Wedding Week Part 1

It’s Wedding Week here at casa FSL!  Our 1 year wedding anniversary is Saturday!  To celebrate, this week will be filled with all things weddings!  To kick things off, I’m going to (re-post) share our engagement story.

We agreed that we were going to buy a house before we got engaged.  We had put an offer in on a house (which the offer fell through eventually).  He was dragging his feet a bit with the house as if he didn’t want to buy it anymore.  It was exactly what we were looking for.  I was freeeeeaking out   just a little nervous because I thought he suddenly was having second thoughts about us living together (it turns out, he was saving for a ring, not a down payment).  I though he was second guessing our relationship, and inside I was frantically over-analyzing a little worried.

Thanksgiving day he and I ran a 5 mile race. That night, my mother, aunt, and I went “Midnight Madness” shopping until around 3:30AM.  The next day was Black Friday, and I was completely exhausted. We went to his sister’s house for a birthday party which lasted into the evening. He told me to wear something nice in case we met our friends out for a drink.  The birthday party lasted much longer than I had expected and I was beat.  I never do this, but I told him I didn’t want to meet our friends out, I was too tired. He insisted, and said they were already on their way to the restaurant/bar (which was a 30 minute drive for us).  I hate flaking out, so I agreed to go and have just one drink.

We were getting off of the exit, and he got a text message from our friend.  He said “You’ve got to be kidding!  You’re gonna kill me.  They are blowing us off” (a staged text from his friend that was in on the surprise) I was so mad!  He said not to worry, we’ll grab one drink at the first place we see off the exit, and then we’ll go home.  Well we might as well, we did drive all the way out here.

We pulled into the parking lot, and I realized it was the place we went on our first date!  I said “Hey! I thought this place closed down!”  He said he thought so too.  We walked in, he got us both a drink and we sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace way in the back (the same place we sat on our first date).

He’s usually very quiet, so when there was a dj there playing loud music, it didn’t bother me.  He said it was too loud, and we wouldn’t be able to talk to each other without yelling.  He asked the dj to lower the music and he requested “They way you look tonight” by Frank Sinatra (I love Frank Sinatra)

So he sits back down, and as he’s talking, he was pushing the coffee table away from him.  He started to kneel down (I was NOT expecting this so I thought he was going to tie his shoe or something) and the next thing I knew, I looked down and he had a ring in his hand!!!  I sat there in complete disbelief for a few seconds. I was worried for days that he was questioning the future of our relationship, and moving in together, and there he was on his knee with a ring! I started crying and said yes!

We later met my sister and her boyfriend out to celebrate!

That photo was taken about an hour after I said yes.  I was cheezin so hard! Aint he cute?!  Sorry ladies, he’s taken.

 

Here are a few of our engagement pictures.  We took them at a local vineyard.

How did your fiance or husband pop the question?? If you aren’t married or engaged, how do you hope it will be?

xo

Mindy

As If You Saw A Ghost

Friday night was the grand opening party of our friends Mike & Marcie’s new photography studio. The place was packed, the wine was flowing, and the photographs on display were incredible!

The highlight of the evening was the video release. This couple is insanely talented. They put together a short film (about 3 minutes) that tells an enchanted if not eerie love story. The film is set to music, and you just might recognize the actress & actor *wink, wink*.  Also, you may have seen a sneak peek of that day here, maybe 😉 .  

As a gift, they gave us a huge print of this photo in a matted frame that now lives on the ledge behind our sofa.  Thanks guys!  You rock!

This was not our wedding, by the way. You can see our real wedding pictures (shot by the same photographers)  here.   This shoot was done purely for the love of the art and their passion for perfecting their craft.

This husband and wife photography team is always edgy and constantly pushing the envelope.  See for yourself…

The Sterling Opera House in Derby, CT opened April 2, 1889. The video & pictures were shot at on April 2, 2011, its 122nd anniversary. This location is said to be extremely haunted, and even appeared very recently on the SyFy network’s “Ghost Hunters” reality show. A quick video clip of that episode can be seen here if you’d like to hear the history behind this place. I’m glad this aired AFTER we were inside this abandoned building!! YIKES!!

Today is the official public release of the video and photos they shot from that day. 

The Sterling Opera House – A Never-Ending Story from Michael Maler on Vimeo.

 You can see all of them by clicking this link.  I just watched it on full-screen mode and got the chills! Feel free to poke around on their website.  Their work is amazing.  Please leave a comment on their blog to show your support!

Also shooting that day was Jennifer Dougan (you can see her blog here). Here’s a sample of her work…

Enjoy the photos & video!

xo

Mindy

Sneak Peek

It was a busy weekend for my husband and I.  We hung out with our  friends Mike & Marcie who happen to be insanely talented photographers (see their blog here).  They shot our engagement pictures and our wedding.

(Gratuitous Engagement & Wedding Shots! HAHAH!  I have no shame.)

We visited a haunted opera house that is going to be featured on the TV show Ghost Hunters in a few weeks! 

Here’s a few blurry phone pictures from our weekend…

 ******************************************************************

Do you believe in ghosts?  Did you ever have a paranormal experience???

Challenge time

I was over at Simply Shaka  and noticed she is doing a challenge.  It sounded like a good idea.  I’ve been getting all sorts of emails asking some of these questions. 

So here we go……

My current relationship.   Well this post may be a bit redundant.  Anthony and I dated for 3 years before we got engaged (that story can be read here ) 

 We got married July 30, 2010  (those photos can be seen here).  

We joke around with each other, we go to the gym together, we watch the Jersey Shore together and we eat dinner together every night.  We are pretty much best homies.   We have grown as a team and I’ve realized how good we are under stressful situations (like our latest house drama). That makes me very optimistic about the spirit of our future. We also work in the same job field, so we can laugh, understand, and at times commiserate.

That’s not to say that we both have our own friends.  He goes skiing with his buddies, I go for manicures and cocktails lunch with my girls. I got really lucky because his firends’ wives are all incredible people too. I consider them my friends now.

Our relationship is very much 50 50 give & take. We both have very similar big Italian families and our family is our #1 priority. I guess you can say that we have the same values.

Plus he adopted Wee Dog as his own 🙂

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What is your current relationship like? If you’re single, what are you loving or hating about it? Gimme the scoop!

Bling Bling

I promised a few people the mushy lovey dovey  post. Here it is. One year ago, on one of my favorite holidays (Black Friday), was the day that my now husband and I got engaged.  Here’s the whole story:

We agreed that we were going to buy a house before we got engaged.  We had put an offer in on a house (which the offer fell through eventually).  Anthony was dragging his feet a bit with the house as if he didn’t want to buy it anymore.  It was exactly what we were looking for.  I was freeeeeaking out   just a little nervous because I thought he suddenly was having second thoughts about us living together.  (it turns out, he was saving for a ring, not a down payment)

Thanksgiving day he and I ran a 5 mile race. That night, my mother, aunt, and I went “Midnight Madness” shopping until around 3:30AM.  The next day I was completely exhausted. We went to his sister’s house for a birthday party which lasted into the evening. Anthony told me to wear something nice in case we met our friends out for a drink.  The birthday party lasted much longer than I had expected and I was beat.  I never do this, but I told him I didn’t want to meet our friends out, I was too tired. He insisted, and said they were already on their way to the restaurant/bar (which was a 30 minute drive for us).  I agreed. 

We were getting off of the exit, and he got a text message from our friend.  He said “You’ve got to be kidding.  You’re gonna kill me.  They are blowing us off” (a staged text from his friend that was in on the surprise) I was so mad!  He said not to worry, we’ll grab one drink at the first place we see off the exit, and then we’ll go home.  Well we might as well, we did drive all the way out here.

We pulled into the parking lot, and I realized it was the place we went on our first date!  I said “Hey! I thought this place closed down!”  He said he thought so too.  We walked in, he got us both a drink and we sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace way in the back (the same place we sat on our first date). 

He’s usually very quiet, so when there was a dj there playing loud music, it didn’t bother me.  He said it was too loud, and we wouldn’t be able to talk to each other without yelling.  He asked the dj to lower the music and he requested “They way you look tonight” by Frank Sinatra (I love Frank Sinatra)

So he sits back down, and as he’s talking, he was pushing the coffee table away from him.  He started to kneel down (I was NOT expecting this so I thought he was going to tie his shoe or something) and the next thing I knew, I looked down and he had a ring in his hand!!!  I sat there in complete disbelief for a few seconds.  I started crying and said yes! 

We later met my sister and her boyfriend out to celebrate!

That was about an hour after I said yes.  I was cheezin so hard! Aint he cute?!  Sorry ladies, he’s taken.

How did your fiance or husband pop the question??

xo

Mindy