Weddingbee bios

Chris proposed to me on vacation at the Atlantic Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas!!

When we planned this trip in late Spring 2009, I thought in my head how awesome it would be if Chris proposed to me in the Bahamas. Of course, I dropped subtle (not too subtle) hints to him by saying things like "Wouldn't it be soooo romantic if we got engaged in the Bahamas?!?!" (told ya I was subtle). Chris would usually just laugh and say something like "yea that's true, but it's just not going to happen...I told you, it will not be until the end of the year," or sometimes he just wouldn't respond at all. Finally, a few weeks before we were to leave, I guess I jokingly mentioned it to him again. I remember that moment so distinctly: we were in his car right outside my apartment in Astoria and it was the final straw with him. He got pretty angry and told me to stop thinking that it was going to happen because I was just getting my hopes up and he didn't want me to be disappointed and ruin the whole trip when it didn't happen. It would happen at the end of the year. End of story.

Well...

That was that. I never brought it up again, and though of course I was bummed...I thought "He's right...I can't let that determine whether or not I enjoy my vacation. It will happen when it will happen." So I really, truly, honestly, 100% pushed it from my mind, and was just fine with that. This was a much needed vacation for both of us, and we were going to have a great time!

We could hardly sleep the night before we were to leave and we had to be up at 4am to catch our early flight! I think I got a little under 4 hours of sleep, but we got up, got dropped off at JFK, and were on our way to the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas!!

The Atlantis should pay me big $$ for all the people I've since recommended this place to. But it really is one of the greatest places on earth (besides Disney World, don't panic Matt!). I don't think I would stay anywhere else in the Bahamas again. Everything you could possibly need is there, and it's a beautiful sanctuary perfect for romantic vacations, but also with sooo much to do if you're there with the whole family. We stayed in the Beach Tower and had an awesome room with a great ocean side balcony!

Our Room

View from our Balcony

By the afternoon on our first day there, we were exhausted. Traveling is tiring and neither of us slept much the night before. I asked for more pillows from the front desk and they said they'd bring them right up to us. Chris passed out for an afternoon nap (in 2 seconds flat per usual). I was close to falling asleep too, but I was trying to stay awake so I'd hear when our pillows arrived. Well....2 hours later, there were still no pillows, I still hadn't taken a nap, and it was time to get ready to go out for the night. On top of that, I discovered that I lost my brand new black cover-up I had literally bought 2 days earlier specifically for our trip. Needless to say...I wasn't in the best of moods.

Chris kept saying over and over that he really wanted me to be in a good mood tonight. He asked that I please, for his sake, try and keep my spirits up because it was really important to him that I be in a good mood and enjoy myself. I guess in retrospect, I should have seen this as a bit of a clue, but I didn't see it at the time. I thought..."He's right. I'm on vacation...enjoy yourself."  So we started freshening up to go out to dinner, gamble, and walk around the beautiful premises. Chris was being really cute the whole time we were getting ready. He was very giddy, very bubbly, and it totally helped me turn my mood around. Finally, at one point as I was doing my hair I said "Boyfriend...can you pass me the hairspray?" I often called him boyfriend...it's this thing I do...I call my sister "sister", my mother "motherful" and my father "fatherful". My sister is literally in my cell-phone as "sister". I don't know why I do this, but I do. Anyway, as Chris handed me the hair spray he said "What did you call me?" I said "boyfriend" and he handed me the hairspray with a look on his face that said "interessssting". For the first time that day I thought..."could he??...maybe??? did that just mean what I think it means?" But I quickly told myself I was being paranoid and pushed it from my mind.

I continued to get ready and just as I was about ready to leave, Chris got very serious. I was quite confused as first. He said things like "You know I really, truly love you...right?" to which I looked at him inquisitively and said ".....yesss......I know.....whyyy are you being like this?" Then he'd go on to say something else..to which I would again be like "...yesss....I know...I'm aware." I think I may have blacked out for most of the proposal, I don't really remember at what point I realized what was happening. I think it was when he started to reach into his pocket where I put my hand over my mouth, started to cry and kept repeating over and over again "Are you for real? are you serious? Are you for real?? are you serious?? oh my God!" I know he asked me to marry him...I know I said "Yes"...but those particular moments are sadly a bit hazy for me. I was processing so much at once, and I was shaking quite a bit as well. My fingers were so swollen from being dehydrated and from traveling, etc. so the ring didn't go on right away. But it was beautiful, and it was mine!! I downed a couple glasses of water and that baby popped right on my finger! After we sat down and he told me the whole story of how he got the ring, where he got the ring, who knew, and who didn't know, we both called our parents. Chris had called my parents and "sister" the night before we left to tell them, so they had been waiting for our call.

On the phone with my parents

I really don't like this picture, but I do think it captures the crazed joy that I'm feeling at just being proposed to. It's like my head is about to explode!

Self-portrait of us after getting engaged!

It was soooo weird walking around with an engagement ring on! I remember some people at the Black Jack table we were playing on that night asked us if we were on our honeymoon. We looked at each other and told them "Actually...we just got engaged. Like...an hour ago." Of course the whole table got really excited and congratulated us. Anytime someone new would join us, someone at the table would inevitably mention the fact that we just got engaged that night! I also remember later in the night a girl and her boyfriend joined the table. She immediately looked at my hand and said "That's such a beautiful ring" I said "thanks....I just got it tonight!" and her and her boyfriend congratulated us and started asking us all sorts of questions. It was like being a mini celeb for a night!

For the next 5 days we went to the beach, drank lots of frozen poolside beverages, and hung out in the amaaaazing pool area of the Atlantis (honestly, I wanted to be by the pool more than on the beach!) It was a regular water park! They had amazing water slides, water slides with rafts, and an awesome lazy river....

At night, we gambled (we both won big money playing black-jack the night we got engaged. We subsequently lost most of it over the course of the next few nights...but I think we walked away at the end of the week up two or three hundred dollars!) We walked around a lot, stared at the crazy huge yachts that park at the Atlantis Marina, ate lots of amazing food, ordered room service, and had an amazingly romantic trip.

the last night of our trip was spent at Mesa Grill at the Atlantis and it was our favorite dinner of the week! It was a close race between that meal and the amazing turkey club sandwiches that we ordered through room service...seriously, so. good!!

What was really cool about being engaged on vacation and not wanting to use a ton of minutes to call everyone...was that for the next 5 days we were engaged and nobody else knew but us (and our parents). Then, when the vacation was over and we landed back in NY, it was like reliving the excitement of being engaged alllll over again. Texting friends, putting it on facebook...my phone was ringing non-stop that night. It was so exciting to go home to Molly, who was truly so excited and happy for us. I think hands down, the best and craziest reaction I got was when I went down to see my neighbors, Bruce and Alisha, to give them their "thanks for babysitting the fish" presents. After I gave them their gifts, I stood them in front of me and plopped my hand down right in front of them. They both immediately started screaming at the top of their lungs and jumping up and down with me. I swear, I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.

I had my official hair and makeup trial! It seems a little early to have it, but I wanted to try them out and hopefully book (which I did!) these two women before anyone else snatched them up! Sandra Baldini comes highly recommended on many of the Long Island wedding message board and websites I read, not only for being great, but because her price is so unbelievably reasonable.

My parents were visiting for the weekend so they could be there for my trial, which I'm so grateful for. Dad was a trooper with all the girly stuff, but as my resident photographer he was there to capture it all for me, (he's where I get my innate need to document everything). We arrived at Sandra's gorgeous house at noon. She JUST got a studio set up in her basement, and told me I was the first person to use her new space, which was still a work in progress but perfectly functional for our purposes of the day. 

I really enjoyed Sandra! She was super fun, suuuch a character, talked me through everything she did, listened to every question and concern I had, and I feel so confident leaving my makeup in her hands.

 

And here's me with finished makeup...and a funny expression...

We decided the eye makeup was a bit darker than I wanted, so on the day of, she's going to use a lighter color to line my under-eye so it's not as dark. I think that will be much better.

When I called Sandra to ask about makeup, I asked her if there was a hair stylist that she normally works with. She said she often works with a woman named Terri Valente who's been doing weddings for years. Once my makeup was done, Terri started work on a few hairstyles. I showed her my inspiration board and she tried a ton of hairstyles low and to the side, like I had asked for.

Hairstyle #1:

Hairstyle #2:

Hairstyle #3:

 Hairstyle #4:

Hairstyle #5:

I wasn't entirely feeling any of these hairstyles. When we tried the veil on with them, it didn't really work. I think the main problem is that I simply don't have enough hair to get most of the looks I was envisioning. My hair is very thin so a big curly up-do, turned into a puny, curly up-do, and it looked so small. She suggested adding a hair piece, but I really don't want to do that. So, I asked if I could keep the height of the hairstyle in #5, and try a french twist in the middle of my head.

Hairstyle #6:

This, I loved!! Now, we were getting somewhere. I really liked how elegant it looked in the back and even how it looked in the front. This was timeless and classic. And once we added the veil, it fit beautifully!

Now, I also have been waiting to tell you all about my veil! I hadn't written about this because I didn't know if it was going to work with my chosen hairstyle. Around the beginning of September I was finishing up my piano lesson with my two Tuesday night students. I often talk to their mother for awhile after their lessons and they're a really great family.  So that night as we were talking, she asked me if I had already bought my veil for the wedding. I told her I had an idea of what I wanted, but I still  hadn't purchased it. She then pulled out of her closet a hand-cut Vera Wang veil from her wedding 10 years ago, still in mint condition...and said if I wanted it, it was mine. Let me repeat....if I wanted it, it was mine! I protested a few times, and of course offered to pay her for it,  but she told me that with her two sons, and no nieces, there was no one in the family that would ever take it. She insisted, and I walked out of there with a beautiful, and free, veil!!!

This veil is currently cathedral length, and the one that I liked at the bridal salon went to my fingertips. But, I can easily alter this veil to the length that I want and add a little trimming if I choose. However, it's a very plain, simple veil which I had wanted, and also the perfect off-white color to match my dress. I really don't think I will need to do anything to it other than alter the length!! I don't have a full picture of it, but here's what it looks like added to the hairstyle.

 

At that point, we had been there 3 hours and we were all getting a little restless. I liked this hairstyle and there was so much hairspray in my hair that I knew asking for a half up/half down style would just be rather difficult to do. So, I left there  feeling great, and booked these two women for the wedding. Now, I was all dressed up and nowhere to go!

When I got home, Chris said I looked like I was right out of Mad Men which, I'd say is pretty good! I looove that era (and show!) Chris loved how I looked, but he also said he loves my long hair down, too because that's usually how I wear it, and was curious if I had done any hairstyles with some of my hair down. This was a thought that had crossed my mind as well. I also thought about how my hair will be longer by May and therefore some of the styles might work very differently. If you've noticed, here's where my overanalyzing self begins to take over!!

All in all, at least I know that I like these two women, they are booked, and if I need to do another hair trial in May to make absolutely sure that I'm confident with my hairstyle, then so be it: I can decide that then. I do think ultimately, I'm going to stick with an up-do anyway.
But for now: Hair and makeup= Check!

We ordered in Chinese food for dinner with my Mom and Dad before they headed back to PA. Another successful weekend with the parents! Note: My arms are both out at the same height on either side, except my right arm is around my mom's shoulder and my left arm is around my dad's waist....FUNNY!

Save-the-Dates!

Now that all of our Save-the-Dates are out, I can finally share them with you! Maria Bisso, my former colleague, and graphic designer for the Metropolitan Opera, designed our save-the-dates and the ink stamp we used on the outer envelope. Maria was a joy to work with, very responsive, open to all of my many requests, and extremely reasonable.

Here's what our Save-the-Dates look like.

Front

Back

I was going off of a pic that inspired me at Marit Hanson's website. I loved these save the dates when I saw them, and would have loved to order from her site, but felt that with Maria's help, she could create something very similar and personal for me.

http://www.marithanson.com/index.html

Once I had our "ticket" image from Maria, I ordered them as a "bookmark" on 4over4.com. They arrived 2 business days later! I had planned to order envelopes from the same website, but they only came in white standard #10 size and you had to order a minimum of 500!

That led me to find coin envelopes at staples. These were the perfect size for our sized Save-the-Date we purchased, and I felt that it was a little bit more authentic with the whole "ticket" concept. I showed them to Maria and she immediately suggested customizing a stamp to go on the outside. Well...blokay! So Maria sent me this image which I uploaded to rubberstamps.net and received my customized stamp in the mail the following week!     (Last names removed)

Our customized stamp

I also had planned to hand-write the addresses onto each one of these. A task that daunted me, but I was willing to do it. However, not only did I want these out sooner rather than later, I thought it would be really cool to print them out with a "typewriter" font. At this point, I was getting a little carried away with the whole look of these...which tends to happen with me. These bear no indication of the "theme" of our wedding, they were realy a fun project which I felt allowed me more freedom to be creative than I may have with our actual invitations. So, I downloaded a free font called "Traveling Typerwriter", which I thought looked perfect, and gave me the look that I wanted.

This is how the envelopes came out.

Adding the custom stamp on the side:

 

One thing about the stamp; I was worried that the stamp was going to run out of ink before we could even do all the envelopes. The ink was rather weak even after the first day of using it, and I didn't want to have to go out and buy another ink pad. If we rested it overnight and tried again the next day, it was usually fine and darker, but it was a little frustrating and nerve-wracking at the time.
 
Then we stuffed them with the "tickets"...

And these were ready to go!

Labor of love..but it was well worth it and I'm so glad they're done! I also have to say we got a few people tell  us "I  almost threw this out because I thought it was a direct mailing, but then I saw your name" which makes me wonder how many people actually did throw them out without even realizing??

There is nothing I can do about that now. I know that everyone who really should know our wedding date....does. I could have gone with a white or different color outer envelope and if I had to do it over again, I probably would have done that, and I probably would have handwritten the envelopes so it appeared more personal. I really wanted these to be more fun and not look so much like an "invitation", but I guess that's the risk I took for not having them be so formal. The important thing is I am so happy with how they came out and so thankful for all of Maria's hard work on them.

If you want to have Maria help you with any future design project or your own Save-the-Dates, she is seriously fantastic!