beccabride's biography
I am so honored to have been chosen as a member of the PW Hostess Team. I am very excited to begin this chapter with the class of new hostesses that were chosen with me. If there is anything at all that I can help you with or you have any questions, please let me know and I would more than happy to help.
http://www.projectwedding.com/post/list/questions-for-beccabride
I have since become PW's Co-Community Coordinator and just love my job here! If there is something that I can assist you with, please message me and Happy Planning. :-)
Let's see....where to begin.
Eric and I met through, believe it or not, an online radio show that I was listening to and decided to go into the chatroom. It was so funny, but the DJ (who will be DJ'ing at our wedding) was getting ready to end the show and I kept telling that he couldn't because I was enjoying the music too much! LOL.
Eric told me about his online radio station and told me to check it out. After that we corresponded by instant messenger for a month or so and he asked me if I would be interested in becoming a radio rep for his station. We started hanging out as friends and within a few months, we were on the phone constantly, im'ing each other all the time, and then one night we went out with a bunch of his friends to a few clubs, got back to a friend's record store, and we all decided to crash there.
It was in November, so since I brought a sleeping bag and an air mattress that I left at the record store since we had meetings there every week and a radio show, and since the meetings/radio show ended in the early morning hours, we all decided that we would just sleep there on the night that we did our show. I told Eric that he could sleep under the blankets and I would sleep on the blankets. The next thing I know, I'm freezing and I decided to get under the blankets just at the end of my side of the mattress. Well within about 15 minutes of me doing that, I felt an arm wrap around me and that is how our friendship turned into a romance. The next week he tells me that he purposely left one of the windows open so I would have to get under the blankets. Almost 3.5 years later, I still laugh when we tell people that story.
December 2006 (@ his b-day) February 2007
Christmas 2007 at Rockerfeller Tree NYC Christmas 2007 - Home - Eric and I
Christmas 2008 - I made Eric wear a Santa hat. LOL Christmas 2009 - NYC - and my first Pedicab ride.
June 2010 at our Relay for Life Event.
He is my best friend and soulmate and I feel very blessed to have him in my life and to become my husband. We have had our share of rocky times, but they have made us stronger both individually and as a couple. The only regret that I have regarding our upcoming wedding is that he will never get to meet my mom, as she passed away in 1993. However, he has learned quite a bit about her from family and friends.
Such a wonderful day in both of our lives. I am so excited and definitely looking forward to our new life together.
THE GIRLS
Jenna - MOH Amanda - Bridesmaid
THE BOYS
Best Man - Nick (right side)
Ricardo - Groomsman (on the right)
FLOWER GIRL AND RING BEARER
Our niece and nephew.
This is my cousin, who also served as my right-hand gal and assistant for the day. I do not think I could have gotten through this day without her. I <3 so much!!!
There she is....LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress. I saw it and knew it was ME. The veil is a double veil with a truffle ribbon outlining it.
Here is me in the dress:
My Veil:
(on the model) On Me.
Accessories:
Necklace and earrings for ceremony. Reception Jewelry - made by me
THE MAIDS' ENSEMBLES
MOH and BM Inspiration bouquets. Actual bouquet.
Bridal Bouquet Inspiration: My actual bouquet - I was SO thrilled with this!!
My bouquet was made of white roses and chocolate cosmos...and yes, they did smell like chocolate. : ) I dried them and I am very pleased with how they came out.
AND FOR THE GUYS:
Calvin Klein Two-Button Super 100's Notch Lapel Tux (for my DH. The groomsman and best man wore the tux below this price point). - Description from Mens Wearhouse: This classic two-button, non-vented black tuxedo from Calvin Klein is suitable for any formal occasion. Cut from a high-quality lightweight wool for better breathability, it can be worn to both contemporary and traditional formalevents. This tuxedo is a wardrobe essential for any man attending an occasional formal event.
The vest and tie were in Truffle. I believe what is shown here is Rio Chocolate.
My DH Groomsman and Best Man
The Littlest Members of Our Bridal Party (niece and nephew)
These two were the hardest to get outfits for, as we had two separate adults handling the clothing, until DH stepped in and said that we would take care of it. What a sweet man.
For our little flower girl, we wanted her to have a mixture of my dress and the girls' dresses. There was a flower girl dress that matched mine, but I thought it was "too adult" for her, so we went in a different direction and I could not have been happier with what we came up.
Dress on the model Our little niece hamming it up for everyone.
For our ringbearer, I was so lucky to find this wonderful tuxedo in his size, as the previous suit that was purchased for him by an outside party was not even in the color of our wedding, but thank goodness for the internet and the wonderful PW girls, I found the perfect Moda tux for him.
Tux on model. Our nephew, although he was not happy walking down the aisle.
My MOH and BM threw me the best bridal shower. I cannot believe how the two of them actually put this together with one living four hours away and them never having met each other until the shower. We had the best group of ladies that I know and wow, did we laugh and have so much fun. : )
First I want to say....I'm MARRIED!!! OMG, it still feels surreal.
Non-Pro Pictures - Ceremony
The day of the wedding was SO AMAZING!!! Saturday, the day before, my MOH, cousin and myself got up after very few hours of sleep and started organizing what needed to get done, taking phone calls from what seems like of tons of people, got dressed and headed over to get nails and a pedi done. I didn't want to get a conventional french manicure, so I got a full set of gel nails (without tips - which I had never heard of before) and we chose a cream base with brown tips to match my dress (the truffle part anyway). : ) This place we went to also had a spa and I was so trying to hold myself back from not getting one, although I would have loved to have had one. I didn't want my girls just sitting there and unfortunately our budget did not allow for me to pay for them as well, so we skipped that although I will be going back very soon for a spa day.
We got home after getting that done and I was about ready to fall right over because I was so exhausted, so DH, me and the girls decided that instead of cooking, we would order pizza. All I remember of that evening was having the pizza and falling asleep for a few hours. DH took all my phones and marched me into my bed, closed the door and that is all I remember before falling asleep. I got up a few hours later as I knew that we still had to pack the cars, get a shower and start prepping for Sunday. Poor DH was doing whatever could due to what was going on outside of our home.
I don't remember much after I did my signoff to you wonderfully amazing ladies, but the following morning, MOH comes into my room and jumps on the bed and declares that it is wedding day and that we need to get up and get moving. I believe it was 8 a.m. We all got up, got dressed, they took showers because I had already had mine at 1 something earlier. LOL.
At about 10ish, we left the house in separate cars to get to the venue to start decorating everything. MOH and decided on the spur of the moment that she wanted to decorate my car, so I did a quick getaway from DH (we were following him) and she and I ran into the drugstore so she should get the window markers to write all over both cars. After she decorated my car in the parking lot of Rite Aid, we headed over to Dunkin Donuts and got food, coffee, and headed over to the venue. At almost every stop light that we hit, we were "dancing" in the car and this one man - bless his heart, I still laugh when I think about it - told us that we needed to put more shoulder into our dancing. LOL.
We got to the venue and that is when all the craziness started happening. I checked us in to get our bridal suite, couldn't find it at first and DH had to help. DH also pulled me to the side and said that since we were having an almost traditional Italian wedding that I had to have someone walk me down the aisle. I have the MOST AMAZING group of people around me because five or six people stepped up and offered to walk me down the aisle, including my aunt and cousin (both of whom are girls). In the end I selected the best man, since we are the closest with him. So he got to do double duty that day. I'm tearing up right now thinking about that moment when I agreed to him.
Not long after that, hair and makeup started and after that, our photog showed up. I feel bad for a few people as they got lost coming to our venue. Their GPS machines could not find it on the map. How's that for technology. LOL.
It was so nice especially after the drama going on Saturday with hardly any sleep to finally sit down, be quiet and to be pampered. I can't tell you how much I laughed and even teared up while getting my hair done. Next came makeup and that was great. My MUP, who was also my BM, did a great job!!
After that was done, I sent a text to DH for him to leave the reception room so I could go over and check on what was happening and if anything else needed to be done. While setting up my Mom's memorial table, we had realized that we had forgotten the candle to put in the vase. No worries I said, I'll run back to the house and get it, since DH and the guys were setting up the ceremony room. We then decided since it was a little far away that I would just run to the shopping mall up the street to Home Goods and grab one there. The girls thought that they should do it, but since noone was familar with the area, I headed out to get the candle. On the way out, I looked at my cousin and said "Do not tell anyone that I am leaving. I'll be back in 15 minutes". So heading over to Home Goods, get out of the car with full makeup, hair and veil on was quite the experience. The sales lady grabbed my hand, walked me to the candles and then walked me back up to the front of the store where she proceeded to ask the few people in line if it was alright for me to get in front of them since I was getting married in a few hours. LOL. Classic.
After running back and forth from our suite to the reception/ceremony rooms, it was time for pictures of me getting dressed. This is when I started to lose it a little bit. I was so emotional that day, partly from exhaustion and partly from the fact that I was FINALLY marrying my best friend. It was great though putting on my dress and seeing the girls in their dresses and all the hugs and love flying around in our room. Next we were told that it was time for the ceremony. I had a total of four people (2 of my bridal party) helping walk down the stairs and across the parking lot to get to where I had to go to wait to be walked down the aisle. I did stop when we close to the front door of the venue because I saw someone who I knew and I started getting a little anxious. The next thing I remember is that I was whisked to the side so that noone could see me although that didn't exactly go as planned...a few people came up to me to see how I was doing. I was given my flowers and we were getting ready to start the ceremony.
The ceremony was absolutely AMAZING. As soon as I began walking in the room, I saw DH and everyone just faded into the background and I was smiling from ear to ear. I am not sure if I was walking too fast or such, but whatever, I wanted to get up there and be with my man. LOL. The "I Do" vow cards that I made were actually remembered and our minister didn't even recite the vows; he just handed us our cards and we did it that way. I did make a mistake when saying my vows, but I quickly recovered. Our ceremony was about 20 minutes and then it was off to our room for some down time before the reception.
We had our own little cocktail hour and then went outside for pictures, which turned out to be a blast. I cannot wait to see everything that she shot.
Part of my train with my flats for reception.
Detail shot of veil.
Final touches on the hair.
The ever popular shot.
DH and our minister walking down the stairs for ceremony.
FIRST KISS as Husband and Wife!
We were lined up to be announced, the maitre'D was talking, the DJ came out to talk to us, and I piped up "Can everyone please be quiet? I can't hear the music" LOL. Too classic and this was going to set the tone for me for the night. We were announced, I don't remember much of the first dance, except that I was very nervous dancing in front of everyone.
Our first dance song was I Knew I Loved You by Savage Garden.
"I Knew I Loved You"
Maybe it's intuition
But some things you just don't question
Like in your eyes
I see my future in an instant
and there it goes
I think I've found my best friend
I know that it might sound more than
a little crazy but I believe
[chorus:]
I knew I loved you before I met you
I think I dreamed you into life
I knew I loved you before I met you
I have been waiting all my life
There's just no rhyme or reason
only this sense of
completion
and in your eyes
I see the missing pieces
I'm searching for
I think I found my way home
I know that
it might sound more than
a little crazy but I believe
[repeat chorus]
A thousand angels dance around you
I
am complete now that I found you
[repeat chorus to fade]
I think after that DH had his first dance with his mom. It was so touching and I was trying to hold back tears because I was sooo missing my Mom.
We sat down for awhile and began a game that DH and our DJ have done at many weddings. The Napkin game. I don't remember the entire game....all I know and remember is that there were napkins flying across the tables and people were jumping up out of their seats, and I've not laughed so hard in my life.
They sat us down for dinner, I remember eating my salad (which was fabulous by the way), more pics were being taken, then dinner came. I only got to eat a little bit of that because the photog wanted to take more pics, people were coming up to us to talk, and then before I knew it, the music got really loud and that was the end for me. I literally jumped out of my chair to get on the dance floor and I danced for almost the ENTIRE reception, stopping only for the cake cutting and a few more pictures. Unfortunately, the photog almost got hit, as one of my HAD TO PLAY songs was started and she was fluffing up my dress and wanting to take pics of myself and DH. I looked at him and almost lost it, saying "I don't want anymore pics, I want to dance."
I do remember asking someone what time it was at one point and when I heard 7, I thought they were lying to me, because at that point, I was so tired, all I wanted to do was lie down somewhere.
THE ABSOLUTE BEST PART OF THE RECEPTION WAS A GROUP HUG at the end of the night, where our DJ had DH and I come out to the middle of the dance floor, had everyone line up in a circle around us (mind you, I had NO CLUE of what was about to happen), and then on his mark, everyone rushed into us and gave us a "Group Hug". This was probably the funniest wedding I have ever been to and I am seriously not saying that because it was ours. I just truly hope that everyone else had just as much as us.
NON-PRO RECEPTION PICS
I was not planning on doing too many DIY projects, but that all changed after I came to PW and saw all the wonderful inspiration ideas from so many of our talented PW brides.
Not in any specific order:
Our CP - total of 11. These were each painted by myself. I used acrylic paints after tracing pictures on to the vases. These vases were purchased at Wal-Mart.
One side was decorated with leaves, acorns, etc. The other side was decorated with our monogram from our invites. We also decorated a few of them with the saying "Fall In Love". We put sand inside of the vases, along with some river rocks, decorative acorns and some wood chips.
We gave these out to our guests after a fun game called "The Napkin Game". I've put a call into our DJ to get all the details so that I can share it with you ladies.
Around each of these bigger vases, we placed four square votive holders filled with river rocks and a scented candle. The outside of the votive holders had an brown organza ribbon wrapped around it with a leaf cutout.
Here is a pic that our very own PW'er amberv took of her table.
Since I started with the tables, I also made our table numbers. When we went to the venue, the one thing besides the plates (which I could not ultimately do anything about due to cost), was the really not so nice table numbers that they had for us to use. So, rather than settling on that, I went to AC Moore and got wooden frames and made our own.
These were originally just plain wooden frames. It took about 3 coats of brown sparkle paint (bought at Michaels) because of the see-through component of the paint.
DH created the numbers in word, printed them out on cardstock and cut each one.
We put them in the frames and then cut plastic to cover the numbers.
To protect the paint and to try not to get any "dings" in the paint, I used a clear coat, painting two coats on each one.
After the clear coat was added and dried completely, I got my trusty glue gun and fabric leaves, and glued each one around the frame (gluing them on the back of each frame).
I also purchased a container of paper leaves from AC Moore and glued them on the bottom of the frame in the middle just as an extra touch.
FINISHED PRODUCT (I am so thrilled with how these came out).
OUR BAR SIGNS (idea from our very own plumcrush01 - Thanks Mel!!)
I again started with a plain wooden frame purchased at AC Moore. I painted each one a different color, created the sign and printed it out on cardstock, and DH created a cover for it. We painted over a clear coat to create a shine and then hot glued the leaves.
DH's BIG project was our aisle runner and I'm so in love with not only him (lol), but how he created the vision that was in my head was AMAZING!!
He took fabric paint and after tracing the monogram from our invites, placed the aisle runner on top of the tracing and went to town painting. For an additional touch, I hot glued the leaves on all four corners of the monogram to make it a little prettier.
We also made programs and ribbon wands (although the length of them I believe should have been longer, but oh well). For the programs, I bought paper with a design on the front and created it in Microsoft Word.
This was a pretty easy DIY, we just rolled them and tied them with a brown ribbon.
I also made a basket to place the programs in.
I got an "bushel" basket at AC Moore and really did not do too much to it other than paint a few areas of it brown and then attach leaves to the center of the basket.
RIBBON WANDS
MENU CARDS
BRIDAL PARTY SIGNS
These are in action at our table.
BATHROOM BASKETS
This was definitely an inspiration from plumcrush01. Thanks Mel!!
CARD BOX
This has to be one of my top three DIY projects. I'm writing up the instructions and will be posting them up shortly.
Completed at last. This is the card box in action.
WOW! I cannot believe I actually made it to 15K posts. When I first came to PW and was lurking for a few months before actually creating my full profile and jumping in on the boards, although sheepishly at first, I never would have thought that I would have 1000 posts, let alone 15K.
I fell completely in love with this site and still love being around to this day. There is so much love here and a such sense of community!! I received so much help during the stressful days of planning along with the craziness that came along with and it was so amazing that I had so much support, cheering me along, and just plain fun in the days leading up to and on our wedding day! I have met some of the most AMAZING ladies here and become friends with quite a few of you, and through those friendships, I have and are continuing to learn how to be a better wife, friend, sister, and so on.
You ladies were with me through some difficult and stressful times over the last 2 years and I could not be more grateful. DH and I have gone from getting married in October 2010 to becoming homeowners last June, and all of the craziness with those major life events. Whenever I have needed to vent, laugh, cry, ask questions, or just simply be myself, you ladies have and continue to be here ALWAYS!!!
PW is the most amazing site/community that I have come across and I will do my best to make it as welcoming as I felt upon joining.
DH's post will be added once he finishes it, but I could not stop posting because I had to wait on him. LOL
I truly 100% love all of you ladies and I'm looking forward to seeing all of the beautiful weddings and being a part of your planning process!!!
EDIT: He's finally gotten to writing it and all I can say is, he's so silly!!!
This is one of the lists that I saw floating around on PW and wanted to put it in my bio to both give me a checklist of what I needed to do, as well as to help all of our other beautiful brides.
Update (02.28.11) - have not gotten a lot of these done yet - Starting on them this week, FINALLY.
- Social Security Administration (DONE April 22)
- Department of Motor Vehicles-Drivers License (DONE - March 17)
- Voter registration (DONE - April)
- U.S. Passport Agency U.S.
- Post Office (done)
- Employer (state and federal tax form)(Done)
- Retirement plans
- Credit card companies (almost done)
- Bank accounts/names of checkbooks (Done March 2011)
- Mortgage
- Doctor, dentist, etc.
- Health, Life, Auto, and Home insurance policies(done)
- Clubs Memberships Discount, courtesy, and frequent-flyer cards
- Utility companies (phone, cable, gas, electric, etc.) (done)
- Legal Contracts
- Update beneficiary information to DH
Wanted to create some monograms for us to have for stationary. Here are a few that I've created so far.
I have a few items that I am selling from our wedding and a friend's wedding that I was in.
http://www.projectwedding.com/post/list/lustrous-leaf-copper-finish-wine-stopper
http://www.projectwedding.com/post/list/size-4-bm-dress-brand-new
http://www.projectwedding.com/post/list/boys-size-5-tuxedo-suit
Wishing all of my PW sisters a very Happy Valentine's Day!!!
