Save the date card

I absolutely LOVE my save the date card!! I got a recommendation to look on Etsy.com for someone to design my save the date card and I found the perfect card pretty quickly! I worked with Steph from SLW Designs and she was fantastic. She had my finished product to me within 48 hours and it was exactly what I wanted! I couldn't have been more pleased with the way it turned out and she was able to honor all of my requests. Please check out her site on Etsy, as she designs all kinds of cards, not just wedding cards!!

Of course some of you will be receiving this card in your mailbox, but I haven't quite decided if I am going to do a magnet or a postcard. I guess you will find out when it shows up in your mailbox!!

SURPRISE Engagement party

Yes- I said SURPRISE!! I still can't believe that everyone was able to be in on this surprise and I have no idea that it was happening! My best friend and matron of honor called me early in the week to see if the future hubby and I wanted to have dinner on Saturday night. This was not out of the ordinary because her and her husband and me and my soon to be husband have very different work schedules so if we want to hang out- we have to plan ahead. We had plans to eat at Chilis and then go to the golfing range to see who had better golf skills (its def. not me!!) Our plan was to meet around 6pm, but Nick and I were out on the boat that day, and were running late getting home. I texted her around 5 to let her know that we would be runnng late (I had no idea that she and the rest of our family and friends were at my parents house already waiting on the surprise). Right before we were leaving the house to go eat, my dad calls frantic about a problem with his computer (this again was not out of the ordinary, because my dad is not the most computer savy person and that thing always seems to not work at the worst times) When we pulled up to my parents house (still having no idea what was about to happen) I ran to the door so I could hurry up and fix the computer and then leave (so i thought) Nick was actually cleaning all of the trash out of my car when he heard everyone scream surprise!! I let myself in the front door and there was so many people there to celebrate with us!! My 2 BEST FRIENDS had been helping my mom all week plan a fabulous party and my brother and sister in law even came in from Gainesville for the surprise. It was the best moment so far in the planning process!! I was in such shock that they were able to surprise us and that we have such great family and friends!! Here are a few photos from the party....

The HOSTEST With the MOSTEST!!- my wonderful MOM




Right when I walked in the door- I think I was looking back for Nick. I thought for sure he was in on this- but he had no idea either!!




Looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together!!

My brother and sister-in-law who came down from Gainesville to join in on the surprise!! I absolutely love them!!

What a great party this was!! It will go down in history as the First (and LAST) time anyone will be able to pull over a surprise on me!! I swore I knew everything that everyone was doing- especially in my family- I guess I was wrong!!
Thank you mom and dad for a great party! Thank you Adam and Kara for coming to town for our party! Thank you to my wonderful maid and matron of honor- you gals are fantastic and really helped my mom throw a great party! Thank you to Mrs. B for helping my mom plan and organize this party- and for your generous gift to us!! We love you all with all our hearts and can't wait for you to share this special day with us!!

Wedding Monogram

I never even knew that having a wedding monogram was an option until I started hanging out on "the knot." I saw that a lot of other brides used their monogram on things like invitations, aisle runners, and thank you cards and I thought it was a fabulous idea. Of course I had no idea how to make one so I enlisted the help of fellow knotties and was referred to Jennifer at http://thefussydesigner.wordpress.com/

She was fantastic to work with and I love the finished product. She followed all of my instructions on what I wanted and was quick and easy to work with. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a wedding monogram. From the moment I emailed her, she had me mock-ups within 24 hours, and had my finished product to me within the first 5 days! She sent me several "mock-ups" and then I was able to tell her what I liked and she came up with a monogram that was exactly what was in my head!

Here is my finished product and I absolutely love it!!! Those of you who are going to be attending my wedding will see this more often than you think! I have already used it on our wedding program fans (pictures and instructions to follow), and our return address labels for thank you cards. I have plans to use it on many other things but we will see how that goes.

Engagement Pictures

Finding a photographer was something that I thought was going to be really difficult, mainly because there is just so many to choose from. Actually though-this was one of the easiest decisions we have made so far! Thank you to the wonderful world of FACEBOOK for reconnecting me with an old friend. I had been looking at photography that Jennifer had been posting on her facebook page and was loving everything I saw. When Nick Finally proposed I contacted her to see if she would be interested in photographing our wedding. (Mind you- we hadn't even found a venue at this point) but I knew that I wanted Jennifer to photograph our wedding. I remembered her wonderful personality, her love for others, and her passion for anything she did, and knew that she was the one who would capture our wedding!! I talked to her several times before we actually met for engagement pictures and everytime I talked to her I got more and more excited to work with her. We met in St. Augustine and were able to bring our dog (she LOVES photographing Dogs, and while we are at it- She loves to photograph children and families and couples too) I could not be any more pleased with the way our e-pics turned out and would recommend her to anybody who was looking for a resonably priced photographer who presents EXCELLENT work!! Here is a sampling of our engagement pictures.

Here is a link to Jennifer's blog

http://jennhopkinsphoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/nick-and-meredith-engaged.html

and a link to her website:

http://jennhopkinsphotography.com/

Thank you Jenn for the great photos!! You are an awesome photographer and I look forward to having you at our wedding! and of course I can't wait to see the photos from our wedding day- I know they will be fabulous!!

Wedding Colors

Now that we have found a venue we had to decide on wedding day colors. Of course Pink was an obvious choice, but I did venture away from pink a few times. Here are some of the wedding colors I debated between:

http://theperfectpalette.blogspot.com/2009/04/inspiration-board-222-brooklyn-studio.html
I loved these colors but didn't really think it matched our venue selection.

http://theperfectpalette.blogspot.com/2009/02/inspiration-boards-51-52-pink-orange.html
This was my first choice but Nick didn't like it. He thought it was to "girly" looking.

http://theperfectpalette.blogspot.com/2009/05/inspiration-board-241-like-birds-of.html
and I loved these colors to, but just wasn't sure how to pull it all together.


and the winner is.....

http://theperfectpalette.blogspot.com/2009/02/inspiration-board-65-black-white-damask.html

I LOVE PINK- so this just seemed to be the best choice! and I love the Black and White Damask pattern. I didn't realize how popular it was until after I picked it- but I still love it anyways. It hasn't been hard to find ideas with Black and White Damask, because every bride seems to be using that theme!

finding a venue

Finding a venue was the hardest thing we have done so far! Before we got engaged I wanted to have a beach wedding. Once we were engaged and realized how much everything cost- the beach wedding went out the door pretty quickly! It got to the point where I just wanted to book a wedding date and a venue and be done with it. We did look at some Beach Hotels, but for what you got included- it just didn't meet our needs! We also looked at the church that my parents got married at over 30 years ago, but that quickly went out the window as well! ( The preacher refused to marry us in the church because we live together already, He wouldn't even meet with us, or give us a chance to get married there) After many tears, we moved on and began looking at other places. Towards the end- it was between Bay Harbor Hotel in Tampa (Hotel connected to Crabby Bills on Causeway) and Cross Creek Ranch in Dover, FL. Honestly- once I went to Cross Creek Ranch, it was a no-brainer that we would get married there. Bonnie- the owner of the property is beyond amazing, and does everything with you. The property is absolutely beautiful and the ceremony location is under a beautiful oak tree and the reception takes place in a beautiful barn that she fully decorates on the wedding day. I couldn't be more pleased with the service, the people and the venue so far, and I will be sure to keep you updated on future pleasant experiences!

This is the barn, light up at night!

and of course I had to throw in a picture of the bar. We are able to bring our own beer and wine, and we can have a speciality drink if we would like to! The staff at Cross Creek Ranch (CCR) will serve all the drinks! This is the beautiful oak tree where the ceremony will take place.

wedding shows

My mom and I spent the following 3 weekends going to wedding shows! I love going to wedding shows because you can register to win free stuff, get free stuff there, and get great ideas for planning your own wedding! My mom enjoyed the wedding shows too- but mainly for the cake samples! Her and I both loved tasting the different kinds of cakes! Because of this bad habit we have created- I now have to lose a lot of weight before the big day! But here is a picture of my mom and I at one of the wedding shows. I love her!!