Our First Year: 2010

Monday, December 13, 2010

Wedding Pictures....... I can't get enough!

So there hasn't been much lately, however, we did receive a very nice canvas of one of my favorite pictures from our wedding. I received an email from our photographer letting us know my mother in law (Allan's mother) ordered us a few Christmas presents and she could either ship them OR we could go to her and pick them up. I opted to pick them up for two reasons......

1- It was another opportunity to thank Molly yet again for how amazing our photos came out and chat with her.

and

2 - Allan works in the same town she lives in, 6 mins away. So it gave me a great excuse to be in town and have lunch with him on my day off.

After trying many, many locations for it, our canvas is now lovingly hung over our kitchen sink..... I know, that doesn't sound like the best place. But it really does look quite awesome there and all of the walls in our living room are pitched so the pickings were slim.

Take a look!

It really does look pretty there because it is centered right under the recessed lighting. :D

It seems that every day I go through the wedding pictures I seem to find another favorite that I love. I just can't stop getting excited about these things! Which is a good thing considering I searched high and low to find the perfect photographer AND we paid for them. :)

So here is today's favorite wedding photo:

Christmas is right around the corner and I am excited about it. I can't wait to see how everyone reacts to the gifts I spent so long hunting down. :)

Monday, December 6, 2010

Christmas and Snow

We are coming up on Christmas and it's our first Christmas married. Allan and I set up our Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving and it looks fabulous. We had the hardest time picking a place to put it that our cats wouldn't try to climb it. Then the loft over the kitchen came into play in conjunction with shatter-proof ornaments so if the cats managed to get up there, the ornaments wouldn't break and create a hazard for them.

We also had our first official snow fall last night and I got so excited that I ran outside this morning and took pictures of it. It was fun to see this place with some snow!

The wreath Allan's father and step-mother sent to us

Friday, November 19, 2010

Inspiration Bridal Photo Shoot!

So the day after I come back from my honeymoon I'm going to stay home and relax right? Wrong! It's time to head right back to work and hit the ground running!

My boss/suedo-mom Melanie asked me if I wanted an opportunity to wear my wedding gown again after I came home from my honeymoon. Of course I jumped on it! So on Monday Nov. 15th, myself, Lauren, Melanie, Amelia at Whisconier Florist, Andrea's Bakery, Make-Up by Candee Caldwell and MW Photography all came together with their respective services and did a photo shoot for promotional purposes. The photos will be used in a variety of publications to promote all of the services involved. (Wedding gowns, make-up, flowers, bakery, and photography.)

We took photos at two different, gorgeous homes! The first home was in Westport and the second was right here in Danbury on Candlewood Lake. We are so grateful that these homeowners were so nice to open up their homes to us for the day!

And now, the pictures from that day. All photos were taken by Melissa Wilson of MW Photography and Alyson Hickey of Alyson Hickey Photography.

Before you ask, yes, Amelia is in a wedding dress, in Candlewood Lake, in the middle of November. It was COLD!

Amelia, Owner of Whisconier Florist. Candlewood Lake, Danbury

Lauren wearing Maggie Sottero. Private Residence, Westport

Me wearing Marisa. Private Residence Danbury, CT

Me wearing my own wedding gown. Also by Marisa. Private Residence in Westport.

It was such a fun day and I LOVED being able to wear not only my own wedding gown, but another wedding gown by the same designer. I can't wait to see the rest of the photos from the day.

Home from our Honeymoon!

Allan and I got home on Sunday November 14 from St Kitts, West Indies. It was an AMAZING trip!

Our great friend Tony volunteered to drive Allan and I to JFK at 3am, which we are eternally grateful for! Our flight left at around 8am on American Airlines and it was a 4-hour direct flight to St. Kitts. We landed at the airport in Basseterre, St. Kitts (The capital) and actually had to walk off of the plane onto the runway. I must say, that was a first for me. Even Westchester Co. Airport has a bridge and they only have 1 runway!

St. Kitts' Airport (From the runway)

The first pictures are so hazy because the airplane cabin was a comfortable 68 degrees, and St. Kitts was 85 degrees. My camera lens didn't appreciate the abrupt change in temperature.

The plane

After walking into the airport, we had to go through Emmigration and Customs. For anyone who has done this, they know it was SOOOO FUN! (Sense the sarcasm?) And of course, the "airport", which resembled an airplane hangar, was NOT air-conditioned and completely open air so we were all roasting.

We got through everything and caught our shuttle to the resort. The driver was also nice enough to explain some things about the area and pointed out some great sights on the way to the resort, which was only a 10min drive.

On the way to the Marriott.

Our week was full of relaxing and it was great! We spent everyday sitting by the pool with the exception of our two excursions. We went horseback riding through the rainforest and zip-lining over it! It was such a great experience!

Pool with Swim-Up bar

Horse-back riding, just before we went into the Rainforest

Allan on the Zip-Line.

It was a great week and Allan and I would LOVE to go back in a few years. Most of the island is un-developed and not Americanized which is quite nice! We felt like we were truly on vacation in a different part of the world. Not to mention, jewelry is MUCH more affordable in the Caribbean compared to the U.S, so Allan and I took advantage of that. Allan bought me an Alexandrite pendant which I absolutely LOVE!

Another fun fact about St. Kitts and Nevis (It's sister island)......... A U.S President is from there! Take a guess who it is??

Alexander Hamilton! His original home is Nevis. So if you didn't know where St. Kitts and Nevis were, shame on you because an American President was born there! His house is still there and is open to the public for tours. Allan and I didn't end up making it there because we needed to take a ferry from St. Kitts to Nevis and it was at least a half day even to take the Ferry and explore.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Big Things comming!

So Allan and I have been married 24 days and we have had a lot happen in those 24 days!

I made Allan our first homemade dinner as a married couple, which was baked spaghetti! I even got to use my new lasagna pan that we received as a wedding gift. It was quite tasty if I do say so myself.

We were given access to our online photo gallery from the photographer and got to preview all of the photos she took. They were nothing short of amazing. If you want the link, email me!

Last week I somehow got an infection in my toe and had to go visit my father-in-law to fix it. Hopefully it will heal by the 7th when we leave on our honeymoon! This past weekend we went to a Halloween/Birthday party at our friend Rob's house and managed to win the "best costume award". We went as Mario and Princess Peach.

As well as the party this past weekend, we were FINALLY able to get our washer and dryer hooked up!!!! We moved in back in July and we bought washer and dryer units (front-loading I might add) and waited for the landlord to get the hook-ups installed. Well, apparently people in the plumbing and electrical field are rather difficult to get a hold of and getting them to return phone calls is even worse! We finally managed to make some headway with this project and had our units hooked-up over the weekend.

Due to all of my excitement to finally do laundry at home and the fact that I can label it as a "wedding gift". I lovingly named my washer "Angel of Music" AKA "Angel" and my Dryer "Phantom of the Opera" AKA "Phantom".

It sounds crazy, but if you were paying attention at our wedding ceremony.... you would know why it's important. In case you weren't there, here are your cliff notes. When I walked into the ceremony, The song that played was "Music of the Night" from the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack - Played by Andre Rieu. Additionally, I discovered when I turned the washer and dryer on the first time that they play music! Every time I turn it on, it sings. The "Cycle end alarm" is music as well. No annoying buzzers! So I thought that the names were EXTREMELY appropriate. Yes, I'm a dork.

We leave for our honeymoon on Sunday at 3am. Thanks to our good friend Tony, we will be getting to the airport on time and NOT having to wake up my mother to bring us 1.5 hours to the airport. See you when we get back!!!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Professional Pictures!!

So my photographer, Molly Feit of http://www.mefphoto.com managed to get our pictures done early! I had to try REALLY hard to be patient.

So here is one of the photos, if you want to see the rest, go to : http://mefphoto.com/?p=417
While you're there, leave a nice comment at the bottom of the post. If you do, it helps my chances of getting free prints. So please go do it. :)

Friday, October 22, 2010

We're Married!

So Allan and I got married 12 days ago and it was great! There were so many things in our favor it was almost scary!

Saturday October 2nd I picked up Mia from JFK airport. She flew in from Texas to be a part of my wedding! The entire week consisted of running around, writing checks, and a visit to the Maury show. (As studio audience members, not guests!)

Friday, Lauren (my maid of honor), Mia and myself all went to get our nails done at Newtown Nail Spa. It was a very much needed afternoon of relaxing!

Mia, myself and Lauren getting pedicures

Lauren and I getting manicures. I had parafin wax on my hands
and found the mittens to be very amusing!

Saturday we checked into Comfort Suites in Southington (with two cars I might add!) and hauled all of our stuff into the suite. I pretty much got the worst sleep the night before the wedding. I'm pretty sure it was the excitement and the hotel bed that woke me up every 2 hours.

We started the wedding day at 8:30am with breakfast followed by the hairdresser's arrival at 9am. During breakfast the forecast was on the TV's and all signs pointed to clear skies and high 60's and I couldn't have been happier! By 11am, my hair and 2 of the bridesmaids had their hair done. The photographer, Molly Feit - www.mefphoto.com, arrived around 12pm and started taking pictures.

Allan's sister Lauren getting her hair done

Elyssa doing my hair

And of course, there was some loopy-ness going on in the hotel room. What's a wedding day without it! This is Mia having WAYY too much fun with her curly hair!

Somewhere between 11am and 12:30pm, a set of silver mylar balloons appeared in the hotel room. When I noticed it, I asked one of my bridesmaids and she told me the hotel staff dropped it off. Apparently, there was a brunch of some kind going on that morning and these balloons were there. Well, during clean up, they noticed the item number on the balloons read "119", which was our room number. They took it as a sign and delivered them to our room.

1:30pm brought Melanie, my maid-of honor's (Lauren's) mother/my boss. She came in with Lauren's boyfriend Dan AND two rather large boxes over their heads. Well, when the boxes were in sight, they held surprise fresh flowers for me, my bridal party, and my groom! Melanie had spoken to a local florist and through some divine intervention, the florist owner decided to donate all of these flowers to us! We were originally going to use silk flowers instead but I am sooooo happy about this intervention.

Surprise!

My Bouquet

After the arrival of the flowers, we starting talking about lunch! Of all of the things we could have ordered, we chose Taco Bell! So Melanie and Dan went over a got lunch for everyone. When they got back, we ate lunch out in the lobby where breakfast was served and my mom came while we were eating.

After lunch it was back to the hotel room to do makeup! Everything from this point started moving rather quickly. I needed to orchestrate with the guys so the photographer could photograph them getting ready and then run back to my room to photograph me getting into my dress. Melanie got me dressed and put my veil in. They the photography borrowed me and we went running around the hotel taking portraits before it was time to head the ceremony. Allan's father and stepmother stopped into the room right before we were leaving to wish me well and make sure I had everything I needed.

hoping into Melanie's car to leave!

Then I hopped into Melanie's car with Allan's sister Lauren and Mia. We drove over to the Lily Lake and discovered we were about 10mins early and no one was outside for the ceremony yet. Well, between the maitre D and my dear husband, everyone was quickly ushered outside to get ready for the ceremony.

Waiting for the ceremony to start

Our maitre D Stephanie was amazing! She was provided by the Lily Lake and I don't know what I would have done without her! She got the ceremony running smoothly and cued everyone at the proper times. It was great! I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Lauren (my Maid of honor) and myself right before the ceremony

After the ceremony we took all of our formal pictures.

Us with Allan's father and stepmother

Us with Allan's sisters

All of the Zabrecky kids with their spouses

Allan with his mother

Then we had our introductions, toasts, then dinner. After dinner we started our party with our first dance, which was a complete surprise! Allan and I choreographed our first dance, which started out slow and then cut into salsa! It was such a fun time and we got quite the reactions!