Best Friend's Bachelorette and Wedding Prep

I am preparing for on of my best friends' wedding in September and I am the maid of honor. This means that I am supposed to throw a shower and the bachelorette party. Well, she lives in Louisville, so I didn't throw her a shower- which I feel a little bad about- but she was one of my two maids of honor in my wedding and she didn't throw me a shower so I think it is ok. PLUS I did drive 5 hours to be at her shower two weeks ago and now I am going back again to throw the Bachelorette party.



The picture above is my file for her wedding. Since I am far away, I tried to be helpful with ideas and input and searching for websites and pictures. I am very excited to see how things turn out.

This weekend we are gathering at a friend's house in Louisville and the tables will be covered in pink tablecloths and little brown ribbon runners with pink polka dots will add a little pizazz. I am also planning to have wine glasses on the table with pink napkins sticking out for a little flair. plus pink and brown balloons. I bought silver trays for the heavy apps; we're having a mini food theme. I am making mini tacos, mini pizzas, mini burgers and mini pigs in a blanket. I might also do an artichoke dip and maybe some sort of cheese spread. After food and drinks at the house we are getting picked up in the limo and taken to 4th street which is a whole area of bars that is under a huge Vegas type roof. It is kind of cheesy, but always fun. The whole thing will be a little hard for me because I have been so tired lately and stressed about trying to find a house that I have been a little worried about running out of gas. I really want to be fun for my friend.

I will be excited to take pictures of how everything turns out. Everyone is suppose to wear pink and brown to match the color scheme and I bought cheepie pink leis for everyone to wear.

I also need to come up with a pink signature drink for the party- if anyone has any ideas- please let me know!

Sail Away: Anniversary Trip to the British Virgin Islands

Big Guy and I received a vacation as a wedding gift and they were kind enough to book it for our One Year Anniversary. So we are off in five hours! We fly to Puerto Rico in the morning and then on Sunday we head to the Virgin Islands. We are going to Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, St.Kitts and maybe even one more that I am forgetting. I am guessing that I won't feel like blogging and I don't even know if I will have access to a computer- so I suppose I will talk to you all when I return on the 27th!

I wanted to let you know that there are a few blogs I have not had the chance to add to my list, but it is not for lack of caring- I promise to add them when I get back- I just ran out of steam at the end.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and next week. I know Big Guy and I will be enjoying ourselves- especially being able to be away together for our 1st Anniversary on Monday!

Final Wedding Post: My Flowers

I must be CRAZY, because with absolutely no training or knowledge of flower arranging, I decided to undertake the task of doing the flowers for my wedding. I did everything-except the church flowers. I picked garbage bag after garbage bag of Rhododendron and with the help of my aunt and many of her talented friends we made 10 centerpieces for the table. I can't even tell you the scary spiders and other bugs I saw in the English countryside while collecting these blooms.


Then I had to do the boutonnieres, the corsages, the bridesmaid bouquets and mine- so I set off to a wholesale flower market to collect the flowers I would need. Because I did not know exactly what was available, I had to conceptualize on the fly and work with what they had--which fortunately was a lot- and it was organized by color which was very helpful. I had enough foresight to bring floral wire and pearl headed pins and lots of ribbon, so I was a little prepared- although I was not sure how this stuff was supposed to be used.

It turned out very well- miraculously. I had a few start overs, and my bridesmaids refused to help because they were afraid to invoke the bridal wrath if they screwed something up- which I cannot blame them for. I was just glad to have them with me cheering me on and giving feedback when I needed it.

Wedding Memories: The Look

I was fortunate to have family in England and they were so wonderful to let me have my wedding there. The ceremony was held in a little church in the next town over and then we wnet back to the house where cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were served on the patio near the fountain and then there was dinner and dancing in a large marquee.

Wedding Memories: Food

The first thing I learned from planning my wedding is that I am far more type A than I ever knew. I don't have the dominating personality that often comes with it, but I completely exemplify the attitude of: If you want something done right you've got to do it yourself. Of course I did have help, but my Aunt is incredibly talented and has impeccable taste, and my mother and sister were willing to help and are good at taking direction.

The food at my wedding was spectacular. We ordered the beef for Argentina since we were in England and didn't want any one complaining about the whole English beef issue. We chopped apple wood and piled it into an open fire chimney on the grounds where the meat was cooked-which infused it with the smokey apple wood. We also chose to serve local asparagus because it was in season and my mother, sister and I went down to a farm in the area and pick each and every stalk ourselves. Some of you are probably thinking that this sounds awful- and the last thing you would want to do the week of your wedding, but i loved every minute of it. I felt SO MARTHA.

Before dinner, we had a fresh chilled avocado soup served in a white mug and garnished with a chive blossom. We also had this adorable bread baked in flowerpots that was meant to be passed and shared around the table; everyone tearing off a piece.

The beef was served with a smoked sun dried tomato and tarragon chutney and accompanied by horseradish crusted garlic potatoes and asparagus. The vegetarians were served a Salmon en Croute that my cousin Daniel made.

At first I wasn't excited about my cake- I had wanted several small tiered cakes in shades of palest blues and green, but when I tasted the cakes that I helped to bake and frost- I was convinced. They had a lovely almond flavor and the lightest hint of lemon in the butter cream frosting.

After the cake, we did a cheese board loaded with fresh strawberries. The table was decorated with tulle from France and real ivy and grape leaves. It was a huge hit and people still talk about the apple wood smoked cheddar that we served.

One of my favorite touches was the wine- we had labels made so that every bottle was a custom tribute to the wedding-- and looked fantastic in the great silver tubs. I loved the way the bar looked.

The food was fantastic and since I love food as much as I do, it meant so much to me to be involved in everything and to see it come out the way it did. People still talk about the quail egg and caviar that we had during the cocktail hour and I smile as I remember how hard it was to peel those tiny little eggs, and they get excited when they tell me that they had never had endive before and now they can't get enough of it- and I am glad we decided to do that when we planned the menu. It was the most perfect wedding that I could imagine- it was such fun to prepare for. To see my husband's face and know that he was so proud of what I put together was a real treat.

It is such a fun memory and I love sharing it with the 100 people that made the effort to show up in England to celebrate with us. The gratitude that I feel toward my aunt and uncle for hosting the wedding is beyond words. That was the best wedding gift I could have asked for.

Planning a Bachelorette party

I am planning a Bachelorette party for one of my best friends and I just made a save the date email to send out. I am realy happy with the look of it, and I am going with the brown and pink color scheme. I may have taken the circles inspiration from an invite I saw online, but I honestly like mine better. Now I just need ideas for the evening's itinerary, favors, themed drink.. etc..

It is so daunting to plan one of these for someone you really care about!

Hen Night

I got some pretty funny Hen Night pictures from friends and thought I would share. We popped from pub to pub in London dressed in argyle from head to toe. It was so much fun! My husband found me the Lily Pulitzer halter style sweater that I am wearing. I love it! This is one of our sillier pictures...taken after we had a few too many PIMS cocktails!

Favorite Wedding Pics

Wedding Flashback

I have been thinking about my wedding recently...It wasn't so long ago. (May 19, 2007) My husband and I were married in England just outside London the cutest little church. My exteded family hosted the reception at their beautiful country house in Walton-on-Thames. I keep looking at the pictures because the day was so gorgeous. I arrived at the house 8 days in advance of the wedding so I had plenty of time to do everything myself-with a lot of help of course. From the flowers to the cakes, to the asparagus that we picked for the dinner and the applewood that we chopped to smoke the beef tenderloin--we did it all! And I have never had more fun!