Wedding Photo Sneak Peek

Mr. Marshmallow and I just got back to work yesterday and let me just tell you things have been crazy so I don't have more time to comment on these sneak peek pictures our photographer, Jen Good sent over. I am just so happy with these that the only word that comes to mind right now is, "Wow!" These are better than I ever could have imagined. I just can't wait to see all the fun group photos and family pictures.

It is official!

I am officially Mrs. Marshmallow! It was the most amazing weekend of my life. I spent three fantastic fun filled days with my wonderful friends and family. Somewhere in the middle of it all I made a commitment to my best friend that I will spend my life with him. Wow, that's a big deal!Now some time for fun in the sun... off to Hawaii! We will be back in a week but here's a little taste from our big weekend. More to come!

Sole Support

Yep these are my wedding shoes! I lurve them :) I originally want to go with the cutest ballet slippers but after finalizing the wedding weekend itinerary, there was no way they were going to hold up the whole time (plus, I can't wait to wear these after the wedding.) Actually, these shoes might be even more appropriate for the craziness that is about to ensue:

I know I always wonder what a bridal party has been up to the whole day, so here is our timeline:

Friday-

4:00pm Rehearsal

5:00pm Rehearsal dinner

Saturday

8:30am Hair and Makeup Begins

11:00am Getting ready pictures

12:30pm Lunch

12:45 First look with Mr. Marshmallow

1:00pm Bridal party pictures

3:45pm Family Pictures

4:45pm Head to Ceremony Site

5:00pm Ceremony Site Pictures

5:30pm Relax!

6:00pm Time to get married!

6:30pm Family Pictures part II

7:15pm Dinner

8:30pm Cake Cutting and First dances

9:00pm Time to cut a rug!

11:00pm After party

Sunday

10:00am Brunch and Relax

Monday

9:00 Leave for Honeymoon

This is going to be such an amazing weekend!

Road Trip

I'm packing for a road trip. "Where are you going" you ask. Why to pick up my wedding dress of course. Oh yes, and I will be picking up Mama Marshmallow, Aunty Marshmallow and cousin/bridesmaid Marshmallow on the way back up. I've also created a road trip song play list to conquer the hours and hours of open road. Here is a sample of my wedding road trip soundtrack:

There's One In Every Crowd- Montgomery Gentry

What Happens in Vegas- Katy Perry

Toes- Zach Brown Band

It Happens- Sugarland

Single Ladies- Beyonce

I Gotta Feeling- Black Eyed Peas

Is there anything I'm missing from my play list?

Just a little update

Just a little tid bit of what we have been up to. Thanks for everyone's help on the programs and placecards!

Getting Glam!

Tommorrow, I have my hair and makeup trial! I have all my hair accessories, veil, necklace, earrings and my really adorable fabric flowers barrettes ready for my appointment. I still have not decided what to do with my hair, but hopefully she will give me some ideas. This is the fun part of wedding preparations, getting all glamed up! I'll post pictures next week!

Miss Marshmallow's Day Off

Planning a wedding is exciting, exasperating, exhilarating and exhausting. UN peace negotiations can seem like child's play in comparison to the fancy-dancing required with the invitation list the seating chart etc. Some days, I want to pull the covers over my head then run away and elope.
Add in balancing the budget and aligning my 'vision' with the reality in the bank account and Mr. Marshmallow's 'vision', that drive-through wedding window in Vegas starts looking pretty promising.

I think it is time for a vacation from the wedding. One day just wedding free. With the long weekend ahead I am going to try to fit that in. While it will be going against every grain in my body that says "Don't forget to do this, call this vendor or print that sign" I think it will be good in the long run. See ya'll next week!

Forget me not!

Life has been a tad bit crazy lately. From daily emails and phone calls from wedding vendors, to seating charts and last minute projects (My vows can't be printed on normal paper!, I need something borrowed!), I can't seem to remember anything unless I write it down. Either that or I remember it at 2am in the morning. My to do list keeps getting longer not shorter!

This week I have forgeten my lunch, to take my laptop to work (yes I do need that everyday) and I seem to keep forgetting which day of the week it is. I have started making daily reminders in my cell phone and emailing my self to do's. Do you have any tricks to remember of a million things to do?

Let's Dance!

Since the beginning of our engagement Mr. Marshmallow have been going back and forth on our first dance dong. We are pretty big into music and we wanted to find a song that had the right words, felt like a good fit for our relationship and that we actually could "dance" to. This has proven to be more challenging that I thought.

Now that the one week count down is on here are the finalists:

You and Me- Dave Matthews: Not only is Mr. Marshmallow a huge fan of DMB but one of our first trips was to see DMB at the Gorge in Washington. Not to mention this is one of Dave's happy songs about a relationship (very rare!)

I'm Alive- Kenny Chesney and Dave Matthews: Mr. Marshmallow and I love country music . Kenny Chesney coupled with the love of DMB above makes this song a top contender.

Chicken Fried- Zach Brown Band: As previously stated, we love country. Not only have we belted this song out on numerous road trips, but it has a simplicity about life and love that speaks true to us.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow- Israel Kamakawiwo Ole': This song is posted on our website. Mr. Marshmallow and I love the very laid back style of this song; however it is extremely difficult to dance to!

The Way You Look Tonight- Frank Sinatra: This song is just a classic. It conveys many of the emotions that we will be feeling that evening, but if you notice it is also on Daddy Marshmallows Mix tape :)

Which one will come out on top? I have a feeling it will be a game time decision :)

Out of Office... Almost

Today is September 1st. We are now officially in the month of the wedding. 18 days left and 60 things left on the our to do list. Guess we better start crossing things off!

My Mix Tape

Daddy Marshmallow made me a mix tape! I asked him to pick out a song for our father/daughter dance but he picked out 18 of them. How cute is that! They are some pretty great songs too. While I only plan to play one for "our" dance, I have some music to get ready too. Thank you Daddy Marshmallow! Here are some of the songs on my mix tape:

My Girl- Temptations

She's in love with the boy- Trisha Yearwood

Your love is lifting me higher- Jackie Wilson

Walk the Line- Johnny Cash

I left my heart in San Francisco- Tony Bennett

Ain't no woman like the one I got- Four Tops

Baby love- Supremes

Mr. Blue- Fleetwoods

Simply irresistible- Robert Palmer

Come monday- Jimmy Buffett

Crazy little thing called love- Queen

Livin on Love- Alan Jackson

Fling Before the Ring Recap

I truly have the most amazing friends and family.

That deserved its own line.

Where do I even start to talk about how much fun and memories I had this weekend. I guess from the beginning :)

On Friday, my MOH and I spent the most relaxing day at the Spa. The weather was gorgeous the entire weekend, which for the city isn't exactly the norm. We met up with a few friends for an alfresco dinner on Belden Lane and went to bed about hours of talking. Oh did I mention my MOH got us a room at a super lux downtown hotel. I love staying in hotels and since I live here I never get to stay in them.

On Saturday, we met up with the girls for a fantastic outdoor brunch. Did I mention the weather was fabulous! Mimosas and waffles are such a nice way to kick off a day. I really should do that more often. After that we headed to a super cute nail place and all got manicures and pedicures. We told relaxed, told stories, laughed and had our toes painted.

After some window shopping (okay real shopping) we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening of festivities. My future mother and sister in law got me a gift certificate to get my makeup done. I was looking hot! Mr. Marshmallow was sad he missed it!

We taxied over to one of the girl's apartments where all the girls had made all my favorite foods for dinner. Gooey Mac and cheese, delicious seven layer dip, brownies and the list goes on! We played games, one in which Mr. Marshmallow had videotaped his answers and I had to guess what he was going to say. He did such a good job! He made me cry tears of happiness.

My MOH did such a fantastic job! She made cute bags for every girl and I had tons of cute bachelorette things to wear all day! I had a boa, a tiara and sash and among other things!

After that we draped our boas around our shoulders, strapped our dancing shoes on and headed out on the town! We had bottle service at a swanky downtown club and danced til closing!

I spent the Sunday recovering and trying to remember all the crazy moments but had lots of yummy leftovers to help with that. In addition, I opened the cards each girl wrote describing a memory we shared together. From good laughs during office hours, Christmas tree hanging, family holidays, and nights out, each memory made me so thankful for all the amazing women in my life. Because of each of you my life has been filled with love and laughter. I am so happy to spend my wedding day with you and share many more memories to come.

Dirty Thirty

In addition, to getting hitched Mr. Marshmallow, turns the big three zero next week. To honor the last days of being in his twenties, we had a surprise BBQ at Golden Gate park for him last weekend.




With a lot of help from the Marshmallow family we got him good. He had no idea what was going on! Oh and did I mention there was a bouncy house! You can see how much fun we had from the pictures.



The food was great, the weather was classic San Francisco overcast and a ton of our closest friends and family came to help us celebrate.


Mr. Marshmallow you are so cute. Can I just marry you today? I am so lucky I get to spend all your birthday's with you, big and small, from here on out. I love you so much!

Fling Before the Ring Weekend

It's here! Miss Marshmallow's fling before the ring weekend. Time to party! More details to come later.

The countdown is on!

Not to the wedding silly, to my bachlorette party! Not only do I get to see see all my favorite ladies but we have a full day planned from day until night. I don't know all the details but it is going to be so much fun I can hardly contain myself. Just look how cute this invitation is that my MOH sent out!

What is in a name?

For those who have not been to San Francisco city hall is it quite a beautiful building. Mr. Marshmallow made an appointment for us to go and get our marriage license at city hall last week. While we were just there to fill our paperwork, there were a handful of brides and grooms in various stages of marriage. Some nervous couples were waiting for the justice of the peace, some were already celebrating with their family in the hallway.

When our name was called, we went up to the counter and the clerk proceeded to process our paperwork. There at the bottom of the license, for the first time, all typed our was what is going to be my new married name. I was a little taken aback seeing it there, all official like.

I had decided early on that I was going to take Mr. Marshmallow's last name. For me, the decision was partly about conforming to tradition and partly about us becoming our own family. Talking to more of and more of my friends the decision to change your name once you are married is a very personal decision. You can keep your old name, hyphen your old and name, make your old name to your middle name and have your new name as your last name. Now a days there is no standard.

While I am very excited about starting our new family and figuring out a new signature (although I have never been any good at signing "M"s) I felt a little guilty about seeing my old name not there. I have been my old name for so long, who was this new Mrs. M? I guess I will just have to find out.

What a productive weekend!

Mr. Marshmallow and I had a whirlwind wedding planning weekend!

First we got our marriage licence, then we ordered our wedding rings, met with the coordinator, met with the photographer, had a date night, got my wedding shoes, made a huge "ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING WE NEED TO DO FOR THE WEDDING" to do list, and figured how much and when we need to pay all of our vendors. Oh and we even had time to wash Mr. Marshmallow's car.

I can't believe it is only a month away! Guess I better get writing those vows now huh?

Mr. Marshmallow goes to Austin

To recap on my previous bachelor party post, Mr. Marshmallow and his buddies went all the way to Austin, Texas for his bachelor party. The location was top secret until last minute and Mr. Marshmallow made it home safely without a scratch on him. I can't say the same for all the groomsman but I do appreciate you all taking one for the team.

In regards to his alternate persona, I must say Mr. Marshmallow had no choice in the matter to his name. He was consulted briefly after the decision was made. In fact, he was almost Mr. Meatball. Well his buddies found out about it and he got his very own Mr. Marshmallow T-shirt to wear around Texas! Thanks guys!

Memoria de Fiesta Mexicana

Well my Mexican fiesta bridal shower was even better than I imagined it would be. The food was delicious: homemade taquitos from my Auntie, fresh salsa from my cousin, and complete with the cutest chili pepper cake you have ever soon. We mingled, drank homemade sangria, played some fun shower games (You guys are hilarious!) and had a blast. We even had a veiled sombrero. Suggestions were that I wear this to the rehearsal. What do you think?

Mama Marshmallow and Sister Marshmallow did a fantastic job! Thank you to all those that traveled to be there and everyone who sent their well wishes. I love you!

This is Miss Marshmallow's niece, the youngest shower attendee. How cute is she!

45 day mark random thoughts

One of the reasons why I started to blog is because I want to remember this time in my life. I plan to print out all my postings and make a book so I will always remember how I felt and what I experienced. Most things I know I will look back on and laugh at how silly I was. Here are some of my current thoughts:

- I crave down time and sleeping in. No gym, no cooking, no weekend places to be. Just Mr. Marshmallow and me doing nothing.

-Cleaning my closet has become an issue b/c I just don't want to do it. Don't even ask about the dining room where all the wedding supplies are. It is dangerous in there!

- The bachlorette party is going to be a blast. I am so happy to spend time with my friends and family. And I have a reason to get all pretty. Now where did I put my dancing shoes?

- The wedding week will be amazing. I get to spend all this time with my favorite people in one place. Yay!

- We still need to get the wedding rings and I just can't decide. How do I pick something that I know I'll be happy with for awhile and whew that's a lot of money.

- I am over so DIY projects. What's done is done. Let's just enjoy the time together.

-I have no idea on what to do for a first dance song. I want it to mean something to us and also have appropriate lyrics for a first dance song. This is more difficult than I originally thought. Apparently we like odd songs.

-Our honeymoon will be the bomb. When I'm stressed, I picture us by our hotel pool with a yummy fruity drink or hiking in the rain forest. I am there right now :)

- I love Mr. Marshmallow more than ever. We have become closer and more honest with each other than we have ever been. We have even become mind readers. It's a little crazy. I don't think he really wants to know what is going on in my head.

Mexican Fiesta Weekend

While Mr. Marshmallow and the boys will be reeking havoc during the bachelor party weekend, I have the honor of having another bridal shower!

I will be heading down to so cal where my parents live to celebrate with the lower half of the state. The theme of the shower: A Mexican fiesta! Our fiesta will be complete with margaritas, homemade taquitos and guacamole.

I can hardly contain my excitement. Now what should I eat first?

!Vamos de fiesta!

Not at the table, Carlos!

If you haven't seen the movie The Hangover, it is also about a groom going on his bachelor party the week of his wedding. The hilarity that ensues can only be understood by watching it. It is crude, rude and so funny I almost peed my pants.

Yes, Mr. Marshmallow is going on his Bachelor party this weekend. No, I don't know where he is going. He doesn't know either. Am I a little worried? Of course. Is he going to have a great time, of course.

Just bring him back in one piece, preferably recognizable and with all his teeth, OK guys?

Dancing Queen

Mr. Marshmallow and I had a dancing lesson last night. Let me start this post by saying the dancing lesson was really more for me than him. I am so self conscious about moving to a beat, I don't even take aerobics classes at the gym. I don't mind dancing to fast songs, but slow songs are where I have no clue on what to do.

The lesson started off with the instructor showing us where our hands and feet went. This was huge! All of a sudden I wasn't stepping on Mr. Marshmallow's feet any more. Then we practice some basic shuffles and some turns. We went from Eighth Grade Dance (awkward!) to Dancing with the Stars in a little over an hour. I'm not even joking we learned how to do a dip! It helps that Mr. Marshmallow is a natural for this kind of stuff.

I now feel much more confident for our first dance... now we just need to agree on a first song!

OMG... I Heart RSVP's

Mr. Marshmallow and I only have one mail box key (it's a long boring story) so everyday when he comes home I run to him give him a big welcome and then I try to see if we have got any mail.Then Mr. Marshmallow proceeds to slowly sift through the catalogs and bills while I'm eagerly looking over his shoulder to see if there are any turquoise postcards hiding between the pages. There have been a few sad RSVP's (I will miss you guys!), I love reading the little notes and thinking about how much fun we are going to have at the wedding.

(Images courtesy Jen Good, our photographer and graphic designer!)

I saw the sign... answers

1) Where Mr. Marshmallow had our first date. Hint we both ordered Mint and Chip. SWENSONS

2) Site of Mr. Marshmallow's former habitation and quite a few infamous Halloween parties. 4TH and IRVING (STREET)

3) Built during the 1915 Worlds Fair and on a sunny day where Mr. Marshmallow and I often have a picnic and do a lot of people watching. PALACE OF FINE ARTS

4) The street where Mr. Marshmallow and I live. Hint look at your RSVP card. BRODERICK (STREET)

5) California's first state park and used to be just sand dunes. Also where Mr. Marshmallow ran our first half marathon together. GOLDEN GATE PARK

6) Formally an airstrip and where Mr. Marshmallow and I usually run a normal Saturday morning (and spy on all the doggies running around!). CRISSY FIELD

7) Street location where Mr. Marshmallow and I eat dinner many nights out of the week. Not a Hazelnut but a .... CHESTNUT STREET

8) A happy hour joint that Mr. Marshmallow and I go to frequently. HOBSON'S CHOICE

How many did you get right?

Addicted to wedding blogs!

I swore to Mr. Marshmallow that I would stop looking at wedding blogs, but I just can't. It's this horrible addiction I have during my lunch hour at work. The funny thing is now that I'm looking at the blogs, I am seeing stuff that I have already decided to do :) Here are a few weddings that I've come across and that I just love. See if you can pick out the things that I've have already blogged about or used.
( Image Courtesy of Style Me Pretty San Francisco Wedding At The Fairmont From Boutwell Studio)

(Image Courtesy Style Me Pretty- An Elegant, Shabby Chic Wedding, III)

(Image Courtesy Style Me Pretty-Rustic, Chic Wedding by Heather Kincaid, IV)

(Image Courtesy of Style Me Pretty- Rustic, Chic Wedding by Heather Kincaid, IV by Abby Larson)

With this ring

52 days left and the only thing that really that is "past due" on our to do list is to find wedding rings. I've been searching around and while I would love to have a princess cut eternity band, I do not love the price. What I do love is the matching shape stones. What do you think about these more realistic alternatives.

I saw the sign

Table signs are an easy place to add some personality to the reception site. Since San Francisco is where we met and live, Mr. Marshmallow and I decided that we could name our tables after significant places in San Francisco. I thought it would be fun to play a little matching game and have you match the clues of why each place was significant to us and the picture of each place. See if you can guess and I'll post the answers up tomorrow :)

Clues:

1) Where Mr. Marshmallow had our first date. Hint we both ordered Mint and Chip.

2) Site of Mr. Marshmallow's former habitation and quite a few infamous Halloween parties.

3) Built during the 1915 Worlds Fair and on a sunny day where Mr. Marshmallow and I often have a picnic and do a lot of people watching.

4) The street where Mr. Marshmallow and I live. Hint look at your RSVP card.

5) California's first state park and used to be just sand dunes. Also where Mr. Marshmallow ran our first half marathon together.

6) Formally an airstrip and where Mr. Marshmallow and I usually run a normal Saturday morning (and spy on all the doggies running around!).

7) Street location where Mr. Marshmallow and I eat dinner many nights out of the week. Not a Hazelnut but a ....

8) A happy hour joint that Mr. Marshmallow and I go to frequently.

Bridal Shower San Francisco Style

Whew what a weekend! Sunday was my first bridal shower held here in San Francisco (not to mention a ton of other fun nights out) It was held at the elegant Presido Golf Cafe and the sun was even out for the entire time. For those of you not familiar with San Francisco summers, the city has been blanketed with a thick, drippy, ugly fog for most of the past week.

I was a little nervous the entire week. What was I going to wear? Was I going to remmber everyone's name? Do I need to go around to all the tables? I knew how hard everyone had worked to make the shower special and I wanted to make sure they knew how grateful I was.

The day was filled with story telling, fun games, great food and amazing women. I can't thank the hostesses enough for such a fun party. Along with a so many thoughtful gifts, I even received some fun lingerie to wear after the wedding! For all the women in attendance, you each have shaped a part of who I am and have inspired me in countless ways. I love you all and will always remember how much fun we had on this day.

Now that's a way to make an entrance...

This grand entrance needs no intro. You just have to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0&feature=topvideos

Thanks FSIL (Future Sister In Law) for this!

Table Matters

I do have to admit that I've never really looked at table cloths before but I suddenly became giddy about the linens we are going to be using for the wedding reception and rehearsal dinner. FMIL (Future Mother in Law) has a contact at Napa Valley Linens and they are the most interesting and exquisite fabric designs I've ever seen. I am not going to tell you which ones we chose just quite yet :) but look how amazing these table clothes are! You can visit their website at http://www.nvlinens.com/gallery.php.

Funny Wedding Traditions

I am still not sure what the purpose of a garter is. I am not doing a bouquet toss so there is no corresponding male version necessary. I went to the Internet and tracked down this answer on a website:

The tradition of brides throwing their bridal garters is thought to date back to 14th century England when wedding guests believed owning a piece of the brides wedding dress would bring good luck. The brides dress was literally tore at and so, to keep the dress and themselves intact, they began throwing their bridal garters to the male guests. Sometimes the male guests would become rowdy and attempt to remove the garter from the bride themselves so it became custom for the groom to remove the bridal garter from his brides leg and throw it himself.

This explanation takes the cake. Does anyone know if this is even true? I've heard of a lot of funny traditions that go way back but this is a new one for me. Have you heard or come across any other funny wedding traditions?

I still just don't think I need a garter....

A picture is worth 1000 words

As you know from my earlier posts I love pictures! That is why having an excellent photographer was one of the most important things to me at our wedding.

Now that everyone has a camera these days, there are always tons of pictures from events and happenings floating around but they are not always shared with everyone.

For instance one of our good friends told us recently they were looking for a decent "couple" picture to use at their wedding but they could not seem to find any. I exclaimed "but I have tons of great pictures of you guys!". The problem being, that I have not sent any of these pictures to them. Now I pride myself on uploading photos, often to facebook or a photo sharing website. The problem with these sites is that you can only "view" the pictures and you don't have them for yourself.

The other great thing about personal pictures are they often tell the untold story or funny things that people did throughout the night and often do not come out until after the wedding is over.

As a solution, Mr. Marshmallow and I have decided to have a picture uploading station on site at the wedding. It will consist of our laptop which takes all kinds of memory cards. Our friends even have one of those card reader devices that is compatible with every digital camera memory card. Hopefully this way we can have all the pictures in one place so we don't miss a thing ;)