We have set up a Kodak photo-sharing account here, so if any of you have pictures you’re interested in sharing with the rest of us, please head over and upload away!  The user name is mikeandmaggiewedding@gmail.com and the PW is “Growlbert24″.

Thanks again, everyone, and please feel free to pass this info to friends and family!

We’ve already been able to see both sides of the family, relax a bit, and help my parents continue the cleaning project of their house. They have been gracious enough to host many gathering both before and after the wedding. This is after they are still sweeping up the dust from the recent main level remodel!

We are excited to see all of you! The weather looks like it will be cooperating, so it should be a great party.

See you soon!

For those of you who need the basic info of when and where click here.

We ended up doing a thai street food style meal that is vegetarian friendly. There will be a grill station out on the patio grilling up skewers of all kinds with special sauces to accompany, pagoda boxes with two types of noodles, fresh papaya salad and fresh fruit, and yummy salad rolls.

We’ll have various levels of spice for those concerned with having their mouths set ablaze, and we hope you all enjoy going on this culinary trip with us!

Lodging update for you:

Red Lion Portland-Convention Center
1-800-343-1822
Room Block Code GRUM0730
Confirmation #246580
$109.95 plus 12.5% lodging tax
King size bed room or 2 queen bed room
$12 parking waived

There are 16 rooms saved, but if those fill, they can add more to the block.

Instead of the full portions of everything we were served.

Still not telling what we’re having, but I will say this: Y’all are in for a treat.  I was positively gorged and Maggie and I agreed that we had made the right call.  Our contact has been phenomenal and it goes to show, there’s a reason they’re the pros!

We are heading to Portland this weekend to sample the menu outlined by us and proposed by the caterer. We are so excited! As many of you know, we love food, but we especially love good food. When planning our wedding we knew having memorable food was very important to us. As the wedding nears (and we have made final decisions) we will post the menu for all to see. Yum.

We are also sampling our dessert. We’re going cakeless for the wedding, instead choosing another yummy treat. What have we chosen? You’ll just have to wait and see

So I bought my wedding dress. It was a much different experience from anything I had expected. I had been putting off trying dresses because I was very afraid of what usually happens to me when I shop: too small, too tight, too wrong. Everything wedding related has been mostly stress free (except invitations), and I didn’t want to ruin the good mood by having a depressing shopping trip. When I finally got around to doing it I brought a small group of trusted advisors. To my great surprise, I found good dresses! Build in corsets are a woman’s best friend. I guess this means I would have been one kick ass babe in victorian times

I ended going to two places: David’s Bridal, and I Do Bridal. David’s was great price-wise, not so great service-wise. I Do bridal was amazing with the service, not so amazing with my budget. Both had dresses I liked (a lot!), none had dresses that I loved.

This is where the problem started. Everyone told me I would KNOW when I found the dress. But I never did. One dress was great for a simple wedding. One was a beautiful modern dress. One was a beautiful vavavoom dress. But none called out to me. So I did was any rational woman would do. I called my mommy. Emma and I took her to see all FOUR dresses I couldn’t decide between. They each had their favorites (not helpful). I was so torn! I liked them all, but didn’t love any of them. I thought I was picky, but I guess I’m not picky enough.

In the end, I picked the dress I thought was the most me: romantic, less traditional, looked good without a veil, within my budget. I now have 12 weeks before I see it again. At first I was scared I would later feel I made a mistake. But as time goes on, I feel more and more sure I made the right decision. Another thought hit me as well: I would be happy with any of the dresses I picked. There is no one dress. There is only the one right now dress.

On another note: 5 MONTHS!!!!!!

Now if only we could think of equally awesome children’s names. Bertrand Growlbert, Albert von Growlbert, Helga Growlbert, and little Timmy Growlbert are the top contenders

Any other ideas?

Wedding Ceremony: Saturday July 31st, 330 PM, Augustana Lutheran Church @ 2710 NE 14th Ave, Portland, OR 97212.  There is a very small parking lot attached to the church.  Please try to reserve those spots for our more senior guests.  Don’t worry, though, as there is plenty of street parking in the area surrounding the church.  We’ll keep the ceremony brief so we can skedaddle on to…

Reception: 500 PM, Miller Hall at the World Forestry Center @ 4033 SW Canyon Rd. Portland, OR 97221.  Go to the train and follow the balloons.  I promise that will makes sense when you get there!  The bar will be open at 500, but dinner will not be until 530-600.  Dinner menu will be announced in a later post, but rest assured, it will be delicious!

Directions: Refer to our Magnificent Marriage Map or click the link on the sidebar.

Attire: Naturally, Maggie and I will be gussied up, but the rest of you can come dressed semi-formally.

Registry: Macy’s (You’ll have to search for us by either of our last names) and Sur La Table (This will open directly into our registry, no searching required!)

RSVP: Click here and follow the instructions!