Wedding - Family & Wedding Party Portraits

Kevin and I felt so blessed to be surrounded by our friends and families on our wedding day.

I know I would not have been able to pull off this wedding without the help of my incredible parents - I love them so much.

My brothers were my "bridesmen."  It was extremely important to have them by my side on my wedding day because they are two of my best friends.  

Seriously love these girls soooooo much!!!

Kevin had quite the dapper (and hilarious) group of groomsmen.  His brother was his best man.

I am so happy to officially be a part of Kevin's family (and an Aunt!).  They welcomed me with open arms from the very beginning and I love them all.

Wedding - The First Look

Originally Kevin didn't want to break tradition and see me before the wedding though I really wanted to do a first look.  Since he was letting me take charge of so much of the wedding I let go of my wish for the first look, but the more we started to plan the timeline of the day the more nervous I got about taking all our photos during the cocktail hour.  I voiced my concerns to Kevin and had him think about it.  In the end he agreed to do the first look.  I assured him that it would be such a special and private moment and wouldn't take away from the emotion of seeing me walk down the aisle.  (hehe bride wins!)

We did the first look behind the Villa Nirvana.  I had so many butterflies in my stomach walking down to see Kevin.  He said all he could hear was my dress swishing across the grass, haha.

I think the first thing out of my mouth when I saw Kevin was "Oh my god can you believe we are getting married today???"  After a whole year of planning there I was standing in front of my soon-to-be-husband in my wedding dress.  It was so surreal.  

We both thought it was really a special moment to see each other alone before the wedding chaos began.

Next up... Family and Wedding Party Portraits.

Wedding - Getting Ready

Let the wedding recap begin!  I am going to split this up into multiple posts to keep everyone sane.  We have had our wedding photos for a while now and I am so excited to share them.  So let's start with everyone getting ready.  There is a large house on one side of the Sagamore, the Villa Nirvana, that my family stayed in (Kevin's family stayed in another big house on the other side of the Sagamore).  Kevin spent the night before the wedding in a suite (which we spent our wedding night in as well) and got ready with his groomsmen there while I spent the night and got ready with my bridesmaids in the Villa. 

I was so relaxed the morning of the wedding.  My dad was the first person I saw when I came downstairs.  It was so special to have him be the first person I saw since he would be "giving me away" in only a few hours.

The whole morning was spent lounging around the house, watching everyone get their hair and makeup done, and trying to remember to eat something.  I felt like myself, just happy and content, no crazy nerves at all. 

I think I finally got some butterflies when I put my wedding dress on.  Ahhhh my wedding dress... my heavenly Alita Graham dress with the perfect amount of "princess pouf."  It just floated around me.  I felt so beautiful.

My BHLDN shoes.

My incredible purple necklace.

 Here are some photos of my hubby getting ready.  He looks so handsome!  I was told that they just hung out in the suite watching football and drinking beers... typical.

Next up... The First Look.

Chef's Table at Le Cirque

A month ago Kevin and I have the best dinner we will probably ever have... seriously.  We got to sit at the Chef's Table at Le Cirque (thank you so much Albert!!!).  Sitting in the kitchen and watching all the action was quite an experience.  There was some yelling and some cursing... we found it all quite entertaining.  I quickly realized that I would have left in tears within 5 seconds of working there.  It is intense to say the least but it has to be to keep a fancy shmancy kitchen like that running smoothly. 
 

The Executive Sous Chef Andy Choi chose all the dishes we tasted.  We had 8 dinner tastings... a kumumoto oyster with champagne caviar, sliced raw tuna over a sesame cracker and guacamole, white truffle rissotto with shaved black truffle on top, halibut poached in coconut milk over pumpkin granola, duck breast with foie gras mousse, pork belly, veal and crispy sweetbreads.   The tuna and the rissotto were my favorites.

By the end of dinner I was soooo full, but as usual I had plenty of room in my "dessert stomach."  We had 5 dessert tastings... basil panacotta with carrot sorbet is not pictured but I got a picture of everything else.  I can't remember what everything was but I do remember that everything was absolutely delicious.

We are so lucky to have been able to eat at such an amazing restaurant! 

Christmas Wishlist

Does anyone else have trouble coming up with ideas of what you want for Christmas or a Birthday?  I always struggle... granted on any day of the year I can rattle off 10 things I want but when someone seriously asks I usually can't come up with more than just a couple things.  Well this year I actually have a good idea of what I want... maybe it's because I have been trying to save money and therefore haven't bought anything for myself recently.  Here are some things that are at the top of my wishlist...

A large L.L. Bean boat and tote bag, zip-top in purple (perfect carry-on for our honeymoon)

 (via)

Black riding boots... well any boots really.  I recently realized that even though I own a TON of shoes I literally only own 2 pairs of winter shoes... shame on me.

(via)

(via)

(via)

(via)

A new bathing suit or two... for our honeymoon.

(via)

(via)

(via)

A puffy jacket... I can't believe I have gotten away without one for the past few years... the windy NYC winter can be brutal.

(via)

(via)

 (via)

 A sequin skirt and a killer party dress.

(via)

(via)

I could add some more things to this list but I will stop here for now... maybe I'll do a round 2 at some point.