It's All Happening!

Matt and I both took the Monday after our bachelor/ette parties off. What? We're old. A big night of drinking takes a lot out of us, and it takes a bit longer to get over it than it used to!

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Anywho. Since we had the day off, we thought we'd take advantage of it to get some stuff done. First stop?

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Philadelphia City Hall, of course! I was so excited that Philadelphia County's Office of Marriage License (or whatever it's called) was located in City Hall. I love this building, and have always wanted an excuse to go inside. Umm...it's way cooler on the outside. Inside, it looks like an old classroom building. Kiiiiiiinda disappointing, yo. But I digress. We arrived at the office (after some confused bumbling around the building - they sure don't make it clear where you're supposed to go!) and were one of only 3 couples there. So, yay, no wait! After answering all those ridiculous questions (seriously, why do they care what my mom's occupation is?), we signed on the dotted line and had our marriage license in hand! Yippee! Now, I know what you're saying:

Say you: Wait a minute....that was August 30th! You're wedding is October 23rd. Isn't that a little early?
Say me: Yes, I suppose it is. But it's within the 60-day time frame. And this was the last day we have off until two days before the wedding. So, it was now or never.

Here's hoping our Pastor gets it in the mail right after the wedding, or we could have some issues! Unfortunately, I did not document this momentous occasion. I totally had my camera with me, too, but completely forgot to get it out and snap our photo in front of City Hall with our license. Sorry, friends!

After City Hall, we walked over to Steven Singer, a popular jewelry store in Philly. There is where Matt got my engagement ring. Have you seen that yet?

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Ain't she purty? He did a good job. Steven Singer has this ad campaign - "I hate Steven Singer." It's written all over their windows and there are billboards up all over the city. See?

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It's because guys hate it because their women love it. And, um, yeah...I totally do. First of all, their customer service is top-notch. Second of all, we never once felt like we were trying to be up-sold. And third of all, their jewelry is freaking beautiful. When we went shopping together for my engagement ring, my sister and brother-in-law were with us. The store closed at 5. We got there at 4:40, totally thinking that we would be turned away and asked to come back. Nope. They let us in, served us beer and wine and fresh-baked cookies (no, I'm not kidding!), and continued to work with us until 6. They explained every little nuance of diamond-purchasing. They showed us probably 30 different settings and then 4 different stones until I had "designed" my top 4 choices of rings (Matt didn't want me to totally pick it, he wanted ideas and then he'd make the final decision - he picked my first choice, without knowing it).

Anyway, enough crowing about Steven Singer. We went back on Monday and, again, had phenomenal customer service. The salesperson spent a lot of time with us, explaining the difference between metals used in mens' rings and helping us find the perfect match to my engagement ring. Finally, we decided on these 2:

(mine)

(Matt's)

Mine really is a perfect match to my engagement ring. And Matt's is kind of perfect for him. It's got that very subtle metal change, but because it's not outlined or carved out, it's not really noticeable unless you really study the ring. When we were considering it against another one, I said, "It's like this one has a little secret!" Cheesy, but it's true. Unless you get close to it, and really look at, you could miss the different metal there. It's kind of like Matt - if you see him but don't know him, you get a very different picture of who he is. I love it. I love mine.

Are you sick of hearing me gush over Steven Singer yet? Cuz I'm not done. While we were there, they cleaned up my Grandmother's ring that I'll be using as my Something Old (I'll show you this in another post). AND they also took my opal ring and are resizing it so I can wear it again. YAY! I, for one, do not hate Steven Singer!

So there you have it. All in all, a very successful day. Topped off with dinner and drinks at Continental at their rooftop bar. Mmmm....perfection.