2

two wonderful years together...here's to many many more.

te quiero.

Sapphire

William and Kate are engaged! I have to admit I love a royal wedding and the British royals have a special place in my heart since Lady Di is my namesake. I love that William gave his lady his mom's huge sapphire ring. Gemstone engagement rings are lovely, do you think this will start a trend?

ps...next week's Hola is a must...the royal engagement and Paulina Rubio's baby boy...hehe. We all need some escape from reality, right?

Richy Rich

The society pages in Europe really are old old money, princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses, counts and countesses. This week the society press was all a buzz for the wedding of a Duke. Seriously. The wedding and guests were all sooo fancy, and so different from the American standrad of fancy Hollywood weddings, that I had to share it with you. The magazine Hola featured the photos of the wedding, here are a few of the guilty pleasure, old money details.

The bride (above) was lovely-in a dress that was convertible from day to night. For day, a beautiful, huge brocade skirt went over the fit mermaid cut dress for the evening (photos of the bride are so exclusive I can't find a pic of the evening gown...You'll have to buy the magazine).

Mother of the bride-a muse of Valentino-wore the traditional Spanish peineta and lace.

And the guests were all a flutter entering the ceremony with hats, flowers, and feathers (guests who were hatless looked totally underdressed, ha!). Can you imagine??

Beach Boda

We're back in Spain and we've already hit the road again...for a weekend escape to celebrate a wedding in Huelva, Andalucia! It was a long 10 hour drive from Santiago to the south coast, but the wedding was beautiful, the food was fresh, and a little last sun before getting back to reality was worth it.

Arrival to the wedding included complementary flip flops and a boat ride to the natural beach where the wedding was celebrated.

In the town, El Rompido, we enjoyed the cute beach houses and the famous fresh shrimp from Huelva and fried chocos (squid)...we spent the weekend eating gambas, salpicón de gambas, ensaladilla de gambas, and cold beer...delicioso.

-heart-

I'm still so in love. 27/6/09

In bloom

I can't believe it's almost been one year since our second wedding in Michigan! It was so wonderful to have family and friends together from all over the globe to celebrate such a special time with us. We were blessed with perfect weather the day of the wedding and the perfect laid back barbeque at home. We worked hard in the days leading up to the wedding, cleaning, decorating, cooking and planting. It was a family effort with everyone involved. My mom just sent me pics of the perennial flower bed that we planted as landscaping last year. It looks fantastic with pastel tones and green textures, and the best part is that we have a natural reminder of our special day.

Sin documentos

Latin American love songs, boleros, are hard to beat. Mariachis, a trio of guitars, and the cheesiest but loveliest words being sung under the moonlight, at least that's how I always imagined them. I learned Spanish listening to them with my mom in the car. Maybe you have to understand the lyrics to really love them, but the last love song of the month is a classic by Los Rodriguez, a modern Aregentinian take on Latin American boleros, with lines like: "mientras espero por ti me muero, no quiero vivir sin ti...while I'm waiting for you I'm dying, I can't live without you" and "Quiero saber que la vida contigo no va a terminar...I want to know that life with you will never end" etc. So they are singing on a mountain in the nineties with weird shots of a girl on a horse-put all that aside, and listen to the words (sorry English readers you have to learn Spanish to really feel this one). It's quite romantic...and it's one of the songs Diego included on a CD he made for me back in Kalamazoo-maybe that's why I love it so much too.

Be my baby

It's almost valentine's day. Another great love song to inspire some valentine making. (ps...we had our wedding dance to this song!)

Love songs

It's February. It's time for love. To start the month of one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Black and white.

Time to really finish getting the wedding prints done. This is my favorite shot of us now. mmmm....I love it.

Happy wedding season!

Ok...so no more weddings for me this season...but this entrance is pretty hilarious. What a fun wedding!! Enjoy!

My best friend's wedding

My bff's wedding was beautiful! At the Scarab club in Detroit their ceremony was short and sweet in the rose garden followed by delicious small plates of various vegan, vegetarian, and meat dishes, super strong drinks from the bartender, and a cute supcake tower topped with a baby cake and Mexican wedding skeletons! The look was modern, and she was a stunning bride with a look straight from the golden age of Hollywood!!

The music was good, the drinks were plenty, the dancing was non-stop, and the bride and groom were all smiles...what more can you say, Congratulations!!!

Ps...I wore the beautiful vintage blue dress (the purple dress had last minute tailoring issues) and I got to escort the cutest flower girl in the world!

wedding season...

My best friend is also getting married! And I'm her maid of honor! I haven't been able to carry out many of the usual maid of honor duties since I've been in Spain, so I will be at her beck and call in the weeks leading up to here special day. Being the chic and modern bride that she is, she left dress choice up to us, giving us the guidelines of jewel tones. I decided that it would be great to wear one of my mom's old dresses, vintage party dress from the early 70's custom made for her...oh the many childhood dreams I had to have a dress custom designed just for me...

Luckily, I'm the same size as my mom was...she was taller...but the dresses fit perfectly. Which should I wear?? (Please excuse the terrible lighting and background and hair and makeup, I decided to try them on late one night)

It was a hit!

After a few weeks planning and lots of trips to the airport...we were blessed with another perfect day to celebrate our new life together with loved ones!! It was soooo much fun to have everyone in town and all the little details came together perfectly in the end. Again we didn't have one professional photographer, but had friends send us or facebook the shots they took, so again, I'll have some organizing to do, but here are a few of my fav's soo far...

For the boys...

We made the boutonnieres almost exactly like the one above for the boys in the Spanish wedding. I think in Michigan we will do without them since it's more casual. But, I loved the simple green look. Here are some other cute easy to make boutonnieres I found on the Knot...

night lights

I always save my glass jars with the hopes of one day doing this.

What pretty lights for a summer evening...and sooo easy!!

(from Apartment Therapy)

Hug a tree

Since I started thinking about the Michigan wedding I have been wanted tobe sure to be eco friendly. I'm planning on using potted perrenial flowers as the table centerpieces-beautiful flowers that can then be planeted in my mom's yard and come back year after year. We are going to the Detroit Eastern Market this weekend to see what we find. And when thinking of favors I started thinking about the tree seedling idea. I've always been crazy about trees and to think that we can give a little seedling to each guest who maybe will plant the tree...I think it's a great idea. And in the sentimental vein, planting a tree that grows and strengthens with the years is a nice metaphor of what marraige is. So, I've been looking online and as I suspected the best deal is with the Arbor Day Foundation where you can get seedlings in a variety of tree types in 50 count bundles- if you are a member or not the price is between $39(member) or $60(non-member). A membership is only $10 and you recieve 10 free tree seedlings and any other little extras they throw in at the end. What a perfect cute favor! (but...beware shipping dates are limited!)

The making of...

Our Spanish wedding was planned quite quickly and we stayed on a very tight budget, under 2,500 euros for everything. I think we did quite a fabulous job and in case you are planning a far-away wedding or even if it's in your back yard, I wanted to share some of what we did with you all- and in case you are an American marrying a Spaniard, give you a heads up on the bureaucratic hurdles that you are about to come up against.

Diego and I were engaged shortly after I arrived to Spain last fall. We had the idea of eloping quietly, having the little courthouse wedding, sending the announcement with a little black and white shot of us, me with a little birdcage veil and a white trench coat him in a white shirt and skinny tie...

But, upon going to the town hall to set the date for the wedding we were given a paper with a 'short' list of papers to turn in in order for them to approve.

1. Fill out the application for marriage. Check.

2. Be empadronado (registered) in the same town-we were told we just had to go to the building next door, and fill out a paper. This really was very easy, fill out a paper with the address and my signatue and I was registered. Check.

3. A copy of my passport. Easy. Done and Done.

4. A notarized copy of my birth certificate, translated to Spanish (the translation would need to be certified by the nearest American Consulate-by appointment in A Coruna from 10-1 Mon-Fri). My mom sent the birth certifcate with the seal that it was notarized and legal, we translate, make the appointment (Diego taking a morning off work), get to the consulate, hand over the certificate, they look it over and say "Where is the seal?" Yes, much to our surprise the birth certificate needed an Apostille de La Haye, a seal you must get from the Secretary of State for $1 on documents that need to be legal not only in the US but also aboad.

So, we left with no quick wedding on the horizon after we talk to my mom who talks to secretary of state who says she has to order a new birth certificate from the court who will process that send it to her so that she can take it to the secretary of state, who will then place the seal and send it to her. A process that can take up to 2 months. Uffffff. Not expecting that. We placed the paper work order, but didn't get the birth certificate with the seal until two months later after all the mailing back and forth in Michigan and finally to Spain.

Once we had the legal Birth certificate we made another appointment, headed to the consulate, got the ok, and were ready to get the wedding planned 6 months later! In the end the wait was not a problem, our wedding was perfect and it was so special and important to celebrate with friends and family!

(Extra info: The civil marriage in Spain, when completed with all these steps, is considered legal in the US, there is no extra work to be done, and no registration or extra liscense needed. If you are going to change your last name you will need to take some extra steps at the county clerk and secretary of state where you live . Also, in Spain we asked for an international marriage certificate, with all the stamps and signatures and English translation. And one last detail we did was, just in case, get the Apostille of La Haye on this international certificate also. We got the Apostille from the Tribunal Superior de Xusticia de Galicia. Getting the Apostille could be done through the mail, or in person-although most likely if you go in person you will have to go more than once as getting a signature takes longer than you'd expect.)

But, just a reminder, bureaucracy is slow where ever you maybe, but if you have to have a legal document from the states considered legal in the European Union (or vice versa), before ask about it and get the Apostille de La Haye, it's only $1.

Wedding parties!

I've been in quite a few weddings, and being a bridesmaid is always fun, but there is the same dilemma at the end of the party with what to do with the bridesmaid dress! We always say, I can make it shorter to wear it again...but who really does? The last wedding I was in, my beautiful friend decided on a modern ceremony at an art gallery and our bridesmaid dresses could be the black dress of our choice. I got a little strapless Gap dress that I love and can still use again, and the look was great to see each of our styles on display. The next wedding I'm in, other than my own, I'll be maid of honor. I remember always having the idea of a Zac Posen purple dress with pompoms on the hems as the perfect maid of honor dress...but alas I'm still not quite rich enough to afford that. This bride has decided to be quite modern also letting us choose our own dresses, colors, etc. I'm planning on using a purple vintage grecian gown of my mother's. When it came to my wedding, I was always saying that I wasn't going to have bridesmaids, just my maid of honor was the witness to sign the papers. But, when it came down to it, it was so important to have my sister and my best friend by my side in the week before the wedding at that day. I'm so glad they were my madrinas. Another very special friend of mine who is now living in Barcelona also made the trip out to Santiago for the wedding, and the day of the wedding it was wonderful to have her there. But being that they weren't official bridesmaids, I didn't really give them any guidelines on what to wear except to look guapas, and they did. With no planning they all wore short dresses in a bright, happy color scheme with hot heels. Diego's brothers wore cute modern cut suits with skinny ties. In the end we had a really chic stylish modern wedding party that made everyone in the Plaza Obradoiro talk. It pays off to not be picky!

From the Farmer's Market

I'm back into wedding mode, planning wedding #2 and thinking about what flowers to use here. The flowers in the Spanish wedding were simple and fun. Purples, greens, and white daisys. But beyond the choice, the event of getting the flowers in the Farmer's market in Santiago on a rainy morning was also part of the encanto.

We went on the Tuesday before the wedding, to "order" the flowers. But the order was more like telling the lady we like these and these, and her telling us, "I'll bring extra bunches of those and some of these othere things i think you might like, and some fresh leaves from my graden too, and you can take what you like." We also stopped by the ladies with their lettuce, rabbits, and eggs, and wildroses and orange blossoms, and bought a few of those just to have. The orange blossoms were so lovely and delicate and smelled wonderful.

Thursday, the rain hadn't stopped so we headed to the market on another rainy morning with some big mexican bags to get all the flowers. As she told us the flower lady had all the flowers and more, including the leaves from her garden that still had snails attached to them. We got bunches and bunches of flowers: zinneas, daisies, irises, paperlike flowers, another white kind, green leaves, and orange blossoms.

On the day before the wedding we made all the arrangements, the orange blossoms were looking limp so we did without them, and then we headed to the ceremony site to decorate. One a budget of just 50 euros for flowers we made the place look lovely, simple, modern, and elegant.