~*~My Wedding Journal~*~(Thank You! pg 17) - Page 6

~*~January 29^th, 2011: New House & Meeting the Caterer~*~

When Dino and I started planning this wedding we said we didn't want a wedding planner. We wanted to do everything ourselves. Later we realized that planning a wedding by ourselves wasn't so easy. We still didn't hire a wedding planner but instead we just got help from our family. At first we told our parents that they don't have to worry about anything, just make sure they show up to the weddings. That really didn't work out…we ended up needing their help a lot! My aunt (my dad's sister/Roshni's mom) is a wedding planner so we also take some advice from her for some stuff. Now I realize how great that help is. My aunt helped us find a great caterer and our parents helped us get our dream house.

Originally Dino and I were going to pay for the weddings and stuff. That changed when our parents decided to help…they decided to split the cost(even though we asked them not to but they're parents...they don't listen). Them doing that meant Dino and I didn't have to put off buying a house. We've been looking since mid October. At the time I thought Dino was crazy because I thought he wanted to be in a live in relationship (we weren't engaged then). I wasn't on board for that but he somehow convinced me into looking for houses to get ideas for the future (I guess he decided he was going to for sure marry me😛). We saw a SO MANY houses and liked a bunch of them. I even found my dream house mid November! Even though we found my dream house we still went house hunting just in case (even the day we signed the papers...we went to see a house just in case😆). A few days ago we went to sign the papers and all that. Now I can proudly say that Dino and I bought our first house!! It's gorgeous, it's really big for us atm (there are 6 bedrooms) but I'm not planning on moving for a veryyyyyyy long time.So hopefully in the future we'll have a nice family and each room will be used😛.  I'm so glad we actually bought a house because I didn't want to stay in Dino's condo (there wasn't going to be enough room for all our stuff0 and my townhouse (my parents bought me for my 19^th b-day) is going to be sold (I told my bff to keep it but she's moving away too). I'm so excited because for the past 4 years every time I passed that house I wished that the owners would put it for sale so that I can buy it and now I own it (well co-own it😆). I love it,it's literally right infront of Roshni's house😆😆 I think most of my family and friends live in that area...no joke😆 It's also closer to the firestation Dino works at.

Anyways…not sure what that had to do with wedding planning😆 but I just wanted to share😆. Back to the real wedding planning…my aunt asked us if we picked out a menu for the reception, we didn't, so Dino, my aunt and I went to this caterer my aunt recommended. We spent practically the whole day eating! At the reception we're going to have a five course meal.

First Course: Chilled Red Pepper Soup with Sauted Shrimp

Second Course: Chickpea, Feta, and Olive Salad

Third Course: Lemon Sorbet (To "cleanse the guest's palate before dinner")

Forth Course: Cheese Tortellini with Rose Sauce or New York Sirloin Steak with Peppercorn Sauce

Fifth Course: Dessert Buffet (We're only taking fruits from them…the other desserts are going to be from another place)

For drinks we went for non-alcoholic beverages. The guests are going to be given the choice of: Pomegranate Sparkler, Fruit Spritzers, 7UP or Pepsi. Then with desserts there will be Smoothies, Tea and Coffee. If any one wanted a different drink or something with alcohol then they can just go to the bar outside the ballroom and order it themselves.

Oh and we're also going to be serving appetizers in the beginning of the reception (Well it's actually during the Bengali wedding)

We're confused whether we should be serving appetizers at the 1^st and 2^nd wedding (The Italian and Indian weddings). Like do I have to if I'm only having a ceremony?😕

Can't wait to go to the bakery to pick out the cake and desserts!!!

~*~February 1st, 2011: Desserts!~*~

Dino, my aunt and I went to meet the caterers and pick a menu. The next thing was choosing desserts! The 3 of us went to this amazing bakery. I think we spent over 3 hours there, just eating cakes and cupcakes!

In the end we decided to have a 5 tier white chocolate cake with raspberry mousse filling. The cake will be covered in white fondant and turquoise ribbon (fondant) around the bottom of each tier. Also fresh red roses will be on the cake in a "spiral way".  Our cake topper is going to be silver crystal monogram "AD".😛

When we were at the bakery we fell in love with the cupcakes so we decided to include cupcakes in the dessert buffet. We picked 5 different flavors, Watermelon, Pomegranate Green Tea, Mango Mousse, Tiramisu and Chocolate Cheese Cake😃.

Other desserts that are going to be served are gelato, fruits and candy. For the gelato, we're having two flavors, Pistachios and Crme Brulee. Then for fruits we're going to have Strawberries, Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Oranges, Grapefruit, Guava and Mango. I love candy buffets, I think they're awesome so we agreed to have one. The candy is going to go with the theme (Turquoise, White, and Red); they're going to be in clear glass jars that are different shapes and sizes. Each jar is going to have a silver candy shovel or tongs. When the dessert buffet is set up the waiters are going give everyone white satin treasure chests (They're the same as the invitation treasure chests). Inside the treasure chest is going to be a "Thank you for coming" note and that's where they can put the candy. I love those as wedding favors. The top of the treasure chests are going to be embroidered in turquoise thread

Avantika Roya Greco + Dino Aapt Kapoor

Two Hearts, One Beat

I love the idea of having a dessert buffet instead of having the waiters serve the dessert. That way it's easier to have variety and not everybody always wants dessert so if they want they can go to the buffet and if they don't then...they can just party😆.

Oh and we spoke to the caterers and they're going to make appetizers and drinks for the other two weddings. At the Italian wedding they're making a bunch of Italian appetizers and drinks. Then for the Indian wedding they're making Indian appetizers and drinks😊.

The best part of the day was when the baker was trying to figure out why I call my aunt Lele. It was too funny because she was confused😆. I call my aunt Lele because her name is Laila and when I was younger I used to try and call her Laila but I couldn't pronounce it so I started calling her Lele and it just stayed😊.