I Guess I Do

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Thursday, October 30, 2014

Happy Halloween

Kyle hates Halloween. Not just because he screams like a school girl in haunted houses (and uses me as a human shield - should I be concerned about this?), but he also hates the fact that this holiday gives me the excuse to dress up like a dude. 

I've been a dwarf, a deer, a Douche Bag (I wore a YOLO hat), Duck Dynasty, etc. But my favorite of all time was Captain Jack Sparrow. I was bartending at Trotter's, the bar I worked at in college, and this is how I greeted customers throughout the night. It also so happened to be the first time I met my best friend from college's future husband. What can I say? I'm all about first impressions. 

Kyle will be so pissed I posted this picture, but I don't care. I hope my future daughter grows up to be like me and would rather sport beards than be a slutty cop or nurse. 

Being a sluttypants only takes you so far my friends. Trust me, dressing up as a man for Halloween may just land you one. They know it can only go uphill from there...

Have a Happy Halloween everybody!

xo

Monday, October 27, 2014

Fall Inspiration

Although I am a sucker for the Christmas holiday, Fall is by far my favorite season of the year. Even though my version of fall is now sitting in air conditioning during yet another heat wave, I tried to make up for it by buying everything pumpkin in sight at Target. Have a you tried the pumpkin Oreo's yet? Delish. But I'm thinking about duct taping the bag shut.

Here are some of my favorite trends and ideas I'm seeing for fall this year...



1. No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake  2. Caramel Apple Jello Shots  3. Spiced Apple Cider  4. Gold Leaf Place Cards          5. Studded Pumpkins  6. Hanging Mason Jar Chandelier



Thursday, October 23, 2014

Rani Totman Memoir

Fashion icon, head designer & founder of the St. Pucchi company Rani Totman is excited to announce that she is writing a memoir!

After 30 years at the helm of the popular brand and its various collections, Totman has announced that she will be stepping aside for the year to pursue her other passion of writing. 


Totman tells I Guess I Do, "I am truly grateful for all the support and love sent my way since announcing this exciting new opportunity that I will be giving my heart to. St. Pucchi will forever be with me and I do look forward to the rebirth with new creative concepts in the future." 


Further details of Totman's much anticipated novel have not been released, however, St. Pucchi continues to invite all its loyal customers to still shop online.

I've had the pleasure of getting to know Rani on a personal level through this blog and am excited for her new endeavors. This lovely lady has been through it all - I can't wait to see what she has to say!


Best of Luck in all you do!

xo







St. Pucchi has been one of the top bridal companies for years, and is credited with changing the way many people design and look at wedding gowns. And now after 30 years of success, the brand’s head designer/founder Rani Totman has announced she is taking a little break to pen an exciting memoir.
Rani tells It’s A Glam Thing, “I am truly grateful for all the support and love sent my way since announcing this exciting new opportunity that I will be giving my heart to. St. Pucchi will forever be with me and I do look forward to the rebirth with new creative concepts in the future.”
We can’t wait to learn and then read more about what Rani has to say!
- See more at: http://nicknorthstar.itsaglamthing.com/archives/1846#sthash.qQaLMfcy.dpuf
St. Pucchi has been one of the top bridal companies for years, and is credited with changing the way many people design and look at wedding gowns. And now after 30 years of success, the brand’s head designer/founder Rani Totman has announced she is taking a little break to pen an exciting memoir.
Rani tells It’s A Glam Thing, “I am truly grateful for all the support and love sent my way since announcing this exciting new opportunity that I will be giving my heart to. St. Pucchi will forever be with me and I do look forward to the rebirth with new creative concepts in the future.”
We can’t wait to learn and then read more about what Rani has to say!
- See more at: http://nicknorthstar.itsaglamthing.com/archives/1846#sthash.qQaLMfcy.dpuf
St. Pucchi has been one of the top bridal companies for years, and is credited with changing the way many people design and look at wedding gowns. And now after 30 years of success, the brand’s head designer/founder Rani Totman has announced she is taking a little break to pen an exciting memoir.
Rani tells It’s A Glam Thing, “I am truly grateful for all the support and love sent my way since announcing this exciting new opportunity that I will be giving my heart to. St. Pucchi will forever be with me and I do look forward to the rebirth with new creative concepts in the future.”
We can’t wait to learn and then read more about what Rani has to say!
- See more at: http://nicknorthstar.itsaglamthing.com/archives/1846#sthash.qQaLMfcy.dpuf

Monday, October 20, 2014


It's hard to blog when your heart is heavy. I will be back Thursday with something witty to say, but in the mean time please take some time out to be completely and utterly grateful, because the trouble is, you think you have time.



Thursday, October 16, 2014

Bridal Fashion Week Continued


Here are some more looks from Bridal Fashion Week Fall 2015. Loving some of the risks that were taken here!



Now tell me, what have been your favorites so far?


Photos Courtesy: Kurt Wilberding via The Knot



Monday, October 13, 2014

Bridal Fashion Week

The time has come for the biggest names in bridal fashion to debut their latest collections in NYC. Lots of long sleeves again, but this season also brought about collars, capes, cutouts and a resurgence of metallic (which I love)

Take a look at what directions the designers went in. What are your thoughts Un-Brides? Tell me what you're thinking, I want to know! 









Stay tuned Thursday for more looks from the Fall 2015 Runways!


Photos Courtesy: WWD



Thursday, October 9, 2014

Transportation Tips

As we saw in Stephanie's post on Monday, half the battle is just getting to the wedding. I've heard of it all - accidents, flat tires, no-show shuttles. 

While you may not be able to prepare for everything, you can still do the best you can...

Call your mode of transportation (limo, shuttles, etc.) two days before the wedding, as well as the morning of your big day. You'd be surprised how much can get forgotten or f#$@ed up in two days. Confirm all addresses and times. 

Not the Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker movie (I wonder what that guy is doing these days...) Anyways, always account for traffic or road closures. Even if you think you are in the clear, provide a backup route anyways. 


You know your late friend? The one you lie to and say the event starts an hour earlier so they will arrive on time? Well, do the same for your guests. On our website and printed materials, we said the shuttle would leave promptly at 3:00pm. Although we knew well and good that the shuttle would not leave until 3:30. Our friends were all watching the OSU game at a bar before the wedding, needless to say we knew tabs wouldn't be closed at best until three. Always remember, if you can't beat 'em, lie to 'em. 



Photo Courtesy: Zuza Fun



Monday, October 6, 2014

Stephanie & Tom : Style & Story Creative

Meet Stephanie & Tom. Their beautiful spring Cincinnati nuptials were captured by one of my favorite photography teams. And by the looks of it, everyone seems to look happy and carefree. But I have to say, reading their I Guess I Do moments made me laugh out loud. All I can tell you is that it involves a car accident...and that car happened to be carrying the bride. Yes, you read that right! Enjoy Stephanie's story in her own words below...

...


Tom and I met freshman year of college at The University of Cincinnati through mutual friends, and began dating when we finally admitted to ourselves that we were a pretty good match. For months my friends would say to me: “Why don’t you guys just date, Tom likes you,” but of course I truly didn’t think he thought of me in that way. Fast forward four years and we are still dating, steady in our jobs and buying a house. It was a rainy Friday night when we closed on our house and got the keys, so we decided to get take-out to the house to eat on the empty floors and begin the cleaning process. We walked into our first house for the first time and as soon as the door shut behind us, Tom got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was a whirlwind after that, stepping into the next phase(s) of our lives, and the planning had begun! 

It still amazes me how many people can ask “So, have you set a date yet?” in the same conversation that you tell them you had JUST gotten engaged 30 minutes before. And so began our list of I Guess I Do moments. The wedding date. I had always pictured a fall wedding, mid-September to be exact. Bright colors, leaves on the ground, nice breezy Fall day. However, Tom played football at UC and a couple of his close friends still play, so we went through the calendar trying to avoid football season, spring ball, and summer camps. We finally agreed on a weekend at the end of April which turned out to be perfect. I still got the colors I wanted and the best wedding day weather we could have imagined. 



The rest of the wedding planning went fairly smooth, mainly because my sister and cousins were in charge with most decisions. This was 100% fine with me and how I preferred it. Anyone who knows me knows that I can’t make a decision to save my life, especially when given ample time to change my mind. There were a few other I Guess I Do moments along the way with deciding to have no children in the wedding or at the reception, the need for three showers in three different cities to cover all those invited, and the hotel telling me kindly that due to a contract of one of the sports teams staying at the hotel the same weekend of the wedding, the only rooms left for my guests would be king beds. Luckily, they were very easy to work with and it all turned out just fine. Most of our I Guess I Do moments occurred that Friday night before the wedding and the wedding day itself. 

Being from Sandusky, which is four hours north of where we live here in Cincinnati, we knew we would have many out-of-town guests, along with our families who were living all over. We decided to have the reception and rehearsal dinner at the hotel in which everyone was staying so that all of the guests could just walk up to their room afterwards and so we could set up the centerpieces and other decorations after dinner the night before. 

As for decorations, we decided to use a company from Sandusky (did I mention Sandusky is four hours away?), so getting the decorations down to Cincinnati was the first dilemma followed by having to put the centerpieces together, by hand, the night before. When we were told the week of the wedding that we couldn’t set the venue up until 3pm Saturday afternoon (cocktail hour began at 5:30pm), it left for one stressed bride and all others involved. Little did we know that this is normal and the staff was used to tearing down/setting up in less than three hours. We were promised a room next to the hall for the night before to set all of the decorations in so that come the day of, we could have people just carry the centerpieces into the ballroom and set them on tables. Well, after unloading the trucks of decorations and placing them in that room we were “promised,” we find out that THAT room, too, had been booked for Saturday morning (along with the ballroom where the reception took place). Out to the hallway we go, literally. So there sat our centerpieces in the hallway all night before our reception the next day. No big deal, right? 

Rehearsal dinner was fabulous, as was that whole night. The night ended with the guys going back to our house and the girls staying at the hotel. Not being able to sleep, I sat with my sister in the hallway as she wrote her speech. We laughed, we cried, and talked about life, almost opening a bottle of champagne at 2am. After imagining what I could be like with no sleep on the most important day of my life thus far, we returned to the room for everyone’s sake and got what little sleep we could. Saturday morning we left the hotel at 8:15 in order to get to the salon early and be ready to go by 9. We had nine people to get hair done and three to get makeup all by 11:00am. Turning the corner right before the salon, we encountered I Guess I Do moment #1 of the wedding day... The Accident. 

My mom was driving me and three bridesmaids and we were in the inside turn lane. Before we knew it, we heard a crash and realized my mom had failed to turn. Instead, she tried going straight and ran right into the side of a jeep driving beside us. Luckily we were not going fast and everyone was fine. We all stayed calm, no one was hurt, and my sister told me and the other bridesmaids to grab the stuff and head to the salon while she stayed at the scene with my mom. We grabbed the cooler of mimosas and our bags and walked the two blocks left to the salon, passing the police, fire truck, and ambulance on their way to the scene. I’m sure it was a sight to see: three girls, one wearing a “bride” satin robe and the others with matching blue shirts walking away from an accident carrying bottles of champagne and orange juice. Cl-ass-y. Luckily, there was not a lot of damage and my mom and sister made it to the salon a little while after. 


We were lucky enough to have a total of five photographers/videographers on our day, so when planning the when and where of photos, I thought we would have enough time and people to capture all of the shots I had wanted. The head photographer and videographers left the salon where the girls were and went out to our house (25 minutes away, what was I thinking?) where the guys were. They captured some shots at the house, which are amazing, but still had to make their way back downtown to the girls to get me getting into my dress, seeing my father for the first time, etc. Being a Saturday and having to deal with downtown traffic, we were getting nervous once 11:30 hit and they still weren’t there. I went ahead and told all my girls to get ready so that all we would have to do was my dress and the moment I would see my dad for the first time. The photographers finally made it and we rushed through some photos, finished getting me ready, captured shots of jewelry and dad, and off we went. 

We thought we had this whole situation planned out, but what goes as planned when you need it to? While the “drivers” for the bridesmaids (unfamiliar with Cincinnati) had to find the cars and decide which of the two entrances of the hotel the girls would be at, my sister was having a mental breakdown in the lobby by herself where she found one of the photographers lost with no phone waiting for the others to pick him up. Needless to say, it was a complete cluster f***. My parents, sister, and I finally got into our car at 12:40 and we were off. (Perfect! Ceremony begins at 1:00, we should be there right on time!) I am directing my dad from the back seat of where to go, and when he questioned my directions I snapped back “I know where we’re going, I’ve lived here for seven years.” 

All of a sudden, I realized we were making our way over the bridge to Kentucky, which is the opposite way we needed to be going. When I realized I was taking us to the reception instead of the ceremony, my dad did a U-turn in the middle of the bridge and just shook his head. If you would know my dad, you could just imagine him talking under his breath and then telling my sister and I he was going to have a heart attack all while we were in the back singing “going to the Chapel and we’re gonnna get marrrrried,” not the least bit phased. Whoops. Plus, the wedding can’t start without the bride, right? After speeding our way to the church (again, 25 minutes from downtown), we all arrived safely for the ceremony to begin and we were only 15 minutes late! On our way there, all I could think about was Tom’s last request the night before: “Please babe, just don’t be late to our wedding.” The rest of the wedding party eventually rushed in, we immediately all got in line, and the ceremony had officially started. As the doors reopened for my dad and I to walk through, it had finally hit me. As I cried walking down the aisle focused on Tom, all of the shenanigans that had occurred that morning no longer mattered. 

The ceremony went wonderfully, we got booted from a couple picture locations, and we had an absolute blast on the party bus. The reception was all we could have ever dreamed of and more. As we were on our honeymoon the week after the wedding, we already were reminding each other of the series of events. Honestly, what I remember about our special day is walking down the aisle with my eyes fixed on Tom, our first dance, and most of all having the time of my life dancing and talking with friends and family. I would say I have succeeded in remembering the best parts and most important parts of the day, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. 



Throughout this process, I would say I definitely learned a few things. For the future brides out there, I would like to remind you of a few things: 

- Do NOT sweat the small stuff. Everything will turn out perfectly and the little things that you worry about are usually the things that no one will remember anyway.

- IT IS WORTH IT to pay someone to do everything for you the day of the wedding, which someone had told me prior to my wedding, but I thought that with as many helpful friends and family I had, we would be fine. Trust me, pay someone who is not involved in the wedding to stress about it so that you and your guests don’t have to. 

- No matter what schedule you have for that day, it will surely not go the exact way you want. Which is not always a bad thing. 

- You can never pay enough for your photographers, those pictures and video will be the only thing you have to look back on in 50 years. 

- Everything will turn out the way it’s supposed to, it will be beautiful and a day you will never forget (even for those with a horrible memory like me). 

- Have the wedding you and your fiancĂ© have always envisioned and stick to it because at the end of the day, all that matters is that you made it YOUR day. 

 Photographer: Style & Story Creative  Church: Guardian Angels Catholic Church  Venue: The Marriott Rivercenter Covington, KY   DJ: DJ Butlers   Party Bus: Savannah Nite Limousine Flowers: Blossoms Florist Cincinnati  Cake/pastries: Cakes and Pastries by George  Wedding Planner: Sarah Brennan  Decorations: "One Less Worry" 


Thursday, October 2, 2014

Laguna Getaway

Amidst the craziness of this past month, our anniversary was the last thing on our minds. Luckily, Kyle called our usual spot, Casa Laguna Inn, and the only room available was the suite we got engaged in four years prior.

Although every year I say this trip is much needed, this year brought a new level to the words MUCH NEEDED. 

Believe it or not, I've actually been eating pretty healthy since the beginning of August and trying to not emotionally eat. (I know, so not like me at all.) I'm sure the workers at our local Mexican joint will be sending out a search warrant soon. But this weekend I felt it was only fair to indulge and not feel the least bit guilty about it. 

So indulge I did...

Yes I love Kyle, but as I took bites of all this food - I've decided he may come in a close second. Food - although I have forsaken you as of late - you have and always will fill that vanilla wafer sized hole in my heart. 

Have a great weekend UnBrides - and be sure to indulge (minus the guilt) this weekend!

xo