Oh My Deer-The Elks Are Married!!

Guest Photo

We had the most amazing day, and I can't wait to share every detail with the hive! But for now, we are off to Costa Rica for an awesome honeymoon- be back soon, I promise!

~Mrs Elk

How Many Morons Does It Take To Hang a Wedding Dress- AKA I'm getting married!

Well hive, the day is finally here.  I type this from my childhood bedroom, where my dress is hanging from a newly acquired nail in the wall

But wait, what are those tiny things next to the nail? Yea, those are 4 OTHER HOLES, since apparently even with a studfinder Papa Elk and I were too dumb to actually nail INTO a stud on our 3 initial tries!

Anyway, thank you hive for all of your support! I can't believe I get to marry my best friend today, rain or shine (though pray to the gods for shine please!). XOXO soon to be Mrs Elk!

Cornhole Update

Thanks to you, hive, I saw the error of my ways after my last post about our cornhole boards for the cocktail hour. I decided that despite the fact that it is now just a couple days till the wedding, I had no choice but to pull a quick fix. So with the help of all you bees who recommended a quick spray paint job to cure my woes, the project is now officially complete! Here's what the boards look like now: Thanks bees! You all saved my beehind! (hehe, get it?)

Did you screw something up and only realized last minute? Did you bother making a change or did you just roll with it?

Cutting it a little close

I'm talking about my wedding band....because I just got it a week before the wedding (just before graduation).  I should mention that I ordered a custom ring without ever trying on a prototype, so this was sort of a big deal!

Don't I just ooze excitement in my awesome graduation garb?

Anyhoo, I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't be wearing my wedding band and engagement ring together, mainly because my engagement ring is weirdly shaped and no band fits around it- plus I didn't want a curved band because I wanted the option of wearing it without the Ering. I came to love the look of stacked rings, and thought maybe I'd just have a ring made that LOOKED stacked but was actually one piece.  And so I showed some inspiration pics to our family jeweler, who went to work.  Want to see the beaut?

Isn't she pretty? I'm so glad I love her, since there isn't really much time to make a change before the wedding! And just so you can see how she matches the style of my Ering (and if you like an artsy shot):
What important aspect of the wedding did you leave till last minute? Did it work out OK?

I Now Pronounce You Mr and Dr Elk

Today is a really big day!!! No, its not my wedding day- it's my graduation day!

About 4 years ago, I couldn't even imagine this day would ever come, but here I am about to walk across a stage and become a doctor! It is really exciting, and I'm so glad that Mr Elk has been there with me this entire time.

Becoming a real doctor has brought to the forefront a lot of "grown up issues" that Mr Elk and I have needed to consider as we move forward in our lives together. For one, we will be moving to a new city tomorrow, less than a week before our wedding so that I can start my residency in pediatrics. This means that Mr Elk had to sacrifice his cushy job in Syracuse to find something new in our soon-to-be home, Connecticut. I wouldn't say we had to decide who's career was more important, but his sacrifice is something I will always be great-full for, and I understand it was really difficult for him . And just weeks after we start life as a married couple, I will begin my job which means 80+ hour work-weeks for most of our first year of marriage- I know this could put a strain on any marriage, especially a new one.

Moreover, medical school is expensive. I am leaving with just under $200,000 in debt, and Mr Elk will have to help me pay this debt, which apparently on average takes about 10 years to pay off. And once we have finally payed off my debt, and I've completed my training, I will be the primary breadwinner of the household. Now that may not be a big deal, but I understand that some men have wounded egos when their spouse earns more than them. I am not really concerned about this happening with me and Mr Elk (and if it did I'd honestly have to rethink our relationship- we are equal partners, and I do not take well to being considered a lowly woman), but it is definitely something to consider and discuss as we move forward in our relationship and as my career advances.

And of course, the most important issue I have been faced with now that I am officially a doctor, is how we will be introduced at our wedding. I've been teasing Mr Elk for most of our engagement that I refuse to be introduced as anything other than "Mr and Dr Elk". My blood, sweat, and tears earned me that degree and I'm going to use it, damit! I'm not serious about this, as I think our wedding is about us as a couple and not the degree I earned, but its fun to watch him squirm!

Ok, time to get my diploma!

Has your career decision had a major impact on your relationship?

Reserving Our Seats- AKA easy, cheap DIY chair signs

With just over a week until the wedding (!!!), most of the big picture items are complete and waiting in the wings, and that includes our seating chart.  From the beginning Mr Elk and I discussed how we would sit our guests, and decided we would shy away from the traditional head table and enjoy our own sweetheart table.  But when the final decision was to be made, it seemed just easier to stick us at a table with some friends and call it a day.  While our table and chairs will be identical to those of all the guests around us, I did want to be able to reserve two seats next to each other facing most of our guest for Mr Elk and I (since chances are our friends will make it to the table before us and may not realize they should leave us seats).  I don't plan on sitting all that much, but definitely want it to be an option! 

Oh, and did I mention that I think all the chair signs with "bride" and "groom" or "Mr" and "Mrs" are totally adorable and this is the perfect excuse to add another adorbs addition to the wedding?  Yea, because lets face it, this is totally unnecessary.

Photo by Jose Villa/Via Style Me Pretty

Even though I wanted something pretty, I honestly wasn't willing to put too much time/money/effort into this project.   And then I came across this tutorial on One Fab Day (with free downloadable template!):

via One Fab Day 

While I loved the concept and easiness level, I didn't think the font or shape were quite right.  I quickly whipped up my own version, printed, cut them out with my handy circle cutter, made holes for the ribbon, and in less than 5 minutes I had cute chair signs! 

 

Did you attack a project you didn't care all that much about? Did it work out well or were you left with a mess?

Fun and Games

While the elk's wedding reception is black tie optional, we don't want our guests to feel that it is too stuffy. Even though we want everyone to be gussied up and beautified, we still want the atmosphere to be laid back and fun.  Which is why when I saw wedding photos from another wedding at our venue, and guests were playing Bocce Ball on the back lawn, I knew I wanted to put out some fun lawn games as well!  What better way to relax the mood during the cocktail hour than with a few extremely competitive friendly games of cornhole?

I was so excited, I asked Papa Elk to whip up some cornhole boards that I would decorate when I got the chance.  And then, Miss Mink posted about her cornhole boards, and I nearly died.  Hers are freaking AH mazing and while I didn't yet have a plan for my own boards, I knew they would pale in comparison to hers.  Yes, I had the wedding envies.  And that, hive, is why I put off making a decision about how I would decorate these suckers for oh, 3 months?

Finally, with less than a month till the big day, I knew I couldn't put it off anymore.  I considered ordering giant stickers of some undecided design, I went to Michael's and looked at the premade wall decals, and checked out every stencil I could find. I even considered covering the boards in lace and spray painting them.   Nothing was speaking to me.  Finally, I said "Miss Elk, pull it together and make a damn decision!  Anything you do will look fine, and your guests will appreciate the fun game!"  And so, I purchased a wood frame and wooden letters and some paint at Michaels.  I laid out my purchases on the cornhole board just to be sure it looked OK before I got to painting/gluing. 

Even though the frame hangs off the sides just a smidge, I was pleased and so moved on to phase 2- paint. I let everything dry, then did a little bit of measuring, plugged in my hot glue gun and a few hours after starting I had 2 complete cornhole boards! Yay- now if only the weather stays gorgeous for the wedding so the guests actually get to play! Enter obsessively checking accuweather.com's forecast.... Did you ever encounter wedding envy? How did you get over it?

And We Taste! (finally)

When Mr Elk and I got engaged, I pretty much knew that I wanted to get married at our venue.  I had Mama and Papa Elk check it out, then Mr Elk and I went when we were on LI a few months later.  We all loved the place, and booked it without much question.

One of the things that we just assumed would work out was the food.  We had only heard great reviews from the few people we knew that had affairs at the Old Field Club regarding the food.  Mama Elk's boss is actually a member at the club and so has eaten there many a times, and he also raved about the food.  All in all we weren't too worried.

But we still needed to decide on a menu, and we definitely wanted to at least taste the food ourselves before our big day, understanding full well that with only 3 weeks till the wedding, if the food sucked there wasn't all that much we could do about it.  And so with mild trepidation, Mr Elk, myself and Mama and Papa Elk trekked out to our venue for some dinner.

We arrived, and we were quickly seated at a table in the bridal suite, giving us privacy to discuss the food as we ate (there was a member dinner going on in the main room).  We were told that the meal would be served to us family style, and our Maitre D' Mary would be around to answer any and all questions we had.  First course was a salad of mixed greens, pecans, gorganzola, and golden raisins in a pomegranate vinaigrette (excuse my terrible blogging skills, as I completely forgot that I should be taking pictures).  Mr Elk said it was the best salad he has ever eaten, and he almost licked his plate.

Next up, a giant plate was placed in front of us.  On it, we were told, was grilled filet mignon topped with cognac sauce over garlic mashed potatoes, chicken in mushroom sauce over mixed grilled veggies, and Chilean sea bass with a mango reduction over grits.

Let me tell you, it was awesome, and we dove right in.  And after our bellies were full I thought "hey, maybe I should have taken a picture of this delicious food," which is why I have a picture that looks like this:

On the left you can see the filet mignon, in the middle the chicken, and on the right you can't see much of anything because we DEVOURED the sea bass. I mean, Mr Elk doesn't even like fish and he was diving in for seconds it was that good!

Mama and Papa Elk, glad to know the food will be delicious!

I am so glad we went for the tasting and were able to enjoy first hand the deliciousness that will be our wedding food.  It really put my mind at ease and made me fall in love all over again with our venue! And what did we ultimately decide on for our menu? Well I showed you the menu yesterday, but if you couldn't read it here goes:

Appetizer- grilled portabella mushroom tower with fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers and balsamic drizzle ( I hate mushrooms, but I LOVE mozzarella- like it is a severe weakness of mine)

Salad- Mixed greens with honey roasted pecans, golden raisins, crumbled gorgonzola in a pomegranate vinaigrette (like I said- this was AMAZING)

Entree choices:

1.Filet Mignon in a cognac sauce with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed veggies (this was pretty good, but I don't love steak- the mashed potatoes were awesome)
2.Chicken breast stuffed with apples and brie with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed veggies (we didn't get to try this, but anything with a combo of brie and apples is something for me.  Can you tell I have a thing for cheese?)
3.Chilean Sea Bass with a mango reduction over rice pilaf with mixed veggies (oh my god this was to DIE for! I may have to have this again at the wedding, if the brie doesn't tempt me away...)
4.Pasta primavera with spring vegetables (our vegetarian option- we don't expect too many people to be picking veggie, and our appetizer and salad don't have meat in them so I think we are good!)

Anyone else wait until the last minute to have their tasting?  Was it nerve racking?

Pulling it all together- The Menus

So continuing on my paper theme from yesterday, I have also recently completed my menus!  I fell in love with the idea of round menus after I had seen them somewhere that I now can't remember.  I especially loved the idea after I realized that my aunt has 200 gold charger plates from my cousins wedding sitting in her basement, just waiting to be reused!  I thought a round menu sitting on a charger plate would make for a nice little presentation.

Anyhoo, I got my butt back on Powerpoint and again using my brother's floral design I got to creating.  It didn't take long before I had a pretty good concept.  I printed them out and pulled out my handy dandy circle cutter. I measured as best I could where the center would be and placed the device over that center, then determined what words would be covered in that position so I had a template of sorts for the 134 menus left to complete. Sorry for the horribly blurry photo, but you can see the tool laid out on the menu, and you just swing the arm around in a circle while pressing to get it to cut round- its pretty simple actually! NOTE- it is really important that you cut on a surface you don't care about ruining.  I used a piece of cardboard, but someone more crafty might own a cutting board. 

This is what it looks like after you've cut- it makes a really nice sharp edge.


a closeup in case you want to drool a little bit at our delicious menu (more on that in a little):
And now, what it will look like sitting on a charger: Compared to the programs, these were a breeze- it only took a few hours of cutting in between other tasks to get them all complete.  I love that there will be a little bit of cohesion between the ceremony programs and these, and I'm super pleased with how they turned out.

Were you lucky enough to attack a task that ended up being easier than anticipated?  

Pulling it all together- The Programs

Hive, I have been a busy busy bee these past couple of weeks trying to complete all of the little details for our big day! I can't wait to share all of my hard work with you, but I am most excited about my programs, which I am so happy to say are complete!  Because I am having an outdoor ceremony (weather permitting- insert dance to the weather gods), I thought fan programs would be a nice detail for guests, assuming it is actually warm at the end of May.  I really didn't think these would be all that difficult- just print, fold, glue in a stick and voila you have yourself a fan program.  But hive, let me tell you I was WRONG.  These took forever, but I love them so much I don't even care!

So I started by creating a document in my favorite program ever (Powerpoint- because I am not advanced in the whole computer department).  Next I added in Audrey's illustrated bridal party and my brother's hand painted flowers (which we scanned so I could use throughout the wedding).  Here's what they looked like: Next I printed the image out onto ivory cardstock. This alone took me over three hours, because my printer took a whopping 1.5 minutes to print each one (yes, I was so annoyed with how long it was taking that I timed it!). After the printing was completed, I used a fancy Martha Stewart bone folder to get a crisp line on which to fold the programs in half. 

 

After the folding was complete, I decided the programs needed rounded edges.  Because the programs were folded, there were actually two sheets of paper being punched per every corner I rounded.  This meant I needed a whole lot of strength to round those edges, and I ended up having to put on shoes, crouch down, and step on the freaking punch to get it to work- hive I actually worked up a sweat doing this!

Finally, after folding and punching I was ready to attach a popsicle stick and glue these suckers shut.  I used hot glue to make sure the stick stayed in place, and a glue stick to keep the paper folded over.  I added a little bit of hot glue if the glue stick didn't seem to be holding enough. 

And finally, after hours of work my programs were complete!

I apologize for the horrible blurry cell phone photos!

I am so happy with how these turned out, even if they did take WAYYYY longer than anticipated!

 Did you take on a project that you thought would be quick and easy, only to realize it required a whole lot more time and effort? Was it worth it?

The Last Bow Wow Before the Vow-My Bachelorette Weekend Part 2

I last left off that we were playing a hilarious game of Balderdash, awaiting our guest for the evening. As the sun went down,  MOH L informed me that we should start getting ready for our guest, and handed everyone a gift bag.  Obviously, I was a little nervous as to what could be going on, but in the bag was an apron. 

me and MOH L donning our new gear

And not just any apron, but one with my puppy's face on it!  Thanks to Audrey's photoshopping skills, he even got to join the party with some sunglasses and a bottle of beer. 

And with that, our guest had arrived!

me and DJ Chef- the chef that rocks! 

DJ chef got the party going with some super loud music and a bit of a lights show.  And then, he called me up to help him prepare some of the food for the evening.  

And then I got to toss a bouquet (of parsley that is) While waiting for our quesadillas and salad, we got back to the dancing. Seriously, we had a super cool dance party!!

DJ chef quickly realized that us ladies were more 90's pop than rap, and got some Back Street Boys and Nsync going. Here I am singing "I am down, on my knees I can't take it anymore"

We had definitely worked up an appetite with all the dancing, and the food didn't disappoint After the dinner came a delicious chocolate banana bread pudding.

We got back to the dancing, but as the clock struck almost 1 AM our time with DJ chef was coming to a close. We requested one last song (Fun, We Are Young) and sang our hearts out. And with that, DJ chef said his goodbyes.  We sat around, allowing our ears to recover while we guzzled water and slowly everyone found their way to bed.

Anyone else do something fairly unusual for their bachelorette party? Do tell!

The Beach, Barbeque, Banagrams and Balderdash- My Bachelorette Weekend Part 1

Hive, I have to say that my bachelorette weekend was truly a blast.  Now, I should mention that I didn't really want a bachelorette party to begin with, but MOH L would hear none of that and went ahead planning one anyway- and so I requested a laid back weekend.  MOH L happens to also be cousin elk, and in our family tradition holds that the females have their bachelorette party at her parent's beach house.  When we arrived at the house Friday afternoon, this is the view that greeted us

We spent Friday walking along the beach, playing Banagrams, having some interesting girl talk, and awaiting the arrival of the rest of the crew.  Saturday morning, we awoke to a surprisingly beautiful day. We intended to just have a mid morning stroll along the beach, but with temps in the high 60's we decided to take full advantage of the weather and sit out. After working up a bit of a sweat, we went into town for some of the most delicious ices ever (Ralph's anyone?) and did a little window shopping.  Even after the ices, we had worked up quite the appetite and returned home to start BBQing up some goodness.  The now super infamous Audrey, ever excited to get her food on, offered to prepare guacamole....and while hacking into the pit to remove it, missed and instead chopped into her finger. Of course, what is a bachelorette party without a drunken mishap- except she was stone cold sober.  Of course, nobody told me that this was happening and Audrey was whisked away to the nearest hospital to get stitches (she ended up with 3).  

Once all of the food was eaten and Audrey returned from the hospital all mended up, MOH L informed me that there were a few activities she had planned and that I should take a seat.  Apparently, appalled that I had refused a shower MOH L decided now was the perfect time to have a mini shower for me.  Of course, it was a little bit different than your typical bridal shower:
They read me this adorable poem:

The bridesmaids have a secret to share 

About our little bride 

She is obsessed with underwear 

And that we cannot hide 

So for our little panty queen

 We gathered up some twine

 And working as a friendly team 

We made a panty line. 

Miss Elk these undies are to last you

 All throughout your life 

And Mr Elk will be pleased to say 

He has a sexy wife! 

So listen up to hear about 

Your lifelong panty plan 

These underwear, we have no doubt

 Will last your whole life span 

The first are for your wedding day

 Of course they are pure white

 We know Mr Elk will shout, "Hooray!"

 When he sees you on that night 

The next are for your honeymoon 

They're sexy and all lace 

We hope you'll leave your hotel room 

'Cause Costa Rica's a gorgeous place! 

On Valentine's you'll wear this pair 

Before you hit the bed 

Cuz Cupid's arrow in the air

 Shoots tushies that are red 

After a year has passed you'll face 

Anniversary number one 

With these you'll surely have a blast

 'Cuz leopard's so much fun! 

Then when the time is right for you 

And don't be saying, "Maybe" 

You'll wear your little pink or blue 

In honor of your baby 

And when your years of wedding bliss

 Become the big 2-5

 Don't worry - you'll just slip this on

 To keep the sparks alive

 When finally you're old and gray 

With these you can't go wrong

 'Cuz sorry Miss Elk but at that age 

You just can't wear a thong

And yes, that ending does mean that I got some granny panties! After my mini shower came a quick round of The Newlywed Game.  MOH L had emailed Mr Elk asking him a number of questions and I was supposed to guess his responses.  The ladies were super impressed with how well I did, deeming us a great match.  The question that really sealed the deal was "what is Miss Elk's biggest pet peeve", which we both correctly answered "getting the bottoms of her pants wet when its raining".  

Now that the girls had affirmed the Elk's relationship and had made sure my behind was covered for years to come,  we decided to pass the early evening with a rousing game of Balderdash (the most hilarious game ever!) while we awaited our entertainment for the night......but this post is way too long, and that will have to wait for another day. 

Did anyone else request a laid back bachelorette party?  Or did you go the traditional all out drunken craziness route?