Tag Archives: wedding

The Lengths I’ll go to.

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My wedding vision has always been something a little blurry and a little bizarre, and it has always included long, flowing hair. Hair that I cannot grow myself. Hair that would need to be professionally created. Enter Jill Hammelman, my new personal hero.

After a million questions and a few freak-out emails (Should I really be doing this four months before my wedding? Will I ruin them? Are you sure I won’t ruin them?) I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer and we went for it. The results are amazing. I am now incredibly vain and obsessed with my hair. However, I am about to leave for a spin class and this will be my first work-out with the hair. I don’t know how Jill does it. I cannot get all of this hair into a proper ponytail. Oh well, looking insane is a small price to pay for the best thing that has ever happened to me. (Second only to Sam … )

See the transformation below.

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Before. I’m simply giddy with excitement. My hair is long-ish but thin and damaged. This is no way to live.

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Back of my hair before. Gross.

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Now dyed and trimmed … check out those dark brows.

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So this is love.

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I mean. I can’t.

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Jill and her awesome hair. The lady who made this all possible.

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This post would not be complete without a selfie.

I have to stop writing now and go stare at myself in the mirror. Bye.

NOLA or BUST!

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Sam and I are both planning to get a little wild for our bachelorette parties, which is why we’ve scheduled them for the same August weekend. If she’s at a strip club in Vegas then do I want to be:

A) At home on the couch with our dogs thinking about all of the trouble she’s getting into. 

B) In New Orleans on my own stripper pole in a mansion I’ve rented with a handful of my closest friends.

Answer: B

Sam and her friends are in the middle of planning a trip to Vegas, which, don’t get me wrong, sounds like an absolute blast. My own bachelorette destination: New Orleans! I’ve never been there but have heard repeatedly that it’s a must for a gal like me.

Why not check it out for the first time with a gaggle of girlfriends (and a very handsome boy toy or two. Gay of course, which is how I prefer my men) and stay in a bad-ass mansion complete with what appears to be a stripper pole in one of the bedrooms, an outdoor jacuzzi and outdoor kitchen.

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Photos courtesy of homeowner.

I promise to have more details as the planning process continues. But for now, my flights and our mansion are booked!!!

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Fleur de Lis Mansion, courtesy of homeowner.

Toilet Paper Brides

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Since the wedding is stressing us out a little bit this week, I thought I’d focus on something else: Our Bridal Shower!

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Sam as a toilet paper bride at my sister Katy’s bridal shower

(Full disclosure, that’s also stressing us out)

Sam and I have really controlled most of the details in our wedding planning process, so we finally let my mom and Sam’s Godmother step in and plan something. Okay, so we chose the venue. The beauty of a lesbian wedding is the ease of the joint shower. If I’d have to say there was a “theme,” I would say wine. Definitely wine. It’s going to be small, and there will be Briermere pies. When I reminded my mom and sister that I do not want shower games, they both shot each other a look. I’m quickly losing every single battle I fight in this wedding planning process …

I think the invitations are pretty adorable but, unfortunately, I have not seem them in person, so I’ll have to post a picture when I get out to my parents’ house. Until then, I hope these ladies can agree on a menu.

My idea of the perfect shower: booze, a pretty dress, no opening presents, no silly games. Oh well.

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My sister Katy, me, Sam, and our sister-in-law Jaine at her bridal shower.
(Also Sam will kill me for sharing this)

Wedding Bands.

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One of the trillion ways that Sam and I are different involves our decision-making skills. When it comes to the easy stuff, she cannot volunteer an opinion.

What do you want for dinner? I don’t know, what do you want for dinner?

What do you wanna watch? I don’t know, what do you wanna watch?

But she can test drive one car and drive it off the lot that same day. She found a wedding band online from Bario Neal, she liked it, we went to Philadelphia and she bought it. Done. I, on the other hand, am just as indecisive about what to choose from a dinner menu as I am about the big decisions, like my wedding band. I’ve been putting it off since I cannot make up my mind. Finally, Sam made an appointment with the people who made my engagement ring and dragged me in there. We sat down and I stared at bands full of diamonds and thought, None of these are me.

So she suggested I go try stuff on at local jewelry stores to see what I liked. First stop was Tiffany & Co., and I know that place is a zoo, that tourists are literally revolving in and out, but of the three associates who helped me (Some of the rings are on different floors) the man was polite, and the two women were rather rude. The first had absolutely no patience for me. I tried on three rings, all from the same case, and she treated me like I was wasting her time. The other was the same. She couldn’t be bothered to let me see the rings. So we left. When you’re an indecisive girl looking for a wedding ring, being treated poorly does not help you make up your mind!

So we walked over to DeBeers, where Jeff greeted us, offered us drinks and took us upstairs to try on some bands. He didn’t mind that I was asking questions and was incredibly patient and helpful. While the woman at Tiffany seemed aggravated when I asked her to repeat the name of a ring, Jeff wrote down all of the information on his card and didn’t rush us out. What a pleasant experience.

Wedding planning is a lot of work and a lot of money, so even if I dare to walk into the world-famous Fifth Avenue Tiffany & Co., I don’t think that it’s asking too much for their employees to be courteous and help me out. It’s not like wedding bands are a $10 investment.

I digress. I still don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I tried on two thin bands that I quite liked, one channel set, one pavé, and I am sure I would be happy with either. I also love the unique rings at The Clay Pot … It might all come down to flipping a coin.

Registration Domination

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Wine decanter. Definite must!

We are officially registered! We were repeatedly told to register at three separate places but for us that was definitely overkill, so we’re registered at Bloomingdale’s and Crate & Barrel. Hooray, that’s over! Ok, honestly it wasn’t so bad. Bloomingdale’s was a bit overwhelming for me but Crate & Barrel was fun.

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Taking some breaks …

We had a date day and included that in our afternoon, between lunch and a movie. I know, we are simple mass consumers, but I love that place. I also realized how finding the perfect place setting or gorgeous candle holders is such a thrill, which means that somewhere along the way I became a boring adult.

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She’s got a scanner and she knows how to use it.

Registering was certainly strange, I mean, last time I made a wishlisht was probably while looking at the Sears catalogue when I was eight years old, but, this is what we do when we get married right? We register! We ask people to buy us things. This is our culture, and who am I turn my back on that?

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Officially exhausted.

Recap:

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It can’t all be glamorous right? So this post is just a check-in of where we’re at about 6 months from the wedding.

SIX MONTHS!?!

This week we:

  •  Went over our wedding contract with our amazing wedding coordinator and culinary mastermind, Stephanie and Lisa at Cedar Lakes.
  • Sent our selected ceremony readings to our Celebrant Elizabeth. (Sam also sent out her questionnaire, on time. I got an extension. Bad student!)
  • Sent our invitation suite wording to Breck at Sesame Letter Press, who in turn sent us  a .pdf of our suite. We will be finalizing with him this week.
  • Planned a Monday morning phone call with Cheryl, our planner.
  • Booked a hair and make up trial for next weekend (So excited. So nervous)
  • Got on top of bach planning (Post on those to come. Let me just say they’re both going to be totally out of control)
  • Made appointments to finish gift registries
  • Sent out accommodation info to family
  • Checked in with John Ragusa, who found us one of our wedding’s most important elements; the band!
  • Discussed the fact that we need to purchase and finalize wedding favors (Does that count as something we got done? I just like crossing things off lists … )

According to our Wedding Workbook (printed and included in the Wedding Binder courtesy of Sam) we are pretty on top of everything. I think the next 2-3 months are going to be really busy for us with wedding stuff, but amazing busy like tasting cake and choosing my wedding band. Sam chose her wedding band in December. She saw a photo on the web, we drove to Philly and she put down a deposit that day. I’m not quite so easy and I don’t know what I want! We do need to finish reserving important rentals like golf carts, and I’m not going to worry about the bullet that reads: Buy stockings and any special lingerie your dress requires (My goal for my wedding was NO SPANX! I love dressing up and I definitely have an assortment of uncomfortable under garments, but for my wedding I’m going as glam as I can as comfortably as I can)

So we’re on track! All is well. Oh, Sam also bought amazing wedding shoes. I’ll post a picture of those soon, if I can get her permission. We also went to see our band last week when they played a show at Prohibition. They are not only super gracious and very cool, but they seriously rock. I cannot even wait to go nuts to some Honky Tonk Woman!!

The Princess Bride

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Long before she picked her dress, I had a sneaking suspicion that my beautiful bride was planning to wear Vera Wang for our upcoming nuptials. When we got engaged and I spent hours looking at dresses online (annoying her and often waking her up to see one as she tried to sleep). I could just tell that she’d look amazing in a ball gown. Me, however, we knew I’d look ridiculous in one, but come on, what bride doesn’t want to try on one of those big poofy princess gowns?

While I was dress shopping at Bergdorf’s with my mom and sister, I tried on one dress that literally stood up on its own (We didn’t take a photo of that one, sadly, because we didn’t know we were allowed) Before we left though, I was sure to put on a big Vera Wang. As you can see, I looked terrible. I am 5’11″ and I looked about 4’9″. Still, it was fun.Image

I may have twirled. Once. Twice.

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