Credit: GHKim Photography
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We had a Friday evening black tie wedding in our hometown of Seattle, Washington. It was hands down, the best day of our lives! The weather was just gorgeous! We had somewhere in the neighborhood of ~400 guests. I'll never really know as we didn't get a chance to greet everyone individually. People are still coming up to us 1.5 years later, telling us they were at our wedding! We opened up our wedding to quite a few of our "social circles" because it's our cultural custom to view a wedding as a community event.
We held two receptions. A large (and brief) one immediately after the ceremony and a smaller private, intimate one for about 200 people (pictured below). I know this probably breaks some Emily Post etiquette broohah, but I actually researched it and when you open your wedding up to your community or church, it's not expected that everyone attend your reception.
Our colors were chocolate brown, gold, ivory and misty pink. My running theme was "Classic Elegance." Hope I achieved it! Knottie bios were oh so helpful to me throughout our planning process. I hope you enjoy!
I can be reached at: nykolabride[at]gmail.com or you can page me on the Seattle board or you can visit my blog at www.nykola.com. You are free to use any of our photos but please ask permission and also credit GH Kim Photography. They pretty much rock my socks off.
*WARNING* Shutterfly is where 50% of my photos are hosted and it is TRIPPING right now thus a lot of my photos are TINY. I'm working to fix this but it might be a few days. Who has time to update this stuff? Thanks a LOT Shutterfly.
I LOVED our boutonnieres. The lovely work of Laurie Cinotto
All the bouquets waiting for us at the church
Writing my vows in the bridal room. I had planned on speaking from the heart and not "writing" anything but I had a slight panic before the ceremony and decided to pen my thoughts. Too bad I didn't even use what I wrote! I abandoned all plans and became a bumbling idiot instead. Hey, whatever works.
Let's get fired up! Showing off my "Mrs. B." hoodie, which acted as an apron while my bridesmaids forced me to eat a sandwich they delivered me.
One of my two flowergirls, Alajsa was running around (although she was told to stop) and tripped on her dress and RIPPED the bottom. My mother was PISSED and had to hand stitch it back together 30 minutes before the ceremony. The end result is this picture. What cracks me up is that she's pouting with her arms folded 'cause she ripped her own darn dress! ATTITUDE!
Meanwhile, things were much less dramatic on the men's side. Here the handsome groom, Andre, was in his typical stretching mode.
Love mirror shots!
My new father and brother in law making sure everything was in place.
My uncle Phil, and my cute dad. This photo just exudes wisdom.
My parents and I. This was right after my dad first saw me which was VERY hard because when my dad cries, I cry. This was one of his few dry moments (I'm told). My dad was a leaking wreck that day. He had a very rough time handing me off.
My ring bearer cousin peaking as the ladies are getting dressed!
Off to have our pictures taken!
My bridesmaids were an absolute riot. Everyone spoke in Napoleon Dynamite voices the ENTIRE time we were taking pictures. It was hilarious.
Making a quick stop to pick up our flowers. This is me wanting to get out to go hug my florist, Laurie Cinotto but I was banned from getting out the limo because we were running behind.
It takes a village to raise that dress.
On the University of Washington campus, trying not to sink into the grass!
My little sister and maid of honor, Amelia. She was so gorgeous!
(Forgive me, but I'm going to put up a picture of each one of my bridesmaids because they were all so freaking gorgeous that day!)
My junior bridesmaid wore pink which was a lovely accent in the photos.
At this point we had quite the audience which I must say is quite fun on your wedding day. School at UW wasn't in sessions but lots of people were just standing there watching us get our picture taken.
Our interpretation of "Ferocious." The left side didn't get the memo. Notice my matron of honor right behind my head. I'll leave the caption to your imagination.
Andre didn't want to see me before the ceremony so he was blindfolded to ensure no accidents occurred.
I'm told Andre looked incredibly pathetic and helpless while blindfolded.
The guys look like the part of the secret service. I must say I was very pleased with the tux selection. All the men looked so dapper in black tie!
These guys are complete clowns.
I don't know why, but Andre decided to include his dad and his mentor in ALL his groomsmen photos, which is why the back two men don't match! UGH! Guys just don't get it.
Andre and his brother (my new brother in law!) Andre looks short here, but keep in mind his brother is like 6'6"!
My handsome brother (soon to be professional baseball player) with my handsome hubby
Andre and his inability to be serious while taking a picture.
Notice the groomsman second to the left is wearing sunglasses. You have no idea the levels of blasphemy contained in some of the groomsmen shots. Those won't be posted here.
My brother trying to locate the women to ensure we don't cross paths.
Arriving at the church. I love this photo. I hear "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky playing in the background. It's like we're entering the ring to go combat the forces that would try to stop the wedding.
Going into the church sanctuary for family portraits.
At this point the largeness of the day hit me. I think our photographers had mercy and didn't snap shots when I went to the ugly cry. I remember standing there by myself while some of the musicians were rehearsing, playing and singing some of my favorite worship songs. I was waiting for my family to come in and take portraits and I totally broke down. I lost it and could NOT stop crying. Through my tears I jokingly proclaimed, "Stop! Stop it right now!" I was just so thankful for that moment. Andre and I had been through so much to get to that day and I cried tears of gratitude to God. This wedding was really happening and I was overcome with emotion.
Here is a brief snippet live recording from our pianist playing before the ceremony during the seating of the guests. You can get just a taste of how beautiful was the sound of what I heard and broke down crying to..lol:
At this point my bridesmaids came to my rescue and fixed up my makeup. They were so doting and supportive.
My beloved family who I love more than life itself.
Andre's turn--having a few pensive moments before his family portraits. He's naturally an introspective person so on our wedding day he was full throtle. He said it was a very sobering moment. You can see in his eyes that he took that day very seriously.
Andre and his family.
My fabulous wedding coordinator Anjannette, blindfolding him for the walk back to the groom's room.
Being led by his mom. I think this is so adorable!
The very spacious church lobby before the ceremony. I think our guests were afraid of labor day weekend traffic so they arrived like an hour early some of them! They wanted prime seats I guess.
Cute flowergirls! Be ye not deceived. The one of the right ripped her dress before the ceremony and the one on the left spent the entire ceremony carefully removing each flower from her pomander. But I still love them!
Me being interviewed right before the ceremony.
Andre and his groomsmen praying before the ceremony. I planned on praying with my bridesmaids before the ceremony, but we're heathens; we forgot. God forgive us.
Many might disagree with me, but I am a firm believer that the ceremony is the most important part of the celebration and should neither be rushed nor boring. I know we spend the most money on the reception (and that's a blast too), but really, the reason why everyone travels from such a distance is to witness two people becoming one. That in and of itself is a grand occasion worthy of more than just a 10 minute exchange of vows. We chose to treat our ceremony as "the main event" not just the pre-curser to the free food and partying to follow. Our ceremony was traditional in some elements and unorthodox in others. It teetered on an hour long with full processional/recessional but clocked in around 47 minutes long. Despite this fact we were told by our guests that it was "riveting." They actually used that word, can you believe that?! Don't ever think for one moment that you are going to bore your guests by having a long ceremony. Provided it's not steeped in unnecessary and meaningless tradition and lots of sitting down and standing up (Catholics...you know who you are), you'd be surprised how refreshing guests will find it to attend a ceremony that isn't so "run of the mill".
We incorporated nothing for the sake of vain tradition. Everything had reason. The personalization of our ceremony really delighted our guests and I HIGHLY encourage you to incorporate as many personal preferences as possible into your ceremony. Don't do anything that doesn't have meaning or value to you. Our guests are still talking about our wedding. Many said it was the best they'd ever been to and I take that to heart because we put *all* of ourselves into our ceremony. The fact that our little 47 minute wedding could make such an indelible impression makes me really happy because I'd rather they remember that than how great our centerpieces were (although I think those were pretty awesome too). Unfortunately, all that fades away.
Our "wishing bowl" in alternative to a guestbook. How fun to be able to read everyone's words of encouragement when you get home from your honeymoon! You can also slightly see our invitation behind it.
Our hand embossed programs. They took forever to make but they were such a hit. Not ONE was left or trashed. People wanted them as keepsakes. There was also a lot of information about the ceremony in there.
Another view of the program. The gold embossed "B" was also on our invites.
Music was big for us. We wanted everything played live so that it could go with the flow of our wedding. Our pianist was phenomenal. I asked him to play throughout the entire ceremony and he did. I love the mood well-improvised piano sets (think tranquil day spa) and wanted our ceremony to have a musical score. In addition to our pianist, we also had a violinist, a cellist, four singers, a guitarist, an organist, (and a patridge in a pear tree).
Two of our four singers singing during the processional - Jenuine Edgecombe and Anson Dawkins. They sang "We Fall Down." The girl is only 19-years-old. I mentored her as a teenager so it was special that she sang for us!
Here is a live recording from the ceremony of the processional. It starts out with brief singing (during seating of parents/grandparents) and is entirely instrumental after that and so lovely. All improvised by our pianist, Jacob Bellamy:
For the most part, we had what would be a traditional Jewish processional. Andre was escorted by both his parents, but I was escorted by just my dad. Everyone came down the aisle.
Even our pastors.
My brother escorting my gorgeous mom. She was so stunning that day. I told her she "stole the show."
My mom lovingly observing
My cute grandparents!
For my entrance, we transitioned from piano to acoustic with a trio of guitar, cello, and vocals. They played/sung Shawn MacDonald's song "Here I Am" which had everyone in tears.
Here is a live recording from the ceremony of the song, sung and played by Patrick McLaughlin, Tara Eaton, w/ Rebecca Chung on cello. The cello's faint on the recording, but it's my favorite part of the song. You'll see by the length of the song how long my walk was:
First time seeing my groom! Since I had the duration of the song to walk, my dad and I just stood in the doorway for the first verse of the song just taking everything in. My walk down the aisle was slow (four minutes to be exact) so I got to really take my time. I *HIGHLY* recommend this. It gave me time to take it all in and I didn't feel like I missed anything. It goes by so fast so do take in every moment you can!
This is one of my favorite pictures. I love how my dad's looking at me. It was amazing we both kept it together considering we were a wreck at the rehearsal. When I arrived at the end of the aisle, all and I mean *all* my bridesmaids were in tears. This was shocking to me since many of them are NOT criers. I wish I could bottle up the moment within this photo.
I love this picture of my parents. It was a very bittersweet day for them.
Andre saying his vows to me. At this point he was talking about how excited he was to have sex for the first time. And I quote, "We've saved ourselves for each other and I'm excited about that." Oh the embarrassment. It was funny though. Humor aside, Andre's vows were so sincere and really touching that I abandoned my little piece of paper when it was my turn.
My turn. I returned the favor and embarrassed him.
Taking communion.
One of my bridesmaids and Andre's brother sang during this time. They sang "You Are Holy" one of my favorite songs. I loved their harmony. Here is a live recording from the ceremony of the song. At the beginning you can hear our pastor is praying for us during communion:
After we spoke our vows, we had each of our parents turn to us and speak a blessing over our union. I sprung this responsibility on the parents at the rehearsal because I didn't want them to agonize too long over what they were going to say. There's something really affirming and awesome about having your parents give you their blessing and "release." I am so glad we did this and all our guests absolutely loved this part of the wedding. It was really emotional and personal and brought all our guests into our world.
My daddy spoke first. (I still call my parents "mommy and daddy" just. can't. stop.) I got the privilege of having my father live with me for an entire year while my mom was relocated on business and their house sold sooner than expected. It was awesome to really have that time with him before I got married. He cracked a joke about how he'd enjoyed the year with, and I quote "You, Me and Sophie." (Sophie's my doggie)
My reaction. Can you tell I adore my daddy?
And here come the tears...
My mom's words really put me over the top and the entire left side of the wedding party lost it. There's a long history with my parents not initially approving of Andre as a potential suitor (no one has ever been good enough for their first born). It was a real tug of war over the years but he stood through it and won them over. So when it was my mom's turn to speak she began with, "Andre you are a man after my heart. And you've won." And then she started crying. We all knew he won because obviously we were getting married! But for her to affirm it in that venue was really moving. I am now convinced they love him more than me!
Tears all around! I can't believe our photographers captured us all wiping our eyes at the same time. Amazing.
Andre's parents' turn. They talked about how they saw the next generation in our union and wanted us to be prosperous and blessed financially in all we do. Ahem, to which my response was an emphatic Yes!:
The next few pictures bear a bit of explanation. We had a brief time of prayer towards the end of the ceremony where we invited two older married couples we respect and admire (elders, if you will) speak forth encouragement and destiny over our marriage. This was so powerful. We have the cd of the ceremony and we still listen to what they said to us over and over and over again.
One of our pastors explaining to our guests what I just explained above. Another element our guests enjoyed was that we explained everything in the program so everyone knew what was happening at all times. I was inspired to do this when I went to a friend's Catholic ceremony and was completely lost in the liturgies.
Praying for us
We look so serious! But we were really just listening very intently to everything they were saying.
Andre's uncle reading a prayer he wrote especially for us. He is not known for being short-winded so he had like 4 pages typed! You should have seen my eyes when I saw him take the microphone. I saw my perfectly planned 45 minute wedding withering away. Thankfully, our fabulous wedding coordinator made him cut it in half before the ceremony so he didn't actually read all four pages. It was still awesome. He emailed us the full prayer when we got back from our honeymoon.
Closing prayer. I love how everyone in the sanctuary grabbed hands with their neighbor. The guy to the left of my dad is one of our three videographers! He was supposed to be getting close up shots, but said he got so sucked into the ceremony, he completely forgot to film!
Us laughing after our pastor said, "Join right hands" and we had no idea what he was talking about.
We finally got it. I think we were just nervous because he was about to pronounce us husband and wife!
This was the very first time we kissed each other. Ever. I know that sounds strange, but it was such a special moment for us. You can see the range of emotion in the pictures. From that moment on, we couldn't keep our lips off each other! (Sidenote: I know this option isn't for everyone, but it was really something we both committed to very early on in our relationship.)
It was a bit more emotional than we'd anticipated.
Because we had so many guests, we were nervous that we wouldn't get to greet everyone individually, so we both spoke at the end of the ceremony thanking everyone for coming.
Being presented. We're laughing because our pastor said Andre's full name including his middle name that he HATES.
The blowing of the shofar. This is an ancient Hebrew tradition my husband was adamate we incorporate. A shofar is an ancient instrument made from a ram's horn that was blown to signify an important occasion. The sound it makes is so triumphant! All our guests erupted in applause and cheers.
The victory cheer. Between the shofar blowing, the organ playing and the crowd yelling and clapping, you woulda thought we won the Superbowl.
We stood there for awhile and really took it in. Then we looked at each other and said, "Ready?"
The new Mr. and Mrs. B.
Making it legal. I don't think we've ever been so excited to write our names!
Thought I'd include a few shots our photographers sneaked in without my knowing. After the ceremony was over and the guests had cleared out, I had to do a victory lap down the aisle!
Yes that'd be me boogying down the aisle in my wedding gown.
Since Andre and I didn't see each other before the ceremony, we had to be whisked away for portraits before we could even greet our guests (it was a race against the setting sun). It was a bit hectic, but I was happy to do it to accomodate my hubby's wishes. We were on cloud 9 so it made the photo session a blast!
I must say, the chilvary factor got kicked up a notch when I became his wife :-)
My husband is cheesy.
Off came that veil!
I love Andre's expression in this picture. It's his cute face he makes that suckers me in every time.
Not the best shot of our rings, but a fabulous shot of my antique bracelet and my hairy arms! Hairy girls unite!
In the limo on the ride to the reception, Andre insisted on FILMING ME! However, he was using someone else's camera and all the buttons were in JAPANESE! I was cracking up because he had no idea what he was doing and the camera wasn't even on!
Ready to party now.
Our reception was pretty tricky to photograph as it was almost entirely candlelit. I think our photographers nailed it though. My only regret was that they didn't capture more pictures of our gorgeous DIY centerpieces! We had over 2,000 roses in that room. It was amazing and incredibly romantic. When I first walked in I was in awe.
Yep, that'd be a wedding ring. Still in a bit of shock.
Forgot the fancy schmancy cake stand but the cake was still beautiful.
The controversial seating chart. I only say that because we actually did have a quite a few uninvited guests come. There were about 20 no shows so it evened itself out. If you're having a holiday weekend wedding, beware of no-shows.
The room was arranged in rectangles and rounds. Sadly I have no pro-photos of the rounds which were incredible. (Left) Centerpieces on our rectangulars. (Right) The pink accent vases placed around our centerpieces.
A rectangular table shot.
Minor interjection: I absolutely *LOVED* our centerpieces. They were amazing and they were completely DIY. I had big ideas on a small budget so we ordered the roses wholesale from rosesource.com and flowerfarmstogo.com. I bought wooden crates and rubbermaid bins and lined them with plastic and covered them in ivory dupioni silk. We then arranged the flowers and the result was incredible! To top that off, I ordered 48 small cylinder vases from hkimports.com and covered them in pink dupioni silk and inserted pink roses in them. They acted as accents around the ivory centerpieces. At the end of the night, guests took them all home and they got snatched up like hotcakes!
Mini boxes containing mint truffles accented with pink and brown ribbon. These were our guest favors and were placed on each setting.
Family photo display
Butch Harrison, our awesome bandleader playing while guests mingled
Making our grand entrance. We're gangsta.
During the blessing of the food.
Sweetheart table. Enjoying the food our guests raved about.
1/2 of the wedding party
Even if I had a million guesses, I couldn't tell you what that cake tasted like. Talk about oblivious.
Andre doesn't like cake so I had to feed him a really small piece.
First dance. We took lessons and did the Ruumba (isn't that a vacuum cleaner?) to "Endless Love," which Andre appropriately renamed "Endless Song" when the band kept going on and on and on. (He's not exactly the confident dancer)
The turn out got big applause.
Also known as the 8th grade dance position (we were kidding around).
Big finish.
Dad's turn. My dad is a tremendous dancer so it was simply no contest. Daddy completed showed out Andre on the dance floor.
Andre observes and takes notes.
So surprised I didn't cry!
Best Man / Maid of Honor speeches
My sister had a really hard time getting through her toast. "Oh no, not the ugly cry!" she said.
(Left) As you can see, my sister cried through her entire toast (Right) My matron of honor
About five or six people gave speeches. We have such amazingly eloquent friends and family. I was touched by their words.
After the formalities were out of the way, my spicy parents opened up the dance floor! I'll never forget that moment. The band played "Let's Stay Together."
We had both a band and a dj. The band played through dinner and opened up dancing for an hour plus. The dj took over later in the evening until the end of the party. Neither my hubby nor I are drinkers so we had a dry reception. I think these photos are proof that folks can get just as crazy even without alcohol :-)
James Brown would be proud.
Is that what I think it is? Why yes, it's the electric slide! I know it's frowned upon as corny in knottie circles, but when my peeps get together, somebody ALWAYS breaks out in the electric slide. It brings the generations together. We had fun.
You'll notice that the lady leading the pack in the front/middle w/ the cream skirt suit on is none other than my GRANDMOTHER! We gets down in my family at all ages!
My mom breaking it down.
Tossing my bouquet. Blah blah...typical reception stuff.
We all went to high school together and they came from all over the country! What a treat to have a reunion at life's big occasions.
(Left) Great view. The centerpiece on this table has already been stolen by a guest! (Right) Just taking a few moments to let it all sink in.
This picture is an editorial all by itself. Here's the scenario: they asked to see my ring and my uncle Howard on the right said something obscene (as usual). His son covers his eyes in horror and my brother just laughs.
Love this shot of my parents. I still wonder just what he was whispering in her ear. They were so happy and proud that night.
My brother who I adore. No one will ever have a bigger crush on him than me. I must say, the camera loves him! Even my photographers said he was hot!
My siblings: my absolute heart. They mean the world to me.
End of the night.
This picture cracks me up. It is a quintessential representation of my relationship with my mother. Her telling me what to do; me looking confused. She's pulled out her granny spectacles and is going over the details of our wedding night accomodations with me. This was one of my parent's gifts to us. Incidentally, we stayed in a suite at the Woodmark Hotel on Carillon Point and I highly recommend it!
Off we go in our Jaguar S-Type! I highly recommend renting a luxury vehicle. We had it for 24 hours and were able to drive ourselves to the airport that next morning in style!
The End. The Beginning.
These are just photos I've collected from friends at the wedding or even in the wedding. If I had to do everything over again, I'd probably designate a friend or family member to just take pictures throughout the entire day. It's SOOO hard to wait for pro pics to come in so it would've been nice to have somebody chronicling everything on just a basic digital camera so I could look at pics the very next day!
I was writing checks and thank you notes to all our musicians! Um yeah, totally should've done that the night before. Oh but wait a minute, I didn't have time because I was doing my SEATING CHART. Hi my name is Ambra and I am a procrastinator who doesn't know how to delegate. If you look carefully, you can see all the little coach wristlets which were given as gifts to my bm's.
Getting irritated because people kept coming in and out of the bridal room. Why is that such a common theme among brides?
The hellions.
Really dark ceremony shot.
The recessional. Despite the way the pews look on the groom's side, there were lots of people there!
Centerpieces!
Wedding party. You can somewhat see our gobo here.
Friend shots. On the right, notice my bridemaid in the background wearing chuck taylors.
The dance that brings the generations together: The Electric Slide
Our Invites I made a conscious decision early on that I didn't want to spend a lot of money on invitations. And since we sent out like 325 invitations I wasn't about to get myself involved in some pocketfold madness trying to keep up with the Knottie Joneses. While I think the really elaborate ones are gorgeous, for me I wanted the money spent elsewhere like programs or musicians. To this day I still recommend brides cut costs by not breaking the bank on invites. All our invitation printing was done at believe it or not, Costco via eInvite.com. All the mattered to me that the invites were timeless and classy. So I went with the classic cream heavy cardstock invite. Nothing elaborate. Just very simple and timeless. I opted for the font "Bickham Swash" because I love it so...even though my aunts with poor eyesight claimed they couldn't read it. Whatevs. To spruce it up a bit I did incorporate one DIY element. I created "jackets" for each invitation with an iridescent/pearl velum overlay that had a pink glow. I hand embossed it in gold with our signature "B" that was also on our program and wrapped invites alternately with a pink or brown ribbon. I think it tied our full wedding decor/theme together. However, I don't know what the heck I was thinking taking this project on. Hand embossing is a LOT of work. People raved about our invites because they were so classic. Here are a few photos of the various elements.
The invite as it looked when guests pulled it out of its nicely and might I add way too expensively calligraphed (is that a word?) envelope:
Without the ribbon:
The actual invite itself along with the reception card. Names blotted out to protect the innocent (or in my case, guilty):
All the other elements. Needless to say this was not a (then) $0.39 mailer. Postage was a pain sending out that many invites. All worth it though.
We honeymooned in Ocho Rios, Jamaica at the Sandals Grande something or other (I forget). This was my second trip to Jamaica so I knew it would be fab. Collectively we sucked at taking pictures on our honeymoon however. I think we were both so relaxed and enjoying life that we completely abandoned the idea of snapping photos. In retrospect, I wish I'd had a D70 with me to capture the beauty of Ocho Rios.
The following are visual depictions of my glutonous obsessions with good food. You know you're a spoiled American when you actually take pictures of food before you eat it. Such a privledged (sp? so don't feel like spell checking right now) nation we are.
Just a few. We took way more. I'll add them later.
Andre proposed on Christmas Eve. Him proposing wasn't completely unexpected because I had sort of put some, um, "parameters" around when this whole party had to go down. Ladies, you know how it goes. Sometimes our brethren need a bit of nudging. In our case, Andre and I had been together for enough time to know we very much wanted to get married and the only thing really stopping us was us. Well, us and the blessing of my dear parents. But it was when and how Andre proposed that literally blew me away.
My faith in the whole process was waning and I had ultimately given up on the prospects of marrying Andre. I had been giving him the cold shoulder for 4 months. I was making plans to move on with my life. Little did I know, weeks and months prior, he had secretly gone behind my back and asked my parents for my hand (I thought they'd never give in).
During December, my whole family was in town for Christmas, staying in my townhouse. Good times. On Christmas Eve I was out and about all day, grocery shopping and preparing for a big Christmas dinner I planned on cooking. I guess the proposal was supposed to take place earlier in the day, but since I was out most of the day, I somewhat thwarted the plans.
I finally did make it home in early evening. Shortly after I arrived home, there was a knock on my sliding glass back door. This seemed odd to be because no sane person knocks on the back door. My dad said, "Ambra, get the door." Which made no sense to me because I was in the kitchen and he was closest to the door. So in my reasoned mind, I demanded, "No YOU get the door!" My father insisted I get it so frustrated, I went to open the door. To my surprise, it was Andre holding a beautiful black miniature schnauzer puppy.
(The important factor in this story is that my childhood dog died my freshman year of college and she was a miniature schnauzer. All I ever talked about for the last four years is how badly I wanted a dog. I even had her name picked out [Sophie]. But Andre was having none of it. He said he hated dogs and would never let me get one.)
All I remember is being completely shocked and asking, "What kind of dog is she!?!?" When he told me, I almost lost it. He then got down on one knee and pulled out a beautiful engagement ring and proposed in front of my mom, dad, sister and brother. It was absolutely perfect, and clever, and very much unexpected. Even as I write this now, I'm tearing up. I'll never forget it. It was the first time in our entire friendship that Andre undoubtedly surprised me.
My Sweet Doggie at 1 years old.
The Bridal Breakfast A lot of people traveled across the country for our wedding, so I planned a ladies' event in the form of a Bridal Breakfast the day before the wedding. I invited my bridesmaids, aunts, and women who were very important to me. My goal was to honor them and let them know how their presence in my life helped prepare me to take this next step in life. I presented my bridesmaids with their gifts at this time as well.
I can't imagine not doing this. If you have the time/budget/wherewithall, I very much encourage you to have some sort of gathering with your personal phenomenal women. My mom and I enjoyed it so much that we're actually considering making it a yearly event.
The Bridal Breakfast was held at the fabulous Woodmark Hotel on Carillon point which is a 5-star hotel in Kirkland, WA, a suburb of Seattle. I chose this location because it's RIGHT on the water and I wanted to treat the out of towners to some most amazing views of Seattle.
My sister, me and my mom. I actually look fairy decent in this photo considering I was up half the night before working on assembling programs and wrapping gifts.
My grandmother, mother and I. Three generations.
My mom and I doing introductions. My mom's a college professor so she talks with her hands at all times. Here she's lecturing on lost traditions of luncheons, and ladies teas and how we need to bring that back and also teach the next generation how to value one another in such a manor. Good stuff, but still mom, must you opine at my bridal breakfast? (You'll also notices the bridemaids gifts behind me. Nicely wrapped in pink and brown).
This picture cracks me up. Not the best resolution, but you can see me saying something sassy, my mom rebutting, my sister rolling her eyes, and my grandmother with an "I told you so" look on her face. Gotta love family!
Here's a shot of one of two tables. We served a set menu with three options: crab omlette, belgian waffles w/ strawberries, and the basic eggs, bacon, and toast starter. Everyone was also served fresh fruit, coffee and juice. The hotel even printed up individual menus for everyone.
The Bridesmaid Gifts I go crazy when it comes to giving gifts and I really wanted to bless my girls so I was so excited to give them their gifts I wanted them opened ASAP! I used the theme of "My Favorite Things"
Coach Wristlet
Cashmere Shawl & Earrings Earrings and pashmina modeled by my lovely bridesmaid, Alyssa.
Nicole Miller French Manicure Polish set (not pictured)
Bridal Shower In order to accomodate some of my family being in town, my bridal shower was held one week before my wedding. Um yeah, wouldn't recommend this. As a bride, I was far too stressed out to be able to truly enjoy myself. My brain was on linen rentals and chivari chairs. Nevertheless, my girls outdid themselves! They know me very well. I am such a neurotic planner that I would probably rather plan my own shower than give it up to other people. The good news was, I was too stressed out to care so all I did was show up! I only had one request: no corny games and no penis gifts!
The following are a series of shower photos, some crappy some only half than slightly less than photographic genius (yeah right)
The entire shower was catered with yummy food and cake. They did an excellent job and even managed to make me cry (which was quite easy during the week before the wedding).
Since our wedding theme was "Classic Elegance," they tried to incorporate the same ideas in the theme and decor of the shower. I must say they did a marvelous job. The shower was held in the backyard of one of my mentors. It was like a garden party with round tables and umbrellas, white wooden chairs, linen napkins, and my absolute favorite: floor length table-cloths. I have this "thing" about being able to see the legs of a table. It became a running joke because I was in disagreement with my reception venue who supplied the linens and insisted that I didn't need floor length table cloths.
Us a month after the wedding at a red carpet event. Yet another crappy photo. I'm noticing a trend here.
Lots more stuff (like vendor reviews) comin'! Also working on resurrecting my planning bio.
Just a few of the bios I've come across that inspired me, encouraged me, made me teary-eyed, gave me a brilliant idea, or just downright put my wedding to shame! I add to this list consistently so Enjoy! allabtdetails AlmostMrsScott bentpinkies bridemoto Bridestarr2 CaliCayman djrs dmu78 Dooly drzwife HisPrincipesa jsue kayrose ktwill2007 lizzydivine mnkymndy MrsAnayisnin Mrs.Donkey MrsHoya mrshs MrsJeffsWife2b Mrs.JKD Mrsjsanfran MrsRobsButton Novem06 oct142006bride OctoberBrideNYC pipsqueak78 springchic soontobemrs.stone thekimmybride TribecBridec vintageglam
How to Add a Siggy Image Tutorial(With Credit Given to Knottie Katers1279, from whom I borrowed heavily):
Free Web Counter I am always perplexed as to who all these people are visiting my bio so please leave a message in the guestbook! I'd adore hearing from you. Be encouraged!: