Big Hearts and Wedding Bells

I'm back!! Ah, it's so good to be home. 

I got back Thursday and then hit the ground running. This weekend was crazy busy. I went to a wedding Friday night where my childhood best friend Mark married a really lovely girl named Carlie. Hi Carlie!! :) 

Then yesterday I hosted a baby shower for my best friend Christie. I'm so excited to be an auntie to their beebee.

I broke in my Alexander McQueen red heart shaped peep toes... finally! I mean, what better reason to wear them than to celebrate love.

(dress- LaRok, necklace- Van Cleef, bow- Urban Renewal, shoes- McQueen)

I wore them with these adorable tights I found in a shop in London.

Wearing tights to help you break in a new pair of pumps (especially when you buy them a half size too small because they were the last ones and you know you won't find them in your size anywhere... eh HEM) is really great. It makes it a lot less painful. Just a little tip ;)

Also, please excuse the roots. I know they look terrible. I'm in the process of this look-

(images via http://christiewalkerhair.wordpress.com/)

Long roots, light ends. I think my appointment is tomorrow so we'll see how it all turns out. ;)

Third Year's A Charm!

Today is my 3 year wedding anniversary. Time FLIES by... it's crazy.

I am so lucky to be married to my best friend and the best guy I've ever met. I can't even believe how in love I am and how happy we are together. :)

Here are some photos from our wedding that took place exactly 3 years ago. Our ceremony was at 5:30pm

YUM!!

Check out my cell phone... I bejeweled it myself. haha The bridesmaids shoes were Betsey Johnson and mine were Badgley Mischka. I wish I would have made the time to design my own shoes but I just felt really overwhelmed by the idea and felt like there was too much pressure. That's my only regret from my wedding though. But I do love the shoes that I wore!

A close up of the shoes...

I wish I had more photos of them to show you. Maybe I'll look through all the photos and post a clearer shot.

What an amazing day. And every day since has been so much fun. I love you Benjamin. 

(all photos: Triplecord Photography)

Customized Wedding Print from Made By Girl....

You can now see what the 4 current colors look like....We shot some pics today, hope you like them as much as I do!  Add a PERSONAL touch to any wedding event with these custom prints! Pick one up for your own wedding here.

image by jen ramos

My Friends are Gorgeous AND Talented!

You guys have to check this out! My annoyingly beautiful and very talented friend Skully handcrafts these beautiful one of a kind veils, and when you see them you'll make up a reason to need a veil!

Check it out- En-Veil.com

Then there's one of my oldest and dearest friends, Jessica Palermo, who is getting married next month. We're going to celebrate her bachelorette in a really exciting way! Well, In MY opinion anyway.

Jess is not your average bachelorette. She's incredibly creative (she designs Badgley Mischka footwear and is our new and improved Charles Jourdan designer) and entertainingly quirky so when talking about what we should do for her party I knew she'd be into my sort of out there theme.

The idea came from Jess and I laughing about the average party where girls wear embarrassing condom covered veils and are surrounded by their scantily clad girl friends. Not really our style.

I thought it would be really cool and glamorous to sort of do the opposite. To have all the girls dress in sexy black dresses and vintage black veils (enter the En-Veil tie-in) and call it "mourning the death of her singlehood"... yes I'm serious, and to my pleasant surprise- Jess loved the idea!

Doesn't that sound fun!?

What fun crazy things have you guys done for a bachelor/bachelorette party?? Spill it!

My $200 wedding dress....

This may be hard to believe but, choosing my wedding dress was the easiest part of the wedding. You see, before I got engaged, I had been dreaming of getting married. (like most girls, right?) So, I had already seen this particular dress & it was saved onto my hard drive.  Well, it was saved along with 10-13 others I liked.... Anyway, I knew with the whole ECONOMY being in shambles that it probably wasn't a good idea to SPLURGE on my dress, plus that isn't my style.

Finally, I jumped on the internet (a few months before the wedding) & took a deep breath....and clicked the 'buy now' button- (the entire dress buying decision took about 5 minutes).  I know some of you women are thinking, "OH MY GOD, how could she buy her wedding dress online without even trying it on?" The answer was simple..... I had a few months till the wedding, I wasn't going to stress out about it.

Fast forward a couple weeks and my dress arrives.....a pretty off-white, size 4.  I went to try it on.... (BIG TIP: Make sure you have absolutely no makeup or lotions on while you try on your dress) ........and the dress fit! I wanted the waist to be a bit more snug so I went to Nordstroms seamstress department. They did a miracle cutting the dress open and tightening the waist about half an inch. It's a miracle because it's NOT easy working with pleats I hear!

Now, to the good stuff....My Wedding dress is by Calvin Klein & cost me a mere $200. That's right, $200! In fact, my shoes cost more.....but that's another post. Oh, & did I mention I was wearing SPANX underneath my dress?!? I highly recommend those, they definitely do their job! All in all, I'm so happy that I decided on this gown. I got so many compliments and no one would've guessed the price! My mindset has always been,'why go broke trying to look good, if you can look gorgeous for less!'

My bouquet was wrapped in a paper towel, so the water wouldn't drip all over my dress. I didn't realize how silly it looked until after I saw these pics. However, the trick works, no water on my dress!

Ok, so what about my accessories?? My cake? My bouquet? Shoes? etc.

To Be Continued.....

The song we danced to at our Wedding...

Some of you may recognize this tune......sit back, relax & enjoy!

Video: You Tube

Peek-a-boo pic....

I couldn't help but post this teaser pic of our wedding this past weekend. My photographer Yvonne Wong (from Seattle) sent us this one. The rest of the shots won't be in my hands until March (I think). But.... I will be posting a few things here & there of our day. Thank you for all your beautiful comments,  I look forward to reading more!

My Engagement Ring... !

After getting several emails & tweets asking to post my engagement ring.... here it is.

I love it!  Thanks to my guy who placed it onto my finger on August 2, 2009. 

The date is set ....We'll be preparing the last minute details for our wedding during the Holidays. 

Because this is my first wedding ever, I'd love to hear from any of you out there. Does anyone have any wedding planning tips??

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

My Wedding invites....Calligraphy.

I wanted to thank Danae Hernandez for creating these lovely wedding invites for me. I was searching for something simple & hand-written, so I chose Danae to do the calligraphy for each invite as well as add a little bit of my wedding color theme! You can check out more of her work here.

P.S. - I'll be blogging about my wedding photographer soon!

Photos above by Jen Ramos of MadeByGirl

More items available from Danae's Calligraphy shop

Super Chic Custom Wedding Maps

Our DIY 'Save The Date'....

My fiance' & I finished making our own (DIY) 'Save The Date' for our wedding. These are the colors we chose for the event. Total cost to make these only $28 for 20! Let me know what you think of them..... I will blog more about how we made them another time.

(Click for larger image)

Love and Shoes.

Ben and I went to our good friends Mark and Gigi's wedding and I was very pleasantly surprised at how many great shoes I saw! I became that creepy friend taking pictures of girls feet all night. Ha ha.

But seriously- Gigi is a very stylish girl, so I shouldn't have been surprised by all her cute friends. Gigi wore my favorite shoes of the night- nude Valentino d'orsay pumps with a big oversized bow. I was honored to hep her pick them out months before her big day. :)

She wore a beautiful vintage inspired knee length lace dress and she looked absolutely perfect!

(Paris Hilton knocked these off)

We had so much fun! Ben wore a Marc Jacobs seersucker suit and I wore a Diane Von Furstenberg dress and YSL shoes.

Here are some of my favorite shoes of the evening... Most of which are surpprisingly affordable!

I even saw a girl wearing a pair of Harajuku Lovers shoes. I was very excited!

(The HL shoes)

(Report Signature)

(Zara)

(Steve Madden)

(Middle pair- Bakers... on sale right now)

(sweet hot dog tattoo)

(L.A.M.B)

If I find out who any of the other shoes are by I'll update. :)

Happy Anniversary!

Two years ago, at about this time of day I married my best friend. I got my dream wedding, but more importantly, my dream husband. I am so lucky to have met Ben. These two years have been so much fun and I can't wait for 88 more!

Here's our wedding in Orange Coast Weddings Magazine's premier issue. :)

(you can click these to make them larger)

I love you Benjamin!! Thank you for the best two years of my life! Every day I wake up next to you is better than the last... You are my angel baby.

The meteor shower tonight is no coincidence... it's thousands of stars falling from the sky- jealous of your glowing light.

Me = Still Smiling...

I don't normally get too personal on my blog, but I wanted to write a thank you post to my guy. I have to say I'm a lucky girl....even after 11 years together, he still amazes me. He cooks amazing dinners almost everyday (he loves cooking) & on Sundays he makes blackberry pancakes for us. But on this particular Sunday (August 2nd), he did something unexpected.....HE PROPOSED. He placed a beautiful ring on my finger & now, I'm officially engaged!! Some might ask, what took so long??!?? Timing never seemed to be on our side & now it is. I am truly grateful for every smile he has brought to my face. With that I say, thank you fiance, I love you......

Yoo hoo, Brides-to-be: (Wedding PhotoShoot GIVEAWAY)

Creative photographer, Jacqueline Pfeffer, is looking for inspiration in a fun and original couple who have poured their HEARTS into planning their 2010 wedding!

Winners will be chosen based on: Personality, creativity, originality & design.


Winners will receive: Full wedding day coverage by Jacqueline and a second shooter (optional). An online gallery of the best 300 images within two weeks of your wedding. A 300 print, canvas proof book, featuring all of the images from your online gallery. ALL digital negatives from your day (1500+ images from each photographer present).

Bride & Groom provide: Travel Expenses from New York to your wedding venue. Three nights hotel accommodation. Rental car (if needed).


To Enter: Submit your story to giveaways@jacpfef.com in written format, including your names, wedding date & location, & a detailed description of yourselves & your wedding plans. Be sure to include a photo of you together & as much info about your wedding as possible, including your wedding website and/or blog if you have one. Remember, winners will be chosen based on design, so the more details you provide, the better!



Restrictions: Please do not enter if you've already hired a photographer.

Deadline: August 31st, 2009.

Winners will be announced: September 15th, 2009.

(ALL PHOTOS BY JACQUELINE PFEFFER)