It's Becoming A Reality

     It's all starting to finally become real now that I've had my first bridal shower.
     Last weekend, my best friend and matron of honor Suzanne hosted an "Around The Clock Shower" for me at her mom's house.  It was amazing and turned out so well.  Each person was assigned a certain time to buy a gift for and we got a wide variety of things. From bathroom towels to wine glasses and to a chip-n-dip serving set, everything was great.   Each guest was also asked to bring a Christmas ornament for our tree. We got some really cool ones... From a monogram "T" to Santa Cupcakes as well as an engagement ring ornament. Suzanne's ornament was really cool.

     She ordered one from personalizationmall.com and had one of our engagement pictures put on it.  It's so cool! Once I get more pictures, I will be sure to upload them... To all those who attended, thank you so much! I'm so glad each of you were able to attend and be a part of the day!

     As for planning, things are coming along. We hit the 5 month countdown tomorrow! AHHH!!! My how time is going by so quickly.  Wedding invitations are ordered and have been delivered.  Dave's mom will be down this weekend for Christmas and she will be addressing them for us, so that is almost completely done.  After all the stress I dealt with to find invitations I really loved and was happy with, I'm so glad it's over!  I'm also adding a little personal touch to the invitations as well so that's another DIY project I've started and will finish once all the envelopes are addresses.

     The programs have also been finalized. I tweaked my design I previously posted on here.. (PAPER AND PROGRAMS) I'm really happy with the new layout and look forward to working on those. So now I will have to get those printed to start putting them together.

     My first bridesmaid has ordered her dress and it's already in! Snaps to Amanda!! YAY! I'm so happy.  Things are finally coming together... One down.... six to go!

     On a side note, Happy Anniversary to Dave and I! Tomorrow celebrates two years together...it's flown by yet it seems like it's been forever! Here's to many more years together!


Until Next Time...

Blinging "I Do"

I've been in the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) mode with lots of wedding things... From the programs (which I just bought all the ribbon and handles for on Black Friday) to designing the invitations and photo share cards.

One other thing I wanted to do was "bling out" my wedding shoes.  The first thing to decide...what shoes to wear. I finally decided on my hot pink pumps I got for our engagement pictures.   They are super cute and the height on them won't make me have to get my dress altered on the bottom... I won't be able to wear these all night.... but I never do at any wedding. I always switch into my flip flops so my wedding will be no different.   So it was time to start blinging!

Below are some step by step instructions (with pictures) on how to do it.

Besides my shoes, I got my invitation samples in the mail this week and I absolutely love them!!! I will be ordering the complete order this week so I'm so excited!  I can't wait for Dave's mom to address them with her beautiful calligraphy. 

Secondly, we booked and planned out rehearsal night.  Rehearsal will be at 5:30 with dinner at 7:00 p.m. at the amazing CALIFORNIA DREAMING next to the USC Campus. It's actually located right across the street from the dorm I lived in when I first met Dave!  We also celebrated my 24th birthday there... which is the first "holiday" we celebrated together as a couple.  The inside is so pretty.. The restaurant first opened its doors in 1984 in a historic railroad depot at Union Station.
On the back side of the bar (which you can see here) is a private dining room, which we have booked.  It's a great set up and I love what they have to offer.  You can select items from the menu to create to your own or have an open men. They also have waiters that will concentrate on our party and not have to worry about other tables in the restaurant.  I can't wait!



Okay so it's time to share my DIY project....

Rhinestones -- I decided to go with clear/silver and blue 5mm rhinestones. 
Then,  I had to decide what I really wanted to put on the bottom.  I thought about our initials & the wedding date, "I Do" and the date...  and that's what I went with. I printed a few of my favorite fonts to test out which one I'd like best. I cut them into little squares and decided on what I liked best...then I printed out different sizes of the chosen font to see what would be the best fit.

Next, I taped the square onto the shoe and used a safety pin to poke holes to trace the letter onto the rubber sole. Once I peeled the paper off, there was a faint outline of the letter.

Then I traced the holes with a permenant marker to make it stand out a little more so I could see it.  I then used Tacky Glue and a thin paint brush to put the glue on the shoe.. then used tweezers to put on the rhinestones.

I love the way they turned out!

Can't Make Up My Mind

 So I really thought I had my invitations picked out until I really started doing the math on the prices my graphic designer/printer gave me.  I just couldn't pay as much as they were asking for it and it not be completely what I wanted. I wasn't in love with what they did so I continued my search.  Mind you, I've never had a hard time with invitations before...parties, birthdays, work events... those have been easy to decide on...but for this wedding, it's a different story.

I was talking to my Matron of Honor, Suzanne, one day about the invitations and she asked me if I had checked out Zazzle.com. It's a website that does custom you name it on there... from business cards to invitations to tshirts and even phone cases, you can design just about anything you want there.  I probably spent a good 6 hours on that site that day looking at all my different options from pre-made designs to create your own from scratch, I tried it all.  And I finally found two designs I was really happy with. But then it happened again, I couldn't make up my mind. I asked Dave for input and he kept telling me to go with what I liked and that was the problem, I liked both.  Then he suggested I e-mail all the girls in the wedding party (including our moms) to get feedback on all three invitations (the two I designed on Zazzle and the one from the printers).  That was the best decision ever.  Pretty much everyone had the same answer, they liked the design from the graphic designer but they really liked one of the ones from Zazzles.   So today I ordered 10 of the invitations to see how they turn out before I place a huge order (we're talking almost 200 invitations!)

Next on the to-do list --- Guest Favors! Dave and I are both fans of koozies. To be honest, Dave has an old laundry bag full of koozies he's collected from over the years. And Dave doesn't go anywhere without one and it's usually his Zac Brown Band koozie.
So we want to give our guests something we enjoy so they can remember being part of our special day for years to come.  I saw a design of a koozie on facebook one day that I really liked and knew that's exactly what I wanted for ours... but then once again, the search began for that piece of art work.  Being from South Carolina, I love the Palmetto Tree. It represents where I'm from, where Dave's lived most of his life, and the Southerners that we are. And today I finally found that design on a website......
It's the Palmetto Tree & Crescent Moon with wedding rings hanging from the moon!! I want to add our names and wedding date and then it will be complete!

On to side notes not pertaining to the wedding:  I'm back to work. I started this week as a producer at WCSC Live 5 News in Charleston.  They are the CBS station in the area and the #1 news station in the market. I've been hired to start on the weekend show but I was told they don't keep people on the same show for too long because things start to become habits and the best product isn't being put on air.

Softball season is finally over.  Dave's co-ed team finished 3rd in their division. So a big congrats goes out to Sons of Pitches for a great season.  The men's team is done as well...not as great of a season but there's always next year.

Oh and we can't forget what a wonderful weekend it was for Carolina Football! The Gamecocks are the SEC East Champions, after beating Florida in the Swamp. Congrats to Steve Spurrier, Steve Jr. and the whole team for a job well done!

Until next time.....

Paper and Programs

Well I'm finally moving forward (at least I hope) with the invitations. Dave and I finally got the chance last week to head back over to West Ashley to take a look at the options for font/design for our invitations.

This is what I came up with on some website since I couldn't find anything on any wedding site that I liked. I love the colors and the design at the top... the lines and circle ...that's what sorta gave me the inspiration for the wedding cake design. I love the back too....I put one of my favorite pictures of us on there along with our website cause that site has so much information for our guests... hotel info, airport info, driving directions (including gate information since it's on a military base) as well as things to do while in town for all of the out of town guest.


I ordered one copy of this invite along with a matching RSVP to a print shop in West Ashley to see what they could do with it. Luckily they have a graphic design who could help improve my design. We decided we needed to change to font to make it more formal and less normal party invites. So after 6 or 7 designs and formats, I decided on this one here.... I love the design they came up.

Graphic Artist's Design

I think the top goes really well with the font. They still got to design the back but now I'm deciding if I still want to keep the picture on there or just be blank. They also designed a match RSVP card which will be like a postcard so it's easy for the guest to fill out and throw back in their mailbox and not have to worry about the envelope. Plus-- it saves on money on my part since it cost less to send a postcard.

I've also had a lot of time on my hands lately which has given me the opportunity for some DYI wedding projects and the once I recently worked on and figured out is the paddle fan programs for the ceremony. It's something I've always said I wanted...but of course to order them online, they are so expensive. So after lots of googling (which I love to do) I found a template for the paddle programs fans. (Here's the template: http://www.wedding-paper-products.com/Fan-Programs.php)
So after a little time working and putting it together and getting some supplies..... here's what I came up with....I'm pretty proud of myself.

I had a few issues with the text and picture and wrapping the text but I finally figured it out. There's also a back to it but a) It's completed with the rest of the wedding party and we haven't finished asking everyone so if I post it, it will give it away and b) I can't show you everything for the wedding..otherwise there won't be any surprises come the wedding day. It's pretty inexpensive to make them your self too... I think I paid $2.17 for 75 paddle sticks (or jumbo Popsicle sticks), the rolls of ribbon were on sale 99 cents each (normally $1.29) and then the printing. I printed this one at home but will have the real ones printed professionally.

I'm pretty proud of myself and what I've made and look forward to being even more creative in the coming months.... 199 days to go!

Cake Tasting

One of the things I think Dave was looking forward to the most...and I have to admit I was to..was cake tasting. We've been looking online and asking for recommendations on Facebook from friends for wedding cake bakeries in the Columbia-area and options were pretty slim. It seems there are only three or four popular places that people use.

We used one of the more popular ones for our engagement party cake... I loved the way it turned out. It was exactly what I asked for....the only problem.. the cake was VERY dry and the icing had no taste. There was some fondant on there... like the endzones, yard markers and the stars but I just wasn't pleased with it...especially for the price we paid. So after that experience, I knew I wouldn't go back there. Plus the day I picked up the cake, the baker/owner wasn't very pleasant.

So I continued to search... I heard a lot about one place in West Columbia that's pretty well known....but I wasn't pleased with the things I saw on the website... so I Googled....googled...and googled..... and out of no where, I found... Parties To Go. Carol Sturkie is the sole baker/employee who's been in business for 30 years. I spoke with her by phone last week and was pleased to talk to her and what she had to say. So we made an appointment for this past Saturday to have a consultation.

Mom, Dave and I ventured out to her bakery shop, which also happens to be out in West Columbia.. and completely fell in love with Carol. Her bakery smelt amazing as soon as we walked in. And her cake...omg! It was amazing! Her wedding cake is a cream cheese pound cake...delicious!!! I showed her what I had in mind.... I wanted this cake exactly as it is...except I wanted orange and pink..rather

than the yellow of course. I told her off the bat I didn't want it completely covered in fondant so the plan is for the cakes to be covered in butter cream icing with the dots only being done in fondant. The layers in between the cake will be done in pink.. with the majority of the circles b ein g done in orange tones and the smaller dots will be pink! And her pricing... it can't be beat!
I really can't wait to see what Carol does for us come May.

In the mean time... Dave kept talking about wanting a cake for this weekend's football tailgate. It's the weekend (other than the wedding) we have been looking forward to. Carolina and Tennessee will take to the gridiron Saturday. So after we ordered/discussed the wedding cake, Dave and Carol talked about a cake for the tailgate.. I'm not sure what the plan is or what's going to be on the cake so I guess we will wait and see.

One other thing we completed this past weekend was the ceremony planning. Mary Louise, a friend of mine and girlfriend of my college professor, will be marrying us. Dave and I had dinner with her and Dick Saturday night to kind of catch up and plan the ceremony. So that is pretty much done... Lots of things getting checked off the TO DO list... with a lot still left to do.

One other thing I hope to complete this week is to pick out the font for the invitations. The print company who is doing out invitations is in West Ashley and we are living in Summerville now... so it's like a 25 to 30 minute drive over there.

Until next time...

Moving On Up....

The last few days of our lives have been crazy! We have packed up and left our apartment in West Ashley after hundreds of problems and am now living in a beautiful place in Summerville.... moving up the interstate, a little closer to my family by about 25 minutes! It's been a transition getting used to light switches, having more space, and climbing three flights of stairs as our apartment is on the third floor. 

It's a fairly new complex...only two years old and a place we plan to call home until we buy a house.  I can't thank our friends enough for helping us with the move... I know once they found out it was the third floor, they wanted to run and hide. So a big thanks to Geoff and Vicki, Gino & Elisha, Mandy, Kentrell, Andy, my grandparents and my mom... without yall, Dave and I would still be trying to move in.

Anyways.... enough on the side note...back to the wedding.  I found a place to print our invitations finally. It's a printing company in West Ashley that did the invitations for our friends, Joe & Krystle Yozzo.  The company has a graphic artist on hand and was able to recreate the invite I made and we are in the final stages of picking out a font we are happy with.  I can't wait for the final product.

This coming weekend we are hoping to get the wedding cake planning done. I think I've found two bakeries I want to check out while we head to Columbia to see Darius Rucker in concert on Sunday.  So that's on the to-do list. We are also planning out our ceremony this weekend.  My friend Mary Louise will be marrying us.  She's such an amazing woman and has a special place in my heart.  Not only did I get the chance to work with her on the Crimestoppers board when I was in Columbia working at WLTX but she is also dating my favorite professor from college who has helped me so much.

One other thing I'm pretty excited about right now wedding-related is my first bridal shower. My matron of honor, Suzanne, is hosting it December 11th in Columbia for all my friends/family there. I can't wait to see all my WLTX girls as well as some of my sorority sisters!  Here's what the front of the invitation looks like.

I'm so excited and really looking forward to it. Now I just need  update our registries since Dave and I have been living together for almost a year and have gotten a bunch of things.

Until next time...

234 Days To Go!

There's still a lot of time to go...but when you really think about it, 230 or so days isn't really a whole lot.

Things have pretty different the last few weeks.  I lost my job as a producer at one of the news station here in Charleston. It was a pretty stupid reason why they let me go, but hey... I'm fine with it because I wasn't completely happy there. Yea, I made some friends and I really miss them but I don't miss the daily grind.

Anyways... speaking of work, I've hired a videographer for the wedding.  A lot of people I've talked to, including my own mother, said the one thing they wished that had done was hire a videographer so they could really look back on the day to see what they were really laughing about or see things they didn't get a chance to see that day.  I've actually hired Josh Ambrite of Briteside Productions.  He's the chief photographer at the tv station I was working at. He's an amazing photog (as we call it in the news business) and has won dozens of awards for his work.  I'm pretty excited about having him!




On a side note, Dave and I just returned from western Tennessee from his cousin's wedding.  Mary Ann and Phillip were married Saturday along Kentucky Lake, just outside of Paris, TN.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The weather was perfect. Of course there were a few hiccups.  The maid of honor lost her dress at the dry cleaners and Phillip left the marriage license at home, so the ceremony started a little later than planned but overall it was a great event.  The reception was very causal and laid back with plenty of beer and wine to go round.  The couple also had a live band which played some great music.

We stayed at a cabin on the other side of the lake with some of Dave's family.  We got the chance to see his Dad and brother. I also got to meet his Aunt Dana and Uncle Brock (his dad's siblings) along with all of their families. 

I've included a picture of the Turner Family -- Three generations of Turners. We had such a great time on the lake as well as just hanging out in the cabin and in town.  I loved getting the chance to meet more of his family and can't wait for them to join us in May for our special day.



Until next time....

 

Flowers Here, Flowers There!

     One of the things I really thought would be pretty easy would be flowers as I knew even before I was engaged who my florist would be.  Sandra Chastain is a very close friend of my mom's. Her daughter, Bella, was in my mom's class a few years ago and the two of them built such a strong bond, that mom started
babysitting Bella on weekends for Sandra and her husband, David.  Sandra owns Chastain's Floral on Universal Drive in Columbia and has been doing floral arrangements for years. In 1996, she was named "Designer of the Year" for the state, so we are working with someone who's pretty amazing.

     Dave and I met with Sandra on a Friday afternoon.  The first questions were pretty simple.  Date, Venue, Time, Number of Attendants and wedding colors.  After that, I had no idea what to think. I brought in samples of what I liked and Sandra, being amazing, had her own ideas of what would work with where we are getting married as well as what would look best with bridesmaid dresses and the men's suits. We picked out a certain style for the bridesmaid bouquets.  I've posted a picture to the left of something similar.  Instead of pink roses, since they would blend with the girls' dresses, they will be orange roses. The guys will be wearing simple boutonnieres made up of an orange rose with some sort of pink accent.   
    She then asked what I wanted for my bouquet... Ummmm.... defiantly didn't think about that. So my mission right now is to take some time to consider that and get back to her at a later date. Then we had to discuss who else in the wedding party would be needing flowers.  Then I thought we were done. Oh no... not anywhere close. I totally forgot that we needed to discuss flowers for the ceremony as well as the reception.  Needless to say, I don't want to do anything over the top with either.  We are getting married outside and it will be absolutely beautiful on its own. But why pay so much for flowers when seriously the ceremony will only be 20 minutes long.    We then discussed the reception.. After three hours of talking about flowers, we were just about done until we realized her husband actually did catering so we then started discussing things with him for our rehearsal dinner.  Four hours after walking in, we were completely done and full of ideas and a list of things we needed to discuss and take care of.  All in all, it was a good day with a pretty price tag. =)

If you are looking for flowers for any occasion thought, I highly recommend her.  Here's her new website that she just launched.  http://www.chastainsfloral.com/

More Wedding Planning

Well well.. time is drawing nearer! Less than 9 months to the big day! WOW!!! So exciting yet lots to do.
We've gotten a few things taken care of...small things but it's done.

A few weeks ago, my mom was in town for the weekend.  We had a softball team gathering on Saturday to kick off the upcoming season and celebrate Dave's team winning a championship, but on Sunday we spent the day picking out songs for the reception.  Dave had no idea it took so much to plan music.  He didn't know you had to pick all these songs out for everything like cake cutting, garter toss, entrance, etc etc.  So we probably spent about 4 hours deciding on songs.  We had a few disagreements, especially when it came down to the cake cutting song... click here to hear what Dave's choice was...Needless to say, I was totally against it and that's not what was chosen.

This past weekend, Dave's mom came into town from Vermont so we could do some rehearsal dinner planning.  We aren't really sure what we want, so we looked at all our our options. We started in the Vista and checked out Blue Marlin, Liberty Tap Room, then we decided to head over to California Dreaming, as that restaurant is one of the first places we had a date. We started thinking we wanted some more casual, so we started looking at catering options.  Dave loves BBQ and of course, there are some great BBQ places in Columbia.  We went by Doc's Barbeque and really enjoyed what they had to offer. Besides BBQ, they offer a wide variety besides BBQ.  Before heading home, we checked out Dianne's on Devine  but thought that was too much more than we wanted.  We never came down to a final decision, but we our final choices are California Dreaming and BBQ catering.

One of the things I've had the hardest time with ....invitations.  I can't find one that I'm in love with.  I finally found a website when I could design whatever I wanted and I love what I came up with.  I ordered a copy of it and it came in the mail earlier this week and I was disappointed with the paper it was printed on.  Now I'm gonna have to see if a printing company can make them for us.


Until next time....

My Favorite Part of Planning

Well...we are about 9 months out from the big day and still lots to do.. but one of my favorite things so far, besides finding my perfect dress, is taking our engagement pictures. I wanted to post some more of them since Judy Kay & Wayne Bryan took so many amazing pics! If you are looking for a photographer for anything, please check them out.. www.photosbyjkay.com

 US Custom House in Downtown Charleston

Sullivan's Island

Ft. Moultrie on Sullivan's Island

Ravenel Bridge and the Charleston Harbor

Waterfront Park

Sullivan's Island

As for real planning, it's coming along. Dave and I talked about music today for the reception. He didn't realize you had to pick out so many different songs (i.e. -- cake cuting, garter toss) but we figured some of that out. I'm pretty excited.  The thing I'm hating the most is looking at invitations.  I know what I want (or at least I think I do).  Now it just means I need to find it. LOL 

We have a bunch of weddings to go to in the next few weeks.. as Judy Kay told me "it's wedding season again!"  One of Dave's old co-workers is getting married in two weeks.. and Judy Kay & Wayne are actually photographing that wedding, so I'm excited to see them.  Then in September, Tank & Michelle are getting married in Myrtle Beach and the following weekend we are bound for Tennessee as Dave's cousin is tying the knot.   Oh, and of course, in the middle of all that, COLLEGE FOOTBALL!! That kicks off in less than a month! So excited!


We are also hoping to meet with our florist next month.  She was pretty booked this month with weddings and Rush at USC at the end of the month, so well wait til September and work around the football schedule since she goes to all the Carolina games. 

My Bridesmaid: Krystle

Last but not least...my final bridesmaid that will stand by me on the most important day of my life is Krystle Ludwig Yozzo.

Krystle & her acceptance letter to USC

Krystle and I met last May on the day her and Joe (her now husband) were moving into their apartment in Charleston.  I felt like I already knew her since I heard Dave talk about her and Joe so much.  Dave & Joe worked together for a while, but Joe then moved back to Conway with family, met Krystle, fell in love and then moved back to Charleston.  Dave and I stopped by to see if they needed any help with anything and we went to dinner together that night.

Throughout the summer, we hung out plenty of times..going to the beach, having game nights, doing dinner together, etc etc.  Things between Krystle and I just clicked and we hit it off. The only downside to the both of them... they are Clemson fans.

The day of Dave & I's engagement party in Columbia was on Halloween.  Carolina was playing Tennessee and it was a week before I moved down here.  We called the party "Dave & Chaunte's Engagement Halloween Football Going Away Party."  Clemson also had a home game that day against Coastal Carolina (which is actually where Krystle graduated from) so Krystle and Joe weren't gonna be able to make it to our party.  To my surprise, they stopped by in Columbia on their journey across the state! I was so happy to see them!

While Krystle and Joe were still living in Charleston, she was working at David's Bridal so I made an appointment with her to help me find my dress.  Having someone I knew help me find the one made things so much easier and less stressful.  This was also the day I asked her, along with Melissa to be in the wedding (see Wedding Dress Shopping) Thanks girl for all your help that day.

Another great moment the two of us had together is when Krystle asked me to be in her wedding.  One of her bridesmaids would not be able to make it, so she asked me if I would be the final member of her bridal party. We had such a great time at her bridal shower, bachelorette party and the entire wedding day.
For her bachelorette party in Myrtle Beach, some of the other girls who were out with us wanted to call it a night, but Krystle wanted to keep the party going.  So the two of us headed out Broadway at the Beach to shut down the clubs.  And on her wedding day, the two of us spent the morning together getting last minute things done.  One of my favorite parts of the day... taking Krystle to get her nails done for the first time. =) Classic moment between the two of us.

Now the Yozzo's are living in Columbia as Krystle will begin working on her PhD at USC (GO COCKS!) in the fall. Best of luck to her on that!