Not enough hours in a day

We're making progress on getting the house in the order, but it is really a slow process. At the end of the work day, after the gym, before I make dinner, finish up laundry or tidy up there is about an hour (maybe half an hour) to get something on my house to do list finished up. It feels sooooo slow moving! 

This past weekend, we spent all of Saturday around the house just getting stuff done and it felt fantastic. We put the furniture back in the guest room, unpacked the remaining kitchen, clothes and bathroom boxes, shopped for furniture (unsuccessfully), and completed our 'garden'. If we just had more weekends without plans we'd be all set! 

I've never had much of a green thumb, and had NO idea what I was doing picking out plants. But it seems to have turned out pretty well! I like the colors together and they all can handle a lot of sun which is necessary being where they are.

Sunday was spent with my dad, brother, sister-in-law and niece celebrating father's day. My mom was on a business trip and Kyle was with his dad, so it was just the five of us. We spent the day around the house just chatting and grilling. It was really nice! I was able to spend time with just my dad, and we don't often get that chance. 

A quick example of how there is truly not enough hours in the day to get the things I want done: It has been two weeks since I've had my nails properly painted! If you know me at all, you know that's a looong time. I can't believe I'm sharing this, but this is what they look like right now:

Not pretty. I should at least take off the chipped polish, but I keep forgetting. I definitely need to get these fixed ASAP. I just don't feel put together without it!

This weekend, Kyle and I are headed to the shore for a long weekend getaway. This was my birthday gift from Kyle and he organized the whole thing. I'm looking forward to a day off work, getting some sun, finishing a few books and spending some quality, non-busy time with Kyle. Ahhhh vacation.

Speaking of which: 16 DAYS UNTIL FAMILY VACAY!!!  We look forward to this week all year and it's almost here! We're all busily preparing for our theme nights. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

xo
Alison

Our Wedding: It's all in the details

I loved all the little details from our wedding, from our centerpieces, to our cocktails to my dress. I had so much fun planning and designing each thing, and it came together better than I ever could have imagined. 

Greenville Country Club

Originally we had thought our wedding colors would be navy blue and yellow, but as we were picking things out, I fell in love with the contrast orange provided to the deep blue. It also really suited our fall wedding. I knew I wanted my bridesmaids to be in a deep navy blue because it looked fantastic on each of them and they would be comfortable in it. They looked stunning. I originally thought we'd have different styles so each girl could pick a style they liked (strapless, sleeves, etc.), but all of the girls ended up liking the same dress! They were long chiffon dresses with a braided halter top. The dresses came with a long scarf that hung down the back and a rhinestone applique at the waist, but we removed both for a simpler look. I gave each of the girls jewelry from Etsy to go with their dresses. 

When we met with our florist, I had a broad idea of what I wanted, but really let her take my vision and run with it. I was so pleased with what she came up with.Our tables were covered in blue table clothes with blue napkins. Our florist created some beautiful pieces with orange lilies, dahlias, calla lilies, peach and orange roses, and green hydrangea. They were so perfect and something I certainly couldn't have come up with on my own.

Flowers by Wild Thyme

Wedding bands

I tried on several dresses before I landed on this one, but all my girls agreed it was 'the one'. I just loved the gown and I thought it fit the venue really well. The color was perfect, it was called champagne, I mean seriously. I really wanted a dress with sleeves. I'm not a strapless fan, and wasn't going to be just for my wedding. However, this dress was strapless. I worked with a dress maker in my hometown to design the look of the sleeves and keyhole back on this dress and it ended up exactly as I had envisioned. I love that this is a one of a kind dress. If you're looking for a beautiful gown that won't break the bank, try Allure. Amazing dresses.

Allure Bridal

Our ring warming ceremony was a great way to get everyone in attendance involved in the ceremony. I love that our rings carry their blessings and well wishes. You can learn more about this tradition here.

Ring Warming bag from Etsy.

Of course we incorporated Harry Potter into our wedding just a little bit! For our vows, we said 'Always' instead of 'I Do'.

Our wedding stationary was from Minted, but my mom and I created a few additional pieces on our own like our programs, guest bags, and signs. Our escort cards were set up in a frame that guests could then use for their photo booth strips and they served as our favor. Kyle's best man is a bartender (mixologist?) in New York and he developed three signature cocktails for the wedding:

• The Dapper Groom: a twist on the classic old fashioned
• The Vintage Bride: a champagne cocktail infused with grapefruit bitters
• The Spicy Thompsons: a spicy margarita

The cocktails were a HUGE hit!

Wedding Stationary from Minted

Before the wedding, I gave my parents gifts as a thank you for all their help with the wedding. For my mom I had a handkerchief made with a line from a favorite book she read me as a girl: Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. I also made one for my mother-in-law, thanking her for raising the man of my dreams. 

Custom handkerchief from Etsy

For Kyle, we went with a beautiful navy blue suit from Jos A Bank with an orange tie. The boutonnieres were peach roses with smaller orange flowers. For the groomsmen, we didn't want to have to match the navy blue to the girls dresses, so we went with a light taupe suit and paisley navy blue ties. The colors worked perfectly together.

Loved the guys socks! 

Anyone who gets married has to agree that one of the best parts of wedding planning is cake tasting! I wanted something simple, different size tiers, with live flowers. I loved the design, and the fresh dahlias just popped against the blue geometric design. We had two flavors alternate by tier, Kentucky gingerbread with cream cheese butter cream and white chocolate raspberry with traditional butter cream. It was delicious and I'm already looking forward to our anniversary tier!

There were a few things that I wasn't able to get a picture of, but oh well! For cards we had a vintage birdcage with a card banner and 'Mrs. and Mr' signs on our chair both of which I designed. I still have the birdcage so we'll see what other uses I can come up with!

xo
Alison

Our Wedding: Favorite Moments

I am FINALLY ready to post wedding pictures! Only 8 months later, not too bad... I actually had to get the pictures from my mom who had backups as my thumb drive was no longer working. Thank god for backing things up! 

September 28th, 2013 was absolutely perfect. Everything we wanted it to be and more. We had a very small wedding, less than 100 people, which was perfect for us. We had a chance to talk to and dance with everyone at the wedding. I really wanted it to feel like a great dinner party that just got a little crazy, and that's where we ended up. The entire wedding was held outside at a country club that was an old mansion. 

The ceremony was held in the garden with the house in the background. Our service was short and sweet, with two readings from my sister-in-law-to-be and best friend from college. We had a ring warming ceremony where we passed our rings around to everyone in attendance for their blessing, prayer and well wishes. We loved that we could incorporate everyone in our ceremony. 

The reception was held under a tent behind the mansion with dinner, dessert dancing and a fantastic photo booth. 

I wanted to capture some of my favorite moments. There were so many, so I'll try to keep it brief... but no promises. I want to remember everything!

The moment it became 'real'

Getting dressed

Baby powder is a must!

I decided to just have my mom help me put on my dress, get jewelry on, etc. It was nice to have that special moment just the two of us. We had heard it's a good idea to put baby powder on your legs (seriously though it helps) but my mom put on a hilarious amount. 

I wore the pearls my dad gave to my mom when I was born.

My dad and my bridesmaids seeing the full get up for the first time

Although I wasn't there for this, this picture is amazing.

Modeling with my brother, of course

Zoe telling me she didn't want me to talk anymore. 

Leading up to the wedding, Zoe kept on saying that she didn't want to be in the wedding. She didn't want to put on a dress and certainly didn't want to walk down the aisle. We didn't push her. We did however buy a dress and were hoping she'd wear it and walk down the aisle with her dad and step mom, but it would have been just as nice to just have her there. My mom came prepared with tons of toys at her seat in the front row to keep her entertained during the ceremony. However, as things grew closer, Zoe got caught up in the wedding and ended up being the sweetest little flower girl. She liked her dress, which we made sure was as comfortable as it was adorable, and she had shoes with elastic on them so she wouldn't hurt her feet. Her hair fell out of her updo almost immediately. She was such a wonderful addition to the wedding, running around playing, cracking jokes and just generally being the awesome little person she is. The thing she was most excited for was cake and she got a ton!

A favorite. A moment with my MOH.

My lovely bridesmaids corrupting my niece

Opening a gift from Kyle (beautiful earrings and necklace)

From the bridal suite we could see all of the guests arriving. I think a few of them saw me too.

Right as we started walking down the aisle, we noticed a bee right where I was about to step. The night before at rehearsal the best man was stung, so we should have been prepared. If we hadn't have seen it, I'm sure I would have stepped over it and he would have flown right up my dress. Luckily, my dad stepped on him, but it looked pretty funny for those that didn't know what we were up to!

Kyle seeing me come down the aisle. There is a serious of pictures of him seeing me, but this is my favorite. 

Seeing Kyle crying got me started. I'm an emotional one folks. 

As my dad was hugging me, he ripped out my veil! It ended up being pretty funny and took us a few minutes to get back in. 

Quick moment with mom. 

I just love this picture.

First kiss as husband and wife!

Saying our vows. 

Taking a moment to enjoy our signature cocktails.

First dance (actually more awkward than either of us thought it would be haha)

My dad had been preparing his speed for MONTHS and when he went to grab the print out, he grabbed the rental contract for the linens instead! He winged it and rocked it, of course and he was able to read me the real version the next day. It was perfect.

Listening to speeches. Felt so special and loved.

Dance with my dad. We took dance lessons months leading up to the wedding so that we could do a nice fox trot to In My Life by The Beatles. Two steps in we messed up and couldn't recover so we just ended up laughing our way through it. It was much more memorable than just a perfect dance!

Cutting the cake. Kyle was cracking me up obviously. He wanted to pretend the cake knife was a samurai sword and chop through the top.

At one point our photographer pulled us away into a private room and just told us to dance. Having no idea what he had planned, we just went with it. He had set up lights outside the windows and created what he called 'the perfect shot'. I couldn't agree more.

When my parents were getting married, my mom had a song in mind for their first dance, but couldn't think of the name or singer for the life of her. She tried to hum it at record stores, but no one could place it. They never did remember what song it was, so they ended up with something different. She of course remembered it years later, Follow You Follow Me by Genesis. During our reception, we had the DJ play it, and the had a first dance re-do 30+ years later.

One of my favorite parts of our wedding was the dancing. Everyone got out and got down on the dance floor. I ended up ruining my hair and makeup from dancing, but I did not care. It was a BLAST!

Kyle getting down.

Just having the most amazing time with the most amazing people.

Another shot our photographer pulled me away to do. Love the way it turned out.

Last shot of the night. 

Going through these pictures just reminds me of the fantastic wedding we had. It was so much fun and now I'm married to a fantastic man! I'll try to do a post of some of the details soon.

xo
Alison