Fiona & Kareem Tie the Knot

The main reason for being in Virginia this was weekend was to celebrate with one of my best friend's, Fiona, and her marriage to her wonderful new husband, Kareem!  Fiona and I met when she was at Emory and I was doing my whole "in-between" Penn and UGA thing and was basically squatting over at Emory campus.  Considering the number of sorority and fraternity events I attended, I'm pretty sure the majority of people had no idea I wasn't even in school there.  I was a staple crasher.

One of our first pics together, Mardi Gras 2005

Fiona is one of those friends I cherish most, where we can go months if not years without speaking and then pick up the phone and it's right back to where we left off.  She is an amazingly loyal friend and I am so lucky to have her as a true best friend.  As one of the speeches put it, everything "just works" when Fiona is around.  

She and Kareem met in residency in Charlottesville, her for dermatology and him for radiology.  Their first date was to Turkey.  As in, the country.  Not the food group.  They both love travel and both love to do it without a plan.  I get anxiety just writing that.  Their honeymoon plans consist of a plane ticket to Barcelona and apparently Kareem did actually book a castle for a couple of nights two days before the wedding.

Fiona and Kareem's gorgeous wedding at Mt. Ida, Charlottesville, VA:

Super lovely bridal suite for us to get ready!

I need this chair! 

This guy wanted to help me with my ee cummings reading!  
Please ignore janky nail.  Bad bridesmaid etiquette.

Petting the pony!  Big Clydesdale pony!

The always beautiful bride, Fiona

So cold waiting after pictures - solution: shots of Makers!

Gorgeoussssss

Stock the Cellar!

Last weekend a few of our good friends in Atlanta threw us a gorgeous twist on the typical "Stock the Bar" shower - a Stock the Cellar!  I adore wine, and have transformed P into something of a snob as well, so this was right up our alley.  And everyone knows I really only abide by one food group - cheese.  Glorious cheese!  

Ali is always the perfect hostess, but I have to say she outdid herself on this one!

Go see photos on her precious blog: 
http://howtosurvive20.blogspot.com/2013/02/cheersa-wine-cheese-party.html

We had a blind wine tasting and a trivia game (ohmygosh was I terrible at both!  So much for my secret sommelier ambitions!!!), there were wines and cheeses galore gorgeously labeled on a chalkboard table runner (what?!) and she had all kinds of fun things for us to take home, including a beautiful wine cork wreath and monogrammed beer & wine coozies she made herself.  GORG!

She's also a budding photog, so go peek!!!

Hosting: Stock the Bar Party

A couple of weeks ago I co-hosted a Stock the Bar for a couple getting married a few weeks after P and I are due down the aisle.  I've talked about how fun it is to have someone I can bridezilla my heart out to, that totally gets the ridiculousness of negotiating over linens and flowers and such, trying on dresses multiple times to get the right alterations, feeling up a hundred kinds of paper and design to find "the invite"...  It's been crazy but so nice to have a partner in crime!  


I couldn't have been more excited to play a part in throwing the happy couple a little shower to get them started on stocking their house and bar and kicking off the multitude of festivities coming their way!

My co-zilla has the cutest color combo picked out - yellow and gray, super chic and trendy yet classy.  

It was a lot of fun finding fun ways to incorporate their colors into the party, starting with the shower invite I DIY'd here.

My co-hosterita and I went through a bunch of ideas to find fun gifts and favors, which ended up including a traditional bar set, paper goods and these adorable Mr. and Mrs. glasses: 

For food we kept it really simple and toothpick/finger friendly:
Slow cooker meatballs
Pulled pork from the bride's fav spot: Fat Matt's
Spinach dip
Rotel-velveeta dip
Salted caramel cheesecakes (I made mini ones in a mini muffin pan!)

We toasted the future newlyweds with some really cute and fun S'mores Shooters:

Wish I'd had my blowtorch to light up those mini mallows!

DIY straw flags (in Word!)

Paper straws, dishwashable stadium cups and cocktail napkins featuring
the new couple's monogram (all from Etsy)

A chalkboard welcome!

Balloons floated around dangling the couple's engagement photos at eye level 

Signature mojito cocktail and water jugs
Why do lemons float and not limes?!

The spread!

The adorable happy couple opening their gifts!

Wedding Bells: Final Catering Tasting

P and I recently had our final tasting at Affairs to Remember, or as I like to call it, the only wedding item P happily participates in.  Affairs was recommended to me by our good friend Ali, as they did a fabulous job on their wedding, at our same venue!  I swear the similarities stop there :)

We tested out a few caterers just to be sure, but once we tasted their menu items the first time, we were set.  And they give you an inclusive price w decor and plating and all sorts of great stuff that I am SO grateful I don't have to negotiate pennies with companies for now.  Seriously, how you can vary by up to 100% for a fork is beyond me.  Outcha damn mind.  Anddd after you go, they always send you home with a cute little jar of completely calorie/fat free caramel popcorn drizzled with white chocolate.  

Affairs is awesome.  And here are some pics of what's to come to prove it!   A few of these will be in the final shindig in July, you'll just have to drool until then!

lobster with spicy creamed corn shot

crab cake with lemon dill cream

beef tenderloin with carrot and celery in a blue cheese shot

mint julep chicken grilled finished with southern ambrosia chutney

champagne dijon chicken with an asparagus goat cheese salad

pimento three ways - open faced with fried green tomatoes, deconstructed and
spreadable with roasted vegetables

The Curse of the Mini Feet

I've managed to convince myself I should probably have a whole new collection of Resort items for our honeymoon... At least on Pinterest and my blog.

Starting with shoes.  Fun, colorful, sexy and divine resort-appropriate flippity floppities.

I was devastated to find that these Dolce Vita Archers don't come in less than a 6.  So devastated I wrote them a letter.  Occasionally the Jew in me takes over.  And by occasionally, I mean whenever there is a deal/sale/steal to be had, especially when I have been bamboozled.  In this case, said bamboozling came via zappos.com.  I searched high and low for these babies - honestly any of the 4 below would do, but especially the nautical striped ones and the turquoise/zebra puppies.  Zappos said they had them.  In a 5.  All of them.  Until you commit to adding them to your bag.  I COMMITTED.  Then "whoops - not available - please choose another color."  Except it happens with every color.  I was led astray.  I shed a tear.  


It happens all the time.  I am constantly punished for my midgety petite feet. Just because I can still fit in those plastic bedazzled heels that come in cardboard purple chests (you know, the pre-k prom ones) doesn't mean I don't like pretty big girl shoesies.  Here are some more pretty shoes - mint and peachy, just in time for this season from Sam Edelman:

Guess what size they don't have them in.  Correct.  Only colors available in 5 were black and silver.  The boring ones.

There is a rumor that small feet girls get "all the good sales items."  Let me dis-spell this once and for all.  The crap on those shelves is from last season - 2 years ago.  It's been collecting dust since Aunt Mildred thought Crocs were the next big thing.  And in her demographic... they were.

I have literally gone into malls - entire malls (and I have witnesses) and asked them to bring all their 5s to me to let me see if anything is satisfactory.  3 pairs of hodge podge later (a cowboy boot - just one, flip flops and some glitter heels), I always leave empty handed - drooling over the Michael Kors, the BCBGs, and -sad to say- the Jessica Simpsons I could add to my collection of unique artifacts if only my poor little feet would grow.  

You hookers and your size 8 boats don't know how good you've got it.

The Wedding Poochies!

My fellow bridal bambina and I went on a little tour of alterationistas this past weekend to get some quotes for chopping up our pretty gowns.  It was so fun getting to put on our dresses and share the moment with a friend - when else do you get to both wear white in the same room??

Armed with a bag of marshmallows for nourishment (leftover from the neighbor's Xmas gifts), we hit the streets of Atlanta and priced three different places.  Veryyyy different places.

First up was the place I have always gone to get my stuff hemmed and prettied - European Alterations in Peachtree Battle in Buckhead.  Well.  Until this visit.  Chrissy was up first and got her China-doll on trying to make nice with the seamstress.  Even though we told them we were just getting a quote, they proceeded to pin the crap out of her dress for 20 minutes.  At one point the lady stabbed herself and had to get a replacement pinner so she didn't bleed on the dress.  Then it was my turn - same deal of excessive pinning.  It wasn't until I was shoving the bad boy back into it's home that I saw some lovely smears of blood all up in the underskirt... GROSS.  The lady was quick to say "not it" and offered no help to get her bodily fluids off my gown.  Then they quoted us over $400 each for some simple hemming.  Hmmm.  Not such a good start. 

This is why I brought the mallows...

After a quick run to CVS to buy a Tide stain stick and get out whoever's bleedies off my dress, we were off to Roswell.  And some extra dodo because it was hot up in that piece trying to get into our dresses.  We went to a little place called Irina's Alterations.  She has this seriously thick Russian accent and was the sweetest woman ever.  No pinning, no weird questions, she just sized us up, asked what we needed done and gave us some new prices - less than half of the first place, in fact.  Still had one stop to go.

Off to Lawrenceville!  We stopped at this awesome joint, Local Republic, for lunch and caught up with my bridesmaid Beth!  Seriously, the tapenade-goat cheese-pesto bruschetta is bombzone.

We pulled up to the third place, Dora Baker Bridal Alterations, which was a woman's home and I was immediately suspicious.  It did not look like any kind of professional establishment.  We were so wrong - she was awesome!  She had one room set up for her sewing machine and such and then the room we were in was devoted to the fittings - mirrors on both ends and a little stage and everything.  And this woman didn't ask us what we wanted - she told us what we needed done.  As if we had any clue what to say other than "take it in, make it shorter" anyway.  She pulled, poked, and prodded.  She discussed boning, bra cups, redesigning entire sections, pleating vs. bustling.  It was a lot.  And it was still half the price of the first place.  Clearly sold.

The real reason I personally already adore this lady - she called me poochy.  Poo-chee.  I weigh 100 lbs, I am quite petite by anyone's standards.  But I have certainly gotten poochified in some spots.  I blame the eating out 3x a day and the lackluster jumping jack routines... maybe those mallows...  Whatever the reason for the poochies - that little lady was up front about it and gave me 3 months to fix it.  Loved her.  

Poochies be gone!

DIY: "Stock the Bar" Shower Invites

A couple of my faves are getting hitched in 8 short months, which has been extra fun for me as I have a bride-in-crime to bounce ideas and vendors and such around with.  Makes my bridal diarrhea of the mouth to the innocent friends more tolerable!

Check out the cutesy l'il invites I made for the Stock the Bar I'm co-hosting next month!   I finally found a good use for the Washi tape that forchicsake.com got me obsessed with!

Wedding Invitations!

We just got out wedding invitation samples in the mail, thanks to weddingpaperdivas.com and minted.com!  So many pretty colors, beautiful finishes and fabulous textures!  It was really hard to narrow it down to the samples, but we picked out our favorite in under 5 minutes!  Whew!  And only 5 months before they need to be sent out... hehe!  Organized crazy person that I am!

Our colors are navy and yellow - so we are going with navy type!  I am lucky enough to have a mommy who has done gorgeous calligraphy for years to write out all my envelopes for a special touch.  Can't wait to see the finished product!  

Bar Cart Obsession

Recently I’ve become obsessed with having a gold bar cart in my house.  I don’t even really have a place to put a gold bar cart, but that’s beside the point.  When I get obsessed with something I typically research like crazy, beg and justify with the fiancé, and will eventually cave and buy whichever was the first one I saw anyway.

This has held true for jewelry, cars, even my puppy’s rare breed (Glen of Imaal Terrier)… pretty much everything even remotely feasible – I know what I like immediately and I just have to have it.

I haven’t found “the” bar cart yet though, so I am still in the market!  I plan on going hunting at some of the many antique stores near my house I have yet to explore.  Every thrift/antique experience I’ve had so far ends up with a car full of a bunch of inexpensive crap I turn around and re-donate within a year.  Last time I ended up with 10 records that I thought looked cool – things like Pink Floyd and the Grease Soundtrack.  A steal at $0.25 each!  Until I re-gifted them to Goodwill less than a month later – what the hell did I plan to do with those things, anyway?  Remember Laser Disks?  I don’t think I could even tell the difference between the two, given the chance.  My parents have a bunch of those enormous DVDs still, I believe, including classics like Aladdin and True Lies…  Nothing says suspense like having to flip a disk mid-way through a Schwarzenegger scene!

Here are some things I just NEED on my booze laden cart of gold (preferably gold bamboo):

Society Socials' Hayworth (front runner!)

Vintage number from Etsy

Love this from Luvocracy

Hendrick's is the best gin ever!

St. Germain Elderflower liqueur for something sweet and floral

Delicious bubbly!  And so pretty!

Freshness!

Cute little guy from Dwell Studio!

I may settle for this python tray in the meantime... really similar to the Target-Neiman collection Altuzarra tray, but I need brown!

I went on the St. Germain website (amazingly pretty), where they have a link to submit a request for them to make you a signature cocktail for your wedding - I just emailed them with some info about the theme and feel of my reception (wedding@stgermain.fr) and got a response in an hour with this great recipe and response "Considering your love of gin and bubbles, I'd propose the cocktail below!"

Rachel's Cocktail

1 1/2 part gin

3/4 parts St-Germain

1/2 part lemon

3 parts sparkling wine

Method: Mix gin, St-Germain and lemon in a fluted glass and then top with chilled Sparkling wine.

How fun is that??  Looks a lot like their Nomayo cocktail, minus the aperol bitters!  How chic!

St. Germain Nomayo Cocktail