Life After the Wedding - Bruce and Anna Begin Their Life Together

The Last Part of the Year

2009-11-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

So 2009 is quickly coming to an end, with Thanksgiving just taking place this past Thursday. We spent the day at Anna's parents' house where we had some great food and a fun time.

Just yesterday and today, we have put up a bunch of Christmas decorations. You can view a few photos by clicking this link to our Flickr page. We put a few photos on there for you to check out, and we hope you like them.

As we approach Christmas, we're excited to once again be able to spend some time with friends and family. I'm hoping to post more on here as we approach Christmas, but if not, have a great holiday season!

-Bruce

This Coming Weekend...

2009-06-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

is going to be awesome! We're looking forward to having everyone over to our house for the 4th of July.

Safe travels and we'll see you soon!

- Bruce and Anna

June's Here and a Busy Summer is Ahead!

2009-06-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

So it's June, and this is the first post in about a month. Things have been crazy for us, but everything is going well.

So, what's new? Well:

Bruce's friends from Ohio Mark and Nicole came up to Aurora last weekend to hang out. We went to a Chicago Fire professional soccer game on Friday night, and then the Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago White Sox game on Saturday night. It was a great time and a nice visit.
This weekend, Anna went down to get a haircut and to see her parents while Bruce took his little brother Austin to the Children's Museum and to lunch. It was a fun weekend.
Anna is now working different hours since it's the summer, but now has the weekends off!! Woo Hoo! Big excitement from both of us.

What's on our plates coming up? Well:

Next weekend, Anna's parents, grandma and Aunt Mickie are coming to visit on Saturday. That should be fun.
July 4 weekend, we're having a cookout at the new house. We have a number of RSVPs so far, and if you're interested in coming out, let us know!
Later in July, we're heading to Ohio for Scott Hehr's wedding, then Bruce will be at the Fraternity Convention in St. Louis for a week.
In August, we'll be heading to Anna's 10-year high school reunion in Michigan City, a wedding in Ohio, the Jimmy Buffett concert in Chicago, Bruce will be in Toronto for three days for a conference, and then will be volunteering for the Solheim Cup, the women's professional golf equivalent to the Ryder Cup.

As you can probably tell, we have a crazy schedule this summer, but there are still a few weekends open. If you want to come out and hang with us, let us know and we'd be glad to have you (especially all you friends with new babies!!)

As always, thanks for reading!

- Bruce and Anna

New Fun Experience

2009-05-13T14:07:00.001-07:00

So we haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to get on here and let all of our millions of regular readers know that we're still alive, and that I have a new volunteer role that I have recently started.

I recently became a Big Brother for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Kane and Kendall Counties here in Aurora. I am completely excited to be doing it, and just got to meet my new little brother and his mom yesterday. It was really great, and they were both very nice.

Anyway, a neat little thing that I wanted to share. Things are still going well with the new house, Anna's job, my job, and everything else!

Hope you're all well...

-Bruce

Success - the Last of the Wallpaper is Removed!

2009-04-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

The last of the wallpaper was removed recently. It was an amazing day, and one that we will not soon forget! Ha!

Check out the video below:

A Fun trip to a B&B

2009-04-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we spent a few days at a Bed & Breakfast on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, in Saugatuck, Michigan. The hotel, Belvedere Inn, was a beautiful, old home that was the perfect place for us to get away for a few days!!

Anna in front of the Belvedere

We were able to take advantage of the fact that there were VERY few people in town. That made our evening dinners easy, and we were also able to roam around downtown Saugatuck with very few others clogging up the sidewalk!! We shopped a little bit, went to the beach, and checked out the top of Mount Baldhead... Yes, it's an all too real place (see below)...

Anyway, we hope you'll take a look at the rest of our photos! We had a nice time, and will likely return to the area in the late summer or early fall to see what it's like at that time of year, in season.

Have a great one everybody, and thanks for reading!

-Bruce and Anna

Bye Bye Apartment...

2009-03-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today, we finally gave our keys and garage door opener back to the apartment complex, ending one our occupancy of our former apartment...

You may be asking why we still had the keys and garage door opener for the apartment being that we have been living in the house for a month and a half. Well, it's because of spite...

They made us pay rent until the end of March, so instead of giving them the keys and garage door opener when we moved in early February, we decided to hold onto them so they weren't able to turn our apartment around and re-rent it for March while we were still paying rent on it. They were ridiculous in not letting us break our lease, so we made sure they weren't making anything on it.

The funniest thing is that we gave them a letter prior to moving out as we were required to do (need to give them 60 days notice), and we received a letter on the apartment door on Saturday when we went to pick up Anna's bike from the garage. Their letter stated "A maintenance person will be entering your apartment on March 16 or 17 to check your water and sewer, as it doesn't appear to be working..." The reason that's funny? Because we TOLD them in the 60-day letter that we were moving out in early February to move into the house, and that we could be reached at our new address if they needed anything... The reason the water and sewer company wasn't registering anything for us is because we USED NO WATER since we weren't living there...

We're glad we're done with that apartment complex - now it's a matter of getting our full security deposit back, which I have a feeling they're going to screw us on somehow...

New Bathroom Decoration

2009-03-22T16:55:00.001-07:00

We put up this new decoration in the master bath today after purchasing it last weekend. We really like it, and think it adds something to the generally boring bathroom... Hope you like it!

Hope you can come check it, and everything else in the new house, out in the summer!

-Bruce and Anna

Long Time, No Post

2009-03-18T16:25:00.001-07:00

So it's been awhile since we have posted to this blog, and I'd like to just give a quick update as to what's been happening. It can really been described in one word:

PAINTING

We have painted the spare room, the office, AND the laundry room in the recent weeks, and have been enjoying the new new home. It's been a little over a month and a half, and we're completely excited to be here!!

We'll be sure to post new photos soon so you can check them out, and we will look forward to hearing your comments!!

- Bruce

Tours of the House

2009-02-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

We will soon upload tours of each level of the house so you can see the flow, etc. W're excited to show it to you!!

Bruce and Anna

New Photos after Painting the Office...

2009-02-22T16:02:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, and thanks for checking back in!

We have taken some new photos of the house with some of the wall hangings up, so we wanted to share with you! This weekend was spent painting the office from its ugly yellow color to our off white. We also hung a number of things on the walls! We still have some things to hang, but we're getting it done little by little...

Check out the new photos by clicking here.

Hope you like them!

New Look...

2009-02-17T18:58:00.001-08:00

As you can tell, we changed the look of the blog. The old one was a little stale, so we changed. What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments...

The Pink Monstrosity is GONE...

2009-02-17T06:29:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, while Anna was hard at work in her private practice, I went to work on the pink room - filling holes in the wall, sanding them, and then painting the room. It went from looking like this when we went on the inspection:

to this:

Since we also had our new bed delivered yesterday, we put our old bed into the old pink room (which is now the official guest room and is open for business) and we're all set.

This weekend, I'll be tackling the "so bright you need your sunglasses" office, so I'll share some photos from that once I get it done.

Have a good one everybody!

We're All Moved In!

2009-02-09T06:07:00.000-08:00

So we have moved everything in, and I decided to put together a little before and after show and tell here on the blog. I hope you think the improvements that were made are as cool as we do!

Click here to see the photos. Keep in mind that I have added descriptions to the photos (click Show Info at the top right of the screen), and you can pause the show at any time at the lower left side of the screen as well.

Special thanks to everyone who helped make the move possible, including Bruce's Dad who did much of the painting and faucet changes, Anna's parents who helped us for a number of weekends as we were getting ready for the move by removing wallpaper and cleaning the house, in addition to on the day of the move by cleaning and putting up our bathroom fixtures, and Anna's cousin Liz, her boyfriend Tom and Bruce's brother Joel who were the heavy lifters! We appreciate all of your help!

Sunday, February 1

2009-02-01T19:35:00.001-08:00

We were at the house all day today - from 8:30 am until around 7:00 pm or so painting most of that time. We have completed the following:

Kitchen Ceiling (two coats)
Foyer ceiling (two coats)
Living Room ceiling (one coat)
Kitchen walls (one coat)

The plans for tomorrow include finishing the second coat of the kitchen walls, and completing the walls and ceiling in the family room. It should be a good day tomorrow - lots of painting and hopefully two completed rooms - the kitchen and family room..

We'll post pictures soon!

Bruce

Day #9 - More Wallpaper Comes Down

2009-01-22T15:17:00.000-08:00

Last night, we got more than halfway done with the master bathroom, which was an exciting development. We're moving forward with it, and will continue peeling, even after we are living in the house.

Speaking of living in the house, we are planning to be fully moved in February 7, 2009. However, we will still have the apartment until the end of March in case we do need to back that timeframe up a little bit.

Lastly, we're heading out tonight to look at new mattresses and bedroom sets to furnish that part of the house. That will essentially furnish two rooms - the master bedroom with what we buy and the spare bedroom with the stuff we currently have. Hopefully we'll be able to have this new stuff delivered by February 7 as well!

Thanks for reading, and we hope we can have you to the new house in the Spring or Summer!

-Bruce and Anna

Day #6 - Wallpaper Removal Continues...

2009-01-20T06:24:00.000-08:00

So we have finished the wall in master bedroom, and are on to the master bathroom now... Anna and Liz were at the house starting at around 2 pm yesterday and made significant progress before I came to the house after work. Check out the photos below:

Above: Master bath above the tub - DONE!

Above: Where we finished yesterday

Lots more to do, but we're making great progress! Keep an eye on the blog, and we'll keep you updated on how the house is coming along!

-Bruce and Anna

Day #5 in the House

2009-01-18T15:45:00.000-08:00

So we were at the house for around 7 hours today. Most of that time was spent peeling wallpaper. The steamer that we bought has REALLY been great, as it has allowed us to get a lot more done at a time. In fact, we finished the master bedroom wall that we have been working on for the past two days today - a big accomplishment. See the photo below...

Above: Anna in the master bedroom with the clean wall...

I also shoveled the driveway and sidewalk in front of the house and cleaned the loft and stairs' woodwork.

We had a good day today at the house, and Anna will be there tomorrow during the day on her day off starting to peel in the master bath. Hopefully it comes off a little easier than the master bedroom paper did!

We'll continue to keep you updated as we continue the work on the new house!

-Bruce and Anna

Day #3 with the House

2009-01-16T20:02:00.001-08:00

So we had new carpet installed today at the new house. Because of this, we were there all day. The extreme cold weather caused Anna to have the day off work, as the school was cancelled, and I took the day off to be at the house with the installers. The whole installation took around 7 hours, which seemed like an eternity.

As they were doing their work, Anna and I cleaned the kitchen, as well as the baseboards and windows in around three or four rooms and the basement. So even with carpet installers in the house all day, we were able to get a good amount of work done as well.

The big project that we're still working on before moving in is removing wallpaper from the master bedroom and bathroom. It is not coming off easily, and we bought a steamer to help with this effort. We also have wallpaper in the living room and dining room, which we will likely have to complete once we move in.

Anyway, back to the house tomorrow evening to do some additional wallpaper removal. Should be fun! Thanks for following our progress...

Bruce and Anna

We're Homeowners!

2009-01-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

So we closed on the new house this morning! Very, very exciting.

Following our hands almost falling off because of all of the papers we had to sign, Bruce went to the house and began doing some work - shoveling the driveway, removing child "locks" from the kitchen cabinets from the previous owners, and beginning the grueling task of removing wallpaper with hot water and fabric softener... That was not as successful a venture as he had hoped, so we're trying to come to a consensus on the next step - either buying a steamer to remove it or using one of the off the shelf wallpaper removal chemicals. Not sure which we'll use yet, but would love to hear your thoughts!

We're back to the house tomorrow night to continue our efforts, and we'll keep you updated on our progress as we move forward. For tonight, we're just happy to finally be homeowners!

Closing on the House...

2009-01-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since we have posted on here. Our apologies!

It's also been a while since we actually got everything ready to close on the new house, and this Tuesday we'll finally be closing on it!! We are extremely excited about the chance to get the keys to our new home so we can get in there and begin doing some work to make it exactly what we want.

What we're planning on doing:

We have our apartment until the end of March, so we'll be moving in slowly after the closing.
We will be removing some wallpaper, painting, changing some of the faucets, etc. during the next month or so, and will be hoping to move in full-time in early-mid February.
Bruce's Dad will be coming to assist with some of the painting, faucet replacement, etc. at the beginning of February.
We will be hoping to have the full house furnished in the next couple months. We already purchased a new couch for the family room, which will allow us to use our current furniture for the basement. The next room to furnish is the master bedroom so we can use our current stuff in the guest bedroom.

Other than all of that, we are just excited to be able to buy a house at this time in our lives, and are excited to have you come visit us once we have gotten everything put together!

Hope you're well! (Did you notice the new name of the blog? What do you think?)

-Bruce and Anna

House photo...

2008-11-20T17:34:00.001-08:00

Above is the front view of the house

Back of house...

Big News

2008-11-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

We have made an offer on a new house, and it has been accepted! About 6 months after the happiest day of our lives, we have now had an offer for a home approved!

Now, it's a matter of getting through the process of getting to the closing. That will happen in 60 days. Here are a few photos of the place:

Above: The house from the outside

Above: The kitchen looking into the family room

We are very excited and are looking forward to sharing more about this next step in our lives as we move forward!!

-Bruce and Anna

What's Coming Up

2008-08-13T15:23:00.001-07:00

So Anna and I are getting excited about the fall, and we wanted to update everyone on what we have planned. There is a great deal of fun stuff that will be happening!

August 15 - 21 - Bruce in San Diego for the ASAE Conference where he will is beginning his service on the Communication Section Council. In addition, he will be interviewing two alumni for stories and visiting with others who are volunteers.
September 6-7 - Anna's parents visiting us in Aurora
September 10-12 - Bruce in Indianapolis for work stuff
September 12-13 - ONU vs. North Central football game in Naperville. Will be visiting with Tim Glon, ONU's SID, and attending the tailgate and game!!
Sometime in September - Anna to take her licensing exam
Some other time in September - Visiting Don and Bridget to go to Cedar Point in Ohio!
October - Likely attend ONU's homecoming in Ada!! Hope we can catch up with some folks!
November 8 - Attending the Ohio State vs. Northwestern game in Evanston!
Thanksgiving and Christmas - Going to Anna's parents for one of the holidays, and Bruce's parents' for the other...

So, as you can see, we have a lot coming up in the coming months!!!! We hope that at some point, we'll also be able to visit Todd, Karen and the new baby, some other friends in Columbus, and some friends in the Cleveland area!!

Adios!

A Little Over Two Months...

2008-07-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

since the wedding, and everything is going very well! We have had a great beginning to our marriage, and we are so thankful for everyone who has reached out and given us advice and information to make sure we are happy as we begin our lives together.

Earlier this month, we actually got to go to Anna's cousin Chad's wedding, and it was nice to be there and see the whole day from the other side - knowing how both of them were feeling throughout the day hoping that everything went well, etc. See a photo from that event below:

We also just wanted to let everyone know that as usual, we want to make sure that you know that if you can make it to our area, we'd love to see you! We'd obviously love to have you! We're planning on going to the Ohio State vs. Northwestern game, and that would be a great weekend if anyone is coming to the city. Just let us know when you're coming, and we'd love to see you!

Anyway, we'll continue posting every once in a while to let you know what's been going on! We're excited for a great summer, and hope you are too!

We're baa-aackk!!

2008-05-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

We made it back to the States late last night, and have had a pretty hectic day picking up the cats from Anna's parents' house, and getting re-acclimated to not being on vacation...

We had a GREAT wedding, reception and honeymoon, and are completely happy with how everything went. It was a fabulous time, and we want to thank everyone who made it what it was - a wonderful opportunity to share our love with you all.

For those of you who wanted to see them, we have a Snapfish group room set up where people have uploaded photos they took at the ceremony and the reception. We have also posted our photos from the honeymoon, which are fantastic. Check them out at http://www2.snapfish.com/groupview/groupid=2586802/groupownerid=72828688/t_=72828688.

Speaking of the honeymoon, we went to St. Martin, in the French West Indies, which is located in the Caribbean. It was an amazing trip, and allowed us to relax a great deal and just enjoy one another's company. We were at the beach every day of the honeymoon but one, and had amazing weather - mid 80s and sunny throughout the day and mid 70s in the evenings. If you look below, you will see one of the amazing sunsets that we were able to see from our room in our fantastic hotel - Hotel L'Esplanade.

(Above) View from our hotel room's balcony

The area in which we stayed was called Grand Case, which is known as the gastronomic gem of the Caribbean. The restaurants were top notch, and we ate well every night...

Anyway, we will post some additional information on here as we move forward. Thanks again for making the wedding fantastic!

-Bruce and Anna (the new Mr. and Mrs. Hammond)

13 Days...

2008-05-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

Less than 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very exciting...

- Bruce

Update - Continued Excitement

2008-04-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

So we were down in Indiana yesterday to finalize the songs for the wedding, and I realized that I really hadn't been as EXCITED and ANIMATED about what has been happening over the last month...

First, we have gotten a great deal of the details completed! We are almost done with everything, which is a really great thing.

Second, the bachelor party took place the weekend of April 12, while at the same time, a shower was held in Youngstown, Ohio for Anna. Now, what happened at the bachelor party? Well, a great deal of fun was had, and we even sat outside in 35 degree, windy, rainy weather for a Cleveland Indians game! It really was great. A few photos are below:

(Above) Bruce and the hot dogs at the Indians game

(Above) Bruce and Dad

The weekend after, Anna had her shower in Indiana and bachelorette party in Chicago, which apparently was a great deal of fun! She mentioned all of the great times she had with all of the ladies who were able to make it.

The weekend after (this past weekend), Anna had her dress fitting (which she still won't let me see), AND we finalized the songs for the ceremony! It was really fun to get together with our singer and accompanist for the ceremony.

Anyway, looking forward to everything - only 19 days until the BIG DAY!!!

-Bruce

21 Days...

2008-04-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

ONLY 21 days left until the BIG DAY!! It is extremely exciting to know it's as close as it is, but at the same time, there is still much to be done...

We were able to finalize the prayers for the wedding ceremony today, and will have the songs that will be played at the ceremony taken care of tomorrow... That will be a relief, because we have been waiting for those to be able to finish off the program for the ceremony.

Other than that, we have seating charts to figure out, and a few other things, but things are definitely coming along.

Will be posting a little more as the date continues to come closer!

~ Bruce

One Month!!

2008-04-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

We're officially one month before our big day, and everything is going extremely well! Lots of planning still happening, but it's all going smoothly. Right now, we're at around 80 people or so who have RSVP'd, with a number still outstanding. I have been told we'll be hearing from a number more soon!

If you are planning on attending and have not gotten your hotel room yet, make sure you do so! There was a page in the invitation with all of that information, so please go ahead and do that soon. The rooms are sold out at the Waterbird Inn from what we hear, so the Best Western or the Hilton Garden Inn are the other two options!

Hope everyone is doing well!

THIS WEEKEND - Marriage License

2008-04-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some BIG NEWS!!!!

Tomorrow, in the early afternoon, we will be traveling to Indiana for a very special reason - we will be heading to Valparaiso, IN to get our marriage license!!! It's one of the most important aspects of the planning that we still have to do... We're extremely excited about it...

In addition to the marriage license, we are going to be meeting with our photographer tomorrow evening. It should be good to put some of the finishing touches on the scheduling.

On Saturday morning, we are meeting with some folks at the church to finalize timing with them as well as readings and songs. This will assist us in putting together our wedding program, which is being designed by a friend of Bruce's who is a Graphic Designer. Should be very nice.

Anyway, things are moving forward, and we are extremely excited about this weekend's activities. Hope to see and hear from everyone soon!

- Bruce and Anna

UPDATE: 49 Days to go...

2008-03-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone-

It's only 49 days until the BIG day for us! We are getting extremely excited...

April is going to be a crazy month for us, with things happened every weekend.

We're going down to the county where we are getting married to get the Marriage License on Friday, April 4, and then we're meeting with the folks at the church the next day... Should be a fun first weekend...

The second weekend will include Bruce's Bachelor Party and Anna's wedding shower in Ohio.

The third weekend will include Anna's Indiana wedding shower. Bruce will have a weekend off it looks like!

The last weekend of the month will include a dress fitting for Anna...

All of the bills are starting to come due... Not the most exciting time, but it just means that we're getting close!

Anyway, hope everyone is well. Remember, if you're coming to the wedding, the travel and lodging information was posted a while back.

Have a great weekend!

- Bruce and Anna

It's Not Only St. Patrick's Day Today...

2008-03-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

It's also the day that is exactly two months prior to the wedding!! Anna and I are both very excited, and we are looking forward to a great day.

That's all the update we have at this point - so have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day, and we'll post some additional updates here soon!

-Bruce

Wedding Update Video #1

2008-02-25T17:44:00.001-08:00

Trying out video updates. Hopefully this works!!

Anniversary of Engagement - TODAY!

2008-02-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

So today is the one year anniversary of our engagement! We are busy planning for the final details of the wedding, and are excited that it is coming up so quickly! Only a little over 3 months left...

Last night, we were looking at some interesting ideas for things to do on the honeymoon in St. Martin, including a sunset cruise on a catamaran, parasailing, etc. We're going to finalize those details as we get closer to the date!

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. Let us know what's going on with you!

- Bruce and Anna

Cake Ordered and Other Updates...

2008-01-27T15:58:00.000-08:00

Updates abound as we continue to plan for the wedding...

1. We have ordered the cake from a small bakery in Chesterton where the reception will be taking place. We tasted them a few weekends ago, and they did a great job! So, that is taken care of.

2. Anna has selected a headpiece and veil and has scheduled her first fitting for her dress. Very exciting for her.

3. We picked up my wedding ring last weekend. Very cool to see what I'll be wearing for the rest of my life come May.

4. The showers are being planned for Anna. One will be in her hometown, and one will be in Ohio held by my Aunt and Mom. It should be pretty fun for her. The same weekend as the Ohio one, I will be having my bachelor party in Cleveland. A round of golf and an Indians game will be the highlight, as well as seeing everyone who I haven't seen in a while!

Next up: I need to finalize the tuxes.

Everything is going extremely well, and we are excited that we are moving forward!

- Bruce

Update #2: Travel and Lodging Information

2008-01-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

Hello again...

We also wanted to let everyone know some information regarding travel if you are coming from out of town, and also lodging information...

Travel Information

If you are flying in from out of town, there are a number of options that you can take advantage of:

Gary, IN - Gary Chicago International Airport (GYY) - Serviced by SkyBus only - 29 miles from reception and hotel site
South Bend, IN - South Bend Regional Airport (SBN) - Serviced by a number of airlines - 49 miles from reception and hotel site
Chicago, IL - Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) - Serviced by Southwest, and a number of other airlines - 55 miles from reception and hotel site
Chicago, IL - Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) - Serviced by a number of airlines - 67 miles from reception and hotel site

Driving

The reception site, Waterbird Lakeside Banquets, which is adjacent to the hotel sites as well, is located at 556 Indian Boundary Road Chesterton, IN 46304. You can use Yahoo Maps or Mapquest to find out how long of a trip it will be. For quick reference:

From Youngstown, OH - 360 miles
From Columbus, OH - 338 miles via Indianapolis
From Dayton, OH - 280 miles via Indianapolis
From Cleveland, OH - 302 miles
From Cincinnati, OH - 277 miles via Indianapolis
From Indianapolis, IN - 166 miles

Lodging

At #s 1 and 2, you may ask for the Mann/Hammond wedding room rate.

1. Waterbird Lakeside Inn and Spa (Adjacent to Waterbird Lakeside Banquets)
556 Indian Boundary Rd. in Chesterton, IN
www.waterbirdinn.com
(219) 928-1511
Rates:
Lakeview Standard Rooms - $99/night
Deadline for Waterbird Reservations: May 10, 2008

** Waterbird Lakeside Inn does not permit children.

2. Best Western Indian Oak (Adjacent to Waterbird Lakeside Banquets)
558 Indian Boundary Rd. in Chesterton, IN
www.bestwestern.com
(800) 552-4232
Rates:
Lakeview King (including pullout sofa) - $89/night
Lakeview 2 Queens - $109/night
Deadline for Best Western Reservations: March 16, 2008

3. Hilton Garden Inn
501 Gateway North
Chesterton, IN 46304
www.hilton.com
(219) 983-9500
Located approximately 3 miles from Waterbird Lakeside Banquets
No rooms are blocked at this hotel, but you are welcome to stay here as well.

Update #1: We have Registered for Gifts!!

2008-01-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

In the first update of two that I will post today, I wanted to let everyone know that we have registered for gifts at the places below. Anna will continue to add things throughout the process, so these are certainly not our complete lists.

Target - www.target.com/clubwedd (Under Bruce Hammond or Anna Mann)
Macy's - www.macys.weddingchannel.com
JC Penney's - http://tinyurl.com/yo4asx (or you can go to www.jcpenney.com and find the Registry on there...)

Just wanted to let the hundreds and thousands of loyal readers of this blog know of our progress. More information to come...

Holiday Time...

2007-12-17T08:25:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

So, it's holiday time (and exactly 5 months before the BIG DAY), and we're excited to be spending our first Christmas as an engaged couple together in Aurora. We got about 4 inches of snow over this past weekend (probably a lot less than some of you judging from seeing highlights of the Browns game yesterday) so it made driving downtown yesterday to see Wicked a little interesting. If you are at all a musical theater fan, we both would HIGHLY recommend you see this play. It was great.

Wedding-wise, we have almost everything big taken care of, and are tasting some cakes this weekend to get that done. The limo will be booked very soon, and the other big things we have left are registering and figuring out where we're going to get the tuxes. Other than that, everything is moving along and we are on task and on time with everything.

Over the holidays, we will be traveling some - to Anna's parents' this Saturday until Christmas day, and then I will be heading to my parents' in Virginia from the 26th - 30th to see them a little bit. Unfortunately, Anna has to work, or she'd be coming along.

Anyway, have a very happy holiday season, and we will be positing again in early '08.

-Bruce and Anna

Update: Wedding Rings Purchased

2007-12-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

Well, another one of the big remaining items (and bigger expenses) for the wedding has been taken care of. Today we purchased the wedding rings, which we are excited about! We'll post photos once they have been sized and we have them in hand.

We look forward to sharing more news as we move forward, including the cake tasting that will be happening soon!

- Bruce and Anna

PS- We'll also be registering soon, so we'll be sure to share that with everyone as well :)

PPS - Anna just said as I was proofreading this that "this post includes everything Anna loves - diamonds, chocolate and shopping... The wedding planning is just now getting exciting!" Nice...

Update: Invitations Have Arrived!

2007-12-02T14:18:00.001-08:00

The recently-ordered invitations have arrived. They look great and it's another thing to take off the checklist! We also have reserved the limousine, which is a positive as well.

Next on the To Do list:

1. Register for gifts
2. Finalize blocks of rooms for our guests
3. Figure out where we're ordering the tuxedos

We'll update everyone on this as we move forward!

To leave you, I thought I'd include a photo of the apartment with the Christmas decorations up!

Can you spot the animal in the photo above?

Wedding Invitations Ordered...

2007-11-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

So, we have ordered our wedding invitations and are working to do a couple final things like get our limo set up, and a couple other things. Everything else is going well as the holiday season begins.

Hope you are all well...

- Bruce and Anna

Passports have arrived!

2007-10-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

We have received our passports, not more than 2 weeks after we went in and applied for them... Apparently the backlog of requests has gone by the wayside.

Anyway, we have them, and are moving forward with additional planning!

We have also secured a block of 10 rooms at one of the preferred hotels, and we will be getting that information out to invitees at some point in the future.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

- Bruce

Things are Moving Along...

2007-09-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! You've probably been saying to yourselves, "Boy, I wish Bruce and Anna would post some new information on their Blog so I can get an update about how the wedding planning is coming along... It's been nearly a month!!"

Well, your dreams are about to come true, because we have some info. to share below...

1. We got the DJ signed up and ready to go. Over the next few months, we'll be picking the majority of our songs, but a sampling of what you'll hear is below:

Stayin' Alive
Three Times a Lady (yes Seinfeld fans, this song will be played, except I will not be driving a mail truck like Newman was when he ran over a sewing machine and it burst into flames...)
Jesse's Girl
Pennsylvania Polka (unfortunately not the Polka Boy version...)

2. The florist is booked, and Anna has had a couple meetings with him to talk about what we want... I have stayed out of those discussions, as I fear me saying "those look nice" will only lead to me being ridiculed later on because they don't go with the colors or something...

3. Anna has decided on the bridesmaid dresses, and her wedding dress has come in to the bridal shop. This is very exciting. She keeps asking if I want to see it, but I have done a good job of deflecting the conversation because I am not allowed to see it prior to the wedding. (See, I do know a little bit about this stuff...)

4. We have purchased our honeymoon flights and have reserved our rooms. We are going to St. Martin, French West Indies, located about 190 miles southeast of Puerto Rico... It's going to be great! Now, all we need are our passports!

Next Steps:

We are working on getting our marriage license, our passports, our wedding rings, figuring out where we'll register, the invitations, as well as some other small things like the limo, the cake, what time the wedding and reception will take place, etc.

Everything is coming along, and Anna has been doing a great job! I pitch in when I can, but to be honest, she is running the ship, and I am like a little Cabin Boy on the yacht that she is the captain of...

Anyway, hope to talk to you all soon!

- Bruce

UPDATE: Honeymoon Hotel Booked

2007-09-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

Our honeymoon hotel is booked. We are staying at the Hotel L'Esplanade in St. Martin from May 19-25, 2008. Our room will be a deluxe loft, which has a second level bedroom with an amazing terrace which should allow us to see the Caribbean Sea. It's going to be great!

On another note, we have also been working to finalize the DJ for the reception. (Did you like how I used "On another note" in that sentence? A pun...) We've talked to a few people and received an info pack today from the one we would like. We'll see what happens...

For those of you who are girly girls and want to know about the wedding dress/bridesmaid dresses, Anna has made her decision on bridesmaid dresses, and is having her girls send in their sizes to the company so they can be made. They are very nice - I have seen a photo. I have not seen, nor have I wanted to ask about the wedding dress... Apparently that is bad karma...

Finally, in other news, we're heading to a Indians/White Sox game tomorrow night, so we're very excited about it (me a little more than her.) Oh, and Anna started her post doc today. We'll see how she likes it when she comes home!

Until next time,
Bruce

Move Successful

2007-08-27T17:21:00.001-07:00

Look out Chicago!! Anna and Bruce are in your neighborhood!!!!

We got moved in yesterday, and are now all set up and unpacked in our new apartment in Aurora, IL... Bruce arrived with the cats on Saturday at around 4:00 pm Central time, and got into the apartment. Anna and her parents arrived yesterday morning at 9 am with the truckload of stuff, and our movers here in the Chicago area came out and unpacked it and brought it into the apartment...

As a side note, if you're moving and don't want to break your back, you should check out Craig's List and see if there are people who are willing to come out and load/unload your stuff for you... That's what we did this time, and it worked great, and was MUCH cheaper than last year when we moved to Michigan and had professional movers pick up/deliver our stuff.

Anyway, we made it, and already have our cable/internet set up, and are getting a home phone set up hopefully tomorrow through Vonage.

Hope you're well!

-Bruce and Anna

T-Minus 3 Days Until the Move

2007-08-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

We are already packed up for the most part for our move to Aurora, IL. On Saturday morning, we will be loading the truck, and departing Novi for the last time...

Anna and her parents will be taking the truckload of stuff to their house, and spending Saturday night there, while I take the cats and head to Aurora to get us all set up with keys, etc. for the new apt. It's going to be a fun trip!

More updates on the wedding soon!

-Bruce

Florist Booked - More Honeymoon Information...

2007-08-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Quick update - the florist is booked! Anna did it this past weekend while she was at a family picnic near the wedding site. Very excited that just one more part of the wedding has been taken care of.

Also, Anna came home with some travel magazines that one of her bosses gave her about St. Maarten, which is an island in the French West Indies. It looks from the map as though it is about 200 miles (maybe) east of Puerto Rico... It is only 27 square miles, but has a lot to do. There are two sides to the island - the French side and the Dutch side, and there are a LOT of beaches. Both sides are apparently very nice.

Check out the web sites of two of the hotels we're looking at...

Click Here for Hotel L'Esplanade, which is ranked the #1 hotel on the island by Tripadvisor.com. It has only 24 rooms, and overlooks the Caribbean from atop a hill on the French side of the island. While you have to walk down the hill to the beach, it is within walking distance of a number of great restaurants and a beautiful beach.

Click Here for Le Petit Hotel, a 10 room hotel right on the beach. These two hotels are owned by the same company, and both look awesome! It is ranked #2 on that same web site on the island of St. Maarten, and is also on the French side of the island, in an area known as Grand Case.

Anyway, we have pretty much decided that we are going to do one of these hotels, and definitely St. Maarten for the honeymoon, and we can save Hawaii for another time - perhaps our 1 or 5 year anniversary!

Down to 9 months and 2 days until the wedding! Thanks for reading!

-Bruce

New Honeymoon Idea

2007-08-10T18:28:00.001-07:00

Aruba... If we go there, we will stay here. Looks like a pretty darn nice place, and it would be all paid for by my travels throughout tha last 4-5 years... Thanks ONU and Delta Sig!

Anyway, we're looking at it as an option as well, and we'll see what happens. We have done some research, and it looks like there is a lot to do, and it would be a nice place to go.

Anyway, heading to Ohio tomorrow for a bachelor party of a friend of mine, so I'll look forward to reading any thoughts on this on Monday...

- Bruce

BTW, we're only 9 months and 7 days away from the BIG DAY!!! It is coming quickly, and we are getting extremely excited!

Take Part in our Honeymoon Poll

2007-07-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

So we are are talking about two different options for our Honeymoon, and we need your help. Please vote for the option that you think is best:

Lihue, Hawaii (Island of Kauai) - Can stay in a Marriott hotel for free with all of my points from my travels. However, we would only essentially be able to be there for about 5 and a half days, because we wouldn't be able to get there until Monday, and our question - is that really long enough for a trip to Hawaii? Will we be too tired for our entire trip?

St. Thomas, Virgin Islands - Again, we can probably get a Marriott hotel for free, and since it is in the Eastern time zone, we should be able to get there on Sunday night. In addition, we will be used to the time alerady. The flight will be cheaper, so if we wanted to, we would even be able to stay at the Ritz Carlton for our trip, which would be nice. Only problem - is there as much to do in the Virgin Islands as there is in Hawaii? I don't know...

Please vote, and your votes will comprise about 3% of our decision. You have more say in this than you do by voting for American Idol... So, instead of calling an 800 number 50 times to vote for the next Clay Aiken, why not vote for our honeymoon location?

-Bruce

Wedding Planning Update: Photographer Has Been Booked

2007-07-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone-

Two posts in two days... How about that?

Today, we booked our photographer - Suzanne Hall of Hall Photography. You can check out the web site at http://www.hallphotography.com/. She came highly recommended, and her prices are within the range we set at the beginning. We think she'll do a great job for us.

Everything is moving forward, which is a positive. Hope you all are well.

- Bruce and Anna

Update: Wedding Dress has been Purchased

2007-07-04T15:37:00.000-07:00

Couple updates to share:

1. Anna has purchased her wedding dress! It is quite exciting for her... She did say that as much as she likes to shop, she couldn't believe that she only found 2 dresses that she considered purchasing - one of which she said was way better than the other. I can't wait to see her in it!!

2. This weekend is a big one for us - we're heading to Chicago to meet with the photographer that we have pretty much decided upon for the wedding, and we are also going over to Naperville, IL where we're going to be moving to find a place to live! We have a number of places that we'll be looking at, and we'll update everyone once we decide where our home will be for the next year... In addition, on Sunday, we'll be going to the Dave Matthews Band concert at Toyota Park where the Chicago Fire soccer team plays. It's going to be awesome!

We'll report back again soon. Big stuff happening!

-Bruce and Anna

Marriage Prep Class

2007-06-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

So we went to our marriage preparation class yesterday in Auburn Hills, MI at the St. John Fisher Catholic Center on the campus of Oakland University... It lasted 6 hours and 45 minutes (12:45 pm - 6:30 pm.)

Let me guess - you're asking yourself what we learned in all that time?

Well here is the top 5 culminating in the #1 most important thing (according to the Catholic Church) we learned during the session:

5. Have many, many Catholic babies (We MUST procreate and bring the children up in the Catholic church. If we don't, we have broken our vows because we must be open to accepting children into our home.)

4. We speak the same love languages (Physical Touch and Quality Time were our top two "love languages" according to a test we did)

3. Joining finances is hard (We did some case studies to help us learn how to do it, and heard from one of our fellow attendees about how he has his own business and doesn't get a regular paycheck.)

2. Natural Family Planning is 99% effective (No joke according to our session leaders, who in a fit of TMI - Too Much Information - talked about how they used to use "artifical birth control measures" and it nearly ruined their marriage... Alrighty then...)

... and the #1 thing we learned in our pre-marriage seminar yesterday is...

1. Cohabitation = Divorce (According to our session leaders, who by the way are a Corporate Development guy for a hospital and an MBA from the University of Michigan who home schools their children, only 15% of couples who cohabitate before marriage don't divorce. According to Anna, our resident Social Scientist, the data that was used to formulate the 15% number was skewed and was misrepresented by the people leading our session... I have heard this many, many times since the session ended...)

By the way, if anyone wants to borrow our "Contraception: Why NOT" CD, we got an extra copy to share with our friends and family if they are interested...

Honestly though, this session did help us to understand a little more about the marriage process and some things we needed to think about, and so it was worth the time. And, it's done!! YAY! One more thing done and taken care of!!

Talk to you all soon! We're down to less than 11 months until the big day!

Wedding Photographers

2007-06-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

Who knew wedding photographers were so expensive? Maybe everyone else, but not me... We have been getting quotes from people with a difference of like $2,000 for the same services... Let's just say right now that we won't be going with the ones that are on the high end of that. Anna's mom said recently something to the effect of "You shouldn't go with the highest costing photographer because you really only pull your wedding photos out every once in a while after the wedding. Once you have kids, you'll be taking more photos of them, and the wedding photos will not come out except for every two or three years just to look at them and put them away again..." Makes a lot of sense.

Anyway, we're on the hunt for wedding photographers right now, so if anyone knows someone in the Michigan City, Indiana area who takes good photos and doesn't charge an arm and a leg, please let us know!

More soon, including honeymoon stuff... (I've been put in charge of that portion of the big wedding festivities, so I'm really looking forward to sharing with everyone where we're going to go and what we're going to do!)

365 Days Until the Wedding!

2007-05-17T08:00:00.001-07:00

Well, we are now at 365 days until Anna and I will be married! It is exciting to know that the wedding day continues to get closer and closer.

So, where are we in the planning?

Well, we have the reception hall and the church booked. We are going next month for our wedding classes here in the Detroit area. We are beginning to explore photographers and DJs, and are putting together the wedding invitation list, as well as seeing who may need hotel rooms. Looks like we're going to need about 50 if everyone is able to make it...

Anna is continuing to look at wedding dresses in these HUGE wedding magazines that are like 800 pages or something and I am trying to see how we're going to be able to do our honeymoon for the least amount of money... I think I will have enough Marriott Rewards points for our hotel to be free, but I don't think I'll have enough Frequent Flyer miles to be able to get that for free. Perhaps though... We'll have to see.

Anyway, with only 365 days to go, we are starting to ramp up a little in our planning, and I will be doing more posting here as more plans become finalized.

We are very excited! Thanks for reading.

-Bruce

Anna's Bridal Party

2007-04-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting, but I have been a little busy with work...

Anna has decided upon her bridal party, and they are below:

Maid of Honor - Liz Zona, Anna's cousin
Maid of Honor - Elaine Holmes, Anna's friend from college
Bridesmaid - Erica Presto, Anna's friend from college
Bridesmaid - Erin Hanrahan, Anna's friend from grad school

So, now that this is taken care of, we're working on getting our marriage classes taken care of at the local Catholic church. We'll see how that goes. In addition, we are currently finishing our guest list, and will be working on some other stuff as we move forward.

Hope everyone is well!

Date Set

2007-03-14T05:46:00.000-07:00

The wedding date has been set - May 17, 2008. The church and reception hall are both all set for the event, and we are looking forward to continuing the planning...

More details will be posted as we move forward, so check back often...

Details Moving Forward...

2007-03-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

We've selected the following sites for our wedding and reception...

Wedding

St. Ann of the Dunes (in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)

433 West Golfwood Road

Beverly Shores, Indiana 46301- 0727

www.st-ann-of-the-dunes.org

Reception

Waterbird Banquet Center

558 Indian Boundary Rd

Chesterton, IN 46304

www.waterbirdbanquets.com

The Banquet Center is attached to two hotels, a Best Western and a place called the Waterbird Lakeside Inn - which will most likely be our hotels of choice for the wedding. Easy access to the rooms from the reception, so in case you imbibe a bit too much, you can get back to your room easily and safely. There is also a Hilton Garden Inn about 3 miles away, so that is an option as well. We'll post more soon...

We are working on scheduling it for the weekend of May 17, 2008. More details will be posted when we have finalized them.

We're VERY excited to have this stuff out of the way!

Bruce's Wedding Party Set...

2007-02-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

Who in their right mind would want to be in the wedding party of
the idiot to the right?

So, my wedding party is set, even though we haven't finalized a date for the shindig yet... Anna is still working on finalizing hers, and we're talking about readers, etc., so more info will be forthcoming on that stuff. However, thought I would post my party just so people know...

Best Man:

Joel Hammond (my brother)

Groomsmen:

Pete Grasso (friend from college and Fraternity brother)

Don Morrow (friend from college and Fraternity brother)

Todd Bailey (friend from college and PR mastermind)

Should be a good time, and we're excited that plans are starting to get underway. We're traveling up to the Michigan City, IN area, where the wedding will take place, the weekend of March 9 to look at potential reception locations, so that will be exciting.

Check back often for more updates... Until the next time...

-Bruce

Engaged!

2007-02-12T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well, on Saturday, February 10, Anna and I became engaged. It happened in the afternoon at our apartment, and Anna was VERY surprised. We are extremely excited, and we will be posting on here with updated information as we make decisions. Check back often for new photos, comments, etc. about the wedding and the planning.

Below are some photos that were taken immediately afterwards...

Above: Anna showing off the hardware...

Anna and me after the proposal (no need for any bald comments... I've heard them all!)