Priscilla of Boston Grand Opening in Raleigh

Mr. Palindrome's classmate's wife (second cousin once removed, just kidding, but seriously that seems a lot more removed that it actually is) works at the lovely, new Priscilla of Boston wedding salon in Raleigh.  She graciously extended invitations to their grand opening soiree to the other wives in the program and was a fun hostess to boot!

 I've never been to a grand opening before, so I had zero expectations.  This opening made me want to attend them all the time!  Live models, as seen in the photograph above, were stationed in the front windows and side rooms.  They changed through out the evening for a variety of looks.  I spoke with representatives from Bailey's where they have jewelry in addition to fine china and crystal for which couples can register.  Turns out our husbands do similar work so we talked more about that than weddings - pretty clichéd old married woman talk eh? 

I was drawn to this sweet table featuring items from Lavender and Lace because the jar of sprinkling silk is the exact same jar that my mom gave me as a wedding present.  I recently used it for the first time on our sheets and Mr. Palindrome kept asking me how I made the bed so comfortable.  While changing to nice clean sheets probably had something to do with it, I like to think the sprinkling silk took it to the next level.  Anysprinkling, they had a lovely display that gave me some ideas for keepsake type gifts for some upcoming weddings, especially with the 20% off coupon the representative gave to attendants.

Shannon from Charlotte's and I talked for a long time about invitations, weddings, moving for yourself, moving on after love, and Wisconsin.  For real, people (like Shannon) from Wisconsin are just so nice.  I was particularly drawn to the orchid invitations below as I start to think about planning a shower for Emily.  The shop does design and printing as well which could save me a lot of trial and error.

The floral arrangements were breathtaking.  Can I remember which florist did them?  Nope.  Bad blogger, bad bride.  I'm sure if you were intent on finding out, you could sleuth around and find the names.  Funny how I don't write this sort of thing down anymore now that it's not life and death my wedding we're talking about.  Oh, and the food.  And the champagne.  Delish.

At the very front of the store, right when you walked in after being shown in by a gentlemen in tail coats (posh, no?) sat a huge display of mini cupcakes from the Cupcake Shoppe Bakery.  I wasn't a a fan of the funny, bushy dress on the top, but boy was I ever a fan of the coconut cupcakes!  They took me right back to my wedding.  I could have eaten 10, but I stopped myself after a respectful 3.  I almost shoved a few in my purse but the models were staring like hawks. 

I also met the Publisher/Editor of Southern Bride & Groom, Donna Parks.  We talked blogs and I picked up the latest issue.  For Triangle couples, it has a good catalog of local venues and companies - a nice place to find inspiration in print, though quite traditional and leaning towards the WIC.  Rounding out the industry representatives, a DJ spun tunes in the front of the shop while a photobooth rental guy hung out in a side room.  Finally, I decided to examine the dresses, the real reason why I drove out to Raleigh in the first place.

Cocktail length dresses reigned supreme all along one wall and my neuroses was satisfied by their rainbow order on the rack.  There were a lot of cooler tones with navy and grey being choice colors.  Ruching along the top, ruffles, and bubble skirts also displayed prominently.

I couldn't help but love this little number even if I don't think it has mass appeal or practicality.  The feathers just slay me - what a great take on the flapper style, but with a more ethereal, dare I say angelic, flavor.  Again, so sorry not to know the designer, but it was such an afterthought of "ooooh, pretty."  To try it on, Priscilla of Boston takes appointments and is located at:

Priscilla of Boston - Raleigh

2023 Cameron Street

Raleigh, NC 27605

There were plenty of short dress styles to choose from amidst the sea of long gowns - some enticing enough to make me want to try them on myself.  It made me nostalgic for my gown, which I haven't felt even a pang of until now.

Have you been to a bridal shop opening?  What do you local brides think of Cameron Village's wedding industry resources?

Review: Shutterfly Album

This is the story of how we ended up with 3 wedding albums.  It all started by wanting to save money. 

While many albums are absolutely gorgeous (and drool worthy, believe me, I've drooled), we weren't sold on the idea of spending $1000+ for our wedding album.  I searched a lot of sites, I looked at Adorama based on recommendations, and I just wasn't feeling anything.  I didn't want to start from scratch and design pages in InDesign.  I didn't care about the book laying flat.  Long story short, I just about gave up on getting an album.

Motherdrome wouldn't hear of it though.  She wanted an album and she wanted it yesterday.  So she suggested Shutterfly.   I had made a little album of our engagement pictures for free thanks to a coupon.  My mom had really liked that one and requested another of our wedding with a leather cover.  So I started to experiment.  Turns out that I really liked the storyboard method of choosing photographs.  I really liked the limited layout choices (too many choices makes me freeze).  I liked it so much, that I made one for my parents, Mr. Palindrome's parents, all of our grandparents and one for ourselves. 

(I love Mr. Palindrome in the background - this is our new life, me blogging and taking pictures around him doing homework!) 

 When our album arrived, I was really excited.  We sat on the couch, tearing off the orange cardboard box.  We ooohed.  We awwed.  We reminisced.  Then we saw that one page printed twice (their bad) and that I had cropped one photo too close so it was blurry (my bad). 

After updating the page where I made a mistake, I called customer service.  They were great and said they'd reprint it right away!  Yay!

After opening the second album, I immediately saw a problem.  The binding was loose.  Also, they reprinted from the previous file, so my mistake was still there.

I called customer service.  Again, they were great and said that they would a credit in my account so that I could change my mistake and have it reprinted at my convenience.

About a month later, I got everything together and was ready to hit order.  There was no voucher in my account.  It had expired.  Sigh.  Another call to customer service cleared it up, they put the credit back into my account and I ordered the third album.  Thankfully the third album was just dandy. 

I'm very pleased with the print quality and the colors.  I love the full page pictures.

I'm just a little bummed about having to reprint so many times, but customer service was helpful each time.

And my experience didn't stop me from ordering a small album for our honeymoon as well!

Was an album important to you?  Would you consider a DIY album?

myregistry.com vs. Amazon Universal Registry Review

The concept was so cool.  Pick anything for sale on the internet and have it listed on one centralized registry site.  Unfortunately, myregistry.com was one of those "better in theory" registries for us.  It ended up being our least popular registry.

Screen shot of main page

While it was fairly easy to add things on our end, it was a pain to manage once the items were added.  Unless I ordered every item manually, the site ordered items by price (so my bamboo cutting boards got separated from the mineral oil to clean them, etc.).

 Screen shot of the manual sort function

Also, I think it was not user friendly from the guest side.  Unless the guest knew exactly what they wanted to buy after browsing the initial page, the site would open a new window for each item, making it difficult to navigate back to the browsing page.

 Screen shot of separate windows

Anyregistry, our Macy's and Pampered Chef registries were completely cleared out and we had about 70% of the stuff still on myregistry.com.

My MOH, Emily, set up an Amazon registry that also allows you to add items from any internet site. 

Screen shot from Emily's registry - notice the cool priority ratings!

She had a few (ha! I should say she sent me a very thorough review!) thoughts about using the registry, and though she qualifies her insights as pre-wedding, I thought you'd find them really useful. 

• It's too easy.  The little "add to registry" button installs in no time and lets you browse/add from anywhere that has a website. I also like that it adds an item picture and you can add comments. For universal registering adding, it's awesome. 
• Inspiration is handy. The features like Top 100 Registered For Items and browsing Most Registered by Region are great sources of inspiration. There's also Most Registered by product category and a registry checklist, all with links. You can also browse other couples' registries - Amazon essentially recommends registries to you if you share an item or similar items, so you can see what else they have that you might want. But if you're squicky about privacy, this might be a turn-off, finding others' so easily - and knowing random people can also view yours. 
• Prioritizing. Pretty sweet, and something I wish more registries had this function. If I want to let you know, without having to let you know personally and awkwardly, that while it's awesome that you want to buy us anything, we really wish you'd pass up the towels and go for the cordless drill, I just change the priority. (Remember to save your changes as you do this.) 
• The organization is strange for both regular and Universal registering. I really wish they had a drag-and-drop, although I don't think traditional registries do this. But I want to change and arrange my registry like I do my Netflix. Amazon will add things as you add them. This means that if I add a balloon whisk, and then a day or two or a week later I add the flat whisk, they will be listed apart. If I want my whisks to show up together, I should delete the balloon whisk, then re-add it, and then add my flat whisk. Amazon will also add your Universal items as you add them. So yes, when we decided we wanted to register for additional sushi plates, I deleted the first one, and then added them all at the same time so they would be in a nice orderly row. If you are anal-retentive, this lack of symmetry will bother you, and you will end up doing this too.
• Product Categorization isn't uniform: Amazon, not you, determines the product category. So even if I add them at the same time, my 10-inch cast iron skillet is listed in Other Kitchen, but my 8-inch cast iron skillet is in Sporting Goods. My medium and large cookie scoops are in Kitchen, but my small one is in Other Kitchen. I have no idea why they're different and I can't change it.

T

The offending skillet in the sporting goods section

• The one long page of Amazon's registry is really nice; I don't need to scroll through multiple pages. In addition, it separates out my Amazon items into departments. Universal items are lumped together. You cannot change the default view from this and save it. You can temporarily arrange items to show by price or priority (which will include the Universal registers in the appropriate division) but you cannot save this. On your or your guests' next viewing it will show up again as the default.
• The Guest/visitor view is a nice addition as well. I can see how my registry appears to a visitor. This shows how a guest views the registry, all cleaned up of empty categories. 
• Amazon has a Shop This Store versus Buying Elsewhere feature. Amazon allows guests to 'reserve' purchases of items, in case they prefer offline shopping or hopefully find it cheaper elsewhere. We have not yet put this into practice, but I like the in theory concept of it. However, for Universal items, before viewing the item on its outside host website it asks you to confirm a reservation for purchase - I suppose the logic is that people would buy an item and then forget to mark it as purchased, leading to duplicates or confusion. But I don't know how you un-reserve an item if, for instance, someone wants to look at our tools and so reserves them on our registry for purchase, but then decides that with shipping it's too much. I'd assume there's a cancel feature in their confirmation email, but it's not addressed in the FAQ and I'm curious.

 Nice feature, but could get tricky if guests later change their mind or can't find in-store availability

• No completion discount: This is only really pertinent if you compare Amazon to a traditional registry. As a Universal registry, of course they can't offer this, and it doesn't make sense. But we opted to create small in-store registries when we found ourselves registering for 10 items at one store, rather than adding to them to our Universal, in order to take advantage of a traditional completion discount. For non-Universal items, it would be awesome if Amazon offered me say even 5% completion on items registered for and not purchased through Amazon, but I don't see this happening.
• Know your guests! We chose Amazon because our wedding is mostly peers and colleagues, as we both have small families and most are familiar with the internet and online shopping. We liked it because we can do massive online research to find the best products at the best deals and then add them - all without turning off the game or getting out of our pajamas or needing to find time when the store wouldn't be crowded. We haven't picked up a scan gun yet, and I don't think we'll miss it. For most of our guestlist, Free Super Saver Shipping is already a way of life, and so we hope there's ease for them as well. Amazon has great prices for most items, but be aware that you or more importantly your guests may be able to get a better deal on some items with sales or coupons elsewhere. And not everyone is on-board with online shopping, or they may just prefer to shop in physical stores. Expect this and be prepared for backlash if you have relatives or friends like this. This was also a factor in setting up a small in-store registry.

Next time I'll have Em do all of my reviews.  Seriously, home girl is THOROUGH. Must be all that grad school.

If you registered, did you have a registry flop?  What was your most popular registry?

House Mountain Inn

When you're running late to a wedding, have sweat droplets up the whazoo, and have a hair flower to show off, what do you do?  Demand your equally sweaty, late husband take pictures of you hanging off the golf cart transportation, of course!  In my head, this pictures was much cuter, something out of a Bing Crosby 40s musical with me regally holding on to the cart with one hand while looking fresh and expectant.  I'll blame this one on the fact that Mr. Palindrome was only about 12" away from me on the cart.

We were running late because we had driven to Lexington, VA that very afternoon and needed to stop at our hotel to change prior to the wedding.  Then we needed to drive from the hotel to the House Mountain Inn for the wedding itself.  The drive was oh-so-worth-it, if for no other reason than the breathtaking views of the blue ridge mountains.

I considered a purpose or theme for this post, but I really just wanted an excuse to show off my cute hair flower that I bought on impulse as I was shopping for groceries at Target, brag on my handsome husband, and give a quick nod to the House Mountain Inn as a lovely wedding location.  Done, done and done.

And for a funny, I'll give you three guesses as to what I was trying draw with my sparkler (and yes, this is the best picture of my 5 tries).

Norfolk/Hampton Roads Vendor Reviews

Blue Steel Pro Lighting - Recommended
http://www.bluesteelprolighting.com/
bluesteelprolighting@gmail.com


Lighting seemed like one of those frou-frou unnecessary expenses to me, until Pavaune showed me pictures of the differences between unlit rooms and uplit rooms.  Pavaune found Blue Steel through recommendations from some of our other vendors and handled all of the contract negotiations.  My mom really loved the idea of a personalized gobo (seen during the father daughter dance in the picture below), so we ordered that and the amber uplighting seen in the dance picture below. 

Distinctive Designs Bridal - Recommended
http://www.ddbridal.com/


Previously discussed here.

Distinctive Event Rentals - Recommended
http://www.distinctiveeventrentals.com/
757-420-7000


Holy rental order, Batman!  I would never have chosen to have the reception at the Harrison Opera House if I were planning the wedding by myself.  The rental is what they call a four walls rental where you end up needing to rent every stick of furniture, dish, spoon, stage, dance floor, etc.  Pavaune took the lead on setting up the rental and the only work I did on this part was Oking the order and previewing the set up at Distinctive Event Rentals show room in Chesapeake.  We rented tables, chairs, napkins, china, glasses, barware, coffee mugs, forks, knives, spoons, salt & pepper shakers, sugar bowls, creamers, the white dance floor, and band stage.  Pavaune also oversaw all of the set-up and tear-down which was tricky over the holiday weekend as we tried to avoid paying extra fees.  Thankfully, no other events were booked at the venue and everything could be delivered on the Wednesday prior to the wedding.

East Beach Catering - Highly Recommended
http://www.eastbeachcateringandeventplanning.com/ 
757-480-3003


Ever since our tasting with East Beach, we were looking forward to eating Kathy's delicious cooking again.  Kathy worked with us to provide family style service which I think turned out awesome (the best of buffet and sit down service combined!).  I stuffed myself.  My bridesmaids kept handing me small plates, Kathy set up plates in a bridal party lounge area, and I served myself from the table until I thought my dress was going to bust at the seams.  I heard nothing but compliments across the board on how good the food tasted.  I don't really remember what we got for appetizers.  Those fried asian rolls in the picture below were scrumptious (along with the dipping sauce).  We had 3 passed appetizers and then a gorgeous display of crudite and cheeses with a few other apps.  Kathy's team plated salads prior to our arrival (spinach, gorganzola, spiced walnuts and cranberries with a warm dressing).  Then servers brought out platters of beef tenderloin, baked tilapia with crab, loaded baked potatoes, and roasted veggies.  One of our groomsmen who has previously insisted that he doesn't like fish, ate two pieces of tilapia and declared himself a convert!  Kathy was really great to work with and had lots of firsthand wedding experience with her two children also marrying in the past year.  She gave us the inside scoop on local vendors and was super flexible with our requests.  Oh, and she didn't charge us a cake cutting fee!  Nice!

eInvite.com - Recommended
www.eInvite.com

Previously discussed here, here and here.

Golden Limousine - Recommended
http://www.goldenlimousineva.com/ 

Vintage cars, trolleys and horse drawn carriages would have all been fun, but we wanted to transport our 22 person bridal party on a scraped together budget.  Hello stretch hummer!  Golden Limousine arrived on time, the driver was very courteous, and Pavaune was able to use it during the reception to haul all the gifts back to the hotel.  Function over form, in this case, was ideal.

Greg Weaver Jazz - Highly Recommended
http://www.myspace.com/gwjazz


Previously discussed here.

Harrison Opera House - Highly Recommended
http://www.vaopera.org/html/venues/norfolk.cfm

After the venue search from h-e-double hockey sticks,  I couldn't have been more pleased with how things turned out at the Opera House.  The proximity to the church and hotel was ideal.  The spaces lent themselves to the vintage feel and my oft dreamed of long tables.  After a slow communications start on the rental, we had a super positive experience.  Roberta, our contact who was also present during set-up and the event, was super helpful and professional.  She has a lot of experience with events in the space and worked well with Pavaune.  The venue has it's own parking lot which was free to our guests (amazing for a downtown space). Oh, and the bathrooms were spacious and plentiful (important when needing a space to re-install bustles, re-apply make-up and conduct other such womanly business).

{invited} Event Design & Production - Highly Recommended
http://www.invitedeventdesign.com

Previously discussed here.

Laurie Pierce (Ceremony Musician, Violinist) - Highly Recommended
PM me for contact information

Laurie has played the violin for 12 years and gives lessons locally. She met with me over an hour discussing music options, playing sample pieces for me and planning the flow for the ceremony.  She was on time, courteous, sweet, affordable, flexible (learning a new accompaniment for our vocalists) and an overall joy.

Our other musician and vocalists were family and friends.  Mr. Palindrome's cousin lives in northern NJ and can be contacted through us.  My friends, the vocalists, live in Boston and can also be contacted through us.  Read more about it here.

Mariko Photo - Highly Recommended
http://marikophoto.com/

Read more about my fun bridal portraits here.

Marriott Hotels - Recommended
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/orfws-norfolk-waterside-marriott/

My in-laws planned a beautiful rehearsal dinner in the piano lounge.  The space was great, perfect for the couch and chairs set up with food stations.  The food was very, very good and they let my in-laws bring their own wine to serve.  My parents rented a hospitality suite attached to their room and it was perfect for getting ready the next day (the ladies had their hair and makeup done), storing decorations/presents on the wedding night, and hosting out of town family/friends for visits.  My in-laws rented the presidential suite where they entertained friends/family and hosted an after party.  Mr. Palindrome and I spent our wedding night in a beautiful room overlooking the water and enjoyed a tasty room service breakfast the next day.  The bell men were amazing helping us get our 4 carts of stuff hauled away the day after the wedding.  The only hiccup was delivering the OOT bags as the hotel was at capacity and they had few hands on deck to perform the task.  Well, there was another hiccup, but not on the part of the hotel.  My dad saw everyone eating small plates from the stations and thought we were being really foolish by stuffing ourselves with appetizers.  He assumed dinner was still forthcoming and didn't realize his error until they had taken away everything but the desserts.  Hahahahahahahaha.  He still gets a bit jealous whenever we mention how good the food was at the rehearsal dinner.

Maya Couture (Dress Alterations) - Highly Recommended
http://www.mayacouture.com/contact.html


Read more about my experience here and here.

Sam Hughes Photography - Can't Recommend Highly Enough
www.samhughesphotography.com

You've seen his handiwork across my recaps and I describe our working relationship with him here.  I can't emphasize enough how calm Sam was and how that really served to keep Mr. Palindrome and I calm as well.  Besides that, I've got beautiful photographs to boot.  Check out some of moments he captured of our guests that I like to call "Sweetheart Moments."

Save the Date Magnet.com - Recommended
http://www.savethedatemagnet.com/

Discussed previously here.

Sheila Rait (Cake) - Can't Recommend Highly Enough
Contact through No Frills Bar and Grill

I talk a lot about my cakes here.  My mouth is watering looking at this pic.  Next time I'm in Norfolk, I'm getting slice!

The Gentlemen and Their Lady - Highly Recommended
Booked through East Coast Entertainment
Discussed in detail here, here, and here.

Trinity Presbyterian Church - Highly Recommended
http://www.trinitynorfolk.com/home.html

We were members of Trinity Pres in downtown Norfolk, so it was very meaningful for us to be married there.  The rental was free for members and then we paid for a staff member/wedding coordinator to open/lock the doors and oversee set up and clean up.  We also had to pay a nominal fee for the sound technician. The do rent to non-members and they have a small fellowship hall on the premise as well.  When I was on a "I hate all wedding planning" kick, I considered hosting a small reception in the fellowship hall with champagne and crepes from Baker's Crust (right around the corner from the church).  If you do this, please invite me.  Those crepes are yummy in my tummy.

Wed Safe - Recommended
http://www.wedsafe.com/wedding-insurance/wedding-liability-insurance/

I actually had nothing to do with procuring the liability insurance for our wedding.  The Harrison Opera House required that we have it.  My mom and Pavaune compared the price of putting a rider on my parent's insurance vs. buying it separate and they concluded by signing a contract with Wed Safe.  Thank goodness we didn't end up needing it! (Surprising, because a lot of people went all out on the dance floor!)

Anyreview, I'm quite happy to talk shop about weddings in Norfolk (or in general), so please feel free to ask any questions you may have!  Love to my fellow brides in the 757!

*All photos by the wonderful Sam Hughes

MiniMoon for VA Lovers

The only downside of a minimoon is painfully obvious, it's mini.  Though I love many a mini thing - travel size toiletries, personal sized airplane food, bite size snacks, doll houses, baby clothes, etc - I definitely wished our minimoon could have been extended to a full one month honeymoon.  Ah, to be in the olden days where a month was the norm (without the hunting/gathering and other such worries that came along with it)!

Since Virginia is for Lovers, we decided to extend our stay past the wedding weekend.  I knew that I wanted to explore more of Charlottesville with Mr. Palindrome ever since visiting the town for a girls weekend wine tasting trip.  Much like the Sprinkles, we opted for a B&B in Charlottesville.  I couldn't convince Mr. Palindrome about the pig sanctuary though (gah, I love animals and really, really wanted to pet those pigs!), so we booked two nights at the Dinsmore House Inn. 

The Inn is situated of of Main St. where it turns into University, right near the UVA campus.  When booking, I liked the fact that the house had some historical significance with ties to Monticello.  We were supposed to stay in the lovely Virginia Room, but upon arrival we were upgraded to the Dinsmore Room.

 

 

 All Sourced from Dinsmore House Inn

Check out the beautiful four post bed and the fireplace!  It was the perfect respite after spending the previous week on a combination of air mattresses, couch pillows, and various other hotel rooms.  Breakfast was definitely a highlight of the trip for me - breakfast is my favorite meal and such a treat to have someone else making it!

Leave it to us to get married and minimoon during the worst cold snap of the season.  We only ventured from our cozy room  one afternoon with the intention of wine tasting. We decided to check out the Jefferson Vineyards and potentially walk around Monticello since Mr. Palindrome hadn't seen it before.

Source

The wine was tasty (our favorites were the 2008 Viognier and the 2006 Meritage) and our wine flight attendent (is that a title?) was helpful with descriptions and dinner recommendations.    Even after a little wine, as soon as the cold air hit us walking to the car, we knew we wouldn't enjoy more exposure to the elements at Monticello so we decided to head to another winery, the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyards.

Source

The wine was fine, but the most memorable part was the open/airy tasting room.  (Actually, the most memorable thing was the inn keeper giving us the sordid backstory of affairs, Parisian feather girls, and divorce settlements.) We called it a day and headed back to the Dinsmore after an admittedly pathetic attempt to "do something."  But it was our minimoon and all we really wanted was a nap in our toasty room!  This is also the attitude that led us to having no pictures of ourselves on the minimoon.  Neither of us could bear smiling for the camera anymore, so we ditched our point and shoot in favor of another nap.  We were much more exhausted than we thought and ended up spending most of the 48 hours in various stages of unconsciousness.  It was perfect.

Do you have any low key minimoon destinations to share?