they know what they're doing. It's just an unfamiliar feeling - not knowing.

Ladies, I am truly honored that you've put so much time and thought into this! I'm so excited to see what happens!

Please RSVP by...

...July 15. One week from today.

I didn't realize how soon this was until a couple days ago! And it seems like right NOW is the best time to book tickets. It's a little frustrating that I can't get out information to the masses (like reminders, tips, etc.) like I can on an Evite.

I know I should trust people to make their travel plans and figure out accommodations, car rentals, etc., but it's the control freak in me that wants to make sure everyone is on top of things. I'm always over-planning and overbearing, especially when it comes to travel.

I could use this blog or our wedding website to send out info, but not a lot of our guests seem to know about it...

So I'll just take a deep breath and trust that everything will be okay, as Cyrus always reminds me! :)

Cyrus is awesome

Here is Cyrus. Now that I think about it, this picture was taken the week that Cyrus proposed! Cool!


Anyway, we've gone through about 10 months of wedding planning now, and I want to make it known that Cyrus has been a part of every decision! There are some details he doesn't care about, but there are more details that he does care about. Whatever stress I've had in planning, he's shared with me.

This is pretty rare, isn't it? Maybe? I guess that's why people just assume that he's not a part of the planning process at all, which is not true at all. I'm so thankful that this wedding is gonna be a reflection of both of our visions!

Color Scheme

Maybe not the orange...

I am afraid...

It's only three months into planning, and it's hard for anything to go horribly wrong this early in the game. Yet I fear that I may go too far to get what I want the way I want it, when I want it.

I've been trying to work out hotel blocks with a brand new hotel in the brand new National Harbor area. When I first stopped by, I talked to a woman named Sharon and she told me that I could get a fantastic deal at their hotel. "Yes!" I told her. She wasn't able to show me the rooms at that moment, but I could call and make an appointment.

Too bad that after about five attempts, I have yet to see her face for a second time. She doesn't return my calls, rescheduled a meeting at the last minute, she actually stood me up, and she was supposed to send me a contract last week but didn't.

I'm ready to call the hotel manager and tell him exactly how incompetent some of his staff are...

But wait - I've heard of brides who lose control when things don't go their way. And knowing how I get when other plans like movies and dinner outings don't go my way (prime example), I know that I'm a prime candidate for bridezillitis.

So where do I draw the line with this? If they didn't have the best deal in town, I'd pick up my bags and sign with a different hotel. To be that girl or not...?

I wonder how different my life would be if I could rant like this guy...

Past entries

9/16/08 Not much is going on in the wedding planning world of Cyrus and Ina these days... Right now is kind of like a pondering, brainstorming, vision-setting time for us. Also, I have to mention that the future sis-in-law is being a huge help with ideas and recommendations. We’re pretty much reaping the benefits of all of her legwork! I'm also thinking about shutting down this site and making a new one with a prettier design. The more I look at other websites, the uglier this one seems to be... =\

8/29/08

We set a date!! We saw a bunch of great places, and thanks to Adam & Eve Wedding Consultants (aka Seh-Hee and YeHee), we heard about Oxon Hill Manor which we got to see just two days ago. We fell in love with it, which was a pleasant surprise, considering how starkly different our visions of our ’dream’ wedding are! Another couple had a hold on our desired date, which expired yesterday at 5pm. We’ve been crossing our fingers that they would pass, and lo and behold -- THE DATE IS OURS! It’s all happening! :D

8/20/08 

Welcome to our website! We’re just getting started with our planning, so there isn’t much we can say about our wedding just yet. But Ina’s working hard on the website, so feel free to browse around! As far as planning goes, we’re discussing our ideas and looking into venues for the ceremony and reception. As for the date, we’re aiming for summer of 2009. Can you believe this is really happening? AHHH!

Just one day?

"It's just one day" v. "You only get one chance to make it awesome."

These two opposing views have been the theme of our past 134820 conversations about our wedding: "It's just one day," so don't waste your money on something that will only last an evening; "You only get one chance to make it awesome," so make it as awesome as possible - money is no object! What do you think? I'm an avid Martha Stewart Weddings magazine reader, and the more I learned about weddings and the huge range of types of weddings there can be, I fell in the first camp - Why spend so much money on just one day? There are plenty of inexpensive things you can do to make your wedding beautiful and special. But as we're thinking and rethinking the look and feel of our wedding, my frugal side is slowly losing the war, battle by battle.

Cyrus and I have been learning a lot about compromise these days. At first it seemed impossible to fuse our opposite visions into one, but after over two months, it's finally coming together! I don't want to give too much away because we want to run a lot of our ideas by our families and wedding planner before we move forward, but expect something different! And fun!