skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Happy Friday to you! Next week, I'm continuing the local New Jersey/New York wedding theme with a very special New Jersey wedding. Here is a sneak peek of next Wedding Wednesday:
Not only does the couple live in Hoboken, they got married in Hoboken. This is as local as local gets!! The Bride & Groom tied the knot at the beautiful, historical Our Lady of Grace Church, mere blocks away from my home. I am so excited to show you a little slice of Hoboken, not to mention a fantastic wedding. Please join me next Wedding Wednesday!
Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Celebrations to you & yours!
Photography: Jamie Bodo Photography / Submitted via Two Bright Lights
RZ's family, now Our Family ♥
My family, now Our Family ♥
Our Siblings ♡
Outtake of our Flower Girls ☺
New Mr. and Mrs. ★(All Photos by Friends)
Our photo session kicked off with family photos at the altar of the church immediately following our ceremony (tip: always check that the church is available afterwards). We chose this time & place because we knew the major players would be at our ceremony & we could capture them quickly & easily before they wandered off in different directions. We decided to include the flower girls in the first session too because we hoped to catch them before they got tired. Sounds easy, right?
Boy, did this require some logistics. RZ & I paraded up the aisle, bright, happy, shiny & freshly married with our bridal party on our heels. Planner extraordinaire Eileen directed us to the small bridal room at the back of the church where we could relax & wait until the rest of our guests boarded the wedding shuttle. We simply couldn't chance getting caught in a long conversation with Aunt Missy & throwing off our timing. It turned out to be a sweet few moments sharing our joy with our bridal party. When the coast was clear of guests, Eileen ushered us to the front of the church where Photographer extraordinaire Tim & the TGP team were set up &, thankfully, our families were waiting.
We'd told our families well in advance to stick around after our ceremony for family photos. We'd repeated this information time & time again as our wedding approached. We included this information on our wedding web site & our wedding day itinerary. Still, you never know who might miss the memo. I breathed a sigh of relief that everyone was present.
Now comes the fun part. RZ & I are positioned at the altar. Tim & his team call out family names from the portrait list we gave them (tip: keep this list as simple & short as possible). Said family members come up as called & pose for photos with us. Well, well. Be prepared for people not listening & coming up as they please &/or not coming up at all. Our families include about 50 people but it seemed like a zoo. One sweet flower girl just wasn't having it. Things get a bit chaotic. I wondered if this was the best idea for the first minutes of our new marriage. Just keep smiling, it will be over soon.
& the treasured family photos will be worth it!
I was a very happy Bride when the family photos were over & we could move on to bridal party photos!!
Take a formal ceremony in a beautiful church . . .
Add family & friends,
like our Sister of Honor, Best Man & Reader shown here
Add a dash of decoration,
like our flowers in memory of lost loved ones . . .
Stick with tradition, yet add a few personal touches . . .
And you will be happily married, like us!
(All Photos by Friends)
I'm a casual, relaxed girl at heart. I'm most comfortable in a t-shirt, jeans & flip flops. Sunshine is my goddess. Think San Diego. Think beach.
I didn't mesh well with the grand church & its traditional ways. RZ's top priority was a ceremony held in the Catholic church so I tried my best to embrace our reality. But I worried. Would our church ceremony be too formal, too stuffy & too much for me? For us?
Thankfully, as we infused more & more of ourselves into the ceremony, it became more & more ours. Perfectly us.
A few tips/perks to a church ceremony that I wish I had known in advance:
1. Our gorgeous church is breathtaking. It required little or no decoration which equals savings on the floral budget. We ordered one altar arrangement in memory of our departed loved ones. Otherwise, we let the beautiful venue shine.
2. Our soloist, my godmother, helped me choose meaningful songs. No, I couldn't walk down the aisle to a Beatles song but I was pleasantly surprised by the options like Con Te Partiro, Ave Maria, etc. & she sang them like an angel!
3. We chose traditional vows & I took much comfort & hope from starting our marriage just as others have before us.
4. RZ is Filipino & we incorporated these three Filipino customs: veil, cord & coins. It was a respectful nod to his heritage & it personalized our ceremony.
5. I can't stress enough how honored we were by our family & friends who participated in our ceremony. Our parents, grandparents & bridal party who supported us & stood by our side at the altar. Our friends & family who recited readings & assisted with the Filipino customs. My godmother who sang. Our guests who witnessed our positive new beginning. Everyone warmed our hearts with their very presence & made the ceremony ours.
In the end, our church ceremony was perfect for us. I learned that if something doesn't feel right, there's hope. With a little thought & a lot of heart, you can make anything yours!
Ready to get married!
The Kiss
"Con Te Partiro" was chosen as the final Prelude song as a fond farewell to our past. As my godmother's angelic voice sang the last notes, I took a deep breath. I looked at our grandparents, our parents, my flower girls & my bridesmaids ahead of me. I felt my Uncle Denny & Uncle Frank beside me. I was ready. The time had come!
I walked down the aisle towards our positive new beginning with love & happiness in my heart. I truly believed that every little thing in my life, think "God Bless The Broken Road", had brought me to this moment. My Uncles, who have known & loved me always, were the best escorts from my old life to my new life & I wouldn't have made it down the aisle without them. Our friends & family who lined the aisle made the journey that much sweeter.
Then I saw RZ. He was the perfect combination of handsome, happy & nervous. My heart exploded in fireworks.
We joined hands, as we would soon join our hearts & lives forever. The traditional ceremony progressed, laced with readings, songs & traditions we had carefully chosen. The readings & traditions were done by family & friends- I was so honored that they supported us in this wonderful way. I was present & alert for every word, letting them sink in & taking them to heart.
Then came the best part: exchanging vows! We stood up in front of our family & friends, looking at each other & holding hands. RZ recited the traditional vows first, strong & confident as I knew he would be. I followed, a bit surprised by my matching strength & confidence as I tend to be quiet & soft-spoken. Our vows had been promised & followed by many before us, now it was our turn to honor them. This was our positive new beginning, the official start of our family!!!
Naturally, we sealed those vows with a kiss. Our priest joyfully announced as husband & wife for the first time & we floated back up the aisle. We were the happiest husband & wife!!
Eileen & I walking to my marriage ceremony
(Friend's photo)
I walked the three blocks from our condo to our church. Yup, despite the chill of January & the protests of many.
This was my plan from the moment we booked our church for our ceremony. Walking was the natural choice. We live in a pedestrian-friendly (read: parking is a nightmare!) town & we walk to church. Always. My wedding day would be no different.
Still, I booked a limo. I didn't expect my bridesmaids & our Moms to walk, especially on a cold, winter day. Also, I needed a back-up plan in case of rain or snow. When word spread that I booked the limo, people assumed I'd changed my mind about walking. They were so very wrong.
Despite valid protests about slipping on ice or getting my dress dirty & among whispers of being crazy, I stuck with my plan & walked to church. The bridesmaids & Moms stayed behind to primp a bit more before the arrival of the limo while I grabbed my borrowed fur capelet & set off for our church. I'm glad I did because it was a peaceful, reflective walk. Eileen, my personal guard against ice, snow & dirt, & I chatted while Tim snapped photos but I barely noticed. The blue sky was beautiful, the crisp air was refreshing & the world was mine. I could see our stately church ahead & I could envision RZ waiting for me inside. Oh happy day!
It was definitely a walk to remember!!The moral of my humble story? Brides-to-be, stick to your guns!!! Listen to other people & consider their advice but, ultimately, follow your heart. I would have regretted it so much if I didn't take my sweet wedding march!
The Friday before our wedding was a flurry of activity: picking up the marriage license, dropping off our hotel welcome bags, finishing our escort cards, etc. Soon, way too soon, it was time to get ready for our ceremony rehearsal. More rushing, more craziness. We arrived at our church with only a shred of sanity & no time to spare.
RZ & I arrive at the church for our rehearsal
The action at our rehearsal
The excitement was building & building & building. We were on the brink of our fantastic wedding day!
The final look of our ceremony poms
My longest-running DIY project was the fabric poms for our ceremony. After making the sample in September, I ran into two problems. One, the sample had taken forever. It was an easy fix: I used 4-inch styrofoam balls instead of 6-inch styrofoam balls. Two, I had no fabric. It wasn't an easy fix. A failed attempt for a NYC fabric hunt. An overload of Internet sources for fabric. Lots & lots of procrastination. About two weeks before the wedding, I finally purchased small balls, swirl ribbon & white organza from an excellent source, Save on Crafts.
My supplies arrived six days before the wedding. I was really determined to finish this DIY project but I had many tasks & little time. In between gift bag assembly, dress appointments, airport pick-ups, table assignments & more, I found scraps of time here & there to cut circles & glue petals to create poms. I cherished those moments because I could free my mind of the wedding to-do list & just relax. However, those freeing moments were few & far between!
At our ceremony rehearsal, I handed over four poms to our wedding planner to place on the church pews the next day. My goal was eight poms. After our rehearsal dinner, my cousin/bridesmaid kindly helped me finish another pom & started the sixth pom when she burned her hand with the hot glue gun. I officially called off the project.
So I had four pretty poms at our wedding ceremony, four shy of my goal. Two poms decorated the first two pews by the altar & the other two poms hung near the last two pews by the church entrance. & you know what? It was just fine, nobody missed those four poms- including me!!
Bride, Groom & Checker taxicabPhoto courtesy of Peter Yanello of Film Cars
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!!
Similar to the theme of Halloween last week, the theme is wedding transportation this week. Our ceremony & reception are in two locations so, naturally, we need transportation. We have hired three modes of transportation &, at times, it's felt a little like planes, trains & automobiles. In our case, it's bus, limo & taxi. Let's start with the transportation for our wedding guests which I've so cleverly dubbed the Wedding Shuttle.
Why do we need transportation for our wedding guests? Our ceremony & reception are in neighboring towns of Hoboken & Jersey City, about a 15-minute, easy drive. Parking is the big, big issue. Our church has a small parking lot the size of a postage stamp that we want to reserve for our elderly & infant guests. Street parking is limited & the parking rules make it easy to find yourself ticketed, booted or towed (I've experienced all three in my eight years here). Garage parking is available but the walk may be bitter & cold in winter. Because parking in Hoboken is such a headache & hassle, we thought it would be best to provide transportation to & from the ceremony.A bus was the natural solution to our wedding guest transportation needs & we decided to make it a tad fun with a local spin: a NY Waterway bus. NY Waterway operates ferries between New Jersey & Manhattan & they provide buses on each side to various locations. You can hardly visit the NYC-area without spotting the familiar red, white & blue NY Waterway buses. The buses are local & distinct, plus it didn't hurt that I've worked with NY Waterway as a private charter in the past & I found them to be courteous & prompt. So we booked them for four hours & worked out the details of our Wedding Shuttle.Here is the plan. All wedding guests, regardless of whether or not they are overnight guests at the Hyatt, are being directed to go to the Hyatt prior to the ceremony to valet park or self-park their vehicle. Our Wedding Shuttle will be waiting near the Hyatt lobby to take them to our ceremony. The shuttle will make two scheduled runs to Hoboken. After our ceremony, the Wedding Shuttle will make two scheduled runs to return our wedding guests to the Hyatt. Now they're in the right place for our wedding reception. Let the party begin!
The big news is we have chosen & booked the Church of St. Ann in our hometown Hoboken, New Jersey for our marriage ceremony in January 2011. Exciting!
We decided to go the traditional route of a church ceremony & a separate reception. Once we decided to follow this path, it was a no-brainer that we would honor our Catholic upbringings & marry in the Catholic Church. We talked location a bit more & ultimately we didn't need to look too far from home. The beautiful Church of St. Ann is a mere three blocks from our home & we have attended Mass, weddings & our goddaughter's baptism there. We're honored to have our marriage ceremony in this special church.
As with most places in our beloved town of Hoboken, The Church of St. Ann is rooted in history. The parish began in 1900, the current church was erected in 1925 & officially opened in 1927. The church was meant to inspire all to praise God with its Romanesque architecture, towering marble alter, elegant stained-glass windows & rhythmic bells in the steeple. Hoboken has changed much throughout the years but the church has remained in its full glory. If it's possible, the beauty of this church has multiplied over the years; it's one of the most gorgeous churches I have ever seen.
I feel great now that we have our marriage ceremony booked at this church. Not only is the Church of St. Ann pretty, its people are kind & welcoming. I snapped a few photos of the outside of the church on this stunning March day & next time, I'll get a few photos of the inside. We're so lucky & blessed to get married here. Our wedding is planned for cold January but that fact doesn't stop me from envisioning walking through the streets of Hoboken to our ceremony . . .
