Honeymoon!

So it is official - we have booked Hawaii! Rich and I went to AAA Travel this past Saturday and have found where we will be staying. We are going to the island of Maui! Here is where we will be staying - be jealous:)

http://www.westinmaui.com/?PS=PS_aa_Hawaii_Google_westin_maui_092808_NAD_FM

I am currently working on bridal shower guest lists. This is the not fun part of wedding planning b/c you are the one who knows the guest list. This means that everyone asks you for a list for whatever they are throwing. There will be a bridal shower in Elizabeth City on April 10th and one in Raleigh on April 24th (tentatively). Other than that, I am going to Elizabeth City March 6th to go order my wedding band!

Save the Dates!

I officially have the Save the Date magnets and am addressing the envelopes as I write this (well, I put them down to type, but you know what I mean). Rich and I also registered for gifts this weekend!! I was not as much fun as I thought it would be, but afterward it feels pretty good to have picked out most of our stuff! We haven't done any linens yet - bedding, tablecloths, placemats... - but we did almost everything else! We agreed on all the china and silverware; the only thing we had a little compromise on was the crystal! Who would have thought that I like a more simple pattern, and Rich likes more design on glasses?!? But we agreed on one and our lady at Belk was awesome! She wasn't too pushy and she said that we were very good decision makers :) We had a long day Saturday registering. We registered first at Target for 2 hours, then Belk for 3, then Pottery Barn for another 2. Of course, we both liked two very similar patterns in China and picked them both! (Sounds a lot like me, right?). One is Kate Spade with a ribbon (!!!!!) and one is Lenox with just a plain silver band. That pattern will be around forever in case any of the plates break. We registered for 8 and 8, so that they can mix and match! They look awesome mixed together. Also, for our everyday china, we picked a pattern that has I think 4 colors in it, but we mixed and matched that as well! I liked one pattern without the yellow and Rich liked the one with it. They looked so well together that we picked 2 patterns again! We also registered for sterling silver and stainless silver. Rich was actually the one who picked out most of the silverware designs. Go figure - the guy would pick out the things that you actually eat with, instead of the things the food goes on. We didn't pick out too much at pottery barn, but we did pick out some nice things :) If you want to look at everything we registered for, it is all online. You just need to go to target.com, belk.com, or potterybarn.com and click registry and then search for my name, our date, and our state! Save the Dates will be mailed this week!

Bridesmaid Dresses!

This past weekend, I went and found the bridesmaid dress that I had picked out from online! I went to the Bridal Gallery at Mac Gregor in Cary. Liz also finished the Save-the-Date pictures for the magnets! I will order them this week and they look awesome! She created a logo for Rich and I. This was more difficult that ever because I don't like our monogram - it spells aAr (like a pirate), she couldn't put R&A because that is Rich's name, we can't just use A because then it would look like everything was all about me and nothing about him. We finally had to go with A&R because that is just about the only safe option besides writing out our full names! Hopefully I will be registering for gifts the first weekend in February. I still need to pick out wedding invitations. I will keep everyone updated!

The bridesmaid's dresses were found on dessy.com and they are by After 6!

Updates

So I am now currently working on Save the Dates. Liz is helping me design them - they will be magnets - and hopefully I will order the magnets this week. I am going to send the Save the Dates along with hotel and parking information because it is on a Saturday and traffic will be horrible. They look really awesome! While down at the Expo, Mom and I took a tour of the Whalehead Club this weekend. The history is pretty cool. It was owned by the Knights and they were very wealthy people. They had his and her rooms (which was very common in the 1920s) and she even had salt water and fresh water for her bathtub because she was French-Canandian and believed in the healing powers of saltwater. I thought that was pretty awesome. The Whalehead Club is now a museum of the house because it was one of the first on the Outer Banks. They also have Tiffany sconces on almost every wall! Man these people were rich! I switched from having my tent on the South lawn to the North lawn, just because I liked the location more. The tent will be set up right between the Whalehead Club and the bridge over the canal. We can even walk along the docks which will be really neat on a warm summer night! I also need to finally decide on invitations, but this is a really long and difficult process. I have almost finished updating our addresses, but that takes forever too. I am trying to find a date to schedule a bridal party in Elizabeth City - I promise I am trying everyone who keeps asking me! I just got my schedules for school last week and am trying to organize everything to pick the best possible day. Rich and I also need to register for gifts, but I have heard that is actually fun! So much to do - hopefully I will be updating everyone on a more spread out time frame than 3 in one night!

Wedding Expo

So I went to the Outer Banks Wedding Expo over January 9-10th. It was pretty overwhelming, not just because of the amount of vendors, but because of all the people! I even told my Mom that we were going to have to be aggresive because people were rude! The vendors were all really nice, and they really liked that fact that I was from Elizabeth City. I only needed to book a ceremony musician, DJ, flowers, and look into places to get makeup and hair done. There were so many northern people! I even asked Nannette about it and she said she does weddings for people from New York and New Jersey all the time! She said she thinks it is very expensive up there, so they come down to the Outer Banks to get married because the beach is nicer. I also figured out that you can get back to Raleigh by driving through Manteo and it only takes 3 hours from Kill Devil Hills (where the High School is, where the Wedding Expo was)!!

Dress!

So right after Christmas I took my dress to the tailor to get a few things adjusted. She looked at the dress for a few minutes, and then started studying it. I thought something was wrong, but she immediately got really excited and told me my dress is completely hand stitched!!! I have to admit, I still think that is pretty awesome!

Frustrating!

So I am having a very frustrating week. The place where I wanted the ceremony to be held decided that it is too many people and they won't allow us to have it there. Also, the preacher I wanted, Dr. Head, the one who baptized me can't marry us. I wrote him this really sweet note since he is retired now, but he had already committed to a revival and even called that church to get out of it (which is so sweet)! But, of course, they have scheduled their homecoming that weekend as well and he can't possibly get out of it. At least I did get the linens done this week from Metro and the only major thing I have left is flowers. I did get the cake and photographer when I went down to the beach a couple of weekends ago. Oh yeah! I also finished my exams, which means I put our engagement pictures up on facebook! Check them out when you get a chance. Save the Date magnets will be coming soon!

Wedding Dress!

It is official! I told Mom I wanted a dress I tried on over Thanksgiving Break and she went and bought it today! And it IS a Klienfeld dress! I am so excited that I finally have a dress!

Thanksgiving Break

So, over Thanksgiving Break I got my engagement pictures back. All 2157 of them! I haven't even looked through all of the proofs yet, but I have looked at all of the ones the photographer picked. I also tried on dresses at 2 places in Lynchburg, VA! I found some I liked and put them on hold. I really really like one, so I might be updating soon! I am also meeting with my wedding planner this Saturday and possibly doing cake testing! I have finally picked the style of cake I want. Now I just need to work on my Save the Dates!

Wedding Planner!

So I officially talked to my wedding planner yesterday to tell her all about things I want and things I am willing to compromise on. Her name is Nannette Kallstead and her website is www.thepropersetting.com (I LOVE the name!). I am working on the exact ceremony location - I know it will be on the oceanfront, but I have to find a house to rent! I am trying to go dress shopping soon, but just in Lynchburg so my Mom will get an idea of what it is like (she is the one who wants to go in Lynchburg). I applied for Say Yes to the Dress (yes, you have to fill out an application!), but if they don't get back to me in time for me to go to NYC during the holidays, I probably won't do it. Mom has never been to NYC and I have never been at Christmas time, so I wanted to take her. I am definitely going to talk to J.Crew about the bridesmaids dresses over Thanksgiving (a distribution center is located in Lynchburg and I can talk to my Aunt Sharon who used to work for them). I am still waiting on my engagement pictures to be mailed to me - she took 2157 pictures!!! I saw a preview of them and I love them! She said they were being mailed out over Thanksgiving, and a set is going to Raleigh and one set to Bedford, so hopefully I will have them soon! Check facebook for when I get them in!