OK... Maybe I'm being too picky, or maybe these are just the stresses of an out of town bride, but everyone has told me that I need to book a reception location basically yesterday. I can't seem to find the right thing. I am looking for something different, open, airy, and preferably with high ceilings. Strange requests...I know.
I've looked at many things online since that is my only resource at the moment and this is much harder than anticipated. Everyone told me to sign up for TheKnot.com so I did. However, they don't have any Fort Wayne resources listed on there. I never thought that planning a wedding for 2010 I wouldn't be able to find EVERYTHING I needed on the Internet. I guess I was wrong.
It amazes me at how many places DON'T have websites. And I'm even amazed at how many do that are not good. I know I'm sounding like a Bridezilla, but lets get real. How many people actually live where they are getting married anymore?!?! And how many of those people don't have jobs and have all the time in the world to drive all over town in search of the perfect place for the special day? Really. I work a full time job and now have to plan a wedding in Fort Wayne.
There are many vendors that have sparked my interest but don't have much for me to go off of before hand. I'm trying to do my research and be prepared, but it's hard when the resources aren't available. Remember, websites will probably improve business and get your name out there. So I'd just like to thank those vendors who DO have websites and who have GOOD websites. They make my life, along with many others, much easier!
4.21.2009
4.20.2009
9 Days Later
Wow. So just over 5 days have passed and I've already had a small fight with my mom, I'm now considering eloping, and I'm wondering why we didn't get engaged sooner.
My mom and I had a fight over the guest list. We won't go into details, but lets just say it's just a BIG list. I'm thinking of eloping because I can't find what I want or like in Fort Wayne that will accomodate that many people. And ever since the ring has been on my finger, Mike has been like an entirely different person. He does laundry now, he vacuums, he puts most of his dirty clothes in the hamper. It's weird how all of a sudden he decided to become a helpful person.
Once I get a reception site chosen and booked, I'll be fine again. Until then, I'm going to stress a little. It's weird how this stuff needs to be done immediately. Like last week I didn't have a care in the world and now I need to find a place that can fit between 200-250 people, has high ceilings, is different, and is a good place for a good time! I never thought it would be that hard.
Does anyone have any good ideas???!?! I'm looking into a few places - Bergstaff Place and Salomon Farm options at this point...but it's not looking too promising. Does anyone know of a great piece of land where we could set up a tent and throw a great party next summer? If you do, let me know!
I guess I'll keep looking.
4.15.2009
The Engagement
Friday Night
I didn't think that he had it; I really didn't. I honestly didn't think he had the money. I mean, I knew that he wanted to propose with a ring soon, but I really didn't think he had gotten the ring yet. So we went out to dinner and somehow it came out that he had called my parents. You know, to ask permission. My first thought after hearing this was..."did he ask them if it was OK when we moved in together?" And then I thought..."Did he ask them if we could buy a house together?" I was pretty sure that the answers to both were NO.
But he'd called my mom and dad to ask them if he could marry me. They of course, put him on speakerphone (their new found love) and I guess my mom laughed at him. Basically they said, "Well it's about freaking time!" Then he called my sister and told her about the ring and texted her a picture of it. I'm not quite sure how/why all of this came out the Friday before he did it, but it did.
When we got home from dinner that night I was laying in bed ready to go to sleep and I hear him run down the hall. He peeked into the bedroom and flashed the ring at me in the box. So then I knew it was coming. The question now was how was he going to do it.
Easter Egg Hunt
Easter morning was nice. Mike's mom is AWFUL at making coffee [No offense Darla, we'll blame it on the coffeemaker.] so Mike ran up to the gas station to grab some coffee. What should have been a 5 minute trip took more like forever. After about 45 minutes he returned with coffee and a grin. I sat in the chair and drank my coffee and then heard his mom start laughing. Mike was out in the backyard hiding eggs. I really hope that small children did not see him doing this because if they did he totally ruined Easter for them. But he hid 12 eggs. I found 11 and could not find the other one. I kept asking if they were all in the backyard and he said they were, but we should walk around front just to check because he may have forgotten that he put one up there. [I was thinking to myself, is he serious he could have forgotten? I mean, there were only 12 eggs. It's not like he hid 100.]
Sure enough, there was the little gray egg. He said, "Abby, I just wanted to make sure we were alone and no one was watching and I've been meaning to ask you this for a long time now, but...well, just open the egg and you'll see." So of course, I started sweating (I may have a problem). LOL. And I opened the egg to find a small box of nerds. I then heard, "you nerd." I'm so gullible.
Actual Proposal
After the fun of the Easter egg hunt, I went over to my house to get my mom and then we were going to visit my grandma at St. Anne's. There, my grandma proceeded to ask if Mike was still around to which I said yes and my mom said "We thought we'd have something to show you today, but I guess we were wrong." I was just laughing. I guess my parents have just been expecting it for a while. My grandma asked what was wrong with him...and I said, well I hope nothing too bad.
After St. Anne's I went back to my parent's house. I was supposed to just drop my mom off, but we started looking at houses online and I stayed a bit longer than expected. Mike called at least 3x while I was there asking me where I was. Finally I left and went back to pick up Mike so we could go to his Aunt's house for Easter lunch. When I got there, he basically met me at the door. And he looked funny. [This is not unusual. He's a funny looking guy, but something was different.] I walked down the hall into the kitchen and he stopped me and on the counter was a half clear Easter egg (the bottom was purple) with an opened up ring box inside. He looked like he was going to laugh, cry, and get sick all at the same time. I've never seen him look so nervous in my 4.5 years of knowing him.
Then he said, "Abby, I know we've been together for a long time and we've had a lot of good times and bad. I love you more than anything and will love you for ever. I just love you so much and I'd be honored to take you as my wife. Will you marry me?" And his eyes were welling up with tears [Sorry Mike, it was going to come out sooner or later] and so then I cried of course. And he tried to get down on one knee, but it was more like a half way down kneel, to which he goes, "what, I have a bad knee." I think I forgot to answer at first too; I just hugged him and then he said "well... what's your answer?" I said "Yes."
The best part about it was that it was just me and my boys. Even if the dogs were barking when we kissed, it was still just right - Mike in front of me, Louie at my feet, and Lex jumping up to hug me!
Abigail Kathleen Hake and Michael Oliver Kellermeyer
Engaged (officially with ring)
April 12th, 2009
Unofficially (without ring) 3rd date
This was meant to last.
I didn't think that he had it; I really didn't. I honestly didn't think he had the money. I mean, I knew that he wanted to propose with a ring soon, but I really didn't think he had gotten the ring yet. So we went out to dinner and somehow it came out that he had called my parents. You know, to ask permission. My first thought after hearing this was..."did he ask them if it was OK when we moved in together?" And then I thought..."Did he ask them if we could buy a house together?" I was pretty sure that the answers to both were NO.
But he'd called my mom and dad to ask them if he could marry me. They of course, put him on speakerphone (their new found love) and I guess my mom laughed at him. Basically they said, "Well it's about freaking time!" Then he called my sister and told her about the ring and texted her a picture of it. I'm not quite sure how/why all of this came out the Friday before he did it, but it did.
When we got home from dinner that night I was laying in bed ready to go to sleep and I hear him run down the hall. He peeked into the bedroom and flashed the ring at me in the box. So then I knew it was coming. The question now was how was he going to do it.
Easter Egg Hunt
Easter morning was nice. Mike's mom is AWFUL at making coffee [No offense Darla, we'll blame it on the coffeemaker.] so Mike ran up to the gas station to grab some coffee. What should have been a 5 minute trip took more like forever. After about 45 minutes he returned with coffee and a grin. I sat in the chair and drank my coffee and then heard his mom start laughing. Mike was out in the backyard hiding eggs. I really hope that small children did not see him doing this because if they did he totally ruined Easter for them. But he hid 12 eggs. I found 11 and could not find the other one. I kept asking if they were all in the backyard and he said they were, but we should walk around front just to check because he may have forgotten that he put one up there. [I was thinking to myself, is he serious he could have forgotten? I mean, there were only 12 eggs. It's not like he hid 100.]
Sure enough, there was the little gray egg. He said, "Abby, I just wanted to make sure we were alone and no one was watching and I've been meaning to ask you this for a long time now, but...well, just open the egg and you'll see." So of course, I started sweating (I may have a problem). LOL. And I opened the egg to find a small box of nerds. I then heard, "you nerd." I'm so gullible.
Actual Proposal
After the fun of the Easter egg hunt, I went over to my house to get my mom and then we were going to visit my grandma at St. Anne's. There, my grandma proceeded to ask if Mike was still around to which I said yes and my mom said "We thought we'd have something to show you today, but I guess we were wrong." I was just laughing. I guess my parents have just been expecting it for a while. My grandma asked what was wrong with him...and I said, well I hope nothing too bad.
After St. Anne's I went back to my parent's house. I was supposed to just drop my mom off, but we started looking at houses online and I stayed a bit longer than expected. Mike called at least 3x while I was there asking me where I was. Finally I left and went back to pick up Mike so we could go to his Aunt's house for Easter lunch. When I got there, he basically met me at the door. And he looked funny. [This is not unusual. He's a funny looking guy, but something was different.] I walked down the hall into the kitchen and he stopped me and on the counter was a half clear Easter egg (the bottom was purple) with an opened up ring box inside. He looked like he was going to laugh, cry, and get sick all at the same time. I've never seen him look so nervous in my 4.5 years of knowing him.
Then he said, "Abby, I know we've been together for a long time and we've had a lot of good times and bad. I love you more than anything and will love you for ever. I just love you so much and I'd be honored to take you as my wife. Will you marry me?" And his eyes were welling up with tears [Sorry Mike, it was going to come out sooner or later] and so then I cried of course. And he tried to get down on one knee, but it was more like a half way down kneel, to which he goes, "what, I have a bad knee." I think I forgot to answer at first too; I just hugged him and then he said "well... what's your answer?" I said "Yes."
The best part about it was that it was just me and my boys. Even if the dogs were barking when we kissed, it was still just right - Mike in front of me, Louie at my feet, and Lex jumping up to hug me!
Abigail Kathleen Hake and Michael Oliver Kellermeyer
Engaged (officially with ring)
April 12th, 2009
Unofficially (without ring) 3rd date
This was meant to last.
Intro to Mike and Abby
*How we met*
My boyfriend and I are both from Fort Wayne, IN although that's not where we met. We both grew up at the McMillen Ice Arena, although that's not where we met. We even both went to the same grade school, but that’s not where we met. We met just 2 hours south of Fort Wayne in Westfield, IN. I was in college and trying to stay with skating a bit and was very lucky to become a staff coach at a new rink that opened up. He was also a staff coach but for hockey and a manager at the rink. I was helping out with the Synchro Team at the time and we gradually would talk on my way in and out of the rink but we were nothing more than acquaintances. [Truth: He said he’d never date someone as bitchy as me and I said I’d never date anyone as short as him.] Although, Miss Sue was always (or so I’ve heard) trying to get him to call me or ask me for my number.
At the time, I was doing some skating shows that were fairly close to home and mostly at Christmastime. Miss Sue was at a couple of them because her daughter was in a couple of the group numbers. I’m not exactly sure how Mike came up in our conversation, but he did and I said oh no, that’ll never work, but if he calls me I’ll talk to him and maybe go out with him a couple of times. I just didn’t think there was much Chemistry there. [You can stop laughing.] Somehow, Sue got him to call me. I don’t remember when the first phone call was, but it was pretty long. I do remember that because I kept thinking to myself, “I can’t believe we are still talking.”
We had our first date on Christmas Eve of 2005. He picked me up and had a Starbucks bag for me with a mug and a $15 gift card. [No, I did not get him anything…how was I supposed to know he’d give me a Christmas present on our first date. And yes, I felt like a sap.] He took me to O’Charleys for lunch and then we went to the mall to pick up some pearls for my mom (from my dad). And then he took me home. We kept it short because it was after all Christmas Eve.
That's the basic back story on us. Four and a half years later, we have 2 dogs (Lex the Labradoodle-4 and Louie AKA Lucifer –He’s a pooper—9 months) and a mortgage together. We are both still involved in skating and probably always will be. He coaches a high school hockey team and I teach private and group lessons for figure skating.
My boyfriend and I are both from Fort Wayne, IN although that's not where we met. We both grew up at the McMillen Ice Arena, although that's not where we met. We even both went to the same grade school, but that’s not where we met. We met just 2 hours south of Fort Wayne in Westfield, IN. I was in college and trying to stay with skating a bit and was very lucky to become a staff coach at a new rink that opened up. He was also a staff coach but for hockey and a manager at the rink. I was helping out with the Synchro Team at the time and we gradually would talk on my way in and out of the rink but we were nothing more than acquaintances. [Truth: He said he’d never date someone as bitchy as me and I said I’d never date anyone as short as him.] Although, Miss Sue was always (or so I’ve heard) trying to get him to call me or ask me for my number.
At the time, I was doing some skating shows that were fairly close to home and mostly at Christmastime. Miss Sue was at a couple of them because her daughter was in a couple of the group numbers. I’m not exactly sure how Mike came up in our conversation, but he did and I said oh no, that’ll never work, but if he calls me I’ll talk to him and maybe go out with him a couple of times. I just didn’t think there was much Chemistry there. [You can stop laughing.] Somehow, Sue got him to call me. I don’t remember when the first phone call was, but it was pretty long. I do remember that because I kept thinking to myself, “I can’t believe we are still talking.”
We had our first date on Christmas Eve of 2005. He picked me up and had a Starbucks bag for me with a mug and a $15 gift card. [No, I did not get him anything…how was I supposed to know he’d give me a Christmas present on our first date. And yes, I felt like a sap.] He took me to O’Charleys for lunch and then we went to the mall to pick up some pearls for my mom (from my dad). And then he took me home. We kept it short because it was after all Christmas Eve.
That's the basic back story on us. Four and a half years later, we have 2 dogs (Lex the Labradoodle-4 and Louie AKA Lucifer –He’s a pooper—9 months) and a mortgage together. We are both still involved in skating and probably always will be. He coaches a high school hockey team and I teach private and group lessons for figure skating.
