I would like to take this opportunity to apologize in advance. Apparently I was in a very silly, musical, and dancey mood when I worked on this bio : ) Hopefully, someone else gets a kick out of it too!!

***UPDATE: I've updated my bio as of August 21 ---- enjoy!!!!

***UPDATE - August 10: My dress is finally home!!!!! Details & photos further down in my bio, or just click this!!

And That Is Why We Hired YOU! Pah-ty Planner!!

We are working with the very talented, wonderful planner, Christine Viola of Exquisite Affairs Productions. She will be our day-of coordinator, and I am so thrilled to be working with her : )

Christine and I had our first in-person meeting on Sept 9. She is just as fabulous as I had heard and imagined!

Evening Ceremony

We will be getting married at Saint Luke's Roman Catholic Church in Whitestone, NY at 4:00pm. Joe has made all his sacraments there, so we are very excited to add holy matrimony to the list!

Cocktails & Dinner Reception

Our reception will take place at Jericho Terrace in Mineola, NY, with cocktails starting at 7:00pm, followed by dinner & dancing at 8pm.

***UPDATE:  September 13 - I met with the Music Director for our church, and here's the final plan:

Ceremony Music

Prelude:
Seating of the Grandparents
Ave Maria by Schubert

Seating of the Parents
Ave Maria by Schubert

Bridal Party Processional
Ave Maria by Schubert

Bridal Processional
Lord of the Dance by Carter

Recessional
The Nutcracker Suite: Marche Characteristique by Tchaikovsky

Postlude
Organist's Choice

------------------------------
OLD PLAN
Ceremony Music

Prelude
Brandenburg Concerto 3 - i: Allegro Moderato by Bach
Brandenburg Concerto 2 - i: Allegro Moderato by Bach

Seating of the Grandparents
Ave Maria by Schubert

Seating of the Parents
Ave Maria by Schubert

Bridal Party Processional
Clair de Lune by Debussy

Bridal Processional
Lord of the Dance by Carter
 

Recessional
The Nutcracker Suite: Marche Characteristique by Tchaikovsky

Postlude
Music for the Royal Fireworks IV: La Rejouissance by Handel
Rondeau by Mouret

Offertory Hymn: "The Irish Wedding Song" by Ian Betteridge

Here they stand, hand in hand.
They exchanged wedding bands.
Today is the day of all their dreams and their plans.
And all of their loved ones are here to say,
God bless this couple who marry today.

In good times and bad times

In sickness and health,

May they know that riches

Are not needed for wealth.

And help them face problems they'll meet on their way.

Oh, God bless this couple who marry today.

May they find peace of mind

Comes to all who are kind.

May the rough times ahead become triumphs in time.

May their children be happy each day.

Oh, God bless this family who started today.

As they go may they know ev'ry love that has shown

And as life it gets shorter may their feelings grow.

Wherever they travel, wherever they stay,

May God bless this couple who marry today.

In good times and bad times

In sickness and health,

May they know that riches

Are not needed for wealth.

And help them face problems they'll meet on their way.

Oh, God bless this couple who marry today.

God bless this couple who marry today

Communion Hymn: "Our Lady of Knock" by Dana Rosemary Scallon

They were people of all ages

Gathered round the gabled wall

Poor & humble man and woman

Little children at your call,

We are gathered here before you

And our hearts are just the same

Filled with joy at such a vision

As we praise your name

Chorus:

Golden Rose, Queen of Ireland

All my cares and troubles cease

As I kneel with love before you

Lady of Knock

My Queen of Peace

Though your message was unspoken

Still the truth and silence reigns

As I gaze upon your vision

And the truth I tried to find

Here I stand with John the Teacher

And with Joseph at your side

And I see the Lamb of God

On the altar glorified

Chorus

And the Lamb will conquer

And the woman clothed in the sun

Will shine her light on everyone

And the lamb will conquer

And the woman clothed in the sun,

Will shine her light on everyone

Chorus

Dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary: "Our Lady of Knock" by Dana Rosemary Scallon (chorus only)

Chorus:

Golden Rose, Queen of Ireland

All my cares and troubles cease

As I kneel with love before you

Lady of Knock

My Queen of Peace

Our Programs are all done - just need to insert names of those family members who will read for us, and I need to confirm the reading picks with Joe.

I used MS Word to create the 8-page, 8.5x11" folded programs. And thanks to tinkerchell (my BFF), I am now hooked on Paper Presentation on 19th Street btwn B'way & 5th Ave. I will be using their beautiful metallic program cardstock in Iris Blue for half the programs, and Ruby for the other half. In the center of each program cover, I will be placing a silver rectangle on which the cover info will be printed, since I can't print onto the dark colors of Iris and Ruby. To do this, I bought 8.5x11" metallic Silver cardstock, and will cut into 4 equal parts, and glue to the center of each program. The best thing about the program cardstock is that it is pre-folded, so that you won't mess up the crease, AND it's pre-punched in the middle to easily thread ribbon through! For this pages, I'm going with the pre-punched program pages in Solar White - it really pops against the jewel tones of the covers. Swatches below of all three metallic colors. Will post pix once I do a test-run!

Here are screenshots of the programs

Invitation, Reception, & Response Cards

I adore our invitations and could just kiss our contact at Modern Girl Invitations, Autumn. I can't say enough wonderful things about her. She was super speedy in turning around mock-ups for me and was immensely helpful when I had questions or issues.

***UPDATE: After reviewing the number of couples we'd have at the reception (about 125! ACK!), we're making a few tweaks:

First, we're only sending the requests to married relatives, not friends.
Second, only to those who we think have been married longer than 10 years. This should really help get us down to a manageable number of couples & songs.
Then we'll decide whether we'll honor everyone who responded, or just the Top 3 or Top 10 longest married couples.

I will be tossing in the standard hotel block info/directions for the Westbury Hilton Garden Inn so folks can book their rooms.

In addition to that card, we will be sending out 2x3" labels for married couples to stick on the back of their response cards, telling us what their wedding song was and their wedding date. At the reception, I'm hoping to have this all queued up -- we will announce couple X as being a great inspiration for us, telling everyone that this couple is the longest married in the room, and then ask that couple to come out on the dance floor and dance to their wedding song. We will then give them a bottle of Joe's favorite wine and a smaller version of my bouquet.

It's a surprise, so we're requesting the info from folks under the guise of helping us figure out our first dance.

I should also make sure to tell fab florist that I'm going to need at least one toss-away bouquet. Thinking something like this guy

This is what the label says:

Please help us with our first dance by sharing with us your wedding song

 Song: _____________________________________

 Artist: _____________________________________

 Your Wedding Date: _________________________

Please attach to the back of your Response card

Our bridal party will be wearing two colors - Maid of Honor in eggplant, and Bridesmaids in indigo. I'm so excited that our girls all got to have a "this is it!" moment with their dresses, just like I did with mine. It's such a great feeling!! The dresses should all arrive within the first two weeks of July - I am beyond excited!!!!

Maid of Honor - my sister, Laura
Laura loves this dress (Jim Hjelm #5924) & she looks uber-great in it. Can't wait to see it on her again!!

Note: the dress is actually pictured in indigo, which is the bridesmaids' color

Bridesmaids - my sister, Pamela; my best friend, Michelle; my future sister-in-law, Danielle; and my future cousin-in-law, Margaret
Pamela and Danielle both picked this dress (Jim Hjelm #5931) and they look so super fantastic in it! They had it tied in a knot and let it hang down the back, which looked awesome. We'll see which way they decide to tie it come wedding day!

Meanwhile, in two different trips to the salon, both Michelle & Margaret fell for this dress (Jim Hjelm #5627)! It looks wonderful on both girls and we're going to add straps to Margaret's since she's younger & to make her feel more comfortable.

Note: funnily enough, this dress is pictured in eggplant, which is the maid of honor's color!

***UPDATE:  September 14***

We went to the Tuxedo Shop of New York in Bayside today and picked out the tuxes for the boys, and tie/vest combo for the boy & Joe.

The boys will be in black tuxes, with a dark silver vest & tie combo. I love the look of the different pattern tie against the vest. This pic isn't great, but gives you an idea...

Joe will be rocking his OWN TUX (yes, he owns one lol) on wedding day, with a the same tie/vest combo as the boys, but in black. Very sharp ; )

This is soooooooo much better than what Joe originally asked about .... whether the boys could all "rock some mohawks and mustaches" -- um, yeah, I don't think so darling.

Mother of the Bride Dress

***Update: Today, July 3, is a day for the history books. My mom found her dress!!!!!!! It's La Perle by Impression Bridal (style #6567), and she looks fabulous in it! It was such a great dress, a fantastic price, AND alterations are included free!!!!! Holy bargain, Batman!! Mom will wear it in aubergine (picture to follow).

I just knew that this was going to be the hardest part of the entire wedding planning - getting my mom to nail down one dress that she loves. She looks great in so many dresses & colors, so I knew it was going to be tough. Right now, this little number from Jovani (#155165) is the front-runner. We are going to try Lord & Taylor and Macy's on Thursday, July 2nd, to see if Mom finds something there, off-the-rack that she loves. If not, it's back to Bridal Reflections in Carle Place later this month to order the Jovani dress!! We will have spaghetti straps added though, since my mom has never, to this day, worn a strapless dress. Check her out:

She also tried on another Jovani dress, but it was just ok after trying on the purple gown. Don't even know the style number or anything. lol

Oh, How I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE My Dress!!!

I will be wearing Jim Hjelm #8765 in white. The pictures on the right are in white, my color. The left is antique.
I can't wait to try on my gown when it comes in a few weeks' time!! Woohoo!

She's Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooome!!!!!!! (well, almost - she's at mom's house lol)

FI and I picked up my beautiful dress on Aug 9 and I got to finally try on MY dress -- a dress that no other girl tried, or walked around a bridal shop in, or messed up with her make-up lol. This girl is all mine and she's a beauty!! Please excuse the horrid faces I seem to be making throughout the dress trying - I didn't realize my sis was taking as many pix as she did -- I was in la-la-I'm-wearing-my-dress-land ; )

I can't get it out of the bag and unzipped fast enough!!
 

Oh, it's even better than I remembered!!!
 

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the dress needs very little alterations! It fits like a glove through my mid-section, and it seems that the only work needed will be to take up the straps (loose on top) and maybe an inch or two off the bottom (esp in the front) so I don't go tripping over myself down the aisle!! lol
 

my brother, lil sister & me ................... then just lil sis and me : )
 

Finding the "One"

I knew going into my appointment at Bridal Reflections in Carle Place, NY that this was my dress. I called ahead to make sure they definitely had this sample for me to try, and when the day came, I refused to try this one on right away lol. I had my bridal consultant there try 4 or 5 other Jim Hjelm dresses (and one Anne Barge!) before. I knew as soon as she slipped the gown over my head and started pinning it, that this was IT!! I started crying in the fitting room. She told me not to say anything when I walk out and just let my mom, my sister, my best friend, her mom, and two of our girlfriends react to the dress. Everyone had the same reaction - this was definitely my dress. Mom started crying. My sister Laura said she was even a little misty ; )

Veil & Headpiece

As with just about everything for our wedding, I picked out my veil & headpiece in one day, one trip lol. My bff is getting married in September and I finally got to see her dress on March 28. While we were at her salon, we picked out her veil & headpiece, then I decided to just get mine too. I really love the veil, but I'm having second thoughts about the headpiece now, especially since I'm rethinking my hairstyle (see Wash That Man Right outta My Hair & tell me what you think). I'm definitely keeping the veil - I love it too much and really want it for the ceremony. Hopefully my wonderful hairstylist can whip up a great solution.

So the above left pic is spot-on, I think, of my veil - while the above right pic is def the wrong styling, but you can see the beadwork a little better in it. Below is a close-up of the beading.

And now, my up-in-the-air, do-I-really-like-this-&-will-it-still-work-with-my-new-hair-idea?? headpiece. lol

Close-up detail of the headpiece. I liked it because it pulls in the circular pattern in the Swarovski crystal & beadwork on the bodice of my gown. We'll see what happens to it after my first hair trial...

SHOES!!!!

Ok, I might love my shoes more than the veil. Look at them - who wouldn't fall for them? lol
They're Jellzey in navy satin by Nine West. I also bought them in silver, and may work them into my shower or rehearsal ensemble...

Wrap it up!

***UPDATE: So this wrap is too yellow against my dress, but I still plan on using it. I found a great barely off-white pashmina on sale at Target ($10.66 baby!) and my plan now is to cover the fur with the pashmina. This way, no one sees the yellowy fur, but I still stay pretty warm : )

I bought this vintage white rabbit fur on ebay - it was a steal. And since it isn't pure snow white, I think it's going to look great against the dress. If not, who cares? After all, I'm just using it to keep warm. 

Jewelry

***UPDATE: I just purchased the Sabrina bracelet from Belle Nouvelle on Etsy. It's beautiful & I can't wait for it to arrive!!! I also requested a haircomb to match the center brooch : )

I'm planning to borrow my sister's diamond drop pendant necklace, and wear it along with my celtic heart bangle from Tiffany's (first Valentine's Day gift from Joe), and hopefully my Claddagh ring (provided I'm not a right-handed e-ring bride!).

I did buy these bracelets from www.1928.com though & they're mighty pretty.... ***UPDATE: Ok, so in person, I'm not loving them so much. Oh well.

I haven't thought too much about my make-up yet. Guess I didn't need to make a section for it lol : )

***UPDATE: I loved the airbrush make-up!! I don't wear anything on my face beyond eye make-up & lip gloss, so I was nervous about having to wear foundation, etc for the wedding. I loved it!!!

***UPDATE: Um, so yeah, now I've definitely thought about my make-up - going to try out the airbrushing at my salon on July 3rd. I am uber-excited : )

Here are some looks I really like

Original Hair Plan

My original plan was to wear my hair down in soft curls, but with some of it pulled back from my face. Sort of like this, but not so much hair pulled back...

New Hair Plan

***UPDATE: I love what my stylist was able to show me with the extension piece. I can definitely wear the low side pony for my wedding YAY! : )  I also am having a haircomb made by Belle Nouvelle on Etsy to match the Sabrina bracelet I just odered!!

So I have to give thanks to beatie and her beautiful wedding for my new hair obsession. I love her hairstyle & am going to try it with my stylist on July 3rd to see if I can pull it off or not. I am ridiculously excited to see how it goes!!

Band....... AND a DJ!!
We will be celebrating our wedding with a terrific band, Good Clean Fun. We are very lucky to have them, and they are also bringing in a DJ so we can go back and forth between live and original artist versions of various songs during the night. For instance, we definitely want our special dances to be the original recordings.

Our playlist is going to be mostly oldies, Irish, and country (once we get through the punk entrance numbers lol). We are sure the dance floor will be packed all night long : ) We will probably do a mix of 80s music for the last hour, peppered with some Christmas pop tunes - definitely must play Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Woohoo!!

Parents & Grandparents Entrance
"Would You Go with Me" by Josh Turner

Bridal Party Entrance
"Ring of Fire" by Social Distortion

Bride & Groom Entrance
"Sweetness" by Jimmy Eat World

First Dance (by ourselves)
"Somebody Loved" by The Weepies

Second Dance (we'll invite everyone out to join us)
"The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson

Anniversary Dance
TBD by whichever couple has been married the longest - stay tuned!

Uncle/Niece Dance ... usually known as Father/Daughter Dance
TBD from one of these choices. Let me know if you have an opinion on any of them
"When the Stars Go Blue" by The Corrs featuring Bono (I love this song, and don't think it will cause a deluge of tears like the next two choices) As mentioned, the plan would be for the DJ to play this while band gets a break, but I can't stop thinking how beautiful it would sound if our fiddler cam in towards the end to accompany...
"You Make Me Feel Brand New" by The Stylistics (Which is actually my parents' wedding song, and would be very sweet. I'm just afraid it's going to be a sobfest if I use it)
"There You'll Be" by Faith Hill (Another sobfest waiting to happen I think, but so pretty and spot-on accurate for our situation)

Mother/Son Dance
"Long Trip Alone" by Dierks Bentley

Cake Cutting
"All I Want Is You" by Barry Louis Polisar

Last Dance
Joe just told me last weekend that he would like the final song of the night to be.....
"Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl

Boy, do I love that man! : )

***UPDATE:  Sept 1***

Our rehearsal & dinner will be one week before the big day, Saturday, December 5.  

I found my dress for our rehearsal & dinner! Love it, and again, super on sale : )
This dress just keeps looking better and better the more I think about it.

***UPDATE: I just bought this brooch from www.1928.com and plan to wear it on the knot part of the neckline. So pretty!!

AND, check out my fabu shoes!!

***UPDATE: Of course, this only matters IF I have a shower at the point..... lol lol lol

I found my dress for the shower!! Absolutely love it, AND it was on sale : ) What's better than that?

AND..... how cute is it that it matches the Scrabble tile initial bouquet charms that my girls will carry?!

and a Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe!!

My Something Old
My Paloma Picasso "Celtic Love Knot" bangle from Tiffany, which FI gave me as our first Valentine's gift... AND my Claddagh ring, which my dad's cousin made in his shop for me when I was 14 and first visited Ireland for the first time : )

New
My awesome dress!!

Borrowed
My sister's diamond pendant necklace

Blue
My fabulous Nine West shoes!!

And I'll leave it to my mom or one of my aunts to hook me up with the sixpence. Gotta love the Irish aunts ; )

My FABULOUS Engagement Ring...

Joe did an amazing job with this ring. I had discussed what I liked & definitely didn't like with the jeweler ahead of time, but wowee-oh-wow, this ring is more spectacular than anything my mind was imagining!! Go Joe!

Wedding Bands

Another of the very few things we haven't really tackled yet. Here are some ideas I've been playing with. I need to talk to the jeweler about whether I can even wear my e-ring & w-band on the same finger, since the stone is set pretty low to the band. I don't think I want something that's made to be flush with the e-ring b/c I like having the option of just wearing my wedding band sometimes if an occasion warrants it. Another "we'll see" topic. I am growing more fond of doing TWO skinny pave bands - one for each side of my e-ring. One would all sapphires, and the other would be alternating diamonds & sapphires...... like the last two in the pic below : )

some other ideas i was toying with:

Escort Card Table

I can't stop looking at the design for our escort card table.

Here is my inspiration:

Here is what ours will consist of:

And our escort cards:

Guest Tables & Centerpieces

Our Sweetheart Table

Bridal Bouquet

Maid of Honor Bouquet

Bridesmaid Bouquets

Boutonnieres

Corsages

We are giving our guests ornaments from Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital.

A few great things about these gifts include

• four to six designs are featured on the ornaments as part of the various holiday-related items created by patients at St. Jude's each year and are picked by hospital staff
• all proceeds go back to the hospital, so it's a great way to do a charitable donation and still have something for your guests

We will pin white ribbon bows (from theknotshop.com with our names & wedding date printed in either metallic purple or metallic blue) onto each ornament to personalize them, but I will definitely be ok if folks would rather hang them from their Christmas trees without our silly ribbon ; )

****UPDATE****

I logged onto St Jude's website today.... and the 2009 collection is available for ordering now!!!!!!!!!
So far there are only 3 designs available, but I think they will add another 2-3 designs as the weeks go by (last year there were 5-6 in total).

How frickin cute are these guys?!

***UPDATE:

Here are pix of the 2008 ornaments I ordered during St. Jude's Christmas in July clearance sale. These ornaments are the same size (80mm) as the ones we will be ordering when the new Christmas catalog is launched in September!!! I cannot WAIT to get these ordered and home!

The inside lid says, "100% of the proceeds (no less than $1) per item from the sale of this ornament benefits St. Jude Children's Research Hospital"

As much as I love our favors, I might love these cards a teensy bit more. Thanks to Autumn again at Modern Girl Invitations for suggesting I use the reverse side of the escort cards to explain our favors to everyone!

Originally, Joe & I wanted a square 4 tier cake, with minimal design on it. Then I stumbled across this awesome confection online, and now I want to replicate it!! The ornaments look great against the round cake, and I don't think it would look as good if we kept our original square idea.

Luckily, our cake comes through our hall, who works with the baker on our behalf. I'll be giving this picture to our contact there when the time comes, for sure.

The ornaments for the cake will come from Target. I know each year they have these great containers of assorted size ornaments in different color themes. Think I'll stick to the same color story as in the photo and just make sure my fabulous florist places a couple of votives around it.

We are thrilled to be using our friend, Sonya Andovov's photography service, Angelwood Design, for our wedding. Check out their website for photos from other clients. They are just fantastic.

"Through the Years" Video Montage

This was one of Joe's must-haves. We both enjoy seeing our friends' slideshow at their weddings, and so we are following in that tradition.

Right now, we're scanning baby pictures, picking music, and I'm going to attempt to create a video slideshow to play during dinner or dessert or whenever!

Originally, we thought we'd pick one song, and that would play for the duration of the video, but now I'm leaning more towards picking snippits of 3 songs (one for me, one for Joe, and one for us). I'm in love with the idea of using Shilelagh Law's version of "When New York Was Irish" for my portion of the video, especially this part of the song (which, of course, is not featured in the clip I linked to above):

You could travel from Kingsbridge to Queens or midtown

From Highbridge to Bay Ridge, from uptown to down

From the East Side to the seaside's sweet summer scenes

We made New York City our island of dreams

CHORUS:

They were ever so happy, they were ever so sad

To grow old in a new world through good times and bad

All the parties and weddings, the ceilis and wakes

When New York was Irish, full of joys and heartbreaks

I look at the photos now brittle with time

Of the people I cherished when the city was mine

O, how I loved all those radiant smiles

How I long for the days when we danced in the aisles

CHORUS

I know Joe was loving Guns n Roses' "Sweet Child o Mine" so maybe that would be his pick. And then perhaps for the third part of the video (pix of us together), we could use "I Will Follow You into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie, or "Home Is Me, You Are Mine" by Everly.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....... lol

Add this to the "to-tackle" list as well. We know which company we'll be using, but we just need to get crackin' on it. Luckily, since we're having a December wedding, we won't be in competition with the youngins looking to book limos for prom...

***UPDATE: We are meeting with Camelot Limo on Aug 24 to make selections & get everything confirmed. Woohoo!! One more big check mark on the to-do list : )

Bridal Party Gifts

I am so excited to give my girls their gifts.... too bad I have to wait until December : (
I'd also like to post them up here, but alas, my BFF is also getting married and is on here too lol!

Parent Gifts

For some reason, I started obsessing over what to give our parents this week. I think I know what I'm doing for my mom, but not too sure about Joe's parents and grandparents. Are you supposed to each give a gift, or is it supposed to be something from us both?? Help!! lol

Our guests will be staying at the Hilton Garden Inn located in Westbury, NY. The hotel is providing shuttle service to and from the reception for all hotel guests at no charge, and have arranged shuttle service for any extra guests who are not staying at the hotel for $10 roundtrip per person (we pay that, of course, not the guests).

We will be honeymooning in January for 10 days at the gorgeous Sandal's Grande Antigua. We are going to be truly spoiled, as we've booked an oceanfront honeymoon suite with butler service! The one feature of the service that convinced us to go for it was that in the mornings, the butler will go to the pool and reserve lounge chairs for you WITH TOWELS and a COOLER!!! How awesome is that? Thank God for that crazy 65% off sale they had back in March ; )

How We Met...

Joe and I met one Thursday night (12-14-2006) while I was on a weeklong break between leaving Deutsche Bank and starting at Morgan Stanley.

Joe sent over a buddy of his to ask whether I knew him, but I insisted repeatedly that I didn't. It cost him some embarrassment as well as a round of drinks for his friends.

Later on, Joe came over to thank me for not remembering him & informed me we had actually met several times. Oops!!

We spent the rest of the night talking, and when he asked for my number, I made fun of his phone. Poor guy...

The moral of the story?

How He Proposed

Joe asked me to wait outside his apartment after we left his parents’ house where we had opened lots of presents, just like the previous Christmas. As he led me to the living room, I saw on the right wall in the hallway that he had wrapped up the photos of his band to look like presents on the wall. Below, on the computer screen, a slideshow of us played. Joe pulled me towards the living room, saying, “You can look at everything while we dance.”
But as we moved into the living room, I was stunned. Joe had decorated the entire place for Christmas and memories of us. He had hung beautiful garland over the windows, with bows of silver and blue. There was a giant decorated Christmas tree with some presents for me.

We danced to one of our favorite songs, “Somebody Loved” by The Weepies, & I cried as took everything in. As we turned, I saw that he had set up candles around the chess table, with a figure of a couple dancing in the middle. Joe said, “That’s us, because we dance together all the time at home.”

We danced, and I cried, and kept looking. I saw the coffee table, with his grandfather’s Christmas tree in the center. I love this tree – it looks like crystal, but it’s made from beads, saftey pins, and an incredible amount of love. It was our only tree last year, but it will always be my favorite tree.

I saw that Joe had changed his artwork over the couch – instead of the giant black and white photo of horses running in the mist, there was a huge photo collage of us.

The song changed to another favorite of ours, “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson.
We spun again and I saw the entertainment center across from the couch – Joe had wrapped the glass panes with penguin wrapping paper & bows. Each tower had another poinsettia, and above the TV was a giant wreath with a great big bow on top.

Last, but never least, I saw the cardinal that Joe had put in the wreath. I started sobbing. He said, “You know, I thought it was time to have one here in my apartment too.”

Then Joe stopped dancing, and said, “Oh, this is perfect!” as he looked down & saw on the cable box that it was midnight – officially Christmas. I kissed Joe & wished him a Merry Christmas. He had a delayed reaction, looked at me, and then said, “Oh, right! Merry Christmas, my love.” I thought that was odd.

Joe said, “I love you” a few times, and then sort of held me back to look at me. He started tearing up a little, and I heard his voice strain as he said, “I always love you. I will always love you. I will always be there for you. I will always take care of you.”

I finally realized what was happening and all my brain could do was keep mentally freaking out – OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!!!!

I couldn’t take my eyes off his. Joe looked at me again, and said, “Now I have to go under the Christmas tree for your present.” He lifted up his grandfather’s beaded tree, and there was the box. As I continued crying, he must have opened the box, because it wasn’t the dark blue-green anymore as it had been on the table. For a nano-second, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the most amazingly beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.

I kept looking at Joe as he got down on one knee, open box in hand, and asked me, “Will you marry me?”

“Of course!!” I answered.

We kissed and hugged, until finally Joe separated from me a little, and said, “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO LOOK AT THE RING!!” I apologized, told him that it was him I wanted most, and then I really looked at it.
Joe’s hand trembled as he took the engagement ring out of the box. He slid the ring onto my finger, drew a breath, and asked once more, “Will you marry me?” this time I said yes, and the ring was on! Joe changed the song to number three on the proposal playlist, because, as he pointed out, “it’s time to celebrate now.” The third song was “All I Want Is You” by Barry Louis Polisar.

This is the letter I wrote to my dad as his eulogy last year.

Dear Dad,

Just thought I drop you a line or two, let you know I’m thinking of you. Everyone says hello and they miss you. Oh, Brian had this great joke earlier, it was pretty funny. You’d love it, but of course I can’t remember how it goes. I’ll ask Brian to “try to re-tell” it later. Sorry if we were late today, you know Mom and those Boland genes of hers. Laura’s well; she’s a little exhausted from listening to Brian’s joke and getting Mom out of the house. She had just gotten Mom out the door when Miss Pamela ran back upstairs because she hated her outfit … and changed … again. But that’s ok, since she clearly got that trait from Kitty. You know, when I think about it, we really should have thanked you more for putting up with us. The lateness, the bad jokes, the many wardrobe changes – all of it (usually in the same hour) – so here goes.

Thanks for being such a creative genius. Looking back through the years, I’m amazed by just how much imagination went into everything you touched. No one had the kind of help we did when it came to science fairs, projects, or even Halloween costumes. When Laura told you at the last minute that she wanted to be a box of Cheerios for Halloween in the sixth grade, you didn’t bat an eye (you did however yell, scream, and utter a few choice words throughout construction that night). Her costume rocked – and those judges must have taken bribes from Kaitlin Scagliola’s parents. That’s the only explanation for her winning. You made an assortment of science and social studies projects – everything from an Iroquois longhouse, to the desert in a cardboard box, to a gross-smelling model of a cell (made of caulking gel, half a golf ball, & Play-Doh). For my fourth grade science fair recycling project, it was you who came up with the idea to make tiny aluminum cans from cut-up straws wrapped in foil. Bobbi-Anne and I may have won first place that day, but the medal was really yours.

Thank you for being a nit-picking, pain in the butt, stickler for detail. It has taught us to always look for things that we can improve, and to take pride in our work when we can’t find a thing to fix. You never let us take the easy way out of school work, no matter how annoying we thought you were being. You also taught us that no matter how tempting it is to ignore, the right way or the right thing to do is always the choice we should make. You set such an example for us to never let someone sway us from what we know is right, even at great personal cost. You never told people what they wanted to hear just to please them – even when it would have made your life and job easier. Your integrity was your hallmark and I have always admired that in you.

Thank you for being a history nut. Whether it was talking to you about your world travels in the Air Force or just Pamela asking you if all your medals came from the Civil War (hey, at least you can say your five year old even KNEW what the Civil War was!). You were always a deep well of knowledge, and any opportunity to further teach us was always taken – vacations in D.C., Ireland, and Boston opened us to so much history firsthand. And when you could, you went above and beyond, helping Pamela and me to go to Europe in high school. Of course, the downside to your passion for history combined with your nit-picking ways was that we could never watch a war movie in our house all the way through. You constantly stopped and critiqued the movie, saying things like, “see this medal here? Well that wasn’t created until 1978, so how do these guys think that the sergeant could have been awarded it in 1962? I mean, come on – it’s all wrong.” Two of my personal favorites of yours were “that’s not how you salute! It’s THIS way, not that! Why can’t they get that right??” and “when are those TV bozos going to realize that is NOT the sound a beeper makes when it goes off? Enough already!”

Thanks for giving the paparazzi a run for their money. I think everyone would agree that we are very lucky to have probably thousands of pictures documenting so many wonderful memories. And I’m happy to report that your kids have all picked up that habit in one way or another – just ask our friends.

Thank you for being our own personal MacGyver and techie. I may not be able to fashion a Barbie-sized hanger & dry-cleaning bag from some wire and a baby bottle insert, but I can program a VCR and set-up my home audio stuff.

I hope you rest easy and know that we are going to be ok – maybe not tomorrow or next week, but slowly we will find our way towards a new “ok” without you. You should be so proud: you and mom have done an incredible job with us and you do not need to worry.

A friend recently told me something that plays in my head everyday, quietly soothing me. In a family, everyone is either a nut or a bolt, and you, sir, are definitely a bolt. You have put the rest of the bolts in place, tightening them enough so we are strong, steady, and stable. Dad, you have built such a sturdy foundation; please know that we will be ok. We were blessed to have you for the time we did. I wish it were longer, but I wouldn’t trade our time together for anything.

Please know that where we go, so do you. You will always be with us, sharing in all that is yet to come. You will be there, cheering Pamela on as she graduates high school next June. You will be there, guiding Brian as he makes his way in the world and helping him to become the man you always hoped he would/could be. You will be with mom, helping her discover just how amazing and resilient she is as she moves forward, making new memories with us, while enjoying the old. And you will certainly be there as Laura and I one day begin our own families.

You are anywhere and everywhere we are. Your memory is everywhere in everything, and while our hearts break now because of that, it will only help heal and strengthen them in time. It has been an honor to be your daughter, through the best times as well as the challenging times when you were as stubborn as a mule, and it is an honor to read you this letter today.

Thank you, Dad. You came, you taught, you loved – and we are forever changed by the blessing of knowing you. There are thousands of things I want to say, but we’ll talk/catch-up later. For now, I love you. We all love you and we all miss you but we take comfort knowing the pain is gone and you have gone ahead to a wonderful place. All that’s left to debate is just exactly where you, Kitty, Denis, Nellie, Jeremiah, Jack, and Patrick have gone to hear us today. I hope it’s just grand – where the pints are always filled and frosty, the craic is great, where the session never ends, and neither does the laughter. So enjoy the amazing company you’re in, raise your glass for us down here, and, UP CORK!

Bagpipers
NYPD Emerald Society Pipes and Drums

Band / DJ
Michael Bruccoleri (Band Leader), Good Clean Fun
80 Briarcliff Road, Westbury, NY 11590-1671

Bridal Gown
Nawal (Sales), Bridal Reflections
80 Westbury Avenue, Carle Place, NY 11514

Bridal Party - Girls
Bridal Reflections
80 Westbury Avenue, Carle Place, NY 11514

Bridal Party - Guys
The Tuxedo Shop of New York
43-29 Bell Boulevard, Bayside, NY 11361

Calligraphy
Jennifer Gillespie, Calligraphy by Jennifer
http://www.calligraphybyjennifer.net/

Ceremony
Father Dave Dettmer, Saint Luke's Roman Catholic Church
16-34 Clintonville Street, Whitestone, NY 11357

Day of Coordinator
Christine Viola, Exquisite Affairs Productions
373 Broadway, Suite B9, New York, NY 10013

Favors
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
www.shop.stjude.org

Florist
Nadia Intranuovo (Designer), Pedestals
125 Herricks Road, Garden City Park, NY 11040

Hair & Make-up
Lucy D'Angelo, Salon Lulu
203-14 35th Avenue, Bayside, NY 11360

Honeymoon
Sandals Grande Antigua
www.sandals.com

Hotel
Kay Nunnelly (Sales), Hilton Garden Inn at Westbury
1575 Privado Road, Westbury, NY 11590

Invitations
Autumn Wyda (Designer), Modern Girl Invitations
www.moderngirlinvitations.com

Limo
Joe (Owner), Camelot Limo
151 Denton Avenue, New Hyde Park, NY 11040

Linens - contracted through Pedestals
Finishing Touch
454 West John Street, Hicksville, NY 11801

Mother of the Bride Gown
Carina Boutique
11-24 154 Street, Whitestone, NY 11357

Photography / Videography
Sonya Andonov, Angelwood Designs
http://www.angelwooddesign.com

Programs
Paper Presentation
23 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011

Kinko's
1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036

Reception
Chad Cutler (Sales), Jericho Terrace
249 Jericho Turnpike, Mineola, NY 11501

Rehearsal Dinner
Donovan's of Bayside
214-16 41st Avenue, Bayside, NY 11361

Save the Dates
Magnet Street
www.magnetstreet.com

Seamstress
Remziye (Owner), Pinpoint Bridal
229 East 84 Street, New York, NY 10028