The Royal Wedding

This morning I woke up at 3:30 a.m. to attend the first wedding since my own. Okay, so I wasn't actually invited, and I was wearing my PJ's, but it felt like I was there. Without the fancy hat. :(

Seriously. I wish I had an occasion to wear one of these trendy fascinators, like the lovely Mrs. Middleton!

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(Yes, clearly "she got it from her momma".)

Anywho, so I woke up, put on a pot of English Breakfast, tore into my yummy scones, and geared up for the wedding. Matthew may have looked a bit like adorable flowergirl Miss Van Cutsem when my alarm went off at such an early hour, but this is history here. And very important history to a girl who spent most of her college career hunched over books on the English monarchy (which has yet to pay off). Also, being part Canadian means she could be MY queen some day.

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So, let's talk Catherine. Besides having my personal favorite name ever (SUCH a great name for a possible Queen), I think Kate is the epitome of class. Everything was grand without being gaudy. I love that her bouquet had meaning and that the ceremony trees are meant to be replanted. I loved her borrowed tiara, beautiful earrings, classic train, and romantically simply veil. And her dress? Can you say Grace Kelly?

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I honestly don't think William could have picked a more stunning or classy lady to make a princess.

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I wish the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge all the best!

Honeymoon in NYC: Thanks Meg! Part II

The morning after our wedding, our amazing photographer texted me this image from our last dance along with a lovely message of congratulations. (and a reminder to change my FB relationship status.. heh)

It was a perfect ‘We did that!’ moment and a wonderful start to our honeymoon. Which is saying something, as the start of the honeymoon began by finding out that my suitcase was accidentally sent to Atlanta.

I am still eagerly awaiting our pro-pics, but I have faith that they will be awesome.

We had a wonderful time in NYC. We spent time on Broadway, went to museums, ate FABULOUSLY, chatted over milkshakes, took a stroll around central park, saw both Jimmy Fallon and David Letterman, went ice skating, and spent entirely too much time at the NBC Studio (which was a-mazing and I don’t regret a second of).  It was lots of fun and quite romantic.

Wicked was awesome and something I was glad to finally share with the Husband. (for some reason he was AWOL both times I saw it in Dallas) Also, I had trouble hiding my excitement about it from the moment we got off the plane.

One evening we headed to Brooklyn for some authentic pizza. Another afternoon we took out own personal walking -slash-food tour in Greenwhich Village. It. Was. Delish.  We split a slice of pizza and I had the most amazing dark chocolate mint chip cookie at Milk & Cookies Bakery. (I'm not sure how it's possible, but this was the best milk I've ever had. Ever.)

 We also stuffed our faces at Katz’s and tried in vain to take a decent picture of this memory…

However, the inner foodie in me was most delighted about the fact that my wonderful husband had scored us reservations at Babbo.

Babbo is one of Mario Batali’s many restaurants, and regardless of your feelings about him, it was by far the best Italian food either of us have ever had the pleasure of eating. Also, it was the most wine I’d ever had over dinner. Possibly ever. So much so, in fact, that Matthew ended up finishing several of my glasses for me. Heh.

I won’t go into a long review of the restaurant itself, but we opted for the traditional tasting menu and accompanying wines. I definitely recommend it for anyone interested. It’s a good sampling, nine different things in total, if you count the fact that the final two desserts are brought out to split. (Matthew favored the pappardelle with chanterelles, and I tied between the souffle with espresso gelato and the goat cheese with honey) It is quite dessert heavy, though delicious. I’m considering purchasing this:

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The best part? Simply exploring the city and spending time together.

I’m pretty sure that, no matter where you spend your honeymoon, you’re sure to have a good time just hanging out with your new spouse.

Honeymoon in NYC: Thanks Meg! Part I

Early into our engagement, Matthew and I discussed possible honeymoon destinations.  Neither of us wanted to go to the beach (though now that I’m somewhere where it snows I can definitely see the appeal!). We tossed around ideas of Europe, but this was when we both in college, penniless and with no ‘adult’ job offers. Spending that much money when we could be living in our college town, still working our college jobs after our wedding just didn’t seem right. Matthew was very adamant about not spending above our means, so I (successfully?) convinced him that we would just have to take a dream European vacation a year or so after marriage.

After some searching, we decided on Jackson Hole. I was excited about sleigh rides and drinking hot cocoa in bed. Something about snow and snuggling was very romantic to me.

Then Matthew got a job offer in Wyoming. After he accepted it, we decided that our dream honeymoon was not spending money flying to the state that we were about to move. Not to mention it was about to become scenery and atmosphere within driving distance, so we nixed it.

Without a plan, we turned to Travelzoo. It finds inexpensive rates for rooms and flights and all sorts of vacation needs. Scrolling through deals, Matthew suggested New York City.

It may be worlds apart from most people’s beach-y dream vacation, but all I could think of was: Romance!

This logic is all thanks to Meg Ryan. From some of my favorite movies, I’d built up a romantic fantasy about New York City. And, as Matthew pointed out, we wouldn’t be bored. We started making a list as there was so much to see and do!

Our (very, very) Non-Pro Pics

We are still waiting on our pro-pics, but last week New Husband and I DID get to pick up 150 pictures from our wedding at our local Walgreens. These pictures were definitely NOT taken by professions. :)

You see, we had disposable cameras at our wedding.  I know that these are a dated tradition and not necessary in a word of receptions filled with digital camera toting guests. However, I really, really wanted to do an “I Spy” game a la Martha Stewart’s famous inspiration. It just seemed right for the kiddos (and, apparently, my drunk college friends) to have cameras to play along.

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Of course, mine did not come out half as cute as hers, but I like mine better because it actually rhymed. And I Spy’s should always rhyme.

If you’re planning on having disposable cameras at your wedding, don’t expect them to come out professional. Or even good. Or even okay. The lighting sucks, the room looks foggy and creepy (which it wasn’t!), some of them came out double-exposed, and you’ll get several pictures of various indecipherable body parts of unknown guests.

You’ll also be assured to get a laugh or two.

Best Man and Maid of Honor getting drinks. These two do not know one another, BTW, and I love that seem to have bonded over the course of our wedding!

Also, I love the posed group shots! Our photographer is AMAZING, but I know there wont be random groups of people posing like these in the pro pics.

(people were dancing, I promise it wasn't empty!)

 (Bees, say hello to the beautiful and wonderful Hyenas!)

 We have TONS of photos of kids, making faces, being cute, and hogging glow sticks. :)

Also, lots of dancing!          

And, mostly, just friends and family being drunk.

One of the I Spy finds was "A Bunch of Flowers Being Thrown" .... heh. From the next picture, you can see my lovely friends tore apart our centerpieces to get this shot. :)

Anyone considering having (or had?) disposable cameras at their wedding?