the wedding date has been changed!

Growing up, I would always hear of how the couples who were getting married would change the date at least twice. I thought it was ridiculous and I didn't understand why. Well.. now that it's my turn, we have decided to change the date and now I understand why! We are changing the date to May. We are having the sealing on the 7th, and the reception on the 8th. That way having everything on the 8th isn't so exhausting and it can be more relaxed.

Also- I FOUND MY WEDDING DRESS YESTERDAY!! I'm so excited. I thought that this process would be much more discouraging. I saw this dress online the other day, and fell in love with it... so today Megan, Stephanie and I went and checked the place out in Idaho Falls. I got to try on the dress, and it's beautiful. I absolutely love it. You want to see it? Oh okay, fine I'll show you! Sheesh. ;)

It's absolutely beautiful and it fit really well.. just a couple adjustments will have to be made :D

So now the date is officially set and we have everything figured out, the wedding planning is taking off! My mom is coming to Idaho The weekend after presidents day to help me pick things out, and we'll find the EXACT color to match everything with.. and hopefully we'll get a lot done. I'm really excited to have her here! She's super organize and talented with things like this, so I know it's going to turn out amazing.
Also, My amazing friend Sam is doing our wedding invitations for free.. How awesome is that! She's really talented with photography and design- check her out.    http://samanthahannyphotography.blogspot.com/ .. She's great! We are really thankful that she's so nice to design them for us.
I'll be going out to Oregon in 2 weeks to spend the long weekend with my future husband!! I'm really excited to be able to see him so soon (even though it feels like the ridiculous Rexburg winter days go by SO slowly). His dad is so kind and will be taking our engagement pictures hopefully up near Mt. Hood. I've never been there but I have heard that it is absolutely beautiful there. I can't wait! We'll also be going apartment hunting- I'm really looking forward to have a place to call ours and to decorate the way we want it. Phill is so talented with his hands... he can really make everything and anything so we're already trying to figure out what fun stuff he can make for our little future apt. We've also been figuring out ways to have fun there. We're already planning different fun things to hopefully do with the other couples in our future family ward. :) I really hope we'll be in a great ward. I think it'll be really weird for me. I've always thought I would be in a married student ward here in Rexburg, but I'm assuming we'll be the youngest there... and I'll probably be close to the ages of some of the young women there. Wow, weird!!! Haha, that's a weird thought to be running through my head. Hmm.


Alrighty, that's about it! Any suggestions and tips would be super helpful as always! Love you all!

Wedding Planning

Okay. So...
I have no idea what I am doing here! I figured it would be super easy to plan a wedding, but it really isn't. We find that we have different tastes in things and there is always the issue of what we'll be able to afford. My parents have been such a blessing. They are completely helping us with the CA reception and wedding. How lucky we are for them! (Thanks mama & fadre).
Although we don't have 100& similar taste, Phill and I have made some decisions with some things.. like the color scheme. We want royal blue and white. Like this:

I think this is a beautiful bouquet, and I'm thankful that my grandma will be able to make a silk one for me!
I'm thinking that the bridesmaids could have a similar bouquet, but with more blue, and white speckled in? Thoughts?
For the boutonnieres, Phill wants edelweiss in them. (For those who don't know what that is, it is a german flower. It has specific symbolism of love, I believe. He explained it to me, but I don't remember the exact story).
As for the Bridesmaids dresses... I'm having a pretty tough time finding modest, cute ones. I don't even know where to look! I don't really know where I can find cheaper ones.. The ones that are one ldsbrides are over $200!. No way, jose. Even though I'll only be having 3 bridesmaids (all my sisters- Anne Marie, Smelly and Jenny), 200 is still quite a lot.
Phill also wants a ring ceremony for our friends and family that cannot go through the temple with us. That would definitely be lovely for my dads side of the family that comes and my friends as well. Do most people do ring ceremonies? I haven't really been to many receptions, so I'm not quite sure how it works.

As for my DRESS- I absolutely love this dress.. It's simple, modest, classy and beautiful. I found that I can order it online.. but it would be made in China, and I'm very hesitant about ordering from offline... What if it turns out horrible and I can't get a refund or anything? I'm pretty stoked to have my mom come out and help me pick one within the next couple weeks. I miss her like crazy, and I really don't like planning this without her (well, we're doing it long-distance, but it's hard).
Cakes?

Anyways, Phill and I are so excited for our wedding (well, once the planning is done! :D)! I'm so thankful to have him in my life... He's my best friend, and I couldn't ask for anyone more amazing than he is. I love him and can't wait to call him my husband!

Engagement.

Hey all! Welcome to our blog. We are mainly doing this to keep our family and friends updated with what is going on with the wedding!! And hopefully after as well :)

But yes, that's correct! Phill and I are officially engaged, and planning on being married in the Los Angeles, California temple on June 12th. We are very excited and looking forward to everything to come.

Our Engagement story...

     So, I actually ended up surprising him during the long MLK weekend. I have been planning with his parents for over a month now to surprise him for his Christmas present. I arrived on Friday and had a fun night with him and his family.

     On Saturday, Phill and I decided to go to the Oregon Coast. I've never been there, and living in California, I miss the beach and coast. It was rainy and stormy all day, but it was beautiful and really, really fun. The drive there and back reminded me of driving through Highbanks back in Ohio... On our adventure, Phill mentioned that he wanted to go look for mussels. I figured that he wanted to do that because I've never eaten one before (nor will I ever again). So, we went and got some mussels at a different part of the beach. We had dinner reservations at a really awesome restaurant called Panache in Newport, so we headed there after a little while. We got there with some time left on our hands, so we decided to go jog back down to the beach. We got SOAKED. We found crabs and some more mussels. The ones that he found there, he stuck in his pocket. We then went to dinner and enjoyed a really yummy meal. Throughout it, he kept mentioning that he wanted to open up one of the mussels I didn't want him to at ALL. I knew it was going to smell gross and I really didn't want to barf on the table. But somehow he convinced me into letting him pry one open. He pretended to use a knife to open it.. and the next thing I know, he's by my side, down on one knee asking me to marry him! He had put the ring inside the mussel!! The ring was his moms and it is beautiful.. it actually has a pearl in it, which I think is what gave him the mussel idea. Cute, huh? He's definitely a keeper!