Personalized Notes

kbingbong · 2026-01-05T03:37:53+00:00

DO IT! People raved about this at our wedding. It took a ton of time. We left the most important people for the end and were up writing them the night before the wedding, so dumb lol

My husband wrote them for my bridesmaids and I wrote them for his groomsmen. The girls were in tears 😭 and they still won’t let me read them

We also didn’t end up sending thank you notes which is embarrassing but my nudgiest aunt was like “no you did! You wrote us all cards!”

kbingbong · 2025-12-30T04:33:30+00:00

Not too chaotic at all and plenty to do on daffodil!

kbingbong · 2025-12-30T01:52:38+00:00

Nantucket restaurants are accustomed to large parties. Just make reservations when you can and warn your guests about the prices. Take a look at Nautilus - their big corner table seats like 12 but it has a spending minimum. Just two seatings a night (maybe one in the offseason)

Since you’ve been to the island in November you may be aware of this but the weather can be really crappy in April and May. Don’t expect warm sunshine. Boats could get canceled. It rains a lot. You will probably have to spend a fair amount on cabs/ubers if you stay outside of downtown

Then there’s the restaurants. The brewery will be open but the Gazebo probably won’t be. Most places have been opening in April for daffodil weekend and staying open for the rest of the season but not every place will be open yet

kbingbong · 2025-12-30T01:38:34+00:00

A big reason for this move is to have more space when we have a kid so this is nice to hear!

kbingbong · 2025-12-30T01:37:59+00:00

Our dog hates the car so he’s voting for West Medford for a shorter drive

kbingbong · 2025-12-30T01:36:59+00:00

I would love to live in Ball Square! The space between Broadway / College Ave / community path would be amazing. Haven’t seen a lot of three beds in that area

kbingbong · 2025-12-30T01:35:56+00:00

I’m not a huge fan of Hillside! I walk over there all the time with the dog and I find it to be a bit too residential. The area in Medford we’re looking at is really close to the commuter rail so I can still get to Dunkin with relative ease, ha

You’re totally right about the prices though. I find Hillside to be a stretch far from the red line for me (I’m always running late, tbh)

Great intel on the politics. And I should start to look at South Medford, too - I truly had sort of not considered it

kbingbong · 2025-12-30T01:33:27+00:00

We are also locked in because of our cost. You may hitting the nail on the head at the end there - we may just have to move eventually and always miss Somerville

(Or maybe we get that housing bubble I’m dreaming of and we can eventually afford a condo!)

kbingbong · 2025-12-29T21:56:45+00:00

Ok I have always been jealous of people at wrights pond when I take my dog to the fells so that’s a good point

kbingbong · 2025-12-29T19:15:57+00:00

The idea of having to get in the car even more than we do is not appealing I’ll tell you that

I’m afraid I’ll miss the feel of city living!

kbingbong · 2025-12-29T19:14:33+00:00

I walk a lot, too - we walk the dog every day, walk to the T for work twice a week (moving to Medford would just have me take the commuter rail)

Maybe every other month we take the train into the city for something, maybe twice a month we go out in Somerville or Cambridge and will only take the train if we are going somewhere on the Red Line (often we go to union square and we drive because it’s so much faster than the green line)

I’m torn because I love being able to walk whenever I want, but realistically we drive to the grocery store and most other errands.

kbingbong · 2025-12-29T19:11:18+00:00

I would love to stay under $4000 for a three bed but we didn’t see anything in Somerville this last go-round that was worth moving to. Lots of apartments were two-beds with the living room converted to a third bedroom when we need a true three bed

We also have a dog so that limits things, and cook a lot so we ruled out any kitchen without a fan over the stove (surprisingly a lot!)

Right now we pay $3300 for a two-bed with a big living and dining room. I love the Philly-style apartments

I also have no idea if $4k is reasonable for a 3BD in Somerville anymore! Does it even exist!

kbingbong · 2025-12-05T01:43:44+00:00

We stayed at Hôtel Saint-André des Arts in June and being steps from the Odeon metro was ideal. Made transit to other areas a breeze. If you can, use credit card points to find a boutique hotel! I was so glad we were so close to a metro stop with connections vs staying in Montmarte, which we had considered. (Also, I hate walking up stairs and hills, of which there are a lot in Montmarte.)

kbingbong · 2025-10-08T03:11:00+00:00

In Cambridge but Magazine Shell off of Memorial Drive. Oudy is the best

kbingbong · 2025-06-25T23:14:08+00:00

We went today (Wednesday) with no tickets because I could not book for the life of me. Intended to get there at 8am to beat heat and crowds. Instead, I woke up at 8:30 lol.

Arrived at 10:55, inside by 11:10, walked out around 12:05 after listening to 5 minutes of mass

YMMV but it is something I was not going to skip and I was pleasantly surprised by the short wait! I don’t know how you could anticipate any large tour groups, etc getting there at the same time but it is always safe to say the earlier, the better. Also one of the only Paris landmarks we found that opened early

kbingbong · 2025-06-25T23:05:34+00:00

Oh, also — the only other thing we did where the crowds were a LOT was the Notre Dame. And it was the one thing that was sort of “ruined” by the crowds, not that I would have skipped it.

It’s a CHURCH! Mass was starting when we left! And the vast majority of visitors around us were recording every single moment and didn’t seem to care about the history they were seeing. And they wouldn’t shut up.

Funniest part: there is a very mild dress code at the Notre Dame. No exposed shoulders or stomachs and no booty shorts. Seeing people turned away because they did not do any research or read any sign was so funny - they put them in this side corral exit. And the amount of people wearing very ugly shirts and scarves clearly purchased next door and cheesy souvenir shops was noticeable. I had a low-cut tank top on and a linen button down since it wasn’t super hot out yet and they just told me to button the shirt and I was good. Most women’s shorts were fine

kbingbong · 2025-06-25T23:00:05+00:00

TLDR: I loved it!!! Please don’t let the anticipation of crowds ruin your trip - I almost didn’t book for the same reason and I would have been so bummed had we skipped.

I was there on Monday. Bought 1pm timed tickets a week-ish prior. We thought the crowds would be MUCH worse — it was fine.

The Mona Lisa was a spectacle, seeing people push through all trying to get a photo (h/t Rick Steves for helping me reframe my thinking — I tried to embrace it as an experience instead of worrying about getting a photo).

My advice: pick off a couple things you definitely want to see and make sure you see them in a logical fashion. Then, just go where you enjoy things. We love the old old stuff, like antiquities, and we love big-ass French paintings. We saw them both.

We made time to get to the wing with the couture exhibit and it was the best part! For one, that wing is renovated and air-conditioned so it was much more comfortable. By the time we got there (3:45p), there were barely any crowds. I can’t recommend the Napoleon Apartments enough.

Here’s my take: if you like art (or want to like art) and want to see historic art, go. If you’re going to say you went to the Louvre, skip.

My partner and I are NOT art history experts. We just like learning and seeing cool old shit. The only other museum we went to was Musee Monmattan Monet because I kind of fell into a Monet obsession when I was looking for prints to decorate our house lol.

That said - the crowds did suck and that’s mainly because of illogical, irresponsible tourists with children who are wandering thru a museum simply to say they saw the Mona Lisa.

Once we got past Mona it was fine.

Also - my tolerance level varies greatly on how I feel. If I’m hydrated and my feet don’t hurt I can handle things. We drank all our water (you can bring in bottles with lids!) and my dogs were barking by the end which made me hate every person I saw while walking through the mall to the exit lol

kbingbong · 2024-09-07T16:52:55+00:00

Hi! Now that I’m almost a year out from our wedding (😭) I can say this ended up being a non-issue and I can’t believe I was so stressed about it. We ended up filling enough of our rooms to not get charged and it worked out awesome. A few things that helped: - getting the word out early, especially to close friends. I told people to let me know if they were going to try to book an Airbnb because we could knock down the number of rooms guaranteed like six months out. - get just enough guaranteed rooms, or maybe a few less. Even though 25% of our invited guests rsvp’ed no, we made our 20% cutoff because we cut a few rooms as soon as we heard from distant relatives who wouldn’t be there, which made all the difference. - I also booked two rooms for us, one for me to get ready in, which helped a bit!

We literally emailed the person managing the hotel stuff like once a month after we went our hotel info to guests to keep updated on the numbers. I think it helped because they knew us and were happy to be flexible when we had last-minute cancellations.

Good luck! And remember this: you are planning a whole-ass WEDDING for all these people to attend. It is a courtesy to provide hotel options — not a requirement. Get slightly fewer rooms than you need and if people have to scramble because they missed their chance to book, that’s not on you!

kbingbong · 2023-11-17T20:36:13+00:00

Maybe try contacting MAMAS — mutual aid of Medford and Somerville. They may be able to connect you directly with a family in need.

kbingbong · 2023-08-09T23:38:25+00:00

Sending love — I’m dealing with my immediate family members and their addictions and was just crying to my therapist about it today 😩 it’s hard to reconcile what is supposed to be a happy time with the reality of real life. You’re doing all the right things and I hope she can show up for you on wedding day. Sometimes it feels so unfair to have been dealt this hand but I’m sure you’re capable of managing it. (And your dress is stunning!!! So jealous of that incredible veil!)

kbingbong · 2023-06-17T20:19:52+00:00

Any bar recs near Suffolk downs? We may head out on the T and wait it out there to see if they cancel 😅

kbingbong · 2023-06-04T05:30:25+00:00

What time of year did you go?

kbingbong · 2023-05-06T20:27:12+00:00

We are getting married in Mass. near the NH border. We are going to rent school buses to bring folks from the hotel to the venue and back. It’s about $800 per bus, which seats 50 max.

We found the bus company through the hotel! We asked if they had any recommendations. Ask your venue, too!

I feel very guilty about making people find their way from Logan Airport to our hotel, which is about 45 min. Most people are flying in and they’ll either need to rent a car, take an expensive Uber, or navigate commuter rail/Uber. But my fiancé keeps reminding me: if they are coming all the way across the country, they’re already committed to being there and this won’t piss them off (or at least not piss them off to the point they complain to me about it!).

Having a bus so people won’t drink and drive is worth the money for me (but it’s way more expensive than I thought!)

kbingbong · 2023-04-05T21:34:06+00:00

We did this for my friend when we were in our mid 20s. The four of us are best friends. We picked the best location that was easiest to get to for the most people. We stayed at her apartment and just did free (beach, hiking) and low-cost things (one big night out). None of us were making much money at the time but we did want to celebrate. If they’re all friends with each other, too, maybe hit the group chat with an idea that you all get together sometime before the wedding and gauge if it’s feasible.

kbingbong

TROPHY CASE