Katell

We attended Emily and Jeremy's wedding today held at the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx in New York. It was a beautiful venue and Matt and I truly enjoyed seeing two of our friends get married. The ceremony started at around 11 30 and was held outside in a small courtyard. There were chairs on either side for guests with a rose petal-lined aisle for the bridal party to walk down. They had a harp as their only music which was beautiful (it's one of my favorite instruments) and a short, simple ceremony. One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was that, instead of traditional readings, the justice of the peace read two excerpts that related to the couple as well as a summary of their relationship together. After the vows and exchange of rings, they did a sand ceremony combining two different colors of sand (plum and white) in a single container. It was a short, but very meaningful ceremony that Matt and I greatly enjoyed.

Immediately after the ceremony they had their cocktail hour in a tented and heated patio. They had great food at a few different stations as well as passed hors d'oeuvres that were all delicious. After cocktail hour, we were ushered into a beautiful ballroom with the dance floor in the center. They had gorgeous floral centerpieces made of all different purple and white flowers surrounded by small candles. The couple entered to Bruno Mars' "Marry You" and went into their first dance, which they asked everyone to join them in after a minute or so. They spaced the three courses out starting with two different tapas one of which was shrimp. We had salad after that and a choice of three different plates for dinner. I had the salmon which was amazing and Matt got the beef which was so tender he could cut it with a butter knife. The couple cut their cake after that and the dance floor was opened up to everyone. Dessert was served as a slice of cake along with another type of cake with vanilla ice cream and strawberries, baked apples with sliced nuts, and a chocolate covered strawberry. It was honestly the best dessert I think I have ever had and I highly recommend every restaurant adopting this policy of several small dessert options on one plate. For favors, the couples had a small pumpkin with a cute tag tied around the stem in lieu of the season! After all of the food, the DJ announced the father-daughter dance and then the mother-son dance. Matt and I left shortly after since we had to drive back home, but they did do a bouquet toss which one of the girls at our table ended up with. The couple also had a photobooth at the reception that was a lot of fun. They had a lot of props and a large enough area to fit groups of people!

Congratulations to the newlyweds and we wish them a lifetime of love and happiness!

And, now, for the pictures:

escort card

photobooth card

favor tag

Garden Party

We got Emily and Jeremy's wedding invitation today! It matched their save the date and is absolutely beautiful! Here are two pictures of the whole package and I will update with the scanned photos of the contents later today!

Updated photos:

Thanks a Bunch

We received two wedding-related items in our mailbox today! The first was a thank you from Kevin and Kristen's wedding! They are really adorable, made with photos from their wedding! We also received an email from Kevin earlier today letting us know that their pictures were ready! I'm going to start going through them shortly!

The second item was an invitation from Juliana, my maid of honor as well as Emily's, for Emily's bridal shower next month! I'm not going to be able to attend, but I'll be looking online for a gift to send to her! I LOVE that they included a recipe card, too! It's so cute and a wonderful idea to start a new life together! I just have to decide which recipe to give them...

Mongillo

Caitlin and Anthony's wedding was another beautiful day! Their ceremony, held at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Smithtown, NY (on Long Island) was very beautiful. They had a full Catholic mass which was done by the church's priest. The church was really beautiful and the ceremony was wonderful. Caitlin was walked down the aisle by her father and her guide dog, Laser. I absolutely loved the songs that they walked down to: Simple Gifts (Obama's inaugural song) and Falling Slowly, both performed by a string quintet. Of course, one of their photographers was sitting in one of the pews in the back and started snoring.

The reception was held at the Timber Point Country Club, also on Long Island, and was also beautiful. They had a cocktail hour outside which started at 6:30 and featured some delicious hors d'oeuvres. They had a man singing classic Frank Sinatra tunes as background music which was great. The dinner was great, they took your order there from three options. (I had chicken and Matt had the steak which were both good.) Their DJ had accompanying instruments and played really good music which kept the dance floor pretty busy all night. Matt and I left around 10:15 since we were staying with one of my bridesmaids in Queens, so we weren't able to taste the cake, but it certainly looked delicious! On our way out, we saw that they had a pretzel vendor outside for guests, which  was really cute. I was really happy, too, that instead of a favor they donated to the guide dog foundation in Smithtown.

program front

program inside

prograg back

favor card

Here are a couple photos from the wedding:

Perfectly Plantable

We got Caitlin and Anthony's invitation today! They are beautiful and very eco-friendly! The actual invitation is made of paper infused with wildflower seeds. You can plant it and the paper with disintegrate so the flowers can grow! I've seen them before and love the idea, although I don't now if we'll plant ours. I'm very sentimental and like to hold onto keepsakes like invitations. Going along with the green theme, their RSVP is simply an email response. Here are some pictures:

Invitation

Reception Card

RSVP Card

I got my dress for their wedding in the mail yesterday, too! I was going to wear the orange one, but I'm going with a mint green dress, also from ModCloth, since it kind of fits with their theme: 

Now I just need to find some shoes...

The Beginning

We've hit that age: the age when all of your friends get engaged and you spend large amounts of money on gifts, hotels, clothing, and parties. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm wicked excited to attend these weddings and witness the beginning of the next stage of our friends' lives especially after own wedding in June of 2012. That's the "looking glass" part of my blog; seeing a wedding from the observational side rather than being one of the main participants.

So far we have three weddings this year, possibly four. In addition, we have a wedding in 2014 with the potential of another. So I'll start with the engagements:
  -My friend from college, Caitlin, and her boyfriend, Anthony, got engaged in July of 2011. Their wedding will be held in New York on June 8 of this year.
  -My cousin, Kevin, and his girlfriend of 8 years, Kristen, got engaged in February of last year. They have planned their wedding for June 1 this year in Connecticut.
  -One of Matt's friends from college, CJ, proposed to his girlfriend of about 3 years, Andrea, only a few months after catching the garter at my wedding! Their wedding will take place here in Providence, Rhode Island on April 6. Their ceremony will be held at St. Dominic Chapel on the Providence College campus; the same place Matt and I had ours!
  -Another of my friends from College, Emily, and her boyfriend of about 5 years, Jeremy, got engaged in July of last year. Their wedding is planned for October 26 of this year in New York.
  -My friend that I used to dance with, Margaret, and her boyfriend, Chris, got engaged in November of last year.
  -Matt's friend, Erik, (an usher in our wedding) and his girlfriend, Sophie, got engaged in early December of last year. Their wedding is set for June 7 of 2014 in Newport, Rhode Island.