Rock n Roll New Orleans Discount Code!

My 2016 race calendar is filling up FAST. One event I am most looking forward to is Rock n Roll New Orleans. Why you ask? It's all about the bling............

2016 Rock n Roll New Olreans Medal

Our Wedding Photo

The second I saw the 2016 Rock n Roll New Orleans medal, I knew there was no way we were missing this one. Not only is it our favorite city in the USA but who can say they have a medal that is a replica of where they got married at? Not many :)

My friends at Rock n Roll Marathon Series have extended my discount code for a few races in 2016.
2016 Rock n Roll New Orleans Discount Code: IRUN4WINE Save $15
2016 Rock n Roll DC Discount Code: IRUN4WINE Save $15
2016 Rock n Roll Arizona Discount Code: IRUN4WINE Save $15

Why you should run this years Rock n Roll New Orleans Marathon Series:?
Biegnets
Beads
Amazing Food (see my wedding website for suggestions)
Incredible Drinks
Beautiful Architecture
Mind Blowing Stories to bring home

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1st Year Wedding Anniversary Dinner at Fahrenheit 555, Carnival Sunshine

September 27th 2015 marked our one year wedding anniversary. My Husband Gabe and I celebrated by going on a 5 night cruise on the Carnival Sunshine. The Sunshine was unlike any cruise I have been on (this was my 11th cruise and my husbands 1st). There were so many bars and restaurants to choose from that we only ended up eating in the main dining room once during the 5 nights!

We departed on our anniversary and chose that night to do dinner at Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse. This was an actual restaurant on the ship which you pay an up-charge of $35 per person to dine at. It had a wonderful ambiance and was the perfect setting for our one year anniversary dinner. Farenheit 555 menu was a tough one to choose from. Our server brought out a tray of beef (literally) and we chose which cut we wanted.

I noticed many of the restaurants on the ship had incredible drink specials if you dined with them on the first night out. Fahrenheit 555 happened to speak to my heart - a free bottle of red or white wine OR 50% off any bottle from their amazing wine list. Plus you could buy more and take it back with you to your room. I hit the jackpot! We selected a bottle of Le Crema Pinot Noir for our meal and brought back a few bottles to our room.

STARTERS:

I started off with the Ahi Tuna Tartar, dices of Sashimi Grade Yellow Fin Tuna Belly. It was absolutely delicious and I devoured it. It was the perfect lite appetizer to a large meal.

Gabe started off with the Lobster Bisque with Vintage Cognac, Fleuron and Fresh Cream. He's a sucker for Lobster Bisque and this one did not disappoint.

MAIN COURSE

I ordered the Surf and Turf. Sure you can always expect to find this dish during Captains Dinner but that surf and turf is nothing like this. A Maine Lobster Tail paired with Grilled Filet Mignon. I had a hard time deciding between this or the larger filet. I made the right decision because that lobster was amazing!

Gabe ordered the Grilled Prime Cowboy Steak, 18 oz. Rib Chop. It was perfectly seasoned and grilled.

SIDES
For our side dishes, we chose a baked potato, sauteed mushrooms and creamy mashed potatoes. We also selected two sauces, Three and Peppercorn and Béarnaise

DESSERT

Although I was full, I had to order the chocolate sampler; Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, Banana Pannacotta, Tiramisu and Chocolate Marquise. I kept going back and forth as to which one I liked better. I think Chocolate Marquise won.

Gabe ordered the Caramelized Washington Apples baked in a puff pastry dome. It was the perfect ending to a perfect meal.

The night of our one year anniversary was also the night of the full Lunar Eclipse. We could see it from our balcony stateroom and we brought our bottle of wine back to the room, watched the eclipse. There was an eclipse party on board but we decided to take advantage of the balcony views. After, we headed to the Casino, where my husband found a new love for penny slots.

It was the perfect way to spend our one year wedding anniversary and I wouldn't change a single thing - except getting a photo together at dinner. Something I failed at. OOPS.

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One year strong - our first year wedding anniversary

Flashback Sunday anyone? I cannot believe today is September 27th. I feel like it was only a short while back I was posting my weekly wedding Wednesdays. It doesn't at all feel as if today has been one year since our dream wedding in New Orleans, Second Line Parade through the French Quarter and all.

I have heard countless times that the first year of a wedding is the hardest on a couple. I guess everyone has their ups and downs but overall, we had a pretty amazing 1st year together and can't wait to see what the future has in store for us.  I'm incredibly blessed to have married my best friend. Here are a few of my favorite photos of our wedding journey:

Today, my husband of a year and I are heading to Port Canaveral to board the Carnival Sunshine to celebrate. I apologize in advance for the amount of boat drinks and sunshine photos you will see on my instagram account :)

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Winter Wonderland Bridesmaids Style Challenge with Weddington Way

It's hard to believe Gabe and I have been married for over 4 months. I felt like it was just the other day that I had my Wedding Wednesday posts, giving the details of our big day. I really miss wedding planning and feel like a big part of my life is missing! So I was more than happy to create a Winter Wonderland Bridesmaids board for Weddington Way.

I absolutely love the navy, grey and cream color combo. Nearly everything I own is navy (I have a stripe addiction) and would have gone with this theme for my wedding if we didn't get married in New Orleans. You can see all of my actual wedding details here.

I selected Dessy 2858 from the Weddington Way Exclusive Chiffon line for the bridesmaid dress. Although my bridesmaids dresses were short, I prefer long dresses. The reason we selected short dresses was also because of the New Orleans wedding.

For accessories, I selected Dressy Cz Petite Drop Earrings, the bracelet my girls wore to my wedding, Jim Hjelm 478 Belt and Audrey Brook Taylor Pumps. For makeup, I kept with the navy, silver and cream theme. For the flowers, I had to go with peonies, which I would have selected for my own wedding if it were in Peonie season!

If you were to get married in the winter, what color scheme would you go with?

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Wedding Registry Ideas For the Home Cook #TargetWedding

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Target. All opinions are my own.

It's crazy to think my husband and I have been married for over 4 months. We keep getting asked the same two questions "how does it feel to be married" and "when are you having children". I really wish people would stop asking the second question but that's a whole different blog post.

So how does it feel to be married? Exactly the same but yet a little different. Although we have been together for over 5 years, I get butterflies when Gabe refers to me as "his wife". Nothing has changed much, except our work schedules and we hardly see one another. When we do date night at home, the one thing we love to make is homemade pasta.

Ever since we got back from our honeymoon in Italy, Gabe has been obsessed with fresh pasta. He also drinks my wine (prior to Italy he was not a wine drinker). We love cooking together when we have the opportunity and the one item that we couldn't live without is our  KitchenAid Ultra Power 4.5 Qt Stand Mixer. We registered for the pasta attachments and I strongly suggest this trio to any bride to be.

Kitchenaid Pasta Must Haves

Since receiving the KitchenAid Pasta Roller and Pasta Press, we have found ourselves making delicious messes in the kitchen on a weekly basis. I will be the first to tell you, it is a lot of trial and error but it is a great way to become partners in the kitchen!

Of the multiple pasta dough recipes I have found, we really like this one by The Little Kitchen.

So far, we have made:
Homemade linguine with Short Rib Ragu (amazing)
Homemade Penne Ala Vodka (total disaster but the sauce was amazing)
Homemade Lasagna (very labor intensive)

 
Registering at Target is easy and engaging and they will give you an inspirational starter lists. You can get 15% off completion offer - the week of your event, you’ll receive a coupon for saving 15% on remaining registry items in store and online.

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Visiting The Colosseum, Rome Italy - Honeymoon

Rome was the second to last destination on our European honeymoon. We arrived to our hotel and instantly headed for the Colosseum. We bought our Colosseum tickets in advance which and did not have to wait in line. Our ticket included touring the Colosseum, the roman forum and the palatine.

While Rome wasn't my favorite city during our honeymoon, being inside the Colosseum was unlike anything I've ever experienced. It's hard to conceptualize the amount of history that lied inside the walls and being inside a structure that was built in the first century honestly leaves you speechless.

The Colosseum was giant - much larger than I anticipated. It held between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators and was used for gladiatorial contests, public spectacles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.

After we left the Colosseum, we ventured over to the neighboring Roman Forum. At this point, I wished we did a guided tour so we would know what everything was. However, after fighting through multiple tour group after multiple tour group, I quickly changed my min.

After we were finished at the Roman Forum, we headed to Palatine Hill. Being able to walk in remains of homes that belonged to gardens of Imperial Rulers was truly enchanting. 

The Colosseum was my favorite part of Rome. If we were to do it all over again, we would have taken the train into Rome and stayed in Florence (it's only an hour train ride). In a weird way, the area of Rome we were in reminded me of times square. Not my cup of tea, but you can't miss seeing it if you are in the area.

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Why you should do a first look wedding shoot

I will be honest, when it was first suggested for us to do a first look wedding shoot, I was very apprehensive. Having having a second line parade between the ceremony and reception practically forced us to do our wedding portraits before we got married. That meant Gabe would see me hours before we said "I Do" and I thought that would take some of the magic out of the day.

Boy was I wrong. Having a first look was by far one of the best decisions we made on our wedding. I strongly encourage any brides to be to have a first look. Here are my top 5 reasons why a first look is a great idea.

1. You have intimate photos of the first time you see each other
2. It's just the two of you and your photographer(s) - it felt like the calmness before the storm
3. You can have your family photos directly after the first look, allowing more time to spend with guests at the reception
4. You have less of a chance of crying at the ceremony
5. You can enjoy cocktail hour with your guests vs. taking wedding portraits.

The girls and I had just gotten back from getting our hair and makeup done while the guys were downstairs doing their photos. I was instructed to go on the balcony/veranda of our suite at Hotel Mazarin because Gabe was on his way up. I was SO SO SO nervous. Here was the first times we saw each other......

This is when Gabe told me I was beautiful and I almost started to cry. At this point, I was super thankful we did the first look because I knew I had less of a chance crying at the ceremony.

Same shot, opposite angle - and it cracks me up - why is he grabbing my arm so hard!?

I have no words for this photo. Apparently I said something really funny.

 LOVE

After the first look, we did our family photos and our wedding party photos in the courtyard of Hotel Mazarin. They were setting up for our cocktail party and the only thing I would have changed was for the tables to not be in the photos.

Would you do a first look photo shoot?

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Wedding Hangover Welcome Bags

I was provided with partial product for this post. As always all opinions are my own

I did a post a while back about our wedding welcome bags and today I am showing you the final product. I wanted to personalize everything and make our guests get in the spirit and make sure they were taken care of the day after our big day. We used our save the date image for the sticker on the bag and included everything one may need for the morning after.

We purchased personalized plastic mason jars in our wedding colors and gave each guest one. I left a letter for each guests with recommendations on restaurants, bars and activities based on their interests. For instance, Gabe's grandmother got different recommendations than my party animal friends.

My father in law created the personalized maps - he gave me half of them ahead of time and I forgot them in Tampa, so I had to print out others in black and white, as seen above. My friend Jen took the photo below and you can see the color full size maps.

When we first got to NOLA, my Mom and I headed out to get small airplane sized bottles of Vodka for the bags. Little did we know, up until June, mini bottles of alcohol were illegal in New Orleans?! The city who has drive through bars was not permitted to carry 50ml bottles of alcohol. I cannot tell you all how much this stressed me out. We had everything for bloody mary's in the bags with no vodka. We ended up finding small (but larger than 50ml) bottles at a gas station and bought all of them. Thankfully the labels still worked.

In the bags were morning after necessities:
Zing Zang bloody mary mix
Blowfish for Hangover Relief
Pretzel Crisps Everything Flavor
Haribo Gummy Bears (my favorite candy)
Snickers (Gabe's favorite candy)
Mardi Gras beads (just because)

People are still talking about how much fun they had at the wedding, so I did something right! Many thanks to Zing Zang, Blowfish and Pretzel Crisps for contributing towards these amazing bags.

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Our Wedding Day - the details

Today I want to show off all the details of our wedding day! I had 15 months to plan our wedding. While this may be most brides worst nightmare, I loved every moment of it.

Our Dresses - Bridal Gown - Maggie Soterro Elya; Bridesmaids - Bill Levkoff style 747 in plum. Mother of the Bride - Adrianna Papell beaded neckline gown.

My shoes - Tory Burch Crystal Chelsea Flats in Plum. I wanted to wear flats so I wouldn't tower over Gabe and I also wanted a color which matched the girls bridesmaid dresses.

I found the girls purple sparkle Kenneth Cole Mary Janes at Nordstrom Rack. I loved that they had a sneaker bottom, so they could run around.

 My something old is the antique pinky ring on the left. It was the promise ring my Grandfather gave my Grandmother. My something borrowed was the bracelet my best friends husband gave her on their wedding day 9 years ago. Also in the photo is our second line hanky's and our rings. I lost my earrings and had to borrow costume jewelry from my Mom. They worked out perfect!

My wedding bouquet consisted of 2 dozen black magic roses, wrapped in the lace from my Mothers wedding dress to my father.

The guys suits were 3-piece Kenneth Cole suits from Burlington. The ties were Kenneth Cole Jackson, Plum and Grey. The ring bearers suit was purchased from Etsy.

Our Second Line Umbrellas were purchased on Etsy. Each were personalized with our wedding date, a crystal fluer de lis and our initials.

My father in law created our signature drink menu. I loved having 4 different drink options for our guests. Funny, we spent A LOT of time deciding on the signature cocktails and I ended up drinking champagne the entire night.

We purchased wedding flip flops from Dollar Tree in our wedding colors for $1 each. My father in law also created the dancing feet sign.

Our wedding cake was from Haydel's Bakery. We did a 3 tier, 3 layer cake with black magic rose petals. Our florists, Fat Cat Flowers, far exceeded my expectations.

I wanted simple and elegant centerpieces. I hate when you have to look over large centerpieces at weddings to talk to the guests sitting across from you. One thing I really wanted was candelabras. I also wanted to have nothing but roses for the flowers. So I opted for low vases of 5 large black magic roses in a crystal vase. I found matching vases and we created the table numbers based on popular New Orleans destinations.

Our toasting flutes are Swarvorski Crystaline Toasting Flutes. I had them engraved with our names, a fluer de lis and our wedding date. I have never drank out of anything so expensive and was very nervous all night I would drop my glass. They are both safe in FL.

Our guest book ended up being perfect thanks to the awesome staff at Hotel Mazarin. We were supposed to have one included with our photobooth and they showed up sans guest book and props. Rachel from Hotel Mazarin saved the day and bought us a New Orleans Coffee Table book, which in my opinion is 100x cooler than a standard book.

Are you an overly detailed person? 

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