and you will be staying in...

the fairfield/marriott of centerville. complete with an indoor pool, bally's fitness pass, and an excellent location near a bagel store. what more can a person want?

over the past weekend in ohio, jenna and i were able to take care of the hotel booking and the rehersal dinner, though we weren't able to scratch of tuxes (i'm an impatient shopper) nor jenna's hairstyle (curls are nice :).

nicole threw jenna an excellent shower with the help of some of my family, we are so blessed to have the support from family and friends. thanks so much for your wonderful gifts and thoughts!

Marriage Counseling Session 1

Eric and I had our first marriage counseling session last night. We are taking it with my two engaged roommates and their fiance's, our pastor and his wife...and two married couples in the church. I am really excited about it because I feel like it's going to give Eric and I a chance to really connect with our friends that might be going through the same rollercoaster we are - all the happiness and all the struggles - and also, it gives a chance to learn from some couples who we admire who've already been through it. I think the best part though, is going to be learning more about each other...and getting a little deeper...spiritually/emotionally...and just seeing how our different characteristics make us a perfect match! Even though we didn't finish our homework for the first session (oops), it's off to a good start...I am already learning about Eric, myself, and us as a couple. I like learning about the way we work, and how we can grow and follow our hearts together.

updates

so, what else have we gotten taken care of these days?

put down a check mark next to the caterer, booking hotel rooms, and most likely the photographer.

next on the list is honeymoon, which jenna and i are discussing & starting to save up for...i think the caribbean is calling our names! something like this: "Mr and Mrs Schroeder, your honeymoon is waiting." AAAAAAHHHHHH!!! MR. AND MRS. SCHROEDER? THAT IS SO WEIRD. no offense, mom & dad.

too much cake "testing?"

jenna's in dayton with all sorts of appointments lined up: caterers, florists, photographers, etc. and she's even managed to do some "cake testing" on the side. lucky girl!

i'm close to finalizing our honeymoon plans, and it looks like the caribbean is open for us. after the wedding, we'll be looking forward to a week in the sun...which is in much contrast to the snow that's falling here in maryland, ohio, and probably the rest of the country :)

What we hope...

I think we are hoping for an intimate, simple, fun, God centered occasion. One that is fun for all of our loved ones and for ourselves. We just want to enjoy the day and it's important to us that the focus is in the right place. No matter what we just want everyone to enjoy the day with us, and walk away remembering the feeling of the occasion. How fun it is to think about what's important to us, what reflects us and our love, and how can we portray that to our loved ones. I never before thought about all these aspects of planning a wedding. I always thought it would all be about what things look like and I was afraid to get caught up in it, but it's not that at all. I'm finding more and more, this may be the only time in my life when everyone says, "you can have whatever you want, do whatever you want, change whatever you want...this is about you and Eric." And it's fun. It's great to think about what means a lot to us, and put them together for our day. As I embark on a journey home to make decisions, taste test cakes (awwee yeah) and do whatever it is my mom has set up for us...I keep searching my heart (and his) to think...what do we really care about, what do we want to say...and the best part is that it's just this huge celebration of love...and I LOVE it. :)

So much time and so little to do! Strike that, reverse it.

Welcome to our blog. Here you can get a look at the wedding/marriage plans for one couple Jenna and Eric. We'll post things as they come along, and readers may comment as they please.

So far we have the major stuff out of the way:
Date: June 11, 2005
Location: Crosspoint Church, Centerville, OH
Reception: Community Center in Centerville, OH
Dress: Bought
Bridesmaids Dresses: Picked out
Wedding Party: 95% set

And that's all, that's it, that's as much as we have.

Jenna's taking a monster weekend trip to Dayton to meet with caterers (hereafter called 'food people'), florists ('flower people'), DJs ('music people'), and anyone else available ('other people').

Of course, thanks to Jenna's mom for setting everything up. She and Jenna are in daily communication from Dayton (Home Base) to Maryland (The Eastern Front).