Incredible Edibles

The OOT Bags have been a big item on our to-do list that has been getting pushed off in the planning. I have big ideas for these little bags. After reading Mrs. Lemon's post, I knew I wanted to include lots of snacks for all of our oot guests. Every guest is from oot and many will be driving close to 5 hours or flying in to get to the wedding. I want to make sure they feel welcomed right from the moment they arrive at their hotel.

I've gone back and forth on what to include, I've debated on RI treats or NE treats or going with our navy and white color scheme, but then we kept finding fun nautical/shore treats and decided to go with a nautical theme. Now we just need to narrow down, exactly what will go into these bags. We know the basics, such as a welcome letter, wedding information, area information, water bottles, maybe postcards, but we've found an overflow of ideas on the snack front.

Source

An obvious choice for us is Starfish Cookies! Newport Mom has already offered to make them using her famous sugar cookie recipe. Dylan's Candy Bar has original Sweedish fish and mixed Sweedish fish, a classic and fun twist. I wonder if Costco's sells these? We know for sure we will be getting Goldfish, as they can be bought in bulk at large discount stores, such as Costco and I love the way Mrs. JellyBean packaged them for her guests.
I'm not really a fan of Salt Water Taffy, but I love these favors from The Original Fudge Kitchen via Martha Stewart. The Jersey Shore is Mr. N's home, where Salt Water Taffy is a staple, so these would be a fun nod to where he grew up.
And Lobsters are a well known favorite in Boston, so these lollipops from Ju-C Suckers via Martha Stewart, would be a fun nod to my hometown, while sticking to the nautical theme.
And from my Shuckie post, I think you can tell I love these cookies.
Newport Chocolates has amazing nautical chocolates in so many fun shapes that would be perfect. They are so adorable, but I've always wanted to try chocolate making, so I think this would be a fun DIY project!

Now we just need to narrow it down. Which treats would you enjoy most? Do you know of any other fun nautical themed treats?

The First Dance

When we first talked about our first dance song, we couldn't figure out what to pick. We never really had a song. With no official song, choosing our first dance song hasn't been easy.

I started looking up lists of wedding songs for everything from cocktail music to entrance options. While searching for father-daughter options, I came across the Beatles "In My Life". I had heard it many times before, but as I was reading the lyrics, it didn't remind me of my father, but it reminded me of Mr. Newport. It even ends with our favorite phrase "I love you more".


I loved it. I actually had a friend tell me the song reminded her of Me and Mr. Newport at another wedding. I'm not sure why, but it confirmed my thoughts of it as the perfect song for us. I told Mr. Newport about my new option and he really liked it, too. I thought we chose our song.

A few months later, we were driving somewhere and Mr. Newport put in his Phish CD. The song "Waste" came on and I told him it always reminds me of him because he used to leave lyrics from the song in his away messages in college. He used to put in the lyrics in reference to me. Mr. Newport asked what I thought of it for a first dance song.


I told Newport Mom about the possibility and she couldn't believe I would want song called "Waste" played at the wedding, let alone as our first dance. Then I had her listen to it, and she changed her mind and thought it was a great option.

So we have a decision to make. Go with a more traditional choice or a less traditional choice. It's hard because we really like both options. I think it will come down to the song we like dancing to better. We'll have to do a little trial.

Do you have an "official song"? Did you use it for your first dance, or go with something completely different?

Ms. or Mrs.?

On my morning commute the other day, I was reading the Boston Metro and came across an article titled Take your husbands name- and lose money. It was just a quick article, which warns that taking your husband's name will "harm your career".

The article goes on to state that women who take their husband's last name are judged as "more dependent and less ambitious" and "less intelligent and competent" than women who keep their maiden names.

It quotes a statistic from a study in the current issue of Basic and Applied Social Psychology, stating women who take their husband's last name earn nearly $1,500.00 less per month. I wonder what types of women were polled in this survey which came up with these statistics. I feel it is more common in certain industries to keep your maiden name. I know many lawyers that feel that they have spent so much time building a name for themselves, they decide to either keep their maiden name, or at least keep it professionaly. I think it would be interesting to see if it has different effects in different fields.

Has your career made an impact on your decision of whether or not to keep your maiden name? Do you think people would judge you for taking your husbands name?

Special Delivery

When Mr. Newport and I were first talking about marriage, I was pretty sad at the thought of no children in our wedding. There just weren't any kids we were super close to at the time and we didn't want to choose random kids to be in our wedding.

Source (If you can't tell, the bib says "I heart my auntie")

The week after Sister Newport got engaged, Brother Newport who lives in another state called the family to let us know Sister Newport would have a little ring bearer or flower girl in her wedding (and yes, that is how he announced his baby to our family). It was an amazing surprise! At that point we weren't engaged, but I knew it was coming and I knew it meant we'd have a special little person in our wedding, too. It just so happend that a few weeks after Mr. Newport proposed, our little flower girl was born on Halloween. Exactly five years from the day Mr. Newport first asked me out. October is a good month for the Newport!

Brother Starfish asked me to be Little Newport's god-mother. Little Newport is one of the loves of my life. I'm so excited to have not just a flower girl in our wedding party, but to have the specialist little girl in our lives walk down the aisle in front of us. Or knowing her...she may be running down the aisle!

And while she is running down the aisle, she will be in style! I found the cutest dress at the Stationery Studio. I originally wanted it in navy, but it literally was discontinued the week I placed my order, after having been available for a year and a half. But that's probably a good thing. I'm excited that Little Newport will be in white, and her parents will be in navy. I hope my photographer gets an awesome family photo! Are you having any kids in your wedding party?

Bridesmaid Surprise Savings

So recently, I updated letting you know, that the girls had found their dresses. What I forgot to mention was the fact that right before we placed the order, we got a great surprise....

Sister Newport and Bridesmaid L (in one of my favorite dresses)

Our bridesmaid consultant at Flair called to get the last bridesmaid's measurements and surprised me by saying the fabric I chose was being discontinued. Normally this could be a bad thing, but she said we will have enough time to get the dresses ordered, and they will now be at an even bigger discount!

I'm more excited that my bridesmaids are saving money than if my own dress were getting a discount! I feel guilty having my friends spend so much money on me, so it was awesome to get a surprise savings.

Did you have any great surprises with cost savings during your planning?

Beef or Chicken?

We recently had our food tasting and let me tell you, there were a lot of unexpected surprises that day. For one we started the morning on an impromptu wine tasting in Sakonnet on our way to Newport.

Going to our tasting, I was pretty sure of what we would pick, at least for the entrees. The ABC has 3 different packages. Within each package there are set entree options. So no matter what you pick, the pricing is the same. So when I saw Filet Mignon was an option, I knew for sure it would be on our menu. I love a good filet!

I also knew we would get a chicken option. Most of my family members are picky eaters. So this again was a definite on our menu. The ABC has two chicken options, chicken picatta or marinated and roasted breast of chicken with mandarin sauce. Chicken picatta seems like it would be a much better choice. I'm a reformed picky eater, so thinking of my own tatse buds I thought there is no way I would have wanted the chicken with any sauce. I used to like really bland food. Picatta sounds like a safer choice for picky eaters.

When it came time to set up our tasting, we were to give the ABC four options we'd like to taste. We opted for the two chickens, the filet, and a new york sirloin. Mainly because we could try up to four options.

New York Sirloin

Filet Mignon with twice baked potato

Mandarin Chicken

Chicken Picatta

After tasting the food, I did a 180. Mr. Newport loved the New York Strip and I loved the Mandarin Chicken. Not what we expected, but we are really happy with our choices.

We also surprised ourselves by deciding to include a pasta cource. I was having trouble deciding if we should include an extra hor' deurves or the pasta course. Mr. Newport and I were leaning towards the hor' deurves and our Moms liked the idea of the pasta dish. After trying the penne in pink vodka sauce, we were sold. It was one of my favorite parts of the tasting! We ended up with choices we weren't expecting, but happy with what we chose. Did you serve all time favorite dishes for the wedding, or go with something you weren't expecting?

See you at the Alter

Every blog I read seems to have a first look now. And they always end up with amazingly cute photos. There are some big advantages to seeing each other pre-ceremony. I started considering the advantages and came up with a few.

1. More intimate moment. Seeing each other for the first time without a crowd of people.
2. Relieve my nerves. Mr. Newport calms me down and I feel like pre-ceremony, I'll be a mess. Seeing him pre-cermeony would probably make me feel more relaxed.
3. More time for photos.
4. Elongate the wedding fun with each other. Sister and BIL Newport got ready in the same location, it was a fun morning.

All photos from the Snap! photography blog

So there really are some great reasons to do a "first look" pre-ceremony. The pictures above were good enough reason alone to do it. But inspite of these great advantages, we are opting to skip the "first look".

Why? I'd really love to spend the morning taking photos complete with a photo shoot like Sister and BIL Newport, but I'm really looking forward to walking down the aisle and seeing Mr. Newport for the first time that day. He is too.

It's like in 27 Dresses, how Jane's favorite part is watching the groom's face as the bride walks down the aisle. Everyone's eyes are on the bride, but she likes to watch the groom's reaction to the bride. I honestly always look at the bride, but for our wedding I'd love to see Mr. Newport's face for the first time, as the excitement builds up, as I take my last walk as a single girl.

Are you doing a first look? What was the deciding factor?