Samantha's Bridal Shower Bonanza!!

Ok, ladies. Finally! I'm ready to post about my bridal shower. Oh, what a wonderful bridal shower it was! I woke up early on Saturday morning and went to my first event of the day- a hair trial with the lovely Meg Ford, traveling hair stylist based out of Reston, VA. Laurie, one of my lovely maids, came with me- it was so fun to be pampered while chatting with these two wonderful women.

We returned to the house to begin the festivities for the "English Tea" themed shower, hosted by my lovely sister-in-law Abigail. She was the hostest with the mostest, thinking of every last detail, including gorgeous favors of pretty tea cups, bags of tea and biscotti. The spread was fantastic- tea sandwiches, fruit skewers, pesto crostini, chicken mango skewers and my favorite, lemon curd cupcakes from Lavender Moon cupcakery in Alexandria, VA! Oh, my people know me well.

Various relatives, future in-laws, bridesmaids and neighbors began to arrive as we all chit-chatted and milled around the champagne punch bowl. See this recipe for Orange Sherbert Champagne Punch- my favorite! Then came time for the present opening- who doesn't love presents? I must say though, I've never been the center of attention in that way- by the end of the day, I was exhausted, but ready for the next step!

We left Great Falls for downtown Washington, DC, where we had a fantasmo dinner at Jaleo's spanish tapas bar. We ordered a few glasses of sangria, ate yummy food and caught up with each other while getting excited for the night ahead.

After dinner, we headed to Allison's fantastic apartment, which was decked from ceiling to floor in 80s decor! Again, my people know me so well! So we broke out the champagne, some of the girls tried on their dresses and then it was time to get decked out in 80s gear. There was a lot of spandex.

After the getting ready fest, they all bestowed their lingerie gifts upon me. Oh, what fun! Everything received was very pretty, but I was particularly and especially amused by an interesting gift for Brad, inspired by The Full Monty. Thanks, Heidi's bf!

After the lingerie opening, copious pictures and more celebratory champagne drinking, we were off to DC! That's where I'll end my tale...oh, what a night!

Vacation wedding bananza!

It's been FOREVER since I've written! Was off in Kauai, chilling with 14 of my family members and el fiance. It was great for Mr. Livalittle to get to know our crew, which included my parents, two brothers, two sister-in-laws, niece, uncle, uncle's girlfriend, uncle's girlfriend's daughter, cousin, cousin's husband, cousin's son, and aunt.

We took the opportunity of togetherness to do some serious wedding planning! First of all, fiance and I finished our counseling with my Aunt, who will be co-officiating at our ceremony. Hallelujah, praise the lord! We talked about all sorts of interesting marital and wedding-related issues, including the need to do wills, advanced directives and life insurance. Seems scary, but it is a practical issue of getting married and being bonded to another person legally!

Secondly, Mr. L and I have booked our honeymoon! We will be flying to Calgary the day after the wedding and will spend time in the Banff and Lake Louise area at Mount Engadine Lodge and Lake Moraine Lodge. Will be gorgeous I think! I've heard rave reviews of both! We're excited to be in a quiet and serene part of the world. We also have never experienced cold weather together (literally, never. We've always been in 65 F or above) so it will be cozy.

We also addressed wedding invitations. OMG is that a pain. Addressing everything correctly with the right titles, honorifics, addresses and handwriting is not easy! It is fun, however, to think that it's all getting more real. I used the stamps available at the post office:

We discussed music and are still trying to find a father-daughter song! Any good suggestions? We talked about "In My Life" by the Beatles and "You are the Sunshine of my Life." Dad thought that the former is a little too sad and hippy and the latter is a little too 70s. Thoughts?

Flower Girls!

Hello friends. So Mr. L's little niece is going to be our flower girl and I couldn't be more excited! She is four years old and super adorable. Like me, she enjoys discussions about the color pink and Disney princesses. Anyway, we've picked a dress and it is so cute! I'm considering also sending my little two year old niece down the aisle with her (holding her hand), but we'll have to see how she's doing at that point. That is, will she be in a hand-holding phase at that point or just running everywhere? I always think that the flower girl provides the comic relief at a wedding. I've been to a bunch of ceremonies where the little girl dumps the basket of flowers at the beginning of the aisle and then makes a run for it!
The church where we will be married does not allow the throwing of flower petals. Has anyone else had this rule? What did you do about it? I'm thinking about just giving her a small poesy to hold, but I'm not sure!

Meet the Parents!

Today my parents met Mr. Livalittle's parents for the first time and thank the good lord I wasn't there! I would have been a complete wreck and knowing me, I would have nervously blathered on, adjusted my clothes and tossed my hair (this is what I do). Thank goodness our parents were just left to their own devices. Apparently, it went well and was nothing like Meet the Parents 2 when Barbara Streisand, sex therapist, made the fiancee's wildly conservative parents considerably uncomfortable. Have you ever noticed how many wedding movies include awkward parent interactions?

Let's see...there is Meet the Parents 2, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The In-Laws, Monster-In-Law...oh the list goes on and on. Do you remember this scene from Monster-In-Law? Oh man!!

Counseling!

It's easy to get all caught up in the details of planning a wedding and therefore also easy not to focus on the fact that a marriage is actually going to take place and lots of things will change! Mr. Livalittle and I have been given many, many pre-marital counseling books to help us prepare for this next huge step in our lives. See our library below:
This was the first we looked at- before we even got engaged! I guess that we're just very logical people and wanted to make sure that we could answer these before getting started in this whole process. We could- phew! Mr. Livalittle's mama gave him this one long ago.
Here is another one- much funnier and more of a workbook. A good one! This one was given to us by my eldest brother and his lovely lady, who also happens to be my matron of honor!

Although some of the questions in this book are quite obvious, there are some helpful things for both the bride and the groom to ask each other, their families and their friends. This was also given to us by my lovely aunt.

I hear this one is great, but haven't read it yet. Brad and I both have a copy and will fill out the sections prior to our counseling sessions. My aunt, who will be officiating our ceremony and doing our counseling, gave us this book.

A fantastic book- the best I've read so far. Mr. L is also currently reading this one. I've already applied it to our relationship and others' relationships. The basic thesis is that people communicate in different "love languages" and that in a marriage, you need to learn your partner's language and your own. The "languages" are 1)words of affirmation; 2)acts of service (making dinner, taking out the trash, etc.); 3)quality time; 4)gifts (can be small tokens); and 5)physical touch. I highly recommend the read! We received this from Mom and Dad.

And finally, thank the good lord no relative or friend has purchased this book. Oy. I'm not mature enough to handle receiving this book in front of people who are related to me.

Reception site and ceremony-- CHECK!

OH man, do I have news! Well, first of all, I've chosen a reception site- Sequoia Restaurant at the Washington Harbour! It's in Georgetown, 8 blocks from our church and it's fab. Couldn't be more excited! Very dramatic views of the Potomac river and great food are the hallmarks of this awesome place. woohoo!

Brad and I have also decided the order of our ceremony and our music, which is going to be a surprise. Suffice it to say that we are going to have some pretty dramatic and regal pieces that involve many-a-brass player. Thrilled about that! We also have picked our scripture readings and a hymn. Oh, I can't wait for our ceremony...sigh =)

Let's see...I've also been visiting florists and bakers with madre and we haven't found one that we are sold on, but we're getting ideas. I'm thinking a white cake with buttercream frosting and not fondant, since I've been told it is lacking in taste. Can't have that! Brad and I are considering having a vintage looking cake topper of an old-school pilot and his honey. The problem is that this exists in our minds and not in reality. Hmm.

In terms of decorating, I have been looking at tablescapes (thank you Victory for this word, with which I was previously unfamiliar). BBJ Linen is an awesome website for ideas-- bbjlinen.com . I have been thinking about my gold, white and bits of red color scheme and am trying to keep the budget way down in this area. I'm thinking gold runners, single dramatic flowers and lots and lots and lots of candles. See the picture above for what I'm thinking.

I've discovered that Michael's has some great do-it-yourself wedding supplies, including invitations, escort/place cards, table numbers, program kits, fake flower petals, bridal ribbon and more! I am definitely going back to Michael's for all of my DIY projects.

Ok friends, miss you tons!!

Samantha Livalittle

Countdown begins

Less than 24 hours til we pack up the car and head out to the mountains for a down home Mr. B Family Christmas. I've spent a pretty serious amount of time with them, but never a Christmas, their BIG DEAL day. Unfortunately, this year several of the clan won't be able to attend, and I'm told I might not get the full effect. But fear not, we will be treated to swedish meatballs [don't be confused, they are actually Appalachian in ethnicity], a family trivia night and a WVU bowl game.

In the meantime, I'm still at work and will be tomorrow as well. I've got my presents in line, but Mr. B had a really hard time taking care of his parents. I refuse to take over his parental present responsibility just yet [it's hard to shop for parents who have everything!]; I may need a signed contract in place before that becomes one of my many many household duties.

The list of to-dos for tonight is quite long. We're going to attempt to make toffee to bring to Mr. B's clan as an offering from my family tradition [shoutout to Grandma Cookie! think maybe that may be a reason for my insane sweet tooth?]. Let's hope we don't destroy our house in a sticky gooey mess before leaving for two weeks.

We also have our own personal holiday celebration to honor. A fancy dinner out, followed by a present exchange [all wrapped around frantic candy making, laundering and packing for a two state junket]. But I already made him 'open' his stocking yesterday. The underwear gifted there was holding up more laundry;) Oy!

Brother bear's wedding!!

On December 6th, my most fabulous brother married the lovely Dia! The wedding ceremony was particularly beautiful and the reception was a blast!

Friday: Everyone joined Cam and Dia at the church for a rehearsal, which really helped to work out the logistics for the next day. After the rehearsal, the entire bridal party and the ministers (my aunt and our church pastor) prayed for Cameron and Dia's marriage- I thought this was lovely. My parents hosted a rehearsal dinner at Panache restaurant- a very hip and happening place in northern VA. A number of people gave really personal and touching toasts, including my dad, who made everyone cry and Cam's best friend John, who recalled Cam's escapades (an arrest for public urination in Tijuana??) in front of all of our friends and family. hahaha.

Saturday: I met Dia at the church at 12:30 for makeup (I loved doing it!). It was 25 degrees on wedding day, so it was definitely wintery and beautiful out. At 1:30, we went to the salon across the street for her hair appointment, where her stylist created gorgeous tendrils and put in her veil. From there, we got dressed, kept Dia from tearing by yelling various hilarious things ("do you have the wings?" Princess Bride anyone?) and took a few pictures before walking down the aisle!

Dia's uncle, Paul Winter, is a three time grammy-award-winning musician and he performed one of his pieces as a prelude which was absolutely beautiful. After we all made it down the aisle, the congregation sang a hymn together, "Great is thy Faithfulness," which is Cam's favorite. Their friend Danielle, who is an internationally acclaimed opera singer performed a sung version of the Lord's Prayer and afterwards, there were three readings-- two biblical and one literary. My sister-in-law Abigial read "clothe yourselves in love" from Colossians 3:12-17, which was the crux of the homily as well. Later on, Dia's good family friends performed a clarinet and piano piece- overall, the music was amazing. Many people said that they felt they should have paid to come since the calibre of the musicians was so high!

After pictures and visiting with friends and family, we headed over to the reception. Cameron and Dia danced to "Your Love is King" by Sade, which has always been their song. Before dinner, Dia's mom announced that her friend who is baritone with the Metropolitan opera and is playing the title role in Rigoletto (in case you don't know, this is a BIG deal) would be singing a song to Cam and Dia. So that was amazing! He did a romantic song from Camelot. We all had dinner, took pictures with the cameras that were on the table and then danced the night away! To kick off the dancing after dinner, Dia and her father danced to "The Way You Look Tonight" by Frank Sinatra and then my mom and Cam danced to "I Hope You Dance" by LeeAnn Womack, which was very sweet. When the dancing got under way, people really let loose! The highlight was Dia's French friend, who was a maniac on the dance floor; singing loudly to livin on a prayer; and following the conga line around the room. SUPER fun!!