6 months to go!

Our wedding is 6 months from today and everything is really starting to come together!

I think I have finally come to a decision on colors.  The bridesmaids dresses will be navy blue.  I like this color because it is formal, looks good on everyone, and will complement the orange I love so much.  The best man will be in a navy-colored air force uniform, so everything will go together nicely.

Last month I went with my sister and Brittany to pick out a bridesmaid dress for them to wear.  We decided on this dress in navy blue:

I was very glad to have both of them with me to pick the dress.  Brittany being the most curvy of my bridesmaids, and my sister being the most petite, I was thrilled that this dress looked great on both of them! 

We also had a few cake tastings last month.  Our first one was at Fiona's and she had decent cakes, but charged extra for everything she could think of and gave us very limited choices.  We also had a tasting at Sweet in Ellicott City.  We LOVED their chocolate chip cannoli cake and their cute little store front bakery.  The winner however was a bakery that we have been going to for a long time for cakes-- The French Confection in Ashton.  We still have one more cake tasting on Friday, but we're pretty sure about our choice right now.  We picked out flavors that we liked at the tasting, so we just have to come to a decision on the design.

We're also working on setting up some flower consultations.  We were supposed to have one yesterday, but the poor girl forgot about our appointment because her father was just diagnosed with brain cancer and she was about to leave for Germany to go see him.  We have an appointment next week at Sandi's in Annapolis (the little shop outside gate 3, for those familiar with USNA).  We stopped by her shop yesterday, but she was very busy and didn't have time for a full consultation with us.  Lately I like the idea of a "sunset" bouquet, featuring orange, yellow and maybe a little pink. 

our first home!

We spent this past weekend in Charleston scoping out places to live.  Justin's friend Mike will be living there next year also, and came with us to find a place.  We looked at about 5 different apartment complexes and were able to decide unanimously that we liked Greystar, Daniel Island the best.  We put down a deposit, so the next step is to sign a lease when it get's closer to September!  This place stood out from the other apartment complexes because they included a washer/dryer with rent, 2 covered parking spots and had a nice surrounding area.  Daniel Island has a few shops and restuarants close by, and backs up to the athletic fields of a Catholic high school.  I see some future Friday nights sitting on the porch watching football games!

 Pool at Greystar Daniel Island Village

We are on the waitlist for 2 different units:
 
The Seabrook is the 1 bedroom unit we like.  It has a relatively large study which could be used as a guest room.  It also has a nice large patio that spans 2 rooms.

Seabrook- Floorplan

Seabrook- Porch

The Rosemont is the 2 bedroom unit we looked at.  It has a nice corner porch that could comfortably fit a table and chairs.  They have a lot of these units so it's a bit more likely one of these will come available.

Rosemont Floorplan

Rosemont- porch

Edgewater Plantation (another Greystar property) was a close second, but charged extra to rent washer/dryer and for covered parking.  The surrounding area wasn't quite as interesting either.

 Edgewater- living area

Central Square, Watermark was another place we looked, but we didn't really see anything special about it.  It is a brand new place and is supposed to have retail soon, but right now has a lot of empty spaces.

 Watermark- kitchen

Belle Hall was another place we looked, but again didn't see anything special and had a rude saleslady.  We were only able to look at a 1 bedroom model unit, which we didn't really like.

 Belle Hall- Living area

We were unable to meet with anyone at Palmetto Place, but drove through anyways.  We didn't really like the location, or the fact that it was still under construction.

Palmetto Place

See more pictures here!

Honeymoon!

Justin found out today that he will go to nuclear power school in October!  We are both really happy about this because it means we get to take a honeymoon!!  (June and August were the other choices).  Justin is also really excited because his other submarine friends got October too.
We were really excited to start planning our honeymoon, but quickly got overwhelmed when we realized how open ended the possibilities are!  Here's some of the options we've looked at so far:

Caribbean
There are a lot of beautiful places in the Caribbean.  My biggest concern there is hurricanes, but some islands (towards the South and West) are supposed to be much less at risk for getting hit.  Aruba is recommended by many, but it's a flat desert island, which isn't as appealing to me as some of the islands with more beautiful landscapes.  It's also supposedly more of a party scene, which isn't exactly what we're looking for.  Barbados, Bonaire and Curacao are also in the supposed "safe zone."  The Cayman islands and the Virgin Islands are also options.

 

Cap Jaluca- Anguilla

 

Curtain Bluff- Antigua

 Peter Island Villas- British Virgin Islands

St. Lucia looks really beautiful and has mountains, rain forests and coral reefs.

 Ladera- St. Lucia

Jade Mountain-St. Lucia

Mexico/Central America
Mexico, Belize and Costa Rica also offer good options, and are a bit further away from the so-called "hurricane belt."  Mexico would probably be a more cost-effective option than most of the Caribbean islands.  Playa del Carmen is very pretty, but something on the Pacific coast might be better to avoid any possible east coast weather.  Maybe Puerto Vallarta or Los Cabos.  Acapulco is probably a bit too much of a party town for a relaxing honeymoon.
I have had a slight obsession with Costa Rica since I studied abroad there last winter break.  It was the most beautiful place that I had ever been, and I fell in love with the landscapes, foliage and animals there.  I would love to go back, but would also love to see other beautiful parts of the world.  Belize also has a lot of the biodiversity and beautiful landscapes that I love.  The Cayes off the coast of Belize are an option too.

Paradisus- Playa Conchal, Costa Rica

Silk Cayes, Belize

I don't think a hotel would fit here, but maybe we could swim there!

We briefly looked at the Pacific Islands, but they are so far!! I don't think I could handle a flight that long, and it would be really expensive to get there.
More ideas to come!

I found a dress!!

I decided on a spur of the moment to go to Betsy Robinson's in Pikesville with my mom. I wasn't really expecting to find anything and just wanted to see what they had. I ended up finding a beautiful dress! It was the first dress that I had tried on that I couldn't find a single thing about it that I didn't like. I'm not giving away anything about it except that it's perfect!

colors

Orange is not a pretty color.  It happens to be my favorite color.  Ever since my dad started coaching the Tigger's Tigers soccer team in 4th grade I have loved the color orange.  Orange socks, orange purses, orange kitchen utensils!  How do I incorporate such an informal color into such a formal event?

Coral is one idea.  While still possessing the brightness I love, it is soft and elegant.  But what do I pair it with? Navy blue? Emerald Green?

Another idea is to stick with the bright color in its truest form that I know and love.  I could hold a bouquet of tiger lilies and bring on a fiery summer theme to my end-of-summer wedding.  I could still pair it with Navy blue...or maybe yellow...

And what do I make my bridesmaids wear?  I don't think they will be happy looking like this:

In all my indecisive-ness, There is one color scheme I've decided I DON'T want---the overdone fall hues theme.  Everyone knows summer is coming to an end and the leaves will soon be turning.  They don't need it shoved in their faces!

note: you can click on the pictures to enlarge.  Please leave feedback/comments/ideas!! Thanks :)

our family girls

My Dad is the oldest of 8 children-- 3 boys and 5 girls.  The family must have had enough of girls by the time grandkids started coming around because somehow our family ended up with 14 boy cousins and only 6 girls.  My mom is always proud that she did her part having 2 of those 6 :)  With such a small number of girls in the family we have to stick together!  Over Thanksgiving I asked two of my girl cousins to be a part of my wedding. 

Kristen and I have been buds since birth.  I was 9 years old when she was born and so excited to have another girl cousin.  We always found each other at family gatherings and played together.  For a long time she couldn't pronounce my name and called me something that sounded a lot like "Gasoline."  We've both grown up a bit since then-- Kristen is now almost 12 and finishing up 7th grade.  She will surely make a beautiful junior bridesmaid!

Caroline is the youngest of the family girls, and an experienced flower girl.  In May she was the flower girl for Jennifer's wedding-- the oldest of the girl cousins.  She had a great time and continued to play "wedding" afterwards (I'm sure brother Jake loved that).  When I asked her at Thanksgiving to be a flower girl again next fall her face lit up as she gasped and screamed "Yes!!"

 

it's officially a party!

Today we finalized our decision to book Rob from Absolute Entertainment as our DJ.  Aaron Couch from Disc Jockeys on Call was the other main competitor.  We met with both Rob and Aaron last weekend.

Aaron was the DJ at my cousin's wedding and I thought he did a great job.  His voice is amazing-- I think one guest called him Barry White.  He offered us a good price, but couldn't guarantee that he would be our DJ.  We weren't okay going on faith in a DJ from his company that we hadn't met.  Aaron told us that my cousin had booked much farther in advance than us and that September 2010 was set to be a busy month, which was why he couldn't guarantee us that he would be the DJ unless we paid more than double the price.

At our meeting with Rob he gave us a demo of his DJ skills and music tastes, and also showed us some recent reviews of his performances.  We were pleased with the meeting.  Thanks to my mom's great bargaining abilities we got quite a deal on Rob for our wedding!

There seems to be something with DJs about being hot and cold with communicating.  The week following our sales meeting with Jason from Absolute Entertainment we heard nothing from anyone.  After meeting with Robby however we got excellent communication from Jason as well as the president of the company.  Aaron seems to be the same way-- my cousin had warned me that he wasn't great with communication, but he called and e-mailed me as soon as I requested information.  Let's hope we stay on the upside of things.  Absolute Entertainment also has an online planning tool, which should make things super easy for us to plan.

Things seem to really be coming together now with all of the big vendors booked.  Football season will be over at the end of this week, so I should have lots of time to go dress shopping then!