My fiancé Walter and I share a passion for both travel and history.  We had been planning a amazing vacation to Greece for months, and in honor of our upcoming trip, we brushed up on some Greek mythology to really get into the spirit. 

During our vacation we spent a day in New York en route to Greece. While we were there in the Big Apple, I found a beautiful apple ornament that I thought would make a great memento of our trip.  Somehow Walter was able to cleverly draw my attention away from the apple until I forgot about the ornament…at least for a little while.

A couple of days later in Greece we were exploring the amazing streets on the Isle of Santorini.  We had taken so many stunning pictures, but wanted to get one more of us together with the famous white buildings and blue domes in the background.  We found a gentleman walking by and asked him to take a photo of us.  As we stood posed ready to take the picture, Walter quietly got down on one knee.  I was so overjoyed that I cried. Then, just when I thought the moment couldn’t be any more special, from behind his back he pulled out the apple ornament I had loved so much in New York…and dangling from the stem was my beautiful engagement ring.

It was then that I remembered the significance of the apple in one of the Greek myths we had loved so much in the weeks prior to the vacation.  The myth states that as a wedding gift, Gaia, the earth mother, gave Zeus and Hera golden apples as a wedding present, which Hera planted in her garden.  Apples became a symbol of fertility and marriage to the ancient Greeks, thus began the ancient Greek practice of proposing marriage with an apple.

I was thrilled that Walter created such a unique and romantic way to combine our passion for history and travel into a perfect proposal.  But the best part of the whole moment, was that it is all captured on camera for us to cherish forever.

My FI and I both love the simple elegance of Tiffany & Co. It's classic and timeless.  I also really wanted an heirloom to pass down to my children and grandchildren later on in life.

We had our engagement party and official announcement of the bridal party at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles, Los Toros.  It was so much fun and everyone was able to make it except for my sister who lives out of state.

Our wedding is booked for August 22, 2010 at a gorgeous Italian villa turned restuarant in Beverly Hills.  Los Angeles can be super hot in the Summer, so I'd like to keep the colors light and breezy while incorporating lots of Old World glamour into the decor.  I made this inspiration board at Big Huge Labs to give myself a visual of the predominant colors that stick out from photos I like.

I also want to incorporate a travel theme into the wedding since we both love to travel; everywhere and often!

When we were researching venues we knew we wanted something that felt intimate and elegant.  I found Il Cielo in one of my many online searches for Los Angeles wedding venues.  When we first started planning we were still living in the LA area, but have since relocated to San Francisco.  It still made more sense logistically for our friends and family, to keep the wedding in LA.  The restaurant is so elegant and it has a very old world Italian feeling.  We went for dinner one weekend and that's when we fell in love!  We knew immediately that we had found the place.

I love this "Will You Be My Bridesmaid" card from Kohler44. I bought the stamp on ebay, I bought a gold stamp pad, the ribbon, gold envelopes, and cardstock from a local paper store, and I will printed the cards myself on my home printer.  I picked a different poem for each girl to make the cards extra special.

We're going to Napa/Sonoma for wine tasting and spa treatments, so I bought each girl a robe to wear at the spa. The robes were on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond.  I got them in white and will have each bridemaid's name embroidered in gold. This can also double as a getting ready outfit on the day of the wedding. I also got each girl some gold sandals to wear during our spa treatments which could also be used as "dancing shoes" for the dancing portion of the wedding.

I also wanted to give each girl something that they could wear during the wedding.  I found these custom bridesmaid sets on Etsy.

My fiance' wanted to do something special for his guys, and he wanted something funny.  We decided to make photo cards for each of the groomsmen.  We found a funny picture of each guy and made the following cards at Snapfish:

We want to do two separate sets of gifts.  The first will be given at the engagement party to use for the bachelor party and the second will be given at the rehearsal dinner to use for the wedding.

I found these breathalizers at Geeks.com online for around $15.  We thought this would be a fun, unique gift for the guys, along with a funny Tshirt for the bachelor party.  Groom's shirt from Zazzle and we custom made the Groomsmen Shirts at Custom Ink for around a$22 each.  

The second gift will be a Stainless Steel Double Cigar Travel Tube & Flask Combo to be given at the rehearsal dinner. I found it online at Engrave Me Gifts with free engraving.

I found the perfect dress for me! It is model number 1406 by Mikaella which is a line of Paloma Blanca's. I love it! The material is amazing and it definitely works well with my body type.

All of my girls have such different shapes and heights. It would be difficult to choose a dress that would look fabulous on each of them equally. I also like the idea of having each girl show her own personal style, even in a Bridemaid's dress.  So I decided to let the girls pick their own dress from the Jim Hjelm Occasions collection in Bisquit/Light Gold Satin Faced Taffeta.  

The girls chose these dresses:

I wanted my mom to have a dress that would compliment the bridesmaids, so I chose a bridesmaid dress by the Jim Hjelm.  I think she will be stunning in this design!

I'd like for my flower girl to have a coordinating dress with the bridesmaids.  She will wear this one by Jim Hjelm in Bisquit/Light Gold in the satin face taffeta material.

Instead of rose petals, I will have my florist make a matching pomander for the flower girl to carry.

My FI chose traditional Calvin Klein bow tie tuxedos for himself as well as his groomsmen.  He works in the financial industry and wears a suit and tie every day, so he wanted something that he felt would be dressier for the wedding. His tie and vest will be white and the groomsmen will wear black.

I love the monochromatic look of all white flowers.  I know I want to incorporate the white hydrangea and white roses into the bouquets, centerpieces, and floral arch.  I also want to include some hanging amaranthus to give a touch of green as well as add some ostrich feathers to the bouquets.  All around I think these combinations create a very vintage and dramatic look.

Bouquets

I wanted to keep all of the flowers very muted to go with my champagne/gold theme. I want a hand tied bouquet with ribbon to match the girls' dresses.  I also want to incorporate charms from each one of my grandparents as my "Something Old" since my grandparents won't be able to be with us on our wedding day. I want my bouquet as well as my maid of honor's to have touches of ostrich feathers as well.

Half of my tables had these beautiful monochramtic white floral centerpieces to match the flower arch and my bouquet. I loved them surrounded by tall tapered white candles at night. They looked amazing!

In keeping with our travel theme, we decided to name each table after a city we've visited together. 

Our sweetheart table was named Santorini, where we got engaged.

We like the idea of incorporating our love for travel into our wedding.  I made my own using champagne colored metallic paper with matching envelopes, a corner rounder, a damask design stamp, gold ink, and I printed them off of my own printer incorporating each guest(s) name in the "passenger" section.  I did the calligraphy for the envelopes myself.  I'm so happy with the way the turned out!

To continue our travel theme I created DIY Passport Invitations in a champagne & gold color. They were so much fun to put together! Go to my article for a how-to: http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-wedding-challenge-2010-elegant-passport-invitations

I created signs to place near the guestbook & around the candy buffet. Here's the link to my article for instructions on how to make your own: http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-wedding-challenge-2010-vintage-signs

To go with our travel theme we are giving luggage tags as favors.

My cousin had a candy buffet at her wedding and it was a huge hit!  I would like to do an all white candy buffet with different textures, heights, and shapes.  I like the look of different shaped apothecary jars mingled with candles, flowers, photos, etc.

The apothecary jars from the rehearsal dinner will double as my candy jars at the reception.

Here's a great example that I found at Bride.ca :

I would like to include the following candies, alternating gold & white:

This is an example of the cake that Il Cielo provides with the wedding package.  Mine will be decorated with white roses to match my wedding.

After Note: I loved the cake! It was beautiful, simple, and classic. Hubby and I never got a bite, so our frozen cake topper will be extra special on our one year anniversary. I heard it was fabulour though!

Instead of a traditional cardbox or birdcage, we decided to keep the travel theme going and use vintage style suitcases, like these.

 I love the way it turned out!

I'm going to make 10 DIY white rose pomanders with cream colored velvet roses from Efavormart.  I will tie each with gold ribbon to match my decor.

My last name is French and my fiance's last name is Peruvian, so we decided to incorporate our heritage into our signature cocktails.  I chose the Kir Royale from France and he chose the Pisco Sour from Peru.  Each menu will be framed and posted at the bar with a brief history our surname heritage as well as the history of the cocktail.

My fiance and I are planning a trip to Greece in the summer of 2009. We also love the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".  Also, one of our all-time favorite eateries is a Greek restaurant called Greek House Cafe in our hometown near LA. We love the owners and go there frequently when we're in town. We are going to have a very breezy & casual rehearsal dinner in my Fi's Aunt & Uncle's backyard & we would like to have our favorite restaurant provide the catering.

I love the Mediterranean feeling of flowing white linens, fresh lemons and limes, and blue accents.

Prelude: "Air" (Strings in G) - Bach

Processional: "Canon in D" - Pachelbel

Recessional: "Love Song" - 311

Cocktail Hour: Big Band Favorites

Bridesmaids Entrance: "Got to be Real" - Cheryl Lynn

Groomsmen Entrance: "Superhero" (Entourage Theme) - Jane's Addiction

Bride & Groom Entrance: "Love Song" - 311

First Dance: "At Last" - Etta James

Father/Daughter Dance: "My Girl" - The Temptations

Mother/Son Dance: "Una Cancion Para Mama" - Boyz II Men

Dinner Music: 

• "Volare" - Dean Martin
• "Come Fly With Me" - Frank Sinatra
• "New York, New York" - Frank Sinatra
• "Beyond the Sea" - Bobby Darin
• "It had to be You" - Harry Connick Jr.
• "Fly Me to the Moon" - Frank Sinatra
• "I Left my Heart in San Francisco" - Tony Bennett
• "Cheek to Cheek" - Frank Sinatra
• "Blue Skies" - Etta James
• "Mack the Knife" - Dean Martin

Bouquet Toss: "Single Ladies" - Beyonce

Garter Toss: "Pour Some Sugar on me" - Def Leopard

Cake Cutting: "The Best is Yet to Come" - Frank Sinatra

Last Dance: "Don't Stop Believin" - Journey

Exit Music: "Time to Say Goodbye" - Andrea Bocelli & Celine Dion

I found this White Rhinestone Band garter by Lillian Rose online at York and White. I love how simple yet elegant it looks and it matches my dress perfectly.

I absolutely LOVE the Manolo Blahnik Sedaraby in Silver at Barney's. They're simple and elegant and go perfectly with my dress.  My FI bought them for me as his gift to me for our wedding.

Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino

I travel nearly weekly for work & Marriott is my preferred hotel.  Over the years I've managed to accumulate quite a few Reward Points which we can use to cover the hotel.  So we chose Aruba! I'm so excited.

I want to wear my hair half up and very lightly curled, similar to this style.

Instead of putting disposable cameras on each of the tables, we decided to go with digital cameras rentals at Camera Renter.  The package for 50-150 guests includes:

• 10 digital Wedding Cameras
• Free shipping
• 100% Damage Insurance
• Photo/Video Sharing Website
• Unlimited Photo/Video Downloads
• CD with all of your Photos/Videos

I can't wait to see all of the pictures we get!

Wedding Photographers: Josh & Jill Goodman at Josh Goodman Photography

Boudoir Photographer: Nikki Radov at Nicole Radov Photography 

Dress: Mikaella by Paloma Blanca at Bay Area Bridal 

Flowers: Jocelyn Kellogg at A Beautiful Day Productions

Wedding Coordination: Terri Stallings at Your Wedding Muse

DJ: Mike Breul at Golden Rule DJs

Officiant: Chris Robinson at Officiant Guy

Hair: Jewels Stumphy at Jewelsiestyle

Makeup: Surjaya Cruz at Surjaya Artistry

Venue: Il Cielo at Il Cielo

I purchased the earrings and borrowed the diamond solitairre necklace from one of my bridesmaids as my "Something Borrowed". I wanted to keep the neckline simple sith such big statement earrings.

Half of the tables will have crystal trees centerpieces. I purchased them from a former PW bride and spray painted each of the bases and branches antique gold. I then bought clear crystals to hang on the branches. I filled the base with white silk flowers to top it all off.

I got two gifts for my FI. A pair of Tiffany Cufflinks & a Boudoir Photo Book. My very talented friend Nikki Radov did the photoshoot for me at the Marriott Marquis in downtown San Francisco. She is amazing! She's a true photography genius. I felt so comfortable and we had a wonderful time. She came up with some amazingly flattering poses. Here are a few of my favorites. I made a book online using Shutterfly and gave it to one of my bridesmaids to deliver to him the night before the wedding at our hotel.

I had an entire bachelorette party weekend with all of my girls. We stayed in San Francisco (my hometown) for the first night. We all stayed at the new Marriott in Union Square the first night. We went to Asia SF for dinner and drinks and had a blast! Then next day we went out to Napa for winetasting and massages. We stayed the night at the Marriott and enjoyed a relaxing night of wine and the hot tub. I couldn't have imagined a better bachelorette weekend. Here are some of the highlights:

My MOH threw tradition out the door and hosted an amazing french lingerie themed bridal shower for me. I received so many wonderful garments for my upcoming boudoir photo shoot. We all had a blast!

Unfortunately, our grandparents could not be with us on our wedding day. So, in a tribute to all of our wonderful relatives, we had memorial photos scattered around the venue so that they surrounded us on our special day. One of the photos is of my great-grandparents in 1906!

My FI and I did a tribute to our younger selves with some side by side baby pictures of us at similar ages. It turned out adorable!

I took on a DIY project of making Reserved Seat Tags for both sets of parents, grandparents, aunts, unlces, & siblings. They were super easy and turned out very well. I just used cardstock metallic paper in my colors, some ribbon, glue, and my own printer. Voila!

We did a photo guest book filled with pictures that we took on the vacation where he proposed in Europe. I printed it myself at Snapfish online. We bought gold paint pens and our guest signed around our pictures. Now we have warm wishes and congratulations from all of our loved ones in a beautiful photo book commemorating our engagement.

I had my make-up done by Surjaya Cruz. It was an airbrush foundation, super dramatic eyes complete with false lashes, and a pink lip. I loved it! She did an amazing job. She and her colleague did a great job with the BM, MOB, & MOG as well.