Mish's Journey to the Altar

My thanks

2011-02-26T12:26:00.000-08:00

Last month I married my best friend, my soulmate, and the person who I plan to spend the rest of my life with. We had a few mini dramas at the wedding but luckily it went well.
I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for making this day possible.
First and foremost, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been holding his hand over our union since the fateful day that we met. As many of you know, Matt and I didn’t have a fairy tale beginning, (our first date was a train wreck, lol) But the Lord God has watched over us and taught us the power of love, peace, patience, forgiveness and hope. With his continued love and our continued praise of him, I’m sure we’ll have that happily every after.

To my family: Words can’t express how grateful I am that I’m a part of such a loving, kind, dedicated, and fun group of people. I feel truly blessed to know you, and honored to be related to you. I especially am grateful to all of my cousins for making it down here There were far too many of you to name but. To my 3 Steves, Arlene, Marsha, Sherry-Ann and John just to start, I'm soooooo happy you came!

My Mama: My first friend. Thanks for all of your advice, and help in helping me and Matt put the wedding together. I’m especially thankful that you came to New Orleans to help me choose my dress, apparently we did good!

To my Siblings:

Brent, it was especially awesome to have you walk me down the aisle. Thanks for calming my last minute jitters and smiling as you lead me down most memorable 90 feet of my life. I’m sure you gave Matt a nice threat when you got to the altar, which is ok too. Lol.

Jason, you have been exceptionally generous in helping me finalize all of the wedding details. I was honored that you accepted to be a groomsman in the ceremony. Thanks for doing things to make me smile.

Nigel, thanks so much for speaking the words of the Good Book in the ceremony in addition to being my go-to guy when I needed help with the loose ends of the wedding. You kept my laughing and happy and relaxed when I needed it most.

Michelle, My sis, thanks for being there to help set up for the reception. Everything looked so beautiful. I dunno if anyone has ever told you, but you give very, very calming hugs. Thanks for the pick me up.

Chevon, my other sis, thanks for allowing your adorable children to be in our wedding. They looked phenomenal! I know it was a sudden addition, but I’m glad we were able to pull it off. I miss you!

To my adopted family of Chi Upsilon Sigma. Lord knows I’ve always said that God did not give me birth sisters because he knew I’d have CUS. Two special Cussies made the trip out to New Orleans and It’s something I am very grateful for and will never forget. Chi Hoot Marlene “Colibri” Sanchez and Brenda “Tiger’s Aye” Pescoran.

CUS also produced my wedding party, as all of my beautiful women in pink were all members of my sisterhood.

Jessie- You have been there for me through some of the most tumultuous times In my life. With you I have overcome tragedy and loss, pain and anguish, celebrated joys and excitement. You are an amazingly beautiful person inside and out. You constantly find the good in the situation, even in the most hopeless of dilemmas. You constantly engage me mentally, and are fun to be around. I think your only downfall is you didn’t pledge in the Fall lol.

Aknaris- My sister from a different mother. You have been a dear friend to me. You taught me the meaning of the word sister. We’ve cried together, cuddled together, insulted random track players together lol. But seriously, you have always cared for me on a different level, as if there was no difference in our blood. You have seen me at my worst, hugged me through my disappointments, and could make any day with absolutely no plans the most exciting, memorable, and fun filled adventure. RIP Peju, but long live the memories we shared with him. I’m thankful that you stood beside me as we became sisters of CUS, and will always think of you as my sister before CUS.

Aileen- My rock, my level head. You are as amazing a person as you are beautiful. The past few years were difficult for me, from the loss of my grandfather to various other personal issues, I fell apart several times, but you were always there to pick up the pieces. You have been an phenomenal sister and friend. I’ve told you personal things about me that no one else on this planet (including Matt) knows. (watch him ask me what they are now lol) You have always been available, sometimes even sacrificing sleep to talk to me in my time of need. I will spend forever trying to show you how grateful I am to have you as my Maid of Honor and standing beside me as I married my favorite Kahlia. :0).

Special thanks to everyone who came to the wedding, especially those who traveled far distances to be with us on our special day. We had guests from California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Connecticut, and even Trinidad.

To my New New Orleans friends, ya’ll are quickly a growing part of our lives. I love ya’ll!
Thanks to the people who wanted to come but couldn’t due to miscellaneous reason. We know you were there in spirit.

To the people who didn’t rsvp, call, email, facebook, or send a smoke signal to acknowledge you even got an invitation: I know it’s bad of me to scold you, but the truth of the matter is we spent a lot of time compiling our guest list, as Matt and I both have huge friend and family circles. To not even reply so we could at least use your rsvp in our scrapbook is just plain hurtful, and rude.

Back to happy thoughts though, Thanks to our wonderful wedding coordinator Merideth for keeping the day running smoothly.

Our photographer Simone was capturing all of the most wonderful moments. I’m sure that Her creativity, speed, and cooperativeness will lead to some beautiful wedding photos.

And Finally, thanks to Matthew for even asking me to spend the rest of my life with him. In you I have found the man of my dreams. We have been through a lot together, and I look forward to sharing more memories with you. I know people say that your wedding day should be the happiest day of our lives, but here’s to the hope that we have many days that far exceed the amount of joy we shared the day we became one. Get ready for the ride of your life!!

PS. Etiquette police, don't worry, ya'll will still get formal thank you cards in the mail. :-)

Ok freaking out big time!! (5 days away)

2011-01-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Hey people

I'm officially freaking out about my wedding being so close. I've got 5 days and now Matt is out of town, the centerpieces look rediculious, and there is a snow storm that will hit nyc tomorrow. OMG!!

Matt and my Mom both will be coming from the east coast tomorrow night, and the weather forecast is predicting 4-6 inches of snow. Needless to say, I'm a bit worried. Gratefully, the snow should be up and out of nyc by the time of the wedding, so it shouldn't leave any of my guests stranded. (fingers crossed)

I do have some good news, Matt and I have completed the seating chart, place cards and meal choice sheets for our wedding planner as she requested. We also found an alternate person to do my hair and make up for the big day, and was able to get my wedding band sized early so I can have pick it up tomorrow, instead of taking it off and leaving it in New Orleans during my honeymoon to get it resized.

We got to order our favors (and some extra goodies) and I'm pleased to say I really think you guys will like them. We'll see!

I go for my first fitting tomorrow, as the rep at the bridal shop says my dress is scheduled to be shipped then. I really hope so, because I can't take any more bad news. I'll post about it tomorrow. I have no one to go with me, so the bridal shop people must think I'm the biggest loser ever. :-(

Going to get some rest now so I don't look like the bride of Frankenstein.

-Mish

Happy New Year! (14 days to go)

2011-01-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
It's been an eventful few weeks since I blogged last. It's a new year, the year that I will marry my best friend and I couldn't be more excited. Let me give you the update on some stuff.

My bridal shower took place in New Jersey on December 18. It was sooo awesome! I don't think I ever felt so loved in my life! It was nice to party with friends, old and new, mingle with family, eat some delicious home cooked food, and play shower games with everyone. I got some great shower gifts, but I really treasured my bridal shower puppy that everyone signed. It's so cute! I have to keep it away from Nala though....lol. Thanks to everyone who helped plan it, including my mom and bridal party, and everyone who attended. Ya'll truly touched my heart!

Also it was the first time I got to see my bridal party in their dresses and almost instantly I started to tear up. They look so beautiful! I know there needs to be some slight alterations because they dresses are kinda long, but they will look amazing by the wedding.

After the shower, we went out to celebrate our Maid of Honor and Best Man's birthdays, at the shower "after party" lol what a drunk and crazy night! lol I don't remember too much, but vaguely recall dancing on top of the bar, and Matt puking his guts out on a Manhattan street, me accusing my bridesmaid of eating my flatbread sandwich... lol random I know.

My make up trial had to be rescheduled to last week and it went well. I have some beautiful colors selected and I'm quite confident that I will be looking amazing on my wedding day. Pictures don't really do it justice, because I used my webcam, but you get the idea.

Well that's about all that's been going on in wedding world. Matt and I have pretty much handled everything there is left, so our wedding Coordinator Meredith can take over on Monday. Hooray!

Happy New year everyone, All the best to you and your family for 2011!

Love,

Mish

Oh the weather outside is freightful.... (33 Days to go)

2010-12-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

Hey people,

BRRRRR it's cold out there! Tonight will be an unprecedented 28 degrees in NOLA, and I guess the weather is starting to make me freak out. I'm wondering if it will be frigid on the wedding date, will there be snow, will anyone get stranded at the airport... all kinda negative crap. I just am hoping and praying for the best. If not, at least some really strong heaters in the church and reception hall lol.

So this Saturday Matt and I designed and ordered our wedding cake and groom's cake. It's from a local bakery here called Haydel's and they make some great cake. Heck we tasted it twice! We ended up getting a great deal so be sure to tell me what you think when you have a piece.

We also picked up the dresses for my bridesmaids and maid of honor and got a handle on the suit drama. The suit drama is caused by poor customer service, the associate who helped Matt order suits failed to tell him that 1) the suits run small and 2) the suit is part of a set, so the man ordered the suit just based on jacket size, disregarding any pant measurements. So Matt tried on his suit and it was incredibly snug. I'm sure I could see his veins bulging out of the suit, it was that tight. After countless call backs and no assistance, we went to another store and got the suits exchanged for the next largest size and will have an expert tailor adjust them so no one will know the difference. AND we'll have them in time for this weekend when we go to New York so we can give it to some of the bridal party so they can make any necessary alterations as well. YAY!!

It's getting close to crunch time with the RSVP's and I'm starting to get a little nervous about that. Out of close to 200 guests, 50 have RSVP'd. Granted, a majority are family who we know are coming, so I project at least having 120 guests at the reception, but I worry about the procrastinators. Especially those who want to come but didn't book anything yet. Deadlines are coming up people!

We are still trying to go with a beautiful theme for our tables, so hopefully tomorrow we can get it all taken care of during our meeting with our florist. We'll see.

Exhausted but very happy!

Mish

He went to Jared!!!.... I went to Zales lol. (49 Days)

2010-11-27T18:51:00.000-08:00

So today we got our wedding rings!

Matt got his ring from Jared, he picked a simple, manly ring for himself and seems extremely giddy about it. I am happy that he's so happy.

I got a gorgeous yellow gold wrap that has two rows of diamonds surrounding my engagement ring. I liked it because for me, it symbolizes the hope that the love we share at this moment will forever be sealed in an eternal embrace... poetic I know :-)

In other news, Matt has gotten the suits ordered for him and his groomsmen. They are a nice charcoal gray and they will wear pink ties to match the lovely bridesmaids. The only thing left is the shoes, which Matt and I will help our bridal party with when we go to New York for my bridal shower.

As for all the other details, things are falling into place smoothly. Thankfully I've been a spreadsheet queen, so every last penny has been accounted for and we are right at our budget. Thanks to Matt's awesome bargaining skills, we have saved over $4,000!! Hopefully no unforeseen issues won't arise and throw us off course. (fingers crossed)

People are starting to RSVP and its starting to freak me out! It's funny how everyone talks about the woes of wedding planning, but no one seems to mention the shear joy of getting an rsvp in the mail and wondering who it is from and what they have to say. I especially like the ones with smilie faces or little notes, so keep 'em coming!

Finally, I'm looking forward to January 1, because as of then my wedding coordinator, Meredith will take over the reigns and Matt and I will be on easy street. Unfortunately until that point I have to put all our ideas, thoughts and hopes for the wedding down on paper which is not an easy feat, but I'm almost done, thank goodness.

Oh one last detail, I set up my trial hair and make up for this Thursday. I will post pictures and will need you guys honest opinions. I'm not trying to look a mess. lol.

That's all for now, me tired.

-Mish

Gulp! People are getting their invitations! (61 Days)

2010-11-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Hey People,

Last weekend I began the tiresome chore of assembling, addressing, and mailing out the invitations. Each step had a slight roadblock.

Assembling flat out took forever. I guess that's the penalty of choosing pocket invitations. Each invite had to be mounted onto the mat, then 3 pocket inserts, a band around the bottom, and sealed with hot wax. Yes, hot wax like they did in the 1800's. The end result looked pretty cool. I hope ya'll like it.

Then once they were assembled we had to deal with tempermental mail merges and a few envelopes became casualties to the printer.... yikes. Not to mention in our haste to get them all printed, I ended up sending out one invite without a zip code. grrrrr!

Finally, at the post office I was told I had incorrect postage for every envelope. I was angry because when I got the invites weighed the first time I was told I would require a 61 cent stamp. Now all of a sudden I needed an additional 78 cents, per envelope. That's $78!! She went on to tell me that I had one of two options. A) Mail the letters as they were and hope all of my guests would not get charged an additional 78 cents when they receive them. or B) Put a stamp of Fredrick Douglas looking a hot mess on my invitiation. Finally the stress got to me and my eyes started to tear up in the post office. The woman probably felt sorry for me and gave me a third option, telling me that I may be able to go to the New Orleans post office and they will postmark it without a problem. 20 minutes later, the New Orleans post office took all of my invites off of my hands and I was beyond relieved. Today some of my friends have confirmed that they have received their invites without any complication.

Now that the invites are out of the way, I'm looking forward to going home and spending time with my family, and seeing some people who may not be able to make it to the wedding. Not to mention getting some of my mama's home cooked food.

Thanks to everyone who helped get the invites out. Shout out to Denise, Brandon, Lori, PJ, and Cindy. Ya'll are awesome.

-Mish

Dresses, Dresses, Dresses!! (76 Days)

2010-10-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hey People!

I know it's been a while, but here is an update on the dress situation. Mama came to New Orleans for Columbus day weekend. We started to look on Friday night for a couple of hours and we have similar tastes in dress selection so it was real easy. I saw some beautiful dresses, but nothing that i fell in love with. (see attached pictures of the dresses that didn't make the cut).
Saturday we went to a few more dress places. I picked out two that I liked and tried them on. They were good dresses, but nothing that really fit my style. The attendant offered another dress similar to the style of the first two, but It was hideous. Mommy called the embellishments tacky, and I was fully prepared to put on my clothes and leave that store. Mom had decided to go to the restroom while I put back on my street clothes. When she left, the attendant came out with one more dress. On the hanger, it looked beautiful..... so I was excited to try it on. Just as I had put on the dress and walked over to the pedestal, mommy walked back in and immediately her eyes started to fill with water. I had the biggest smile on my face, and with great excitement in unison we said "This is it !!!" I then began to walk around the store, checking out the dress from different angles. Other brides-to-be and thier families were complementing me on the dress, and how good it looked on me. I didn't stop smiling! I then remembered an article I read that told me to do more than just stand in my dress in front of the mirror, because on my wedding day I'll be dancing, sitting, kneeling etc... I then began to dance, and kneel in the dress to test it's comfort, and it passed. I finally went over to a chair nearby and sat down. I started talking to people in the store, my mother, our attendant.... the list goes on. Before I knew it, 30 minutes have gone by and I still had on the dress. Finally, the attendant walks over to me and says "Ma'am, do you want to change out of the dress now?" LOL! I guess because the dress was so perfectly fitted on me I just didn't want to take it off. Needless to say, I ordered it that day, and it should be in by December 17. YAY!

Now on to the lovely ladies who will be standing beside me on that day:
My maid of honor and bridesmaids will be wearing a gorgeous Tiffany Chiffon Fabric Dresses that is floor length. Two of my line sisters Aileen and Aknaris (Leen and Nari, respectively) did some leg work to find dresses that are complimentary to their body shapes. They gave me a list of 4 dresses to look at. I went to the bridal shop here, but unfortunately only one dress was available however, the one dress that was available happened to be my favorite. Just when I thought I was in the clear, I got a call from the Dress boutique and they gave me a ridiculous deadline that required me to leave work and that was impossible. That's when my super fiance stepped in and and actually convinced the store manager to allow him to leave the store with a sample dress so I can inspect it personally. (You know everything looks great online, but I didn't feel comfy ordering something I haven't felt with my own hands) So Matt shows up at my job with the dress in tow, and it was beautiful, so I placed the order last Friday.

Special thanks to everyone who helped me with these dresses: Mom, Leen, Nari, and Matt. I love you all so very much!!!

And now the rejects:

and that's all for now.

Matt and I are about to start our registry!!

:0)
Mish

Mom's coming town! (110 Days)

2010-09-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just got back from Hawaii! I had a great time with the family, I just wish Matt was there too, that way everyone I love the most would be under one roof. My happy thought is that by the next family vacation, I'll be taking my hubby with me!

While I've been away, the invites came in. While I'm happy they are here, I just got a wave of stress looking at them. It's going to be a lot of work getting them ready to ship out in a few weeks, and knowing the people that will be invited, not everyone will be racing to send in the RSVPs. Which also made me think of the many follow ups I would have to make, addresses out of the country I would have to track down...the list goes on.

On a happier note, I've confirmed that my mom will be in town the weekend of October 9th so we can go dress shopping. I'm extremely happy she'll come to town and I can show her around. She can attend mass, meet Father Pat, and if time permits I'll show her the quarter where the reception will be held. I kinda wish Aileen my maid of honor, Aknaris and Jessie my bridesmaids would be here too, so they can help me choose something modern. My mom isn't old fashioned, but knowing her she would pick a dress that isn't really that 2010 if you know what I mean. The more I think about it, I should have picked a dress in New York, and had it sent here that way I could have other opinions from some of my best friends in the world..... ah well what's done is done. I'm sure momma and I will do just fine and pick a lovely dress that I'll wear when I marry my soul mate, and have a great weekend in New Orleans.

Time to apply some aloe to my extremely tan self.

Aloha!

where the heck are the invitations?? (123 Days)

2010-09-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I'm just going to rant about the status of our invitations. I am excited and mini nervous that they haven't arrived yet. It's been a good 2 weeks it's not like they are being printed or anything, Matt has designed them himself and they look awesome. All I'm anxious is about is blank pocket folders, and when they arrive I still have to get printed and assembled. Anyone up for a wine and invitation assembling party? lol didn't think so. eh at least I tried.

In other news, we've finally got around to telling our friends and family about our big date. Everyone is so happy for us! I guess that's what happens when you are engaged for a while, either that or everyone is looking forward to a party down in the big easy :-)

Other great news, my mom is coming to New Orleans to help me pick my dress the weekend of October 9th. I'm so excited!! I was thinking to show her around as well, have her meet the Father Pat, the priest who will be marrying us, and show her the ballroom where the reception will be held. We'll see if time permits. Knowing me I probably won't take that long to choose a dress, and we'll go on to doing other things like hanging out on bourbon street. ;-)

Oh this just in, invites should be here by the 20th. We'll see.

Till then,

Mish

8/31/10 136 days to go

2010-08-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hey People!

I've got so much to tell you! First let me update you on the status of the BIG 5

Church- Booked. Already started our pre-marital classes with Father. Last class we had to take a test, complete with a scantron and everything! We find out our results next month. I'm sure we did fine.

Reception-- I've finally given up the stigma of having a reception in a hotel as being tacky. I really didn't like the idea, but once I saw how beautiful the ballroom is and all of the potential it has to offer I couldn't resist. Extra bonus is that it would be convenient for our guests to make it to/from the reception. It's in a great area of the city so we can definitely do some sightseeing.

Florist-- We found a very nice guy who has done some amazing work. He gave us a pretty reasonable quote too, including bouquet preservation. That way, when Matt and I renew our vows in 2061 I could potentially use the same bouquet! It's safe to say we will use him, we are just waiting for him to draft up the contract.

Photographer-- Booked. We have decided on this lovely young lady to do our engagement shots, and has been so generous to donate 9 hours of her time to shoot our wedding day. We are toying around with the idea of of a pseudo photo booth set up in the cocktail room so we can have photos of all of our guests as well, and it'll give ya'll something to do while waiting for Matt and I.

Dress-- Sadly, my dress shopping has kind of fell by the waist side (no pun intended lol) I'm not one of those ultra feminine types, so I tried on 4 dresses, liked one of them and was pretty much done. I really liked the third, I'll enclose some pics, but Matt has already seen it, so I can't choose it anyway. Besides, I'm waiting for my mother to come to town to help me choose, I just hope she has modern taste.

Some other tidbits that are going on, Matt and I are constructing our centerpieces, they are uniquely New Orleans! Also, we've chosen our invites, we just have to order them and get to assembling. Got a good grasp on the limo, but no one has my rolls royce for a good price :-( Other than that, easyweddingplanner has us on track. Speak to ya'll again soon!

-Mish