Samantha & Chris' PJ - 9/13/09 at Home Wedding with a Mini Disneymoon

[PrincessPirate28]

Hi All,

After reading thru some of the PJ’s I was inspired to do one of my own.

First a little history on us:
We met in 2001 on a school trip to Hawaii (I know what a place to meet someone), but I was actually dating someone else while I was on that trip. After 5 years of being with my ex and always hearing the empty promise of an engagement ( I was 20 what was I thinking??). I broke it off when I got back. I was ready to be myself again. At the end of these trips, we always say we’ll keep in touch, we’ll hang out and hardly anyone ever does. So I wasn’t really expecting anything. I get a call one day from Chris to hang out with other people from the trip. OK sounds good. After a couple of months of being friends and having one of the best summers ever, everyone would say to us, “you guys should hook up” and we would both say “no it’s Chris/Samantha we’re just friends”. Well come 8/14/01 we were more than just friends.

I am 28, I am Assistant to the President for a Ferrari/Maserati/Rolls Royce/Aston Martin/Bentley/Bugatti dealer in Greenwich, CT. Not as glamorous as it sounds!! Still live at home with my mom and grandpa (they would be lost without me)
Chris is 25 and manager of an upscale wine shop in Rye, NY. His boss has left him in charge since day one as he works on other projects in hopes of expanding the buisness. He too still lives at home with mom, grandma, and younger bro.

We went to the same high school together but never knew each other. We were three years apart and I was so wrapped up in my ex-bf that I lived in a bubble (do I regret that now, big time). We live about a mile away from each other and knew a lot of the same people but our paths never crossed until, that school trip.

After patiently and not so patiently waiting for Chris to finish college, and hearing for 2 1/2 years "that my time will come" and "soon" ( I now hate that word) we got engaged on Christmas Day 2007.


Up next the not so romantic proposal…

 

[Angela0917]

Yay! Another home wedding PJ! Can't wait to read more!

 

[nickandlarisa]

Congrats and welcome, yay for another at home bride!! I think its cool you both still live at home. I moved back home too after college and at 27 I'm still here! Its funny but I think my parents are really going to miss me when I finally do move out. Depending on where DF gets a job (he's still in grad school now) we will hopefully live somewhere close by or I will be soooo homesick!!

Good luck with everything and can't wait to follow along with your plans!

 

[PrincessPirate28]

Congrats and welcome, yay for another at home bride!! I think its cool you both still live at home. I moved back home too after college and at 27 I'm still here! Its funny but I think my parents are really going to miss me when I finally do move out. Depending on where DF gets a job (he's still in grad school now) we will hopefully live somewhere close by or I will be soooo homesick!!

Good luck with everything and can't wait to follow along with your plans!

I know my mom will be upset when I finally do move out, it's been me and her for a long time now. That's still a few years away though, need to save some major $$$$$$$$$$$$!! LOL!!

 

[PrincessPirate28]

I had always wanted a romantic Disney World Proposal and Chris knew that.

We started talking marriage in 2005. Chris was still in college and with promises of “After I finish school” &“Soon”, I wait with anticipation and no proposals. We at one point went ring shopping, but still nothing. As time goes by and opportunities arose, I was left with just a dream.

In July 2007 we once again go ring shopping, I say to myself “again for the third time, he knows what I want I know what I want what is so difficult. ” We go I pick out the same ones I always do and nothing.

September rolls around and so does my Birthday, my cousin comes by one day on a rare visit and asks if Chris is getting me an engagement ring for my b-day, how would I know? I expected it so many times already. She proceeds to tell me that if he does I can’t get married in September 08, because that’s when her brother wants to get married, he had gotten engaged just a couple weeks before that Ummmmm, what just happened here, was I just told that I was not allowed to get married in September, huh what??????????

Now comes October and we go ring shopping again, YES AGAIN!!!!!! I’m so confused at this point I thought this was taken care of already.
December approaches we go X-mas shopping and ring shopping AGAIN. But this time we finally by a ring WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
But I have to wait to get it. UGH!!!!!

OK well I know it’s gonna be X-mas, it was obvious and his Uncle blew it and told me, but I didn’t know how.

(He gets mad when I tell this story. He thinks I’m making fun of him. Shhhhh, don’t tell him you know it)

Christmas Eve we went to a friend’s house and got home around 1 am, and he then went to another friends house to stop by (yeah the party was still hoppin). Chris gets back to my house around 3 am and I let him in (I’m sound asleep and basically sleepwalking to the door). He hands me a plastic bag and his duffle bag. 7 am comes I wake up. I had a lot to do since my mom had fallen and broken her hip 10 days earlier. He finally wakes up we open presents. I had asked for a jewelry box, he bought it for me which I had already known about. So here I am thinking that he would put it in the box (hello captain obvious), but he didn’t. (I had already known that too, gift was wrapped, and the ring still in room for a week later for all to see) He gets dressed I go in my room to grab my clothes and he says:

“Get your ring in my bag"

"HUH??"

"So Yes or NO?”

“What do you mean get your ring in my bag, so Yes or NO? You could at least ask me.”

“ Oh OK, so will you”

”Will I what”

”You know”.

I gave up and just said Yes. I was so excited to finally be engaged that it didn’t hit me until almost 2 weeks later, that it was the most unromantic proposal ever . But I kept that to myself.

Side note – cousin was not happy when I told her she was afraid I would plan for that September anyway.

Jump ahead to July – we get in a major fight, probably the biggest we’ve ever had. Things were said and I blurt out that I was really disappointed in my proposal. OOOOOOOPPPPPPPPSSSSSS!!!!!!! How ungrateful do I sound? But I’m really not, I was just upset and it was the heat of the moment. After hearing and reading about other proposals, I was upset. Kept thinking, didn’t I not deserve the romantic proposal I always wanted and had imagined? Was I not special enough to have that? Did I not deserve something meaningful and special? He told me that I blew it because I took it out of his hand that night, while I was half asleep letting him in (umm….yeah cause I knew what I was doing). He also says at times that he didn’t know what to do with it or how to do it (I think that’s the real reason). So that night I asked that for our 7 year anni that he re-propose and ask me properly , since it was already out there, what could I lose? (nothing fancy just properly) He said no at first.

A few weeks later we were trying to plan a weekend fall weekend getaway; he told me he would do it then. We never got to plan a getaway . We planned a trip to Disney for February with friends instead . He says he will do it then, so fingers crossed we will see.

Our friends and family get a kick out of the story, I do too. He’s not the romantic type, so it fits him. But I am a hopeless romantic, so it does fit me.

 

[Angela0917]

I had always wanted a romantic Disney World Proposal and Chris knew that.

We started talking marriage in 2005. Chris was still in college and with promises of “After I finish school” &“Soon”, I wait with anticipation and no proposals. We at one point went ring shopping, but still nothing. As time goes by and opportunities arose, I was left with just a dream.

In July 2007 we once again go ring shopping, I say to myself “again for the third time, he knows what I want I know what I want what is so difficult. ” We go I pick out the same ones I always do and nothing.

September rolls around and so does my Birthday, my cousin comes by one day on a rare visit and asks if Chris is getting me an engagement ring for my b-day, how would I know? I expected it so many times already. She proceeds to tell me that if he does I can’t get married in September 08, because that’s when her brother wants to get married, he had gotten engaged just a couple weeks before that Ummmmm, what just happened here, was I just told that I was not allowed to get married in September, huh what??????????

Now comes October and we go ring shopping again, YES AGAIN!!!!!! I’m so confused at this point I thought this was taken care of already.
December approaches we go X-mas shopping and ring shopping AGAIN. But this time we finally by a ring WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
But I have to wait to get it. UGH!!!!!

OK well I know it’s gonna be X-mas, it was obvious and his Uncle blew it and told me, but I didn’t know how.

(He gets mad when I tell this story. He thinks I’m making fun of him. Shhhhh, don’t tell him you know it)

Christmas Eve we went to a friend’s house and got home around 1 am, and he then went to another friends house to stop by (yeah the party was still hoppin). Chris gets back to my house around 3 am and I let him in (I’m sound asleep and basically sleepwalking to the door). He hands me a plastic bag and his duffle bag. 7 am comes I wake up. I had a lot to do since my mom had fallen and broken her hip 10 days earlier. He finally wakes up we open presents. I had asked for a jewelry box, he bought it for me which I had already known about. So here I am thinking that he would put it in the box (hello captain obvious), but he didn’t. (I had already known that too, gift was wrapped, and the ring still in room for a week later for all to see) He gets dressed I go in my room to grab my clothes and he says:

“Get your ring in my bag"

"HUH??"

"So Yes or NO?”

“What do you mean get your ring in my bag, so Yes or NO? You could at least ask me.”

“ Oh OK, so will you”

”Will I what”

”You know”.

I gave up and just said Yes. I was so excited to finally be engaged that it didn’t hit me until almost 2 weeks later, that it was the most unromantic proposal ever . But I kept that to myself.

Side note – cousin was not happy when I told her she was afraid I would plan for that September anyway.

Jump ahead to July – we get in a major fight, probably the biggest we’ve ever had. Things were said and I blurt out that I was really disappointed in my proposal. OOOOOOOPPPPPPPPSSSSSS!!!!!!! How ungrateful do I sound? But I’m really not, I was just upset and it was the heat of the moment. After hearing and reading about other proposals, I was upset. Kept thinking, didn’t I not deserve the romantic proposal I always wanted and had imagined? Was I not special enough to have that? Did I not deserve something meaningful and special? He told me that I blew it because I took it out of his hand that night, while I was half asleep letting him in (umm….yeah cause I knew what I was doing). He also says at times that he didn’t know what to do with it or how to do it (I think that’s the real reason). So that night I asked that for our 7 year anni that he re-propose and ask me properly , since it was already out there, what could I lose? (nothing fancy just properly) He said no at first.

A few weeks later we were trying to plan a weekend fall weekend getaway; he told me he would do it then. We never got to plan a getaway . We planned a trip to Disney for February with friends instead . He says he will do it then, so fingers crossed we will see.

Our friends and family get a kick out of the story, I do too. He’s not the romantic type, so it fits him. But I am a hopeless romantic, so it does fit me.

Such a funny story... my DF is the same way. He planned the engagement out good... we went on a carriage ride through Central Park in NYC like a week before Christmas, but then half way through the ride, he hads me a box... knowing exactly what it was, I opened the box and looked at the ring, then looked at him, waiting for him to ask... and he didn't... after a few moments of silence, he was like "Well???" and I was like "Well, you didn't ask me anything!!!!!" LOL! So finally he asked "The Question", and then of course I said "Yes!"

 

[MegKate]

I think men who got engaged Christmas 2007 just broke the record for most unromantic proposals ever! My DF did something similar - asked me right after I got out of the shower in front of my whole family - no makeup, nothing!

Well it did the job anyways! Congrats on the engagement and good luck planning!

 

[PrincessPirate28]

I think men who got engaged Christmas 2007 just broke the record for most unromantic proposals ever! My DF did something similar - asked me right after I got out of the shower in front of my whole family - no makeup, nothing!

Well it did the job anyways! Congrats on the engagement and good luck planning!

There must have been something in the air that day!!

I'll post more later, the phones are down at work so I keep loosing my seat to the phone guy and I'm about 2 hours behind on work now, have to catch up on some stuff first.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!!

 

[padisneyfour]

welcome and congrats! looking forward to hearing more!

 

[PrincessPirate28]

I can’t believe I haven’t put up any pictures. I NEED pictures!! I’ll do a post with some pics later.

So after we called and visited everyone with the GOOD NEWS, we of course had to go out and CELEBRATE!! We hit up two of my favorite bars Hula Hanks (Stamford, CT) and The Thirsty Turtle (White Plains, NY) It was a long and late night. We had so much fun, I have never been so drunk in my life. Which of course lead me to be the sickest I’ve ever been the next day. Party stared at 10:30 and went on until about 6:00am. It was just one of those nights where everything worked out right, no fights, no drama, just FUN!! Of course we ended up at our usual food place the Port Chester Coach Diner.

We had our bridal Party picked out and this was the night we asked well some of them. But do to recent events I think we were so excited that we didn’t think it thru and jumped the gun on asking people. I always wanted a small BP and Chris wanted a BIG BP. Chris won!
They are:
MOH – Shannon – my sister
BM– Mat – Chris’ Brother
Maids
Kristen – my hopefully future SIL
Kim – my cousin
Dawn – Chris’ cousin
Annamaria – friend
Nicole – friend
Casandra – my niece – Jr BM/FG
Men
Jason – my brother
Jimmy – my Brother in law
Chris – Chris’ cousin
KJ – Chris’ BF
Frank – friend
Christopher – my nephew – Jr GM
Colin – my nephew - RB

Some Pics
Me & Chris

Me, Annamaria, KJ and Mat (poor KJ)

Money Shot

Me and girls on the bar, that so not me!! I'm usually the DD!!

Group shot at the Diner

On with the planning:
We waited to start planning for about 4 months after we got engaged. Our original wedding date was set for October 18, 2009. That lasted for about two weeks with me. I really wanted a September wedding, so we bumped up the date to September 13, 2009.
My first initial thought was DISNEY WEDDING!! Chris said no it was too much $$, which is what I thought as well. Guess we didn’t enough research (I had no clue about escape weddings). So I suggested , Bahamas. Chris wouldn’t go for it. His family wouldn’t fly and we HAVE to get married in church or were gonna die. I was so upset . I have never pictured my wedding ceremony being held in church. I am not a religious person by any means and neither is he, so ummmm, WHY?!?!?!?! Well come to find out his g-mother said she wouldn't give us any $$ to help pay for the wedding if we didn’t get married in church. We never asked for $$, thanks for offering but not if we have to do it your way. Well he said OK, oh so now it’s her wedding, wonderful! DFMIL said she will take care of all the church preperations, she will call the preist and set up meetings at our convience, and so on. I didn't want her to but she insisted, I gave in (my own fault). Well let’s just say we have been engaged for almost 11 months, we still haven’t met with the priest. The man does not answer the phone or call back UGH!! I have had it now, so ridiculous. His mom never called for 9 months, WHAT!!!!!!! The one time he did call back he said we were written in for that date but you even knows anymore . Sorry Rant Done!!

We started looking in April for a venue. Every place we looked in our price range was just horrible. So we up’d our price range and found one place that I fell in LOVE with, well Chris hated it. Well back to square one. Our first thought was that we are not going to go to New Rochelle (an area around here where they have tons of venues), they wanted too much money. Well we ran out of options and 2 months later gave in, and up’d our price range again and went to New Rochelle. We looked at 4 places in one day (a street I like to call Country Club Row). The last place we went to, we were both finally WOW’d by it. The view was incredible, food was so good and we got a price break cause we happen to know there food distributor. Contract signed, Beckwith Pointe here we come!!

Some pics (there not great I need to get some more. I always forget my camera, or it dies, or it's raining when we go, so I don't have a view pic.)

To be Cont'd....