Step by Step: Cut a Cake and Dance a Dance

Even though we were able to sneak in a see the ballroom before the reception, it was SO exciting to come back in to a room full of guests! It was so fun to be introduced as the new "Mr. and Mrs. Stiletto"!


Because we nixed our head table at the last minute in favor of having everyone sit a different round tables, I had a momentary freak out about where the wedding party would go once entering the ballroom. We were all sitting close to the door we'd enter through, so it would be a rather lackluster grand entrance if people went straight to their seats!

Mr. S had the best idea - everyone lined up behind the cake and waited for us to arrive. Genius!


Note to future brides: your wedding cake may seem very intimidating when you go to cut it. Have your wedding coordinator or someone from catering give you a quick lesson. Even with that, we struggled to get through this sucker. It was too pretty to cut!


Nope, no cake smashing for us! I don't think we would have regardless (I get majorly weirded out about having food on my face in public!), but with a fondant-covered cake, there's no messy frosting to smush.




We played the song "All I Want is You" by Barry Louis Polisar during the cake cutting. It was Mr. S's pick and I wasn't sure how well it would work for this, but it was PERFECT. We had the most fun cake cutting and thanks to Mrs. Taffy, you can check out the fun!



Straight from cake, it was time to dance! Mr. S and I have always liked the weddings where immediately on entering the reception, the bride and groom cut the cake and dance their first dance. Getting it all done off the bat let us get two of those "must do's" checked off the list right away.

We danced to "Right Red Ankle" by The Decemberists. After many song debates between the two of us on out here in the blogosphere, this was definitely the right choice. But, as sweet as it was, 3 1/2 minutes seemed like a lifetime! I struggle having all eyes on me, and I felt like we were SO front and center during the song.


So, while I enjoyed our first dance, I was relieved when the song ended and all eyes could be on someone else for a minute!


*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next Up - some toasts and more dancing!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched
Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park
Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park
Step by Step: Lookin' Sharp - Reception Details

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Step by Step: Lookin' Sharp - Reception Details

Without further adieu, I give your our fabulous, fabulous cake from Sugar Syndicate:



And, I give you my reaction to seeing our cake for the very first time. I was awestruck at how amazing it looked in person, and how it was even better than what I had ever envisioned. Oh, and it tasted as divine as it looked! (Half was chocolate cake with white chocolate peppermint ganache, the other was vanilla cake with mango curd and strawberries...and we get a complimentary mini-tier on our anniversary instead of having to freeze the top layer - counting down the days!)


Remember my escort card project? They turned out great and were a big hit with our guests.




Our granola favors that also incorporated a charitable donation. Purchasing of the granola plus the donation we made helped support programs for at-risk youth. And the granola was super yummy.


And, of course, my DIY menus. If I could do it all again, I would get back the hours I spent on these suckers! But, they looked cute on the tables.


Our table numbers were so popular with our guests - we even had one guest take home the their table's number! This was by far one of my favorite projects and was so super simple.

Since we didn't have a head table, I opted to place my bouquet in a vase as our table's centerpiece instead of the other centerpiece we had arranged, and placed the bridesmaid bouquets in vases on the gift / guestbook table.


Tables all set up...



Some yummy hors d'oeuvres. This was the plate they brought into Mr. S and I while our guests enjoyed cocktail hour. We opted to have some downtime together while everyone else socialized.


Also during the cocktail hour, our ushers manned the Polaroid guestbook. They took pictures of all of the guests and then gave them the opportunity to sign the book. After cocktail hour, it was brought up to the ballroom for guests to write in during the evening.


We left a little note to our guests asking them to write of messages of well wishes and advice.


Our guests definitely had a lot of fun with the guestbook! While not everyone remembered to come back and sign it, we had awesome pictures of everyone. And, later in the night we brought the Polarioid cameras out on the dance floor and took lots of fun pictures. We loooved looking at everything after the wedding, and have since taken the candids and added them to the guestbook.


Hmmm...do I spy a Bee in this picture?!


*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next Up - We cut our BEAUTIFUL cake and take time for some special dances.

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched
Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park
Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park

Read more...

Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park

Hold your horses, because I have a whole lot of fabulosity coming your way! While we had a lot of fun posing in the park after the ceremony, we had allotted most of our time for pictures throughout downtown Oak Park. We knew we didn't have time to head into the city for urban shots there, but Oak Park turned out to be a fabulous alternative.

For those of you who are familiar with Oak Park, we had our limo driver drop us off at the corner of North Boulevard and Harlem Avenue. From there we started walking east, stopping at whatever caught our eyes, and met the driver about an hour later at North Boulevard and Oak Park Avenue.

Straight out of the limo, one of my favorite shots. That needs to be framed and on my wall, pronto!




Oak Park has a great El/Metra train station, where we took some great shots. I couldn't envision how this would turn out, and I fell in love once I saw it.


Hmm...Mr. S can whisk me away on a train any day.



There happened to be a festival going on that day - "Oak-tober Fest"! We got a lot of stares and many well wishes as we walked through.





We were always very anti-jumping. It turns out, the jumping was a whole lot of fun! We didn't ask our bridal party to jump, but Mr. S and I gave it a shot. Sadly, this is the best out of the bunch, notice my feet planted firmly on the ground. Ladies, you must remember to SMILE when you jump. I did not, hence many angry looking jumping shots of me. And Mr. S and I could never get in sync with our jumps.


Love.



Yes, our wedding party was totally fierce. Don't they look like a force to be reckoned with?


Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. I'm not a naturally laughy, bubbly person. So I adore that Laurie caught a completely natural, carefree laugh on my part.


And also a very serious, sweet moment.


Us trying to look fierce. Who knew Oak Park had so many great murals? I had never really noticed them until we were scouted for good photo locations.


Once we hit Oak Park Avenue, our wedding party was more than ready to put their feet up! My one mistake was not considering the fact that they may not have been as excited to walk around in their fancy shoes as I was. While I was totally fine with powering through blisters and cramped toes, they were not! Fortunately we were way ahead of schedule, so we bought them a bunch of water and let them chill out.


After a bit of rest (and letting our photographers rest, too - they were working hard!), Mr. S and I headed over to a nearby park for a few more one-on-one shots. This was definitely a stand out of the bunch. These kids were playing football and made their best "Eww, you're kissing faces" for the shot. I'm normally not into things that are so posed, but this is so stinkin' cute.


One more sweet embrace...


...and dress shot...


...and finally, a bit of lovely flare...


...and it was time for Mr. S to flag down our limo to take us on over to the reception!


Did I mention that I love flare?


The sun was setting so beautifully at that moment, our photographers just kept on shooting after our friends had piled into the limo.


Fortunately, by the end of the day, I was a master at getting in and out of the limo in my heels and dress! It was definitely a well-crafted combination of grace and gymnastics.



Time to head on in and see the ballroom!


*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next up - All of the fun little reception details, including the cake of my dreams!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched
Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park

Read more...

Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park

After the ceremony we loaded up in our supersized limo with our wedding party and fabulous photographers to go have some fun. We had allowed about 2 1/2 hours for pictures and chose locations very close to the church and reception, so it was a really laid back and fun time.

My first job as a wife? Making sure Mr. S's shoelace is tied!


Our first photo stop was Lindberg Park in Oak Park. We had scoped it out the week before the wedding and I loved the garden of prairie grasses with a path winding through it.

But before we could go anywhere, we needed to have a little married couple shoe love! We opted not to do chucks for all of the groomsmen, although we thought about it, but Mr. S wanted to pick up a pair for himself. I did make him wear normal black dress shoes for the ceremony, though...I'm a traditionalist like that. His chucks were a huuuuuge hit at the reception, though - everyone commented on how cute they were!


See what I mean by the beautiful path through the garden? You would never know that behind us was a huge soccer field and baseball diamond, filled with kids! I'll just let you enjoy the eye candy for a little bit...






Sigh. These trees are just an amazing backdrop.


I made him tie the chucks all by himself this time.


Mr. S hammed it up a bit with his guys...


...while I got to cozy up with my beautiful bridesmaids.


I've been getting a lot of great comments about the green bridesmaids shoes (only $25 from Newport News, what a steal!). When I picked out their shoes and dresses, this was the very shot I was envisioning...


Just a little more beautiful eye candy.


While the shot above of my dress may have been pretty, what you can't tell was how it was snagging on the sidewalk with each and every step. I was SO over having a train by this point! I begged and pleaded until my girls bustled it up.



Just a couple more group shots in the park...




...and it was time to pile back into the limo and head on our to our next location for some real fun! The park was pretty and all, but we're a lot less park people and a lot more urban street art and alley people. That's just how we roll.

*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next up - Train tracks, murals, alleys and overpasses, oh my!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched

Read more...

Changing Names in Chiiicago.

Whew, as far as changing names goes, I'm grateful to just be changing a few cards and documents rather than changing one of these babies:

Source

Claudia is one lucky lady I'd guess. Anyway.

I was absolutely dreading the whole process from start to finish. It seemed very mysterious and confusing and like it would be difficult.

Fortunately, I found this fabulous Web site for Illinois residents to work through the name changing process. It walks through step by step exactly what order you should do things in, the forms you'll need to fill out for each office, and even form letters that you can modify and send out to notify your banks and other organizations about the change. And the Web site is free, free, FREE!

And, still, I put everything off. I absolutely could not motivate myself to go and pick up a copy of my marriage certificate, the Holy Grail to changing your name. Please keep in mind that my work is less than a 10 minute walk from the office where I can get the certificate, and their office hours (8am - 5pm) work perfectly with my schedule to allow me to make it over there. Heh.

Once I finally went there, I was in and out in less than 5 minutes! And about $20 poorer. I paid for two copies of the certificate (one copy is like $15, a second is $4, I thought it was smart to have a backup so as not to have to go back).

The next week, I headed on over to the Social Security Office to apply for my new card. Their office hours are not so friendly - 9am-4pm. What?! Really? Ugh. So I went over my lunch hour and after a 45 minute wait my number was finally called (I am guessing that I was lucky and this was a relatively short wait for that office).

My big concern was that I was taking my maiden name and moving it to my middle name, and then taking Mr. S's last name. There is nowhere on their Web site that states you can do this. From asking around and reading message boards, I learned that whatever you put on your application for your new Social Security card, you should be fine as long as you have your marriage certificate to prove the change. My name change on my card was accepted without the bat of an eye!

Less then a week later, I had my new Social Security card in my hand. And better yet, your social security card is FREE!

Feeling powerful with my new card and excited to put things into motion, I headed over to the DMV to get my new license. Mind you, the license I had was the one I got when I turned 21 and still had my parents' address on it (where I haven't lived for 5 years). I was sad to part with my old friend, but excited to finally have something with my new name on it to flash around (since flashing around one's Social Security card tends to be frowned upon).

There's an "Express" DMV in Chicago's Loop and I went there after work on a Friday (they are also open until 5pm!). There was NO WAIT, people. I worked with the nicest lady who autmatically asked me if I was moving my maiden name to my middle name and chatted about how much she loved my new Korean last name.

$5 and one surprisingly good picture later, I had my license!

Note to self: practice writing new signature before signing a card I will have for years to come. Doh!

I've since sent out all letters to my various accounts using the handy dandy form letter I found online, and am awaiting for new cards and changed accounts.

This weekend Mr. S and I are heading over to my bank, where we will change my name on all of those accounts AND add him onto the accounts, thereby starting down the road of the dreaded (on my part) joint account. Must. Stop. Buying. Clothes.

Part of me was sad to leave my maiden name behind, so getting to bring it right along with me and having it be such an easy process to do so has been fabulous. I officially feel like a Mrs.!

Did you have a hard time working the system to change your name?

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