"The Limos Here"

Ah, where were we?  My lovely sister, mom and I were chillen at home getting our hair done by my dear hair stylist Anton. I was so relaxed. Seriously. I was just in my own little world knowing that the day was already turning out perfect. The weather was on our side, everyone was happy, and it was MY WEDDING Day. While we were doing the final touches my gorgeous bridesmaids walked in from their hair appointment at Illusions looking fly as ever.

Later on in the day

Everyone completed their final touches, and I had the chance to finally see my hair. It was exactly what I imagined. Anton curled all my hair and then pinned half it up. I never imagined my hair being in a full updo for my wedding so this was perfect.



Let me mention, that during this time my amazing mother was completing the crudite & cheese platters. My mom prepared so many vegetables, delicious cheeses and crackers so that I wouldnt have to spend over $1000 on a cheese platter.



Soooo, during this wonderful time of getting ready, I had a surprise in store for me...

I had been under the impression we were all going to drive over to the venue in our own cars which was completely fine with me. About 25 minutes before we planned to leave I heard my dad, who had gotten home from golfing, ask my mom "When is the driver going to be here". My mom shh'd him right away.  Ooh, limo huh? Several minutes later, when I asked my mom who my wedding dress would go with - she replied back with "the limo." and looked rather disgusted with herself thinking she had let the cat out of the bag.

  About five minutes after that, my bridesmaid Megan also dropped the ball on the limo. It was a pretty hilarious sequence of events.

 

Fake Surprised!!

While us girls were getting in the limo, the guys were having their own fun back home. 

Clyde perplexed by that marriage thing.





To be continued..

 

 

 

 

 







Pre Wedding Fun!

Alright, so setting up at the barn went extremely well! I received feedback prior to the wedding from people saying I would have too much to do the day of the wedding and needed to delegate the task to someone else. I honestly had plenty of time for it, thank goodness! Andrew and I had done a lot of DIY stuff and I didnt really have an option not to be there. Most of my bridesmaids had an idea where everything needed to go but I am sort of a control freak or some would say bridezilla and needed to have the final say.

My amazing mother in law Donnie and my new sister (!!) Mckenzie greeted us at the farm since they were there creating the bouquets and boutineers. Stacy at Broadturn supplied the flowers and Donnie and Mckenzie did the most amazing job with them. My only request was that they tried to use green and cream colored flowers for the girls bouquets. My bridesmaids dresses were a poppy red color so they didnt need much more!

We had been there for about an hour, when some of my bridesmaids started getting a little bit antsy to leave. I didnt blame them since their hair appointment was about 45 minutes away and they needed time to showah! Elyse, Greta, Kar, and Kristina hopped in a car and headed home while the rest of us stayed for a little bit to finish up.

 Around 9:00 AM we left to head home after set up. Everything at the barn looked amazing and I left excited to go get my hair and make up done. At this point, I will also say that all of the photography going forward will be from my amazing photographer Love Shutter Photography .. I cannot say enough good things about working with them.

Anyways, getting back to the day, Emily did my make up for me once her updo was complete. I knew that she would do a great job and I put 100% of my trust behind her. I asked for her to do a natural look and thats what she went with!

After Emily finished my hair, Anton my hair dresser was ready to do my hair. He seemed a little anxious since it was nearing 1 P.M. and he hadnt started on my hair. I knew it would all work out fine.

As you can see in the picture, my bridesmaids grabbed me an Amato's sandwich for lunch. I probably took about 2 bites of it. Thankfully, I had also had some handsful of popcorn because I didnt end up eating again for a long time! Haha.

While the girls got all dolled up, the guys were busy golfing. There were 17 guys in all that went including the wedding party, close friends and family. I couldnt tell you who won since 3 of them told me they were the winner.. 

 

Alrighty, this love story is to be continued..

 



 



Wedding Day

The night before the wedding I slept pretty well thankfully. My bridesmaid Megan and I slept in my parents room while the other bridesmaids took up the living room and guest bedroom. It took me a while to get to sleep and I can recall looking at the clock around 12:15 AM thinking "ohhh goodness, just please fall asleep". I drifted off into la la land and woke up feeling so excited for the day.

In the morning, I woke up to the sounds of my best friends chattering about our itinerary for the morning. My mom was in the kitchen working on the cheese and veggie platters. I had my mom take on this task because our caterer wanted to charge us $1200 dollars for a cheese platter (YIKES).

We knew we had to get going to make it to Broadturn Farm to set up our wedding stuff before our hair appointments. The only stipulation was that Andrew and his groomsmen were there setting up and Andrew and I didnt want to see eachother before the ceremony. We decided to take our time at breakfast so the guys would have a little bit more time setting up.

 We didnt have any set plans for breakfast so we decided to head to Starbucks. I had an iced coffee with soy milk and oatmeal. I wasnt really hungry but figured I should eat something.

After our breakfast, we drove to Broad Turn Farm and I started getting butterflies in my stomach. Andrew and I had drove down this road so many times before to bring things to the Farm or get a question answered by the residents. I knew this would be the last time I would be a Martin gal and things finally started feeling real!

To be continued...

Wedding Love

Finally after 18 months of being engaged, the big day was here!

I'll start with August 9, 2013 which was the night of our rehearsal and dinner. I woke up around 730 AM at my best friend Greta's house. We had decided to have our last sleepover. Growing up, we obviously always had sleepovers and we felt like it was necessary before I married. It was a nice leisurely sleep over that included lots of laughing.

I decided that I should probably get home to go to my last boot camp before I was married! It was an hour long class and it helped set my day on the right foot. After bootcamp, I had arranged for my sisters-in-law and me to get our nails done at my house. We watched "She's All That" and I tried to get Andrews sisters to drink green juice but they werent into it! It was a nice relaxing morning.

I had told my six bridesmaids to come over at any point and many of them started arriving between the hours of noon and 2. It was so fun and it finally started feeling real. I popped out of the house to go to Acapello to get my hair blown out and styled. I would highly recomend doing this if you suck at doing hair! It was a fun way to relax before the rehearsal.

When I got back to my house, many of Andrews groomsmens had arrived. It was a full house of our friends. It was amazing to have people that came from different walks of our lives to be at our house all at once.

After we did a check to make sure everyone was there, we all got in our cars to drive over to my parents house. Since it was raining out, we quickly made the decision to have our rehearsal inside.

This is one of the first pictures my AMAZING photographer took of me and my bridesmaids. My photographer was Love Shutter from North Carolina. Andrew's sister Mckenzie had her wedding photos thru Love Shutter and we decided immediately when we got engaged we wanted to use them as well.

Anyway, the rehearsal went really well. I got a little choked up a few times but for the most part there were no tears. My parents were extremely generous and put out appetizers like cheese and crackers and some champagne to have to make it a little more fun.

My cousin Tracy was there with her adorable son, Xavier and my cousin Craigs son, Keenan. Both Keenan and Xavier were our four year old ring bearers at the wedding. They could not have done a better job at the rehearsal. I heard someone bribed them with a new toy!

About half way thru, our good friends David (one of the groomsmen) and his beautiful wife Alexi showed up with their 4 month old daughter Eleanor. It was so funny how once little Eleanor showed up the attention was off Andrew and I for a while and on their daughter who we love so much! It was a nice little break ;)

After about an hour a few times through, it was time to drive to Portland for dinner at East Ender. For the first hour or so, we mingled and enjoyed appetizers and drinks. It was so nice to be with the people we love so much in one place together. Everyone loved the appetizers: lobster nachos, homemade tortilla chips with guacomole, brocolli fritters, vegetable platter with the best hummus, and to many to name.

After cocktail hour, a delicious dinner was served. There was brisket, chicken wings, sweet potatoes, salad... again too much to name. Everything was delicious - and I have to thank the Harners for hosting the rehearsal dinner.

While everyone was finishing up, Andrew and I presented our parents with their gifts. We had a good friend, Ryan Lessard, from Building Awareness create two picture frames made out of reclaimed barn wood. We love the frames and felt it kinda went with the theme of our wedding since we got married at Broadturn Farm in Scarborough.

After we gave our gift, Andrews dad Scott suggested our friends and family tell their memories of us. It was hilarious and most of our wedding party and family played along.

 

After we left the East Enders, the bridesmaids had their night of beauty sleep at my parents together while the groomsmen headed back to our place for tequila shots and cigars..

 

 

The story is to be continued..

Friday!

I am so happy it is Friday. It has been a long week. Made longer by the fact that I am so anxious for my best friends to get here from Boston and New York City! I can't wait to catch up and talk all things wedding.

I wanted to share with you guys a salad I made last night. We had a few heads of romaine that were starting to wilt that I couldnt just let myself toss. Instead of a subpar salad, I sauteed some garlic on the stovetop. After a few minutes, I threw in the romaine leaves, along with some red and yellow pepper.

The pictures really don't do it justice. The romaine gets crispy under the heat. It is really delicious and was also man approved by Andrew. After I served up this salad, I made us both scrambled eggs with a little bit of cheese. Bon Appetit!

Oh yea! Jamie Eason's training program is going great. Yesterday, I had the shoulder and ab work out. My entire shoulder region was burning and it felt oh so good. Theres something about lifting weights that makes me feel so powerful and good. I still havn't taken my measurements, but I'll get around to it...

Have a great weekend!

P.S I have to give my lovely fiance and his friends a shout out for painting our entire upstairs! It went from a very dull white to a calming yellow. You guys are the best!

Gotta Do It

Hey All. Hope you had a good weekend.

I finally got over my week long cold on Saturday afternoon. I was wiped out all week!

Andrew and I checked out another wedding venue this weekend. Our sleepy Sunday mornings have been substituted with visiting different areas in Maine for our perfect wedding venue. We basically have this routine down to a science. We pack coffee in our thermos, make a nice little play list and hit the road.

Its funny because with every tour officiator we've met, they say "its hard to imagine with all this snow". Ha! True that.

All I can tell ya is that we won't be getting married at the Falmouth Audobon Center. Talk about poor customer service. I don't know if the officiator just hates her job because she has to deal with taxidermied animals or what. The center itself had potential, but we both were totally turned off after having to deal with her.

Friday night was pretty low key, since we were both burnt out from being sick. Andrew won't admit it, but he gets a little cabin fever when he's home for too long. I walked upstairs and he was balancing on the couch arm.

We also like to take awkward pictures when we are home for too long.

Exhibit One

Exhibit Two

Anyway, I was productive this weekend and hung two pieces I've been meaning to for a while!

Mckenzie's wonderful crafty work!

Pike Place Market Art Work.

I also started my new fitness challenge. I'm starting Jamie Eason's Live Fit 12 Week Trainer. I really hope this blog helps with my accountability and consistency! Jamie's program is centered around strenght training the first couple weeks and she says to completely cut cardio. However, I believe this is based on the fact that she has a strict diet to follow. I am going to take this into my own hands, and eat my healthy (yet more sensible) diet and do my beloved cardio!

Today I completed day 2. BRING IT ON, JAMIE!

Vegan Eats Recap

Hey Guys! Sorry (I'm not sorry..) that I havn't been posting consistenly. It's just hard when your such a social butterfly like myself. Well, thats a lie. I just got busy. And then I got a bad cold. Ugh.

My month of vegan eats went very well. Thirty one days of plant based foods felt really good and I am glad I tried a new to me diet. I'm over it, though. For my life style, it isn't feasible for the long-term. I felt like sometimes I was choosing a snack like pretzels over veggies because I was sick of them. Eating an unrestricted but healthy diet gives me the choice to choose a healthier choice like Greek yogurt.

 I will be trying to buy more local and/or organic products, though.

Also, did I mention I had a Back Bay Grill gift certificate to use before Febuary 28th? :)