Dress Rehearsal

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

Thankfully, I checked my stress at the door & I took in the moment. Our beautiful church. Our wonderful families. Our fabulous bridal party. Our calming wedding planner. This was it. This was truly happening. We were getting married the very next day!!!

The action at our rehearsal

What followed was a basic ceremony rehearsal run by our priest. Nothing out of the ordinary. Practicing the Processional. Finding out where to stand & sit. Running through the ceremony. Marching the Recessional. I knew I had to simply follow the priest's cues & I didn't worry about one thing.

Soon-to-be Mr. & Mrs.!!!!!

The excitement was building & building & building. We were on the brink of our fantastic wedding day!

One For One

Something Blue, Something New & Something Good
Image via TOMS

TOMS is known for its comfortable shoes & charitable work: for every pair of TOMS sold, the company donates one pair of shoes to a child in need. One for one.

Now Brides can rejoice because TOMS has launched its Brides & Bridesmaids Collection! You & your ladies can look stylish, feel good & support a great cause. Seriously, check out this collection because there is everything from blue glitters to ivory grosgrain classics. They're much more fun than sneakers & more original than ballet flats. & did I mention the good cause? Rock these cuties all day long or wear those killer heels for saying "I Do!" & change into comfy TOMS for dancing the night away!

I searched long & hard for the perfect shoes (my fun choice will be featured soon!) & the TOMS Wedding collection would've made my choice easy: the silver glitters, please!

Dream Team

RZ & I have been happily married for one month & counting (quickly approaching two months!). Upon our return from our relaxing honeymoon, I began to struggle with the best way to share our wedding story. I want it to be perfect, much like the day itself. I finally came to the conclusion that, like anything in life, I just need to start the story.

One Happy Couple!
Image by Timothy Glenn Photographers (for more, click HERE)

Let's start with our vendors: our amazing, amazing vendors! I must thank our fabulous vendors for making our wedding dreams come true by their talent & efforts. They're simply the best!

Alterations/Veil: Ally Bridal & Tuxedo
Attire (Bride): Celestine by WToo at Lovely Bridal Shop
Attire (Bridesmaids): Cynthia Rowley at Bella Bridesmaid
Band: The Love Jones Band
Cake: Carlo's Bakery
Florist: Elizabeth Koleto Designs

Hair & Make-up: Ashimoto
Honeymoon: All About Honeymoons
Hotel: Hyatt on the Hudson
Invitations & other paper goods: Marsupial Invitations at Koru Wedding Shoppe
Jewelry (Bride): Bracelet by J.Crew & Earrings borrowed
Jewelry (Bridemaids): Earrings & Bracelet by Cookie Lee, Necklace by Chico's
Photography: Timothy Glenn Photography
Transportation (Limo): Santos VIP Limousine
Transportation (Vintage Checker Cab): Film Cars
Tux: Men's Wearhouse
Venue (Ceremony): Church of St. Ann
Venue (Reception, Rehearsal Dinner & Brunch): Hyatt on the Hudson
Videography: document this! productions
Wedding Planner: An Affair to Remember

Some I had worked with before wearing my hat as a wedding planner, some I had been introduced to while planning my own wedding. RZ & I expected the best from them & they delivered. Without exception, our vendors exceeded our expectations. I can only wish & hope to work with each member of our dream team again!

It's A Wrap! 3rd Edition

My. Favorite. Wedding. Eye. Candy. EVER
Photo by Nick Tucker via Snippet & Ink

Hello, hello! A big, hearty welcome to March & another edition of my favorite inspiration rounded up on the web this week. Enjoy!

Snowy Night + Abandoned Mansion + Firework Cake = My Favorite Wedding (besides my own naturally!)

Buy shoes for your wedding & help a child in need! I'll take the silver glitters, please.

Artichokes? Who knew!

Are you changing your name when you get married? Thoughtful posts here, here & here! (p.s. whatever you decide, you've made the right decision for YOU!)

Have a fantastic weekend!

DIY Project: The Recap

A little DIY wisdom from little old me!
Print available on Etsy at NayArt's shop

All in all, I picked three DIY projects for our wedding: the hotel welcome bags, the ceremony poms & the K & R decorations. I've stressed the importance of choosing your DIY projects carefully. Looking back on mine now, I want to share some advice & wisdom on my projects.
Do I have regrets? Do I wish I had done things differently? Do I have any advice? Read on!!!

1. Hotel Welcome Bags: I'm glad we did the hotel welcome bags ourselves & I'd make the same decision again in a heartbeat. Because we only had to make 30 bags & deliver to one hotel, it was manageable. Even fun.

But I do have tons of advice. Due to our limited storage space & curious beagle, we didn't have the option to shop for our treats & supplies in advance. However, I could have written & printed our welcome letter & wedding itinerary long before I did. Start any & all tasks early!

We were fortunate to have 30 bags, one delivery & a Jeep. If you have 30+ bags, multiple hotel deliveries &/or a small car, I would seriously consider hiring a professional or delegating this task to willing friends.

2. Ceremony Poms: I loved the poms so much & I adored having my personal touch on our wedding ceremony. I noticed them as I walked down the aisle, I spot them in our wedding guests' photos & I'm proud of them.

There are no regrets here, not even that I didn't finish eight poms. Remember it's okay to let go if a project doesn't go as planned. Well, one regret: the ceremony poms are the only things that did not get collected & returned to us at the end of our wedding. I wanted to keep one as a memento in our home. Luckily, I do have the extra pom that never made it to our ceremony. Make sure you take the time to check & account for everything at the end of your wedding!

3. K & R Decor: This project was quick, easy, inexpensive & personal. Plus we can enjoy the painted initials in our home for years to come. Love, love this project!

However, the K & R didn't look quite right at our reception because I didn't double-check the placement of the guest book table. I did my due diligence by taking a site tour & noting the set-up for our wedding. I wish I had asked again, then I would've bought freestanding letters. But the real lesson? Things may not go or look as planned & just go with it. As long as you keep smiling, nobody will notice anything is amiss!

Are you tackling DIY projects for your wedding? Happy crafting!!

DIY Project #3: K & R

Painted K, Naked R

My final DIY wedding project was our initials, K & R. Because RZ & I branded everything from the spot in the sand where he proposed to our wedding invitations with our initials, I wanted to continue the theme at our wedding reception. I picked out the perfect spot for our initials on a site visit at Hyatt on the Hudson: our guest book table. The guest book table would be against the wall & the letters would add a bit of height & personality. After the wedding, we could hang the letters in our home as a wedding memento. Now all I needed was to complete the project!

K & R in Progress

This DIY project was the quickest & easiest. I bought two wooden letters, one ampersand, two bottles of ivory paint & one bottle of mocha paint at AC Moore. I briefly considered painting the ampersand purple because I had added touches of purple, like the bridesmaid dresses, throughout the celebration. In the end, I went with mocha for the simple reason that it would look best in our living room when the wedding was said & done. I took my supplies home & painted the K & R with about five coats of paint over a period of a few days. I applied the final coat of paint the night before the wedding :-)

The snag was the guest book table wasn't placed against the wall as the catering manager had told me. I went through three catering managers at Hyatt on the Hudson &, unfortunately, the second one who led me on a site tour may not have known everything about the cocktail hour set-up. It never occurred to me to confirm the guest book table placement with my third, final & best Hyatt contact. At our wedding, the guest book table was placed in an excellent position near the ballroom entrance- just not against a wall. I hadn't bought letters that could stand on their own so the initials were awkwardly propped up somehow on the table. For a fleeting moment as I entered the ballroom & noticed the table, I considered putting on my wedding planner hat & trying to fix the problem, then realized it wasn't a big deal. At all.

K & R in our home today

For the record, as you can see above, our initials look just right on our living room wall!

DIY Project #2: Ceremony Poms

The final look of our ceremony poms

White poms with ivory ribbon for our winter white wedding
& swirls, my favorite!, on the ribbon!!!!

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!!