Some quick things

I know that it has been a long time since I have posted. I am really trying to get use to this whole blogging thing. A few things have happened since the last time we have talked. I am starting my last semester of undergrad today. Shelley has started hers but today is her first day of student teaching. Praise God for the previous years of school.

I learned that I was going to have a niece (her name will be emrie grace). We got the tuxes solidified. We have a basic schedule of our wedding and are looking at the vows. We have even had 4 pre-marital counseling sessions.

It has been going real well and has been a blast. I never knew wedding planning could be so much fun from a guy's standpoint. Of course my favorites parts of planning was registering as Shelley allowed me to carry the scanning gun and shoot the bar codes (And this included 4 stores: Bed Bath & Beyond, Belk, Target, & Kohl's). We are excited.

Thanks for being there with us as we continue blogging. I hope to give another update this week (a little more detail). Hopefully Shelley and I can write a joint one this weekend. Have a great week.

Groom Involvement

According to The Knot, Seth and I have 200 days till our wedding.  We started with over 400.. crazy. 

Anyway, that's not what I'm here to say.  This blog wasn't meant to be entirely about the wedding, so I'm here to change the current trend.  I'm going to talk to you about Seth.  It's fairly easy for me to do, but these specific details might explain a little about us.

If you haven't noticed, Seth is quite the involved groom.  He's been that way long before we actually got engaged.  Granted, it's unusual, but I love it.  What I find interesting is how opposed some people are to groom involvement in wedding planning.  Some people, mostly females, laugh it off and joke about how his opinion doesn't really matter.  Honestly, I had people roll their eyes at me when I mentioned that I wouldn't make a final decision on tablecloths until I'd talked about it with Seth.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out why I wouldn't.

I'm marrying him, right?  Meaning: we are committing to spending the rest of our lives together with each other, through the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, and the unexpected.  Meaning: every decision I make affects now not only my life but his life as well.  Meaning: communication, compromise, and understanding each others' wants, desires, needs, preferences, goals, fears, dislikes, and peeves are significant - nay, crucial - to a happy, healthy, supportive, effective life-long relationship. 

Does it honestly make sense to begin a marriage by isolating one-half of a couple, responding to him with a disinterested chuckle and ignoring his opinions?  Does it make sense to make decisions without the one with whom all future decisions will be made?


The one thing I understand less and less as the days count down is how there can be so much preparation for the wedding and so little preparation for the marriage. 

I thank God as often as I can that Seth is the man He put in my life.  I thank God that Seth spent hours online with me (and without me) looking through wedding invitations.  I thank God that Seth wanted to go to the florist with me and had an opinion while he was there.  I thank God that he asks questions so that our individual ideas of the wedding are as close as possible.  Why? Because I know that every time we discuss the wedding, we learn another life lesson.  We learn about each other; we learn how to communicate what we are trying to say in a way that the other understands.  We learn how to work together to prioritize items within a budget.  We learn what makes the other shine. 

I'm sure that I haven't articulated my thoughts as completely as I wanted when I began, but I hope that when you finish reading this blog entry, you understand one of the many complexities that is Seth and Shelley.  I'm not intending to say that Seth and I live a flawless existence together, but I do feel strongly about this situation.  He is my future partner and the future head of my family.  He's important to me, and I treasure his opinion, advice, and interest. 

Now, I'm off my soapbox for today (which is lucky because the day's almost over). 

Kind of Off Subject

Seth has started applying for jobs and sending his resume out to various states' Southern Baptist Conventions.  He's applied for one here in Cola, and while we both understand that it's a stretch, every once in a while, we look at apartments in the area.  We've found a few that we like, and there's one aspect that I will now not go without:

Did you know that some apartment complexes serve weekday continental breakfast???

This is true, folks.   They do.  Continental breakfast. 
Unfortunately, I haven't seen maid service advertised as an included perk.  I'm holding out for that apartment complex.  I know that when I find it, that's God's way of telling me it's where we're supposed to be.

Ok, I'm kidding.  I mean, it would be awesome, but I'm totally prepared to share in the chores.

The problem with looking at apartments now is that I just want to know where to look!  I want Seth to get a stellar job somewhere with really adorable, inexpensive apartments or homes so that I can productively waste time looking at them.  And I want to be able to buy furniture... and cute decorations... and everything else I find on clearance that I can't buy because I have no home for it yet! 

All in good time; I know.  So, if you hear of any youth ministry jobs open, let us know :)  And hey, if it's your church, it'll just mean we'll get to see you more... and if you love us enough to actually read this, we would love seeing you more. 

Engagement photos

So, Katie McGee - of Katie McGee Photography - is quite a talented lady.  Seth and I had our engagement photos done last night on the Horseshoe at USC and at the South Carolina State Fair!  If you haven't seen them on our Facebooks yet, here's one of my favorite (ok, I love them all...)

Yup.  We're cute. Katie makes us look so good. 

I can't wait to see the rest of them.  I'm hoping the ones at the fair are this awesome. 

Ok... I'm going now.... :)

Welcome home! Now - PLAN!

When I come home, my mom and I go on these wedding planning rampages (for lack of better word).  They are intense and awesome.  I just feel inspired about things now!  We were at Ace Hardware last night (my dad is renovating his bathroom, bless him) and I found these really unique pew decorations.  They are much less expensive than if we'd chosen flowers, and they are very much me and Seth (ok, mainly me, but he'll love them). 

Then, today (while watching Auburn and Carolina football!), Mom and I rocked out the centerpieces for the reception.  We've actually been planning on buying them for a few months, but today we found them for less than half of the original price.  You can bet we bought them!  They, also, are not flowers and are quite unique.  

What else have we done?  Oh yes, I might have found my shoes and other accessories.  We have an idea for decorations at the front of the church.  Our engagement pictures are scheduled for Wednesday, and I can't wait.  Seth has been diligent about working on his part of the guest list, for which I am grateful and also ashamed, because I haven't been proactive on mine!  We're waiting for our invitations to go on sale and for us to have a roundabout number for the guest list before we order, but they are designed and ready to go!  I think they match the wedding theme perfectly (which, by the way, is a garden theme - in an indoor church way).

I think that's all we've done this week.  I mean, I got a car Thursday so that took up a good chunk of time :)

I know we need to figure out a new poll, so let me know if you have any ideas! 

Well....It's been a while

I am sorry that I have not posted in a while. I have been extremely overwhelmed with work and school and have spent my remaining time with Shelley or with Jon playing ping pong. I am excited on how the planning is going. We are probably doing our engagement pictures next week (and I am really excited about them..the location is going to be awesome) we will post some as soon as we can.

About the cakes, both will be really good some come ready to get some good food and cake.

I just want to see if anyone can guess the location of the pictures....so reply and try to guess where we will be taking them (if you know don't guess) and if you get it right i might buy you a candy bar

Ignorance is Bliss

I have to admit, I have thoroughly enjoyed forgetting that Seth and I are responsible for planning our wedding.  That is, until I remember actually how much we have to do that still has to fit within the budget.

So... we'll probably make final decisions on invitations over fall break.  We should also be getting our price list from the florist soon, so that will be nice to finally know if we've budgeted correctly for the flowers.  Seth and I will work on our music preferences as soon as we're together for a few hours (and not doing homework or watching Netflix - see the priorities!).  Food choices should be easy, but hopefully we'll get them done by Thanksgiving.

I think the biggest project for us to work on right now is our guest list.  We worked on it a little the other weekend when we were driving back to Cola, and it was getting big :)  Now, don't get me wrong - I think bigger is better for my wedding (and the only costs it affects are invitations, postage, and food), but we have got to not invite everyone that has ever been a part of our lives.  Anyway, we've got to get people's names and addresses ASAP, and we've got to set up a nice Excel spreadsheet that will make my mother happy :)

On a really awesome note,
Seth has found some really exciting information...
Cupcake in Cola offers wedding cupcake tasting sessions.

YES, please.

I have no idea what the next poll should be.  Do you?  If you do, please suggest it!

First Dance Songs

Here are some YouTube videos of the songs in the poll - don't vote unless you've heard them all!






(except for the baby part... we could fade out before then...lol)



If you have any good ideas, let me know - I'm open to suggestions! 

1 Day Left!

One day, folks, till I'm back on wedding planning duty. 

These past two weeks have been wonderfully peaceful.  By the way, it's ok to ask how things are going :)  I won't refuse to answer questions just because I'm not supposed to be planning!  Talking isn't planning.  I LIKE talking about how successful our wedding plans are so far.  I mean, I'm excited about getting married, and the wedding is kind of a big deal. 

ALSO, because so many of you have mentioned your utter sadness at the lack of polls, there will be a new one TOMORROW!  Get excited. 

I'm looking forward to getting back to planning :) and blogging.

Shelley

Friday the 13th

Most people avoid big things on Friday the 13th. 

I - well, I book a florist :)

I am SUPER stoked about it.  Hopefully I will still be as excited when the pricing comes in, but I think it's all gorgeous.  Seth wasn't with me today, but he was with me at the other florist when we discussed basically all the same flowers.  I think I have a much clearer idea of how to accomplish the garden theme that I want.  Hallelujah!

Also, I'm pretty sure we finalized photography yesterday. Whoa! 

Big items left:
invitations
food
music

= piece of cake!

Speaking of cake... I cannot wait to see mine at the wedding. 

Now, adios for me for two weeks.  God bless and much love.