35 Days until our Big Day!!!!

Dear Family & Friends,

We hope you are all well and enjoying this beautiful 4th of July weekend!! Matt is on his bachelor weekend to Las Vegas with his boys...yes I am jealous :) However, I already enjoyed my bachelorette weekend with my amazing girls friends in early June!! We spent the day in Rockport, MA. on the north shore, dressed in cowgirl hats and boots (of course). The girls and I went to the jewelry store, Beadles, to design our own jewelry, then went to dinner at Roy Moore's Fish Shack. Next, we walked around the beautiful alleys of Rockport- decorated with artwork, antique shops, icecream shops & bakery's, and of course the ocean views. Catching up and sharing old stories completed the night, as all the girls joined around my dining room table on Pheasant Lane...good times girls!!

To say the months of May & June have been busy for us, would be an understatement. With our baseball and lacrosse seasons concluding in late May, we were ready to finalize the details of our wedding in June. However, June proved to be busier than ever - with report cards, end of the year school activities and beginning a 2nd Masters program (Reading & Language) for Lisa, and beginning the coaching of an intercity college (summer) baseball team and weekend trips for Matt!

In June, we also had 2 beautiful wedding showers (actually 4 if you include our work showers that our school's gave us)! Lisa's family provided a "Alice and Wonderland" themed wedding shower in Burlington, MA. No little detail or "moment" as L & L describe, went unnoticed. From Nana's tea cup centerpieces, "Eat Me" and "Drink Me" mini-signs, personalized books & frames, giant cupcakes, and the delicious home-made lunch buffet and desserts - it was amazing!! Toward the end of June, we had our "RI Shower" that Matt's family gave us, centered on the Sunflower theme, loved it! From Mackenzie's sunflower cookies, Michelle's delicious lunch spread, sunflowers decor, and personalized chocolate bars - this was a very special day! Thank you everyone for your wonderful gifts - they all are put away neatly and organized (lol) and have helped make our new house a home for us to cherish!

Having our wedding as the focal point to our Summer 2011, has been the driving force behind our motivation to see our Big Day come together! We have been engaged for almost 2 years, and dating for over 10 years - it seems as though our wedding day was in the far distance when we began the planning process. However, everyone was right!! This summer came fast! As we are winding around the final twists and turns of our planning, we are enjoying every minute. Even, the moments of "I can't make another decision!", "What is a chiavari chair?", "We mailed them an invitation right?",...did I mention my lists, and wedding binder, lol?! We have finalized several big To-Do items, such as:

- Mailed Invitations
- Picked up our Wedding Bands
- Finalized our 10 Day Honeymoon to Aruba
- Card box, ring bearer pillow (if Zachary is up for it - age 2), guest book
- Bridal party gifts :)
- Dress Fitting #1
- Veil, Shoes, Jewerly for Lisa
- Tuxes for Matt and the guys
- Florist
- DJ & Songs Lists
- Photographer

* In the works items: Thank you Cards for the shower(s), RSVP cards, Seating Chart, Favors

Thanks for joining us on our ride to planning our Big Day!!

I attached a few pics from June!

~ "Wedding" Productive April Vacation ~

Ch. 5

Dear Family & Friends,

Matt and I are well on our way to planning our big day. Which is 105 days away, but whose really counting anways?! During April vacation, Matt and I were busy being the Head Coaches of high school Baseball and Lacrosse teams. Matt coaches in Reading, and I coach in Watertown. However, we did get a lot of our big Wedding "To-Do" items completed!

With high recommendations from my dear friends Jill, Tanya and colleagues from work - we decided on Aruba as our tropical honeymoon destination. What's not to love about a beachfront resort, swim up pool bar, resort casino, horse back riding on the beach, shopping, and restaurants? This much-needed vacation gives us both something amazing to look forward to after a very busy Spring and early summer!

Matt, Lela, Shin and I traveled down memory lane last Saturday, April 16th. Where Matt and my story began over 10 years ago, at a small college campus, overlooking the north shore, on Hale St. in Beverly, Ma... Endicott College! As sophomores in college (2001), Matt and I were introduced to each other through a mutual friend. The rest is history right? Shin kindly offered to take our Engagement Photos, and Lela was a wonderful assistant that carried my wardrobe bag, fixed by wild hair from the windy day, lip gloss touch ups, and gave pose suggestions. The campus was very quiet, sky was grey, air was chilly, and wind was blowing. Our first stop on the photo shoot was Tupper Hall, my freshman dorm. This dorm is just outside the main campus. At Tupper Hall, I had an enormous 2nd floor dorm room, 3 other roommates, and a fire place (that was quickly adorned with family & friends picture frames). Lela had a triple dorm room here as well, on the 3rd floor. As a freshman, Matt lived in a small dorm on the main campus. Since our graduation in 2003, our Field Hockey field in front of Tupper Hall has been renovated and updated with a beautiful water fountain, benches, and new dorms/ alumni center around it. Our Photo shoot also involved driving to the Main Campus and walking around the grounds, stopping at bridges, Endicott College signs, benches, and ocean view look outs. Matt & I had a great time that day, and it was practice for our big day when the "paparazzi" (photographer) follows us around for 8 hours. The above 5 pictures are from our Engagement Photo session :)

For our Wedding Bands, we returned to the family owned jewerly store that Matt first picked my beautiful white gold, princess cut ring. Matt works with the owners wife in Arlington Public Schools. Matt quickly chose the perfect band for him, it was probably the 2nd one he tried on! It is a two-tone silver band with gold edging, simple and durable for his active lifestyle. Me on the other hand, would have purchased every band I tried on if I could have. They were all beautiful in their own way! What is a girl to do? I slowly narrowed my choices down to a white gold band with diamonds in a channel seting... and chose a beautiful band that compliments my ring perfectly. I'm learning a lot about jewelry from this experience that's for sure.

• Book our honeymoon to Riu Palace Resort in Aruba - Check
• Engagement Photos - Check (* A special thank you to Shin & Lela for taking them!)
• Purchasing our wedding bands - Check (Love them!)


• Lucille also bought the most beautiful Mother-of-the-Bride dress in early April, in a summery violet color. While Mario is busy looking for the perfect tie to match our wedding colors.

We wish you a wonderful Easter Sunday ahead! Hope to see everyone soon!

XoXo, Lisa & Matt

Slide Show

CH. 4
Dear Family & Friends,

We hope all is well! Click on the link (or Copy & Paste it into a search bar) below to view a slide show of our wonderful family & friends. I couldn't find current pictures of everyone, but I wanted to share what we have so far!

We are well on our way to planning our big day, and I was more than excited to cross the following items off our very extensive Wedding To-Do List: Photographer, DJ, Hair & Makeup, Dresses/ Accessories for the Bridal Party. Our almost completed items are: Choosing our Wedding Ceremony Readings & Songs, Purchasing our Wedding Bands, and Booking our Honeymoon to Aruba!

The slide show plays music - if you have speakers...sit back~ relax~ and enjoy the show!

XoXo, Lisa & Matt

http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4d6a4d304f546b784d54413d0d0a&blogview=true

The Dress

Ch. 3

~ The Dress ~

Like most girls, I always dreamed of what my wedding dress would look like. Considering that Matt and I are both teachers, and Spring season coaches - I knew we would lean toward planning a summer wedding. Actually setting the wedding date and booking reception hall made our big day seem real... but nothing could compare to seeing myself (all grown up) in the mirror at the bridal store, in a wedding gown.

Growing up, Lela & I loved to draw pictures of wedding gowns - and share all of our favorite details of how we dreamed our wedding days would be. Of course, many people suggested doing a double wedding. Despite the fact that Lela and I are identical twins, and best friends that share a unique bond - we never even thought twice about sharing our wedding day. Rather, we wanted to be in each others bridal party and help plan the shower, bachelorette party, etc.

In preparation for going dress shopping, I spent countless hours watching "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC, and fell in love with certain styles that would work for our summer wedding. I also did some online browsing and began my wedding binder, with links to wedding accessories, shoes, hair styles, songs, invitations, save the dates, venues, etc. Matt and I have had a busy few years of attending our friends from high school & college, and siblings' weddings. Along the way, I took several pictures of centerpieces, favors, cakes - and of course the brides' gown! I absolutely love the feeling I get, when the groom see his bride for the first time. This typically makes me cry...

Having about 5 gowns in mind that I wanted to try on, aleviated all of the stress and simply made for a great girls day. Even though, I had several dresses to try on, they were basically all similar styles with variations in fabric, color, embellishments - and I had one special gown in mind! Lela and I both knew that this would be my gown, even before I tried any gowns on. Mostly because it was perfect for my style, color, details, and light weight for an August wedding, not to mention absolutely beautiful.

The actual trying on the gowns is hard to describe. While I felt all grown up, I quickly remembered going dress shopping with my sister Tracy, and thinking to myself "What does that feel like?" Let's call my special gown, gown #1. My favorite dresses were pulled from the racks - and I decided to try gown #1 on first. I was just so excited, I couldn't wait. One look in the mirror, and I knew this was my gown. But I wanted to make the experience more "fun" for everyone, and also wanted to try on a few other styles. I loved an all-lace dress with a key-hole back and a satin belt. This had me thinking...not doubting, just thinking. Tracy & Lela took pictures that afternoon, and I can envision the wheels in my head turning in a few of the pictures. After about 3 or 4 gowns, I tried gown #1 on again, and this time - added a veil and satin flower in my hair. I LOVED the entire look...and said "yes" to the dress! Sometimes I get so excited just thinking of the gown, that I want to share the details with Matt.

My beautiful bridal party is; Lela (Maid of Honor), Tracy & Kristi (sister-in-law) are my bridesmaids. We chose a teal green cocktail dress which will look stunning on them. I'm looking forward to finding the jewelry for the girls. And ~something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue~ for me.

A few words that I would use to describe my wedding gown are; modern, elegant, fun, and "me", according to Lela :)

The image in this post is an example or my wedding colors, and ideas! For those of you that haven't seen my gown yet, I would like to keep it a surprise :)

Stay tuned for the next Chapter.

Our Engagment

Chapter 2

~ Our Engagment ~



Matt and I have been engaged since September 9, 2009 (9-9-09)! I always dreamed about my -ring- would look like, and tried to drop little hints to Matt about what my favorite style of ring was along the way. And of course, Lela knew exactly what style of ring I wanted, just in case Matt needed a helping hand.

Matt went ring shopping by himself, during the summer of '09. During his proposal, as I opened the red jewelry box, I remember thinking to myself, "Mattie has been paying attention!"...because, the ring was everything I wanted (Princess Cut Diamond Solitaire Ring), and more!

In the days to come, I learned that Matt had sat down with my parents, and Lela to ask my Father for my hand in marriage, which truly meant the world to me. Even though Matt and I have been together since our sophomore year at Endicott College, and my parents already welcomed him into the Lituri family, this gesture was very sweet.

Our first year of being engaged, proved to be a very busy year! I began my new teaching job and coached WHS' girls lacrosse team (with my college roommate and best friend Beth) in their inaugural season and Matt was busy teaching, being a basketball referee, coaching his JV baseball team at RMHS, as well as his first season of coaching the Reading Bulldogs, in an Intercity baseball league. We began the house hunting process in June of 2009, and purchased our dream home in December, just in time to decorate for Christmas, and have our first Christmas tree! Living in our (small) third floor apartment prior to this move, definitely didn't allow room for a Christmas tree, so I settled for a mini-tree for the past two years. But not anymore - my Mom and I went Christmas tree shopping, and Matt & I decorated our tree with ornaments from our childhood, and special keepsakes that I had been collecting through the years.

It took some time, but Matt and I have settled into our house. We had endless support from our family and friends, who helped us paint each room, pull up old rugs, assemble furniture, pass down furniture to us, and showered us with gifts to help make our new house, a home.

I know these next 11 months will fly by - and before we know it, I will be taking my deep breath (!) before walking down the aisle to see my best friend, waiting for me at the alter.

The most beautiful & perfect ring, for me!

Welcome to our Wedding Blog!

Dear Family & Friends,

Welcome to our Wedding Site! Matt and I were engaged on 9/09/2009 - and have had a wonderful and busy year.

Chapter 1
~ The Proposal~

After 2 years of graduate school, and dozens of job applications sent in the mail - I was blessed with my dream job, that of a Kindergarten Teacher. Ever since I was in Elementary School, I longed for my own classroom, desk, bulletin boards, book shelves, and classroom of young learners. I was hired a week before the first day of school, and while the classroom set-up, new teacher orientations, and paper work were overwhelming and at times scary - I embraced it all with open arms. On Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - I packed my lunch, carefully chose the perfect first day of school outfit and went to bed early - anticipating a busy day ahead with 16, five year olds, which overtime would become a little classroom community and family.

Little to my knowledge, Matt was watching the minutes on our alarm clock slowly pass throughout the night. I remember chatting with Matt for a long time before I finally fell asleep, asking him endless questions about how he thought my first day of school would go. Matt had already kicked off his school year, as the world's best gym teacher - he truly loves his job! He has been teaching at the same school for many years and was well accustomed to the first week of school.

The hall light turned on, and my eyes opened to Matt slowly climbing out of bed. Matt and I have been together since we were sophomores at Endicott College (February 2001). For a long time, I had been dreaming of what our proposal would be like, what Matt would say, how I would react, would I cry, where would it take place...? All of my questions and hopes came down this very moment, as Matt opened the top right drawer of his bureau, and reached in for something. I quickly sat up in bed, and was smiling ear-to-ear with excitement. When I realized that is was midnight, I thought, is this really happening?! Matt was very sweet in the actual proposal, and of course I cried with joy, and stared at my beautiful ring all night long.

The following day, as I sat down to read my first Kindergarten class a story, a teacher came in with a dozen roses, that Matt had sent to the school. As I turned the pages to one of my favorite children's books, My Name is Yoon, by Helen Recorvits, I couldn't help but admire my new accessory and smile - feeling very blessed in that proud moment.


Come back often to join Matt and I on our journey of planning our wedding and to see the details of our special day unfold in the chapters ahead! Please note that this is a private website, and we trust that you will use discretion in sharing this with others.