Our maiden featured Bride is Tobi Young, 31 years young, a PR Manager living in Newport, Rhode Island. Tobi is here to share how she and her fiance, Adam met and give you the good, the bad and the ugly of wedding planning!

Tobi and Adam

1. How did you and Adam meet?

We met three years ago. It was March 18th and I was throwing a party for a friend who was moving to New York.  Adam was one of my friend’s boyfriend’s (now fiancé) friends. That day, my then-boyfriend and I had just broken up and my little sister got engaged. The last thing I thought is that I was going to meet my future husband; rather I just thought I would drink a lot. Both happened.

At the time, we both worked at the same IT company but we never crossed paths. He remains there, in sales and I am a PR Manager at a great agency in Providence.

We fell in love while I was living in Newport, and after a year of dating he moved to Newport, a few minutes away from me. After two years, we bought a house together in North Kingstown, RI.

2. When did you and your fiance get engaged?

June 2008 on the back porch of our new house. It was very sweet and I cried.

3. How long was the gap from engagement to the start of your wedding preps? Basically, when did you start your wedding preparations?

We had just started right before it became official, just looking around at places so in total about a year of real planning. I couldn’t have waited any longer to marry this man.

4. Who is more hands on on the wedding preps? You or your fiance?

Me, no question. He knows me well enough to know I want to plan every detail and says he trusts my judgment. He cared about the venue, food and cake!

5. Tell me the Good, Bad and Ugly of your own wedding preparation experience? What are the highlights of your wedding preps? What are the discoveries? What were the bad parts? Did you have bad patches during the wedding preparations where you almost called off the wedding because of some fiance/family/friends/wedding drama? What’s the ‘ugly’ part of the wedding preps?

There have been wonderful moments as well as some not-so-wonderful moments. I think what we don’t realize is the amount of stress a wedding can put on a bride. There are so many little details, we spend a lot of time considering. About two weeks ago my mother called me to tell me that some of her colleagues thought they were invited (but weren’t) and could I send them a couple invitations.

This came after I spent four hours designing the seating chart, had everyone assigned and my fiancé and I were bickering over landscaping to be done pre-wedding. Not to mention, the RSVP date had already passed so it would be clear they were “B listed” and I would have felt very bad. Anyways, I flew off the handle and demanded we call off the wedding because I was done. I called back a few minutes later to apologize and cry. I think many of us suffer from WRMI (wedding related mental illness) but I’ve been assured, it will pass. There were so many points where I wanted to call off the wedding, but never once did I want to call off the marriage.

Hands down, the most joyful moment occurred at my bachelorette party. My girls planned a great day of wine tasting in Long Island. It was supposed to be a secret but I knew, or thought I knew, that was the big surprise. They spent all morning shuffling me around to “surprise me” at the ferry. When I got on, they had set up a table of breakfast and out of nowhere my friend Pam who is living in San Francisco, leapt out to surprise me. I hadn’t ever expected her – she had only met a couple of my friends a couple times, years ago yet they got her in the night before, she stayed at someone’s house and they managed to get her there without my ever expecting. I cried, there were hugs. We had a wonderful day.

Another wonderful surprise is the terrific group of girls I met on our local wedding message board. I knew they would be helpful in my planning but some have become very good friends and will even attend my wedding.

6. What are the 3 most expensive items on your wedding list?

I didn’t go nuts and really splurge on any one thing in particular but ultimately, the big expenses will be the flowers, the venue and the honeymoon!

7. Did you do anything ‘innovative’ to save on wedding-related costs? Any DIY projects? Recycling of gowns, etc?

I did a lot of projects but I can’t say I saved very much by doing them myself. Mostly its stuff I wouldn’t have bothered with otherwise. I did save some money by purchasing containers for my candy buffet from other brides once they were done.

My biggest project was my wedding invitations…I loved the design work, hated the production but love the praise and shocked look on faces when I tell people I did them myself. I hope to never produce another invitation again.

I also DIY’ed: programs, seating chart, favor bags, aisle runner, cocktail hour centerpieces, shirts for my bridesmaid to wear while we get ready, menus, table numbers, candy buffet centerpiece, ring bearer pillow, pouch for our glass (breaking of the glass).

It’s funny to see how things evolved from a design aesthetic from when I started to where I ended. I had so many ideas in the beginning, but in the end learned to love simplicity.

8. What new wedding trends did you pick up while you were planning for your wedding that you plan to use?

I don’t know if I’d call it new but I have a candy buffet as my favor. About 10-14 types of candy and containers and my guests can fill their bag with whatever they like. Adam and I love candy so it was perfect for us.

9. Any tips you can give to those brides (and grooms)-to be who have just started or are in the middle of their wedding preps?
Elope. Just kidding…

If you’re planning to do a lot of DIY projects, do them early. I did and if I hadn’t there’s no way they would have happened in the last couple months. You have all that enthusiasm right away – use it!

There will be a point where you wished you’d elope. I got through by crying it out and saying it out loud. I felt better and luckily, I knew Adam wouldn’t let me call it off.

Take your time selecting your dress and the venue. These decisions should be fun but can easily succumb to the pressure of finding “the one” and nailing down a date.

Also set a budget upfront, not to hinder your decisions, but let it help guide you.

Post from: Our One Heart

What a great way to spend the first day of February. I watched wedding videos to pass the time and this one warmed my heart.

Maybe because Denden (the bride) is close to my cyber heart. You see, Denden is someone I met through blogging. She and I visited each other’s personal blogs and through these visits, we got to know each other, I “witnessed” her finding her own prince charming and now, she’s married and I can’t be happier for her than I am now.

Denden and Gerald are based in London, UK but got married in the Philippines. I am sure she has a lot of stories to share with her wedding preparations. It’s hard enough preparing for your wedding when you’re in the country where you’re getting married. Imagine, doing it from thousands of miles away

Enjoy this latest Jason Magbanua same-day-edit video that was shown to Denden and Gerald’s guests at the reception.

Hope this video gives you further ideas and inspiration for your own wedding!

Happy viewing!

Post from: Our One Heart

I love, love Jenna Bush’s wedding gown. So simple, so classy, so elegant. It was designed and made by Oscar dela Renta (and why not, I suppose they can afford it!). I didn’t realise that Henry Hager was a former White House aide? Isn’t that so romantic? Like Cinderella and Prince Charming or something but their roles are reversed with Jenna being Princess Charming and Henry being, umm, Cinders?

It was arguably America’s wedding of the year, uniting a presidential daughter with a former White House aide – but its details were kept almost entirely private.

Jenna Bush married Henry Hager in a down-home Texas wedding yesterday at the family ranch in Crawford, Texas, before some 200 friends and relatives and in front of a simple limestone cross erected near a lake.

“Our little girl Jenna married a really good guy, Henry Hager. The wedding was spectacular, all we could have hoped for,” President Bush told reporters afterwards.

In contrast with other First Family weddings, details of Jenna’s nuptials had been kept secret, although the White House released about a dozen photographs afterwards.

Jenna’s 26-year-old twin sister, Barbara, was her maid of honor and Mr Hager’s brother, Jack, was best man. The bride and groom were attended-to by 14 young female attendants and 14 male ushers.

The bride wore a hip-hugging Oscar de la Renta white gown, and enjoyed a dance with her father to the Joe Cocker ballad You Are So Beautiful.

Source: Times Online

Image used with permission from Newscom

Post from: Our One Heart

Ha ha!

President Bush has started joking about the worst-kept secret in the White House: the May 10 wedding of his daughter Jenna.

“I had to face some very difficult spending decisions and I’ve had to conduct sensitive diplomacy,” Bush said Wednesday. “That’s called planning for a wedding.”

Bush’s line got a laugh from his audience at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Jenna and her fiance, Henry Hager, have decided to be wed at her parents’ ranch in Crawford, Texas, rather than at the White House. The White House has refused to release any details, such as the setting on the ranch, who has been invited and how many people will attend.

Bush’s wife, Laura, has described the soon-to-be married couple as “soul mates” and has said the president likes Hager.

“He’s a really good guy,” the first lady said recently on “The Early Show” on CBS.

“He’s finally going to be the son that George never had,” Mrs. Bush said. Jenna has a twin sister, Barbara.

Bush joked later at a National Republican Congressional Committee dinner that Laura Bush could not attend because she was busy planning the wedding.

At the Kuwaiti ambassador’s residence, where the president stopped by for an event on malaria, Bush made fun of his future son-in-law’s marriage proposal.

“So the guy comes to see me and he says, `I want to marry your daughter,’” Bush said.

Bush said he replied, “Done deal.”

Bush said he was late getting to the event because his wife had him watching “Father of the Bride.”

“I didn’t finish it,” Bush said. “I’m going to make my remarks short and go home and watch it,” he said.

Via AP Google

Post from: Our One Heart

I searched through the web and found that Bride Karen McDonald and groom Mark Duncan-Caley did just that!

Bride Karen McDonald wore white, her groom, Mark Duncan-Caley, donned a suit and two bridesmaids and two groomsmen attended. But that was where tradition ended for the Christchurch couple.

The couple had a groom-dog, a bride-dog, a flower-dog and page-dog in attendance and chose yesterday — February 29 — to marry because it was a “quirky” date that only came around every four years.

McDonald, 32, said even if 20 years passed they would still have only celebrated four years of marriage.

“We will never grow old together,” she joked.

The other bonus was every leap year Duncan-Caley, 33, could buy her a “humungous” present to make up for the three years when they had missed out on celebrating their wedding anniversary, said McDonald, a canine hydrotherapist who also works part-time in retail with her new husband.

The couple were married last night in Kaiapoi’s Charles Street band rotunda by marriage celebrant, Tom Bayliss, before a reception at the Kaiapoi Working Men’s Club with their dogs, families and 120 guests.

It was a wedding planned in just 5-1/2 weeks after a spur-of-the-moment decision to name the big day as February 29.

“My friends and family have told me for years I am crazy. And crazy is getting married on February 29 which tells a story,” McDonald said.

The couple met over the internet two years ago and then face-to-face on a Christchurch beach. “It was really love at first sight,” she said.

McDonald then spent a month in the United Kingdom before returning to team up with Duncan-Caley at the Purau Bay Holiday Park, where he worked, living together in a small cabin for a couple of months. “Having survived that we can survive anything,” said McDonald.

They treasured their four “fur-kids” — a border collie, two border collie crosses and a beardie — but would not say if any newborns could be expected apart from “some puppies”.

Post from: Our One Heart

Grant and Kelly got married in the nude after winning Kyle and Jackie O’s Ultimate Wedding valued at over $80,000! Watch the ceremony take place.

Kelly and Grant go through with it and walk down the aisle completely nude.But will Grant make it through their vows without getting too … ummm … ‘excited’?

If it was you, would you go through it? Would you exchange your dream wedding gown to expose yourself to the tune of $80,000 in prizes?

Click HERE to view the photos!

View the video HERE.

Post from: Our One Heart

The couple wrote it was 10 years in the making...wow!

Wedding pillow for the rings

Funky pink and green polka dots for the cocktail hour!

More funky photos after the jump!

Wedding cupcakes! weeeeeee!

The gumball topiaries are divine!

Even the driveway was especially lined with pink daisies! How cool is that??

Ooohh, the candy buffet! Yum!

and the ice cream cart!

with pink lanterns to match!

to match the wacky bridesmaids and bride!

Can I have one of these adorable wedding favors?

Via Wedding Bee

Post from: Our One Heart

Love does bloom in unexpected places. Who would’ve thought that the love that Jay and Eena shared for charitable causes such as the Gawad Kalinga Foundation whose aim is to build a nation without slums would bring them to the altar?

The two met while helping Bicolanos rebuild their lives and regain their dignity after a series of calamities devastated the region.

To show their commitment to each other and the Gawad Kalinga mission, the two got married in a GK-built chapel and on the much raved-about date, 7-7-07.

They chose the date not because it’s believed to be fortuitous but because it represented the GK mission: To build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in 7 years, with 2010 as the target date for delivery.

Photo credit: W@W

Post from: Our One Heart

Eva Longoria and Tony Parker were spotted arriving at their VIP bash days before their 7 July 2007 wedding.

Hollyscoop reports

The couple were spotted arriving at the VIP Room in the French town to celebrate their upcoming nuptials. We hear Eva and Tony celebrated with a “his and hers” bachelor party at the exclusive club. The couple will enjoy their time on the French Riviera before they head off to Paris for their lucky 7-7-7 wedding.

Post from: Our One Heart

This is her wedding video where she serenaded her groom at their wedding! The song is written by Freddie Santos and music by Louie Ocampo.

TWO WORDS
(music by Louie Ocampo, lyrics by Freddie Santos)

In a while, in a word
Every moment now returns
For a while, seen or heard
How each mem’ry softly burns

Facing you who brings me new tomorrows
I thank God for yesterdays
How they led me to this very hour
How they led me to this place

Every touch, every smile you have given me in care
Keeping heart, always I’ll now be treasuring everywhere

And if life should come to just one question
Do I hold each moment true?
No trace of sadness, always with gladness
‘I DO’

Now a song that speaks of now and ever
Beckons me to someone new
Uexpected, unexplored, unseen
Filled with promise coming through

In a while, in a word
You and I forever changed
Love so clear, never blurred
Has me feeling wondrous, strange

And if life should come to just one question
Do I face each moment true?
No trace of sadness, always with gladness
‘I DO’
Never with sadness, always with gladness
‘I DO’

Source

Post from: Our One Heart