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Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Number 23

As you may have read before, Jason and I met two years ago on February 23 and are now looking forward to being married on May 23, 2009. Needless to say, the number 23 is special to us!

This past Monday we celebrated our two year anniversary together. Since money is tight with the wedding, we chose to not spend much money on each other and to do homemade gifts from the heart. I gave Jason and book called, "Why I Love You" (not exactly homemade, but close)! It is a book where you fill in the blanks with the prompts they give you. Besides my stories, I also included lots of pictures and decorations. It is kind of like a scrapbook, but with more words.


Jason made me this:




It's our own little tribute to the number 23! We are going to etch our initials on it and add notches for every year that we are together...how cute! On the back of it, Jason included one of our favorite scriptures and the piece of wood that he used to write "Will you marry me" in the sand.





How cute and thoughtful is he???

Monday, February 23, 2009

How to Surive the Happiest Day of Your Life


Yesterday, I started reading, A More Perfect Union: How I Survived the Happiest Day of My Life by Hana Schank. I am only halfway through, but it is great so far! I highly recommend to anyone planning a wedding, just got married or knows anyone who has been married recently. I have laughed so much and can relate to so many of Hana's thoughts about the craziness of planning a wedding as well as the even crazier $72 billion a year wedding industry.
As soon as I'm finished with it, I'm going to pass to my mommy to read. Let me know if you want it passed to you when she is done!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

My Name is Tucker and I'm a Chihuahua!







My poor dog! He loves it. I have had Tucker since my sophomore year in college. He was about 6-8 weeks when I was able to take him home with me and ole' Tuckster is now 5.5 years old! He truly is my baby and we even have our own blog together called Life's a Beach.


I really wanted Tucks to be in our wedding some how, but when we really thought about it, we realized this would make the day a little chaotic and would take away from the ceremony.


Now, I think that we should incorporate him in our engagement photos that will happen in just a few weeks. Here are some of my fave wedding/pet pics from various parts of the wedding process:

The ceremony:

Engagement pics:


Gettting ready:

Wedding day pics:

Friday, February 20, 2009

Save the Dates

I wasn't even sure that we needed Save the Dates- our wedding is relatively small and most of our family already knew about our May 23 nuptials, but I got worried that our special day may get lost on people's radar since it is Memorial Day weekend and May is a very busy month.

We decided we would do STD's but didn't want this to be too pricey. My mom and I had the BEST designer at Swoozie's and she suggested that instead of ordering them from an stationary company we would get them done in-house.


Look how cute they are:




I realize doing them ourselves would have been even more cost effective, but my mom and I did a cost-benefit analysis (like that? I'm getting an MBA) and realized it would be better to have Swoozie's do them!


P.S. I have other cost saving tips on invitations for Brides who want something professional and nice, but don't want to do it themselves. That post coming soon...

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Sole Mates

I found them...I love them...I bought them...



I know, I know! I was set on doing a fun, color shoe, but I found these Caparros today! They fit perfectly, are comfortable, the heel is perfect (and I am picky about the right heel height), and they are ivory. Bonus: cute bow! Extra Bonus: On Sale! They are really "feet flattering" and most importantly, I feel great in them.
So where did on find them...DSW! My fave, but total hit and miss. This brings us to our next polling question:
Since I originally wanted a fun, color shoe, should I:
a.) Try and find a place who can dye them my signature wedding color: periwinkle
b.) Keep them classic ivory

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Cake? Yes, Please!


Jason and I have picked our cake! If you read my blog regularly, you know how excited I was to go cake tasting and choose our yummy cakes. I have a sweet tooth, what can I say? I was a little bummed because Jason just doesn't share my cake excitement. He isn't a very big sweets guy and really isn't a big cake guy. But, he loves me and knows how excited I was, so he played along and went with me to taste cakes.

Our cake consultant, brought us 5 different types of cakes with different icings: classic bridal white, chocolate, Italian creme, red velvet, and strawberry. We tried all of them, but had our faves.

I picked...drumroll please...bridal white cake of course! With classic butter cream frosting and a fruit filling.

On to the groom's cake. You all know how Jason wants it designed based on his earlier Groom's Cake post, but I didn't know which flavor he would pick. I just figured he would do chocolate, not because he likes it so much, but because it is the groom's cake "norm." Jason said, "I guess the Italian creme..it was pretty good." I was like, "are you sure, you don't seem that jazzed about it."

And then I looked down at the cake plate and Jason had eaten the entire piece of red velvet cake! I only had a little bite and he downed the rest of it! I said, babe, I think we know what cake you should order! He agreed, so red velvet for J!!!

I think those flavors will be the perfect pair...just like us.
Can anyone guess what type of fruit filling I picked?

An Etsy Wedding

Jason and I could definitely have an Etsy wedding...I love this site and keep discovering more and more things that I want to order for our wedding.

We already have this from SignsbyDiane:




And now I really want these other items:

From Paloma's Nest



I wouldn't wear this at the wedding, but you know how I love peacocks...maybe I could wear at a pre-wedding event - by FeatherBrain:





Wouldn't this look so good with "Chelsea and Jason" - necklace by GemsbyEm



I saved this picture a while back and I can't remember the seller, but I know it was from Etsy. I love the color and the hydrangeas!

What have you purchased or want from Etsy???

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Great Minds Think Alike!



Jason and I agreed that we weren't going to get each other anything for Valentine's Day, yet we both got each other heart mugs! I gave him the white one with the red heart and he gave me the red one with white heart...weird!



And in honor of how we got engaged and our blog, "The Perfect Catch," Jason gave me this chocolate fish:

Saturday, February 14, 2009

The perfect wedding does not make the perfect marriage

It is so easy to get caught up in wedding planning. A good friend of mine, emailed me today and told me about her wedding dress, but then followed it was quickly followed by, and I'm paraphrasing, "we just can't wait to be married, wedding planning was fun at first, but now it is just stressful to get it all planned plus continue on with our normal activities of jobs, kids, etc."

I have actually heard about women who take on their own wedding planning as a full-time endeavor and quit their jobs! Can you believe that? I will admit that I am guilty of wishing I didn't have a job and graduate school so I could just go off and do fun wedding planning things all day, but be careful what you wish for-I would be miserable without my job that gives me meaning and purpose in my life and school which is helping me be better at my job!

Maybe she is just an urban wedding myth, but imagine that girl who did quit her job to plan her wedding. What does she do when the honeymoon is over? Go beg for her job back? Or maybe her new husband is just so rich that she can be a full-time wife. Ick! I fully support full-time moms...I think that is the hardest profession with the crappiest pay ever...but a full-time wife-what does that mean?

But I digress, this post is about getting caught up in the wedding planning whirlwind; unless you are a wedding planner, this is dangerous. Have you ever heard of postpartum depression? Of course you have-very serious, very real. I have actually heard of post-wedding depression and although this has nothing to do with hormones or science, I think women really do face this. They become obsessed with one day, every little detail, every little cost, and then poof it's over. And all that left is a marriage.

I know you can hear the sarcasm in my last few words. I have loved every second of my wedding planning so far. Even the "I'm getting stressed-take a deep breath" parts. But, through the entire process, Jason and I have made a concerted effort to keep in the front of our minds and the bottom of our hearts, the true meaning of all of this craziness: that we have found each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together, legally bonded as husband and wife- truly until death do us part-and even that won't part us as we will meet in heaven. Death will just take us away from each other for a little while-scary!

I knew a girl who had the most beautiful and perfect wedding you could ever dream of-the dream-like dress, the romantic backdrop, the special tears, and the support and love of their family and friends. It was a wedding that would make even the happiest of people, envious. Perfect wedding, not so perfect marriage. The couple didn't even make it a month before they were separated and the marriage was annulled. Perfect wedding-not so perfect marriage.

This post really isn't meant to be depressing-it's just a reminder that weddings, in all their fun and glory, are just an event that celebrates the marriage between two people. I think if more couples, especially the women (I hate to say), remembered this and TRULY believed it, this country would have a much more encouraging divorce rate than 50/50.

Happy Valentine's Day...and 97 Days until our Wedding!


I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day! Guess what Jason and I are going to do today...cake tasting! We already know where we are getting our cakes, we just now get to taste and determine exactly what we want. I am soooo excited!
Other than that, we are doing a very low-key V-Day. Real life has kicked in and we are dealing with lots of financial issues all at once-Tucker had to have surgery and lots of drugs this past week, Jason's car needs a new alternator, and we are trying to save for the wedding. I am not complaining-I just get so sick of the wedding blogs that don't talk about the real life aspect of planning a wedding. This is real life!
Can you believe that the wedding is 97 days away-I have got to step up the wedding diet...sorry I haven't posted on that lately, but I have lost a total of 7 pounds. I have reached a plateau and eating cake sure won't help. Another day...
Back to the point, happy love day from Jason, Tucker and me. Muahh!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Odds are I will trip and fall on my wedding day...

One would not use the word graceful to describe me. I definitely don't take myself very seriously because I trip and fall a lot! I trip on nothing, fall going up the stairs, get my heels caught in cracks at work...basically I'm a mess. I have scars on my knees to prove this!
It probably wasn't the best idea to choose the Vargo's gazebo as our ceremony venue because in order to get to Jason, I will have to make my grand entrance going over not one, but TWO bridges. Not even normal straight bridges, but long, unstable cable bridges; wood slats and all. I am sure bets have already been placed that I slip and fall at some point. Coincidentally, last Valentine's Day when Jason took me to dinner at Vargo's I fell very badly while walking across the exact bridge.

Oh well, that's what makes me, me, so maybe it will make our wedding day even more perfect if I eat it.

Not to disappoint this weekend with my clumsiness, Jason and I went for a bike ride. It was one of the best rides we have been on-we burned lots of calories and explored some really cool streets in Houston. On our way home, we were on a very busy street so we had to "off-road" it in the grass. There were some tiny trails to go on, but it you went an inch too much to the left, you were a goner...

I was a goner and fell directly into the ditch full of mud! I didn't hurt myself because the mud was so thick and mushy. It certainly was gross and Jason, plus all of the cars driving past, got a great laugh!

On a side note, Ashley and I got first place in the Southern Weddings Photo Contest...first place! Thank you to all who voted for us crazy, Texas girls!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Begging! Please, please go vote!

Ashley and I still need more votes. I am begging please, down on my knees! We really want to win this! It has become our obsession this week.

As of this morning we have 160 votes out of 600 total votes!

VOTING ENDS TODAY...so PLEASE GO VOTE for # 19!!!!!

Just click on the link, scroll down to the bottom, and post a comment for 19! Thank you so much! I will let you know tomorrow what the results are.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Please VOTE for me!

My friend, Ashley and I submitted an entry for a photo contest about how much we love the just-debuted Southern Weddings Magazine. We made the cut and need your votes!

You have until this Thursday, February 5 to vote for us...we are #19.

Just leave a comment saying you love #19.

Thank you!!!
 

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