Early Christmas Present!

An early Christmas present was sent to my parents' house today, my wedding dress!!!

We weren't expecting it to arrive until February so it was a very nice surprise! It's locked in my old bedroom because Billy keeps threatening to take a peek. I can't wait to try it on!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Photographers

We met with Melanie and Adam Pace tonight. They will be taking our engagement and wedding pictures and I couldn't be more excited. Melanie and Billy have known each other for a long time and he introduced me to their blog sometime after we started dating. I've checked the blog at least once a week ever since. Melanie and Adam are so talented and I know how lucky we are to have them as our photographers.

We went to their house tonight, had dinner and just spent time talking with them. We had a great time and I hope to get to spend more time with them in the future.

We're hoping to getting our engagement pictures taken sometime in January or February. I'll be sure to let you all know because it will be our first appearance on their blog. Until then, check out the awesome work they do (there are some great stories in the blog):

http://www.loft3pd.com/blog

Thanks so much Melanie and Adam!

7 Months to go!

We're 7 months away from the big day today! My planning has slowed significantly thanks to a busy schedule at school and holiday plans. As the months keep going, it seems to be going faster and faster. I will have news in the next few days about the mock ups of our invitations! I'm so excited! I can't wait for it to be here!

Kelly Shannon gets married!

If you can remember back to a post from August, we have 3 people at school (including myself) engaged to be married. Well, the first of the three weddings has happened! Kelly put together a gorgeous wedding! Just wanted to share some pictures. Congratulations Kelly and Gary!

The happy couple!

Friends!

Some of the Corryville ladies!

Time with my soon to be sisters!

I went with Billy's sisters to Cincinnati Bride today so they could get sized for their bridesmaid dresses and get the dresses ordered! I enjoyed spending the afternoon with them and look forward to many more fun times! Thanks for a great day Michelle and Lisa! : )

Invitations

I met Erica of Paper Blossom Designs tonight to talk about wedding invitations. She is Lindsey's very good friend and I had told her before I was even engaged that I would be contacting her about invitations after I got engaged. She does amazing work and I'm looking forward to what the finished product will look like for us.

She was very helpful and easy to work with and I felt like I was sitting and talking with a friend just bouncing ideas off each other, instead of a business meeting. Billy actually came and met up with us eventually and I was happy to hear his input. I think we've come up with a design we like and I look forward to meeting with Erica again to discuss final details. : )

Eight Months Away!

It seems so close but so far all at the same time! I know I shouldn't be wishing my life away, but I honestly can't wait to start my life with Billy! This pretty much sums it up:

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." -When Harry Met Sally

Happy Halloween!

Well, it seems I've been dreaming of my wedding day for a long time! I was a bride for Halloween one year when I was younger (somewhere around 1st or 2nd grade I think, I was 6 or 7). My dress will be much different from the one in this picture! Just thought it would be fun to share on Halloween!

Bridesmaid Dress Decision

I did it. I FINALLY made a decision on a bridesmaid dress, after almost 2 months of looking. I went back up to Cincinnati Bride tonight, with the intention of choosing one of the dresses I found at an earlier time. My consultant Sally showed me this new dress they got in and my decision was made instantly. I love the style and I think it will look wonderful on all of my bridesmaids. Here's the link, check it out if you'd like:


http://www.morilee.com/Bridesmaids/Affairs/

You have to go to the 2nd page and it is the 4th dress in the top row (shown in black). If you click on it you will get a closer view and you can change the color by clicking the swatches on the right. My dresses will not have the flower shown in the picture and I am choosing between the colors eggplant and grape.

I'm really excited about this decision and happy to have another task checked off the list! I can't wait to see the lovely ladies in these dresses!

Chicago!

This post has nothing to do with wedding planning, but I just wanted to share some pictures from our weekend trip to Chicago with Amy and Shawn. My friend from high school, Adriana, was in town for a medical conference and I hadn't seen her in 3 years (she lives in Venezuela). So, we asked Amy and Shawn to come along with us and we had a great time!

The four of us in Millenium Park at "the bean".

Billy and me on the Wendella Boat tour on the Chicago River.

A view of part of downtown Chicago from the top of the Hancock Building.

The girls enjoying martinis at the bar at the top of the Hancock Building.

A trip to Chicago isn't complete without Garrett's popcorn, it was our last stop before we left!

Bridesmaid Dresses Again!

I know I just went up to Cincinnati Bride on Saturday with Karianne, but I decided to go back today with Kate and Amy to look around some more. I showed them the dresses I had found with Karianne and had them try the dresses on to see how they would look on them. We ended up finding 2 more dresses that I really liked and now I'm trying to decide between those two so I can have a dress picked out and check that off my list. They are both really cute, so hopefully I can make a decision soon.

While we were at Cincinnati Bride today, I ordered my bridesmaid dress for Amy's wedding in June! I was bummed because they didn't have the sample dress in because they had to order a new one. I was happy to get that ordered so I have one less thing to worry about. This is such a fun time and I'm so happy to have such wonderful people to support me through all of this decision making!

Church

My mom and dad met us at St. Rose today for church. It had been a long time since they had gone to church there and they just wanted to remember what it was like. Also, the priest that is marrying us was the pastor at Guardian Angels when I was young, he was also giving mass that day and my parents feel he hasn't changed at all! It was nice to have them there with us today.

Dresses and Meeting our Priest

Karianne, Liam and I drove up to Cincinnati Bride this morning to check on the bridesmaid dresses to see if they even carried the dresses I was interested in. Unfortunately, the two dresses I was interested in were not carried at the store. So, it was back to square one. We looked around and found some dresses that were similar and Karianne tried a few on. I'm happy I at least have a few new ideas for the ladies. Hopefully I can make a decision too. Karianne was such a great help today!

This afternoon, Billy and I went to St. Rose and had first meeting with Father Barry. We gave him our information and just talked a little bit. He gave us information on pre-cana classes which we'll have to decide on soon. The big thing we did today while we were there was take the FOCCUS test. We'll find out at our next meeting what we really need to discuss before we get married. It was interesting to talk with Billy about it when we left, we'll see what happens next time.

DJ, Invitations and Transportation

I know there are many places I can find a DJ, some invitations and transportation. I'm just really lost as to where to start. I've had people give me recommendations, but honestly, these are the areas where I hope to spend as little money as possible.

So, if you have any recommendations, please send them my way. I have a day off from school in the beginning of November and hope to get at least a few of these taken care of on that day.

Thanks!

Nine Months to Go!

It's been a whirlwind already and I can't believe there are only nine months until the big day! It seems so far away right now, but I know that's just because I'm anxious for it to be here already. I'm thankful now that I have to time to get plans in order. I'm looking forward to all the fun planning that's ahead!

A Bridal Affair on Fountain Square

Amy and I went to a bridal show tonight down on fountain square. It was a fun event and they had gorgeous weather.

We tried out some food and desserts, most of which were pretty good. I don't need a caterer because Receptions does their own catering, but it was nice to taste!

We visited the Cincinnati Bride booth because that is where I purchased my wedding dress and plan to find my bridesmaid dresses. Amy is also getting her bridesmaid dresses from there. They gave us a coupon for 20% off the bridesmaid dresses, we were pretty excited!

I looked around at different DJ's and transportation options. People have given me references for DJ's, but I haven't really had the time to check any out to see what the prices are or anything.

As we walked around, we signed up to win different things like a free bridal bouquet, a free bachelorette party and a trip to pebble beach. Hopefully, one of us will win something!

It was a fun night out, but I think that is the only bridal show I'll be attending as a bride!

Junior Bridesmaid

Miss Nina Williams is my cousin's daughter and one of my favorite girls in the world!

She's almost 9 years old and in the 4th grade. Billy and I love going to watch her play soccer and just hang out with her during family parties. We knew we wanted her to be part of the wedding and we though she'd be perfect as a junior bridesmaid!

We went to her soccer game today and asked her to be in the wedding as well! I don't think she really knew how to react, but she seemed excited!

We love you, Nina!

Bridesmaid Dresses

All along, I thought I'd get my bridesmaid dresses from David's Bridal. They havr a nice selection of dresses and colors. I actually had a few picked out that I wanted to go look at to make a final decision. But, then I started looking at a designer that Cincinnati Bride carries and my mind was changed instantly!

I found the designer Liz Fields on the Cincinnati Bride (where I got my dress) website. I decided to take a quick look. Twenty minutes later, I think I had about 5 dresses written down that I really liked. I had narrowed it down to 4 and started sending the link to some of my bridesmaids. I REALLY liked 2 of the dresses and when I started getting responses, those were the 2 dresses that were talked about the most. These dresses looked great in all of colors listed. I'm still not sure of my color scheme yet. I really like the dresses in eggplant, dark magenta, black, sky, rosy brown and lilac. I'll post the links below of the 2 favorites, you can click on the color swatches to change the dress color.

http://www.lizfields.com/Product/Bridesmaid-Dresses/Short-Empire-Style-230/


http://www.lizfields.com/Product/Bridesmaid-Dresses/Short-Square-Neckline-Style-239/

I'm hoping to go with Kate and Karianne soon to look at the color swatches and hopefully the dresses in person. This is a tough decision!

Ring Sizing

Billy knew when he ordered my ring, that is was probably a little big. He did it that way because he wanted to be able to put it on my finger when he proposed rather than it getting stuck at my knuckle. I appreciate this, but after a few weeks of worrying if it was going to fall off my finger, we decided to take it to the jeweler to get it sized. We drove up there this morning to drop it off. I was hoping they'd be able to get it sized in one day, so I didn't have to be without it for long. Unfortunately, when we got there I found out I was going to have to be without it until Monday. : ( I know that's not very long since it's already Saturday, but I feel so weird without it on now. It'll be nice to have it fit better though.

Since I didn't have my ring, I knew I was going to disappoint a few people that hadn't seen it yet. My family was in town from Michigan and I was bummed I couldn't show it to them, because I don't see them that often. We went down to Newport with them this afternoon and rode the ducks. It was fun, the weather was beautiful and company was wonderful! Later in the day, we went to a party at Sean and Karianne's house and we saw some friends we hadn't seen since we got engaged and I wasn't able to show them either. The party was a good time though, it's always nice hanging out with all of our friends!

Some Things are Meant to Be...

I've been struggling with how many girls I want as bridesmaids. I had a friend I wanted to ask, but didn't know how she'd feel about it. My friend from Corryville, Amy (who got engaged 2 days before me), and I became fast friends last year when she became the 1st grade teacher. we saw each other through a lot last year and I found by the end of the school year she had become one of my closest friends! We hung out a lot over the summer, mostly sitting by the pool and our topic of discussion was almost always wedding/engagement related. We also hung out a few times with Billy and Shawn and it was nice to see they could get along too! I always knew she planned to have a small bridal party and mine was going to be a little bit bigger. I was really wanting to ask her and Billy even suggested asking her to be a bridesmaid. I just had to find a good time to talk to her.


Today was the first day back after the long weekend. I stopped by Amy's room in the morning for our morning chat. : ) She had a lot going on over the weekend and was filling me in on all the details. For her sake, I'm not going to divulge the information, but she surprised me when she asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding! I was so excited and honored and proceeded to ask her to be one of my bridesmaids, it worked out perfectly! Our weddings are 2 weeks apart, it's going to be a little hectic but so much fun! We knew the year was going to be fun always talking about wedding plans, but now it's extra special because we're part of each others big day! I can't wait to be your bridesmaid Amy and I'm so happy you are going to be a bridesmaid for me! You're a wonderful friend and I admire you so much as a person! Thank you for everything!

It was such a happy day at school. I had been wanting to get over to my cousin's house because I wanted to ask her in person to be a bridesmaid. I realized me schedule was not going to let that happen for some time, so I decided I needed to call her. I started the conversation like I was just calling to catch up. Then, I told her I had been trying to go and see her but it just wasn't working out. I also told her there was something important I wanted to ask her. So I asked and she seemed happy and said yes. I was so happy! I had talked to all of my bridesmaids and they all agreed to be a part of the special day! Melissa, I'm so glad we've gotten closer over the years. I love hanging out with you! Thank you for all you've done for me and thank you for agreeing to be my bridesmaid! Love you!

More Bridesmaids!

Today we went down to Louisville to help Ty (Billy's nephew) celebrate his 2nd birthday, which is actually tomorrow. It was at a place called Puzzles Fundome and all of the kids (even the grown up ones) had a great time.


Since I didn't know when I'd see Billy's sister Lisa again (she lives out of town) and Lisa and Michelle were both there, I decided that today would be a good day to ask them to be bridesmaids. Michelle and Lisa have been wonderful to me ever since I started dating Billy. They might not know it, but they've helped me through a lot and helped me understand Billy a little bit better. Being an only child, there was a part of me that always wanted sisters, I'm so lucky to get 2 wonderful ladies as my sisters! Thank you both for all you've done for me and thank you for agreeing to stand up there with us on our wedding day!

And the Reception Hall we chose is...

Receptions Eastgate!!!

It was a tough decision, since all of the places had many great things about them. The Madison was ruled out early because of the number they could hold. A Touch of Elegance was had a lot to offer and was different than a normal reception hall. We really liked the bar there and Billy really enjoyed the fact that you could bring in different beers for the tap. It also had a nice garden/atrium area and that is not something you see at a lot of reception halls. We talked about our number though and thought it might be a little cramped, especially with the way the hall is set up. Also, there are some areas that I feel are totally closed off from other areas and I didn't like that. If we were inviting less people, I think this would've been the place for us.

We booked the Union room at Receptions Eastgate. We really like the way the room is set up. We put a deposit down today. Another big sigh of relief for me. Billy can't wait for a food tasting, we're looking forward to picking the menu for our reception. I'm still having trouble believing I'm planning my wedding! I can't wait for the day to be here, especially now that I have a church and a reception hall!

The Church and Third Reception hall

I called St. Rose today as soon as I could to see if July 2nd was available. After verifying that I was a parishoner and the date was open, we were put down in the book for July 2, 2011! We are very excited! That is one sigh of relief I can now breathe.


Also, this evening we went and looked at The Madison in Covington, KY. I was most excited to look at this hall because I think all of the rooms are beautiful. The Grande Ballroom is my favorite, because you walk down steps to enter the ballroom. We talked with Emily and she was great. Unfortunately, both of the halls that would accomodate the number we plan to invite are already booked. There is one ballroom left if we could cut our number down by at least 30 people. I just don't think it's possible. I'm bummed because I really like The Madison. We now have some things to discuss, but I'm hoping to book a hall by tomorrow! Hopefully, choosing the right place will come easily.

The Dress!

Over the weekend, my mom and I decided we should go dress shopping today and I have been excited ever since! I just wanted to get the school day overwith so we could drive up to the Bridal district in Reading and start looking. We went to a shop called Cincinnati Bride. As soon as I walked in I saw a gorgeous dress on a mannequin and made a comment to my mom about how pretty it was. We were meeting with Sally (a family friend recommended her) and she began asking the questions to which I knew I wasn't going to have answers. I had no idea what kind of dress I wanted. I had seen plenty that I thought ver very pretty, but didn't know how they'd look on me. I let her know about the dress I saw when I walked in and she took it off the mannequin. She told me if I had that reaction, I had to try it on. I picked about 7 or 8 other dresses and we and headed back to the dressing room. The first dress I tried on was the one I saw when I walked in the store. As soon as it was on me, I knew it was going to be hard to find a better dress for me. I just pictured myself on my wedding day in that dress. I tried on all the other dresses I had picked out, but none of them gave me the same reaction as the first dress did. I didn't think it was possible to find a dress this easily. As soon as I made the final decision, I had my headpiece and veil on as well and we were able to take pictures. I know Sally thought I made the right decision and I hope my mom felt the same way too. It was such a fun experience to share with my mom and a day I'll remember forever! Sally was a huge help and wonderful to work with! I can't wait to go back and pick out the bridesmaid dresses! As you can I imagine, I will not be posting any pictures from this experience for many reasons. I hope to surprise many of you on my wedding day!

Also, we received out letters from St. Rose letting us know we are officially parishoners! I'll be calling tomorrow and hoping our date is available!

The date, the church and Second Reception hall

Well, after some discussing over the past few days, I think Billy and I decided that we want July 2, 2011 to be our date. It's funny, most people have more problems finding the reception hall than the church, we are having the opposite problem. The parish where I grew up and went to school for 9 years, can't have weddings on July 2nd. We've talked about other churches like St. Xavier downtown, the Cathederal downtown and the church on the top of Mt. Adams that I'm having trouble remebering the name of right now. All of these churches are just too expensive for my liking, yes they are very beautiful, just out of our price range. We really like St. Rose Church on Riverside Dr., but you have to be a parishoner to get married there. So, this morning we decided to go to church there and sign up. We have no idea if the date is even available, but we like the church reagrdless and plan to go there every Sunday whether we can get married there or not. I had gone to the church as a kid with my family and hadn't been back for quite some time until my friend Lindsey (we actually went to grade school together too), from Corryville, got married there this past summer. Billy really liked it and commented on it while we were there for the wedding. So, hopefully we can follow in Lindsey and Ryan's footsteps and have our summer wedding there next summer! We enjoyed church here this morning and look forward to many more Sunday mornings at St. Rose! We filled out the paper and are hoping to receive a letter later in the week letting us know we are parishoners!

After church, we stopped at Bruegger's Bagels for a quick breakfast and then met my mom at the 2nd reception hall we planned to look at, A Touch of Elegance. My cousin Melissa had her reception here almost 6 years ago and I really enjoyed it when I was there for her reception. I'm just worried the number of people we plan to invite would be a little too crowded. The man who showed us around was very nice and the hall has many nice qualities about it. It is kind of broken up into different rooms in a way and I'm not sure how I feel about that. We plan to look at one more place this coming week so we'll have to weigh all of our options when we have them. I really hope to have a hall and church booked by the end of this week. We will see!

First Reception Hall and Maid of Honor

Billy, my mom, my dad and I went and looked at Receptions Eastgate today. It's funny because Billy and I went to a wedding reception here one week to the day before we got engaged and I thought that it would be a nice place for a reception. I didn't realize I'd be back so soon looking for our own wedding! I was impressed when we were at the reception we went to and it was nice to sit and talk with someone about all of the details for our reception. This Receptions has two rooms, the Anderson room and the Union room. We were in the Anderson room at the wedding recently and Billy and I (and I think ever my parents) liked the Union room a little better when we were there. We like the way it is set up. We still have a few places we want to look, but Receptions is definitely high on our list!


After looking at Receptions, we went and met Kate down at the Xavier soccer field where our friend Hadj (also Kate's boyfriend) was playing in an exhibiton game for the Xavier men's soccer team. A little background on Kate: I've known her since she was born. We've been best friends ever since. She is my partner in crime. We've been going to the Jimmy Buffett concert in Cincinnati for 22 years in a row now (if you do the Math, that means I started going when I was 5 and she was 2, yes we are parrotheads!). She has been there for me through everything and I am so lucky to have a friend like her in my life. The reason I'm telling you this is because I gave Kate a card tonight asking her to be my Maid of Honor! I also found out tonight that she has never been in a wedding, so I'm happy her first wedding she gets to have a very important job! I'm so excited to have another very important person in my life stand up with me on such a special day! Love you!

Matron of Honor!

One of my best friends is Karianne Brown. We met at Xavier, where we were in Early Childhood Education together and had pretty much every class together. We were good friends, but we became even better friends when we started working at the Goddard School together and had break together everyday. She became engaged to Sean Brown while we were working together and their wedding was the following year. I met Billy for the first time at their Bachelor/Bachelorette party at the Reds game a month or so before they got married (I'm not sure of the date, I know Karianne could tell you). We didn't start dating until almost 2 years after that first meeting, but if Sean and Karianne didn't get married, I don't know if Billy and I would've met!


Well, I went to Karianne's house today (like I've been doing every Tuesday for a few years now) for our Tuesday night date. When I got there a present was waiting for me. My first engagement card and a binder Karianne put together to keep all of my wedding info organized! It was a very exciting gift for me. I had been planning to ask her to be my matron of honor for quite some time now and asked her as soon as I opened my binder. I'm so lucky to have a friend like her standing up there with me on such a special day! Love you Karianne!

Let the Planning Begin!

For those of you that may not know, I am a 3rd grade teacher at Corryville Catholic. Billy proposed the weekend before school started and I was very excited to share the news with my coworkers this morning. School doesn't start until tomorrow, but we always have a meeting the day before to discuss our summers and get back into a school mindset. We always have to share something special that happened over the summer and you are encouraged to bring someting to show from this special event. My goal was to wait until this point to share my big news with everyone, it would be a nice surprise for some who have known about Billy and me from the beginning. I wasn't very successful though, people saw my ring and news travels fast in our small community. I was able to surprise a few people still. I enjoyed sharing the story of the engagement and seeing everyone's reactions. There are now 3 of us at Corryville that are engaged. Kelly, the Kindergarten teacher, Amy, the First grade teacher and myself. I'm so excited to share this time with them and our friend Lindsey, the Preschool teacher, she got married this summer and is very helpful with all of the planning!

While I was at school, my mom was helping out so much by calling churches and reception halls to see what was available. Thanks mom! Billy and I have 2 dates we're choosing between, July 2nd and July 9th. I prefer the 2nd because it's a holiday weekend and makes traveling a little less stressful for people out of town, at least I think so. My parish, Guardian Angels, we found out has an event going on July 2nd and will not be having weddings that day. So, Billy and I are going to have to discuss which date we really want because if we want the 2nd, we'll have to find a different church. We started setting up appointments at different reception halls. We are going to look at Receptions Eastgate on Thursday evening and A Touch of Elegance on Sunday morning. This is so exciting and overwhelming all at the same time. I know I'll feel much better after we have a church and a hall booked.

Good News!

We spent all day today calling, texting and emailing our friends and family, letting them know our good news. I thought it was funny that when I called some people, they thought something was wrong and weren't expecting the news. Then, other people knew even before we said anything. It was fun hearing and reading everyone's reactions.

Tonight, we went to the Chart House with my parents and Billy's parents. It was supposed to be a celebration of Mrs. Mertz's retirement, but it turned into an engagement celebration. Our waiter even gave us a menu from the night with a Congratulations message written at the top for us. It's something we'll definitely keep for a scrapbook. This was the first time Billy's parents got to see the ring, they were very impressed to see what Billy designed for me! It was a wonderful evening and a big thank you to my parents and the Mertz's for all the support!

The news was announced on facebook tonight as well and we are very thankful for everyone's kind words and well wishes! It means so much to us!

We're Engaged!!!

Today has quickly become the best day of my life!

I thought it was just another date night for Billy and me. We had been talking about going to the top of Carew Tower in downtown Cincinnati all summer and we finally picked today as the day to go. The weather wasn't cooperating at first, but luckily it cleared up about an hour before we planned to leave. We decided to go to dinner downtown afterwards at the Brazilian restaurant, Boi Na Braza. We decide to dress up for date night occasionally so when Billy suggested it, I wasn't phased by it at all.

Billy had a plan all along. When we got to the top of the tower, we just walked around for a bit looking at the different sites. I had never been up there before, so it was neat to see all the different views of Cincinnati. Eventually, we were overlooking Kentucky and Billy was pretending to take pictures, but he was really setting up the video setting to capture everything. In his own unqiue, sweet way, Billy got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was completely surprised, but said yes while crying. It was a very happy moment! We continued to take pictures and just enjoy our time together for some time at the top of the tower. The next picture is a re-enactment of the moment in the same spot.

We headed to Fountain Square to take a few more pictures and I called my parents before we went to have dinner. Boi Na Braza was phenomenal and a great way to celebrate! After dinner, we called Billy's parents and sisters to share the good news, we also called Karianne and Sean!

Finally, we ended the night with a small celebration at Tostados! Zach, Tony, Maggie, my friend from Corryville, Amy and Shawn (these two got engaged two days before us, it was an exciting couple of days for us!) joined us for an evening of karaoke, drinks and a little dancing! Thank you all for joining us!

A shot of the beautiful ring Billy designed for me!

What a day! I'm so excited for what's to come! I can't wait to marry my best friend!