Tag Archives: Gifts

Canton (Club) Shower

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Canton Shower

Canton Shower Part of the Bridal Party: Sarah, Me, Kendra, and Amelia

After my first Cleveland shower, I was not nervous at all about my Canton shower. Thanks to my mom and my Aunt Carolyn I knew every single little detail about the Canton shower so I knew exactly what to expect. My bridal shower given to me by my family members was at the Canton Club in downtown Canton. If you haven’t been to the Canton Club it is amazingly beautiful and the food is outstanding. My Aunt Carolyn picked a menu that included baby pineapples…enough said. Yes, baby pineapples do exist and they are tastier than adult pineapples. My favorite of my wedding shower planning was discovering the edible favor. My mother found these beautiful Moreno glass compacts to give away as the favor for the shower but she still wanted something edible to give the guests. Due to my keen sense of finding delicious sweets everywhere I go, I found sea salt chocolate covered caramels by Anastasiades Chocolates at Fisher Foods while on my way to get lunch at the salad bar. You read that correctly that I found chocolates on my way to the salad bar. As you may have previously read, I love anything that is salty caramel. These chocolates were perfect and amazingly delicious. Considering the favor was my only contribution to the Canton shower and the rest was due to the hard work my Mom and my hostesses, Aunt Carolyn, Aunt Pat, Aunt Nina, Aunt Mona, my Nouna Christine, Aunt Dina, Stella, Kay, and Sophia. Even though mothers are not supposed to plan showers my mom  made the invitations, programs, and name cards. She is the coolest.

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My dress for my shower was actually a rejected bridesmaid dress from all of the places bebe. Considering I haven’t shopped at bebe since middle school I surprised that they have dresses that are appropriate for outside the club. My shoes and bag were Aldo. It was the first time I tried “beachy waves” on my hair. It turned out okay considering I have used a curling iron only a handful of times in my life. I truly had the best time at my shower. I loved being surrounded by family and friends from near and far. I also enjoyed that Phil got to open up some presents with me and got to share in the fun of opening of presents. Thank you everyone for the best wedding shower a girl like me could ask for. Now the question is where am I going to put all these gifts and when am I going to have a party to use them all.

My mom and I

My beautiful Mom and I

Phil loves Lenox butterfly bowls

Phil loves Lenox butterfly bowls

A Few of Our Favorite Things

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1 of 3 Registries

1 of 3 Registries

We registered for a lot gifts. Our registries are overwhelming to us and I’m sure it is overwhelming for our guests to our wedding. So Phil and I decided to share some of our favorite things off our registries. (Disclaimer: we love everything we registered for) So here you go:

Bed Bath & Beyond

Crate & Barrel

Macy’s

Cleveland Bridal Shower

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Me with all my gifts

Me with all of our gifts

I was nervous about my first wedding shower. A wedding shower is nothing like anything I’ve ever experienced before. I never had a party thrown for me in my honor and I never had to open up gifts in front of people. Yes, I have had birthday parties where I opened up gifts in front of people but nothing like this. I usually think too much about these type of things and make myself nervous. I was nervous about who was going to come, what I was going to get, what I was going to say, and what I was going to wear. Phil is usually the only person that can calm me down about these sorts of silly over analyzing . Phil  did have to calm me down before my Cleveland shower and he did a great job. I am lucky enough to have two wedding showers. Phil’s side of the family threw me a shower on May 11th ( yes I know this post is a little late) at Red Tail Golf Club. I had bought my dress for my first shower months prior from Kate Spade due to the art deco pattern. But of course I doubted my purchase a week prior to the shower but Phil convinced me that I looked pretty in the dress and it was perfect for my first shower. Unfortunately Ohio’s weather is very unpredictable and of course  it was cold and rainy the day of the shower and I was afraid I was going to be cold in the dress. But as my Yiayia says “sometimes you have to suffer to be beautiful” so I still wore the dress and I wasn’t cold at all. I was super excited to try my shower cake. Phil’s family knew about my love for salty caramel cake and they found a Cleveland baker that makes the elusive flavor and it was a very tasty cake.

Phil and I with our Mothers

Phil and I with our Mothers after Phil gave out the flowers

I’m not gonna lie I was very excited to open my our shower presents. I can’t handle surprises. I am such a little kid when it comes to surprise presents. I was one of those kids that would look for their Christmas presents.  So when it came to my shower presents, it is the worst case scenario for people like me, you can look at your registries and find out what you are getting before you open them. I really tried hard not to check my registries before my shower…but I just couldn’t do it. I probably checked them more than the average bride, but who cares, at least I didn’t know who they were from…right? My dad gave me flack about checking them because he said it would ruin the shower for me. My mom sort of agreed with him but then would ask me if I got anything new for the shower. Looking at my registries before my shower did not ruin it at all. I was still genuinely surprised when I opened a gift and I had a blast doing it. For the record I broke 5 bows, so that means Phil and I will have 5 children. We will see about that… Phil was nice enough  to bring me red roses and a red rose for my mom and his mom. It was a nice touch and he is a sweet guy 😉 Lastly and most importantly, I want to thank the hostesses for the event: Elpida Kosmides, Susan, Jan, Becky, and Connie Giallourakis. Also I would like to thank Phil’s mom Angie and thank everyone for coming near and far. 1 down 1 to go!

UPDATE: Really Crate & Barrel?!?

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This is the stupid postcard from Crate & Barrel

This is the stupid postcard from Crate & Barrel

I came home from work one day and received the lovely postcard above from Crate & Barrel. It told me that the everyday dishes that Phil & I took so long to pick out were being discontinued in July. As I briefly explained in my previous posts about registering Phil & I took a long time picking out our dishes and the Marin dinnerware was basically the only dishes we liked together and had all the serving pieces that we wanted. I went into straight up wedding panic mode. I called the customer service number on the postcard and talked to the C&B customer service lady; who basically did not help me one bit. I asked her why the dinnerware was being discontinued and she didn’t know why corporate did it. I asked her for other suggestions, all she did was read off all the other dishes on the website, which I could have easily done myself. Let this be noted that the Marin dinnerware is listed as a recommended dinnerware set on the C&B website and it also it is the best selling dinnerware set for wedding registries. So it did not make sense to me, the average Crate and Barrel Bride, why “corporate” would stop making such a popular pattern. I was angry and sad at the same time. It was weeks before my first shower in Cleveland and I didn’t know what to do about the dishes. So Phil and I had only 3 options pick another set, stick with the Marin set and hope for the best, or buy the entire set ourselves before July. Phil and I couldn’t buy everything in the set ourselves because it just simply wasn’t in the budget. After looking at the C&B website we didn’t like any other of the dinnerware patterns. So we went with the last option and we stuck with the Marin set and are hoping for the best. So if you are reading this and you need to get us a wedding gift you can get us anything from the Marin collection at Crate & Barrel, it would be awesome 🙂

My reaction when I got the postcard from Crate & Barrel

UPDATE: A day after I posted this entry about our dishes I got a call and an email from Crate & Barrel telling us that they were mistaken in sending out the postcards stating that the Marin dinnerware was being discontinued and that only ONE piece in the collection, a pitcher, was the only item being discontinued. I was in shock and relieved. I was happy that we didn’t have to rush to get our everyday dishes and all the pieces. But I wanted those 3 days back that I stressed over deciding to keep them on our registry. Thanks to my Mom, Phil’s Mom, and Kendra for buying some of the pieces of the set before we knew that it wasn’t going to be discontinued in July.

Crate & Barrel Registering Party

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Me with our everyday dishes

Me with our everyday dishes

Our final registering experience we decided to go out with a bang. Before getting engaged Phil and I had never been to a Crate and Barrel. While doing our “research” on places to register we checked out Crate and Barrel in Beachwood. We absolutely loved it, especially Phil he was like a kid in a candy store. Phil and I love to cook so Crate and Barrel was like walking into cooking heaven, with the each end-cap devoted to different kind of cuisine, kitchen gadgets for everything you ever needed, and dishes that matched our traditional modern style. Phil and I instantly decided that we were going to register there and we were excited that we picked our everyday dishes, glassware, and everything else we really loved (which was a lot)

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Phil chowing down on some free breakfast

We signed up for Crate and Barrel Wedding Parties, which is an event that the store hosts where open the store just for engaged couples, serve you drinks and food, and demonstrate certain products. One of Phil’s co-workers went to one of these parties and highly recommended it so we thought why not? We RSVP’d to a Sunday morning event and showed up to the store bright and early. Now let’s note that Phil and I are not morning people; we both love to sleep-in, so getting up early was a challenge for . When we got there we took advantage of the “free” breakfast which included pastries, fruit kabobs, coffee, juices, yogurt, and mini muffins. Since it was our 3rd time registering Phil and I were pros. We started checking things off our list while the other couples were deciding between mixing bowls. Just like Macy’s, Crate and Barrel has an app that you can use as a scanner to add items to your registry. The Crate and Barrel app did not work as well as the Macy’s app, it actually kind of sucked. If we would have done it again we would have used a normal scanner instead of my iPhone.

As we were registering I was kind of paying attention to the other couples to what they were registering for and how they were registering. I figured out that all couples are the same. 1 person would be the person that was really into registering for things and would want to register for everything and the other person would argue and not want to register for the said item. When it comes to Phil and I, I am the person that wants to register for everything and Phil would be the person that would argue about many of items I was registering for. For example:

Alysse: Let’s register for these seafood utensils, it would be really nice to have them when we cook lobster and/or crab legs. Yummm, I love crab legs.

Phil: We don’t need that.

Alysse: It’s not that expensive and it would be fun to have them.

Phil: Um, no.

Alysse: Okkkkkaaay. (Then she registers for the seafood utensils 10 minutes later).

After 2 1/2 hours of registering Phil had enough of it. The free breakfast wasn’t enough for him and he was hungry, tired, and cranky. I couldn’t even get the guy to look at beer glasses he was so cranky. So I finished registering online. So check out our Crate & Barrel Registry, some of our favorite stuff is on it: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Gift-Registry/Alysse-Shaheen-and-Phil-Giallourakis/r5009585 

Registering in the Night- Macy’s

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Phil with our luggage

Phil loves our luggage we picked out…he can’t wait to go to the beach with them

Phil and I wanted to register at Macy’s because we needed somewhere to register for nice bedding, towels, luggage, and fancy things. I found out that Macy’s has an app that you can use as a scanner to add things to your registry. So after work Phil and I went to out to dinner and then registered with my iPhone. After we registered at Bed, Bath, and Beyond I had made a list for Macy’s and Crate & Barrel of certain items that BB&B didn’t have or things that we still needed. Turns out most of the things on our list weren’t at the Great Northern store where we went. But we still were able to test out the softness of towels, sheets, and pillows. We were really impressed in how well the Macy’s app worked. Registering at Macy’s only took an hour and half, which was a piece of cake compared to Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Check out all the fun stuff we registered for at Macy’s here: Phil and Alysse’s Macy’s Registry

The best way to test towels is to do the Yenta

The best way to test towels is to do the Yenta

This is what happens when Phil has a camera in his hands at Macy's

This is what happens when Phil has a camera in his hands at Macy’s

Go Big or Go Home: Bed, Bath, & Beyond

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Phil & I registering...the picture is 100% candid ;)

Phil & I registering…the picture is 100% candid 😉

Phil and I could not wait to register. We decided to register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond first. BB&B has everything and we thought our wedding guests would enjoy using their 20% off coupons to buy tons of presents for us. The one piece and best advice I got from my mother on registering was that always register for extra/enough stuff, most importantly place settings and serving pieces. I took her advice and we registered for a ton of stuff. I started the registering process by doing a TON of research. Phil and I picked the 3 places that we wanted to register and made a dry run at each place by checking out patterns and items that we liked. We decided on BB&B, Macy’s, and Crate and Barrel. Then I printed out the registry checklists from all three places, combined them and researched what the best products were on Amazon.com and Good Housekeeping.com and then found those products on the stores’ websites. For example, I would check out which toaster had the highest reviews on Amazon.com, which was the Cuisinart toaster and looked on BB&B’s website and if they had it I wrote it down. For the stuff that didn’t have reviews like place settings, flatware, glassware, bedding, and towels, etc. we just picked what we liked.

Me with my extreme list.

Me with my extreme list.

We had made an appointment to register with an assistant, Torrie at The Strip location in Canton. Torrie was super helpful because she told us where everything was, what the most popular items were, and she kept us on track. Phil was a little hesitant to register things that we already had or things that were too expensive. But after the 1st hour he was in the registering spirit and scanning a $140 trash cans and he was quoted saying, “we only get to register once.”

Phil scanning like a wild man

Phil scanning like a wild man

It took 3 1/2 hours for us to register. I could not even imagine how long it would have taken if I didn’t have my extreme prepared list. We were tired and hungry the last hour but we kept on trucking. One thing good about being tired the last hour is that I got Phil to agree on some girly stuff just because he wanted to get out of there. So check out our registry here: Phil & Alysse’s Bed, Bath, & Beyond Registry

This is our fancy place setting...it's kate spade. Phil says I loooooooovvvee everything kate spade. Is that a bad thing?

This is our fancy place setting…it’s kate spade. Phil says I loooooooovvvee everything kate spade. Is that a bad thing?