My name is Cristina. I am going to school for psychology with dreams of becoming a Christian counselor, and eventually (when I'm older), a Christian marriage counselor. I love to read and study every subject under the sun. I also play the violin and sing soprano.

My fiance, Greg, is a software developer for a financial research company. Also a smarty! He is 25 and I am 21. We met at a church retreat in FL while he was going to school. Now, we attend the same church because he wants to be close to me! He lives over an hour away and I only see him on the weekends, so it's kinda hard, but on August 7th, we'll be together! (He counts the weekends, haha.)

Saturday February 20th, 2010

He told me he'd surprise me. We went somewhere for brunch and then started driving. I had no idea where we were going. He took me to Bok Tower Gardens in central FL. He had a friend plant seven envelopes along the garden trail with different things inside them.

Envelope 1: "Recollect our first few dates together. Try to remember as many details as possible!"

Envelope 2: "What was the most special moment you two have shared?"

Envelope 3: "Tell each other what you found attractive about the other when you first met and what you find attractive about them now."

Envelope 4: "Look each other in the eye and say, 'I love you!' three times."

Envelope 5: "Nothing says 'I love you!' better than a great, big kiss!"

Then he told me that when we find Number Six, I couldn't open it until we found #7. I found #6.

When I got to #7, he told me to open Envelope Six. I sat down on the bench. Six said, "Look down." Greg was on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said "Yes!" probably way too quickly, because the preacher actually made fun of it at church the next morning, lol. I was kind of embarrased. Seriously, though, I don't even think he got the word "me" out before I blurted out, "YES!" and threw my arms around him. (What? I was excited!)

Envelope 7 was way sweet! I opened it. It said, "God has and always will be the center of our relationship. Let's share with Him our joy in prayer!" I hadn't cried yet at this point, but I almost did then. It's so great knowing that I'm going to be getting a Christian husband, exactly what I wanted. We prayed about our future together, for our teamwork in doing God's will, and that God would use us for the kingdom, that we would be more powerful together than we were separate. We prayed that God would bless our marriage. Then we sat in silence for a long time, embracing each other.

Dude! We're getting married!!

Colors: Pale pink, white, and antique silver.

Theme: Victorian, romantic ballet.

I love it!!!

Chiffon, because I hate satin...and strapless. This is nice and flowy, which goes with the theme and feel.

I'll have probably four flower girls (ages 1, 3, 8, and 12) AND two junior bridesmaids (ages 13 and 14) who will all be dressed basically like this:

The junior bridesmaids are FI's younger sisters, who will be reading scripture at the wedding. By the way, if anybody knows where to get cheap ballet costumes, help me out!

I've gotten a lot of really great things from thrift stores. Actually, I haven't really found much anywhere else. I'm a sucker for the old-timey stuff. Most are just one-of-a-kind things I find that I'll use as decoration around the reception area.

Pewter candle holders:

Antique silver dishware for display:

I may float some pink roses in antique silver dishes like this one:

And in the taller dishes (like pitchers and gravy dishes), I could use them as vases or mini-vases for silk flowers.

I also found a lot of little white glass figurines and things to use as decoration. Doves, brides, roses, jewelry boxes, music boxes...basically anything except Precious Moments (vomit) and baby cherubs (hate them) I'll use. Not too keen on female angels either, although I do have a few playing the violin that I like. (Biblically, angels are usually warrior-type men, which arguably don't make good wedding decorations lol.)

The cake...will be a monster. My FI designed one himself that involves tiers as a spiral staircase leading down into a Victorian garden (sheet cake). I'm a little worried we'll end up with too much left over, but I have to admit, his idea was way more creative than mine (plain white pearly thing with some piped rosettes), so I figure why not?

I don't have a picture now, but later I will draw it and scan it.

Here is the front of the invitations:

It goes with the silver theme and the rose theme. It'll also function as somewhat of a logo because we'll probably make refrigerator magnets out of this image as wedding favors. That way it's something people can use that doesn't just have to do with the wedding.

Another logo image we'll use for the slideshow during the reception is this: