Results tagged “wedding update” from krisandrachel.com

So our caterer (Jarfi's Catering) came to preview the farm a few days ago.  AND, they experienced something which I've long-suffered but almost forgot about... an allergy attack.

SO... just a cautionary entry for everyone attending the wedding... pack your sudafed and benadryl (sp?).  If you're at all prone to hay fever, or other nefarious allergies, you might be in for a surprise at the pharm. 

Granted, it is October and the first frost usually takes care of issues like these... but we wouldn't want anyone sneezing during our vows.  We might think it's an objection and ban you from the bar.  :-)

Hey all;

Just a friendly blogged reminder... our room blocks on hotels close out in two days.  Please make sure you have your rooms booked if you're attending our wedding.

We recommend people stay in Louisville if you're not part of the rehearsal dinner crew... there's more to do and we think you'll have a generally better time.

Please email Kris if you need roommate recommendations or carpool partners!

Not really.  It's actually the Chuppah that we'll be married under.  But whatever.  It's all love baby! 



Before you say anything, YES... we know it's not a "Square".  It's kind of trapazoid-like, it's true. But, if you follow the blog, you'll know that Rachel just sewed the Chuppah cover and it is 60" x 80".

The original map I sent Will.  As you can see, it's a trapezoid.  That's because the Chuppah cover measures 60" by 80".  But the trees we're using are 120" apart.  Nature, why won't you work with us?


Eventually, it will all come together.  Thanks to the help of Will...


And Andrew...

Hey all;

We've added two new registries, just to give everyone options.  One of them is Judaica stuff.  I didn't even think about this until my friend Veronique was like -- are you registering for any Judacia stuff?

Here tis:
Crate and Barrel
Judaism.com

Hey all;

Yesterday Rachel and I made a mad-dash through Williams-Sonoma of Beverly Hills.  Seriously, we were in and out in twenty minutes.  And now, we have a registry there.

Just follow this link and enter the pertinent information to find our registry:

First Name: Rachel
Last Name: Wixom
State of Residency: California
Date of Wedding: October, 2008

Here's the actual link: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/registry/findregistry.cfm?cm_type=gnav

Invites are about to go out.  I've finally finished crafting the calligraphy.  I don't want to post it here because, frankly, we want it to be a surprise to everyone.  Hopefully, they will go out within the next week or so...

With that in mind, the biggest change/news is our new ceremony start time... 1:30PM on Saturday, October 11th, 2008.

Why the big change?  The availability of the priest.  That's right, in case you didn't know, we're doing an interfaith marriage.  How very modern of us.

Rachel is happy.  She's found a dress.  Up-and-coming fashion designer Marco Morante (dba as Marco Marco) will be designing and building Rachel's dress for an affordable flat-fee.

"We were told he can make a $600 dress look like a $2000 dress," said Rachel.  And that's exactly what he intends to do.  Muchos thanks go to Mageina Tovah... she had a wonderful dress designed by Morante for her trip down the runway for Spiderman 2.


AND... Morante apparently also designs a bunch of the dresses for the American Idol finalists.  So how much better can you get?

Here's a full-fledged article on the guy...
http://www.discoverhollywood.com/pagemanager/templates/content.asp?articleid=74&zoneid=5

Okay everyone, not that you may have noticed, but we've had some difficulties with the web site recently.  However, I'm happy to report that everything is back up and appears to be working fine for the moment.

Quick wedding update:
We have booked a priest.  I would have written a longer entry on this, but well... see the above note.  In any case, this means that we now have representatives from both the Jewish side of the aisle and the Catholic.  I'll blog about the lucky Jew in another entry.

ALSO... look for invites soon.  This means you, people who have already received a magnet.

Hey all... so unfortunately, we forgot our camera to update everyone with pictures.  BUT, we can tell you that we have a caterer!

We tasted with Jarfi's Bistro -- downtown at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.  And the presentation was perfect, the food delicious, and the Chef gave us the time of day regarding our menu.  Thanks to Julie for recommending Jarfi's for us to even consider.


AND... we also found a florist.  After much consideration, we are probably going to go with Nanz and Kraft florists... one of the oldest and largest florists in Louisville, KY (founded in 1850).

Oh, we also found a cake vendor too... Heitzman Bakery.  Nothing special for our cake (food comes first).  But again, this vendor is another traditional vendor who's been around for over 115 years.  Because most of their money comes from their regular bakery, wedding cakes are something they do because they want to.  In other words, they can take the time and save the dime.

Into every wedding a little complications must arise... did I just mix my metaphors?  Oh well.  Either way Les Naiman from Naiman's Catering has backed out of our agreement to cater our wedding.

Our side of the story is that Naiman's contract that he provided us, well, it doesn't protect us or him.  In fact, we had several lawyer-friends informally look it over and they all agreed... it had a lot of holes in it.  Holes that could leave either party open to be screwed when the final bill came due.  So we suggested a new contract to specify the exact duties that both sides would be expected to perform. 

In other words, we simply spelled out what it was we had talked about and orally agreed to.

Bottom line: Naiman didn't want to be bothered with addressing our concerns for a more spelled out agreement. 

Here's his first email to us...

I received the document you emailed  to me on Friday and have decided not to accept it. I sent you my  simple contract , stating the necessary terms for a client to confirm a date for an event. In over 30 years, I have never had to negotiate terms to cater an event. . I provide excellent  food and service for a specific time and the client pays me according to the terms of my contract.

I already have 2 large weddings on the date of your reception ,and  I don't feel that we have a good fit to continue .

In other words, he didn't even negotiate.  Instead, he simply declined to be our caterer in lieu of several other "big weddings" he booked on that day.  (Should I take that to mean that apparently if you're a "small fish" you aren't that important to him?)  I'm guessing, it's easier to drop a client for someone with less demands than deal with them.

Are we upset?  Of course.  It is a bad thing?  Probably not.  From our perspective, if he can't give us the protection of a contract that we feel comfortable with... then he's right.  It's not a good fit.  If he can't provide us with written assurances that us he won't drastically change prices on us, alter other elements of the wedding or otherwise slip in an unforeseen charge come billing, why would we want to go with him?

Well folks, we have finally begun officially booking the vendors for our wedding.  So two items off the checklist, and two checks cut.

On the plus side, we're extremely excited about both vendors.  Our photographer is Barry Westerman (you can check out his site to see some of his work), and our caterer is Les Naiman of Naiman's catering (no website available, sorry).

As part of our trip to Kentucky, we also selected two potential spots on the farm for the actual ceremony.  Both are very beautiful (of course), and both are just a short walking distance from the reception site.

Site one (Rachel's A+ favorite):



View image
This site is a narrow bridge with a seasonal creek underneath it.  It's framed by all the trees in their fall colors of gold, red and yellow.

Site two (no picture available) is a natural cathedral.  At least, that's how I'm billing it.  Framed by two trees (almost a natural chuppah), the ground slopes up gently around the spot, forming a natural bowl.  Trees surround the opening, creating the perfect spot to view the ceremony.