Happy Anniversary

YAY! Today marks 3 years from our first date. Our first date was actually supposed to happen a week before 4/26, but early in the afternoon I received a text from Chris saying he had a major migraine and had to cancel. I was super bummed because I thought that he was bailing on me, but thankfully we rescheduled for the next week and as they say, the rest is history.

By our next anniversary, we'll be MARRIED!!! :-D

One of our first pictures together

One of our more recent pictures together taken last year at Disney World

Will your dating anniversary be close to your wedding anniversary?

Bridesmaids Summit! Part 3 - Save The Dates

After trying on dresses, lunch and a tour of the venue we rested up for a night of wedding talk and save the dates.

BM Aggie was the wonderful host that opened her house (and made appetizers and dessert) for our crafting night

Of course what's crafting without pizza and wine?

After dinner I put my girls to work. BM Cali and MOH Navy manned the steaming/folding of the cards...

...while BM Philly, BM Aggie and I cut out text until our fingers hurt.

Of course there were breaks for yummy desserts and more drinks.

I under estimated the amount of time it would take to cut out all the text and steam/fold all the cards. By the time we got to gluing it was nearly 11 pm! We pushed on and got through the gluing of all the front sections of the cards. I'll go back and tackle the inside at a later time.

I love the Xyron runners, but man do you go through those things fast! Here's half of the empty packages along with 2 of the bottles of wine we knocked off while working.

Were you able to get some help with your DIY projects? I know I loved the help, thank you so much girls!!!

Bridesmaids Summit! Part 2 - Shopping & Touring

After we nailed down the dresses, we were ready for a tasty bite to eat at Gloria's which is a Tex-Mex/Salvadorian restaurant. We were joined by Daddy Elephant who was awesome to handle a lunch with 7 women and pick up the tab.

Starting on the left side - Dad Elephant, Mama Elephant, me, BM Aggie & BM Cali, MOH Navy, BM Philly & Aunt Bunny (who I'm not really sure if she knew if the picture was being taken)

Lunch was great, and we finished it off with a round of Patron shots compliments of Aunt Bunny.

Me, BM Aggie and BM Cali

Since we had already decided on the BM dresses, we canceled the appointment with Alfred Angelo and headed to Sam Moon instead. For those of you that haven't heard of Sam Moon, it's a huge store in the Dallas area that sells things from luggage, to jewelry to purses. As we walked in, I quickly spotted some green necklaces that would be great for the wedding. The girls agreed, that the two who pick the one strap dress could wear the necklace as a bracelet, to not take away from the beautiful top.

A little more walking around and BM Cali & MOH Navy found perfect matching earrings to go with the necklaces. Done and Done! I picked up 5 sets (I loved them and wanted a set for myself as well) and will be putting them in the girls' thank you gifts which will be handed out the night before the wedding.

BM Aggie showing off the necklaces and earrings for the wedding.

We parted ways with Mama Elephant and Aunt Bunny, who anyone in the family will tell you can run a gauntlet when it comes to shopping, and made our way to the Tribute. We didn't have an appointment or anything, but Bethany (the current coordinator) let us look around while they were setting up for a Saturday night wedding. The girls all loved the venue, which is awesome! We did walk out back to the gazebo, where I got this windy picture of them.

We headed back to my apartment and went through all the DIY projects I've been working on. We parted ways (to take a nap) until later that night when we would meet up at BM Aggie's house to work on the Save the Dates.

When time together is little, are you able to pack in a lot of wedding activities into one day?

Bridesmaids Summit! Part 1 - Dresses

All four of my wonderful bridesmaids were in town the last weekend in March and we really made good use of our time.

Saturday we were out bright and early to our first stop, Bridal Boutique where I tried on my favorite three dresses. Of course I left my favorite for last and the emotion of having all of my bridesmaids, my mom and my aunt there to see the dress really hit me. There were tears all around and we all knew it was the one. Too bad they don't let you take pictures in the store. MOH Navy tried to sneak an iPhone pic, but the consultant came back around.

Once we left the shop I let the girls in on a little secret: mom and I had ordered the dress 2 weekends ago at a trunk show! I really was planning on buying it with the girls all there, but when I received a card in the mail letting me know that there was going to be a Mori Lee trunk show at the Terry Costa dress store and I could get 20% off, there was no way I could turn that down!

Speaking of Terry Costa, that was our next stop because unlike the first dress store, Terry Costa lets you take all the pictures you want. We found the 4 Bill Levkoff dresses that we were considering.

First up is BM Philly modeling the blue ruching one, #527. Now this is the correct color that all the girls will be wearing, but both BM Philly and MOH Navy said the band under the boobs doesn't sit too well. So pretty, but a no go.

Next we have MOH Navy modeling the two strap, #292. She said this could probably be a nice fit, but a little hard to really get a feel since the dress was more then a couple sizes too big on her.

Here we have BM Philly showing off the strapless with pockets, #370. This was the dress that BM Cali first emailed me in the BM dress hunt and began the love of the Bill Levkoff dresses. This isn't in the right material, so picture it in the material above.

The back of this dress has a detachable bow, which I think is great because it gives the girls the option to wear it or not.

And last, but certainly not least we have BM Aggie and MOH Navy modeling the very stylish one shoulder #528. We all thought this was a very beautiful dress!

So what did we decide to do? We're going to have two girls wear the one strap #528, and two wear the strapless with pockets #370. I love the two dresses that were picked and can't wait to see them in action for the wedding!

Did all of your bridesmaids wear the same dresses or did you give them an option for a cohesive look?

Bridal Open House

I just can't get enough of our venue! The Tribute holds 2 bridal open houses a year where brides and their families can see the venue set up for a wedding, taste some food and meet with some preferred vendors.

Mama Elephant came along for the ride since she missed out on the last one (that Mr. E was so great to come with me) and we really had a good time! As we drove up, we decided to head to the back where the gazebo is to test out the length of our DIY tissue paper pomanders. I think they look great and will add some color to the ceremony area. (Please note that this open house was in February, the grass will be a lot greener in April)

We headed inside to check in and begin scouting some areas for the escort cards, gifts, guest book, and musicians for the cocktail hour.

Imagine this table with our wonderful travel themed escort cards (post to come)

A great place for the musicians for the cocktail hour

We headed into the ballroom, which is plan B if the weather isn't on our side. If there's rain, we'll get married in front of this romantic fireplace.

All of the tables were set up with different linens and centerpieces showcasing some of the items that are included in our package and others that would be upgrades. Our planner is a preferred vendor at the Tribute, so we got a chance to talk with her about ideas for centerpieces (since she will be doing all our of florals). We really loved these two set ups, and the good news is that Kathie informed us that they would be easy and cost effective.

Probably change the green hydrangeas for blue and possibly white, and the branches to bamboo sticks. I have over 12 pounds of blue and green stones, may need to pick up more when Michael's has another sale.

 

Love this submerged low centerpiece!!! We would probably change some of the white flowers for green versions.

After looking at some of the tablescapes, we headed for the food. Everything tasted great, and Mama Elephant and I picked our top three favorites to put in the race for our butler passed apps. We're leaning towards the golden coconut shrimp with plum sauce, chicken teriyaki skewers, and spinach spanakopitas. I also made a stop to the carving station and mashed potato bar.

Carving station goodness

After some eats we headed upstairs to snap some pictures of the bridal suite and the room that the guys will get ready in.

Can't wait to get some great pictures on those stairs!

 

The room that the girls will get ready in, and where Mr. E and I will spend the night after the wedding.

 

Mama Elephant in the guys' getting ready room

There's still one, possibly two more open houses before our big day. I might take dad to one just to taste some of the great food!

Did your venue hold any events prior to your wedding that allowed you to envision your big day?

The L word

Being the TV junkies that we, Chris and I love a wide range of shows. Last night on CBS' The Big Bang Theory, two of the main characters Leonard and Penny had an awkward moment in bed.

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Leonard professed his love to Penny and she responded with a "Thank You". Sadly (for TV land) they broke up by the end of the episode because Penny felt pressured to say I love you back to Leonard.

This episode reminded me of the beginning of our relationship. I knew that I loved Chris a little bit before he knew he loved me, but I wouldn't let myself say it out loud for fear that I would get a type of response like Leonard did. I'm glad that I didn't pressure Chris into his feelings, and he came to the happy conclusion on his own.

I'll never forget that night, the day before a trip to Six Flags and then to meet his brother and sister for the first time. Chris told me how he came to know how he felt, and then ended it with "I think I love you". I responded with "You think?" to which he said "no, I know." We both laughed then, and we still joke around about it now.

Were you the first one to say I Love You or did you wait for your significant other to say it first?

Minimoon Destination

We picked April for our wedding month (to coincide with our dating anniversary), which means that Mr. E will still have class and finals to finish up his spring semester after the wedding. Due to this we will be taking our honeymoon after finals are completed in the middle of May. I think this is actually a great idea because it will allow us to spend some extra time with family and friends the day after the wedding. It will also mean we won’t be exhausted by the time we go on our honeymoon, therefore making the most out of our time instead of sleeping the first couple of days to recoup from the wedding. I’ll let you know more about our plans for the honeymoon later on ;)

Since we won’t be taking a honeymoon right after the wedding (and who really wants to go back to work the Monday after the big day?), we thought it would be fun to do a minimoon road trip. The destination for this minimoon road trip is.... drumroll please....

Us in front of the Alamo in 2007

the home of the Alamo - San Antonio, TX!

We picked San Antonio because:
1) It was the very first trip that we took together back in 2007 for Mr. E’s birthday
2) It’s only a 4 hour drive from Dallas, so we won’t have to spend money on plane tickets
3) There are a lot of things to do and see all within walking distance of the hotel

San Antonio is a fun and historic location and will be perfect for the couple of days we plan to get away and enjoy our newlywed status!

Will you (or did you) take a minimoon after the wedding and delay your honeymoon?

Falling victim to popular trends

I'm not gonna lie, I'm totally jumping the wedding trend bandwagon with this purchase.

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I'm sure you have all seen them in one wedding or another (or a wedding blog or two), most likely on the groom and groomsmen. I don't know if our crew will wear Converse shoes, possibly to change into after the ceremony?  We're still thinking that through.
I always thought it was really cool how you could customize the chucks to meet your needs and wants, so after seeing Mrs. Doxie's post on Vans vs. Converse I decided to play around and make my own.  While playing around with the colors the wheels started turning...what if instead of the groomsmen wearing them for the wedding, Mr. E and I got some to commemorate our wedding and wear after the big day? So I played around and made a pair for me (the green ones) and a pair for him (the blue ones) in our wedding colors with our date added to the heel strip. I placed the order and 3 weeks later they were waiting for us!

Personal Photos

Converse only had lime green laces for Mr. E's shoes, so we're going to purchase some green shoestrings online.

We'll get to break these in during our engagement shoot next month and then will be styling in them at the send off brunch. I'm so excited!

Are you a chucks fan? Would you wear a pair at your wedding?

Bridesmaids Summit!

Can I just say I love my bridesmaids???

They all came into town the last weekend of March, which in itself shows how amazing they are! Corinne flew from Connecticut, Kristen flew in from Florida, Colby drove 4 hours up from Houston and Lora opened up her house here in Dallas for us all.

I can't wait to tell you more about what we got accomplished during the weekend, but for now I'll just leave you with a picture of all of us :)

Lora, Colby, me, Kristen & Corinne

Do you have out of town bridesmaids that were able to come in before the wedding to help you out?