We Found Our Church!

Tonight, we found our church! We have chosen St. John's Lutheran Church in Fraser, MI. It's a nice sized church, very beautiful and the services have been enjoyable. We have been attending services for several weeks and finally met with the pastor to declare our intentions, discuss the marriage process at the church and all that exciting stuff.

We checked out many churches in the area, and feel the most comfortable at St. John's. Our intentions are to become members of this congregation!

So, we have met another goal early in the process and are well on our way. It has been five months---perhaps the fastest five months either of us has experienced. God has blessed us so far and we are truly excited for this process!

The journey continues......more updates to come!

We Pic'd Our Photographer!

We booked our photographer & videographer! We're very excited with our decision to go with Kreativ Imaging. Our guy, Kristofer, is very creative, professional and offered us the best bang for our buck, so to speak. We were very impressed with his style and his passion for photography--creative photography.

Another nice aspect is that Kreativ Imaging is based only a few miles down the road, so consulting with our photographer won't be too problematic or much of a drive.

We're very excited with our choice and we believe he will capture the best moments of our special day.

We're still looking for a church, so hopefully we'll have something to announce about that very soon!

Remembering Loved Ones Lost...

On Sunday, Miah's grandmother passed away peacefully in the Hoehner home. She was 84 years young.

Before her passing, we were talking about doing some kind of remembrance for loved ones who would not be with us in person, but with us in spirit. We want to celebrate these lives, and while we are sad they could not be with us in person on our special day, we know they'll be looking down in delight, and for us that is very comforting. Now that Miah's grandma has passed, it's definitely something we feel strongly about doing.

We were thinking about putting up a small table somewhere in the reception hall with their pictures and perhaps a small, continuously-burning candle. Something simple, something to honor the family members we loved so dearly. We figure this is a great way to celebrate their lives, at the celebration of our marriage.

The quote from the Bible that sums it up best for us is this (and it happened to be Miah's grandma's favorite Bible verse):

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you."
--Philippians 1:3

The Great Photographer Hunt

Yesterday, we met with three different photographers. A few weeks ago, we met with another. We've seen a lot of great work. We're narrowing down our search, and we think we've met the person who will capture our special day. We still have to meet with a couple more, but hopefully we'll have this taken care of soon!

Mark Your Calendars--The Date & Hall Are Set!

We have made our first big decisions in the wedding planning process. The date is set and the reception site is booked! We will be celebrating our special day at Lakeland Manor in St. Clair Shores, MI on October 10, 2009. So be sure to save the date!!!

The First Bridal Show (aka Battle of The Brides Part 1)

The Palace of Auburn Hills is hosting a mega-bridal show today. Ang and her friends are headed down there to hopefully find some deals, make some connections and maybe win a prize! I cannot imagine that many future brides in such a large place like an arena....I think I would hyperventilate. I know she's having fun at the first of several bridal shows I'm sure she, and even I perhaps, will be attending. Hopefully all the girls come back in one piece, with all their teeth and no visible battle scars. I taught them some basic self-defense moves and advised them that offense is the best defense. We'll keep you posted if Ang wins any cool prizes for our wedding (i.e. a free reception hall, free brides dress, free tuxedo's, free everything...that would be nice....but unlikely.)

And The Search Is On.....

We have begun the search for the reception hall.....(cue to the music)....which we hope will fit snugly within our budget. If you have any feedback, positive or negative, or any advice, tips, etc. from your experience--please leave us some comments if you want to; share your stories! So far, we're already learning a lot about how these halls work. We're planning on visiting some in person very soon, and then we'll go from there.

We'll hopefully have the pictures from the engagement trip posted sometime soon.