Valentine's Day Shower

My friends Chris and Sharon hosted such a fun and lovely shower for me at Hank's house! I was so happy that so many of my friends were able to make it over (it being Valentine's Day and all), and that such a great time was had by all!

One of my coworkers at the aquarium made gorgeous cookie favors, and there was a make-it-yourself Valentine card station setup with the cutest bits of ephemera!

And my friends were so generous, between contributing to Honeyfund, and the coolest, cutest, most charming household goodies from our Anthropologie registry! So lucky to have such amazing friends... Thank you, guys!

The Ring

Jason encouraged me to choose wherever I most wanted to look for the perfect ring, and we ended up in the Antique Jewelry Capital of California (at the very least), Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Viau Estate Jewelry is a small jewel box of a shop, located next to Tommy's (the best Chinese food, hands-down). I used to walk past Viau every day when I waitressed at Tommy's, and remember peering in to their display window to admire the various antique jewelry on display. Beautiful, high-end pieces, but since I didn't have a reason to actually buy anything, never actually stepped inside.

The lovely gal who ended up welcoming and helping us was the niece of the owner (and this being a small town, we of course ended up figuring out that her brother used to work at the aquarium, which is the usual game of six degrees of separation in this area!). And the second ring that caught our eyes was the most *perfect* ring.

The ring is a late Victorian piece, with a 2-carat dark blue sapphire, surrounded by a carat of old mine cut diamonds. Set in yellow gold, with the daintiest band (that is so thin and comfortable to wear that I actually sleep with the ring on!), it is the most exquisitely gorgeous and perfect ring I ever could have dreamed up!

Let there be cake!..

"Yes, honey, dinner includes spumoni ice cream for dessert (or vanilla for heathens). But, Pavlova cake!.."

A gorgeously decadent Pavlova cake from RosyCakes!

What is Pavlova, you ask? Wikipedia has one description, and Rosie the baker describes her creation as, "A meringue based dessert which we layer with fruit and whipped cream then drizzle with Belgian Chocolate ganache." 

The dessert got its name from a famous Russian ballerina, in the 1920s.

Anna Pavlova, a dancer so sweet
they named a dessert in her honor. 

And so we'll place the meringue-based miracle in the middle of the table for all to admire, and dig in for a taste along with Old Spaghetti Factory's tasty spumoni ice cream...

We're getting hitched at Voodoo Doughnuts!!

What's delicious and happy-making and comes wrapped in a perfectly-pink box? 

I am *delighted* to announce that we will be getting married at Voodoo Doughnuts (Voodoo Too, to be exact) on Friday, March 3rd.

We're looking forward to sharing photos from the world's coolest wedding ceremony site, that may include some gems like the following:

Photo borrowed from here. 

What will we find when we open our pink boxes on our wedding day?? (photo credit)

More details to come, but we couldn't wait to share the latest and GREATEST!

A couture-confection perfect for a courthouse wedding!

"Bliss Way Up" dress from Modcloth. 

I can't wait to slip this lovely frock over my head, along with a pair of vintage cotton gloves in pale blue, sparkly glitter Keds by Kate Spade, and one of a selection of fun headpieces.

Because who doesn't adore glitter shoes, and a dangly pair of gemstone earrings? 

I found the vintage gloves on Etsy, and they're the softest brushed cotton, with the sweetest scalloped detailing!

Still haven't settled up on which headpiece to go with, yet... What do you think?

Clockwise from top left: BHLDN Veil, Free People Veil,
J.Crew Short Tulle Veil, and Free People Birdcage Veil

Styrmir & Heiddis - I want my life to look like this, every day.

A bit of magic from Styrmir & Heiddis Photography

Once we'd chosen Iceland as our chosen destination to celebrate our formal union, we decided that we would invest in an amazing photographer to capture the moment and adventures on our first international trip as a wedded couple!

After posting on both TripAdvisor and Reddit forums for advice, I came upon Styrmir and Heiddis's website, and fell in love with the drama, the landscapes, and the relationships and emotions they captured in their portfolios. 

We'll spend six hours with the couple on Sunday, May 19th, and I can't wait!

A little bird(cage veil) gets lost, then found, on its way to the courhouse!

I couldn't believe my luck when I found the "Strewn Petals" birdcage veil on sale one fine day, on the BHLDN website (I won't admit to checking it compulsively for the perfect bits and baubles, but...).

Strewn Petals Blusher by Mint Lola

It was the perfect accompaniment to the retrolicious dress I'd found on ModCloth, for our upcoming courthouse wedding in Portland. It captures the romance and loveliness we're looking forward to.

Even the description, "A smattering of gems and florets adorns this veil without obscuring the beauty of the face." This is my dream world you're speaking of, BHLDN!

Not only was it the perfect veil (along with the pale blue vintage gloves and sparkly glitter Kate Spade Keds shoes), but it was 75% off (sale on sale). Clearly, this was the veil meant for me, in every aspect.

And then when I opened the shipping box, it was nowhere to be found.

Cue devastation (or some form of that feeling). I could've understood if I'd received a dreaded cancellation notice via email, but I had received a shipping notification, and twirled around in delighted anticipation when the box had arrived on my doorstep!

And then, yet another bit of happy serendipity. As I was moping about the loss, and finally had the courage to share my disappointment via FB and Twitter (how very millennial of me!), by sheer chance, a PR/Marketing manager with BHLDN happened to be sitting two rows in front of me at a conference in NYC -- and turned the whole sad sack situation into one of the coolest, happiest turn of events possible!

Kelly went to bat for me, contacting all of the BHLDN boutiques, and managed to track down the missing veil! Then she took it to the next level, letting me know BHLDN was gifting it to me, and that it was winging its way to me via UPS.

Christmas came early this year, and I've my new Christmas/BHLDN angel-elf, Kelly, to thank for it! Such a lovely story to share going forward, about one of my favorite lifestyle brands and companies taking it to the next level, and surprising me with the best customer service I've enjoyed!

They've earned a fan and loyal BHLDN evangelist for life...