Newport Nuptials

Newport Nuptials: the Kick Off!

2010-12-14T18:56:00.000-05:00

After some time basking in newly-wedded photo bliss, I'm finally ready to officially start the Starfish re-caps!!! Our wonderful photographer sent us our photos just a short six weeks after the wedding. He also posted about 40 photos within 12 hours of the reception end time to hold me over, which I greatly appreciated. :)

I've been putting off the re-caps for awhile partly because this is my favorite season and I'm busy enjoying all this new free time with my husband (Istill love saying that), family and friends. But, I also put it off because it's really hard to put all of those emotions into words.

Our wedding day was truly the happiest day of my life. I have never been surrounded by so much love and happiness. Seeing all of the people who have supported and loved Mr. Newport and me throughout our entire lives, as individuals and then as a couple, in one room was incredible. I couldn't stop smiling all day.

I don't know if I'll truly be able to capture all of the love, happiness and excitement I felt that day in my re-caps, but I hope I can do our wedding day justice. I also hope you enjoy following along! I've had so much fun sharing the planning process, it's about time I share the rest. :)

Photo by our incredible photographer David Bibeault

2010-11-18T21:04:00.001-05:00

Creating the thank you notes was bitter sweet. For a wedding loving girl it was sad, because I knew it was the end of my wedding planning. Thank God I have Weddingbee to relive every detail of the day! To be honest though, it also felt great because diy projects and wedding planning is time consuming!

Since the wedding is over and projects are complete, I've had much more time for friends and family. Including these lovely girls. Can you guess who they are? ;)But back to the project at hand. By the time the wedding was over, I was pretty burnt out. I had orignally bought 6 navy thank you note sets from HomeGoods for $2 each. They fit our theme perfectly, but were a bit boring. I planned to use these, but a few guests commented that they loved opening the wedding mail they received from us...save the dates and invites. So I felt pressure to come up with something more unique.

Enter the envelopes. I wanted easy and cheap. I printed two wedding photos and used my Paper-Source envelope liner kit to create the liners. Super easy. I had printing paper, I had ink and I had envelopes. This was the big "detail".

Then for the actual card, I embossed "Thank you" on note cards. Again, super easy! I would go into detail on how to actually create the envelope liners or emboss, but both have been covered on the Bee.

I know many people have mentioned they don't think people notice envelope liners, but I've already had two people tell me they were upset they ripped their card open. One told me I should have wrote "Do not rip open" on the outside of the card. People do (sometimes) notice details! :)

Were you happy when you completed your final wedding project? Was it a bit sad?

Merrily Married: Holiday Cards!

2010-11-07T20:23:00.000-05:00

I know Halloween was just here, but I love Christmas, so you'll have to bear with me. This Christmas, I really want to send cheesey "Hey, we got married!" holiday cards. So we are definitely doing some type of photo card. I was tempted to go the diy route, but when I looked at our list it seemed a bit long, I also think just making and writing out about 100 thank you cards didn't help the diy Christmas card cause either. Sometimes it's just better to buy.

So I was super excited to find a piece on holiday cards in the most recent issue of Real Simple magazine. They list out places to buy digital holiday cards, photo cards, newsletters, etc. It was the perfect list for me. After a few clicks of the mouse, I've already found a few I like.

I love this one from Minted. I'm so indecisive and know it will be hard to choose a photo, so being able to include four works for me. The great thing about Minted is the little add-ons. I love coordinating and they make it so easy. This card is a great example. Inside the card you can leave it blank, add an additional photo and text, or include a time line. They also include optional backers, since you can do a folded or flat card.Then you can even add envelope liners and address labels.
Tinyprints had a ton of options for including photos, but my favorite is the mistletoe kiss photo card. I don't think I would use this for any year other than this, but for some reason it's more acceptable to be cheesy and show a little p.d.a. when your a newlywed.
Hello Lucky! has a really cute newsletter. I've always enjoyed getting updates from family members who do this, but I don't think Mr. Newport and I have enough to share. This one may have to wait for when we have kids. Lastly, I found cards that are pretty perfect from Wiley Valentine. I love that they kind of flow with the starfish design from all of our wedding paper products.

Now Mr. Newport and I just need to narrow it down. Do you have a favorite?

Will you be sending out holiday cards this year to show off your new engaged or married status?

Don't forget to check out the Minted Holiday Cards Giveaway on Weddingbee!

Things Happen

2010-11-04T20:20:00.000-04:00

Sometimes things don't go the way you plan on your wedding day.....like Mr. Newport may have dropped the sauce from his slider on my dress during cocktail hour or one of our bridesmaids may have spilled a glass of wine on Mr. Newport's shirt during the first hour of the receptoin.

But things happen. You just get a shout wipe and clean it up or you roll up your sleeves and keep on partying.

Unexpected things will happen on your wedding day. It's all about how you react to it. The most valuable lesson I learned from Sister Newport was to roll with the punches. Our mis-haps were minor, hers, not so much. The day of her wedding her videographer never showed up and he never called. She realized this on the day of and instead of stressing about it and letting it ruin her day, she had the time of her life.

So this is just a reminder to all you future brides. If something minor or even major happens on your wedding day, don't let it bring you down. You can't control everything, but you can control how you handle the situation. So relax and enjoy your wedding day. You only get to do it once (hopefully).

Married Bees, did anything unexpected happen at your wedding? How did you handle it?

Mama's Song

2010-10-29T19:26:00.001-04:00

Over the past two years of planning and even beyond, Newport Mom has been amazing. When Mr. Newport and I moved home to Boston, she let us live with her (for what ended up being three years) to save for the wedding and our first home. She bought me my first bridal magazine subscription- before we were even engaged. She, along with the other parents, contributed financially to help make our dream wedding possible.

a planning trip to Newport

To say she "helped" make our dream wedding come to life would be an understatement. She was by my side through pretty much every vendor appointment, diy project and added fun events along the way.

another planning trip in Rhode Island- we stopped at a vineyard on the way to our tasting

I didn't do a mother-daughter dance at the wedding, but about a week before the wedding I heard Carrie Underwood's song, Mama's Song. It got me pretty sentimental and reminded me of my relationship with Newport Mom.

Newport Mom has always been a bit protective of me. I'm her youngest. I know it's always been important to her for me to find true happiness; she's never wanted me to settle.

Girl's weekend in Kennebunkport

Newport Mom and Sister Newport always had a song (2 actually), and we never had any. As soon as I heard this song, I knew I found it. It just really represents our relationship and Mr. Newport. She adores Mr. Newport- which is good since we all lived together for three years!

At the Boston Shower

Since I'm the youngest, I think it was hard for Newport Mom to see me get married and grow up. It's kind of like a chapter closing. My favorite part of the song is when Carrie says, "Mama there's no way you'll ever lose me. Giving me away is not good-bye." I know Newport Mom already knows that, but I love that part regardless.

Picking out the cake flavors

The week leading up to the wedding, I gave Newport Mom the new Carrie Underwood C.D. and told her to play our new song. She loved it.

Was your mother a significant part of your planning process? Did you let her know how much it meant to you in a special way?

A Newport Tradition

2010-10-28T20:26:00.001-04:00

A little DIY rewind.....

Every year at Christmas, Newport Mom has always made a ridiculous amount of cookies, so when I asked her to make about 200 for the wedding, she was up for the challenge. They are perfect to make for weddings, because unlike other cookies that taste better within a day or two of baking, sugar cookies have a longer shelf life and can be made in advance. We decided to use Newport Mom's sugar cookie recipe, which has been around longer than me. I asked Newport Mom for the recipe to share with the hive and she even added a few tips. Sugar Cookies
1 cup margarine (2 sticks softened)
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Mix cream, margarine and sugar until fluffy
Add vanilla and egg to mixture and mix well
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt and add to mixture
Mix everything well
Cover dough with waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
Divide dough into manageable amounts and roll out over floured waxed paper
Cut dough with cookie cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheet
Bake in 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes
Tips:
Press metal spatula into dough and then flour to help remove cut cookies from wax paper onto cookie sheets.
If you like crispy cookies, roll the dough out thinner and remove from the oven when the sides just start to brown.
If you like a chewy cookie, roll the dough out thicker and remove from oven right before the sides begin to brown.

After the cookies were baked, the next step was to decorate! I had to work the morning they started decorating, so I came home to a kitchen full of cookies and icing. The first cookie I saw wasn't what I expected. They had tried out a meringue recipe for the frosting from Allrecipes.com (we love that site), which had awesome reviews, but it didn't look pretty. Luckily while I was gone, Sister Newport told Newport Mom after 2 cookies it was a no-go and they moved on to plan B.
As plan B, Newport Mom made her special glaze - which I thought she planned to do all along. I asked for the recipe and she said she can't give one because she doesn't measure, but all it is, is confectionary sugar and milk mixed together. She said you need to mix it until it comes to a consistency you like. I was surprised, I've had these cookies a ton of times and had no clue the glaze had only two ingredients. With the exception of the colored glazes, which she added some gel food coloring.

Then we got to work. We iced the cookies. I was pretty awful at it, so I was put in charge of the detail work.

Newport Mom was a jack of all trades and pretty much did everything from the baking to icing to decorating. She used a piping bag to put details on the light house cookies.
I made a mess with it, so I used a red candy decorator for my detailed work.

After two fun mornings of decorating, the cookies were complete! I'm so excited we got to include my favorite holiday tradition into our wedding, although with Christmas around the corner I may have burnt Newport Mom out with her cookie making. Hopefully she'll be up for round 2 in a couple of months! This is one project I definitely couldn't have done on my own. Newport Mom and Sister Newport were amazing!

Did you have a lot of help with any diy projects?

A little more color

2010-10-27T20:24:00.001-04:00

I mentioned in my last post wanting to add some pops of color to the bridesmaid gifts and I definitely did. I gave each girl this gift the morning of the wedding. I had originally wanted to do hostess gifts for the pre-wedding events, but didn't have the time, so I rolled them into one on the wedding day.
The first gift reads: "Thanks for making our engagement sparkle brighter!" As a thanks for an amazing engagement party.

Each girl got a sparkly picture frame with a photo from the engagement party.

The next gift read: "Thanks for showering me with love!" as a thanks for the incredible Boston bridal shower.

This gift was a set of soaps.
The next gift read: "Thanks for a bachelorette I'll always treasure!" In reference to the amazing bachelorette weekend, which included a treasure hunt.

As you can see, each girl got a pearl bracelet to wear on the wedding day.

The last gift read: "Thanks for making the last two years so memorable!"

I wrapped up photos for each girl of all of the pre-wedding events to add to the scrapbooks I gave to them when I asked them to be bridesmaids.

I had a lot of fun with this gift. I was originally inspired by Mrs. Latte's super sweet hostess gifts, but wanted to put my own spin on it.

Did you give your bridesmaid's any special gifts for hosting your pre-wedding events?

In Living Color

2010-10-26T20:23:00.000-04:00

Everything about our wedding was navy and white. I've really wanted to include color somewhere, but wasn't sure where. Then it hit me, the thank you gifts! I wrapped part of the bridesmaid's gifts in fun colors. It's not a huge detail, but I was excited to include the fun pops of color.

I started with the thank you notes. I'm obviously not joking when I said I want to infuse some color. I went a little crazy at Paper-Source and bought note cards and envelopes in lots of bright colors. I also got a few rolls of wrapping paper to make the envelope liners. I then embossed "thank you" on the cards and added some bright stickers. And this is just the beginning of the brightness. There are many more bright details to come.

Did you feel the urge to include lots of fun pops of color into any wedding details?

The Newports got MARRIED!

2010-10-16T06:39:00.001-04:00

About two years ago, Mr. Newport proposed. About two weeks ago, we said I do. I didn't think I could possibly feel happier than the day Mr. Newport proposed, but our wedding day blew that theory out of the water. Our wedding day was better than I could have ever dreamt. I had all these worries leading up to the wedding day of what could go wrong, and there was some stress the week leading up to the wedding, but when the day finally arrived, it was absolute perfection.

I've never experienced the level of happiness I felt on that day. It's hard to put into words, but after two years of planning and preparing, to finally have our dream wedding happen surrounded by all of the people we love, was just incredible.
It wasn't just an incredible wedding, but a whole weekend that I can't wait to share with you. Everything surrounding the day was amazing. If your debating a semi-destination wedding, I really recommend it, it was so amazing spending extra time with family and friends during such an emotional weekend.

The wedding was just the cherry on top. I never had the chance for a signing off post, so I'd like to thank you all for letting me share our story. It's been so amazing to have a place to share every idea and plan with others who are going through the same thing. Your comments and feedback have meant the world to me. So many times I turned to you for advice and you always deliver!

I can't wait to start my re-caps and share every detail with you! But, I'll have to wait for all my pro pics. While I'm waiting, I have a few posts I was hoping to share pre-wedding, but never got to. But for now, it's time to unpack and enjoy my last few hours with my husband (I love saying that!) before he heads back to work.

All photos by our incredible photographer David Bibeault

Overlooking Details

2010-10-15T20:38:00.002-04:00

I've been to a few morning after wedding brunches and I've never gotten an invitation for one, so I kind of assumed we didn't need to send them. Then I got a wake up call, when we found out we need to give a head count for the brunch. I wish I had thought of this and included it on our response cards, it would have made life easier. Now we have more responses to track down. And our guests are probably thinking they just rsvp'ed. I had to whip up some invitations because we didn't realize this until about 2 weeks before responses are due.

Did you overlook something that created unexpected extra work?

Dream Wedding vs. Reality

2010-10-14T20:37:00.002-04:00

Mr.Newport and I talked about everything and anything when we met. We had long involved conversations over AIM. I actually saved most of the ones early in our relationships and there is one specific one that I've been thinking about a lot lately.

In one of our early conversations, we somehow brought up the subject of marriage and weddings. We started by talking about what we thought our futures would look like, and somehow in these conversations of the future, we talked about our "dream weddings". Mr. Newport said he wanted to get married in shorts and a Hawaiin shirt on the beach. Then, I described my dream wedding. I said I wanted to get married in Ochre Court (Salve's chapel), in my prom dress (a story for another day), with a cinderella vibe, and I wanted "an awesome dj". I envisioned my bridesmaid's in black cocktail dresses, guys in black tuxes, guest's dressed in black tie, candle light, a real elegant affair.

source

Mr. Newport said he would go with that for the right kind of girl. And I said, "without the hawaiin shirt?" He said "yes".

Fast forward about 7 years and here we are planning "our" dream wedding, not my elegant affair, nor Mr. Newport's Hawaiin shirt clad shindig. Instead we've found ways to make it "us". I've always wanted that upscale black and white wedding, but as soon as we got engaged I knew it wasn't right. Instead we've opted for a more casual feel that focuses on location and sharing our story with friends and family.

Every detail represents who we are as a couple. The location of all of the festivities is the same location we met and fell in love. The church is the same place we volunteered the first year we started dating. The reception is located on the same street where we had our first apartment, overlooking our alma mater. Location choices have been really important to us.

We even were able to find some compromises along the way. Mr. Newport didn't want a tux, I wasn't into the Hawaiin shirt, so we came up with a compromise that left us both happy, casual for him, but nice enough where I can still pull off a nice wedding gown. Instead of black cocktail dresses and hawaiin shirts for the wedding party, everyone will be dressed in our favorite color- navy blue. We may not be getting married in Ochre Court or on the beach, but we are including each location in our photos.
Sources (Clockwise from top left): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

We chose the nautical theme because we both love the ocean and it lends a more casual vibe. We're even going to provide flip flops for guests, hoping they'll spend more time on the dance floor or head out to the beach to enjoy the view.

Our wedding is far from either of our original visions, but it really is "us".

Is your wedding what you always dreamt, or did you have to adjust your original vision to make it about you as a couple?

Let's Rehearse!

2010-10-13T20:36:00.001-04:00

One of the best things about being a crafter during wedding planning, is having left over supplies from past projects. I love making cards and if I see a really great sale at Paper-Source, I'll pick things up, even if I'm not sure what to do with it, because I know eventually I'll get good use out of it.

Our rehearsal dinner invites were great proof of this. Awhile back, Paper-Source had a huge sale on sparkly red rick rack cards. At the time I was dreaming of a lobster bake rehearsal dinner or using them for Christmas cards, so I bought them without a clear vision in mind.

Fast forward a year and I needed rehearsal invitation materials quick and I turned to my paper drawer and had these waiting, along with left over envelopes and 4 bar white paper. I decided to include some ribbon left over from our oot bags to jazz them up a bit.
They don't really go with the rest of our paper products, but I didn't have to spend any more money to make them, so I was satisfied.

Did you create any wedding projects using materials you already had or leftover from other projects?

Crafting the Ceremony

2010-10-12T20:35:00.001-04:00

In the past year, I've been to two amazingly beautiful non-religious ceremonies. I loved how personal they were. Having a non-religious ceremony can open the door to so many possibilities where the couples love can really shine through. I've seen it done through non-traditional readings, song choices and vows.

In the Catholic Church, you just don't have as many options. You need to pick a reading from the old testament, a reading from the new testament, a reading from the gospel, and catholic hymns. The one place we have been able to personalize is in the prayers of the faithful. Because we have to choose from approved lists, it makes for less personalization. I don't want this to sound negative against the Catholic Church because we chose to get married in the church knowing this. Having our ceremony in the church was our top priority and meant more to us than having the option of total personalization. It actually means a lot to me to follow my church's traditions and repeat the same vows that many others have used before. I don't want to take the ceremony lightly. While I want the ceremony to be about our faith, I want it to also represent us as a couple.

When it came time to choose the reading from the Old Testament, I struggled with many of the readings in the Old Testament related to men and women. I ended up finding a reading from the book of Ruth. This one really spoke to me. When you first read it, you would think it is about a couple, but it is actually the story of Ruth. Ruth and her sister in-law both lost their husbands. Their mother in-law, Naomi, tells them to go on with thier lives, she tells them to go back to their families and remarry. But Ruth decides to stay with her mother in law and helps support her. Although it is not a reading related to a couple's love, I think it fits perfectly for a wedding, as we also want to showcase our love for family. We're joining both of our families on the day we wed. Even though Ruth's husband was gone, she still saw Naomi as her family and wouldn't leave her side.

A reading from the book of Ruth 1:16-17
Entreat me not to leave you, or to return from following after you, For where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. And where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May the Lord do with me and more if anything but death parts you from me.

Our reading from the New Testament was an obvious choice. I've heard many people say it's over used and such an obvious choice, but I just love it. I always knew we'd have the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians read at our wedding. I think the passage just embodies the meaning of love.

A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 12:31–13:8a
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
The word of the Lord.

For our gospel reading, we chose a piece from the book of Mark. I chose this reading because the emphasis of two people joinging together. It seems appropriate for a wedding reading.

A reading from the book of Mark 10: 6-9
Jesus said to those around him:
“From the beginning of creation,
’God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother,
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.’
So they are no longer two,
but one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together,
let no one separate.”

Last came the prayer's of the faithful. I've heard that some churchs have guidelines on what should be said during these, but we weren't given any guidelines through our church. We chose this area to make things a little more personal. We wanted to include a prayer for our marriage, a prayer for our friends who also are preapring for marriage, a prayer for our parents, a prayer for friends and family who couldn't make it and those who attended, and a final prayer which sort of thanks every one for their love and support.

Prayer's of the Faithful
- We pray that the love of Mr. and Mrs. Newport may grow deeper each day and may that love strengthen and comfort them on their journey through life together. That they and all married couples may always cherish their special love by being each others best friends and partners, we pray to the Lord.
All: Lord hear our prayer.
- For those preparing to wed, we pray to the Lord.
All: Lord hear our prayer.
-For the parents of Mr. and Mrs. Newport whose examples and guidance have formed the foundation upon which they will build their life together, we pray to the Lord.
All: Lord hear our prayer.
- For all those unable to attend today but are with us in spirit, we pray. For the safe return of everyone who has traveled to be here today, we pray to the Lord.
All: Lord hear our prayer.
-For the family and friends of Mr. and Mrs. Newport, we thank them for their help, support and kindness in helping them prepare for their special day. We pray to the Lord.
All: Lord hear our prayer.

Did you spend a lot of time finding the right words for your ceremony? Were your readings religious or did you do something more personal?

DIY Escort Cards

2010-10-11T10:33:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned before, we decided early on we wanted to have starfish escort cards. I had seen quite a few on the internet and thought nothing could be more perfect for our theme.

It seemed like such an easy project, and it really was, but it was so time intensive. I originally planned to print off the names and table numbers for each guest, but I decided I wanted a navy card with white writing, so I decided to write out each card. I now understand why calligraphy is so expensive. It takes forever! I'm no pro, so maybe that was the issue, but it took so long to write out each name and they are far from perfect. I can't even imagine how calligraphers do it and make them look so perfect. After weeks of writing out names a little at a time on my lunch breaks and while watching tv, it was time to add the table numbers. I didn't like the idea of having them on the front, it looked too cluttered and messy, so I decided to emboss the numbers on the back of each card. Luckily Sister Newport did this part for me. She's become a pro-embosser after all of her wedding embossing last year.
Once the cards had their numbers it was time to assemble. This was really the easy part. I have a craft tray and set up a little station. I punched a whole in each card. Then Newport Mom cut pieces of ribbon, strung a piece of ribbon through the card and tied on the starfish.
The biggest issue with these was finding a tray to hold them in. I couldn't find the right size in any store, so Newport Dad stepped in and made it for me. I gave him an explanation of what I was looking for and a few measurements and he built us our tray and painted it white, so the navy will really stand out. Once it's at the wedding, it will look a little different, since we are adding sand and the cards will be sitting upright.

Did you create your own escort cards? Did you have a lot of help?

DIY Chocolates

2010-10-10T09:31:00.001-04:00

The OOT Bags are coming together! We've purchased most of the items we need. And, this past weekend, we made all of the diy chocolates! When we start started, we realized it was time intensive, and I didn't think it could be done in a weekend, but with tons of help from Newport Mom, they are all done and packaged to go!

Here's a glimpse into the process:

We had multiple molds. If your doing a ton of these, I recommend having more than one mold. It takes a lot of time for them to cool, so you have to do all the work, then wait, then do it all over again. It's really messy, so getting more than one set done at a time helps.

We had molds for large shells, sand dollars, starfish and a mold with mixed smaller shells. The starfish kept breaking when we popped them out, so we decided to skip them. It was too much work and about half broke each time. Delicate molds are harder to do, the little starfish arms broke off. The other items didn't have any points sticking off to break, so thewy all stayed in tact.All of the chocolates were done with milk chocolate, except the sand dollars. We added white chocolate to the design, and these ended up being our favorite. We bought brushes to add the detailed work. If you do this, you have to make sure to clean it with hot water after each use, otherwise the chocolate hardens and gets grainy.

After adding the white chocolate, these had to cool.
At first we tried using Wilton chocolate-making squeeze bottles. It was so messy to transport the chocolate between the bowl to the tube, and it hardened quicker.Newport Mom decided to just use a pyrex measuring cup and spoon. She also learned timing the chocolate in the mircowave is key. She burnt the first batch and decided to start with 30 seconds and move down to 15 second heating peroids, while mixing in between.

We also learned that after cleaning the molds, you have to completely dry it. If there is any moisture at all, the top off the chocolates comes out funny and it looks sort of peeled. At first we couldn't figure it out, but after trying the second round, it seemed like this could have been the problem.

I had originally done my own trial with Ghiradelli chocolate and they didn't come out as good. I like the flavor of Ghiradelli, but after heating it, it doesn't taste as good. This time, we used chocolate designated for candy making and it came out so much better!

After a lot of heating chocolate, pouring chocolate, cooling chocolate and repeating, we were finally able to package them!

I had bought cellophane bags and we tied it with a ribbon.

Are you making anything special for your out of town bags? If you've made chocolates before, do you have any tips to share?

To Top or not to Top?

2010-10-09T06:29:00.000-04:00

I've been going back and forth for months now on whether we should go with our original topper, Lladro's The Happiest Day, or purchase the one I found online, below. The True Romance People Topper reminds me of our engagement, but I'm just so in love with the Lladro piece Newport Mom gave us for our engagement gift.
Mr. Newport has been dead set on having the people on top of the cake, but after seeing this set up below, I'm warming up to the idea of putting the topper to the side. Mr. Newport will still get his people (albeit not on top of the cake) and I'll still be able to use the Lladro piece from Newport Mom. It's not exatcly what we want, but it could work.

Source

What do you think, should we get the True Romance Topper, so we can actually have a "people topper" on our cake, or stick with the Lladro and place it to the side?

Stylish Groomsmen

2010-09-21T19:21:00.001-04:00

The detail Mr. Newport is the most excited about for our wedding day is his outfit for the day. Everytime he puts it on, he declares it's so much better than a tux. It's no Hawaiin shirt, but he's still really happy about it.
When Mr. Newport first decided to go with navy blazers and khakis, we both knew it could get pricey, but we wanted to make sure it would not cost the groomsmen more than a tux rental. So I did quite a bit of research. I found Menswearhouse often has sales like buy one get one half off, or buy one get one free. At one point, I even saw a navy blazer on clearance, so we went to our local MW to look for the suits.

When we went in, I told the salesman we wanted to find navy blazers around $100. He said he wasn't sure it was do-able, but I told him about the jacket I had seen on clearance on their website. He then remembered the jacket (make sure to do some research before talking to sales people) and it turned out to be the only one in the price range we were looking for. Mr. Newport tried it on and said "I like it", and that was it. We found the blazer. At the time, they were on clearance for $109.00 each, but it was also buy one get one half off. So Mr. Newport got all of his groomsmen's sizes and placed the order.

A week or two later, we went with Newport Dad to the same store to pick out his outfit. We checked the status of the order, only to find out they had lost it and the order had never been placed. I had a mini heart attack, since we were told about two weeks ago, the jackets would be hard to find since they are on clearance and need to be found and ordered from other locations. Plus, Mr. Newport didn't write down all the sizes, so he had to chase down the sizes for a second time.

Luckily, Menswearhouse's mistake turned out to be a good thing. The sale at the time of our second order was still the same clearance price, but jackets were now Buy One, Get One Free! The jackets should be about $55.00 per groomsman!

The pants we found are $29.99. We told the guys to wear a white collared button down shirt and brown shoes, which we hope most will have. So if they already have the basics, it should only cost them $85.00. Since Mr. Newport spent around $175.00 on his last tux rental, I was really happy with the outcome.

Did you find any great deals for your wedding party?

Banding Together

2010-09-20T20:20:00.001-04:00

Our wedding bands are in! I was a little antsy waiting for mine becuase when I went to try on the matching band to my engagement ring they didn't have it in stock. I tried on two other bands, which were basically the same, but one was a bit thinner, the other a bit thicker. The sales associate told me the third option would be just right, but not having tried it on, I was a bit worried. But now it's here and the sales associate was right, it's perfect! I love that it looks just as beautiful on it's own , as it does with the engagement ring.

After picking them up we decided to engrave our rings. At first we were going to surprise each other. But, we both knew what the other one would choose because we both came up with the same idea.

I knew for sure I wanted to engrave "I love you more" on Mr. Newport's band, but as soon as I thought of it, I knew he did, too. It was what he said during his proposal, what we say when we hang up the phone, and it's a line in our first dance song. So instead of surprising each other we decided to both engrave it on each others bands- since it was pretty obvious anyways.
Did you or your fiance engrave your rings? What do they say?

Drop Us a Line: Table Numbers & a Note

2010-09-18T22:18:00.000-04:00

Our postcard "guestbook" is officially in the works! I've ordered the first batch of postcards, yes I said first batch. We originally were just going to do a few designs, but later decided we want to put the postcards at each table. As I've mentioned before, I'm in love with the postcard guestbook and hope every single guest at our wedding fills (at least) one out (There are different questions on different designs).

I recently went to a wedding and I think less than half the guests signed the guestbook. I'm thinking if we put the postcard at each person's place setting they might be more likely to fill it out, if only to get it out of the way for the food.

So to encourage guests, we'll have a postcard at each place setting, with pens and a sign explaining what to do. The sign will actually do double duty as it is also working as our table number. The front side will have the table number.
The back has a little note asking guests to "Drop us a line". I think these little signs are my favorite wedding detail so far.
The Note says: Drop us a Line....
Please fill out a postcard with your wishes, advice, memories or thoughts for the bride and groom. The Mother of the Bride will be sending the postcards to the newlyweds throughout the first year of their marriage to help them remember this special day. Please drop the card off in the box at the enrtrance.

I bought the Martha Stewart anchor punch about a year or two ago with no idea of what to do with it. Then as I was thinking about the "drop a line", it just seemed too perfect! Plus we already had Baker's Twine, and left over navy and white paper from Paper-Source. These little add on notes were made from all the left over materials from past projects.

Do you think people will actually fill these out or am I wasting too much time on the guestbook?

Here Comes the Bride

2010-09-17T22:17:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned before Mr. Newport is super traditional, so I'll be heading towards him on our wedding day to Here comes the Bride. Once that decision was made, Mr. Newport thought the ceremony music was done.

Wrong. We still had a few songs to pick out. We are getting married in a Catholic Church, but we aren't doing a full mass, so luckily it did narrow down our choices. We needed to decide on a song for the mothers and wedding party to walk down to, the processional, and the recessional. We thought we had it nailed down.

So the processional was our obvious choice. We are going with The Bridal Chorus by Wagner.

We then had to find a song for the wedding party to walk down the aisle. We decided to go with Canon in D by Pachelbel. It's so long that we are also using it as the mothers walk down the aisle.

Last it was time to choose the recessional. The obvious choice for us was the Wedding March by Mendelssohn. I never really considered anything else for the recessional.

Until.....I realized there was no where to include our alma mater's song. Our school song which was played many times throughout our college years is Hail Holy Queen. I knew I had to include it in the wedding somehow. When we found out we only needed three songs, it narrowed our places to use it. The processional was set, so it left the wedding party song or the recessional. At first I wanted to keep the Wedding March, but it doesn't make sense to have our friends walk down to our alma mater song, so we decided to forgo tradition and we'll be leaving the church as husband and wife to Hail Holy Queen.

Too Bad we can't include the Sister Act version somewhere.

Are you choosing traditional music for the ceremony or going for something a little different?

License to Wed

2010-09-11T21:56:00.001-04:00

Mr. Newport and I got our license! We're legally ready to get married. I know this post is boring, so I thought I'd add in one of my favorite songs for fun. It's been stuck in my head since the bachelorette party and probably will be there until we actually go to the chapel.
We took a Friday off and headed to Middletwon, RI to pick up our marriage license. A little early, but they are valid for 90 days from issuance. I was a little antsy.
Can you tell I was excited?You can't tell, but Mr. Newport was excited on the inside.
Were you excited to get your marriage license? How far in advance did you get it?

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem

2010-09-10T23:54:00.001-04:00

Mr. Newport and I are getting married at a venue that also happens to be a restaurant. Our venue is kind of iconic in Newport, but not for weddings. Whenever I tell people where we're getting married, they think beach, bikinis, cocktails, bands, flip flops and summer. I've been asked way too many times if I've tried their famed Astro Bomb.

The venue is on the beach and has a patio bar with live music during happy hour. I know many people who travel from boston for the day for happy hour at the ABC. It's pretty legendery, but when I say we are getting married there, people are kind of confused. It's known as a restraunt, not a beautiful wedding venue. To be honest, I was pretty skeptical myself of the venue.

Mr.Newport and I had been there many Fridays during our senior year for the happy hour buffet. All you do is buy one drink and you get free food. Awesome for a college kid on a budget. I don't know why people didn't take advantage of it more. This is how we knew the ABC. It was a happy hour spot to meet with friends and enjoy some free food. We spent two years living a block away from the site, and never noticed a wedding.

When Mr. Newport hinted about a proposal, I started doing research on Newport venues. I knew they had a long wait and wanted to know our options far in advance. While searching I realized that the ABC did weddings. I wondered where, because it seemed random to do it in the restaurant area, but because the venue overlooks our college campus, I knew we had to look.

We went and the ballroom upstairs blew us away. It was elegant, spacious and has amazing views of the ocean, the cliffwalk and of course, Salve. My visions of beach goers drinking astro bombs went away and we chose our venue on the spot.

Since then we've been back to the ABC many times and I still had not tried an Astro Bomb. Well, that changed this weekend. Mr. Newport and I headed to Newport to finalize some wedding plans. After meeting with our wedding coordinator, we went to the outdoor patio and enjoyed the ABC for what it's known for.

I love that our venue isn't all about weddings. We'll be able to go back for celebratory drinks and anniversary dinners in the years to come.

Is your venue known for something other than weddings?

College Love: Flags

2010-09-08T21:50:00.001-04:00

I've already written a whole post about showing our college some love, but I can't help but add these little flags to my college love collection. We aren't having cupcakes, so I don't know how to incorporate them into the wedding, but I need to figure out a way. Our alums main colors are navy and white, our wedding colors, so they'll go perfect with the rest of the decor.

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Mr. Newport is completely on board, but we're both clueless on how to include them.

Any ideas??

Unrealistic Expectations

2010-09-07T20:48:00.001-04:00

Even before Mr. Newport proposed I watched a lot of wedding shows. I loved watching Whose Wedding is it anyways?, Say Yes to the Dress, Platinum Brides, etc. etc. After Mr. Newport proposed, it was finally time to start planning our own wedding, after months of watching others. I knew a lot of these weddings were over the top, but they still formed my idea of a wedding and apparently Mr. Newporth's, too.

I feel like you hear a lot of people go into planning a wedding and they are totally shocked at how expensive they are. We had the reverse effect. We knew how expensive they can get. Both of us knew this, so there weren't any shocking moments of "THIS COSTS WHAT?????"

When you watch shows like Say yes to the Dress, it kind of gets in your head that you can't get a nice dress unless you spend upwards of $5,000.00. "Your dress budget is $4k? Sorry we don't have anything in your price range". Luckily, I knew this wasn't true. I've been to a lot of weddings and overtime, I've kind of picked up on how much things cost, what's appropriate etc. Mr. Newport hasn't been to a lot of weddings (well not a lot pre-me). His entire foundation of what a wedding costs has come from his glimpses of shows like Say yes to the dress and Platinum Weddings. He's never actually sat down and watched one, but since I watch them fairly often, he gets glimpses here and there, or "Starfish, you have to see this!". He obviously knew these shows and weddings could be over the top, but it still shaped his ideas of weddings.

I never really realized this until I called him after my first dress appointment. I found my dream dress, but it was about $200 over budget. I promised myself I wouldn't go over budget, but I loved it so much. I called Mr. Newport and told Him I went over budget. He asked what it cost and when I told him, he said "that's it?" Real confused. Which made me confused. He proceeded to tell me that he thought I'd spend like $5,000 on a dress. My response, "did you even look at the wedding budget spreadsheet?" (that I spent quite some time on). His response, "No I trust you". So I have a finace who trusts me and thinks it's ok to spend $5k on a wedding dress....Hmm.... Luckily I'm more realistic.

So thank you Say Yes to the Dress for making me look like I saved a ton of money on our wedding budget, when actually I went over.

Were you or your fiance surprised by any wedding costs? What shaped your idea of the cost of weddings?

Shoe Search is Over

2010-09-06T18:47:00.000-04:00

Guess what arrived today? My wedding shoes! I can stop writing obsessvie posts over shoes, now that they are here!
Can you guess which ones they are?
I ended up getting the Kate Spade Lora shoes, which were one of my top two favorites! I originally saw them for $285 on Zappos and I wrote a post about them, where a Guest Bee named Amy commented that they were on sale at Piperlime for $109.00. {Thanks Amy!} I originally wanted the ivory, but I loved the shoes so much and couldn't pass up the price, so my wedding shoes and dress will be slightly off in color.

Was your shoe search easy or did you need some help finding the right pair?

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2010-09-05T18:46:00.001-04:00

I have an irrational fear that it is going to rain on our wedding day. If it ends up being sunny and beautiful, I'll be ecstatic, but until the wedding day comes, I'm certain it will be gloomy and rainy.

There is some thought behind this. Back in 2002 when I went to visit Salve for the first time, it rained. When I went back for my second time before accepting, it rained. When I went to freshman orientation, it rained. Then Mr. Newport and I lived there for four years, some days it rained, some days it didn't. Flash foward to 2008, Mr. Newport and I headed to Newport and Mr. Newport proposed, it rained while we were there. I've had many rainy experiences in Newport.

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I've decided if it has to rain on our wedding day, at least I'll be prepared. Although I'm not a fan of rainy wedding days, I am a fan of cute umbrellas for the wedding party.

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The weekend Mr. Newport proposed, we stopped by the Salve bookstore and I picked up an oversized Salve umbrella for our wedding day, just in case. Somewhat similar to the umbrella the couple is using above. Then, on a recent shopping spree, I found some cute umbrellas for the bridal party.

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If we're going to be wed in the rain, at least we'll do it in style.

Did you make any special preperations in case of rain on your wedding day?

Drop Us a Line

2010-08-29T22:30:00.001-04:00

I've always loved getting snail mail. There's just something fun about getting mail that isn't a bill or junk mail, which is all we seem to get these days.

As wedding planning has progressed, our mail box has seemed to be full of fun mail- wedding purchases, wedding gifts, shower gifts, congratulations cards, response cards.... I love coming home to check the mail every day. But realistically I know this will all stop post wedding. But, I think I've found a way to keep the fun mail coming.

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I've been obsessed with the idea of post cards instead of a guestbook for some time now. I've seen quite a few brides do this everywhere from Style Me Pretty to other blogger bees in the Hive.

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When I first saw this idea I thought it was fun, but it wasn't until I saw images from my favorite wedding ever that I knew we had to do it at our wedding. The Bride asked her mother to send the postcards throughout her and her husband's first year of marriage. That is what sold me. I have a whole other year of looking forward to snail mail! I didn't think I'd get this excited about a guestbook, but I really hope everyone fills out a card.

Are you excited for your guestbook? What makes you excited about it?

Newport Attire

2010-08-28T22:29:00.001-04:00

I've been looking for the perfect outfits for our week in Newport. Then last night I stumbled upon the Lily Pultizer Endless Summer Sale. When I think Newport attire, I typically think preppy or nautical. You can't really get more preppy than Lily Pulitzer. So I went on a little shopping spree. I originally wanted this Betsey dress for one of our bridal showers, but wouldn't pay the original $328.00, but once it hit the sale rack I had to have it. I think it will be perfect for our morning after brunch. Since it will be cool in Newport in October, I'll just need to pair it with a cute sweater.
And I got another dress that will need to be paired with a cute sweater. Mr. Newport loves me in pink, but I'm usually not a fan. But I love this dress and think it will be perfect for the bridesmaid luncheon.There was a special if you spent over a certain amount on your purchase, you got a free pair of sandals. I was sold! I chose the gold, since they'll go with both of the dresses above. Lastly, I got something a little more practical for Newport's October weather, one of Lily's Murfee scarfs. It will be perfect for walks along the water during our mini-moon.

Unfortunately, I think the sale ended last night, I would have shared early, if only I knew.

Did you go on any shopping sprees for "wedding" related attire?

I Flip for Flip Flops

2010-08-26T21:41:00.000-04:00

I live in flip flops. I bring my own pair of flip flops to most weddings and leave them in the car, just in case. Heels+Dancing=pain. I'm no fun when I'm in pain. So I love going to weddings with flip flop baskets, it means more dancing and fun. The first time I saw this was at a family friend's wedding and I thought it was the best idea ever! She actually did cute slip ons instead of flip flops, but it was amazing. The idea has stuck with me ever since. I've seen it at a few more weddings since then, and I'm hoping it will turn into a wedding classic. So of course, it is a must have for our wedding. I waited for Old Navy's annual flip flop extravaganza. Annually, they have a flip flop sale, where their classic flip flops are a $1 a pair! I needed lots of navy and white, I sat down one night and tried to figure out how many to get in each size. Mr. Starfish asked what I was doing and wanted to know why the guys don't get any flip flops? Ha. I went back to my count and prepared for the next morning.

I ended up getting about 26 pairs. Not enough for all the women, but I've noticed it's usually only the younger guests who take advantage of this anyways. So I hope the number is good. We tried to consider feet sizes of guests. A little hard to estimate!

Starfish Mom and I spent a couple hours on Sunday morning watching My Fair Wedding and Amazing Cakes while labeling all the flip flops. It was an easy project, which involved printing the numbers, punching out the numbers, punching the backing, punching a hole for ribbon, and then tying the ribbon. Super easy! I hope guests will use them and spend more time on the dance floor!
Are you providing flip flops or flats for your guests? How many did you purchase and how did you determine what sizes to get?

Step by Step

2010-08-25T19:20:00.000-04:00

I've read a few posts and comments on the boards from bees a bit apprehensive about tackling diy invites. I thought a step by step breakdown could be helpful. It won't be the same for everyone, but here was my experience:

1. Get ideas on what goes into making your own invitations. I of course looked to the Bees on this one. Mrs. Cupcake had a great post with 12 steps to creating diy wedding invitations. I've been in love with her invitation suite and found her tips super helpful.
2. Look for inspiration. I wasn't exactly sure what tye of invitation we'd like, so I started looking for inspiration on the web. I was looking for navy, nauitcal, simple, but a little embellished. I looked on photographer blogs, weddingbee, weddingbeePRO, and did some google searches. I fell in love with the invitation suite below by Etsy seller BrassPaperClip, but knew I'd need to do a simpler design.
3. Decide on a design. After gathering inspiration, it was time to narrow down our design. We wanted our invitations to be a preview of our wedding, so we included our wedding colors and gave them a casual, but classic feel.
4. Purchase and gather materials. For us, this included main envelopes, invitation cards, invitation backing cards, reception cards, rsvp cards, rsvp envelopes, calligraphy address stamp,white ink, embossing powder, embossing heat tool, white gel pens, and navy and white baker's twine. This included a few trips to Paper-Source, Michaels, and online shopping.
5. Choose a program to design the invite. I've worked with Adobe InDesign, Adobe PageMaker and Microsoft Word. I debated getting the free trial at home at one of the first two, but felt most comfortable with Microsoft Word. It's simple, and that's what we were looking for.
6. Pick wording- another element that requires research. This includes wording for the invitation, reception card ad rsvp card. I found great inspiration using the invitations tag. I was having a hard time especially with the rsvp wording, but found great inspiration from Mrs. Tiramisu's post. Her wording was so perfect for a semi destination wedding!
7. Get the ok from parents on wording- you don't want to offend anyone. If your parents are paying, the invitation wording will be different than if you are paying or the groom's family is paying, or if everyone is contributing.
8. Get to work- after all the research and choosing a program, get in there and get it done!
9. Proof read and get a few people to look it over for spelling and other things that could be cleaned up. I hadn't spaced out two lines on the response card well enough, and unfortunately, I didn't notice it until half way through the printing.
10. Print out invites. If your home computer printer is capable of this, you can print from home, but not all printers can handle smaller paper sizes. Look into the specs of your printer before doing so- as you may have a printer casualty like me, if the printer can't handle it. If your printer isn't capable, look into pricing of online print companies or local printers in your area.
11. Add embellishments- Emboss details, add backing, or other embellishments. We embossed starfish on the main invites and added twine after step 12.12. Assemble invites- this is one step that you can recruit friend to help with!
13. Find a calligrapher- make sure to book early. If you plan to do diy calligraphy, test out different pens in advance. Find one you like, and then sample different writing stlyes on the envelopes you plan to use to get a real feel for how it will look.
14. If you go diy with the calligraphy, or if you want to save a bit while still hiring a calligrapher, stamp personalized address stamps on the response envelopes and stamp your return address on the main invitation envelopes.

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15. Deliver envelopes to calligrapher and pick up upon completion. Make sure you schedule it with enough time for assembly after the calligrapher is done, before you are set to mail them out. 16. Weigh a completely assembled and sealed wedding invitation. I've heard people test this at multiple post offices. I just weighed two at the same post office, and sent two test invites to family memebers to make sure they arrived safely.
17. Purchase postage. Once you know how much is needed, purchase stamps for both the outer envelope and the response card envelopes. I love zazzle custom stamps, but I was too cheap and found lighthouse stamps via http://www.usps.com/. They still fit our theme. I think the post office has gotten better about including fun designs. I am in love with the current LOVE stamp.
18. Add stamps to the outer envelopes and response card evelopes.

19. Close up envelopes- Seal envelopes with envelope sealer.
20. Drop your invites in the mail and be really excited that you have this checked of the to do list.21. Wait for responses to come rolling in!

While it seemd like a simple process, a lot really does go into it!

Would you consider making your own invitations?

Matching Maids

2010-08-24T23:57:00.003-04:00

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I love fun getting ready photos, especially ones where the bride and bridesmaids coordinate.

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The Hive's Katiebirdbee

Our group is known to make matching shirts for lots of different events. We've done it for:

Sister Newport's bachelorette

my bachelorette Running of the Brides a food festival in Boston

A couple months into our engagement I bought some coordinating outfits for the morning of. We're all getting ready together in Newport Mom's suite, so it will be a fun touch and it'll look really cute in photos. I found an idea a little different than our standard t-shirts, but you'll just have to wait until after the wedding to see!

Are you wearing coordinating outfits with your bridesmaids on the morning of your wedding?

Last fling Before the Ring, part 2

2010-08-23T09:37:00.001-04:00

After a night walking all over the city, the Newport Girls planned a relaxing day. We slept in and didn't have anything scheduled until 2:00, which I learned would be an afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton.
I love tea! But, I loved this tea even more because it wasn't your traditional afternoon tea, instead it was a special tea, which had cupcakes instead of the traditional fair. Each of us had a cupcake flight with five different flavors including:

Lemon Tree Cake - Lemon cake and lavendar vanilla cream
Basque in the Sun- Basque cake with cream and cherries
Devil Made Me Do It- Devils Food cake and icing
Remember Me?- Pineapple upside down cake
Peaches and Cream- Almond cake, lemon time peaches, marscapone

They also had an amazing selection of teas with so many fun flavors like Pear Caramel, Masala Chocolate Truffle, Vanilla Bean, Verbena Mint Chrysanthemum and so many more. I was boring and got my usual organic breakfast. If I'm being really crazy, sometimes I'll go for Earl Gray.Newport Mom was babysitting for the weekend, but we wanted to include her in the fun, so we stopped by to see her and Little Newport on the common.

Little Starfish is walking and ready for her big role as show stealer in the wedding. I think she's the most adorable thing in the world.
After tea and some time on the common, it was time to head back to the room and nap. Friday was supposed to be low key, but after staying at the RattleSnake until close the night before, we knew we needed to get some more rest before night 2. So after a quick nap, it was time to get ready.

The Newport Girls had pizza delivered from the UpperCrust, a favorite local pizza chain in the Boston area. I was so excited for a slice of Buffalo chicken and one of Bacon before heading out. After food and prepping, the Newport Girls hung out for a bit in our hotel room at the Copley Westin. Then it was time to start our night.Stop 1: Top of the Hub- a super nice restraunt in Boston.
I had never been and was so excited. The Top of the Hub has amazing views of the Boston sky line. I should have taken a pciture, but was having too much fun to think about it!
We had cocktails and calamari. Then it was off to Dance! I hoped dancing would be involved and the Newport Girls didn't disappoint. They took me to the Estate, which is where they also hosted our engagement party last year.There was lots of dancing! My feet hurt for the next two days from the mix of dancing and heels, but it was completely worth it! At the end of the night, we tried to hail a cab, but a party bus offered to take us home for $5 each. It was another surprise ending to the night, but so fun!

The weekend was so incredible and has me so excited for the wedding weekend. I appreciate every detail that went into this weekend. They included so many of my favorite things....friends, family (a few cousins met us out on night 2!), chocolate, pedi cabs, nautical details, matching shirts, scrapbooking, dancing, a piano bar, cupcakes, diy projects, tea and more! I've never felt so spoiled in my life. The Starfish Girls planned an amazing weekend. Their coming up early for the wedding, so I'm looking forward to our next weekend of fun together!

Did you girls plan a whole weekend of fun? Did they incorporate any of your favorite things at your bachelorette?

Veil Love

2010-08-22T13:36:00.001-04:00

I was so indecisive about my dress in the beginning, but once I put on a veil, I felt like a Bride. I felt classic and romantic and knew I needed to wear one on the wedding day. I tried on a few kinds, but nothing felt as special as the cathedral length styles.

I don't think any other veil compares when it comes to a Rhode Island coastal wedding. I love photos of veils blowing in the ocean breeze. It looks so magical and romantic.

The cathedral length is perfect with the dress and perfect with the location.

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I originally wanted embellishments on the veil, a bit of lace at the bottom, but there is something just breathtaking about a simple white tulle veil.

Are you wearing a veil? What style was perfect for you?

Mr. Traditional

2010-08-21T11:35:00.001-04:00

I know I'm a traditional Girl (as much as you can be while being a liberal), but I never really knew how traditional Mr. newport was until we started planning our wedding. We've been dating for almost 7 years and he's always been a go with the flow kind of guy, but when it's come to our wedding, he's way more involved than I was expecting. I was thinking he'd say, "whatever you want" to pretty much everything, but I've been suprised to see that he has definite ideas about certain things.

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For one, he does not want to see my dress before the wedding. We have it hanging in our house, mainly because I know he cares more about him not seeing it than I do. This also goes with the first look. It's something I'd consider if we didn't have a catholic gap between our ceremony and reception, he on the other hand would not have considered it at all. He wants to see me for the first time as I walk down the aisle. So we will be sleeping in different hotel rooms the night before, so he doesn't catch a glimpse of me on the wedding day until I walk down the aisle. He also really wants "people" cake toppers, because "you have to have them" (I'm not so sure about this).

Earlier this week I asked him about ceremony music, and he looked at me confused, like why do we need to discuss this? The Bride walks down to "Here comes the Bride"? I had to explain there are many more options, but I always envisioned walking to this, so the choice was pretty easy. We're still working on the rest of the ceremony.

After two years of planning, I've definitely come to see a different side of Mr. Newport. His usual "whatever makes you happy" attitude was replaced with, "but these are traditions" attitude. Not really what I was expecting. I just always assumed he followed traditions because I did, so it was fun to learn they are important to him, too. Although, if one of us is really opposed to a tradition like the garter toss, we say "whatever makes you happy", and skip the traditions that don't make sense for us.

Did you see another side of your fiance during the planning process?

Last fling Before the Ring

2010-08-20T10:34:00.001-04:00

Last Friday, I spent the night with the Newport Girls on a treasure hunt! The Newport Girls planned an amazing weekend and it kicked off with a very appropriate nautical theme. They thought of a million fun details for everything from the room decorations to our outfits to every event througout our two day weekend. I was greeted with the shirt above, some accessories and a book which included clues that brought me all over downtown Boston in search of some bachelorette fun. Bridesmaid E hand painted glasses for each girl, which included images of anchors, sail boats, sand dollars and the date of the bachelorette weekend.
Bridesmaid E got super crafty again and made me a "Bride to Be" t-shirt and each of the bridesmaids t-shirts titled "Miss Newport's Anchors". She printed off the images on transfer sheets and put them on the shirts. I've never been on any type of scavenger hunt, so I had so much fun following clues all night. If you've been following along, you may know I really don't like surprises, but my bridesmaids proved me wrong because I had so much fun and didn't know anything until right before it was supposed to happen.

Clue one is pretty easy to figure out.

It was successful.

The clues brought me all over the city. Here is clue #2: We ended up at Sweet Bakery! A few of us tried their delicious cupcakes. Bridesmaid L1 and me went for the carrot cake, the cream cheese frosting is awesome! And since most of the girls worked that day and wanted to stay up for the night, they made a red bull stop, too.

I could not figure out clue #3, but it ended up being a chocolate shop on Newbury Street with exotic chocolates. Unfortunately they had literally shut their doors as we walked up, and I dont think they wanted to make an exception for a bachelorette party.

Clue 4 was super cute, as it reminded me of the amusement park Mr. Newport and I worked at during our summers in college. We ended up heading to Boston Common for a ride on the carousel.

After the carousel ride, I had to find a man in uniform to take a photo with. It wasn't too hard, since there was an office and park ranger about two feet away.

After the quick photo op, it was on to clue 6. A Boston staple, or tourist attraction, Cheers! My friends and I loved this place in highschool and went for everyone's celebrations, so it was fun to have it included as a stop on our hunt. We ended up getting lots of fried food, which was amazing, but not so amazing for the wedding diet. Actually nothing about this weekend was diet friendly, but so worth it!

Another clue led us to pedi cabs, which I love! Our drivers borrowed a couple of our stunna shades and drove from Cheers to fanueil in them. Pretty impressive as I couldn't walk two feet with them on. My absolute favorite bar in Boston, Jake Ivories which was a dueling piano bar closed last year. But, the Newport Girls found Jacob Wirths which has a piano sing along on Friday nights. We had so much fun singing along to Journey's Don't stop Believin and other songs. My favorite was getting the pianist to play "Goin to the Chapel". We belted that one!Jacob's was intended to be the last stop, but after so much fun we weren't ready to sleep. The night progressively got more fun as we went. We stopped at one more bar on the way back to our hotel and danced until closing. And this was just night one!Did you have multiple stops during your bachelorette?

The Newport DIY Invites

2010-08-19T23:33:00.001-04:00

After a few invite posts with no photos, I'm ready to reveal the Newport invites!

Since we went with a super simple design on the invitation suite, I wanted to add a fun embellishment. I've seen twine used on a few other Bees invites and knew it would be the perfect finishing touch.

I wish I didn't have to blur anything out, because the invite looks pretty blah here, but we used a calligraphy font for our names to make them stand out a bit.

Sometimes DIY projects end up costing more than if you had just purchased the product elsewhere, such as our save the dates. I didn't know if our invites would end up being a savings or if they would end up costing us a ton, but I figured I had no time to figure it out and went head on into the project.

Invitation Budget

PaperSource
12 packs A7 Night Envelopes (sets of 10)- $3.825 ea @ 10% off, $45.90 total
5 packs A7 Night Flat Cards (sets of 25)- $4.25 ea, $21.25 total
5 packs A6 Luxe White Flat Cards (sets of 25)- $4.00 ea, $20.00 total
5 packs A2 Luxe White Flat Cards (sets of 25)- $3.75 ea, $18.75 total 5 packs 4 Bar Luxe White Flat Cards (sets of 25)- $3.50 ea, $17.50 total
12 packs 4 Bar Night Envelopes (sets of 10)- $2.70 ea @ 10% off, $32.40 total
Fort and Field on Etsy
Baker's Twine - a ridiculous amount (inc. shipping & taxes)- $28.00
Michaels
Double Sided Tape (with dispenser)- $4.79 @ 20% off
Double Sided Tape re-fill- $3.99 @ 20% off
Best Buy
Computer Ink- $30.00

Calligraphy Budget

I didn't want our calligraphy too formal, as we are going for a more casual vibe, so I love the font she used. We also had to get the light house stamps to follow along with our nautical vibe. A friend helped address about 35 invites, so I plan to get her a thank you gift, which isn't included in the budget. If we weren't in such a time crunch, I would have loved to have had her do all of them.

Michaels 12- White Gel Pens- $1 ea @ 20% off, $12 total
Barbara Kua - Calligraphy Address Stamp (inc. shipping)- $46.00

Postage Budget

USPS.com- 240- .44 cent stamps (120 invitation stamps and 120 rsvp stamps) $107.60, includes 2 $1 service charges for ordering online

Materials I already owned
Embossing Heat Tool
Starfish Stamp
Embossing Powder in clear
Navy ink pad
White ink pad
Printer
Computer
Scissors
Microsoft Word

Total Cost for invitation materials: $222.58, not including tax for items from Michaels and Paper-Source
Total Cost for Calligraphy: $58.00
Total Cost for Postage:$107.60
Total cost for 120 invites: $388.18, or $3.23 per invitation

DIY invites actually helped us go under budget! Based on research I had done, I was expecting to pay a minimum of $450.00 for 120 invitations that include the outer envelope, invitation, reception card, response card, and response envelope. I also have a lot of left over supplies, like lots of Baker's Twine I plan to use for other projects. The largest expense was the personal calligraphy address stamp, which will also be used for many years to come! I was pleasantly surprised by the final cost of the invitations. Which not only includes the invites, but the calligraphy and postage, as well. It did help that we had many materials already left over from our save the dates, which ended up costing more per card than our invites.

We had originally budgeted $500 for invites, $126.00 for postage and $150.00 for calligraphy. I had thought we'd need .61 cent stamps for the outer envelopes, but we only needed .44 cent stamps, which was a savings. We went under budget by $387.82! We spent about 50% of our expected budget. Which is super helpful, because I'm really nervous we'll be over budget with our guest list.

Did your invites cost more or less than you were expecting?

Find your Seat!

2010-08-16T20:45:00.001-04:00

When we started planning our starfish nuptials, I knew for sure I wanted to use starfish for the escort cards. I've seen quite a few photos of these and love the idea!

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I know it may seem predictable, since we've used starfish on our save the dates and invitations, but I think it will be fun and new to our guests. I've seen these images all over the internet, but I've never actually seen it at a wedding. So while it may seem unoriginal to me, I think it may be fun and new to some of our guests.

I think sometimes as a bride, you search the internet and wedding magazines for ideas and become immune to details. It takes much more to "wow" another bride with a unique idea than it does to "wow" your average wedding guest.

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Like candy buffets. I absolutely love them, but I figured everyone knows these are super trendy at weddings. When Sister Newport had one at her wedding last October, you would have thought she came up with the idea herself! Guests loved it! They actually still talk about it almost a year later! It was a huge hit and seemed totally unique.

So when it comes to details at your wedding, go with what you love, even if you think it may be too trendy or unique. Chances are if you love it, your guests will too!

Are you including any trends at your wedding? Do you think the trend will seem new and exciting to your guests or more of a been there, done that, seen it?

College Love

2010-08-15T19:44:00.001-04:00

Having met in college, we knew we wanted to include some alma mater love. We don't want to have a college wedding theme, so we've been trying to think of subtle ways to include our favorite place. I've been amazed at all the fun and unique ideas I've found to show some college love. You can put a college spin on pretty much every element of the wedding.

Venue- Say "I do" at your alma mater. See if they have a house of worship, or a location on campus that they allow alumni to use for ceremonies and or receptions. Many colleges and universities have gorgeous chapels. I love the photos from the recently featured "Real Wedding" of Hilary and John at The Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. The photos at the Harvard church are stunning. Videography- Ask your videographer to do seperate interviews. One with the bride and one with the groom, each re-telling the story of how you met or a favorite college memory.

Photography- Take photos on campus. You can do it at a place with meeting, like the place you met, or a field if you were both big sport fans, or use a significant building or landmark on campus as a back drop.

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At the reception, make sure to get a photo with you and all of your college friends who attended the wedding to send to your alumni publication.

Food- Get a groom's cake representative of your college. Mrs. Penguin had an old school UCLA Bruin mascot made for her husband.

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Cake Topper- Mrs. Dolphin had a cake topper that reflected both her and Mr. Dolphin's alma maters. Her alma mater's mascot is a gator and his is a knight. She found a great way to include both their schools.
Attire and Accessories- Dress the bridal party in your school's colors. Another option is visiting the school's gift shop to see if they have any school inspired accessories such as cufflinks or a tie with the schools insignia.

Table Numbers- have engagement photos taken on campus and use them as part of the table number or use names from college buildings.Mrs. Cheeseburger created table names with on and off campus places.

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Favors- Make a donation to a scholarship fund at your school and create a notice announcing the donation placed on the guest book or gift card table like this example from the Knot.

Another idea is to have edible favors in the shape of your school mascot like Mrs. Lamb. In honor of her and Mr. Lamb's meeting place and alma mater, Bucknell, they ordered Chocolate Bison for their favors. Music- Use you college's fight song for your grand entrance, or try to include it in another way like Miss Ribbon's pep rally idea. You could also hire some current students in the band or chorus to provide the music at the ceremony.

Stationery- add your college colors or a meaningful symbol, like Mrs. Cheeseburger. On her invitations. she had her stationer add a hand-painted illustration of the sundial at Old Main, Penn State, complete with the same quote from the ensemble folder cover.

Groom's Gift- If your groom is a huge fan of your alma mater's teams and you live nearby, look into season tickets. For somethng more budget friendly check out the chool's gift shop and get something more sentimental to remind him of your time on campus.

Bridal Accessories- You can include your school colors in your accessories, like Mrs. Peach did. She created a diy garter in Michigan's colors and planned to get a Michigan pin to attach in the center.

Entertainment- hire your school mascot to come to the reception for an hour.

Decor- At a friend's wedding, she purchased an old map of Newport, the location of her alma mater that was matted and framed. Guests signed the matt of the photo. This would also be great with a photo of an iconic building on campus or a photo from a campus engagement session. At a cousin's wedding, they got a school banner and used it as decor and also in photos with former classmates.

Now that I've gathered all these great ideas, I just have to figure out what we plan to do!

Are you incorporating your alma mater in your wedding day? Have you seen any unique ways to do it?

Another Shoe Post

2010-08-14T13:41:00.001-04:00

Good news! I found gorgeous shoes that are much cheaper than my dream pair! Bad news? They are still way over my budget.

Newport Mom recommended Zappos because they have a large selection and free shipping both ways. So if I find a few I like, I can order them, try them on and ship them back if they don't work out at no extra cost.

I did find a couple pairs I love, the Kate Spade Lora (below) and the Kate Spade Lover (2 down). They both go absolutely perfect with my dress. As much as I loved the Giuseppe Zannotti shoes, they wouldn't really mesh well with my dress. These on the other hand look like they were made for it.

These would more than blow the budget, but my birthday is coming up this month, so hint hint Mr. Newport! :) He actually never reads the blog, but Sister Newport does. So hint hint...maybe you want to tell Mr. Newport?

Did you have trouble finding the perfect shoe?

Update: 100 Day Challenge

2010-08-13T23:40:00.002-04:00

The 100 day challenge is well under way. At the 25 day mark, I had exercised 23 hours, with only one day of no exercise. As time is crunching down, I've been amping it up more and more.

How am I staying motivating? Well besides walking with Sky, I decided to take my routine to the next level. Awhile back, I started looking into personal trainers in my area. I found many will give you a free trial session to test it out. I had a few in mind I wanted to try, but after my first consulatation, I knew I found the right fit. It's like hiring a photographer, it's important that you have a connection.

I started working with the trainer before the 100 day challenge, I knew the challenge would be going into effect and I needed to find a way to motivate myself. I've never liked to exercise. I get bored too easily. I used to keep fit with group sports like a few years of softball, a couple years of basketball, a couple years of soccer, a year of cheerleading, a year of hockey, a couple years of dancing, a year of volleyball...do you believe me now when I say I get bored easily?

Since graduating, I haven't had much time for group sports, even my company's softball team's schedule hasn't been working out. So I thought I'd give a trainer a shot.

I like working with the trainer because every session we do something new. At first, I didn't like kick boxing, but now it's my favorite part of our session. I even like the sprawls thrown in there during my minutes on the bag. It's been about a month with the trainer, but I'm already starting to see results. I haven't lost much weight, but I am getting toned.

I originally started doing one on one sessions with the trainer, but realized it's cheaper and more fun to do group personal training classes. There are up to 5 people per class with one trainer and we do pretty much the same things I did in a one on one class. The only difference is you can tailor your one on one classes if your working on something specific. I plan to do a few more one on ones before the wedding to work on my arms and upper back. Then, I'll be able to work on the targeted areas at home. I just need to learn what to do and how to do it. I find the group classes are more motivating because I don't want to be the slacker in the class.

Now that I know how to exercise, I've started doing it on my own as well. I walk Sky every day, do group classes twice a week, and every other night I add in toning. My next goal is to start doing cardio. I know it's the key to get in the best shape, so I'll need to find some fun ways to include this in my regimen.

I've gone from couch potato to super motivated with a little help from my friends, my new trainer and of course sky.

Would you consider hiring a personal trainer? Do you know of any good cardio workouts I can try?

You've got Mail!

2010-08-10T19:40:00.002-04:00

Our invites went out! Can you tell Mr. Newport is excited? This means it's really real! Pretty soon our guests will be responding and before we know it the wedding will be here! After two years of planning, I'm beyond excited for the wedding day to finally arrive and become Mrs. Newport!

We spent the other night dropping our invites in a drive by mail box. I'd never seen this before, but it was pretty convenient. Then we went out for dinner to Not Your Average Joe's, a really cool small chain in Massachusetts, to celebrate having some free time. After addressing more than half our invites, it's nice to have a little down time. but I know it won't last.

Now we have the next two months to gather responses and come up with seating assignments, write out escort cards, and multiple other diy projects....too bad we can't hit fast forward to the wedding date.

Were you super excited to get your invitations in the mail?

Bridesmaid Shoes

2010-08-06T21:35:00.002-04:00

When it came to the Newport Girl's shoes, I knew I couldn't pick one style because heights and comforts vary between the girls. I'm personally not a fan of higher heels, but have a few girls that love them , and at least one other like me who likes low heels or no heels, so I don't think it would be possible to find one style of shoe that would make everyone happy.

Originally I wanted to find navy shoes, but I could't find the exact shade I like. I also didn't want to do dyeables, because I want the girls to have super cost friendly options.

I then decided to look for off white or cream shoes, which I didn't think would be hard in the spring and summer, but it was. I did find one or two options I liked in navy and cream, but I really want the girls to have a variety so they each are happy and comfortable with the sheos they wear.

Then one of the Newport Girls suggested gold. I really wanted to keep everything at the wedding to our navy and white color scheme, but in this case it just makes the most sense. Gold shoes are re-wearable and some girls may even already own a pair. Plus we are going into fall, which should make gold shoes pretty easy to find. So far, I've found lots of options online.

I sent out an e-mail with a link to different styles in the shade I like with a few requirements- heels, strappy, light gold. Each girl will get to pick out her own pair that hopefully she'll love and get to wear again. Here are a few of the examples I sent:

This shoe by Capparos on Piperlime is a great budget friendly option, currently on sale for $24.99. Piperlime also has free shipping and returns. I'm not crazy about the buckle, but I love the price and the rest of the shoe.

I love this Ralph Lauren option from Macy's. It has a classic look and is totally re-wearable.

I wore these Kelly & Katie heels from DSW to Sister Newport's wedding last year. I usually take heels off at weddings after a few songs, but these were so comfy, I kept them on the entire night. I bought them for $39.95, which I thought was great because I plan to wear them again.

Another Katie and Kelly option from DSW for the same price, but it has a higher heel. I thought some girls may prefer this, as most of the Newport Girls like higher heels than me.

Are your girls wearing the same shoe, or are you giving them options?

The Write Stuff

2010-08-05T21:34:00.001-04:00

I adore calligraphy. I've always known I wanted it for our wedding invitations.

Luckily, I have an aunt who is a calligrapher and has done many of my cousin's invitations and escort cards over the years. Shortly after getting engaged, Aunt P told my mom she'd love to do the calligraphy for our wedding invites. I was thrilled!

Source

We decided to drop off the envelopes to her a couple weeks before the date we set for the invitations to go out. I stamped the return address on all the envelops and packaged them up, excited to drop them off. When I gave her the invites, she looked at me and explained she has never done colored envelopes before. She felt extremely bad and felt she couldn't do them, since she knows how important the invitations are. I completely understood. But where was I to get another calligrapher at this point?

Well, I also had another offer from a family friend who had done the calligraphy on the Boston shower invites, escort cards and table names. I absolutely love her works as well. We had already asked her to do some of the invitations, since we procrastinated the invites so long and didn't want to stress out Aunt P. So we went from asking her to do about 50 to doing over 100 in less than two weeks. She sweetly said "yes, it would be an honor".

Bottom two by David Bibeault

I love calligraphy, but at this point I had no clue what goes into it. She sent me a list and told me to go online to dafont.com and a few other sites to choose a font that I like. Then gave tips for choosing the right pens. She prefers gelly pens when addressing on colored envelopes. I took her tips and went to Michaels to find the perfect pen.

I found a few choices and brought them home to test out. I figured, if I'm testing, I might as well start addressing the invites. So I got to work. I tried a few pens and the gelly pens were a clear winner. During the testing phase, I also realized how incredibly long this process is. I felt bad asking our family friend to do over 100 of these in less than two weeks, as I know how busy she is. I know she would do it, but I just didn't want to take advantage of her, so I continued on addressing invites. They weren't half bad! When I showed them to a few family memebers they asked me why I was having our friend do them at all. But with the time crunch, I was too stressed as well to get that many done in a short amount of time. So friend S saved the day and worked her magic.

I don't really have any diy tips for do it yourself calligraphy, other than to look up fonts and try and copy them (I'm so helpful, I'm sure you couldn't have thought that one up yourself).

The main tip I took away when "working" with a calligrapher? Make sure you show samples of the invitation envelope to the calligrapher before you hire them, to make sure it is a color and material s/he is comfortable working with. For more tips on working with a calligrapher, check out Laura Hooper's post on "Working with a Calligrapher".

Did you hire a calligrapher to address your invites, or did you go the diy route?

Getting Excited!

2010-08-05T18:36:00.001-04:00

Can you guess why I'm excited? It has something to do with my bridesmaids, friends, a weekend in Boston and this dress:

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My Bachelorette party is this weekend! I have no clue what we are doing, other than spending a weekend in Boston with my best friends. They gave a few hints, but I'm pretty clueless about the whole thing. They asked what I wanted to do a bunch of times, and the only thing I've said is "I just want to dance".

So what hints do I have? When I asked what to pack, I was told casual for Friday night, a sundress for Saturday and a fun clubby style dress for Saturday night. The hints didn't help too much, except I'm pretty sure I'll get to dance!

Did you know what to expect for your bachelorette party, or are you going to be surprised?

Invitation Evolution

2010-08-04T21:33:00.000-04:00

So our invitations weren't done nearly as early as I originally planned. I originally wanted to do the invites myself, but due to time constraints, I didn't think it was possible. So, a few months ago I had started looking into pricing to have the invites done by either an online company or a graphic designer. I kind of hit sticker shock with all the companies I looked at online and my first choice graphic designer couldn't do it due to her own busy schedule, so I put it off for awhile.

At the three month mark, I realized I still had no clue what we were doing for invitations. Most wedding checklists recommend ordering these 4-6 months before the wedding. After searching for simple, nautical inspired invites and having no luck finding exactly what I envisioned, I decided to just suck it up and do them myself. I originally didn't think I'd have time to do it between other wedding planning and being a new home owner, but we've been pretty good at scheduling other things for the wedding, and we've been taking our home plans very slow. I knew if I did the invites myself they wouldn't be elaborate, but at least they'd resemble my vision.

I ended up being extremely surprised at how quick I was able to make and print these- granted I did a super simple design and used a program I'm extremely familiar with- Microsoft Word. It took a couple hours to design them, two nights after work to print, and about three get togethers to assemble. Then realizing I hadn't printed enough another day printing out a few more and assembling.

I have a few reasons this process went so smoothly:

1. A practice run- when I originally wanted to do our invites, I used our Save the Dates as a practice run, I used many of the same materials for these, as I planned to use for the invites.

2. My new printer- when I had printed the save the dates, it took forever to print. So many came out wrong and the printer ended up breaking towards the end. This was a great trial and error for the invites. After this process, I researched printers and found a printer that works with smaller cardstock and the printing process went so smooth! I hadn't realized prior to this that not all printers can handle smaller paper sizes.

3. Help from others- Sister Newport and Newport Mom helped me print and assemble these. All it took was a bribe of chinese food, left over shower cake, and a promise to watch Twilight and New Moon while assmebling- actually the promise of Twilight and New Moon didn't really help the cause with Newport Mom, but she came anyways. On night one of assembly, it was especially helpful to have them there. I printed the invites, while Sister Newport stamped and Newport Mom embossed. Stamping and embossing over 100 invites alone would not be fun.

4. Double sided tape- I was planning to use glue sticks to put the backing on the invite, Sister Newport told me I was crazy and that I need to get double sided tape. It was much quicker and cleaner.

5. Choosing a program I'm familiar with- I originally planned to use Adobe InDesign or Adobe Pagemaker. I use both at work, but not frequently. If I had the tiem, I would have gone with Adobe InDesign, but I didn't have enough time to research how to use the program more in depth. That brought me to Microsoft Word. I'm familiar with it, and although I couldn't do any intricate designs, it got the job done in a tiem crunch.

Overall, the invites are pretty simple, but Mr. Newport and I love them. They are hopefully being sent out to our guests within the next few weeks, so you'll just have to wait and see.

Did you create your own invites? Was the process what you expected?

Shoe Love

2010-08-02T20:46:00.001-04:00

Shoes haven't really been a priority on my wedding to-do list. I wear flip flops at the first sign of spring and wear them until the first sign of winter. When it came to shoes for the wedding, I kind of just assumed I'd wear flats or flip flops. Newport Mom and Sister Newport are the complete opposite of me with shoes, they love them, especially heels. They told me I have to wear heels. I said "we'll see".

When the dress came in, I tried it on and......it's too long. I know I could get it hemmed, but my favorite part of the dress is the beautiful detail on the bottom (I would show this, but I'm keeping my dress a surprise until the wedding day). I can't bear cutting it off. So, Sister Newport and Newport Mom are getting their wish....I'll begrudgingly wear heels on our wedding day.

I've looked and looked for shoes, but nothing sparked my interest, until I browsed the Neiman Marcus website and found these amazing heels from Giuseppe Zanotti.

They are so gorgeous and would look so fun with a short after party dress! I absolutely love them. I thought for a second that I found my shoes.....until I saw the price tag and it's just not happening. Now I compare every shoe I find to these. This is a typical trait of mine. I find something I love, but completely out of my price range and fixate. It's the reason why I couldn't look at dresses at Priscilla of Boston and the reason I should have known to stay away from Neiman Marcus.

Now it's back to the search.

Any other brides who fixate on items out of your budget? What was the biggest disappointment?

Girl's Weekend: Kennebunkport

2010-08-01T15:44:00.001-04:00

Newport Mom wanted to do something special before Mr. Newport and I say "I do". So one weekend in May she took me and Sister Newport on a girl's weekend to Kennebunkport, ME. We took Friday off and headed up Maine's coastline.

The weekend was filled with shopping, laughing, movies, great food and lots of quality time.
Newport Mom even surprised me by sneaking up some of my favorite wedding movies. It worked out well because day 2 of the trip was rainy. We snuck in a few of my favorites over the three day trip. No matter how many times I watch Father of the Bride, I still love it! I don't think I can ever get sick of that one.

We went to lots of cute shops and some interesting ones, like Woods to Goods, a store where inmates at the Shawshank Prison make items out of wood, which are sold in the store. Our inkeeper said it's a popular place to purchase wedding gifts, the wooden salad bowls being the most popular. They are great conversation pieces for sure.

Also on the wedding front, we were told to check out the wedding cake house, I didn't know what to expect. I thought it would be in the shape of a cake or look like one, but I think it has it's reputation due to the amazing detail of the outside of the house, similar to the intricate detail of a wedding cake. I have never seen a house like it. The shopping and exploring got us hungry, so we went to a few restraunts over the course of the weekend, and we even made a special trip to Kittery for Newport Mom. She was told she had to go to Flo's who allwgedly has the best hot dogs ever.
She said it lived up to expectations.Although the hot dogs at Flo's were pretty amazing, none of the weekends food could compare to the dinner we had at The White Barn Inn. It's definitely a special occasion place, if anyone's doing a mini-moon in Kenebunkport, it's such a romantic place and it was the best meal I've ever had.

Overall, the weekend was great, despite the weather. It was fun to have some non-wedding planning bonding time with Newport Mom and Sister Newport. It was relaxing and fun.

Did you have any special bonding time with your mom before the wedding?

Non-Registry Gifts

2010-07-31T15:43:00.002-04:00

I know many brides aren't fans of "non-registry" gifts. After spending hours adding and editing multiple registries and picking out exactly what you want, it can be hard to add something that may not fit your style into the mix. I've always gotten gifts from the registry, with the exception of additional gifts. Like something fun in addition to the registry item. Like a cousin registered for popcorn bowls, so I also included some movie items like a "Father of the Bride" dvd, popcorn, and movie passes for a date night.

Our house isn't huge, so I was hoping that most people would follow the registry since we spent so much time choosing everything. We don't have a lot of space, so we had to be real picky about what we added.

Well I was totally surprised when some of my favorite gifts weren't from the registry!

I looked at multiple stores to find a nice trifle bowl, and although I wasn't super in love with the one we registered for, I added it because it was the nicest one we found and Mr. Newport loves trifle, or as he calls it "goop". One guest at the N.J. shower gave us a trifle bowl filled with fun shore themed oven mitts and towels, and a little blue book with a new summer trifle recipe.

Mr. Newport's friend and her mom gave us two huge buckets filled with baking supplies. They gave us everything from the pans, spatulas, cooling racks, mixing bowls, cake carriers, mixes and everything in between. I love to bake and can't wait to use all these fun items! Newport Ant and her daughters gave us a grill and all the accessories we'll need to go with it, including fun summer plates and glasses, placemats, bbq sauces, and grill accessories. We are having them over soon for a cookout as a big thank you! BIL Newport even sent a surprise gift to the Boston Shower, I'm sure Sister Newport picked it out though! He gave us tea cup cupcake holders, which were so adorable and totally fit our theme. Plus everyone who knows me knows how much I love cupcakes and tea, so it was perfect! He also gave us a nautical plate set. I'm in love with them. They remind me of our wedding theme. It's a set of four, which is the perfect amount for dinners with Sister and BIL Newport!

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I always felt the need to purchase off the registry, but I realized if you know the couple and what they like, you might make their day by getting them something that is "so them" that's not on the registry. All these fun gifts have me thinking outside the box for future shower gifts!

Do you normally shop off the registry? Did you receive any fun non-registry items at your shower?

Boston Tea Party, part two

2010-07-30T19:40:00.002-04:00

After chatting with all the guests and a few photo shoots, it was time for the main event.... Opening the gifts. A wedding is one of those times in life when your just so overwhelmed by other's generosity. Between this and our shower at the shore, we now have a fully stocked kitchen!
I was super careful to not break too many ribbons, because I was told that each ribbon you break means another child. I was also told back in the day everyone used pink or blue ribbon, so if you broke pink it meant you'd get a girl, and if you broke blue you'd get a boy. I broke about 4 at the Jersey shower and I don't think I broke any at the MA shower. Can you guess how many kids I want? :)
The Newport Girls and Newport Mom splurged and got us our entire bed set! We can't wait to re-do our bedroom to match our honeymoon suite! While we opened presents our guests were served cake. Cake was made by Sweet ResultsPracticing for October!
You may have noticed no mention of games in this post. I absolutely love games, Me, Mr. Newport, Sister Newport and BILN have game nights with our friends and I love games in general, but I don't like games that draw attention to me, so you may have noticed there weren't any games at the shore shower and the only "game" played here was the timer game, in which guests receive a gift if the timer goes off while their present is being opened.
Newport Flower Girl had fun "helping" with the timer game gifts!

There was no lack of sweets at the shower. As a sweet send off, there was a candy bar with bags for guests to take home. It looked so pretty! And the guests also got bottles of lemonade, which were pretty perfect, since they have a husky them! A fun way to include Sky in the day.

It was so amazing to have almost all of my favorite women and Mr. Newport in one room. I can't think of anything better, other than the wedding!

photo by family friend

Did your shower get you excited for the big day?

All photos unless noted by our wedding photographer, David Bibeault

First Dance: Natural or Choreographed

2010-07-20T22:11:00.003-04:00

Mr. Newport and I are both horrible dancers. Mr. Newport doesn't like to dance, and even though I love to, I'm just no good. But we are really good swayers.

Swaying at our senior commencement ball

Awhile back we considered doing dance classes, and by we, I mean Sister Newport and I thought it would be fun to take dance lessons before her wedding last year with our grooms to be. Neither of the guys were crazy about the idea, but were more open to doing it if we all did it together. But, as always things got in the way and we never did schedule those classes.

A month before Sister Newport's wedding, we went to cousin Newport A's wedding. He and his wife did take dance lessons and it was the most adorable first dance I had ever seen. It really made me want to take lessons.

Mr. Newport was still hesitant. Although we both loved cousin Newport's dance, Mr. Newport doesn't like the idea of choreographing ours, he thinks it will be more fun to make it up as we go. He plans to do a few dips and spins, but doesn't want me to know when they are going to happen. He thinks I'll have more fun and let loose if we just let the dance unfold.

I don't like surprises, but I'm going to let our first dance be Mr. Newport's thing and let him take the lead. He's excited about this (or just really doesn't want to take lessons), so I'll have to trust him and have fun in the moment.

Will your first dance be choreographed or are you going to just see what happens on the dance floor?

Choosing the Wedding Bands

2010-07-19T22:08:00.002-04:00

Mr. Newport just ordered our wedding bands! We went to pick them out last weekend, but had to wait for a quote on the rings. My choice was easy. I knew I wanted a band that matched my engagement ring. There were two options in the store, one was too thick, the other two thin. The associate looked up my ring, since we bought it in the same location and found out that the exact match is no longer in stock, and it just happend to be right in between the size of the other two. So I ordered the one that is hopefully just right.

Mr. Newport's choice was also pretty easy. He walked up to the counter, found a style he liked and tried a few on, then picked the two he liked best. We got a quote for the two and then made his decision. Super easy.

The one thing we were both surprised about during the process was cost. Prior to our band shopping experience I had no clue how much a metal choice can impact the cost of a ring. Sure I know platinum is pricier than silver, but I didn't really know about the metals in between. Common ones include silver, yellow gold, white gold, platinum, palladium, tungsten, tungsten carbide, and titanium.

I didn't really have a choice in my band's metal, as I knew I wanted a matching set and that includes metal. I've heard different metals wear differently, so I wanted my wedding band metal to be the same as the engagement ring. When we first put together our wedding budget, I did some online research on my matching wedding band and budgeted a little over that amount in case anything changed over the next year (remember we had a long engagement).

Mr. Newport was dead set on not spending a lot of money on his ring. BILS found a ring, I believe it is tungsten carbide, at T.J. Maxx for about $26.00 and purchased it for his wedding band. Mr. Newport thought this was great and decided he wanted to do the same. Problem- he has a larger finger, which wasn't as easy to find. I figured it would be tough to find a deal like this, so I budgeted a bit more for Mr. Newport. Also, in case he changed his mind about his metal choice. We came up with dollar amounts and put it in the budget.

Like many of our wedding plans, other than the big things, we put this off until the checklist told us we should really be doing it. We went to the closest Descenza's and looked at wedding bands. I tried on mine and asked for a quote. Mr. Newport tried on his and asked for a qoute for two rings, but asked to get quotes for different metals.

A few days later I got a call. My ring ended up being about 2/3 of the price I had budgeted! My ring is palladium and the rings I saw online must have been platinum. I had no idea a metal could vary the price this greatly. I'm super happy Mr. Newport opted for a more practical metal. This savings is definitely helping at a much needed time.

This also worked out great, because Mr. Newport opted to go with white gold as opposed to his original idea of going with tungsten carbide. He was surprised at the cost of the white gold ring, because in the store the price tag was much greater- again I'm assuming this must have been based on a platinum ring or other costlier metal. We hadn't budgeted enough for the white gold, but after the savings from my ring, we were able to get both of our top choice rings with a bit of money to spare.

Our rings should be in within 6 weeks, I'll post photos once we get them.

Did metal type have an impact on your decision? Were you surprised by the difference in metals prices?

Boston Tea Party

2010-07-16T18:47:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, the Newport Girls and Newport Mom threw a beautiful shower at the Sherborn Inn in Sherborn, MA. The Newport Girls and Newport Mom filled the shower with a lot of my favorite things; friends, family, tea, chocolate, diy products, and beautiful flowers. The room was filled with yellow details. Everything from the linens, the candy bar, the cake, the paper products, the flowers, some of the guests attire and even most of the gifts. Yellow just makes me smile, and I couldn't stop smiling the entire time.

All of the flowers were arranged by Newport Mom, she also did the flowers at Sister Newport's shower. I think she should go into business. Sister Newport did all the paper products including invitations, table cards, escort cards, and menu cards. She had a friend help with the calligraphy. She found cute teapot and tea cup stamps on etsy, that I may need to borrow in the future!

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Aside from everything being gorgeous, they also included some of my favorite foods. They created a traditional tea menu of scones, finger sandwiches, and delicious desserts, including chocolate mousse cups! I was so busy, I didn't have a chance to drink a cup of tea.

After taking in all the details, I spent some time with the bridesmaids and Mr. Newport and got to take some really fun photos. One of the coolest things they did was hire our wedding photographer, David Bibeault, to take photos of the shower! It was a pretty cool surprise. I'm already in love with his work, but after seeing the shower photos, I love his work even more!

Mr. Newport is a good sport. :)
The Newport Girl's created a faux-to booth, which is quite popular with the Newport family. We had one at Sister Newport's shower, too!I love the vintage effects Dave created on some of these. It looks like a vintage-y tea party!I could show a ton more photos, since we did a bit of a photo shoot and there were a ton of fun candid shots, but I'll get back to details in the next post! But I had to end it with this adorable shot of Newport Flower Girl. She loves talking on the phone and it looks like this phone call was important.
Our photographer has been in the business for quite some time and said shooting a bridal shower was a first for him. I think he did a pretty awesome job!

Have you ever been to a shower with a photographer? Would you hire one for your own or for a friend who loves photos?

All photos by our amazing wedding photographer, David Bibeault, unless noted otherwise

Nautical Inspiration

2010-07-14T20:58:00.002-04:00

If you can't already tell, I'm slightly obsessed with all things nautical. Especially nautical weddings. The coolest one I have ever seen was found on the Armorology blog, photographed by WeddingbeePRO, Amelia Lyon.

I'm in love with every detail of this wedding, I love the navy and white color scheme with pops of aqua.

And of course, I love the Starfish accents.

Every detail is incredible, but I especially love the postcards they had made.

Heather from Armorology worked with Courtney Scowby of Brightly Designed to create all of the paper elements for the wedding, including vintage style post cards which sat atop each plate. The back side allowed for all guests to leave the couple a message, which Kaite's mom offered to mail to them throughout their first year of marriage and on anniversaries. The front side featured various engagement pictures (also by Amelia Lyon) as well as several love and beach quotes such as, "If you want to know how much I love you, count the waves." I would love to do something similar to these instead of a guestbook at our wedding.

My second favorite element? The photo booth! I love photo booths, as you may have noticed! All of the amazing photo booth shots were taken by The Digital Orange.

See more of this wedding here and here.

Have you found a wedding that just completely inspired you?

Say it With Cookies

2010-07-13T19:58:00.002-04:00

I just purchased these awesome cookie cutters at Williams Sonoma in June. I saw them on the site awhile back, but they sold out, but they recently became available again! It's kind of like embossing, but for cookies! If you've been following along, you may know how much I love embossing, examples here, here, here, and here!

The set includes three cutters, seven premade words (Welcome, Happy, Birthday, Holidays, Thank You, From, I Love You), three sets of alphabet letters (plus extras of vowels and other commonly used letters).

I have big plans for this set and it has something to do with our guests, but since some of our guests read the blog, you'll have to wait until after the wedding to see what we are doing with these!

Have you found any cool new gadgets you plan to use during your wedding planning?

Gifts for the Groom

2010-07-01T21:03:00.003-04:00

On our way to the New Jersey shower Mr. Newport kept referring to all of the presents as "yours", meaning me. "I don't have to open presents, their all for you". Which is kind of true since it is a bridal shower, but I figured they are both of ours because they are building our home together and we both picked them out. Well he still didn't buy it and called them "your gifts".

So even though he referred to all the gifts as mine, he said he bets at least one person at the shower would give him his own gift. Since it's his family, I figured some of the gifts would be geared towards him, but never saw a gift presented just to the groom.

So it was pretty funny when we walked in and his childhood friend, whose pretty much like family handed him a blue bag just for him. He opened it up and it was a photo of the two of them on his father's boat when they were little. It was really cute and it made Mr. Newport's day.

I've never even thought to get the groom a gift, but I think I might do this in the future. It made Mr. Starfish pretty happy!

Did your groom get any gifts just for him at the bridal shower? Would you give a gift to just the groom?

100 Day Challenge

2010-06-30T22:08:00.000-04:00

One of the best thing about bridesmaids is the support. With now less than 100 days to go to the wedding, I need a lot of it, especially in the fitness area. I am not a huge lover of the gym or working out. I actually hate the gym. I went once in college and didn't go back. I tried again after our engagement, but only lasted a few months. I prefer group exercising like hiking with friends, or in highschool getting together with friends for some Tae-Bo with Billy Blanks.

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So for someone who hates the gym, and is super busy it's hard to find the motivation to get in shape. Maybe not for other brides, but for me it is. So Bridesmaid E started a fitness challenge awhile back. We each logged our hours and we could see how much everyone was working out. It worked for awhile, but we all stopped submitting our time.

So as the wedding is swiftly approaching Bridesmaid E decided to rev it up. She came up with the 100 Day Challenge. It's a bit more motivating because their is more at stake.

Here are the rules, note there are 5 participants:

There are almost 100 days before Miss Newport's wedding!! So, to rev up our fitness challenge (and finally offer some prizes for the winners), the last 100 days will be a challenge to log 100 hours. If you do 100+ hours of exercise between now and the wedding, you will be a ‘winner’ and, if not, you will be a ‘loser’!

If there are 5 winners, then we can all go out for celebratory drinks, and the one with the most hours gets treated by everyone else.
If there are 4 winners and 1 loser, the loser treats the winners to a round of drinks (maximum $50)
If there are 3 winners and 2 losers, the losers treat the winners to dinner (maximum cost of $50 for each of the losers, so $100 total)
If there are 2 winners and 3 losers, the losers treat for dinner and a round of drinks
If there is only one winner, the winner gets treated to dinner and drinks! Also, the losers all pitch in $5 for the winner to buy a health food cookbook.

Every Monday, I will collect the minutes for the previous week (so, the previous Monday through Sunday). Every day you are late giving me the minutes, you get deducted one hour!! You can send minutes by email, text, facebook, BBM, phone call, whatever is easiest. If you remember to send them in, and want to send a reminder to everyone else, that will be helpful… I will try to send a reminder to everyone on Mondays.

We will have to average 7 hours, or 420 minutes every week to get to 100 hours, so good luck everyone! If anyone wants to plan a hike or some other multi-hour exercising trip, let me know!!
And there it is.... my motivation for the last 100 days!

What's motivating you to get fit for the big day?

Showers of Happiness

2010-06-28T19:08:00.002-04:00

Mr. Newport and I recently went to our first wedding shower, hosted by FMIL Newport on the Jersey Shore. When we first arrived, my first thoughts were, "why haven't we been here before"? The place was gorgeous. The shower was hosted at a restaurant called Antoinetta's, which is right on the water. When we arrived a few guests were already there. It was fun catching up, since it has been a year since we last saw everyone.

Sister Newport, Me, Mr. Newport, and FMIL Newport

Us with Newport Cousin

Us with Mr. Newport's friends

After catching up with everyone, the food came out. FMIL Newport chose a menu including a few of our favorites. To start there was calamari (Mr. Newport's favorite) and a delicious salad served family style. Then for an entree there was a choice between crab cakes, an organic chicken wrap, cavatelli, or scallops over mushroom risotto (I love Scallops and they were amazing). And since Mr. Newport was the only guy at the shower, which isn't typical near them, FMIL Newport made it special for him by including his favorite beer.After eating lunch, it was time to open presents. I have been worrying about our showers for the last few weeks. The idea of sitting in the center of a room, opening gifts with all eyes on me was really stressing me out and I was a little more stressed about our Jersey shower, because I had only met a couple of the guests a few times. But, Mr. Newport sat by my side as we started opening gifts. We were sitting pretty close to the tables. About two minutes in, I was having a blast opening gifts. Everyone was talking with us and laughing, it was so much fun. We were overwhelmed at the generosity. We got so many of our favorite registry items and some really fun items not on the registry, including a TV!

We've been eating off paper plates for a couple months. After this shower, we almost have our complete set of place settings! The place settings were the most popular gift of the day, which made me really happy. I can't wait to have friends and family over for dinner on real plates. We also got tons of fun baking supplies. Including a hand mixer, our Kitchen Aid mixer, cook books, and lots of misc. baking supplies. Then there were some really fun off-registry items, I'll have to share in another post!

After opening gifts it was time to cut the cake. Sister Newport was our photographer and wouldn't let us miss any photo ops. She told us it was practice and we need to do the first cut. She was joking, but didn't realize we actually need pratcice. We had no idea what to do. After a few tries, we got it right and cut the cake.
The cake was amazing! FMIL Newport asked to have starfish on the cake to go with our wedding theme. She picked a cake that was half chocolate and half vanilla. I couldn't decide which I liked more. When we left New Jersey she packed it up for us to bring home, which was really nice, but not good for the wedding diet. I indulged in another slice on our trip home, it was too good to resist.

After the cake was finished, we got to spend a little more time with friends and family before it was time to end. It was the perfect shower. Great location, great food and great people.
FMIL Newport picked a beautiful location and had really special touches. My MA bridal shower is hosted by Newport Mom and the Newport Bridesmaids, so it was really sweet of FMIL Newport to plan the New Jersey Shower on her own. I don't know why I was so stressed about the shower in the first place!

Did you have moer than one shower? Were you nervous about them?

Getting Crafty

2010-06-22T20:39:00.000-04:00

With the wedding approaching, I'm realizing how much needs to get done in a short period of time. So to get motivated, I've purchased quite a few new craft supplies in the past couple of weeks. My Favorites?

I first saw this "THANKS" punch on one of my favorite personal wedding planning blogs,
Honey My Heart, via Ellen Hutson.

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I love the way she used the punch to embellish the envelope liners. I want to do something similar for our shower thank yous, but not sure if I'll have enough time to write them all out and design the cards.

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The next purchase I have no clue what we'll be doing with it, but I love Baker's Twine. So I just ordered over 3,000 yards of it from Etsy seller fortandfield.

My favorite purchase of all was a Barbara Kua address stamp, which we will be using for our invitation rsvp envelopes, invitation return addresses, return addresses on our shower invites and all personal mail I send in the future!

I heard about Barbara Kua through Miss Sunrise, in her "Stamp my Little Heart Out" post. After reading Miss Sunrise's post, I knew I had to have one. I had been searching for awhile and couldn't find the right font style, but fell in love with the Claire style. Miss Sunrise already wrote an awesome post on Barbara Kua, so if your interested check it. out!

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You'll have to wait a bit to see ours, when I reveal it with the invites I've been working on!

Have you found any fun new craft supplies lately? I'm still looking for a few fun details for our paper products and looking for some fun sugesstions!

Dressing for the Occassion

2010-06-15T22:35:00.001-04:00

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks for the Newports! This upcoming weekend we are heading to the Jersey Shore for Shower #1. FMIL Newport is hosting a bridal shower for us at a beautiful water front restaurant. Then Shower #2 is the following week at a cute New England Inn, hosted by the Newport Bridesmaids and Newport Mom.

So what does a girl wear to a Jersey Shore Shower and a Boston Tea party? I've looked for weeks for white dresses, I have some crazy idea that I need to wear white to every wedding event, I thought this for our engageemnt party too and ended up in silver. Well after many shopping excursions, I only found one white dress, which I can't wear for both showers.

So here's what I've come up with. I love them both, but feel like the "rope dress" isn't bridal enough.

I love the back on this one!

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Other than being white, I had one other thing that I wanted from the dress- I have to wear it again! Luckily, I love them both and they are perfect summer dresses that I can wear a lot over the next few months. I bet you can guess what dress goes with each shower!

Did you have trouble finding a dress you loved for your shower? Anyone else feel the need to wear white to everything?

The Honeymoon

2010-06-14T23:34:00.001-04:00

Our "honeymoon" has been ever evolving. Growing up, my dream honeymoon was Walt Disney World. As I got older I started to see beyond the mouse and considered tropical beaches and started thinking of various spots in the carribean or Hawaii, but Disney was still a choice. A while into our engagement, Newport Ant offered her time share in Disney World for our honeymoon. It was perfect because she has it in October, right after our wedding.

At the point of our engagement, Disney had been the only place we had gone on vacation together. The photo above is from Disney trip number 2 in 2007. We were beyond excited with Newport Ant's generous offer, but had to decline due to vacation time.
Mr. N started a new job recently and will not have acrrued enough time off by the time our wedding is here to really enjoy a honeymoon. We came up with a few options: take the honeymoon as unpaid, take a mini-moon, or skip the honeymoon completely.

We decided to do a mix of things. We are going to extend our stay in Newport to spend more time with our family, so it will sort of be a mini-moon. Then, at some point in 2011, when Mr. N has more time, we'll go on our "honeymoon". We don't know where, but that is the best part of this. One less thing to plan. Between wedding vendors, plumbers, and floor installers, we want to take a break from plans. Once we've settled into the house and said "I do", we'll have some time to plan a fun and relaxing vacation. We're already looking forward to it!

Has vacation time or a new job affected your honeymoon plans?

OOT Ideas

2010-06-11T14:47:00.007-04:00

Mr. S and I are so appreciative knowing that our friends and family will be travelling to see us say "I do". Choosing the location was an easy choice for sentimental reasons, but I do feel bad that everyone will have to travel. We really didn't have a choice on travel, because either of our home towns would still cause a large number of our guests to travel.

We've tried to come up with ways to make their stay comfortable. None of these ideas are really earth shattering, but I still think these little details make a difference.

1. Send Save the Dates. - Our wedding isn't during the summer or on a holiday weekend, but due to the travel involved, we felt it was important to give our guests advance notice. We sent hotel block information as well as a link to our wedding website. Our room blocks end 2 months prior to the wedding, which is when our invitations will go out. The save the dates were a great way to give advance notification.

2. Create a website with useful information. We've included directions, local restaurants and attractions and will use it if any updates need to be sent.
3. Give clear directions- I'm horrible with directions, so clear directions are always super helpful when it comes to weddings or any day in life. We have links with mapquest directions on our website for each location.
4. Set up Room Blocks - try to find great deals. We spent huors trying to find hotels with quality, affrodability and convenience.

5. Welcome Note- we plan to leave our oot guests a welcome note to let them know how appreciative we are that they have made the trip to our wedding.
6. Printed area information in a folder or oot bag for the non-tech savvy or those who may not visit your website- this includes maps, area attractions and restaurant information.
7. OOT bag/welcome treat. - we plan to fll up bags with snacks for guests who may be hungry after a long drive.

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8. Morning after Brunch- Some of our guests will have a long car ride home the day after our wedding, so we thought it would be nice to feed them before they get on the road. And it's another excuse to hang out with all our firends and family!

Are you having a lot of oot guests? Are you planning to do anything to make their stay more comfortable? Anything I should add to our list?

The Ring

2010-06-08T20:52:00.002-04:00

Mr. Newport and I had talked about marriage numerous times before he proposed. He had given me a promise ring during our first year of dating, during college. We both knew we would get married, but wanted to finish college and start our careers before getting married.

Mr. Newport wanted to pick the ring out on his own. He tends to pick things out I would never buy for myself and end up loving. Most of the time, I actually like his taste in clothes and jewlery for me better than my own....99% of the time. My favorite coat and earrings were Christmas gifts from him, my favorite dress was a birthday gift. So when it came time to choose a ring, I knew he'd find something gorgeous.

That's not to say, I never showed him any rings I liked. If I had a magazine in front of me, I'd show him something I liked. I tended to show him halo rings. I noticed a pattern after while, and so I was surprised when he proposed with something completely different from anything I had shown him.

FMIL and FFIL Newport gave Mr. Newport the ring his father proposed to his mother with over thirty years ago. Mr. Newport was extremely grateful, but wanted to pick out something, so he decided he would use the center stone and choose a different setting.

The center stone is the original diamond, which is a circle solitare, with 4 smaller diamonds on either side, with an engraved design on either side of the band and tiny diamonds underneath each side of the main stone. It has a vitnage look. I hadn't looked at anything like it, but when he proposed with it, I knew it was my perfect ring.

And you can tell how much I love it, by our little photo shoot that weekend....
Did you have any say in the style of your engagement ring?

Inspired

2010-06-06T14:36:00.001-04:00

As wedding Season is coming up, I started thinking of all the weddings I've attended in the past. The past couple years have been a huge source of inspiration wedding wise. Mr. Newport and I have attended quite a few weddings. At each wedding, I find there is always something that sticks out to me. It could be a first dance, a new trend, a unique favor, the vibe of the wedding, the band, anything at all really.

After we got engaged, I found myself sort of judging weddings. Not in a negative way, but I became more intuned to those little details that really make a wedding unique. I found myself looking for these items and assesing what the most wonderful thing is about each wedding.

Last October, we attended Mr. Newport's childhood friend's wedding. We'll call him Mr. Villanova. Mr. Villanova. and his wife met in college. They held their ceremony at their alma mater's chapel. The ceremony was given by their college pastor. They had grown close with him, which made the wedding more personal. They truly made their wedding about their relationship. I felt like I really knew the couple by the end of the night. We heard their story during the ceremony. Their sibling's the maid of honor and best man, gave toasts that were so sweet and gave you such a special glimpse into their lives. We danced all night, with people I had just met. At the end of the night, they hosted an after party, at one of their favorite bars from college. We hung out with all the people who were there when they first met, in college. It was an amazing wedding. I felt nervous attending a wedding, in which I pretty much knew no one, but it ended up being one of the most amazing weddings I have attended. I love how personal everything felt. It wasn't about physical details, it was more about the atmosphere they created by including special places and special people.

At my cousin's wedding, we'll call him Mr. Foxboro, I left raving about his first dance. I've known my cousin for 25 years. Mr. Foxboro is not a dancer, but you would never know it that night. He and his wife had surprised everyone by taking dance lessons for their first dance. It was the sweetest first dance I had ever seen. In addition to their amazing first dance, they also had a mashed potato bar, which I thought was amazing! I love potatatoes, and I had never seen something like this before. It was a huge hit!

At a family friend's wedding, last summer, all of the guests were surprised when her brother in-law showed up halfway through dancing in an easter bunny costume. Apparently at each of his friend's and family member's weddings, he chooses a different costume to show up in. It made for some great photo opportunities, and must be a fun tradition for the people who know what's coming.

I love seeing unique traditions and coming across new trends. Other items that have stood out at recent weddings have been an amazing band, a candy bar, a hot apple cider station, signature drinks, photo booths, groom's cakes, and in general seeing couples who are truly in love.

I think it will be interesting to see how our wedding unfolds. I wonder what will stick out in our guest's minds.

Do you "judge" weddings now that you are engaged? What usually stands out to you?

A Boston Tea Party

2010-05-20T21:07:00.001-04:00

The invites for our Boston Shower were just sent out! Technically they were supposed to be a surprise, but while house sitting for Sister and BIL Newport awhile back I came across them and fell in love. I was going to pretend to be surprised, but I'm not a good liar..... so I blurted it out that I stumbled across them. Then I proceeeded to ask her to have mine addressed with the Weddingbee moniker.
How cute are they? They even embossed elements, which I love!And it is going to be a bridal tea! :) We are also having a bridal shower in New Jersey thrown by FMIL Newport, but that one will be a complete surprise, other than the date and location. The showers are two weekends back to back...I'm really looking forward to June!

Was your bridal shower a surprise?

Disappointments & Silver Linings

2010-05-12T23:59:00.003-04:00

The biggest disappointment during our wedding planning is something I'm still trying to get over. If you've been following along, you may remember Mr. Newport and I met in college. I knew early on he was the one and envisioned getting married at our school's chapel, Ochre Court. Ochre Court is the most significant mansion on the school's campus and hosts not only the chapel, but also many of the school's events. It's where Mr. Newport and I had our first dance and many other amazing memories during our four years of school. I knew it would be the place I said I do. At least I thought I did.

Prior to proposing, Mr. Newport looked into the requirements of getting married at the chapel. On top of being too pricey for us, they also maxed out at 150 guests. At that time we assumed our wedding would be 300-we've now gotten it down to a little under 200. But we knew it was not do-able. We tried to come up with different options, like having a smaller ceremony, but we didn't like excluding anyone. I was really disappointed and I'm still not over it. I keep wishing some way we could get everyone to fit, but even if we could they only have ceremonies when school is not in session, so that limits it to pretty much summer and winter break and smaller breaks inbetween. So at this point everything is booked and on a date that is during the school session, so it's a definite no.

Since we can't get married there, we decided to do our formal photos on campus. I was hoping to do them on the lawn behind Ochre Court. Then I saw a wedding with a photo session at Ochre Court on the Faith Dugan Photography blog. I knew we could take photos on the lawn, but I didn't know it was an option to take photos inside Ochre, as well.

I was so excited to see Faith's post. I've been so disappointed about not having our wedding there, but now I know we can at least take our photos on campus. It isn't quite the same, but when I thought about it, this may actually be better. If we had the ceremony there it would be a bit more awkward to have our photos taken there after the ceremony, since all of our guests would be around. I'm a bit camera shy and having a huge audience would not help. Now we can leave the church and head over and get amazing shots like this couple.

Here are photos of the couple inside Ochre Court. I think they are absolutely stunning!
This is where our college hosts the "snoball" semi-formal dance, which is where Mr. Newport and I had our first dance. The stairs actually lead to the admissions and alumni offices.
We also went to the Halloween dance and senior cocktail here. So many great memories within these walls.
Then outside of Ochre Court is a gorgeous lawn right on the Cliffwalk overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. I love the amazing photos Faith captures of this couple. I can't wait to see what our photographer will do!I'm in love with the wedding party shots, it's such a great location for both shots of us as a couple and larger group shots. These photos make me so happy, when I'm feeling down about not getting married at Ochre, I know I can turn to these photos to cheer me up.

Did you have any major disappoitnments during planning? Did you find a silver lining?

Thanking the Girls

2010-05-05T20:16:00.000-04:00

I LOVE tea. My friends and I have gone out to tea many times, just for fun. It would seem the obvious choice, to bring my bridesmaids out for a bridesmaid tea. Easy enough choice, I always knew this would be the case.

But then I started thinking things through, due to my love of tea, my Massachusetts shower will be a tea party. I didn't really put two and two together, but since we're already doing a tea, it seems repetitive to do two teas during the bridal events. Not that I wouldn't enjoy it, but I also started considering timing. One of my bridesmaids lives in New York, she was also a bridesmaid for Sister Newport and couldn't make it for her bridesmaid tea. I want her to be included, but understand she can't come home for every event. So I decided to make the bridesmaid event during the wedding weekend, so everyone can attend. The only day I'll have all my bridesmaids there is the day before the wedding. We have the rehearsal that night, so an afternoon tea wouldn't make much sense anyways.

I decided to make the day before a true girls day. These girls are amazing. They've thrown us an amazing engagement party, they are all helping to host my MA shower, throwing a bachelorette party, and are all spending a good amount of money on the dress, shoes and accomodations. Plus they are all just awesome friends in general.

I want to do something to really thank them for everything they are doing for us. I looked around at different locations and decided to go with the Castle Hill Inn for the bridesmaid luncheon. It is a beautiful inn overlooking the Newport bridge and the Naragansett Bay. After lunch, we'll head to a salon in Newport to get our nails done. Then spend some time relaxing at the hotel together before the rehearsal. I'm excited that the day before the wedding will be a fun filled relaxing day with my girls. Mr. Newport hasn't planned anything yet, but I'm sure he and the guys will plan a fun day as well.

Are you doing anything special to thank your bridal party?

Incredible Edibles

2010-05-04T21:14:00.002-04:00

The OOT Bags have been a big item on our to-do list that has been getting pushed off in the planning. I have big ideas for these little bags. After reading Mrs. Lemon's post, I knew I wanted to include lots of snacks for all of our oot guests. Every guest is from oot and many will be driving close to 5 hours or flying in to get to the wedding. I want to make sure they feel welcomed right from the moment they arrive at their hotel.

I've gone back and forth on what to include, I've debated on RI treats or NE treats or going with our navy and white color scheme, but then we kept finding fun nautical/shore treats and decided to go with a nautical theme. Now we just need to narrow down, exactly what will go into these bags. We know the basics, such as a welcome letter, wedding information, area information, water bottles, maybe postcards, but we've found an overflow of ideas on the snack front.

Source

An obvious choice for us is Starfish Cookies! Newport Mom has already offered to make them using her famous sugar cookie recipe. Dylan's Candy Bar has original Sweedish fish and mixed Sweedish fish, a classic and fun twist. I wonder if Costco's sells these? We know for sure we will be getting Goldfish, as they can be bought in bulk at large discount stores, such as Costco and I love the way Mrs. JellyBean packaged them for her guests.
I'm not really a fan of Salt Water Taffy, but I love these favors from The Original Fudge Kitchen via Martha Stewart. The Jersey Shore is Mr. N's home, where Salt Water Taffy is a staple, so these would be a fun nod to where he grew up.
And Lobsters are a well known favorite in Boston, so these lollipops from Ju-C Suckers via Martha Stewart, would be a fun nod to my hometown, while sticking to the nautical theme.
And from my Shuckie post, I think you can tell I love these cookies.
Newport Chocolates has amazing nautical chocolates in so many fun shapes that would be perfect. They are so adorable, but I've always wanted to try chocolate making, so I think this would be a fun DIY project!

Now we just need to narrow it down. Which treats would you enjoy most? Do you know of any other fun nautical themed treats?

The First Dance

2010-05-02T23:38:00.001-04:00

When we first talked about our first dance song, we couldn't figure out what to pick. We never really had a song. With no official song, choosing our first dance song hasn't been easy.

I started looking up lists of wedding songs for everything from cocktail music to entrance options. While searching for father-daughter options, I came across the Beatles "In My Life". I had heard it many times before, but as I was reading the lyrics, it didn't remind me of my father, but it reminded me of Mr. Newport. It even ends with our favorite phrase "I love you more".

I loved it. I actually had a friend tell me the song reminded her of Me and Mr. Newport at another wedding. I'm not sure why, but it confirmed my thoughts of it as the perfect song for us. I told Mr. Newport about my new option and he really liked it, too. I thought we chose our song.

A few months later, we were driving somewhere and Mr. Newport put in his Phish CD. The song "Waste" came on and I told him it always reminds me of him because he used to leave lyrics from the song in his away messages in college. He used to put in the lyrics in reference to me. Mr. Newport asked what I thought of it for a first dance song.

I told Newport Mom about the possibility and she couldn't believe I would want song called "Waste" played at the wedding, let alone as our first dance. Then I had her listen to it, and she changed her mind and thought it was a great option.

So we have a decision to make. Go with a more traditional choice or a less traditional choice. It's hard because we really like both options. I think it will come down to the song we like dancing to better. We'll have to do a little trial.

Do you have an "official song"? Did you use it for your first dance, or go with something completely different?

Ms. or Mrs.?

2010-04-29T19:21:00.005-04:00

On my morning commute the other day, I was reading the Boston Metro and came across an article titled Take your husbands name- and lose money. It was just a quick article, which warns that taking your husband's name will "harm your career".

The article goes on to state that women who take their husband's last name are judged as "more dependent and less ambitious" and "less intelligent and competent" than women who keep their maiden names.

It quotes a statistic from a study in the current issue of Basic and Applied Social Psychology, stating women who take their husband's last name earn nearly $1,500.00 less per month. I wonder what types of women were polled in this survey which came up with these statistics. I feel it is more common in certain industries to keep your maiden name. I know many lawyers that feel that they have spent so much time building a name for themselves, they decide to either keep their maiden name, or at least keep it professionaly. I think it would be interesting to see if it has different effects in different fields.

Has your career made an impact on your decision of whether or not to keep your maiden name? Do you think people would judge you for taking your husbands name?

Special Delivery

2010-04-27T21:50:00.000-04:00

When Mr. Newport and I were first talking about marriage, I was pretty sad at the thought of no children in our wedding. There just weren't any kids we were super close to at the time and we didn't want to choose random kids to be in our wedding.

Source (If you can't tell, the bib says "I heart my auntie")

The week after Sister Newport got engaged, Brother Newport who lives in another state called the family to let us know Sister Newport would have a little ring bearer or flower girl in her wedding (and yes, that is how he announced his baby to our family). It was an amazing surprise! At that point we weren't engaged, but I knew it was coming and I knew it meant we'd have a special little person in our wedding, too. It just so happend that a few weeks after Mr. Newport proposed, our little flower girl was born on Halloween. Exactly five years from the day Mr. Newport first asked me out. October is a good month for the Newport!

Brother Starfish asked me to be Little Newport's god-mother. Little Newport is one of the loves of my life. I'm so excited to have not just a flower girl in our wedding party, but to have the specialist little girl in our lives walk down the aisle in front of us. Or knowing her...she may be running down the aisle!

And while she is running down the aisle, she will be in style! I found the cutest dress at the Stationery Studio. I originally wanted it in navy, but it literally was discontinued the week I placed my order, after having been available for a year and a half. But that's probably a good thing. I'm excited that Little Newport will be in white, and her parents will be in navy. I hope my photographer gets an awesome family photo! Are you having any kids in your wedding party?

Bridesmaid Surprise Savings

2010-04-25T23:00:00.000-04:00

So recently, I updated letting you know, that the girls had found their dresses. What I forgot to mention was the fact that right before we placed the order, we got a great surprise....

Sister Newport and Bridesmaid L (in one of my favorite dresses)

Our bridesmaid consultant at Flair called to get the last bridesmaid's measurements and surprised me by saying the fabric I chose was being discontinued. Normally this could be a bad thing, but she said we will have enough time to get the dresses ordered, and they will now be at an even bigger discount!

I'm more excited that my bridesmaids are saving money than if my own dress were getting a discount! I feel guilty having my friends spend so much money on me, so it was awesome to get a surprise savings.

Did you have any great surprises with cost savings during your planning?

Beef or Chicken?

2010-04-22T21:22:00.001-04:00

We recently had our food tasting and let me tell you, there were a lot of unexpected surprises that day. For one we started the morning on an impromptu wine tasting in Sakonnet on our way to Newport.

Going to our tasting, I was pretty sure of what we would pick, at least for the entrees. The ABC has 3 different packages. Within each package there are set entree options. So no matter what you pick, the pricing is the same. So when I saw Filet Mignon was an option, I knew for sure it would be on our menu. I love a good filet!

I also knew we would get a chicken option. Most of my family members are picky eaters. So this again was a definite on our menu. The ABC has two chicken options, chicken picatta or marinated and roasted breast of chicken with mandarin sauce. Chicken picatta seems like it would be a much better choice. I'm a reformed picky eater, so thinking of my own tatse buds I thought there is no way I would have wanted the chicken with any sauce. I used to like really bland food. Picatta sounds like a safer choice for picky eaters.

When it came time to set up our tasting, we were to give the ABC four options we'd like to taste. We opted for the two chickens, the filet, and a new york sirloin. Mainly because we could try up to four options.

New York Sirloin

Filet Mignon with twice baked potato

Mandarin Chicken

Chicken Picatta

After tasting the food, I did a 180. Mr. Newport loved the New York Strip and I loved the Mandarin Chicken. Not what we expected, but we are really happy with our choices.

We also surprised ourselves by deciding to include a pasta cource. I was having trouble deciding if we should include an extra hor' deurves or the pasta course. Mr. Newport and I were leaning towards the hor' deurves and our Moms liked the idea of the pasta dish. After trying the penne in pink vodka sauce, we were sold. It was one of my favorite parts of the tasting! We ended up with choices we weren't expecting, but happy with what we chose. Did you serve all time favorite dishes for the wedding, or go with something you weren't expecting?

See you at the Alter

2010-04-20T19:55:00.000-04:00

Every blog I read seems to have a first look now. And they always end up with amazingly cute photos. There are some big advantages to seeing each other pre-ceremony. I started considering the advantages and came up with a few.

1. More intimate moment. Seeing each other for the first time without a crowd of people.
2. Relieve my nerves. Mr. Newport calms me down and I feel like pre-ceremony, I'll be a mess. Seeing him pre-cermeony would probably make me feel more relaxed.
3. More time for photos.
4. Elongate the wedding fun with each other. Sister and BIL Newport got ready in the same location, it was a fun morning.

All photos from the Snap! photography blog

So there really are some great reasons to do a "first look" pre-ceremony. The pictures above were good enough reason alone to do it. But inspite of these great advantages, we are opting to skip the "first look".

Why? I'd really love to spend the morning taking photos complete with a photo shoot like Sister and BIL Newport, but I'm really looking forward to walking down the aisle and seeing Mr. Newport for the first time that day. He is too.

It's like in 27 Dresses, how Jane's favorite part is watching the groom's face as the bride walks down the aisle. Everyone's eyes are on the bride, but she likes to watch the groom's reaction to the bride. I honestly always look at the bride, but for our wedding I'd love to see Mr. Newport's face for the first time, as the excitement builds up, as I take my last walk as a single girl.

Are you doing a first look? What was the deciding factor?

Finding the Florist

2010-04-18T10:31:00.000-04:00

When choosing our florist, I tried not to be super specific about every type of flower we use. I know it can help to be a little flexible, especially when you are on a budget. I did my research and I learned that Hydrangeas are in season in October, which is perfect because they are one of my favorite flowers. I also like the classic feel of roses, which happen to be in season, too. Other than the two main flowers, I didn't want to be too picky with the types of flowers. Instead, I took the advice of Nancy Liu Chin of Nancy Liu Chin Designs. She recommends describing characteristics of what you want the flowers to look like. I told the final two florists we were deciding between that I like white, soft, romantic, and classic flowers.

I then created a checklist of the flowers we need. We aren't doing floral centerpieces, so this trimmed the list a bit.

Personal Flowers
- Bridal Bouquet
- 7 Bridesmaid Bouquets
- Groom's Bouttenierre
- 7 Groomsmen and Father's of the Bride and Groom Bouttenierres
- Flower Girl Item
- Corsages or Pins for the Readers
- Items for the Mother's of the Bride and Groom

Ceremony Flowers
- 2 Altar Pieces

Reception Flowers
- Transferring the Ceremony Flowers to the Reception Site
We originally told the florists we weren't doing anything for the ceremony, since we are on a budget, we think the church is beatiful on it's own and they have strict decoration requirements. But Newport Mom loves flowers and felt we needed something. We decided to do statement pieces that will work for the alter and the reception's cocktail area.

Other than giving the florists the two flower types, description words, a list of needs and showing them a few photos, their wasn't much else I conveyed. I didn't show them exact bouquets to make, but I did show inspiration pictures. I feel like it's a creative industry and since you don't tell an artist to copy someone else's painting, I didn't want to tell the florist to copy another's.

The two final florists were given the same information, but one definitely was above the other. I actually really enjoyed the meeting with our first florist. She was extremey nice and was willing to work with all of our ideas. She was little out of our budget, but because we really liked her enthusiasm, I kept her in the running.All photos from The Knot

At our second meeting, we again gave the same information, but the florist explained things I wouldn't have know about my inspiration pictures. He explained why some things may not work, and gave suggesstions of alternatives. I may not have agreed with everything he said (Sister Newport and Newport Mom did...it was things they already told me), but I did respect his honesty and proffessionalism. He did say he would do whatever I like, as I am the client, but wanted to give me a better understanding of things. He also wanted to include florals with our centerpieces. We are doing hurricane vases with candles, sand and starfish, with votives all around. He said he would throw in rose petals to surround our centerpieces to add to the look. So this was an extra perk and we a still are coming in at our budget.

We obviously chose the florist who was more creative , honest and willing to work in our budget!

Did you go to your floral appointments with a specific look in mind? Were you open to suggestions?

What's More Exciting?

2010-04-14T20:43:00.003-04:00

What's more exciting than planning a wedding? Planning a life together!

For a year and a half, Mr. N and I have been planning our dream wedding. I have been oohing and ahhing over wedding dresses, venues, photography blogs, wedding blogs, all things nautical, cakes, stationery, diy projects, decor, and everything that goes into planning a wedding. I didn't think anything could be more fun.

Then, about a quarter through our engagement, Mr. N and I started to look for a house. We looked for almost a year before finding our dream home. To be honest it was exhausting and I much prefered planning the wedding, until in fact we found the dream home. Now my mind has shifted from wedding plans to life plans.*
Suddenly the registry is one of my favorite parts of planning!

Did you simultaneously go through two exciting life events at once? A baby, graduating school, a new apartment, new home, etc.???

*Don't worry, there are still plenty of wedding plans and projects to come...it may just be at a slower pace!

Thank You Notes & More!

2010-04-11T19:08:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite engagement gifts was a book on writing notes, which conveniently included thank yous, from Sister Starfish. It's from the Hallmark "Gift Books" collection called On a Personal Note: A Guide to Writing Notes with Style, by Angela Ensminger and Keely Chace.

photo credit: Brooke Photography

I like the authors' attitudes towards thank yous. In the chapter introduction they explain that "great thank you notes tell people what they did- as well as how and why they did it-matters to us." It's a great way to view them as many people think opf the thank yous as a daunting task. to be honest, I love writing notes, but I think after such a huge occassion that has taken quite some time to plan, writing notes is probably the last thing I'll want to do. So it's nice to remember the importance of the note because the person probably did something really nice that made you happy.

One of the most helpful parts in the chapter is the breakdown of the note. The authors break down the structure of different types of notes, including thank you notes. They break the note down into 6 parts.

1. Greet the recipient
2. Express your gratitude
3. Elaborate
4. Compliment and look ahead
5. Restate your gratitude
6. Give your regards

photo credit: Nashan Photographers

They also give great adjectives to describe the gift. I find this helpful because when I have to write multiple thank you notes, it can get repetitive. It's nice to have a resource to and change things up. If my writer's block is really bad, I turn to their sample notes for some new writing style inspiration.

And if that doesn't help, they even include questions to get ideas going. A couple I find helpful include "How did you feel when you opened the gift?, If it is a gift of money or a gift card, how do you plan to use it?"

The thank you chapter is broken into three parts: gifts, support & kindness, and social events & hospitality. So far, I've nly used the gift section for engagement gifts, but I know the next two sections will be helpful when thanking our families and wedding party for their support and the vendors for their services.

photo credit: Lara Swanson Photography

The best part of the book is that it expands beyond thank you notes. It includes all types of notes from business to congratulations to sympathy and more.

It's great because I know I'll use this gift long after our thank yous are sent out.

Did you find any great resources to help you write your thank yous?

Dancing with Dad

2010-04-08T19:45:00.001-04:00

I've been searching for awhile for the perfect father daughter dance song.

I love Cinderella, by Steven Curtis Chapman. It's a really sweet song about a Dad who's little girl is growing up. The song kind of emphasizes living in the moment and sharing one special last dance.

Rascall Flat's My Wish For You is another favorite. I recently fell in love with country music and want to include a bit at the wedding. It's such a perfect song forr either the father-daughter or mother son dance. It is about the wishes a parent has for their child (actually it isn't technically for parents, but that's the what I think when I hear it) . I think the lyrics are so perfect. FMIL Starfish thought so too. She told me that she was thinking of using it for the Mother-Son dance. Which is pretty awesome because I love this song and it's perfect because my future in-laws introduced me to my love for country music during our last vacation together.

My new love for Country led also led me to Tim McGraw's My Little Girl. It's a really sweet song about a father remembering special moments with his daugther, while trying to let go. Kind of perfect for a wedding!

And surprise, surprise, going with the country theme...I fell in love with Heartland's I Loved Her First. I feel like this is the ultimate father-daughter dance song. I've heard it at multiple weddings and it always gets me al ittle teary eyed. This probably would have been my first choice, but Sister Starfish danced with our dad to it last year at her wedding. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I used it again, but I want to have my own special song to dance with Father Starfish to.

Lastly, I recently heard Edwin McCain's Walk With You. If you haven't heard it yet, you should check it out. It's about a father walking his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. It's possibly my new favorite.

I've been debating which song to choose, and then I realized I should let Starfish Dad choose. I'm planning to make him a CD with my top songs and let him choose.

What song did you pick for your father daughter dance? Any amazing ones I'm missing on my list?

Dresses for the Girls, 2

2010-04-06T21:16:00.004-04:00

After narrowing down a few ideas for the bridesmaids dresses, I decided I was in love with the simplicity of the Alfred Sung D446 on the Dessy website. Which is the dress on the right.

I called up every store in MA and RI that carries Alfred Sung. At the time, the Spring collection just came out and I could only find one store that carried the D446. So I booked an appointment at Flair Bridesmaids.

Well apparently I know nothing about fabrics. I had decided early on that I want the girls in a casual and comfortable fabric, nothing with a shine (I have it stuck in my head that shine equals fancy). So when I got to Flair I was surprised to find out that the D446 only comes in a shiny fabric called Dupioni. If I had clicked on the swatch on the website, I would have easily realized that this was a fancy fabric.

When I looked through the store, it seemed like everything was in fancy fabrics. But I explained to my consultant, Leah, the vibe and feel I was looking for. A bit casual, navy cocktail length, something that looks very "Newportish". Leah came up with a few options, some shiny, some not. I had Sister Newport act as a model and try on quite a few dresses. I ended up liking a few, but the one I loved was a dress by Coren Moore. It is absolutely perfect!

The Newport Girls will be wearing the Coren Moore "Courtney" dress in cotton sateen. To have my MOH, Sister Newport, stand out a bit she'll be the only one with a sash. I can't find an exact match, but here it is in silk. After narrowing down the choices, the Newport Girls and I booked a second appointment for fittings. Luckily they all loved it, or at least that's what they told me...... but seriously I think they really do! Which is so awesome. I was really stressed about finding something that they would all feel comfortable and look good in. I was so happy after each bridesmaid tried it on, it was super flattering on everyone! A couple even said they will wear it again and will have to schedule with each other so they don't all show up at the same event wearing it.

Did you stress about finding the perfect bridesmaid's dresses? Did your girls end up happy with your choice?

Dresses for the Girls

2010-03-30T22:36:00.002-04:00

My first bridesmaid dress shopping experience was with Sister Newport when looking for her bridesmaid's dresses. We went to Priscilla of Boston and I was in love with their dresses. Sister Newport chose to do a few different styles and the dress I fell in love with was one of them. I told her I loved it so much that I asked if she would mind if I used it for my future bridesmaids. She said go for it.

Michael Sparks Keegan photography

Funny enough the only girl who ended up wearing it, also happens to be in my bridal party, Bridesmaid M. I was in love with the dress because of one amazing detail....the bow in the back. Bridesmaid M is modeling it in the photo above.

I fell in love and was pretty sure it was the dress, but the more we planned, the more our vision became defined. Coastal, laid-back, elegance seemed to be the theme and a shiny satin material just seemed a bit fancy.

I decided to look around. I decided it had to be navy, cocktail length and a more relaxed fabric.

I deicded to check out Ann Taylor, as most of my work clothes end up being from there. Which is how I know they contstantly have 40% off one item promotions going on. I was looking for a deal. I found a gorgeous dress in navy, but it seemed like every time I went to the site, they only had a few sizes. I also realized it was an online only option, which meant we'd have to pay for shipping to try them out, unless I could find a 40% off and free shipping sale at the same time. It also didn't have the more relaxed fabric I was looking for, but it stayed on the back burner.

Sources (Clockwise from top left): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The Ann Taylor dress was such a favorite, it ended up in our attire inspiration board.

As I was debating on the Ann Taylor, Alfred Sung came out with a new spring line. I checked out the Dessy website and fell in love with a couple of his new designs.

These were the top three contenders.

Did you have a definite look when picking out your bridesmaid's dresses, or were you pretty open when going shopping?

A picture is worth...????

2010-03-24T21:34:00.000-04:00

Choosing the photographer was one of the first wedding planning tasks we accomplished. I must have e-mailed between 15-20 different photographers. I had no clue what our budget was, but since I am a girl who loves my memories, I was willing to splurge.
Reflecting back on the process, I should have been better about narrowing my choices before contacting all of those people. Everyone I contacted, in my opinion, is exremely talented and therefor they probably don't have a lot of time to waste e-mailing people who aren't seriously interested. At the time of contact I thought I was interested, but I just hadn't done enough research and budget planning to know exactly what we were looking for other than someone extremely talented.

I spoke with photographers ranging in the low 2K range to over 10k. The photographers over the 10k range were pretty amazing and depending on what your looking for they may be worth every penny..... but as a bride on a budget, they were knocked out of the search immediately. Luckily after a lot of searching I found a photographer who I think is worth the 10K, but doesn't charge it!
It came down to a few photographers who I set up appointments with. The first one was David Bibeault. He was recommended by a videographer we had met with. He had the lowest prices in our search, which oddly made me wary. I went in with low expectations. I always think, you get what you pay for. So I was willing to splurge on our photos because I want them to be amazing.
He made me change my whole perspective on "you get what you pay for". In my area, everyone I contacted seemed to be right around 5k or up for photography packages with what we wanted included (Engagement Shoot, Full Day Coverage, Rights to Photos, Wedding Album, Online Viewing, Disc of all Images). When we met with Dave, we not only loved his prices, but him as well. He really put us at ease. His work was amazing and totally changed my perception on the cost of things. I feel really lucky to have found him. When we first booked him he had a pretty basic site with some galleries, but a few months after booking he updated his site and started a blog and facebook page, which made me like him even more! Now I can check out his most recent work. Most of the other photographers had blogs, which really gave me more insight into their work and style. I wasn't sure what to expect from him, until I actually met with him.

The lesson I learned during the process of looking for our photographer was to do your research before contacting vendors and know that there are hidden jewels out there. If you find someone in your budget, who you doesn't have a lot of work on the internet, take the opportunity to meet him/her and give them a chance.

Did anyone else learn how to better deal with vendors and what to expect from vendors after your first few bookings?

All photos credited to: David Bibeault

Are we there yet?

2010-03-22T20:39:00.002-04:00

Some people like quick engagements, some go for the typical year, but me and Mr. Newport, well we wanted to enjoy the "honeymoon" period. I've called him my boyfriend for 5 years pre-proposal, I'll call him fiance for 2 and then I get a lifetime to call him my husband. We chose a long engagement for a few reasons. I understand the short engagements if you don't want to wait, but we're planning a whole life together so we decided two years in the grand scheme of things wasn't that bad and honestly the time is flying by.

So why wait? Here's a few perks to a longer engagement:

1. Top choice of vendors. At two years out we still didn't get our first choice date at our venue, but we did get one in our top 5. For every other vendor so far, we have been able to get our number one choices. Like our phtographer, David Bibeault.

2. The Budget. longer time to save=our dream wedding. We only had a fraction of our budget saved when Mr. Newport asked me to say yes. So the extra two years has given us the time to really save for our dream wedding. Plus we're gaining interest on all of the money saved for a longer period of time. Interest alone has already covered two extra guests at our wedding! It was also helpful for our families, who are aslo helping to pay. My parents had just helped pay for Sister Newport's wedding, so we wanted to give them a break before wedding #2.

3. Time for DIY! I have so many projects for our wedding and if we had a short engagement, there is no way we would get things done. 4. Time to enjoy it. I think it's fun being a bride to be, and I have two full years to enjoy that status.

5. Extra reasons to celebrate. Due to our long engagement, our friends threw us an engagement party and my bridesmaids brought me out for a one year countdown celebration. They were fun extra events that aren't too common, but we loved that our friends made these days special.
The down sides to a long engagement?

For us, there really hasn't been any.... until we started house hunting. We're in the midst of purchasing our first home, and to be honest, some days I'm just over wedding planning. There are days, I wish we were married and could start focusing fully on the home, and not worry about coordinating schedules, booking appointments and budgeting for two huge life events. Our life is pretty hectic and it's sometimes hard going through the two together. I keep hoping things will calm down once we close on the house, but who am I kidding....I know I'll want to reonvate and decorate, so it looks like the Newports have a busy year ahead.

How long was your engagement? Did you find any perks or downsides to having a longer or shorter engagement?

Shuckies!

2010-03-16T20:26:00.002-04:00

Today I got a really exciting e-mail in my inbox. After attending the New England Food Show, BIL Newport sent me an e-mail saying:

"I was at the new england food show yesterday and saw something you guys might like for the wedding. It's a fortune cookie but it's a scallop shell. Very cool. They can be customized too. Chocolate dipped, custom color sugar, messages, etc. It's called shuckie. www.shuckie.com"

He even got us samples!

The cookies are pretty cool, after further investigation, aka, checking out their website, I learned that they have fun fortunes inside and on the back of each "quotie", they have a fact about fish. One of Mr. Newport's favorite hobbies is fishing! I love that they are nautical, unique, semi-local (out of Maine) and fun! I couldn't find pricing on the website, but I will be contacting the company to learn more. I'm really excited about BIL Newport's find for us.

Have any of your friends or family members found great wedding items or given you ideas?

A Double Wedding

2010-03-09T20:10:00.001-05:00

In March of 08' BIL Newport proposed to Sister Newport, about 7 months later, Mr. Newport got down on two knees and asked me to be his wife.

Newport Dad was ecstatic, so much so that he started coming up with "great" wedding ideas, like the double wedding. Which Sister Newport was totally on board with, I on the other hand was not. I didn't understand how you could make a wedding personal, when you are sharing the day with another couple. I joked with Sister Newport that we'd do the double wedding, if the theme was Mr. and Miss Newport. She didn't really care for that theme.

I was perfectly happy planning our own wedding, when one day, I was looking at our photographer's website and for the first time ever, I cam across a double wedding! It got me thinking about what could have been.

Look how happy this dad is, and the brides are happy too!

It would have been so special to have Newport Dad walk us down the aisle arm and arm and arm.

Photos by DBPhotography

Some days I wonder what could have been with the double wedding.....

Would you ever consider a double wedding?

Take a Seat

2010-03-04T18:35:00.001-05:00

We've got some time before putting together our table assignments, but looking back to past weddings, I started thinking about the different ways to set up the tables. Everyone has different ideas on how guests should be seated. It typically comes down to assigned or not assigned. But when you plan to assign guests to specific tables, there are still quite a few possibilities.

Groups who know each other- This is the most common way to assign your guests. It makes sense to put people who know each other together. It makes the guests feel comfortable and lets them have fun. It's espcially great to put people who know each other, but may not see each other too often, together. This way they can catch up. This is my personal favorite. I like being able to hang out with friends and family members at other people weddings.
By age- Put the 20 somethings together, put the 30 somethings together, put the teens together, put the kids together, put the "adults" together.... At many cousin's wedding, I was put at the "kids table" and it was fun to have other kids my age to hang out with.

By couple status- If your a couple you sit with a table of couples, if your single, you sit at the singles table. I'm not so sure how I feel about this option. At a friend's wedding, I went with my fiance and we knew a lot of people at the wedding, who all happend to be single. We were put with random other couples, while most of our other single friends sat together. I would have loved to sit with our friends, but I'm sure the bride had her reasoning.

By Family- Putting an entire family together at a table, i.e. Mom, Dad, Brother and his date, sister and her date, sister and her date. I've been to a couple family weddings where this was the case. I think sometimes it makes sense, but to be honest, I'd rather sit with my cousins who I don't see as often as immediate family. But, it did get me away from my table and on the dance floor, so I can see the advantage of this to get guests mingling, while still feeling comfortable with their table.

By similarities- Putting people together who have things in common. I think this is a great way to decide on where to put that friend who doesn't know anyone else. Think of his lifestyle and put him at a table where he has people he'll enjoy hanging out with for the night. I went to a wedding with Mr. Newport for one of his childhood friends, where we pretty much knew no one. The couple put us at a table with their other friends who Mr. Newport ended up having a lot in common with (grew up on the Jersey shore, big hockey players, a couple engaged people, etc. etc.). It ended up being one of the best weddings we had ever been to, we had a blast with the group at our table and they were so easy to connect with.

Completely random- random, like pulling names out of a hat to pick table assignments. I have never seen or heard of this being done, but Newport Cousin M said she wants to do this at her future wedding to force people to mingle and have fun. She and her mom think it's the best idea ever. When they say random, this includes you most likely not sitting with your date, unless you happen to get pulled from the hat for the same table....not likely at a 200 person wedding. I'm not sure how this will go over, but it will be interesting to see.

I think we will go with a mix of a few of the above, minus the compeltely random option. I'll let Newport Cousin M introduce that one to the family. It could either be really fun or a big flop.

Are you having table assignments? If so, how are you deciding who sits where?

"You're my Lobster"

2010-03-03T19:15:00.005-05:00

Most brides are on some type of budget, and wedding dreams sometimes need to be toned down or completely cut to make the budget work.

When we started planning our dream Newport wedding, I had big ideas. I wanted it to be a weekend affair with events throughout. Then reality set in.... a.k.a. the budget. My dreams of additional events were toned down, and we had to figure out what would give us the most bang for our buck. We decided to go with a morning after brunch as a send off for our guests. I'm so excited about the brunch, but I would have loved to treat our guests to a welcome dinner in addition to the brunch.

I had dreams of a traditional lobster bake. Can you imagine the possibilities?

I am in love with this rehearsal dinner shown on the Brian Phillips Photography blog. Click on the link to see more gorgeous photos!

I love the lobster details in this rehearsal dinner, photos by Snap! Photography, another RI photographer. The event was planned by Raina of Raina Dawn Events.
We had a senior event during our college years hosted at Kempenaar's Clambake Club in Middletown, RI. The photo possibilities would be fun! They have a built in photo area, as seen in the lovely photo by Newport photographer Faith Dugan. The site also has volleyball nets and horseshoes, which would make for a fun welcome event.

And no event is complete without a little inspiration from Martha. How cute are these diy place cards and invites?

What wedding dreams did you have to tone down or completely cut due to your budget?

Registering: the Practical

2010-03-02T19:09:00.001-05:00

When we set up our second registry we wanted to go somewhere practical. After researching different options, we decided on Bed, Bath and Beyond. We realized they have the same items as many of their competitors, but at much cheaper prices!

For example, when we were considering china, I fell in love with Lenox's Opal Innocence. At Macy's it is typically $172.00 per place setting, but often goes on sale for $119.99. At Bed Bath and Beyond it is always $119.99 and they always have 20% off coupons, so if guests are coupon savvy, they can get the place setting at $95.99!

After learning the price differences, we were completely on board with BB&B. It doesn't hurt that they have an incredible amount of items to choose from. They have so much in fact, that we did have to visit a couple of stores to see different items. Not every store has the same inventory. Guests who live near Newport Mom will most likely shop at the store near her, but they don't have our dinnerware, we had to drive a bit further to find a store that carries it. Same with our cookware and flatware. This has been the only down side to registering at BB&B, but since we have multiple registeries, I doubt it will be an issue.

So what does our china/dinnerware look like? Well even though I absolutely love the Opal Innocence china, we decided it isn't very practical for our lifestyle. We plan to continue holidays at Mr. Newport's ant's house (if you pronounce it ant do you spell it ant or aunt? I say aunt, and Mr. Newport calls his aunt ant), or at Sister Newport's house, Newport Dad's, newport Mom's or FPIL Newport's house. We tend to visit a minimum of three houses on the holidays. So needless to say, we won't be needing it for many occassions.

Instead of a fancy china, we went for a more practical version, Wedgewood White. Mr. Newport loves the simplicity and I love that I can dress it up or down based on the ocassion.

So with practical china picked out, we were able to continue registering for some favorites like the kitchenaid mixer (did you know this is included for the 20% off coupon?), Calphalon Contemporary Stainless Steel non-stick cookware, Henckles knife set, Pyrex measuring cups and Calphalon bakeware.

We are such a practical couple, that BB&B was the perfect registry choice with all of their well known quality brands at great prices. This was by far the easies place to regster and our favorite. We especially love going onlien, so we can see it all in one place.

Here are a few of the other perks to registering at BB&B:

Incentive program- ability to receive free gifts when registering for specific items, that are purchased off of your registry
Gift tracker- which helps with thank you notes
Completion program- get a discount on items that were unfulfilled on your regitry with a one time coupon to use once in store and once online up to three months after the event
Free announcement cards
Complimentary gift packaging in store for guests
Hassle Free Returns
Refer a friend program- I was refered to BB&B by Sister Newport, so they gave her a $25.00 referral card good towards any purchase over $50.00. If you plan to register here, see if any of your friends were recently married and used tehm and make sure to tell the consultant when you set up your registry!

Did you have a favorite registry location? what made them stand out?

Registering: the Fun Stuff

2010-03-01T19:48:00.002-05:00

When we first registered, it was 22 months before our wedding. Our friends were throwing us an engagement party and we were told to set up a registry with a few options. We decided to start out with Crate and Barrel. At that point we had no home, and weren't sure what we actually needed or wanted. We liked the idea of adding a few small ticket decorative and entertaining items.

So why Crate and Barrel? It semed like a good starting point. They have great "price points" for an engagement party. This was kind of our "starter registry", before really having to think about the important things. This was a registry of wants, as the second registry will be filling the needs and will be much more practical.

Our Crate registry ended up with about 10 items on it for our engagement party. It's been over a year since we created it, and it's up to about 20 items and I'm pretty sure it will stay that way.

My favorite decorative item is Crate's Hutton Table Lamp. I think it will go perfect with our future bed set.

Mr. Newport's favorite is the Miranda Trifle Bowl. He's hoping I'll make him lots of chocolate trifle (or goop, as he calls it), in the years to come.

A few notes on crate's registry:

Crate offers a 10% completion bonus. After the wedding, you can save 10% on unfulfilled registry items, including furniture.
Crate offers a "Thank You Manager". Before you recieve the gift, you'll know who it's from. You'll also be able to keep track of who you've thanked.
Gift Registry Bonus gifts. Crate has special offers based on what you register for.
30 day return policy.
Offer registry guide and check list.
Offer announcement cards.

Are you registering at more than one store? Do your registries have different vibes (practical, fun, decorative, etc.)?

People Toppers

2010-02-22T22:40:00.002-05:00

Mr. Newport hasn't had many requests for the wedding other than no tux and he really wants a "people topper". I have been searching for the perfect "people topper" for over a year. At the begining of that year, I was reading one of my bridal magazines (Sorry I don't remember which one, I was subscribing to about 6 at the time) and I saw a Lladro topper. I had never heard of Lladro until I met Mr. Newport. FMIL Newport has been collecting Lladro since she bought her first piece on her honeymoon with FFIL Newport in St. Maarten, just over thirty years ago. When I saw the Lladro topper, I thought it was perfect. It is beautiful and it would be kind of sentimental.

Then I looked it up online...... I didn't realize how expensive Lladro is! There are two I found on the site that are absolutely beautiful, but I couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money.

Lladro's Together Forever and The Happiest Day A couple of months into the engagement, Newport Mom surprised us with "The Happiest Day" as an engagement present (after scouring Ebay and scoring an awesome deal!). It was my favorite because the groom is wearing khakis and a navy blazer!

It arrived and we were super excited, until we opened the box. The figurine is HUGE! I think it would sink if we attempted to use it as a cake topper. I think you'd need a large, sturdy cake to pull this off......so we were back to the drawing board. We decided we'll display this with our guest book, or sweetheart table. But we continued on our search for the perfect cake "people topper".

Then one night on my commute home, while flipping through the newest Brides magazine, I came up with people topper number 2. WeddingStar has a topper that is completely us.

Remind you of anything? Yeah, it reminds me of our proposal, too. The only problem? The bride is blonde, and I'm brunette. I was hoping for two brunette cake people. So I did some searching, and I couldn't find the True Romance Couple (name of the topper) with a brunette bride anywhere for sale, but I did find the frame below with my dream topper, yet it's not for sale anywhere on WeddingStar's site. It sactually says only blonde bride for sale.

I decided to contact the website, and I'm waiting to hear back. If that doesn't work, I'll be purchasing a blonde bride and giving her a little dye job.

Anyone else have trouble finding the perfect "people topper"? Actually for that matter, is anyone else having a "people topper"? They seem more and more rare these days, but the Newports still love them.

The Dress that Almost Made it

2010-02-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

After my first trip to Madeleine's Daughter, I needed to plan a second trip, to bring my bridesmaids to help me make a big decision. Which dress to choose? I was never able to find a date to get us all up there, so in the end it was myself, Newport Mom, Sister Newport, Newport Aunt K, and three of my bridesmaids.

When we arrived in the store, eight months since my last visit, they no longer had samples for me to try of the two dresses I was deciding between. I was left with only my pictures and memories of how I felt trying them on. Luckily I did have the pictures. One of the two is shown below. I had thought this was the one. It wan't until getting home and staring at the photos of the two dresses, that I knew I made my choice. I loved this dress in person, but after looking at it in photos, I felt the bottom half was a little too flowy and not as flattering as the other. I thought I had made my decision.

Because I had asked my bridesmaids to travel a state away, I asked Kerry, my bridal consultant if I could try on other dresses for fun. She pulled about 10 dresses. I tried on dress after dress feeling confident in my original choice. I tried on a few different styles just to see what they were like, since I was a little more specific with styles in the past. I tried on mermaid, trumpet, and ball gowns.

When I tried on the last dress in the group, I looked at myself in the mirror before going out to see my friends and family. My initial reaction was Newport Mom is going to love this. If any dress sways her decision, this will be it.

As soon as I walked out jaws dropped. Everyone was saying this is "the dress". Newport Mom especially. All of the sudden, I was confused . I went from assurance that I was choosing the right dress to completely clueless. I had been waiting throughout the whole shopping experience for a reaction to a dress like this, but the reaction happend to the wrong dress, not my dress, not THE dress.

When I asked what they liked more about this dress Newport Mom said, "the other dress is so you, it's something expected, but this dress WOWS you.".

I loved the reaction so much, I started to think it was a contender. I did feel beautiful in it, but I never wanted a princess gown. It wasn't lacey, no cap sleeves, no flower details, and definitely not flowy. It was actually overwhelming with material and hard to walk in. Plus it had a train and I was against trains from the beginning.
I stared back and forth between my camera (looking at photos of the dress, the one that I thought was THE dress) and the mirror. I was agonizing. Did I want the dress I loved, or a dress that would get this kind of reaction. I went around and asked everyone's opinion. When I got to bridesmaid E, she said "I do love the princess dress, but I can tell you love the other one more". Although she wouldn't have chose my choice, it was nice to have someone stand up for it. After that, the rest of the comments were similar. My mom had to pull me aside because she knew I was agonizing. She let me know that although she did love this dress, I had to feel confident with my choice. I am indecisive and she knew I'd stress if I chose the wrong dress.

I ended up following my heart and going with the dress I had loved and stared at on my digital camera for the last eight months. I couldn't even talk about dresses for the rest of the day. Bridesmaid M let me know on the way out that she was happy I chose that dress. I think they all realized how much I loved it. I just nodded. I literally was still thinking all day what if I made the wrong choice. They tried to reassure me that they are both beautiful dresses and either one would be a good choice, so I couldn't have chosen wrong.

It wasn't for another two days that I finally felt like I had 100% made the right decision. When I look at the dress I do like it, but I don't love it. I don't stare at it and think, this dress is so me. When I stare at the other one, I think "this is the dress, this is my dress, this dress is so me." And that makes me happy.

So where is THE dress? Well it's a surprise, I'm keeping it to myself, my bridesmaids, Newport Aunt K, and Newport Mom until the wedding. So you'll just have to wait and see!

Did you have a tough time deciding between two dresses? Did you choose something against the opinion of others?

Cake Inspiration

2010-02-12T23:24:00.003-05:00

When we were thinking about our wedding cake, we had two criteria, all white and simple.

After looking at numerous wedding magazines and blogs, I found many gorgeous and intricate cakes. I love cakes with texture and unique design elements, cakes with florals and fun shapes. But in the end we kept coming back to one particular cake.

I found a picture in the early planning stages in the Knot Boston Magazine. I was drawn to the wedding because the couple had a similar color scheme of blue and white and used hydrangeas. As I was reading the article, I saw the cake and I knew it was it. I held on to the photo in my wedding planning binder. Over the following year, I kept searching for other designs, but always ended up back with this one. We both love the simple design of the incresingly larger dots. We are skipping the flowers, as we both love the simplicity of the cake.

Were you indecisive about how to design your cake, or did you have a vision in mind all along?

Cake Tasting #5

2010-02-11T22:39:00.003-05:00

By cake tasting number 5, I was a little discouraged. Everything was ending up over our price range, and we just hadn't found a vendor that was the complete package: taste, price, design and customer service. We had met with two really great options, but one was over our price range, and the other tasted good, but not great. Then there were the other two which were definite no's from the start.

I was hoping to use a vendor out of RI, but after 4 strike outs, I decided on a whim to call Konditor Meister, who had done Sister Newport's Wedding Cake. I had already gone on a tasting with them for Sister Newport's wedding and loved it. It was the best tasting I have been on. I couldn't remember their starting price per slice and had no idea what their delivery fee was. I wasn't too hopeful about it, just pretty desperate.

Michael Sparks Keegan photography

I asked a couple of my bridesmaids to accompany me to the tasting. They had an opening the following Saturday at 9:00 a.m.

When we arrived, we met with Meghan, my cake consultant. I showed her my cake inspiration. She checked on pricing and I was extremely surprised to find out it was in our budget! She checked the delivery fee, and with that included, the cake was still in our budget. Pretty much right on point.

The tasting started off on a high note. I already knew I loved their flavors, but it didn't stop us from digging in. We tried....

yellow cake with lemon mousse
chocolate cake with oreo filling
chocolate cake with chocolate filling
red velvet cake with cream chese filling
carrot cake with cream cheese filling
tiramisu cake
white cake with strawberry grand marnier filling
chocolate cake with rasberry mousse filling
yellow cake with banana cream filling

It was just as last time, delicious!

After we had dug in to the cakes, another consultant stopped by with bride and groom chocolate covered strawberries.

I knew for sure, we had to look no further. The cakes taste amazing, the price was right, and the customer service was unparalleled. I sent Mr. Newport a text (he was at work), saying "I found our baker!"

Before leaving, I booked a second appointment for the following Saturday to take Mr. Newport, Newport Mom, and Sister Newport to finalize our flavor choices and make a deposit.

As we left, Meghan, our cake consultant gave me a box of pastries to congratulate us, boxed up our leftover cakes (I didn't want them to go to waste!), and 4 cookie favors to test out.

After a great experience, I was looking forward to bringing Mr. Newport to our final tasting. I still can't get over the customer service. They really know how to make a bride feel special!

Did you go on any vendor visits with exceptional customer service?

Searching for the Dress

2010-02-09T23:42:00.000-05:00

While on my quest for the dress, I felt like I was struggling. I couldn't find any dresses that really stood out to me. I kept coming back to dresses with four characteristics, although never on the same dress: cap sleeves, lacey, flowy, or flower details.

After a year of looking, I felt like I was never going to find "THE DRESS". Then, I went to a Wedding Show in Boston and came across Madeleine's Daughter, a boutique in Portsmouth, NH. A little out of the way, but they had this dress:
I was instantly in love. I loved the lace and the flowy bottom. I'm partial to empire waists, so it had extra appeal. Shortly after the show, I had booked an appointment a state away. I dragged Newport Mom and Sister Newport along.

We got there and I wasn't impressed with the dress. I liked it, but I didn't LOVE it. I also was annoyed by the silver sequin swirl on the top of the dress, it seemed out of place and really bothered me. I worked with Kerry, my sales consultant at Madeleine's Daughter.

I gave her my budget and the four things I liked. I showed her some pictures and pretty much said everyrthing I liked and didn't like about each one. She ended up showing me dresses I never would have thought of and I was starting to actually think I'd find "the dress".

She brought out dresses with cap sleeves, lace, flower details and dresses that flowed:
She brought out one dress with amazing flower details, but it was less modest than I would like. I realized quickly, I did not want a v-neck. The dress was shot down quickly, although I really love the flower details on the top: I then tried on a dress with cap sleeves. I loved the top of this dress, but wasn't crazy about the bottom. It was too form fitting for me. Although I did love the laced up back. I thought it was different. I then tried on a flowy dress. It was a dress by Emerald Bridal. They were having a sample sale, so the dress would be 15 % off and under my budget. It was simple, and I loved it when I tried it on in the store.
I thought it was the one. By the end of the day, I thought a couple dresses were the one. I went from having the dilemma of not loving any dresses to having the dilemma of not knowing which dress to choose.

Did you have a hard time finding a dress you liked?

Cake Tastings #3 & 4

2010-02-07T10:20:00.001-05:00

Dyane's Sweet Tooth in Cumberland had the best prices we found in RI. Cakes start at $2.75 a slice and go up in $.25 increments based on the design. The cake designs were amazing and the cake tasted good, too!
Mr. Newport and I tried chocolate cake, vanilla cake and white cake with a few different fillings. We both really liked the buttercream icing. The cakes were so moist and delicious. The chocolate was our favorite, which was surprising because we both usually prefer vanilla.
We liked that many of the cakes displayed had price per slice cards shown with the cake.
The only downside is the delivery fee. It is quite expensive to deliver a cake to Newport, since the bakery is close to an hour away. So it ended up almost evening out with the more expensive cake baker we tried in tasting number 1. He was offering a 10% discount and waiving a delivery fee, since the bakery is about 5 minutes from our venue. Despite the delivery fee, we left Dyane's Sweet Tooth as a close contender.

We moved on to tasting number 4. It was awful. I won't even mention the name of the bakery. We were given the name of this bakery as a recommendation from a couple we went to school with. They used the bakery for their wedding and gave high praises. We were really excited about this one, due to the recommendation.

We booked an appointment and drove close to an hour to get there. We arrived and were offered one slice of white cake with raspberry filling. Mr. Newport wasn't crazy about the flavor, he doesn't want fruit filling, and I wasn't crazy about the customer service. I was disappointed that we drove that far to try one option that we wouldn't have actually considered. I asked if we could try vanilla or chocolate cake or any other fillings, and he pretty much said, well if you want to try them, you can come back for another tasting, I'm all out.

If we had just walked in at the last minute, I would have completely understood, but we had called in advance. I found it completely unprofessional and we both agreed, we will not be considering that bakery for our wedding.

Did you come across any unprofessional vendors in your planning?

Cake Tasting #2

2010-02-04T21:07:00.001-05:00

Our second cake tasting was a huge let down. I had researched different bakers and had found one that was reasonably priced (actually the cheapest in our search). We were super excited about this tasting because it happened to be at one of our favorite bakeries in the Newport area. We had been there so many times for sandwiches, soups, and baked goods during our last two years at Salve. Even Newport Mom was excited as we had recently gone and bought apple cinnamon cupcakes that were amazing.

Newport Mom, Sister Newport and I ended up going on our own one day, as we had time to kill between other appointments and they had an opening to do a tasting.

We sat down with the cake consultant, and she brought out four options. We tried a chocolate with chocolate mousse filling, a vanilla with strawberries and cream filling, a vanilla with lemon filling, and a vanilla with vanilla frosting as the filling. Each of which were topped with vanilla frosting.

I liked them each on the first bite, but they were too sickeningly sweet, you couldn't have more than one bite. I happen to love super sweet desserts, so if I couldn't handle these, we knew the guests couldn't. Sister Newport and Newport Mom did not like them at all. They packaged up the leftovers and we brought them home for Mr. Newport to try.

He thought it tasted like bad cake mix from a box and also disliked the sweet frosting.

This vendor was our biggest let down, as we love them so much for their other items. The first vendor was a little pricey, this was a definite no, so we knew it was time to book an appointment or two more.

How many cake tastings did you go on before you found your favorite?

Registry Favorite

2010-02-02T23:07:00.003-05:00

When we first started registering, we weren't really feeling it. It's hard deciding what you need, when your living with your mom/MIL. No house/no apartment=no fun registering. We couldn't pick out anything with colors, because we have no idea what our future home will look like.

The one thing we knew we wanted for sure, was a nautical bedroom. When we first went to block hotels, I fell in love with the hotel's bedding and room decor. I pretty much want to steal their whole design. I love the two toned navy and white walls, and I love the simple bedding.

Here are a couple shots of one of the rooms at the Newport Hotel and Suites: And here is the set (Italian Percale, Marine by Hudson Park) we registered for at Bloomingdales:I love that our bedroom will remind us of our wedding weekend! Cheesy, I know.

Do any aspects of your home remind you of your wedding?

Venue Viewing

2010-01-31T20:49:00.001-05:00

Mr. Newport and I are in love with our venue, The Atlantic Beach Club. Since our engagment, we have gone to visit, at least 5 times. Our Wedding coordinator probably thinks we're crazy. I apologize every time I ask for another visit and assure her it is the last time, and she tells me to come as often as I'd like. So I do! I know it sounds a bit obsessive, but the first time we went was to meet with them and look at the place, the second was to sign and show my mom, the third was to show my bridesmaids, the fourth was to show my dad, sister and future brother in-law, the fifth was to show FFIL and FMIL Newport.I know certain people show the dress to multiple people prior to, but haven't heard of many showing the venue off so much. I think it's interesting to see what are other bride's favorite aspects of the wedding are that they like to show off.

Anyone else gone through something similar where you love showing a certain aspect to everyone?

Cake Tasting #1

2010-01-28T21:23:00.001-05:00

Our first cake tasting was extremely last minute. We had a couple of other appointments booked, and time to kill in between. We decided to stop at Cappuccino's Bakery and Cafe to see if they had an available appointment. Luckily, someone had just cancelled.

We sat down with the owner, Paul. He told us about their flavors, pricing, and everything else we would need to know. He brought out a few cakes to test and they were amazing. Mr. Newport and I originally thought we'd just go with a vanilla on vanilla cake. It is our favorite, but after trying the flavors at Cappuccino's I'm completely indecisive.
As it was last minute, I wasn't prepared, so I thought I'd share one of my favorite photos of their work, from their website.

We first tried a white cake with strawberries and cream, and a white cake with mocha fudge and Bailey's Irish Cream filling. They weer both amazing, but oddly I was in lvoe with the white cake with strawberries and cream. One of my only pre-requisettes for a wedding cake was NO fruit fillings. I have never eaten a cake with fruit filling that I've liked. This cake totally switched my perspective. It was so light and delicious.

Next we moved on to my favorite type of cake- yellow. We had a yellow cake with lemon custard filling and a yellow cake with rasberry mousse filling. Again I was in love with fruit filled cake.

Lastly, we tried chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse, and chocolate cake filled with mocha fudge. I've never really liked chocolate cake, so I had to turn to Newport Mom who is a chocolate cake lover for an opinion. She loved it, but we both agreed that the white cake with strawberries and cream was unbelievably delicious.

Now I have no clue what to do about the cake flavor. I really thought this would be an easy choice. Mr. Newport and I both love vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. We thought it was no brainer on the flavor choice. I guess now we'll have to go to another tasting together to figure it out.

Did you go with your favorite cake flavor, or did you change your mind after trying something delicious at a cake tasting?

The Wedding Weekend

2010-01-26T20:16:00.001-05:00

I have always dreamed of going on a mini vacation with all of my closest loved ones. My maternal grandmother initially instilled the idea in me. Before she passed away, she dreamed of having all of our family members go on a trip together. This family included her 8 children, their spouses, 25 grandkids, their significant others, and a few great grandkids. When she first brought it up, it was supposed to be a weeklong trip, a cruise, a trip to Disney or a trip to our roots in Ireland.

After some family discussions, and indecision, the weeklong trip was demoted to a weekend in New Hampshire. She wanted to bring her family to the Mount Washington Hotel, where her husband, my grandfather had worked in his early years, for a long weekend. Again, after family discussion and indecision, the trip never happend.

My grandmother never lived to see her family getaway come to life, but it's finally going to happen. Both myself and my cousin are planning semi-destination weddings in New England. This upcoming August, my cousin and his fiance are getting married in New Hampshire overlooking the White Mountains, then in October, we'll all be together again Newport.

Photo by Onne Van Der Wal

I have been dreaming of a family getaway since my grandmother came up with the idea, and I'm even more excited that this getaway will include all of my family. Mr. Newport and I are excited that we will have all of our closest friends and families together for a whole weekend. After years of dating and telling friends stories of each others lives, our worlds will finally collide in a fun packed weekend. We are so excited about the weekend, we opted not to do a honeymoon and will extend our stay in Newport in case anyone else stays in town. With a few days to ourselves, of course.

In reality, we will be there for just about a week. Some guests have already indicated they be spending a few extra days in Newport.

During the course of the weekend we are hoping to come up with an extra event to show our guests our appreciation for their traveling, and to make the trip more enjoyable.

So far we have tossed around a few ideas like a night on the town in Newport, a morning after brunch, a pizza party, a softball game, or maybe a wine tasting. We have yet to look into most of these ideas. Some are more ideal for smaller crowds, while others would be fun with a big group.

Keeping in mind we are on a budget, do you have any fun ideas for events with the guests? Are you planning a wedding weekend?