I'm Going To Be A Bridesmaid!!!!

YEA!!!!

The date is set...the bridesmaids are in place...and my brother is getting married!!!!!!
My brother is going to marry a beautiful woman by the name of Christie! She was a part of my wedding and now she has asked me to be one of her bridesmaids!!! I am so ecstatic!

Here is my favorite photo of the couple from last Christmas!

One Year Ago!!

So 1 year ago, on August 30, 2008 Jeff made me the HAPPIEST girl in the world!! He got down on his knee in a hot air balloon and asked me to be his wife!!!!

...and I said YES!!!

After our "flight", Jeff had a limo waiting to take us wine tasting in Edna Valley and then for a beautiful sunset walk on the beach!!

I will NEVER forget this AMAZING day!

A Year Later and here we are:

HUSBAND & WIFE!!!

Pre-Ceremony Photos

Here are the Pre-Ceremony photos of Me and my Bridesmaids and Jeff with his Groomsmen! Some cute and some funny, but all of the photos you see are ones that we directed our photographer to take!!

Bridal Portraits

So...here are some of my bridal portraits. There are a few I like, but not too many (see previous post).

Wine Tasting...Bridal Shower!!

So, last weekend I had family in town and I had the best bridal shower!!! My cousin/sister Caitlin and my brother's girlfriend, Christie, threw me the best bridal shower in Culver City at a place called Bottle Rock!!

It was really nice! The tables were all set up beautifully with wine glasses, place settings, wine bottle stoppers, flowers and photos from our engagement!!! I am so blessed that we had somebody there to take photos of our engagement!!! It was exciting to see those photos on the table when I walked in!

These are my Hostesses with the Mostesses! Hehe! They were so great to do this for me! I am so grateful and cannot wait to do this for them...when their boyfriends get off their hiney's and purpose!!! Thanks Caitlin & Christie!!! I love you guys tons!!

Weddings, Friends and Celebrations!

As I said in my previous blog...we were in Dallas last weekend to celebrate all weekend long! First off, on Saturday we were able to attend the wedding of one of my great guy friends and his beautiful new wife! Bryan and Jennie Bledsoe! Funny story: for the longest time I had no idea what Jennie's last name was because the day that Bryan met her, we met up for lunch after church that day and he told me he met his future wife...and he knew her first name was Jennie and told me just to call her Jennie Bledsoe!!! Little did we all know...he wasn't kidding! He really did meet his future wife that day! The following photo is of Jeff and I at their reception!!

Sunday was our Wedding Celebration in Dallas! Since we are having a small destination wedding we decided to have a celebration in Dallas so we could share our marriage with our friends in Dallas!

The food was amazing! We had an amazing caterer! He made three different types of crepes! Oh they were so yummy! Below is a beautiful photo of the plate setup!

Then there were my beautiful hostesses and some of my bridesmaids! In order from left to right: Carol Vanderslice (the celebration was at her home), Tina Simpson (my second mom), Amy Jo McKinley (one of my best friends from DCC and Bridesmaid), Monica "Banfield" Drew (best friend and my Matron of Honor), Me, Ashley Bostick (best friend since we were three years old and Bridesmaid), Caitlin Ernst (my little sister and Maid of Honor), Connie Bodie (one of my mom's best friends)!

Oh...it was such an amazing time! We received so many fun gifts...and are grateful for everybody that was able to share that day with us! One of my blogging buddies (Lauren Neaves) made a sweet little post on her page with a few other photos! Click here to check out her blog!

Wedding Celebration!!!

So, we went to Dallas this last weekend for our Wedding Celebration! I am so excited, because we got to see a ton of people that we haven't seen in a very long time!! I must admit I got a little overwhelmed for a bit. We received some great gifts...that we have already put to great use!!! Here are a couple of pics of some of the gifts we received! We are truly blessed!

This is my Nespresso and Milk frother! (courtesy of the Matney's and the hostesses of my shower!)
This is my cake platter with a cake in it now! (courtesy of John & Cindy Bostick)!

There were so many people there and they were from all different walks of our lives! Jeff used to work at a treatment center in Hallsville which is close to Longview so some of his friends (former co-workers) were there along with one of his favorite former residents! It was so awesome for me to be able to see him with those people and hear some of their stories about that time in his life before we met! Then there were people that I have known since I was 3 years old! There were people from the church I grew up in! There was my BIG sister from my sorority in college! There were former co-workers of mine...former bosses of mine! There were girls that I cheered with! And to top it off...there were all these new babies! It was such a great time! I will post pictures when I can find my camera...it is still packed away! It's been a busy week...I will save that for another blog!

Engagement Photos!

Exactly a month ago Jeff and I met an amazing photographer on the beach in Malibu to take our engagement photos for us! Her name is Ziva Santop and we found her through Bella Pictures! It was a wonderful day for us...I felt like all we did was have a nice long day on the beach, hugging & kissing with a beautiful sunset to watch! It was a perfect day! Here are some of the photos we would like to share with all of you!

Cake or Cupcakes

So, I'm on the fence with this new "cupcake" trend in place of wedding cakes.
If they are done right they look like this:
Otherwise there is the traditional wedding cake:
I'm going to place a poll on the side...place your votes and then let me know your thoughts!!!