Slight Chance of Shower

Some of you may remember the Christmas blizzard of 2010, if you don't, it took place the day after Christmas and dumped two feet of snow on New York City! The thing was that my family (two sisters, one niece, one nephew and my mom!) had come to stay with me (and Mr.) for A WEEK in our tiny ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT. Now if you aren't Chinese you may not understand how you end up with your 3 adults and two children staying in your living room, but it if you are, you understand how impossibly hard it is to say no!

At first it didn't seem like the worst thing in the world. I LOVE my family plus there is SO much to do in NYC that I figured they wouldn't be around that much. Then the blizzard hit they night they arrived! If they had been on a flight just a few hours later, they would have never made it at all. So after a day of board games and wedding crafting we decided it was time to venture into the snow.

Day one looked like this:

{My mom, me, my sister, and my other sister holding my nephew}

{Mr. and Me}

We decided to go for brunch three and a half blocks away and it took almost 30 mins to get there! By the time we got back (and built snowmen in the street) everyone was EXHAUSTED.

The next day we tried again...this time we had a big day! We went to Bryant park to check out the ice skaters, then to the fabric district to get project supplies, then a little shopping in midtown, headed down to China town for lunch, and finished off with a little more shopping! It was a looooong cold day... yet for some reason my sisters kept talking about having a girls night out!

By the time we got home it was almost 4 and my sisters were super excited to go get drinks later that evening. I secretly knew I was not getting back out of my pajamas. As 6 o'clock rolled around my baby sister mentioned that one of her friends was in town and she would love to go see her. I happily gave her instructions and wished her well. Unfortunately that was not enough she wanted me to take her! I dug my heels in, I was NOT leaving my house! Soon my other sister was on my case as well. I was increasingly annoyed, after all they were staying in MY apartment and I had walked around freezing cold, slushy, crowded NY ALL DAY!!

Finally they got to Mr.! Before I knew it, he was trying to talk me into going out with my sisters... Traitor! I had finally decided that I would secretly walk my sisters to the subway and then get of the train behind them... horrible, I know BUT I was freezing and tired!

Luckily, they broke!

They told me that they were planning a surprise bridal shower for me and two of my bridesmaids had come in from out of state (in the blizzard!!), and were waiting for us downtown! I felt horrible! After a few forced hugs and lots of kisses, we all finally got dressed and headed down.

{My baby sister, Me, My other sister}

{Me, Bridesmaid L, MOH N, Awesome Friend S}

They even got us an ice cream cake! I love ice cream cake. We tried to do practice cake cutting pictures but the cake was frozen so they turned out like this...

My niece loved the ice cream cake even more...her shirt should say " I love ice cream cake & NOT sharing"

This is my family's reaction to my "wedding smile." I've been practicing a new smile (aka no bottom teeth) but my family seems to think its HILARIOUS! (notice that they all have the EXACT same laugh!)

{Mom holding nephew, My baby sister, Me, My middle sister}

I think the smile looks perfectly natural....well not "perfectly" natural but it's definitely getting there.

Well, thanks for the FABULOUS bridal shower ladies. It's the best surprise bridal shower I've EVER had. Sorry I was such a "zilla".

Has anyone else been a HUGE "zilla?" How'd you make it up to the people you raged on!?!?

Letterpress of my very own!

After months and months of looking at wedding invitations, I finally decided to create my own design. I really wanted something unique, personalized and whimsical. Basically, it needed to be something that I felt would reflect the feel of our wedding. I kept telling Laura that I wish I could just hand write a invitation to each of my guest. Finally, we decided that I would hand write my invitation and then send it out to a press and have it letterpressed! Genius, I know! The design part didn't take that long. Laura used her fancy-pants design program to figure out the lines and spacing. Then I traced the invite and gave it a personal touch.

Finding the right letterpress was the hard part. After all, I had to figure out who to trust with my invites. I considered a number of options: Mercurio Brothers, Thistleberry, White Aisle, Wild Ink Press, and Parklife Press. First, I emailed them all to confirm pricing since I was requesting an irregular number of invitations (65) and wanted to submit my own design. Unfortunately, a few of them never even responded to my email so they were immediately cut from the list. Then I cut all the places that were out of my price range.

Once I had my top three I sent another email requesting samples and asking follow-up questions. (doing my due diligence and all...). I finally picked Travis at Parklife Press. He asked me what I was looking for and sent me a free selection of samples. Best part, I gave him the wrong address by accident and once I realized my mistake, he over-nighted a second set of invitations! He was fabulous, not only did he respond quickly to all my emails but they were personalized and casual responses (nothing canned or overly formal). I felt that he would be easy to work with and I could definitely trust him with this very important responsibility.

Let me just say, I was right! The invites turned out beautifully. My fabulous invitations came in just three days before I left for Amsterdam. I was so busy moving (packing, cleaning, etc) that I forgot they were coming! What a pleasant surprise :D

Here's a little peek:

A little love goes a long way

If you are or have ever planned a wedding, you are well aware of how much money a wedding costs. It's really quite ridiculous and sometimes it feels so unnecessary and super selfish. I am currently working on a LLM (Masters of Law) in International Criminal Law at the University of Amsterdam, so I spend my days reading about the most horrendous crimes on earth (ie. mass rape, genocide, torture, etc). After hours of that, I feel so silly spending hours looking at wedding porn! I totally need the escape but end up feeling crazy guilty.

The more I thought about it the more I realized there has to be some way to have my wedding and eat it too...so, to speak. I know that a lot of people donate money on behalf of their guests in lieu of favors, which I think is great! On the other hand, why take the money from your guests when you can take it from corporations ;) Here's some of the great organizations I found that totally make that possible:

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On I Do Foundation, you can raise money for charity simply by registering with one of their partner stores. Up to 10% of guests' gift purchases from these partner stores will be donated to your selected charity. These donations are made at no additional cost to you or your guests.
In addition to a charity registry you can shop from select stores which will give back a certain amount of their proceeds to charity! Additionally, they have partnered with Traveler's Joy to give back 3% of whatever you raise for your honeymoon!

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Brilliant earth is an amazing company with a strong moral compass. They have a three pronged mission focused on: providing quality products from pure sources, encouraging change in local communities affected by the industry and promoting growth by donating 5% of their proceeds to help communities who have suffered from unethical practices in the jewelry industry.


{Baking for Good}
Baking for Good is dedicated to providing high quality, irresistible treats that are perfect for any occasion. Moreover, they're committed to helping great causes raise money for things that matter. That’s why 15% of every purchase goes to the cause of your choice!


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The Bridal Garden is New York City's only not for profit bridal boutique. They sell gently used dresses at up to 75% off the original prices and all proceeds go towards education programs for children in the city!

It makes me epically happy to know that I can use my wedding to help others. What have I missed?? What are the options available in your community??

Travel Themed Goodies

First of all I want to apologize for my absence and lame-o posting over the last few weeks. Between Christmas, my family's one week visit, finishing up my final semester at law school and moving out of New York (during one of the snowiest winters!) to Amsterdam, I've been a little busy. Now that I'm in Amsterdam, I will finally be able to get back to the business of blogging.

Right now, I am super jet-lagged and achy from moving huge suitcases across the Atlantic so I don't have the energy to do a wedding planning updates. Instead, I decided to do a travel-themed post. In honor of my move to Amsterdam, here is some fabulous travel themed wedding inspiration.

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{i-do-it-yourself.com via Just happily ever after}

Happy travels!

Ready for "The Aisle"

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If you remember my post about the Aisle, you will excited to hear that tomorrow is the very first sale! Starting at 11am EST The Aisle will be featuring discounts on wedding related items from the following designers:

• Monique Lhuillier
• Angel Sanchez
• Elizabeth Fillmore
• Oscar de la Renta Jewelry
• Suzanne Couture Millinery
  

If you haven't sign-up, click here to join! Happy shopping!