I Had a Dream

(Compliments of M.L.K.-ish)

Except it wasn't necessarily a nice, warm and fuzzy dream. It was a nightmare. It was my first wedding nightmare, and hopefully my last.

[Flashback to the dream.] Here I am on the day before our wedding. We are at this place where we are getting married. It's like a destination wedding, but it's not on a beach and it's not here in Ohio where we are actually getting married. Everyone is arriving from out of town and the hustle and bustle starts to pick up when suddenly I realize that I never got my dress altered. But then I also never found bridesmaid dresses, and now I literally have 24 hours to get all of that done. I start to panic.

I'm trying to find Brian and there are so many people. I keep seeing these people with black suit pants on, white suit jackets, black vests, black and white polka dot shirts, and these bright blue bow ties. I'm talking prime color blue kind of blue. (No where near the colors we decided on for our wedding...) I finally find Brian and he is wearing the same thing. I ask him what he is wearing. His response was, 'this is what I decided on for the wedding...'

At this point, that part doesn't even bother me. It's the fact that I have no bridesmaid dresses, my dress isn't altered, and I have no way of getting anything done. And now I'm in tears.

In the midst of Brian trying to comfort me, like the wonderful fiancé he is, I wake up, and realize that it was all just a dream. My heart is pounding, my mind is racing, and I lay there thinking, 'of course, why couldn't I have realized this in my dream??' It took me a while to get back to sleep.

It's funny what our subliminal tells us. I have been looking for bridesmaid dresses and shoes, and haven't found anything, yet. I'm not necessarily worried about it, but I'm not feeling like I'm smooth sailing either. And as far as the dress getting altered, I've been looking into seamstresses, too. But, once again, I don't really feel stressed, since the dress doesn't arrive until May anyway. I suppose it's all in my head somewhere or another. Maybe I suppress my stress about those issues and they surface in my dreams. I'm not really sure how to decode them, but for now, my subliminal speaks.

As far as Brian's 'outfit', we'll just have a chat and make sure we are on the same page. Like I said, I'm hoping it's the first and last of these sorts of dreams, but if not, they're at least quite entertaining...the next day!

The Mayan Riviera

It's official! (Have we been saying that a lot?) We have booked our honeymoon! We will be headed to the luxurious Riviera Maya, Mexico for a superior stay at Secrets Maroma Beach - an adult, all-inclusive resort on the dazzling Caribbean sea which promises pure white sands, crystal-clear waters, and warm tropical breezes for a perfect paradise. Since we've kind of forgotten what grass looks like because of all the snow, the very thought of basking in the warm Mexican sun makes our skin tingle. It will, without a doubt, be unforgettable.

For those of you who aren't that familiar with the area, the Riviera Maya is an area of Mexico that encompasses three or so towns about 30 miles south of Cancun on the eastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula.

Much is promised with the adventures that await us! It appears there are ruins to visit, zip lining potential, (possibly even a dip or two with the dolphins!), ecotours, relaxation, and a much anticipated week away! We're headed for 8 days and 7 nights on a Sunday to Sunday trip.

This is going to be a fantastic honeymoon!

Ranunculus

As a horticulture major, I love plants, I love foliage, and I especially love flowers. Therefore, when it came time to pick out our wedding flowers, I was more than enthused! I love seeing the different combinations of flowers put together. I love to see how you can create a completely different feeling by pairing different combinations of flowers, and I love talking to other people who know what the industry has to offer. It's great to be able to speak with someone that you can bounce ideas off of until you are sure that you are both on the same page, and it's even better when they have some insight into something that would fit the look you are going for that you didn't even know of!

We found our florist, and she is awesome!

We were referred to Sarah from some of Brian's friends who were married in 2009. When we saw pictures of their flowers we knew there was potential. When we sat down to talk to her about what we wanted and didn't want, she was all ears, and despite us having a pretty good idea of what we wanted, she helped us create our perfect combinations of flowers.

They are wild, romantic, lovely, and alluring. They capture your eyes and your heart and make you fall in love all over again. They will delight our summer evening wedding. They are perfect, they make us smile, and most of all, they represent us.

Tahiti or Fiji or Spain. Oh, my!

We're just under 6 months away from our day. It's amazing how fast it really is coming upon us, but with snow on the ground in Columbus, a new Winter storm headed this way tonight, and nearly 3 feet of snow in Maryland, the very thought of summer still feels like quite a ways away! We know it will be here before we know it so we are trudging away through the snow and still making wedding plans.

We are in the process of deciding on our florist so that is in the works, and our newest endeavor has been our honeymoon. (This has been a topic that we have touched on before but is now our focus, and a great focus at that!) I would've thought this would be an easy part. Pick a place you both want to go, book it, and voilà. Boy was I wrong.

Brian and I have both been though nearly every option in the Caribbean (or so it seems), but we have yet to even decide on a location. Not because we can't agree but because we've set the bar pretty high with our engagement spot in Jamaica. We are looking for something very similar to Jamaica, but since we've been there we'd like to think a bit out of the box and head somewhere else.

We are looking for an adult-only and an all-inclusive resort. We like spas, beaches, activities, relaxation, and luxury, but within reason of course. So far we think our best bets will be the Riviera Maya in Mexico or Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Antigua, Turks and Caicos, and St. Lucia are also options, but we still haven't decided. Hawaii is an option, but is not very high on the list. We are open to other suggestions. We've looked into Spain, the Greek Isles, Bora Bora, Tahiti... Some of these places are way out of our price range, but I'm just emphasizing that we are open to anything!

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

PS: I wasn't kidding that Maryland got nearly 3 feet of snow:


PPS: Wouldn't this be a great snow blower advert?!

Save The Date

Brian and I both had an idea of what we wanted our 'save the date' to look like pretty soon after we got engaged. In fact, we actually managed to complete them well before we needed to! Now that we've actually gotten them sent out, I thought it would be nice to post a picture of them. Believe it or not, once we had decided to do our save the dates this way, this was the first photo booth we went into, and our first take. (We had a couple practice ones the day before!) We made the signs that are in each photo and then photoshopped our information at the bottom of the photo. We then sent them off to be put on magnets, and voilà! We made our save the date!

Our last touch was our presentation. We put together a design with card stock of what we hope our wedding colors will be similar to and sent them off to our recipients. All in all, we were both pretty impressed! Here's our final product:

Rock the Microphone

Ok, I know we've veered off the wedding path for the last few blog posts but that doesn't mean we've not been working our tails off figuring things out. (Actually, it's been pretty low key. Nothing too exhausting.) So, now that we're back on to wedding stuff, I can officially announce that we have booked our DJ! Encore Entertainment will be delighting us with their presence at our reception, and once again, we are very happy with our decision. We have heard a lot of great things about Rob, our DJ, and are confident that he will be able to keep the flow of the night moving along smoothly.

Also, Picture the Love, our wedding photographers, has posted some of our engagement photos on their blog. You can view them by clicking here.

And last but certainly not least, speaking of photography, Brian had the awesome opportunity to attend the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, CA this past January 1st to photograph the Ohio State Buckeyes versus the Oregon Ducks game. With a field pass and roof access, he was able to capture some incredible shots. To view and / or purchase his prints click here.

With that, I suppose we ought to get cracking on more wedding planning. Our next objective is our florist.

Welcome Home, Jack!

The past four days have been filled with excitement from our new puppy, Jack. He came home with us on Friday night and has been such a good boy since then. He has the sweetest personality, but is a little bit shy when it comes to new people and new things. We are working on introducing him to the world! So far, Bun and Jack have gotten along quite well. Bun hasn't moved out, yet, so I think that's a great sign! There's potential for these two, I tell ya!

(Click on Jack to see more photos!)

The Name Game

(Welcome, 2010, but we've got more important things on our mind right now:)

Today is the day we bring home a friend
A puppy! You see, we’re expectin’.
And since the hour is upon us now,
We have got to think of a name somehow.
There’s Tum Tum and Fido and Lucky and Max.
There’s Buddy and Buster, we’ve even seen Jax.
There’s Fluffy and Stinky and Bacon and Ace
If we actually considered some of these, it would be a disgrace.
We’ve been through the lists; we’ve spoken to friends.
But what’s in a name? It all depends…
He was born on Halloween, and will be 10 weeks old.
And training him outside is going to be cold.
He’s silver in color and seems as sweet as ever.
We literally have 4 hours to think of something clever.
Speaking of time, we really can’t wait.
To pick up our puppy. It’s officially a date!
So we’ll continue to brainstorm, till we think of something cool.
Because in just a short while, we’ll be covered in drool.

Collards, Black-Eyed Peas & Hog Jowl

New Years Day is fast approaching, and according to folklore, collards, black-eyed peas and hog jowl, when served together, promise a year of good luck and wealth. Sounds like a great way to start the new year. Speaking of, that means in less than 14 hours we will be arriving in 2010, and in just over 8 months we will be attending our wedding! 2010, here we come! (We are still so excited!)

Our Christmas holiday was lovely. We saw family and friends, had lots of good food, and had lots of good fun enjoying each others company, playing games, and lounging by the fire. We also had a white Christmas which we haven't had in a long time. We tried to build a snowman but the snow was so powdery that we really couldn't form anything or pack it down so we left him to lie on the ground. All in all, it really was a beautiful holiday weekend. We really couldn't have asked for more.

Polar Express

It's Christmas Eve. Less than 24 hours til Christmas, and the holiday is well underway. With a festive 'ugly christmas sweater' party under our belts, we are in full holiday-go for the countdown to Christmas. Ironically, we ran into Santa last night fulfilling some last minute gift wishes in Columbus, OH.

Fortunately enough, Brian and I will be spending the holidays together! He is flying in to Maryland on Christmas and I am very excited that he will be able to join in all the fun!

With that, we are ready! Full steam ahead! Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight! (Santa asked me to pass that along last night...)