Feeling Mushy..

Photo: Sight Photography

Today, I was feeling mushy....I was thinking about how it felt right before I walked down the aisle. So many thoughts rushing through my head...and a big smile never left my face! I was anxious to see my soon to be Husband and wondering how he was doing, standing out there in front of everyone! On my way home from work today, I popped in our wedding cd, that our DJ gave us as a gift. I played it over and over and over..etc..you get the idea!! Thinking about our ceremony...first dance...and our intimate conversation at dinner..as we took a minute to breathe...and take in our day. We had a sweetheart table...(I totally recommend!)

photo: Sight Photography

We have 42 days till our 1 year anniversary! I can't believe how fast this year has flown by!

Is anyone else celebrating their 1 year anytime soon?

Father & Daughter

A friend of mine who was at the wedding captured this shot. My jaw dropped...What an amazing shot of my Father and I dancing! Well, especially my Father! I love it!!

photo credit: Essential Sunshine Photography


This is definitely a framer! Thanks Samantha & Ben!

100 Days!

I love the simplicity of this shot....



photo credit : Sight Photography
Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting this picture


and how my Husband is holding me as we dance...


This past Monday we celebrated 100 days of marriage! Wow..did that go fast!

Our Wedding- Guest Book

In the early stages of planning of our wedding I believe the first item I crossed off our list was our guest book! I got my inspiration from Tying the Knot's guest book! I always thought a traditional guest book was a waste of money...paper...etc... Seriously, what do you do with it after-wards? So, when I saw this idea...I was sold! We just had our engagement shots completed and I was anxious to use them one way or another!

I went with Blurb for our book! They had several different layouts and styles to choose from. I carefully picked out certain graphics but used them as watermarks...

If I could do it again....I would have used one large picture which covered the entire cover like I did for my boudoir book. This was my first time using Blurb book and I was just getting the hang of it...




I had a hard time figuring out which pictures to choose from!




I also made a couple of pages with just pictures...

Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting any of these pictures.

I had 9 sides with each of those containing lines for our guests to leave sweet messages! We had a perfect amount of space for our guests! The other remaining 12 sides were adorable pictures! There are 11 pages total... We had about 150 people at our wedding...You could also keep those pages blank for a yearbook feel....I am very happy with the over all quality of the book! It was worth every penny!!

Since we had so many compliments about our book....Something tells me our guests were eager to get over there and give us their autographs! So give your guests something new to talk about!!

Anything else I would have done differently besides enlarging the picture on the cover? Probably add more pages of engagement shots!! We currently have our guest book on our coffee table for daily viewing!

Our Wedding- The Invitations-Final Product!

I just realized that I never shared the final product of our invitations! My good friend and bridal attendant Teresa designed my beautiful stationary. Right from the beginning I wanted something simple and cheap to mail! We started the design process back in the Fall of 08! Every time I would fly home, Teresa and I would meet up! Oh, it was so much fun!

Did you notice how the invitations match the placecards, programs and the seating chart? :)
I LOVED how it all matched!!

Here are a couple of pictures of our reply postcard.

They had three meal choices...each represented by a cute little graphic!

I received everything the weekend of my amazing bridal shower and bachelorette party! I put a few together to personally handout at the shower. I just couldn't wait to show them to everyone! Here are a couple of shots of my mini work station! I had to make space and move my Mothers decorative stuff out of the way :)





To jazz the invite up a knotch, I added a black band around the invite. I went to Michaels and purchased black cardstock and cut several strips! It also held the invite and reply card together.

In the end, they were exactly what I wanted! I have several left over and I think I may just make a couple of ornaments for this Christmas! I posted this DIY project back in April (wow, time goes by fast!!) and thought it was such a cute idea!

Lessons learned? I might have added an additional card with lodging info/directions. We had several phone calls from those guests who do not use a computer! We did put together a wedding website with tons of information. We had several hits a day..and tons of sweet messages :) BTW, I totally recommend setting a web page up for your guests!

Below, is a picture of the talented Teresa and Moi!

photo credit: Jeremy Drey (aka Teresa's fiance)

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Our Wedding: The Dance

Okay my fellow bloggers! I was really nervous to post our dance...but with a little encouragement from some of you...I have gone ahead and posted it! Remember...we have no dance experience and completely out of Husbands comfort zone!!! Sweet comments only allowed :D





In the end, I am glad we did it! I just couldn't do a first dance where we would just do a high school move the entire time!We were nervous more about the dance then the wedding itself! After the dance, we were on a high! As I said previously, I'm really glad we had our bridal party lined up infront of the fireplace! After viewing the pictures from our dance and this video, I'm glad it caught them smiling and laughing!

A huge thank you to my friend who video taped it! Darren, you did an awesome job!!!!

Our Wedding- Seating Chart

We decided to do a seating chart and place cards! I know..extra work...but it was all well worth it! Here are a couple of pictures of the adorable chart my amazing bridesmaid created for us! I purchased a beat up black frame from Michaels, (got it discounted) and had my Father patch it up and spray it black!

We did it by alphabet and placed the table number at the end of their names. I blurred out the last names for privacy!



photo credit: Sight Photography

We continued the bird and damask theme over into our programs and then into the seating chart! Here is a head on non fancy let me see exactly what it looked like shot :)

Then once they found the table we had gorgeous little place cards awaiting for them. Again, the talented Jessica from Penned & Pretty did all the calligraphy. Here are a couple of pictures.





Here is a close up shot of my place cards from Penned & Pretty's website. Once I got them back from Jessica I simply circled the meal choice which was located on the bottom left of the card. 3 little graphics to choose from!



Photo Credit: Penned & Pretty
Place card designed by Teresa VanWagner

Again a super huge thank you to my amazing bridesmaid Danielle who put so much love into my special day!! She is very talented!

My other good friend, Theresa who is a graphics art designer, created my invitations & place cards! I was so fortunate to be able to carry the design throughout the wedding! It was so nice to have creative and talented friends!!! THANK YOU LADIES!!!

Our Wedding- Our Signs

If you are planning on having a garden, outside and/or "nature" themed wedding...I highly suggest making a couple of cute little signs! My Husband put together three signs for me with extra pieces of wood laying around.. I simply did a little scribble and finished! It was so easy!

Photo Credit: Sight Photography

Even though our venue had a couple of signs directing our guests, we actually had several gracious comments appreciating the extra help! I placed them up the winding road which could become confusing for first time visitors. It was just another cute DIY project that also assists your guests! Plus, you will get some cute pictures which is always good!

Our Wedding- TTD or Forever After

I must say....I am very pleased with our amazing pictures!!!

I even made my own bouquet!





About 2 weeks after our wedding I cut off a couple inches of my hair! It felt sooo good!





My Husband did such a good job! He looks so handsome in these pictures!










I went to Vicara Salon in El Segundo for a quick blow dry and style.
Gigi Jara from the South Bay area did my amazing makeup! Let me know if you are interested in her services!! She is one sweet and talented makeup artist.



Photo Credit: Hazelnut Photography
Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting these pictures

To see more...click on over HERE!

Okay, so now that they have been posted...I'm feeling a bit better! Thank you all for the sweet cake comments!

Our Wedding- The Cake

Okay, let me take a deep breath... {sigh} This is definitely one post that I have been dreading! I was so unhappy with our wedding cake. I went to a reputable baker who has been nominated on The Knot and felt confident! I took in this picture and explained how I would like it to look like bark..etc.. yet I wanted a very simple and organic look. When I saw the cake I was ready to cry....my wedding planner said she loved it..and how simple it was...how it fit the venue... but in all honestly it isn't what I wanted! I wanted folds of the icing...over lapping...not stripes!

On a lighter note, it tasted amazing! Each slice served was half lemon, half vanilla. Many compliments on how light and delicious it was! In fact, the left overs were gone within 2 days after the wedding.


I really like this picture below...too cute!




I like this picture just because it's taken by a unique perspective...


Photo Credit: Sight Photography
Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting these pictures

So, I am in major need of sweet comments and reassurance that people forget what the cake looks like and all that is important is our marriage :) You know what would really make me feel better? Is some sneak peeks of our TTD session to be posted over at Hazelnut Photography's blog!

Our Wedding- Jewerly

Remember when I posted about my amazing earrings I snatched up for my big day? I was soo excited to wear them on my wedding day! In fact, this Sunday we have our TTD session in Malibu and I am so excited to be wearing them again! Below are a couple of good & clear pictures of the earrings.

Darin got me a gorgeous white gold bracelet as my wedding gift. I wear it all the time! I had no idea what he was planning on getting me!






Photo Credit: Sight Photography
Please link back to East Coast Wedding if you post these pictures

I wish I would have had some family jewerly to wear but unfortuantely our family didn't have anything special to wear. So, I found my own! I hope my Daughter loves my earrings as much as I do. Hmm..I wonder if I will share them?! :)

Are you wearing anything special on your big day?

Our Wedding- Fun Prop!

After the ceremony we too some time for family and fun shots! The skies were absolutely gorgeous! Another prop I purchased was a gorgeous black frame from Michaels. It was on sale for $5.00! Marked down from $80.00!!! What a deal :) I am absolutely thrilled with the pictures and I am having a hard time to pick out specific shots for our album and to hang on the wall.

Photo Credit: Sightphotography
Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting these pictures


Are you using any props for in your wedding photography?

Our Wedding- The Ceremony 2

When we met with our Officiant she told us to practice "the kiss!" At first we laughed about it...but then we realized we should practice and be ready to go! She said to make it PG and natural. So, the week before our wedding we came up with "the kiss." It turned out great and it felt natural and soo PG!! It felt like the ceremony just flew by! Before you know it...she was pronouncing us as Husband & Wife!

photo: friend





I really like the colors in this shot...and the shadow of us!












The Bridal Party












Photo Credits: Sight Photography
Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting these pictures


After viewing many of our ceremony pictures...I never realized how the green flowers...and the groomsmen's ties match the surroundings! The ties match the blue skies perfectly!

Once the ceremony was over and the bridal party exited, we walked back down the aisle and dissmissed our guests. This gave us the opportunity to say a quick hug & hello to our guests. This does take up some time so make sure to plan enough!! I would totally recommend this!

Our Wedding- Wine Boxes

I'm going to jump around a little bit with my recaps..

One DIY project that I was able to complete on time, were the wine boxes. Our guests were asked to sign each box with a message! For our first 5 years of marriage we would open one bottle of wine and read all of our sweet notes from our guests. As you see there are 6 boxes..I know we couldn't wait a whole year for our first bottle so we opened the very 1st one the next day:)

We ordered them in plain natural wood and painted them a simple black. I made a little sign to explain what to do and purchased some silver markers. This was probably the easiest DIY project ever! Again-thank you to my Father for painting!!! If I had more time, I would have purchased a table runner or placed flowers to jazz up the area a bit. Again, It was so hard to do everything living across the country!

Here are a couple of shots!
Before...

photo credit: Friend



After...




Each box was completely full of sweet notes from our amazing guests!

Photo Credit: Sight Photography
Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting these pictures

We also did a guest book but when I heard about this idea I had to jump on it! It also got our guests up and moving around. We had many compliments on this idea! As to where did we find our wine boxes...I honestly cannot remember! We found a site online..and took a chance!

I was very very pleased with our DIY project!