Wedding Highlight Video!

We received our wedding video not too long after we got home for our honeymoon and I can't believe I once debated not having a videographer at our wedding! 

Media Northeast  did such a great job not only making a great video for us but making us feel comfortable in front of the camera, I hardly even noticed them nor did most of my guests!

Here's a quick highlight clip, it brings a huge smile to my face!!! At around .51 you can hear my husbands insane Boston accent. For inquiring minds, I DO NOT have one! :) 

Frances & Eddie Highlight from Josh Swan on Vimeo.

Italy Honeymoon Part 1: Florence

The day after our wedding we had a 5:30 pm flight to Italy! 

We had an easy overnight flight arriving in Florence in the early AM, we were still riding the wedding high at this point!

Bright eyed and bushy tailed landing in Florence!

We got to our hotel the Best Western, and were pleasantly surprised to have a beautiful patio. Our hotel room was HUGE for European standards! The location couldn't have been any more easily accessible too. We were a quick walk away from the train station.

After scoping out the hotel room and taking in a quick nap we headed to the hotel bar for our welcome drinks. We had such a great view overlooking the Duomo which is the dome shaped cathedral pictured.

The first night out in Florence was a short lived one, we had a delish early dinner then were ready to get some much needed SLEEP. We were so exhausted from the wedding and traveling! Plus we had a tour booked for the following day that we had to meet for at 8 am!

We booked a Tuscany in a day tour through Viator, which I would highly recommend.

First stop on the tour was Sienna. It was a lovely little city, but it was a bit chilly and overcast which made walking around hard to enjoy.

Second stop: Organic lunch at a farm in Chianti. We had a food and wine paring, and it was DELISHHHH! We sat at communal style tables and it was really nice to be able to get to know some of the other people on the tour!

Eddie's favorite was the dessert wine, no surprises there, he loves anything SWEET!

Go ahead indulge with that almond biscotti husband!

The sun finally decided to come out and we were LOVING this view! 

3rd stop: San Gimignano. I loved it here with its beautiful stone walls around the city.  The city was filled with cute little gift shops and restaurants, as well as a few torture museums!

World Champion Gelato, well duh we had to try it!

The last stop was Pisa where we saw the leaning tower!

then loaded up on some more wine before our drive back to Florence!

Our last day in Florence we walked around the city aimlessly, the weather was finally warming up and we were finally on "Italy time"!

For me 2 nights in Florence was NOT enough! Unlike how much I heard about the gypsies and theft that went on in this city I didn't experience it nor did I see it around me. I felt so safe and was just in awe of how beautiful everything was. 

We made the most we could out of Florence in our short time then were off on the fast train to Rome... 

Prettifying: Wedding Day Prep!

Saturday June 9th started nice and early. I woke up next to my maid of honor Collette, I swear she seemed just as excited as I was. It was like 6 am and there was no more sleeping to be had by us! Especially waking up to the above picture, I wanted to get in that Jim Hjelm dress SO bad!

We rallied the troops and took a quick spin to Dunkin Donuts. We made it back in time for our hair and makeup team that arrived at 8:30 on the dot, as planned!

We gave ourselves PLENTY of time to get ready that morning, and I would highly suggest doing so. Not one hairstyle or makeup application had to be rushed!

Hanna from Primp at Tiffany's worked on our hair. She did an amazing job, totally listened to each girls thoughts on their hair and whipped up something beautiful, so effortlessly.. why couldn't I have been blessed with the talent to do my own hair! 

For makeup we had Karla Patricia Makeup, as I mentioned in my makeup trial post, I was SO impressed with her professionalism and talent! 

She specializes in Airbrush, which I highly recommend! 

Maid of Honor getting pretty!

My mom!

My turn!

I loved that I had so many visitors throughout the day it really helped calm my nerves! I was so thankful my friends popped in to say hello! 

Seattle friend Kendra fresh off the plane!

another Seattle friend Bunny joining the party.

Catching the first glimpse of my makeup! It was starting to get REAL.

Before I knew it I as up for hair, the very last detail! I tried to get some champagne down, but I legit could not drink much at all! I do love my booze and thought for sure I could drink a mimosa or two pre-wedding but it was not happening! 

Why can't I wear a Veil every day?! ok maybe not EVERY day but I would love to wear one another time in my life! They are just so beautiful! 

Nicole from Blooms of Hope arrived with our flowers, I almost dyed when I saw them. She took my vision and made it 100x better than I could've ever expected. Going into the wedding planning process I totally had flowers on low priority. I'm thankful I stepped it up upon finding Blooms of Hope!

Bridesmaid bouquets, Peonies, O'Hara Roses and Dusty Millers wrapped together with material from my dress.

Bridal Bouquet same as the bridesmaids with the addition of one of my favorite flowers, Football Mums!

Wrapped in an embroidered hanky

Once the flowers were delivered we needed to finalize the "first look spot" initially it was going to be at a nearby park but after hearing of several road blocks due to a parade I decided against it so we needed to find a place at the hotel!

While my man was putting the finishing touches on his wedding day look I had a special delivery brought up to me. 

That letter totally got the emotions FLOWING. My "fiance" blew me away with his words. 

After a close call with tears and my makeup, we had one last toast before I was able to step into my dress! 

My lovely ladies wearing Jim Hjelm Occasions in Raspberry!

All of my work paid off the dress slid on with ease! :)

Almost forgot the Garter!

Then lastly the shoes!!!

I spotted my love outside and I was SO ready to hug and kiss him. 

I caught one last moment alone w/ my photographer, Katie Hall, who was AMAZING the whole day but especially with these last few moments we had alone together!

Thankful: Thanking our wedding party

Finding the perfect gifts for our wedding party was such a fun wedding task!

As I mentioned in my prior post, my mom and I went to the rehearsal dinner venue that morning and decorated, we also dropped off the gifts. I used them as place cards for our guests so they would know where to sit. 

For the Guys:

Vineyard Vines Red Sox & Patriots ties

My brother threw his on right away! Look how handsome :)

For the ladies:

I got them each a canvas tote from Wedding Chicks, I filled it with.. 

Kate Spade earrings - which they all wore on the wedding day!

Cute flippys which I HAD to buy. I got them at Marshall's and they had the exact number I needed in the EXACT sizes.. talk about fate!

I also added this travel brush set from Sephora, the ones I bought were bright pink! I included this because I wanted to tie in that I was treating them to their makeup on the wedding day!

I added this pink lightweight bathrobe from Old Navy... when I purchased these I had this thought in my mind of the cute bridesmaid shot with all the girls in them... my girls did not disappoint, look how beautiful they look!

And before the rehearsal I treated them to a little nail pampering. This was a really fun way to spend some time with my ladies prior to getting hitched!

Please disregard the intense spray tan, I scrubbed and scrubbed at this the morning of the wedding to get myself a few shades lighter!!

For the flower girls:

I also bought them totes from Wedding Chicks I added some flower clips I found at Forever 21 which they ended up also wearing on the wedding day.

I added these cute sticker paper doll books I found on Amazon as well as a Disney Brides coloring book w/ crayons. I believe these were a hit with my little lovies. 

How presh is my flower girl Nina, she melts my heart!

I also found this adorable pearl necklace and bracelet set from this Etsy seller. The girls are sporting them in this picture

Our parents were a tricky one, I mean what could you possibly give them to thank them for all that they have done! Once I got it out of my head that it was impossible to put a monetary gift to that I was good. 

We decided on gifting them with pictures from our engagement shoot. 

For Eddie's parents we gave them a canvas print of this shot, it was taken on their pond so I thought it was fitting!

For my parents we used this shot and had it put on a piece of wood through Photo Barn, I loved this concept!

I bought my dad these cufflinks, because frankly I could not resist! He is a talented self taught guitar player and hearing his music fill the house is one of favorite memories of growing up. 

I am pretty sure everyone loved their gifts!! I know I loved watching them all being opened!