Bachelorette Shenanigans

I am now literally weeks away from my wedding day! We are getting down to the wire and final preparations are under way. As I mentioned in the last post there is not much left to blog before the wedding. But I did want to write about my bachelorette party that happened this past weekend! 

I had no idea what I wanted to do for my bachelorette party.  I am a bride with a budget so a big extravagant bachelorette weekend away was a no go. Some lucky girls get to go to Vegas, Dominican Republic, Mexico and so forth but I only planned to be away for 1 night. I live so close to New York City but I have also been to NYC so many times that I just didn't feel excited about it anymore. Peter and his friends went to Atlantic City for his bachelor party 2 weeks before and  I didn't want to steal his idea. Instead, I chose the next best thing, Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. It is essentially the same thing as AC, only elsewhere. I had always wanted to go to MoSun but never got a chance to go. So that is where we ended up! 

I have the best Maid of Honor ever (my sister!) who made it all happen. She contacted my girls, booked the hotel rooms, set up rides and coordinated everything. I was so grateful and happy that everything went off without a problem. 

It ended up being 6 of us and we had a really great time!! The hotel, the food, the experience was awesome! I am so glad to have such awesome friends and family who came out for me. 

Above I posted just a few pictures taken from the night. Thank you everyone who was part of it and made it so memorable. 

This is most likely my final post before the big day! I can't wait to blog about the rest and share my actual day with everyone who reads. I will see you on the other side!

Michelle G

P.S. Only 22 days left! 

38 days left rant #boogsgetmarried

There is no real focus of this post aside from some venting on my part. With only 38 days left until the wedding we are finishing up most of the last minute details. So many things to remember! As we get closer I definitely am feeling the pressure to get things done within a little bit of time.

The best thing that I ever did was not rush this entire process. I have lots of respect for the couples who pull this all together in a year or under but I am so glad that we didn't go that route. I wanted to enjoy our engagement and not feel pressured for time. But at this point I am also just anxious for it all to be over! Am I the only one feeling like that? I am almost more excited about the honeymoon to be honest lol! I consider myself to be pretty good at managing stress but boy has this past year been stressful! Between planning wedding details, moving in with Pete, adjusting to our new life, dealing with finances and ever changing schedules, being on top of the bridal party and everything else in between it's a wonder I haven't had a nervous breakdown (although I have been close). 

So what's left at this point? This week we pick up my wedding ring from the jeweler on Saturday. I am so excited to see how it came out and I will be sure to post a picture. We also still need to apply for our marriage license, choose our ceremony music and finalize table placements since we are still receiving RSVPs. And of course all the balances owed to the florist, photographer/videographer and reception venue are all due on the same day ::sigh::. 

I feel so anxious though. Anxious for the day to come, anxious to go on my honeymoon and anxious to know what we are doing moving forward. For the past year and half we have been in full wedding planning mode and our future after the wedding has been a big question mark mainly because we are first trying to get through this whole thing before adding more stressful decision making to our plates. We are planning to use this next year to really map out our life, find a suitable place to settle down and figure out what our future will look like. But since I tend to be a control freak just winging things has been hard for me since I always try to be 10 steps ahead. My goal for the next 38 days is to just "chill out" and not freak. Everything will get done and everything will be great the day of the wedding. 

There is not much else to blog about before the big day although my bachelorette weekend is coming up next week. That will likely be my last post before the wedding day. Thank you everyone who has read my blog thus far and followed my little journey to the altar. I hope you will continue reading my blog. And if you leave me a link to your own blog I would love to read it too. Thanks again!

Til next post,

Michelle G

Our Wedding Rings

Time is flying by since June and my wedding is creeping up sooner and sooner as each day goes by. I sent out wedding invitations last week and have already started to get back RSVP's. I get so excited opening the mail to see those cute little response envelopes and guessing who it is from. But that is another post I will do soon. Today I am so happy to report that our wedding rings have been ordered/purchased. I really hoped to get this done last month but we just got done with it all yesterday.

My Ring

I knew right away that I wanted a ring that would match well with my engagement ring because I would like to wear both of them together. So I decided that an eternity band would work best. I decided against an eternity band with diamonds all around because 1) I am told by many people that the stones on the bottom tend to fall out and need repair from hitting it against tables, opening doors and just every day wear and tear.  2) because if it has stones all around it you cannot resize it. So you are stuck with one size which if you gain weight or lose weight could become a problem.  I chose to have my eternity band with half band of stones and bottom half just plain 14k white gold. I also wanted a very slim and tiny band that wouldn't take away from the engagement ring which is my bling bling ring (lol!).  I started looking for what I wanted online and comparing prices. We are definitely on a wedding budget and had a certain number in mind of what we wanted to spend for both rings.  As we looked in different jewelry stores it was pretty obvious I would either have to plunk out more money than expected or I had to choose something I wasn't crazy about. Enter my mother to the rescue! She has truly been amazing and came up with a wonderful solution. My parents have been divorced for some time now. However, on their 10 yr anniversary she got a beautiful diamond ring with lots of larger sized stones.  Since she is no longer married and doesn't wear the ring she was so kind and thoughtful enough to offer to give me half of the stones in the ring to have my jeweler create an eternity band for me. This saved me lots of money because I just had to pay for the gold and the work to make it. Aside from saving lots of money this way, I was touched by the sentimental value of those stones and how unselfishly my mother gave me them. She will save the rest of the stones for my sister if she wants them for her own wedding or for another piece of jewelry.  I love it. I am so excited to pick it up. I am so excited for my wedding!

This is exactly what I was looking for.  Something simple and very thin

This is essentially what my rings will look like once its completed only slightly larger stones (thanks momma!) :) 

Peter's Ring

Peter debated for a while about what he wanted for his ring but he knew right away he didn't want any stones in his and wanted it on the plainer side.  The first ring that we saw for him was a beautiful two tone ring with white gold inside lined with yellow gold and mil grain detail on the edges.  But then he started leaning toward a solid yellow gold band on our second trip to look at rings and decided against any type of mil grain or textured finish.  BUT THEN he saw a really nice white gold band with a brushed texture with polished white gold on the edges and I was sure he was going to go with that one.  BUT THEN he changed his mind again at the last minute and ultimately decided to go with a simple white gold band.  We pick it up in 2 weeks because it needs to be resized and polished. Once we pick it up I am planning to get it engraved with our first initials and our wedding date ♡

Pete's ring will look just like this one.. 14K WG

The wedding is so close. I will have so many things to discuss in the upcoming weeks as everything starts to really kick off. Thanks to everyone who has read my blog and followed my journey to the altar. I love blogging and hope to continue blogging about my life as a married woman! Only 68 days til that happens!! 

Til next time,

Michelle 

My Bridal Shower

I just wanted to do a quick blog post on my lovely bridal shower that was held this past Sunday June 8th.  I had a great time with my friends and family.  It was a beautiful day.  Although it was supposed to be a total surprise, I managed to get my sister/MOH to let me know the date of the shower so that I could make sure I looked my absolute best! Everything else was a secret. I had no idea about the location, time or guests.  

Peter dropped me off at a really nice restaurant for lunch and I was so excited to see all of my guests when I walked in!  We mingled, we ate delicious food and cake and I opened some awesome gifts!  Below I've posted a few pictures from the bridal shower! Enjoy :) Only 94 days left!! 

Me walking into the bridal shower...Pete is behind

Me and Peter before he left me with the ladies

Thank you to my sister and mother for putting this whole day together for me! 

These were the lovely bridal shower favors! So cute! 

My two cousins, me and my sister <3

My cake...simply delicious!

Me!! <3 

Honeymoon Booked!

Happy Memorial Day!  I am very happy to have a day off from work today but still managed to wake up early.  So I thought I had some good quiet time to share the good news!  We booked our honeymoon!

Our wedding is now a little under 4 months away and we needed to get the ball rolling as far as our honeymoon planning.  I have 2 weeks off after the wedding that I already scheduled off from work.  I wanted to have a nice long break after all the prepping and planning was over.  Originally, we had thought we would be going on a cruise to Bermuda but decided against it because we wanted to just enjoy one place and stay on land.  Plus we were interested in going to an all-inclusive resort, where we would pay for everything upfront and not have to leave the resort or worry about food/beverage costs later on.  

I love to plan trips.  So as soon as we decided to do an all inclusive I immediately went online to find the best vacation package.  I was looking for something affordable and nice in a good location and directly on the beach.  We are on a budget as far as wedding savings so I had a certain price in mind that I knew we could not go over.  After searching different websites, comparing prices, tweaking dates, changing our minds completely, and then some more searching and comparing I finally found us the perfect place... Montego Bay, Jamaica!  I have only been to Jamaica once for a few hours during a cruise many years ago.  So this will be a nice time to really enjoy the island once again and experience the beautiful white sand beaches.  We will be staying for 6 nights at the Riu Montego Bay resort.  We have stayed at other Riu resorts in the past and found them to be a really nice value. 

Beautiful Jamaican beach

Dunn's River Falls- I hope Pete and I get to climb up it!

The resort! Right on the beach like I need!

The pools..I can't wait to be in them!

Some quick tips that I have for planning a honeymoon:

1. Check up on weather patterns! - We knew ahead of time that September in the Caribbean is rainy/hurricane season so we took that into consideration when choosing our location. We found that compared to some other places, Jamaica was less rainy and has experienced the least amount of hurricanes.  In reading other traveler reviews they mentioned that the little bit of rain experienced did not interfere with their vacation enjoyment.  If your concerned about the weather during your honeymoon make sure you look for locations that have good/tolerable weather for the time of year you want.  If the price seems too good to be true make sure it's not because of the season.  

2. Look at all the options - I used the help of 3 different websites when researching vacation packages.  I found that different websites have different deals and price points for the same hotels.  I used Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline websites.  I found that one of these sites offered better flights and accommodations for lower prices on the same exact vacation packages.  Take the time to look at all the options and choose the best site to purchase your package.

The wedding is starting to get close... I'm very excited and even more so now that our wonderful romantic honeymoon is booked.  I can't wait to share that in a future post!  

xo,

Michelle G

Only 111 days to go!

Planning Our Interfaith Ceremony

When Pete and I began our relationhip one ofis the f Roman Catholic (with communion and confirmation pics to prove it) and Pete is Jewish (converted, bar mitzvah'd and all). Throughout the years of our relationship we have worked together to keep balance between relationship and religion. We always try to be respectful of both faiths.  We spend most Jewish holidays with his family and Catholic ones with my family. So far it's worked out well for us.

When we got engaged we realized quickly that planning a ceremony would be a little different than what I had always imagined or expected.  Growing up I always thought I would be married in church by a priest. I never thought I would marry someone who was from a different religion and so I had to come to terms with the fact that we could not get married in church by a priest.  It bothered me a little bit at first but I got over it and now I am glad that we can do our ceremony at the same place as the reception. It makes it much easier for our guests who won't have to travel in between ceremony and reception.  It will be a nice easy transition from ceremony to cocktail hour and then reception. 

Finding a suitable wedding officiant proved to be a little tricky. This is a wedding so the most important aspect of it is the marriage ceremony. We wanted to find an officiant who would know how to blend both our faiths into one ceremony that reflected how we feel about eachother and reflects our religions without feeling too Catholic or too Jewish. We wanted a balance of the religions. The issue we found was finding an officiant who understood that.

Since I am pretty much the first in my group of friends to get married (same goes for Pete) we had no recommendations for an officiant so I had to scout one myself. I read weddingwire.com reviews for officiants near me. I found a few officiants and scheduled appointments to meet with each of them in person. The issue I found with many of these interfaith officiants is that 1. They either knew more about one religion and not enough about the other OR 2. Everything was too general/generic sounding meaning they didn't really touch on any religion's aspect at all. 

Some tips for finding your officiant

1. Start early...the sooner the better. This allows for plenty of time to find the best fit and more likely the officiant still has that day open. This is a very personal and special moment. Make sure you find someone who takes the time to get to know you. Ask friends and family for recommendations if they have already gone down this route.

2. Meeting in person is a must. We met with 3 different officiants before choosing one. Make sure you feel comfortable and that they understand exactly what you want. If you don't feel a connection keep looking until you find someone who "gets you." Someone can look great on paper and on their website but then seem very different in person. Meet them, discuss your vision and make sure they know how to deliver.

3. Come prepared and know what you want (or at least an idea). The first officiant we met asked us what we wanted in our ceremony and we drew a total blank. We wanted an interfaith ceremony but had no idea how much or how little of each we wanted to include, did we want a unity ceremony?, did we want everyone to wear a yarmulke? , did we want to include hebrew prayers?, etc. So needless to say we came a little ill prepared for our first officiant meeting. Before you meet with anyone make sure you are first meeting with eachother and discussing these details.

4. Shop around for the right fit. This kind of goes hand in hand with meeting in person. Do not feel pressured to make a decision and book the first officiant you meet unless you feel absolutely sure this is the perfect officiant for you. We waited til we found someone who we felt comfortable with and who understood our vision.

When we met with the third officiant we were very happy that we found someone who understood what we were looking for and could easily piece together an outline of our ceremony that we thought worked well.  This is what we came up with: 

Rough Outline of The Ceremony 

1. Groom walks down with both parents (Jewish tradition)

2. Bridal party walks down 

3. Bride walks down with father only (Catholic tradition)

4. Opening remarks

5. Blessing of wine and hebrew prayers (Jewish)

6. Bible verse new testament (Catholic)

7. Unity ceremony (either sand or candle lighting)

8. Vows

9. Presentation of married couple

10. Break the glass (Jewish)

*We will also be marrying under a chuppah 

I am really happy with what we came up with and it is a pretty well balanced ceremony without it being "too Catholic" or "too Jewish" for lack of better terms. Hopefully if you are reading this and planning your own interfaith wedding you can take use this as a starting point! :) But remember at the end of the day this is YOUR wedding ceremony...make sure it feels right and reflects your love. 

Til my next post,

Michelle

p.s. only 150 days left!!! 

I Said "YES!" (To the Dress)

I am sitting here on Cloud 9 as I type up this blog post because today I SAID "YES" TO THE DRESS and I have officially found my gown!!!  Oh the glory!!!  I must admit that for me it was nothing like you see in the movies or on tv.  No tears of joy, no crying mother, no dramatic gasps from my MOH as I walked out of the fitting room.  I don't think I expected any of that to occur but it's funny how different things are in reality compared to what you envisioned in your head.

Today I attended a Maggie Sottero trunk show at Bijou Bridal.  I have been eyeing this wedding designer ever since I started browsing online for wedding dresses.  I was excited when I learned that Bijou was hosting a trunk show today.  So I made an appointment to attend and I'm so glad that I did because I found my dress!

Bijou Bridal store in Paramus, NJ

I loved the elegance of Bijou Bridal.  I have gone dress shopping a few other times before but this is the first place that really felt like a bridal salon.  It was a really big store, with gorgeous displays, soft colors and a really elegant feel.  I believe this is their flagship location but they have a few other locations here in the States.  I'm not sure if those are equally as large.  Bijou also carries many different designers aside from Maggie Sottero including Casablanca Bridals (another great brand I like), Watters Bridal and Enzoani just to name a few others.

When I arrived at Bijou I already had an idea of what I was looking for.  I've spent my previous wedding dress hunts trying on different kinds of dresses and deciding what I liked most. I tried different types of fabric (Satin, Organza, Taffeta, Lace, etc) as well as different silhouettes (A-line, Ballgown, Fit n Flare).  similar dress so you can get an idea of what I chose.  This is NOT the dress that I got (that's a secret til 9/14/14!).

Different dress silhouettes.  Photo from Pinterest.

 As I mentioned in a previous blog post I really like the fit and flare/trumpet silhouette.  So when my appointment began I got right down to business looking for exactly what I wanted.  I ended up trying on only 3 dresses in the whole store. This was not because they didn't have beautiful dresses but because I wasn't interested in trying on any dress that I didn't think could be "the one".  I only wanted to try on dresses that had exactly what I was looking for.  I ended up choosing a dress that I felt the best in.  From head to toe I loved everything about the dress.  It felt so fabulous being in it.  Below I have posted a

Lauren dress by Maggie Sottero

I can't believe I chose my dress!  Things are starting to fall into place.  I was so grateful to have my mother and my MOH there with me while I tried on dresses and especially since I found it with them.  I'm also glad that the hunt is over with and I can keep focusing on the next plans to make without the added pressure of finding a dress.  I am really looking forward to booking our wedding officiant next as we haven't done that yet.  Hopefully that will be done by the end of this month and then I think I'll take a breather/break from wedding planning for the holidays.  I hope you enjoyed this post!  Til next time...

-Michelle G

P.S. Only 337 more days to go!

Bridal Trend: Trash the Dress (TTD) - what are your thoughts?

I am nowhere close to finding my wedding dress. In fact, I am not really even planning on starting to look for it until sometime this fall but I have been reading up on the Trash the Dress (TTD) trend and had to write a post!

So just in case you are reading this and have no clue what I am talking about let me just briefly let you know about this growing trend. From what I have gathered online, it was started by a photographer in Las Vegas over 10 years ago but has only recently gotten popular in the last 5 yrs. Basically at another time after your wedding you stage another photoshoot where the bride wears her wedding dress again and purposely ruins it during the shoot. Some brides will jump into the pool or frolick around a beach. Others run around in mud and dirt, or shred it up. I have seen brides who threw paint on their dress and even a very controversial shoot where the bride burned her dress (while still wearing it!).

FYI I believe this is a photoshopped TTD which might be a good alternative

From what I understand, the point of TTD is supposed to be a fun, different take on traditional wedding photos. It allows the bride to have fun with her dress, have different kinds of poses and change things up. One site I read said that it symbolizes your devotion to your husband since you can't wear the dress again. And as one former bride I know who has done a TTD shoot said "Since you only get married once its not like you will ever wear it again. So why not?". 

So what do you think of this trend? Would you do it? I certainly can understand the appeal and reasoning behind the TTD trend. And it definitely does look very fun but this is a trend that I personally will be skipping and this is why: 

1. I'm too sentimental: I still have the dress I wore in my Quinceanera (Sweet 15). My mom still has my baptism and communion dress. I come from a family who holds onto this type of stuff. For me, this is a very special dress that I want to keep perfect and show my children someday. It is sacred and important because of the commitment I made wearing it.  To spend so much money on a beautiful dress only to purposely ruin it seems to be a waste of money and disrespectful to the sanctity of the dress (to me at least).

2. Unforeseen dangers: Maybe I am being a little pessimistic but I have read about the bride who drowned wearing her dress in the river or the one who burned her dress while wearing it. The possibility that my safety can potentially be compromised for a photo is a huge red flag!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this post.  The next few posts will be coming soon as we near our 12 month countdown to the wedding.  I'm so excited and glad to know that this is just the beginning.

xo,

Michelle G

Let the wedding planning begin!!

The past 2 months have been pretty crazy and hectic for me.  I got engaged in April and ever since that day things have been a bit chaotic.  Between work, traveling and trying to plan a wedding this is actually the first moment I've had to really blog about it.  I've been toying around with the idea of blogging my wedding planning.  I think I'm just gonna do it.  I think it would be awesome to be able to look back at the whole process and have it as a nice memory.  So here we go... blogging about my wedding planning adventures.

Pete and I waited about a week or so before we started with our wedding planning.  Typical me even bought a special "wedding folder" so I could hold onto my notes, brochures, business cards and other important paperwork.  The first thing we decided to do was come up with a guest list.  We felt that the best way to figure out how big of a venue/reception hall we need is to figure out how many people we need to accommodate.  This would also help us come up with a wedding budget.  Since we both don't come from very large families we are able to keep the guest list down to closer family and friends.  At this point, our list is about 125 guests.  

The next step was finding a venue and choosing a wedding date.  In order for me to continue on with the rest of the planning I needed a place and a date/time.  The hardest part of this process so far was choosing the best place to have the wedding.  There were pros and cons to consider.  

POSSIBLE WEDDING VENUES

Here are the places that we looked at for our wedding <3 Since Pete and I are having the wedding ceremony at the venue we need to make sure they have a nice place for it to take place.  I only chose to look at 7 places because after awhile the prices are comparable and venues start to all the look the same.  I narrowed it down to these 7 places and attempted to make a decision based on that.  I was lucky enough to have found my venue amongst one of these 7 but had I not, I may have kept looking.  Our wedding day is set: 9/14/14 at one of these lovely venues listed below!

The Clubhouse at Patriot Hills

http://www.patriothillsny.com

The Clubhouse at Patriot Hills, Stony Point, NY

The Nyack Seaport

http://www.nyackseaport.com

The Nyack Seaport, Nyack, NY

The Colonial Inn

http://colonialinnnj.com

Colonial Inn, Norwood, NJ

The Estate at Florentine Gardens

www.florentinegardens.com

Estate at Florentine Gardens, River Vale, NJ

Old Tappan Manor

http://www.oldtappanmanor.com

Old Tappan Manor, Old Tappan, NJ

The Tides Estate

http://www.thetides.com

The Tides Estate, North Haledon, NJ

View on the Hudson

http://www.theviewonthehudson.com

The View on the Hudson, Piermont, NY