Wedding Weekend aka We Need A Better Camera

Fourth of July weekend, as I've mentioned, was spent in Tennessee celebrating the nuptials of two dear friends.  The groom was the best man in our wedding.  It was really special to be able to be there (and for Erik to be in the wedding) and celebrate with them.  I'm so happy work did not get in the way of being able to attend.  I was worried until 11am the day before my flight left that a deal I've been on was going to sign on July 5.  That would mean a weekend much like the one before this (and this).  I suppose I can thank Greece for having the 4th off!

At any rate, the wedding was amazing! The bride did such a great job planning all the little details (some of which were included in a wedding party packet that I lovingly dubbed "the manifesto").  Erik and I wish them all the happiness in the world and the best of luck with their upcoming stint long distance (we know what it's like!).  Some highlights from the weekend:

Exhibit A of needing a new camera!

There's nothing up there - we just thought it would look cute in a photo.

Exhibit B of needing new camera - this does not do the bride justice at all! Her dress was pure fabulousness!!

I actually don't have anything to say about this... Men. Sigh.

Love that everyone is embracing the sweetheart table!

Some of the photos we took turned out, but I fear that 2010-2011 is going to be the year of bad photos!  Next month my goal is to find a small, affordable point-and-shoot so that I don't ruin all our good memories.  Plus, putting more photos on the blog is really making me want to up the ante since I'm enjoying my NYC scavenger hunt.

Ceremony Planning

Erik and I have been working on the ceremony in the background. We've done it in the car on the way home from Mother's Day and from his grandfather's 80th birthday party as well as from another friend's wedding. This planning of the ceremony, however, ended after I moved to NYC (as with most other wedding planning until last week!).

Soo.... in comes our officiant. He emailed me last week and was like, "Hey, um... need the ceremony...." So, Erik and I got back on it. And, after a few reviews from bridal party and non-bridal party members, it is perfect! I'm so excited about it. I was reading it tonight out loud to see how long it was going to be and it is 12 minutes... before adding dramatic pauses and time for readers to get to the microphone. So, are probably looking at a 30 minute ceremony from start (walking of the g'ma) to the end (us leaving!).

I'm going to send it to our officiant in the morning (E is still deciding on his reader). After that, it's program time!

Champaign Shower

Last week my friends threw me a really lovely "surprise" shower. Surprise is in quotes because it was a surprise until the day before (they didn't want me to plan anything at that time). I had my suspicions that there was something going on but was unsure because things can just kind of fall by the wayside during finals. It really made it that much more special to have everyone there. Some of them weren't even done with finals yet.

We went to Jim Gould's for breakfast (with the wonderful Mark as our server). Funny side note: I ordered "Breakfast" — it was a My Cousin Vinny moment. We had these lovely cupcakes from Cakes on Walnut for our dessert. I'm not normally a huge fan of sweets but these puppies tasted exactly like vanilla icecream (without the melting!).

Bmaid Jess had arranged it so that everyone made me a page in a scrapbook. It was SO LOVELY!!! I about burst into tears when I saw it. Knowing that people made their pages (or lovely note/story explaining why their page was missing) during such a stressful time really made me feel good inside.

All the lovely ladies!

I'm a little stressed about the "thank you" card situation with this event. Several people are out of town or are about to be. For some people, this will be thank you card #3 for recent wedding related activities. Also, it's been almost a week since it happened! I've had it on my "to do" list and I really do appreciate everyone but I'm procrastinating for some reason. Any advice?

Fitting # 15

I had hoped that my fitting last week was going to be the second to last (the last being the week before the wedding). Technically, it was the second to last fitting — apparently, the last fitting is called a "pick up appointment" as in, I try the dress on, but nothing gets changed. So, this means that I have 2 more trips to Tina's before the sucker is done! TWO MORE! Tina said that we have hit a record with the number of fittings — I believe it! They are a lot of fun but I'm at the point where I'm just ready to see my dress!

Anyway, I brought champagne to my "last fitting" because it was a celebration of sorts. 3/4 of us finished our 2d year of law school with one of us finishing law school! We parting ways for the summer and this is the last time we'll all be at Tina's together. The dress is mostly done. The skirt is still not done, which is just frustrating because I want to see the whole thing! The bad news is that the dress won't be done until the week before the wedding (freakout!) but the goods news is twofold: 1) If I change sizes (however unlikely) it will not be a problem and 2) I don't have to store the dress at my apartment all summer, which is a relief considering I have curious cats that mean well but end up destroying things! She blocked off her calendar for me that week so there are no worries about rushing or it not being done!

So, without further ado, some pictures that are groom approved (sorry for the weird cropping — gotta keep some things a secret!):

The in-town girls got their dresses altered too and we all went together. Here's bmaid Stephanie strutting her stuff. I was VERY RELIEVED that the dress now looks normal on her! When she first put the dress on, I had serious misgivings about what I just made my bridesmaids buy. I felt really guilty (and still do a little because of the expense) but now at least I know that they can be pretty and flattering!

Tina pinning the ruching in the back because I wanted to see it before I left for the summer!



Almost final dress back. I decided to go with the longer train. I know, longer train and veil... I'm actually warming up to being a bride! Whodathunkit.



Weird cropping because you can see my dress front (Groom's request not to see). I'm not sure what Tina was doing but this is not how my veil is going to look! :)



My attempt... Not really but I thought that it would be funny to just wrap it around like a scarf. I wish I had more pictures of the veil, but it was hard to get it the right way. I'm debating whether I'm going to have Tina do it or whether I'll just look for one in NYC. Like I said before, if I can't find one I might just say screw it. However, as I wrote that last sentence it made me a little sad. Uh oh, I'm become a veil bride... Sigh.

Shower Time

Last weekend, we had our very first shower. E's Aunt J1 hosted at her home with my future mother-in-law's help, and it was just beautiful and perfect. She really got excited about the decorations and theme. She made it look like a French bistro to go with the crêpes she ordered for the event from Le Petit Crêperie. Aunt J2 and all the other aunts actually (gotta love those Polish ladies!) helped in the kitchen and helped make the finishing touches in decor. My favorites were the potted flowers in the windows, the uptucks on the table cloths and the hydrangea napkins at the bridal table (to match my wedding flower!). It really made me feel special. I love doing the little details so when other people do them I totally notice!

Here are some pictures of the set-up:

I believe there were 30+ women in attendance and 1 groom - lucky Erik! In his family, it is traditional for the groom to go to the wedding shower and only have the female wedding guests invited. Works for me! It was fun to have him there and, as mentioned here, we bought new outfits for the event (thanks again, Mom). Here's us looking cute sporting our new duds:

Shhh... don't tell anyone but I'm wearing my wedding jewelry! They don't show up that much in pictures but I still love the necklace and earrings. I don't want to take too much away from the dress afterall!

Three of my lovely b-maids were able to make it up for the shower. And let me just say, I am SO GRATEFUL AND LUCKY to have such wonderful friends. Bmaids Jess and Steph drove 8 hours total two weekends before law school finals to come. MOH Kim flew in all the way from NYC. She was in town for 25 hours, I think. That's love! I feel that when all these girls get married they will expect major payback! And I will be more than happy to fly/ drive all over creation for them!!

Funny story about Kim's dress. I may have mentioned this before but at the beginning of the wedding planning my FMIL wanted to wear FUCHSIA to our wedding (our colors were originally bright pink and dark brown). I think my response to her saying that was "Hell no!!" but it's gotten a bit fuzzy now. . . Her dress is going to be a lovely navy number to match the wedding colors! Anyway, as soon as Kim whipped out this dress I knew FMIL was going to say something. She didn't say anything but I knew what she was thinking!

Another funny thing: This picture. Are we related or what?!

She will probably kill me for posting this. What's up with our weird chicken arm mannerism? This will have to be nipped in the bud. I do not want all the wedding photos to have this arm thing in them!

Here are some pics of the bridal party:

MOH Kim, Bmaid Jess, ME, Bmaid Stephanie

Did I mention there were plenty of mimosas and wine?!!


Requisite Shoe Shot

When it came time for us to eat, my FMIL started to make this lovely speech about how I'm the daughter she never had and that she feels so welcome in our home. She came to visit a few months ago, and I went all Martha Stewart on her—leaving chocolates, towels, and travel size bath products for her in her "room." She even came to one of my fittings. Anyway, I don't remember much else of what was said because she was doing this

to me. Yes, that's her choking the be-jesus out of me! I tried so hard to look pleasant but boy was it hard! I seriously could NOT breathe and my face was being squashed into her CHEST! Apparently, this has happened before to Erik. Needless to say when I was reviewing the photos that Bmaid Steph so wonderfully took, I nearly peed myself when I came across this one! Oh dear.

Anyway, it turned out alright and the shower went on without any more "incidents."

See, we still love each other even though I'm both worried about my hair and whether she left any marks around my neck!

After we ate, we did the oh-so-boring-for-the guests gift opening! Well, we played a "newlywed" type game first (both doing not so great mostly because we didn't even know the right answers for ourselves!). Also, all the guests wrote us advice for the wedding day on cards. I may or may not put those on the blog... Basically, people know us too well. Most of the advice was DON'T FREAK OUT on your wedding day if it's NOT PERFECT. Got it. :)

Anyway, here are photos from the gift opening:

I like this picture because Erik was soo excited! See, it pays for the grooms to go to the showers!

We are just touched by the generosity of our guests. It really was incredible. Life is already much better in the B/ N household. But I'll blog on our "upgrades" in another post. I just have to say that all the thank you cards have been sent. It was the least that we could do (get them out in a super timely fashion) to show how much we truly appreciated everything.

And one last picture:

Fitting # 13

Thinking about my fitting later today, I realized I didn't post about my fitting from last week. Not much to update on. The skirt was not in a place to make decisions . . . again. This made me quite sad. Although, I did enjoy being able to delay the decision! For whatever reason, it's really throwing me for a loop.

The bodice is FINALLY done. I mean that sincerely — no more changes! I feel like that's all we've been working on lately! Of course, due to Groom's request, I can't post any pictures, but needless to say it turned out wonderfully (future MiL approves!).

What I can post pictures about is my bmaid's fittings! Their alterations are being done by the wonderful Tina as well. Here's a picture of Bmaid Jess getting fitted:

I, personally, think the socks make the outfit! She's such a trooper. She was having major sinus issues and was really drugged up from Sudafed but she was there! (Notice the bunched tissue in hand). It's great to have such dedicated, caring friends! Love you guys. :D

Easter

I just wanted to share some photos from Easter. Mostly because I was looking through them and partly because I'm sooo not in the mood to study right now.

So we show up to Easter and I match Erik's Aunt K perfectly! And then her daughter-in-law matched Barb perfectly! It was so funny that we had to take a picture. Maybe we married/ are marrying the wrong sons! ;) Obviously, I'm kidding!

I mean, how could I not love this guy? He wears pink for heaven's sake — and looks damn good in it!

And they are so perfect for each other.
Cousin S on the left is one of Erik's groomsmen. We had such a great time at their wedding this past June. In fact, if you click on the "For Guests" link on the right, the picture on our theknot wedding website is from their wedding (pure accident I matched J's colors).

I had to add this picture because Baby Julia looks very freaked out about me holding her and it's pretty hilarious!

Bmaid gifts

Despite the fact that I want to blog all about them, I can't! It's sooo frustrating! Again, I may be more excited about my attendant gifts than some of my stuff in the wedding. And again, I almost bought 7 instead of 6 (see the post about the bmaid dresses). I think these girls are lucky — hopefully, they feel the same way!

Here's what I'll say without giving too much away. The gifts were handmade by an artist in Nashville and they were a custom order. They match the wedding and turned out perfectly! They actually came in THIS WEEK!! It's just killin' me because I have to wait 4 months to give them! I really enjoy giving gifts so this is just torture.

Here's a photo that doesn't give away size or type of gift. I just had to post some sort of picture.

Here's what the bridesmaids gifts are NOT. This blogger is on crack (sorry, but really).

Hair Place Booked!!

Over the weekend while visiting the family for Easter and the birthday/ retirement of Erik's dad, I visited the local Aveda salon to interview my wedding-day hairdresser. We went over hairstyles and she was quite impressed with my wedding binder. (Of course, she was). While we did the consultation, another woman came over and gave me a hand massage. Everyone called me the "bride." Let's just say, I'm starting to warm up to this whole "bride" idea! There is only one problem: My hair is not going to be long enough for the style I want... I booked my practice run for the Wednesday before the wedding so we'll see how much my hair grows before then. Until that time I'll be taking my vitamins religiously!

I also booked the hair appointments for my bmaids and future MiL for a total of one bridal updo, 4 regular updos and 3 styles! Needless to say the salon is pretty happy about it. Note to brides out there: All prices are negotiable. They quoted me a pretty high initial quote but I was able to talk them down (at least on the bmaid hairstyles—I took one for the team). The best thing about it being an Aveda salon is that I'll be able to use my Pure Privilege reward points. I knew I've been saving them up since 2005 for a reason! One more thing out of the wedding budget!

As for the day of the wedding, we all have to be there bright & early at 8:30am. And I have to have clean hair, which means I have to be up at like 7:30 to shower and blow my hair out! The wedding isn't until 5:30pm! What the crap!

A cool thing about this place is that they have a private room for us (I saw it—it's really nice) and will provide fresh fruit, juice, and champagne! There's a Dunkin Donuts across the street so we'll also pick up some coffee, donuts & bagels. We are going to be treated like princesses! :D

Bmaid Dresses Have Arrived!

The bmaid dresses arrived about a month ago! I'm a little behind in posting on this. And it's a Friday afternoon and the weather is nice and I just can't bring myself to do work at this moment. So, I'm blogging!

We received a nice email from Bella Bridesmaid letting us know of their arrival:

Subject: Your Dresses are IN!!!

Hello Ladies,

I'm very pleased to tell you that your dresses for Meaghan's wedding
are in the store looking fabulous - and available for pick up and
shipment!

- - -

My very best, and have a great time at the wedding!! Meaghan,
congratulations to you again! Enjoy your day!! :)

Kind regards,

Erin and Kathleen Casey, Owners
Bella Bridesmaid

Half the girls had theirs shipped to them and the other half had theirs wait at the store in Chicago. Heather so kindly picked everyone's up when she went to Chi-town to visit her man. Thanks, Heather! Bella Bridesmaid has been great and every time I call the girls are SUPER-SWEET! They have high-end bmaid dresses but they are totally worth the price! THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL!!

The only issue with the dresses is the same issue that every bmaid has—they need alterations! Basically, all my bmaids could be 4 months pregnant and still wear the dress. I suppose that's the problem with empire waist dresses... Tina has some ideas on how to remedy this problem. Here are some pictures of Stephanie in the dress (while it gets altered):

Stephanie modeling the horribly large dress. She is just so tiny! Nice biceps, Steph!



Jess & Stephanie modeling for the camera.

The photos are from Fitting #8.

BEST BMAIDS EVER

SOOOO... I have the best bridesmaids and friends that a girl could ask for!!! This past weekend I went to NYC for what I thought was a relaxing weekend visit with my cousin (also MOH). Little did I know that she conspired with my bridesmaids to SURPRISE ME in New York with a girls' weekend!!! That's right. Three of my lovely bridesmaids flew to New York to surprise me. Kim was a fabulous hostess! I arrived at my cousin's apartment and turned the corner to her living room, and there they were! These pictures are taken right after. I wish we had gotten a picture of the look on my face because I'm sure it was pure shock!

It was so very special, and I feel extremely extremely appreciative of them. I still am in shock! I have never had people do such a nice thing for me. I'm going to start crying just thinking of it. In fact, I almost cried when I saw all of them!

They are very sneaky for keeping it from me for TWO MONTHS! I'm VERY impressed. The funniest thing is that I almost canceled my trip because I'm so slammed with law school stuff. I somewhat wondered why everyone I talked to was trying to convince me to go (what was it to them?), but I never connected the dots. It's obvious now why people were saying those things to me. Lucky for everyone involved, I'm a pushover when it comes to my cousin. She's like, "you can't cancel," and I just say okay.

Here are some pictures from the weekend (I wish I took more!):

THANKS TO ALL INVOLVED AGAIN! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST AND I AM SO FREAKIN' LUCKY!

1/2 Through Bar Crawl

On Friday night, us 2L's celebrated being half way done with law school. Crazy to think about—that this experience is closer to being done than from where we started. That made no grammatical sense but maybe you catch my drift. Past the point of no return and such.

At any rate, we dressed up 80s style (us more than others) and went on the "2Legit to Quit" Bar Crawl. Yes, that song came out in the early 90s and the theme was adjusted accordingly to officially include the early 90s. I stuck with 80s though. Here are some photos from the night—try not to be too in awe of our coolness.

Requisite Bridal Party Pic



Section B Rocks!



But not as much as these guys!



Stephanie's Bridal Party!! (SO PUMPED to be in her wedding—June 2010, baby!)