Living in The Moment

When we first began wedding planning, I remember vowing to myself that our wedding would be "timeless". I was so hellbent on having this "timeless" affair that I didn't realize I wasn't being true to who I really was.

Looking back, I'm so glad that I decided to live in the moment and choose things that reflected who we are right now rather than trying to predict the future. As we all know, nothing remains in style forever. Fashions come and go, people change — life goes on. So who was I to think that our little wedding can be the huge shift in the time-space continuum and remain stylish, chic and beautiful forever? Yes, it will be a wonderful memory that we'll always cherish but will it stand the test of time? I mean who the hell cares? Luckily, not me anymore!

This was especially true when it came to picking my dress. I was down to two very beautiful but very different options and was torn between which one to choose. But eventually something clicked. I stopped trying to envision myself 50 years down the road and what I'd think of my wedding photos and instead pictured myself right now, in this moment of my life and how I felt. Because really isn't that the beauty of it?? Who cares if in the future I laugh out loud at the style of dress or the type of cake, flowers, etc., that we had at our wedding. What I'd rather remember is the FUN I had and the JOY I felt in marrying the love of my life.

So my advice for those planning a wedding now is to be present and live in the moment. Make decisions that complement your life as a couple today, not your life years down the road. You'll be a happier person because of it :)


Image via DeviantArt

T-Minus One Month!

So my posts have tapered off quite a bit as we near only one month till wedding day eek!! But I thought I'd take this time to sit down and reflect a bit...

I cannot believe how fast the time has flown, and yes I know everyone says that and it's incredibly cliche but it is so.damn.true. It seems like only yesterday I was getting the surprise of my life when my then-boyfriend proposed to me. And now here we are, just weeks away from becoming husband and wife.  The year has brought with it many changes, lots of ups and downs to navigate through while we also journeyed through the pains + joys of wedding planning. As everything slowly but surely comes together I sometimes forget all that went into making our day a reality: The hours upon hours of research, the printing and the cutting and the painting and the sewing, oh and of course the cooking (that hasn't happened yet but will, come wedding weekend!) And of course the time + money our loved ones will be dedicating to join us on our big day has already filled me with an indescribable amount of gratitude and the wedding hasn't event happened yet! (Man am I gonna be a crybaby at this shindig I can already tell lol)

As I sit back and think of all this, I can't believe that OUR
new life, OUR little baby family will come into existence in just one month. Everything and everyone that has helped shape us will all be present in some way on our wedding. After all, we wouldn't be who we are today if it hadn't been for the experiences that we've gone through. Lucky for us, our paths did somehow cross in this big ol' world and now we're getting ready to make a permanent impression. Come June 9, 2012 I will be a wife to an awesome guy that I'm honored I get to spend the rest of my days with :)

Images via Jason+Anna Photography

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

You've heard me say this before, but it's such an important point that I have to highlight it yet again. Throughout the planning process you are going to have to make a lot decisions. From your wedding date, to your venue, your dress and everything in between. Unless you're a professional planner or have been in many weddings before, the process will be a totally new, unlike-anything-you've-ever-done-before experience. So there is a pretty big learning curve. I can't believe the kind of stuff I'm now practically a pro about that I didn't even know existed a few months ago. (It's actually kind of ridiculous, what the hell am I gonna do with this knowledge once I get married?? lol) As you near the tail end of your planning like I am, (6 weeks to go eek!!) it's hard not to look back and think of things you should have, could have or would have done differently. But alas, the past is the past and what's done is done. I had several moments when I wished I'd made a different decision, and if you asked me several months ago what I thought my wedding would look like, I'm sure the picture I painted would be very different than the reality. But in moments of regret, I simply swallowed my pride and realized that there was NO WAY to predict certain things that came up. How was I to know I'd find a cheaper vendor a few weeks after signing a contract and paying a hefty deposit on one? Sure, I could waste time beating myself up about not researching enough, and yada yada but what's the point? Realize that there will always be things that come up. When you're in the moment, in the throes of the madness that is wedding planning you just have to go with your gut (and of course your budget) and make the best decisions you can at that time. Instead of looking back and wishing you'd done this or that, focus on the PRESENT and the upcoming wedding and more importantly life that you'll share with the one you love.


Image via evvangeline.deviantart.com

Staying Sane

As our wedding date gets closer and closer I find myself getting truly crazier and crazier. Before I would roll my eyes at brides that obsessed over the small things and I am horrified to realize that slowly I am becoming one of them! Gahh how did this happen?? When did I go from mellow, level-headed bride-to-be to a detail-driven crazy lady?? Well, I suppose the first step is acceptance right? At least I see that it's happening and I'm trying to zen out and step back from some of this wedding stuff to keep my head clear. (Side note: while Googling crazy bride images, yes I'm that lazy and picked pretty much the first one that popped up but I also found this gem of a blog, written by a seamstress who deals with brides on a daily basis haha a must read! crazybridestories.blogspot.com) 

So in an effort to keep myself relatively sane, I try to limit my wedding thoughts/talk throughout the day. Crossing things of our checklist is also helping me feel more at ease. But most of all, I think it's realizing that hell I'm getting married in about 6 weeks so I think stressing is a normal part of the process. Keeping the end goal in sight and getting more and more excited each day as I think about the life I have in store with my future husband is also helping tremendously! :) So for those brides out there, I think we should quit apologizing for being "bridezillas" (I've asked friends and family they say I'm not one of them so either they're lying to me or I'm really not lol) Planning a wedding is a BIG deal, it's an extremely important day in your life that you'll remember forever, so again I think a tad bit of crazy is allowed. Just as long as you don't let it completely overwhelm you, remember to drink plenty of wine throughout the process and at some point just let things go. Whatever will be, will be — and you'll be married! :)





Image via www.jeetesh.net

What Is Your Wedding "Theme"?

There's no question I hated more during wedding planning, other than maybe "what are your wedding colors?" I'm not a very decisive person, so narrowing down some sort of theme was next to impossible. I got even more frustrated when I'd read blogs or magazines and brides would say that weddings with no set color scheme or theme were "messy" and "unorganized." Can I just make that a theme? The unorganized, slightly messy + chaotic but full of love theme. There. That's ours. Haha.

I honestly didn't realize wedding themes were a thing but apparently boy was I wrong! Google "wedding theme" and you will turn up more than 374 million results! Including some pretty interesting ones. Love Hello Kitty? Well then you'll adore this wedding:

Or Christmas theme on a beach, in Hawaii, in April (why not?!):

Luckily for me, our venue pretty much set the general idea of our wedding without me having to make any decisions. It's an old airplane hangar converted into a winery. So bam! The wine idea was born. I've steadfastly refused to put a specific label on our wedding with any sort of overwhelming theme or color palette. It's just not my thing and however it comes together, it will happen in an organic, natural way. You don't HAVE to have a super detailed down-to-every-last-detail theme, just like you don't HAVE to have a whole bunch of other things that wedding industry people say you do. Maybe a wedding theme will help you, but for me it felt like constricting my ideas into one little box and that's not something I wanted. A slightly messy combo was more up my alley :)

Image 1 via www.bridalguide.com, Image 2 info4weddings.files.wordpress.com & Image 3 via www.weddingthemes.net

Going Shoe CRAZY

To say I went a tad shoe crazy while searching for my wedding shoes would be an understatement. But let me back up a little bit. When I purchased my dress, my consultant told me if I found 2-inch heels I wouldn't need to hem my dress at all. No hemming=less money spent on alterations so I was definitely game!

Then the quest began. Or rather the obsessive, endless seemingly impossible quest. Us ladies know how many cute, adorable shoes there are out there. But unfortunately for me, all these "cute, adorable shoes" have a heel height of a minimum of 3 inches up to the sky-high 6-inch range. Just a bit more than what I wanted. I searched online, in department stores, thrift stores, and literally anywhere else I could think of that sold shoes. My endless quest sent me into a tailspin and a momentary lapse of monetary sanity after I purchased a very expensive pair of shoes that I decided I just "had to have." Thankfully, the overpriced pair was a) not 2 inches as advertised and b) not comfortable in the slightest.

In the end, much to my surprise but also relief I chose a pair that I already owned and can comfortably dance the night away in. The heel height wasn't exactly 2 inches but when tried on with my dress worked perfectly. It goes to show you, sometimes you don't have to look further than your own closet. Just because it's your wedding doesn't mean you can't stick to something that you already own and love! :)


Photo via shoeloving.files.wordpress.com

A Newfound Respect And Understanding

Planning a wedding has taught me a lot of things. Patience, decisiveness, the importance of timeliness...the list goes on. It has truly given me an intimate glimpse into the world of event planning. But most of all, it has helped me develop an incredible amount of respect for anyone that has ever planned or is planning a wedding or any type of event. I now know how difficult it can be and how much thought goes into each and every decision. Especially when planning such an emotionally-charged day like your wedding! I also know that sometimes there are things that the people planning can't control. So the food takes a bit longer than expected to be served, who cares?! Just shut up and eat once you've gotten the food! Or there is a time gap between ceremony and reception and you're wondering why. As someone who is currently planning a wedding I can tell you that the couple tries to cover ALL the bases and account for almost everything when making each and every decision. But alas, you can't please everyone and nothing is perfect. So sure, there may be some things that seem like glaring mistakes to you but what you don't realize is how hard the couple has worked to ensure that each guest has a fabulous time.

I have never been one of those people that is nitpicky about details or super critical of people's personal style choices. But I'm not completely innocent. I've definitely had my moments at events I've attended where I've rolled my eyes at certain things. However, I now look at things completely differently. Knowing how much blood, sweat and tears it takes to pull off a wedding, I vow to remember that feeling the next time I want to pass judgement on someone's color choice or other trivial wedding detail. If you want to have a wedding on a Wednesday afternoon at your house because that is what works best for you, then more power to you! If it's not in your budget to do an open bar and instead opt to serve a signature drink, then by all means DO IT. Throughout this process, people have repeated to me that it's OUR day and we should do what WE want. And you know what? They're absolutely right! So the next time you're at a wedding and are about to pass judgement, remember you are there because you love and want to support the couple and take part in their special day, not be a wedding critic. So smile and cheer on the happy newlyweds, because though you maybe be peeved about one or two silly things, they've planned for months to throw a beautiful and emotional day that they'll never forget.

The Registry

I had mixed feelings about registries. I was nervous about choosing items and then asking people to buy them for us — it just seemed like a weird and unnatural thing to do. That is until I read somewhere not to think of it as material items but rather the things that will help us build a life together. So every time I use a bowl that someone got me, I could think of that person as being a part of the life I'm building with my husband. (My future mother-in-law still has a strainer she received as a wedding gift almost 30 years ago and it remains her favorite!) Thought it was a cute and thoughtful way of looking at it :) But it still didn't make it any easier! Though registries aren't done at all in Poland, this is another tradition that we've picked up from American culture and decided to incorporate. It turned out we started on the registry game kind of late (I had seen people with registries a year before their weddings! Umm definitely not us!) As we walked hesitantly to the registry counter at our local Bed, Bath & Beyond we had no idea what to expect. What came next was a bombardment of checklists, information, long-winded explanations and a dramatic entrance into the world of registries. We learned the difference between fine china and casual china, or rather that there even is such a thing. We learned about cookware, bakeware, serverware, dinnerware and any other -ware you can think of. We learned that you should register for gifts with different price points and a wide variety for your guests to choose from, etc, etc, etc. It turned out to be quite the learning experience! (And I'm sure quite the torture for Patryk lol)

Our consultant was very helpful and listened to all our registry-novice questions. Not doing too much research beforehand (I didn't set up anything online prior to going to the store) left us feeling completely exhausted after the first whirlwind trip. I was surprised to find that we were literally physically tired from the process. Needless to say, it turned out to be a good thing that we got so much done that first day because our attempts at registering after that were always halfhearted at best. There was such an overwhelming amount of choices we didn't know where to begin! Not knowing where we'd be living post-wedding also made it difficult to narrow down many things.

All in all, after much hard work and thought we have pretty much finalized our registries. After being unsure about them from the get-go I realized that they can be very helpful for two people just beginning their new lives together. We currently have about three plates and two bowls to our name so it will be nice to add some to the mix :)  Another benefit that ultimately sold me on the registry process was the post-wedding discounts you get! Most stores host special sales for all the registry items that you didn't receive so you can purchase whatever else you'd like on your own. Another plus? You would be surprised how much you learn about your significant other and their style and aesthetic preferences in an aisle full of fancy plates. But that is a whole other story :)

Image via YumSugar

Wedding Planning: Why Blog About It?

I've been a little embarrassed to tell people that I'm blogging about planning my wedding. I mean how cliché and cheesy is that? It seems all the rage nowadays to blog about anything and everything but wedding planning is quite a popular choice. Well I decided to say screw it and throw myself in there among the millions of wedding blogger wannabes. My reasons were this: I'm a writer and I love to write so why not? At the time I decided to embark on this little blogging journey I wasn't working in a writing-heavy atmosphere so I figured what better way to polish up my skills than to write often?

Number two, I was feeling pretty lonely in the wedding planning process. Almost all of my friends and family live in different states so I don't have anyone nearby to do all this wedding stuff with. Plus I also just didn't want to annoy people by constantly talking about the wedding (it's like word vomit I still have to stop myself sometimes) so the virtual world was the most appealing route. I can safely write about my frustrations about venues or excitement over accomplishing things on my to-do list without boring my friends and family to tears. (At least not in person haha)

Number three, I really wanted to have a written record to remember all this by. It's true what everyone said that our engagement would fly by and it has! We have less than three months till our wedding and sometimes I still feel like it all just started yesterday. Luckily, I just have to go back in my archives to remember what I was feeling or how planning was progressing.

And finally, when I started planning a wedding with a cultural emphasis I didn't find a lot of resources or advice from other blogs. Maybe my little blog can be helpful to some other brides out there, or at the very least give them some comfort in knowing they're not alone and have some laughs along the way :)


Image via Pieces of Me

Wedding Porn

Wedding and porn aren't two words you'd normally find together. But alas, it's a sickness. A sickness that mainly bride-to-be's endure.

When I began the planning process, (OK it may have started when my friend got married a few years ago but whatever) one of the first things I did was start checking out blogs and websites dedicated to weddings. And so it began. Now, with less than three months to go till my wedding, I've got a set list of blogs that I check out daily. These blogs can serve as great tools for your wedding planning endeavors. Many provide free printables, templates, not to mention scores of ideas and inspiration. However, brides beware. Sometimes reading these blogs can be a dangerous game.

You start to question every detail about your wedding. "Is this color OK?" "Will our guests like this?" etc, etc. You also start to get insanely jealous of all the pretty weddings you see featured on these blogs and take on more projects than you realistically have time to accomplish because it just look SO DAMN GOOD on the blog. You think "I can do that!" But really though, you can't. So lets knock that "I'm-a-DIY-diva" mindset right out of your head. I say this only because I'm currently suffering through this. I have a list of things a mile long I'd like to craft but deep down I know that not all of these will be realized. As for controlling my wedding porn addiction, that isn't going so well either. Though the blogs I read range in the typical here's the gorgeous wedding of your dreams to sane down-to-earth advice, they still technically count as "wedding porn" since they've all got one thing in common: weddings! I've read that you should stop reading these at least a few weeks before your wedding because you'll literally drive yourself crazy so that may be something I'll have to consider.  In the meantime, here are the blogs I-love- to-hate-on-but-secretely-can't-get-enough-of:

Once Wed

100 Layer Cake

Green Wedding Shoes
Love and Lavender

Brooklyn Bride

Style Me Pretty

Wedding Chicks

Ruffled Blog
Grey Likes Weddings

Snippet and Ink

Engaged and Inspired

Broke Ass Bride

East Side Bride

A Practical Wedding
Elizabeth Anne Designs
Wedding Gawker
Oh Lovely Day

P.S. If you have any more please send it my way and enable my addiction ;)

Photo via tinylibrary.blogspot.com

The Endless To-Do List

My fiancé and I sat down to write a list of things we still need to get done for the wedding. Needless to say our "to-do" list quickly grew to over 50 things! As you can tell by the last item, we clearly have our priorities in order hehe ;) 

And yes, I keenly remember this post where I yelled to "burn that checklist' but not to worry, this did not come off any wedding website or magazine, this is our personal list of things we gotta get done. A few days later Patryk thought it would be funny to send this to me:

 According to the above list we are doing awesome. LoL.

Disco Polo Friday Returns

After a few weeks without disco polo Fridays, it is making its triumphant return. This isn't traditional disco polo as it's not even a Polish song, (but try telling that to all the Polish folks beltin' out "one way ticket" in heavy Polish accents though haha) yet it's definitely one we rock out to at parties. Enjoy!

Wise Words

"Remember what your wedding is: a celebration. It's a reason to rejoice. And it's as simple and as complicated as that."  — Meg Keene

I just started reading Meg's new book "A Practical Wedding: Creative Solutions for Planning a Beautiful, Affordable, and Meaningful Celebration" and am already in love with it. Just the thing I need to get me through these last few months of wedding planning! 


Image via Kiss the Groom

Let's Talk Pinterest

A few months before I got engaged I discovered an amazing little website called Pinterest. I quickly became hooked. It's the digital equivalent to an enormous corkboard filled with all your favorite things you've found while searching the Web. And I cannot stress enough what a godsend it has been during the wedding planning process. I seriously wonder how brides did it before this website existed. Basically, the concept is you have "boards" that house all of the things that you've "pinned." On mine I have several categories, from home decor to food and of course a wedding pinboard! Instead of bookmarking all the wedding-related things you find on the internet, you "pin" them and house them all in one place. So if you want to share your wedding inspiration, ideas with family, friends or vendors simply send them a link to your board and voilà! If you're not a very organized person and have to keep a million tabs open while surfing the Web so you don't forget stuff (like me!) then I would highly suggest signing up before starting the wedding planning process. Each time you pin an image, it automatically saves the link where you found it, so it's easy to check back when you want to follow up on something. And if you're interested feel free to follow me on Pinterest. :) Happy Pinning!

P.S. Don't be surprised if you get hooked, this site is insanely addicting!

The Rising Cost Of Weddings

I stumbled upon this great infographic at WeddingRepublic.com about the crazy rise of the cost of weddings today. Check it out here!

Dealin with the Details

So I've heard that you shouldn't stress too much about the details of a wedding and just focus on the big stuff. Easy enough, except that all a wedding is, is a series of tiny, friggin details. So how am I supposed to not stress about them?? Impossible I say. My way of dealing with it is trying to break things down into manageable chunks, survey the scene and try to make sense of it all. Needless to say, if I could afford to hire someone to take care of it all for me, I would, but alas that's only wishful thinking. So I'm back to the drawing board and taking care of those pesky little details...

Love is in the air

When you're engaged, you seek advice from magazines, blogs, friends, family members, etc. But one place where you'll find a great source of support, inspiration and understanding is a fellow bride-to-be! It's so nice to have someone you know going through the planning process. Lucky for me, I have not one but two girls in my life who got engaged around the same time as we did. I'm so excited and happy for both of them and wish them all the best on their upcoming nuptials :)

I'm sure we each will have a unique way of approaching wedding planning (mine is venting through this blog lol) but it's a great feeling knowing that we're going through the same thing! Though styles, locations and guest counts may differ; the ups and downs of wedding planning are one and the same. We will have hiccups along the way as we work to put together meaningful celebrations for us and our loved ones, but at the end of the day we'll be marrying the men we love, the best part of it all. ♥

P.S. Can't wait to enjoy some nice strong cocktails and chat endlessly about wedding stuff with girls who hopefully aren't sick of hearing about it yet haha!

Embracing the madness

Clearly we won't go this crazy but still...

As an engaged couple, everywhere you turn you will hear advice from people about the wedding planning process. Some of it is good, some of it bad, some may not apply to you, but you'll hear it anyway. But a good piece of advice I read recently is pretty simple: embrace the madness.

Let me back up a bit by saying that one of my biggest gripes with this whole wedding planning thing is accepting the fact that it's all about us! Is that weird? I mean yes, of course our families and friends are very happy and excited about us getting married, but it's us as a couple that are the main event! Being the center of attention is not something that I'm used to.

It's a strange concept to me that people we know are willing to go above and beyond, help plan, coordinate, etc., and fly thousands of miles just for us! I mean we're not that big a deal (aside from in our own heads of course ha!)

So I'm trying to embrace the madness, in a way at least, because I'm only planning on doing this once! And everyone tells me to soak it in and enjoy the moment! When else can you do such cool things like come up with your dream items and people will actually buy them for you?! (I'm looking at you registry!) So I'm doing my best, embracing the moment and seeing where this crazy ride takes us :) and a big thank you to everyone in advance! 

Back to Reality

happy to be home :)

So I've finally returned from my 10-day trek and am very happy to be back in civilization and no longer having to sleep in a tent! But most of all I'm happy to finally be home :) And back to wedding planning, yippee!! (I think?!) As I mentioned in this post, sometimes taking a break from the wedding frenzy is a good thing. And it certainly was for me, I didn't talk or think about the wedding at all (OK maybe just a little) and I came back home refreshed and with a nice tan to boot!

The best thing about being away is that you're away from reality and place a temporary hold on dealing with real life. The worst thing about being away is coming back and having to act like a grown up again. Which for me means going back to planning a wedding! But that's OK. I really focused on listening to my own advice of taking a breather and not worrying about venues/vendors or anything remotely wedding-related. And the time spent away from my fiancé (who did an awesome job manning the blog while I was gone btw) made me really excited to come back home and pick a date/venue so me and my man can get married already! Distance really does make the heart grow fonder ♥

the things that really matter

A compilation of some great advice I've picked up from real brides and my own thoughts on keeping perspective during wedding planning.

Remember...

Just marry the one you love, all the rest doesn't matter

Plan for the marriage not the wedding! 

Things WILL go wrong and it's OK
Don't sweat the small stuff

No really, don't sweat the small stuff

At the end of the day, don't stress about making everyone happy,
just BE happy

Relax, smile & drink wine

Resolve to be content

Don't focus on the wedding but rather on the life you'll share together
Stop worrying, everything WILL be OK because you're marrying the one you love ♥