mrs. cupcake's wedding blog

a fond farewell (and reflections from a no-longer-newlywed)

2010-11-02T18:35:00.002-04:00

It was almost three years ago that I started blogging here, and with the honor of being a bee came friendships, career changes, and general awesomeness that has changed my life for the better. As silly as I used to think blogging was, it has become something I really love, and I have Weddingbee to thank for the introduction to blog-land in the first place.

I've been fairly quiet over the last year or so since, you know, I'm no longer planning a wedding and all; while I still hang around the hive from time-to-time, I thought that it is high time I bid a proper adieu to Weddingbee. Mr. Cupcake and I recently celebrated our second wedding anniversary in September, and it struck us both that the last two years have flown by so quickly, it's difficult to grasp the concept that we're not quite newlyweds anymore — we are now full-fledged marrieds. Who'd have thunk it!

at a family wedding the weekend after our second anniversary

The last two years have brought both unwelcome and welcome changes to our relationship and our new life together. Mr. Cupcake got laid off shortly after we got married, and then went back to work after a long 10 months of searching. I then decided to continue the craziness in our lives by quitting my job and starting a new business, Curious & Company, with a few colleagues, which included launching a line of letterpress wedding stationery called Claremont Collection. It has been a whirlwind, to say the least.

Through all of the excitement over the last few years, Mr. Cupcake has been the best cheerleader I could have ever asked for. While he's always been 100% supportive of everything I do, there is just something about being married that makes it a little different from before — it makes his unending support all that much sweeter. While I know that we'll always love each other, it's comforting to sit back and realize how much we really like each other, too. We genuinely have fun together and just enjoy being partners in life. We continue to perfect our relationship day by day, and work together to set goals for ourselves — we hope to be able to buy a home soon, and someday have some mini cupcakes to turn our world upside down. Whatever happens, we're excited for the ride.

In addition to all of the life changes happening around me, I still often catch up on Weddingbee and other wedding blogs; now that I've totally moved on from wedding planning madness, I often think about how I might have done things differently. I don't regret a single thing about our day, but it is a lot easier to put things in perspective when I read about the million details that future brides are juggling and I remember the feeling of being completely overwhelmed. There are a few words of wisdom this no-longer-newlywed would love to impart on all of you brides-t0-be, if I may:

Don't sweat the small stuff. I know that's probably the most overused mantra in the world and you may want to throw something at the computer screen when you read that, but it's true. I see brides fretting over if their guy should wear an ivory shirt to match their ivory dress (advice: a white shirt on him will look crisper and cleaner in photos, and no one will notice or care that you don't totally match!), or being upset that the pink on their invitations doesn't exactly match the pink linens that will be on the tables, and I just want to hug each one and tell her that everything will be alright. Ladies, I have been that extremely detail-oriented bride, and it's exhausting. There is nothing wrong with caring about the details, but don't drive yourself crazy over them. Decide what's important, accept that you may need to be flexible about everything else, and then embrace the imperfections that will make your day uniquely YOURS. I promise that as long as your guests are having a good time, they really aren't concerned about the multiple shades of pink. I. Prom. Ise.
Go with your gut and do things your way. Stick to your guns. If something is important to you, don't let anyone tell you that it's silly, or not sticking with tradition, or too trendy. Who cares if something is silly, or not sticking with tradition, or too trendy if you and your fiancé love it and it makes you happy? Your guests won't care if every couple getting married this year has a photo booth, because chances are they're not going to every other wedding happening this year. If your family wants you to have a big wedding but you know deep down that you're a small wedding kind of girl, figure out a way to make it happen. While your day is about family and having the people you love around you, it is also about you and the love of your life, and you should have the wedding that best reflects who you are.
Wear comfortable underthings on your wedding day. I'm so serious. Test those lacy white lovelies out before committing to wearing them for an entire day under what is probably a heavy dress that does not easily lend itself to, ahem, picking. I look back on our wedding day very lovingly, as it truly was one of the best days of my life... but I also have yet to forget the fact that for 100% of the time that I was partying it up on the dance floor, I had a wedgie and those dainty white undies I had chosen were the culprit. It was highly annoying and there was nothing I could do about it. And now all of the internetz knows it. But I'm okay with that if it saves even one bride from the wrath of uncomfortable undies on her wedding day.
Know and accept that you can't have all of the perfect pictures. Photography is certainly a big deal on your wedding day, and having photos to remember your day by are totally worth the expense. But I think the internet has jaded us all a little, and we think that every amazing photo can (and should) be duplicated for our own day. The reality is: it's impossible to have it all. Yes, you should hire a photographer who you love and trust with capturing a very important day in your life, and the photos they take may well be the only physical things from your wedding that you have to look back on in 30 years. But you'll also have the memories, and the spouse, and at the end of the day it's okay if the photographer didn't get every single shot that you envisioned. Love the photos you have and be excited that the unscripted moments you never imagined could occur were captured, just for you.

I'm sure I could go on for days, but I'll spare you. Ultimately, no matter what little unexpected surprises pop up while wedding planning or on your wedding day, just know that there are many, many more days in your future to be spent with the person you love the most in the world... and they will absolutely outweigh any unplanned bumps in the road that may occur on the day you say "I do." Marriage is an amazing ride, and your wedding day is only the beginning.

Hive, thank you so much for reading (this post and the many that came before it) and for being such an amazing community of people who have made me feel so loved. If you're ever so inclined to keep up with the happenings in my life, I have happily continued blogging over at my new internet home, Claremont Road. I'd love for you to visit, anytime.

Love always,
Mrs. Cupcake

Philly meet-up fun

2010-06-06T20:25:00.003-04:00

Thanks to the lovely Philadelphia ladies who came out for a delightful (albeit HOT) brunch in the "beer garden" at Silk City on Saturday! We ate, we drank, and we relished in the occasional breeze. Oh — and, of course, we talked weddings. But that's a given, right?

flamingred's bridesmaid Tanya, flamingred, danadelphia, me, and msgirard

yummiest huevos rancheros ever

All photos thanks to the sweet and talented msgirard/Girl Photography

Best of luck to flamingred who is getting married in less than two weeks! We'll have to plan another meet-up soon, after Miss Thimble moves back to the area this summer :) Hope to see many of you there the next time!

Philly meet-up June 5!

2010-05-04T22:00:00.002-04:00

Hey hive! A Philadelphia-area bee meet-up is being planned for June 5 — we'll be getting together for brunch/lunch, chatting and merriment, and we want you to join us! Please leave a comment on this post by May 29th if you plan to attend so we can reserve a table.

When: Saturday, June 5 at noon
Where: Silk City, 435 Spring Garden Street

images via Silk City

View Larger Map

Hope to see you there!

The Cupcakes' Blurb Wedding Books

2010-01-03T16:57:00.000-05:00

Ever since we got our wedding photos back from our photographers last February, I have had a very big to-do hanging over my head:

Mrs. Cupcake's to-do list
1. Create wedding albums for parents

Finally I was able to cross this biggie off of my list this Christmas (with glee, might I add). In early December, I hunkered down and designed 12" x 12", 50-page hardcover albums, which I had printed by Blurb. I had never used Blurb before so I was quite nervous for the outcome, but after reading so many rave reviews from the hive, I took the chance... and I am pleased to say that I am extremely satisfied with the final result.

I designed my layouts in Adobe InDesign, using one of the helpful templates that can be downloaded from the Blurb website. (If you don't already have a layout program you'd like to use, you can download the Blurb BookSmart® software to lay out your book.) The templates clearly show the "safe zone" for all images and text, and illustrate how much bleed to include in your layout for photos or other images that should bleed off the edges. This is especially helpful if you don't want to chop off the heads of any of your wedding guests :-)

I was also impressed by the cover templates, from which there are several to choose based on the number of pages in your book and the paper used for printing (which affects the width of the spine). I had created smaller, soft-cover books a few months back with Shutterfly, and my cover layout was not what I was expecting in terms of placement of the text on the spine (it ended up on the back). With my Blurb books, everything was lined up exactly as I had set it up on the cover, spine, and back cover.

I think the back cover is actually my favorite... I included our silhouettes and monogram that I had also used on the menus and drink signs at our wedding. I'm a sucker for silhouettes!

Overall, I was very pleased with the image quality and the vibrant colors. While I wasn't expecting absolute perfection, I didn't see any problems with skin tones, and I thought the ink coverage was impressive (and consistent) throughout each book.

(I look a bit pale, but, um... I am pale :-)

I ordered three books total — each 12" x 12", 50-pages, with image wrap covers and Premium paper. The final cost for each book: $85.95 plus shipping (which I actually got for free with a holiday coupon code). Compared to how much professional albums would have cost, we saved hundreds and hundreds of dollars and still had really beautiful Christmas gifts for our parents.

Does a Blurb book match the quality of a professionally designed and printed album from your photographer? Of course not. Even with the Premium paper selection and the image wrap cover, you aren't going to get the same attention to detail and the high quality printing that you would otherwise get from a professional album company. But for the money spent, I am elated with the final result, and I'm pretty sure our parents are, too.

In terms of timing, I ordered all three books together on December 8; I received free FedEx Ground shipping with a holiday coupon code. My books were shipped on December 15 and received on December 17. Considering the size and number of pages in my books, I think this is an exceptionally fast turnaround time.

If you're considering ordering from Blurb, a few pointers based on my experience:

Pay a little extra for the Premium paper; the final result is worth the additional cost.
Use the templates provided on the Blurb website (or download their BookSmart® software to lay out your book) to avoid unexpected cropping of photos off of edges or in the spine.
If you have questions, be safe and contact Blurb customer support before placing your order; I had a few questions and they responded very promptly.
Selecting the option to remove the logo page from the back of your book (like I did with my first upload) will add quite a bit of cost — for me, it would have cost another $20 per book! And once your book is uploaded, you cannot reverse this selection. Unfortunately, I had to go back and re-upload my entire file, which, because of its size, took a few hours, but was worth the $20 saved. And the small logo on the last blank page of each book isn't so bad :-)

What's your company of choice for self-made photo books?

All photos included in our album by The Wiebners

Please note: as with all vendor posts on Weddingbee, I have not received any discounts or kick-backs for this review, and I was not asked to review the Blurb products and/or services by anyone at the company. I'm just really thrilled with the outcome and wanted to share it with all of you!

One Year

2009-09-20T00:01:00.002-04:00

One year ago today, I married my best friend.

This first year of marriage has been simply wonderful. Perfect? Not at all. But wonderful? Yes, yes, yes.

I'm thankful each day for this amazing guy who puts up with me, takes care of me, makes me laugh, and even laughs at my terrible jokes.

Forever? Yes, please.

Love is All About "We": All Good Things Must Come To An End

2009-09-13T15:13:00.014-04:00

All photos below by The Wiebners. We purchased a disc of all unedited images from our wedding day, so some post-processing has been done by me for the purpose of sharing the photos with you. Click on any photo to enlarge.

After the good ol' traditions and wedding rituals were checked off of our list, there was little left to do but catch up with good friends...

... take a few last spins on the dance floor...

... capture some memories on camera...

... and savor every possible moment with all of the amazing people surrounding us.

Oh, and remember our friend Beth who caught the bouquet? She and some friends had a little fun with said bouquet in the photo booth, and needed to tell me about it.

She caught a glimpse of their pictures while the photo booth attendant was holding on to them...

... and this was the result of their shenanigans:
Before we knew it, it was time for one last round of photo booth pictures and our "last shot" with the Wiebners.

The day seemed to go by in a flash, yet so many incredible moments were squeezed into that one teeny, tiny day — moments with loved ones who came from near and far to support our love and share in our happiness; moments with each other where we felt every bit of stress and worry simply melt away as we looked into each other's eyes and could do nothing but smile.

There were planned moments, unplanned moments, and moments I never could have imagined I'd be lucky enough to experience. They are all moments that I will remember forever, and I'm so fortunate to have been able to relive them with all of you.

Perhaps in the future, we will look back on our wedding day as just a miniscule blip in time compared to the magnificent lifetime we have vowed to spend together. We can only hope for so much, but regardless of what other wonders our future holds, I believe I will always look back on our wedding day as one of the most wonderful days of my life.

Our day may have been over, but it was not the end at all.

It was only the beginning.

Thank you so, so much for reading along as I have shared the story of our day with you all.

Our complete wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage
Love is All About "We": Almost Time
Love is All About "We": We Do!
Love is All About "We": Ready for Our Close-Up
Love is All About "We": Cocktails, Anyone?
Love is All About "We": Ballroom Sneak Peek
Love is All About "We": A Grand Entrance (and a First Dance)
Love is All About "We": Toasting and Twisting
Love is All About "We": Mingling, Impromptu Dancing, and Cutting the Cake!
Love is All About "We": A Surprise for My Groom
Love is All About "We": And We Danced
Love is All About "We": Traditions and Tasty Surprises

Love is All About "We": Traditions and Tasty Surprises

2009-09-07T21:55:00.024-04:00

All photos below by The Wiebners unless otherwise noted. We purchased a disc of all unedited images from our wedding day, so some post-processing has been done by me for the purpose of sharing the photos with you. Click on any photo to enlarge.

The dancing at our wedding would not have been dancing at all without a little traditional Philadelphia Mummer's Strutting. When that familiar string band sound started wafting from the speakers, my family couldn't jump to their feet quite fast enough... Mr. Cupcake's family (who mostly live in Central PA and New York state) and many of our friends, however, looked on with confusion :-) It is definitely a Philadelphia thing!

Not sure what I'm talking about? Check out the video of what went down here.

Look! It even got my hubby back on the dance floor! {guest photo}

{guest photo}

While some of us were dancing up a storm, many guests were still having a blast with the photo booth... a.k.a., one of the best wedding decisions we ever made. It was so wonderful to see our guests having such fun with it, and having some good laughs over the resulting photos.

The memo board I made with foam core and satin ribbon (a smaller scale version of the "guest book" memo board I whipped up) held some photos while they dried on their cozy little mats that I made.

I almost made it through the whole reception without any wardrobe malfunctions, but then my bustle decided it couldn't handle one more slick Cupcake dance move. DOC Jenn and MOH Nicole came to the rescue with some safety pins, and I was as good as new!

Pretty soon, it was time for the bouquet toss. This was one silly tradition that I was set on having... if for no other reason than a great photo opportunity :-) Mr. Cupcake and I both agreed to forgo the garter toss, but the bouquet toss was a definite in my book. However, we only have a small handful of single female friends and family members, and I had always hated being called out as one of the single ladies, so I didn't want to put any of our guests through the same thing. Instead, I asked the DJ to call ALL the ladies onto the dance floor. While KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See" played, I tossed my little toss bouquet with all my bridal might...

Check out the determination and anticipation on those faces!

Our friend Beth, who can just barely be seen in the far left of the above photo, somehow managed to grab the bouquet. We got such a kick out of this because Beth is, perhaps, the most competitive person we know... the friend who always jumps at the opportunity to host a game night. It was not shocking at all to me that she was the big winner :-) She's already married with a beautiful little girl, but hopefully that bouquet will bring her some sort of good luck! If nothing else, it made for an excellent story ;-)

We then had a little treat in store for our guests, a detail that came together in the week before the wedding...

Along with the Mummers, Tastykakes are another Philadelphia tradition, so we couldn't resist a little late night snack of some Peanut Butter Candy Cakes, Krimpets, and Chocolate Cupcakes. (Because really, "nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake.") Thanks to Mr. Cupcake and his parents who bought out the Tastykake supply at a few local grocery stores, we were prepared for some ravenous guests.

And really now, you can't serve all that chocolatey and icingy goodness without milk!

I think they were seriously on the table for maaayyybe five minutes. We definitely had some Tastykake-lovin' guests who were NOT going to let that delicious sugary goodness go to waste!

As if the Tastykakes weren't enough, the Desmond also put out some fresh baked cookies and delicious chocolate covered strawberries. Mmmmmmm....

Up next.... our night comes to an end! :-(

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage
Love is All About "We": Almost Time
Love is All About "We": We Do!
Love is All About "We": Ready for Our Close-Up
Love is All About "We": Cocktails, Anyone?
Love is All About "We": Ballroom Sneak Peek
Love is All About "We": A Grand Entrance (and a First Dance)
Love is All About "We": Toasting and Twisting
Love is All About "We": Mingling, Impromptu Dancing, and Cutting the Cake!
Love is All About "We": A Surprise for My Groom
Love is All About "We": And We Danced

A Bee's Life: Cupcake Edition

2009-08-23T22:45:00.002-04:00

Mrs. Cupcake's blogging story:

I used to think blogging was really, really weird. I thought blogs were just journals of random thoughts and innermost feelings that people would broadcast across the interwebs. I didn't get it, and I never bothered to really look into it any further. I had no idea that there were blogs out there that were actually focused on specific topics.

When my best friend was planning her 2006 wedding, I designed her invitations and a bunch of other paper products for her wedding; we spent lots of time trying to find inspiration online, but never really knew where to look. There were only so many times we could scour The Knot and our overpriced wedding magazines. We managed to pull off some great details, but it was a lot harder to find unique ideas than we thought it should be!

Fast-forward to 2007, when Mr. Cupcake and I were engaged and my brother and sister-in-law were also in the process of planning their own wedding that was to take place that summer. My mom and I were visiting them in Brooklyn one weekend in the spring, when Kim and I were talking weddings. It was then that Kim spoke the five words that changed my life: "Have you heard of Weddingbee?" That may sound over-dramatic, that it "changed my life," but it is absolutely 100% true!

I remember grabbing Kim's laptop, typing in the URL, and immediately getting sucked in. While everyone was napping that afternoon, I poured over as many archives as I could. At the time, Mrs. Bell Pepper was planning her elegant Philadelphia wedding, and seeing all of her amazing details made it all just "click" for me. My eyes were suddenly open to all of the amazing possibilities that were out there for brides-to-be who just wouldn't settle for the norm, and I finally found the inspiring, creative, and non-snarky brides that I could relate to.

I came to know and adore Bell Pepper, Snow Pea, Kiwi, Onion, Lovebug, Pumpkin, Hibiscus, and ALL of the bees who were writing about their weddings at that time. I loved the diversity in each post, and I got pieces of inspiration from each bee in a different way. Each day, I refreshed Weddingbee religiously, waiting for the next post to show up. Eventually, Weddingbee lead me to other wedding blogs like Perfect Bound (where I found the idea for our cut glass votives) and Style Me Pretty, and suddenly, blogs were "it" for me. I don't think I ever visited The Knot again.

I admit that I initially started writing my own wedding blog for the sole purpose of using it to apply to Weddingbee. I was unhappy with my job at that time, and starting my blog was something that really excited me and got me inspired. I had always loved to write — if I hadn't been an art major in college, I definitely would have been an English major — but I had never written anything like this. It was weird at first, just writing to no one (yet, anyone) about my ideas and our relationship, but eventually I stopped feeling so hesitant and found my voice; after a short while, my brain was overflowing with ideas for posts — posts that I wanted to read, but they were nowhere to be found out there, so I wrote them myself. At the time, I didn't know anything about HTML and I had one of the basic Blogger templates gracing my blog, and only Mr. Cupcake and my best friend knew about it. I'm pretty sure no one else ever read it.

I applied to Weddingbee about a year before our wedding date, knowing that only bees with 8 months until their wedding could blog on the site, but I was too anxious to wait! I figured if I got turned down, it would give me time to improve and reapply again. I had just started my current job when I got an email from Mrs. Bee on October 14, 2007, telling me that I had been accepted! I was elated, but I couldn't jump up and down because it was only my second week on the job and I didn't want to freak any of my new co-workers out :-) I covered my mouth and quietly squealed to myself, sent an email to Mr. Cupcake and my best friend saying "I am gonna be a bee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and called my mom and Kim on my way home from work to tell them my exciting news.

Mrs. Bee sent me the list of characters that were currently available for me to choose from, but I couldn't decide... none of them really seemed to "fit" me. On a whim, I emailed Mrs. Bee and asked if there were any chance that she'd be adding a cupcake character on the site, and she said that they were, in fact, going to make the next batch of bees dessert-themed. I had never been called "Cupcake" before, but for some reason, that name just spoke to me! She reserved the name for me, and it was settled — I was Miss Cupcake. I wasn't supposed to be introduced on the site until January 2008, but Mrs. Bee emailed me again in early December to see if I'd want to start early since things were a little slow on the blog before the holidays. Of course, I jumped right in, so I was blogging on Weddingbee for over nine months before our wedding. I can't believe I had that much to say! But indeed, I did. To date, I have over 180 posts on Weddingbee. And I swear, I really do have a life outside of blogging ;-)

It is pretty safe to say that blogs — in particular, Weddingbee — shaped our wedding. Reading other bees' stories prepared me for just about everything; seeing how everyone personalized their own day helped me to formulate my own style; and blogging about our details and getting feedback from all of the amazing readers helped me solidify so many decisions. There is no community more wonderful, helpful, and kind than Weddingbee. There just isn't.

Since starting to blog on the 'bee, I have met an amazing 24 bees in person (that number will jump to 29 this Friday, when I attend D'orsay's wedding with several other bees!). I have met some wonderful readers whom I have come to know through their own blogs, on Twitter, and on the boards, and I am consistently inspired by and learning from all of these amazing women (and a few boybees, too!).

I realized that even after our wedding, I still had a lot I wanted to say that wasn't related to weddings, so I started a personal blog. After a while of not really telling anyone about my interest in blogging, I now share my blogger status more freely. I have really found my voice, and I've learned a lot about myself through blogging. I'm a little sarcastic, pretty goofy, and frequently neurotic; I'm a little (okay — a lot) obsessed with pop culture and good design and I am trying to be a real "grown-up" even though I don't always want to be. I've come to embrace those qualities and quirks with the help of readers who have been so receptive to the things I've had to say. So, thanks :-)

In terms of advice for bee hopefuls — I'm certainly no authority on what makes a great bee, but I think it's really about being yourself, and having a point-of-view that may be refreshing to a lot of readers. I love a good sense of humor and a bride who doesn't take herself too seriously. Not all of the bees are DIY queens, or seamstresses, or event planners. They're just brides, just like you, with strengths and weaknesses, just like you. If you're just starting to blog, tell the story of you and your fiancé so your readers can really get to know you — they want to know more than just what your invitations look like and what your color scheme is. Write focused posts on different topics (in other words, posts with to-do lists or those that cover several topics at once can be a little overwhelming to read... break the details down into individual posts), and get your readers involved. One of the greatest things about Weddingbee is the great dialogue that occurs as a result of each post — be sure to ask questions, ask for opinions, and ask readers to share their own stories.

I love this place (obviously... I'm still here 20 months after my first post and 11 months after my wedding!), and I am so grateful to be a part of this community. Thanks for caring about what little ol' me has had to say all this time!

xoxo,
Cupcake

Love is All About "We": And We Danced

2009-08-23T18:40:00.001-04:00

I know you readers often hear apologies from us bees for falling off of the face of the Weddingbee earth for a period of time... I never thought it would take me over 3 months to get back on the recap bandwagon, but now I totally understand how it happens! Life has been extremely busy lately, and I guess I needed to take a breather from writing about our wedding. Sifting through the photos, choosing the "right" ones that will help me tell our story, and racking my brain to remember all of the moments I want to share with you all — it's safe to say I put a lot of pressure on myself and it has caused me to procrastinate. But I am back, vowing once and for all to finish these recaps before our one year anniversary (which is just around the corner on September 20... how did that happen?!?). I hope a few of you out there still remember me after all this time... :-)

Anyway... where were we? Ah yes... we cut the cake, said a few words of thanks to our guests, and the surprise groom's cake that I had ordered on the sly was presented to my hubby. Getting everyone on the dance floor to ogle the Red Sox hat cake and sway along to "Sweet Caroline" was the perfect way to really get the dance party started! From that point on, the DJ kept the good tunes a-flowin', so it was time to put on my dancing shoes. I take my dancing very, very seriously, people.

I found these satin-ish (read: fake satin) teal flats online for $22.95 and ordered them a few weeks before the wedding; they weren't the comfiest, but I added some Dr. Scholl's gel pads and voila — extremely cozy dancing shoes!

Mr. C isn't the dancing machine that I am, so he spent some time chatting and catching up with other non-dancing guests, while I took on the responsibility of keeping the dancing guests happy. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it!

(I'm really quite shy on the dance floor. Can't you tell?)

I think our guests had an okay time. Clearly, though, I really had to DRAG them onto the dance floor and force them to have a good time...

Well, maybe not :-) They seemed to do a pretty good job of getting out there on their own.

My dad, whom I have mentioned is quite the dancing machine himself (that must be where I get my slick moves! ;-), told me the next day that he hadn't danced that much or felt that sore in years! I think that's a pretty good indication that he enjoyed himself.

Momma Cupcake, who is no stranger to the dance floor herself, did a wardrobe change so she'd be more comfortable cutting a rug...

... and thanks to her cousin, our evening continued to be captured on video.

I have to say, there is nothing better than seeing your closest friends and family members dancing, laughing, having fun, and reconnecting with one another. It made all of the planning, stressing, over-thinking and preparing totally, undoubtedly, 100% worth it. Times 7 million.

Oh, and not to worry — my groom did make a few appearances on the dance floor!

Coming up next: a surprise late night snack, flowers taking flight, and some final smooches in the photo booth!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage
Love is All About "We": Almost Time
Love is All About "We": We Do!
Love is All About "We": Ready for Our Close-Up
Love is All About "We": Cocktails, Anyone?
Love is All About "We": Ballroom Sneak Peek
Love is All About "We": A Grand Entrance (and a First Dance)
Love is All About "We": Toasting and Twisting
Love is All About "We": Mingling, Impromptu Dancing, and Cutting the Cake!
Love is All About "We": A Surprise for My Groom

The Non-Negotiating Bride

2009-08-13T20:47:00.003-04:00

Recently, Mr. Cupcake had a job interview (sidenote: please cross your fingers he gets this one!), and the recruiter who helped him get the interview prepped him with some questions beforehand. He told Mr. C to have a few examples in mind of times that he negotiated, in both his former job and his personal life, to get a lower price on a big-ticket item. We were brainstorming together, and he mentioned the wedding. When I really thought about it, though, I realized that we/I did not really do much negotiating — if any — when it came to our wedding.

Maybe it's just my personality, but when someone tells me that something costs $X, I don't really debate it. I don't try to negotiate the same service/product for a lower price, although I could certainly see negotiating a slightly different service in order to get the price down. But it never really occurred to me to haggle with our vendors to get their prices down. If someone's prices seemed too high for what their services were, or they quoted too far outside of my budget range, I simply went elsewhere.

Perhaps I have a soft spot for vendors and their pricing since I work in a creative industry, and often work with brides and other people planning special events. I have experienced the other side of things, and I know how disheartening it can sometimes feel when a client wants the same great product but for a fraction of the cost. It can make me feel like my time, talents, and resources are not valued, and that is discouraging. I'm not saying that every vendor experiences that feeling — but I've certainly seen that side of things!

Maybe we missed out on some great deals by not negotiating services and products for our wedding, but I guess we'll never know. I've come to realize that negotiating is just not my nature, and it actually makes me feel pretty darn uncomfortable.

Have you negotiated with any (or all) of your wedding vendors? Have you reaped a lot of rewards (or extra savings) by haggling over prices, or has your negotiating it ever backfired?

On Newsstands Today... The Cupcakes' Wedding!

2009-07-28T00:01:00.006-04:00

Lookie lookie what popped up on newsstands today...

It's our wedding, in Brides Philadelphia and Brides South Jersey!

This is one of the two different covers for the Fall/Winter 2009 issue we are in

Brooke & Nick at the Desmond... that's US!

We were so flattered, thrilled, and surprised when we heard a few months ago that our photographers, The Wiebners, had submitted our wedding photos for consideration to the magazine, and that we were chosen to be included in their Real Weddings feature!

Once we got word of the exciting news, I filled out a loooong questionnaire for Heather, the lovely writer who worked on our piece, so she could put together the article. We didn't know until we received a copy of the magazine that our spread would be a whole three pages. Woohoo! Heather included so many great details in the piece, and the photos look so lovely all collaged together. What a magnificent keepsake this will be.

Click on the images below to get a better look at our spread! And be sure to pick up a copy if you live in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area :-)

PS - I still owe you all my last few wedding recaps, and I promise they're coming soon... sorry for being a slacker bee! Life has taken a turn for the busy lately, and I was in a wedding-recap-slump for a little while, but I'll be back on the wagon soon :-)

Love is All About "We": A Surprise for My Groom

2009-05-11T13:17:00.003-04:00

After we cut the cake, we had planned to say a few words of thanks to our guests. While we didn't write anything down ahead of time, we knew that we just wanted to express to everyone how amazing it was to have them all there, in one room, supporting our relationship and celebrating with us.

I took a moment to thank those of our guests who were attending the third wedding for my immediate family in just 15 months! Brother and SIL Cupcake got married in June 2007, Momma and Stepdad Cupcake got married in February 2008, and we were celebrating our wedding day in September! It was a busy, busy 15 months for our family and close friends.

Admittedly, I had an ulterior motive for saying our words of thanks at this time... it gave the staff a few minutes to take our cake back into the kitchen for cutting, and replace it in the ballroom with a little surprise I had put together for Mr. C.

When we finished thanking our guests, the sound of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" began playing. Mr. Cupcake had no idea that I had anything planned.

Here it comes....

He sees it....

And it clicks!!

My surprise for Mr. Cupcake was a Boston Red Sox hat cake, made by the spectacular Suzy of Cakes by Suzy (whom I found thanks to Weddingbee reader and former Real Weddings subject Rebecca!).

Mr. C grew up in Central PA without a "home" sports team to admire, so he somehow became a Red Sox fan at a young age. He has since also become a Philles fan now that he lives in Philadelphia, but he'll always have a special place in his heart for the Red Sox.

Despite his love for the Sox, he had never been to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park (or even been to Boston). Last Christmas I surprised Mr. C with Red Sox tickets, and in June we took a weekend trip and experienced the magic of Fenway Park together. We always travel well together, but this trip was especially fantastic and we still talk about it constantly. During the 8th inning of every Red Sox home game, "Sweet Caroline" plays in the ballpark and everyone sings along. Considering that Mr. C also loves Neil Diamond — well, let's just say he had some happy tears in his eyes when he got to be there in person for all of this.

Obligatory "point at sign and smile" shot... we are cheesy { photo by Mrs. Cupcake }

{ photo by Mrs. Cupcake }

Mr. C's love for the Red Sox combined with the meaning behind that trip for us made this cake a no-brainer for me! I had toyed with the idea for months, and finally a few weeks before the wedding I decided I couldn't NOT do it — I contacted Suzy and went for it, and she was awesome to work with. I didn't have time for a tasting so I trusted Rebecca's recommendation that the spice cake was delicious, I sent Suzy some requests and photos for reference, and let her do her thing. It turned out even more amazing than I had hoped! (As an aside — you all know I'm obsessed with Sweet Jazmine's, but alas they do not make cakes in special shapes so they couldn't help me out with this surprise.)

Alongside the hat is a baseball, some Red Sox shoelaces, and a game ticket. The shoelaces actually have a cute story behind them: one Christmas when Mr. C was a kid, MIL Cupcake put some Red Sox shoelaces in his Christmas stocking. However, they fell to the bottom of the stocking and he never saw them, until the next year when he pulled them out and his mom exclaimed that they were from the year before! Every Christmas since then, Mr. C has pulled and out and put back the very same pair of Red Sox shoelaces in his Christmas stocking. It's a silly little tradition, but I love the sentimental meaning behind it!

The game ticket is something I laid out in Adobe InDesign and emailed to Suzy — she printed it out on fondant with edible ink (who knew?!?), and it has the date of the game that we attended.

The Groom's Cake is not really a well-known tradition in the Northeast as this seems to be more of a Southern tradition (although it seems to be a growing trend elsewhere), so I made a little sign that sat in front of the cake with a description of the tradition. I also made a sign with a photo of us at Fenway Park last June that explained the meaning of the ticket and shoelaces.

Mr. Cupcake was totally caught off-guard and LOVED the surprise! He was so excited, he couldn't stop smooching me :-)

I think my Mr. Sensitive even got a little teary-eyed (again)... imagine that ;-) Hehe.

His mom was in on the whole plan and had sent me a photo of the shoelaces so Suzy could make replicas out of fondant!

Again with the smooching... sheesh.

Perhaps my favorite part of the Groom's Cake: the paparazzi that it attracted.

I love this photo... that's my "Yup, I did this just for you!" face.

In case you're wondering, here's how the whole thing unfolded as seen on home video (and what a great transition it ended up being to get everyone back on the dance floor). Please don't mind how horribly annoying my voice sounds at the end of my little speech. I don't *think* that's what I really sound like... or is it???

How cute are my mom and her girlfriends swaying along to the music? And how funny are my mom's cousins discussing the "bah bah BAHHH" behind the camera? Another reason why I don't mind having a home video over a professional one... you just can't pay for this stuff :-)

Coming up next: let's get this dance party started (again)!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage
Love is All About "We": Almost Time
Love is All About "We": We Do!
Love is All About "We": Ready for Our Close-Up
Love is All About "We": Cocktails, Anyone?
Love is All About "We": Ballroom Sneak Peek
Love is All About "We": A Grand Entrance (and a First Dance)
Love is All About "We": Toasting and Twisting
Love is All About "We": Mingling, Impromptu Dancing, and Cutting the Cake!

Love is All About "We": Mingling, Impromptu Dancing, and Cutting the Cake!

2009-05-10T14:29:00.003-04:00

In between my dance with my dad and Mr. C's dance with his mom, dinner courses was served to our guests to keep the evening flowing. While we had promised ourselves that we were actually going to eat at our wedding, we admittedly ate fairly quickly so we could mingle with our guests.

It was delicious!

We did our best to talk to as many people as possible, but it is really hard to make sure to visit with everyone! We were so glad that we had had some time during our cocktail hour to chat with our guests as well.

It was so fun to see everyone showing off their photo booth pictures while we made the rounds; renting that photo booth was maybe the best decision we made for our wedding day!

Some of our friends were getting creative with the photo booth — they wrote messages for us on napkins to hold up in the booth :-)

Overall, the chatter and laughter that could be heard throughout the reception was so heartwarming and wonderful.

Our timeline for the evening was set up so that our parent dances would be between the meal courses, and then we'd cut the cake at the end of the meal and before dancing would begin; this way, once everyone was on the dance floor, there would be no interruptions in the flow of the fun :-) However... we have some extremely enthusiastic friends and family members who were apparently ready to get their grooves on already, and the impromptu dance party broke out before we ever intended. But I am NOT complaining... it was wonderfully spontaneous and fabulous to see everyone having so much fun!

I have this "signature move" that came to be known as "the Brookie dance" in college. It was inevitable that it would make an appearance.

There it is!

My new in-laws were on the dance floor and noticed that the groom wasn't dancing... they beckoned for him to get his butt out there.

I took matters into my own hands and escorted him onto the dance floor myself!

We hated to interrupt the fun, but we still had a cake to cut! Our guests cleared the dance floor for just a few minutes so we could dig into that lemon poundcake deliciousness from Sweet Jazmine's. Om nom nom...

After I listened to a little tutorial on what to do (while Mr. Cupcake seemingly wanted nothing to do with a tutorial and just wanted to cut into that thing already)...

We dug in! Harry Connick Jr.'s A Wink and A Smile played as we took the knife to that glorious creation.

There was no cake smash for us — we lovingly fed each other cake the way that newlyweds should!

Sealed with a kiss :-)

It looks like I'm disgusted at something in the below photo... but believe you me, there was absolutely nothing disgusting about that cake. I'm sure I'm just saying something smart-assy with a mouthful of cake. I'm klassy.

Our cake was served to guests with our little cake flags (one of my favorite easy DIY projects!) and with fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream. The flags said "love is sweet" on one side and our names and wedding dates on the other side.

{ guest photo }

Love is All About "We": Toasting and Twisting

2009-04-26T16:28:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the brief hiatus in posting these last few weeks... lots going on in the land of Cupcake. (Shameless self-promotion: I started an Etsy shop for my photo booth posters! End of shameless self-promotion!) Now, let's get back to some wedding deets, shall we?

After our first dance, we sat down at our head table with our parents, my brother and his wife. We had gone back and forth about a head table for a while — we didn't want a sweetheart table so we considered sitting at a long table with our bridal party, but we also wanted them to be able to sit with their spouses and other friends, which they couldn't do if they were sitting with us. We also weren't really fans of having one long table at the end of the dance floor for the bridal party, because it's harder to talk to everyone at the table that way. Sitting with our parents and siblings at a round table was the perfect solution. We're fortunate to be close with our families (and they even all get along with each other! Imagine that!), so it just made sense.

Mr. Cupcake's best man, Ryan, was the first up to make a toast once we were all seated. Ryan is typically shy around new people and probably isn't a huge fan of public speaking, but he did such an amazing job.

See? We're already laughing!

Amidst the jokes and ribs at Mr. Cupcake's expense, Ryan managed to say some beautiful things about our relationship and how Mr. C used to talk about me when we first started dating. He confided in Ryan early on that he thought I was "the one."

Ryan and Mr. C worked together for years before Mr. C quit his job to move closer to me over 3.5 years ago. They were best friends before working together, but having that day-to-day camaraderie brought them even closer. When Mr. C moved away, Ryan said it felt like losing his own arm. *Tear* He said some really wonderful, heartfelt things about Mr. C and it was nice to hear how genuinely happy he was for us.

Just as Mr. Cupcake was wiping away his tears, Ryan lightened the mood by making us all laugh one more time — he said "I'm very happy to see two of my friends getting married for better or for worse... Nick couldn't do any better, and Brooke couldn't do any worse." Everyone erupted into laughter :-)

He finished off by saying, "to Nick and Brooke: I hope your love is modern enough to get you through each day, and old-fashioned enough to get you through a lifetime together." Awwwww....

Cheers!

Next up were my fabulous best friends — maid of honor Nicole and matron of honor Kelli. They gave a wonderful toast together, and Kelli was up first. She was a little nervous and couldn't even have any champagne to calm her nerves, being only a few weeks away from giving birth! But she did well regardless of the lack of alcohol ;-)

They had to get in a few jokes at my expense.... like how they trusted that I knew Nick was the one for me because I'm "always right." (yes, they know I am as Type-A as they get!)

But mostly, they talked about our wonderful friendships... Kelli reminisced about how I introduced her to her husband (thankyouverymuch), saved her from the roommate from hell in college, and shared with her a healthy obsession with So You Think You Can Dance. Nicole thanked me for being the first person to visit her when she moved to a foreign country, taping seasons of Project Runway for her while she was away (this was pre-DVR days!), and having a week-long sleepover with her in 8th grade during an extreme snowstorm.

They said how Mr. Cupcake was the perfect fit for me — the one who would make me laugh, and the one who would hold me when I cry. (Although Mr. C looks like the crier in the photo below... I don't know what's happening there!)

I was so honored to have these ladies by my side on our wedding day and it meant so much to hear their heartfelt toast.

After the toasts, the food started being served, and in between courses we had a few more important matters to take care of...

Time for my dad and me to cut a rug! We chose to dance to "My Girl" by the Temptations. My dad is a big fan of Motown, and I remember him singing this song to me when I was a little girl.

Although I'm proud to say that my dad and I can both work it on the dance floor, we didn't plan anything specific for our dance. I didn't want any choreography to stress us out!

We still got in a good spin, though :-)

Mr. Cupcake watched from the sidelines in approval (and doesn't our cake look rad in the background?)...

... while we enjoyed our moment in the spotlight.

MIL Cupcake enjoyed our performance!

Mr. Cupcake was up next with his mom. They had searched long and hard for a song that wouldn't make them cry (they are both a little emotional!). In addition, MIL and FIL Cupcake had been preparing for our wedding day by taking dance classes, so she wanted something that she and Mr. Cupcake could dance the swing to. The song they chose was "Love Me Like a Rock" by Paul Simon. It was absolutely perfect! Here is the best video version I could find... the song starts at 0:35.

They had practiced a few times (including once in the hallway just a few moments earlier). I was really proud of how well they did!

Brother Cupcake looked on approvingly as they made their way across the dance floor.

They got a rousing round of applause when their dance was over.

I went up and gave them a big hug...

And saw that Mr. Cupcake was still tearful even after getting through the dance tear-free! Below I am saying to him "are you still crying?!" He couldn't help it, I guess :-)

Below, you can see Mr. Cupcake and his mom talking to one of our servers in the background. Apparently, she came up to them after their dance to let them know that in her ten years working at the Desmond, that was the first time she ever saw a mother and son really dance!

MIL Cupcake was REALLY excited to hear this :-) All of their practice had paid off!

Up next: time for some yummy food and catching up with our guests!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage
Love is All About "We": Almost Time
Love is All About "We": We Do!
Love is All About "We": Ready for Our Close-Up
Love is All About "We": Cocktails, Anyone?
Love is All About "We": Ballroom Sneak Peek
Love is All About "We": A Grand Entrance (and a First Dance)

Love is All About "We": A Grand Entrance (and A First Dance)

2009-04-06T23:24:00.002-04:00

After our sneak peek at our beautiful reception space, we snuck out of the ballroom while our guests started making their way to their seats. We lined up with our parents and bridal party for our grand entrance and really didn't care that we had just spent the last 45 minutes or so chatting with our guest — it took none of the excitement away from the fact that we were about to be introduced as husband and wife :-)

Since this post contains lots of pictures of us swaying back and forth, I've added in some musical interludes for your enjoyment!

First up: our parents and bridal party enter the ballroom to applause and the sound of the Bay City Rollers — a special request by Mr. Cupcake himself! He made very few requests throughout the planning process, so I couldn't deny him this request. And you know what? It was an awesomely fun song to get things started.

Momma and Stepdad Cupcake

Daddy Cupcake

FIL and MIL Cupcake

Brad and Chrissy

Jeremy and my cousin Michele

Mr. C's Uncle Kevin and my cousin Coleen

Brother and SIL Cupcake (John and Kim)

Matron of Honor Kelli, Best Man Ryan, and Maid of Honor Nicole

Once our parents were at the head table (where they would sit with us) and the bridal party was standing at the end of the dance floor, the DJ transitioned into one of our favorite songs... "Gimme Some Lovin'" by the Spencer Davis Group. You may remember this song from the awesome scene at the end of Notting Hill when Hugh Grant and his friends pile into their car to speed through London to get to Julia Roberts' press conference. Mr. Cupcake is a big fan of old school Steve Winwood, and we both get a little pumped up when we hear this song.

We had nerdily requested that the DJ let the beginning of the song build up a little to get people excited :-) But let's be serious — I don't think anyone was more excited than us. As the music started to build before the "HEY!", The DJ started to announce us as "the new Mr. and Mrs. Nick and Brooke Cupcake" and we made our way out of the shadows and through the ballroom doors. I honestly don't think I could ever really explain that moment, the feeling of hearing our names and then walking through those doors hand-in-hand to see everyone we know and love, up on their feet and cheering for us. It was the most heartwarming feeling ever — and it was spectacular.

As you can tell, we were all smiles!!

Before our first dance song began, we had an impromptu little twirl on the dance floor as we sang along with Stevie Winwood.... "and I'm so glad you made it... so glad you made it..."

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

Then, it came time for our first dance — the song we chose is the namesake for all of my recap posts :-) The song is "We" by the one, the only — Neil Diamond. We had been torn for a while over what song to choose, but ultimately, Neil's crooning won the prize. (C'mon... if Mrs. Strawberry can admit to loving Neil, how can I deny it?) "We" is light-hearted, wouldn't make us cry, isn't too long, has a perfect slow-dance tempo without being dreadfully slow, and it is just very "us"! Old soul-ish, not-too-serious, goofy, schmoopy, madly in love "us." (Or, shall I say, "we"?)

The dance floor lighting that we had sprung for definitely made a difference, and I was really glad we had decided to make that addition. An abstract peacock feather pattern was projected onto the floor and added a warm glow around our dancin' feet :-)

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

While many couples choose to do a choreographed first dance (and I took dance for years and certainly wouldn't have objected), Mr. Cupcake was more comfortable doing the standard "sway" move; we decided that we didn't want any added pressure on our first dance. We had taken a few dance lessons so he would feel more comfortable on the dance floor (while all eyes were on us), so we weren't worried about stepping on each other's feet and we could enjoy our moment!

Mr. C sang along to Neil...

... and made me giggle. No surprise there!

At one point, he gave me a very quick spin — so quick that not even a speedy Wiebner could catch it with their camera! Alas, our guests still cheered us on and I said over the music "that's what we learned in dance class!"

It gave everyone a good laugh :-)

Finally, as the song came to an end, my new husband romantically dipped me!

And we sealed it with a kiss for good luck (and a happy marriage).

Up next: a few heartfelt toasts and some groovy moves with our parents!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage
Love is All About "We": Almost Time
Love is All About "We": We Do!
Love is All About "We": Ready for Our Close-Up
Love is All About "We": Cocktails, Anyone?
Love is All About "We": Ballroom Sneak Peek

Love is All About "We": Ballroom Sneak Peek

2009-04-05T17:07:00.000-04:00

As the clock was nearing 7:00, the catering manager grabbed Mr. Cupcake, me, and our parents for a sneak peek at the transformed ballroom before the doors opened for our guests. I think I actually gasped when I saw how beautiful it looked. Every little detail had finally fallen into place, and the result was divine!

Here's a little before and after....

BEFORE | The Desmond's ballroom with fairly standard decor (photo from their website):

AFTER | All set up for our reception:

These photos were taken before our guests were seated (obviously!) so the lights were turned up a bit more than they would eventually be... but even so, everything just twinkled and looked so lovely!

The teal chair sashes and napkins really added the perfect pop of color. The chair covers were, fortunately, included with our package since The Desmond owns their own and doesn't have to rent them from an outside vendor, so we splurged for the addition of the sashes. I am so glad we did.

The table settings looked exactly as I had pictured, complete with the silver leaf acrylic chargers I had purchased in bulk from Save on Crafts and the menus I created sitting on top of each charger, folded inside a teal napkin.

The menus were a last-minute project I put together the week before the wedding — I had collected so many pictures of menus I loved, but I had hemmed and hawed for too long over what I was actually going to do... so I finally just sat down and designed them. I used the silhouette monogram that you also saw on our drink menus in my last post, and layered the menus on top of various teal and moss green patterns (the same that I used for our little blank book place cards). I ended up loving the result.

We had three centerpiece designs that alternated from table-to-table. They all incorporated the beautiful cut glass votives that we (mostly my MIL) had been collecting for the last year. It's amazing how one idea found ages ago on a blog ended up shaping our whole reception space! Wade at Blue Moon had created the perfect floral arrangements to accent the cut glass.

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

One of my favorite extra little touches were all the candles on the mantle of the fireplace.

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

I also made tented table numbers for each table (we had long ago given up trying to come up with creative names for each table, because there just isn't 18 of anything that relates to us that is interesting enough for table names!). Again I incorporated the various teal and moss green patterns, so each table number looked a little different. You may remember the below pattern from our invitation envelope liners.

Another sweet little pop of color was added by the strawberries on each guest's champagne glass. (They were sweet and yummy, too!)

Our toasting glasses were the vintage coupe glasses I found at a secondhand shop.

By far, the most delicious detail was our amazing cake from Sweet Jazmine's. It looked even more spectacular than I could have imagined (and I couldn't wait to put a knife to that thing and take a giant bite!)

The cake stand we had provided was not quite big enough for the bottom tier of the cake, but that was okay — they sat the cake and its platform right on top of the cake plate, and we still got that added height that we were looking for.

Some scatter crystals that I got on sale from Smith & Hawken were also added to the cake table for a little extra sparkle.

{ photo by SIL Cupcake}

Mr. C and I were mesmerized by the fondant-covered creation. (And about ready to dive right in since we didn't get our hands on many hors d'oeuvres!)

Last, but not least, were the "Just" and "Married" chair signs I had created for my new hubby and me. I had seen lots of "Mr." and "Mrs." chair signs floating around the interwebs, but I thought I'd do something a little different. I used some silver and teal card stock and some glittery letters I picked up at Michaels and voila — chair signs! They were a fun little bonus surprise for anyone who walked behind us that evening :-)

Up next: let's get this reception show on the road!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage
Love is All About "We": Almost Time
Love is All About "We": We Do!
Love is All About "We": Ready for Our Close-Up
Love is All About "We": Cocktails, Anyone?

Love is All About "We": Cocktails, Anyone?

2009-03-31T00:02:00.001-04:00

As we were making our way back from our portrait session, the Garden Room at The Desmond was all set up for our cocktail hour. If guests arrived a bit early, they were greeted with this sign:

I have to admit that this sign may have been the height of my OCD-ness. The nice people at The Desmond provide a sign that they place outside of the Garden Room, instructing guests when the cocktail hour will begin, but it basically has a somewhat outdated stock image of faded roses and the couple's names printed on top. Well, you know that just didn't go with our colors AT ALL! So, crazy me made sure to get the measurements of the frame ahead of time so I could print my own sign for them to use instead. How many guests noticed this effort? Probably zero. But it made me feel better :-)

Just inside the Garden Room, perhaps our favorite surprise of the evening awaited: our classic photo booth. I had communicated with the people at the photo booth company beforehand to find out the size of the three frames that are on the front and sides of the photo booth, and I designed posters to fit in those frames. I was able to utilize a large-scale printer at my workplace to print these, and I was so pleased with the result. It really made the photo booth a personal touch! I included some photo strips that Mr. C and I had taken together while dating, as well as a photo strip with some family members and all of the photo strips from my bachelorette party at El Vez.

Next to the photo booth, a table was set up with this sign:

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

The sign was accompanied by the photo mats that were awaiting our guests' photo strips.

I had also created a memo board with some foam core, silver fabric, teal ribbon and thumb tacks to hold guests' photo mats while they enjoyed the reception. We used an old photo strip of us to illustrate what the board was supposed to be used for.

I had also created a memo board to serve as an alternative to a guest book. Rather than writing notes in a traditional guest book, we asked our guests to write their advice and well-wishes on little cards and tuck them behind the ribbons on the memo board. Throughout the night, it filled up with some wonderful messages!

Another detail that awaited the arrival of our guests was our place card table. We wanted to give each guest something that was a bit more than just a folded card with their name on it, so I made little blank books that served as place cards. Each book had several sheets of blank copy paper stapled down the center to create a little booklet, and there were about 20 different teal and moss green patterns that I printed to create the covers; I attached the covers with skinny silver satin ribbon. On each cover I attached a tag that said "this book belongs to," the guest's name, and their table number.

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

I had originally intended for the little books to be set up standing upright on the place card table, and I assumed the people setting them up would know this, but I had never actually told anyone. Oops. I was a little disappointed when I saw them lying flat, but I brushed it off because I knew that ultimately it wasn't a big deal (and all of the patterns actually looked pretty cute lined up lying down). But brides, take this as a lesson: never assume any detail will be obvious to the people setting up your details! If you have a specific vision in mind, make sure you tell someone.

I don't know if any of our guests used their little blank books after our wedding day, but I still thought they were cute :-)

On a banquette in the Garden Room, collages of Mr. Cupcake and I through the years stood behind wedding photos of our parents, grandparents, and siblings.

Throughout the room, guests could also pick up the Flickr photo cards that I had created, following in the footsteps of many bees before me (including Candy Corn and Lemon, amongst others!). We had also included these in our hotel welcome bags for guests who stayed overnight at The Desmond.

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

On the bar sat the signature cocktail sign that I had created with our last-minute signature drinks. I included a silhouette monogram that I had designed about a week before the wedding, when I had a few last-minute projects to design and I was tired of looking at all the same designs and fonts. I love how it turned out!

Our cocktails were the Something Bluetini (Mr. Cupcake thought of that one all by himself! I was so proud...), the Forrytini (for our new last name), and the Birdie Special (a little tribute to my Nana who loved her vodka & tonics). Of course, the drinks went along with our teal and green color palette.

Last, but certainly not least in the list of details I obsessed over, were the fun fact napkins that I had screen-printed with my trusty Gocco. It was so fun hearing people talk about the different facts that we had come up with, and it was great knowing that they were conversation starters for our guests. (Even if some of the conversations probably sounded like, "did she REALLY screen-print NAPKINS?!?")

Enough of the details — let's get to the people! There was no shortage of clinking glasses, smiling faces, animated conversation and boisterous laughter during the cocktail hour.

Somebody likes his little blank book place card!

The photo booth started seeing action from the moment guests arrived...

... and the early evening sun shone through the skylight as guests caught up with one another.

{ photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan }

Soon after the cocktail hour began at 6:00, my ladies helped me bustle my dress and Mr. Cupcake and I made our way to start celebrating with our guests.

{ photo by SIL Cupcake }

We thought we'd just walk in and begin mingling with our guests, but we were instead greeted with a lovely and rousing round of applause when our guests saw us! I'm not gonna lie: it was pretty awesome :-)

I was, apparently, excited to see people. See?

The photo booth continued to be the main attraction as our guests piled in and made their best smiley/goofy/scary/silly/mad/sad/angry/kissy faces.

And lots of people were caught exiting the photo booth looking not-so-innocent.

We heard that the food was great... unfortunately, we were too busy chatting with our guests to get more than one or two samples! I had intended to ask the catering manager to put aside a plate of one or two of each hors d'oeuvre for Mr. C and I to sample at some point, but amidst all the other details, this was one that I forgot. Oh well!

Despite the lack of munchies, we shared lots of laughs with our guests, and witnessed some reunions of old friends and family members who hadn't seen each other in a while.

{ guest photo }

In addition to being quite excited, I also, apparently, tell stories in an animated, typical Italian fashion :-)

Some guests studied our fun-fact napkins...

... while others had some laughs and intense discussions.

As guests retrieved their photo booth photos, it was not an uncommon sight to see people showing off their best shots.

Meanwhile, I had a bit of a paparazzi moment as my girlfriends demanded that I pose for them.

Soon enough, Mr. Cupcake saved me and joined in on the fun as I hammed it up.

We clinked our (beer) glasses and got one last shot together before being whisked away for a sneak peek at our reception space. (Yes, I'm the bride who drank beer at her wedding... but wine gives me a headache, and at least it was in a glass! What can I say... I'll always be a beer girl.)

{ guest photo }

Love is All About "We": Ready For Our Close-Up

2009-03-23T18:33:00.000-04:00

After our wonderful ceremony, we had a somewhat small window of time to get some formal photos taken. Around 4:40, we herded our families back into the sanctuary to get some traditional group photos. The Wiebners did a magnificent job speeding through everything painlessly, and we'll now forever have these traditional photos to document the family members who were there with us on our big day. But truth be told, in all reality, the pics are kinda boring. You know — everyone standing in the same spot smiling.... aaaaand that's pretty much it. It was definitely something we wanted to do, and we're glad we did it, but there's not much to tell you about them. So I won't bore you with those cookie cutter shots. They basically all looked like this, but with different people standing with us:

Got it? Cool!

Around 5:00 (right on schedule!) we relieved our families from their photo duties so they could get ready for our 6:00 cocktail hour. We all began to head out of the church; many months before I had dreams of a ribbon wand send-off, but in the few weeks before the wedding, Mr. Cupcake and I decided to scrap the idea. I was a tiny bit heartbroken, but we just didn't need anymore projects to worry about, and the logistics didn't make sense since we needed to take family photos and the rest of our guests would already be gone from the church. Well, you know what? The ribbon wands were the last thing on my mind as we gleefully made our way to our limo, and it turns out that the photos Mr. Cupcake's cousin took during this time are some of my favorite shots from the day. Go figure :-)

{ photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan }

My "fly catching" pose. { photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan }

{ photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan }

My favorite! { photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan }

{ photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan }

As everyone else headed to The Desmond, we were on our way to the West Chester Railroad depot. My mom and I had discovered this spot when we were photo scouting in the weeks leading up to the wedding, and I had called ahead to make sure we were allowed to take photos there. We were, and the historic trains only run on Sundays, so we weren't disrupting the service (and there was no one else around so we had free reign to go wherever we wanted). The Wiebners were excited to shoot there, and the results are pretty amazing, if I do say so myself!

Taking into consideration travel time and the fact that we wanted to get to The Desmond for the majority of our cocktail hour, we had about 30 minutes for our photos. This proved to be plenty of time when working with speedy professionals! I'll let most of the photos speak for themselves... but you know I have to add a little commentary here and there :-)

Such a nice husband, holding my flowers for me.

I was excited to get a little "runaway veil" shot. I love how the below shot came out!

Some sexy man was watching me as I got my glam on...

We bought all of the guys these matching teal argyle socks (we went to about 4 different Macy's locations to get all 6 pair). Of course, we forgot to ask the Wiebners to get a shot of all of the guys wearing them! But that's okay, because they got this totally rad shot of Mr. C's socks below.

"Oh, hello. Come here often?"

This weird, totally beat up van was near some of the railroad cars, with a little spray-paint message written for some chronic window-breakers. Mr. Cupcake and I put on our best "hard ass" faces and posed as said window-breakers.

Meanwhile, Joel was playing with my bouquet... he had quite a thing for my flowers that day, and got some really amazing shots of them!

Time for more glamour shots!

Very GQ, dontcha think?

We did our best "American Gothic" poker-face pose for Rita below (minus the pitchfork).

Then we couldn't help but smile...

... and gaze lovingly at each other...

... and get in a little smoochy smoochy.

Meanwhile, Joel got a cool ring shot:

The below photo is pretty typical of us... laughing hysterically. I don't remember what we were laughing at, but I am pretty sure it was something my new husband said!

We were all done with the super cool trains, and headed back to our limo. (In the below photo, you can see our teeny, tiny limo driver, Teddy, waiting for us on the other side of the tracks.)

We had about a 15-minute journey back to The Desmond, and had just enough time before heading to our cocktail hour to squeeze in a few shots at the little orange antique shop right around the corner from the hotel. I love the pop of color in these photos!

There's my husband, just chillin' in a suit outside of an antique shop. What's it to ya?

I joined in on the chillin'.

And we got a few smiley photos, for good measure.

Up next: let the celebration begin... it's time for our cocktail hour!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage
Love is All About "We": Almost Time
Love is All About "We": We Do!

Love is All About "We": We Do!

2009-03-22T16:35:00.000-04:00

Although we spent months planning "the party," we all know that what truly matters on the wedding day is the ceremony. It felt so surreal to hear the organ playing as my bridesmaids walked down the aisle and I made my way to the door of the sanctuary, arms linked with my parents — my mom to my left and my dad to my right.

In the background of the above photo, standing beyond the church coordinator, you can see four people. The two women on the left — Tara and Christine — are actually the ladies responsible for introducing Mr. Cupcake and me! They were the hosts of the famed Halloween party where we met five years earlier. Tara and Christine made it to the church with their boyfriends just as the bridesmaids were starting to walk down the aisle, so they weren't allowed inside yet... but it was actually very apropos and fun seeing them just before my walk down the aisle. After all, without them, the day might have never happened!

As I made my way to the door, I was reminded of the advice of many bees before me: take a deep breath, be aware of the moment, and don't bolt down the aisle! I reminded myself to take my time, look at the faces of the loved ones around me, and, most importantly, check out my future (and extremely good-looking) hubby awaiting me at the end of the aisle. Kendra, the church coordinator, fixed my train as I got in my place, and I took those few seconds to look into the sanctuary and soak in the reality of what was happening. It was an incredible feeling.

If you'd like to see us in action, here's a little video clip from my mom's cousin. You can hear that after the bridesmaids entered, the song remained the same (Trumpet Voluntary by Clarke) but the organist added quite a bit of "oomph" for my processional :-) The organ sounded amazing — no video could compare to the live sound, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless. (Also, please notice the guy on the left who is the first to stand up before I walk down the aisle. That is our friend Tim, who was, by far, the most excited person for us that day. He was so funny and will make an appearance later in this post, too!)

For those non-video-watchers, here's our journey down the aisle in photos :-)

My beaming groom awaits!

I definitely felt a rush of love, seeing the faces of so many of the amazing people in our lives in the same room. It was touching to see tears in the eyes of some, and seeing the excitement that was evident in each person's face was priceless.

{ photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan }

I got a tiny bit teary-eyed, but I am happy to report that Sobfest '09 did not occur that day. There was no ugly cry for this bride, no sirree. (Except I pretty much cry like a baby every time I watch the video.)

{ guest photo }

When we reached the end of the aisle, my mom let out a little laugh at all of my tearful bridesmaids! We never knew they were such softies ;-)

Our ceremony was performed by both the Pastor of the church we were being married in (far left) and the Pastor who had baptized Mr. Cupcake as a baby (and even married his parents!!). We were honored to have them both there; Mr. C's childhood Pastor made the trip from Central Pennsylvania to be there that day and he performed the Homily.

When Pastor Bill asked, "who gives this woman to be married?" my parents said, in unision, "She gives herself freely with our love and support." I loved that special touch! (Something I picked up from an episode of Brothers & Sisters, no less :-) )

Then came time for the "hand-off." I kissed my parents farewell as Mr. Cupcake took me by the hand.

Look how cute Mr. C's grandmother is, smiling behind my dad!

Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Elliot, gave a reading from the bible, and our friend, Amy, gave a reading by Victor Hugo. (It was the same reading that I read at my mom's wedding back in February of 2008.) Amy graciously stepped in as a reader at the last minute when one of my cousins couldn't make it to our wedding.

Pastor Tim (Mr. C's childhood Pastor) gave the Homily and spoke about valuing each other and putting each other first. It was short and sweet, but meaningful nonetheless.

{ photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan }

After the Homily, we stepped up to the altar for the Marriage Promise. (That's when we said "I do"!)

It made my groom a little weepy, so I wiped away a tear for him.

Next, my oldest friend, Jill, who happens to have an incredibly amazing voice, sang "Feels Like Home" by Paul Newman. (You may know the version by Chantal Kreviazuk.) You can hear how amazing she sounded (and see Mr. Cupcake and I share a tissue and make our guests giggle) if you go here.

Mr. C pretty promptly whipped out the tissue :-)

Okay, okay — I did a little crying, too. But there was no ugly cry! I swear.

After Jill's song and some sniffling, it was time for the exchange of rings...

... a blessing...

... and a prayer.

Then, it was finally time to smooch!

Presenting, Mr. and Mrs. Cupcake!

Remember our very excited friend, Tim, from the video? He's the one on the right in this photo, hanging into the aisle to get our picture :-) Told ya he was excited!

I think we giggled all the way back down the aisle as we passed our smiling loved ones. It was spectacular — and it had all gone so fast!

We headed straight back to the private room I had waited in earlier to steal a smooch and a few moments alone.

We happily greeted our bridal party as they soon followed.

Mr. Cupcake got in one last set of tears (for now)... I think I am asking, "are you still crying?" here. That's my sensitive man!

My brother had snuck in a bottle of champagne and poured it into some cups for us all to toast with. It was a nice surprise that we weren't expecting! (I hope we weren't breaking any church rules, now that I think about it... oops!)

Cheers!

It was fun to spend a few minutes recollecting what had just happened and having a mini-celebration with some of our favorite people.

"Holy crap — you're my husband!"

Up next: some more formal shots before we head off to our fun-filled reception!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage
Love is All About "We": Almost Time

Celebrating Small Milestones

2009-03-21T23:01:00.002-04:00

Friday was our sixth-month wedding anniversary. A small milestone, for sure, but a milestone nonetheless! I was pleasantly surprised when I came home from work to this:

Our little bistro table had been pulled into the middle of the living room (we don't have an eat-in kitchen or dining room, so the corner of our living room doubles as a dining "room"); the curtains were drawn to keep out the early evening sun and some of the cut glass votives from our wedding lit up the room with a warm glow. The save-the-date mix CD that we had put together for our guests was playing throughout the apartment as my wonderful husband finished up dinner.

Mr. Cupcake cooked up a yummy meal of some delicious melt-in-your-mouth pork, couscous, and broccoli. We're both following Weight Watchers to lose a few post-wedding pounds, so he made sure to not mess up our points for the day :-)

Then came dessert: a Weight Watchers lemon cake (these things are my favorite!), topped off with one of the "love is sweet" cake flags from our wedding. He's very resourceful!

It was so sweet and adorable and thoughtful. I love little unexpected surprises, and I'm looking forward to many more surprise-filled milestones in our marriage!

How do you and your partner celebrate milestones (big or small)?

The Cupcakes' Accordion-Fold Pocket Programs

2009-03-16T23:13:00.005-04:00

photo by The Wiebners

Thank you all for the lovely compliments on my recap post yesterday, and especially for your enthusiasm over our programs. As promised, I'm taking a break from recapping today to show you how I created our programs!

When we had our invitations engraved, I asked my printer to hold onto the die-cut scraps from the top layer of our invites. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I knew that I could use them for something. After all, they're so cute, and bonus: we'd be recycling! I had ordered 125 invitations, but a lot of extras had been printed since the design was fairly complex and something they hadn't done before, so there were well over 250 die-cuts left over for me to use.

Once I received the scraps, I was playing around with ideas (place cards? tags for our welcome bags?) and I suddenly remembered an accordion-fold pocket program that I had clipped out of Martha Stewart Weddings many months before.

My scroll scraps (that's what we'll call them, m'kay?) were smaller than the dimensions of the cover panels in Martha's tutorial, but I loved the idea and knew I could adapt it to what I had to work with. Plus, I love the idea of programs being pocket-sized, so guests can fit them in their pocket or purse and take them home with them. I used Martha's example as inspiration and improvised my own dimensions.

The laser printer I use at work can print 11" x 17", so I started with the width of 17". My scroll scraps were about 4.75" from top to bottom, so I decided to make my layout 4.125" high (to allow for a little wiggle room when affixing the inside to the scroll scrap cover).

In order for the accordion-style to work, I needed an even number of panels. Four panels (like Martha's layout) wouldn't be enough for the information I wanted to include, and it would not work with the width of my scroll scraps that would become my covers. Fortunately, six panels would work just perfectly with the size of my scroll scraps, with each panel being 2.833" wide.

I set up an Adobe Illustrator layout with my dimensions and got to work laying out the different panels.

Click to enlarge

When it came time to print, I was able to print two layouts up on an 11" x 17" sheet of paper. I copied and pasted the layout one on top of the other, and I added small rules to the top and bottom of each layout, along the fold-lines, so I would know where to cut and fold. (I made the marks darker in the below layout for you to be able to see them; ultimately, when doing this yourself, you want to make them as faint as possible so they are not noticeable to your guests, but are still a subtle guide to help you see where to fold.)

Click to enlarge

One thing to be aware of is that not all printers will print close to the edge of the paper. You will have to play around with both the rules that you set up to be cut-guides and the type in your layout to make sure that nothing important gets cut off when you are printing. It's all about trial and error!

Once the interior of my programs were printed, I cut them down to size using a Rotatrim and I then used the fold-guide lines on the top and bottom edges of my layout to fold all of the interiors down to size. Below is a guide to show you how I folded everything — I started with the center fold and worked my way out to the edges to make things as symmetrical as possible. (Just make sure you're folding the right way so that your front and back covers can be affixed to the non-printed side of your outside panels!)

Click to enlarge

Once the interiors were completed, it was time to get to work on the covers.

I used my Gocco to print some simple information (in the Albemarle and Souvenir fonts that I also used on the interior layout) about our wedding ceremony on the front cover, leaving a good gap of space for where I knew I wanted to tie a bow. (I apologize that I don't have photos of the Gocco process, but if you check out the Gocco Wiki you will see lots of tutorials if you are unfamiliar with the Gocco!) Since the scroll scrap covers were already cut down to size, there was no way I could have gotten them through a laser printer if I wanted to, so the Gocco was the perfect solution. Plus the silver ink looked spectacular on the teal paper!

Then it came time for the back covers. The ribbon I used was 1/8" wide silver satin ribbon from Papermart.com. In order to make sure the ribbon stayed where I wanted it to on the programs (and to make sure that little silver ribbons wouldn't end up all over the floor of the church) I found an inexpensive clear gel glue that I used to glue the ribbon to the back covers of all of my programs.

Once I had all of my individual pieces completed (interior accordion-fold, front cover with Gocco design, and back cover with silver satin ribbon attached) it was time to put everything together. I put double-faced tape on the back side of the last panel and affixed the interior (still folded and stacked) to the back cover (on the side opposite the silver ribbon). I then put double-faced tape on the back side of the first panel, and affixed the front cover to it (trying to keep things as centered as possible by doing it fairly slowly).

The last thing left to do was tie the ribbon around the program and into a bow. I had allowed myself a few extra inches on each strand of ribbon, so it would be easier to tie my bows. Once each bow was tied, I trimmed the excess ribbon, and voila! Done!

Photo by The Wiebners

Here's a rundown of what was included on each panel:

Panel 1-2: the wedding ceremony (see below)
Panel 3-4: the wedding party
Panel 5: note of appreciation (see below)
Panel 6: here in spirit

Panel 1-2

Panel 5

I hope this tutorial helps some of you and isn't too confusing... I apologize if it's too much "design speak" as that is what I'm used to, but I tried my best to explain things. Please feel free to ask questions — it may take me a little while to answer each one, but I will do my best!

Love is All About "We": Almost Time

2009-03-15T20:03:00.015-04:00

It was all setting in as we pulled up to the church. I was about to walk in a Miss and walk out a Mrs!

{photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan}

I snuck in the front door (as our guests entered in the back, where the parking lot is); in the sanctuary, everything was in place for our ceremony.

{photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan}

The pew decorations at the front of the church — which I really never even noticed until I saw these photos! — were lovely.

The flowers on the altar were beautiful and made everything feel cheery and warm.

{photo by Mr. Cupcake's cousin, Evan}

I had made a few "reserved" signs to sit on the pews in the front, so our groomsmen knew where to seat "VIP" family members. We made sure that all of our aunts, uncles, and cousins had a space reserved for them up front, in addition to our parents and grandparents.

Our programs sat snugly in their basket, hoping to be snatched up (because after slaving over them for hours, the last thing I wanted were lots of leftovers!).

Although I should have finished our programs earlier, I was definitely guilty of completing these the Thursday night before our wedding as Mr. Cupcake wrapped the gifts for our parents and bridal party. I had been a little bit stressed finishing them up, but ultimately I am so glad I went through with making them the way I had planned. I used the scroll-shaped cut-outs from our invitations, which I Gocco'd with our names and wedding date (in silver ink), and made accordion-style, pocket-sized programs, tied closed with a silver bow. I will post a DIY how-to soon!

As our guests were arriving...

... the ladies and I hung out in our quarters, waiting impatiently for 4:00 to draw closer.

MOH Kelli and me {photo by SIL Cupcake}

I took my shoes off while we waited, because no matter how comfortable I thought they were, they were starting to bug me after having them on for a few hours already!

I think our moms were bursting with excitement and anticipation.

Didn't they both look gorgeous?

{photo by SIL Cupcake}

All three of us bought our dresses at The Wedding Touch in Frazer, PA. (That's where I got my veil, too!) I cannot say enough good things about The Wedding Touch. They were so friendly, patient, non-snooty, and they had plenty of weeknight hours so I was able to schedule all of my fittings after work. I still have to send the below photo to them with a nice thank you note!

{photo by SIL Cupcake}

My brother checked in on us...

... as the ladies chatted away. The sound of laughter coming from my favorite ladies helped me to stay calm.

I got in one last touch-up...

... and then it was time for the bridesmaids to head out of our quarters to get ready to walk down the aisle. We decided to do a quick little "go, team" chant before they headed off... except we said "go, bridesmaids!" :-)

Yes — we are, in fact, nerds. But it was one of my favorite spontaneous moments of the day!

In the meantime, Mr. Cupcake's grandmother was escorted down the aisle by her son/Mr. C's uncle, Kevin.

My mom would be walking down the aisle with my dad and me, and I don't have any living grandparents, so I wasn't sure who my step-dad would walk down the aisle with. I didn't want him to walk alone, so I asked my mom's sister, my Aunt Jane, to escort George down the aisle. It was a nice way to give George some company and to acknowledge the importance of my aunt in my life.

Mr. Cupcake, an only child, escorted his mom down the aisle as his dad followed behind. FIL Cupcake was supposed to escort his mom down the aisle, but she was late! We were set on our 4:00 start time, so they had to play it by ear and go with the flow.

My parents and I were (im)patiently waiting for the church coordinator, Kendra, to come fetch us.

I made sure to take a few deep breaths and soak in the peaceful moment while it lasted. This was it. This was really, really it!

After Mr. Cupcake "dropped off" his parents at their pew, he made his way back through the sanctuary with the pastors and his best man to get into position.

Oooh, ooh, I see someone starting to get a little teary!

Trumpet Voluntary began singing beautifully from the organ pipes as the bridesmaids made their way down the aisle.

Michele & Coleen

Chrissy & Kim

Kelli & Nicole

As the girls filed one-by-one to their positions, Kendra motioned for me to start making my way to the sanctuary. I took the arms of my loving parents, took a deep breath, and slowly got ready to take the walk that I had dreamed of for many years. I was about to marry my best friend in the whole world; we were about to say our vows and share our love for each other in front of all of the people who love us and made us who we are today.

Up next: the moment that makes it all official — the ceremony!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look
Love is All About "We": Our Entourage

Love is All About "We": Our Entourage

2009-03-12T18:26:00.013-04:00

Once Mr. Cupcake and I had our first look, we spent some time taking photos with our bridal party and parents. It was important to us that it be a quick and painless process, and The Wiebners made that very easy! We had about 30 minutes for all of our first look photos as well as all of the photos you see below, and we couldn't have done it without the speediness of the pros.

First up: our extremely good looking bridal party!

Six bridesmaids + five groomsmen = lots o' love

The bridesmaids dresses ended up looking more blue than teal to me, despite the fact that the color was called teal (I have a very specific sense of color!), but I loved them just the same. (They are Alfred Sung style D328, which seems to no longer be available.) The guys also look especially dapper in their suits (all rented with the exception of Mr. Cupcake's suit), even minus their boutonnieres. I think everyone looked smashing!

Kissy kissy!

Another fabulous shot of my bouquet from Blue Moon

I wanted to make sure I got a photo with each individual bridesmaid. Mr. Cupcake? Not nearly as sentimental and didn't want to torture his guys. Luckily my ladies are all hams like me and didn't mind this request ;-)

Cousin #1, Michele. She got the tall blonde genes of the family; I got the short brunette ones.

Cousin #2, Coleen. I probably don't have to tell you that she and Michele are sisters! These lovely ladies traveled from New Orleans to be my 'maids. It meant the world to me to have them there as I always admired them growing up.

Bridesmaid Chrissy and me; I think we're giggling because I was making a joke about the scene in 27 Dresses where Katharine Heigl squats down to get on the same level as the bride. What can I say... I know some lovely, tall ladies!

SIL Cupcake, a.k.a. Kim, the sister I never had! We were truly destined to be family.

MOH Nicole, my best friend since 8th grade. She currently lives in Austria and came home especially for our wedding!

MOH Kelli, my best friend since freshman year of college, and baby girl H in her belly! The baby was born just 11 days after our wedding, and two days after we returned from our honeymoon (on her due date!). Doesn't Kelli look fabulous? I will forever be grateful to baby H for holding out so Mommy could be in our wedding :-)

While the girls were looking adorable, the boys were playing it cool in a nearby field.

Did I mention that the weather was absolutely perfect on September 20?? We seriously could not have asked for a more glorious day. 72 degrees, sunny, no humidity (thank you, hair gods!), and I think the only cloud in the sky was that super teeny tiny one in the photo below.

See it?

I was really glad that we were able to spend a minute getting a few more traditional bridal portraits of me. Although one of the main reasons we hired the Wiebners was because of the amazing candid shots they are able to capture, there is still something to be said for some more traditional posed shots. They totally understood this but didn't make it a long process.

SIL Cupcake helped me with my dress as I moved around....

And little did we know that Joel (or maybe it was Rita?) captured this ridiculously amazing shot below. I swear I'm not full of myself, but this photo took my breath away when I first saw it! I think what I love the most about it is that I had no idea it was being taken. It feels real to me.

Now, enough about me — where did all of those fine lookin' ladies go?

There they are!

We made our way to another area of the park....

And found ourselves a Moonbounce!

I find this so hysterical, because Mr. Cupcake has always joked about wanting a Moonbounce at his birthday party every year. Okay, so it wasn't his birthday, but a Moonbounce on our wedding day! How awesome! (If it had been after the ceremony, maybe we would have considered getting in it, although the people having the party may have thought that was a bit strange.)

A few more shots of my bridesmaids and me....

And then we finally let the bridal party get going to the church! While they headed off, we took a few moments for some shots with our parents.

Momma Cupcake and me

I loved Momma Cupcake's dress — see that amazing little jacket she's wearing? She made it! The dress consisted of a strapless top and skirt, and she wanted something with a bit more coverage, so she ordered some extra material and emulated the pleats from the dress. I was so impressed!

Love this photo!

Momma Cupcake and Stepdad Cupcake

Daddy Cupcake and me

Mr. Cupcake and his parents

The whole clan!

We wrapped everything up and were ready to head to the church. Even though we had already seen each other, Mr. Cupcake and I still decided to go our separate ways until the ceremony. We still wanted there to be some element of suspense when I walked down the aisle, so he rode to the church with his parents while my parents and I rode in the limo.

My mom and me, probably yapping as usual

My dad has had enough!

Jenn helped me into the limo as our driver, Teddy, got ready to roll.

And off we went!

Next up: the anticipation builds as our ceremony nears closer!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy
Love is All About "We": The First Look

Love is All About "We": The First Look

2009-03-09T22:46:00.018-04:00

As the guys waited outside of the hotel for the ladies, everyone grabbed a hold of their flowers and got ready to make their way out of my suite; my mom, my dad and I waited for the phone to ring, which was Jenn's signal that Mr. Cupcake and the bridal party had left the premises and I could leave the hotel without being spotted!

Here I am delegating whose flowers are whose... I swear I was not a bridezilla, but this photo cracks me up — I look like crazy-eyes Cupcake and MOH Nicole looks like she's terrified of me, hehe.

I had a moment of being temporarily frazzled before we left when I heard that the boutonnieres for the groomsmen accidentally went to the church instead of the hotel, as they were supposed to; we had originally set everything up so that the guys would all have their bouts on for our pre-ceremony photos. I don't really know what happened — maybe I wasn't specific about this in my last meeting with the florist (I had so many details floating around in my head at that point), or maybe communication lines were crossed. Ultimately, there was nothing we could do at that point, as the boutonnieres were already halfway to the church and traffic was too heavy for the driver to turn around and drop them off at the park where we were going to get photos taken momentarily. Jenn was on the phone dealing with it and doing everything she could, but it was our first little bump in the road and I tried my best to just take it in stride. My dad just kept saying, "everything is perfect!" and both of my parents reminded me that it wasn't a big deal. And honestly, in the end, it wasn't!

Regardless of the little bout-blip, I love how the flowers for the bridesmaids came together. They had the perfect "not too structured" look that I wanted with a mix of whites and vibrant greens (and I love the Yoko Ono mums!).

MOH's Nicole and Kelli

Before hopping in the shuttle, Kevin showed off his teal argyle socks to Coleen. (We got matching socks for all of the guys but forgot to ask The Wiebners to get a group shot — d'oh! My bad.)

Rather than rent a pricey limo bus, I was able to reserve one of the Desmond shuttles to transport the bridal party to our photo location, from our photo location to the church, and from the church back to the Desmond. It worked out perfectly and saved us hundreds of dollars!

Best man Ryan and bridesmaid Chrissy {Photo by SIL Cupcake}

My parents and I followed just a few minutes behind in the limo to Valley Creek Park, just a few short minutes from The Desmond, and where Mr. Cupcake awaited my arrival.

The Wiebners set Mr. C. up along one of the trails at the park, and I made my way down the path to meet him. At this point, I realized I had no idea how to hold my dress (as is evidenced in most of these photos) and my shoes did not make it easy to walk down a hill!

I excitedly snuck closer to my hubby-to-be....

... and (not so) gracefully hopped over to meet him as he turned around and got his first view of my fancy schmancy ensemble.

Hug time!

Kiss me, you fool!

So, yeah... I wasn't kidding when I told you I didn't know what to do with my dress! You can see that in all of the above photos, I'm awkwardly holding it behind me while simultaneously hugging my man. I was just so nervous about getting it dirty before my walk down the aisle and I didn't want it dragging on the ground — especially since I tend to be pretty klutzy. Disaster is often around the next corner when it comes to me, textiles, and anything that could possibly leave a stain. It turns out that Mr. Cupcake was also sort of afraid to touch my dress, for fear that he'd ruin it :-)

I love these photos, though, and they just make me giggle at how awkward we were about it all, but I guess that's just us! We're not used to being all dressed up and proper while the paparazzi follow us around. It was still really, really special to see each other beforehand. I think it made us both feel a lot less anxious and a lot more excited about the ceremony, and I'm so glad we decided to see each other pre-ceremony.

After we greeted each other, Mr. Cupcake wanted a better look at my dress, so I did a little twirl to show off the details.

Hold on... I think we need a close-up of that one:

Yup — that's his best "ooooooooooooh, fancy!" face. Such a character!

Then it was time for some nice normal posed shots for the grandkids to remember us by. The old farmhouse at the park made for a great backdrop.

I worried in the months beforehand that the wedding day would be Sobfest 2008 for me, but up to that point, I was totally calm and tear-free. I think I had imagined those moments so many times (and started to cry every time) that I was literally all cried out! Although I was still overcome with emotion, it came out in the form of excited smiles and laughter, and I'm so glad I wasn't a crying mess.

Below is one of my favorite candid shots, perhaps from the whole day. I have probably mentioned before how I love that when Mr. Cupcake smiles, his whole face smiles. You can see that in the photo below, and I think the schmoopy way we're looking at each other here just shows how we really feel about each other. (All together now: "awwwwww!")

But, wait! Lest you think we're always schmoopy and cute — doesn't now seem like the perfect time to clean some fuzz off of Mr. Cupcake?? Why, yes — yes it does.

Now that's more like it!

What can I say? Some things remain the same whether it's our wedding day or any other day ;-)

Up next, the bridal party and our parents get in on the photo shoot action!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous
Love is All About "We": The Dress!
Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy

Love is All About "We": The Guys Get Sexy

2009-03-03T20:04:00.000-05:00

We're taking a break from all the super girlie bridal stuff to check in with our dashing groom and his partners in crime! The boys — I mean, men — got ready in my brother's guest room at The Desmond.

Now, let's face it: it probably took the guys about 15 minutes to get ready while we ladies primped for hours. I wasn't there (obviously), but from the looks of the photos, there was a lot of tie-tying, and, well, that's about it.

Okay, okay — I lied. There was also some cuff link....ing?

It looks like they also indulged in some fine Brooke & Nick (aka Mrs. & Mr. Cupcake) water.

One of my 7,639 DIY projects

But back to the tie tying: Mr. Cupcake looks pretty cute while he ties a tie, doesn't he?

Mr. Cupcake's Uncle Kevin, who was always more like a big brother to him (he is 15-years older than Mr. C), actually lives in Bangladesh where he is a regional director for an international charity. He came alllllll that way from Dhaka to be one of our groomsmen. Now that's love! Below, he spiffs himself up (left) while my brother uses the other side of the mirror to get himself lookin' all dapper.

Mr. Cupcake's best friend, Ryan, filled the role of Best Man. You can see in the photo of him below the teal and ivory paisley ties we got for all of the guys.

The guys all wore black suits instead of tuxes, and Mr. Cupcake added some suspenders to complete the look. I love the look of black suspenders with a crisp white shirt! I think he looks quite dashing.

Mr. Cupcake and his Uncle Kevin

I spy a Wiebner!

Evidently, groomsman Brad was having some trouble with his tie. He called in Ryan for reinforcement while groomsman Jeremy watched from the sidelines.

Well, apparently Ryan didn't work out, so my dad stepped in. (He hung out with the guys before coming to "pick me up" in my suite.)

Mr. Cupcake and I are both addicted to our iPhone's, so I'm not surprised that he snuck a peak.

One of my lovely bridesmaids delivered not one but TWO cards to Mr. Cupcake, from me. One was a nice sweet card, and the other one was just something funny that reminded me of us.

What, no tears?? He must have been saving them up for the ceremony....

Then, it was just your usual guys-hanging-out-being-guys type of thing.

My dad was all smiles all day

Brother Cupcake is a menswear designer so looking dapper is in his blood!

Groomsman Jeremy found some time to read while Mr. Cupcake checked himself out one last time.

FIL Cupcake soon arrived and was greeted at the door by Stepdad Cupcake.

Once everyone was together, my dad made his way to my suite while the rest of the guys headed downstairs at The Desmond. They were supposed to take some group portraits outside... but got a little sidetracked first at the hotel gift shop.

Here, Jeremy is modeling the Austin-Powers-on-crack glasses; work it, Jeremy!

Who doesn't love a good set of beer goggles?

Would you like some cheese with your wine?

When the silly antics subsided, Joel caught this cool shot of Mr. Cupcake waiting in the lobby.

Then the guys headed outside for some posed shots.

Hey hot stuff!

Guy love!

Pretty soon, it would be time for the guys to hitch a ride to our first photo location, so they broke out the shades and headed over to the entrance of the hotel to wait for the bridesmaids.

Mr. Cupcake snuck in another peek at his iPhone, this time to check out some sports stats with his dad.

This photo makes me giggle... this is such a classic Mr. Cupcake "well what do I do now?" stance that I am very familiar with.

Up next, our "first look"!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous

Love is All About "We": The Dress!

2009-03-02T15:23:00.001-05:00

When it was time to put on my dress, I had butterflies. This was the moment that would really make me a bride.

I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed as so many people were now in our suite (six bridesmaids, my aunt, MIL Cupcake, my mom, two makeup artists and a photographer) so I asked that not everyone come into the bedroom while I got into my dress. It was just my mom, my maid and matron of honor, and my aunt. Looking back, I hope that no one felt shunned from this experience by my request, but I needed a little breathing space!

Naked time! Stepping into the dress with the help of MOH Nicole and my mom

It's funny how the photos of a bride getting into her dress are so iconic and it seems like such a process, but for me, it was all pretty quick! (Thanks to a zipper covered by fake buttons... we would have had to build an extra 20 minutes into our timeline if those buttons needed a crochet hook.)

My dress is from Casablanca Bridal (it is style 1860 in Champagne) and I felt like it was made just for me!

My mom zipping me up

Done!

I love this photo of my mom looking at me

The only thing that took a little bit of time was, um, adjusting *ahem* the girls. I couldn't find a bra that would work with my dress and not be painfully uncomfortable, so I opted to have cups sewn into the bra. I was still a little nervous, though, as I wanted everyone to behave and stay in their designated corners (as MOH Nicole says, "divide and conquer") — enter the magical world of double-sided tape. I had picked up a roll of fashion tape a few days beforehand, and it ended up being a lifesaver (for me and a few of the bridesmaids). Probably the best $10 I ever spent!

Only a true best friend would reach down your dress to put fashion tape on your boobs

The girls are good to go!

It was now time for the finishing touches... the accessories that I had so carefully chosen.

I had asked SIL Cupcake to help me out with my "something blue" — putting blue crystals on the bottom of her shoes was something she had done for her wedding day, so I thought I'd continue the tradition. She carefully glued our initials and wedding date on the bottom of my Liz René shoes, so my "something blue" was with me all day long.

{photo by SIL Cupcake}

Momma Cupcake helped me from falling over (I tend to do klutzy things like this from time to time) while Aunt Jane helped me with my shoes. We call this the "Cinderella moment"!

Next up was my custom-made bracelet from Tracy Tayan (Tracy now has a website up since I last posted about her amazing work!)

The bracelet is lying on top of my something borrowed (a handkerchief from my mom with her first initial on it, which was about to become my new last initial) and my something old (a yellow-edged handkerchief that my Nana left for me when she passed away two months before the wedding. She had asked SIL Cupcake to give it to me.)

Most of my nerves started melting away and I was starting to get really, really excited!

SIL Cupcake peeking in

Bracelet: on. Next up were my Lunessa earrings:

I packed my clutch with my handkerchiefs, phone, and a few cosmetic items for touch-ups.

Then came time for the real crowning moment: the veil. I absolutely loved my veil. If it didn't always feel like it was in the way, I would have considered wearing it all day. It had such delicate detailing along the edges and I felt like it was the perfect accent to my dress.

A closeup of the detailing on my veil {photo by SIL Cupcake}

My mom didn't know the best way to put my veil on and didn't want to mess up my 'do, so DOC Jenn Poletti came to the rescue. She had just arrived and we put her right to work. (Ours was one of the last weddings Jenn worked in 2008 — she was pregnant with twin boys who later arrived in January!)

Jenn and I became good friends throughout the planning process — our nickname for each other is BIFF (which stands for Best Internet Friend Forever) because we emailed each other so much! Half of the time it was about The Hills, though, not the wedding....

I love this picture

"Well, I guess that's it?... I'm a bride now!"

I had everything I needed, so I made my way out of the bedroom and found that my dad had arrived.

He's happy to see me!

I look like a mischievous little kid here! I guess I really couldn't contain my excitement at that point.

Here comes our "prom" pose — me pinning the boutonniere onto my dad's lapel (or pretending to pin it on for the sake of a photo... I think I eventually gave up and made Jenn do it for me).

I think the way he is looking at me in this photo is very sweet... I am the only daughter and the last of two kids to get married, so it was a big day for both of my parents.

{photo by SIL Cupcake}

I also got the first glimpse at my bouquet that had arrived earlier from Blue Moon. I loved it! Somehow, despite my frazzled descriptions of what I wanted, Wade managed to put together the perfect bouquet for me.

{photo by SIL Cupcake}

One last iPhone check (I'm addicted) and we, were ready to go!

Next up: the guy's get sexy!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
The Eve of Our Big Day: The Rehearsal Dinner
Love is All About "We": Getting Gorgeous