Matron of Honor BB: A Bridal Shower/Bachelorette Bash!

What you may or may not know is that in addition to my role as "bride" in my September wedding, I have an alter-ego as a bridesmaid in my Matron of Honor (MaOH), E's, Floridian destination wedding in July. After a marathon engagement of approximately two years and two months, her and her FI are quickly approaching the finish line. As of this past weekend, her combo bridal shower/bachelorette party, there are officially NO more celebratory milestones between now and becoming Mr. & Mrs.!

In keeping with her Spanish heritage, MaOH E is getting married in St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city in the nation, which boasts an insane amount of Spanish charm. To keep with the feel of her wedding, we chose to host her shower at the closest thing to Spanish flare we could find - a Mexican restaurant!

St. Augustine. Image via Wilkipedia

 We continued to infuse Spanish theme into our New England-based restaurant by decorating the large guest table with mini potted flowers that resembled palm trees, and with favors from Whetstone Chocolates of St. Augustine that had been slyly shipped to my apartment by MaOH's mother, who resides in Florida!

Brunch was had and champagne for toasting was enjoyed by all! Finally, after a delicious fried egg with truffled breakfast potatoes, it was time to open gifts:

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Personal Photo - Opening my gift!

 After gift time, we finished up some conversations and hit the road to rest up at the hotel room. We had a looooong night ahead of us....filled with jello shots and vodka drinks and.....

....bachelorette party human pyramids...

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Personal Photo

...and sassy photos....

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...and jello shots...and shots...

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Personal Photo

 ....and finally, the night ended like this....

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Yup, that's the "bachelorette" sash and one shoe from the bride-to-be. Looks like they didn't make it into the room for the night....a sign of a good time, indeed.

Have you been to a bachelorette party recently? What's your idea of a kick-ass bachelorette party?

Bling Bling

I have had a love/hate relationship with Mr. BB's taste in jewelry. Lucky for me, I've only been the recipient of his jewelery gift-giving whims a few times.

On our first Christmas together we both went overboard spoiling each other with lavish gifts. We were still in the "get to know you" stage and we each wanted to impress the other. I spent an insane amount of money on the brand spankin' new Playstation 3 (with an extra controller and a few extra games thrown into the mix) and Mr. BB bought me a beautiful diamond necklace. He was totally WINNING after that.

Image via Union Diamond

Then, a few years later on one of our anniversary's, I was pretty obvious with my desire for an Aero Garden. Something about growing lettuce on my kitchen table seemed incredibly liberating to me. A mutual friend talked him out of purchasing it for me, saying it was too "unsexy." He opted for a beautiful Tiffany bracelet with a heart on in.

Sexy gift, huh? Image via AeroGarden

There are a few things you should know about me at this point. 1) I HATE hearts. and 2) I don't really wear any jewelery. At all. I may be the only person in the world that doesn't want Tiffany jewelery.

When Mr. BB and I began discussing marriage, we both knew it would be important to hunt for "the ring" together. We made the mistake of beginning our search at a super formal jewelery store where they took us into a back room and began pouring loose diamond stones onto a desk in front of us. Naturally, without a band to cradle the stone and put on my finger, I was unable to put the size of the diamond's into perspective and thought they all looked small. Even a 2.5 carat diamond! Mr. BB began profusely sweating and that was the end of that.

I had originally thought I would like a princess cut diamond with a diamond encrusted band, but quickly tossed that idea when half the people getting engaged at the time received the same ring. The e-ring game completely changed when a friend sent me a photo of this ring that she thought I would like:

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I had to have this ring. This was it. This was "the ring." I loved the cushion cut and the halo! It was dainty and feminine and so elegant looking! I quickly asked where it was from and Mr. BB and I made plans to head to the store and try it out, which we did a few weeks later. I was even more in love once the ring was on my finger, and Mr. BB was relieved when much smaller diamond sizes more than appeased my taste. I was sold and couldn't stop waving my finger in his face and asking "don't I look pretty with this ring on?!" We quickly discussed the specifics and that was that.....

....until the day he proposed and this beauty became my own:

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I couldn't be happier. Mr. BB made such a great jewelery decision....with a bit of help!

Did your FI pick out your engagement ring on his own or were you involved? Did you give him any ideas about what you would like your ring to look like?

A Minor Wedding Detail: Deciding on the Groom

I met Mr. BB at the best time possible. And I wasn't even looking for him.

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After an on-again-off-again relationship from college officially went bust during a semester abroad in Australia, the last thing I was looking for upon my return home was a relationship. I had always been a girl who saw the silver lining in being single. I was wild, fancy and free all by my lonesome despite the fact that most of my closest friends were serial monogamists. After a final heartbreak from the aforementioned relationship, I was equal parts angry, hurt, and sick of men. I was 22 and on the prowl for fun and flirting but nothing serious. Turns out, this is actually a very successful recipe for acquiring a relationship. Ironic, huh?

I settled into post-college life pretty roughly. A breakup, unemployment, and my parents divorce all came to fruition at the same time. Add in the fact that my friends were no longer just a room away and I was in a bad place. Luckily, I was re-offered a position at my former summer job doing data entry. It wasn't glamorous, but it paid the bills and provided a fun, casual environment of young 20-somethings. Plus, we worked right next to a bar and you just can't go wrong with that.

At some point during March 2006, a tall, handsome, blond-haired and blue-eyed drink of water entered our office. A new employee. Fresh man meat. I studied him from afar and allowed myself to develop a totally innocent school-girl crush. You know the kind of crush I'm talking about. It's the "I've-never-ever-talked-to-him-but-am-sure-I-would-love-him" type of crush. Allegedly I used to utter the phrase "I hate to watch him go but I love to watch him leave" every time he left the office for the day. I can't confirm nor deny this allegation, or the accusation that I threatened every female in the office that they better stay away from him. I'm sure my misconduct came from a place of love.

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As weeks went by, mutual friends began to invite the future Mr. BB out to the nearby bar for after-work cocktails and dart games. It wasn't long before I was a faithful tag-along to these outings and that Mr. BB and I began actual verbal communication. My crush intensified.

We spent probably every single night after work during the month of May 2006 at the bar. And often, Mr. BB and I would be the last men standing, competing against each other in games of pool and sharing our most ridiculous drinking stories long after everyone had left.

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After about three weeks of this, I had decided it was time for Mr. BB to profess his undying love for me, or at least his general "liking" of me in an official way. So, naturally, I told my girlfriends that I was "so done" with our little friendship since obviously he wasn't going to pull the trigger on anything romantic. Maybe he didn't enjoy spending time with me after work...perhaps he just liked to drink which is why he'd stick around and chat.

Fast forward to the fateful night of May 22, 2006. An office coworker was celebrating his birthday at, you guessed it, the bar next to our office. The same formula followed for this night. After games of darts and drinking beers, everyone left. Everyone except for Mr. BB and I. At some point, I offered to drive him home since he'd missed the train. We were in full-on flirt mode as we walked back to my car. I remember him making some joke and I turned to playfully push him...and then we kissed. I stepped back, somewhat stunned and told him straight out that I wasn't looking for a "hookup" so if he wanted to take the kiss back, he better do it now because I don't play games. I'm so romantic, right?

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Mr. BB in all of his drunken glory proclaimed that he "liked me yesterday, liked me today and will like me tomorrow." That's a pretty bad-ass thing to say to a girl you are trying to "woo," yet I may or may not have called him out on the corniness of his statement.

The rest, as they say, is history. We continued to hang out even after we both left our job for different ones and slowly began spending more time together. We have continued to like each other during all the of "tomorrows" we've experienced together and this "like" turned to love. We couldn't be more excited to become husband and wife.

How did you meet your fiance? Do you think that timing had anything to do with the formation of your relationship?

A Wedding Budget Bump in the Road

It's been no secret that Mr. BB and I are on an incredibly strict budget for this little shin-dig of ours. Like, a spaghetti-and-meatball dinner every night budget. So what happened to us yesterday was incredibly traumatic in a variety of ways.

I'll warn you right now, this isn't a bubble gum, typical, happy-go-lucky wedding post. This is about some serious shiz-nat that went down yesterday.

Mr. BB left for work like any other day and arrived per usual. One of his coworkers arrived in the office and asked him if he knew his car had been keyed. He didn't. As if that wasn't bad enough, she proceeded to tell him that the images of the inscriptions were that of a Swastika, and the words "F**k You."

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Personal Photo

Shock and dismay doesn't begin to cover it.

It's worth noting that we live in a very diverse community filled with young professionals and college students alike. We live within one block of a Buddhist temple, Mosque, and Synagogue as well as a Jewish school. You have to totally embrace the surrounding diversity to fit in and thrive here, and obviously, this person hasn't done that. The surrounding neighborhoods are also very, very conservatively Jewish, and, this unfortunate example of Antisemitism occurred on the first day of Passover. Coincidence? I think not.

In addition to this ignorant, disrespectful act of hate, we were also the victims of vandalism. Vandalism costs money, so for us, we were out a $500 car insurance deductible. This is totally not the thing you want to happen to you when you are on a strict, time-sensitive budget. Especially when you've been working your little butts off to save money.

So, what were we to do?

Get angry. I immediately decided that the person who did this would not get away unscathed and promptly notified a local news station via e-mail. They called me back within seconds and before I knew it, we had an interview scheduled for later that afternoon. We became a news story as quickly as that. Turns out, when you notify one news station, the others follow, so for the entire duration of the afternoon, our doorbell was buzzing with the sounds of reporters looking for the scoop.

At the least, I was hoping to put the word out that his horrible act had occurred in our community in hopes of spreading awareness. I even hoped that the person who did this would realize how seriously it was being taken - we've been contacted by several police detectives after filing a police report, and it was elevated from an act of vandalism to a hate crime. Lastly, I thought that if the person were caught, we could hold them responsible for paying for the repairs.

Well, wouldn't you know - along with a small amount of 5-minute, local celebrity status, we discovered another Swastika had been carved into a truck and that several acts of vandalism had occurred at the synagogue around the corner. Our neighbors are shocked and disgusted, but we successfully got the word out and people are on high alert.

This morning we were informed by local media outlet that an incredibly generous auto body shop has offered to repair our car for free. What a way to give a giant middle finger to a horrible crime driven by hate, than to show a tremendous act of kindness. Awareness raised. Budget intact.

Have you ever witnessed an act of hatred and bigotry like this? How did it affect you?

The Stalking of...

...the bridal registry.

Don't look at me like that. You know you do it too.

Image via Funny Wedding Ideas

If you haven't guessed, my bridal shower invites went out this week. At some point, about 5 seconds after I realized they must have landed in mailboxes across the state, I began to registry stalk. This was fueled by the fact that a few gifts had been purchased after we sent out our save-the-dates. And my registry-lovin' fire was further ignited when a couple of gifts were purchased earlier this week...on the exact day I anticipated the invites had landed.

This has kicked my registry obsession into high gear. Sorry I'm not sorry about it.

The thing is, I really couldn't care less about receiving gifts. I'm the type of person who gets more of a thrill from giving someone a gift that I think they'll totally love rather than anticipating my own. Crazy, I know. There is just something about walking into a store, picking out several items, and then having people buy them for you. Isn't that such a crazy concept? What's even crazier is that it's totally socially acceptable.

I told the tale of our registration before. While we were excited to be drinking mimosas registering, something about it felt, well, off. Here I am, in all my bridal glory, with the audacity to register for a $499.00 mixer? Or a $299.99 dual-zone wine cooler?!?! How dare I!

The thing is, the only think that talked me down from my arrogant guilt was the fact that I've done this same.exact.thing. for so many of my friends. And that makes it totally okay, right? Well, it does, because there is even a Sex & The City episode about it. So there ya go. But seriously, I've come to realize that it's totally normal to feel guilt over your registry, and even more-so over your enjoyment of things being purchased in your honor. I've also learned that it's okay to feel this way.

I think part of it is the overall discomfort with being the center of attention for such a prolonged period of time. After all, the wedding is just a day, but the wedding planning, which can be just as exciting as the day itself, lasts a whole lot longer. So, for now, I think I'm going to try and lay off the registry...maybe cut down to one or two views a day in the hope of bringing myself back to Earth. Well, maybe.

Did you have any guilt when you registered? Have you been registry stalking?

Post-Wedding Relaxation: Hawaiian Style

So, I like to fancy myself a world traveler. I've lived in Australia, solo-vacationed in Fiji, climbed an active volcano in Guatemala, and sky-dived the Great Barrier Reef, just to name a few. There are few things that thrill me more than a fresh, new passport stamp. When it came time to book our honeymoon, we just haaaadddd to travel to some exotic locale and procure ourselves one (or several) new passport stamps!

Personal Photo - Volcan Pacaya, Guatemala

We talked about traveling Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, relaxing in Tahiti, or going on a multi-country tour of Europe! I rationalized that it was our honeymoon, so if we couldn't do it up for that, then when could we? Right?

Well, as always, life got in the way. Y'all know that airfare ain't cheap, and as it turns out, neither is traipsing around the globe. Our wedding budget got cut, and so did my world-traveling dreams. Sigh.

After my injury, we decided that we'd be lucky to pay for the wedding entirely in cash, let alone pay for a honeymoon, and quickly came to terms with putting it off until a few months after the wedding. Then life happened again - in our favor!

It turns out that Mr. BB's second cousin has a timeshare at the Ritz Carlton Residences and wanted to gift us a few nights as our wedding gift! This was a HUGE plus as we're getting married at a Marriott, which is a brand under the Ritz Carlton umbrella. As such, the 100,000 points we're receiving for having our wedding at an affiliated hotel can go to even more rooms at a Ritz (or another Marriott) at no cost to us!

When we reviewed the worldwide Ritz Carlton locations, I was somewhat shocked to find out how limited they were. No Tahiti, no St. Lucia, nothing that really struck me as, well, different, or super tropical. And then Mr. BB suggested Hawaii. I almost died. Hawaii?? It's in the United States! It's SO overdone as a honeymoon destination! I was super disappointed. After all, a pretty flower lei is NOT a passport stamp.

It took lots 'o convincing on Mr. BB's part, but I finally came around to the idea. He convinced me that being a state in the U.S. doesn't mean that it's not a totally awesome tropical destination. And that by being in the U.S., we don't have to worry about cell phone connections, money exchanging and all that jazz. Plus, and this one was huge for me, it's a destination where we'll feel comfortable just sitting and vegging out instead of running all over the place to see the sights. Turns out that Mr. BB had a point. We decided that we could go on a super awesome 1-year-anniversary vacation when we're feeling more financially flush. I was sold.

Hawaii - Image via All World Visits

Hawaii - Image via Travel Agent Central

At about this same time, a friend who runs a study abroad office mentioned that he had a kabillion-trillion frequent flyer miles and said that we may be able to work something out for flights if I commit to babysitting his children a certain number of nights. DONE.

So, now we're working on the airfare. If all goes well, we'll have free flights and only have to pay for about 3 or 4 nights in a hotel along with our spending money! We may manage to have a super luxurious honeymoon for a small cost, after all! Most of all, we're excited to spend some time relaxing as newlyweds, and we deserve it!

Where are you going for your honeymoon? Are you leaving right after the wedding or are you holding off? Why or why not?

Not THE Dress, Just all the Rest!

As a celebrity gossip aficionado, I spend a fair share of my day on entertainment websites like Perez Hilton and The Superficial. This is partly due to an unwavering nosiness that requires me to be all up in other people's biz-nass, and partly to see who is dating whom in the celebrity sphere. Neither of these reasons has to do with fashion, but often, these sites are also where I pick up on new trends in clothing.

This was really helpful when it came time to consider what I'd be wearing to wedding celebrations. We've got quite a lot going on with my bridal shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner/welcome cocktail reception and post-wedding brunch. Y'all know how much I dreaded the idea of shopping for my wedding gown so you can imagine the stress of needing to find several more!

I'm pretty traditional in the sense that I really love the idea of making the most of my bride-ness and wearing white to all of our parties. I think it's cute, and quite frankly, I generally never wear the color white because of its affinity to staining, and because white clothing tends to blend in with my sexy, pasty white, Irish legs.

Despite the shortcomings of my natural skin pigmentation, I haven't been able to shake the vision of this:

Image via PopSugar.com

 This dress literally makes me shiver. I.LOVE.EVERYTHING.ABOUT.IT. Period. It's so delicate and beautiful. Rockin' this baby with a nude heal is all I can think about! Now, this is the Notte by Marchesa White Lace Dress and costs roughly roughly $700-$1,000. Not gonna happen. However, The Budgetista has some super swanky alternatives for a fraction of the cost:

Slash Neck Lace Dress. Image via ASOS - $80.57

Lace Dress with Scalloped Neck. Image via ASOS - $80.57

Totally cute, right? And super affordable. At this point I'm on the hunt for a shower dress and rehearsal dinner/welcome cocktail reception dress for the night before the wedding. While I'd love to show up to our post-wedding brunch looking flawless and fresh with a new I'm-still-the-bride outfit, more than likely I'll be in jeans, exhausted, with smeared eyeliner, crazy hair and one helluva hangover.

Macy's has been a great resource for dresses. They offer frequent sales with additional discounts for card-holders. Most of the dresses they have that are appropriate for these parties are on sale for under $55, like this pretty number:

One Shoulder Dress with Rose Detail. Image via Macy's. $46.99

As you can tell, I'm more excited about finding these dresses than I was about my gown and I am fighting my shopping trigger-finger to hold back on making impulsive purchases until we're a bit closer to the date and I've lost a bit more weight.

What are you wearing to your bridal celebrations? Have you already purchased your dresses? Are you going a more traditional route and wearing white or not?