Wedding - Ceremony

Our ceremony was magical.  It took place at the bottom of a long series of tiered patios looking out over Lake George.  We didn't do any decorating because the scenery was already so beautiful.

I had to walk down the longest aisle of all time... down many flights of stairs!

Damn our wedding party looked good :)

Reverend Joy Burke wrote our ceremony just for us.  It was so special to know that she had taken all the information about who we are and written such a beautiful ceremony.  It was perfect.

It was slightly overcast (which was good because otherwise the sun would have been in my eyes the whole time), but the sun came out right as we were saying our vows.  See I told you it was magical!

Music:
Bridesmaid processional: Blackbird, The Beatles
Bride's processional: One Love, Bob Marley
Recessional: Boogie on Reggae Woman, Phish

Next up... the Reception!

a new year

I have decided that 2012 is going to be MY year... I am gonna get stuff done and make stuff happen!  Last year I wrote my new year resolutions and failed on pretty much all of them... lame.  This year I have to be different, I have to do the work to stick to my resolutions because I owe it to myself to become a better version of me.  Here is what I am going to accomplish (not hope to accomplish) in 2012:

1. Finish writing thank you notes from our wedding.  I am so embarrassed to even write that down... its pathetic that Kevin and I haven't finished them yet so I am going to do my best to get them done this week... by Sunday night they will be done!  Or at least the ones I have to do will be done... Kev has his to write too.

2. Get myself into the best shape of my life.  I had lofty plans for last year... to lose the almost 20 pounds I have gained over the past 2 years... and it NEVER HAPPENED.  I do think I looked gorgeous on my wedding day but I am so upset with myself for not being in better shape.  This year I have to get my body back... I want to fit into all my clothes again, I wanna be able to wear whatever I want, I want to feel good about my body... it's gonna take a lot of work and sacrifice but I have to do it. 

3. Make a major dent in my credit card debt.  I have been doing a great job with this over the past 3 months.  My credit cards are off limits.  Goodbye CC debt!

4. Make our apartment feel like our home.  I have made a lot of progress with this.  I want to update our couch pillows, finish hanging artwork (some is getting framed, other stuff hasn't been ordered yet and some stuff is at my parent's house so this could take a while), update our bedding and get rid of all our junk.  I want to do an apartment tour later this year... only when the apartment looks good enough though ;)

5. Carve out more alone time with my hubby.  I don't mean just lying on the couch either... I want to take more NYC walks, take a cooking class, maybe visit a new city.  We will have our first major vacation together in just over a month... our HONEYMOON... and we couldn't be more excited!!!

6. Spend more quality time with friends.  Maybe a GIRLS TRIP!!!

7. Be more patient.

8. Enjoy the present.  I tend to always look into the future so I want to focus on enjoying where I am right now.

9.  Be a better blogger!  I have been so sporadic with my blogging this year.  I am not doing a very good job documenting everything and I want to be better.  So my first few posts this year will be a New Years recap and the last few wedding posts.

I am looking forward to this year... we will go our honeymoon, celebrate friend's engagements (helping plan weddings I hope), celebrate at our friend's wedding, celebrate our first wedding anniversary.  This year is gonna be MY year!

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!