“Wedding ring, other jewelry accidentally goes to church rummage sale - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel” plus 3 more

Wedding ring, other jewelry accidentally goes to church rummage sale - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A Fall Wedding Story - My Wedding Story - Associated Content
Planning a Wedding on a College Budget (PHOTOS) - Huffingtonpost.com
15 ways to wow your wedding guests - msnbc.com

Wedding ring, other jewelry accidentally goes to church rummage sale - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Posted: 14 Sep 2010 08:56 PM PDT

Benny Sieu

Dick and Katie Reisinger can still manage a smile after she donated a puzzle box to a rummage sale that held her precious jewelry.

Sept. 14, 2010 |

Stingl Videos

Periodically, columnist Jim Stingl hits the streets of Milwaukee. To see his latest video columns, click the thumbnails below.

Dick Reisinger was just trying to hide his wife's best jewelry in a place where burglars wouldn't think to look.

He chose a puzzle box on a bedroom shelf.

Katie Reisinger was just trying to help out a church rummage sale by donating some household items.

Among the things she bagged up was the very same puzzle box.

She had no idea she was giving away her wedding ring and other precious jewelry.

"Needless to say, I have been a basket case," she said.

"It's a disaster, Jim, to say the least," Dick told me. "Sometimes you write articles about what some dumb people do."

The Reisingers aren't dumb. They got tangled up in a comedy of errors that they don't find funny at all. They're hoping someone got the jigsaw puzzle home from the rummage sale, found the jewelry inside and will return it to them.

Their story starts in mid-August as they prepared for a weeklong trip to California for a granddaughter's wedding. Worried about the possibility of a burglary at their Brown Deer home while gone, Katie asked Dick to think of a good hiding place for the jewelry. She handed him a small leather container holding the wedding ring, two other diamond rings, a silver ring with a turquoise stone, a gold bracelet and a pair of earrings.

"I thought no one would ever go and look in a puzzle box," Dick said.

He had no idea how right he was about that.

A couple days after they returned home from the West Coast, a neighbor came over to remind them of the upcoming rummage sale on Aug. 27 and 28 at Brown Deer United Methodist Church, 5736 W. Brown Deer Road, to benefit the church's day-care center.

Katie pulled together a stack of books, some glassware and four puzzle boxes.

I should mention that Dick and Katie have been married nearly 60 years. They raised three sons. They have communicated as a couple a million times about things great and small. But not this time. Dick forgot to mention that he had put the jewelry in the box with 1,000 puzzle pieces. And Katie did not tell him what she was donating to the rummage sale.

I don't get the sense that they blame each other for what happened here. It wouldn't help anyway. They're in this together. The promise we make is for better or worse.

"We have never, ever lost anything like that. We normally sit down and discuss things," said Dick, a retired construction company superintendent.

A week went by after the rummage sale. Katie was sorting things on her dresser. She went outside to ask Dick where he had hidden her jewelry.

"He said in the puzzle boxes in the spare bedroom. As I'm walking in the house, I'm thinking, Oh no!" Katie said.

What she said was more like, "Oh my God in heaven," is the way Dick remembers it.

They contacted the rummage sale organizers to see if anyone knew who purchased the puzzles. The church tacked up a notice and mentioned the loss during a couple services. The Reisingers contacted Brown Deer police just in case anyone had found the jewelry, valued at about $6,000. The diamond rings are insured. The couple is unsure about the design of the lost puzzle.

Dick said he won't be swayed from hiding valuables for future trips, but he'll let Katie know the exact spot. And for Katie, the lesson here is to take a close look at anything you're giving away.

"We've been keeping our fingers crossed," she said, "and feeling just terrible."

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or e-mail at jstingl@journalsentinel.com

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A Fall Wedding Story - My Wedding Story - Associated Content

Posted: 15 Sep 2010 01:24 PM PDT

My story starts on Christmas Eve 2004. After celebrating with family that evening we came home earlier than usual because I had to work early Christmas Morning. My boyfriend had been

bugging me for days to open presents and I decided this was as good a time as any. We had some wine, played Christmas music, and opened our gifts. I got a foot bath and a jewelry box with a beautiful necklace inside. It was a great night. I finished my wine and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. There I stood at the sink washing my face and wearing my favorite pajama pants and tee shirt with my hair pulled in a very messy pony tail. In mid face wash my boyfriend walks in, kneels next to me and holds up the most beautiful princess cut diamond solitaire ring I have ever seen. With my face covered in soap I yell "what are you doing?" "Will you marry me" he said in the softest tone. The only thing I could say was "Do you realize this is the mental picture you are going to have of me for the rest of your life?" I proceeded to grab the ring right out of his hand and knock him to the floor with a huge hug and kiss. "Well, you haven't answered yet" he said. At that point I screamed YES about 20 times at the top of my lungs. It went from being a great night to one of the best nights of my life.

Planning a Wedding on a College Budget (PHOTOS) - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 15 Sep 2010 11:29 AM PDT

An explanation: I married my wife the summer before our senior year in college. She's studying nursing, I'm studying journalism, and we're both figuring this out as we go. I'm writing about our first year together at Married in College.

My wife and I recently threw away our pile of bridal magazines. You know the type from the checkout aisle: pictures of fancy things you can't afford, lists of impractical tips, and ad after ad featuring stern, frowning women vamping in white dresses.

It's not that they were useless in planning our wedding. It's just that they were good for a laugh, especially when they attempted the obligatory "Planning Your Wedding on a Budget, You Poor Sap" feature.

Both of us being notorious cheapskates, my then-fiancée and I balked at the price tags they put on things like catering, photography and wedding bands. Our parents had offered to pitch in, but we weren't about to spend $20,000 in a single day, no matter whose money it was.

So, in the summer of 2010, we set out to tie the knot on a shoestring budget. Here's how two college students working for just above minimum wage can (and did) plan the best day of their lives:

1. Get your friends involved. This was easily our number-one money saver. We attend a huge state school with a lot of liberal-arts students, so we had no shortage of creative friends to ask when it came time to pick our photographer, DJ, singer, pianist, and wedding planner. In fact, all of those shoes were filled by our close friends and family members, who offered their services either discounted or free.

Of course, this can also go horribly wrong. It's important to realize that, just because you support your friend's dream of becoming the next Elliott Smith, he's not necessarily your best candidate for wedding singer. Practice a little discernment.

2. Do it yourself. "Easy for you to say, Mr. Didn't Have to Address 300 Invitations," my wife said when I brought this point up to her yesterday. It's true, I wasn't the one teaching myself calligraphy and writing 'til my hand seized up.

My hypocrisy aside, we discovered we could do a lot of things ourselves rather than pay a professional. We ordered sunflowers, baby's breath and ferns from a local wholesale florist, and a bevy of aunts and cousins helped my bride-to-be arrange them on the night before the wedding. I designed our programs and printed them at home on cardstock.

We found mason jars, hurricane lamps, ribbon, and tulle at craft stores, and we (read: she) created most of the decorations with a little help from a glue gun and a friend's sewing machine. After the ceremony, we reused bouquets for centerpieces at the reception.

3. Go for a smaller diamond. If you've done any engagement ring shopping, you know that the most important factors in determining price are the size and quality of the diamond. So if your fiancée doesn't require a big ol' rock -- and bear in mind, this is one "if" you must know with absolute certainty before proceeding -- then you can go for a smaller diamond and a fancier ring setting.

The setting I saw most often in jewelry stores was the solitaire, where the diamond juts out like an iceberg. The one I ended up picking took design cues from the Depression era, when folks couldn't afford 4 carats' worth of glistening carbon and opted instead for an ornately engraved ring with maybe a half-carat diamond. It looks a lot like my grandmother's. And yes, my wife loves it.

4. Host the wedding and reception in the same place. It might take some logistical finagling to make this happen, but the payoff is twofold: You save money, and you're less likely to have guests bailing before the reception and leaving you with twelve pounds of leftover asparagus crostini.

We ended up picking a park near our hometown with a conference room and an adjoining kitchen that served as the caterers' staging area. We had chairs set up in rows for the ceremony, and as soon as it was over, we had a couple of friends spring into action to clear the dance floor and push the chairs under tables.

5. Don't like it? Skip it. As we considered the possibility of eating leftover asparagus crostini for a week, we had an epiphany: Hors d'ouevres suck. So we didn't have any. The reception dinner was pork barbecue with mac 'n' cheese and salad. Best meal we had all week, and certainly a better deal than baked brie én croute.

Remember that nothing is mandatory. The marriage still counts, even in the absence of chocolate fountains and ice-sculpture swans.

A friend recently pointed out -- and I think she was right -- that the only people paying attention to the details are the ones planning their own weddings. Everyone else just wants to see you.

All photos by Pat Wright.

Read more on the Married in College blog.

Follow Paul Bowers on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Paul_Bowers

15 ways to wow your wedding guests - msnbc.com

Posted: 13 Sep 2010 01:19 PM PDT

JOE WITTE, announcer: TODAY'S WEDDING: MODERN LOVE is brought to you by...

ANN CURRY, co-host: MODERN LOVE , the reception venue. Once Melissa and Jeremy have exchanged their vows and rings on our plaza, it'll be time to party, and you get to pick where that's going to happen. We've got celebrity wedding designer Colin Cowie . He's helped us line up our choices and he's here alongside our bride, Melissa McMillin , and also...

This morning on TODAY'S WEDDING: Good morning, Melissa .

Mr. COLIN COWIE: ...out at Bagram Airfield we've got joining us again live, Jeremy Gebhardt . And he's on duty, by the way, as we've been mentioning, in Afghanistan . Good morning again, everybody, and it's nice to have you, Colin .

CURRY: Good morning.

Ms. MELISSA McMILLIN: Good morning, Ann. Thank you.

Mr. COWIE: So what should people be thinking about when they think about where to have a reception?

CURRY: I think the most important thing with a venue is it dictates so many things. How many people you can have or when you can have it, and also you want to make sure that you can have indoors and outdoors and make sure that you take care of the weather. And it needs to be a space that speaks to you.

Mr. COWIE: Mm-hmm.

Ms. McMILLIN: It needs to be a space that is going to allow you to put as much as you can in front of your guests without having to reinvent the space . So we looked at three great spaces in the city which I was quite excited about.

Mr. COWIE: Right. So you considered the -- this couple and you chose among your three choices, one of the choices is Hudson Terrace .

CURRY: Yes.

Mr. COWIE: Which is a venue, a place where people have parties and weddings and things like that?

CURRY: It's downtown, it's young, it's hip, it's kind of chic and friendly and it's right across the -- with a fabulous view of the Intrepid . So it does have that little patriotic moment as well.

Mr. COWIE: And you can see a lot from those windows, including the Intrepid and from the roof deck and there's so many things to look at?

CURRY: It gives you a great view of the indoors and it gives you a great view of the outdoors. And one of the things, they have a big retractable ceiling so you can start up outdoors and should there be a problem with the weather you can fix it real easily.

Mr. COWIE: OK, let's take a look then at what you found.

CURRY: The reason I selected the Hudson Terrace as one of the possible locations for our wedding is working with the team of MODERN LOVE , we're looking for something that was edgy, young and downtown. The great part about this location is not only do you have the ability to be outdoors on this wonderful deck but there's a magnificent view of the Hudson River right behind me. While we love to entertain outdoors, you should always have a good plane B. The first thing I'm going to do is remove all of this furniture and work with square table tops with 10 guests seated at each table. For the dancing, we're going downstairs. After they cut the wedding cake , the bridal party and guests will come down here to dance where you've got a stocked bar to keep the party well-fueled.

Mr. COWIE: Hm . Looks like fun. Melissa 's smiling.

CURRY: Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

Ms. McMILLIN: That's a good sign. All right, and now we -- let's take a look at another venue that Colin has picked out for you possibly, and that is the Central Park Zoo . Let's take a look at this.

CURRY: Cool space .

Mr. COWIE: The Central Park Zoo is an exclusive tranquil oasis right in the middle of New York 's Central Park and home to over one million visitors a year. Behind me the sea lion exhibit is an ideal spot for us to host the cocktail reception. It's a very unique venue and not many people know that you can host a wedding in Central Park Zoo . We call it one of New York City 's jewels. This great tent will serve as a wonderful venue for our reception. I love the fact that the tent is clear because it brings the outdoors in and we're protected whether we have rain, hail or shine. From the vision point of view, I foresee one or two very long banquet tables down here. The Central Park Zoo is home to over 1400 animals. Any proceeds that come here benefit the Wildlife Conservation Society .

Mr. COWIE: Colin , this is a surprise. I think most people wouldn't realize you could get married at a zoo.

CURRY: It's a great space . It really is a beautiful space . We overlook this gorgeous, it's lush, it's green in the middle of this oasis right in the middle of the city.

Mr. COWIE: All right, let's take a look at our third choice, which is at Gotham Hall .

CURRY: This is Gotham Hall . Originally commissioned as a bank, it's an historic landmark building but recently has been host to some of the most beautiful weddings and parties in the city. The reason I love this space is because of the elegance and the scale. The details are quite extraordinary. If you look at the Corinthian -style columns, gilded ceiling with the beautiful chandelier, the domed roof with the crystal glass all make for wonderful details. But what I really like are the finials that are used over here, Mercury and Minerva , who represent wisdom and commerce, two things I think every marriage would like to be blessed with. My vision for this would be to host the cocktail reception up on the mezzanine level overlooking this beautiful, elegant ballroom and then have the bridal party seated at one long table here with all the guests seated at round tables around them.

Mr. COWIE: It looks amazing. I want to ask Jeremy what he's thinking about all these choices because he's way out there in Afghanistan , about ready to come home. Jeremy , you must just be ready to lose your mind with all the excitement. You're going to get to come home from Afghanistan , see your girl and get married. What do you think of these venues?

CURRY: Oh, I think -- I think they all sound wonderful. It's so surreal to have this happen, to be here and it's not necessarily -- I don't -- I don't really comprehend, you know, or -- I don't really see it all happening, but I know when I get home it's going to be -- it's going to all hit me and everything's going to be amazing, so I can't wait to see what everything turns out to look like. It's going to be great.

Mr. GEBHARDT: OK. Melissa , he's so sweet. Obviously, it's still hitting him.

CURRY: Yeah. He's still in shock.

Ms. McMILLIN: Well I think we -- I'm sure that you both are.

CURRY: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Ms. McMILLIN: But it's so exciting to be with you . Colin , thank you so much this morning.

CURRY: Thank you, Ann. Thank you, Melissa .

Mr. COWIE: Thank you so much .

Ms. McMILLIN: And so we want to tell people how they can vote. You can go to our Web site at todayshow.com and you can vote for your favorite or you can head to facebook.com/todayshow. And don't forget to like us, if that's not too hard, on Facebook to follow our wedding progress. And we will be checking our page for you comments and your votes. And you can also text in your votes to 622639. Text one for Hudson Terrace , 2 for Central Park Zoo and 3 for Gotham Hall . And we'll reveal the winning location next Wednesday. And coming up next, why you should be adding healthy whole grains to your diet. But first, this is TODAY on NBC .

CURRY:

Wedding Jewelry

Wednesday, September 15, 2010