Happy Lovey Dovey Day!

First of all. I'm the luckiest girl in the world! I'm marrying the funniest, most caring person on the planet.  

We are getting married June 19th!  I'm so excited about the party we are planning.  In honor of Chuchie Wuchie Face day. Here's a few of our ideas.

We are working with a really great team at Stephanie Grace Design It's been tricky since we are working in Wisconsin right now and will be heading back to NYC in March. Parnell and Stephanie have been super helpful. If you are in Santa Monica, check out their new shop.

We new right away we wanted a "Rob and Laura Petrie Wedding." If you've never seen the Dick Van Dyke show.  You can catch episodes on Hulu. It is the BEST sitcom.

We were torn between a NYC wedding and California wedding. We've decided to go head and do both! (kinda) We'll have a ceremony with family and a few friends in Cali and then, a reception at a bar in NYC. For now, we're focusing on the California part. We've picked the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood as our venue. It's historic and beautiful.  The clientele might be a little too "hollywood" for us. But, we're packing the place with our loved ones, so it'll be just right.  The first Oscars were held here, and the decor is all original. Pretty. Dang. Cool.

This vintage light fixture is my favorite piece in the hotel. I WANT IT!

This is the lobby where we'll say the big I DO!

We are going to use Vintage Suitcases instead of a guestbook! Guests can fill out these Travel Stickers I found at 

www.saveoncrafts.com

I will be crocheting little flowers that will be sprinkled thru out my bouquet of red Dahlias and Roses. I have not decided on a yarn or pattern yet - but here's a few ideas. Eventually I will use real pearls. 

We had our Save The Dates designed by my favorite Etsy seller, Kate Gabrielle at www.flapperdoodle.etsy.com 

We then printed right on to the back of the cards ourselves. (JD actually did this all on his own... YAY for him) It took us a little time to get it all lined up perfectly, but it was fairly easy and turned out just like we wanted. I found little embellishments at Target (which totally surprised me) and they added such a nice touch. 

Kate also surprised me with "Will you be my Bridesmaid?" cards. They are now for sale in the stationary section of her site. Love them!

Once we were ready to ship we had our own stamps made at www.pictureitpostage.com  It was super easy and they arrived in a few days. I'm aware that having stamps made of yourself is super dorky, so we chose this great dorky pic from a photo booth.  When our Save the Dates arrived our loved ones instantly knew they were from us. : )  We still have a few more to send, and hopefully that will happen soon. 

The last litle bit to share is our officiant.  After some major hemming and hawing (and a little freaking out on my part) we came up with the PERFECT officiant!

While on tour with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I was luck enough to be partnered up with the beautiful, talented, loving, honest, ridiculously funny Tim Hughes. JD and I ended up sharing housing with TIm in Orlando and Orange County.  Tim was always so supportive and excited about each and every wedding discussion we had. We know Tim understands and believes what we believe and stand for, and we know there is no one more perfect to help us make this commitment to each other. We asked Tim in a sneaky way while playing a game called "mail man" and we are so happy he has agreed! 

He went to http://www.firstnationministry.com/request.shtml and is now legally able to perform the ceremony! 

I can't wait to someday help Tim plan his own wedding.

Sooooo this is what we are working on. There's more to share, wedding party, an 8 year old singing superstar, flowers etc... but I think we are off to a pretty good start! 

PHANTASTIC PHILLY PHRIENDS AND PHLOWERS

Philly has been a crazy whirlwind week!  I began the week teaching two classes through a great company called Broadway Connection.  I really do miss teaching.  The kids were great! Several of the
 students also came to the show. I gave them a backstage tour and they were so excited.  Luckily my fellow cast mates were good sports.  Dirk Lumbard (who plays Boris) stood there and smiled while they all took close up shots of his face. It was so funny.  Once they had their fill of Dirk they all began begging for the Child Catcher. Luckily, Oliver Wadsworth was still around.  He was a great sport too. The kids were so happy to get autographs, pictures, and to see how the car flies.      I went straight from teaching on Wednesday to a Seder.  It was my second Seder and I have to say... it was absolutely fantastic!  It was lead by Rabbi Jonathan Blake (the husband of our Truly

 Scrumptious, Kelly McCormick). I know so little about the Jewish faith but what I do know, I really love.  Durring the Seder I was reminded of one of my favorite Buddhist quotes - "Believe nothing, no matter who says it, even if I say it, unless it resides within your own heart and your own reason." I love the idea of being able to question religion and the idea of actually getting answers.  There were several people of different faiths at the Seder, and I really believe

 everyone learned something.  Jonathan brought his guitar and several silly items to help explain Passover. I'm so glad we were able to participate. I hope this Seder was the second of many that we will attend.

    I also had some AMAZING friends come out from NYC to see the show and hang in Philly.  Sal Sabella and I spent all day Friday walking the entire city.  The murals around this town are out of control! Every time we turned the corner, another huge display of art would whack us in the face.  So cool!  The most amazing was definitely Philadelphia's Magic Garden. According to their website. The Magic Garden mosaic murals span all over the city.  It reminded me of the 

Hundertwasser House in Vienna, Austria.  I especially loved the mirrored bits, because the reflections change depending on where you stand, causing the whole mural itself to change.  In one of the pictures I took, I managed to get the reflection of our eyes. We had such a great day.         On Sunday my amazing besty of about 12 years, Melissa Cullen, came out with her beau

  Roger Smith.  We shared lunch between shows with great food, and great company.  I've felt so lucky having JD on the road with me for the past few weeks.  Being able to spend time with JD and a few of our friends made it even more sweet.  

     

What impressed me most about Philly (aside from the yarn shops which I will get to in another post) was not the art that humans created... but the art that naturally grew on the trees.  I have never seen such amazing blooms and they were everywhere.  It's like God decided to remind us the reason for the Passover/Easter season.  The trees were screaming look at me, I'm GORGEOUS, and I'm just here to make you smile.