11 Months!

Taking a moment out of a busy and wonderful day to share my excitement as time winds down to our wedding!

Our day today included taking our engagement pictures in the lovely Sedona (more info to come soon!) and a date at the restaurant where we had our first date, Pei Wei. It is really nice to be sitting on the couch with the love of my life and relaxing on a weekend night for once. I cannot believe that the time has gone by so fast since that first dinner and hike, and since our engagement! September 29 will be here in NO time!

Cheers!

Thursday's Digression

I should have mentioned this yesterday, as it was the official 4-month mark of our engagement, but this week Kyle bought my roses for no particular reason other than to make me happy. I have been having a rough few weeks trying to integrate work with the stress of wedding planning, having to make some tough decisions on our vendors, and finding time for relaxation (hasn't happened yet) in between our busy social schedule. He said to "start the day right" and it sure did with my favorite flowers and his simple sign of affection. Hopefully he remembers how happy they made me, and will think of doing little things like this more often.

And for the digression part of this post, red roses mean love (in case you didn't know) and white mean a variety of things, from purity to humility, from secrecy to youthfulness. For our wedding, (just can't distract myself today), I would love to have red roses in my bouquet, along with red-tipped yellow ones ("falling in love"), peach ones ("closing the deal"), and orange accents ("enthusiasm and desire")!

Wednesday's Wish

I was in a shopping mood over this past weekend, but mostly I shopped other peoples' boards on Pinterest. However, my number one shopping site has been Etsy. I found these really unique invitations there. Unfortunately, I will mostly like not be paying for them as my budget for invitations isn't quite $2.50 a person. Maybe for a smaller party in the future?!

Wood Chick Studio- Listed on Etsy.com

The Lovely Paige Eden

I am so excited that we've booked our photographer. She seems to be equally as excited to work with us. Photography, as I mentioned earlier, is incredibly important to me. I wanted to feel absolutely sure that I would love my pictures, and even though we had to turn down another excellent photographer, we are incredibly optimistic that we're going to be in love with our wedding photos. I can visualize the wall of our home, covered with portraits and candids of the most important day of our relationship. Although I posted this before, visit Paige Eden's website for a preview. I also have to admit that one of my primary reasons for even checking her out was a recommendation from what I consider to be the most reliable source out there, a Delta Gamma.

When we first met with Paige, we felt like she really cared about getting to know us and our story. She seems to cater precisely to our style (really candid and creative), and she was a champion at answering our questions and dealing with Kyle's requests for frisbee pics...

The absolute BEST thing about booking her was her response to our invitation. We had asked, as the subject line of the e-mail, "Will you be ours?" I figured it would be witty and fitting for wedding photography. She was in agreement when she posted this on her Facebook page.

This Weekend's Inspiration

My friend Lenny posted this on Pinterest, and I loved it!


I hope that I can remember this as I continue in my planning process over the next few months!


Have a great weekend, everyone! 

Thursday's Digression

Today is the National Day on Writing- as sponsored by the National Council for Teachers of English. In honor of the day, I shared the reasons I write with my students (including showing them my blog!) and here is what best sums up my motivation:

I write because it is a release of emotion. Catharsis is a very real phenomenon. When I am overly stressed, feeling sad or joyful, or even just needing support, I can reach out to everyone through my words. By writing my emotions and thoughts on paper (figuratively), I can take a step back and observe them to learn from them, or I can isolate them so that they are not controlling me.

I write to build intimacy. When I share my ideas, and others can give feedback, I can build upon my already established relationships, and hopefully inspire new ones. I write so I can connect, with empathy, with excitement, and with love.

I am blessed to be able to write about these experiences, and blessed that people (you!) are out there reading. Thank you for your continuous support. I've hit over 2500 views, and that alone is enough to motivate me

to

keep

writing.

Wednesday Wishes!

As I said, I am starting a new pattern so I can be inspired and motivated to keep sharing my story with everyone.

Wednesday needs wishes. It needs them because it is the mid point of the week. It is the day you decide if you are excited for Friday or dreading Thursday. It needs a pick me up.

So today's wish is for these Aspen (Birch?) wood candles for tables.

I found them on bhldn.com- a sister site to Anthropologie- and fell in love. They have little ones for tapers as well. I think they will match perfectly with fall colors and the surrounding atmosphere.

Christmas anyone? :)

Dress Decisions

I am starting my new "pattern" of blogging to keep myself from slacking and to be inspired to write on a more regular basis. Every Monday I am hoping to share a personal story of my wedding planning experience. I hope that all friends and family who are active readers will enjoy watching and reading from afar, and that they all feel like a part of the process despite their distance (or busy schedule)!

Today I just went dress shopping at my 4th shop. While in Colorado (don't worry, lots of stories to come), I was fortunate enough to have my sisters and my mom, along with a bridesmaid, to help me while I dress shopped. The maids also got a chance to pick out some frocks. They were more successful than I was, I believe. I hear that it is much harder to pick out a dress 5-6 girls will love than to pick the bride's dress. This is turning out to NOT be my case...

In the interest of being totally honest with my lovely audience (over 2500 hits so far! Thanks guys!), I must admit that playing dress up was an anticlimactic experience for me. I may have worked it up in my own mind a bit too much, hearing from so many other brides (both friends and magazines) that it was "so special" and "you just know when it is 'the dress'", I guess I was hoping for that miraculous "I bought the first one I tried on" moment.

About 30 dresses later, no such moment.

My mom is probably losing it already!

I found dresses I liked, even some I REALLY liked, but didn't have an "I NEED THIS DRESS NOW" experience. Perhaps it is my procrastinating personality that tells me that I am in no hurry that keeps me from feeling the pressure to buy. Maybe it is because I don't want to regret my decision and find a better dress months down the road. As I read horror stories of missing dresses and bankrupt salons, I am finally starting to get a sense of urgency to settle on a dress.

I also wonder if any other brides worried that their husbands would react less than favorably when seeing them in their dresses for the first time. Not that I don't totally trust that Kyle will just love whatever dress I am wearing, but I just know that he has made some comments about my wardrobe choices in the past (and since he has no fashion sense he didn't know what he was talking about...), but I don't want him to reject the fashion just because of his lack of knowledge of the fashion world, thus making my "beautiful" day feel less than.

I wish I could upload pictures to share, but you know, as the superstition goes, no one must see me in the dress (namely Kyle) before the "big reveal" on my wedding day (which is now officially under 50 weeks away!)