Guest Blogger - Meet Emmy :-)

I have no idea how this will work, but I'ma give it a shot...I feel like an old-timer when it comes to these newfangled tech sites! Will this show up on the blog? If it does please don't hold this post against me =P

Maid of Honor Guest Blogger

So Rachel is crazy and thought a cure for my recent boredom would be to be a guest blogger to her well written baby. I'm not a foreigner to the blogging world. I tried to blog to describe my wedding plans but lets just say Rachel is much more dedicated and creative than me.

Rachel thought it would be nice to share my thoughts on what I felt were the best, most memorable parts of my wedding and what wasn't so great. So here it goes. . .

Let me say first of all that my wedding was a blast!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never had so much fun as I did on that day. I actually still love to go back through my pictures and watch the videos to relive those moments. Hopefully, by looking through some of the pictures I can come up with some inspiration.

My favorite memories of 10.10.09:
1. My brother coming to visit me while I was getting ready was a great surprise and a nice way to help me relax while we were getting ready.
2. Putting on my entire ensemble down to my necklace and shoes. I've never felt more beautiful than on my wedding day!!!
3. I remember the beginning of walking down the aisle with my Dad and then half way down the aisle, I looked at my Dad and then at Randy, started to feel the emotions of the day start to hit me, and then the rest of my walk down the aisle is a complete blank.
4. Hearing Randy tell me his vows!
5. Our first kiss!
6. Being around all of our friends and family (many that we don't get to see very often with our work schedules)! Our reception was a blast because they were there! When push comes to shove, it doesn't matter how much you spent, what your center pieces look like, or what kind of food you have. What matters are the people who are there to celebrate you and your husband! (I do suggest some rockin tunes though)

Some things I believe are highly overrated:
1. Hiring a professional photographer and then having a long list of must have pictures. The guy is a professional. Relax, let him do his job, and get through the must see pictures as soon as possible so you can enjoy your party! It goes by quick, don't miss it!!!!!!
2. Being a micro-manager over small details. It is easy to get worked up over the teeny tiny things. No one really notices and if they are judging you over them then they are at your wedding for the wrong reasons.
3. Bouquet toss: hence why I didn't do one!


My last piece of advice is to remember to take a moment for you and Sam! The day goes by quick and all you need to remember is that the day is for the two of you, not anyone else.





















Also, I didn't have this at my wedding but I've decided it is a must:
Thank you etsy.com for this work of genius!

158 Days - What is marriage?

Thank you, Grover, for putting marriage into perspective.

159 Days - Brewing Our Wedding Beer

Most of you know that Sam and I are big beer fans.  For those of you that didn't know, Sam and I are BIG beer fans.  We are such big fans that we decided to brew a beer for our September wedding.  We went down to the Shenandoah Brewing Company (SBC) in Alexandria, VA to brew a Belgian-style Trippel Ale.  The guys at SBC gave us access to the ingredients we needed (Belgian candi sugar extract, Chinnook hops, Tettnanger hops, and Trappist yeast) and pretty detailed instructions on the brewing process.

For those interested in the nitty gritty:  

First we brought the water up to 200 degrees and stirred in the pitcher of candi sugar extract.  Once the brew was at a rolling boil, we dropped the heat and added in the bittering hops little by little in order to prevent it from boiling over.  After the brew bubbled for 75 minutes, we added the finishing hops slowly and let it bubble again for 15 minutes.  Then Sam stirred the brew in a circular motion in order to create a "dimple", or a foam circle, in the center of the brew.  The brew sat for another 10 minutes and then the guys at SBC poured it into a big white jug.  

Before we poured the yeast into the white jug, we got to taste the pre-beer, or beer that has not fermented.  Our pre-beer tasted at first very sweet and finished off bitter.  At that point, we also measured the gravity of the beer, which predicts the alcohol content by volume.  Our gravity measurement predicted that our beer will be somewhere between 9 and 10 percent alcohol by volume.  This made Sam very happy.  Thoroughly pleased with our brewing skills, we added the yeast to the jug and proceeded to roll the jug back and forth to each other for eight minutes.

C'est tout.  The guys at SBC will handle the fermentation process and in six weeks, we will go back to SBC to bottle our beer.  Sam says we are not allowed to drink it once it is bottled because the beer won't taste right for at least a few weeks.  Instead, the beer will sit for three months in our friends cool, dry basement where the flavor will develop into trippel-awesomeness.  We might have to taste test it at some point before the wedding though. . . 


To be continued. . .

164 Days - $10 Challenge: Round II - The Headband

This go-round, the $10 Challenge was initiated by myself. I have been searching for a few months for a hair accessory that would bring my wedding dress, veil, and fabulous shoes together but with two conditions; 1) It must be under $10, and 2) I must be able to wear it again. 


Fait accompli! 

I went to Anthropologie on Friday to do some "look but may not have" shopping. (Anthro is one of those sick addictions where you can almost convince yourself that $68 Cocktail Spoons are reasonable because they are so cute and . . . useful!)  While meandering between cocktail dresses and scented candles, my friend and I started perusing the accessories table where she noticed this number.  I thought it must be $32 like other Anthro headbands (eek!), but when I looked at the tag, it was on sale for $9.95. Win!

$10 Challenge Score: Rachel - 2; Wedding Industry - 0

Woot!