Directions

Here are some directions to help out-of-towners:

Crowne Plaza (hotel block) to Olbrich Gardens (ceremony)
Olbrich Gardens (ceremony) to Cherokee Country Club (reception) - there will be printed copies of this available after the ceremony as well.
Cherokee Country Club (reception) back to the hotel

I have not tested these by driving the routes, hope they are helpful and don't get anyone lost!

Going to the chapel...

Wow, I can't believe that the wedding is almost here. For such a long engagement it sure did go by quickly!

The last couple of weeks in particular seem to be lost in time. I need to say thank you to the many people that have extended their condolences, sent flowers and cards, and have been taking such good care of me. This has been a rough time, but hearing all the well wishes and love helps. Hopefully the wedding will be a bit of happiness in a sad time - I'm really looking forward to having all my family around to help us celebrate.

Marriage: open thread

Bits and pieces of advice for married life are beginning to trickle in from friends and family. Here are some things that I have read or heard lately that really resonated:

• Never pass up an opportunity to say "I love you".
• Talk to each other - make sure that you know what is going on with your partner every day.
• Try to outdo each other in kindness.
  

Do you have any words of wisdom that you want to pass on? Let us know in the comments.

Hotel block - UPDATED

Well, it's been awhile since I've last posted here (I've been very busy doing this and this and this kind of stuff), but we have some new wedding plans to share.

Tim booked us a block of hotel rooms at the Crowne Plaza in Madison. Just mention the Bogosh-Key wedding when making a reservation to get the special room rate.

UPDATE: The cut-off date for reservations in the hotel block is May 18th.

We chose two food options for the reservation: Baked Cod Almondine or Black Forest Chicken. Please let us know which you want on your RSVP card.

We have not finalized our honeymoons plans yet, but it's looking like we will be going to Mackinac Island. Beautiful! They filmed a movie I remember from my childhood there, so that's pretty cool. And I think one of the O'Keefe uncles worked a summer job there? Give up the dirt if you have it!

A Note from Tim

Hi everybody! This is Tim, and it's my first post on this blog. It feels like we have the hardest part of the wedding settled (the location of the actual wedding and the reception hall). My next order of business is choosing the tuxes and finalizing my side of the wedding party. It's always hard to narrow down the field from so many deserving people. I hope to have that figured out soon.

The other big thing we have to do is pick a cake. I think Sara and I are both looking forward to that process. I'm sure we'll manage to suffer through all the taste testing. We're also narrowing down our choice of centerpieces and such.

Now that the most difficult part of the planning is done, we're very much looking forward to the day itself.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Lots of wedding updates

Now that the "new home-owners" flurry of things to do is starting to subside, Tim and I have been able to get cracking on some more wedding planning. Many new developments:

We have booked our reception hall. We spent a lot of time touring facilities and examining the websites of places that host wedding receptions in the Madison area, and ended up choosing the place just down the road. It's five minutes from our new house, which will hopefully be a help in getting everything set up. Here is a link to their website if you want to take a look: Cherokee Country Club.

I found a dress! It's beautiful and I am very happy with it. My mom and sister were troopers and took me all over town searching for it, and it was totally worthwhile.

Four of my wonderful friends and family have graciously agreed to stand up with me in the bridal party (Tim too, but he can tell you about his side): my sister Kelly as maid of honor, and stepsister Lori, cousin Scarlett, and great college friend Kori as bridesmaids. Huge thanks to all of you - it means a ton to me to know that you will all be with me on my wedding day.

Speaking of family that will be there with me, my aunt the Honorable Tia Fisher will be officiating the ceremony. Huge thanks to you as well for being there at such an important time.

All we have left to do now is find a photographer, a cake, some decorations, transportation, a million other things that I can't think of right now... phew, better keep going!

The Shower Shower

Last week was the bi-annual O'Keefe family reunion at Lost Lake in Michigan. Tim was there and met most of the O'Keefe's at the one before this (in 2006) but wasn't able to make to to this year's event. He missed out!

My awesome aunts and uncles hosted a shower for us. The "shower" part turned out to be literal - it was raining so hard that the power went out. Thank goodness all the food was planned to be cooked on the grill :) The food was delicious, the gifts were beautiful and I had a wonderful time. It's too bad I was too dressed up to go down the slip-&-slide...

Thanks everyone for a great party!