Rehearsal Dinner in Detail

We hosted almost 125 people at a fabulous restaurant in the heart of Little Italy on August 21, the night before we were married.  It truly was a mini-wedding.  Outside, the streets were being decorated for The Feast of San Gennaro.  The night was cool and clear.  We had a private room upstairs.  The food was amazing, at least that's what they tell me.  There were many wonderful, hilarious, sweet stories shared by the people we love the most.
It was the perfect kickoff to our wedding weekend.

 

I have no idea what my father in law had just told me, but apparently, I could not believe it.

There were definitely some stories that would have been better untold... Mr. DD spoke at his rehearsal dinner 2 months after our's and let's just say.. payback's a bitch.

 

Compliments of our fabulous invitation goddess.

 

Junior Bridesmaid extraordinaire or the other love of my life.

  

 

We were so, so lucky to have our photographer at our rehearsal dinner to capture so many awesome moments.

I hope you stayed warm and dry this weekend.  All the gray and rain made me a little sad.  I wanted to spend all of my time in here.

From here.

Instead, Mr. DD and I decided to torture ourselves and head to the Javits Center for "Meet the Breeds."  160 breeds of dogs were represented and it was an explosion of adorableness.  We fell in love over and over and over again... and with breeds we never expected to love.  But of course, I heart these guys the most.

From here.

Happy Friday!

Fabulous barware makes alcohol even more fun, doesn't it?  It's freezing in New York and Mr. DD won't be home until the wee hours.  Thank God for Bailey's.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Favorite Couple of 2009?!

Wow.  People are saying such kind things about us.  We are so very flattered.

The single life

I'm no economist, but apparently the economy has gone to shit.  I don't know... something about mortgages and some guy named Bernie Madoff.

Anyway- Mr. Diagnosis Deferred works in finance.  This means that I don't see much of him these days.  In fact, over the last year his appearances have been pretty spotty.  He's in his cuff links and his suit (he's totally adorable...) and off to work early-early and often home after I've fallen asleep.  Not that I'm complaining.  The truth is, we're just thrilled that he still has a job (knocking enthusiastically on wood).

Here is my little list of things to do when you are married, but you may as well be single.

1.  Read.  A lot.  I joined one of those book swapping sites because paying $3 to ship a book and receive a new one beats the hell out of paying retail.  Relatedly, I've joined a book club.  It's really more of a "chatting/eating/drinking wine whilst briefly mentioning the book with ten girlfriends" club, but I think it still counts as an intellectual endeavor.

2.  Volunteer.  Every Wednesday night I trek to Harlem to mentor a phenomenal group of 7-12 year old girls.  They are fantastically funny and they love every second that we spend with them.

3.  Create.  Mr. DD treated me to a six week pottery class for my dirty thirty.  I start in a few weeks and I'm beyond excited.  I'll keep you posted.  When my mother-in-law was newly married and living abroad, she took a flower arranging class.  To this day, she can do amazing things with even the most meager of  bodega bouquets.  I am terribly jealous impressed.  Next stop, flower school.

Also, a brief list of Don'ts:
-Call too often to "check in"
-Over-feed the fish
-Get carried away with the self-tanning and teeth-whitening and exfoliation and at-home hair dying
-Spend too much time on Facebook
-Waste endless hours watching YouTube hair and makeup tutorials

A teaser...

I'm the first to admit that I've been negligent in the posting of my wedding photos.  I promise that a full recap of the amazing and wonderful day is coming... sometime before my one year anniversary.  And of course, I can't forget the glorious honeymoon.  Those will be up shortly as well. In the meantime, accept my apologies.

Yep, I've neglected to post our rehearsal dinner photos...

and our preparation photos...

our ceremony photos...

as well as the beloved balloon session...

I've posted none of our reception photos...

or the wildly popular photobooth photos....

More to follow, I promise.
What a day!  I'd do it all over again every weekend if I could.
*Every last photo by the amazing and talented Agaton Strom.