Don't know if you knew this...

But RSVP comes from an old Latin word, "RSVPamacious", which means, "to be awesome". There'ss your tidbit of knowledge for the day. Here's another.

The Crowne Plaza is full on Friday night. So if anyone's been looking for rooms there on Friday, they're going to tell you that the block is full. That my friends, is a lie. We still have a number of rooms to fill on Saturday. This has been a little more of a mess than I wanted it to be, but that's life in the big city, yes?

Thanks to everyone who's RSVP'd so far. It's totally made this real and also made the daily trip to the letter box a lot of fun. We may also have an unofficial contest for most creative RSVP, so get cracking, people!!!

You guys are quick!

Our room block at the Crowne Plaza is already full! I am working on adding more rooms. Try calling tomorrow (Wednesday) and you should be all set.

Thanks!

Oops! - Nope! False alarm!

This post used to tell you that the phone number we had on the invitations for the Crowne Plaza was incorrect. We've done more investigative work and have found that's not necessarily true.

The number on the invitations is the national number - you'll need to make sure you specify that you're looking for the Saint Paul Riverfront location. They have a block under Bergstrom/Barry.

So - either number will work:
National - 888-444-0401
Actual St. Paul location: 651-292-1900

So, false alarm! Sorry to spring up the alarm bells so quickly.

More info

We're going to be putting some stuff in the mail over the next few weeks and since these items will lead people here and promise some information, I guess we'd better put some information on here.

We've reserved rooms at two different hotels:
Crowne Plaza Saint Paul Riverfront in downtown: 888-444-0401/651-292-1900: The Crowne Plaza is literally down the street from the Wabasha Street Caves (more about them in a bit), which is one of the biggest reasons we chose this site. It's a beautiful hotel with great views of downtown. Because of the downtown location, there are several restaurants, bars, and shops within walking distance but there is also a fee for any car parking.

Hilton Garden Inn in Shoreview: 651-415-1956: The Hilton is located further away from the MSP airport, but is very close to Roseville Covenant Church and is in a very convenient location, right off of 694. I imagine this location might be preferred for families or people who are planning to come to town early or stay later - simply because it might be easier to get to. There are several restaurants and stores very close to the Hilton as well, but probably not within walking distance (you will be here in March, ya know).

Both hotels have a pool, fitness center and business center, if needed. They also both have check-in at 3:00pm and check-out at 12:00pm. Talk to the hotels individually when reserving your room if you need/want that changed. Be sure to mention the Bergstrom/Barry wedding when reserving your room!

Our reception is at the Wabasha Street Caves
Maybe the behind-the-times look of their website is fitting for a site that used to be a speakeasy? I'm not sure, but I'm asking you to not judge the Caves by their ugly website. I am SO excited about having our reception here - it's such a unique place with an amazing history. You'll want to be sure and get to the caves during our cocktail hour so you can take a guided tour! I guarantee it hikes up the (already high) coolness level by a factor of 10. A couple things to note about the Caves:

1. No, you won't feel like your in a cave.
2. Yes, you can stand up straight. The ceilings are high.
3. Because they're underground, the Caves are naturally cool. It might be a good idea to bring a sweater if you get cold easily.

Finally, a big huge thanks to MK, Rachel and Julie for coming over this weekend to help out with invitations. These girls are MACHINES! We got through everything in one evening, which a handful of exceptions - only because we aren't 100% on address collection. Robby was banned from any addressing (have you SEEN his handwriting?) but both he and Chris helped out big time with stuffing envelopes. It was a really fun time and it felt awesome to get so much accomplished. <3

P.S.A.

It's possible that you'll start getting things in the mail soon. I'm not going to give a guarantee at all, but ya know. Keep an eye out.

Additionally, here is your Public Service Announcement:
Janna spells her name with 2 N's
Robby spells his name with a Y.

Now you know; and knowing is half the battle! :D

No, I didn't forget about you.

Okay so maybe I did. Don't take it personally. I actually think you're very pretty. So let's get things up to date!

In non-wedding news:

Thanksgiving was in Grafton with Barb and Peter and several more of Robby's family members. It was nice to be back so soon after getting a chance to meet the extended family. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well for some of the trip, so I spent a lot of time being lame on the couch. I WAS, however, feeling well enough to watch the Diet Coke + Mentos extravaganza. :)


Christmas Eve was the usual church, dinner and shenanigans at my parents house in White Bear Lake with the Donley family. Lots of singing, talking, eating, and being together. Christmas Day was also out in WBL with Dave, Karin and the boys. It's so fun to have the boys around for everything - especially since Dave and Karin were off in Russia last Christmas working on bringing Vanya home!


And right before Christmas, we had a new addition to our friend group! Jackson Thomas Verdoorn was born, making a family of 4. Robby and I were able to visit them while still in the hospital. It was so great to see how excited Sophie is about her new brother. It's entirely possible that Sophie was just as excited to get some time to hang out with Robby. Wow, she loves him. :)

And finally, within the last week Robby and I have purchased a new car (Honda CR-V) and a new furnace! We are a little more excited about one of them than the other. But I've had my eye on that cute little furnace for so long now!

In wedding news:
WOW. 75 DAYS AWAY. Dinner menus have been finalized, bridesmaid dresses have been ordered, I've had my first dress fitting, and the invitations have been ordered! Also, it's a good thing I happened to use one of the phone numbers for our hotels because it turns out I had typed out a 9 instead of a 0 and called a fax machine instead. SO glad I found that before our final order!

Last week I got a call from Mom saying that she had received a letter from our florist. Unfortunately she's had to close her shop! :( I had a couple seconds of panic before I realized we had plenty of time to find someone - it just meant some more running around and appointment making. Luckily my mom had already done some research before she even called me. I think that helped me not to worry! In addition to Erik telling me that the florist went out of business 1 week before his wedding. I had nothing to complain about!

Mom and I went up to Forest Lake on Saturday to meet with Melissa at Bella Flowers. She was so great! She even spoke to our former florist to get an idea of what we had talked about, she used some flowers from her shop to give Mom and I some visual help and was just all around awesome. Plus, we were there for about 3 hours and it didn't feel like it at all! Both Mom and I left feeling really excited about everything.

And in the category of my current favorite people, Heather Hofmann is being AWESOME and helping me to locate these adorable cupcake photo holders that we'll use on the tables for the reception. Yay for having friends who can use their employee discounts! :D Now we just have to figure out how to ship 35 model cupcakes from Indiana to Minnesota...

So now Robby and I are working on real specifics. We're going to meet with Dave to work on planning the ceremony, we want to find a time to meet with Mike so we can choose music, our friends are planning parties for us, our registries are being updated. All kinds of stuff! All of our friends are being amazing and offering help left and right. We are so so lucky!

I think that's the update for now. I'll be updating the links on the blog for our updated registries and any hotel information.

Holy canoli

I have a lot to tell you about!

Two weekends ago, Robby and I drove down and over to Grafton for a big Bergstrom-Barry family extravaganza. My parents, my brother and my two nephews also made the trip. We spent Saturday afternoon and evening hanging out with parents, siblings, Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I was a little nervous, but nothing too bad. His family was so welcoming and fun; it was a great afternoon! It meant so much to me to see all those family members around for our visit. It also meant a lot for my own family to be there as well! Robby had the wonderful idea for the get-together so our family could meet before our big day. It was a great idea - one of his many. I'm really glad we did it. Big big thank yous to all the travel, cleaning and cooking that went into the visit! I wish I had some pictures so share, but I managed to leave my camera in my purse the entire time.

In other wedding news, I found the bridesmaid dresses (yay, I found a great green!), I found my wedding shoes (many brains will implode at the sight) and today was our tasting at D'Amico! I knew it was going to be good and I knew it was going to be a lot of food but HOLY CRAP I had no idea a human could eat that much food in 2 hours. I was honestly in PAIN. (See what we go through for you people? Just to make sure your food tastes good? I hope you appreciate it) It was a great experience and I am just now coming out of my food coma - almost 3 hours later. It's really important for us to have good food at our wedding, and there is no doubt of that happening!