Going on Hiatus

Posting will be light for the next month, as I'm in the final weeks of my first year of law school! I will be finished with exams on May 14, so I'll pick everything back up then. Wish me luck!

My Famous Fiance

I just have to brag on my famous fiance! He runs a wildly popular Yankees website, http://www.nomaas.org/, that he created several years ago out of frustration with the Yankees' management. The title is a play on words of sorts -- it means "no more" in Spanish, but the extra "a" comes from Kevin Maas, who was a forgettable Yankee player. Recently, he was interviewed for a Newsday article on fan blogs and websites. NoMaas, being the most popular Yankees website outside the official one, was the featured site! I am very proud of him!! You can read the article here: http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spyinsider0404,0,1804350.column He's "Sensei John Kreese."

Sheer Genius

On Thursday, I had an interview for a summer legal internship in NYC. Instead of taking the super early train, I decided to go up Wednesday night this time. So glad that I did! I was much more refreshed and better prepared for my 10:30 am interview. I think it went well, but keep your fingers crossed!

After my interview, I headed over to Magnolia's Linens in the Upper East Side. I had seen a Craiglist posting that they were selling table linens for up to 50% off to make room for new stock. Since Belle Mer is charging us $25-30 per sheer overlay RENTAL, I wanted to see if I could find something cheaper. Sure enough, I did! I found a perfect organza sheer overlay for $25 each. The great news is -- we BOUGHT them. Thus, we can resell them after our wedding and recoup some of the expense. They're a vibrant, shimmery blue that changes color depending on the light/which way you look at it. They can look more purple or pink. It fits perfectly with our "peacock" color scheme.

As soon as I get my camera back, I'll take some pictures!

A Rose By Any Other Name...

...would be just as expensive. I had originally thought our flower budget would remain small, due to my apathy towards flowers in general and distaste of huge "poofy" arrangements. Unfortunately, I was sorely mistaken. It seems that orchids (my flower of choice) are expensive, and beyond that, you have to rent all the vases, candles, stands, etc. to place said orchids in. Thus, my simple of dream of submerged orchid centerpieces are costing upwards of $200/table!

Another option would be to have FMIL's friend, Gig, do them. She has taken many floral classes, and I'm sure would do an excellent job. FI and I would only need to purchase the flowers and vases. This may be a good way for me to help out with the arrangements without stressing out about it the day before or day of the wedding.

Finally, maybe we should just forgo flowers altogether, or at least greatly reduce them. We could have all candle centerpieces, which is always a very elegant look. Or maybe even come up with something entirely different. Who knows? I'm open to suggestions...

Photographer Found!

FI and I met with the fabulous Kristin Spencer of Kristin Spencer Photography (http://www.kristinspencer.com/) on Saturday, and we were smitten! She works with her husband Jared as a two person, all day photography team. They are both RIT graduates majoring in photography, and in addition to shooting weddings, they shoot all the big runway shows for national magazines, such as Bride & Bloom and Grace Ormonde's Wedding Style. While I was drawn to her upbeat personality and youthful outlook on wedding photography, FI was more drawn to the fact that Jared was a Yankees fan (in fact, we didn't get to meet him because he was in NY for Opening Day). FI was immediately sold.

In addition to taking fabulous, photo-journalistic photographs, Kristin provides each bride with a "unique frill" -- a full magazine spread of proofs. It's hard to describe, but basically instead of getting a puny proof book (complete with "proof" stamped in big gold letters), she and Jared create a magazine style book with all your proofs. Additionally, she gives you a high res DVD of your proofs immediately (no waiting a year or more!).

Kristin also maintains a blog for her brides (http://www.kristinspencer.com/blog/) that has pictures of her weddings and helpful hints. We are VERY excited to have her shoot our special day! I have no doubt the pictures will phenomenal!

Here are just a few of her pictures, which were shot at a wedding at Belle Mer: