(Wedding Recap) Details, Details

There are a couple things I need to point out, to validate my/our hard work and document the end results.

For the ceremony, my mom purchased a kit from Michael's craft stores and then made the layout with her fine Microsoft Office skills.  My dad then helped her print, arrange, and tie the bows. (Thanks Mom & Dad!)  We placed them on chairs for guests, prior to the ceremony.

I found some reserved seating cards on TheKnot.com. (Which reminds me, I need to sell them... anyone want them?)  These were perfect for the ceremony!

The kepot were passed out at the door, thanks to our dear friend, Eric.  We decided to go with a contrasting color to the bridesmaids dresses to change things up a bit.

Post ceremony, the guests were lead to the Board Room where one bar was located, or to the Portico, outside, where there were cabaret (high-top) tables and another bar.  And I have no picture of this. But it existed.

Before entering the cocktail hour area you came across a table with escort cards, decorated with floating candles, similar to some of the table arrangements.  I stupidly printed out all the cards myself, a few days before the wedding (with the help from amazing Lara!).  Turns out, when you do this task after midnight and when your husband is already away on his bachelor party, you will make mistakes... like forgetting a whole table.  whoops!

I found this gift box at Target, days prior to the wedding. I used the same ribbon as I did for my niece's flower girl basket and the escort card (to differentiate entree choices), for flair.

Each escort card led guests to their assigned table, named after a different zoo animals (a nod to Mike's proposal!)

At each seat lay menu cards and benchers (Jewish prayer books - which we forgot to use!) flanked each table. Sidenote: I also printed these menu cards out in the wee-hours of the morning.  Not advised.

As mentioned before, I made the cake topper (with that same ribbon).

The bridesmaid's flowers surrounded the cake table. 

And my bouquet graced our sweetheart table, along with my special clutch from Etsy!

These little elements all came together so nicely!

{all photos by the awesome Studio Juno}

(Wedding Recap) Exchanging Gifts

After the bridal party shots, we headed back to The Carnegie Institution to cool down, take some family portraits, exchange gifts and sign the ketubah (Jewish marriage contract).

 

 Oh, and kick our heels up, apprently.

The first thing I gave Mike were his cufflinks & personalized handkerchief. In the hotel room where he got ready, I left these gifts on display for him to find.  

The handkerchief reads, "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" in Hebrew.

The cufflinks have our wedding date on the back-side.

 A year before our wedding date, I framed the article about our engagement at the zoo.  I then stored the finished product in my trunk for a long while, then wised up and hid it at a fellow-teacher's house.  I was beyond excited to give him this gift after having it so long!

I think he liked it (and I do too!!).

(We still need to hang it in our house...)

Mike added on to my Pandora bracelet with a wedding cake charm! It's so sweet and cute and makes me smile every time I look at it. One of those "aww" moments.

I love it!

But then Mike shared something with me he worked on for over a year.  When he first launched into the explanation, my excitement and shock looked like this:

Then this:

and this too:

because he turned my blog into a book!

But because he wanted to get every last post included, right up to the wedding, he told me we would actually create it together.  And we did. It came in the mail recently and I LOVE it.

Best. gift. ever.

Oh, and this is my favorite wedding picture. ever.

so romantic.

so fabulous.

{all fab photos by Studio Juno}

Engagement-versary!

One year ago today Mike and I found ourselves in the midst of the panda exhibit at the National Zoo, snow falling gently on us.  He knew something I didn't... as did our friends surrounding us.

Flashback: The first time we ever visited the zoo, happened to be the day Thai Shan the panda was born!  We frequented the exhibit when at the zoo and waved, said our hellos. However all panda bears are on loan from China, even those born here in the states.  As Thai Shan's time in DC came to an end, Mike and I started down a new road.

And then he got down on one knee....
You can read the whole proposal story, AND the watch live video footage of Mike popping the question!
Enjoy.
I do :)





I love you Mike!!! I can't wait to marry you!

PandAmonium

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for 7 bottles of Simple Green Naturals!

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{Ailuropoda melanoleuca}  Giant Pandas.

{source}

Growing up I liked these black and white bears.  They're cute, cuddly-looking, fierce creatures.  Also, who doesn't love a bambo-a-tarian?  It totally helps the environment.

So when Thai Shan the panda was born the day Mike and I visited the National Zoo for the first time ever since moving to DC, I was ecstatic.  I knew baby pandas are the size of a butter stick, so it made sense that the cub's nickname was such.

Mike and I continued to visit Thai Shan when we found ourselves at the zoo.  I swear that bear hardly made it outside.  Still, we saw it, waved at it, and pretended to talk to it (or maybe we really talked to it, but we're totally sane).

Then the fateful day came to send Thai Shan back to China.  Did you know ALL pandas are on loan from China?  That's a strange deal if you really stop to think about it.  New York City's not asking for any rats back.  I guess rats aren't as adorable.
Maybe it's an adorable-factor.
The fact that they are endangered doesn't help extend their stay.

Back on topic...
So Fed-Ex gets the box ready for Thai Shan, China gets excited to up their panda numbers, and DC prepares the farewell.
Simultaneously Mike prepared his proposal to ask me to spend our lives together!
 
What ensued after Mike popped The Question, I call PandAmonium.
Panda'monium because the amount of panda stuff that found it's way into our home was astounding.

Don't get me wrong, I like the bears.
And my youngest niece will be dressed as a baby panda at our wedding (cute, cute, cute!).

But here's a fraction of our collection:

1.  Personalized panda mugs, a gift from the National Zoo in celebration of our engagement. (They also gave us a bottle of champagne!  Not too shabby, eh?)

2.  Pandora Panda charm! My mom bought this for me for my bracelet.  I love this one.  It's sweet and cute and carries such special meaning.

3.  Matching panda shirts, a gift from Mike's dad and stepmom.

4.  A stuffed panda, also from the National Zoo.  Penny Lane tried to get in the shot.  I love that my cat is black and white like a panda.

Do you have any collections that sprung themselves on you?


{All photos by: Yours Truly, Me}

Rules of Engagement

When Mike first proposed and we called friends with our great news, for some reason they immediately asked, "When's the date?" or "When's it gonna be?"
Like we had any clue that early on in the game.

We promised ourselves a week of celebration, enjoyment of this new status in our relationship, and no wedding planning.

Until I went out 8 hours later and purchased a wedding magazine.

Then all bets were off. I considered every date on the calendar.
Mike ignored this, until  SNOWMAGEDON 2010 (when DC achieved record breaking snowfall status for a combined total of 52" in one winter).  This Floridian loved/hated it.

Mostly, though, we used our "staycation" to iron-out our guest list and entertain dates.

When it finally came time for us to seriously consider an answer to that aforementioned question, it went something like this:

March 2011, because rates are cheaper in DC (offseason) and Vicki can take advantage of time off during Spring Break.
For a split second (our neighbors wielding good advice to have a shorter engagement) we claimed August 2010 before school starts up again, then remembered my sister's due date falls in July (she had her baby!) and that would be just plain mean of us.  Plus, we needed more time.
September 2010 holds my birthday and the Jewish High Holidays.
We found no dates to work with in November 2010.
The snow scared any major winter date out of me.
Back to March 2011, oh yeah we decided against that.
Then it became April 2011, since we never bothered to check when Easter fell in 2011. 
Mike's birthday falls in early April so we focused on Late April.
Somehow May 2011 became the best idea and we even put a hold on a venue for Memorial Day Weekend.
Mike received his acceptance letter to George Washington University's International Affairs Masters program a few months ago and we realized not only are my summers free, but now his too!
June 2011 fit well with our schedules, and our attendants schedules.
The last day of school for me falls on June 17, 2011.

Let's be honest here: the last week of school serves as a great time to wrap up the year, do fun arts and crafts, and enjoy longer recesses and maybe a movie or two.  I can take days off and not fret about my students, or even worry the parents think I love my future-husband more than my job.

It was decided: June 19, 2011.
The whole decision process took about 2 months, or more. After waiting 3+ weeks for the Rabbi to confirm his schedule, we set the date! (you might remember my lovely first VLOG on the matter).

Some people are surprised by our "long engagement."  It works best for us, considering our schedules.  Sure,  6 to 9 months is plenty of time to plan a wedding, but not when one of you teaches 20+ second graders and the other is going back to grad school!

Honestly, if timing was right and everything fell into place, I'd sure as hell marry Mike tomorrow.  Now I get to plan, plan, plan to my little heart's content (and watch plenty of My Fair Wedding, Say Yes to the Dress, Platinum Weddings, and of course Bridezillas, all while taking notes on how my day will turn out).
And drive Mike crazy.  That's what really matters anyways.

That leaves me to wonder two things?  Do you want to see news video footage of our engagement? SURE YOU DO!
and
How long was your engagement?  Is 16 months long to you?

Engagement Photos

I shared these on Facebook, but now I'm realizing the following I have, which is totally awesome!  If you're stopping by from SITS or any other source, please leave some comment love!

So to all my new followers and friends, and my tried-and-true followers, please enjoy a photo montage from our Engagement Photo Shoot.  Our friend, Emily Goodstein, of Wild N Crazy Pearl, is not only a blogger at her finest, but also a photographer-extraordinaire.  She met us at the zoo to capture the moments, and got some great shots!

And if you don't know the story of our proposal (the reasons we took the photos at the zoo), read about it here and find the video link there, too! 

ta-da!
More photos can be found by clicking on this post's title.

Interweb Famous, sorta.

Duuuuude - check it out!

That would be the screen shot of Mike's proposal, featured on TheKnot.com!

Oh, you want to see it and read it too?


Go to TheKnot's Community Page.
Scroll down to "Featured Knotties"
And voila! There's our purdy pictures and proposal story to click on!

So maybe I wrote it up and submitted it.  They didn't hear it on CNN or MSNBC, or in the Washington Post like some other folks, but ya know, we can't all be that cool.

I think Mike should get credit for the story, though. *wink*

Panda, Precipitation, and a Proposal

Here's how it all began...

On January 30th, 2010, the forecast of a "light dusting" of snow began falling heavily.  It was at this point that the National Zoo, in Washington, DC, decided it was necessary to close early.  The impending storm threatened the farewell celebration for Tai Shan the panda.
Mike and I first visited the National Zoo just weeks after our move to DC, on the day that Tai Shan was born.  We became attached to the little cub and visited him on our jaunts through the park.  Then on the day of his sendoff party, marking the end of the sweet panda's time in DC,  Mike decided to ask me to spend the rest of our lives together.
Mike contacted the Zoo earlier (unbeknown to me!), to see if they could help him out by placing a sign in the habitat or something along those lines.  For the bear's safety, they were unable to complete that request - but offered instead local media coverage, who were there to report on the celebration anyways.   As the Zoo announced its early closure, The Washington Post report thankfully called Mike to inform him of this. (Picture me wondering who Mike was talking to on the phone and yelling at him at the same time, "Are we going or what?")  Mike was able to convince me to leave the house early and trek over to our favorite spot in the zoo, despite the bad weather. After all, this would be our last chance to see Tai Shan.
Once we finally found parking (special thanks to Diana and Karl for driving and going along with the plan!) and squeezed past security closing the park gates, Mike wandered off at the habitat.  I happily continued to shoot picturesque photographs of my favorite panda, sleeping in the snow.  Our friends that accompanied us on this adventure seemed to disappear, as well.  (It was at this point that Kathryn and Eric were escorted in by the Zoo Chief of Police.  This confused me, a lot.  Apparently Kathryn told him of the goings-on and he lead them in, but told Kat she would be arrested if she was not telling the truth!!!)
After Mike shuffled around a bit, the Washington Post reporter with a camcorder kept bumping into me, and the Chief of Zoo Police told Mike he better hurry up, the plans finally came to fruition. 

Tai-Shan sleeps peacefully under a blanket of snow

It was then that Mike pulled me over to an area where the snow was falling lightly on our shoulders.  He announced he had a special question for me, since they were here to mark the occasion of Tai Shan's  departure.  He got down on one knee, while The Washington Post reporters began filming, and asked me to marry him.  (Actually, I had to ask Mike what that special question was... we'll let it slide since he was so nervous!)  Shocked and thrilled, I said, "Yes!" and hugged and kissed Mike.  Our friends in attendance all cheered, as well as everyone else there.  It was a great way to mark the end of a time period for Tai Shan - with the beginning of another for us!

Click on the link above to see the video footage of our proposal!