Our Engagement Party

Since Steve lives in Colorado and finding a free weekend for him to come home is near impossible, you can imagine just how hard it was to secure a date for an engagement party that worked for Steven, me, my family, his family and our wedding party...who all live out of town. We almost ruled the idea out all together but five months after our engagement in May, we finally found a date that worked for almost everyone! Celebrating such a huge life event with all the people we love most (minus a few key friends) was magical, and we will keep the memory of that night close to our hearts always.

The night was filled with laughter and love, along with good conversation, food and drinks! Steve loves Old Fashioneds and I'm a white wine fan myself, so our bar was stocked with a homemade, autumn-inspired sangria and a make-your-own Old Fashioned station! 

True to form, my momma created two gorgeous fall tablescapes that were just the right touch of rustic for the appetizer and buffet tables, and my aunt made the most delicious, amazing, beautiful, tasty, stunning, incredible (I could go on for days) spice and maple cake with salted caramel drizzle ever! She is so talented and we were all blown away. 

The party was the absolute best way to kick off the post-engagement, pre-wedding celebrations! We're so lucky to have all these people in our lives who love and support us. It's crazy to think that the next time everyone is together will be at the wedding! Only four and a half months away from the big day (cue panic attack)!!

A special thanks to my cute cousin Kelsea for being the photographer for the night! We forgot to get a picture of the whole wedding party because sometimes life is just like that ha!

Gotta Have My Girls

When we first got engaged, so many people asked me questions about what I had in mind for our wedding. What kind of dress, what colors, where it would be...all that wedding jazz that I should have but hadn't really considered yet for my own wedding. I didn't know how to respond without seeming uninterested. Sure I have hundreds--okay maybe thousands, who's counting--of pins on Pinterest with ideas I might like, but the only thing I knew for sure was who my bridesmaids were going to be... the girls who can make me laugh until I cry and know what I'm thinking with just one look. The girls who I would do anything for and I know they would do the same for me. Sooooo excited to have these 9 gals by my side!

So yay! One month after getting engaged and less than a year away from our wedding date, indecisive me made two whole decisions! (Now we have a lot more finalized and I can't wait to share!) The next step was coming up with a cute way to officially ask them to be my bridesmaids, a task that was harder than I expected. There were so many cute ideas but also a lot of interesting (trying to be nice) ones, let me tell you. Check out the weirdest one yet here.

I decided to go sweet + simple and give the gals a bottle of wine with a cute label! I created the wine labels online which was so fun to do. The original labels came off easily just by soaking them in water and baking soda. The labels went on nicely, but luckily I ordered a few extra labels because I put a few on slightly crooked...I'll blame that on watching the Bachelorette at the same time not my lack of craftiness haha!

I gave most of the bottles to the gals in person, but had to ship one across country. Apparently it's illegal to send alcohol in the mail--who knew?--so I had to tell a white lie at the post office and say that I was sending olive oil. I'll take two glasses of that olive oil, please ;)

This kind of wedding planning stuff is what I absolutely love, I'm so excited to do more of it!  Now that I have asked everyone, I can officially say that I will have the besssssst bridal party standing beside me on my wedding day!

xox

We're Getting Married!

This year is going to be the best year yet, so I'm dusting off the blog and coming back so I can write about all our fun times! I want to remember every single second and having it all on the blog will be such a great place to look back on it! Having the memory that I do and not being able to remember what I did yesterday, I know that I'll be grateful for it later ;)

So, first things first, I'll tell y'all about the best weekend of our lives. It was in every way perfect. While I've always known I was going to marry Steven, it still feels so crazy that it's actually happening! We couldn't be more excited about starting our life together, and we're overwhelmed by the love and support from our friends and family. 

I landed in Colorado on Thursday morning for the Air Force Academy Ring Dance. It's a huge celebration and tradition at the Academy where the junior cadets get their class rings and officially become seniors. Steven and his friends had been waiting for this night for three years, and they deserved it after all of the grueling hard work they have put in. It had been raining all week so we had spent the majority of our days prior praying that it wouldn't that night. As we were getting ready tere was thunder and lightening and it was pouring. But luckily the weather was on our side and right as we were headed out, the rain stopped and the sun started peaking through the clouds, talk about perfect timing!! The dinner and the dance were so much fun. I don't think I've ever seen a bigger smile on Steven's face than when he put that ring on his finger, and I'm so glad I got to share it with him! I couldn't be more proud of that guy. 

We headed up to a beautiful cabin in Breckenridge after the dance to celebrate with our friends for the weekend. The next day, we headed into town around 2. Breckenridge's Main Street is one of my favorites, aside from Park City's of course. It's so charming and pretty, and despite the fact that it was the end of May, it was lightly snowing most of the day. I had been expecting a proposal but I thought that it was going to be the weekend in April when I went to see him and pretty much begged him to tell me if he had the ring or not...I know that's not the traditional way of how it's supposed to go but I'm neurotic and hate surprises, luckily he still loves me. When there was no agenda to our day and we were just wandering around town, I thought that maybe he had something planned for that night or the next day. So, we went shopping and had a fun lunch with our friends and when it started getting late, we headed back to the car. 

The cutest stream runs through Main Street and as we were passing the snow started to fall. Steven suggested we go for a walk so I knew something was up...subtle, really...and when that happened I got so nervous. We walked down to the little stream and Steve said the sweetest words and then got down on his knee asked me to marry him. It was sweet, simple and perfect, and holy heck I can't wait to be his wife! 

We drove up to a trailhead afterward to look the most gorgeous view ever...I love Colorado! After that we dropped our friends off at the cabin and Steven took me out to a fancy dinner at Hearthstone. In jeans and Vans we didn't really fit in, but we couldn't have cared less because we were ecstatic. Before dinner we called our parents and family to share the news with them all, and we celebrated with our friends that night at the cabin to top off the best day ever! The fun continued the rest of the weekend too. We are so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives to share the excitement with! 

We started the wedding planning process and have a venue and date...more to come on all that fun wedding stuff! 

xox