J to the osh L to the ynn - Photog

Another simple part to our planning - we did not run around like chickens with our heads cut off to look for this gem of a photographer... Davey Fat Wrists' sister Jeannie and her Husband Sean used him at their wedding back on 08/08/08! We diiieeddd over his pictures and so we figured, done and done. No pussyfooting around this decision. I love his "artistic vision" his pictures are really unique which I felt really captured our relationship...to say the least (ha). Okay so we drove our little buns up to his home to get the low-down on prices and etc. I get nervous doing things like this, well... because I get anxiety around people I don't know. Luckily he was so easy to feel comfortable around and we saw some more of his work and the kicker!! HE HAD A GREAT DANE!! Guys, it was so cool looking and beautifulll!!!!! I wanted to steal him and put him in DFW's car!!! Once we were done looking at his stuff we pet the dog some more and bounced. I sat down in DFW's car and omg...an over WHELMING smell crept in. It smelled like.... POOP!!!!!!! Oh no. Guess who stepped in Great Dane Turd??? Yeah. Me. For some reason Great Dane Doo Doo smells worse then any other... DFW had to take my shoe out of the car and scrape it off so that I wouldn't puke and so his car didn't smell like death. It was awesome.

Here are some pics from Jean's Wedding!! Seriously. Your Jealous.




Here is a funny pic of a great dane

My girls like to party all the time, party all the time, party all the tiiiiiimmmee...

Bridal Party Line Up:

Spencer Schloss (Maid of Honor) - Sister of the Bride - Spencer does a very good impression of Eunice from "She's the Man". She's also really pretty and smart. I miss her when I don't see her for a long time. She lights up my lifeee.

Chelsea Burr (BM) - Lonnng time friend of Bride - Chels is the "throwback" of the line up. She's known me almost as long as my sister has. We have been friends since 5th grade. I have a piece of her blankey and she has a piece of my heart.

Jeannie DeVoe (BM) - Sister of the Groom - Jean and I share a love of Moose. She is one of the most hysterical people I know and I can't wait to be relateddd!!!

Jaclyn Dougan (BM) - Cousin - I like to think of her as my second little sister... because she bit my back once and I'm pretty sure we're now actually blood sisters.

Joanna Grab (BM) - Cousin - I like to sum up my relationship with Joanna with this line from Roundhouse, which was on SNICK back in the day.. "Ohhh yea, yip yip!" We thought it was hysterical and I'm still not sure why! She has long slender beauties. In regular people world that means nice legs.

Laura Materasso (BM) - College! - My little Laura is one of the best friends you could ask for - always willing to go the extra mile for anyone that she cares about. She has tiny hands and it sounds like fairys are getting wings when she curses. It's very elegant.

Marta Sykes (BM) - College! - Marta might be the most honest person in my life. Even if I don't like what she's saying - she will give it to me straight. I love that about her because I can tell her ALL my thoughts and she picks out the dumb ones. That is a true friend.

Alex Katinos (BM) - College! - Al and I grew quite close in college - we were roomates and were able to put up with each others antics... she is also one of my very best friends and I love her guts.

Maggie Dougan (Flower Girl) - Cousin - My little Maggie pants is the youngest in my family and perhaps the most talented. She is a great dancer!! She also has the best personality ever.

Russell Dougan (Ring Man) - Cousin - Russ may look older then he is, but please be warned that he's not and none of you girls are allowed to hit on him. He's quite the catch but ask him about his bumpies...(seriously though, he's awesome). But then again seriously do not hit on him.


On Davey's side - we havvve 10 groomsmen - Colin, Shaun, Sean, Dan S., Dan J, Paul, Razor, Kevin, John and Mike. I love them all to tiny pieces!!

Feelings: Picking this was easy easssyyy easy. Made me THRILLED!!!!

**side note, I am updating this post -- there was one more BM we'll call her "Jim" who is no longer able to participate. No hard feelings there but we wish "Jim" were enjoying this amazing experience with us.

Ivory Perfection - David do not read.

THE MOST FUN PART OF WEDDING PLANNING!!!!

My good friends Laura & Marta convinced me to hit up Kleinfelds in Manhattan to check out wedding dresses. I was opposed because I was like "psh, who the heck would spend that much on a dress you'll wear once?" But I went for fun and because they film Say Yes to the Dress there and since my family is from CT things that are "famous" excite them. A la Carlos Bakery in Hoboken and Pinkberry. Side note on that... we took my sister, Spencer, to Pinkberry because she had wanted to go so badly and my Mother proceeded to "steal" napkins for her to keep as a souv. yeah.

Okay so back to the topic... I was SURE that I was getting this beautiful J.Crew dress because it was classic and simple.



So I went to try it on... and it was pretty but really nothing special to be honest. I had my mind set that it's what I wanted though so I was all prepared to get it once Kleinfelds was a bust. A few weeks later - I went with quite the entourage (Mom, Marta, Laura, Davey's Mom, Davey's Aunt, My Aunt, Davey's Sister). Having everyone there was amazing. And then the anxiety set in. I had a mini panic attack and was either going to throw down or throw up and pass out. Luckily my Mommy was there and she made me feel better :) -- apparently it's okay to feel like you can't breathe because getting married is kind of a big deal.

We went into the main room and picked out a bunch of dresses. My main desire was to get something with pockets. I have no idea why - I guess I just like pockets? Sooo dresses were collected and I was ushered into the dressing room. Ladies... I suggest wearing regular undies... should anyone or everyone be in your fitting room they are going to see your rear. Dress number one was nice - a little to mature for me, but it had POCKETS!!! THEN Laura found this Christos dress that I had been admiring in a mag for.ev.er. It was kind of expensive but since Laur litterally stole it from another bride to be I gave it a shot. This was the holy grail of dresses for me. I felt like an unsurmountable load of money. I wanted to have it glued to my body so that I never had to take it off. Applause all around from entourage. Alas, they convinced me to try on some more dresses... this consisted of like 3 more. They were all very lovely... but Christos...ohhh my Christos Ivory light of my life... with your swiss dots and sweet heart neckline...

The woman helping me at K's had me try it on again... so I did!!!!! I looked at my Mom and we were like YESSSSS. Not out loud but with our eyes. Well actually I was like YES she was more like "I love it but is it practial" but I knew behind that Motherly relisticness(??) I couldn't live without it and that was that.



Not to toot my own horn here or anything but I think my lady lumps fill out the dress a little better then this model...

Anyway I was taken to the front room to admire myself and then they put a veil on me and a fake bouquet and I started crying then the others did... or at least some of them. It was a done deal. That was the second most happy time, the first being the proposal...

Feelings: Nausea and Shortness of breath upon arrival. PUMPED because I was shopping and then sheer glee and giddyness once I found my Christos Maribel dress. I may never ever ever take it off after the wedding. I may be known as the girl who goes to work in her wedding dress. Look for me Manhattan!

St. Clements Castle

I decided to start keeping this blog to have some sort of journal of how this whole wedding process felt. It has been an extremely positive experience for me. It's been relatively stress free...possibly because it's been over a year since Dave proposed sooo we've had a lot of time to plan everything.

The hardest part for us was picking the venue. We literally scoured the tri-state area for the perfect place. Our first instinct was to check out the most expensive and barren but fantastic loft spaces in NYC. They really were phenomenal. We started with Studio 450. I really thought this was our place. It's a HUGE space, all white overlooking the city with out door space and floor to ceiling windows annnnnd thats pretty much it. We would have had to bring in all the decor, food, lighting etc. As lovely as the space was, it was just too high maintenance for us. Eventually we ended up looking at a few other loft spaces in Manhattan and then a few places in New Jersey until we came upon St. Clements Castle in Portland, CT.


To be honest, I had no intention of getting hitched in CT but we went up there to look at some places for my Mother's sake (or so she'd stop bringing it up). Pulling into the town of Portland can only be described as a total snooze fest. It's cute and quiet but certainly nothing exciting. That is until you pull on to the castle grounds... I highly suggest taking a look for your self www.saintclementscastle.com.

David and I looked around and were so caught up in the perfection of it that we had to have it. I was terrified to find out how much this baby was going to cost us. It MUST have been meant to be because the price was right. I almost died right there. After all this looking, the one place I was so "eh" about turned out to be our jackpot. We set our date for September 24, 2010. Oh and we were able to reserve the side of the castle overlooking the Connecticut River. Booyahh. Sooo I'd like to give a little shout out/thank you to my Aunt Chris and my Cousin Jaclyn for finding this amazing place for us.

Feelings throughout this process: Frustration at first. Confused. Once you find that perfect spot though - all of that goes away and you just feel like one of those really happy fiddlers, you know? Like the cute little old men who rip it up on those bad boys and can't stop smiling and tapping their feet in the hay? Do you have a visual?