recap 4: first dancin'!

So after some posing on the porch (formal portraits, serious face ache from smiling), we went inside the lodge to where the action was. We were announced by Ryan's cousins and our bridal/groom parties joined us too. Then we danced a little to the song we came in to (Party Hard by Andrew WK). We forgot how long the song was (Anyone else notice how looooong things seem when you are standing in front of everyone? Attempting to dance? By attempting I mean some hyrbid version of "the mashed potato" and "the lawnmover"? Or my patented jazz hands and bob your head move?) Anywaaays, my advice? Play a snippet of your chosen song then move right into something else. In our case, we moved right into our 1st dance (Book of Love; Peter Gabriel verison nice hybrid of Ry's PG love and my love of Magnetic Fields and just about anything Stephen Merritt does). I loved it. Every awkward second of it. I know a lot of people do things like take dance lessons prior to the day but I kinda loved how fresh and unrehearsed ours was. Also I spent the entire time spinning Ryan and scoping out cute babies to hold and hug after the dance.





( top to bottom: one of my favs even though its blurry, we look happy and everything felt like a blur so it sums up the day nicely; not sure whats happening here but i like it; so art school but again i love the idea of everything whirring around me and i look so calm and introspective, i'm probably just thinking of holding babies and being so in love with Ry; i really wish i knew what he is saying to me here, love this picture too; baby success! hoo-rah!)

a slight hiccup & a happy friday

I realize this post should be another recap but this week has been nutso. I am slowly writing that post but in the meantime, thought I'd check in and say hi. To tide you over, here's a picture of me playing the crap out of an inflatable saxophone:

(Left to Right: tutu'd Liz, jazzlady Lisa, stocking cap'd Jill)

Congrats & good luck to the weekend brides! Especially Jen! Have an awesome day tomorrow!!!

recap 3: things are happening!

I cried just a little. The under 10 minute ceremony talked about how we first met and what we love about each other. I put the ring on the wrong finger.

In the words of a true Boston girl: it was wicked awesome.

up next: party hard!

recap 2: morning of!

So my first memory of the morning of is waking up and smiling, pretty well rested for falling asleep so late the night before (keep in mind, I'm an old person who likes going to bed at 8pm). Then hearing an excited squeal, I went into the bathroom and at quarter of 7 in the morning, my sister was in there doing her hair. I hope my sister doesn't mind me revealing this here but her side bun was fake hair. She had me hysterically laughing telling me the story of buying the hair. She went to Sally Beauty Supply and the girl ringing her up said ''hey girl! be careful. I was at the club the other night, ya know drinking and dancing? and my friend was all 'girl your hair is on the floor!' and my hair was on the floor!' My sister then asked her how many bobby pins she had used and she said 'one'. Classic. I love it so much.
So after a very relaxed morning of coffee and bagels with the girls (advice: eat the morning of! you will need something in your system when you get your drink on later or just good for calming nerves), we caravaned over to the camp and I got a chance to give hugs and thanks to all my helpers (can I discuss how much I love the family I married into? tons and tons of love!!!). These are some of the things they were doing:

(table breakdown: flowers in center with table numbers and disposable cameras, postcards and bibs at people's seats; if you do disposable cameras: I recommend not spending too much on them since not everyone will use them and when you go to develop them you may have a lot of black blank film from people not using the flash. More people than I would have thought actually wore the bibs so that was really fun. I also highly recommend the postcard idea to everyone! They were so fun to read together! Almost everyone did them, some people wrote stories, some people wrote about the wedding, really really fun)

(As I mentioned before, my aunt did the flowers. I really liked them! Lots of color, nothing too crazy. Also, most people kept their hooray flags since Ry's cousins handed them out as people sat down. My little cousin ripped the flag off and made some kind of sword I think, so theres that too!)

(Sorry realize you guys have seen these a zillion times, but table number close up)

(Ah! To finally see all the garland in action! It was all over the outside of the place. We really lucked out with amazing weather and got to decorate and have our ceremony outside. And on another cool note, the camp liked my decorations so much they too pictures to put in their catalog! also, the bartenders said they go to hundreds of weddings a year and mine was their favorite ever! and they said it a bunch of times!! what what)

(Close up of pinwheels on windows. They were hung across the full windows and on the stage too)

(cupcake tower, little cupcake "topper" I made)

(The wreaths in the entranceway. So psyched the R didn't fall off, it is hotglued on there like craaaaazy)

(favor close up; good feedback on the favors! people love giganto marshmallows)

While all that was going on, here we were:

(my sister doing my hair; one thing I really loved is getting ready in that room with the windows; people who walked by like various cousins and family could peek in and say hi to me. Lots of people came in to visit me and I liked that so much more than being alone. Our officiant, Ryan's best lady, Ryan's mom and aunt, my mom and our awesome photographer. I loved being able to see them and spend time with them before. Also, a drunk fisherman stuck his face in through the window to congratulate me)

(More makeup than I've worn in quite some time. Felt very glam. My sister did an amazing job on my hair and makeup. She is the best!!! The necklace is something I bought my mom when I went to Italy in college)

(Me and my awesome awesome ladies! How fabulous are they? They looked amazing. after taking this photo, I proceeded to hyperventilate and pace the room, repeatedly almost tripping on my dress. No idea why I was so nervous, I think just taking in the day. Whenever I smile in pictures, I always feel like it looks like I just ate something delicious, like I'm thinking 'yummmm'. Liz looks happy and calm. So does Laura, but I know she is secretly nervous that what the Sally Beauty salesgirl prophesied would come true. One of the 3 times I cried that day was when my dad came in. Stay tuned for great pics of my dad looking freaked when he is about to walk me down the aisle!)

next: ceremony & happenings!

recap 1: pre-wedding events!

(one of my favorite photos of me and the bestie at the pre wedding dinner; promise next recaps will have more pictures!!!)

Event 1: Bachlorette aka Friday the 13th Fiesta

First piece of advice: I recommend (if you can) that you have your best ladies stay with you before the big event. Because our wedding was a Sunday, I lucked out and had the girls for 3 days, 2 nights! You can do things like gab, do your nails and eat nachos and drink lime rickeys (also, if you paint your nails a bright cheery color, it will pump you up!I picked some crazy bright pink red orangish color!)! And watch MST3K! So I spent most of Friday morning doing last minute things (last minute gifts to give out at pre-wedding dinner, last minute grocery shopping for fiesta, etc). Then my sis came over at noonish and my other amazing girls came pre party and helped me clean and make food. I should have known better but I of course made too much food (I made a couple salads but all we ate were chips, salsa, jalapeno poppers and crab empanadas. Also, the tres leches cake was a huge hit! Will make that again). More advice: make sure to invite your McGuyver friend who can jury-rig your clothes line to hold a pinata. Another piece of advice? If you make edible favors, remember to actually give them out to the people who attend your party. Whatever you do, do not 'have a little bite' of one of the many left in your fridge because you will then proceed to eat more than your share of margarita cupcakes with lime curd and whipped cream (and edible glitter!!). All in all, great party, good friends, good sangria and margaritas. Not too much to clean up other than jalapeno confetti and broken pieces of pinata (which doubled as hats! It was a star shaped pinata). Anyone need any pinata candy? I have a huge bag left. I could send candygrams if you send me your address!

Event 2: "Rehearsal Dinner" aka Pre-Wedding Dinner

I know its is traditionally called a rehearsal dinner but we did no rehearsing. It was making me a little nervous to have no rehearsal but guess what?! Didn't matter. We all made it down the aisle fine. So anyways back to the rehearsal. There were 30 of us at a great Chinese food place. More advice: eat scallion pancakes before your wedding. It will make you very happy. We did an introduction of all family members to one another and I did a quick 'thank you everyone' speech. Then I gave out gifts. I am going to tell you guys what I did since I was really stressed out on what to give so maybe this will help you!

Mom- Maya Angelou book, picture of us (I printed out pictures of me when I was little with them and found a nice quote and framed it. I also found some cool vintage wallpaperish paper to use as the background)

Sister & Hairdresser-stovetop espresso maker (for doing my hair), bridesmaid tin (filled with all yellow things to go with my original color theme, things like candy, earrings, chopsticks, screenprinted dish towel, perfume, nail polish, etc etc)

Best Friend-bridesmaid tin

Out of Towners- canvas bag with iron on map of Mass (easy to make! and cheap!) filled with:

Boston magazine, lobster lollipops, local Marylous coffee, Cape Cod postcards, stuff from the College I work at (baby shirts for the cousins with babies, mugs/water bottles for the other guys), bottled water

Dad- stovetop espresso maker, picture of us, cufflinks (used fabric and cufflink posts I bought off etsy)

Aunt & Florist- picture of us, pot with herb seeds

Ryan's mom- ladybug brooch (ladybugs remind them of Ry's grandma), 'thanks for being so fabulous' wooden sign, vera bradley photo book, picture of us

Ryan's aunt (super helper with venue and on day of!)- ladybug day planner, candy, photo clutch

Ryan's dad- hot pepper vodka, cufflinks, flask (covered blank flask with hawaiian shirt fabric since he wears hawaiian shirts all the time)

day of helpers- bags with penny candy (wax lips, unicorn pops, hot tamales, etc)

I also made gift tags which said 'thank you for everything' and I used pictures of me as a baby with them or pictures of them and little Ryan.

All were very affordable but I really wanted to thank everyone for all their help.

Up next: day of! woo!

Happy Birthday, Bear Claw!

Happy Birthday to my husband (!!!) who turns the big 3-1 today. I love you so much and am sorry your present hasn't arrived yet! I have a feeling this year is going to be awesome.



(I promise you some recaps soon. I'm doing some serious relaxing since we got back from the honeymoon. No professional photos yet but I have tons of facebook ones to show!)

the key to an amazing wedding...

...is to have a photobooth with a big green hat


(my sister the boxer punching me as I jump out of a big green hat)

I had an absolutely amazing day with my family and friends! Thanks for all the sweet shout outs and well wishes! I will recap after the honeymoon! be back soon!

and congrats to all the brand new weekend brides!!!