Making It Ours

One of the most important priorities for the wedding is to make it ours.  We don't want a generic fancy dinner, personalized favors, or outgrown traditions.  You all know the types.

We want it to be fun and representative of who we are.  Who are we and what's important to us?

Christmas 2010

• Love
• Family
• Our faith
• Enjoying life

How are we going to incorporate it?

New Year's Eve 2011

Partying our pants off!  Just kidding!  Although we do plan to show off some mean dance moves!

We hope to incorporate some of our likes: cupcakes, wine, and photos!  The exact details will have to be hidden for now because they are so good we haven't quite finalized everything yet.

Dominican Republic 2011

But you can expect one thing, we will be majorly in love and floating in paradise. :)

THE Shoes!

I finally found them! The perfect wedding shoes!

Pink Stuart Weitzman Pumps. I'm in love!

You Are Cordially Invited To

Let's talk about invitations. We could talk about the fun stuff: custom stamps, pretty designs, and even wax seals.

Nope. Not today my friends. Today we are going to talk the hard stuff.

We're going to talk POLITICS. Scary, I know.

Who do you invite? What about your mother's cousin's aunt from the reunion? What about your 7th grade English teach that actually made a difference in your life but that you don't really talk to anymore?

Oh yeah...and those weird relatives or the ones you don't really like.  Considering that we're having a wedding in NY and a reception back home in Ohio, how did we chose?

Rock Paper Scissors.

We did what any normal adults would do! Rock Paper Scissors!  Just joking! First of all, our limit was 75 at the max.  We can't afford more than that for food and most importantly, we have capacity issues (we are in NY after all!)

It was family first, then friends.  In the family section, it was immediate family only.  As much as we love you all, we know that not everyone call fly out to NY for a long weekend.  Next are the friends.  Of course there are friends from work, friends from school, and friends from 'how do I know you again.' At the end of the day again, we only have so much money and space.  Believe me, this process is neither fun nor easy.

One of my best tips is *drum roll* EXCEL! I love organization and crossing things off lists.  For your spreadsheet, you should have the following columns:

Name(s)
Address
Save the Date Sent (Yes or No)
Invite Sent (Yes or No)
Gift
Thank you card Sent (Yes or No)

This will cover your bases and leave you without the hassle of looking up addresses at every turn.  Now just to actually find a great cost efficient, DIY invite....

A Little Inspiration

I found this video over at Sometimes Sweet and I fell in love.  I dare you to watch it without crying.  Just try.  I double dog dare you.

nick+maria • england wedding from Paperback Weddings on Vimeo.

Honeymoon.

It seems like wedding planning has been a breeze so far. It's one fun thing after another.  (And no, I'm not being sarcastic.)  By far, our favorite thing to think about and plan has been the honeymoon.  We both love to travel, get away far less than we'd like, and want to go on adventure memorable for the rest of our lives.

So what are the possibilities so far?

1. FIJI

Paradise aka Fiji.

This would be me.

This is the #1 choice for both of us.  We always thought of going away for this secluded location to explore the natural wonders and Pacific lifestyle.  I'm not sure that the budget will go through, but this location would be ideal.

2. AUSTRALIA

A roo!

The infamous Opera House.

Right now, our second choice is Australia.  Kangaroos, the Great Reef (super scuba diving!!), and the Outback: what more could we ask for!  We could have equal parts water and land time (our respective element signs), along with lots of shopping, a little gambling (for him), and loads of fun with accents.  Plus, I'm making tons of fashion blogger friends that happen to be in Sydney!  Our church is also based in Australia, so we'd be able to include that while we vacation.

3. BACKPACKING (NOT LITERALLY) THROUGH EUROPE

Guadi's most famous: La Sagrada Familia

We would have to take a gondola ride in Venice.

We love the idea of exploring old-world Europe.  We could try tapas in Spain, pasta in Italy, and even chocolate in Belgium!  Culturally, we'd be able to expand our minds in a million museums, visit the lavender fields in France, and see the outstanding public works of Gaudi in Barcelona.  We could even be posh with the best of them at Lake Como, St. Tropez, or Nice.

What do you think? Should we splurge for seclusion & luxury, surf & turf, or culture & food?

Who runs the world?

GIRLS!

And well...Beyonce.

Long story short, I ran into an old friend from Saks Fifth Avenue in Bloomingdale's today.  Turns out he has been doing makeup for Miss Diva herself for a while now.  He needs to design a website.  So.....TRADE! He's going to do my makeup while I create a website for him.  How fab is that? I'm going to look like a million bucks, or bootylicious as B would say.

Our Songs.

Yes, we have more than one. :)

Train "Marry Me"
He played this song when he proposed. It talks about "getting up the nerve to talk to you in the cafe."  It's special because that's how we met and he did take FOREVER to finally ask me out.

Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind"
This was the first song I heard on my Ipod after he asked me out. I still tear up and get butterflies anytime I hear it.  We also consider the Jay-Z version acceptable too!

Hillsong United "Avalanche"
I heard this song for the first time at Hillsong NYC.  It really means a lot because Chris was the one who helped me get back to church.  I will never be able to repay him for that.