Save the Date and Invitation Preview...

Oh my GOSH!!! Tres and I are sending out the CUTEST Save the Dates ever!!! I am so excited about them I could scream!!!


Save the Date.... HANDKERCHIEFS?!?!? Yep, that's what all of our guests will be getting in the mail in the next few months. I have included a few examples of them, but ours will look much different than these. They will of course match our color scheme (gold and pink) and go with our theme (southern-vintage). I CANNOT wait to get them done and sent out so I can blog about them!!!

Also, we are getting custom-made invitations done, and the sample should be sent to me this week. I honestly believe we have one of the best graphic designers out there doing it too! I know this because I work with her on a daily basis, and I swear anything she ever sends to me for the website is almost jaw-dropping because it's like way better than I ever imagined it to be in my mind. After seeing her work, I don't even know if I could fathom the thought of anyone else doing them! I am 100% confident she will send me like the best invitation I have ever seen that matches perfectly with our theme... soooo exciting!

My Something BLUE must be my SHOE!!!

Wow… it has been way too long since an update. I am really behind on wedding planning… my Knot To Do List is starting to yell at me through the computer screen. I have a good excuse though. First of all, it’s the beginning of the holidays and we all know how that goes. But second of all, I just got foot surgery about two weeks ago, and I have been laying low for a number of reasons. A) It hurts, B) Being started at by complete strangers because I can hardly put one foot in front of the other is one of the most awkward situations I have ever been in (for crying out loud…. Do people’s parents not teach them that staring is rude anymore?), and C) Do you know me at ALL?!?!?! If I’m not in heels, I don’t usually feel myself. My new slogan: “The higher my shoes… the higher my spirits!” …ESPECIALLY after being banned from them for three months. Yes, you heard me right… THREE MONTHS. I also cannot workout for three months, and if you know my obsession for heels, you also know my desire to work out at least 3-5 times a week. Needless to say, this situation is a disaster, but I will be kickin’ it again in no time. And when I finally am, those kicks will not be coming from just any pair of shoes!!!

Long before I had foot surgery, I decided that on my wedding day I wanted fancy shoes. Now, I am known for a fancy shoe here and there, and my closet is not hurting for them, but when I say fancy… I mean F-A-N-C-Y! I have always wanted a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes and have never bought myself a pair, so what better time to treat myself to a pair of them than after taunting foot surgery and for my wedding day!!! Aside from a shoe so exquisite, I would like for them to be BLUE! What better than for your SHOE to be your something BLUE on your wedding day! I have a pair in mind already (shown above), but they may be too tall. I always said a shoe could never be too tall, but I prefer to not tower over my future husband at our ceremony or for that matter, trip and fall down the aisle (oh dear!) So… the shoe search begins!!!

Did I mention after the wedding, I plan to ONLY wear the shoes every single year on our Anniversary date?! If that isn't special, I don't know what is!

The Never-Ending China Debacle

The two china patterns we picked out! Now we just have to narrow it down (and make sure this is exactly what we want)! I'm pretty sure Tres is going to refuse to look at anymore china though! :)

This past weekend, Tres and I gave registry shopping a go. Without actually registering for anything, we walked around several potential registry shops to get an idea of what we would be registering for and what “style” of dinnerware we wanted to go with. Ok, let me rephrase that… I drove Tres crazy all day Saturday trying to decide if we should register for casual dinnerware or china.

After walking around the china section for about an hour, leaving the store, and going home… four hours later I was still talking about what we should get, six hours later I was goggling the differences between casual dinnerware and china, and eight hours later, I was asking everyone’s advice on Facebook. I think Tres was ready to get rid of me! I gave him the whole spill of “We can’t think present tense… we have to think future tense! We will be eating on this the rest of our lives, we may want to pass this down to our children, etc.” Needless to say, Tres HATES china now. I don’t even think he ever wants to look at it again, and on top of it all, he must think that he has an obsessive compulsive fiancé now! Haha!

After all that, and even though most people told us not to do it because they never use theirs, we decided to go with china.
1) Tres made a good point that we already have very nice casual dinnerware. Almost a year ago, for no reason at all, I bought BEAUTIFUL Tracy Porter casual dinnerware that we have never even used (really because I am terrified to put food on anything that gorgeous… not sure how I am going to deal with people eating on the china… haha).
2) Tres picked out the two most beautiful Vera Wang china patterns that I couldn’t help but love. At first, he acted like he didn't have an opinion, but I told him that I wanted him to be just as involved in the dinnerware decision making as I was, so after dragging him around the china section, he told me those two patterns were his favorite. Luckily, I agreed!

One thing I learned from our registry hunting experience: we are very lucky because we already have A LOT of the basic stuff that most people don't have when they go to register. Tres is 31 years old and has been on his own for a LONG time now :), and there is a lot of stuff I have bought since I have been on my own, so there will be tons of everyday items we don't even have to register for, so it only makes sense for us to go ahead and get the china!

P.S. Thanks to all my Facebook friends that responded to my post about the china!!! I need all the advice I can get from the already married! :)

Armosa Studios - Our Photographers!

Its official… we signed the contract, sent in the deposit, and we now have photographers - photographers that are out-of-this-world!!! Sure we are from Memphis and getting married in New Orleans, yet we hired photographers from FLORENCE, ALABAMA! It may not make sense… UNTIL you see the work these people do. Then, it’s quite obvious why we chose these guys to take our pictures… they are amazingly talented and so worth getting from all the way in AL! An additional plus is they are married and seem to be just as awesome of a couple as they are photographers, so we are stoked!

I told Tres as soon as we started wedding planning that photography was ranked #1 on my wedding priority list, so we set out looking for the best, and I think we found them! I had actually seen these guys’ work before Tres and I even got engaged, and I was convinced that when Tres and I got married, we would have to consider them. Their "Vogue/GQ/Vanity Fair" photography style has us so excited to be models for a day… haha! We can’t wait to meet and work with them!

They are Armosa Studios! Check out their work on their website: http://armosastudio.com/index2.php?v=v1

Dear Weather, Please don’t give the bride a heart attack!

(Above: what we DON'T want NOLA to look like on October 17, 2010)

Well, it’s November which means our wedding month is over until next year, and I am already stressed about the month we picked because I have never seen so much rain in my entire 25 years of living!!! Seriously, half the reason we chose October is because it’s supposed to be the nicest month for weather in New Orleans. So, while the monsoon came down here in Memphis all month, I drove myself crazy by checking the weather forecast for New Orleans WEEKLY! Let me just tell you… the weather was no better in the Big Easy – rain just about every single day. But like Tres said to me: “Better it rain every day this year than that one day next year.” (Soooo positive… just one of a million reasons I love him so!)

Our venue is not made for a rainy wedding, and I swear if the day of our wedding it rains, I will DIE… D-I-E… DIE!!! So, please start praying now for good weather on October 17, 2010 in New Orleans! Like I told Tres… we have an entire year to pray. And, if it happens to rain in New Orleans October 17, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. start praying that the bride doesn’t drop dead!

Happy -1 Year Anniversary!

Last Saturday was a very special day… a day we will celebrate for the rest of our lives! The morning of October 17, 2009, Tres and I woke up and begin celebrating our negative one year anniversary!

When we officially booked our date with Southern Oaks in September, they congratulated us with a bottle of “Southern Oaks” personalized champagne! It was adorable, and when we got it, we decided we would drink it on day when we had exactly a year until our wedding. That morning, we popped open the bubbly and mixed it with orange juice for Mimosas! I cooked French Toast and we had a great brunch, while watching the movie “Sideways.”

It was a lazy, casual day. After our movie over brunch, we took naps. That night, we went to a Grizzlies game and did a little bar hopping after that. It was a perfect -1 year anniversary. And now that it’s over it means… WE ARE OFFICIALLY GETTING MARRIED IN LESS THAN A YEAR!!!!

Budget and Beaches!

Money, money, money, monaaayyyy!!!! This past Sunday, Tres and I sat down and had “the talk…” The BUDGET talk that is! :) We spent literally the entire afternoon staring at a spreadsheet and mapping out our budget – what to spend on what, where to save, where not to save, etc. We were lucky enough to be given a great sum of money from my mom and dad to go towards the wedding, so we have been very grateful for that! But we have also learned that no matter what kind of budget you set, you will more than likely ALWAYS go over it. We have definitely gone over it, but we are not stressing about it… I love that saying, “Go big… you only get married once!” haha. And this is true, since we only get to do this one time in our lives, we are planning on not going overboard but having everything we really, really want!
It grows on trees... duh!

Sunday afternoon’s budget talk became Sunday night’s honeymoon talk! Now THIS was much more exciting than the budget talk! We love to travel together, and we do it a lot (I have a Travel Blog too)! So, I had been anxious to have this talk because I just know our honeymoon will be to die for! We discussed what we wanted and didn’t want out of a honeymoon. Here are our bottom lines:
Bermuda: There's nothing more unique than a PINK beach!

• Nothing “touristy”! At first, I kind of imagined us doing a place in Europe neither of us had been before, but the places we want to go in Europe are very touristy. The last thing I want to do is to be running around five different cities in a week’s time, trying to see 100 different attractions, with 10 different maps and tour guides in our hands, and so tired at the end of the day that I don’t even want to curl my hair or dress cute for dinner! No thanks! I am dying to go to Italy, but maybe we will save it for our one year anniversary!
• A relaxing place! Hence, nothing touristy! We will be off work for about a week for this, so I want my feet up and to not move a bone in my body the entire time. I want to be able to enjoy the days with naps in between and enjoy the nights without be tired (and also feel like curling my hair for dinner each night)!
• Not a long flight! This is Tres’ bottom line, and he has a good point. We are already having somewhat of a vacation wedding with it being in New Orleans. We will already be taking off some the week before to get down there and get settled, so we don’t need to go on a honeymoon where we are flying across the entire globe. A 20-hour plane ride will take a full day of vacation away from us on the way there and on the way back… No thank you to that too!
• Finally, a nice hotel room and good food! Just feed me good food, and I’m happy. Just put Tres in an awesome hotel room, and he’s happy... fair game!
The Turks and Caicos... tiny little islands

So, with all of this in mind, there is really only a few options, and they are all in the Caribbean! We, of course, have consulted with our good friends Trevor and Lori on this since they lived in the Virgin Islands for several years. This is what we are leaning towards (and this could completely change on any given day…): Turks and Caicos, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and Barbados - with Turks and Caicos and Bermuda being the favorites. We like the idea of Turks because it’s different and the development is very new over there. Plus, I have read that it’s where a lot of celebrities go for their “moon”! And we like Bermuda because of the pink sand, the good reputation, and it’s not really in the Caribbean… it’s more north than all the other islands and it’s all by itself! We are going to discuss this further. TO BE CONTINUED…

We are getting married in New Orleans!!!

On our last night in San Francisco we went to a spectacular sushi dinner and then discovered a cool hotel bar, The Starlight Room. While there, we started discussing where we should have our wedding. Tres had heard me say before that I did not want to have a Memphis wedding and he didn’t care to have a Knoxville wedding either. So, we started thinking of destination wedding ideas! We knew we wanted it close enough for all the friends and family to come who wanted to, but far enough and in an interesting and fun enough place for people to have a good time.

New Orleans had crossed my mind before for a number of reasons: His family is from there, a lot of his family is still in or around that area, it’s not too far from Memphis, and most importantly, his 89 year old grandmother who I just LOVE lives there, and this way, she would be able to come for sure if we had it there. So, when we started discussing it, I threw New Orleans out there not knowing what Tres response would be. To my surprise, he told me he had actually thought of the same place, and he would love to have our wedding there! (I’m telling you – we read each other’s minds… I am not even kidding!) We thought about how far it was from all our family and friends… those in Memphis, Knoxville, Austin, Jacksonville, Atlanta, etc. etc. After thinking about it, we realized this was the PERFECT place… all feasible driving distance from everyone! So it was set: NEW ORLEANS!!!!