Wedding Wheels, winter-style

Welcome to Wedding Wheels, winter-style.  This is a special edition exploring the cool & unusual modes of getaway transportation used by winter Brides & Grooms.  Naturally, I adore it when I spy a winter Bride donning a fur stole & traveling in a vintage taxi just like I did for my winter wedding.  (Seriously, that is the exact same cab from my wedding. I highly recommend Film Cars for tri-state area Brides!).  But with the ice & snow of winter offering lots of options, it's pretty cool to see winter wedding getaways that don't involve wheels at all!

After eloping on a gondola at the top of the mountain, this cool, brave & athletic couple spent their wedding day skiing the slopes:

You don't see this everyday: a winter Bride & Groom taking a spin on their ice skates!

Okay, okay- this winter couple may not have actually used the vintage snowshoes & sled but they still get major points:

A horse-drawn carriage ride through the snow on a winter wedding day just seems so dreamy & romantic:

Now if I could just find a winter Bride & Groom racing around on a snowmobile or riding a snowplow, my Wedding Wheels, winter-style collection would be complete!

Photo 1: Anastasia Photography via; Photo 2: E. Leigh Photography via; Photo 3: James Christianson via; Photo 4: via; Photo 5: Rachel Peters Photography via

Wedding Wheels

Here is a little-known fact about me: I love cars.

Yes, it's true.  My little fascination with cars started when I was younger.  I favored my Matchbox cars over my Barbies.  I treasured my car & truck quilt my Grandma made me because it was much more fitting than the flowery stuff available for little girls.  I adored our family friends' Mercedes.  I dreamed of owning a classic Mustang (still do!).

You may think my love of cars got lost in my wedding planning world of tulle, lace & flowers.  Oh no.  As I pore through wedding magazines & wedding blogs, I always look for fun, creative modes of wedding transportation.  It doesn't have to be a car to catch my eye either.  Now that I can pin & save those images of wedding wheels, I'm in heaven.  My Wheels board on Pinterest is my favorite.

Allow me to share some favorite Wedding Wheels with you.  Nope, wheels aren't limited to cars!

An unexpected cherry-red tractor for a Farm Wedding:

Image via Snippet & Ink

An adorably-styled classic for a Classic Wedding:

Image via Martha Stewart Weddings

A cute bicycle of love for a Country Wedding:

Image via Ruffled

A vintage blue truck for a Southern Wedding:

Image via Southern Weddings

For my absolute favorite Wedding Wheels, just take a look at the Koru Wedding Style header!  I really love cars so Wedding Wheels will become a regular monthly feature- I can't help myself :-)

Do (or did) you have any fun plans for Wedding transportation?

Facelift Blog-Style

My Winter Wedding

Image by Timothy Glenn Photographers

Welcome to the updated, beautiful space of Koru Wedding Style!

After 340 posts in the span of almost two years, it was time to make changes.  Mostly minor tweaks here & there.  I chose a pretty script font for the blog & post titles to add a softer touch.  I switched up the font color scheme to gray & shades of purple for more contrast.  I added a sweet, sparkly background to the sidebar as a fun touch.  And the biggest (& my favorite!) change . . .

A new photo for the header!  I chose one of my favorite wedding photos to represent Koru Wedding Style.  This blog is a lot weddings, a little me.  This photo represents both nicely.  It's just perfect.

In this photo, it's dusk on our winter wedding day.  RZ & I are fresh newlyweds, officially married for about one hour.  The vintage taxi whisks us away from our church ceremony & parks on a charming cobblestone street outside the Hoboken Terminal for our photo session.  RZ & I spill out of the taxi to wait for the rest of our bridal party to catch up with us.  Tim starts snapping photos.  & this is one of them showing me & my husband in our beloved hometown on our beautiful wedding day.

& I love every last detail- the dusky sky, the city lights, the cobblestone street, the pile of snow, the vintage taxi & the happy couple.  Just as everything in this photo means something to me, everything I post here is meaningful to me.  Everything.

I hope you enjoy the facelift of this sweet space.  Let's continue have lots of wedding fun & inspire each other :-)

Koru Family & Friends, What do you think of the new design?  Like?  Love?

Time to Write the Thank Yous

Thank You Cards & Thank You Box
Lots of Vintage Taxi Love!

Our Thank You Cards

Each night that I sit down to write my goal of 10 thank you notes, I think of the classic Dunkin Donuts commercial "Time to Make the Donuts." Only I hear "Time to Write the Thank Yous!"

Cue thank you card writing! First things first, I pick some fun music & blast it. Then I settle at our dining room table & unpack my pretty Thank You box (our recycled gift card box!). It contains our guest list with gifts noted, thank you cards, pens & stamps. I grab a thank you note & I write. & I write some more. & I write even more.

When 10 thank you cards are signed & sealed, I'm done. Writer's block. Cramped hand. Sore shoulders. All the reasons I dreaded this task.

But mostly I feel an overflow of love & gratitude. I wish I could hand-deliver each thank you note & give the recipient a big hug & kiss. Not only was I blessed to marry the love of my life, our amazing family & friends supported us, celebrated with us & gave us generous gifts. It's almost too much. I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

Now What?!

Classic "Now What?" moment at our wedding (Photo by Friend)

302 posts ago, I started this blog to share the inspiration of Koru Wedding Shoppe with you. Much to my suprise & delight, I got engaged one month later & I began to chronicle my wedding planning journey with you. Koru Wedding Style was a little Koru, a little me.

Life changed a bit since then. Isn't that always the case? I run Koru Wedding Shoppe from a home studio now with the main focus on wedding planning, not wedding invitations. I can no longer fill post after post with beautiful invitations. Plus I'm married. Although I have more of our wedding goodies to show & tell, I can't focus the majority of posts on my wedding anymore.

Now what?!

Fear not, my Koru loves. I remain 100% inspired by weddings all day, every day. I will continue to share wedding ideas, products & businesses to inspire you. I will add a dash of marriage musings here & there. I plan to post these gems on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, followed by the Koru Wrap Up on Fridays.

Yes, Koru's blog will be dark twice a week until any future changes. If you're worried about withdrawl, please like Koru on Facebook or follow Koru on Twitter for daily doses of wedding inspiration. Koru's sweet little blog is choosing quality over quantity & we hope you continue to visit us here!

Photo Session, Parts Two & Three

The action at the Bridal Party Photo Session

And then there were two . . .

After the fun & games of family photos at the church, we headed to the Hoboken Train Station Waiting Room for photos with the bridal party. We chose the Waiting Room for its beauty, convenience & comfort. The Waiting Room is an architectural wonder listed with the New Jersey & United States Register of Historical Places. Do remember the scene in the movie Julia & Julia when Julia Child's sister arrives at that gorgeous Paris train station? Well, that is actually the Hoboken Train Station Waiting Room. Now the fact that this beautiful place is a short, five minute drive from our church made it feasible to transport our bridal party there without too much hassle. Last but not least, the Waiting Room is a warm, indoor spot, perfect for a Winter wedding photo session.

As expected, the bridal party photo session went quickly & smoothly. RZ & I arrived at the train station first so we took photos on the Hoboken street with our vintage taxi. The bridal party came shortly thereafter &, being such troopers, joined us for a few, cold outdoor shots before we moved inside to the Waiting Room. Tim, the TGP crew & Eileen made the experience short & painless by directing us & assisting us. With a small bridal party of nine, it was quite easy to keep everyone's attention & keep the session flowing. Before we knew it, the bridal party was headed back to the hotel in their limo.

Then it was just us: the Bride & Groom. Snap, snap- a few more photos in the Waiting Room. Then we went to Hyatt on the Hudson where we planned on taking photos on the pier overlooking the New York City skyline that we adore. While we admire sunny, airy wedding photos, we were hoping for something more dramatic with the night sky & city lights. The next part of our photo session contains an important lesson. No matter how carefully you plan your wedding day, be open to changes!

As we pulled up to the hotel entrance, RZ, Tim & I were reluctant to release the vintage taxi without taking more photos because we loved it so much. I remembered that two blocks away from the hotel is a dead-end street that overlooks downtown Manhattan. We drove there & the location was beyond perfect. The vintage taxi parked on the cobblestone street piled high with dirty, city snow & NYC lights shining in the background. It was such a cool sight. I didn't care that it was freezing cold or that the wind was biting; we happily posed for photos. Just look at that original photo on the header of this blog: it was worth it!

Photos- done! Now it's time to party!!

Photo Session: The Lowdown

Tim, of TGP, works his magic at our wedding
(Photo by Friend)

The mere mention of a photo session can send me into a tailspin. I've been around the photo session block a time or twenty as a wedding planner. "Grandma is missing!" someone shouts. I run off in search of sly Grandma, who I've laid eyes on exactly once. She could be anywhere in the packed crowd of 250 guests. You don't realize how many nooks & crannies a venue has until you're looking for Grandma. When I finally, triumphantly!, return with Grandma, it's only to learn a Groomsmen has gone MIA. Do you get my point?

Alas, the photo session was a necessary evil for us. How often are our family & friends dressed beautifully to celebrate a happy occasion with us? Not often enough. We were determined to capture them on this once-in-a-lifetime day.

I set out to plan a photo session that was easy, contained & stress-free as possible. We had the typical two hour gap between our church ceremony & ballroom reception & we dedicated this time to our photos. We broke up our session into three, main parts with different locations: family, bridal party & bride/groom.

The photo session started with family photos at the stunning church altar immediately following our ceremony. This session involved the most amount of people & had the highest potential stress factor. Family took the wedding shuttle back to the hotel while the limo took the bridal party to the historical Hoboken Train Station for bridal party photos. I hoped this would be easy enough with our small bridal party of nine. As soon as their photos were complete, they headed back to the hotel to relax before Cocktail Hour. We stayed behind for more photos at the train station. Then we went outdoors for photos with our vintage taxi & the NYC skyline on the cold, winter night.

That was the plan. We prayed to the photo session gods that everything would go smoothly. Stay tuned for the full story!!

We've Been Framed!

Love, LOVE!

Our Wedding Photo on Display

The first professional photograph we saw of our wedding instantly became our favorite. The cobblestone street, the vintage taxi, the tainted snow, the city lights . . . It's very dramatic & romantic. We fell in love.

Naturally, we were over the moon when Tim, of Timothy Glenn Photographers, kindly presented us with a print of that very photo. I wasted no time in taking it & a 60% off coupon to AC Moore to have it framed. I had no idea there were countless mat & frame options- it took me about one hour to choose the perfect combination! Last Wednesday, they called to say the framed print was ready. Yipee!

RZ & I are so pleased with the framed print. It looks awesome! We played with a few different spots to hang the print & finally decided on our dining room. It looks right at home on the Spanish Red wall. Plus our dining room, really more of a nook, is open to the rest of our condo so the print can be seen & enjoyed from the living room too.

We're very fortunate to have a visual reminder of our fabulous, winter wedding day!

Just Married!

1.15.11, Our Wedding Day Photo courtesy of Timothy Glenn Photographers

Hello, hello! Today is my first post as a married woman :-)

On January 15, RZ & I became husband & wife. We enjoyed the most perfect wedding day with our beloved family & friends. Shortly after, we had the most fun on our Hawaii honeymoon. Now we're home & ready to savor life as newlyweds!!

Naturally, I am bursting with excitement to share every last detail with you. & I will, in time. Good things come to those who wait, right?! Well, waiting can be an absolute drag, especially when it comes to weddings.

So RZ & I were over the moon when our wedding photographer, the extremely talented Tim of Timothy Glenn Photographers, released the above photo as a sneak peek the day after our wedding. To us, it's the perfect photo. The happy Bride & Groom on their winter wedding night, posed with their snazzy vintage taxi & the backdrop of glittering downtown Manhattan. Love, LOVE it! Since it's the first wedding photo we saw, it's only fitting that it's the first thing I share with you.

Coming Soon: All. The. Juicy. Details!

Transportation: Bride & Groom

The iconic Checker taxicab
from Film Cars
Photo courtesy of Peter Yanello of Film Cars

Bride, Groom & Checker taxicab
Photo courtesy of Peter Yanello of Film Cars

I saved the best for last as we wrap up the Transportation discussion.

Our wedding day transportation? A 1969 Checker taxicab. !!!!

Once upon a time, I worked in Manhattan as a wedding planning assistant & I had the sincere pleasure of working weddings with Peter Yanello of Film Cars several times, usually when a Bride & Groom hired the Checker taxicab. Many people think of New York City & instantly conjure an image of Checker taxicabs driving through the busy, skyscraper-lined streets. As such a NYC icon, the Checker taxicab was always a hit with the Bride, Groom & their weddings guests, plus Peter was wonderful. I filed the Checker taxicab away for future consideration.

The future, of course, is here. Our reception venue overlooks the glittering NYC skyline so our affair does have a bit of NYC charm here & there. When it came time to tackle wedding transportation, I did not hesitate for one moment to contact Peter of Film Cars to see if the Checker taxicab was available for our wedding. Peter is as lovely & gracious as ever & the Checker taxicab is ours on our wedding day! Since both are unique to our NYC-area, the Checker taxicab will blend quite nicely with the NY Waterway Wedding Shuttle. As with any vintage & antique car rentals, we will have to find an alternative if there is too much snow but it's a gamble we're willing to take. Fingers crossed!

The Checker taxicab will be ready & waiting when we emerge from the church as Husband & Wife!!