Holiday Season

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. <33

Bear w/ me, I am going to jump all over the place in this post..I have alot of random information that I thought it would be fun to share it. :-)

Both Jimmy and I are super excited to celebrate this holiday season, it may be because we have yet to come off of the high that all of the wedding & engagement excitement has us on. We have decided that after tonight's meeting we are going to put the planning on hold and enjoy the holidays, but as of January 2, 2011...We are right back at it! :-)

12/22/10 - Today is the day that we meet with our wedding coordinator @ The Hilton Garden Inn - Troy, (Kim) who will be our new Best Friend for the next year. She is going to make sure that all of our wants / desires / needs are meet in terms of this wedding. We are very excited to finally have a contract in hand... (Picture above - is the Hilton when first completed last yr., they have since made some changes to the front of the building, including an overpass to enter into, but at least you can get an idea)

....After the holiday season is over there are a few things that we are going to jump on..Obtaining a contract from the Limo service, is first. Then its on to find a DJ, Both Jimmy & I love to laugh and dance...This means we are looking for the BEST DJ out there. We want someone who is going to help take our wedding to the next level. A truly unforgettable wedding being the goal. We are also keeping our eyes open in search for a church.

*WHO KNEW COLORS COULD BE THE HARDEST PART!!??!!??!!??!!
 I thought colors would be the easy part, Correction..I was sadly mistaken. It has been my biggest stress....I have decided on a "Platinum Silver / Gray" for my bridesmaids dresses, and I even have the exact design I want picked out :-) Yay! After Christmas, I am going to start rounding up my girls...and begin getting them fitted & dresses ordered. Many have called me crazy for starting so soon, but Jimmy and I both say, the more we get done now, the less we have to stress about later. Because dress designers update there collections in March of every year, it is vital to order the design I want before March in order to avoid the possibility of it being discontinued. It is my fear that I wouldn't find a dress that I like as much as the one I have already found. Bridesmaid dresses are turning into more of a Sunday dress, or a sundress..I don't preferably like the new styles as I want my girls to stand out. They are special & I want people to know that..For this reason, I am not waiting. :) I have not yet chosen a flower color....


My Dress = Secret. :-)



We wanted to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas && Happy New Year.


With Love:
Jimmy & Jess <3

Up 2 Speed :-)

To Date: Jimmy and I have been engaged for about 6 weeks. Time is going by so quickly! :-) We have been busy little bee's during this time. I figured I would get you guys "up to speed" on what we have done!

The Date / Location: I have always pictured a beautiful summer wedding, but lets face it...my entire family, & 95% of our friends live at the local race tracks all weekend, all summer long. Racing & Friends make up both of our lives, and we had agreed our wedding wouldn't be the same without everyone there, therefore we determined November would be a perfect month... Next was the exact day, I wanted Friday the 11th, Making our anniversary 11/11/11, but Friday weddings are tough for everyone involved. Our next preferred date was November 19th, but it would be subject to change depending on availability, we wanted to take time to visit some venues, as I would rather plan the day around the place, than the place around the day. Back a few months ago Jimmy and I attended an MCD work party at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, NY. We both loved the location, the inside, the outside, and the Recovery Room attached :-), so when we started talking about reception locations we both new that is what we wanted without a doubt...butttttt we new we had to shop around and find the best for our buck$. I began calling around to different locations and was finding that many venues were already booked thru November and into December of 2011!!! And I thought we were getting a good jump on things... I contacted the Hilton and found that the date we had preferred had someone penciled in, and the next available Saturday was late December. Bummed, I called and made an appointment to check out theee very nice Birch Hill in Schodak. Birch Hill was beautiful, just not exactly what we wanted, so the search for a hall continued..While at work one afternoon, I received a phone call from "Bobbi" of The Hilton, she explained that they contacted the penciled in party and they declined needing use of the Ballroom, Our date was available!!! :-) After talking it over with my family, we received the Okay to book the Hilton... Making it official, Save the Date...November, 19th 2011 <3 Mr. & Mrs. Nichols

Limo - The limo has been booked thru Royal Limousine out of Albany. They gave us a great deal on a limo that we fell in love with...Everyone will just have to wait and see which one we chose ;-)

Photographer- We are excited to announce Mark Brown will be our photographer!

*We are still in search of a Church, and DJ*

:-) We are having fun through every step of this crazy process..
I have to say, Thank you to Cath for taking charge on alot of things...we wouldn't be so ahead if it wasn't for our "Wedding Planner", with both Jimmy & I working full time it makes it difficult to get things done, Cathy has truly been a Godsend. I Love her. Special Thanks to all of the Parents for your love and support!

The Ring

 The Ring :-) Couldn't have picked out a better one... (Special Side Thanks to Cathy, She helped ;-))

November 1, 2010

"3 years ago today, I asked you to be my girlfriend...Here we are 3 years later, I want to ask you to be my wife.. Jess, Will you marry me?" Before I could get a word out, my eyes filled up with tears and my emotions ran wild. Shock, Excitement, Nervousness, Stress were all emotions that started flooding my body, There was not a doubt in my mind this was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, I pulled him up off his knee, wrapped my arms around him and said, Yes. :-) May I note: He asked me at midnight....We do not recommend to any men or women out there who intends to propose, to do it at midnight...The rest of the night we sat up talking about the past, the present and of course OUR WEDDING!! Okay so we had a year to plan, but we wanted to discuss every last detail of the wedding that night...
That day we went to the Jewelers on our lunch breaks, sized my ring and within a few hours I was sporting the "Bling" on my hand and the "Glow" in my face. Truly never have been so happy.
The next step was telling the family & then the friends..My dad had already known because, the gentlemen that Jimmy is, had gone down to meet with my dad before hand to request his permission to take his daughters hand in marriage. It was important to me that my mom know before we started telling everyone, so right after work we headed over to her house to tell her and my step-dad. What do ya no, Like Mother, Like Daughter....I walked into my moms house with my hands in my pockets, nervously I said Mom...We have something to tell you, I then pulled my hands out of my pockets and showed her the ring, instantly her eyes swelled up and she exclaimed, "Congratulations, That's Awesome!!" :-)
For the next half hour she teared up off and on, smiling at the sight of her daughter growing up. Jimmy & I went to dinner to celebrate both our 3 year anniversary and our engagement...At this point, we just gazed at each other, soaking up the calm before the storm. We new this was the start of not only one of the best years of our lives but one of the fastest, and most stressful. We were ready to let the fun begin! :-)
After dinner we began calling our friends and the remainder of the family, Cathy & Scott Slattery, Brian Berger and Jimmy's mom, new about Jimmy's plan. Jimmy and I are so blessed to have amazing friends. I have never felt so loved, the text messages, facebook messages, comments, phone calls, We love you all. There are no words to explain everyones reactions...Priceless. 
As the day came to a close, We agreed, it was time to let the Planning begin! :-)