
I have blogged and raved about the fabulous Fifty-Foot Films in the past - they are so creative, innovative, and their films are absolutely romantic and utterly breathtaking. They are well-renowned for what they refer to as ‘cinematic decadence’ - you definitely have to check out their website!
I adore their artistic style, the fact that every video just exudes warmth and romance, and I love the fact that they use music that is ‘unconventional’ and unexpected, yet so perfect (I absolutely love the version of Sting’s” Fields of Gold” that they used in the Texas film clip). They were probably the first film company that I contacted to capture my wedding and the one that I used as THE standard thereafter - which resulted in a very disappointing and basically fruitless search. However, as they are located in California and have teams in New York, the rest of us who are located in other parts of the country have had to suffer (that is, if we couldn’t afford to fly them in). 
Some of you have asked me to do a review of my Canon Rebel xTi, but I’ve really only used it a handful of times the past two months. Since Mrs. Ladybug and I have the same camera and we both wanted to practice using it, we went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden yesterday for the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was jam packed, but if you can go during the week, it’s an absolutely gorgeous place to take engagement pictures.
To show you what the camera is capable of with my extreme novice skills, I thought I’d share some of the pictures I took. These photos are not retouched, and were all taken using basic auto focus settings. I’m truly a beginner with the DSLR, so I can’t wait to get a whole lot better!
Gorgeous tulips in every color, shape and size.


One of the things I love about Mr. Lovebug is that he consents to letting me put together fantastically hip outfits for him. For dinner the other night, I had him in a Goonie’s t-shirt, a velvet blazer, True Religion jeans, and Converse. Very dashing, I assure you.
Of course, I can’t rest on my laurels. The drive to keep him cutting-edge cute compels me to scour the net for the latest in metrosexual man-wares. And as every well-accessorized woman knows, god (and goddess) is in the details. So if details like shirtcuffs linked with beautifully detailed enamel and sterling silver from Duncan Quinn…
I know it’s sort-of relatively last minute to be thinking about this, but now I’m having a thought (uh oh! Miss Blueberry having a thought? Hang onto your veils, girls!)…
You probably already know that we’re having a dessert reception, but I’ll just go ahead and say it again. It’ll be full-blown, not just a little wedding cake + mints + punch thing…
We’re talking cake, (fudge) groom’s cake, 2 chocolate fountains, baklava, kourambiedes, various pastries, snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, macadamia white chocolate chip cookies, mini cheesecakes, petit fours, sugar-free brownies, rice crispie treats (mmmmmmmm), Sour Patch kids (Mr. Blueberry loves ‘em!), those cute wedding-colored M&M’s, and lots more that I can’t think of off the top of my head.
But now I’m thinking (hence the aforementioned concern for y’all’s well-being). We’re having wine, and we’re having fruit. So wouldn’t it be cool to have cheese, too? Yeah, it would.
Mr. Kiwi and I are not ashamed to admit the biggest reason we chose our venue: the cake was included from my favorite bakery. Well, actually they gave us two choices, our favorite Hansen’s Cakes, and Torrance Bakery cakes. Up to this past weekend we were set for our bakery, we just had to go taste the cakes and fillings. Then my FSIL said that she’d heard amazing things about the Torrance Bakery. Greaat.
We went to a wedding a few weeks ago that had a Hansen’s cake. Maybe the choices weren’t to my taste, because I was fairly disappointed in the wedding cake. Sure, it all tasted good, but it wasn’t anything I’d talk about later, ya know? Now I’m feeling torn. I know for a fact that Hansen’s makes tasty cakes- I’ve had them before. They have many flavors of cake, but not that many fillings that sounded good to me (and I’m all about the fillings). Another downside- the cake designs are a little old-fashioned. I’m sure we could do a special cake, but it may not be included in our package, and we’re not looking to spend more than the package allows.
Torrance Bakery has beautiful cakes, and a ton of fillings. In an ironic twist, they have less flavors of cake than Hansen’s! It’s like they’re trying to make me choose- tasty cake options or tasty filling options! Either place we go, we’ll have a four tier cake iced in buttercream frosting, that much I know (at least I know something!).
I have finally decided on a bouquet for the bridesmaids, and this time I promise, I won’t change my mind…
I have been through 3 different bouquets - mostly because the flowers I wanted (amaryllis, then peonies) really aren’t available in the middle of July - unless I want to spend and arm and a leg…
So I have decided to go with this…

I have a dilemma now I didn’t expect to have. Until two weeks ago I had a location and was ready to sign a contract for an October wedding, when my mother in law sent an email to my fiance and I asking if we really insisted on having the wedding on a Friday, which posed a problem for her guests. I live away from the city, have had lots of promises of help with no follow through from her, and I loved the first place I saw. I also loved Friday for the price and fact that my out of town guests have the full weekend to see NY.
2 weeks and many fights later with my fiance, the date is cancelled to next year due to most Saturdays being booked up now. This was crushing to me to say the least but now my fiance tells me his mother is going to give us a lot of money. With my mother’s limited ability to help financially, I’m worried but don’t want to receive this large donation. My fiance would otherwise carry the largest burden since he makes more (his bonus is my yearly salary) and has the largest group of guests.
So with all this info as background, how do I make sure I control the wedding details and not offend his mother by not asking for her help in some items I simply want to control? I just am very hurt by what happened and don’t want this to happen again. The person who controls the purse has the say, and that is not me here. Anyway I appreciate your help as I am really conflicted about this .
Vanessa
One of my favorite online boutiques, Room Service Home, has these GORGEOUS rosary crosses that would be great for the religious bride to carry down the aisle and/or wrap around her bouquet.
Comment below with links to interesting wedding articles you’ve found! ![]()