Will you be my bridesmaid?

I wanted to show y'all the cute cards I sent each of my bridesmaids asking them to be part of our wedding.

 

Aliyah Rinaldi, who designed my blog, made these for me. She is super easy to work with, and very reasonably priced. I've read her blog for a long time (we are talking since probably 2008), so I was really excited for her to design my cards and blog.

 

My bridesmaids are spread out across the US, so getting together for a Will You Be My Bridesmaid Dinner like I've seen some girls do was not an option. I sent them the cards and some candy.

 

They all said yes!

 

I won't name any names, but I was a bridesmaid in a wedding a few years ago, and no part of it was fun. I really do not want to treat my bridesmaids how I was treated, and I want them to have fun.

 

My friend Stacy sent me this photo of the card. She and her husband are both in our wedding.

 

Sorry it's so dark, but hopefully you can see the card anyways.

 

I put toys and games in my flower girl's gift basket. Her Mom and Aunt are both bridesmaids.

 





I have to brag and say I have the prettiest little flower girl! My Mom will be making her dress.

 

Yay for it being Hump Day! I am taking today off from the gym. I have plans with my DVR and a Pinterest crock pot recipe, so I am looking forward to tonight.

click here for link

Post Oscar Monday Blues

Hi Lovelies! What a nasty cold Monday it is here.

 

No disrespect at all, but how do people who live in Seattle deal with this dreary weather?

 

Nick was out of town unexpectedly for work this weekend, and that was a big time bummer. He has been working so much and so hard lately. He doesn't read our wedding blog, so I think I can safely say I am working on planning a surprise for him in the near future.

 

I say "working on" because I somehow lost my wallet Thursday between the grocery store and home, so I won't have any way to secure a hotel room or spend any money for several more days.

 

It's super inconvenient, but also sort of nice since I am forced to not spend my money, haha.

 

I loved last night's Oscars! The dogs and I had our own watch party at home.

 

My favorite looks were Reese Witherspoon in her blue Louis Vuitton dress, and Jennifer Aniston in bright red Valentino.

 



 

 

 

I was so happy Anne Hathaway won an award. I really love her. The Devil Wears Prada and Bride Wars are two of my favorite movies.

 

I hope everyone has a quick and painless Monday!

Midweek Randoms

Yay for Hump Day! If you are an alum of USC like me, it will forever be Hip Hop Hump Day in your mind {or maybe that's just me?}.

 

I haven't gotten much accomplished for the wedding this week {except paying a deposit to my photographer} so I will leave you with a few randoms.

 

1. I am loving Essie Turks and Caicos. It might be my new favorite. I am wearing pastels today because I am SO ready for Spring!

 

 

2. Every since I purchased this nail color, I've been looking at Turks and Caicos on google images. After two cold nasty rainy days, I am daydreaming of a vacation.

 

 {Grand Turk}

 

3. I might be a little biased because I really love where we live, but I swear I have never in my life seen such pretty sunrises, sunsets, and stars. I took this last week while walking Yadi. No filter.

 

I'm gamecockfran on Instgram if you want to be Instgram friends!

 





 Have a great day! I hope it will be 5 soon!! 

How is it already Monday?

Is it just me, or did Monday come way too quickly this morning?

 

I received the Liebester Award from Ashley over at Ash AnnPow. I am super excited to meet a blogger in Savannah since that is my favorite city and where I’m getting married!

Each person must post 11 things about themselves

11 Facts about me:

 1. I love grocery shopping. I think most people think of grocery shopping as a chore, but I enjoy it. I shop at Piggly Wiggly or Publix.   

2. Nick and I were long distance for the first nine months of our relationship.

 3.  During that time I spent A LOT of time on the road making a four hour drive to Douglas, GA. There was NOTHING to do there, but we made our own fun.

4. I am a certified judge for Miss South Carolina prelims (Miss America system).

5. I met one of my best friends, Benson, in theatre appreciation class in college. I mentioned something about pageants and he heard me. We spent the rest of that day together and I got a best friend for life!

6.  I was the Hampton Co. Watermelon Festival Queen. People still give me watermelon stuff all the time (aprons, salt and pepper shakers...). Out of all the pageants I ever did, if I had to pick a favorite, that would probably be it.

7. I had a falling out with a good friend over stupid stuff (roommate issues) over a year ago. Now that I am over being mad about petty girl stuff, I really miss her. I never imagined my wedding without her in it, and I miss her great fashion sense and input.  

8.  It seems like I can’t go into a drug store without coming out with an Essie nail polish. I ran into CVS this morning for Aleve (pulled muscle) and bought turquoise & caicos. I can’t wait to try it!

9. My Mom is one of my best friends and we talk on the phone every day.

10. I was really poor when I was at my previous job-what I learned from that is that I can budget. I am TRYING to use some of those life skills now to save $$ for my wedding.  

11.  My Grandfather was a pilot, and I travel a good bit, but I am so scared of flying. It seems like no matter how often I do it, it never gets easier for me. Exactly the opposite has happened-I've had a few bad flights and it has made the anxiety worse!

Thank you, Ashley!!

A Valentine's Gift to Self

So I am not a huge Valentine's Day fan. I decorate for Halloween, Christmas, and Easter, but have never done much in the way of being festive for Valentine's Day.

 

I'm not sure if it's the presence of the engagement ring on my finger or what, but I am a bit more celebratory this year than usual. I made cookies and brought them to a few co-workers and three former professors that wrote me recommendations for grad school.

 

Nick is out of town until late tonight, so we will celebrate tomorrow. Last year we went to McAlisters for dinner, and this year we will probably do something simple again.

 

I got a dark colored wicker basket from TJ Maxx and have some goodies in it for Nick, including a 3 x 5 Cardinals flag for our house. I found it new for a good price on eBay and I'm pretty excited about it!

 

I ordered these a few days ago and they just came, so I will call them a Valentine's Day Gift to Self.

 

These are my wedding shoes!!

 

I really wanted Badgley Mischka shoes to wear with my wedding dress. I wasn't crazy about the price tag since I likely will not wear wedding shoes very much in the future. I got these instead, and was totally preparing myself that I wasn't going to like them, and would send them back and get the Badgley Mischka shoes. Much to my surprise, I LOVE them!

 

I got tickets to a Brides Against Breast Cancer Charity Gown Sale in Atlanta in April. I'm happy that I'll already have my shoes so I can try them on with gowns. I always brought my shoes to try on pageant dresses.

 

Has anyone been to a Brides Against Breast Cancer sale?

 

I would love to know a little bit more about how it works.

 

Happy Valentine's Day! 



All about NICK!

Warning: photo heavy post!

 

 I thought I would introduce y'all to my fiance Nick, since this is our wedding blog {although I doubt he will ever write a post on here, as he has little interest in blogging}.

 

Nick is from Iowa. Before I met him a year and a half ago, I had never met anyone from Iowa before in my whole life. Now I've been to Iowa three times. It's beautiful country, and everyone there is down to Earth and super nice.

 

Geography has never been my strong suit, so I'm not sure I even knew exactly where Iowa was until I had been there.

 

Nick as a child with his bucket calf, Bucky.

 

Nick went to Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

 

He wrestled all through school and was on the wrestling team at Coe. I have never seen someone love wrestling so much! I didn't know very much about wrestling at all until I met him. It wasn't a very big sport where I grew up, but it is in Iowa.

 

Nick is a HUGE Saint Louis Cardinals fan.
 

I got this picture off google images, so I'm not sure who is in the picture, but I liked the St. Louis skyline in the background. I've never been to a pro baseball game, but hopefully we can get to a Cardinals game this spring/summer.

 

Nick loves to travel. That is one of our biggest common interests.

 

The Baths, British Virgin Gorda

 

Nick loves dogs, and they love him. Even my little Trinket who is so shy and barely warms up to anyone loves him!

 

He is not a big fan of cats, and I think my cat picks up on that and reciprocates. They tolerate each other.

 

Another fact about Nick is that before moving to SC in March of last year, he had lived in about five different states in as many years. He's lived as far away as Arizona, and was living in NC when I met him.

 

He also travels for work, so during the week I am usually solo {except for the dogs and cat}.

 

I was always taught not to brag when I was growing up, and I think because of that being ingrained, sometimes I forget that I CAN brag on someone else. I don't brag on Nick nearly as much as I should, so I will tell you that I am so grateful to be engaged to someone that is so HARDWORKING, smart, funny, and also thoughtful. I know I am very lucky!

 

I have to share this with y'all because I thought it was funny. My Mom says she "cannot believe I am marrying a Yankee and just wait until she tells her friends at her Civil War reenacting group." No, I am not making that up!
 

Hope all of you have a good Tuesday!

A few wedding details..

I think this post would more accurately be titled, the *FEW* wedding details we know.

 

For starters, we want a date (trying for 4-26-2014) in April of next year. A spring wedding was a MUST.

 

We want warm (but not scorching hot) weather. Summers in the South are notoriously brutal, so a summer date is not an option for us in my opinion. I've been a bridesmaid in a July wedding before and it was just too hot. Even though it was an indoor wedding, everyone's hair and makeup looked awful in the humidity.  

 

We already picked our colors and they are blush and champagne. I think it's going to be such a pretty color scheme!!! I'm also playing around with a slogan of "Eat, Pink, and be Married"...not sure if I will use that or not.

 

 

  I have four wonderful ladies (they deserve a post all to themselves) as bridesmaids. We are going with a mismatched look for bridesmaids dresses. I am not a huge fan of any bridesmaids dress I've ever worn, except for one and it was like the dresses below and wasn't sold as a bridesmaids dress. The last thing I would want to do is have my dearest friends fork over money for an ugly bridesmaids dress, so they are going to pick their own w/in the color scheme.
 

 

We are planning to get married in Savannah, GA. That was an easy decision. I mean, what's not to love about Savannah?

 

 

I'm hoping we will get lucky and the azaleas will be blooming for our wedding.

 

I'm from a small town in SC and my fiance is from Iowa. Neither of us especially wanted to get married in our hometowns. One of Savannah's selling points for us is that guests traveling to our wedding will have plenty to do. Savannah has lots of tourist attractions-historical tours, ghost tours, a bar scene, and the beach is nearby.

 

I still have tons to work out. I'm taking a day of annual leave next week so I can have a day to make phone calls and try to get more plans nailed down.

 

I hope yall have good Thursday!



Welcome to our wedding blog!!

Welcome to my first post on our wedding planning blog! I guess I should start at the very beginning. I met Nick in early June of 2011. We went to the Ale House and Wet Willies on our first date, and just had the most fun. It was hands down the most fun first date I've ever been on. The fun didn't stop, and I knew pretty early on that Nick was not like anyone I had ever met before.

We looked at rings a few times last summer, so it wasn't a total surprise. I just didn't know the how or when, although I was secretly hoping for a Christmas proposal. 

We went on a trip to Charleston for the weekend right before Christmas, and Nick proposed while we were on the trip. We took a carriage ride around downtown Charleston. I WISH I had taken more pictures, but I didn't know it would be such a memorable day.

The carriage tour did not disappoint. It was seriously one of the best things I've ever done vacation wise. {Plus I've wanted to go on a carriage ride since Carrie and Big rode in a carriage in the episode where Miranda has her baby.}

The only pics I took were of this sweet little donkey that was at the stables where our carriage tour began.

 

And this home with an "open arms" staircase that we saw on the tour.

 

The carriage dropped us off at waterfront park and Nick proposed at the end of the pier :).

Immediately after Nick proposed we had to clear out pretty quickly because the weather was turning bad. We ducked into a restaurant on Amen Street and had a few (much needed as I couldn't stop shaking) drinks and made the obligatory phone calls. I was super psyched that I was able to reach one of my oldest and dearest friends in Germany on her Skype phone. 

 

I picked up this ornament in the slave market. I should have taken a picture of the horse that pulled our carriage. He was named Millhouse, and he was a beautiful white Percheron. I wanted to take him home with us.

 



 

Of course I have to show you my ring!!

 



 

I took this pic of Nick outside of Nick's BBQ the night we got engaged.

 





 

We went back to Battery Park the next day with our dogs and took a few pictures. We got a few compliments on our his and hers dogs :-).

 

 

I have a lot more to blog about, and even more yet to do and figure out about the wedding, so please stay tuned! I am super happy and excited and can't wait to share this process on my blog.