Archive for the ‘Latest Update’ Category

I have soooo many things to share with you and am beyond excited to share gorgeous photos from our photographers, FS Photography, hilarious stories, lessons learned and much much more!

Here’s a wedding day photo our photographers have shared with us!  Talk about a teaser!!!! Ahhhh can’t wait for more!

Engagement Photos:

Jonnathan and I opted to have our engagement photos done at the same venue as our wedding.  We loved the natural beauty, the towering Oak trees and especially the field of tall grass (actually oats).  I had been going over many of the engagement shoots I had fallen in love with over the past year and felt that this was the best location to get the mood and tone we were going for: romantic, laid back, peaceful and naturally gorgeous.

You may recall my design board a couple of months back “Our Engagement Photo Session Plan”. With that in mind I emailed Ryan and Joelle from FS Photography our plans and they were completely on board!  I’m pretty sure they were just as excited as we were.  July 7th came fast – really really fast. I had started a new job and was working non stop and found myself scrambling for every free minute here and there to wrap up wedding details and prep for the shoot. The day before the shoot I rushed to the salon to get those stubborn gray hairs covered up and oops….instead of dark brown with natural looking auburn highlights…I ended up with black cherry…  Of course, I had to work and had no time to turn around and fix it. Little did I realize that the next day in daylight I would see just how red it was…

We drove down to Portland after work and my Mom’s first reaction to seeing me was: “OH! You’re hair is PURPLE!” Oh dear… She kept me laughing about it, even though I was ready to start crying.  We had to spend the next two hours trying on strapless bras that would work under my dress, I swear I tried on over 50!  While I’m trying bras on all I could think about was having maroon hair for our engagement shoot coming up in a couple of hours.  Photoshop can fix that right? Well, a few phone calls to the hair saloon and some hair experts we then spent the 3 hours shampooing my hair in the sink. Thankfully, we were able to get most of the pink/red out and it looked waaaaay better. Mom threw hot rolls in my hair and I ran to the car as we were late for our shoot.

Thankfully, Ryan and Joelle were AWESOME about everything. They calmed us down, eased our concerns and immediately got us into the right mindset for a fun photo shoot.  It was so wonderful to have time to be close to Jonnathan; to reconnect and refocus on us amidst all the chaos of work and wedding plans. We had so much fun! I even pulled off wearing a sweater in 90 degree weather! I’m completely in love with these pics! Hope you enjoy them!

I’m home alone for the week since Jonnathan is being a sweetie and helping his Mom with her yard remodel..the house is quiet…a nice summer breeze is cooling off the house and the dogs are sleeping at my feet.  Wow, it’s the first real silence I’ve had in a long time.  Even when it’s quiet when Jonnathan is home, it’s different when you are actually alone by yourself, you know what I mean?  I miss him terribly, but am finding this quiet time to be something that I really needed. It’s allowing me to reflect on what this time is all about, how much I adore Jonnathan, and how truly blessed and happy I am. Life has been more than hectic lately.  I started a brand new job, Jonnathan graduated from college, had my bridal shower, did our engagement photos and are wrapping up the final plans for our wedding. To say a world wind, doesn’t even touch on how busy it has been.  So, this quiet day has truly been a gift.  You’ll laugh when you hear that  I think getting up early, driving to a couple of different stores, clothes shopping, picking up dog food, watering all the plants and cleaning the windows and kitchen is a quiet day for me, but it really has been.

It’s nice to slow down tonight and just be still.  As a Type A Personality Bride I get easily caught up in alllllll the many details, the to-do lists, the plan A, plan B, the what if’s, the worries…all of it.  It’s a catch 22, on one hand it’s a awesome to be planning an event and be a person who thinks of the details, however on the other it can be very overwhelming if it’s your own wedding you’re planning.  I’m thinking of all the hours spent focused on the details wondering if the day will be what I hope it to be.  Is it normal for me to wonder if I’m going to be let down?  Is it normal if I want it all to slow down even though it hasn’t even begun? I hope I can take it all in. I hope that the entire day I will be focused on what it’s all about – Jonnathan.  All those hours spent planning our wedding, yes was partially because of the little girl in me loving the dreamy wedding, but mostly because I wanted to do all I could to create a day that best represented Jonnathan and my relationship and our love.  As a man who often doesn’t want the focus on himself, I want him to feel more love and more joy than he has ever felt in his entire life. I want to put the biggest smile on his face and the most joy in his heart.  That is my number one goal for our wedding.  If I can do that, then that’s all that really matters in the end.

Since things have been so crazy busy lately I found myself getting to a point where I was just so emotional.  I didn’t know what was going on and went to Jonnathan and told him I needed a hug and that I just felt sad.  I didn’t know why or what had caused it, but I just did.  He of course wrapped his arms around me with all the love in the world and brought me immediate comfort.  He too was feeling a little sad and we realized that part of the problem was that while we are both running around with our crazy schedules, that we were missing one another. Stopping and realizing that we had lost focus of making sure that we were connecting and getting the time we needed with one another – thank God we realized this now!  So, we have made a pact that come wedding week and wedding day that we will make sure we get the time we need with one another.  I have written into the schedule just the two of us on our wedding day in the morning alone and away from all the hustle and bustle to enjoy morning coffee and one another. I think it’s important to do what you can to slow things down and focus on what really matters.

Did any of you brides go through a roller coaster of emotions leading up to your wedding?  How did you deal with that?

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Aside from the wedding plans I am also planning Jonnathan’s Graduation Celebration!!!

He and I met almost 7 years ago while at school at Whitworth and yes, I immediately fell in love with him!!!  Since that time we moved over to the west side of the state and worked towards living out on our own, juggling different jobs and finishing school.  You can’t imagine how excited he is to graduate next week!!!! So, in honor of his academic achievements and for all the up hill battles we’ve overcome, I am throwing him a Graduation Fiesta!!! Mr. “I don’t really need a party…” is gonna have a great party!!! Set that humble attitude aside and let’s celebrate!

Decor:

As you know, I just LOVE throwing parties!!!  So, this one is turning out to be quite fun.  I designed the simple email invite with bright fiesta colors wanting to bring in the fun and vibrancy of summer, I then sent it via email and set up a facebook event page for our friends and family.  Then I took some of the bulk tissue paper I had ordered for tissue poms for our wedding and made one large and two small poms – they’re orange, bold and fun – see the DIY tissue pom tutorial here!  Of course, I had to try the tutorial I recently posted and spray painted some cheap glass vases from the thrift store a bright lime green, which matched the napkins and other design elements perfectly!  I’m going to fill the bright lime green vases with monochromatic flowers to create what I’m going to call “Fiesta Chic“! I think I’m now obsessed with the power of spray paint and its ability to make old things look super fabulous!!!  I also plan to take this gorgeous coral orange/hot pink vintage suitcase and display it open and place a sign on it for guests to put cards and gifts for the grad into. We already strung patio lights we had purchased for the wedding and had extra of and I’ll light a bunch of candles. Candles always make a party better. Along with the patio lights we’ll hang some Fiesta Flags!

The weather calls for sprinkles… We have a small condo – so not being able to open our french doors to the patio would mean cramming too many people into our home, soooo we HAVE to use the patio.  No worries!  I am going to find a 10×10 clear poly tarp to place above the entire patio above the patio lights! That way, the area won’t feel too closed in, we’ll be able to see all the gorgeous trees all around us and the night sky above. It’ll stay classy, fun AND DRY!

Food:

Mexican food is not only absolutely delicious, it’s super convenient for feeding large numbers of people.  My Mom and I did this for my brother and sister-in-law’s rehearsal dinner and it went over extremely well!!!  So, I’m going to make chicken enchiladas beforehand and have them ready to pop in the oven right before the start of the open house, so they’ll be fresh out of the oven when everyone is ready to start eating.  My Mom’s Black Bean Salad – AMAZING!!! Fresh guacamole and salsa. Lots of tortilla chips.  Jonnathan’s Mom will be making a spicy cornbread recipe and his step mom will be handling the margaritas and plenty of cold beer! I’m thinking fresh fruit as well!

Stay Tuned for Pics from the Party!!!