Running to the Wedding

Sunday Snapshot

2011-09-11T15:49:00.000-04:00

The Trail Mix Wedding

City: New Lebanon, NY
Venue: The Tannery Pond
Wedding Date: June 2010
Dress: Claire Pettibone's 'Fontaine'
Florist: Angel's Trumpet
Photographer: Closed Circle Photography
Music: The Characters
Catering: Spice of Life Catering
Stationery: Encore Studios, New York City
Bridesmaid's Dresses: JCrew
Men's Attire: Men's Wearhouse
Honeymoon: Venezuela
Color Scheme: Pale blue and yellow
Theme: Rustic fun
Favors: Gourmet chocolate from Chocolate Springs
Hair and Makeup: DIY
Videographer: Friend with a video camera

Closed Circle Photography

Personal Photo

The Time Has Come, The Walrus Said...

2011-03-21T19:43:00.000-04:00

"The time has come, the walrus said,

To talk of many things.

Of ships and shoes and sealing wax

Of cabbages and kings..."

But...(Siiiiigh)...Not weddings. It's hard to believe and even harder to write this but my time blogging here has reached it's end. And for once, Little Miss Gabby,Chatty-Cathy, Talk-Your-Ear-Off me is at a loss for words.

Because how do I express what Weddingbee and all it's incredibly smart, funny, rockin' readers have done for me during my one-and-a-half year tenure as a blogger? It's so hard to figure out without sounding trite, cheesy or repetitive but I'm going to give it my best shot.

When I joined the site in June of 2009, I never expected to become real-life, honest-to-goodness friends with people. I mean, it's a wedding site and I came looking for wedding inspiration and here I am, almost two years later, in awe of this community and the ties that bind it. Seriously, this is a pretty amazing place.

And while saying good bye to you all is the hardest, a part of me is sad to say good bye to my wedding too. Because in spite of all my b*tching and moaning, I really did love my wedding. I loved planning it, I loved crafting for it, I loved anticipating it and after it was all said and done, I loved (and still love) re-living it. Truthfully, I would happily start planning another one all over again and never leave this enchanted world. But I'm fast approaching our one-year anniversary and so I thought that on our two-year engage-aversary, there was no more fitting time for me to sign off.

Aaaaaaaand, now I can't see the computer keys since I'm crying so hard...*Sob* (Seriously.)

Before I go, I need to just tell you all one thing and I mean this: You guys are fucking awesome.

For real. I've said this before and I'll say it again- I'm sure I would have made it to my wedding just fine without you all but it damn sure would not have been anywhere near as much fun. You guys made my wedding more than a party with pretty details, you showed me what community means and made me realize how important the idea of a community was for our wedding day. I'll never forget that and I'll always be grateful for being a part of this community right here.

While there's not much left to write about, wedding-wise, I obviously can't shut up for long so if you wanna come on by and read about my running feats and dessert foibles, you can find more of me at A Runners Life. And obviously, I can't really quit you all, so I'm sure you'll still see me commenting away on blog posts and the boards.

But, for now, this is it.

Friends, I wish you all nothing but the best, from wonderful, stress-free, happy weddings to lives filled with love, joy and togetherness. You all deserve that. And finally, most importantly, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Closed Circle Photography

Always,

Mrs Trailmix

All My Love, All My Life: Budget Breakdown

2011-03-15T12:16:00.000-04:00

Ah, the budget. The budget is a tricky beast, wouldn't you agree? Everyone who is contributing to it wants a say in how the funds are used, not to mention the fact that it has a funny way of rapidly expanding (much like my stomach after my recent purchase of six boxes of Girl Scout cookies...)

First off, I gotta put this out there: Tented weddings are not cheap, yo! I originally decided to go this route after looking at packages from a few places that were well above what I thought we could afford. For example, one place I liked would have cost right around $100/head. When I did the math, my eyes bulged out of my head and I decided (without really thinking it through) that a tented wedding would be a better option, since I had been quoted around $45/head from a caterer I had sent an inquiry to. What I didn't think about was the fact that when you add in all the rentals, the costs per head were probably almost equal! Ooooops....D'oh! *Insert the sound of my palm hitting my forehead here...

Another major issue was location. In a book my mom received about tips for planning a wedding, the number one recommendation to save money was (wait for it...) -to get out of the Northeast. Huh. Well, seeing as how I'd already put down a deposit on our venue at this point, it was too late to do that but I will say that I agree with the book- the Northeast is a mad expensive place to hold a wedding.

Somehow, in spite of all my penny-pinching and stressing about money, our wedding still ended up costing a sh*t-ton. Huge thanks, Mom, Dad and Trail Mix In-Laws, for prolonging your retirement so we could have such an awesome shin-dig (I'm kidding about the retirement thing...*I hope.) Anyways, hopefully this is somewhat helpful for those of you in the midst of planning and wondering how much things cost.

Alright, let's do this thang!

Closed Circle Photography

Venue: The Tannery Pond, New Lebanon, NY
Cost: $3,000 site fee plus $360 for event insurance. This included access to the Tannery (an old Shaker building) where our ceremony was, as well as use of the grounds for the tent, electricity, water, etc. This site had tons of significance to me and I loved it. It makes my heart happy to tell people I got married in my hometown. Totally worth the exorbitant site fee.

Closed Circle Photography

Mmmmm, cheese...

Caterer: Debbie of Spice of Life Catering, Valatie, NY
Cost: Including food, linens, wait and bar service and set up, plus tip the total came out to be around $13,000. I don't know the exact number because I didn't pay this bill but Debbie was worth every penny. Her mushroom ravioli were to-die-for.

Closed Circle Photography

I loved his hat- it's his signature!

Closed Circle Photography

If you book The Characters, I can guarantee your guests will look like this all night long...

Music: The Characters, New York, NY
Cost: $4,500 including travel costs from NYC two hours Upstate. I've said it before and I'll say it again, they were without a doubt the BEST investment of the entire wedding!

Closed Circle Photography

Rentals: Aviator Tent Rentals, Kinderhook, NY
Cost: Roughly $8,000 (not completely sure what the exact total ended up being) that included everything one would need for a wedding for 185 guests, including: Tent, prop tent, catering grill, dance floor, tables, chairs, plates, silverware, glassware, salt and pepper shakers and a golf cart. They were awesome and helped us pack up everything the next morning too, which was huge.

*BTW- I highly highly HIGHLY recommend getting a golf cart if you're planning a wedding where the bathrooms or parking is more than 100 yards away from your reception! Not only is it helpful for elderly guests but your inebriated friends will have a blast being complete and total idiots on it as well!

Closed Circle Photography

Flowers: Angel's Trumpet, New Lebanon, NY
Cost: $3,750 which included 18 centerpieces, 5 or so table arrangements, aisle decorations, the chuppah and altar decorations, 5 bouquets, 8 boutonnieres, 2 nosegays, my hair wreath and a large wreath for the front door.

Closed Circle Photography

Alcohol: DIY
Cost: $4,000. We opted to bring in our own alcohol from a local liquor store rather than go through our caterer. They helped us figure out how much we'd need but we had tons leftover. Probably could've cut down by about 1/3 and still had plenty. Oh well, better too much than too little, y'all know we haven't let that go to waste ;)

Transportation: I can't recall the name of the company I used for this but it was a 21-passenger bus and we hired them for eight hours to shuttle all our drunk-ass friends from the bed and breakfasts to the venue.
Cost: $600 plus $100 tip

Closed Circle Photography

Photographer: Kelly of Closed Circle Photography, Boston, MA
Cost: $2,200 plus $100 tip. This included seven hours of coverage, a second shooter and a photobooth, plus CDs of all the pics. And, I mean, have you seen my pictures? I think they speak for themselves but I'll say it anyways: Kelly's incredibly talented, I love my pro pics and I definetly recommend her!

Closed Circle Photography

Attire: Claire Pettibone "Fontaine" dress from Kleinfeld's (purchased as a sample) and a charcoal grey suit from Men's Wearhouse, plus white dress shirt and tie. My shoes were from J. Crew.
Cost: $1200 for my dress, plus $350 for alterations at Ellen's Couture in Manhattan's Upper West Side; $225 for the suit, plus $100 for shirt and tie. $80 for my shoes.

Closed Circle Photography

Paper Products: Invitations (from Encore Studios), Save The Dates, Postage, Programs, Menus, etc.
Cost: $1400

Closed Circle Photography

Officiant: Friend of cousin's
Cost: $600 including travel and hotel room. Rena was amazing. She made us laugh, she made us cry and she infused our entire ceremony with heartfelt joy and love.

Closed Circle Photography

Rings: Morays Jewelers in Miami, FL.
Cost: $690 for my 1.5mm rose gold eternity band and Mr Trail Mix's white gold band plus $70 for engraving.

Closed Circle Photography

Ketubah: Created by Amy Fagin of 20th Century Illuminations
Cost: $175 for the Ketubah itself (ours is small, 15" x 12") plus $30 for the cost of the frame. My mom had it matted and I don't know what the price on that was.

Closed Circle Photography

Miscellaneous: Includes gifts for our bridal party and parents, random decor, favors, OOT bags, flip flops, Day of Coordinator, guest book, kippot and bathroom baskets.
Cost: $3,200

Whoooof. If you made it this far, I commend you (although I did try to give you guys lots of pretty pictures to look at through the whole thing!) I can't even give a grand total because I might vomit. The moral of this story? Weddings are expensive. Especially tented weddings in the Northeast.

Was it worth it? HELL yeah. While there are things I could have (or would have) changed to save money, overall our wedding experience was incredible and the memories have no price tag. Go big or go home is my motto and I'm only planning on having one wedding, so for us, it was worth it without a doubt, to throw the party of our lives (until our kid's bar or bat mitzvahs, haha! Juuuuust kidding...)

Anyways, thanks so much for recapping with me, it's hard to believe but this is all I got. Done. Finito. Hasta lasagna, don't get any on ya! Obviously, I've got one last "goodbye" post for yas (you didn't think I'd say goodbye just like that, did you? Nope, waaaay too sentimental to just sign off lickety split...) but this is the official end of the Trail Mix wedding recaps. It's been real.

Follow along, if ya want!

All My Love, All My Life: Photo Booth Fun!

All My Love, All My Life: Sugar High

All My Love, All My Life: Just Dance, It'll Be OK...

All My Love, All My Life: The Toasts

All My Love, All My Life: Celebrations!

All My Love, All My Life: Cocktail Hour and Reception Details

All My Love, All My Life: Strike A Pose

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part Deux

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part 1

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty On

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

All My Love, All My Life: Fotobooth Fun!

2011-03-08T19:27:00.000-05:00

Way way back (gosh, it feels like ages ago!) when I was still knee-deep in wedding planning, I would gaze longingly at hilarious photobooth pictures that made the wedding blog rounds but then heave a dramatic sigh and move on. I knew there was no way I was willing to give up anything in my budget to make room for this amazing trend and we simply did not have the technology to do it ourselves. I simply assumed from the beginning that it was a lost cause.

But then! The typically cruel and merciless wedding gods took pity on a poor, woe-begotten bride and, like a ray of sunshine through the clouds, offered up a solution in the form of my photographer (Kelly of Closed Circle Photography.) She emailed me, out of the blue, to say that she was offering a promotion for a free photobooth set-up for any wedding where she was booked for at least six hours. Since we qualified, did we want to take advantage of the offer?

Um, HELLS to the YES we did!! And so, with absolutely no planning, stressing, DIY-endeavors or budget-squeezing, I got my photobooth. Wahoooo!!!

Closed Circle Photography

Our second-shooter manned the booth, which was simply a camera on a tripod with a (um, don't know the technical photography term for this) white, hanging screen-thing.

For some unknown reason, my photographer specifically requested no silly props or anything of that nature when we spoke about it. I did manage to get a whiteboard and some markers the day before but I kind of wish I'd at least jumped on the mustache bandwagon or something...

Closed Circle Photography

But our guests were creative and brought in their own props to spice things up a bit...

Closed Circle Photography

Heck, there even may or may not have been some interpretive dancing (Don't ask.)

Closed Circle Photography

The photobooth also gave us a chance to do some group pictures that otherwise probably would not have happened...

This is Mr Trail Mix's pledge class from his fraternity in college (minus one) plus all the wives/fiancees. Hard to believe we're almost six years graduated!

Closed Circle Photography

And here's Mr TM's group of friends from high school (apparently all of my friends were too busy dancing to get in on the photobooth action!) reppin' the 305 area code- That's Miami, in case ya didn't know!

Closed Circle Photography

The rest of these are proof that you actually really don't need props to get some great, funny shots! Offer up enough alcohol, put out the camera and the magic will happen by itself...

Closed Circle Photography

This one is particularly funny because my friend is a professional cheerleader in real life (I don't think I'm supposed to tell you which team but here's a hint- rhymes with "Gew Kengland Matriots.")

Closed Circle Photography

I love looking through the photobooth shots, they are silly, goofy and just plain fun. There's also a TON of them! Obviously, I only showed you a few faves but this was definitely a great way to capture pictures of our guests that our photographer might not have gotten to and there's a bunch of great family shots that I won't bore you with. The majority of folks got in on the action and since it was set up right by the dance floor, it definitely did not compete with the revelry taking place.

All in all, I am SO happy we got to have the photobooth at our wedding, huge thanks to Kelly for making it happen without even knowing how much I wanted one!

Where do you stand on the photobooth trend, will you be having one at your wedding?

Follow along, if ya want!

All My Love, All My Life: Sugar High

All My Love, All My Life: Just Dance, It'll Be OK...

All My Love, All My Life: The Toasts

All My Love, All My Life: Celebrations!

All My Love, All My Life: Cocktail Hour and Reception Details

All My Love, All My Life: Strike A Pose

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part Deux

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part 1

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty On

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

All My Love, All My Life: Sugar High

2011-02-26T16:42:00.020-05:00

To truly appreciate the rest of this post, I have to give some backstory...

For as long as Mr Trailmix and I have been talking about weddings (specifically ours), it has always been followed with a conversation where I would give him my most serious, I-am-not-joking-even-one-little-tiny-bit face and tell him that smushing the cake in my face at our wedding would absolutely ruin the day for me and the only thing we were going to do is politely feed each other dainty little bites. It was tacky, I proclaimed. Trashy to the max. ABSOLUTELY NO CAKE SMASHING. ZILCH. NONE. Capische?

Alright, now on with our story here...

After feasting and dancing for a while, the subject of cutting the cake was brought up and since dessert was being served (strawberry shortcake), it seemed like a good time to do the damn thang. By this point, our photographer had left as had our DOC and everything (and everyone) was kind of a mess. I looked around for a knife to cut it with but alas, in my semi-sober state, could only come up with a soup spoon (we used the handle to cut it. GHET. TO.)

See, here we are, all smiling pretty, prepared to slice into our lovely little cake...All looks well and good, right? Riiiiiiiight...

And then...Oh, and then...To this day, I do not know where this impulse came from but I could feel a mischievous grin come across my face as I acted on instinct...Without thinking for a second, I made a split-second decision, grabbed a handful of cake and caught Mr Trail Mix square in the face with it!!

Poor guy never saw it coming.

It happened so quickly our friend could only capture the aftermath (Look at his face! I got you good, babe!)

I still can't believe it, after all my preaching and b*tching about how uncouth it is to watch a bride and groom smash cake all over themselves, I doggone up went and did it. I still giggle every time I think about it. I swear, I'm not tricky enough to be able to set Mr TM up like that (wish I were!) and it was completely unplanned (cross my heart and hope to die!) but SO funny!

Of course, being the generous newly-minted wife that I was, I then graciously allowed Mr Trail Mix to exact his revenge, once he got over his shock...

Lord, the shame of being that couple who smashed cake all over themselves! How gauche! But ya know what? It was all in good, clean, silly fun and I don't regret it. Hell, we cut the cake with the handle of a spoon, did it really matter by this point if we rubbed it all over each other's faces?

We licked our fingers (the cake, for the record, was amazing!) and I remember being totally giddy, I couldn't believe that just happened!

Luckily, Mr Trail Mix did not immediately ask for an annulment and still somehow trusts his sneaky, devious wife :)

One final finger lick and we eagerly returned to the dance floor, buoyed by a brief sugar high.

So there you have it, folks- I am eating crow (and cake- EW, that combo just made me shudder) on the subject of cake smashing. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. I surely did not plan on doing this during our cake cutting but it was just one more thing that made our wedding day that much more memorable (and ridiculous.)

PS-

To my forgiving husband: I'll have to figure out a more creative use for frosting to make it up to you, natch!

Follow along, if ya want!
All My Love, All My Life: Just Dance, It'll Be OK...

All My Love, All My Life: The Toasts

All My Love, All My Life: Celebrations!

All My Love, All My Life: Cocktail Hour and Reception Details

All My Love, All My Life: Strike A Pose

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part Deux

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part 1

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty On

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

All My Love, All My Life: Just Dance, It'll Be OK...

2011-02-21T11:42:00.000-05:00

If there was ever a time in my life where I needed to 'Just Dance', this was it. I think we all know by now that my wedding was mildly disastrous and finally, at this point in the night, there was nothing left to do but drink and dance.

So that's what we did. And things got pretty damn crazy, which means it was all a crazy fun blur in my mind but thank goodness we had Kelly and some friends with nice cameras to capture it all. These are some of my favorite photos because everyone is (thankfully) having a blast, in spite of all the hiccups and never-ending rain.

Alright, so the power did short out on the band (TWICE!) during this part but the first time I laughed it off and it was fixed almost immediately and we resumed dancing. The second time it happened, it took about ten minutes to fix and I cried but once it was back on, we just kept dancing.

So, in short, I think the best advice I can give you is that if things go wrong on your wedding day (courtesy of the immortal goddess of wisdom known as Lady Gaga) JUST DANCE because things will be OK. Better than OK, actually. They will be effing awesome.

Closed Circle Photography

Would you believe me if I told you that the person above was not a part of the band? Well, it's true! He was a friend of my parent's who is musically inclined and felt the need to jam out with our band during their rendition of Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From My Friends." Needless to say, it was pretty epic.

So here's the true lead singer of our band, Danny Katz. I seriously cannot say enough good things about The Characters. They dealt with a flooded ground, power outages, played a full hour longer than they were contracted for and pretty much saved our wedding from being the world's greatest hot mess. If you're in the New York City area (or not, since our wedding was about three hours north of NYC) and looking for an amazing cover band, HIRE THEM. NOW. You will not regret it.

Closed Circle Photography

Huge thanks to The Characters for making our wedding so memorable. You guys ROCKED. IT. OUT.

And now, without further ado, I present to you all- Photographic Proof of the World's ~~Sloppiest~~ Funnest Dance Party!

Closed Circle Photography

Contrary to what you might think after seeing these next two photos, our band did not, in fact, play Willow Smith's engaging little ditty "Whip My Hair." Instead, I think it was some serious head-banging to Bon Jovi's "Livin' On a Prayer" going on here...

Closed Circle Photography

Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" never ever fails to result in awesome sing-alongs, complete with photos like the ones below!

Closed Circle Photography

Hell, even my mom knows the words and was singing her little heart out.

Closed Circle Photography

MIL Trailmix could not be torn off the dance floor (Well, really, none of us could) and she tore it up!

Closed Circle Photography

Some of Mr Trail Mix's friends re-living the college glory years (Hellooooo, sloppy frat formals! Dooooon't stop believing! Hold on to that feeeeeeeeling!)

Closed Circle Photography

Kelly (our photographer) packed up and headed out around 10:00 pm, so the rest of the photos I have are all from friends. I think it's probably better that this part of the night was not professionally documented because things degenerated. Quickly.

I swear I am not grabbing myself in the photo below, I am merely enthusiastically fist-pumping with one hand while trying to prevent the bottom of my dress from becoming absolutely filthy (that mission totally failed. Thank goodness for expensive dry cleaners!)

In case you couldn't tell from all these photos, the night included a lot of alcohol. At one point, I remember chugging (like, top to bottom in 10 seconds) a Jack and Coke and then wondering if I was going to hurl. Thankfully, I did not because that would've been the real cherry on top of my sh*tshow of a wedding, huh? Yup, you stay classy, San Diego!

And here for your viewing pleasure, is one of my favorite non-pro pics from the entire wedding weekend. Barefoot, hair in a pony tail, fist pumping and singing while one the lap(s) of three of my friend's boyfriends. It never, ever fails to make me crack up every time I look at it. We're all so intense.

It's also Mr Trailmix's personal tradition to finish any event where he wears a tie with said tie around his head, Rambo-style. If it weren't baby-blue, he might actually look a little bad-ass. As for me? Well, I think we all know how good I was feeling by this point, thanks to my good guy friends Johnnie, Jose and Captain Morgan :)

And finally, the band finished up the evening with The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and an impromptu singing circle formed around us. Picture it- everyone's ~~singing~~ yelling "Naaaah nah nah nah-nah-nah naaaah, nah-nah-nah naaaah, heeeey Jude' and we're in the middle, just smiling, spinning, so happy (and, according to Mr Trail Mix in this photo, number one?)

I love it. I love this picture so much. It was one of the best moments of my life.

And with that thrilling conclusion, the band's final set ended, we grabbed some late-night pizza the caterer provided (of which I have zero photos) and boarded our shuttle back to the hotel for some silly, after-party debauchery.

Game. Set. Match.

Siiiigh, it's still hard to believe it's over, the night went by so quickly, in a blur of singing, dancing, laughing and smiling (with a few tears thrown in for good measure.)

Don't worry, I still have a few posts left up my sleeve (cake-cutting, photo booth, budget) so this isn't my last post or anything (not yet...*sob) but I wanted to tell the dance-portion of our wedding as one big slop of a story, so there you are...

Follow along, if ya want!

All My Love, All My Life: The Toasts

All My Love, All My Life: Celebrations!

All My Love, All My Life: Cocktail Hour and Reception Details

All My Love, All My Life: Strike A Pose

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part Deux

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part 1

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty On

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

All My Love, All My Life: The Toasts

2011-02-11T07:06:00.000-05:00

After all the scheduled dances were done, we just kept dancing! The band played a great first set for about 45 minutes, which I think allowed everyone to digest all the cocktail food and get ready for, well, more food (I mean, this was a Jewish wedding after all, which means no one, and I mean no one, goes hungry!)

First, my grandfather said a blessing over the Challah and our dads said a blessing over the wine.

Closed Circle Photography

Then, it was time for dinner.

Unfortunately, things did not quite go as planned and I had another (Whose counting? Not me!) of my mini-meltdowns (although this time, Mr TM was also upset.) Thanks to the pouring rain, our caterer had trouble getting her grill to light and stay lit. The cook tent was set up about 100 yards from the main tent and our poor servers were literally sprinting back and forth and were soaking wet within the first five minutes.

Needless to say, half of the tent was served dinner forty-five minutes after the other half... *Siiiiiigh...What could we do? Although both Mr Trailmix and I expressed our dismay to our DOC, the only thing she could tell us was that they were all desperately working to deal with the weather conditions.

The double-bummer about this was that it happened right as we were going around to all the tables to say hello to everyone. We got distracted once we realized what was going on and never got back around to several tables. This is one of my biggest wedding regrets since we didn't have a receiving line. I still feel guilty thinking that I did not get to even say 'hello and thanks for coming' to some of our guests. Oh well...*Siiiiiiigh...

Finally (finally!) once all the tables had been served and guests had time to eat (OMG, the food was awesome, especially the mushroom raviolis!) we started the toasts.

Unbeknown to us, our brothers had been in cahoots planning out a funny and touching speech that started with a "speech showdown" between the two of them (each trying to out-clink the other, speak over one another, etc...It was hilarious.)

Closed Circle Photography

I have to pause here to give Mr TM his due credit...He picked out the ties for the groomsmen and I'm lovin' the way they look in all the photos!

Closed Circle Photography

The first of many, many hugs all around. We're kinda like one-big-happy-Brady-Bunch family when we're together. What can I say, I love my boys!

Closed Circle Photography

Our guests looked on as my MOH then took the floor...

Closed Circle Photography

MOH Pip gave the sweetest toast. She kept it short but told the story of how, way back in the beginning, when she asked me how the relationship was progressing, I replied that I "didn't know it was possible to be this much in love." Collective 'Awwwwww', right?

It's a true story. I'm such a sap, I know, I just can't help myself...

Closed Circle Photography

Isn't she a beauty?

Closed Circle Photography

More hugs and laughter ensued.

Closed Circle Photography

Note my ever-present glass of white wine in basically all of the photos from here on out. To say that I needed the stress relief of a bottle of wine would be an under-statement. To say that my bridesmaids made sure that my glass was never more than half-empty would be the exact reason I asked them in the first place.

Closed Circle Photography

In fact, I think everyone had a lot of wine, which made the toasts far funnier. Wine and rain and laughter, I guess when I think about it this way, it sounds much more romantic, huh?

Closed Circle Photography

I thought those were the only two toasts planned but my family had other ideas. Apparently, they had spent the whole week before the wedding working on a "Top Ten" list (a la David Letterman) of why they were so happy Mr Trailmix was joining the family.

Closed Circle Photography

It was, frankly, one of the best things ever. Ever ever ever.

The list included gems such as-

"#3- He ups the average height in the family by at least four inches!" (My family is notoriously short- No one is over 5'9"!)

"#7- Wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles (Fiddler-On-The-Roof style), they're both Jewish!" (So true, given that we met at a teeny, tiny liberal arts school in Upstate New York)

The last one was a very sweet "Welcome to the family" bit that (surprise, surprise) made me tear up a bit...

Closed Circle Photography

Clearly, another round of hugs was needed after all of that...

Closed Circle Photography

And finally, Mr Trailmix and I gave a brief speech thanking everyone for coming, especially our parents.

Closed Circle Photography

And then? Well, we are party animals and it was time to get. down.

I may or may not have been fairly intoxicated by this point. Yeah, I was totally that bride who got drunk at her own wedding and ya know what? I was lovin' every second of it. The wine was flowing, everyone was feeling the love and we were ready to dance!

Follow along, if ya want!

All My Love, All My Life: Celebrations!

All My Love, All My Life: Cocktail Hour and Reception Details

All My Love, All My Life: Strike A Pose

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part Deux

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part 1

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty On

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

Doubt

2011-01-28T19:42:00.001-05:00

I have these doubting thoughts sometime about my marriage. It's so hard to admit. Isn't the first year of marriage supposed to be blissful? Aren't we supposed to be so caught up in our own little world that we float through our lives on a cloud of cotton candy? (Mmmmmm. Cotton candy.)

Sometimes, all I can think is "What did I get myself into?"

I guess I never realized that marriage is hard. Not hard like "Errrghh, my Saturday morning strength and conditioning class was so hard (and it's led by a woman who is seriously 95 years old- What gives?)" but hard like "Holy sh*t, I-can't-believe-this-is-the-rest-of-my-life-what-have-I-done?" kind of hard. At least, for me. And I'm willing to bet for a decent amount of you guys out there. If you're not in that camp, color me green with envy and mad props to you for whatever you're doing to manage your relationship.

But I think the real question here is why? Why is marriage so hard? I'd been with my partner for four and a half years when we got engaged and five and a half years by the time we got married. We'd lived together for three of those years and done the long-distance thing (New York to Miami) for two. I don't think anyone could accuse us of rushing into things or not knowing each well. So what changed when we signed that silly little legal document that committed ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives?

Honestly, I have no freakin' idea. Isn't that weird? You think I'd be able to pin-point some differences but for the hours and hours (and hours) of thought I've put into this subject, the only thing I can take away from it is the finality of it all. This is it, people. No take-backs, no changing your mind, no finding something better down the road. For the rest of your life.

The first three months after we got married, everything was all kittens and roses and rainbows. We got a puppy. We moved to a one-bedroom apartment in a nicer neighborhood. And I laughed at all those rumors I'd heard about the first year of marriage being the hardest.

And then, something shifted. I don't know what it was and I can't even say exactly when it started but all of a sudden, I had a heaviness in my chest like I couldn't breathe whenever I thought about our future together. And I SWEAR TO GOD, if my husband forgets to the take the garbage out ONE MORE TIME, World War III will (and has) ensue. No exactly a model marriage, right?

The fighting started after about four months. And I kept waiting for it to stop but every issue we had just compounded and molehills became mountains. Please don't be alarmed, I'm not about to make any big announcement or anything; when I took my vow of forever, I meant it.

But...

I think what it boils down to is that before we got married, the option of walking away was always there, lurking in the background. And so we worked hard to make sure that neither of us wanted to utilize that option. But now that leaving is not an option, suddenly it doesn't seem to matter if we work hard at our relationship or not.

It almost feels like, what's the point since we're stuck with each other for good now? Sometimes, I know that I should be more patient or more giving or more forgiving and yet, sometimes, I just don't care because I know my partner's not going anywhere. So does that make me lazy? Or selfish? Or maybe both? Yikes.

I think (fingers crossed,) finally, the worst is behind us. I recently realized that a lot of the issues we're struggling with aren't "our" issues but my issues. So I'm trying to acknowledge and deal with them but it's not always easy. I'm making progress. Good days and bad days, you know the drill.

The thing is though, throughout this tough four-month stretch, I never really felt the deep despair or panic that I felt when we fought before we got married. I think this proves that the "finality" thing I talked about above is a two-way street; deep-down, I knew we'd make it through everything and emerge as a stronger couple. Maybe that's why we all get married in the first place? I don't know, I'm clearly not the expert.

This was a really (really, really) hard post for me to write- Who wants to admit their marriage is anything but fine and dandy? But I wanted to share my experience in case some of you out there are in the same boat and wondering if you just made the world's biggest mistake. My short answer is, no, probably not, you're just adjusting. Some of us take major life changes in stride, some of us fight and resist and then claw our way out of the misery we've somehow created.

Anyways, if you're recently married, have you experienced any rough patches your first year? Or has it been a smooth, easy transition? Don't feel badly if you're in the latter camp, I'd totally appreciate hearing from people whose experiences have been the opposite of mine...And if you're in the same boat, well, we can all commiserate together, can't we?

All My Love, All My Life: Celebrations!

2011-01-12T16:25:00.000-05:00

Once our guests had noshed and drank, chatted and took shelter from the rain, we gave the go-ahead to our DOC to start the party!

We opted not to introduce our bridal party but our (hands-down-best-wedding-decision-ever) band introduced us to much cheering and clapping, as evidenced by our insanely happy and mildly embarrassed faces.

Closed Circle Photography

Notice how I'm holding my dress up in the photo above? That's because my seamstress never put the hook-and-eye bustle in like she said she would. I didn't discover this until it was too late but thank goodness I included safety pins in my bathroom baskets!

We chose Sonny and Cher's "I Got You, Babe" as our first dance and it was perfect. We immediately started singing along because it's one of the best songs ever to belt out, especially when you call each other "babe" on a constant basis. It felt like the song was written for us.

Closed Circle Photography

We had arranged with The Characters beforehand to invite everyone to join us on the dance floor for the second half of the song and it was one of my favorite moments of the night. Everyone was singing and smiling and we were literally surrounded by love.

Closed Circle Photography

Since neither of us are particularly notable dancers and we're both pretty shy about dancing in public (unless we've consumed copious amounts of alcohol. But it was too early in the reception to be that drunk, ha), taking about a minute to do the middle-school-shuffle and then having all our guests join us was the perfect compromise.

After the song ended, I danced with my dad while Mr Trail Mix danced with his mom. After about a minute, my mom and FIL joined us and we ended up in a (spontaneous) group hug. Another amazing moment.

We danced to John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" (although the band replaced "boy" with "child," to make it gender specific.)

Closed Circle Photography

And finally, we danced the Hora! I love this dance at weddings and in spite of our troubles finding an acceptable version of Hava Nagila (we ended up downloading EIGHT different versions, none of which were perfect. Thanks, iTunes) the Hora was a total blast.

Closed Circle Photography

Mr Trail Mix seemed to have zero fear being hoisted in the air on a rickety wooden chair by his (mostly) not-sober fraternity brothers.

Closed Circle Photography

I, on the other hand, experienced a large amount of fear, as evidenced by my face in the photo below.

Closed Circle Photography

It's funny because I remember at the time thinking how high up I was and that if I fell, I might actually die. But then I looked at photos and saw that I was really only about 5-6' in the air. Huh.

Closed Circle Photography

MIL Trail Mix also loved the chair.

Closed Circle Photography

Mom Trail Mix did not (like mother, like daughter!)

Closed Circle Photography

Brother Trail Mix got in on the fun too!

Closed Circle Photography

I don't think our band had performed at a Jewish wedding before ours because witnessing our maniacal, crazy Hora dance left them momentarily silent after the song ended, before the main singer yelled out "OK, you guys are crazy!"

I swear, I have it on video tape and it is awesome.

And then, The Characters launched into a rockin', riotous version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" and the crowd went nuts. We danced, shouting the lyrics and pumping our firsts, and finally embraced the weather as part of the experience.

Closed Circle Photography

The band hit a few more classics after this song ended, including a Beatles' medley (best. thing. ever.), Build Me Up, Buttercup and Shout. It was glorious.

The band finished up their first set in about an hour and it was finally time to eat!

Follow along, if ya want!

All My Love, All My Life: Cocktail Hour and Reception Details

All My Love, All My Life: Strike A Pose

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part Deux

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part 1

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty On

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

Finally, An Album

2010-12-27T16:41:00.000-05:00

Before I got married, I never really understood what was so difficult about making an album. You pick out some photos, decide on a layout and badda bing, badda, boom, album done.

Um, yeah...Not so much. Turns out, making an album really is as much of a b*tch as everyone says.

First of all, at least in my case, I was trying to narrow down 2,156 photos to about 60 or so. Friends, let me tell you, that is no easy task. I wanted to make sure I chose the best of the best, the photos which truly represented my wedding and where everyone has their eyes open and was smiling pretty. It took me almost a month just to choose the pictures!

Then I had to decide what kind of album I wanted to make (this one is for my parents, I'm sure ours will be a solid year or two coming.) While our photographer seemed to offer competitively-priced albums, I just couldn't come to terms with spending so much money so I decided to go the DIY route.

I ordered this beauty from Kate's Paperie:

It's hard to tell but the cover is actually crushed velvet with the image of baby's breath etched into it. Dreamy.

I decided to go for a vintage look and used the old-fashioned picture-corner-holders (that's a technical term, kids) like these:

Source

Funny story about these photo corners: I could not, for the life of me, figure out how they got stuck onto the paper (and they did not come with instructions.) I thought maybe I was supposed to peel off the back layer and it would be sticky but that didn't work. Then I tried using a glue stick but that was messy. I finally went to Michael's and bought glue dots but what a pain-in-the-arse that was. It wasn't until I finally Googled the damn things that I realized you're supposed to lick the back, like a stamp, and then they become sticky. Brilliant!

Anyways, once I had chosen the photos, uploaded them to Adoramapix, ordered the prints and received them in the mail, it was finally time to get cracking.

I organized the photos chronologically, then started arranging them on the pages, to see what would fit where. Once I finally had a layout done, I then used the photo corners to attach the photos to the pages. Since I'm kind of craft-challenged, I was certain there would be a major mishap or two but as luck would have it, other than a few uneven photos and poor arrangement choices, I actually managed to not screw it up! Will wonders never cease...

Once all the photos were in, there was one more DIY hurdle to overcome- the graphite transfer. I think it was that smarty-pants Mrs Dolphin who clued me into this technique. I wanted to add our names and wedding date to the front of the album but didn't trust myself to free-hand it, so I tried this with greeeeeat success!

Here's how I did it...

I printed out the text on regular computer paper (in the font I used for our programs, cuz I'm all coordinated and matchy-matchy like that, boo-yah!)

Crap, now you know our real names and wedding date, the secret is out!

Then I turned the paper over and used a pencil to trace over the print.

Once that was done, I flipped the paper back over, put it where I wanted the words to go on the actual album, and traced over the printed words with a pencil, thus transferring the pencil from the other side onto the album page.

Ha, note my creative use of my Martha Stewart Weddings magazine collection... And yes, I still buy them even though I've been married for over 6 months, shush!

Anyways, after tracing over the printed text with a pencil, I got a light outline on the album page:

All I had to do then was go over it with a fine-tipped marker. Here's the results...

Pretty darn good, if I do say so myself!

It took me about two months and what felt like millions of hours of work to get this album finished but my mom's face when she opened up her Hannukah gift made it all worthwhile. It was so fun to look through it with my family and reminisce about our crazy, rainy, mad-cap wedding.

And folks, don't hold your breath for a post about our own album because Lord knows when that will happen. I'm still toying with the idea of having a professional one made but it pains me to spend that kind of cash, so we'll see what happens.

And to all you newlyweds out there, I'm curious to know, have you gotten albums made yet or did you slack like I did, overwhelmed with how to even begin? If you've gotten an album, did you go the DIY route or have a professional do it?

Bee Holiday Party!

2010-12-22T16:26:00.000-05:00

For the second year in a row, the lovely hostess-with-the-mostess Mrs Dahlia had us NYC Bees over to her apartment for eats, treats and wine at the Bee Holiday Party 2010.

Although I arrived a bit tardy (I had to split between two parties that night, of all things!) but got there in time to taste some of the awesome hors d'oeuvres (bacon wrapped dates! cheese!) and made sure to help Mrs Thimble stuff red velvet mini-cupcakes into our mouths with reckless abandon...

Mmmmmm, tasty little suckers!

It's always a blast to meet up with Weddingbee ladies in real life. When you throw in a dash of holiday cheer and few glasses of wine, well, it's even better!

From left to right, that's Mrs Pug, Mrs Swan, Mrs Lobster and I gigglin' together!

Even the husbands got in on the action, looking sharp and showing their holiday spirit...

We finally managed to get a group shot, although by this point Mrs Bluebell had already left (with good reason- She brought her delicious 5-week-old bambino to the shindig, which is why I have so few photos because I was too busy cooing and aw-ing over him!)

Anyways, here's the shot of us looking pretty normal...

And here's the shot where we all coincidentally burst into carefree, completely spontaneous, totally not-rehearsed, "candid" laughter (except for Swan, who seems to have her own "Blue Steel" agenda, ha!)

Let's see, from left to right, that is Mrs Thimble, Mrs Swan, Mrs Hamster, Mrs Dahlia, Mrs Pug, Mrs Ribbons (who just moved to Brooklyn, holla!), Mrs Lobster and yours truly (Mrs Trailmix)

It was such a fun night, Mr and Mrs Dahlia get mad props for continuing the tradition of stellar food and drink, so thanks and looking forward to the Bee Holiday Party 2011!

All My Love, All My Life: Cocktail Hour and Reception Details

2010-12-19T13:13:00.000-05:00

We whipped through our portraits in about half an hour, anxious to get to the cocktail hour, where delectable appetizers, champagne and our loved ones awaited us.

Finally, Kelly declared us finished and we headed to the tent, traversing through rough terrain that included puddles, mud and rain galore...

Closed Circle Photography

I basically held my dress up like in the photo above for the entire reception. Siiiiigh...Should've gotten one of those loop-things sewn in like Mrs Seashell did!

Right at the beginning of the cocktail hour, my photographer caught this shot of my pretty, mixed-metal bling (cause I know we all love a good ring shot :). )

Closed Circle Photography

During our ceremony, our caterer (Spice of Life Catering) worked hard to set up the tables and place settings. I was really happy with the way everything turned out, I felt like the tent was a dream-like vision of rustic chic.

Closed Circle Photography

My mason jars in action! I still love them so much, I wish I could build a house out of blue mason jars!

Closed Circle Photography

My home-made menus and dried lavender bunches looked very dainty at each place setting.

Closed Circle Photography

And then there was my cake.

Let me tell you a funny story about this cake...If you've followed me from the beginning, you'll notice that I never once posted anything about a cake. No inspiration cakes, no cake tasting (dammit! Still sad I missed out on that), nothing.

So imagine my surprise when I got to the reception and saw this beauty sitting there! I vaguely remembered my caterer mentioning something about a presentation cake but I thought it would be a single, little, mini-cake. Instead, she went all out and did an incredible two-tiered vanilla with fresh fruit filling and our florist gave her a few spare blooms to decorate.

I did not think it was possible to fall in love with a cake but I am totally head-over-heels in love with our random, surprise of a cake.

Closed Circle Photography

Sadly, the air was so humid from the rain that most of my paper products started curling up before the reception started, so things like our "Bride" and "Groom" signs for the chairs couldn't be hung up. Oh well, the best laid plans...

Closed Circle Photography

Same deal with the escort cards, see the curl?

Closed Circle Photography

The flip-flop basket was a huge hit (probably because the ground was so wet and muddy, no one wanted to wear their high heels!) These were gone before 8:00 pm, so I'm very glad I decided to do 'em!

Closed Circle Photography

These lanterns were such a steal. I got them from a random online wedding store when they were on sale ($25 for 8!) and they fit in with the wedding decor perfectly. I haven't seen anything similar since, so I'm mighty glad I snatched them up when I did because they were absolutely gorgeous hanging up in the tent.

Closed Circle Photography

As the ceremony let out, guests made their way through the driving rain to the tent, where champagne and massive quantities of cheese were waiting.

Closed Circle Photography

Mmmmm, brie...There was also all sorts of delicious munchables, including vegetable crudite, a Mediterranean spread of hummus, baba ganoush, etc as well as passed appetizers that included peanut-marinated beef skewers (OMG these were the best!), various sushi, salmon bruschetta and spanakopita (see our full menu here.)

My drink flags were put to good use as our guests dominated the bar.

Closed Circle Photography

The original plan for the cocktail hour was to have it outside by the pond nearby. Obviously, that did not happen due to the rain so the cocktail hour ended up being just inside the reception tent (we added a smaller side tent to house the food stations.)

We had a few high-top tables set up around the perimeter of the tent and guests used the dance floor to mingle. Some of our older guests found their seats right away, so all in all, I think the cocktail hour rain plan worked out just fine!

Our ketubah was moved from the ceremony to the reception so guests could admire it (that's Grandma Trailmix, for the record.)

Closed Circle Photography

And many took the time to sign our gorgeous guest book! That's FIL Trail Mix...

Closed Circle Photography

We were handed a plate of food as we arrived underneath the tent and went to town, eating, drinking and trying to say hello to everyone. It was awesome, it was overwhelming, it was crazy and it was so fun. I loved our cocktail hour (and hear from many that the food was incredible, which if my memory serves me correctly, it was.)

After a little over an hour, the band got on the microphone, asked guests to find their seats and it was time for our first dance!

Follow along, if ya want!

All My Love, All My Life: Strike A Pose

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part Deux

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part 1

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty On

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

Congrats, Here's One Plate

2010-11-28T18:18:00.001-05:00

Hey there Hive, I'd like your input on this one. Allow me to elaborate...We have friends who are celebrating their engagement with a fairly fancy-schmancy party (whoohoo, I love fancy parties!) in a few weeks. Great, grand, wonderful, right? Right, but I want everyone's opinions on something-the gift for the party.

I was browsing their registries yesterday (one was at Crate and Barrel and the other was at Bloomingdale's) and couldn't quite come up with a suitable present (I'm mega-weird about presents. Don't ask.) While the stuff at Crate and Barrel was nice, it lacked a certain j'ne sais quoi. I guess I think presents should be special, something splurge-worthy, and nothing from C and B really jumped out screaming to me as the perfect gift.

Which leaves the Bloomingdale's registry. Suh-weeeet! Well, here's the thing:They registered (as many couples do) for a set of fine china for twelve. Beautiful stuff (from Bernadaud. Yum) but fairly expensive for a plate.

Source

See? Suuuuuper pretty plates! The bride has excellent taste (at least, I'm assuming the bride is the one who picked these out although I suppose I could be wrong on that.)

First off, let me be explicitly clear and say that in no way am I judging the couple for their pricey registry choices. If anything, all it's making me do is wish we had registered for fine china (and about a million other things. Damn me and my principled, anti-presents, pre-wedding self!) but we didn't.

Since it's an engagement party and not the actual wedding, I'd like to keep our gift in the $100 price range. And as I mentioned before, I prefer to give presents that are something the receiver would not buy for themselves instead of just a random kitchen item or whatever. In short, I'd like to get them some of their fine china, because I know if I had registered for it, I'd be hella excited to actually start receiving pieces.

So here's my question: Is it weird to gift the couple with...one plate? See, it sounds strange, right? I mean, they registered for a service for twelve, so most likely everything's going to come in bits and pieces and not as a whole (unless they have extremely generous wedding guests, in which case I will be very, very jealous. Don't judge me, I like presents and shiny new toys. Shush.) I could also do, um, three bread plates or two coffee cups.

What do you think? Would you think it was bizarre to receive a single plate as a present, even if said plate did reach the gift-giver's generous budget? Or should I just suck it up and pick out a few things from good ol' Crate and Barrel? If you registered for fine china, I'd be especially curious to hear your opinion on the matter!

Has anyone else had this conundrum before? What did you do, buy the single plate or look for something else?

All My Love, All My Life: Strike A Pose

2010-11-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

I last left off with our joyful recessional, set to The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love."

As we finished our walk down the aisle and came to the entryway of the Tannery, we stopped short. Much to our dismay, it was raining (I know, I can't shut up about the rain. Sorry.) And not just a light sprinkle, either, but full-on raining.

Before the ceremony, our photographer had instructed us to book it out of the Tannery as soon as we walked down the aisle otherwise we'd be mobbed by well-wishing guests and an impromptu receiving line would form (something we were looking to avoid.)

So with Kelly's advice still in our heads, the sound of rain drops ringing in our ears and the realization that our bridal party was quickly moving down the aisle, we made a panicked, split-second decision to grab an umbrella and get outta there!

Now, here's the funny coda to this story- During the cocktail hour, Mr Trail Mix was talking with a few buddies from college and one them exclaimed,

"Some a$$hole stole our umbrella! Can you believe that? It was a good one too, it was huge!"

Busted! Mr Trail Mix instantly knew that we were the ones who had pilfered the umbrella, a fear that was confirmed when he asked his friend if it was green.

"Yes, have you seen it?"

"Um, sorry, Dude, that was us."

Luckily, his friend had a sense of humor about the whole thing and they shared a good laugh over the mix-up but it was pretty funny. Anyways, here's the infamous, green umbrella in action!

This is the first picture taken of us after we exited the Tannery. I think we were so caught up in the moment that we didn't know what to do with ourselves.

Closed Circle Photography

Our photographer instructed us to smooch, which we happily obliged.

Closed Circle Photography

We stopped in front of this pretty doorway, since it matched our umbrella perfectly.

Closed Circle Photography

From there, Kelly spotted this fire escape and up we climbed. You'd think we were in an urban, city landscape with this next shot and while it doesn't really fit in with the vibe of the rest of the wedding, I still think it's mad cool.

Closed Circle Photography

Mr Trail Mix totally slipped on his way down the fire escape, which made me laugh hysterically, although he was kind of ticked since he got rust on his suit. Oh well.

Since the rain was picking up, we posed outside the Darrow School's library before heading in.

Closed Circle Photography

Once inside, we found a huge, small-paned window to take some photos by and in spite of the rain, we had some beautiful lighting from it.

Here's my one and only "bridal shot." I refused to waste any time taking pictures of just myself because seriously, what was I going to do with a whole bunch of photos of just me? So there's only this one (but I like how it came out!)

Closed Circle Photography

Here's the window I was talking about. Isn't it beautiful?

Closed Circle Photography

Alright, I guess I kinda lied since this one is mostly just me (although Mr TM is in the photo, so it's not really a bridal portrait.)

Closed Circle Photography

Our rings! Note the placement of them on the map, directly above Venezuela (where we honeymooned.) So clever of Kelly.

Closed Circle Photography

Finally, the rain let up enough for us to head outside and get a few more pics of us together. This is the only "normal" shot of the two of us from the entire day and I actually (ironically, after all my BS about only wanting artsy, photojournalist shots) like it. Kinda wish we'd taken a few more of us just posed happily next to each other but the next series makes up for the lack of those.

Closed Circle Photography

We made sure to get a photo with my "Thank You" sign for our cards.

Closed Circle Photography

Then Kelly directed us back to the grey rock wall that had served as the backdrop for all our family portraits and she got some of my absolute favorite shots from the entire day.

Closed Circle Photography

This last one is the photo, the one that I feel most perfectly defines us and our wedding. There is an 8' x 10' print framed on our living room wall and I'll never get tired of looking at it. *Love-filled siiiiiiigh....So happy...

Closed Circle Photography

And with that, we were released from our model duties and given free reign to join the cocktail hour (these photos took about 30 minutes, so we still had another 45 or so left to get in on the party!)

It was time to eat, drink and be merry!

Follow along, if ya want!

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part Deux

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part 1

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty One

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

Holiday Cards From Shutterfly!

2010-11-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

I've never been inclined to send out holiday cards but now that I'm in my nesting phase, it seems like it could be a fun project. I looked around at a few different websites but couldn't pull the trigger on anything. All the ones I really, really liked were either too expensive or I wasn't pleased with the wording.

Then I found this one on Shutterfly and loved the groovy, free-spirited vibe (you know, being the closet hippie that I am and all :)

So, so cute, right? The only drawback to this one was that our photo gets cropped a little bit due to the size but it still looks fine and I was tired of thinking about these cards so I made an executive decision that these were the ones.

But before I got around to actually ordering the cards, I surreptitiously stumbled across Shutterfly's promotion (50 free cards for bloggers!) on my Kelsey's Minted Life blog. What's better than 50 cute holiday cards at a great price? 50 free holiday cards in exchange for telling you guys how much Shutterfly rocks.

So in case you can't navigate the interwebs, let's make things easy. Check out Shutterfly's Christmas cards here. If you're more of a "Happy Holidays" kinda gal, then check out what they have to offer. We all love photos (it's part of being a blogger, right?) so picking a card that used a photo of us was key. Take a gander here.

And obviously, there's all sorts of other fun items to put photos on, like mugs!

Shutterfly also offers personalized birthday party cards and holiday invitations. Wicked awesome :)

*Note, this is definitely a sponsored post :)

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part Deux

2010-11-16T19:39:00.001-05:00

And now, dear friends, it's time to share the moments from my wedding that still make my heart swell with love and happiness whenever I relive them: Our vows, which we wrote ourselves but kept from one another.

I'm going to let the photos do most of the talking for this one. Mr Trail Mix said his vows first...

Miss Trail Mix-

I love you and am ecstatic to have such an amazing bride.

Closed Circle Photography

I can’t believe we are only a few moments away from finally being husband and wife. You are beautiful, compassionate, athletic and honest.

You have already made me a better man in so many ways. You have challenged me to be more patient and understanding. You have taught me to take better care of myself, and my community.

Closed Circle Photography

You are always there for me and I promise that I will always be there for you .

I will dance and celebrate with you during special times like today. I will care for you when you are sick, encourage you when you need inspiration and snuggle with you when you need comforting.

Closed Circle Photography

You will always be my everything, my best friend and my wife. I promise to give you all of my love for all of my life.

Closed Circle Photography

Ani l'dodi v'dodi li

I am to my beloved as my beloved is to me.

Hearing Mr Trail Mix's (who is not an emotional guy by any standards, and neither is he a writer by any standards) sweet words was amazing. My man is not one for public declarations of love but for our wedding, he dug deep and his vows meant the world to me. Thank you, babe, for that.

And then it was my turn. While I managed to hold it together during his vows, when it came to mine, I lost it a little after my first (joking) sentence. You'll see.

First and foremost, I pledge my undying loyalty and devotion to all Florida sports teams, most notably the Miami Dolphins.

*I was worried beforehand that no one would laugh at my silly little joke vow and then how stupid would I feel? Luckily, everyone laughed.

Closed Circle Photography

**Right before I said the next line, I had to stop because it literally felt like my heart had caught in my chest. I simply couldn't speak or I would have broken down into a sobbing mess. I took a deep breath, the rabbi handed me a tissue, and somehow, I managed to quell the tightness in my throat and continue on...

Closed Circle Photography

But more importantly, here, in front of our families and friends, I promise myself entirely to you and only you, from now until I am no longer of this earth.

Closed Circle Photography

I promise that I will always be by your side, supporting you in every way that I can.

- I promise that I will be there to share our experiences together when life is good and when life is hard and all the times in between.

Closed Circle Photography

- I promise to respect you, cherish you, encourage you, protect you, provide for you and comfort you with all my heart.

And finally, I promise to give you all of my love for all of my life.

Closed Circle Photography

"Ani l'dodi v'dodi li"

I am to my beloved as my beloved is to me.

For the life of me, I cannot remember why we started laughing during the end of his ring ceremony but the photos are cute, so here ya go...

Closed Circle Photography

Once our vows were said and rings were blessed, there were only two things left to do: break the glass and kiss!

A little insider secret: We did not break a wine glass. Instead, we used a light bulb. The reason for this, as our smarty-pants Rabbi explained earlier, is that the tradition is only to break glass, not specifically a wine glass, and light bulbs are far easier to smash than a wine glass, thus eliminating the potential embarrassment over a groom not breaking the glass on the first try. See, super-smart, right?

But it was wrapped in a napkin, so no one was the wiser.

Closed Circle Photography

And that was it! All that was left was for me to excitedly grab my husband's face and plant a big smackeroo on him! Which I promptly did.

Closed Circle Photography

Weeeeeeeeee!! Married!! Weeeeeeee!! Party time!!!!

Closed Circle Photography

I don't think my smile gets any bigger than this. All you need is love! (That's the song we recessed to, if anyone cares.)

Closed Circle Photography

Done and done. Game over. Married with a capital 'M'. It was surreal, it was incredible, it was everything I'd hoped it would be and more. Our ceremony touched me in ways I didn't expect (not literally, get your mind out of the gutter) and yet, surprisingly, I only cried twice (on the walk down and during my own vows.)

I think it's because I was so full of joy, there was just no room for tears. Or maybe it's because I was so wrapped up in the spiritual and emotional ramifications of the day, I simply couldn't cry. Whatever it was, I will always cherish the memory of our heartfelt ceremony.

PS- Wanna hear something kinda spooky? We had asked two different friends to video tape the ceremony (in lieu of a videographer.) Everything was going along swimmingly until we got to the vows. Then, at the exact same moment, both cameras cut out for no apparent reason, only to start working again after the ceremony was over. Was it just a coincidence of bad luck? Or was there some higher power at work here, keeping the vows for our hearts and memories only? I'm not sure but it's a crazy story, right?

Follow along, if ya want!

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part 1

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty One

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

A Bees Life: Trailmix Edition

2010-11-11T07:06:00.000-05:00

I figured I throw my hat into the ring for this series since I remember when I was a reader, I always enjoyed hearing about the process of becoming a Bee...Plus, I don't have too much longer around these parts (SOB!) so I'm overstaying my welcome as long as I can...

Alrighty then, first things first: How did I find Weddingbee?

Let's see, I got engaged in March 2009and jumped right into planning mode, despite the fact that my wedding wasn't going to be until summer of 2010. I hit up The Knot and Martha Stewart for inspiration but my greedy bride-to-be self wasn't satisfied with just those two, I wanted more, more, more!

So, I Googled. I literally Googled "Wedding Blog" and waddya know? The Bee was the first one that came up. I didn't really understand how it worked at first (the monikers really threw me for a loop) but it was Mrs Peeptoe's beautiful San Francisco wedding that really drew me in and from then on, I was hooked. And by hooked, I mean rabidly obsessed.

I meandered over to the boards eventually and I fell in love with the inclusive, positive, build-you-up atmosphere. I loved helping other brides by offering up my humble opinions and appreciated any and all feedback I got from my posts.

My Application Story

After reading the blog for about four or five months, I realized that maybe I could be a Bee blogger too, if I tried. So I started a blog. Which is hilarious in itself because I may or may not have been the person making fun of those with blogs before I became engaged. And now, there I was, affianced and blogging. A little too ironic, as Alanis might say.

But I knew the acceptance rate for being a blogger was pretty slim, so I truly, honestly did not expect to be chosen. I certainly did not expect to get a "Yes" on my first try! I had read about other Bees applying two or three times before getting picked, so I thought for sure I'd be rejected the first go-around.

Instead, I applied, waited a few weeks and then serendipitously (OK, fine, stalkerishly) ran into Pengy and Mrs Bee at the Martha Stewart Weddings 15th Anniversary party. I spotted them (Mrs Bee was about 8 months preggo at the time, making her an easy target) marched right up and promptly became a blathering idiot, managing to spout a few incoherent sentences about how much I loved Weddingbee and that I had recently applied to become a blogger, before running away and hiding my head in shame over how stupid I sounded.

Sidenote: Hilariously enough, I also managed to wax on about my love for the Bee to the woman who basically runs the Martha Stewart Weddings blog! Needless to say, she was not pleased...Oooops!

But I guess somehow, between my blogging and blithering, something worked because a few days later, I got the acceptance email from Pengy!!! I was so shocked, I literally ran around in circles around my apartment and then did a face plant onto the bed.

What's it like blogging for Weddingbee?

To be honest, it's freakin' AWESOME!! It's seriously so much fun. You get to write about your wedding plans (which no one in real life really wants to hear about as much as you want to talk about them) and then everyone oohs and ahhs and comments on everything! It's absolutely brilliant, I tell you...

I've been very lucky though, since I've yet to come across a single negative comment on my posts, which I think is quite unusual. It's not always easy to put everything out there for the whole wide web to read but I've had nothing but positive feedback.

And I've also made legit friends. Not like, blogging friends, but honest-to-goodness, real, live, flesh-and-blood friends. Which effing rocks.

Advice for applicants

The only decent piece of advice I can offer up is to be in love with your wedding. Like, over-the-moon, can'tstopthinkingaboutit, so-excited-you-can't-wait-another-second in love. And then tell us all about it. Tell us why you love what you're planning, tell us about every single stinkin' detail, no matter how small or insignificant and then show us photos of it all.

Blogging for Weddingbee has been a kick-ass experience that I really treasure. Thanks for having me!

The Secret Life of Bees: Trailmix Edition

2010-11-10T18:21:00.001-05:00

Let me just put this out there: I'm a total wierdo. There's so many things I do that I absolutely would never tell anyone else on the planet (except Mr Trail Mix, since he lives with me and knows about most of them) but, in keeping with the sharing spirit of the holidays, I came up with a few little secrets I'm willing to divulge...

Source

Um, YUM!!!!

One: I occasionally (and by occasionally I mean frequently) eat either cereal or ice cream for dinner. The cereal is not a healthy, Kashi-esque type either, it's usually Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Frosted Flakes, etc. And the ice cream is typically Ben and Jerry's.

So, obviously, that's kind of an embarrassing secret given that I am 27 years old but here's the real kicker: I teach a freakin' Wellness class to kindergartners and first graders. So I stand up in front of 5-year-olds every day and talk about the importance of portion control and eating fruits and veggies at every meal but the truth is, my diet is junk. Believe me, the irony is not lost on any us...

Ok, that's one, here's Number Two (literally...OMG, cannot believe I'm about to tell you guys this story...): One time in college, I took such a big poop that I passed out cold on the toilet seat in the communal bathroom in my dorm and my hall mates called the EMT's. Said EMT's rode an ambulance, complete with sirens blaring to my dorm, examined me thoroughly and then announced to my entire dorm population (who had gathered because of all the commotion) that the reason I passed out what due to the "size of the bowel movement." Worst. Moment. of my Entire. Life.

And finally, number three: I'm a picker. I pick my scabs, I pick my dry scalp, I pick my hangnails, I pick my zits, I can't leave anything alone, I pick pick pick pick. Now you're totally grossed out, right? Yeah, I am too...It's a nasty habit I can't seem to quit. Blech.

So hopefully I haven't sent too many of you lovely readers running for the hills in disgust over the wierdo who somehow managed to become a Weddingbee Blogger, so let's even the score. Tell me, please, before I die of embarrassment over secret number two, what's your most embarrassing secret?

All My Love, All My Life: Ceremony, Part One

2010-11-02T14:48:00.000-04:00

It's time for what I think is going to be my favorite recaps of the bunch- the ceremony. We had numerous "Not a dry eye in the house"-type comments from our guests and I like to think it's because the whole thing was genuinely a reflection of the two of us.

While the ceremony was Jewish, we incorporated other elements that spoke to us and together with our rabbi, crafted the most memorable 30 minutes of my life. I know I'm not alone when I speak of prior worries about being "present" for the ceremony and now, from the other side, I can safely say that for me, those fears were completely unfounded.

I was there. Of all the moments from our wedding, the ones that I feel the most deeply are those from the ceremony. I can see so clearly every single second of it in my mind's eye and can vividly remember the intense emotions throughout. And now, I'm going to attempt to tell you guys about it.

So, here we go...

With everyone seated and waiting, it was time to get this show on the road.

Closed Circle Photography

My two wonderful, musically-inclined friends Heather and Henry (both of whom I went to college with and who are now married to each other) did our ceremony music. I was so touched that they were willing to take the time to learn the songs I wanted played, going so far as to download the sheet music and practicing together for about a month beforehand. Henry even schlepped his guitar out from Chicago on an airplane!

Closed Circle Photography

As the strains of The Beatle's "Here Comes The Sun" floated back to me, I knew that it was time to start. But I wasn't nervous, I was thrilled. This was it, here and now, forever and ever...My wedding had officially begun...

Closed Circle Photography

First up down the aisle was Mr Trail Mix, escorted by his parents (this is a Jewish tradition. The parents of both children also stand up under the Chuppah with them.)

He looks so happy, doesn't he? Which is rather reassuring, natch!

Closed Circle Photography

Then it was our groomsmen and bridesmaids' turn. Two by two, our bridal party walked down the aisle and parted ways in front of the Chuppah, ready to stand up there and support us as we performed the sacred rituals of a marriage ceremony, as so many have before us...Thank you, friends, for being there for and with us during such an incredible moment in our lives.

Closed Circle Photography

Mr Trail Mix waited at the end of aisle for me to make my grand entrance. He didn't have to wait very long because once the MOH and Best Man reached the end of the aisle and parted ways, H and H immediately segued into The Beatles "In My Life..."

Closed Circle Photography

Which meant it was my turn.

Closed Circle Photography

There are truly no words to adequately express what the walk down the aisle feels like. To see all of your loved ones there, smiling and crying, while realizing that this, this right here, is the moment. The big Kahuna moment, the one we've all waited for for so long(some of us, since we were little girls...)

Closed Circle Photography

To actually experience that moment is, well...Just writing about it still brings me to tears. My eyes instantly welled up when we first started walking but I held it together and mostly just smiled and took it in, every single second. I took in the strains of my favorite song, the flowers, the people, the love, my parents, everything. I drank it all in, then had seconds and thirds. I couldn't get enough, I wanted this moment to last forever...

Closed Circle Photography

I remember seeing my mom's cousin standing up near the front, smiling with tears in his eyes. And a friend from high school looking back and giving me the thumbs up. I remember thinking "This is what you live for- the opportunity to share in moments like this." And I gave a little prayer for the fact that I could share this momentous occasion with all of the people sitting in that room on our wedding day; "Thank you, Creator, for blessing me with this day. Thank you."

Closed Circle Photography

It is an incredible feeling and it is an incredibly humbling experience. I walked towards my love with tears in my eyes and an open heart and the happiness that pervaded the room could have been palpable.

Closed Circle Photography

And then, before I knew it, I had reached my handsome groom. We smiled a little knowing smile at each other and gave a quick wink.

And then I completely froze up. I couldn't remember if I was supposed to wait for a signal from our Rabbi before starting the Circling (a Jewish wedding tradition.) Turns out I was not supposed to wait and she thought I knew that (I did, just forgot in the moment) and so she was busy looking over her notes and handing out tissues to the parents, not realizing that I was just standing there helplessly.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, although was probably only a minute or so, she looked up, realized I hadn't started yet and motioned for me to go. Whooops! Hopefully no one really noticed what happened...

And so I circled. MOH Pip counted for me as I was sure to lose count with all the emotions running wild.

Closed Circle Photography

You wouldn't think we'd need counters for only three circles but man, was I glad our Rabbi had mentioned something at the rehearsal. In fact, I'm still not sure if I did three or four (there's some debate in our household and I'm too lazy to watch the video and count) but I did them, without tripping on my dress, thankfully (which was too long!)

Closed Circle Photography

Instead of the bride doing the entire seven circles as is traditionally done, Mr Trail Mix and I decided for a more egalitarian version, so I did three, then he did three (Best Man Charles counted for him)...

Closed Circle Photography

And then we did the seventh circle together, giddy and giggling the entire time.

Closed Circle Photography

Once the Circling was complete, we walked together up onto the stage and stood in front of our Rabbi, who made a very brief welcome speech before asking my beloved Aunt J to read the Rumi poem (Rumi is a 13th-Century Sufi poet) we had selected.

My parents are Jewish but also involved in a Sufi community they helped form back in the 70's (yes, a commune. So cliche, right?) so including this poem was a nod to this influence in my upbringing.

Here's the poem...

A moment of happiness,

you and I sitting on the verandah

apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.

We feel the flowing water of life here,

you and I, with the garden's beauty

and the birds singing.

The stars will be watching us,

and we will show them

what it is to be a thin crescent moon.

You and I unselfed, will be together,

indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.

The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar

as we laugh together, you and I.

In one form upon this earth,

and in another form in a timeless sweet land.

Closed Circle Photography

How awesome is that line "The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar?" I Love it! I remember listening very intently as she read, hoping that everyone could hear her and would appreciate the poem as much as I did.

Closed Circle Photography

Then it was time to dig in and get into the meat of the ceremony. Our Rabbi began with the Seven Blessings, chanting them in Hebrew and then repeating them in English so everyone would understand.

Our groomsmen show their serious faces...

Closed Circle Photography

And my beautiful bridesmaids looked on as the ceremony got underway...

Closed Circle Photography

To be perfectly honest, this is the part of our ceremony I remember the least. Not because I wasn't interested in what the Rabbi was saying but because my knees were killing me!

I have no idea why, maybe because I was locking my legs or something (thank goodness I didn't pass out...You've all heard that rumor that if you lock your knees for too long, you'll pass out, right? Can you imagine?) but all I could focus on was how much my knees hurt.

Anyways, mostly what I remember from the Seven Blessings is that I was constantly shifting my weight from foot to foot, trying to ease the aching.

Closed Circle Photography

Our rabbi then read our Ketubah out loud so everyone would be witness to the contract we had signed.

Here is the text of our Ketubah, should anyone be looking for inspiration (and so you can all witness what it says, in case Mr Trail Mix misbehaves and I have to refer back to it for some reason!)

On the 30th Day in the month of Sivan in the year 5770, also known as June 12, 2010

Here in New Lebanon, NY

The bride, Mrs Trail Mix, daughter of Mom and Dad Trail Mix

And the groom, Mr Trail Mix, son of MIL and FIL Trail Mix

Join one another in a marriage covenant according to the traditions of Israel and the Jewish people

They accept each other as they are on this day

And pledge to support and care for each other on all future days

They promise to foster strength and unity in their marriage by loving and respecting each other always

By offering insight and affection freely

And by recognizing and meeting each other's worldly and spiritual needs

They vow to remain friends

To talk with and listen to one another openly and wholeheartedly

Remembering apology and patience

They commit to a lifetime of learning, discussion and adventure as individuals and partners

They agree to create a warm and generous home open to all

Celebrating life as a Jewish family

Together they promise to pursue Tikkum Olam, the realization of a peaceful and just world

With their friends and families as witnesses

Mrs Trail Mix says to Mr Trail Mix

By this ring you are consecrated unto me as my husband in accordance with the traditions of Moses and Israel

Mr Trail Mix says to Mrs Trail Mix

By this ring you are consecrated unto me as my wife in accordance with the traditionss of Moses and Israel

All is valid and binding

Closed Circle Photography

Once the reading of the Ketubah was complete, our Rabbi game a touching and heartfelt speech, speaking about the importance of masah u'matan, or give and take, in a marriage and how this concept was at the core of our relationship.

She then went on to cite how we've negotiated our TV schedule (Gossip Girl and Monday Night Football were both mentioned) as a prime example of this, haha!

Closed Circle Photography

That got a giggle out of us all, including myself, as did the mention of our first date, which was to the movie Ocean's Twelve and then Coldstone Creamery (Siiiiiigh, I can't believe it's been almost six years since that day...)

Closed Circle Photography

She concluded her speech with a beautiful message to us both:

"As you take the next step in this journey together, may you never forget the love and passion that you felt on that day and on this one. May you always maintain a sense of masan u'matan so that you never feel off-balance. May you always give each other no less than all of your love for all of your lives. And may you remember the sacred partnership that you enter into today and that it asks no less than you give all of yourselves to the other."

I listened intently to her words and felt as though they were written on my heart from that day forwards...

Closed Circle Photography

Next up was the Kiddush (because what would a Jewish ceremony be without wine, right?) Our Rabbi recited the blessing and then both Mr Trail Mix and I had a sip. Yumm-o, me loves wine!

Although, you wouldn't know it from this photo...

Closed Circle Photography

I'm swear I'm not self-centered, there's simply no photo of Mr Trail Mix drinking his wine. I'm not sure why but I didn't want you all to think I was only concerned with myself, ha!

Anyways, these were the main components to our ceremony and both the parts we crafted as well as the traditional elements were meaningful to hear. In fact, I was surprised at how much I loved our ceremony, because I really, really did.

But all of this was just leading up to the main event: The Vows. We wrote our own and kept them a surprise from one another. Just the thought of Mr Trail Mix reading his to me had been enough to bring tears to my eyes for the month leading up to the wedding, so I was very much anticipating the actual event.

And friends, I was not disappointed (I like to think mine were pretty sweet too, for the record.) But, sorry to say, you're gonna have to wait for the next post to hear them!

Follow along, if ya want...

All My Love, All My Life: Before The Ceremony

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty One

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

Bees, Then and Now: The Trailmix Edition

2010-10-24T13:44:00.000-04:00

When I was in high school, I expressed my teenage angst through my hair. True story. Want proof? OK, I'll show you exactly one photo and then the memories are going back into the deeply-buried vault, where I never have to re-live the awkwardness that was high school again...

Can you believe that was me? Now stop laughing and focus, please. My hair ran the gamut of colors from the blonde above to red to pink to blue and from short to shorter to (dare I reveal this?) a classic, T-Boz-inspired, mid-90's asymmetrical cut (it was in seventh grade, shut up!) My friends from high school still won't let me live that one down. But you can stop right there because there's no way in H-E-double hockey sticks I'm showing y'all photographic evidence of that catastrophe!

Looking back, it seems pretty obvious to me that the reason behind my ever-changing hairstyle was rooted in my insecurities. I always felt like a total loser in high school, even though to the casual observer, I probably seemed like a happy, well-adjusted (although slightly kooky) teenager.

But on the inside, I was writhing in insecurity over every anguished flaw. I look back at journal entries that lamented my hatred of both my physical and mental self and it makes me sad. I wasted a lot of energy being self-conscious. What I never realized at the time was that most of my peers were probably feeling exactly the same way (I mean, come on, isn't it a universal truth that high school sucks?) But I never saw this and instead, used my crazy-colored hair as a distraction technique, so other kids would maybe think I was "cool."

But thankfully, now, as high school memories dim (I'm fast approaching my ten-year reunion,) I can look back at who I was then and feel proud of how far I've come. A huge part of that personal growth is due to Mr Trailmix. He clearly adored me from the get-go (I mean, who wouldn't? Zing!) But I owe him a huge debt of gratitude for finally banishing the insecurity demons that plagued me through high school. Thanks, babe. He also encouraged me to grow my hair out and relax on the coloring/cutting fixations.

So while I'm far from perfect and sometimes, I still get down about my strange little quirks (my natural speaking voice is akin to what some might call "shouting." Quiet, I am not) but overall, I finally feel happy with myself and who I am. It only took me ten years to get to this point and while the road here wasn't always smooth, the end result has left me a happier, healthier Trailmix.

What's your high school hair trauma story? Come on, we all have them, 'fess up!

All My Love, All My Life: Before the Ceremony...

2010-10-18T20:20:00.000-04:00

*Siiiiiiigh. Sorry to wax on a bit in this post but it has a lot of my favorite photos from our wedding day. Some may say that the little details don't matter come W-day but I will say that I noticed them all and I loved them, which is why I'm goin' a little bit photo-crazy on this one...

Well, that and the technological genius that is Mrs Penguin taught me a fabulous trick over several pitchers of sangria, called "resizing photos" in order to upload the files faster, since it was taking about 20 minutes per photo at the size I was doing them on Blogger...The site is FastStone.Org and it's awesome. In yo' face, evil piece of conspiring technology that is my computer!

Anyways, enough talky-talky, Trailmix, on to the good stuff!

When our guests arrived, the were greeted by our lovely little rustic sign as they walked around the pond, created by Ma and Paw Trailmix. Loves!

Closed Circle Photography

The rain continued on and off throughout the day but by this point, I had accepted that there was nothing I could do to stop it and just simply let it all go...(Oh, and take note of that huge, green umbrella in the background. It will re-appear again later on and there is a hilarious story that accompanies it...)

Closed Circle Photography

Our florist created a beautiful flower wreath to adorn the outside door of the Tannery...

Closed Circle Photography

Guests were greeted with lemonade and cookies upon entering. I think everyone appreciated the pre-ceremony snack, since the first shuttle run deposited guests almost 45 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start (and we started 15 minutes late, so some folks were there waiting for almost an hour. Whooops!)

But you all know I made damn sure to snarf a few before ceremony since I am a complete and utter cookie monster :)

Closed Circle Photography

I had arranged our programs in an old basket we had laying around the house a few days prior (yeah, totally forget to come up with something to put our programs in until the last minute, hence said basket) and our DOC set up everything on two tables in the entry way to the Tannery.

Closed Circle Photography

Our florist did a few small arrangements for these tables that, in addition to our programs, also held the Beatles sing-along excerpts and the framed generational wedding photos (both below) as well as our yammukahs and guest book (which were later moved to the reception site.)

The recessional inserts (lyrics to All You Need Is Love by the Beatles) were another last-minute project and therefore ended up in another basket lying around the house. Somehow, they just worked, much to my delight.

Closed Circle Photography

Can't forget about my vintage handkerchiefs for "Tears of Joy", which I am pleased to say were all taken by the ceremony's start.

Closed Circle Photography

Our chuppah covering was my great-grandmother's lace tablecloth, which held such significance for me. Our florist created the structure using birch logs and provided the two altar arrangements as well. I thought the overall effect was perfect: natural and organic but oh so pretty.

Closed Circle Photography

Here's a shot from the back of the room...I love the wooden benches and the small-paned windows, it all just smacks of New England simplicity.

Closed Circle Photography

One of the cool things about the Tannery is that is has a balcony, providing another angle for both guests and our photographer.

Closed Circle Photography

Our florist did the aisle decorations and I loved that she included mint in them, providing a soothing and relaxing scent for guests as they waited for the ceremony to begin (and waited...and waited...and then ate more cookies and waited some more...)

Closed Circle Photography

Our "Reserved" signs did their job a little too well, unfortunately. Family who were supposed to sit there took the meaning literally and refused our usher's suggestions to sit, so the front two benches were empty the whole time. Dangit. Not a huge deal but mildly annoying when I look at photos since it was a packed house. Oh well, the signs look super-cute, don't you think?

Closed Circle Photography

The stained-glass-inspired ketubah we had matted and put into a vintage frame was waiting at the altar, signed, sealed and delivered, to be read by the Rabbi during the ceremony and displayed afterwards at the reception.

Closed Circle Photography

And while everyone was arriving and getting situated, I was waiting in the back, all jittery, giddy and nervy, unable to contain both my excitement and apprehension that the moment was fast approaching...

I did take the opportunity to do a shoe shot, because, gosh, I heart my shoes in a big, big way. Sadly, they got completely destroyed thanks to the mud/rain but they had their moment, oh yes indeedy...One of my all-time favorite shots of the day, such golden-shoe prettiness!

Closed Circle Photography

Another of my all-time faves. I think my flower wreath was my favorite part of my outfit, although the dress was a close second, and both are represented so beautifully here.

Closed Circle Photography

Another gratuitous bouquet shot. Since the wedding, I've almost managed to put the misery over that stupid bouquet behind me (almost.)

Closed Circle Photography

My bridesmaid's wore gold shoes of their choosing. I thought the look with their light blue dresses was gorgeous!

Closed Circle Photography

Remember how pissy I was over the bridemaid's bouquets in addition to my own? Well, I totally am eating crow on that one because looking back at these photos, I actually love them now...

Closed Circle Photography

The time was nearing. My bridesmaid's waited with me, almost as charged up and nervous as I was...I've told them all this a thousand times but they were so amazing to me on the day of the wedding, I cannot thank them enough.

Closed Circle Photography

I think they were watching us during our first look here but I love this shot, so I'm including it anyways...

Closed Circle Photography

And then our DOC Beth-Anne appeared and told me that it was almost time. As in, go-time. As in, the real deal, holy-sh*t-this-is-actually-happening time. And I was more than ready.

One final primp from a bridesmaid and dear friend/ceremony pianist...

Closed Circle Photography

And suddenly, it was on like Donkey Kong. I took a deep breath as I heard the strains of the piano start and smiled as I realized that I was really, actually, finally, for keeps, getting married!

Up Next: The Walk of a Lifetime!

Follow along, if ya want...

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty One

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

All My Love, All My Life: Portraits

2010-10-11T20:03:00.005-04:00

In the hour leading up to the ceremony, we managed to complete the bulk of the formal portraits, as scheduled. In spite of their traditional nature and the ever-present rain, the formal portraits came out beautifully, thanks to the Tannery's natural setting I'll try to be as brief as possible with these since unless the loved ones surrounding the bride and groom are your own, formal portraits hold a limited interest for the viewer (but man, oh man, do I love them!)

First, my bridesmaid's and I kicked things off...

Closed Circle Photography

Looking at these photos, it's hard to believe how crappy the weather was. I don't know how she did it but Kelly of Closed Circle Photo managed to make our mess of a wedding look absolutely gorgeous.

Closed Circle Photography

The photo below could definetly be titled "Our Sex and the City Moment," haha!

Closed Circle Photography

And you know Mr Trailmix couldn't help but jump in with such a pretty group of ladies!

Closed Circle Photography

This photo below is the very first teaser I recieved from Kelly just a week after the wedding. I literally squealed out loud when I opened up the file and it's one of my favorite shots of the day. Definetly a framer.

Closed Circle Photography

Now, right here is where I would have shown you the shots of Mr Trailmix with his groomsmen but...*Big siiiiiiiigh...Somehow, amidst all the chaos, everyone (including myself) completely forgot to take this series. Sucks, right? I know, major OOPS moment and a major bummer.

It wasn't until Mr Trailmix pointed it out to me the next morning that I even realized this had happened. I'll admit, I was really sad for Mr TM since that was a moment lost for him but alas, there was nothing that could be done at that point.

Luckily, we did get a few shots of the whole bridal party, what a fine-looking bunch! I have to say, I'm so very happy with how the blue and yellow just pop out in all the photos, don't you think?

Closed Circle Photography

I took a moment to get a shot with my mother's parents, Grandpa Morty and Grandma Grace. I'm very close to them (we have dinner at their apartment in New Jersey every Tuesday night,) so I'm particularly glad they could attend.

Closed Circle Photography

I know these next ones aren't that interesting to most of you but they are all so pretty, I just had to share them anyways. Below is Mr Trailmix and his lil bro...

Closed Circle Photography

With Mr TM's immediate family. The ever-fabulous MIL Trailmix wore a gorgeous Elie Tahari punched-leather dress with a matcing long jacket that was soft as buttah. I thought she hit it out of the park!

Closed Circle Photography

I then took a second to hang with my lil bro, one of my favorite people in the whole world. Absolutely adore the photo below!

Closed Circle Photography

And then Mom and Dad Trailmix joined us for a few shots. My mom's dress proved to be a stressful maneuver but I think it was worth it for how beautiful it was. She looked gorgeous!

Closed Circle Photography

I love how Kelly framed all these photos with the typical Shaker windows in the background and the rock wall adds some beautiful texture (in my personal opinion :). )

And finally, a shot of the two families combined. This one's framed in our living room.

Closed Circle Photography

And so concludes the formal portrait portion of the show :) I'm very happy with them all but I know you guys are all waiting for the bride and groom portraits because let's be honest, that's what we all like to look at on blogs and recaps. So hold tight, those will be coming up in my next post!

Follow along, if ya want...

All My Love, All My Life: Fancy Meetin' You Here!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty One

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse

All My Love, All My Life: First Look

2010-10-04T21:23:00.001-04:00

You know the saying "The harder you fall, the higher you bounce?"

Well, it's particularly true at your wedding. Or, it was at mine, anyways.

After arriving at our venue and witnessing all the chaos caused by the rain, folks, I was majorly stressin'. But then the rain let up for a few minutes and our photographer wanted to do our first look.

And suddenly (Like magic?) I didn't care about anything but seeing Mr Trail Mix. In fact, I realized that I was dang excited to see him! Seriously, the transformation was practically instantaneous. I let go of the worries and stress and once again, wedding day excitement reigned as I hurried out to meet my love.

*Thanks. Kelly, for capturing this moment so beautifully. Be still, my heart...

Mr Trail Mix strikes a GQ pose while awaiting the onset of his beautiful (*wink) bride...

Here I come, Mr Trail Mix, comin' to getcha!

I never realized until looking at this photo that others were watching us while the first look happened. We were so wrapped up in our own world, we didn't even notice.

I walked up to him (with a kind of impish look on my face, don't you agree?) and my heart began to pound a little bit. My arms were shaking but I had to hold up my dress so it wouldn't get soaked!

Hilariously enough, it looks like I'm barefoot in these photos but not so fast, I'm actually wearing my beautiful, gold, JCrew shoes. You'll see them in detail in the next post :)

Here's the abridged version of how things went down (the long version involves a few sniffly whispers and perhaps one or two lovey-dovey declarations of happiness/fulfilment, etc, all meant to be kept private. Mostly because it would bore you all to death and no one would read the rest of this post!)

*Giggle, giggle...Tap, tap...

*Tee Hee! Here I am, all spifffed up, one bride-to-be, just like you ordered!

*Aw, You look pretty. No, you look pretty. Let's hug and kiss. A lot.

Gosh, Mr TM is so handsome in these pictures. It must be all the love in the air :)

See? I wasn't kidding about the hugging and kissing a lot parts!

And with that, we had officially seen each other in our formal marriage cloth and both parties approved and agreed to go through with things. Yup, it was time to take exactly one million photos and then do the damn deed. And despite all the obstacles thus far, we were both super-pumped! Bring it on, wedding!

Follow along, if ya want!

All My Love, All My Life: Commence Panic!

All My Love, All My Life: Get My Pretty On

All My Love, All My Life: Post-Dinner Partyin', Yo!

All My Love, All My Life: Rehearsal's Done, Let's Feast!

All My Love, All My Life: We Rehearse