some afternoon inspiration...

"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." -- Henry James

When I first started my blog, my intention was to capture and share all the different aspects of my wedding planning with each of you. As you might have noticed, the blog sort of evolved from a wedding blog to a "life of Katrina & Alphonse" blog, which is okay since many of the exciting things in my life as of late are related to the wedding and looking forward to the rest of my life (as a doctor and a wife!). However, having just returned from a blissful, last-minute summer weekend visit with my honey, I've decided to try to return to the true spirit of my blog and write about a seemingly appropriate theme: blissful summer weddings.

I don't think I've ever been to anything but an evening wedding, so when Alphonse and I were leaning towards an afternoon wedding, I was initially hesitant. But when we visited Nanina's during the daytime, the venue was absolutely gorgeous (from the waterfalls and grounds outside to the natural light coming in to the ballroom), and we knew that we had nothing to worry about. And knowing our guest list, I have no doubt it will be a party from start to finish. Next up, booking the music to make sure you put your dancing shoes to good use ;).

Photos from Nole and Andrew's wedding. Click to enlarge.

Browsing a few wedding blogs, I stumbled upon the wedding pictured above (Click here or here for more details from this wedding). I thought it perfectly captured the light, warm, daytime happiness that I hope is at our wedding.

"God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night..." --Genesis 1:16

it's a date...

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring, productive deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid" -- Frank Zappa

Happy Sunday! And speaking of Sundays, I should have done this sooner, but our wedding date is set! We will be getting married on (drum roll please... ) August 23, 2009!

We've been getting a few questions about the date, so I figured I'd address them now :) . First of all, "Why August 23rd?" We chose the date for a few random reasons: 1) It was one of the few late summer dates available at our reception venue, 2) Al believes the number 23 is lucky... I mean, it's Michael Jordan's number, and if our marriage is half as successful as his career, we're in good shape! (it's also one of my favorite psalms), 3) Al and I met on the 23rd (not of August) so we can attach some (pseudo) significance to the date. The second question we've been getting is: "Why a Sunday wedding?" Again, a few reasons: 1) Most of the Saturdays in July, August, and September were already taken when we checked last month (a year and a half in advance!), 2) Sundays cost slightly less, 3) Apparently Sundays and Fridays are the new Saturday (not really, but read this and this).

All of this official-ness is really exciting. :)


"The LORD is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want... Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." -- Psalm 23:1,6

he puts the AL in alleykat

"I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance, A church filled with family and friends. I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for, He said one that would make me his wife." -- Author Unknown

As if you didn't already know, there are a lot of websites and magazines devoted to brides-to-be like me! I was just browsing one such site with resources for brides in the New York/New Jersey area and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the reception venue that Alphonse and I are looking at (Nanina's in the Park) is the number one featured reception location in the area, according to the site! The discovery made me all the more excited about my wedding.

On a slightly less sunshine-y note, according to theknot.com the second most common bridal mistake is "reading aloud to your fiance from bridal magazines." Apparently guys really don't care what kind of flowers I carry or if my dress is white, off-white, or off-off-white. Who knew?! While I haven't yet reached the "reading from magazines" level of annoying-ness, I do confess to quite often bringing wedding plans into our everyday discussion. And despite historic evidence to the contrary, I am quite happy to share that Alphonse has surprisingly been quite involved in this whole process. In the beginning he said: "Let me handle the music and you can take care of the rest." Since then, however, he has given his input about every aspect of the wedding that we've planned so far. Apparently this is sort of a big deal to him, too... and I'm not going to complain about that at all. We keep each other appropriately sane/silly. :) .

And congrats to my cousin Rachael who is getting married tomorrow! Sadly this means we're getting old, but luckily nothing beats a wedding and a three-day weekend. :) . And early well wishes for Memorial Day.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." -- Philippians 4:6

a walk in the park...

“In the spring time, the only pretty ring time, / When birds do sing, hey ding a ding; / Sweet lovers love the spring.” -- William Shakespeare

Yesterday Alphonse and I visited Nanina's in the Park (parents and siblings in tow) as a potential venue for our wedding. It was a gorgeous spring day to visit a venue that was just as lovely. I was most impressed by the property grounds and the elegant dining presentation -- they have so many options for cocktail and main sitting dining, including more stations than I can keep track of, specialized chefs for making mozzarella and sushi, individual white glove service for each table, and Romeo and Juliet main course. For more details on the full menu, click here. To say the least, I think you can probably fast for a few days before coming to eat at a celebration here. And to top it all off, the price was amazingly reasonable and the staff was extremely accommodating and helpful. All around, I definitely recommend this location. Here are a few pictures of the venue (click on the photos or check out the website for a better view):



Over the next few weeks Alphonse and I will probably check out a few more places, but we were very pleased with what we saw here.

As a side note, a couple of weeks ago when I was writing about love and sports, Alphonse chimed in and started listing off random facts that he thought I should mention. When I turned to him and said: "Hey, get your own blog!" he paused and responded, "Maybe I will." And thus was born his blog, which I highly recommend. If he listens to me this well during our marriage, it looks like it'll be smooth sailing. :)

"See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come... Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me." -- Song of Solomon 2:11-13