The Dress and Accessories!

For me, one of the things I was most looking forward to with the wedding planning was dress shopping.  I love dresses - in general they are my go-to clothing choice.  So getting to choose a big fancy dress for my wedding seemed like so much fun.  However, it actually was more of a high pressure process than anything else!  It's a big decision to make, and an expensive one at that!  Note that all pictures are from my fantastic photographer, Holly Redmond.

The Dress!

After only two appointments at Priscilla of Boston and L'elite with a very small entourage (my mom and one friend) we made the big decision.  The extra push came a lot easier because Priscilla was having a 20% off sale that ended two days later, and I did not want to miss that.  Even more of a sign was the dress I bought was one that I had seen in Priscilla when I was in the store when another friend was trying on dresses over a year earlier!  I knew the straps would prevent me from hauling up the dress the entire night and a bit of comfort was going to be key.

Top Close Up

This was not a outdoor summer dress.  With its crystal and pearl beading on top and the heavy skirt on the bottom it was going to be perfect for a New Year's Eve wedding.  I knew the top of the dress was going to glitter perfectly in all the candle light at Willowdale, which allows open flame.

Shoes!

When it came to all the accessories I was not totally sure what I wanted.  To start, I knew for shoes I wanted something a bit over-the-top and fun.  I am a huge shoe fan, so I used my wedding as an excuse to buy some that were totally crazy.  When I found some purple glitter heels in Palm Beach I knew they were the ones.  Purple was the accent color for the wedding so it did fit in somewhere.  That, and unless I was pulling up my dress you could not even see my shoes.

Shoes and Veil

For headpieces I was at a loss - I knew I did not want a long veil (it just would not work indoors, and I could see myself getting hung up on corners), but I did not know what I wanted.  After loads of internet searching (Etsy if perfect for this!), I decided I would go with a small birdcage veil for the ceremony, and then get a bit crazy for the actual reception.  After trolling Etsy for what seemed like weeks, not wanting to press the submit button, I stumbled upon Michele Woodford from ifanhour who seemed to have the perfect veil for me - in ivory with small crystal accents (I needed to balance the sparkle!).  I will say, it took all four of my bridesmaids to put this veil on properly, but the end result worked out so well.  They wanted to make sure there was just a little coverage for my face to provide a hint of mystery.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

While on my honeymoon, there was a lot of time to enjoy the hot sun and listen to the waves gently crashing to the shore.  Knowing I had 10 days and nights of relaxation, I loaded my Kindle with plenty of reading material.  I must say, this is the best part of having a Kindle: rather than squeezing 6 (or 10, just in case) books in my suitcase, I was able to just download 12 books (can you tell I was concerned about running out?) and slide my kindle into my carry-on bag.  I tried to balance the selection between some real "chick lit" and some with a bit of a literary impact.  One of the many downloads was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which satisfied a bit of the fanciful and literary sides of things. 

The Night Circus from Amazon.com

The Night Circus opens with a bet between two skilled illusionists that (at some point) will pit their students, Celia and Marco, against each other to determine the better illusionist.  While this sounds straight forward, that could not be less of the case.  In fact, the bet has bound the students to each to other as well as to the bet itself.  What neither students know is that the battle continues until one of them dies.  After many years of preparation, the competition starts when a circus, crafted by the two masters, that travels the world and is only open at night, setting the perfect stage for the competition.

The characters in this book, including the circus itself, seemed to come alive off of the pages.  Morgenstern described everything with such detail and colorful language that it was as though I was actually in attendance, walking through the various circus tents and seeing the illusions with the crowd.  As the circus continues, both of the competitors "create" new tents with fantastical illusions in an effort to win the bet.  However, as the circus continues and the illusions get more intricate, Celia and Marco fall for each other in spite of the game and their mentors instructions otherwise.  The bet, bound to the competitors, is one that must be played out - there is no way to end it without the death of one side.  Together, Celia and Marco must work together to save their lives and the lives of those in the circus.

This was a truly magical read that made me want to go to the circus immediately, even though I knew it could not come close to how special the circus in the book is.  This was such a rich read and I could not get enough.  I would highly recommend The Night Circus!

Wedding Invitations - Wading Through the Masses

After Nick and I had finally sent out our Save the Dates, it was time to start cracking down on the actual wedding invitations.  We did not have a whole suite of invitations planned for our wedding.

The plan was to be a bit more fun with the Save the Dates and then keep it classy for the invitations.  While we wanted to evoke some of the magic forest feeling of Willowdale, it was tough!  For cost reasons we had no intention of doing letterpress invitations - digital printing was fine by us.  However, we still wanted the invitation to look expensive, even if it wasn't letterpress expensive.

We paged through numerous magazines and websites to try to get ideas, and popped into more than a few stores.  In trying to evoke the spirit of winter/New Year's Eve it is easy to get kitschy quickly, and finding the right balance was hard.  At first we thought we had found a couple options that would work, but after sleeping on it they just were not the right look.  Then when we had found a few a few options we liked the look of, we ordered samples and realized the quality was not cutting it.

Asian Meatballs

A while ago, Blog is the New Black had a guest post from Innocent Indulgences for Asian Meatballs.  Shortly thereafter, when I was at a loss for what to make for a weeknight meal, I stumbled across this dish - problem solved.

Asian Meatballs

This meatball is very adaptable, but I stuck to the inspiration recipe.  Here are the main necessities...

Griddlers and "Cougar Town" Viewing Party

This past Friday night was a bit different for Nick and I because we got to hang out with some famous people!  We are big fans of the show Cougar Town and in an effort to promote the show the cast and producers have been putting on viewing parties in major cities across the country (on their dime, not the studios').  So when Nick saw a tweet about tickets for the Boston event, he emailed and we were in!  Even better, stars from the show actually showed up!  Below is a picture of us with Ian Gomez, formerly of Felicity fame.

Hanging out with Ian Gomez

However, before heading over to the viewing party (at the The Greatest Bar) we needed to grab a bite to eat - there was going to be free booze, so we needed a good base to start the evening!  I had been wanting to try the new burger place in town, Griddler's Burgers and Dogs, which was right on our way, so it seemed like the perfect time to stop in for a bite.

Nutty Irishman

When Nick and I went to Sunday River last winter for a weekend getaway I was craving the drink I always get slope-slide - the Nutty Irishman - but for some reason it was not on the menu!  I was a bit crushed, wondering if I had just dreamed about this drink as it had been a few years since I had it.  However, one night I saw it on the bar menu as we were on our way out the door (of course!) and noted the ingredients for later.

Naturally, travelling through New Hampshire, a stop at the State Liquor Store is a must!  If you haven't made the trip across the border - go, its totally worth it.  Nick and I walked out with just about every liquor they had, including Bailey's and Frangelico for the sole purpose of making some Nutty Irishman.  This past weekend when Nick and I were home prepping the food for the Superbowl, we decided to break out the ingredients and dress up our coffee a bit - Sunday Funday, right?

The Ingredients

The Necessities...