Productive Weekend!

B was out of town this weekend, and while I was bummed that we weren't able to hang out (especially since I was out of town most of this past week), I was pretty excited to have a low-key, productive weekend.  It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you don't go out and drink alot either night!

Here are just some of the things I checked off my to-do list:

1. Mailed our Save the Dates
That's right..they are OUT!   I guess this means we're officially getting married!

Here's what the final product looked like, LOVE how they turned out!

2.  Found a SUPER AWESOME necklace to wear with my wedding dress
It's big, sparkly and will look great!  I keep taking it out of the box to look at it. I have an appointment to try it on with MY dress (the sample comes in early - in two weeks!), keeping my fingers crossed it will work!

3.  Looked for Mother of the Bride dresses
Mom tried on and was kind of considering a short beaded number.  Not so much.  We'll keep looking...

4.  Switched out my closet
One of the joys of apartment living is having to keep off season clothes under a bed, stuffed in a coat closet...anywhere but the main closet.   I know we're not alone in this, but still, switching out closets is one of my least favorite tasks ever.  However, it is also one of those tasks where the end result is always worth the effort.  I feel like I have a whole new wardrobe now that I can actually see all of my winter clothes again.  Am happily sporting one of my (much beloved) black turtlenecks as we speak.  Oh how I've missed you black sweaters!

I also have a new appreciation for that high-school retail job, where I had to fold sweaters with a board to make them perfect:

5.  Decided on Bridesmaids Dresses
On my recent business trip to Charleston, I took advantage of a little down time (okay, I skipped part of the conference) to try on dresses at LulaKate.  Yall,  I didn't think I wanted to go with a "bridesmaids" dress but these were SO cute I couldn't resist.  I had some discussion about diff. styles with the two maids of honor and it was a done deal.  I'll post pictures in a future post.

6.  Got out my winter wreath and FINALLY switched our doormat.
No more watermelon doormat - instead I found a really cute, affordable leaf mat at Lowe's.  Was there to buy something for the shower and stumbled upon this.  So glad - finally feels like we've embraced fall & winter!  About time :) 

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I got a TON of other stuff done too; it was a VERY productive weekend!  Hope yall also had a great weekend - anyone get a taste of the winter weather?   

Our Wedding Photographers Rock!

Our wedding photographers are featured on Style Me Pretty today...The shoot captures a great, foggy wedding in the NC mountains.  Lots of great shots and gorgeousness, like this:

Check it out

So excited for them to shoot our wedding!!!!

It's Go Time..Save the Date Edition

I think I've mentioned this before, but we're SUPER stoked about our Save the Dates because they involve these:

I can't wait to share the finished product...if we ever get them out!

We're getting closer though.... Today I ordered some awesome baker's twine to "package" the save the dates all together.  I'm SO excited my awesome friend (and bridesmaid) clued me into baker's twine.  I needed something to hold all the components of the save the dates together and literally had like 8 other options at home but I wasn't really happy with any of them.  This is perfect and just what we needed!  We ordered ours here.

 

We also just got in the stamp I ordered from Emilie Friday, which we'll use for our return address on all the envelopes.  I LOVE their stamps and had a really hard time choosing, but here is the style we settled on:

I'm going to begin the assembly process this week (kill me now) - thank god B has offered to help!  Hopefully within the next two weeks we'll have these bad boys out the door!  SO excited!

Tim's Photoshoot

A while back, well before Charlie was in the picture, I decided to ask our (completely kick ass) wedding photographers to photograph Tim and get some prints framed for B's 30th birthday present.  When I first met with Drea & Casey they had an entire wall of doggie prints in their studio and I was totally inspired.  Since B is even more obsessed with Tim than I am, I knew he would love the prints.

I spent a morning with Drea in the studio.  Tim was not the best subject (teaching him "Sit" and "Stay" before the session would have been really helpful) - but we got some amazing shots!

Here are some of my favorites:

Yesterday, Casey came over and hung the framed prints in our bedroom.

Here is the finished product - SO happy with how these came out  (sorry for the crappy shot - haven't had time to download any pics from the last two weeks):

Guess we'll be going back to the studio with Charlie...and both pups will definitely be making an appearance in our engagement pics.  Thank god Drea & Casey love dogs!

Enjoy!

My Something Blue!

My Matron of Honor sent me these ADORABLE rhinestone shoe appliques (from Mindy Weiss).  They are the perfect "something blue"!

How freaking cute?  I found a pic of them from a real wedding (love the color of those shoes...great combo!). 

Thank you, L, for sending these my way.  I LOVE them and can't wait to wear them :)

The Most Fun Seating Assignments Ever

We're not doing a sit down reception, so we wont have to worry about table numbers or a seating chart (phew!).  But when I came across these pics I just had to post them.  Seriously, this seat assignments idea was SO cute, it almost makes me wish we were doing a sit down (okay, not really...but this is still fun).   Its a little hard to see, but those pink strips have the person's name & their table assignment.  And of course I love that these double as props for later on.  How fun?

  All images via Kristin Vining.  

Be sure to check out the full shoot - I'm not a big fan of bling, feathers, etc but there are some great details - especially the flower girl's hair piece.   Super super cute :)

Things I love

Like many girls, the moment I got engaged I became a stalker....I bookmarked tons of wedding blogs and websites and stalked them constantly.  I check Style Me Pretty at least twice a day and love to check out random photographer's websites to get inspiration and see fun things that other brides have thought of.  Some of my faves:

(via Weddings Unveiled Magazine - I think)

(via Cheeca - Weddings)

(via Wedding Chicks)

(via The Knot)

(via The Knot)

I've got TONS of these images saved...and I'll keep sharing as I find more :)

Enjoy - only 343 days left (sigh).

We're ENGAGED!

Ahhhhhh!   I still can't believe we're actually engaged!

B and I have been together "officially" for about six years and have lived together for the last two.   I knew at some point we'd eventually get engaged but B TOTALLY caught be off guard.   We had just come home from one of B's little league games (he was coaching, not playing!).  I was tackling some of our week old laundry when B called me into the bedroom.  The first thing I saw was our dog with a ribbon around his neck.  Although it should have, the ribbon didn't make me suspicious at all!  Instead I thought B was just playing around with the dog and asked, "what are you doing to the poor dog?"  Next thing I know, B is down on one knee pulling a gorgeous ring off the dog's neck and asking me to marry him.  It was amazing and I started sobbing immediately - so much so that B had to ask if I was okay, poor guy :)


B had planned an amazing weekend in Charleston, so we threw together a few things and hopped in the car.  I knew my mom was right down the street getting her "hair did" and I figured she'd kill me if we skipped town without showing her the ring, so we popped into the salon to surprise her, foils and all.  I think she probably wanted to kill me for telling her I got engaged in the middle of the salon, but she got over it and started crying and we all celebrated all over.

After we said goodbye to Mama T, we headed down to Charleston (with Tim in tow of course!).  B had booked a room at the Vendue, a super luxe pet-friendly hotel in historic downtown Charleston.  When we arrived not only was there champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, but a custom dog bowl and special treats for Tim. 

After we celebrated on the hotel's rooftop bar, we headed to Magnolia's - by far one of the best restaurants in the city.  We had the most amazing meal, but our appetizers were SO good and so huge that we could hardly finish our entrees.  I guess that's a great problem to have.

The next day we headed out to explore the city, with to-go cup mimosas in hand.  We had SO much fun walking around!   We capped off the day watching the Blue Angels then headed home for more celebrating with my parents.

It was the perfect weekend and certainly memorable.  I think the best part was knowing I'm going to get to marry such a caring, thoughtful person.  I can't wait to be a Pope!