Joining the Family

Back in March (I know, I know...late post, right??) Mark's Mom and sister organized a bridal tea for me that was basically just Mark's side of the family. It was a great opportunity to get to know the family members that I didn't know as well and it really turned out to be such a beautiful shower! It was held at Terry Pines Country Club in Cullman, AL (where Mark's dad and some of his family are members and nearby where a lot of his family is from). Mark's Mom, sister and Aunt collected pretty little vintage tea sets for the shower and used these on each of the tables.

Here's a shot of what it looked like before things got started:

Beautiful Right?? 

Here I am with the lovely hostesses:

Me with Mark's Mom 

Allison (Mark's sister) and Me

I'm so lucky to be gaining such an amazing family. Since Mark and I live in Birmingham and his parents live in Trussville (a suburb of Bham) we get to see them a lot. And I have to say...I'm definitely winning the lottery in the in-law department! :)

Thanks again to Allison and Jan and Mark's entire family for the beautiful bridal tea. It made me feel so welcome to be joining their family and it was just an amazing day all in all. These two showers (both this one and the one my friends threw for me in Prattville) have really made the whole wedding experience seem real...and SOON! :) Just 5 more weeks to go!

Showered With Love

I love my friends. Really, I do. I'm very very lucky to have such amazing people in my life. There are many of them that I don't see nearly enough and there are many of them that i don't even talk to nearly enough, but...I love them! :)

Life is busy - and it just gets in the way sometimes. We all have our own commitments - jobs, kids, relationships, hobbies, volunteer work, exercising...you name it. And a lot of the time it just gets in the way... it takes up all of our time and we just don't have much left over to spend with friends. I know I'm certainly guilty of it....I basically have a routine even though I didn't plan it or create it...it just happened. Get up (late-ish), if i don't wake up TOO late...try to squeeze in yoga or a jog around the block, go to work, go to lunch (home most of the time!), leave work, go home, if i didn't exercise in the morning i try to do something during this time - usually either The Shred or a jog in the neighborhood, cook/find dinner, stay up way too late looking at wedding stuff and trying to mark things off my to do list, then go to bed. And get up the next day and start over. I'm sure this sort of routine sounds familiar to many of you. It's typical in the "real world".  Man, being an adult sure does suck sometimes, huh?? ;)

Well, back to my original topic here before I got off on a tangent....April 11th (Easter Weekend) my friends threw me a bridal shower!! It was SOOO much fun! It meant so much to me for my friends to do something so thoughtful and so sweet and so generous just for me. :) It definitely made me feel special and showered with love! It was so great to see so many of my friends from back home that I never get to see nearly often enough. 

I have to say though, it's pretty funny that my senior quote in our yearbook was "Good friends are like stars...you don't always see them, but you know they're always there." This quote has definitely held true! Want proof?? Here's a picture from the shower of me and a group of my good girl friends from high school:

...that's right! PHS c/o 2001!! :)

And here's a picture with the hostesses:

Stevie, Melanie, Me, Heather (my sister) and Becky

Becky worked SO hard on decor coming up with ideas and creating them months in advance! Here she is with some of the birds that she made by cutting them out of cardboard and painting them. Isn't she creative??

and adorable?? ;)

It was so good to see family there too. My grandmother and my Aunt came all the way up from Mobile, AL just to come to the shower! I also got to see my Aunt and cousin on my Mom's side that I haven't seen in YEARS!

I just want to say thank you from the very, very bottom of my heart for all of my friends that spent so much time (and money!) putting this together. It means so very much. I also want to say thank you to all of the friends that came - It was so good to see you and your love and support means a lot. And last but certainly not least, I want to thank my family for the constant love I've received from them and the love and open arms you've shown Mark. 

Lots of Love,

The Indecisive Bride

Moving Right Past Baby Steps....

...that's right. Goodbye baby steps. We're now within a 7 week countdown until the wedding. Know what that means??

....Invitations went out!!! Yay!!! 

I've mentioned invitations before on my blog, like here and here and here. Well, to catch you all up to speed....a while back I listed a request on Etsy's Alchemy. The request was for my wedding invitations. Lots of bids came in for my invitations (probably around 30)...but one really stuck out. The designer was very enthusiastic and really seemed to share the same design style with me...plus, she loved our colors. The designer's name is Lindsey of Lindsey Ryan Design (and I highly, HIGHLY recommend her!). She sent me her portfolio, then a few mockups of what i had in mind and then she continued working with me on mockups. Honestly, we probably made at least 10 before I ever decided that this was the designer that I wanted to work with (what?? I told you i'm indecisive!!). She was sweet and patient and very receptive to my little tweaks and changes. We've been working on these invitations since mid-January! And finally, FINALLY, I get to show these to you!! I didn't want to ruin the surprise for our guests and show them before they went out....so now that I've gotten word that guests are receiving them, I can show them to you all!!

Here's a pic of them all addressed, stamped (both with the postage AND a silver stamp that I hand stamped on each envelope) and ready to go:

Ruby shimmer envelopes

*note - I blurred out parts of names and addresses for privacy*

Mark's Mom (my future mother-in-law) addressed ALL of the invitations for me with her lovely handwriting!! She is so sweet! :) BIG thanks to her b/c if I would have had to address these then they wouldn't be nearly as pretty!

Black Linen folio with aquamarine shimmer belly band

The main invitation!! (again, stuff blurred out for privacy)

It's printed on shimmer paper

The inserts! Travel info and RSVP set

printed on shimmer paper and the RSVP envelope is the aquamarine shimmer

The Whole Set!! 

So...what do you guys think?? I LOVE how they turned out!! I really wanted to build on the kind of "individualistic" theme we kinda have going.... You see, I love for things to coordinate but not match EXACTLY. For example...the bridesmaids dresses that are all the same color and length but all different styles; the vintage glass bottles that are all the same color but different heights and designs; the invitations which are all a form of a damask design...but none of the designs are the same throughout the invitation; the silver stamps on the outside of the invitations that are all the same stamp but placed in different locations on each envelope. I realize that people might not notice these tiny little details...but I do, and I love it! :)   Thanks again to Lindsey!! :)