Friday Links: Miss Piggy and an ambush wedding

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day! Anyone get engaged? If so, just be thankful this wasn't your proposal. Great recap of the really awkward, basically horrible ambush *cough* oh sorry "flash" wedding GMA staged yesterday. It really broke my heart.

In happier news, Miss Piggy is getting married (again).

And even happier news, DC is getting it's own branch of the fabulous bridal shop, Lovely, in May. I bought my own dress at this shop in NYC and I'm so thrilled they're going to be in DC now. They are hip, down-to-earth, and offer beautiful dresses and other accessories. Very exciting!

And finally, congratulations Illinois! Now House, get your sh!t together and pass this thing.

Happy Friday everyone!

happy valentine's day.

Happy Valentine's Day! Whether you are married, single, engaged, pre-engaged, about to get engaged, don't care about any of it - I wish you lots of love! And now, to honor my Puritan ancestors (seriously, we're talking the Mayflower, people) and bring you a smile this V-day, I give you Puritan Valentines (courtesy of CollegeHumor.com):

brights and stripes

We celebrated my mother-in-law’s birthday the Saturday before we left on vacation with a small dinner party hosted at our house. It was just us, my Mom and Dad-in-law and another great couple who are old friends of the family. Since we were in the midst of vacation prepping, I didn’t have a ton of time to plan the dinner party (for shame!) - but I thought I’d prove how you can quickly, cheaply, and easily turn a dinner into a celebration! My husband was doing the cooking (of course. and thank god) - and I asked him to pick up some flowers at Whole Foods while he was doing his shopping. We did a quick run to Target and I bought some crepe paper balls to hang from the chandelier. Not ashamed to say, I'm pretty sure they were $4.00

I made a rough flower arrangement from the flowers he brought home (the two extra stems I ended up snipping off right towards the bloom and putting in votive holders!).

We rolled out an old runner my Mom made for our wedding (I always love me some stripes - check out my Pinterest page if you don’t believe me), added some colorful napkins, and voila! Colorful, celebratory and ready for a birthday.

With the ridiculously tasty meal my husband prepared and some great wine, and we were ready to roll. We feasted on surf and turf: Lamb porterhouse with fresh pickles, roasted carrot with garlic butter mint glaze, pan roasted shrimp with thyme and lemon, and creamed spinach with nutmeg cayenne and mint from his new iSi whipping siphon.

Happy birthday, indeed.

Friday Links: Naked cakes and eff weddings

  I realize this is a bit extreme considering I work in the wedding industry. But I've never hidden the fact that I don't really love the traditional wedding industry, so with tongue in cheek, I proclaim that I really want this t-shirt:

You must also check out their "weddings we love" - especially if you want excellent procrastination material

Naked cakes have been around for a while on Pinterest, but here's a great round-up from Snippet & Ink. I'm the odd duck who really doesn't like a lot of frosting, so I love this idea. And it'd fit so well with a rustic, casual reception or celebration.

East Side Bride featured an awesome illegal gay wedding (with a tux jacket I am lusting after, something fierce)

Finally, this has been making the rounds for quite a while, but I needed a pick-me-up this week and this always brings a smile to my face (and, let's face it, also makes me cry. but not ugly cry. good cry). Enjoy. I give you my favorite proposal of all time (except my own, obviously).

R&R

My husband gifted me with a vacation to South Beach and the Florida Keys for Christmas (best. gift. ever). And so last week we jumped on our flight and unplugged. No social media - no Twitter, no Facebook. I removed all my phone notifications so that I'd have no idea when emails came in. It was heaven - and much needed. I'm back now. Recharged and ready to get back to work. 2013 brought with it a bunch of new, amazing clients. I'm so excited for this year and really looking forward to diving back in with renewed energy! So here's to rest and relaxation.

Oh, and Pirate weddings. Apparently Pirate Weddings are a big thing in Key West. (love it)

Friday Links: Sonograms and Gatsby

First of all. You guys. YOU GUYS. After last week's post, I had to quickly talk about the poor Lady Edith. Holy hell, her dress was gorgeous - in my humble opinion it kicked Lady Mary's dress's arse. The sleeves were in full force and that train was gorgeous. Let us all lament the fact that she didn't actually get married in that stunner. I was really hoping she had found some happiness (le sigh). On to some other fun links to end the week:

Downton is gonna definitely start some wedding trends this year, but I also believe that Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby is gonna take over. Michelle Edgemont did a great inspired shoot here.

I love me some Dan Savage. Check out his great article on marriage.

And guys? I'm sorry, but please don't hire me to plan one of these.

a new year

2013. A brand new year. I’ll be honest – as an event planner, I should love New Years Eve. But I actually find it to be an over-rated holiday, more often than not a holiday that is built up and up and up and then therefore is somewhat of a let down.

But. I love the new year. I love new beginnings. I love taking a break and thinking about goals for the upcoming year. Fears and hopes and dreams. It’s inspiring and scary. Sort of like learning to ski when you’re 30.

I learned to ski two years ago in Whistler, BC. I’m not ashamed to say that I did it for my husband. He loves to ski, and one of the reasons I married him is that he challenges me to do things I wouldn’t normally do. So I took lessons. And I cried. A lot. It was hard, but at the end of the 3^rd and final lesson I had the basics and was proud that at 30 I’d learned to do something completely new.

I then tried again last year. And cried. A bit. But got a bit better, too.

This year I was at my in-laws’ lake house in Deep Creek Lake, MD for new years. And once again I went skiing with my husband. And this time? It was fun! I still only did the green slopes. I still took my time. But I only fell once (if you don’t count the time an as$hole snowboarder ran right into me…that was truly not my fault) - and the only tears shed were tears of joy and appreciation.

Somehow it felt really right that my skiing journey clicked into place as the new year began. Learning to ski meant conquering lots of fears. It meant trusting my husband. It meant learning to be patient. It meant enjoying the challenge. And it meant I got to fly and glide with freedom over fluffy snow.

So I’m taking this time to look ahead to what 2013 might hold for me. Lots of challenges await as I continue to get my new business on its feet. But the increased inquiries have been so wonderful and encouraging.  The news of Maryland’s same sex weddings brought a huge smile to my face. I look forward to continuing to meet the amazing vendors in the DC area – those I met in 2012 exceeded my expectations for both quality and friendliness.

So let’s do it, 2013. Here’s to conquering fear, looking ahead, and giving it your all. If we do that, we just might fly.

Friday Links: happy holidays!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Not only is it the holiday season - but it's also engagement season! The holiday season between Christmas Eve and New Years is one of the most popular times to get engaged (I, myself, got engaged on Christmas Day). I know there will be a lot of newly engaged folks ready to start planning in 2013 - so please get in touch if want some help getting started, planning the whole shebang, or just some month-of assistance. Speaking of engagements, the latest issue of Washingtonian's Bride & Groom just came out (if you're unable to find it, check out Whole Foods - a lovely twitter friend gave me that scoop and I was able to grab a couple copies!). I was really thrilled that so many of the real couples they featured in the magazine got engaged at home. I've always been turned off by the strange pressure for people to have "engagement stories" or elaborate plans, as if that's what will make the marriage great. I think choosing to spend the rest of your life with someone is really all that matters - doesn't matter where or when or how that decision was made! Anyway, it's a great issue, as always - so check it out (and their blog is a wonderful resource as well).

For my Brooklyn readers, Brooklyn Magazine had a great feature by the always excellent Brooklyn Bride about brooklyn wedding essentials.

Moving on to the holidays, I love this "no buy" gift guide. I always love giving experiences - there are some great ideas here!

I'll be taking some time off to enjoy the holiday season with my friends and family. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and a happy, happy new year! Leaving you with my favorite holiday song of all-time (no joke), True Blue Miracle from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. Apparently, Sesame Street is near 86th St. Who knew?

Happy Holidays!!

Friday Links: Maryland's ready, Les Mis, and creepy babies

Hope you all had a lovely week. I've been busy with new clients, new vendors and getting our house prepped for the holidays (which is strange to do in 60 degree weather).

The happy news here locally is that marriage licenses are now officially available for same sex couples in MD. The marriages can't occur til January 1, 2013, but I'm so thrilled for all the happy couples planning their weddings for 2013!

Paperless post already has some awesome invites on their site, but Erin Jang just created some new designs for their holiday invites that you should definitely check out - so modern and fun. For those of you who don't know Paperless Post, they're a way classier version of evite - emailed invitations with really gorgeous design. Great option for smaller parties - from holiday gatherings to showers, birthdays to new years (and I did not get paid to say this. I truly just like them a lot).

As some of you may know I have a theatre background - so the musical theatre nerd in me really lurved this Les Mis wedding flash mob. That being said, my favorite version of the Les Mis flash mob is still this version (which was technically for a birthday). His joy just gets me every time in my theatre nerd soul.

And guys? I don't usually like to criticize or be too snarky. But... this woman makes baby cakes. Cakes that look like babies. Whatttt.

And with that disturbing idea, I leave you. Have a great weekend!

a simple touch

If you asked her, my mother would likely claim she's not a great hostess. She always apologizes profusely before I arrive that she didn't clean enough, or didn't get something-or-other done. But I disagree. You see, my mother loves beautiful things. And so, whenever I come to visit she always has a small flower arrangement somewhere. Sometimes it's beside my bed

Sometimes it's in the bathroom

I think it's a great reminder that none of us are perfect hosts or hostesses. There's always going to be a dust bunny you missed. A meal that wasn't planned. A blanket you forgot to leave out. But small, simple touches are really all you need to make people feel welcome and special. These teeny tiny bouquets are so stunning and always bring a smile to my face - not only because of their beauty, but because I know my Mom did it because she loves doing it. The things you do for guests because you want to are the things they always notice and care about. Big thanks to my mother for that simple lesson.