The Party of Our Lives: All Good Things Must Come To An End

Well, chickadees, the time has finally come. After a full year and a half of writing about our wedding between three and four times per week, I'm finally out of words to say about our day. The process of planning the wedding was filled with joy, happiness, stress, tears and just about every other emotion that falls in between. Mr. Cool and I experienced a ton of highs and lows during our fifteen-month-long engagement, but I can honestly say that I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

Words cannot describe what a truly rewarding experience it has been to create and write for this blog. I went from no followers to a whopping 117, some of whom have become "real life" friends. With your support and encouragement, I've re-discovered my crafty side and pushed it to limits I never thought possible. Meanwhile, you've all inspired me with your beautiful weddings and amazing stories. I truly cannot thank you enough.

So with these words, I'll leave you with a few of my favorite images from that drizzly October day on which I finally became a Mrs.


To Mr. Cool, I can't believe that it's already been five months (to the day!) since you and I tied the knot. It's been an amazing ride, and I can't wait for what's next!

As for me, I'm not completely going away - I've been bitten by the blogging bug, and fully intend to return with a brand new platform for my random musings. I had hoped to get my new blog up and running by the time I ended this one, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans. I'll be sure to post here with the new link when I actually get something on there that's worth reading. And of course, I'll still be commenting on all of your blogs.

Mrs. T., this one is for you!

Good-bye my lovelies! Keep the party going until I come back :)

XOXO,
Party Planner Gal

*All photographs by Paige Morrison.

The Party of Our Lives: Our Wedding Video!

You may not remember me blogging about our search for the perfect wedding videographer, and that's because Mr. Cool and I decided early on that videography wasn't very important to us. After our wedding day came and went in the blink of an eye, however, I may or may not have regretted this decision. I'm not talking about a ton of regret, but enough to make me doubt the little discussion, if any, we had regarding videography.

Imagine my surprise when our good friends, Mr. V and Mrs. N, surprised us with this compilation of wedding highlights that they captured on their Flip video camera! While I wasn't sure what to expect when Mr. V told us he was working on our wedding video, I certainly did not anticipate the beautiful, lighthearted and thoughtful video that he ultimately delivered to us. It's clear that a lot of work went into creating this video. I hope you enjoy it as much as Mr. Cool and I do!



I've already watched this video more times than I care to admit. A special thanks to Mrs. N for helping Mr. V with the music selections. And to Mr. V, thank you so much for capturing our wedding on video in such a beautiful and honest way. Mr. Cool and I are so grateful that you took the time and effort to create this for us. We will certainly treasure it forever, (or at least for as long as YouTube is around)!

Mr. N in action at our wedding. Photo by Paige Morrison. You may also recognize him as the handsome groom in this post from way back when.

Did you splurge on videography? If not, were your friends able to capture some great footage of your wedding day?

The Party of Our Lives: Mishaps (Part Two)

When we left off, I had shared some minor snafus I ran into on our wedding weekend due to my not taking proper care of myself and a last-minute emergency that prevented my cousin/MOH spending the night before our rehearsal with me. In this post, I'll cover four teeny, tiny things that went wrong on our actual wedding day. These issues were so minor that they're almost not worth mentioning, but I've decided to blog about them anyway in the hopes that future brides can learn from my mistakes. Moving right along . . .

Number Four: Not Packing an Emergency Kit for Myself

Do you remember the little emergency kits I made for my bridesmaids a few days before the wedding? Here's a refresher in case you don't:

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These little kits contained hairspray, tissues, Listerine strips, gum, Colgate wisps and Softlips lip balm. Everything my bridesmaids could possibly need, right? Well, for some reason, I didn't think to make an emergency kit for myself! I guess I just assumed that there would be five of these laying around in case I needed to borrow from one of them. At one point during our cocktail hour, I remember feeling like I wanted nothing more than to brush my teeth.

Bridesmaid Miss P accompanied me to the bride's room, but unfortunately she had forgotten her kit and we couldn't find another one laying around. Miss P ended up saving the day by running to the guest bathroom to steal a bottle of Listerine from our bathroom baskets. Although it did the trick, I would have killed for one of those Colgate wisps in the moment.

Lesson learned: pack a toothbrush or the equivalent on your big day!

Number Five: Quasi-Flower Fail

I have nothing but good things to say about our florist, Carolyn from Diablo View Florist in Antioch, California. From our bridal party bouquets, to our aisle decorations, cocktail table arrangements and reception arrangements, she absolutely nailed the bright, fall look we had hoped to achieve at our wedding:




I loved the way the beautiful, bright yellow flowers brought a pop of warm color to our wedding without looking too quintessentially "fall." So imagine my shock when I took a peak at our ceremony room and saw orange and red flowers mixed into the altar arrangements. I take full responsibility for this mishap, since I never explicitly told our florist that I did not want any red or orange flowers at all. At the end of the day, the arrangements were still beautiful, and they actually complimented the hints of red in the mandap nicely.

Lesson learned: if there is a color that you absolutely do not want to pop up in your flowers, let your florist know! I assumed I was safe since "all sunflowers are yellow." Um, wrong. There are red-orange sunflowers too. If you don't believe me, please refer to Exhibit "A" below:

Number Six: Not Having a Back-Up Plan for my Bustle

I mentioned previously that someone stepped on my French bustle and it ripped away from the top layer of chiffon on my wedding gown. While my seamstress did include an American-style bustle as a back-up plan, neither I nor my bridesmaids bothered to learn how to use that bustle since I was dead-set on sporting the French one. Big mistake, since I spent most of our reception holding my bustle in my right arm like this:

And this:

Yeah, not so cute. At one point Miss P pulled me aside and tried to figure out the American bustle, but then Lady Gaga's "Telephone" came on and I had to dance immediately. As a result, a bunch of our reception photos show me holding wads of my bustle in my right hand. At one point, I think I my have hit people on the dance floor with my bustle to try and get their attention. I had tons of fun, but in hindsight it probably would have been a classier move to let Miss P figure out the American-style bustle when she tried to do so.

Lesson learned: have a back-up plan for your bustle, and have someone in your bridal party practice not only your preferred style, but your back-up style as well!

Number Seven: Not Taking the Time to Fully Enjoy Some of the Things we Planned

My number one regret of the evening is that this is the only photo of myself with my new husband in our Fotomio photo kiosk:

photo by Fotomio

Back when we initially signed up for a photo kiosk, I had grand visions of Mr. Cool and I spending tons of time in front of the camera with our vintage-style props. Unfortunately, we just didn't have enough time to make my vision a reality. As it was, I was lucky to remember to pull Mr. Cool off the dance floor toward the end of the night so we could get some photo kiosk time, however brief it was. Looking back, I wish we'd made this more of a priority.

Likewise, Mr. Cool and I didn't really get to enjoy any of the cakes and pies from our dessert buffet:

Again, there just wasn't really time for us to sit back and enjoy dessert. At one point toward the end of the night, (probably when we were making a mad dash for the photo kiosk), Mr. Cool grabbed a fork and started eating banana cream pie right out of the dish! Don't worry - our guests were pretty much done with the dessert buffet by then. And the groom's germs don't matter on his wedding day, right?

Lesson learned: Designate someone to make sure that you enjoy all of the little details that you have worked so hard to plan! Our wedding day was so filled with excitement that it was hard to remember to take full advantage of everything in the moment.

And that concludes my wedding-day mishap list! In the grand scheme of things, none of these mishaps really mattered, nor did they detract from the sheer joy and happiness Mr. Cool and I felt at our wedding. Overall, we were actually pretty lucky! Our wedding day was nearly-perfect, and I know it's because of all of the planning we had done during our fifteen-month-long engagement.

Up next, our wedding video, courtesy of our good friend, Mr. V!

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs by Paige Morrison.

The Party of Our Lives: Mishaps (Part One)

I almost titled this post as "The Party of Our Lives: What Went Wrong." But the more I thought about it, nothing really went wrong on our wedding day. Of course, there were a few minor glitches, but I seriously doubt that anyone's wedding day ever goes off without a hitch. Looking back, I can honestly say that if given the choice, I wouldn't change a thing about it, mishaps and all. So with that, here's my list of minor glitches, and the things I should have done to avoid them.

Number 1: The Weather

If you followed my blog during the third week of October, it won't come as a shock to you that I was completely bent out of shape about the rainy weather forecast for our wedding day. While there's not much I could have done to change the weather, I definitely could have changed my attitude about it. Instead, I chose to spend m last week as an engaged woman in frustrated tears and anxiety over something over which I had zero control.

At the time, it seemed like the end of the world. Looking back, I can't believe how ridiculous I was during those days. While it still tugs my heart strings to see gorgeous photos of sun-dappled weddings that have taken place in our venue's courtyard, I have come to terms with the fact that we were married on an uncharacteristically drizzly October day. And honestly, the gorgeousness of our ceremony space almost made me forget that we had ever planned to have an outdoor wedding. Almost:


Number 2: My Health

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I haven't shared with too many people that I was sick on our wedding day. I should have seen it coming from a mile away. I was stressed about the weather, crying non-stop and sleeping poorly. When I felt that first, distinct tickle in my throat the night of our rehearsal dinner, I knew I was done for. After I returned to our hotel room for the night, I took a hot shower, drank some Emergen-C and loaded up on Zicam. I slept horribly the night before our wedding, but used the periods I couldn't sleep to guzzle more Emergen-C.

Thankfully, the adrenaline I felt the morning of our wedding day made me forget that I felt achy, tired and slightly congested. In hindsight, I should have probably taken one full week off work (as opposed to two days) before the wedding, focused on eating healthy and staying hydrated and avoided collapsing into a total mess over the weather report (see Number 1). When I get stressed, I get sick. The days before the wedding were some of the most stressful of my life. Knowing what I know now, I should have made my health a priority during my last few days as Miss.

Number 3: Not Having Someone With Me At All Times

Normally, I'm a pretty independent person. I savor my alone time, and don't mind when Mr. Cool makes plans with friends or is off doing an activity by himself. For some reason, though, I really, really, REALLY did not want to be alone for a moment during our wedding weekend.

Do you remember my DIY rehearsal dinner flower arranging extravaganza?:

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I had a minor panic attack the morning of our rehearsal dinner because I was all alone in my hotel room with my frantic thoughts. My cousin/MOH was supposed to spend the night before our rehearsal in the hotel with me, but an emergency prevented her from making it at the last minute. In hindsight, I should have called one of my other bridesmaids or my mom to spend the night with me. Thankfully, my cousin/MOH sent out an emergency email, and bridesmaid Mrs. O rushed over mid-morning. Likewise, Mr. Cool heard the panic in my voice and hurried over from his parents' house to join me at the hotel. Once my mom, Mrs. O and Mr. Cool arrived, I literally felt the anxiety melt away. Lesson learned: have an arsenal of people on call in case you need someone to calm your usually-steady nerves!

Up next: a few more (very minor) mishaps and how I could have avoided them!

*Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Paige Morrison.

The Party of Our Lives: Horah and Dessert

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly. And no, Mr. Cool and I are not Jewish. I'll let you in on a little secret: when I was in law school, I was a full-fledged member of the Jewish Law Student Association ("JLSA"). I think it was because some of the members found out that I could make falafel and invited me to Shabbat dinner, which was always potluck-style. Either way, I loved being a part of the organization and loved learning about Jewish culture.

Mr. Cool and I have attended several Jewish weddings, and absolutely love the part of the reception where the guests lift the bride and groom onto chairs during the horah. I was completely caught off guard when our friend Mr. D pulled us aside during the wedding and told us that we were "going to do the chair thing." The next thing I knew, I was being lifted into the air:

Our friend Mrs. V has her hands in the air in front of me to catch me in case I fell. I really did feel like I was going to fall off the entire time, but I didn't care. It was so much fun!

The next thing I knew, Mr. Cool was in the air right in front of me:

Participating in the horah was one of my favorite memories from our wedding. Mr. Cool and I had discussed incorporating this tradition into our wedding day, but ultimately decided that our guests might think it was strange. I was so excited and happy that our friends made the decision for us. Our guests loved it and everyone was having an amazing time.

Meanwhile, our cake and pie buffet had opened for business! Our venue and day-of-coordinator did a fantastic job of arranging my mom's milk glass cake stands and plates onto one of the large king's tables. Our dessert buffet banner from etsy seller victorianstation hung from the front:

Our venue loaded our dessert buffet full of the Whole Foods cakes and pies we ordered prior to wheeling it out to the reception room:

Our guests were able to sample from 9 different flavors of cakes and pies if they wanted to. Several of our friends told us that they were too full from dinner to take full advantage of the cake and pie buffet, but somehow they managed to rally:

Our dessert buffet also included a variety of Indian sweets, such as ladoo:

And barfi (pronounced "burr-fee"):

And with that, the party of our lives drew to an end. Our amazing (and exhausted) photographer asked if she could leave, and I was happy to let her go. After all, no one needs photographic evidence that I did the Soulja Boy dance in my big, white wedding gown, right?

Don't worry, I still have a couple more posts up my sleeve, and I'm going to ask Mr. N for permission to post our lovely wedding video at the end of our recaps.

What's your favorite memory from your wedding day?

*All photographs by Paige Morrison.

The Party of Our Lives: Just Dance!

After our first dance, it was time to call the rest of our guests onto the dance floor. It wasn't too long before it was packed to capacity:

Our DJ, Andy Atta, did a great job of combining contemporary hip-hop/R&B music with popular Indian and bhangra songs. I had no complaints about him other than the fact that he sometimes would play the same song twice (though not back to back). I think what happened was that our guests would request songs that he wasn't familiar with, so he would find the song on YouTube. A couple of times, the YouTube version would be a mashed-up with other songs he had already played. Even so, our guests loved him, and I've already received a few requests for his name from my friends that are getting married this year.

I loved the way our dance floor wash spread over our guests as they boogied the night away:


I was so excited to see these photos of our guests smiling and having a good time. One of our top priorities was making sure that we threw an awesome party. I think we achieved our goal:


Sadly, this is one of my signature moves: champagne glass in hand, lips pursed and making a weird face, hands in the air. Despite the fact that I love to dance, I have no rhythm and am usually caught in positions like this one:

At least in the following photo, I have the excuse that I'm getting down to "Stayin' Alive" by the BeeGees. I'm also hanging onto the train of my dress because someone stepped on it and ripped it from the back of my gown. So much for thinking I'd be able to sell it to another bride! Right now, my mom has it and she's going to cut some of the lace from the top to save for my hypothetical daughter to wrap around her bouquet on her wedding day:

Our good friends Mr. V and Mrs. N circulated throughout the dance floor with a Flip video camera. Last week, they surprised us with the most amazing wedding video! Mr. Cool and I didn't hire a videographer, so their video was the best wedding gift we could have asked for. I've already watched it at least a dozen times:

As the night progressed, the number of antics on the dance floor increased. I love this photo of my cousin and my brother having a "dance off":

And this one of Miss D getting down in her cute, polka-dot dress:

It was clear that romance was in the air:

And that our guests were smart enough to stay hydrated throughout the evening:

Up next, a dance floor surprise that ended up being one of my favorite moments of the day!

*All photographs by Paige Morrison.

The Party of Our Lives: First Dance

After a delicious meal, it was time for our first dance. Mr. Cool and I were pretty traditional with our song selection and danced to Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am". It was the perfect song for us, since it's short, sweet and the lyrics really do describe our relationship, i.e., mostly Mr. Cool willingness to take me the way I am :)

I am so happy that we decided to splurge on a dance floor wash from Fantasy Sound Event Services! We chose the pattern "In the Thicket" because we loved how the sweeping branches and leaves added a cozy fall touch to the massive Grand Salon:

The music began, and Mr. Cool and I took the floor:


At this moment, we were in our own little world. Though we had discussed the possibility of taking dance lessons early on, this idea fell through the cracks as the craziness of the last few months of wedding planning set in. In hindsight, I'm glad that Mr. Cool and I opted to do the "middle school sway" as opposed to a choreographed dance. One of the happiest moments of the night was singing the words of our first dance song while my new husband held me in his arms:

We did throw in one twirl for good measure. I was a bit nervous about this part, but we ended up nailing it!:

We didn't invite too many little ones to our wedding, but the ones that were there wanted to get in on our first dance, too:

I love the way the dance floor lighting looked as it washed over my wedding gown:

After the short song was over, Mr. Cool and I shared another kiss:

And our friend Jakey, who was also our emcee, asked our guests to join us on the dance floor for the remainder of the evening:

Up next, let the wild rumpus begin!

*All photographs by Paige Morrison.