APRILOO

I want to tell everyone thank you for your thoughs and prayers. It means a lot to know so many people care.

Sorry I have not made any posts lately and haven't gotten to post my wedding picture from Mexico, its been really hectic. I kept you all update on my father through out his battle in the hospital. And the quick version for all of you that did not get to read any of my post about him, he was diagnosed with cancer of the lower esophagus in last April and had horrible complications from the surgery. He passed away January 11th at 10:38am. He is finally pain free with is the most important thing. The last few months were really hard on him. His kidney failed along with his lungs. He spend the last month on a ventilator and on dialysis. This is a link to his memorial guest book and obituary. Guinn-Horger Funeral Home- Hondo, Texas, Funeral and Cremation Services - Memorial Obituaries Ooley, Jerry I wanted to say thank you for all the prayers that everyone send our way. And when things get settled I will get my pictures posted. Thanks April

Alright, I have been debating whether I should go with the same type of up do as did for my San Antonio wedding in the hospital or should I go with something. I kinda want to do something else just to make it different but I really liked my hair in San Antonio. Here is my hair for the San Antonio wedding: I am asking all of you what you would do. Option 1: Keep the hair the way it was. Optiion 2: Something totally different

I am back from San Antonio and everything went pretty well. The main complication was that the minister went to the wrong hospital. We ended up doing to ceremony about 30 minutes later than scheduled. Everything else went okay. I ended up getting my dress on while the minister was setting up and I basically walk straight in. Dad did pretty well. He was really tired afterwards but was glad we got everything together. The hospital did provide us with a cake and some punch which was really nice of them. The nurses from the ICU sent up a couple simple bouquets for us in the break room. It was really nice of everyone. Here is the link to the slideshow I put together with photobucket. Slideshow of San Antonio Wedding - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I am very excited. Tomorrow is the day! As most of you know my dad has been and still is in ICU in San Antonio so we are getting the legal part done with a small ceremony at my dad's hospital. Everything is set. His nurse called and made all the arrangements for us, which was very nice of him. We have to chapel reserved for an hour and the director is providing cake and punch for us. I have decided to wear my dress for our Mexico ceremony since my parent will not get to see me in it personally. So this will be my “trial run†before then. Everything has come together nicely. My dad is doing fairly well. He is stable enough that he can be disconnected from his monitoring and can be wheel chaired down to the chapel. However, my Mom has epilepsy and had a seizure and had to have CPR last week in my dad’s room so it has put a lot of stress on the family. She has recovered from the seizure but can not drive for 6 months now. So, my aunt is staying with her for the next month and we are trying to get him transferred to the Little Rock VA here with us so we can take care of both of them. Everything is working out right now. So all in all I am kind of having two destination weddings. We leave out to night and the ceremony is set for 2 pm. Thank you all for you support!

I just thought I would give you guys an update on my dad. He is still in ICU. Today marks exactly 7 weeks, And maybe only a told of 3-4 those day he was in a normal hospital room. For all of those that did not read my earlier post, I will give you a quick run down. In May of this year my father was diagnosed with cancer of the distal esophagus. While going through test for surgery the found he had a couple blockages in his coronary arteries so he had a quadruple bypass June 30th. He recovered from that and on June 24th went in for esophageal surgery. He had some complications from surgery and has been in the hospital ever since. His esophagus still has not healed. They keep doing barium swallows and every time is shows there is a leak from his esophagus into his chest. He has also since developed a bad infection in his chest. He has three chest tubes right now that are draining. They did a second surgery to close the leak but it did not close. They went in last week and but a stint in his esophagus and performed another barium swallow and this time it showed a very small leak below the stint. So they are waiting a week to see if it will close on its own. They are afraid to operate again due to all the infection so we are just waiting. The other surgical options are very invasive including, replacing his esophagus with small intestine. The doctor said that my dad was in the top 5 of his most difficult cases. It is starting to get to the point of wondering if he will ever come home. The worst part about the whole thing is I live in central Arkansas and they are in San Antonio so I can’t see them as much as I would like. Needless to say, my parents will not be going to Mexico for my wedding. We have decided that we are going to have a very small mini ceremony in Texas for them. We were planning on getting legally married before anyway. So we are just doing what we have to do. Thank you all for being supportive. It is very hard times right now. Thanks for listening.

Here is the response I received from the BBB straight from The American Wedding Album. Ms. Ooley was unhappy with the printing of her invitations, which were done in blue pearlized, raised (thermography) ink. The order was redone at no cost to her. She was still unhappy, and a review of the telephone conversations between her and our customer service agent revealed a specific complaint concerning the "bumpiness" of the ink. The bumpiness is caused by the thermography process, which "raises" the ink. The invitation is printed on an offset printing press. While the ink is still wet, it is ejected from the press onto a conveyor, which carries it beneath a shaker. The shaker is fed by a hopper containiing a clear thermo powder, which is essentially plastic. The shaker distributes the powder all over the exposed face of the invitation. The powder adheres to the wet ink, mixing slightly with the ink. There is no "dark blue base ink". The pearlized ink is just that - pearlized, so the color is striated, and not consistent throughout. The card is then carried by the conveyor, under a vacuum head which suctions the thermo powder from the card, except where it has adhered to the ink, returning the excess powder to the hopper. The conveyor continues to carry the card through a gas fired oven which "bakes" the thermo powder, causing it to bubble and rise. After the oven, the card is cooled and stacked. We cannot create raised ink, with thermography, without some degree of bumpiness. It is inherent to the process. Smooth raised ink can be attained through engraved printing, which is a much more expensive process, involving the creation of metal dies to physically crush the paper to create the raised effect. Engraved invitations can cost thousands of dollars. Thermography provides a similar appearance at a much lower price. Ms. Ooley wanted quality we could not provide. Her invitations do meet our standards of quality for thermography printing (I have inspected the sampless). Unfortunately, that did not meet Ms. Ooleys expectations, so her money was refunded. A credit was posted to her credit card on August 19th. When we make an error, we make it right, including refunding any shipping costs the customer may incur. When we make no error, and nevertheless make an adjustment for customer satisfaction, we typically do not reimburse any return shipping charges. I consider Ms. Ooley's other complaint far more serious, and offensive, as it is untrue. She claims we changed the review she submitted on our website. Our web staff have the ability and authority to make minor spelling or grammar corrections to reviews. We will not post reviews that contain profanity, or which are offensive due to discriminatory comments. Beyond that, it is our policy to print them all, the good, the bad and the ugly. Acting on her allegation, I caused the original computer archive records to be examined, to see the exact text submitted by Ms. Ooley, before it was viewed and approved by our web team. The original text is exactly the same as the review currently posted on line, "I am having a destination wedding and this was the perfect invitation for it. This company is very fast on processing and I got my order very promptly. However, I did not like the pearlized ink I chose and I would advise not using it. The ink took away from the gorgeous invitations. The invitations would have been perfect otherwise." We regret that Ms. Oosley was not satisfied with our product, but those things happen, and we did what we thought appropriate, by first reprinting the order, and ultimately refunding her money. We are more dissappointed that she has accused us of dishonest and unethical behavior. The American Stationery Company, which owns the American Wedding Company, has been manufacturing and selling stationery products since 1910. We are one of the largest providers in the county for personalized stationery products, including wedding invitations, and enjoy a solid reputation for quality products, fair prices and honesty. Our reputation is hard earned, and fundamental to our success. Ms. Ooleys allegations that we altered her feedback are irresponsible and slanderous. We are refunding her $22 in shipping expenses, and hope not to hear from her again, unless it is an apology for her offensive charge. We will act, as necessary, to defend and protect our reputation. OFFER: $22 credit for shipping. Let me know what you think. They lied in the response. All they did was send the changed review. This is what I sent the BB back. I gladly accept their offering however; the fact that they still changed my wording to suit their company still stands. Unfortunately, I did not save my original review I submitted so therefore it is just on my word. The other concerning part is that they did not mention in my previous phone calls with them that, I also described the invitation as inconsistent and the dark blue under color was showing through in areas. That was the most concerning part and they agreed with me on the first batch which was not much different than second batch. I just wanted to let the better business bureau know of the interaction with this company and that I am fully insulted by the way the company handled this issue. I am furthermore would like to be done with communicating this with the company. I have done what was needed to let consumers know of this and I am overly satisfied with the better business bureau and they way they handle complaints.

Just got my band. So here is my set. You can not tell but my e ring is in a trelis setting. Love it! I will post his when we get it in.

Well I got an email from BBB and they sent the complaint to the company. One step closer.

I filed a complaint with the BBB so we will see what happens. I wouldn't have been so upset and filed that if they had not changed my review. We will see how that turns out. I wouldnt have though about the BBB if ya'll had not mentioned it. Thanks.

DO NOT USE AMERICANWEDDING.COM If you are not familiar with this company, it is an invitation and part wedding accessory store. They had the perfect wedding invitation and I chose to order them online. Well let’s just say that it was the worst decision I made. I ordered the invitation with pearl ink and the first time they sent them the printer had messed up and the pearlized ink was inconsistent and actually missing in some spots. I was very disappointed when I opened the box. I immediately called and talk to some lady on the phone. She tells me I need to send in some samples of the invitations and they will make a decision about the invitations. They agreed they messed up and reprinted them. Well I get the new batch and they are basically the same. A little better but still look horrible. So I call them again. The lady this time first agrees again that the first set was bad and then proceeds to tell me that that might just be the ink but the send in another set of samples. So I do just that. Mean while I have to leave to go to San Antonio since my dad is still in ICU and is having complication with his surgery and they have to go back to surgery. I get a call on the way to the hospital and from the company saying there is nothing wrong with these invitations and that they will not print them again. At this point I am getting upset and they lady would not help me out at all. They wouldn’t even offer to print them at a discounted price with a different ink. The only think I could do it pay the shipping to ship them back and get a refund. The next thing is what really made me mad. I went on their website and wrote a review for the invitations. The review was actually pretty nice coming from me and all the trouble I had with the company. I stated the invitations themselves where gorgeous but the ink was poor quality. They changed my review all up before they posted it. It now states that I loved the invitations and that I did not like the ink I choose. That is not what I stated at all. I loved the ink just not the quality. Reviews should be what they are and not changed. That is propaganda and not a review. So I just wanted everyone to know that they are a less than quality company and will not help you out much and change your words.

The surgery went well. We saw him briefly last night while he was still sedated. We will be able to visit him later today. I will keep you updated.

I need all you preyers right now. It is a long story so I will tell yall the short version. About 3 weeks ago my dad was diagnosed with cancer of the lower esophagus. He has been through several test since then. The good: No evidence of cancer in any of his lymph nodes or lungs. Bad: The stress tested showed some plaques in his heart so they did an angiogram last friday that showed about four area of blockage. They had scheduled esophageal surgery for tomorrow however once the angiogram came back they scheduled his for atleast a quadruple heart bypass. I am currently waiting while he is in surgery. They have internet access here and so I thought I would give yall an update. They are closing right now and we are waiting on the surgeon to come talk to us. The plan from here is that in about 4 weeks they will do the esophageal surgery so I will be right back in this waiting room then. Hopefully the cancer will not spread by that time. My next concern is that he will not be able to make to my wedding now. The wedding is scheduled for Oct 28th. Which is going to be close to his ultimate recovery. I guess we will pass that bridge as we come to it. But, please pray for him.

I have had mine for about 2 weeks now, and I am still loving it. I work out pretty much every morning. It will kick your butt with some of those strength training exercises. According to it I have lost about 4 lbs or so with it.

I bought one last week off of ebay. Fed ex estimates it to be here thursday. Can't wait. I have only heard good things about it.