Leid in Hawaii Part One *wink

In three short days, Mr. B and I will have been married for a whole month! Thankfully, there have been far less marital spats then there were engaged spats due to the end of the large time-suck (but wholly wonderful and worth every minute!) that was our wedding. During the month before the wedding I would sit and imagine myself on our honeymoon to remind myself that there was an end and reward to all this craziness.


For our honeymoon we chose to visit the islands of Maui and Kauai, Hawaii for two whole weeks! On Maui we stayed at the Westin Resort which was gorgeous but we found out later that it was California's spring break and us honeymooners were highly outnumbered by families and dum da dum dum: Children. Now, I love kids, I choose to work with them everyday, but kids at a resort screaming, splashing, and running amok was not what I had bargained for. We definitely made the best of it. Here are some pictures from our room...

View from our room

The balcony that we spent mucho horas on, drinking lots of 

THIS:

The majority of our time in Maui was spent lounging on a beach chair, book in one hand, and cocktail in the other... BLISS!!

We watched a lot of beautiful sunsets

AND a sunrise! My new hubby convinced me that watching the sunrise from atop the famous Haleakala Crater would be an experience we'd never forget.

Us after waking up at 2 am to drive to the top of Haleakala.

He was right, it was beautiful, but what I will never forget how ill clothed and freezing cold we were at the top of this mountain. Notice the beanie, North Face jackets, and ponchos outfitted on our fellow sunrise companions? Now notice that we are in t-shirts, and lucky for me, a light jacket! All I can say is when that sunrise was over, it was time to go back down to the balmy 80 degrees of the Ka'anapali beach!

On our last night in Maui we went to the Old Lahaina Luau and feasted on Kalua Pua'a (pig roasted under the sand) Poi (kinda the Hawaiian form of potatoes), Ahi Poke (a raw salad with yellow tail and seaweed), and about fifteen other traditional Hawaiian dishes. Then we watched the incredible show!

I only wish I could shake my groove thang like these ladies.

Next stop: Princeville Kauai! 

Mahalo!

-Claire

Engagement Pictures

Ok ok, so I know I said I'd post pics of the honeymoon next but per request, I decided to post some of O and I's engagement pics from the enormously talented and incredibly fun to work with Sherry Hammonds. Sherry, most likely, was my favorite wedding vendor we worked with. She was always flexible and accomodating to our conundrum of planning an out of town wedding. If you can't tell, I love Sherry! 

These pictures were taken at 6:30am on a Sunday morning. We had to do our engagements in August in order to get our save the dates out on time. For you non-Tejas natives, it is about 100 degrees by 10:00am in August. In order to get the best shots we all got up at the crack of dawn to get the best light and save ourselves from sweating like pigs. Sweaty bride= no bueno!

I think the inconvenience was FAR outweighed by the results. Enjoy!

This 'Save the Date' sign was actually a giant cookie made by a friend of the family that is also an amazing baker! And yes, it took us a day or two, but we ate the whole thing after the shoot.

This one is my favorite of all

If you would like to see a few more check them out here or here. 

-Claire

The Great Buildup of 2011

Just a mere three weeks (and double ear infections with a sinus infection for the bride-to-be and an upper respiratory infection for the groom-to-be) after Vegas the BIG DAY approached quickly! The closer it got, the more nervous I got. Not nervous about getting married, but thoughts like "will I drown in sweat in my dress? (this happened while dancing, though no one could see it due to my phenomenal make-up artist Erica Gray) Will there be a torrential downpour at the exact minute my ceremony starts? (didn't happen, sunshine all the way down the aisle!)" ran rampant through my head. AND the biggest, psych myself out, doozey of a thought was "Will I make it down the stairs leading down my ceremony site in my big dress, 3.5 inch heels, and holding my bouquet without falling FLAT on my FACE?!?!?! or bum for that matter? (This also didn't happen, thank you to my Dad and the wedding gods for helping me make it down with a semi-smidgen of grace!)" 

So needless to say, I was a ball of nerves leading up to the wedding ceremony. I must have concealed it well because I can count on two hands the number of people who said to me "well you certainly seem very calm about all of this!!" Or, maybe that's just what people say to brides who look like they are a deer in headlights in hopes that she calms the hell down. I suppose I will never know. 

I did have the most amazing, loving, and caring people surrounding me at all times! 

Exhibit A:

Besides my nervous tendencies that I was so apt at concealing, we did have a lot of fun before the wedding. 

Exhibit B:

We had brunch at the Nordstrom Cafe the day before the wedding

And we were pampered with mani/pedis 

Then we headed to the rehearsal dinner

We all clean up pretty nice dontcha think?

I thought the groom was lookin pretty good that night too, so I let him sit by me.

The wedding day would be incomplete without mimosas

Team Bride

Even though I was Nervous Nelly the whole time, I enjoyed every minute of our wedding festivities and I wouldn't have changed a thing! 

Stay tuned! Up next are honeymoon pics! 

Cheers!

-Claire

I'm BAAAAACK!

It's been a while since I've visited the blog world. I've been a little busy, oh you know, getting married and such. It was a wild and crazy ride and I enjoyed about 98% of it. I will be honest though, I'm glad the planning is OVER! Hallelujah! And now, the next couple weekends, O and I are going to two weddings, as a guest! It's a glorious feeling. 


But like I said, it's been a while so let's catch up on all the wedding madness. So, without further ado, I think it's only fitting to start with my bachelorette party in Vegas....

We arrived and the lovely Mr. Briggs had outfitted us with a limo for the ride to our hotel! Bubbly and all! Our driver, Adele, was the tallest and most androgynous woman in a tux I've ever seen but was also probably the most badass woman I've ever met. 

When we arrived at the Venetian, changed into our sparkles, and were ready to go!

We then went to this, Vegas's hottest male variety show.  For some reason photography is not allowed...

Then we ate some AMAZING pizza in our sequin cocktail dresses (because that's how we roll).

After the pizza we headed to Marquee nightclub in the new Cosmopolitan hotel, in which we had such a ballerlicious time, I have no pictures *tear.

Saturday, we went to the Canyon Ranch Spa in the Palazzo and it was heaven! Although we did have a moment in the "igloo" room where we pressed the "aroma" button expecting, what else, an aroma to come out. Instead, freezing (and I mean ICE cold) water came shooting down on us so we all screamed and ran out. In the middle of one of the nicest spas in the country, classy. 

Despite the screaming like little girls episode, Canyon Ranch still allowed me to get my hair did by the fantabulous Roxanne. At one point I think I had fifteen round brushes in my hair but I think it turned out pretty "sexy, bouncy" as Roxanne described it!

Then my adorable friends threw me a lingerie shower. This is the only picture deemed appropriate (by me) to post publicly on the internet. Sorry y'all.

Then we went to dinner, but lets get to the good stuff shall we?

This was the stripper pole directly behind our table at PURE night club in Cesears which we were instructed, on numerous occasions, that we were forbidden to use said pole.  Oh well, their loss right?! We managed to get a picture on it and then became more interested in the bachelor party seated right next to us. 

And this is the main reason why Vegas was awesome. My friends!

Viva Las Vegas!

-Claire