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Joe and I met in Australia in August 2003. We got engaged on March 4, 2006. We currently live with our two furbabies, Murphy and Sydney.
We are getting married at St. Fidelis Roman Catholic Church in College Point, Queens and having our reception at The Royalton Mansion at Roslyn Country Club on October 6, 2007.
Church: St. Fidelis, College Point, NY
Reception: The Royalton Mansion at Roslyn Country Club
Band: The Caleps
Limos: Royalty Limousines, Franklin Square, LI
Dress: Stephen Yearick from Fontana Bridal, Scarsdale
Invitations: Sincerely Yours, Sayville, LI (Natural Impressions Invites)
Makeup: Tricia Catenaro (www.blumabeauty.com)
Hair: Stacy Pitt (www.stylesonb.com)
Photography/Videography: Duet (Sam�s Team)
DOC: Christine, Exquisite Affairs (www.exquisiteaffairsproductions.com)
Monogram (above): NYC Knottie Jkrum!
The happy couple!
The Proposal!! Joe proposed at my bellydance student showcase that I organized for my students. At the end of the show, Joe, who had been learning to play the doumbek (middle eastern drum) and I performed a drum solo, in which he played and I danced. After our performance (which was a hit!) Joe grabbed the microphone and proposed in front of all our family and friends (and some strangers � there were about 150 people there!). Luckily, the show was being recorded, so we have it all on tape!
I was in shock!!
Still in shock��.
The ring!!! The setting was my grandma's engagement ring. Fi put a new diamond in the center. It's so unique, I love it!
Better pic of the ring � from our e-pics photo shoot
Here are some of our engagement photos. Knottie lrbwell�s Fi (actually, her DH now!) was the photographer. He was great! They live in Germany now, so he�d probably be unavailable for other knotties e-pics!
This is the picture we used for our Thank You�s for e-presents.
Since Fi is from California, we had two engagement parties. The first one was the NY one, in May of 2006. The second was the California one, in December 2006. (Pics below)
Here are my parents (next to me) and Fi�s parents (next to him).
Our e-party cake. No one wanted to eat our heads!
My Bridal party. From left to right: FSIL (BM), friend (BM), friend (BM), me, cousin (MOH), friend (BM), friend (BM), and friend (BM).
This is Fi and I with his Granddaddy and step-grandma.
FBIL, Fi, Me, FSIL.
Fi with most of his groomsmen. From left to right: FBIL (GM), Fi, friend (BM), friend (GM), cousin (GM).
This is my future niece, also our flower girl. She was playing with bubble wrap from one of our engagement presents. She�s a lot bigger now, and will be 3 � years old for our wedding.
Here are both of our families � from left to right: top row - my dad, my mom, Fi�s grandma, Fi, FFIL, FBIL, future niece, FSIL; bottom row � me and FMIL. The random doll and Elmo in the picture are not related to me.
More recent picture of my future niece, with Fi. This was on our family trip to Maui this past February.
Me and Fi in Maui (hey, that rhymes!)
This past Halloween. Fi�s rubber wig was the hit of the night. We rode the subway from Queens to Manhattan dressed like this. Only in NY.
Me, Fi, and the Best Man in Thailand this summer.
This is my Church. This is a REALLY old picture (from the 1950�s!) but it�s the only one I could find online. It still looks the same, though!
Our Reception Location - The Royalton Mansion
The ballroom
Cocktail hour is here.....
...and here. It�s one big room shaped like an L, so it�s hard to get it all in one picture.
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Favors for our e-party
These were the invites we used for our e-party - only our text was in cranberry and, well, they had OUR names on them!
These are our STD�s. We got the magnets from Magnet Street, and mounted them on cardstock where we printed more information about the ceremony and reception locations, and the hotel block. They looked really nice, but took us forever to finish!!
These are our invitations, from Natural Impressions. Yes, they are beautiful. Yes, everyone who gets them is calling and saying they love them. But NO � I do NOT think they were worth all the hassle and annoyance we had to go through with them! Not to bore you here with details, but let�s just say getting the names on the tubes is not an easy task, they cost an arm and a leg to mail (on top of the arm and a leg you spent for the invitations, so basically you have no arms or legs left after you are through with these invites), and after 3 weeks, some guests still haven�t gotten them! But�putting on my best bride voice now�they are wonderful because they �set the tone for the event.� Yes, they do, actually. Stress. Stress is the tone for the event. ;-)
This is a mock-up of our centerpiece. Not all the fall flowers were in when we went, so our actual centerpiece will have a lot more burgundy in it. Please excuse the poor quality photos, I forgot to bring my camera (bad knottie!!) and only had my phone to take pics.
These are our favors. They are photo albums (full size ones, not those little ones where you can only fit one picture on a page � these are much more useful, IMO.). These favors were such a pain to wrap � my mom, her friend and I did them all by ourselves (my mom and her friend did most of them). Of course we have the obligatory bundle of five Jordan Almonds on each favor, also. Since Fi is not Italian and neither are most of our guests, my mom wanted to include a poem she found on the Knot explaining the significance of the almonds. I never knew this either, but apparently they symbolize health, wealth, happiness, children and long life. I just thought they tasted good�. :-). Page me on the NYC knottie board if you would like me to email you the poem.
Our OOT boxes. Inside the boxes are: granola bars, chocolates, pretzels, gum, two personalized water bottles (DIY � page me if you want the template), other assorted snacks, and a booklet with the timeline for the weekend, a map of the area and a list of things to do.
Slipper baskets for the reception.
Card box. It was a plain cardboard box and my mom�s friend wrapped it in fabric and decorated it.
I definitely want leaves on our cake, to go with the whole �fall� thing. We are going with the design on the right, but with the coloring of the cake on the left (cream colored cake). Our cake is going to be chocolate with raspberry and cr�me filling. I tasted it and let me tell you, it is GOOD!!!
The girls finally all decided on a dress!! It�s beautiful and looks great on all of them. It is a Bill Levkoff design; strapless with trumpet skirt. The BMs will be wearing it in wine, with a champagne sash, and the MOH will wear it in wine, with a taupe sash.
  
One of my lovely BM�s struttin� her stuff in the dress. This is the taupe sash that the MOH will wear. The champagne sash is lighter (more like cream).
  
Here�s my MOH in her dress. Excuse the quality of the pictures, it was taken with a camera phone.
Shoes for the BM�s and MOH. I got them at Target for $18.00 each (they were $19.99 and I had a 10% coupon. Score!)
 
This is my mom in her dress. She looks beautiful in it! The pictures don�t do the dress any justice (camera phone again) � it is so sparkly in person!
This is my after-party dress. We are having a Middle Eastern themed after-party, complete with bellydancers, a Middle Eastern band, hookahs, pillows on the floor, etc. I didn�t want to wear my big poufy dress for it � too hard to sit on the floor with, and I don�t want it to smell like hookah smoke! I got this dress, in white, from Jessica McClintock. It�s super comfortable and very sexy!
 
Here I am in the after-party dress. Pardon the no-make-up and messy hair. I couldn�t wait to try it on!! It�s WAY to long, so it needs to be hemmed, but other than that it fit pretty well right out of the box! If anyone is interested in ordering from Jessica McClintock, rest assured that they have super fast delivery and you won�t have to wait long!
 
Here are some pics of my wedding band. I will be wearing it by itself on my left hand, and moving my e-ring to the right hand, like in the picture. I thought the shape of the e-ring was too unique to try to make something to fit around it, so I am just moving it instead.
Fi just ordered his titanium band online, from www.titaniumstyle.com. It is beautiful!! I highly recommend this website � fast service and great quality! This is the picture from the website � Fi�s ring, only the titanium edges will be polished, with the brushed platinum inlay (in this picture, the entire ring is polished).
This is Fi�s ring, on Fi�s hand!! Aaackk! It�s crazy seeing him with a wedding ring on!!
     
Hair trial with Stacy Pitt. I LOVE the way my hair came out. Unfortunately, my hair will NOT hold a curl, so it only looked like this for about five minutes. I will be getting extensions for the day-of, and she will curl my hair around the extensions to make sure it stays curled the whole night. Stacy is great! I love her � she�s cutting and coloring my hair from now on, too!
  
Make-up trial with Tricia Catenaro. I loved the way my make-up came out, and my mom�s too. Tricia was really sweet, too. Tricia took before and after photos for me � the before is SCARY!!!
My shower was a complete surprise! My mom had two friends �book� me for two bellydance performances that day � I thought I was dancing at a bridal shower in the afternoon and a birthday party in the evening. I showed up at the bridal shower in my costume, got all ready to dance, put the music on, made my grand entrance, and�.it was MY shower!! My family and friends were all there yelling surprise! At first I was so confused, but then I realized what was going on. My mom had even planned a fake �birthday party� for my dad the next weekend, to throw me off. It worked! I was sure that my shower was the next weekend. I could not have been more surprised!  
Here�s my reaction as I came in and realized what was going on!
Me and my lovely BMs (minus Fi�s sister, who couldn�t come out from California)
My aunt, my cousin (MOH), me and my mom.
The lingerie clothesline my BM�s gave me � this was Fi�s favorite gift!
Of course you have to have a bow hat!
My girls took me for a weekend in South Beach, Miami, FL for my bachelorette party. It was awesome!! We kept calling it �spring break for old people.� We partied like rock stars (actually, we were more like college students!). I had a great time � my girls really pulled out all the stops and we all had a blast!
We had only been in South Beach a few hours and we were already drunk at Mangos!.
 
First night out at Club Space; me and my MOH/Cousin
Day two!
Dinner at Sushi Samba
 
Drunkeness at Pearl
It was a long weekend!!
For our honeymoon, we are going back to where it all began � Australia! We are first going to the Whitsunday Islands � 4 nights on Hamilton Island, and 4 nights on Long Island. Then it�s off to Sydney for 3 nights before heading home.
  
Stop number one is the Beach Club on Hamilton Island.
  
Stop number two is Peppers Palm Bay on Long Island. On our trip to Australia when we first met, one of our stops was another resort on Long Island (Crocodile Club � much more of a �party� atmosphere there!). I remember, on our catamaran trip to Whitehaven beach, we passed the other side of the island and saw these little huts on the beach. I thought to myself that those huts looked so peaceful and relaxing, and that I had to go there one day. And now we are!
Our days in Long Island were also the first days that Joe and I really started getting to know each other, so it�s really cool how we are coming full circle and going back there for our honeymoon. We are planning on visiting the Crocodile Club and having a drink or two where it all began.
 
Stop number three is the Sydney Harbor Marriott in Sydney.
Our happy little family�.me, Fi, Sydney and Murphy (Christmas Card 2006)
 
Both of the babies � Murphy is the big boy, Sydney is the baby.
I mean, aren�t they just the CUTEST little things EVER???.
5/19/07 � Brunch at Essex
 
6/11/07 � The Boat Basin
 
9/17/07 � The Bohemian Beer Garden
Joseph, if for some odd reason you are reading this, stop scrolling down right now!!
I mean it! Stop scrolling!!
Dress pic below��
This is a picture of my dress scanned in from Brides magazine (there were no pictures of it online for a while). It�s a 2008 design from Stephen Yearick. It is totally different from what I thought I was going to get. I love it!!
~Trying on the sample in the store~
~MY Dress! (It�s finally here!)~
Although I was very excited to hear that I lost a lot of weight from the time they measured me to now, I was a little bummed that the dress was so big on me. Especially bummed that the dress was HUGE in the chest area (NOT where I wanted to loose the weight!). I will start my fittings soon, so hopefully they can fix all that!
~Final Fitting!!!~
This is it!! The final fitting, bustle and all!! The dress fits perfectly now, Anna, my seamstress, did an AMAZING job. Although, it is rather impossible for me to take deep breaths now, and I can�t lift my arms above my shoulders. But hey, that�s the price you pay for having an insanely heavy dress that fits, right?! ;-)
~Boudoir Pics!~
These are just a few of my (ok-for-the-internet) boudoir pics, taken by Tony Yang (http://intime.knsaber.com/). These have yet to be photoshopped, so there is still some work to be done� things like tan lines and crow�s feet need to be removed. ;-) . Tony was super nice and fun to work with. He made me feel very comfortable and at ease. I highly recommend him to anyone interested in taking boudoir photos.
Ok, now all my nosy BM�s need to stop scrolling!
Seriously, girls, STOP SCROLLING!!
BM gift pics below��
I got the girls the �Urban Honey Fusion� Furla bag from bluefly.com. I would highly suggest bluefly.com for BM gifts � you can find amazing sales. Also, be sure to do a google search for �bluefly promotional codes� before you purchase � I found a code for 15% off online and was able to save an additional $95!
I also bought these sets for the girls for their day of jewelry. The pearls are a �merlot� color, which is the exact same color as their dresses.
I also bought the BMs their shoes, which are above.
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