The Girls!

There weren't many questions when it came to my bridal party. These girls were the ones I knew would be standing up for me the day I walked down the aisle. It took me a while to chase down and make dates with all of the girls I wanted to ask. It was really important to me to ask them each individually (which made the process take forever, but I'm still glad I did it that way), and I wanted to do something special to let them all know how much it means to me. I am beyond lucky to have these seven (yes, seven!) wonderful women standing up for Brian and I as bridesmaids on our wedding day.

Jennifer and Rachel, my two younger sisters

 

Kathy, Brian's sister and my future sister-in-law

Kristi, my sorority Little

Joella, my sorority sister
  

Amber, my sorority sister

Amanda, my longest friend

In addition to these lovely ladies, my cousin Jordan will be a Junior Bridesmaid.

My flower girl will be my cousin Zoe!

I wish I could put into words how beyond great and supportive these girls have been, not only about our wedding but ever since I've known them. They have truly shown me what friendship means.  I am lucky to be surrounded by so much love on what will surely be one of the most memorable and important days of my life!

Engagement Pictures

 Brian surprised me with engagement pictures a couple of days after he proposed.Even though it was over 100 degrees the day of our shoot, Brian wasn't going to be home again for a while, so we decided to just go ahead and do them anyway. I was shocked when we got them back and there were so many that I loved! I was so sure I looked like a hot mess, but somehow our photographer, Meaghan, pulled off a miracle (not to mention she was over 30 weeks pregnant at the time of our engagement shoot!) Good thing we're keeping her around to capture our wedding day. :)

I am so happy we got a chance to document this amazing time in our lives. Now that we're spending the majority of our time apart, looking at these pictures just makes my heart smile. Here's a peek of the over 400 images that were taken that day!

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

I'm not sure if you recognize that lighthouse, but it's actually what Brian likes to refer to as "the scene of the crime." It's where we're getting married! We actually took the pictures before we set a date or found a location, but I think it's pretty cool that we ended up choosing the same place. :)

Color Inspiration

 I was never the girl who dreamed about her wedding day and had every detail planned out before Brian and I got engaged. To be honest, I had never really thought about planning my own wedding until the ring was on my finger and it was staring me in the face as kind of a necessity. In some ways, I'm glad I didn't have any preconceived notions about what our day would be like and could make the decisions with Brian as a couple. On the other hand, it has kind of made having a 'vision' for my wedding difficult. People are asking me all of these questions about what I picture for our wedding day, and I just kind of have to give them a confused look and say, "Well...I've never really thought about it..."

    

That was definitely the case for the choosing colors for our wedding. (I also never really understood inspiration boards, but they are all the rage in the wedding world. So these are mine.) I didn't really have any big ideas about what I wanted our wedding look like, so I didn't really know that there was all of these decisions that depended on a color scheme or some kind of 'theme.' That's just not me, and it's definitely not us! Eventually, we decided that a pretty blue would be the focal point. An accent color will be peach, an ode to Georgia and the life we are about to embark on together in the Peach State. The rest of the colors have been somewhat inspired by a sunset over the water, sunsets being one of our 'things.' Hopefully the colors reflect the bright, fresh, and fun mood I hope to bring to our spring wedding. I also like that it's not a typical wedding color scheme!

I really hope it will all come together like I'm envisioning, now that I am finally starting to picture our wedding day. :)

Our Save the Dates!

Our Save the Dates were ordered from www.invitationbox.com and sent to our guests at the end of October. It took a long time for Brian and I to decide on one of our engagement pictures to use. We both picked our favorites and this is the one we compromised on for the Save the Date. It's so cool that it was taken on the water a couple hundred feet from where we're going to tie the knot!

 

I was so excited when I got these in the mail, and wanted to send them out like right that minute! But, of course, I made things more difficult for myself by ordering a custom return address stamp from Etsy (for only $7!!) and stamping the back of every envelope. It was quite a process!

After a couple of evenings painstakingly addressing envelopes instead of doing homework, they were finally ready to go!

I loved getting texts and phone calls saying that our Save the Dates had been received, and we got such a positive response from all of our friends and family. :)

Where We Are...

Here are some of the BIG details that have been ironed out so far...

 Ceremony: Concord Point Lighthouse

Reception: Bulle Rock Residents' Club

(Hoffer Photography)

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E-pic and Wedding Photographer: Meaghan Elliott Photography

Caterer: Dean & Brown Catering

Officiant: Our Pastor, Mr. Herb

Florist: Petals n' Posies

Bridesmaids' Dresses: David's Bridal

Cake: Desserts by Rita

Wedding Bands: Harzin Jewelers

Favors: Sunny Hill Farm

DJ: Absolute Entertainment (Brian Starkloff)

Ceremony Musicians: Miriam's Joy

Wedding Dress: Francesca's Bridal Salon

Groom and Groomsmen's Attire: Men's Warehouse

Save the Dates: Invitation Box

Hair: Baltimore Bridal Hair

Makeup: Baltimore Bridal Makeup

Ceremony Seating: Chesapeake Rent-all

Rehearsal Dinner: MacGregor's

Invitations: Preston's Stationery

Chronicling This Journey...

With only 4 months left until Brian and I are 'husband and wife', I decided that I want to be documenting and writing about some of the experiences during this wedding planning journey. I have been keeping a "bio" on one of the popular wedding websites, but really wanted to be blogging about the preparations for this once-in-a-lifetime event. Obviously, I don't want to give away all of the details on my very public blog Dreams Take Flight, so this private blog was born. Come May 28th, after all is said and done, I will hopefully make this blog public as well to share some of our experiences, projects, and excitement leading up to our big day!

I have had trouble recently making time for even my regular blog, but hopefully I will be able to keep up with this one as well. :)

Let the wedding planning blogging begin!