Looking back on the day...

"I can't sleep. I haven't been sleeping for the past few weeks and now in my head I can't help but think, this is it, this is it, this is it...My eyes open wide and I glance over to the alarm clock. 5 am on the dot. I try my hardest to fall back asleep, but my eyes are not listening to me. I am wide awake whether I want to be or not. I turn on will and grace and watch an entire disc before I decide to get out of bed. I open my bedroom door and see the a little ray of sunshine just barely shining into my living room. There is a bench outside on the porch and I decide to go sit and watch the sun for a few minutes. Although I am trying to relax, I can feel my heart beating faster and faster each minute...This is it....


The next few hours move so slow. I remember this part of the day so clearly. I get in the shower, a nice long hot one and wash my hair. I can't help but think, this is the last shower I will take before I am married. We head to my parents house a little early and the table in the dining room is set up so beautifully. Brunch of egg casserole and fruit with mimosas and coffee sure hits the spot. This is it....

Soon we are cleaning up and waiting for the beauty crew. I thought they would never come. The waiting, as I find out later in the day too, is the worst part. I give my girls their gifts and they seem to love them. Pretty soon, all the girls arrive to do hair and makeup. It becomes organized chaos very quickly. I sit on the bar stool getting my makeup done, with my eyes closed and all I hear is little scarlet singing and dishes getting done in the kitchen and women talking and everything happening around me. Surprising I am very calm. At least I know I appear to be on the outside. Inside, my heart is still racing and my head is spinning. This is it....

All of a sudden, everyone is done and we are getting ready to leave. Its only about 1, but a little while ago we got a phone call that everything at the venue is finished. We decide to head to Ellis earlier than planned but I feel good about that. Everyone is grabbing stuff and packing cars and we are off....This is it...

The ride there is only about twenty minutes but it feels like it takes eternity. I think this is the most excited I have ever been about going anywhere and it can't come soon enough. We finally get there and I stay in the car to make sure my amazing groom is hidden out of site. I yell to my dad, 'is he gone?' to which he replies ' oh he is sitting right here!'. I know this is how he is, just being funny all the time and trying to make me laugh. But, this does not make me laugh ' I know you are trying to be funny right now but its not funny and now is not the time!' I yell back. I knew I was being dramatic, like always, but it just came out without me even thinking about it first. Checking out all the decorations, everything was perfect. It was beautiful....."


This is Part 1. More to come soon...

4 DAYS TO GO!

Wow. we are 4 days away from the biggest day of my life to date. I am surprisingly feeling kinda calm about everything.
 Lizz and Saryn arrived last night, which makes me feel like the wedding is really here! Although, I am feeling calm, I still haven't been sleeping too well which makes for long days....

I feel like I have planned this wedding inside and out and when it comes down to it, everything is going to happen the way its supposed to, and most of the time, you can't plan special moments like that.

At the end of the day, I hope it all comes together. I can't really visualize it yet, which is probably a good thing. The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner are tonight and maybe I will feel a little more stressed after that, but right now I am ok.

I must say though, the institution of marriage is very intimidating. Everywhere I turn I see marriages falling apart. Its scary knowing that I am volunteering to jump into that. Derrick and I have beat the odds many times through out our relationship, so this will be another that we will beat. I love him so much and I truly cannot wait to spend my life with him.

Alrighty, off to go get pedicures, then go to the courthouse for the marriage license, the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner tonight!

3 1/2 weeks to go!

We are so close now. I can't even handle it! I have so many emotions going through my mind constantly: anxious, nervous, excited, stressed, overwhelmed, happiness. I can't wait for all this planning and preparation to come together to create the wedding that we have dreamt of. I am so ready to put on that dress and walk down the isle to Derrick, where we will start our lives as husband and wife. He is my everything and the perfect man for me.

I don't feel like there is to much left to do. A few decorations are waiting to be made, centerpieces need to be finished up and a few more items need to be bought. I am ready, let's do this!

Here is a sneak preview of some fun that is going to be happening at the wedding:

New and exicting things happening!

Random things are getting done these days. We made decisions on the cake and food, which I am very happy about! The newest project: centerpieces! This is the most fun for me :). Our style is very antique, vintage, distressed and it is all coming together so well! Here are the pictures of what we are doing!

 So mason jars, with ribbon wrapped around it, and Derrick's mom is growing the flowers for us!

 Then, on each table, we are have 1-3 black and white pictures in different groupings. For example- one table will have pictures of zoey, one will have pictures of when we first started dating, one will have childhood pictures etc.

I found these potpourri things and I just loved them! So, we are sprinkling these on each table as well!

I also wanted to post a better picture of the ceremony decorations:

They will hang like this off of the gazebo!

Thats what I have going on as of now...its slowly but surely coming together! It is 5 months away next week and that is scary but I cannot wait to marry my best friend :)

The latest and greatest...

Ok, here we are, 5 1/2 months out. I am kinda in a slow spot, because all the big stuff is done, and we have to wait to get other things done when it gets a little closer. I did however, find this gorgeous birdcage veil that I am thinking about ordering.

I love the vintage feel of it!


Also, another big thing we are working on is making decisions about the cake. cupcakes or tiered cake, that is the question? both have pros and cons....

I love this white on white cake and the natural elements...but I like that with cupcakes we don't have to worry about cutting it all up....
Flavors are the other thing... we want to do flavors that everyone will like, but Derrick and I like so many! Hmm..decisions decisions...

Alright, well I guess that is all for now....Any ideas/ advice??

Recent Projects

I love being crafty! In fact, throwing myself into all these projects have really helped me relax and it has given me some much needed alone time. As I get into all this, I am getting more and more excited because I am seeing the wedding come alive in front of me. Here is just a glimpse of my recent stuff and my  thoughts on  how everything is going to come together:


So, I saw tissue paper flower pomanders online and created a bunch of them. They will be hanging at different lengths from the top front of the gazebo where the ceremony will take place. Then, on either side, they will be 4 long ribbons hanging from the corners.

 Below is the bouquets for the flower girl (left) and the bridesmaids. I really wanted the flower girl to feel very whimsical so hers is made from tissue paper. They both have ribbon loops on the top to hold them with.

 These are the boutonnieres. The far left is for Derrick, then the groomsmen and then the dads. Derrick will be wearing a black tux with ivory top; groomsmen black tuxes with purple vests and dads black tuxes with blue vests.

 I was SO inspired by this lovebirds display  that I found online so I created my own! we will be having pictures of our parents and grandparents on, or close to, their wedding days, hanging on the clothes line.

I still have a lot I am working on, but hopefully you can all see how awesome this wedding is going to be! I can't wait!!

3 months in, 7 1/2 to go!

Ok, the holidays are over and our wedding is 7 1/2 months away. That may seem like a long time, but for those of us who are perfectionist hosts and a planner, 7 1/2 months seems like not enough time! Yikes!

I did, however, go to my first Bridal show today. NOT IMPRESSED! blah! Most of the things we looked at, I was like, "yeah, I have that planned already..." I was really hoping to go there and get tons of inspiration and ideas and instead it was a waste. But, I did have fun with my friend Alyssa!


I know this is a total scatter-brained post - that is how my mind is working these days with all this stuff!- but I wanted to share these super cute invitations I found...waaayy too expensive for us, but maybe one of you has an idea of how to use this as inspiration and create something similar for our invites! I am all about saving money!


Thanks for reading! And to follow my wedding planning process, just become a follower and help me along the way!