VICTORIA and ZAK

Wedding pictures are finally available to view at: www.zplusv.com/wedding

Well it took a while, but we finally edited down all our honeymoon pictures. They are available for you to view at:

www.zplusv.com/honeymoon

We are expecting to have our wedding pictures in a couple weeks, so we will post them as soon as we can!

Victoria and I both had a great time at the wedding shower. Dessa, Jennifer and Laura all did a great job putting it together, and so did everyone else who helped as well. We are so grateful and appreciative to them. Thank you!

I was overwhelmed when I walked into the room and saw the gigantic table of presents, everyone really out did themselves with the gift giving, it was a really great surprise though. Victoria and I have a lot of wonderful stuff to start our lives together with, and we will never forget about those who were generous enough to bless us with those gifts. I included a video of me opening our Dyson vacuum below, check it out to hear an interesting story. Towards the end you can hear my Aunt Kathy yell “How much was it Victoria?” to which my Aunt Rose responds “Priceless!”, how true. Thank you!

I was also overwhelmed that Victoria and Erin were able to carry one of my gifts, an infared grill, out of Home Depot and into their car, and then from their car upstairs to the room where we had the shower, those are some mighty impressive girls (see below). It was a perfect gift for me and I can’t wait to use it. Thank you!

So in case I didn’t say it enough already, THANK YOU!! It was an amazing day that I won’t soon forget.

It took us a while, but we have finally decided on the perfect spot for our honeymoon…….Bali!

We will be splitting our trip between two hotels, Kayumanis (which is along the coast) and Ubud Hanging Gardens (which is in the forest). Below are some photos of each of the hotels along with links to their websites

Kayumanis / www.kayumanis.com

Hanging Gardens / www.ubudhanginggardens.com

a picture from the day we got engaged

Victoria and I photographed our first wedding together a couple weeks ago for our friends Kristin and Steve. We had a blast and were quite happy with the images we got, have a look at some of them below.

After looking at hundreds of photographer’s websites and thousands of images, we finally decided on our photographer. Her name is Elizabeth Messina and she is from California. She was voted one of the Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the country by American Photo magazine. We can’t wait to be in front of her lens, until then, check out some of her work at her website and blog….

www.elizabethmessina.com

www.kissthegroom.com

Here I am at Elewa Farms

For most people, picking a venue to hold the reception at is overwhelming, with so many options to choose from which do you choose. However, for me, I knew right away where I wanted our celebration to take place.

Elawa Farms as most of you know, is the place where Zachary proposed to me. It is also the place Zachary and I spend many hours at, walking the trails, taking pictures, and visiting the farmers market. It is very near and dear to our hearts, which is why we couldn’t have found a more perfect place to share with our family and friends.

What many of you may not know is that we had to get approved by the city of Lake Forest in order to hold the reception there. We began the long and challenging process for getting this venue approved in early October. It wasn’t until November 26^th that I found out the city of Lake Forest had approved us to hold the reception there.

So, I am happy to announce we now have a place and date. The wedding reception will take place at Elawa Farms on Saturday, September 26, 2009. It will be the first wedding ever to take place at Elawa Farms and according to the city counsel we will be setting a precedent for future events, so it better be good!

Lastly, before I sign off, I want to thank all the people involved in getting Elawa Farms approved, Shelley Walker, Michael (the tent guy), and of course my wonderful fiancée who got me through all the pre approval stress.

1) Marriott Residence Inn Lake Forest/Mettawa – #847-615-2701

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/chilk-residence-inn-chicago-lake-forest-mettawa/

1 bedroom King suite with pull out sofa sleeper = $79 per night (includes breakfast)

Reasons to consider the Marriott:
-Affordable rates
-Complimentary breakfast
-Pool and work out facility
-Brand new hotel
-Located right off I-60 exit and is about 6 minutes to the wedding ceremony and reception site.

2) Deerpath Inn Lake Forest – #847-234-2280

www.dpihotel.com

Executive Junior: $135 (Single room)
Standard Executive: $155/165 (single/double)
Suite: $210/210 (single/double)

Reason to consider the Deerpath Inn:
-The rehearsal dinner will be held at the Deerpath Inn
-The Deerpath Inn is next door to St. Mary’s of Lake Forest, which is where the wedding ceremony will take place.
-The Deerpath Inn is located in the heart of downtown Lake Forest, and is walking distance to local restaurants and shops.
-The Deerpath Inn provides free beach passes to Lake Forest beach, which is located about 1 mile from the hotel.
-All rooms on hold for wedding guests have been recently remodeled and updated.

Important information to remember before you book either hotel:

-All rooms are being held under Hansen/Skwarek, so when booking a room you must tell them you are with the Hansen/Skwarek wedding in order to receive the special room rate.

-The rooms will only be held 30 days prior to the wedding date (September 26th), so please book your rooms before that time.

-If you have any questions about this information please email us:

Victoria: photo@victoriaskwarek.com

Zachary: zhansen@pegasusmarketing.com

Zachary and I look forward to seeing everyone at the wedding!

As many of you know, I had been admiring this particular ring for quite some time. My first sighting of this ring occurred with Joyce, my future mother in law. We were at Tiffany’s picking up perfume one day and Joyce mentioned that we should go take a look at some of the engagement rings, well we did, and I fell in love with this one. Needless to say I was hooked. Every chance I got to visit the ring, I took. I began referring to it as “my ring”. The ring became somewhat of a joke; I would constantly ask Zachary when I was going to get “my ring”. He would reply… “soon”. This went on for about a year. LOL… Every trip we took where there was a Tiffany’s with in 40 miles of where we were staying, we would visit it just so that I could see “my ring”, try it on, and of course pretend that it was mine.

On October 5^th 2008, while standing on a platform in Elawa Farms, our favorite spot, Zachary got down on bended knee and asked me to marry him. In his hand was a Tiffany’s box with “my ring” inside. The night before he had asked me if I was sure that I didn’t want to look at any other rings, that I was sure I wanted “my ring”. I looked at him and said YES and proceeded to tell him why…

I told him…”I could have another ring made to look similar for cheaper, and it would probably still be beautiful, but the real reason I want this one is because of the story behind it.”