Sunday, September 27, 2009

Congrats Eric & Kara!







This past weekend, Paul & I stood up in my brother's wedding in Wisconsin. It was a really fun weekend! It was neat for Paul & I to be in a wedding together, especially now that we're planning our own, as we spent much of the time taking mental notes!

Eric & Kara's wedding was outside near a beautiful pond in Kara's parent's yard. It rained all day Friday and we were all fearing the worst when it came to Saturday's weather. Well, Kara & Eric certainly lucked out and had the most beautiful day! The sun was out, a cool breeze was in the air and the trees were flaunting their best autumn colors! I've included some photos from the weekend!

Paul's parents, Dennis & Florence, were able to join us in Wisconsin for the wedding and thankfully, my goofy family didn't scare them away! After a wonderful dinner, we all spent some time on the dance floor together, though Dennis never did follow through on that polka dance he promised me!! ha! Dennis - no avoiding the polkas at our wedding, ok?

We're getting pretty excited for our wedding day which is quickly approaching (just over 8 months away!) I was pleasantly surprised to hear from some relatives that we're "ahead of the game" in regard to our wedding plans! It's hard to tell now that we're in the thick of it....but at least it appears like we've got our ducks in a row! Stay, ducks, stay!

I'll end this blog post with an awesome quote from Paul on Saturday night while dancing....."Kendra, ya know, I'm not entirely looking forward to all the stresses of the wedding day...but I'm really looking forward to be married to you!" - phewf....always good to hear!

I'll try to blog again in a couple days as I should have some more updates very soon!

Have a good week,
K&P

Sunday, September 20, 2009

The What's Up-date!

This week has brought about some solid updates to share...

-DJ: Booked! (yes!)

-Photographer/Videographer: A close friend has a side photography business and has agreed to be the man behind the camera for our wedding day (well, not the whole day, we'd like him to have a little fun too!) We're so fortunate!

-Transportation: Booked! (Due to having a large wedding party, we've booked a large "party" bus to transport the wedding party from the church to the reception - should be a blast!)

-Cake/Cupcakes: We're waiting on quotes from a couple contacts but are hoping to make a decision on that shortly!

-Ceremony Music: My high school choir director has agreed to play the piano during our ceremony and we're waiting to hear back regarding reserving some excellent soloists, as well! (Side note: My brother will also be singing a song or two at our wedding....we're thrilled!)

Well, I think that's it for now....if you have any fun ideas, feel free to send them our way....we're always open to new ideas!

Hope all are doing well and I'll try to be better at updating the blog more often!

Take care,
K&P

Know Vacancy....

A new bit of info to share with you regarding hotel accommodations - The Schumacher's historic hotel on Main Street in New Prague will officially open once again on October 1st of this year!

For those of you who prefer a little more small town charm in your stay, this would be a great option! Schumacher's hotel touts 6 newly renovated rooms that keep with the tradition of being named after the months of the year! Paul & I have booked the "June" suite (obviously!) for our wedding weekend! I've included the link to their website where you can find more information, however please consider this an option for your "vacation" to New Prague, MN next June!

Schumacher's also has an on-site restaurant and pub. Room rates are approximately $190/night for Friday & Saturday. If your stay extends into any day between Sunday and Thursday, a $50 credit will be applied to the daily rate! These rates do include breakfast!

Please Note: I wasn't able to block any rooms at Schumacher's as they don't allow that unless we could guarantee to fill all 6 rooms. So, if you'd like to stay at Schumacher's please call as far in advance as you can. I'm certain they will be filling up fast since this year marks their re-opening!

www.schumachershotelandgrill212.com

If we can help answer any questions, don't hesitate to contact me at kendrasticha@yahoo.com

Chat soon,
K&P

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Picture (almost) Perfect...


So, as I mentioned in our last blog entry, love is in the air! I've included a photo of myself and 2 of my closest cousins in this entry. Sarah, Gina & I have been like sisters for many years and have made a tradition of occasionally meeting up and singing karaoke together at a local small-town tavern. We enter our song requests under our "stage name" of "The Sticha Chicas"!! How crazy things work out that in the year 2010 all three of us will be getting married...not only that, but we'll also all be in each other's weddings! Tonight, Paul mentioned that perhaps we'll have to find a new "stage name" and immediately made his suggestion of "The Chicas formally known as Stichas", which I thought was actually pretty good!

And now to explain this blog's title..."Picture (almost) Perfect": You see, the topic of the price of wedding photography has brought about our first "wedding debate"! I, personally, feel that the wedding photographer is one aspect of our wedding where "you get what you pay for". Paul, on the other hand, feels that just any wedding photographer is fine since essentially "you hang one picture on the wall and put the rest in an album to sit on your shelf forever". Hmmmm... Paul's got a good point yet I think I'm right on this one. (go figure!) Well, let's hope we settle this debate before June 5th or we may need all of your help on taking some photos of our big day (KIDDING!)

Dare I even bring up the wedding cake, DJ, and flowers??? ...maybe tomorrow!! ha!

Thanks for checking in - K&P

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Eat, Drink & Be Married....12 Times!






So, this past Saturday (September 5th) Paul & I had 2 weddings to attend...my cousin Holly and her fiance Eric and Paul's high school friend Brandon and his fiance Cortney. Paul & I decided to split up for the day - I went to Holly & Eric's wedding and Paul went to Brandon & Cortney's wedding. Later, I met up with Paul to spend a little quality time (mostly on the dance floor) at Brandon & Cortney's wedding!

The fun thing about my cousin Holly's wedding is that it was the first of 7 cousins' weddings within the next year! Yes, that's right, my Grandma Sticha has 7 grandchildren getting married within 11 months! YIKES! The schedule goes as follows:

September 5: Holly & Eric
September 26: Eric (my brother) & Kara
October 24: Julie & Phil
January 9: Gina & Brandon
June 5: Come on - you know this....that's right, Kendra & Paul!
June 26: Mike & Mandy
August 21: Sarah & Ben

Holy Matri-moly, right? Anyway, it's made for quite an exciting year! I've included a photo of all 7 of us and my Grandma Sticha just for fun!

On top of these weddings and including our own, Paul & I have several friends getting married within the next year...our grand total is now 12 and we couldn't be more excited!

Well, I think that's all for today, but check back in soon!

Thanks,
P&K

Friday, September 4, 2009

Cheers!

The Weducation

So, here it goes....we've decided to create this blog to keep family, friends and the wedding party in the loop on our wedding plans!

Tomorrow marks 1 month since Paul & I got engaged! So far, we've reserved the church, the reception site and the hotel...only about one million remaining items to plan!

The wedding will take place at St. Patrick's church of Cedar Lake in New Prague. My family has made up approximately 99% of the church's membership for as long as I can remember and just like my sisters did, I've always imagined I'd get married there. Paul & I feel especially lucky as my former priest, Father George, has agreed to come back and perform our wedding ceremony! The church is small, but adorable, and although it will be tight quarters during the ceremony, we're hoping you'll still join us for the ceremony.

St. Patrick's Church of Cedar Lake
24425 Old Highway 13
Jordan, MN 55352
www.stpandc.mn.org

The wedding reception will be held at the Park Ballroom in New Prague, which has a HUGE dance floor - so start brushing up on your dance moves, folks!

Park Ballroom
300 Lexington Avenue South
P.O. BOX 113
New Prague, MN 56071

www.theparkballroom.com

If you're a "plan-ahead-er", feel free to book your hotel room at the AmericInn Lodge & Suites in New Prague. We've asked the hotel to set aside 20 rooms, which they'll hold up until one month prior to the wedding - so, act now!

AmericInn Lodge & Suites
1200 1st Street North East
New Prague, MN 56071
http://www.americinn.com/hotels/MN/NewPrague


We've been researching photographers, bakeries, videographers, and acrobats (ok, kidding about that one!) for our big day and are hoping to have those items checked off the "to-do" list soon.

Aside from the wedding planning, we've been keeping quite busy! Paul & I will be standing up in my oldest brother and his fiance's wedding at the end of this month. The wedding will be held in Loyal, WI (where my future sister-in-law grew up) and we're very excited! Paul's parents, Florence & Dennis, will be joining our family for the festivities and will get a first hand glimpse at how the Stichas celebrate weddings! Let's hope this doesn't scare them off! ha!

Paul has been very busy with work...which is both a stress and a blessing, but overall his hard work is not going unnoticed! We've recently joined a couple's fantasy football league, which I feel was mostly a scheme to get the women more interested so the guys could then consider fantasy football a "date-night" discussion item....men! Either way, its been pretty fun....I pretend to know what I'm doing and Paul pretends that it doesn't bother him!

I, too, have kept busy with work and will be heading back to school part-time 2 nights a week this Fall. I'll be working toward my Masters of Business Communications degree which makes me both excited and nervous!

We'll try our hardest to keep this site up to date so we can share some fun details with you. We hope you're able to "Join us in June!", so please save the date: June 5, 2010.

Take care,
Kendra & Paul