the end (of this blog)

it is with a heavy heart that i stop blogging here. this blog was an outlet and a simple way to keep family and friends in the loop with wedding and house updates. the problem is there won't be much more to post.

tj and i will not be getting married this july.

i will keep the blog live for other brides to check out for now. i truly thank you all for your support, advice and tips when it comes to planning. you are a great little community of brides, and i thank you for that.

#21

happy 21st birthday, angela!

(the best sister, maid of honor and friend a girl could ask for!)

surprise!

after a fabulous evening at "a christmas carol," two thanksgiving meals, and 5 a.m. shopping, we capped off our long weekend with one day apart. i was in lancaster last night with my grandmom, mom and tj's mom for a christmas show, and i came back to the best surprise of the season!

our house is decorated!

and the window swags were handmade by tj and i, thank you very much.

in other house news, we've purchased the rugs, lamps and some small appliances, courtesy of black friday sales. and our floors will undergo the refinishing process today and through this week. then we'll clean and get to set up all of our new furniture! i hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and is moving along to holiday cheer!

the best marriage advice

after reading this snippet from lauren at suburbalicious living and meg at a practical wedding, i had to share it with my readers as well. for the full story, visit their links, but the ultimate text is below.

"my best marriage advice for you is to never, ever put off what you want to do. no matter how good the excuses seem, or how little money you have, or how practical it would be to wait- don't wait. travel, move, experience new things together, and do them right away. don't ever put these things off. promise me."

i think this can apply to everyone, in one way or another, no matter what phase of married (or engaged) life we're in. just thought i'd share it!

thankful thursday

in the spirit of thanksgiving, and the fact that i'm feeling better, i'm posting a little thankful thursday love.

i've been giving thanks since after surgery... "i'm just thankful it's out!" or "i'm thankful i'm getting better!" or "i'm thankful for philly factory soft pretzels!"

i can't wait to say, "i am thankful to feel 100% and eat meat and drink a milkshake today!"

seriously, i am also incredibly thankful for the love and help i have received since i started feeling pretty terrible a month or two ago. and to go a little broader, this year has brought me lots of blessings too. i'm thankful for tj, my family, his family and our friends, who have consistently been there for us!

thanks everyone!

what are you thankful for today?

we're in 3D!

well, not us exactly, but we're going to see "a christmas carol," which is the story told while tj proposed! not really knowing the whole story by dickens growing up, i love going to macy's to see the story played out each year. now that it's in theaters, tj and i can experience it together all over again! i'm sure it'll get a positive review from each of us... plus it will get us in the mood to head back to macy's in a few weeks!

bloggy lovin'

in an attempt to get back to my blogging self, i'm posting some of my latest awards!

 from little woman, little home

from a chocolate lover's confessions

the rules are you need to list five obsessions and pass it on to five fabulous bloggers.
i'm obsessed with my google reader for wedding blogs, weddings in general, grammar, my dvr and my family!
and these last few are from classy and fabulous!

for this one, i'm supposed to tell you ten interesting things about myself. here we go:
1. i am an old lady and will cross stitch or knit on a nightly basis.
2. i learned how to read when i was 3-and-a-half to take attention away from my just-born sister.
3. i'm happy tj is a foot taller than me so i can wear cute heels.
4. "friends" is my favorite tv show of all time, like i-have-a-friends-front-license-plate-on-my-car favorite.
5. i am thrilled i do not have the internet on my blackberry. i still have all my social skills as a result.
6. my favorite color is pink.
7. i became a knottie before tj and i were engaged (shh).
8. i went to a celine dion concert with my mom last year and it was amazing.
9. i learned how to program a vcr (and confuse my parents) when i was 4.
10. the previous fact has led me to become officially addicted to my dvr.

i'm supposed to name seven things about myself that are awesome, but i figure my facts above count for them too!

and you guessed it! if you're reading this, you earned all these awards as well!

blog revitalized!

i apologize up front for being one of the biggest blogger slackers ever. i'm sorry.
i am finally up to sit at my desk at home for a few minutes to update you all. i can't believe i haven't been around since before halloween! wow. so here's the latest:

before halloween weekend, we had a mommy/daughter day to try on some flower girl dresses. i originally had the idea to go back to the bridal shop where i ordered my dress to get the flower girl dresses i talked about here. however, as soon as we entered the little girl area, raina, devon and i fell in love with this dress and got to trying on! of course i can't find the dress on david's bridal's website, but the girls are better models anyway!

i love the buttons down the back! as we searched for other options, we found the same dress with some additional pearl beading in the center lace. here's the difference between the two dresses' center parts.

we even tried on some shoes (but i was too beat for more pictures at that point)!

thanks for a great day, girls!

more updates to come soon, including halloween and home improvements!

biliary what?

thanks to everyone posting get-well wishes. i should probably let you all know what i'm dealing with, so here's a short version.
for the past four weeks, i've been having sharp pains in my upper/right abdomen. after doctor jumping, a trip to the ER for a kidney infection, and a crazy scan with CCK, i finally learned today that i have biliary dyskinesia (basically gallbladder disease without the stones, which is why, i think, it took so long to figure this out). i met with a surgeon today and will have my gallbladder removed monday morning.
i'm very nervous, but i know i'll feel better once my gallbladder is out. i am starting to lose my tolerance for plain cheerios and dry toast.

so, please keep the prayers coming, and i promise i'll have a fun, wedding-related weekend recap shortly!

registration

despite my ailments, we finally finished registering for our wedding this past weekend (overheating in bed bath & beyond and all). plus, i got to add a few (no, a lot) online as a way to make me feel better. what a great future husband i have, right?

photo courtesy of crate and barrel.

so go check out what we're wishing for here and here!

almost there

i may be taking off from planning, but i can't not post some pictures of the house's latest updates! tj and i decided to take last night to relax and walk around barefoot on our new rug in the family room, complete with couches.

and he surprised me with a card and get-well flowers. also see our engagement photo album i created while we were there watching our phils!

tj thought capturing me in my cabrini sweatshirt blanket was appropriate, so i guess it's blog appropriate too.

more house updates to come, so stay tuned!

a little bit of love

i apologize for my absence. i'm kind of anti-house and anti-wedding planning right now. i'm having a bit of a medical hold up recently. and after my ER visit last night, i'd say i'm drained. but, i can't leave all my followers hanging there waiting for another update, so here's what i came home to: 3 emails telling me i was a giveway winner. yes, three times! check them out! and thank you to the hosts of these giveaways!

tea favor

photo courtesy of the palindrome bride.

monogram necklace

photo courtesy of rhb designs (via born2impress)

lotus home sanitizing system

photo courtesy of the cleaning coach (via the future mrs. smith)

while i'd rather be feeling better, these new packages coming in the mail will hopefully brighten up my day. thanks everyone! and happy monday!

ps- anyone who is interested in sponsoring a giveaway here, please let me know. i'd love to spread the love!

one goes up, one comes down

tj surprised me with a preview of the mini wall i've been talking about. this will make way for the piers in our dining room, which is the room behind the little jut out. yes, ladies, he CAN build a wall!

ooh! and there's also a little sneak peek at the hole in the wall. after much convincing (well, really once we decided the mirror didn't fit the house's style anymore), tj took down the mirror and created this breezeway from the living room to kitchen and so the stairs to each level flow easily.

where it all began

granted, my relationship with tj did not begin at our engagement (thankfully. though that would be one awesome first date), but our engagement did lead to the beginning of this blog, planning, shopping frenzies and more. in preparing engagement announcements for our local paper and alumni notes, i thought i'd post here the story of that fabulous saturday morning. (note: this was originally drafted for our friend meghan who was in peru at the time [and is coming home soon. yay!] so i tweaked the story to remove all my giddiness of the day after... feel free to email if you really want that version!)

At Christmastime, we always go to the Macy's in Philadelphia for the light show and the Dickens Christmas Carol walk-through display. Our plan was to go on a Saturday morning to the light show. It was roasting in there and TJ refused to take off his coat. (hint.) We went upstairs to the Christmas Carol afterward. I always read the signs of the story as we go through, so we take it pretty slow. TJ and I were saying how we thought it was our third year going to the display. As we went through to "Christmas Present," I was reading the last sign. Everyone in front of me had gone, so I figured I was a slow reader! TJ asked me if I had read it yet. I said, "No. I'm still reading!" Then he tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around, and he was on his knee with the ring box open! I was floored and basically speechless. I had another ring on my finger, so I fiddled with that and didn't answer him! He said, "Well?" and I said, "YES!" (of course) I realized immediately after that he had another sign next to the last sign of the Christmas Carol story saying, "The Story Continues... A Christmas Carol continues this year when TJ asks Maria for her hand in marriage in the presence of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the other Dickens characters." It all started to click then! The characters came out and we took pictures with them and the man who organized for the room to be empty for us when TJ proposed. It all sunk in once we left the display rooms, and I became hysterical in the pajama department of Macy's retelling the story to family members. That night, we had a "new family" dinner and then a champagne toast and engagement cake at my home to celebrate.

double trouble

when jen of first comes love then comes marriage gave out some awards recently, i decided to repost and spread the award love (and also since she gave it to all her readers)!

award #1: the one lovely blog award!

 award #2: the over the top award!

note: be sure to only answer with one word!

1. where is your cell phone? desk
2. your hair? brown
3. your mother? busy
4. your father? quiet
5. your favorite food? italian
6. your dream last night? babies
7. your favorite drink? tea
8. your dream/goal? family
9. what room are you in? bedroom
10. your hobby? crafts
11. your fear? death
12. where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13. where were you last night? beach
14. something that you aren’t? tired
15. muffins? tops
16. wish list item? registry
17. where did you grow up? plymouth
18. last thing you did? unpack
19. what are you wearing? jeans
20. your TV? on
21. your pets? fish
22. friends? fun
23. your life? fabulous
24. your mood? fine
25. missing someone? sissy
26. vehicle? explorer
27. something you’re not wearing? shoes
28. your favorite store? many
29. your favorite color? pink
30. when was the last time you laughed? earlier
31. last time you cried? tv!
32. your best friend? teejer
33. one place that i go to over and over? hallmark
34. one person who emails me regularly? teej
35. favorite place to eat? beach

 so here's the winners of the two above awards. yes, you both get both for awarding me some blog love earlier this month!

the chocolate lover and the girl with a ring!

congrats ladies... and spread the love!

the furnishings

i know i've been promising an update, and while things at the house don't look much different, there will be changes before christmas. we ordered our furniture last night (for basically the whole house... and yes, all from one store, chain-mar), so i can show you some of what's to come.
let's start with the dining room, shall we? the chairs and table are from the same collection, but we wanted to opt for a table that gets larger with leaves. we're talking 90 inches here, so we opted for the chairs in this first picture and the pedestal table in the second. color differs from website to website, but the finish will resemble the first picture.

photo courtesy of chain-mar.

photo courtesy of legacy furniture.

also in the dining room will be these piers (not the unit in the center).

photo courtesy of riverside furniture.

let me explain myself. we wanted the look and feel of a china cabinet without the bulkiness and tight squeeze between the back of our side chairs, so we opted for a modular unit with left and right piers. the piers will be switched (the left will be on the right side of the room, the right on the left) so that the flush side is in a corner. we will not have a buffet or cabinet in the middle, so that chairs can be pulled out from under the table with ample space. if you're not confused enough already, let me add that the one that will appear on the right will need a corner... yes, we bought something that needs a corner without a corner. we're talking about adding a mini wall to the long dining/living room wall (to stick out about 20 inches or so) so that the pier rests against something. this will also divide our space nicely without a large dividing wall of some kind. so that's the story of the piers. i'm hoping pictures of them set up in the house will ease the confusion.
ok, enough. on to the living room, which will flow from the dining room and will be the first thing people see from the front door. here's our couch, accent chairs and tables that will greet our guests.

photo courtesy of fowlers furniture (klaussner).

photo courtesy of morris at home (stein world).

photo courtesy of klaussner home furnishings.

the sofa will be on the same wall as the piers (and new mini wall). two accent chairs will sit opposite the sofa, and an end table will sit between them. the other end table will go to one side of the couch. obviously, the cocktail table will be in the middle, and the sofa table will sit on the wall opposite the sofa (so not really a sofa table at all)!

and, finally, to the bedroom. we are taking tj's bedroom set, which is relatively new, as our guest bedroom set. we decided we would get a new set for the master bedroom and have it (basically) forever. so we chose this beauty.

 

 

photos courtesy of aspenhome.

our queen bed will also have deep drawers along the sides for additional storage. we will have a nightstand on either side and the chest will be facing the foot of the bed. the dresser (with no mirror) will fit under our large windows.

we can't wait to see it all come together!

almost like a gold medal

thanks to the chocolate lover, i just received my very first blogger award! she even called the blog "super cute" and gave me the first heads-up that we won the lenox giveaway.
and... i also received this award from the girl with a ring too! so i technically count this as two awards! thank you, ladies!

what i have to do: post 7 facts about myself and then pass this award on to 7 amazing bloggers...

1. after being friends first (for 6 years), i'm finally marrying my best friend this july.
2. i learned how to program my vcr and would cry on the way to school because i thought my parents couldn't do it alone.
3. my (female) best friend is my sister, angela, who will have a blog if i have anything to say about it!
4. becoming a medical copy editor has taught me things about pharmaceutics and grammar that i could never find in one college class.
5. since we became engaged, i've been working on paring down my shoe/purse/clothing obsession. and i'm donating almost weekly!
6. google reader and twitter occupy most early mornings and late nights.
7. i think i'd like a puppy for a day. i'd rather wait for children and have them for a lifetime.

this award also goes out to some ladies with great style and inspiration...

1. llama tales - a witty blogger with a great site look!
2. landlocked bride - great ideas, sprinkled with photo quotes to boot!
3. oh! apostrophe - she knows what it's like to live each day spelling her name like me!
4. sarah elizabeth - cute pictures and fun rachel zoe project taglines!
5. the relentless bride - she gives me free lenox (and is a fabulous documenter of her planning)!
6. a small town bride - pictures galore and lots of updates!
7. mrs. cupcake - another philly bride worth checking out!

can't wait to post the badge and see more winners!

299!

just a sidenote:

it's like those people on "the biggest loser," who i love, who finally get into a whole new set of numbers.

we'll never be in the 300s again!

we won lenox!

want to know the answer to a fabulous weekend? find all the perfect furniture for your new home, begin to register for beautiful china and then come home to find you just won two place settings... FREE.
we just heard through the grapevine (thanks to the chocolate lover and my greader) that we won the giveaway from the relentless bride.

photo courtesy of lenox.

thank you again!

keep it in the kitchen

want to find a cutesy apron for baking? well look no further. the apron goddesses just posted a giveaway for an adorable apron from dear jane, who sells half and full aprons. i love the sweetheart apron with ruffle & bow. too cute!

photo courtesy of dear jane

fall back

fall flag (at tj's request) purchased with jen (from this wedding) while the boys worked on house things.

and a super-cute pumpkin gifted to 1441 by my parents!

a grand exit

the latest topic: to sparkler or not to sparkler? i've been loving the farewell photos of couples running through a sparkler-lined aisle to their getaway car.

photo courtesy of little white book.

and after talking with jean, drexelbrook allows it. so, what's the problem, you ask? try purchasing and shipping this babies. i'm on the lookout for a good (legal) deal on these and the best way to light and pass them. i've even heard of putting each in a playdoh container, but how on earth is that flame resistant? ok, you get the point... any suggestions are welcome!

announcing: jess and andy hunting

this weekend's wedding did not disappoint; even the sun came out for jess and andy's vows! here's a taste of their day.

quite the entrance of our favorite contractor and best man:

and obligatory picture of us at a wedding:

congrats jess and andy!

last "summer" wedding

this week may have brought in autumn, but after some 80-degree days, i think i can call our final wedding of 2009 a "summer" one. tj's cousin, jess of agrestic yet majesstic, is getting married this sunday! i'll be sure to update next week, but here's a shot of her bridal shower to hold you over.

happy (wedding) weekend!

photo perfection

this post is all about the photos, so here goes:
here's a peek at the gallery wrap ryan sent us this past weekend while we were working at the house.

we also received our cd of images and a cute little keepsake book of some of our favorite shots from the engagement session. definitely never seen a cd case look so cute!

we can't wait to hang the wrap in our family room (which now has blinds, thank you very much) after the carpet is installed. i'll eventually post more house pictures, promise!

young house love

we may be guilty of "young house love" too, but there's one couple who claimed the name: john and sherry. i just read their post on how they became famed bloggers, and i think it's worth a peek. while i'm not looking into being a blogger for life, or as a career (but hey, why not?!), i think their advice is worth reading. i mean, they made the cover of "the nest" for crying outloud!

photo courtesy of young house love.

so, on to their advice: divide posts with themes (how to, house tour, wordless wednesdays, you know the drill... and i hope to start this up soon), keep writing!, love it, and wait it out. sherry talks about how she was talking to "no one" for a long time on her blog, but her persistence paid off. she found her passion and dedication are what brought readers in, and i hope to do somewhat of the same thing here.

i started this blog for friends and family (particularly those out of town--just like john and sherry with their house projects) while we plan the wedding, but i've received more comments from "strangers" aka "blog friends" than anyone. we're a little (growing) community of people in the same boat. so whether my followers go from 10 to 20 to 200 or back to 10, i'll keep it going. thanks for reading along (and inspiring one another)!

free lenox!

just when you thought a registry item was complete, the relentless bride shows us all up and offers a giveaway of the same china we're requesting on our registry! she teamed up with lenox to give us bloggers an opportunity to win two lenox place settings of our choice. head over there... now!

photo courtesy of lenox.

survey time

thanks to meagan gets her MRS (via sassy bride on a mission), i'm here to bring you a snapshot of us:


♥ what are your middle names? anne and joseph. and we call each other by our full names often.
♥ how long have you been together? since new years 2006-2007, so we're looking at three years pretty soon. (friends even longer... see below.)
♥ how long did you know each other before you started dating? met in middle school = 9 years; close friends since high school.
♥ who asked whom out? tj asked me, i guess. right?
♥ how old are each of you? we're both 24 at the moment, but tj's older. (but we'll both be 25 again at the wedding!)
♥ whose siblings do/did you see the most? about equally, since they're all in college now.
♥ do you have any children together? no, but we (read: i) hope to change that in a few years.
♥ what about pets? cosmas and damien, who are reincarnated fish (about 4 times over). we had minnie and al (and al jr.) for a time as well. we hope to continue the fish tank at our new home. and hopefully have better luck.
♥ did you go to the same school? same schools through high school. then different colleges. (but tj's back at my alma mater for grad school!)
♥ who is the smartest? we have different strengths (me: grammar, tj: math) but are equally matched.
♥ who is more sensitive? pretty equal again, but probably me.
♥ where do you eat out most as a couple? restaurants local to furniture stores, probably. we try to mix it up.
♥ where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? does new jersey count?
♥ who has the craziest exes? definitely me.
♥ who has the worst temper? probably me.
♥ who does the cooking? tj's good on the grill. and i'm good on the mixer.
♥ who is more social? probably equal on this one too.
♥ who is the neat-freak? ha. tj. he hates the messiness of my room! just wait til we're in the same house! (just kidding, i'm working on this one.)
♥ who is more stubborn? probably me again.
♥ who wakes up earlier? usually me, since i don't sleep too much.
♥ where was your first date? i guess officially in west chester (iron hill brewery), right, teej?
♥ who has the bigger family? we each live with 4 other people.
♥ do you get flowers often? "often?" hmmm, hint hint.
♥ how do you spend the holidays? usually try to hit both families for every holiday. christmas eve and christmas day are split.
♥ who is more jealous? no real need to get jealous really.
♥ how long did it take to get serious? not long. tj can probably remember dates better than i can. months?
♥ who eats more? tj may be taller, but i probably eat more!
♥ who does the laundry? probably both, especially since tj says he loves our new laundry room!
♥ who’s better with the computer? equal on this one.
♥ who drives when you are together? teejer.

last question: anyone else want to take a stab at this one?
answer? "yes, yes, my answers are below."
get to it, ladies!

decisions, decisions

do you know what you're eating next summer? i do.
at least on one specific day i do.
and if you're reading this and related to us, i probably know what you're eating that day too.
that's right. the wedding menu (and cake and linens and napkins) has been selected. this past weekend, we met with jean and her sister mary to discuss our choices for basically everything. after 3.5 hours, i'd say we're right on track to a fabulous affair, and even though i did receive my "homework list" at this appointment, we probably won't be meeting with jean again until the second bridal showcase in february! wow.
sorry. did you fly by that "3.5 hours" part? yep. 3.5 hours.
here's one photo (yes, from my binder) that we gave jean for doughmain bakery's inspiration.
we know our cake will be round, at least four tiers, and sit on a silver cake plateau. it will have what they call "cupcake icing," not fondant. i'm not sold on the flower either, but this gives you (and hopefully them) an idea of the lace look.

in fact, angel at drexelbrook just called. as in, mid post, to tell us the original picture we gave jean of the cake was not clear enough to see the detail. i emailed her the above picture (sorry, i still have no idea which site it is found on), and it looks like we're a go. fingers crossed. gotta love bakeries getting a nine-month head start on your wedding cake!

suddenly i see

this post is being brought to you by the non-glasses-wearing maria. and everything's clear! i just came back from my appointment for contacts. ok, that's all. just notifying everyone of becoming one step closer to seeing tj at the front of the church :)

happy thursday! and getting two posts in one day!

magazine mania

well, i've had this post sitting quietly in the queue for some time now, patiently waiting for its pictures. and then i lost her. so here we go again.

i am obsessed with my google reader (lovingly dubbed the greader). like, officially, self-proclaimed obsessed. a close second to it is my stack of magazines, awesomely gifted by my cousins renee and steve (and their kiddies, raina and evan, who will appear in the wedding). among the subscriptions i've received is the ultimate. martha. so between all that inspiration, i knew i had to create a compilation of my ideas.

that's right, ladies and gents. the binder is ready to appear! i started with a white binder (geez, why don't they make ivory?!) and some 8-tab dividers and labels. i split the sections into categories: the paper, the look, the flowers, the tables, the cake, the photos, and the music; i named her "the inspiration."
this binder instantly outgrew itself, and my "final" wedding ideas were getting lost in the shuffle. so i decided to make another small binder for absolutely-not-changing items we've decided on for the wedding. that's right, binder #2, titled, "the wedding."

the tabs i used here are: the lists, the wedding, the registry, the Mass, the drexelbrook, and the contracts.
this is the binder i'll take on appointments as we get closer to the big day. here's a close up of the tabs, in matching font. yes. i said it.

these creations, in turn, have led to the stunning and (almost) bare wedding corner.

keep in mind the three bags you still see here are gifts i've already purchased for the girls and some family members. i couldn't resist. feel free to post your binder pictures too. i'm always looking for some inspiration (for both in and out of the binder[s]!)

another garter petite post

just dropping in to show you the spotlight julianne smith posted on custom garters for 2010 (including mine)! check it out here.

photo courtesy of julianne herself!

and yes, this spoils the surprise of the whole garter... but don't worry, that one special dress will remain a secret until the very END! promise.
also, a happy #76 to my grandmom today. she even got some bday love from our videographer, pete, of first floor films!

engagement present

let me be clear. i did not read about giving the groom a present. i found no "rules" on what was the right thing to do or buy for him (or even if he needed something at all). but it hit me: tj bought me a gorgeous ring i will keep and wear forever. the least i could do is get him a "thank you" gift! so the groom's engagement present was born. at our engagement party this march, i presented tj with a grilling set for shish kabobs and skewers. totally confused, tj didn't know what to do (similar to my response at the proposal)! so, i told him to open the certificate i printed inside the grill set... he was entitled to his own grill!
now, after months of searching for a grill together (well, a house/garage to store said grill), the time has come to reveal the ultimate char-broil commercial series gas grill:

photo courtesy of lowe's.

this baby was picked up tonight and tucked safely in our garage (with new cover and tools) until we're ready to entertain! nothing beats heading to lowe's on labor day for your first grill!

time flies

it took me until reading a blogger post to realize this is our last weekend of summer. as in, summer 2009 is over. o.m.g. fall is going to fly, the holidays will be here in a few months and then it's our wedding year! ok, so maybe i'm speeding things up a bit too quickly, but i know summer felt like a brief pass, and i'm figuring the rest of the year will follow suit. wow. we're really in the thick of things now! we selected our photos for the keepsake book and (amazing) gallery wrap we'll receive from ryan estes and the photo we'll use for our engagement announcement. plus, we narrowed our choices even more to pick four photos for our save the dates, which we'll be sending out by christmas. see? told you time flies.

garter girl

the best garter ever arrived today. julianne smith gave me a sneak peek earlier this week, so i'll share that much with you, but the rest remains to be seen.

photo courtesy of julianne herself!

i'll wear this garter above my tossing one, which i talked about here and here.

engagement photos

i got a special surprise at work last week: notification that our engagement pictures were up on ryan's blog and visible to the world, so i must share a few here.
the christmas-themed ones are from where tj proposed to me in macy's dickens village in philadelphia. to see the whole lot of them, view the proofing gallery ryan estes photography set up for us. the password is 080609. or, if you're viewing this post after the gallery has expired, check out the permanent blog post here! and no worries, you'll get to see even more on our save the dates and in our new home!

obviously, all photos courtesy of ryan estes photography - www.ryanestes.com

overwhelmed? fill this out!

i just found this advice from the little white book. considering my binder is on overload, i figured these questions would help us determine what's most important and narrow our focus a bit:

--what's the one thing we want to remember?

--what’s the one thing we want our guests to remember?

--we're standing at the altar and we turn around to look at the congregation, these are the people we hope to see...

--three words that describe us as a couple...

--if we boiled down the look and feeling we want to achieve/capture in our wedding, we’d use these three words/images/ideas to describe it….

--these are the things we can’t live without. they’re mandatory….

we meet with jean from drexelbrook in a few weeks, so i hope these few questions help us determine our true look and feel for the day. how are you coming up with ways to focus on your wedding instead of getting roped into the outlandish and off-the-wall ones?

the binder

i really need to get back to organized, themed posts because the last few mish-moshs hardly count as a quality post, despite how much information's in them. so here we go. if you know me or have seen my bedroom in the past few years, you've seen my binder. my friend meghan started me on this idea when we were at cabrini. when she wanted to be a wedding planner (and not volunteer in peru and leave me hanging to plan this wedding without her til november... just kidding. i love you), she told me about inspiration photos and saving ideas. well, for the record, the binder i've had for years did NOT have wedding stuff in it. i promise. it did, however, have loads of ikea, crate and barrel and pottery barn catalogs in it. single sheets, full catalogs, whatever, and here she is.

over time this became more "real." once tj and i bought our home, we never looked at the binder again. (correction: tj maybe saw the binder once or twice total.) anyway, this binder hasn't changed, except for our paint color samples to be added to the top of the pile. and she's done.
one accomplishment of the house binder is that it led the way for THE binder. i thought i'd give ya'll a preview of what my "wedding corner" looks like (hopefully, we can say "looked like" very soon).
i'm working to eliminate the piles of mags into only the inspiration i really need. my next step is to get it all into a binder of some sorts. i saw these great tips from the brooklyn bride on her binder creations, and it's got me moving to get one started already. i've flagged some awesome ideas that i would probably never use at our own wedding (now that i've determined what that will look like), but i can't bear to trash it all. so i'm thinking the binder's going to include that stuff, at least for now, and the "real" pictures will be on top of each section (or dare i say it, in its own binder).

jumbo catch-up

if august could return about two weeks back to me, that would be awesome. i can't believe how quickly this summer went! i guess if i really think about it, bermuda in may seems so long ago now. wow. either way, summer's ending and i've been neglecting my own blog in the process. please do not assume that i've been slacking on the wedding front. in fact, i'm (almost) caught up on my google reader (that is, if less than 600 unread items is considered catching up) and we've been doing lots of wedding planning and house perfecting.
for starters, the ladies and i headed back to berni's to see the veil option she made for another bride when we went dress hunting for my mom. i was shocked that i not only got to try on the veil but my dress too! the visit sucked up a lot of time, but it was great to see it all together and i've decided my hair has to be much simpler in order to accomodate all the veil pieces coming into play. don't worry, momma, no pictures here. yet. speaking of momma, she tried on two dresses that were "young enough" for such a hot, young mom like mine to pull off as the MOB. one was even a bridesmaid's dress (but we didn't like it as much). i think we had a good first experience, but i don't think we can decide on this one without at least one more trip to a dress shop first.
in house news, our entire home is painted! tj and chris did a great job making our colors come to life, and the trim they recently hung has made it pop. closets are nice and white, and i'm on to filling thousands (i bet literally) of holes with wood putty in each of the trim pieces before another touch up.
oh, how can i forget?! since my last post, we had our engagement photo session with ryan estes. we got to return to the dickens village at macy's (where tj proposed) and then took some more shots in old city at the random doors, steps and walls i figured ryan would find on our walk. (note to self: break in my wedding heels or tj will have to carry me after the ceremony.) we also took some great shots on broad street, which we wanted to get now since we won't be in the city the day of the wedding. ryan showed us some awesome shots along the way. we loved the broad street ones he showed us, and one may be our engagement announcement photo for the newspapers. once we get some teaser shots, i'll be sure to add them here. we hope to get the whole lot of them soon so we can start creating our save the dates. stay tuned.

weekend recap

another great weekend = billy joel/elton john concert, "future anniversary" party, tossing garter arrived, new closets and a tile floor. the concert thursday night was amazing (even though it's not wedding related.) but friday was our "future anniversary" party, hosted by angela. here's the flowers and cake my mom and ang had for us.

we were all dismayed at the lack of question mark on the cake, especially the copy editor in me. either way, super cute and delish. angela also gave us this gorgeous painting.

we're going to hang it in our guest room. my aunt kathy gave us an awesome knife set from cutco, engraved and ready for use at 1441 as well.

also, my tossing garter arrived this weekend from always a blogsmaid via julianne smith. here she is!

since this one is small (and just so happens to be our wedding colors!) i'm using this as our tossing garter. i think i'll be ordering another one from julianne for my keepsake garter, which i talked about in this post.
and finally, our doors and floor! tj and my dad worked on setting tile this weekend, and tj's uncle dan helped us hang closet doors. we're moving right along, and it's really starting to feel like our home. 

oh, and you didn't think i'd tease you with some joel/john action and not deliver, now did you?

365 days!

we are exactly one year away from the wedding! now all of the timelines and checklists go into effect, since they usually post a year out for planning purposes. i can't believe we've been engaged for 7 months now. time is flying, and now i think we're finally coming to terms with what has to be accomplished in the next year. we actually have to start making decisions on things!
to celebrate today, angela, the best MOH ever, is throwing us a "future anniversary" party tonight for our immediate families. pictures to come!

one thing a day

i'm taking some advice from design à la mod and only doing one thing a day. i don't mean work obviously, but when it comes to wedding tasks, i'm deciding to tackle one thing daily. only one. we'll see how long i can keep this up, but it certainly has its perks. i'm thinking "rip marked pages from magazines" will be task #1. then i'll organize another day. the joys of breaking down large tasks! the only problem is we've been doing lots of work on the house lately, so task #1 may not officially begin for awhile...

the #1 mistake

i made the #1 wedding planning mistake this week: i asked jean if there was anything else i could work on since wedding things seemed to be in a lull right now. boy, was i wrong! we've since set up an appointment to meet with jean about the menu, flowers, cake and linens. then i get a "homework list." don't worry, i'll be sure to post what that entails!
jean did reassure me that these are only preliminary decisions and that we can make changes to our selections after the second bridal showcase this winter. even so, i better get started on some summary sheets. oh, i guess i haven't mentioned them yet. my summary sheets are my obsessive-compulsive way of collecting ideas. it started out as one huge folder on my computer of saved photos, but now i'm trying to save each category (flowers, cakes, escort cards) to its own document so we can take them on these said appointments. wow.
and quickly, in other news, berni called me yesterday with another veil option, which i'm thrilled about. i can't share too much here, but when we go to check out dresses for my mom, berni is going to show me another bride's veil. she told me this bride was having the same problem with lace veils looking "too heavy" and distracting from the dress. good thing i'm not the only crazy bride out there!

some wedding recaps

i neglected to include some inspiration from kirk and amy's wedding at the end of june. so with skip and jen's taking place this weekend, i figure a double post will do. enjoy!
first, kirk and amy:
and skip and jen:plus, what's a wedding without some other couples, right? here's tj and i from each of the awesome weddings!

petite post

i almost titled this "baby post." and that would have really caused a frenzy! this is only a mini-post to let you know:

i just won a julianne smith garter for blogging from always a blogsmaid! julianne's garters are awesome. i'm not sure which one i'll receive, but if it's not the one i have my heart set on (ivory with some blue embroidery, shown below), then i'll order that one directly from julianne and use my freebie for the garter toss!photo courtesy of julianne smith.

in other news, skip and jen's wedding is tonight! i can't believe their day has finally arrived. pictures will follow this weekend!

walls!

i figure enough time has gone by that i can do another house post. we are in the middle of some serious revamping of our family room, laundry room and powder room. take a peek! (you'll also notice the pink carpet is gone!) here's a throwback for ya.tj, chris, my dad, tj's dad, and tj's uncle dan put up drywall this weekend and it totally brightened up our space. this week also marks the beginning of the spackle adventure. here's a preview of oh, what smooth walls we'll have.
and here's one of the guys on stilts. granted, this is our laundry room and other ceilings are higher than this! too bad i missed it in person, but tj's great for the updates.
our next phase will be trim (sand, wipe, paint, hang) and then hardcore painting of the whole house. i know once our colors are finally on the walls it will truly begin to feel like home. tj and i have been visualizing for so long! don't worry. we'll definitely post paint pictures as soon as we can.

the only wedding-related stuff i'll post is that i got roped into watching a solid 15 minutes of the cricut infomercial at 6 a.m. recently. for those of you unlucky enough to not know the fabulousness, check out their site. it would come in handy for the decor ideas i've found for the tables, escort cards and more. ok wow, it really rubbed off. but i seriously want one (just not for $500.) who's got one?! (and what have you made with yours?)

the makings of a pillow

so we all saw this creation a few weeks back.
well, now the task is to create a pillow out of it. this weekend, tj's mom and i went scouring the area for an ivory ring bearer pillow to use as a base. after jo ann fabrics, david's bridal (ugh) and party city, we found this one at michael's and is perfect. it has fine cording on the edges to attach the crossstitch top and a cute little handle underneath for evan's hands. the band that runs across the top, tassles and "diamond" accent and ribbon will all be removed.we also will remove the gold rings and replace them with the two solid rings i found at target this weekend. too bad i'm really a 4.5 size ring! they still work and will show up nicely against the silver trim in the top of the pillow. and the third ring is a bonus... i guess.the top will be lightly stitched to the pillow so that it can be removed and then framed and hung in our new home if we like. i'm on the fence about having a pillow sit around our house for eternity, so we thought a pillow we could disassemble later might work best for us. we'll post a final product soon!

engagement photos

i recently contacted our photographer, ryan estes, to set up an engagement session for us before tj gets back to teaching this fall. we're set to meet august 6 in the late afternoon, when ryan says the light will be best. we hope to get some pictures where tj proposed: the macy's in philadelphia, in the dickens village. tj knows the set is never broken down in the offseason and hopes to speak to his contact from the actual engagement to see if we can get in there for a few shots. the rest of our session will be in the city... landmarks, stores, steps, curbs, wherever! check out some of ryan's recent engagement sessions and let me know of any ideas you have on great photo ops!

and here's the top i found with my mom and stephanie of ann taylor loft last night for the pics.

photo courtesy of ann taylor loft.

this shirt finally fit all of my criteria, and after trying on EVERY piece of black in the store (thank you, stephanie), i decided all the shirts i bought elsewhere can be returned now. i love that this shirt is more than just a plain t-shirt but still covers my arms a bit. i'm also thrilled i don't need to wear a tank, sweater or belt, so that's less for me to fidget with! i also got a killer pair of jeans from ATL too, but they're of course no where to be found on their site. so here's a picture of the jeans and fabulous heels i got to go with them!

bridal showcase

now that we're back from the beach and our tasting at drexelbrook, i figured a recap post was in order. as expected, we ate and drank lots and determined some delicious additions to our menu. turns out, however, that since there's roughly 30 hors d'oeuvres to choose from, only about half actually were served at the showcase, or "mock wedding," as we've come to dub it. nonetheless, we found some awesome ones and are almost decided on our stations. we have a few questions still on the entrees (how they can be paired with certain sides, etc), but we're getting there. we made some notes on what we liked while on the beach the following morning. rough life, huh?
tj and i (and our parents) also tasted some of the cake selections. we're basically set on the pound cake with cupcake icing. it was delicious, didn't crumble all over the place, and doesn't have fruit (tj and fruits/veggies rarely mix). so we're a go on that!
besides food, we also got to peruse different table settings and flower arrangements. here's a few we're loving.

we already decided each table will be a bit different: some will have candelabras, others with low centerpieces and some with high ones. so we think we'll be able to incorporate just about all you see here. tj liked the grid pattern to some of the linens, and i adore the pin lighting on those hydrangeas!

google reader overload!

with the discovery of google reader has come my obsession with search terms and basic wedding idea frenzy. collecting names of awesome wedding blogs is a non-stop hobby and it's finally taken its toll! i love different parts of all the blogs i've added here, but i never actually sit and read them. or even one for that matter. so when i realized google reader would import them, i was hooked. now i just search for whatever crazy thing i'm in the mood for at that moment (flowers, cake, engagement pictures, gifts, sillies) and up it comes! i just had to share my excitement of getting some minutes of my life back! more updates to come soon.
oh, and speaking of awesome wedding blogs, here's an inspiration board made for me by the fabulous carly at inspiring brides. i had to share! thanks again, carly. definitely check out our wedding website for more inspiration for our big day!