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!

In other news...

This really isn't a wedding related post, but Tim and I have more good news to share. We are buying a house! Closing isn't until late June (mark your calendars if you like carrying furniture), but step by step we are taking care of all the millions of things involved in the process. Most recently was the home inspection -- no big surprises, the inspector just pointed out a few problems we already knew about. Now begins our crash course in home repair and maintenance!

Our new place is on the north side of Madison, close to Warner Park. And what do you know, the weekend that we are planning to move on is the same weekend as Rhythm and Booms. Great fireworks viewing is available from our roof - for those who help us move :) Ok, those who bring food and/or booze are also welcome.

Wedding colors

We are getting close to picking out some wedding colors. At first it seemed easy - when I asked Tim what color he wanted said "blue" with no hesitation, and my favorite color is yellow. Then I remembered those are my school colors and that seemed a little too booster club for me. Well, I mentioned that I was having a problem with that to my mom, and she suggested that I think of yellow and blue in terms of daffodils and irises, and that sounds much better.



So, I think it might be yellow and blue after all!

Tim and Sara are getting married!

Since Sara spends all her time looking at blogs, making one to help organize wedding plans seemed like a fun idea. Hope you enjoy.

The first important announcement we have is that we've picked a date: Saturday, June 13, 2009 in the late afternoon. The location is Olbrich Gardens in Madison, WI. Take a look at the link in the sidebar for more information about the Gardens.

Keep an eye on this blog as the ball gets rolling and we firm up more details of the wedding. That date seems like a long way away now, but I have a suspicion that (for us at least) it will be here sooner than expected :) Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for all the well wishes and congratulations from everyone!