I'm now Mrs. Youngblood-- and I have the pics to prove it!

Well, it's official! Lauren Bayne Anderson is now Lauren Anderson Youngblood! We got our marriage license in the mail yesterday and I'm officially a married woman with a new name.

Toward the end of the planning process it was crazy-- I didn't have time to post to the blog. It was all I could do to get everything done for the wedding and maintain any semblance of sanity.

But you know how they say something always goes wrong? Luckily, nothing did! At least nothing major. The wedding went off without a hitch. (Almost) everything was perfect.

The week before the wedding, there was a hurricane that wreaked havoc on east coast weather. Originally, waaaaay back in September 2008, we picked our date based on the Farmer's Almanac's prediction. Boy was it dead on. The Farmer's Almanac predicted there would be a hurricane the week before the wedding, but that the weather would clear up on August 30th, our wedding day.

Because the Farmer's Almanac had been so dead on in the weeks and months preceding, I didn't even worry about it when it rained all week. I don't know HOW they do it, but sure enough, Sunday morning as me and my girls were getting our hair and makeup done, the rain and heavy fog cleared way for the sun! It was a PERFECT day-- sunny, with temperatures in the high 70's. NOT what we were expecting for a late August wedding (I was prepared for yucky humidity and oppressive heat).

Among the day's surprises (good and bad):

1. I expected to enjoy the reception, but in the end was totally overcome by the beauty of the ceremony-- so much so that we snuck away from the reception for a few minutes to visit the ceremony site one last time, just us, and tried to take it all in again.

2. Dad broke down and cried on several occasions-- along with one other person, who shall remain nameless, but is usually as hard as stone. :-)

3. What amounted to a full table of confirmed guests didn't show up-- costing us over $1,500. (It's going to take a very long while before we're ready to get over that one!) This was totally not expected and totally infuriating, since we could have saved that money!

4. My husband(!!!) Anthony has two left feet, but in the end, performed our first dance perfectly!

5. The hardest part was letting my friends go-- especially those who came from afar. Two of my bridesmaids came all the way from Israel, another came from Canada (but we all lived together in Israel years ago). This was the first time we've all been together in over two years-- ironically, this time, now all with husbands. It was so incredibly hard to say goodbye.

6. It's a happy day, but one mixed with a twinge of sadness-- something the rabbi pointed out so eloquently at the end of the ceremony before we broke the glass. It's the happiest day of your life and represents a new beginning, but it's also the end of a huge chapter and you're really coming to grips with the fact that it's time to let all that go.

7. Unfortunately, I was NOT thrilled with the way the wedding cake looked, but at least it tasted great. We went with red velvet (chocolate ganache and cream cheese filling with butter cream icing)-- which many of our guests were having for the first time-- and it was a HUGE hit. People are still raving about it. Also, Anthony LOVED the surprise groom's cake -- a Philadelphia Eagles football helmet replica. And, the flowers were PERFECT. I had had the hardest time settling on an idea, theme, color scheme-- I just could not articulate what I wanted. But it's like the florist read my mind, because the flowers were just what I'd pictured. Absolutely perfect.

Among the things I'm so glad I did: One day while perusing the shelves of Barnes and Nobles, I came across the most BEAUTIFUL Italian paper, with a gorgeous design. I decided to buy it and write three heartfelt letters that I gave to my mom, dad and Anthony, with strict instructions not to open or read until the morning of the wedding. Those touching and extremely personal letters, I believe, meant more to each of them than the gifts that followed.

We're still waiting on the disk with ALL of our images from the photographer, but she sent over a slide show with the first batch of images that will be online for two weeks. Check it out here: http://lorrainedaleyweddings.com/weddings/laurenandanthony/slideshow.html

And... about life after the wedding? The planning process was tough-- dealing with family issues, money issues, stress took its toll at times. But since the wedding-- in fact, specifically since we've returned from the honeymoon, we seemed to have settled into a peaceful bliss. I can honestly say I feel closer to him now than I have ever before.

The Cake!

We're going to meet with the bakery today to decide on a cake design. As I mentioned before, we're doing red velvet with chocolate ganache filling and cream cheese icing-- DELICIOUS!

But I'm also considering marble cake with canoli cream filling for one of the layers. We'll finally taste them today.

Originally I was going for something of a more casual look (like the orchid cake at the bottom) but the more I look, the more I think I'm feeling the classic, almost Victorian styles. Not at all what I thought I'd go for in the beginning, but what the heck, it stays with the vintage theme!

Here are some cakes that I'm using for inspiration. The top two are my favs so far...

My Birdcage Veil-- the Finished Product

A while ago I mentioned I was thinking about being a two-veil bride. I decided to go for it-- but to save cash, I figured I'd make the birdcage veil myself.

My first veil-- that I'll wear for the ceremony is a beautiful two-layered cathedral veil that I bought plain from Jessica McClintock. My mother hand beaded it and it came out beautifully-- just as nice as the ones I've seen in the stores for $300 and $400, but a quarter of the price!

The birdcage veil, which I'll wear for the cocktail hour, came out just a nice. Rather than pay the $50-$200 I've seen shops charge for birdcage veils, I bought some Russian netting ($1.99 a yard), a comb, and some ostrich feathers and silk flowers from A.C. More. I think the feathers really add to the vintage look. I made the whole thing for under $25 bucks! Up top are the flowers on the side of my BC veil, close up.

The hard part was finding directions online. I specifically wanted a veil that I wore off to one side, and all the DIY patterns I found covered all or most of your face and were simply the wrong shape.

Finally, a friend forwarded me a post she found on how to make the type of birdcage veil I wanted. It literally took me 30 minutes to make and I think it came out beautifully. Here's are some pics of me in my veil, at my first dress fitting (sorry, I had to cut out the dress, since my FH stops by the blog sometimes!)

Not the clearest picture, but the seamstress was taking them, so I couldn't be too picky. AND, excuse the bags under my eyes-- I've been up late at night wedding planning! :-)

Because I had so much trouble finding a pattern that worked, I wanted to re-post the instructions I used. Please note that the directions below were NOT written or created by me, but rather, came from the blog Once Wed. Check out the original post here.

DIY BIRDCAGE WEDDING VEIL

Making a veil at home can be just as simple as hunting for one. This birdcage veil was custom made for the bride above, Halligan Norris Smith. The assemblage process took only a couple of hours and shopping for the materials was even less time. The best part is that you have the custom veil you wanted, for much less money. Click “more” below to read the rest of the tutorial…

Materials & Tools

-4×4 Square of felt

-1/2 yd of 9 or 8” wide Russian veiling

-Hat combs (optional, bobby pins may substitute)

-Fabric glue

-Good luck charm

-3 silk or fabric flowers, source: craft store, tinseltrading.com

-8 filler flowers, millinery or small silk flowers work well

-Needle & thread

-Scissors

-Straight pins

-Ruler/ measuring tape

Instructions

Step 1-Cut heart from felt using template or freehand

Step 2-Cut veiling to 14” piece, if you want a fuller veil add an inch or two, demonstrate fullness by gathering the fabric in one hand. When cutting, be sure to cut just below the “knots”

Step 3-With needle and thread make a continuous running stitch starting with a cut edge, then work needle along one finished edge and thru the other cut edge. Leaving opposite finished edge open. Be sure to catch each stitch through the “knots” of the veiling.

Step 4- Gather to fit on felt heart, then tack down by stitching with needle and thread. At this point play with veiling and placement using a model head or in the mirror. If using combs, attach now to opposite side of heart that veil is attached to.

Steps 5 & 6-Pin flowers to heart, on top of veiling to figure out best placement, then tack down with needle and thread or glue into place.

Step 7-Once main flowers are set into place add filler flowers, good luck charms or trims to your liking. Set flowers by gluing stem ends and sticking them in-between main flowers. Charms or trims can be added with needle and thread.

Again, the directions above were taken from the blog, Once Wed.

Book the Honeymoon Hotels: Check

We crossed a major item off our to-do list this week in booking our honeymoon hotels. Can't believe we put it off for as long as we did-- and we nearly paid big. Luckily we were able to find space in some places we were happy with, but boy were they booking up fast! A few of our top choices were already completely booked.

We're doing 7 days and nights in Bali, Indonesia and 2 days in Hong Kong (we had a layover, so we figured, why not extend it and see some of China too?) One thing Bali is known for is its spas-- and its super reasonably priced services. You can get a 90 minute deep tissue massage for $25! The perfect place to relax after the stress of a wedding-- you bet that I'll be getting a massage everyday :-)

Here's what we wound up with in the end:

When we first arrive in Bali, we will stay in Sanur, a peaceful beach town. We figure this is the perfect place to relax and unwind (aka veg out) after the stress of the wedding and the 20 hour flight from New York!

We have a two story bungalow overlooking a private garden at the Tandjung Sari Hotel. Our room also has an outdoor shower, a balcony and a view of the ocean. Breakfast served in room every morning.

After three days lounging on the beach in Sanur, we head inland to Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali, where you'll find ancient Hindu temples, rice fields, volcanos, traditional dancing and I hear lots and lots of monkeys.

Since we splurged on the hotel in Sanur, we wanted to go for something a little cheaper in-land. We settled on Ubud Bungalow, which is amazingly priced-- we got the best room at the small hotel for $40 a night. Yes, you read that right. And don't worry, we checked the reviews. Bali is one of those countries that's expensive to get to, but cheap once you're there.

Again, private bungalow. Addmitedly, more modest than the hotel in Sanur, but still a great place for an AMAZING price. Check out the pics:

And finally, on the way back to the States, we have a two day layover in Hong Kong. FH was responsible for finding the Hong Kong hotel, and boy did he knock it out of the park. We're staying at The Mira, which is supposed to be ultra hip and modern, with insane technology and 42" plasma TVs in every room.

Now we just need to get the wedding out of the way, so we can enjoy our hard earned vacation. 66 days and counting...

Seating and Chuppahs and Cake, Oh My!

So the weekend is almost here and guess what we'll be doing? Wedding stuff! Surprise (sarcastic). :-)

It's been a crazy week and now that we're only 9 weeks away it's getting crazier. Everyday, we're working on crossing stuff off of our to-do list. While we're getting stuff done, we've also had to backtrack. Example: a last minute wedding party cancellation has forced us reprint all the wedding programs and find a substitution-- a set back in both time and money.

This weekend it's all about the seating (and the cake!) We're heading to New York to meet with the bakery for a cake tasking and to pick out the design. Very exciting. We already know we're going with a red velvet cake with chocolate ganache filling and cream cheese icing. Delicious. But the design is still undetermined.

We're also going Into the Wild! We're going to cut down some trees to make the chuppah. From there, my mother will put it together, decorate it and make sure it's able to stand freely.

This is a real focal point of the Jewish ceremony and I really want my chuppah to reflect an outdoorsy/rustic feel, since we are getting married outside in a garden. The photo at the top left is a pretty great example of the look I'm going for. Simple. Rustic. Beautiful.

And, with our seating plan, the chuppah will get even more attention. We are pretty sure we're going to go with circular seating surrounding the chuppah.

I've been a fan of this idea since I first saw it for a few reasons. First and foremost, I think it sends a wonderful message that we are surrounded and supported by family and friends. It's also practical since we won't have mics -- this gives everyone a good seat and makes it easier to hear. And of course, it's different. How often do you see circular seating? This is one more thing that we hope will make our wedding unique.

We're meeting with the ceremony venue Saturday to view a mock set up of how it will look. So, this weekend it's all about planning-- next weekend is our couples shower! And the ball keeps rolling from there.

Here are some more inspirational pics of the chuppah look I'm going for and the seating. What do you think of the circular seating?

The Chuppah Inspiration:



Circular Seating: