Wedding Recap :)

Well, the wedding has come and gone and so has the honeymoon! Sorry it took me so long to get back to update all of you but things have gotten pretty crazy! I had to move and get settled into our new place which took a bit longer than I had anticipated!

The wedding was perfect! I had such a blast that I can't believe it is really over. The day started off with me getting up semi early (I seriously couldn't sleep) and a little while after waking some of my bridesmaids started showing up for hair and makeup. We got ready together and the photographer (Jim Kennedy Photography) and videographer (Ashley Video) were there taking pictures and video of the day. Once we got in the limo to head to the church everything started to go by in a blur. We had a really fun ride over with all the girls...playing music really loud and driving down the coast. I will always remember how much fun we had that day :)

Once at the church I got my bouquet and basically waited for no more than 20 minutes before it was time to walk down the aisle. I met my dad at the door of the church and the wedding director had us wait for a minute before she pulled the doors open for us to walk down.

Everything seemed to go as planned and it was so beautiful. I remember as my dad and I started walking down the aisle I saw how beautifully decorated the church was and saw everyone smiling at us. As soon as we got up to the front and Matt took my arm it was time for the vows. We had a soprano soloist who sang a couple classical pieces and she was amazing!

After the ceremony we had our reception at the Turnip Rose in Costa Mesa and I must say, they really went above and beyond my expectations. The food was great (although I barely ate any of it!) the service was great, and the room was beautiful.

Of course we did all the "typical" wedding traditions such as bouquet toss, garter toss, cutting the cake and for my family the Tarantella. For some reason that didn't really go as planned though and it ended up being an improvised dance circle that was seriously fun :)

Our DJ Bruce Battleson did a great job of keeping the crowd going the entire time.

Again, I really can't believe that it has come and gone! I will never forget my wedding or the planning of it and I am so greatful that Chicblvd.com let me share in this journey with all of you. Please enjoy the pictures from the wedding that are below and I can't wait to see where life takes me next!

Love,
Melissa

2 days to go!

Well, there are only 2 days left until my big day! I can’t believe how quickly this wedding has come up. This week has been full of a lot of last minute things such as pulling together all the wedding favors and picking up my bridal gown. My fiance and I also finished our pre-marital counseling this week and made final decisions about the ceremony such as what songs we want played and also which passages from the Bible we want to have read at the ceremony. I am really excited about this wedding and also really nervous at the same time.
Tonight Matt and I took our third dance lesson which was a ton of fun. We started this week and managed to put together a first dance with a really cool instructor named Jillian. I hope it goes as well at the reception as it went at the lesson!
Tomorrow we have the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. I also still need to pack for our honeymoon! I can’t believe I waited this long to pack, but I really haven’t had much time!!
Well everyone, it has been a ton of fun being the Bride to Be here at Chicblvd.com! I have loved sharing my journey to marriage with all of you! When I get home from my honeymoon I will write in about the wedding and let you all know how it goes!!

Talk to you soon,
Melissa

2 weeks to go!

I had my second fitting appointment this week for my dress and it looks great! I can't believe I will be wearing it in only a couple weeks now! It was a really cool day because my mom was there with me and then my aunt and cousin came as well and they brought me flowers so I would have a real bouquet to hold when I tried my dress on. I have pictures of me in the dress, but of course I can't post those before the wedding!! :)

I also had my trial hair and makeup appointment. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my hair, but the woman who will be styling it for the wedding had some great ideas and together with my cousin's help we picked a great style :) I will be wearing a tiara style hairpiece that matches with my dress...My hair will be in a twist style that almost looks like a flower...it was really cool! The makeup is going to be very natural, but with fake eyelashes to make them stand out in pictures. The girls in my wedding will also be getting hair and makeup done as well.

Well, I thought the countdown was on before, but it is REALLY on now! Only a couple more weeks and I will be a wife!

Carry a Tin for AIDS

I am a Chain Starter for the 1st Carry a Tin for AIDS program hosted by HintMint and Chicblvd.com! My tin arrived to me this weekend and I am really hoping to get it all the way to the office of YouthAIDS/PSI in Washington DC, on or before January 1st!!

I have created an email address TinNumber10@hotmail.com and would love it if everyone who receives the tin would email me at this address and let us know who got the tin, where it was given to them, and any inspiration they would like to share with us!

Raising awareness of AIDS is so important and even if you are not a tin starter or participant you can play an important role in the lives of these children. Send an email of hope to a child in Africa through Compassion’s site! Let’s bring a little sunshine to these precious children’s lives and let’s all make a difference!!

The Wedding Dress is here!

Well, my wedding dress came in earlier than I expected! I got to try it on this week and I LOVE it! I can’t believe it is already here! At the beginning of all the planning the dress shop told me that it might not arrive until 2 weeks before the wedding…I was having all sorts of nightmares about that, but it is here now and I have no need to worry any longer!

It almost fit perfectly except for the length, so there won’t be much to do for alterations which is great news. I have to go back in a couple weeks to try it on again and then my final pickup for the dress will be 5 days before my wedding.

Last night I did a lot of “last minute” wedding shopping. I had to get a guestbook, ring bearer’s pillow, necklaces for my bridesmaids, a cake topper and I am still trying to figure out what I want to wear for jewelry on the big day! My dress is diamond white with gold embroidery, so I am thinking about wearing pearls but I am not sure. I am a white gold or silver kind of girl, so I didn’t want to go buy gold jewelry because I probably wouldn’t wear it again. Not that I will wear my wedding dress or veil again though, so maybe wearing it again shouldn’t be the deciding factor after all! Haha
Any suggestions that you might have would be appreciated of course!

I am seriously starting to feel my stress levels rising as the day approaches! As soon as I am done with this entry I am going to go relax and light some candles and read a book! I got the best smelling candle from Ciao Bella. It is Vanilla scent and smells like freshly baked cookies…I love it! They also sent me some great bath products as well which would make great bridesmaid gifts.

Well, I am off to go relax now…Please feel free to leave me a comment about the jewelry ideas!

~Melissa

Bridal Shower

Well, My Bridal Shower has come and gone and I can't believe how fast it happened! I seriously feel like it went by in 10 minutes even though it was more like 3 hours! We had a lot of fun though! My friends from Chicblvd were there with me and got some of the shower on film which we will be posting to the site soon! I can't wait to see how it turned out! Here is a quick replay of the events of that day:

I got up kind of early on the day of my shower (a Saturday) and was actually kind of nervous...Not nervous because of the shower necessarily, but nervous because this shower represents that I am REALLY getting married....Of course, I want to get married, but there is just so much that I have left to do!!

Once I got to the restaurant where it was held things just flew by! We played some bridal shower games and they were a lot of fun :)
The first game we played was the guests had to guess how many M&Ms were in this big vase full of silver and white M&Ms. We chose to use M&Ms because we are Matt & Melissa :) Cute huh? ;)

The next game we played was Bridal Scattergories, but I actually didn't see this one being done because while my guests were playing I was being suited up into an aporn with 28 kitchen utensils attached to it! They were all tied on and I had to walk around the room while everyone tried to memorize what was attached to my apron. I then left the room and they had to write down what they could remember as best as they could!

After we were done with the apron game it was present time! I got so many amazing gifts, I couldn't believe all the stuff that I ended up with! My fiance and I are set as far as our new home goes!

We had a great time and even though it went by in a blur I will never forget my wedding shower or the people that made it so special :)

Food!

Matt and I finally got to taste the food choices we have for our reception! The place we are having the reception at had an event called Open House where tons of couples who are planning a wedding at their facilities got to come and check it out and try the food. There were so many good options, I am not sure what we are going to go with yet! We were having a hard time deciding whether we should have a sit down dinner or if we should have a buffet style dinner. There are a lot of positives with both…The sit down seems more elegant and is a bit more organized, but you get more choices with the buffet which might be good for our picky eaters…Ahhh I just can’t decide what to do!! We don’t have to make the final food choices until 2 weeks before the wedding so I am sure we will have it all figured out by then :) Either way, I am sure our guests will be happy because the food was EXCELLENT! We are having a cocktail hour to start the event off and they are letting us pick 5 different hor’dourves to serve during that time. I am sure it will be very elegant!

Today I met with the coordinator who is helping me get everything together at the reception site and we went over the linens and table decorations. My mom came with me and we had a lot of fun just chatting about the wedding and trying to decide on all these little details that you never really think about at first when you are planning a wedding. There are just so many little things to think about…table linens, chair covers, seating charts, centerpieces…the list goes on and on! Luckily I have quite a bit of help getting all these things in order :)