Our First Dance

We secretly worked on our first dance. We had about 7 lessons with a great choreographer who took our senses of humor and quirks and put them into the following routine...

Wedding Photos

The photos from our amazing wedding photographer are in our hands. We will post a link to them soon (you will be able to download, purchase hard copies or create albums. For now, here's a sample of some of her favorites. Click the link to get to the samples...

http://laviephotography.blogspot.com/2009/06/natalie-sam.html

-Sam

Traveling Photo Booth

One of our many surprises of the weekend was that we had a photobooth set up at the reception. If you follow the link below and type in the code, you can see all of the photos taken!!!

http://travelingphotobooth.com/view.html
CODE: PG8AH

-Sam

Married

I can't put into words how full I feel. Full from love, from family, from errand running, from smiling, from laughing, from nerves, from anticipation, from exhaustion, and from food.

I don't quite know how to explain how the week went other than to say I am so happy with it.

-Sam

Wedding's Eve

I am so tired from a long and busy and fun day.

I am so ready to get married to Natalie.

But seriously...

I need to sleep.

-Sam

16 hours

Tonight was the best night of my life thus far.  I seriously think so.  And I KNOW that tomorrow is going to be ever better but, right now, I can't even fathom how that could be possible.  But I will tell you this...I am SO SO SO SO SO SO EXCITED!!!  

16 hour countdown until I become Mrs. Lembeck...

Can you believe it?!

I can't wait!!!!!!!!!

Friday the 29th of May - By Sam

I woke up extremely excited. So many of my friends were coming into town. I jumped into the shower first (Natalie is usually the first one in) and loaded the car to set up the hospitality suite. We got lunch with Leah (maid of honor), her husband Zak, Jenny (bridesmaid), and Amy Walstien (mother of the 1 year old ring bearer). It was delish. We went to Chins. My mom's old friend Barbara Lauren had gotten in early on a red eye and was having brunch with my mom at the hotel. While Natalie and the girls listed above went to get their nails done, I came back to the hotel and hung out. Then Lucy came. Then Bob Boris came. Then my dad called me and said that they were on the same plane with Colin & Amber, Logan & Brittny, Dean & Brandi. While we waited for their arrival, Natalie's family from out of town started to arrive. Then my Uncle Richard arrived with his son and his wife (my cousin and cousin in law). I haven't seen Uncle Richard and Aaron too much in the last million years so it was awesome to see them. For some reason I feel really close to them and comfortable around them. Then Joanie & Howard came. Then my mom picked up her boyfriend Peter. Then Natalie's grandma Shirley showed up and brought us stuffed animals that sang. Then the LA group landed in MN and I got lots of text messages. Then the LA group started to arrive-first Logan & Brittny. It was really great to have a best friend from my side in MN. Then Dean & Brandi arrived. Then James came down and said my dad, lorna, mimi & jacob were coming down soon. Then Pizza Luce came. It didn't live up to my expectations, but it was still yummeroni. Then my Dad, Lorna, Mimi, and Jacob showed up. 

Then I felt overwhelmed.

Then there was lots of meeting and greeting. More people started showing up more frequently and I lost track of who was there and who had met who.

3 hours later people started leaving and I sat on the floor in Logan & Brittny's room with them and Dean & Brandi, Zak & Leah. I felt relaxed again. Natalie said she wanted to get a good night sleep, I don't blame her. I'm writing this at 12:30am and wish I had been sleeping for 3 hours. Then everyone was gone. But then the babies came. I got a text message saying the flower girls arrived. I went downstairs. 

David, Jack, Uncle Phil and Mike were at the bar chatting. They said my mom and others were outside. Ali, Bob, Melissa, Ava & Olivia had arrived. Uncle Richard was walking out when I got there. He was tired. The girls were pretty excited to see me and performed a song and dance they are performing next weekend. They ate. I chatted with Pete, my mom, Aaron & Jen. It was the perfect way to end the day. David drove me home and we talked about how much we love our friends that we grew up with.

I am so happy to have my best friends here. I can't wait to see Colin & Mike tomorrow. There are a million people left to arrive and I'm sure I'm going to get overwhelmed again tomorrow.

If you are reading this and you are going to see me tomorrow, tell me to relax, take a deep breath, and have fun.

It Starts...

12pm

Friday

People are starting to trickle in

I'm friggin excited

-Sam

Set up

Here we are driving to the hotel to set up the Hospitality Suite.

Putting Together Programs

At this very moment (8:10pm central time) we're putting together the programs for the wedding. All we do is things for the wedding.

4 days...

It's 12:19am on Wednesday, May 27.  According to our trusty website natalieandsam.com, the wedding is only 4 DAYS AWAY.  It's finally here!

The past week was intense, coming back from 20 days in New York to be faced with all of the looming, half-finished wedding projects.  But, with lots of patience and help from family and friends, I'm proud to say that the hard stuff is DONE.  The favors are made, seating charts complete, welcome documents and schedules are finished (and cute, might I add!), programs are with the 'printer', ceremony musicians confirmed (that's a long story for another day)...our last week in LA was probably one of the most productive we've ever had!

And amidst all of the craziness and last minute wedding planning, we somehow managed to get ourselves packed and back home to Minnesota!  It almost didn't happen - I've never in my life missed or even almost missed a flight and of course it happens this morning for the first time!  it was almost too much for me to handle, but I took a nap on the plan, composed myself, drank a Caribou Cooler immediately upon landing and, since then, this day has turned out to be a ball!

We went right to Costco and basically bought them out of treats for the welcome bags, hospitality suite, Saturday night dinner and Monday brunch.  We seriously filled my dad's car to the brim - it was awesome.  Sam has photographic evidence that I will encourage him to post here immediately.

From there we came home and packed the welcome bags, wrapped out bridal party gifts and ran a bunch of random errands in between.  But I have to tell you - I'm having a ball.  Clearly, I always have fun when I'm with Sam, but I just love doing all this stuff with him and with my family...and then realizing, this is for us!  In four days!  Yikes and Yippee!

These mindless tasks are so much fun, and I just love seeing how everything is coming together and getting it all checked off my list.  I owe so much to so many different people for all of their help along the way...you all know who you are: THANK YOU.

Out of town guests start arriving tomorrow...I'm starting to feel butterflies.

If you're heading our way soon, I can't wait to see you soon!  If not, we'll miss you.  But either way, this wedding is happening!

Ok, I'm pooped.

Lots of love from the almost-Bride,

Natalie

Table Assignments

The numbers are in. We know exactly how many people are coming. Last night, Natalie and I put together a draft of who sits at what table. It was fun and challenging. Here is a picture of Natalie in the middle of all of it.

Food Tasting at The Metropolitan

Here's a little diddy from when we had our tasting at The Metropolitan where we will be having our reception.

Food Tasting For The Reception from Team S and N on Vimeo.

Thoughts

Sometimes I think about these things:

1) How awesome it is going to be seeing everyone I know and love in the same place at the same time.
2) Seeing Natalie in her dress.
3) FInally having all my family in Minnesota.
4) Having my friends taste Famous Daves BBQ.
5) Dancing with Natalie.
6) Secret surprise things that no one knows about yet.

There are a lot more... but those are some key items.

-Sam

Wedding Month

Holy crap, tomorrow is May 1st.

-Sam

Ring Engraving

Since Natalie has been posting so much lately, I figured I needed to post something as well... Even if it's not the most exciting video... But there are some Fursetzers in there!

Whirling Dervish

Lorna used this term to describe someone this weekend, and I realized - that's what lives inside my head right now!  A non-stop ball of energy, constantly reminding me of something else that needs to be done.  Though I'm starting to see how some women turn into Bridezilla's at this point in the planning - cause the whirling dervish inside their heads drives them batty - I'm actually quite fond of my guy and I think I'll miss him when the wedding's over.

So much has happened since my last post!  We were back in Minnesota for 6 days and, believe me, we made the most of absolutely every waking moment while we were there.  Here's what we accomplished:

*Went on boy's night / girl's night out with our MN peeps.  Ended up in a rousing night of Karaoke with the Fursetzer siblings and cousins.

* Got our marriage license from the County

*Met with the Amira, our wedding coordinator, and made a timeline for the big day

*Met with Audrey, our Cantor, to choose music for the ceremony

*Had our incredible tasting at the reception venue.  I won't give away too much, but I will tell you this: appetizers. YUM!  Bacon wrapped scallops in soy ginger sauce, mushroom leek tartlets, and tomato basil crostini.  Let your imagination run wild!

*Took our Ketubah to be framed

*Visited the hotel to check out the room for the prenuptial dinner and the hospitality suite

*Took our rings to be engraved

*Had my final dress fitting.  Sister-in-law NanC was there to learn how to bustle.  I am so in love with that dress...

*Did my hair trial.  Huge success!

*Attended Jeremy & Kara's wedding.  There were a lot of similarities - they chose the same songs for their ceremony, and they had one other treat that we're having, too.  But it's a suprise!  All I can tell you is that it's even more fun than I imagined.

*Went to my lovely bridal shower.  What a wonderful da, surrounded by so many incredible women.  We opened lots of presents, and I almost ugly cried.  I have a feeling that's going to be a theme over the wedding weekend.  I'm gonna have to learn how to keep that in check, I think...

*Spent almost 4 hours at Macy's figuring out the best way to have our gifts shipped to us in LA (ended up being super simple - just took the folks awhile to figure it out).

*Celebrated Sam's first birthday in Minnesota with a trip to the movies (adventureland) and, his favorite, Famous Dave's.

*Met with Syril, my dear friend, who is designing our programs and place cards

*Drank a lot of Caribou Coolers

Phew!  So much to report but all of it was so much fun!  There's lots more to check off the list and I will try to be better about updates from now on.  Next up: my mom comes here for the LA Bridal Shower!  

lots of love and sunshine,

Natalie

Opening the first response cards!!!

Opening Presents

Two Month Countdown

Holy buckets! We're officially two months away from the big day. Invitations have arrived in mailboxes across the country, items are getting checked off the to-do list left and right, and I have officially entered my last days of being a Fursetzer. lembeck, here I come!

I don't have much else to say - just wanted to share my excitement with you, our 7 loyal readers. :)

Lots of love,
Natalie

Sending The Invites!

We're in the double digits!

It feels like it was just yesterday that we were announcing our engagement...but here we are now, with only 66 days until we become Mr. and Mrs. Lembeck!

The closer we get to the big day, the more and more fun and exciting wedding stuff we get to do. We're having so much fun preparing for and dreaming about the big day (well, I don't know if Sam's dreaming about it - but I sure am!) so we thought we'd start this blog to share some of the fun with you.

The most exciting thing we've done recently is prepare and mail our wedding invitations. I went to NYC a few weekends ago and spent a great weekend with one of my dearest friends, Leif Green, who gave us the most amazing gift: he did the calligraphy for all of our invites! We had tons of fun singing along to musicals while he finished up the hard task of spelling Fursetzer, Lembeck and Meshbesher over and over again. Leif did SUCH an amazing job - they are even more gorgeous than I hoped they would be. I can't wait for you all to see his masterpieces. Thanks so much, Leif - we love you!

Next, Sam and I spent last weekend in Malibu where we set up our invitation station: proofreading, erasing pencil marks, stuffing, sealing and stamping approximately 215 invitations, which is quite a feat! We had heard a lot of horror stories about getting invites hand cancelled at the post office (so they don't arrive at your houses with squiggly red lines on them) but, thankfully, Sam had a really easy time with this task...the end result: our invitations went into the mail yesterday and they are on their way to you right now! Let us know when they arrive - we are dying to see who our first response is going to be from!

Getting the invitations in the mail has made all of this feel so REAL - in such a good way! I am so excited for everything that's coming up in the next two months and look forward to sharing some of our pre-wedding adventures with all of you here. Next week we're headed to MN for 6 days and there's so much in store: meetings with the wedding coordinator and Cantor, tasting at the reception venue, my hair trial and dress and veil fittings and, most importantly, my Bridal Shower! We can't wait!

Stay tuned for updates - I'm sure we'll have lots of fun stories to share.

Lots of Love,
Natalie

Invitation Preparation

Getting the invitations prepped!!!


Stuffing Envelopes from Team S and N on Vimeo.

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