Elizabeth & Grant

Back in the early Spring, I shot the elopement of two of my dearest friends. It was especially meaningful because it was the first time I'd returned to the Manhattan City Hall  since my own wedding! These are just a handful of my favorite images from the portrait session afterwards (can't believe it took me until now to share them). We gallivanted around Brooklyn Bridge Park: the two lovebirds even brought an iPod dock in order to have a "first dance" by the water.

Tomorrow, surrounded by of all of their friends and loved ones, Elizabeth & Grant will celebrate their marriage in Erie, PA and Tiho and I will be there to capture the entirety of the big day. I cannot wait!

Our Wedding: City Hall Style Preview

I've previously mentioned we're planning two weddings. The short of it: We're eloping at city hall next month for a variety of reasons related to finances/visa stuff/family members being out of the country. Then, in spring of 2013, we're having our "big" wedding celebration complete with a ceremony, reception and loved ones. We've already booked our photographer and are in the midst of locking in a venue for the 2013 date. Early bird gets the worm, right?

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world, because technically, I get to marry the love of my life twice and in two completely different ways.

Much more to come regarding the second wedding, but now, first things first: city hall inspiration.

Hello dream world? Two wedding looks to choose! This time around, let's call it "classic romantic meets New York City sexy." The board should give you an idea of what I'm envisioning.

One of the pieces included up there actually represents something I've already purchased. Can you guess what it is? Hint: it's not the rings, though we've ordered those, too (not the ones pictured but pretty similar).

Eee! Just a smidge over a  month 'til I have a husband.

(links: gold clutch; wanderlustings hairpiece; asos lace dress; cole haan pumps; garden rose bouquet; kate spade red lipstick; eidelprecious rings)

New Art 'Round Here

When I was walking through Barnes & Noble in Union Square last week, I spotted a rack of beautiful postcards. I couldn't resist scooping a few up and chose to frame this sweet cottage garden scene for our bedroom. The artist is Jessie Krause.

Remember these photos I snapped along the Seine in Paris last month? I had recently heard about Easy Canvas Prints and decided to try them out. I'm thrilled with how my image looks blown up and stretched onto a ready-to-hang canvas. The process literally took three minutes and the parcel arrived on my doorstep within a week of placing the order. (By the way, this is in no way a sponsored post. I am simply a happy customer, and wanted to pass my recommendation along to all of you).

I almost cried when I received this surprise engagement gift from Nichole of Little Brown Pen. I immediately ran out to buy a frame and am now determining the perfect spot to hang it. Thanks again, Nichole: we love it!

We bought this small, original oil painting from an elderly man with an art stand in Varna, Bulgaria. It cost approximately $10 US dollars and I am still kicking myself for not bagging his entire inventory.

These brightly-hued spray roses are not technically art, but the colors are so magnificent, they may as well be. This color combination also happens to be a front runner for my wedding bouquet...

Our Wedding: The Vision

A first attempt at cataloging the "vision" of our wedding. We're currently researching venues: once that's solidified (hopefully within a month or so), I'm psyched to fully plunge in with the planning.

I'll share updates as they occur, but for now, a tease: we're actually having two weddings: one tiny (just us), and one big (the whole kit and kaboodle). Explanation coming soon. Whoop!

(click through for the original image sources: chocolate souffle; hair-unknown; porch; taxi; chairs; lovebirds; candlesticks; dress; wildflowers; cake)

The Proposal (in Versailles, France)

We're back! I have so much to share over the coming weeks, but before I plunge in, please accept our most sincere thanks for all of your comments, emails, messages, texts, and phone calls about our happy news. Tiho and I feel an overwhelming amount of gratitude. Truly.

I am enjoying the process of editing the trip photos and will be blogging about the whole experience over the course of the next few weeks. It was life-changing for me and I can't wait to relive it here with all of you.

Shall we begin?

On our first full day in France, we ventured to Versailles. Even though we only had three days to spend in Paris, we agreed that fitting in a half-day trip to the iconic palace and gardens was a non-negotiable must. (Especially for Tiho, although of course, I didn't realize to what extent).

We managed to successfully navigate the Paris metro from our flat in Montmartre, and arrived in Versailles mid-morning. (It's about a 30 minute train ride from the center of the city). We stopped to admire the architecture before proceeding to the gardens. We had decided beforehand not to take a tour of the palace interior. I wish we had more time to do so, but we had to pick and choose our sightseeing priorities in order to best utilize our limited time.

I was completely stupified by the building facades. The palace exterior and grounds were rich with intricate detail. Positively awe-inducing.

We headed to the gardens and strolled aimlessly, simply taking it all in.

I felt so tiny wandering through the giant mazes of greenery. To think that Louis the XVI had this luxury as his backyard.

After a couple of hours of walking and exploring, we slowly meandered back in the direction of the palace. I wanted to photograph the incredible flowers near the front of the gardens and Tiho wanted to ask me to be his wife. (Ah!) In retrospect, I should have picked up on some of his peculiar behavior. During our exploration, he had a map of the garden in his hand and was intent on finding a particular fountain that he claimed was supposed to be "amazing." I thought it was adorable that he had researched fountains. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it due to several sections of the garden being closed. I wish I could convey the immense size of this place. We're talking massive, get-lost-every-five-minutes type of huge, so to me, a closed fountain didn't seem like that big of a deal.

By this point, the sun was high in the sky and it was hot. I was feeling like all I wanted was a cold drink of water and a place to sit down. Tiho was getting nervous that I was going to suggest leaving before he had a chance to do his thing. We found our way to the flower gardens so I could take some photos while he quickly reconfigured his "plan," since the specific locale he had in mind wasn't going to work out. (Obviously, I knew none of this until later).

Funny aside: apparently, when I was taking the above photos, he almost proposed. He told me after that fact that he liked how I was surrounded by flowers, but decided there were too many people around. (If possible, he wanted a spot where it was just the two of us). So, he convinced me to check out one last corner of the garden where it was "shadier" and "less hot." Begrudgingly, I obliged, but only for the promise of temperature relief. 

We walked a few more minutes and I admired the palace and felt relieved that we were out of direct sunlight thanks to a passing cloud. I crouched down next to a beautiful row of flowers to snap more photos when I heard scuffling behind me. I turned around, eager to show T the shot I had just captured (above) and almost dropped the camera.

I swear to God, the world seemed to stop.

Because there he was: down on one knee, holding a box with a ring. With a big smile, he looked up at me and asked, simply, "Will you marry me?" I screamed and squealed and started jumping up and down. "Yes!"

He slid the ring on my finger (oh, the ring!) and we immediately embraced. I should mention that my man can kiss. Like, whoa baby. In that moment though, those familiar kisses felt brand new. This person--this man I love so much it hurts--asked me to be his wife. He is going to be my husband. I can't describe that feeling.

After that, the sun could have exploded on me and I wouldn't have cared. We laughed and skipped and admired the ring before asking a random person to take our picture once we realized our self-timer attempts were hopeless. We then made our way to the gift shop to pick out something Versailles-specific to commemorate the occasion (a decorative plate).

The ring needs a little moment of its own. Bear with me. Tiho custom-designed it himself. He selected an art-deco style platinum setting and handpicked the actual diamond. I can't imagine anything else on my hand. He told me all of this afterward, as we giddily made our way back to Paris. He also informed me that before leaving for Europe, he had called my mom, my dad and my sister, as well as his own family, to tell them that he was planning to ask me to marry him.

As we were leaving Versailles, we turned back one last time and wistfully surveyed the vast landscape.  Tiho glanced at me and said, "That's why I did it here, you know. We'll always have this. This moment, this story. This reason to return to Paris."

And that, my dears, is one of the thousands of reasons why I love him.

I am deliriously happy and can't wait to continue to share our love story as we plan our wedding in the coming months.

P.S. Remember the surprise french picnic Tiho planned back in February? Foreshadow. 

We're Engaged!

I'll share the whole proposal story once we return to the U.S., but I couldn't wait that long to tell all of you. I feel like singing it from the rooftops! He asked me in the gardens at Versailles with a diamond so sparkly it makes rainbows in the sunlight.

I didn't think I could be any more in love with him, but somehow, impossibly, I am.