Disney/Pixar's Up Inspiration

As I've mentioned before, Sr Groom's hot air balloon proposal was inspired by the film "Up" by Disney and Pixar.  I am an absolute sucker for Disney, and not just because I'm from Florida.  Sr Groom grew up in Florida as well, and he thought Disney was nothing but silly kid stuff...until I dragged him to Walt Disney World early on in our relationship and successfully convinced him otherwise.  My cousins have always been really into Disney, and I grew up looking up to my cousins as I would look up to older siblings.  We've always been close, and our memories growing up at Walt Disney World are among my most cherished.  Basically, they're to blame.

EPCOT with some of my favorite people in 2003

How could a Disney freak plan a wedding without a few subtle nods towards the mouse?  It's so whimsical, so romantic, so MAGICAL.  Everything about Disney just screams wedding to me.  Let's start where our engagement began: with Disney and Pixar's "Up."

The Wedding Chicks recently featured an "Up" inspired engagement shoot.  Of course, I just had to share with y'all!

All photos by Wildflowers Photography via Wedding Chicks

How adorable are the little grape soda buttons?!  You can get your very own Ellie badge on Etsy, here.  The Wedding Chicks loved this couple so much (and can you blame them?) that they documented their wedding day too.

All photos by Wildflowers Photography via Wedding Chicks

To make things even more adorable, the writer and producer of "Up" saw the e-pics on Wedding Chicks and sent the bride and groom a copy of "The Art of Up," complete with personalized hand drawing!

Wildflowers Photography via Wedding Chicks

Too cute.  Have you incorporated inspiration from a favorite movie into your wedding theme?  How so?

Finding the Right Words

Most of our wedding ideas thus far have revolved around the reception.  We've had our first dance song picked out since before we got engaged, I had imagined exactly what I wanted our centerpieces to look like, and have I mentioned the food?  I suppose this is pretty normal for most brides, but I find it ironic because, to me, the ceremony is the most important part of a wedding.

Here's my confession: the ceremony kinda intimidated me.

Source: The Flirty Guide

I'm Jewish and Mr. Lion is Catholic, though neither of us practice our faiths strictly.  We both believe in spirituality and in an individual religious identity, though neither of us really follow an organized pattern.  Though we do not feel that our religions are a huge part of who we are, we still wanted a somewhat religious ceremony.  I wanted to make sure that Jewish customs were included, but I wanted them to be presented in an interfaith manner.  Mr. Lion was actually much more flexible about his side of things; he wanted to allude to a higher power, but in a more nondenominational sense.

Upon considering all of these factors, it seemed as though it was going to be quite the challenge to have our cake and eat it too.  I mean, we were basically writing our own ritual!  How in the world do people do that?!  Well, I went on Weddingbee and looked into a few secular readings, as well as a few Christian readings, and a few Jewish traditions.  Their message board served as an excellent resource for finding exactly what I was looking for.  I bookmarked lots of things, and went back to avoiding planning the ceremony saved it for a rainy day to discuss with Mr. Lion.

Well, August 29th rolled around...our one-year engageaversary.  We decided to celebrate by choosing our ceremony readings.  I read my favorite bookmarks aloud to Mr. Lion, while he rated each one on a scale from 1-5.  Then, we narrowed it down from there and decided on several pieces that would become components of our ceremony.  Our overall favorite came from a sample interfaith Ketubah, a traditional Jewish wedding contract.  Though we don't plan to sign a Ketubah, we fell in love with this particular one's words.  In fact, we plan to rearrange it and use it in our vows.

From New World Judaica:

The bride and groom stood before family and friends, gazed upon each other and declared: “I have found you, whom my soul loves.  I bind myself to you, whom my heart desires utterly, passionately, and selflessly.  I vow to place you before all others, and nurture your mind, body and spirit.  I will forevermore hold you dear to me and stand by your side in both joy and sorrow.  I will dream your dreams and comfort you in times of challenge.  May our love continue to grow from strength to strength and intertwine us through the years as we create our family together. We will make a home in which the flow of seasons and the passage of time are marked according to our traditions, where the joy of children’s laughter rings in every room, and where we aid in the repairing and healing of the world.  According to the rituals of marriage, I make you holy to me with this ring.  May it be a sign of my love for the world to behold.  I enter with you, my beloved, into this.

The best part about choosing our ceremony readings was that we did it together.  I've done most of the wedding planning so far on my own.  Mr. Lion is always happy to offer an opinion when asked, but he's just not into it enough to take initiative.  I'm really glad the ceremony was more his thing.  It provided a level of comfort that allowed me to directly face something that was out of my comfort zone.  It was also incredibly romantic...reading through such meaningful words and imagining what it would be to hear them on the big day.  We're not the most romantic couple in the world.  We're silly and sarcastic, and we like having fun with each other.  This makes the rare sappy moments even more special.  I was so glad I got to share this part of the planning process with Mr. Lion.


What parts of wedding planning have intimidated you?  Has your fiance helped to pull you out of that funk?

Indulgences and Inconveniences

Hive, you will never guess what happened to me recently:

Sad day.

Yeah...that's my ignition.  Which was ripped out.  When my car was hotwired.  Like in a movie.

My car was stolen from our gated apartment complex, then found only a few hours later.  I was thrilled that they found it, but what ensued was a big fat mess.  I spent my entire Saturday at the East Point jail trying to obtain clearance to retrieve my car from the police's tow lot, and then I spent the next week on the phone with Allstate.  Also, we had scheduled a food tasting at our venue in the middle of all of this chaos.

I knew we couldn't cancel or postpone the tasting, which was scheduled for the evening of the day the car was stolen.  Our venue, Anthony's Fine Dining, has a different menu for events than they do for their daily restaurant.  They had set aside special ingredients to make special food just for us!  It would have been really rude to neglect that, but we were EXHAUSTED.  All I wanted to do was put on some sweatpants, take my rental to Chick-Fil-A, go home, and chill.  We decided to suck it up and not let our venue down.  We left the police station, changed into pretty clothes, and headed to Anthony's.

I was certain that we would not be able to relax and enjoy our meal.  A million questions raced through my head: How much is my insurance going to cover?  Is my car going to be okay?  Will this affect our wedding fund?!  As soon as we walked up to Anthony's front door, all of these questions vanished.  We felt right at home when we sat down to eat.  Our waiter was a breath of fresh air compared to the horrible customer service we had received everywhere else all day long.  And then there was the food.  OMG THE FOOD.

We plan to serve our wedding guests a sit-down lunch.  We'll have passed hors d'oeuvres, salad, an entree of their choice, and wedding cake.  Overall, we were trying to go for an "upscale Southern comfort food" vibe.  We started off with freshly baked bread served with Anthony's "signature butter," cream cheese mixed with sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and feta.  Then came the appetizers.  Mr. Lion ordered "Southern Spring Rolls," a barbecue-themed rendition on the usual Southwestern Egg Rolls.  I had a baked brie, which, though delicious, I could not envision our guests eating.  It was messy, and just not all that exciting.  Brie is a favorite of mine, but there's nothing special or unique about it.  Next, Mr. Lion had a chopped salad with bleu cheese and bacon, while I had a spinach salad with walnuts and dates.  Mr. Lion won that round too.  Spinach salad is yummy, but the chopped salad better fit our theme.

Finally, we received our entrees.  We had hoped to allow our guests to choose between chicken and fish.  There aren't any vegetarians in our family, we're having pork at rehearsal dinner, and beef sounded too heavy for the middle of the day.  We glanced through Anthony's menu and picked one of each to try first.  I think we may have gotten it right on our first try.

Mr. Lion enjoyed the New Zealand King Salmon...

A very happy Mr. Lion

...while I sampled the Chicken Pecan.

Clearly way too busy to smile at the camera


{all personal photos}

Both entrees were served with carrots, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and of course, fried green tomatoes.

In the midst of a very stressful week, one simple meal reminded us of all we have to look forward to, and confirmed that we chose the best venue for us.  What kind of things keep you excited about your big day?

Adventure in the Great Wide Somewhere

We decided pretty early on that we wanted to honeymoon in Europe.  Sr Groom has never been to Europe before.  I've made it over there a couple of times, but just to Italy and France.  I wanted to go to Germany.  But Miss Gringa!  That's not romantic!  Shouldn't you honeymoon on a beach or something?!  Hush, naysayers.  Take a gander:

Source

Source

I love the beach, but we grew up with it.  You know what we didn't grow up with?  Mountains.  Seriously, how BEAUTIFUL are the Alps?  I also like how the towns look like something out of a storybook:

Source

We wanted our honeymoon to consist of good beer, good chocolate, good pastries, and beautiful scenery.  We looked at a map (how sad is that?!), and decided that the best way to tackle West Central Europe was to limit ourselves to just Munich.  We were interested in Berlin and Cologne, but we were more interested in Austria and Switzerland.  If we stayed in southern Germany, it would make sense to hit up Vienna, Munich, and Zurich.  This would also allow for plenty of time out in the countryside...the Black Forest, Neuschwanstein, etc.  It might end up more touristy than relaxing, but we're psyched nonetheless!

Are you planning a more adventurous honeymoon or a more relaxing one?

Girls in Green Dresses

When I went shopping for my dress, I was accompanied by four of my six bridesmaids.  Bmaid Jackie is my FSIL, and she was unable to drive all the way up from South Florida.  Bmaid Jessica is a second year med student in Tampa, so she was super busy.  She was also heartbroken that she was unable to be there.  To make it up to her, I told her she could pick out her dress.

I told my bridesmaids that I wanted them to match and I wanted them to wear a bright green.  Bmaid Sara also added the stipulation that the dresses be cocktail length (she's shorter and didn't think she could pull off tea length...I appreciated her honesty).  Bmaid Jessica couldn't make it to Atlanta to shop together until June, so Bmaid Emily, Sister Lioness, and I did some preliminary research.

The one on the right came in a beautiful green...

...but the one on the left was the favorite!

Bmaid Emily also loved it!

AND it looked cute with my mom's dress!

I was glad that we had a strong candidate for the position of bridesmaid dress, but I would not allow anything to become a final decision until Bmaid Jessica had the opportunity to try on dresses.  I'm a woman of my word, after all.  Bmaid Jessica came into town and decided to try on the leading dress.

The whole package: with a hair flower fascinator (more on that later) and the shoes


{all personal photos}

Her words? "Umm, if it's okay with you, I don't really want to look at any other dresses.  This one is perfect."

How did you choose your bridesmaids' dresses?

The Truth

Right after we got engaged, I moved to Boston for a three-month clinical affiliation.  Though my patients made fun of me for saying "y'all," I felt right at home.  My family is from New England, even though they moved to the South before having me.  Though I've spent most of my life below the Mason-Dixon line, I've been fortunate enough to visit Massachusetts dozens of times.  You see, there's this little beach town on the South Shore where my family has been summering for four generations...pretty much since we've been in this country.  I grew up playing on that beach, fishing off of the North Atlantic rocks, and taking ferry rides into town for a Sox game.  I have lots of extended family who still live in Boston and the surrounding area and every time I see them, it's like revisiting years of wonderful vacations.

My mom has a cousin who lives with her husband in Cambridge, and they were generous enough to let me stay with them during my clinical affiliation.  Their apartment was walking distance to my hospital, and there were about three Dunkin D's along the way.  A temporary transplant couldn't ask for anything more.  Cambridge cousin's sister and her husband live in Arlington, and they were generous enough to let my car live there for those three months.  This made day trips to the Cape possible.  Both of these cousins have an incredible mother, my Great Aunt Dotty.  Dotty is my grandfather's sister and she is one of the most interesting people I've ever known.  Her 85th birthday party happened to fall during my stay in Boston, so I was able to celebrate it with her and the rest of my New England family.

Personal photo: With the birthday girl

Earlier this summer, we found out that Dotty had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, just as her brother had been over a decade ago.  Her oncologist had given her months to live.  I was shocked at how sudden the onset had been, and I was worried about my mom's cousins who had been so wonderful to me so recently.  Dotty decided not to hang on for too long.  She passed away within two weeks, and I took solace in the fact that she was reunited with her brother.

My mom's cousins decided that with family scattered all over the country, it would be silly to have a memorial service with a reunion (our wedding) right around the corner.  I was approached and asked if I was okay with sharing my wedding weekend with Dotty's memory.  Was it okay to have a belated memorial service that same weekend?  In my mind, I was deeply offended.  How could I share MY weekend with a funeral?  If the funeral was before the wedding, people would be sad at my wedding.  If the funeral was after my wedding, people would be sad in anticipation of the upcoming funeral.  I didn't want to share my wedding weekend with sadness!

What's funny though, is that when I opened my mouth to express my concerns about this idea, none of those concerns came out.  I simply said, "I would be honored to share our wedding weekend with Dotty's memory.  I can't wait to celebrate her life with my family, and I look forward to raising a glass to her."  And I meant it.  The truth came out, regardless of what I was thinking.  I really am looking forward to toasting her memory that day.

Have you ever had the truth come out when you least expected it to?

This Little Piggy

I told Mr. Lion early on that I wanted him to lead the way with rehearsal dinner.  My lovely FMIL was generous enough to offer to host it, so I thought it would be nice for them to plan it together.  Unfortunately, my FMIL lives in Miami and the rehearsal dinner will be in Atlanta, so it looks like I'll be helping Mr. Lion with the planning instead of her.  We've kept her in the loop every step of the way, so she's definitely still involved.

Mr. Lion decided that he wanted to do a traditional Cuban pig roast, using a caja china.  A caja china is a box designed for barbecuing a pig.  It looks something like this:

Source: Amerilumber

You slowly smoke an entire pig inside this box for a very long period of time.  Once fully cooked, the entire pig is presented (in an apple-in-its-mouth kind of way) and dinner guests are treated to an absolute feast.  But Miss Lioness, aren't you Jewish?  Yes.  Yes I am.  And so is half of my family.  However, none of our wedding guests keep Kosher.  Most of my family actually really enjoys eating pork.  And most importantly, they love Mr. Lion and respect his culture.

The idea of using caja china did raise a few problems, though.  First of all, where would we put a box big enough to hold a pig that weighs hundreds of pounds?  Our little apartment was not really conducive to this idea.  Secondly, I believed that even the toughest of carnivores may not find the sight of an entire pig carcass all that appetizing.  Wasn't there some way we could serve it carved?  Finally, where would we find a caja china?  It would be one thing to make this idea a reality in South Florida...Atlanta was a different story.  Mr. Lion suggested that we take a little trip to Home Depot to find some lumber, then take a little trip to the Farmer's Market to find some bulk cumin for marinating.  This still didn't change the fact that we needed a pig.

After calling the few Atlanta Cuban restaurants that were deemed autentico (that is, the ones Mr. Lion approved of), we finally found a place that uses caja china for catering.  Not only that, but this restaurant was willing to let us reserve their entire space to accommodate our guests.  I suppose that's the thanks you get when you purchase an entire pig!  They also said that they would keep the actual caja china in the back and just bring out servings.  Phew!  No carcass.  The restaurant is called Coco Loco, and the best part about them is that they're within a mile from our wedding venue.  We've had their food before, and it is simply amazing.  It really made me feel like I was home again, eating maduros and staring off into the Biscayne Bay.

Mr. Lion decided that we should have congris (black beans and rice) to accompany the pork.  After thinking about the spicy reds and Caribbean blues that create a motif throughout the restaurant's artwork, I decided that our additional decor should follow suit.  Here is the inspiration board we came up with:

Sources (clockwise from top-left): Seattle Pig Roast, Folksy, personal invitation, personal photo of Mr. lion in a Cuban shirt (2006), artwork at Coco Loco, personal photo of Mr. Lion with a pork roast (2009), Tracy Matthewman, more artwork from Coco Loco, Dart Fine Art

How did you start brainstorming for your rehearsal dinner?  What elements of your cultures are you incorporating into your wedding weekend?

Mamasita of the Bride

I've mentioned before that my mom is not your typical Mother of the Bride.  After surviving breast cancer and a divorce, it's safe to say that she has a fresh new outlook on life.  Add that to her Latina background, along with living in one of the most dynamic areas in the nation...let's just say she wasn't planning on wearing this to our wedding:

Source: The Bride's Heart

We chatted about it and decided on a few things before she started shopping.  I wanted her dress to be pool blue.  My bridesmaids would be wearing green, so I wanted my mom to be in our other wedding color.  She said she didn't want to look "old."  I said I didn't want her to look too conservative, but I didn't want her to dress too young.  She said she wanted something that would "twirl well while dancing."

Armed with a fair set of rules, we took a little trip to Formally Yours, the salon where I found my wedding dress.  At the sight of dark, dreary colors and oversized boleros, she immediately vetoed the entire Mother of the Bride section.  We decided to take a little detour and check out the bridesmaids' section instead.  Lo and behold, we found a pool blue chiffon dress that was absolutely stunning:

Personal photo: looking age appropriate but sassy...Stacy and Clinton would be proud!

How perfect is that?!  She loved it.  I loved it.  We had a winner.

How did your mom find her dress?  Is anyone else using a bridesmaid dress instead of a Mother of the Bride dress?

Save the Dates Parte Tres: The Love

Hive, I cannot even begin to explain how much positive feedback we got about these Save the Dates!  People got such a kick out of them!  As you may recall, Sister Lioness helped me make them and even she was psyched to get hers!  She and her BF even did a little photo shoot to show their excitement:

{All photos courtesy of Sister Lioness' Apple Photo Booth application.}

Love them.

Save the Dates Parte Dos: The Reveal

As you might recall, I had quite the ambitious idea for our Save the Dates.  The most intimidating factor to me was the actual print-at-home process.  Fortunately, I had lots of practice with that.  The other barrier that stood in my way was finding a company who could print on balloons...affordably.  After lots of googling (and emailing to make sure that some companies were still in business...some weren't), I discovered Extra Twist Custom Balloon Printing.  They were an absolute joy to work with, mostly because of their excellent communication.  I emailed the printer our desired balloon text as a jpeg, and we went back and forth about font choices and so on.  She was very careful to ensure that I created a design that would produce a high-quality print.  I really appreciated that.  After about three weeks, a box of deflated, printed balloons showed up on our doorstep.  Sister Lioness was in town visiting, so I recruited her for help and we got to work.

Materials:
A printer that has the ability to adjust according to paper size (look for an envelope feature)
#10 Open End Luxe Fino Envelopes in Pool - 10 for $5.50 at Paper Source
Custom Stamp - $8.00 from Etsy seller drumchick99
Embossing Powder in Clear - $7.95 at Paper Source
Watermark Inkpad for Embossing - $8.95 at Paper Source
Embossing Heat Tool - $23.75 at Paper Source
#10 Luxe Fino Flat Cards in Cream - 25 for $6.25 at Paper Source
Squeeze Punch - 1/2" Rounded Corner - $11.95 at Paper Source
Custom Printed Balloons in Green -  $70.00 for 11-inch latex balloons at Extra Twist
Green Bakers Twine - $12.00 at Divine Twine
An eyeglasses screwdriver

The first thing I did was print out the envelopes.  My printer was a little temperamental about this.  It only worked if I hand fed each one, one at a time.  Even then, it was problematic at times.

Other times, it was beautiful.

I then printed out the cards.  The front read, "Hello!  Please inflate the balloon."  It then listed our wedding website on the bottom of the card.  The back looked like this:

We used Wedding Chicks' template, added our favorite picture from the proposal (in black and white, except for my ring which is an aquamarine), and circled our date in a matching aquamarine.  With the help of the Weddingbee Boards, I was able to identify these fonts as Monterey BT and EcuyerDAX, both of which are available for free on dafont.  I downloaded these fonts, used them on the front of the card and the envelope, and I plan to use them on our invitations, programs, menus, etc.

Sister Lioness then used the corner punch to round out the edges of the cards.

Then, I embossed a little balloon on each envelope.  Side note: embossing totally intimidated me, but the lady at Paper Source convinced me that it wasn't scary and I'm SO GLAD she did.

While I was embossing, Sister Lioness finished up the cards.  Now while you read this last part, you have to sing it to the tune of a certain SNL Digital Short.  Ready, go!

Step One: Punch some holes in the card.

Two: Thread your twine though that card.

Three: Attach a balloon to that card.

It's a balloon on a card!  Ooooo!  Okay, I'm done singing inappropriate things.  Here is the final product!

{all personal photos}

So were our guests as psyched about these as we were?  Stay tuned to find out!

Save the Dates Parte Uno: The Inspiration

Some might argue that Save the Dates are unnecessary.  After all, the first question folks as when they find out you're engaged is, "when's the big day?"  Everyone important in our lives has already saved the date, especially after almost a year of engagement.  So what's the point?  Many would say that it's just a formality.

I disagree.  A Save the Date is your guests' first impression of your wedding.  It's your announcement to your loved ones that this is really happening.  It provides an opportunity to set the tone for your wedding.  Guests are clued into your theme, the entire vibe you're trying to convey.  I thought about doing a photobooth strip magnet, because we're planning to have a photobooth at the reception.  I thought about using some of our engagement pictures (more on that later).  But then I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and do something WAY more complicated.

You may recall that we got engaged on a hot air balloon.  Balloons are so whimsical, and that's definitely an element we plan on incorporating into our wedding.  I googled "balloon" and "save the date," and came up with a lot of boring stuff, a lot of expensive stuff, and this:

Source: Office Optimist via For Print Only via oh happy day!

How FUN is that?!  I loved the novelty of it...I'm sure none of our guests have ever seen anything like it.  I also loved how it involved the recipient.  Sister Lioness always says that I'm trying to make our wedding an "experience," and I think that's a good way to put it.  I want all of our guests to feel involved.  This was a good way of engaging them.

My only issue with this design was how the balloon was the only element with the actual date on it.  The back of the card also had useful information on it, but not anything about the actual date.  What if the balloon popped before the recipient had a chance to write down the date?!  Wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose?!  Then I found this:

Source: Wedding Chicks

This is from a free template on Wedding Chicks who, by the way, have lots of free goodies on their site.  If you haven't checked them out yet, you should!  I loved the simplicity of this design.  The fonts were gorgeous...romantic with a hint of whimsy, exactly what we were going for!  Perhaps if I combined the simplicity of this design with the uniqueness of the balloon design, I could create something just right for our Save the Date.  How will it turn out?  Stay tuned!

Good News!

Not only have I now graduated (Dr. Gringa?) but after two months of studying, I was FINALLY granted permission to take the boards.  It's a long application process, and not a very efficient one at that.  I took my exam this past Thursday on a computer at a testing center, and they told me that I should have my results by the weekend.  As soon as I woke up Friday morning, I checked the status online and saw this:

Source

So I should be able to start work within the next week because I am an officially licensed physical therapist!  Additionally, now that I'm no longer studying 24/7, I can be devoting full time to floating blogging (sorry, Disney references sneak into my diction every now and then).  Thank goodness, because I have a LOT to update you on!

Since this is the good news post though, I figure I should share some more good news: we got our first wedding present in the mail!  We still have eight months to go, so we were pretty surprised.  In fact, I was certain that there had to be some kind of mistake!  I'm a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding next weekend, and we had just purchased a gift for them from their registry at Bed Bath & Beyond.  So when the UPS man showed up at our doorstep with a Bed Bath & Beyond box, I was pretty sure that I had clicked "ship to billing address" instead of "ship to registered address!"  Sr Groom insisted that we open it just in case.

We opened the box to find a very large, very heavy, gift-wrapped box.  We got our friends some lightweight bakeware, so I was starting to think that this large box might actually be for us.

Sr. Groom and Miss Corgi looking VERY confused

We found a note that said it was from my mom's cousins, the lovely people who were generous enough to let me stay with them during my clinical affiliation in Boston.  Now, we had just sent out our Save the Dates (more on that soon!), which had our website listed on it, which lists our registries.  I suppose this means people are officially aware of our registries now, but I still couldn't understand why someone would get us a wedding gift this early unless they wanted to make sure they were able to grab something REALLY special before it got fulfilled by someone else.  But the only thing THAT special on our registry was...GASP.

I couldn't take pictures of what came next because I was simply too busy jumping up and down and squealing.

The.  Kitchen Aid.  Stand.  Mixer.

This was a few days before boards, so I told myself that I would leave it in it's box and play with it if and when I passed.  Well, as I mentioned earlier, I passed...so I rewarded myself.

I named it "The Glacier" because it's ice blue.

Sugar cookies with cream cheese buttercream frosting...and the frosting matches!  Oh, and so does my apron.

Miss Corgi's usual place, under my feet while I'm cooking.

I have to say, as far as first gifts go, this one was pretty stellar.  What made it even better was the timing of it.  It led to some long overdue fun, and it meant so much to me because we received it from such wonderful people.

What was your first wedding gift?  How was it significant to you?