Just In Case You Were Wondering

I realized that after all of this time I've never written about our venue, Battery Gardens. We'll be having our ceremony outside (at least it's the plan...please pray to the weather gods for us) with the restaurant facing the New York harbor. While I love the water view (Mr. Swan and I are really coastal people), it does not have the "Va VaVoom" view of the River Cafe in Brooklyn (we looked there too), but I think it's pretty nonetheless.

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Above are some photos courtesy of Mrs. Firefly. (Thank you, Mrs. Firefly!!) If you look really hard in the photo on the left, you can see the Statue of Liberty.

In case of rain, we'll have the ceremony upstairs. I'm still thinking nice dry warm thoughts. The upstairs portion of the restaurant will also serve as our reception space. Since we're having a summer wedding, I wanted our guests to have the option to be able to have access to outdoor space to enjoy the sunshine, which they can enjoy on its lovely balcony. Here's the reception area set up for Mrs. Firefly's reception. It's my understanding that you might get them to budge with the setup and be a bit more creative. We'll see....

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We ended up picking Battery Gardens for many reasons:

1) We loved its sleek, modern look (Mr. Swan and I are definitely lovers of modern, clean lines).

2) The easy to access (The Staten Island Ferry and two subway lines are right next door) and very pretty location.

3) We didn't need to look at multiple places for a ceremony and reception, and we didn't need to look for a caterer (if you haven't realized I can be pretty lazy on the wedding planning front).

4) We didn't have to rent or bring in items (see above re: laziness).

5) The size of the space was right for the price (although we did compromise on a daytime wedding).

Were there any features that you were looking for your venue search?

By the way, here is a link to another beautiful Battery Gardens wedding and another.

Let's Get Physical

I am a bride, which means like many other brides I am thinking about how I will look on the big day. I will say that I eat pretty healthful foods. We eat/keep wholesome nutritious food around the houses.  When I don't eat well, my body starts getting angry at me (and I can feel it). The hardest thing for me has always been incorporating exercise into my daily life. While paying for the gym is usually a motivator, I have been known to go extended periods of time letting my membership go. 

This year I've got even more challenges to staying on the healthy food and fitness track. Starting in January I have been travelling every week for work and I am away about 2-3 nights per week. I travel with my co-workers who are two dudes who definitely don't need to fit into a mermaid-esque wedding dress in several months. Try attempting to figure out what's healthy on a McDonald's menu (apparently the Sausage Egg McMuffin isn't that bad) or eating way too much bar food. 

I'm still struggling to figure out how to stay on sort of system. I've been illicting the help of my friend, Jillian.

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I've been doing the 30 Day Shred like so many other people off and on for the past month or so. I even was working out with a trainer for a few sessions (the gym had a sale so, why not?).  I'm still struggling though between the traveling each week and stuffing what little free time and errand running into the weekend with some exercise thrown in. 

At this point, I'm not going to be obsessed about weight loss, but just maintaining what I've got. I think the best way to think about this is not to think about losing weight for the wedding, but rather learning healthy habits and better life balance as I enter a new phase. Yeah, okay...looking great wouldn't be so bad either.  

Any suggestions for how to stay in shape during this busy, demanding time?

I'm Thinking Flat

Shoes.

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Nine West

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Steve Madden

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J. Crew

How about these?

I knew I wanted flat shoes because Mr. Swan is my shorty...literally..Hee hee! :) I didn't want to be super taller than him on the Big Day. 

My feet get hot in the summer, so sandals were definitely the way to go. 

The bling..well..hey, everybody got to get the bling on somehow. :)

Anybody else wearing flats?

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Stag(ette) or Forget About It!

In the U.K., they call them stag (men) and hen (ladies) parties. I think it's similar in Canada, eh? What I am referring to is a bachelor/bachelorette party. The ever on the ball Mr. Swan already has his planned...sigh. I, on the other hand, am struggling with whether or not to even have one.

I am not sure if I'd like to have the tradtional wild night on the town. I'm in my early 30's and now start to get crabby at around 1am (yes, I know...boo!). Also being me, I just have to have some standards:


1) No stripper - I did it once, and it was fun. I'm not sure if I'm ready for repeat performances.


2) I do want to be able to remember the evening the next day.


3) Since I love food, I'd love to have a meal thrown in there somewhere.


4) I do struggle with how relaxing I want the outing to be because I do want to chill out a bit with my homegirls.


One day while reading Daily Candy, which I hardly read enough, I came across what I would love for bachelorette party:

Soho House NY's Pretty Party. The evening is for up to ten people and includes cocktails, dinner (with wine), two half-hour spa treatments for each person and our own exclusive space from 6pm-12am. Sounds like a plan to me! The only problem is well..this is Soho House, which is a very exclusive place in NYC's Meatpacking District (it's actually members' only club except for certain opportunities to rent out its space such as this one), and it will not come for cheap. I just can't ask my friends to drop a couple benjamins on a night out even though this sounds absolutely fabulous.


I'm still thinking about trying to find a way to incorporate food, maybe a spa thing, maybe some dancing, maybe something else (like a mechanical bull !!) into a nice evening with my friends. I'm also open to the idea of not having a bachelorette party at all. I'll live. I know I'm being a bad bride again, but sue me.


Any suggestions out there? What was the most fun bachelor(ette) party you've ever been to?

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I Think We've Got It

I think we've got the suit down!

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I promise, Mr. CPF, that I will not blog anymore about your outfit...okay, Mr. CPF? :) Well..okay..maybe not. :)  Shhh.....

Please Don't Stop...

THE MUSIC!!!

A big shout out to Rihanna, a fellow (beautiful) Caribbean woman, who is currently battling her own personal issues. I hope things work out...

Anyway, speaking of music, I've been putting this aspect of the wedding (particularly the reception) off because it's so dang daunting. I'm going to keep doing it some more too because there's so much to think about. We've got so many different tastes, ages and personalities of people coming to our wedding that it's going to be a whopper of a task to make sure to include all the types of music that will appeal to as many people as possible. Right now off the top of my head I can think of the following musical styles being played during the reception alone:

soca - a very fast Caribbean music that's fun to dance (and jump up) to primarily for me, my Caribbean friends and family

(the picture above is of Machel Montano a huge soca star. This man sold out Madison Square Garden two nights in a row..a rare feat, but island folks love their soca)

 Motown- for the older crowd

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Who doesn't love the Four Tops and other Motown artists? With songs like "Reach Out/I'll Be There" and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honeybunch)"  you're bound to want to at least hum some of these songs.

 

 What I like to call old school Italian wedding hits  for the New England Italian portion of Mr. Swan's family

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Maybe some Dean Martin singing "Volare" or "Luna Mezzo Mare?" 

  80's hits - for our friends to reminisce

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You have not lived until you've screamed "Living on a Prayer" at the top of your lungs...seriously....

Hip Hop and R&B - For me to get down on the dance floor!!

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Ms. "I'm Sasha Fierce" aka Beyonce Knowles. Mr. Swan likes the "Single Ladies" song, but don't tell him I told you or he'll be a bit embarassed.

All I can say is that our DJ will have a lot on his hands trying to do all of this, but he has assured us that they can mix a good set of music to keep everyone on the dancefloor even with our daytime wedding. I've warned some people already that I will be shaking my groove thing, but I hope they will too. I hope that they'll hear something new from a different genre of music or realize that they liked something they least expected. Our wedding is about mixing experiences, personalities and cultures (and that's just Mr. Swan and me!). I foresee this happening with the music too. 

Will you be playing various styles of music at your wedding, or are you more lucky than me and have guests with similar tastes? How are you planning on handling various musical preferences? Has anyone been to a wedding where the DJ did not play a variety of music? Was it more or less fun for you? 

Nitty Gritty

Hey there!

I'm back in my old chipper blogging mood :) Sometimes I think you just gotta let things out, so I am so glad that you all indulged me yesterday. Thanks for your support and kind words. ;)

I feel like there has definitely been a shift in the planning right now. It's time to figure out the nitty gritty. It's time to think about things like underwear, first dance songs, vows...oh my! I'm a bit...scared, worried, excited..really everything. I'm worried that there will be more than I can handle despite my lists and people ready to give a helping hand (that is..if I ask them. I love doing things myself..I'm a bad girl). I've got a crazy month ahead at work and lots of non-wedding related plans on the weekends. I think the details are also scary because they're ultimately what sets your wedding apart whether they be a beautiful DIY invitation or a gorgeous centerpiece.  Will my ideas workout? Will they be...good enough? When you spend so much time thinking and planning about this one day there's bound to be some of that doubt/crazy talk or whatever you want to call it. 

I've got the checklists and other documents, and I'm ready to go. I'm the "Little Wedding Train that Could." I think I can; I think I can; I think I can. :) 

How are you handling or did you handle the nitty gritty of wedding planning? Do you foresee anything getting in the way? Are you intimidated by the details of wedding planning?