Anniversary Celebrations

At this point we've been married for one year, one week and two days.  We decided to celebrate our anniversary two days before the actual day since we were going to be out of town (see here and here) - I liked to call it "anniversary celebration day" because we started celebrating right away.   I'm usually our "planner" but Derek took control of the anniversary and handled everything.

Anniversaries might just rank before birthdays now - how fun it is to have all those memories from our special day come back to me and to enjoy "remembering" as well as celebrating all over again.

The day actually started off the night before - accidentally.  A new dry bar opened up close by and I decided what better of a day to try it out?! I told Derek and it turned out that he had asked the best boss/mom in the world to let me have the day off for an afternoon massage.  Both were scheduled for 1:15 at the same salon just different locations… I guess we have ESP but after some thinking (and an email for a special promotion for both for the price of one) I ended up with a spa afternoon to start the celebration with a massage then dry bar appointment. The verdict is - I am now a HUGE fan of dry bars.  My hair stayed curled and cleaned until two days later.  I also squeezed in a mani/pedi with my nail color from the wedding which worked for the anniversary and the new wedding we attended days later.

I came down for my morning workout to find a little extra decorations on our coffee table with photos from college until now and a date jar for me to pick items whenever I'd like - Derek was thinking paper :)

I was thinking paper too.  Derek got his gift at the beginning of summer, our trip was our major gift to each other and even though I was getting my gift during celebrating - I still wanted him to have a little something.  I'm hoping the ____ year of marriage to do list can be a yearly thing - we'll see if we even get anything done for this year.

When I got home from the spa day I found a flower arrangement on the counter - the same as my wedding day bouquet which I'm still obsessing over and enjoying.  One of my favorite parts of the day.

I headed in to meet Derek in the city for happy hour on a rooftop - my favorite! The rooftop was near Independence Hall so we wandered around for a bit afterwards before we headed to dinner.  (The Miss America contestants had just arrived across the lawn at the Liberty Bell on an evening excursion from Atlantic City).

 dress: nordstrom // necklace: kate spade (similar style here) // 

earrings: nordstrom // clutch: louis vuitton

 For dinner we headed up for a fantastic view of the city sky line (you can sort of see below along with our reflections) for a delicious meal and great time celebrating one year of marriage.

The food was delicious and we really enjoyed testing out a new spot.  I really enjoyed having no clue where we were going.

My last surprise of the night was that Derek had slipped away to the bakery and picked up a new version of the top tier of our wedding cake - just as delicious as before and 100% my favorite cake - I enjoyed snacking on it for the week after too.

Monday night after we landed back in from Providence, we headed over to my parents' for a Labor Day BBQ and I'm not sure if we'll do these pinterest inspired photos every year but we took them just in case so it's an option… 

The treats weren't done yet.  We also enjoyed our first anniversary wine which was a gift from the bridesmaids at my bridal shower.

Is there ever such thing as too much cake?  We still had our top tier in our freezer (quite thankful for the extra space now) so we cut into that and each had a taste - well I had it smashed in my face and then we enjoyed more of the new one as well.

This past year has been fantastic - Cheers to many more!

Don't forget to enter here for a chance to win a $300 Nordstrom gift card.  Good luck! 

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One Year

One year ago today I was waking up so excited, having brunch and giggling with my bridesmaids while getting hair and makeup done,  changing my last name, walking down the aisle, saying "I do" and marrying my husband, celebrating the entire night and weekend with all of our closest family and friends.

One year ago I became a married lady and married my best friend.

We celebrated and partied all day and all night long.  We celebrated the entire night before at the rehearsal dinner and the entire day after with both brunch and a BBQ back at our house.  It was the best weekend of love, fun and celebration with our favorite people.

I honestly can't believe it's already been one year.  This past year has flown by and we've had the best time being newlyweds (I've decided I'm going to continue calling myself a newlywed… forever)

In our first year we turned our newly built house into a home and settled in.  We celebrated our first married holiday season.  We made our family a family of three adding little Stella pup to the clan. We traveled to Bora Bora, Texas, Bermuda and California (with visits to New Jersey, Washington DC, New York, Maryland).  We had weekly date nights and tried more new restaurants that I can count. We watched every episode of Entourage together during the coldest winter.  We spent time with our friends and family.  We fell more and more in love.

praying on our new marriage - one of my favorites

It's only fitting that today we are back in the town we met and celebrating another wedding.  We got in some pre-celebrations before we left, will continue with the top tier of our wedding cake (cake, yes!) and some more celebrations tomorrow once we're back at our Labor Day BBQ and possibly into the weekend (is there ever too much celebrating?!)  

Now that it's been a year and the wedding is on my mind again - I'll be getting around to sharing some wedding/bride topics that I didn't quite get around to yet throughout the next month or so.  If your a bride to be and have any questions or topics you'd like covered, now is the time to request below! 

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How To: Ladies Room Baskets + Bridesmaid Survival Kits {Wedding Wednesday}

One of the first wedding posts was sharing how I asked the girls now today one of the last posts is about their bridesmaid survival kits.

But first… 

 {Ladies Room Baskets}

It's a nice little touch to have a basket of bathroom items ladies might need on the wedding night.  Let's face it, wedding purses are usually small, you don't pack anything in the world that you might need and you might not realize you are going to get a huge blister and need a bandaid!

Along with this sign, we filled two baskets for the ladies room with anything the girls could need.

{Mini versions of all} 
mouth wash
deodorant
hairspray
 bandaids
lotions
 perfumes
first aid kits
 tampons
combs
 tide to go pens
 lint rollers
 qtips

{Bridesmaids Survival Kit}

I gave my girls their bridesmaids gifts the day before the wedding and wanted to include a bridesmaid survival kit in case they might have forgot to pack anything they might need for the big day plus a couple extra little beauty treats!

I ordered a personalized bridesmaid makeup case from Etsy (no longer available) to put all the goodies in but there was too much so I put them in a clear bag with a homemade label and some ribbon and just placed the make up case in with the other goodies.

Included in their kits were:

deodorant

lint roller

bobby pins

hairspray 

lipgloss

eye shadows 

tissues

mints

nail kit

face wipes

lotion

mini shampoo/conditioner

advil

chapstick

anti bacterial soap

floss 

flip flops 

mouthwash 

face mask

comb

Other favorite Items I've seen that are fun to include:

tide to go pen, nips/mini alcohol bottles, breakfast bar, first aid kit, mirror, mini brush, tums, safety pins, 

The Little Things {Wedding Wednesday}

{Place Cards}

The place cards were picked to match the invitations and the table numbers matched the place cards.  I loved the ribbon on the table numbers.

{Entrance Table}

We had this long table at the entrance of the ballroom with plenty of little touches on them.

Florals to match the centerpieces, guest book (more below), a few signs, etc.

In the middle of the table (the gold plate) were hearts with "C & D" on them for people to write marriage and travel advice to us.

They were placed in the golden carriage.

 

{Guest Book}

I made our guest book on snap fish out of our engagement photos, leaving plenty of open room for guests to sign.  We also had a nice feather pen.  It makes for a great coffee table book to flip through every now and then.

 {Menu Cards}

I love how a menu card adds to a place setting; A reception is the first time you can show off your new monogram so of course we had that at the top.

Derek and I also had some special touches at our tables like the Mr. & Mrs. forks.

{Flip Flop Basket}

One of the first things I look for at a wedding is for sure a wedding basket!

This girl does not keep her heels on all night so I knew this was a definite for our wedding.

I purchased a bunch of flip flops in our wedding colors from Old Navy in early spring before they got over picked for the season.  I tied the ribbon and a size on them early on and then just had to take the box to the venue the week before.

  

{Ceremony Extras}

At the entrance of the church we had bubbles as well as cute DIY tissue packs that I made for anyone who wanted them

 {Cigar Bar}

The ballroom connected to the gardens so we had access to them all night.  There was a little cigar bar set up for the gentlemen with personalized matches, cigar cutters, ash trays, mints and plenty of cigars.  A custom sign as well.

{Home Touches}

People were in and out of our house all weekend - we had friends stay Thursday, the bridesmaids stayed Friday and we had a late lunch and hangout on Sunday so I wanted a couple little touches.

{Mimosa Bar + Getting Ready}

Who doesn't love a mimosa bar?! Especially on wedding day.  We had a few variety of juices and plenty of champagne. 

In addition to my parents' house looking fabulous; My mom had cute little touches all over.

{Groom's Cake]

Okay, so not part of the wedding but I couldn't not share.  I love love love cake, Derek not so much but I knew from the start I was doing him a great groom's cake that he'd love. They were everything I wanted and more! The bakery accidentally put the Yankees symbol on the baseball cake instead of the Mets but I didn't care, they looked fabulous, it was a funny story and I was getting married the next day!

This post was getting a little lengthy so I decided to save the ladies room baskets and bridesmaid survival kits how-to's for another day.  Keep an eye out for that in the upcoming weeks or so.