Triple Threat

I've mentioned a few times that I will be having two maids of honor. I think I always knew I was going to have two, even before Mr. Coyote was in the picture.

I don't have any sisters, but I can say that MOH A and MOH D come pretty damn close. I met BM D in 5th grade and BM A a few years later. For all of middle school and high school we were completely inseparable. Sleepovers, movies, trips to the mall, even vacations... Whatever it was we did it together. We were the epitome of BFFs.

 Toddler Coyote and friends circa 2000.

Of course after graduation we went our separate ways, but we kept in touch and made sure to visit each other as often as possible.

 Right before our high school graduation in 2004.

We all still live in New York state, but it's amazing how large the state actually is:

Map of New York State via Geology.com / Personal photos

I am the first in my little trio to be getting married and I have to say that it's been quite an adjustment for me. My girls are more than happy for me and love Mr. Coyote almost as much as they love me (sorry buddy, but I always come first when it comes to these ladies!). Even so, it's definitely been a transition to move from single girl friend to engaged woman and eventually to that old married lady that goes to bed at 8 PM and never hangs out anymore (just kidding, that's never gonna happen).

And so, in honor of my two very best friends and of losing my singledom, I am planning the ultimate sleepover party.

Mr. Coyote and I have already decided that we will spend the night before the wedding apart so I booked one of the amazing suites at our venue's hotel and invited the girls to stay with me. I know I will be a bundle of nerves and honestly... No one knows me better than these ladies do. I couldn't ask for anything better than to have my two besties spend the night with me; drink some wine with me, make me laugh and cuddle with me until my wedding day.

Yes, we cuddle. No shame here!

I may not have been blessed with sisters, but I definitely scored the next best thing. My life is way better when these girls are in it.

How will you be spending the night before your wedding? Are you spending it with your significant other? Alone? With family or friends?

Miss Coyote's Sing-Along Blog: Ceremony Edition

Because Mr. Coyote and I are not getting married in the Catholic Church (and hired our DJ to take care of the ceremony as well as the reception) it seems that our options for ceremony music are limitless. Wellllll, maybe not totally limitless. I can't see our guests being too pleased with us strolling down the aisle to Pantera or Nine Inch Nails.

Image via The Giant Panther / Sorry Trent. Maybe for the cocktail hour.

And so, I spent way too much time on YouTube trying to find the perfect song choices for our ceremony. After I had gathered up a good number of options I sat down with Mr. C and we went through them all. I think we may have actually finalized our list so it's time to share some music with ya!

Prelude: I'm not going to be too picky about this part of the ceremony. I figure we'll tell the DJ to throw in some Jason Mraz or Michael Buble and be done with it. And for the rest of the ceremony we've decided to go with the ever popular Vitamin String Quartet.

Special Persons (Parents, grandparents, etc): I actually just decided on this last night. I had wanted to use Ben Folds' "The Luckiest", but Mr. C didn't like the lyrics. Dude, what?? Whatever, I wasn't going to take the time to figure that one out. Next! After a lot of searching we finally decided on a song thanks to our very own board member and Hostess Zippylef. Huge shout out to her. She saved the life of my ceremony with this post. A Vitamin String Quartet tribute to Elliott Smith?!?! I. DIE. We'll be using their cover of "Angeles" and I am so fa-reaking excited.

Bridesmaid Processional: One of the easier decisions we've made. "1, 2, 3, 4" by the Plain White T's has always been a favorite song of mine and sometimes Mr. Coyote will simply text me "1234" to make me smile. Oh and it helps that VSQ has an absolutely beautiful cover of it:

Video via YouTube

Bridal Processional: For a while I thought that we would go with Israel IZ Kamakawiwoʻole's (say that name three times fast) version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" or maybe "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" by Elvis, but once we finalized the other songs I thought it might flow better if we stuck with VSQ. Conveniently, VSQ did a tribute to Michael Buble's cover of it (got all that?) and we love what they came up with:

 Video via YouTube

And even though we're not using it in our ceremony, I just can't get enough of it, so here is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for ya:

Video via YouTube

Recessional: There isn't much need for music during the actually ceremony so we can wrap it up with the recessional. This is where we strayed from our not-so-official VSQ-only rule. I've known for a looong time what our choice would be here. We definitely wanted something fun and upbeat. Something that would tell our story as well as help us begin our journey as husband and wife. And I can't think of a fitting song than this:

Video via YouTube

"And if I grow old. Well, I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who's growing old with you."

How did you go about choosing your ceremony music? Any other VSQ fans out there?

Mad About Monograms

I seriously love monograms. I think they are a great way to tie all of your stationary together and they're so easy to make! Perhaps even a little too easy. I swear I made a million different designs (similar to Miss Hawk) and then decided that I hated all of them.

(Personal Photo) / Hate it.

(Personal Photo) / Meh.

(Personal Photo) / Okay, this one isn't too bad.

My problem is each attempt looks so different from the one before it. I'm all over the place with my designs! Honestly, I was ready to give up. I didn't enjoy anything that I had created. Then I remembered about Wedding Chicks and their free downloads. I quickly downloaded their "Fancy Custom Monogram", made a few tweaks, and was back in business! Here is what it looks like with some tiny changes:

(Personal Photo)

I haven't decided for sure if this is what we will use, but it does go well with my unofficial "pretty swirly thingys" theme that you can see in my save the dates and bridal shower invitations:

(Personal Photo)

(Personal Photo)

I'll need to make a decision soon, but in the meantime it's been kind of fun experimenting with my n00b Photoshop skillz and creating different designs. Did you design your own wedding monogram? Tell me about your experience!

A Sign for My Chair

Image via Our Hobby To Your Home & Wedding on Etsy

Chair signs. Le sigh. My latest (wedding-related) obsession.

 Image via IslamoradaBride on Weddingbee

I just can't get enough of them! Even our own Miss Mink is on board:

Image via Miss Mink on Weddingbee

This is definitely the perfect, simple DIY for a non-crafty bride like me, but I am starting to think that my dream is not meant to become a reality. While I love chiavari chairs, our venue does not supply them and the cost for us to rent them was astronomical. And so, we have decided to stick with our venue's yucky, beat up chairs. Which, of course, means having chair covers and chairs that are going to look a little something like this:

Image via Toftrees Golf Resort on Flickr

Any and all inspiration photos I have found show the signs tied to the rungs of chivari chairs or draped over the side, like you can see in the photos above. I have been racking my brain to try and find a solution, but keep coming up empty-handed.

And so I turn to you lovely bees. Is it possible to have chair signs on rounded, covered chairs? Or is it time to give up the dream and come up with a different way to display them (maybe something similar to Miss Wizard's framed "Mr. & Mrs." sign for her head table)?

I Got 99 Problems, but a Bride Ain't One

Dudes. DUDES!

99 days.

99 days separates Mr. Coyote and me from our wedding day. Seeing as we are making our way through a 672 day engagement (yes, I am a freak and actually did the math), the fact that we are now in the double digits is kind of a big deal.

At this point in the wedding game I have been experiencing a variety of emotions and I'd like to use some our friendly neighbor celebrities to illustrate them. First of all, I just need to say that I now truly understand what Ron Burgundy meant when he said that he was in a "glass cage of emotion".

Image via Best for Film

The past few mornings have gone a little something like this:

I wake up in the morning and look at the calendar. I realize that we are now one day closer to the wedding. My initial instinct is to completely freak out when I digest the fact that I am actually getting married in three months.

Image via Dealbreaker 

Then, as I am drinking my morning coffee, the caffeine starts to surge through my veins and I get all crazy and giddy and happy. I start to daydream about specific "wedding" moments like putting on my wedding dress, saying our vows, having our first dance as husband and wife... And then I get this really goofy smile on my face.

Image via I Missed the Memo

Eventually my mind starts to wander (never good) and I think about all of the tasks I haven't completed yet. Invitations? Don't have any. Attire for the dudes? Haven't even thought about it. Booking a hair stylist and makeup artist? Crap. Then I get really overwhelmed and start wondering if I'm ever going to get my act together and get shit done. Probably not. And that makes me want to cry.

Image via Original Plumbing

After the sobfest I remind myself that no matter what happens on the wedding day, the most important thing is that Mr. Coyote and I will be jetting off to a fabulous honeymoon a few days later! Just kidding! In all honesty, the most important thing to remember is that (in 99 days!) I will marry my best friend and have a lifetime of happiness to look forward to -- sorry guys, my corny side is starting to show through, I'm blaming it on all the wedding emotions! But I have to admit that laying on a beach sipping margaritas with my new hubby definitely sweetens the deal. ;-)

Image via Bundle

Has anyone else experienced the wave of emotions brought on by wedding planning? Any other brides out there getting married soon and starting to feel the crunch?

Ring Bling

Earlier this week Mr. Coyote and I did a little shopping for our wedding bands. I was kind of super excited about this and was literally counting down the minutes until our appointment. We went back to David S. Diamonds (where we purchased my engagement ring) and met with our jeweler Ravin. Let me just say, that Ravin is the sweetest, nicest, bubbliest (is that a word?) guy around. Even though we hadn't seen him in almost two years he immediately recognized us, ushered us in, and immediately gave my engagement ring a cleaning. I swear, even though I clean it myself from time to time, it looked brand spankin' new when he was done with it. He's the bestest!

Now, I want to wear both my engagement ring and my wedding band together so I knew right away that I wanted a matching set:

(Personal Photo) / Remember this little beauty?

Ravin and I must share the same brain or something because without even saying anything he immediately pulled out a handful of wedding bands -- all exactly like ones I had been drooling over online.

I quickly narrowed it down to two options:

 Image via Blue Nile 

Image via C Jewelry Fashion 

I know, I know... They look exactly the same right? I swear they're different! The big decision to make was whether or not the diamonds should go all the way around the band or just stop halfway (like they do on my engagement ring). After a few back and forths and some price comparisons we decided to just go for it and get the eternity band. The cost wasn't that different and the biggest reason (which I fully admit is a really silly reason) is that I know I will obsess about lining the two rings up if my wedding band spins around my finger. With the eternity band I won't have that problem.

Mr. C, in true procrastinator fashion, said he meant to research bands but never got around to it and had no idea what he wanted. Ravin came to the rescue and showed us a few different styles. First Mr. Coyote tried on a milgrain band, but neither of us were really wowed:

Image via Blue Nile

He also tried on few more simple designs:

Image via Greg Helfer

But he said they were too plain and that he wanted something with a little more character. I asked him if he meant something like this:

Image via Blue Nile

Now, I know that Mr. C does NOT want any diamonds in his band, but I just couldn't help it. What? It has plenty of character and will match perfectly with my band! *Evil grin* But finally, we came upon this beauty:

Image via Greenwich Jewelers /

A platinum band with a satin finish. Not too simple, not too ornate. I think it's perfect! Mr. Coyote was having some commitment issues (with a ring, not with me! ;-)) and hasn't made a decision yet. I have a feeling he is going to end up with this last one though. He kept coming back to it and tried it on a few times, admiring how it looked on his finger. For some reason seeing Mr. Coyote with a wedding on reminded me that this is really happening and that in just a few short months we will officially be an old, married couple!

Have your purchased your wedding bands yet? Did it make the whole marriage thing seem more tangible and real to you too?

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

I'm not one to care much about my appearance. Don't get me wrong, I shower once a day and make sure there isn't any dirt under my nails, but that's pretty much where it ends. I very rarely style my hair and I never wear make-up.

But as our wedding day approaches I find myself stopping to examine every little blemish on my body. I'm starting to become a wee bit obsessed with that random pimple on my forehead or how frizzy my hair is all the time. Oh and it would awesome if my body could just spontaneously have a growth spurt in the next few months.

While there are a lot of things I can't control (like my height) I can definitely stop being so freakin' lazy about how I look. I'm still not wearing make-up, but I have decided to clean up my act. And since it's stuck in my head I decided to (very unsuccessfully) followed along with the song:

Head (or in this case, hair... Cuz it's on my head)


My hair is out of control. It's really frizzy and really wavy and I make it look halfway presentable by wearing it up in a bun 90% of the time. BUT I want to wear it down for the wedding, so I really gotta do something about it.

I've been using everything and anything by John Freida and it does seem to be helping. The Frizz-Ease hair serum is my fave:

Image via John Frieda

I also suffer from severe dandruff. Like really, really bad. But this stuff pretty much kicks butt:

Image via Neutrogena

I have tried so many different dandruff shampoos and this is the only one that has worked for me. Of course because one of the active ingredients is coal tar extract (yes, I am being serious) it comes with the added benefit of smelling like a freshly paved driveway after each use! No pain, no gain, right?

Shoulders

Or more generally, skin. I have incredibly dry skin. Most of the time I just ignore it and hope it goes away. It doesn't. One day I randomly picked up a bottle of Cetaphil Skin Restoring Moisturizer and even though I cried for three days over how expensive it was I have to say that it works. It clears up my dry skin and doesn't smell funky or feel greasy.Winning!

Image via Cetaphil

Knees & Toes

Come on, it's March! I know we didn't have much of a winter here in New York, but by toes have been in hiding since late August and let's not even talk about the last time I picked up a razor. Ugh, I have no advice for you guys on this one because I am in serious need of a pedicure.


Eyes

I'm a four eyes and I hate it. I have never been able to embrace how I look with glasses and have been wearing contacts for many years now. The problem is I'm really lazy. Like so lazy that I ran out of contacts last year and have been wearing my glasses every day because it's too much effort to get a new prescription. Pure laziness. But I refuse to wear these stupid glasses on my wedding day so it's definitely a kick in the butt to get my eyes checked out again.

Ears

Uhm ears? I don't know... I keep 'em clean and I do have pierced ears. I should start looking for some earrings maybe...

Mouth (and by mouth I mean teeth)

Three years of braces in middle school left me with pretty straight teeth. My problem is I have a severe coffee addiction and teeth that are prone to yellowing. Yuck. And so, I am putting extra effort into whitening my teeth.

(Personal Photo) / Yes, I like to set up photo shoots for my teeth cleaning supplies. Doesn't everyone?!

First I use my nifty spinhead toothbrush and Arm & Hammer toothpaste that I stole from Mr. Coyote (Shhhhh!). Then I floss like whoa. And finally I use some whitening mouthwash. When it gets closer to the wedding day I'll probably start using white strips. I've used them before, but they make my teeth really sensitive so I try to use them sparingly.


Nose


Okay, I'm done playing along with the song. Check for boogies and make sure you don't have any nose hairs stickin' out. That's some good solid advice right there.

Wow this sounds like a lot of work. Remember when I was lazy and didn't want to put effort into any of this? Yea, that was nice. I'm just going to go sit on the couch for a while and think about being lazy...

Do you have any awesome grooming tips to share with a lazy bride like me?

La Famiglia

I want to take a second here to talk about families and weddings. Families and weddings go together like rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong... No wait, that's Danny and Sandy. They go together like... barbed wire and salt? Hmmm, a little closer, but that's not quite right either. The point is, you can't have one without the other -- errrr, nope, that's Love and Marriage. Damn. Never mind. I'm really bad at this.

What I'm really trying to say is that my family is incredibly important to me. Many people see marriage as a time where two people begin their lives together and create their own individual family unit. And while this is true, I also see it as adding to and expanding a family unit that already exists. A lot of times when I say "family" I mean my parents, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins:

(Personal Photo) / My entire extended family... Just on my mom's side. (Well almost, one person is a cousin's friend and another is my dad's mom. But there are four people missing so it evens out. Kinda. I'm not sure. Math isn't my best subject.)

But when Mr. Coyote says "family" he usually means his mom, his dad and his sister:

(Personal Photo) / Big difference, eh?

I'm finding that wedding planning for us is almost identical to Tulah and Ian's experience in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In fact, I'm pretty sure when Mr. Coyote's family met my family for the first time it looked a little bit like this:

Video via YouTube

And when my mom and I were chatting about meal options for the bridal shower and rehearsal dinner, well, she didn't quite understand when I told her that Mr. Coyote's mom and sister are strict vegetarians.

"That's okay," she responded. "There's fish!"

Sound familiar?

Video via YouTube

It took a few explanations, and I think she is still a bit bewildered by the fact that they don't eat fish (the horror!), but I eventually got the point across.

Now, my family may not be Greek, but we are Italian. And sometimes it's practically one and the same. Actually, it's kind of like this:

Video via YouTube

Anyways, I know I'm kind of coming at this in a round about way, but all of this really boils down to one thing: the almighty guest list. We're inviting approximately 180 people to our wedding. About 150 of them are my relatives and family friends. 20 are mutual friends of Mr. Coyote and myself. The rest are guests on Mr. C's side. Didja do the math yet?

Mr. Coyote's mom is an only child and both of her parents have passed away. Mr. Coyote's dad only has his own father around and he is unfortunately too ill to make the three hour trip to our semi-destination wedding. His parents have invited a handful of friends and cousins, but I haven't met any of them before. I doubt they will make a trip upstate to watch Mr. Coyote marry a strange woman they have never met.

I am incredibly blessed to be surrounded by so many loving grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. And luckily, Mr. Coyote loves them all just as much as I do! But because of the huge gap in guests as well as our interest in merging families Mr. Coyote and I are of the "pick a seat, not a side" mentality.

I first saw this idea thanks to the fabulous Mrs. Hippo and I definitely think we will try to have a similar sign at our ceremony site:

Image via Mrs. Hippo on Weddingbee

Image via Our Hobby To Your Home on Etsy

So tell me Hive, how are you and your significant other merging families? Are you picking a side or a seat?

Good Grief!

Hive! I finally bought/finished our semi-DIY cake topper and I am so excited to share it with you!

But first, I feel as though I should explain the story behind it.

A long, long time ago before I was blogging as Miss Coyote I was a very active member on the Wedding Bee boards. Maybe some of you will remember me by my avatar:

Good ol' Lucy! Now my choice in avatar was not just a random happenstance. There's a lot of meaning behind that cute little image. One of my nicknames for Mr. Coyote has always been "Charlie Brown". I'm not quite sure how it came to be (since his name sounds nothing like Charlie Brown), but I think it's a personality thing. Eventually Mr. C started calling me "Lucy". I have a particularly wicked sense of humor and Mr. Coyote always says that if we were to ever play football together I would almost certainly pull the football away from him every single time. Hee. He's right. I'm mean like that.

And so when I found these little dudes on Ebay:

Image via Ebay

I knew I just had to snatch them up!

Once they arrived I quickly set out to make them more wedding appropriate.

I made a cute little bow tie for Charlie:

(Personal Photo)

The bow tie came out perfectly so I thought I would try to make a top hat too. This was more difficult and I swear it looks like a pilgrim hat. I think I might try to remake it (or maybe just give up and let him be bald). What do you think?

(Personal Photo) / Silly pilgrim, bow ties are for grooms!

Finally, I made a veil for Lucy using all that leftover lace ribbon from my hair flower:

(Personal Photo)

I also just picked up a piece of white foam board that we can glue Charlie and Lucy onto and then stick on top of the cake. I've just been too lazy to cut it out and I'm thinking I'll probably get around to it the week before the wedding like the slacker bride I am.

In the meantime, what do you think I should do with poor Charlie? Hat or no hat?

The Grand Finale

Well, today I'm wrapping up my trilogy on foodie posts and this one is gonna be all about desserts! YUM!

A long, long time ago I talked about how we stuffed our faces with cake. Well, I'm happy to report that we've chosen our bakery and are super excited to have Villa Italia Pasticceria making our wedding cake. I've had their cakes many, many times and I swear, every time I have one it's better than the last!

We're having a four tier cake and we've decided to offer our guests two different flavors. Two tiers will be marble cake with cannoli filling and the other two will be vanilla cake with a raspberry cream filling. Oh man, I am drooling just thinking about it.

The cake will be covered with a vanilla buttercream frosting and we're hoping for something that looks a little like this:

Image via Samdogs on Flickr

Just without all the flowers and maybe with some pretty swirls and flourishes in our wedding colors. (And yes, all of this is a reminder that we don't have a cake topper yet!)

But the night doesn't end with cake. It just wouldn't be a true Italian wedding if we didn't have cookies and pastries! So we also went ahead and ordered trays to be put on each table when dessert is served.

Image via Jonathan's Pastry

For me, this was always a no brainer - I have never attended a wedding or family function that DIDN'T have cookies on the table - but apparently this is a cultural thing. When we were discussing our options with our venue coordinator he told us not waste our money on the cookie trays and said that (in his experience) no one even notices if they're missing.

At this point in the conversation my father slowly leaned over the table and said very seriously, "There will be over a hundred Italians at this wedding and I guarantee that they will notice if there are no cookies. Do YOU want to be the one to tell them that there aren't any cookies?" And so, cookies it is!

Oh and during one of our last trips to the our venue we noticed they had an old school espresso machine near the bar. It kinda looked like this:

Image via Victorian Trading Company

Except way more awesome. Unfortunately, the last time I visited our venue was way before I was a blogger bee so I didn't even think to take photos of it! I promise next time I'm there I will try to sneak a few shots of it because it really is the coolest thing ev-ah. Anywho, we were told that they usually keep it out of sight unless the bride and groom request to have cappuccino and cordials served with dessert. 

Hive, remember I told you how excited I get when I think about the espresso machine we registered for? Yeah well, multiply that times infinity and you will maybe begin to understand how excited I am that we're going to have espresso and cordials served with our dessert. Let's just hope that I don't suffer from a serious sugar/caffeine crash the second the party is over.

Are you serving anything other than cake for your dessert? Maybe a candy bar or a late-night snack? Oh and what about cookies and pasties at weddings? Is it as common as I think it is or is it more of a cultural thing?

Let's Eat!

Since I talked about our cocktail hour breakdown yesterday I figured I might as well keep on going and talk about the rest of deliciousness we've got in store for our guests.

I will say that the one and only bummer about our venue is that they don't do food tastings.

Image via Open Clip Art Library

I fully understand that we are taking a huge risk by booking a venue without tasting their food, but honestly we have read so many raving reviews about the food at Franklin Plaza that I think we're safe.

We'll start the night off right with a champagne toast (hey, just in case the food's no good at least our guests will be too tipsy to know the difference, am I right?!) and an appetizer. This is followed by a salad, the main entree and dessert. We decided to go with a basic penne marinara for our appetizer (I'm sure all of our Italian relatives will approve!), followed by a mixed salad with peppers, marinated artichokes and balsamic vinaigrette. Mmmmmm. Now for the main meal things got a little tricky. We were told we could have three entrees for our guests to choose from. We settled on the Filet Mignon, Chicken Piccatta and the Eggplant Rollatini (for our vegetarian guests). Okay awesome, so... we're done here, right?

Nope! Imagine our surprise when our coordinator told us that we could can three entrees in addition to a vegetarian dish. Score! And then we were also told that we don't need to choose a specific vegetarian option ahead of time. All we need to do is make note of who would like a vegetarian entree and the waitstaff will present them with four different meat-free options that they can choose from right then and there.

Now that's some good service my friends!

Image via tinypic / I don't know you guys... I have been  in a lolcats kinda mood lately.

But now we are faced with a bit of a predicament. We've chosen two of our three entrees and can't decide on a third. We've got beef, poultry and veggie options covered so our final one will be a fish dish (Hee Hee). Do you look for the seafood entree at a wedding? If so, which kind would you be most likely to enjoy?

As a wedding guest, which would you prefer?
- Grilled swordfish with herbed butter
- Salmon en Croute with lemon, white wine and dill sauce
- Grilled salmon with mango salsa
- Poached salmon with a dijionaise sause
- Rolled fillet of sole florentine

Cocktails, anyone?

One of the things that impressed me about our venue is the quantity and quality of food they provide for their wedding receptions. But what really impressed is their extended cocktail hour. Yea, that's right. Instead of a cocktail hour we get a cocktail hour and a half. Okay so that doesn't flow as well as I thought it would, but you get the point.

The cocktail hour is definitely my favorite part of every wedding I've been to and I always feel like it goes by way too quick. I'm really excited that we get to sneak in an extra half hour of cocktail time.

Image via Access Hollywood / It would be extra exciting if we got an extra half hour of cocktail time with Tom Cruise, but I think I remember him saying he has other plans that night.

Now I have never had the pleasure of attending a wedding at Franklin Plaza so of course I had some concerns. I mean, aside from having Tom Cruise himself as our bartender, what could possibly keep our guests entertained for an hour and a half?

Oh that's right! Food! Delicious, delicious food.

Image via I Can Haz Cheezburger

And I have to say, Franklin Plaza totally delivers when it comes to food. When we were looking through the packet of info they gave us we noticed that there were three whole pages just dedicated to the cocktail hour! Unfortunately that packet didn't come with photos so bear with me as I take you on a literary adventure for your taste buds. (Yea, that doesn't make any sense either... Just go with it, okay?!)

First there's a fruit and veggie spread. I don't have to describe that one to you right? Pretty standard stuff.

But then there's the antipasto display:

Imported cheeses (provolone, fontinella, jarlsberg, etc), Italian meats (salami, pepperoni, mortadella, prosciutto... omg is your mouth watering yet? Mine is!!), bruschetta, roasted red peppers, olives, marinated artichokes and mushrooms and foccacia.

As an Italian, I have to say that antipasto is one of my most favorite things in the world. Honestly, I would be the happiest wedding guest ever if I saw a cocktail hour full of nothing but Italian meats and cheese. Yummmy.

Image via Dave's Gift Baskets 

But wait, there's more!

Aside from the spreads we also get to choose eight different passed hors d'eourves. Some of our selections so far are spinach and cheese wrapped in filo dough (I have a feeling Mr. Coyote will be chowing down on those), scallops wrapped in bacon (my personal favorite), chicken tempura and mini beef wellington.

Finally, we get to choose three hot chaffing dishes. This was actually the most difficult food-related decision for us because our venue provided us with almost 40 different options to choose from! And with everything sounding so delicious how on earth could we possibly only choose three? Well, the truth is... we haven't yet! But some dishes that are in the running are eggplant rollatini, mussels marinara, veal marsala, cheese fondue, and beef stir fry. Wowza!

Oh and of course it wouldn't be a cocktail hour without cocktails right?! I'll get into more detail about our booze fest later, but don't you worry... No one will go thirsty!

Yeesh, I haven't even gotten to the main meal yet and I'm already full. What do you think? Is that enough food to keep our guests satisfied for an hour and a half?!

The Longest Veil

So I kinda did things backwards here by showing you my hair flower without talking about any of my other wedding day accessories. I couldn't help it! I was just super excited with how it came out and HAD to show it off right away!

What I should have told you is I have a huge crush on wedding veils. More specifically, on cathedral length veils. How can I resist when I see photos like these:

Image via Pretty Chicky / Photo by Jessica Claire Photography

Image via Fishtale Photography

Image via Fishtale Photography

Image via Global Times Forum

Okay, so I'm kidding about that last one (what the heck?!), but seriously... I love long wedding veils!

My mother wore a cathedral length veil at her wedding too and told me that she loved it so much she refused to take it off -- even for the reception! She just draped it over her arm and carried it around all night.

Now, I can't see myself having that kind of patience so the hair flower is my back-up for when my veil starts to piss me off. And I'm sure at some point during the reception it's going to piss me off. ;)

But for the formal photos and the ceremony I can't imagine wearing anything other than a long, flow-y veil.

I haven't chosen one yet, but I've definitely been checking out Etsy to find the perfect headpiece. I thought about using my mom's veil, but there is a lot of beautiful detailing on it that doesn't quite jive with my heavily beaded dress. I need something light and simple. Something that won't overwhelm my dress or (more importantly) me --  oh, have I mentioned that I'm barely five feet tall? And so my hunt continues.

So let's hear it. Are you wearing a veil for your wedding day? Maybe even a cathedral length one like me?