After a wonderful wedding weekend filled with love, laughter, and tears of joy, my husband John and I are on cloud nine. We are thrilled to have had such a wonderful celebration honoring us, giving us a lifetime of memories. The building was filled with the people we love, and I was so happy to see all of our planning come to life.

Our photographer Laura and her husband Ricardo did the most amazing job and we are eternally grateful for them giving us their all (and then some) on our big day. Selecting the right photographer is so important, at 7am on Sunday all I could think about was who had pictures?! I need to mention that our videographer Tom did a wonderful job blending in with everyone and we are super happy to know that he got everything captured on video for us--I feel like watching the video will be like seeing the wedding for the first time, it just went by so quick. John and I had our pictures taken before the ceremony, I can't even tell you how happy we both are that we did this. It was really wonderful to spend the time taking the photographs that we wanted and enjoying each other's company before the festivities kicked off. I KNEW I wanted to celebrate with our guests as much as possible and also having the ceremony right before the sunset, it was important to me to have natural daylight photographs of John and me.

Words can not express how grateful John and I are for having Victoria perform our ceremony. We waited until last minute (a week before the wedding) to meet with her, this was due to all of the snow that we had we kept on having to push off our meeting dates. She honored our relationship as if she had known it from the start, made both of us feel at ease standing in front of our family and friends, and moved us (and many people in the crowd) to tears many times throughout the ceremony. In the beginning of the ceremony Victoria honored our parents and John's Nonna combined years of marriage. When Nonna heard her name she stood right up and walked up to us with the biggest smile on her face, proud as a peacock, this could not have been planned (also keep in mind Nonna speaks very little English, primary language is Italian). It was so cute, Nonna had everyone laughing and Victoria rolled with it. When it came time for the vows, I looked outside to see snow falling, I could not believe my eyes! Clearly my mind went right to, if it is still snowing after the ceremony we are SOOOOO going outside to take a few pictures (it was and we did). Picture below by Aunt Kathy.

Another photo opportunity that was important to me was getting a night picture, blue sky was out that night! Laura and Ricardo grabbed us at the perfect moment, and we walked out into the snow--I can not wait to see those pictures. Laura was kneeling in the snow; I really wish John didn't make me give my point and shoot to my mom before cocktails because someone should have taken a picture of her. Before everyone walked into the reception room, John and I got a chance to see everything set up and again take a couple pictures in the room, which leads me to my next thought...

One of the things that stand out in my mind on the wedding night was walking into reception room in awe--Talia you're vision came to life and it's everything I ever wanted in a wedding reception. The room looked gorgeous, better than I could ever imagine. The flowers, chairs, linens, lighting, cake, stationary, lanterns, tablescapes with the chargers, napkin rings my mom and I made, favors, napkins---it all looked perfect together!! I am visual perfectionist, and my florist Jessica said it best in one of our meetings, "You've just seen too much." I'm over saturated with weddings, so true. I can honestly say that I am so impressed and soooooo pleased with what our vendors did for us--amazing jobs all around.

Everyone we spoke to couldn't stop talking about how wonderful everything was, whether it be the ceremony, food, flowers, my dress and bling bling bracelet, people were buzzing!! John and I had signature martinis, I'm just gonna lay it out there...mine won hands down!! I selected my favorite martini that I've had three years in a row at the martini bar on the Princess Cruise Lines....the Stardust Martini--vodka, muddled red grapes, champagne, sugar rim, and red grapes to garnish. The Dipollina limoncello was also a huge success, made by John and myself a few weeks before the wedding.

Thank you to all of our vendors, you are the amongst the best at what you do and everyone at our wedding knows it!! Coordinator / Stationary : Talia from Sixpence for your shoe Photographer : Laura and Ricardo - Alternate Angles Florist : Jessica's Country Flowers Caterer : Emily's Catering Group Cake : Something Sweet by Michelle Videographer : Tom Morlock - Vantage Point Films DJ : Butch Gray DJ Ceremony Musicians : Wild Wood Groups JP : Rev. Victoria Burdick Lighting : Shindig Lighting, LLC Hair and Make-up: Naomi and Angela for Naomi Martinez Salon and Spa Wedding Site : Connecticut's Old State House Wedding Gown and accessories, MOB Gown, Girl's Dresses : The White Dress by the Shore Alissa's Gown : Judd Waddell MOB's Gown : Modern Trousseau Bridesmaids : Jenny Yoo Flower Girl : Us Angels Bridal Jewelry (earrings and bracelet): Haute Bride Hair Sparkly : Maria Elena Headpieces Sparkle Belt : Augusta Jones Alissa and MOB's Shoes (via Nordstrom) : Vera Wang Lavendar John's Suit : Joseph A Bank John's Roxy Dog Cufflinks -- found by looking through Jerome Braga's facebook photos : Thomas Pink Groomsmen Ties / Dads' Ties (Macys) : Donald Trump Neckwear Engagement and Wedding Rings : Monarch Jewelers - Canton, see Jesse Hand-painted Aisle Runner - Kara Ann Arkwork I hope I didn't forget to mention any vendor, however if I did and you notice, please email me so I can add...alissa@alissadinneen.com

above pictures by my mother, with her point and shoot

above pictures by my mother, with her point and shoot

above pictures by my mother, with her point and shoot

above by my Aunt Kathy

photo by Jessica's Country Flowers

Left by Talia of Sixpence, Right by Aunt Kathy

above by Talia of Sixpence

above by Jessica's Country Flowers

above by Aunt Kathy

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!

Talia of Sixpence for your shoe, really the brains of this wedding operation and I highly recommend her for event planning, found John and I the cutest wedding favor idea for winter. Our favors are hot cocoa in clear vials, sounds bad looks great!

Thankfully my mom is a crafty lady and was able to assemble all 105 favors for John and I. They look awesome, thank you Mom!! The tags were printed by Talia, who also found us the perfect ribbon colors.

Here are a few pictures.

I found the idea for thank you notes for our wedding online that included a dog...that was it for me, we have to have those. Talia of Sixpence Events made the Thank You sign to match our wedding stationary and John helped me bait the dog with treats (attached to a golf club like a fishing pole). This is the image/cover for the thank you notes.