Natali & Goran's Wedding - November 23, 2013

Natali and Goran's wedding day was one long party. In similar fashion to a Big Fat Greek Wedding, as the movie goes, this was One Big Macedonian Wedding! (Though technically speaking I don't think the Macedonians and Greeks are friendly but I don't know how else to describe it!)

Some backstory: This girl and I became best buddies in the 3rd grade...aka the 1992-1993 school year. Holy moly. Talk about feeling old. Right before the 7th grade I believe, her family moved to New Jersey. This was definitely sad but it also gave me another great friendship. Natali, myself and another girl named Tiffany always hung together in the 6th grade and after Natali moved, Tiffany and I became close. Flash forward 15 years later, Tiffany is what my mom calls our adopted sister, haha :)

Well the point of that story is to show how good things come from seemingly bad moments. (One friend leaving and gaining a new one.) Even though Natali and her family left, we did get to see them sporadically over the years. But it was always understood: we would be in each other lives forever in some way. The wedding was also fun because I got to see people that I hadn't seen in the longest, like her uncle and Godmother. Some of them remembered me, which was very cool.

I had to be at her parent's home in New Jersey between 10:30 and 11AM, but since Natali herself was running behind at the hair salon, we had more time to get there. I was late for my 9AM hair appointment but the girl managed to do a great job and had me out of there by 10:15. I think she did a great job!

Jonathan and I arrived at 11:30 and quickly began to get into our outfits. The outside of the house was nicely decorated. 

The house was filled to the brim with people. It was great! 

Though I didn't know any of the other bridesmaids, except for her cousin and Godmother, they were all very nice. The reason I hadn't met the majority of them before was because the day of the bridal shower landed on the day of Michele and Joe's wedding! (October 5th) I had already RSVPed long before the bridal shower date was revealed. I was so bummed and attempted to do both in one day but time wise, it wouldn't have worked out.

One of the things I got a kick out of, was that both bride and groom got ready in the same house! I think because they were married in June civilly but whatever the reason, it made for a unique start to the wedding! 

So out the house we went, all the while people clapped and the musicians continued to play music.

We took ourselves to the church, as the (very large) family rode in the limo. They were only a 10 minute drive from St. Nikolas Macedonian Church. 

Natali looked beautiful! And the ceremony itself was very interesting. I am used to Catholic rituals but love observing other faiths. For starters, the wedding party stood the entire time. The entire ceremony was sung. A large white shawl was wrapped around the bride and groom, with a crown put on their heads and they had to walk around it a couple of times. That is a poor description of what actually went on but after the entire ceremony was done, we headed to The Brownstone for the reception. 

I didn't find out until later that The Brownstone is made popular thanks to Real Housewives of NJ. One of the housewives husbands owns the place apparently. 

I didn't take any pictures once I got in, though my mom did. Here are some of my favorites from her camera. (Canon Rebel T3i)

It was fun to be in a wedding party together. It was our first and as far as I can imagine, our last!

This next picture shows you how massive the wedding party was!

I've always wondered what our height difference looked like standing next to each other like this. Not gonna lie, it gives me a good chuckle! :) (FYI: I love it, but it does look amusing.)

Just beautiful.

Cheers in the bridal suite! Jonathan clearly got a head start...haha

I am just seeing these photos for the first time as I upload. I ADORE this one!

My mom took this as we were leaving the bridal suite to head to the cocktail hour. Priceless! (For those unfamiliar with these faces, that would be my lovely sister in the front looking like a movie star, Tiffany laughing at me haha, and my brother drinking way in the back.)

Jonathan and I did this whole thing for our entrance where he tossed the flowers to me. I'm guessing this was pre-toss!

First dance. A joyful one at that!

What a great shot my mom got!

Why yes, that's a pig with hundreds of dollars in it.

And yes, people are clapping and dancing around it.

The cake cutting! Natali had changed into a different dress by this point.

And then into this, for the last dress change of the night. And yes that is money on the floor, lol.

All in all a great night, and so crazy to think, the last wedding until our own. 

Save the Dates

Now that the save-the-dates are out, I can post about them. Yay!

I was so pleased with the quality from MagnetStreet.com. I had heard many good things about the website. There's another one called Wedding Paper Divas and their save the dates are SO nice...and also really pricey. With MagnetStreet, we were able to get 15% off the original order. On top of that, the day after we ordered it, I got a coupon via snail mail (!) for 25% off. We called them and they applied the 25% even after we made the purchase! Well since it was already paid, they refunded back $22 to reflect the complete 40% off. Great customer service if you ask me!

For those that don't know Jonathan, he gives 100% in whatever he does. Unfortunately that means even little things like save the dates :-P It took us hours to complete the save the date because we kept trying different pictures, fonts, etc. When it was finally done, I think I literally got up and cheered, lol. But it came out great so I'm not complaining. If we had gone with Wedding Paper Divas, this is the two I liked:

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It took about a week to come and as soon as they arrived, I got to work on printing out address labels, putting stamps on the back, and all that little stuff. What surprised me was how time consuming it all was. All the addresses started to blend in after awhile. We ordered 100 save the dates and I sent out 91 so far, I think. Something like that. At one point, I thought I was losing my mind. Take, for example, this exchange between myself and Kim (one of my married go-to friends for wedding advice!)

Hilarious!

Yeah...I worried about how to stuff magnets into an envelope. I've lost it.

Anyhow, once I regained my sanity, I was able to mail them all out. The post office clerk almost dropped the entire stack and I looked on in horror as she caught them in time. Okay, so I was still a tad bit looney. But they were my babies for a week!

Yeah...a whole lot of save the dates!

The stamp I used on the back of the envelopes was something I had picked up from Michael's Arts and Crafts. I've always had a stamp collection but then after engagement, I had to get this particular one. You can get it here: Save The Date Stamp. By the way, that picture above was not organized that way for a photo op. I spaced them out to dry for an hour! Tedious, but fun.

Our address labels I had ordered weeks prior from Zazzle. Zazzle is awesome. If you've never checked the website out, you're welcome. 

I liked this fall themed one. I almost went with fall themed stamps from Zazzle too (a pumpkin with the word love in the center) but I was talked out of it, thankfully! Would have been nice, but a waste of money. The address labels were a little bit more practical. For stamps, we went with the "celebrate" ones the post office sells. 

I mailed the majority out this past Friday, a half hour before the post office closed, and a lot of people got it the next day! I loved the feedback we got! It was fun to see their excitement. I mailed three more out today since those took time in finding the addresses. Instead of handing it to a postal clerk this time around, I put it in the slot that's inside the post office and they got stuck to the lid! D'oh! Magnets are tricky. 

I did want to note most people wait 6-8 months before the wedding to send out save the dates but most lists tell you that you can start once you hit the 11 month mark. I really wanted to send it before winter hit because of its' fall theme, hence why we sent them out now.

The pumpkins in the save-the-date are one of my favorite wedding purchases. We plan to use them during the reception, like on one of the tables in the hallway or something.

We got a great deal on them. $30 each. There were websites selling pumpkins for wedding purposes, for well over $100 per pumpkin! Of course, I was the crazy loon willing to spend that much, but when I saw the Michael's one, I was sold. They came in real fast too. That store really has gotten an A+ for me in this wedding planning. The fact that both the Woodside and Forest Hills houses are in walking distance to one is a bonus.

And while we are on the topic of save the dates, on one of our recent Michael's visits, my mom, aunt and I bumped into a neighbor we hadn't seen in awhile. She asked about the wedding and if it was going to be at Saint Sebastian's and when I said yes and that she could stop by the church and watch if she wanted, she said she'd mark it down. Pretty cute! That's what I love about Woodside, everyone knows each other, or at least of each other. Not that I'd want the whole neighborhood to show up, but ya know what I mean!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was the last Thanksgiving for Jonathan and I as "single people" as the saying goes.  It was a very pleasant and traditional one as usual. This year we opted to go to his aunt's house in Westchester again, even though we had gone last year. Reason being that his Uncle Dom had unfortunately suddenly passed away this past spring. We figured it would be best to make the house feel as full as possible this year because of that.

I liked what Jonathan wrote about his own view of yesterday:
Nicole reminded me that it was my last Thanksgiving as a single man and the last Thanksgiving in this house (at least, the way it is now). After she had said that, I got to thinking, how true she was. I was a bit sentimental...but not a bad way. I just tried to soak it all in. But, trust me, I'm more than happy and eager to start my life as a married man! :-)

We hit some pretty awful traffic on the way over. What normally takes just over a half hour or so, turned into an almost two hour car ride. But once we got there, the feasting began. Though I did miss seeing Ayla and Eliza (my two little cousins), we had another little cutie cousin there, Caity, the daughter of Jonathan's cousin Lauren and her husband Chris.

Between dinner and dessert, we hung out in his cousin Danielle's room, which is like Disney mecca. Needless to say, Caity really enjoys hanging with her aunt in there!

We left around 6 with full bellies and after dropping his parents at the house, continued to Woodside. The traditional movie was on (they chose The Money Pit with Tom Hanks) and the girls were down with their dad. Alex, my aunt, was nice enough to go get them. Luckily they weren't sleeping so I got to kiss them all up. Do I sound like a sucker for my little cousins? ....that's because I am, lol.

Raise your hands if you think my grandparents need to upgrade their TV!

We wrapped up the night with a Kris Kringle picking. This year, it was brought up that maybe we would take a break from the usual big gift swap (booo!) thanks to all the wedding stuff coming up. (Oops?) Jonathan wanted to participate too, so pretty much everyone in the house minus my Opa had names in the hat. The person I drew is easy because gift cards are definitely the way to go here. And, of course, regardless of what my mom said, Jonathan and I agreed my parents are still getting a gift from us! 

That leads to me to a short but sweet "Thankful" list:

1. I am thankful that everyone (both families & friends) have been excited about the wedding. It's more exciting thinking of it as a family affair. With lots of good food and music, of course. The emotional and financial support means more than a paragraph can express!

2. I am thankful for Starbucks iced mochas. They keep me sane, which keeps Jonathan sane, lol.

3. That even on Thanksgiving morning, some Starbucks employees came in and even seemed genuinely cheery as they worked!

4. Speaking of Jonathan, I am thankful that there is someone like him in the world. Everyone needs a Jonathan in their life. 

5. For siblings. Instant buddies for life. And I've got three! (A headache for my kid self, a blessing for my adult self, lol)

6. For my parents and Jonathan's parents, who secretly must all be saints.

7. The Big Man Upstairs. Without Him, I wouldn't be here to make this list!

Another year older

Been slacking on the updates ever since I got the complete series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for my birthday, thanks to Jonathan! Well that, and things have been pretty low-key lately.

Turning 28 on the 8th of this month was relatively painless (the pain part being two years shy of 30!). Jonathan took me to London Lennie's for dinner, a fantastic restaurant on Woodhaven Blvd. They were having a dinner special so I opted for the limited menu and, as I am notorious for doing, ended up wishing I had went with the salmon instead of the fried fish platter. The point of this story? I don't know, lol. Just acknowledging that bad habit of regretting my dinner choices!

Afterwards, Jonathan had invited a few of our friends out. It was a last minute thing that he decided to do the week before. But on a short notice, I enjoyed the company of those who came out!

Here are some wedding related things that have happened in the past few weeks:

Honeymoon - We started off with putting a deposit on NCL's 7-day Hawaiian cruise around the islands. We will be there November 1-8. (Starting the honeymoon one age and ending it a year older. Awesome! Or not.) As I had mentioned, my dad called for us since my parents have gone so often, they are phone buddies with one of the travel agents for NCL, lol. Both my dad and the agent urged us to upgrade to a balcony room. Their arguments were hard to ignore, like the free breakfast every morning that you can eat while taking in the view from your room. I figure, when the heck will we get a chance to go to Hawaii again in the near future? Might as well do this trip right!

After that, we waited a bit and started booking the hotels, since reservations have opened up for next fall. So the hotel we're staying at for 2 days in Anaheim is booked for our Disney adventure, as well as the hotel (Waikiki Beach Marriott) in Oahu for 4 days.

Save the Dates - We ordered 100 save the dates with MagnetStreet that was supposed to ship out today but not sure what happened there. We're hoping to mail it out before December arrives and the Christmas card frenzy begins. We bought the address labels for the envelopes but are slacking on the actual printing them out part. Our return address labels are fall themed and cute (from Zazzle). I'll post a picture once they've been received by everyone.

With Thanksgiving approaching and Christmas coming at lightning speed, the wedding planning can take a nice break (well, once the save the dates are out.)

This Saturday, I am a bridesmaid for Natali, a childhood friend of mine. The wedding party is absolutely huge and Jonathan is one of the groomsmen, actually. The bride and groom come from a big European family. I remember, I think it was 1996 or so, I attended a family party (wedding?) for someone Nat's family knew. We did some big dance with everyone's arms linked, forming a circle. It left quite an impression on my eleven year old self, lol. It's going to be one big party Saturday. Looking forward to it! Both church and reception are located in New Jersey - will be a long, but joyous, day for sure.

Engagement photos

We were able to review our engagement photos recently and let me tell you, deciding which ones to go into a save the date (and then actually making the save the date) was such a process. I think that threw me for a loop. I thought it would be easy breezy but it was far from it! Magnetstreet.com has great affordable save the date magnets so we went with that site. It took us hours to figure out which photos to use and then actually work on the save the date itself, since the template we picked came with four spots for pics. Originally, I did not want a save the date with that many photos but I could see Jonathan really liked playing with that many, so I stuck with it. The end result is really nice! I will post it once they're out.

Here are a few photos from the photo shoot last month with Sal of Graffeo Photography. After reviewing all these, I've determined I never look relaxed in front of the camera, lol. I much rather be the one behind it!

Even though photos from this angle are generally unflattering, I still really like this one.

This picture shows how windy it was that day! My hair whipping around ruined so many good shots    :-(

This picture is too funny not to share. Between Jonathan's face and my hair completely in my face, what a laugh!

This is another one that gave me a good laugh! I've always wondered what people are thinking when they pose for these photos. Jonathan looks so natural. I look like I'm wondering where's the nearest Starbucks.

In real life we'd be holding hands....and looking down at our phones, haha. 

I love this picture - the "There's Something About Mary" hair cracks me up. Jonathan wanted to put it on the save the date (it didn't make the cut). Typical dude!

One of my favorites!! And yes, I do realize the bag is in the background of the photo. Drats!

My favorite wedding item we've bought yet.

 Oh let's stop and dip in the middle of Flushing Meadow Park...lol

It looks like he's trying to make sure I don't get blown away! Haha.

All in all, Sal gave us so many good pictures to work with and we can't thank him enough!

Fall Swap

Over the summer, when I was doing venue research, I had Googled Russo's on the Bay for some reviews. I had been there for a wedding a year prior and my bride friend who had her reception there had told me many wonderful things about it. But once you're in research mode, there's no turning back, lol. I stumbled upon Laura's  blog at the time, which you can still see in the "Our Wedding" tab on her page if you're getting married yourself and want to check it out. I loved that she was candid about the planning process and very informative. Being a wedding planning newbie, I read the whole blog in a matter of weeks!

That being said, I found her new blog and learned about the Fall Swap. It seemed fun, why not? Ironically enough, we got paired up together. Which kind of makes sense, as we are both living in the same borough. Her gifts were very creative. I can't thank her enough!

Everything was very thoughtful (not a thing here I can't use!) and I loved this frame. Jonathan was impressed as well! 

Laura is due with a baby this month and her blog is a fun documentation of that. Head over to hers to see what I got her! 

http://www.littlemomentsbigmoments.blogspot.com/

Week recap

We finally got something out of the way that I've been wanting to do for awhile now...transportation!

This sweet 1966 Rolls Royce is what my dad and I will be arriving to the church in. I wish the church wasn't just 7 blocks away! Would have been fun to go for a long ride in that thing. 

We decided to go with Camelot Limo as the price they offered us for what we needed was lower than the other company we had checked out, that I mentioned in the other post. Since the day-of transportation is generously being taken care of by Jonathan's parents, the final decision rested with them, in terms of what deal to get. They let us pick the cars, of course. They rock! Many thanks to them for helping us. 

So here's the time-line. Mass starts at 2pm so the guys will be picked up in a party bus at Jonathan's house at 1pm and taken to the church. It takes about 20 minutes by car, give or take, from his house in Forest Hills to my house in Woodside. 

Not a bad ride, huh?

After the guys are dropped off, the bus will swing around to get the girls at my house, and my mom and the rest of the family will hop in to go to the church. 

We are having a Mass not just a ceremony so it will take about 45 minutes. With the receiving line, pictures, etc. we figure we will be headed to Long Island around 4pm. Jonathan and I will ride in the party bus with everyone else. From Woodside, it takes about 40 minutes without traffic to get to where Chateau Briand is. The biggest question to answer right now is where are we going to take pictures in between the church and the reception. It gets dark around 6pm  so really we have a good hour for pictures. I feel bad making the Mass at 2 when that's such a huge gap between church and reception but any later, we would be outta luck for pictures. I love Chateau Briand but it's not like Marina Del Rey where there's a big outdoor space for pictures. (Side note: I sometimes tease Jonathan that we should have had it at the Marina because he was always comparing everything to it, since his sis & bro-in-law got married there and it was nothing short of fantastic.) Anyway, we will cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm just happy transportation has been taken care of! And I must say, Samantha, the woman we dealt with at Camelot was so nice and personable. 

Two years ago on this past October 30th, I was a part of Anthony and Gina's wedding. It was such a fun day that I want recap it another time. I remember the excitement leading up to it very well. Would you believe it had snowed the night before? It was fitting too, which I'll explain in that recap.

In other October related news, Halloween with this guy is never a dull moment. Jonathan really wanted to dress up as the Joker from the TV series circa 1966. I opted to be Harley Quinn to complete the duo. It was fun putting on the white face stuff...not so much taking it off at 3AM, lol. We went to a local bar in Glendale called YerMan's that always throws a costume party/contest. We ended up winning best couple costume for the second year in a row!

Last year we went as Alice and the Mad Hatter and in 2010, as Popeye and Olive Oyl! (I was sick for the party in 2011 and skipped out.)

Next year for Halloween, we will be in Hawaii and dressed as newlyweds. Sweeeeet.