Flower Girl Dilema

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about my just-turned-one, soon-to-be niece flower girl.  My first problem is trying to decide what I want her to wear.  I have a few ideas in my head (thank you pinterest) and they're all so cute that I can't choose just one!

This Belle inspired tutu is so adorable and I smile every time I see it!

I love the tutu idea!  It just seems so fun, cute, and comfortable for the flower girls and I just love the look!  However, my mom brought up the fact that it may be too casual for a royal themed wedding. 

My other idea was to buy a cute Disney inspired Belle costume from the Disney store and have my flower girl wear it down the aisle.  But...when I was in California back in October we went to Downtown Disney and had Amelia try on the dresses and they were either too tight or too long.  And to be honest, it's just not my favorite.  It may be great for a royal themed wedding but I'm just not sure.

So...any suggestions on which one to choose?  What do you think works better for a royal themed wedding?  Oh...so many decisions and I'm having the hardest time trying to choose!  Any help would be greatly appreciated!   

Professional Engagement Pictures

A high school friend of mine just recently started her own Photography business with her neighbor and was so excited when Chris and I got engaged because it was her chance to do our photos.  We planned to do our photos in Washington DC near some of our favorite monuments.  The main attraction was that two days after we started dating in 2009, we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival and toured the city.  Chris, my mom, Sam and I went around to numerous monuments and had a great time doing it.  So..when Chris and I were deciding where to do our pictures, there was no question.  DC was the place to do it!

We were hoping that the leaves would start changing in mid October, so Ashley and Gail met us at our apartment and we all drove into DC together.  Unfortunately, only some of the leaves had changed so mid October wasn't the best idea but the pictures turned out great so we can't complain!

Here are a few of my favorites from the day!

I don't know why but I absolutely love this photo!

I love the chalkboard idea for pictures!

What a great picture of the ring!

                                                  

 

 

This is my favorite picture.  <3

Chris doesn't like his face in this one but I love it!  :-)

Ashley and Gail thought it would be cute to do a reenactment of the proposal.  I was acting a little over dramatic but it was fun!  You could hear a lot of people say, "She's not even crying!"  or "Is this for real?!"  haha

Destination Weddings (part 2): Choosing Your Bridesmaids

The wedding party is such an important part of any wedding.  The people that are selected are those the bride and groom feel closest to and those people should mean the most to them.  If you're having a normal wedding in your hometown, it's easy to choose who you want because 99% of the time, all the people you ask can make it.  It's much harder to choose when planning a destination wedding because the venue may have a low number of seats available, or it could be too expensive for a lot of people to come.

Chris and I found that our biggest problem was the number of people Disney allowed us to bring along with the package we purchased.  The limit was 20 (including the bride and groom) so we had to make sure we had plenty of room for our family before we started picking people for the wedding party.

The big thing other brides should consider when choosing their girls is whether or not they'll take the supportive or controlling role.  If you've had a friend that was married and turned out to be bridezilla you may want to think twice about asking her to be in yours.  Chances are, girls that are extremely controlling will also want to control a lot of the aspects of your own wedding.  Always choose people that are going to build you up on your wedding day, not tear you down.

Another thing you'll want to remember is that you do not have to choose someone just because you were in their wedding.  Never ever choose someone out of obligation.  Even if you made a pact with a girlfriend at a young age that you would be in each others wedding, it doesn't mean that if you grew apart over the years that you still have to ask them!  Always choose people that mean the most to you and your groom!  Those are the people that you will cherish for years to come.

Destination Weddings (part 1): Invites

Today I want to write a post on planning a destination wedding.  Chris and I got engaged on August 20th, 2001 and are getting married on April 20th, 2012 (four months exactly from today!!), so I've had a few months to start getting things done.

The first thing we had to decide is where we wanted to get married.  The decision was easy for Chris and I because not only do we love Disney World, but we also got engaged there and immediately knew we wanted to celebrate our wedding there as well.  The reason we chose Florida was because my family lives in Virginia and Chris's family is in California.  We didn't want our families to feel as though we were choosing one side over the other if we got married in either state, so we settled for something in-between.  Chris and I also knew that in choosing an in-between state, we would upset a lot of people because not everyone would be able to come due to cost and we are also limited in the number of people we could bring with the Disney package we wanted.  We quickly realized you can't please everyone.

With our Disney wedding package, the guest list can include no more than twenty people (including the bride and groom).  We knew that picking and choosing who we wanted to celebrate with us would be extremely hard, but were ready for the challenge.  We quickly decided which family members would be invited and then decided we'd use the remaining number of seats for friends.  The hard part was that people were upset we said only husbands and fiance's were invited due to the limited seating at the event.  I quickly realized that picking and choosing was going to be a much more difficult process than I had originally thought.  Chris and I really had to start picking our battles when it came our family and friends because the stress just wasn't worth it.  You always hope that people understand it's your wedding and won't be upset and cause you stress, but with Chris and I that was not the case.

I think the one thing Chris and I figured out along the way is that no matter what you do and how hard you try to accommodate everyone, there is always going to be someone that is unhappy.  I know that it's much different dealing with a destination wedding than a hometown one because everyone wants to celebrate with you and for a lot of people who have to travel, it's just not possible.  The one thing I constantly tell myself, (because I hate hurting other people's feelings), is that this is something Chris and I really want and are so excited for!  Would we like more people to be able to come?  Of course!  But this wedding is literally a dream come true and I wouldn't trade having it at Disney for anything.  We're happy and that is the most important thing.  :-)

If there was any advice I could give to brides planning a destination wedding, they would be:

• Even though you and your fiance have probably saved for a while for your destination wedding, a lot of other people probably have not.  Take that into consideration when deciding on who to invite.
• Some places (like Disney) have a limit on how many people can be at the ceremony.  Be aware who counts and who doesn't (for example: for Disney kids under the age of two don't count) and also make sure you know birthdays in case a child ages up before you get married.
• Make lots of lists!  I've utilized Microsoft Access and Excel a lot throughout this process and found them very useful when needing to refer back to certain things.

Grace and Mercy

Today I am thankful. And a little fearful. I always say a little bit of fear is good...but this time I have the fear of God in me.

Today I was almost in an accident. And not in a small fender bender, but an accident where I could've been seriously injured. I'm not sure what happened. I honestly don't know. One second everything was fine and the next traffic was at a dead stop. Luckily I was able to swerve into the empty lane beside me and narrowly miss the truck in front of me. As I swerved I saw some moron parked, not broken down, in my previous lane shutting his door and walking down the side of the road to help the person that was broken down on the side of the road!!!

I have never been more scared in my entire life. God gives us life and he can just as easily take it away. Obviously HE is not done with me yet and it really makes me wonder what God has in store for me. It also makes me wonder...are we ever truly lucky? I don't think so. I think that God always provides and always has a plan. HIS plan for me was to live and spread HIS word. God wanted me to be okay and I am. Is that luck? No. I think it is a mixture of mercy and grace.

California Fun

Chris and I spent the last few days out in California with his family.  We got out there midday on Wednesday (the 19th) and came back to Virginia on Monday (the 24th).  While I spent most of my time with his mom and sister Jessica, he was off having fun at Blizzcon with his World of Warcraft buddies.  

Kelly, Jessica, Amelia, and I spent some time crafting, making my wedding invitations, favors, decorating for our engagement party, looked at reception locations (and found one I'm in love with), and even had time to do a little shopping!  At night, I went and hung out with Chris and his friends, spent lots of time with Shiva, and got to eat some really amazing food!  We had a really fun trip, and I was sad to come home.  But at least I know that I will go out again in the near future to help with more wedding stuff, hang out for my bridal shower, and go to Vegas for my bachelorette party!  (I can't wait!!)

And now....I thought I'd share our trip in photos.  Enjoy!

At Downtown Disney we ate at the Rainforest Cafe and looked at flower girl dresses for the wedding.  Amelia did not like putting on Cinderella's dress at all!

The Monarch Room at The Grand in Long Beach is where I am considering having the reception.   This was everyone's favorite room!

Some of the photos Jessica and I took of Amelia!

Kelly made the mickey ears for us!

The Mickey ears read, "FINALLY ENGAGED" (inside joke) and the tables were decorated pink and black.  These two photos were taken with my Hipstamatic app on the iPhone!

Wedding Colors...Revisited

I've been reading a lot of stuff lately about choosing wedding colors, and how they should match the ceremony location.  Here is a picture of the location so you can visualize it:

This is the best picture I could find of the green and pink

 Of course, I've realized now that coral is NOT a good color for this location.  Am I sad?  Of course!  I absolutely love that color, but I also don't want something that clashes with the location and decorations.  After much consideration, I think pink dresses for my bridesmaids would look really great in that room (and on my girls).  Plus...with the receptions we're having (yes...you saw that right.  We are having two different receptions), I can work the coral, and blue with the pink just fine!  So...I'll still get what I want and it will look great!  I'm very happy with the decision and can't wait to go shopping with all of my bridesmaids and buy their dresses!


PS-  I am, of course, always open to suggestions.  So, if anyone has any ideas on what other colors would look nice please leave a comment in the section below.  Also, please keep in mind that David's Bridal only carries certain colors...and here is the website!  Feel free to poke around!

Simple Solutions

Ever since my ring came back, I haven't taken it off (well, except when I clean or take a shower!).  I've noticed that when it's nice and humid out, my ring fits perfectly.  Not so tight that it's stuck on my finger, but not loose enough to move around easily.  However, as the weather has gotten cooler my ring slides easily and it makes me really uncomfortable.  I am so afraid I'm going to lose it, that I needed to figure out a solution sooner rather than later.  We don't want to send it off to Blue Nile again because our engagement pictures are coming up as well as a trip to California to show off my ring, and we don't know if it'll get back in time!  Sooo....I put my thinking cap on and found something I'm really excited about!

Have you ever heard on ring snuggies?  They are tiny pieces of clear PVC that are able to slide on either before or after you put your ring on.

 
The nice thing about ring snuggies are that they come in multiple sizes within a pack so no matter what you'll find one that fits your perfectly!  And they are super comfortable!  I'm not saying that it doesn't feel weird when you first put it on your finger, because it most certainly does, but after a while you don't even know it's there.  So...perfect solution.  Right?  Right!  I'm so glad I found something to temporarily fix my problem until I'm able to send it off to get it re-sized!

And now....I'll leave you with a few pictures.  :-)

When Chris proposed and put the ring on my finger, all I could do was squeeze my fingers together to keep it in place!

And now...I won't have to worry about it sliding during the cold winter months when my fingers shrink!

More Pinteresting Ideas

I am obsessed with Pinterest.  If you haven't gotten an invitation to the website, you need to get on that.  It has a little bit of everything on there, and you can find so many great ideas for your home, wedding, kids, etc.  I honestly can't talk about it enough.  It's a great way to share ideas and designs with other people from all over the world.  And now that I'm getting married, it has really helped me gather ideas for what I want!

I want to share a few photos from some of my favorite categories.  Let's start out with engagement photos.  (Ashley...these are for you!)

Next are the Wedding Photos I love!

Here are some wedding decorations I like:  

Calla Lillies for the bridesmaids!  So simple and elegant!

I like the wrap on this one!

I like the colors for this one for me to carry down the aisle! 

Ahhh...pop of color with a bridal gown.  Gorgeous!

I love peach and coral!

I love the sign!

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

Yesterday I took both my sisters to look at bridesmaid dresses.  I had found some dresses online through the Dessy Collection that I was in love with, so we were really excited to go to look at them!

We went to Rosalin's Bridal Boutique in Falls Church, VA, and I have to say I was very disappointed.  The store was very small and cluttered, and it was extremely hard to find anything on the racks.  We were greeted by a small Asian man when we walked in, and once I told him what designer I was looking for, (Dessy), he pointed us to a small rack by the door and left us to look.  All the sizes they had were between 10's and 18's, a few 4's, 6's, and 8's, but those were few and far in-between.  The colors of their samples would look good on no one, and it was hard to visualize how the dresses would look in the color I wanted. 

The Dessy dress in Coral.

While Sam and Julie were changing, I went to the register and asked if they had a certain dress in the store for them to try on.  I had had my eye on it for a while, and was pretty sure it was going to be "the dress."  But....the owner told me it was a three year old design that wasn't being sold anymore.  That doesn't make much sense to me since it is still on the Dessy website....but I couldn't argue with them if they didn't have it in store!  

So, we left a bit disappointed and put-out.  Luckily, we had enough time to head over to David's Bridal in Springfield to shop and spend more time together!  Once again they tried on many dresses, none of which we liked, and we were getting frustrated.  I was able to try on my wedding dress for Julie, and we then had the bright idea to have Sam try on dresses to see which ones would look good next to mine!  Our consultant picked out the dress below and we all agreed it was our favorite.  The only problem is, David's Bridal does not carry the color coral and I have had my heart set on that since Chris and I got engaged.  However, I am really starting to like the Watermelon color in the picture below.  If it was a little bit lighter it would pass for a type of coral, but I think its beautiful the way it is.  The other option is the guava ...but I don't really like it as much.  There is also another bridal shop in Leesburg that has a few coral dresses I like so I'm going to go look at those before I make a final decision.  I mean...whats the rush?  The wedding is next April!    

The Happiest Place on Earth

In August, Chris took Sam and I to Disney World in Florida.  I was so excited because I had always loved the look of The Grand Floridian Resort and Spa and we were actually going to stay there!  For those of you that have never been, this resort is a beautiful Victorian style resort that sits right on the water and is across from the Magic Kingdom park.  The monorail comes right to the resort (which makes it easy to get to both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom), as well as a boat!

We had originally planned to stay at the Polynesian Resort (which is located right behind The Grand Floridian), but Chris said there was a computer glitch and they overbooked so they had to move us to a different resort.  For Sam and I, it was worth being overbooked as soon as we arrived because we had our own personal guide (Denny) who was so friendly and extremely informative and helpful!  He took us to our room which was in a completely different building and because we were club level we received free drinks (wine, beer, soda, water, etc) and food (breakfast, snacks, and desserts) on a daily basis.  Sam and I were literally in heaven.

Don't you agree that it is beautiful?

 The first day we took the time to walk around the resort to see what they had to offer.  They had two different pools, a ton of shops inside the resort, a few restaurants, and a nice beach that looked out on the wedding pavilion and the Polynesian and Contemporary Resorts.  That night, we braved the thunderstorm and ran to make our reservation at an Italian restaurant at Downtown Disney.  We were soaked and got a lot of weird looks as we were led to our table, but dinner was delicious and we were all pleasantly buzzed from the great wine as we made our way back out into the rain.

The second day the three of us knew we'd be out really late (extra magic hours for The Magic Kingdom park!) so we tried sleeping in.  I was so excited to get going that I woke up early (9:30) and got everyone else to get up and start their day as well!  I love The Magic Kingdom, maybe its because it reminds me of all the times I went there as a kid and how excited I became whenever I saw one of the many beloved characters.  But I was so excited to go and ride all of my favorite rides.

Two of the rides I always have to go on are Peter Pan's Flight and Pirates of the Caribbean.  Chris convinced us that we should wait to do both until later that night, because the lines are so minimal during extra magic hours.  I kept noticing that Sam and Chris would fall behind and talk amongst themselves, but I just figured they were getting along really well and didn't want to interrupt them.

We arrived!

On the People Mover....I was more excited than Sam!

In line for It's A Small World.  I HATE this ride!

 Chris was trying his best to annoy Sam while waiting to get on Splash Mountain.

Second day of rain....this time we were smart and brought ponchos! 

We waited until midnight and walked over to Pirates, but found out they were closed due to technical difficulties.  Sam and I took off and went shopping while Chris waited for us outside on one of the benches.  We had decided to go back over to the ride around 1:00 a.m. and luckily it was up and running again!  I made a beeline for the line, but Chris took my arm and pulled me aside.  I could not understand what was going on but figured maybe he was letting a big group go by us.  Instead, he put his arms around my neck and began talking about our three year anniversary coming up (in April!).  He said that when Belle met her prince, she didn't realize it until chapter three and he wanted to write many more chapters together.  Then, he pulled out my gorgeous ring and asked me to marry him!  I, of course, said yes!

Chris chose the Pirates ride because it was the first one we had ever gone on as a couple and also our favorite ride at the Disney park.  Once on the ride, we got stuck for forty-five minutes and only got around the corner from the loading dock.  We had to come back a few nights later to actually ride it, but on our engagement night we were able to snap a few pictures!
 

We are so happy and so excited for the next adventure in our lives!

My beautiful ring!  There will be better pictures once I get it back from being sized!

The rest of the trip was a blast!  Of course, nothing could top getting engaged, but we still had a great time!  We spent the rest of the time at Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and even Universal!  Here are a few more picture highlights from our trip!

All aboard the Hogwarts Express!

Walking into Hogsmeade!

We ate at The Three Broomsticks

We may not have gone on the ride inside Hogwarts, but we had fun looking at it from the outside!

Sam-I-Am loves Green Eggs and Ham!

We went to Africa!

The tree of life at Animal Kingdom

That fan was the best (and worst) thing Chris has ever bought.  He liked spraying us with it when Sam and I weren't expecting it.