October is truly the month of celebration for me. Outside of my birthday month, which is December, I think it's safe to say October is my second favorite month, if not running a very close tie to the month of December. Two weeks ago, I celebrated the one year anniversary of my Allured By Design brand and blog launch, which launched on October 4, 2016.
Today, October 15, 2017...I celebrate my six year wedding anniversary to my love,
Mr. Charles Anthony Piazza known to many simply as "Charlie P."
Charlie and I will also celebrate a full ten years of being together on October 22nd of this year as well. So, indeed October is a very special month of reflection, love, happiness and most importantly gratitude for blessings received and those yet to come. This blogpost I assure you, won't be filled with mushy declarations of love line by line. I'll save all of the mushiness for me and my husband alone as we celebrate our love and union together, as well as look forward to the many more years of celebrations to come. However, I did want to take just a few moments of your time to share some of my favorite design photos captured from our wedding.
From a design standpoint, one of the great things about planning and designing a wedding are the amazing and talented vendors you come across. Two of my wedding vendors I still work with to this very day. Their work and talent impressed me so very much, I was adamant about using their talent and skill in my interior design world as well.
My wedding photographer, Stacy Marks has shot two of my Allured By Design photo shoots and is currently scheduled to continue to shoot more. Seriously, his photo capture is second to none. Click here to see his latest work on my most recent photo shoot for my guest bedroom reveal. And, click here to see the first ABD shoot Stacy captured last year, which was my
Cozy Blue Christmas blogpost.
Terez Battiste, owner of Exquisite Event Invitations, is both my friend and high school classmate. Terez designed and created all of the gorgeous stationery for our wedding, which included our save the date magnet, wedding invitations, and the wedding program. Her creative talent and graphic design skills are seriously mind-blowing, and she never ceases to amaze me with the ideas she gives birth to. I was so darn impressed by Terez's signature, luxury creative style, that she was the singular and only person I wanted to create and design my logo for Allured By Design. And, like I knew and believed, she did NOT disappoint!! I mean hello, have you seen my logo? You know the image that's plastered big and bold on the header and footer of my blog? Or, the image that's always embedded on any of my interior design and decorating photos that's actually my work, which I share on my social media pages? You know, to let it be known that it's my work in an effort to discourage others from stealing my photos, and also to proudly boast the beautiful logo Terez created.
And, yes of course I gave lots of direction and ideas to Terez during our initial consultation of what I was looking for. I mean c'mon, how could I not? I'm a designer/decorator baby with loads of creative ideas. But, the pure truth is this paragraph was so NOT supposed to be about me. Goodness I got a little caught up, lol. What I was trying to say before my inner narcissist seeped out (calm yourself down girl), Terez listened, took my ideas, added her own, and hit a home run with her delivery and execution. She did this process with our wedding and indeed she did it once again with my ABD logo design.
I would recommend both Stacy and Terez to anyone in a heartbeat. But of course, just make sure they're not working on a project for me at the time. I tend to get a little territorial with my favored vendors. Aren't we all like that? No, just me...ok, so be it. No, seriously...I love them both dearly and proudly recommend their services to all.
With that being said...stroll with me down memory lane and witness the beauty captured and edited by Stacy Marks of Stacy Marks Photography, view the stationery created by
Terez Battiste owner of Exquisite Event Invitations, and see the love that came together between me and my Italiano...on this very day, six years ago.
THE RINGS:
Charlie and I both decided to get not only formal rings, but casual tungsten bands as well. We wear the tungsten bands for casual outings in an effort to preserve our more formal and expensive wedding rings.
For our stationery, we opted for a large envelope with a damask print design, printed on old mill blanco cotton paper...which made ALL the difference in the quality and texture of the invitation itself.
THE WEDDING STATIONERY:
All additional items, (with the exception to the wedding program) were enclosed inside of the invitation pulled together by a gorgeous crimson red ribbon. One of my favorite parts of the invitation was the New Orleans symbol that is the Fleur De Lis cascading along the edge of the enclosed invite pieces. Oh, and peep our last name within the box of the invite - PIAZZA. To this very day, as a symbol of our union and a perpetual nod to our invitation, every single piece of mail or hand written card I mail out, always has on the back of the envelope right above where you would open, the words PIAZZA. You know I'm just fancy like that. Or, in other words...I'm just extra like that, lol.
THE DRESS:
Yes, onto the dress...
As extra as I can be most of the time, even my Mom was quite surprised that I opted for a fairly simple wedding gown. After trying on what seemed like a million wedding gowns, I was about ready to march down the aisle in my pajamas. I was so OVER trying on dresses!! When I tell you wedding dress shopping is NOT for the faint at heart and I know I'm a pro when it comes to shopping. But Jesus! Wedding dress shopping wore my butt the hell out. So yes, when I found this beauty and tried it on...THANK GOD, both me and my Mom knew this was the one. It was simple, classic and elegant.
I think what I loved most about my wedding gown was how simple it was. In addition to it having not too much but just enough bling right along the cleavage line of the dress. But I must admit, what did make me nervous about my dress was the fact that my arms would be exposed. One of my biggest body insecurities, in addition to my fluffy tummy are my chunky arms, which I tend to always work to cover.
But for my wedding day, I made the decision that for once, I wouldn't focus on my insecurities and allow myself to be daring and rock a look that I would generally shy away from. And, dare I say...fluffy tummy, chunky arms and all - I WAS BEAUTIFUL!
THE SHOES:
Let's get into these stunning Benjamin Adams shoes shall we...
In general, I'm not a high-end shoe shopper, which definitely may come as a surprise to many. Now I do LOVE me some Carrie Bradshaw! But unlike her, I don't believe in spending hundreds of dollars on shoes, as I'd much rather put that kind of money into decorating, designing and upgrading my home instead. I damn near don't even want to spend $75.00 on shoes if I don't have to. Yes, you read that right! I'm really that girl. I'm definitely a bonafide sale shoe shopper. If it's not on sale, I'm probably not going to purchase it. In addition, when it comes to shoes...I value comfort first, and then style. I've far outgrown the days of wasting my money on stylish shoes that only caused me hours and hours of pain each and every time I'd walk in them. Believe me there's a reason you'll notice Nine West as my primary shoe source, which I provide on photos where I share my wardrobe information. Why? But of course I'm thrilled you asked 😉 The answer is really simple. They're shoes are comfortable on my feet and they always always have an online sale going on. To me, that's WINNING in both comfort AND style!
However, for my wedding...unfortunately, it was the one day I opted for style over comfort. And, even splurged on the cost of the shoes going against my traditional dislike of spending a lot of money on expensive footwear. I fell in love with every single Swarovski crystal on the wedge heel and at the front tip of my Benjamin Adams shoes. These shoes were simply stunning!! But my God, by the end of the day my feet were ready for its own therapy session after hours of walking, standing, socializing, getting married and dancing. Oh, but yes my wedding shoes were bad indeed.
That's all that mattered right? My feet would just have to pay the price later. Said most women everywhere! 😫
THE COLOR THEME & OVERALL WEDDING DESIGN:
Now, let's discuss the color theme for our wedding. Ya'll know my one of my main design styles is all about embracing the beauty of colors. I mean you have been following my blog right? Well good, then you already know how much I love COLOR ❤️
While it's true, I do LOVE the color blue. It's actually both me and my husband's favorite color. But surprisingly, Charlie and I chose to go with a completely different color palette for our wedding. Initially, our colors were going to be chocolate, blue and silver. But after seeing those colors popping up all over the scene in New Orleans at the time of our wedding, we chose an alternative theme. Why? Because when everyone goes right...my husband and I will usually opt to go left 😉
As a result...we chose ivory, black and three hues of red (crimson, ruby and garnett), as our main color theme and we couldn't have been more happy with the outcome. It was truly beautiful!!! Every single design of our wedding in those colors was simply gorgeous.
JUMPING THE BROOM:
As part of my own heritage, it was important to me that my husband and I jump the broom as my ancestors did during times of slavery. I wanted to acknowledge the journey of how far African-Americans have come in America, in spite of us still having much further to go in today's current state of society. Slaves were not permitted to marry in Southern United States as it gave a couple rights over each other, which conflicted with a slave-owners' claims. As a
result, slaves developed their own tradition of distinguishing committed unions between two slaves by jumping the broom. This signified and served as a symbol that two slaves were as close to marriage as was then allowed.
For me, this moment meant everything. Especially, considering my heart chose to love an Italian man, who in turn loves me right back. During the times of my ancestors, such a love wasn't even a thought to fathom, let alone legally permissible. So, yes it meant so very much to honor this tradition and pay tribute to how far my race of people have come. To honor my husband's Italian roots, we were both serenaded by an Italian quartet during the ceremony in traditional Italian music.
NEW ORLEANS TRADITION:
No traditional New Orleans style wedding is complete without a second line band closing out the entire celebration. If you've never seen or heard of a second line in your life, I highly encourage you to visit some Youtube videos and search New Orleans second line. It is indeed the best party time of local New Orleanian lives, our invited guests, and perhaps yours too if you ever have the pleasure of experiencing one. Click here and here to learn about the history and tradition of a New Orleans style second line.
At NOLA weddings, it's tradition for both the Bride and Groom to carry and dance with their well designed and creatively decorated umbrellas, while the second line band plays and everyone joins and dances with them.
Charlie and I danced as if our lives depended on it. We were both so dreadfully tired not only after the final hour of our wedding day, but even the weeks leading up to our wedding. Believe me when I tell you, our wedding was a full on production!!! You all do know my professional background is planning and coordinating logistics for film and television projects right? So of course, I was going to plan a full on wedding production in the same manner I plan film productions. I mean it was only right to do so 😉
RECEPTION FUN:
To this very day, I still believe my husband and I were and currently are the only bride and groom that could not wait to say these words, "We Survived Our Own Wedding." Seriously, that's just how exhausting our wedding was. I mean don't get me wrong, it was fun! LOADS OF FUN as you can see below.
But goodness we couldn't wait until all of the planning, designing, and partying was over, and we could just be and breathe!
And, breathe we did once it was all over. Today, Charlie and I are as married and comfortable with one another as can be. We celebrated last night with a night out in the city, dinner and a jazz concert at the Ritz Carlton and was back home in bed before 11PM...barely able to keep our eyes open. Oh yes, we are living the LIFE! The married life, lol.
I hope you all enjoyed going down memory lane with me and viewing some of our most precious moments from our wedding. Be sure to follow Allured By Design on Instagram and like us on Facebook. In honor and celebration of me and Charlie's wedding anniversary, I will leave you all with an Italian quote written on our wedding program, which was also a nod to my husband's Italian heritage...
Ho scritto una storia d'amore senza inizio e senza fine...per scriverla con
"I have written a love story without a beginning or ending...so that we may write it together."
With Love,
Tachic-