Ok...at the risk of a verbal thrashing from Carla & Amanda...we're blogging from our honeymoon but just to say we're here, we're safe, there's SUN! And lots and lots of these:
When we got here we found out that our room had been upgraded to a villa on the hill with killer views of the water and today they brought us a champagne breakfast in bed. Life in paradise is good!
Well it's about 1 in the morning and we're getting ready to head out to JFK to leave on our honeymoon!!
We're ready for the tropics...
We're off shooting a killer two-day wedding and THIS is the room they gave us to download in....yea, life is hard! :)
Here's the slideshow recap from Melissa & Lon's wedding (to one of my all time favorite songs!). Check out how awesome these guys are! (And keep an eye out for some killer shots from Krystal of StudioFoto...she rocks!!)
I'm very proud... I've never "detailed" a refrigerator before. Yesterday I took the entire thing apart, cleaned it, and put it back together. I even tricked it out with a pair of fresh 40w bulbs for that ultra bright and clean look everytime the door opens. Then, Mary and I took a trip over to the local market to stock it up with lots of healthy stuff. There really is life beyond takeout!
PS. yes that IS really 9 different kinds of mustard in the door on the right... we admit we have a problem.
Step One begins...
Random surprising fact #1 about being newlyweds: we REALLY did automatically shift into overdrive with the whole nesting process. I thought since we had a pretty good set up already going in our apartment that this phase would pass us by... but apparently not! Even Justin is all about looking at new silverware and taking wine glasses off the shelf to test the ring they make when he flips them. You can imagine how much the store clerks are LOVING him :)
On the four hour drive up to Vermont (and then back again on the trip home) we had a lot of time to talk about planning our marriage. We spent hours on end attending to every detail of our wedding, but it turns out that this was only a fraction of the fun that talking about setting up our married life would bring! We talked about everything from date nights to laundry days to always having a bottle of white wine in the fridge. And then, of course, we covered much more serious stuff like budgets, paying bills, and the goals we have for ourselves in the next couple of years. I know, i know... it sounds like really boring stuff! But it's not at ALL to us...we can't get enough of it...and that's the surprising part!
We've been asking everyone we know for ideas and advice on little (or big) things we can do to set up this new life of ours. We're looking for everything from schedules (like we've decided that Monday is grocery day and date nights are on Friday) to organizational stuff (we just took three big bags to Goodwill) to praying together and cooking together (lol...we just bought THIS book:)
We even have the amazing Amanda coming in next week to help us conquer the clutter in our lives and we can't wait! She is absolutely incredible with all the organizational stuff and even has a background as a personal organizer. Definitely be sure to keep an eye out for some exciting things from her in the next few months! But until then, we want to hear from you guys! Basically we're looking for any and all advice or ideas that you have that even remotely relate to having an awesome marriage and a home away from all the craziness (instead of one that adds to it!)
So here's the deal, leave us all your ideas in the comments section (cause you know we love us some comments!:) and at the end of the week we'll pick our favorite(s) and the winner will receive a $50 gift card to Williams Sonoma (ok, ok, OR Home Depot if you're all about the power tools). And feel free to post more than once if you come up with something else! We can't wait to see what you guys think up!
Everyone has been asking who on earth we're going to get to design the volumes of albums it's going to take to house all of our favorites from the wedding, so I wanted to tell all of you about the super HOT new company Krystyle Designs that we are so blessed to have in charge of our books. Our amazing friends Krystal & Paul just started this company after we all had spent months drooling over their albums and begging them to do design work for us. I have honestly never seen anything like the books they do! They are literally works of art, and the love and care that Krystal puts into her work shows in every single layout. These guys are so unbelievably talented and we couldn't believe it when they gave us our book design as a wedding present (ok, since they are two of the most generous people we have ever met, I actually could believe it but we were still blown away at what an incredible gift this is!!) I'm just so happy that our wedding was when it was so that they actually have time to do our books, because I can tell you that in about a month once word gets out about these guys, they are going to be booked solid! We've already signed on to have all of the albums for our top packages go through them and I can't wait to see how blown away our clients are going to be!! Paul & Krystal, you guys amaze us more every day we know you and we can't thank you enough for everything you do for us!!
Maple syrup, apple cider, hammock swings, moose crossings, an outdoor jacuzzi surrounded by all the colors that only peak foliage can bring and maple sugar scrubs at one of the top spas in the world...ahhhh I heart Vermont!!!
omg!! we just checked Matt & [b]ecker's blogs and all we can say is WOW!! we are just blown away and totally speechless! We are seriously the luckiest people in the world to have so many amazing pictures of our wedding day from all of our incredible photographers, and I can't even begin to think how many volumes of albums it's going to take to bring together all of our favorites. We'll need an entire library devoted to it! We can't even begin to thank you guys enough! And we just keep thinking about how blessed we are by all of your friendships! Goodness! I think we must be just about the luckiest people on the planet right now!
It was also so awesome having our CT PUG family surrounding us on the wedding day! Many of them worked all day shooting other weddings and then raced over an hour out to ours just to be with us. I get so choked up thinking about how much love they have brought to our lives and to have them there to share with us just made the entire day. Check out Amanda's blog for some wonderful ceremony shots and killer shots of the details... and Steve's blog for some super fun shots of all the last moments of the night. Thank you guys so much for everything!
UPDATE: Also check out Carla's blog for an awesome slideshow from our rehearsal cruise and Jacklyn's blog for some more killer wedding shots!
First off, check out our incredible slideshow from our dear friend and amazing photographer, David Jay. We will never be able to thank DJ enough for flying all the way out here from Santa Barbara to shoot our wedding, and for bringing together an awesome group of people! Not only did we have him shooting our wedding, but Becker, Matt Grazier and Sarah Barlow all came along to hang out too! I tell ya, it was like the dream team of wedding photography! DJ we are so blessed by your friendship, and you never cease to amaze us with your kindness and generosity. We love you!!
So...Yay!! We did it!! I'm officially Mrs. Marantz! The day was just absolutely incredible in every single way and I can't wait to tell you all about it... but right now my husband (!!!) is telling me we need to run out the door for our mini-moon in Vermont. We'll be taking the full honeymoon in November, but we're off right now for a couple of very relaxing days at the spa. We'll be back on Wednesday night though, so that we can head down to PhotoPlus. We're going to be speaking at the Pictage booth on Thursday at 1, so be sure to drop by and say hi if you're around!! And here's the full schedule of speakers for you to check out:
Thursday, October 18:
11am-12pm-Bob Davis
12pm-1pm-Bruce Plotkin
1pm-2pm-Justin & Mary Marantz :)
2pm-3pm- Mike Larson
3pm-4pm- Denis Reggie
Friday, October 19:
11am-12pm-Amber Holritz
12pm-1pm-Dane Sanders & Sara France
1pm-2pm-Travis Broxton
2pm-3pm-Joe Buissink
3pm-4pm-David Jay (our rockin' wedding photographer extraordinaire!!)
Until then we'll miss you guys!
The Marantz's
oh yea...and check out this fun picture Miss Amanda got of me at the crazy bachelorette party on Thursday!
I'm sitting in the lobby of the Mystic Marriott waiting for my room, while my beautiful bride is upstairs starting to get ready. I can't believe we're already here on our wedding day.
I've been watching the weather forecast for the past week and half, which at times was pretty scary, but we were so blessed to wake up this morning to blue sunny skies and a cool October breeze.
The last couple of days have been nothing short of amazing! It's been such a blessing to have all of our friends and family share in all of our excitement. We'll be sure to catch up and share everything from the last few days as soon as we can.
right now... time for breakfast!
J
Today is my Justin's birthday!!! He's 26 years young today! We started off the day with candy corn (his favorite!) and a couple little presents, but we've decided to have his real birthday celebration tomorrow night as Carla, Steve & Paul are planning him a huge KILLER party (don't worry, it wasn't a surprise!) We didn't have much time to celebrate today as we've been running all over creation and packing everything up to go, so make sure to give him a TON of love in the comments!
I'm pretty sure your living room does not look like ours right now! At least, I hope not! Welcome to Wedding Central. Home of ribbon, bags, tissue paper, copper buckets, signs, tags, jars, cameras, candles...yes just about every possible thing you could ever have or need for a wedding. Without giving away too much, here are a few details I grabbed around the room.
I'm not sure if it was a sign, but with 7 days left until the wedding Mary pulled this out of her fortune cookie last night.
We just wanted to share with you our CT PUG video that we made for PartnerCon LA. Check it out up on cutframe.tv (or if you have an iPhone you can see it on youtube also)
HAPPY WEDDING MONTH TO US!!!!!! ("You get a day, not a month")
I'm busy working on the most killer bridesmaids-getting-ready-mix EVER!! I was very disappointed to find that no one on the internet had a decent playlist posted, so I'll make sure & list the full thing once I'm done. But for now, here's just a sample:
All I wanna do- Heart
Going to the Chapel-The Dixie Cups
Angel of the Morning- Juice Newton
Kiss- Prince
When Doves Cry- Prince
Then He Kissed Me- The Crystals (that song from Adventures in Babysitting, c'mon!)
Show me Heaven- Maria McKee
The Look- Roxette
It must've been Love-Roxette
Nothing's Gonna Stop us Now- Starship
We Built This City- Starship
I won't do that- Meatloaf
Walking on Sunshine- Katrina & The Waves
Runaround Sue- Dion...AND the Belmonts
Total Eclipse of the Heart- Bonnie Tyler
...and of course, the perennial favorite: BABY GOT BACK- Sir Mix Alot
It's gonna be a two disc set with about 30 songs. I'll post em all when I'm done, but does anyone have anything to add in the mean time?
"Carla is one of the kindest people I know who loves supporting her friends and giving them a helping hand whenever they need it. Her photography is beautiful and her style is ever evolving and always right on. Carla is the very definition of a fire lighter - one of those people whose energy you feed off of. Even when I've had a tough day or I'm super tired when I see her I can't help but smile because she is so passionate about her photography, her family, and her friends." - Miss Amanda Harris
Amanda just posted about this on her blog and I just wanted to second, third and fourth everything she had to say!!! Ms. Carla Ten Eyck has quickly become one of our best friends in the whole world. She has been there to pick us up, push us further, and cheer us on in everything we do. All of the best things that are happening to us right now would just not have happened without her, plain & simple. And not just us, but anyone who is lucky enough to know her. Her heart is so big and she shares it with everyone around her. And now it's our turn to give back some of that love. Carla's show "See Real Women: Really See Women" is opening ***THIS THURSDAY 5:30-7:30 pm*** at the Hartford Public Library and you can bet your cotton socks that we'll be there with bells on...bells and "we love Carla" signs...and nothing else. :) For the project she asked women to depict how they felt most beautiful and then was there to photograph them. She's also made an incredible book of these shots for those of you who can't make it to the show and you can go HERE for more info on buying your very own copy for the beautiful women in your life. I just ordered mine and I can't wait to see it!!
We love you so much Carla and we are all so unbelievably proud of you!! I hope pom poms aren't too much for your front & center cheering section!!
love you!
M:)
