some wedding/love tunes.

If you haven't heard landing feet first by bayside, you really should.  I happen to find it to be the most perfect wedding/love song, and not lame+boring or too classic.  It has a sweet message.  I'm pretty sure it's one of my favorite songs of all time.  (And I listen to A LOT of music.)

Also definitely worth checking out (in no particular order):
1.  marc broussard "love + happiness"  just listened to this today.  good tune.
2.  fun. "the gambler"  um, incredible.  seriously.
3.  landon pigg "falling in love at a coffee shop" --b will love me for this one <3
4.  bright eyes "first day of my life" i love this song.  i love this song.  i love this song.
5.  death cab for cutie "ill follow you into the dark" kind of dark.  like us.
6.  born ruffians "little garcon"  cute little song.
7.  cake "love you madly"  who doesn't love cake?  (if you don't, please stop reading, i have nothing to say to you).
8.  the cure "friday i'm in love"  nostalgia.
9.  weezer "my best friend"  this is us.
10.  mae "mistakes we knew we were making"  this song gets me every time.

Anyone have any other good recommendations?

 

logos, invitations, venues & life

Ahhh it has been SO super long since I have updated.  Not to worry, it's because things have been a bit crazy since August 4th apparently (the last time I updated?!  oops!)

I've been working like crazy on our invitation suite.  We had a bit of a mishap earlier this week (having to do with someone pressing a button titled "OK, PLEASE DELETE EVERY FILE FROM THIS COMPUTER, THUSLY STARTING ANEW")  Hours of work.  Gone.

Well, the "person" (we won't name names, only because this "person" seems to think "they" did nothing but click "ok, sure, how 'bout a little restart?")  Meanwhile, "someone else" (maybe me) was trying to google "WTF DOES THIS POPUP MEAN AND OHMYGOD ARE WE ALL GONNA DIE?!!"  Needless to say, yet another hash mark added to the "do not do any design work -- I MEAN ANY DESIGN WORK UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE on a PC, kthanks" column on why to buy a mac.  But I digress, and all was brought back to life by a stroke of genius due to my amazing and oh-so-smart fiance (fiance still sounds weird.)

I have to say, I'm pretty impressed on how it is turning out.  I bought some card stock yesterday to  start printing the save-the-dates, and even B said "whoa, I totally didn't expect it to look THAT good/professional!"  (Ha, um, thanks?)

Here's a little peek for you (it is the logo):

Whadya think?  The "&" is kind of coming across hot pink, but prints more "vibrant coral."  I'm pretty proud.

With any luck, the save-the-dates will be printed/addressed this week (fingers really REALLY crossed here) and get in the mail next week.

Onto my next topic, the dress.  See, everyone came with me to go dress shopping earlier in July (as evidenced by a few posts below this one).  It was AWESOME.  I found what I thought was "The Dress."  So after some thought and deliberation (and lots of looking at real wedding pictures of other girls wearing "The Dress")  I decided to go a different route.  "The Dress" ended up looking like a hunk of crinkly wrinkled (or crwinkled...wrcrinkled?...) fabric that I would probably cut and wear to work sometime in photos.  Me, the ever-so-non-traditionalist, decided it might be a good idea to look online at other options, and if I could get a super sweet deal on it, I would just buy, try, and return if I didn't like it.  (J. Crew happens to have an incredible return policy on their wedding dresses.)  I fell in love with a dress I found on eBay of all places.  And it happened to be a discontinued J. Crew dress, so no return policy there.  I was able to haggle the seller down (gotta love the "make an offer" tab) and bought it.  Sight unseen, never tried on, nothing.  My mom asked me ever-so-eloquently "Are you crazy!??"  Fast forward a couple of days, and it is in my hands.  The most elegant fabric, beautifully designed piece of wedding artwork I have ever seen.  I love this dress.  Added bonus, it has pockets (score!), is super flattering, and so comfortable...oh and non-wrinkleable!!!  I really can't wait to walk down the aisle in it.  I am so excited to show it to everyone.

So that's it for the night.  It's all I have in me.  I will go over the venue I booked this week as well, the ring we bought for B, as well as some little cute design inspiration I've come across this week in the next couple of days.  It's all starting to slowly fashion it's way into a real-life wedding, and I'm getting pretty ecstatic about how everything is turning out.

Nighty night.

re-creation (not recreation, which, incidentally is something i could use right now.)

10 things I plan on creating (or re-creating) in the next 8 months for my wedding:

1.  I want to make all of the bouquets and boutonnieres out of vintage or vintage-like fabrics.  Lofty goal, I know, but I think it could turn out really kick ass (and save me on flowers!)
2.  My niece's flower girl dress.  (I'm handing this task off to my lovely mom.)
3.  My nephew and son's bowties.  (I guess I'm a master at this, the first one I ever made was AWESOME if I do say so myself!)
4.  My save-the-dates.
5.  My centerpieces. (umm, still working on the design of that one)
6.  POSSIBLY a necklace to go with my dress.  I'm talking a real statement piece sparkler.  We'll see how far I can get with my vintage stash.
7.  My niece's headband.  (easy peasy)
8.  My invitations.  (Although I can't seem to find anything that "goes" with my save-the-dates as inspiration)
9.  My veil.
10. The favors.

Check my pinterest for some sight into what I'm going for with the above:  http://pinterest.com/alirom/wedding-style/

Oh, and a nice note about pinterest is to come.  Seriously, if anyone is reading this (highly doubtful), and you have a pinterest, can you prettyplease send me your link?  I would love to follow you!!

Yes, and did I mention I've also been working for two weeks straight?  Then, come Monday I'll be working for another two weeks straight?!

I'M TIRED!! (insert super whiny voice here)

my little new yorker

hey you.

How 'bout you show me some love by clicking the link "follow this blog" right here--------------------->

plus, it makes it easier if you want to stay updated.

pleaseandthankyou : )

wedding dress try-on sesh.

The last of my family has just departed from the week-long pilgrimage (supersadface) and I must say it was amazing to see them as always.  It always re-confirms the fact that all of us need to find a way to live closer to each other.  A total of 6 of us jammed into my tiny Brooklyn two-bedroom (and when I say tiny...I mean TINY) and we basically partied for a week straight.

The week started out with wedding dress shopping.  I came away with some GREAT ideas, and I have narrowed it down to two styles.  I started out at J Crew Bridal Shop in UES.  Fantastic service, and super cute and affordable dresses!!  Here's a few pics of what I tried on:

I really loved this first one I tried.  But I ended up finding WAY more awesome ones...

This was actually one of my MAIN contenders---until I saw how it photographed.  The middle is WAY too shiny, and it looks way more yellowy ivory than it does in person.  Auto out.

From the new Fall collection.  Reminds me of an old Vera Wang style.

yeah, i think not.

And here are a few from another bridal shop, The White Gown in DUMBO.  Super traditional wedding attire, which is not really my scene.  The customer service was also just EH and they would only let me take pics of my two favorites (umm, okay?).  Also didn't stay anywhere near my budget.  Still fun to try on, and I got a few cute sash ideas.

Whoa poof bride.  Way too BRIDES magazine for me.

I really LOVED this style.  LOVED.  Too bad it was 2x my budget : (

The ONLY part of this I liked was the button train.

Okay, so as you can obviously see I didn't end up choosing any of the styles here.  I can't decided between the two I actually DO like, and I really don't want B to see me in it before the big day.

And here's a pic of us girls before we went on the wedding dress shopping voyage:

love <3 (me, b, and rc)

So  there you have it, let the planning continue.

get ready. tomorrow is one of THE most important days!

24 hours until I will be trying on a wedding dress for the first time!!!!!

I will be taking a pic of EVERYTHING i try on (hah!  the girls --my two sisters and mom--) don't know what they are in for!!  I will then be posting all options on this blog!!!!

stay tuned.  i'm sure it's gonna get CA-RAY-ZAYYYYYY.

<3

it's here it's here!!!! IT'S HERE!! IT'S HERE!!!!

After 4 months of searching for the perfect, unique, vintage, sparkly ring-------------she finally arrived today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I really couldn't be happier or more excited than I am right now.  Truly a dream come true, it's so beautiful. 

I'm so excited to wear it forever..

It's even better than all of the rings I could have ever imagined, and I can't wait to show it off as a complete representation of love and partnership that B and I have.  <3

secrets.

I REALLY need to get on this venue business.  I just can't make a decision, and it's even harder to lock us into something that I have never seen before. 

On a different note, I am working on little things that I probably shouldn't be focusing on right now.  The little touches are just too much fun!

I haven't decided yet if I want to share the cool thing I found.  I'm grappling with either having NO surprises...(what fun is that?) or sharing a couple...I just don't know.  Having a blog dedicated to the planning is such a fun way to share with everyone what stage of the planning we are going through, but I also want to save some surprises for the big day!

I will go ahead and give a hint, though:

me and b

There it is.  That's all I'm saying...maybe.  I'm just so excited I might let it out...

Next, two of my sisters and my mom are coming to NY for a week in the beginning of July.  I am sooooooooooooooo excited!!  Everyone basically lives all over the US (mom in AZ, one in MN, and one in CA), so we don't get the opportunity to see each other often.  AND...drumroll please....we will be shopping for a wedding dress!!  This should be interesting, and I can guarantee that I will post PLENTY o' pics to show everyone.

LAST...the countdown is ticking away...270 days remaining!!!

Washi Tape = Potentially Best Invention Ever?

Pretty Tape

How awesome is Washi Tape you say?  I would have to say that Washi Tape is the thing that my dreams are made of.  You mean I don't have to paint/marker/draw/crayola/whatever this shizz over and over in the same pattern all over the things that I wish to decorate?  I say you are a Saint, Washi Tape.

First and Last:  Expect to see Washi Tape making an appearance at my wedding.  In a BIG way.

just random.

If I worked for a magazine, it would be this:

My favorite FAVORITE color...and so vibrant too.  I swear everytime I open this magazine, I end up with 99% of it with dog-eared pages of things I would love to do to my house, love to cook, or love to buy. 

ps.  been away for a few days.  it was my birthday!!!  27... and officially I have lost the excitement feeling of my birthday...although I DID get to celebrate it at the waterpark!!!  (super awesome!) with my two favorite boys!!  B and RC.  So fun.

venues.

This is the part of the planning that I am dreading the most.  From what I have seen already, nothing seems to fit quite the aesthetic that I'm trying to create.

This is what I keep finding unintentionally:

(*think elvis-clad nasty 80s-esque chapels.  no thanks.)

I have found a few that are KIND of in the running.  But lets be honest here, I also REALLY don't want the typical linens with chair ties sort of event.  It's not really my thing.

Can't I just get something like this?

The Brides of Oklahoma

OR this:

The Knot

or this:

Love Notes Blog

one last thing:

English Wedding

This is perfection!!

ONE LAST THING:  how seriously crazy/ gorgeous is this cake??

Kate Aspen

Enough daydreaming for now. 

OB. SESH.

ok...so I'm super excited.  my house is completely covered in wedding magazines & my computer overloaded with favorites & random saved inspiration pics here and there.

BUT

lemme throw this out there.  the MAIN obsession.  my colors.

image via The Caribbean Destination Wedding Blog

AWESOME.  I literally look at this pic everyday.  I'm not kidding.  I LOVE the mismatched dresses.  I love the variations of the coral.  I SUPER LOVE the ivory bouquets.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.



image via Little Folk Design

teal/aqua/coral/ivory?  yes please!  vintage vibe?  oh hell yeah!

Trendsetting Wedding

It's as if these people just reached into my head and snatched up everything I could ever want.  Look at that re-dic candy bar!!  Amazing.

image unknown

And, excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the ground and get back to work.