The Sun Always Shines

In my mind! Will the sun ever come out again???

Hello everyone! Well I'm finally back after my European vacay. It rained every single day yet it was absolutely amazing and I promise to fill you all in on everything very soon.

I will tell you that the trip got off to a great start. I was at JFK in an airport lounge with Doutzen Kroes ,one of my absoultely favorite models (shown above sporting some fab rain gear...i thought how appropriate! :)). I know it sounds kinda lame but I've always been a bit model obsessed so that was a little thrill for me. Dork! yes I know.... And then I was on the security line right in back of Rosie Huntington Whitely, one of Victoria's Secrets newest Angels and some other glamazons who I couldn't quite make out because their backs were turned to me. Turns out the VS fashion show was the night before I left for my trip so the angels were abound at JFK!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and I hope all my yankee mates had a wonderful turkey day! xoxo

Image: Doutzen Kroes for British Vogue Dec '09

Our Wedding - Cookie Table

Well here we are finally...the end of the recaps! Today I'm wrapping them up with the cookie favor table.

And of course, there's a story to why we chose to do a cookie bar as our favors. I've mentioned this before, so forgive me for repeating myself, but we're kinda known amongst our friends and family as being the "Christmas Cookie Experts" because we make and decorate sugar cookies every year. So we thought "wouldn't it be a great idea to make our cookie recipe in the shape of a wedding cake and enclose our recipe as our favor?" Fab idea, right? Well not really when you get into thinking about the logistics of making 200 cookies right before your wedding. Could have been a deal breaker but luckily we have our amazing friends, Court & Nat, who volunteered to take over that task for us. They seriously were lifesavers and did an absolutely amazing job!

Check out their beautiful work!

Now I'm gonna take you back to about 2 weeks before the wedding. Everything was all set as far as favors were concerned. We had a plan in action, cookie trials were complete, supplies were purchased. Truth be told, we really should have stopped thinking about cookies. But nope, not us. We came up with the brilliant idea to expand the whole cookie idea and to have a cookie table with two of our favorite traditional family recipes. Luckily our family members were game and agreed to make those cookies as well. Talk about pressing your luck!

My Yia made her amazing Greek Koulourakia. They're seriously to die for!

And Jen's sister made her family's Norwegian Krumkake. This is a Christmas staple in her family. Just delish!

And of course I couldn't stop there. I just had to get maroon colored m&ms so that our guests could top off their goody bags :)

The final product

So that about wraps it up for the wedding recaps. Hope you all enjoyed the peak into our day. And thanks so much for all the comments & feedback. I loved hearing what you all thought! xoxo

All images: Daniel Krieger

Happy Friday!

Greetings from Amsterdam! Hope you all had a wonderful turkey day and I hope that you have a fun-filled weekend on tap. We'll be enjoying our last few days in Europe. I'm sure we'll have the time of our lives :)

Check back later for the last of the wedding recaps...the Cookie Table!

See you all when I get back! xoxo

Image: the Satoralist found here

Happy Turkey Day!!!

I want to wish all my fellow American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving today! Eat some yummy turkey & pie for me. I'm going to try to hunt some down in Amsterdam but I'll most likely have to settle for some delicious pancakes instead :)

Image: found here

Our Wedding - The Cake

Moving on to the most talked about part of the night. The cake! I swear I've seen more pictures of the cake than of either of us that day :)

It was a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I fell in love with it at the cake tasting but I only got one bite that night unfortunately. I never made it back to my seat after the cake tasting. A little advice for any brides-to-be...eat as much as possible during your tastings because there's no guarantee that you'll get a chance to eat on your wedding day!

Here she is...Miss America, the superstar of the night

We cut the cake to Just Like Heaven by The Cure. One of our all time favorite songs.

We played nice and didn't take the advice of our good friend Natalie who yelled for us to "Shove it in her face! The both of u!" :)

I've had numerous requests friends to dig into the top layer of the cake which we're saving for our first anniversary. And I have to admit that I'm extremely tempted. I've been dreaming about it since the cake tasting back and June and there's no guarantee that it will taste the same a year from now.

I'm curious how many people actually save the top layer of the cake until the 1 year mark. Are you planning on it? Do you think it's bad luck to dig in early? I'd love to hear what you all think.

Next up: The grand finale...the cookie table!

All images: Daniel Krieger

Our Wedding - Bouquet Toss & Thank U

So we decided to do it. The big ol' double toss! We figured why not better the odds of our guests catching the bouquet? We decided to invite both the single ladies & men up to the dance floor. A little untraditional, I know. But afterall we certainly aren't the most traditional couple. I was surprised to see that quite a few guys (even straight ones!) got up for a chance to catch them. Oh how I love my progressive loved ones :)

J scoping out the contestants

The anticipation was building...

for the big toss. Unfortunately we didn't practice so, once again, as during our first dance, we were not synchronized.

But I guess I didn't really care

There was one little casualty of war. My cousin got hit in the head by an errant elbow during all the excitement.

But she did, in fact, win one of the bouquets fair & square :)

Immediately following the toss, J gave our guests a great big thank you for sharing in our day.

Next up: The cake!

All images: Daniel Krieger

Farewell London!

Hallo Amsterdam! Venice of the North here we come!

Hope you're all having a lovely Tuesday. Check back later today for another recap :)

Image: found here

Our Wedding - The Toasts

Hello lovelies! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I am quite sure I have since I'm in London Town. I guess I can't be totally sure since I'm writing this before I leave, but I'd say it's a pretty sure bet that things are going splendidly :)

Rather than go missing this entire week, I figured it would be a good opportunity to keep on rolling & finish up the recaps.

Today I'm going to share the speeches. We were lucky enough to have two of our wonderful sisters make two unbelievably touching toasts. I can't even begin to express how much it meant to us. They were both perfect mixing the right amount of funny with "bring me to tears" sentiment. It was seriously all I could do to not burst out into sobs the entire time. Thank goodness for the comic relief!

J's sister Jill kicked them off

Followed by my BFF/sister Lisa

I was hoping to share the video with you but I'm having technical difficulties. If I can in the future, I definitely will :)

Next up: The tossing of the bouquets & thank you toast.

All images: Daniel Krieger

London Lust

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend. I'm planning on hitting up the shops today for some fab frocks. Wish me luck!

Image: found here

London Lovely

Best wishes from London for a lovely Saturday :)

Image: found here

Someone's Excited!

Happy Friday everyone! I'm over the moon today because today's the big day that J & I head on over to Europe for Honeymoon Part Deux! I seriously cannot contain my excitement!!!

We'll be in London for three nights and then we're heading on over to Amsterdam for five nights. It should be an amazing trip. We have a few things planned but mostly we're just gonna kick back & leisurely explore both cities . Oh and thanks everyone for all the suggestions of what to do. All the info is really helpful :)

I didn't want to leave you all for so long so I scheduled postings for while I'm away so be sure to check in daily.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! xoxo

Image: found here

Shine On!

I simply cannot get enough of sequins & shine this season. I am constantly drawn to them wherever I go. I just can't help it, they make me really happy :)

Silence & Noise metallic jumper

Source

Source

Regan Cameron for British Vogue

I already told you about the sequined leggins I purchased but I also bought this Silence & Noise sequined cardi:

and this Kimchi Blue ruffle tiered skirt:

And I reeallly want this Silence & Noise sequin skirt:

And I'm even considering lurex tights! Scary, right? Hope I'm not going overboard!

So have any of you lovelies been dabbling in the shimmer & shine this season?