Maid-of-Honor Dresses

We finally got the dresses ordered for our little girls, my maids-of-honor. Here is a picture:We are ordering the short version in all chocolate. It will match the older bridesmaids almost perfectly! They are going to be dolls!!

Let the Fun Begin

In the beginning of November, my mother's friends in Corpus Christi threw me my first wedding shower. It was absolutely fantastic! The invitation was gorgeous. The food was beautiful and tasty. We had mimosas. We played fun games. And most importantly, we had great conversation. I was meeting some of the women for my first time, yet, they treated me as if they had known me my whole life.

Thank you so much Janna, Charmaine, Fran, and Mary! I cannot thank you enough. My mom has the greatest friends!!

Dresses, Invitations, Florist, Oh My!

This has been a fantastic week of decisions for us!

First, I made the hardest decision, yet. I ordered my wedding dress!! I flip-flopped back and forth between about 4 dresses for the last several weeks. However, I finally made the decision and placed my order. I am proud to say that the ladies at Lasting Bridal Couture are the most patient women in the world! I'm pretty sure they have decided that I wasn't worth the commission. Ha! However, I am very happy with my dress, and I can't wait to see the actual one in February.

Next, we ordered bridesmaid dresses. These are coming from Ann Taylor. We got a great deal on a dress Todd and I had been eyeing for weeks. My bridesmaids will really make these dresses look gorgeous! Hopefully, they will be here next week. (Bradette, I'm putting yours on. ;-) )

Then, I spoke with a dear family friend, Mary Pearce, about putting together my bouquets. She did the ones for Bradette's wedding, and they were gorgeous! Luckily, she agreed to oblige me on this request. She's a fantastic and creative woman!!

Finally, we ordered invitations. Now, I know some of you may be wondering why you still haven't received your save-the-date. We haven't decided what we're doing for those, yet, so we haven't sent them out. However, we should have invitations in the mail to us soon. At least we're a little ahead of the game on that order.

Like I said, it's been a big week. I think we'll take next week off from wedding planning. (Maybe that's because I'll be traveling for work.)

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

First, I should start by saying that we went to Myrtle Beach at the end of July. While we were on the trip, I asked Taylor and Kamie to be my Maids of Honor. After many questions of what that was, they graciously accepted. We am so excited to have them in our wedding!

We, also, told the kids that they could each pick a song that would be played at the reception. Somehow, the girls got the idea that they could sing a song at the reception. I hope they go through with it. If so, you will all love your serenade of "There You Are" by Rascall Flatts. Those girls have the sweetest voices!

This has been a whirlwind week. My mother, Bradette, and Mimi flew into Dallas on Friday. We went to dinner that evening and had lots of giggles and fun! Saturday, we spent the day wedding dress shopping. Amber and Campbell joined us. (I would post pictures, but Todd has this website address. It was a fantastic day that resulted in me finding "the dress" two different times. By the end of the night, I had decided that I found "the dress" on the Internet and needed to try it on. After more shopping on Monday and Tuesday, I still have not chosen the dress. However, we had a fantastic girls' weekend! Thank you again to my family for traveling so far to help me! I had more fun that I could ever explain.

Also this week:

• I asked my final bridesmaid to join me in the wedding. Jenny Boone has been my best friend since the third grade. We have a fantastic history together, considering she used to pick on me because I was a month younger. :-) She is the type of friend that you can not speak to for a month and pick back up like you never left each other's sides. I cannot imagine what our wedding would be like without her! (I'm not sure she'll still agree to be in it after seeing this picture. I am on the left, and JB is on the right. Maybe it's me that should be embarrassed!)

• We booked our photographer: http://www.imagovitaphotography.com/. Shannon Phillips is the owner. Even though Todd and I have not met her in person, we had a great webcam conference with her. We are very confident in this decision and so pumped to start working with her. Check out her work because she is amazing!!
• Mom helped us register for China, everyday dishes, stemware, and flatware.
• We picked our invitations.
• We bought 'thank you' cards.
• We worked on our save the dates.
• We polled the bridesmaids about dresses.

I think that sums up the week. Like I said, it's been a whirlwind. Mom, Todd, and I have stayed up visiting way past our bedtime. One night, Mom and I even stayed up past Todd and giggled at bridesmaid dresses and the Dell support technician. (Sorry, Amandeep.) It has been tiring and a complete blast! I am so sad that she's going home tomorrow. Mom, I hope you know how much I appreciate everything you do for us! Todd and I both love you dearly.

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen

Over the course of the last month, Todd and I have asked our wedding party to be, well, our wedding party.

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We are pleased to announce that Kaleb will be standing next to Todd as his best man, and Taylor and Kamie will be my bridesmaids. Yay!
Both of my sisters, Jenny and Amber, will also be bridesmaids. (I know the picture is old, but we tend to take more pics of the kids when we're all together.)

Last, but certainly not least, Todd has asked his three best friends to be his groomsmen. The part that was really awesome was that he did it on a sailboat. We took a sailing trip with our friends around Lake Ray Hubbard. During a toast, he popped the big question...to them, not me, silly. Michael Ginn (Todd's best friend since childhood), Larry Foresee, and Kyle Rhodes will be supporting our marriage from the groom's side. (This is proof that we are forgiving with 2 OU fans - Larry & Kyle - in the wedding on Todd's side alone.)

It wouldn't be a date night without the girls!

The sunset was gorgeous!

We Have a Location & Date

FINALLY!!! Todd and I are proud to announce that we will be getting married at Vesica Piscis Chapel in Catoosa, OK, on March 27, 2010...exactly one year after we were engaged. Woo hoo!!

http://vesicapiscischapel.com/index.htm

I would post my pictures, but they do a much better job on their website. Here are a few I borrowed. :-)

Still No Change

I haven't forgotten to update this. We just haven't made any new plans, yet.

June 12 and 13 is my 10-year High School reunion. We are getting so old. :-) While we're there, we're going to see Vesica Piscis with the set-up for our wedding. Therefore, we'll be able to tell if we can fit all of our guests without some having to sit in the restroom all evening. I'm really hoping they surprise me with a great layout that will work for us!

Keep your fingers crossed!

Location, Location, Location

Todd and I had a plan to get our location picked before we did any other planning. Well, trying to pick a location in a town that's 4 hours from where you live is not easy. However, I think we have it narrowed down to 4 places:

Vesica Piscis - This is our favorite location. However, if we want to do it here, we're going to have to cut some of you guests off the list. This is not something we're interested in doing. You better think about being nice, though! :-)
http://vesicapiscischapel.com/directions.htm

Five Oaks Lodge - This location is very much "us". It's laid back and on a small lake. If we do it here, we're going to have to find a church for the ceremony.
http://www.fiveoakslodge.com/

Post Oak Lodge - I like this location because of the on-site lodging. It's pretty, but it's not my favorite.
http://www.postoaklodge.com/Weddings/weddings.asp

The Summit Club - Well, anyone that has been to The Summit Club knows it's the best view in Tulsa. It's fantastically beautiful inside, but it's a little fancier than what we originally had envisioned. However, we haven't counted it out.
http://www.summittulsa.com/

If you have been to any of these places, let us know! We love input. I LOVE WEDDING PLANNING!!!

Matron of Honor

I have a Matron of Honor, now. I am pleased to say that my cousin and best friend, Bradette Ostrander, will stand next to me in my wedding!

Todd had a very cute, miniature billboard made for her. It said:

Matron of honor (n) \ˈmā-trən əv ˈä-nər\: a married woman acting

as the principal attendant of the bride at a wedding
So, what do you think about being mine?!

I told her I had a 'thank you' gift for her for the engagement gift she gave us. When she opened it, she found the billboard. It was fun!

Yay for fun surprises!!

Engagement Party

Thank you to everyone that was able to make it to the engagement party! Todd and I had an absolute blast!!

Thanks to Julie for saving us with her camera. Our batteries weren't working when we got there, and I won't tell you who I think messed up charging them. :-)

Surprise Proposal

Well, our story started LONG AGO before many of you were ever born. Nooooo...it started a little over 4 1/2 years ago. However, the really fun stuff happened on March 27, 2009.

Todd and I took the kids to our church for dinner and a movie on their final night of Spring Break. Everything was pretty normal. We ate dinner, watched "Fireproof", did a little dance...I'm getting off track. After the movie, Todd told me he had been asked to close the congregation in a prayer. I really thought that was what he was doing. Here's what really happened...

We even made it on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eon5b0cuUXg.

As you can imagine, I was more than excited! My mom and sister were both there, and I didn't even know it. My mom had flown in all the way from Corpus Christi.

Anyway, we took lots of pictures, and I made tons of phone calls that night. It was the most perfect proposal ever!!!