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