I'm Back!!

So, it's been over a year since I blogged.  There are many reasons for the abrupt stop.  First and foremost, I was so crazy planning my wedding.  You can have the best wedding planner in the world (which I am bias but I think I did) and there are still a million things the bride needs to do before the big day.  After my wedding we went on the most incredible honeymoon ever, and when we returned I hit the ground running as a bridesmaid.  Since I last blogged I have attended nine bachelorette parties, been to seventeen weddings and been a bridesmaid four times.  I have been in Chicago about three weekends this entire summer and have had family visiting for two of them.  If that tells you anything, life has been pretty insane.

However, as it all calms down and my life becomes my own again, I have found myself missing my blog.  There were so many moments at these past weddings where I thought to myself, this would have been incredible for the blog.

So I am back.  I will sort of recap over the past year.  It will be fun for me to share some of the moments that have made this year the best one yet.  I will even include a recap of all the fun festivities leading up to my own wedding.  With several weddings still on the horizon and one special wedding of my lifelong best friend to my husband's life long best friend in Mexico, I will have new stuff to share as well.

I have learned a lot in the past year, and after being a bride myself, I think I have a lot of material to help you all be the best friend and bridesmaid possible.

Hope you are as excited as I am!!

Real Weddings: Jeneca & Ryan's Wedding

Alright, so I guess I lied a few weeks ago when I said I was back.  The truth is I have just been so crazy with work and planning a wedding and this move, that I haven't been able to catch my breath.  On the weekends I am traveling all over for different weddings and I just haven't been able to make the time to share it all with you!  Although I haven't been sharing, that doesn't mean I haven't been documenting all the good stuff for when I was ready to share.  So today, I am officially back with the wedding of my cousin Ryan and his new wife, Jeneca.  

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My cousin Ryan was born and raised in California, and his wife, Jeneca, is born and raised in Arizona. Through fate the two met and aside from a few months where they both lived in Cali, they have had a long distance engagement.  With our families being on opposite sides of the country we had only met Jeneca one time before we arrived in Tuscon for the wedding, but after only a few minutes it felt like we had been family for years.  Her family was so welcoming and wonderful and it was obvious why Ryan and Jeneca were so madly in love.

If I could think of a theme for the weekend, at least for me, it would have to be "Family".  It was the first time my Dad's side of the family spent a weekend together in almost three years.  The last time was my sister's wedding weekend so we didn't get to spend this type of quality time together.  The wedding was held at the Ritz Carlton-Dove Mountain and it really could not have been more beautiful.

Our view from the cabana which we lounged in for 3 days straight.

I got so spend some quality time with my favorite nephew.


Rehearsal

Talk about a breathtaking view...

The flowers made such a beautiful photo!

My cousin, Tyler, was the best man and killed his speech

The bright fuschia really popped

Such an adorable flower girl

My beautiful family

My fancy

We had the best time dancing around with my mom's scarf

I finally got a shot with the bride and groom!

Such a great weekend with the family.

Beautiful couple and incredible night I wish the two of you a lifetime of happiness!

Photo Credit- Chris Richards Photography

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So glad I finally got to recap this beautiful wedding.   I hope to be back next week with a few more weddings and some other updates.  I am off to St. Louis tomorrow for a wedding and to spend some time with David's family.

Have a great weekend!!

I'm Back

I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post.  I never meant to completely stop, but planning a wedding, buying a house, and excelling at my job left me with very little time to focus on anything else.  On top of all, of that our wedding season has kicked off and I have been traveling like crazy.  Over the next few weeks I will recap on the past weddings and fill you in on where I am at with my own planning.  I am really looking forward getting back into the swing of things.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

St. PaTraci Day 2013

As promised (although a little late) I want to share with you my amazing birthday party David threw for me.  When I was in college my birthday always ended up on the last day of spring break which meant we were usually exhausted and traveling back to Austin.  When I was abroad my birthday was the ONE day we had to study because the next day was midterms.  So when I moved back to Chicago I have really enjoyed celebrating my birthday with my friends and family.  David and I love throwing huge parties, and for my 27th he did not disappoint.  In Chicago, the saturday before St. Patty's day is probably the best day of the cold months.  Everyone gets decked out in green and makes an entire day of it.  Rather than trying to throw a party that Saturday night and risk nobody including myself being able to make it.  A few years ago David came up with the idea to make it St. PaTraci day.

Why not kill two birds with one stone ya know?  So this was the second time we did it and David went ALL out.  I'm talking a green bloody mary bar, over the top decorations an tons of giveaways.  Since our shower was the night before we still had some great visitors in town so it really was a party to remember.

  

My best friend Judi was in town so it made the entire day amazing.  She is my partner in crime so I was just so happy to have her with me.  She also had these adorable little posters made that had all these different pictures of me as a Leprochan.  She is amazing.

My Sis was still in town and she came to the party.  I can't remember the last time we had so much fun drinking together.  Best MOH ever.

David out did it.

So many of my favorites celebrating with me.

Things got a little crazy and we had to take a petty cab to the next bar to meet up with David.

Being the Bride... Not the Bridesmaid

As I shared yesterday, David and I had our first shower two weekends ago.  It was so wonderful to have so many people we loved in one room, but honestly, I was extremely overwhelmed.  I am so used to being the bridesmaid and it was really strange to take the brides role.  This has nothing to do with my own bridesmaids, because I am certain they will kill it, it is just a personal thing.

Mind you this party was extra special because there was tons of alcohol involved, but when we were opening gifts it was just such a crazy feeling.  I am used to being the professional bridesmaid and taking control, but as the bride I wasn't quite sure what I should be doing.  Things got unorganized (and a little hazy) and we ended up bringing the gifts home to open.

I know when my lady showers come it will be a little different, but even then I think I am going to just be overwhelmed.  I LOVE being the best bridesmaid, but I am just not exactly in the groove yet as the bride.  I have plenty coming up so I am hoping I will get the hang of it.

Does anyone have any tips on how to be a calm bride they would like to share?

First and last gift we opened that night.  

Our First Shower: Stock the Bar

Life has been pretty crazy since I last posted.  There have been some good days and some very hard days and I am sending love to one special person who I am thinking of every second.  Last Tuesday was my birthday and I celebrated with my family by seeing "Book of Mormon."  I thought it was hysterical.

Last night David and I hosted our first Passover Seder for our friends and it honestly could not have been more fun.  I can't wait to do it again next year with all the stuff we registered for!

I know this is a little late, but as promised I wanted to share with you all the details about our first shower.  When my Mom was a hostesses for a stock the bar couples shower for our best family friends, Ali and Jeff, both families promised David and I they would throw us the same thing when we got engaged.  Boy, did they stand true to this promise.  So last Friday, my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, Ali and Jeff and my Aunt Geri and Uncle Stu threw us the stock the bar couples shower of our dreams!!

Aunt Geri, Melissa, Me, Ali, Mom

This could not have been a better theme for a couple like David and I.  We are extremely hard workers, but when it is time to let loose, David and I are what some may call pros.  Every gift we received came with a recipe for a tasty cocktail as well as different items to help us fill our bar.  Some people gave us the actual ingredients to make the cocktails and others gave us different bar accessories.  Some even gave us both.  We were BLOWN away with how amazing it all was.

Ali went above and beyond with the decorations.  There were these giant posters, as well as custom wine bottles and personalized shot glasses for giveaways.

I mean come on look at that cake!

Celebrating with my family 

Melissa and Ali came up with a game where they asked us many questions about us as a couple and if we got it wrong we had to take a shot.  Oh I forgot to mention all the questions were related to drinking, and how well we know each other when we are drunk.  Let's just say both of our Mom's were FREAKING out!

It is just so much fun having everyone you love in one room.

The Bridesmaids and Groomsmen (plus Dads)

This shower was honestly just so much fun.  David and I each had one of our best friends surprise us and come in and that made it all the better.  I just want to thank everyone again that was a part of it for really kicking off the countdown to our wedding.  We cannot wait to just keep celebrating our love for each other!

Reasons to Celebrate

David may kill me for posting that picture, but really I just needed a picture of us jumping in happiness with confetti.  Basically there has just been so much to celebrate in the past week, it is going to take me a few days to share it all.  For starters this is my final week of a 3 week intense bootcamp that started at 5:15 am 3 days a week.  I have never felt better and more energized and I am surprising myself everyday with what I am capable of doing.

Next, after a long BRUTAL process, David and I have finally had a bid accepted on our first home together.  It took a lot of disagreeing and aggravation, but we now could not be happier.  It is in the West Loop, which was one of our top locations we wanted.  Really, everything about it is too good to be true.

Some more celebrating happened this weekend:

Friday: We had our first couples shower and it was just so much fun.  I have so many pictures to share with you so I will do that tomorrow.

Saturday: David threw me an amazing birthday party/ St. Patrick's Day party which he coined St. PaTraci Day.

Oh and the icing in the cake, my best friend Judi, flew in from New York to celebrate everything with me.

Stay tuned for some more detailed descriptions this week.

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY!