I can’t believe this, but there are only 25 days to go until our wedding day is here! I would like to start this blog post out by thanking my family and friends for being so supportive, loving and here for us every step of the way as we plan our wedding! My parents and Jason’s Mom have been so wonderful. Sharing in their excitement has been a truly humbling and warming experience for us – Jason and I are blown away by their love everyday! I can’t speak for Jason, but my friends are so special. From planning my bachelorette party and whisking me to Atlantic City, to coming with me to my dress fitting, and just being there every step of the way listening to me and helping me make important decisions. Okay, enough with the gushing and time to fill y’all in on how the wedding plans have been going and what I have been doing!

My fabulous bridesmaids and friends planned a wonderful bachelorette party for me. I had so much fun getting in my girl time, eating yummy food and dancing the night away. We got so lucky and had great weather the weekend we went down the shore! My girlfriend Shari picked me up the morning of my bachelorette party, and down the shore we went. She has been such a rock for me with all of the wedding planning and I love that see each other every Monday night at pilates! We laid out on the beach, got some sun and relaxed with our friend Karen. Karen made a beautiful spread (like always) and we partied in the hotel room with the rest of the ladies for a few hours before heading out on the town. We had so much fun just laughing, getting dressed and catching up with each other. Then off we went to dinner at Los Caminos at Harrah’s! Despite another bachelorette party stealing our reservations, we had the BEST time! My Mom and her boyfriend Michael sent us up a bottle of my favorite champagne. When I saw Michael walking towards me I was surprised to say the least!  Due to the hour long wait, we were treated to some delish strawberry margaritas, as seen in the photo below. The food was amazing! It is possible that the food at Los Caminos might be the best Mexican food we had ever had! From the guacamole to the brisket empanadas, the best black beans ever, fish tacos (my all time fav!) and the yummy sangria, all of us really enjoyed ourselves!

My girls and I at Los Caminos in Atlantic City for my bachelorette party!

After dinner we were off to The Foundation Room at Showboat where my girlfriend Nikki hooked it up! We had a table on the deck overlooking the ocean and danced the night away! I had the most wonderful time and would not have wanted the night to have gone down any other way! I would also like to make a special shout out to my college friends for how special they made me feel. My college roommate Rachel, known as brown hair Rachel lives in NYC and made the trip down to Atlantic City to celebrate with me. After missing her train, she went back home and drove down to the beach and did not miss a beat! Our other college roommate, Kara could not be in Atlantic City, as she lives in San Diego so she and a few other west coast college friends (Katie and Melissa) made a video with a picture slideshow and video messages for me. Ladies, that video means so much to me and I love you all so much! Lastly, my girlfriend Courtney, who recently gave birth to her daughter Layla a few months ago came down the shore with baby and husband in tow so that she could be apart of my bachelorette weekend and come to dinner!

Well, that takes care of the bachelorette party recap, now onto our engagement pictures! For those of you who are looking for a makeup artist for your wedding, look no further! Ani P. White is a goddess! Not only is Ani the most genuine, special and fun woman in the world, she has a gift with makeup! If the name sounds familiar, it is because Ani recently won Best of Philly ’11 as the “Brow Whisperer” at deme. She is the only person I trust with my brows and makeup! Jason even lets her shape his brows! She is currently in the process of redesigning her website, but as soon as it is up and running, I will link you all to her! We started the day on Sunday at Ani’s studio in Southampton, PA. I brought all of my outfit options and over a glass of wine, Ani helped me decide what I should wear. An hour or so later, my makeup was done and Jason and I were off to the Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ for our engagement photos. With Ani’s help, I felt like the most beautiful girl in the world, ready for my close-up!

Jason and I at the Grounds for Sculpture

At 4:00pm we met with our photographer, Cindy Guessford. To explain Cindy in a few words, she is a kind soul with a sharp eye! Cindy creates what she calls, The Beloved Experience and it is exactly what it sounds like! With her imagery and suggestions, she would create scenes for us, like a director setting up a move scene. She would ask us to think about specific moments in our relationship and then have us share them with one another. To be completely honest, I was not sure how our engagement photo shoot would go. We are not really into cheesy, mushy things, but Sunday was probably the highlight of our engagement and certainly in the top 5 experiences we have ever had together as a couple! Cindy was gracious enough to send us over a few sneak previews so that I could share them with all of you on the blog! The main photo on the home page was from our photo shoot, as well as the photo inset to the left. We are chomping at the bit to get our hands on the rest of the photos on Friday! Thanks again Cindy!

I think we are just about caught up! RSVP’s are still coming in and we are getting more and more excited as each day goes by! I would love to hear about your experiences with planning your wedding! If you have been reading along, is there anything I should be doing as we are under the 1 month count down with 25 days to go? I feel like I might be forgetting a few things, so I would love to hear from all of you experienced wives, brides and brides-t0-be that have been in my shoes!