Wedding Planning Fools!

What an absolutely BEAUTIFUL weekend!!!

Today is November 14th, and I can say that after this month we can really start focusing on the wedding plans!  Up until this month especially, it has been abnormally busy for us both and we finally have a plan of attack to start booking vendors and getting things on the books.  Yesterday, we got to share 2 of our close friends from church's wedding.  Last weekend, I was a Co-Maid of Honor in my friend Brittany's wedding! (I dedicated a post entirely to this, that you will see in the next week or so...) So, you can say we haven't really been able to focus on our own plans until now.

We only have 1 more class left in our P.R.E.P. for marriage class at church, so we felt somewhat accomplished today.  This jump started a chain of events to really get the ball rolling today...

Finally figured out how to use and upload videos on here...check out our ride home from church - ready to start the day of wedding planning!

When we got home, I couldn't help but notice how absolutely gorgeous it is outside today! Wish we could have enjoyed the weather more by doing something outdoors, but we have a wedding to plan!

This is just me, being me....

Blog, check.  Call and e-mail people, check. Now, it's time to work on our wedding website! :)

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

250 days until the BIG DAY!!! 

-Presh

Wedding Show...Yes or No?

A few Sundays ago, I got to experience my first BIG Bridal Show with my mom! Mr. Hess tagged along, but lucky for him he could only stay an hour before he had to be somewhere.

I have been looking forward to going to an official "Wedding Show" since I was a little girl, so I'm glad I got to fulfill my little girl dream! It was surreal to walk into a wedding show, knowing I'm the BRIDE, and my guy was the GROOM! Seemed to make it really official when they label it for you like that...

Mr. Hess and I at the WeddingTV Bridal Show!

As we walk in, we are greeted by a lot of bubbly people, ready to take our information for a raffle later on.  Unfortunately, I never got my raffle tickets - but who am I kidding - we never win any kind of raffle anyways! Oh well...

So we enter the show, look around, and immediately I get one feeling - OVERWHELMED! WOW! There are SO many people, and there is SO much going on!  So I took a deep breath, grabbed a snack (which always makes me feel better) and tried to stay focused.  We were on a mission...to find vendors, and to enter in everything to win anything.  Well, that was my misson - I think Mr. Hess came for the free food.  Just kidding...he is just as excited about this wedding as I am! :)

So we saw some florists, cake shops, wedding coordinators, jewlery, teeth whitening stations, honeymoon destinations, photobooths, department registries, and MORE! We've already gotten a venue, a date set, and a coordinator - so we were looking for anything and everything!

All in all, it was a helpful show to go to.  If you can be patient through the crowds and the lines, it's worth going to shows to at least see what vendors are out there and to meet with them in person.  From this show alone, we potentially have a photographer as well as a florist, and a photobooth! So, it feels like the 5 hours of craziness was worth it.  Just a few pieces of advice to take with you...

1. Don't enter without your raffle tickets.
2. Go to the booths with the food during the fashion show...the lines die down!
3. Don't enter your name in EVERYTHING...just what you're really interested in.  I get e-mails upon e-mails and calls upon calls for things I don't really want to hear about now.
4. Know the process is going to be a little annoying.  Knowing this at least you can be prepared, and not be thrown off when you get pushed and shoved!
5. HAVE FUN! This is a once in a lifetime experience of being engaged and getting married - enjoy every part of it! :)

After the show, we were right down the road from the store I got my gown at (Priscilla of Boston), so I took my mom to pop in and see if they had any mother-of-the-bride dresses!  She found one, but we're still looking for the "ONE" for her.  It was so nice to spend some quality time with her, doing wedding stuff.  I'm looking forward to the next 8 months of planning with her!

Love you Mom!

Until next time,

Presh

Our Engagement Party

So you know the story of the proposal, now here's the story of our Engagement Party...and yes, the story might be just as long! ;)

Ever since we got engaged on August 12th, my mother has been alllll about having an Engagement Party for us when we got home!  I have to say, the thought of celebrating our lives coming together as one - already - was very exciting for me, so I became alllll about it too! The date was set for Sept. 24th, 2010 and we invited our families to come together with our bridal party and closest friends to celebrate our engagement. 

 My mother and my aunts, who came in town to help with the party, made our day very special for us.  The house was decorated with our colors (black and white with accents of pink and green), with crystals everywhere!  There was plenty of great food, drinks, and she even hired a close family friend of ours to take photos the entire time.  I absolutely LOVE how she captures candid shots, and can't wait to share some of them with all of you...

Me and my girls

My mother, (left) and 2 aunts that threw the party!

First, let me begin by saying the day of our big party it was a torrential downpour outside!  Everyone was stuck in traffic, including us, and we showed up looking like wet cats when we finally got inside our parents house.  Luckily, my mother had a hair dryer handy, so we all took turns drying off. Phew.

Despite the horrible weather, I was pleased to see a great group of friends and family come out.  I hadn't seen a lot of these people in quite some time, so I tried to spend my time mingling around, catching up and letting them know how much I appreciated them being there.  What's funny is I barely got to spend any of my time with my groom, but I guess that's good training for the BIG DAY!

From what I hear, it can be a whirlwind of a night and can feel like your bouncing from one table to the next - trying to get to everyone - and I definitely got a preview of that.

Me and my Granddaddy! It was also his birthday!

After most of the guests arrived, my parents gathered us around to make a toast. It started out with my dad addressing the guests, then Scott's dad showed his love with his words, followed by myself.  This entire experience was very emotional for me, but I tried to hide my teary eyes with smiles and laughter.  Little did I know, this night was going to mean a lot more to me than I thought...

The dads toasting to us!

When it was time for Scott to make his toast to the crowd, he immediately got choked up.  I knew he could get emotional (although, to this day he will deny, deny, deny), but I had no idea it would be so hard for him to get through his words.  At the time, I thought "Okay buddy, you can get through this, it's just a toast!" but he really let our family and friends in on the emotional, sweet, and loving side to him that most had only heard about before.

He is known to our friends as a sweet, but mostly wild and crazy kid that knows how to have fun and put a smile on someones face.  Tonight, I think he melted a lot of hearts, including my own.

The entire week, I had asked him over and over, "is it here yet?" talking about my ring.  I couldn't wait for the day I had a ring of my own, and I could barely take the suspense of what it looked like! After two days of telling me it just wasn't going to be here in time for the party, I had learned to accept it...kind of.  

I put on a happy face, but in my mind I was still pretty upset that it wasn't going to be there for the party.  Oh well, I thought - sooner or later I'll have it and I'm sure it will be worth the wait. 

During the middle of his toast, Scott mentioned that I had been wearing his mother's ring, and that mine had taken longer than expected to arrive.  From being the jokester he is, it did not surprise me that what he pulled out next was a HUGE black box with a HUGE costume diamond ring inside, while saying "Here you go....wasn't it worth the wait?!"

I giggled, and took the giant ring, and was ready to give him a hug anyways and then the tears really started flowing.  He couldn't really speak for a minute, and when he pulled himself together I finally figured out what was going on.  He told me to look under the big ring inside of the box, and BAM - there she was in all of her glory.  MY RING!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!!!!! :D

I was SO excited, and couldn't believe the day had finally come where I had MY ring!  When I pulled it out, Scott took it from me and did something I completely didn't see coming.  He got down on one knee, and re-proposed!

We both started balling, and I showered him with hugs and THANK YOUs over and over.  This was one of the greatest nights of my life.



Gathering around to watch the video slide show

I moved over to my parents, giving them their hugs, went to his parents, and then some of my friends.  Everyone wanted to see it, and I was definitely on cloud 9 all over again, feeling the same kind of love I did when he originally proposed.

After a few minutes, my mother then gathered us around to watch a video she had put together filled with photos from our trip to Arkansas, and then photos of us and our families throughout the last few years of dating.  I was so happy to be able to share the trip with everyone there, who didn't get to see the photos of our engagement.

I know my mother worked very hard to give us a special night to celebrate us, and I will always remember the love given to us that night. 

We are so blessed to be surrounded by such loving, inspiring, and caring people in our lives.  THANK YOU to everyone who made it out to celebrate with us.  What a great start to the planning of our wedding! 



Happy Birthday Mr. Hess!

It's that time of year where we celebrate yet another year going by, and in this case, celebrating the birthday of my wonderful fiance!

This year, our birthday gifts to each other (well, Birthday, Christmas, Anniversary, AND Valentines Day gifts combined) are wedding bands! ;) With the wedding being only 8 short months away - HOLY MOLY!!!! - we have to start being smart with where we chose to spend our money!  This year for Mr. Hess's birthday we had a Magic home game (same as last year), so I had to get creative with how I could spoil him from when we woke up, up until about 2pm...

Before he woke up, I wanted to surprise him with a birthday suprise in the living room - wouldn't top last year's set up - but, still impressive I thought! When we got home late Tuesday night, here is what he found waiting for him:

He was truly surprised, and went to bed feeling loved...but he should have known better that I had more in store since we weren't really getting each other "gifts" this year for birthdays...

The next day was his actual birthday.  I can't think of any better way to wake up than breakfast in bed, can you?! Originally, I wanted to take him out to breakfast, but I figured this would be better, and give me a chance to brush up on my skills in the kitchen.  So, I woke up about 8:30am, started a pot of coffee (clearly for me), and started cracking some eggs.  The day before I made a special trip to the grocery store to pick up real eggs and real bacon, since all we have here is egg whites and turkey products....I was hoping he would realize the difference, and also that I was trying to treat him as much as possible! :)

Birthday Breakfast - notice the heart shaped berries!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

He's a HAPPY boy! :)

Since we both had to work later that afternoon, I only had a few hours to spend with him on his day. So, I figured what better way to relax than with massages? Again, saving money this year - I thought I was very clever to use the already paid for massages we had saved up...

SO relaxed...ready to work yet?

It was good to get away from how much was going on this week for at least an hour!

Now, it was off to work - but the celebrating didn't stop there.  One of the girls on my team made him the cutest little cupcakes!  So we celebrated with our amazing singing skills (we really should all just stick to dancing), sang him Happy Birthday, and cut the cake I made him!

Em's amazing cupcakes! They were banana flavored with peanut butter!

The birthday cake I made him!

After the game, we went out to dinner, and a great group of friends showed up! It was so nice to kick back and celebrate the day with my buddy! I always love to celebrate birthdays, because we get to spoil the ones we love.  It didn't hurt that there was also some yummy goodies involved, either. 

Birthday Dinner for Mr. Hess!

Me and the Birthday Boy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LOVE!!!!  

-Presh