First of all, I’ll start off by disclosing that we absolutely LOVE our reception venue.  It’s grand, makes a dramatic initial impression and offers an almost overstimulating array of architectural and visual details.  To be totally honest, however, I was rather determined at first to dislike it.  Rich and I had gone to another potential reception site in Waterford a couple of weeks earlier with his mother and father, a site that I absolutely had my heart set on from the moment we first decided to have a wedding.  It fit the main criteria in terms of what I was looking for in a reception venue: It was a beautiful, historic mansion close to the water, a short drive from the ceremony site at Connecticut College, photographed well, had a bride’s suite and offered privacy in the sense that it was a single-event rental (I was and am vigorously opposed to going to any type of “wedding mill” where my wedding would be one of several events occuring simultaneously).  While I was enraptured with the place and Rich seemed receptive to it, Maria and John, his parents, were decidedly underwhelmed.  Rich also had concerns because it was only a seven-hour rental (giving us only a five-hour reception) and had an exclusivity clause relating to caterers.  To my consternation, he suggested that we keep looking before committing. continue reading »

I’ve never had any sort of bridal fantasy and wasn’t the kind of girl who daydreamed about her wedding day or anything like that; once Rich and I decided to have a wedding, however, the one thing I did grow excited about immediately was choosing a wedding gown!  As anyone who knows me even superficially knows, I do love to shop (often to my own detriment).  I tackled this critical matter very quickly, putzing around on theknot.com and jlmcouture.com and browsing the dress gallery on Kleinfeld’s site whenever I had a few idle moments.  In no time, I had established an elaborate list of contenders, narrowing my focus primarily to several Jim Hjelm gowns that struck my fancy.  My ideal sillhouette was set in stone (a trumpet or mermaid gown), but otherwise I had a pretty open mind — silk, satin, lace … whatever! — and I figured that I would choose my gown ultimately based on my own visceral reaction to “the one.”  If that’s a sufficiently scientific basis for choosing a fiance, it should work just as well for a dress, right?    continue reading »

 The first actual decision I made regarding the wedding (after saying yes in Vernazza and snatching up the ring, that is) was that I wanted our ceremony to take place at Harkness Chapel in New London, CT.  It’s a quaint building and small enough to seem intimate, seating only up to four hundred people.  More importantly, it’s located on the campus of my undergraduate alma mater, Connecticut College.  My undergraduate college days were four of the best years of my life, where I focused on studying my life’s passion – Latin and Ancient Greek and the literature, archaeology and philosophy of classical antiquity — and minoring in Italian in order to prepare myself for my semester abroad in Rome.  It was during my undergraduate experience that I fell in love with Italy, which, as things go full circle, was eventually where I ended up getting engaged!  In any case, the chapel is not only representative of a very happy and important part of my life, it also fits with the aesthetic Rich and I have chosen for our wedding.  Designed by the well-known architect James Gamble Rogers, it is a granite and sandstone edifice perched on the most scenic part of campus, with an excellent view of Long Island Sound from the front door.  Since Rich is Catholic and I am not, we anticipate having a Christian but Protestant ceremony officiated by the College Chaplain.  So far, however, we have reserved the chapel for November 6, 2010, though we’re still to meet with the Chaplain and the organist, Professor Anthony, about the additional details.  More on that to come later!

Just a quick note on my ring.  First of all, I love it!  Rich did a really great job, possibly because I kept sending him links to rings I liked on tiffany.com!  Kind of a no-brainer.  But, really, he totally nailed my taste.  I wanted either a round or cushion-cut stone and a platinum setting.  I prefer more traditional solitaire rings because I have scrawny little fingers, but I also wanted some extra sparkle, so I told him I would prefer the band inset with stones.  In the end, he chose a round brilliant stone with a bead-set band in platinum.  Unfortunately,  when he gave me the ring in Italy, it was a size too big (he had attempted to get my ring size under some sort of pretense, and since I thought he was asking in order to buy me a piece of costume jewelry in a cheesy souvenir shop during one of his travels through Europe, I gave him the size for my middle rather than my ring finger because that’s where I tend to wear costume pieces).  So, I could only wear it on my middle finger during the rest of our trip and in fact nearly lost it at one point while we were on the train to Naples  (thankfully, it slipped off and fell into my purse while I was digging around looking for something!).  When we got back home, I scurried to the closest Tiffany store in Westport to have it re-sized to a 4.25.  It’s bright white and sparkly and I get loads of compliments.  I can’t wait to find a matching wedding band for it!

Below is a closer look at the ring: