Our love story

"The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."
- Maulana Jalalu'ddin Rumi

This is our love story written by Adam. It was read by his sisters during our ceremony.

The stars of today's love story took very different paths into each other's lives.
Penny Louanne Moore was a small-town girl from the countryside of Southeast Indiana. Adam Christopher Fisher grew up in a rough area of Indianapolis' Eastside. Despite their varied backgrounds, destiny brought the two together in the fall of 2002.
Penny and Adam met on the campus on Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, in the newsroom of the BSU Daily News. Both were editors of the award-winning student newspaper, Penny in features and Adam in sports. Their desks were even situated within reaching distance of each other – not that it mattered, as both were in other relationships at the time.
Penny and Adam went through college as casual acquaintances, saying hello in passing at the Daily News and occasionally attending the same social functions. Serendipity even brought Penny into Adam's bedroom one night in 2003, though not for the reason you're thinking – she was attending a party at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house where Adam lived.
XXXX
After graduating in 2004, Adam moved to Michigan to work at a small newspaper. Destiny called again just six months later when an out-of-the-blue job offer brought him to Marion, Indiana, just 30 miles away from Muncie, where Penny remained in school.
The would-be couple reconnected through a brand new technology at the time, a tiny website just catching on among college kids known as Facebook. Following a few online chats, Penny and Adam, along with some friends, met up in The Village on Ball State's campus in the spring of 2005 and hit it off.
They began seeing each other any time Adam would come to town. Weeknight trips to Dill Street Bar and Grill and The Chug soon developed into weekend excursions around the state, which eventually turned into nationwide adventures.
The couple bonded over their love of adventure. In December 2006 Penny took Adam to Buffalo, New York, to see his beloved Buffalo Bills trounce the despised Miami Dolphins. The expedition, though extremely wet and cold, remains one of the couple's favorite road trips.
XXXX
As in any relationship, the path to true love wasn't always smooth. Few people know that the couple split up in the winter of 2007. Penny was so distraught that she fled more than 1,000 miles and relocated to Naples, Florida. Penny will tell you the move was to take a job as a page designer at the Naples Daily News, but Adam claims the true reason she left is that no woman can stand to be without him.
The vast distance couldn't keep their hearts apart. They remained close friends, and Adam came to Florida to visit for Penny's 26th birthday in March of 2007. While on the beach, sparks flew and rekindled the epic romance. Six month later, Adam left his job at the Marion Chronicle Tribune and left his home state to follow his heart to Naples.
In late 2007, the couple spent time in Penny's tiny one-room apartment in North Naples, adjusting to living together while trying to avoid their crazy neighbors. Once the lease was up from Penny's first Florida apartment, the couple found a three-bedroom condo which they still call home today.
Both continue as underpaid and overworked journalists at the Naples Daily News, Penny as the editor of three community newspapers and Adam as a sports reporter. Living four miles from the beach, however, alleviates any headaches caused by their day jobs.
XXXXX
In the end, struggles along the way made the couple stronger. Penny and Adam lived happily together for more than four years, their love growing deeper in each day and culminating on the evening of April 2, 2010. That's when Adam dropped to one knee on the sands of Captiva Island and asked Penny if she would let him love her the rest of his life.
The couple has set up a semi-permanent residence in Naples; it's permanent at least until Adam lands a job at ESPN or opens his own brewery or Penny becomes CEO of Barbizon Modeling, where she teaches young girls on the weekends. The lovebirds now spend their time homebrewing award-winning beer, attending cookouts on the beach and hosting friends in their guest bedroom. They still love travel and adventure and eagerly await their honeymoon to Jamaica.
The past six and a half years have included ups and down and plenty of twists and turns, most good but some bad. Through it all, the couple's steadfast love has endured, resilient and uncompromising.
While their love story has a happy ending, Penny and Adam know it is just the first book in a long series of epic romance novels yet to be written.

-Adam

Let's get our party on

"A bachelorette party is a bachelor party...gone wild!"

I just got back from my last trip to Indiana before the pending nuptials. This trip was for my bachelorette festivities which the bridesmaids have kept a secret from me for the past six months. I arrived in Indianapolis on Friday. On Saturday we woke up early to start the day of surprises. The day began at a beautiful spa location in Greenwood. The bridesmaids and me spent a couple hours getting pampered. My body wrap and massage was amazing! It was so relaxing. After the spa we headed to downtown Indianapolis for lunch at the L.S. Ayres Team Room at the Indiana State Museum. The chicken soup (we all ordered) was delicious! Then we were off to check into the hotel. We stayed at the newly built J.W. Marriot hotel in downtown. This hotel was built for the upcoming Super Bowl happening in the Circle City next year. The hotel was so nice and very accommodating. The view of the skyline from the 20th floor was beautiful. A few of us headed to the Circle Centre Mall to get our makeup done at the Clinique counter while a few others rested for the upcoming evening. We headed to the Palomino for dinner and then hit up Howl at the Moon. We had a great time there except that is was packed with people and some of them were really rude especially this one lady next to us. We decided to hit up a club that we used to go to in college all the time called Have a Nice Day Cafe... only it's not called that anymore... apparently it's now Sensu. We had a great time there until the end of the night when I realized that my purse got stolen with my ID and cell phone in it. The remaining hours of the night were filled with tears and a police officer.

The weekend was one that I'll always remember and we created some wonderful memories that I'll continue to hold close to my heart. I love all of you girls! Thank you so much for making this such an amazing experience.

-Penny

Cocktails

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
-Benjamin Franklin

Adam and I recently made some decisions on the cocktail hour for the wedding. We decided to house the cocktail hour on the Banquet Hall Mezzanine overlooking the Banquet Hall where our reception will take place. Alcoholic drinks will be available along with a few food selections. I'm really excited about the chicken breast wrapped in bacon and marinated in Korean sauce... that sounds so yummy! We're also having goat cheese with hot pepper jam won tons, bruchetta and mini fruit skewers. I hope someone saves us a few of these tasty delights. Adam and I along with the bridal party and immediate family members will be finishing up photos during this hour. The escort table will also be on this level so that guests can pick those up before heading downstairs to be seated for dinner at the reception. The ushers will be on the Banquet Hall level to help seat guests at their table.

-Penny

Showered with love

"There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved."
-George Sand

Adam's sisters (Abby & Emma) were so thoughtful and offered to throw a bridal shower for me in Indianapolis on July 30. I thought it was so sweet of them to want to do this and I had such a great time at the celebration. We played some really fun games including putting a piece of paper on our heads and drawing what I would look like on my wedding day. Looking at these pieces of artwork were hilarious. I laughed so much that I cried. The day was filled with laughter and tears. So many people said so many touching things. I feel so blessed to be able to join this "Fisher" family. I've always wanted a sister and now I have two sister-in-laws which I'm really excited about. My mom also got to join us which was really nice. She had a great time getting to know everyone. The food options were so delicious. There were so many things to choose from including some of the Fisher family specialties... cheese ball and ham roll-ups with cream cheese and onion. We sipped on champagne and enjoyed some tasty treats. The day was so much fun... I didn't want it to end.

-Penny

Clutching love

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."

-Helen Keller

I have been searching for red clutches for the past year, but have continued to come up empty handed. I had this vision for the bridesmaids (who'll be wearing short black dresses with red sashes and red pumps) to carry a red clutch instead of flowers. Trying to find the perfect red color to go with David's Bridal's apple red color has been impossible. I've been stopping by this store here (Charming Charlie) every week for the last six months hoping to find something that would be perfect. No such luck! I finally decided that finding a red purse probably would not happen so I purchased six black clutches that are really adorable and have rhinestones on them. I'm pretty excited about them and I think that they will look really good... not as good as red ones would have but I think that this will work out OK. I really like the idea of the bridesmaids being able to keep these clutches as a momento from the wedding. The bouquets would have died the evening of the wedding/reception.

-Penny

Will you be able to join us?

"To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage."
Lao Tzu

I wanted to make a post as a friendly reminder that the RSVP's for our upcoming wedding are due at the end of the month (July 31) If you haven't sent in your RSVP postcard please get it in the mail to us or get in touch with us to let us know if you'll be accepting or declining our invitation. We hope that you'll be able to join us. We're really looking forward to this amazing experience.

-Penny

Just sign in

"Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

By now you're going to think I don't want to keep anything tradition for the sake of breaking tradition. That really isn't the case ... I just have been trying to think of really creative spins on tradition ideas. I'm still doing all the "traditional" things just in a different way. The guest book is no exception. Typically guests sign a book with a pen at the door when they enter the ceremony location. For our wedding I thought of tons of ideas of things that I really liked, but I didn't want to make it to complicated for our guests. You're supposed to be able to come in and complete this task within a couple of minutes... otherwise we'll have a line of unhappy guests waiting to get in and take a seat. An idea that I really loved was using an old typewriter with long sheets of paper for guests to write good wishes to us on it. We could look for inexpensive vintage machines online or at thrift stores. Then after the wedding we could tie it into a scroll with a ribbon or cut each of the entries and put them into a book. I thought this was a really neat idea because we're both journalists. I thought it really fit us. But, Adam thought using an old fashioned typewriter might not be the best idea for our guests. He thought some might struggle with this. So, then I thought about setting up small note cards with matching envelopes that guests could write well wishes on and then seal them into an envelope for us to open on our one year anniversary. I thought this would be something really special to do on our first anniversary. I also contemplated lots of other ideas, but we finally settled on the perfect thing that blends our personalities and where we meet all into one amazing thing. Wait until you get to the wedding to find out what we picked. I think it's going to be a hit!

-Penny

Showing off the city

"The most precious possession that ever comes to a man in this world,
is a woman's heart."
- Josiah G. Holland

We've been contemplating what locations we should travel to on our wedding day to capture photos of us with the wedding party. We're going to be in downtown Indianapolis so we're trying to stick around in that location. We don't want to travel around too much for fear of spending too much time traveling and not enough actually taking pictures. Right now, we're planning to do some photos around the circle, at the canal and at Lucas Oil Stadium (where the Colts play) We're still going to try to think of some other neat places to go. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for us. We've been drafting up the schedule for the day and for photos and it's pretty crammed, but I think we'll have a great time. I can't wait to see the photos from Narrative Image.

-Penny

Who knew?

"Dance through life with me - the best is yet to be"

I started filling out our DJ form tonight and realized that I had no idea there were so many alternatives to the traditional garter toss.

Here are some options if you'd rather not let your husband remove your garter in front of all your guests.

Toss the boutonniere
Instead of tossing the garter... how about tossing another important part of the wedding ensemble? The groom could throw his boutonniere or you can have him undo his necktie and toss it to the crowd. Line up the single male guests and announce that whoever catches it will be the next to marry.

Gift toss
If you can't toss your tie consider tossing a gift instead. You can toss anything that most men would like as a gift, but nothing hard or dangerous. Some good examples include a tie or gloves.

Balloon drop
Blow up a bunch of balloon and put a ribbon or other lightweight item in the wedding colors inside. Keep the balloons in a secured location near the ceiling. Line up all the single men and let the balloons drop. The lucky guy who finds the concealed item will be the next to pop the question.

Race to the bride
Scatter several inexpensive scarves or handkerchiefs on a table on one side of the room. Line up all the single men on the other side of the room. Have the men race to the table and retrieve a scarf and take it to the bride at the starting line.

Musical chairs
This is an hilarious spin-off of the child's version of musical chairs. Set up the chairs in a circle and have the single men play until there's only one man standing.

-Penny

Don't forget to book your hotel room

"Together is a wonderful place to be"

I wanted to share a friendly reminder to our guests about booking your hotel room for our upcoming wedding. It's VERY important for you to book your hotel as early as possible. There is a convention being held in Indianapolis the same weekend as our nuptials. The majority of the rooms will be filled by convention goers. We set up blocks at several hotels. The Hyatt cancelled our rooms based on interest since no one had booked there yet. We have blocks of rooms at the following hotels.

Hotel accommodations for the wedding party and immediate family members are available at the Canterbury Hotel located at 123 South Illinois Street. The Canterbury is a fabulous hotel that offers great amenities for their guests. The hotel is attached to the convention center and the Circle Centre Mall. It has served many celebrities including most famous natives David Letterman and Michael Jackson and now will be serving the our wedding guests. The rate for the room is $159.00. Please say you are part of the Fisher-Moore wedding block. You can make reservations by calling 317-634-3000.

Hotel accommodations are available at the Fairfield Inn & Suites located at 501 W. Washington Street. There are 7 rooms available on Friday and 15 on Saturday. The rate for the room is $139 per night. Please say you are part of the Fisher-Moore wedding block. You can make your reservations by calling 317-636-7678.

Hotel accommodations are also available at the Courtyard by Marriott at the Capitol located at 320 North Senate Avenue. There are 8 rooms on Friday and 15 rooms on Saturday available. The rate for the room is $149 per night. Please say you are part of the Fisher-Moore wedding block. You can make your reservations by calling 317-684-7733.

Please make sure you have your room booked by Monday, August 1.

-Penny

Lucky in Love

"Two hearts united and two shall become one."

I recently got back from an amazing trip visiting family and friends in Indiana. Adam and I typically head back to the Hoosier state each July so that I can help out with the Miss Ripley County Pageant. I'm part of the committee. This year was a little extra special because it was my 10 year anniversary of being crowned Miss Ripley County. To commemorate the occasion I was asked to emcee the pageant. I had a great time doing this and the pageant was a great success. I really enjoy getting to help out with the pageant and work with such awesome people. I also spent this trip completing wedding errands and my mom and maid of honor hosted a bridal shower in my honor. I was so impressed by the decorations. My mom (and dad) have spent the last couple months working on decorations for the shower and they turned out great. The theme for the shower was "Lucky in Love" and had Vegas decor. My mom tied cards up on strings. She cut out colored paper in shapes of dollar signs, cards and dice. She made this elaborate fake cake as a centerpiece. It looked great. Each guest was given a number which was the time they were responsible for purchasing a gift for. We played a couple games and I had a great time catching up with everyone.

-Penny

Penny's Passport

"Life's hard journey can be endured if we travel hand in hand."

I finally got the opportunity to leave work early and fill out paperwork to get my passport for the honeymoon. I've been extremely busy with work recently. I'm responsible for maintaining the Naples News Media Group's community publications. We are launching redesigns of each of these publications in a staggered format. So, needless to say I've been spending countless hours in the newsroom trying to accomplish this. I was so excited to be able to leave a couple hours early and check this off my to do list. I've been meaning to do it since we booked our honeymoon. I can't wait to get it in the mail in a few weeks.

-Penny

Trips to Indiana

"Two hearts are better than one."

I'm starting to get really excited about our upcoming trips to Indiana. We'll be heading there the week after the Fourth of July. This is an annual trip each year so I can help with the Miss Ripley County Pageant. I'm won the title 10 years ago and I've been on the committee for the last several years. I really enjoy getting the opportunity to come back for the pageant. This year is a little extra special since I was crowned a decade ago I was asked to emcee the pageant. I'm looking forward to this. I'm also responsible for choreographing the opening number. We're also planning to meet with our vendor and caterer to plan out the schedule for our wedding day and the menu. We also have an appointment for a cake tasting one day. And, finally we're meeting with a couple florists to plan out the bouquets. My maid of honor with the help of my mom also planned a bridal shower for me as well. I hope all of my southern Indiana friends will be able to join us in Madison. It's going to be a busy week, but very productive. I'll have lots to blog about after this trip.

I'll be heading back to the Hoosier state at the end of July. I'll be taking the weekend journey alone. Adam's sisters offered to throw a bridal shower for me that weekend. It's so sweet of them to do this. I really appreciate it so much. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with Adam's family.

Then, I'll be heading back for a weekend trip in the middle of August for my bachelorette party. I'm not sure what we'll be doing (it's a surprise) but I'm sure we'll have a great time! I can't wait to see all of my closest friends in one place.

Finally, we'll be heading back for the wedding the weekend before Labor Day. I think we'll probably arrive on Sunday. That will give us the week to get everything organized before the big day and allow us some time to spend with all our friends and family. Hopefully, we'll get to see all of you on one (or more) of these trips. We miss everyone so much!

-Penny

You're invited

"Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination."
-Roy Goodman

Our invitations are finished and in the mail! Finishing that project was one that I'm so thankful I was able to check off our to do list. I did have lots of fun making them and assembling them (with Adam and my mom) but it was a big task to complete. I spent a couple of weeks designing them and printing off all the materials then we spent a few days gluing all the pieces together. My goal was to get them out by June 1. Mission accomplished! We had a few hiccups along they way, but I think they turned out better than I imagined in my head. I can't wait to start getting our RSVP postcards back in the mail. I've heard from a few people that they really liked the postcard and didn't want to send it back. Let me know if you'd like a copy to keep. I have TONS of extras. I had to get them in bulk. Send me a note and I'll get one out to you that you can keep. We're looking forward to celebrating with all of you.

-Penny

Cheers!

"Marriage is choosing someone again and again to love
and to cherish with each new day."

Our latest purchase for the upcoming nuptials arrived on our doorstep yesterday. It's a purchase that I was pretty excited about because it's one of the things we get to keep. I've been eyeing these particular toasting flutes and serving set for a couple of months waiting for the right time to get them. The items finally went on sale and I snatched them up. The serving set and glasses are called "Glitter Galore" and are trimmed in diamonds. I love them!

-Penny

The search is over (hopefully)

"Little girls have a magic all their own."

I've been searching for the perfect flower girl dresses for the past couple of months. I really thought I would find an adorable ensemble during Easter. But, there wasn't much to choose from. To be honest, I was really surprised. When I was younger there were tons of frilly, lacy dresses that were available. I remember getting so excited about getting a new dress for Easter. There aren't many options these days. My main objective was trying to find a dress that was reasonably priced. I just couldn't justify spending more than a hundred dollars on these dresses. I kept looking at department stores without much luck. The main issue I kept running into was finding a dress that I liked that would fit both flower girls. They are in different size categories. My niece (Destiny) wears a size 3 and Adam's Goddaughter (Elizabeth) wears an 8. Designers typically don't make the same dress in both of those sizes. I have no idea why they don't but they don't. I was starting to lose hope until I found this great site Pink Princess. They have tons of beautiful dresses and I think I found the perfect one. I loved the polka dots. I thought it was adorable. I couldn't decide between the polka dots and getting one that really matched my dress and the bridesmaid dress. But, I decided to go with the polka dots. The dresses are ordered and I'm waiting for them to arrive. Hopefully I love them in person as much as I did online.

-Penny

Mother knows best

"A mother's love is the fuel that enables a normal human being
to do the impossible. "
A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul

My mom came to visit me for six days and it couldn't have came at a better time. I'm at the point in the wedding planning where I'm finalizing the plans and I really needed the help deciding on some major and minor details of the wedding. I'm so glad she was here to help me out for a few days. I established a to do list for us and we accomplished nearly everything on it. The biggest task was assembling the invitations. I designed every detail of the invitation and ordered everything in pieces. So we spent a couple nights put the invitations together with a hot glue gun and other supplies. I'm really happy with how they turned out. All I have to do is put on stamps and address them. I'm hoping to get them in the mail by June 1st. (I'll post a picture of them when I get them shipped off.) We also spent Saturday wedding shopping. Adam's mom came down from Tampa to join us. We had such a great time looking for mothers of the dresses and other items. I really wanted to find a veil and jewelry, but I didn't have much luck with that. Veils are so expensive... it's crazy... it's just tulle on a comb! No one bought anything on our trip, but both my mom and Amy found a dress that they liked that I think they're planning to order/get at a boutique closer to home. It's so fun watching everything come together. I can't wait for the next few months to come and go. I can't wait to be Mrs. Adam Fisher!

-Penny

Take me to Jamaica

“Don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright”
Bob Marley

Adam and I officially have a honeymoon location. After several months of deliberations (there are so many choices and it was a difficult one to make) We'll be soaking up the sun on the beaches of Jamaica. We'll be staying at a Sandals Resort in Montego Bay that is all inclusive and we're so excited about it! We stayed in an all inclusive resort in Mexico a few years ago and we loved it. I'm just so thankful that we have this finalized. Now... to get a passport!

-Penny

All in good time

"Thank you for sharing in the celebration of our love and commitment on our wedding day."

I recently set up a meeting with our reception vendors and it got me to thinking about a timeline. Of course, I would think about time because with our jobs (working at a newspaper) we're always thinking about time and making deadlines. So, I pulled out my wedding planning book and according to it a typical reception timeline follows this format:

Hour one:
-Guests arrive at reception site.
-Cocktail hour begins while wedding party finishes photos
-Guests sign guest book & pick up place cards
-Guests enter ballroom & take seats

Hour two:
-Wedding party is introduced
-Bride & groom are introduced
-First dance
-Relative or friend says grace
-Father of the bride offers welcome toast
-Guests take seats for first course - kicked off by toast by best man

Hour three:
-Maid of honor offers toast
-Father/daughter dance
-Mother/son dance
-Bridal party dance
-Main course is cleared. Open dancing begins. (Plan on 30 minutes of dancing before cutting the cake)

Hour four:
-Cake cutting
-Open dancing
-Bouquet toss
-Garter toss

Hour five:
-Last dance
-Bride & groom say farewell

It looks pretty good to me. I doubt I'll change much with this except that our reception will be six hours instead of four so I might have to do some adjusting here and there unless we shorten our reception time.

-Penny

The Move: One year later

“Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.”

I was cleaning out some files today and came across a print-out of a blog Adam wrote on August 5, 2008 titled The Move: One year later. I thought it would be neat to share it with all of you. It's his thoughts 364 days after moving to the sunshine state.

One year ago yesterday, I moved out of Indiana for the third time in my life. Come late tomorrow night, it will have been one year since I established my new home in Florida. This is officially the longest I've lived outside the borders of the Great Hoosier Nation.

The move was quite an abrupt and drastic one. I up and quit my job with no form of employment lined up. I sold off all my furniture and threw away all of my belongings that didn't fit into a U-HAUL trailer. I moved 1,400 miles to a place I'd only visited once to live with... gasp!... A GIRL!

Despite everyone's words of reassurance and support, I had my reservations and fears about The Move.

But 364 days later, it turns out everyone was right, I was wrong. The Move has turned out better than I could have imagined and has been one of the best decisions I've made in my life.

Almost immediately after arriving in Florida, everything started turning up. I got a job (or two) quickly, and even started working for a the newspaper. I made enough money to pay my bills. I made some friends. I went to the beach (often.)

the past year has been like one long, beautiful vacation. It's been like my 12-month sabbatical from the real world. About a month after getting to Florida and realizing things were going to work out, I haven't had a care in the world. Everything is so laid back and chill down here. Plus, it's hard to get upset about anything when, as soon as you walk out your front door, you're greeted by palm trees and 80-degree sun every day of the year.

Since The Move, I've been my own boss. I work from home as often as I like. I wake up at 10 in the morning and make phone calls and write stories in my underwear. It's beautiful. And, I've worked part-time as a lifeguard, which is the most relaxing and each job ever invented. Plus, I get a sweet tan.

I've always suspected that karma and the gods favored me. There's been too much good and not enough bad in my life to think otherwise. Now more than ever, I'm certain that fate smiles upon me. If anything, The Move has taught me that I can be successful at any of my endeavors. It's also taught me not to fear the unknown.

Sure it took some hard work, but let's be honest... there was a lot of luck involved. I just happened to be dating someone at the newspaper company where I got a job. And that newspaper just happened to be severely understaffed, resulting in much work and money for me. So, I feel into the perfect situation.

And the living with a girl thing? It's worked out pretty well, too. I'm no longer crashing in Penny's apartment; we have our own bad-ass place. I still don't have many belongings other than my huge flippin' TV. But that's all a man needs, right?

So all is well in Florida. I miss my friends, and I'd love to be in a bigger city. But The Move has definitely paid off, making me a much happier and content person.

-Adam

P.S. The photo is from our first Christmas in Florida.

A wedding fit for a queen

"We're quite reserved a lot, the British, but when we go for it,
we really go for it''
The Prime Minister

I have to admit that I was intrigued by the royal wedding. I even contemplated waking up in the wee hours of the morning to watch it live, but I opted to sleep in and watch it later. I had heard all these rumors that everyone would be ripping off ideas from the wedding to include in their own celebrations. Since, I’m a bride-to-be I thought I should definitely watch it. I thought it was a beautiful ceremony, but to be honest… I’m not really sure what people would take from this ceremony. It was very traditional and didn’t really introduce anything new. I thought the music was very good. The two choirs, one orchestra and two fanfare teams performed wonderfully. The songs were very traditional well-known hymns and choral works as well as some specially-commissioned pieces. I loved the trees along the sides of the aisle. I thought that was a really nice touch and really add some visual oomph to the decorations. I was surprised there weren’t more flowers because I heard that thousands of dollars were spent on floral arrangements. I was really surprised at the lack of emotion. I really thought one of them would tear up during the ceremony. You can tell how much they love each other and I’m sure I’ll be a tearful mess on my wedding day. I really wish pictures of the reception would have been released I would have loved to seen the decorations and atmosphere for the reception. I did read that they introduced an American tradition… the groom’s cake. The wedding cake was massive with 900 individually iced flowers and leaves.

-Penny

An RSVP Postcard

“Together we laugh, we dream, we love … on this day we marry.”

My latest project has been getting our stationary items designed and ordered. I wanted to have all the invitation supplies ready when my mom came to visit (May 10-16) so she could help me assemble them. I don’t think that will happen, but at least I’ve got the bulk of the design work completed. Now, I just have to wait for all the pieces to arrive, put them together and get them in the mail. My goal is have them mailed by the end of May. It’s a good thing I have a couple weeks off that month to accomplish that goal.

I did something really different for our RSVP cards and I’m not sure how it will turn out. Instead of doing the traditional card with the tiny envelope … I decided to make a postcard (from Vistaprint.com) with one of our engagement pictures on it. We loved our photos that we got from Narrative Image so I really wanted to use them for something other than the save the date so I thought why not use them on a postcard. You’ll have to let me know what you think. I also thought about making envelope liners using our favorite engagement photos, but I’m not sure if I’ll have the time to do all of that. I think one of the hardest parts of designing the invitations (which I really enjoyed … for those of you that don’t know I majored in Journalism graphics in college. I love design and I don’t get to do much of it in my current position at the newspaper so it was great to get back into this) was trying to decide what wording to use. I thought about using one of my favorite quotes: “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.” or “Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” There are tons of other little sayings to choose from, but I ultimately decided to use “Together we laugh, we dream, we love … on this day we marry.” I really wanted to put an emphasis on our wedding date (9.10.11) and I thought that wording really helped to do that. It was really hard trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do because there are so many options out there. I’m happy with how they turned out so far. I’ll try to remember to post a blog once I get them finished so you can get a sneak peek before you get them in the mail.

-Penny

P.S. The top image is the front of the postcard and the bottom image is the back side.

Staying on budget

Love is that condition in which the happiness
of another is essential to your own.

Planning a wedding would be so easy if you had unlimited resources and financial backing. The most challenging part of planning our wedding for me has been achieving our vision but staying in our budget. I think I've done a great job of working within my budget but it's been difficult. I've found some amazing deals and I've saved us some serious cash, but there are a couple items we don't really have that much control over and that's the food and drinks portion of the reception… unless we're willing to cut into the number of people joining us. We've made sacrifices elsewhere to keep our original numbers. We really want all of our family and close friends to be able to celebrate with us. The food and beverages are by far the most expensive part of the planning process. But, it's the biggest party we're ever going to throw (probably) so why not splurge a little right?

I have 12 pointers for other brides out there who are looking to save cash on catering expenses.

1. During the cocktail hour, hand pass the pricier appetizers rather than offering them self-serve. Guests consume 40 percent less.
2. Serve the food in unique plates or ways. People eat with their eyes first, so focus on presentation.
3. There's no need to serve five courses after cocktail hour… stick with three.
4. Have salad of spring greens rather than traditional Caesar.
5. Some meats are pricier at different times of the year.
6. For a 20 percent savings serve family-style dishes.
7. Ask for a detailed price list for vegetables/sides to make better budget decisions. Not all vegetables are priced the same.
8. Going for midshelf instead of topshelf at the bar can help you save up to 30 percent.
9. Skip the champagne for toasts.
10.Close the open bar an hour early. This can save hundreds of dollars.
11. Stick with regular cake flavors that are more budget friendly.
12. Buttercream frosting will cost you less than fondant.

A wedding budget should follow this formula: 48-50% for the reception, 8-10% for flowers, 8-10% for attire, 8-10% for entertainment/music, 10-12% for photo/video, 2-3% for invites, 2-3% for gifts, and 8% for miscellaneous items. It's essential to allocate an extra 5-10% of the money for surprise expenses.

-Penny

To have and to hold

To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, from this day forward...

Sorry, it's been awhile since my last post. I've been working so much that I haven't had much time for planning. My work schedule is supposed to be calming down soon so I'll have more time to focus on our upcoming nuptials.

I've been some time recently stressing over our vows. Adam and I have agree to write our own vows to each other instead of doing the standard ones. We thought this would be a great way for us to personalize the ceremony and it would give us an opportunity to speak from the heart. It sounded like a great idea, but now I"m worried I won't be able to jot down everything I'm feeling or I won't be able to say it effectively. I'm assuming this task will be pretty easy for Adam since he's a writer for a living. But, I think it's going to be a little difficult for me. I don't have the greatest way with words like he does. I did some research and found out that I'm supposed to talk about how great Adam is, how great we are as a couple and what we're vowing to each other. I think it's going to be challenging for me, but I'm for the challenge. I just need to take a couple days and start writing some things down.

I'll keep you posted on my progress with this... cross your fingers for me!

-Penny

Our engage-iversary

"True love stories never have endings"
Richard Bach

What's an engage-iversary you might ask? Well, it's a word to describe our one year anniversary of getting engaged. Cute, huh?

Last year Adam surprised me with a trip to Captiva Island for the weekend after my birthday. He rented a quaint cottage in the middle of the island that was within walking distance to the beach and several other restaurants. Little did I know that he had another very special surprise planned that would completely shock me. Adam and I have spent the past couple of years doing little weekend getaways for my birthday. The first year we lived in southwest Florida we spent the weekend at a local hotel pretending like we were tourists and it was wonderful. The year after we took a trip to Key West to enjoy some sights and sunshine. So, I didn't really anticipate anything different happening during this trip. Upon arriving in Captiva he asked me if I wanted to go to the beach. I packed up our tote bag and we were on our way. We walked to the beach and set up our chairs on the edge of shoreline. As the sun started to set he took my left hand. I noticed his hands were shaking and asked if everything was OK. He quickly replied yes. Then, he started to say a bunch of romantic stuff about how much he loved me... among other things that I can't even remember because of all the excitement. He got down on one knee and asked "will you marry me?" I accepted after saying "are you serious?" several times. The other beach goers cheered. He opened our cooler and pulled out two glasses and a bottle of champagne so we could toast our engagement. It was so sweet. I couldn't have imagined anything more perfect. I've known for a long time that he was something really special that I wanted to keep in my life. I feel so blessed to have him and I'm so excited that we're planning to share the rest of our days and nights together. Planning the wedding has been so much fun because I've gotten to bring out our unique personalities into all the details and make the day totally about us and our relationship. It's also helped me think back on all the good times and memories we've had. It's hard to believe that we've been dating for six years. It feels like yesterday when we met for the first time in the newsroom of Ball State University's newspaper.

-Penny

Brilliant boutonnieres

"What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel
that they are joined for life. "
George Eliot

I drug Adam to the one store he hates the most (Michaels) last week to pick up some wedding supplies. He despises the craft surplus store but, he was a good sport and came with me. I needed his assistance helping select items for the guy’s boutonnieres. These are typically some sort of floral decoration. I decided against using flowers and making them personalized instead. To be honest, I’m not really a flower kind of girl. I don’t really know much about flowers and while they are beautiful for the few hours or days you have them they die and have to be tossed out. I wanted the guys to have something they could keep… not that any of them are that sentimental. So I started searching for some ideas. I finally found some inspiration and started planning out what I wanted to do. Each of the guys will have their very own personalized boutonniere based on their personality. Adam helped me pick out the perfect theme for each guy. I started working on them this week, but I still have a few hours of work to do on them. I’m hoping to finish the project soon and them store them for the next few months.

-Penny

Let there be cocktails

"I've always believed that paradise will have
my favorite beer on tap."
Rudyard Wheatley

I spoke with our day of coordinator this week and finalized our wedding day schedule. We didn’t nail down all the specifics, but we know that our wedding will start at 5:30 p.m. The cocktail hour will take place from 6 until 7 p.m. and the reception kicks off at 7 p.m. and ends at midnight. We’re going to come up with all the specifics at our meeting in July. Getting the timeline set up made me start thinking about the cocktail hour. I’m really excited that we’ll be able to offer this for our guests. For those of you that don’t know what a cocktail hour entails… it’s typically held for an hour between the ceremony and reception. Building this in allows the bride, groom and wedding party to get pictures taken while guests enjoy beverages and mingle with friends and family. Drinks and hors d’ oeuvres are served. The cocktail hour can be held an hour before the ceremony as a welcoming event for guests. I liked it between the ceremony and reception for the functionality of it. We’re planning to serve some alcoholic drinks including a signature cocktail (more on that later) and some non-alcoholic choices. We haven’t decided on the food selections yet. We also don’t know if we’ll have mini food stations or butler passed appetizers. I’m hoping we’ll figure that out in July as well. We’re hoping to have a couple meat options and some cheese and vegetarian samplings. I’ve heard that mixing up the colors and textures is a good idea. So is providing different textures, some hot, some cold, some crispy and some creamy. I have lots of ideas of things to include, but I guess I’ll just have to wait until this summer to nail them down.

-Penny

Traditions

"Marriage joins two hands to make one heart."

There is one wedding day tradition that almost every bride partakes in ... the something old - something new - something borrowed - something blue and a silver sixpence in your shoe. Something old signifies the life you had with friends and family before the marriage. Something new stands for your future life with your significant other. Something borrowed is an item borrowed from a happy married woman to ensure the current bride's happiness. Something blue represents the bride's purity and faithfulness. The silver sixpence in your shoe is to ensure wealth to the couple in their married life. I've been exploring ideas for this tradition.

The something old options I've been considering are: printing an old family recipe and sharing with guests as a simple favor and/or having this dish be part of the reception dinner. I also thought about having a piece of my mother's dress sewn into the inside of my gown or using lace from her veil on my bouquet.

Something borrowed ideas include: My grandmother's lacy tissue or a piece of jewelry.

The blue ideas are: Having the bridesmaids autograph the bottom of my shoe with a blue marker or having a monogrammed blue ribbon (with our initials and wedding date) attached to the inside of my dress tag. Or, wearing a pretty blue ring on my right hand.

Anyone have any other great ideas? What did you do?

-Penny

Up or down?

"Life is a journey, and I'm so glad we're traveling together."

I’ve been trying to decide on my hairstyle for the wedding so that I can purchase hair accessories. I’ve been looking through magazines and searching the internet for possible options. The initial decision was to wear it up or down. I haven’t completely made up my mind on that yet, but I’m leaning toward wearing it up… only because my hair doesn’t hold curls very well if I wear it down. Plus, I’m not a fan of the face covering veil. It makes me feel like I’m a beekeeper. I think I’ll select an up do with a combed veil going in at the bottom of the curls. I do know on thing for sure… I’m going to wear a veil during the ceremony and a hair piece for the reception. I’m really looking forward to the massive hair and makeup appointments the day of the wedding. I think it’s a great bonding experience for all the ladies. I’m also hoping to keep it from being stressful (I’ve been in weddings where it was pure madness) I have the stylist and artist arriving 30 minutes before everyone else to get their stations set up. I’m also hoping to draft up a hair and makeup schedule for the bridal party to keep everyone on track. I think we’ll probably have brunch served as well.

-Penny

Our first look

"To the beginning of a beautiful forever."

Before we say I do Adam and I will share our first look. What's that you might ask? Well, typically the first time a groom sees his bride on the day of the wedding is when she walks down the aisle. We are opting for something a little different… something that a superstitious bride wouldn't be up for. We are going to document our first look on film. Instead of seeing each other for the first time at the ceremony we're going to see each other in a private intimate setting. During the morning of the wedding everyone will be busy getting ready. Adam and I are planning to be ready first so we can meet in a secluded location a couple hours before the wedding party joins us. We'll arrive at different times and won't see each other until the perfect moment. Adam will be in a place where he's hidden and I'll walk up from behind him. The photographer will capture our faces when we look at each other for the first time. Instead of being in a packed room we'll get to share a private moment. At the ceremony it's almost impossible to get both of our reactions in the same shot. Doing this pre-arranged first look is the perfect solution. I love this idea! While everyone else is putting their finishing touches on their look we'll be out shooting pictures with our photographer. Doing this will also allow us to shoot the majority of our portraits and wedding party photos before the ceremony. Typically the post-ceremony pictures are rushed or the guests are waiting for a long time for the bride and groom to finish taking photos. We won't have to be in a rush and we'll get to enjoy getting our picture taken.

-Penny

Life's little emergencies

"Trip over love, you can get up. Fall in love and you fall forever."

I'm a person who likes to be prepared and organized. I like to have everything planned out. I realize that there will be circumstances when I'm not prepared and that I could encounter an emergency but I still like to anticipate all of those things. So naturally, I started pondering what might happen during our wedding day. I started jotting down things that would help us avoid mishaps and then I decided why not create an emergency kit. I've been working on compiling one for the guys and one for the ladies. The kit includes everything from a sewing kit to an extra pair of black socks. Then I thought why stop with the bridal party... what if some of our guests have to deal with a mishap that they weren't planning on. So I expanded my idea and made emergency kits for the bathrooms. I'm still collecting items, but I'm hoping to finish this project soon.

-Penny

Love is in the air

"Truly, sweetly you complete me!"

I've been really trying not to say this is our last... this is our last... but sometimes I just can't help it. This was our last Valentine's Day as a dating couple and Adam didn't disappoint... I guess I should take that back I was a little disappointed but it wasn't because of him. We are members of a co-ed softball league (that ended up winning the consolation championship game last year) and our first game got scheduled for Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. Originally I thought we could just miss the game and start our season the following week, but then I thought... there is no way I'm going to be able to talk Adam out of playing a sporting event. So, I tried to figure out another day we could do our celebrating. The weekend before V-Day was out because I was traveling for Barbizon and would be in Houston. We ended up picking the Wednesday after to go out for dinner. I went off to work that weekend and returned home really late on Sunday night. I don't think I shut my eyes before 3 a.m. and I awoke at 7:30 a.m. with Adam saying "Penny, wake up." As I struggled to open my eyes... I saw him standing next to the bed with breakfast. It was so sweet and I was so surprised. He made cinnamon rolls and had purple (my favorite color) tulips, chocolates and this adorable card. It turned out that both of our cards said the same thing inside: You complete me. That is so true. I really feel like I'm an incomplete person without him in my life. I can't imagine not sharing all the day to day things and bigger events with him. I'm lucky to have found someone as amazing as him to be by my side.

-Penny

Escort cards

"It doesn't matter where you go in life, or what you do, or how much you have, it's who you have beside you."

Adam and I decided on our table names a couple of weeks ago… which got me to thinking about options for our escort cards. I thought of a great idea that will play off of our table names, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to pull it off or not. In case you didn’t see this blog post our table names are going to be locations that have been important in our lives… so I thought why not use luggage to hold the escort cards. I’m talking about the old school hard luggage from the 50s. I could open it up and decorate the inside flap or outsides with tourists bumper stickers and place the cards in the bottom half of it. The only problem with this idea is finding luggage in good condition in our wedding colors. I also considered putting the escort cards inside leather luggage name tags. I guess we could do that for place cards, but I don’t really think those are necessary. Some other options we’re considering (if the luggage option doesn’t work out) are hanging the cards from a tree branches display with different colored ribbons and having guests cut them with fancy scissors. I also thought about using personalized CDs which could also serve as a favor. Adam burned me a CD filled with love songs when I was living in Florida while he was still in Indiana. I played this CD in my car religiously. It helped me get through all those months we were separated. I thought it would be neat to share those tunes with our guests. If I don’t use it as an “escort card” then maybe I’ll think of some other way to incorporate it.

-Penny

Save the date: 9/10/11

"It doesn't matter where you go in life... what you do or or how much you have... it's who you have beside you that matters."

The Fisher wedding save the dates have been ordered and we expect them to be delivered in a couple of weeks. We're hoping to get them out in the mail to family members and close friends by the end of February. We selected our save the dates from magnet street. They have a great selection to choose from and were reasonably priced. I think the hardest part was selecting which photos to use. My original idea was to do a photo booth style magnet with words below each picture that said: We're getting married, save the date, 9/10/11, be there. But, we opted for the magnet shown above to use some of our favorite engagement photos. We also explored a couple other ideas before deciding to get magnets. Adam really liked calendar stickers with our names and date on it. I found a great company that did these and they were really adorable, but I'm not sure how many people use daily planners. But, everyone has a fridge (this is where I put all of our invitations anyway... so it just made sense to get a magnet) We also thought about making a postcard with our picture on it or a small card with the information on it. I really like the postcard idea and I think I might used it for our RSVP's.

-Penny

We got our engagement photos

"How beautiful life can be when touched by love."

I had the opportunity to meet up with Meghan Easterly this week and pick up our engagement pictures. I know that I've mentioned this in previous blog posts before but we had such a great time at our engagement photo shoot with Jason and Meghan Easterly of Narrative Image. They spent the entire day with us capturing the moments of the day. We loved the photos and can't wait to see the photos from the wedding. If you don't have a photographer you should definitely book them. They are based in Florida, but are willing to travel. Here is a photo slide show of a few of our favorites.

-Penny

A piece of cake

"How beautiful life can be when touched by love."

What is the one thing you can't do without at the reception? My dad would say cake. He'll be very pleased because Adam and I will be having a delicious cake prepared by Rachel Weller of Whimsical Cake Designs. Rachel and I have been sharing e-mail correspondence for the past couple of weeks... sharing pictures and ideas and I think we have a game plan for the Fisher wedding. I can't wait to see what Rachel creates for our wedding. We still have several other details to discuss during the next few months leading up to the wedding, but I think we're going to end up with a delicious, beautifully decorated cake. I'm planning to order our cake topper this week. We're getting a diamond-encrusted "F" in our wedding colors. I posted a photo of a letter that looks similar to the one we'll be purchasing.

-Penny

Eat, drink and be merry

"Love begins in a moment, grows over time, and lasts for eternity."

We were able to check another item off our long to do list this week thanks to Adam's amazing parents (Amy & David Fisher) Amy was so thoughtful and helpful with planning our rehearsal dinner for the night before the wedding. It's been a little challenging for the four of us to plan the event since we all live in Florida. We thought we found the perfect place about a month ago... until we found out this week that the restaurant is closing. So we were forced to search for another location. I think Amy spent all of her free time this week trying to secure another spot and she did it. I think our evening at The Ram is going to be fabulous. We're really looking forward to spending some time with our really close friends and family members the night before we say our I do's. Adam and I are so thankful and blessed that Amy wanted to take care of this for us. She's awesome!

-Penny

Our wedding bands

"The joining of two hands makes one heart."

I've been trying to find ways to personalize everything for our wedding. I really want the entire process to be about us even down to the minor details. One of those details I've been exploring is having the ring bearer carry something other than the ring tied to the traditional pillow. I've heard of some brides putting a glass slipper on the pillow to compliment a princess or fairytale theme. I thought that was a really neat Idea and it got me to thinking what would fit our theme or lives. I ended up coming up with several options, but narrowed It down to my two favorites.

Option one: Our ring bearer will be holding an old issue of the Ball State Daily newspaper. Adam and I met while working at this paper in college. I was the features editor and he was the assistant sports editor. The newspaper will be rolled up and tied with ribbons and the rings will be attached to it.

Option two: Our ring bearer will carry a Jermaine O'Neal teddy bear from Build-a-Bear that Adam made me for me on our very first Valentine's Day together. The rings will be tied to the bear using ribbons. This could also serve as my something blue for the wedding because the bear is in a blue uniform.

-Penny

Finding your table

"Marriage is choosing someone again and again to love
and to cherish with each new dawn."

Instead of using chronological numbers for our reception tables I decided to bring in some personality. I initially thought that we would use traditional numbers and put photos of us in corresponding ages on the tables. For example, table 16 would have a photo of Adam and a photo of me at age 16. But, then I explored other options for using numbers. I thought about using years that have been important in our lives. This would include: the years our parents got married, we were born and when we met. Then I thought about using random numbers that are significant to us. This would include: 12 the number of Jim Kelly (Adam's favorite player) 7 the number of Jermaine O'Neal (Penny's favorite player) and 91011 the date of our wedding. But, we finally decided to name our tables after locations that have been significant. These will include: where we met, where we live, where he proposed and vacation hot spots. In addition to the location name there will be a short paragraph describing why the location is important to us. I thought this would be a neat way for our guests to get know us a little better.

-Penny

Ringing in 1.1.11

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."
Oprah Winfrey

Ringing in the new year last night had a little different meaning than others I've celebrated. During the ninth month of this year Adam and I will be married. I'm so anxious for the tenth day of that month to arrive. I keep having to remind myself to put on the brakes and enjoy it. I just can't wait to see how everything unfolds for us. The anticipation is killing me. Some other exciting things are in store for me in 2011. I'll be starting a new position with the Naples Daily News on Monday. I was notified about my promotion a couple of weeks ago and I'm really excited to start the new year with a new job. I've also started traveling for Barbizon Modeling. So for this year I'll be taking six trips to Louisiana and one trip to Mississippi. I'll also celebrate my 30th birthday and our six year anniversary (of dating) in March. I'm exciting to see what other opportunities and adventures are in store for us this year. I hope all of you find happiness in 2011.

Happy New Year!