Next up is Jennifer – you may recognize some of her pictures from my sample album. She a bunch of things to share!

“When I think back to my wedding day, there really isn’t much I would change, mostly because I’ve basically been planning my wedding since I was in grammar school. My Priscilla of Boston dress was the first dress I tried on. I searched for many dresses after that, but I kept thinking the first one was “The One”. Then it came time for the veil. I had a harder time looking for the veil I wanted at the price I could afford than for anything else. After MONTHS of looking for a veil, I finally had to get one custom made at Vera Wang. It was so beautiful so I closed my eyes to ignore the price tag, but I loved it. My only regret is not being able to wear it the entire night. At least it’s getting a second use out of it, one of my friends is using it as her “something borrowed” this coming May.

Then my shoes….I knew no one would see my shoes, nor will I ever wear white shoes again, so I figured I’d look for a cheap comfortable pair I could get away with for one day. I mentioned it to my husband and he looked at me and started to laugh. He said he couldn’t believe that someone who wears designer shoes every day was looking for a cheap shoe to wear on her wedding day. But come on, more money wasted for one day?? Then I read somewhere that Manolo Blahnik made a white satin dyeable, so I took a trip to NYC to buy them. What a better way to get my money’s worth than to dye them another color after the wedding? Which is what I did, they are now black and I wear them to every dressy event!

I remember going downstairs to get ready to walk into the ceremony. I was super conscious about my husband and I not seeing each other before. I remember my father and I arm in arm getting ready to walk down the aisle. Right before they opened the doors for me, my father said “don’t forget! Step with the right foot first.” His way of still being the leading man in my life one last time. And then he stepped with his left. And I smiled to myself as the doors opened.

Picture taking was also a blur. I remember walking out to Copley Square, and it’s probably one of the only times I remember seeing Nancy and Kelly all night. They were AWESOME. I don’t know how they keep the masses on track in the chaos. I also remember Nancy on the ground in Copley Square taking one of our favorite photos with the Hancock. Did I mention Nancy was five months along with Jonah at the time? I remember telling her to get off the dirty ground!!

We had a black tie Boston-themed wedding. Almost all our guests travelled from all over the country and all over the world to come to it. I took care of every detail. The hotel gift bags had Boston-based goodies in them. We had done a little “travel guide” of Boston listing all our favorites eateries, things to do, secret public bathrooms along the freedom trail, etc. I had gotten some discount coupons from local businesses and museums. I wanted our guests to enjoy the city I live in.

Our menu cards were designed by a local artist and they were a watercolor scene of the Public Garden. All of our stationery was done by Arlene from Invitations & Company, and she was amazing. I will always use for any stationery needs, she was super nice and gave me beautiful products within my budgets. Our centerpieces were made by my husband. He took photographs of places we’ve been (which were the table names) and made them into hurricane candles that he dipped and molded himself. Since each one is a work of art of his, each table had a Boston-trivia game on it and the winner of the game got to take home the centerpiece. We see them in people’s homes still.

One of the things we had a lot of guests comment on was that every placesetting had a list of each guest and his/her relationship to me or my husband. People really enjoyed reading through it, and they said it made each of them feel special in some way, like they were truly part of our new combined lives and families.

Our signature drink was the chocolate martini (my favorite with a specific recipe). I am famous for drinking them. The Fairmont accomodated my recipe and they were served with the cake. That is where my guests said they fell off the wagon, they were so good.

Our band, Studio C, was wonderful. They had taken the time to learn songs that were special to us and even change the tempo to what we needed. My father and I waltzed for our dance and the band slowed down the tempo of the song we wanted so we could use it. They even surprised me by singing our last song live (they had learned it in a week) when I was fully happy to have it play on CD. That was really special to me and I thanked the bandleader profusely for it.

The most memorable part of our wedding was that we had a live artist paint it. I found him in Starbucks, he speaks little English, but he understood what I wanted. He had never done it before and was very excited for the project. I said I wanted him to capture the essence of our wedding in an impressionist oil painting and that the only scene I did not want was the ceremony. I wanted something else. We could not have asked for anything better. He chose to paint our first dance. The scene is beautiful, the Oval Room at the hotel makes a perfect backdrop and he captured the scene perfectly. Many of our guests say they can pick themselves out in the painting based on where they were standing during the dance. And it was also the first time my husband showed of his moves from our dance lessons, boy were our friends surprised! We getting the painting printed up on notecards and used them as our thank you cards. People still have the card displayed in their homes today. “

Hope this gives some people some ideas – I know SO many people have commented on their custom painting. And I had no idea that those Manolos were dyeable – fabulous!!!!!!!!