save the date



we have so many updates to share and i feel like i have been neglecting our poor little blog. update #1: first thing's first: we found our perfect venue and set a date! 8.18.2012 is the day we're going to get married whoop! we went to the first (and only) venue a few weeks ago and absolutely fell in love. even clouds and drizzle couldn't hide the beauty of this special place...i can't imagine what it is going to look like in the summer. our venue is a perfect fit for our personalities and vision. now i can't wait to create the little touches that will really make it our own on our big day.

update #2: the big medak/smithey/prazeau family dinner was a success...and i was right...our two families completely hit it off. it was so much fun to have everyone together and it was pretty cool watching our families finally get to know each other. i'm looking forward to many more occasions just like this. seeing two wonderful families together makes us feel so blessed to have been raised in loving and supportive homes. now that i'm older and getting ready to start a whole new chapter in my life i find myself naturally adopting and adapting the traditions, morals and values that each family has raised us with. how lucky are brandon and i to have amazing examples to learn from as we start a life and eventually a family of our own!

update #3: mom and i went to my first bridal fair...and i was 100% completely overwhelmed! the fair started off with a fellow bride getting a little ticked because she thought we were trying to cut her in line. mom and i just looked at another and couldn't help but giggle! there were so many vendors and by the end of the event my brain felt a little foggy from all of the information i collected and important details i hadn't even thought of. i just needed a little time to let everything sink in...and soon i totally realized there were lot of great ideas i would like to use for our big day. the best part was talking to a few photographers and caterers that had experience working with our venue. one photographer gave us a wealth of information we will definitely use as we continue planning. i'm still not sure if the whole big huge bridal fair/expo thing is for me...but i'm glad i got to experience one and i'm so happy my mom was there to ask the important questions and keep me smiling! oh i almost forgot: i entered a ton of drawings and brandon and i won a night at the fabulous elliott hotel in astoria! woo hoo!

update #4: one of the great things about the internet is that we have access to so many fantastic ideas and examples to make our wedding day unique. i have been madly obsessed with the wedding blog world. some of the thing people come up with are so incredible and i'm naturally drawn to any and everything diy! at first i had a shmorgishborg of ideas/colors/decorations/themes swirling around my head. it's fun for me to begin to narrow down those ideas and really see a theme of my own start to develop.

update #5 (last one i promise): these are NOT our official save the dates. i really just wanted a fun picture to post and this project gave me the opportunity to develop my very limited adobe illustrator skills (this topic is long enough for a whole other blog in itself so i will spare you the design program details)!

time for bed...and i hope to update this a little more often. life has been a whirlwind and i'm sure it's going to get even crazier for everyone now that the holiday season has arrived. so tonight i'm signing out in the words of sue:

hugs

♡

inspiration board #2

things are happening this weekend: 1) i am finally get my ring sized saturday morning. it's starting to make me a little nervous because it's too big and i would literally die if anything happened to it (knocking on wood). i'm also anxious to look at the wedding band options. i told brandon i didn't want a wedding band but he and his mom both said "believe us once you see them, you'll want one"! i also get to see what brandon wants for his ring...although i think i have a pretty good idea of which one it is. i love yurman the "coil" is what i'm so in love with and i love that brandon has fallen in love with yurman as well. 2) we are celebrating our engagement with both of our families at my parent's house for dinner!! this will be the first time everyone will meet and i'm so excited. the great thing is our families are so similar and i know once they all get together it really will be a total blast! 3) we are looking at a venue this weekend whoooooop! family and a few of our close friends are aware of the venue but i'm tempted to keep it a secret to internet land because i think it would be kind of fun to surprise everyone when it's closer to the date. speaking of the date...the venue is pretty much booked through 2011 (unless we want a friday or sunday) so we're thinking it's going to be a 2012 wedding. i think brandon would like to "get it over with" but i don't mind a long engagement. it means more time to create the decorations!  if we love it, if it can handle our 250 guest list (which just so happens to be giving me daily heart attacks), and if the price is reasonable then we're booking it! how exciting! bill and sue are coming with us just because after 3 weddings they're pretty much pros when it comes to this stuff. honestly i wouldn't even know what questions to ask...and i think they have a more "realistic" idea of just how massive this wedding may be.

another inspiration board with ideas. how lucky am i that brandon shares the same "vision" for our big day. we always seem to be on the same page and i adore the ideas he's been coming up with! i don't want to be that bride (i think we all have experienced her at one time or another) whose motto ends up being "my way or the highway." my main goal is to enjoy the planning, to make it personal, and to make it fun! we want people to feel like this is a celebration true to our personalities, rather than a ritual, and most of all we just want people to enjoy themselves, enjoy life and enjoy love!

♡

inspiration board #1

many more to follow

we're engaged!

most of you, if not all of you, know by now that brandon and i are engaged!yippee!! it came as a complete surprise and it couldn't have been more perfect! so here's the story: for the past few weeks brandon had been mentioning how he wanted to get out of town and suggested we go to the beach on sunday the 31st. for those of you who do not know me, i'm incredibly stubborn! i flat out didn't want to go to the beach for the the following reasons: 1. it was supposed to rain...and rain at the beach is only fun if you're cozied up in a warm cabin sipping tea 2. it was a sunday!!!!! sundays are my lazy days where i mentally prepare myself for the upcoming work week...duh :) 3. i really didn't see what the rush was and why we couldn't plan a whole weekend at the beach after jeff and michele's wedding (this saturday nov. 6 - can't wait). tuesday october 26th is when brandon finally realized i wasn't going to give in to the whole "beach for the day" idea (which happened to include the proposal in front of haystack rock - my favorite place in the world) and since he didn't want to hold on to that ring anymore he decided to do it that night!

I won't go into details about the actual proposal. all i will say is it was perfect and very fitting to our personalities! we are both very excited....and sometimes i still find myself saying out loud "i can't believe that we are actually going to get married" (which is usually followed by a high pitched squeal). sometimes i ask how we got so lucky...but then i remember it was a very long road to get to where we are today: 8 years, two different states, a few relationships that we both learned so much from, and a handful of very good friends who always believed brandon and i would end up together :) thanks to our dear friends and family for the never ending love and support and a huge thanks to all that have wished us well!

i decided to create a blog to document this fun/exciting/sometimes stressful/ experience. it is also a way to semi organize the trillion ideas i have floating around in my head. stay tuned and in the words of leann, michele, chisa, nicole, and sabrina "things are happening!!!!!"

♡