Venue

This weekend Adam and I officially signed the contract for our wedding venue! We started our search a few months ago with two days of whirl wind tours and meetings.  For those of you who don't know, Adam plans events for the American Cancer Society, so like the gracious, kind, completely freaking out bride that I am I delegated  handed over the reigns on this one.  

Adam is a planner, an obsessive planner, good thing I am too.  The weekend of venue hunting Adam showed up to our appointments armed with worksheets.  These were intricate pages with preassigned questions and concerns that we wanted addressed.  Yep its compulsive, yep its obsessive,and its absolutely another reason why I am in love with this man.  

Saturday brought on the good, the bad, and my first (hopefully only) bridezilla moment.  Through it all my fiancée calmly took notes and crunched the numbers for our budget, and kept reminding me where ever we decided to have our wedding would be perfect.  It was exhausting.  I was in love with three venues, two planners, and seriously thinking about killing another planner who told me she didn't deal with brides only their mothers... (I think she may have the wrong calling in life).  

Sunday rolled around chilly and rainy.  We had our last appointment set for after Mass.  Luckily with enough time to grab a Cinnamon Dulce Latte (they are my favorite) - and they taste oh so much better when you have been up for two hours without breakfast of coffee.  I will have you know that during our coffee stop Adam and I were still contemplating going to our last venue appointment.  It wasn't a high ranker on our list and the thought of curling up in the warm coffee shop to hang out was sounding really really appealing... 

But, reluctantly we went.  And thank goodness we did! Their packages were amazing, the newly renovated space would more than be able to accommodate all of our guests, and the planner was willing to customize the contract to our wants rather than our needs.  

So March 17, 2012 we will be celebrating our marriage with our friends and family at The Carlisle in Lombard.  Get ready for great food, green cocktails and...well you will have to come to experience the rest!

TWIGGS

Have you met the Twiggs?
This amazing group of women were my Mother's best friends, and growing up they became my secondary mothers.  Their daughters including Linds, Erin and I are apart of the elite group - Twigettes.


It was wonderful being able to introduce all of them to Adam and tell them about our engagement.  Their reactions made me feel as though I was standing talking to my Mom once again.  Of course right away I knew I would need their help coordinating a wedding, and asked if I could run questions past them as they came.  I was overwhelmed when they immediately set brunch for the next morning to plan and brainstorm.


10.00 am Saturday Morning - I walk into a beautiful Irish themed brunch! SO COOL! (Please note: morning after a huge wedding and they are able to pull together a brunch that rivals Martha Stewart.  This is one talented group.)  The ideas that were thrown out were amazing, and by the end of the meal I felt like we may actually be able to pull this off.  Wait until you meet them, their work is unbelievable and I am grateful to each and everyone of them for offering their skills, taste and flair to our big day.

Breese Wedding

Weekend in Phoenix... check 

Relax in the Sun... check 

Watch my friend Amy marry her best friend... check! 

This weekend Adam and I had a little get a way to the Sonora Desert for my friend Amy's wedding.  Amy and I have been friends since I moved to Phoenix in 3rd grade.  Her mom and mine were the fearless leaders of GS Troop 1732 and together Amy and I survived camping, cookie sales and the crazy antics of our mothers.

Fast forward a bit and I am pulling up here...

To watch this beautiful woman ....

Marry this wonderful man....

The ceremony was beautiful, the bride was exquisite and the night was perfect. Watching their vows I don't think that I have ever seen two people more excited to be getting married! Here are a few photos from the evening.  They tell the story of the night better than I could. 

The Excited Couple 

Stunning Venue 

 Exquisite Cake 

 Daddy Daughter Dance

 Mr. & Mrs. Jared Breese

Congratulations Amy and Jared! We are so happy for you and can't wait to see what the future brings for both of you as you start a new life in Texas!

February 12

Saturday February 12

Morning Coffee with Adam
Pedicure with Lauren
Downtown for Les Miserables
Strolling Along Michigan Avenue

Pizza at Lou Malinati's

This is the plan I had for Saturday....and for the most part that is what happened. 

The day started with a lazy morning drinking coffee and hanging out with Adam.  We were taking it slow after a fun night of cosmic bowling, celebrating new jobs, and catching up with friends.  For the last few months the opportunity for Adam and I to hang out on a weekend morning has been non-existent.  Between commitments and second jobs, there isn't a lot of free time left over for just us.  Which made this morning extra special. 

After a morning of lounging around it was off to pedicures with Lauren Reinhart.  The Reinhart's live down the street from Adam, which means that someday, Lauren and I will be neighbors. Which would mean weekly in person visits rather than marathon phone calls and monthly dates. Lauren and I are very excited about this but until then we make sure to try and have dates whenever the stars align and we both have free time in our schedules.

Pedicures were the date of the day.  With Valentines Day right around the corner Lauren and I were off to give our toes a little TLC and catch up.  We chatted and watched as our winter abused toes were whipped into shape and coated in red and purple lacquer. Our chats roamed over jobs, grad school, families, and the future.  It was relaxing and comfortable, so comfortable that I was still gabbing when Adam walked in to pick me up.  After a quick goodbye and the promise of getting together soon I was out the door headed downtown with the boy for our early Valentine's Day.

I was SO excited! After pleading and promising that I wouldn't ask for anything ever again, Adam bought me Les Miserables tickets for our yearly Valentine's Day play. This is by far my favorite musical.  I was raised on musical theater thanks to my Mother and have a love of most of them, but Les Miserables has always held a special place in my heart.  My Mom always joked that it was probably due to the fact that my Dad took her to see it during its first tour when she was 6mo preggers with me.  As we headed downtown I babbled on and on about how amazing this play was going to be and how much Adam was going to love it.  He was skeptical at best, but he loves me enough to indulge my need for the theater and my ability to babble for hours about musical theater.

The play was perfect! The music was as beautiful as I remembered and the new scenery designed for the 25th Anniversary took my breath away. For three wondrous hours I sat holding Adam's hand with tears running down my face, it was bliss.  Even Adam got into it, I mean with war, bars, and political tension, its kinda a guy friendly musical.

After the final curtain closed Adam and I headed to Michigan Ave.  It was freezing! Bitter, bite into your bones freezing! So we stopped for some Cinnamon Dulce Lattes at Starbucks.  Fortified with boiling hot coffee we started down one of my favorite streets in Chicago.  For those of you who haven't been to Chicago or been to Chicago in the winter, you should.  Its magical!

Our wandering was slow and comfortable.  As we walked along we talked about everything that had been going on for the two of us lately, and it was nice.  The last year or so had been rough on both of us, and as we walked along I was struck by how lucky we were to have made it through together. I was telling Adam all about how lucky we were and why when we reached the Wrigley Building.  One of my very favorite spots! Located right over the bridge on the riverfront it is a beautiful building, and I always make sure to take a moment and admire it when I am in the city.  It was here that we stopped for Adam to fix his knee brace (more on that later) and I spent the time spinning around enjoying the view and still talking (its a reoccurring theme, just warning you).  In the middle of my babble, Adam asked if I could take his cane from him so he could finish adjusting.  Spinning around he was down on one knee with a ring in his hand....

I went into what can best be described as shock...


For the past few months Adam had told me several times that we were not getting engaged for a long time, and to calm down. In fact he had reiterated the point that very morning. (I was a bit manic about the whole issue).  So imagine my shock to be standing there hearing this.  Of course I decide to say "You aren't supposed to be doing this yet, you told me we weren't doing this yet"... Smooth Lauren.


As I continue arguing and kissing him, out of no where I hear..." So is that a yes? Because it's really cold out here?" My head snaps up and standing in front of me are our families.  Including both of our sisters who go to college out of state.  It was perfect!


Still in shock Adam managed to get me to put the ring on, and the hugging started. Adam seemed a bit worried that I wasn't really reacting, crying, ect.  Luckily my sister Erin let him know that this was me in shock, and told him to enjoy it because it doesn't happen often.

Below is the entire event, captured by my talented sister Lindsay.

It was the perfect proposal, followed by the perfect engagement dinner at Lou Malinati's with our families! 

And for those of you who are wondering ....