Happy New Year!
from ~bostonbill~’s photo stream
… be sure to click to read the beautiful story of his parents, pictured, who met on a blind date on new years eve in 1952 and were engaged by the next morning. they were married nearly 50 years.
New years day might be my favorite day of the year. It is filled with so much excitement, creativity, hope, and enthusiasm for the future. I don’t believe in resolutions and can’t think of one resolution I made in many years past (while I still believed in them) that I actually kept. Instead, I believe in being honest and setting goals. I have so many goals for 2010 and as I began to put them to paper I realized that there are so many things in my life that I have accomplished—yet so much still to do. I hope that I can achieve most, if not all of my goals in this new year. If not, I guess that’s what 2011 is for, right?
2010 is going to be a great year – for some of you, it’ll be the year find love. For others, it’ll be the year you get married or start your own family. You might change careers, buy a new house, take a leap of faith, reconnect with an old friend or make new ones, start your own business, or close a chapter in your history. My advice to you is to keep the excitement you feel today… for a new beginning… all throughout the year. I firmly believe that 2010 will be YOUR year—but what do you plan to do to make that happen?
We’re Married!
What an amazing day! I’ve just gotten back from our honeymoon and I can’t wait to share with all of you how our wedding day came together and all the special touches we incorporated. For now, visit Robert & Kathleen’s blog to get a sneak peak at some of the images and details of the day.
A purple, chocolate and gold invitation suite by Lilah Paper
I’m so excited to be able to share our invitations with you!! As many of you know, the first item I purchased for our wedding was my shoes. They’ve been my muse for the entire event and have guided me toward the most amazing gown, linens, and paper. When I set out to have our invitations designed I knew of only one designer who would be able to take my shoes and make an invitation out of them!
Paper is one of my loves, and Kalyn from Lilah Paper and I have worked together on several events and her style really compliments my own. We came up with a custom invitation suite based on a variety of different inspirational pieces that I sent her through out the process. When she sent me our first round of proofs I was blown away. It wasn’t something I had envisioned but it was exactly what I wanted — which is a true testament to her talent! Much like a proud mama, I happen to think I have the most beautiful wedding invitations ever made.
We started out with a pretty belly band holding all our paper goodness together.
Inside, a tri-fold invitation suite. It starts off with lyrics from our soon to be first dance song by Van Morrison…
Our actual letterpress invitation to the ceremony with double backing layers. Photographs cannot do it justice! It is so gorgeous!!
Our pretty letterpress enclosure cards. We’ve gotten so many compliments on the cute vintage inspired food selections. We’ve also received A LOT of interesting first dance songs!!
Our envelopes were hand written by the extremely talented Lisa Ridgely of Pen and Ink Calligraphy. I LOVE working with Lisa — she is SO good to my brides and it was so much fun to be one of hers! We chose this gorgeous red ink color for a fun pop.
I had so much fun working with Lilah Paper and absolutely love the couture suite she came up with for us. The quality was so important to me, and our invitations are above and beyond what we could have imagined. We were SO thrilled to mail them all out (except for the $.78 stamps on each one) and have gotten so many RSVP’s back. Its a joy every afternoon to run out to the mailbox!
I’ll have some prettier pro pictures after the wedding with the rest of our amazing paper!
Our Engagement Pictures
When Mike and I thought out doing our engagement pictures we wanted to do something that was uniquely about us. We’re such a relaxed couple and we love to go with the flow and enjoy the moment. We not only wanted our engagement shoot to reflect our personalities, but the things that we love. Mike loves his fast car and his motorcycle and I love photography and clothes! Totally unrelated to one another but when you put them together its meant to be! We decided to visit The Mayflower Inn & Spa in Washington, Connecticut for the bulk of our shoot. They were so accommodating and friendly to us and it made the most beautiful backdrop for our session. After, we headed over to Hopkins Vineyard in New Preston, Connecticut for some last minute shots.
Here are some of my absolute favorite pictures from our session with Robert and Kathleen, who did an incredible job of photographing us. There are also additional pictures posted on here on their blog!
Yes, I am getting married!
A crazy thing is happening…. I’m getting married. Yes, I’m a planner turned bride and yes, we are a rare species! After much consideration I decided to finally share my planning process as we hit the last six weeks of planning — this when the good stuff starts happening!
That really gorgeous man who is seated next to me, above, is my fiancée, Michael. We met five years ago when a mutual friend thought we’d hit it off. We both came from two very separate worlds, and at first glance, it didn’t appear to be a match worth pursuing. We’re not afraid to share that either, as our love story isn’t something completely epic or Paramount. Our relationship was a progression that started out in conversation and grew into interest, then an attraction, and finally, love. When our photographers wrote our poignant story for their blog of our engagement pictures they called our love story a slow burn. I had never thought to put it into those words but that’s exactly what it is.
So now we’re here, five years later, planning an EPIC wedding for August 1st in Hartford, Connecticut. I’m really excited to be sharing it with you and can’t wait to reveal (some) details of what is to come. Mike and I are really excited that the final weeks are here and in no time at all, we’ll be hitched for life.
Coming up tomorrow – our engagement pictures – shot by our very talented wedding photographers and FRIENDS, Robert and Kathleen Trenske!
Trash the Dress with raw photo design
Two weeks ago I had the AMAZING opportunity to be photographed by the ridiculously talented Eric Langlois of raw photo design in Danbury, Connecticut. I contacted Eric many months back to set up a trash the dress session BEFORE my wedding and he was totally game! I wanted to do something different, fun, and geared toward me. I didn’t want to do anything that included water, sand, or woods–so not me. In college I would sneak into old, abandoned and decrepit buildings to photograph them (some of my favorites were Norwich Mental Hospital and Holy Land in Waterbury). I love the stories they would lend and it was so much fun to investigate their history.
Before we go any further — HUGE thanks to Eric Langlois of raw photo design who was totally game for breathing in asbestosis. Also, Tom from Paradigm DV collaborated with us and filmed the entire thing. I saw some raw footage of it and let me tell you, it is SICK (I can’t WAIT to share it!). The dress I wore was “Aimee” from Modern Trousseau via The White Dress by the Shore. The dress was so gorgeous and comfortable– it fit like a glove! My good friend Elisabeth from Blush Floral Design designed the most gorgeous bouquet, inspired by the vintage location we were shooting at. My favorite part? The little bits of tulle she incorporated through out the. My hair and makeup was done by Catie Bane of Dana Bartone & Co. She took my idea of Dita Von Teese and Katherine Heigl and merged them together. Don’t you think she did a super fabulous job? The birdcage veil and fascinator was from Brenda’s Brdal Veils via etsy.com.
A few years ago I came across this abandoned girls college in New York and knew that someday I would have to go back and investigate it myself. Eric and I were tossing around some cool locations to shoot at and then the light bulb went off in my brain! Armed with flash lights and bail money the three of us created a way inside and investigated the top three floors. The site was as scary and desolate as it looks above. The inside was VERY decayed and heavily vandalized; overall, it was pretty dangerous — a whole section of the building had caved in from three floors down (Watch where you step was really an understatement). Having been abandoned for over thirty years the floors were very soft, the paint chipped, weeds and vines had made their way inside. It was absolutely awesome and lived up to every expectation I had.
Eric had some killer ideas and his guidance was amazing. He has such a keen ability to make you feel COMFORTABLE in front of the camera. I was so nervous I was going to give bad Zoolander face — but he steered me in the right direction!!
On our way back, we jumped out of the truck and took a few photographs in this roadside field.. They turned out to be some of my absolute favorites!
Eric has so many more amazing photographs and a killer slideshow on his blog — click here for the slideshow and click here for some additional shots! I didn’t want to post all of them here so go show his blog some LOVE!
Happy Thanksgiving!
the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
– John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends, family, colleagues, clients, and readers. I have a lot to be thankful for this year, most importantly that my family is healthy and happy. I wish you all a very fabulous holiday! Enjoy your family, friends, food, wine, and football.
I’ve been tag teamed!
Thanks to my friends and fellow planners Letetia Nicole from Simply Beautiful Concepts, Katasha Butler from K Sherrie+Company Wedding & Event Planning and Samatha Darr from soireebliss! Wedding & Event Planning I’ve been tagged threefold to fill out this fun little survey. I’ve tagged some of my favorite vendors below to post a bit about themselves, too!
Four things I did today:
1. Answered a slew of emails and job inquiries.
2. Bought special cards for my maid of honor and bridesmaids.
3. Launched Jubilee’s Destination Connecticut service!
4. Worked on finding a location for one of my September ’09 brides.
Four things on my to-do list:
1. Talk with Rob Trenske about getting some head shots done.
2. Review contracts and time line for upcoming event.
3. Register Mike to vote!
4. Call back two potential brides to discuss services.
Four of my guiltiest pleasures:
1. Coffee.
2. 90210 2.0. I have to admit, it is kind of good!
3. Clothes. Specifically, J. Crew clothes. I stalk their website daily to pounce on sales at a moment’s notice!
4. Designer purses. I have to admit, I collect them and have a very twisted love affair with anything leather, labeled, and expensive… I’m trying to break my habit… for the betterment of my retirement!
Four random facts about me:
1. I haven’t eaten a piece of bread, starch or sugar in FIVE years. Let me tell you, it has become more torturous every single day!
2. I collect art books. I have stacks and stacks of them. I love art history!
3. My favorite band is the Grateful Dead. Now those who’ve known me for a long time won’t find this surprising, but I think a lot of people who don’t know me from my younger days do!
4. I love stationary. I mean, I LOVE stationary. I don’t know what it is about fabulous cards, letterpress, couture graphics and pretty inks but I just love ‘em!
So now it is my turn to tag some people.
1. The very talented Rob Trenske from RJT Pictures!
2. The equally talented and fun Mrs. Robin Dini from Robin Dini Photography.
3. My birth date twin and all around fabulous invitation designer Erin from Brides Design.
4. My fun and talented colleague from NYC, Sarah from Brilliant Event Planning.
Love At First Shoe
In case you don’t know: the planner is planning a wedding! Yes, it is a bit unusual and not the way things tend to work in my industry. I am a planner turned bride and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I haven’t divulged any details of my own nuptials yet and will probably refrain from posting a lot of them. This blog isn’t about me it is about you, the reader, but I simply had to share the impetus for my wedding design. As every designer knows all it takes is one singular thought, object, color, or emotion to start the ball rolling on a design scheme. For me, it was this shoe. It was love at first shoe.
Originally I had big plans for me feet. And in big I mean Christian Louboutin. I had conceded that I would wear a ridiculously overpriced shoe and spend a month’s mortgage payment just to wear it. I didn’t need much convincing but I can assure you that my fiancée was not swayed by the beauty or prestige of a red sole! I was determined, that is, until I met Plath by Natalie Portman. Never in all my days have I met a shoe so very me. But as I said, I had already started to court another pair, and my love for Natalie and her beautiful purple shoe would be mulled over and over for weeks and weeks.
Finally, I was ready for a commitment. The shoe had a life of its own and it had started to dictate my color scheme, centerpiece design, linen choice, and the direction I wanted to go with my gown. The shoe had become my muse! I signed on to Te Casan, the website where my limited edition beauty lived. And to my horror: SOLD OUT. Not just in my size, but EVERY size. Apparently when they say limited edition they mean limited edition! How could I have let this happen? How could I design a wedding around a shoe and NOT wear it on my wedding day! I really became very upset. That is, until I emailed the staff at Te Casan and inquired about the availability of the shoe. Did they have any left, just one pair, in my very popular size of 8 ½? I figured it was a lost cause and in the meantime, cruised ebay for any sign of Natalie and her beautiful shoe. Nothing – and why should there be? Who in their right mind would sell this shoe!
The very next day I got an email on my blackberry while I was meeting with a client. They just so happened to have a pair in my size! I couldn’t dial the number fast enough (after my client meeting was over, of course). They were such a pleasure to work with and I want to thank Bernadette for her help in getting this shoe. It really meant a lot to me to be able to wear it and I received it just in time for my appointment at The White Dress by the Shore!
And now, I present to you, my wedding shoe:
Celebrating My Birthday!
Today is my birthday! I just wanted to let our all brides and readers know that Michael and I are away for the soggy weekend in Newport. We are staying in some luxury diggs at the Vanderbilt Hall Hotel which, I have to say, is absolutely exquisite! Very few hotels have oodles and oodles of art history books lining the shelves of their lobby. I am in complete heaven! Tonight we are going out for a low key dinner, and tomorrow we’ll hopefully be eating at the West Deck where Michael’s childhood friend is the executive chef.
And a special Happy Birthday to my birthday buddy, Erin, from Bride Design. I do have my laptop but I will handle all business emails when we get back. Talk to you all Monday!
