We''re Married & with Stories to Tell!

[heart prongs]

Cogratulations to the happy couple. What a beautiful bride you were and Greg looks so happy. It sounds like you had a fabulous time over the past few weeks. So where's the photo of the new rings on Tahitian-Tan hands. I know you have at least one!!! I'm so glad everything went well for you guys. How does it feel to be married??? Welcome back, kl

 

[Mara]

Okay KL...here you go

Hands less bloated today. Rings look very nice together actually, and I like the wedding ring by itself as well but honestly, I don't know a scenario when I would not want to wear my engagement ring, its too beautiful. So both it is.

 

[Mara]

and just wedding ring. My hands and skin has been SO DRY since we got back from the tropical weather...slathering on lotion and creams every hour practically.

 

[heart prongs]

http://southbeachsun.com/site/after_sun.asp

WOW, that looks awesome...thanks so much for posting. You've got it all Mara -- a great guy, gorgeous rings, nice nails and a tan...what more could a girl ask for?! (Did I just ask that on PS?)

The above post is to the two after sun lotions that I absolutely swear by. Spent a week on the beach in Florida and never peeled...smells good too.

By the way, did I tell you the first 4 days of our HM will be in Kauai; you'll have to tell us where and where not to go as August approaches.

Again, welcome back...kl

 

[Mara]

Hehe what more could a gal want...exactly.

Coincidentally just did my nails today!




Because of the humidity in the tropical areas...we didnt have to wear much lotion at all and it was great...so it is coming back to the drier locale that my skin is protesting. I wear salves at night on my hands and lips and slather on lavender oil mixed with dry skin lotion for the body. Hee Hee.

 

[researcher]

Wow.

You must feel like such the princess! A great guy who bought you a stunning ring, a beautiful wedding ceremony, and a perfect honeymoon...what more would a girl want? Congrats!

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Hey Mara,

Glad to see your back bumpin elbows with the rest of us again...

Your wedding and reception looks like it went as planned and your pictures are great...

The both of you look very happy...

Congratulations!!!

 

[pqcollectibles]

Beautiful pics!! So glad everything went well for you both!!

And sooo tanned!! I can see where your e-ring stone was sitting on your finger!!

 

[Giangi]

You took some great shots, Mara... It's very clear that you had a great time!

BTW, your wedding set looks terrific!

 

[bling]

Welcome back Mrs Mara!
Thank you so mcuh for sharing your wedding with us! i guess you know us all too well, and we would have asked for the details had you not posted them. I am so happy for you and Greg..and now you can just relax and enjoy being husband and wife. It must be a great weight taken off your shoulders (a good weight though.. ). The pics look absolutely amazing..you did a fantastic job..what a beautiful bride you were!
well, my wedding is also in Hawaii, but will be far more casual than yours...of course, im not the crazy planner you are either..hehehe.. but if it turns out half as well as yours, ill be happy! again..thanks for sharing and its so nice to have you back!

 

[Mara]

thanks everyone! my fingers are very tan PQ and the e-ring did leave it's mark!

bling did you recently decide on Hawaii? Which island?




it was a blast but read what I wrote about destinations and the stress from playing host and hostess as well. as long as you are prepared, I think it will be easier!

keep us posted!

 

[Jaded Gem]

Congratulations Mara and Greg!

So finally the big day is over for both of you.

Excited, relieved, relaxed, and now back to work?!

So do you guys miss your vacation? Yeah, I went to Hawaii before, but we only were in Oahu. I'd like to go back and see the less commercialized touristy areas like some of the other surrounding islands. Oh well...post some more pics and stories.

Hey so are you and others still up for the Pricescope gals get together sometime in August? Not much is happening in the windy city. We're thinking about getting back to the Bay area possibly in the next six months because of hubby's relocation for work again. Anyway, tell us more about your beautiful rings. I think, don't quote me, your diamond was from Whiteflash, right? Details, specs? Did you just buy the diamond there and had it customized elsewhere? Was it the same vendor for the wedding ring also? Beautiful!

 

[Mara]

JG....us Bayarea Gals are up for anything! We already had a small meeting once and should have another sometime this summer I would think. Let us know when you and your hubby are coming to visit.




My rings...the engagement ring was from a local Aptos jeweler, we had a stone from him and had his designer commission the ring. Then I decided I wanted something better cut, so we sold the stone back to him, and went to WhiteFlash and got a new much-better cut stone. The wedding band we had commissioned entirely by WhiteFlash with small ACA melee. The price was similar to if we had used our Aptos jeweler again, but the ACA melee was more fun. Funny thing is that I can't see that much of a difference betweeen my e-ring melee and ACA but I did ask the Aptos jeweler for the 'best' melee they had, so maybe it was close to being that great? Who knows! They look beautiful together, stunning and I love them!

 

[aneelcon]

Wow Mara you look beautiful!!!!! Great pictures of the both of you

I too just came back from the islands (had a wedding on Oahu) and we have finally decided to have the wedding there....eeek...the planning begins

.

Just want to say congrats Mrs. Mara and hope we do do a get together sometime soon. Take care!

 

[Nicrez]

Mara, sounds like an AMAZING time! What a picture perfect wedding and honeymoon! You two make such a beautiful couple!!!




Ok, I am starting to think that you are missing your calling as an events planner...Honestly...Such detail and care...and look how wonderful it all came out!




More pictures of Tahiti please, and of the ceremony if you can!!!!

 

[Mara]

Haha Nic..the funniest thing about you saying that is that on the dance floor, I had Greg's father telling me that I should seriously consider being an events planner! He was so impressed with how everything turned out. It was really nice to hear that from a MAN of all people!

Also I had other people tell me how calm I was and how lovely everything turned out. I think everyone had a spectacular time...it was a fabulous evening. Things were really down to the wire inside the house with the gals and myself finishing up, but in the end it all worked out.

The photographer is about to post all of his pictures, we are DYING in suspense here. He says he got tons of great shots and had to Photoshop out lots of mosquito bites (on yours truly, the mosquito's favorite feeding ground). I have a huge Tahiti photo album on Ofoto...see if this link works:




http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=cdxn47v.999j7h8f&x=1&y=-22fzfq

 

[Mara]

few more pix... from my parents camera.

 

[Mara]

something is blocking part of this photo but it's the only shot i have so far of us smooching.

hopefully the photographer got a good one. you can see the beautiful orchids in my hair in this picture.

 

[Mara]

our lovely and absolutely yummy $200 cake. we ate the rest of it over the next 2 nights with friends and family before we took off for tahiti.

 

[Mara]

my parents took this cool shot of my bridal bouquet with the fans we gave on people's plates with their names tied by ribbons. these are our two fans.

 

[Mara]

and this last one for now...the bridesmaids bouquets which were ADORABLE, along with our menus which were placed on people's plates on top of the fans...small hurricanes with candles which were scattered on tables, fans, and the placecards that went above their plates.

 

[moremoremore]

wow that's a lot of photos! Cute cake!

 

[moremoremore]

hey- how the heck do I get that little line to show up underneath my signature....so it doesn't look like part of the message.... guess I could do it manually...

____________________

 

[Mara]

put the line in with your signature, manually. then it will show up each time..

 

[Nicrez]

Mara! Loved the pictures! So beautiful! Honestly, when you are ready to start that wedding/events planning, I am totally the customer to start with...any experience in St.Thomas wedding planning?

Truly must have been such a memorable wedding and honeymoon! Congrats again for becoming a Mrs...and now a mommy...to Princess Portia of course...

 

[bling]

hey mara,
thanks for the pics! i love love your choice of flowers! thats exactly how i envision mine to look..so elegant and not big and flashy. im working with my coordinator, and if you dont mind, will send her the photo you posted.
were heading off to the island of maui..its a very small affair, with just immediate family and close friends..maybe 20 of us. we opted for very simple so we are getting married at the hyatt resort and having the coordinator there take care of most of the arrangements. i dont have near the planning skills as you to pull a long distance wedding off!

were getting pretty excited, and although im not pullling my hair out, cant wait for it to all be finished..
i surely hope ours turns out half as good as yours..the weather on you wedding day looked perfect!
thanks again!

 

[Mara]

Just an update, here are a few pictures from our professional photographer Andy...he came with us from SF to Hawaii and he is absolutely amazing! The normal wedding shoot ends up with about 200 pictures, he ended up with 600 from ours! He also shot the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner so we got some bonuses.

There are so many amazing pictures in that 600...I have finally just finished going through them all and getting our proofs and items ordered. I got a bunch of 8x12's and similar large sizes for framing..I did a photo farm on our dresser in our bedroom with a few amazing large pictures in silver matted frames (one of my favorites is not pictured here but it's a closeup of just our hands as we hold hands after the wedding...my dress and his suit as somewhat of a sideline to our hands).




He also took many amazing shots such as the lit tree pictured here, we got the amazing large banyan tree in a sepia tone, he took a picture of our hammock (and us laying in it), a bunch of us on the beach with the sunset (sunset pictured below!) and the bridal party. Also some of the party favors...such as our colorful drink umbrellas, a shot of the Hawaii newspaper headline..etc. I have blown up alot of these and framed them and plan to blow up others even more..aka this amazing shot of the lit trees and the group from a distance in the darkness...all you see is blurs of light and people ...its really cool! I would love to get a 20x30 or similar print of that and frame it for our dining room with a huge black frame and double mattes.




Anyway, they are getting tons of our money in reprints, but isn't that the way it always is with wedding pictures?!

We are so happy with our photos, it was very important to us because we chose to forgo a video (though we had a friend take one of the ceremony which turned out quite well) to get the pictures and setup we really wanted..aka bringing Andy with us.




So here are just a few of the 600...I had to dumb down the quality a bit to save the file for Pscope...but he made us look simply amazing!

Everyone looks spectacular in the pictures, I wonder what he did with Photoshop?!

It was a huge perk to see how lovely the pictures turned out of the families and friends, because now everyone has professional pictures with people they love to enjoy.




Lastly, check out their work at www.orangephotography.com. The event division is www.orangeexposure.com and our photographer was Andy Berry!

If you are in SF or Silicon Valley...I highly recommend him and his team!

 

[heart prongs]

Oh Mara, those are lovely!!! Can you believe it's almost three months...less than three weeks for us now (8/15)...some of those shots would make beautiful paintings...anniversary gift idea...post more!!! kl