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Just wanted to see what y'all thought about the new layout of the blog... do you like it? is it too chaotic? Is it hard to read? Let me know - i'd love to know your feedback - both good and bad! If you aren't comfy with commenting,  you can email me. :) I'd love to know your thoughts!

Have a great weekend y'all

Ceremony {The Music}

As I indicated in my last post about the ceremony (click here to read), the processional started with the classic Pachelbel's Canon in D...

Because our due, Reiko Nakano and her accompanist are so awesome, we asked them to play a song specific to what we wanted...

So as the music played...

{Sidenote}: What to do when...

you lose the shoes??

So the funny story i glossed over yesterday in my post about the Ceremony {Processional} is my sidenote of the day....

Remember these beautiful shoes?

Ceremony {Processional}

And so our beloved wedding finally begins. I've given you most every detail of the events leading up to this, but at 4:20 pm, our bridal party lines up... There was a funny mishap right before... or well, I was made aware of right before the, to which I shall share in a later post. As I mentioned the bell tolls every half hour, so the plan was to start the processional and to have everybody staged so that as the bell told, I would come out and began my walk down the aisle.

We had a wonderful little duo - Reiko Nakano on violin and her accompanist on guitar. Initially, we were going to use a friend - but the pressure on both ends made it easier to hire Reiko. I was turned on to her by Paola (Just Chic Events) who got me listening to Vitamin String Quartet - and both hubby and I fell in love with this idea.

For our bridal processional, we did keep things a little traditional and went with Pachelbel's Canon in D. I absolutely love this - so doing this was more b/c of desire vs. keeping tradition.

Are ya ready for some serious pictures? LOL

Ceremony {Decor}

I have to give major props to my florist Allison from Flower Allie who was just simply fantastic. Aside from being a creative genius, she took the few ideas I had and really made them unique and personalized and just drop dead gorgeous. Along with Paola {Just Chic Events}, who worked side by side with me at the floral meetings - these two were really the brains behind all the floral decor at the wedding. I wish I could take credit, but I really can't, b/c I had very little to do with the beautiful scene that Allie created...

so here's a few peaks at the beautiful ceremony setting that was created for the backdrop of our momentous "I Do's"

Pre-Ceremony Candids

I had a lot of fun candids that I enjoyed looking at, so i thought I would share... Some of these images were from Jordana (Hazelnut Photography) but most are from our guests who we collected images from. It was kind of fun to see our guests photo b/c you can see the wedding from their point of view...

My friend took this one of us as we were taking some still shots...

Design for Charity Contest

MagnetStreet is doing an awesome contest for charity...



They have invited me to participate and I was so thrilled and honored... and of course i loved going back and looking at pretty paper and designs to think up a new invitation design.

Voting starts on TODAY for one week, so i need your vote... go to the MagnetStreet Facebook page and become a fan/like them so that you can vote for my design when the contest starts!

Here's my design ...

And what I'll win if you help me vote is $1000 towards the charity of my choice and an Ipad... I've recently volunteered with Wish Upon a Wedding organization, so to help out our DC chapter, I'd love to get that money to donate to this new organization... so help me out.

Voting starts on Monday for one week ... go to the MagnetStreet Facebook page and vote for my design!

Pre-Ceremony {Photos at the Venue}

Only b/c i'm totally picture happy and absolutely thrilled with our photos that Jordana (Hazelnut Photography) took, am i sharing so many photos. I'm sure y'all are getting tired of them by now, but since this is a journal for me as well, I'm going to continue with photo overload and share some photos we took at the venue before the ceremony :-)

Here we are trying to be smoldering... LOL

Pre-Ceremony {Bridal Party Pics}

Our bridal party was pretty hot, i have to say... not to be biased in anyway. And I loved the overall look and how it all came together... Sure my grays weren't all the same shade of gray and my yellows weren't all the same yellows, my accents came out different shades of navy... but honestly, I loved it... So just to boast and brag a bit about how great they looked, here are some photos we took with our bridal party for your enjoyment...

First Look {Posed Photos}

So after the moment we had been waiting for... our last moments of Girlfriend-Boyfriend/Fiance-Fiancee ... that first glance where we set eyes on each other as Bride and Groom and soon to be Husband and Wife, Jordana (Hazelnut Photography) took a few posed shots for us... She's just amazing - so i had to share these photos...

Our First Look

The moments before our first look were definitely filled with a lot of butterflies and excitement. Those few minutes were probably the only ones we truly spent ALONE before we got married. Hubby said to me "that's when i started to feel my stomach get nervous for the first time all weekend"... and it was the same for me.

Having our first moments spent alone (well with our awesome photogs) was really special. Granted his first words to me were "WOW!... oh btw, i'm mic-ed so be careful what you say!" Lol... it was still truly an awesome moment. Seeing the love in his eyes and the look of pure happiness and surprise... definitely surpassed any thoughts I could have imagined prior... 

so here we go with a scene by scene montage of our first moment together on our wedding day... ready?

First Look {Setting the Stage}

Because we had a winter/spring wedding - the sun still set fairly early. This was only one decisive factor in helping us decide we wanted to see each other before the wedding... we didn't start at this decision (read here) but we ended up here and it was a great decision for us!

So here are a few photos to show you where Jordana (Hazelnut Photography) set the stage for our "First Look"

 The St. Regis Monarch Beach is just gorgeous... so many spots, too little time!

2 Months

Today we've been happily married for two months... I'm still doing our recaps... I'm still loving the memories we made... I'm still falling more in love with my hubby each day... :-)

With all the craziness around us... earthquakes, floods, oil spills, terrorist threats and more... I am comforted by the fact that I am so blessed. Maybe its not right to be happy and ecstatic in such turmoil, but i read the news and am reminded daily of how fortunate I am...

Here's a fun photo from our photobooth... LOL

The Details: Bridal Party {Flowers}

Our bridal party looked amazing all dressed up with somewhere to go... but i have to admit, Allie from Flower Allie took the few ideas I had and knocked 'em out of the park. I was so pleased with all her work... her prices are amazingly reasonable, her personality so fun and quirky, her vision... experienced, inventive and unique... and her work... unmatched.... so a few shots of the gorgeous flowers we all had on hand for the wedding...

The Details {Outfitting the Bridal Party}

Here are some gorgeous detail shots of our outfits and attire... I wanted to include these b/c I know other brides can appreciate the thought that I put into each decision that was made... I asked my mom to make the girls' bracelets b/c I knew it'd mean a lot to both sides for something hand made to be given as a gift. Since she was doing my jewelry, i thought it only appropriate to have her do theirs...Unfortunately, due to costs and time, the ladies only got the bracelet, while I had a matching set...

Here are some other photos of the little details...

Pre-Look Bridal Party Pics!

Here are some fun pre-Look Bridal Party Pics... basically while, hubby and I got ready for our first look - our bridal party gathered in the lobby of the hotel to await group photos...

 Here is my BIL and my beautiful niece / goddaughter...