Here is yet one more reason to hire a videographer, and not just any videographer, a blow-your-budget videographer. Ok, we didn’t really blow our budget, but we went with the creme de la creme, and DVideography was worth every penny. And in fact, we were surprised at how affordable such a top-notch videographer was. If you can fit videography into your budget, do it, and do it to the max.

Ok, so on to the subject of my post. (Can you tell I am a video and photo fanatic?) We got all the raw footage from our videographer so that we had EVERYTHING — for posterity, and to play with. All the videos you see on this blog are edited by me using our raw footage .  . . including this next video. I spent a long time on this baby. I created a holiday greeting that we sent out on DVDs, along with our photo cards and Christmas letters. It was a special Christmas package, indeed. What a great way to share the highlights of our wedding day with both guests and those who could not attend. Ahh, the wonders of video. 

This is a really special treat . . . I hope you love watching it as much as I loved creating it.

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since my last post! It’s been a very busy Christmas for these newlyweds! We celebrated Christmas with my Dad and his wife, then celebrated with my brother, then had our own intimate Christmas together, then had a big Christmas with my Mom and my other brother, and then went to New York for several days to celebrate Christmas with Carter’s family! That’s 5 Christmases in all, and I have lots of neat photos to share! 

It was such a beautiful first Christmas as husband and wife. We spent the morning exchanging gifts under our Christmas tree, and even our dog and cat took part in the action. It was so much fun watching our pets go crazy over the gifts we bought them. And our gifts to one another were so well thought out — it was the thought and the love behind the gifts that made it such an amazing Christmas. I couldn’t have asked for a more precious gift than having my husband by my side on Christmas morning.

Here are two gifts that we bought for ourselves, because we wanted to have special newlywed ornaments on our tree. The first one is from The Disney Store, and we just put one of our wedding photos in it, and the second one is from Snapfish, a photo gift web site. We sent them a digital photo that is lasered right onto the ornament. You can find so many unique, personalized gifts on Snapfish. I highly recommend it!

We also bought each other ornaments. Carter got me the Cinderella and Prince Charming ornament from Hallmark! This was the ornament I wanted the most! And I got him a Phillies World Series ornament.

Carter bought me a very special gift from Na Hoku, a Hawaiian jewelry store. Since we celebrated our honeymoon in Hawaii, and since I fell in love with the plumeria flowers and all the plumeria jewelry that I saw when we were there, he bought me a gorgeous plumeria necklace and earring set. This was an especially sentimental gift to me because on the night of our wedding, we both gave each other wedding gifts from Na Hoku, and it wasn’t even planned. I got him an engraved koa wood necklace, and he got me a dolphin and pearl white gold necklace. It was a perfect end to our perfect wedding day, and a perfect beginning to our Hawaiian honeymoon.

And since Carter is a HUGE baseball fan, and an especially huge Phillies fan, I bought him an authentic Chase Utley World Series Champions jersey. He didn’t expect the gift at all and was very excited about it! I had a lot of fun packaging the gift . . . I put the jersey in tissue paper and then put a bag of Phillies peanuts and a box of crackerjacks on top of the tissue paper. When he opened the box, he saw the peanuts and crackerjacks and got a hint that he was about to receive something baseball-related. It was so much fun to watch him open his gift.

I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful Christmas. 

Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and we plan on going to see Marley & Me and then laughing our way into 2009 at a comedy club. No better way to start the New Year than with a smile on your face! 

And after the New Year, I’ll be back to my regularly schedule programming with lots of wedding planning tips and inspiration! 

I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year’s! Thanks for your continued support!

I hope your holiday season is filled with magic and love! Thanks for reading and for all of your great comments. Lots of bloggy fun to come in 2009!

We are truly cherishing our first Christmas season as husband and wife. Check out some photos from our first Christmas celebration of 2008.

A delightful gift from my dad and his new wife. They got it at www.personalcreations.com. A great gift idea for the newlyweds! We LOVED it! I think it would be so neat to give a bride a set of ornaments at her bridal shower, or to give the newlyweds a box of beautiful ornaments for their first Christmas tree as a married couple.

Me and Cart in front of my mom’s tree:

Me and Carter at my Dad’s house.

My brother and his girlfriend, my dad and his wife, Me, Carter, and my other brother at my dad’s, for our annual Christmas gathering.

In addition to the adorable ornament, we got a gift certificate to Helium Comedy Club and to any Steven Starr restaurant . . . what a great idea! We can’t wait to enjoy both on a date night! What gifts do you enjoy giving to couples or receiving as a couple?

Exciting news!!!!!

Carter and I are the featured real wedding on Brenda’s Wedding Blog, a fantastic resource that’s chock-full of wedding planning info, ideas, photos, links and more. Check us out on the blog, and don’t stop there. One link leads to another leads to another . . . I could stay on this site for hours. Don’t forget to check out the sale that’s going on until December 7th! I’m honored to be a featured real wedding on such an awesome blog. Thanks, Brenda!

At this time (10:00 a.m.) six months ago today, Nilah (my amazing tailor and day-of coordinator) was delivering my wedding dress to my room at Hotel du Pont, and I was waiting for my hair and makeup guru to arrive. I was grinning and bubbling over with excitement because I was getting married to Carter, my best friend in the entire world, and I had been looking forward to this day for years. 

I can’t believe it’s been six months since that day. As life goes on, I’ve had my personal ups and downs, but the one thing that has been a constant source of warmth and joy in my life is my husband and our beautiful marriage. 

I love you, Carter. Happy 6-month anniversary!

Since our wedding day on May 24, 2008 . . . 

we had an amazing honeymoon, spending one week in Maui . . . 

and one week on the Big Island.

In June, Carter gave me tickets to the Olympic Trials for my birthday, and we watched Shawn and Nastia rock the house.

We went to a few Phillies games, and rooted on the team. I heard we were personally responsible for motivating them to become the World Series Champs.

We got all nice and spiffy and went to see our favorite band, the Pat McGee Band. (That’s my brother’s golden retriever, Midas, in the photo with us.)

We took a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, because I absolutely love animals and make it a point to go to the zoo every year.

And we went to Florida for my cousin’s wedding in October. It was so fun and romantic to be at a wedding as newlyweds. We danced the night away!

Tonight, we’re going to toast to a beautiful first six months. We’re looking forward to a very special Thanksgiving and Christmas, spending lots of time with our family and friends, and starting our own holiday traditions as a married couple.

Wishing you all lots of love this holiday season and always!