Wedding Progress!

Thank you so much for all of the engagement love! Chris and I are very excited to take this next step in our lives together. We are planning a very small and intimate wedding this summer in Rhode Island, with 40 of our closest family and friends. We have secured the reception tent, the caterer, the officiant, the photographer, and most of the ceremony and reception decorations. There will be a few things to take care of when we arrive in Rhode Island before the wedding, but other than that, we are feeling very good about how much progress we've made!

Here is a picture of my gorgeous ring! Chris did a wonderful job. I think it's a perfect fit for me because it's classic and vintage looking. I love that!

One of the first things I did was pick my dress! I think that's supposed to be wayyyyy lower on the priority scale, but I was so excited to go with my mom and I ended up making my decision pretty quickly. Of course I can't post a picture of my final choice, but here are a few that I said no to before finding the right one. The first three are from David's Bridal and the last one is the Maggie Sottero Karena Royale.

  

We also sent our save the dates. I liked the idea of going with the state theme because it is a destination wedding after all. 

And here is the first decoration I bought for the wedding. I am going for a "vintage & rustic" casual wedding like pretty much everyone else in the universe. At least according to Pinterest. But hey, there are a lot of good ideas on there that I like so I don't mind that I'm kind of inspired by the current wedding trends.

My mom and I have really been having fun going antiquing and looking for vintage decorations. There are so many good ideas out there! One large piece of furniture we'll need is a display to hold the glasses for drinks (yes, I'm doing mason jars but I feel that's fitting for me since it represents the South) and here are a couple of really good ideas I saw in the antique markets.

Using two ladders with boards between them:

Using shutters with boards between them (I think this is awesome!):

One other thing I'm really excited about is using a window frame to transfer a love quote on to serve as a decorative focal point in the tent.

Okay, I feel like I've shared too much! I want many of the details to remain a surprise for my guests so I'm going to try to keep most of it to myself until the big reveal after the wedding! I may share some of the DIY crafts I'll be working on over the next couple of months. I have a huge to-do list!

HONEYMOON QUESTION: We were initially set on going back to Hawaii since we really loved our vacation there a few years ago, but it's looking like that won't happen. First of all, plane tickets are $1,000 each and the timeshare doesn't have much availability for our desired time. We are now looking into a trip to Jamaica and possibly at a Sandals resort. I'd like some honest feedback on Sandals if you have any or if you have any other recommendations in the Caribbean, I'd be happy to hear it! Thanks!

Exciting Updates!

Hi friends!

Happy 2013! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and new year. We had a great Christmas at home with my family and then traveled to Florida to see Chris' side for New Year's! 

I know I haven't posted in a couple of months which I guess is becoming the new normal. I keep saying I'll be better, but I'm going to stop saying that. I mainly post for my own benefit so that years from now, I can look back and see what I did on my 25th birthday or where I was three Thanksgiving's ago. I have decided to look at my blog as a personal diary and not a public blog. I do love all of my readers and if you are willing to put up with my sporadic posting then I'm happy to have you here! (And if I'm going to be honest with myself, my life has been pretty uneventful since moving back home...)

Moving on...

Chris and I adopted a precious puppy on Thanksgiving weekend. Her name is Abbey Rose! She has been such a handful but we love her more than anything. She has been taking up a majority of our free time and we are acting like "parents" now. I can't remember the last time we went out for more than 2 hours alone! Ha! This picture was one of the first I took of her. She has grown quite a bit, but she's still pretty little.

I guess the biggest piece of news to share (and the real reason I'm writing this post!) is that Chris and I are engaged! He asked me in Savannah, GA on New Year's Day. It was our 3 year anniversary!

We were in Savannah for a day trip on our way down to Florida to see Chris' family. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) knew for over 2 months that Chris had a ring and was planning to propose. The whole trip to Florida was mostly so his family could throw an engagement party and celebrate with us. It was so much fun and really nice! 

I am in major planning mode since we have set the date for June 29 of this year! I had been "pinning" wedding inspiration like crazy since October, but it's different when you actually have to make decisions about design and style. But I'm enjoying getting things in order and hopefully things go smoothly and I can avoid becoming a bridezilla :)

My mom and I went shopping for a dress last week and that was fun! I know that should be way down on my list of priorities, but I really couldn't resist. Currently I'm torn between an affordable David's Bridal gown (less than $500) and a more expensive but GORGEOUS Maggie Sottero gown. I keep telling myself it's just one day and I'll never wear the dress again so I should go with the more financially sound choice, but then I look at the picture of me in the Maggie and I'm like....OMG I HAVE TO HAVE IT! 

I'm telling you...Bride Problems!! Ha! I'm so excited to finally be able to say that I'm engaged. It's been a long time coming!!