Krna's Wedding

Two weeks ago we went to Krna's wedding in Outer Banks, North Carolina. Terence and I were excited as neither of us had been before and were looking forward to relaxing a bit by the beach. 

We got there just in time for the rehearsal and to check out Krna and Tim's beach house, which was amazing! It had the sweetest movie room I have ever seen, we will definitely be looking to vacation there sometime! It was really nice to get to see Mama Krna and get to know some more of Krna's friends and family in Virginia.

Next day was the wedding on the beach and everyone looked amazing. Terence was in charge of pictures and I have to give him props, because it looks like he did a pretty good job! 

I also have to say that I have never seen such a calm bride, Krna really looked amazing!

Beautifully handwritten vows...

The smooch!

Thumbs up!

Next day we all woke up early and headed to breakfast at a local shop and took our time driving up the coast. We of course stopped for frozen custard and one of the many Christmas shops, then it was back to Houston. Pup was glad we were home, I think she started to miss us after all our traveling!

I am going to miss my Krna, I mean Campbell-licious just doesn't have the same ring to it! 


Congrats Tim and Krna! 

Syracuse and Apple Picking

Terence and I went to Syracuse over Labor Day weekend for Megan Helen's wedding. It was so great to get to see everyone! AND to enjoy the cold weather!!

We decided to go apple picking the morning of the wedding while everyone was getting ready. So Leslie, Calvin, Terence, and I decided to head to Beak and Skiff which also has a winery and a vodka distillery.

They had tractors to take everyone out to the apple orchard and handed out bags and ladders for everyone to get their own apples. We were able to pick JonaMac apples (and get all the flavors we wanted back at the general store).

After picking our apples we headed back and picked up some apple cider (delicious) and the best apple cider donuts ever! Afterwards we headed to the apple winery and the apple vodka distillery....and then we were apple'd out!

The wedding took place later that night, it was a beautiful outdoor ceremony and a nice lodge setting for the reception.

Congrats to the happy couple!

The next day we headed down to Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame...I'll let Terence talk about that cause I was just the photographer! 

Next up...Outer Banks, North Carolina for Krna's wedding! 

Anniversay...unofficially 6 years this weekend!

With our wedding last October 10th, we reset the clock (in some ways) to our anniversary. Granted we really have only had one anniversary as we met on a "leap day" during a leap year back on February 29, 2004. On a corner in Times Square...this was right after I met Deb for the first time...I'm behind the camera, of course. In the picture is Nikki, Kristin (who gets the credit of introducing us, edandkristin.blogspot.com), Krna (aka "boob," tying the knot later this year), Leslie (aka "douchebag," who when we got back to school I realized she sat right behind me in Hydrology! The rest there is history too...), and of course Mrs. Kadlec.

Fun times we had...

...fast forward 6 years and we await our first anniversary this October!

Wedding Beer wins gold!!!

As y'all probably remember from our previous posting (Our Wedding Brew), my dad made us a wedding brew and he just submitted it into one of the largest homebrew competitions in the country and it won GOLD!

It turned out to be a rather unique beer, not really in a specific category so it was entered in the specialty beer category at the Big Beer Festival in Vail, CO. I don't know how all this works, but I was told that the specialty category is the hardest category to win as you can enter in any beer!

A pic that my dad's friend, Greg, took of the winners posting

Besides winning gold at the Big Beer Festival, we all loved it at the Wedding, there was not a drop left in the place!

Thanks Dad and Congrats!

Blogging is Calming...hmmm

So as I go to read my weddingbee.com blogs for today, this is my relaxation period of the day, Terence tells me that he finds blogging relaxing. I don't know about this, but thought I would give it a shot! (maybe its calming to him because he gets to write about cruising and baseball...ha)

This morning woke up early in a panic to quickly get the table and place cards printed and ready to drop off at the reception location this afternoon. Well CRAP, I have been procrastinating on this project, mostly because I didn't want to think about table arrangements and here I went and waited till the morning before to work on this project. In enters Terence to the rescue!!! He went and bought more cardstock (which I miscalculated for like the tenth time throughout the wedding planning process), he dealt with the devil printer that for some reason liked to eat my miscalculated cardstock, and even cut and scored all the cards!

I think they turned out pretty cute for a 1-day project...pics to come!

We also got to drop all the out of town bags off at the Embassy Suites and Fairfield Inn. I always liked this idea of getting a gift when checking in for your room. So we decided to pull a little something together, mostly St. Charles/St. Louis visitor guides, some more wedding information, snacks, and a homemade surprise...to be shared later after everyone has seen theirs!

We are so excited to see all of out friends and family that have traveled so far!!

2 days and counting...

Wedding Week Continues...and Ice Cream today!!

Well Monday was a full day. We got our marriage license (see the pic below), met with our DJ, Debbie had another hair trial, as well as her final dress fitting. Plus there was prepping for the out-of-town guests, arranging seating, going shopping...it was a loooooooooooong day!

Today started off just like Monday...with a trip to the gym. See Monday's visit was necessary after all the food we ate "on the road" on Sunday. We haven't been eating out much, so the extra sodium left us feeling...well, like we needed to work out! This morning I was less than amused. We woke up early to the sound of Midnight running at full speed into the bedroom. Just before we heard cat cries from her and Phoebe, Debbie's cat here in St Louis. They are in the "transitional" phase of becoming either a) friends, b) acquaintances, or c) frenemies (where they get along when we are all watching them!). We got to the gym eventually and started our day just like Monday.

Today we met with the videographer over lunch at St Louis Bread Company (aka Panera Bread outside of St Louis...). Then we headed over to Mens Wearhouse to drop off my tux and shirt for pressing/cleaning (oddly enough all the groomsmen, fathers, and ushers' tux rentals were ready. I only need to rent the accessories (i.e. vest, tie, etc) and they were NOT there yet...hmmmmm... We then headed to South City to Serendipity...for some awesome ice cream. They are providing the ice cream at our reception...finally got a chance to try the pumpkin pie flavor, awesome! It'll be there on Saturday! I went with my favorite, Swiss Chip...it'll also be there. Following the loooong stay there, we headed to dinner with our photographer at Three Monkeys (near Tower Grove Park)...had a unique appetizer, Lobster Rangoon...another great find!

Here I am with the ice cream...not the most flattering of shots, but you get the idea. Deb and I really, really have missed the awesome-ness of ice cream! (The sugar crash came later!)

Now it's night...and we are still busy away. As Debbie is on her computer and I'm on another, I'm procrastinating slightly in posting this blog. Hahaha...as I don't have time to email EVERYONE, a blog post is so much easier to update the masses!

Tomorrow...oye, avoiding the schedule for now! :-)

Arrived in St Louis! Wedding Week Begins!

Well after a long 14-hour drive, Debbie and I arrived in St Louis late last night. We planned on leaving at 7am, but it was just after 8am when we departed Pearland. There were things we had to finish up first thing in the morning, including the drugging of Midnight. She had been stressed all week, we noticed, and when I picked her up and held her on the counter, I don't think it helped. Debbie proceeded to push the little pill into her mouth followed by the syringe full of water! She was pissed from that moment...till...well, she's still pissed! She woke up this morning probably groggy from the meds going..."where the hell am I?"

Anyways, as I backed the Xterra out of the garage, full beyond belief of wedding supplies and four weeks of clothes, travel essentials, etc etc etc...the rain drops began falling on the car. It wasn't until we were 2 hours outside of St Louis when the skies cleared and I could finally bring the car up to a satisfactory velocity!

It was a stressful drive all the way through. We opted for Highway 59 again for leaving Texas...with the GPS taking us off onto Highway 43 upwards of Marshall or so. Yeah, never again. See in dry conditions these roads are plenty safe and we cruise right on through. Not yesterday. The rain was bad, the roads were wet, the wind was blowing, and the stresses and anxieties never left! It was on 43 where the truck in front of us, towing a 20-ft boat, went into a 360 degree spin in front of us going 65-70 mph. We then hit the same slick spot but were lucky and held the road and our lane...he wasn't so lucky. He flew across the road and ended up on the other side of the road...we stopped and he was okay, but the stress in that moment carried on until the rains stopped. (I probably doubled my gray hair quota in 14 hours!)

Anyways, we arrived safe and sound and are ready for a busy few days of "wedding week!" Any moment we'll be headed out for our marriage license, followed by a full day of vendor meetings and such. It's going to be awesome...or tiring.

Weather is 59 degrees right now and gorgeous. Considerably better than what we left behind in Texas. Wedding day forecast is a high of 55 and a low of 37...I am so excited! Coupled with the leaves starting to turn (some, not quite there yet), it's going to be a beautiful weekend!!!

See some of you in St Louis!

Mrs Catholic, Cataract, Cadillac...no, it's Kadlec!

Those are names Ms. Debbie will soon be called.

When we picked up her wedding ring this week (this time they got it spot on perfect!) the lady says, "what will your new last name be?"

I answered, "Kadlec"

She says, "Catholic?"

Ugh, "No, Kad-lick," as dumbed down as I can.

She responds, "Cath-o-lick."

At this point it doesn't matter, "Yes, Catholic."

I looked over at Debbie and she said, with the straightest and blankest of expressions, "...and so it begins."

It was funny and so true. Even when I get calls from people I don't know they always say Cadillac, like the car, and Cataract (that's to you Owen!!!).

A little over 10 days to go and we'll have a new Catholic or Cataract or Cadillac...correction, Kadlec, in the family!

Dress & Tuxedo...check!

While Debbie is up in St Louis this weekend handling more wedding things, I am down here in Houston...sick. But I have still been productive!

Debbie called earlier and said her dress looks great. Her voice definitely had that "genuine" sound in it, not just saying it. This was a great start to my day! Later in the day I headed to Mens Wearhouse to have my tuxedo tailored. I figured I'd wait as long as possible to get it fitted...and in doing so, I was able to exchange both the jacket and the pants for smaller sizes! I get it back on Monday... This diet has definitely had a good result for the both of us!

Now if I can just shake this damn cold! :-/

Dress & Tuxedo...check!

While Debbie is up in St Louis this weekend handling more wedding things, I am down here in Houston...sick. But I have still been productive!

Debbie called earlier and said her dress looks great. Her voice definitely had that "genuine" sound in it, not just saying it. This was a great start to my day! Later in the day I headed to Mens Wearhouse to have my tuxedo tailored. I figured I'd wait as long as possible to get it fitted...and in doing so, I was able to exchange both the jacket and the pants for smaller sizes! I get it back on Monday... This diet has definitely had a good result for the both of us!

Now if I can just shake this damn cold! :-/

Stupid Parades

OK, so everyone says that something will go wrong with the wedding, well I already know what it is! There is a parade blocking all access roads to the church just in time for our ceremony to begin!

Yep, it is St. Charles' Bicentennial Celebration that weekend which is great because our out of town guests will have plenty to do (hay rides, movies under the stars, historic tours...), everything but making it to the church!

You can see the Parade route below, St. Charles Borromeo is 1 block North of Clark Street. SO you can see that to get from the highway/hotel to the church you would typically head down 5th Street. This intersection may or may not still be closed when guests should be arriving.

I spoke with the parade coordinator for the city today, she didn't sound hopeful, but told me the parade starts at 12pm and 'should' be over by 2pm. And she promised to talk with the police and get some suggested routes for our guests. So please stay tuned for updates!

Terence and I did a walking estimate on Google Maps tonight and it will take 16 minutes to get to Blanchette Park (C) from 5th and Clark (B). Which means the last float should pass through the intersection that we need by about 1:45pm.

Any suggestions?
View Larger Map

Wedding Overload!

We are now within a month! Approximately 24 days, 23 hours, 44 minutes, and change! Yikes!

Debbie is working soooo hard now, and I'm working...well, lets just say I'm "contributing as needed." I think that's fair. This past weekend Debbie and I seemingly got a lot accomplished. We headed out to the Houston outlets, just outside Houston (on the Northwest side). I was able to finish my "need to buy for the wedding and honeymoon" list, but Debbie...not so much. We have a lot left! Then on Sunday Debbie had to work but we were still able to assemble our wedding ceremony that evening. Last night we put together our songs for the ceremony, hymns, processional, etc etc. It's a lot of work considering we can only use certain songs (for the church). We were working past midnight! (Again more Debbie than me...)

Anyways, we are chugging along. Less than three weeks of work to go for the two of us, then we will enjoy the four weeks off!

Funny line today came from my friend, and groomsmen, Alok. He wrote to me, "I am sure you and Debbie must be inundated with things to worry about, but between a structural engineer and a astro-physicist, I am sure that all eventualities must have been planned for :)"

I laughed. When I read this, I thought of the fifty things I need to do! Have to get my tux tailored, call our priest, book the rest of our excursions etc etc etc. It was one of the first moments that I realized just how stressed Debbie must be (and have been for the past year plus!). She is so awesome!

So We're Dancing a "Rumba"

It was an interesting first dance lesson, no joke at all. I don't even know where to begin! Debbie signed us up for dance lessons for the wedding. See, we don't want to look like complete tools during our first dance, so we are getting lessons. Really, they are for me! :-) Stack the two of us up together and Debbie looks like a professional...versus me, the "challenged" one.

When we got there and Debbie was filling in the form the guy says across the counter, "Terence you can relax, it's not that bad." It felt like I was at the doctors, all that anxiety and all! Once we met up with our dance instructor, who neither Debbie or I could remember his name afterwards, he brought us up to speed. When asked of our level of experience, I think "nothing, nada, zilch" could sum it up! When we got to the dancing, our song we decided to do our first dance to came on. (NOTE: we really don't have a song that is "ours," aside from "Video Killed the Radio Star." hahaha, don't ask!) It was decided we'd do a "Rumba" which I recall from Debbie and our days watching So You Think You Can Dance. Saying "Foxtrot" and "Waltz" just makes me think of all the professional dancers on the show failing miserably doing these dances, so they decide to send us up there to do this! Yikes!

I will hold off on all the details of our training and lessons, but I will continue to poke fun at myself, the guy with two left feet with what our instructor kept saying to me..."breathe." Yup, I guess my multi-tasking is limited to walking and breathing, because dancing and breathing is just too much for me! :-)

More to come...

Deb and I have been together over 5 1/2 years, but I realized...I don't think I have one picture of us dancing! Nope, I do! It was back in 2004 at Debbie's sorority formal. We were dancing (I think) just before or after this picture. Whatever, it works. It's like a book with pictures...it's more entertaining than the book without pictures (well, not really...). (NOTE: perhaps the blogmaster will have to step in here and update me. I don't think this was 2004...I recall Debbie in a black dress, so perhaps this was another year...hmmm...whatever, it's the closest thing I have to us dancing!)

Flower Girl Preview

With the wedding just over a month away (WOW!), we sent Cesilie's flower girl dress to Florida for her to try on. We didn't want any surprises come the wedding day of "uh, it's to small" or "it's huge!" Granted those are great TWSS comments, we're talking about my niece here!

Here are a couple pics:

I don't know where the ones of Madison, Debbie's little sister and elder flower girl, are. I don't want to stumble upon any wedding dress pictures (which I know are stored on the MAC).

Update: (from the "blogmaster")

Pics of Madison when we went shopping in April...

My Shower!

A few weeks ago I went to STL for another wedding planning trip, except this one was a bit more fun! Well nothing is as fun as trying cake and ice cream all day, but....I had my bridal shower! My sister, mom, and aunt all planned an awesome party for me with so much of my wedding ideas thrown in. They bought flowers from my florist, cake from my bakery, and ice cream from Serendipity, it was like a wedding preview! So many friends and family were there as well and "showered" me with some totally awesome bridal gifts. Thanks again to everyone!

Here is a pic of all the family ladies...

Bridal Shower, Softball Tournament & Fantasy Football Draft

What a busy Saturday it was chalked up to be! Debbie is out of town in St Louis this weekend taking care of all sorts of wedding stuff...hair trial, trying her dress on (as it came in!), and her bridal shower. With her gone, I'm usually given time to relax, clean, watch some movies...not do all that much...however, this weekend was different. I had a softball tournament on Saturday, immediately followed by my fantasy football draft.

Well, the rain came on Friday...and it rained a lot here in Pearland. Turns out our softball tournament was cancelled. I found out when I was pulling into the Independence Park parking lot and it was nearly empty. I pulled out the blackberry and read my email...cancelled! Had I only checked my email when I woke up...I would have known! Oh well, I traded it in for the gym...not as fun, but exercise.

Then came the draft. I haven't done fantasy football in a few years and this was my first time doing a live draft. I typically have done them online. I got in with all the Nasa folks who take it pretty serious...most of them. I had the third overall pick and went with Peyton Manning. Apparently they all don't take the QB so early...whatever, I don't know. I was happy overall with my team. But then again, you never know how someone is going to perform...some will play above their expectations and vice versa. We'll see.

Anyways, Saturday was Debbie's bridal shower in St Louis! All I know is, she had a great time. I'll have to leave any postings regarding the shower to her as I wasn't there.

Less than 7 weeks to go for us!

Invitation overload

So, I look at OUR blog and realize Terence has been doing all of the blogging! I have of course a million excuses why I haven't, but thought I would take this turn and write about what has been keeping me so busy when I am home.

Warning, this is a "girly" blog so watch out gents!

We are officially 2 months away from the wedding, which stresses me out! One of many stresses includes the invitations.

We decided to make our own, and by that I mean designing the "invitation suite", buying the card-stock/envelopes, printing, stuffing, and addressing.

Besides going to Abe's welcome home from Russia BBQ at the Junyas, today was spent tweaking the invitations and sending them off to mom to check our "etiquette" and grammar, I was never good in grammar class! I also made some stickers to seal the inner envelopes. I know this sounds silly, but I got the inner envelope idea from weddingbee.com of course: The Glossy Invitations: Invite Design Basics and also Terence really liked the monograms I came up with, so I had to start incorporating them into the wedding somewhere!

Then I decided that the invitations looked a little too "crafty" so I decided that we must round the corners, I think it adds something fancy. Sounds like a great idea, but with 150 invitations with 3 pieces each that 1800 corners...I might need to rethink this. We got our card-stock from my new favorite paper store in PaperSource. They don't have one in Houston, so we waited till a visit to my sister's in Dallas and went to the store there. We ended up ordering the envelopes online as they were less expensive and I need special sizing with the whole inner envelope thing. I also got all of our stamps at the post office on Friday, yeah!

So once the proofread comes back positive they will be printed, stuffed, and on there way to you!

I will post some pics after everyone has received them (I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise)!

Our Wedding Brew

Debbie's dad made us a wedding brew earlier in the year. Deb blogged about it: DT Wedding Train Brew

When Deb was just in Denver last month she brought a bottle back and we were able to sample it. Yesterday we were out getting more wedding stuff done (including going to nearly every jeweler around town to find a suitable wedding band for Deb) and when we got home it was just the perfect night to break it out. Here is the label:

And since we were uncertain which to put the Belgian inspired brew in, we picked our two favorite beer glasses:

One thing we were certain of, it was GREAT! And it'll only get better with age!

50th Birthday, Wedding Stuff, & All Star Fanfest

Last weekend we headed up to St Louis to celebrate Debbie's mom and aunt's 50th birthday! Debbie and her sister did an amazing job planning, decorating, and more for the event! I'll leave the details and photos for Debbie to blog...

We also took care of wedding stuff, including doing our menu tasting for our reception. I think we were impressed by nearly all our preliminary selections...and narrowed it down to some great dishes. One more thing we took care of was our wedding cake fillings, icings, etc. I can't say I'll ever get to eat enough wedding cake!

Then on Sunday it seemingly was for me. We headed to the America's Center in downtown St Louis for the All Star Fanfest, part of the MLB All Star Game celebrations. There was so much there from Hall of Famer's signing autographs (like Harmon Killebrew and Tony Perez, for instance), a travelling HOF exhibit, interactive baseball games, and more. It was pretty sweet. We didn't have all day to spend there as we all head home that evening, but we got a few hours of fun in. We did the speed pitch (including Debbie, her cousins Robbie and Bryan, her aunt Pat, and myself). Debbie and Pat threw in the 30s and 40s, Bryan in the 50s, and Robbie and I in the 70s. I don't know where it came from, but somehow I still have 78 mph in my arm! That is off my once 89 mph throw from my high school days, but wasn't all that bad for my 27 year old arm.

Ditto to the wedding photos, the party photos, and now the Fanfest photos...Deb has them! She is off in Denver this weekend (remember this is our busy busy month!)... I did find one photo taken at the State Farm Homerun Derby exhibit, check it out:

Engagement Photos...

So back in May Deb and I headed up to St Louis for our engagement photos. Can't see we were blown away with the final product, but they were okay.

Couple sets in Tower Grove Park, then down near Busch Stadium (I sported my Indians gear, while Deb was in her loser Cardinals), and then down underneath some railroads in downtown. It was a cool location with multiple structural elements (I was looking up a lot!)...

Once we get them downloaded, we can upload more...