Every Kiss & Lifetime Commitment Begins With Kay Jewelers, Apparently

Kay Jewelers Edison NJI never thought that I’d post another blog post to my site’s Wedding category again, but here I am. Except it’s not quite an engagement to a wedding since marriage is not exactly what we will be going for.

At least, not all of the legal paperwork associated with one. The lifetime commitment aspect is more important to me than labeling it. I went to like 6 or 7 jewelry stores to try & find the ideal ring.

I knew a cliché ring with a single diamond on a high-up setting, the three diamonds (past, present & future) or the infinity symbol that’s hip for eternal love wouldn’t do the trick. I wanted something as unique as she was & she’d would see as a ring I picked out just for her.

I wound up finding the right ring at Kay Jewelers at the Menlo Mall in Edison NJ on accident. I saw a couple of choices and something in my gut told me to ask to see other options and that’s when I found THE ring: a Le Vian Chocolatier ring with an antique-like 14-karat rose gold band, a series of chocolate diamonds on top & vanilla diamonds going down the side.

The lady at the counter was very helpful & patient with me. She made the experience painless and hassle free.

Le Vian Chocolatier RingHow I Popped the Question

My Plan A was to do it while we were vacationing in Cuba, but that got nixed fast since she didn’t want to bring any fancy jewelry because it’s a foreign country that we had no cultural idea about. So off to Plan B.

Plan B was to convince her to take a trip into the city for Christmas Eve. Luckily, it wasn’t hard at all since I made it feel spontaneous. That’s evident by our train ride & looking up places that were open.

We took the subway to Union Square where we enjoyed a couple of cocktails at Five Napkin Burger including one she really enjoyed when we did a family Christmas brunch in Hell’s Kitchen. After that, we walked to our reservation at a French restaurant called Boucherie that’ll be subject of its own blog post soon.

After our meal, we stopped by her own high school where we swung on some swings together. We wound up wandering around the area into a bar where we got a Christmas cocktail. I was dropping hints all night, but my plan come to fruition.

We got into a cab to Rockefeller Center since the tree was lit all night on Christmas, which it became as midnight passed. I decided to take her to the tree and let her know I wanted to spend my life with her. She was shocked to say the least and just gave me the longest hug.

It took a while for her to actually say yes. In fact, it was after she showed her brother & mother the ring. I had to actually tell her, “I assume you say yes” in the cab.

I don’t know if traditional wedding bells will be rung (probably) but I know I’m happy making this commitment. She told me that there’s a Spanish word for fiance but it more so translates to promise: prometido. With no wedding coming, I will proudly be a prometido.

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Divorced: How Steven J Kaplan Helped Me Through the Toughest Time of My Life

This is not how I pictured my life going. The fact that I’m officially divorced at 31 is very bittersweet.

My dream was to be married only once (since my parents got divorced when I was 12 or 13), have a family and grow old with my wife. It took a while, but I’ve mourned and accepted that loss for the sake of my happiness.

My Lawyer

Steven J KaplanSteven J Kaplan was recommended to me by a trusted source, so I went to meet with him. Right away, he gave me assurance that the divorce process would be simple and straightforward (legally of course, emotionally was much different).

With his over 25 years of experience, Kaplan talked me through the whole process step by step and how everything would work. He knew that I wanted as little emotional/financial damage as possible (that came into play of course), so he took that into consideration.

He made me feel so reassured by laying everything out. Him telling me “I’ve never seen ______ in my 25+ years of practicing law” a couple of times made me feel a lot better about the divorce.

From the retainer process through the final judgment, Steven took all of the legal stress away from me and that’s priceless. He told me I didn’t have to stay for getting the hardcopy of the paperwork, which was nice since I cried the whole drive home.

The Next Phase of My Life

With everything being over, I’m choosing to put the pain and bitterness behind me. I’m going to heed the advice of the judge and remember the good times. And I’m grateful to Beth for them and being there for me in my darkest hours when my Dad passed away suddenly & I got laid off twice.

The divorce also made it clear that I needed to work on other relationships in my life with family and friends. And work on finding myself more with my wrestling and other bucket list I want to pursue.

And I’m blessed enough to not start the next chapter of my life alone, as I met Jess in 2016. She has been somebody I can lean on with all of the bad feelings I’ve had and share the good & bad times of life with.

We fell for each other really fast & hard… and I couldn’t be happier. I’m more than willing to walk through life by myself because I love who I am (and will become), but would prefer to have her by my side.

I’m taking the lessons learned from my marriage and applying them to all aspects of my life. The next phase of my life is just the beginning, but I highly doubt that I’ll ever get married again. I believe I can have a lifelong partnership and start a family without being bound by the legalities of marriage, seeing as how at least half of marriages end in divorce anyhow.

I ran a little off the rails of my lawyer Steven J Kaplan, but there are just things I wrote out that I needed to see the text of (not just in my head) that are here for you to read and others I released without publishing.

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One More Thing About the Wedding… Lil Cutie Pops

Lil Cutie Pops Red Bank NJWith a huge day like my wedding, I knew I’d forget to mention something. And that thing was the favors.

In my defense, I couldn’t talk about the wedding favors before the big day since they were supposed to be a surprise. But once the day ended, it was a detail that slipped my mind when I rated my vendors since they technically weren’t a vendor.

We decided on cake pops from Lil Cutie Pops. Beth thought “I’ll make them myself,” and then she thankfully came to her senses. We went down there when we were shopping for other vendors in Red Bank and got to sample some balls.

We got to bring home 4 flavors and we thought a couple were a little dry since we got there late in the day (and I assume they were made early in the morning & we drove in the car for like an hour with the samples). We decided on the cookies and cream flavor since we were able to get it in our wedding colors.

They tasted even better than the samples we got. In fact, we got a bunch of leftovers and I ate 1 or 2 per day. Some days, 5 or 6. The point is we made a good choice with Lil Cutie Pops when it came to our wedding favors.

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Wedding Blog: The Special Weekend Has Come & Gone

I’ve been blogging about my wedding ever since I proposed. I documented every step of the way and now it’s finally done. Between the wedding weekend and the honeymoon, everything went pretty much as smoothly as possible.

Here are my brief thoughts on each major expense for the whole wedding/honeymoon experience:

The Garlic Rose: The food and service were both great for our rehearsal dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it was good to eat dinner & chat with friends.

Homewood Suites by Hilton: I felt like this was a bit disappointing since Beth’s room had 2 leaks in it and I thought someone else was staying in my room since the dishwasher was running, the lights were on and the door was open. Not to mention, the maintenance staff disobeyed a Do Not Disturb sign on the door the morning after the wedding. One night of Beth’s stay wound up being free because of this, but I was still upset that this didn’t go super smoothly.

River Dell Flowers: All of the floral arrangements looked amazing and nothing seemed out of place.

Love & Light Photographs: They made the wedding photo experience so easy and all of the photos turned out great. Check out some of the featured ones here.

Sounds To Go: The music from the ceremony to the cocktail hour and throughout the reception was spot on, as was the lighting. The photo booth also seemed to be a big hit.

Galloping Hill Golf Course: The venue helped make everything happen, even coordinating with the photographer to get sunset photos taken. They made sure we had cocktail hour food in our room and ensured us that we ate.

One more thing I want to mention: between the dress, hair and makeup, Beth was such a beautiful bride. I could barely keep my eyes off of her all night.

Sandals Grande Antigua: This was such a fun week away from it all. The butlers treated us great, helped whenever we needed them to and even set up some romantic surprises all week along. The food was good as well, aside from the disappointment we both felt in the food quality and service at the Bayside restaurant during dinner. The beach and pool areas were also wonderful, especially since our butlers always reserved us a spot wherever we asked.

Another inconvenience was when we booked an excursion and it wasn’t put into the system properly, so we had to do it another day. But, Beth and I had fun exploring Antigua by sea (even though she got a little sick). We both swam with sting rays and I snorkeled at the Pillars of Hercules near English Harbour. The room was also very nice and featured a rain shower that we both miss.

I hope you enjoyed reading my wedding blog series. Seeing as this is (hopefully) the only wedding I’ll ever have, this is the “happily ever after” part of my wedding fairy tale.

Wedding Blog: The Month of Final Details

After all of the big decisions we made for our wedding, we needed to etch out every last detail to ensure everything will happen smoothly on Sunday. Just knowing the wedding is so close is quite the scary yet exciting thought.

Sounds to GoConfirming the Major Details

The last month has been all about meetings and confirmations with our major vendors. The one I remember most is meeting our DJ at Sounds to Go since:

  1. Their business card changed.
  2. My house and new wave music choices got vetoed. I sneaked a song or two I really wanted on there though.
  3. He seemed like a nice guy.

We also coordinated with him about the order people are entering in, as we coordinated with Love & Light Photographs about the photography schedule for the day that included buying an extra hour because we just have too much time in the whole process.

Then, there was the final meeting at Galloping Hill Golf Course, which was nice to see everything coming to fruition and not having a lot of “wedding crap” in my living room. And arranging the favors at a separate location, which I’m not spoiling.

There’s also First Class Limousines who were pretty curt to my fiancee in confirming the time since they insist on trying to drive people to the venue so early, bringing the centerpieces & other “wedding crap” to River Dell Flowers, Beth picking up the wedding paper (new term I learned) from Holland Designs & Beth trying on her wedding dress several times at Bijou Bridal in Paramus NJ.

The bridesmaids also received their dresses from Here Comes the Bridesmaid and they used the wrong size chart for their dresses. That means that they didn’t fit right, even to the extent where one girl had to get a refund & rush order a new dress from elsewhere. Good thing I got my suit months ago. For another wedding.

Bijou Bridal Paramus NJ Here Comes the Bridesmaid

Good thing I got my suit months ago. For another wedding.

Getting the Gifts

This was a pretty straightforward process throughout. We knew what we wanted to get people, but I’m not spoiling it here. We did a variety of things for our wedding party, ranging from going out & buying things at a retailer to ordering things online (ex. Embroidery by Linda on Etsy) & getting things custom made (ex. Things Remembered in Edison NJ).

Embroidery by Linda Things Remembered Edison NJ

Rock Your Hair StudiosGroom’s Haircut

Yes, this counts folks. I wanted to ensure my hair looked perfect for the wedding. Instead of going to some second-rate chain that I only use because I get coupons in the mail, I decided to go to a more upscale location.

I chose Rock Your Hair Studios LLC, which is right by my job. I got my haircut last week since I wanted to get over the first week hair shock I experience. Lauren was quite helpful in doing my hair the way I wanted to.

She was skeptical at first and then understood as my hair got buzzed and scissored off. She made sure it would look good for the big day. I think it was worth the extra money to make sure it was right and not put to chance by the stylist working that night at the places I usually go.

Iannelli DiamondsWedding Band Field Trip

We went into the city a while ago to pick out our wedding bands at the same place where I got the engagement ring: Iannelli Diamonds. Unfortunately, the wedding band did not fit properly due to fingers swelling up in the heat (we shopped for bans in like March).

The solution: we had to drive into Manhattan & have them use a machine to stretch it a bit. It now works, so crisis adverted (for now).

ButtonwilloeCake Topper

We wanted a special cake topper and we saw one we really liked that was created by Buttonwilloe. We honestly forgot about this until the last minute, so we were a bit panicked when we realized that we didn’t order this important detail yet.

Thankfully, Buttonwilloe came through and got us our cake topper in very little time.

Pink Blossom Goods????????????

This whole wedding has me so stressed out, I don’t remember what exactly we used Pink Blossom Goods for. I don’t feel like asking my fiancee, but I’m not sure if it’s a gift or other wedding paper (there’s my expanding vocabulary again).

Either way, we got the business card in the mail, so I added it to my collection.

**Update** Pink Blossom Goods made the customized door hangers I wanted for our hotel guests. They turned out great!

Tell me about your final month wedding happy or horror stories in the comments below or on Twitter @ChrisKeuling!

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Wedding Blog: Bachelor Party Madness in Atlantic City

Bachelor Party Atlantic City NJI recently wrote about my fiancee’s bridal shower and bachelorette party. This past weekend, my brother Brian & my two groomsmen (Jerry & Jon) threw me my bachelor party.

It was quite the fun experience. It actually started on Friday night at my apartment when they all came to spend the night. We wound up new wrestling (TNA, which nobody seemed to like) and an old WWE pay-per-view from 1998 (Fully Loaded) that brought back memories while playing Uno, Phase 10, Sorry and Scattergories. We carbed up on Domino’s and wound up going to bed at about 2 am.

The next day, we went to our hotel, the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, and spent some time gambling. First, it was the slots (or what I call reverse ATMs as they take your money). Then, it was let it ride and craps where I got my money back and then some.

Then, came on the traditional tacky shirt you see above. Hitting the town.

Saturday Night

WWE House Show Atlantic City NJContinental Restaurant Atlantic City NJWe went to dinner at The Continental at Caesars. There was some good food and drinks there for sure. My drink of choice was watermelon and blackberry sangria (a great break from the vodka/cranberries I was getting on the casino floor).

We started off with 3 appetizers: beer-battered shrimp & calamari, Cantonese ribs and French onion soup dumplings. All were equally good in their own way.

My entree (pictured) was the Chilean sea bass with miso glaze, Chinese broccoli and sweet potato mash, which was all delicious together and separate. I also had one of my brother’s cheesesteak eggroll that’s the product of a Chinese man making love to a Philly gal in my mouth.

The Night Was Still Young

Then came the surprise: tickets to a live WWE house show (non-televised). It was a fun event that featured a steel cage match and the saltiest popcorn I’ve ever had. I felt like I sucked the moisture from my tongue and roof of mouth with a vacuum cleaner.

We walked back to Resorts and gambled some more. A combination of blackjack and let it ride. My groomsmen never gambled playing cards before, so it was fun seeing them get used to the game. Especially Jerry playing his first hand of let it ride all wrong and Jon needing to get advice from the blackjack dealer (and the rest of the table) whether to hit or stay.

Afterwards, we went to a bar for a cocktail and a then to a club where a fun time was had by all.

Late Night Shenanigans

The most interesting part was the walk back to the hotel where a fight broke out in the back of a casino. One guy who was held back by his buddies eventually got around them and chased the other guy. Both men stripped down to their shorts and took off their shirts.

Then, the police came as a car came barreling down the boardwalk. We stumbled back into the hotel and ate a late-night meal at Plate American Cafe in our hotel. I had some grilled chicken and pepper jack burger (I took the bun out) and well-done french fries to satisfy my munchies.

The next morning, we checked out and ate at the buffet in Caesars. I had an eclectic mix of prime rib, an egg white omelette, hot sausage, turkey breakfast sausage, fried chicken (which sucked) and edamame topped off with banana sherbet for dessert.

I reflected on the ride home about how fun my Atlantic City bachelor party was, including the two new inside jokes: the RKO Outta Nowhere! and the Geico coldcuts/bupkis dance. Tell me about your bachelor party experience in AC or elsewhere in the comments below or on Twitter @ChrisKeuling!

Wedding Blog: Bridal Shower/Bachelorette Party Weekend

Heldrich New Brunswick NJThis blog post isn’t really about me. But it’s still part of the wedding process. Beth decided to have her bridal shower and bachelorette party on the same weekend.

Saturday was the shower, which took place at the Arts Annex Banquet Facility in Dunellen NJ. I got there at 2:30 to pack stuff up and saw the tail end of things in a nice-looking venue. I tasted some of the catering they had: the chicken parm and roast beef were good, but the potatoes were to die for. The bridesmaids made/brought food, the highlight of which were milk/white chocolate-covered pretzel rods.

On Sunday, Beth and her bridesmaids went to The Heldrich in New Brunswick NJ for a spa day. I don’t know how the place looks or operates, but it seemed like Beth had a fun & relaxing time. And I got 2 business cards from it, so that’s a win-win to me.

My bachelor party will take place in a few weekends and I probably won’t shower.

I’d love to hear your experience at either the Arts Annex Banquet Facility or the Heldrich in the comments below or on Twitter @ChrisKeuling!

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Wedding Blog: A Weekend of Tastings

For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to have both my wedding cake tasting and my wedding menu tasting on the same weekend. Boy, was I full.

Palermo's BakerySaturday was the wedding cake tasting at Palermo’s Bakery in Ridgefield Park NJ. We made an appointment for 3:30 and it was a pretty packed room. There were many fake cakes on display to show what kind of unique work they can do.

But, let’s move onto the tasting. The girl who was there was quite nice and helpful when bringing us our cake. My stomach cringed when seeing the cake.

Wedding Cake Tasting

Yeah, there were too many flavors to choose from. Some were good and some weren’t. Who would choose to put chocolate pudding in a wedding cake anyway? We decided on 2 flavors to have, one that Beth enjoyed the most and one that I liked.

I’m not a huge dessert person, I might have it once a week (if that). Beth also got me a grooms cake, but I left the store when she was talking about it. Good thing I walked up and down Main Street to snag some more business cards, including a barber shop/shoe shop combination place with a rap theme. Interesting.

Galloping Hill Golf CourseSunday was the wedding menu tasting at Galloping Hill. If I thought I was full on Saturday, then Sunday redefined full. I also met our bridal attendant, who was quite nice and helpful. I’m confident in her ability to make our wedding day even better.

My, my fiancee, my mother & Beth’s guardian ate an array of appetizers including cocktail franks, coconut shrimp, mini beef wellington, bacon-wrapped scallops, samosas and more. The entrees were next: two fish courses, two beefs and two chickens with various sides. Everything tasted delightful and I took home some for lunch the next day.

Overall, both tastings were fun experiences that you need to really ready yourself for in terms of how much food there is. Tell me about your tasting experiences in the comments below or on my Twitter @ChrisKeuling!

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Wedding Blog: Rehearsal Dinner Restaurant Tasted & Booked

Garlic Rose Cranford NJIt’s another wedding blog, but it doesn’t involve the wedding day: it’s the rehearsal dinner. Me, my fiancée and my mom wound up having lunch at the Garlic Rose in Cranford NJ, right by our wedding venue. That made it one of our first choices for a rehearsal dinner spot.

When we arrived, Marc Corello (who my mom spoke with on the phone) was not present and had to be fetched via phone. I’m not sure if he was running errands or just forgot we were coming, but we waited for like 20 minutes for him to arrive.

Anyway, we sat down and looked at the menu. We wanted to sample some of the food, so we ordered an appetizer to share, a pasta meal split 3 ways and 3 entrées: a beef, a chicken and a fish.

Virtually everything we ate there tasted great, so I want to keep the food items a secret for our guests invited to the rehearsal dinner. The one thing that was not exactly right was the fish course I ordered: the Salmon St. Michele. The lemon velouté sauce was way too sweet to my liking and the saffron yellow rice was bland.

That just means I’ll have to pick another fish and I have one in mind. I also think I’ll be opting not to have the rice on the side and replacing it with something else.

We’ll see what happens though, as the rest of the food I tried (everything) was quite good. Our one other concern was that Beth’s grandma isn’t exactly mobile and there’s a set of stairs to go down to the private party room we reserved. I guess I’ll be carrying grandma on my shoulder.

Tell me about your experience at the Garlic Rose in the comments below or on Twitter @ChrisKeuling!

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Wedding Blog: Booking a First Class Wedding Shuttle

First Class LimousineAs we get closer to the wedding, there will be more wedding blogs as we start booking more vendors and buying more things, draining my bank account. Yippee.

Let’s start off with something that we apparently booked way too late: the the wedding transportation! After furiously making several phone calls, we contacted First Class Limousine based on a flyer we previously had from another wedding escapade.

And by we, I mean Beth.

Robert PortanteWe, meaning both of us, went to an appointment to see the shuttle itself. We met with Robert Portante about the service and pricing and found that he was honest about everything & friendly to speak with.

We saw the shuttle he talked about and it’s quite comfortable & spacious. There’s more than enough room to make only a few trips, making it easier to stick to our budget and feel less stressed about people not getting stranded at our wedding hotel that’s 5 minutes away.

Tell me about your experience with Robert Portante, First Class Limousine or another wedding transportation company in the comments below or on Twitter @ChrisKeuling!

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