Even though we spent a TON of time trying to accomplish wedding tasks in January, we only fully completed a few things. But it's okay, we still have 152 days.

The second Saturday in January we headed out to Medford for Pre-Cana, the marriage counseling classes required in order to participate in the sacrament of marriage in the Catholic Church. We had heard a lot of different Pre-Cana stories from family and friends. So in advance of the session we talked about different topics and answered practice questions from one another. The day started pretty early. We had to leave Brooklyn around 7:00 am to make it to St. Sylvester's Church by 8:00, and were ultimately 20 minutes late. There were eight couples, and throughout the day we discussed careers, finances, children, faith, families, personalities, and more. It was a little awkward at times, but on the whole pretty painless. The couple holding the class even let the group out early. Woohoo! We still have to complete an online test called FOCUS (which is kind of like a compatibility test) and a direct counseling session with one of the deacons at church, but almost there.

We focused some of our time picking out invitation designs that we like, and sent our ideas off to Andrea Espach Design. Andrea Espach is a friend of Jared's sister Tara, and the person who designed our engagement party invitations and flags that adorned the desserts at the party. A post on her blog has some of what she designed, as well as her other work. We can't wait to see what she comes up with! We met with and talked to a bunch of limousine companies, and have almost nailed down our transportation. I'm confident we'll have this done within the next week. Working with Tara we put together Sebastien's ring bearer outfit. All we need to complete his outfit is order a few components from Etsy.com. And kudos to Tara who discovered the Etsy shop where we will likely get the neckwear and matching accessories for the guys.

Our biggest accomplishment though was completing our registry, at Bloomingdale's and Bed Bath & Beyond. Our first day at Bloomingdale's was fun and exhausting. We arrived around noon, thinking we would begin to scan right away. Unbeknownst to us you need an appointment to begin a registry at Bloomingdale's. So we grabbed lunch at brgr further up Lexington (good but not as good as Bare Burger) and headed back for a 2:00 pm appointment. We had looked at their fine china collection online and narrowed down our options in advance, but finally settled on a pattern after seeing them in person. Surprisingly enough there was no squabbling about what we should register for. Even when it came to picking some new bedding we walked around and both gravitated towards the same pattern. What can I say, true love.

We headed to the TriBeCa Bed Bath & Beyond the following week, and set up a second registry for some additional items. We finished the rest on-line over the next week, which is easier than trying to do it all in the store... afterwork...when you're tired...and hungry. Plus we could read reviews online and really spend time selecting what to add. Links to the registries are below. Just put in either my or Jared's first and last name for access.

http://www1.bloomingdales.com/registry/wedding/registrysearch?cm_re=give-_-n-_-n

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regSearch.asp?

On to February, and our next set of tasks!