Planning for our big day
 
So this past Saturday we had our second tristate knottie GTG compiments of Annie from the knot.  I have a page with all of our pictures and a recap of our day. 
 
These are my newest purchases from etsy!  I will write a review and reveal the sellers name as soon as I get them in :)
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I ordered socks similar to these with purple stripes.  I ordered three pairs: one says "bride", second says "Mrs Kader" and third says "Just Married".  I think they will look adorable for my bachelorette party, getting ready pictures and for my honeymoon!

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From the same seller, I ordered a shirt with the image from above.  I made the image in photoshop.

 
I recieved my custom stamp from etsy seller katzndogz7 the other day and did a quick mockup today....I'm was dying to see how they would turn out!!!!!  I stamped with violet pigment ink from "color box" and used a regular clear embossing powder (I may try out ultra fine powder next time).  This is a complete mockup, but just wanted to show how it looks!
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My custom stamp

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So this Christmas season I was able to participate in something really fun that one of the girls Chrystal (Wallace) thought of...A knottie kris kringle!!  The girls all emailed Chrystal their addresses and emails and Crystal put the whole thing together for us!  My kris kringle reciever was Aubrey (A.a.A.), who lucky for me I met at the GTG a few months ago.  I knew right away I wanted to get her something that had to do with baking (she is a soon to be pastry chef) and something from NYC.  Here is what I got her:
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Unfortuneatley, the statue of libertys arm broke off, but Aubrey is going to try to super glue it back on!!  I also got her seven layer cookies and Christmas sprinkle cookies from a local Italian bakery...a little taste of Staten Island!
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And my Kris Kringle giver was Lauren (Lfml1001).  She got me a really cute ornament, reindeer poop candy (chocolate covered peanuts), peppermint hot cocoa and a christmas/birthday card.  Here is the picture:
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I recently ordered samples from both Daffy and Happy apples so I can see the quality, taste, and size before I ordered them next year as my wedding favors.  Here are my likes and dislikes:

Daffy (ordered them with crunch coating)
likes
:  They came well packaged and in very good shape.  The caramel is really smooth and stayed on the apple very well.  Customer service was great as well as the website being very user friendly.

dislikes: I didn't get an invoice with my package...weird.  I also didn't like the crunch coating (which isn't a big deal...I'll just order a different coating for my favors) and the apple wasn't as tart as I would have liked it.

Happy (ordered them with festive sprinkles)
likes
: Cheaper than Daffy and the apples were bigger

dislikes: The packaging sucked.  The sprinkles were all smashed and the caramel was sliding off of just about half of them.  The caramel also wasn't as smooth as Daffy.  Customer service wasn't that great (rushed me off the phone) and they never returned my email (their website sucks!).
 

I wish I ordered the "wacky apple" from Happy.  It is rolled in chocolate chips and peanuts and had some really great reviews from a few girls on the knot.  Maybe the toppings don't slide off like the sprinkles??  In the end, they tasted the same...I'm not that sold on having them as favors anymore.  I was honestly a little disappointed on the size and I wasn't "wowed" on either one...
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I guess with the wedding being a year away and much more of a reality, I've been changing my mind on a few things. 

1. "Having" to have a Jim Hjelm gown...My mother is paying for my gown (very nice of her!!) and of course I wouldn't feel comfortable with her paying 3K for a dress...So I was planning on purchasing a used gown from
www.preownedweddingdresses.com or such sites.  I'm over it...I've now been looking at Maggie Sottero gowns and they are just as beautiful for 1/3 of the price!

2. Ceremony time...I thought I wanted a sunset ceremony.  Then decided after watching the weather lately that if it is a chilly or cloudy day, it would be too dark and cloudy.  So now we are getting married at 5pm instead of 6pm.

3. Honeymooning in Hawaii.  I've always dreamed of honeymooning there and we decided to "break the bank" when we first got engaged and just go for it (friends of mine have honeymooned there and the average price is around 8K).  Now with the reality of purchasing our first home, paying for the wedding ourselves...we decided to go to the caribbean.  We will have an amazing time wherever we go, so now we are looking into St. Lucia (which will be like half the price!)

 
So today we had a tristate get together.  We had girls from Conneticuit; North and Central Jersey, Staten Island and Brooklyn.  It was really great to meet all the girls in person and we had a great time gabbing about our weddings.  Anne from the Knot came and also gave us goodie bags filled with wedding books and wedding day stuff.   I was a little nervous beforehand meeting everyone, but I'm so glad we all finally met and broke the ice.  I'm already trying to plan another one for around the holidays!!!

 

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From left to right...Tara (Tara2316), me (Lizzonyc), Maureen (Maureen L), Carrie (CTbride79), Aubrey (A.a.A.), Holly (Hollyberry88) and Kelly (Mrsdevilguy)

 

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Stephanie (she missed the first set of pics), Maureen and Carrie

 

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Aubrey, Holly and Kelly

 

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Me and Tara

 

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Stephanie and Maureen

 

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The "must take" ring shot

 

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Our rings (over a plate of nachos)...minus Stephanie :(

 

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The goodie bag from Anne

 

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The books she gave us...Knot magazine, floral bouquet book, wedding vow book and a softcover novel titled "The Bride"

 

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Our goodies...candy, mints, nude thong, lipgloss, heel pads, nail polish

 

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Little goodie bags I made for the girls.  I gave them each two "wedding day" scented votives from Yankee candle.

 

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Weather.com now has a wedding feature that gives you the average high/low, rainfall and cloud cover for your wedding date.  Mine dosen't look so bad...I actually went apple picking last year on the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend and it was gorgeous out :)

Typical Weather for October 10 (Staten Island, New York)
Here are average weather conditions for the day of your wedding:
Average High Temp:68°F
Record High Temp:  85°F (1958)
Average Low Temp: 49°F
Record Low Temp:  33°F (1979)

Previous years:
2008: Partly cloudy High 74/Low 57 (no rain)
2007: Am fog/Pm clouds High 73/Low 62 (no rain)
2006: Partly cloudy High 77/Low 56 (no rain)

Sunset 6:23pm

 
Just wanted to share...
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