Food, Glorious, Food...

One of the things that people will always remember about a wedding is the food.  Yea.. Food.  Food, glorious, food.  We chose the Marriott to hold our Grand Wedding Reception because of the food... well, that and how enormous the Ballroom was.  Anyways, before I get into the food tasting experience at the Marriott, let me tell you about the food tasting experience we had in a different hotel. 

Before we chose the Marriott, we were on the verge of booking a hotel (remaining nameless) that also had an enormous ballroom.  However, the reviews of the food was blah.  We requested if it was possible to sample food before we made the decision.  The wedding planner of the hotel said it was not in their policy but if it was going to get us to book the ballroom, she said yes. 

Few weeks later, me, Tangela, her parents and my parents were scheduled to have a food tasting dinner at the hotel.  We sat down in one of their restaurants and had a waitress bring out appetizers, the main course, cocktail finger foods, and dessert.  Since Tangela and I didn't choose what we wanted from the wedding menu, the wedding planner requested for the chef to prepare everything.  Yea, everything.  The reviews were right, the food was blah.  I mean, it didn't live to my expectation nor Tangela's or my parents and her parents.  We were dissapointed.  We told the wedding planner that we will call her in a few days about our decision. 

A few days passed and I informed the wedding planner that we were not interested in the booking with them and thanked them for the free food sampling.  She asked me how the food was and if it was the reason for our decision.  I was was direct... "Yes, it was because food.  It was not prepared very well.  We were not impressed nor was my family."  She explained that the HEAD CHEF was not working the night of the food sampling and wanted us to come back, free of charge, when the HEAD CHEF returned.  I shook my head and thanked her for the invitation and declined her request.

Although this dampened our search for a wedding venue, the next hotel, the Marriott, was THE ONE.  We read the food reviews and the reviews were very very positive.  "More than excellent" a reviewer said on the internet.  We immediately signed with them but didn't schedule any food tasting until a year later.  Yea.

On April 2012, we finally scheduled the food tasting and to keep a long story short, it was AMAZING.  Great food and very well prepared.  The presentation was more than what we expected.  The HEAD CHEF was present during the food sampling, ready to hear our comments.  Great service.  Our wedding planner, Frank, was also present and was going over the menu for the wedding reception.  Everything was well accounted for except the wedding cake.  Before the food tasting, Frank sent us various pictures of wedding cakes we can choose from.  "A place called 'Crumbs' will be making the cake if you choose to hire them" Frank said.  We didn't look into any place for wedding cakes prior, so we decided to check into Frank's suggestion.

This past weekend, Tangela and I traveled to "Crumbs" in Suffern, New York.  First glance from outside, a small bakery but the inside, many many amounts of bread, cookies, cupcakes, muffins, cakes...you name it (typing this is making me hungry).  We went over with the flavor of the cake and how we wanted it to look like with one of the managers and she offered to make a sample for us to eat.  We quickly said "yes" and within 15 minutes it was ready for the eating.  DELICIOUS.  We loved it as well.  Afterwards, Tangela bought two red velvet cupcakes and fudge for our niece and nephew to eat. 

Great experience and great food.  As of now, we have two more months left until the Grand Wedding.  Can you believe it?  Two years in the making.  We were glad that we waited this long.  Saving money was the priority.  We wanted to make sure we had enough to pay off our vendors without any problems.  Now that the food was out of the way, we can focus on other important things.  Whew.

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Lawfully

A few days after New Years, Tangela texted me something that almost threw me off the loop.  Even though what she texed me was a surprise, we had actually talked about it previously.  Her text?  We were getting married early.  January 21, 2012.  We were set to be LAWFULLY married in our town's courthouse.  Why so early?  Her Passport.  Her passport was going to expire this year.  So, why not renew her Passport with her new married last name?  Renewing it under her maiden name and then renewing it again after we get married is a little redundant.  Makes sense right?

We were banking on good weather for the day of our ceremony.  It was winter.  The month of January was filled with unpredicted snow surprises and you know me and snow...I hate it to high heaven.  Mother Nature probably knew how much I hated snow because when the weather reports on television came in, I let loose a big sigh and said "Why am I not surprised?"  It was going to snow on the day of our ceremony.  Ugh.  The thought of waking up early to shovel snow already had me upset.  Nevertheless, it had to be done. 

Saturday, January 21, 2012 finally arrived.  There was about two to three inches of snow on the ground.  Not bad but I still had to go out there and shovel that out.  The good side:  The snow was powder.  So it was easy to get it off the sidewalk.  The bad side:  It was still snowing.  After a good hour and a half of cursing at Mother Nature, I finally finished shoveling.  I quickly took a shower and got dressed.  I looked in the mirror and said to myself "Wow, I'm going to get married today".  Was I nervous?  A little bit.  I mean, who wouldn't be?  This was a major step I was going to take.  Tangela is the one who I want to be with for the rest of my life.  It was time to confirm that.

My parents and I arrived at the courthouse in good time.  The courthouse parking lot was literally empty.  Maybe because it was STILL snowing.  30 seconds later, Tangela and her family arrived.  Our civil ceremony was going to start at 11am.  It was already 10:45am.

We entered inside the courthouse.  We went up the stairs and walked over to the Mayor's office first.  We were instructed to make sure the paperwork was correct.  The information on the paperwork was majorly important.  The NEW mayor of the town, Jeanne Baratta, stated that there were no "Do Overs" or "strike outs" on the spot.  If there were any mistakes, then we would have reschedule the ceremony.  Fortunately, everything was correct... I think.  HAHA!  The episode of "Martin" came into mind when Gina and Pam signed the wrong line on the marriage certificate.  Anyways, next stop... the courtroom.

It was exactly 11am.  Tangela and I took a few pictures before we started with the ceremony and then, it was the moment of truth.  Tangela and I stood in front of the mayor with smiles on our faces.  In all honesty, I didn't really hear what the mayor was saying because there were so many things rushing through my mind.  Her voice sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher (waa waa waa wa wa waaa).  When she was done reciting of whatever it was, I automatically said "I Do".  The mayor smiled and she responded "Not to me, to Tangela".  All of us laughed.  She then recited whatever she was reciting to me, to Tangela.  "I Do" responded Tangela.  It was time for the placing of the rings.

Placing the ring on Tangela's finger will be a moment I will remember for the rest of my life.  Before I placed the ring on her finger, I dropped it on the floor by accident.  Yea, I dropped the RING!!  I uttered "Oh, shit!!"  Everyone laughed.  I started to laugh myself.  Embarrassed?  Extremely.  It took me a good 15 seconds to find the ring.  My mom found it right next to one of the seats in the courtroom.  Whew!  HAHAHA!!

After we all had a good laugh, I finally placed the ring on Tangela's finger.  I looked into Tangela's eyes and she was happy.  She placed the ring on my finger and then, it was official.  Tangela and I were finally married.

Since it was short noticed, we coudln't invite everyone we knew.  The ceremony literally lasted 5 minutes.  We had most of our wedding entourage there for support and a few friends.  Our immediate families were there as well.  Even though it was snowing, we appreciated those who came and celebrated our civil ceremony with us.  If you're wondering, yes, we are STILL having our wedding in June.  We are calling it "THE GRAND WEDDING".    Four more months to go!  Yikes.

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Engagement Photos

In mid July, the fiance and I went to find a place where we could take our Engagement Photos with MPW Media.  We both decided to keep our photo shoot very simple.. well, because we are simple people.  I've seen the other engagement photos on MPW's Facebook page and they were amazing.  I'll be honest, I was kind of envious of where these couples had their picture taken.  One couple had a photo shoot in a airplane hanger, another couple had it in a library, another had it in a record store, and this one couple had it in a tattoo parlor.  Great places and it looked like a lot of fun!  The fiance and I figured that places like that needed money to rent so, since we were saving for the wedding, we decided to have our photoshoot in a park where it's free.  Makes sense right?

We first visted Fort Lee Historic Park in Fort Lee, New Jersey.  It had an amazing view of the George Washington Bridge and we figured that it would be a great backdrop for our photoshoot.  However, it was the only great view that this park had.  It definitely had trails within the park but nothing to take pictures with.  We both looked at each other and felt that this wasn't the place to have our photoshoot.

I'll be honest.  Fort Lee Historic Park wasn't really the first place we decided to take our engagment pictures.  We went to check it out anyways just in case we changed our minds.  What was actually the first on our list was this park in Glen Rock, New Jersey.  This park had a pond, a bridge, and waterfall...yea, a waterfall.  When we arrived at the park, we automatically fell in love with the view and the great scenery.  Why didn't we just go here in the first place?  We explored various places in the park and chosen the areas where we wanted to take our engagement pictures.  All was left was to take them. 

A few days before our engagement photo shoot, New Jersey had a very bad heat wave.  I mean "bad" to the point people called out sick from work because the humidity and the heat was kicking our ass.  The fiance and I hoped that the heat and humidity would die down by the time we took our pictures .  NOPE.  Mother Nature didn't give two shizzle about us.  The day before our photo shoot, it was predicted that the temperature was going to hit 103 degrees with high humidity.  Did we cancel?  Hell no.  Why?  Because we're crazy.  MPW Media is sought out by EVERYONE in Northern New Jersey.  Their schedule is very tight and so this was the only day we could take our engagement pictures.

We were scheduled to take pictures at 4pm with Glen from MPW.  The fiance and I arranged a new time with Glen and agreed to take the engagement pictures at 6pm because of the heat.  At 2pm the temp reached 104 degrees.  The humidity was no effen joke.  The fiance and I arrived at the park around 5 something pm.  I was prepared.  I brought bottles of water and a towel.  Yea, a towel to wipe the sweat off our faces between photo shoots.  It was STILL 104/103 degrees when Glen arrived at the park.  We chatted for a few and started with the photo shoot.  It was just him and his camera taking pictures of me and the fiance.  Even though the heat seemed like it was getting hotter and hotter, we managed.  We actually had fun.  It was an experience.  We took multiple breaks to wipe the sweat off our faces and drink water.  We chatted with Glen in between takes and got to know him a little better.  Great guy.  An hour later, we were finally done.  We did it.  We thanked Glen for taking the time to see us, especially tolerating just to take pictures.  We chatted a little more and then we said our goodbyes.  Next time we'll see him is at our wedding.  Yikes!!  LOL.

 

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Info For MPW Media

Engagement Party

On June 26, 2011, the fiance and I, finally had our Engagement Party.  We could have celebrated after I proposed to her, but we decided to have it one year prior to the wedding.  Well, sort of.  "Penang Malaysian and Thai Cuisine" Restaurant was our choice to celebrate with the 70 plus people we invited.  Yea, 70 plus.  

My fiance arrived first.. by herself.  She was excited.  Who wouldn't be?  I was excited too.  Obviously, getting married is a HUGE step.  Other than celebrating our engagement, both of us were also celebrating the accomplishment of finializing our venue and vendors for the wedding.  I arrived second to the restaurant with my family. 

My mom told me that my cousin Eleanor was nice enough to make us a cake for the party.  We set up our "give aways" (magnets of our 'save the date') around the cake for a nice visual effect.  Other than the cake my cousin made, she also made "Fruit of the Gods", another parting gift for our guests.

The guests started to arrive and the greeting began.  Family and friends started to fill up the empty seats that were available and then it was time to eat.

              

The food was fantastic.  Everyone loved the food.  As soon as the last platter of food was finished, it was time to give a speech.  We (my fiance, her maid of honor, my best man, and myself) stood in front of our guests, and thanked everyone for coming and showing support.  The speech the maid of honor and my best man gave was very touching.  Tears and hugs were involved.  I wonder how it will be when the wedding day comes.  

Afterwards, we finally had the cake.  Everyone had a wonderful time.  We started to pass out the "give aways" and everyone started to get ready to leave.  My fiance and I said our thank yous and goodbyes, and wished everyone a safe drive home.  

Wow, I'll be married in a year. 

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Vendors.

One of the two things that people remember about a wedding is music.  What's the other?  Food.  After the fiance and I, signed the contract for the venue, we decided to hunt for a DJ.  What about the food?  Well, that comes later.  The primary goal was to get a DJ.  The fiance and I were pretty focused on what music was going to be played and we wanted the right people to do it.  We also decided since we were looking for a DJ, the photographer/videographer should be the next step.  Funny, this task wasn't as difficult than finding a venue for our reception. 

For some odd reason, we started to look for a photographer/videographer first.  I don't know why.  Actually, we didn't look, we already knew who we wanted.  "MPW Media Group".  MPW Media Group was or as a matter of fact, IS, the best people to call to take pictures and film your wedding.  They are soley based in Northern, New Jersey.  This was great for us because the fiance and I didn't want to drive too far.  When we met with MPW, they blew us away with their sample photos and videos.  Very classy and very modern for couples like us.  MPW actually did my cousin's wedding a while back.  They did a fantastic job with their "Same Day Edit" videos.  The same day edit videos?  MPW films before the wedding, during the wedding, and the first part of your wedding reception.  Cool huh?  They then edit the footage the SAME DAY and present their final cut at the end of your wedding reception.  After the meeting, we wanted to look for another photographer/videographer just in case.  But then, we couldn't stop talking about MPW so we said "eff it, we only get married once".  ...Hopefully lol.  I kidd, I kidd.

Check out their website...


Here are some of their
Same Day Edit Videos...
http://vimeo.com/mpw/videos

The DJ was next.  A few months back at my other cousin's wedding, they had this DJ group called "Elite Sound Entertainment", that was absolutely wonderful.  Their music selection was very impressive.  Maybe it was because they played 90s Hip-Hop for most of the night.  They had their own upscale lighting which brightened the ballroom and they had their own LCD screens that played my cousin's and her husband's pictures throughout the night.  Very cool.  We met with Elite Sounds two weeks after we met with MPW.  Elite Sounds showed us their demo and gave us a brief description of what they normally do at weddings.  Even though we've seen them operate at my cousin's wedding, the fiance and I wanted to see what other services they provided.  By the end of the meeting, the fiance and I signed the contract for them to play at our wedding reception.  LOL, yea we worked fast.

Check out their website...

Shout outs to Austin

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