The Wedding

Tim mentioned to me a few weeks ago that he often comes to our blog to see if I've posted anything new and is sad to see nothing. With all the wedding planning and the move to the new house I have been more than overwhelmed. However, now that we've been married for two months and are settled in the new house, I've decided it's time to briefly update our little site over the next few days.

Our wedding was more amazing than I could have ever imagined!

The weather was perfect.

The food was delicious.

The location was breathtaking.

We were blessed to have family and friends celebrating with us from California, Tennessee, New York & Pennsylvania.

It meant so much to have everyone here with us. It was truly a storybook day.

Sydney's First Day of 1st Grade

Couples Shower

My sister and Mom hosted a Couples Shower Fiesta last week for us, and what a fun time it was! No words needed, check out the pictures!

Monograms

I spent months debating over which monograms to use and finally bit the bullet and chose these two. I'm really happy with the way they turned out, and Lucky Designs Erin's choice of sky blue in the circular monogram as the accent color.

According to our Knot.com website we have 43 days to go! Everything is moving along smoothly. I even found the 48" Shepherds hooks for the ceremony flowers last night! I couldn't believe what a great deal I found on them - less than $30 for a dozen! Our detail meeting at the Aerie is coming up in two weeks and we just decided last week to use a wedding coordinator for the day of the wedding. I have a feeling it will definitely be worth the extra money!

Hair styles, Tux, and Ceremony music are all I need to work on now!

Guess what we did...

We bought a house!

Here is a rendering of the front of the house, which is fairly close to reality. Change the color and flip the layout and you have Casa Charlot!

The estimated completion date is September 30th, just days after the wedding. This gives us time to paint the rest of the condo and find a renter before we take on two mortgages *I use the term "us" lightly. Tim has taken on all the condo work.

Now that we've found our dream home, I can go back to focusing on all the little details of the wedding. I've been viewing lots of floral design websites for bouquet and centerpiece ideas. Check out Blum Floral, I absolutely LOVE their work! My sister/Matron of Honor, Stacey, has ordered her dress. And we added two flower girls to our wedding party! Sydney's best friends Kiley and Mackenzie will be walking down the aisle with her. Sydney has been friends with Kiley since she was 5 months old, and her little sister Mackenzie is just as close to the two of them!

Next up are readings for the ceremony, and planning the layout of the reception.

Check, Check, Check - It's coming along

With Nana and Aunt Stacey taking the kids to the beach house for a few days and Tim working, I managed to check off so many items from my To Do list.

I finally found a design and font for our cocktail napkins that I was so excited about!! And then they arrived - I only wish I could post a picture for you to see now... When you're at our wedding, please do not come up to me and ask who "Jim" is!! It's not my fault that a cursive T looks like a J to some people!

In addition to the napkins, I personalized matchbooks, and found the long sparklers I had been searching for! Yet again, those are from Shelby & Tim, not Jim! Does it seem a little weird to be giving personalized matchbooks out to a bunch of fire fighters? Oh well. No worries about causing serious damage with the sparklers. We'll have plenty of fire fighters on hand that night :)

Check out my shoes for the evening: Silver ballet slippers.





During my productive wedding planning time this past week, I managed to schedule appointments for alterations with Kim at The Bridal Loft, cake tasting at Wrightberry's Custom Cakes, menu planning and tasting with Premiere Catering, and a time to get together with my sister and mom to address the invitations! Tim's wedding ring has been purchased, and just last night we picked out the tuxes (online, at least!) Can you also believe I got my side of the guest list done, along with addresses?!

As an added bonus, our photographer, Jessica Shepard, offered Tim and I a complimentary engagement session as a thank you for paying for our package up front. While I can't say I'm incredibly comfortable in front of the camera, I'm really excited to have engagement photos taken!

Do you think they'll turn out better than our infamous self portraits?




This wedding planning is beginning to be A LOT of fun!

To Do List...

Planning a wedding in one summer can be overwhelming.

Moving, ending the school year, planning a wedding, a trip to Huntington Beach, a trip to Hawaii, and looking for a new home in one summer is really overwhelming.

What a blessed life I live! It could be worse :)

In order to keep myself on track and accountable, To whom? Well I don't know... I need to start myself a to do list. Here it goes...

*Pick songs for the DJ, including processional and first dance.
*Create slide show for reception
*Design photo book to use as guestbook
*Schedule tastings for wedding cake or cupcakes (Beaverton Bakery, Saint Cupcake)
*Schedule tasting with Premiere Catering and confirm menu
*Figure out what the heck my handsome future husband will be wearing at the wedding
*Buy handsome future husband's ring!
*Design programs and buy embosser
*Finish our Theknot.com website before invitations are mailed out
*Register (Where?!)
*Order sparklers and monogrammed match books
*Purchase unity candle and pillar candles
*Reserve shuttle to take guests from The Aerie to downtown Portland after reception
*Flower arrangement designs - Colors? Ribbon? Floating Candles? Hurricanes?
*Finish guest lists for wedding, bridal showers, and bachelorette party
*Search for addresses for aforementioned lists.

Could there be more things that I am forgetting? Most likely.

Here is what has been done already! You know, the important stuff.

*Reserved the site for the wedding and reception at The Aerie
*Ordered invitations
*Ordered my dress
*Met with Jessica Shepard to confirm photography package.
*Confirmed that our floral designer Dorinda is available.
*Confirmed that Terry is available to DJ.

This list looks awfully small. But it's all coming together, piece by piece.

Date remains the same, location changes.

Surprise, surprise. Shelby changed her mind again.

After touring the Abernethy Center and The Aerie At Eagle Landing this past week, we have chosen The Aerie to hold our 92509 wedding! It's absolutely gorgeous! And I couldn't be more excited to begin planning all the details of the ceremony and reception!

I'm stopping by tomorrow to drop off our signed contract and deposit. Next up, wedding invitations!

Wait 16 Months? No can do!

I'm sure this is only the beginning of changing my mind over and over.

We've moved away from 82810, and have instead decided on 092509!

We found the Abernethy Center had openings for THIS summer and decided to go for it. We'll make the final decision this weekend after we meet with the coordinator and tour the Veiled Garden and Ballroom to make sure it's the perfect fit for us.

We have a date!

Saturday, August 28, 2010. Also known as my 30th Birthday!

UPDATE: To avoid any confusion (yea, right!) the wedding date is now
September 25, 2009!

I thought it would be perfect to celebrate two huge events on the same date. Some have thought I am crazy for wanting this date, but thankfully not Tim. As he put it, "We can get married tomorrow, or on your 30th Birthday. I don't care when we do it. I just want to be married to you!" Love that man!

16 months is quite a long time to wait (and I'm not always very patient), but I can do this!

Now, where to do it? Here are a couple of my top choices for today.

The Aerie at Eagle Landing

The Resort at the Mountain

April 17th, 2009 - We're Engaged!

A spur of the moment need to get out of town on Tim's behalf led us to Huntington Beach for a long weekend to see his friends and family. We had a blast meeting everyone for Happy Hour, walks down the Huntington & Newport Piers, relaxing on the beach, and delicious food from Tim's favorites: InNOut, Las Barcas, and Sugar Shack. I really couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

However, Tim had bigger plans during our trip! He surprised me with a gorgeous suite at the Hyatt on our last night, complete with champagne and chocolate. He then proposed, overlooking the ocean, exactly one year from the date we met. Of course I said, "YES!!"




Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa



And now our journey begins...