Wedding planning excitement

Well, hello!

Between school and work, as always, I don't have much time for other things. I know for some people wedding planning is stressful, and maybe I'll get to that point farther down the road {fingers crossed I don't}, but right now it's an outlet for me.  I love thinking of ideas and planning! Maybe I should go into the business...

I haven't gotten very far with most of it, but we didn't even hit the one-year-away mark until yesterday and I have gotten some of the major things done, so I feel okay about it. However, the past two months and one day since Clay proposed have gone by incredibly fast.

Our venue and date have been picked! We will be getting married on April 12, 2014 at my PaPa Eddie's farm.

I've started our wedding website. But I need to work on it a little more with Clay before I release it :)

We've gotten to celebrate our engagement with some friends, and soon we will be able to do so with our very close families.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked out and purchased my wedding dress.  All I'm gonna say is, it's perfect for me.

I was very fortunate to win an engagement shoot giveaway from Carolynn Seibert! Pictures are SO expensive.  This is such a blessing for us! We will be having the shoot next weekend. And, luckily, I love Carolynn's work and plan to have her shoot my bridals and our wedding as well.

I was also fortunate to win a $75 gift certificate to a wedding accessory webstore.  They happen to have a garter set that matches my dress pretty perfectly. Another great blessing!  The less money I have to spend, the better.

I think I have finally decided on my bridal party, and I can't wait to ask these lovely ladies to stand by me on our wedding day! Clay has chosen his groomsmen as well. All the guys and two girls don't know yet :) The decision was NOT easy.

Until next time,
E

You probably know this by now...

BUT I'M ENGAGED!

While celebrating our birthdays with our parents in Las Vegas, my wonderful boyfriend fiancé proposed!

When: Mardi Gras day [February 12]

Where: at the Venetian

How: I was super excited to go on a romantic gondola ride at the Venetian, an Italy themed hotel/casino, being Sicilian and all.  Amidst the romantic songs being sung by the boat driver, and kissing under bridges for good luck, Clay popped the question! Our parents were standing on one of the bridges over the canal and got to see it all.  It was really nice to share that moment with the people who really made it possible.

We are so so very excited!!! 

[click pictures to make them larger]

      

Popping the question

Right after

While in Vegas, we stayed at the New York New York hotel and casino.  It was really nice! We got a free upgrade since it was my birthday.  It was set up like the streets of New York.  It also had a pretty fun roller coaster, too!  We walked around through a lot of the casinos, and although some were super fancy, I think New York New York was definitely one of my favorites.

 New York New York

Our room- about half of it

We went to several amazing places, but one cool thing we did was go to the pawn shop that is featured on Pawn Stars.  You have to wait in line to get in because it is so small and so many people want to go, but we didn't have to wait long.

You can go in for free, or pay to get a "VIP backstage tour where you might get to see one of the stars," so we opted for the free thing.  Apparently you only get to see the stars if they happened to be filming or just finished filming. 

Lucky for us, they had recently wrapped up filming, and we got to see Chumlee! We got there a little too late for the actual meet and greet, where you had to buy something to do it, but after he stood behind the counter and if you felt like trampling over the psychopaths, you could talk to him or whatever.

 

At the end of the trip, Clay and I had an amazing dinner at this super fancy restaurant at the Eiffel Tower.  We got to sit window-side and watch the Bellagio fountain show from our table.  Unfortunately, the pictures are on Clay's phone, so I don't have any to share right now! But it was absolutely fantastic.

Like I said, we went to so many awesome places, too many to share! But for fun, here's a final picture from the Riviera:

xoxo,

E