Wedding Wednesday: Portraits

Did you notice that we have giveaways on top of giveaways on top of giveaways over here this week? I love it. Speaking of things I love...

oh em gee my wedding photos are done!!!! 
Well, they will be completely finished by the end of this week, but my AMAZING wedding photographer, Holly Lynn Photography, posted 60 highlights last night. If you ask me, that's a TON of highlights which means the pictures are so amazing she couldn't choose!!

Which lead me to being unable to choose how I want to share my pictures with you all. I think I am going to break it up into sections like, Getting Ready, Special Touches, Ceremony, Speeches, Dancing, etc. So, as I wait for all of those beauties...i thought I'd share some individual shots of Iman and I.

Seriously, get ready to swoon. She captured so much goodness!!

Photography: Holly Lynn Photography
Makeup by Parissa Ghassemian
Hair by Elly Stylz


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WW: Perfect Nails

For me, one of the most fun parts about getting ready for our wedding (or any wedding related activity) was doing my nails!

Now, I'm pretty horrible at painting my nails. I can do a solid color, but anything beyond that needs to be taken to the professionals. I love getting my nails done, but my bank account doesn't love it so much. In fact, it's quite the opposite. When I decide to get my nails done, I'm usually sacrificing something else for that luxury (unlike when I was 18 and had no bills and got them done every two weeks).

I found out about the amazingness of Jamberry too late in the game for my wedding, so I'm going to share it with you! I'm not being compensated for this, though I am currently hosting a party by a blogger consultant. I am seriously considering becoming a consultant because these things sell themselves. (I'm horrible at approaching people for sales).

Without further ado, here are my top picks for wedding nails. Each link will take you to the Jamberry website where they always have a buy 3 get 1 free sale (on everything!) If you click my name as the party host and Victoria Meyers as the consultant, you will be a part of my party! We get to virtually party together, since we're so far apart.

Here is the home link for my party if you just wanted to browse yourself.

Purchase here

Purchase here

Purchase here

Purchase here

Of course, I picked some mostly neutral nail designs because I think they're more classical, but of course go all out!! Think of how much more fun this would be than getting your nails done at a salon. They seat you all separate -- the day before my wedding I was literally by myself in the corner getting my nails done for NO reason, my friends got to sit together....they could have easily moved me to one of those seats.

On top of that, I would say that I got my nails done at least 4 times for our wedding festivities (engagement party, engagement photoshoot, bridal shower, wedding) and each time spent around $65. Now in SoCal it is super easy to find affordable nail salons, but I know in some places it isn't that easy *cough* Ohio *cough*. So you could easily be paying more for your fingers and toes. Each $15 Jamberry purchase gives you enough for your fingers and toes and then some. Some packs have lasted multiple applications, depending on how dilligent you are about saving.

Pretty nails, but expensive! (If you look closely you'll see matching toe tattoos!)

What's even better - to me - is that you and your girls could be doing your nails together and for each other. We did that at my bachelorette (but with regular nail polish) which was fun buuut let's admit something here...I was a little too sloshed to keep them from getting messed up.

Problem solved!

Plus, if you wanted a cute design like this at a nail salon you'd be paying extra. So you're welcome.



P.s. Maybe I'm not so bad at this sales thing when I think something is legitimately awesome.

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WW: Day Of Coordinator

Happy Wedding Wednesday, my friends!

I know you all are dying to see my pictures - believe me, we are too - but they're still not done yet! They generally take 6-8 weeks after your wedding (unless you expediate them). But, today I want to tell you WHY you should have a day of coordinator. Not necessarily that you should pay for the services, but that you should designate someone experienced.

Liz, my day of wedding coordinator, owns Silver Charm Events and works all over Southern California (if you're local) and she completely blew me out of the water. I'm not going to even mention all of the times she saved me before the wedding. We're just talking about the day of stuff.

1) This person is a pro at seating arrangements. They know exactly how to move everyone around so it doesn't look like it's family vs family. Also, All Seated is a big help in this.

2) Last minute vendor details. Liz made sure to handle all of the last minute vendor details so I could spend the week before my wedding doing other fun things - like preparing to have a house full of guests. She even made sure we could check out of one hotel room late, and into another early (so we didn't have to leave all of our stuff in the car).

3) The rehearsal goes quickly. You're going to want someone who isn't afraid to speak up or boss people around. When we all got to the end of  the aisle, the boys had done the opposite of what they were supposed to and I was very frustrated (I didn't realize how hard it was to walk to the back for people to fill in to the front). Liz was able to help them understand.

Happy and Stress-free at the rehearsal dinner! (please ignore my spray tan!)

4) Your day of timeline is going to go perfectly! I'm not even joking. When Liz told me that I had to be done with my hair and makeup by 12 for my 3pm wedding, I thought she was crazy. But by doing that (And allowing an hour for us to all get to the venue that was 15 minutes away), I was not stressed when my makeup appointment started an hour late.

Just playing around with my flower girl :) 

5) You're sure to eat throughout the day. Liz was on top of  the food situation - bringing me a banana / anything to get me to eat before the ceremony. Oh, and at the wedding? Our full plates magically appeared on our sweetheart table as we were about to get up to go to the buffet.

6) They think of and bring everything!! My garter fit just fine when I was sitting down but the moment I started walking it would fall. Miraculously, Liz's assistant had carpet tape which stayed on for a good 3 hours...at which point I was still awkward and it fell down.

7) At the wedding, everything goes so smoothly. I kept thinking Liz was stalking me because I needed to do something else at the wedding, but really, she was just standing close to make sure I didn't need anything! Amazing!

8) The ideas you have in your head come out into reality! I'm really good at having an idea in my head and being unable to produce it. If I see a picture of something else, I can recreate it but I can't make the magic come out of my brain. Liz totally could though.

More to come on these bad boys :) 

9) Everything got cleaned up!!

10) Our wedding couldn't have gone better, and I truly believe that has a lot to do with Liz. Yeah, I might have made awesome decorations and picked awesome songs and kept the party bumping, but we couldn't have gotten there without her help! Not only that, but Liz calmed me down WHENEVER I needed it, even if it was something silly like "Liz, I need to check into my flight! Oh, it isn't in the 24 hour window yet."

So, I'm telling you! Day of Wedding Coordination is going to be the BEST thing you spent your money on. But, if you do decide to do it yourself, Liz has a new book out for that.

Also, she has no idea I'm blogging about her today, so she should be happily surprised.

Do you plan on having a day of coordinator?

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WW: An Unconventional Honeymoon

Hey guys!

Boy am I glad that today is more of a photo heavy post. If you haven't seen on Twitter, California is trying to kill me via my sinuses.

We pretty much always live in a drought, but this year has been the worst in a long time. It only rained a few times this year and our plants are ridiculously dry. This week it's averaging 100 in SoCal and we've got those Santa Anas blowing all over the place. My sinuses decided today was going to be a day filled with a pounding headache and dizziness.

Luckily, my honeymoon was the complete opposite, although different than most.

A European honeymoon isn't pretty traditional; but spending it with your husband's family members that he's never met is unconventional. But it made for our perfect honeymoon!

We spent a lot of time relaxing, some family time, some time for just the two of us and some epic dance time. Oh, and did I mention that we fell in love with The Netherlands?

They probably are not in order, but I think that makes it more exciting :P

London Heathrow :) 

Omgosh, so bright! 

Groningen is gorgeous! 

Us with Iman's cousins! 

Bicycles everywhere

Inside the law school

This literally was a secret garden. I love it

We didn't go IN because of the long line, but we went to the outside of the Anne Frank Huis

He's a butthead sometimes

Iman is certified to pour beer, now.

King's Day is one of their biggest holidays!

Onesie Moustache Kisses are my favorite

Yes, we got matching shirts for King's Day

We went to visit Iman's little cousins in these outfits and we got so many honks on the street. His 5 year old cousin did NOT like the moustaches

I love this picture of us! 

Basically, we woke up late every day (time change and just relaxing), would eat lunch with his family and decide what we would do for the day! We stayed in Groningen, which was wonderful. It is a student city, so there were a lot of people our age.

In addition to staying with Iman's family members, we stayed our last night at a hotel in Amsterdam.

We went to Amsterdam twice, and it was so much fun! There was so much to see.

We also celebrated King's Day - which was the first King's Day celebration in a long time. Previously, it had been Queen's Day until a king took over.

Our honeymoon wasn't very romantic. As I mentioned above, though, it was perfect for us.

Where are you going on your Honeymoon? Would you ever do something like this? 



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