My Best Friend's Wedding

It was not only a pleasure, but such an honor to help my best friend plan her wedding!! I was looking forward to every single detail that needed to be addressed/worked on. And staying up late was by no means a choice or an option - I wanted to do it! I remember getting back from her Bachelorette Party in Atlantic City, and after about an hour of rest, we got to tying favor tags. Or was it tying bows? I think the tying bows was at night and we stayed up pretty late, so it must've been the favor tags. Regardless, it was always fun. Tying, talking, tying, laughing, tying, talking. Who would've thought that tying bows would be such fun? :) Our poor fingers... :/ lol

The wedding was originally supposed to take place in Las Vegas. Vegas Baby!! OK, let me stop. But it's Vegas and Ray and Dajilis (further known as "they" lol) love that place. They've been there more times than I can count on both hands, I think. I went with Dajilis back in 2003, they even went to scope out places for the wedding and are going back soon too! Since the wedding was no longer going to take place in LV, we decided that it should be incorporated into the wedding somehow. And then we came across the table numbers. Each table number represented a hotel in Las Vegas and had a brief description of a memory the couple shared at each hotel. They were absolutely beautiful.

It's amazing how things work out.

The colors, back in 2008, when they were first engaged, were supposed to be brown and red. The dress, white, of course. We went shopping way back when and it was something amazing having been there to see her in a wedding dress for the first time. Happy tears. We fell IN LOVE with one particular dress and it was SOLD! Just like that, the perfect dress!!

Once the wedding planning began, the colors changed to brown and blue. And you know what happens next right? You know that "always go with your first choice" thing you learned about back in school when you were taking an exam? That "always go with your gut feeling" thing. That happened...lol! Brown and red again! If I've ever learned something from my best friend (and boy have I learned plenty) it's that YOU MUST LOVE IT! If we go shopping, don't buy it if you don't love it. If we're going to eat, don't get it if you're not going to love it. So of course, don't do the brown and blue if you don't love it....so she didn't! Brown and red it was, and it was beautiful. It was pretty funny when she changed her mind. We had to make a lot of phone calls, florist being one of the first. Aren't the bouquets and centerpieces just stunning?

It's amazing how things work out.

Speaking of loving it. There was no way she wasn't having the pumpkin place cards! I'm laughing as I type this because it was truly love at first site when Dajilis found those. She didn't care, didn't want to hear anything...she needed them! I couldn't agree more. Last minute decision was to lean them against the chocolate boxes that were also at each place setting. (The ones that hurt our fingers tying bows onto.) It was beautiful and went perfectly with her brown and red, fall theme wedding!

So, I signed up to Wedding Wire to make the inspiration boards for this post and it MADE me put a wedding date in. I picked 12/21/12 ... yes, the day the world is supposed to end. I'm single. I didn't catch the bouquet. Laugh.

The wedding cake was supposed to be featured on Amazing Wedding Cakes on We.tv but was not chosen. We are very sad about this for many reasons, mainly because the cake is very pretty and people tend to forget that simplicity is what at most times makes things beautiful. Maybe next time? (My wedding on 12/21/12? lol)

Dajilis and Ray printed out cards with a really touching poem for the ceremony and placed them on the guests' seats. I can not even begin to explain how much I cried at the ceremony. I was in the bridal suite with my best friend before the ceremony began, but once she walked down that aisle there was no escaping the emotion and all the love that was felt in the room. She walked out to Enya - Only Time.
Tears everywhere.

"Something borrowed, something blue, something old, something new." Dalgis, her sister and maid-of-honor, gave her the perfect handkerchief with that saying and had it personalized with "Mrs. R" and their wedding date. I don't know what was better, when Dalgis walked into the reception, or her speech?! She's just wonderful!

We don't have an amazing picture of the favors, but they were leaf wine stoppers and you can see them (a little bit) in the pictures of the table numbers. We placed personalized matchbooks on all of the tables outside on the terrace. Everyone loved them! The seating chart I actually came across on Wedding Bee. What a save! Ray added a leaf watermark and had it framed beautifully. If you recall, for the Bridal Shower, my mom made a card box so she went with the same idea for the wedding. Thankfully, after being duped by first lady on Etsy, Lacey Claire came to the rescue! She's amazing and did a wonderful job!

It's amazing how things work out!

I never imagined I would be so moved right now, but once again I am in tears. Remembering everything that led up to this big day fills me up with emotion. I've known Dajilis since I was 15 years old and in all of these years, she's always dreamed of the perfect wedding. Not big, not small, just perfect with the perfect person. It's every little girls' dream, right? Thing is, my dear best friend at times had doubt. So many ups and so many downs and so many times we all tend to give up. Not Dajilis though. She always knew her worth and knew that as long as she kept her heart open for the right man to come along and sweep her off her feet, it will happen. Every princess finds her frog and I can't even express how happy I am for her. Ray is a phenomenal man. Who better to marry a princess, than the prince himself?

It's amazing how things work out!

Through Dajilis and Ray, I have truly learned and witnessed what true love is. Congratulations again! I wish you all the happiness you've had in the past few years to continue and grow 'til death do you part! Thank you, again, for allowing me to play such a big part in your special day. Such an honor. And thank you for my speech, I know it was beautiful but I really had to use the bathroom and I'm so sorry I missed it. I will always owe you, 'til death do us part too! lol



♥ I love you both so much! ♥

Ray, Dajilis and I would like to thank the following vendors for helping make their day absolutely perfect:

Photographers: Giovanni Garcia and also Romeo Creations
Wedding dress: David's Bridal
Hair piece and veil: Angels Bridal
Make-Up: Glam Gal NYC
Wedding Cake: The Cake Artist
Invitations: Inviting Treasures
Pumpkin Place Cards: Timeless Paper
Garter: Garters By Kristi
Bouquets and Centerpieces: Carolls Florist
Customized Vegas Theme Table Numbers: JoeBen Designs
Card Box: Lacey Claire Designs
Aisle Runner, Favors, Matchbooks and boxes for chocolates: Wedding Favors Unlimited
Favor Tags: SimplYou Design
and last, but definitely not least,
The Richmond County Country Club and their impeccable staff!