We went location scouting after work one day. We're looking for a nice hotel where we can hold both the ceremony and the wedding. Unfortunately, this place looked like it hadn't been decorated since the 70's. We decided we could live with the brown dimly lit lobby. We hadn't even ruled the place out when we saw the dull blue ballrooms with geometric carpeting, but when we saw the purple doors and funky retro hallways leading to the guestrooms, we were pretty much done with the place.

We were also a little startled by the event coordinator. She reminded us of Sandra Bullock playing a caricature of a wedding coordinator. At times she was ridiculously enthusiastic, and she kept contorting her face into really exaggerated expressions. Sometimes we didn't even hear what she was saying because we kept wondering, "Is she for real?"

We had a pretty good laugh about it later. We both knew right away, this was not the place for us. It would have been cheap, though. If you're looking to have a 70s theme wedding, try the Washington Plaza hotel.

After visiting at least a dozen different places, we finally settled on the Washington Wyndham hotel. They offered us the most competitive deal, and we feel confident that we bargain shopped the area thoroughly.

Visiting the bridal show was fun. We spoke to a lot of interesting vendors that we had been researching on the Internet. We also got the chance to taste a lot of wedding cake and watch a fashion show. Unfortunately, the styles in the show weren’t inspiring. In fact John hated the wedding dresses so much, he made me promise not to buy my gown at the store that sponsored the show.

Booking the photographer was our first official “wedding purchase”. The Washington area has very expensive photographers, so it took us a while to track down someone good who wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg!

When we booked our videographers, we discovered that our photographer had done their wedding just three years earlier. We thought that was a great endorsement for our choice of photographer.

We signed up for Basic Wedding Reception Survival at a local community college. It was fun, but man did we bicker! We couldn't get our "frame" — the locked-out position of our arms — right and get blaming each other for the problem. It became a bit embarrassing because we were so tense we were starting to miss the instructor’s lessons.

Luckily, we were both disappointed in ourselves for letting something fun become contentious. We both vowed to not argue about these things again. We were standing in a sub-shop waiting for our dinner and we practiced our positioning and tried the steps... and low and behold, we got it right! We danced all around that sub shop till our orders were ready. We were very relieved that we fixed our problem so we wouldn't be tempted to bicker in future dance classes.

Woo-Hoo! One year and counting!

For our engagement party, we invited about thirty friends over for hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. We acknowledged our bridal party by giving them little gift bags filled with chocolate and airplane size liquors as a "Survival Kit". We drank champagne punch and ate chocolate mousse cake. It was a lot of fun!

We bought toasting flutes and a knife and cake-serving set from Hechts. Other things we did this month included researching our Hawaiian honeymoon, reviewing possible jewelry for my wedding dress, and checking out various ideas for bridesmaid dresses. Also, we officially opened this web site to the public.

We decided on our ceremony vows!

We also went to a cake-tasting to get ideas for our groom's cake.

We used a honeymoon planner to book a 15 day trip in Hawaii, including six nights at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kauai, 6 nights at the Fairmont Kea Lani Hotel in Maui, and 3 nights at the Four Seasons Hotel on the Big Island.

We started registries at Hecht's for our fine china and appliances, Crate & Barrel for specialty items and Bed, Bath and Beyond for all of our everyday needs. We also ended up going to one of those cookware demonstrations to that you can win a "free trip" and found out all about toxic cookware.

We started shopping around for wedding bands without much luck this month. We went to Mervis first since they provided the engagement ring. Mervis had gorgeous rings that we loved, but the prices were quite high. We checked several other locations, but so far without much luck.

We also mailed a newsletter to the bridesmaids to get started on the bridesmaid dress shopping and planning.

After weighing all the options, the bridesmaids ultimately picked lovely strapless gowns by After Six. Next month they'll purchase them from Macy's.

We also ordered wedding invitations. Choosing the right ones was more difficult than expected. We ordered a number of samples before we finally chose a pattern that suited our needs.

Our rehearsal dinner will be a Hawaiian Luau theme. We picked this theme because we'll be taking our honeymoon in Hawaii for 15 days. We picked a delicious Luau-style buffet menu.

We also placed our bridesmaid dress order with Macy's. Things didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped it would. Read about it here.

This month John went to pick out tuxes for himself and the groomsmen. We chose silver vests and ties for the groomsmen. John's vest and tie will be white. We also confirmed that all of our bridesmaids ordered their dresses. Once again, we had a bit of trouble with Macy's. See the story.

This month we took a little break from wedding planning and spent some time with friends at Allenberry for their annual Mystery Weekend. See our pictures. When we returned, Robyn had to have her wisdom teeth pulled, so that also gave us more time away from wedding planning. Read all about it. Once all the drama died down, we tried to catch up on wedding planning by finalizing our guest list and booking some tours for Hawaii. We'll be taking a land and air Tour of famous movie sites in Kauai, taking a sunset cruise in Maui, visiting the Volcano National park on the Big Island, as well as, seeing lots of luaus and pampering ourselves with spa treatments.

February was a busy month. The wedding is nearly two months away and there's so much to be done. We started out the month by having our menu tasting at the Washington Wyndham hotel so we could finalize our dinner menu. See the menu here. Then we ordered our platinum and diamond wedding bands from Mervis Diamond Importers. Robyn also had her first bridal gown fitting and her hair trial with the stylist. By the end of the month, we assembled the invitations and began mailing them out.

March is when things really started picking up. We bought all the gifts for our fabulous team of attendants and family. We also picked up our wedding bands and had them inscribed. We finished writing our ceremony readings and my Matron of Honor threw us a wonderful couple's shower. Read about it here.

We're finally here! The month of the wedding. What didn't we do this month. We shopped for honeymoon clothes, made favors, place cards, seating charts, time lines, must have photo lists, music play-lists, had bachelor and bachelorette parties, a bridal luncheon, and when it's all through... we'll have the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and wedding day!