Wedding Photos Galore

So many wonderful shots were captured by our wonderful Photographer Pamela Luedeke. She just posted our proofs and we can't stop going through them.

Some of my favorite shots were taken in between the ceremony and the reception at the Museum of Science and Industry and the Osaka Gardens. The dance floor shots are great too...







Here's a little (well, it's 10 minutes long) slide show....

Wedding Photo Slideshow from Erica Rangel on Vimeo.

I'm not to shabby myself...

I also know my way around the kitchen. I've fallen in love with two new cookbooks I got from friends as wedding presents and can't wait to dive in.

First up: Parsnip Soup, Butter Lettuce Salad with Peach dressing.



Main course: A page out of Sunny Anderson's book...Pork Chops with an Apple Cider and Onion Gravy with Roasted Potatoes.




And it was all possible with my favorite kitchen item, my Lodge dutch oven, I could cook everything in here!

Oh dutch oven, how I love thee...

First home-cooked meal as a married couple

We brought back some brats from The Brat Stop on our way home from our mini moon in Lake Geneva, WI. We had a nice quaint trip, and were excited to get back to normalcy and COOKING!

Have I mentioned how lucky I am to be married to a great cook?



We discovered a new love for a WI Microbrew...

More wedding helpers

Gotta give props to my aunts and cousins for helping out with all the small wedding projects, but I know they secretly loved it. Here they are filling up the small packets of rice...

Wedding Shout Outs

So our kickass Videographer, a friend of mine, Ryan Ferguson went around during cocktail hour and shot people sending us nice messages, most of them were nice, some were very sweet and thoughtful, some offered advice, others were shy, others, JIM STANLEY, not so shy....

Wedding Rice

The old ancient tradition of throwing rice at the newly married couple is one of peace and prosperity. It dates back to ancient Greek custom of throwing wheat or some sort of grain for many reasons:
1. To wish that the couple may never go hungry and always have everything they need
2. That the bride be fruitful
3. To ward off evil spirits, because well-fed spirits, would bring no trouble to the couple.

So we threw rice...little did I know that Jon would be flicking it out of my hair so it wouldn't come out in pictures later...

Wedding stuff

So I can't wait to get all my wedding photos back from our Photographer Pamela Luedeke! I'm sure she got great shots, especially of all the details, my family and I, and Jon slaved over! Here are a few sneak peaks at some pics...

Here we are assembling the menus, which apparently none of my aunts noticed, probably because none of them had their reading glasses on...


Final product, my flash SUCKS, will have to wait for Pam's final shots...


Placecards were a total last minute thought, I knew I wanted to use the velvet ribbon from the invites, but didn't have enough! So I bought some peacock blue ribbon to mix and match them...


Here I am hot gluing something...


And again Pops helped, loved developing systems for doing things faster and "more efficiently" and he did, he scored and folded all my programs, TWICE, had to re-print after finding a typo, I had spelled Jon's name wrong: JONANTHAN





Last but not least my dear sister and mother helped cut organza sashes for the chair Peacock ties, all 222 of them! And Oli steamed them too. Again, Pops tried to develop a system, but we booted him out...





All in all, i had a wonderful time with all my DIY projects, who even knows if I saved money, it added a unique touch!

Roasted Pork Loin and Creamed Spinach

Have I mentioned what a great cook my husband-to-be is? Roasted Pork Loin in a wine sauce with Creamed Spinach and Gorganzola cheese was on the menu the other night, along with one of my faves, rustic garlic bread....enjoy, I sure did...



Don't be deceived, the recipe was not from Food and Wine, I just happen to be reading it while Jon was cooking!

Shower of love

I was so overwhelmed at my shower, but all with joy. It was such an honor to have all my lovely ladies there, friends and family and future family. My sister, mom, aunts, cousins and friends did a great job planning it. My Aunt Tere held it at her gorgeous home, had her amazing backyard all set up, but it was UNBEARABLY hot out and humid, and I was sick, so we had it inside, but it was still a lovely event. Jon said he was so flattered with all the gifts, he is still in shock at all we received. I am in shock that my ladies stayed as long as they did to watch me open them all up! A special thanks to my Sistur!

Wedding is my job right now (not really, but yes)

So who thought that planning a wedding could be a full time job? Well, when you DON'T have a job, it becomes one, so here is what I've done lately....

-Booked Mariachi Alteno for cocktail hour and dinner service



-Picked out readings and music for ceremony (I sure hope Beyonce's Halo sounds good as an instrumental version or my mother is going to kill me!)

-Researched hair and make-up and met with my stylist, here are my faves 'do so far


-Designed our wedding bands (I copied my dad's cousin's wedding band, with a little of my flair, Jon of course got the plainest thing on Earth, and I love him for it)



-Had our food tasting at Fulton's, owned by Levy, everything was delicious and very unique which Jon and I love. We are even serving a fresh Pinot Grigio called "Little Black Dress," how sassy is that?!

-I even wrote all my thank you cards for my shower guests on my plane trip to Seattle, so proud of myself!

Speaking of my shower...

Invitation Workshop Video

Narrated by my sister, the slave driver...

Invites sent! And some already received...

Thanks to the help of my MOH Oli, my bridesmaids/cousins Sofi and Vero and my Pops, the invites got made and sent out! So excited how they turned out and so excited that people are receiving them already, way to go USPS!

Here are pics from the "workshop"

Thank God for Lulusplendor on Etsy

She is creating wonderful pieces for my bridesmaids and myself. I highly recommend her site!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5934977

To continue the peacock feather motif she is creating these hair clips for my lovely ladies....

Flower Child

FYI, I'm going to have the most adorable children as my flower girls and ring bearers. Jon's twin niece and nephew will be our flower girl and ring bearer along with my Cousin's son Zach and my other Cousin's daughter Delilah, here are pics of her...