Family affair

You know those strange poorly taken snap shots that are in a drawer?

This is one of them.

Doug, Sherry, and Charles
In the dining room of the house I grew up in, eating food and discussing a wedding involving their children.

My Dad is on the right, Tara's parents are on the left.

It rained or this scenario would have been outside.

To boldly go where hardly any women go

Did I mention that I went to a Star Trek convention with my friend Ian shortly after leaving the Garlic Rose in Madison, New Jersey?

Ian is on the right.

For those of you playing at home

When there is a wedding there is a rehearsal dinner. The location for said dinner has been found.

The Garlic Rose in Madison, New Jersey will be hosting the rehearsal dinner of Tara and Chuck.
Madison is a cheery town, look how happy Tara looks, though she might be throwing up a gang sign.


Madison also has ample parking and it is very affordable.

There is also a friendly looking used bookstore in the parking lot.


Enjoy yourself in Madison, New Jersey, Sunday October 3rd 2010.

Buying rings with Tara, Mary Beth and Fran Dresher

Our friend Mary Beth works at J Thomas Jewelers, one of the oldest jewelry stores in the country. Founded in 1765, Mr. Thomas was committed to bringing quality jewels to north western New Jersey. They also have a small candy bowl at the store as well.

The rings have been bought, they are round forged with awesome.

Learning how to get married.

I look at the mirror and repeat to myself, "I am an incredible dancer."

Turns out Tara's cousin Heather, is an incredible dancer and dance instructor. We met with Heather at her apartment in Queens, where she and her husband Russ live. They are both very nice, however they insisted we eat food made by a cultist that lives across town. Apparently it is their favorite place to eat.

Without giving much away. We got some dance lessons.

Here is the evidence.


There was video taken of this. This footage will probably be contained on the DVD of our wedding which will be available for purchase from Amazon and iTunes.

80 days to go!

Save the Date courtesy of Karen Smith Claffey!

Photographer:
George Koroneos of GLK Creative is doing our photos.
www.glkcreative.com
George is the genius behind our engagement photos, like the one above.
George and his wife Allison are not only friends of ours, but incredibly talented. We couldn't have hoped for a better team.

DJ:
We decided to go with Elegant Ensembles, based out of Closter, NJ.
www.elegantensembles.com
They came highly recommended by The Madison Hotel and when we went to speak with Mark, the owner, he LISTENED to what we wanted. Never once did he try to "sell" us anything. When I said I don't want leis, big sunglasses, and giant blow up guitars thrown around at our wedding, he laughed and said it wasn't a problem. When I said I don't want The Electric Slide, a conga line or the chicken dance, he didn't look at me like I had 3 heads. When Chuck said he wanted death metal played that day, he said, "just give me a list of what you want played, we'll find it and play it". (Death metal is still up for debate between Chuck and myself) :0)

Florist:
Joey from Riverside Florist is a frequent guest at California Pizza Kitchen, which is where I met him. We didn't need to go with a high end florist, as we only need the florist for the chupa and the bouquets (centerpieces will be discussed later). We needed someone who understood our needs and was able to provide them for us at a reasonable price. Besides - flowers DIE. I refuse to spend thousands of dollars on something that will die in a week.

Videographer:
Our cousins Heather & Russell recommended Shooting Stars Pro to us.
www.shootingstarspro.com
We were debating using a videographer, as we didn't want them to get in the way of our photographer, and we didn't want someone who gave us a video that looked like total cheese. Heather & Russell are both pretty cool cats, so we know that we won't be disappointed.

Hair & Make up:
Our hair will be done by my stylist Jackie O. from Bangz Salon
www.bangz.net
Our make up will be done by Alyssa, owner of Blush Make Up, based out of Hawthorne. She did such a FANTASTIC job for our engagement shoot!

Venue:
Duh!! It'd be nice to know where and when the wedding is, huh? I don't think I gave all the details yet.
The Madison Hotel in Morristown, NJ
October 9, 2010
11:30
Feel free to stay and party with us after the wedding. The hotel has a restaurant/bar where we will be hanging for the rest of the night, with anyone who will join us!

Dress:
My amazzzzzzingly talented aunt, Virginia Wentoworth is making my dress for me so it is one of a kind :0) Please don't ask for details though - they're under wraps!

My personal party planner:
My cousin Jennifer DeChristopher has turned into my personal party planner :0) She will be making our non-floral centerpieces for us, and has been a TREMENDOUS help when it comes to bouncing ideas off of her. She will be doing all the set up for us the morning of, which is a HUGE load off our backs. I can't thank her enough for all her help.

Oh! And we will be having a special (semi-secret) guest at our Cocktail Hour!!!! So don't miss it!!

So we are getting uniforms

Time to get suited up. Tara and I went to Mens' Wearhouse on Route 46, because according to George Zimmer, "I will like the way I look."

We sat down and spoke with Leslie and she was very pleasant and patient with Tara and I, mostly me. We went through the book they had there and she showed me all the tuxedos they offered. The catalog had very friendly looking models in it, one of them looked like Bradley Coooper.

What I realize I truly do want is to learn how to play Baccarat. So I asked Tara if we could go on a cruise somewhere so I could wear a white suit since, I will not be wearing a white tux. This was decided because, I might look too much like Miami Chuck of the Colombian drug cartel and Baptist Preacher.

They offered me Chuck Taylors to wear, perhaps because my name is Chuck. I told them no, because James Bond would not wear Chuck Taylors. If you look really hard at this picture you can almost see my brain through my left nostril.