Erik and I were lucky enough to have two engagement parties.  My parents longtime friends Lynda, Harry, Sue, and Pat put together a wonderful dinner for Erik and I.  It was a great time and the food was delicious.  It was very special to both of us that they would put something so wonderful together for us.  As usual I always have to provide entertainment.  I was getting up from the table and put my napkin down on my plate, forgetting that there were votive candles next to each plate.  Well, my napkin lit on fire, my sister noticed, and my dad put it out with water.

Lesson #1 Erik learned for married life, always have a fire extinguisher in the house.

Our second engagement party was at Mastori’s restaurant in Bordentown.  Everything went really well. We want to thank everyone for making it out to celebrate with us. 

After all the anticipation about the church, we finally booked St. James Church in Red Bank.  The ceremony will begin at 2:45 P.M.

We met with the Priest and everything went well.   Except for when the Priest asked Erik if he was going to “Live a truly Christian life and have a truly Christian marriage”.  Erik looked at me like he was unsure.  I shook my head yes and the Priest asked if this was more then a five year deal.

At one of the bridal shows we went to we came across a photographer that we really hit it off with.  We booked Storytale Weddings to photograph our wedding.  We are very excited becuase they knew a lot of beach locations between where the ceremony and reception will be.

Bridget and I were too excited to wait after we got engaged, so we began to plan our beach themed Jersey Shore wedding right away.

The first place we went to look at was The State Room, in Ship Bottom, NJ.

At first we were in love with this New Jersey Shore reception hall. The State Room on Long Beach Island has the capabilities to schedule NJ beach ceremonies on a few selected beaches throughout Long Beach Island, and of course the reception.

We were all set to have the ceremony and reception at The State Room.  Their cocktail hour location, which is on an outside patio, was awesome. The inside was just as good and we liked it a lot.  We were sold until we went to look at the NJ beach wedding ceremony locations they had pre-selected. These few locations were the only choices, and were not exactly what we had pictured for our “romantic New Jersey shore beach wedding”.  At this point we decided to keep looking at other NJ beach themed reception halls.

We went home and instantly began looking up locations on the computer. While it was difficult to find beach themed ceremony locations in New Jersey, we found a few. We also found great wedding reception halls near the beach or water in NJ.  We made our list of beach wedding ceremony locations and wedding reception halls in NJ, and made appointments.

Thankfully we did not decide on the first place we saw.  There are a lot of great NJ beach themed reception halls out there and we definitely saw most of them, if not all of them.

Funny Marriage Quotes 1
People shop for a bathing suit with more care than they do a husband or wife. The rules are the same. Look for something you’ll feel comfortable wearing. Allow for room to grow. Erma Bombeck

Funny Marriage Quotes 2
The Japanese have a word for it.  It’s Judo — the art of conquering by yielding.  The Western equivalent of judo is, ‘Yes, dear.’ J. P. McEvoy

Funny Marriage Quotes 3
One advantage of marriage it seems to me is that when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you it keeps you together until maybe you fall in again. Judith Viorst

Funny Marriage Quotes 4
Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side. Zig Ziglar

Funny Marriage Quotes 5
Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave. Martin Luther

Funny Marriage Quotes 6
Try praising your wife, even if it does frighten her at first. Billy Sunday

Funny Marriage Quotes 7
Husbands are like fires. They go out if unattended. Zsa Zsa Gabor

Funny Marriage Quotes 8
The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret. Henny Youngman

Funny Marriage Quotes 9
I know you’ve been married to the same woman for 69 years. That is marvellous. It must be very inexpensive. Johnny Carson

Funny Marriage Quotes 10
Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution. Mae West

We have set the date for our Engagement Party, Saturday March 22nd.  It will be at Mastoris in Bordentown for a Lunch from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.

Erik and I went to an open house for Elite Entertainment on Tuesday night. After the wonderful performance we booked both the DJ and videographer with Elite. We had a little disagreement about who to pick for the DJ. Erik liked a guy that had a more personality and I liked a guy that has personality and can sing our song live at the wedding. Erik eventually realized that I always get my way and agreed to get the DJ that I liked.

The videographer is awesome and will tape everything throughout the whole day. We are also going to do a “Love Story” before the wedding day in which they will interview and document how we met.

Erik and I attended church for the first time at St. James Church in Red Bank, where we hope to have the ceremony for the wedding. It is a beautiful church! It was a very nice service and I made sure to make eye contact with the Priest as he walked by. Erik and I were joking that he was looking at us saying “I know why you are here”. If everything goes well and they allow us to have the ceremony at the church, then Erik has said that he is willing to take classes. What a great fiancé!

I wanted to look at wedding dresses because that is the most exciting part about being engaged, finding the dress of your dreams.  So Veronica and I went to David’s Bridal, not expecting anything to come of it.  I tried on a bunch of dresses, but nothing stood out.  Then the bridal consultant brought back a few she thought I would like.  One of the dresses she brought I fell in love with.  Veronica also said “that is the one Bridget”. 

I didn’t want to just get the first dress I found so I went shopping with my sister and Erik’s mother the next weekend.  The whole time I was trying on the other dresses I kept comparing the dresses to the one at David’s Bridal.  So I went back with Erik’s mom and she loved it as well.

I made an appointment to come back with my Dad the next week.  I wanted him to see it also, just get a father’s opinion.  When I put on the dress for my dad he loved it and even cried.  So one part of the wedding finalized.

After much consideration, I decided that I really wanted to have the ceremony in a Church.  Erik being the best fiance EVER agreed that we could get married in a Catholic church if that is what I wanted.  Since he is Presbyterian he may have to take classes to have the ceremony at a Catholic church and he is willing to do that. 

This changes everything since we want to have the wedding by the water so that we can take pictures on the beach.  Erik lives in Shrewsbury, which is by the water, so it makes sense to have the wedding out by him.  So I am currently inquiring with a Church in Red Bank about joining and having the ceremony there.  However, nothing is ever simple with me.  The first time I called I volunteered that I lived in Cranbury, New Jersey and they informed me that I need to live in their area to join the church.  So now I have to call back and say that I just moved into the area and live at Erik’s house. 

So we are still in the process of finalizing everything for the ceremony and reception.  Hopefully we will be having the ceremony at St. James Church in Red Bank and the reception at Crystal Point in Point Pleasant.