"You smell like pine needles & your face is like sunshine."

If you haven't seen Bridesmaids, you must. It's hilarious!  Picture here

When Mr. O & I first got engaged, I knew who I wanted to stand with me. I actually think it was one of the first decisions that I made (I know, I know... all bridal advisers want to slap me on the wrist right now.) Maybe I knew because I'm the cheesy girl that tunes into WE!'s "Wedding Sunday" and have, obviously, thought about the day that I would get married. It also might be because the important ladies in my life just kind of pop out at me. That doesn't mean I don't have a lot of important friends, but the history I have with all of these girls made it just perfect.

I introduce you to my 5 lovey, beautiful, and fantastic bridesmaids:

My Maid of Honor and "Seester." I love her to pieces and couldn't imagine me walking down the aisle without her at the end to hold my bouquet. ;) She's amazing, smart (like really smart), outgoing, and adventurous. I look up to her and I always have. I once wrote a paper about how she was my hero. If she's ever said that she wants to do something, she does it. I can't wait until my "big day" when my seester is my right hand (wo)man.

My bff Kaitlyn. We met late in college, but you'd think we've known each other forever. She was one of the people I called saying, "Omg, I just met this guy... He's a Marine. He makes me feel like I'm in a black & white movie!" She's got a big heart & would drop everything if I called her to say I needed her. Mark likes her so much that he gave her a nickname, Kilo Victor (what a military thing to do). When we got engaged we played a dirty joke on her. I told her that Mark and I had gotten in a fight. She was super sad about it and asked why. My response was, "... because we can't decide on what color your bridesmaid dress is going to be." Her response, "Shut up! Omg! Shut up... Shut up!" haha. Needless to say, she was happy for us.

Chelsea, Chels, Belle. From annual Spring Break trips to Ft. Myers Beach in high school, Taylor basketball camps, and visiting each other in college we've been through a looottttt together. She's ah-maze-ing. She'll be there to say something funny when I'm having a mini meltdown or making some DIY project the day of the wedding that I really wanted to do, but somehow ran out of time. She's a great friend & I heart her face.

Whitney Anne! Now the mommy to the most perfect little man ever, she's makes me so proud to call her my friend. I'm thrilled that we've remained great friends since I can remember and I'm so happy that she's going to be a part of my day. The days leading up to my wedding are going to be full of, "Remember when..." stories and I'm very excited about it. For example, "Remember when we took a random trip to Muncie & ended up at some dance hall thing?!"

My beautiful cousin, Jayln. The little kid that used to come over and let me dress her up in different outfits has turned into an awesome girl. I love her so, so much!! She is headed to Cosmetology school in September and I can't wait to see her become super successful.

Whoop! Whoop! They are fantastic & I can't wait until I get to be with all of them at the same time. Yay!

On this Table You will find;Our Guest Book for You to Sign

I have had a hard time figuring out what I thought would be awesome at our wedding for a guestbook. I, obviously, love diving into one project after another. Therefore, I've been doing some research. I've loved the idea of a photo book that lets people sign on or around pictures. With that said, I've already made one of those. :)

Here are some other things that I really have considered and some I am still considering. I just don't think that the photo book will be enough? Maybe the photo book at the Ceremony and then something more "crafty" at the Reception. Hmm... these are things I like to ponder for long periods of time when I'm bored.

The gorgeous/fun guest book quilt!

The "Guest Bench" - by the same person who made the quilt. Uh, IMPRESSIVE!

I <3 pictures so the Polaroid Guest Book is a fave, but since we're doing a Photo booth it might be too many pictures.

I'm sure that I'll find more things that I enjoy and that I want to do, but eventually one will make more sense to me & I'm sure Mr. O will love it, too. :)

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!