Well I don’t know what to do with ALL of it, other than give the knick-knacks to your friends who are getting married next and boxing up your wedding dress to never see the light of day again. But I do know what I did with my table cards.

I think the invitations and other stationary aspects of the wedding are some of the most beautiful and delicate details of the wedding day. Not to mention that my sister-in-law, Kelly from RSVP-to-me.com, custom made all of my invitations, church programs, place and table cards. For my table cards, Rob and I decide to share small snippets about us and our relationship together. It’s a great idea I saw Heather and Phil Orlando do at their wedding that I photographed about 3 years before mine and I saved the idea for my own wedding (thanks guys!!).

I knew I didn’t want to throw away all the special stories about us, but I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do with them. There were 22 tables, I still have 21 of the table cards (number 16 is mysteriously missing). So I went on www.etsy.com and found a vendor that hand-makes the most beautiful frames (they’re called TwoDogsWorking in case you want to grab a few for yourself) and bought twenty of them and went to work!

I finally finished the project today (with help from Denise Zimmerman with the framing) and I couldn’t be more thrilled. The collage is located at the top of my stairs, which is fun to view from the bottom of the stairs, and right next to our bedroom. It’s a great reminder of all of the special things that Rob and I share and a nice way to keep our wedding day alive and use some of the beautiful artwork of them in our home.

Here’s a few pictures from the finish wall, and below you’ll find what each of the table cards said, just in case anyone is interested!!

#1 – Star Wars & LOTR
It’s common for boys to love Star Wars, but when Rob found out that Vanessa was
a Jedi-wannabe too, he bought her a light-saber and it was love at “force sight.” In
fact, they’re such big sci-fi/fantasy fans that Vanessa’s wedding ring is modeled after
Galadriel’s Ring of Power from the Lord of the Rings.

#2 – From MySpace to Facebook
Rob never considered lowering himself to the status of a MySpace-er, until after he
learned that Vanessa already had. After meeting at a wedding, Rob signed up for
MySpace for the sole purpose of stalking her. Now Rob and Vanessa can’t go more than
24 hours without updating their Facebook status.

#3 – Canon vs. Nikon
Canon (aka Vanessa) won. ‘Nuff said.

#4 – From Atheism to Christianity
The first gift Vanessa ever gave Rob was the book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be
an Atheist. Rob read the book cover to cover in three days after learning that Vanessa
wouldn’t ultimately marry anyone on earth that she couldn’t be with in eternity. This was
Rob’s first step towards God.

#5 – Cooking vs. Baking
Some people say that opposites attract and in this case they worked out perfectly. Rob
likes to cook; Vanessa likes to bake. The only thing left is who does the dishes! We’ll
leave that to Tico.

#6 – We Hate TV
While dating, neither Rob nor Vanessa had any TV subscription or cable of any kind.
They both knew it was a little strange for this day and age, but it was all worth it when
they left a door-to-door Comcast Salesman speechless at the idea of not having, or
wanting, any form of cable TV.

#7 – The Day Off
Rob and Vanessa’s Pastor, Tony Moss, once told them during a pre-marital counseling
session that they needed to schedule time off for themselves. He said a day of total
un-productivity was not only ok, but expected. Even though they were taken-aback
by the thought of a whole unproductive day, they decided to give it a whirl. On their
first scheduled day off they cleaned Vanessa’s entire house, met with a client, wrote
out a few contracts, responded to all of their e-mails and completely defended their
unproductiveness.

#8 – 5 Years Ago
In case you didn’t already know (or just assume), Rob and Vanessa met working a
wedding about 5 years ago. Although it took four years for the relationship to get started,
what they say is true: “Good things come to those who wait!”

#9 – 460 Pounds of Carpeting
Most men in the beginning of a relationship will go above and beyond for the woman.
However, I think that Rob takes the crown after ripping up and hauling away 460lbs of
carpeting and pulling up countless staples from hardwood floors in Vanessa’s new home
so she could have the hardwood floors that were underneath.

#10 – My Big, Fat, Italian Wedding
Rob and Vanessa both come from big Italian families. Between the two of them, they
cover every stereotypical Italian name in the book…ready? Rocco, Rocky, Johnny,
Danny, Joey, Marie, Francine, Josephine, Tony, Vinnie, Louis, Petie, Paulie, Sonny,
Mikey, Nicky and Nikki.

#11 – He Hated Christmas
It’s easy to dislike what Christmas has become in this country and its commercialization
fueled Rob’s hatred for and lack of participation in the holiday. That was, of course, until
he learned about the true meaning of the holiday and that he could celebrate it for what it
really is: the birth of Jesus. So from Vanessa, but especially from Rob, Merry Christmas!

#12 – Pink and White M&M’s
As you may know Vanessa’s photography business’ colors are pink and white, and
whenever she can brand with those colors, she will. Unfortunately, for Valentine’s Day,
M&M’s come with pink, white and red all in the same bag, not the look Vanessa was
going for. So as a surprise last year, Rob hand picked out all of the red M&M’s to give
Vanessa a nice big bowl of just pink and white ones for Valentine’s Day!

#13 – Our First Kiss
It may be no surprise to you how Rob and Vanessa met: working a wedding. What is
surprising is just how long they kept their feelings for each other at bay, 5 long years!
Rob and Vanessa worked on weddings together from time to time, both futilely attracted
to one another but keeping the relationship purely professional and going in and out of
other romantic relationships themselves. Everything was outwardly platonic until one
magical wedding night Rob just threw his inhibitions to the wind after the reception was
over and kissed Vanessa goodbye on the lips!

#14 – The Chicken or the Egg
So what comes first: the wedding dress or the engagement ring? For Rob and Vanessa,
they both happened at almost the same time! Since Vanessa knew that Rob had the ring
and he was popping the question sometime soon, she couldn’t help but stumble across
Pronovias, her favorite dress designer from Barcelona, having a trunk sale in Manhattan.
So, off she went with her mom and who did she find right in front of the store? Rob,
waiting to propose to her! And even better yet, Vanessa bought her dress at that store that
very day!

#15 – Midnight Movies
We know that only super-geeks go see those midnight showings to movies like LOTR,

Star Wars and Transformers…and Rob and Vanessa are no exception! Although it hasn’t
happened yet, dressing up as the characters definitely isn’t out of the question, especially
since they have Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala costumes in their closets!

#16 – Videogames
Rob and Vanessa love playing videogames; everything from Final Fantasy to Call of
Duty. On one of their first dates, they had a videogame spree featuring MarioKart, Rock
Band and even Dance, Dance Revolution!

#17 – Apple vs. PC
Apple (aka Rob) won. ‘Nuff said.

#18 – A.C. Baby!
Neither Rob nor Vanessa have really had any luck gambling, in fact, neither of them like
to do it all that much. However, the two times that they have gone to Atlantic City and
played some games, they came out on top winning over $200 each time!

#19 – Gumby
Both Vanessa and Rob had the same nickname growing up, Gumby! Vanessa received it
for her extreme flexibility and Rob earned it because he used to love Gumby and bring
the “action figure” to camp with him every day as a kid.

#20 – Photography + Videography = PhVusion
Rob and Vanessa love working together in the wedding industry and are always trying to
find new ways to do it more and more. Thanks to advancing technology they have been
able to actually fuse their two product lines together creating an edgy and unique photo/
video fusion (or PhVusion as they’ve coined it) product. So far it’s been wildly accepted
by their clients and soon PhVusion will become PhVusion, Inc.!

#21 – Our First “Home”
Most couples have the joy of picking out their first home together, but since Vanessa
had previously purchased a home in Freehold, this just wasn’t the case. Instead, Rob
and Vanessa “house-hunted” for something that they thought was even more fun: office
space! They found a room for rent in a beautiful Victorian house right in downtown
Freehold and enjoyed every minute of decorating, painting and picking out furniture!

#22 – Wedding Planning
A lot of couples stress about wedding planning, and for good reason; wedding planning
can be a big job! Thankfully both Rob and Vanessa have worked so many weddings
that this wasn’t the case. In fact, the entire wedding was planned out one night, over the
phone, in less than 20 minutes!