Took the Plunge

So after enough peer pressure (yes it works) I am now on Twitter. Click the button on the left to follow me. Although I must warn you, its nothing exciting as of right now :)

More Peer Love!

So needless to say my week started off with a bang! I was the lucky and very honored recipient of not one, not two, not three, but FOUR blog awards! Thanks need to go out to my friends Stacey at You Can't Take it With You and Maria at The Carosello Wedding, as well as to a new blogger friend Lindsay at Lindsay Maddox. I encourage you to check out these ladies blogs! I do on a regular basis!

So part of the Over the Top award is to answer these questions using only one word: 

1. where is your cell phone? Counter
2. your hair? Brown
3. your mother? Funny
4. your father? Dad
5. your favorite food? Italian?
6. your dream last night? Forgot
7. your favorite drink? Tea
8. your dream/goal? Happiness
9. what room are you in? Living
10. your hobby? Blogging
11. your fear? Unknown
12. where do you want to be in 6 years? Home
13. where were you last night? Home
14. something that you aren’t? Male
15. muffins? Cupcakes
16. wish list item? Bakeware
17. where did you grow up? SaudiArabia
18. last thing you did? Ate
19. what are you wearing? Jeans
20. your TV? On
21. your pets? Dogs
22. friends? Fabulous
23. your life? Great
24. your mood? Happy
25. missing someone? Family
26. vehicle? None
27. something you’re not wearing? Shoes
28. your favorite store?
29. your favorite color? Lots
30. when was the last time you laughed? Earlier
31. last time you cried? Forgot
32. your best friend? Far
33. one place that i go to over and over? Cyprus
34. one person who emails me regularly? Fiance
35. favorite place to eat? Anywhere!

So I would like to pass this the One Lovely Blog award to Sarah at That's What She Said! whose blog I recently started following and is also embarking on the wedding planning bandwagon.

And the Over the Top Award to Cocktails and Cashmere. Make sure you answer with only one word!

Post the awards on your blog and be sure to let the person you pass the award onto know that you are doing so. 

Here Yee! Here Yee!

Listen up ladies! This is truly important. I just discovered this amazing giveaway and needed to share ASAP! Do you see this picture?

Yes you see right. It is a Tiffany pendant in a Little Blue Box and white ribbon and Tiffany bag! Best of all, its in the shape of a cupcake! And IT CAN BE YOURS!

By going right here and entering this giveaway. Good Luck all!

Another GiveAway

My friend Stacey is giving away some very cute, handmade flowers to us bloggers. Contest ends tomorrow at noon, so be sure to click here to see what you need to do! 

Friday's With Mr. Milk - Cyprus Wedding Traditions

Someone once said that it's easier to find a wife in Cyprus than it is to book a venue. Laugh all you want but our experience this past August confirms that! Chocolate Lover, in an earlier post, discussed our frustration with the fact that EVERYTHING was booked two years in advance! Regardless, we were still able to secure a beautiful venue and we are both super excited about it. I thought I'd provide everyone with more information on the wedding business in Cyprus and some of the traditions that have carried through to today.

Back in the day, weddings in Cyprus villages used to go on for three days. One could write a book about the hundreds of traditions and rituals that took place, from the preparation of the bride and groom's bed to the parading around the village. Quite a few of these traditions remain to date, albeit in a more modern form. To give you an example, the mentality behind holding a village wedding stemmed from the belief that the community should pull their resources together and help a young couple to a healthy start of their marriage. Although I've never had the privilege of observing an authentic Cypriot wedding, I am assuming that the general buzz in the village every time someone got married can be described to the 4th of July celebrations in the United States, only extending from the 3rd to the 5th!

Pulling their resources together. What does that mean? The barber would give the groom his haircut and the best man would shave him. The village seamstress would help with the sewing of the bedspread and the couple's clothes. Everyone would pitch-in one way or another and the village musicians (a violinist and a "laoutaris" [traditional Cypriot instrument resembling the Greek bouzouki, but not quite]) would play all sorts of songs, each one appropriate to the individual ritual. But the biggest deed of kindness came the night of the wedding when the couple danced for the first time. The entire village (and I mean hundreds of people) would pin money (the highest currency bill of the time) on the bride and groom, as a way of generating enough wealth for the newlyweds to invest in their household (the actual house was usually courtesy of the bride's parents) and their soon to be born children.

Well, to no one's surprise, if there is one tradition that has been preserved, it's definitely the money dance. These days however instead of dancing around in a sea of Euros, most people bring their "contribution" in a smal 2"x3" evnvelope along with their business card. The exchange happens as the couple greets their guests at a reception style venue, and typically the best man, hiding behing the couple, grabs the little envelopes and throws them in the money bag. If you find this very shocking then brace yourself. I just discovered that a particular bank is now offering an online money transfer specifically tailored to wedding gifts!

So to those wondering, no, there is no registry system in Cyprus yet. In typical Chocolate Lover fashion I shall pass the question to you: Do you prefer cash or gifts by registry?

Untill next Friday this is Mr. Milk, sigining off. 

To Plus One, or Not to Plus One... That is the Question

As many of you already know, cutting back on the guest list is probably one of the most challenging tasks when planning a wedding. We have around 350 people on our dinner list! We thought it would be around 300, maybe less, but now that we are over that by far, we need to start cutting people back. 

Mr. Milk is a laid-back, happy-go-lucky guy. So when he talks about the wedding with people, and they ask questions like "can i bring my brother along?" he is easily and naturally inclined to say "yeah, sure." Although we've discussed this already, I wanted to see where others stand on this topic.

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We have been thinking to eliminate the "plus one" in our invitations, and restrict it to people who are in long-term/committed relationships. Granted more thought will be put into it at the time the invitations need to be sent out - don't want someone who doesn't know anyone else having to show up completely alone - but we also don't want to have a double standard. Know what I mean? We are concerned about costs and also don't want to have to remove someone from the guest list who is important to us, for someone that we don't even know.

I know there is no straightforward answer. Just wanted to see what you gals have thought about/done and any other suggestions.

Need Your Help!

Mr. Milk and I spent a lot of the weekend talking about wedding invitations. We've decided that we want pocket-fold invitations in pearl and aqua metallic paper. We are narrowing down our colors, but are getting stuck on the color of the ink. I initially liked a sand/goldish color but then Mr. Milk suggested silver. Now I'm in a whirlwind of confusion as I can't decide. I like both! 

So here are a couple of pics of a quick sample I literally threw together just to get an idea/comparison. I was thinking about bridesmaids too (obviously) hense the content!

In all honesty I have never been a gold-type-of-person, but for some reason I am attracted to it now! Go figure. I thought I would throw my dilemma out to you gals for some feedback. What do you think? Which do you prefer? Any other suggestions? Help!