Legal Party Document

Sorry about the delay in the posting department I apologize to the both of you that read this. We were waiting on the contract for The Winnetka House before making it official to the world but as you can see it's official. May 19, 2007. Don't book your flight yet because we can only invite 25 people (I'm not being serious). So that's it. It doesn't say we have to get married but we are legally bound to throw a cool party there so either way come on down to Winnetka and join us for a wedding or karaoke or both.


We spent the rest of the evening packing for France. We leave Thursday afternoon and still have socks located in three different suitcases as filler. My socks protect camera equipment and a small printer. Jessica's socks provide nice little lens cap covers. Also, the toiletries bag seems to be growing and yet no space has been reserved for it because certain things are needed in the morning. The toiletries bag is like the guy that makes sure everybody gets on a lifeboat but no one saves him a seat.


Okay, I'm tired. I'm talking about and posting pictures of the toiletries bag. I was up at 6:00 A.M. and went down to shoot a fundraiser for a health clinic in south central L.A. I looked so terrible they tried to put me into a rehab program. As you can see I don't get any funnier the later it gets. Jess was also pretty tired. She gets up at 6:00 five days a week. Still, I think that means it's harder for me because I only do it twice a year. She thought she looked horrible in this picture and asked me not to post it but I think it's nice and she's asleep and she doesn't know how to take it down (at least not while we're in France).


So, goodnight everybody. We will have much more useless information for you soon. Hopefully we can put up a picture or two while we're gone.
Adieu

Location, location, location

Okay, I'm going to be candid. Our location to have the wedding may be a little inconvenient to our guests. It's in a small town just north of Chicago. Of all the places we looked at it is the only place we wanted for our ceremony while providing a wonderful space for the reception all packaged in one. Well, almost "one". We have to bring in the catering and other miscellaneous items that would normally be included with a hotel. We were originally hoping to have it at a hotel where everyone could stay and not have to worry about transporation. But when we started visiting the locations, we realized that our ceremony just wouldn't feel like a ceremony if we had it in a hotel.
We are constantly told by family and friends to "do it the way you want". That is much easier said than done but not in a bad way. Jessica is the first daughter (and child) to be married in her family. I am the youngest child of three and the last to be married in my family and no matter what happens I just want to end up with Jessica as my wife at the end of the day. The Rascons want to make this a great day for us and I am sincerely and extremely gratefully for that. My devotion lies with my future bride (after all, I have to deal with her for the next 13 months and eternity afterwards). This is a lesson that took a mere 30 some odd years for me to learn (I'm slow, I know). I personally would be happy with our parents and a couple of friends in a remote location but truth be told I am so, so happy that we have the benefit of all of you to attend. With that said, we have a location. The beautiful Winnetka House will be the place, with an outdoor ceremony (weather permitting) and an adjacent banquet room.



We are checking our nearby hotels that will hopefully provide easy access to transportation into the city as well as to the Winnetka House. We will secure discounted room rates for our out-of-town guests as well as those local folks looking for a nearby place to crash after the wedding. While this won't be as convenient as we had hoped, we will do our best to make it as convenient as possible for all those who attend.

In other news we have secured the photography of Thomas Slack, a Chicago based photographer whose work is outstanding and has given us an extremely wonderful rate for his services. Jessica and I both met with him. His work, energy and attitude are excellent. We will be getting engagement photos done with him later this year.

A week of reviewing caterers.

So we've been reviewing all of the catering info and still no final decision. We're really hoping we can find someone reasonably priced so we can have the Wedding at The Winnetka House.

It was my niece Kayla's birthday over the weekend and so I made the trip to Riverside to visit my family. I thought I would introduce the youngest generation of my family to all of you in Chicago. The two oldest boys are brothers. Nicholas (top left) and Alex (center). That is Kayla on the right and her brother who is also our ring bearer Seth. Nicholas and Alex belong to my sister and Kayla and Seth are my brother's kids.



Here's a picture of Alex (not so serious in this shot) with Seth.



We should have a date, location and caterer figured out by the end of the week. Thanks for stopping by.