With "Bells" On

I've finally recovered from my wonderful trip to Miami - and cannot wait to go back! I loved it - such an amazing city...and such a great way to experience it for the first time. My friend Michelle (affectionately called Bells by her close friends and family!) got married down there at The National in South Beach and all I can say about it is details, details, details. From her custom made gown to the vintage suitcase holding the place cards not a thing was left out. Sadly my camera decided it didn't feel like working so I apologize that some of the pictures are off my iPhone and could be better quality, but I've also included some from the photographer, Amy Hill, who did nothing short of an amazing job.
Can you even handle this picture? It's taken at the Delano, which is next door to The National....more on that later!
Here's the vintage suitcase that was filled with sand holding up the reproduction post cards that marked your table...I mean, really? Michelle is amazing.
This is the post card that I got, and then each table was marked with the post card you pulled out of the suitcase. They're from Zazzle.

I have SO much more to show-and-tell but have lots to catch up on before I had back to the great state of Ohio for my favorite holiday! So stay tuned becuase there are so many more amazing pictures and great details to share.

MOB

And now to the second most important lady of the day, the lovely Mother of the Bride...

Talk about some shoes to fill....and quite beautiful ones at that! Here she is, my stunning mother. (Photo courtesy of Jim Sanders, who did the whole wedding, amazing) This picture was taken before we headed over the church in our living room at home. I must say that taking the advice of my mother's friend and the florist of the wedding, Bart from The Daisy Basket, to only have the 4 of us stay in the house was probably my favorite part of the weekend. He said, "If you didn't grow up here, you don't stay here" and it really did make all of our time together so special.

My mom's whole goal in designing the tent was to make it feel like our house, and she did just that. She has always had an affinity for blue and white porcelain so with a combination of her collection and some help from The Daisy Basket she was able to use her pieces throughout the tables in the tent.


You can also see the cards on the tables. Each table was named after a neighborhood in either New York or Chicago - Katherine and Peter were living in New York and just moved to Chicago this past weekend. Also, we used sheets of wrapping paper that had a map of Manhattan as them for the back drop of the place card (that idea came from yours truly!)

Our table was 'Central Park' naturally, and had a great view of the whole tent. You can see the alternating sized lanterns that hung through the middle of the tent here.


I must say, as if all her great taste and talent weren't enough I think the most impressive thing is that it was all done. There was no panic, no frenzy no last-minute anything...from the moment I got off the plane from Boston everything was done! Now, I may have a good eye but she's got the organization to pull it off and without even breaking a sweat. And I think she had a pretty good time too...so cheers to you mom, love you!


*I just want to say again what an amazing job (as you can see)the photographer, Jim Sanders, did on everything!

Here Comes the Bride...

Here they are! Some of the wedding pictures finally! I can't wait until we get the proofs from the photographer, Jim Sanders, because he was really great and I love what I've seen of his work so far. Let's start with the bride! Yes, it poured but you'll see it made everything look so beautiful and green.
Katherine's dress was from Pronovias in New York and it couldn't have been more perfect! She looked so beautiful and it fit her so well. The flowers were inspired by a bouquet in New York Magazine in one of their wedding issues from right when she got engaged.
Katherine, my mom, and I all got our hair done by Sookey at Salon Lofts in Grandview, OH. She did such an amazing job - especially on Katherine's. She found this hair-piece at Bergdorf's and it worked so well with the dress and was a great alternative to a veil.
The three of us also had matching shoes! Katherine's were gold and looked so pretty with the vintage looking lace of the dress.
We also all got our make up done which was such a great decision. Megan from Mukha did it for us and she did an amazing job. Two things I was admittedly skeptical about but turned out to be so great were the airbrushing and the false eyelashes. She just used a few of the tiny single false lashes on the corner of our eyes and it looked so pretty. Also, the airbrushing was so nice because there was no need for any kind of touch-ups or anything throughout the night - even in the icky weather!

Dress Rehearsal

Sorry, I'm going a little out of order because these are the pictures I have available as of yet. The rehearsal dinner was held at Sherrie Gallerie in the Short North neighborhood of Columbus. It's next to one of my family's favorite restaurants - Rigsby's - who also did the food (which was amazing, as usual.) Of course before the Rehearsal Dinner comes the Rehearsal which was actually the first time I got to see the church that the ceremony was being held in. It was in Holy Cross Catholic Church downtown, which is the oldest Church in Columbus and it was so beautiful. Here's a picture of the happy couple rehearsing their ceremony with the priest who officiated it....isn't the church gorgeous??


All weekend all the East Coasters were shocked at how great Ohio was, c'mon! The Short North is definitely one of the best neighborhoods in Columbus, a lot like the South End in Boston. Great food, people, shopping, culture, and just minutes away from the University there is definitely always a lot going on there. One of the attractions all the wedding guests were very impressed with was the North Market, filled with amazing food, produce, and wine it's sort of like an ongoing farmer's market that's open everyday.

Anyway, once we'd finished up at Holy Cross we headed over to the Short North for dinner...here's a picture of Rigsby's from the outside. It's such a beautiful restaurant, with a great bar. They also own a little lunch place behind called Tasi, which is full of delicious sandwiches, salads, pastas, etc.

Image via Rigsby's website

The dinner went very well and was filled with kind words from Peter's family. I was trying to be very good and not over-indulge but it was just too delicious. All of the food was wonderful and it was so nice to be able to sit next to my sister all night.....

Post-wedding Depression

Now that the weekend has passed not only do I have to deal with the post-partum of thew edding being over but I have to live in this severe state of jealousy due to my sister and new brother-in-law's highly enviable honeymoon. So I decided I'd go backwards in filling you in with all of the wonderful details of my weekend! The wedding was such a success, and it looks like the newlyweds are adjusting well to married life.

This is easily one of the my favorite places on Earth - Chateau de la Messardiere, in St Tropez. A beautiful pool, comfortable bed, fabulous shopping, wine, cheese, crepes, what more could you ask for!


















Don't fret, I'll fill you in on all the details but have patience! I'm still waiting for some better pictures than the ones I took as I was pretty distracted all weekend with my Maid of Honor duties (which really didnt' require much seeing as how my amazing mom did everything.)

The Countdown is On!

To keep you all up to date with my life - my lovely sister, Katherine (to the right of me in the picture), is getting married in September...as in next month! Now, as I'm sure you could tell from my previous post my mother is very talented in terms of design so she's really taken the lead on this wedding which is happening at our house - very Father of the Bride. Almost everything is done actually, this little collage will give you a taste of the colors and everything - obviously I can't include Katherine's dress for fear of Peter (her fiance) seeing it but take my word, it's gorgeous.
The border is taken from their invitations which were done by Peabody Papers in Columbus, they came out beautifully. The bouquet is actually from an old issue of New York Magazine's Wedding edition and served as the inspiration for her bouquet and colors. The tie is Hermes, but this one was actually vetoed by my mom because apparently monkeys are bad luck (don't ask) - we made quite the scene in Bergdorfs figuring that out, but we found another option that is the same color. And my favorite part - the dress and shoes are what I'll be wearing in the wedding! I'm so happy (and honored) that Kat decided to just keep her wedding party to me, which worked out well because her fiance has a younger brother as well so it will be nice and small. So over the next month or so as I reference "the wedding" now you'll know what I'm talking about and be able to contribute!