Anthony and Brenna

We are officially at 100 days!!!
YESSSSS!

Love,

Tony and Brenna

Here we are mid-summer and enjoying the nice weather. We’re down to just 85 more days until our ceremony! We’ve officially secured a venue to host a dinner for our friends the weekend after we announce our surprise elopement to our families. We decided on having our party at SideBar on Hertel Ave. This is the first place we officially hung out during an impromptu get together with a group of our work friends almost two and half years ago.

We toyed with what type of cuisine we should provide our friends at the party and ultimately decided that since we are a couple of BBQ junkies, there was no way we could pass on sharing our love of smoked meats with our closest peeps! After testing numerous local BBQ restaurants in the Buffalo area, we decided to go with catering from Fat Bob’s (or as Tony calls it “Morbidly Obese Roberts”) located right on Virginia Place in the Allentown District of Buffalo. Brenna is going to use the same ‘Surprise Birthday Party for Tony’ trick she used on our families for our friends too. We’re really looking forward to celebrating with everyone!

On the wedding dress front, Brenna has her first fitting next week on the 24th!!! Hard to believe we’re already this close! She was told to bring her shoes, which as previously mentioned in an earlier post will be rose gold converse. She can’t wait to show them off!

Love,

Tony and Brenna

75 day mark! I went to my first dress fitting yesterday! For the most part, it went well. The seamstress only needs to take off 7 feet of material to make the dress the right length for all 5 feet 2 inches of me. However, I still love the dress and am very happy that it’s the one I ended up choosing. My next fitting is at the end of August, on the 28th and at that time it should be the right length. I can’t wait to see it! After that, I’ll have one more fitting before our big day to make sure it fits perfectly! I can’t wait for Tony to see me in it!

Love,

Brenna

Today, Brenna helped me pick out and order the suit that I plan to wear for our ceremony in October. Yes, I said pick out and order like you would do for online shopping…because that’s exactly what I did! Hahahahaha bear with me…

Unlike Brenna who had no idea where to begin when looking for her wedding dress, I’ve pretty much known since we made our elaborate plan to elope last Fall that I was going stray from the traditional 3 piece suits you see at pretty much every modern wedding and try and get a custom 3 piece suit in an English style made specifically for our big day.

I’ve been wanting an English tweed suit in a herringbone pattern for several years, but finding an event during the cooler fall season special enough to warrant paying to have the suit like the one I was envisioning made never really came to fruition. However, if having one made to wear on our wedding day wasn’t special enough, what event would be? It was going to be easy. I knew exactly what I wanted and had almost an entire year to find it. But little did I know, trying to find a tailor to make an English tweed suit in western New York was next to impossible unless I wanted to spend over $2k.

After going to numerous local realtors and tailor shops in the western New York area, next to none actually made English style three piece tweed suits, and the few that did, charged an arm and a leg to actually make it. As much as I wanted to avoid it because of past experiences buying clothes, I thought I would try to find a place online that was reputable and reasonably priced. I spent hours on the internet trying to find a local retailer or custom tailor shop that could make what I was envisioning, but couldn’t find any place that seemed feasible or reliable. I was pretty much ready to give up.

That is until I was at work one day and Brenna, who could be in the running for the best online shopper of all time, sent me a text that directed me to an online tailor outlet located in England that specialized in making custom three piece suits at a very reasonable price. The online shop had many positive reviews and included pictures from real customers so it appeared legitimate. I just needed to decide on a style, cut, and pattern, input my measurements and BOOM! It would be delivered to my doorstep from Europe in 4-6 weeks.

The online shop had the exact style I wanted in several different patterns and cuts and after committing to the cut and pattern I had envisioned for most of the past year, I ordered the suit I am hoping will at least be able to stand up to how beautiful Brenna will look on the day of our ceremony. Crossing my fingers and hoping that it looks great and fits correctly!

Love,

Tony

After discussing at length with Brenna about the potential catastrophe of leaving the fate of my wedding day attire in the hands of the internet Gods, we decided to go to a local tailor here in Buffalo and purchase a new suit in case my online order does not play out the way I have envisioned. I have been burned by online shopping three times in the last year alone and since we are exactly one month away to the day of our ceremony I must admit, like many people who purchase clothes online, I started to have some doubts about the European based suit store through which I ordered my suit.

I would hate for it to arrive by mail in the coming weeks and for it to not look or fit anywhere near what I had envisioned. Of course by then it would be too late to get something else and I would have to figure out what to wear in the final hour. So while I didn’t love the idea of purchasing what I would call a modern day wedding suit, Brenna and I felt it was best to make sure that I have something that we know will look nice in the event of an internet tragedy.

With all that being said, Brenna and I found a modern, but remarkably unique suit I am very excited about. So much so that even if the English tweed suit I ordered online matches what I envisioned perfectly, I will be torn over which one to wear. While the suit we purchased today is just a two-piece in a completely different color and is absolutely not in the traditional English tweed style, it is very unique and features a pattern that should look awesome with the fall foliage. Making it even better, the tailor was also able to find a matching waistcoat so that it actually looks like it is meant to be a three piece suit.

Since I don’t know what I’ll do if both suits look and wear as I envisioned, I will do what any smart man would do, defer to my soon to be wife! In all sincerity, it really won’t matter the day of the ceremony. I am excited beyond words to marry the woman who came into my life so unexpectedly over two and a half years ago. I know that no matter what I wear during our day, she is going to look so stunning that she will steal the eyes of everyone when they look at the pictures from our ceremony. I love you Brenna 😉 …30 days!

Guess what? We only have 20 days to go! It’s been a busy few weeks. I started my last semester of school so I’ve been incredibly busy between working, classes, and clinicals. However, I have also kept myself occupied with getting all the little details of our elopement together. Seeing as everyone thinks that I am having a surprise birthday party for Tony, he couldn’t exactly jump in on that planning (although he’s been helping from behind the scenes!).

We are all set for our big day. Tony bought his suit, my dress is ready to go, and will be picked up in 2 weeks. We’ve picked out some fun little details to include in our special day. I bought us two paper flowers to put on top of our cake, but what makes them unique is that they were made from Harry Potter pages, specifically The Order of the Phoenix. They are also painted Scarlet and Gold because we were both sorted into Gryffindor. There was no way I could get married without letting a little bit of my nerdy side some out somewhere. We also decided that because this day is truly about us that we would write our own vows. I already told Tony be prepared because I’ll probably bawl my eyes out! Our photographer is all set, and I am looking forward to seeing the final prints.

After our elopement, we come home and hang out for a few days, and enjoy being Mr. and Mrs. for the first time. We then pack up, and head to Cleveland for the big family reveal. Our dinner reservations for 22 includes my family from Buffalo, and Syracuse, Tony’s family from Cleveland, and Columbus, as well as close family friends from the CLE area. As far as everyone still knows the dinner is for Tony’s birthday. Our plan is to have our family and friends come in, sit down, order drinks, order dinner, and then we’ll reveal our surprise! I have created gift bags with to give to everyone! The bags will include a framed picture of our day, maple syrup to represent me, and scarlet and grey m&ms to represent Tony (O-H I-O!), as well as the super cool fox sugar cookies we’re having made by a local baker here in Buffalo!

Last but not least, our party in Buffalo with our friends. I’ve been tip toeing around Tony’s back preparing for his ‘surprise party’ here on October 20th. Location is confirmed, delicious Fat Bobs ordered, and naturally I had to get a few things to decorate. Once we announce to our family I’ll get out website up and running, and start telling our friends that it’s in fact a post-elopement celebration, and not Tony’s birthday! Everything is falling into place easily, and I have sincerely enjoyed how fun and laid back the planning process has been.

With that being said, as of right now, we can kick our feet up, and wait for our day to come. I hope you all have enjoyed reading about our adventures leading up to our elopement!

Love,

Brenna

We made it to the Fern Lodge! It took us almost 5 hours to get here, but the drive is very enjoyable as we get to take in the beautiful views of the Adirondacks.

Our goal today is to relax, enjoy how quiet it is, and get a good night sleep as tomorrow is the big day!

we can’t wait to share pictures with everyone!

Love,

Tony and Brenna