Aloha!

I will probably get about 20 e-mails after posting this blog from friends and family yelling at me to stop working and go get tan but I can’t help it. It’s time to reflect. Timmy is sitting next to me on this big bed in our hotel room in Hawaii reading Steve Martins biography and eating fishy crackers out of the bag. I just showered the sand off my body and am sitting here typing away in my Fairmont Hotel bathrobe. I am plenty relaxed and totally stress free so I promise, a wonderful dinner with my husband is to be had in an hour or so but for now- let me and my laptop be! Last Saturday was, hands down, the absolute best day of my life. Every single bit of it (even when I freaked out right before walking down the aisle) was perfect. The day was exactly as I had imagined it both aesthetically and emotionally and I am still exploding from the excitement and happiness of it all.

I was a little afraid that once the wedding was over I would plummet into depression. How will I spend my time? I want to do it all over again? What if I don’t feel the same way about my work after I’ve been there done that? I am so thankful to see that while I had the time of my freaking life, I am so happy to be Mrs. Timothy Resudek and so thankful to not be talking about table linens anymore! And actually, my understanding and appreciation for all my clients go through has only gotten stronger and I feel as though I will be able to do my job from a wonderful new perspective.

I noticed early on in the wedding planning process that I really found a lot of it exhausting. I find it hard to make decisions in regular every day life and the amount of choices I had to make and answers I had to come up with during the past 9 or so months was constantly overwhelming. I thought I’d blog about every little choice- this shoe or this shoe? Blush or lavender? Vintage bridesmaids or Vera bridesmaids? But seriously, a lot of the time I agonized so long over things that by the time I finally decided on them I was way over sharing my craziness with the world wide web.

I had the most amazing team of ladies to help me through it all and the day was better than I could have ever imagined- and you know, all of those pain-staking decisions actually paid off. The whole freaking thing looked exactly as I had imagined it.

I want to share (and rave) about my vendor choices, tell you all about how different being a bride versus a photographer is, and talk more about all of the decisions we made and why we made them- and I promise I will- but I’m going to head back into honeymoon mode! For now, check out J*’s blog edits here and a HUGE shout out to Yelena Johnson of The Stylish Soiree for totally and completely taking my vision and making it look like magic.

One of my favorites :)

Bridal Shower : Out of the office from Nov 1- Nov 17th

I started writing my vows last night and I could barely stop myself from crying. This could be bad!

I feel like I am in the eye of the storm right now. Most all decisions have been made, almost everything is purchased, we packed up and labeled all of the decor items. I have Yelena to keep me sane and my best friends are kidnapping me this afternoon for one last night of debauchery (ha!) ... I look at Tim from over my computer screen and its like the world around us is spinning so fast but we're solid- feet on the ground and steady. I started writing my vows last night after working for about 14 hours straight on album designs (holiday ordering deadline happens to fall during our honeymoon ... peachy!) and suddenly it hit me- if everything goes crazy, if timelines get thrown out, if shuttles don't arrive, if it rains, if, if, if..... I will still be marrying my best friend.

So clients, past, present, and future- please forgive me if e-mail is a little slower than usual or turn around times take a little longer than previously expected. I am working at my very fastest pace to get as much as I can get done before I am officially off the radar.

Come Monday- November 1st I am officially on vacation until November 17th.

It's alllll happening!!!!!!!!

Here are some pics that Heather took at my bridal shower- such a fun day!

The Maxwells : Photographers photographing photographers!

I will be honest- moving back to the bay area has not been as easy as Tim and I have anticipated. While we were fully aware of it's value, we took for granted our close group of friends that took years to make, our walking neighborhood of Los Feliz, and a coffee-shop where everybody knew our names and our drink. I've had a very busy year of work and travel so it hasn't made it easy for us to adjust. (We never even had ONE Top Chef dinner this season......) The house has been a mess for what seems like months because of wedding planning. (No one tells you that all that beautiful decor that people have has to be stored somewhere- and that somewhere is our front room!) That said, we do love our house and we have lots of family near-by which definitely helps to offset our "friend-less" situation ... but you guys, it's no joke- I actually googled, "How to make friends as an adult." You know what came up? "HAVE KIDS." Scary! When I heard that a new bridal accessories store, Betroth, had opened in my 'hood I thought, "Who owns this place? I KNOW I could be friends with them." I'm pretty outgoing and learned very early on that you have to work and pursue friendships so I stopped in to check things out.... about 10 times. NOT just because I was smitten with the owners but they seriously have some GORGEOUS stuff for brides to pick up for their wedding day and I had seen some of Ashley's work and just had to have some for our wedding. When Ashley told me they were considering restructuring their business and making it less retail I was not shy in begging, "Make it a meeting space! PLEASE!" I am desperate for somewhere to meet with my clients and talk about packages and albums that doesn't smell of coffee grinds and couldn't imagine a better situation!

It's located in the Garden Theater building on Lincoln Ave. Ashley sent me this pic this morning of the space- it'll be changing up a little now that it's just a meeting space but isn't it adorable? If you are a wedding vendor of any kind, get in touch with her- acceptance to the Bridal Lounge is on a case by case basis but they are committed to making a super creative spot for the best wedding vendors to come together and help each other flourish!

So there you have it, not only did I make friends but I found a lovely spot to meet with my clients, which can only lead to more friends! How to make friends as an adult? Try! In getting to know Ashley over bridal accessories and cupcakes I also got to meet her ridiculously good-looking children and when Ashley mentioned they hadn't had family photos done- ever - we quickly arranged a shoot.... enough chatter!

Onward!