Honeymoon!

We are off to Belize so, BELIZE NAVIDAD to all and to all a good night!
WOOHOO!

Whose wedding was it, anyway?

Thank you Lady of Laughter!

Some fun pictures!

Thank you to all our friends who have sent us their pictures! WooHoo!

Thank you Emma for these pictures!

Extra, Extra

AMANDA AND JONATHAN

TIED THE KNOT!

Amanda Herel, well, now Amanda Ettinger, married Jonathan Ettinger on Saturday! Jonathan was overhead saying to her, “Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum. You came along and everything's startin' to hum.” Amanda responded with, “Still it’s a real good bet the best is yet to come.”
They will head to Belize in a few weeks for their honeymoon. Six days in the jungle, three days on a private island and one day in swingin’ Belize City!
The planning is over, the party is over and the best part is, now the marriage awaits!
In your honor we have made a donation to B.A.R.C. (the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition). Fink is quite happy about this, as she was once a shelter cat herself. This local organization provides a safe haven for homeless animals and finds permanent, loving homes for them. It has a special place in our hearts and maybe one day we will adopt our own puppy there!
In addition to a donation to BARC, we hope you enjoy the specially-made mints in the purple and blue wrapping. It meant so much to celebrate with you today. We hope you had a terrific time, and now you can have fresh breath, too!
We do especially want to thank those who helped us get to this day. First off, our parents, Ken, Eve, and Roxanne. Your unconditional love and support never ceases to amaze us, and we just want to say you did one hell of a great job—just look at how we turned out! We love you so very much.
Without the love and laughs of Andrea Snyder, aptly named our Lady of Laughter, there is no way we could have made it to this day. We look forward to many more laughs along the way.
Best man Kevin Miller and his lovely flower girl, Ruby Miller. What can we say, you’re super-fabulous, dear friends. You will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Lady and Lord of Sanity, Vivian and Jason Herel, let’s always find plenty of time to drink lots of good and even not so good wine—we love enjoying life with you!
Groovy Groomsman Dave Tisue is THE MAN. Your relaxed, loving spirit is something we will be forever grateful to have in our lives.
Alyssa Ettinger, the Lady of Verse. She is the end all, be all. Oh the places we’ll all go together! Thank you for your constant love.
The Flower girl with the purple in her dress, Tori Frank. It means more to us than she’ll ever know that she threw petals down the aisle for our wedding. The torch has been passed.
Our heavenly chuppa holders, Joanna Maharaj, Jaki Florsheim, Olivia Frank, and Nicole Ettinger. Some of you are related to us by blood, but you all are connected to us by your joyous spirit for life. We wouldn’t have wanted to stand up there without you!
Kevin Bartlett. We’ll just write his name again to emphasize how important he is. Kevin Bartlett. Your guidance, joy and never ending love of life has helped shaped not just our wedding but the rest of our lives together. We thank you from the bottoms of our toes, heads and most definitely our hearts. You are a wonder.

Much love to all!

p.s. thank you to our
Lady of Laughter
for the above photo!

We're counting down the hours now

A couple of people have a wedding count down to the second, Jonathan being one of those people. Lady o' Laughter too. It is VERY close to the big day and it's remarkable how time passes by so quickly. The week has been a blur of final touches, biting nails, and sheer exuberance.

Amanda has stayed in contact with her fellow writers from the Iowa Writer's Festival and it was her month to decide what the group would write about. The word she chose for them to write about was ELATION!

Jonathan's friends from work took out both of us to a great tapas place called Salud! It's wonderful to know Jonathan is surrounded by such loving, warm spirits at work. Thank you to all the ladies and gentleman who shared a meal with us!

Amanda's class and their parents will celebrate with us tomorrow morning for a pre-wedding Celebration! When Amanda asked her kids what celebration means they said: "cake, costumes, presents and...a pinata." Hmmmm, that's a good idea!

Keep your fingers crossed that we're both going to be in good health the day of. Sniffles and aches have cropped up here and there.

We read through our ceremony with Kevin and we feel completely confident that this will indeed be OUR ceremony, done in our quirky way. We look forward to seeing you VERY soon!

Signing on the dotted line

We're really doing it! We have our marriage license!

The Best is Still Yet to Come

Jonathan here: Okay, so we're in the home stretch. Only 16 more days until the big day. I'm told that Amanda's final fitting is this Friday. I still have no idea what her dress looks like and having received too many conflicting descriptions from the Lady of Laughter I am unable to form any clear picture in my head. While the temptation is certainly there to hack Amanda's email and find pictures, I honestly can't wait to see her on our wedding day.

Meanwhile the ladies in my office have all insisted upon taking me out for snacks and drinks next Wednesday. Very sweet.

Just about everyone has returned their response cards, and we are so glad that so many friends and family are able to join us on our wedding day.

Did I mention that it's only 16 more days? I can hardly wait.

Amanda here: The ladies at my work place gave me a "Yay you're getting married party." It was lovely. Thank you to them!

Also we want to send a big thank you to the Lady of Laughter for taking pictures of us this past weekend. We had a whirl wind tour of Brooklyn! You'll see those pictures on the big day!

Marathon Day

Yesterday, at 26 days to go, we watched a 26 mile race...somehow fitting. Even as a bystander, the New York Marathon is an amazing thing to be even a small part of. Standing at mile 8, outside the Atlantic Center train station, thousands of runners passed by as we cheered. Most of the marathoners wear their names on their shirts, so we can encourage them as they run. As we called their names, "Way to go Jimbo, Katie, Pablo, Stan, Melissa...," they thanked us by smiling, waving, or just simply running by. Anyone who knows Amanda knows that they definitely heard us.

So, we just wanted to thank all of our friends and family for their encouragement since we announced our engagement this past June, and as we run through the next 26 days ahead. Our next marathon starts at Bubby's on December 1st and the course for this one passes through far more than the five boroughs of New York City and has no specific finish line. We can't wait to begin this journey, surrounded by our friends and family to cheer us on.

Food Glorious Food...and Pie!

Last night's dinner was a preview. This was our official tasting of the food at Bubby's. While we're not going to give the full menu away, needless to say, there was PIE. Key Lime is Jonathan's favorite but Amanda and Eve seemed partial to the Peanut Butter Chocolate pie. Is your mouth watering yet?

After the tasting we stood where our wedding ceremony will be, a short 28 days from today. It seems like we're in the home stretch, and we're very excited.

Happy Halloween!

We're celebrating Halloween by talking and planning with a potential videographer. Spooky huh? We added a few new pictures to the blog too! Check it out.

We're looking at a month away!

Numbers

My goodness time is flying. Thirty one days left. 31.
We still felt the glow from our shower as we began our new week, though we got knocked for a loop with a cold that prevented Jonathan from going to work on Monday and nearly stopped Amanda from going to hers. But the week progresses, time floats along and we get ever closer to December.
Today we meet with Kevin to discuss what will be spoken and what the order of our ceremony will be. We're preparing for ourselves, but we're also preparing the ceremony for you--so far eighty nine of you have said you're coming! 89 loved ones want to share in this journey of ours. That's pretty darn special.

Shower of Love

Our shower was terrific. It was our first group event that celebrated our plans to wed, so it was a big deal. We both had butterflies in our stomaches as we drove across the Brooklyn Bridge to the restaurant. But those butterflies quickly flew out the window as we entered a room filled with so many people we loved--and with vows they'd written for us! One of the vows that pleased Jonathan was that Amanda would promise never to force him to eat his vegetables. There were vows that gave Amanda a laugh: Jonathan promised to obey Amanda (interesting word to use and hey, if someone's got to do it). The above picture is of Amanda keeping her promise to Jonathan to NEVER STOP DANCING!

BIG THANKS to the Ladies of Sanity and Laughter for creating such a loving event for us.

Thank you too, to all our shower guests for helping us create a fabulous beginning to our new lives together. Whether you were there for ten minutes or you were there for all four hours, your presence, your loving words, the pictures you shared and for many of you the gift of wine--a symbol (and yes drinkable) of joy and to live life to the fullest, were and are so appreciated. We love you all dearly.

Lots to celebrate

Today is the bridal/groomal shower! And the weather is helping out with the whole shower idea--it's pouring! YAY!
The dress fits and Amanda feels great in it!
We did a walk through Bubby's with our florist, Fonda from Zuzu's Petals, and the flowers are going to be lush and fabulous!
Next week is our tasting! Yum!
And we finally got to sleep in this morning after a very hectic work/wedding planning week. Sleep is an amazing thing.
WOOHOO!

Toronto

That's where Amanda's dress is. Toronto. So no fitting. Not even an apology from the boutique who called the day of the fitting to ask if we could reschedule. So instead a lovely dinner was had by Amanda (two drinks total), our Moms (one drink collectively) and Aunt Judie (one drink). (Really delicious food at the Essex Restaurant!) Hopefully the dress will be ready by next week or one or all of us may explode. Yay.

Fittings

Jonathan's suit hangs in the closest.
Amanda will have her first fitting this Tuesday. (hoping she still likes how she looks in the dress)
Lady of Laughter has been fitted and looks gorgeous.
Lady of Sanity will be fitted this Thursday.
Flowergirls' dresses have been ordered!
Parents of the Bride are working on their fittings as well.
Wedding bands are in our possession.

And more importantly vows have been formulating in our brains.

It's all coming together and yet stress looms on Plaza Street East. We are so pleased that we heard from several of you saying how much you like our invitations and 12 of you have sent back a reply of "YES WE'RE COMING!" And yet, we're exhausted and little things just keep popping up to make us feel a bit wonky. We laugh and tell each other it's all going to be okay. And usually we believe it.

We are once again excited by this whole wedding thang

We love our wedding officiant, Kevin Bartlett. In the midst of checking off all our lists and chaos of finalizing details, Kevin helped us to remember why we're doing all this: us. We are uniting together because we cannot, do not, want to imagine our lives without each other. We talked with Kevin about the ceremony but also about what we expect of our marriage--there's so much more than deciding the perfect wedding colors and who djs the wedding. There's just us and our lives becoming one. We felt rejuvenated after speaking with him and gleeful about celebrating our new life together. We hope you too can join us in our merriment.

Look for your invitation very soon--they're just about ready!

How are those wedding plans going...

Lots of things we're working on and nOtHiNg is definite yet.

Invitations: almost there...kinda.
Florist: three possibilities. may want to create a "wishes for the couple" centerpiece. (more about that at another time).
DJ: working on getting references and demo cds.
Ties for the groomsmen, but oddly enough not for the groom: done
There's more too that hasn't even made the "we're working on it" list.

AND, we're both nursing a cold. Yay.

But it is the Lady of Laughter's birthday so Happy B-Day Ms. Snyder!

Appropriate Ending to the Summer

On Sunday we spent the morning in line for tickets and then spent the evening at Shakespeare in the Park - A Midsummer Night's Dream (an interesting choice for the end of the summer). A very nice performance, in spite of the slightly awkward chronology of title and season. But what Brooklyn summer would be complete without a trip to Coney Island? Not ours, surely. So this Labor Day weekend, along with our friend Joanna, we headed to the amusement park. We ate at Nathan's, walked the boardwalk, played lots of skee-ball and rode the rides. And while we didn't make it to the Freakshow, we managed to have a great time anyway. The Log Flume was very refreshing on the warm summer day, and it was Amanda's first-ever ride on the world-famous Cyclone (possibly the best wooden roller coaster in existence.)

What's the "proper" attire for the bride and groom?

Maybe we don't need to wear typical wedding clothes. Who needs a ravishing gown or an elegant suit when inflatable ware exists?
Probably should be out looking for a DJ or florist instead of rifling through pictures of the summer, but how could we resist putting up these made for each other pictures?

The tux poll is in: NO!

So the masses, or at least 17 of us, voted and the nays won. 9 to 8. No powder blue ruffle tux for Jonathan. So it was a slim win, but nonetheless a win. (and it tilted toward nay after my aunt emailed me that she still wanted to vote "no" though the polls had been closed). So look for Jonathan in a dashing, non-ruffle suit.

Jonathan is quite pleased.

No wedding planning this past weekend

Here we are in the TV room at Graceland. That's right--mirrors on the ceiling! TCB baby! You can't see in this picture that we are indeed wearing blue suede shoes, a hound dog is behind us and we are most definitely all shook up.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

And, behold...we have a photographer...check yet another thing off of our list. As you know, we met with Lauren Slusher, of Lauren Slusher Photography, the other night. We love her work. You can check it out for yourself at www.laurenslusherphotography.com. (Funny enough, we saw Lauren in person while we were checking out another couple's wedding at Bubby's. Lauren has pictures of this other wedding, at Bubby's, on her blog.)

Incidentally, we had a really good meal after our meeting with Lauren. We met with her at a small Italian restaurant around the corner from our apartment. Next time you visit us, we might take you there. But first, check out Lauren's work.

We have been to Bubby's, and it is ours!

Yay us! To anyone who had wondered when we would officially have a wedding date, or to anyone who might not have believed us when we said "December 1st," I say "HA!" We have been to Bubby's, and it is OURS!

That's right. December 1st, 2007, we are getting married! We signed the contract with JoJo at Bubby's this evening, and enjoyed some tasty pie to boot. Mmm, pie.

"Tonight, tonight" (Music: either from West Side Story or the Phil Collins song)

Tonight we sign our contract for Bubby's! (loud, happy, ceremonious music is being played!)

Are we having fun yet? (yes!)

We've got our invitations picked out! Now we just need to get the wording down.

We spoke with a wonderful photographer and as soon as we go into contract with her we will list her name. She is warm and funny and she does beautiful work.

Almost there, almost there.

It would be nice to have these things (and maybe, just maybe a DJ) taken care of before we leave for Memphis (the hottest place in North America).

Our Engagement

Several moments lead up to the point of "let's really do it!"
...wholeheartedly talking about getting married when we were driving back from Olivia's (Amanda's cousin) Bat Mitzvah
...Jonathan being away so long on a cross country trip Amanda thought how lonely the apartment felt
...Jonathan on this trip missing Amanda and thinking "should I buy a ring?"
...Jonathan arriving back from trip saying, "close your eyes I have lots of presents for you!"
...Amanda thinking, "holy #$&! this is it!" She closed her eyes: it was a t-shirt from Yellow Stone Park (very cute, but not a ring), a second time: another very adorable shirt saying "Got Moose?" Well no, got ring? And then a third time, eyes shut, this is really it: TADA!! A stuffed moose! Amanda gingerly said the next morning, "You know, I thought one of those was going to be an engagement ring." Jonathan confessed he thought about it but decided in the end not to buy one, because what if she didn't like the one he picked out? Together we found the perfect ring. He did get down on one knee in Gramercy Park (with tape on the back of the ring because it had not been sized). As with most things pertaining to us, it's a comedy of errors!

Able to check things off our list

I love being able to check things off the wedding to-do list. Rings. Venue. Invitations. Of course we have nothing in hand or contracts with anyone but hey, those are details to be ironed out soon enough. It's three and half months away, when we first got engaged in June, we though surely six months was plenty of time, that was two and a half months go. And we have three things checked off. Three. 3.

We're doing well.

A couple of hours later I remember back in June...

That two other things were checked off! My dress and the dresses my Ladies of Laughter and Sanity (new and improved names for bridesmaids) have been selected! Yes! We are rolling along!

posted by Amanda