Back on the horse.

Let's try this one more time!

(image from RealSimple.com)

Real Simple has the most a-dor-able wallpapers up for downloading. Real Simple is one brand that really delivers exactly what it promises. Everything is just that: really simple. And beautiful. I could stare at that hammock wallpaper all day. These would be great to use as part of an inspiration board - the colors are so bright and vivid and rich.

We're just outside of two months until the wedding. I can't believe how quickly it came! Thank goodness I have other friends getting married, because I am not ready to give up all of these pretty websites I've formed obsessions with in the last eighteen months.



Last weekend was one of our last non-wedding filled weekends of the summer. The future mister spent both days studying for a final on Monday, and I of course spent a good part of them with Breaking Dawn. I finished the book yesterday so we could discuss our praises and gripes over margaritas last night. (Said margaritas, pictured below, were the size of my head and I am currently still paying for that.) I'm proud to say I've gotten my sister (maid of honor) and three of seven bridesmaids hooked on The Twilight Saga, and half forced them into the hands of the other four. They'll cave eventually, and they'll be in love just like everyone else. I don't know how I'm going to wait until December for the first movie.


MJ and I with our LA MAMAS. Photo courtesy of Miss Watters and her iPhone.

A Public Service Announcement.

I wrote an e-mail to Jodi immediately this morning when I found a terrible display of BDS. That's right, I made up my own term for women that have bad weddings. Bridal Deficiency Syndrome. It's official. Make sure I get paid once this gets picked up.

It is a sickness that seems to be spreading across the country, overcoming so many women in this vulnerable position of engagement. BDS is characterized primarily by crazy eyes, use of the term "princess," and not being able to count so high as to number the rhinestones on your chosen dress. Side effects are love for pouf, flowers, tiaras, and LOTS AND LOTS OF BEADING. It's a sad and terrible malady, and this is my campaign to increase awareness of the disease.

Some common physical symptoms:

We need to reclaim the sanity of women everywhere. We need to take the Swarovski crystals out of their hands, and we need to tell them that no matter how comfortable flip-flops are, they look ridiculously tacky with a wedding dress. ESPECIALLY ones WITH Swarovski crystals on them that make up you and your fiance's initials.

I blame the industry for even creating these things for poor, sad, misguided, over-excited women to see and purchase. Why do you do that? Why do you make things so hideous, and base entire businesses around them, offering them to poor, unsuspecting girls just trying to get married?

Ladies, let's re-focus. Let's bring it back home. Let's tell that girl at the store trying on dresses next to us that to add more pouf and gathers to the lower half of her body is not doing her any favors, and let's remind everyone that sparkly and poofy does not equal pretty.

Meet the Ladies of the Club.

So I believe the first order of business is for me to let you get to know the ladies here. Certainly not all of them will be contributing, some of them will be on a very sparse basis, etc. No matter, I think it's important we do some virtual hand-shaking. And probably hugging. Girls hug.

My Maid of Honor, Brynn. My sister who is seven years my junior somehow manages to be all things above me: funnier, smarter, prettier, crazier, cooler, taller, better dressed, more together and wonderful...er. There was no hesitation or thought needed to make this choice - she is my best friend above all best friends, and we have the best sibling relationship I have ever witnessed. I may be partial, of course, but I like to consider myself a realist. My parents got it right with the two of us (two only children ;) ), and I am so happy she will be my Maid of Honor at the wedding. She is just the coolest girl I know. Seriously.

My bridesmaid, Kristen. Despite all of the pictures from our childhood (most show me squeezing her to death, and her crying trying to wriggle away), Kris and I have always had a pretty amazing bond. I went to the hospital when she was born, and I was so excited to see her - I was getting SOMEONE to play with! We did everything together for the first ten years or so of our lives, from watching "John-Jean Tape" over and over and over (our aunt and uncle's wedding video), to going trick-or-treating "down the point", and then mostly everything together since then. I have watched her pitch countless amazing softball games, slept on countless floors, couches, and beds all over New England with her, and have seen her countless hair colors over the years and I love that her response to me asking her to be a bridesmaid was "Definitely!" followed immediately by "now I have to go on a diet." (She doesn't.)

My bridesmaid, Meghan. In the craziness of my move to New York, my first job, my stress over finding a place to live and all of the other "bad" that can come along with moving here, I met Meghan and thank God for that. I'd like to get an exact time on how quickly we arrived at our first "inside" joke. Three years later, Meg and I are mostly full of inside jokes - and kind of act like old men in that we tend to repeat all of our good ones together every time we hang out. Miraculously, from this, we usually arrive at a couple dozen new jokes by the time the night is over. She has invited me in to the traditions she has shared with her best friends for years, which has led me to do so many fun things - like driving to Savannah, Georgia for St. Patrick's Day. I don't know that I laugh with anyone else like I laugh with Meghan, and that's why I asked her to be my bridesmaid. I simply can't imagine everything being nearly as much fun without her along.

My bridesmaid, Becca. Bec and I managed to spend four years in the same city, on the same campus, and mostly in the same building (not to mention growing up mere miles from each other) without really being more than acquaintances. Take this and add graduation, my big move, and a quick e-mail to see how everything was going, stir with 1/4 cup sugar and you have a long-distance best-friendship. Becca and I have seen each other through the best and worst of the past three years, mostly through e-mails, a smattering of amusing drunken phone calls, and as frequent visits as we can accomplish. The best description of our friendship, is every time I would drive to Boston on a Friday night, and it had taken me six hours just to get through Connecticut, I would call her as I was hitting the city and she would call and order pizza (and french fries) so it would be there for me when I finally got to her apartment. That's an amazing friend.

My bridesmaid, Jodi. Had you asked Jodi and I during say, our junior years of high school, if we would be friends at 25, I think we both probably would have spit our soda (or pizza rolls) out our mouths. Somehow, two girls who could not have been more different, ended up being so alike it's actually a bit weird sometimes. We chose the same best friend, we chose the same college, and we chose the same sorority. Jodi can save me from any bad mood with a few minutes on the phone. We know all the same people, gossip about all the same places, and think that if we could somehow combine the two of us physically and mentally we would be a superhuman of a woman, unable to be stopped from breaking every heart on the eastern coast. We have a big kind of love between us and I have deemed her the "social chair" of this wedding.

My bridesmaid, Christy. Despite the fact that her Monday is my Sunday for the next few years (she recently moved to Tokyo with her husband, who's a lawyer in the USAF), Christy remains one of my absolute favorite people in the world to talk to. Christy was the craigslist find of a lifetime. She moved into an extra room in the apartment I was living in two years back, and I couldn't believe my luck. She is smart, honest, funny, helpful, supportive, and the most organized person I have ever known. I was so honored to stand up for her at her wedding last December, and could not be more thrilled that she's willing to do the same for me. We have screamed together while playing the Jurassic Park game at her bachelorette party in Chicago, we have ordered Bubby's with the best of 'em (ha) and devoted night after night to American Idol and experimenting with new recipes, and we have watched and sung along with Beauty and the Beast in a basement apartment, ya know, just on a whim.

My bridesmaid, Lauren. I knew that asking Chris's younger sister to be a part of the wedding would be a really big deal for her, and I'm really happy she agreed to do it. Lauren has a great smile, good sense of humor, and is fun to hang out with. Chris and I care a lot about her and I'm hoping the wedding gives us a better chance to get to know each other and become closer. I'm excited that Chris and I have managed to really incorporate all of our important family members into our day.

So there you have it - seven of the coolest girls I know. Let me tell ya, you can never have enough friends... until you get married. Then all of a sudden you've got all of these awesome friends who you want to include. Luckily for us, our friends seem to have fallen so naturally into duties, it's really amazing. My friend Melody is going to sing for us (and good God is she amazing), my very Catholic friends will be doing readings, and we have more musicians on hand than we know what to do with. And yes I think it's totally adorable that Melody will be singing.

Express Yourself. (hey hey)

So let's talk about jewelry.

It's not really my thing. Accessorizing for me is a chore (I know, I know) and I should be much more enthusiastic about it. I have made leaps and bounds in this area over the last year or so. (Really, I own THREE necklaces that I - almost - regularly wear!) So when it comes to wedding jewelry, I am a bit stumped. I know that SOME things will be necessary... I've seen a lot of pictures of girls who go necklace-less, and it doesn't always do it for me. It looks really plain. Not to mention that my style of dress will probably be on the more conservative, simple side to begin with - so jewelry is probably going to be a necessary evil here.


I was just sputtering around on Etsy.com and saw this adorable piece that is fun and class embodied as a bracelet. I love it. And think about how fun that would look should I be purchasing that Mikaella gown with the sash!



Hair is another thing that I've been kind of vaguely considering. I sort of hate that when I've tried on dresses, they're all like "How about a veil?" and shove one on your head, or "OOh, a tiara!" and I'm like - lady, you obviously don't know me... a freakin tiara?! or shoes, or whatever. How can I possibly be thinking about those things yet? So when I say vaguely consider, I mean sort of basically, that I have never had long hair in my life - and am quite hesitant to put it "up" or adorn it in any way. I'm honestly not even sure at this point if I'm going to wear a veil. (Cue Chris's "...but aren't you supposed to [insert any traditional event/phrase/piece of clothing/decision here] at a wedding?"...more on that later.) I'm thinking a headband would be perfect, and very Rissa. Jennifer Behr's bridal collection is beyond beautiful. My favorites:

















Should I have an extra grand to throw around at that point, maybe I'll blow it on one of these. ha. They're gorgeous, but wow. Holy expensive. Can't I make something like this myself? Let's figure out how.


So, what to do? A veil? If I do it - I'm wearing my mom's. I'll try to get pictures of it and post them at some point. It's a really beautiful mantilla.


So I thought I'd get to dude's weird traditional requirements in this post - but it doesn't look like I'm going to have time for that. It's raining outside, and I'm going to hit the NYC streets a-runnin to the subway now.

An Introduction

What does one do when surrounded by one of the most hilarious and fun wedding parties ever to exist? Well, for starters, one starts a blog and invites them all to participate.

You see, many women (or girls) spend months crafting their wedding's theme. They agonize over ivy or cala lilies or purple or pumpkins. I spent no time deciding on our wedding's theme, and as most will attest, I have used it widely and well since coming to the decision. Our wedding will be FUN. I believe whole heartedly that when you set out with this object in mind, you cannot be steared wrong.

In being a constant theme throughout my life (fun, that is), I feel well equipped to handle this task. Having gathered seven of the most fun people I know to stand at my side during this wedding was step one. And now, I will let them all introduce themselves and take this wherever they'd like.

Above all, this is a PARTY. I vow to never forget that and ask that everyone involved do the same. Every day before our wedding has been about the dude and I. Every day after will be, as well. (Until there are babies. I hear that's a whole different story.) The wedding DAY is a PARTY for everyone to celebrate that with us. As I see it, the most important day (or night, as it were) was when dude proposed to me. That was our decision to get married, and that was our big moment together. From here on out, this is about celebrating that decision. For me, this is now about finally introducing my Boston best friends to my New York best friend, about bringing our parents and family together at italian restaurants in North Jersey, about dress shopping with my grandmother's not-so-quiet whispers, about educating my fiance in the more subtle ways of the Catholic church, about finding ways to make this wedding amazing without spending money I just don't care to spend, and about how happy I've felt since dude and I got engaged for all of these reasons.

So here are all of the half-baked ideas, quirky stories, and fun that shall ensue in the next year before our wedding - Sunday, October 12th, 2008!

On with the FUN!