The word "Bridal" is expensive.

I have been absent for awhile. No excuses this time, except maybe if you will accept Thanksgiving as a valid excuse for what really has been blog-laziness. Honestly, wedding stuff has not been all-consuming the past couple of months. I have concluded that wedding hoopla is crazy when you first get engaged, then slows down alot, then takes over your life about midway when you start booking everything, then dies down again, then creeps into your life and completely swallows you until the day itself. This is my highly educated theory. However, just because I'm in what is probably the first lull in engagement doesn't mean that I haven't been spotting some things that I like. So far I have learned one thing for sure. The word "Bridal" is a very expensive word. If you make two identical things, but put the word "bridal" in the title of one, you are allowed to sell that one for quadruple the price. "What cute socks... Oh, these are BRIDAL socks? Ok, then $85 makes sense. I'll take them." I was looking at peacock hair pieces on etsy, and found one I liked that was about $20. Perfectly acceptable. Then I typed in "Bridal" peacock hair pieces. I promise that I found a piece almost identical to the one I'd found earlier, except this time it was $60. Absurd. From now on, everything I make and sell will be titled "Bridal ___" so I can reach my goal of becoming a trillionaire before I turn 25.

One Bride 'Shooting' Another

Hello! Well, my last excuse for being so busy was that my Mom got married. This time, I'm using another wedding as my reason for blogging so rarely. I was a bridesmaid for my lovely friend Mo and her fabulous John aka JohnBear. They were married in Ft Worth last Friday. In exchange for the use of the photos in my portfolio, I took Mo's bridal portraits a few weeks ago. She was so easy to shoot, and it was that much more fun because we're such good friends. I have had to be very careful how much I share these photos so that John couldn't see the dress beforehand! Now that they are officially an old married couple, I want to show you a couple of the finals from that awesome shoot! It made me excited not only for her wedding, but for all of my own wedding festivities to start! Now that these two weddings have passed, I can start focusing on my own wedding again, so I'm giving scouts honor that the next blog post will be back to wedding prep chaos!

MIA

I have been overwhelmingly Missing In Action for a couple of weeks now, and I suppose an apology is in order for that. Life has been particularly sarcastic for the last while, and I promise not to let her get in the way of my blog so much anymore. The past few weeks have been filled to the brim with everything from volleyball to photography to food poisoning. And almost everything else you can imagine in between. But perhaps the most notable, (and admittedly the best excuse I can provide as to why I haven't blogged) is that my Momma got married! On October 1st, they had a fabulous small wedding at the Gaylord.  As I am no stranger to weddings (and the hoopla), my expectations for the Gaylord were high. Sky high. The organization of everything didn't quite reach the sky for me (ie. The giant shooting fountain went off 30 min before it was supposed to and made it  a little hard to hear the preacher), but the venue is undeniably gorgeous. Overall, it was great, and I know that my Mom is over the moon happy. So I am hoping that if I post some pictures here, it will act as my peace offering for being absent. See you soon!

The Monica to my Rachel.

So I thought now would be a good time to introduce you to my Maid of Honor. Her name is Noelle, I call her Elle, she's gorgeous and tall, and my MOH is better than yours. We've known each other since pre-school, and she is the cheese to my macaroni. I used several of these BLANK to my BLANK quotes in the card I gave her asking her to be my (Duh) MOH. I particularly like the one I used for the title of this blog because it's perfect. She's an organized Type A that will give me a solid shove when I need it, and I'm a messy procrastinator that will probably need that solid shove when it comes to this wedding business. And if you don't know that these two descriptions match that of Monica and Rachel, or don't know who Monica and Rachel are, we are no longer friends until you do some serious research. There were several of these in that card but a couple of my favorites are "The Cory to my Shawn" (again with the research), "Ethel to my Lucy", and of course, "Dori to my Nemo..." because no matter what happens to either of us, we are always reminding each other to "just keep swimming."

You're decorating with what??!?

So I owe you a blog post. One that will answer at least a question or two. One of the main reasons I started this blog was to have an outlet to share this process with everyone. So, here it goes. The biggest question I get is "what are your colors"? Well.... have a seat! I've thought long and hard about this. And looked at countless pictures and magazines. I think we're going with the jewel tones. Deep teal, amethyst purple, emerald green, etc. And just when you thought I was going to be normal, I swoop in and tell you that I'm also incorporating peacock feathers in the most unexpected places. Obviously, nothing is carved in stone and I still have plenty of time... but it would be hard to pry me away from the peacock feathers. I love them. LOVE. Not only are they absolutely stunning, but my research on them has surfaced some really cool symbolism. Peacocks are symbols for so many things, but I do have some favorites. They stand for beauty, nobility, and protection among other things. But one of the things that I found and didn't know before is that peacock feathers have deep Christian symbolism as well. Did you know that they stand for spirituality, incorruptibility, and renewal? You do now! So for your viewing pleasure, I give you this rockin' collage that I put together from some of my favorite pictures I've found on the good ol' net. My first inspiration board!

Bridal shows are intense.

A couple of weekends ago my mom and I went to the Dallas Bridal Show at Dallas Market Hall. Quite. an. experience. I now have an irrational fear of DJs. Every vendor seemed overly aggressive, but the DJs will haunt my nightmares. I know... it's their personality, they have to be that way.... blah blah. They were pushy and obnoxious. The DJ's were the ones that would stick their card in front of your face while you're walking and yell at you from across the aisle. It got to the point that we started just telling them all we already had a DJ just for avoidance purposes. Yes, I know there are DJ's that are less pushy and annoying, but sifting through to find a good one is not something I'm necessarily looking forward to now. On the upside - I got a boatload of freebies (and who doesn't love things that are free?). I plan on making it to more bridal shows in the future, and you're more than welcome to come with me. But don't forget your pepper spray (or some other form of weaponry).

"How did he do it??? Tell me EVERYTHING!!"

First of all, Welcome to my new blog! I thought this would be an awesome way to include everyone I don't get to see very often in the wedding process. I plan on posting blogs and videos here at least once a week for now, and probably more when it gets closer. I want this to be a communication source and a place to hear opinions and experienced wisdom, so feel free to comment!

Rick did such an awesome job planning our engagement, and keeping it a secret! The weekend he proposed was epic and adventure-filled so instead of repeating the story 3,876 times, I made a video of the story with a slideshow at the end. Talk to you soon!