Wedding Venue Search: The Sea View

Cape Cod wedding venue search

Back in April we toured 5 wedding venues along the cape. I wanted to share my opinions on each venue and what we ultimately picked. I had a hard time finding opinions on some venues so I hope this will help other Cape Cod brides! 

While everyone has different ideas on what they envision their wedding day to look and feel like, our ultimate goal was if we are making our guests travel to the cape there should be an ocean view at the wedding. Today,  I will be sharing our experience touring The Sea View  in Dennisport. 

This venue is located across from the beautiful beaches in Dennisport. I would consider this venue affordable for a cape wedding. You could manage $20,000 for a wedding here (depending on how many are in your party). 

Positives: 

+The Sea View offers a wide variety of a meal menu options 

+I liked the room with the bar. I thought the bar area was classy.

+The ability to get married on their terrace and cocktail hour outside. However, there is no ocean view. Only if you turn your back.

+There are plenty of hotels with short walking distances to the venue (no transportation would be required for guests)

+Great option for large wedding 

+Family owned and operated local business

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Dislikes:

+The room where the reception would be held was very plain and basic. There is no ocean view. 

+If you want to get married at the beach across the street, you would have to have the florist organize seating ($$).

+If it was raining out the room where we would get married in was terrible. Small, bright blue rugs, and would not fit all of our guests.

+For whatever reason, I couldn't get myself to like the bright blue rugs throughout

+Bridal party room was dark and uninviting (minor detail) 

I really loved the owner, Gayle. She is definitely someone you would want running the show the day of your wedding. Professional and very organized. The chef at their restaurant the Ebb Tide orders and organizes the food for their weddings as well. 

Overall, I think they have prime real estate that was not ideally designed for weddings. The decor is not that appealing and it left us wanting more.

We are ENGAGED!

I am so excited to share that AJ and I are engaged! We both could not be more happy to begin our journey together as husband and wife and building a future together.

With being engaged comes a handful of questions!

How did he propose?
I have always told AJ that I would prefer our engagement not to be done on a holiday, my birthday or in private {not public}. Yes, I am picky! On a random Wednesday night in March after dinner with friends we went back to AJ's house and we were watching TV in his bedroom. To be specific, out of all movies to be on The Wedding Singer was on, hahah. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him :) I was in shock because I am a very difficult person to surprise... I am always on to surprises!

Did you pick out the ring? 
No! I simply told AJ my band size and said I would prefer round or cushion cut solitaire ring and that I would prefer either a diamond setting or just no diamonds. I like classic rings. I ended up with this beauty, a cushion cut solitaire ring with a diamond setting. He did a great job!

Did you cry?
No, I did not cry...must be one of the weird ones? lol

Did you set a date?
YES! September 15, 2017 at the Wychmere Beach Club in Harwich Port {more details coming soon}

Pure Barre Platform review!

I am a Pure Barre cult member. As a member of my studios "100 club," I swear by this workout. Pure Barre is the only workout that has changed my body, helped me loose weight, toned me, and makes me feel healthy and happy.

I was so excited when I saw Pure Barre was introducing their new cardio based Platform class. Even though I swear by Pure Barre, I ended up taking some time off from class. I joined the gym and was a treadmill slave (hated it). I am now back in the full Pure Barre swing of things.

I re-dedicated myself to Pure Barre on December 1, 2015. I took 15 classes in the month of December. I measured myself (well, my mom did) and as of my 13th class last month I was down a total of 11.50 inches. I inputted my measurements on the Fitstream app and I will remeasure myself on January 23rd to see my progress.

Ok, so lets get to the good stuff my review! I have taken 2 platform classes. Holy. Crap. It is very different then Pure Barre. The moves are bigger, faster, and more intense.

The outline of the class is similar to Pure Barre:

+Warm up

these moves get your heart rate way up compared to the warm up in PB

+Arms

I recommend not using weights so you can begin to get the hang of things

+Thighs

the thigh that you are working is the one on the platform

+Seat

cardio kicks are my favorite during seat

+Abs

finally, I get to catch my breath!

+Stretch 

I MADE IT OUT ALIVE!

{first platform class}

What I like:

• I love the cardio kicks during seat work
• It is awesome that I am burning over 650+ calories per class even though it is not fat burning
• The sweat and the fact that it is a great cardio work out
• The "high" at the end of class knowing the work out I just completed. 

What I dislike:

• My heart rate is too high for much of class. This is ineffective for losing weight.  
• There are no breaks in between transitioning from one section of the class to the next section. Even though the instructor tells you take a break if you need to, I just wish there was a second to do so as I like to at least try to keep up. 
• I felt very sick at the end of class last time during ab work. I could not get my heart rate to lower and thought I was going to be ill. 

My recommendations:

• Hydrate yourself before class and make sure you have enough food in your system. 
• Really try and listen to the instructor as it is a very audio focused class. 
• Go at your own pace! 
• If you are someone that tends to sweat, bring a towel. 
• I can't say this enough take breaks. I did not like feeling dizzy at the end of last class. I may have been pushing myself too hard. 

{second platform class}

I challenge you to go to your local Pure Barre studio and try platform!! 

Dreaming of a white Christmas with every Christmas card I write...

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Happy December! This was a really fun post for me to create. I loved looking back at my old Christmas cards. The post made me dig through my boxes and organize all of my past Christmas cards and put them into my scrapbook.

I have always loved sending out Christmas cards to my family and friends. When I got Coco I began sending out Coco themed Christmas cards. Well...let me tell you they have become a hit among everyone that receives my Christmas card. Let's face it, it's a little different then seeing kids on a Christmas card (no offense, I am sure I will be doing that in a couple of years..with Coco!) Every year, I have some pretty big shoes to fill.Come December everyone is always checking their mailbox for a Coco Christmas card. Today I thought it would be fun to look back on my Christmas cards.

{2010}

{2011}

{2012}

{2013}

{2014} 

This year I am very early on getting my Christmas card picture done and printed. I wanted to do a beach Christmas card and could not believe how beautiful these pictures turned out. The sun, sky, subject, and landscaping was ideal for this picture. It can be very challenging to photograph a dog that just wants to sniff and explore. So what did I do? I put her on a rock she couldn't get down from and tadah!  I opted to order the cards from Tiny Prints this year. The quality of the card is great but the pricing was very steep from what I would normally ever pay. 

 and the 2015 Christmas card...

Now it's time to start brainstorming for the 2016 Christmas card...yep, I am crazy like that!

Friday Recipe

I cannot believe that Sunday is November first. I love the start of the holiday season. One thing I am not looking forward to is less daylight...hate that.

Last night for dinner I made skinny orange chicken. I am not a big Asian food fan (at all). The idea of MSG in my food freaks me out as my mom has suffered from vertigo (to the point of hospitalization) after eating Chinese food. 

I used the skinny orange chicken recipe from Gimme some Oven. It was good! I added broccoli by sauteing the broccoli with some olive oil on the stove and added it to the mixture of the chicken and the sauce. It would've been too plain without the broccoli. 

{I am not a food blogger/photographer!} 

Instead of rice I made quinoa. I omitted the red pepper flakes as I hate spicy anything.  Also, I used rice vinegar opposed to the rice wine vinegar (I couldn't find any in my local Whole Foods). Of course whenever possible I used organic ingredients - especially with the soy sauce.  

Have a great Halloween! 

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Fun fashion finds

Happy Thursday! Almost there.

I am not a fashion diva and anything but an expert....but I do love fashion!

I am LOVING faux fur vests this fall...I want to buy another one but I am having a hard time finding one I love....here is what I wore to Wellfleet's Oyster Fest a few weeks ago.

{Shirt: Lilly Pultizer} 

Also pictured in the above picture of me devouring oysters is my Eden bracelet. Every cape gurl must have Eden's Cape Cod bracelet. There are plenty of knock offs available to purchase. I opted to "shop local" and support local artists and purchase the only authentic bracelet from Eden. Sorry China. Eden is the original designer of the bracelet. Jewelry cannot be purchased online and only directly at their store in Dennis. They are a seasonal store and during the high season (summer) you must get a ticket in order to shop in their store. They only accept checks and cash. Usually, they open in December for the month in case you need to get some Christmas gifts! Check out their website for all the details. 

{Vest: Steve Madden got @ Nordstrom Rack}

{Jeans: KUT from Nordstrom Rack}

{Bracelet: Eden}

{Sunnies Kate Spade from Nordstrom Rack}

The Law of Attraction

By now, I am sure you have heard of the law of attraction. I truly believe that when you want to achieve something if you visual it happening you will achieve success. I started manifesting things I wanted and goals as a young child. My first remembrance of manifesting one of my desires is how I desperately wanted a dog. My parents' never would give into getting a dog. So, when I was younger I had a stuffed animal dog and put the dog's bowl of water on my 101 Dalmatians place mat in my bedroom. Well, what do you know? Coco's place mat is the one my stuffed animal used.

As a child, at the book fair at school I purchased a poster of a dog. I swear it was a shih tzu. I had that poster hung above my bureau for quite some time. I wish I still had the poster to see if actually was a shih tzu! See? When you visualize something and "pretend" you already have it, you are already half way there. 

I have been putting my focus on finding the perfect house for AJ and I to buy. We are both are working on our financial goals and straightening some things out. We have had lots of setbacks during this process, but for the most part I know we are making progress of attaining our goal. If anything our setbacks have made a stronger couple. 

I began to do some research on how to manifest the house we will be buying. I found this blog post especially helpful in visualizing our house. 

My blog is the perfect place to post step 1, knowing what I want.  I can come back here read it, visualize it, and then write how everything has come true!

Location: Littleton, MA 

Neighborhood: A side street; nice neighborhood. On Long Pond/Fort Pond/Lake Nagog

Bedrooms: 3 bedrooms, finished basement, 1-2 bathrooms, dishwasher. Medium sized backyard. Garage. 

Now, there are most certainly other areas we are willing to live in (Chelmsford, and Westford). However, Littleton meets everything we are looking for. Accessible to my work and AJ's, small community, and a top notch school system. 

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One way I have started executing the law of attraction is that I have begun to purchase items for our house. This past summer, I purchased a beautiful drawing from Nick Martinez. This picture (below) means a lot to me as Saratoga is one of AJ's favorite places and where we have so much fun together. We are going to get the picture framed soon! My Saratoga tips will be posted next summer as I know I have kept saying I am going to give my tips out. 

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