Spring skiing in Chamonix

A few months ago Ryan booked a spring ski weekend in Chamonix with some friends from work and their significant others. Although it snowed in Chamonix last weekend, the weather had been really warm the past few weeks in the area, so we went into the weekend with low expectations, thinking that there would be little to no snow left on the slopes.  Turns out we were completely (and happily) wrong and the day actually turned out to be one of my favorite ski days of the season. The slopes were great, there were no crowds, and the weather was fantastic (cool enough to keep the snow from completely melting, but warm enough to sit outside on a terrace for lunch)... and who couldn't be happy when you have amazing views of the Chamonix valley. I know I've said it before; but, I'll continue to say it again and again.... I will never get tired of these views....

Ryan and his coworkers 

Behind the scenes of planning a wedding from abroad

WARNING! WARNING! The following blog post is entirely dedicated to only a discussion of wedding planning details. Sorry boys....better luck next time. Enjoy, girls!

Many people asked us how we put together an entire wedding from across an ocean, so I decided to feature a blog post on the topic.  Although it sounds like it should have been complicated, we were able to manage it fairly easily by using four fundamental principles: (1) letting go of my inner control freak, (2) frequenting Amazon and Etsy, (3) a little bit of creativity to think outside of the box and (4) the help of our families and friends.

Major vendors: The first step in wedding planning, was coming to the realization that I wouldn't be able to investigate or view every detail before making decisions. For those that know me well, you know this is a difficult thing for me to do. Case in point, we booked the venue without ever having actually seen it. We found everything online, read reviews, decided that it fit what we were looking for and my mom stopped by to check it out and verify. All of our other major vendor decisions basically followed this same trend: research online, read reviews, have Mama K check it out and confirm, then book. In fact, we never had a conversation with vendors in person until the week of the wedding, everything was done via e-mail, internet, or Skype.

Wedding dress and bridal party outfits: The wedding dress posed a puzzling problem because the price differential between a US and Swiss wedding dress is astronomical so I knew I wanted to buy it in the US.  Accordingly, on one of my trips back home to the US, I went to a bridal store, purchased a sample dress that I could take home that day, and had a tailor in the US work her magic on it via 3 fittings all in one week. Also, the bridesmaids chose their own dresses within a certain color spectrum and we purchased and shipped Tommy Bahama shirts for the groomsmen online.

Save the dates and invitations: We created the save the dates and invitations entirely online and selected options such as online RSVPs and automatic address labeling via paperlesspost.com and minted.com. As a result, we didn't see our invitations in person until the wedding week but we were able to complete the process remotely, track RSVPs from Switzerland, and save money all at the same time.

Decorations: On the decorations side, I gave up control in wanting to "see" things and had to trust our vision.  A beach destination wedding also allowed us to go with minimal decorations and just focus on the beauty of the scenery. Pinterest.com, lover.ly, Amazon.com, and Etsy became our new best friends. We looked at pictures of various decorations online (everything from starfish to my veil to koozies to guest bags) and ordered them to my parents' house where they were stored in the newly dubbed "wedding closet" in a spare bedroom. My mom and sister also crafted various decorations and sent us photos of the progress. As a result, we hadn't actually seen any of our decorations in person and the only things we brought from Switzerland were ourselves, vacation clothes, a few print outs like ceremony programs, signs, place cards, menus, etc. and a 2 HUGE bags of Swiss chocolates for guests, nom nom!

Help of family during the week of: After we arrived in Florida, our families were instrumental in helping us run errands, tie up loose ends in preparation for the weekend, and helping us during the actual events. We also had one "crafting" night in the beginning of the week where we assembled the majority of the decorations. Thank you again to our families for all of your help!!

So while we didn't see 95% of the elements that comprised our wedding until the week of, this process of planning a wedding from abroad forced us to focus on what was really important... each other, teamwork, family, having a good time in both the planning process and the actual wedding weekend, and the comfort in knowing that even if the decorations didn't match or something went wrong due to our planning from abroad, what really mattered was that we were getting married and spending time with our family and friends!

Saying yes to the dress in summer 2013

Visiting the tailor in October 2013

Many Facetime calls with my mama to discuss decorations (including the lanterns from Ikea)

The semi-finished signs at home in Switzerland

Images from my bridesmaids as they started purchasing their dresses

Some of the results of crafting night 

Hair and make up trial on Monday of the week before the wedding - I'm glad I asked her to tone the make up down on the day of, this was a little extreme!

Nailing the "locations" onto the sign

Pinterest hair inspiration

Pinterest bridal party color inspiration

Sisters' weekend in London

Last weekend I met my sister dearest, Diane, in London for a girl's weekend!  She was in town for a conference the following week, so we both arranged to arrive in London on Friday to spend some QT with each other.  Unfortunately I was feeling a little under the weather, but we were still able to make the best of the weekend and we had a blast exploring London.  We both realized that as we get older and our lives change, taking time out of our busy lives to spend quality time with each other is super important to ensure that we keep our sisterly bond going strong in years to come. We enjoyed the weekend so much that we decided we would try our hardest to plan annual sister weekends each year (and hopefully in fun destinations!). Thanks for coming in early to spend time with me Diane, I love you to the moon and back!! XO

Catching a nap in between discovering the sights to get rid of my sickness!

What girls' trip would be complete without checking out some bling? The crown Jewels at the Tower of London -- the home of the world's LARGEST and second largest diamond in the WORLD. The largest diamond is worth only a tiny sum of ONE BILLION dollars! Madness!!

Getting a tour from a real "Beefeater" at the Tower of London. I would highly recommend this tour and a visit to the Tower of London, it was one of most informative and fun tours I've ever been on.

The tower bridge

Some REAL fish and chips!

There daffodils were in full bloom throughout the city

An interesting juxtaposition of old (Tower of London) and new (the Shard skyscraper) in London

Parliament and Big Ben 

Westminter Abbey

One of the entertaining observations I had while visiting London this time was two very random "Swiss" influences that I stumbled upon in the city. 

The first discovery was a large structure/monument that I almost walked into in Leicester square - each emblem is one of the Swiss canton flags and this monument was given by Switzerland to the UK in 1991 as a token of the "lasting friendship" between the two countries.  So much for "neutrality" ;)

This second discovery clearly made me really excited. A food stand dedicated entirely to my favorite Swiss treat, raclette, at the Borough market! YUM!

Watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace

Beautiful day at Buckingham Palace

Our wedding!

Where to even start with this blog post? I sat here with a blank page for quite a while because I simply can't find a way to capture in one blog post all of the craziness, fun, happiness, and love that defined our wedding week.

So, since the majority of the audience of this blog attended the wedding, I won't occupy this post with providing a recap of events.  Instead, I just want to say thank you.  Thank you for coming all the way to Islamorada and celebrating with us, thank you for making the week so special, and thank you for your support in Ryan and me and our relationship. I couldn't have imagined celebrating our wedding any other way!

Most of all, thank you to my HUSBAND, for being you - my one true love and for joining me on this adventure of life. I love you to the moon and back and words just simply don't do justice for how happy I am to be your wife!!

Below are some of my favorite photos from the week. My request to you - if you have photos or videos from the weekend that you haven't already shared with us, could you pretty please pass them along so that I can save them?