worst hair trial ever

I knew this day was going to be bad when I merged onto the highway into a sea of parked vehicles. Traffic was moving at a crawl and there was no way I was going to make it to my appointment on time. I called the salon and gave them a heads up that I'd be late due to traffic and that I was getting off the highway to take backroads. But guess what, the backroads were just as bad. Long Island is notorious for horrendous traffic but this was like nothing I've ever seen before. It took me 1 1/2 hours to get to the salon when it should've taken only 15 minutes! Not only was I 45 minutes late to my appointment when I arrived but my hair stylist informed me that she would not be doing my hair because she would be on vacation on my wedding day. But she assured me another stylist would do my hair and that it would be perfect. OK. This is what unfolded next:

I meet the stylist and show her these pictures:

I tell her that I want my hair to look exactly like this, with the poof in the front, the finger waves on the sides, and a bun in the back. Ok no problem, she says. She sets me up at the station next to her and tells me that someone else will set my hair. Ok fine. Assistant #1 sets my hair in curls then assistant #2 attempts to do the finger waves. Halfway through the finger waves the stylist informs assistant #2 that she's doing it wrong and she should do it another way. Assistant #2 continues on without changing anything. Great. Then she finishes but the stylist is still doing another client's hair so she sends me over to have my make up done.

This is the picture that I give the makeup aritst:

I tell her that I want a bold eye but not a dark eye, with neutral colors and pink lips. And what I got was exactly that. My makeup came out perfect so when it was time to go back to have my hair styled I was a bit more optimistic.

The stylist took down all the curls and then yelled at assistant #2 again for not setting the finger waves properly. Then she spent about 10 minutes "styling" my hair and said "I did it a lot looser than the picture because I think it looks better that way." Ok, I'm open to artistic interpretation.

So I put my glasses on to check it out and it was actually very pretty but NOTHING like the pictures I showed her:

I think I was kind of in shock and bewildered because I just said thank you, paid a whopping $125, and left. Then looking back at the pictures later and thinking about the whole ordeal I am really not happy with how my hair came out. So now I'm terrified that on my wedding day my hair is going to look horrendous. But she'll also have 3 hours that day to get it right, and she better because there's no way I can go back for another $125 trial.

shower time

A big thank you to my lovely bridesmaids, mom, and aunt for throwing me a wonderful shower! The company was great, the food was great, and most importantly the presents were great!! I can't tell you what an amazing feeling it is to throw away all of my (and Matt's) crappy kitchen stuff and replace it with brand new, 1000 times better, kitchen stuff!
Here are a few of my favs:

Oh yeah, and the cake was delish!!

diy table numbers

While browsing in Home Goods sometime last year I came across a stash of some amazing vintage looking pictures frames. I thought that they would be perfect to frame the table numbers for the reception. Problem was, they were bright pink, green and white. But that didn't deter me, I purchased all 14 frames (and prayed that I wouldn't have more than 14 tables at the reception).
Since then I had also been searching for frames to hold pictures of our parents at their weddings and a frame for the guestbook instructions. Again, just browsing around I found the perfect frames, this time at Pier 1. And again, they were bright colors (purple and pink).

So, while visiting my parents over Easter weekend I decided to tackle the repainting of these frames. With a little help from my dad and lots of Rustoleum high gloss spraypaint in black I succeeded.

thanks Dad for stringing all the frames up!








and thanks for taping the frames!


the finished frames, these will go on our cake table
(don't you love my dad's blue tux?)


the completed table numbers

behold, our very first wedding present:

You can all imagine how ecstatic I was to receive our first present. Can't wait to start making paninis! Yay!

my very first RSVP!

I didn't think I would be so excited to receive the first RSVP, but I danced around the kitchen holding it and giggling like a crazy munchkin bride. Yay!!!

presents!!

My mom gave me the best news yesterday: gifts have been purchased from my Crate & Barrel registry!!! I was so excited I almost drove off the rode (yeah I was illegally talking on my cell and driving)! So as soon as I got home I jumped online to see which ones were bought. To my delight, I will soon be the proud owner of these lovelies:

Thank you to whoever bought these for us!

the invite: my nemesis

When I first started planning this wedding I decided that I would do my own invitations. Mainly, to save a few bucks but also because I love making cards. I found the perfect DIY invites at Michael's, they were already designed with my damask theme, all I had to do was print out the wording with my home printer. Sounds pretty easy right? NO!!! I had read some nightmares stories on other wedding blogs about these invites but I was convinced it would go smoothly for me. It ended up being more like a complete nightmare for me! The main invite card printed perfectly, all 180 of them. Then I tried printing the RSVP cards and the information cards. Apparently, my printer couldn't handle these cards and they were coming out smudged or crooked. I brought them over to my soon to be mother in law's house and tried her printer, which worked a little better but I still ended up ruining about 1/2 the cards. I also tried printing the RSVP envelops and after the first one came out crooked I gave up. An emotional breakdown and hysterical crying then ensued.
So I went back to Michael's, picked up 2 more boxes of invites, and then brought everything to a professional printer who printed everything beautifully. Later, after we finalized our guest list, I decided I would try to print the invite envelopes. After 4 printed horribly and after I stopped crying, I again made a visit to the printer.
So after having to buy more invites than I actually needed and having to pay for a professional printer I figured that I went way over budget and spent way too much on a DIY project. I just did the math, and yup, I was right. And boy am I not happy!

I found this beautiful invite from Rexcraft, not exactly Damask but still fitting with my theme:

Price for invitation, outer envelope, lined inner envelope, RSVP card, RSVP envelope, and information card, and all printing for 100 invites: $403

Price for my stupid idea of doing DIY invites: $630

My biggest regret yet in planning this wedding. If I could do it all again I would have the invites professionally done from the beginning. I would've saved money and more importantly, I wouldn't have been so stressed out!

my pretty maids

A few weeks ago I trekked up to CT to pick out the bridesmaids' dresses. Since each girl has a completely different body type I let them pick out different dresses. My only request was that the dresses be the same material and preferably by the same designer. After about an hour of trying on dresses I realized that wasn't going to happen. I was disappointed at first but after everyone picked out their dress I was pretty excited. The dresses are gorgeous and exactly what I had envisioned for these lovelys.

My sister Rachel, the matron of honor, will wear this dress (with a black sash) by Bari Jay:

Krystyna, a bridesmaid, will wear this dress by Bill Levkoff:

Christine, a bridesmaid, will wear this dress by Alfred Angelo:

Now that this dilemma has been resolved, on to the next: their shoes! Should their shoes match or not?

Non-matching maids + non-matching shoes = gorgeous:

Non-matching maids + matching shoes = gorgeous:

See my dilemma? It looks great both ways! What does everyone think?

here comes the bride

Picking our ceremony music was probably one of the easiest parts of planning this wedding. Since Matt is a guitarist we knew from the beginning we wanted a classical guitarist to play during the ceremony. And who better to play then the man who taught Matt how to play all those years ago. After deciding on classical guitar Matt downloaded some wedding songs for me to listen to. I wasn't really crazy about them, they sounded too slow and old fashioned. I wanted something more modern and upbeat. Then it kinda dawned on me: The Beatles! We both love them and they have sooo many great songs that could translate into wedding music. So I chose "Here Comes the Sun" for the processional and "All You Need Is Love" for the recessional. I can't wait to walk down and back up the aisle to these songs!

shoes..check!

After much debating I finally picked a shoe. Since I couldn't find that Paris Hilton shoe anywhere I started looking at "ivory" shoes. I went and tried on a bunch of ivory shoes today and I really wasn't feeling it. They're just not me. So I bought a black shoe, which is what I originally wanted anyway. And the perfect black clutch to match. Behold:

Let's pray that this shoe actually looks good with the dress! Thank God DSW has a great return policy!

it's all in the details

I'm obsessed with details. Actually, it's more like I'm completely psychotic about details. Down to *the* smallest details that nobody will probably even notice anyway. So why do I waste my time and energy on these little things? Because I'll notice, and these little things make me happy :)

I just finished putting together the invitations, what a project that was! (I'll expand on that in another post) For the most part, I'm happy with how they turned out. But, while I was putting them together it dawned on me that I'll need to get postage for all the RSVP cards and the invites. Not sure why I hadn't thought about this before. But I knew I didn't want the same old postage every other bride in America uses from the post office, you know the ones..the LOVE one or the one with the white roses. I wanted my postage to be a bit more personal and unique. Thank God for Zazzle! On this website not only can you design your own tshirt, or bag, or mug, or business card but you can design your own postage! So, after fooling around for a few hours or so I finally made a decision and purchased my own personally designed wedding postage:

OMG! How awesome is that?

puppy love

Anyone close to me knows how obsessed and in love I am with my dog Violet. And they all know how devastated I was when I found out that she couldn't be part of the ceremony. Apparantly, those losers over at the health department aren't animal lovers.

Basically, this is how I envisioned the beginning of the ceremony:

source

But, since Violet won't be able to join in the festivities she'll be featured in the engagement photos. And of course, she'll need something better to wear than the ratty old leash and collar she has now, right? So where was I going to find something fabulous for her to wear for the photo shoot? Etsy! Thank you Carol from Maple Creek (http://www.etsy.com/shop/MapleCreek) for making this gorgeousness for my Vi Vi: