CHEERS!

"Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world."
-Kaiser Welhelm

The Fisher wedding will be hosting a cocktail hour immediately following the ceremony. This will allow our guests to spend 60 minutes mingling with other guests sipping on drinks and nibbling on hors d' oeuvres while the wedding party and family members partake in a photo shoot. I've heard the cocktail hour is one of the best times of the night for the guests so I'm really excited we'll be able to offer this to our guests. It gives everyone an opportunity to unwind with a festive drink while waiting for the party to start. We're in the beginning planning stages, but I'm really hoping for a sultry lounge setting with soft music. There will be beer and wine options available and we're even considering offering a signature cocktail with a fun name like "Fishertini." We're both beer lovers and would love to offer some craft brews, but aren't sure if that will be an option for us. I am trying to convince the homebrewer (Adam) to whip up a few batches for everyone. If you'd like to try a delicious pint of his finest mention something to him.

-Penny

Where is the love?

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own."
Benjamin Disraeli

I feel so blessed to be where I am today with a supportive family, loving friends and a wonderful fiance that I'm planning a lifetime of happiness with. I really want to share this love and blessings with others during our wedding.
I heard about a service called Special E which re-purposes leftovers from the reception. The staff will deliver extra food to homeless shelters, recycle bottle and cans, take floral arrangements to nursing homes and hospitals and even donate bridesmaid dress to disadvantaged teens. I loved the idea of contributing our blooms. Before hearing about Special E I wanted to appoint a close friend or family member to transport the buds to help spread some cheer. Some other options I'm considering are incorporating some charity work into my bridal shower by asking each guest to bring canned foods to donate to a nearby food bank. I've even contemplated forgoing favors for the guests and donating the money we would spend on trinkets to our favorite charity. I'm definitely planning to make care packages for some troops overseas when compiling packages for our out-of-town guests.
Adam and I both have family members that have been affected by breast cancer and I would love to do something to remember those loved ones. I'm seriously considering donating my wedding dress to Brides Against Cancer. The organization will resell my dress and accessories and use the proceeds to help a woman with cancer. The bridesmaids can donate their gowns to the Glass Slipper Project that provides prom dresses for disadvantaged girls. Feel free to share any other suggestions you have that would allow us to give back during this joyous occasion.

-Penny

P.S. This is a photo of my mother and I. She's a breast cancer survivor.

Capturing the Memories

"Photography takes an instant out of time,
altering life by holding it still."
-Dorothea Lange

Two of the most amazing photographers we know (and trust me we know dozens of photographers - being in the newspaper business you tend to meet a few here and there) have graciously agreed to shoot our wedding. Our engagement photo shoot has been scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 23 and 24. We're planning to spend the day on Captiva Island where Adam proposed. I think we're going to get some amazing shots there. It's a beautiful place and I'm really excited about having some professional photos from our proposal location. I'll be sure to post some of our favorites after the shoot.
Our photographers from Narrative Image are based out of Bonita Springs, Florida. They are amazingly talented and we feel blessed that they've agreed to capture the memories from our wedding day for us. Follow the Narrative Image blog.
-Penny

Chirp, Chirp

"Next in importance to having a good aim is to recognize
when to pull the trigger."
-David Letterman, Ball State University Alum

It's almost October and you know what that means it's time for Ball State homecoming. To commemorate BSU's homecoming weekend I thought I would share how we're planning to incorporate our alma mater into our upcoming wedding. For those of you that don't know Adam and I met at BSU while we were both studying journalism. We were introduced in the newsroom of the campus newspaper in the spring of 2003. But, it wasn't until after he graduated that we started dating. Since we met at Ball State we felt like some of our wedding details should pay tribute to our alma mater.
Some of those details include our wedding colors. Those are based off our schools colors: red, black and silver. Our ringbearer will be carrying a Ball State Daily News with the rings attached to it and we're planning to play the fight song at some point during the evening. I also mentioned this in a previous post, but I'll be wearing a BSU garter too.
For our fellow alums: What would Ball State be without the hot dog man? Nothing, right! I really wanted the hot dog man to make an appearance at our wedding as a surprise send-off for our guests, but he was unavailable. Apparently, he can only distribute his hot dog goodness in Delaware County. We were really bummed about this, but maybe we'll come up with another send-off.
-Penny

And the countdown begins...

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”

-Denis Waitley

Adam and I will be in wedded bliss in a little less than a year. I still have to pinch myself every once in awhile to make sure it's really happening. I'm so thankful to have found someone like him. I feel very lucky and blessed he loves me just as much as I love him. We've been enjoying the planning process so far and I think we're ahead of schedule. I'm hoping we can keep that up with our busy schedules this fall. He'll be in the midst of covering high school football and I've taken on additional responsibilities at my second job that include traveling on the weekends. We still have lots of items left to figure out and complete on our to do list, but we're both really excited about it. Of course, I'm hoping everything comes off flawlessly but I wont' be discouraged if it doesn't. I've been warned by lots of people that this year will fly by so I'm going to attempt to enjoy every minute of it. I'll continue posting our planning updates on this blog and we'll be making some additions to our website in a couple of weeks.

-Penny

P.S. This photo was taken a couple months after we started dating.

Sharing our day with us is the best gift

"Our vows will be said and sealed with a kiss
Your presence there will make it a day of sheer bliss."

First, let me say that Adam and I aren't expecting gifts. Having you share our wedding day with us is the best gift you can give us. We're so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family and hope you can join us when we tie the knot.
The majority of engaged couples will say registering was one of the fun parts of the wedding planning process. The bride gets to select nice items for the home and the groom gets the power of a scanning gun with the opportunity to scan any and everything in the store. It was a relatively painless process for us besides how long it took. A few weeks after getting engaged we were "pressured" to start a registry so family members could start purchasing gifts. We decided to devote a Saturday for this task. I did some research to see which registries offered the best perks and had products we liked. We selected Bed, Bath & Beyond, Kohls and Sears. We were planning to knock out all three registries in one day... looking back... I guess that was pretty optimistic. We started the day with bagels and coffee and headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond for what seemed like days...
Our associate was very helpful and knowledgeable, but we had no idea how long it would take. We started in the kitchen department by selecting china and glassware. This was a lengthy process, but I love our selections. We followed that by walking every inch of the store - exploring our options, picking things up and testing them out. At one point, I "vacuumed" the store floor. We grabbed lunch and decided to opt out of the other places until the next day. We set out for Kohl's the following day. They have a do-it-yourself approach. They handed us a gun and we were off. Then, we headed to Sears only to find out the machine was down so we headed up to make our selections via the Internet. Our registry at Sears has expensive items that we're totally not expecting to receive... but it was fun dreaming about having them someday. We're also in the process of setting up a honeymoon registry... more on that later.

-Penny