Bridesmaids Dresses......check!

This past Sunday, the girls and I traveled to Richmond to purchase the bridesmaid dresses. I had picked out 4 styles of dresses in cotton sateen, since we are having the wedding outside....in July. Cotton I figured would be the best choice as far as comfort and breath-ability. I had in my mind the dress that each girl would probably choose; however, once we got there, I realized they had discontinued 2 of the dresses. And the 2 styles that took their place were less than appealing. So that narrowed it down to 2 choices. I never really cared which ones the girls chose, as long as they liked them and were comfortable. Long story short, everyone chose the same dress! And it looked fabulous on all of them. In fact, I want one :)

<--The dress is seen here

The meaning of Generosity

gen-er-os-i-ty [jen-uh-ros-i-tee]-the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return

I have definitely learned a lesson in generosity lately...from the generosity of the guests at our engagement parties, to our parents, to our wedding party, and everyone else.

First...our engagement parties. Thank you again to everyone who attended the Harrisonburg and Newport News engagement parties. We expected nothing from anyone, just time to share in the happiness that Corey and I get to share everyday. BUT EVERYONE WAS SO GENEROUS!! It's crazy, you get engaged and people just start giving you stuff, just because you're engaged. I've never experienced anything like it before.

Our parents. Besides the fact that they raised us, and didn't kill us or abandon us in the process, both of our parents have been more than generous. Corey's parents have taken so much time out of their schedules to come and visit in order to be with us. His mom even spent her birthday in Newport News at our engagement party. And every time we talk about the wedding, there's something else they want to do for us! GENEROSITY

My parents have already been beyond amazing. I know I like to think that they don't mind coming up here because "they love the mountains" but they have rearranged their schedules so many times to be up here, even at the drop of a hat, for dress fittings and game weekends, and just because. They are there when I send 30 emails with the slightest changes to the Save the Dates I designed, and respond with their suggestions-while always following it up with "do what you want". They are there on weekends to support me when my dress comes in, to buy wedding shoes, to support Corey by coming to every home game, and they are there at 2 am, 3 pm, or whenever else I call, even if it's not related to the wedding. And they have bent over backwards, kept their mouths’ shut, allowed me to change my mind 5 times about the wedding colors (and have provided GENTLE reminders to stay within the budget ;) ). GENEROSITY

My bridesmaids....o how I love you girls.

First, my sister (MOH #1).....I think my sister was in love with me before I was ever on this earth. It is because of my sister that I am Shelby Nichole, and not Meredith Elizabeth, and this picture keeps coming to mind of us in the hospital when I was first born. You can just tell in the picture that little 2 1/2 year old Lindsey just couldn't wait to meet her baby sister...to hold me, kiss me, love me, and protect me. And that's what she did. Lindsey has always been my little guardian angel, looking out for me....one of my biggest advocators, and biggest spoilers. I can remember countless Christmas's (of which I am now embarassed) that I gave Lindsey one gift that was probably as exciting as a paperclip, and she would shower me with gifts....and not even care, because she got more delight out of watching me open the present from her, than from any gift I could give her. I feel like I will never be able to repay the GENEROSITY that she has shown me over the years. And now, getting married, I know that she will be there for me, whatever I need.

MOH #2-Chrissy. O Chrissy....what would I do without you. Chrissy has gone above and beyond the call of duty. She has sat through countless conversations with me, whether it was about the wedding, registering, the bridal party, food, ghosts, camping, wedding dresses, wedding disasters, dreams, girl problems, food, uncertainties about jobs and living situations,...did I mention food. She was the one I confided in no matter what it was. She has taken me on numerous dates, and we finally got our men together and they love each other :). She spent a whole day taking me around Washington D.C. in 1000 degree weather just to look for bridal jewelry. No matter whether I'm with her or not, she always has an eye out for something I can use for the wedding, including FREE antique books (which debuted in our engagement shoot), as well as the canning jars that were supposed to be in our shoot, that I had been killing myself trying to find. She has tagged along on numerous shopping trips and made some on her own for the wedding. She has given some of the best advice during some of the most difficult situations, and has shared her own very personal experiences to help me through my own. She is there at a drop of the hat, and comes to ME asking what she can do, rather than me having to ask for a favor. I cannot believe how blessed I am that we became friends, especially since I never thought that that diagnostic partner that I did not want to work with would become my best friend, my maid of honor, my life friend. I love you and your GENEROSITY!

MURRPPPHHHHH- Shannon Murphy. I love you so much. You are always thinking about me as well. And what would I do without your stumbleupon websites that you forward to me. Or the many bride's blogs that you sent my way. You were always on the lookout for a post or picture for inspiration for me. Many of my "brilliant" ideas have come from your procrastinating moments when you sent pictures/blogs my way.

Lauren Block-I miss you so much now that you live in C-ville. I will never EVER forget the night that Lauren came over, brought her laptop, and rattled off a list of questions she had about the wedding, and then typed madly away as I answered them, and saved the file on her computer. How awesome is that. Just another example of how my bridesmaids have come to ME over and over again, offering their help. I can't explain how nice that is. To have every single one of the girls offer their help and ask what they can do, rather than me having to come to them. It's a true testament that they really WANT to be doing this and I haven't burdened them with an obligation.

Laura D.-Oh how I miss my duet partner. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate karaoke into the wedding somehow :) you have been there from the beginning......listening to me go on and on three weeks into the relationship about 'how I thought Corey was THE ONE, but I had to be crazy because "it's only been three weeks" and how could anyone really know that soon'. Thank you for reassuring me that I was, in fact, NOT crazy. And for continuing to believe that neither of us was crazy when we got engaged three months in :) I will always appreciate your enthusiasm about our relationship, the wedding as a whole, and the particulars of planning....like how excited you were when I showed you the bm dresses I picked out. Or the continued offers to help with the growing list of DIY projects. Maybe I want ribbon wands to see us off.... :D

And last but certainly not least....my roommates. Even though we have only been roommates for a short amount of time they have been extremely GENEROUS and patient with me. They have to deal with articles from the wedding/engagement shoot, always lingering somewhere around the house. And because I just don't ever seem to have the time to get my life straight, there's always something of mine sitting on the kitchen counter that hasn't quite made it upstairs to my bedroom yet. Currently there are birdcages, chalk boards, picture frames, and david's bridal bags sitting in our living room. Not once have my roommates complained about anything, they simply tidy up a little better than I've left things and go about life around my stuff. They will never know how much having one less worry means to me!

I have to mention one more group of people that have been ridiculously generous. I don't want to mention their names because they are also humble but our vendors have been BEYOND WORDS gracious with us. Between giving us discount, previously agreed upon pricing, and free stuff...I couldn't ask to be surrounded by a better group of people to be taking care of us on the most important day of our lives!

GENEROSITY.....it means something a little different to everyone, but I've been blessed with ridiculously generous people and think I have a pretty good definition for the word

RUCHE

I just LOOOVVVEEEEE Ruche. Take a look at their new fall lookbook

Speaking of Updates

Speaking of updates.....I found out the approximate ship date for my dress is September 10th and it will hopefully be in a week later! That's only one more month!!! WOOOO HOOOOOO

Updates, updates, updates

Soooo, it's been a while since I last posted. And 11:34 pm is probably not the time to catch up, but I'm going to try.

Corey and I came home on Thursday, July 29th, anxiously awaiting his parents' arrival on Saturday. Sunday was not only his mom's birthday, but also our SECOND ENGAGEMENT PARTY!!!! My parents worked so hard, and it was AWESOME!!!

During the time that Corey's parents were here we were able to make a trip to Short Pump in Richmond. We showed Corey's parents the bridesmaids' dresses and the color, and the moms enjoyed looking at what dresses were out there for them. Corey had seen this awesome deal that morning for Jos A Banks and we headed over to check out suits. (Let's backtrack here a little) While I've been trying to personalize the wedding to our tastes, I realized that I KNEW that Corey didn't HAVE to wear a tuxedo for the wedding, but did he know? It's a big deal to get Corey in a tie, and with the wedding being OUTSIDE in JULY I thought it would really be a good idea to let him know he has some wiggle room with what he wanted to wear. That eventually got us looking at tan/khaki suits.

So we're in Jos A Banks and we're just not finding the "right" tan color suit that everyone can agree on. I had tossed around the idea of grey suits when I first introduced the idea to Corey but we quickly decided on tan. On a whim we asked Corey to put on a grey jacket. I know I'm partial, but HE LOOKED GOOD!!!! We found a suit (separates) in this awesome medium charcoal grey, and I'm so excited. Corey really seems happy with it, everyone seemed really happy with it. Now just on to deciding what shirt/tie we want to put with it. Changing the suit from tan to grey also meant that I could contemplate my original thought of using yellow for the boutonnieres.

Which brings me tooooo........the past two days Mom and I have been scouting out potential florists, stopping in a couple shops (and having a little too much excitement in one-as one of the employees suffered a seizure while we were there). We actually returned to this shop this afternoon. It is run by a Mom-daughter team, and they are the sweetest people ever!!!!! I went to one consultation this morning, and the lady was definitely helpful, but I felt HER vision was much more traditional, and at times pushed her own ideas on me. She had a lot of great suggestions and it was a good experience. However, meeting with the second florist this afternoon was a much better experience. I feel that they not only wanted to understand my vision, but actually understood it and took it to heart. Also, looking through books of their previous work, I saw many elements that I want in our wedding. They completely understood the whole vintage/romantic/garden wedding feel that I'm going for. Not to mention they had soooo many vases/lanterns/flower stands that are just EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!! I also felt that they weren't out to "nickel and dime us to death" as I think the saying goes. The first florist wanted to charge us $10 for each vase just to hold the bms bouquets in before the wedding. RIDICULOUS!!!!! The second florist said they wouldn't charge us for vases, even ones for centerpieces. I won't get an estimate from them until a week-10 days from now, but the lady said she would give us a price range and include as many pictures as she could so that I would understand what she is talking about. She also welcomed any pictures I wanted to send her. On top of everything else, she has done work at the Lodge before, is only 2 blocks away from the Lodge, is familiar with Kathy (our wedding coordinator with the Lodge), and also knows my day-of coordinator. As we were leaving she kept saying "you're practically family now". It's good to work with family

Credit to Whitney Powell

I loved this post so much that I read on my friend Whitney's wall that I just had it to share.....


Weddings will change your entire vocabulary. BMs and STDs are no longer taboo terms, but terms that I hear EVERY day. BMs are super helpful and something you enjoy in your life and STDs can be ordered in Hallmark, online, or from local experts. I see more than one BM a day, which I hear is healthy. I am checking out my options for STDs, and I am leaning towards ones that I can order online and that stick to things!
Like I said, weddings will change your entire vocabulary. Who knew that BRIDESMAIDS and SAVE THE DATES had such funny abbreviations.

Wedding Updates

I think a wedding is a great time to learn more about each other.....but it has also proven a great testament to how well we already know each other. For instance, as we finally narrowed down our venue choices to the Williamsburg Lodge, my fear of rain and a "backup plan" for our outside wedding rose once again. Corey, knowing it wouldn't be enough just to TELL me that he was sure it wouldn't rain on our special day, went on almanac.com and told me out of the past 10 years it had only rained once on June 25. When we were debating whether we wanted to change the wedding to July 2, my mom followed Corey's lead and checked the almanac (but I already knew my momma knows me better than I know myself:) )

I've also come to know that the little details that NO ONE will even notice also serve very little importance to Corey. Not that he doesn't care, it just isn't that important in the grand scheme of things whether there are four or five candles on the table. I think planning has also taken me on somewhat of a self-discovery (although things such as being INDECISIVE I already knew too well about myself, and boy has that shown through during planning!) My professors have a knack for referring to my grad class as the most type A class they have ever seen come through.....my attention, no obsession, to details in the wedding are only affirming this for me.

All in all, it's so much fun, but I think the fun and passion come from the fact that it is OUR day....and I want to make it perfect for Corey. Although, I think when we're standing there saying our vows, or having dinner, or our first dance, I don't think the number of candles on the table will all of a sudden strike importance :)

Here is an inspiration board for what I'm now thinking for the wedding. Thankfully I haven't done one of these for every idea I've had since I've changed my mind numerous times about, oooo...wedding colors, flowers, centerpieces.....

I know the colors seem a little all over the place but the concept is supposed to be vintage and romantic.

We were originally using a very natural palate.....blue, yellow, and green. I still really like that and all those colors are going to be incorporated but as I keep saying I am "enhancing" the colors/decor by adding in some peach and pinks-mostly in the flowers. The main reason is I've been fostering a desire to use pinks and peaches and stumbled upon this bouquet.....

I completely fell in love with it, and it just scrreeeeaaammmmeeedddd VINTAGE and ROMANTIC to me! The more I thought about it, and after consulting with my mom she agreed, the especially with doing an outside wedding, if we decorated with just white and green, it might all get lost. We also visited the Lodge again when I came home on a spur of the moment trip Tuesday. It was sooo helpful since the room was divided into the one end section we will be using for the wedding. The space didn't seem quite so massive, but the room does have a lot of character on its own. I felt the neutral/natural palate we were going to use would get lost in the room, not to mention white centerpieces would fade into the white tablecloths without some punch from other colors.

So far it's been a productive trip home and I feel that I am finding more and more a "theme" or vision for what I want the wedding to look like. I think part of the indecision before was that I wasn't following any type of theme, it was just "I like this...I like that" and trying to make it all work.

Quick Update

SOOOOO.......it's finally here. Tomorrow Corey and I hop in the car to drive to Newport News. Friday morning we wake up bright and early to catch a plane to TEXAS!!! Fly into San Antonio, have lunch at the Riverwalk, drive up to Austin for FORD AND NATASCHA'S WEDDING WEEKEND!!!!! As Corey puts it we're both "bustin at the seams" with excitment that this weekend is finally here. There are so many things to be excited about. I haven't been home much this semester, or at least the past month. I will finally be going home, even though it's only for a few hours-there's always something magically renewing that happens when you go back home and see family. Corey and I get to make our first trip together and we both have expressed how excited we are to fly TOGETHER for the first time. I'm always so proud to be seen out in public with him :)
We never made it down to San Antonio when I visited Texas over Christmas. When Corey booked the tickets for this weekend, he surprised me by telling me we were flying into San Antonio so that he could take me to the Riverwalk!!!
Once we get to Austin Friday afternoon it will be all things wedding....and although I'm jealous it is not our own wedding this weekend, Corey and I could not be happier that we are attending a wedding of two people that love each other so much. And I can't wait to see Natascha...she is going to make such a beautiful bride. (Trust me....there will be many pictures to come after this weekend). I believe Friday is going to consist of the rehersal dinner and then going out, possibly to 6th Street. Saturday I'm sure will be golf for the boys and girlie things for the girls. I'm so excited to see Katie again, and I know Corey can't wait to see the boys.
Corey's parents and brother, along with his family, are coming down sometime Saturday. Corey's dad graciously booked the hotel for us, and we are staying in the same place as them. Sunday we will wake up and hang out with his family until it is time to sadly say goodbye to Texas once again.
It will no doubt be an exciting (and exhausting) weekend. Corey and I won't get back to NN until around 10-10:30 and our lives go on on Monday (I offered to drive so that Corey can sleep).
I've got to get back to work now.....between writing this post, checking fb, and starring at my ring, I've successfully procrastinated finshing my work due today. I'll write again when we get back.
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!!!
Love to all

Easter

Easter service was absolutely amazing!!! I'd love to say more but I have to go study for resonance, but I wanted to add our limited Easter pictures :) (mostly for my momma)

Spring has sprung

Spring has sprung in the valley.....or actually it's more like summer. Today was the second day where the temperature reached above 80 degrees, but oh was it glorious!!

I took some time to soak it all in.

Spring brings on so many wonderful sights, sounds, smells, and feelings. Downtown smelled like melons today-the arboretum smelled like wildflowers-and campus smelled simply of spring. Yes, today I was a "nature-freak" as my friend Shannon told me :) But because I was, I have pictures to share with you all....a little taste of spring:

Spring is....

flowering trees

bulbs promising to bloom

clear, blue skies making perfect backdrops

make-shift Easter egg hunts

(if only pictures could play sounds....so I could

share the joyful sounds of kids laughing

and calling to each other)

pastel fingers

(no picture is ever going to do my ring justice...)

bright, bare toes

Spring also means first nights of Pennybacker's rooftop being open...which is where Corey and I ended up having dinner. It was so good. And nights like tonight really make you appreciate where you live, even if it is a small town.

No matter how much joy I receive from food, or flowers, or egg hunts, or blue skies, nothing will ever compare to the pure joy I feel now, as I sit next to my fiance, and know that I need nothing that I don't have in this moment.

Spring has most definitely sprung :)

Alive

Alive....that is how I feel today, or at least how I felt this morning. I don't know if it was waking up knowing that I was going to get to see Corey in the morning, or the fact that I ate breakfast (with him), either way, I felt alive. So much so I decided to work out!!!!!

Being that Corey is a strength and conditioning coach, and always on my case about working out, and the fact that my Nana is battling cancer for the third time, I decided that it was best that I start being as healthy as possible NOW!!!!

So after having breakfast (at D-hall) with Corey I promptly headed home, made a new playlist for my iPod, and headed to Purcell Park to run. I had all intentions on jogging the track twice, but as I neared the end of the first lap, I decided it was sufficient enough; probably better to ease myself back in anyways. Although the cool morning air flared up my asthma, and the budding flowers flared up my allergies, it was a very enjoyable run. There's definitely a calming peace about running by yourself; however, since I don't see a stroller or a dog in my near future, if anyone is interested in being my running partner, I'm all for it.

After running, and about half walking, I headed to the gym to try to tackle a workout. The worst part about starting working out again is realizing how out of shape you are. I only did body weight work-outs, as directed by my wonderful fiance. I'm not sure I feel alive anymore...more like....jello. And I have a funny feeling I will feel DEAD tomorrow. But it's all worth it in the end :)

Blogging

So....I never thought of myself as a "blogger". I guess I thought that you have to be a good writer for people to want to read what you've written. That may be the case, but since I'm not trying to write a murder mystery or the next best selling children's book, I figure I'll be ok. So here I am, blogging for the first time.

My thoughts with the blog are, I've been engaged for two months and have been planning a wedding for almost that whole time....in my experience, things have changed from day to day (and sometimes even multiple times in one day, or one sitting). Since even I have a hard time keeping track of what's going on with us and the wedding, I figured everyone else might be wondering too. I thought a blog, if people are interested enough to read it, would be a good way to keep people in the loop.

I'd love to catch you up on where we are now (as far as all the previous plans, that would take too long to go over, and they don't matter anymore)...but I need to run some errands and get dinner started. I'll be back soon