Busy Summer

Well summer school is over and I thought I would have more time to blog, but instead I have been babysitting the cutest 5 year old boy ever! I won't even get started on this kid, but just know I could've probably watched him for free he's that good. On the wedding front, a good bit of stuff has gone down. I am working hard on my reception centerpieces. I think me, Whiteny A., and Chelsea C. have come up with an idea but I want to try one last thing. Hopefully it will come in the mail soon so I can get started.
I rememered what piece of advice I wanted to share last blog that I forgot!! Ladies, when figuring up your wedding budget, allow for stamps. I promise, even if you only do invitations this will get expensive. I am quite sure I have spent $100 already on stamps for save the dates, invitations (which were 64 cents) and for the return RSVP envelope. I really hope that encourages people to RSVP or I will be really angry that I spent that money. I am now trying to finish up invitation stuff (somehow I managed to stamp the wrong side on several envelopes-hopefully I don't have to buy more) and looking for bridesmaids gifts as well as something to give my parents and Patrick! That's where all my babysitting money will be going to but I really love the feeling of getting someone something good so I hope I can figure it out!
I can't believe that in a week and two days I will be starting my last semester of undergraduate studies at MSU! There have been some anxiety ridden moments this summer after my advisor saw something she'd missed before....good thing I'm overly annoying and asked four different times for her to check! So now, if for some reason, I should be one or two hours behind of graduating I can say without a doubt I did everything possible. I would encourage this to everyone. It would really be terrible to be at or under one class from graduating. Hopefully everything goes through at financial aid tomorrow and I can go get my books sometime this week. Maybe the lines won't be so long if I can get all of that done now. I can't wait to get started.
I also can't believe that in 2-3 weeks I will be calling Kay's Kreations to schedule my first dress fitting!!! I've been trying to work out a lot more lately. Sadly, I gained almost every bit of the 15 pounds that I lost last spring. Hopefully the couch to 5K and weight watchers will help get back to that by October....I just love to eat so much so that makes it a lot harder! (But hey, who doesn't?)
And to top off my countdowns of anticipation, football season is just around the corner. The first game of the season (for high school that is) is a week and a half away. Unlucky for me, it is a really long drive away, but I love to be there to support Patrick and my alma mater. Equally exciting, if not a tinsy bit more, is the countdown to MSU football. I suppose the reason why I like it better would be the incredible atmosphere at Davis Wade Stadium that EHS just doesn't have...or the fact that it's something Patrick and I can do together. To incorporate yet another special countdown in my life, we will be nearly in the double digits on our wedding coutdown by the MSU vs LSU game at home.
As always, Dozer is the most adorable thing on this planet... Patrick and I spent the entire day with him Saturday since my parents took a spur of the moment mini vacay! It set back our pool and being bums plan but we had a wonderful time playing with him for so long.
Well guess I'm off for now! Hopefully next time I can update with more helpful information! (trust me, the stamps thing...it's easy to overlook! No one ever mentions it) Also if anyone has any ideas of what would be good for the brides maids let me know! I have an idea, but I haven't bought anything yet and I am always open to good advice!

THIS IS OUR STATE

Blogging

Well I haven't been on here in a while and it's mostly due to wedding planning and school..the two things I got on here to talk about. Recently we picked out the tuxes that the groomsmen and special men of the wedding will be wearing. For anyone looking in north Mississippi I would suggest to use the tux place inside Kay's Kreations (a wedding dress/prom dress store where I got my dress from). Men's wearhouse, next to David's Bridal, was NOT a good place. The people were not all that friendly, they didn't give us a quote until after Patrick paid his deposit, and they were EXTREMELY expensive. So that's just a head's up. Call several places before you go in. They assume once you are in there, you are ready to buy. Our invitations have come in and I've started working on those. Not much to say about it, but I figured I needed to start stuffing and labeling as much as I could before the fall. Again, having the addresses ready for save the dates has really, really helped out on this one! I doubt I would have them ready by October if it weren't for that. Patrick's sister Whitney, one of my bridesmaids, led me to a great website called woodenletters.net.. we are going to use three wooden letters (a P, K, and D) to hang on the outside of the three chapel doors. She is going to paint them as well as decorate our favors. Not sure if I have mentioned what the favors are but I'm assuming I haven't and therefore it will be somewhat of a surprise. Recently I have also bought my shoes and earrings! Things are starting to fall together as far as what I need to buy, but there are several other things on my list such as the unity candle, garter, cake topper, and bridesmaids gifts. Besides paying for those things, the photographer, the cake, and the rest of the food I should be able to stop asking Ricky Joe for money..which I know he will be psyched about ha.

One reason why I haven't updated in a while is because we got a second wedding present....DOZER! the most wonderful dog ever! I post too many pictures on facebook but that's just because he's so cute it's hard to. There was a piece of advice I realized earlier this week I needed to share, but now I've forgotten. Maybe it will come to me later! Thanks for reading! 

Just blogging

Well not too much has been going on lately....just a trip to Panama City beach :) Didn't get too much accomplished on the wedding front while we were down there, but a few things happened. We got engagement pictures taken on the beach! Hopefully they turned out okay. The wind was terrible which didn't do anything to help my hair! Can't wait to see all of the pictures though. Patrick says he is going to put a picture on his desk in his office. I guess that's until we have a wedding picture!!! Also I found an adorable flower girl dress. It was a little pricey though. Next week we are going to pick out the tuxes. We are trying to do a lot this summer since the fall is going to be crazy for the both of us. Hopefully we can figure that out and maybe find a better priced flower girl dress. Also, finding a place to live in a town like Ackerman is tough work! Any ideas would be great on how to decide what's a good price for a couple like us starting off. I thought renting was the best idea, but it looks like we will likely be home owners. Really exciting sounding, but scary at the same time. Hard to pick a place that you won't have to put a lot of money into with plumbing and electric problems down the road. It's always been so easy in Starkville, but I am enjoying working through all of it together. Hopefully I can say that about everything during the time we are engaged. The only trouble would be my over bearing "let's get things done" attitude. I've made page long lists of what we have to do every two months and it's a little over whelming. Oh and lastly, if we are ordering favors how in the world do we know how many of those to get. Food- I've figured out...but a favor is totally different. We need to get them bought early because Patrick's awesome sister, Whitney, is going to make them a little more personalized. Thanks for reading!!! haha

Getting started...

Obviously I have been planning my wedding for practically forever (if you are female, I know you have too) so when Patrick asked I immediately pulled out my secret wedding planning guide from under my bed and got to work. My cousin Chelsea and I had just been waiting for the moment he'd ask so we could start putting our ideas down on paper for real. We knew the where and the date (football sort of chooses it for you) so that wasn't a big issue for us. The real stuff began soon after and I realized how expensive weddings were. Even for a simple girl who was raised in a town with nothing but a pool and a gas station, wedding cakes and invitations were starting to scare me. I am still a little nervous about how to plan for how many people you expect to show up verses how many people you invite...I will definitely elaborate more on that when I understand it a little better. All the wedding websites say don't count people out, but seriously Patrick's old high school friend that he rarely talks to that now lives in Texas probably will  not make it out here a week before Christmas to see our wedding. Unless, he is already in town to see his family for Christmas. See where my people situation is coming from? Also a big issue/victory was the reception location. This is where having an amazing MOH comes into play. Having someone else not only helps getting more things accomplished in a period of time, but you also get more ideas and a different perspective. I feel like this first blog is just sort of a pile of jumbled up things, but I promise from here on out there will be less to discuss.

Among all of those things I have completed: picked out and bought my dress and veil, picked out bridesmaids dresses, helped my mom with her dress and shoes, finish paying for the chapel and the reception area, put a down payment on the food (WHICH IS EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE--JUST ELOPE!!!), selected our cakes, sent out save the dates, registered for our everyday plates and such (I just don't see the point of everyone wasting their money on fancy china),selected and bought his ring, selected my ring, booked the rehearsal dinner, paid two payments on flowers (again ELOPE), picked out the menu for the reception and rehearsal, picked out invitations, and picked out the flower girls dress. I know I've missed a few things, but if you are a student like me, you know you have got to get these things done over the summer because there will be no time in the fall. Also big tip!! I know it's not as nice as hand writing, but use address labels. Working on addresses takes literally weeks to a month, maybe more, to do. I went over and over and over to make sure I spelt things correctly (and still messed up). I could not imagine having to do that again when I'm under a pile of bio chem and physics books in the fall. So now all I have to do is hit print and I will be in business when it comes time to send out wedding invitations. Hope this could be some help to someone out there!

Ways I've learned to save money: make your own save the dates, if you decide to use them. I made magnets and inserted a card. The card stock was from walmart and I paid $20 for a pack of 100 with envelopes included. The magnet wasn't tricky at all, they actually sell magnet paper at walmart by the printer paper. The hard part is just making the graphics and cutting them all out. Also, buffet for food. I'm not going to spill all the details here, but if you have a good caterer that doesn't want to rip you off you will save a lot this route.

So in recent news, and I hope none of that bored you, if you are reading this, we got our first wedding present today!!! I know, I am extremely shocked too since we have six months left to go. A distant relative sent us a nice monetary gift. My question is (and I'm sure I will google it in case I get no answers) but how do you write a thank you note for money? Seems awkward but I know there has to be a great way to do it!

This is our save the date..just googled bride and groom clip art and copied and pasted. I used word for everything.

This is my dream reception. If any of you can make this happen, let me know ha

First Blog

This week, I really began wondering why I still had a facebook. And after months of wanting to blog but not having anything to blog about, it hit me. Within six short months I am getting married and graduating college. If that's not something to blog about, I don't know what is. Hopefully through this blog I can help some of my friends who are getting married and graduating after me know what to expect. And hopefully if people read this, I can get some feedback from those who have been through both before ( hopefully some hints). I imagine I will keep this blog going through the planning and stressing, and if no one reads it at least it will be some what of a stress reliever. Anyway, not doing anything too amazing right now, but I will be updating some info on what has been going on since I got engaged and the troubles and victories we've had during the process!