Mom's Dress

What I thought was going to be an impossible feat and would be even harder to find than my own dress actually turned out to be surprisingly EASY!!! In her first unofficial dress shopping trip my mom found the PERFECT Mother of the Bride dress. She happened to stop by Macy's after work one day and out of the corner of her eye saw that this particular Macy's also happened to be a Macy's Bridal Salon - and there's not many around in Long Island. It was literally the last dress she tried on that night and was already dressed when she caught it out of the corner of her eye. She took me back to see it, and it was the first dress she tried on for me. And there was NO WAY anything else could possibly compare to this dress. She tried on others but there was no comparison, this dress IS the one. It is so striking on her and flatters her figure in every way. I think she looks absolutely beautiful! I've never seen such a pretty dress on her before. Although she hasn't ordered it yet, I know she will shortly bc she's gotten an overwhelming consensus from everyone that this is the dress! I can't wait for her to wear it at my wedding.

Picking Songs

Picking a wedding song is no easy feat. You want the song to be personal and also mean something. Mike and I have broached the topic of a wedding song a few times, but have not agreed to anything yet. Of course there's the traditional songs (greats like Frank Sinatra or other popular and famous slow songs). We came up with a few other random picks. We both kind of liked a song by Keith Urban, "Only you can love me this way" which is a beautiful song and lyrics, but that might not be it. There was no consideration of the song "You & Me" by the Dave Matthews Band (my absolute favorite band) and what I think is an amazingly beautiful song. Recently at Andrea's wedding the DJ played a short clip of the song "Everything" by one of both of our favorite bands Lifehouse. We had originally ruled out the song because it is quite long (6:37) and has a very long introduction, but I think if we talk to the DJ we might be able to cut the song, so I think this one is a strong contender for us.

Hawaii

Our dream honeymoon to Hawaii is becoming a closer reality. After some preliminary research on the web and reaching out to some travel agents. We are def getting very close to booking. I spoke to the travel agent again yesterday and right now we are looking into a Honeymoon of 4 nights in Oahu (think Honolulu, Waikiki, Diamond Head) and then 7 nights in Maui. We'd be staying at the Hyatt Waikiki and the Hyatt Maui. I'm so excited, I've already started looking at different activities and restaurants to check out while we are there!

A Cake for the Groom

Some may ask, what is a groom's cake? "A groom’s cake has its roots in the South, and although it used to be viewed as an added and unnecessary expense, this once-neglected cake has been making a huge comeback. Intended to be a gift from the bride to the groom, the groom's cake is usually dark (often chocolate or liquor-soaked) and designed with a nod toward what's traditionally considered "masculine" (i.e., no rosettes in sight). The groom's cake can serve many purposes, from dessert at the rehearsal dinner to an alternative choice to the bride's cake at the wedding. It's customary for the groom's cake to be displayed next to the bride's cake and later cut and put into boxes for guests to take home. And believe it or not, legend has it that single women are supposed to sleep with a slice under their pillow the same night they receive it -- and if they do, they'll dream of their future husband. Boxed slices of groom's cake can also serve as your wedding favors. If you go this route, take advantage of the opportunity to get creative with the packaging -- an additional way to reflect your bridal style. A current creative trend in groom's cakes is to have the cake reflect the groom's interests and hobbies. Whatever you decide, gifting your new husband with his own cake is something you should do because you want to -- not because you feel obligated."

Yes add it to the list of things to consider as an option for the wedding. I do think it would be a fun option and a way to recognize Mike at the Rehearsal Dinner. And because it it is his favorite sport and he is so good at playing it, I was thinking of a Yankee cake. Recently my friend Andrea made her fiance a grooms cake and made it in the shape of his Alma Mata school logo (Virginia Tech)(which by the way also tasted fantastic - it was a carrot cake - so yummy!).... Like I said something to add to the list of things to throw out there and because who can resist these cakes on here!!!

Card Box

This was not one of the things that when I thought of our wedding that it was a project I would be interested in, but I have to admit, it's kind of growing on me. I guess blame it on all the wedding websites, blogs and other sites I spend way too much time on looking for all kinds of ideas.

Two years ago I probably never would have paid any attention to a card box as a wedding detail. And I'm probably sure that 90% of the wedding guest probably wouldn't either, especially if it is the guys that are putting the cards in the box. I guess I can also try and blame it on my always wanting to do craft projects. Growing up my mom was ALWAYS making craft projects with me.

I do have an interest in making my own card box. I certainly wouldn't buy one. People are charging upwards of $70-90 for these types of boxes and then some! I might try and make one if I have the time so we'll see. It's on "my list".... You can see more examples on websites like this

Snow, Snow, Snow

This winter season has amounted to A LOT of snow in NJ. This picture was one of the first big snowstorms of the season and boy have we had plenty since. We had another big snowstorm last week, the best part about that one was school being canceled. Otherwise it's been a lot of trapped inside work from home days. Another benefit to living in a townhouse community -- no shoveling for Mike. I will say though that I do not venture down the big hill leading up to our house. The first December we were here and it snowed, my car got stuck half way up the hill and I had to call Mike to come rescue me and push the car up the hill. So we enjoy the snow from inside these days. But boy do I hope spring comes soon, I'm so ready to be done with all this snow.

Invitations

Moving onto paper next, I have started the process of looking for wedding invitations. I would have thought that the process would have been easier since I know exactly what it is that we want but maybe that is making it even harder..... I've tried looking online through different websites for invitations much to no avail. Then Mike kindly agreed to stop in with me at a little wedding boutique store to look at invitation books. Their selection was pretty limited we very quickly looked through maybe 5 or so books and only one invitation even remotely caught our eye and of course it was in their most expensive book. It did give us a starting point of what we book agreed upon. We are looking for a very simple, rectangle invitation on a cream paper, mounted (layered) onto brown paper. That's it. No fancy designs, just plain and simple, with the brown paper underneath.

I have also been looking into custom designed wedding invitations online as an option. Which was actually more affordable than the expensive one in the book. I've been following Jessica's Design Shop blog for some time now, and I have been impressed with what I've seen of her work online. I'm currently waiting for a sample of her work to arrive in the mail so I can take a look.

Which brings me to my quest yesterday. We had a free Saturday afternoon, although the morning seemed to get away with errands and a trip to gym. Mike was originally supposed to come with me but I went on ahead alone. After driving about 20/25 minutes away to get to the store's location, it was quite difficult to find a parking spot with the recent massive snow storm, poorly plowed streets & parking spots, and narrow roads/parking lots it took almost a half hour to finally get a parking spot.

So I optimistically went into the store and asked to see wedding invitations when I was informed that "you need an appointment on Saturdays to look at wedding invitations" and I could come back another time. There were two employees in the store, one was clearly with a couple, but this particular girl was not helping anyone at the moment. She told me she had someone coming "in a bit" and I could call back for an appointment. So I trenched back home and angrily called Mike to complain. When I got home I scoured over their website (which is very thorough) only to find NO MENTION of this Saturday appointment policy..... I can't decide if I want to make an appointment and go back there. I just don't know of any other invitation stores :-(

Andrea's Wedding

In what was truly a Winter Wonderland Wedding, my best friend Andrea married her best friend Adam on February 13, 2010. The scenery was a beautiful snowy background. With mounds of white snow it made for the perfect backdrop. From hanging Andrea's wedding dress in a snowy tree branch (I can't wait to see that picture) to the bridesmaids LITERALLY standing in snow banks holding their dresses up so you could see the pants and snow boots beneath. It was an extremely brisk cold day but that didn't stop the bride who took it all in. Good thing she had the adorable winter fur stole to go with her dress and BIG smile. This bride smiled ear to ear from the moment the sun came up to the time it went down. It was a beautiful scene, the girls in their pretty purple dresses to the gorgeous orange flowers the bride carried with purple undertones. In a small but intimate setting the reception was held at the Collingswood Ballroom, what seemed to be a an old mansion. The decor was beautiful with spring colors mixed in, pretty pastel colors. The Bride and Groom danced the evening away, and who could forget their first dance to a Metallica song - the grooms all time favorite band! It was a beautiful and happy day to remember!

Valentine's Day

I have to say this was one of my favorite and probably the best Valentines Day that I have spent with Mike. Now I know I have always been a hopeless romantic and wanted some grand gesture on Valentines Day and probably had grandiose and unrealistic expectations. Especially considering that Mike does not even consider Valentines Day to be a real Holiday, and our past experiences on this date have ended less than stellar. Maybe it was the fact that we had celebrated my best friends wedding the evening before and romance was in the air. Or the fact that it was a very low key day, and I had no ridiculous romantic expectations of the day but it ended up being a perfect Valentines Day. I think this was a good bar to set!

When I saw on The Manor's website randomly one day that they had a Valentine's Day dinner package, I eagerly asked Mike if we could go and he graciously agreed to take me. Little did we know though that by the time Sunday night rolled around on Valentine's Day we'd had more than our fair share of delicious meals that weekend, I didn't know how we would ever eat more and a big dinner like at The Manor. In fact Mike had steak 3 nights in a row that weekend!

The Manor was of course as perfect as I had remembered it from the last time. The atmosphere was perfect once again for a romantic dinner for two. We were seated right next to the pianist and were serenaded throughout our delicious meal.

Before our first course, we were once again brought out a special started prepared by the chef. We had the butternut squash soup again, very hot, sweet, and drank it from espresso cups. Along with it was served this red pepper mouse. It was almost like a cheese, it was so light and airy and had all of the taste of a delicious pepper. I liked that! Then for my meal I began with the caesar salad for my first course, and Mike was his favorite lobster bisque soup again, a favorite of his from our last trip. I tried it again and have to say it was absolutely delicious. After that it was onto a champagne sorbet, served in this unique individual ice sculpture box that lit up underneath it. For our main courses, I had the fillet mignon and mike had the surf and turf - I even tasted Mike's lobster! Both served with mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables.

By this point I was absolutely stuffed and couldn't even finish my meal and we still had dessert coming. Mike ordered the red velvet sweetheart cake and for me pavloa, which is a toasted coconut meringue shell, with passion fruit and sorbet. I had never had pavloa before, I was surprised that is actually quite a hard shell. I was so full by this point that I only ate some of the fruit and sorbet off the top which was more than plenty for me. I will say that Mike's chocolate cake was absolutely incredible. It had dark chocolate and raspberry ganache with white chocolate butter cream and fresh raspberries. I hope we can get a wedding cake like that!

To end the evening I got one long stem red rose when we were leaving but even better than that my Valentine bought me a beautiful Valentine's Day card which made my day!