He is my best friend and partner in crime. The person I completely trust and confide in. The one I share my dreams, wishes and fears with. The one who can bring a smile to my face when all I want to do is cry. He brings such happiness and joy to me that just thinking about it makes me smile. I am beyond excited knowing that this is the man I will spend all of my life with!

My FI proposed to me on December 24th 2009 (Christmas Eve) on the beach in a little Southern Oregon coastal town that I spent my childhood growing up in. We had just finished eating dinner with all of my family when he told me that he felt like going for a drive and that he wanted to give me one of my Christmas gifts early! Maybe that should have tipped me off right there, but it didn't...I love Christmas and I ask practically every day up until Christmas if I can open just ONE gift and generally he will cave and give me one, so I just figured that was what was happening this time too. He drove me down to the beach and told me that I had to put this blindfold on because he needed to get my gift ready and he didn't want me to ruin the surprise by peeking...this is when I started to get a little curious...it seemed like a little much for a Christmas gift, but I didn't put much thought into it. It seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes when he came and opened my car door, left the blindfold on me and took my hand to help guide me so that I wouldn't fall...He took me down onto the beach and sat me down in the sand, he placed something on my lap and then undid the blindfold...in my lap was his laptop and playing on it was a slideshow of all of these pictures of the two of us over the past few years...and the song they were playing to was "Then" by Brad Paisley! I started to cry a bit...I was just so overcome by happiness! Once the slideshow was over, he took the computer off of my lap, helped me to stand up and then he got down on one knee and started telling me how much he loved me and wanted to spend his life with me!! WOWZERRRSS....I was absolutely ecstatic, I was so thrilled...I cried and hugged and kissed him! Since we were down in my hometown, we went back to my parents house where we were staying and everyone was there with a champagne toast waiting!! My FI had already asked my dad months in advance for my hand in marriage, and also shared with my mom and brothers before he took me to the beach what his plans were! Talk about amazing....

Planning has been really fun for me so far! I opted out of hiring a wedding planner, I was concerned that she wouldn't envision what I wanted accurately and I wanted to make sure my day was exactly how I wanted it to be!! The only thing that has been even remotely stressful is dealing with the attitudes of some of my attendents, but once I got that situation under control everything else seems to be smooth sailing! I had been flip-flopping around on colors but I finally decided on black, white and accents of red! My wedding will be an outdoor wedding and reception on September 25th 2010!!!

I love the idea of black and white damask and just an additional touch of one or two colors! I am almost 100% sure that the accent I am going to use is red...but there is still time to change my mind on that little part!

I really want to choose the right amount of color to add to the damask...I don't want anything to be overwhelming...I want it to flow together perfectly!

Our ceremony and reception are actually both going to happen in the same place...which will be nice for the guests that way they only have to travel to one spot! I have always wanted to get married outside and then have our reception outside too...and I wouldn't settle for anything less! There were all kinds of places around where we live that would be more than willing to let us perform our ceremony outdoors, but would require that we have the reception inside and that isn't what I wanted! We also found as we were looking that there were plenty of places that would allow us to have both outdoors, except we had to have our music and alcohol stop at sunset...and we didn't want those limitations either! So we decided on a place that lets us do pretty much what we want!! It is a privately owned place that is really new on the wedding scene, the husband and wife that own it are really awesome and have been very helpful so far! We just couldn't pass up this opportunity...we get all of the tables and chairs with the price and we get the place from 9:00 am until 11:00 pm, how cool is that??! Along with all of that they provide a staff that will make sure everything is set up before the ceremony and everything will be taken down by them at the end of the reception!!

^^This is where the ceremony will take place^^

^^The bridal salon...where the girls get to hang out and get ready together ^^

We actually just got to view our pictures online this past week and we should be receiving our disc of images in the mail sometime this week, I can't wait! I was super excited to get Lauren as our photographer, she is super talented and so much fun to work with! I felt completely at ease while being photographed and I can't wait until she photographs the wedding!

I wish I had more than just this one...but once I get the disc I will be sure to post many more!!

I highly recommend Lauren to any Oregon brides...visit her site at laurenhurtphotography.com

I went and tried on so many different dresses, it was all really fun! I will just post a couple of them though!!

I guess I shouldn't say "girls" but instead "girl"! I am having only one girl bridesmaid and TWO men of honor!! I know that its a little unconventional, but my two best friends happen to be boys and those boys happen to be my brothers! I couldn't have it any other way! But the girl in my wedding, which happens to be a really good friend of mine that I have known for close to 10 years will be sporting this....

and I want her shoes to be like....

I love the idea of all black tux, black shirt and a red tie! I found this picture on the web and I love it! This would be for the groomsmen...

Ha...I know its a silly picture with Kendra and Hank, but I LOVE his outfit!!

As far as my men of honor go, I think I want them to wear all black tux, with red shirts and black ties! That way you can tell the difference between his guys and mine!

My FI will be wearing all black tux, black shirt and diamond white tie..kinda like this!

I have the sweetest, cutest little flower girl ever! I can't find exactly what I want her to wear yet...but I had to make a section for her, so that when I do...I can make sure to add it!

At first I thought that I wanted an over the top cake, that had tons of designs and stuff...now I am having a change of heart! I now think that I want my cake to be white and simple, but with some definite bling on it! Here are some things I came across....I would just want more sparkle added!

I actually found this wedding in one of my wedding magazines and then I just so happened to come across it on PW the other day! I absolutely love this wedding, it is EXACTLY how I want mine to be! I love the damask tablecloths with the hints of reds and pinks just for color! I had to share!!!

I need to go back and find the link for their wedding on PW! If anyone has it let me know so I can put it on here!

I love submerged centerpieces! These are just inspiration...my flowers will be a bit different, but it is the idea I am going for!

These are some of my inspirations for hair...I want it down...with curls...maybe partially down, who knows?!?

I want to go for a dramatic, smokey eye. I generally don't wear a huge amount of make-up...so I want to wear WAY more then I normally do!

I am not too sure about earrings yet, but I LOVE this bracelet...hopefully I will be able to make one for myself!

I want my tables to have damask...a little or a lot....I am not quite sure! I LOVE damask though!

Originally I had planned on wearing blue heels...but then I came across these sweet little things one day while I was shopping at Nordstroms and I knew I couldn't leave without them!

My Bouquet

I know that I want an all red bouquet....quite possibly all red roses, but not positive! I love calla lilies and I really want them to be throughout my wedding, so I am deciding whether or not I want them to be in my bouquet as well!

My Bridesmaids Bouquets

I really want the bridesmaid bouquets to be different from mine! I want them to have plenty of red...but also I want a touch of maybe purple, burgundy and pink! I want their bouquets to have a variety of different flowers...here are a few I came across