I snapped this photo during the final walkthrough of our wedding venue just a few weeks before Jason and I tied the knot. I'm so thrilled that I had the opportunity to work on my wedding with this talented group — a.k.a. my dream team! For the record, when I say "dream team" I mean that literally and figuratively — each of these people not only does phenomenal work that I love and respect, each was also just an absolute dream to work with! As Jason and I pieced together our vision for the Big Day, they lent their expertise and guidance, assembled the ingredients and then made it happen with grace, style and conviviality!

Now that you know the players and you've seen some pictures from the resulting wedding in the current issue of The Knot (still swooning about that!!!), I'm taking things wayyyyyyyyyyy back to the very beginning. In the coming months, I'm going to blog about all of the oooh's and ahhhh's of the planning and design process for our wedding — from engagement to "I do" and everything in between! Andiamo!

Pictured above, left to right: Megan Grey - Honey & Poppies, Amber Cowell - The Love Riot, Jesi Haack - Jesi Haack Design, Daniel November - Heirloom LA, Nicole - Classic Party Rentals, Talmadge Lowe - Pharmacie, AnnaMarie Kostura - Villa at Sunstone Winery. Not pictured but still very much a part of the Dream Team: Annie McElwain - Annie McElwain Photography, Max Cutrone & Molly Jenson - Max & Molly Films, Erica Buekelman & Katie Mueller - 10.11 Makeup, Keith Brunsmann & Jonathan Wolper - The Lighter Side

After months of biting my lip and resisting the urge to Instagram, blog, post and tweet, I'm beyond excited and so incredibly thrilled to announce that my wedding has been published in The Knot magazine!!! If you can't wait to get to the newsstand, there are a few photos from our nuptials on The Knot's website too! Phew — so glad to get that out!!!

As we unpack from our trips and settle back into our day-to-day life as a married (!!) couple, we have one last wedding-related item on our “to do” list — writing thank you notes. It can feel a little overwhelming when you have many to write at once but the Mr. and I have developed a bit of a strategy. So when Amanda of Love Creative asked me to write a guest post for her while she’s off getting hitched, I knew exactly what to write about! Check out my “thank you note” guest post to find out the particulars. (photo by Lupa & Pepi, left to right: custom notecard, Vintage Seed Packet forever stamps via USPS, Sensa pen)

Molte grazie, Amanda, for the opportunity to guest post! Felicitazioni!

Miami International Airport during our layover en route to Managua

Remember when my husband (still not used to saying that!!) and I went on our “minimoon” a few weeks ago? Well, now we are off to the real deal… our honeymoon! I’m still reeling from our big day and looking forward to my brother’s impending nuptials but can not wait to unplug, unwind and kick back in Nicaragua. We’re starting our trip on the beach on the Pacific coast and ending it at Lake Nicaragua. Arrivederci!

For many months my brother meticulously planned his proposal to his girlfriend. They live in Las Vegas and he knew from the get-go that he wanted to take her on a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon, pop the question and then, when they came back to the house, there would be a surprise party waiting for them. There were a lot of moving parts to this equation most of which involved coordinating the surprise party guests’ arrival from out of town. Needless to say, it all went off without a hitch! I’m thrilled that the cat is finally out of the bag because 1. we can celebrate!, 2. I don’t have to keep this plan a secret anymore (I was so worried someone would slip up at our wedding just 2 weeks ago!) and 3. we have another wedding in the family!! Felicitazioni, Dave and Keath!