It's Almost Upon Us

The latest Gary Lezak forecast (the only one worth looking at, according to Marcela) says the high will be 45 on Saturday with a low of 25. Cold but not too cold, it sounds like. Perfect! The only thing, weather wise, that will make it better is if some snow sneaks into the forecast and falls at 6 p.m. in downtown KC. Wouldn't that make for some pretty pictures?

Speaking of pictures (sweet segue), we have set up a Flickr group for anyone taking their own snapshots this weekend. If there are some fun photos (or funny photos) that you want to share, feel free to upload them if you're a Flickr user (or if you want to create a new account just for us). The group can be accessed at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/marcelakylewedding/

See you Saturday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wanted to take some time to wish everyone out there a very happy Thanksgiving!! We are just 9 days (holy turkey!!) away from our wedding and cannot wait to see everyone who will be joining us. It's going to be a wonderful couple of days. We can't thank our parents enough for everything they have so generously provided. We are thankful this year for all of the blessings that have come from joining our families. We love all of you. Enjoy turkey day!

The Forecast is Available!!

According to Accuweather.com, it will be mostly cloudy and cold on December 5. The high is slated to be 33, with a low of 21. It's going to be brisk everyone! Bring your coats, and dancing shoes. We are hoping for a light dusting of snow from 6-6:30 so that we get a picture something like the one on the right----------->

Also according to Accuweather, it will be 81 in Nassau, Bahamas on our wedding day. My extrapolations (learned exclusively from Gary Lezak) tell me that it will be 85 and sunny during our entire trip and that the water temperature will be a beautiful 76 degrees. Can't wait!!

In case you were wondering, this is where we will be December 7-13:

Nah nah na boo boo.

Less than a Month

Well, we missed both opportunities (time to fire the blogger) to say the wedding is one month away (the 5th of November and last Saturday, exactly 4 weeks from our wedding date), so it's time to say that we're within a month of W-day. That's totally awesome! And totally soon! We are tying up more and more loose ends every day. Tonight we bought some bad-ass black shoes that will go with my bad-ass black-on-black suit and bad-ass shirt and bad-ass tie. Basically, I'm going to look hot.

In other news, our great friends Kristin and Jer just returned from their wedding(!!) and honeymoon at Sandals in the Bahamas. Guess what...that's where we are going! They said that the place is unreal and provided some pictures to prove it. Hopefully they left us treasure maps and secret messages. Actually, I hope they clean well enough that nothing like that would hang around for a month.

Time for a reminder. If you're booking the Aladdin hotel downtown (details to the right), you have until Monday to get the super-sweet discount we arranged for you. If you have any questions about lodging, feel free to give us a call or email one of us.

Most of the RSVPs have been returned. Can't wait to see those of you attending! Sad to miss those of you who can't. If you haven't sent back the RSVP, go ahead and do that or call/email us so we can turn in final head counts to the caterers and drink providerers.

Slideshow!

This is a good one:

Best Wedding Slideshow Ever from Olde English Comedy on Vimeo.

Two More Months

Oh-wowee. Two months. The gestation period of a wolf. The amount of time kids have off during the summer. The amount of salary one is supposed to spend on an engagement ring. The amount of time until Marcela Rodriguez and Kyle Rogers are married. That seems soon huh? It's not. Well, it is, but it's also exactly how much time is left. So it can't be too soon at this point.

Today was a fun night of procrastinating from real work to do fun work. We spent the evening going through our checklist of things we need to do and picking out music for a variety of playlists we will need. Needless to say, Marcela started dancing and Kyle tried. He is still pretty white, but the Latina(o) is starting to rub off. Sorta. Some playlist favorites.

I gotta go slow dance. See ya.

Drew, I'll Kill You

This is what happens when the best man gets drunk the night before the wedding:


DOH!

Note: Marcela almost cried when watching this video. Really. She did. Almost.

Hotel Booking Details

To book a room at The Aladdin for the night of our wedding (December 5 if you've forgotten), call them at (816) 421-8888. When calling, make sure to ask for the Rodriguez/Rogers wedding in order to receive the group rate. If booking on-line, use the group booking code “RRW.” These rooms are only placed on hold at our special rate until MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16. After this time, the rooms will be available at their standard rates on a first-come, first-served basis. Make sure to book ahead of that date to make sure you get the best possible rate.

For some pictures of what the Aladdin looks like, look at the post below or visit this link.

Holy Shit

There are only 81 days left until our wedding. That is quite soon. We wanted to share that with all of you. Invitations are being printed as we speak and will be mailed out soon. They look great...thanks to Lisa for the help.

We are now in the final haul, putting all the finishing touches on flowers, decorations, food and all the other things that will make it a really good party. (Not the booze though, that was taken care of long ago.)

We finalized a deal with the Aladdin hotel in downtown Kansas City, MO for the night of the wedding. The hotel is just two blocks from our venue, Club 1000, and a short walk to the brand-new Power and Light Entertainment District. Single rooms will be $99, while double rooms are $109. Call the Aladdin at (816) 421-8888 and ask for the Rogers/Rodriguez wedding block of rooms to get the special rate. This info will now live on the right-hand side of the blog beneath the registry info.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any other questions or if you'd like to stay closer to our parents in Overland Park, KS. We're happy to give you a name for a hotel closer to them.

Outside.

Inside.

Lawfully Wedded Wife

Well...most of the time:

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

It's a little late, but we just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone that attended our shower last Saturday night. A special thanks to my aunts Tracy (Cook) and Ann (Rogers) for planning and executing the evening. The games were fun (though some dudes thought they were a little too cool to be there), the food was tasty and Marcela and I showed we actually do know each other pretty well :)

Thanks also to everyone for the wonderfully thoughtful gifts. The "weed" from the Kosednars is still cracking me up, as are the T-word gifts that Sandy's mom so thoughtfully put together. I can't believe I opened that. The actual thank you cards will be coming your way (pretty) soon, so we'll thank everyone individually. We will have to get some pictures from the folks who had the cameras, and we'll ask Sandy to put together a fast mix-tape of video that we can post on our YouTube account. Now Marcela is looking forward to the next shower. Lucky. She gets more than one.

W-Minus 4 Months

For those of you who don't speak NASA (or didn't watch Armageddon last night like we did), that means we're getting married in 4 months! Holy Toledo Batman! That's coming up pretty fast. For those of you coming in from out of town, we're in the process of finalizing the hotel-staying options. Feel free to email us at marcela.y.kyle@gmail.com or post a message here with any questions. We'll give you a hint, one of the hotels might include genies and bottles.

Should we?

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have decided to be the guest blogger for this edition since Kyle is busy blogging for the Wizards as they are in the middle of their season.

We have all sorts of things going on lately with both of us moving out of our apartments, trying to get the house in living condition (there is still no toilet) and continually doing wedding planning.

I can't believe we are almost in August! The wedding is only 137 days away. We have the first of the wedding showers coming up in just a couple of weeks, and we are working on pulling together details tomake December 5th a great night. We are both growing more and more excited to join our families together. This past weekend our families got together to celebrate my 26th birthday, and I fear that the combination of our fathers sense's of humor and a little bit of Pisco will make for a fun and entertaining wedding!

We have completed our wedding registries and you can find them at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond and Crate and Barrel. I have never had so much fun. There were a few times where I feel we may have gotten a little carried away with the scanner, but we laughed a lot and really enjoyed ourselves.

**Update...Kyle snuck in here and put links to all the places we've registered on the right. Feel free to point, click and buy gifts :)

The house is coming along and we will be moved in by the end of the month. For my birthday I recruited a few friends and celebrated by having a Priming Party. It was a ton of fun and we were able to knock out a few rooms and really help speed up the process. We are on our way with the bathroom as well. We have stopped ripping things out and are in the process of putting things back together. I project that we will have the necessary pieces in there by this time next week.
*The gas station around the corner will be losing a lot of business when that happens!

I am so grateful for our parents and brothers who have spent many nights and weekends with us helping to make our house a home. We definitely couldn't do all of the work without their support.

Hope everyone is having a great summer, and I will try and keep you posted.

Engagement Pics

We had a great time with our photographer, Erica Price of Sparrow Photography, back in early June. It was a really hot day. By the end, we decided to cool off by getting ourselves some gelato. Good choice! Here are some of our favorites below. We hope you enjoy!

29 Days Later...

...and the house is still a work in progress :) We have made re-doing the bathroom, updating the kitchen and painting our priorities. Well, the bathroom is nearing completion. The new tub is in, the light switch is in a different place and we have a nifty pocket door installed. The sheet rock is up, and round 1 of mud is on the walls. When I return (currently in a Hyatt in Minneapolis traveling with the Wizards), we'll start the sanding process. The bathroom should be complete by the end of July. The other stuff is a little more iffy at this point.

Big thanks to both of our families for all the help so far (and future thanks for all the help I'm sure we'll receive). Michael, Marcela's bro, has been a wiz at re-trimming some windows. Marcela, her mom and my mom have been (liquid) sanding the cabinets in the kitchen so they can be painted white. Marcela's father installed our deadbolts and will soon be constructing some light sconces in the bedroom. My dad has helped with various installations in the bathoom. Michael and Drew, Kyle's bro, were dubbed the bash brothers for their work in ripping out the previous bathroom fixtures and wall finishing. I'm sure there's plenty more to come, but we really appreciate everyone's willingness to help and give up their time.

We recently got our engagement pictures back, so those will be posted here pretty soon. For being a blogger by day, I've been pretty crappy at keeping this blog up to date *slaps own wrists*. The Enforcer (Marcela) has told me I better shape up. She just wants that nickname to carry over to Hillcrest Road so she'll become famous :)

Anyway, we (I) promise to make the updates more frequent. We have some house pictures and some engagement pictures to post here soon.

We Bought a House!!

WELCOME TO THE ROGER-IGUEZ HOME!

Bet most of you weren't expecting that, now were you?? We now own a cute little story-and-a-half home in the Waldo area of Kansas City, Mo.We have three bedrooms, one bathroom and a screened in porch that is currently our favorite part of the house.

As soon as we took possession, we started making the place our own. The bathroom is currently gutted and will soon take on its new form that we are designing and installing. This is just the first of many projects. We will be working diligently over the next few months in hopes of making updates and transforming this house into our new home.

We can't wait for all of you to come by and check it out!

You Voted and We Won/Musica

That's right, you voted and we won. Since you picked Target, we win fun presents from that store (assuming we receive any presents)! This is definitely a fun decision because we are both big fans of Tar-get (enter cheesy French accent here). The next three you chose (Crate & Barrel, Home Depot and Bed, Bath and Beyond) are also favorites of ours. Don't be surprised if we also register at a couple of these places.

On to another fun topic: the reception. We'd like to hear what songs all of you want to hear at our celebration. In thc comments section (that place below that too few of you ever click on), let us know what your first dance was, what our first dance should be or what song you really want to boogie to in December. All stories and suggestions are welcome. PLEASE COMMENT PEOPLE!

Where do You Want to Shop?

Now it's your turn to help us make a decision. It's about time for us to choose our registry locations. We've got a pretty good idea of some of the places we'd like to register at, but since you guys are the ones making the purchases(hopefully :) ), we thought we'd let you pick a place as well. The choices (with links to their registry pages in case you aren't familiar with some of the companies) are below. Vote for your top three to the right. We'll close the poll on May 1.

-Target
-Restoration Hardware
-Bed Bath & Beyond
-Pottery Barn
-Crate & Barrel
-The Home Depot
-CB2 (Crate & Barrel spin-off)
-Macy's

We Picked a Caterer

Last time we told you about the photographer of choice, now we'll be telling you about our caterer! We have chosen Lenexa-based Classic Catering for our food needs on the big night. Since food is a big deal to all involved, this decision was not taken lightly. Mary, our representative, is very nice and has been very helpful thus far. We look forward to working with her to finalize our menu and make sure everyone who attends loves the food.

We Have a Photographer!

One of Erica's photos.

Isn't that exciting? Her name is Erica Price, and she runs a place called Sparrow Photography here in the KC area. To check out her website (and some of the pictures), visit www.sparrowphotographykc.com. We met with Erica back in January and just recently sealed the deal by putting down the initial deposit. She is a very nice young lady who is extremely thoughtful and has great composition of her photos. Both Marcela and myself have a somewhat artistic view of how wedding photographs should be taken, so we like the fact that Ms. Price takes some artsy-looking pictures that will really capture the essence of the event. For part of the night, she will be shooting candid pictures of family and friends who are in attendance, so make sure you're looking sharp. You never know who might end up in our wedding book!

Another of Erica's photos.

Updates

Slowly but surely we are getting this thing planned!

Last weekend I went dress shopping with my Mom, Tia (aunt Carmen) and Sandy (MOH). After trying on what felt like 100, I finally found one that I just fell in love with. To be honest, I really didn't want to take it off. :) It was a lot of fun spending time with the girls, and I don't think I have ever felt more beautiful. It has also been great fun torturing Kyle with knowing about something he doesn't.

Just this morning we solidified the roles of all the Groom's cousins in the wedding. We are really excited for all of them to be a part of our day. (See the sweet pictures below.)
Flower Girl: Katy Baker
Ring Bearer: Derek Baker
Candle Lighter: Jenna Baker
Ushers: Mitchell Rogers and Bradley Cook
Guest book and Gift attendants: Marlee Rogers and Haley Cook

I am starting to feel like all of us are coming together and I love being a part of this new family that Kyle and I are joining. If nothing else I am sure that there is going to be a lot of love and fun around on our wedding day.

*This blogging thing is kind of fun. You may be reading more from me in the future :)

-Marcela (The bride)

Flower Girl: Katy Baker

Ring Bearer: Derek Baker

Candle Lighter: Jenna Baker

Ushers: Bradley Cook (l) and Mitchell Rogers (r) (Boo Drew)

Guest book and Gift attendants: Haley Cook (l) and Marlee Rogers (r)

Of Bridesmaids and Groomsmen

Some of you have probably been wondering who will be in the wedding party. Well, wait no longer. Marcela has chosen roommate and long-time friend Sandy Sauer as her Maid of Honor, while I will go with my younger (but taller) brother Drew. High-school friends Erin Adriance and Lindsey Mack and co-worker Kristin Mills round out Marcela's ladies. High-school (and earlier) friends David Borgerding and Sean Kosednar as well as Marcela's brother Michael will be Kyle's attendants.

We're very excited about having all of them join us for our special day (and some fun times and work before and after). Thanks to the eight of you for being there for us!

Honeymoon Anyone?

Here's a picture of us from the top of the downtown library. That's my apartment building behind us. She makes me look good huh? So this post is all about you guys for a change. Instead of reading and getting excited for us, we want some help. We've got this thing called a honeymoon coming up, and we're not really sure where we want to go.

If you were the two of us, where would you go? Where did you go on yours? Do you have any crazy stories? Share your thoughts and memories in the comments section below!

We've Picked a Venue!

Woah it's been too long since I've been on here! Sorry for those of you checking everyday (Flex) and, until now, seeing nothing new (though I'm sure you didn't mind that cute picture of us to brighten your day a bit. Anyway, we've selected a venue for both our ceremony and reception!!! Exciting stuff. Both events will take place at Club 1000 in downtown Kansas City. The venue is two blocks west of Kyle's apartment at the corner of 10th street and Broadway. For those of you that know KC well, it's right above where the Tanner's used to be (for those of you from out of town, Tanner's is [was] a bar).

We love the romanticism and loft-like feel of the space. With candle light and a little love (which we'll be providing tons of that night), it will be a perfect venue. Now on to figure out the other tiny details. According to TheKnot.com, we only have 184 things to do and only 302 days to do them. We're going to be BUSY! Sorry for taking so long to update you guys. Hopefully you can forgive me.

The Video

So, we (and by we, I mean Kyle) used this thing called a video camera on Christmas Eve prior to the proposal. I got a little dorky, but hey, what can you do? This is pretty much a chronicle of the night from the time Marcela left my parents house around 5 p.m. to midnight when she returned, with help, so that I could ask her to marry me. You've already read what I wrote, but now you can see the setup, the nerves and the reaction (kind of, because it's a little bit dark) to the question. Enjoy :)

Random Pic 1

She's really pretty.

Happy New Year to All!

This is cute, and we both like penguins.

Have a great 2009! This will certainly be an exciting one for the both of us. Anyone do anything fun for new year's last night? Tell us in the comments section below. We attended a little function at the Uptown Theater in KCMO. Lots of music, dancing and a couple of drinks. Don't worry, we got a taxi ride home!

Us last night. Aren't we adorable? (Especially the one on the right.)