Real Simple Weddings

Real Simple Magazine is releasing their first "Real Simple Weddings." Advanced copies are on sale at Crate & Barrel stores and on-line starting today. It's $12.95 and I'm looking forward to stopping by Crate and Barrel to check it out (yes, I know, my wedding is over...but a friend might need my help, right)? It's 160 pages of tips and there are bound to be beautiful photos. Real Simple magazine is just so sleek and packed with great tips and ideas. I have high hopes for their wedding guide.

On the marketplace -- the guys

After Mr. Onion got his hair trimmed and a professional shave, the guys hung out with Andy Bishop, our photographer's husband and second shooter, on the marketplace.


Front to back, Mr. Onion's best friend, Mr. Onion and his brother on their way from The Men's Room.


Mr. Onion's best friend loves rock climbing...well climbing anything, as you can see, and in flip flops even!


When I came across this photo in the proofs I almost died laughing. Apparently, my father-in-law, after seeing Mr. Onion's best friend do it, wanted to do it too! Click to enlarge to really see their facial expressions. This is priceless!


I mentioned before about Mr. Onion's love of life and happiness -- and again you can see where he gets it from!


My brother and father joined them for a haircut and lunch later..here they are coming up the marketplace.


Right before they headed to pick up some sandwiches for lunch, Andy got a great shot of the guys on the steps of the town hall where Mr. Onion and I had picked up our marriage license not two days earlier!

Photo Creidt: Daria Bishop Photography

On The Marketplace (Part IV)

Part I
Part II
Part III

After my mother, mother-in-law and I were all finished with our hair and make-up at the Aveda Salon I decided to spent a bit of quality time with my wedding party. The only stressful part of the entire day for me was the time it took for us to get rounded up and down to Mirabelle's Cafe (who made our beautiful wedding cake) for lunch. One bridesmaid had her hair done at a different salon, another was out early for a run as she was training for the New York Marathon, and the other was running around town looking for white back up shoes for me for the reception...it was hard to keep track of everyone.

Our sweet photographer, Daria Bishop, joined us for lunch and got a couple of cute shots between the salon and the cafe.


Bride and groom dolls in the window of the toy shop


The fire juggling clown setting up for the street fair...you'll see more of him during the cocktail hour

We had to wait to be seated for what seemed like forever -- I'm sure it was only 10-15 minutes -- but when you're getting married in a matter of hours your concept of time it totally warped. All I could think about while waiting was how much of our "just us" photo time was being eaten up.

Once we were seated and served Alison (the owner/baker) came out to say hello and see how everything was. She is a lovely woman with a fantastic business. Every time I've ever been there it's been packed. The website says, "Mirabelle's -- where everything is good," and it's really true. If you find yourself in Burlington you'll have to stop in for lunch or a treat.


Daria snapped a quick picture of me with Alison, the owner and baker of our yummy wedding cake


And this is one of my favorite pictures of the day -- my best friend since childhood was one of my bridesmaids and she LOVES sweets. Here she is eating her cupcake which, if I remember correctly, is all she ordered!

Did you plan a breakfast, luncheon or any quality time with your girls before the wedding? My advice, if you're planning on this, is to pick a place where you can make a reservation and know that there won't be a chance you could loose 30-45 minutes. This was my one big oversight. The guys just bought sandwiches and brought them back to the inn (more on their QT later)....I might have done that if I'd known we'd be so behind.

Photo Credit: Daria Bishop Photography

Money matters...

There has been a bit of talk around the hive lately about money matters -- savings, how to handle finances as you merge your lives as husband and wife, buying your first place etc.

One of the few other blogs I enjoy reading, other than weddingbee, is a collection of blogs called "Team Sugar." There are a number of different "sugars" -- popsugar (all about pop culture fluff), yumsugar (all about cooking and entertaining), fitsugar (to help you live a healthy lifestyle -- what girl doesn't want that?), geeksugar (all about the latest in tech -- they have blogged about wedding websites here), lilsugar (you guested it -- babies), and the newest additions is savvysugar (all about finances, savings etc).



To celebrate the launch of savvysugar they are giving away FOUR macbooks! One each week for four weeks. All you have to do to enter is sign up and comment. Wouldn't it be great to get organized with all your wedding planning or household budgeting with a shiny new computer? Click here to learn more about the giveaway. Good luck ladies.

How to address your new family

I was wrapping Christmas presents for our families over the holiday and started to write a tag for my father-in-law's gift from me and Mr. Onion and I wrote "for Dad" because that's how he would address his father. Then I was writing my mother-in-law's gift tag and without thinking wrote "for [her first name]."



It got me thinking -- what do you call your in-laws and how did you come to that decision. "Mom" and "Dad" just don't roll off my tongue.

Do you call your in-law's

a) Mom and Dad
b) "Jane" and "John" (ie. by their first names)
c) Mr. [so and so] and Mrs. [so and so]

And if you're not married yet, is this something you've discussed with your boyfriend/girlfriend/fiance? Might be an interesting topic of conversation.

Family Holiday Treats

You can't have a holiday meal without family recipes. This year I made a few of my grandmother's dishes for the first time since she passed away almost 5 years ago. It really made everyone think of her and it got me thinking. Our children won't have had the opportunity to know her, but through her food, she will live on.


Sour cream pound cake



Wine Cakes. This is something I have never seen in an Italian bakery, nor could I find a recipe or even a mention of it anywhere on-line. They don't look very appealing, but they are delicious and addicting. They are little dough balls made with red wine, fried and then dipped in hot honey and lemon zest.


"Spaghetti and crumbs". This is a Calabrian dish that my grandmother served as our fish course every Christmas. I hated it as a child (it has anchovies and olives) but have grown to love it.

I also made her almond butter cookies which I forgot to take a picture of, but know that I spend a lot of time baking over the holiday. My mother doesn't bake, but after this holiday she thinks she should buy a stand mixer that I can use while I'm at her house!

It was such a treat to share these special dishes with Mr. Onion. He doesn't have the same connection to them as I do, of course, but he appreciated how hard I worked and thought everything was delicious. My mother-in-law gave me a recipe for her fudge in my stocking on Christmas morning and I look forward to making it for Mr. Onion.

Do you have any family recipes you're excited to use as you build your new family with your fiance/husband? Have you experienced any of your in-laws specialties?

If anyone is particularly interested in the recipes feel free to email me: onion at weddingbee dot com.

Wearing your wedding dress....after the wedding

When you pick your wedding dress you are thinking of how beautiful you will look on your wedding day. You think about what your fiance will think when he sees you. You might think about your daughter wearing it for her wedding. But how many of you think about wearing your wedding dress again?



On New Year's Eve my family hosted a formal dinner party and I got to wear a part of my wedding dress again! My Romonda Keveza gown is actually a top and bottom and it was such a great experience to wear it again.


Photo: Daria Bishop Photography

At one point during the evening Mr. Onion and I found ourselves alone and I smiled and said, "Does it bring you back to our wedding day to see me in the skirt?" He said, "Of course it does," with a big grin and kissed me. It was really romantic.



Happy New Year from Mr. & Mrs. Onion!

Here we are together in front of my parents Christmas tree. And yes, Mr. Onion is wearing his wedding suit! We will both get a lot of wear out of our wedding attire in the years to come. Now I just have to find a skirt to wear with the top of my dress. Or perhaps jeans and my wedding shoes? Do you or your fiance or husband plan to wear any of your wedding day attire after your wedding?