Wedding Wednesday: Paper, Prep and a Pick Up

Happy Wednesday! It's the middle of the week and normally I would be so excited about it being closer to the weekend, but this week I'm not. I have always loved the week after Christmas because the hustle and bustle has subsided and it's a great week for everyone to unwind and really enjoy the holidays, so I'm not really ready for the week to end! Will and I are not quite done celebrating Christmas and will head to Florence this weekend to exchange gifts with his parents/relatives! Then Monday it's back to the grind, I already have 3 sub jobs lined up for next week! Yay!

Before Christmas we (my mom and I) had decided to spend a lot of time this week working on that LONG wedding to-do list, since we were both off of work. Yesterday, a friend of mine came over and we worked on details about the rehearsal dinner. >Side note< I'm working on some of the rehearsal dinner since Will's mom has been in and out of the hospital for the past couple of months. > We organized table decor and she designed the rehearsal dinner invite. I had found one at a local invitation store a few months ago and checked on the price and it was an absurd $145ish for 45 invites. WHAT?!? So my friend, who is beyond amazingly talented at graphic design, was able to design a similar invitation (but even better than the expensive version) and I got a quote from a printer and it's going to cost like $30.00 for 50 invites + envelopes! #winning Post wedding I will be sharing all of the paper products in the wedding, but everything is under wraps until then!

Speaking of paper, my friend also designed our ceremony program for me. We didn't quite get finished with all of the design elements so I'm excited to see the finished product! We used the skeleton of her program to help with the elements for mine. I am an organized person, but for some reason the task of planning out the program was overwhelming, so it was helpful to have her to help me talk through all the specifics!

After we finished, we went over to my moms and started unpacking the decor that we are going to be using for the reception. We have 27 bird cages, 27 birds and about 8 bird nests so a few more of those to collect! We organized it all by size on big tables out in my parents garage, it was so fun to see it all out and grouped together! I can't wait to start organizing it by what is actually going on individual tables. It makes me so excited to walk into my reception venue and see it all set up! The event planner in me can't wait to see all these puzzle pieces come together and make the final product!

And FINALLY, my dress is FINISHED being altered!! Hallelujah!! I have to say, that besides the guest list, dress fittings have been stressful. My seamstress made, what could have been a headache, really relaxing and she was super confident in her ability to alter my dress! I think it was just stressful to me because my dress is altered and I'm not wearing it for another couple months, but since my portraits are scheduled for Jan. 18th, I had to have it done by now. It was exciting to try on the fitted dress today and finally feel like it's finally mine. For so long it felt like I was wearing someone else's dress because it was so BIG! She also completed the bustle which made it fit better for dancing and not so BIG around and cumbersome. Here are a couple of pics from picking up the dress today...

My seamstress, Merci and my gown! Concealed of course! :)

Sneak Peek of my Dress! Of course I blurred it a bit! ;)

I hope everyone has a great rest of your week and a VERY Happy New Year!!

Late 2015 Recap

Goodness Gracious! We are in the final days of 2015, and I haven't even blogged the last 2 months which has been jam packed with exciting happenings!! I think I'll start with Christmas and work backward...

Our 2015 Christmas Card! 

Christmas didn't feel much like Christmas this year because it was HOT. Everyday has been at least 65 degrees or more, and mostly in the mid-70s! It is IMPOSSIBLE to look cute and "Christmasey" when it's too warm to even put on a scarf! It also didn't feel much like Christmas because I chose not to put up a tree or even many decorations. The stockings were hung and there was a wreath on the door but that was about it! A perfectly good excuse was because we have too much going on and this week, I'm attempting to get back into Wedding Planning mode and therefore did not want to worry with taking down decorations!
We had a very blessed Christmas spending it with family and receiving some wonderful gifts. Will got me a new laptop, which was much needed! Watch out blog world.. I'm set now, if I can figure it all out! Will's big gift was a tool set from my parents, which he can't wait to piddle around with! We also got a set of our fine China which brings the count to 8 place settings! We are super excited!! We also got a few other things from our registry including our NINJA blender! Bring on smoothies!

Many nights in December were filled with attending holiday events, and I subbed nearly everyday! The month FLEW by!! Let's rewind back to the very end of November/beginning of December when....

WILL BOUGHT A HOUSE!! We are excited about our new little nest!

We have some painting to do, and some updating to take care of! We found a great deal on appliances and they should be installed in the next couple of weeks! We bought and were gifted some furniture this past weekend and we got a few house items for Christmas! I'm excited to share all our house updates as they happen!! Stay tuned in 2016 for the makeover!

In Mid-November I had my first (ever!) bridal shower! It was so much fun and I LOVED the fall theme! Here are a few pics from that event! 

The Winn ladies threw me the shower! Sweet family friends!

Bridesmaids/Honoraries in attendance!

The same weekend as our shower, we had our engagement pictures taken! We LOVE our photographer and I highly recommend her! Check out her website if you are in need of a wedding/baby/family photographer! She does amazing work! I would post our engagement pictures, however, Jessica wrote such a beautiful post and included some of the best of our pictures on her blog, so check it out here! And here is just a teaser picture...

2015 has been quite the year with lots of "ups" and a few "downs," but it will be a year I'll always remember! We are looking forward to all that 2016 has in store... it's sure to be sweet! 

Inspirations

In my previous post, I mentioned that we are in the process of possibly buying a house. While not enough details are finalized for me to elaborate any more than that, it doesn't stop me from sharing a few inspirations for decorating our new home! I took a housing class in high school and college, so needless to say I've been waiting a long time to "nest." (I've decided that term doesn't have to just be used when you are expecting, because I'm definitely NOT!) I was lucky enough to be able to purchase my first home at the age of 22 and I started planning furniture placement, paint color and decor long before closing! Somethings don't change. I'm pretty much already there with this go round! Luckily, I have a fiance who trusts me to make interior design decisions and who puts up with me showing him my Pinterest board with all my ideas!

When I bought my house the last time I couldn't wait to put color on the walls. When I purchased it the walls were very vanilla, literally it looked like vanilla ice cream color on the walls. I purchased furniture with taupe color fabric and side tables that were dark cherry for the living room. My bed is also dark cherry, and at the time I was obsessed with a blue and brown color palette. I have the Vera Bradley Java Blue pattern bed skirt, message board and lamp shade. I had those items in my college apartment senior year and wanted to incorporate a very girly design into my master bedroom. It was perfect for a young single girl, but I am ready to "graduate" to an inviting couples retreat! My kitchen is currently the color of a firetruck. I couldn't wait to paint my kitchen a bold color! I LOVE red in a kitchen and it looks best at Christmas. I also collect antique kitchen utensils with red handles and display them on  my kitchen hutch. My guest room is a pastel yellow, called "yellow ribbon." It was actually the same color my nursery was when I was a baby. I paired pink and green with it and it is the cutest girly room ever!

Obviously, the last time I planned paint colors and decor I was obsessed with color! It's true, I'm a color person, not much in my wardrobe is bland! However, this time, I've decided to tone it down a bit. When we were looking at houses on the  market I saw one that had grey walls throughout the home. It looked good in every room, was relaxing and created a sleek modern look throughout. It was then that we both decided that we wanted that same look in whichever home we purchased. With the same color on the walls in every room we can add color in our decor and accessories! I contacted the Realtor for that listing and asked her for the shade and make of the paint. It was Sherwin Williams Agreeable Grey.

I found this fabric when I was browsing looking for fabric to recover some chairs. I instantly knew that I had to have it! I mean, it has birds on! I found it at a local fabric store and I'm hopefully going to look at it/purchase it Friday! I want to make three euro sized pillow covers for our master bed. I think it will compliment our neutral bedspread nicely and add some pattern/texture.

For the wedding mom found some champagne colored birdcages at Ross. After the wedding I want to hang them from the ceiling in the master bed room. I will probably add some battery operated candles to them to add some light and decoration. The picture below is similar to the ones I have in color, but are more ornate than mine. But mine do have the hooks, which is what made me think to hang them in our bedroom after the wedding!

Above the bed I want to put a cut out of our married monogram. I ordered one a few weeks ago from Groopdealz.com. (Ps. if you don't know about that daily deal site, acquaint yourself!) I got this monogram cut out for $7.99 plus shipping. What a steal!!! I haven't decided what color I'm going to paint it yet and if I'm going to mount it on something else or hang it with a ribbon. My intention is to use it somewhere at the reception as a decoration, but then eventually put it above our bed.

So basically, the master bedroom will be a mix of greys, browns, and metallics. Will doesn't think it's too feminine and I think it's very inviting and even a little romantic! I'm excited to see it all come together eventually.

Whenever we do purchase our home and start to move in, paint is the top priority! That will refresh the space and make it feel like ours. Of course, I will blog about it along the way and if I decide to take on any DIY projects that I've pinned I'll share those too! I intend to use my current bedding/decorations in our guest bed room. I can't quite let go of the blue and brown palette just yet. The walls will be grey, but I think that will make the blue and brown pop instead of blending with a light blue wall. The third bedroom will have my current guest bedroom furniture in it, including a desk. I will probably set up my sewing machine there and get to leave it out instead of having to put it up and off of my kitchen table. I'm so excited to have more than 1040 square feet to live in! We can each have a place to escape to and do our own thing! Again, more updates on the house we purchase when more is finalized, but I can't wait to share with you our new nest and the transformation to making it ours!

Where did October go?

Hello! Sorry I've been MIA for the month but we have been busy busy busy! I'll go ahead and warn you this post is a photo dump! I thought I'd take the opportunity on this chilly, rainy, 1st of November night to fill you in on life with the TBirds! We have had a crazy October! It has been fun, but constantly on the go! To help keep our schedules straight we finally synced the calendars on our phones! Y'all this is HUGE!! *insert Donald Trump Voice* We have been together for 3.5 years and we are just now doing this?!? It has been an amazing development in our relationship, and would have saved us from so many spats in the past! If you haven't done this I encourage you to!!

Anyways, the first weekend in October we were each supposed to head in opposite directions: Will to Florence to celebrate his moms birthday & me to Rock Hill to my sorority alumni reunion weekend! Well, that didn't happen! As I'm sure you are aware the thousand year flood occurred that weekend and we each decided it wasn't a good idea to travel. Instead we watched Netflix & football, caught up on our shows and ate Waffle House! Everything was shut down, including schools (for the entire week) and the bank was closed Monday. We were stir crazy by Monday evening but we enjoyed a few "unplanned" days off and enjoyed spending the unexpected time together! Should we have been working on something towards the wedding? Probably. Did we? Absolutely not, unless you count pinning more decor ideas on my wedding Pinterest board! Joking aside, the flood damage to our city and state was devastating! My heart breaks for the people that were severely impacted by the damage! It will take awhile for everything to recover, but we will because we are #SCstrong!

This is a picture of the Old Mill on Main St in Lexington, about 2 miles from my house! 

The next weekend we attended the wedding of Will's former co-worker! It was in town and we enjoyed the great food and fun at the reception, even though it was rainy and still icky from the flood! Do I have a single picture from this event? Nope. #bloggerfail

The week after the flood the sun was finally out and the SC State Fair started on Wednesday the 14th. I was able to take my grandmother and spend the day with her walking around the fair looking at the exhibits and eating delicious, but not in my diet, fried food! Will met us for lunch, so we got our fair fill in within the first 5 hours the fair was open! Sometimes not working full time has its benefits! I wouldn't have been able to take gram and make that memory! 

We were 2 of the first 1,000 people into 2015 state fair! 

Will eating his annual donut bacon cheeseburger. Also, not on the wedding diet! 

The next weekend we didn't have any concrete plans, but we spent the majority of the weekend watching football and just being together! The weather was beautiful for a change and so we just got some stuff done around the house! The day before, the invitation for my first shower came in the mail! That was super exciting, and made it all start to seem real! We also had our first pre-marital counseling session, which went well. We have had 2 sessions so far, and we enjoy recognizing why we know we work so well together. 

Last weekend was super busy! Will's 33rd birthday was Saturday the 24th! It was a low key celebration! My parents grilled filets and we watched the Clemson game that night! During the day we went house hunting!! This wasn't the first time we had been, but we had added some more to the list to look at. More to come on this as it develops, but we hope to buy soon & have Will moved in by December! I will move my stuff little by little, then move most of my stuff the week of the wedding and spend my first night there on our wedding night! Prayers are appreciated as this is a big decision with a lot of hoops to jump through! Adulting at its finest! 

The Devils food cake with marshmallow buttercream frosting that I made for him! It wasn't pretty, but it tasted good and he was excited about the Star Wars theme!

This is the 3rd birthday we've celebrated together! I look forward to sharing many more!

Wednesday we were supposed to have our church's trunk or treat, but due to rain it was moved to Thursday night! Shocker! We reprised our roles as Danny & Sandy! We have intentions to ride this 2TBirds thing out as long as we can! There were over 4,000 people who attended! We went through 14 BIG bags of candy just at our trunk! 

Friday night we attended a costume party in my parents neighborhood! Glad we got 2 more wears out of our costumes this year! My parents went as a zombie bride and groom! Either that are really into this wedding stuff, or we are slowly killing them with it! :)

That is moms wedding dress that she has on! Who knew 41years ago that it would one day be a Halloween costume!

This weekend, on Halloween, we attended the wedding of one of Will's high school friends! The reception was a masquerade ball which was neat! Here is the only pic we have because again, I fail at taking pics at events! 

The weekends have definitely been busy, but I've also been staying busy subbing! I've also applied for like a hundred more jobs! This is my current thoughts on that...

Might as well laugh as to cry about the situation!

November is looking just as busy as October! This weekend I'm headed to Augusta to pick up my dress and have the first fitting!!! So I'll be busting it at the gym this week and eating lettuce and jello! Not really, just lean meats and proteins for the next few months! The candy got me last week! Then the next weekend we have our engagement pictures, finally, and my first shower! All super exciting!! I can't WAIT for our pictures and to see my ideas for the shoot become real! Just pray that Saturday the 14th is a beautiful sunny fall day in SC! Thanksgiving will soon follow and then Christmas! Time is flying by!! 

Have a lovely week and welcome November! 

Thursday Tidbits

Hello! I realize that I have taken nearly a month to update again. Life has been, well, crazy to say the least! For not being full time employed I sure have kept busy!! I refuse to waste this time that I was unexpectedly given! 

Employment Update: 

Really enjoying substitute teaching! My first full week was last week and I was in elementary, middle, our tech center and highschool! I definitely got a feel for which age/grades I like best and surprisingly that was middle school! This week I have only subbed 3 days and those were in highschool! I really like the flexible schedule, being back in a classroom and being around children/teens! I mean I only knew there was a Snapchat update last Thursday because I was in middle school! 😉

I am still looking for full time employment and have put in what feels like 50,000 applications/résumés to various places! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a certain position and hope to hear back before the end of the week or at least the first part of next week!

Since I've had "free time" I've spent a good bit of it in the gym! It's really paying off! I lost about 15lbs, and around 4in in my waist! Skirts and pants are starting to get too big and I'm slowly getting into clothes I haven't worn in quite a while! I don't like to brag on myself, but sometimes you have to toot your own horn!! 

Another thing I've started back doing recently was church choir! I had taken about a 2 year hiatus due to grad school and then I wasn't a fan of the worship style my church changed too. However, it has gone back to a more blended style of worship music and so I decided to get involved again. It has been a blessing to go to practice on Wednesday nights and worship through singing, and it's been fun to lead worship on Sunday mornings! I missed practice last night, as I've had a sinus/cold/cough thing going on since Sunday, but I'm looking forward to being back next week! I also joined a ladies ensemble to further my vocal ability! It's probably out of my league, but I'll do my best to make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Wedding Update: 

The invitations came and I absolutely love them!! I think I said that in my last post! Now comes the hard part of assembling and addressing them! I plan to start working on that next week! If I do 10-15 at a time it won't be too overwhelming! I have until the end of January to get them completed! 

I have a laundry list of wedding to-dos! I need to buy ribbon, I need to assemble favors, I need to order Will's tie and the ring bearers's bow ties, I need to check on groomsmans' ties & socks, flower girl dresses need to be ordered, honorary gifts, organize center pieces, have dress fitted, take engagement pictures, take bridal portraits, have a bachelorette weekend and a few showers, and the list goes on and on of those nitty gritty details that you don't think about until something else makes you think of them!! I know it will all workout and be beautiful so I'm not too worried, just need to prioritize those details!!

Upcoming Festivities:

We are looking forward to a busy fall! We have two weddings to attend in October, one is on Halloween with a masquerade reception! How fun! We also hope to participate in our church's trunk or treat again as Danny and Sandy from Grease! Of course we will be watching football most Saturday's and taking in the occasional Friday night lights with high school football! Will's family reunion is coming up as well as his 33rd Birthday!! Lots of activities and busy weekend ahead! Looking forward to all fall has to offer besides, pumpkin spice lattes! 

I apologize for mylast few posts not being very visual! Not much in my life is picture worthy at this point! I have made some pretty decent dinners that were worth snapping a pic, but I'm always too hungry to think about anything other than diving in! If I think about it in my next post I'll list the recipes I made and the links to where I found them! 

Stay Beautiful! 

MG

Weekend Update

Happy Monday! Except, it doesn't feel like Monday because it's Labor Day and my fiance is laying on my sofa ignoring the Hoda and Kathie Lee on my TV! :) We have a few plans for later today that include the lake if the sun will make an appearance, & some steaks on the grill! Yum! Sending Summer off in style!

Since my last post I have applied for 2.5 million jobs, it feels like, so lets hope there are some leads with those this week, and I have been through substitute training and I'm officially on the list to sub! I'm excited and a bit nervous to be back in a classroom!

On Friday, mom and I went to "visit" my wedding dress in Augusta! I wanted to go because I wanted to look at my veil again, and a few other details of my dress. I also wanted to go because I knew I had lost a few pounds since May, and I wanted to see how my dress fit. In May, I bought my dress "off the rack" because it was the size they would have ordered for me anyways. It fit like a glove, minus needing to be altered in the bust. So they didn't use any clips to hold it/fit it when I was there in May. Well, Friday I put that dress on and it wouldn't stay up!! They had to use 2 clips to hold it on and there was about an inch or so in the clip!! What a great feeling to know that busting my rear in the gym is paying off!! Back at it tomorrow! :)

This weekend was also the start of college football season! Well, technically Thursday night was the start when USC played UNC. We had some friends over to watch the game, they brought some wings, I fixed meatballs and my favorite buffalo chicken cheese dip. I also made some cookie bars! All were a hit! See below for the recipes!

 Buffalo Chicken Cheese Dip

 Cookie Bars

Breaking News!! Our invitations came!! IT JUST GOT REAL!!! They look so good and I'm SO pleased with Exclusively Weddings!! I highly recommend this website as a great alternative to expensive invitation shops, etc. I hated to not shop local, but local didn't fit in my budget. I just had a hard time justifying spending a lot on something that is eventually going to be thrown in the trash, unfortunately. This website had SUCH a great deal on the perfect invitation to fit with our theme, for a great price!! Unlike several other online invitation sites, they include envelopes, and only charge a minimal fee for the envelope to be printed with the return address! Again, if you are in the market for invites check them out! I promise, this post was not sponsored!

Finally, I've been looking on Etsy and various other sites for a garter, and my goodness they are expensive. So I have decided to DIY!! I bought all the pieces to make it, so I think I'll work on it today! If they turn out, I'll post a picture and how-to instructions!

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day! After today I will be pulling out my fall decor! My favorite!

Wedding Wednesday: Dates & Details

Happy Wednesday! I love creating posts for Wednesday because I know when they post live that we've made it half way through the week and we are on our way to the weekend. Last week's post was created the previous week and I didn't blog at all last week. While I do reveal a lot of personal life on this "lifestyle blog," I try not to blog about the "bad" in life. But let's be real, life happens and not everything is sunshine, roses, unicorns and glitter. Last Thursday was one of those days. I won't go into much detail, but after my organization went through a reorganization, my (new) responsibilities turned out not to be a "good fit" for me and I was let go. I wasn't shocked, I didn't even cry. Like the last job I had that ended very similarly, after the initial shock had worn off, I realized I was actually relieved. I am using this unexpected time to improve myself! I've been in the gym nearly everyday, I'm taking my time to research and figure out what I want to career wise, I've been cooking healthy dinners every night and I'm enjoying the flexibility to be able to accomplish tasks towards the wedding. I have been approved to substitute teach in our district, so in the immediate future, that is where I will be. In all that happens in life, as a Christian, I see God. He is in total control, he has a plan, and I can't be worried about bills, health insurance, my next job, etc. because He's got it! If I fully rely on Him, I am confident that all will be OK. Again, I try not to be Debbie downer on the blog, but I felt like I needed to update this life change, so that when I look back I will have proof of seeing how God has worked in my life.

Moving on to more exciting news! I nailed down the dates with my photographer for our engagement pictures (November) and my bridal portraits (January)! We are meeting this week to check out a location for the engagement pictures & I am SO excited for my vision to become reality! I have to say this will not be a typical engagement shoot, and I'm so glad my photographer is on board with my crazy ideas!

Last week I was also able to accomplish ordering our invitations. I used Exclusively Weddings.com. They have great products and great customer service. They will send you up to 5 free samples of invites for you to touch and see before you order. They also will email you a proof of your invite before printing. I am very excited about the invite we chose. It's simple with a little bit of vintage flair to coincide with our theme. I searched high and low for invitations that were beautiful, yet reasonably priced. These were the best bang for the buck! When I receive them, I will update on their quality and my satisfaction. Coincidence that their logo has two birds on it? I think not... #meanttobe

We also went to a local printer to discuss programs. I am very excited about what they are going to look like. Basically, Morgan, on paper! I will work on the copy in the next couple of weeks and send to them to make a proof. Let's just say, it's not your typical wedding ceremony program!

Another detail I am working on accomplishing is what we are using for our send-off. Again, like everything else, I'm not revealing it just yet! Hopefully I will be able to find and buy the supplies and start DIYing them soon! Suddenly March seems so soon!

As you may/may not remember from a couple of posts ago, we were in Asheville a couple weekends ago for a wedding that Will was in. We decided to take the plunge into AirBnB and try it out! We had THE BEST experience! This is a great alternative to a hotel, especially if you aren't going to be spending much time in the room! We were in and out at odd times because of participating in wedding festivities, and it was so perfect! We enjoyed our stay and our hosts were great! I highly recommend it! Here is a picture from the photo booth at the wedding! The Fowler wedding was beautiful and so much fun! All of the decor was a reflection of Caroline and her talents. I truly hope our attendees have as much fun and feel as welcomed at our wedding as we did at theirs!

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week! Since I have the time, I'm going to spend time with my MOH! Excited for a mid-week get-away! Looking forward to the weekend and singing in our churches' 122 voice choir celebrating the founding of our church 122 years ago! Also, Will's grandmother may come to visit! We have a lot to be excited about and even more to be grateful for! We are just already discovering the "in good times and bad" part of the vows! :)

Vendor Reveal #2!

A few weeks months ago I posted about the first 3 vendors I confirmed, besides the venue, here. Well, I've finally made the deposit on the final vendor so I can reveal a few more!

I am most excited about 2 things: Videography & CAKE!

I randomly picked up a business card when we registered at Belk for Bonnie Brunt Cakes. I went on her website and immediately loved her work! We went and visited her farm about an hour away, in Calhoun County! Boy, was it ever worth the drive! Bonnie is the most precious lady you will ever meet, and couldn't be more Southern than sweet tea! She welcomed us into the bottom her home, which she has converted to a DHEC certified bakery! She greeted us with hugs and the aroma of sugar! My parents and grandmother tagged along with Will and me for the tasting. Needless to say, we had cake for lunch! She bakes cupcakes and gives you her various flavors of icing to match. My favorite part was when she referred to each cake flavor like it was a person, ie. "This is red velvet, he likes buttercream but his favorite partner is the cream cheese icing. This is vanilla pound cake and she loves all of the icings." I kid you not, the cutest thing ever! So once we had tried all the flavors and paired them with all their icings, we decided on.... oh wait. I'm not telling you! You'll have to wait and see after the wedding! :) Before we dove into the sweets, she spent 20 minutes sitting next to me on my iPad and browsed through my entire secret wedding board on Pinterest to get a feel for what I was looking for. While we tasted, she sketched. When she returned I teared up at what she presented me! I got more emotional about the cake design than I did my dress! #foodie or #fat@$$ I absolutely can not wait to see the design brought to life and finally eat our delicious cake!

As an event/wedding planner, I've come to recognize that the most important part of the whole day is to capture it. While I love my photographer and know she will capture many great images, there is something to be said about having the day recorded. Will and I have older grandparents and parents that unfortunately our future children may never know. I myself never really knew my grandfathers as I was too young to remember before they passed. A priority for us was to have the day recorded not only for our memory, but to share with our future children and their children etc. who their grandparents and great grandparents were. Our videographer is Bill Grant, owner of Cinema Couture. How ironic that his first name is William and his last name is Grant?!? Crazy! His work is fantastic and he does a great job of blending the ceremony with the reception. I truly wish my parents had a video of their ceremony, and I am so grateful that we will be able to have ours for years to come. He is also going to be recording our rehearsal dinner where I know some sweet words will be spoken and memories made. The weekend is going to be a whirlwind and although the price is steep, I don't doubt we will look back and be so thankful we spent it on preserving memories!

I apologize that this post has no photos. However, I did provide links to both vendors websites. Bonnie has a Facebook page that is filled with pictures and Bill uses Vimeo. Visit their sites, you won't be disappointed! Again, these vendors did not ask me to promote them, but I can tell you I've picked the best of the best! I'm excited to work with all of them as we get closer to the wedding and to have them be a part of our day!

5 on Friday!

Good Morning Lovelies! We are headed to Asheville this weekend for the wedding of one of Will's friends and groomsman! Then on the way back Sunday we'll be stopping in Greenville to celebrate my grandmother's 86th birthday with my aunt, uncle and cousins! I have a feeling come Monday morning, I'm going to wish I had a weekend to get over my weekend!

It's been a while since I updated with a post about what's been going on lately, so I'm linking up with April over at A.Liz Adventures to share 5 things to catch you up for 5 on Friday!

1. Air BnB! Have any of you tried it? The thought of it, at first, freaked me out! I mean my entire life mom told me not to speak to strangers, and here I am about to spend the night in a strangers house! For this wedding weekend, we needed a cheap place to stay for 2 nights. Hotels in Asheville are expensive because it's a tourist destination. So, we started pursuing VRBO and Air BnB! We settled on a quaint little basement apartment about 20min from the wedding venue for $70 a night! Can't beat that! I'll let you know my thoughts and about our experience next week! If it's good we are looking at booking an apartment for our NYC trip next summer!

 
2. Last Sunday we went to the Belk "Engagement Party" bridal show. We are already registered at Belk, but if we added to our registry we were entered to win various prizes. I wanted the whole table of prizes, but particularly the pair of Waterford Crystal champagne flutes. Well, I WON THEM!! I'm so excited to use these at our reception! They are beautiful & the pattern is called Happy Celebrations, which I know we will use them for in years to come!

3. A few weeks ago I hosted a couple of high school girls while they were in town participating in the Distinguished Young Women Scholarship Program or DYW. I volunteer with this organization and truly have a passion for making a positive impact on their lives. The two girls that stayed with me were a delight! So smart and talented! As a hostess gift them (and their mothers) gifted me the Wilton Pewter Bread Tray from our registry! This is so special to me as we are going to use it during our ceremony for the bread during the Lord's Supper. It now has a duel meaning since it has the palmetto tree and moon on it and these girls were at the State program. Sweetest gift ever, I definitely teared up at the thoughtfulness!

4. We have decided on the attire of our wedding party! We actually decided this a few months back, but I didn't share because there were a few details missing... like the tie for the guys! The dresses are Alfred Sung Dupioni Silk Fit & Flare in Pearl Pink, and the suits are Jos A. Bank in Shark Skin. Will and my dad are going to wear a vest, the other guys will just wear a coat and tie. The tie for the guys we found at Hamricks for a ridiculously cheap price. However, our local store only had 3 and we need 11 total. They are working hard to contact all 18 of their stores to try to find me the 8 more! Keep your fingers crossed because it was hard to find this one, and I don't want to search any more!

5. For my birthday, like a month ago, I received several items off our registry. A couple of place settings of our china and a few gift cards to Bed, Bath & Beyond. With those I decided to go ahead and purchase our comforter that we registered for. It was on clearance and I was sure that it would be gone by the time people started purchasing gifts for our November shower! I knew I wanted it because it matches both brown and grey and I'm not sure what I will pair it with in the future. Currently our bedroom is blue with brown accents, but in the future I'm dying for a grey bedroom with neutral accent tones. I didn't want this comforter to disappear! Now I'm having to hide it from myself so I won't be tempted to put it on the bed! :)

 I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Be on the lookout next week for Vendor Reveal #2! So much planning is starting to come together and I'm excited to share it with you! Don't forget to link up!

Wedding Wednesday: Bridesmaids Edition!

This post was originally suppose to be about the entire wedding party... but Will hasn't given me enough details about how he met/knows his guys so I'm moving on with this post about the incredible women that will be standing beside me in 220 days!! Eeek!

First, let me just say that the majority of my bridesmaids are actually matrons. I'm pretty much the last in the group to tie the knot! :) I'm so fortunate to be surrounded with friends who are great examples of what being a Godly wife looks like. I'm so glad I have all of them to go to for advice and laughs!

>Disclaimer: If you make it through this entire post you totally deserve a cookie! This post is really for my benefit to reflect on how much each of these ladies means to me.

My Matron of Honor is Katie
Katie and I met freshman year of college at Winthrop, in the hall bathroom of our dorm, Margaret Nance. I'm pretty sure we met while brushing our teeth! She lived a few doors down the hall and we always spoke when we saw each other. She was involved in Baptist Christian Ministry (BCM) and we saw each other there too. Ironically, she started dating a guy who was in my writing class (that I thought was so cute!) who was also in BCM in the fall of that year. They are now married! Our sophomore year, we both lived on the same hall, but we had a class together as well. We also continued to have more friends in common through other clubs and organizations, and on the hall. Our friendship was pretty natural at that point. Our junior year, she decided to take the first semester and spend it abroad in Argentina. Once she returned we were going to live together, but it didn't work out for us to. She bought a house off campus, but we remained close. We went on a beach trip together with our friends to her beach house in Cherry Grove that summer. It's really hard for me to remember not being friends with Katie! Since college she has lived in Rock Hill and we both make plenty of trips up and down i77. She has a precious little girl now and I couldn't be more thrilled to continue to share life experiences with her. Katie tends to bring my diva-ness back down to reality, which is why I think her and Will get along so well. I couldn't imagine this day without her by my side and all the help she is going to be in the planning process!

Lynsey-
Lynsey and I met in the 8th grade. She had just moved from Florida and she sat next to me in band class, we both played the flute. We also both tried out for cheerleading and didn't make it, so then we tried out for color guard and both made it! Lynsey & I also attended the same church and went on several youth trips together! Lynsey and I remained friends through college and saw each other some when we were home. Her parents moved from Lexington around the time we were graduating from college, but she stayed in Lexington. When I moved home from college, she was pretty much the only high school friend I had still living in my town! We exercised together and had many a conversation about boys walking around the track at church. I was lucky enough to stand by her side 3 years ago when she tied the knot and I can't imagine my day without her!

Jenilyn-
I'm an only child, but joining a sorority gave me the best sister I could ask for! Jenilyn and I were in a Christian Women's Service sorority called Alpha Omega. She joined her freshman year, and I joined my sophomore year. I went to an information meeting and when I introduced myself Jenilyn knew she wanted to claim me as her little. Apparently I was wearing pearls and an oxford shirt and she just knew we'd be good friends! We also share the commonality of being Clemson fans and we met up a couple of times at games. We lived in the same apartment complex our senior year and we spent lots of time together participating in sorority shenanigans! Jenilyn got married about a month after we graduated and I was fortunate enough to serve as her maid of honor. My day would be incomplete without my sister in Christ standing next to me.

Maddison, Peyton & Chandler-
These lovely ladies are my cousins. I am six years older than Maddison, eight years older than Peyton and twelve years older than Chandler. I can remember every single time that my uncle called to tell us they were expecting another girl. To an only child, getting a cousin was a big deal! I remember telling everyone when I was in first grade that "I was getting a girl cousin!" Little did I know that I'd eventually get three!! Friends come and go, but these girls have been in my life nearly forever, or at-least as long as I can remember! While we only get to see each other around birthdays, holidays, the beach, dance recitals, and graduations we have shared some of the same memories growing up.
Maddison recently graduated from College of Charleston, Peyton will be a Junior at CofC this fall and Chandler will start her senior year in a couple of weeks. I can't believe they are old enough to accomplish milestones that I feel like I just accomplished myself! I'm so excited they are going to be a part of this next event and memory in my life, and I hope to share in that moment for them eventually!

My Honorary Bridesmaids/Attendants-
Currie Beth- We affectionately call ourselves each others "oldest friend." Our moms were expecting at the same time and our birthdays are a week apart. Our parents were friends and in a neighborhood supper club together & many of my toddler pictures include curly-haired Currie Beth. When we were around five, her parents moved from Columbia to Simpsonville. We occasionally still had "play dates" when my parents and I would go to Greenville to visit our family. Currie had a BIG pink bedroom and we played dolls and annoyed her little brother. I went to her birthday party in the 5th or 6th grade and then we really didn't see each other again until our senior year. I went and visited her in the fall of our senior year and went to a high school football game with her. We reconnected again in college thanks to Facebook and she asked me to serve as an honorary bridesmaid in her wedding four years ago. While we aren't super close, our lives have been intertwined since the beginning and we have been able to keep in touch for nearly 30 years. It's not often that people have friendships that last their lifetime. I'm thankful she wanted to be a part of this to continue to add to our friendship timeline.

Victoria- We have actually only known each other about two years. We met through work and bonded over "cave-man feet" from wearing snow boots for a solid week in Boston in 2014. She introduced me to Occo, an amazing spa in Columbia. The minute we returned from snowy Boston we went for a pedicure! We realized that we had a number of things in common, including participating in Junior Miss in high school (now known as Distinguished Young Women). We were both getting involved with the organization again and judged a few programs together. Knowing about my wedding planning background she asked me to help direct her reception last October. I'm so glad I was able to do that for her, and now she is returning the favor a bit by letting me borrow some of her decorations and being a beautiful smiling face to greet my guests upon arrival. Her sweet spirit is contagious and I'm so glad to have met her and call her my friend.

Brittany- I've known Brittany for the least amount of time, but when she moved in across the street from me and we met a year or so ago, I knew we would be good friends. We are both so busy with work but she's the neighbor I call if I need something! It's hard to meet people and make new friends when you are a working young professional and so I am lucky that she moved in and an instant friendship happened. I know she will help to make my day special and I hope to return the favor in the near future!! :)


I'm excited about all the upcoming events and time that I will get to spend with my closest friends, from various parts of my life, all together at the same time!

Be Blessed Lovelies...

I've been blogging off and on since March of 2011. I've had, now, three different blogs that each were relevant to a specific time in my life. The summer I went to Nashville all by myself to the CMA Festival and blogged about it on Nashville Notes, the year of "singledom" and my late 20s with Monogramaddict, and now as I enter the next phase of life as a wife, and hopefully one day a mother, with A Tale of Two T-Birds. One of the first blogs I ever started following was A Blonde Ambition. Leslie's quick whit in her writing sucked me right in. I was new to blogging and had NO clue what I was doing. She introduced me to what I know now as "lifestyle blogging," with fashion samples, hair tutorials, SEC football drama, relationship advice and Confessional Friday Link-ups. I followed her whirlwind romance with her husband Stephen, their big wedding day, and eventually the birth of her two precious girls, Caroline and Ainsley. While in her later posts I couldn't relate to breast feeding, stroller shopping or running a home with two under two, I was a regular reader and anticipated her posts to catch up on her life.

See that's the funny thing about blogging and this crazy internet world we live in. I follow some blogs that I've personally known the individual for several years, and I follow other blogs where I've never met the person but I can tell you how they take their coffee from Starbucks. Bloggers create their own little neighborhood of friends and rejoice with one another in triumphs and grieve when something tragic happens. Blogland is grieving for Leslie. Since February Leslie has been battling with a previous heart condition that did not resurface until after she had Ainsley. She's been fighting hard since February to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. She only briefly updated her blog to let us know how she was and any updates.

A couple weeks ago, she had a set back, she posted this before she left for more treatment. Last evening I found out through social media that Leslie went to be with Jesus Monday. I honestly can not begin to comprehend the amount of grief and pain her family must be going through. My heart truly aches for her girls that will never know their mother, and her husband who has lost his other half. I know Leslie was a woman of God and her faith is what sustained her through her health crisis. She often blogged about her faith and as a fellow Christian loved that she was so vocal and public about it on her blog. I know that she is with Jesus and we will see her again when our own time is up on this earth.

I haven't ever personally experienced grief of such a young person. She was a year and a half older than me, her life was just beginning, she finally had all she she could ask for in life. Two beautiful daughters, a devoted husband, and a career she enjoyed. Not to mention all the beautiful friends she acquired through her blog. Leslie always ended her posts with "Be Blessed Lovelies..." Leslie, we were blessed by you and to know you. How grateful your girls will be that you documented the last six years of your life through your writing and even a few video tutorials. They will know how much you loved life, loved them and loved the Lord. You couldn't ask for a bigger blessing from this situation than that.


There is a GoFundMe page set up to contribute to her girls' college fund and eventually wedding fund. If you feel inclined to contribute you can find that page here. Continued prayers for all who knew, loved and were blessed by Leslie.

Wedding Wednesday: Tie the Knot Tech

Happy Wednesday!! Half way to the weekend! Is it just me or in the summer (if you work) do you live from weekend to weekend and just sort of go through the motions during the week? I feel like I've been doing that since early May! Everybody else is out at the pool or on vacation at the beach and I'm over here working the days away... at least its in the cool air conditioning! Lawd have mercy it's been HOT! Columbia is "Famously Hot" but geeze it's been over 100 for the past 11 days!

Speaking of work, we were upgraded this week from Office 10 to Office 13. I was working on a spreadsheet with the new version of Excel and before you open a new workbook it gives you template options... The ones I have starred are the ones that I found to be useful for wedding planning.

These are great tech tools to use to make organizing your guest list, wedding budget and honeymoon planning easy and efficient! I call this "Tie the Knot Tech!"

First is the Wedding Invite Tracker! Here you can enter in your wedding details, it even has a built in countdown, and then it's a pre-set wedding guest roster. You enter your guests' names, address etc. and then it has a place for you to mark that you sent them an invite and then a place to add their RSVP response. You can even customize the colors and fonts to match your wedding!

Once you have entered in your guest info, it tabulates the totals for you! So no more counting and re-counting! THEN it does the coolest thing... it tabulates the RSVPs on a separate spreadsheet.

This is a super helpful too! Plus you could send it to your caterer etc. If you don't have Office 13 you might could poke around on Office 10 and try to find it. I did email it to myself and opened it on Will's computer with Office 10 and it worked just fine so it is at least compatible even if it was built in Office 13.

The next tech tool is the wedding budget spreadsheet. If you are anything like me, creating a budget from scratch is an overwhelming task! Excel has already done the grunt work, you just simply fill it in with your numbers. It comes pre-set, but as you change the numbers it makes the corrections. Again, you can customize this with your wedding colors, but I thought the little clip art icons were super cute! This also includes a wedding day countdown & the pie chart is useful too!

Finally, I found a workbook that helps you keep track of honeymoon planning! You might have to share this with your fiance, since they are suppose to be on top of that part! :) This workbook gives you multiple tabs for all the details of your trip! Once it's completed you could send it to your parents, etc. so they have all your trip details in one space!

Here is a breakdown of one of the pages.... I didn't play around with customization of this workbook, but I'm sure you could. I thought it was adorable just like it is! Very simple and easy to use!

If you can't already tell I love love love having a wedding countdown! I have one on my phone through an app called It's Almost Time. It keeps up with it down to the Milli-second! On days I don't log into my blog or use these wedding tools I can just click on the app and it will tell me how many days until our BIG DAY!

It's been a busy couple of weeks in our house! We visited Will's parents in Florence, weekend before last and we attended a couples shower for one of his groomsman who is getting married in August! While we were there I came down with an awful summer cold so I was pretty much down for the count last week. I did however find some energy to go to a bridal expo that our venue, The Palmetto Club, hosted. A couple of my vendors were there so it was great to see them again, I met someone who might do our invites, and I found some amazing table cloth overlays to rent! Mom took this picture of us, but you can see the ballroom of our venue in the background (I LOVE the wallpaper!) and a little bit of the table overlays at the bottom of the picture. And yes, I did wear a shirt with 2 birds on purpose! Also, LOOK at those amazing Peonies!

More exciting news that isn't exactly wedding related is that Will got a promotion to the branch manager of the Well's Fargo branch on Main St. in Columbia! We are both so excited for this opportunity and milestone in his career. I'm super proud of him and all that he has accomplished!

This was pretty much me when I found out he got it....