Final Diary of a Bride – Wedding Day Recap

Diary of a Bride to Be by Lauren (Cooper) Ricciardelli

Today is officially 30 days that I’ve been a WIFE!  With 30 days under my belt, I thought it was time to share the details of the day with you all!

First, the day was so much more than I ever could’ve imagined.  I was struggling a bit to get out of “planner” mode and into “bride” mode but my amazing team of girls took care of that for me – I didn’t worry about ANYTHING on my wedding day.  I can’t thank Mallory, Markia, Aly, Raina and Jenn enough for their amazing dedication and hard work.  People have not stopped talking about how amazing and on top of everything you all were!  🙂

Second, I was definitely more nervous than I had anticipated being and had butterflies in my stomach until I saw Eric. The most vivid picture in my mind is standing up in the mansion with my Dad, watching everyone walk down the aisle as we waited our turn.  I really got to soak in the moment and it will stay with me for the rest of my life.  One thing that surprised me – I can’t remember, for the life of me, hearing the music as I walked down the aisle with my Dad.  I know it was playing, but it’s truly as if you have tunnel vision and nothing else exists except for you, the aisle and your man. (And my Dad who kept me from walking way too fast!) I swore up and down that I wouldn’t cry during the ceremony (I’m not a crier) but I got choked up while exchanging rings. After the ceremony we did some quick family photos and then the bridal party went to a separate location for more photos.  (Which were REALLY fun)

We got to see the ballroom before we all the introductions and it was stunning.  Our key escort cards were perfect, the floral was even more than I imagined and everything was  truly like a fairy-tale! Cocktail hour was a blur but people were raving about the mashed potato bar! Service throughout the reception was incredible and everything went so smoothly.  If there was a problem, I didn’t know about it.  My team and the staff at Hotel du Pont took care of everything.  One of my favorite moments was when my Maid of Honor sang to me in her speech.  Again, I started crying – it was truly one of the most touching moments of my life!  After the band started doing their thing – I don’t think I sat down!  Everyone was up on the dance floor, shakin their booties!  It was phenomenal.  And the best part – at the end of the day, I was Mrs. Eric Ricciardelli.  Check out some of our sneak pictures that our photographer, Ron Soliman sent us THE NEXT DAY, as well as our highlights video by Branded Productions.  All of our vendors were so truly amazing, I can’t thank you all enough for your hard work and otherworldly talents!

Favorite Moments:

• Seeing Eric’s face as I walked down the aisle
• the speeches from my family and our friends
• singing with my best friend!
• the photo booth
• getting to see some of our pictures on slide show at the reception
• the BAND
• Parents Dances
• DANCING ALL NIGHT

Our amazing Vendors:

Ceremony~Brantwyn Estate

Reception~Hotel du Pont

Photographer~Ron Soliman

Video~Ed Sieders of Branded Productions

Floral~Sweet Peas of Jennersville

Planners~Private Receptions, Inc.

Plan B or C??

Diary of a Bride to be by Lauren Cooper

So it’s been a while since we’ve heard about my planning shenanigans.  This’ll be a long post.

This past weekend I had an absolute blast at my bachelorette party in Dewey Beach.  Shout out to my amazing sisters and friends that made it!  Before that though we had a minor crisis.  Last Tuesday I told my fiance to place a call to the tux shop and make sure we could pick up the tuxes that weekend.  Well, it’s a damn good thing he did because we almost didn’t have tuxedos.  Apparently, the gentleman who handled our order was very ill and passed away (condolences to his family and friends). However, the shop was left in disarray.  Keep in mind we placed our order back in February – they had NEVER PLACED OUR ORDER.  So my super awesome fiance came to the rescue, got all the money back (one groomsman was never even charged) and proceeded to go to a different tuxedo store.  I don’t have a clue what they look like on the guys but he got everything handled.  See why I love my man?  🙂

Then, after returning from a thoroughly relaxing and simultaneously exhausting weekend I discover that the floral we’ve had planned for the ceremony since OCTOBER are now not allowed at our venue. The plan was to have lanterns filled with florals hanging from shepherd’s hooks going down the aisle.  Apparently, we can’t pierce the grass any longer.  So I’m waiting to hear back from our venue coordinator to see if they can make an exception.  Seeing as how the tent company they so highly recommended sold our tent (rain plan C), our wedding is 10 days away, and we’ve paid a pretty penny for them to host our wedding, I think they can work with us.  After working with the venue for 15 months you would THINK that they would let us know about a policy change! I found out from my florist.  So back to my inspiration board I go to find more aisle decorations.  SO FREAKING ANGRY!

I know, I know I’m freaking out over something so minor.  But this has been planned for SO long and my florist really made my vision come to life so I’m more than a little disappointed.  I’m more disappointed in how the ceremony venue has handled us however.  Especially knowing that I’m a planner.  What happened to communication?

Updates to come!  10 days to go!

Seating Arrangements

Diary of a Bride to Be by Lauren Cooper

Last Wednesday our RSVPs were all due.  A week later, my seating arrangements are finished.  This is largely due to my obessive compulsiveness and stalker bride tendency.  The day after our responses were due, I scanned down our spreadsheet (my whole life is in a freaking spreadsheet right now) and immediately emailed our parents to hunt down the delinquent responses.  Some of the responses we got this weekend, and some we’ll NEVER get, but at least we have firm answers from everyone.

Once I’d had about 70% of the responces I started on seating arrangements.  Then, yesterday after two hours of creative arranging, and some input from my Moms, I finished.  I have to admit, I’m kind of impressed with myself.  And even though I started out using that really cute DIY way of arranging people; in the end it was easier (and more eco-friendly) to use my spreadsheets.  Not as cute looking, but clean and easy to read.  And now I say, YAY ME!

This morning I sent the whole list off to the woman printing the escort cards.  Still left to do:  welcome bags and table numbers.  Feeling good about it all! 🙂

Welcome Bags

Diary of a Bride to be by Lauren Cooper

Most of our RSVPs are in and hotel reservations have been made.  So this weekend we got started on a project that I’ve been dying to tackle.  The welcome bags.

First order of business was to get the bags, of course.  These I ordered from Bags & Bows, however, there are plenty of websites that sell them wholesale (even Amazon does!).  Then I decided to make mini hangover kits, so ordered first aid refills of Advil and Pepto Bismol along with Purell wipes on Amazon.  Have I mentioned how much I love them?

On Sunday we made the trip to Costco for the food items. (Which by the way, was much more manageable due to it being Mother’s Day morning!) We stocked up on mints, granola bars, crackers, goldfish…and now our spare room is overflowing with boxes of food.  It’s a little overwhelming.  Later that afternoon we stuffed around 36 bags within 20 minutes or so.  After which, we both looked at each other and said, “Well, where are we putting these?”  I get the feeling our living room will be littered with gift bags before the wedding.  😦  Oh well; it’s for a good cause, right?  For now, they are stacked in between the rest of the boxes in our spare room aka Wedding Room.  Oh boy.

In other news:  the fan programs are finally finished!!  On to the menus!

Bridal Brain

Diary of a Bride to Be by Lauren Cooper

It’s official!  I have Bridal Brain…that epidemic that eventually affects all brides as their wedding day hastens towards them.  For those that don’t know, Urban Dictionary defines this as “A less invasive, but more expensive version of a frontal lobotomy. Experienced by most brides, as they enter a catatonic state which renders them incapable of sustaining any thought or conversation that does not involve cake, caterers, flowers, wedding dress designers, Chinese wedding dress knockoff designers, updo’s, hair pieces, color schemes, wedding themes, and personalized M&M’s.”

Admittedly, I’m NOT this bad.  I AM, however, suffering from that nagging, never-ending feeling that I have something to do- but I can’t remember what it is.  I’m putting reminders on my phone, they go off, and 5 mins later I’ve forgotten them.  And I’m pretty much in a constant state of distraction and fatigue.  Yes, this is bridal brain.

I know, I know, “Don’t sweat the small stuff”, “Focus on you and your future husband”, I’ve heard it all.  Most likely because I’ve WRITTEN the same mantras in my previous Manic Monday posts.  And believe me, I get it.  But I’m a WEDDING PLANNER planning my own wedding!  Yes, a detail-oriented, goal-focused, organized (albeit forgetful at the moment) perfection obsessed wedding planner; so excuse me while I freak out over finding frames for the table numbers.  I need  a shot.  Or a spa day.  Or something.  I swear I’m not a bridezilla.

Oh and can I tell how frustrating it is to get RSVPs with no name and no return address?  EPIC.

To my future husband, I love you and your endless patience and I truly can’t wait to start the rest of our lives together.  I’m sorry I’m nuts.  Now, if you’ll all excuse me…I have a timeline to work on 🙂

Manic Monday TOO Manic today!

Dear Readers,

We offer our apologies as our Manic Monday got a little too manic here at PR!  Tune in next week for a fresh new article! 

PS Diary of a Bride is back in business tomorrow

…Paper, Scissors!

Diary of a Bride to be by Lauren Cooper

Forgive me if I’m dwelling, but these programs are truly consuming most of my bridal stress for now.

  Since we last spoke, even the professionals at Office Depot were having trouble printing the paper.  As of Friday, they were able to get 143 of the first page and 142 of the second page.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that 90 pages jammed.  Back to Paper-Source I went to order more of our special paper which should arrive today.  Plus, (here’s my customer service plug) they even said they wouldn’t charge us for our additional copies since it was their machine that was having an issue.  🙂

The tedious part is cutting the panels out.  Last weekend my mom, Future Hubs and my step dad spent an hour cutting the first three panels and got 10 or done.  This past weekend, I think we got  up to 25…of the first three panels.  So they’re not even 25 complete programs.  Ugh.  I’ve begun recruiting my friends for cutting parties since it’s such a slow process. 

In other wedding news:  Rsvps are coming in steadily!  Travel to the ceremony site has been arranged for out of town guests without cars AND we even had to reserve additional rooms in our hotel block!  🙂

April Showers

Diary of a Bride to be by Lauren Cooper

This weekend I had my second dress fitting, so we went home to Maryland.  As an added bonus, we were headed to my grandmother’s house under the ruse of a makeup party, when in fact, it was a shower for me!  I was happy and shocked to see cousins and great-aunts that I hadn’t seen in quite a long time.  We spent a nice afternoon at Nana’s playing games, opening gifts and eating yummy finger sandwiches!  Thanks to my mom, my sister and grandmother for a such a nice day!

DIY Update:  We tried printing the programs using mom’s laser printer, since ours wouldn’t grab the thick card-stock.  We got a few done, but then the printer decided it didn’t like the paper anymore.  So, I dropped the rest off at Office Depot today…and even they were having jamming troubles, so keep your fingers crossed!

Bonus, we got our first three RSVPs in the mail today!!! 🙂

My DIY life

Diary of a Bride to Be by Lauren Cooper

A few months ago I decided that I would get a little crafty with the wedding and make some things myself.  At first I drew a feather motif to go with our “modern vintage romance” theme, and decided to make four panel fan programs.  Then I decided that I could print and cut the escort cards myself  because, well they’re pretty easy.  Then I added the menu cards, and the favor cards and, oh, we’re doing welcome bags too! And then the magnitude of printing and very meticulously cutting really hit me.  Someone please tell me what I was thinking?  Did I mention that in the middle of all these projects I’m running a business? 

After running errands all day on Saturday, I frantically started printing our favor cards and recruited the future hubs to help out.  I used the exact-o knife while he used the paper-cutter.  He was finished before me – scrapping the exact-o knife idea.  Then I tried to print the menus but we would up getting paper that had a watermark on it by accident and now I have to return it.  Grrr. Because I felt like I needed to keep going, I printed the RSVP card labels instead.  I tried to do more but FH intervened and told me that I have more than enough time to get all of this done.  I disagree.

 AND to top it all off, we have to assemble and send out the invitations by April 2nd.  Which was also a subject of debate since FH wanted to send  them by the end of March and I wanted to send on the exact two month mark.  He didn’t like it when I said if we sent them too soon, we’re less likely to get a timely RSVP.  So April 2nd is our compromise. 

In an effort to save my frazzled brain, I started running again which helps relieve some of my nervous energy.  And invested in a rotary cutter.  🙂

Invitation Arrival

Diary of a Bride to Be by Lauren Cooper

We got our invitations in the mail yesterday!  But not without some heart dropping drama, first. 

Alicia, from A&P designs told me last Monday that our invites had shipped and that we should expect them on Thursday (3/1).  Since we had plans to go skiing this past weekend, I arranged for our awesome neighbors to look out for them and bring them to safety.  Thursday and Friday came and went without their arrival. Finally, on Saturday upon hearing from our neighbor that they still hadn’t come, I contacted Alicia who tracked the package for me.  Apparently, the Post Office “left a notice” on Wednesday stating that it required a signature.  Well, this “notice”  must have been from the wizarding world of Harry Potter because IT WASN’T THERE.  Fuming, I attempted to call the post office and guess what?  They were already closed.  And the automated lady that I tried to give my tracking number to was deaf to my requests. 

Needless to say, the fiance and I both started to panic, thinking the post office would return the package to Florida, from where it came.  Worrying, I called my Mom, even though there was nothing that we could do until Monday.  My ever humorous step father reminded me that “the Post office is probably too lazy to return the package.  They’ll hold it for you”.  Mom also assured me that unlike UPS or FedEx, the P.O has records of our mail and address and know that we live there.  And they were both right.  After calling early Monday morning, I told the P.O woman that we would be in to pick up the package later that afternoon.  And they were still there! 🙂  The box looked like it had been attacked by a dog but the invites inside were more beautiful than I had imagined!!  Now to assemble and send out! 🙂  Special thanks to A&P Designs!