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

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!!! 

My Bridesmaids

I started out not even wanting a bridal party because Pete and I initially thought we were having a very small wedding. I thought I would just have my sister as maid of honor. But then we decided to have a bigger wedding and thought it would be nice to have a bridal party. So we decided on just 4 bridesmaids and 4 groomsmen. But that wasn't enough. We felt like we were leaving people out of such an important day. So we decided on 6 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen.  I'm so glad that we are able to have such a great group of people who will be part of our wedding.  This has been one of my favorite parts of wedding planning so far.

My Fabulous Bridesmaids

I tend to keep my inner circle very small.  So when I had to choose bridesmaids it was pretty easy for me to know who I wanted.  I wanted people who love and support me and my relationship with Pete.  I wanted people who knew me for many years and whose relationship with me has stood the test of time.  I wanted people who I knew I would still be close with years after my wedding day.    It is this handful of people who have remained in my life throughout it all and who I felt should stand up there with me on what is to be the most important day of my life so far.  So here they are... my fabulous bridesmaids!!! :)

This is me and Jessica, my sister and Maid of Honor (MOH).  I chose my sister because she's the closest to me and I couldn't imagine anyone else standing up there as MOH.  It is a big honor and my sister is deserving of it.  I know she will do a great job!  

Carmen and me at the Britney Spears concert!

Here's a picture with my cousin, Carmen.  I also asked her to be part of my bridal party.  We have many childhood memories and she is one of my closest cousins! We don't always get to see each other often but it's always a good time when we do.  

Jessica, me (blonde) and Laura during !  

 


I also asked my other cousin, Laura to be a bridesmaid too.  I am very lucky that I get to see her a few times a year especially during the holidays!  I have watched her grow up into such a lovely young woman.  She's always been there and I'm happy she will be there with me on my wedding day!

Kristina & I at her rehearsal dinner!

Kristina and I have been best friends since we were in Kindergarten.  Even though she moved away and we grew up apart we always stayed in touch and visited when we could.  She got married last year and I was part of her day.  When I got engaged, I knew she had to be part of mine.  Our friendship has lasted over 20 years and I feel confident it will last at least another 20!  I'm so glad she will be a bridesmaid!

Carissa and I

I have a lot of really fun memories with Carissa.  We have been friends since 5th grade and even got to go to college together!  She is someone who I know I can always have a good time with.  We have been friends for a very long time and I'm glad we have so many fun memories to laugh about together.

   

Keisha and I have been good friends since high school days.  She's awesome and has always been a good friend to me.  I'm happy we have stayed friends after high school and that she will be part of my wedding day.

How I popped the question!

I posted a blog post previously about the Trash the Dress trend but there is another trend I am finding and it relates to your bridesmaids. More specifically, it relates to how you ask them to be part of your wedding day.  If you browse through Pinterest, Etsy, Zazzle or other sites like that you might find an extensive list of "Bridesmaid invites" that come in the form of adorable note cards, jewelry, keepsake trinkets and other cute crafty ideas that all ask the same question.... "will you be my bridesmaid?"  The point of it is to ask your bridesmaid in a more sentimental and thoughtful way rather then an email, call or text.

For example, one of my bridesmaids got married last year and wanted me to be in her bridal party. We were childhood best friends and she lives out of state.  I received a package from her and when I opened the box it was literally a bottle full of sand and seashells with a "message in a bottle." When I opened the bottle and retrieved the small piece of paper it was a one liner inviting me to be a bridesmaid. Talk about cute!!! I had never gotten something like that or been asked in such a special way. I knew that I wanted to do something similar when my time came.

This is what my friend Kristina did for her bridesmaids! Message in a bottle!  How cute is that!? 

Front of note cards I sent to my bridal party! 

When it was time to ask my bridesmaids I wanted to make it simple, sweet and to the point.  So I decided to find a pretty note card that I could customize with ask each girl's name.  I ended up ordering my note cards on Zazzle.com and I think they came out pretty cute.  They are designed like an invitation and it has the wedding date along with my question.  I haven't shared my wedding date with many people yet aside from immediate family.  I thought this was a cute way of revealing the wedding date as well.  Inside I wrote a nice message asking if they would be my bridesmaid.  Short, simple, cute and to the point.  Exactly what I was going for :) 

Bridesmaid Inspiration

I know it is still super early for my bridesmaids to get their dress but that doesn't mean I haven't already been thinking of all the possibilities!  I am planning to wait on choosing their dresses because I want to get my wedding dress first.  But I've added a few photos from my personal wedding Pinterest board with some of my inspiration.  In the beginning of my Pinterest pinning I felt like I was just pinning a mish mash of random wedding inspiration that had no theme.  However, as I go back now and review my boards I have begun to see the patterns, the vision and themes.  I can't even begin to rave about how useful Pinterest has been for me.  

Hope you enjoyed this post!  I have SO MUCH MORE in the works!  I am going to a trunk show this weekend to keep looking for my wedding dress.  Hopefully I will report back with some exciting news!  Til next time

-Michelle G

P.S. Only 342 more days to go!

Vendor Spotlight: George Street Photo & Video

                                           

Our wedding is almost 1 year away and I am starting to get really anxious to start all the wedding preparations. Up until now we have only set our date and venue. It felt silly to start planning everything so soon with well over a year before the wedding. But now that the 1 year mark is coming close I am finally feeling ready to really dig in and get the ball rolling. Time for the fun to begin! 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

Our wedding will be September 2014. September and October are 2 of the most popular wedding months so I knew we had to start the vendor search with photographers and videographers because they book up way in advance. I spent a nice portion of my summer nights researching all the preferred photo and video people my venue suggested. I also spent time stalking my married facebook friends to see what photographer/videographer they used for their weddings. 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

I had an idea of what I wanted my pictures and video to look like. I have really fallen in love with the photojournalistic approach and romantic poses. I wanted to make sure I chose a team that would give us exactly what we wanted. We will look back on these photos and videos for many years and so it was super important for us to make sure we get that. 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

My mother was the one who actually found the website to George Street Photo & Video and sent me a link.  It wasn't one of the suggested companies or one that I had found off a friend. George Street is a great company that works with couples all over the US.  They have many offices and photographers and really offer a great service.  

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

I was initially drawn to the beauty and quality of the work they did. I loved the angles, the clarity, the vision of the photographers. I watched some of the videos and was blown away by their work as well. They had what I was looking for. 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

Now George Street was not the first company I had fallen in love with. There were a nice handful of companies that I had listed as possibilities but their prices were astronomical and out of our price budget set for photo/video. So I was half expecting the same for this company but was pleasantly surprised to find that the prices were not just reasonable but totally in our budget! So I sent them an online inquiry to get more information. After speaking with a rep we were assigned a wedding coordinator to meet with and go over the packages and choose a photographer. We were given an online style assessment (which I took alone without Peter lol) prior to meeting so they can match us up to photographers who match our style preference. I thought this was a fabulous idea since I had no clue what my style was. Our coordinator, Natalie, showed us a few portfolios based off our results. We fell in love with the work of the second photographer we saw.  (Erik G. portfolio <---this is the photographer we chose! I love his work!)

Then we looked at the videos and agreed on adding video to our package as well. I love how they edit the videos to make it look like a movie or tv show lol. 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

The package we chose included a free 90 minute photo session that we are planning to use for engagement pictures. I wasn't planning on doing engagement pictures but since it's included we figured why not? So that gives us a new project: prepping this photo session. I will save that for another blog post though.

Sorry if this got a little long and ranty but there is just so much to mention!! Hope you enjoyed! And look out for my upcoming posts! 

xo,

Michelle G

PS: if you aren't already, follow me on twitter and instagram!! @itsmichelle_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

Engagement + Our Story

Beyond excited and blessed to be able to share such a wonderful announcement.  A few weeks ago I got engaged to my best friend, Peter.  We are so happy and excited to begin this new chapter in our lives together.  We have been through so much over the years and through all the ups and downs we have continued to make our relationship a priority.  I love him so much and I am ready to see what our future has in store.  

OUR STORY

I met Peter one evening in a restaurant about 7 years ago.  It was June and I was a few weeks into my summer break from college.  I had been working all day taking care of kids.  I was tired, messy and ready to spend my evening at home taking a nap.  My 2 friends invited me to get dinner at one of our favorite casual spots.  Since it was a casual hangout spot I didn't think to change my clothes (or put on more makeup).  I just went looking like a total mess.  

We got to the restaurant and sat down.  As soon as our waiter came to take our order I regretted not changing or fixing myself up.  As soon as I saw him I felt an instant attraction to him and I felt that I liked him right away.  I looked at his name tag, it read 'Peter.'  He immediately smiled and was very outgoing.  He said hello to my girl-friend, Keisha.  They happened to know each other from school.  They small talked for a bit (while I tried not to stare at him) and then he took our order.  From the get go I could tell he was really easy going, friendly and easy to talk to.  I secretly cursed myself for not having changed my clothes, combed my hair and freshened up.  Since when did this restaurant hire cute waiters?!  When he started flirting with Keisha, I figured I didn't have a shot.  So I just admired him while he served our food and refilled my drink.  I never thought anything would ever come from this encounter.  And nothing really did, but it was the first time our paths crossed and the first time we ever met.  

Pete in his waiter uniform.  This is basically exactly what he looked like the day we met.  

It might have been a few days or maybe a week later that I returned to the same restaurant with Keisha and another friend.  It just so happened that Peter was working there again that day and we happened to get seated in his section again.  This time I had come looking a bit more presentable.  Of course he started flirting with Keisha but then he also talked a bit with me as well.  He was so nice and friendly and I really liked him.  Keisha wasn't interested but I sure was.  At the end of our meal he left us a card with a link to his MySpace (this was back in the old days of social networking).  I'm not sure if he left it for Keisha or if he left it for me but I took it and friended him on MySpace.  I didn't think anything would come of this but I figured if anything maybe I could make a buddy to give me free ice cream lol. He messaged me right away that he recognized me from the restaurant and from there we started talking online, then on the phone until he asked me on our first date.  As they always say...the rest is history!

Me & My Love

He is my best friend.  I can tell him anything and share everything with him.  He loves me and accepts me.  I can be myself with him.  I feel safe and secure with him.  He makes me laugh, he helps me with anything I need.  If I have a problem, he is there trying to fix it with me.  He loves me and he loves my family.  He loves my dog too :)  He is a wonderful person and I am so blessed that I met him.

How Pete popped the question!

I have always said that I would never want a public engagement meaning I would never want other people to be present during such an intimate and special moment in your life.  This is just my own preference.  So places like a restaurant, sporting event or holiday parties are not my thing. Pete picked the best spot near our house to ask me to marry him.  When the weather is nice, Pete and I love to go to our favorite little park to have picnics and just relax and enjoy nature.  He took me for a walk to our favorite park and as we stood by our spot he had a guitar player come and start playing Bruno Mars "Marry You" in the background while he asked me.  It was low key, private and sweet.  The best part was that it was in our park at our favorite spot which made it very sentimental and thoughtful.  Of all the places near my house, this spot was the most appropriate I think.  And he did an amazing job picking out the ring!!

My gorgeous engagement ring!  I love the personalized birthstone added underneath! Aquamarine <3

I am just in the early planning stages of our wedding.  I am overwhelmed but also very excited to plan this important day with Pete.  I think I will be blogging alot more in the next few months as I make preparations for everything.  I hope to be able to share my journey.

xoxo,
Michelle G