Rehearsal DINNER

I loved our Rehearsal Dinner. Loved it. Loved it so much that if it had been our actual wedding, I would have been absolutely fine with it. While we were practicing at the Church, I thought to myself  "This is the  happiest I have ever been." And then we got to the restaurant and everyone was sitting down at tables and eating and laughing and I couldn't help but think that I was the happiest, luckiest person in the world.

And then about 40 minutes into appetizers, Jay got there.

BACK STORY: Jay is the reason John and I met. We knew we wanted him to be in the bridal party from the second we got engaged in the house he and John shared with friends, but he's literally on tour with a rock band. Jared Leto's rock band, to be precise. So we basically planned this entire wedding assuming he couldn't come.

Then about 7 weeks before the wedding, I accidentally ran into Jay at my favorite Sushi place in the Village (seriously) where he happened to have a 8 hour layover before getting on a plane back to Europe. "So listen, about the wedding..." he said "I know, you can't make it. Its fine, you're schedule is nuts!". "No, I'm pretty sure I can come!" I nearly died. And I called John and he didn't believe me, so then he called Jay (who at this point was on the plane) and Jay confirmed. He could probably come to the wedding.

So Jay got measured for his tuxedo in Europe and sent John his measurements. John reserved his tux and we prayed that the pants wouldn't be too short or the shoes too small. But really, I went on thinking that he wasn't coming. Because did I mention he works for a rock band and their schedules are super serious?

Well the day of the rehearsal dinner came and his flight from Germany was delayed. And he was definitely going to miss the Rehearsal and we weren't even sure if he was going to make it in time for the ceremony or the reception. And I thought to myself "Its fine, I didn't even think he was coming. Its not his fault the flight is delayed, we will see him the next time he's in the States". But then no one heard from him for about seven hours. And I kind of forgot about it because it was the day before the wedding and I was kind of freaking out.

But then about 40 minutes into appetizers, Jay got there. And he walked right in and my back was to the door and I heard someone say "Look at this guy!" and John and I turned around and saw him and I burst into tears. For like the eighth time that night. Here I am in the photo below, still crying. This was a very long tangent all to say that Jay came from Europe to see us get married and it made us super happy.

And then we had dinner and John and I thanked everyone for coming. That's finally what broke John and then we were both weeping in front of our families and closest friends. SIDE NOTE: I thought that someone had a video of us talking. In this picture you can actually SEE Alyssa recording us. It appears that anyone who did record it deleted it from their phones. If you have a video, could you send it to me? Also a public service announcement: back up your phones, people. Back up your phones!

And now here are some of my other favorite pictures from that night. Seriously, it was one of the happiest nights of my life.

Jared and I have giant heads in this picture?

Pairing up Tammy and Aaron was seriously the best decision John and I ever made. She called him Karen the entire weekend. And he convinced her to eat a pad of butter by telling her it was cheese. Hilarity the entire weekend.

Boys/Former housemates.

When we graduated from college, all I wanted was a picture of me, Jay and Becca (we all met on our very first day of Orientation at Hofstra). This picture now replaces that one as my favorite.

Friends!

AND the last picture of the night thanks to Jared!

Did You Know You Can Get Pictures Off a Camera And Our Rehearsal

Friends! I recently figured out how to get all the pictures off my Mom's Cannon G12 Camera AND Tammy put up the pictures she took at our wedding. Both of these things mean that you should really brace yourselves because there are going to be some picture heavy/wedding heavy blog posts coming your way.

I KNOW we've been married four months, but how many times do you get to blog your own wedding? The answer to that questions is hopefully only once.

Today's post will be focusing on the Rehearsal part of our Rehearsal Dinner. The Dinner will be a different post because seriously the amount of pictures is going to be obscene.

First of all, I really recommend that you wear false eyelashes for the entirety of your wedding weekend. Alyssa says that you want them to be a little bit understated the day of your wedding, so I say for your Rehearsal Dinner, you really just go all out. Go to CVS (there is no reason to spend any more than $7.00 on a pair of false eyelashes) and find the biggest pair you can find. Smack those on your face and you will feel like a million bucks. Also, be sure to take pictures with your puppy before you leave. And also your parents.

While the Legnettis were yucking it up in our kitchen and alternately screaming and reapplying lipstick (not my Dad on either accounts) my friends were already at the church. I love my friends more than anything, but I will be the first one to tell you that they are the latest group in the history of the world. Just the worst. So I might have told them that the Rehearsal started 45 minutes before it did. Here they are walking into the church in the daylight. By the time we got there it was dark!

Before you look at the next picture, I want you to know that I was not a crazy Bridezilla who told everyone they needed to wear black. As we all started taking off our coats, you could hear "I'm wearing black, too!" and before we knew it, we all matched.

I felt pretty regular the entire day before the wedding until everyone started showing up at the church. As I said hello to everyone I thought to myself "Holy crap how am I ever going to get through this weekend without crying the entire time?" The answer to that question is that I basically cried the entire weekend. You've been warned.

Our Priest, Father Chris (who I knew from high school) arrived and then we got to practicing! He had left the list we had made about bridal party pairings in his office so he, John and I stood in the back of the lobby basically yelling at each other "Aaron? Bridget?" "I think Aaon was with Becca? Or was it Tammy? Jay is still at the airport so Becca is going to walk in alone, WHO DID WE SAY DAVE WAS WALKING WITH?" We finally figured it out and off we went.

I LOVED my practice bouquet. Its made of all the bows and ribbons from my shower gifts and I swear I would have used it the day of the wedding but we had already spent all that money on a florist. Engaged women I say to you: do not let your bridesmaids put you in a bow/ribbon hat at your bridal shower! Hire my cousin Bridget to make you a bouquet like this one! Bridget is a teacher but I think she missed her calling with bows and ribbons.

Here I am crying.
John: "Babe, why are you crying?"
Me: "I'm just so happy, aren't you so happy?"
John: "Yeah, but that's why I'm not crying"

Alexander practiced carrying rings and Mickey and Jack practiced their readings. Alyssa practiced fixing my dress and John and I practiced our first kiss which we had spoken about extensively prior because it is so much pressure.

Before I got married I was one of those people who thought "Pssshh, why do you need to practice? You just walk in and get married!". Having now been through it I will say that everyone should practice. I don't even think you need a dinner after, but seriously you need to get your jitters out. John and I were also the first of our friends to get married, so we were a bridal party full of wedding virgins and I it could have been a messy situation had we not practiced the night before.

We also practiced our receiving line. Look how serious we all look! My Dad is like "How many people do we have to kiss hello?" I also love the mural of Jesus behind us (hahaha!).

Here are some of my other favorite pictures from that night:

Two of these three are as tall as me and the third one is coming up quick.

This is a pretty accurate representation of how I felt that night! Also, seriously look at the bouquet!

Me with Becca and Jared before we started. I made Jared sing all of Ave Maria at the rehearsal even though Father Chris said we didn't need to practice it. I pulled the bride card and said I wanted to hear it...all of it. I love Ave Maria and I love it even more when Jared sings it.

I love this picture for so many reasons. First its my two favorite men in the world. Second, they are wearing super similar outfits. You'd be surprised at how much this happens in our family because my Mom is basically in charge of both of their wardrobes. See that sweater John is wearing? My Mom picked it out.

And THIS is my favorite picture of me and John ever. Ever, ever, ever. We could have gotten no pictures the rest of the weekend and I would have been happy.

UP NEXT: Rehearsal DINNER! Get ready!

Photo Booths are My Favorite!

Let's talk about how much I love homemade photo booths, shall we? My house was expertly decorated for my Bachelorette Party, but perhaps my very, very favorite part of the decorations was the photo booth that the girls made on the sliding doors to our deck.

Apparently, Michael's sells entire rolls of sparkle paper in dozens of colors. Obviously they chose pink for the event an they hung streamers and it was just perfect!

And so I present to you: very many pictures from my Bachelorette photo booth!

Please note that props are essential!

And also there is some sort of iPhone App that takes four pictures at once. It is essential that whoever is taking the pictures yells when they are changing!

I have total drunk eyes in the second picture and am not sure why as this was taken on Sunday morning pre-Mimosas.

Photobooth post OVER!

In Which My Home Looked Liked a Fairy Lived There

After the painting class, we all took the subway back to my home. Alyssa and I ran to CVS to get false eyelashes for that night (because obviously) while the girls ran back to the house to finish some things up. When I got to my front door, I was blindfolded AGAIN and Alyssa led me in the house. I stood in the hallway, Alyssa took off the blindfold and I promptly burst into tears. It was the most perfect decorating job in the history of the world.

Guys those are personalized mason jars for each of us. I know that once when I was in college I said that I hated people who drank out of jars. I would like to publicly apologize for that but would like to say that I am only apologizing for judging people who drink out of MASON JARS (i.e. ME). If you drink out of a jam jar, I will judge you.

 Let's talk about this sign for a minute. The girls told me that everyone had a Bachelorette task and that Bridget was supposed to make this sign. She told me that originally she was nervous because she thought she was going to have to cut the letters out of sparkle paper individually. BUT she found glitter letter stickers at Michael's. Quote: "I felt so bad because my thing was so easy!" Lesson: DIBS I am making the glitter signs for everyone else's Bachelorette's, OK?

After I stopped crying and walking around my house yelling "YOU GUYS!"we played silly games and had snacks and about a million too many drinks.

I had to pick who bought me each piece! It took me longer than it should have but I blame the gallons of mimosas and punch I had already consumed. Stephanie and Becca has also asked John a lot of silly questions and I had to guess his answers. My favorite one?

Question: "John how do you feel about Kate's love of pink"
My Answer: "He doesn't love it"
John's Answer: "Not everything has to be pink, Kate Jesus Christ!"

And yes we did play Pin the Penis on the not very attractive man! I would also like to be in charge of picking the man we do this on at the next Bachelorette. Naked Man and Glitter Sign.

After the games and drinks and snacks, I got in my bed in all of my clothes (and penis whistle) got under the blanket and promptly fell asleep. And not like a light nap. A full on REM cycle, I was gone to the world.

I was woken up by shakes and laughter coming from the bathroom and told to "wash your face, re-do your make up and let Kinzie put on your false eye lashes." Then Abbie brought me a mug of coffee with I used to chase shots upon going downstairs. I am the classiest (notice the purple penis straw behind the mug of coffee).

Stay tuned for Part III of Bachelorette Festivities...I told you there were going to be a lot of wedding related posts. 

No Flesh Colored Penis Straws, Please!

When my sister asked me what I wanted for my Bachelorette party I told her I didn't want anything too trashy, I didn't want to go to a club (strip or dancing) and I didn't want any, any, ANY flesh colored penis straws. I also told her that I wanted absolutely everything to be a surprise (suddenly I love surprises, I don't know who I've turned into).

On the morning of my Bachelorette party, I woke up at 9:30AM and walked in the hallway upstairs. No sooner had I stepped out of our bedroom than everyone (who had apparently arrived while I was asleep and were let in by Alyssa who came the night before) downstairs screamed "DO NOT LOOK DOWN HERE". I listened (fearing for my life, as they sounded very serious) and proceeded to take a shower and then lay in my bed to watch Parks and Rec on my computer (I finally finished all of the seasons and oh my goodness, I love that show!).

Before we proceed with this story, I'd like to highlight this photo. This is Alyssa's best friend Kinzie who came with Alyssa to my house the night before. She is hilarious and encourages me to drink more than I should and reminds me that I am 26 and not 80...seriously. Also she is a really good sport. Evidence: Alyssa put Mim in bed with her.

Thirty minutes before we were scheduled to leave, I was brought a bagel with cream cheese, a hot pink sash, a penis whistle (seriously) and I think a gallon sized mimosa. I was then instructed that I would be blindfolded and led out of my home in half an hour and that I should get out of bed and maybe put some make up on.

Those of you who have been to my home know how challenging my stairs are to walk down not blindfolded. For those of you who haven't been to my home first of all you should come over. Second, imagine a twisty kind of crooked stairwell with a not terribly helpful banister. Also, Dilly's favorite activity is to run in front of you while you are walking down the stairs. She is the worst and I swear is not so secretly trying to kill me. 

We successfully made it out of the house and proceeded to start our journey to an unknown destination. I started to get a little nervous on the subway about where we were headed and none of the girls were particularly helpful in calming me down. "We are going to a class where you will get something to take home!" giggle, giggle, giggle, they kept saying. We got off the subway at 23rd Street and started walking east.

Suddenly we were in front of the Museum of Sex Shop. I nearly DIED as we waiting across the street for the light. "We're here!" everyone started yelling.

Thankfully we kept right on walking and arrived at an Art Studio called Paint NYC! Which was literally exactly what I wanted! There was more drinking and snacks that the girls brought and general silliness.

Here's the two best things about this class:
1. It was idiot proof. See my painting? I can't even draw a puppy for the little girl I babysit (she's always a really good sport about it) but I made that vase full of flowers AND the vase that it is sitting on!
2. We weren't the only ones there. There was a woman dressed for the gym in her early thirties and a couple who I'm pretty sure were either on a first or second (awkward) date. And then us, a group of 9 slightly drunk girls laughing girls.

Look! you can see the awkward couple! I'm almost positive they hated us.

Perhaps the most entertaining part about this entire event was that I drank out of this riducously sized cup. Seriously it was as big as my head. The teacher, who is an actual art teacher in a school, did not even blink when she saw it. In fact, I'm nearly positive she asked me if I needed more wine when she gave me more pink paint.

Take aways from our day time Bachelorette activity:
1. I highly recommend it
2. Wine makes everything more funny
3. My sister and friends plan literally the best Bachelorette parties ever and this was only the day time! Stay tuned!

The Bridal Shower After Party

I'm sorry if this week is just a whole bunch of Bridal Shower posts, but it was such a fun day and I took about 9 trillion pictures.

After the party ended, my parents, inlaws and Bridal Party helped us load all of our gifts into three cars and drive them from Bay Ridge to Park Slope. And then they unloaded all the cars in what seemed like under 5 minutes. My Aunt Lau would like for me to tell you that if you are moving, you should hire my friend Ashley who my Aunt says is "incredibly efficient and focused!".

Dilly would like to say thanks for all the gifts too, because she has spent the last four days sitting all on sorts of boxes, gift bags and wrapping paper!

We all kind of stood around for a little bit, but then my parents and inlaws left and off we went to our favorite neighborhood bar, Commonwealth. We really love Commonwealth because they have great drinks, beer and shot specials AND free popcorn that you get yourself out of a popcorn cart. I don't think we'll ever move out of our house because we will never find another bar that we love this much. Is that dramatic? I don't think so.

Needless to say, things got silly pretty fast.

Can I just say again how surprised I was that Tammy flew all the way from California? I was so surprised.

On Saturday morning I woke up and was perusing Instagram (as you do) and I saw that apparently my friends Jared and Stephanie had gone out to dinner on Friday night? Where they ate macaroni and cake? And I wasn't invited. Like NO mention of the fact that they were having a meal together. I spent all morning trying to figure out why they could be mad at me. Had I not shown appropriate glee at Jared's return from his summer gig at a music camp upstate? Had I accidentally insulted Stephanie (we both tend to get word vomit if we drink a lot and we had gone to Happy Hour the week before).

Turns out, they went out to dinner with TAMMY on Friday night. Stephanie and Jared weren't made at me! Needless to say, I was relieved but I only got relieved after I saw Tammy in the crowd of people yelling "Surprise" and bursting into tears.

And these two. They are the same person? Like truly the same person but with opposite parts. Its really the strangest thing to witness. I would like to take this time to recommend that if you are moving, in addition to Ashley you should also hire Shannon and John because they are THE BEST at lifting things. You should NOT hire me and Becca because we just sit there. Seriously we provide zero support.

We were at the bar a long time! Longer than I planned on being there. It was light out...

And then suddenly my friend Moira told me she was going home to Pennsylvania (I hope she comes to Brooklyn all the time now that she realizes that its basically a straight shoot) and it was dark outside? Not like the sun was setting...full blown darkness.

Then I realized I was hungry and so was Becca. This is a picture of us before we realized we were hangry (hungry+angry because of hunger).

So we packed it up and headed to the diner. But not before I stopped a the bathroom and wrote this on the chalkboard wall on the way out. I don't want to talk about the germs on the chalk because I only realize NOW (sober) that it was probably a bad idea.

On the way to the diner, I told Shannon I'd give her $20 to get on the mechanical pony outside the diner. She did. I didn't give her $20. On the way home, I thought it would be funny to get on it myself. Then John put quarters in and it started to move. Below is the video of what happened. All that time where it sounds like I'm not laughing? I'm doing that terrible can't catch your breath laughing.

We were in bed by 10:30. Successful day, I'd say!


IMG 4895 from Kate Legnetti on Vimeo.

My Bridal Shower

I think I had been engaged about 15 minutes before I started thinking about my Bridal Shower. I'm not sure why...I assume most recently engaged women start thinking about their wedding dress, or saying their vows, or the lives with their future spouses. Don't get me wrong...I was thrilled to be engaged to John and about our future life as Mr. and Mrs. but somewhere after calling my entire family and finally running a brush through my hair, a thought entered my mind. "I get to have a bridal shower".

I think I've been to three bridal showers in my whole 26 years of life, but I loved them. And I especially loved that only women got to go. I know this must sound terribly old fashioned of me, but I loved that they were women only. And I think for me, my love of these all lady parties comes from the relationship with the women in my life.

I don't say this to reduce the role of the men in my life. I have wonderful male friends, and fantastic uncles (blood related and not). And don't even get me started on my Dad because I could go on for paragraphs...pages, probably.

But the women in my life. I'm sure that in reality the number of men and women in my family is about equal, but I tend to think of my family as a women dominated group. Maybe because we're a particularly loud group? Maybe because I have a sister and a Mom who I consider to be my best friends. Maybe because the women in my life have such big personalities and have always modeled for me the strength, compassion and love for others that I aim to have.

And my girlfriends. Where do I even start? We could start with Tammy who flew all the way from California to surprise me. Or my soon to be sister-in-law, Laura, who has bestowed upon me the best gift I think anyone could give a bride...a sister-in-law to love. Or my friend Becca who I learned how to be a grownup with our very first year out of college in an apartment in Bensonhurst. Or my friend Stephanie who I have a constant stream of dialogue with every day via Gchat, who knows my house better than I do and who lets Dilly snuggle on her even though I'm pretty sure she hates it. Or my bestie Ashley who literally carried me through my last two years of college and who once went to Kinkos for me at 4:30am and who has seen my ugliest crying face. Or my cousin Bridget, who has known me since I was born and who suddenly is turning into her mother and tells me I'm turning into mine.

On Saturday these women in my life who I love so much pushed me a little closer toward wife-dom.

My bridal shower was basically everything I hoped it would be...but a little more because there was a candy table!

If you ask my sister, I cried too much. But honestly I'm not sure what anyone expected from me with the gifts people gave us. Like below where my Mom wrote me a letter and filled a cookbook with her hand written recipes.

This is me exclaiming, "There are three pages for gravy!"

My Mom also made me the most beautiful sewing box out of a Shaker Box with a cross stitched scissor holder...its the most beautiful thing anyone has ever given me.

I was nearly positive that my Bridesmaid's were going to quit during gift opening. Apparently I was taking too long and they were told to speed up the line. As they were shoving gifts at me Becca looked me dead in the eye and said "Thank you so much for being the first one to do this...now we know for next time!"

And my Aunt Kathy made us the most beautiful cross stitched O! I've already put it up in our living room, even though we're not married yet. I love it so much!

Also, I've been informed that this is a lingerie bag and not a pencil case. You should know I will probably be using it as a pencil case. 

The centerpieces were so beautiful and I currently have five huge mason jars filled with flowers all over my house. I think I might need to keep them filled all the time!

AND there was even a game! I asked my Mom what the rules were and she said "I don't know, I kind of figured everyone would just yell out their answers and you would pick the winner". Note to self for future bridal showers: there must be a buzzer! So much yelling! Also was #10 really necessary? I had a lisp. It was a bad lisp but incredibley adorable if I do say so myself.

Thank you so much to everyone who came on Saturday, I'm so lucky to have you all in my life. And extra thank yous to my Mom and sister who plan a mean party!