 A glimpse of Stephanie and Pat's menu tasting at the Four Seasons Philadelphia. A heavenly Nutella shooter, gloriously creamy mushroom risotto, a candied walnut salad bursting with flavor—our menu tasting at the Four Seasons last week easily ascended the ranks to my favorite wedding appointment so far!
I wish I could do a tasting every day! The concept is just so awesome. The happiness a delicious meal can bring me is somewhat ridiculous, but man, do I love to eat.
After being warned the appointment would take at least three hours, Pat and I decided to both take the day off. The three-day weekend, thus, had us in a very good mood, as well as the opportunity to spend another day together (as we’re still pushing through the long-distance and working in separate cities until the wedding).
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 iStockphoto Do you have a song that, every time you hear it, takes you back to a moment you’ve nearly forgotten about? You catch yourself in the grocery store daydreaming while staring at a can of beans or while waiting at a stoplight, and you’re suddenly snapped into reality when the person behind you honks their horn during the chorus. Well, the song that Eric and I have chosen for our first dance, and the song my dad and I will dance to, have done that to me for years. And it’s so exciting to know that for the rest of my life when I hear them after the wedding, I’ll immediately be thrown back into that moment.
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We live in the same house and sleep in the same bed. So when did it become so hard to find time to see my husband?
 Fuse A few weeks ago I found myself sitting across from J., trying to schedule a date night. He was frowning at the calendar on his phone and I was furiously rifling through my planner.
“How about the last weekend in April?” I said.
“I have a tennis tournament and then we have that party. What about the weekend of the fourth?” he said.
“Nope. We have dinner plans on Friday night. You have that match on Saturday and I’ve got that party, and then I’m in Connecticut for a baby shower on Sunday. What about the following weekend? I have an event Friday night, but I’m free Saturday.”
“Well, that’s Mother’s Day weekend, but maybe we can fit in both of our moms on Sunday and the two of us can go to dinner together on Saturday…”
Neither of us actually admitted it out loud, but we were both doing it: literally penciling each other in. Date night tonight? Check with mom re: Sunday brunch. NOTE: Shave legs; wear matching bra and underwear. We were one dangerous step away from scheduling sex.
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You know, it’s probably not a good sign if the groom hypothetically throws out there, “So hey, like, if we didn’t actually end up getting married, you’d give me back the ring, right?” Like, that’s not something that I feel should probably come up during a strong and happy engagement. The bride gave him a sure, but whether it was to punish him for simply asking that question or not, that’s not what ended up happening in this messy little situation.
NFL star Mario Williams is suing his ex-fiance because, contrary to her (I’m guessing) shrugged-shouldered response to his hypothetically staged question, she both called off the wedding—and made off with the engagement ring. The engagement ring that cost him $750,000.
No matter what she supposedly “agreed” to, I generally think that whoever calls off the wedding needs to give the other person the ring. Unless it’s a peacefully reached, truly mutual decision—then the couple can amicably reach that decision together. Watch the video below for the deets on this mess.
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 Hemera We know that posting about your marital finances isn’t exactly as fun as chatting about what flavor of macarons you’re going to get for your wedding favors, but every once in a while we’ve just gotta pop into that topic.
We saw this great piece on HuffPo today on the five financial conversations you’ve got to have before getting married, and we couldn’t agree more! It basically covers all of the things we’ve harped on before—how, before you are married, it’s best to figure out things like, say, who’s the spender and who’s the saver; what your longterm financial goals are; how you’re going to combine your finances; who has what debt (this is not an area where either one of you are going to want to be surprised), and all of those things that admittedly are not all that fun to talk about—that can be stressful, even, if we’re all being honest—but that will absolutely come back to haunt you if you don’t hash them out now.
Have you and your groom figured out how your finances will work once you’ve gotten married?
RELATED: The First Year: You, Your Groom, and Your Money
For more about wedding and marriage finances, click here.
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Honeymoon here in the Dominican Republic for a post-nuptial getaway filled with Latin culture and gorgeous beaches.
 The Barceló Bávaro Beach Resort pool. All photos in this post courtesy of the resort. Beach connoisseurs, this one’s for you. Sure, Punta Cana is home to several luxe resorts willing to cater to a guest’s every whim, but nothing man-made can rival what this spot was God-given: postcard-perfect Caribbean-fantasy beaches with flour-soft white sand, turquoise water, year round sun and a warm ocean breeze. Europeans have long known the beaches here are tops and the resorts more reasonably priced than elsewhere (and have been coming in droves since the airport was built in 1984), but Americans have caught on in recent years. According to a 2012 report from Expedia, Punta Cana is now one of the top five most frequented international destinations for U.S. travelers—lots of them honeymooners looking for the no-hassle frills of the area’s many upscale all-inclusives. Among the best stretches of sand here is Bávaro Beach, a mile-long expanse that sits behind an offshore reef, leaving waters calm, warm and pool-like. The latest upgrade to the Bávaro scene is the Barceló Bávaro Beach Resort, a premium, quiet, adults-only corner of the larger Barceló Bávaro Palace Deluxe.
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I mean, at least that’s what local realtors are saying about the tent under which Michael Jordan and his girlfriend Yvette Prieto tied the knot this past weekend in Palm Beach. Who knows if it’s official. Though I’d certainly believe it.
That’s because the tent in question was 40,000 square feet, which is 5,000 square feet larger than the couple’s gigantic home, and also, in case you were wondering, insane. More than 2,000 people were there, which is also insane. Do you even know 2,000 people? Must have been quite the party.
Are you having a tented wedding this spring or summer season? Next time a mom or a dad or a groom mumbles anything about anything to do with your nuptials being out of control, just show them these photos, and you should be good. (Oh, and for pics of her dress and ring, go here.)
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 Pat in his Hugo Boss wedding tux! Just under three months to go until the wedding, and I am both completely ecstatic—ardently wishing the day would just get here already—and rather nervous and fearful of how we’re going to accomplish everything on our seemingly interminable planning list. Over the weekend, however, we tallied some important check marks.
All of the groomsmen will be wearing Vera Wang Black tuxedos from Men’s Wearhouse. We reserved the rentals, and now, we just have to hope the boys don’t forget to get their measurements taken (the email with very specific instructions has been sent!). The rental comes with the tux jacket, pants, shirt, cufflinks, bowtie, shoes, and socks—a pretty awesome deal that will hopefully eliminate any last-minute “But I only brought white socks,” “I only have a blue button-down,” and “I can’t wear my sneakers?” problems.
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Because you take each other in sickness and in health—and as sleep buddies for life.
 iStockphoto Last week, I was in an office, talking to a co-worker. He was standing in front of a window and the sun beaming in made him fuzzy around the edges so that I couldn’t really make him out. We’d just come from a meeting, and he’d said horrible, derogatory things to me in front of the entire staff. I was blazing mad.
He continued shouting at me in the office, and I shouted back. I wondered how no one else had heard and why people weren’t running towards the commotion. Was anyone going to call security? This guy is nuts. Suddenly he said something that I don’t remember and I snapped. I threw back my arm and hit him square in the face.
“HOLY CRAP!!!” J. shot up in bed like a rocket, holding his nose. “What the hell was that?”
I think I mumbled something. J. jumped out of bed and pounded into the bathroom. I mumbled again. Why the heck was he up and being so loud? I looked at the clock: 3 a.m. Ugh.
“You just PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE,” he called from the bathroom.
Whoops.
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 Justin Timberlake Oh, these two crazy kids.
You, more likely than not, very much enjoy, as many of us do, the bromance between Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon. (And if you do not know of which I speak, please take the time out of your day right now to watch the History of Rap, Parts 1-4. You’ll be glad you did.)
It’s no surprise that Fallon was at Timberlake’s wedding to Jessica Biel this past fall—but what’s only recently come out via Mr. Timberlake is that Mr. Fallon actually busted into the speech the groom was making to his brand new wife right in the middle of the wedding reception. Apparently, Timberlake had just paused for a second to gather his thoughts, when Fallon yelled something out, and right there in the middle of professing his love for his new wife, these two goofballs went back and forth for several minutes.
Luckily, their bromance is charming and funny enough that it was a hit with the crowd—and, it seems, the new Mrs. Timberlake—though in general, unless you are a wildly beloved and successful comedian, probably not advisable to heckle the groom in this way.
Read the whole story here.
RELATED: Jessica Biel Wore a Pink Giambattista Valli Gown to Marry Justin Timberlake
RELATED: Jessica Biel Loooves Calling Justin Timberlake Her “Husband”
Image: Featureflash / Shutterstock.com
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