part 2

and the pictures continue!

over the past three months...

 it was finally warm enough in CT to bust out the croquet set 

& assemble "team dominate" which consists of me & my little brother

 i got to see my gnomie unexpectedly & she got to meet and hold the little bear

 i celebrated my 27th birthday with friends, family, & an ice cream sandwich cake

 i spent quality time with my cousin who is due with a baby girl in july. 

we are two peas in a pod & i already miss her so much!

i soaked in what connecticut looks like in the spring 

 trees in full bloom. simply gorgeous.

 one of my oldest friends got married & i was totally obsessed with her necklace

 the reception was held overlooking the exact place pete proposed to me

& i got to sit next to my old gymnastics coach who i've known since i was two...

 & luke's mushroom rattles finally came in the mail!

(they've been back ordered at Land of Nod for months... such a travesty, i know.)

& mr. sleepy seahorse is BY FAR the greatest thing ever invented. luke loves it and it sings him to sleep in the car, on flights, and every night after the 2am and 6am bottles. it is available here & comes in pink for girls. i HIGHLY recommend. five stars.

2 years.

happy anniversary pete. i love you.

 ...for more pics from our wedding click here.

all images by Kris Orlowski

wedding hair

my wedding was over a year and a half ago, but with the hair tutorial post I did yesterday, i thought i would share a video that was done of my bridal party getting all of their hair & makeup done the morning of my wedding. The Iron Scissors was the talented salon that brought all of my wedding hair & makeup dreams to life. on that morning of my special day, a team of the sweetest girls showed up with a cameraman to document a bridal party of 10 getting ready in a cloud of hairspray. i was thrilled with how beautiful each and every girl looked in the end & could not have asked for anything more from the wonderfully talented Renee, who did all my hair & makeup. enjoy the video below and for all of you brides to be, even if you aren't engaged yet, i've made a list of things that i found to be extremely helpful to make the big day go as smooth as possible in the beauty department.

* have the salon come to you. with the girls from The Iron Scissors all coming to my parent's house, it eliminated crucial time that we would have spent driving to and from a salon.

* have multiple girls come. this is a given. it really helps when there is a team of people all working together to get everyone ready & looking their best.

* pay for a percentage of the cost for your bridal party months before the wedding. i put down $20 for each of my girls about 6 months before the wedding. it was not only a nice gift that they all appreciated, but it helped a smidge with the costs they had to pay: an expensive long bridesmaid dress plus hair & makeup if they chose to...which all of them did.

* as the bride, get ready in a secluded section of the house. i didn't have too many nerves the morning of my wedding. i was marrying my favorite person ever & i'm not that shy in front of lots of people (from being a gymnast my whole life) but i was, however, stressed. so i had everyone get ready downstairs while i went for a run with my maid of honor, then showered upstairs, and had hair & makeup done alone. use this key time to chill, crank up the AC, and just enjoy being completely pampered! 

* crank up the air conditioning! my parents don't have central air so we were going to take the AC unit out of my bedroom because we didn't want it to look bad in the background of the pictures... but boy did it save the day. my wedding day was SO humid, my hair was practically straight by the end of the night! so the AC kept me cool, calm, frizz free, and sweat free the morning of.

* don't be an overbearing bride to your bridesmaids: it is enough you are making them wear the dress you chose, and trying to get them to be as excited as you are... which they are! but don't push it. don't tell them what nail polish to wear, or how tan they should be... they are smart girls, they know what's appropriate for a wedding, let them choose their own hairstyle & makeup.

* ABSOLUTELY, 100%, have a hair & makeup trial done before the wedding. i showed up & immediately they put me on a diet of tons of water & special creams for my face. i had dried out my skin trying so hard to not have a pimple the day of. not only that, but the first trial i had done i wound up in tears because i didn't look like myself. i wanted less makeup & more natural. so i went back for a second trial and it came out perfect and thus my nerves were calmed the week before the wedding. i know trials are an added expense, but it is SO worth it in my book. 

* choose hair & makeup that reflects YOU. if you're like me & wear your hair down all the time, choose a hairstyle that is down or at least half way down. you don't want to look back on your wedding pics and think "that looks nothing like me" also, choose makeup that is more natural. no one wants to see a bride caked in makeup & blinking a million times because she has never worn fake eyelashes before!

if you have ANY other questions do not hesitate to write them below. i am an open book, so please feel free to ask away!

a wedding album.

pete and i received a visit from our wedding photographer KRISRAE yesterday to place our stunning wedding album in our hands. my cheeks are still hurting from smiling so hard. the breathtaking images, the layout, & the quality of this album... you really have to see it in person to believe it. we already gushed over it with our family & can not wait to share it with our children one day. 

my advice to any brides out there: spend the time & resources to have an amazing photographer capture your wedding day. find someone who truly "gets" the image in your head of what you dream the day will look like. pick someone who understands what is important to you to have captured, because the images (& maybe a video) are all you have to look back on. we are so lucky & blessed to have had the most amazing photographers on our wedding day. ones that captured the two most important things to me: the little details & the love pete and i have for one another. we are so blessed to call Kris & his wife great friends and thank you a million times over for this special keepsake!

 for more images of this album, check out the KRISRAE blog post here!

& for all of our wedding day pics, check out STYLEMEPRETTY here!

 all images by Kris Orlowski