The Catch-up Post: Part 2

In continuance of yesterday's Catch-up Post: Part 1, I shall share more of my wedding-related endeavors:

4.  We booked the limo
I wanted to get the limo booked this past week because there is a bridal show coming up this Sunday.  I figured if I wanted to get it reserved, I better beat the crowd.  This limo service will be at the bridal show, so it will be nice for me to pick up my receipt and contract without having to make a separate trip or get it mailed to me.  We are using Top Hat Transportation Limousine Service here in Manhattan and we chose the Ford Excursion.  They also have a Hummer that seats 20 people, but 1). we really don't like hummers or the douche-bag reputation they have (in my own opinion, of course!), 2). we only need to have space for 13 people and the excursion seats 14, and finally 3). we don't need to pay an extra $100 for something we don't want or need.

Here is our ride from the church to the reception:

While this is something that wasn't a necessity AT ALL, Adam and I would both like to have a chance to hang out with the bridal party, get a bit tipsy, take some pictures with the photographer around town, and get transported to the reception without having to try to fit the dress into a car.  The minimum was 2 hours, and at $135/hour the total was just under $300 at $291.60.  I know that I've spent more money on crap at Wal-mart than that.  It also comes with a free bottle of champagne, soft drinks and glassware to use during our ride.  Check!


5.  We attempted bridesmaid dress shopping
I made an appointment with David's Bridal for the very end of December so that the bridesmaids could get together and we could go dress shopping.  Their Spring catalog had come out about a month earlier, so I was excited for the girls to be able to try on the new dresses and figure something out.  So we embarked on the trip to Topeka for dress shopping, only to find out that the majority of their Spring dresses had not been delivered to the store yet.  They had shipped the "board" and the catalogs of all their Spring dresses...but they hadn't shipped the dresses yet? Weird.  So the two bridesmaids that could make it tried on a few things, but we have to go back in February to (hopefully) finalize the deal.

I told the girls that I didn't care what dress they picked out as long as it was on the short board and was in the color peacock.  We'll see how my attempt at mismatched dresses goes.  The attendant was a little worried about exact length (above the knee, knee and mid-calf) and the fabric type, but I don't think it will be too big of an issue...we'll have to wait and see!


6.  We finalized plans for the rehearsal dinner
If you remember, Adam and I went to Hibachi Hut before our engagement pictures (and drank a little too much). Both of us are in love with the place and were hoping that we could use the restaurant for our rehearsal dinner.

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I knew the Hibachi Hut did catering, but I didn't want to have to hassle with finding a place to rent out, hiring a caterer, dealing with linens and decorations twice.  So we called them up the other day to see if they were willing to let us use half of the restaurant for our rehearsal dinner and we sat down and talked with them a few days later and our answer was Yes!

The catering manager/owner suggested that we order several different dishes and let people choose from those options, but we particularly like the entire menu and the variety of dishes that it offers.  It's technically a cajun restaurant, but you can get anything from a hamburger to chicken fried steak (Gordon Ramsay would be so disappointed!).  We wanted to give our family/friends more options than four, so we asked if they would just let everyone order off the menu...and they said yes.  The only stipulation was that everyone probably won't get their food at the same time.  Adam and I discussed this and said we'd rather do that and just forewarn everyone about the timing.

Hibachi Hut was originally two different restaurants, that and Texas Star Cafe. You would walk in and say which restaurant you were going to.  In the last couple of years, they merged it into one restaurant and did some renovations, but it works quite well to reserve half of the restaurant to ourselves:

You can see the other side of the restaurant through the "windows" / Source

  

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Pretty much they were flexible with anything we wanted.  We know the food's great and they're going to make our beloved long islands in a pint-sized glass (rather than the big ones) to serve as a signature drink!  We said yes, let's do it, and it's nice that we don't have to pay a penny besides the final bill at the end of the night.


Thanks for tuning in for another installment of The Catch-up Post!  Not a very comment worthy post, but share your wedding progress!