Hotel Update.

Some wedding attendees have reported problems booking with the sales reps at the Marriott. If you encounter any problems or have any questions please directly contact our Marriott liaison.

Irene Babcock

718-222-6532

irene.babcock@marriott.com

If Irene informs you that there are no more rooms available during any of the days you would like to reserve contact me right away and I will release more rooms.

Also, if you are booking at the Nu Hotel, they request you call to make your reservation during regular daytime office hours.

Hopefully this cuts down on the confusion.

My Maids.

So we knocked another "to do' off the long list this weekend by scooping up some bridesmaid dresses.

Kim and Jessie, (Erin was there in spirit) headed out to try our luck at what would seem an impossible task. Find a cool dress that everyone would like and hopefully be able to wear again.

We started out at a bridal salon on the west side that I knew carried some of the more acceptable designers in this category. The girls both tried on about 10 dresses and in the end there was one we kind of liked, that was OK, and maybe could work, but still WAS a bridesmaid dress. Actually the funnier part of this was that the one dress we did like was from the "Disney Princesses Collection" yes Disney even does dresses now. If you knew Kim you would understand the humor in this.

We then headed to Bloomingdales because I was still sure that we could just walk into a store and buy off the rack. Ambitious, but how cool would that be?

Well it worked. The first dress we saw was the dress. They love it, I love it. 

Done and done.

Female guests, please do not wear a BCBG dress to the wedding from this year unless you want to be made an honorary bridesmaid. Thanks! 

Dresses pictured above for placement only not representative of actual dresses purchased.

Going to the Chapel.

I'm in!

Father Ed has agreed to marry us in the beautiful 200 + year old church that sits right outside our living room window, St. Charles Borromeo. This outcome was very exciting considering a.) I'm not Catholic and b.) I thought I would be looked upon as a heathen, and possibly given a lie detector test. I definitely got brownie points for being both baptized AND confirmed.

I have to admit the catholic church has always scared me a bit. My mother would always talk about her CCD classes from childhood, and how the Nuns would tell her to "listen for the calling" I also think my aunt got beat up by Nuns a lot, and the intense incense smell from my grandparents funerals still haunts me. 

My Mom eventually (sorta) converted to my Dad's religion, Congregationalist which is what I am. Although everytime we get in the car for a road trip or on a plane she still crosses herself. Spectacles, testicals, wallet, watch. Old habits die hard.

Apparently not many boomers "heard the calling" because Father Ed is the only priest at our church right now. There's a serious priest shortage in Brooklyn and all over the 5 boroughs. This forces Father Ed to do all masses himself everyday. But that doesn't get him down! He is a super nice man who came to the priesthood later in life and was actually a working psychologist for many years.

Another perk is they've condensed down Pre-Cana (Catholic marriage classes) to 2 hours on a Friday and about 5 hours on a Saturday one weekend in the spring.

I have to admit I may have been giving the Catholics a bad wrap. It seems they're really making an effort to try and modernize their look and process while still keeping it real with age old traditions. St. Charles is even re-designing their website in hopes of recruiting younger members, which Mark has volunteered to help with. I'm very impressed with how open and understanding Father Ed has been and I really look forward to him marrying us in his beautiful church.

Amen.

Check out St. Charles Borromeo in The Details

YAY AAA!

Paul Kohli was the first attendee to book a room at the Nu Hotel and he has informed us if you have AAA and mention it, you get another $30 off the room rate.

Way to be thrifty in these tough economic times, thanks Kohli!

Orientation.

The thing we're most excited about is having all of our family and friends together in one place for a big party. And we mean BIG.

The second thing we're most excited about is having our ceremony and celebration right in our neighborhood. Over the past 3 years we've really come to love Brooklyn and can't wait to share some of our favorite spots with you.

We've reserved room blocks at two hotels that are both super convenient to all wedding festivities. The hotels are also situated close to great bars, restaurants, streets and parks. So if you like, you'll be able to get a real feel for our neighborhood.

We do understand that some people will want to stay in Manhattan, but we hope everyone reserves a little time to get to know Brooklyn. Our area is very easy to get to from Manhattan either by subway or taxi.

Both the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott and the Nu Hotel are holding rooms at the exact same rate and reservations should be made NO LATER THEN June 14th 2009. After this date the hotels are free to increase their rates back to the normal prices. So don't lollygag.

The rooms are held under the Cordes/Anderson Wedding

The Nu Hotel  • 718.852.8585

The Nu Hotel is more euro/boutiquey and is closer to Smith Street, a main drag in Brooklyn that has great shops, bars and restaurants.

The Brooklyn Bridge Marriott  •  718.246.7000

The Marriott is a few blocks away from the Nu Hotel, with nice sized rooms (especially for NYC) and has lovely views of the bridge (if you get a room facing the bridge).

Check out the websites in The Details.