Accomplishments - 3 weeks to go!

as far as checklists go...we got quite busy checking things off this week

1. we finalized all floral selections, it was flipping cold in a 38 degree climate controlled flower market

2. rings have all been paid for and picked up, ready to go!

3. beer has been bottled and awaiting labels to be affixed (still working on those labels but it's coming together quite nicely)

4. seating/escort cards have been printed, only awaiting their table designations...i'll write a post on how i saved money on this later.

5. flower girl has been fitted


it's a good to be in jenny's world right now.

congratulations to ally for her bahamian engagement
congratulations to shirley for her bahamian wedding
congratulations to janine on her bouncing baby girl Gabriella, can't wait to meet her

yowsa, it's a busy month ;)

Chinese Wedding Dress - Cheongsam

Today mom and I went by Madam Designs to pick up my chinese wedding dress, the Cheongsam!
I LOVE IT!!! so let's just get to the pics eh?

please ignore the surprised double chin look i was sporting, mom caught me unawares with the camera... yea... thats the story and im sticking to it.

back view, my butt actually looks pretty decent here! i normally have no arse, so this is a good thing

side view - here you can get a good looksie at how high the slits are...wow haha, i felt quite sexxay when i noticed the height it got, it also elongates the legs so pluses all around for the cheongsam...it also has a slimming effect apparently, so lets hope it's true!

you can't really tell from the photos but the dragon and phoenix motifs are all over the red silk...it's looks more like an embossing or imprinting on the dress when you look closely, i think its way cool! also there is gold piping along all the seams and edges on the dress to polish the look off...

now that we see what i look like, lets see what momma tse's gonna be sporting on the big day!

bright blue! i love the color on mom...she's also got a pretty good figure so everyone says, hers is lace instead of silk and a slightly more updated version of the cheongsam..

i also found out today that popo (maternal grandma) and auntie P, my mom's older sister will also sport Cheongsams for the wedding...i think its a great way for us to pay homage to our chinese heritage at our American wedding :)

Heartbreak and a sigh of relief

I thought about some time whether i would write a post for myself about this...and i thought why not, it's still an integral part of my wedding planning and ultimately a huge decision i made for myself going forwards

i dumped a bridesmaid...there i said it

after much drama...i decided i needed to end the friendship, there were a number of reasons that were leading up to it and ignored it and finally the straw that broke the camel's back came a few weeks ago...and i just couldn't be a pretend friend...i mean what kinda person would i be if i kept on being fake and let her think i trust her when inside i'm thinking something else...so i pulled the plug and i'm a little sad to say that i don't regret it at all...

it's unfortunate we couldn't be better friends, but such is the way of life...i had to be true to myself, whether i am misguided or not it's a decision i made for myself and there won't be any looking back...someone once said to me "jenny, you're not hurting for friends." and that person is right...

with that said, i wish my former bridesmaid the best and happiness in her upcoming marriage.

My "Surprise" Bridal Shower

who: my bridesmaids and future in laws hosted
what: my "surprise" bridal shower
when: the hottest and sunniest sunday this summer in august
where: casa capuozzo
how: and the story begins...

for those that actually know me, know its pretty hard to surprise me... i'm as astute as they come (no really, i'm not honking my own horn)...anyway so it was saturday night and i get a text message from one of my sorority sisters telling me she's sorry about missing my shower (wah? come again? a shower that hasn't happened yet? something is up) but i was already determined to make it to my sunday morning cardio class and chris readily agreed to it and my future mother in law said that we'd have to be at the club later in the day to celebrate my future father in laws birthday (which happened to be that week), so i figured the text must've been a mistake and went on with my day...getting dates crossed isn't so far fetched right? so i hit the gym and then chris and i go to the movies (this is routine for us so im not suspicious) and then after the movie i gently reminded chris that we had to be home at 2 to go to lunch with his parents for his dad's birthday and he gets all riled up..."what?!?! REALLY?!" so we jet home...but this is where the cat came outta the bag for real...a whole slew of cars were parked in front of the capuozzo home and i obviously recognized more than a few of them...not only that two of my friends were hanging out by the front door (talk about welcome party) so my "surprise" was ruined...but i was thrilled that the day happened the way it did...everyone put so much effort into it for me... i'm lucky...lets get on with the pics shall we?

there were 4 centerpieces on the white tables underneath white tents in the backyard

DIY - easyish...cylindrical vase with one garland of dendrobium orchids submerged in water topped with a floating candle
in between each vased centerpiece were roses and baby breath
variation of the 1st centerpiece, larger vase with more orchids and floating candle
medium cylindrical vase, fill the vase with water, then submerge a palm leaf wrap around the vase, then submerge orchid and finish off with floating candle

there were also dishes of m&ms with our names on them in the same colors on the tables and other rose petals scattered which i haven't gotten any photos of...but seriously... bridesmaid H outdid herself with these DIY centerpieces... everyone loved them and no one knew they were DIY until asked :)

pirate booty~! gotta have a shot of this stuff...
cake! LOVE CAKE
the favors were little red velvet cupcakes boxed and tagged...on the flip side of the tag was the recipe for said cupcake...what was wonderful about this..it was DIY too! whoda thunk my girls were so crafty...cupcakes were baked themselves from scratch and then the tags were created on photoshop, printed on 8x11 cardstock and then cut down to size (if anyone wants the template i can email it)

what i found really helpful when writing my thank yous, was that during the shower my girls had me take pictures with all my guests as i was opening THEIR gift...this way not only do i have a wonderful reminder of who gave me what if i couldnt read the written list i have photo proof!
this way i get a photo with EVERY guest! how wonderful...

of course there were also shower games...the girls did shower bingo, guess the herb (i would've tied with the winners), how well do you know the bride (my future mother in law got the most answers right! my mom didn't participate in this one...)...toilet paper bride was arranged but it was simply too hot to do and everyone was happy to just sit in the shade and mingle mingle...

there were so many more DIY elements to the shower i'll have to do another post soon about it...stay tuned!

wedding Bands

as in jewelery, not as in music...i used to get all confused when i would read titles 'wedding band' in forums and think oh the musical kind and not the kind you wear on your hand...anyway i digress...

over the weekend C and I stopped into Island Gold out in Centereach for our wedding bands...i wanted something a little more sparkly, ala:
2 mm micropave prong set eternity band...LOVE it! except the jeweler told me that he'd actually recommend the half eternity because it can always be resized later, any altering would be easier and would maintain the look and shape better...eternity bands can be sized at a later time if i get fat or skinny or whatever, but a welt would be visible...so he recommended a white gold half eternity...i was sold, it took me 20 minutes...a setting was ordered for me to try on and we'll return in a couple of weeks for a looksie looksie...

then we moved onto C's wedding band...to be absolutely frank he would be happy if he didn't HAVE a wedding band at all, he's not the jewelry wearing type, but for me he'd don this symbol of marriage (what a trooper! ::snort::) anyway...that having been said though, he took his time in choosing something that he liked and was concerned with my opinion of it...(maybe he's not as averse as he originally let on right?) he didn't want shiny, and he didn't want ostentatious...so he picked something more muted and classic...ala:
5mm white gold satin finish band...its reflective of our generation, it's simple and honestly i think its pretty classy lookin..we considered titanium...but because it can't be sized, C was worried about the possibility of it getting stuck one day and we have to saw it off or something so we went with the gold...and in his words...he kinda liked the idea of a semi precious metal...his ring will arrive completed in like 2 weeks...

the plans are all coming along pretty smoothly...only 3 really big things left to finalize and i think we're square and ready to go...
1. florist... yea i know im procrastinating and prolonging the inevitable, but seriously i have a story on this one you DON'T wanna miss
2. honeymoon... we already decided where we're going and where we're staying, we just have to book it...yea...it's not going anywhere!
3. to limo or not to limo...i'm leaning towards limo...

Penguin Suit

back in my collegiate days i might've started exhibiting signs of bridezilla when i offhandedly said "my future groom won't be wearing a white tuxedo on our wedding day!" after watching something on tv (probably million dollar weddings or some other wedding reality tv show i no longer watch these days) it's a personal choice really and my roommates just laughed at me and just figured i was being my crazy self... i mean what man would let me dictate what he would wear on my wedding day? if i loved him i would let him don the white penguin suit if he wanted to right? well i suppose that would be true...i mean my friend luke that got married last year wore a white tux on his wedding day and he looked a million bucks...

anyway fastfoward to september 2009 when i'm planning my wedding, chris and i walked into a downtown mens warehouse and started looking at our tux rental options...there were quite a few...

the look CHRIS picked... (i promise you i did not tell him he had to wear a black tuxedo...he could've worn a baby blue one with ruffles for all i cared...HE's wearing it after all right? if he wants to look like a 70's throwback who am i to stop him...)

two button classic calvin klein tuxedo with an ivory paisy vest and ivory striped tie...it will look good i promise...


for his groosmen we've got the same tuxedo with the rio tie and vest in midnight to match the girls:

we decided to go with ties and the full collared shirt...only because the wing tipped colllar shirt would show the neck band part of the ties and chris didn't like that at all...we also chose a solid microfiber shirt instead of the pintucked one (chris thought it was ruffly looking? pfft)

here's a visual representation of the difference

wing collared with "ruffles"
point collar without "ruffles"

then we got the shoes and the studs/cufflinks

black round toe shoes
silver and white studs and cufflinks

to be honest the color selection at Mens warehouse was NOT prime, but since we have the boys living in all different parts of the country we figured a big national chain might be our best bet...so we went with mens warehouse...the other bonus was that we got 1 tux rental for free with a minimum of 5 rentals...so yay for us for freebies!

all the boys need to do is walk into any mens warehouse to get measured with our party number and voila! the tuxes would be ready for pickup 2 days before the actual wedding date and they'll do any last minute tailoring needs, such as cuffs and such...not too bad...i'll give you more feedback AFTER the wedding about the service...but our intial visit was very good...

mens warehouse is seriously a soup to nuts kinda tux rental place, we get everything i listed above included within the rental and they throw in suspenders too...

Note: did you know that the only difference between a suit and tuxedo are the satin down the seams of the pants and the satin lapel of the jacket? huh...whoda thunk.. i didn't know thats for sure!

Ella, it's YOU!

following up on my last shoe post...i ordered each a pair of the ella and molly to try on as the Karmen was conveniently unavailable...so well, since i need a shoe... i ordered both ella and molly to compare compare...after much deliberation and commentary from my girls...i've decided to go with ella...

my feeling on heels are that it will be uncomfortable no matter how high they are, if you're standing in them for the better part of a day, IT WILL HURT LIKE A MOTHER...call me a sissy, whatever, it will hurt...at least thats the story im sticking with...the height of heel was actually not much of a deciding factor for me...the ella is a little cuter and softer around the edges, just more 'wedding shoe' in my head so i went with her...molly would be a great evening wear shoe though so if i had a ton of disposable income i probably would've kept both pairs...but since i am neither rolling in the dough and one pair of j crew heels are expensive enough i took molly back to the store...j crew is fairly good about returns and shipping when ordered from the store...

ella was a little lower in the heel (many reasoned it would be slightly more comfy...it actually was a little bit more comfortable than molly) and it was slightly cheaper and it's ultra cute...mission wedding shoe accomplished!

next mission break these babies in...if you're good maybe i'll post a photo of me walking around the house with them in a pair of black sweat socks making dinner, HA!

on a totally unrelated note...when i went to jcrew to inquire about my shoes, they gave me a pair of these to try on for size and they are HOT!
J Crew Joley, at $178, these black peep toe patent beauties will be a great shoe for any working or non working woman's wardrobe...i will probably score myself a pair after the wedding.. and as far as heels went, they were very comfortable :)

because i need to ramble

so last weekend while i was determined to give our apartment a cleaning facelift..i hurt my back by mopping...yea.....not one of my greater moments, i was in pain for about 2 days and then it started ebbing away...and it's already thursday...but because i haven't been able to get to the gym for fear of hurting myself again, my workouts have been curtailed to nonexistence...i hope this doesn't make me gain a few inches around the waist, i normally would care less and just get back on the ball when i can...but with my wedding 2 months out from now i'm seriously panicking, what if i get fat and dont fit into my dress!??!?! disaster of all disasters!

on a happier note though, 95% of the invitations have already gone out! excitement eee! and we've gotten a lot of very kind comments from our guests...very happy about that considering i spent so much time on them...yea as if the 10 posts about stationary and paper didn't give away my paper obsession, HA!

it's lunchtime now and i just ate my homemade sandwich (saving my pennies!) and i'm guestimating my caloric intake so far today is hovering around 7-800 right now, which means i can have my snack in the afternoon (fruit) and go easy on dinner to keep the calories down...but still healthy...hmmm, thinking of something new to have for dinner everynight is NOT easy...what to make tonight!? maybe we should just eat leftovers that are in the fridge?

on the workfront, everything has been going OK, not great but not absolutely horrible either...i'm having some manic days here, one minute i would be sitting here twiddling my thumbs doing absolutely nothing useful and zero productivity...but othertimes i would have piles and mountains of work laid on me and with not enough time to finish said tasks...work needs to come in at a more normal pace...seriously...it makes me very cranky when i'm rushed to finish something when it's obviously there is plenty of time!

note to self: pick up another JR Ward novel and give her another shot before i write her off altogether and throw her in my "authors i'm never reading again" abyss, it might get better,
note to self #2: latest geri russell book sucks, but read the next one to make sure before ruling her out too
note to self #3: still love donna kauffman, rereading catch me if you can :) - Happiness.

which shoe?

ella


or Molly

the satin bow peep toe d'orsay

Way back in early wedding planning days i've had my heart set on a pair of delicious stuart weitzman bowribbon shoes, but alas, it is now discontinued and sold out EVERYWHERE

isn't she lovely? (le sigh)

so now that those dreams are dashed and squashed...i have to find an alternate shoe...j crew has stepped up to the plate with a few very VERY good alternatives...

first up is molly

she's peep toe, shes satin, ivory and she's got a bow and comes in at $250...she's not as soft around the edges, but she might get the job done

next up we got ella
she is softer around the edges, comes in ivory satin, she's a D'ORSAY HEEL!, a little lower and coming in at $225...she's looking pretty good wouldn't you say?

last up at bat we have Carmen...
i gotta say she's got the whole package and coming in at $265 isn't a sneeze at in terms of price...she's a little more expensive but she's not d'orsay!

i actually blogged about her in one of my earlier entries and have always considered her...but i somehow couldn't justify spending this much money on a pair of shoes i'm only going t be wearing for one day (i have no illusions i will ever again wear a pair of ivory shoes, i can always dye them, but i know i'm lazy as all get out, i've been meaning to dye my old bm ivory shoes black and have NEVER gotten around to it, this is over 12 months ago now)

Another beauty i've had my eye on are the martinez valero brit shoe:
she's a a touch of glam, a touch of fierce, peep toe, ivory and d'orsay, and comes in at $153 (man i'm loving this price after the above shoes)...but she's not a soft bow...gah! what would you do?

the innards and gizzards

on the heels of my last post, lets see what two rounds of revisions has yielded in production shall we?

i know i didn't technically give birth to you, but you were still a labor of love! (please excuse the ugliness that i used to block out some info)

respondez sil vous plait!

chinese bakery cards and directions (yea sorry dudes, not everyone gets the chinese sweet stuff, only certain guests on the brides guestlist gets these, ie auntie lulu and uncle jack)

all bundled up with a double sided satin ribbon

ready for the mail!

the font for our names on the invitations is carpenter calligraphy by Laura and the envelopes were actually printed through my printer (man this is another story i will have to post later) with the font English... i thought they're pretty sweet lookin, what do YOU think? do i pass muster?

Wedding invitations at last

After a lot of hemming and hawing i decided to go with lucky orchid wedding invitations by Laura Hooper. The woman is a genius, not only is her calligraphy something awesome, her line of invitations are absolutely beautiful.

i didn't go the DIY route with this because, lets face it, i'm really just not that talented and to attempt such a huge project on my own is a disaster in the making. plan A was to order invitations on mygatsby.com because well i didn't want to spend a whole lot of money and the designs were very nice...but ultimately i wasn't happy with the paper quality, it wasn't as heavy as i would've liked and there was very little i can do to customize it to make it my own. so i gave myself a new budget and started looking up alternatives on thermographically printed wedding invitations on substantially weighted paper and Laura Hooper came to my rescue.

so without further ado, lets take you back a couple of months when i received THIS in the mail:

can this be?OMG! IT IS! IT IS! MY FREAKIN WEDDING INVITATIONS!

God it's like opening a present at Christmas! TEEHEEOMG OMG OMG!
It's even wrapped so prettily! Laura Hooper i love thee!

i know i know, you wanna see what this baby looks like dontcha? DONTCHA?

Honeymoons on the brain part Trois - la piece de resistance

After lots of thought and research, i was about to throw in the towel and just go anywhere for this honeymoon, it's a lot of work! and i'm having this conversation one day with my boss and i was just saying, "if it was up to me i'd be in europe, maybe the french riviera or something" - this is the crux of everything i suppose...i like cultural old things sorta trips, and chris likes beachy do nothing sorta trips...we don't really meet eye to eye here...but Saint Jean Cap Ferrat actually seemed like it might fit the bill for both of us at the suggestion of my very french boss!

Saint Jean Cap Ferrat is a peninsula located in the Cote D'Azur (thats the french riviera to non french speakers) and according to my boss P, is heave on earth and you'll find no where more relaxing and beautiful on this planet...the creme de la creme! so i began my research and what do you know, it truly is a very beautiful place...favorite vacationing spot for european millionaires, royalty and celebrities...it's truly not a place to miss, st tropez doesn't even hold a candle to this gem in the mediterranean

Saint Jean Cap Ferrat is surrounded by the villages Villefranche Sur Mer and Beaulieu Sur Mer, both very nice little Frenchy towns with lots of yummy food and very easily accessed by WALKING! score!! car rental is completely optional as railway and buses are very easy to use and closer sights are within walking distance...30 minutes from the Nice airport, you can always head into the city if you want to take a break from relaxing and wanna get into some hustle and bustle of a larger city...bonus Nicoise cuisine! you're right here! i'm sure the most snooty foodie won't find much to complain.

the resort we're considering is the Royal Riviera, it's a 5 star boutique resort sandwiched right in between beaulieau and Cap Ferrat...

it boasts its own little private beach

heated pool

home away from home

and sharing a meal with your new hubberoo in one of the best restaurants Saint Jean Cap Ferrat has to offer accompanied by views of the mediterranean sea

sounds wonderful doesn't it? a true romantic european honeymoon if you ask me...but the downside to this is that in November its a bit on the cooler side.. 60s to be exact so we wont really be able to take advantage of the pool and beach...but sightseeing will be very comfortable...

another pro would be we can probably take 2 days and go to Corisca to visit where Chris' Meme (grandmother) is from and discover some of his heritage and maybe even see some relatives...

i'm totally loving this pick and it's evolving into my dream honeymoon :)

(note: booking a standard room at this hotel might not be ideal as reviews will tell you it is so tiny you can barely fit your luggage in and overlooks the railway tracks...better off booking a room with gardean and sea views)

honeymoons on the brain part 2.5

Last i left you off with the awesomeness that is Blancaneaux, here i'll show you what the sister property Turtle Inn would have to offer you.

while Blancaneaux is situated in the mountains and in the forest, Turtle Inn is built on a beach in the Caribbean! How's that for a paradise honeymoon eh?

to start your honeymoon in a place like this, who can say it's not paradise in your own little bungalow?

the chinese matrimonial suite is perfect for the most discerning honeymooner
and who can turn down a fancy shmancy japanese bathroom such as this

i really have to hand it to Mr Coppola for building these fantastic resorts...while i haven't been to either myself, the reviews i've read and judging by what i've seen, it's a pretty sweet trip to take with your new spouse if you want to be somewhere a little different. Belize has a lot to offer for everyone with different interests...you can relax , you can explore and you can play in the sun!

while there are all these pros and i clearly am in love with these locations, Chris and I ultimately decided that its a lot of travelling to be done for our shortish honeymoon and with the unpredictable caribbean weather in November, we didn't want to chance it...so we went back to the drawing board