Something Blue

I will have two items with me that are "Something Blue."

First are the "I Do" crystals for my shoes!

I also have a toss garter that has a blue ribbon it on. What were your something blues?

Something Borrowed

Really, my grandmother's pearls and Jason's grandmother's garter are borrowed too, but I want to have one item labeled as my "Something Borrowed." I will be borrowing my mom's rosary. We are Catholic and use the rosary not as a symbol, but as a tool for prayer. It is very special to us because my mom's rosary has really helped her and I through some tough times.

We will be wrapping the rosary around my bouquet so it will be there with me while I walk down the aisle and marry Jason!

Thanks mom for letting me borrow your special rosary!

Something New

Even though I will be wearing lots of new things on the big day (dress, shoes), my official "Something New" will be a pair of pearl studs that my mom gave me for the wedding! They are so delicate and classic. Each pearl has one tiny diamond that is connected to it. They are perfect for my wedding look. What I think is so neat about the earrings my mom just found is that they look like they were made for the pearls from my grandmother.

What was your something new?

Something Old

I really don't know the history behind the Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue. Maybe in my spare time I will research it! Wherever it came from, I love it! I will be sharing over the next few days my "somethings" and I really want to hear what you did at your own wedding.


For my Something Old, I have 2 things that are truly amazing and special to me. As an added touch, I have a "something old" from my family's side and from Jason's side.

I will be wearing my grandmother's gorgeous pearl necklace. It was given to my Grammy by my grandfather, Vic in 1951 at Christmas time. This was during the Korean War where my grandfather was stationed. My grandmother looked forward to the mail everyday because she knew there would be a letter for her from her love. One day the letter was different. Grammy described it as a package decorated with an array of colorful Japanese stamps. Her heart raced as she opened it and found the pearls-which she calls the most beautiful string of pearls she had ever seen. Grammy, I have to agree. The pearls are so gorgeous and look like they were made specifically for my wedding dress. I can't wait to show you! My grandparents have been married for 57 years! The pearls definitely symbolize a successful marriage to me.

I will also be wearing a garter from Jason's grandmother. It was worn by Jason's "JoJo," and has been passed down to everyone in the family who has been married. The garter represents about 137 years of marriage. For every bride that has worn it, a ribbon has been tied to it. It is so gorgeous and meaningful.

These pieces will be worn with great love and pride on our wedding day. Jason and I are so lucky and grateful to have such a loving and supportive family.

What have others used for your something old?

On a side note, my camera decided to break just days before our wedding and honeymoon...ahhh! I will have to post pics of these gorgeous pieces later. I promise! Because I hate blog posts without a picture, here is a sweet one...you know I am a sucker for dogs at weddings!

8 More Days...

That means I can pull the 10-day wedding weather forecast!!! Below is the current forecast for our wedding day...typical Houston and hot, hot, hot!

May 23, 2009 - Houston, TX

High: 90

Low: 72

10% chance of precipitation

Sunrise: 6:25 a.m.

Sunset: 8:13 p.m.

Well, Jason and I survived our first potential wedding disaster/bridezilla moment yesterday. Jason lost his passport! We looked everywhere and could not find it so I was freaking out that we would not be able to go to Mexico. But, last night after many hours of me freaking out, Jason found it!!! Crisis averted.

Hair Inspiration

I had a hair trial yesterday and it went awesome! I feel 100% confident in my hair person for the day of the wedding. I took pics from the trial, but again won't post yet because I don't want to ruin my "look" for Jason.

I had it in my head that I wanted to do some romantic braids in my hair for an updo or half updo, but after several attempts, my mom and I knew this was not for me. Then, we went with my original hair inspiration pics below. None of these are exactly what I am going with because of my short hair, but you get the idea...

What do you think?

I am super-happy that we went with all up since the wedding is outside and it will most likely be hot and muggy!

The Great Wedding Band Debate - Update

After much debate and help from my friends and fellow bloggers, I decided to go with the custom wedding band for my engagement ring! J and I (and my MOH) went to the jeweler who made my e-ring to order the band. After some frustration, I feel good about it, but am VERY anxious to see the end result!!!!

We told the jeweler a teeny-tiny band with teeny-tiny diamonds that will wrap around the ring and sit lower than the ring does so you can still see the beautiful and unique detailing on the e-ring.

We will see what happens! The bad news is that we won't be able to see it until May 21...two days before the wedding AND I had to give them my engagement ring until then...I am ringless! It felt so weird that I am now wearing my old James Avery love knot that my mom gave me years ago. It will suffice!

Here is a refresher of what my ring looks like:

Here is an idea of what the band may look like (but mine shoud be much more thin and dainty):

What's Been Going on Lately...

I am so sorry that I have been MIA lately! I feel like I'm drowning in things to do and surprisingly most of it doesn't have to do with wedding planning. I know it can be done (Ashley), but getting an MBA, while working full-time and planning a wedding is not something I recommend. To top that all off, I was out of town the past 2 weekends for a work conference and doing pre-martial counseling with Jason's grandfather (who is marrying us).

Everything went great, but I am in major need of some catch-up time! Another thing that I had this past Friday was a wedding shower that my co-workers/friends threw for me!!! They are the best, most awesome girls ever...I love you Page, Ashel, Dianne, Sarah, Barbara, Diana and Mon'Sher!

Just ripping into the presents...

Awwww....

Lenox Butler's Pantry Rice Bowl!!!

I love the Butler's Pantry Dinner Plate...

And the girls:

Invites...

Are out! They were mailed last week and have been arriving at their homes. My amazing mom, Shelley graciously addressed all of them herself. (She actually banned me from even touching them because I have such awful handwriting), but whatever, they look amazing!

Since the invitations are in people's hands, I can finally show you what we chose. (This is a sample of the invitation). We used a mix of script and the font below. Very simple invitations, that go with our garden wedding theme. I love them! Hope you do too.

We used the "Wedding Heart" stamp below on both our invitation and reply cards. The sage green stamp (below) was used on the reply card and the same stamp, but in creme was used on the invitation.

What type of stamp did you use on your invites? I love custom stamps with people's pics on them like below from Chris + Flora, but that will add some major moolah $$ onto your wedding budget. Yay for the wedding hearts stamp!

Jason and I just lucked out that there was already a stamp out there that perfectly matched our wedding theme and invites!

More Shower Pics

Here are a few more pictures from our first shower in Jason's hometown. We are still waiting to see the proofs from our engagement session...you know I will post them as soon as they are out.

Also, today is my amazing and wonderful fiance's birthday!!! Unfortunately, I am not with him on his special day. I am at a conference for work, but can't wait to celebrate Jason's day when I return.

Enjoy the pics...the last one should make you laugh hysterically which is always needed on a Sunday night/Monday morning!

Opening gifts...

Jason's grandmothers...

Jason's mommys...

The fam that includes Doyletta, Michelle, JoJo and Kandi...

Jason's mom and my mom...

Finally, here is the one that is sure to bring you a laugh at my expense...what in the world am I doing, and why do I feel compelled to share it with you? Laughter...

Engagement Pics...

Are taken! We had so much fun yesterday running around downtown Houston taking our engagement pictures. We got lots of awesome shots, including ones of Tucker! We got everything I wanted...a bench shot, a downtown building shot, a laying in the grass shot, a puppy shot with Tucks, a walking the street shot, a ring shot and the green/blue tiled wall shot. Yea!!!

Jason and I can't wait to see them and of course we will share with you as soon as we do. After we finished with the pics we were starving. I have been so good lately on my diet that I felt I needed a little cheat so we had my favorite...Mexican food at Escalante's. It was a perfect end to a perfect day...except when I had to write a paper after we got home and I was exhausted!

I had an awesome makeup artist, Amanda come to my apartment to give me a pretty face for the shoot. Here I am when she was finished...

Makeup close-up...I am so serious...I kinda look like I'm going to kill someone-oops!

Our after pics meal...cheese enchiladas and fresh guacamole-yum!

I was REALLY happy!
And Jason was really sleepy...doesn't he look handsome!

Meet our Venue

I went to our wedding and reception venue today because I drive past it almost everyday and it was just too pretty to resist today...welcome:

Scary bridge that I will have to walk down to get to the alter #1:

Bridge #2:

Almost there....are you out of breath yet?

Getting closer...
Stop! That's enough for today! Let's look at the animals that were there to greet me. Here is Mr. Softshell turtle:

And the other turtles...

Peacock #1...I just love these guys!

I learned today, why they say "leaping lizards." This guy was on the ground, but lizards kept jumping around everywhere!

The ducks...

This guy was in a bad mood. he kept picking on all the other peacocks and he kind of scared me!

That's his bad side...

I also saw a raccoon which is weird since it was 5 in the afternoon. He was way too fast to catch on camera! Have a great Friday.

Wedding Diet Update

I know I haven't posted much on the wedding diet progress, but things are really going great! I got off to a slow start, but have been doing much better now that I am feeling the pressure!!! I am still on Jenny Craig, but what has made the most difference is my workouts.


My size 8 clothes are definitely getting looser and I can now where some of my size 6 jeans. The best indicator of my weight loss came last week when I was able to try on my wedding dress for the first time!!! It looked amazing and MUCH better than the first time I had it on. You could really see a difference in my stomach and sides. I even received a few comments last week about how my face looks thinner!!!


My plan for the next week is to start getting my arms toned up and to keep losing that weight! My first dress fitting is not until the end of April.


Beginning weight: 146
Current weight: 134.5

Tie-ing the Knot

Since Jason and I are having a more casual, garden wedding, He, the BM, and the ushers will be wearing suits instead of tuxes. Jason and the BM will be wearing navy suits and white shirts.

Our plan is to find 2 coordinating ties like below, but in navy and periwinkle. Jason really likes stripes and paisleys so hopefully we can find something perfect for him, Stephen and my brother, Carter (an usher) to wear.

Here is a reminder of what the MOH dress looks like:


And...drum roll please...the boys ties...Jason's, Stephen's, and Carters!!!

And of course a shot with their socks. Originally we wanted argyle socks with navy and periwinkle, but when I found the perfect shade of solid perwinkle socks this past weekend, I could not pass them up!