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!!! 

New Beginnings + Engagement Pics!

Happy 2014!! It is hard to believe it is already January and another year is here.  I have so many things to look forward to this year.  It is exciting, stressful, overwhelming and a little surreal sometimes to think I am planning my wedding but I am loving the ride.  We took a break from doing any serious planning but now that the new year is here we are ready to get back into full gear!  More on that soon...!  

I have been wanting to do a blog post months ago but due to my moving to a new apartment and holiday stuff I had to push it back. Our engagement photos have officially been in for awhile but we are just recently starting to share them. We had such a nice time taking the photos and we got to meet and work with the photographer doing our wedding photos.  It was a great time and we were lucky to get a picture perfect day.  The weather, the sky, the breeze was just perfect.  I can only hope we get an equally beautiful wedding day. 

What we wore

For engagement photos our photography company suggested that we dress in complimenting outfits as if from the same catalogue without being too matchy matchy. In order to do that we bought clothes from the same store so that the colors and style would mesh well. Pete and I love the store Express and since they carry both men and women's clothes we picked outfits from this store for the photos.

Here is a photo of our outfits! We chose classic fall colors like gray, black and camel.

Michelle: Black Dress (H&M-old but Express literally had the exact same dress this season) , Cardigan (Express-old), Belt (Express), Bandolino boots (Macy's)

Pete: Black sweater (Express), Gray pants (Express), Black loafers (Journeys)

Our Favorite Shots

I expected to wait a few weeks before we got our proofs back but I was surprised that we got them back only 1 week later!! They came out beautiful and we are very happy with them!! Below I have posted a few of our favorite shots!! I'm planning to order a few prints to hang up around our apartment and we will also choose an image from the shoot to use on our save the date announcement.
  

One of the first shots of the day!

My favorite shot of us walking. 

Just you and me <3

Modeling like pros!

Love <3

The Cloisters

Perfect end to a  beautiful day <3

<3

XO,
Michelle G

P.S. Only 255 days til the big day!

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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!

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!