Rings! Rings! Rings!!!

Today is Jon's birthday!! Which also means... that we got engaged exactly one year ago today!! :-)

On this day last year, we got engaged and  I received my beautiful engagement ring that Jon purchased from Jared. And just in case you haven't seen it yet, here is a picture of my engagement ring:

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The Top of Our Cake.

Cake topper:  A cake topper is another item frequently seen in bridal magazines.  Cake toppers are placed directly on top of a cake to give the cake a final, elegant touch.  What is truly fantastic about a cake topper is that an entire cake can be plainly frosted and with an added cake topper the cake decorating can be consider elegantly complete.  Cake toppers come in a variety of forms and shapes—the bride a groom being a popular selection, along with glass swans and crystal hearts just to name a few of may cake decorating toppers available.

Cake toppers have changed over the years, they used to depict a traditional bride and groom, like the ones below:

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It wasn't what I'd imagined, but it was a success...continued.

Here is the beginning of our bridesmaid dress shopping experience.

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A few minutes after we got to the store, BM J arrived and we got her a catalog book to look at too.

It wasn't what I'd imagined, but it was a success.

Yesterday was definitely a success, even though it wasn't *perfect*.

I'll just go down the list of event/thing-that-happened:
BM J's friend's water broke at 2:00 AM. So she'd been up all night then at the hospital all morning, until she had to leave to go to the funeral at Noon.

BM E came with her mom to my parent's house to meet us (which I did not know was going to happen, even though I'd invited her I still hadn't heard a definite yes or no) so while I was upstairs getting ready she and her mom were greeted by this:

Personal Photo / MOH JC with 'Bear'

Tomorrow is *the* day!!

...for bridesmaid-dress-shopping!!

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I was super excited for tomorrow... until yesterday when I got a text from MOH JB. One of her close friends had just died and she wasn't sure when the funeral and memorial service was going to be held. I felt bad for her and her friend's family, I also insisted that it was okay if she was unable to make it to try on dresses with us and that I understood.

Its the communication thing...again

So, if you read my previous post about the communication problems I was having with my BMs you would understand when I tell you that I am kind of frustrated/nervous/slightly upset that one of the big deals of wedding planning might not go the way I had originally pictured in my head.

This is how I'd imagined the perfect shopping experience would go:

1. Fun & Shopping

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I Can't Not Work At Work...

I love the field I work  in. I enjoy my job. I am okay with my company. But I hate that I can't "screw around" occasionally... at least not without others noticing.

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It All Started With A Pair Of Earrings...

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These are the earrings I bought the day I bought my dress, I believe they are "Haute Bride?" or "ti adoro?" not too sure on that part. But I really wanted a necklace that would match, despite my mother telling me the dress didn't need a necklace, I wanted one and that was that!

Let's get this party started...maybe?

Today is the day ....to meet with our potential DJ. I was so excited, not because of the DJ, but because of the fact that we would be able to cross off another major part of our checklist! :-)

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However, I am not so excited anymore... our appointment is at 4:30 and Jon has court at 11:30 this morning (for work). So now I have two choices: Reschedule the appointment OR Ask my mom to come with me... I don't mind my mom coming, but I really wanted Jon to be there. I should really be talking to the DJ, or my mom, or Jon about what to do...

Communication is key...or so I thought..

I seem to be having some "issues" with communicating with my girls, I am not expecting everyone to be as super-excited as I am about the wedding, but a little feedback would help! 

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My first choice for communicating with my girls has been through e-mail. (Simply because that is what my cousin used when I was MOH for her wedding and it worked really well.) I guess my girls just don't know their way around an 'inbox'. Ugh, I am not trying to nag, or complain... okay maybe I am. But it isn't like they've been receiving e-mail overload.

Where is my last maid??

...Bridesmaid that is! 

I sent out my Will You Be My Bridesmaid? cards on Tuesday and BM E text me on Wednesday: 

Hanner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like I was just proposed to! Yes! I will be your bridesmaid! U dont know how happy I am and so touched that you asked :)

Haha! I love her, and seeing that made all the endless hours of work that it took to make the cards completely worth it! 

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Yes, I was one happy bride-to-be!

How I asked... Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

After looking around for weeks trying to find different ideas of ways to ask my girls of Honor formally and my two Bridesmaids for the first time, I finally found something I loved:

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Combined with:

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Will you be my Bridesmaid?

After being engaged for 9 months and only having 7 months left until the wedding I finally decided I should ask my bridal party to be in my bridal party.

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Changing Wedding Colors....halfway through the engagement..

We got engaged December 2010 & our wedding is April 2012.

Not too long after we got engaged I have come up with what I thought was the "Perfect" color scheme: Black & White 'Traditions' Damask with hints of Pink (all pink flowers).

Collages created on WeddingWire

DIY...Flower Initials

This was my inspiration for this project:

So sorry, I do not remember where I found this pic
It has been saved on my computer for months!

And here are mine:

I got the instructions from Mrs. Blush's Door Decor. Mine, however, are quite a bit smaller that the ones she used.

"Bride" Robe

Over the past few months you could say I have become somewhat "obsessed" with all little things wedding. Especially looking at photos of other couples' weddings. Some of my favorite pictures of the day are taken before the bride even puts her dress on. 

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I love the pictures of hair being in curlers, having make-up applied, and the pictures with all the girls matching...and of course wine!

My DIY 'E's..

So far I have decorated 3 out of the 12 or so 'E's that I have bought for my DIY decorating projects for our reception.

The first one is about 12" tall and I first spray painted it black, then used my Cricut to cut out the swirl design and layed the 'stencil' on the 'E' and sprayed over it with the white spray paint.

only 10 months & 1 day left...WHAT!??

I honestly cannot believe we only have 10 months left! Where have the other 6 months gone??
Don't get me wrong, I am super-excited about our wedding and our marriage, but let's face it...I'd like more time!

So far we have crossed off a few of the many items on our "To-Do" list..

Book ceremony venue -February 21st
Choose a color scheme -January 3rd
Start guest list -February 15th
Book reception venue -February 21st
Book wedding photographer -June 9th
Search for/purchase wedding gown -March 16th
Search for a DJ
Start wedding workout routine
Create wedding website
Search for a florist
Finish Flip-Flop Basket - (I have finished the flip-flops & tags, I just have to make the sign & find a basket)
Finish Cardbox
Collect photos for slideshow
Search for hair & make-up vendor
Finalize guest list
Set up registry
Choose member of your wedding party (flower girl, ring bearer, maid of honor, matron of honor, bridesmaids, best man, groomsmen, ushers)
Design Save-the-Dates
Find old wedding photos
Design wedding cakes

.........And OMG this list is getting wayy wayyyy too long, so I think I might try to tackle one (or more) of these things today!

:)

It's been a while...

I haven't written in just shy of a month, school has really been keeping me busy. There haven't been any new updates on the wedding. However, I will be graduating with a Legal Certificate May 13th and at the end of the summer I will have a Paralegal AAS degree after my internship! :)

My cap, gown, & tassel!

countdown

MSPCA Cares for Two Legged Chihuahua Puppies

In Progress - Cake Table Letters

In Progress - Cake Table Letters

No Pictures..

I have been wanting to post pictures of the newest things I have bought for the wedding, but my computer will not "read" my camera's memory card for some reason. =(

So here is my newest 'inspiration board'

No Pictures..

I have been wanting to post pictures of the newest things I have bought for the wedding, but my computer will not "read" my camera's memory card for some reason. =(

So here is my newest 'inspiration board'

Bridesmaid Dresses:

Photos by: The Dessy Group, Life Writing Photography, Kristen Weaver Photography

inspiration is everywhere...

here are some of my 'inspiration boards' i have made on weddingwire...

Bride's Cake:

Photos by:

Change Of Plans...

Okay, so our first major wedding change of plans has occurred...

We Are Changing The Date Of Our Wedding!!!

Bleh!! But it must be done if we want to have our reception at the lovely country club in The Woodlands.

So Jon & I are now getting married on April 28, 2012.

No, I do not like it, but I am still marrying my best friend so I guess I can live with it. :)

more damask!

I have maybe become a bit obsessed with the whole damask thing, but it is fun & gives me something to look for (and spend way too much money on) whenever I walk into a store.

The Monday after we got engaged I went to the Dollar Tree on my lunch break and actually found things I could possibly use! I was so excited.



I found these at Dollar Tree. They were in packages of 25 for $1.
So I bought 5 packages. How could I pass them up?



me & my obsession (...with damask)

It seems like ever since we (or I) decided to use damask in our wedding I have been seeing it everywhere! And of course I cannot pass up the opportunity on what might be 'perfect' for our wedding, so I usually end up buying whatever it is that matches our theme.

Just look below for a few examples of just what I am talking about...



I found these at Wal-Mart for $1.66 each



Wedding Dress Shopping… Round Two!

Okay, so we had an appointment at 10:00 this morning at Alfred Angelo...we were there until 1:30pm. I think I tried on 10 different dresses, then tried 3 of them on a second time. This decision definitely will not be an easy one.

Last Saturday I went to Alfred Angelo and David's Bridal (total nightmare!). I brought my mom, sister (Julee), and Jon (yes, I brought my fiancé with me to look at dresses). I thought I'd narrowed it down to a ball gown silhouette, until today.

I now like 3 A-line gowns (two are slimmer than the other), but I still keep going back to the ball gown look. This is so difficult!

Things I know for a fact that I want:
Long train (nothing shorter than a chapel length), ruching or serious decor on the bodice, sweetheart neckline, an off-white color (ivory, diamond white, or almond) and I'd love to have some form of decor on the train itself.I don't think I'm asking for too much.
Ugh, this wedding thing is not going to be easy.

I only have 455 days left.

this is something new...

I haven't had a blog since ZANGA was "the thing" & that had to be almost ten years ago. I wanted to start one a while ago, but just never got around to it. But now that jon & I are engaged and busy planning a wedding I figured this has to be something worth talking about.