NC Bride To Be

A New Beginning

2010-07-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I wanted to stop in and let you know that I'm officially moving over to my new blog! If you're visiting here and need to contact me for any reason (questions about absolutely ANYTHING wedding related) you can always e-mail me here. Thanks for checking out my blog and making me feel loved!

One Last Thing...

2010-07-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to drop by and share one last thing with you before I move on over to my new blog for good.

I knew all along that I wanted to purchase photobooks for our parents as a wedding gift since before the wedding even took place. My husbands brother got married in December of 2009 and they made his mother a photobook with pictures from their wedding, so I knew it would be perfect to thave one made of our wedding for her as well.

I looked for weeks and weeks trying to find the perfect place to make the books and I couldn't decide on anywhere. I created a book on Mixbook and LOVED it but then ran into some bad reviews of the company and was too scared to order form them. I was more than happy with how the book turned out, but this was very important and I HAD to have high quality books. Here's the book I created with them
(it cuts off some pages and because some of the layouts are 2 page spreads it looks funky, but you can get a good idea):

Then I seen a post over the The Nest about a site called Groupon and for this particular day they were offereing $100 worth of prodcuts from Picaboo for $25. I had heard great things about Picaboo, so I bought the certificate and started making another book. My goal was to replicate the book I made with Mixbook but after I got started, I just kind of went with it. I ordered them on a Tuesday evening and they arrived the same week on Friday. I was pleased with the quick shipping and even more pleased with the quality of the book itself. I think they turned out great; still not exactly what I wanted, but everyone was happy with them. The biggest drawback, in my opinion, of Picaboo's site, was that the Classic Custom (the particular style of book that I ordered) didn't come in any size other than 11.5" x 8" (the book is in Landscape format, not Portrait, which caught me by surpise). I'm a scrapbooker, so I'm more partial to the 12" x 12" size, but that wouldn't be enough to make me stop purchasing from Picaboo.

You can visit here to see the book we created with Picaboo!
EDITED TO ADD THE LINK TO SHARE MY PICABOO BOOK.

I've ordered a book or so from Shutterfly before and was going to get our parents' books there but they just don't have the freedom to do what I wanted to do with layouts. I'm still a HUGE fan of Shutterfly and will still order books from them, I'm sure, but they couldn't do what I wanted them to for these photobooks.

I haven't taken any pictures of the actual book to show you, but I'll will soon and I'll post them here.
EDITED TO ADD PICTURES OF THE PICABOO BOOK

Wedding Overview

2010-06-22T05:42:00.001-07:00

I was just looking through my blog and realized that I never did a detailed wedding day overview! Even if you're not interested in reading this long, drawn out post, it'll be nice to just have on record so I can remember all the special parts of my wedding day!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I decided to go ahead and take off work Thursday so I would have plenty of time to get all my clothes washed and start packing for the honeymoon, as well as run any other errands for the wedding. My morning started out wonderfully and continued to get a little busier as the day went by. FI's (fiancée) mamaw's would be preparing the potato saled & baked beans for our reception so I had to take care of buying everything that they would need to prepare this. I made several trip to local grocery stores around town that had specific things on sale for the week. I was surprised at how little I spent buying all the food! After I took all of the food to mammy's, I went and had a mani & pedi and then headed home. I stopped by Wal-Mart before heading home to grab some fresh strawberries and to pick up the picture of FI and myself to go on the grooms cake. Once I got home, I started some laundry & began making the groom's cake for the rehearsal dinner. The rest of Thursday was filled with folding laundry, packing for the honeymoon, making the icing and putting it on the cake, and sorting through all the wedding things and packing them in the Jeep for Friday.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Today was the beginning of actual wedding festivities. Our morning started out around 8:30-ish as we headed over to the church to begin decorating. The key that we had wasn't the right key to get us in the Sanctuary, so we started unloading & decorating the fellowship hall. We re-arranged tables, made sure each table was clean, put 8 chairs per table, carried chairs up from the basement, put more chairs out, then started placing the tablecloths on the tables. Once we had all the tablecloths on, we started getting out all the centerpieces, assembled them (put the stickers on) and placed them on the tables. By this time it was about 1:30 p.m. and I didn't have long before I had to head home to get ready for the rehearsal. We started working with the tulle poofs, hanging them, fluffing them and making sure there were 7 per window. Once we had these up we had to move the centerpieces off the front 9 tables so they could be used for the rehearsal dinner (FI's mom had centerpieces to use for the rehearsal dinner). After we moved the centerpieces I headed home to get ready so I could be back before the photographers got there. I rushed around at home to get ready, burn a CD of the ceremony music and get back to the church so much so that I forgot the grooms cake & had to turn around to go back and get it. I arrived back at the church somewhere in the 5 o'clock hour. When I arrived back at the church, the men were there grilling and the women were in the fellowship hall decorating for the rehearsal dinner. Everyone began arriving around 5:45/6 p.m. and we began the rehearsal. I was pretty pleased with how the rehearsal went. I didn't think we'd have to go through it the 3/4 times that we did, but everyone was very cooperative and I felt very comfortable with how the ceremony flowed. We headed over to the fellowship hall for the rehearsal dinner around 7:30 p.m. (I think). I was surprised at how many compliments on the strawberry cake I got, it kinda made my head a little big! :P Once our wedding party began to leave, I headed over with my mom, sister, MIL, and some women from our church to start decorating the sanctuary. We assembled the tulle to the pomanders and tied the pomanders around the pews pretty quickly and decided to call it a night. We did have an issue that was handled just perfectly by my wonderful sister (we didn't have long enough strands of lights to line the aisle of the church, so she headed down to Hobby Lobby Friday morning and got two more strands of those, some white duct tape, and short extension cords so we could plug the lights up). I got home around 11:30-ish and went straight to bed because we still had a few more decorating details to handle in the morning.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

My morning started around 9-ish the day of the wedding. I began with a shower and just a calm-ish morning to start with. Once I left the house I was headed to get my nails touched up (I had been a little hard on them baking the strawberry grooms cake Thursday after I had them done), buy some snacks for my girls to munch on while we were getting ready, and then over to the church for the final touches on decorating. I got to the church around 10:30 and my sister and I began placing the lights down the aisle; we fell in love with how much the lights changed to look & the mood of the Sanctuary. After we finished there, we headed over to the fellowship hall for some small decorating details over there (I put out the mad lib & photo-share cards on the tables, filled the centerpieces with water, Kristy [a dear friend that was doing mine & some of my girls' hair] helped put the candles in the centerpieces, and my sister worked on perfecting our card-box). After we finished with all that, a couple of girls headed on over to the church to start getting ready and I made my bouquet. Once I finished the bouquet, I headed over to the church to hang out/relax with the girls and get ready for our pictures that started @ 4. While I was sitting in the basement of the church, I realized I hadn't made a boutonnière for FI so I ran back over to the fellowship hall and made him one very quickly, and delivered it to the old sanctuary were the men would be getting ready, along with the gift I got for FI. It was close to 2 p.m. at this point and all of our men were supposed to be arriving around 3/3:30 p.m. to get ready for their pictures @ 4 p.m. I don't think any of the men made it on time :P (FI, his dad, brother, and uncle went to get haircuts, to Hickory to get shoes, had lunch at Texas Roadhouse while they were down there, and then headed back to Lenoir) but I know that the girls' pictures did start on time at 4:30 p.m. I started getting my hair done @ 3 p.m. and around 4 p.m. the photographer came down ready to take pics of my getting into my dress. My mom and sister helped me get into my dress and then all my girls got into their dresses. Once everyone got into their dress it was time for us to go up and start with our pictures. Our pictures were finished around 5-ish, which was exactly how I hoped it would be, so we headed back downstairs to hang out before the wedding started. I had my attendants head upstairs at 5:30 p.m. to start greeting anyone that came early and somewhere between when they left and 5:45 p.m., FI sent over 2 dozen roses and the sweetest card I've ever read. I did good at the beginning, but then as I continued to read I began to cry (and have the pictures to prove it). I'm not sure what time the cake lady brought the cake by, but I do remember one of my BM's coming in to ask me which table the cake should go on and I told her and she told the cake lady. Well, at some point the BM that asked about the cake went over to the fellowship hall because the cake lady had put the cake on the wrong table. It was no biggie, they just left it on the table it was on and put the topper in it (the topper didn't go all the way down into the cake, which I was disappointed with, but it wasn't the end of the world). Once the ordeal with the cake was settled, it was time to start the ceremony. I remember someone coming down to tell me how full the church was! I didn't really care about how full the church was although I was happy to have a church full of close family & friends to share with us the special moment in our lives. All the girls lined up the stairs waiting to walk out and once my sister (MOH) was gone, I stood alone in the stairwell. I remember praying, thanking God for bringing me to this point in my life, saving my soon-to-be husband, and allowing me to marry this man who I adore. I honestly lost it standing there alone; I seen the director signal for me to come on up when they ushers shut the back doors, so I quickly tried to pull myself together for the walk down the aisle. I stood there with my arm in my daddy's. waiting for the bridal march to begin playing; once it did, the two doors were swung open, and everyone was standing there STARING at me...I just needed to see my FI and everything would be fine...so as I walked down the aisle I just kept looking for him through the crowd and once I fixed my eyes on him, I kept them there so all the guests looking at me wouldn't make me nervous/start crying again! Once my daddy gave me away, FI and I walked up the stairs and I honestly don't know once thing that went on outside of what FI, myself and the Preacher were doing/talking about. The song we had sung during our Unity Candle ceremony was "Only God Could Love You More" and FI's cousin Melanie couldn't have performed it any more perfect than she did! It was just beautiful and perfect for our ceremony. We exchanged rings & vows, and then THE KISS! We had talked about how we would kiss each other on our wedding day, not knowing how we would feel in the moment, but our kiss was perfect and our photographers captured it perfectly. Once we were being pronounced man & wife we had a guest yell something at us (a little embarrassing) but kinda funny too and we headed out of the church for the receiving line! Once the receiving line was completed, we had some pictures then headed over to the reception ourselves. We didn't have anyone announce that we were coming in (we're low key and didn't really want to make a big deal of it) but once people seen us entering the fellowship hall they began cheering for us and that was special to me! We got some food and sit down to enjoy it, but guests were coming up to talk to us as we were eating, but we did get to eat! :) We cut the cake, enjoyed feeding it to one another, shared our toasts, then finished our meal. We were very excited to leave and start our journey to TN for our honeymoon. Once we decided to leave, we climbed up on the firetruck for a few pictures and then crawled in to head off! I absolutely LOVED the fact that we decided to leave in the firetruck, it was just something special for us! Once we got to the house, changed clothes, headed back by the church to get a few things we forgot (my pillows, phone charger, and a few other things) we headed off to Pigeon Forge. We made it to our hotel about 1:30 Sunday a.m., grabbed a quick snack, and hit the sack!

I've been wanting to document everything so that I wouldn't forget all the little details of our wedding adventure!

2010-06-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hello bloggy friends! I've dropped by real quick to let you know that we are officialy finished painting our house! :) For this I am overwhelmed with joy! Now, we're moving on to (I assume) base boards, cabinets, toilets, tubs, and all things of this nature. I've said all this to say....God's been good!

Vendor Review

2010-06-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone, here's my final vendor review. Our cake....it was DELICIOUS and we had MANY compliments about it!

My vendor review for:

Linda Bolick

The only reason she doesn't get an A+ was because the cake went on the wrong table. We had one HUGE table that we wanted the gifts, card box, and cake on and I'm not sure if it was her or someone in the wedding party, but it was placed on the wrong table. One of my bridesmaids came in the room we were getting ready in and asked which table the cake was to go on and I specifically told them it went on the only table that didn't have a tablecloth. No big deal, no one even knew that it was wrong but me, so it really didn't matter. The only other complaint I had was that our cake topper wasn't pushed all the way into the cake and it looked pretty goofy! It wasn't a show stopper, but it did kind of take me by surprise.

Here's a picture from our photographer:

More Painting Down

2010-06-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

Last night, my darling husband and I went to the house to paint away the evening and we did just that!

We finished the master bathroom and the kitchen! I can't tell you how in love I am with the color we picked for the kitchen. I can't descirbe it (other than it's the same color as a Hershey bar) and the pictures sure don't do it justice, but here she is.

litchen - valspar humboldt earth

It looked wonderful in the dark last night, but I'm sure it'll look totally different in the daylight. Our cabinets are a light wood (if I can find a picture, I'll post them) and are going to look beautiful in our brown kitchen!

Moving through the dining room & the master bedroom, you find your way to our newly painted master bathroom! It's a little more bright than we expected, but nonetheless, it's finished and hopefully my brown accents will help tone it down a little!

master bathroom - valspar surf spray

I included several different shots trying to get a good picture of the true color; I didn't achieve that! It's more bright in person but I'm ok with it and DH says, "It'll have to grown on me!"

That's all I have for you today...our painting is over for the week until Friday when I'm off from work. I'm hoping to get the 1/2 bath, dining room, & wash room painted Friday. After that, we'll be finished, unless we have to put a second coat in the living, guest, & master bedrooms...

House Work...

2010-06-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

OK blog followers...here's what happening with our house!

We had all the lighting put up the week of the wedding:

above: the living room

below: guest bedroom

above: the dining room

below: the master bedroom

above: our beautiful track lighting in the kitchen...and our track lighting at work below

below: the wash room

The heat pump hooked up & running while we were away on the honeymoon, so we got to come home to a cool (yet empty) house. After we got back from the honeymoon, we started painting! the kitchen & two bathrooms had to be primed so I did that Friday. Saturday I painted from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and I (with a little help at the end of the day from my darling husband) finished painting the living room, guest bedroom & the master bedroom (which are all the same color)! I went back tonight to finish up with the primer around the kitchen, master bath, & .5 bath. Once I finished that, I started the trim work in the master bath and I think I'm really going to love the blue we picked for the bathrooms! :)

above: the master bedroom - valspar lyndhurst gallery beige

below: the living room - valspar lyndhurst gallery beige

above: the guest bedroom - valspar lyndhurst gallery beige

below: the master bathroom - valspar surf spray

On the agenda for tomorrow....finish up trimming the bathrooms and start trimming the kitchen. I used to love painting...but since I've had to paint this entire house from scratch, I'm not such a huge fan of painting anymore so I can't wait to get past this stage of the house work.

Pro Pictures & Vendor Review

2010-06-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

I'm going to share the link from my photographer to our pictures! I'll be getting a cd with the images on it sometime, but until then you can enjoy the pictures on his website. http://potterwedding.joshcraven.net/

My vendor review for:
Josh Craven

A+

I couldn't be more pleased with how our pictures (engagement & wedding) turned out! Josh is new to the field and is in the midst of starting his own photography business. If you're looking for a photographer I have complete confidence that Josh can meet your needs!

Bridal Portraits

2010-06-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

I was dying to post these before the wedding but couldn't since FI knew about the blog.

My vendor review for:
D. Kirby Photography
A+

I am more than happy with the service I received from this photographer. I contacted him on the late side (3 weeks before the wedding) and he worked me! I would have loved to have my bridal portraits taken outside, but in the end I was completely happy with the studio portraits he did. He had my pictures posted four days (I had them taken on Friday, they were posted the following Monday) after he took them for me to order by. I e-mailed Wednesday before our Saturday wedding and we were able to pick up the print Friday afternoon! He was very budget friendly and a great photographer to work with!

Honeymoon Over

2010-06-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Today marks the first day in eleven that I haven't been with my husband the entire day! I have to be honest and saying that I certainly had husband withdrawals today.

We each returned to work today, after returning from our honeymoon yesterday afternoon. Our honeymoon was very relaxing and enjoyable. We had the most beautiful wedding day I could have ever imagined and our honeymoon was just as wonderful! I got a message from the photographer asking when I could get the CD of photos from him! I can't wait to start sharing all the pictures from the wedding with you all! I have honeymoon pictures that I'll start sharing with you sometime this week! :)

We're Married

2010-05-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Hey bloggy friends! I'm sorry I haven't been here to share what's going on in our life! It was a very hectic couple of days (Friday & Saturday) but I'm thrilled to tell you that the wedding went off without a hitch! Everything was beautiful....better than I could have ever imagined! I don't have many pictures, other than the ones that were taken with my camera throughout the day (no ceremony pics). My HUSBAND and I are getting ready to head off to bed for the night, so I'll have to share some of the pictures tomorrow! Keep your eyes peeled....

Final Countdown...

2010-05-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

2 more days; one of which I count as half a wedding day since we'll be decorating & rehearsing.

Last night FI took took me over to our house and pleasantly surprised me with ELECTRICITY! I house has power now and that means we can continue to work there (not until after the honeymoon) when it gets dark!

My list of errands/chores for today (Thursday - 2 days till wedding bliss):

1) get ring cleaned

2) bake & decorate grooms cake

3) get mani/pedi

4) wash all my clothes

5) pack for the honeymoon

6) make FI's truck payment

7) take pans to mammy for reception food

8) load everything for the wedding into the Jeep (separated by Sanctuary & Fellowship Hall)

9) make reserved signs for bridal party tables

10) print pictures for card box

11) make card box (this one is all on FI....if he doesn't get it done, we won't be having it! he's had more than 3 months to get this project completed!)

I'm pleased to say that I'm done with this list with the exception of packing, baking the cake, & loading everything for the wedding into the Jeep, which I'm working on all three as I type this (I'm a great multitasker :P).

My list of errands/chores for tomorrow (Friday - 1 days till wedding bliss):

1) get a tarp to put the chicken on in the cooler

2) wilkesboro to pick up the chicken for reception

3) leave chicken @ Carla's in the cooler

4) check with Carla about the rolls

5) pick-up bridal portrait from D. Kirby Photography

6) decorate the sanctuary first

7) decorate the fellowship hall

8) REHEARSE THE CEREMONY

9) eat & enjoy friends & family

10) REST & SLEEP!!!!

I'm pretty pleased with how everything has went down...smoothly and without issue! I'm sure there will be some problems arise tomorrow and even Saturday, but I know that all will be OK because regardless of what happens, I'm still going to be FI's wife @ the end of the day Saturday and that's all that matters!

5 days

2010-05-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

5 days to go :)

Here go my updates:

1) had a successful trial bouquet run for my bridal portraits Friday & my flowers are still gorgeous today!

2) finished up our programs Friday afternoon/evening

3) finally finished the ring bearer pillow Saturday morning

4) finished up the escort card display last night

5) started separating everything into ceremony/reception totes/boxes for delivery on Friday morning

6) Bought all the plates, cups, and silverware at Sam's this weekend.

7) printed the vellum for memory candles and attached them to glass vases (forgot to take a picture before I packed them up).

8) I finished up the pomanders today as well...but I didn't take a picture of them either!

9) Printed the labels for our centerpieces

10) I also made the guestbook sign

PICTURES....Finally

2010-05-12T05:31:00.000-07:00

I decided since I can't ever stop at home long enough to show you some pictures that I'd just bring my camera to work and add them to the blog before everything gets so busy!

We'll start with the ring bearer pillow flower. I bought it at Hobby Lobby (50% $1.47) and decided to try and tea dye it. It worked perfectly! Here is the flower that will be added to the ring bearers pillow in the next couple of days:

Here's the garter that I bought from a fellow knottie that didn't use it. It was white & boring when it arrived so I decided to srpuce it up a little! This will stand in as my something blue (along with my flowers). This isn't a very good picture showing the true color but you get the point. I used Dylon Bahama Mama dye to make this beauty!

I have pictures from my 'final fitting' but I can't share them...FI would see. I'll share them after the wedding :)

And lastly, I have pictures from my bachelorette party!

Meet my sister & MOH, S!

Meet my childhood friend & bridesmaid, A.

Meet me...the bride :)

Meet my childhood friend and bridesmaid, Lail, trying to show me how to work that lingerie!

And here's Lail in her normal state :)

Meet my childhood friend and bridesmaid, Lis.

And this is my high school friend and attendant, aMa.

My other attendant (Mia) wasn't able to make the party because she was sick...SHE'S PREGNANT and we're so excited for her & her husband!

Now that I've finally showed you all the pictures from my camera I can stop feeling guilty for not having good updates with pictures :) FI is going to be painting the house today, I'm pretty sure...so hopefully I'll have pictures of our newly built (the inside at least) house with some color/personality to it! :)

11 days to go...

2010-05-11T07:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read the correct, 11 days until we say "I do." It's safe to say that I'm still not nervous, only full of excitement, and that FI is still nervous. hehe

The sheet rock team finished up yesterday morning by sanding all the sheet rock mudd to give us a nice smooth level surface to paint over. We made our trip to Lowe's yesterday afternoon to get all of our paint (we picked out our paint colors before we started having showers because EVERYONE was asking what colors we were going to use) and primer and ceiling paint, etc. After a heartbreaking $413.00 bill, FI left headed to the house to start painting. We completed painting all of the ceilings and are pretty pleased with our progress. We don't have the power turned on in the house yet, or I could have started wiping down the walls and priming them when FI went to fire meeting. On the agenda next: FI is working his 24-hr shift at EMS so he won't be working at the house any tonight, and I have to take his pants to exchange them tonight & get his best man a shirt, so I MIGHT get back in enough time to wipe the walls down.

As for the wedding, planning has pretty much been finalized. I fully intended to finish printing the programs last night until I ran out of ink :-\ I am putting below my last to-do list before now & the wedding 9**I HOPE**).

- sew the flower on the ring bearer pillow

- finish printing page 4 of the program

- assemble the programs

- buy tablecloth roll for rehearsal dinner (Party City)

- print & attach vellum to memory candles

- print the labels for the centerpieces

- finish fluffing the tissue paper flowers (which I do during my free time at work)

- complete the pomanders (stick tissue paper flowers in the styrofoam ball & attach ribbon)

- get lights from Lauren for the aisle (buy more if needed)

- finish BM bouquets (put ivory ribbon on them)

- make sure everything is boxed up according to the location it will be used (ceremony/reception/rehearsal)

- trip to Sam's (silverware, plates, cups, food for rehearsal & reception)

I believe that's everything I have left to do. Hopefully it doesn't grow, because I could get most of this stuff knocked out in no time as they are such small tasks. I have pictures to share with you, at home, on my camera...they just can't seem to find there way off the camera on to the blog! Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll get you some pics of the DIY progress I've been making.

Update

2010-05-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I'm so excited as the time quickly passes getting me closer to the day I get to marry my love. As this time is quickly passing, I'm left with less time to get my projects done. Currently on the list: printing programs, dying the garter and the flower for the RB pillows, assembling programs, and fluffing out the tissue paper flowers. Tomorrow will be 2 week left until our wedding day; I'm oh so excited because I really don't have that much left to finish and FI is nervous, at least that's what he says.

As for the house, the sheet rock is all hung, and will be sanded by the end of today. They will be back to do the ceilings and knock them down Monday. Now, we'll be painting this week coming up. I REALLY need to get the wedding stuff finished and put on the back burner until the wedding so I can be helping with the house as much as possible.

I don't have pictures to share right now, but I will later :)

Paper Progress

2010-05-03T17:23:00.000-07:00

Here we go.
I finished the escort cards this evening.

I also am still in the process of printing programs, but I printed all of the first and last pages. Next step, print the inside pages and assemble!

I bought the flower to go on the ring bearer pillow and will be dying it soon (with tea/coffee, I hope) to make it ivory.

I bought a garter and some bahama blue dye to make it my something blue.

Bought scrapbook paper to use as our 'guest book' (stole the idea from my sister-in-law).

The labels for the centerpieces came so I need to design them and get them printed.

Tablecloths for Reception and tulle for the aisle came today.

Progress...it feels so good! :)

BIG HOUSE NEWS

2010-05-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that I can say we are having sheet rock hung at our house this week! :) They should be done by the Friday (hopefully earlier, but I'll be pleased with Friday) so that we can start painting! :) I have looked through our studded up house for months now and I can't wait to see each room become a room. I don't have pictures yet, but I'm going to run over to the house tonight to see what they finished today, and I'll try to post a couple of the work in progress! Yay for house progress...

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Other side of the Master Bathroom

1st closet in the Master Bedroom

2nd Closet in the Master Bedroom

Dining Room from the addition looking into the Living Room

Kitchen...it looks SO different than when we bought the house!

Working In Progress

2010-04-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

I'm working on today:

Table Name Cards

BM Bouquets (wrapping the stems)

Maybe the card box since FI keeps putting it off :P

I scheduled my bridal portrait session and hair trial this week, so that's something else I can mark off the to-do list! Hopefully I'll be back with pictures this evening of my accomplishments!

Pictures

2010-04-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

Our unity candle holder! I'm in LOVE! It's absolutely beautiful in person and will be for sale after the wedding!

I tried my hand at making the tissue paper poms to hang from the ceiling in the fellowship hall. We'll see how it goes.

Just to show you how big it really is.

My rings all together!

My love's ring!

And our rings together!

And here are what few pictures I got from my third shower on Saturday:

The LOADED food tables!

And my sweet nephew, also one of our ring bearers!

Table Names

2010-04-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my sister this morning about the escort cards and table names and I decided that I'd do something very unique to FI and I for the table names. For now, i'm going to keep it a secret. But if you know how to get to my planning site, you can see them there (link in siggy on theknot.com). I'm very excited about making these and everyone seeing them! Hobby Lobby even has their pape ron sale this week, so I'm probably going to head down Friday to grab more of my brown & ivory paper to make the table name cards as well as get more blue & purple paper for the programs. I took pictures last night to add to the post below, but I never added them; I'll try my best to add them tonight :)

Weekend Recap

2010-04-26T05:57:00.001-07:00

I did NOT want to get out of my bed this morning, which I can say is the first morning I've felt that way in what feels like weeks! My bed actually felt oh so comfy for the first time in several days (if not a couple of weeks). I did manage to get myself to roll out of bed, get ready and I was surprisingly the first person at work this morning and I was on time! I come bearing updates from what seemed like a one day weekend.

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Friday, FI was at work (for his normal 24-hr shift) and I was at around town during the morning running errands. The first, and most important errand to me, was getting my hair trimmed and from there I stopped by the jewelry store where our wedding bands were ready to be paid for/picked up. Check number one for the day! I now have in possession three wedding bands (two for me, one for him) that will make our marriage official in 26 days! I also ran by Staples while I was in town and picked up some ivory paper to go in the middle of my blue/purple paper for the programs; check number two! After picking up our bands& stoping by Staples, I headed home to start on some wedding projects while watching the remainder of Season 1 Disc 1 of Grey's Anatomy. Check number three was sewing the ribbon onto the ring bearer pillow! This took longer than expected because the ribbon kept fraying at the ends where I was sewing, but I overcame that obstacle for another DIY task completed! The last bit of DIY that I can successfully put on the COMPLETED list is the layout of our Programs. I started printing the front and back pages on the blue/purple paper (check number four), but I'm holding off on printing the inside pages for a couple of different reasons of which we hope to finalize/settle this week.

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Saturday I was pretty much lazy most of the day just because I could be and I worked semi-hard getting some wedding things done the day before. I went to the PO to hopefully find more RSVP's waiting for me (and there were three there). Took a nap, then it was off to another shower being hosted by my lovely sister & mother. We had a great time, lots of people, lots of great food, and LOTS of presents which filled up the rest of the basement at my parents house. I'm not real sure where we're going to put anything we get at our church shower this weekend because seriously, we have been WAY too blessed with the generosity of our friends and family! We received a tons of great things, here are some I can remember off the top of my head:

- another set of our dishes (we've got two sets so now we can host up to 8 people)
- 2 sets silverware from Target that sure does look good with our dishes
- the small glasses to match our dishes (his family got the large glasses match our dishes)
- our stainless steel kitchen canisters
- a set of pyrex dishes
- dish towels (FINALLY! We hadn't gotten any until now)
- sheets for both our bed as well as the guestroom bed
- a lovely shower curtain (thanks to my sister-in-law who obviously listens well, since I was admiring her EXACT one a while back! :D)

I could go on and on and on...but honestly you would be here all day listening. I was overwhlemed at the gifts we recieved. Immediately leaving the shower we headed to the store to get gorceries to make food for our homecoming at church the next day.

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All I can say about Sunday was that is was an awesome day in the Lord! And today, I'm at work, reluctantly, but I'm here. I hope to add some pictures to this post as well as the previous post this evening.

I hope everyone has a great Monday!

Friday Progress

2010-04-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

I have a ton of exciting updates to share...well at least they're exciting for me!

This week we hit our 1 month mark (yesterday actually). I'm still very excited and he says he is nervous :) Sweet huh?

I had my hair trimmed this morning for the first time in over a year!

I went to the jewelry store and picked up (paid for FI's ring) our wedding bands! I got him there last Friday to have his finger sized, they ordered the ring and it had arrived by Monday! I'm so excited about having our wedding bands! :)

I sewed the ribbon onto the ring bearer pillow and now I just need to find a cute flower to put on the top with some ribbon to hold "the rings."

I bought some ivory paper to start printing the programs, but I haven't actually started printing them yet. Hopefully I'll get started on those this evening since FI is working today.

I ordered a photo book from Shutterfly (I had a 50% & free shipping code) and it arrived this week as well! It's great!!

I ordered two pieces of attire for myself for the wedding day and it arrived yesterday! :)

I also hope to get started on Thank You notes for the two showers we've had because we have another tomorrow and I don't want to be writing thank you notes the week before the wedding or on the honeymoon at that!

I found some cute shoes for the wedding day online at JcPenny! I also had a coupon code for 20% off as well as a $10 credit from where we spent so much when we bought the GM's outfits! Total for my wedding day shoes = $12.87. Successful in finding cheap shoes!

I'm ordering the tablecloths for the reception tonight!

I'm in the process of purchasing a normal guestbook and garter from another bride that decided not to use them, only $4!!!

I'm also buying our Unity Candle Holder from another bride in the next day or two!

I've been making tissue paper flowers throughout the week, so I'm making progress with the pomanders.

My RSVP deadline is quickly approaching (only 8 days to get it in the mail guests...PLEASE send them back! We want to have enough food for you to eat at the reception) and I'm anxious for the 207 remaining people to send in their meal choice or regrets!

Wow...that looks like a lot of progress! :) I love it! Now I'm off to get some stuff done! I hate that I don't have any pictures to show you...maybe I can come back with some tonight!

Band Together

2010-04-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend was one with little progress house or wedding wise. We were busy with a bbq fundraiser at the fire department where my love works and then yesterday was his birthday and church. Needless to say, we did accomplish a few tasks!

House:
- FFIL finished the plumbing in our house so now we are ready to hang sheet rock. :) yay!

Wedding:
- I finished stringing and glueing on the beads to our serving set (see a seperate post about that here).
- I FINALLY got FI to go to the jewelry store to be sized for his band. We went ahead and purcahsed it Friday while we were there. Needless to say, it was MUCH more expensive than we thought it was going to be, but still half the price of my two bands.

Here is the site with full information about and I didn't get a real shot of the ring, but here is the stock photo from the makers site.

I do have to say that the ring we seen in the store was no where near this shiny; it's tungston carbide and has a lifetime warranty. I have to admit that I got giddy in the store when he decided which band he wanted :) Today marks 33 days until I marry my love!

This evening I'll be working on tissue paper flowers and deciding exactly how I'm going to do the programs. I have the template created, some blue & purple paper, but I'm not sure how/what I'm going to print them on. Hopefully I'll have more updates tomorrow!

Serving Set

2010-04-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

Wow...I'm relieved to be finished with these! It wasn't that bad to string all the beads on the fishing wire, but it was a pain trying to get them on the serving set. Nonetheless, I completed the knife today and can wash and throw these things in a box and forget about them until May 22. Now I'll be working on tissue paper flowers to finish up the 8 pomanders I have to make! :)
EDIT: I forgot to mention, in case anyone was wondering) that the server set was bought from Ross (I think) by my mother who came across it one day and picked it up for me!

Shower Numero Dos

2010-04-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I had to come by and post some pictures and updates from the shower that my work had for me today! I got some goodies from our Target registry, which I was surprised about! We got our lovely clock (which I think it in a picture below), some kitchen stuff including our stainless steel timer and our salt/pepper shakers, as well as some bathroom goodies such as our towels and shower curtain! I'm so thankful for the people I work with! And now, for my favorite part of a post....pictures!

Our First Shower

2010-04-12T06:17:00.001-07:00

I'm back with updates!

We had our first shower this weekend (hosted by FI's family) and we got a ton of great things for our house (many things for our kitchen)! Here are a few of the gifts we received:

- 4 place settings (and 6 glasses to match!)

- Paula Dean pots & pans (that are AQUA!)

- Electric Griddle

- Pyrex dishes with carrying case

- Lots of different items for our kitchen (measuring cups and spoons, cooking utensils, dawn dishwashing liquid, hand soap, paper towels, toilet paper, etc, etc.)

We're very thankful for everything we received and we absolutely CAN NOT wait to use these in our new house! :) I have pictures to share, of course!!

Insulated

2010-04-08T04:57:00.001-07:00

My wonderful FI and brother worked at the house yesterday! :) They stuffed insulation all day and got it all put in. FI's dad has most of the plumbing done, only our .5 bath left to finish. So, I'm sure you can guess was comes next....hanging sheet rock! Woo-hoo! Once the sheet rock goes up we can start with everything else: light fixtures, inside doors, painting...you know all the little stuff. :) Our house may be ready to move into right after the wedding after all!

I'm thankful to God for the small things too!

This one is for my sister...

2010-04-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

Easter Pictures

2010-04-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak peak friends!

And some of my faves from the Cox Family:

2010-04-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

I have wedding project updates for everyone!

I began working on my cake server set; I'm stringing beads onto fishing line to wrap around the handles. I've completed one of the two. Here it is just before I finished it up:

I'm getting ready to start on the ring bearer pillow, so I should (hopefully) have pictures of it tonight. EDIT: Here are the pictures of the mostly finished product. Now I just have to add some pretty ribbon!

Haha...I wouldn't let Daisy in the chair with me while I was stuffing the pillow, so she just crawled up in the basket of clothes by my feet and took a nap! :)

I've finished up separating all of the candies for the favors (I'll post pics later!). EDIT: Here is a picture of my favors all zipped up tight in a baggie so they stay fresh!

I finished up making all of the tulle poofs (through step 2 - ready to be hung). I stopped putting the fishing line through them because they were getting tangled. We'll save that part and the fluffing for the week or two before the wedding. EDIT: Here are the pictures of my tulle poofs (some finished, some unfinished).

I think that's all for now. I'll bring you pictures this evening!

I feel like sharing a helpful (to me anyway) blog today! Visit here for craft store coupons! It's always nice to have a quick link to visit to get all the current craft store coupons for a quick trip to pick up something wedding related.

Checking In

2010-03-31T09:42:00.001-07:00

Hello blog followers! I'm dropping by to let you know.....there has been no progress on the wedding front so far this week.

Recently completed item (hehe, only one thing to share!):

- Separated the candy into blue, purple, pink and put 15/20 candies in each bag.

Still need to complete:

- Ceremony Programs

- Buy tulle to line the aisle

- Borrow lights to line the aisle

- Make many more pomanders

- Wrap the wreaths with ribbon

- Find unity candle holder

- Perfect the BM bouquets

- Talk to the florist about my bouquet

- Figure out how to make boutonnières

- Find a guest book & pen

- Make "In Memory of" candles

- Mail sheet music to pianist

- Choose the rest of music for Ceremony (pre-wedding music, bridal party entrance, my entrance, and recesional)

- Find stand/table for unity candle to sit on

- Make ring bearer pillow

- Slideshow (maybe)

- Order table clothes for all tables for Reception

- Get flowers to finish centerpieces

- Buy drinks and dinnerware for Reception

- Buy garter

- Finish making tulle poofs for windows (Reception)

- Finalize Cake details

- Print & assemble coloring books for the young ones

I think that's it for now, at least that's all that I have on my list. I'm sure it will grow in the next few weeks, but I hope to get some of this stuff knocked off the list since I have a 4-day weekend coming up!

Wedding Photos

2010-03-28T19:10:00.001-07:00

As Promised....Pictures!

2010-03-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

I come bearing many pictures.

Pictures of attire for the groom, groomsmen, and ring bearers.

Groom will be in the blue, all groomsmen will be in the lavender.

Our three ring bearers will be wearing this outfit, maybe with khaki pants instead of the shorts (FI isn't fond of them wearing shorts in church).

I'll be adding some pictures from a bestie's wedding (tomorrow)! Enjoy!

Attire Check

2010-03-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

I'm SOOOO excited and relieved to mark another task off the to-do list! FI and I went tonight to find suit pants for him and the GM's tonight and we found them @ JcPenny! We found the pants so quickly that we moved on to picking out shirts for all the GM & FI and got all of them with the exception of the Best Man's b/c they didn't have the color to match the MOH's dress. Our gift to the GM are their ties, so we found ties for everyone tonight as well...and they match the pattern on FI's tie! :) I'll have to wait and post pictures tomorrow!

I HIGHLY recommend brides looking for khaki suits (ours were linen look pants by Stafford) to check out JcPenny! We got the pants for $34/each (on sale & we used a coupon) making the total cost for each GM only $51! :)

::beaming with joy::

My sister and I are heading to a warehouse sale tomorrow for Shoe Show and I'm hoping to find me and FI some shoes to wear for the wedding. Maybe I'll have more than just groom/groomsmen pants/shirts/ties to share tomorrow! :)

Music

2010-03-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

We've finally picked two definite songs that we'll be using during the ceremony. Here is the first one (it will be used during our Unity Candle lighting and possibly a short slideshow of us.

Here is the second one that we've made a definite decision on. We'll be playing this one as our parents enter the church.

To Veil, or Not to Veil...

2010-03-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

I have struggled with this for a while now and I really need to get choose one way or the other. I'm not 100% sure about how to wear my hair until I go for my trial and see how it works out, but I've chosen to do a side pony. Something along the lines of this:

Only with a flower like this:

Or a veil like this:

Or both like this:

The first bride only wore a veil (from what I can tell) and it looks just fine. The second bride above used a hair fascinator AND a veil, and I think it looks fine together as well. I just can't decide what to do. Maybe I'll get a veil and a fascinator to take to my hair trial and decide what to do then...that makes the most sense I guess.

How are you wearing your hair? Have you decided veil/no veil?

Countdown

2010-03-23T07:35:00.001-07:00

Countdown continuation....60 days to go! That's only 2 months...

::Counting, breathing deeply::

::sigh::

Well, that was my attempt at trying not to stress about the short amount of time that stands between me and my fiance becoming husband & wife. I don't think my to-do list is all that long, it just seems like there is so much to do between now and May 22. I think I've put so much into planning and getting DIY stuff done early that I don't have that many projects/tasks to complete before the wedding. As much as I have wished for time to F-L-Y since last January, it has done just that.

I need to figure out a way to calm down about everything. So, tonight when I get home I'm going to sit down and think about every aspect of the wedding, what we'll need, if I've already finished it or need to complete it, and try to get as much as possible squared away. We'l see how that goes...I'll try to bring you an update tomorrow!

NWR: Pete + April

2010-03-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

I met with this couple from my church today...they haven't had pictures taken together since they were married...7 years ago! It was about time they had more pictures taken and I was happy to do it for them.

Here's your sneak peak April! Hope you enjoy them!

More to come soon!

Invitations: Ready 2 Go

2010-03-20T06:02:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the help of 4 sweet women and two little boys, my invitations are stuffed, sealed (and will be stamped Monday). I can't tell you what a relief it was to get those things ready to send out. I often wondered when I read other girls' posts about their invites if they could really be a labor of love; absolutely. They have certainly been a labor of love and I'm kind of sad to see them go but very excited to make the wedding official to all of our guests! As I sit here typing this, I'm excited to start seeing the RSVP's come in and begin imagining with whom our special day will be shared.

I'm sure my future mother-in-law (pictured above) will be thrilled to see that I posted this picture of her :P

Lisa, Angie, Cindy, Nikki, Ty, & Zack...I appreciate all of your help (and putting up with my picky ways) Thursday evening and trust me...I will appreciate your help when it gets down to 2 weeks until wedding time and you're all helping make tissue paper flowers!!! :) I love you guys!

House Update

2010-03-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

I don't have any new wedding related news to share right now but I do have pictures to show of the house and how it's coming along, because it is coming along quiet nicely.

Here is the back of what our house used to look like and of course what it looks like now. It's more finished now than it was when I took this picture (I haven't made it by there to take updated pics in a day or two). We raised the roof (literally :P) to give us more head space in the master bath and in the meantime added a .5 bath on the opposite side of the house and extended our dining room.

This picture here gives you a better idea of what we did to the back (raised the roof).

Here is what used to be our porch...it will now be a .5 bath on the end of the house and an extension of our dining room in the middle.

And of course I have pictures all of these men working...

Belly Band Success!

2010-03-11T20:05:00.001-08:00

I am here to announce that I have had achieved victory over the belly bands. I'm thrilled to have knocked all of these out! Of course I have pictures...and I'll be adding a tutorial to my bio tonight or tomorrow.

Check out all those belly bands...wow...so glad I'm finished making them. Here's one by itself. Pretty good for a last minute decision to make these!

I also made some more poofs, but I don't have any pictures of them yet. I'll be helping plan a little party most of the day tomorrow, so it's a good thing I made so much progress tonight!

Looking forward to tomorrow...hopefully a post showing some of the progress we've made on our house! It's very exciting and I can't wait to share!

Checkity check check!

2010-03-09T09:16:00.000-08:00

I have more to share than the exciting news that my bridesmaid dresses are in but I can't share it just yet! I also have pictures to show you and checks to share, but for now you'll have to wait!

Here I am again, back to share pictures and checks!!

I tried my hand at making the tulle poofs in my bio...not as easy as I had planned but they're made exactly like the tissue paper flowers I'm making. They will look nice hanging from the windows in the fellowship hall!
I started and finished making the tags for the favor bags we decided to go with instead of doing a candy buffet. They were super easy and I was completely finished with them in a couple of hours. My mom had a really cool tool that I was able to attach the tags to the bags with. I'll post instructions in my bio later.
Here we have the cricut cutting the brown squares that go on the belly band to keep the invites closed. It was very easy to have the cricut cut these, I printed our monogram on ivory paper and placed them atop the brown layer with the ribbon between (no pictures of that just yet). The belly bands are taking longer to make than I expected and I don't have but 1.5 weeks to finish those so I can mail the invites the week of March 22.

And here are the invitations that went in the mail today. I only mailed out the invites for those who are invited to the rehearsal dinner. All the rest will be going out in about 11 or 12 days. I honestly can't wait to see them go.

Cross it off...

2010-03-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my sister, we can mark another task off the to-do list! She was showing me some pictures of outfits she wanted to get A to wear for Easter and we ended picking one of the outfits for the ring bearers to wear in the wedding.

I'm IN LOVE with this and think our three little ring bearers will be too cute in them. They will complete the look with a pair of brown flip flops/sandals (depending on age/mothers preference). I can see it now...:)

House Update

2010-03-03T04:47:00.000-08:00

If you're from North Carolina, you know that much of the state received some snow yesterday! I was beyond excited to see it snowing. FI called and asked me to come to Lowe's to pick out our front door for him, his dad, and my brother were going to put in. Since it was snowing pretty hard, I decided to head on home when we left Lowe's because the snow was laying everywhere in Lenoir. It was really a winter wonderland and I smiled and thanked God for the entirety of my trip home. Once I arrived home, it seemed like it took 5 hours to get the door put in. Nevertheless, through the hard work of 3 and the brains of 6, our new door went in! I can't believe I didn't take a picture from the outside after it was complete, but I'll get one and post it later.

This is what we've had as our 'front door' the past month or so, a locked screen door.

Needless to say, I was pleased to see a REAL front door go up! We purchased a Schlage door handle and deadbolt lock, the thickest bolt available. :P

UPDATE: I drove by the house and took a picture with the new door :) Don't mind the wood and mess in the lower portion of the photo!

Invitation Victory

2010-03-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

::sigh:: I'm please and thrilled to inform all of my bloggie friends that I have accomplished a HUGE DIY task. Last night I finished printing the envelopes for my invitations!!!!!! The invitation process has been a very huge work-in-process for months now. The last thing(s) to be completed for these babies is to put the RSVP cards inside each invite, close them, tie a piece of ribbon around them, maybe add a monogrammed square atop the ribbon and stuff them babies in an envelope!

I have mostly enjoyed this process, but I will be ecstatic to throw them in the mail box (and by throw, I mean gently & carefully carry them into the nice man at the post office so he can just throw them in a bag!).

I do have to apologize to my bloggie friends as I have been lacking on not only posting here but also putting pictures with my posts. I'm taking the pictures, but somehow they aren't making it from my camera to here. Maybe I can get caught up on adding pictures tonight.

For the girls on theknot who have May weddings drawing ever so close, (ever so quickly!!!) I think we need to take a day away from planning and relax. I feel like I should be finished planning by now, after all, I did start planning over a year ago. Once these invites go, it'll be all DIY decorations till the wedding! :)

Missing In Wedding Action

2010-02-25T07:40:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I am very apologetic that I have been missing around here! We had our church revival all last week and it was late every night when I got in. I woke up last Friday morning with sinus issues and have been down and out with that until my meds really started working yesterday. I have made a pretty good little bit of progress along the lines of wedding planning progress, and we also have TONS of action along the lines of house progress. FI and his dad have really been working on the house the last couple of weeks. We did find an issue in the one room of the house we had planned to remodel after we moved in so we are now remodeling every room/aspect of the house. I'm very excited for everything to be finished so I can show you before and after pictures!

On the wedding front:
~ I finally paid of my wedding bands (first post about them can be found here)! Good pictures to come when I can get a good picture of them.

~ I completed the printing on the back of the majority of our RSVP postcards (I'm waiting on a second batch of 100 to arrive from Vistaprint).

~ The brown paper that Hobby Lobby had to special order for me came in and I finished cutting all of those earlier this week. I get the rest of the invites assembled.
~ My sister and I found the coolest decorating idea for the fellowship hall windows! I'm anxious for the tulle I ordered from CODWholesale to arrive so we can experiment with these!!! We plan to use fishing wire to hang 4-6 individual tulle poofs at varying lengths from the tulle covered curtain rods.

~ We also nailed down how we're going to decorate the pews at the ceremony!

The Sanctuary we're getting married in looks almost IDENTICAL to the one in the above picture. I love the lights in the tulle and will probably go with that look!

On the house front:

Since we're having to fix the bathroom now as well (this was unintended; we planned to wait and build on to the back of the house where the bathroom is when we started a family, but we found a few things and decided it was best to go ahead and tackle this project now as well). I made a quick little layout of the the house for it's before and after layout:

So Close I Can Taste It...

2010-02-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

I am so close to being finished with assembling these invitations! I have about 60 more to assemble and I can get that done pretty quickly if Hobby Lobby would call me back letting me know if they have my paper in yet. ::Sigh:: I can't wait to be finished with them and get them in the mail, out of my sight & reach. They have been a labor of love! I hope to get my RSVP Postcards from Vistaprint this week so I can start printing the backs of them. Then I'll be printing envelopes, lining the envelopes, then stuffing them. Oh yes...it's so close I can taste it!

YEAH!

2010-02-12T13:56:00.000-08:00

Yea girls! Guess what today is??

That's right...it's only 99 days until I get married! I'm very excited; not only about the 99 days, but because my friend aMa helped me cut & put together some invitations, it's snowing like CRAZY here right now, I paid off and got my rings today, and I'm getting ready to go out for a Valentine's dinner with my FI's mom, dad, and two cousins. I had a very exciting day and I can't wait to share pictures with you later! Trust me, there will be pictures later. If I don't get back this weekend, I hope you all have a spectacular Valentine's Day with whomever you choose to spend it with!

I am finally delivering those pictures I promised :)

A Post...That's All I've Got!

2010-02-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

I don't have much wedding related for you girls...

Hop on over to the workout bio/blogs that I've been participating in. Several of my fellow wedding club members (May 2010) have joined together to create a support system for the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred workouts. I think it's very helpful to me for one, but it's also great to see how the other girls are doing along their journey and to encourage them when they need it!

Here is what I'm looking at:

Blog readers, you may be asking your self, "Self, what the heck is she looking at?" To yourself, I answer, my invitations that need to be assembled. :-\ I'm going to go cut a few of the brown layers so I don't have such a hefty job tomorrow evening. My wonderful friend, aMa, is going to be helping me assemble some of these bad boys Friday...so busy I must get!

Invitations

2010-02-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

I made two COMPLETE invitations tonight!

Hobby Lobby only had 49 sheets of the chocolate brown paper I need to layer my invites, so I bought what they had and placed a special order for the rest. I printed the lines to cut by on the paper I had and started cutting. I wanted to make sure, before I printed all 49 sheets, that I had the dimensions correct and so I completed two of my invites. Of course I included pictures below!

I'm starting to impress myself with knocking things off the list :) Woo-hoo for another almost check!

Paper Progress

2010-02-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

Today was a very productive day for me! I knocked out some MAJOR DIY Paper stuff!

First off, my invites, in all their glory! Very happy to have finished cutting all 150 of these, now I have to get the brown paper from Hobby Lobby and get those cut! :-\ ::sigh::

My second major achievement today was getting all of the belowcut out! What are these you maybe asking yourself...Envelope Liners! I couldn't decide on one paper to line with, so I'm doing some f both! I LOVE it and am THRILLED that I got all of these finished today as well. So, starting Monday, I have 150 envelopes to line...and this I would like to finish sometime this week.

::Excitement::

Bouquets

2010-02-05T17:46:00.000-08:00

Hi all! I decided to work on some wedding stuff today since it was nasty out with the snow/ice/rain. I put together the girls' bouquets (as sort of a rough draft) for my sister to make look better :P I was bored and just wanted to do something wedding, other than cut invitations. I have pictures below, but while we're talking wedding...FI and I were talking about it being February already. Invites go out in March! I can't believe it...for more than a year now I've worked on wedding things off and on and now I'm just shocked that it all needs to start falling together. Wow...I think I'm going to try and get the rest of our invites cut tonight before I go to sleep...I can at least feel a little accomplished.

Do you followers like? This may not be the final version as my sister will make any changes that need to be made! :) I do love my sister!

Another Post today

2010-02-01T19:56:00.000-08:00

I got a little bored with tissue paper. I designed a new RSVP postcard front. My new creation, one that I am much more comfortable with because the reading can be seen more easily, is seen below compared side-by-side to the old design.

What do you think wedding friends?

Pomanders

2010-02-01T18:28:00.001-08:00

Nothing very interesting here lately. I have been folding tissue paper for the pew pomanders...a very daunting task that needs to be done. So, here I am watching the new shows on ABC Family and folding tissue paper, cutting floral wire, and cutting tissue paper...Enjoy your Monday evening!

Invite Progress

2010-01-29T09:18:00.001-08:00

As I sit here, constantly and obsessivley looking at the 160 invitations that I printed, I realize, I'M GETTING MARRIED! Wow...other than having to cut all of these invites (by hand with a rule and an X-Acto knife), my wedding is really starting to seem R-E-A-L! Yea...I'm getting married to my love in less than 4 months!

I printed my invites this morning (around 6:30 a.m.) and I'm sure I'll be spending the rest of the day cutting them.

The stack that needs to be cut...

The stack that has already been cut...

I've got A LONG way to go!

Final RSVP Postcard Template

2010-01-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

I made myself finish the layout that I'm planning to use for my RSVP Postcards Tuesday night. I'm very excited with how they turned out. I'm planning on having the postcards printed through Vistaprint (front side printed, blank backside). I have tested printing on postcards from Vistaprint with my printer and it works perfect, so I can easily print the back side at home.

I'll be placing my template in my planning bio (here) if you would like to use it.

A House Post

2010-01-25T05:08:00.001-08:00

Since I showed our first purchase of supplies to start "re-building" our house, I figured I might as well show the second, much larger purchase.

Believe it or not, we purchased more wood Thursday evening so that we could lift the ceilings & floors because they were sagging just a bit. I'm very thankful that my FI and his dad build/remodel houses for a living. It's saving us a fortune in carpentry labor expenses. Friday was their first day working inside the house and they successfully completed all of the work that will be done with raising the ceilings to a nice pretty level. Today they are supposed to be tackling the floors; I'm not sure how much they will actually get completed since we had flash flooding in our area last night.

Not exactly what I expected $500 worth of wood to look like but FI said it did look like $500 worth of wood. I trust him since he has been doing this since age 16. :)

More DIY Progress

2010-01-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

Wow. Yesterday we hit the 4 month mark. Excitement is certainly building within me & I've made more DIY progress throughout the week (with the help of my wonderful sister!)

First off are the wreaths that my sister made for me! They turned out great and she made her appearance in the photos too :)

And the MOH bouquet that we started on...I want to add something to it, I'mjust not sure yet what that 'something' is!

I also visited the church and took many pictures so I can plan more of the DIY decorations that I'll be doing. Here are a few pictures of it just because I love pictures :)

The aisle I will walk down. :)

Our reception venue.

Engaged

2010-01-19T05:21:00.000-08:00

The Announcement from the Elisabethton Star:

The Announcement from the News Topic wasn't shown online (I don't think) but here is the picture we put with the announcement (which was basically the same as the above announcement):

We also made our first purchase to start working on the house:
Fifty 2x4s at $134...our house was built in 1938 so the studs were not placed appropriately apart, therefore our first project (since demolition) is to place 2x4's between the already standing ones so we can hang sheet rock.

Wreath Letters

2010-01-17T21:19:00.001-08:00

Finished the J tonight. Here are some pictures:

I'm very excited with how these came out! Yay for more progress!

On a side note, our engagement announcement ran in the papers in mine & FI's hometowns today. :)

DIY Progress

2010-01-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

So I've made some progress on some of my DIY projects. I've worked around with some DIY bouquets and DIY centerpieces. I obviously have pictures :)
BM Bouquets:

Tall Centerpieces:

Candle Centerpieces:

I finished one of the letters that will hang on the front doors of the church. I bought wooden letters (J & M) to hang on the wreaths that will be on the front doors of the church. I finished the 'M' and here she is:

Sorry for the horrible pic, I didn't have my camera with me. The fabric is brown and it has blue, pink, yellow, green, and an orangish print on it. I haven't completed the 'J' yet, but will add a post with it later.

I went with my mom & sister shopping for the materials to make the wreaths for the church doors and here is how we're making the wreaths:

More checks:

-We got the BM dresses ordered

-I traced all of the envelope liners, need to be cut & put in the envelopes.

-Finalized invite layout and information, need to get them printed and start assembly.

That's all for now...I think. YaY for progress!

Getting Something Done

2010-01-12T04:53:00.000-08:00

Yea, I really need to start getting some wedding things ACCOMPLISHED! I did bring my invitation paper with my today so that I can stop by Staples after work and get an estimate of what it's going to cost to have them printed there. I need to start getting invites made because it's just around the corner that I am going to have to start mailing those out. ::yikes!::

I've really gotta start getting some things done :-\ I thought I had made so much progress until I see this HUGE list of 'items/tasks' that need to be checked off.

On the bright side, I used some of my Christmas money to buy the Wii game EA Sports. I am doing Bob Greene's 30 day challenge with the 'game' and had day one last night. I LOVED it. I can't imagine the Wii Fit being any better than this was. You have a personal trainer to guide you (she/he will let you know if your squats aren't low enough, if you're rushing the exercise, etc.) and I really found this helpful. There are step by step instructions before each exercise explaining move by move what you will be doing; it's also nice that, for those who are familiar with the exercises, there is the option of skipping right through the video tutorials.

Day 1 (medium-intesity): Challenging but not so hard you can't do it.

DIY Progress

2010-01-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

I made some DIY progress on my day off yesterday. I'm excited to be making progress with some wedding stuff. I completed the rough draft of my program and the FINAL draft of my invites yesterday and made mock-ups of each! Lots of pictures to share!

Keep in mind: this invite is only laying on the brown layer laying on the gatefold invite and that my doggie was walking around on the bed messing everything up...so it's not nice, neat, and lined up correctly.

Now on to the trial/mock-up Programs:

Cake

2010-01-02T18:32:00.001-08:00

My nephew is turning three tomorrow. He is a HUGE Thomas the Train fan, so I made him a cake this year with Thomas on it. Well, it's actually cupcakes, but it turned out pretty good! I baked cupcakes FOREVER today :P

Happy 2010!

2010-01-01T06:59:00.000-08:00

It's the new year once again! But this year means a lot more to me than previous ones. This is our WEDDING YEAR!

We have our new year celebration ritual that takes place at JJ's uncles house! We LOVE this ritual, but may have decided to have it at our house next year since it will be our first new year as a married couple! :) Of course I have pictures from our ring in 2010 celebration!

Invite Mock-up...3

2009-12-30T19:58:00.001-08:00

I haven't really looked at anything wedding related the last 4 months because of school. I popped in the flashdrive today and took a look at the wedding files I had completed. I pulled up the intended invite layout and wasn't impressed with what I was looking at. On a new journey I went looking for more inspiration for our invites. I came across an invite on theknot that was simple and caught my eye. Here is what I've come up with for the third time.

You can see the first mock-up I made here & the second mock-up I made here. Let me know what you think!

Decisions, Decisions...

2009-12-30T19:13:00.000-08:00

This is a simple post...help me decide! Which do you like the best?

Plan a Wedding?

2009-12-29T18:48:00.001-08:00

Now that I'm done with school, and there is less than 5 months until the wedding and I've got to get B-U-S-Y with planning our wedding. Tomorrow on the plate for after church is making a couple of the new envelope liners with the new paper I bought. I need to decide if I want to use the silver/white paper or the blue paper to line our envelopes. Next on the plate is our invitation design. I have one now that I can use, but I'm just not 100% satisfied with it. I'm going to start working on a new design in my spare time and hopefully have a decision made about the final design within the next two weeks. I'd also like to get started on the ceremony and getting a program started. I've got to get the Bridesmaids dresses ordered (still waiting on two of my girls' measurements) as well as find someone to alter the dresses one they come in. I'm beginning to feel a little overwhelmed since 2010 is right around the corner.

::deep breath::

Off to get some rest. My first day back to work today really made me tired.

FBIL II

2009-12-29T18:34:00.000-08:00

FBIL

2009-12-28T16:29:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 ay 6 p.m., my future brother in law was married to his fiance. They are currently on their honeymoon in Jamaica where they will stay until December 30th. I obviously have pictures to post! :) They had an elegant wedding that went off without a hitch! Here are the newlyweds, Mr. & Mrs. Potter.

I'll definitely have one or two more posts with pictures from the wedding! There were so many good ones :) Congrats Josh & Steph!

CHRISTmas

2009-12-25T22:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009 is over. It didn't seem like Christmas when I woke up this morning and it still doesn't feel like Christmas now that it's over and all of my family is back at their houses sleeping. I have pictures to show later, but for now I'm going to add the pictures from the presents that I gave since everyone has them now :) Also, my FI's brother was married on Tuesday of this week, so I will definitly have a post with pictures sometime in the next couple of days.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful, blessed Christmas this year.

Presents

2009-12-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

I've been busy for the better part of the week making Christmas presents. I've taken many pictures and can't wait to share them!

After completing the gifts last night, I was baking some goodies to give with the gifts and I HAVE to share my most favorite winter (not just Christmas) recipe! I was introduced to a unique snack back in my teen years by a girl that I played basketball with.

Snowman Poop (click here for recipe)

Or that's what they called it and I continue to use this name (the real name is Chex Mix Muddy Buddies). I made two batches of it last night and bagged it all up to give away today at the party! I hope you enjoy this recipe. If you haven't had this before, you HAVE to try it! RUN, now to the grocery store to get all of the ingredients! :)

Ok

2009-12-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

I'm elated to be finished with school. I took the whole day off work and graduated yesterday. It wasn't quiet as exciting as I though it would be. I think for me that I had all of my excitement when I completed my last final and was completely finished with school. On the up side, I did finish off my last semester of undergrad college with all A's :)

Now, I'm excited to start as some projects for Christmas, then after those I'll be moving on to wedding projects. You'll be seeing more and more posts after this one as I have taken off from work starting tomorrow until Dec. 29. I know there are several other knotties that graduated or will be graduating this month, so to you all, CONGRATS! It's a great feeling to be finished!

Life

2009-12-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

My life has been happening, really happening in the last week! Not only did I complete the last of my undergraduate schoolwork, but I also won something very special! I coach a middle school girls basketball team (at my middle school alma mater). This was only my second year, but after the first couple of practices, I knew that the girls that came back from last years team were going to be great players this year. During our preseason tournament, we played each team in our conference (3 other teams) and beat all three of them. I just knew this was going to be 'our' season and that we could go undefeated.

Long story short....we only won three regular season games; we ended up tying for second place. A coin was flipped and our school just happened to win te coin toss, giving us second place. Our conference tournament started Monday with semifinal games and final games followed on Tuesday. The team we played in the semi's was a team that in the regular season had beat us once and we had beat them once. I gave the girls a pep talk and they played the best they ever have and beat the other team by 20 points (final: 47-27). Next day...we are playing the number one team in the conference, which had an undefeated season. I pulled the fie returning players aside and had a talk with them, crying of course (I'm a softie! especially with those 5 girls), and let them know how special they were and that they were the best and should end on top. So, we get on top early in the first quarter and those girls never looked back. We beat the undefeated team by 14 (28-14).

I am THRILLED and even speechless with how the girls played this week. We are indeed having a pizza party on Friday for all of their hard work this season. So, my MIA this week has been due to my attention given to my basketball team. Don't mind the quality of this picture, but here is the plaque that my girls so graciously accepted after their win Tuesday evening! I'm beaming with joy for their success this season!

We have our pictures on Friday...and the school will put a team picture in the top area! Congrats to my basketball players for their success this season! I am truly going to miss those stunning 5 girls.

Let's Say Thanks

2009-12-07T04:23:00.001-08:00

I'm sure that many of you ahve receieved an e-mail with this in it, but for those who haven't...

Xerox has a program where you go to their site (click here) and choose a card, all of which have been created by children from all over the U.S. You can then pick a sentiment to be printed on the card as well as including your name, town, & state. I love doing this for our Soldiers, especially during the Christmas season so they can get a little love from home. Support our Soldiers and send as many as you want!

I'm FINISHED

2009-12-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

I am so thrilled...honestly, that doesn't even describe how I feel right now. As of 7-ish this evening, I have completed all course work for my undergraduate degree! ::jumping up & down:: ::SQUEEL!:: So…as you can see below, I feel right now like I look in that picture! No more rushing home after basketball practice to work on h/w until 10:30 just to wake up and do it again the next day. ::Sigh:: I don’t know what I will do with myself now that I don’t have h/w to do. :) Joy Joy!

Graduation

2009-12-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

As of right now, I am only two finals away from Graduation! I can't express my excitement at this time because I have been working on a paper & a final all day today, and my brain is mush. I'm off to bed as I have a final tomorrow at 2 and I need to rest so I can get up and go over some study materials. Joyful day tomorrow as I knock another final out of the way and leave only 1 measly final between myself and graduation. I know it may seem that I have talked about this non-stop that last week or two, but this is something that has been part of mine & FI's life since we met. It will be such a relief to have this off of my plate and be able to concentrate on Wedding Planning fun! Just bare with me for a couple more days until I'm finished and I'll start give you some FUN wedding stuff back here on the NC Bride To Be!

Shoes

2009-12-02T07:49:00.000-08:00

After weeks of searching...I have finally picked a dress to wear in my future BIL's wedding (I'll be handing out programs) in a couple of weeks. Now...here is where I need YOUR help! I'm not a very fashionable person (I don't think I'm unfashionable, but I do sometimes need help). So, I'm looking for some cute shoes to go with the dress below! I've looked at the place I usually go for shoes (Endless) but didn't see anything. I'm fairly tall and usually don't wear anything with a heel over 2.5 inches.

Should I go with red/gray? A flat? A heel? HELP you fashionistas!

He Knows Everything

2009-12-01T04:40:00.000-08:00

All weekend I've been worried about whether or not the graduation regalia that I ordered (late, Nov. 6 to be exact) would arrive in time for me to wear it across the stage on December 14.

I tried yesterday to track the order and all I could get was "IN PROCESS." The guidelines on the site list 5 weeks in production and an additional 1-2 shipping (if you choose express shipping, which I did choose). By their guidelines, it shouldn't have been out of processing until Dec. 11.

Imagine my surprise when I get to work this morning and I have an e-mail informing me that everything shipped 11/30/09! Oh joyous day. I've been praying over this seemingly minute problem the last couple of days, as I knew God was in control. He answered my prayer, just as always. Praise God!

Planning/DIY Withdrawals

2009-11-30T19:24:00.000-08:00

Wow...I'm very wedding planning boring right now :(

I was hanging up some laundry this evening after I finished my LAST Advanced Accounting assignment this evening and seen the wrapping paper that I will be using to line the envelopes. It seriously gave me DIY projects & overall wedding planning withdrawals! Two weeks from today, I should ::fingers crossed:: be free from all school obligations, as I should have walked across the stage as I graduate with my Bachelor's in Accounting.

Graduation Anticipation 2

2009-11-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

If you read my first graduation post you know that I had much to do before I could graduate in two weeks.

As of now, I get to move one Obstacle to the Accomplishment list and add another Obstacle to the list.

Obstacle 1: Advanced Accounting Chapter 17 Assignment (due Dec 3)

Obstacle 2: Business Policy 7 page research paper (due Dec 7)

Obstacle 3: Take Business Communication Final (Dec. 5)

Obstacle 4: Receive graduation attire (I ordered it late by accident & put it in as RUSH order :-x)

Accomplishment 1: Excempt from American Lit. final!

Accomplishment 2: Advanced Accounting research paper complete!

Accomplishment 3: Advanced Accounting Chapter 10-12 test completed!

Recipe

2009-11-26T12:55:00.000-08:00

Update: So, my dad and FI liked the pie with the exception of it being very very rich (which I'm sure was the chocolate topping). Other than that, it was a great dessert!

For our Thanksgiving dinner I decided I wanted to try a new dessert recipe. I LOVE baking things, but it just so happens that this dessert didn't need baking. You can find the recipe here.

I tasted the filling that went inside the pie and it tasted like Reece's to me...which is a good thing since FI loves Reese's Peanut Butter cups! I'll let you know what the fam thinks about this new dessert after all of our shopping is over tomorrow!

Here is what the finished product looks like:

NWR: Shop til your Drop?

2009-11-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

It's two days 'till Thankgiving...making it three days 'till Black Friday! Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite times of the year. Family, food, fun, and fall..it's priceless. After Thanksgiving come Black Friday, which my sister and I made a tradition two years ago. It's such fun taking a one hour nap between cleaning up from dinner and shopping! We love getting out and being amist all of the people and the fury. Previous years we've really had something to go for, but this year, I'm pretty much money'd out from the wedding and I think there are only a couple of gifts she is looking for (that we think she can get online). "Are you crazy? You don't need to get out in the crowds DAT (day-after-thanksgiving) to buy any toys/present. Are you still going?" you say...WHY YES! We've still decided to go this year. I'm really in the mood to have a Christmas tree for our new house (which is still torn to shreds at this time). Here is where I keep track of all the deals that are going to be offered...it's a great site, so check it out!

Are you planning to go shopping early DAT? If so, what are you headed out for?

Daisy Clark | A Dog Named Christmas

2009-11-23T09:21:00.001-08:00

UPDATE: If you're interested in seeing this new movie, it will be showing on the Hallmark channel on Sunday November 29, 2009. Check your local listings time!

I entered my sweet little schnauzer in a contest...I'm not expecting her to win but I like doing things like this every once in awhile. Feel free to vote for the cutie pie!

Daisy Clark A Dog Named Christmas

Posted using ShareThis

Count down...

2009-11-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

As I sit here this evening, working on homework (as usual), I am full of excitement about what a 'milestone' today is. So what makes today a 'milestone?' Today, we have reached the 6 month mark in our wedding countdown! I have been telling everyone I've seen today that would care anything about the wedding, "Only six months from today!" It seems like only last week we set our date, my wedding ticker said 1 year 4 months until we're married, and the FI was making fun of me for planning so far ahead!

So, in honor of this day, I'm going to finish this h/w early and reward myself with some wedding stationary designing! :)

Graduation Anticipation

2009-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

As my last semester of undergraduate school comes to an end, I find myself overwhelmed with projects, exams, and Senioritis [defined by Wikipedia as "a colloquial term used in the United States to describe the decreased motivation toward studies displayed by students who are nearing the end of their middle school, high school, college and graduate school careers (Senioritis)"].

So, in hopes of motivating myself, I'm making a sort of "to-do" graduation list!

Obstacle 1: I have an APA formatted, 10 page research paper due for my Business Policy class (status: outline completed).

Obstacle 2: A comparison paper of US GAAP standards and IFRS for my Advanced Accounting class (status: untouched).

Accomplishment 1: I did, however, accomplish high grades in my American Literature class which exempt from the final (::fingers crossed:: I will find out Monday for sure, but I've been pretty on it for that class!).

If I can only make it through December 5th to complete all of my course work and make it to my December 14th graduation, I can finally put myself into wedding planning bliss :)

Family Photos

2009-11-17T17:02:00.001-08:00

From my friends family photoshoot for her parents' Christmas present.

Hope you enjoy them!

Kodak Products

2009-11-02T05:38:00.000-08:00

Way back when I first started ordering my pictures through online services, I used Kodak. I haven't really used them much at all since I discovered Shutterfly, also way back when. I recently received ane-mail from them about their "Million thanks giveaway." I decided I would give them a try again since they did give me a $15 credit for their new site. I orderd a few 5X7 prints, which I was imprssed by the quality, and a mousepad. I had never ordered a mousepad from a photosite so I decided to try it. It arrived this morning and I'm pleased with the final product; not SUPER impressed by the quality of the pictures on the mousepad, which could have resulted from using less than ideal quality images of FI and I. Nonetheless, it's a cool new thing that has a functional use in my office now :)

Photoshare Cards & Mad Libs

2009-11-02T05:26:00.000-08:00

So, many weeks ago I received my Mad Lib cards as well as the Photoshare cards that I ordered from VistaPrint. They turned out just as I had imagined they would, PERFECT! :) I've had these for weeks and still haven't managed to take pictures of them so I found them this morning in my wedding planning bag and decided to snap a few camera phone photos of them.

E-pics

2009-10-26T05:47:00.000-07:00

I just got FB mail from the friend that will be doing the photography at our wedding! Our engagement pics are ready for pick up after five today!

We did our photo shoot a couple weekends ago at the fire department where my FI is a volunteer firefighter as well as at a local park in town. I can't wait to see these and I will surely post some teasers when I get the cd this evening! I'm uber excited! Here are some teasers:

Pearl's Place Review

2009-10-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Pearl's Place Review
A++++
Wonderful customer service and very reliable and quick shipping. I can 't rave enough about this little boutique and definitely recomend it to anyone looking for some savings (they saved me $200 for my dress). I received my dress more than a month early. I will hopefully have more good reviews after we order the BM dresses from there.

IT'S HERE!

2009-10-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

It arrived today. I couldn't believe that it arrived so quickly as it wasn't supposed to be here until the end of November. A whole month early! If I had to have a wedding tomorrow, I could now. So have you guessed what I'm talking about yet? MY DRESS! It came today! I'm thrilled and excited, and many many many more emotions about this arrival. Of course no pictures here b/c my wonderful FI can navigate to this page. Please e-mail me if you want pictures @ jandmwedding2010@gmail.com ::SQUEALING:: :)