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Saturday, April 24, 2010

I Do or I Don't?

I’m beginning to cherish the things that I just don’t care about.

I’m continually amazed by all the decisions that go into planning a wedding, and as someone who gets anxious about deciding what to choose for dinner just for myself, I wasn’t thrilled about deciding what 150 of our friends and families will be eating for dinner. So, during the tasting for our reception dinner at the Marriott Key Bridge, I was thrilled to have questions such as, “How would you like the dinner napkins folded?”

My answer? “I don’t give a damn!”

Of course, I said it more politely than that at the tasting, but it felt great not to care, and to turn to Mr. Cathedral Heights and say, “Honey, you decide.”

Other decisions that occurred during the tasting included the color of the napkins and tablecloths, the fabric choice for napkins and tablecloths, charger or no charger, regular chair or fancy chair, and the particular courses. We made it through most of these questions pretty quickly—except for a brief moment where I thought the nicer chairs would make a big difference, but Mr. CH put a stop to that thinking by reminding me how much more we would have to spend and by asking what kind of chairs were at the last wedding we attended (I had no recollection whatsoever)—and we spent the rest of the time on food decisions.

The food decisions weren’t too tough either. The Key Bridge Marriott has a variety of hearty, American dishes, and only a few of them fit in our price range so it was relatively easy to pick our favorites. They also had more than one vegetarian option (yay!). Honestly, I just want the guests to have decent food that they can munch on and enjoy, that will balance the large amounts of alcohol some of them may consume. My favorite item we chose: Cheeseburger sliders as an appetizer. Mr. CH picked those!

We are fortunate that the wedding planner assigned to us at the Marriott—Nancy June—has a sense of humor and appears to be very thorough when it comes to event planning. Plus, she’s laid back, which counters my moments of anxiety. She and my future hubby poked fun at me for my lengthy, repetitive emails (hopefully my blogs don’t fall into that category). I got the sense that I send a lot more emails than most brides! Future hubby reassured me in the car on the way home that being detail oriented is a good thing and he likes that part of me, which made me feel a bit better about my Wedding OCD.

We left the tasting full of food and satisfied with our decisions. I won’t lose any sleep wondering whether the three-fold was the right choice for the napkins.

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

best part

so, i had heard that the most fun part of wedding planning would be registering. and i will admit that the scouring of webpages and building a dream home wishlist is pretty awesome as are the scanning guns at various stores. but i find myself checking out our registries almost daily to see if our generous guests have purchased anything. the first time i saw "complete" next to one of our registry items, i called mr. uva to share my high level of excitement. he only ruined it a little by telling me that he had removed the item and no one had actually purchased it - serious bummer.

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

DIY--- Calligraphy By From One Hand to Another

Are you interested in having handwritten invitations done in Calligraphy but the cost may exceed your budget? If so, no worries.
From One Hand To Another Proudly Presents

Learn the Art of Calligraphy
Step by Step Instruction to Learning Italic Lettering



Two Sessions Available:
Session 1: Saturday, June 5, 12, 19, 26
Session 2: Saturday, October 2, 9, 16, 23,
$85.00 per Session
$25.00 per Class

For more information visit www.fohta.com/events or E-mail: fohta@fohta.com

This is the Ultimate Do It Yourself to ensure your Invitations have 'YOUR' Special Touch!

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Beau-coup SITE WIDE SALE!

Just wanted to let EVERYONE know that Beau-coup is running a site-wide sale.
The sale includes free shipping on orders over $125 and up to 15% off.



You can check out more details here: http://www.beau-coup.com/promo/.




Hurry though, the sale ends this Thursday at midnight!

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Saying No to Trendy

Apparently, the trendy hairstyle for brides and red carpet walkers is a natural updo—a loose bun or braid that looks as though the bride may have done it herself.


All the hairdressers I talk to try to convince me to wear my hair up for my wedding. One suggested I look up photos of Taylor Swift at the 2009 CMT Awards. Taylor, of course, looked gorgeous and I love her hairstyle, but I want to wear my hair down!

For the past two days, I’ve been obsessively Googling photos of hairstyles for weddings, celebrity hairstyles, red carpet hairstyles, partial updo’s. I'm positive Mr. Cathedral Heights is tired of me making him pause his video game to look at yet another example of how I want my hair to look for our wedding.


I value stylists’ advice and I can see what they mean when they explain that it’s better not to take away from the dress and jewelry. But then they add that I need to look like myself at my wedding, and that it’s best not to do anything drastically different from your norm, as years down the road you may look at your wedding photos and wonder, “who’s the chick in the Princess Leia bun?” only to realize you’re staring at your own face. And, since I wear my hair down mostly, doesn’t that mean it should be mostly down for my wedding?

I think the way to handle this is to find as many photos as possible that convey the hairstyle I’m imagining, bring those to the stylist for a trial run, and insist on seeing my hair the way I want it, no matter how much they push back. That way at least I can get the full picture. If I agree that it’s not the right look, I’ll let them try a loose side bun, but if I love it, I’m going to go with my instinct on this one. There have been other choices that I’ve let others weigh in on more heavily, but this time I’m sticking to my guns!

My dress is very elegant, fitted throughout the body and then it goes out a bit around the thigh. The neckline is straight across the chest, like a strapless gown, but with thin lace straps. I imagine my hair worn down, in loose curls, parted on one side, with either one or both sides pulled back a bit and clipped, with a flower towards the back. Veronica Lake with a flower? Here are some photos that almost depict what I want.


Now to find a stylist who will at least try this…

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Monday, April 12, 2010

we attended our tasting last week and oh man! was it delicious! i can't stop thinking about our menu. i also can't stop thinking about the question our onsite planner asked. "let's talk timeline for the day and what formalities you will be including". first dance, toasts, receiving line, cake cutting, father-daughter dance, mother-son dance, anniversary dance, bouquet toss, garter toss, the send-off. when you list them all out, i'm afraid that there won't be a party left. i really want our guests to have a relaxing and fun evening and just eat, drink, and dance if they want to. once our guests are dancing, i don't want to have to wind them down again for toasts and then get them back up on the dance floor. why not let them have the rest of the evening to dance the night away?

i don't have a resolution.

i think a receiving line would be very nice and my mother would greatly appreciate it. but how do we fit it in with pictures and cocktails?

so here's what i'm thinking:
5:30pm ceremony
6:00pm cocktails/pictures
7:00pm head in to the main house for dinner
7:15pm introductions
7:20pm first dance
7:25pm prayer and dinner service
8:15pm cake cutting
8:20pm toasts
8:35pm father-daughter dance
8:40-11:00pm dance party

how does that sound? i still need to figure out the bouquet toss (if we have one) and the mother-son dance (if mr. uva's mom would like to have one).

details, details!

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Tuesday, April 06, 2010

The Barcelo: Riviera Maya, Mexico



Welcome to one of the most stunning beaches you will ever experience. Honestly, even though it is your wedding and the event you have waited for all your life, I bet you will be itching to get out of that wedding gown and into the cutest white bikini you can find at this resort. The Barcelo Properties in Riviera Maya consist of five properties Maya Beach, Maya Colonial Beach, Caribe Beach, Tropical Beach and Palace Deluxe. This allows you and your guests to mingle easily but also to get away for a bit of privacy from family and friends.





The Gazebo is a popular selection for ceremonies, uplit at night it's a gorgeous setting with water views ( but you can wear your heels without worry of the sand.) Beachfront options are also available.







The Spa is phenomenal Ladies, full scale and serene. They picked us up in golf carts for our appointment. Loved it !!



The beaches are pretty wide here. The property is sprawling but if you are a runner you its wonderful as the properties are aligned to allow you to take your run through all of the properties. Both Adult only and Family friendly pools. Several restaurants with authentic themed cuisine. Volleyball, water polo, and a myriad of scheduled events to keep you and your guests occupied. Hammocks galore!!



Destination: Mexico


Destination Weddings have truly evolved and we find ourselves escorting more and more brides to points far and wide. We recently had the opportunity to travel to Mexico and scout out a number of locations we found to be truly wonderful. Stick around as we cover the globe uncovering gems across the continents all perfect for your Destination Wedding.
First stop The Barcelo: Rivera May, Mexico

Monday, April 05, 2010

Grab Your Copy Now!

Check out these highlights from the May issue of BRIDES magazine, on newsstands TODAY!:

The BRIDES 200: From menus to music – hairstyles to honeymoons – the editors of BRIDES have put together a list of everything trendy for today’s weddings (p 226)

The wedding meal can be one of the most expensive lines in the budget, so BRIDES helps trim the fat with 10 ways to save on catering (p 120)


Registry 411: You aren’t just setting up a home; you’re building a life. BRIDES has a tool kit with everything you need to know when registering (p 143)

Don’t stress over planning your honeymoon – BRIDES has a simple plan that will help you map out a fabulous honeymoon with ease

What if your singer calls in sick? What do you do if someone rips your train? Not to worry – BRIDES has some quick fixes to solve these and many other last-minute problems (p 128)

Dresses that look divine from behind set the standard this season – check out these twelve pages of beautiful fashion (p 208)

How to take honeymoon basics from daytime to date time with just a few key accessories (p 266)



  • PLUS, 20 goodies for welcome bags (p 284)

For these stories and more, check out the May issue of BRIDES, on newsstands April 6.



For these stories and more, check out the May issue of BRIDES, on newsstands April 6.

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Saturday, April 03, 2010

Ceremony Backdrop: Graves or Port-O-Potties?

When my mother traveled to DC last weekend from California to help with wedding tasks, we visited our possible ceremony sites. Mr. Cathedral Heights and I planned to visit them a few times previously, but kept canceling because of snowstorms and a brief period of low wedding planning motivation. We figured that my mother’s trip offered a chance to check out the sites and try to make a decision.

I let go of the idea of getting married at a castle in Ireland if we could have an outdoor ceremony (okay, maybe a castle in Ireland was never really on the table…). So, when we decided to have the reception at the Key Bridge Marriott, I began looking into affordable outdoor ceremony venues nearby. I learned that the National Park Service charges a mere $50 for a permit to have a wedding ceremony on Park property, and I decided to start there.

We narrowed it down to two choices: The Jefferson Memorial or the Netherlands Carillon. The former would be a bit further from the reception site, but sounded like a memorable place for a ceremony, and the latter was a mere eight blocks or so from the hotel and also a beautiful setting.

First stop: The Netherlands Carillon. A grassy area with a large bell tower gifted to the US from the Netherlands, surrounded by trees, with a distant view of DC, The Netherlands Carillon is sandwiched between Arlington National Cemetery and the United States Marine Corps Memorial. Not sandwiched tightly, but enough to make the setting feel a tad too serene for the wedding ceremony. I just don’t feel entirely comfortable walking down the aisle with a graveyard in my peripheral view.

Second stop: The Jefferson Memorial—a gorgeous monument as the backdrop to our wedding seemed perfect. Although tourist season was in full force because of the Cherry Blossoms blooming, as we made our way to the Jefferson it looked exceptionally gorgeous. We walked to the section designated by the park for the ceremony and massive blue, plastic structures came into view. I attempted to imagine the ceremony without the backdrop of Port-O-Potty row or the stench of chemicals covering the stench of human waste. Call me high maintenance, but that’s just not my idea of acceptable for the “something blue” category. We decided to go back to that site when the Cherry Blossoms, and hopefully the plastic restrooms, have disappeared.


I’m contemplating returning to the idea board for outdoor ceremony sites in the DC/Arlington area (if you have any thoughts on this, let me know!). As a good friend of mine pointed out today, part of planning a wedding is accepting that it won’t all go as planned.

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Friday, April 02, 2010

who knew

who knew that the most difficult decision with this wedding would be over the silliest thing?

mr. uva and i have been bickering over ties for months now. i found the cutest floral option from fieldguided on etsy but mr.uva wants a more "substantial" feeling tie. so we went the commercial route and picked up ties from both j crew and brooks brothers - no go. he wants a floral tie and can't find one.

no joke...this has been going on for months and months.

two nights ago was my limit. i told my fine fiance that i didn't want to hear anything else about ties. i was all "tied-out". no more. pick a tie. i was at the point where i didn't care if the boys even wore ties.

but he followed through and ordered this lovely liberty print

tie crafters in new york will be making my mr. uva and his groomsmen matching ties and bowties out of this pretty pink floral.

phew

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