Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
As a kid, I never liked my name. My first name isn’t common at all here in the US. (It is, however, very common in French-speaking countries…which meant nothing to me since I didn’t live in a French-speaking country.) I remember getting so annoyed as a kid when we’d go on family vacations and I’d never find my name on those touristy tchotchkes (key chains, license plates, picture frames, etc.). I’d give my sister the side eye every time she found her name and was able to buy said tchotchkes (she has a very common American name).
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
The title of this post may be a tad misleading—while I 100% DIY’ed the guest welcome bags, I got the weekend itineraries printed through an awesome vendor on Etsy (more on that later).
For the bags, I wanted to provide travel-weary guests with a selection of sweet snacks, salty snacks, gum, Advil, and bottled water. To save on costs, couples will be getting one bag each (but extra goodies inside to share). Originally I was going to order all the snacks through Minimus, a great site to order mini versions of all kinds of snacks. That was until I was shopping at BJ’s one day and realized I could get all the economy-sized snacks I needed there—the prices were cheaper and I wouldn’t have to pay for shipping.
With that in mind, here is a list of my welcome bag purchases (and their prices) below.
All photos are personal.
6 Baker’s Dozen medium gift bags: $6.99 each (Michaels)
2 32-count Poland Spring bottled water: $5.99 each (BJ’s)
2 24-count Welch’s Fruit Snacks: $7.49 each (BJ’s)
2 30-count Baked Lays Smart Mix: $11.99 each (BJ’s)
2 30-count Right Bite 100 Calorie Snacks: $9.99 (BJ’s)
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
Disclaimer: I wish I made up the name “Oh Shit Kit” but alas, I saw it on Offbeat Bride while looking for inspo for my bridal emergency kit. It’s just way more fun to say than “bridal emergency kit.”
As I’ve mentioned many times here, I’m the furthest from a DIY’er as you can be. However, this week I have a number of projects I’m working on that I consider to be DIY (not in an arts-and-crafts kind of way but more in a gather-random-things-and-put-them-in-bags kind of way). So to start off, I wanted to share my first project that was super simple and very necessary in case of wedding-day beauty emergencies. Hence, the Oh Shit Kit in two simple steps.
Step One: get a one-gallon Ziploc bag to hold all your items.
Step Two: Jam all the items Place the items below into said Ziploc bag in an orderly fashion. That’s it!
Here’s a breakdown of what’s included in my kit—about 90% of the items were things I already had around the house so I’m giving myself points for saving some dough.
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
So I’m not going to lie–I was actually a tad disappointed when I learned at my first fitting that I didn’t need to wear a bra with my dress. I had already done hours of research trying to find the perfect undergarment and learned all sorts of things about bridal shape wear. At my most recent fitting, the seamstress just ended up sewing cups into the dress. Practical? Yes. But boring!!!!
If I did have to purchase something for under the dress, here are the ones I would have considered.
FYI some of these images may be a tad bit NSFW, so view with caution!
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
As I mentioned last week, I found my signature scent and was able to snag it for free (holla!!). As I continued to walk through Sephora, I started thinking about Mr. M and how it would be cool (at least in my mind) for him to have a wedding-day scent as well. But Mr. M is not really into “man scents.” The only hint of fragrance on him is his Irish Spring soap and Old Spice deodorant—such a manly man. Actually, the first cologne he ever owned was a bottle of Armani Code for Men I bought him during the first year of our relationship. He ended up wearing it for quite a few months but now, eight years later, I believe it’s sitting in a box somewhere in the basement. Oh well, at least he tried!
So while in the men’s fragrance section, I asked the lady what were the new hot scents for guys and what she would recommend as a wedding-day man scent. The first one she highly recommended was Gucci Guilty for Men.
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
Ah, this is probably one of the most hotly debated wedding topics out there. After money gets budgeted for items both big and small, one thing that never seems to get factored in (at least not in the beginning) are the vendor tips. This can potentially add hundreds or thousands of dollars to any wedding budget, so I wanted to discuss the different sides of the issue and see what you guys think.
Pro Tipping
Plain and simple, people on this side of the argument feel that vendors should be tipped (for a job well done, of course). Just like you tip a waiter, bartender, or hairstylist, there seems to be a standard in the industry for tipping the people who made your big day possible. The norm is anywhere between 15% and 20%, but there are also some set costs ($50 for this person, $200 for that person) depending on who you are tipping and for what service.
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
I used to be obsessed with perfume and body scents. I would hit up Bath & Body Works every few months like it was no one’s business and probably owned three or four bottles of fancy perfume at any given time. But when I developed seasonal allergies 10 years ago, strong scents started to irritate the hell out of me and I could no longer stand ones that were too flowery or fruity. The only perfume I could tolerate was Armani Code—it’s a sexy, musky scent that’s my going-out-at-night go-to. I first used it seven years ago and it is still the only bottle of perfume I own.
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
I thought the title was appropriate since each of our tables will be named after our favorite bands Putting together the seat chart surprisingly didn’t stress me out nearly as much as I thought it would. For the most part, it was actually not that difficult assigning people to tables. I hate going to a wedding and being seated at a table where I don’t know anyone (although I understand that sometimes it’s unavoidable, but still), so it was really important to us that we sat people together who mostly knew each other. In putting the tables together, we realized that my family alone makes up six tables, while his whole family only takes up one and a half tables. Our Connecticut friends make up four tables, and the remaining three tables consists mostly of NYC friends, bridemaids and their Sos.
Image via Lover.ly / Photo Credit: Graceology Photgraphy
Then there was the vendor seating—at first we were thinking of a separate table, but the 15 tables we currently have are the absolute maximum…so that was a no-go. Putting them in another room wasn’t an option, especially for our photographers since all the speeches are going to be in-between courses. So ultimately we decided to add a few additional seats to the tables closest to the dance floor.
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
Once upon a time there was a girl who never had to think twice about sleep. It was just that thing you did at night and nothing more. But as she got older and life got more complex, her daytime thoughts and worries started to invade that nighttime dreamland until, one night, the unexpected happened. She lay in bed…and stayed awake the entire time. “What kind of sorcery is this?!” she would ask herself. And as this strange occurrence started happening more and more often, she started to realize that anytime something big was happening the next day, her brain refused to turn off at night. Thus begins our tale…
That pretty much sums it up. / Image via Joy Reactor
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
With the wedding almost a month away, we’ve been emailing with our photographers for the past few weeks about the shooting schedule for the big day. Our photogs are an awesome couple who offered us a pretty sweet deal—in addition to including our e-shoot within the cost, there is also no time limit for shooting on the wedding day. They will come early for the getting-ready shots, and they will stay until the party ends at 2:00 AM (unless we tell them they can leave earlier since we’ll all probably be bombed and look like crap by that point!).
So while working out the shooting schedule and family portrait VIP list, I also wanted to send them my list of must-have shots that I’ve been hoarding pinning on Pinterest. Here is a snippet of the images that make me swoon and that I hope they’ll use as inspiration.
FYI, this will be a pretty pic-heavy post!
Getting Ready
A really good makeup shot /Image via The Bride’s Cafe / Photo Credit: Renaissance Studios Photography
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
If you recall wayyy back (OK, just a few months ago) I detailed my pre-wedding primping in Big Primpin’ Part I and Big Primpin’ Part II. I just wanted to give a quick update on how everything’s been working so far and the new things I’ve added to my regimen.
First off, the best decision I’ve made was to get monthly facials. My face has never looked as healthy or my skin tone as even as it has over the past 12 months. Since I don’t spend a lot on beautifying (I rarely get mani/pedis, only go to the hair salon a few times a year for my perm/relaxer, and get my eyebrows threaded once a month for $9), it was well within my budget to splurge on a monthly facial—and it’s been worth every single penny.
And in addition to drinking a TON more water and getting more sleep, I’ve also been trying to take vitamins as regularly as possible. I take a multi, vitamin D, biotin, and folic acid, and I’d like to think these have contributed to fixing my skin as well.
Another thing that’s worked wonders for my face has been my Olay ProX exfoliating face brush (which I use a few times a week). So with exfoliating in mind, I was in Whole Foods recently and got drawn into the beauty section, which features some great-smelling organic body salt scrubs.
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
With our wedding less than 40 days away (holy crap), it’s felt like Christmas over at the Mongoose house for the past two months! We’ve gotten boxes full of awesome registry gifts that have been sitting in the kitchen for a while. So this past weekend, we decided to do some spring cleaning around the apartment—which meant getting rid of house stuff we no longer want/use (for example, tons of old glassware that we’ll be donating to the Salvation Army) and making room for all of our new fun presents.
The biggest surprises in terms of registry gifts (so far) have been the big ticket items that we were convinced no one would get us. Turns out we were wrong! In no particular order, here they are.
Wusthof makes the most amazing knives, and this is a set we’ve wanted for years! Courtesy of Groomsmen K and his fiancee / Image via Amazon
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
I had my second dress fitting recently, and so far all is good! Bridesmaid A came along with me for squeeing, moral support, and photo-taking (thanks, boo!). It had been nearly three months since my first fitting, so it was exciting to see the dress again and what changes had been made. Because I’m on the shorter side, the seamstress had previously cut a lot from the bottom of the dress during the first fitting. This time around, the bottom had been hemmed and looked brand new. As for the bodice, there still needs to be a few inches taken in on both sides as well as right above my hips (thank you, MyFitnessPal and P90X!), which I think will be finished in time for my third fitting next week.
For this second fitting I had all the same accessories I brought along the first time, with the addition of my wedding-day jewelry from Etsy (delivered one day before the fitting). I had this necklace and these earrings favorited on Etsy for MONTHS—I knew I had to have them when I initially read the words “vintage” and “peacock” in the description. So I finally decided to pull the trigger a few weeks ago…and I absolutely love them!!
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
I’m baaaaack!! OK, well I’ve been back for a few days now but have been trying to catch up on sleep and get my voice back after my bachelorette-party weekend. We did pretty much what we set out to do, which was party, drink, and paint the town red. Overall it was a good time (other than a little bit of $$ drama, but that tends to happen when you have a huge group of 17 people).
Wearing my “Bride to Be” sash! / Personal photo
The best part was that all these different groups of ladies I’m friends/family with all got to meet and spend time with each other—and it seemed like everyone got along really well. Oh, and the other best part was that my room was upgraded to a SWEET junior suite—thanks, Cosmo!!
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
Hey hive, I can’t believe my bachelorette party is this week! My bridesmaids have put together a fabulous itinerary for a long weekend in my favorite place to party in the world—Las Vegas. I was 17 the first time I went there (I was visiting some family in California and we took a four-hour road trip to Vegas), and even though I couldn’t gamble or drink back then, I still had an amazing time. I swore to myself that I would come back to Vegas for my 21st and 25th b-days and bachelorette party—and luckily I have some amazing friends who are making that last part a reality! (Side note: I also ended up going to Vegas another time between my 21st and 25th, so this weekend will make it my fifth time there. Yup, I’m obsessed.)
I know Sin City gets categorized as a place where debauchery and mayhem run free (The Hangover anyone?), but what I also love about Vegas is all the other things that this city has to offer. You can do whatever tickles your fancy at any moment—whether that’s partying, shopping, gambling, catching some amazing shows (like all the Cirque du Soleil ones), spas, dining at fabulous restaurants, or just sight-seeing. But this is going to be a short weekend so we are going to drink, eat, and party the crap out of Vegas…hopefully minus any tigers in the bathroom.
There will be a total of 17 girls going (including me) consisting of my seven bridesmaids, five cousins, and four good friends. We are staying at the Cosmopolitan, which looks to be a pretty sweet hotel.
Putting together the seat chart surprisingly didn’t stress me out nearly as much as I thought it would. For the most part, it was actually not that difficult assigning people to tables. I hate going to a wedding and being seated at a table where I don’t know anyone (although I understand that sometimes it’s unavoidable, but still), so it was really important to us that we sat people together who mostly knew each other. In putting the tables together, we realized that my family alone makes up six tables, while his whole family only takes up one and a half tables. Our Connecticut friends make up four tables, and the remaining three tables consists mostly of NYC friends, bridemaids and their Sos.
