Our wedding is coming!

Play the video above while you read....don't worry, it's ok to dance!

As I sit here and update our wedding checklist on the right, I realize how much we've done and how ready we are for this momentous occasion.

My fiancé had his Bachelor Party this weekend. I have my Bachelorette Party next weekend, but I'm taking Bridal Portraits today with our photographer... I'm definitely not posting a photo of me and "The dress," but maybe I'll offer y'all a cell phone pic of the whole experience later :).

It's so fun getting hair and makeup done and putting on the dress, veil and taking pictures. I can't wait to see how they all turn out...couldn't have done it all without the help of Deanna and my mom. :) Love you guys! We were really worried about the rain, but it let up for just enough time to take some really fun pictures.

Also, Cassie posted some of our engagement pictures. We're waiting to get the rest in the mail. They're so cute!  Here's one...this is where our proposal happened - Mt. Bonnell:

Cyndie, Tina and Evette threw me a terrific work shower on Saturday. Cyndie's newly remodeled house is looking fabulous, and it was so much fun gathering with coworkers in a non-work environment...partying and celebrating my engagement!

My fiancé's coworkers are putting on a shower at his work on Friday. I'm sure it's going to be so great. By the way, we have already been receiving wedding gifts in the mail! It's so exciting. I can't wait to get started on "Thank Yous."

As you can tell, I'm trying to write more as we get closer to the day. I'd love your love, support and encouragement via comments! Love you all and thanks for reading.

Showered with LOVE

My very first Bridal Shower was a great success. I'll have to upload pictures later, but for now you can read about how fabulous it was. 

My bridesmaid and great friend Faith put out a spread like you wouldn't believe. We had fondue with strawberries and shortbread, meatballs in vodka sauce, cookies, brie and crackers, two cheese balls covered in pecans, artichoke dip, fruit and dip, a humongous homemade Italian Cream Cake and I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot more yummy stuff. 

Her house was so spacious and gorgeous. She had a room for the food, a room for gifts and her living room and kitchen were very open so it gave us all room to breathe while still being close together. 

We had a great showing with about 20 people coming :) I received a lot of great gifts like an apron, frames, kitchen gadgets, tortilla warmer, cookbooks, glasses, a wine opener, a single-serve coffee maker and even pictures of me when I was little from my Meme's house. Korie made a special trip to North Zulch  before the shower to get them for me. 

All in all it was a fantastic time, and it made me so excited for the BIG DAY!

Paradise Awaits!

We've found it! We found our little piece of paradise and we're headed there for our honeymoon. This has been a decision we've both been struggling with since the beginning. Picking a honeymoon with a tight time frame and on a budget is tough, but we held out just long enough for a deal to come just in the nick of time to knock our socks off. It's more than we could've ever dreamed (and we haven't even gotten there yet)! The photos and reviews are phenomenal...ready for the grand reveal??

It's Great Exuma Island, Bahamas!

It's an all-inclusive resort that includes a round of Josh's favorite...golf

It includes all meals, snacks, drinks and entertainment...even snorkeling

Of course, we'll probably be spending alot of time relaxing on the white sand beaches

And after a long day of fun, fun, fun...we'll get to cozy up in a beautiful room with a view and if we need something we can just ring for our personal butler :)

Oh, did I mention that we're are flying a G-6 to get there? - nonstop from Ft. Lauderdale-

What's great about it is we won't be rushed at all. We've decided to fly out of Austin around 1p -to sleep in a bit-  staying in Ft. Lauderdale that night - take a flight around noon to our Island of dreams. We'll be there by 3 (transfers, tips everything...all included) to enjoy 5 days. We'll fly out about 3p back to Ft. Lauderdale, hang out a bit and come back to Austin the following day. It's going to be the very best honeymoon we could've ever asked for! Can't wait and we only have God to thank for this amazingness :)

Bouquets of Fun

Some of our creations bunched together. 

When my grandmother was in from Mexico and my aunt from Arkansas, one night we all got together for a girls night. In this girls night we were supposed to be doing lashes and girly things. Well, we did get around to those girly things, but something else remarkable happened.

Earlier that day, I had gone to lunch with my mom, aunt and grandmother, who we call "Mother." My mom brought up an idea I had mentioned a while back about getting a bouquet made out of broaches and/or fabric. Well of course, being the creative family we all are, we decided we could take it on as a project and build it ourselves. So, we decided to take advantage of our girls night and star making my wedding bouquet. 

My mom and I followed their advice on what types of fabric to buy, and we found alot of different textures and color...yes, I said color. We even have a splash of the wedding-taboo color black in the bouquet. 

My grandmother is practically a genius when it comes to making flowers and crafty things like that. My aunt Debbie also remembered my grandfather Lio's mom used to make "handmade lace" or "crochets." She was able to find some of it stored away, and we made bouquet flowers out of it too. It was a whole mess of fun, and while I don't have a finished product yet, I have all the flowers thanks to all the ladies of my family. 

We all sat down and created our own masterpiece. It was certainly a memory I will never forget. 

When it comes time to marry Josh, not only will I be assured I have my family's blessing and support, but also a piece of them will be up there at the altar with me. And when I get the bouquet preserved, I know I will forever have that to cherish. 

Here are some photos of the unfinished product, i'll post finished photos later:

Two of aunts, mom and mother all hard at work.

Cousin Gregory and Aunt Yvonne.

The beginnings of one of Mother's beautiful flowers.

How fun does this look!

Hard work, determination and lots of laughter

More flower making :)

Many jokes and fun stories filled our night.

My mom showing off her handmade beauty.

My Aunt Yvonne's beautiful lacy flower.

Perfect little flowers and the mess behind it.

Mi Familia

Lord, prepare me for marriage

Before I moved to Austin, I never had a great example of what makes a good marriage. I never had the solid foundation of unconditional love, and so, I’m very scared. I know I can do this, and I know I’m in love, but what is unconditional love? and how does marriage make use of it? 

Since moving to Austin, I’ve done a lot, but one thing I do daily is observe. I soak it all in like a sponge, hoping to wring out all the good observations over my life. The same holds true for marriage. Though I’ve only been here six years, I’ve observed the marriage of my new mom and dad, my friends and other newly-acquainted family. I look for the little nugget that keeps their marriage going and take it in. I hope after the wedding that I can use those nuggets as tools for my own marriage. 

I value tradition but I don’t have any of my own, yet. I never grew up with them. I hope to start a family of my own and make our own traditions. I’d like to change the way marriage is viewed in my previous family. I can only pray that I can reverse it all and become successful. One of my biggest fears is being doomed from the beginning, being doomed by my previous life. 

Luckily I know if I have faith, pray and trust in God these observations, hopes and dreams can one day come true. I hope on our Wedding Day that I can stop living in fear that this is all a dream - all of it: Austin, my new family, my love - and awaken as a person reborn, just as the day I was baptized and made my life-long commitment to follow the Lord. This is my prayer. If you’re reading this, I’d love your prayers too. Thank you.

Save the DATE!

After looking through many ideas and getting overwhelmed my mom and I decided to go with an idea we found online using MOO cards and rustic cardstock. The idea was genius...with a few personal touches, we made it our own. Here's a look at the inspiration behind the idea.

Now, we'll start with the finished product:

And I could've never put it together without the help of my mom and Deanna. We spent a whole week just assembling them. So when you get them in the mail, I hope you love 'em!

Here's how it started (Actually....we added the stamp so it was even plainer than this) :

Precisely cutting each strand for each card:

We stamped the cardstock and the envelope with the colors you see below...the white roll is glue dots, which we used to secure the photos and twine:

My mother putting the final creation on display:

This was only half done, but you get the idea:

Cheers to more wedding projects and making each part of the wedding even more special.

Gone to be an Angel

My hiatus from blogging is over. I'm back in full swing, but not without explaining myself first.

My dearest Meme passed away a couple of Sundays ago. It's been difficult to deal with, but all-in-all I'm coping. My sweet, beautiful hero is now looking down on me from Heaven with my dad and grandfather, Papa. It still makes me cry. I told Josh I don't want to get over it because I don't want to forget, but to be honest, you never forget a woman like Meme.

She was loving, generous and loyal. She also never put up with nonsense. She'd always say, "that's silly," and If she saw me crying right now, she'd say the same. 

Her funeral was open-casket, but I couldn't go up and see her because I knew it would send me into uncontrollable tears. I'd swear I've seen her casket in a dream. It was almost all how I would've envisioned. I just wish they would've played her favorite hymn, "Just As I Am," I wish I could've said something and most of all, I wish she was still here. 

My heart hurts everyday, but I hide it. I feel lost without her. Since her death I've been so overwhelmed with feelings I don't even know what to do. I feel like nothing is right. 

But she'd rather have her legacy live on through my better actions and through the lives of those she so dearly touched. So I have to be strong and I have to try. I promise to try to live each day to the fullest and show more love to people in my life. I miss you Meme. 

Reliving the Big Day

It's never too soon to talk about reliving the big day,  and it’s no secret I LOVE video. In my opinion the best way to relive something is through film.  

I’m by no means saying I’m good at it, but I have this vision of making a documentary of our wedding. I’ve always wanted to make a documentary that would make a difference for people. Granted, the only people this video would make a difference or really affect is our closest family and friends, but it’s a great place to start.

Well, I’ve been looking into videographers and gah...they’re expensive, but I have some options thanks to my brother Seth, my friend Jenn and this website I found. 

So where do we go from here? Seth suggests hiring a UT film student to take it on as their project. Jenn, so sweetly, offered to shoot and edit it herself, though I’m not sure she knew I was thinking documentary style. Then there’s this website called Wedit. It’s a good affordable option and what’s cool about it is you order this package where they send you about five flip cameras that you leave out, similar to the camera on the table option. You let the guests capture your big day and then send the cameras back to the company and they edit it for you with your input.

So now I’m still left with the question...what to do? Thoughts?

Here's some sample videos from Wedit, but seriously, share your feedback with me.

He said YES!

Meet Dave Haney

I’m so excited to announce we have our wedding preacher and he’s the one we’d hoped for all along! Dave Haney is a very special person. He doesn’t know me yet, but I’ve been listening and soaking up every word he’s said since I first started going to church at Riverbend. I kept going because of his messages. They’ve always spoken to my heart, brought me laughter and even tears. 

You can tell God works wonders through this man. I can not even express how Happy and Excited I am about him marrying Josh and me! 

When Josh and I first began dating we went to this church...since then we’ve tried other churches trying to find where we best fit, thinking maybe Riverbend was too big. But we always kept coming back to Riverbend. We always come away being moved by the message and it’s so special to us.

Josh called the church a couple of weeks ago and we were told to wait because he was on vacation. He was also told another preacher typically does weddings not Dave, but being the stubborn people we are, we decided to wait and hear that from the man himself, biting our nails and praying about it everyday. Monday is when Josh got a call from the church and he was told HE SAID YES! Josh called me at work and told me the good news and I almost broke down crying. 

We’re so grateful and blessed and we can’t wait for our big day. Thanks for saying yes Dave and giving us so much joy! Thanks Josh for making these dreams of mine a reality!

Call it a theme or what have you

I don't have colors, I guess you can say i'm more of a theme visionary than a color-nazi. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for people who can see color and know how to do it right. It's just not for me.

At first I was struggling between the themes of winter rustic and spanish elegance.

One day after talking to my mom and my cousins I decided to try and blend them both together. That's when my mom suggested the beautiful peacock. It's funny because at first I thought no birdcages, no birds, but the more I thought of the idea of a peacock, I kept getting more and more excited at the different ways I could incorporate it into a theme. So, when people ask me what's your theme or what look are you going for...my reply is Spanish Rustic with Peacock flairs. I haven't ever gotten a head turned sideways or a what's that mean so I think that is a good sign I nailed the description right on the head. If you're left puzzled let me share some pictures to give you a vision of what's in my head. :)

For your viewing pleasure:

Be sure to check me out on Pinterest to see more ideas Click Here. Also, I know I haven't been good at keeping up on the posts, but i'll get better :) See you soon!

The way I see it..

Not to be completely outdone, I'd like to share with you a little bit of my side of this story Kevyn is telling (and doing an awesome job.. I love her). First of all, when she told you about the day we met she got most of the story just right, but she doesn't know exactly what I was thinking. So let me tell you. I was sitting in a booth at Chuy's in their "waiting area" when she walked in. About an hour earlier, my friends had told me they were inviting a girl to dinner with us, and to be honest I didn't have that high of expectations. They told me her name (a boy's name I thought) and that they had met her at a church camp (not typically the ideal spot for finding hotties). So, we were just sitting there eating chips and salsa when she walked in and I didn't have a care in the world. I'll never ever forget the first time I saw her. She literally took my breath away. She was wearing what looked like a racing jacket and blue jeans and her blond hair was beautiful. I'm pretty sure I went from non-stop talking (probably about sports, movies, boating, fishing.. guy stuff.. etc. ) to dead silent. I was not expecting her. I managed to ask her a few question through out the evening like "have you ever had a boom boom chicken enchiladas?" and "do you like the Cowboys".. you know.. real smooth questions, but I wasn't my typical self. I knew something special had happened that night, and I now know what it was. I met my soulmate.

Kevyn is my best friend. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and there isn't anything in the whole world I wouldn't give up for her. Everywhere I want to go I want to go with her. Everywhere I've been, I want to go back, with her.

Asking Kevyn to marry me was the easiest thing I've ever done. Was it nerve-racking? Yes. Was I scared a little? Yes. But it was so easy to ask the lady I already knew was my soulmate to be my wife. I can honestly say I never once second guessed my decision to ask her. The only thing I second guessed was how I was going to do it. If you know Kevyn, you know she goes big, or she goes home. I knew she had high expectations and I also knew I'm not exactly the most creative person in the world, and I didn't want to let her down.

For months I contemplated elaborate ways to ask her to marry me. I thought about YouTube videos, surprise plane rides, boat rides, renting out theaters, and even flash mobs. I was driving myself insane thinking about it and yet over and over again I kept coming back to the same conclusion. Dan (kevyn's dad) and others I talked to about my ideas for engagement told me over and over again "the engagement itself is the special occasion" and so my elaborate ideas didn't make much since because they had nothing to do with me and Kevyn or our story. So, I thought to myself, "how did WE happen?" Obviously its a long story, but I've told Kevyn a million times I knew I loved her the first day we met and I knew we would stay together forever after our first date. Our first date was, in my opinion, PERFECT. We ate the best food in town, cuddled under the stars at the most romantic spot in town, and then went to probably one of the most fun places in town, the Alamo Drafthouse. Recreating this night became the obvious way for me to ask her to marry me, and thats exactly what I did. And on that night, as I dropped to one knee and looked at her face I saw her glowing and I knew it was the right decision. She was beautiful and perfect and I am so proud to call her mine. She said yes.. and the story continues to Act 2 (the wedding).