PSA: 1 month from today...

I will be packing our suitcases, checking lists, checking and re-checking that we have our documents, purchasing traveler's checks and jumping up and down with excitement that we will be leaving for Greece the very next day. A few thoughts are racing though my mind as we get closer:

• DH and I have never traveled together (more than a couple hour road trip). We do well together in the car and I'm hoping that my being a patient traveler and happy flyer extends to him as well
• He hasn't had a real vacation in 2 years, I haven't had one in 3 years. We are long overdue
• Need to checkout my Amazon.com order that contains my travel guide.
• Thoughts are buzzing in my head about how fabulous this will be but, I'm also wondering if it will truly be a vacation with SO much family around and not knowing the language.
• Looking forward to using that delicious green and teal leather document portfolio that I scored for next to nothing at ATL last fall
• All that Easter candy and snacking has me terrified of getting in a bathing suit. Add to that just how white I am
• Wondering how many books I should pack (I read at least one full book each way on internat'l flights). Grateful that the local library is having their annual book sale in two weeks so that I can gather a pile for pennies
• Hoping that, unlike my trips back and forth from Israel last June, that the airplanes have decent ventilation and air conditioning
• Daydreaming about the beach tavernas, walking among the ruins, soaking up the culture.
• Excited to stand in the family home that I've seen in dozens of photos
• Needing a couple more suitcases, bathing suits and a LOT of summer clothes.
• Thrilled that I'll have three straight weeks of nothing but bare feet and flip-flops

wedding re-cap part 2: bridal portraits...

In the hotel suite... I absolutely loved my bouquet - green, green and more green with just a hint of white and sparkle:

In the hotel lobby, just before walking out the door to the church...

At our venue...

I remember looking up at my brand-new husband here and love that this moment was captured:

All credits to our amazing photographers, RendezvousWedding

wedding re-cap part 1: getting ready...

Getting ready in the suite at our hotel, after returning from the hair salon. The girls and I were just down the hall from my groom and his guys:

Make-up by Christine. She was so cool under all of the flash bulbs... My sister brought in gifts and an amazing letter from my wonderfully romantic groom. I think this was her first glimpse of me with my make-up finished and looking much more like a bride:After the tears of joy over his love letter, I opened some sparkles...
Getting zipped into a 20 pound dress is NOT a one person job:
My two oldest godchildren (twins) were flower girl and junior usher. They were SO excited to be a part of the wedding and did incredibly well the whole day:
My garter, earrings and bracelet were all afterthoughts - half of my bridals were taken without them! Luckily, I remembered just before we had to walk out the door to get to the church on time...
Grandma - I was so thrilled that she could be with me:
The beautiful ladies...
Dad, Sister (and MOH), Mom and one completely adorable and petulant nephew:

There was so much love and laughter (and so many photographers!) in that suite amid the bustle of activity. I don't recall any moments of stress and the time seemed to just float by. There is a vague memory of Chris, our lead photographer, telling me it was time to get in my dress. Yeah. I HAD typed up a well-organized timeline so that we could all be on time. Too bad I never printed it out! In the end, we were right on schedule and arrived to the church with several minutes to spare.

All credits to our amazing photographers, RendezvousWedding

in 36 days...

I will be sitting on this beach in Kiato, Greece. Sipping a Greek coffee, eating fresh grilled octopus and watching the surf. This honeymoon has been planned for so long that I can't quite belive we're almost there. DH told me that I wouldn't want to travel around the country much after getting a taste of the beaches in his hometown. Looking at this picture, I can imagine that he may just be right (but, don't tell him that!).

just a little note...

I was a DIY single, a DIY bride and might as well continue on in the same tradition...

While I'm still diligently working on our wedding thank you notes, I decided to share the design process. I knew that I wanted something simple, modern-classic and personalized. With many bookmarked paper sites to choose from, I started my net search and narrowed down my favorites. Something about this design (weddingpaperdivas.com) stuck and I decided these were the perfect cards for us - except for the minor issue of cost. $112 for the quantity I would need (and that would be cutting it close). Plus, the additional complication that the size of wedding photograph we are including wouldn't fit into these small notes.

So, what's a DIY girl to do?

Imitate, of course! The most important elements of this card for me were the swirl frame and the spaced out personalization line. The font hunt was on...

As luck would have it, my blog stalking through Google Reader paid off and the iDIY site came through for me in a big way with the perfect free font linked up in one of their posts. Way more intricate than the original but, beautiful and, somehow, even better. My good old friend, PowerPoint helped me out yet again and in minutes our cards were designed.

Then, the size was increased. I printed out a couple of craft store coupons and purchased 100 blank ecru note cards (6.6"w x 5"h, after folding) for $12.00. Ahem...I believe that would be about 10% of the original card cost, correct? Perfect size for a substantial note and the photograph.

And there you have it, our wedding thank you notes: Frame flourish font: Aridi Calligraphia Flourish 2 (letter "Y")
"Thank you" font: English
Personalization font: Book Antiqua (one space between each character, two between words)

maybe it was an april fool's joke after all...

Remember that one about the photos being ready? I finally got the call just before 6:00 last night. Our long-awaited wedding proofs have been printed and placed in an archival box, burned to disk and put in a pretty little leather case embellished with a couple of the photogs favorite shots.

Or, at least, this is how I envision the finished product.

That sits in my photogs studio.

All. weekend. long.

Our photographer is in high demand (that's a good thing, right?) and is out shooting weddings all weekend which means, no time to meet us at the studio for the hand off. Bummed. Luckily, my office is closing at 1:00 pm on Wednesday so...guess where I'm headed as soon as the (proverbial) whistle blows???

Meanwhile, I am perfectly content having a super-lazy-do-whatever-we-want-or-nothing-at-all day with my darling husband! So far that has consisted of Wii MarioKart, a grocery trip, lunch at a local Greek restaurant, reading books and magazines and watching movies on t.v. Not a bad Saturday at all!

And finally, a share...one of the layouts that I completed at my scrapbook event last weekend:

and the photographer said...

FINALLY!

The proofs of our wedding photos are being printed as I type and will be ready to pick up by the end of this week!!!

Sweet anticipation.

Grateful relief.

Apparently it took the studio much longer than they expected due to the amount of prints (this gets me giddy!) and, likely, due to the third photographer we had covering the whole 12 hours. The video is being edited now, we just need to get them 5 slow and 5 upbeat songs to incorporate.

April 1st is shaping up to be a very happy day :-)