My Save the Dates

I am a little behind on my Save-the Dates, and we probably should just forego them, but they are too cute to not send out. I am a huge DIY fan, but I had no idea how long of a process this was going to be.

My fiance actually drew the picture below- so it means alot to us.


We took the origanal to Staples to get them copied. My original plan was to just send them out as a card, but we looked at them and thought that they needed something more. So we came up with adding a 'border' to it, and making it into a magnet. So I went to Michael's with my future mother-in-law and we left with a HUGE arts and crafts project. I LOVE arts and crafts- but it was more than I has first thought it was going to be.

We had to get all of the supplies, the brown matting, a matt cutter, and magnets. Learning how to use the cutter and perfect cutting the matts took some time. I am a busy lady so it has taken me a lot longer then anticipated to get these done. I am working on them- they are definitely time consuming.

I have to cut the matts, they came as a huge board - so I have to cut them down to their size and then cut out the middle. Then I have to put the picture on, and then add the Magnet to the back. I bought sheets of magnets, so I have to cut each sheet to fit the size of the Save-the-Date.

Below is the final product. Let me know what you think!



Now I just have to get the envelopes and label them! I will tell you this, we were going to do our own invitations. But we will be ordering them within the next couple of weeks, that is definitely not a project I want to do on my own! :)

A peak into MY life..

I don't normally share pictures of myself and my life.. but I may start adding some every now and again. I am super excited today because My Fiance and I are headed to the Bruins game tonight... which is why I have posted some pictures.

The one in our Bruins gear is from a game last year. We like to go to atleast one every season. Tim is a HUGE hockey fan- which he has made me into one. So I am treating him to a game. 7th Row- Center Ice. Our 6 year Anniversary is April 5th- so I figured this would be a nice way to celebrate our last April Anniversary.. as of October 15th- April 5th will no longer exsist!



For as many years as we have been together.. we just started doing date night. One night a week, just us. He is very close with his family so we are always usually all together. But lately with the craziness of our lives, and never getting to really see each other, I decided that one night a week will be date night. It is nice to just be able to focus on us, even if it is for a few hours.

Below is a picture from a Red Sox game from last year. In honor of Opening Day/Weekend for the MLB I figured the picture is appropriate! We are actually headed to the Red Sox/Tampa Bay Game on April 11th. We are double dating.. Sporting events are fun with other couples!

Thoughtful

Our photographers sent us the Cookie below as a thank you for choosing them for our wedding. So sweet of them! A nice little touch that was very un expected- G&M Photographers- they're amazing!

Event Pictures

I just wanted to share some pictures from an event that we did on March 19th for the Government of Newfoundland. We host this event every year- all Seafood- my favorite!

Our Chef creates a new menu every year, this year he made homemade sushi, lobster flatbread pizzas, he had a risotto station, char sliders, lobster frittas, and a ton more food.

This weekend..

I am looking forward to a weekend of no wedding planning! I know that doesn't sound right- but I can't wait to relax and enjoy my weekend with my amazing fiance and o ur friends. Plans to go to Newport, RI to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Now if you know me- I am not Irish. I don't even look Irish. I am Italian and Portguese and I look the part! But from what I have heard "Everyone is Irish on St Patrick's Day"!

It is always nice to take some time off of planning and not get caught up in all of the madness. So make sure that you do that too!

Have a great weekend!


FYI- St Josephs' Day is on Saturday March 19th! :)

Michelle's Review

Michelle posted an amazing review last night on WeddingWire from her wedding in February..

5.0 out of 5.0
Quality of Service: (5.0/5.0)
Responsiveness: (5.0/5.0)
Professionalism: (5.0/5.0)
Value For Cost: (5.0/5.0)
Flexibility: (5.0/5.0)

Ceremony & Reception Venue
I can not say enough wonderful things about Jocelyn and her team at the Hilton Boston Back Bay. In addition to our wedding, we had a Welcome Reception for our out of town guests the night before and a brunch the morning after our wedding for everyone who spent the night. All three events went off without a single hitch and the food was AMAZING. It's been nearly a month and I am still getting compliments on it! Jocelyn responded to all of my inquiries, no matter how small or large promptly and efficiently. The wedding pacakge is reasonably priced and exceeded all of my expectations. I absolutely recommend the Hilton Boston Back Bay.


Thanks Michelle- I absolutely loved working with you!! I am so happy to hear that you had an amazing wedding weekend- and that we could be a part of it!

Another one of them is..

*Photography- I am obsessed with pictures. And obsessed might actually be an understatement. An example, I have 16 pictures in my office- of friends, family, my fiancé- either hanging on a corkboard, the wall or in a frame physically on my desk. So you can only imagine what my home looks like.

So pictures for the wedding was probably my #1. We found an amazing photographer- Randall from G&M Photography- who has some amazing work and was so great when we first met him. One of the things that I wanted was the creative photo journalism aspect of the pictures.

My mom always gives me a hard time when I talk about pictures, because her photo album is under the coffee table and nobody has looked at in years (which is untrue, since I looked at it at thanksgiving and Christmas when I was home). So she has a hard time with spending a lot of money on something that is just going to collect dust. But I don’t feel that way at all. Ya, it might not get looked at everyday- I have plenty of scrapbooks that haven’t been looked at in a while- but it is the only thing I get to take away from the wedding. It is the one thing that I can look back on and it help me remember the night, the laughs, the tears, and the smiles.

Sharing some thoughts..

Planning a wedding is a lot of work, and crunching numbers! My lord. I do have to admit that at this point, everything that I want, I am having- no matter what it costs. Which isn't an option to many people, especially if you are paying for your wedding, or some of it, which is what I am doing.

So I guess I shouldn’t say that I am having everything that I want, because that is not entirely true. There are a few items that are super important to me that I will share all week..

One of them is…

*Music. – we are having our friends, and an amazing band, Never in Vegas play for a few hours. And having a DJ. When anyone thinks of me and my Fiance, they think of Stu and the band NIV. So we HAVE to have them at the wedding. They normally don’t play at weddings- but will make an exception- for us.

I do have the thought in my mind how this is going to work. DJ for cocktail reception and during dinner, band play for an hour, DJ play for a half hour break and then the band play for the last hour.

My fiancé is in a band, so music is important to him too. And our guests having a good time is important to us. At first he thought that having NIV play might not work- might not be the best event. Since we usually see them out at the bar. But I told him that we couldn’t have our wedding without him- and I convinced him it was a good idea.

They are an amazing cover band and play all over New England- so it is going to be awesome! And Stu is very good friends of ours.

I will share my second important item tomorrow.

Wedding Photo Shoot

I am very EXCITED today!!! This morning A Dream Picture posted the below pictures on facebook. They came in to do a photoshoot with us on February 16th- and these are just a few of the amazing pictures that they captured while they were here.

Dina Konovalov is amazing, and an absolute pleasure to work with. Check out a few of her shots below!

FORTY DALTON WEBSITE

Today I want to share with everyone our Restaurant, FORTY DALTON's, new website.

http://www.fortydalton.com/

Our manager, Erin has put this together and we are very excited to have launched it today. Make you you check back for more information, online specials and promotions, and a 'Meet the Staff' section.

We host dinners and events in ther restaurant as well- it's amazing!

thanks

I got the Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine in the mail yesterday and I found this AMAZING idea for escort cards. Which has me inspired to talk about them today!



Above is the new idea that I am in LOVE with. MarthaStewartweddings.com is officially one of my new favorite wedding websites!

Below is the description that is on the site-

Thirst-Quenching Escort Cards: Welcome guests to your reception with refreshing drinks that are tagged with their table numbers. The chilled mint lemonade shown here is delicious for spring and summer occasions. In the cooler months, serve apple cider or hot cocoa in mugs.

Since I am having a fall wedding, we were thinking about doing hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick in it instead, but do we keep it in the bottle or use a mug? Either way it is a wicked cute idea. So I had to share it.

The pictures below are some others that I thought were super cute and had to share as well. So make sure you check out marthastewartweddings.com.

Michelle and Dave - Reception

Michelle and Dave are an amazing couple! It was an absolute pleasure to work with them on their wedding. Talk about an organized bride!

They celebrated the whole weekend here at the Hilton Boston Back Bay. They held a small reception on Friday night after their rehearsal dinner for all of their guests staying here at the hotel. Which are quite a lot, as they had about 23 rooms booked for Friday night. They offered some amazing food, a variety of flatbread pizzas, buffalo wings and mini burger sliders. They hosted this in the Diamond Lounge which is adjacent to our restaurant FORTY DALTON. They wanted their guests to be able to have access to the bar and to have a private space for their guests to talk and spend some time together. Everyone had a great time! This is becoming a pretty popular thing to do- having a small reception the night before the wedding for the guests that are staying over. And we have a great space that can accommodate it.

Their wedding was Saturday evening; 6:30pm was the ceremony. Michelle had a fun day planned of going to Newbury St and getting ready with her girls. With strict instructions of ‘No Drinking’ for Dave, he spent the day with his family and friends.

They had musicians playing during the arrival of their guests. At this point, I had Dave confined to a room so that I could go upstairs and get Michelle and her Bridal Party. Up to the 26th floor, as they were waiting ever so patiently for me, so that we could get started!

Getting everyone lined up was super easy- because they are all great people and listened to me on Friday at the rehearsal- LOVE that!

The one thing different about Michelle and Dave’s wedding, that we don’t normally do, is they got married in the Belvidere Ballroom and then had their Dinner and Dancing in the Belvidere Ballroom. We made the room flip during cocktail hour which took place in the Pre-Assembly Area and in the Westminster Room. After the cocktail reception, we opened the doors the ballroom and the air wall and invited all of their guests back into the ballroom that was completely set for dinner. Tables, centerpieces, dance floor, head table and DJ. It looked amazing. It is also pretty amazing how we can flip the room during that time period.

The rest of the evening was a huge success- everyone had a great time! Great food, great company and great music. Another successful wedding!!