Showered with Love

It's been over a week, and I am still overwhelmed by the generosity and thoughtfulness by all of the amazing ladies who put on and attended my bridal shower.  It was absolutely fabulous, and I am truly blessed beyond belief.  I'll never forget how it felt to be surrounded by so much love and so many women from all parts of my life.

With everything that went on, I feel like I could write a whole recap series on the shower alone, but fear not, I won't! Instead, I'll break this up into bite-sized chunks for you!  Well, first things first:

The Invitation 

The design is "Chandelier Bridal Shower" by Snapfish.

I consulted with my sister, MOH Curls, and my Nanny - who hosted the shower at her beautiful home - on the dates and style of the shower since I knew I didn't want it to be a surprise, but after that I left it up to them.  So I was thoroughly excited when I received this lovely invitation in the mail!  They used a picture from the engagement shoot, a chandelier, and a request for the guests to bring their favorite recipe on the back - how could it be more perfect?


The Surprise
Just because the shower wasn't a surprise, doesn't mean that there weren't some surprise elements!  As planned, MOH Curls came in town the day before the shower, and since they were awesome and had everything under control for the following day, we headed to the New Orleans Museum of Art for a charity silent auction hosted by LSU Med School students.  It was a really awesome event, but by the time Momma P, Nanny, and Curls were dropping me off at my house, I was tired, and knew I needed to get a good night's sleep for the festivities the following day.  So I thought it very odd that after walking in the house, Momma P held up her phone and started saying "Now it's time for us to party!  I said - IT'S TIME!"  Crazy confused Miss P.  And then this happened:

Genuine surprise and excitement!  And lots of arm waving.  All blurry photos captured by Momma P.  

BM Perk popped out of the hallway!  I had NO idea that she was coming in town for the shower, and I hadn't seen her in about a year, so it took a second for me to process that she was there standing in my living room.  My exact reaction was "Oh my God! You're my friend! You're in my house!"  Nanny had called her a week or so before and offered to fly her in if she could get off of work.  Sphinx picked her up from the airport when we were at the auction, and she hid in the house until we got home.  Honestly, I had heard no whisper of this surprise and was completely caught off guard in the best of ways.  Great job, ladies.  Perk and I caught up all night, then got beignets and manicures in the morning, until it was time to head out to Nanny's house to get showered upon. 

The Decor

First of all, Nanny's house is gorgeous and is perfect for throwing parties.  She has thrown me birthday and graduation parties at her house, but I'd definitely have to say that the shower tops them all.  

As soon as our guests entered, they saw a table with the cookie favors and adorable baby Pyramid pictures.

All of the food was set up in the dining room, and the table was decorated with flowers arranged by my godfather's wife, Aunt V.  

Another flower arrangement was displayed outside, with our monogram included here too.  Aunt V is so talented, I'm constantly amazed by the crafts she just "throws together" with flowers from Whole Foods!

The patio bar was stocked with mimosas, wine, and soft drinks.  The day before the shower, it was monsooning all over southern Louisiana, so we were really glad that the clouds parted and the sun came out to allow us to use the backyard.    

BM Dino is looking bashful because I'm reading the sweet card she wrote me.  And apparently my sister and I have rubber ankles.  Perk is hard at work on that bow bouquet.

The bridesmaids and I sat at the front of the living room, and the guests were seated in white folding chairs for the opening of the presents.  Speaking of presents...

The Gifts

I cannot even begin to express how overwhelmed I was at the generosity of my guests - both those who attended, and those who were unable to.  If I went into all of the gifts and how excited I am for them, this post would never end.  So let's just talk about some special ones for now.  

Remember how I said all of the guests were asked to bring a recipe to the shower?  My grandma went a few steps beyond that.  First, she gifted me all of the volumes of Pots, Pans, and Pioneers, which is a cookbook compiled by the Telephone Pioneers of America, from recipes submitted by locals, first published in 1977. My grandma worked for years at the phone company, and I always remember my mom having these cookbooks growing up.  The funniest part of this is that my grandma does not cook, except for a select few things, so this was the best she could do.  She brought on of her few recipes for Sphinx though (her lace cookies are a favorite of his) along with the ingredients and a cookie sheet!  

The very first gift that I opened got me all choked up and it wasn't the baking sheet, although we sorely needed some new ones of those.  One of Sphinx Mom's coworkers compiled a photo book with "Marriage Advice from Friends, Family, and Strangers."  I had heard this book mentioned before, since it's something she's been doing for married couples for several years, but didn't realize that we would be getting one!  Each couple wrote a quote or bit of advice to us, and it stated their names and when they married.  I recognized some of the names, but not all, and just skimming through it had me brimming with tears.  It was so sweet to have all of these people caring for Sphinx and I, and that these family and friends had taken the time to provide very meaningful advice.  I think this is a great tradition, and so glad that we could be a part of it! 

So just one more special present, and it's also a book (noticing a trend here?).  Momma P is so cute, she always likes to build up to the best present, or save something really special until last.  Like the Christmas that she made my sister and I open a small present first, Backstreet Boys and N*Sync CDs, before allowing us to open up the big present - our very own CD player!  Man, those were the days, huh?  So in true Momma P fashion, she set aside this present for last.  It was a photobook of my blog posts - volume 1!  I thought it was so sweet for her to document my journey of blogging like this, but it definitely seemed like a lot of work to do it on Snapfish, and she only got through about the first three weeks!  Is there a better place we can go to get blogs printed in book form without all the effort? I think I've heard of somewhere like that before, but can't remember the name.

And for the rest of the gifts, I plan to touch on many of them in a registry post, but for now just know that I make some weird faces while opening presents.   Enjoy it.  

I remember some of the reasons for these whacky faces, but mostly I'm just as confused as you are.  Brides, pay attention to your face when someone is flashing a camera at just you.  Or don't, because it might end up hilarious.

The Food

Nanny hired a private chef to prepare this extraordinary menu, and everything was right on point.  There was so much food, and it was all ridiculously good.  I certainly made sure to sit down and eat a plate, although I wish I would have had more!  

Clockwise from top left, that's crab meat filo dough bites, roasted pork loin, fruit salad served with a vanilla glaze and served with Chantilly cream, and prosciutto wrapped asparagus stuffed with goat cheese.  

Vegetable and cream pasta, seafood stuffed mushrooms, vanilla cake homemade by a family friend, and seared ahi tuna.  Not pictured are hot sausages, Mediterranean hummus and pita, macarons from Sucre, sushi platters from my favorite restaurant, baked brie with a pear glaze, spicy sausage dip, and - my favorite of the day - seafood stuff artichoke leaves with hollandaise sauce.  

Right? Amazing.  

My Outfit

Momma P, me, MOH Curls, and Nanny.  You can see a bit of my shoes here, and the other fabulous dresses. 

In case you were wondering (and because I love sharing a good deal), my dress was a Noir by Lazaro bridesmaids dress from the Spring 2012 collection.  When I picked up my wedding dress from the salon, they had this sample on the sale rack for $50!  I had to pin it a little to make it work, but I love it!  In trying to find some shoes to go with it, I decided that nothing looked better than my Jimmy Choo wedding shoes!  I am really glad I ended up wearing these, since I got so many compliments on them, and most people won't be able to see them at the wedding.  The necklace was bought about a year ago on sale at Dillard's, because we figured it would go with some kind of dress leading up to the wedding. Baddaboom, look at that, it matched perfectly!

Random Photo Goodness

My bridesmaids at the shower, BM Perk, MOH Curls, me, and BM Dino.  Unplanned dress match by Perk and Dino!  These girls were rockstars when it came to planning, setting up, and handling presents at the shower.  They are the best. 

Nanny and I enjoying mimosas right before the party started.  She did an amazing job with everything, thank you so much, Nanny!

Some of my future in laws!

BM Perk was assigned the task of making my rehearsal bouquet out of the bows from the presents.  She was skeptical of her ability to do a good job, but it turned out so cute!  Doesn't hurt that Bed, Bath, and Beyond wraps presents with purple bows, and that's our wedding color!  Now I need to not lose or squish it before the wedding rehearsal. 

Totally cute photo of some of my future in-laws and friends in the backyard. I didn't jump in the regular picture but I made my way into the selfie!

It's just like the Oscars, except we got to eat. 

Towards the end of the party, we got some manly-man help handling the gifts from Sphinx and my "little" brother, GM JJ.  Or they might have just been there for the food. 

I've got about a million more pictures from that day, and I treasure them dearly, but that's probably more than enough for you now.  Currently I'm working my way through the thank you notes, trying to express to everyone how truly touched and thankful I am for all of the contributions to such a lovely day.  What a mushy sap I am being today!  Oh well, it was so much better than I could have ever imagined, so I'm allowed to be a little sappy.   

Suit Up!

Or Tux Up!

Sorry, too soon? I'm still in HIMYM denial for many reasons.  Let's not talk about it.

Obligatory excuses for being MIA: big, important projects going on at work + so much wedding stuff in progress, but I'm not really in a place to write about all of it just yet. 

Alright, that's out of the way.  We're definitely down into the exciting pre-wedding days now.  I was thrown the most fabulous bridal shower this past weekend and my bachelorette party is quickly approaching!  That means that I'm full on things to do and low on time, but I'm making sure to document the important stuff so that I can share everything with you guys.  For now, let's talk about something that I haven't touched on before: what the guys are wearing. 

Honestly, it was pretty easy to get to our decision here.  We're having a nighttime, formal wedding in a church so the natural solution was to go with tuxes.  I see the benefits of buying a tux, if it'll turn out about the same price, but for us a rental is what most of the guys would be comfortable with and that's what we're doing.  

Once we decided on renting the tuxes, we had to figure out a style.  While picking tuxes is significantly simpler than choosing dresses, there are several options out there nice options for the guys to make sure everyone is comfortable and looks great.  I really love the look of grey tuxes or suits, but it wasn't the right fit for our wedding.

Grey suits and black ties are perfect for an outdoor wedding./Photo via Once Wed/Photo by Renaissance Studios

All About Me: Bridal Portraits

Remember all the way back to my early posting days (if you've been with me since then, hey! Thanks for sticking around!), when I said that I originally thought that engagement pictures were super awkward?  Okay, so I ended up coming to terms with that.  But you know what to know how to make things really awkward?  Take away one person and have another wedding photo shoot! 

I'm talking about bridal portraits, folks.  Which I should have mentioned in my New Orleans/Southern wedding traditions post, but since it's just what you do here; I forgot they aren't the norm elsewhere!  For those who aren't familiar, bridal portraits are done several weeks before the wedding with just the bride, usually in a different place than the wedding venue to get some pictures beforehand.  I'm not really sure of the exact reason, and I have no need for an entire album of pictures of me, but I'm all for it since it will act as a dress rehearsal for my wedding dress and accessories in advance of the wedding.  And it'll make Momma P happy to have some extra pictures of me, so that's what we're doing!

Longue Vue Gardens was one place I considered for photos./Photo by Eau Claire Photographics

Honey, Let's Fly to...

When you think about honeymoons, there are the two extremes - jam-packed days of activities and sight seeing or toes-in-the-sand, lounging beach trips.  We wanted to fall somewhere in the middle of that.  We love kicking back on the beach with a drink in hand, but we knew that we wanted some interesting activities and fun new experiences.  I was really tempted by some cool tours when MOH/Sis Curls was planning her graduation European vacation, but ultimately we decided that we wanted something more relaxing.  And as Sphinx pointed out, those kinds of tours will be more fun to do with friends and family later on - our honeymoon should be something that we prefer doing without other people around.

We knew that we wanted to use this as an opportunity to travel somewhere that neither of us have been before, and somewhere that we'd always wanted to go.  Early on, we had a dream destination in mind and have finally made the decisions to make it happen!

The Pyramids will be traveling to...

Kaanapali Beach in Maui.  Let's all just take minute to let this soak in./Photo via Dowdle Daily

Hawaii!

The Metal Kind of Wedding Bands

No, not heavy metal.  I mean the jewelry kind!  We've ordered our wedding rings, hive!  

And it was pretty much one of the easiest pieces of the wedding planning thus far.  Finally, we found the illusive "easy part"!  

Well, it was so easy because I had picked out my wedding band when I found my engagement ring (way back in the fall of 2011).  Yep, I fell for a set.  One of the things I loved most about my engagement ring was the band that matched.  From the very first time I laid eyes on it, I could imagine myself wearing them together or just the band in the future.  As a reminder, here's my lovely engagement ring: 

I got a hand cramp trying to get some good side detail there - hope you appreciate it!

And here's the band that caught my attention so long ago.  

Style WB6711W44JJ from Gabriel & Co.

I never considered looking for another wedding band, since I knew it was this one from the beginning, which made life so much easier.  Especially since the non-uniform width of my e-ring band would have made it hard to find something that looked right against it.  I love how these two will look together; the design of the band is just slightly different than the e-ring, so that it doesn't just look like two of the same ring on my finger.

Photo from Gabriel & Co.

So my band shopping experience was easy sailing - no regrets, no drama.  I guess we had potential for a bit of drama - when I went back to Ramsey's right before Christmas, they no longer carried my engagement ring, and so no longer had my band in store.  They were still able to order it, though, so Sphinx called in his order and it should arrive in a few weeks!  I don't have any pictures of both on my hand, but I'm sure you'll get to see that enough later on.

For Sphinx, he did a bit of research and liked the look of black or gunmetal of a tungsten band.  I wasn't 100% convinced that it was a classic look, but I wanted him to get what he wanted and I knew from  Mrs. Armadillo that we could get a great deal on one.  

Like this, or maybe a two-tone./Photo from Metal Masters Co. on Amazon

When we went to try them on in person, he didn't like that the band could not be resized or cut off if necessary, and he wasn't exactly feeling the dark color against his skin.  He got to experience what we do with wedding dresses - what brides think they want going in might not be what looks best in person!  

We moved over to the other side of the case and found some white gold rings that were more his style, but left the first time without purchasing.  Last week, when I said we needed to go back, Sphinx said "Oh I thought we wrote down the number of the one I picked?  Don't you need to just call and order mine like I did for you?"  Men, amiright?  I wanted him to be super sure, since he had been wavering between white gold and tungsten on the first shopping trip.  So we went back to the store on Saturday, and I'm glad we did.  He ended up swapping for a slightly different ring that was not on his list; the first had a knife edge, and this one has a comfort edge.  

7mm, 14K white gold band with a brushed satin center./Ramsey's Diamond Jewelers

He didn't want a completely plain band, but he didn't want too much detail either. I really don't think he could have picked a more perfect ring for himself!

I liked it so I put a ring on it!

Looks like he did get his gunmetal color with the flash!  It looked a bit lighter in real life.

I'm so excited to check this off our list so easily! Sidebar: is there such a thing as a to-do list app that showers your screen with confetti when you check something off? That should so be a thing.  Even though we ordered his a little later than mine, they should be in around the same time, and then there's the agonizing wait until the wedding where we can actually wear them!  

Oh who am I kidding, there will be no agonizing wait, because days are flying by at warp speed and I'm doing my best not to completely freak out!  Sure picking vendors and sending out mail to guests makes it all seem pretty real, but nothing like picking out our wedding rings to take you to a whole new level of "OMG, we're getting MARRIED."  

Was your wedding band shopping easy, or did you have trouble finding what you wanted?  Anybody else have a rush of unexpected feelings at seeing your fiance in a wedding band?  Totally wasn't prepared to get emotional about that! 

Fire is Catching

And if you burn, we'll make it a photo op!

Continuing on with the theme of including overdone wedding trends in the Pyramid wedding, I give you - sparklers!  Like the photo booth, we've never attended a wedding with a sparkler exit, and I imagine that a lot of our guests haven't either, so we're doing it!

Found on Style Me Pretty/Photo by Life Writing Photography

About half of Sphinx's stories from his childhood begin with "well, we were making bonfires in the field behind the tracks...", so I always figured this was something he could get on board with.  The Board of Trade allows it, and the arcade area exiting the venue makes for a great place for guests to line up and wave some fire at us while we make out.

Big Easy Wedding Traditions

Happy Mardi Gras, y'all!

Normally we would be spending the day out on the neutral ground catching beads, eating Popeye's and king cake, and drinking some daiquiris (strawberry-colada, please!), but it's disgusting, cold, and rainy over here.  With a cold already coming on for me, and plenty of parades already under our belt, we'll be sitting this one out.

Last night was the Orpheuscapade, where we got dressed up in formalwear to catch beads and party down in the Convention Center.

BM Dino and I racked up 

On Saturday, we hit the streets for the Krewe of Endymion parade - and at least the weather was beautiful for that one!

It was actually hot on Saturday and freezing today.  Go figure.  Like my baby hat?

Okay, that's enough of me trying to prove to you that we're not boring because we're staying in on Fat Tuesday.  I figured it would be the perfect day to share with you some New Orleans wedding traditions, and letting you know what we'll be including in the Pyramid wedding.