Engag(ed): Complete Photo Shoot

Have I mentioned that I LOVE AND ADORE our photographer, Joey Kennedy??

Well I DO!!!!! Today I got a late Christmas present. the rest of our photos!! I am SPEECHLESS! I can't wait to see what he does for the wedding, because the bar is set SO HIGH!



In LOVE.

Surviving Christmas with Family...

If your family is like most families, there may be some drama that surrounds the holidays. We all have some challenging relatives, past situations that haven't been dealt with or forgotten or even that person we'd rather just not see.

It's normal, it's part of being a human, it's part of sharing our lives with people as imperfect as we all are. 

I got a really great email today from gotothehub.com that I thought was worth sharing in general, but especially for newly weds, newly engaged, or just anyone with a crazy family!


Enjoy!:

8 Ways to Thrive (not die) with Family 

Yes, we all know family is a blessing and wonderful, but quite honestly, most of us know it can be very stressful as well. Here are a couple of reminders as we enter what should be restful, sweet, good, memory making times. 

1. Take a deep breath – Is what your mother, brother, or sister-n-law said, or going to say really worth ruining the sweet time you have? I know that words are extremely powerful, but for many of us, we need to learn how to ‘give them less power.'

2. Watch your tongue – As you have heard and will hear many times, An OUNCE of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If most of us would just take a deep breath, relaxe ONE moment before we speak, we would either say less damaging things or when someone says something potentially damaging to us, we choose not to react.

3. Stop thinking of the past all the time. This is huge in family. Whenever someone in our family makes a comment to us, we see it in light of the previous 20, 35, or 50 years. It's time to forget some of that (I know it's hard, but it's necessary). A short memory can be quite helpful in these situations.

4. If your comment does not build someone up, then keep it to yourself. Many times in family, we think it is our job to 'share all the difficult stuff.' You know what, unless you have an active, ongoing, close relationship with a family member, chances are ‘more critique', or ‘less positive' opinions should be shared by a person's friend, not a family member.

5. Unsolicited advise is almost always received as criticism, not help.

6. We only have a few days together. Let's be friends:) Friendships are positive. Let's let our family times be positive.

7. Christmas is about Christ's generosity of Spirit, not a spirit of negativity, stress, hurt, and history. If we will slow down enough to get the right perspective on our eyeballs, then He will give us what we need to make it much more enjoyable.

8. Don't stay too long! Proverbs says,'Don't stay too long in your brother's house.' That's from the wisest man who ever lived. Amen.

Remember this week, God is with you.

Inspiration Finds Me!

I LOVE inspiration....boards! 

Fellow wedding bloggers always post the most creative and amazing boards, so please excuse my first attempt at showing you parts of my wedding vision!

Our colors are Tiffany's blue, Ivory and Black.

Theme: Vintage Elegance

Photo's Courtesy: The Knot, StyleMePretty and Wedding Bee.

I must say, inspiration boards have shown me how important staying with your wedding vision can be!!! I love seeing how creative other brides are, and coming up with variations to what I see--as Ecclesiastes says "There is nothing new under the sun..."

Ciao!

What has stuck with you?

For some time I have been asking all my married, engaged and relationship committed friends their best advice to make it through life with my love. I love hearing new perspectives and learning from others. I have heard some great advice, but I recently received an email from a fellow wedding planner that I HAD to share:

Treasure and enjoy every second because this is such a rare one (Christmas) for you - you are not married, but you're not single, you are head over heels in love and stressed at the same time planning this wedding.  You have no children, and have amazing family and friends.  Take it all in - it's once in a life time.  Next year you'll be reflecting on your first half year of marriage, maybe a child on the way in the near future (?), how you continue to fall more and more in love with your hubby (even though you thought it was not possible), and the many traditions you'll start as you are now your own family. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! :)

Fabulous thoughts! What is some of the best advice you've been given? Thoughts to share?

Wedding finds at TJ Maxx

Tonight I was trying to finish up the last of my Christmas shopping at TJ Maxx when I stumbled upon the best display ever. Wedding goods from Mud Pie! For under $25.00 I bought some really cute novelty gifts for my dad, mother in law, and a few for me! (hey, I am the bride after all).

 

 

Father of the bride frame: $4.99

Me and My Maids frame: $4.99

Mother of the Groom handkerchiefs: $3.99

Bride T Shirt: $7.99

Love it all! The only down fall to TJ Maxx is you never know what will be there, but that is also a major plus!

Don't you dare rain on my parade...

Bride Lexicon

Wedding politics- the two words that every normal bride HATES but has to deal with. These politics include things you "have to do," based on the opinions of others, not the things you and your fiance want to do.

Wedding haters- people who try to undermine the importance and significance of your day in any way they can.


From the moment I started planning my wedding, it has been my  goal to NOT to let wedding politics get in the way. I know too many people who have told me they let what other people thought they should do affect decisions for their big day and regretted it. So I boldly made plans for the wedding, planning details according to conversations and preferences with Steve (fiance) and that's it!

As a culture, some people can be pretty judgmental and catty when it comes to weddings. I don't think it's intentional always, but sometimes it is. Take for instance Four Weddings, a new TLC show, that asks four brides to attend each others weddings and rate them. The show trailer is so snarky and borderline rude! The top rated wedding couple wins a dream honeymoon. Backwards, no?


The most important factor to remember is every wedding ends with two people who have chosen to make a commitment to love, honor and respect each other forever- all good things! I have been shocked at the amount of wedding politics and wedding haters I've had to deal with.  But for every political and hater encounter, I've had 6409304 wonderful experiences and wonderful supportive people encouraging me along the way.


So wedding haters...don't you rain on my parade!
=)

Our FREE honeymoon

Last weekend, Steve and I booked our honey moon! Originally, I didn't have a preference on a honeymoon, and told Steve I didn't care if we went on one right away. Since Steve and I are paying for the vast majority of the wedding ourselves, I was concerned we would not be able to afford a get away.  :(

Steve has traveled a TON and has been all over the world, so this was a part of our wedding that was really important to him. I am so glad he stuck to his guns and we agreed that we would have a honeymoon, even though neither one of us knew how we'd be able to swing it.

(fast forward a few weeks)

I was talking to an amazing friend about the wedding, our plans and all the things we wanted to do. This person listened to everything I said and then suddenly left the room. I wasn't sure what was happening until they came back and handed me a check that was more than enough to pay for a honeymoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am seriously overwhelmed by the generosity of the amazing people in my life, and the blessings of God that Steve and I are experiencing....so many things have happened that seemed impossible. All my hopes and dreams, even those things that I secretly wanted, but believed wouldn't happen, are happening. This process has taught me that people that love me will support me and do whatever they can to make this day the best day ever! THANK YOU to everyone who has encouraged and loved me through the good days and bad. You are the BEST.

PS- If you're curious, check out our honeymoon diggs. Is it May 2nd yet?? I am ready to GO!

What about you, how did you decide where to go on your honeymoon? Did you include the cost in your overall wedding budget?

Favorite Engagement Gift!

One of my bridesmaids got me the best engagement gift ever! Not only was it unexpected, but it was thoughtful, useful and unique.

My sweet friend, Gina, purchased a ring holder from Etsy, more specifically, The Brick Kiln. This mother daughter team make custom, and standard pottery items....

I just LOVE how my ring dish turned out:

Now i'll have a nice place to put my ring at night/when i'm cleaning, and i'll always remember our engagement date, my birthday!!!

Check out the brick kilns blog....they have many more items available! So cute!
UPDATE:
If you are interested in purchasing items from The Brick Kiln,
keep in mind their shop is closed until 2010.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thebrickkiln