e-pics!!!!

I was scrambling around Wednesday morning, trying to get packed to leave town for Thanksgiving when I quickly opened my email. Buried in between 37 emails from JCrew (really JC, I love you but the email overload is killing me) I saw an email saying our photographer Brooks had posted some of our engagement pictures on Facebook. I dropped my pile of laundry I was in the process of folding/packing and plopped down at the computer. Umm... yay!!!!!

Here are our favs that he posted on the 'Book. Below each, a narration of what was going down during the (super fun but slightly awkward at times) photo shoot!


Yes, here we are canoodling in front of a birdbath, on the one and only busy street in Muenster, where we took the pics. Cars were driving by staring, while Mark and I snuggled and laughed and acted like we always hung out with our faces two inches apart.


This one could not have come out more perfect. Love. It.


This one took some serious work. Turns out Longhorns aren't that cooperative and don't always want to pop their head out from under the fence and smile at the camera. Behind the scenes action included my dad running around pouring out range cubes (read: Longhorn Treats) on the grass in strategic places, our photographer laying on the ground tasting said range cubes, and Mark and I once again canoodling like none of this was out of the ordinary and hoping desperately to not get poked by a set of horns! The results? Pretty much amazing.


"Oh yes, we were just out working on the farm and now we are just resting against this here rusty gate as the sun sets behind us."


Looooove this one! Love it. This was taken through the gate that leads down the road to my parents' place. Perfect mix of Texas flair and a bit o' romance.


Now this one may be my fav. What you can't tell is that Mark is totally sweating/shaking/straining to hold me up as we gaze at each other and smile. I guess running around and twirling me in the fields isn't in his normal work out regime. What would have thought?

We are thrilled with how these and all the others came out. I've got some great Save the Date's in the works using some of them, and we know just what the parents are getting for Christmas this year - framed pictures of us (and perhaps a few cows)!

Merry Christmas to Us!

Santa came early this year! With the wedding consuming all our finances here lately, Mark and I had already decided we were going to keep this Christmas to a bare minimum. I'd started to get creative and was hunting for the best bargains that would stay within our $50 each budget. That is, until I mentioned (ever so casually) to Mark a couple weeks ago that maybe we should buy a new TV as our Christmas gift to each other and take advantage of all the Post-Thanksgiving sales and great financing offers out there. We both have older than old televisions that were nothing fancy and pretty clunky and had been dreaming about a new flat screen for some time now. I'd been saying for at least a year that when we got engaged, I'd buy us a new TV (yes, a total bribe.. I know!), but once we actually did, we couldn't stand to spend the money when it could go towards the wedding.

But. Saving every penny for wedding stuff gets really old. So I just threw out the idea, that we could buy one now and split the payments for the next several months, to see what he thought about it.

To say he ran with this idea is a bit of an understatement. For the next fourteen days straight he read about TV's online, compared prices, shopped around, read reviews and talked to the experts. This weekend we decided to blow a bit of our wedding fund and headed out to Best Buy and came home with this little guy:



Annnnnd, now we are back to saving up for the wedding, all day, every day. Scout's honor. In fact, I'm asking Santa for chair rentals and pinspot lighting this year. But we all need a break sometime, right? And you can bet I'll be watching plenty of "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway" on the new tube.

What's short and cute and blue all over?

The bridesmaid dresses! And.. they’re here!





I was having such a blah day. I am off work this week and decided to go walk around the mall to perhaps find a new sweater to wear to Oklahoma this weekend for Thanksgiving. I was armed with a whole stack of coupons and hit up the pre-Black Friday sales with high hopes. I did mange to find all kinds of cute stuff, as well as some great deals on a few Christmas gifts that I went ahead and knocked off my list. I was carrying a whole slew of bags with me and stopped to treat myself to lunch at Corner Bakery in the mall food court. I never eat at the mall when I am by myself, but I was feeling especially independent and snagged a single table over by the ice rink and sat back to enjoy my salad.

A cuople hours later, I’m in my apartment, putting away my purchases and stashing some gifts in the back of the closet when it suddenly occurs to me.. where is my Banana Republic bag? I run down to the car, nothing. Look back in all my other bags, nothing. Run back over to the mall, hit up Corner Bakery and EVERY store I went to, nothing. I lost a brand new sweater and dress that I had just bought, without so much as even trying them on first! I went back home and sulked/fumed/couldn’t get over how ridiculous I am for losing something a mere twenty minutes after I purchased it. Nothing could cheer me up.

Until! I was moping around when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number so I let it go to voicemail, then checked the message as soon as it appeared on my cell screen. Maybe some honest chap had in fact turned in my lost Banana bag! (I’d left my number with mall security, just in case.) Well it wasn’t my lost loot, but instead the shop where I had ordered my bridesmaid dresses this summer - they were here! She said they could hold them for me as long as needed, but she wanted to let me know they were here and looked beautiful.

I jumped in the car and high-tailed it over to Plano, where I picked up all of the dresses. They. Looked. Fabulous. They might not be the cute LBD from Banana that some random girl out there it sporting courtesy of me (grr), but they are twelve adorable dresses that my bridal party are going to rock come July! Leave it to the wedding to turn my drag day into fab!

Asking My Crew

One of the first things I started working on when we got engaged was our bridal party. I was super excited about inviting all our friends to be a part of the wedding and start sharing all the plans and details with them. Mark quickly came up with his list of guys and waited until he saw them in person to ask them if they would be his groomsmen. Me on the other hand, I knew I wanted to do something a little different than just asking my dozen girls when I saw them or calling them up to pop the bridesmaid question.

I started googling around for creative ways to ask your bridesmaids. Surprisingly, I couldn't really find much of anything terribly creative or unique, other than sending personalized fortune cookies or some sort of other little charm or token. I wasn't too keen on the fortune cookie idea (although I did debate it for a while) and everything else out there was a little more than I wanted to spend on this task (especially when you multiply it times 12), so I decided to enlist the most creative person I know to help me design something to send out.

Enter Maid of Honor/Sister/Graphic Designer Kelly. She worked with my (somewhat amateur) sketches of ideas that I had for postcard designs and created an adorable card using Illustrator. I knew I wanted them to match the wedding theme (although let's be honest, at this point we had zero theme!), so we went for a rustic, chic design, with a little bit of Texas flare. So Kelly designed some cute little boots with Mark and my initials on them and we incorporated a slogan that I found somewhere online when I was searching around for ideas: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something You.



We printed the cards out using my parent's rinky-dink printer on some heavy linen paper, and then trimmed them to jumbo postcard size with our handy-dandy paper cutter. I wrote each girl a personal note on the cards, telling them how much I loved them and how great it would be to have them as one of my bridesmaids. We then made envelopes for each one out of scrapbook paper and some cute flower stickers, and added an address card with the same little cowboy boots on the front of each envelope.



I sent them off in the mail and waited for the phone calls from the girls as they got them. Everyone loved them and was thrilled to join our crazy wedding party! I am truly blessed to have such fabulous friends who are ready and willing to stand up for me on my big day, as well as listen to me talk about the wedding for one year straight :)

Check, Checkity, Check!

What's better than making a great big list of things to do, and then checking tasks off as you accomplish them?? For me, being the over-organized, list-loving, sharpie-carrying B2B that I am, not much!

Earlier this week, I met up with the WP to catch up on the wedding plans. She is a total rock star, and made me a calendar for the next eight months, showing what we need to be focusing on week by week. Now normally you would think that 32 weeks of things to do and projects to complete and crafts to craft would be terrifying/overwhelming, but I was so excited! I think its purely because of the calendar/To Do format that she used, which is one big list just waiting for me to cross things off of it. She, Mark and I are all sharing the calendar on Google documents, so we can all keep track of what we need to be working on and what's coming up ahead, as well as edit and change/add things to the plan as needed. Right now, we're on Save the Dates, which means I need to get them designed and printed (still waiting on the photos for that), get our wedding website completed (which is waaay more time consuming that I thought it would be!) and get some of the hotel blocks figured out. Apparently some people are WAY on the ball and book hotel rooms as soon as they know about the wedding. Who would have thought?!

It feels good to have a game plan now, and a nice organized list to keep us all on track. I'm off work all next week (yay Thanksgiving Break!), so I should be able to get cracking on it. Plus, we'll be spending time at both parents' houses for the holiday, so that should be plenty of time to sit around and work on our website, while we stuff our faces with turkey (twice!).


The infamous calendar, courtesy of my WP/BFF

Let's take this party across the border! (passports not required.)

Before we ever had a florist, a dress, a DJ or colors, we had our Rehearsal Dinner booked and its menu selected. Mark's parents are really on the ball. It only took about two weeks after we got engaged before they wanted to get our RD figured out and taken care of. We are so excited and grateful that they want to host this for us, so we agreed to meet them in Muenster one weekend this summer to scope out possible places for the party.

Now, in case you didn't already know, Muenster is a small town. Like really, really small. From the get go, the future in-laws were worried that they wouldn't be able to find something they liked or something that would be as nice and fancy as they had envisioned our Rehearsal Dinner being. I knew we could find something that would work, but they definitely had to be convinced. Mark and I did our homework before they came into town and scoped out anything and everything that might be what they were looking for. We had a list of local restaurants, tea rooms, hotels and bed and breakfasts that were in and around Muenster that would host a private party of our size. Many of them were really nice and quite charming. But there was one that stood out with the in-laws, hands down. The funny part? It's not in Muenster, or even Texas.. it's in Oklahoma!

So we are rehearsing in Texas, then taking our bridal party posse across the border to Mark's home state of OK for our RD at the Winstar Golf Course Clubhouse. (Yup, that's Winstar as in the ginormous casino just across the Texas border. Pay no attention to all the crazy grandma gamblers, just drive on past all those slot machines and neon lights to the scenic golf course tucked behind it!). It's a great setting, and can totally compare to any big city country club that we would never be able to find out in the sticks where we're getting married.

It sounds totally silly, but a dual state wedding is perfect for us. My family's from Texas, Mark's is from Oklahoma. I went to school at the University of Texas, Mark graduated from Oklahoma State. My friends are scattered around TX, his friends mostly call OK home. My extended family will be coming in from all over Texas, Mark's will be road-tripping it across Oklahoma for our wedding. And it's not as bad as it sounds... our small town wedding is actually less than ten miles south of the state line, so while it may sound like we have to drive miles and miles to get to our out-of-state rehearsal dinner, it's really no further than we'd likely have to drive anyways. Plus, we think its a great way to include a little bit of both of our backgrounds in our wedding weekend!

Find the perfect dress? Oh yeah, we did it!

This past Saturday, I gathered my posse and set out on a mission: buy a dress. No matter what, I was coming home with a dress ordered! I'd looked high and low and probably tried on fifty dresses already.. I knew what I wanted, I knew what my budget was, and we were going to find us a winner! It was game time.

I'm happy to report we was successful - THE dress has been ordered!

My mom, my little sister/MOH, my aunt and Mark's mom met at my apartment bright and early Saturday morning. I had warned them before: Go to bed early on Friday! Eat a big breakfast! Pack snacks! Bring drinks! We had three back-to-back appointments scheduled and there was no time for breaks. I meant business.

I'm thrilled with the dress I got, excited to have spent the day with these four awesome ladies and so very relieved to check this (rather large) wedding task off the list!


My aunt, me and my mom outside the shop where we found out winner!


Me and FMIL, with the official dress receipt!

I know what we'll be arguing about in 20 years...

This week Mark and I finished up one part of the marriage preparations that our church is having us complete before we get married - couples counseling! Although, they were careful to tell us many times it wasn't counseling, but just guidance and advice about what we can expect between now and forever.

The church paired us up with sponsors from our parish - a super nice couple who just celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary. They were full of stories and tips of how they have made their marriage work when times got tough, and the importance of their faith along the way. We found our meetings with them to be extremely helpful, and also really pretty fun! We realized there were so many topics out there that we just assumed we agreed on, without ever really sitting down and talking about them. Everything from children to shopping to our extended families to how often Mark will play golf or I'll go out for drinks with the girls - we discussed our expectations and communication styles and the best ways to resolve conflict along the way. I've said it before, but I think a class like this - even if it's one day for just an hour - seems to be so beneficial. I know we took so much from it, and will miss heading over to our sponsor couple's house every other week! Not only did they make great snacks for us to munch on while we were there (note to self: candy corn + peanuts = yum), but they provided a great example of a loving family and the importance working together to put your marriage first, no matter what life throws at you.

Engagement Photos!

We (finally) took our engagement photos!

After a week of absolutely gorgeous weather (As in sunny and 72 degrees. In November. Thank you, Texas weather), I was stalking the forecast for our rescheduled e-pic photo shoot. There was talk of a cold front coming in the day before, and possibly some wind and light rain. I prayed in church the weekend before for this storm to hold off just one more day (judge me if you must, but we really did need to get these photos taken and off the To-Do List!) and was thrilled when we got up to Muenster around lunch time yesterday and it was still warm and sunny.

After some quick showers and sprucing-up on our part, Brooks and Leigh, from Brooks Whittington Photography, showed up at my parents’ place for the shoot. I had a couple places scoped out that we wanted to take photos at, so we made a quick game plan on where we’d go first. Much to my surprise, Brooks already knew about the photos I loved and even knew about my steal-of-a-deal white dress! Turns out, he’s came across my blog and had read about my inspiration pics (umm.. hi Brooks!).

So we headed to downtown Muenster to get started. It was a little awkward at first, because there are so many people everywhere, staring at us, while we canoodled outside of the bank. And the grocery store. And some restaurants. We had some pretty serious gawkers - one guy driving by even came to a stop on the road in front of us to stare. Maybe he thought we were celebrities? A few frantic outfit changes in the car later, and we ended the day taking pictures at my parents' house, as the sun was setting and the longhorns were eating. Yup, eating. I'm really curious/excited to see how they turn out! Brooks would show us a few of them on his camera screen every now and then, and they all looked fabulous! He told us it would take about a week and a half to get them all edited and up online and even said he really wanted to get me one to post here on my blog. Thanks Brooks and Leigh for a fun shoot! I'm counting down the days until we get to see the pictures!

Perfect Proposal, The Finale

Who would have thought the story of our engagement would be so freaking long?! I started telling it here and here. Here's the big finale!

After Mark's strange phone call, we kept driving towards McKinney and eventually ended up in a newly constructed neighborhood called Adriatica. We'd driven past this spot several times before and often admired the amazing homes along the water and imagined living in one someday. We'd watched as a bell tower was built along the lake's shore and tried to guess what on earth it was used for.

Mark turned the car onto the road that led directly into the development, right up alongside the bell tower. He told me he had arranged for us to take a tour, and my first thought was that we were going to tour one of the huge houses we had always admired. I said something along the lines of "Take a tour? Are the owners at home?!" It wasn't until he had parked and gotten out that I realized he meant take a tour of the bell tower. We got out of the car and met a lady and her young daughter, who took us into the tower and started leading us up the stairs to the very top. Her little daughter tagged along with us, and we all made small talk on the way up.





We had to climb some pretty steep steps and ended up at the very top of the tower by the bell, where you could see great views of the surrounding areas. We had barely gotten up off the ladder that led us up before our tour guide said something about "some work she had to take care of" downstairs, but we could take our time up here enjoying the view, and then she and her daughter quickly left back down the stairs. She was not smooth at all. Her excuse to leave so quickly seemed a little to rehearsed. At this point... I knew. Something was definitely up!

We spent a few minutes looking around at the neighborhood below and taking some pictures before Mark took me aside. He had brought up his camera case (which I did notice was a little larger than usual.. but I figured he had brought binoculars?) and took out a small black box. He got down on his knee, said some really amazing things that I knew were amazing, but seemed to be going in one ear and out the other, and then opened the box and said, "Amanda, will you marry me?"

I had a somewhat out of body experience when he was down on his knee. It was like I was watching the scene from above, seeing me there is this momentous occasion in my life. I kept thinking "OMG this is really happening! Pay attention to what he's saying! OMG OMG." And then in an instant he was done talking and opening the box and I saw the ring and again thought "OMG" and I think I even reached for it to put on, instead of letting him take it out and put on for me. We spent a few more minutes up at the top of the tower together, taking some pictures and (mostly me) exclaiming "we're engaged!"





After awhile we walked back down the stairs and met the nice lady and her daughter who had helped conspire with Mark for this whole plan. She wanted to see my ring and actually got goosebumps on her arm when I showed it to her. Turns out her entire family is in the jewelry business and she knew all kinds of weird diamonds code words that she was asking Mark about and she concluded that it was the perfect ring. Which I already knew! We said our goodbyes and thank you's, and then Mark and I hung around and walked around the lake before calling our parents to spread the news. We finished the evening with dinner at Samson's, a new restaurant right across the water from the bell tower.



It was the most perfect day :)

Bridal Boot Camp - Ahh!

Today is a big day for two (very different) reasons:

1. Today is my birthday! This year is the third birthday I've spent with Mark and the first one when I didn't wish for a diamond ring when I blew out my candles ;) Instead, I wished to survive these next 8 months and enjoy the wedding planning/engagement process. I already feel like we're taking this time for granted and not having as much fun as we should be. Aren't you supposed to be living on Cloud 9 during your engagement, enjoying all the bride-to-be excitement and attention? Walking around with a sparkle in your eye and a glow on your face? I feel totally normal, so I'm wishing to get back into the Engaged Gal Bliss and not take this time for granted. I know that we're about to get swept up in the holidays, and then before we know it we'll be in January and six months away from the big day!

2. I survived my first day of Bridal Boot Camp! Yesterday was Day One of the five week class. I arrived somewhat terrified, and then one hour later I left knowing this is just what I need to kick my booty back into shape and get me ready for a wedding dress (and a couple bridesmaid dresses in the meantime!). I ran more last night than I have in a reallllly long time. We did sprints across the baseball field and back… like four times. And most of the people in this class are fast. Like really fast. I had to really push myself so that I didn’t end up being the last person to cross back over the line. Plus, we did tons of strength training and arm work. Strapless dresses, here I come!
We are going out to celebrate my big 2-7 tonight, and I get to choose where! I already know where I want to go… pizza at Fireside Pies! But don’t tell my boot camp instructor. We are supposed to turn in food journals every week and I’m pretty sure stuffing your face full of pizza and wine is not on the approved menu. Shh.