Thirsty Thursday

Oh, Thirsty Thursday, how I miss you — so. I recall many a Manhattan evening spent shooting tequila with my now-husband, back when we were young and wild, and could still pull it together to show up at work on time Friday morning. On this particular Thirsty Thursday, I am relaxing at my dad’s house in Southampton, letting the sun soak over my skin (my one indulgence this summer is sunshine, and no, I don’t need your lecture on exposure, thanks!).

While this preggo dreams of the refreshing cocktails of summers past, here’s some fun engagement party, bridal shower, and wedding signature drink inspiration for you. Bottoms up!

Don’t mess with the booze writers from the New York Times, amirite? This gorgeous fizzing surprise contains only three ingredients (four if you count the lime garnish) and it’s absolutely delicious. Meet the Cherry Caiprissima — simple syrup, cherries, and white rum. Details here.

I love a little herb flavor in my cocktails to “cut the sweet,” as my Nana would say. Scope this Strawberry-Basil Mojito from CompleteRecipes.com. It boasts being vegan and gluten-free, but I think we can all agree it’s much more important that this’ll go down easy and get you tipsy in a flash.

Not over the Gatsby trend? That’s cool, me either. These delightful, 20’s-inspired gems are perfect for getting guests ramped up, and look beautiful in photos, too. This is another super-easy one to make and though I haven’t tried one, I plan to once this little girl is out. It’s called the Molly Jane and contains only gin, grapefruit, lemon, and lavender. What a clean, delish combination. Find the recipe on TaraHurt.com.

TBT: The Wedding Planning Diaries

Sometimes I like to take a look back and see where I was a year ago on this blog. As we approach Born to be a Bride’s second anniversary in July, this will be an even more sentimental and enjoyable process for me. I’ve kept a journal since I was about five years old, but the past several years have been very spotty in that regard. This blog is my journal in many ways, and sharing it with you is just cherry on top of the sundae in my own process of becoming a bride, and now a wife. So, where was I last year?

On June 5th, 2013, I posted about thank-you notes for our bridal shower. As irony would have it, Josh and I brought the final haul of shower gifts home to our apartment just a few weeks ago. When we lived in Dallas, it seemed expensive and daunting to ship everything there. We figured we’d wait a year until we’d recovered from the wedding expenses and ship it all then. Little did we know at the time that within a year, we’d be living a five-hour drive from my mom’s, and we’d be able to pack up the trusty Durango and bring it all here. (Mom is thrilled to have her guest room back, by the way).

At my shower, with some of my favorites.

You might remember I made a book of cards from the shower(s) and I plan to do the same with our wedding cards. But it was even more nostalgic and wonderful, a year after the fanfare of my beautiful bridal shower on Long Island, to open up the 80% of our gifts we hadn’t yet used. Suddenly, we have mixing bowls and silver frames, crystal vases and fancy knives. And more wine glasses than any two people have a right to own — but fear not, friends. They’ll all be used. There is also a stripper pole now, because of course. Funnily, that is the one item my handsome husband hasn’t yet brought up from the car to the apartment. I imagine if you didn’t know me and you saw the contents of my trunk, you’d judge me — just a little.

So, last year at this time I fretted over getting my thank-you notes completed from the bridal shower, but I got them done shortly thereafter. Today, just two days shy of the nine-month mark since our wedding, I shamefully have about 15 notes to get out. It’s been a crazy year, but that’s no excuse. I now have my assignment for this weekend. What one nagging item remains on your current wedding to-do list? Email me!

Mani Monday and a Shower of Gift Ideas

This weekend, I attended what was quite possibly the most delightful baby shower in world history. Hosted at the beautiful Manhattan apartment of one of my dearest friends, this party had every single detail accounted for — and it was just lovely. At some point, we will probably get more into babies. But for now, a word on showers in general.

The sweet gift bag we received at this shower contained not one but two nail polishes. What a treat! My Sunday morning was spent prepping for the week with a trend-right DIY manicure in Deborah Lippman’s covetable “Call Me Irresponsible,” a bold purple. Everyone loves nail polish, and there are so many ways to make this idea work for a shower favor. You can stick with the wedding colors, reach for neutrals, use the bride’s favorite color, or create a wild assortment that can be traded among guests.

Loving this super-shiny, warm weather-ready hue! $18, Sephora.com

You might also consider buying a few of these Essie 4-packs and splitting them up among the bags for a more affordable option. $17 each, Ulta.com

These are some pretty OPI nail colors that fit a bridal aesthetic. $9 each, drugstore.com

Rose-Colored Glasses

Do you look at the world through rose-colored glasses? Or perhaps you’re just seeing your wedding through a rose-tinted lens. I am a pink fanatic, and I think there are many ways to incorporate the hue tied to your big day, without even having a pink theme. From showing up to your bridal shower in an unexpected pop of pink, to selecting rosy gifts for your bridesmaids, here are some ideas you might find useful.

Shower and Other Events:

Consider a drapey dress in a bubblegum hue. This one has a sexy fit that shows off your gams but it’s loose around the tummy so you’ll have plenty of room to double-up on dessert. Lovers + Friends cotton dress, on sale for $58, shopbop.com

Or, go all-out Princess Perfection in a sugary tulle minidress like this one. Perfect for your shower, a fancy brunch with your mother-in-law-to-be, or rocking that rehearsal dinner in style. Urban Renewal Tulle Slip Dress, $79, UrbanOutfitters.com

Morning Of:
On the day of your wedding, you need to be comfortable. But remember, your photographer and videographer (not to mention bridesmaids, etc., will be snapping away! So, you also will want to look cute. Why not consider a girly ensemble to wear while getting ready?

Cheerful, floral jammies are just what the bride ordered! Plus, the top buttons down so you won’t need to worry about messing up your hair. I love this pair from J. Crew, and can attest to their major comfort factor. Liberty Pajama set in Katie Ann Floral, $198, jcrew.com

Gifting:
It really doesn’t get cuter than pink sunglasses. Invest in these for yourself and your bridesmaids, and it will not only have everyone seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, it will make for a great photo opp, too! $155-160, ray-ban.com

Honeymoon:
Wear your sunnies above (duh), but how about some cute pink flats you can scurry around in? Whether you’re planning to tour wine country in Northern Cali or ancient ruins in Europe, every honeymoon requires at least one pair of ballerina flats. Why not make yours ballerina pink?

I love the mix of textures on these, and label-free design means they’re understated enough to pair with everything in your suitcase. French Sole “Fresh” flat, $195, nordstrom.com

Thank You, Thank You

Remember those thank-you notes I promised to bang out right away? Well, the past couple weeks have flown by and I still had not unpacked from New York. No, your math is not off. I was in New York over a month ago. Feeling like a truly dysfunctional twit, I peeled back the top of the suitcase Saturday afternoon and dove in. Hangers were removed and returned to the closet (still not quite sure why I was traveling with five hangers?), dirty clothes were put in the hamper and the box full of shower cards found a new home on our one-stop wedding workshop, also known as the coffee table.

My shower cards… some funny, some sentimental, all special. After this box, their next and final stop is a scrapbook. Methinks that will have to wait till after the wedding.

Opening these cards a second time and actually being able to read them without my mom hurrying me on with a roomful of ladies antsy to get to dessert, was a treat. The day of the shower, my maid-of-honor, sister-in-law, best friend extraordinaire kept a very detailed little bride journal denoting all gifts and their givers to keep me on track. This weekend, I wrote each thank-you after reading the related card, which created a more personal feeling than the standard Thanks so much! Love the gift! 

A bride-to-be guest book can serve as an excellent place to list your gifts and keep track of thank-you’s that have already been written and sent out.

I can’t guarantee your MOH will have handwriting this beautiful, but make sure she takes note of everything you receive at your shower.

As long as all of these find stamps and make their way to the homes where they’re intended before my wedding, I’ll feel okay about it. But what did we learn from this scary lapse in organization? Take your own advice, ladies!

This adorable tea towel is just one of the unique gifts I received for my shower that were not on the registry. Others included a lacy apron, lingerie, and a stripper pole. Well, then!!

A Million Thanks

There’s much to be read about the etiquette of thank-you notes these days, and being a bride naturally means you’ve got to read up. When we were kids, we were always made to send a hand-written note of thanks for any gift, large or small. And even before we were able to write, Mom would craft the note and have us paint on it or decorate it with stickers while explaining the importance of the gesture.

The gifts for our wedding have started to arrive and wow, this is fun. Every few days, we’ll get home from work and find a box waiting inside our apartment. Even when it’s something we knew was coming, it is so exciting to tear open the package and discover what treasure lies within. But Josh is a man, and a working one at that, and his desire to create a thank-you list and rattle off the notes is thin at best.

That’s where I come in.

From what I’ve read, any shower gifts should be acknowledged with a note from just me, because while the gift is for us both, the party was intended to shower me with happiness. Any gift addressed to both of us earns him a prized spot on the bottom of the note where he scrawls his signature upon my instruction. But what about the stationary?

We plan to order thank-you notes that match our invitations and those will be sent us from both of us, post-honeymoon. The return address will be ours and it will start with Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Gerson. Chic! Can’t wait. But until then, I am reading that it’s customary to use the maiden’s name and stationary. I purchased several boxes of pastel and sparkly thank-you notes from Papyrus literally days after we got engaged. They seem quite fitting to who I am as a person and as a bride. Writing them helps me to relive the opening of each gift, while sending them lets the gifter know how much their thought meant to me as a bride and to us as a couple.

If you have not yet received a note from me on your recent gift, do not fret! I am rolling them out in slow succession not because I am lazy or busy or ungrateful, but because I genuinely believe that these notes need to mean something. And as a writer, I like to take my time in capturing these feelings as I jot them down. But this is important, brides-to-be: get those shower thank-you’s out well in advance of your wedding. The women in your life put time, effort and love into getting you those items long before your big day. They deserve to read about how much you appreciate it before they book their travel and find babysitters and cocktail dresses for the event itself.

Showered in Love, Part One

snuggling up to some of the guests. from left: alani (bridesmaid), vicki, timothy, krista, aphrodite, lisa & ruthie

I would like to extend a thank-you of immeasurable size to my devoted mother and sister-in-law who, on Saturday, threw me the most exquisite bridal shower in the history of the world. Or at least the history of Long Island. I had an inkling that some sort of female-dominated celebration with cake and gifts was coming my way, but I never anticipated all of the incredible details with which the day would be infused. My top three were as follows:

Poufs.
Allie found these on Pinterest, I believe, and set about making them. She clearly had fun doing so, or at least recognized that I would want a lot of them, because they were everywhere. And they were beautiful. You can find a how-to on similar poufs here. Mine were white and pink, and arranged artfully not only in the party areas but surprisingly upstairs in my childhood bedroom, too. I highly recommended making these for any shower, kids’ party or rehearsal dinner on your horizon. They’re a total conversation-starter and everyone loves them!

Lilacs.
On Saturday morning, I was ushered down the back stairs of our home with my eyes closed and directly out onto the porch, because our florist was in the kitchen whipping up secret arrangements that I was not to see until the party. When I descended the main stairwell in the front to enter my party hours later, lilacs were everywhere. I thought it was really cool that Mom and Pookie swayed from the obvious choice of pink for the flowers, instead bringing a lovely pop of lavender into the party. I adore the color purple, and sometimes it does not get enough attention in my life.

me with two bridesmaids and a sampling of our lovely lilacs in the background!

Love.
Second-cousins and childhood friends, the wife of our best man and five cheerful bridesmaids… family, friends, and family friends… everyone was there. My baby brother served as event photographer and my dad showed up at the end with a massive container of his famous charred chicken to fill any bellies that were not yet stuffed with olives, cheese, salad, salmon, risotto, and cake. My older brother phoned in from his workday in Connecticut to tell me that he was sure my shower was beautiful, but the best part is building a life with the one you love. These words were so meaningful and appreciated.

there were many ways i was shown intense love on saturday, from hugs to gifts and champagne to laughter. but the food that was lovingly prepared by the two leading ladies in my life was the most labor-intensive work of love at the party. (everything from that lemon risotto to each sauce for the salmon was made from scratch)

The theme of the party was “Our Giulietta found our Romeo” and have I ever! I’m lucky to have him, and he is lucky to have me, and we are truly luckiest to have such a wonderful group of people around us who care for us and make us feel their adoration on special days and not as special days. On Saturday I was showered with love in the most generous and beautiful ways.

And on Sunday, we woke up for our third attempt at an engagement shoot… and found ourselves showered with RAIN.

More on that soon. And I will be posting more photos of the shower as soon as my mom forks over the memory card!