Weekend Update

Oh weekend, how short thou art.

I'll start my weekend update with a picture from Thursday night. Yes, I worked Friday, but whatever. This image from the Nats/Cubs game at Wrigley Field is worthy of the blog.

How crazy was that fog?!? It was really cool, except when the Nats couldn't see through it and made some errors. Grr.

Friday was Friday at work. Womp womp. 

But then I went back to Wrigleyville for a drink with Andrew (he went to the Nats/Cubs day game) followed by Wine Club and dancing with the Kinect game. 

So. Much. Fun.

Saturday was Andrew's Birthday!

To celebrate we went to both Nats/Cubs games.

Yep, I went to 3 of the 4 games in the series and Andrew went to all four! We love our Nats!

Day game view:

Night game view from the roof deck! 

The roof deck seats were birthday gifts from Andrew's parents for both of our birthdays! It was amazing: all you can eat and drink!!! It was especially fun during the rain delay. We made friends while hiding from the rain. So fun!

Yesterday wasn't as fun, unfortunately.

These silly weather changes have wreaked havoc on my migraines and I literally could barely move until 7 pm. Ugh. All of you may love the coming of summer but I personally hate it! So much pain!

I finally felt better around 7, just enough time to bake Andrew some Birthday cookies, test out our brand spanking new KitchenAid Mixer (wedding gift!) and make a total mess!

Dirty hair, don't care.

A little flour never hurt anyone, though!

How was your weekend?

Linking up with these fine ladies today:

Wedding Wednesday: My Version of a "First Look"

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Happy Wedding Wednesday!

Judging from my three Facebook albums (yes, three) and new blog button (do you like it??), you can probably tell that we got our photos from our photographer! Tessa, from Starling Studio, did an incredible job telling the story of our day through her beautiful photos. I even like how I look in some of them, which is no easy feat. Basically she's a miracle worker!

 Today my topic is about First Looks.

I'm a traditional gal for the most part, so I never imagined seeing Andrew before walking down the aisle. However, I absolutely understand why couples do First Looks! I'm not judging! I just personally didn't want to, and neither did Andrew.

Instead, I wanted to have special moments with friends and family, so I called those my First Looks!

First of all, I just wanted my Mom, Sister and Sister-in-Law to help me get into my dress. I didn't want a crowd and thought the photos would be really cool. I also wanted my niece to come in and see me and her mom/my sister before the craziness ensued. I loved the results!

I want to give this to Lizzie down the road when she's engaged. :)

Once we had our moments I did a reveal to the rest of the bridal party, Andrew's Mom and Andrew's Aunt. I am so happy that the photographer was there to capture their reactions. They were sweeter than I could have ever imagined!

Finally, I knew I wanted to see my Big Brother and Dad before walking down the aisle.
Honestly, this is when I teared up! 

I'm so happy we did that before the ceremony so that I could get a few jitters and tears out of the way. All of their reactions and support made me feel pretty and confident!

What about you? Did you do a First Look of any kind? Do you plan to do one?

Photos from Starling Studio: website | Facebook

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 Have a wedding story that you want to share? Please join the linkup!
All I ask is that you grab the button, link back to me and visit the other blogs!

Please share the linkup on social, too, if you wish!
 @marysue20 is the name, #WeddingWednesday is the game.

I'm joining another linkup as well!

Little Bit of Sass Thursday

 

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Update regarding my post on Monday!

eShakti has given a 10% off promo code to all of my readers through 7/19/14! 

Please use "sassyclasses" for your discount!

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I have some questions for all of you, followed by some funny pictures...it is Thursday, after all.

Basically I am thinking up a new content mix once my Wedding Wednesdays are done and need your help. I guarantee this five-question survey will take you 1-2 minutes and will help me a lot.

Please take this survey!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7N539V8

And here are your sassy pictures for the week, all found on my Pinterest Sassy board:

{via}

Mmmmm...Chipotle...

{via}

Be honest! You did, didn't you?!?! I sure did!

{via}
This Toyota stole my idea!

Wedding Wednesday: The Post-Wedding Slump

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Happy Wedding Wednesday!

Don't let the title of this post fool you, I really am experiencing wedded bliss. I love being married to Andrew. He's the bacon to my eggs!

What do I mean by a "slump," then?
Well, I miss many things about wedding planning, so much so that I have found myself in a post-wedding slump - a planning withdrawal, if you will. Some of you may think I'm crazy, but hear me out.

I miss:
The anticipation
The learning
The gatherings
The conversations
The giggles
The shopping
The gift-giving (the receiving was fun, too!)
The worlds-colliding experience
Yes, even some of the stress

I miss all of it. Thanks to our long engagement we had a lot of time to dream up what we wanted and we spent a lot of effort to make the dreams become reality. Our wedding was so lovely that I didn't want it to end because I know I will never have that group of fun people all together again.

During my Dad's sweet speech to open the reception he asked everyone in the room to raise their hands if they lived out of state. A majority of hands went in the air. We think about 19 states and DC were represented at our reception...and we invited people from additional states and countries as well. Having this "destination" wedding got us thinking about how blessed we are to have so many people across so much space...but it also made us that much more sad to wave goodbye when it was all over.
(OK fine, we were excited to wave goodbye at the time since we were heading to Costa Rica, but you get my point).

I know we chose to move away from family and friends after high school (Andrew) and college (me), but it was never easy to leave the people we love. I tear up every time I wave goodbye...in fact I'm holding back tears right now. I'm pretty jealous of people who live close enough to family and dear friends that they can spend unplanned time with them. If you are one of them, please know how blessed you are!

Am I alone in this? Did any of you other new wives experience a little planning withdrawal?

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In other news, our photos are finished! We have an online password-protected gallery, but are waiting on the digital copies to share with everyone! Can't wait to show you!

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 Have a wedding story that you want to share? Please join the linkup!
All I ask is that you grab the button, link back to me and visit the other blogs!

Please share the linkup on social, too, if you wish!
 @marysue20 is the name, #WeddingWednesday is the game.

I'm joining another linkup, too!

Sure I'll Post About You for a Free Dress!

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6/19/14 update!

eShakti has given a 10% off promo code to all of my readers through 7/19/14! Please use "sassyclasses" for your discount!

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Blogging certainly has its perks, even for those of us who only post on a weekly basis. Considering that, as of late, all I have made time to post about is my wedding, I was particularly shocked to receive an email from eShakti, an online boutique specializing in custom clothing for women in all sizes. Since I had never heard of this awesome brand, I almost marked the email as spam, but was intrigued by the "Product Review" subject line and clicked.

Much to my delight, this eShakti online women's fashion apparel company wanted MY opinion on one of their many incredible items in their product line.

Uh, duh, of course I wanted to!

It took me a long time to narrow down my options. Seriously, gang, this site is no joke. Not only are the clothes adorable and in nearly every size imaginable, you can also customize them!

The size charts are very helpful, and you can even adjust the sleeves and length to your liking. If you're crazy you could remove the pockets, too (but who would do that?).

I sent in my measurements and received a custom dress in return! The folks at eShakti were incredibly helpful during the process, answering all of my silly questions with patience and class. It was not only a custom dress, it was pretty much a custom experience!

I decided on a sweet scallop dress to wear to one of my best friend's wedding this past Saturday. 

I got so many compliments!

Not gonna lie, I felt pretty hot in this dress.

Hey, I don't compliment myself EVER (you should hear me critiquing my fat arms and triple chins in my wedding photos!), so you should know that I mean it when I say that this dress made me feel pretty. Honestly I'm not saying that because I got the dress for free. I really mean it! "Opinions are my own," or whatever big bloggers say when they get free stuff. I'm so not used to this...but I LIKE it!

 

The only thing I will say negative about the dress is that it wrinkled the second I put it on, even after ironing. Oh well, it would wrinkle after sitting for a while anyway.

And here's a little collage of Laura's lovely wedding. It was a fantastic time and she was beyond beautiful! So so so happy for her :)

Please go check out eShakti! You won't regret it!

Follow eShakti on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, too!

Wedding Wednesday: When I said "Yes"...to the dress!

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Happy Wedding Wednesday!

Today I am excited to share some photos of when I said "Yes!!"

Yes to the dress, that is!

It occurred to me that I never shared these photos (and a quick 0:25 video!) of one of the best weekends of my life
(that I wrote about here and here)!

Without further ado, here are a few photos from a year before I said, "I do!"

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On our race back to the Bridal Salon at Macy's before it closed:


Checking it out, making sure I knew it was "the one"



Holly and Callie knew it was, so here they are with fingers crossed that I would say "yes"

Me thinking, "yeah...I think this will do. I think this will do juuuust fiiiiine."
I mean, it helped that the sample fit like a glove.

Then I walked out, said "yes," and everyone cried!

No really, that's basically what happened! Here's the video!

And then there were pictures and laughter:

The big group, celebrating the success. This picture is going in a frame for sure!

 And then we got married a year later :)

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 Have a wedding story that you want to share? Please join the linkup!
All I ask is that you grab the button, link back to me and visit the other blogs!

Please share the linkup on social, too, if you wish!
 @marysue20 is the name, #WeddingWednesday is the game.

I'm joining another linkup, too!

Wedding Wednesday: The Gals Get Gorgeous!

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Happy Wedding Wednesday!

We still have another week or two until we have our photographer's photos, but luckily the morning of the wedding my bridesmaids took a bunch of pictures!

That morning I woke right up without an alarm. I was so excited! My sister slept next to me so I hugged her awake, then I ran into my parents room to hug them awake!
I quickly showered and got ready to meet the bridesmaids at Shaw's where we were all getting ready.
It was fun to know that Andrew was just two floors below us getting ready, too!

The first task was to steam the family veil.
This unbelievably gorgeous veil has been worn by more than 5 ladies in Andrew's family. It was such an honor to wear it! It was both my something old and my something borrowed!
We also framed five photos of the ladies on their wedding days wearing the veil on cocktail tables at the reception.



Andrew's mom and aunt helped to steam the veil as the rest of the girls started their hair and make-up.


Pretty ladies!

During this time I read Andrew's card to me.
We unknowingly gave each other similar cards and wrote similar things to each other.
Good thing I didn't have my make-up on yet at that point! Happy tears!

It was so fun to sit and watch my bridesmaids get their hair and make-up done as we sipped mimosas and giggled. Usually I go first when I'm a bridesmaid and I always loved watching the bride transform, so it was a little surreal to be on the other side of that.

When it was finally my turn the butterflies really started to flutter.
Would I look like how I dreamed I would?
Would Andrew like it?
Was everything going as planned?
Did I forget anything?

The mimosa and my girls helped to calm those silly nerves and I really enjoyed myself!







Then it was veil time.
It got real, friends.







Such a team effort!



Veil's on!
GAME ON!!

The gals put on their dresses and stunned me with their beauty.
I gasped and teared up. They just looked incredible.

When we got to the church I had a while before I got in my dress so I was able to spend time with my girls, a few family members and friends, and received big hugs from our Flower Girl, my niece and Goddaughter, Lizzie. She looking amazing!



Then it was show time!

But I'll let the photographer's photos tell that story :)

Here are my two favorites from getting ready:

See you next week!

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 Have a wedding story that you want to share? Please join the linkup!
All I ask is that you grab the button, link back to me and visit the other blogs!

Please share the linkup on social, too, if you wish!
 @marysue20 is the name, #WeddingWednesday is the game.