My son Carter and I moved into Matt's house in May of 2008 after 2 beautiful years together. 

We were celebrating our first Christmas together as a family and on December 25, 2008.....

Carter woke up at 3:30am and me, loving being a mommy and watching Carter open gifts, made Matt get out of bed and said that we could go back to bed when we were all done. 

We opened all of our gifts and I was watching Carter play with his new toys when Matt asked me to come look at a new "ornament" on the tree. 

As I got up he grabbed the ring from the tree and got down on one knee.  He took my right hand nervously and I giggled and whispered that he had the wrong hand.  He laughed at himself and slipped the ring on the left hand and asked me to marry him.  I said YES!!! 

As we were hugging, Carter smiled big and said that he knew about the surprise before me and that its been on the tree all week!  I was shocked because not many 8 year olds could keep this big of a secret.

Needless to say we were all too excited to go back to sleep and started texting and calling all our family and friends. 

I love both my boys so much and I can't wait to gain a husband (I LOVE the sound of that!) and for Carter to gain a wonderful stepfather.

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The Bling-I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my ring!  :)

I loved this picture of Carter that morning.....he had just opened his guitar hero from Santa!

Here's our girls.....Our puggle Gracie, and our 1/2 lab, 1/2 dalmation, Sadie.

Here's an updated pic, taken of Matt and I taken in March, 2012 (we are really horrible at taking pics together)

This one is from Christmas 2011

Venue:

We will be getting married at Postlewait's Country Weddings in Canby, Oregon

(*BELOW PHOTOS ARE FROM THEIR FB PAGE)

Our guest list is about 125 guests, children included.  

We want it fun and casual but still want it to be a *real* wedding, if that makes any sense.  

Theme is Burlap and Lace.  

Ceremony Area:  

Thinking we may need to rent a clear tent in case of rain???!!!

Walkway to the reception area "Barn":

Inside the Reception "Barn" area:

Right outside the Reception area (firepit), where guests will be able to make their s'more's favors:

Our Bridal Party:

We aren't having a best man or maid of honor....both of us couldn't possibly pick out just 1 of friends/family members because they are all truely the BEST life companions ever!

Groomsman:

Oldest brother, Jason (in the black tshirt) and Tony, the middle brother.  (DF is the youngest)

Daniel, DF's lifelong friend, non-blood brother

And David, DF works with him and we've gotten really close the last few years.  (He actually just married my friend Emily pictured below June 2012-we set them up!<3) 

Bridesmaids:

My little and only sister, Molly

My Best friend, whom I've known since we were 15 years old, Jaclyn

Emily, we met when we were about 20 or so through Jaclyn (pictured above) and have a lot in common, she is truely the sweetest person you will ever meet!  All 4'10" of her!  :)  (this pic is her at her bachelorette party)

And lastly, my other highschool bestie, Tara.  She married her highschool sweetheart and has 3 gorgeous kids that she LIVES for.  Best mother award would go to her for sure!  <3 (I literally could not find a pic of just her! haha)

CEREMONY:

The October weather in Portland Oregon can be a bit unpredictable (although I remember trick or treating without a coat these last few years so I am hopeful for our Oct 19th nuptials!).  

The average high is about 65* and the evenings can get pretty cool, at 44*.  

I would say we have about a 30-40% chance of rain so I'm planning on having a tented ceremony and using the indoor area soley for the reception.

Since our venue has beautiful landscaping, trees, fields, and a view of Mt. Hood...I'd love to do a clear tent. I'm loving the way this one is draped in tulle (lights would be great too but depending on our timeline, they may not be needed)

Posting this pic below to show ceremoney site AND the chairs they provide with the rental.....I can't really hang anything off these chairs so sheppards hooks may be my only option for aisle decor. Hmmmmm...

If the budget gets a little too tight, I'm okay with just having a simple petal aisle like this (it's only 15 mins or so anyways, right?):  

Must have a sign like this at the entrance of the tent!

Surprise for my groom during the ceremony (and to lighten everyone's mood because I'm not a serious girl):

RECEPTION:

Right outside the entrance of the barn:

I love the chandelier and lights that are already provided but I would like to add more to the ceiling if my budget allows (lights?/lanterns?/tulle?/pomanders?)

I think a photobooth upstairs in the loft area would work perfectly in case there is a line to use it (hopefully they can get it up the staircase?):

I'd love to do something like this with lights behind our bridal party table/sweetheart table (I'm undecided on which I'll do) as I think the walls of the barn are very plain:

Also, LOVE this saying (stenciled out on burlap, edged with lace kind of like the next pic down):

This is cute too and perfect for the theme!

Table decor:  

I think this is my favorite linen setup.....our venue supplies white linens so we would just need the burlap overlay and lace runner.  (this would also help prevent any damage to the borrowed linens!)  

Center pieces- I have to research in season October flowers.  I do love the simplicity of baby's breath though so I'm sure that will be incorporated somehow as well as these lace covered votive holders.  :)

We won't have place settings since we are doing a causal BBQ buffet style dinner so I'm thinking of placing something like this at each seat  (napkin in whatever accent color we choose, lose the wooden initials-cute but not needed & minus the plate + their s'mores favor)  

What do you think?:                       Then again, if my budget dwindles, I like this cheap/simple option:

FAVORS:  We have a fire pit right outside the barn that can be used to roast marshmellows so I knew I wanted to do s'more favors right away!  Here's the packaging I like but I'm not sure how fresh the graham crackers/marshmellos will stay so we may end up doing a s'mores bar instead.....plus we do have a pretty good chance of rain so the second pic may be a bit more realistic.  

 I'm sure DF could build a custom s'mores bar like this:

Drinks-I really want to use mason jars as our cups so I like this idea to keep costs low (1 jar/pp) and attach a name tag so guests know which jar is theirs.  We are going to serve juice, tea, coffee as well as beer (kegs), wine and hard alcohol (working on the exact details of the Hard A).  

We can bring in all our own alcohol, it just must be served by a licensed server.  YESSSS!!! 

How perfect is this cake?:

This cake topper cracks me up!

Guest Book/Memory Table:

Guest quilt with our wedding colors (my FMIL makes quilts so I'd love for her to do this for us!) 

Surround a lantern with framed photos of my great gma, gpa, gma and DF's gpa and use simple things such as twigs and baby's breath to decorate the table:

My DRESS!!!  I'm in LOVE!

It's made by Justin Alexander, #8532, cream and silver

Here it is the day I bought it (8/17/12)  WAY too tight for me but it was part of the sample sale and I knew I wanted to lose at least 10lbs (and inches) so I went for it!  Talk about motivation!!

I'll post another photo after I've lost some of my weight/inches  =)

Starting measurements (I'm 5'5 1/2, pear shaped):  

8/17/12 147lbs, Belly button-32.5in, @ hip bone-39in, under bum-40.5in

Here it is on the model:

My Shoes:  

I've been told I can't wear heels because DF is only a few inches taller than me  :)  I'm okay with this because frankly, I like the look of heels but HATE wearing them!  I'm thinking about wearing sparkle-y TOMS in our

Our Guys will be in grey suits although, at the advice from my friend who got married this past June, we are waiting to see what is available to us before picking the exact shade of grey.  

I am hopeful for something like this: