Strange to think that this is my last Christmas without a wedding ring on my finger!
173 days...
Monday, December 26, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Dem girlz
Yesterday I got to go bridesmaid dress shopping with 3/4ths of my amazing bridesmaids (almost done!) and all day I thought about how lucky I am to have them. They are some of the most influential girls in my life and the greatest friends. Allow me to introduce (in alphabetical order, because Myspace and the Top 8 are so 2008):
Lindsay: I've been grateful for the fact that Linds is my cousin more times than I can imagine. She's been there through it all, from searching for the icicle at Christmastime to memorizing the Parent Trap to learning how to play the Viking Game to enforcing all of our family traditions with me. She is the absolute best listener, gives great advice and I swear her hugs have healing powers. Linds has saved me countless times from what could have been dreadfully boring family get-togethers and effortlessly makes them events to look forward to. Simply put, she's not just my cousin, she's one the best friends I've ever had. (Plus she helped orchestrate the Trevor-Sarah relationship... worked out pretty well for me.)
Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty blessed. I love all of these girls so much that writing this post has made me feel like I'm about to explode. I can't wait to be able to share my wedding day with them!
Brianna: Brianna & I have been great friends since fourth grade, where we bonded over that manacala (or however you spell it) game that was all the rage. She is hilarious and gives great advice and I don't know where I'd be without her. Even though we go to different colleges and we don't get to see each other often, she's just one of those people that won't let that get in the way. When I get to hang out with her it's like no time has passed. This girl is always there for me. Plus she comes up with the best code names for boys, which is a necessary requirement for a best friend in junior high.
Christina: My very first friend. Christina and I have done it all together. From keeping each other entertained for hours in a "la la tree" (I don't even know), to praying away the devil through a Bakersfield thunderstorm on bicycles, to stealing wishes from Disneyland, to serving everywhere from downtown Bakersfield to Lower Fruitland to South Africa, to surviving high school (and all the drama that entails), to now planning a wedding, Christina has been there through every single important moment in my life and she's always ready and willing for a good overanalyzing sesh. I love my twin soul.
Hallie: It's hard for me to believe that I barely even knew Hallie until last school year. We had a lot of good times together, but I think it was our 10 hour marathon of Grey's Anatomy while eating vast amounts of Cashew Poppycock that sealed our friendship. Hallie quickly became one of my absolute favorite people, with her wit, great taste in movies and music, deep conversations and love for coffee and food in general. I can't even imagine my life without this girl now. (And I won't have to, because we're going to live in the same neighborhood and build underground tunnels and have block parties once a week.)
Lindsay: I've been grateful for the fact that Linds is my cousin more times than I can imagine. She's been there through it all, from searching for the icicle at Christmastime to memorizing the Parent Trap to learning how to play the Viking Game to enforcing all of our family traditions with me. She is the absolute best listener, gives great advice and I swear her hugs have healing powers. Linds has saved me countless times from what could have been dreadfully boring family get-togethers and effortlessly makes them events to look forward to. Simply put, she's not just my cousin, she's one the best friends I've ever had. (Plus she helped orchestrate the Trevor-Sarah relationship... worked out pretty well for me.)
Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty blessed. I love all of these girls so much that writing this post has made me feel like I'm about to explode. I can't wait to be able to share my wedding day with them!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The saga of the dress(es)
It was a week (yep, a week) after I got engaged that I found my dress.
It was Fall Break, a three day weekend, and we realized it would be the only weekend in months that I would be able to make it back to Bakersfield. It was pretty important to me that the first time I tried on wedding dresses was with my Momma, who is the most wonderful person and a great friend. So, we decided to go for it, just for fun of course.
Before leaving to attack the bridal salons, my mom pulled out her dress. My grandpa had had it preserved and sealed the day after my parents' wedding and it had been in our garage all my life. It felt like a sacred moment. And then I got to try it on! I was pretty emotional. (Please ignore my face in all of these, I was a little excited and I'm pretty sure my face was twitching. Also keep in mind that the dress wasn't altered to fit me and was fairly wrinkled, but if you've ever seen pictures of my mom on her wedding day you'd know how absolutely gorgeous it is.)
I was really hoping that there might be a way to use that dress as a sort of foundation for mine somehow, but there were a couple reasons that it didn't seem that would work out: 1) my mom was smaller than I was and taking dresses out is harder than taking them in, 2) I assumed that that would be a cheaper option when we first discussed it, but it's really not, and 3) the material is a little heavy and stiff, which is great for indoors, but because my wedding ceremony and reception are both outside I was leaning towards something lighter.
With that in mind, Christina and Hallie (two of my four fantastic bridesmaids), my mom and I set out for Valencia. On the way there, Hallie called around at different bridal shops (basically to make sure they had dresses in my very, very low price range), all the while pretending to be me... it seemed to make sense at the time, but now I don't recall why.
The first place that was both open and a possibility was called Chantilly Bridal. It was pretty cute, and the lady helping us out was sweet (I can't remember her name at the moment...), but I was feeling pretty anxious. She let us thumb through the racks ourselves while asking me questions and trying to guide my search, but unfortunately I haven't mastered bridal speak and was having a hard time communicating what I thought I was looking for. So, we just started trying things on.
Awkward doesn't begin to cover how I felt. I will just let the pictures speak for themselves:
It was around this point that the lady suggested we look at bridesmaid dresses, since I wasn't trying anything super extravagant on anyway, which would give us many more options in my price range. I was all for that, so she disappeared and came back with three dresses. The first thing I saw was bright orange. Seriously. But the sales lady assured us they all could be ordered in white (and showed us a fabric swatch to prove it). I absolutely loved the orange dress it on the hanger so I tried that one on first.
You know how you're supposed to get this rush of exhilaration and break down crying when you find The Dress? I didn't buy into that (and I maintain that there are probably hundreds of dresses out there that would have had that effect on me), but that totally happened to me. Unfortunately I can't post pictures (Trev does read this), but I was smitten. Chills, tears, the whole shebang. In that moment, with Christina, Hallie and my mom snapping pictures and our helper lady swirling around me saying "I knew this was the one!", I felt like bliss incarnate. When it was time to take the dress off, I kid you not, I went back to the dressing room and twirled.
But, we decided it would be rash to impulsively buy the first dress I tried on and liked. So we left our credit card information with them and asked them to hold it over the weekend, which they were happy to do, and set off for home.
The next day, we hit up David's Bridal in Bakersfield, and this time my dad and brother Kyle came. (Lots of good stories from that, as you can imagine.) Tried on some more dresses...
...but nothing compared. So we went home, and Monday we ordered the bright orange bridesmaid dress in pure white! I honestly can't wait for it to get here. I will wear it every single day. (Just kidding... maybe.)
It was Fall Break, a three day weekend, and we realized it would be the only weekend in months that I would be able to make it back to Bakersfield. It was pretty important to me that the first time I tried on wedding dresses was with my Momma, who is the most wonderful person and a great friend. So, we decided to go for it, just for fun of course.
Before leaving to attack the bridal salons, my mom pulled out her dress. My grandpa had had it preserved and sealed the day after my parents' wedding and it had been in our garage all my life. It felt like a sacred moment. And then I got to try it on! I was pretty emotional. (Please ignore my face in all of these, I was a little excited and I'm pretty sure my face was twitching. Also keep in mind that the dress wasn't altered to fit me and was fairly wrinkled, but if you've ever seen pictures of my mom on her wedding day you'd know how absolutely gorgeous it is.)
I was really hoping that there might be a way to use that dress as a sort of foundation for mine somehow, but there were a couple reasons that it didn't seem that would work out: 1) my mom was smaller than I was and taking dresses out is harder than taking them in, 2) I assumed that that would be a cheaper option when we first discussed it, but it's really not, and 3) the material is a little heavy and stiff, which is great for indoors, but because my wedding ceremony and reception are both outside I was leaning towards something lighter.
With that in mind, Christina and Hallie (two of my four fantastic bridesmaids), my mom and I set out for Valencia. On the way there, Hallie called around at different bridal shops (basically to make sure they had dresses in my very, very low price range), all the while pretending to be me... it seemed to make sense at the time, but now I don't recall why.
The first place that was both open and a possibility was called Chantilly Bridal. It was pretty cute, and the lady helping us out was sweet (I can't remember her name at the moment...), but I was feeling pretty anxious. She let us thumb through the racks ourselves while asking me questions and trying to guide my search, but unfortunately I haven't mastered bridal speak and was having a hard time communicating what I thought I was looking for. So, we just started trying things on.
Awkward doesn't begin to cover how I felt. I will just let the pictures speak for themselves:
It was around this point that the lady suggested we look at bridesmaid dresses, since I wasn't trying anything super extravagant on anyway, which would give us many more options in my price range. I was all for that, so she disappeared and came back with three dresses. The first thing I saw was bright orange. Seriously. But the sales lady assured us they all could be ordered in white (and showed us a fabric swatch to prove it). I absolutely loved the orange dress it on the hanger so I tried that one on first.
You know how you're supposed to get this rush of exhilaration and break down crying when you find The Dress? I didn't buy into that (and I maintain that there are probably hundreds of dresses out there that would have had that effect on me), but that totally happened to me. Unfortunately I can't post pictures (Trev does read this), but I was smitten. Chills, tears, the whole shebang. In that moment, with Christina, Hallie and my mom snapping pictures and our helper lady swirling around me saying "I knew this was the one!", I felt like bliss incarnate. When it was time to take the dress off, I kid you not, I went back to the dressing room and twirled.
But, we decided it would be rash to impulsively buy the first dress I tried on and liked. So we left our credit card information with them and asked them to hold it over the weekend, which they were happy to do, and set off for home.
The next day, we hit up David's Bridal in Bakersfield, and this time my dad and brother Kyle came. (Lots of good stories from that, as you can imagine.) Tried on some more dresses...
...but nothing compared. So we went home, and Monday we ordered the bright orange bridesmaid dress in pure white! I honestly can't wait for it to get here. I will wear it every single day. (Just kidding... maybe.)
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Paper is a funny thing
Save the dates were easy because I could constantly tell myself they didn't matter so much. If I wasn't sure about the picture, if I was worried they were going to look cheap, it wasn't a big deal... Not like they're the invitations, right?
Ha. Invitations. Kickin my butt already.
I'm pretty much completely undecided on anything, which according to the all-knowing Knot timeline is okay for now, but I do seem to have a common theme in the pictures I like:
Ha. Invitations. Kickin my butt already.
I'm pretty much completely undecided on anything, which according to the all-knowing Knot timeline is okay for now, but I do seem to have a common theme in the pictures I like:
(The last one is a free templates from www.weddingchicks.com, which is why it's our own info. The rest were pretty much found via Pinterest. Let me know if you know the sources!)
The first thing I noticed was that I'm big on the white background, which is actually great budget-wise. Secondly, looks like I'm pretty traditional. (Also looks like I like yellow...) So that's what I'm working with.
Turns out invitations are exPENsive... we're talking $2 minimum per invitation for a quality invite. That's the price of two full loads of laundry. For a piece of paper. Bleh...
I'm still hoping that the fact that our save the dates were free means we can professionally print the invitations, because the thought of DIYing the printing makes me want to curl up under a mound of pillows and cry... but we'll see. We shall see.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Done!
My hands are cramping and my eyeballs hurt, but the save the dates are signed, stamped and soon to be delivered.
We lucked out in that the only 29 cent stamps available were pretty darn cute. Also, a good third of our guest list lives on campus, which means no postage required. Can't wait to get them out!
Facebook makes me feel loved
Just a tiny sample of the outpouring of love we received:
The words "grateful" & "blessed" are the first two that come to mind, but they don't even begin to cover how I feel/felt! I am just so in awe of how many amazing people we're surrounded by.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Is this real life?
Right now, I am addressing Save the Dates. That's right. This is happening.
I'm so excited about them! I found this picture thanks to the glorious Pinterest:
...and we totally stole the idea thanks to our amazing photographer friend A.J. Friederich:
Oh, and did I mention that they were FREE?! Ah, the perks of having a fiance who works in the mail room... I am so grateful to them!
And now I'm addressing them! Cah-RAZEY!
I'm so excited about them! I found this picture thanks to the glorious Pinterest:
(unfortunately, that means I can't give due credit...)
...and we totally stole the idea thanks to our amazing photographer friend A.J. Friederich:
Oh, and did I mention that they were FREE?! Ah, the perks of having a fiance who works in the mail room... I am so grateful to them!
And now I'm addressing them! Cah-RAZEY!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
October 13, 2011
Trevor is the most romantic boy I know, and I love that about him. He put a ridiculous amount of thought and care into his proposal, and I still get this goofy grin on my face thinking about it.
I had known the proposal was coming for a few months now and every day I was a little more emotional about it... although the emotions varied on a day to day basis. Oh man, I seesawed between major anxiousness to pure giddiness to bitterness and even anger that it hadn't happened yet. I guess that the week of the proposal, I was tending to lean toward the giddy side, because Trev told me later that I was TOO happy. He was afraid that I knew it was coming, something that he could not have. So, and I quote, he felt he needed to "take me down a peg".
He did this crazy well. First, he told me that his brother Kyle was coming down to stay with him that week (which should have actually tipped me off, but instead just made me assume the proposal wouldn't be while Kyle was around). Second, he started dropping insanely subtle hints that it would be the following weekend, Fall Break--so subtle that I literally thought I was being brilliant for "figuring this out". Third, and the most ingenious, he got sick. I know Trev, and I know he likes things to be perfect if he can help it, and his being sick completely ruled out any upcoming proposal in my mind. And fourth, which seems to be the most entertaining in other peoples' minds, he began to pick little fights. Stupid, stupid things that were frustrating me to no end.
The proposal was on a Thursday, and we had California History together until 4:40 that afternoon. I actually caught Trev staring at me a couple times during class; I thought he was just being adorably sweet but unbeknownst to me, he was actually rehearsing his speech. Thinking about it afterwards, this maybe should have been another tip off, but like I said, Trevor is pretty romantic and he also likes to make me blush. After class, Trev said he had some errands to run and asked if I'd join. We went from place to place, Trev buying random things and picking tiny spats. By the time we got back to campus, I was annoyed to say the least. So when Trevor drove straight past my apartment, continuing down the hill and passing parking spot after parking spot, I had half a mind to think he was doing it just to further annoy me. ...I was so wrong. And when he parked in front of a staircase leading down to the site of our first kiss and pulled out a blindfold, I realized exactly what had been going on.
And now for the pictures:
I had known the proposal was coming for a few months now and every day I was a little more emotional about it... although the emotions varied on a day to day basis. Oh man, I seesawed between major anxiousness to pure giddiness to bitterness and even anger that it hadn't happened yet. I guess that the week of the proposal, I was tending to lean toward the giddy side, because Trev told me later that I was TOO happy. He was afraid that I knew it was coming, something that he could not have. So, and I quote, he felt he needed to "take me down a peg".
He did this crazy well. First, he told me that his brother Kyle was coming down to stay with him that week (which should have actually tipped me off, but instead just made me assume the proposal wouldn't be while Kyle was around). Second, he started dropping insanely subtle hints that it would be the following weekend, Fall Break--so subtle that I literally thought I was being brilliant for "figuring this out". Third, and the most ingenious, he got sick. I know Trev, and I know he likes things to be perfect if he can help it, and his being sick completely ruled out any upcoming proposal in my mind. And fourth, which seems to be the most entertaining in other peoples' minds, he began to pick little fights. Stupid, stupid things that were frustrating me to no end.
The proposal was on a Thursday, and we had California History together until 4:40 that afternoon. I actually caught Trev staring at me a couple times during class; I thought he was just being adorably sweet but unbeknownst to me, he was actually rehearsing his speech. Thinking about it afterwards, this maybe should have been another tip off, but like I said, Trevor is pretty romantic and he also likes to make me blush. After class, Trev said he had some errands to run and asked if I'd join. We went from place to place, Trev buying random things and picking tiny spats. By the time we got back to campus, I was annoyed to say the least. So when Trevor drove straight past my apartment, continuing down the hill and passing parking spot after parking spot, I had half a mind to think he was doing it just to further annoy me. ...I was so wrong. And when he parked in front of a staircase leading down to the site of our first kiss and pulled out a blindfold, I realized exactly what had been going on.
And now for the pictures:
The best day of my life... so far. :) 195 days!
Monday, November 28, 2011
We're gettin married!
I can't believe it, but Trevor proposed to me just about a month and a half ago. Talk about flying time!
Already we've gotten so much done, and already I'm starting to forget some details. I'm creating this blog basically for my own record, as a way to remember every moment of the engagement and wedding planning.
As of right now, it's 200 days, 5 hours and 28 minutes until our wedding day. So! Excited!
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