Ding ding! We have a winner in the gown cleaning giveaway!

The 11th comment won! And that was ...... drum-roll please .....

Teresa who said:

I need this. Honestly, I foresee a very dirty dress in my near future.

Congrats!! Email me your mailing address and I will send along the gift certificate!

And here's where you'll find me ...

... this weekend and for the rest of the weekends in August ... and some weekdays! Yep, I am living the luxurious life for the rest of summer ... at least until my first real job as an attorney begins in September!

I am giving the Big Guy a surprise over the weekend ... I will fill you guys in on the deets as soon as we return!

Yummy DIY

I saw these Thank You Bags on The Wedding Chicks and couldn't resist re-posting for ya ... they just look so .... yum, in every single way. Click here for instructions or check out an abbreviated version below and enjoy!

1. Download our free thank you stickers by clicking the above link. You can purchase the labels at our favorite label stop Online Labels.  100 sheets for $8.95. 

2. Buy Macarrons. You can buy parisian macarons in a tray of 48 and customize the flavors from www.lepicerie.com. We recommend putting 2 per a bag. 

3. Buy Cello Bags www.boxandwrap.com offers a wide variety of items to box your goodies up. We recommend the compostable cello bags for that echo friendly touch. 

Wwoof Wwoof ... Unique Honeymoon Idea

Check out my post about Wwoof over on the Weddzilla Blog.

Discount Heads Up

Beau coup is having an end of summer sale.

Those navy things my b-maids will be wearing ...

Wanna see the dresses we picked for my girls? Check them out my post at the Weddzilla Blog.

Gown cleaning giveaway!

Have I mentioned that I am a lucky ducky? Well I am, and now you are too. I have recently come into possession of a gift certificate for $75 toward cleaning and preservation of a bridal gown by the uber famous NY based Madam Paulette. 

And I wanna share the wealth ... with you of course! 

To win the gift certificate just leave a comment to this post and I will pick a random winner on Friday. 

What's cookin good lookin?

I love to cook .. well ok, let's be real. I love to eat. But cooking can be fun too ... especially when your making yummy stuff for yourself and your loved ones. But how do you learn the tricks of the trade without burning your whole house down? Well now there is some one who can teach you how to rock the socks off anyone who dares enter your home!


Gilda Mulero is a Personal Chef in NYC, who recently got in touch with me and asked me to let all of you know about one of her classes which is specifically designed to teach brides and grooms how to use all their new kitchen gadgets from their wedding registry. The class is known as "Cooking 101 for Newlyweds", and it has just earned a "three leaf" rating from the Green Bride Guide and has been featured in Manhattan Bride Magazine.


Check her out .. How effin fantastic would this be as a wedding or shower gift? I would dig it. Errr, dig in?

Best. Processional. EVER.

Has anything ever been more awesome? Don't lie, you know this is effin fantastic!

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Freedom and Free Photography

Raffles are fun.

But a raffle with a kick ass prize for an incredibly good cause ... I am not sure there is a word that encompasses the awesomeness of those. While I think of a fantastic enough word, you should go check out the raffle that Sam Stroud is holding.

The prize is a FREE photography package (including travel) and all proceeds go to Freedom 4/24, an organization which helps rescue women from sexual slavery.

Go on, go get yourself a raffle ticket and be sure to let Sam know how amazing his giveaway. I think he pretty much rocks. Hard.

That white thing I am gonna wear ...

I have been holding out on you. I kind of have a wedding dress. And by kind of I mean I totally and completely have a wedding dress. Wanna see my it?? Well then hope on over to the Weddzilla Blog and check out my post.

The Geek Who Loved Me

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Have I mentioned that I am a giant geek? No really! HUGE. And, you wanna know the only person who out-geeks me? Well of course, its the Big Guy! He belongs to the rare and majestic species of "Hot Nerd". So, when I found these two articles about endearing and annoying habits of a geeky spouse, I just had to share! The Big Guy definitely does not exhibit all of these traits but below are some choice ones that were just too apt to pass up ...

Under Annoying Habits of a Geek Spouse:
1. Punning - OMG! The Big Guy is a notorious punner! In fact, we have started using the term "punny" instead of "funny" ... oh crap we have out-punned ourselves.

2. Using "frak," or Klingon, or both, instead of regular swear words - the Big Guy is totally innocent in this category .. unfortunately, yours trully is not ... I use frak every frakkin chance I frakkin get.

5. Wearing obscurely geeky T-shirts to "normal" places -

Oh yes! The geek t-shirt collection is strong with my Guy. His fave is one that says:

8. Looking up information while a discussion/argument is still in progress - Who gave that man a blackberry!?!?!?



Under Endearing Habits of a Geeky Spouse:
9. Being romantic in unusual ways - See this post. Sigh.

4. Owning lots of really good, though not mainstream, books - Definitely true. The biggest, most difficult part of our move to our new place was trying to figure out where to put all of our books.

3. Being really good at finding things that go missing - I had no clue this was a geek thing! I though the Big Guy had some sort of weird super power! Hmmm, it all makes sense now!

And these deserve an honorable mention for being very cute and true about my man too: 8. Finding the best deals in grocery stores, 7. Watching, quoting and generally loving the Muppets, and 1. Cooking.



These articles are very cute .. the only thing is .. I kind of find the annoying stuff endearing too! I guess, I am just really frakkin in love with my geeky Guy. What do you guys find endearing/annoying about nerdy loved ones?

Too cool for school ...

Ok, ok, maybe I am not that cool .. but I am one lucky ducky because I am a ......

I am a Featured Blogger on the Weddzilla Blog! I couldn't be more grateful, excited, flattered, and generally ecstatic.


PS: Check it out .. and you can also find out my first name ... hint: its not actually Bridechka. Shocking, I know! But .... ah .. we've gotten close and its time for you to know the truth ....

You're pretty. Can I take you home?

Just so you know this isn't really a weddings related post .. its just about pretty things I found when I should have been working ... kinda like right now, actually.

So I know we are done with the whole B-maid dress search and that I should stop perusing dresses on the interwebs .. but ahhhh just cause my homegirls have dresses doesn't mean I can't fall in lust with a few every now and then ... right??

Like how about this pretty young thing?

Its soft, and green, and feminine and all the things you could want from a sort of formal summery dress.

And now! Watch how I will make this seemingly rambling and irrelvant post somehow relate to weddings! Presto-Chango! ..... Ughh.. hmmmm ....

Oooh its perfect for a bridal shower! Who says a bride's gotta be in white all the time? Not I!

And, this little ditty is a pretty sexy bachellorette ensemble!

Ha! I did it ... its a wedding post after all. Turns out, you can make anything about weddings.

A tree ... instead?

Remember there was that time that I considered giving away little trees as favors/escort cards? I clearly still love that idea but what if instead of giving a tree ... we plant a tree instead?

That's where A Tree Instead comes in! Not only are they conveniently named for the purposes of my blog post but they are also effing awesome. The have an entire Green Weddings section. And for $3.50 each, you can get a tree planted on behalf of each of your guests and A Tree Instead will provide a certificate so that you have something tangible to share with your guests.

Clearly, I am smitten with this idea, helping the environment, incorporating trees, and for under $5 bucks a pop! ... yeh you had me at "A Tree" ...

PS: I found this fabulous idea on A Hot Pink Petticoat, which is one hot blog.

F*ing gorgeous

Ever read a poem that was so fucking beautiful, you had to curse just to express how dizzingly gorgeous it is? No? Try this one on for size.

... oh and just to warn you, this only my second favorite of his poems ... the link to my favorite one of his is below .. its so lovely it makes my chest ache .. you know, in that really really good way.


The Archipelago Of Kisses

We live in a modern society. Husbands and wives don't
grow on trees, like in the old days. So where
does one find love? When you're sixteen it's easy,
like being unleashed with a credit card
in a department store of kisses. There's the first kiss.
The sloppy kiss. The peck.
The sympathy kiss. The backseat smooch. The we
shouldn't be doing this kiss. The but your lips
taste so good kiss. The bury me in an avalanche of tingles kiss.
The I wish you'd quit smoking kiss.
The I accept your apology, but you make me really mad
sometimes kiss. The I know
your tongue like the back of my hand kiss. As you get
older, kisses become scarce. You'll be driving
home and see a damaged kiss on the side of the road,
with its purple thumb out. If you
were younger, you'd pull over, slide open the mouth's
red door just to see how it fits. Oh where
does one find love? If you rub two glances, you get a smile.
Rub two smiles, you get a warm feeling.
Rub two warm feelings and presto-you have a kiss.
Now what? Don't invite the kiss over
and answer the door in your underwear. It'll get suspicious
and stare at your toes. Don't water the kiss with whiskey.
It'll turn bright pink and explode into a thousand luscious splinters,
but in the morning it'll be ashamed and sneak out of
your body without saying good-bye,
and you'll remember that kiss forever by all the little cuts it left
on the inside of your mouth. You must
nurture the kiss. Turn out the lights. Notice how it
illuminates the room. Hold it to your chest
and wonder if the sand inside hourglasses comes from a
special beach. Place it on the tongue's pillow,
then look up the first recorded kiss in an encyclopedia: beneath
a Babylonian olive tree in 1200 B.C.
But one kiss levitates above all the others. The
intersection of function and desire. The I do kiss.
The I'll love you through a brick wall kiss.
Even when I'm dead, I'll swim through the Earth,
like a mermaid of the soil, just to be next to your bones.

                           -- Jeffrey McDaniel

... and if you liked that one, this one is even better. No seriously, it gets better. Don't believe me? Check it and enjoy.

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ummmmm ... speaking of cupcakes

It made me very happy yesterday to see all of the pro-cupcake love in the comments! Honestly, you guys just straight up rock .. who cares about what's au courant? Not us! We care about what is tasty!

So while your in a cupcake state of mind hop on over to the Private Receptions blog, because they are having a Magnolia cupcake giveaway.

That's right people a cupcake giveaway! ... giveaway + cupcakes = awesome.

Captured and tagged!

Yay! I've been tagged, by the lovely Heather over at Posh Play. Here are the rules for this tag: Tag and link back to the person who tagged you. List six little things that make you happy. Tag six bloggers and let them know they're “it".

My six things ....

1) My friends ... I have the most incredible, funny, brilliant, supportive, ridiculous, loving, loud, genuine, unique, undeniably fabulous group of friends in the universe ... nuff said.

PS: I am including the Big Guy in this first category

.. cause he's not just my future hubs, he's been my best

friend for 6 years ... he belongs at the top spot!

2) Cupcakes - Look, I get it. Cupcakes are just "so over" ... but I don't care! Just cause they ain't cool doesnt make them any less tasty! Generally, if you wanna see me smile the smile of a voracious jungle cat who has just happened upon a juicy deer that recently injured its ACL, well just plop a sweet treat in front of me. It can be any dessert really, but there is something about a cupcake loaded with sugary buttercream frosting and decoratively adorned that makes me feel just a little .. extra happy.

PS: This is the appropriate cake to frosting ratio for all cupcakes, please alert the bakeries in your area to act accordingly. Worldwide frosting dominion shall soon be mine! uhhh ... ours! Thats right, ours ....

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3) Huge dogs. Ok fine any dogs ... ok fine any fuzzy animal at all. But when you grow up with a face like this one below ... its really hard not to have an affinity for the large variety of pups.

4) The NYC - The sight and smell and feel of the city after you get home from a trip somewhere else just kills me everytime. I want to soak every last drop of it in and never let it go. Ever car horn, every silver tipped building, every whif of pretzels and burn hot dogs, every gorgeous inch of the city feels like home to me. I wish I could bottle it, capture that feeling of returning home and remind myself everyday of how lucky I am to live in the best city on earth.

5) Sports - playing or watching ... there is nothing to get the adrenaline pumping quite like a competitive sport. I prefer team sports ... hockey, football, basketball, rugby, etc... but I will occasionally indulge in some solo sports watching as well .. mostly when forced into it by my tennis loving sibling and friends. But I am at my sport-related happiest when I am screaming my head off and watching my teams kick ass. Oh yeh, I am a fan.


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6) You - This may sound cheesy but it makes me incredibly delirously happy that I have readers .. that people visit my own little corner of the internet and they think I actually have something funny or interesting to say. I am flattered and ecstatic every day to have you guys in my world. You make me feel incredibly special, incredibly happy, and most of all incredibly lucky.

Now its my turn! Everyone should consider themselves tagged and participate! But just to follow the rules here are 6 peeps I am tagging ...

1) The Alternative Bride

2) Accordions and Lace

3) Chic 'n Cheap NYC Wedding

4) Diagnosis Deferred

5) The Relentless Bride

6) A Small Town Bride

Enjoy ...

No color scheme? No problem!

We never picked wedding colors ... usually when people ask about it, we just shrug .. which is followed closely by us having to call an ambulance to revive the person we have just been talking to since they have clearly passed out from the shock of hearing something quite so horrible as "no set colors" ... I know we are truly heathens... but more to my point .. we just never sat down and picked colors. Mostly because we both think a color palette will just kind of develop organically on its own, based on the choices we make (and not the other way around).

As most of you know, lately, we have been loving greens. There is nothing that makes me smile more than a huge evergreen with thick green needles dusted in white snow ... the green, the white, the black, all work so beautifully together and they just scream, WINTER is here! It makes me feel like a little kid again waiting for Ded Moroz to bring me presents for New Year (yep in Soviet Russia even Jewish kids got a sort of Santa, he was like a fake government sanctioned Santa for all Russian kids, we can call him Fanta .... I can explain but it takes a while ...).

Wow ... my digressions are really getting the best of me today! Anyways ...

This weekend we got bridesmaids dresses! Yep, they are selected and ordered and done with. But the interesting part is that they are not green, which had been the plan originally. On Saturday, we had picked out a dress and were debating colors in the store and my beautiful ladies decided the dress we had picked would look better in a different color. They are far wiser and more stylish then I; besides which they actually have to wear the damn thing, so I totally deferred to them. Plus I couldn't agree more that the color they picked will be a stunner on everyone.

... and now a color scheme is starting to develop:
Green - trees which are very symbolic to the two of us
White - for winter and my super fabulous hypothetical cotton ball bouquet

and .................................................................................................

Navy - which is the color of the girls dresses

So what do you think? Here are some inspiration boards I found online to give you guys some visuals:

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Take a Penny, Eat a Penny

First I saw these ...

... and I thought to myself:

"Self! I .. uh, well you ... well I guess we, found chocolate coins on Get Married. I know we never really thought about giving out chocolate at the weds but, these are a very cute personalized edible thing we can give to your guests, and the price is pretty good, and they remind me of Hanukkah gelt, and they are shiny ... oooh sooo shiny ...."

Where was I? Oh yes .... and then I saw this ...

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And now I am kinda sold. I am loving the display, the sign, the yummy goodness that certainly awaits in each of those bags. Bottom line: this idea is made up entirely of OH HELL YES!

More 'links or How PBM Is Awesome

The other day I posted about some pretty sweet cufflinks. And my girl PBM, or the Professional Bridesmaid from Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bridezilla left me a comment on some cool cufflinks she found. Bottom line PBM wins ... these are badass ..

... mostly cause you can make them into whatever you want. The store provides a bunch of images you can use to customize the 'links (3 galleries full) or you can use your own image and customize them. Click here for the online shop.
I think its safe to say I have found yet another place to stick this!

I have fallen madly in love ...

... with Jesse and Jonathan's wedding! When I saw it on Little White Book yesterday, I literally died! ... ok fine just figuratively (thank you Ted Mosby!) but still you catch my drift. Oh, how did I love it? Let me count the ways .. everything is green, white, and black, they had a take a wish leave a wish tree, the b-maids each held a single flower (my ladies will be doing something very similar), they had an actual tree as part of the ceremony, and they used MATH for their table numbers! Math, people! You know like the one thing the Big Guy loves as much as me?

Ok enough of my clumsy gestures of adoration, go right now and check out the object of my affection on Little White Book. And for a sneak peak, here are some of my favorite elements ...

PS: I will be stealing this table number idea .. the Big Guy was giddy when I showed it to him.

PPS: Be sure to check out their grooms cake .. its a "cheese cake" ... uh, sorta. It rocks. Hard.

Stories about yours truly ... i.e. long-*ss post

So, uh, you know Accordions and Lace, right? Cause, I gotta tell you she sorta rocks ... and by 'sorta' I mean A LOT, she rocks a lot. She had this great post the other day where she answered 5 questions submitted to her by a fellow blogger and then offered to ask 5 questions to any other bloggers who wanted to participate ... yeh, I wanted in baby! So, Accordions sent me 5 of my very own questions and the instructions to keep this game going, here they are:

* leave me a comment with your email address saying: “interview me”
* I will e-mail you five questions of my choice
* you can then answer the questions on your blog {with a link back to my blog}* you should also post these rules, along with an offer to interview anyone else who emails you, wanting to be interviewed
* anyone who asks to be interviewed will be sent 5 questions to answer on their blog
* the questions will be individualized for each blogger

So here are my answers to my very own interview questions ...

1) Tell me about coming to the US; what were your first impressions, and what memories come back to you the most?

The first thing I said upon arriving in our new home was, "we're lost." I was, shall we say ... slightly confused. This was the fault of my best friend's mother back in the USSR, she told that the streets of NY city were paved in gold and all the buildings were made of silver (cliche! but some people really thought it was true, and to my 5 year old mind nothing could have made more sense, why else would we go there! Hello!). So when we arrived in Brooklyn, with not even a spot of gold or silver to be seen, I was certain that we were lost and just let my parents know so that they could start looking for the NY we had come for.

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2) Why did you decide to be a lawyer?

On a whim. No seriously. I was supposed to be a doctor. Math and Science high school, Pre-Med Neuroscience major in college, took the MCATS, applied and everything but I don't know if I ever actually wanted it. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't but I knew that my family wanted it for me. Real bad and so I just did it .... until I realized my heart wasn't in it and I just couldn't do it anymore. But, to soften the blow to my family I figured I would get some sort of graduate degree (brilliant thinking, I know!). I took the LSATs in secret, only the Big Guy knew about it, and I did pretty well (ok fine I did great!). That is when I told my fam I was going to law school, they were caught off guard but they were really impressed that I had set out on my own, no help from anyone and accomplished something totally out my normal comfort zone. In the end, it was the best decision I ever made. I loved law school, I loved doing something totally different, and I am finally comfortable within my academic and professional environment.

3) What role do you see Judaism playing in your marriage and in your family?

How much time you got? Haha, this is gonna take a lot of explanation but I will try to boil it down to the essentials. My family is fiercely proud that they are Jewish. The would shout it from the rooftops if they could ... but they don't really know much about the religion/customs, they just know that they are Jewish. They know that their family members died because of it. They know that they were and are hated because of it. And, most of all, they know that they came from a country where they were marginalized because of it. That is why they are proud, they are proud to have survived, to exist, to represent, to be free. But when it comes down to practice, they are lost, confused, and for the most part misinformed. This is mostly due to the persecution that we faced in the former USSR. We were not allowed to practice and when you cannot share traditions with younger generations, those generations will obviously lose many of those traditions.

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In terms, of my marriage, my relationship with Judaism is very different from my family. The Big Guy was way into the Judaism when I met him, he was still searching for his own practice-comfort-level but he is very well educated on Jewish traditions and culture, he knows how to practice in the traditional sense, he reads Hebrew and most of all he loves being Jewish, it is a huge part of who he is. When I met him, I was very distant from the religion. I was like my family - proud to represent who I was for all those who suffered for it but lost when it came to defining what "Jewish" really meant. So I started going to classes, then I went to lectures, then I did some workshops .. I still do all of that to this day and the Big Guy is an amazing resource when I have questions or want to debate about one thing or another. I am still learning and he is still exploring but we are trying to find that place in the middle where we can meet and sit comfortably together.

4) What is the one thing that you think people misunderstand about you the most?

I get a lot of questions about why I want to have a wedding at all ... and I gotta tell ya, it grates on my nerves. I want to marry the person I love and share that joy with my family friends ... um what is there not to understand?

But, I do think that most of the questioning comes from the fact that I am kind of a tomboy .. and by that I mean, I am a no-make-up wearing, sports watching, hiking, fighting with the guys, aggressively asserting my independence kinda gal ... who never really thought that she would get married. So I get, people are confused why I want the stuff that is normally associate with "weddings" but just because I am those things, doesn't mean I am not also a party animal who wants to wear a beautiful dress and honor the traditions of her ancestors by binding together her life with the life of her partner. I think frequently, we want to categorize people .. tomboy, feminist, girly girl, diva, etc ...but most of the time, just one label doesn't apply .. even I like to slap on some lipgloss, some mascara, and pair of high-heeled beauties every now then .. granted that 'every now and then' is rare, but it happens! It happens! Bottom line, just cause I hate romantic comedies and I like sports, don't mean I can't like weddings ... especially my own!

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5) How did you know that you and your man were ready to get married?

I am not entirely sure. I was kind of anti-marriage when we met so we never really talked about it all that much. But then we started seeing examples of really fantastic couples, who got married and stayed fantastic! OR got even more fantastic (shocking! I know.) And it got me thinking, maybe marriage doesn't signify the end of your fun and sexy and happy relationship, maybe there is more. So, we started talking and I started exploring the world of marriage. Slowly, we both came around to the idea of committing to one another in front of our loved ones and we realized it was also a really great way to honor the traditions of our religion/culture. We couldn't be more excited about it now.

But the best is how I knew the Big Guy was thinking of proposing! We were listening to a song we both really liked at the time and I asked him what he thought the song was about. He immediately blurted out, "he is thinking about proposing to his girlfriend and he is scared." Then my Big Guy proceeded to turn bright red. It was sooo cute, I have clearly teased him about it mercilessly ever since.

Hope you liked my stories!!! And if you read all the way through .. wow! you are a trooper! Ok, now who wants to play???

Man gift

I'm bad.


Cause even though I love my girls in a big, BIG way ... all I keep finding in my inspiration hunts are gifts for my guys ... but they are such great finds! Like these that I saw on Something Old, Something New the other day...

So great, right? They are from The Bead Bar Boutique on Etsy. The shop has various jewelry, cufflinks, money clips, etc... made out of old school subway tokens. They have other cities besides the NYC too ... so you can represent your hood. I will, of course, be showing the NYC pride.

Da plane! Da plane boss!

Our Save the Dates came from VistaPrint!!

In the end we decided to go with magnets ... we used the 5" by 4" large calendar magnets so that everybody could see the printing on the cards. I like how the magnets came out but unfortunately their are a little blurry because of the picture quality I uploaded. I have decided not to sweat it ... everything is visible and really thats all the matters ... right? Everyone say right!

BUT, I could not be happier with the envelopes!!! They were a total afterthought but I figured we need to send the magnets in something so why not get envelopes with our address on them ... one less set of labels for us to print. Check the results folks ...

The front of the envelope has the little logo that the Big Guy created using both of our hebrew names (remember from this post back in the day?) and the back has a tree (hehe ... the tree-mania will not be stopped!) and our address. Do you love? I LOVE.

PS: My bad, last pic is upside down ... I may have been slightly excited when I took it last night .. on my camera phone ... before dancing around my living room doing the these-envelopes-rock dance ... dude who knew I could love a paper product?

PPS: Total cost for 100 magnets + 100 envelopes + shipping + tax = just under 100 bucks ... not bad I think, not bad at all.

Orange you pretty?

So this whole being a blogger thing, its got perks! Sometimes I get to find out about new and fabulous things like the new online boutique Orange & Blossom straight from the people who create them! ... man, I feel tres cool.

And, what's even cooler is that I get to share those fabulous things with you! So here is the scoop straight from the mouth ... errr from the fingertips (get it? Cause she was typing to me in an email! Thank you! Try the veal! Second show is the same as the first) of the very cool Lisa Marie, creator of Orange & Blossom ...

"Orange & Blossom is a new online wedding boutique filled with handcrafted, exclusive, & simply desirable wedding embellishments. I am a former Weddings editor who wanted to take the finds I used to assemble on magazine pages into a real boutique for modern couples looking for something meaningful and different."

They are just starting out, so products and services will be added but in the meantime they are having a launch sale!

Launching is beautiful! Celebrate with $5 shipping (free w/$200 order) and $5 off any purchase over $50 with promo code BEAUTIFUL. Now through July 15.

enjoy!

ps: Their flower girl tutu dress is so unbelievably cute, it almost makes me regret deciding not to have a flower girl ... almost.