FIve Years Ago...

Five years ago today — Friday, October 31, 2003 — I met a boy. I thought this boy was cute, despite his mullet wig, but I had no idea that this boy would soon become the love of my life, my husband, and my family.

It is hard to believe all that has happened in five years. We met, we fell in love, and we dated long-distance for two years. He moved away from his parents for the first time ever to be closer to me, got a new job, and changed his life around to make me happy. We moved in together, we went to about a thousand weddings, and we held each other's hands at a few sad funerals. We learned how to live with each other, he rightfully named my alter-ego "Cranky McCrankerson," and I acquired several funny stories about the strange conversations we have when he is half asleep. He gave me a sparkly ring, I put my heart and soul into planning the wedding of our dreams, and we shared a tissue in front of all of our guests.

We have a new anniversary now, so we won't celebrate our "meetiversary" with fancy dinners or gifts anymore... but Halloween will always remind me of the night we met and how very far we've come. Sometimes it still surprises me how everything worked out — how two people who weren't each other's "type" somehow had this immediate connection and wound up married five years later. Really, who would've thunk it??

Happy "meetiversary," Mr. Cupcake. I know sometimes I have a funny way of showing it, but I love you and I love what we have together. In honor of our love and all the fun we have together, here are a few photos from Halloweens past. May we share many more goofy costumes in our life together.

The Violet Beauregard costume I was wearing the night we met (that's my Matron of Honor/former roommate as Veruca Salt!)

Our one year anniversary, as Daphne and Fred

(And a little surprise attached to Mr. Cupcake's leg)

Our two year anniversary, as Britney and K-Fed

Our Wedding in Film, Part 1: Sharing Tissues

Rather than hire a professional videographer to capture our wedding day, we opted to instead splurge on our photography and have a family member videotape the key moments of our day (for a generous fee of $0.00). Although I drool along with everyone else over the stunning footage from the likes of StillMotion (Mrs. Milkshake's amazing epic wedding film, anyone?), for us it truly meant the world to have our day captured by someone who knows and loves us, and we cannot stop watching the beautiful video that was carefully and lovingly edited and delivered to us less than 48 hours after we returned home from our honeymoon.

My mom's cousin, Bobby, was our fabulous videographer (I think that makes him my second cousin.... or is he my first cousin, once removed? Hmm...), and I want to share with you a few snippets from our day that he captured. First up: my oldest friend in the world, Jill, singing during our ceremony (Jill and I grew up across the street from each other and have essentially been friends since birth). She sang Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home," which was popularized by Chantal Kreviazuk when her rendition was included on the Dawson's Creek soundtrack way-back-when. Mr. Cupcake and I share a few tender and heartwarming moments during the song around the time when the first chorus is beginning (and please have a listen — you won't believe the pipes on this girl!).



There is a lot of nodding going on on my part; I don't really remember what we talked about up there, but I think a lot of it was Mr. Cupcake asking "Are you okay? Do you need a tissue? Are you sure?" And you can also see him compliment me on my bracelet at one point :-) I surprisingly held it together really well during my walk down the aisle, but something about hearing that beautiful song combined with my dear old friend singing it for us, combined with sharing that moment with Mr. Cupcake.... well, it just got the best of both of us. I thought I was crying a lot more than you can tell by the video, which I guess is a good thing (so our guests didn't think I was a complete blubbering idiot!).

When I eventually took Mr. Cupcake up on his offer to use a tissue (and I tried really hard to dab my nose gracefully, even though I felt like it was dripping with snot), I didn't realize he'd use the same tissue to blow his own nose when I gave it back to him (it's not like I had anywhere to put it, so I had to give it back!). Apparently, our guests thought this was quite amusing and touching, and it made for a most memorable moment. (I hope no one thought it was really gross!) I really love hearing the laughter of my family in the video when this all happened, as it was filmed from the pew where my cousin sat as a guest. I felt bad that people laughed during Jill's song, but she told me later that she was so focused on the song that she barely noticed.

I have a few more video moments that I will share with you throughout the coming weeks, but until then, tell us: what funny moments occurred during your ceremony that made it unique? Did you opt to hire a professional videographer, or did you also go the family route, like us?

My Bridal Body Journey

It's no surprise that most brides want to look their absolute best for their wedding day. In attaining this goal, many of us diet, exercise, obsess and nitpick every part of our bodies. It's not always healthy, and we're not always proud to admit that we are depriving ourselves of that piece of bread because we are determined to fit into a dress that is a size smaller than our current shape. A shape that, maybe, is not meant to be any smaller than it is.

I did not want to be one of those brides who was so obsessed with her weight that she was miserable and hungry all the time. I did not want to be so narcissistic to think that I had to strive for perfection or unrealistic goals of beauty for one day. But at the same time, I wanted to have no regrets about how I looked on my wedding day, and I wanted to feel fabulous. Not a size 2 fabulous, but a size healthy fabulous. And back when my dress first came in to The Wedding Touch in February and I tried it on, I did not feel fabulous. I still loved the dress, but I did not love myself in it.

At that time, Mr. Cupcake was a little tired of the extra weight he had put on since we first met, and he started following Weight Watchers to shed a few pounds before the wedding. I jumped on the bandwagon and loosely started following his Points system, and as much as I immediately saw results on the scale, I realized that it wasn't necessarily the weight that I wanted to lose — it was some tone and muscle that I wanted to gain. But I was never great at pushing myself to get to the gym after a long day at work, especially amidst all the wedding to-dos on my list for each evening, and fuhgeddabout trying to get there before my 8 a.m. workday begins. Mrs. Cupcake is not a morning person. When I did get to the gym, I usually spent some time on the treadmill or elliptical until I got bored, and then wandered aimlessly through the weights without really knowing what to do until I eventually just went home.

Then, at dinner one night with my friend J, she told me about the new business venture she had been putting her heart and soul into. It is called Bridal Body, and it is a fitness and wellness program meant to help brides lose weight, tone up, increase energy and learn how to listen to their bodies. Each bride is assigned a trainer and a wellness counselor to guide her throughout the process. Their philosophy really stood out to me:

There is no "right" size that every bride, or woman, should be. There is no "right" diet or eating plan for everyone. There is no "right" way for everyone to exercise. We listen to you, and we teach you to listen to your unique body.

The best part: it is an in-home service. Translation: this lazy Cupcake need venture only to her living room to get in shape for her wedding day. Sign me up!

My trainer, Dave, started coming to our apartment two days a week for an hour at a time to whip my butt into shape. The hour always went by much faster than I expected it to, and I actually felt muscles working that I had never been aware of before. Dave showed me different exercises that I could do on my own time, based on the improvements I most wanted to make to my body, and overall he kicked my butt. I always felt sore the day after our workouts — that good, satisfying sore that reminds you that your hard work is going to pay off. Since I still had a gym membership and I wanted to get more familiar with some of the equipment at my gym, Dave also met me there a few times to help me feel more comfortable in the gym and to show me different exercises I could continue doing on my own. Best of all, he always worked with my hectic and jam-packed schedule to fit in our workouts, and I really started to see a difference.

My wellness counselor, Gretchen, called me every two weeks for a 30-minute follow-up on my progress. She also emailed me interesting recipes based on the foods I like (and don't like — I'm a pretty picky eater). I was honest with Gretchen that I didn't have a lot of time to cook dinner every night, and I did start to feel overwhelmed with all of her information at one point, amidst all the craziness of work and the wedding plans; she totally understood and scaled back, focusing more on encouraging me to get the sleep I needed and take a few moments each day to relax and de-stress. I was most definitely pretty stressed the few months leading up to the wedding, so my chats with Gretchen were always a good reminder to take it easy once in a while. (And now that I have a lot more time on my hands, I am looking forward to trying out some of the recipes that Gretchen passed along to me.) Gretchen also encouraged me to eat heartier foods with more natural ingredients, and I really started to feel better when I wasn't eating a lot of over-processed crapola.

After working with Bridal Body and by the time I was at my final dress fittings, I felt spectacular. My dress had fit snugly back in February and didn't feel like it needed a single alteration (which was a little scary considering that the same size sample that had made me want to buy the dress four months earlier had been fairly loose). At my fittings in August, the seamstress had to take in a few inches in the bodice, I felt okay without wearing Spanx under my dress, and I was no longer worried about the back of the dress (which was slightly lower than I remembered it being when I first tried it on). I didn't focus on trying to figure out ways to hide my flabby arms because they now felt a little less flabby, and I felt like a beautiful bride. To others, the difference may appear much more subtle, but I definitely felt and saw a difference.

BEFORE:

Trying on my snug dress in February and not very happy.

AFTER:

A few pounds lighter, dress taken in a few inches, and feeling toned & fabulous.
Photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan (a budding photographer!)

Flab-free back and arms that I worked very hard for!
Photo on left by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan; Photo on right by our friend Tara

If you are looking for someone to truly hold your hand through the process of getting healthy for your wedding (and, in general), Bridal Body may be for you. The company is based in Philadelphia but their network of providers currently ranges from NYC down to Baltimore. Every program is completely customized to each bride's needs, so there is no base price that they advertise, but do keep in mind that it is a luxury program. After a free in-home consultation, a program will be custom tailored to your budget and lifestyle. In addition to Bridal Body, there are two other programs geared towards busy moms (Mommy Body) and anyone else with a busy lifestyle, looking to transform their health and achieve balance in all aspects of their lives (Vital Body). Although I do know the owner of the company, I promise you that I would never be recommending the program if I had not had a great personal experience with it!

What are you doing to look your best on your wedding day? Have you considered a program like Bridal Body to help you achieve your health goals?

Cupcake Teaser Photos.... Lots of 'Em!

It's teaser time!!

Our fabulous photographers, The Wiebners, captured so many amazing moments on our wedding day, and they have now gone above and beyond, posting over 50 teaser photos from our day on their blog. It will be a bit longer until I have all of the proofs to share with you all, but until then, here are some snippets that I can't resist sharing. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Mr. Cupcake getting ready with the guys

One of Mr. Cupcake's groomsmen is his uncle, shown here on the right, who was always like a big brother to him. He works in Bangladesh and flew all the way home for our wedding day.

Getting my makeup done by the fabulous Emily of Cheekadee! She made me feel like a princess. Natalie Pagano did everyone's hair beautifully, and both she and Emily came right to my room (The Presidential Suite, woohoo!) at The Desmond. Being able to hang out there all morning was really relaxing and I never felt rushed.

Checking myself out! (You can sort of see here my "Team Bride" tank top.... SIL Cupcake let me borrow hers, which she sported getting ready for her own wedding to my brother last summer.)

Our Day Of Coordinator, Jenn Poletti of Perfect Planners, helping to secure my veil. It was really surreal seeing myself as a bride. I thought the day would never come!

Mr. Cupcake waiting for the shuttle outside of The Desmond and getting one last iPhone check in. (That's FIL Cupcake next to him.)

We saw each other for the first time at Valley Creek Park, up the road from The Desmond. The Wiebners took some great portraits in front of the old farm house after we first saw each other.

This photo took my breath away when I first saw it. I love the light behind me, and I like the fact that this wasn't posed.... I was just fixing my dress!

My flowers were everything I ever wanted but never knew how to express! Wade at Blue Moon Florist in Downingtown somehow figured out what I was looking for, despite my flip-flopping back and forth, and what resulted was the most perfect bouquet I could have ever imagined.

Getting in one last touch-up before the ceremony.

Our programs! I slaved over these in the week before the wedding. I used the die-cut pieces left over from our invitations as front and back covers (go, recycling!), Gocco'd the covers with silver ink, and attached the covers to an accordian style interior with all of our ceremony information. I finished them off (and held them closed) with a 1/8" wide silver satin ribbon. I promise that a detailed DIY tutorial is to come soon!

The walk down the aisle with my parents.... my mom was excited! And I couldn't keep my eyes off of Mr. Cupcake. I teared up a tiny bit, but I held it together much more than I expected to.

When Mr. Cupcake smiles, his whole FACE smiles... I love this picture of him, and I love my brother's expression behind him.

Wow.

The light coming in from the stained glass window was so ethereal.

After the ceremony, we headed to the West Chester Railroad yard for some cool pictures with the trains. This place had so much character!

Mr. Cupcake showing off his teal argyle socks. We actually bought these for all of the groomsmen, but totally forgot to have the Wiebners get a group shot! Oh well.... this rad one makes up for it!

Our rings!

Getting some smooches in, in between some trains...

If you look real hard, you can see our limo driver in the background, waiting for us!

I can't wait to see the rest of the shots from our stop at the orange antique shop. This one came out very cool!

Time for the cocktail hour.... that means photo booth time! Here are my cousins and bridesmaids making faces for their photo strip.

On the left you can see the custom posters I made for the photo booth! Come on now, did you really think I'd leave some generic posters in there? You should all know me better by now :-)

The photo mats that I Gocco'd for people to showcase their photos were a big hit and it was great seeing everyone show them off all night.

It's like my friends are peeking out of his pocket!

Our well-wishes memo board was also a hit.... we got some great notes from friends and family throughout the night!

We ended up having three signature cocktails.... here the bartender is mixing up one of them. I never got to try one but I hear they were tasty.... a post about our cocktails will come soon!

The ballroom getting all set up.... by the time our guests got in there, the lighting wasn't this bright, but this is a great view of how everything looked.

Our cake! You may remember that I came up with the design myself, based on our invitation design, and the wonderful bakers at Sweet Jazmine's made it a reality. Flowers from Blue Moon topped it off perfectly.

We had so much fun during our first dance, chatting and laughing.

Mr. Cupcake's best man gave a very memorable and wonderful toast. He included some heart-felt words about his best friend, Mr. Cupcake, and then at the perfect moment, he threw in, "and now you join together for better or for worse.... Nick couldn't do better, and Brooke couldn't do worse." It was perfectly timed and the laughter erupted. What a perfect way to lighten things up :-)

Mr. Cupcake and his mom sharing a sweet moment after their adorable dance together. Here you can see a good shot of the dance floor lighting (a cool peacock feather pattern) that was set up by Synergetic Sounds and Lighting.

A cool shot of one of our photo booth pictures, our teal napkins, silver chargers that I bought from Save On Crafts, our toasting glasses, and our "little blank book" place cards! (I promise to blog more about our place cards soon.)

Cutting the cake!

I surprised Mr. Cupcake with a Groom's Cake.... a Boston Red Sox hat! I'll have a post with the background and more fab pictures for you soon.

Let the dance party begin! Behind me in the teal dress is my Maid of Honor who came home (again!) from Austria, along with her boyfriend (in the center) for the big day. What great friends we have!

Two of my crazy fun cousins. They danced the entire night! That's Daddy Cupcake on the right, who also danced his heart out all night.

Setting up our Tastykake dessert display towards the end of the night!

I love this photo.... the couple on the left celebrated their one-year anniversary the day after our wedding!

There was LOTS of singing and dancing all night...

Photo booth fun :-) Love it!!!!

Those Wiebners are just so clever.

So, there you have it.... the teaser to end all teasers. BIG thanks to the Wiebners for putting together such an amazing collection of shots! (And also for putting up with our stalking... we were a little excited to see these!) As soon as we have more photos to share, I will be posting about all of the details of our day in greater detail. I can't wait to share with you all!