I Went To A Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

If you have never watched the show "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding", you are truly missing out on one of the most entertaining shows TV has to offer. The series documents the lavish weddings, as well as engagements, first communions, and other milestone events, of Irish Traveller and Roma communities.

The “spectacle” includes teenage brides and grooms, elaborate dresses that can weigh in at more than 70 pounds, bouffant hairdos, spray tans, stretch limos, deep Irish accents and scantily clad female guests. And although the events are wildly outrageous, the people are deeply conservative in their beliefs. Absolutely no sex before marriage!

Well, lo and behold, the wedding that my new Strolling Tables were booked for this past weekend was a Gypsy Wedding!!!

When I caught my first glimpse of teenage girls parading down the hallways in glitzy, drag queen-esque outfits with their deep Irish accents, I almost peed my pants. I absolutely love these girls for their "I don't give a shit" personalities and their daring fashion. I was literally in the middle of a "Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" episode!!

The bride and groom booked two of my gold Marie Antoinette strolling tables which matched perfectly with the Hilton's Ballroom decor. The table models served shots of Shirley Temples for the many underage attendees.



Ok, enough about my tables. Check out the gorgeous bride and her bridesmaids! And no, that's not a bride convention. That is just the all new popular trend of having your bridesmaids look like brides, made popular by Princess Kate and Kim Kardashian. (Also, notice the flower hats. Europeans sure do love their hats).


The bride's dress was absolutely stunning and way different from the tacky, over-sized dresses they feature on the TV show. In fact, if I had to pick another dress to wear at my wedding besides the one I have already bought, this would be it. LOVE IT.

And the back is to die for!

The sexy bride getting a Shirley Temple from our table. I'm pretty sure she was underage :)

Alright, ready for some pretty cool fashion that us boring Americans wouldn't dare to wear to a wedding? Here ya go...


The girl on the very right had a pink dress I would kill for. This is a wedding you can go to and definitely not be afraid that you are upstaging the bride. The kookier the better. I personally hate dressing for weddings because everything I own would probably upstage a bride so I always end up wearing my frumpiest outfit. If I was invited to a wedding like this.... oh the possibilities...

This yellow dress was another one of my favorites. If it was in pink, I would have probably ripped it off her body and ran home with it (minus the feather headpiece).


You really know when you have hit wedding fashion jackpot when the girls' hairdos are bigger than your Marie Antoinette wigs!! HAH


All in all it was a pretty normal wedding. The one weird thing, besides the fashion of course, was that men and women could not sit at the same table during dinner. They were all separated. I guess it's a culture thing?

If you would like to book Strolling Tables for your event, check out www.Strolling-Tables.com.

How To Be Popular On Facebook

Facebook is such a unique tool. It has given me the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, stay connected with current friends, start up two businesses, make money blogging, and share multimedia with people all over the world. It's also probably the single most addicting thing in the world. At least I'm not in denial like others.

People always ask me how or why I have so many friends on Facebook. Do I sit there all day and friend request people till I'm blue in the face? Nope. In fact, I don't friend request at all. I would say that 99.9 percent of my Facebook friends have added me.

Sadly, I reached my friend limit this year (Damn you Facebook!) but we now have a cool little feature where people can subscribe to your posts instead of having to friend request you. Neat!

Anyway, back to the friend thing... Obviously all these people are not my "real" friends as I have a very select few. I'm as picky with my real friends as I am with picking out clothes. But my Facebook friends do like to see the information I share online, And I like to share stuff! Perfect symbiotic, online relationship :)

I have always been into social networking. Long before Facebook, hell even long before Myspace, was a little site called Whimit. Now only my fellow Russian-Americans will know what I'm talking about, but this site was AMAZING and a brand new way to interact. There was roughly a hundred thousand people on the site and that was considered to be a huge thing. Every young Russian on the east coast was on that site and the minute I started using it, I was hooked.

Whimit Days

Then came the days of Fotki. This website is still around but is nothing like it used to be. Fotki was a photo sharing website where people would post photos of parties and events they had attended. I was constantly rated the number 1 viewed person on the site. Fun days.

Soon came talks of Whimit getting shut down by some HUGE new site that would take over the world. Something so big that it would be unstoppable. No one believed it.

But then it came. MYSPACE. It took over the world just like it promised and grew to a ridiculous size. I quickly deleted my Whimit account and jumped ship to Myspace. Within a year of using Myspace, I successfully started a business and gained 25,000 "friends".

Mypsace Days (Also known as "have no morals" days)

A year later, my friends forced me to start a Facebook account (back then you had to be in a college to use it) so I created an account with a fake college and started my new FB venture. I hated it at first but like everything in life, it grew on me.

I never thought that two years later I would be recognized by random people just about everywhere I go in the city of Philadelphia.

Facebook Days

I honestly just love sharing what's on my mind, my photos and videos with people. I don't promote a bunch of crap (in fact I delete every and any ad that is put on my profile), and I don't write crap on my wall just to get a response from people like oh so many people do. I just write what's on my mind, post photos of my life and people just seem to enjoy it.

I love reading feedback from people and hearing people's opinions and advice on my issues. My Facebook friends have helped me find a wedding venue, an engagement photoshoot location, convinced me not to do botox (yet), and much more. It's like I can get free advice anytime, whenever!

So the whole point of this never ending, rambling post is if for some reason you want to gain popularity on Facebook or on any social networking site, make sure to:

1. Write whatever the hell is on your mind. Don't be afraid to ask for advice!
2. Have a love for photography. Share your photos! All of them! Yes even the goofy ones :)
3. Share your videos. Have a cool job where you get to hang from the ceiling on a piece of silk? (ahem), then videotape it and post it!
4. Don't worry about what other people think about you. But at the same time, do not be rude and insensitive to anyone.
5. Don't take Facebook too seriously. No Drama please.
6. Socialize, make friends, have fun!

I wonder what will come next. Noone thinks Facebook can be beat but that's what we all thought of Myspace. I doubt Google+ will be a hit. I guess we will have to see.

Until then, Happy Facebooking Y'all :)

Tik-Tok Ke$ha Style

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Baby-G for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have to admit that I have a tiny crush on Ke$ha's style. She always does completely the opposite of what's considered pretty and she still rocks it! And she also shares the same glitter obsession as me :)
Well thanks to Baby-G, you can now tell time (Tik-Tok) with their Ke$ha inspired watches. There are two to choose from:
1) Red White & Blue watch: Inspired by the American flag because it's a recurring theme in Ke$ha’s aesthetic and also represents freedom of speech which is a right she passionately exercises in her life and music.

And my personal favorite because it would match all of my fall clothes fantastically....
2) Leopard Print: Ke$ha enjoys wearing leopard as it brings out the animal that is inside of her. Ke$ha hopes when people wear her watches they express themselves and never lose the animal inside of them.

If you would like a fantastic Baby-G watch of your own, be sure to check out the Baby-G sweepstakes.
There will be 4 lucky winners!
contest rules- All you need to do to enter to win is like Baby-G's Facebook page and tweet out what their favorite Baby-G watch is with the hashtag #babyg .
**THE SWEEPSTAKES IS NOT FOR THE KE$HA WATCH, BUT FOR A STANDARD BABY-G WATCH**
Enter to win now and don't forget to check out this sexy Baby-G photoshoot.
Good luck!

The Funny Thing About Marriage

I was always the first one to tell people that I will never EVER get married. I mean, what's a marriage really? A piece of paper that says you are now legally binded together. That is until you get a second piece of paper that says you are not anymore.

To me, marriage was silly, unnecessary, and a huge waste of money.

Then came along a man. A man who was so charming, so handsome, so everything I ever dreamed of that I knew I had to tell him my feelings about marriage because I could definitely see a future with him. An unmarried future of course.

And even tho0ugh he didn't agree with me, he never said anything negative about my thoughts of marriage. He just nodded and smiled.

Fast forward two years later....

Everytime I look at this man I begin to think of what marrying him would be like. What he would look like in a brand new, tailored tuxedo standing at the end of the aisle, looking at me like I am the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Fast forward a year later....

I start thinking..."When is he going to propose to me?? Wait, when did I start wanting to get married? Maybe he can just propose to me without getting married? No, marriage would be nice. Hmmm Should I go dress shopping?"

And a year later....My man proposed to me and it was the happiest moment of my life. I couldn't stop crying, laughing, calling everyone I know....

It's like he knew all along that one day I would see the light. :) When he smiled and nodded at me 3.5 years ago...I think he knew that he would be the one to change my mind :) At least I like to think so.

To all those people who are never ever getting married, it really takes the right person to change your mind completely. That person is out there and I hope that everyone finds the one that changes their mind.

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I'm still definitely never EVER getting pregnant though ;)

Back It Up - Protect Yourself

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carbonite for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
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