One Year Anniversary

I can't believe it has been one year since our wedding. Time really does fly when you're having fun! This first year of marriage has been a great one for us. It's been such a learning experience and really brought us closer together as we embraced our little family unit. People kept asking how it's going and not to sound super cheesy but I love being married! I remember when we were engaged and how excited I was to be married already and I can honestly say that is absolutely true. (Probably because wedding planning wasn't exactly my cup of tea, hence creating this blog to vent lol) Your wedding is only one day but the marriage is what matters most. I'm so blessed to be able to call this wonderful man my husband and I can't wait for all the adventures still ahead of us. Happy Anniversary babe!

Photos by Delbarr Moradi

Wedding Day: The Reception

I can't believe it's taken me so long to write this, but I guess that once the wedding is over you have to wait for the dust to settle a bit to really reflect on it. Like I mentioned, your wedding truly does go by in a flash. And it really isn't until you see photos that you start to realize the enormity of the event that's just occurred. Your ceremony is when you say your vows to the love of your life, where you promise to love and be faithful to him, in sickness and in health for as long as you both shall live. Those are the most important words you'll ever state to your partner and honoring them will be a lifelong journey or in other words: a marriage.

I do believe that the ceremony is the most important part of a wedding, but the most fun part is definitely the reception. This was the biggest party I've ever planned and it was by far the best. For both my husband and I, our wedding reception was exactly what we wanted it to be. It was a crazy fun party with amazing food, great music and all our loved ones surrounding us. Who could ask for more? During wedding planning I promised myself that I would remember what our wedding felt like. And you know what I do. Yes, it wasn't perfect, but there's nothing I regret. It was bar none, the most joyous day of our lives so far and that is exactly how I will remember it. Here's some highlights:

  

Bread + Vodka ceremony, we decided to go all in and use vodka instead of wine.

Seal it with a kiss :)

Laughing during the first dance. Naturally, we only decided on a song about a week before the wedding so I was trying to keep count of the moves we'd practiced :)

All the planning paid off! Each and every one of our vendors did an amazing job. The food especially was to die for. They even let us add our Polish food items to the menu which was awesome, most vendors are not nearly as flexible. (And if anyone for some reason tries to tell you buffet style isn't classy can shut it, because if you want your guests full this is the way to go! I speak from experience.) People are still complimenting us about our caterer. I say do what works best, whether you serve food plated or buffet style, just make sure your guests are well fed. Full bellies = happy guests.

I think every bride/groom planning their wedding needs to let go at some point and just trust that the people you've hired will execute your vision. I did just that! When it came to the flowers I had an overall picture but ultimately gave him my budget and let him pick which flowers he used (except I requested peonies because I'm obsessed). But aside from that the end result was his conception. I trusted him completely (he is a professional after all) and let him do his thing, these are the gorgeous results. I especially loved my bouquet, it was everything I'd dreamed of and more.

So glad that we fought for this venue. The end result was stunning, but trusting that it would look like this was a battle sometimes. If you're thinking of doing a unique venue, do it!! Neither of us wanted a "typical" wedding venue, the kind that churns out two weddings a day. Not that I have anything against them, it just wasn't us. That is why we ultimately decided on Winery SF. It's so nice to know that our wedding was different from any we'd been to. Though it's more work in terms of vendors, details, etc., it's so worth it. I will treasure our wedding day forever in part because I know our venue was a reflection of us: fun, not too formal, with just the right touch of elegance.

 

We snuck out during dinner to take our couples portraits and I'm so glad we did! It gave us some alone time to bask in the day, something I tried hard to remember to do since the day does go by in a flash. We took our bridal party photos right after the ceremony so we could get the reception started without too much of a delay. I think we ended being a bit behind schedule but nothing too crazy. Our photographer wanted to capture us right before the sun went down, when you have the most amazing natural light to work with so we opted to eat quick and rush out while everyone else was still eating. I think it ended up being the perfect plan, people barely missed us! And when we got back, the DJ started to get the party in full swing! The reception quickly went from this:

Soaking in the moment...

To this! Full swing ahead! Once the party started we stayed true to our promise of having a wedding till 3 am. Unfortunately, not everyone lasted that long but we were definitely partying till way past midnight. We are so glad we went with a venue that allowed us to do that. There was no after party necessary because our wedding was THE party. And yes, I know I'm a bit biased but I still believe it's true. ;)

Vendor information below. Highly recommend each and everyone of these!

Photos by Delbarr Moradi | Catering: Englunds Catering | Florist: Greenworks Inc | Venue: Winery SF | DJ: Zbyszek Galazka | Event Planning: Dream a Little Dream Events | Tuxes & Bridesmaid Dresses: Joanna's Bridal | Dress: Jim Hjelm via Bridal Galleria | Hair: Shine The Hair Studio | Makeup: Ken H Beauty Makeup

Wedding Blog Truth

My friend recently shared this hilarious Tumblr with me and I literally laughed out loud while reading each post. I'm ashamed to admit that I'm guilty of a few of them including this one lol but hey as long as I can laugh at myself I think I'm OK ;)

  When my friend says she’s going to start a wedding blog about her wedding

(Source: realitytvgifs)

And I just realized I'm also guilty of this one hahaha

When I see someone get proposed to in public

 (Source: realitytvgifs)

Wedding Day - The Ceremony

 

 

It's been a few months (err 8 but who's counting?) since our wedding and though I totally meant to do a recap soon after, married life simply got in the way :) But I'm finally ready to spill some details. Though it's incredibly hard to sum up how I felt throughout our wedding day I'll try, so here goes..

So the morning of the wedding I woke up pretty early, around 6 am and it felt kind of like the first day of school. I was excited, nervous and anxious all at the same time. My family greeted me warmly and force fed me breakfast which was great considering I didn't eat again till hours later. lol. I then felt this calm buzz, I felt at ease and everything was happening on time but also anxious looking forward to the day's events. I mentally tried to keep reminding myself to be in the moment and savor every second. Hair and makeup went smoothly with me laughing and joking trying to keep my mood light. And then before I knew it, it was time to put my dress on. Eek!! That's when reality started to hit and I began to process that I WAS GETTING MARRIED THAT DAY.

We're Married!!

First dance as husband and wife :)

On June 9, 2012 me and my man finally got hitched!! I kinda abandoned my blog the last few weeks as wedding madness really caught up to me and we quickly left on our honeymoon, but now that I'm back I will be posting details about our day very soon :)



Photo Credit: Allie Bell — taken during our first dance :)

Feeling "Famous"

So remember me talking endlessly about engagement photography? And whether or not to have an engagement session with your photographer? Well as you may recall I went a little overboard and had not one but two sessions, and I'm proud of it! Well luckily it paid off and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that our engagement session with the talented Delbarr Moradi was recently featured on Brooklyn Bride, one of my fave wedding blogs. I gotta admit it was pretty cool seeing our photos on the blog and their choice of photos was also interesting. Some of the ones they chose I wouldn't have previously named as a favorite but after seeing it in the post I realized how much I liked them! Check it out:

Images via Brooklyn Bride & Delbarr Moradi

A Year Ago Today

...this happened! The love of my life asked me to marry him! As you can tell by the expression on my face I was definitely surprised and of course said yes! Now we are just a few short weeks away from being MARRIED. My how time flies! The anniversary of our engagement is probably not one we'll always remember, but for this first year just a short while from our wedding day, I wanted to look back on that amazing day :) Thank you kochanie, can't wait to spend my forever with you ♥


 Photo via our sneaky, co-conspirators Mr. & Mrs. Stachowiak :)