Monday, December 17, 2007

til next year....

So sorry for the delay since my last post....lots going on with both us, and tons of preparation for the holidays and visits from friends and family....

I'll have much to share in the New Year when the planning will kick into high gear!

Love to you all and if I don't see you -- have a happy holiday season and cheers to an excellent New Year!

xo

Monday, December 3, 2007

MTWP: Bridesmaid Meg

Meg K (aka "The Winker")
How exciting it was to gain a sister when Derek and Meg got married. Meg can always be counted on for her quick comebacks, surprise you with her sly wit and she'll charm you with her sweet southern draw. She is an amazing person with so much love to give it's practically bursting out of her.

She has recently taken up tennis, is from the great state of Alabama, met my brother at the University of Richmond where they both attended, has lived in South Africa, loves Sudoko, is a scrap booking queen, is an excellent chef, rode an elephant in Thailand, is an amazing singer (for real, not just when I annoy her into singing karaoke), likes to dance (especailly to Lily Allen, ahem) and is an extremely passionate person who loves to hear a funny story and meet new people....

Back in March of 2002 Meg herself was a beautiful bride. Wearing a lovely champagne colored strapless gown that seemed to glow in the late afternoon sun... Their
wedding was so much fun, it was held on a boat on the Potomac filled with their close family and friends, it was intimate and a love-filled occasion and I remember thinking to myself, I hope someday I can have a wedding like this...that thought set in motion changes in my life and their wedding was not only monumental in their own lives, but touched mine in a special way as well. I lucked out when Derek met Meg, not only did I get a new sister-in-law I gained a great friend!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Just Plain Printed Fun...


So it's almost time to get the "Save the Date" cards ready to be printed and sent out and I am getting really excited! I can't wait to see the design I've been working on and tweaking these past couple months printed and in in my hands ready to be addressed, stamped and posted! It will be a good feeling.

Just need to wrap up the hotel situation, booking blocks of rooms, etc so we can include that on the save the date....

It was a great holiday this past week and really enjoyed seeing the family, although we missed a few-- that will just make it that much more sweeter at Christmas!

I've been debating "releasing" some details on the blog as I want to keep some things a suRprise, but I hope to have some more fun tidbits coming your way! We're really getting into the honeymoon location now and have added some more locales to our list. I'll be posting a new poll very soon..... And of course, MTWP is in full effect......good stuff!

Hope your staying warm!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Dress!

The Dress has been picked and ordered from Adrienne's right on Orchard Street in our very own Lower East Side neighborhood! How very exciting!
What's neat is that a lot of the wedding details are coming from our very own neighborhood -- the engagement ring came from Doyle & Doyle on Orchard Street, the dress from Orchard Street as well...there's a chance we may use the Flower Girl which is also on Orchard Street....so it's really a nice touch and I'm pleased with how it's all working out! If you look closely on the picture in this post you may be able to see the dress.....ha! just kidding! ;)
Have a Happy Turkey Day!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

MEET THE WEDDING PARTY (MTWP): BEST MAN


Bryan C (a.k.a. Big Bry)
If you are lucky your best man is either a great friend or your
brother. Well I must be the luckiest groom-to-be around because Bryan is both. Bryan towers above his father and me. Like his Uncle Andy, his grandfather's brother, he owns most of the inches in the family. His height is not his only differentiating point. Bryan is an avid lacrosse player who could string up your stick in a matter of minutes. He has boundless energy, a quirky sense of humor, and is an aspiring creative writer. Bryan is currently a junior at Neumann College where he impresses the ladies with his belly rolling skills (ask him to show you during the reception). When not joking around or providing funny imitations, Bryan is interested in learning about family tradition. To all you seasoned wedding attendees out there, (yeah, I'm talking to you, the one who knows the origin of family members and friends nicknames) take Bryan aside and share your stories with him. He'll serve as an attentive and compassionate listener. After you've talked with him you'll realize why everyone finds him so likable.
(WRITTEN BY GABE)

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Letterpress

Not sure if you re-call how I was obsessed with letterpress a few weeks ago...ha! Well, it hasn't stopped, in fact the obsession has grown.....As mentioned, I took the workshop and now have a sweet boxful of letterpressed cards and lined envelopes!

I finished lining the envelopes last night which they taught us how to do in the class as well (I choose a lovely red textured paper to contrast the black impression and white paper) and now have a lovely finished set of notecards that were made with my very own hands! super cool!

Thanks to Diana from MAKE workshop and Breck and Matt from Sesame Letterpress for making such a cool learning experience available to the public! It was so interesting and a lot of fun! I also met a girl who was getting married on 10.18.08 and in Long Island City -- funny, right? What a small world. We're planning a drive-by of each other's wedding spots since they're only a few blocks apart!

Anywho, here's the final product! I hope to write to you all in the next few months so you can get an up close look! Also, more pics can be found on my flickr page!

Monday, October 29, 2007

MEET THE WEDDING PARTY (MTWP): MAID OF HONOR

A new feature of the blog, debuting today is "Meet the Wedding Party" -- first up, my lovely little button of a friend and maid of honor:

Jenna D.
(aka The Hammer, Sheila)
The Hammer hands out high fives like it's her job—witness her recent enthusiastic TV appearance on the Food Network. Jenna is a renaissance woman who has traveled the world to learn about gastronomic delights. She went to Greece to make olive oil, upstate NY to grow biodynamic vegetables and make cheese, and she even cultivated a gummy worm farm in Iowa. OK, the last part is false, but the rest is true.

Now she is in PA making the sweet indulgence known as chocolate. On the side she's swinging on a trapeze and learning the violin. Not at the same time of course, but we wouldn't put it passed her. Jenna is the kind of girl who will wear a prom dress to a dive bar and eat her dinner out of coffee cup. You love her the minute you meet her! Just yell out The Hammer or her other nickname, Shelia, and she'll come running to throw you a hug.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Belle Fleur & The Flower Girl

Belle Fleur...This florist is a good find...I got a lovely bouquet from here when we first got engaged and have had it on my mind ever since.....they are a mother-daughter team and put out some beautiful bouquets. I'll be checking them out along with some other NYC florists.... Belle Fleur: These bouquets are especially beautiful!

Another florist I happened upon is in our neighborhood, inside the new Earnest Sewn shop (which sadly overtook the charming museum antique shop on the corner of Orchard and Broome. But does add interest to the growing neighborhood.)

The florist is the "flower girl"-- (I can't find a website and that always annoys me as I like to check out products and get a feeling and price range beforehand) but regardless, she had some interesting arrangements staged while I was there so I'll give her a call and see what comes of it.

Stay tuned for a new feature debuting soon on the blog -- "meet the wedding party" -- it should be a nice (and hopefully entertaining) addition!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

365 Days to go!!!

Exactly one year from today we'll be hearing wedding bells!!!!

woo-hoo! Exciting Stuff!!!

Nothing to much to update on this week....will be checking out some possible Rehearsal Dinner restaurants this weekend....that should be fun!
And deciding on the hotels for wedding party and guests....other than that...same old, same old!
Hope everyone is well!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Groom's Attire

As we all know Gabe has his own personal style so I am positive, him and his groomsmen will look amazing on the big day.....but in case he needs some ideas, I'll steer him in this direction:

The idea is simple, you find fabric you like (it seems silk or wool blends would work best) and then send it to this company and they'll produce and send back custom-made ties...how cool! Check it out here: Tiecrafters

Friday, October 5, 2007

It's a Good Thing

Well, I am excited to say, after all my babbling about invitations/letterpress, I have gone ahead and signed myself up for a class on how to actually produce letterpress stationary. I can't wait....This great little workshop MAKE gives classes in not only letterpress, but sewing, knitting, block printing...and lots of other fun stuff! It just happens to be in my 'hood too! How fun!

I'll definitely post my finished project! The class is given by the peeps over at Sesame Letterpress in Brooklyn, so I'll be traveling to their studio for a lecture on Oct 23 and then a four hour printing session on Nov 3! Where I'll have 25 notecards to show for my efforts! I am super-excited! (can you tell?)

Got the Fall Martha Stewart mag last week, and have been slowly going through it, loving all the ideas.....(i like to savor all the wonderful inspirations! )

A few of my favorites:
White Bouquets I love the "bohemian chic" one

Yummy Favors I have mine all picked out, although those will be a secret until the big day! And they're not cookies. don't worry, martha will be proud.

Citrus Centerpiece I absolutely LOVE the idea of a citrus centerpiece, although with the colors we choose, it might have to be limes instead of lemons...anyone have a lime tree?

Of note, I think I am becoming martha-obsessed, what do you think? Maybe I should do a poll...I've used her name 3 times already in this post alone....does that mean I'm obsessed? As Martha would say (and my Aunt Connie would agree) "it's a good thing."

Have a great weekend loved ones! xo

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Invitations

I am slightly obsessed with invitations as you may have guessed....I can't help it....they really help to set the tone of the event. I have been involved with creating many in the past for the events I worked on so I really want to make sure the invites for our wedding are just perfect! I know it's a little early, but I've started our initial design and really love it! It's unique, but simple...now to find the perfect printer...this seems to be the hard part! Although I have been in communication with several that are promising and are willing to print outside designs. Save the Dates will be going out shortly...although if you're reading this, you probably already have the date saved ...so it's for everyone else!

Check out the invite suites from CeCi NY a preeminent NY invitation designer.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The Dress


OK, so the all-important dress shopping expedition is coming up.....here are some of the places I plan to check out:

Wedding Atelier
Kleinfeld's

Monday, September 24, 2007

Shout Out!










Look at this people, Our blog got a shout-out on this site, DIY Bride, how exciting!!!
Thanks DIY Bride!

Bride & Groom trivia - answers!

Here are the answers:

1. Good Old Skippack RoadHouse
2. The movies and then Bud's Bar in Oaks
3. A cat named Stella
4. Puerto Rico
5. no!


So how'd you do?

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Color Wheel!


This site is very cool, you can preview different color variations and see how they look together. This would be cool even for any event, not just a wedding! Keep in mind for your next par-tay!
Color Studio.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Bride & Groom trivia


here's a little gabe and kate trivia FUN for ya'll*:

1. Where did gabe & kate meet?
2. Where did gabe and kate go on their first date?
3. What kind of pet do g&k have? What is it's name?
4. Where was g&k's first vacation to?
5. What did kate's dad say at first when gabe asked him to marry kate?

happy monday.


*that's for you meg!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

oh lovely letterpress....


There really is nothing like letterpress. As I am searching for vendors to print our invitations I just keep realizing how much I love letterpress. Seriously, I would print everything in this style if I could.....it's just so lovely!

For those of you not familiar, here are some samples of this beautiful art form!

Louella Press
Good on Paper
Greenwich Letterpress
CECI ny

Monday, September 10, 2007

Inspiration Board #1

From my sketch book and beyond......enjoy!

New York, New York...

















Hey there, sorry for the delay since my last post, this silly thing called a 9 to 5 job just keeps getting in the way of my wedding planning! argh!

Anywho, met with Chef Rossi, (theragingskillet.com) and she's wonderful! We look forward to finalizing a contract and working with her for the perfect menu! She gave us lots of insight on how the actual day would go, and even some inside tips for working with Eleanor, the owner of the Met Building. (If you haven't read, Eleanor is a one-of-a-kind sort of lady!) So we're glad to have Chef Rossi on our team!

In other news, looks like we'll get the band we were hoping for! So people, put your dancing shoes on! It's going to be SO much fun!!!

Working on a fun map that I will post very soon of fun things to do in NYC while you're here! So let me know if there is anything in particular you'd be interested and doing and we'll see about arranging it! (museums, shopping, siteseeing, people-watching, flea markets, art galleries, you name it, we've probably got it here in the city!)

Hope your enjoying the last days of summer! Much love to you all!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

To Do This week....part deux



So none of our To-Do's from last week got done! Ha! This week, however, is off to a good start.

Tomorrow we finally meet with Chef Rossi, I'll keep you "posted" on how that goes. We're very excited to see what she has to offer!

We have the invite list pretty much finalized, which is a good thing. Now the daunting task of gathering addresses is looming.

We hope to have the band finalized in the next week or two...we saw them at another wedding and they were phenomanal so we're super excited to have them at our wedding! They are full of energy and very FUN! Fingers crossed that they work out!

Also, hope to have all the wedding party asked by the end of September. That will be another big check off the list. We're trying to do it in person, so it's taking a little longer than expected!

So those are the big things, although the list somehow keeps getting longer, the rest seems to be the fun stuff! Dress shopping (eeeee!!! that's me being excited!), flowers, invites, photographers, hotels, cake, transportation, and the list goes on and on........BUT...I am really excited! Can you tell?

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! Working on some cool stuff for the blog this week so keep your eyes peeled! :)

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I Heart Martha!















Look at these adorable ring pillows made of vintage hankies! How lovely! I need to make these now! :) I bet she learned how to make these in prison!
Seriously, though, I really do heart Martha.

Monday, August 27, 2007

To Do This week....




















Up this week:

Finalize caterer

Check out Hotels in midtown area (If you have a favorite hotel or have points at a hotel chain in NYC let me know and we can add to our list for consideration-- we're shooting for 2-3 hotels to block off rooms for that weekend.)

Save the Date - printing vendor research

Also, In case you were interested, here are some of the other venues we checked out before we came upon the Metropolitan Building.....All were very nice but not as unique as the Met Building.

Castle on Hudson
Blue Hill at Stone Barns
The Garrison
Monteverde

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Flowers



















Lily of the Valley
, Peonies and really any white flower are at the top of my list right now, but there are so many options!

I do know I want to incorporate a lot of green leaves and foliage if possible, which coincidentally is a symbol of "wedded love." how sweet.

Dahlia's
are in-season during October and are the the "traditional autumn flower." But I think they're a tad to colorful.

According to the Wedding Gazette these types of flowers are easy to get all year long as well, so I will consider, (although not sure what some of these are) :

Baby's Breath, Bachelor's Buttons, Carnations, Gardenias, Gladiolus', Lily of the Valley, Orchids, Roses and Stephanotis.

And last but not least, call me crazy, but I like these paper flowers and think they would add a nice touch to certain areas in the Met Building....

Tissue Paper Flowers
Paper Poppy Pomanders




Tuesday, August 21, 2007

History of the Metropolitan Building














Here are some more articles & images about the Metropolitan Building.
It really has a very interesting history!

NY Times Article - April 2006

More Beautiful Pictures


Monday, August 20, 2007

Next Up.....The Food














So now that the date is set, we're focusing on the caterer...

Check out www.theragingskillet.com to get an idea about who we are considering: Chef Rossi.

10.18.2008












It's official!

Save the Date:
10.18.2008
Metropolitan Building
New York City

www.metropolitanbuilding.com