Jan 23, 2014 - 9 days out

Jan 23, 2014 - 9 days out

So today I worked on more lists and some more tags and started hashing out a little bit of our vows. It's a little harder then I expected but I can do it. I was in good spirits all day and mostly excited about the day. 

I'm really enjoying this feeling of joy and am seriously almost dreading the wedding only because I don't know what I will do afterwards! A year or more of planning for just one day. Something so complicated for one moment in time. It feels so surreal and I simply can't wrap my head around the idea that in 9 days I'll be married! Me! It's so weird to think about it like that. To think about it all. I really hope I can slow the day down for myself and really enjoy it. I want to really take my time walking down the isle and during our first dance, first kiss. I just want time to stop for those moments. I can't wait to see your face that morning and I really hope it will be an expression I'll never forget... And please forgive me if I start giggling at you. I assure it's probably the nerves. I'm not laughing at you. Every time I think about it I think I'm not ready and yet every time I lay in bed I think I'm ready for the next chapter in my life where I don't go to bed by myself. 

So here's hoping the excitement continues to build, that there will be no disappointment, and that everything will be beautiful and ok!

P.s. Did I mention I'm freaking out because the hair stylist canceled on me 9 days before the wedding??!

Jan 22, 2014, 10 days out -

Jan 22, 2014, 10 days out - 

So today marks ten days till our wedding day. It's so crazy that our engagement came and went so fast and that our wedding day is fast approaching. It feels like just yesterday the wedding was over a 100 days away! There's so much to do and so little time but I'm at ease with the thought that everything will be ok.

 Today I made arrangements for the rehearsal and finished about 95% of the name tags. We also received our first wedding registry gifts in the mail! That was very exciting!! 

One of the packages was addressed to my new name. It was both odd but also not as foreign to me as I thought I would be. I hesitated for awhile over my feelings about changing my name to be honest. I have had my name for 30 years... It will be odd to have a new name. I've relinquished my maiden name as a pen name but may add it as a second middle name? I haven't decided yet. Guess I better make up my mind huh? 

Also I think we've decided to write our own vows. I'd really like too. If I'm going to cry at the alter it better be about the stirring words I'll say as well as hear from you. I think it will be nice and will personalize the ceremony a little more then usual. Well see what happens right? Now I need to find inspiration. 

I've already been honest that I'm worried about living together. I'm not certain how I will handle being with someone 24 hours a day that isn't my family. But when I'm apart I find I'm always missing you. Your the part that's always missing and I'm always thinking of you. And I'm happiest when I'm with you. Even if I'm bored and sitting around. Yes that will be an argument but know that I'm still happy to sit around knowing your in the same space with me. Lord knows I sleep better with you around, when your not stealing the sheets anyways. I can only hope I live up to all you hope and see that I am. I find it hard to live up to your vision sometimes and I usually feel very inadequate about it. But we shall prevail right? I really love you for you have touched my soul in places I thought no one could touch. 

it's officially been a year!

So it's officially been one year since we got engaged! I can't really believe it's been a year already to be honest. To celebrate we went back to Holiday Matsuri where we got engaged at. It was a great time seeing all our friends again. One of our friends that made the magic happen last year got me all dressed up in a kimono for the dance that evening. It was a lot of fun!

It was a lot of fun during the dance as we hung out with said friends and danced and laughed and watched the shows. At some point during the dance Chris had them play our song again and he pulled out a small gift box for me. It was completely unexpected. Inside was a necklace with an amethyst pendant. He told me it was amethyst because that's February birthstone, which is the month we started dating and the month we will be we'd, and there's a little secret in the back, a D for my new married last name. It was technically an early Christmas gift but he felt like giving it to me at the dance. I was moved. There was more tears and more photos! He's so sneaky.

So on this Christmas day I figured it would be appropriate to share our 1 year anniversary for our engagement on Christmas. ;) Merry Christmas to you and your family! Hope you have a very blessed day!!

Ok...Havent updated in a while:

Guess I have been bad and i haven't updated this blog in a long while! My last update was back in August! Oops! 

In my last post i spoke about finally finding a venue but it not being official...well by now its official! Along with a ton of other things! We finally got our venue, ceremony location, engagement shoot done (which means we have our photographer picked out!), menu finalized, color Scheme, center pieces picked out, invites picked out, D.J. hired, and tons more! And i know there's more i forgot to mention!

Planning a wedding can be crazy hectic, and sometimes as the bride I wanted to scream and cry! Your emotions go all over the place and sometimes you just don't understand it. Like when we had complications with finding a church... the first one never really got back to us, my second choice was awesome right up till they realized they double booked my wedding with a festival on the same day!!! But they came through and found me a beautiful church to get married in! But I have to say this has been an amazing process and I've had so much fun and learned so much!! I've become so much closer with my friends and learned a ton about myself!! I will also note that there is ALWAYS something you did not think to ask about until someone else asks! As much as I want my special day to get here, I'm having so much fun that i kind of DONT want it to get here... So I'm hoping to help my friends out with their wedding's so the wedding fun doesn't have to stop!

I'll try and remember to update more often as the count down slinks closer to the day of!

Unofficially stating...

...That we have a venue picked out!! :) Not saying which one, but i figured id take a quick moment to share my enthusiasm and share a quick picture of the outside of the building!! But again i'm not saying anything more until its more official!

This was a really short entry i know! Not much else to share at the moment! So have a good day!!

THE Dress!

The story of the dress is actually a short one!

I expected because of my size, and lack of shops, that shopping for my wedding dress would be a long drawn out process that i would quickly grow tired and frustrated with. None the less it had to be done so i made an appointment at David's Bridal, figuring that they would have the most selection, sizes, colors and price ranges. I was excited but tried not to get too hyped up because i still feared it would be a battle to find the dress. Once the week of the appointment came, i grew even more and more excited. the day finally came  (5/17/13) and work couldn't pass quickly enough. I raced home, joined mom and Yiya (my mother's god mother) and we raced to Fort Myer's! (there's DB in my town!)

My heart was pounding when we finally got to the store, and once i walked in i was confronted with a wall of white and ivory as far as i could see. i was a little intimidated. None the less my consultant (Andrea i believe her name was... or Anjie one or the other?) came over and quickly was all smiles and talked me through how they kind of go about picking things. I told her i didnt really have anything in mind and was really open. it was my first time in a place like this and i was looking for cut, style, color more then an actual gown at this point. I gave her a rough price point and we started off amongst the rows of gowns. My friend Wendy was also there and helped me get my mind off the fact that i was staring at all these beautiful gowns and more focused on looking at what seemed appealing. I picked about 6 or 7 dresses to try on to start with. 

She put me in a dressing room, instructed me to try on some undergarments, and then she brought in the first dress. she helped me slip it on, and then she went to work closing up the back. There were no mirrors inside the dressing room, so i could only helplessly look around the dressing room walls while she finished closing up the back side of the dress. I stepped out, careful not to step on the edges of the dress and stared out to my mother, Wendy and Yiya. Mom and Yiya smiled, Wendy cried! They loved it. I turned to look at myself in the mirror, and thought i was beautiful. I didnt actually feel much about the dress, but i hung around in it the longest of all i think. Then i tried on a few other gowns. A few of them looked really pretty on me but were too simple or too sparkly and over the top. by the end of the evening everyone was still bent on the first dress. It fit me perfectly other then needing hemming. I went into the dressing room and put it back on and stepped out and looked at myself again and thought this was totally against all the rest, the best!

So i told her yes, that i liked this one and she started gathering things and then stopped in her tracks and said "wait? do you mean this is THE dress?" and i told her yes. She informed me that David's Bridal has a tradition that when a bride picks out THE dress that she makes a wish and rings a bell for everyone to make a wish with her. She handed me the bell, i smiled nervously and i think i had tears well up for a minute...because it wasnt the veil or the mirror... it was kind of the look on my mother and Wendy's face... but it was the bell that made me realized that what i thought was a simple research trip, turned into finding the dress of my dreams! I rang the bell loudly and made a wish! 

I hope my wish comes true! 

(What you thought i'd post a pic of the dress? How will i surprise everyone if i show you guys the dress i bought? :) ) 

The story of the Rings!

This is the story of our Weddings Rings! 

Well you all have seen my engagement ring, so i figured i'd tell you about my wedding band and his. 

My Ring!

Mine is a special band with a ton of history and I like to think that i will be fulfilling a dream that never happened. A few days after my engagement my mother came up to me with a small fabric pouch and from inside she pulled out an old, in pieces, ring. She told me that if i wanted i could have this ring to use as my wedding band. I looked it over and instantly loved it. It is a diamond and sapphire eternity band. She then told me the rings story:

The ring belonged to a woman that my mom's god mother used to take care of named Nena. She never took the ring off and when the Nena passed away, her brother asked my mom's god mother that she could have anything she wanted from Nena's jewelary box since she took such good care of her all the way up to the funeral. (she was there the day she passed away) My mother's god mother said that only thing she really wanted was the ring that Nena never took off, and her brother gifted it to her. Then many years later my mothers god mother gifted my mother with the ring, she used it as her engagement ring. (even though my father did give her a ring as well.) my mother wore it all the time until she was pregnant with me and it had to be cut off. it had been repaired once but the last person to repair it said it shouldn't be worn because it was fragile. The ring had a date of June 1926 or earlier according to my father... and a name. it had since worn off from age and wear. I thought that story was special enough, but mom came back to me a few days later and told me she asked her god mother and she remembered more about the ring. She told us that the ring was Nena's engagement ring! She was engaged to a doctor who fell ill and passed away and she loved him so much she never married and never took his ring off! So i fell even more in love with the ring! It had so much history, and so much love!! I'm so happy to give this ring a second chance of fulfilling its purpose to be a symbol of love and devotion!

A friend of mine told me where i could go to get it safely restored to its original condition. i was skeptical at first because it was a 80+ year old ring, and had already been damaged and badly repaired. But the day i picked my ring up i was so happy to see that they kept it as original as possible! they did remove the date on it... maybe i should have kept it? maybe not. I didnt think it was such a bad thing, as it was like giving the room a new beginning. besides i dont think i will ever forget its story! and i will pass the story on to my children some day!

His Ring!

His ring was a lucky find! I truly believe it was meant to be! I had been looking at rings a few times at the same store that repaired my wedding band. There were several that matched my engagement ring, but nothing that really stood out to me. I had wanted our wedding bands to match, but still be able to stand alone and still look beautiful, but after mom gifted me my ring i figured i would settle with matching finishes. one day looking at rings at the store, mom and i saw a ring that had a diamond and two sapphire's! We got super excited because we were like "That's perfect!" but sadly we soon realized it was Yellow Gold and not white. We countinued shopping around the store and right before we going to leave i decided i wanted to look at the ring anyways. I dont know why i just wanted to hold it in my hands and see how much it was. My eye's must have lit up, as Marilyn (the lovely store clerk) pulled out the ring from the tray. Much to all of our surprise the ring was actually white gold!!! I was so excited and instantly sent him a pic of it and he said he loved it. I had them put it aside for me and the following week i dragged him up to see and officially put it as sold! 

I cant help but feel there is so much about this wedding that is just falling into place and seems like it was meant to be! 

So there you have it! the story of our wedding rings!