Just when I thought the photobooth couldn't get any better....

This gem of an email made its way into my inbox yesterday:

Hello Colleen,

I hope this email finds you well and getting excited for your Wedding!

I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that we are currently offering a Special Wireless LED Lighting Package for our Photo Booth Clients.  Couples may add our Wireless LED Lighting Wedding Package, which includes 10 lighting units, for $600.  This package features the availability to choose from a variety of colors.  This Package typically costs $1,000 but is currently available as a Photo Booth Package Add-on for $600 for a limited time.  If this is of interest or if you have any questions, please let me know.

Thank You!

Sincerely,

Scott Marshall

Seacoast Events

978-462-6877

www.seacoastevents.net

Seacoast Events is proud to announce that our Photo Booth Services have been rated by local brides and voted The Knot Best of Weddings 2011 Pick!

I am sold! In my mind this add-on is going to create a lazer backdrop like my 2nd grade school photo.... I mean for a mere $600 who can deny anyone, especially a bride, the joy of having such an important day caputured with a lazer lightshow background?!

Kickass....

Cupcakes!

We have tried a few different types of cupcakes at this point.... some were ehh, some were meh and some were overwhelming.

Enter Kickass Cupcakes after hearing how much Jessica loved their cupcakes I figured we may as well travel to Somerville and give them a taste! The shop is tiny and was packed but we were still running on the high of finally buying a car, a redbull and half an english muffin each so we were willing to wait it out and so glad we did! We tried a few different flavors that each got better and better! The best comment from Corey "Yup, this is the one - those other ones tasted like Crisco" We picked three flavors but everyone will have to wait in anticipation to find out which three, leaving one open spot just in case they come out with an awesome seasonal flavor!

Considering that we are planning a five course meal for the wedding everyone better save room for the cupcakes, I promise they will be worth it!

Engagement Shoot - C-Town Style

Well we finally made it to the engagement shoot! I was on a mission - nothing was going to stop me not the sort of crappy weather or Corey's newly "trimmed" hair courtesy of Gangster Cuts.... picture this string of text messages:

Corey: Take the m lites out of the freezer
Colleen: Obv I already did but thanks for the order, a please would have been nice
Corey: Can you "please" bring a m lite down to gansta cuts?
Colleen: No, can you "please" come home and watch a movie with me?
Corey: Nevermind the nice lady just gave me some booze
Colleen: She is trying to roofie you
Corey: Arbor mist, I think

There should have been no doubt in my mind that this haircut was not going to come out how I wanted!

We wake up on Saturday and the weather is not any nicer and Corey's hair wasn't any longer but I think we rocked out the engagement session! Corey was determined to get an Awkward Family Photo and I tripped over my own feet at least three times, yup, the photographer is wondering what he got himself into!

Everyone will have to wait 2-3 weeks for the proofs but I bet they will be worth the wait!

The Royal Wedding vs. My Big Fat Boston Wedding

A. I would LOVE to have Kate's 2nd McQueen gown
B. I would love even more to have her lack of armpit fat!

Pomp and circumstance aside there were three Bs that make up the main differences between My Big Fat Boston Wedding and the Royal Wedding:

Budget - I think the monarchy might have had a slightly bigger budget going into this event but who knows!

Bridesmaids - Mine will all be over the age of 21 and hopefully will not make any faces that scream "I am so bored and I don't want to be on this balcony any longer"

Beer - My Big Fat Boston Wedding will be serving beer.... and champagne and wine and liquor - we aim to please all!

When it comes to what I hope My Big Fat Boston Wedding and The Royal Wedding have in common I have only one word.... Facinators! I am thinking maybe we get the bridesmaids orange ones to coordinate with the groomsmens ties....

Oh October!

Just in case a wedding wasn't a big enough event for October we have added in our 5 year college reunion.... the next weekend! While getting married makes me feel kind of old the fact that we are at a reunion interval makes me feel really old!

 In the full spirit of embracing this old age hotel rooms are booked, vacation for the week is booked and I plan on eating a least 10 Rise 'n Shiners from KKD since this will be the first post-"lots of nightmares that my wedding dress won't fit day of the wedding diet". For those of you not lucky enough to go to school in Burlington, VT the Rise 'n Shiner is a sandwich made up of your choice of bread (go for bulkie roll), egg, your choice of cheese, your choice of meat (obvi ham) and a hash brown.... drooling already! I will be on vacation from work Mon/Tues for wedding re-coop in Wed/Thurs and back out Friday - considering how important I am I don't know how work will manage.... ahhh Jessica (or HAHA Jessica)

I am very happy to report that I have heard rumors that Aidan Murphy will be partaking in a Sig Ep basement Beruit tournament.... its a toss up weather to bet on Aidan winning or his mother blocking the entire outing..... I might go with Aidan winning considering if there was no Sig Ep basement who knows if his parents would have ever met.... on that note if the Sig Ep basement didn't exist I might have never met Corey and we might not be here contemplating My Big Fat Boston Wedding.... who knew a gross basement and cheap bear could produce such amazing things!

This will be only the second time I have been back to UVM since graduation, if we make it to Brewers Fest it will be number 3!

Until then I will just be here dreaming of eating Rise 'n Shiners after drinking cheap bear while actually eating tofu.... and of course doing my best to keep you all updated on MY BIG FAT BOSTON WEDDING!

Slacking

So I have been slacking on the posts.... and the gym.... and the healthy eating (I may or may not have had 12 string cheeses last week alone....) Considering that our engagement pictures are being taken on May 7th, a mere three weeks from now, it is a good thing I decided to go with the armpit fat minimizing dress choice! While I am hoping that the armpit fat is going to melt away as I watch the marathon runners out my window at work, I am pretty sure it won't happen.

Everything has been pretty quiet on the wedding front. The (almost) last batch of save-the-dates went out today, I am just waiting on three addresses from Corey and I have to actually get to the post office one day to mail the international ones but we will get there! We have finalized the booking for rehersal dinner - Figs in Charlestown, so delicious and I am sure that fried calamari and wood fired pizza is just what a bride needs the day before her wedding.... but they are too good to pass up!

Most importantly - (sidebar, for those of you who don't know, I secretly wish I was a professional bowler and I love to bowl even thought I never win and yes I don't win even though I took two semsesters of bowling at UVM) - we are bowling after the rehersal dinner! Lanes & Games here we come! Yes Chris & Jessica, people do actually go there. Lanes & Games is the most fabulously low keyed bolwing alley, they have candlepin (boo) and big ball (only real way to bowl) not to mention delicious pump cheese nachos, Stella on tap and the carpet-on-the-walls decor. It is in Cambridge near Alewife/Fresh Pond right next to the unfortuantly closed down Faces. I planning on wearing my very own for the occasion bowling shoes and I am REALLY hoping that maybe just for once I can win..... or in the very least just not lose!

6 Months to Go!

We have officially hit T-6 months until My Big Fat Boston Wedding! A big thank you to everyone who has put up with me so far, Mom, Dad, Corey, Jessica and a whole bunch of vendors. We really only have a few more big items to knock out, cake testing, food tasting, finalize the florist, gift bags and the little DIY stuff.

This weekend I am headed down to MD to see The Nanny. She has purchased a lavender dress for the wedding and is really excited about it, it has 12 layers and the sales girls told her it looked perfect! This also means I need to spend the plane ride organizing everything I have done/am doing/need to do for the wedding as she is going to want a full account as soon as she picks me up! Wish me luck.... we all know how I do with the details....

May the next 6 months be filled with peace, serenity and lots of tastings!

Q2 Challenge!

April brings showers, tax day and most importantly the beginning of the Q2 challenge!

I decided that Q2 would be the start of healthy eating and no booze Mon-Wed, obviously with the goal of losing (or even just slimming) the ever challenging armpit fat! I think there should always be boundaries, time constraints and I shouldn't knowingly set myself up for failure hence the fact that the no booze is only three days a week and we are starting with just one quarter.

For those of you wondering.... its not off to a stellar start. Considering Jessica and I drank half the bar at Tico and had fried Manchego cheese with mango honey dipping sauce and fish tacos last night I am going to go with maybe Q2 needed a one week grace period. I started the week off so well with yogurt and salads and this is how it is ending....

Tonight is healthy grill - grilled tofu, veggie and chicken! Wish me luck!

Big Day Out!

Last Thursday my mom came to look at additional florists, I will say this go around was a little bit easier since I actually knew some of the flowers names. We started off with a little breakfast at the club and then headed out, table clothes in hand. Our first stop was with Teresa at Mimosa she was very calm and listened to both of our ideas, plus she gave me a whole bouquet of flowers on the way out! At this point we have seen two florists and like two florists....



Flowers from Mimosa!



Next I wanted to go to M. Flynn to look for jewlery for me and the bridesmaids. The shop is run by two sisters and is both a working studio and boutique. The best part of shopping at M. Flynn is that if you see something you like but want it a bit different they will make it for you! Mom and I looked at a bunch of jewlery and talked to her about doing custom pieces, everyone will have to wait for the final results!

After a delicious lunch (and beverage) at Aquitaine it was off to Ilex to meet with Andrew for the final flower consultation. Andrew had some great ideas and brought up a few things we hadn't even thought of - such as using the material from gown alteration to wrap the stems of my bouquet!

I got in a cab to go home, with my bouquet, and here is the conversation I had with the cabbie:

Cabbie: Did you get those flowers from a wedding?
Me: No, I was meeting with a florist to plan the flowers for my wedding
Cabbie: Ohh, congratulations, when is the wedding?
Me: In October
Cabbie: Those flowers have to last until October?!

Here is what we learned on Thursday:

1. In Boston you can have a fabulous lunch for $12.95
2. To get from 96 to 40 on the same street it is only a 3-5 minute walk when it would be 6 blocks in NYC
3. Mom and I really liked all three florists.... what to do!
4. I don't deal well with anxiety or having to make decisions

Silver linings....

The above is one of the best silver linings in life.... a bombilioni, an amazingly delicious cream filled Italian version of a donut, I love donuts in a completely unhealthy way!

Anyway, yesterday I had a rare and uncharacteristically zen moment. I decided to take one of those every cloud has a silver lining type approaches to things. I am quite sure it will not last too long but here are the positive "silver linings" that have come out of the craziness that comes with planning My Big Fat Boston Wedding.

1. My mother is occupied by planning My/her Big Fat Boston Wedding and subsequently no longer has time to set me up on "blind friend dates", yes they are weird and even more awkward than normal old fashioned blind dates - these set-ups have started with intro's such as "Colleen, she works in Boston, in HR, moved to Boston from NY because her boyfriend was in Boston and she has no friends, you are basically the same person! Plus I know her mother and she says her daughter is nice"
2. In the quest to rid myself of all traces of armpit fat I am going to the gym and getting some quality cardio workouts in (side note: today at the gym I saw my old trainer who looked shocked that I was at the gym of my, seemingly, own will)
3. My dreams have never been quite so interesting to re-tell the next day
4. I have so many excuses to spend way too much time browsing on etsy
5. If I email Corey with the subject line reading "Wedding - Please Read" he actually reads them and I can sneak in completely un-wedding related rants/thoughts
6. Vendors are, or pretend to be, completely in love with all my thoughts and ideas
7. I won in an epic photo booth Battle against Carol aka my mom
8. Most importantly, I get to taste the left and right side of the menu and nobody will judge.... its for the wedding!

Wedding Bands.... a rare breed of people

The most important thing I have learned in the quest for the perfect band for My Big Fat Boston Wedding is don't judge a band by their name.... they all have awfully cheesy names. (Sidebar.... who thinks the guy on the far left in the above picture looks remarkably like Josh?)

It is hard to find a band that plays everything from Motown to Billy Joel to Rage Against The Machine (or Rage on the Machine as my dad calls it) but I am convinced there is one somewhere out there! It is also really hard to choose a band based on audio samples but it is even harder to crash another party on a random Wednesday or Saturday at 9:30 to hear them live. Fortuantly for me, the Ritz reccomended Music Management. They listened to what I wanted and made suggestions. They are also very familiar with the ballroom and will deal with all the details, big plus for me!

Below are our three favorites and we need to narrow it down because I am pretty sure we can't fit all three in the ballroom! Have a listen and let me know what you think (no need to sugar coat it)

Joey Scott & The Connection - we like them for  their vocal talents, they say they will learn any song and the fact that they have their very own sound guy!

The Hip Pocket Orchestra - their song samples are great and show that they can do everything from Jackson 5 to Beyonce to Gretchen Wilson (obvi not my pick)

Superband - they have the best mastery of modern music and sound great! Added bonus.... they play Dropkick

Vote/comment away! (no promises that we will take any one's opinion into consideration.... ha ha)

Amazing-ness!

Yesterday was a rough day in the world of My Big Fat Boston Wedding. First, the wedding has taken on a life and bank busting budget of its own. Second, I bought my dress while it was here on trunk show, aka I can't see it/try it on again until my actual dress comes in from the designer, which has been the source of a few "I picked the wrong dress" panic attacks. Third, I still don't have all the address and have got additional last minute guest list additions adding to current guest list which was already quite a "fatty".

This of course led me to a mini-breakdown which resulted in a denouncement of all wedding plans and a solemn declaration that I am moving to a "food truck" theme.

This of course led Jessica to the world-wide-web and the discovery of this little gem I like to call Taco Truck Heaven... if you can get past the onslaught of grammatical errors I encourage you to read the entire article.

Obviously I immediately emailed this to my dad and told him not to worry we are having a taco truck on the Boston Common for the reception. Below is how the conversation progressed (read bottom to top):

From: Geraghty, Scott

Done!  Shall I let your mother know or will you

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From: Geraghty, Colleen

I could be famous!! Plus I could use my $1,000 charitable giving company match!

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From: Geraghty, Scott

It would need to be more creative.  A homeless box bar…All cash proceeds to support a shelter.  Could probably get press on this.

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From: Geraghty, Colleen

Brown bag it?

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From: Geraghty, Scott

Then we can give up the room?  How will we handle alcohol in the Park?

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From: Geraghty, Colleen

We have the entire Commons at our disposal!

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From: Geraghty, Scott

I understand the truck…position it down by the stairs on Tremont.  The problem would be with the BBQ pit.  Smoke in the ballroom, I think, would be a bit over powering.  Don’t you think?

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From: Geraghty, Colleen

Why not go all out and get both J

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From: Geraghty, Scott

I am not sure if you are looking for a Taco truck or a BBQ pit??

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From: Geraghty, ColleenSubject: Crisis Averted

These people have AWESOME wedding ideas! Make sure to scroll down….