As I hinted in my previous blog, Mr. Butterfly and I have been researching hotels for several weeks now.  We first wanted to have our hotel close to our OOT guests’ hotels, just in case something happened.  But it turns out that we only booked 3 rooms total because everyone is staying with relatives, friends, and cheaper hotels.  So this freed us up to choose a hotel anywhere in Manhattan.  Well, anywhere within reasonable distance from the venue.

Anyway, I know I haven’t ranked my vendors in awhile, so I thought I would rank some of the hotels that we checked out.

Affinia Dumont

Pros:  The people who took our reservations were perfectly nice and polite.  It is a very clean hotel with all of the amenities of a luxury hotel.  Priced very reasonably compared to other hotels around the city. 

Cons:  This hotel is not creme-de-la-creme by any means (its not the Ritz). 

Overall Rating:  B+

W New York – Times Square

Pros:  The customer service people are SO nice.  If you are an American Express Platinum member, you can take advantage of their guaranteed noon check in and guaranteed 4pm check out times.  This comes in handy since on your wedding day, you will want to check in early to get ready and leave late the next day. 

Cons:  The suites are a bit smaller than your average one bedroom apartment (~520 square feet).  Located in Times Square, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your plans for the day.

Overall Rating:  A

Trump International Hotel & Tower

Pros:  Overlooks Central Park.  Has great amenities such as overnight laundry, 24 room service by Jean-Georges, babysitting services, etc.  Definitely luxurious.  AmEx holders get $100 spa credit and free breakfast.

Cons:  Will not guarantee any early check in no matter what VIP program.  You could try to check in early at noon, but end up waiting until 4pm for a room.  Not great at all if you are trying to schedule your wedding day because nothing is gauranteed.  Reservation manager was polite but completely inflexible (i.e. they could not care less that its your wedding day). 

Overall Rating:  B/B- (I’m probably being a bit harsh, but I can’t stand vendors who refuse to negotiate).

We ended up booking the W hotel.  Why?  Because even though it is in the middle of Times Square, I would rather pick a vendor who is accomodating.  I honestly feel that the reason I’ve had such a smooth planning process is because I absolutely refused to deal with vendors who did not have great customer service.  There have been several times when vendors were hard to get in touch with, forgetful and just plain mean.  No matter how great their service may have been, I did not feel that they cared about my wedding and in the end, all I want is for them to care and be considerate.  If not, I say chuck them and get someone new!! (I’m so mean~)

I think with all of the things going on with the wedding, Mr. Butterfly and I have gotten dumber.  We apparently take days to come up with such a simple solution to all of our problems!

Example 1
For his parents friends who are not coming to the wedding, but needs an invitation anyway, we decided to give out just the invitation mounted on a backing layer.  I had only 4 backing layers left, so we mounted them and put them aside for later.  Then I realized we needed to send out 4 more invitations for our B-List guests.  I went to Kate’s Paperie, but alas, they did not have any more backing layers left.  I decided to just mount the invitation layer onto the actual pocketfold without a backing layer.  I also bought extra backing layers in a different color, which did not match the pocketfolds for more extra “courtesy” invitations.

Mr. Butterfly and I were discussing how this new invitation would look and whether or not it was the best solution.  It took us two days, but we finally realized that we could use the original courtesy invitations to send out to our B-List guests, and then use the different color backing layers for the courtesy invites.  Duh~.  I can’t believe it took us two days to figure out something so simple.

Example 2
We have been looking at hotels for the night before and the night of the wedding.  I really wanted Mr. Butterfly and all the men to change in a different room than mine, so we agreed to get 2 separate rooms.  A suite for Friday and Saturday night for me, and a regular room for Saturday for the men.  After looking at over 6 different mediocre hotels, we finally realized that Mr. Butterfly could take advantage of his AmEx Platinum card membership.  With the membership, we get a late checkout, a guaranteed noon checkin, and a free upgrade if available.

After several weeks of trying to sort this out, we now have a regular room for me on Friday night, a suite for me to switch to on Saturday, while the boys stay in the regular room to change.   Again, duh~.  I can’t believe it took us this long.

Seriously, I think wedding planning is turning my brain into mush.  If this keeps up, I won’t be able to repeat my vows back to the officiant on my wedding day!!

When I got engaged, one of the first things I panicked about was my weight.  I’ve always been very skinny, but in the last few years (i.e. after college), I gained a looooot of weight.  I’m talking 25+ pounds. 

As you readers may know, I signed up with a trainer from the Buff Brides program.  Julian (my trainer) worked my butt all the way until the last session.  It was not easy.  I was sore, I complained, I flat-out refused to do certain exercises, and I even walked out on him out of frustration.  But through it all, he guided me and I can proudly say now that I feel really good about the way I look now.  I lost body fat, I toned up a lot, I gained muscle and energy, and I lost many, many inches.

Of course, I don’t look like I did in college (oh, the good old glory days!!) but I look much better than I did before.

Here is a picture of me from this May (about 6 weeks after I started my training sessions):

This is me this past weekend.

Hopefully, with my continued working out (about twice a week) with eating right (which I have been for the past 6 months), and acupuncture I will be able to lose even more weight.  My new goal?  10 more pounds before the wedding date!

I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but I hurt my left foot a while back.  Even though its a lot better now, my friend (who is an acupuncturist) said I should give it a try.  Last night, I went to my very first acupuncture session.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  I was a bit nervous about all these needles sticking out of me, but honestly, after the initial prick, you can’t feel them at all!

So my friend and I were talking as she was poking me with needles, and I just happened to ask if you can lose weight via acupuncture.  She said that she has had clients who are currently using this method and that it is successful!  Of course, you still have to eat healthy and exercise (as with any other weight-loss program), but acupuncture will give you more energy, speed up your metabolism and tone up your abdominal muscles.

I have now signed up for 4 more treatments of acupuncture for my foot, knee and weight loss.  Also, a few needles will be used for stress.  She also gave me a ground up seed for my sleeping problem.  I woke up this morning feeling completely refreshed in a long time! 

I will definitely be posting in the future about the results, so stay tuned!

I just scheduled my facial for October 14.  Yay! 

For my birthday this year, my girls got me a $300 gift certificate to Bliss Spa.  I’ve been saving it until now because I really wanted to get a high quality facial right before the wedding.  They recommend that you get your facials done at least two weeks before the wedding date, but I’m getting mine done way before then – just in case I have a bad reaction.

Bliss has a great customer service sector.  The employees not only take appointments for all NYC locations, but also recommends certain treatments based on your skin type and what you want to accomplish.  My person recommended that I get the Steep Facial.

steep clean™

The ultimate in deep-cleansing, Steep Clean combines microdermabrasion with an oxygen wrap, 30-45 minutes of deep pore purging, massage, an arnica based calming mask, and a targeted Task Mask to keep breakouts at bay. Recommended twice yearly, or more often for ‘problem’ skin types. The faint of pore need not apply. 105 min

$280

I’m uber excited now.  I love facials!!  But in case the steep clean is not recommended for my skin type, I will be getting the Fully-Loaded Facial.

fully loaded facial™

Goes from The neck up… and Then totally over The top! This luxury facial includes deep cleansing, a fruit acid wash, an oxygen wrap, extractions, activating massage with essential oil balm, and age-fighting collagen ampoule, skin-type specific seaweed mask, head, neck, shoulder, arm, and foot massage, a hydrating Hair Dew treatment, and to finish, an O2 blast. 100 min

$195

Oh, October 14th.  Why are you so far away~~?

As much as I hate to use the phrase “B-List Guests,” I think its inevitable that we all have them.  Its completely unavoidable if you have parents who want to send out invitations just in case they wanted to come – mostly to be polite and to announce to them that I was getting married.  I gave my mom 24 “seats” and only 10 are coming – maybe 9.  So now my guest count is all off and I’m barely making my 85 minimum guarantee. 

Like I said, a B-List is inevitable sometimes.

My problem is not so much that I have B-List guests, but that I only ordered 60 full invitations.  I have extras of just the invitation layer, but I’m out of the backing layers and pocketfolds.  Tonight, after work, I will be at Kate’s Paperie looking for these items, or I will be stuck sending out the incomplete versions –  just the invitations and the RSVP card with tissue paper.

Tip 1:  Order much more invitations than you think you need. 

Speaking of RSVP cards…

I feel bad about inviting the B-List people because my reply card says respond by October 1, which is this Sunday.  Any person would be able to figure out that they were on the B-List.  I’m racking my brain to see if there is a tactful way to give these people their invitations while letting them know that they are “second-choice”.  I can just imagine:  “Hi, here are your invites.  Sorry that they are late, but we didn’t think we would be inviting you.” 

Had I known that I was going to end up with B-List guests, I would have had some reply cards printed with a later date. 

Tip 2:  If you expect to have a B-List, I would highly suggest getting two sets of reply cards, one set with a slightly later due date.

Are you having any B-List people at your wedding?  If so, how did you end up inviting them?

I don’t know if I’m really going to call it “The Story of Us” but it seems like a good starting point.  Now that my menus are done, the otherside of the tented cards will be a short timeline. 

We originally wanted to write a personal story about how we met, or how our relationship progressed, or something to that effect.  However, as I was attempting to write our story, I discovered that I suck at writing stories.  Mr. Butterfly, on the other hand, is great at them.  Unfortunately, we honestly could not think of any story to tell.  So we agreed on the timeline idea.

I don’t have any of the pictures yet, but this is the general idea.

{baby picture of Mr. Butterfly}
5/xx/197x
Mr. Butterfly is born

{baby picture of Ms. Butterfly}
6/xx/197x
Ms. Butterfly is born

{picture of Mr. and Ms. Butterfly together}
3/xx/2003
Mr. and Ms. Butterfly meet

{picture of my engagement ring}
2/3/2006
Mr. Butterfly proposes!!  Ms. Butterfly says Yes!

{image of wedding bells or wedding rings}
11/xx/2006
Mr. and Ms. Butterfly tie the knot!

Mr. and Mrs. Butterfly’s honeymoon destination:  3 nights in Puerto Rico at the Ritz, and 4 nights in Cap Juluca in Anguilla. 

I don’t know if I will have room for the honeymoon destination, but I thought it might be cute to put it in there because everyone will be asking anyway.  What do you think?

Between programs, menus, personal story, and table escort cards, I found menus to be the easiest to do.  Why?  My venue already provided the descriptions of the food, and Adrienne from Custom-Programs designed the rest! 

Here is what I am serving and what my menu looks like.  Imagine that it would be on one side of a tent card, where the menu itself is ecru cardstock and the backing is the same orange color that I used in my invitations.

<image here>

Now all I have to do is find an image of a cow and a fish that I like to put on top of the entrees.  Thank you to those who sent me links for images already!!  I’m still trying to decide which ones I like.  Some of the pictures look too cute for it to be appetizing.

Doesn’t the food sound absolutely delicious?  I had both dishes and the salad at my tasting, and I was so amazed at the quality of the food.  Everyone tells me that the food at the wedding is never as good as it is at the tasting.  But I think mine will be just as good, because they only brought out the dishes that were being served that night for a different wedding. 

On top of what I am serving here, I am also getting 2 vegan plates prepared that serves pasta with vegan pesto sauce and fresh vegetables. 

Finally, as a final touch which is not listed on my menu, I am having to-go cups of hot chocolate with some cookies served to guests as they are leaving.  My wedding is in November, and I am sure it will be cold.  This way, the guests will have something warm to drink on their way home, and its something unique!

I’m so hungry now!

 I suck at putting on makeup.  I can barely put on foundation, let alone do contours, shadowing and blending.  But, this weekend Ms. Snail did my makeup trial for the wedding, and she also taught me the basics of applying makeup. 

This is what she brought to the bachelorette weekend.  And this is not everything she owns!!! 

Before

During

After – it came out a bit orange because of the lighting outside, not because of what she put on me.

6 to 8 hours later

Mrs. Bee took extensive notes as I was getting my makeup done.  I couldn’t believe how much she put on me, and yet, it looks as if I barely have any on.  Isn’t Ms. Snail so talented??  I am so lucky to have her as my makeup artist!!!

 I should be working….but I can’t help myself!  I must update with the weekend’s festivities!

Friday night, I met up with Mrs. Bee at her place to eat dinner.  Then off to my MOH’s place to meet up with my bridesmaids.  We got to Avalon, NJ (where we were staying) a little after midnight.

The rest of the girls showed up around 1am with mountains of food and liquor.  We drank a little, but most importantly, I got to open my presents!!!  There were more than what I posted below.  The raunchy ones have been left out to protect the innocent (me!!!)

Please ignore the fact that I am in my Tinkerbell pajamas.

They all stayed up talking, but I was the first man down at 3:45am. 

The next day, we had brunch, then headed over to the beach.

Live clams that we stuffed into a bottle.

We then had our makeups done by the very talented Ms. Snail (a separate post to come…)

All the girls dressed up with me in the middle.  I’m wearing my bachelorette crown which caused a lot of stares in AC.  I didn’t think it was THAT raunchy…

We headed off to AC and gambled a bit.  I ended up losing $100 but I had fun nonetheless. 

Me and Mrs. Bee


7 glowing red rings for all of us


7 shots of….something.

We got back to our hotel around 3 or 4am, and played Taboo until the sun came up.  

Phew!!!  What a weekend!!  Thanks to everyone who made this weekend very special!