The World Does Indeed Keep Spinning

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Before I start this post I just want to say that today marks the "one year" point before we get married. What happened to those 4 months? Ya know, when I started blogging about how early I started planning?! I can already tell that this time is going to fly by! Moving on...

Decisions have been made! Since my last post I have been rather productive, which is exciting... kind of. It's a been a bittersweet road because I've made decisions without the help of Mr. O. Unfortunately, because of "The Big D," he can't be quickly contacted to see if he is as excited about the decisions as I am. Often times, I feel like this:

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What is almost comforting is that before he left we had a discussion about all of the things that needed to be decided on and he promised me that he trusted my judgment. I say almost because I really would rather he be involved in the decision making because he actually DOES give an opinion & doesn't typically "yes" me (even if I do get my way in the end - hehe). He did say, "If you're happy, I'm happy." Not to mention that I'm not making a decision without having a minor panic attack and thinking about it for, what feels like, 6 weeks longer than I really need to because I'm checking, double checking, and checking again to make SURE I've made the choice with Mr. O in mind!

Okay.. soooo... We now have a DJ and a photographer!! Well, kind of. I'm waiting on the contract from the DJ to make it official and I need to fill out the contract for the photographer and send it back to her. This reminds me of when I committed to play basketball in college "verbally," -- aka no commitment whatsoever and just wait until you sign. Either way, I'm making progress!!!

The best thing about the photographer is we're friends! Her name is Dani and I've known her for about 2 years. For some reason it just escaped me to look into having her take our wedding photos. Once I did, there was really no question (besides the 50,000 about whether Mr. O would be cool with it). She's an awesome person, she takes great pictures, and I know it's not going to bother me to have her in my face for the entire day. Ow! She's also a former combat photographer for the Navy. Military Vet - Whoop!

Check out how adorable these pictures are:

Lovely military photo by Platinum Touch Photos

Yay for feet pictures!! by Platinum Touch Photos

Prettiness by Platinum Touch Photos

So, with the title in mind, the world does actually keep spinning even when you're dealing with "The Big D." My routine has come back to me (because it was definitely lost for a while), I'm interviewing for TWO jobs*, and life is good!

I've also progressed to the labeling stage of the Save the Dates! Granted, I don't have every person's address but I've been able to label over 1/2 of them. I'm doing each step gradually because I'm ahead of schedule, which is AWESOME! As for the invitations, I should probably start assembling those now.... talk about a labor of love! 

*I only need one job and will be very pleased with either one. Just please let one of them work out!! My fingers are definitely crossed.

The Good STDs

I've ordered & received our Save the Dates! It was a really fun project, too. Thanks to Mr. O's sister we had some great engagement pictures to choose from and then I taught myself to use Photoshop.... BAM Save the Dates are made! Yay for that! I, obviously, can't post them because I want to make sure people see them in real life first, but regardless it's super exciting. After revisiting our guest list it looks like I'm going to have to place another order, but I have plenty of time to do so.

Another thing that is on my "to-do" list is schedule some meeting with some catering companies. We thought we had that figured out, but I just hate when people aren't on top of things! That's a whole different story, but if you read the post about the florist you get it because it's the same situation. Hopefully, I can pick food that Mr. O will like!!

Things that I keep putting off, but feel like I need to get done are listed below.

Catering & Bar
Photography
DJ
Anything important to do with the wedding that's not fun and crafty

I think I have #2 & #3 taken care of. I'm just really terrible at making that last decision with fear that I will regret it... even though I know that won't. It's weird "down payment" anxiety. haha

This past weekend I went to my friend's wedding. It was really great seeing so many friends from high school and being able to visit good ole' Indiana!

All together now, "Awwwww!" :)

Military Addition - One of Many.

 The day came even though I willed it not to.

In the "Big D" underway, I thought I'd have a post completely dedicated to that. Today, for whatever reason, I have stumbled upon some pretty cool blogs. I guess I probably think they're cool because I'm diving head first into this military life and when someone has a blog that make me say, "Ohh.. I get it now!" it really helps.  I'll be honest and say that I haven't read every single post of every single blog, but below you will find the blogs that I have stumbled across today where I've found a post that has enlightened me.

The Gunny's Wife - Thank you for the recipe and instructions for the cake in a jar ... with pictures!


-- She has contests, not to mention her awesome little badge. Sweeeett!!

Atta Girl! Gifts -- Such cute pendants for those ladies that have gone through some tough times. They are pretty much the equivalent to their counterparts ribbons. 

On Leave -- Imagine a travel agent that knows all about military discounts... holler! 

Lastly, I'll leave you with a cute military wedding photo. :) 

Adorable! (not sure where I got it....)

It just dawned on me that I have a significant amount of planning to do without Mr. O here. Lame! Such exciting plans and I want to share every moment with him. It'll be okay. That's why we have letters, emails, motomail, Facebook, packages, and anything else I can think of. Thank you technology.

Frustrated Food

I'm been known to be kind of "on top of things" when it comes to getting things taken care of for the wedding. Yes, most of this is because Mr. O had the whole D-day thing going on and I wanted him to be as involved as possible but regardless... I've been ahead of the game. With that said, I find myself becoming very impatient when people don't get back to me in a timely fashion.

Granted, I have time for these said people to drag their feet but I don't have to like it. I mean, I really want to get the big things done... aka catering. Why is it so hard to get back to me with a quote? I understand that everyone is busy and that my wedding is not the most important thing going on, but it's been almost 3 weeks since I was told that I'd have a quote right way. Then, it's been a week and a half since they said they'd have one to me by Monday. Then it's been 3 days since I was told that they would be "following up."

Needless to say, I'm frustrated. This is the most frustrated that I've been in the entire process of the planning. Yes, I've had little concerns (like when the florist didn't humor me and I vowed to take my business elsewhere), but food is a pretty big deal & people like to book them pretty far ahead of time. Liiikkkeee me!

Dear Caterers, I need a nacho cheese fountain for our wedding. Holla atcha girl if you want my business.

I just want fantastic food, but when I have to deal with businesses like this it makes me concerned. Is this a foreshadow of what is going to happen on my wedding day? That day, late is not an option. So, now it's back to square one. It looks like a trip to SC to try more food is in my future. Who wants to join me? Where are my bridesmaids? Ohhhh yeahhh, everywhere BUT in NC or SC. haha :)

Dear Bridesmaids, this is a must-see.

This is just a little sidenote of what I will be seeing around May 13th time frame. I will be home for my friend's wedding and maybe a few of us can go. It just looks so funny. The last part about, "... I'm not even confident which end that came out of..." made me literally lol.

Love it!

Engagement Pictures, Catering, Cakes... OH MY!

It's been a while since I last updated but, with "The Big D" right around the corner, my priorities have changed a bit. I had a second and wanted to share with you some of the REALLY awesome stuff that we've been able to do while visiting his family in South Carolina. I won't talk about all the delicious food, the amazing desserts, and the family time.... but I'll give you a few pictures so you can see what we've been doing.

 A little baseball action

 A little spinning action

 A little you be Superman & we'll hit people w/ the bat action

A little, "Hey, I'm cute. Take my picture." action

Needless to say, we've had lots of family time and that's been really nice (& much needed for both Mr. O and his fam). During the other part of our trip we've taken our engagement photos because we were lucky enough to have his sister offer to take them! We talked to 2 bakers, 1 catering service, a few florists, our wedding planner, and a photographer. Sounds hectic, but it really wasn't that bad. 

I met with the planner on my own so that Mr. O could have some "boy" time and go play golf with his dad and brother-in-law. She was ah-maze-ing. Seriously, she's already helped me tremendously and I only hired her for "day-of" planning... I am more than pleased that I made the decision to hire her.

We enjoyed both bakers, but I think I like one a little more than the other. She was a little bit more friendly and into what we really wanted. She's also a small(er) business and I love the idea of using someone local. The catering service was amazing, too. I'd be satisfied with using them and not looking anywhere else.... is that acceptable? Eh, I don't seem to be playing by many "wedding rules," so if we do decide to do that I wouldn't be upset!

My florist experience: I really just wanted someone to be friendly and help me get a grasp for what kind of things that I should expect. Yes, I am well aware that my wedding is over a year away but if I walk in and tell you that I'm looking for a florist and plan on spending a lot of money in your shop I expect to act like you want my service. If you haven't caught on, the first place I went to acted completely uninterested in me and my business... so I will take it elsewhere. 

The other place we went was FANTASTIC. The woman, Barbara, was the sweetest lady. She was pulling flowers from the back, giving me suggestions, writing everything down, etc... She was awesome. The prices were reasonable, too! Ummm, where do I sign? haha -- j/k. I'm not signing anything just yet.

Our engagement pictures: I don't know how to say amazing besides.. well.. amazing. They turned out just the way I wanted them and Mr. O was pleased, too. I couldn't have been happier. It was also a really pleasant trip. We just drove around with a few places in mind, but no one was opposed to stopping along the road if we saw something we thought would be nice... which ended up getting us some of my favorite shots. I'll leave you with a few "sneak peek" photos.

Oh! Not to mention, I found my dress already!! I won't see it again until August, but ohemgee... it's awesome <3

Reported Attack Page!

I have certain blogs that I like to periodically check. One of them is The Inspired Bride, basically she sees things that would look cool translated into a wedding and she posts different "inspiration boards." They're pretty good and, for the most part, they're fun to look at. BUT WAIT! What did I find when I clicked on my bookmark?? This....

Ummm... they aren't dangerous! The Inspired Bride is PRETTY! Now, I'm just scared to click "ignore this message" because ummmm Google rules the world and they say no. haha I guess I'll have to figure out some other way to look at useless pictures of someone's party that wasn't a wedding, but could be a wedding. lol Yeah, I guess I can deal with not looking at it until they figure out what the problem is.

In other news, my toe hurts. I'm 99.99% positive that it's broken, but I'll skip posting the picture because as I said in my last post.. I like shoe/feet cutesy pictures (like the one below).. I don't like feet. I did send it to my parents and one lucky RN. (What up Jaclynnnn!!)

I'm trying to square away some meetings with catering place, flowers, bakeries, etc.... I don't want to have an overload of meetings, but since we're going to be in SC I think we should try to mark off at least a few things. Even if Mr. O skips the flower session or something along those lines, I think I'll survive.

Lastly, I got these wooden letters (M & K) recently. It was definitely in impulsive purchase, but now I have to decide where to use them. I'll leave you with some inspiration pictures. Holler!

Source

 Excuse me for not knowing where I got all of these pictures. If you Google, "wooden initials wedding" they'll come up in the images section. <3