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Francesca's Blog Entries

June 28th, 2009 at 12:05:34 by Francesca

Because my husband and I had a wedding in Italy and a vow renewal in the United States, we could not afford to splurge on details. That's why I chose to use my creativity to come up with pretty, but affordable, stationery ideas that I could create myself. In addition to the wedding invitations, I made the programs, menus, place cards, and table cards myself. Here are the results: This is the program that I created. When you opened up, on the first page, you found the names of our parents and special... Read More...

April 2nd, 2009 at 09:35:41 by Francesca

I know it's been a while since I've written. I apologize for that. I was waiting for the pictures to arrive from our professional photographers. Then, our American vow renewal happened (more to come on that), and then arrived the holidays. Now, there are no more excuses. Below you will see some of my favorite pictures from the Italian wedding, which took place in Ischia, a small island off the coast of Naples, on Oct. 2, 2008. When the bride leaves her house (in my case, my aunt's home in Testaccio... Read More...

April 2nd, 2009 at 09:26:26 by Francesca

Having to pay for a wedding in Italy and a vow renewal in the United States, we were always looking for ways to save money and do things ourselves. Because my father is a landscaper, we knew that we could get a hold of flowers for the church. We decided to hire a florist for the bouquets and reception centerpieces and handle the church flowers and the place card area for ourselves. It turned out beautifully. But one bit of advice: Don't take on too much for the day of the wedding. My father, for... Read More...

March 23th, 2009 at 08:09:03 by Francesca

As the daughter of a landscaper who loves flowers, I knew from the start what I wanted for my vow renewal in the United States. For the wedding in Italy, the choices were out of my hands. We were on an island, and the florist was the groom's lifelong friend, so he chose everything and gave the flowers to us as a gift. But in the United States, when we had our vow renewal, all the choices were mine. I wanted a florist who would make my wedding a priority, would pay attention to what I wanted,... Read More...

October 13th, 2008 at 22:08:02 by Francesca

Wedding planning followed by wedding bliss and a bad case of jet lag has prevented me from writing much on this site over the last few weeks. I was in Italy, joined by at least a few relatives and friends from the States, for my wedding celebration. It went off without a hitch. We had a beautiful day. We're hoping to recapture the joy and repeat it at our vow renewal for my family and friends in the States in November. In the meantime, here are some photos of our wedding that might provide some... Read More...

September 16th, 2008 at 11:37:58 by Francesca

Well, I'm back in Ischia, a small island off the coast of Italy, where I'll be getting married in just 16 days. I can't believe it! One of the things we've been doing with our time since I arrived is delivering the invitations to our guests -- by hand and in person. I mailed them to our American guests before I left -- and I made the invitations myself. I thought I would share them -- and the steps I took for making them -- with you. Here goes:  These are images of the example... Read More...

August 12th, 2008 at 12:10:17 by Francesca

I'm as low maintenance as people come. I usually throw on a T-shirt and slacks and either slippers or flip-flops, depending on the season, to start my day. Since I work from home, I quickly run a brush through my hair and put it all up into something that resembles both a pony tail and a bun. I never ever wear make-up, unless lip balm and the occasional clear gloss count. That's why it is no surprise that I put my matron of honor, my cousin Francesca Liao, in charge of my wedding day hair and make... Read More...

August 6th, 2008 at 20:34:25 by Francesca

In my last blog, I wrote about the creative DIY decorations that my family created for my bridal shower. In this blog, I am going to share some of the creative gifts that they gave me. I'm sure they will inspire you -- and the next bride in your life will be grateful. Here goes: You may have seen this before. My mom has done this for other brides as well. She wraps white bath towels to look like a wedding cake and pins them in place. Then she decorates them with silk flowers. For mine, she created... Read More...

August 4th, 2008 at 20:07:39 by Francesca

If you've always been drawn to European, hand-tied bouquets, you will drool over the bouquets I discovered while planning my Italian wedding in June and July. I recently wrote about the flowers for the "Our Paesani" column that I write weekly for an Italian American Web site. You can check out the pictures of the flowers here and get more information about each of the bouquets by heading to ItaliansRus.com. I hope these photos and the article provide you with inspiration and ideas for your wedding... Read More...

July 21st, 2008 at 11:21:20 by Francesca

I have been home from Italy for a little more than a week but I've been MIA on BrideBoard because I was jet lag, had to catch up on work, and my family and friends threw me a super bridal shower two days after I got home. It was supposed to be a surprise but someone in Italy, who didn't understand the whole shower thing, spilled the beans. In any event, I was still surprised by all the work my mom, cousins, and sister put into the bridal shower. They took on a million DIY projects to create a shower... Read More...

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