A Walk Down Wedding Lane: Todd and Kate's Rehearsal Dinner

Today I am starting a new series, "A Walk Down Wedding Lane."  This series will document the beautiful wedding weekends of my dear friends.  This week we are kicking things off with Todd and Kate's rehearsal dinner.  Since the wedding was in Cleveland most of the guests were from out of town which made for a large rehearsal dinner.  They did it at Maggiano's and the food was delicious.  The speeches were kept short and the night ended with an unforgettable video put together by the groom's mom.  The love was in the air and everyone left extremely excited for the night ahead.  Kate looked beautiful in an eggplant, Alice + Oliva dress which was the same color of her bridesmaids dresses the following night as well as many of the beautiful flowers. 

Stay tuned for the wedding pictures tomorrow!

Happy Birthday to my Puppy of Honor

So I finally did it! I asked my puppy, Pizza, to be my Puppy of Honor!  She gladly accepted and gave me a bunch of kisses.  She also told me it was the best birthday present ever!

Here is the play by play of how the night went down:
 

I bothered her when she was eating her favorite gefilte fish toy.. I tried to tell her passover was over...

However, I told her this was serious wedding biz so she decided to put on her favorite flowered collar to listen.

When I asked her to be my Puppy of Honor she gave me the eyes like "obviously I was going to say YES"

When I woke up this morning I knew she was very excited about the news.. she had found her way into my bed and was sleeping under the covers in between me and David.  She is SO excited and cannot wait to be apart of the special day (in spirit I do not think we will be able to have her at the actual wedding).

Don't I have the most adorable POH? Happy 2nd Birthday Pizza Pie!

Todd and Kate's Wedding Week!!

I cannot believe it! After an eighteen month engagement one of my best friends, Kate, is finally marrying the love of her life, Todd, this coming weekend!  Their love story is so incredible and I cannot wait to celebrate with them and stand by Kate's side.  Guess how they met?  I set them up!  I am not trying to toot my own horn, because honestly I have tried to play match maker several times and I have only been successful once. However, I am allowed to be proud because that one time was Todd and Kate!  Anyways, I am so excited for them and wish them a lifetime of happiness!!

Hidden Secrets

At my brunch this past Sunday my friend was wearing the most adorable dress and she mentioned she just bought it.  When I asked all the girls to wear an LBD for the shower I never meant they had to buy a new dress.  However, my friend assured me it wasn't expensive at all.  I am telling you this dress looked like she ordered it off of shopbop.com and it was a good $300 dollars.  She then let out her secret... it was from ASOS!

If you are not familiar with ASOS I am excited to rock your world on this rainy Chicago Friday.  Like shopbop.com they offer free shipping, however the prices are super affordable.  On their website they define themselves as "Directional, exciting and diverse the ASOS Collection makes and breaks the fashion rules. Scouring the globe for inspiration, the London based Design Team is inspired by fashion's most covetable trends; providing you with a cutting edge wardrobe season upon season."

With shower season in full swing, I want so many new dresses, but I just cannot bring myself to spend such high prices.  I am going to show you just a few of the hundreds of options they have available.

ASOS Dress With Bow Jacquard - $28.18
ASOS Dress with Lace Top - $72.72
ASOS Skater Dress With Lace Cross Back -$72.72
ASOS Summer Dress with Pleated Lace Bodice $54.54
ASOS Skater Dress with Zip Back -$23.63
ASOS Sleeveless Mini Dress With Double Skirt -$63.63

Have a great weekend!  Hope you are doing something fun:)

Recipe for the Perfect Bridesmaid Speech

Now that Kate's wedding is just around the corner all the bridesmaids have been racking their brains for the perfect speech.  Luckily, I have just the recipe for a swoontastic toast.  I am sharing my secrets on Studio Swoon today.  Tamra's blog is one of my favorites, and I just adore her.  If you live in NYC (or anywhere) and are looking for help planning your wedding please make sure to check out ever swoon. 

I am just a little obsessed with her logo!

Traci & Co.

Since my engagement I have been working very hard on planning the perfect way to ask my bridesmaids.  I may not know a lot about being a bride, but being a bridesmaid, you all know I consider myself a professional.  I wanted to do something for the girls that would be fun and over the top to kick off my road to the wedding.  The first thing I did was approach my dear friend and future bridesmaid, Beth.  She throws the most ridiculous parties where the food seems like it's catered, the desserts look and taste like they are from a bakery, and the decorations look professionally done.  However, Beth does everything herself.  Beth was so excited about my idea and we quickly decided we were going to throw a brunch for the girls.

I contacted all my favorite brunch places in Chicago and decided on Cafe Ba Ba Reeba for the location.  We spent hours on Etsy finding inspiration and invitations.  When she came across an adorable invitation that looked like a Tiffany's bag we instantly decided to have a Breakfast at Tiffany's themed party.  So as I busily prepared and packed for my trip to Aruba, I had the invitations made and sent out.

Okay as cheesy as they were I know everyone could sense the love through the invitations.  Every morning in Aruba I would wake up and run to the computer to check my email to see if any girls got the invitations.  Finally the responses started pouring in and everyone was in love with the invitations.  I could not have been more excited and pleased with the responses.

So last week if you could tell by my lack of posts, I was extremely busy.  Beth had me working everyday and as tired as I was I knew this party was going to be unlike anything I had ever thrown before.  We baked up a storm and spent many hours at different craft stores.  Finally, Sunday rolled around and the time had come.. I just couldn't contain my excitement!

The table

Place settings that we found on Etsy

Swag bags I had made on Etsy

I hung my favorite picture of me with each girl

David came and showed off his new photography skills

Gift table

Flower close up

I had custom M&Ms made

Better view..

Sweet table.. everything is home made!!!

I helped decorate those cookies!

I made this popcorn it had pretzels, M&Ms, white chocolate and sprinkles

Beth made this cake from scratch and decorated it.. it took three batches of homemade butter cream to complete.

Homemade french macaroons...I added the butter cream!

My best friend Judi who lives in NYC sent me champagne and desserts because she couldn't make it.  Since the party had an open bar I saved the bottle for later. I wished she could have come in but how sweet is she to send the next best thing? Love you Judi can't wait to celebrate together soon.

Of course my mom came for the celebration.. wished my sister and Matron of Honor could have been there she was missed!

My besties from childhood and still going strong: Courtney, Alison, Heather, and Ali

My beautiful cousins: Abby and Jaime

David's sister Lauren came in from St. Louis for the party!

Beth, the most amazing friend, none of this would have been possible without her.

Ali, my second sister, stepped out as a new mommy to be!

Camp Marimeta besties: Lisa and Lauren (berg)

Our boyfriends/fiances may be best friends but so are we:) Nicole and Stephanie

These ladies are also here representing my Texas lovelies.. Hook Em'!  I was definitely missing La, Emily (Linus), and Emily (Dudy)

Kate, the almost bride!  I can't wait to be her bridesmaid on 4/28.

Giving my toast and officially asking my besties to be my bridesmaids!

I then handed out the swag bags and inside was a copy of the picture that was hanging with a personal note on back, some homemade cookies and a mini champagne that said "David popped the question now it's my turn!" Melissa, La, Judi, Linus and Dudy, I promise yours will arrive shortly sorry if I ruined the surprise.

Me and 14 of my beautiful bridesmaids all in our Little Black Dresses!!

This is as much of the cake as we could eat.. Beth you really outdid yourself.

All in all, it was truly a magical day and I couldn't be more excited with the nineteen girls that will stand by my side as I marry David.  This is such a special time in my life and I really couldn't be where I am today if I didn't have all the support and love from my best friends.