Happy New Year!

So here we are and yet another year has passed. Just after getting engaged in April, I would have said I never thought this year would end soon enough. However it has FLOWN by! 2009 was a year full of some incredible things along with some very hard trials. I'm excited to welcome 2010! Things can only get better as far as I'm concerned because come May 1st I will marry the man of my dreams!

I wish you all a very Happy New Year! May the coming year bring all you hope for!

And now, I'll leave you with my fully decorated cupcake tree! Today it was finally warm enough for me to spray paint the cardboard pieces. I used Krylon's satin finish paint and it's amazing, the color was Nickel. Once they dried, I used my hot glue gun to attach the purple ribbon I used to trim all the edges.

(Source: yours truly)

What do you think?

With less than 150 days to go, I'll try and get better about updating you on completed projects. What I can't get done before the wedding, I will try and blog about after the wedding so stay tuned!

Again...

So here I am yet again apologizing for not posting in what seems forever. I'm so sorry I can't seem to keep up with my blog as of late. I'm still without a job and without easy access to hi-speed internet.

To say things are stressful and tight financially without a job doesn't even begin to cut it. And despite all that, the wedding is drawing ever closer. When I started planning, I never in a million years would have guessed I'd be unemployed. It's a huge challenge and is adding a lot of unneeded stress.

Time just seems to be getting away from me lately. I don't know where it's going! lol Christmas is under two weeks away and that is scaring the crap out of me! lol We have less than five months to go until the wedding and I know the big day is going to creep up on us FAST!

I haven't really worked on anything wedding related lately. My family has two birthdays in October and two in November (mine included) and then Thanksgiving and now Christmas and I just got back from a wonderful vacation with my sweetie! Things have been super busy for me.

However, I have gotten a few things done. My groom to be and his best man did get their measurements taken care of. My mom got her MOB dress ordered, I let my girls know what dresses they can pick, and I've shared the info about the flower girl dresses to one of the girls parents.

In any case, I'm sorry again for the lack of posting and will try and do better. For those of you who are sticking around...THANKS!

Dresses For My Ladies!

I've delayed sharing this because I needed to make some decisions about what dresses I would have my girls pick from. When I started looking into dresses for them, I had some criteria that I wanted to stick by:
1) The color needed to be a deep, yet bright purple.
2) The dresses needed to cost under $150.00.
3) I really wanted to give them multiple dresses to choose from instead of picking one dress and saying this is what you're wearing.
4) I wanted the dresses to be knee length.
5) They needed to be made with chiffon fabric (I love how flow-y it is).

I know, that's a lot right? But I managed to find to find everything I was looking for! May I introduce you to the MoriLee Affairs Collection of dresses. If you haven't every heard of this designer, be sure to check them out because the dresses are just beautiful but still affordable!

Without further delay, here are the dresses that my girls are able to choose from:

(Source)

And for shoes for my bridesmaids, I'm thinking of something along these lines.

(Source: unknown)

A low fat heel (because they'll be walking on grass). Something kind of strap-y and in a metallic silver color. So what do you think?

My Blog Saved Me!

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Today while I was working on the music playlist for the reception....I accidentally deleted it!!! I was trying to delete one song from it and somehow managed to get rid of the whole list! The worst part....it couldn't be undone! I was about to panic and burst into tears. When I suddenly remembered that I had posted about our music selection a long while back. But I couldn't remember if I had listed each song or not. I went to look....and by the Grace of God, I had blogged a list including each song!! I was so thankful and this saved me hours of work! I was able to recreate our list pretty fast. If I hadn't blogged each song, I would have had to rely on my memory to rebuild the list that was over 60 songs long.

The only down side....the over three hours that I spent editing the stopping point for each song today has been lost. I was almost done with that task when the list got deleted. But I'm so thankful that I was able to rebuild the list without any problems thanks to my blog post!

Carrot Cake Recipe

As requested...here is the Presidential Carrot Cake Recipe:

(Source)

White House Carrot Cake

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrots
1 1/2 cup Crisco oil
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple
3 eggs (slightly beaten)
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange rind
1/2 cup coconut

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add oil, pineapple, eggs, nuts, carrots, orange rind and coconut, and beat together. Add vanilla and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are combined. Pour batter in well greased, floured Bundt pan (12-cup size) or tube pan. Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees or until inserted knife emerges clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 (1-pound) box confectioners sugar

Soften cream cheese and butter to room temperature. Cream together with confectioners sugar. Place cool cake on cake plate and frost top and sides. Place in refrigerator until ready to serve. (If frosting becomes too think while mixing, add very small amount of water and mix well.) The cake and frosting freeze very well.

A Cake Fit for a President

My man will be getting nothing short of the best for his cake! Several months ago, my mom found the White House recipe for Carrot Cake in a magazine. Since Carrot Cake is Charles's favorite kind of cake that's what he'll be getting! I'm hoping to surprise him with the cakes theme, so I hope he doesn't see this post!

Charles is a dispatcher for one of the local police departments and loves all things related to first responders. But especially cops. I'm thankful he isn't one though...it will make my job as a wife a lot easier and less worry ridden! He has such a gift for what he does. Talking to and calming mothers whose child is choking, talking people out of suicide, and taking calls you wouldn't imagine. I truly believe the Lord has him where He wants him to be! Anyways, because of this love I went in search of the perfect cake and this is what I found...

(Source: unknown)

Unfortunately, I don't remember where I stumbled upon these images. But they are perfect and exactly what I was looking for! Mom and I will be tackling his cake ourselves as it shouldn't be too hard. So, what do you think? Are you planning to surprise your man with a themed grooms cake?

I'm Back!

Well after being knocked off my feet for a week thanks to the Swine Flu, I'm back! Thankfully I'm no longer sick! However my strength and energy are slow to return. If you can, I hope you all get the vaccine against this strain of flu because it is horrible! I'm working on a post for tomorrow about my plans for a cake for my man...so keep an eye out for it! Thank you all for all the well wishes and prayers!!!

Piggy Flu

Yep, I have the dreaded Swine Flu. No clue how I got it but I certainly can't wait to be rid of it! I have never felt so horrible in my life! (At least not that I can remember.) I wouldn't wish the swine flu on my worst enemy...yeah, it's that bad! I was so week and had no energy that I couldn't take a shower for three days (I know, tmi). This thing hits you HARD and FAST! Monday evening I started coughing a little bit. By Tuesday, I was coughing more, had drainage and severe pressure in my ears. Tuesday night, I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep because I was coughing so much. Charles came and picked up me and my mom on Wednesday and took us to the doctor (we were to sick to drive) and I was diagnosed with the flu. Mom wasn't tested because at the time, I was worse but they gave her Tamiflu too. For those of you that pray, prayers would be greatly appreciated as we are still both doing pretty badly. Well, that's all I can write for now. There will be a delay in posting until I can get my strength and energy back. Thanks to any for prayers and well wishes!

Cakespiration

Yes I totally made up that word so I'll let you know what I'm talking about if you haven't already figured it out....Cake Inspiration!

I don't think I've ever really talked about cakes or what my inspiration or thoughts about them have been. I figured it was about time that I let you in on what I have in mind!

As for "my" cake...aka the wedding cake. We're not having one. Not in the traditional sense anyways. Why? Because they are as expensive as heck! I never dreamed something you eat could cost so much money! Yes, I am very into all things DIY....but diy-ing a wedding cake was NOT something I wanted to take on myself or ask my mom to do. That's a heck of a lot of pressure to have on ones shoulders!

So instead I am going to be purchasing one of these handy dandy CupCakeTrees!

Mini Square Cupcaketree (Source: www.cupcaketree.com)

I heard about these babies months ago on another blog. Unfortunately, I cannot remember which blog but thankfully I saved the link! They are made out of heavy corrugated cardboard and can be decorated in any way you like. Here is an example of a simply decorated stand put to use:

(Source: www.cupcaketree.com)

For our stand, I am envisioning lots of purple and silver used in decorating our stand! Bet you never would have guessed that! ;) I think these stands and the use of cupcakes are so fun, unique and cute! Not to mention that from a distance the stand all adorned with cupcakes actually looks like a cake! I can't wait to get my stand so I can start decorating it! The price of the stand with shipping included is about $40 and the price of cupcakes (as priced at our local Sam's Club) are $12.43 for 30 cupcakes! I'm thinking we'll need about 150 cupcakes so that brings the total for our "wedding cake" to a little over $100. As shown in the picture above, we will have a small layer cake on the top of the stand for us to cut into during the cake ceremony. So I'm guessing that will be another 10-15 bucks. So grand total is approximately $120 for our "cake", can't beat that!

Stay tuned for details about the grooms cake!

Save-the-Date!

So last week I was FINALLY able to get our save-the-date e-mails out! As you may remember, I had thought about sending them out months ago before we got our engagement pictures. I'm SO glad that I waited and I'm so glad they're finally sent. It was sooo easy to do them as e-mails! I highly recommend this option....cause it's FREE! Most everyone these days has an e-mail account so you're still able to reach everyone.
Here is what I designed....

(Source: yours truly)

So I think I owe you all a few updates....
1.) I am still unemployed. The job search has been nothing short of frustrating, disappointing and hard.
2.) Two good things have come out of being unemployed...I have been able to spend more time with Charles and I have been able to work on my stained glass (yes, I'm a stained glass artist!) more. To see my work check out Kristal Kreations on Facebook and become a fan!
3.) I still do not have regular access to hi-speed internet.
4.) I miss all of your blogs terribly, you have no idea!! I try and check in when I can but my dial-up just takes AGES and won't allow me to comment or anything!
5.) Even though I have tons of wedding projects and decisions taken care of, it still seems like I have an overwhelming about of things left to do! lol
6.) I feel bad that I have not been able to blog often.
7.) I promise to get better about posting more regularly!

Lets Talk Honeymoon!

I believe I mentioned before that Charles and I were planning to go to Kauai Hawaii. We've decided to change our honeymoon location though. After looking into Kauai we discovered it was wayyyy too expensive for us to go at this time. Our hope is that after we're married we can go to celebrate an anniversary.

Our new location is Hilton Head Island, South Carolina! I have been to Hilton Head twice while on vacation with my mom and I absolutely LOVE it there! Charles hasn't been before though and I can't wait to be there with him! Hilton Head is less than 8 hours away from us so that makes for an easy trip. No more having to worry about where we'll spend our first night as husband and wife and worrying about how to get to the Atlanta air port in time to catch a plane!

Charles did some research and found a rental company (Hiltonheadrentals.com) and we found a few possibilities. Last week we narrowed it down to one and fortunately it was available when we need it. So now our honeymoon plans are booked and taken care of! It's so nice not to have to worry about it anymore. And the best part....the condo was under $800 for the whole week! What a blessing that was!

The condo is a one bedroom, one bath unit located on the third floor and has an ocean view! It has a small kitchen so we'll be able to go grocery shopping and have meals (especially breakfast) in our room when we want. It will be so nice not to have to get dressed and go out for breakfast every day!

Here are a few pictures:

(Source: Hiltonheadrentals.com)

We are so excited and cannot wait!! I highly recommend Hilton Head Rentals if you'd like to look into vacationing or honeymooning in Hilton Head. It is a beautiful area!

Engagement Pictures!

So I am finally able to bring you our engagement pictures! Leave me some love and let me know what you think! I won't say anything else, the pictures will speak for themselves! All images courtesy of Hope Photography www.hope-photo.com!

Some Bling for My Man!

So a few weeks ago I stopped in at a local jeweler that I'd heard about from my brother and his wife. Back in March/April they had bought their rings from Max Richardson Jewelry and raved about them, their service and their prices. My goal in stopping in was to see if they carried a ring similar to the one Charles found on superiorweddingrings.com a few months ago. If you remember, back in June I posted about the ring he found on their site.

The problem...now that I don't have a job, it was a little pricey. However I wanted him to have exactly what he wanted. He did after all, get me what I wanted! So in I went not expecting much. Low and behold, they were able to order the EXACT same ring for me! And it was nearly $100 cheaper, Praise the Lord! I ordered it right then and there and it was in the next morning. Charles and I went to look at it and he absolutely loved it! End of story. Now I have Charles' ring taken care of!

(Source: yours truly)

Our rings together! (Source: yours truly)

So what do you think? I know you're all still waiting to see our engagement pictures and believe me, I am dying to show them to you! Hopefully I can get to some wi-fi on Tuesday or Wednesday so I can share them with you. I also have a lot more to share with you....projects I've been working on, a fabulous and simple punch recipe, and so much more so keep checking back!

I feel so guilty that I can't keep up with all of your blogs anymore. I miss knowing how your planning is going and how your weddings went and seeing all the beautiful pictures. But with my dial-up it is nearly impossible to. :( Maybe soon I'll be able to catch up somehow. Until then know I'm thinking about you all! <3

Fast Forward

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Oh how I wish I could fast forward time! Even though the months seem to be flying by, it seems like we are still as far away from the big day as ever. I can't really explain it because it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. However, to me, it seems as though we are still over a year away from the wedding. When in fact, we are only nearly 7 months away! But those 7 months just seem so out of reach. It feels like every month that goes by is yet another to be added to the countdown. I realize none of this makes the least big of sense! It just seems like our big day is never going to get here! But at the same time, I know it will be here before we know it.

Maybe I feel this way because I have so much wedding related projects completed or nearly completed already. The invitations have all already been printed, assembled and the inner envelopes have already been filled out. The centerpieces are completed. The signage for the wedding is ready to go. I already have my dress and all my accessories. And I could go on and on. It's crazy how much ahead of schedule I am! But with no job and all this time on my hands I figured why not work on these projects? I might as well get them out of the way now while I have the time instead of waiting until closer to the wedding when I might not have as much time on my hands.

Are any of you other brides out there feeling this way as well? Or am I just crazy? haha

Engagement Picture Sneak Peak!

They are finally in...well, 22 of them are. Today our photographers posted a blog on their site with our sneak peak! As I expected, the pictures are FABULOUS and they did not disappoint! Here's a peak....

(Source)

Be sure to check out our photographers blog for the rest of the sneak peak! More pictures to come next week when I get the image CD!

Best Bridal Blogs Directory

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I just got e-mail confirmation that my blog has finally been accepted as a "Best Bridal Blog"! So exciting!! Just wanted to share the news with you! If you submit your blog, be patient as the process takes a long time. I had completely forgotten that I'd sent in a submission because it has been so long ago!

Finally!

Yesterday Charles and I were finally able to get our engagement pictures taken!! After being engaged for nearly 5 months...but better late than never I suppose. The Lord blessed us with an oh so beautiful day! The temperature was perfect and rain wasn't in the forecast....that makes for a happy couple....and photographers! :)

We had a BLAST and were completely worn out by the end of the session. We saw several bears, deer and lots of really fat squirrels (none made it into the pics though). We stood in fields with weeds 7 feet tall, put up with gnats, fed some horses, kissed a lot and laughed a lot! Wes & Danielle (our photographers) were so much fun and kept us laughing the whole time! We can hardly to wait to see the results but hopefully we'll get the pictures by the end of this week or the beginning of next week. So stay tuned!

Thank You Louise!!

This post goes out to Louise (The Thirty Something Bride) with a big huge THANK YOU!

Your suggestion to sell my "mistake" stamps on eBay worked! I never would have even thought to sell them on eBay but your suggestion made me look into the option.

Well, I sold all 4 unopened rolls of stamps I had and only came out $20 short. Which isn't too bad I suppose. Bottom line, I got rid of those ugly flag stamps and was able to get the King & Queen of Hearts stamps instead!

(Source)

We may end up having to use 2 stamps per invitation and if so, we'll be able to use both the King and the Queen. (As pictured above.) And I think that it would be really cute! So anyways, thank you so much Louise for the suggestion, you're a lifesaver! :D

And for those that pray, I'm still without a job so keep me in your prayers!

So Frustrated!

I am so mad at the Post Office it's not even funny! Back towards the end of March, I bought 500 Forever stamps in an effort to save a little money before the postage rate went up. I got the stamps out yesterday to use one and guess what. The stupid lady that was there the day I went in didn't give me Forever stamps, she gave me $.42 flag stamps! When I realized what she did I about burst into tears. I have had so many things go wrong lately in my life and this was just unbelievable!

I called the post office this morning and spoke with the manager who was sweet but told me there is absolutely nothing she can do. I realize that getting the postage to make up the difference will only cost $10.00 and I know that's not a lot. However, it all ads up....especially when you don't have a job! And not only that but now I have to figure out how in the heck to make up that $.2 difference. It's going to look so tacky to have additional stamps on our wedding invitations and response cards. Not to mention that the response card envelopes are so small that the stamps will practically take up the whole freaking envelope!

I was just on the USPS website to take a look at their makeup stamps. They do have a two cent stamp out however, it's that Navajo necklace and I am not about to put that thing on our invitations! The only stamps I would even consider using are the one cent Tiffany Stamps but that would require two of them per invitation and response card. A total of three stamps! UGH!!!

I'm so frustrated and I just don't know what I'm going to do. My whole plan totally backfired because of some lousy postal service employee. Had I known I was getting $.42 stamps, I would have at least picked out ones that would be more wedding appropriate!

Sorry, I just needed to vent a little. If you for some reason want to buy 500 $.42 stamps from me let me know! haha

She's One Hot Momma!

Yesterday my mom and I went dress shopping for her mother of the bride dress. I haven't written about this in detail yet but my mom and brother will be walking me down the aisle (more about why later). Since she's walking down with me, I requested that she be in a floor length dress. I told her she could pick whatever color she wanted and whatever style. Neither of us understand the frumpy and dowdy mother of the bride dresses that seem to be everywhere. Next to your mother's own wedding day, this is one of the most important days of her life as well as yours, so she should look stunning! I think we managed to find a dress that accomplishes just that!!

Our first stop was to a local bridal store in Knoxville that we heard about at the Bridal Show last Sunday. It's locally owned and operated and the owner Elizabeth and her employees are incredibly sweet and very friendly! If you live around the area please be sure to check out The Gilded Gown! Our main reason for stopping in was because at the Bridal Show they had flower girl dresses advertised at $49! And they also have the tux that we want the guys in for much cheaper than anyone else! While we were there though, mom wanted to look around for dress options for her.

One of the dresses mom tried on is one that I picked out for her to try. It was a halter style chiffon dress and I wasn't sure if it would even work. The results however, blew me away. My mom could go to Hollywood and walk down a red carpet in this dress!! She looks so incredible (she always does but there's something about this dress!). See for yourself....

(Source: yours truly)
(Source: Alfred Angelo)

The sample dress they had was about 2 sizes too small so it wouldn't zip all the way but she still totally ROCKED this dress! All the ladies that worked at the salon ohhed and awwed over mom and this dress! We are 99% sure this is the dress she will end up going with. I just can't say enough how amazing she looked in it! I think she'll stick with the color black too which I really love, it's such a timeless look. The belt has rhinestones on it and the back sweep train of the dress has metallic silver beading detail. One of the best things about this dress....it's only $179! And, in November, the store is having a special on bridesmaid dresses and we'll get it for $20 off! So what do you think ladies?

While at The Gilded Gown, I found the most adorable flower girl dresses for our flower girls! I originally thought I wanted our flower girls in white but after seeing this dress I quickly changed my mind.

(Source: Alfred Angelo)

This dress is so adorable and I hope the girls might be able to wear them again too. They are only $99 a piece and the color is lavender. Obviously our girls will not be wearing fairy wings! lol I'm so glad we stopped in and found these beauties and moms stunning dress!

While stuck in traffic I was able to snap this beautiful picture:

(Source: yours truly)

Bridal Show and the big 3-0!

Sunday my mom and I attended the Knoxville Premier Bride Bridal show and had a blast! We got to sit in a 1958 Silver Cloud Rolls-Royce and it was amazing! I felt like royalty! It is one of only 25 that were ever made. It would be a dream to drive away a married couple in that fabulous beauty!! Here are a few pictures I took of the car:

My beautiful mom with the beautiful Rolls-Royce! (Source: yours truly)
The unmistakable grill of the Rolls-Royce. (Source: yours truly)

We also took advantage of the use of a photo booth free of charge! I swear to you, if I had the budget for it I would soo have a photo booth at our wedding!

My incredible mom and me! (Source: Knoxville Photo Booth)

I also found an incredible company that preserves your bouquet along with lots of other keepsake items. I am definitely going to use this companies services because the results are amazing! Not only do they preserve your bouquet but they also preserve the grooms bout. Plus they can add your cake topper, garter, hairpiece, a copy of your invitation, the grooms tie, and anything else you want preserved. The frames they are placed have a domed cover that prevents everything from being smashed and give it all an overall incredible look! Check out their website to see their amazing work!

(Source: Flowers Forever)

During the David's Bridal fashion show that was held at the bridal show, mom and I saw a dress that caught our attention. It was a stunning silver dress that we both just LOVED for my mom. We're planning on making a trip to David's on Friday so she can try the dress on so more on that later.

Ok, now on to the big 3-0! I have finally reached 30 followers!!! I am so excited and can't believe you all find my ramblings interesting enough to follow along! I apologize that there hasn't been much blogging on my part and will try to get back into the swing of things. Honestly, I haven't done much of anything wedding related since I found out I was going to be temporarily laid off. But now that the inital shock of all that has for the most part passed, I'll get with the program. I terribly miss reading all of your lovely blogs. I seriously went through some withdrawl when I had to stop reading. My stupid dial-up interent just will not allow me to keep up with you all. Posting this blog is hard enough! I want to thank you all though for hanging in there with me while I go through this trying time. And as always, those of you who pray keep my job situation in your prayers please!

Engagement Pictures....

have been postponed. :( Sadly because of the oh so hot weather and a chance of rain we decided to cancel our scheduled session yesterday. It was sad but I'm glad we decided to wait. We were supposed to meet our photographers at 5:00 to start and by 5:30 it was thundering and lightning really badly.

Due to postponing, we've decided to have our pictures done up at Cades Cove in the National Park. We don't have a new date just yet but I'll keep you posted. Charles and I headed up to the Cove yesterday and scoped out places to get shots and found a lot of awesome spots! So while it was sad to have to cancel yesterday I think it was for the best. We cannot wait until we can get our pictures!

And to update you all on my job situation....I am officially on the search for a job. So those of you who pray please pray I find one soon to fill the gap while I'm laid off. Thanks!

Happy One Year Anniversary Baby!

One year already. I simply cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday when we began talking, first met and started dating. It is unimaginable to me that in just one short year I have found you...the love of my life! And to think, we're engaged and will be getting married in just over 9 months! Before we know it, we'll be married and celebrating our one year marriage anniversary. I cannot imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else by my side. You are incredible and I love you more than I can possibly begin to say. As corny as it may sound, you truly do complete me! Happy anniversary sweetheart, I love you so much!

How Did I Miss This!?

(Well I know how I missed it.) I just finished feeding my WeddingBee addiction and caught up on everything I've missed since Wednesday when things at work went downhill. (And no, I still have any news about my job but I will keep you all posted.)

Anyhoo, while catching up on my addiction I stumbled upon this lovely post and image:

(Source: WeddingBee)

That image should look familiar to you because that is MY inspiration board! How cool is that!? It was a Featured Bio that graced the front page of my favorite wedding website and I missed it till now! But when it was posted on Wednesday things at work were going to hell in a hand basket. At least I saw it tonight though. Next month I believe I'll finally be able to sent in an application to become a Bee and I cannot wait! :)

Job or No Job?

That is the question. And right now I just don't know the answer. Due to some very unexpected circumstances at work we no longer have offices to work out of. (At this time I cannot go into more detail.)

As I sit here at home and type this I'm still in disbelief that this has happened. If I do end up losing my job, I have no idea what I'll do. And I have no idea how I'll pay for this wedding I'm in the middle of planning. I was already going to go into debt a due to wedding costs and if I lose my job that debt is sure to grow.

As a result of all this, I will not be online much. I no longer have access to high speed internet. Where we live - in the sticks - nothing but dial-up internet is offered. And it is just way to much of a pain to even check my e-mail!

On a positive note, I have the most incredible fiance in the entire world! Yesterday evening once the job news finally had a chance to sink in Charles was right there with me. Letting me cry in his arms, kissing me on the forehead, telling me I'm beautiful as black is running down my face from my mascara, comforting me, praying with me, assuring me things will work out, just holding me tight and telling me he loves me. I really don't understand how he can tell me I'm beautiful when I'd been working for hours packing things up and was so gross and sweaty and then once the tears started to flow and I had mascara running down my face. He truly is incredible and I'm so thankful that I get to spend the rest of my life with him.

So anyways, those that pray please keep me and my job situation in your prayers.
Thanks,
Kristal

The Date

No, not the wedding date. We've had that for a while now. The date for our engagement pictures!!! {Finally!} August 4th we will have our e-pics taken! We are sooo excited and cannot wait!

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We're going to have our pictures done at the Bed & Breakfast where the wedding and reception will be held. For more pics of the B&B check out this post. The grounds are beautiful and there are lots of places for some awesome pictures. There is a tree swing (can be seen in the linked post listed above), a double porch swing, the gazebo, rocking chairs, a hammock, huge trees, the pond/fountain, gardens, the grand entrance of the house, a great mountain view (can been seen in the post linked above), etc.

Then there's the inside of the house too! I took some pictures of the inside of the house but am not happy with how they look. But suffice it to say that the house is gorgeous and there are lots of picture perfect places. There's a game room with an awesome white leather couch, a pool table, lots of different beds (steamy much?), big whirlpool tubs (again steamy!), a pretty stair case, an indoor pool (contemplating maybe jumping in at the end of the session-if the owner ok's it), a beautiful fireplace and so much more. You'll have to wait till we get our pics back to see!

Oh and I've got a prop too! While at Hobby Lobby a number of weeks ago, I picked up a plaque like this:

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I can't find a picture of the exact one I bought, the one I got is black and the font is different. You'll have to wait and see it once we have our pictures. Props are huge right now when it comes to engagement and wedding pictures and I love the concept. I love the look of balloons but wanted to go with something a little more unique and something that I'd never seen before. I got my idea from this picture:

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We also have our outfits squared away {as soon as the FI exchanges a shirt!}. We're not matching but we will coordinate. You'll have to wait and see what we wear when I have pics to show you!

Now if only the weather, my hair and my skin will cooperate and give us a good picture day! Time will tell.

Did you or are you going to use a prop at your engagement session?

Well That's Settled!

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Thank you to all of you who comment on my post about invitation wording! You were a great help! :)

So to update you all, I decided to stick with the following (which is what I had originally):
on Saturday, the first of May
two thousand and ten
at three o'clock in the afternoon

As for the wedding website address...I nixed it. Not only would it have been impossible to fit on the invitation but it just wouldn't have looked right! As Ready to be Mrs. B! suggested, I'm going to see about fitting it on the accommodations card that will go in with the invitation. I know it isn't necessary but I'm a little concerned. Our save-the-dates will be electronic and not paper so the e-mails could easily get deleted and the information would then be lost.

I was able to include that saying I loved on our invitations. The FI loved it, just as I thought it would! I'm so happy with how the wording, format and look has turned out!

Here's a tiny little sneak peak of the wording. The big reveal won't come until after the invitations have been received by guests so this will have to tide you over until then....

(Source: yours truly)

The above graces the top of our invitations! The font we chose is called "Adine Kirnberg Script" and I downloaded it from dafont.com.

We had the font choices narrowed down to three options; Adine, Brock Script and Edwardian Script. We liked all three but Adine looked the best with our invitations. Brock and Edwardian both looked too "thick" and "heavy". Thankfully the FI picked Adine as his favorite before I told him it was my favorite and what we'd need to go with because of layout and space reasons! :D

Now it's time to play with the reply card layout and mess around with the accommodation/direction insert.

Help!!!!

(Source)

Ok ladies, I need your assistance please! I'm working on the layout for our invitations and I've almost got it figured out...I think.

However I need help with something. Is it ok to put our wedding website link on our invitations? I was originally planning on including it. But because of the shape of our invitations, it's proving to be hard to include it because it's so long. And then I got to thinking that I don't know if I've ever seen them on invitations to begin with!

I'll certainly be putting the website link on our e-mail save-the-dates. Is that enough? So what do you think...include the link on the invites or no?

Also when it comes to the date and time I need opinions on how I should word that part:
1) on Saturday, the first of May
two thousand ten
at three o'clock in the afternoon
or
2) Saturday, the first of May
two thousand ten
three o'clock in the afternoon

Let me know what you think is best for each question! Thanks! :D

Check out this wedding video!

I found this video over on For the Love of Brides and absolutely love it! It is hilarious and so creative!

Brian & Eileen's Wedding Music Video. from LOCKDOWN projects on Vimeo.

My First Fitting!

I know you are all dying (ok, maybe not dying) to see pics from my fitting on Thursday. I can't post them here because the Mr. sometimes stops by. However, I am a Wedding Chicks Bridal Blogger over on Wedding Chicks and have just put up a post with the fitting details and pictures!

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Be sure to head on over to the website and check out my post. You can leave comments there (you don't have to have an account) or you can come back here and leave your comments. Either way, I would absolutely love to hear what you think!

If you have trouble finding my post on Wedding Chicks, shoot me an e-mail and I can send you the direct link. Sorry I can't post a direct link here but I'm afraid the Mr. would find it!

Wow!

If you haven't ever checked out Jenn at "With This Ring..." you really should. She got married a few weeks ago and has recently started her recaps. Check out this incredible shot from her big day.

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Is that not the most GORGEOUS dress shot ever!?! And that dress....wow!

New Look!

So as you noticed, I changed the blog up a little. I was getting tired of the old background and banner image. I've also added a few new things here and there so be sure to look around. Do you like this look better than the other?

And for an update on this post, I'm going to go have my first fitting after work today!

Pricy Headbands

If I had an unlimited budget, I would surely have a Swarovski Crystal Headband like this stunning bride.....

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It's really not as expensive as I thought it would be. But at $180.00 (for a headband!?) that's way outta my league! Even the headband with fewer crystals is still out of my reach at $125.00. But are they not gorgeous!?