Where To Stay??

There are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of hotels in New York City. I visited about 100 of them and judged on convenience, price, comfort, location, and again PRICE. When we booked our wedding date, we didn't realize it coincided with the busiest hotel season. 

The majority of the rooms blocked are at Roosevelt Hotel on 45th at Madison, near Grand Central Terminal (connects to JFK and LGA). The hotel is majestic and this is where our next day brunch will be. We've also blocked rooms at the Grand Hyatt which is two blocks away. Not too far from there, we have a room block at Mariott Courtyard Inn. These are all midtown and about a 10 minute cab ride away from the wedding site.

If you're interested in staying in a more "hip" hotel downtown, then we have rooms blocked at Hotel On Rivington, which is in the heart of the Lower East Side, near the wedding site. Soho Grand Hotel and Tribeca Grand are also very close by and offer great accommodations.  

See below for a full list of room blocks and also some recommendations where else to stay. Of course, all are welcome to stay at any hotel of their choice.

How We Met

Elhaam met Mat at a Razorlight concert via a friend. She had a spare ticket and Mat showed up as her plus one. (hence the ticket Save The Dates). After a few months, and a budding friendship, Elhaam very shyly asked Mat over for dinner. Not quite sure what his reaction would be, she said it was a small dinner party and quickly invited two more friends to join. She spent the entire next day cooking a 3 course meal for 4 people. On the menu was a very spicy Thai Sweet Potato soup, Beef and baby corn stir fry with rice, and French apple puff pastries. Fortunately, good food was the first key to Mat's heart and a year later (and many many rock concerts later) they're planning their November 12 wedding in NYC and still finding time to make yummy meals for each other.

Save The Date

Mat and I have set our wedding date for November 12, 2010. That might seem soon, it is, but Mat and I don't want to wait until next year to be husband and wife. We figure November is the soonest we can do it in the city before it gets too cold.

My parents, grandparents, and aunt and uncle came up last weekend to help us make our venue finalization. Mat and I had visited about 30 different amazing spots in the city, but Capitale was by far our favorite. Bonus, it's just down the street from where I live.

We're in the midst of picking our florist, photographer, etc etc. Almost got it all worked out. I got my wedding dress and Mat is getting his suit sorted out. On the to-do list is to finish the room blocks we're getting set up (the hotels are so cool!), finish designing the invites (thanks Jesse), order the bridesmaid dresses (yay Sarah Seven), and get the party favors in order (I'm not telling).

We're Engaged!

In case you haven't heard the story yet from my Mom, here's how Mat proposed:

Mat took me to the beautiful English countryside in Leeds to meet his family and they are so lovely. We took a really great day trip through the windy English roads to visit his great aunt.

She lives in totally cute 300 year old home, complete with sheep and decked out with all that English charm. Her home is dying for a visit from Antiques Roadshow. Every room is filled with history and she's a very sharp lady, and showed us lots.

We hung out with the little lambs in her backyard and then had a big lunch that Mat's mom prepared. After we ate, we hung out in front of the fire having tea, and Mat asked if I wanted to look around the house.