Good food can make or break a night so we really wanted to focus on yummy eats. The guys at TGIS Catering did and AMAZING job! Not only did they do the food but they also provided the TV, lounge seating and a lot more. Now, if only we could have eaten more than just the yummy Korean Street Tacos! Here’s the menu from the night:

“KOREAN STREET TACOS”
Pork and Chicken
Julienned Romaine Lettuce and Cabbage Tossed
In a Korean Chili Soy Vinaigrette, Cilantro, Green
Onions, Lime Relish, Sea Salt, Garnished with a Lime,
Orange & Red Radish Wedge
Finished With Our Sesame Chili Salsa Roja
**********
“THE GREAT GREEK GYRO”
Served with a Piping, Hot, Seasoned, Grilled Pita
Bread To Be Stuffed with
Chicken, Lamb or Beef Gyro Meat
Served with a Variety of Toppings To Include Crisp
Shredded Lettuce, Fresh Diced Tomatoes, Sliced
Onions and Our Homemade Tsatsiki Sauce
**********
“MEDITERRANEAN GRAZING STATION”
ROASTED EGGPLANT TERRINE
Served with Pita Points
BRUSCHETTA TOASTS
CALAMARI SALAD
MEDITERRANEAN CHEESE AND OLIVES
To Include Spanish Manchengo, Greek Feta and
Athenian Kalamata Olives
TSATSIKI CUCUMBER DIP
**********
“THE CHEFTENDER SALAD”
THE SAKI
Japanese Udon Noodles, Thai Peanut Saki Dressing,
Asian Vegetables & Duck Confit
Served in a Chinese To-Go Box with Chopsticks
THE COSMO
Baby Field Greens, Dried Cranberries, Haystack
Mountain Goat Cheese,
Roasted Sweet Corn, Sugared Almonds & Absolut
Cranberry Vinaigrette
Presented in Martini Glasses
**********
“THE GRILL STATION”
MISO GLAZED SALMON
Served with our Ginger Sesame Sauce
SESAME SOY GLAZED STEAK BROCHETTES
**********
DESSERT
MINI DESIGNER CUPCAKES
May Include…
Red Velvet, Oreo, Heath, Cookies and Cream,
Peanut Butter and Jelly, Vanilla Crème Cheese, Chocolate, Dirt,

Also, thanks to Zach and Devin for playing our theme song for the night “We’re Going To Be Friends” by the White Stripes and providing mood music before the ceremony, it was great to have you guys involved!

The Grand Foyer:

Originally, because the dinos are such a focal point and the room itself is so gorgeous we were not really going to do much decorating. But after seeing pictures of another ceremony using LED lanterns around the dinos we thought we should do something. After a few days of searching I came across the Martha Stewart DIY Weddings site and found a tutorial for making tissue paper Dahlia Pom Poms.

After trying a few, I found that by only unfolding half of the Pom you could make a lotus flower (with half the work of the Pom too)… now to make 100 of them! Thankfully the girls in my class helped me fold, cut and tie them all up. We realized pretty soon after making them that we would have to have them flat-packed to transport them and unfold them at the venue. We had a few people volunteer to “fluff” flowers the day of, but to my surprise, practically everyone was helping out when we got there!

To add a little color to the flowers Josh decided to modify a recipe for LED Throwies and bought a kit for 500 batteries and LEDs, which we’d have to assemble. So, the day before the ceremony we got together and taped the LEDs to the batteries (they supposedly last for a week but we didn’t want to take any chances)… only to find the “morning of” most of the tape didn’t hold. A quick trip to Office Depot to get some small binder clips solved the whole problem (but made us an hour late getting to the museum).

Here it is all set up!

The African Mammal Hall:

So when faced with dressing the tables in the African Mammal Hall we decided on a sort of Eclectic Safari Picnic theme. To start it off we definitely wanted to have the classic red and white checkered Italian tablecloth. To have that picnic look, I wanted to incorporate some green grassy elements and found some 16″ moss sheets that worked perfectly.

Another HUGE addition to our bag-of-decor tricks were the museum’s own animal and historical specimens. To our surprise the museum said we could borrow them from the Discovery Center for table decor… so Zach and Devin got picking duty!

Zach and Devin with their catches of the day.

The rest of the decor was pretty much a scattered bit of eclectic craziness on my part. First came the Glowing Sun-Jars: made with glass Mason jars from Ikea, sprayed with glass-frosting spray and outfitted with a color changing glowing orb inside. Second were the Birch bark log vases: cut from Birch firewood logs and drilled out by my dad. We then outfitted them each with a fabric daisy, a few grass strands and a flower bud puff. For some reason we never realized the vases were the same height as the Sun-Jars (which threw the balance of the decor off) so my mom scrounged together some vintage books to stack them on!

Next came the little BMW Isetta wind up toys from Kinsmart.

There wasn’t really much of a reason for choosing these beside the fact that Isettas are one of my favorite production cars ever (because they are just so out there and awesome). I decided to incorporate them into the decor purely for guests to play around with. Some people also got vintage porcelain sparrow figurines on their tables as well.

And last but not least… the Chocolate covered Almonds. My dad over-ordered these cute little boxes for a client. All we had to do was make a few more “Future Korwins” stickers and we were all set to go! They were actually super yum=)

I posted the lyrics previously and now you can see the whole thing live

ALYSSA:

Dresses:

Long backless wedding dress – made by me!

Short pleated wedding dress – BCBG Max Azria White Laser Cut Sheath Dress

Shoes:

Marc Jacobs Gold Studded Bow Gladiator Sandal

Accessories:

Necklace – Tatty Devine Laser Cut Dinosaur Necklace

The RING – Lladro Magic Forest Ring

The Bouquet – Fabric and Plastic Daisies

Hair:

Milkmaid Braid done by my Mom and the Bun by my lil sis!
Gold Rope from Joann Crafts tied around the bun

Makeup:

Fake Eyelashes – Shu Uemura Smoky Layers
Nail polish – from the Super 98c Store
Spray Tan from Banana Boat (a life saver for my pasty legs!)

JOSH:

Wardrobe:

Jacket – H&M Navy Velvet Button Nehru Coat
Pants – H&M Grey Sateen Straight Slacks
Shirt – Liberty of London for Target Floral Button Shirt

Shoes:

F-Troupe Red Suede Desert Boot

The RING:

Digby and Iona 2×4 Ring

So definitely one of the best surprises of the night came in the form of a song-toast written by Zach, Devin and Mike Schwartz to various Beatles songs. I’ve written out the never before seen lyrics below for your enjoyment. Video to come soon, although Josh doesn’t want to put it up because he embarrassed himself at the end a bit…

to “Help”:
Help! Josh needs somebody
Help! Not just anybody!
Help! You know he needs someone!
Help!

When Josh was younger, so much younger than today,
He always slammed the door and made us go away!
But now he’s grown mature and lost all of his hair,
Lucky for everyone, Alyssa doesn’t care.

Love Josh if you can, he’s got a purse
And his fashion sense is only getting worse
To comic sans he really is averse
Won’t you please, please love Josh

to “Saw Her Standing There”:
Well she was just 17 (give or take),
With her eyes on the screen,
And the way she looked was way beyond compare

How could Lyss be with another
When she saw Josh t-shirt design?

to “Paperback Writer”:
Dear Sir or Madam will you meet our Jew
He’s at CES for a week or two
He speaks Klingon and HTML
And he’s cast a level 4 Alyssa spell

And now she’s a Korwin
Mrs. Josh Korwin

to “Come Together”:
There come Alyssa,
She’s got dental hygiene,
She’s got Urban Outfits,
She’s got saint like patience.

She says I love Josh, Josh loves me.
If you’re wearing red and green you’ll be hard to see

Come together, right now, by T-Rex

to “Hey Jude”:
Hey Josh, don’t be afraid, you have found her and just wed her
Forever, you’ll be a slave to her whims
No matter how strange or… watermelon melon melon whaaa

Nah, na na, nanananaa, na na na na, Hey Josh…..

You gotta love some good funny and embarrassing baby pictures. For everyone who missed it here’s the set I had running in the background at the wedding.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

And they became friends

Every day he couldn’t wait for Alyssa to get home to talk
He became glued to that computer of his and talked to her everyday
Every day she couldn’t wait to get home to talk to Josh
She became glued to that computer of hers and talked to him everyday
Then, a call came to go to a CES convention in Las Vegas
Josh thought it would be a “very worthwhile” opportunity
Alyssa heard that Josh would be nearby at the convention
She decided a drive up to Las Vegas would be a “very worthwhile” trip

So she met him and he met her in the Flamingo Hotel
It was “love at first sight” (or first type really)

He was sad to leave but flew back to New Jersey
After he got back he planned many trips to California
She was sad to leave but drove back to California
After she got back to she planned many trips to New Jersey
Then… one day he decided to move to California!
He looked for a nice little apartment and asked her to move in with him
She was so excited… he was moving out to California!
She helped him find a nice little apartment and they moved in together

Jobs changed, weather changed (not really, it’s CA after all…), apartments changed
But one thing stayed the same…
They still loved each other

So one day Josh decided to ask Alyssa to marry him
After an extensive analysis of the pros and cons
She said “HECK YES”