Things to do: Motown Museum

Motown music has influenced the American music culture for decades and Detroit City is where it all began. I haven’t been to the home of Motown, but I have toured the Graceland Mansion (twice) and Suncoast Records Museum in Memphis. I imagine that the Motown Museum is the Northern version of these kinds of landmarks. Music buff or not, it is always interesting to see how many things have changed from the beginning of rock and roll. Just 30 years ago, recording an album and getting it played on the radio was a completely different process than it is today. That is largely in part to companies such as Motown Records. Artists such as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, the Jackson 5 and many many others all got their start with Motown Records and will all be a part of the soundtrack at our upcoming Wedding Reception.

The museum features guided tours – “Visitors are encouraged to experience the Museum with one of our historical presenters. Tours are given at regular intervals during the Museum’s hours of operations.”

Hours of operation are: Tuesday thru Saturday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Tickets: Adults: $10.00 per person, Seniors and Children 12 & under: $8.00 per person

For more information, visit their website: http://www.motownmuseum.com/

Hotel Information

For my wonderful wedding guests who read this blog, I have posted all the hotel information on the side bar so that you can get to it easily without having to dig through previous posts. Look to the right side of the page, right under that adorable picture of the happy couple. I know many of you are already making travel and hotel arrangements, so I hope this helps!

Golden Globes to Wedding Dress

At this past Sunday’s Golden Globes, actress Christina Hendricks of Mad Men, wore a dress designed by my brother that is very very similar to the style we agreed upon for my wedding dress. Obviously I don’t have hooters like Christina and my dress will be white instead of peach, but I am excited to see the design come to life. The bodice on my dress will also be different than this, but I like the look of the slimmer skirt with the flounces wrapped around. What do you think?

Addicted to Vista Print

By now our guests have received the Save the Dates and I just love how they turned out. Ann, of Still Dottie, designed them and we printed them through VistaPrint. If you have ever purchased or printed anything from VistaPrint you know that after you buy one thing, they send you all kinds of crazy deals. I can’t resist a discount so after we printed the Save the Dates, I received a coupon for a FREE tote bag. I ended up paying something for it because I had it printed double-sided and shipped overnight, but still it was a deal. If I am not careful, I am going to end up with all kind of wedding paraphernalia, collared shirts, hats, mouse pads, you name it!

Paper Flowers

I am in love with my new paper project. I found this idea in the most recent issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. They are flowers made from decorative paper and floral wire. I plan to use these flowers to decorate various tables, like the favor table and gift table at the reception. I still need to find some white flower vases to use for these mini-arrangements. They are a lot of fun to make. I might just make some to decorate the apartment. Here’s what you do:

1) Cut out 5 heart shapes (recommended to use a craft heart punch) and cut out 2, ½ inch circles
2) Roll each heart around a pencil to curl the paper
3) Lock the five hearts together in the valley of the hearts
4) Glue the circle cut out to the back of the hearts to seal them together
5) Wrap floral wire with white floral tape and bend into curly shape
6) Poke floral wire through the second circle cut out and glue to the back of the paper flower

Jenn's Wedding

Last October, I wrote on my blog about a “Wedding Weekend” when Evan and I attended two weddings in one day. I am so excited to share one of those weddings that is featured on one of my favorite wedding blogs, www.stylemepretty.com. Jennifer and Matt got married in Ashland, VA October 17, 2009. Their wedding was beautiful and I am so excited that we were able to attend. Jenn is a very stylish gal and her beautiful taste shown through in every element of their special day.

Wedding Part 3

Wedding Part 2

Wedding Part 1

Honeymoon Flight BOOKED!!!

A very exciting step of the wedding planning process has taken place…I have booked our transportation for our honeymoon to California! We will be flying to San Francisco on Tuesday, June 29th, picking up our rental car and headed to the city for a fun filled night in San Fran! Wednesday we will spend the day in San Francisco before driving up Highway 101 (in a convertible!) to California’s Wine Country. We have a whole itinerary planned for our wine country honeymoon, but haven’t booked hotels and tours just yet. I couldn’t wait any longer to book our flights as there were some major deals going on.

Here is an abbreviated version of our honeymoon itinerary:

Tuesday: Fly to San Francisco/Romantic Dinner in the City

Wednesday: Spend Day in San Francisco/Visit Alcatraz

Thursday: Bicycle Wine Tour in Calistoga/Stay at Bed and Breakfast in Wine Country

Friday: Trip to Old Faithful and Redwood Forests/Dinner at the Calistoga Inn

Saturday: Celebrate Evan’s Birthday/Sparkling Wine Tour/Dinner on the famous Wine Train

Sunday: Wine Tour on the Napa Wine Shuttle/Enjoy Picnic Lunch/Celebrate July 4th

Monday: Drive back to San Francisco and fly home

You can see our whole itinerary on our honeymoon registry website: http://www.honeyfund.com/wedding/greenwoodandsiriano

Hotels

Making the decision of where to stay is really important when planning a destination wedding. (I still chuckle to myself every time I think of Detroit as our destination wedding spot. Am I crazy?) Fortunately for everyone, there are great accommodation options in Detroit. There is a hotel for almost everyone’s tastes. The two blocks we have are at the Marriott at the Renaissance Center and the Omni Detroit Riverfront.

The Marriott at the Renaissance Center is more than just a hotel, it is an experience. I actually have not been to this hotel just yet, but Evan stopped here on his most recent visit to Detroit with his Dad. He took some amazing photos of the view from inside the building and out the windows overlooking the Detroit River. The Marriott is modern style hotel with a popular restaurant, forty-two degrees north. This hotel has 73 floors flying high in the sky overlooking Detroit City and the Canadian waterfront. Want to explore Detroit? Well, you can just catch the PeopleMover to take you to popular downtown sites. We recommend this hotel for anyone who wants modern style accommodations with lots of activity.

The Omni hotel is our other room block option, and is literally right on the Riverfront overlooking the River Walk. This hotel is cozy and quiet and has a boutique-style romantic feel. We stayed here on our first Michigan Planning trip and really loved the space in the room, the high ceilings and the amazing view of Canada. This hotel is a little off the Detroit strip, but they offer a complimentary morning and evening shuttle transportation to designated downtown areas such as Renaissance Center, the Greektown District and local sports venues. They will shuttle our guests to and from our wedding site upon request. The hotel does have its own restaurant, Fenders, but it is the opposite of the guest rooms. The ceiling seems pretty low in the bar area, and the restaurant had no patrons while we were there. I imagine that is because the hotel only has 108 rooms and if they are not filled, you probably won’t run into another guest. We recommend this hotel for anyone who wants a quiet stay, right on the Detroit River, where they can walk out the door onto the River Walk.

Omni Detroit Hotel River Place
$119 King Room
1000 Riverplace
Reservations: 313-567-7807

Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center
$109 Single or Double
400 Renaissance Center
Reservations: 313-568-8000
Reservation Link

You can reserve the Marriott through the link above, but you must call the Omni in order to secure your reservation. If you would like a room with a water view, you should specify when making your reservation. Please, do not forget to mention the Siriano/Greenwood wedding block when making your reservations. You must book by June 1st in order to secure these rates.

Things to Do: Go to Canada

Most people don’t know that Detroit is the only U.S. city that looks South towards Canada. We will be looking at the Windsor Canadian skyline from our hotel room at the Marriott and it may be tempting for some guests to head over the border.

FYI: YOU NEED YOUR PASSPORT TO GO TO CANADA!

Windsor is more than just a place for 18 year old Americans to drink legally…they have a Casino, too! Caesars just opened in Windsor and it is a big presence on the Canadian skyline. Canada casinos are smoke free, so if you are a non-smoker, who wants to gamble, this might be the place for you. Other Windsor attractions include Belle Isle Park and the Windsor Farmer’s Market. Don’t forget to give yourself time to get back stateside in time to be at the ceremony at 7:30pm!

Orange-spiration

I think I have finally settled on my wedding colors! It has really been a difficult decision for me, but a spread in the January issue of Brides Magazine served as a final confirmation that Orange, Cream and a touch of Pink will be the colors inspiring the design for my wedding day festivities. I had the pages of Brides Magazine dog-eared in my copy and had gone back to them a number of times. Amazingly, my brother also came home with a copy of the same Magazine. He gave it to me with the same pages marked and with this beautiful picture frame.

Won’t this look beautiful on the favor table with a note to our guests? I think it will! Once the orange decision was settled my imagination went wild. Everywhere I go, all I see is orange. I already purchased this adorable box from Ikea that we will use for our guests cards with a big cream bow…
Also check out this simple, yet elegant arrangement inspired by my color palette! I think I am picking up steam on the décor planning. I can’t wait for our next trip to Michigan to finalize our linen picks!

Pomanders

During some holiday time off, I have finally started some DIY wedding projects. A popular wedding craft that I will be tackling are pomanders. On the wedding blog circuit, you can find them in a variety of styles:

real flowers
silk flowers
fabric

tissue paper
I decided to go with the tissue paper. I made my first two pomanders a few weeks ago and started work on another one over the winter break. I used the steps found on this tutorial. The first pomander took about 4 hours to complete, from start to finish. That is a long time! I hope to get through the other ones on a more reasonable schedule since I want to make at least 20 of them. I might have to enlist the help of my bridesmaids to get through these babies. More projects to come soon…