Category Archives: Tales from the Veil

********** GIVEAWAY GOING ON NOW THROUGH JULY 2nd!!! ***********

Don’t forget your chance to enter to win! Clay Bouquet is giving away a $25 gift certificate to her store! Just check out Clay Bouquet‘s shop and report back by leaving a comment here and sharing what you would choose if you won the prize!

Entries will be accepted through Monday, July 2nd at 11:59 p.m. PST. Winner is selected at random and announced on Facebook on July 3rd. Good luck!

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Hilary was born and raised in a sheltered Jewish suburb of Toronto. She comes from a very tight-knit family and a very large, supportive group of friends, most of which she’s had since high school. Hilary works as a creative associate and graphic designer, so attention to detail is a big part of her personality, which definitely helped shape her wedding plans. She was specific about her wedding details and had a clear vision of how her day should be. She is an active social media queen, which is how she found The Wedding Yentas, a helpful resource for her plans.

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After a very successful JDate match-up, Josh and I shared a relationship of lots of laughter and love. Within weeks we knew that we were soul mates. We talked a lot about our future, marriage, and kids, but Josh completely caught me off guard when he proposed.

Josh and I always exchange a few emails during the work week, so I didn’t think much when he forwarded me an email from his cousin, who lived in Los Angeles, saying that she was going to be in Toronto the following weekend attending an industry conference, and asked if we wanted to meet up for drinks at her hotel that Friday night. After some Googling, I noticed that her hotel was in a great part of the city, so I suggested a couple of great bars we should take her to. He quickly turned down all of my suggestions, saying we should play it by ear and see what his cousin’s schedule was like. I thought nothing of it.

That Friday night, Josh took me for a nice dinner, and then we went downtown to his cousin’s hotel to meet up with her. After a glass of wine at the hotel bar, Josh excused himself to call his cousin to see what was taking her so long. He returned with a room key, and said that she apologizes for being late, and we should just head upstairs to her suite and help ourselves to the mini bar until she returns. She had already gotten the key from the concierge. Again, I thought nothing of it.

He guided me upstairs to the room, and when I walk into the suite, there were roses and candles everywhere. Before I could even comprehend what was going on, I turned around and to see Josh down on his knee, with a ring in hand. I was completely shocked. After several minutes of rejoicing and happy tears, I remembered to ask what happened to his cousin. She was in L.A. the entire time! It was such an elaborate scheme.

I’ve since gotten married (newlyweds for a handful of weeks!) and can now reflect back on the wedding planning and big day. After Josh proposed in April 2011, our social calendar went out the window, and our (or, more specifically, my) time became dedicated to wedding planning. No task was easy to complete, and no vendor was an easy hire. It took 15 venue tours, 10 florist interviews, three invitation designers, 12 wedding gown boutiques, and two trips to Manhattan to plan our wedding. It was a combination of my crazy attention to detail, general Jewish neurosis, and sensitivity to costs that caused such indecision.

After planning every tiny detail of our big day, many things did not go as planned. The lighting was off, the flowers weren’t pink enough, and the chuppah was not what I asked for. But it didn’t matter. It was a completely magical, beautiful day. We had the absolute best time, our friends & family are still calling and complimenting us on such a beautiful wedding. At the end of the day, I got to marry my best friend and soul mate, and I am so excited to start our life together.

Special Guest Blogger and Mr. Yenta himself, Bryan, is here to share a little nostalgia with the recent four-year wedding anniversary that came and went on May 25th. So much of the conversation on The Wedding Yentas is from the woman’s point of view before the wedding actually happens. Today is different because we have the man’s point of view coming from 48 months after the wedding. Way way way after the wedding. A wedding, an adopted dog, and a baby girl four years later and a guy’s got a lot to say. Weddings are wonderful, but anniversaries are apropos times to reflect.

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Before Alison and I got married, if you said the names Madelyn or Princeton to me, I would have never associated them with a baby and a dog because I didn’t have a baby or a dog. Now, though, when I hear those names, my heart basically melts. They are my family.

On, May 25, 2012, Alison and I celebrated our four-year anniversary. Four years. Married. It’s not a significant milestone year like our first anniversary, or even our fifth anniversary. It has its own sort of significance this year though — it’s one year longer than we were together before we got married, and that one year has been quite a difference.

Before Alison, I was never a husband. She made me a husband just by being my wife. But she has also made me into the husband (and the man) I am today by being a really great wife.

The day we got married was such a special day. It sounds so cliche when I read it back, but it was seriously such a special day. It laid the foundation for so many things we share today. For one thing, Princeton, the dog, “conceived” on our wedding day, as that was the day I presented Alison with a surprise dog collar and tag telling her that we’d adopt a puppy together. She has always been a dog lover and I was on the fence, but I decided we’d emBARK on the dog adventure together. Another reason why our day was so special was because I think the success of our wedding day directly led to The Wedding Yentas, if only so she could try to extend the great experience she had planning the events and details. We shared our passion for music and theatre with a choreographed first dance and my surprise heartfelt (but not so solid) piano/vocal performance of She’s Got A Way. And perhaps most significantly, Clayton Kershaw debuted for the Dodgers on that day, pitched six innings, gave up two earned runs, struck out seven, and the Dodgers won the game 4-3… only we didn’t get to see it because we were walking down the aisle.

The day after we were married, we embarked on our honeymoon to Hawaii, where we documented the [PG-rated portions of the] trip on my trusty [non-HD] video camera. It was our favorite vacation ever, so we had to make sure to preserve the memory as best we could. Of course, it’s been well-preserved alright… on my MacBook hard drive, where it has lived for quite a while as I’ve worked on editing the “Alison and Bryan: A Honeymoon Adventure” video on and off for the last four years, promising myself right before every anniversary that this will be the year I finish it…

…well, this will be the year I finish it. Not before our anniversary, unfortunately, but soon after undoubtedly. I guess I got inspired this year, as I’ve made more progress on it in the last two weeks than in the last two years. And maybe part of the reason for my surge in effort is that I feel like I have to check it off my list so I can move on to newer video projects with a different star at the center of them. I think you know who I’m talking about.

Before Madelyn, I was never a father. She made me a father just by being my daughter. Madelyn has helped to make this last year the most thrilling ride of our marriage since we took off on that plane to Maui four years ago. I can’t even imagine my life without her, or even without Princeton for that matter, and yet on that most special day four years ago, we were without them.

As I watched the many hours of honeymoon footage we took and edited it together, I often found myself wondering “Who are those people?” because we seem so different then. Younger. Skinnier. More naive. Less tired.

So here’s a tribute to us on our anniversary — the opening sequence of our soon-to-be-finished honeymoon video… a sequence I’ve had done for just about four years. It’s us, just Alison and Bryan, on our special day of the past without our special pieces of the present.

Venue & Caterer – Spanish Hills Country Club, Photographer – Eight20 Photography, Floral Design – Happy Flowers, Cake – Skiff’s Cakes, Bridal Salon – Bridal Elegance

Ali is newly engaged and was proposed to at her dream location: the empty stage of a Broadway theatre! The 20-something-year-old actress met her soon-to-be husband while working on a show together, and they love to spend time seeing theatre, taking in a baseball game, and playing pop culture trivia. Ali also nannies for several families in the Los Angeles area, looks forward to Disneyland trips, and enjoys a good deli lunch. She is enjoying the journey of planning her wedding and learning about the details that go into the big day. In order to successfully achieve her vision, Ali is using resources like The Wedding Yentas, family and friends who’ve been-there-done-that, and bridal magazines. The wedding is scheduled for this October in Southern California and so far, so good!.

I had a fear of registering. Don’t ask me why. I mean, why would anyone be afraid of making a dream wish-list of things that people are going to actually buy as presents? I don’t know why, but I did. I knew the basic rules of registering: register at three different stores, that offer three different price points. But where?

When it was time to start registering (save-the-dates were going out soon, and showers were getting organized, so we had to get on it), I happened to be in New York, staying with my Michael’s (my fiance) parents. I grew up in California, which, needless to say, has an incredibly different mindset than New York, and Michael and I have experienced these differences over the course of our relationship. The coastal cultural differences were apparent, especially when it came to shopping.

Michael and I were discussing places to register when his mom chimed in, “You have to go to Bloomingdale’s!” Immediately I got nervous. Now, I’d never shopped at Bloomingldale’s before, and as a native Calfornian, I had always been under the impression that it was a super high-end store and I don’t typically shop in high-end stores. Don’t get me wrong, I have good taste, but as an actress and nanny, I usually find myself shopping in places where I can get a pair of jeans for under $100.

I shared these feelings with Michael’s mom, but she used her knowledge and experience to alleviate my concerns. “First of all,” she said, “a registry is a dream list. Why not aspire for the best, and see if people will get it for you?” True. Also, Michael’s grandmother had been an employee at Bloomingdale’s for years, so his family was well aware of the incredible sales and available prices Bloomie’s offered all year long. I was still somewhat hesitant, considering that hoity-toity prejudgment I had in my mind about Bloomingdale’s. I thought my family would scoff at me for even having the expectation that guests would spend that kind of money to buy me something from that store. However, knowing that a large majority of Michael’s guest list would be from New York, and Bloomingdales was a regular stop on shopping trips for East Coasters, we agreed and gave it a shot and Michael and I went to Bloomingdale’s to register.

As soon as I got there, my nerves worsened. Everything was so elegant. It looked like anything I touched would break and I’d have to pay for it with a month’s worth of salary. I was scared, but I sat down with the registry consultant and filled out the paperwork. Michael took the iconic scanner gun, and we set out to look around the department for things we would like.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how I was happy with the kitchen items I already had at home. Why ask people to buy me new versions of what I already had? We wandered for probably 30 minutes, unsure of what to scan for that first item. And the first item we chose to add to the registry? A wine decanter! What?! Not China or flatware or luggage or frames — a wine decanter! It was a charity scan, just so we could have something on our list. Then, we wandered into kitchen electronics and suddenly, my whole world changed. The skies opened up, the couds went away, the sun shone through. It was at once all very clear to me: I wanted to register for one of everything, and I think I did. And let me tell you, when you get on a roll, and you start feeling comfortable about wanting expensive things, and you can’t stop! At some point Michael finally had to pull me away from the crock pots because we had a plane to catch!

When we finally got back to California, we went to the Bloomingdale’s near our home. As soon as we walked in, I felt comfortable for the first time, wondering why I had been so nervous about choosing a store with which to registry. I compared their prices to stores that my family and I typically shop at and found that their prices were all the same. We met our new California registry consultant, and hit it off right away. She walked us around and of my “I’m gonna break it” fears to rest when she stood on top of a China mug. Yes, she actually stood on top of it. She showed us what items were worth the price and what weren’t. Her tour ended with an invitation to the Bloomingdale’s Bridal Brunch. Shopping and brunch? Yes please.

On Bridal Brunch day, and we were welcomed with open arms to the top floor of Bloomingdale’s where tables, chairs, and a continental breakfast were gloriously waiting for us. After some eating and small talk, registry consultants facilitated a presentation where vendors explained their products and why all of us brides and grooms should register for them. I was proud of myself for realizing that I knew most of what they were sharing because I’d done my research. After all that worrying, it was then that I realized I was a pro.

Once we solidified our Bloomingdale’s registry, we also created registries with Macy’s and Bed Bath & Beyond in order to provide a courtesy to all of our wedding guests. Each store offers great varieties and price points and we are glad to make the shopping experience convenient for our friends and family, so they feel comfortable browsing at their store of choice. Unlike tasting the dinner menu at our venue or creating a music playlist with our entertainment, registering was one of the wedding planning steps I never thought much about, which is why I panicked. Looking back, though, I know how simple it really was and I am totally comfortable with the choices we made.

Plus, I can’t wait to play with our new kitchen toys! Homemade cookies from the countertop mixer anyone?