honeymoon part 1 - Positano

i've been trying to get together a post with some photos from our honeymoon for some time, but with 800+ photos it has been a little hard to get a handle on it all! so i'm going to break it into a few posts and try not to be super overwhelming.

we were lucky enough to spend almost two weeks in Italy for our honeymoon and we stayed in Positano on the Amalfi Coast for the first week. we rented an apartment which was pretty amazing (once we were able to find it of course). Positano was a wonderful town to be based in and allowed for day trips to other sights in the area. the weather was great and i think i carb loaded like never before (wine, pasta, and bread oh my!).

our cute little apartment with the most wonderful balcony & view

photo taken from the main Spaggia beach

ate lots of fresh buffalo mozzarella which is made exclusively in the region and always washed it down with locally made limoncello (love the shot of the new wedding ring ;)

We really loved the small town and i can even forgive the hundreds of steps i had to climb every day to get around it. Since we visited at the end of the season it was quiet and easy to explore without crowds being a problem. On the second day in Positano we went on a walking tour led by an Australian ex-pat who has found herself living in the town after marrying a local (the very handsome Vincenzo). She had a great love of the town and its people and it was a really fun way to experience the town, especially when we got to sample lots of local food and drink.

we took a scenic boat trip out to the Emerald Grotto near Amalfi. honestly one of the most hilarious "tour guides" i've ever encountered is the guide that steers the row boat inside the grotto.

Pompeii was amazing and a true nerd's paradise. we had no idea how gigantic the site was and how much had been excavated! we spent over 5 hours here and no doubt didn't see it all. It was easily reached by bus and train even if the schedules didn't match up at all.

I'll be back soon with parts 2 and 3 ;)

completely unsolicited wedding advice

i feel like at the end of the day getting married is a piece of cake (or at least it should feel like it!) and planning a wedding is the hard part. no matter how big or small you go it is always stressful to throw a party, especially such an important one. at the beginning i wasn't completely sold on the big traditional wedding (i have a very big family, so small was really out of the question) and it was actually Bryan that really wanted the big day. in the end, i am glad that we did it and i'm also really glad it's all over ;)

so even though you didn't ask, i thought i would share a little of what i learned...

there is no right way to get married. aside from ensuring that you become legally married at some point (these rules vary from state to state, country to country), there is no actual script that any wedding has to follow. i remember being given a few etiquette books and wedding guides from well meaning friends and then promptly forgot about them and put them on the shelf. for me it was too stressful, we just wanted to do things our own way and not worry about making sure we were doing it the "right" way. it sounds simple, but it made me feel so much better to not feel constrained by rules or guidelines.

spend money on what matters to you. save on the rest. yeah, weddings can be expensive. if you want a particular venue, have your eye on a designer dress, or need to have a certain band you will probably have to pay, but that's ok. focus on what you can't live without and spend the money there. for us, it was photography and the venue. i could have cared less about flowers and didn't even hire a florist in the end (and they still turned out great in my opinion). i also got my dress at J. Crew, had a family friend do my make-up and a family member bake our wedding cake. so you can make it work. go get those designer shoes of your dreams, i mean you only get married once (unless you are a reality tv star).

something will go wrong. it won't be a big deal. it seems like no matter how hard you plan and how well organized you think you are, something will happen (ask anyone). a problem will arise, it will be fixed and you will move on. accept this beforehand and be prepared to calmly address the issue and still enjoy your day. of course this happened to us and it was totally fine, no bridezilla moment here.

consider hiring help. the thought of a wedding planner used to sound so bizarre and unnecessary to me. i can assure you it is neither. we had wedding coordinators that helped us the month before and the day of the wedding. after spending so much time making a lot of the decor and focusing on little touches (in between both of us working crazy hours a week), it was great to have people dedicated to making sure everything was in its place and everything happened when it should. they are not a big expense, but i can tell you it was worth every penny.

and that's all i've got (for now at least). weddings are fun, crazy, wonderful days. enjoy the whole process and make sure you keep in mind the bigger picture: you are marrying the best person ever.
(oh and plan a great honeymoon, whoever came up with that idea is a GENIUS)

photos from our great wedding photographers: sanderson images
i'll be sharing more photos and wedding ideas once i get the rest of the photos back ;)

back to reality ;)

well hello hello there interwebs. i'm finally back from the frenzy of getting married and the lovely italian honeymoon that followed ;)

little by little i will be getting back into my routine and updating this blog and the shop (which is finally back open!). crazy enough it is supposed to *snow* here tomorrow!? so it seems that the time for yarn accessories is officially here.

i'll be sharing more wedding related goodies soon enough but there's a shot from our first look and you can see the rest of the photo sneak peek over on our amazing photographers' facebook page ;)

it's showtime

sorry for falling off the face of the earth, but i'm getting married tomorrow ;)

organizing a wedding is tough stuff,
so i think i'll be more than relieved when it's just time to dance the night away!

most wonderful time of the year.

it really is the most wonderful time of the year. there's a slight hint of crisp in the air (ok maybe not the past couple of days, but they are calling for CHILLY mornings this weekend ;) and pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin beer is EVERYWHERE!

yesterday was a pretty exciting day, bryan and i have now obtained a marriage license from the great state of Delaware! fabulous. after that momentous (or you know completely anticlimactic) event, we stopped over at Terrain at Styer's to get some inspiration and actual items for our wedding decor. that place is ever so lovely and was really embracing the coming season. i snapped a few pics, smelled a lot of awesome soap, and we left with a basketful of tiny white pumpkins and funky white and green gourds. this weekend we're testing out the table decor (did i mention we, and by we i mean my mom and her friends, made our own table runners?)

can't believe it is all so soon! oh and we just got pictures back from our little engagement photo shoot! yes, of course they are cheesy but we love them and i'm sure ill have to share those soon ;)

tuesday tunes - wedding fever

now that it is all wedding all the time, there has been a lot of sappy music listening going on over here. we have finally settled on the music for the ceremony and the first dance (it is actually one of the songs included this week ;) i cant wait to put together all of the music for the cocktail hour and dinner (control freak much?)

1. Let's Stay Together - Al Green
2. You Send Me - Aretha Franklin
3. I Love You - The Bees
4. Forever & Ever, Amen - Randy Travis
5. You Really Got a Hold on Me - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

enjoy ;)

wishing a happy birthday ;)

taking to the interwebs to wish a very happy birthday to pretty much my favorite person in the world and soon to be husband ;) you make me crazy happy and we always seem to have the best time even if we are just going grocery shopping. i'm almost certain that this is going to be the most exciting year yet and i love you very much.

sadly evil work schedules have made it so that we can't even see each other today (UGH, why do we work so much) so ill have to resort to online communication instead ;)