A Travel Themed Wedding: Favors & Table Decor

So I wasn't joking about blogging nonstop about my friend Ams' wedding.  It's not shocking that after amazing hotel gift bags, I knew to expect something special for the big day.  The wedding itself was at the Museum of History and Industry (the "MOHAI") on South Lake Union in Seattle.  The venue was AMAZING and I'm hoping that her photographer will let me use some of their professional photos because my point and shoot camera pictures do NOT do it justice. I didn't trust myself to bring my nice camera, given that there was cross country travel & nonstop cocktails involved.

So anyway, my friend Ams (aka Sarah) and her husband Bret are both incredible travelers.  It's kind of their thing and, of course, this spilled into the wedding.  Here's what the centerpieces looked like:

I was at Table 8, New York City.  The other tables were all of the other locations they'd visited together and underneath each table number was a stack of travel books.  At each table setting was a note from the happy couple, explaining that the guests were to take home a guide book from the centerpieces to help inspire our "next big adventure".  How cute is that?

 Each place setting also had a luggage tag with the Seattle skyline sketch seen all throughout their wedding ("We have a lot of branding," the bride said to one of our friends).  I think luggage tags are an especially cute AND functional wedding favor:

Tables also had a picture of the bride and groom at various locations they've visited together (the one I happened to photograph was of them in Washington State but there were framed photos from them around the world):

During the cake cutting, Bret announced they were going to Bali and Hong Kong on a two week honeymoon (a surprise to Ams up until that point, which I think is super cute).  At the end of the evening, the bride and groom headed off on a boat into South Lake Union through a line of sparkler-ed guests:

An amazing end to an awesome evening.  I'm obsessed with the travel theme of this wedding and hope to be sharing some photos soon that actually do justice to this incredible night.  Thanks again to Bret & Ams for giving me weeks worth of blog fodder!  Hope married life is treating you well.

The Bomb Hotel Gift Bag: Seattle Edition

So I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was in Seattle for my friend Ams' wedding.  I would have been happy just to be back in the beautiful Emerald City, but I was especially thrilled to be there celebrating the big day with one of my dearest college friends.  The wedding was so awesome that I could probably just start a blog ONLY about the evening of April 26, but I'll try to keep it to a few awesome elements.

This is my second time posting about a wedding hotel gift bag (here's the first time).  I was so impressed with all of the thought and effort Ams and her now-husband Bret put into every detail of the wedding and this is no exception.  After a long flight from Boston to Seattle, it was so nice to come into my room welcomed by this:

Or, more importantly, by this:

PERSONALIZED note!  How nice is that?  There's nothing like feeling welcomed after a long day of travel.  (Also, as seen here, my college friends call me "C-Star" thanks to my old AOL Instant Messenger name.  I pretend to hate it but I love it.)

Here are two people who love Seattle like crazy and were so excited to share the city with many out of town guests.  The gift bag started with a schedule for the weekend as well as some basic wedding details...

...and the bag included some awesome local suggestions.  Seriously have you ever seen a more comprehensive wedding welcome letter?  From directions on taking the Clipper to British Columbia to Seattle's best hot dog, the bride & groom had their guests covered:

Since I hadn't eaten anything since Logan Airport, I was also delighted to see all of the tasty snacks included in the bag.  The wedding basics (Advil & water, much appreciated on both Saturday and Sunday mornings), Seattle Chocolates, Boston Baked Beans for Ams' hometown, tea, cookies, granola bars, chips, and a Sleepless in Seattle "Do Not Disturb" sign.  Plus lots of Skittles ("beast mode").

Nicely done, newlyweds!  Hope you had the most amazing honeymoon.  Let's do the wedding again this weekend?

A Different Kind of Guest Book

When planning our wedding, I decided I didn't want a traditional guestbook but this was in the pre-Pinterest days so I didn't  have a bajillion different ideas laid out for me.  After some brainstorming, I decided to get some small pieces of paper in our colors, leave out some pens, and see what people came up with.  I put together some brief instructions, popped them into a frame (fun fact: this frame now hosts a map of Colorado on our map wall), and left everything on a table that guests passed coming into the wedding:

A few weeks after the wedding, I bought a book that held a small photo in front...

...and had plenty of blank pages inside for the kind wedding notes mixed with candid photos from the wedding...

I hate to play favorites with all of these thoughtful and sweet notes, but Jesse and I cracked up when we saw this one, from one of my Bates friends, which simply reads "Yo Yo Yo Congrats":

It was quick to assemble the photos and notes afterwards and turned out to be a simple way to keep all of these well-wishes in one place.  The book now lives either tucked away on a bookshelf in the living room or out on the coffee table.  I love how it turned out and I could spend all afternoon reading and re-reading all of the messages from our friends and family.

What did you do for a wedding guest book?  Have any memorable wedding messages (or guests)?  Let us know!

Happy 3rd Anniversary, Jesse!

Today Jesse and I celebrate three years of marriage!  Since that day, we've traveled across four continents together.  We moved out of our cozy Brooklyn apartment and tackled country life together.  We've adopted two more pets.  We've welcomed our sweet son.  Those are the big things.  We've also eaten pizza, gone for walks down our street, and talked in funny voices more times than I can count.  We crack each other up every day.  We have exciting plans for the future.  Life is good.

Three years ago, all of our planning had finally paid off (with some surprise good weather) and we were in the midst of the best party of our lives

I love this shot our photographer took of my dress from the bottom.  I think it looks like a seashell or a flower.

Thanks to our parents for throwing us such an amazing wedding.  Thanks to our family and friends for trekking out to a little vineyard in the middle of nowhere for an evening of celebrating.

 Three years ago there was a lot of love and it's only grown.  Happy Anniversary, Jesse!

That's My Jam! (and a Beautiful Barn Wedding)

Our good friends Jon & Katie got married this weekend at a beautiful venue in upstate New York.  The Historic Barns of Nipmoose paired with the sweet & thought details Katie & Jon planned made for a wedding that truly looked right out of the pages of a magazine or Style Me Pretty.  It was pretty much "rustic elegance" perfected and I regret not taking better photos.  I tried, but I was somewhat flustered by a combination of leaving baby Will overnight for the first time and two & a half glasses of white wine.  I'm hoping Katie will let me share some of her photographer's pictures once they get them.  For now, here's what I took:

The wedding itself took place on the grass (Jesse performed the ceremony!), then we headed into that middle barn for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.  If you look closely, you can see the strings of round Christmas lights draped across the barn rafters.
  

The back of the barns looked out onto beautiful wildflowers (which, of course, matched the beautiful wedding bouquets, boutonnières, and table centerpieces).  It was so perfect.

And, per the title of this post, there was jam.

It turns out that jam wedding favors are, in fact, my jam.  The ultimate in useful favors for a toast lover like me!

The bride's mom (Maggie) MADE ALL OF THESE JAM FAVORS for the guests and they were used as place cards (you can see my name peeking out over the top in this picture).  I LOVE this idea.
 
In the picture below, you get a sense for the long tables, beautiful barn, jam favors, and the views through the doors.  It was stunning.

We dined under more string lights in the big barn before heading back into the other barn for dancing & cake (& an awesome dessert table).

Hopefully more photos to come!  Congrats, Jon & Katie, on your beautiful day!

Wedding Dessert Bar

Friends.  Weddings.  Dessert.  Maine.  Just a few of my favorite things and they all happen to come together in this sweet post.  My friend Lottie got married on Chebeague Island in Maine last August and seeing a Facebook post about their anniversary reminded that I had been meaning to do a writeup on the beautiful dessert bar at their wedding reception.

First up, obviously, is the wedding cake itself.  A lemon cake with a strawberry and lemon curd filling & buttercream frosting.  I'm obsessed with the spiral of flowers coming from the top.  The hydrangeas are perfect and so summery.

Once you had your fill of cake, Lottie & Marc had to-go bags and boxes for the rest of the treats.  They said "Love is Sweet".  See what they did there?  I'm obsessed.

Since it was a Maine wedding, it wouldn't be complete without blueberry pie.  How cute are these mini blueberry pie pops?

Speaking of Maine, the dessert table also featured maple cookies with maple frosting.  Chewy & delicious, these were a favorite of the bride.

Next up are these cute little strawberry rhubarb pies...

...and for the chocolate lovers, a platter of fudge brownies.  Yum.

Isn't a dessert bar such a fun way to go?  Lottie did it right with beautiful presentation, gorgeous flowers, and, of course, tasty treats.  Love is sweet, indeed!

For those wondering, the cake & desserts were baked by Nothing Bakes like a Parrott and the flowers were done by Heather Caron Floral.  All of these beautiful photos were taken by Melissa Mullen Photography, care of Charlotte.

Congrats & happy anniversary Lotters & Marc!  Stay hungry!

Shower Me with Quiche

You guys remember my friend Colleen?  The one who is responsible for introducing the most amazing ham and cheese sliders I have ever, ever had in my life?  Yeah.  That one.  She's getting married and I just happen to be so lucky to be part of her big day.  The weekend before last, we showered Colleen in gifts (and booze) and I showered myself in quiche.

No...really. 

Before I swan dived into said quiche, I was greeted by an adorable name tag.  THANK GOD for name tags.  I was wondering how I would remember who I was after drinking mimosas all day... 

We were also greeted by yummy brownies that we were encourage to take on our way home...

THE QUICHE.  We're getting closer...

Here are adorable little cupcakes.  I don't bake, so I can totally get behind a homemade brunch and store bought (not just any store...pick a good one) dessert.  Especially when it tastes like heaven.

Now to the quiche.  I took one bite and knew I was in totes trubs.  Heavy cream?  Check.  Bacon?  Check.  Flaky, buttery crust?  Check, check check.  Damn it damn it damn it.

It was seriously the best quiche I've ever had in my life.  SO GOOD.  And you know I demanded the recipe!! (scroll to the bottom peeps)

Awww....look at Colleen in the hot seat.  I LOVE IT.

I love this photo...happy, joyful faces, all around.

This wrapping put me to shame.  I refuse to wrap things. Mainly because it's not green I'm lazy.

Here's Colleen's future sister-in-law, Joanne, taking down all of the gifts...

I seriously had to take this picture a 4 times.  Lauren likes to talk/blink/make fun of me while I'm trying to take pictures of her.   Regardless, she's a rehearsal bouquet making PRO.

As promised, here's the quiche recipe.  

Quiche Recipe ( a la Colleen's fiancé, Bill's, aunt)


1 Med. Onion Chopped
1/2 lb. of Bacon cooked, drained, crumbled
1/2 - 3/4 lb lb. swiss cheese shredded
1 pck frozen chopped spinach
4 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbl melted butter
1 3/4 c whipping cream
2 frozen deep dish pie shells

Cook frozen pie shells according to directions
Cook Bacon drain and crumble, dump grease
Saute onion and spinach in same pan then mix in bacon
Shred cheese
Mix up other additives (salt, pepper, nutmeg, butter, cream, eggs)
Split spinach and cheese into two pie shells
Add cream and egg mixture to each pie shell
Cook for 10-15 min. at 400 F
Reduce heat to 350 F for 30 - 45 minutes

Can be made ahead and put in freezer. Just cook less at 350 F ( about 20 -25 minutes ). Wrap well and put in freezer.
Stay hungry!

Pelton & Dorit: Gorgeous Philly Wedding

In August, we went to the most stunning wedding in Philadelphia.  Our friends Dorit and Pelton (my spellcheck is going nuts over here) finally got hitched after meeting at the University of Michigan when we were in college.  I mentioned their awesome hotel room gift bags and then promised to follow up with more pictures of the actual wedding, but the photos I took on my camera didn't do the event justice, so I waited until the wedding photographers had shared their pictures.  Now, I'm sharing some of my favorites with you!  Many thanks to Love Shack Photo for capturing these awesome shots and letting me use them here.

I've been friends with Pelton since we were about thirteen and could tell pretty early on after meeting Dorit after they started dating that they were meant to be.  I'm sure I wasn't the only one who kept asking him when he was going to finally propose.  Their wonderful wedding was well worth the wait, however.  Look at these two lovebirds...

We arrived at the Please Touch Museum which would have seemed like an unlikely spot for a wedding if Dorit hadn't already shown me pictures of the gorgeous interior and the CAROUSEL they were getting married in front of.  I practically skipped inside, excited to show Jesse.

The wedding ceremony was sweet and funny and personalized (everything a wedding should be, if you ask me), officiated by their favorite professor from the University of Michigan and lit from behind by the carousel.  I don't think I have ever seen a wedding ceremony like it before.

After the ceremony we headed into cocktail hour while the happy couple headed deeper into the museum to take pictures.  This venue had to have the most varied, interesting places for a ton of stunning wedding portraits:

As Dorit and Pelton smiled for the cameras, everybody else got their drink on.  At about 10 weeks pregnant, I headed to the cheese table while my friends headed to the bar.  And this was not a cheese table that disappointed...

Dorit and Pelton had also set up a "Mad Libs" table which included pre-printed cards with plenty of room for adding nouns, adjectives, and verbs.  I thought it was a really sweet touch and kept people entertained while they sipped their cocktails and ate many of the passed appetizers, rolls from the sushi bar (!!), and of course, forty varieties of cheese.

After cocktails, we headed into the museum's main hall for dinner and dancing.  Though there were 200+ guests there, it managed to feel very cozy and intimate.  I was obsessed with the stars on the ceiling.

The tables were gorgeous and had flower arrangements that were coordinated from table to table but varied and not too matchy-matchy.

The band played late into the night and hit on classic wedding favorites for everyone to enjoy, but did their own renditions of "Party in the USA" and "Call Me Maybe".  I went about as nuts as a sober wedding guest could go at midnight.  Also imagine me leaping out of my chair with glee at the start of the Horah and grabbing the hands of strangers to dance in a circle.

All in all, it was an amazing wedding.  Thanks again to Love Shack Photos for the images (way, way better than mine) and so many gorgeous shots to choose from.  Congrats, Pelton and Dorit - your wedding was just amazing and I know you have already started on your wonderful life together.  Go Blue!