It was an uneventful Sunday night at work on the midnight shift back on July 20th 2009.  Taking a break from studying for my Paramedic class, I was surfing the internet to pass the time until the end of my shift.  I was browsing the Pets section of Craigslist when, for some reason, I found myself browsing the personal ads.  I was not looking for anything in particular, I just enjoyed reading what people would write about themselves and looking at pictures.  I came across an ad titled "Dynamite with a laser beam" and, although I had no idea what that meant, I clicked on it and began reading.  The writer, a 28-year old guy, explained that he was new to Maryland and did not know anyone here so he was looking to meet some new friends.  I was immediately drawn to how well spoken and intelligent he seemed, just in the few paragraphs he'd written... in my experience, it was rare to come across an ad that was spelled correctly and used correct punctuation like this one did!  I continued to read as this guy described himself and elaborated on what kinds of things he liked to do in his free time, what kinds of movies he liked, what kinds of foods he liked, etc.  As I read, I couldn't help but think that his description of himself sounded almost identical to how I would describe myself.  In just a few paragraphs, I knew that this was someone I could be friends with.  

I read a few more ads but the whole time I was thinking about "Dynamite with a laser beam" and wondering what it must feel like to move to a new place and not know anyone.  I've lived in Maryland for my entire life and I know ALOT of people, so I really couldn't even imagine what it would be like.  I decided to send an e-mail to this guy and befriend him.  At 2:57 am, I sent an e-mail and had no idea just how much that e-mail would change my life!  Later that day I got a reply e-mail from Brian and I guess the rest... is history! 

Brian and I became fast friends through e-mail and eventually started chatting online using AOL Instant Messanger.  After a ton of e-mails were exchanged, we talked on the phone/texted a few times.  One Saturday in August, I was having a bad day and needed to get away for a little while... Brian offered to meet me for lunch.  We met at a restaurant called "The Orient" in Towson and we talked and talked and talked some more... I think we were there for a couple hours!  Brian bought my lunch that day (which I felt bad about) and he told me "You can buy next time!" - I thought to myself "next time??" I guess that meant he'd had a good time too and wouldn't mind hanging out again sometime!  It seemed so strange to me just how comfortable I felt around Brian, it was like we had known each other forever.  We started to spend more and more time together and eventually I couldn't remember what my life was like before Brian walked into it.  Every week we would make plans to hang out on "one" of my days off... which always turned into us hanging out all three of my days off.   I really, really liked Brian and I enjoyed every moment I got to spend with him... I felt like he liked me too but we were still just friends.  One day I was talking to my sister about our "situation" and I told her how much I liked Brian and how I felt like he liked me too.  She told me that unless we had talked about it, my feeling didn't mean anything.  My sister is the last person I would ever take relationship advice from, but later that morning I read my horoscope which said:  

Here is your horoscope for Wednesday, September 9:

While longer-term romantic plans aren't in the stars at the moment, communicating what's on your mind and in your heart is. If you like someone, let 'em know; if something's bothering you, ditto.

Instantly, I knew what I had to do.  I typed up an e-mail pouring my heart out and telling him how I felt... then I deleted some... then I added some more... deleted some more... added some more... deleted some more... until finally I just hit send.  As soon as I hit send, I thought I was going to die... there was no way of getting that e-mail back and I worried about what Brian would think of it.  The last thing I wanted to do was create an awkwardness between us.  Later that afternoon Brian called me and we talked about my e-mail... he confirmed that he DID like me too but there was another girl that he had been "talking to" and he felt like he needed to give that a fair shot.  I had known about the other girl so that didn't come as a surprise to me... I told him that I understood where he was coming from and I hoped that we could still be friends because ultimately that was most important to me.  

Fast forward a few days... Brian and I were hanging out and he was acting a little strangely, that awkwardness I dreaded was present in full force.  Brian told me that he wanted to talk to me about something and I worried that he was going to say that he didn't want to be friends anymore.  Imagine my surprise when Brian explained to me that he had ended things with the other girl and then asked my permission to take me out on a date!!!!!! 

Our first date was on September 25th 2009, Brian bought me flowers and took me to dinner at The Melting Pot (my favorite!) - it was an awesome evening and by far the best first date I'd ever had!  A few days later, Brian asked me to be his girlfriend.   :)

Right about the time that Brian and I started spending so much time together, but before we started dating, I kept hearing this song on the radio... as I listened to the words, I realized how perfectly it described our situation and the way I was feeling.  This was and is "our song". <3

Fallin' For You

by Colbie Caillat

I don't know but I think I may be
Fallin' for you, dropping so quickly
Maybe I should keep this to myself
Waiting 'til I know you better

I am trying not to tell you but I want to
I'm scared of what you'll say
So I'm hiding what I'm feeling
But I'm tired of holding this inside my head

I've been spending all my
Time just thinking about cha
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for ya

I've been waiting all my
Life and now I found ya
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for you
I'm fallin' for you

As I'm standing here and you hold my hand
Pull me towards you and we start to dance
All around us, I see nobody
Here in silence, it's just you and me

I'm trying not to tell you but I want to
I'm scared of what you'll say
So I'm hiding what I'm feeling
But I'm tired of holding this inside my head

I've been spending all my
Time just thinking about cha
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for ya

I've been waiting all my
Life and now I found ya
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for you
I'm fallin' for you

Oh, I just can't take it
My heart is racing
Emotions keep spinning out

I've been spending all my
Time just thinking about cha
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for ya

I've been waiting all my
Life and now I found ya
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for you
I'm fallin' for you

I think I'm fallin' for you
I can't stop thinking 'bout it
I want you all around me
And now, I just can't hide it

I think I'm fallin' for you
I can't stop thinking 'bout it
I want you all around me
And now, I just can't hide it
I think I'm fallin' for you
I'm fallin' for you

Oh-Oh, Oh-no-no
Oh-whoa-whoa-whoa-oh
Oh-oh, I'm fallin' for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrgKzYiIwlM

At the beginning of our relationship, Brian lived in Columbia and I lived in Edgewood; these two towns are about 45 minutes apart.  Combined with my shiftwork and rotating schedule of 5 days on/3 days off and Brian's "normal"  Monday thru Friday schedule, the distance made it difficult to see each other as often as we would've liked to.  We did everything we could to spend as much time together as possible.  We had only been officially dating for a few months when Brian mentioned that he was going to be meeting with a realtor to look at houses to buy and he told me that he wanted me to come with him.  He also mentioned that he was going to look at some houses in Harford County so that he could be closer to me... which meant farther away from his work.  Along with the realtor, we must've looked at 30+ houses before we found the perfect house for us in Abingdon.   It is a 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath end-of-group townhouse with a large kitchen, a sunroom with skylights, and a fenced in yard that backs to trees. 

Brian bought the house on March 30th 2010 and we moved in together in May.  It was the first time either of us had ever lived with someone... we'd each lived on our own for almost 10 years but neither of us had every had a roommate.  Brian said that, after his roomate in a college dorm room, the next person he lived with would be his wife... maybe I should've known then what was to come!  :)

When Brian and I first met, he mentioned that he "hated cats" - I thought right then that things would'nt go very far because I had an 11 year old cat "Myrtle" who wasn't going anywhere!  Later I found out that Brian was actually allergic to cats, which was the reason for his hatred of them.  The first time Brian came over to my house, his eyes swelled up and he got very wheezy.  After that he bought a huge box of Claritin to keep at my house... eventually Brian must've developed a tolerance for Myrtle because he no longer needs the Claritin anymore! Myrtle sleeps with us every night and loves her "brother-in-law" very much!  <3

Here is our old girl, Myrtle Jean who I've had since she was 5 weeks old... she is now 14.5 years old:

On October 3rd 2010, Brian and I went to Fallston Animal Rescue Movement Inc. to check out a litter of 6-week old beagle puppies that Brian had been watching online.  We had talked about getting a dog and Brian really liked beagles (he'd had one when he was growing up) - we had agreed that we'd rather have a little girl, but the litter of puppies only had 2 girls and one of them was already spoken for.  When we got there, we picked up the first puppy we saw and held it... it was a very sweet dog and was giving me lots of kisses.  The only "problem" was this puppy was a boy.  We held him for a few minutes and then put him down so we could look at the other puppies and give them some attention too.  The first puppy started crying and standing on his hind legs reaching for us to pick him up again.  None of the other puppies seemed as special as that first puppy did.  So we decided to adopt him.  On October 13th, we brought our boy home.  We named him "Murphy".  In the 2+ years that we've had him, Murphy has grown and grown and grown!  We discovered that instead of being 3/4 beagle and 1/4 hound as we'd thought, he is actually 3/4 hound and 1/4 beagle.  He is almost as tall as we are when he stands on his hind legs and he weighs over 70 lbs!  He's so much bigger than we wish he was, but we love our gentle giant! 

Here is Murphy:

On June 2nd 2011, a friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook of an orphaned newborn kitten she had found on her boyfriend's angus beef farm.  Her boyfriend wouldn't let her bring the kitten in the house and told her to put it back outside and "let nature take its course" - it was the beginning of June but it was very hot outside, with temperatures right around 100 degrees.  I couldn't bear the thought of the poor little kitten laying out there and dying, so I told my friend to bring the kitten to me.  I did this without even asking Brian... I just knew that he'd have a hard time saying no once he saw her.  My friend brought the itty bitty grey & white kitten to me and she was sooooo tiny!!!  She only weighed 100 grams (3.5 ounces) and her eyes weren't even open yet.  She didn't have a sucking reflex so feeding her was a challenge.  I took her to the vet who warned me that she might not make it, but I wasn't taking no for an answer.  We bottlefed this baby kitten every 2 hours, we bathed her and warmed her and helped her go to the bathroom... I was so meticulous with the care I gave this little life.  We named her "Molly" which eventually became "Molly Pop" which eventually became "Poppy" - this little firecracker rules our roost!  :)

Here is Poppy: 

Taurus Cancer Compatibility

(I think this describes Brian & I and our relationship perfectly!)

Taurus Cancer Compatibility, have the potential to be called the ‘soul mate’ couple. This duo has the ability to make other couples jealous!

Taurus Cancer Relatiopnship is a great combination with various elements in common. Valuing the home and family, working towards financial security and stability, interest in food and cooking are to name a few similar elements. Where there is a Taurus-Cancer couple, there is a natural comfort zone.

To build a comfortable home is one of their priority and they take a lot of effort and interest in it. As partners they are very loyal and affectionate and understand each other’s needs and genuinely try to provide them!

The Taurus and Cancer couple provides an exceptional emotional depth to their relationship that is very captivating and flattering!

There is a huge amount of trust between these two partners, and if they establish harmony at the very beginning of their relationship, they have all chances of spending the whole life together.

The Taurus and Cancer partner do not like to socialize a lot and prefer to stay at home and spend quality time with each other. They are an affectionate and sensual pair and enjoy the touch and feel of each other. If you are in one such relationship, just don’t let it go, because this one combination is more or less perfect and very harmonious.

If you go to search for negative aspects in this relationship, you will find very few. Both the Taurus and the Cancer partner can be jealous and possessive about each other. Both being stubborn, always want to be in control of the relationship. But then again, both of these partners are so naturally loyal, sincere and affectionate towards each other that any big issue is very unlikely to manifest.

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Taurus Woman and Cancer Man

The Taurus woman and the Cancer man together they establish financial security. Their common goal – a harmonious environment; and their only centre of attraction – a comfortable home!

Devotion, persistence, patience are a Taurus woman’s forte which are adored by a Cancer man. There is a genuine sweetness to this relation. It would be correct to say that domestic bliss is made for the Taurus woman and Cancer man combination. Holding hand and watching sunsets together are a very typical trait, which this couple enjoys. The Taurus woman will make sure that she establishes an environment of coziness. The word is affection and not passion for the Taurus woman and Cancer man, and there is affection in abundance present amidst them. This couple is the type that would like to snuggle up in each other arms throughout the night. Fiery action is not their cup of tea. They are warm and responsive towards each other’s love.

The Taurus woman helps out the Cancer man to have a practical outlook towards life, to which he is extremely grateful to her, and on the contrary the Cancer man contributes to her security by helping her with her material needs. His action makes her feel content and secured.

This taurus cancer couple, having a home centered universe, it is needless to say that they are an excellent combination for marriage and they are very interested in children. Cancer men earn well and if the Taurus woman makes his life at home comfortable, he will never look around for anything else.

When this relationship ends, it is sad as the Taurus woman and the Cancer man find it very difficult to move on. It would take a lot to say goodbye to each other, and the end will be loving and kind without any hard feelings.

Once the Taurus woman and the Cancer man get in a relationship, the progress of that relationship is slow and steady. Nobody is rushing, nobody is in a hurry, and things move smoothly taking its own good time. They grab this opportunity to know each other better.

our Save-the-Date was a magnet that I ordered from MagnetStreet.com and I LOVED the way they turned out!  I got lots of compliments on them so I think everyone else liked them too!  :) 

*I ordered these when I was going to go with "Apple" as my color for the bridal party... after I ordered them, I changed my mind and decided to go with "Watermelon" instead.  Oh well...* lol

These are the wedding monograms that I ordered from Signatures by Sarah and I thought that she did such an awesome job that I also ordered my invitations from her! 

Here are the invitations that Signatures By Sarah made for me... I ordered the invitation and 3 inserts:  Accommodations, Map/Directions, and RSVP.  I was going to have the RSVP be a postcard but Sarah was nice enough to let me know that it would be smaller than a standard postcard and some people have reported that they got lost, so I changed my mind and decided I'd include an envelope with them.  They are actually the same invitation that my bridesmaid friend co-worker Christy had for her wedding, but Sarah did make a few changes to them for me... first she did them in my wedding colors (black, white, pink & grey), then she added some flowers to the corners of my inserts, and I also used different wording.  Once I got the invitations printed, I decided to "dress them up" a little by adding some bling:

                     before the "bling"                                                          after the "bling"

At first I wasn't sure if I liked how the "bling" looked - I thought it might be considered ghetto.  But the more I looked at it, the more I really liked it... I feel like it made them pop!  :)

I mounted the invitations onto an onyx colored Signature Pocketfold that I ordered from Cards and Pockets (I love how shimmery they look!).  I also had one of my favorite pictures of us printed in black & white as a wallet size and used black adhesive photo corners that I got from the craft store to attach the pictures to the invitations. 

As a closure for the front of the invitations, I had one of my monograms (I think this one is my favorite!) printed on white cardstock and then I double-mounted it first onto a shimmery silver cardstock (I think it looks great with the shimmery onyx pocketfold!) and then onto a pink cardstock that was pretty close to the "watermelon" color of the bridesmaid dresses.  I attatched them to the front of the invitation with double-sided tape. 

ready for stuffing!  :)

my girls Myrtle & Molly were very eager to "help" with the invitations!  :)

all ready to be mailed out!  I dropped them off at the Post Office after work on January 14th...

... and we got our first RSVP back on January 18th... a yes!  :)

The invitations turned out to be ALOT more work than I had anticipated but I LOVE the way they turned out so it was definitely worth all the trouble.  Everyone has raved about how much they love them too, which makes me feel really good!  :)

For my centerpieces I decided to do a 12-inch x 12-inch mirror with 1 tall vase and 2 short vases for candles.  Each of the tall vases will have some pink "gel balls" in the bottom and 1 long stemmed rose inside to give the illusion of a "floating flower".  I'm also going to put a few rose petals and a few crystals on top of the mirror as an added decoration.  ***the flower in this picture is artificial but on my wedding day I will be using fresh flowers... the candles in this picture are also not the right candles but they were all I could find at the time.  the real candles are a little taller, a little bigger around, and white instead of this ugly off-white/yellowish color***

These mirrors are atleast $7 or $8 EACH at the craft stores so I was trying to figure out a way to get them for cheaper when I got the idea to use mirror tiles from the hardware store.  They come in packs of 6 and they had ones with beveled edges (that's what I got) and ones without.  Unfortunately the ones with the beveled edges are twice the cost of the ones without but I think they look much nicer so it's worth it.  For a pack of 6 beveled edge mirror tiles, it costs $20 which makes them roughly $3.33 each... that's still cheaper than the craft store, even after using a coupon! 

I bought a pack of monogram "M" stickers from Michael's for just a couple bucks, so I decided to mount them to some watermelon colored cardstock and cut them out so that a little bit of pink showed on all 4 sides of the monogram.  Originally I was only going to do one of them per candle but I had enough monograms left over that I decided to put two on each candle, one on the "front" and one on the "back" so that it would be visible no matter where you're sitting at the table. 

I got all of my glass vases from Dollar Tree for $1 each, which sounded cheap at the time but it really adds up!  The worst part about them was trying to get the stickers off the bottoms of the glass and then trying to get rid of the adhesive residue... what a pain in the butt!  But once I developed a system, it wasn't so bad.  I bought the candles in packs of 3 from A.C. Moore and used a 50% off coupon for each one, which meant making many, many trips to the store since you could only use 1 coupon per person, per day.  Thank God for my Aunt who went with me or it would've taken even longer! 

I used ribbon to wrap around the middle of the jar... I knew that I wanted to use watermelon colored ribbon and silver ribbon but I couldn't decide whether I wanted to do silver on the bottom and watermelon on the top or watermelon on the bottom with silver on the top.  I really liked both and I considered doing one of each but my OCD quickly reared its ugly head and I realized that I needed to pick one or the other.  I polled my friends on Facebook to see which one got the most votes.  Everyone seemed to like the one on the left better, so I did all of them that way... and then after they were all finished, people started telling me they liked the one on the right better.  Oh well, you can't please everyone!  :)

the finished candles!  :)

I bought these paper mache boxes from Consumer Crafts as a set of 5.  The boxes were 6/8/10/12/14 inches.  I thought the 14-inch box was a little bigger than I needed, so I sat that aside and used the 6/8/10/12 inch boxes to make the cardbox.  I cut a hole in the lid of the 12-inch box and then I cut a hole in the bottom of the 10-inch box and also cut an opening in the front of the box, to be able to insert the cards into.  I painted the boxes using a white paint & primer spraypaint combo.  After the paint had dried, I glued the bottom of the 10-inch box to the lid of the 12-inch box, and then I glued the lids of the 6-inch, 10-inch and 12-inch boxes to the boxes themselves.  Finally I glued the bottom of the 6-inch box to the lid of the 8-inch box, then glued the bottom of the 8-inch box to the lid of the 10-inch box.  Lots and lots of gluing!!!  lol  I took ribbon that was very close to the "watermelon" color of the bridesmaid dresses and wrapped it around the bottom of each box, to look like layers of a wedding cake.  I didn't like that the opening "slot" in the front of the 10-inch box wasn't crisp and clean looking so I used ribbon to try to disguise that.  I also added a tiny rosebud accent on all 4 corners of the ribbon. 

I had this bow made at Michael's for $6.99 and then I decided to add a little bling to my cardbox... I loved the way the bling made the cardbox stand out so I decided to add some bling to the bow too.  I'm still not happy with the way the ribbon is uneven around the opening but there's not much I can do about it now... every time I tried to fix it, I ended up making it worse.  Other than that, I love the way it turned out! 

I got these little plain unfinished wooden boxes for $1 each at A.C. Moore.  Each one had a gold clasp closure that I didn't like, so I removed each one and then painted the inside and outside of each box using a metallic black paint.  Originally I had planned to have 1 Maid-of-Honor and 3 Bridesmaids so I only bought 4 boxes, but then I decided that I wanted to add another good friend of mine to the wedding party... wouldn't you know that when I went back to the craft store to buy another box, they were out of them.  I found a different kind of box and decided that I would use that one for my Maid-of-Honor.  After the paint dried, I cut a piece of "watermelon" colored card stock to fit inside the lid and printed the words "I couldn't say I do without you... will you be my Bridesmaid?" to attach to the cardstock.  I made one box for each of my Bridesmaids and my Maid-of-Honor.  After the boxes were painted, I didn't like that you could see the tiny little holes where the clasp closures had been so I bought some little wooden hearts (they came painted red, so I painted them pink to match the wedding colors) and glued them onto the box to cover the holes.  I used white posterboard to put inside the box and cut a slit in each one to insert a ring, similar to a ringbox from a jewelry store.  I got a big bag of cheap little party favor rings and put one in each box. 

I also found some adhesive rhinestone letters for $1 each so I picked up 2 K's, a C, an M, and an R (the first initial of each of my girls) and put them on the top of the each box to personalize them.  But because I had to get a different box for my Maid-of-Honor, the letter didn't really work for her box... so I used them for the Bridesmaids and then for my Maid-of-Honor's box I bought 2 little wooden letters "R & B" (the first initials of her first and last names) and 2 more little wooden hearts, painted them pink and then glued them to the top of the box to personalize it. 

I handed each of my lovely ladies their ringbox and once they opened it and accepted, I had one more surprise for them... a Bridesmaid Box!  Stay tuned for more about that later!  :)

***I'm usually really good about taking "before" and "during" pictures but for some reason, this time I didn't.  Boo... :(***

I am DIY'ing my table numbers using a Tolsby picture frame from IKEA.  What I like best about these picture frames (besides their price of $.99 each!) is that they're 2-sided so the table number can be seen from both sides of the table.  Here is what the frame looks like:

One downfall about these frames is that they only come in white, blue, orange and green... which means I'm going to have to paint them.  I bought some silver metallic spray paint and I've just been waiting for a warm day to do the painting.  The problem is that I live in Maryland and it's winter... warm days aren't very common here during the winter and usually whenever we have a warm day it's too windy to try to spray paint something outside.  It looks like Wednesday is going to be about 65 degrees here, so that might just be my day!  :)

I made the actual numbers out of a thick glittery pink cardstock that I think I found at Michael's.  I used 3" vinyl number stickers that I put on top of the cardstock and then removed once I had cut the numbers out. 

Here is what the numbers looked like when they were finished:

I haven't decided what color cardstock I want to use to mount them onto when I put them in the frames.  Since the frames will be silver and the numbers are prink, I feel like using pink or silver/grey cardstock would be too much but at the same time I feel like black would be too dark and white would be too plain.  I'm also thinking I'd like to add one of my monograms to either the top or the bottom of the cardstock.  I'm probably going to go with either this one: 

or this one: 

Here are the frames being painted:

the paint is all messed up on this frame... don't mind that part, it will definitely be fixed before the big day!  :)

Here they are, all ready to go!  :)

Intead of the traditional Guest "Book", I'm going to have a "Fingerprint Tree" (18"x24") where people can stamp their fingerprints as leaves on the tree and then sign their name next to their fingerprint.  I ordered the tree from YourKeepsakeCo on Etsy, for $19.50 and then had it printed at FedEX Kinko's for $23.00.  Here's what the file looked like:

I bought a pack of 4 different greenish colored ink pads from Amazon for $8.56 (and FREE shipping thanks to Prime!), but I think I'll probably only use 3 out of the 4 colors (cottage ivy, bamboo leaves & pear tart) - New Sprout doesn't look very leaf-like to me!  ;)

I bought a frame for the tree at A.C.Moore... it was regularly $25.99 but I had a coupon that was good for 50% off any one item, so I got it for $13.00!  :)  Here's what the Fingerprint Tree looks like in the frame:

Like I explained in an earlier post, I made each one of my Bridesmaids and my Maid-of-Honor a "Bridesmaid Box" with a bunch of different things inside.  I used photo boxes that I bought from A.C. Moore when they were on sale 5 for $10.  On the top of the box I put a picture/collage of pictures of each Bridesmaid and I... if I only had one picture with the girl, printed it as a 4x6 and added a little wooden flower just to dress it up a little bit.  And with some help from a friend of mine (and her Cricut machine) we used watermelon cardstock to cut out letters to spell out each girl's name (placed above the picture) and "Will you be my Bridesmaid?" (below the picture).  On the front of each box there is a little metal namecard holder that I stenciled the wedding date onto (03-24-13) and I spelled out Brian on one side of the holder and Nikki on the other.  I also added a little heart on the front edge of the box. 

Inside the lid of the box, I printed out a sheet listing each item in the box and an explanation for it.  I mounted the list onto a piece of cardstock with a pretty design on it. 

Here's what the inside of the box looked like:

And here's the list of everything that was inside (along with swatches of the wedding colors, a bracelet with their "title" and rhinestone iron-on bling... those were in the box but not on the list):

For My Maid of Honor

Notepad:  to jot down all of your ideas, which I PROMISE to at least listen to!  :)

Marbles:  an extra set, just in case I lose my marbles along the way and you need to lend me a few.  :)

Peanut Butter Crackers:  a quick pick-me-up to boost your energy when you feel like you can’t take one more planning session or try on one more dress without your blood sugar levels bottoming out.  :)

Play-Doh:  you can squeeze this instead of wringing my neck when I start to drive you crazy!  :)

Pain Reliever:  to relieve all aches and pains resulting from wedding-related tasks.  :)

Alcohol:  in case the pain reliever isn’t enough!  :)

Earplugs:  for when you just can’t bear to listen to one more detail about the wedding!  :)

Calendar:  to keep track of important dates (and my crazy work schedule!)

Lifesavers:  because that’s what YOU are to ME!  :)

Puzzle Pieces:  because your friendship has been such an important piece of my life and YOU are such an important part of this wedding!  :)

Safety Pin:  to hold your nerves together… and an extra one to help hold mine together too!  :)

Band-Aids:  to mask any boo-boo’s you may incur during the many hours of cutting out various tags, signs & invitations – please try to keep the blood off of the paper!  LoL

Tissues:  for your happy tears!  :)

Hugs & Kisses:  because you SO deserve them!  :)

Picture of the happy couple:  a reminder of why you signed up for this in the first place. Your friendship means the world to me and I’m so happy to have you as a part of our special day!  We love you!  :)

For the notepad, I bought a little mini composition book that was watermelon colored... I bought a monogram sticker with each girl's initial and put it on the front of the book to personalize it.  For the marbles, I bought a big bag of marbles and portioned them out into individual little ziploc baggies.  The alcohol was a tiny bottle of wedding cake flavored vodka.  ;)  The earplugs I got were neon pink and I put them in a little individual ziploc baggie too.  For the calendar, I bought each girl a pocket-sized calendar that I personalized and included my work schedule (shift work with a rotating schedule) but also important wedding-related dates and birthdays.  I also included the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of myself, my fiance, my mother, my future mother-in-law, and every girl in the wedding party so they would have the information accessible to them if they needed to contact each other.  :)  I portioned out some candy Lifesavers and Hershey's chocolate Hugs & Kisses into seperate individual ziploc baggies.  For the puzzle pieces I used these little eraser cubes that I found in the party favors section at Walmart, a whole bag of them was only $1.  For the safety pins, I connected 2 safety pins together and put them inside the box.  I bought some really cute patterned bandaids and I found personalized packs of tissues that had a damask pattern in black & white with a pretty pink edge and each girl's initial on them.  I mounted a wallet size picture of Brian & I onto a piece of watermelon cardstock and put it into a little magnetic frame.  And I think the peanut butter crackers, Play-Doh and Pain Reliever are self explanatory.  :)

The boxes were a hit with all the girls!  They took alot of time and effort but they were totally worth it in the end!  :)

Brian had planned on proposing to me at the location of our first date, The Melting Pot in Columbia, Maryland.  But because I know Brian so well and I am so perceptive (he says I should've been a detective and no, I didn't snoop... I really did pick up on his awkward nervousness and the hints he didn't realize he was giving me!) I figured out his plan before he'd had a chance to execute it.  I called a friend of mine and told her what I thought was going to take place... she told me that I better act excited and I swore that I would.  She asked me if I wanted to go get a manicure with her the day before, but I told her I didn't want to because then he would know that I knew... I brought a bottle of fingernail polish to work with me and hoped that I might have a chance sometime that day to throw a coat of paint on my nails.

At about 2:45 pm (about 20 minutes or so before the end of my work day) on Friday, May 11th, I was turned around facing the corner working the busiest channel we have (Southern Patrol) and I'd just had a car chase... I turned around for something and was completely shocked to see Brian behind me on one knee.  He had a dozen long stemmed red roses in one hand and a ring box in the other.  He said "Nikki J, will you marry me?"  When I say that I was COMPLETELY in shock, I am not exaggerating... in fact, the only words I could get out of my mouth were "what are you doing here?!"  He had the biggest grin on his face and, since I hadn't actually answered his question, asked me "aren't you going to answer me?"  OF COURSE I said yes!  All my co-workers started clapping (one of them had been videotaping it) - I'll never forget it.  

It turns out that when I called my friend to tell her that I suspected when and how he was going to propose, she called Brian and told him.  He'd said "no, I don't think she knows... I made up another excuse and I think she bought it." - my friend said "I'm telling you, SHE KNOWS... you'd better figure something out!"  While it would've been very sweet for Brian to propose where we'd had our first date, this was just as memorable! 

Brian had my ring made in Chicago by a close friend of the family who is a jeweler, Sylvia E.  She also made his parents' wedding rings almost 35 years ago!  When Brian told his mom that he was going to propose, she told him that she wanted to give him 2 small diamonds that had belonged to her mother (who died a few years before Brian & I met) to be incorporated in either the engagement ring or the wedding band.  When I learned about this, I was so shocked (in a good way)!  I'm a very sentimental person, so having my ring made by the same jeweler who made his parents' rings and using diamonds that belonged to his grandmother has such a special meaning to me.  It also made me feel like it was his mother's way of accepting me into their family, officially.  Brian decided to use his grandmother's diamonds in the engagement ring, placed on either side of the center stone. 

I talked to Sylvia E. about having our rings engraved.  I wanted the inside of my engagement ring to say "Brian & Nikki" and my wedding band to have our wedding date engraved inside of it - March 24, 2013. 

I had the inside of Brian's wedding band engraved too... it says the same thing as my rings but since his band is twice the width of mine, Brian & Nikki is on the top line and March 24, 2013 is on the bottom.

My engagement ring & wedding band together.

My engagement ring and Brian's wedding band together.

The rings!

Not too much longer before I'll get to wear this on my finger every day... I can't wait!

After checking out several local venue options, Brian and I decided to take a tour of a place called Top of the Bay which is located on a military base called the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.  From the moment we walked in the door, we were completely wowed and we knew that we HAD to have this place! 

Top of the Bay sits right on the waterfront overlooking the scenic Chesapeake Bay... formerly the old officer's club, it now serves as a premier restautant, catering and conference center and has recently undergone extensive renovations that fused the facility's old-world charm with today's modern technology.  Walking into Top of the Bay is like walking into an elegant old-Hollywood era mansion, but with the most updated of today's modern conveniences.  Those who are eligible to rent Top of the Bay are:  Active Duty Military, Civilian Employees, Department of Defense Contractors, Retirees and Family Members... lucky for us, Brian works for the Department of Defense so that made us eligible! 

We are so excited to be able to have our wedding there!  Not only is the inside gorgeous, but so is the outside... we have the option (depending on the weather, of course!) of having our ceremony on the rooftop patio which overlooks the Chesapeake Bay and is a beautiful backdrop for any event or special day!  Maryland weather can be tricky... we've had blizzards in March and we've had weather in the 70's in March.  As a matter of fact, today (January 29th) it is 60 degrees!  SIXTY!  And that is after a week of below-freezing HIGH temperatures.  Weird!

the front/outside of the venue

this is where my ceremony will be outside IF the weather cooperates... what a gorgeous view!  :)

I am IN LOVE with these spiral staircases... aren't they awesome??

the girls' room to get ready in 

 the boys' room to get ready in

in the event of inclimate weather, this is the room where our ceremony will be... I was thinking that we could stand on the platform at the top of the stairs, with the bridesmaids/groomsmen staggered down the stairs on either side of the platform. 

looking into the reception area from the foyer entrance;  basically the same thing but just a little closer up

a wider view of the room

left:  as you're entering the room from the foyer but before you get into the actual room - the buffet dinner will be set up here

right:  the same thing but on the other side of the doorway - the cardbox/gift table and guest book table will most likely be over there

the bar!  :)

the bar area  :)

           from the bar, into the boys' dressing room                          the view from the bar windows  :)

I bought my dress from Stella's Bridal in Baltimore, Maryland.  I was just going to look that day and see what they had, I had no intentions of actually buying anything.  I brought my mom, my good friend/bridesmaid Maria and her daughter Bailey with me.  This was the first dress I tried on at Stella's (but I had tried on plenty of dresses at David's Bridal on several different visits there) - the price tag was originally $799 but had been marked down to $699, which was still way more than I would've liked to pay for a dress but I really loved it so I was willing to do whatever I needed to make it work.  Much to my surprise, when I got up to the counter to pay, the dress was 50% off the ticketed price... I had no idea!  My mom insisted on buying the dress for me... I felt guilty because even though it was a good price, that still seemed like alot of money for my mom to spend but she said she wanted to do it. 

What I love most about this dress is that is it elegant, yet simple... it fits my personality so well and is everything I wanted in a wedding dress.  The train isn't too long or too short, it's just right.  I also love the rouching, the beaded/detailed/embellished design on the front of the dress, the detailing that goes down the back of the dress down to the train, the corset and the sheer fabric split on the left leg.

*** all of these pictures were taken BEFORE any alterations were done, so keep that in mind... I'm particularly self conscious about the last picture, but it should look much different when I go for my 2nd fitting.***

My 84-year old Grandma and I are like two peas in a pod... she has lived with my mom for my entire life (and then some!) and she was in the delivery room when I was born.  In fact, she even held me before my mom did!  We have been extremely close for my whole life and she has always been such a big part of my life, so we felt it would be very special to have her walk me down the aisle and "give me away" on my wedding day.  I made this shirt for her using a blingy iron-on design that I bought from Hobby Lobby.  She loved it!  How adorable is she?!  :)

I looked at a bunch of different place cards but I didn't really like any of the ones that I saw so I decided to make my own... I really like being able to personalize things a little more. 

I used 12"x12" sheets of textured cardstock paper (the color is "berrylicious" but it is very similar to my bridesmaid dress color) that I found on sale at Michael's and I cut them into 3.75" long x 3" wide squares and then folded them in half.  Then I used plain white cardstock that I cut into 1" wide x 3" long strips and rounded the edges using my corner rounder.  I attached the white cardstock to the textured cardstock using double sided tape.

I also found a smooth, shimmery silver scrapbook paper that I used a heartshaped punch to make little hearts that I attached to the left side of the place card using Mini Glue Dots.  My plan is to write the table number inside the heart.

My wedding cake is being made by a local grocery store "Shop Rite" in Bel Air.  A friend of mine got her wedding cake from there a few months ago and raved about how beautiful and delicious the cake was, all while being relatively inexpensive compared to other estimates she'd received.  I saw her cake and agreed that it was absolutely gorgeous so I thought I'd give them a try.  Brian and I went and met with the Head Baker to discuss the specifics (size, cake flavors & fillings) but until just a few days ago (2 weeks before the wedding!) I had no idea what I wanted the cake to look like.  I had thought it would be a good idea to look at pictures of cakes online so that I could get ideas... that turned out to be a BAD idea for me because I was overwhelmed with the possibilities!  lol

So anyway... the cake is going to have 3 tiers and each tier is approximately 4" tall; the bottom tier will be 16" around, the middle tier will be 12" around and the top tier will be 8" around.  Each tier will feature a different cake and filling flavor.  I knew that I wanted to have a pink ribbon around the bottom of each tier but I had a hard time finding the right color and width.  After many, MANY trips to various craft stores and many visits to the ribbon aisles, I finally found something that would work at Joann's Etc.  The ribbon color is called "berrylicious" and it is very similar to the ribbon I used on my cardbox.  I really wanted to find 1" wide but that was impossible so I had to go with 7/8" which I guess is close enough.

Last week I went to a place called the Wedding & Cake Cottage in White Marsh, Maryland with my aunt and we found some cute silver heart-shaped "garland" that they had placed on top of a ribbon and displayed on a cake.  I thought that would look really cute on my cake so we bought some of that. 

I hadn't been able to decide on a cake topper that I liked so originally I wasn't going to have a cake topper at all but while we were there, we saw these little monogram letters that are so simple, yet so pretty. 

Since I felt like the cake was going to be relatively small, I wanted something to make it stand out a little more.  In some of the many pictures of cakes I'd looked at, they had some gorgeous silver cake stands that had tons of detail in them.  I called around to various rental places to see if I could find one to rent but I didn't have any luck.  So I ordered one on Amazon and it was delivered the next day!

I had planned to have all 3 layers sitting right on top of each other but now I think I want the top tier to be seperated by some columns, like this:

So now my vision of the cake is FINALLY starting to come together!  I want to have a pearl beading of icing to edge the top of each tier and the baker is going to make some gum paste flowers to have on the top tier around the monogram.

A friend of mine likes to draw in his free time so I asked him to sketch the cake for me... this is his rough sketch:

On the table itself, I want to have some rose petals and some votive candles... here is my inspiration for that:

Like my invitations, I also had my wedding programs designed by Sarah over at Signatures by Sarah.

I love how they turned out!  :)