I Think I Wanna Marry You

First things first…I love big gestures, surprises, generally anything that took thought or effort. This applies to almost any situation. It most definitely applies to proposals. I think my obsession love with this idea is also because I happen to think I am personally very difficult to surprise. But I digress….

Today as I was checking my email a sidebar flashed a news story from the Huffington Post about a flash mob proposal at Downtown Disney in Orlando, FL. I thought that sounded pretty cool so I figured I would click over to the page and check it out. Ironically enough, I am not typically a fan of large, in public displays but this proposal I found today had me eating my words.

Jamin arranged a flash mob dance to the tune of Bruno Mars’ “I Think I Wanna Marry You” to surprise his girlfriend of over 5 years. Now I love me some Bruno (best Glee episode ever?) and I can’t help but smile every time I hear that song – but this one put me over the edge. Watching this video… I had chills. And I cried. Like a little girl. Multiple times. Actually I played it three times in a row and clicked around you tube to find other versions of it from onlookers. It was just that good.  I even felt my heart start racing when the footage in the insert showed Jamin getting nervous before he jumped in. I know…I’m crazy…but this was amazing. See for your self:

Any fellas looking to take the next step – take note. This one is a winner. I’m going to go hit play again…one more time can’t hurt right?

The Sweetest Surprise

I love a good (romantic) engagement story, but I love it even more when it involves people I know and care about.  So here’s some back story:

Alex is one of my closest friends from my hometown and we go (WAY!)  back to our dorky middle school days. The origin of our meeting is still a little hazy, surrounded by a bit of discrepancy (ha), but either way I’ve known him a long time. After high school he moved up to Boston for college. I still argue he should have gone to the U – my alma mater – but if he had done what he should have he originally planned -this post wouldn’t exist! Anyway, I digress. While at school in Boston, Alex met his beautiful beauty queen girlfriend Amanda (this is no exaggeration – she really was Miss. Massachusetts!). Forgive me for not knowing the exact details but they have been together for many many years.

Being in the wedding business I seem to be privy to a lot of details from my friends as well as a source of advice. I’ll take what I can get. This led to Alex letting me know that he was planning on asking Amanda to marry him sometime in the near future. He told me he had already spoken to her family (props for the traditionalism) and was on the hunt for the perfect diamond. If anyone knows Alex, they know he is quite the perfectionist, so this hunt took some time as just any old diamond wouldn’t do. Needless to say, I anxiously awaited the day I would hear “she said yes” and regularly checked in asking “so did you find it yet? When are you going to do it.” Finally, the day came! I couldn’t wait to find out how Alex ended up popping the question and boy was it a doozy!

While Amanda was visiting family in Florida, Alex had planned a vacation to New York (or so she thought). Really, Alex flew to Florida to surprise Amanda during a beach photo shoot with her mother. According to Alex, Amanda was so surprised she kept asking if it was “really happening.” The best part about this trickery and surprise is that all of it was captured on film because of the photo shoot set up. The photograper, Mark Dickinson, explains how it all went down on his blog site. Directly following the surprise, Alex and Amanda were able to shoot a mini engagement session (also on Mark’s blog). The photos turned out absolutely amazing! Alex- who knew you could be so photogenic (ha!)

Anyway…now the surprise in photo nutshell (all images pulled from Mark’s blog linked above).

Alex sneaking up from behind the dunes.

The photography is absolutely beautiful and so is the couple! (The black and white is my favorite!!) I am so happy for Alex and Amanda. Congratulations!! I love when such wonderful events happen to people around me!

Photo Perfection

I’m not going to lie, this little lovely was stolen straight from the pages of Southern Weddings blog, but I just couldn’t help but share. The moment I saw this I instantly fell in love. This photo shoot is so sweet and fun and silly and vintage and beautiful and everything else all rolled into one. I pretty much want to be this couple. See for yourself:

All of the photography was shot by W+E Photographie at the home of the bride. I really can’t get enough.

Do you feel like Miranda or Steve…

aka, how I spent my New York City vacation living out fictitious city scenes. Since some of these excursions reminded me of romantic comedies, I thought hey, why not tell the blog world. This vacation was trip number four to the city for me, so I tried to avoid doing too many touristy items (with the exception of dragging some local friends to the Empire State Building. Thanks guys!!!)

First on the list was a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, with a dramatic meeting ala Sex in the City (thus the title), sans affectionate making out.

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This was something I have never done and always wanted to, and lucky for me my bff was in the same situation. The original plan was to meet up with a sorority sister from college and do the trip together, but due to timing and the need for adventure we decided meeting in the middle would be more fun. I hadn’t seen my friend since college graduation so I figured some decent dramatics were at least a possibility (and yes… it was just like in the movies, almost). For the record, I decided I felt like Steve. Don’t ask me why – split second decision.

The walk was actually pretty amazing. So cool, we decided to do it twice (rather than be lazy and take the subway back. Not to mention I had to walk off all the delicious NY treats I was eating…sausage calzone you rocked my world!) We also wandered through the DUMBO area of Brooklyn, which is apparently the up and coming “gritty,” art district on that side of the city. I like it. We also made a quick pit stop at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, where I had a delicious milkshake and of course a glass bottle coke. The views of the city couldn’t be beat, though if I did it again I would trek back to Manhattan via the Manhattan bridge to get pics of the Brooklyn from afar. One of the reasons we took the same walk back was to hit up a t-shirt vendor on the Manhattan side that I passed up on the first lap, who ended up not being there the second time around. Poor decision. To anyone in NY – if you see the guy selling the bridge silhouette t-shirts, snatch that shit for me! I really should have pulled the trigger on that one.

Next on the New York Moments experience was none other than the Empire State Building. Chuck or Blair? I felt like Blair, slight disappointment without the suicidal depression after. Chuck, with you and those peonies, I would have been on time….

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Ed Westwick, you and your sexy British accent make my heart melt. In all seriousness though, the ESB was pretty cool. Sidenote – did you know that the ESB hosts wedding every February 14th in partnership with The Knot. Talk about some great ceremony picture ops! We went up pretty late at night (who knew the observatory was open till 2 AM!) which was a wise decision because a. the crowds were significantly less (they’ve got that on lock – like Disney – fast pass line and everything) and b. the view at night was pretty incredible. I actually think I could be completely happy in life never seeing that view from the daytime, but hey, never say never. The slight disappointment only comes in with regards to the photography – I had an art brain fart and didn’t bring a tripod. Whoopsie. Oh well. Tourist shot and go:

My favorite NY Moment this week though came in the form of fashion. A good friend/old roommate accompanied me to the Alexander McQueen “Savage Beauty” exhibit at the Met. Two words: absolutely incredible!!!!! Unfortunately, I don’t know much about the personal history of McQueen but I know his work is exquisite. Apparently, so does the rest of the world. The museum was packed, the lines were long (even for a Friday afternoon), but so worth it! I would also bet that the popularity of the show may have something to do with the fact that the McQueen camp was responsible for the most talked about fashion piece of the year – Kate’s dress. Here’s a quick refresher:

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Anyway, we spent a significant amount of time drooling over the pieces – seriously the craftsmanship is extraordinary!!!! Gaga, I am shocked to admit I am jealous of your closet. Lucky bitch. The exhibit was supposed to be followed by drinks on the roof of the museum, but alas it was raining, so Hell’s Kitchen had to suffice. If I was sly I would have snuck pictures of the dresses to post – but that’s what Google is for…

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I highly recommend anyone who will be in the NY vicinity before the show ends (I think end of July) to go. It will be worth it! If you happen to be lucky enough to be in London this summer you can go see Kate’s dress on display at Buckingham Palace through October.

My week in New York came to a close with a real life romantic moment: an engagement party for a good friend and her “bethrothed” (what a fun word to say, lol). They picked a really chill venue in the East Village and we all enjoyed happy hour and celebrated the overly cute couple (love you guys!). The tears were already starting from all in attendance…let’s just say it’s going to be an emotional wedding! 🙂 It was actually a total fluke that my travel plans coincided with the party so it was a nice surprise and a wonderful note to end on!

Full Throttle

I think my obsession with weddings warrents this someecard to be mildly appropriate.

Thankfully, one of my friends/old roomates just recently joined the wedding industry as well – working in New York so now I have someone to share my obsession with who finally understands my crazyness! Hooray for that.

Military Men

In honor of Veterans day Southern Weddings (one of my favorites) posted a proposal story from a military couple that was just the cutest thing ever. Think a dozen men in dress uniform accompanied with a dozen roses and a Washington D.C. scavenger hunt.

Basically the fiance surprised his gf by having one of his military friends deliver a single red rose (in dress uniform of course) to her at their house. This rose then led her to the next rose/military man where she had to complete a task to find the third, so on and so forth until she reached a dozen and her soon to be fiance. You can read the whole story on the link above. To top it all off he had a photographer friend follow her around to catch the whole thing on film! All photos below courtesy of Michelle Cross via Southern Weddings.

Personally I think the physical test were a little much, but the relationship trivia and puzzles are so cute! I also thought this was such a great way to highlight the city their relationship is based in. Swoon.

Goodies, Goodies, Lots of Goodies

Ok so it’s been quite some time since the last post, so to makeup for it, i’m going to share lots of fun things with whoever it is that is reading my blog! 🙂

I had this week off and spent this past weekend visiting my sister. Basically this means tanning, lots of food, and shopping. All of the items linked below relate back to this weekend in some way or another – inspiration perhaps.

I took the opportunity of nice weather and a day to myself to tan. I love the beach so naturally I fell in love instantly with the below engagement shoot showcased on Junebug Weddings.

The next day consisted of lots of shopping. I was looking for new shoes. I am a sucker for flats – how cute are these custom made flats from etsy seller extraseed? Bride or Bridesmaid – you can definitely dance all night!

Barnes & Noble was also an important addition to the day. I love books and love to see them incorporated into events like centerpieces on style me pretty

and these DIY hardback books for pretty much anything from Elizabeth Anne Designs

And naturally, a shopping trip isn’t complete without some fashion purchases. Fashion, specifically Louis Vuitton, was a source of inspiration for this engagement shoot on 100 Layer Cake. How fun!

A final stop for the weekend was a hunt for Vera Bradley. I think with her latest lines Vera is on the way back in. You can’t help but love her for all things gift related, but I have specifically fallen in love with the below bag which will be arriving on my doorstep before long. The Ditty Bag is the perfect catch all for bridesmaids gifts, no?

And last but not least, not particularly related to the weekend, but my heart strings can’t help but pull from these adorable scratch off invitations from etsy seller unlesssomeonelikesyou.

Lots of things to drool over, at least I did. On another note, I start my new job tomorrow, so expect a lot from the world of events this week. Happy Monday!