Whew...at least its over!

So the last couple of weeks have been interesting to say the least. I had my foot surgery on November 19th and since then have been hobbling around on crutches and a knee walker thing.

I got my stitches out this past Wednesday, December 2, and was placed into a negative heel shoe. This shoe is designed to take the weight off my foot where the broken bone was removed, a plate and a pin inserted. as much as I was wanting to walk out of the doctors office, this didn't happen. I am still hobbling around on crutches and the knee walker. When the stitches first came out and i attempted to place weight on my foot I could feel the incision pulling, I was too afraid that I was going to open it up if I put pressure on it (not to mention, it HURT to put pressure on my foot!). Just last night I started to put a little more pressure and start "walking" on my foot with the help of crutches. Its really more of a shuffle that I am doing in 1-2 inch increments...I am hoping that I can get rid of the crutches soon, feel more confident walking and get the show on the road. The most important thing is that I be able to walk and dance come April.

I will have to most likely change my shoes that I will be wearing for the wedding. I don't think that the 2 inch heels that I ordered to wear will be the best thing with my foot, especially since the doctor isn't too fond of the idea. I did find some ivory satin isetoner slippers that I am considering as my back up option. Wish I had known about surgery BEFORE I ordered the heels that I can not return, exchange or even wear. OH WELL...

Engagement Photos

Last Sunday Rich and I were blessed to have the opportunity to take our engagement photos. My dear friend Missie allowed us to borrow her father for the afternoon to take our photos in Maryland. We went to Oregon Ridge Park and took advantage of the beautiful nature and wonderful fall colors of the trees as our backdrop.

We couldn't have asked for a better day, or company, for out pictures. It was so much fun and I cant say enough good things about how the pictures turned out. I am so excited to have so many to chose from, not sure I can pick ONE favorite! Thank you so much Dad Mills for spending your afternoon with us and taking such wonderful pictures. Thank you Mom Mills for feeding us such a wonderful meal afterwards, it is always good to spend time with your family!

Here are just a few of the pictures that were taken:

Just under SIX months to go...

We have hit the half way point. Just this week we hit the six month mark. I feel like we have done a lot but still have a ton to do in the next coming months. There are so many little details involved, thankfully I have a great support group of family and friends who are helping me keep it all together.

So far we have bought, ordered and received the following:

Toasting champagne flutes
Cocktail napkins
Cake napkins
rose petals
favor bags
flower girl dress material and patterns
out of towner goodies
INVITATIONS!! LOVE them, they turned out so pretty!
my wedding dress and head piece, still waiting on the shoes and the veil

I'm sure there is more, I just cant think at the moment. I am excited for the next coming months and to see everything to come together.

Event Venues

This is the First Presbyterian Church of Georgetown. This is where Rich and I will be saying our vows and starting our life together as Husband and Wife. The sanctuary is 150 years old, very small and intimate but very beautiful!

Here is the beautiful Casa Blanca. This is where my fairy tale reception will take place. Just pray that April 17, 2010 is a beautiful rain, humid free day...OK so maybe humid FREE is a lot to ask. Low humidity will work for me!

Tuxes and Vests

Just like the girls, There will be different colors of vests according to the roll the men play in the wedding...

This vest and tie will be worn by the Ring bearers and Groomsmen (sorry guys, at least its not hot pink!!!)

This vest and tie (I love this color) will be worn by my ushers and will look great on each of them!

This beautiful color will be worn by my Dad, my Brother and Rich's Dad.

I cant wait to see all of this come together. It has been a lot of work to pick colors and tuxes (twice) and ensure that everything matches and that there isn't anything that looks odd. I am so glad that I have friends who will put up with my flip floppy self and being patient while I chose things and then go back to change them...I promise, these are the vests and I will not change my mind again (I hope!) :)

Dresses

All the girls dresses have been picked. Two have already ordered theirs and the other two will be ordering soon.

Here are the dresses:

Courtney: Matron of Honor and best friend
The dress (strapless dress on the right) will be in Chocolate Brown with Pool colored accents

Sheila: Bridesmaid and second half of "Double Trouble"

This dress will be in Pool with Chocolate brown accent band

Natalie: Bridesmaid and Sister-in-Law
This dress was perfect in every way...how could I not let her get this one??!!

Sasha: Bridesmaid and responsible party for Rich and I meeting! :)

This dress will be in Pool with Chocolate banding accents.

And all the girls will be wearing the same shoes in Chocolate, I hope they are half as comfortable as they look!

What a week!

OK, so I wasn't so good about posting what was happening while in Texas and I have been back for a couple of weeks and still nothing so here it goes:

It went by so fast, from dawn till dusk it was go go go go go!!

• I bought my dress, veil and head piece, over budget.
• Booked cake baker, over budget.
• Booked caterer, over budget.
• florist, over budget.
• picked linens, over budget
• bought flower girl dress material and pattern, wasn't in the budget.
• met with DJ
• Decided on table placement at reception venue.
• went to the church to see and visualize placement of everyone/everything.
• went to Hobby Lobby to see about rental of candle stands etc.
• Saw my dad and Beth.
• Went swimming (and FRIED) at Barton Springs with Courtney and Bailey.
• Got some out of town guest stuff.
• Checked out some hotels for out of town guests as well as Rich and I for our first night as Husband and Wife.
• Picked out 3 of 4 of my bridesmaids dresses.
• picked out the tuxes etc for the guys.
• Birthday celebration for DJ
• Dinner with DJ and my fake sister Mandy
• Family dinner at Chuy's
  
  
  Since being back in VA:
  
  
• Rich and I booked our honeymoon, a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise
• Ordered Champagne flutes, cocktail napkins, favor bags
• picked bridesmaids shoes
• tentatively decided on our wedding invitations and the wording for them.
• figured out that weddings are expensive and tried to win the $300 million + lottery, unsuccessfully :(
• went shopping with Sasha and picked out her bridesmaid dress
• changed my choices for the guys tuxes (Thank you Missie for helping me!)
• have started to stress out more about money and affording all of this!!!

It was a crazy 10 days but it was awesome to have such wonderful family and friends to support me while I was running from place to place!! Thanks especially to Mom, Natalie, David and Blythe for being my tasters and Sheila for helping being my secretary and note keeper (among other things). I couldn't have done this alone and I certainly couldn't have done as much in such a short time!!! You are all very special to me and I am so thankful and very blessed to have you all in my life!!!

Watch out Texas, Here I come

I will be boarding the plane at 4:55 EST tomorrow afternoon to head for Texas. Appointments are scheduled, catering tastings, dress shopping, cake tasting, florist, and reception venue. I hope I can get everything done that I need to get done while I am there. I'm not sure that I have everything scheduled that I should during this time. Fingers crossed I don't miss anything.

I am looking forward to seeing the family and doing wedding stuff, I think this will finally make it real that in about 8 months I will be walking down the isle. For a girl who has thought about this day since her first breath out of the womb, you would think it was all planned and it was just a mater of making payments...so not the case. Who would have thought that there was so many details that go into such a big day.

I will try to keep up with the blog day by day while I am home, no promises, i will do what I can to keep updates posted on the days events and what I liked/didn't like from the caterers etc.

See you soon Texas!

Get your tasters ready!!!

I got my ticket and I will be home on August 5-14 for wedding planning galore. I need to figure out who my caterer is, who will be doing my cake, meet with the florist, meet with the reception venue, go to the church, ask the rest of my attendants, find bridesmaids dresses OH and mine. Not to mention I need to spend some time with my family to get some much needed TLC. All of this in a few short 10 days....

She-Ra, Mom, Nat, Blythe and everyone else....I hope you are ready for a whirl wind week!! Cant wait to see you all. I love you very much and miss you tons

Favors, Favors and more Favors

I found one of the wedding favors I want. They are great and go perfectly with our theme, not to mention they come individually wrapped in a pretty box with a bow that matches our colors, AND I found them on eBay even cheaper...what more could a girl ask for? The only problem is we have not set our definite budget nor have we decided on a definite number of people so I don't know how many to order. I am not opposed to having a few left over but I don't want 75-100 left over, what ever will I do with them? I'm afraid too if I wait the awesome deal that I found ($1.20 each) will go bye-bye.

Here's to great friends and family!

Thank you, Thank you and Thank you.

Momma and She-Ra, thanks for doing the dirty work for me. I'm sure you both have better things to do but instead you are taking care of minor wedding details and planning for me. Asking the questions and collecting the answers that I would be doing if I was there. I don't know where I would be without you two.

And to Beth, thank you for always offering to run errands and see what is out there and willing to pick up ideas and glass containers for me. That is such a big load off, shipping alone on those would be outrageous and might just be enough for me to give up part of my vision for the big day.

To Natalie, Thanks for being willing to take the time to put together a slide show for us (when I get you the pictures). You have many other talents I will be taking advantage of as the day draws nearer! ;) You are the best Sista anyone could have!!!

Thank you to all of you for what you have already done and for what you will continue to do for me to help make our wedding the wedding of my dreams! I love and miss you all!!!

Why cant i find what I want?

All I want are bridesmaids dresses and flower girl dresses that I like and that are in the colors I want. I wouldn't think this is too much to ask but apparently it is. I do not want my flower girls to wear a white or ivory dress. I want some color but I haven't found any that are "must have" dresses (well, I did but it was $119 and i refuse to do that to my flower girls parents!!!).
The same is true for my bridesmaids. I have a vision but I am having trouble figuring out exactly how i want the girls to look, or the look I'm going for with the dresses. I want a magic wedding wand, a flick of the wrist and my visions come to life, just like that.

All for Natalie

As most of you know, my wonderful sister in law Natalie has a blog for the Gumpl Gang. She told me that I should blog about my engagement and wedding plans that are taking place for the blessed event on April 17, 2010.

SO...here you go Nat, all for you. I make no promises as to how often I will be blogging but here it is, up and running! :)