Jeffrey's First Trip to Stowe

So since Jeff has been all around the country since our engagement, he hasn't been able to see our venue or our church. He's of course seen the website...but the website doesn't do the place justice.

Jeff was able to come home for New Years so we knew this would be the best, and the only time for him to see everything.


On New Years day we drove up to VT and spent some time with my family. Saturday morning we headed North to Stowe and at meet with one of our priests. Jeff & I are both Catholic. We of course both wanted to get married in the church and have a traditional Catholic ceremony. In order to get married in the Catholic church you need to complete 'marriage preparation courses' also know as "Pre Cana." Since Jeff's and my situation is different from most, we were able to take a more 'intense/shortened' version of the course. Some view these courses as a 'burden' or 'ridiculous' but that is because they just don't understand. In the Catholic church marriage is a sacrament you receive. It goes Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, and Death. (Wow pretty crazy I'm going to receive the second to last sacrament...and I really don't want the last one for a VERY long time!!) So since its a sacrament, the church wants to do everything possible to make sure that your marriage is a success and it won't end in divorce. I value what the church believes in and it further strengthens my beliefs that marriage is a serious step, and those who have ANY doubts or are obviously getting married for the wrong reasons should perhaps think about it more deeply...

Anyways- in short - our course went well. We both really enjoyed it. Even though Jeff and I have one of the most open and honest relationships ever, it still made us think about things and talk about things that we ordinarily wouldn't. We were both pleased when we were exactly on the same page for basically everything.

So marriage preparation done!

After we made our way up the mountain to the Stowe Mountain Lodge. Driving the path from the church to the SML gave me goosebumps because I realized the next time Jeff and I took that drive....we will be husband and wife. What an amazing feeling that was. I was pretty anxious to approach the SML because it was such a huge moment. I knew Jeff would absolutely adore it but I was still nervous nonetheless.

It was a success! Jeff was speechless. He loved it. He loved the atmosphere, the simple elegance, the service, everything! I gave him a quick tour of the resort, showed him the ballroom, the spa, where the cocktail reception was going to be etc. It was so much fun.

For dinner my parents met us at the SML. I was so glad we were able to take Jeff to dinner there so he could experience the amazing quality of the food.

The chef came out and greeted us again, and Jeff was really impressed with that. The chef also brought out some things for us to try and recommended what was good on the menu. His taste was a little to 'fancy' for me...he recommended the 'fogra'....I'm a simple chicken girl.

We had a fabulous meal, and left full and happy.

Leaving the SML I had a huge smile on my face. It was such an amazing night. And the next time Jeff & I will be there together we will be celebrating our love, our newly minted marriage, and the rest of our lives together with all our closest family and friends!

(I have no idea why this post didn't post when I wrote it! My bad!)

GUESS WHAT!!

So within the last week SO many exciting things have happened. The most recent, and the most exciting piece of news is...MY DRESS IS IN!!!! Lyndsey, my stylist as Priscilla's called me last night to let me know that my dress was in....it looks gorgeous...and she can't wait to have me in to put it on! Eekkkk! Nerves are definitely starting to kick in now...only because I'm not in nearly as good shape as I want to be in before I try the dress on....and I'm also having that typical "bridal fear" of "what if I find out I HATE my dress...since its been so long!" AH! Hopefully I will be able to try it in very soon to settle my nerves.

Other things to mention...the groomsmen gifts are in...the bridesmaids gifts are in...and they are both awesome!

ALSO- The bridesmaid dresses are in! And most of my bridesmaids have already received them. They are exactlyyy what I was envisioning...they are exactlyyy the color I wanted...so I couldn't be more thrilled! All my bridesmaids are going to look GORGEOUS! I just keep envisioning the beautiful pink color against the beautiful landscape of the green mountains. I just saw some of my photographers most recent work, which made me that much more excited and thrilled that we booked them, because their pictures were gorgeous! I know mine will be too because we have beautiful scenery, beautiful people, and beautiful colors :)

T-Minus 149 Days!

Newsflash!

My wedding garters are in! And they are adorable...wonder who the lucky catcher will be!

Bridesmaid gifts and Groomsmen gifts are on order!

The groomsmen gift are adorable.

My Bridesmaid gifts are soo soo cute & perfect and I want to give them to my bridesmaids nowww!!

That's it for now :)

Cake, Food, & Beverage Tasting = Best Day Ever.

One of the things you look forward to the most during wedding planning is the food tasting. And let me tell you that our food, cake, and beverage tasting was out-of-this-world.

Carrie arranged it so we had two cake tastings and our food tasting, all on the same day, one after another so we didn't have to drive up multiple times just to take a bite of a cake.

My Dad, Mom, Lilly (yes Lilly...she wanted to go for a ride!) and I drove up to Waterbury Saturday, November 21st, for our first cake appointment. It was at the Vermont Cake Studio which was within a cute Vermont General Store. We met with Perrin, the owner and head baker. Carrie had sent her a few pictures of the cake design I was going for, and the flavor I was interested in. The Vermont Cake Studio had great presentation. They had a nice table set up and prepared for our tasting and Perrin had designed a mini cake with one of the designs Carrie had sent her. It was adorable! We tasted the cake and it was delicious! It was so light and fluffy, not to sweet, and very flavorful. She really captured the taste I was going for, and it really brought to essence an end of spring/summer wedding. It was perfect...(with a few modifications). Another plus was she said with all her wedding cakes comes with a complimentary "top layer" ( so another mini-cake) that we can freeze for our one-year anniversary, which is such a great idea. We were really pleased after the first cake appointment.

The second cake appointment was with a local Stowe baker and she actually met us at the Lodge. Her cake was I guess you could say the complete opposite of Perrin's cake. She went with more of a 'pound cake' so it was thicker with a fancy thick frosting.

Both cakes were great, however it was an easy decision and I couldn't be more pleased with our choice!

We then moved onto the food tasting. This is reason #343482390480 why I LOVEEEE my venue. We walk into their main dining-room and they had set up a private table just for our tasting. They set up the table as they would for my wedding, so they used my linens, my plates, my silverware, glasses, etc (all except my floral arrangements, gifts, etc. of course!) A week before our tasting I had submitted a list of things we wanted to taste. They had also presented a pretty-menu listing in order of our tastings.

After we were seated, they brought out the signature cocktail they created for us. They made a "girly" and a "manly" verison of it. It was perfect, delicious, pretty, and it had a pink tone to it! So Signature Cocktail done!

They next brought out the first round of passed hor'dourves. They were all presented beautifully and tasted amazing. After we tasted those they brought out the second round of passed hor'dourves. With SML strive for customer satisfaction they said they could make anything we requested, anything at all. So with a few new requests, i.e. sushi, it was an easy decision on our passed hor'dourves.

They then brought out a couple white wines for us to taste and chose for our dinner wine.

The next course was the soup. I had requested a tomato-bisque because it is my favorite soup. Their bisque was hands-down one of the best bisques I've ever had, it was perfect.

The next course was the salad. With a few modifications the salad was perfect.

They then brought out a couple red wines, and we chose one to serve at the table.

Finally, it was time to taste the entrees. We had requested to taste a chicken, a fish, and the fillet. All were amazing (according to my parents...they had to taste because I only eat chicken). Their head chef came out and introduced himself to us and to see how the tasting was going and if we had any questions. He was so nice and it really did enhance the evening! With a few requests and changes our entree is pretty much almost decided. Our entree we decided is not "Jess" friendly, but the SML is preparing me a special meal of whatever I chose :) So its a win-win!

When we thought we were going to explode or fall asleep from all the tasting...they then brought out the last course...the dessert. They prepared three different pre-cake desserts, all which were incredible, but one really stood out from the rest.

I can not express how excited I am for our wedding menu. It is phenomenal. The SML is everything I could ever dream of, and their food is nothing less then what I expected from them. I can not be more excited to share all of this with you in about 5.5 months!!

Another sidenote worth mentioning. The following weekend was Thanksgiving which meant Jeff was coming home! We froze the cakes from the tasting so he could taste them as well! He of course picked out the same cake I did :)

Save the Dates!

As most of you know the Save the Dates went out a couple weeks ago!! We are so excited and hope that all of you put them on your fridge!!

T-Minus 176 Days!!!

<3 Jeff & Jess

Updates & My Florist Visit!

Alright, so I admit I'm not the best blogger in the world, and I've now gone almost two months without maintaining or updating! Gesh. Since theres been quite a bit of time since my last post, theres obviously so many new exciting developments on the Bender-Durfee wedding!

Halloween weekend I went home to VT because I had one of the most important appointments ever...with my Florist, Kep Taylor, with SummerSweet Floral. Kep is a family friend who does incredible work and I couldn't be more excited that he's agreed to do the flowers for my wedding! Flowers are such a crucial part of a wedding. They can add so much flavor and beauty to any space.

Pre-appointment I probably looked through at least 20+ wedding magazines I've accumulated through the months and marked flower arrangements that jumped out at me. There was one arrangement that I really fell in love with, and in the back of my mind that's what I always envisioned. I also found a bouquet that I fell in love with. With those two pictures and a vision in my head I knew Kep would be able to make it a reality.

I'm really not that fussy when it comes to "types" of flowers. I just want something that will come together beautifully, and make me be like "wowww," and I know that having Kep as a florist I won't have to worry about having any doubts or concerns. I gave him my blessing to just go ahead and use whatever and do whatever he thinks will look good.

Being over 5 months into the planning, I thought I had a good idea of my 'vision' and my 'theme' that I was going for...however Kep opened my eyes to so much more by asking simple questions such as "what look are you going for..." and he rattled off so many themes like romantic, classic, elegant, whimsical, etc. I guess I had never thought about what "look" I was going for...all of those words sounded good to me and I guess I didn't know the difference! I always knew I wanted a "classy & elegant" wedding...but romantic sounds nice too....hmm...

After we discussed things for awhile and he got a good idea of my vision and what I was looking for, he said he was going to get together with Carrie and visit our sites to see what will be needed where... ( I had never even thought that the bathrooms would need flowers too!) It's so relieving knowing I'm in such good hands!!!

Like some of my previous posts I'm not posting or giving away any details of what I picked...you'll just have to wait and see June 5th :)

Vermont Vows Bridal Fair!

Right after I got engaged, my Mom got a couple issues of Vermont Vows magazine and saw an advertisement for an upcoming bridal fair. When the time got closer I purchased two tickets and asked Emily to go.

November 7th I went home for the weekend because I had bought tickets to the Vermont Vows Bridal Fair in Shelburne, VT. I asked Emily to go with me because I thought it would be something fun to do with my little Maid of Honor!

This was Emily's first Bridal fair and my second, but I still had no idea what to expect. The reviews and advertisements for this event made me have high expectations. It was supposed to be a "classy and upscale event" with $100+ gift baskets, the areas finest vendors, with wine tasting, champagne and passed hors d'oeuvres.

The event was at Shelburne Farms. I had never been to Shelburne Farms and neither had Em. Words can not express how beautiful Shelburne Farms is. According to http://www.shelburnefarms.org/ , on about 400 acres of land... "Casual visitors may enjoy the walking trails, children's farmyard, inn, restaurant, property tours and special events." driving up to the venue Emily and I could clearly see why Vermont Vows wanted to have their event here, and why some would want to be married here...the views were incredible. The venue was nestled along the shores of Lake Champlain. It just happened to be a beautiful day and we were arriving as the sun was setting over the lake, which made the atmosphere that much more inviting.

Emily and I pull up after our hour-long drive and valet park. We then see the longest line EVER. GREAT. Keep in mind it is about 35 degrees, the sun was setting, and we are in dresses. Hour and a half LATER...we are finally inside the venue, frozen to death, starving, and just ready to go home and take a hot bath.

Inside, the venue was packed with excited brides, bridesmaids, their families, fiances, everyone. It was a little to crowded to really enjoy all the things they had to offer, i.e. pedicures, manicures, makeup and hair trials...Em and I basically did a loop, saw all the stands and called it a night. We decided not to stay for the fashion shows or the other events because 1. I already had my dress 2. We wanted dinner and 3. We were still frozen. It was fun to go to but I didn't take to much from it because there were mostly venues, photographers, DJ's, transportation, and florists ...all which I already had booked and were happy with. My venue, Stowe Mountain Lodge, was of course there so I chatted with them for awhile which was nice.

It was a fun time and I enjoyed going with Em, and getting our gift-bag! However I really hope that Vermont Vows learned from their mistakes and their next event will be at a place where they can accommodate the amount of tickets they sell and not make 100 people and brides freeze to death outside. So for future brides in the VT area, I don't recommend this event, unless they figure out their flaws, and really become the area's "elite bridal fair."