Well, it's official... We're getting MARRIED!!!
It's been a whirwind of excitement so far... and we still have so much left to do! :)
For those of you who have known us a long time.... you already know most of our story... and for the rest of you... here's the short and sweet version:
When we met, we were both working as bartenders downtown. Life was crazy and somehow we found each other within the chaos. Neila knew it long before Justin did, and spent almost six months trying to make him realize that they would be the perfect couple. Slowly but surely... he finally figured it out for himself, and on August 23rd of 2003, he finally asked her if she would be "his girl". We did a great job of settling each other down, and now look at us.... we're getting old, we have nice, respectable(?) office jobs... we own a home and have our two feline daughters, Asia and Miya.
All in all, we've been dating for 5 years, and living together for over 4. Justin proposed on the 5-year anniversary of our first date... at the ice skating rink he took us to on our first date, and our wedding will be on our official 5-year anniversary of the date we became "boyfriend/girlfriend."
***Our wedding will be a semi-formal event so please dress accordingly - no jeans and no sneakers please.
Our wedding will be held at Unity Church, in Peoria, IL. The church is located one block north of Forest Hill, between University and Sheridan. We have very limited time at the church and will be on a tight schedule while we are there, so the ceremony will begin promptly at 2:30... Please make sure to arrive between 2 and 2:15 to allow time for seating.
We wrote our entire ceremony ourselves, and we are very excited to share our special day with you!
Please stick around after the ceremony... we wil be passing out small bells to ring as we exit the church and get into our horse-drawn carriage!
You can visit the church website for more information - www.unitypeoria.org
Please arrive to the reception at 5 PM. The Radisson is located at the intersection of Moss Avenue and Western Avenue in West Peoria. The wedding ceremony programs will have detailed directions printed on the back to lead you from the church to the reception.
After the ceremony, there will be about an hour lag before the reception starts. Please plan accordingly, as the reception area doors will not be open until 5. Keep in mind that there are a lot of great photo opportunities on the grounds at the Radisson (we will be doing our wedding photos there). If you arrive early, take the opportunity to snap some family photos at the fountain, in the garden, or with the castle in the background. This time delay will also give you a chance to get checked into your hotel room if you are planning on staying overnight. Please do not stop to eat during this hour as we will be providing a full dinner at 5:30.
The Radisson has taken over the old Jumer's Castle Lodge and has just recently begun holding receptions in the main castle (where the restaurant used to be). We are so excited to have booked this location – what could be more perfect for our “Happily Ever After” fairy-tale theme? We will have the entire main floor as well as the wrap-around balcony area upstairs.
Please enter through the main front doors, and take a moment to sign our guest book... THIS IS NOT A TYPICAL GUESTBOOK!!! We don't want just your names- we already know who you are. :) Please take a moment to write us a note... something funny or something sentimental... maybe a few of your own words of marital wisdom :) Something we can look back on someday for some laughs and some memories.
** The Radisson is blocking off rooms for us at a discounted rate of $89. If you are interested in reserving a room, please call the Radisson at 309-673-8040. Tell them you are with the Helmer-Folmar wedding to receive your discount.
You can also visit the Radisson website at http://www.radisson.com/peoriail for more information.
We will be spending 7 days and 6 nights at the amazing Secrets Capri in the Riviera Maya - about 30 minutes south of Cancun, Mexico. We will be staying at the Radisson after the reception, and then heading to Chicago the next day. We've got a park-n-fly hotel reserved in Chicago for Sunday night, and then we fly out of O'hare at 7am Monday morning. This resort will be the perfect getaway, and we can't wait!
As many of you know, we bought our first home last September, and we are really pretty well set already as far as typical "registry" items go, so... (you can laugh if you want) we registered at Lowe's in order to help us prepare for our future home improvement projects. Lowe's gift cards would also be greatly appreciated.
The other option is our registry with HoneymoonWishes.com - This is a very unique and cool idea... One of the best gifts you could possibly give us is a piece of our honeymoon... the official start of our life as husband and wife. Help send us snorkeling, swimming with the dolphins, or sightseeing. Contribute towards our couple's massage or our private dinner on the beach, or just put something towards our airfare or hotel accomodations. We think this is a really great idea, and it will be a gift we will Always remember and cherish. Please visit our registry page to find out more!
