Weekend Moments

We celebrated my mother-in-law’s 60th birthday this weekend!! It was a great day in the Napa Valley complete with a limo, fabulous wine, and a great lunch at one of our favorite restaurants Bottega...

Restaurant Review: Ad Hoc

Very rarely do I bring my camera with me when my husband and I go out to dinner in the Valley, but I happen to have it with me with this past Friday evening when we snagged an impromptu reservation...

Restaurant Review: El Celler de Can Roca

El Celler de Can Roca was rated the #2 restaurant in the world in 2012, and it was one of the reasons we chose Spain as our honeymoon destination. We spent the first week of our honeymoon renting...

Restaurant Week

My husband and I are die-hard lovers of good wine and food….living in the Napa Valley has been a dream for us, and we’ve been taking full advantage of the area. When planning our wedding and...

Wedding Wednesday: DIY Invitations

Since our invitations seemed to be such a big hit with our guests and on Pinterest and other blog features…I thought I’d share the process, vendors, and cost breakdown! First, for us to have done...

Our Wedding Feature!!

Hi Everyone! I’m pretty excited to say that our wedding was featured on the Borrowed & Blue blog today!! It’s so nice to have others think the day was as beautiful as we did!! Check out the link!!...

Motivational Monday: New Weight Loss Plan

Motivation is a very interesting thing…I always find it surprising how it just comes and goes with no real purpose (at least that’s been my experience). The year leading up to my wedding in July...

Tasty Tuesday: Reinvented Fish Taco

One of my favorite things to do is reinvent classics in the kitchen! I’m also going through a “small bite” phase at the moment….rather than making one large meal I’m making 4-5 one bite dishes (my...

Take 15% off Alex’s Pantry

Take 15% off at www.alexspantry.comnow through Feb 28th with coupon code WELCOME15 !! wine cooler pictured…

Alex’s Pantry Launched!

So after almost three years of tireless effort and juggling of priorities my new business venture, Alex’s Pantry, has finally come to life! We launched this morning and are already receiving great...

WELCOME TO THE BRIDAL RECIPE!

The Bridal Recipe is a full service Event Planning company located in the Napa Valley that specializes in intimate wine country weddings! We offer a wide variety of services from day-of...

50lbs. in 6 months

Going from 167 lbs. to 117 lbs. in 6 months was by no means an easy feet…..the 5 am cardio sessions, low calorie intake, and a couple emotional break downs made it a bumpy road at times, but...

It’s been too long..

So after a month of not blogging, I figured it’s time to come back…Between working out constantly, and starting a new business the blog has, unfortunately, gone by the wayside a bit. But on to the...

Inspiration: Footwear

I think the most important part of chosing footwear for any bride is taking the venue into consideration. If you’re getting married on the beach 5 inch Christian Louboutin stilletos probably aren’t...

Motivation: 5k!

Just signed up for my first official race ever! A 5k along the river in Napa on April 28th…picturesque no? It’s powered by my awsome bootcamp Napafit! For any summer brides in the Bay Area, this...

Motivation: Weekend Indulgence

After a crazy week of 5 am workouts, low-calorie meals, and bootcamp, by Saturday, I was sore and exhausted. I’ve decided that one of the only ways to keep my sanity through this whole process, is...

Motivation: The “Before” Picture

It’s official…I’ve been gearing up for a couple of weeks now (weaning myslef off the fatty food and booze while doing a few light workouts), but now I’m in full weight loss mode! I’ve got 5 months...

Inspiration: Floral Adornments

I think the most important part of my wedding day look is the hair. When you have a dress as simple as mine, you can have a lot more detail in the hair style and hair accessories. I’m leaning...

Inspiration: Fashion Forward Sweetness

Nick and I are not dessert people (one of the many things we have in common)….we both will take a cheese course over a chocolate souffle any day; however, this is a wedding, and cake is expected....

My New Best Friend…Literally

As of two days ago the wedding was 26 weeks away (yes I have a week by week countdown going on the iPhone), and that may seem like a lot, but as I’ve found, when it comes to weight loss, there...

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Wooden “Save the Date” Cards

I really went back and forth on whether or not we needed to send out “Save the Date” cards, but after browsing on Etsy.com (a frequent habit of mine), I just knew we had to have these. They are so...

Inspiration: Flower Arrangements

I have to admit the flowers were not one of my top priorities in the wedding design….especially because we have such a gorgous venue….but the more I’ve looked the more obsessed I’ve become. We...

Our Amazing Wedding Party

Since our wedding is so small, picking a bridal party was very easy. Neither Nick and I are religious, so we are having one of his best friends and fraternity brother officiate the ceremony!...

Boudoir Photo Shoot Coupon

For brides in the SF/Bay Area amazing deal. Perfect gift, after the wedding, for the future husband, and great weight loss motivation! Purchased!!! $99 for a Boudoir Photo Shoot with Three Digital...

Recipe: The Reinvented Fish Taco

So I’m an avid Food Network watcher, and consider myself a very amateur gourmand, so when I saw the episode on The Best Thing I Ever Ate : Reinvented Classics I knew I had to try the Fish Taco!...

Our Wedding Venue: Copain Winery

Nick and I really stuggled with finding a venue. We knew we wanted to have the wedding Healdsburg because of the fabulous downtown, great wine, food, and the fact that so few of our guests have...

Wedding Questionnaire

Recently, Nick and I were asked to fill out a wedding questionnaire for a potential wedding planner, who was absolutely fabulous but we didn’t end up going with because I really wanted to do 90% of...

July 22, 2012

I used to dream about finding the perfect partner, and the search has been a long one….Nick and I went to the same high school, but never ran in the same circle of friends, a nd therefore, never...

Welcome!!

Welcome to The Bridal Recipe!!! I’m Alex, and I’m starting this blog to document and discuss the process of planning my wedding and conquering my weight loss goals! I, like so many other women out...