Showered with Love!

Everthing is so real now! We have 34 days until the big show and yesterday I had my first experience feeling all bride-y. I attended my shower which took place in Mechanicsville, Va and it was fantastic! Here are a few highlights:

My cousins and bride's attendants from home did an awesome job setting everything up. It was so classy and elegant. They used some of our wedding colors and really took my personality into consideration.

We played some really fun games that made all of the guests get up and mingle. The first game really set the tone. The guests were asked to walk around and find someone that they do not know that has attributes listed on their checklist. It allowed the guest to meet one another in a cool way. We also played the "make a wedding dress out of toliet paper" game, my absolute bridal shower favorite:-D

As you can see, Mr. President made a special appearance. He loves our family and pops up at all of our functions (Thanksgiving, showers, etc...)...hmm...wonder if he will make a special appearance at the wedding...

At the end, I got to open all of my presents (Aw Yeah!)

Give me cupcakes and gifts and I am one happy girl!

We got mini-us' as gifts from my other set of bride's attendants. They are absolutly awesome and the cutest things ever! Great time, great friends and mini-me's...what a lucky girl I am!

Tour de Cake Topper

I think the details in one's wedding are such fun. Everything about your personality and your fiance's personality come out in all the little things, from the invitations to the cake toppers.

With that being said...

The Tour de France is starting on Saturday! (Go Garmin and Astana--and Lance!) .

So what does this have to do with my wedding? Nothing, except that Mr. Charleston and I are huge cycling fans (more him than me---he's the one who actually rides with a group every week) and I wanted to incorporate his love for bikes and cycling into our wedding somehow. One of my students did our save the dates:

I loved it so much (as did Mr. Charleston) that I wanted to make the graphic of the girl and boy on the bike our cake topper. Since I have done most of the big things (venues, dj, photog, etc) I am now working on all the details, like cake toppers and centerpieces.

I found this awesome vendor on Etsy, Mountainbrook, who makes these awesome wood silhouette cutouts. I sent him a picture and he made our cake topper for us! Here is what it looks like:

It came a few weeks ago. It looks super great and I cannot wait to see it on top of a cake! Now all I have to do is find a cake!

So what are your details? I have had friends who have done D.C. totes since they were DC natives. Some have organized "DC Food Stops" for a wedding weekend where did they a tour of fun dc eateries like Ben's Chili Bowl, Five Guys, and Art and Soul. One idea that someone had was serving their mom's chocolate chip cookies and milk during the cocktail reception. I think anything that you can do to really make the day special is worth the extra effort. Good luck with all the planning!

Oh, and have a happy 4th of July weekend! Have fun and be safe:-)

Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland Park

It's official! Were married! We just got back from Hawaii and I have a lot to share. Ill leave you with a few pictures until things settle a bit.
All photos were taken by our guests.

The day started with hair, make-up and a delicious brunch. I was calm as could be! (even I was surprised by this!)

And then it was time to get in my dress and see my man!

While we waited, I got a little anxious....

ok maybe a lot anxious!

After we saw eachother it was picture time! Note to all brides: DO NOT sit on a Piano....there is a finish and it made the back of my dress BLACK! Thank god for a bustle!

My beautiful Bridesmaids!

The Ceremony was perfect. I had fake eyelashes though, which do not work well with a veil...just FYI :)
And we were married!

Mr and Mrs Cleveland Park!

My favorite picture, our first dance. How sweet is this picture!?

The dreaded chair!

Our cake, with our bobblehead cake topper

Yes, I did it....I just couldnt help myself!

Our wedding was everything I dreamed of!

It's Personal....

So first of all, I want to give a HUGE congratulations to my future brother in law and his brand new fiance, on their recent engagement! I am so excited to have them in my life, and wish them all the luck and happiness in the world!!! Congrats Drew and Dia! Congrats to all the other recently engaged couples too, I know at least 3 couples that got engaged last week, so love is in the air!!!

Anyways, I wanted so discuss personalizing your wedding. Its very difficult to make your wedding stand out, and to also make sure it represents you, your relationship and the your family. For our wedding, Mr. CP and I wanted to add some fun details.
The first, and possibly most exciting thing we did was rent a photobooth. We paid a bit extra for the guestbook, and attendants too, so the booth will print doubles and one copy will go to the guests. We used an affordable local vendor, Posh Booth. We worked with Neil, who was very helpful in explaining the options and a pleasure to work with. We can't wait to see all the fun people have with this extra! Best of all, the price for the photobooth is reasonable and totally worth it!

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We also wanted to incorporate Mr. CP's love for baseball, which is almost equal to his love for me...seriously. Were thinking about having the bartenders wear SF Giants baseball hats to represent Eric's love, but at the same time, I am not totally sold on it. One baseball-theme we are definitely doing is our cake topper. I found a website that makes personalized bobblehead cake toppers! How fun is that! You actually send pictures in!

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What ideas do you have for personalizing your wedding? Everyone needs ideas, so please share!

Happy Friday!

Our Cake Topper....

From Beau-Coup.com. I am in love with this place. It's a fabulous resource for supplies, including favors, programs, boxes, and other little knick-knacks.

I'm in love with our cake topper. Originally we were thinking of doing an M on top of the cake as Mr. JeffMemorial and I (even though I will be taking his name) have the same last initial.

Mr. JeffMemorial wanted something much more traditional, such as a bride and a groom standing together. I was looking for something striking and a little more modern. Something with a fun twist.

With the above pictured cake topper, we reached the perfect compromise. I got my fun striking modern yet-oh-so-retro cake topper, and he got his tradition. In the end I think we got one that reflects us rather well, as a couple.