Thursday, October 8, 2009

My Favorite Wedding Songs

Processional: Bach - Sleepers Awake
Recessional: Mozart - Ode to Joy

Our First Dance:
Eric Clapton & B.B. King - Marry You (~ a little awkward to dance to (tempo-wise), but when you're in love, can easily pull off...)

Great Reception Songs (that I can remember):
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - I've Had the Time of My Life (from Dirty Dancing)
Sir Mix-a-Lot - Baby Got Back
Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
Michael Jackson - Beat It

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Married :-)

As photos start coming in, I will post them and tell you about them.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Wedding Hairstyle Inspirations







There will be Tiger Vanda Orchids in my hair on the big day. My friend, Rachael, is a hairstylist and will be doing my hair and make-up at her salon, Carolyn's, in Albany.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Always Time For Nature

Michael, Shadow, and I climbed Sugarloaf Mountain in the Catskills on Labor Day. It was perfect weather and an awesome workout. There was no view from the summit, but there were some other interesting sites to see.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Tuxedo Measurements

My Father, Brother, and Michael were measured Friday night for their tuxedos. Michael's Sister's Husband's Father (whew) owns a Tailor/Menswear shop in Gloversville, NY. Here is Ralph measuring my brother Greg:

Friday, August 28, 2009

Hello Gentlemen

The groom has chosen this tuxedo. I think it's very stylish and suitable for our wedding. Mike, the five groomsmen, and my Father will all be donned in this beauty:

Calvin Klein: Infinity

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Bridal Shower: √ (check) !

My Bridesmaids threw me a wonderful Bridal Shower. It was, as Veruca Salt (from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) would say, a "bean-feast"! Check out the awesome sugary spread:It was at the lovely home of my Matron of Honor, Katie. There were 23 ladies in attendance, total. I received so many great gifts. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Just because most of the presents were not a surprise (since they were off our registries), doesn't mean I didn't have an absolute blast opening and receiving them! Thank you to everyone who helped out, cooked/baked something, provided their house, brought something, attended, cleaned-up, and made the afternoon memorable and fun. Here is a photo of me and the wedding party in attendance:

Camping Vacation

Michael and I went on a 4-night camping trip to Letchworth State Park last week. We choose to camp at Letchworth because it is close to Geneseo (my alma mater) and since I had spent so much time there in college running the trails (Geneseo's home cross country course is there), I wanted to fully experience the rest of the park. Unfortunately, all the sites at Letchworth have electric hook-up, which means it's an ideal place for people with campers and RVs. We were practically the only tent campers in our loop. It's okay, we made the best of it and "tented our hearts out". It was very hot last week and we slept with the rain fly off for two nights and could watch the stars. There was a 'boil water advisory' the whole time we were at the park from the Village of Perry who supplies the campground's water. Let me tell you, buying bottled water at the camp store was not cheap and with 90-degree heat, an unexpected expense. We were saving a pack of delicious bacon to cook over a campfire on our last morning. On our last night, I woke up just in time to see a raccoon snatching the bacon from our cooler. He took some ground beef too. Of course he left the fruits and vegetables and beer. We went to a diner in Dansville for breakfast instead. Overall, our trip was a nice break from it all.

Invitations Mailed: √ (check) !

Phew, that was a close one. Yes, I did wait until the last minute. I thought I could finish assembling everything before Mike and I left for our vacation last week. But, no such luck. The invitations just had to wait until we returned. Well, the post office received them yesterday and they are in motion. Even with everything printed and purchased, it still took approximately 8 hours for assembly. Thank you Bridesmaid Kelly and my Parents for helping in the daunting assembly/postage calculation process. Because the invitations contain vintage stamps, and the stamps are in several different denominations, it took some time to calculate and divide the proper postage. I left that job to my Philatelist Father and he was stellar. Here's a sneak peek at the vintage postage stamps:

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Milligan & Miller Wedding

Last month was the wedding of Kristi Milligan and Liam Miller in Saratoga, NY. It was a perfect day, warm and sunny. The ceremony and reception were both held at Longfellows. Here is a photo of the first time we all met Kristi, when Liam brought her on a rafting/camping weekend in the Adirondack's. (Yes, we all loved her!) We rafted down the Indian and Hudson Rivers and camped at Lake Durant in the Adirondack's. That was in 2006.

Oh, how far we have come.


Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Miller! We can't wait to hear about your honeymoon in Aruba.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Honeymoon Postponed

The stars finally aligned for a bit of good luck regarding our honeymoon. Back story: A few months ago, when we became a primarily one-income household, we were forced to spend the money we had saved-up for our Belize honeymoon. Now that Mike is going back to school, and will be a full-time student this fall, it would not be good for him to miss 2 full weeks of classes. So, we decided to postpone our honeymoon until January 2010. Mike will be on a school break and hopefully we will have some money saved by then. Cancelling or changing a flight is an expensive ordeal, especially when you purchase tickets through a third-party website, such as http://www.cheaptickets.com/, like we did. However, when I finally sucked-it-up and called them yesterday, the outcome was surprisingly good. We were given a full refund on our tickets! The reason for this is because one of the airlines made a flight change after our initial booking that would have resulted in us missing a connecting flight. Because the airline initiated a change like that, they could (and should) (AND DID) offer the option of a refund instead of just a flight change. The agent at cheaptickets.com was extremely helpful and even called the airline for me to obtain the refund. If that scenario had not played out, we would have owed an extra $500 in fees plus the fare difference (which is probably higher around the holidays). Now we wait for 45 days for the refund to process. Then we can start from scratch and book a new trip. Two thumbs-up to cheaptickets.com too!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Shacking-up?

The bride and groom have chosen a hotel for out-of-town guests and anyone else who may want the convenience of not driving after the reception. We have arranged for a shuttle to bring people to and from the wedding/reception, which is 5 minutes away. We have reserved a block of 20 rooms at the Best Western Albany Airport Inn for Friday and Saturday nights of the wedding weekend. You must call to make your own reservation and make sure to tell them it's for our wedding so that you get our fixed rate. They will only hold the rooms until the first weekend in September, so don't delay!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Registry Links and Info

Here is our wedding registry information.

Bed Bath & Beyond

Under the "Give A Gift" category, enter either my or Mike's first and last names. If you enter my first and last name, our registry will come up as the only option. If you enter Mike's first and last name, you will get nine choices. Of course select ours with the NY location and the correct wedding date.

Macy's

Under the "Give" section, enter either my or Mike's first and last names. If you enter my first and last name, our registry will come up as the only option. If you enter Mike's first and last name, you will get five choices. Of course select ours with the NY location and the correct wedding date.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Blue Shoes Acquired

Yesterday I bought a pair of the previously featured Bandolino Wishnas in Medium Blue Nubuck. They fill almost all my wedding shoe aspirations: comfortable, flat, sandal, blue, and room for the rosettes (they already have a flower detail but I think I want to replace it). Even though I now have satin, ivory rosettes, maybe I should get blue ones instead. The eBay store I bought them from offers them in royal blue. The ivory rosettes are 2" but I can purchase rosettes in 3" too. What do you think: keep the flower detail that came on the shoes, replace with the 2" ivory rosettes I already have, purchase and replace with 2" royal blue rosettes, or purchase and replace with 3" royal blue rosettes???

Friday, July 24, 2009

New York State Bird = Wedding Colors

I'm embarrassed I never noticed before (since I work for the State's Dept. of Environmental Conservation and all...) but our state bird has the same colors as our wedding. [Lately I've been seeing the world through blue and orange glasses.] The Eastern Blue Bird is the official bird of New York State - and what a beauty! The legislation adopting the bluebird as the official state bird was signed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller on May 18, 1970. I noticed a large photograph of it in the lobby of our building. If I could, I would invite a few to our wedding just add ambiance!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Shoe Saga Continues

I can't find what I'm looking for: ivory or off-white, flat or very-low-heel, satin sandals or flip flops. I brought two of my new ivory, satin rosettes shoe-shopping with me last weekend. I checked every shoe and department store in Colonie Center (I've also looked extensively at Crossgates Mall which includes DSW). I did purchase a pair of metallic, blue, flat sandals from Payless Shoes as a "back-up" pair (they were only $7). I'm now considering "dyeable" shoes. They have a few options I would consider. I really like this top pair of flip-flops except for the rhinestones...
Picture all these shoes (in ivory) with ivory, satin rosettes attached.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Ribbon for Invitatons

Last week I ordered ribbon (from eBay seller "dreampartycreation") to tie around the invitations. I wanted to find a color as close to the periwinkle bridesmaids dresses as possible. I chose "antique blue". I'll see when it gets here whether its a match.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

New Shoe Plan

So, I'm back to the idea of attaching rosettes to a pair of shoes/sandals I like. The 'perfect shoe' I posted two weeks ago is available for overseas shipping. However, the shipping costs almost as much as the shoes! I've decided it's too risky (and silly) to purchase shoes I haven't tried on that cost that much money and would be quite difficult to return if they didn't fit or were uncomfortable. Remember the post where I said that I wanted to try and make my own rosettes? I received the book, "The Artful Ribbon: Beauties in Bloom" by Candace Kling. I have looked through it and read several parts of it. I've decided that I'm not ready to take on the pressure of trying to make/sew ribbon rosettes. They look quite tricky and take a lot of practice and time is running out. So, I found a great seller on eBay who makes her own double-faced, satin ribbon rosettes: Rosemary's Cottage Boutique. I bought these lovelies:Now I must find a pair of shoes. I'm leaning towards fancy flip-flops. The Shelley George ivory, satin flip-flops I featured on this blog post are not available in my size (they only come in size 5, 6, & 7). Maybe I'll get nice flip-flops that aren't ivory. Well, I'm getting closer. Now I bring my rosettes with me shoe shopping. I like the elegant simplicity of these two pairs of J.Crew flip-flops (that also happen to be on sale):

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Flower Girl Dresses, Adults Too?

I found this ladies dress online and I can't help but think it looks babyish. Or is it just because I knew the dress first for the flower girls? What do you think?

Friday, July 3, 2009

The Perfect Shoe!

Now, if they would only deliver overseas.... I have contacted the company and am awaiting a response. This is a UK-based shoe/accessory company.
Faith Aroseb Ivory Satin Flat with Rosette

Seating Assignments: What Medium?

I've heard that the inside of the Buhrmaster Barn could be breezy and that therefore, some things will need to be held down effectively, like the place cards on the place card table. Since the place card table will be covered with real grass, the cards could be "stuck" into the dirt. Here are some ideas for card holders: Or, I could make my own wire holder (with needle nose pliers) like this:

I could also scratch the entire place card theory and put guests' names on garden markers or craft sticks like these: