HSBH Wedding Video

I was smack dab in the middle of a completely different post when all of the sudden my e-mail inbox "ding" went off on my phone.  Something told me to check it right away and OH MY...

it's our long awaited...
highly anticipated...
couldn't wait ANY longer for this...

Wedding Video Short!

It couldn't have come at a better time because Scott gets home from Japan tonight after being gone for a week.  I went back and forth on whether I wanted to share this with you all, but after Scott posted our Bridal Party Reception Dance on Facebook almost instantly, I decided to give you all the first look this time.

While watching this I laughed, I cried like a baby (for majority of the video) and re-lived the best day of my life.

Grab some tissues, a cuddle buddy and your dancing shoes as I now present to you:

Our HBSH Wedding Video. 
*Click the bottom right expand button to see full-screen*


Heather & Scott's SugarPop Short from SugarPop Films on Vimeo.

Amazing.  Every single thing about that day was just how I had imaged it would be.

Want to know the details and how it all came together? More pictures, stories and wedding day details coming your way...
this January.

Surprise! It's a Bridal Party Dance

Starting January 1st, I am debuting something very new and exciting for me.

As you might have noticed, I haven't blogged much about the wedding too much since it happened 7.22.11.  I've shared a few DIY projects, highlights and secrets throughout the journey in the Wedding Category...but I'm waiting to show you a step-by-step breakdown of what the day was like until the New Year.

After a long awaited 4 months, we finally have a video preview of what's to come...

Here you'll see 50 days of planning and teaching choreography via YouTube, an amazing and willing Bridal Party and a perfect wedding reception environment. 

ENJOY the production Scott & I pulled together to perform as a surprise for the guests at our Wedding Reception:


Heather and Scott Wedding Reception Dance Break from SugarPop Films on Vimeo.

Location: Heaven Event Center
Coordinator: Weddings in the City
DJ: Soundwave Entertainment

A HUGE THANK YOU shout out to our wonderful Bridal Party! Great job everyone! :)

Stay tuned for more HBSH Wedding Re-caps:
...coming soon.

Adding a little Love, Laughs & Kisses

WEDDING PHOTOS are in!!! I've previewed them, shared them with family online & hopefully will receive the long awaited for "Hesington Wedding" CD in our hands within the next few days. 

I'm not sure how many of you have seen or have followed my WEDDING PLANNING BLOG:
Love, Laughs & Kisses...first miss now MRS. (anyone...? Bueler?)

From what I've noticed I have a stronger following there and really want to incorporate all of my hard work in the blogging world into one place.  Eventually, I will figure out how to organize & display my wedding info in an easier way, but for now you might have to do a little searching.

I haven't parted with my LL&K blog quite yet, because I want to have it there just in case what I'm trying to do doesn't work out.  It will though...I'm pretty determined to figure it out now.

Just for fun, I've decided to put together:

My All-Time TOP 5 LL&K posts:

1. "You're My Soul Tattoo": getting his & hers HBSH tattoos!

2. Our Honeymoon Album & Video Reel: a DIY scrapbook project & the what I think is hilarious video reel from our Honeymoon.

3.  Bridesmaids, Boas & Beaches: getting spoiled by my bridesmaids for My Bachelorette Weekend Extravaganza!

4.  DIY Bridal Party Tanks: determination to stay on a budget while making my bridal party cute.

5.  Making Those Wedding Day Shoes MINE: another DIY project to make my wedding shoes sparkle!

And the list could go on and on...but I'll just leave you with those.  Want more? They're all here...just take a little stroll in the CATEGORIES section on the right hand sidebar:

Questions:
How would YOU like to see all of my wedding posts organized?
What's your favorite LL&K post?

Happy Wedding Browsing!

Pre-Wedding Celebrations

Okay, okay... before I get to the good stuff, I wanted to share some exciting things that happened during the week of the wedding.  Yes, I WAS running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to get everything done and taken care of in time...but when I wasn't doing that I took a little time to celebrate with the people I love.

The toasting started Wednesday night.  By this time, the majority of the Bridal Party had arrived into Orlando and we wanted to have an outing for everyone to meet each other and go out (since there was no way I was going to be going out the night before the wedding - duh!).

Scott and I held a VIP party for them at one of our frequented spots downtown, called Baby Grands and it was truly a fun time all around.

Me with my sister (MOH), Court & Lauren

By this part of the wedding planning process and week, it was so nice to finally have mostly everyone there and let loose for a night.  At this point in the game, there wasn't TOO much more I could be doing...and what was left to do Lauren sure did help me get done the next day (can't thank you enough for that!!)

I know both Mr. Hess and I had a great night...and somehow - still don't know how this happened - I was convinced to sing a karaoke song for everyone on stage.  Well...at least Scott supported me at the end...you only celebrate your bachelor/bachelorette once right? ;)

Embarrassment on stage.

KDO & I ready for a fun week!

Thursday morning was the day for pampering!  The guys were headed to a laser tag outing, but I was excited to get beautified instead with the girls.  My two aunts and mom hosted a Bridal Brunch & Pedi Party and treated all of the girls in my bridal party to pedis. 

By this time, I had transitioned from stressball bridezilla into a relaxed and anxious bride & I was excited to continue toasting with all of the girls!  Since a lot of Mr. Hess's family was in town by now, they all came to the nail salon too.  It turned out to be such a great morning and great way to kick off the start of the wedding events.

Getting our toes beautified!

 My aunts and mom had been working on making it special for me and I thought the set-up turned out adorable.  There were  mimosas, fruit parfaits & even some mini muffins and cinnamon buns....what's not to love about that?!

It's important to have the "beauty" time for every bride and even bridesmaid to get ready for the big day & I was so grateful to have everyone there with me, as well as Mr. Hess's gals.  That was the first time I truly felt like they were going to be a part of my family, and I would be a part of theirs.  Even my niece (the flowermaid) and Mr. Hess's 3 nieces who did a reading at the ceremony got mini mani-pedis.  They were all absolutely adorable and I had such a nice morning spending time with everyone.

Just another day in paradise...

Me and Scott's momma and step-mom :)

Me with Mr. Hess's nieces

 After everyone's pedi's it was time for Lauren and I to get some things done.  She was honestly my saving grace during this entire day getting everything done and running like rabbits around town.  Finally, we got home and I set my alarm for 4:30pm - whatever I was doing had to STOP or I would have been late for our ceremony rehearsal & rehearsal dinner.  So, when the alarm rang I knew there was no turning back...time to put the paper and pencils down - the time was finally HERE!!!

For some reason I didn't get any pictures of the ceremony rehearsal on my camera, so you will have to see those later on when I get them from my friends.  For now...I can share the rehearsal dinner pictures with you.

Finding a rehearsal dinner venue had been a crazy task for us.  Originally, we wanted to have it at a nice restaurant downtown.  After menu pricing and comparing, we realized that just wasn't going to happen in our little budget we had saved for it.  We finally got the idea of having a backyard BBQ theme, and literally found a great country club to host it in our backyard.

We ended up having barbecue ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, baked beans and coleslaw on the menu.  I'm not sure if my side of the family appreciated it as much as Mr. Hess's but it turned out to be exactly what we wanted.  I found a perfect little black and white "country" lace dress for the occasion and was so excited this day was actually here.

Me and my mom - happy MOB

YUMMY BBQ!

My favorite part was definitely the strawberry shortcake!!!

 But before we cut the cake, my dad wanted to give a speech.  He thanked everyone for being a part of our special day and made me a little bit teary-eyed.  After that, Mr. Hess and I had a video to share with everyone, which if you haven't seen it is on my previous post: HBSH Video Interview & Slideshow.

After the video, it was finally time to cut the cake and dig into the banana pudding and cheesecake (yup - there was an entire dessert table!) lol.  I should have known that Lauren had something up her sleeve...this was the point in the night where she had a surprise guest for me.  She asked me to close my eyes and after a lot of anticipation I turned around and found Austin Powers!

It's a long story, but basically Lauren and I purchased him in middle school, back when the first movie came out and he eventually even came to a school dance with us!!! Anyone who was at that dance remembers him and I was very excited that he made another debut 10 years later!  Mr. Hess and his family wasn't quite sure what this whole thing was really about...but my family knew right away and understood the crazy friendship Lauren and I have, still to this day.

Groovy, baby...Yeah!

I guess Scott had a crazy side to let out with his buddies too, because by the end of the night the boys started doing a funny photo shoot on the club bar.  First it started out as a totem-pole and later turned into a group planking shot.  (See, I told you 2/3 of the groomsmen are basically clones of him).

The faces here are priceless...

Apparently "planking" is the new thing to do...google it!

What a crazy few days!!! By this point of the night, both Mr. Hess and I couldn't have been more excited for the wedding day to get here already!  We huddled our bridal party up and finally gave them their presents we had been working hard on.  You will see the final product when I get my wedding photos back, but for now I can show you how I packaged them. 

I wanted them to have lots of crystals on and had necklaces and earrings made for each bridesmaid (hence, Wedding Hint #1).  I had them hand made by a friend's mother and she did an amazing job.  The picture I took of it really doesn't do it justice, so I'll just show you the cute jewelery travel bags I found for them to wrap them in.

And just like that the day was over...it was show time! We headed off to the hotel and eventually the girls and I fell asleep to wake up to the WEDDING DAY!! 

There's SO much I can't wait to share.  But, while I'm waiting to get photos back, I'll share some of the crafts and projects we had displayed as well as a few other things I didn't want to let out before the day arrived.

My Bridal Shower

June has definitely been a busy month for me, but it has also been a month of celebrating!  We started out the month by getting home from my Bachelorette Weekend and then 2 weeks later I celebrated the wedding date getting closer at my Bridal Shower! <3

Since these 2 huge things are now over, it has been time to focus on the actual wedding day...but it was SO nice to have a day to take a step back from planning and just celebrate what was about to happen in my life!  On June 12th, my mom and sister (MOH) threw me a beautiful, touching and if you ask me...pretty perfect bridal shower.  The most important thing to me was to spend some time with my girls, have some laughs and talk about all of the exciting parts about the wedding...& that's exactly what we did!

Me with my bridesmaids and MOH!

The shower was at my mom's house, and along with my sister, my aunt and some of the girls from my bridal party helping, everyone had helped turn her house into a perfect bridal shower venue.  As I walked into the house, I was excited to see some of my family and friends in what looked like a PINK & LIME GREEN decorated house!  From the food to the favors, everything had a pink & green theme, which I absolutely loved...of course.  It looked like just a preview of what was to come in our wedding colors:

Adorable decorations complete with the day we got engaged printed on the napkins!

 Since the shower was in the morning, they decided to do a brunch menu that were made up of some of my favorite things. When I walked into the kitchen I pleasantly spotted 4 different kinds of quiche, meatballs, cinnamon rolls, chicken salad, croissants, fresh fruit & veggies, cookies and Russian tea cakes just to name a few things.  YUM!  Everyone was politely waiting for me to get there before they ate, but I was anything but shy about digging in to the food when I got there.  Also, I was very delighted to see mimosas and cucumber water on the table next to the food...both of which are very refreshing and right up my alley! :)

As I started to fill up on all of the yummy things listed above, I felt my sister put a nametag on my back and right then we started the first Bridal Shower game: What Female Celebrity Am I? It's a simple game where everyone there gets a famous female celebrity, dead or alive assigned to them and each party guest has to figure out who they are.  Since the nametag is placed on your back, you had no idea who you were, but everyone else did.  The only thing you can do to figure out the mystery is to ask everyone yes or no questions, like "am I a singer?" or "am I alive?" Eventually, if you ask enough of the right questions, you will figure out who you are and the first person who did that first won the game.  The version we played asked everyone to keep asking questions until everyone figured out who they were and the last person to do so also got a prize.  I thought this was a very cute idea and after a pretty good amount of questions I finally figured out my mystery female celebrity was Jennifer Lopez.

After this game got the party rolling, it was time for the next one.  It was a scavenger hunt to see who has the most items off of a 20-item list in their purse.  One of my friends one this game hands down, with only missing 2 items!  It was pretty impressive how much she carries every day in her purse, but also proved to at least be useful items...unlike what I can say about my purse!  There was also a prize awarded to the most unusual item in your purse and what won that was scotch tape.  You wouldn't tape would be that unusual, but this came from a tiny wristlet the size of a wallet...so you can see how it automatically became strange to have!

After the purse scavenger hunt game and a few more refreshments, it was time to play "How well do the bride and groom know each other?" I have always enjoyed these games at showers, because you get to see the personalities come out as both the bride and the groom answer a set of questions about their relationship and experiences together.  For my shower, my future sis-in-law made a cute and ridiculously funny question and answer video of Mr. Hess answering the questions my mom and a few others came up with.  I posted this video a few weeks ago, but just in case you missed it, you can view it here: Funny Bridal Shower Video.

My future sis-in-law and my sister & MOH!

Mr. Hess was asked 15 questions from a friend of mine and for each question that I answered differently than him I had to stick a piece of double bubble in my mouth.  You wouldn't think that would be that bad...until you miss half of the questions!  I ended up getting 7 out of the 15 questions wrong...so apparently I didn't remember everything I thought I would about some of our "firsts" and details about him I guess I should have known!  But - in my defense, there were a few questions I think he purposely answered differently so that I would be forced to stick gum in my mouth....at least that's what I think.  7 wrong answers + 7 pieces of double bubble = one sticky situation!  By the end of the game I had to actually take out the gum to answer the questions...but it truly was fun, I learned some things I guess I should have already known about Mr. Hess & I almost cried from laughing so hard.  Great game! 
 

My niece's face here is hyseterical.  Love this one.

That's a pretty serious wad of double bubble!

Baby Ashtyn is SO precious!

After the Q&A game and taking a minute to rest my jaws from chewing and composing myself from laughing so hard, it was time to open presents! I guess that's one thing you know is coming at a bridal shower - being showered with gifts.  Everyone was so sweet and got me a LOT of great things off of our registry & they are already being put to good use at home!  I have to say, it was kind of weird and a tad akward opening everything in front of everyone, present by present.  I haven't done something like that since I was probably in middle school! Luckily, Mr. Hess will be there to open the rest with me, but it was fun while it lasted solo.  I kept trying to take some of the attention off of myself with one of my bridesmaid's 2 month old baby girl, who attended the shower...in lime green and pink no less.  She was a great diversion from me, and seemed to entertain the guests pretty well as we got through the presents.  I received a lot of great things for both Mr. Hess and I, but I also loved some of the more personalized presents for the honeymoon & for after the wedding!

JUST MARRIED sandals for the honeymoon...it will leave the words in the sand! How cute!

Mrs. Presh apron! SUPER cute!

MRS. Hess blinged out bag for the honeymoon, from my mom.

After the presents were unwrapped and the mimosas were gone, it was time to wrap up the shower.  As I was saying goodbye to everyone and thanking them for coming, it was a very surreal moment for me.  I couldn't believe they were all here for MY bridal shower for OUR wedding...I've said it a million times on this blog, but this year of being engaged has absolutely FLOWN by and it finally hit me that the next big day to look forward to after this was THE BIG DAY!!! For some of my guests, the next time I will see them WILL be on the wedding day...which is so crazy to me!

My Bridal Shower was just what I needed before the wedding day finally gets here.  I got to spend some quality time with my girlfriends and family without any stresses of planning to talk about.  I laughed so hard I cried, got tons of hugs, and left my parents' house that day knowing THIS would be a day I would always remember.  THANK YOU to my sister, mom, aunt, future sis-in-law and to my bridesmaids for throwing me a fantastic party!!! To everyone who was a part of such a special day for me, THANK YOU and I can't wait to keep the celebration going on our wedding day!

Only 24 days to go!

Presh

Bachelorette Weekend: bridesmaids, boas & beaches!

Last weekend the girls in my Bridal Party arranged to take me on a weekend getaway to relax, hang out, get dolled up & go out one last time as a group before the big I DO! It couldn't have come at a better time and not all of my girls could make it, but I had an absolute blast with everyone who could and told them over and over how nice it was to be taken away from the craziness of life for a weekend.

First, let me just say I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing...but I knew wherever we went and whatever we did would be fun.  About 11am on Friday I got picked up by 3 of my bridesmaids, was handed an AMAZING and inappropriate funfetti cake and before I knew it we were on our way to a Bachelorette Weekend Celebration!  Don't worry guys, there's nothing TOO crazy I'm going to share with you on here...the weekend was simply the classic girls weekend filled with pool & beach time, girl talk, going out & even movie time.

So here's where the story starts...

Half of the girls came to pick me up and the 4 of us are driving, singing funny songs & chatting it up on the way to our destination.  I was so happy to just be with females and have a weekend to relax and spend some much needed quality time with all of them. After a little over 3 hours (we had stopped for lunch at one of my fav spots), I was told to take the dress off of my eyes - and yes I said dress, not blindfold...lol) and saw a HUGE PINK hotel with a castle like entrance in front of me.   Is this real?  Are we really staying at a great resort...beach side?!? SCORE!!! 

My girls know me well...it's nice, ON the beach & it's PINK...none other than the Don Cesar Resort! I have never been to a DC before, but I knew pulling up that we had quite the weekend in store for us.

Pulling up to the "Pink Castle"...I'm SO excited!!! :)

YAY! So that's where the surprises began...and they continued when I got to my room - which had apparently been taken over by the "Wild Girls" as the hotel staff called us....

What a great start to a great weekend! When I came into the room I was greeted by my sister (my MOH) and my future sis-in-law, & my bridesmaid HM as a welcoming committee!  I was blown away by how much the girls decorated the room & put into making my weekend so special!  Right away, we celebrated with mimosas and then took a tour of the hotel... I kept thinking how great it was to be here with all of my special girls!

These girls had definitely pulled a fast one on me.  I was so excited to be staying a weekend at such a nice place with the women I love the most by my side.  After we settled in, it was time for the real fun to begin!  The first night we agreed to go ALL OUT, get dolled up & flaunt the fact that this "Barbie Bride" (their words not mine) will officially be off the market in 51 days!!!

So we got dressed, took some pictures & played some fun games to get the night started.  I have to say, my girls were looking good & I felt very lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful women.  When we got downstairs we found the perfect backdrop to take our group photo complete with baby grand piano and pianist.  When someone asked if I could sit on the piano I didn't think he would let me...but I think it was the boa that convinced him.

Ready for a fun night out with the girls! <3

After we took some photos we headed out to eat at a place verrrrry similar to one of my favorites in Orlando - here it's called Taverna Opa but in St. Pete they have Acropolis.  I love this place not only for the great Greek food...but also because about every 5 minutes the entire staff runs around throwing napkins at you and shouts "OPAAAAAAAA!" So much fun! After appetizer after appetizer & hummus plate after hummus plate we were a full group of girls and headed out to a few local bars to dance the night away.

I'm not lying when I say we simply had a fun girls night out...and stayed pretty under the radar.  I was happy to find another bachelorette though who happened to be wearing all white, just like me.  I found her at the point of the night where I had to check off of my Scavenger Hunt to make a veil out of TP.  Since one of my girls, Ash is getting married in 3 DAYS I told her we could make veils for each other...

I dunno...you might see these veils on our wedding days! lol.

We had such a great night out and not only got to celebrate my Bachelorette Party, but at midnight it was also one of my bridesmaid KDO's birthday!

HAPPY HAPPY Birthday KDO!!! :)

So you could say between my Bachelorette Weekend, Ash's last weekend as a single lady & KDO's birthday we had A LOT to celebrate!!!! And we were dressed for the occasion, let me tell you...I'm just going to show you 1 picture of my complete "Bachelorette" outfit...so enjoy that...because it's RIDICULOUS.  We also had some very bright light up rings...and proved to be handy when trying to find each other in the crowd!
What a FUN NIGHT! :) :) :)

All in good fun...amazing job putting this outfit together ladies! haha.

After a fun night out, it was time to hit the BEACH! I can't tell you how long it had been since I've layed out in the sun, much less actually put my toes in the sand...so you could imagine how excited I was!!!! PLUS another one of my bridesmaids showed up, Meggan!!! What a great surprise!! :) :) :)

LOVED staying here!!!

After a long day in the sun, my girls and I figured out the perfect way to spend the evening...seeing the movie BRIDESMAIDS!!! I have been wanting to see this movie for a while now, and what better time to see it than with your bridesmaids by your side?! Plus, I was excited that my girls were going to wear the Bridal Party Tanks I made for them.  They all know me well enough to know I love a great "easy" night at the movies or night in just as much as a fun night out...and it was perfect!

So we grabbed some sushi, enjoyed some Memorial Day martini's & headed over to see the movie!

 

One of my favorite pictures...EVER!!! Look at those 'tudes!

Okay...for the record, Bridesmaids was one of the FUNNIEST movies I have ever seen! People have compared it to the female version of The Hangover, which it very well could be. BUT...guys, don't think it's just for the ladies - I was literally laughing out loud almost the entire movie!!! SO GOOD!!! :) A perfect way to spend a night with my girls.

The next morning was Memorial Day and we spent most of the late morning & afternoon poolside...and it was fabulous. The girls went down early to get us some lounge chairs and we relaxed and enjoyed the last day together laying out and playing some games.  You never know when a good game of Would You Rather might come into play, but poolside proved to be a great opportunity.

HB & HM <3

Hanging Poolside with the girls & Leroy...our favorite groupie.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend to get away with my girls.  I am very fortunate to have them by my side not only for the BIG DAY, but for everything leading up to it.  I am very blessed to have such thoughtful, fun, caring & all around true friends...

THANK YOU for such an amazing weekend!