Wedding week wrap-up (with some pics!)

Holy wow, what a whirlwind the past week has been. I can't believe that August 11 has already come and gone - but it was by far the best and most fun party of my life.

Thursday we got our marriage license at city hall and then we parted ways to the spa. For the first time ever I fell asleep during a massage. I had dinner with my parents and sister at home and then snuggled up with Rosie until FH got home.

Friday I was stressed and running all over. I had to pick up our rings at the jeweler, accidentally stopped into gap with their 40% off (oops) and had our rehersal and rehersal dinner. It was so much fun to see all of our family at dinner - especially all of the members who came from out of town. I was gifted a beautiful pin from FH's grandmother and my sister also gave me a sapphire ring so that we can start our own traditions. My sister spent the night with me on Friday and we watched some say yes to the dress before hitting the hay.

Wedding day polish color - Hippo to be square

Saturday - the big day! As an early morning prep my sister, bridesmaids, and mom got our nails done. From there we headed straight to the venue for hair and makeup. By 3PM the photographers were there and soon I was in my dress. And then the day just flew.

My grandpa's pocket watch that Dave carried

Dave and I decided to do a first look to get some of the nerves out of the way but also to give us ample time to take photos and I'm so glad we did. It was incredibly emotional - all of our family was watching from a floor below us and just to hug him was amazing. We took lots of photos with our wedding party and then took some around our venue just the two of us. We even jumped on a cable car that stopped for us.

The ceremony flew by and was extremely emotional as well. I became a teary blobby mess when we mentioned our grandparents who had passed on. After DH stepped on the glass we high fived and everyone told us that's so Laura and Dave after. We danced until 11, hit the hotel after party with some family and friends, and then got to bed around 1AM. And yes, I stayed in my dress until it was bedtime!

Sunday was family brunch and visiting with family and later that evening we headed down to Carmel for two nights (thanks mom & dad!). Since we aren't going on our honeymoon right away it was great to have two days to ourselves. We went wine tasting, went on lots of walks, had a picnic, walked the beach, checked out a car show, and had the most amazing Greek food I've ever had in my life.

And now... life is slowly returning to normal: pre-wedding planning normal. I'm not going to lie - Sunday and Monday I was a little sad to think that this huge event we had been planning for months was now over. But I'm still happy that everyone had fun and that it went off with just a few minor hitches.

My advice? Decide what's important to you - for us it was the venue and photographer. Also, look for ways to save money. I made all of the escort cards myself with pre-cut cards from Paper Source and silver pens. The total cost for 203? 58.00. I also used a lot of vendors off etsy for jewelry, wedding gifts, and our cake topper.

Bottom of our cake topper

 Make sure you take a few minutes every so often on your big day to just take a breath and look around because it does go by SO fast. But have fun. :)

Engagement ring & wedding band

My little decorated car

Some of my etsy picks (not endorsed by any of them, just LOVE what they created for my big day!)

Cake topper: Dances with Clay
Thank you cards for bridesmaids, my parents, & card for Dave: MD Cards & Gifts
Baseball cufflinks for grooms gift: Sports Cufflinks
Necklaces for bridal party: Three Black Cats
Hand stamped cake forks: Whimsical Heartstrings
Ring dish: Promise Pottery
Embroidered hankerchiefs for mom & dad: Inspired Stitches
Bridal hanger: Rachel Walter

 More pics to come!

48 hours in Philadelphia

11 hours in flight ..5042 .. and 48 hours later we've returned from a foodie wedding filled weekend... and here's my wrap up.

Friday night we landed in Philly an hour late (boo) and we were taken out to dinner at one of Stephen Starr's restaurants (think of him as the Michael Minna of Philly). We dined on an array of family style dishes with the highlights being the foie gras muscles, lobster fried rice, and beef short ribs. We topped it off with cocktails (try the white peach sangria) and the chocolate bento box for dessert.

Cherry water ice

After that, FH decided that he wanted a cheesesteak so off to South Philly we went. We tried Gino's and its definitely different (i have come to learn the difference between chopped vs not chopped, and I'm a chopped fan).Make sure you know whether you want it "wid" or "widout" prior to ordering - with or without onions for us out of towners. Another seemingly Philly thing was water ice. I'd NEVER had it before and I tried cherry. It was so good, especially with the humidity.

Independence Hall

Saturday morning we slept in a bit because of the time change and then we wandered about old town Philly. I have to be honest with you - I'd never been to Philly before so I had no idea what to expect - but the old part of town is just gorgeous. It reminded me of Boston. It's truly a town rich in US history - the brick buildings, cobblestone streets, and frequent history sights of interest we came upon just led to the charm of this town. Independence hall was just gorgeous, despite the work being done to the outside.

And just across the street is the liberty bell. Not going to lie - I didn't wait in the line that was about 400 people deep.. but did snap this photo at one of the windows. See? Liberty bell without the line.

After all this walking FH and I were parched, so we decided to try a local brewing company and headed over to Triumph Brewing Co, which was like a brewpub. Huge amount of beers on tap and you can see where they actuall brew the beer upstairs. Try the avocado fries with a cold beer and life is good.

We followed the Delaware River walk back home and decided to try another cheese steak place on the way back to the house... and Shank's delivered. So yummy, definitely try this if you love a good cheesey gooey cheese steak.

Mandatory outfit shot - top: Zara, jeans: target. IT'S CATS. I mean come on. If this was longsleeved I'd buy it too..

Saturday night we headed over to an old estate called Andalusia. It was simply stunning. The weather, the location, the vibe of the wedding, cocktails in an english garden, dinning on the banks of the river - it was just perfect. The bride was simply gorgeous and if our wedding is even half as gorgeous as theirs then we definitely did something right. We danced until 12:30 before getting on a bus to go back to downtown Philly and had a sing a long with the others on the bus.

Yesterday before our long flight home we had brunch at a little cafe before walking back toward downtown. We rested and then had dinner at Philly's newly opened Shake Shack. Yes - the one in NY is now in Philly (please come to SF next!). We had gelato, a drink on the square, and then before we knew it we had to head to the airport.

Coconut gelato

And that wraps up an amazing weekend! I'm exhausted today due to all the flight delays and the time change but so happy for our friends who got married, and even mroe happy to have discovered a new city. Until next time, Philly, keep it real.

Where to eat:
Buddhakan, 325 Chestnut St, Philadelphia.
Gino's Steaks, 1219 South 9th Street  Philadelphia,
John's Water Ice, 701 Christian Street
Triumph Brewing Company, 117 Chestnut Street
Shank's Steak's, 901 South Delware Ave at Pier 40
Shake Shack, 2000 Sansom St
Capogiro Gelato, 117 South 20th Street
Rouge, 205 South 18th Street,



Things to see:
Independence Hall & Liberty Bell, 41 N 6th Street  Philadelphia
Delaware river walk
Andalusia
Rittenhouse Square
Avenue of the Arts
Little Italy

Ode to the J Crew Biennial Satchel

I'm not gonna lie - I'm a former handbag addict. Perhaps I shouldn't say former as much as I should say recovering. I had been eying the J Crew Biennial satchel in store and in the catalogues ever since I first saw it sometime last year. And a few weeks ago when it got marked down online, and had an additional 30% off, well I bit.

Here I am trying the bag on in store. It was love at first sight.

Today's outfit in a dressing room: Blazer and crops: Gap. Bag and blouse: J Crew. Scarf: Jason Wu For Target.

I'm a leather gal - and the leather on this bag is AMAZING. It's probably the softest bag I own now - even softer than bags that I own that are much more expensive. It's a true red (even though the photo above doesn't show it) and I can fit it over my shoulder. The only thing that worries me a bit is color transfer from dark jeans or scratching, but I guess all leather is prone to that. The bag has three zipped compartments and the above pic is holding my wallet, makeup case, headphones, sunglasses, kindle, and a few other miscellaneous items tossed in. I could fit my ipad in there too, but I don't like taking it to and from work so it remains at home. But really - this bag would be perfect to travel with too!

Better pics of today's outfit:

Anyway. Life has been hectic. Work is good and it's hard to believe that in about two weeks we'll be going to Colorado for the first wedding of the season.

Also, for what feels like the first time ever, I bought a pair of white jeans. Thank you target, for cute affordable items that I can test the waters with.

Outstanding summer wishlist items:

Spiked shoes, mint colored sweater, another pop of color blazer, the Asos Penguin blouse I found online the other day..

In wedding news... invitations are here and going out this week. I have a dress fitting on Saturday and my sister and mom are helping me with some stuff :) Trying to keep it a secret... shh!

Hope everyone is having a good week so far... so looking forward to this weekend and an extra day to sleep in!

Updates of all sorts.

Not going to lie April, I'm really ready for you to be over. The past few weeks have had its plethora of ups and downs - and now I have the flu (the flu, really? in April?) so I'm already over this month and ready to get on to May.

Wedding updates:
Under 4 months to go! We've accomplished more things (flowers, ordered invitations, dress brought to tailor, wedding cake, halfway through writing our ceremony) and we have a few more large things left (menu tasting, order ketuhbah, get marriage license, started to book our honeymoon) and I'm getting more excited (but sometimes stressed out) by the day. We've registered at Crate and Barrel and Macys - and if anyone has any must have necessities for the kitchen or home that's made your lives easier let me know. Our list is looking a little sad and people are already purchasing!

Fashion and all pretty things:
I'm not gonna lie. I'm still on a color rampage. I actually purchased three blouses this past weekend in patterns (!) and some with more color (including orange... who am I?). I'm really excited to wear them - of course it would be better if I could actually get out of bed and go back to work first. My picks:
From Zara - leopard shirt with applique on collar, animal print blouse
Forever 21 - floral shirt (loving that price!), invisible buttons shirt in yellow and blue.

And so this isn't completely lacking, here's an outfit that I wore this past weekend to go out to dinner with some friends and I love it!

Blazer and jeans: Banana Republic. Buttondown: Gap. Scarf: Forever 21.

Well, thanks for being patient with me in my lack of posting. I promise some more posts to come in the near future with some of my newer items and a less sick more healthy me.

Hawaii Recap

Wowza... what a whirlwind! The four days we spent in Hawaii was fantastic - busy - but fantastic. The wedding was gorgeous and we danced until the band played their last song and celebrated a bit longer upstairs.

Here's some photos of our four days in paradise...hope you enjoy! And thanks for being patient with my lack of posts over the last week - traveling is exhausting.

Instagram view out the window at 36,000 ft..

View from our hotel balcony

Gorgeous wine glass favors for the bridal shower

Side and back views of my hair



Walking down the aisle trying not to cry and mess my makeup.. Bridesmaid dress - Jcrew



All the bridesmaids lined up

Sun getting ready to set over the wedding site

Our gorgeous bouquets

       

Koi fish at the entrance to the hotel

Six months out - a wedding update

It's a little hard to belive that FH and I have been engaged for almost 11 months - and we're getting married in 6 (to the date tomorrow).  While getting the larger items out of the way was pretty easy it's the smaller details that are starting to catch up to me and make me stress like mad.

Here's what we have so far...
Our venue/chef - The City Club
DJ/Photobooth - A photobooth was the one thing I really wanted so huzzah!
Photographers - I'm so excited to work with our pick!
Officients - we are having both a rabbi as well as a priest to encompass both sides of our soon to be formed family
Strings booked
Wedding dress/wedding shoes (no peeking, either!)
Save the dates - ordered and sent! Thanks to hello lucky for their quick turnaround time!

Ours are in our colors though... Design available at Hello Lucky!

Bridesmaids dresses - thank you anthro for having such cute stuff

Mani/pedi location rented out for morning of pampering

Appointments made for:
Cake tastings!
Wedding bands at the jewelry showroom

Need to do:
Engagement pics
Formal invitations
Set up menu tasting with chef
Do not play list + first dance song (harder than I thought!)
Honeymoon arrangements - Italy and Munich here we come!

Photo via here

Decide on where to get ready prior to the wedding - at a hotel or at the venue?
Hair walkthrough with my lady CJ
Dress tailoring - I need to pick it up and bring it to the seamstress
Order gifts for the bridesmaids, FH, and a small something for my parents
Flower designs

And everything small and large in between. I definitely can see how wedding planning can be a full time job - oi! Regardless, I'm still eagerly counting down the days until I get to walk the big aisle on my day.

Any of you married gals... what helped you in planning your big day?

Hope everyone has a great weekend!