Monday, April 6, 2009

Haunted Honeymoon

Because what else can top a Wicked Wedding then a Haunted Honeymoon ? We went back and fourth for the last six months trying to figure out where we should go on our honeymoon. We started off with Italy. Of course, where else. Very shortly after that thought came another one ... At some point we will have to go over so that Brian's family can meet Vincenza and the rest of the kids. So we decided that trip will wait until Vinzi is old enough to fly to Europe and that's after she turns 1. Next we considered Hawaii. This is my only life goal vacation left. I have wanted to see Hawaii since I was 10 years old and Brian was all about it. It was just a little higher than we wanted to spend. So off to research where we can go. DUH! Salem, Massachusetts. Salem has this event called "Haunted Happening's" that runs the entire month of October and the first two weeks in November, every year. They have Vampire, Witch, and Graveyard tours. Hanging reenactments, and haunted bed and breakfasts. Which by the way, we will be staying at. So we will be heading out on November 2 and staying in Salem until Wednesday. Then we'll be driving to Boston and staying there for two or three days. I am so excited !!! Want to check it out ?

Thursday, April 2, 2009

New STD

Save the Date silly ...
Love this one even better than the first
Thx Violet <3


Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Talk about a wench ... I mean wrench

So Monday night, as I am watching Bolt with the fam I get an email. Mind you ~ my email comes directly to my cell so I get them right away. ~ Here's an exact quote from the email, "Hey Girl ... It's Gina. The owner of the Arsenal just came in and closed it down, call me."

Hold on a second. Rewind. WHAT?!? So I read it to Brian, still shocked and really confused, and I called her. I heard a frantic person on the other end of the phone telling me that the owner came in, fired everyone, took their keys and told them he was closing the Arsenal. At this point my Save-The-Dates are out (as of that morning), and they have some of my hard-earned money. I am listening, barely hearing and definitely not registering all of the info Gina is giving me. Long story a little shorter, The Arsenal is closing - no wedding. Keep in mind, wedding and reception were to take place here. Keep in mind - I'm six months away and gave up 3 other sites because I wanted the "Haunted" Arsenal for my Halloween Wedding.

Fast Forward to Tuesday Morning. I am back to the drawing board looking for a venue to host the wedding and reception on a Saturday Night in 6 months, barely holding it together to have conversations with the people I am contacting, wondering what I did to deserve this. I make appointments at Rockwood Museum which has my date available but was originally way over my budget, but at this point I'm going to take what I can get and pay for it, and at the Executive Banquet Hall in Newark, who didn't have my date, but had 10/30, was also higher than I wanted to spend but reasonable. Ok well at least I have two other options.

Fast Forward to Tuesday night - 7pm, I get a message from a girl who has been promoted to manager at the Arsenal and wants to talk to me about a phone call I may have received from a "Disgruntled Employee that they fired for stealing yesterday".

????? I'm sorry ... WHAT?

I can't have this conversation so I make Mel call her. (My Mommy) Mel proceeds to put her game-face on and call Asdrid from the Arsenal. Asdrid, the new manager who proceeds to tell my Mom that the Arsenal closed it's daily business, however they were going to honor all their contracts through January 1, 2010. My mom then tells Asdrid, (who ps ... was really professional and sweet) that we have been through hell for the past 24 hours and were not sure what to do at this point. She asks for us to 'at least' come in, meet with her and try to work it out. Ok, will do. Wednesday, 3:30. We'll see you then. Thanks.

Fast forward Wednesday Morning 8:40 a.m. I decide to have a friend whose mother works for the City of New Castle call to get some information about the Arsenal. After all the City of New Castle owns the Building. Richard Gay owns the business which is the restaurant. Here's what we were told: The lease is always late, there have been ongoing issues and his lease is up June 1, 2009, so how can he guarantee anything when he may not have a lease? Oh and ps ... the city council wants him out SO his lease probably will NOT be renewed. WOW.

Moving right along ... My mom comes to pick me up we get to Rockwood Park with low expectation. The grounds are beautiful, but really so what. I had the perfect venue. :(
This sucks. We pull up to Rockwood Museum, walk under the green striped awning and walk in to meet Craig from the Greenary Caterer's, the exclusive caterers for Rockwood. I barely give him a chance because I know they are WAY out of my price range and the building itself has to have a huge fee because this place was AMAZING. Rockwood Museum and Gardens is quite possibly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. So we sit down with Craig, and the first thing he says is, "I am so sorry for your current situation and I would love to be able to help." He has a heart. To spare you all of the details, Craig and his wife, who own the Greenary Catering Company are two of the most wonderful people I have met in a long time. The Museum and Grounds are immaculate, huge, and they have an outdoor tented patio. (YAY!) They have a ceremony room upstairs, stone walls, and hardwood and brick floors. While all that is fantastic and will give me the elegance I was looking for but thought I couldn't afford, I am in awe and quite possibly in love with this place that I almost canceled the appointment too.
What Next? I listen and we work ... for an hour. And what did Craig do ? Created a miracle. Bottom line ~ My new wedding venue is Rockwood Museum (Carriage House, Mansion, and Gardens) and I got so much more than I thought I had before. Signed contract, guarentee that the Greenary and Rockwood won't be closing anytime soon, and the chance to work with these two wonderful people who took a horrible, HORRIBLE situation and made it so much better than OK. It will now be Perfect. The only thing missing, will be the ghosts.
Maybe we'll invite some ...

Never did make that 3:30 appointment ...

Want to check it out ? Please do ...
www.rockwood.org/

Oh AND ... when you get your Save the Date Magnets tomorrow or Friday
don't mind that they say the Arsenal, we've moved to bigger and better things!