#16 Daddy’s Little Girl

One of the hardest things I have been dealing with concerning our wedding is the fact that I won’t get to dance with my dad that day. Growing up, so many little girls are able to envision at least some aspect of what their wedding will be like, long before they even meet their husband to be. For me, whenever I would picture my wedding, one of the things I thought about most was dancing with my dad, and what the perfect song would be for that dance. For me, this was the only part of the wedding that I was sure about. No matter what kind of wedding we had, or who I would end up marrying, I knew that there would be a dance saved for my Dad that night.

On June 3rd, 2007, my life changed. It was my birthday. I lived 2 hours from my parents. When my mom and dad got off of work, they were going to drive up to see me and take me out to dinner. Around 5 or so that evening my phone rang. I saw it was my mom. I figured she was calling to say they were leaving. I was wrong. So wrong. I answered. She told me that Dad had a heart attack at work, and he didn’t make it. WORST. DAY. EVER.

It’s been almost 3 years. It still sucks in the same way, as any one who has lost someone close would know. But it is a little easier to deal with since time has passed.

This was at one of our Just Say No Sweetheart Balls that we had in elementary school where Daughters take Fathers and Sons take Mothers. I am so glad that they held these for us, because I don’t know if I ever would have danced with my Dad except for when I was a toddler.

 

Well, with the wedding planning progressing lately, I often get really upset thinking about it since he wont be there. And for some reason, I can’t stop looking for the perfect song to dance to with him. It’s pathetic how much I still look for songs for the father daughter dance. But even though I won’t get that dance, I thought I would share what my pick would be. I really love it.

It’s Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman.

There are some ideas that I have to honor my dad during the wedding that I will probably do, but I will write about those in another post. I gotta go now!

#15 Who knew a hanger could be so cool...

For real, cutest idea ever. And a detail I never really thought of before. I will definitely be getting one of these babies for my photos on the big day. Where you ask? You can get them from Etsy Seller LilaFrances. The photo above I ran across while catching up on some blog reading at OnceWed.

#14 Photographer… Check! and some other rambling too…

Alright, slowly but surely things are getting done. This weekend I finally paid the deposit for our photographer. I am very excited about it too. It was hard to pick one since I live in Ohio and the wedding will be in Florida. So I am very grateful for the disboards.com and all the wonderful input on photographers everyone on there has used. Because of them, I was able to comfortably find and book a photographer without having to go to Florida first. So who is the lucky person to photograph our special day? Randy Chapman of Chapman Photography. You can check out his work here at his personal website, and check out this thread on the disboards where the brides who have used him posted their favorite photos by him. I was going to post the pictures that I like the most of his, but I wasn’t sure what the rules and etiquette on that were, since they aren’t my photos to share.

 

What’s next on the list?

Picking someone to marry us. We really would love for our good friend (and bridesmaid), who we shall call rev X, to marry us. But there are some reasons on our end that are keeping us from going forth with that idea. we are kind of bummed about it, but the reasons against it are all in good reason and we aren’t going to complain about it. I am just happy to have he in our wedding. That is the most important part. But regardless, we are officiate-less  and are on the hunt. We should be. I’m having troubles moving forward with this one. I don’t know what to ask, or what I want, so I am avoiding it. I have time yet I suppose.

Colors! Ugh… I am so bad at this. I have changed color schemes way too much. This is my problem… I am too indecisive for my own good. But for now, I think we have settled on something. But I promise, it will end up changing again and again… As of now, we are having a Pink, Black, and Silver… Maybe with a snowflake theme – see next bullet point

          

 

Theme? I’m not necessarily set on having a theme, but because I am SUCH a SCATTERBRAIN, I feel like having some sort of (subtle) theme, will keep me focused. I almost need a theme for this reason. Once I decide on a focus, I think (HOPE) that the rest of the planning will go slightly easier for me. So for now, our theme is snowflakes and winter. And I LOVE it. BUT. There is always a BUT with me. But, even though it is a winter wedding, it is in Florida. Is that weird to have snowflakes where it really doesn’t snow. I don’t mind so much, but to a more normal being, would that be considered odd? Be honest…

Save The Dates! Can we say headache??? no sorry, replace that with migraine…For real, they are the STDs (I feel weird typing that still) for crying out loud. They are suppose to be the fun and informal part of the stationary that is sent out. So why am I not having fun? Well here is part of the reason:

Yup, Cricut Expression. How I love/hate thee. You are a new addition to the family, and I want so so badly to include you, that I am driving myself crazy getting you to do the Save The Dates. That is my problem. Because this is a recent purchase, and it hasn’t been put to a good use yet, I feel that I have to use it for my STD’s. But, unfortunately, the ideas that  I like and that are more realistic for me, are NOT the same as the ideas that I can do with the cricut. 

 

Well, I will stop there. This is getting lengthy. And I could probably have split this up into 4 or 5 more elaborate posts. And I’m sure I will in the future. But for now, I will leave you with that.

#13 I may not know much about my dress yet….

But I do know this much:

 

I WILL have pink (or some color) crinoline under my dress…. I don’t know why I love this so much, but I drool every time I see someone who has done this. I found this pics from posters on the Weddingbells forums here. I have to look into more on how to do this. Most people I come across dye their crinoline or slip. So I'm thinking that’s what I will end up doing, but I am fearful, because me + dye = DISASTER!!! Luckily, I have quite some time yet before I figure that one out. Any info let me know! Has any one else seen or done this? Did you like it?

#12 Will you be my bridesmaid? and some DIY

I would LOVE to have as much of my wedding to be DIY as possible, but let’s face it, even though I can come up with great ideas, and I can find (and borrow) millions of ideas from fellow bloggers online, my execution NEVER seems to turn out very well. That being said, I was shocked, excited, and relieved when my first DIY project turned out surprisingly well.

This project is how I asked my girls to be in our wedding. And I will be completely honest, I didn’t come up with this idea myself. The original idea was from Miss Poodle over at WeddingBee.com

Aren’t they Cute??

 

While I consider myself to be creative, I find that I love everyone else’s ideas a whole hell of a lot better than my own, so I guarantee that 90% of my DIY will be ideas from other bloggers and places on the web. But that’s OK right? I will definitely always give credit where credit is due!

 

Any ways, along with these cards, I purchased some cute frames and included a picture of myself and each girl in the frame. I was rather pleased with this project, and I think the girls liked them too. Here are some more pics.

 

 

We didn’t do anything special to ask the guys other than ask them, mainly because I couldn’t come up with anything that wasn’t too cheesy. I don’t think they minded though. They are all happy just to be in it.

 

How did you ask your gals or guys to be in your wedding?

#11 6 Months Later…

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in 6 months! OK, so I can believe it, I am a slacker… even at the fun stuff… But I am back! and with a more definitive outlook on my wedding. I now have a date AND location! (after changing the date and location once already) A lot has happened since my last post, I should catch you up. So, I will start with the most exciting part about our wedding (besides the obvious marriage between T.Love and myself). Drum roll please…

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Pack your bags!

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Because we are going to Disney World!

That’s right! We are soooo uber thrilled about this, and it feels so right! It’s where we met, T.Love popped the question at the Disney Store, and I am a tad obsessed, it just makes so much sense, which is why I can’t believe it wasn’t the first place we looked at. I guess in the beginning, when we were trying to pick our venue, we did consider Disney, but the weddings through the Disney Fairy Tale Wedding company were going to be way to expensive for us… so we wrote it off immediately. It wasn’t until AFTER we booked and paid a deposit on a ceremony and reception at a country club in Medina, Ohio, that I started to revisit the Disney wedding. I blame my mom for it too (Love you Mom!). Like I said, the hall was booked and deposit  was paid. But my mother frequently brought up destination weddings, and that it’s not too late to go that route, and she would say ‘so what if we lose the deposit’. She must have known that it wasn’t feeling right for me. I didn’t even know that… So eventually, that led up to me doing some research, and stumbling across disboards.com. This website was a godsend for me. It was the key factor in making the final decision to toss the Ohio Wedding, and go for the mouse house. Here I have learned the ways to have the Disney wedding without going through the Disney Fairy Tale Weddings company. And for much cheaper might I add. So thank you to all the ladies (and fellas) on the wedding forums at disboards.com! You were a HUGE help!

#10. Back on Track...

Well, I have been some what M.I.A. lately, but I have a good reason.

Meet baby B-Dawg.


This little guy is almost 9 months old. He belongs to the P Family. They are a very close to me. They are a part of my "Framily". Baby B-Dawg is their first child. And he is the cutest ever.

This past Saturday, May 16th, some of our friends, and some family of the P Family, all pulled together to throw a benefit for him. You see, a little while ago, we received the horrifying news that Baby B-Dawg was diagnosed with stage 3 Neuroblastoma cancer in his stomach. He and his family are fighting for his life right now and we have been doing everything that we can to make this benefit dinner a success and raise as much money for them as possible. Everyone has been really busy with things the week or 2 leading up to the benefit which is why I kind of dissappeared for a bit. I had even said to Mr. T-Love at one point that I was not letting myself do any wedding planning, or even thinking, until the benefit was over. And I'm glad I did.

It was a HUGE success, sure there were some things that could have been organized a little better to go more smoothly, but honestly, noone noticed, nor remembers. To see more about B-Dawg and his family, go here!

So now that the benefit is over, I will be getting back on track for 2 major things...

1) Wedding Planning!!! Yay!

and

2) Losing Weight!!! Not so yay, at least not until I lose the weight. Then maybe I will do some cheering...


Until next Time

~Miss Cookie