At the very beginning of wedding planning I stated that photography is going to be one of the most important aspects/a main budgetary item/something that I am willing to give up other non-essential spending for. Thanks to a good friend Heather, we have found our photography team. Not 1, but 2 incredible photographers. Not 1 photographer and a 2nd shooter (not that there’s anything wrong with that), 2 photographers. Kimberly Stanton and Eve Greendale. Both incredibly talented. Both who get the importance of images, the value in capturing a moment. Just look at their portfolios–it’s obvious. We were blessed to have an engagement session this weekend with Kim this weekend. We brought the kids along to get some “new family” pictures. WE. HAD. A. BLAST. These pictures are totally us. Kim put the images below up on Facebook yesterday–I have been checking email and Facebook every 5 seconds (or so it seems) waiting for some hint at a sneak peek (I want to use some for save the dates and am itching to get them out, too–but mostly I just wanted to see them). Yesterday I had to run to the post office during work to buy international stamps. While waiting in line I pulled up Kimberly’s page and nearly shreaked right there at the post office. I got a huge smile on my face and almost let the guy behind me go in front of me (but then remembered I had to get back to work).  Then I looked at them. And I should have let the guy go in front of me. I almost cried. Yes, I almost cried. Right there. In the Riviera Beach post office. Over pictures. Because this is how important capturing who we are and this moment of our lives is to me.  Thank you, Kim (in case she reads this). I wish I could express how much all of this means to us. We are so thankful for you and Eve. I had a few props/ideas/pics I wanted for the engagement session–but just wait for the wedding. I’m already starting a list of everything that I want photographed. Thank you for making sure we got everything I suggested. That really meant a lot. You are the bomb.com. Yes I just said that. Go become a fan of their Facebook pages and show them some love. They deserve it. They also just started a blog: the Big Day blog. Sappiness over. On to a few images from Kimberly’s Facebook page.

…..about having no words. Yea, uh…

Full Credit: Kimberly Stanton Photography
The artwork in the first image came from here.

183 days!

It all has happened so fast, although to us it seems like it’s been engaged for years.

We’ve been engaged a three weeks and two days, and somehow (with much help) this is where we are at:

Date: Set. December 30, 2010. 6:30pm.

Bridal Party: They’re In

Ceremony: Church

Reception: Decided.

Numbers: Decided. A lot. A lot.

Food: Caterer contacted and met with–choices will be made in the next couple weeks (thanks, mom).

Registries: They’re done–although we keep tweaking. We [ok, it’s mostly just me] are indecisive—namely about silverware and the like—those big decisions, right?

Photographers: Booked and have scheduled engagement pictures

Hotel Rooms: 3 blocks of rooms reserved (thank you, mom!)

Bridal Luncheon: Location reserved (thank you, mom!)

Bridesmaids: Dresses chosen (er…if “they are choosing their own” means they are chosen?)

Groomal Party: Suits chosen (er…if “they are choosing their own” means they are chosen?)

Flowers: We know the color and one arrangement that will be made—the rest is still up in the air.

My dress: Made one dress shopping trip–two dress possibilities as of now. Maybe my mom’s. Maybe one Danielle found.

Something use/borrowed: Granny’s wedding dress (potential rehearsal dinner attire), Granny’s garter, Granny & Grandmama’s handkerchiefs they carried, and more.

Wedding Website: Almost ready to be broadcasted to the world. Guests will be able to RSVP online. How cool is THAT!?

Honeymoon: Booked. [Thank you, honey.] John can find the deals!

Rehearsal Dinner: We’re still deciding on location and numbers, but we have a good idea of what we want to do.

Hair & Makeup: I’m clueless—one of my sorority sisters is going to do it.

Reception Decorations: Uhhhhhhh—we have some ideas??

Ceremony Music: Soloist booked, pianist booked—we pretty much have the entire ceremony planned out music wise. John is the music man—he is making most of these decisions. He wrote my processional. He wrote it a long time ago as a wedding processional—little did he know he was writing it for OUR wedding. Yea, I’m kinda proud of that. And I love it.

Save The Dates & Invitations: We’ll be designing them. Save the dates will be sent out early July–our engagement photo session is next weekend!

We’ve even attended a “bridal show” at Macys. And I’ve purchased shoes I’ll be wearing to wedding festivities.

How has it all happened? We are so organized, thanks to the super-duper wedding planning BINDER my mom picked out at Barnes & Noble. It was the first wedding related purchase (don’t worry–the receipt is in the book!) –and we got a discount because I am a B&N member. Score! We love discounts! Happens to be the same exact binder my cousin has been using.  It’s been a lifesaver. I’ve, of course, added tabs and paper inserts.

This magazine. I love. Thanks Elizabeth! Our wedding will be a simple wedding. Just lots of people.

And these incredible little treasures Danielle, my awesome MOH and DYI wedding-on-a-budget extraordinaire, sent me. The images you see are not the actual images that are tabbed–they’re farther in on the page.

Cleary a lot has happened over the past three weeks. We make sure to take time to enjoy the big decisions. The registry—we made a date out of it. The honeymoon—we booked it together and celebrated! Photographers—we met them together and made a date night out of it (and made a lot of decisions on that date night—including opening up a new registry because we LOVED the store—and John found all kinds of grill stuff has to have will use).

We’ve had a blast. We love this whole “being engaged” thing. My dad bought us tervis tumblers (the only cups on our registries)—properly labeled “Bride” and “Groom.”  I drink out of mine—we haven’t yet used them together, but I’m sure we will soon. Mom had the idea of using them at wedding showers. How fun!

I volunteered at Vacation Bible Camp (since when is it not VBS?) as the photographer this week. I LOVED IT. It is so much fun! The kids are awesome and loved to cheese it up in front of the camera.

More details to come later…HAPPY WEEKEND!! Hope you find much joy, love, and relaxation this weekend!

I’M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!! Enjoy this Father’s Day weekend celebrating and remembering the men that have meant so much to you.

Well, it was.

I’ll let the pictures do the justice. We had a BLAST and are enjoying life being engaged!!!

Cue dorky photo here.

I woke up on Wednesday morning at my usual time of 4:30am, excited for the day to come.  As I do every day, I ran 6 miles to the gym, worked out for an hour, ran home, and then prepared breakfast.  Breakfast always consists of fresh tropical fruit like bananas and coconuts that I get fresh by climbing the trees and harvesting these delights after my morning workout.

I only had about an hour before work so I read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times but I was only able to get through half of the local paper.  I arrived at work and spent the first part of the morning negotiating peace in the Middle East and then solved the BP oil crisis (Yes…both of these problems are solved.  However, there is a lack of persons sufficiently skilled to implement my plans.  The CIA, KGB and other organizations are actively looking for personnel.  And yes, there is still a KGB…don’t be fooled.).

I then went to meet with Anne and Durwood and performed various feats to demonstrate physical skill, mental acuity and overall brilliance of personality as argument for why they should allow me to marry their only daughter.  Finally, after several demonstrations of prestidigitation which left them awed and amazed, they said yes and I began the final preparations.

I finished my day at work with a call from the Dali Lama asking me for some advice.  I hated to cut him off but I was on a schedule.  I purchased some grapes and some fresh sand and I threw the sand in my home furnace to melt whilst squeezing the grapes into a pressure vat (something I invented.  Causes advanced fermentation and carbonation in a very brief amount of time) which I then engaged to create the champagne.  While waiting for the champagne to be ready, I pulled the sand (now melted to glass) out of the furnace and blew out a nice little bottle.  I had barely enough time to cool the bottle, fill it, cork it and chill it before Sara arrived.

When Sara got there, we went to the beach and I was able to sneak the champagne and glasses into a backpack but I was still trying to figure out how I would do it all.  I eventually decided that I would utilize my vast psychological training and JEDI mind powers to get Sara to want to see what was in the bag.  So I began utilizing subtle tricks to increase her curiosity about the bag and eventually caused her to insist that I show her what was in the bag (by the way, she does not know that I was in control the whole time and using mind tricks on her so please let’s keep this between us and not tell her).

Whilst still using my JEDI powers, I waved my hand in front of her face and said “This is the man you want.  Marry him.  You want to say yes.”  She repeated “This is the man I want…I will marry him…Yes.”

And I was stoked.

And the rest is history…well…our story.  J

Yea, that didn’t happen.

On my way back to work I left John a message (I was thinking he was in a meeting or something) to say I no longer had plans for the night and that we could do dinner and such. John responded later with a text “want to go for a walk on the beach?” Rewind to Monday, when I went running on the beach and suggested to John that we go for a walk on the beach soon. Back to Wednesday. I responded to his text with a YES!!! I thought he was being nice–taking me to the beach because I had begged asked nicely Monday. Which, he was, but he had a bigger plan in mind. We eventually decided we wanted to swim, too.

After work I made my way to John’s house, hopped into his car and we headed to the beach. John says he was nervous, but I couldn’t tell. I also wasn’t looking for it. We decided to find a spot at the beach that wasn’t so crowded (it was prime surfing time)–so it took a bit of searching to find a place with a few open spots. We didn’t park near a boardwalk, but we did park right at a neat path to the beach–through the plants and in the shade.

Let me also mention at this point that I am wearing a bathing suit, a camouflage hat, and a shirt from Striplings Sausage & General Store in Cordele, GA. Nice. Just what I always imaged I’d be wearing when I got engaged–haha.

We reached the sand, took some pictures, and decided we would go for a swim. I told John I wanted to put my camera in his backpack (should have been clue #1–the backpack doesn’t go anywhere but Disney), but he said “no, I’ll do it.” I (confused), handed over the camera and asked him to get a towel out of the backpack.  As he was pulling out the towel I heard a klunk klunk (glass). I immediately said “what is that?” John, of course, said “Oh, nothing.” “Yea right, what is that!?” “Nothing–I’ll show you later.” “Noooooooo please tell me!! There’s no point in waiting–I’ll just bug you until you tell me.” “It’s for later, it’s going to be funny, just wait.” “Whyyyyyyyyyyy–what is in your bag?!?” [I'm not thinking proposal at this point--just wondering what glass is klanking around--wondering how he is planning to use it to embarrass me or something] Anyway, he eventually gave into my annoying nosiness persuasion and obliged. He then came over to me, took me in his arms, and began to share some really heartfelt and meaningful words [yes, a big awwww should be inserted here]. He started crying (shhh), at which point I realized what was going on–and promptly started freaking out (a very good freaking out). He proposed, and, amidst tears and laughter (after realizing my nosiness probably ruined a big plan he had), I said “yes, of course.” We then spent a good while talking, laughing, crying, being goofy, and enjoying our first moments of being engaged. It wasn’t until about 5 minutes after he proposed that I really cried a good, happy cry.

The klunking in the backpack was champagne. Not only did we get engaged, but we broke the law by having open glass containers. Woo.

We had major camera issues (my mind was not on ISO setting), so the number of pictures we have of us is slim to none. Here’s our best self-timer shot:

This, here, is my fiance, John. Taken in the back window of his car.

He surprised me. Big time. I may have ruined his big plan, but everything (despite the fact I was nosy) turned out to be perfect. I’m not sure how John was thinking he was going to wait until after we swam, went for a walk, etc. Sneaky sneaky.

We have NO idea what went on around us–not sure if people were walking by or if dogs were running along. It was just us. Together. Sharing an incredibly special time on an incredibly gorgeous day. We are so blessed, so happy, and are excited to join families and begin the journey of the rest of our lives together. We told John’s kids in person tonight–they are as stoked as we are and celebrated with burgers & a bit of sparkling lemonade. Such fun ahead!

Last night my dad made us dinner–then we went out for ice cream with my parents and Price. Was fun In the meantime, we managed to forget that my car was at John’s house–and when we went to pick it up after ice cream, I realized the keys were in my purse back at my house. Woops. My mind was clearly elsewhere–and I think it’ll be that way for a while), but I’d say understandably so! Woo hoo!

Hi. My name is Sara and I’m ENGAGED. We are sooooooooooooo happy and excited.

So there’s our story. We like it–especially the humor we will enjoy for the rest of our lives thanks to my crazy self. I yi yi.

…John’s side of the story to come (hint: the ending is the same, in case you were wondering).

Much much joy and love,
Sara

P.S-we have not yet set a date, but we will be getting married here in good ‘ol Palm Beach Gardens.