Category Archives: The Details

Today’s Bride Bridal Fair Madness

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So many booths...so overwhelmed

So many booths…so overwhelmed

Ever see those billboards about those bridal fairs? Or maybe you heard their radio ads? Well the biggest one of those shows is the Today’s Bride’s bridal fair. They have a fair in Akron and one in Cleveland. Angelica at Tangier’s recommended I go to the Akron bridal fair because it was much less overwhelming than the Cleveland one. So my mom, my future mother-in-law, and I headed to the John S. Knight Convention Center to get wedding ideas and maybe talk to some wedding vendors. The bridal show was fun but it was still overwhelming. There are brides of all kinds there including some unfortunate grooms fighting over a spot to check out some pink cummerbunds. It was great to get table decor ideas, cake designs, and get information for all sorts of wedding services. My favorite part of the bridal show was tasting the cakes for the sake of picking the best cake for our guests and not because I wanted to break my wedding diet 😉 My least favorite part of the bridal fair is the TONS of e-mails you get from all of the vendors at the fair before, during, and after the event. I’m still getting  them today. It’s super annoying. No I do not was to preserve my wedding bouquet or hire you to photograph my wedding just because you put Ryan Gosling in your e-mail. Overall it was good time and it was great to get some bonding time in with my mom and Mrs. G. But I thought I was going to get more stuff done on my to do list but it just made my list longer. Now it’s time to go through all of the swag.

My mom, Me, and Mrs. G on the "red carpet" of the Bridal Show

My mom, Me, and Mrs. G on the “red carpet” of the Bridal Show

Chillin’ At the Holiday Inn

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Whatever happened to Chingy? He was pretty good. I liked him. But, I’m glad that people don’t wear bucket hats anymore. Anyways, as the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg said “Been chillin’ at the Holiday Inn.” Taking the advice of Snoop Lion we chose the best hotel according to hip hop music for our wedding accommodations.

The Holiday Inn- Akron West

4073 Medina Road

Akron, Ohio 44333

330.666.4131

You can start booking your hotel reservations by calling 330.666.4131 and make sure you tell them your booking for the Shaheen-Giallourakis wedding to get the special rate of $89 per night. If you bring Chingy, Luda, or Snoop to our wedding as your guest I’m sure they are going to love the accommodations. But your going to have to bring your own Henny. That is not included in the $89 😉

Picking a Reception Venue

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I really don’t watch wedding shows like Say Yes to the Dress, Bridezillas, or that one with that creepy David Turtera guy. The only “wedding” show I like to watch is TLC’s “Four Weddings” If you haven’t seen the show, it is a competition show in which 4 brides attend each other weddings and judge them on the dress, the venue, the food, and overall experience. The bride with the most points wins a honeymoon. I enjoy this show because the brides on it our complete and total bitches.  Some brides will take away points for there being “too much” food or for the bride changing into a reception dress. It is great. Following the “Four Weddings” guidelines, when wedding planning I knew it was important to pick a good venue.

Our lives

Our lives

Phil is Greek and I’m Greek and Arab so we both have big families and  we probably knew that we really couldn’t keep our wedding a small affair. After “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” came out all non-Greeks basically expect you to have a large wedding. The only problem with planning a wedding with around 350-400 people is that there isn’t that many places you can have your wedding in Northeast Ohio. All the really cool venues only hold around 200 people. Just our family is 200 people…so that doesn’t work. After researching venues in the Canton/Akron area. We narrowed it down to 5 venues based solely on size. After weeding out the venues that were booked Labor day weekend 2013. We visited 3 venues. The 1st one had too many columns, the 2nd one was too small, and the 3rd one Tangier’s was just right. Tangier’s had the vibe that I wanted, plenty of space for the cocktail hour and reception, and it has a celebrity autograph hallway. If you know me I love celebrities and their autographs. But my mom and Phil gave me 1 condition to have our wedding venue at Tangier’s , I have to do this pose in their fountain:

The Condition- Source

I accepted this condition…now let’s see if it actually happens 😉

The Proposal

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Right after he proposed at the Akron/Canton Airport

Right after he proposed at the Akron/Canton Airport

Alysse’s Side of the Story:

I had planned a trip to Boston to go see my BFF since the 4th grade Lauren F. and her roommate Lauren S. Halloween weekend. We had a blast reliving our college days, shopping til we dropped, and expanding our palates. Phil and I were talking about getting engaged soon but I really didn’t know when it was going to happen. We were going to Columbus for our annual Ohio State football game so I thought that Phil would pop the question down there. But, boy I wrong and I was so glad I was wrong. But, a few road bumps got in the way of our proposal.

Lauren F.(pink loofah), Me (Mckayla Maroney), and Lauren S. (purple loofah) celebrating Halloween in Boston

Lauren F.(pink loofah), Me (Mckayla Maroney), and Lauren S. (purple loofah) celebrating Halloween in Boston

The biggest road bump was Hurricane Sandy. I was supposed to get back to Canton, Ohio Monday October 29th but the storm was hitting that day so all flights in and out of Boston were cancelled and the next flight out was Tuesday night. I really didn’t care that my flight was cancelled because I got an extra day of vacation and more time with my BFF.  Luckily Hurricane Sandy didn’t really affect Boston much; Lauren’s house had power the whole time and it didn’t even rain that much. Tuesday night rolled around and my flight was delayed 2 hours because of a random lightening storm over the airport just as the plane I was going to get on was going to land. When I finally got on the plane, I texted my mother (who I thought was going to pick me up from the airport) and Phil. But, my text to Phil didn’t go through. When I landed it was around midnight I was glad to be home and be done traveling.

The Ring

The Ring

As I was walking to baggage claim I was so shocked to Phil there with a “Shaheen” valet sign. I was so happy to see him more than ever. Then he turned the sign around and it said “Will You Marry Me?” and he pulled out the ring out of his pocket. I exclaimed “is this for real?” and he said “yes” and I said “Yes!” Then I think I gave him a million hugs and kisses. Only one person at the airport congratulated us and was kind enough to take our picture. We sat in the airport baggage claim looking at my ring for so long that my bag almost got taken to the airport lost and found. On our way to my house Phil had prepared a song to play to me while were driving. It was absolutely perfect. As we got home my brother Alexander, my Yiayia, and my Mom were waiting at the door and shot confetti poppers at us. My awesome mom had laid out of spend of romantic food to celebrate our engagement including sushi, kisses, strawberries, champagne, cake, and tons of bridal magazines. It was the best day of my life.

Our engagement spread courtesy of my mother

Our engagement spread courtesy of my mother

We're engaged and tired!

We’re engaged, happy, and tired!