My Wedding Pictures! | Part 2 | A NY Beach Real Wedding at Allegria Hotel

Today I'm sharing my beach wedding reception! Why Long Beach, NY for my wedding? Well, if you haven't read before and are new I'll make it quick ;) Me and my hubby met in Long Beach a few years back when I was a surfing novice, and he, having surfed since he was a teenager, met me on that sandy beach and started teaching me some moves ;) Well ever since that day, we always went back and when we heard that the same year we got engaged the Allegria Hotel had opened we had to take a look. It was perfect! Modern, sexy, and beach all in one! So it was the perfect local for us. Ok now, back to the wedding day!

When we arrived at Long Beach, NY's Allegria Hotel we took our pictures in front of the hotel and at the beach, it was such a beautiful day that we took advantage of the day. We then took a look inside. We were so excited to see what the space transformed into. Our beach wedding plans became a reality! My colors were pale yellows, golds and pale pinks with some bright pinks for a pop of color. It all began with my luxury boxed wedding invitations that I designed using pale blush linen fabric with gold embroidery mixed with creams and gold foil printing. The inside pages contained our love story along with all the accommodation and wedding information for our guests. The wedding center pieces had two different looks. One used drift wood and florals all around while the other used white coral with orchids and more florals. I designed our custom menus with a pale pink and gold foil printing and the escort cards were in pale yellows and pinks that were placed in a custom white sand box display with our Surf boards on either sides. The background had our engagement pictures strung alongside pink orchids that draped in the background. I just loved seeing all the details come to life!

Lela Tip: Let me tell you ladies enjoy every minute, don't let anything get to you, there will be miss steps and some may be big ( my cool metal drummer and singer didn't show and they sent some random boring bass player for the cocktail party), but the time flies that it doesn't pay to wast even a minute of it being upset. Just have fun, take it in and try to remember every second of what you and your future hubby made happen on that special day.  Now, Here are my picts! :)

Details:
Wedding Invitations, Menus, Escort Cards by Lela New York
Photography by Catherine Leonard
Flowers by Poppies & Posies
Lighting & Rentals: PBG Event Productions & Rentals
Entertainment/DJ: Entertainment & Sounds Unlimited

xo

My 1 Year Wedding Anniversary! I'm finally sharing some wedding photos | My Real New York Wedding Part 1

I just finished celebrating my 1 year anniversary this weekend with my hubby, and I have to say, time just  flew by! I've been waiting to share all my pictures with you for so long, not sure why it took me so long. I must have looked at them thousands of times by now. I guess I was trying to hold on to being a bride for a little longer since this will be the last time I probably will get to talk about my wedding with you lovelies!

So here's my story of my big day! I had to break it down into 2 posts. Today I'll be sharing what went on during my ceremony and the day I said I do!

The day was a perfectly warm September and I woke up very relaxed and was determined to stay that way. I planned what to have ready the night before, like making sure to have fresh flowers around and had all my accessories in one place with my dress. I slipped on my white robe and slippers and had a glass of champagne as I listened to calming music of the likes of Nate King Cole and Michael Bublé. Yes, there were uum, minor glitches after that. But I quickly realized not to sweat the small stuff that this was me and my fiancé's day and that I got to marry my best friend today. And that thought kept me on track. Getting dressed and drinking champagne at the same time helped too. :) Here are some shots of the morning of my wedding day.

Lela Tip: have your photographer come early to capture those special moments of you getting ready and some portraits of you too. Have the makeup & hair artists come a half hour before the photographer so that you have some images of them just finishing up and not completely bare!

When my father and I drove down to the church I barely remember what he said, but he was so calm that it helped me with some nerves I had. I remember walking down the aisle with him and smiling so much my face hurt, LOL! I saw my future hubby for the first time and I nearly started crying, I was SO happy! I remember trying to compose myself. When I got to him I remember the look in his eyes and him whispering to me, "You look Beautiful". Saying I do, went by super fast. I looked into his eyes as I said my vows and I felt this warm sensation all over. After we said, "I do" and we started to walk down the aisle I remember feeling like we were just floating down that aisle, it was magical! Then our family and friends tossed petals as we walked toward our limo. As soon as we climbed inside the car we felt a relief, "we did it!" and a little of "it's over". It was so much planning and a bit of stress goes with that too. We were so happy to finally get to celebrate what took months to plan.
Here are some pictures of our wedding ceremony.

Details:
Photography: Catherine Leonard
Wedding Dress: Vera Wang
Jewelry: Adorn
Shoes: Stuart Weitzman
Wedding Stationery Programs: Lela New York
Aisle Runner: Original Runner Company
Flowers: Poppies and Posies

Stay tuned for tomorrow's picts!

xo

My Wedding Video is here! | YAY! I can share my NY Wedding with you!

I was so excited when I got my wedding video this weekend I think I watched it like 100 times by now, I know a bit obsessive ;) The video was shot and edited by the amazing Love in Progress Video Productions. I just LOVE it! This is the highlight video that captures just 5 minutes of my big day.



If your thinking of not getting video, please reconsider! Since the wedding itself flies by, I can't tell you how amazing it is to be able to look back and smile, cry and laugh all over again!

For those of you who do not know the details yet, my wedding venue was the Allegria Hotel in Long Beach, NY. Why a beach, why Long beach? Well, it's a sweet story actually, I met my husband on that very beach surfing about five years ago. (Yes, people surf in NY) And when we got engaged in Maui we of course wanted to continue with a "beach wedding" theme. So while we were looking out by Montauk and the Hamptons I found the Allegria Hotel, sort of by accident. It had just opened that same year we got engaged and we took it as a sign and fell in love with the location.

More Details:

Wedding Invitations & Stationery: Lela New York
Flower Design: Poppies and Posies
Makeup and Hair: Facetime Beauty Concierge
Dress: Vera Wang
Shoes: Stuart Weitzman
NY Venue: Allegria Hotel
Aisle Runner: The Original Runner Company
Lighting & Rental Decor: PBG Event Productions & Rentals
Music: Entertainment and Sounds Unlimited

My New York Luxury Wedding Invitations | Yay! picts to share from my Long Beach, New York Beach Wedding

Hi Everyone! So I've been wanting to share these wedding pictures of my luxury wedding invitations for so long now! And I finally got the picts to share with all of you.

My custom invitations, designed of course by Lela New York, were designed in a story book style to share with our guests the story of how we met and how we fell in love and said I do at the beach. Our boxed invitations have a beautiful linen fabric cover and gold embroidery on the front. The first page was printed in a gorgeous gold foil on a pale blush paper and the inside pages were printed to tell our love story and contained our engagement pictures. I love the cute map of Long Beach that I made for the end papers of the invitation book. The RSVP sets were also printed in a blush pink paper and gold printed to make them shine!

I was so excited to get the cute RSVP responses from my guests as they replied by saying how much they loved them!

I hope you love them as much as I do!

Photography by Catherine Leonard Photography
Venue: The Allegria Hotel
Invitation design by Lela New York Invitations & Stationery

Enjoy!

Congratulations to all the newly engaged couples! - Wedding Planning books to help you get started

Hello Newly engaged couples! It is engagement season too, and most pop the question during the holiday season starting from Thanksgiving to the New Year.

To help you get started I picked my favorite wedding planner books and binders, including mine :)
It's the first step that will really help you get organized.

The first one is The Ultimate Wedding Planner & Organizer by Elizabeth Lluch, and Alex Lluch.
This is the one I just finished using myself ;) I found it really helpful, filled with etiquette, folders (very important to hold all your info) and the book is separated into sections that includes you stationery, ceremony, reception, photographer, etc. It's a great way to keep all your contracts in order. And it helps you with timelines and also the most important "day of" timeline". Plus you can add a pretty picture in the front of the cover, super cute!

The next favorite is the ever popular Martha Stewart's Keepsake Wedding Planner [Book] by Martha Stewart. It's a real staple and is overflowing with useful features to help you plan and organize the perfect wedding—in addition, you can preserve those memories for a lifetime.

If you are planning most of your wedding online and want to keep with you the ultimate wedding site to go get The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings in the Real World: The Ultimate Source of Ideas, Advice, and Relief for the Bride and Groom and Those Who Love Them. It has all their famous wedding timelines in this essential wedding planner book.

Now for those offbeat brides who want their wedding "their way" I'm talking to you riding in a harley into their wedding or want their wedding to be super unique and most importantly to reflect them. Then go for The Anti-Bride Wedding Planner: Hip Tools and Tips for Getting Hitched by Carolyn Gerin. Tie the knot outside the box armed with this companion volume to the wildly popular Anti-Bride Guide. Featuring sassy and savvy ideas, useful questionnaires, handy pockets, and space for notes and doodles, the Anti-Bride Wedding Planner provides creative inspiration for brides-to-be who want to kick the conventional wedding to the curb.

This is the first step to planning ladies! Now go have fun and send this link to your bridesmaids, mom or others to buy it for you! LOL!

xo

This NY City Bride shares her Bridal Bouquets by floral designers Poppies & Posies

I wanted to share more of my NY wedding and wanted to continue with my bridal bouquets.
They were simply gorgeous!!!! Floral designers Poppies and Posies did an amazing job creating these sublime bouquets.

My bridal bouquet was designed using ranunculus, hydrangea, scabiosa, and garden snow roses.

My bridesmaids bouquets were designed in pretty light blush pinks and yellows using dahlia, ranunculus, juliette garden roses, and snow berry.

Thanks ladies for a fab job! And thank you to Missy Photography for the sunning images!

xo

My Wedding Hair Accessory - The perfect flower and crystal combo

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to share this amazing hair accessory designer that created my flower accessory for my own wedding. This beautiful flower accessory looks and feels like the real thing! And Mikiye, the designer,  created something even more special by adding the beautiful crystal center for a touch of luxury and bling.
I just LOVED it!

What are you thinking of for your wedding hair? Or What did you choose for your wedding?
Share below by commenting.

xo

My Wedding's Little Something Blue - The cutest little something blue

Hello All!

So I wanted to start sharing my wedding details with you and I thought I'd start off with my little something blue. There are so many pretty options out there but at the same time I didn't think that blue would match the whole style and colors of my wedding. So, I went with just a little something blue for good luck. I was the only one who knew it was there and well the photos would show it as well. It was a cute sewn in label with my embroidered initials and wedding date in robins egg blue that was placed just on the inside of my dress. The one I chose came from the wonderful world of Etsy and made by Embroidery by Linda. It was perfect!

Lela New York is back! And may have a case of Wedding Withdrawl

Hi Everyone! I missed you! It's been too long. I was away for my wedding (Can you believe it's been a month, since I said, I do!) and then my honeymoon and now I'm back in NYC trying to get back into the groove of things. Thanks to all of your warm wedding wishes and love, really appreciate it!

I will definitely be reporting my details of the wedding as soon as I get some more picts ;) I will also be sharing some of my fave vendors with you as well as what Lela Loves in future posts. Even thought the wedding is now over (sob) Lela will always be in love with weddings and the details that makes them so amazing!

On another note, I wanted to share my thoughts on the so called "Wedding withdrawl situation". Although many of my planner friends have warned me about this, I was still in a whirl wind after my wedding trying to get settled in our new home that I really didn't think it was a real thing or that it could really happen to me. "People" say that a bride is so busy and in such a frenzy with always having something to do, that once the wedding is over she doesn't know what to do with herself and gets a small case of the blues. I have to admit, that really didn't happen to me but, I may have gotten a touch of it.

I was getting ready to bring my dress into the dry cleaners to get it cleaned when it hit me. I looked at my pretty dress, and it looked so sad, just hanging there in my closet door, that I thought, wow, it all went so fast and now it's over. It was a bit sad, but at the same time, I remembered how great it was and all the little details I planned, and of course the invitations and stationery I designed to make the introduction to the wedding so memorable. But was it all still worth it? All the fuss, all the planning, all the stress? Hoping everyone noticed all the little details I designed throughout the wedding. And you know what? Yes, it was! Admittedly, I would have loved it if all my guests would have noticed the beautiful color combos I created or the matching menus and napkins but, I also did it for me and my new hubby so that we can have a beautiful wedding to look back on and smile about. We know all the time and care and love that went into our wedding and that also is important. And at the end of the day (and the wedding) the memories you have created for yourself will last, even if the day doesn't.

So, really GO for it ladies, PLAN AWAY!

xo

Lela is Away, I'm getting married!

Hello!!!

I can't believe it's here! I'm getting married today!!!
It feels like just yesterday I was writing and sharing my engagement details and sharing my wedding finds.
But no worries I'll be back October 8th with all the amazing details! Wish me luck!

xxoo

Tips to Remember when shopping for your Wedding Dress and a Photoshoot at New York's Lovely Bridal Shop

I had the pleasure of being invited to the New York's Lovely Bridal Shop by the amazing Jen Huang for a fun-filled day of trying on wedding dresses. How could I say no to that! Here are some tips for wedding dress shopping along with Jen's beautiful photography of that lovely day!

Tip #1 : Make sure to try on dresses with shoes. The height of the shoe makes a real difference in how you look.

Tip #2: Before going to your dress fitting, it might be a good idea to get your make-up and hair trial the same day to better visualize what you will look like in your wedding dress.

Tip #3: Who you bring to go wedding dress shopping is pretty important. Too many opinions is never a good thing. Try to limit the number of people you invite.



Tip #4: Try on different dress styles and shapes. It will help you narrow down what you like and what you do not like. When trying on wedding dresses, you never know what style you'll end up loving.



Tip #5: Keep in mind where your event is taking place. If you are having a destination wedding, consider choosing a lightweight airy dress. If you are having a ballroom style wedding, consider using silks or lace to compliment the event.


Tip #6: While at your dress fitting, start thinking about the accessories you might want to wear for your wedding day. This might change or finish the look your trying to achieve. Sometimes, a beautiful crystal belt or crystal flower accent really adds a special touch of glamor that might be what's needed to complete your look.







Tip #7: At the end, when you think you found your wedding dress, make sure to try it on with a headpiece or a wedding veil. It will help you visualize your final look. And don't forget to pose with your bouquet!

Lastly, have fun and enjoy this experience!

Thanks to:
Jen Huang Photography for her beautiful images.
Lovely Bridal Shop located at 313 West Fourth St. NY, 212-924-2050
And our model, Missy, from Missy Photography