One month Ago

We've been married since October 3rd. It was an amazing, amazing day. The weather was exactly what I was hoping for, and everything else really seemed to fall into place (with the help of all my wedding elves of course).



Full recaps coming soon. Our photog is getting photos to me by tomorrow...here is the teaser she sent me...



Terra Tabbytosavit Photography

Up-Do Trial!

Hair is very important on an every day basis, but of course it's even more important on your wedding day. I was so fortunate to have my old hair dresser come out of retirement (not really, she just took a couple years off to be home with her baby) right before our wedding. She was extremely generous and gave me and my bridesmaids a great deal. Not to mention she gave me TWO trial runs! I was able to get photos of the last one.
The front is parted with a "side sweep" and lots of teasting at the crown. I did bring in a picture, but told her to put her own twist on it. I told her I wasn't as concerned with the back as I was the front, and that I wanted to have lots of height on the top! Leia Roten is my stylist and she really worked wonders with my thin, shoulder length hair!

Trust your gut

My dear B is not into clothes, fashion, or photos. So when I tried to get his input on what type of tuxedo he'd like to wear, his response was minimal. I had saved a picture of a group of groomsmen in all black tuxes, with the groom sporting a white tie and vest. I showed him, he approved and I was happy. Over the next few months, I described this vision to other family members and friends and was meant with mixed, if not disapproving responses. All black? They scoffed. Wont it be too hot? Wont that look to dismal? I began to second guess. photo: Perez Photography

So when I was finally able to wrangle B into the tux shop to look at options, I was very unsure of what we were looking for. The manager at Men's Wearhouse was nice, informative and knoledgeable, but with the myriad of choices and combos, he was not forthcoming with a specific opinion.

He kindly put together my all black look, and placed it next to the white "groom" maniquen. I was really bummed that there was nothing for B to try on. How could we decide? After several maniquen costume changes, we went right back to "our" original idea. Why is it that we don't trust out gut?

Our best visual example. B and I agreed, the all black really fit with the personalities of his groomsmen. It was so nice to check this off the list!

Las Vegas Bachelorette Party!

Best.Cup.Ever. Courtesy of my brothers amazing girlfriend.

Our joint bachelor-bachelorette party in Vegas was amazingness. We ended up staying at the Flamingo after figuring it was the best deal on the Central strip. It ended up being a great location with an above average pool and decent rooms!

While I only remember snippets of the entire weekend (it was that fun), I loved our shirts. Here is the best picture I have of all of them together.

With my bitches in Vegas. Does it get any better?

Bridal Shower #2: Recap

Since I had a shower in Northern California, my mom and grandma wanted to throw a family shower in my hometown in Southern California. Rather than have another girly brunch, we opted for a couples barbeque to involve B, my brother, uncles and other significant others. It was a casual evening, but lots of fun and great to celebrate our upcoming wedding with my close family and friends.

My generous aunt offered to make the centerpieces for our shower. She purchased purple and pink blooms from Trader Joes and worked her magic. They were beautiful. Simple white chairs and purple linens completed the look.My grandma spoiled us with a beautiful cake from our favorite Socal bakery, The Bread Basket. If you are anywhere near Camarillo-it is amazing!

I'm so glad we ended up with two showers to accomodate all of our friends and family. So much fun.

Bridal Shower #1: Re-Cap

Memorial day weekend was completely full of goodness. My mom and grandma arrived in town on Thursday evening. We enjoyed dinner with B that night followed by a full day of shopping. Grams tried on a few grandma-of-the-bride dresses and I took them around to look at my top bridal gown prospects. It was so much fun to try on dresses for them. And by the end of the day-my dress was purchased! It felt amazing to cross that off the list! Big!***

bridal shower outfit: Ruby Rox Dress from Macy's paired with a short-sleeved, fuchsia cardigan from GAP and matching Glint peep toes from Nordstrom

Saturday I hosted a BBQ for B's cousin (and my BM) who just had her second child, an adorable baby boy. It was a beautiful day! Then Sunday we were off to my bridal shower in San Francisco. It was fabulous.

MOH's parents live in a beautiful home in SF that has a great party room downstairs with views of the ocean and part of the Golden Gate. The room was completely color coordinated to match the invitation MOH had picked out. MOH's father (who owns a restaurant in the city) was our chef. They served an absolutely yummy champagne brunch of eggs Benedict, potatoes, a salad, strawberries and cream and an assortment of sweet cakes and rolls. I wish I would have remembered to get a picture of the entire spread.

The decor was fabulous, but my favorite part of the shower were the games! MOH had delegated and two of my bridesmaids worked together to come up with unique games that I would love (I told them no toilet paper dresses).

The first game was a great ice breaker for our 20 guests. Since several of my SoCal friends had not met my NorCal friends, this was a great way for everyone to get acquainted. Bridesmaid A had made up little cards where she instructed everyone to write a piece of advice for us. If you knew B better, they were to write advice to me about him. If you knew A (me) better, you were to write advice to B about me. Then we went around the table and each guest read their little piece of advice. Lots of laughter and even a few tears ensued. I loved it. It was so sweet and so nice to hear such genuine things from my friends and family. So fun! I will always treasure those cards.

Next it was time for me to be quizzed. BM A had called and asked B a bunch of questions about himself. For every incorrect answer, I had to chew on a piece of bubbalicious. I was on a roll until the last few questions....has anyone tried to chew three pieces of bubblegum? It was pretty funny. The guests enjoyed hearing B's answers and I think B got a kick out of it as well (he texted me to see what I'd missed).


Then the guests were asked to divide into teams and become my wedding coordinator for the day. With piles of bridal magazines, each group was to make an idea board representing what they thought I wanted my wedding to look like. It was pretty great to see them working together and coming up with a collage of beautiful images. It was pretty hard to choose, but the winning team was pretty stoked when I finally decided they got it right.

This is a photo of one of the collages. This one was not the winner...

We played a couple more games planned my another of my bridesmaids and then opened gifts (got my all-clad set!!) and enjoyed some amazing cake. I wish they could do my wedding cake. Several of the guests went back for seconds (and thirds!) because it was just that good. It came from Mazzeti's in Pacifica, CA. I don't think I could recommend this place enough-just amazing!

Such a perfect weekend. I can't believe it came and went so fast.

** I thank you all SO much for the dress feedback. I am so happy with my choice and I can't wait for you to see which one I chose.

Dream Team addition: Kate Miller Events

photo: sarah maren

I'm happy to introduce the newest addition to our wedding dream team: Kate of Kate Miller Events! You may know her as the author of Kate's Wedding or as Mrs. Pomegranate over at Weddingbee. I know her as my go-to for all things wedding. When she started her own event company, I knew she would be the perfect fit for our day of coordinator.

Very early on in the wedding planning stages I found Kate's blog, was completely inspired to start my own blog, and the rest is history. For the past 15 months she has been an invaluable source of information. She planned her own gorgeous wedding, and is now lending her talent to other brides in need.

It's very rare for me to have complete faith in someone, but Kate's amazing sense of style and borderline insane organization skills make it easy to trust her with being my right hand man on the day of.

I met with Kate today and admitted to her that I was feeling a bit burnt-out on the wedding planning. She was so understanding and did not pressure me to make any final decisions quite yet. I am starting to feel much more relaxed even though there is so much to do in the next three months!

Check out a recent Kate Miller Events wedding here.