EEK!

We're *10* days away until the wedding and we're both in stress mode... We've had a few things pop up unexpectededly such as car reparis (BOTH CARS!, among other things.
Needless to say we're getting a wee little stresed out and just so ready for the wedding day to be here!

Menu!

Saturday, we met with our caterer to discuss our menu for both the reception and our rehearsal dinner. Let me just say that I think our choices will be delicious! I've eaten at Patch Manor many, many times and have even had their 'wedding food' before when my dad and Linda were married there a few years ago. I am never disappointed.
Reception:
Chicken salad on croissants
Apricot-glazed pork tnederloin on homemade rolls
Jumbo Shrimp wiht cocktail sauce
Toasted Bruschetta
Spinach Dip with vegetables
Assorted Fruit
Cheeseball with crackers
Strawberry and Choclolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing
Champaigne punch, regular punch, water.

Rehearsal Dinner:
Italian-herbed roated chicken with a white sauce on a bed of rice
Roated potatoes
Seasoned green beans
Homemade rolls
Double Chocolate pound cake with homemade vanilla ice cream and whipped cream
Homamde French coconut pie
Fruit tea, regular tea, water.

YUM... starving already and it's only 8:48 a.m.! Anywho... Daniel and I were REALLY looking forward to choosing food for the wedding and we deifnitely had a ball with it.. especially taste-testing all the amazing desserts!
In other news... our engagement announcement was in the paper!!! It looked great and I am so thrilled... we scoured the town buying handfulls of papers so we could have multiples and give some to our families. Hey... like I said in the beginning of our engagement... I'm enjoying EVERY little DETAIL as much as I can:)
Lastly, we are less than FOUR weeks away!!!! HOLY MOLY I just got all tingly inside!!!!! Wow... time flies...
Next thing is my bachelorette celebration on Sept. 17th! Can't wait to go out dancing with my closest friends!
Oh.... ONE more thing... SARAH'S BACK from Basic!!!! FINALLY... we met up the pther night as soon as she got back into town and let me tell you... I am one ecstatic girl that she's back! I missed her so much!
'Til next time....

Shower, Engagement Dinner, Photo Shoots and Invites

Well... we're in the homestretch folks! Just SIX weeks until our wedding and I am so very happy to report how much FUN I had at my lovely bridal shower that Amy and Erica threw for me Sunday afternoon. The food was excellent... and I have to give a shoutout to Lisa Kane for making that awesome veggie pizza! The cake was gorgeous and so were the invites and decorations. I felt very truly surrounded by love and friendship that afternoon and I could not be more thankful for that. I definitely felt the love in the room for both Daniel and I and I hope everyone who attended knows how much I appreciate them and love them. Every single one of them! In attendance were Kelly Kneiser, Karen Styer (two very good friends from Murfreesboro), Allison McGehee, Lisa Kane, Christy Hillis, Amy Kane Cunningham (best friend and maid of honor), Erica SImmons (my step sister and bridesmaid), Linda Burnett (my step mom), my mom Patty Guiberson, Kari Neal (I just love her... she's too sweet) and lil Gavin, Courtney Griggs, Laura Adams (Daniel's adorable little sister), Ruth Adams (Daniel's sweet mama), Kayla Warren (HILARIOUS friend), and Amanda Coker (sweet, gorgeous pal). Sarah Nelms,another VERY close friend and bridesmaid, even called from basic training in Missouri to tell me she was thinking about me. Made my heart warm.
I just felt very loved that day.
A couple weeks ago we were fortuante enough to have an engagement dinner hosted by my dad and Linda in Murfreesboro. Several friends and family showed up to help us celebrate with laughter and good food. We are truly blessed with great people in our lives.
I finally sent out the first round of invitations (I'm sure we'll add more people to the list as time goes on!).
Both Daniel and I were incredibly peased with how the invitations turned out! I highly reccomend WeddingPaperDivas.com!!!! GORGEOUS invitations, colors and incredible service!
We also had our engagement photo shoot with Stacy Preston in Sewanee a couple weeks ago. I cannot stop gushing about how BEAUTIFUL the few pics are that I've seen so far. I am beyond thrilled with how gorgeous they turned out.... and with how Stacy was so easy-going to work with. Daniel and I were quite nervous about being photographed like that, as we both have never had the opportunity to do so. But Stacy put us completely at ease!!! We LOVE her!
Now... I still have to get my dress slightly altered, buy accessries such as shoes and jewelry, meet with the caterer, meet with the florist, and do many many more small things... BUT... we ARE in the home stretch ladies and gentlemen!!!!

Road bumps and lump sums....

our invties!!!

Well, I'd be lying if I said things we're getting easier the closer it gets to the wedding. We've just been having incredibly bad luck lately. We just moved in the blink of an eye---thanks to our friends Amy, Nick, Nathan and Manda! The weekend we moved, Daniel had to leave for two weeks to go on a business trip, which he still is on. As soon as he left, I was forced to be alone in the new apartment, unpacking, organzing, etc. when... our dryer went out. So... I whicked Amy with with me to Lowe's where I purchased my first dryer. This weekend, our apartment building was struck by lightning, frying our huge, nice LCD LG television, Daniel's Playstation 3 and our cable box. Oh, that same bolt of lightning also caused a pretty nasty fire in the building directly behind us. Thank goodness our place dodged the fire, but we were out well over $1,000 in personal appliances. Long story short, our tv COULD'VE been fixed... for nearly the same amount of money it would cost to purchase a new one.. so we bit the bullet and bought a new tv.... and Daniel replaced his beloved PS3 with a used version from Hastings.
Along with replacing our fried electronics, purchasing a new dryer, and paying multiple bills that seemed to all come at once, we had to purchase our wedding invitations last night as well. We had waited until the last possible minute to do so, but alas, it could not be avoided any longer. Needless to say, we are out quite a hefty sum of money all at once, and while I am thankful everyone I love is still alive and kicking, I can't help but be incredibly stressed at our financial situation that befell us over the past week.
Moving on, I am excited to receive our invitations soon. AND... we have our engagement photo shoot this coming Sunday with Stacy K. Preston! Pretty excited about that!
Last weekend we were lucky enough to have a lovely engagment dinner party that my dad and Linda threw for us. We were surrounded by several friends and family members and felt the love, beleive me. We are lucky and blessed and we are very thankful.
We're in the homestretch with the planning... I still have to talk to the caterer and the florist for fun details. Have I mentioned lately that I just cannot WAIT to be Married to Daniel??!!??!!??!!??!!??!! Love him to pieces....

Invites!

So... this is it! Our invites! I plan on ordering them this weekend! Our Colors are Navy and Yellow so these are puuuurfect:) Love 'em!

Hair. 'Nuff said.

So, we sent out our save-the-dates just a couple weeks ago and got some incredibly heart-warming comments from lots of friends: 'You're on refrigerators across the mid-state!'- Kari Neal. We were incredibly pleased with how they turned out. Daniel and I registered at Tartget last night which was interesting. I wasn't feeliing all that great and honestly, I was in a whiny mood. As Daniel and I were waiting for our registration to finish in the the Target computer system, daniel handed my a five dollar bill and told me to go get myself a snack so I'd feel better.
Now... little act might not sound like much, but the way he sweetly put his arm around me and said very softly, "you wanna go get a snack? It might make you feel better... go get ya a little snack," made me light up inside. Sounds simple and not that extraordinary, I know, but that small, kind gesture made me remember that he'll always be there to take care of me (in a totally, non-helpless, non-1940s housewife sort of way lol).
Anywho, out adventure began and we had a lot of fun with the whole registry process. Amy went with me to register for a few nice things at Neiderhauser's in Tullahoma earlier in the week, which was fun. I'm so glad she's there to help me thgrough these things... I know nothing about weddings lol. She's a blessing:)
I've gotten all three of my girls in dresses and ready to go... oh... and I bought my VEIL! It's A-MAZING... I want to wear it every day!
But anyway, back to the gist of this post... All my friends and family know that I've always been partial to shorter hair. Show me a girl with a cute crop and I go head over heels... After growing my hair out pretty long last year, I whacked it off just in time for Amy's wedding. Ever since then, I've been inchng shorter and shorter. I currenyl sport a messy, choppy, angled bob which I spray with at least 10 pounds of hairspray to get the messiness to last all day lol. Well... I'm getting a pixie cut in a couple weeks with sweet Erica Logan, who ALWAYS beutifies me. I swear, the girl can do no wrong when it comes to hair!
I'm going for a MESSY, layred, choppy pixie cut, a la Ginnifer Goodwin and Michelle Williams... two of my all-time fave hair ladies! Love it!







AH! So amazingly pretty to me. Now, I've had hair that short before... and it was my all-time fave. I'm ready to take the plunge. A lot of people are asking me, "but how are you going to wear your hair for the wedding?"
I've never been into big elaborate/intricate updos or flowing long curled locks... it looks amazing on other people, but it just doesnt work for me. Most brides tend to grow their hair LONG leadigng up to their wedding, and I keep going in the opposite direction. I can't wait to do it... although I think sweet Daniel might be a little concerned lol.

Photographer booked! And feeling the love from all of you!

I'm a little late in posting this, but last week we booked our final vendor... and in my opinion, our most IMPORTANT vendor... the photographer!
Ever since Daniel and I got engaged in October, I knew almost immediately who I wanted to turn to when it came time to talk wedding photos. I had oohed and ahhed over Stacy Kennemer Preston's AMAZING photography way before we got engaged. She had some incredible shots on her website and facebook page, not to mention some utterly awesome wedding pics that she had taken. I immediately thought of her cool, effortless-looking, casual, happy and FUN photography style and knew we had to get her.
Last week I met with her at her office and we laughed and giggled while she walked me through the process of what she can offer us and what my choices and options were as far as paper style, packages, etc.
I felt right at home and content with our decision to use her:) I'm just so glad that were able to snatch her up for our date before anyone else! :)
Oh happy day!!!!
On another note, we managed to take some really cute pictures Sunday while at my sister's house for Easter. Erica took come really cute photos that I plan on making into postcards for save-the-dates. That's NEXT on my list. I already have a few invitation styles picked out, so I'll need to order those soon.
Amy and I managed to make it to David's Bridal last week as well to check out some maid of honor dresses for her:) We really enjoyed the evening and grabbed dinner before heading over to try on at least every single dress in the entire store ha! Such a good friend. Love her so much.
I also sent out MASS facebook messages to friends and family to try to retrieve addresses for the save-the-dates and invites that will soon be mailed out. I just want to say how loved I felt by the messages that I received (i.e. "YAY can't wait!)
Daniel and I both are incredibly fortunate and lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people in our life. Thanks you guys... you're all amazing!