Picking the Right Maid of Honor and Best Man

It's time to do a shout out to our Best Man, Carl Ayala, and our Maid of Honor, Sarah Liza Hornung. These two have done an amazing job on getting things organized, staying on top of things, and using their skills to help us. Without them, there is no way we could have gotten our invitations done. Carl designed the imagery for the invitations including this wonderful logo above that you will be seeing probably for the rest of our lives (a book stamp, on stationery, stickers). Thanks Carl!

Then, last night Sarah Liza brought over probably over 1000 samples of different kinds of paper and explained to us the whole printing process. She brought us examples and made me totally proud to know someone who knew so much about the production and printing process. It's great to learn new ways and reasons to appreciate your best friend even more! So she's helping us get them printed and ready to send out when we get back from Spain. Thanks Sarah Liza!

Most of all, these two special people know us so well that every part of this invitation reflects who we are, and we know we would never have gotten that with any pre-designed invitations. Y'all rock and we can't thank you enough.

The Best Kept Secret in the Hudson Valley

It almost pains me to do this because the hidden Bridezilla in me wants to keep this gorgeous venue all for myself, but I should share in the great experience that is working with West Park Winery. If you want more information, click here or google "West Park Winery." Having looked at other venues in the Poughkeepsie area, we were almost set on Locust Grove on Route 9 in Pougkeepsie. However, on a whim and after David's research abilities, we had made an appointment at West Park. I remember the moment when we said, "Wow, we're going over the river, this place would have to be pretty amazing for us to choose it."

Amazing doesn't begin to describe it. West Park is for the kind of couple that wants to do work, put their personal touch, go the extra mile to make their day special. They encourage you to choose everything, from the menu to the decorations. Lou, the owner, is a sweet, wonderful Italian man who has opened up his home to share in the beauty of the Hudson Valley. Adam, his events manager is a Godsend and brings enthusiam, experience and personality to planning your event.

Here are a few pictures from their website:









We can't wait for our guests to spend the cocktail hour outside or to bring games for the kids to play on the rolling hill. Oh, and if you have elderly guests that have to have air conditioning, fear not, their tent is completely climate controlled. We went the other weekend for our tasting and it was a bit chilly outside but you wouldn't tell by how warm the inside of the tent was! If you have any questions, feel free to email us and we'll give you all the information to help you figure out if West Park is the place for you. Okay, so I guess the secret is out!