Our Wedding: Favorite Moments

I am FINALLY ready to post wedding pictures! Only 8 months later, not too bad... I actually had to get the pictures from my mom who had backups as my thumb drive was no longer working. Thank god for backing things up! 

September 28th, 2013 was absolutely perfect. Everything we wanted it to be and more. We had a very small wedding, less than 100 people, which was perfect for us. We had a chance to talk to and dance with everyone at the wedding. I really wanted it to feel like a great dinner party that just got a little crazy, and that's where we ended up. The entire wedding was held outside at a country club that was an old mansion. 

The ceremony was held in the garden with the house in the background. Our service was short and sweet, with two readings from my sister-in-law-to-be and best friend from college. We had a ring warming ceremony where we passed our rings around to everyone in attendance for their blessing, prayer and well wishes. We loved that we could incorporate everyone in our ceremony. 

The reception was held under a tent behind the mansion with dinner, dessert dancing and a fantastic photo booth. 

I wanted to capture some of my favorite moments. There were so many, so I'll try to keep it brief... but no promises. I want to remember everything!

The moment it became 'real'

Getting dressed

Baby powder is a must!

I decided to just have my mom help me put on my dress, get jewelry on, etc. It was nice to have that special moment just the two of us. We had heard it's a good idea to put baby powder on your legs (seriously though it helps) but my mom put on a hilarious amount. 

I wore the pearls my dad gave to my mom when I was born.

My dad and my bridesmaids seeing the full get up for the first time

Although I wasn't there for this, this picture is amazing.

Modeling with my brother, of course

Zoe telling me she didn't want me to talk anymore. 

Leading up to the wedding, Zoe kept on saying that she didn't want to be in the wedding. She didn't want to put on a dress and certainly didn't want to walk down the aisle. We didn't push her. We did however buy a dress and were hoping she'd wear it and walk down the aisle with her dad and step mom, but it would have been just as nice to just have her there. My mom came prepared with tons of toys at her seat in the front row to keep her entertained during the ceremony. However, as things grew closer, Zoe got caught up in the wedding and ended up being the sweetest little flower girl. She liked her dress, which we made sure was as comfortable as it was adorable, and she had shoes with elastic on them so she wouldn't hurt her feet. Her hair fell out of her updo almost immediately. She was such a wonderful addition to the wedding, running around playing, cracking jokes and just generally being the awesome little person she is. The thing she was most excited for was cake and she got a ton!

A favorite. A moment with my MOH.

My lovely bridesmaids corrupting my niece

Opening a gift from Kyle (beautiful earrings and necklace)

From the bridal suite we could see all of the guests arriving. I think a few of them saw me too.

Right as we started walking down the aisle, we noticed a bee right where I was about to step. The night before at rehearsal the best man was stung, so we should have been prepared. If we hadn't have seen it, I'm sure I would have stepped over it and he would have flown right up my dress. Luckily, my dad stepped on him, but it looked pretty funny for those that didn't know what we were up to!

Kyle seeing me come down the aisle. There is a serious of pictures of him seeing me, but this is my favorite. 

Seeing Kyle crying got me started. I'm an emotional one folks. 

As my dad was hugging me, he ripped out my veil! It ended up being pretty funny and took us a few minutes to get back in. 

Quick moment with mom. 

I just love this picture.

First kiss as husband and wife!

Saying our vows. 

Taking a moment to enjoy our signature cocktails.

First dance (actually more awkward than either of us thought it would be haha)

My dad had been preparing his speed for MONTHS and when he went to grab the print out, he grabbed the rental contract for the linens instead! He winged it and rocked it, of course and he was able to read me the real version the next day. It was perfect.

Listening to speeches. Felt so special and loved.

Dance with my dad. We took dance lessons months leading up to the wedding so that we could do a nice fox trot to In My Life by The Beatles. Two steps in we messed up and couldn't recover so we just ended up laughing our way through it. It was much more memorable than just a perfect dance!

Cutting the cake. Kyle was cracking me up obviously. He wanted to pretend the cake knife was a samurai sword and chop through the top.

At one point our photographer pulled us away into a private room and just told us to dance. Having no idea what he had planned, we just went with it. He had set up lights outside the windows and created what he called 'the perfect shot'. I couldn't agree more.

When my parents were getting married, my mom had a song in mind for their first dance, but couldn't think of the name or singer for the life of her. She tried to hum it at record stores, but no one could place it. They never did remember what song it was, so they ended up with something different. She of course remembered it years later, Follow You Follow Me by Genesis. During our reception, we had the DJ play it, and the had a first dance re-do 30+ years later.

One of my favorite parts of our wedding was the dancing. Everyone got out and got down on the dance floor. I ended up ruining my hair and makeup from dancing, but I did not care. It was a BLAST!

Kyle getting down.

Just having the most amazing time with the most amazing people.

Another shot our photographer pulled me away to do. Love the way it turned out.

Last shot of the night. 

Going through these pictures just reminds me of the fantastic wedding we had. It was so much fun and now I'm married to a fantastic man! I'll try to do a post of some of the details soon.

xo
Alison

Guest Room/Office Inspiration

We are finally starting to make some progress on our house projects! I've decided to take it one room at a time and really design the room the way I want. The first room on the list is my office which will also double as a guest room. This weekend we painted the walls a beautiful mint color and purchased a day bed (see this post). The colors I'm going for are mint, white and coral. I'm thinking about throwing in a bit of navy or charcoal grey for some darker contrast. 

I'm trying to get my ideas together so I've put together a bit of an 'inspiration board':

I'm loving the color of the room. It's the perfect shade of mint. Next up on the project/purchase list:

• White ruffled duvet set: I love how perfectly feminine and comfortable this duvet set is. It's very similar to the one we have in our master bedroom. Also, the previous owners left beautiful curtains that would match this perfectly.
• Coral upholstered, tufted desk chair: This one from Ballard Designs is absolutely perfect! I just wish it was a tad bit cheaper. That's a lot of money for one chair...
• Curtain tie-backs: Torn between this doorknob design and this floral design. They're both from Urban Outfitters which means the price is right!
• The perfect lamp: I mean.. beautiful.
• Behind the desk organization: I want this to be my go to space for everything. I'm thinking a pretty cork board, or magnetic backdrop. I love the picture above with the floating shelf over the desk. It makes the space look so cozy and organized, which I love.
• A million throw pillows: Nothing makes a bed look more comfortable than a ton of fluffy pillows. I'm going to try to find all sorts of different designs with various colors. If I could find all of the ones in the picture above, I'd be a happy woman.

Once I've completed my office, we're moving on to the master bedroom, then the living room and finally the kitchen. I'm still trying to decide on a color scheme for these rooms, but that's half the fun!

xo

Alison

Lavender Cupcakes with Butter Cream Icing

I have been wanting to bake with lavender for quite sometime, but hadn't really had the opportunity. So when my friend Megan offered me some of her stash of dried lavender, I knew exactly what I was going to whip up! It was right around my husband and my birthdays so I decided I would have these instead of a cake (my husband is not really a baker and I didn't want a store-bought cake). 

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES!

Lavender is perfect for baking. It's not a flavor that a lot of people have had before and the fragrant, floral taste isn't for everyone. Most of the recipes I had seen for lavender cupcakes had paired a cream cheese icing, but I thought a butter cream would let the lavender stand out a bit more. I was not disappointed. Enjoy! 

(I apologize in advance, there is a spot on my camera that I am unable to get off. It's on ALL the pictures, grr..)

Those are carrot cake cupcakes in the back. I'll do a post on those soon.

Lavender Cupcakes
½ cup butter (room temperature)
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons dried lavender (I used a pinch more)
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey (I used champagne honey)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cups milk
2 teaspoons Wilton Violet food coloring (add more if you so desire)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, lavender and salt. Set aside. In stand mixer using paddle attachment (or bowl using hand mixer) beat butter until cream (this is why it needs to be room temperature!). Add sugar, honey, and vanilla mixing until combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to the stand mixer, and mix until batter is completely combined. Add food coloring slowly until you get to your desired color. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 way full. 

Bake for 16-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

I did not intentionally match my nails to the cupcakes...

Butter cream Icing
2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature)
½ cup milk 
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
4-6 cups confectioners' sugar 

Combine butter, milk, salt and vanilla in stand mixer and beat until combined. Add the confectioners' sugar a half a cup at a time, mixing well between each addition. Pipe the butter cream onto cooled cupcakes and add any embellishments. I used fondant flowers from my local kitchen store in the Italian Market.

And finally, a little snapshot from my birthday dinner with Kyle. My present was a fully planned long weekend down the shore, and this was his way of telling me. :-) 

I will definitely be sporting these shades on our trip

xo
Alison

Nesting: Before

It is just so difficult to find time to blog these days! I'll try to get better now that we're almost settled. I say 'almost' settled because it really still feels like we're surrounded by boxes and excess crap. Anyways, we've officially been in the house for about three weeks and we're still really enjoying it. We hired movers which was a lifesaver, so all the big things are unpacked and the space is quite livable. 

What we immediately discovered is that we had too much stuff and not enough space for it. No problem right?! It's not like we are pack rats, we just had 2,000+ square feet worth of stuff and now only 1,500 square feet or so. HUGE adjustment. We've taken a few steps that are helping us figure it out:

• If it's not useful or beautiful, it's gone. We're being ruthless.
• CONTAINER STORE! Oh how I love thee. Every storage space, cabinet, drawer, closet is organized within an inch of it's life. Fabulous - and I wanted to do that anyway :-)
• Kitchen Reno. Minor one. Our current kitchen only covers one wall with a peninsula island, leaving another wall just blank (the back wall is sliding glass doors to the patio). The plan is to add a narrow pantry with about three more feet of cabinets and counter space. I'm toying with the idea of an appliance garage. 
• New Grill. Kyle was thrilled to pick out a small Weber for our tiny back space. Suited me just fine since it means he's pick up the cooking several days a week.
• Functional new furniture. All of our new furniture will fit the space or have some extra place for storage. We just bought a day bed from Ikea that pulls out to a double bed AND has storage underneath. Score!

Link

Now we're just in the nesting phase. Decorating, deciding on furniture and just loving our little home. We're loving our neighborhood and have just been thrilled with our decision to stay in the city. I thought I'd share the 'before' pictures of our house from when it was staged. To be fair, I might be stealing some of her design ideas! 

The main floor from the front door

Living Room

Kitchen from dining room (I loved her dining room set-up)

Love this white kitchen!

Basement: This will become Kyle's office and a media room. There is also a laundry room and powder room.

Guest bathroom. I love the marble and chandelier, perfect for Jacuzzi baths!

Guest room: This room will double as my office with the day bed I mentioned earlier. I'm doing mint and butter yellow in this room - nice and calming.

Upstairs hallway with skylight

Master bathroom

Master bedroom

As we finish various rooms I'll post the after pictures as well. Next step: paint and new furniture!

xo

Alison

Moving is Exhausting

We officially closed on our house on Thursday and the moving trucks arrived on Friday. Ever since we signed on that dotted line (or hundreds of them) it's been a flurry of activity. We actually didn't find the house buying process/moving to be that stressful once we found the house. It's actually been pretty painless. Likely because we have an amazing Realtor and mortgage broker. They have been so patient, explaining every last thing and making the whole process relatively enjoyable. 

I'll get to a longer post at some point, but in the meantime, this will have to suffice!

Us in front of the house and a sweet gift from our Realtor!

Were able to use our Mr. and Mrs. flutes from the wedding!

xo
Alison

I'm Back!

Oh for shame! I haven't blogged since February!? Yikes! Life has certainly gotten in the way, however, that means tons of things to share. I have been working, enjoying/adapting to married life, with a little bit of travel weaved in. So here is a quick recap of the last 3 or so months:

March:
We started off March with a fantastic trip to Copper Mountain in Colorado with my whole family, including my 6 year old niece Zoe for her first time skiing! It was a fantastic vacation. My parents rented a three bedroom condo right on the base and we spent the days skiing/snowboarding, hot tub-ing and enjoying each others company. 

We all took lessons the first day even though we were all pretty proficient and it was great to learn all the things we did wrong! Ha! But really, it was great to learn new skills and improve on old ones. Kyle and I had a private lesson and our instructor was perfection. He was 40-ish years young, had quit his corporate job in his 30s for the powder and pot lifestyle. He was really funny and was very patient with us.  

This trip will definitely be repeated next year. Hopefully for 2 weeks this time! Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Kyle and Me

Zoe in her gear!

My parents dancing in the lodge <3

Horrible picture of me, but somehow the only one I have with Rosie!

Later in March, my best friend from college, Krista, and her husband came to visit us. We had a great time, dinners, brunch, brewery tours. I always love having them down, but just wish they lived closer.

April:
April was a fairly uneventful month to be completely honest with you. We had a couple of really big technology deployments that I was responsible for at work, so that took up most of my days, evenings and weekends! We did, however, get to go up to Canada to visit my extended family for Easter. We don't get to see them very often, as it's an 8-10 hour trip, but it's always so wonderful when we do. The last we had seen everyone was at the wedding! There were five of us going up, so we decided to rent a van and all go together. Loved visiting with the extended family, but also really enjoyed our car ride. Lot's of laughs.

Some of the extended family at dinner the night before Easter dinner

May:
Now, I know May has just begun, but it's already been eventful because...

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

Finally! We actually close tomorrow and move in on Friday. This has been such a long road, but we are so happy with our new home. It's just a few blocks from where we currently live, right in our desired neighborhood. It checked all of our boxes and we just fell in love when we walked in. I'll share an update about the house and my struggles with decorating I'm sure.

Thanks for catching up!

xo
Alison