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Here Comes the Wedding!
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September 24, 2008
Nichole's Big Day
I'm back from California with news of Nichole's wedding. I know, I lied when I said I'd update from the Westside. I was too busy having fun with my friends and eating all my favorite foods that I couldn't bring myself to share Nichole's wedding with you. Now that I'm back in good old NYC (I just flew in a couple of hours ago), I'm focussed and ready to deliver the details. Although, the Dramamine stil feels like it's in my system, so bear with me if I'm not making much sense.
In true SoCal fashion, I got stuck in traffic on the way to the ceremony in Long Beach. When I finally arrived at the church, Nichole had just reached the end of the aisle. I quietly tried to sneak through and found a seat toward the back of the church. This is the reason why the cermeony pics are so far away:
Nichole and Alberto reciting their vows. It was basically your standard Catholic wedding. The whole time I kept thinking about their marriage class and the idiot who kept bringing up inappropriate things. |
The new married couple kissing for the first time as husband and wife. |
Mr. and Mrs. Garcia make their way up the aisle. Remember the eBay wedding dress? Doesn't it look great on her? |
Posted by Lori at 4:26 p.m. | Comments (1)
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September 19, 2008
Wedding, Here I Come!
In a few short hours I'm hopping on a plane and heading to California for Nichole's wedding. I'm so excited to see everything she's been talking about for the past few months. I know it's going to be a great day, and she's going to be absolutely beautiful. I'll be sure to take lots of pics and post them right here.
Meanwhile, I do have an update on the bachelorette party. In less than a week, the plans have been finalized and the phone chain has been initiated. A lovely treatment with the bridal party at the Allure spa, an awesome suite booked at the W, a fancy, schmancy dinner at Tao and making a fool of the bride at every club we hit in NYC. The bride's excited and it looks like we're going to have a good group of girls along for the ride.
OK, I still need to hop online and get Nichole's wedding present (always the last-minute girl when it comes to this), and run to the airport. Next time you hear from me, it'll be from the West Coast with some awesome wedding pics of the wedding we've been hearing about all year.
Posted by Lori at 1:38 p.m. | Comments (0)
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September 17, 2008
Hair-y Situation
So, since the makeup trial went so well, it would stand to reason that the hair trial would be difficult.
I went in prepared, I brought my newly-purchased tiara to try with the hairdo. I envisioned a half-up, half-down do. I took sample pictures with me and the stylist did exactly what I asked for, but when I walked out, it just seemed way too fussy for me.
I asked for curls and I felt like a poodle with a tiara on. I went to show my mom who agreed it was a bit, um, much. ;) I took lots of pictures and showed my sister the next day who actually laughed. She was like, “Yeah, I see what you mean about the curls.”
At any rate, we all collectively came to the conclusion that I need a simple do, probably mostly down, if not all down. We’re going to let the tiara take center stage on my head instead of letting ringlets take over. I do hope I’m able to better articulate what I want on the day: simple, carefree—non-fussy hair is what I want.
With a tiara on.
Posted by Nichole at 11:52 a.m. | Comments (0)
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September 15, 2008
Make Me Up Darling!
With just under a month to go, it was time for my makeup trial. I made an appointment with the lovely artist who did my sister-in-law’s makeup for her wedding last year. She also did all the bridesmaids, myself included, so I was quite familiar with her skill.
This was probably one of my favorite wedding preparations. All I had to do was sit in a chair, pick out the colors I liked and let an expert beautify me. I closed my eyes and let her work her magic with foundation and eyeliner to give me a sort of smoky-eyed look for the wedding. Now, don’t worry, I won’t be going too over-the-top, but because I’m green-eyed (and I usually hide behind glasses, but on that day, I’ll be sporting my contacts), I wanted to up the focus on the eyes and do a more neutral lip.
The result made me very happy. While it’s definitely a heavier look than I would do for day-to-day, it feels just right for this very special wedding day.
Posted by Nichole at 11:27 a.m. | Comments (0)
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September 10, 2008
Down to the Wire...Again
I am the worst bachelorette party planner. I have 2 1/2 weeks until the party and I haven't done a thing. For me, it's so much harder because I'm just not a fun person. My idea of a great Friday night is sitting at home with a pizza, some mint chip ice cream and a lineup of Tivo'd TV shows I was too busy to watch during the week. Carrie Bradshaw I am not.
Anyway, the plan is to do a spa day, nice dinner at a nice restaurant, and then party the night away at a club. Sounds easy enough, right? Not when you're the most boring person on the planet.
Two and a half weeks and no reservations yet? I think I might be in trouble.
Posted by Lori at 4:50 p.m. | Comments (0)
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September 8, 2008
Veil-tastic
After finding the right dress, the next big job is finding the right veil to go with it. And since I don’t often wear stuff on my head, I had to enlist a good friend to help me find just the right veil/tiara combo. We went shopping for it last week, down a street with a ton of dressmakers and formal shops. We saw short veils, 1-tier veils, 2-tier veils, cathedral-length veils and veils with rhinestones sprinkled across the tulle.
Long story short—there are a LOT of choices out there. Scalloped edges, plain edges, fluffy, sleek, white, ivory—the list was endless. With my dear friend’s guidance (a friend who’s already been married, so she’s an old pro at this), we decided we were looking for a 2-tier fingertip length veil. The kicker is, I wanted it to be the same length in front and back to give it a more romantic look.
There, in the final store we went to, they had a veil on display that was made of a shimmering tulle. I’d found it. The clouds parted. I didn’t need any extra bling on the veil if it had just a hint of shimmer in the material. So we talked to the seamstress who agreed to make a custom white veil for me in that lovely shimmering material.
That, paired with the gorgeous vine-like tiara we found on that same street, will complete my walking-down-the-aisle look.
Shimmer. Sparkle. Tulle. I am so a bride!
Posted by Nichole at 2:33 p.m. | Comments (0)
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September 3, 2008
Success!
Well, I did it. I pulled off the bridal shower, and it was a great success...at least that's what everyone kept telling me. I was so worn down from all the prep, I completely forgot to take pictures before everyone arrived. The few I did take aren't very good, but I'll show them to you anyway.
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Thanks to Costco, I was able to put together a pretty big spread. And yes, this was only one table of food. This is actually my home work station that I converted to a buffet table. My computer tower is under the desk hidden by a very long tablecloth, and the printer and monitor are hanging out in my bedroom. When one of the bridesmaids walked in, she said the whole setup kind of reminded her of a lounge. Mission accomplished!
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This is the other table of food, which is actually my dining room table. I bought plastic bowls in gold and pink from the dollar store to coordinate with everything else. Again, thanks to Costco, I was able to get flowers that carried out the color scheme I was going for. You'll notice that I made jars makeshift vases for the floral arrangements (except for the big pink one in the middle). I thought it added a unique touch and I didn't have to spend a dime on them.
Posted by Lori at 2:27 p.m. | Comments (1)
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September 2, 2008
Shoes and Shoes Galore
How do you find the perfect wedding shoe?
It’s like finding the perfect guy, I think. You want it to be lovely and fit your style. You also want it to be comfortable and able to go the distance. You usually have to look at many pairs to find exactly the right one. And while I found my guy at work, I had to go to Zappos.com to find my shoes.
Can I also just take a moment to shout the praises of Zappos? I was able to find a great selection of wedding shoes, all in wide sizes and sent right to my house. I could try them on and if they didn’t work, get a full refund. That’s how I got one huge box of six shoes shipped to my door. And while none of those were the shoe, I so appreciated not having to trek all over town to hunt for them.
On my second Zappos try, I found these: Silver Annie Lola pumps
They’re open toe, 2.5-inch heels and have a little rhinestone sparkle on the top. When I tried them on, it was like Cinderella and her slipper. These are the magic shoes that will help me float down the aisle.
Posted by Nichole at 11:12 a.m. | Comments (0)
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August 29, 2008
Get Thee Registered
When you’re getting married, people want to know all sorts of things: your colors, your date, your honeymoon plans. But as soon as we sent out the invitations, it was all about one question: Where are you registered?
You would think it would be one of the easiest parts of wedding planning, but it’s not as easy as it seems. First of all, there are about a billion stores with wedding registries. How do you choose the right one for you. Or if you decided to register at more than one place, how many stores are too many?
After talking about it and realizing our lifestyle is of the not-so-fancy variety, we couldn’t see registering at classics like Tiffany & Co or Bloomingdale’s…though they do have some pretty things to look at. We decided on a more modest Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond (especially, since we shop there so very much already).
We first headed to Target and with gun in hand, went from aisle to aisle to choose fun stuff. We went for bedding, cookware, small appliances—we even trekked to the game aisle for some fun stuff. It was a study in marriage compromises, since I’m all about the purple hues and Alberto loves the green-colored stuff. So, our house should be a lovely meld of the purple and the green. And while I would go more for the frilly or detailed, he’s all about the simple and plain.
And while it was fun for us to register in person, with both our full-time jobs, it became too hard to get out yet again and yes, it was overwhelming to walk the whole store and think about, really think about what we needed. Do we need baking stuff? Yes, I bake a lot. Do we need towels? Yes, towels are always a necessity. Do we need the make-your-own snow cone machine? Not likely.
Posted by Nichole at 10:28 a.m. | Comments (0)
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August 27, 2008
Marriage Class: The Catholic Edition
So, you all know we’re tying the knot in the Catholic Church. That means we must fill out forms, get copies of baptism records, meet with the priest and go to a Vatican-sanctioned marriage class. There were three marriage class types we could choose from:
- The weekend retreat: where we’d spend many hours learning how to communicate with each other and where, in the evenings, we’d be sent to our respective men and women dorms, to share rooms with fellow brides and grooms.
- The All-Day Saturday class: This is like the traffic school of marriage classes. One full-day of training and you’re done.
- The 4-week class: For those ultra-busy types, the church offers a 2-hour course every Thursday evening for a month.
Now, since my 37-year-old fiancé decided pretty quickly he didn’t want to share a dorm room with a stranger at his age, number one was out. And though I called all the churches I could find, all the 1-day classes were booked. That left us with the Thursday night classes. We were apprehensive, at first, but they ended up being pretty helpful. One class was about bringing spirituality into our marriage, another class was about structuring our finances and another was about learning how to communicate.
Posted by Nichole at 12:31 p.m. | Comments (2)
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