Project Wedding Invitations

This past weekend, Brian and I met with two people regarding our wedding invitations. We went into the first meeting not really knowing what we were looking for. We came out with clearer ideas, but still had not found anything that caught our attention. At the second meeting, we saw something that we both liked (HOORAY!), and we are now in the process of finalizing our decisions.

But, to be quite honest, this is not an easy task. There are so many options when it comes to invitations: square or rectangular, traditional or non-traditional, script or block font, layered or not, modern or 'old-school' (...they may have called that something else...), and these are just a few of the options. Then, once you pick a few options and put them together, you get to look at 85 different invitations of the styles you just chose, and then you have absolutely no idea what options you just selected, much less what you even want.

Oh, and don't get me started on colors. They have every color of the spectrum to choose from, and really give ROY G BIV a run for his money. The problem is, I am definitely a fan of pretty colors. So much so that I almost completely changed the colors of our wedding because I saw this really pretty blue that I absolutely adored. (Project wedding invitations may well turn out to be 'project redo the entire wedding' if I don't stop.) Nonetheless, Brian talked some sense into me, and I snapped back to my senses and decided to stick with our chosen few.

Really, this has been one of the hardest things we've had to do for our wedding, so far. (I suppose we are pretty fortunate.) We have one more meeting tomorrow evening to discuss our invitations and we are confident that we will have something tangible in the next few weeks.

In other non-wedding related news, Jack officially graduated from Puppy Kindergarten last night! He won a new toy which we now call our blue 'Koala Walla' for "being cute" and mastering almost all of his tricks. We are very proud!

Being good and listening...for the moment...

Our diploma. (And new toy!!)

Taste Test

Last night we had our first tasting at our reception venue, and we got to see the lovely space that we have rented for our reception night. It was absolutely amazing to see The Venue there in person and at night when we will be throwing our bash. The atmosphere is absolutely incredible, and the view is awesome!

Incredible atmosphere!

Awesome view!

Our chef!

The food was delish, the company was delightful (Mary and Tom - Brian's Mom and Stepdad joined us), and the night was overall productive. The great thing was that our venue had additional vendors there (linens, invitations, a photo booth company, etc.) where you could sit and chat about additional wedding items. And, since I am a huge (understatement) photo booth fan, we all just had to have a go:

Photo Booth Shenanigans!

It's amazing how fast August is approaching. Seeing our venue last night made it all very real. After a brief lull, wedding details are starting to pick up again!

Moments

There are moments throughout all of our lives that we will never forget. Moments of joy, moments of hope. Moments of sorrow, moments of fear, moments of freedom. We are all unique in our own way, but we all have moments. There are moments we share with others and moments we encounter on our own, but together those moments unite us.

Some moments fill you with so much joy and happiness that you just can't control it. You don't have words to describe your emotions. You are overly excited, and even that doesn't do your emotion justice. These are the moments that put our mundane life into existence. These are the reasons we remember the moments and not what we were doing days before these moments occurred.

This weekend was one such moment: my brother, Travis, proposed to his girlfriend, Shanel, and I was overcome with a happiness that brought tears to my eyes. Being able to share the experience, this moment, with them, family, and friends meant so much to me and everyone around me. It was in that moment that I just couldn't be happier. I was brimming with love and happiness and excitement, and you could easily sense that many of the people there were also feeling the same. Not only are we connected because we are family, but sharing in this moment together made it unforgettable. (Not that Travis or Shanel would ever forget this day! I'm just saying it was monumental to all of us being there as well.)

Congratulations, Travis and Shanel! We are so excited for you!

(Click to view all photos.)

150 Days!

We've literally hit 150 days until our wedding, and even though we started the countdown a while ago, it feels that much more real to see such a nice round number! It seems like it's a lot closer in 'day' terms as opposed to 'month' terms. For example, 150 days feels right around the corner. 5 months feels like we've got some time. But there are both one and the same - six of one, a half dozen the other - and somewhere, middle of the road, we are well on our way.

150 days and counting!!

Our Recent Life

With the arrival of March, spring is in the air and we are now one month closer to our wedding! It's still chilly and there is still snow on the ground, but the prospects of warmer weather and sunshiny days are much more tangible.

In our wedding world, we've been working on finalizing the Bridal Party, the Bachelor Party (actually, I think Brian has pretty much nailed this one down - more on this later) and the Bachelorette Party, looking at invitations, and starting to iron out some of the finer details for our big day. We also have our first, and probably only, tasting at our reception venue this month. It is here that we will make our decisions on what food we will have at our reception. We can't believe how fast it's all happening. August will be here before we know it.

In our non-wedding world, we've been relaxing, exploring the world with Jack, playing ball, taking walks, and tending to all the 'normal-world' stuff you need to tend to. And speaking of our dear, sweet puppy, he is at the vet, as we speak, having is 'baby makers' removed.

He was under strict instructions not to have anything to eat or drink after midnight last night. Fortunately, at our Monday night puppy class, we played 'Pass the Puppy', and he received more than his fair share of treats from all the other puppy owners. It was our way of thinking he was able to at least have a late night snack that he otherwise would not have received!

He has been such a joy to have around the house. Bun is still not a huge fan, but we've been keeping the peace. Here are some updated photos of Jack:

We are keeping him in our thoughts and preparing a lovely feast (his normal dinner) for him when he returns tonight. Despite what he had to go through, we know he will be excited to be home!