I need to update like whoa, but for now, this will have to do:
www.melissasmithphotography.blogspot.com.
I will say this:
1. The wedding was perfect
2. The honeymooon was amazing
and 3. We have a LOT of gifts in our house right now!!
If the rain holds off, we will be having a yard sale in the morning to get rid of the old to make room for the new!!!
Married life is wonderful so far =)
~Bailey
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Two Days To Go...
It's not even 9:00 am and I already feel behind with my huge list of things to get done today, so this will have to be short. I just can't believe that our wedding is in TWO days! And kudos to all of you who planned your wedding while working full time (and/or keeping up with a blog!) I feel like my life has been devoted to nothing but this wedding for the last couple weeks! I am SO excited though and ready for all the hard work to pay off. Some of Will's family started arriving yesterday and a few more are coming today. My family starts coming in tomorrow and I am SO excited to see everyone, and for everyone to see each other! My parents are divorced (and have been for 22 years) so my Mom has not seen my Dad's side of the family and vice versa in a very long time! I have one cousin my Mom has never met, and two that she hasn't seen since they were toddlers!
Sunday we will spend a little more time visiting with family and friends before heading down to Charlotte to stay in the Westin (for free- thank you credit card points!) and flying out early Monday morning to spend the week in Playa Del Carmen. The weather looks great so far for the wedding and the honeymoon, so keep your fingers crossed!
Once we get back from Mexico and settle in, I expect I will feel like I have a lot of free time on my hands (with no wedding planning to do!) but if you know me, you know I never completely relax and always have several lists in my head, so I'll share my thoughts on what I want to accomplish when we get back:
1. Find a new job. Seriously. It has now been six months since I got laid off and I am sick of being broke! I haven't had a whole lot of time to be looking for jobs, but really didn't think anyone would want to hire someone who was planning a wedding and about to need a week and a half off right away. But now it is time. This is priority numero uno.
2. Thank You's. I hate writing thank you cards. In fact, I'm pretty terrible at doing them for birthdays and Christmas, but I forced myself to for both graduations, and I know that this is one more time where they are neccessary. So my goal is to get at least 5 done a day until they are DONE.
3. Organize our house! It has become wedding crap central and I can't wait to get rid of all of it, so I can actually see what we have (gift-wise) and start getting rid of duplicates and making space for our new things. Our neighborhood is having a community yard sale a few weeks after we get back, so that is my deadline for getting rid of the old stuff to make room for the new!
4. Scrapbooking! Ohhhhh, how I have missed this hobby. In fact, the last time I scrapbooked anything was the night we got engaged (way back in November!) I am so behind on things- I have Christmas presents from last year that never were finished! I must get those done before this Christmas and I want to scrapbook the engagement/wedding/honeymoon ASAP before I forget any details or lose any of the little memorobilia pieces I have been saving (like the bows that I broke at my showers.... hello, those are my future children we're talking about! Three to be exact!)
5. Working out again. I know this is something I should have been doing before the wedding but we canceled our Y membership last Fall when money was getting a little tight and without that, I really had no desire or motivation to work out at home. But I'm not giving up yet! I have gained a good 25-30 pounds in the last 3-4 years, and I am sick of it! It's not really about how I look, it's about how I feel in my own clothes. Even though I can hide it with flowy pretty shirts, I'm just not a fan of how the muffin top FEELS, hanging over my jeans! That's gross, I know, but tell me you've never experienced this!
Okay, well there you have it..... my top 5 things to do post-honeymoon.
Now for the 5,000 things I must still do pre-wedding!
Thanks for all the encouraging words throughout this process! I promise to be back when it is over!
Oh, and I should add (since this was supposed to be the whole theme of this blog), that I think we did a pretty good job with our wedding budget. I will finalize it and post the details of it sometime. We may end up going over budget by a little bit, but we did get some AMAZING deals along the way! I'll have to post a picture of me and Will in Harris Teeter with FOUR grocery carts full of beer! (It was on sale- $8.88 for 18 bottles! That's about $1.50 less PER BOTTLE than what the caterer charges! Yes, we will have over 1,000 bottles of beer at our reception, thankyouverymuch!)
Bye for now Bloggy friends!!!
Edited to Add: For those of you reading this that have kept up with the situation with my FBIL, he is doing great! He's been at Walter Reed for the last few weeks- he got his leg! And he has been learning how to walk on it. He's coming home today (and going to stay with us tonight- yay!) so on Saturday he will WALK DOWN THE AISLE as Will's Best Man. Probably with crutches or a cane, but that is still amazing to me. I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it. In fact, I don't expect there to be a dry eye in the place on the wedding day! I am not a very religious person, but I have prayed harder for TJ than I ever have about anything in my whole life. I know that just to have him alive is a mircale in itself, but considering we almost called off the wedding because we didn't know if he would walk again, and now, just six months later, everything is coming together, all his hard work is paying off, and all the prayers were heard- so thank you everyone for praying for him and thinking about him! I can't tell you how happy it makes me!
Sunday we will spend a little more time visiting with family and friends before heading down to Charlotte to stay in the Westin (for free- thank you credit card points!) and flying out early Monday morning to spend the week in Playa Del Carmen. The weather looks great so far for the wedding and the honeymoon, so keep your fingers crossed!
Once we get back from Mexico and settle in, I expect I will feel like I have a lot of free time on my hands (with no wedding planning to do!) but if you know me, you know I never completely relax and always have several lists in my head, so I'll share my thoughts on what I want to accomplish when we get back:
1. Find a new job. Seriously. It has now been six months since I got laid off and I am sick of being broke! I haven't had a whole lot of time to be looking for jobs, but really didn't think anyone would want to hire someone who was planning a wedding and about to need a week and a half off right away. But now it is time. This is priority numero uno.
2. Thank You's. I hate writing thank you cards. In fact, I'm pretty terrible at doing them for birthdays and Christmas, but I forced myself to for both graduations, and I know that this is one more time where they are neccessary. So my goal is to get at least 5 done a day until they are DONE.
3. Organize our house! It has become wedding crap central and I can't wait to get rid of all of it, so I can actually see what we have (gift-wise) and start getting rid of duplicates and making space for our new things. Our neighborhood is having a community yard sale a few weeks after we get back, so that is my deadline for getting rid of the old stuff to make room for the new!
4. Scrapbooking! Ohhhhh, how I have missed this hobby. In fact, the last time I scrapbooked anything was the night we got engaged (way back in November!) I am so behind on things- I have Christmas presents from last year that never were finished! I must get those done before this Christmas and I want to scrapbook the engagement/wedding/honeymoon ASAP before I forget any details or lose any of the little memorobilia pieces I have been saving (like the bows that I broke at my showers.... hello, those are my future children we're talking about! Three to be exact!)
5. Working out again. I know this is something I should have been doing before the wedding but we canceled our Y membership last Fall when money was getting a little tight and without that, I really had no desire or motivation to work out at home. But I'm not giving up yet! I have gained a good 25-30 pounds in the last 3-4 years, and I am sick of it! It's not really about how I look, it's about how I feel in my own clothes. Even though I can hide it with flowy pretty shirts, I'm just not a fan of how the muffin top FEELS, hanging over my jeans! That's gross, I know, but tell me you've never experienced this!
Okay, well there you have it..... my top 5 things to do post-honeymoon.
Now for the 5,000 things I must still do pre-wedding!
Thanks for all the encouraging words throughout this process! I promise to be back when it is over!
Oh, and I should add (since this was supposed to be the whole theme of this blog), that I think we did a pretty good job with our wedding budget. I will finalize it and post the details of it sometime. We may end up going over budget by a little bit, but we did get some AMAZING deals along the way! I'll have to post a picture of me and Will in Harris Teeter with FOUR grocery carts full of beer! (It was on sale- $8.88 for 18 bottles! That's about $1.50 less PER BOTTLE than what the caterer charges! Yes, we will have over 1,000 bottles of beer at our reception, thankyouverymuch!)
Bye for now Bloggy friends!!!
Edited to Add: For those of you reading this that have kept up with the situation with my FBIL, he is doing great! He's been at Walter Reed for the last few weeks- he got his leg! And he has been learning how to walk on it. He's coming home today (and going to stay with us tonight- yay!) so on Saturday he will WALK DOWN THE AISLE as Will's Best Man. Probably with crutches or a cane, but that is still amazing to me. I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it. In fact, I don't expect there to be a dry eye in the place on the wedding day! I am not a very religious person, but I have prayed harder for TJ than I ever have about anything in my whole life. I know that just to have him alive is a mircale in itself, but considering we almost called off the wedding because we didn't know if he would walk again, and now, just six months later, everything is coming together, all his hard work is paying off, and all the prayers were heard- so thank you everyone for praying for him and thinking about him! I can't tell you how happy it makes me!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
A few updates!
Hello bloggy friends! I know I have been terrible at keeping up with this, but I have been extremely busy lately! I really shouldn't even be on here right now- I have a freaking wedding ceremony to write! But... I do have a few quick updates to share!
1) We booked our honeymoon!!! We are going to Playa del Carmen, Mexico! First, we will spend time with out of town family on Sunday, then drive to Charlotte Sunday afternoon and spend the night in the Westin. Then we'll be leaving bright (actually, probably dark!) and early Monday morning, flying first to NYC and then into Cancun, staying at an all-inclusive resort for four nights, and enjoying every minute! Keep your fingers crossed for nice weather and no hurricanes, because I plan to spend some quality time on the beach and at the swim-up pool bar.
2) I have had two great showers in the last two weeks- first a kitchen/recipe shower given by my FMIL's friends, then an "around the clock" shower given by Katie, my MOH. I got tons of great gifts (and recipes) and enjoyed seeing so many friends and family members!
Katie, Molly, Ashley, Me, Kristen and Kelly =)
Every time we are there I don't want to leave, but it will probably be a while before we get back down. The wedding is four weeks from today (ahh!) and then it is football season! Maybe we'll go down when there is an away game, because we have season tickets to UNC this year and I am so excited! Will is already making elaborate tail-gating plans, so it will definitely be a fun, busy, newly-wed Fall! I hope everyone is having an exciting summer! I promise I've been trying to keep up with everyone elses blogs, even if I've neglected my own!
1) We booked our honeymoon!!! We are going to Playa del Carmen, Mexico! First, we will spend time with out of town family on Sunday, then drive to Charlotte Sunday afternoon and spend the night in the Westin. Then we'll be leaving bright (actually, probably dark!) and early Monday morning, flying first to NYC and then into Cancun, staying at an all-inclusive resort for four nights, and enjoying every minute! Keep your fingers crossed for nice weather and no hurricanes, because I plan to spend some quality time on the beach and at the swim-up pool bar.
2) I have had two great showers in the last two weeks- first a kitchen/recipe shower given by my FMIL's friends, then an "around the clock" shower given by Katie, my MOH. I got tons of great gifts (and recipes) and enjoyed seeing so many friends and family members!
Me and FMIL
Katie, Molly, Ashley, Me, Kristen and Kelly =)3) Invitations were mailed out a week ago and I have gotten so many compliments on them! They really did turn out fabulously, if I do say so myself. I'll try to get a picture of one to post here so my "invisible" friends can see too! (That is what Will calls my friends out there in internet world....)
4) My Uncle John is going to be performing our ceremony and I am very excited about it! He did such a great job at my cousins wedding a few years ago, and since Will and I aren't very religious, we thought it would be very special to have John do it. Now I am revising and re-writing parts of my cousin's ceremony to make it perfect for us...and it is hard! By far the hardest part of the whole planning process!
5) We got Will's wedding band, but have to decide in the next week or so what we want to get engraved in them. I like "Love Never Ends" ... thoughts??
6) We booked our cake! We met with a local woman who is sort of a family friend and she does beautiful work and the price was right- $220! We're going with a 3 tier, square, white cake with ivory buttercream frosting, with chocolate brown swirls and blue hydrangeas on the top. We're still trying to decide on a topper, but I'm pretty sure it will be just a simple, scripty "S" for our new last name.
7) We did trial runs of the boquets/bouts/corsaiges and they came out great! We're using a combination of blue hydrangeas, white carnations, white freesias, white mini roses and some boxwood and thyme for some green accents.
8) We FINALLY took engagement pictures today! One of my dad's best friends came up to Greensboro with him and we spent all day taking tons of pictures in different locations and I cannot wait to see them all! Hopefully I will have a CD next week and be able to post a few!
In other news, TJ is doing well- his new house is awesome and we have gotten to go visit twice since he moved in (once in mid-June to help him move and then again for the fourth of July!)
In other news, TJ is doing well- his new house is awesome and we have gotten to go visit twice since he moved in (once in mid-June to help him move and then again for the fourth of July!)
Every time we are there I don't want to leave, but it will probably be a while before we get back down. The wedding is four weeks from today (ahh!) and then it is football season! Maybe we'll go down when there is an away game, because we have season tickets to UNC this year and I am so excited! Will is already making elaborate tail-gating plans, so it will definitely be a fun, busy, newly-wed Fall! I hope everyone is having an exciting summer! I promise I've been trying to keep up with everyone elses blogs, even if I've neglected my own!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Cutest Dog Competition
Alright, bloggy friends... I know I have been super slack with updates, but I promise to be better if you will all go vote for Sadie! She definitely IS the cutest dog ever- pictures don't even do her justice, but I promise personal visits to each and every one of you if she wins! =)
http://www.cutestdogcompetition.com/vote.cfm?h=678A768922848E471438529CE9F8B591
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http://www.cutestdogcompetition.com/vote.cfm?h=678A768922848E471438529CE9F8B591
Friday, July 10, 2009
BIG NEWS!!
I know I haven't posted anything in a few weeks (shame, shame) and I promise I will share some wedding and other unrelated updates soon, but for now I have some big news to share... My MOH is engaged!!!!!!!!!
Katie and I became fast friends in sixth grade and, although we haven't always been as close throughout the years, I can honestly say that she is one of very few people that has remained a close and true friend. She is a wonderful person and I could not ask for a better Maid of Honor. She is smart, funny, trustworthy, sincere, motivated, and truly beautiful- inside and out!
I am so happy for her and her FIANCE- Eric and I wish them both nothing but the best! My heart is so full of love and happiness right now that I could just burst! Or burst into tears- and if you know me, you know they are tears of joy!! Haha =)
Katie and I became fast friends in sixth grade and, although we haven't always been as close throughout the years, I can honestly say that she is one of very few people that has remained a close and true friend. She is a wonderful person and I could not ask for a better Maid of Honor. She is smart, funny, trustworthy, sincere, motivated, and truly beautiful- inside and out!
I am so happy for her and her FIANCE- Eric and I wish them both nothing but the best! My heart is so full of love and happiness right now that I could just burst! Or burst into tears- and if you know me, you know they are tears of joy!! Haha =)
I love you both SO much!!!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Busy Weeks Ahead!
Just wanted to post real quick! I am hosting a "Party Lite" Candle Party tonight, and the house isn't quite clean yet... nor have I showered or prepared any food, so this is going to be short!
So if I don't update for a few days, yall will know why! Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! I know I will!!! =)
I am (hopefully) meeting up with a very old friend tomorrow night, along with my MOH, for martinis and tapas and I am very excited! I haven't seen this guy in I think 5 years, but he is one of the nicest I have ever known (aside from Will, of course!) I've sort of kept up with his life from Facebook and mutual friends, but I'm looking forward to hearing more details about what he's been up to!
Friday I have the day off and will celebrate my birthday with my family- lunch with my grandparents and then $hopping with my Mom!
Then we leave for Florida!! TJ is moving this weekend (into a really awesome house on base that I can't wait to see), so to celebrate my bday/help him out, Will and I will leave Fri evening when he gets off work, hopefully stop in Charlotte to have dinner with my Dad, and then drive through the night to arrive in Pensacola at about 3am. We're staying till Monday which means we get to go to my favorite place ever for Sunday brunch- Flounders! I think I have mentioned this place before, but it is A-mazing! It is ON the beach at Pensacola Beach (you can boat to it, which we did before...probably not this time though!), it is open air, they have live music, great food, beach volleyball, aaaaaannnnd the Champagne Jam!! All-you-can-drink mimosas/hibiscus' (champagne and cran) for $5.99!!! That's right.... 5.99. And once you're done eating, you can mosey on out to the beach, sit by the water, swim, play volleyball, lay in lounge chairs, etc.... all while continuing to gulp...I mean sip.... your champagne! Happy Birthday to ME! =)
Then when we get back Monday night, I have work Tues-Thurs and then Fri morning pedicures with Kelly and the girls, rehearsal Friday night, open-bar rehearsal dinner, then hair/makeup Saturday morning starting at 10, bridesmaids luncheon at 12, wedding at 5, and reception at the O'Henry Hotel!! Whew!!!
So to re-cap:
Wednesday: Candle Party
Thursday: Martinis
Friday: Shopping
Saturday: Florida!
Sunday: Flounders (PS: they have the best Key Lime Pie ever- note Kristen's piece below!)
Friday: Pedicure
Saturday: This pretty girl's wedding!
So if I don't update for a few days, yall will know why! Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! I know I will!!! =)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Blogging Hiatus
So I think it has been almost 3 weeks since my last post... oops! I kept meaning to do one, but just never got around to it. Darn those pesky jobs...always getting in the way of the important things! Haha, okay I'm kidding. I will totally blame my lack of posting on my new job, but I am so thankful for the money!
I have been working at a friend's restaurant from 10-2, Monday-Friday, and it is great! It gets me up and out of the house each day, but I still have time to shop/run errands/go to the pool in the afternoons. Plus, the extra cash is handy ;)
So what else is new... hmm.... we tasted cake with a local lady who works out of her home and her price was reasonable ($3 per slice) but we want to keep looking. She didn't have a wide variety of flavors to choose from, and would not do some of the decorative things we wanted, like have chocolate brown swirls on ivory buttercream icing. She said the dark colors bleed onto the white. Is this true? Can anyone tell me how theirs turned out if you had dark decor on light frosting? And while were at it... suggest some cake flavors! We tasted all yellow cakes, one with strawberry filling, one with raspberry, and one with orange. They were all good, but just not quite what I had in mind. She asked what we were looking for and I drew a blank, so someone help me out here! What's your favorite kind of cake???
I've been working on rentals, just trying to find the best prices and the most convenient as far as delivery, set up, breakdown, etc. Any recommendations? I'm having trouble getting places to respond to my emails. I know I just need to suck it up and call, but email is so much easier!
This past weekend was Kelly's lingerie shower and bachelorette party and both were so much fun! Her shower really made me re-think having one of my own. I don't really look that great (I don't think) in typical lingerie, and would rather have more practical gifts, but Kelly did get some really cute things! Only a few were the over-the-top-sexy things that only get worn maybe once a year and for all of five minutes. The rest were cute, sweet little nightgowns and robes and such- enough to be sexy, but not uncomfortable! Maybe I'll have to mention the idea to Katie....unless she's reading this..... ;)
The bachelorette party was great too- Kelly has a really great group of friends and I am so blessed to be one of them! We had a nice dinner at a local, swanky "green" hotel, and then went downtown to dance! I haven't had a night of dancing like that since college and it was a blast! No boys, of course... any that got too close were quickly told "no thank you" and pushed out of the way by a fellow bridesmaid! It's so much more fun that way, lol.
That's about all the updates I can think of for now... I will try to upload some pictures this weekend (I have been busy on a couple crafty little decorative things for the wedding, but you'll just have to wait to see those!)
Oh, and I promised to mention this fun giveaway- a $10 Starbucks card (you know you want it!) from Brenda at Prarie Tales (http://prairiebren.blogspot.com/) Can someone tell me how to make the blog name clicky instead of having to copy and paste the url? I really need an HTML class.....
Alright, well I hope everyone is having a good week!
Shout Outs:
Kelly- 16 days till you are a Mrs!! ;) Holy Cow!!
Evan- My little cousin is 4 today! Happy Birthday!!! Love you!
Prayers:
Lauren- A bloggy friend who is having a "blue" day- cheer up chica!! You're too pretty not to smile!
I have been working at a friend's restaurant from 10-2, Monday-Friday, and it is great! It gets me up and out of the house each day, but I still have time to shop/run errands/go to the pool in the afternoons. Plus, the extra cash is handy ;)
So what else is new... hmm.... we tasted cake with a local lady who works out of her home and her price was reasonable ($3 per slice) but we want to keep looking. She didn't have a wide variety of flavors to choose from, and would not do some of the decorative things we wanted, like have chocolate brown swirls on ivory buttercream icing. She said the dark colors bleed onto the white. Is this true? Can anyone tell me how theirs turned out if you had dark decor on light frosting? And while were at it... suggest some cake flavors! We tasted all yellow cakes, one with strawberry filling, one with raspberry, and one with orange. They were all good, but just not quite what I had in mind. She asked what we were looking for and I drew a blank, so someone help me out here! What's your favorite kind of cake???
I've been working on rentals, just trying to find the best prices and the most convenient as far as delivery, set up, breakdown, etc. Any recommendations? I'm having trouble getting places to respond to my emails. I know I just need to suck it up and call, but email is so much easier!
This past weekend was Kelly's lingerie shower and bachelorette party and both were so much fun! Her shower really made me re-think having one of my own. I don't really look that great (I don't think) in typical lingerie, and would rather have more practical gifts, but Kelly did get some really cute things! Only a few were the over-the-top-sexy things that only get worn maybe once a year and for all of five minutes. The rest were cute, sweet little nightgowns and robes and such- enough to be sexy, but not uncomfortable! Maybe I'll have to mention the idea to Katie....unless she's reading this..... ;)
The bachelorette party was great too- Kelly has a really great group of friends and I am so blessed to be one of them! We had a nice dinner at a local, swanky "green" hotel, and then went downtown to dance! I haven't had a night of dancing like that since college and it was a blast! No boys, of course... any that got too close were quickly told "no thank you" and pushed out of the way by a fellow bridesmaid! It's so much more fun that way, lol.
That's about all the updates I can think of for now... I will try to upload some pictures this weekend (I have been busy on a couple crafty little decorative things for the wedding, but you'll just have to wait to see those!)
Oh, and I promised to mention this fun giveaway- a $10 Starbucks card (you know you want it!) from Brenda at Prarie Tales (http://prairiebren.blogspot.com/) Can someone tell me how to make the blog name clicky instead of having to copy and paste the url? I really need an HTML class.....
Alright, well I hope everyone is having a good week!
Shout Outs:
Kelly- 16 days till you are a Mrs!! ;) Holy Cow!!
Evan- My little cousin is 4 today! Happy Birthday!!! Love you!
Prayers:
Lauren- A bloggy friend who is having a "blue" day- cheer up chica!! You're too pretty not to smile!
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