Real Life Bride: Week 13

This past weekend we celebrated with friends and family at our engagement party at Border Grill in Santa Monica. It was such a wonderful night and gave us a good opportunity to visit with everyone - and of course to enjoy some good food and drinks! I am so thankful for for my parents who are so generous and supportive of Ryan and me. Aside from a few service issues {which I'm pretty sure no one even noticed or cared about but as an event planner I can't help but see these things!}, the night was more than we ever could have hoped for. I'm sure Beth and Laura will be posting pictures of the evening, so I will just say thank you to both of them for making it a night for us to cherish and remember! And thanks to Steve Steinhardt as well for capturing the festivities {and details} all on camera...

I know that the importance of this special time is sharing it with our family and friends, and you aren't supposed to talk about gifts, but this is called "Real Life Bride" and what's "real" is that we all like getting new things ~ especially when we're young and are starting to veer away from our hodgepodge collection of college/post-college furniture {unless you are my friends Val & TJ who will never succumb to the silliness of not buying off Craigslist!}. Anyway, Ryan and I were fortunate to receive some fabulous presents for both our apartment and ourselves, and we couldn't be happier with how much cozier the place looks already! I must admit I am normally a major proponent of buying off the registry, so thank you to those who indulged my love for everything Crate and Barrel, but I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised by the non-registry gifts we received. Adorable {zebra} towel, potholders and bowls from Anthropologie, beautiful measuring spoons from a boutique shop (that are almost too pretty to use!), a deliciously scented candle also from Anthropologie, gourmet cooking spices {for Ryan of course, the gourmet chef} and a fabulous champagne brunch cruise for two, just to name a few.

I am happy to report, Mom, that all of our thank you cards are out in the mail! While I was writing I started to think about the sad fact that writing thank you cards {or really writing anything in print} has been slowly dying for some time now, but I do believe that people still like to get real mail that isn't bills or junk, and it's the polite thing to do.

Although the practice has been slowing in general, though, I don't believe hand-written thank you cards for engagement, shower and wedding gifts will ever be a dying practice - just as I would like to hope that wedding invitations will always remain in their print format {yes, I know we've already seen engagement, shower and bachelorette party invitations make the transition to electronic}. There is just something special about the carefully and thoughtfully designed invitation that would be lost if you couldn't actually feel it and post it on your refrigerator; and fortunately for us, we have Laura Hooper Calligraphy handling all of our printed materials ~ including our thank you notes!

Planning Status Complete Update:
Venue - booked
Wedding gown - purchased
Bridesmaid dresses & shoes - purchased
DJ - booked
Ceremony musicians - booked
Caterer - booked {still need to do our tasting though}
Bride's hair/makeup artist - booked
Valet company - booked
Invitations - started working on wording
Hotel room blocks - Four Seasons Westlake & Westlake Village Inn
Registry - started online at Crate & Barrel and Macys; still need to visit both stores