by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 31, 2008
My parents were here all weekend! It was so nice to hang out and relax (sort of)! Our weekend was pretty busy and we had to squeeze in wedding conversations while my mom sewed trim onto our bedroom draperies. She’s the hardest worker I know and she didn’t stop all weekend. I picked them up at the airport on Friday and I made (with mom’s supervision) shrimp and grits for supper. It turned out to be really good! We just hung out all night and all fell asleep on the couch.
On Saturday morning, mom and I drove to West Columbia for a shower in honor of Todd and me hosted by some of Todd’s family friends– and new friends of mine. Todd met my dad and his dad at our house and they all built our storage shed in the backyard. The shower was beautiful and the brunch was fantastic! I got to see some friends of mine, meet some great ladies, and we got some truly beautiful things. Two of the best gifts of the day….
Lindsay Adams and her mother, Cathy, were two of the six hostesses of this great event. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them. They are Todd’s second family and I’m looking forward to them being my third family. They are the sweetest, most loving people and I already feel so fortunate to know them. Lindsay and her husband have a blog, too, and I love reading about her adventures in baseball land!
lindsay and me
nana, PC, me, and mom
the hostess in their aprons and oven mits!
the hostesses and me
by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 27, 2008
Someone mentioned to us tonight that the wedding is 37 days away. Just typing it gives me butterflies. I don’t want this posting to turn into a copy of my to-do list, but there is seriously some stuff to do! Todd hasn’t ordered gifts for his attendants yet. I still have to make those wands and stuff the welcome bags for the guests. I’m still waiting on the music to send out to all of the musicians and singers. I have to finalize details with our florist and get all of the wedding signage designed and printed for the buffet tables, guest book, etc.
In the mean time, I have just realized that I will only be in Columbia for two more weekends until the wedding. One of those weekends will revolve around the golf tournament that I’m planning for work. That’s right. I’ve got a huge event that I’m planning for work! Did I mention that I’ve considered quitting my job to focus on the wedding? Just kidding, Todd.
With all of the stress, I’m comforted every day when I look at Todd and think about the beautiful relationship that we’ve developed over the past few years. No matter what else happens, we’ll still be married on May 3 and will spend the rest of our lives loving each other and building each other up. I’m so proud to have found the perfect man for me and I feel so lucky that God put him in my life when he did. His plan is truly perfect and I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I had taken that job in Charlotte instead of working at the law firm where I met Todd or if I had not chosen to attend graduate school at USC and never ended up in Columbia in the first place. We were both perfectly placed at that law firm in August of 2005 and everything changed. My goals, my dreams, and everything that I had expected out of my life completely changed when I met him and I knew that my place was with him.
I know that I’ll end up getting everything done for the big day, but it’s just a day. It has been extra fun finally getting to plan an event for myself, but I know that it will not compare to the event that is the rest of our lives and the little lives that we’ll bring into this world. Thanks to everyone that has supported us during this really fun engagement. I’m going to saver the next 37 days (36 days in about 10 minutes) and look forward to helping other excited brides-to-be plan their big day in order to not go through wedding planning withdrawal!
by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 24, 2008
Our wedding reception is being held at the same hotel where Todd and I will stay on our wedding night. We’re also hosting a farewell brunch the morning after the wedding and we weren’t really sure what to do for a send off/exit because we don’t really have anywhere to go!
We also weren’t allowed to throw rose petals or bird seed and I think that bubbles are disgusting. I really wanted to use sparklers, but we’re also not allowed to do that. I saw this really cute, environmentally friendly idea to use rods and ribbon to create wands with streamers on the end. The guests will create a tunnel and wave the ribbons as we run through them.
We’re going to take a short horse and buggy ride around downtown Greenville and come back to the hotel after the coast is clear.
Now I’ve just got to start my little DIY project of creating the wands! The first picture is my favorite.
by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 24, 2008
Todd’s coworker and his wife hosted a SUPER FUN crawfish boil for us on Friday night. They ordered the crawfish from Natchitoches and they were delivered (live) in a styrofoam ice chest and they did a great job with boil! It was great to hang out with everyone and eat such great food. The Mrs. not only did the boil, but she cooked crawfish etouffee and Commander’s Palace’s bread pudding.
Sorry that there aren’t any actual crawfish in any of these pictures!
by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 18, 2008
Ever since the first time Todd took me to Greenville and we dined at Soby’s, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. The White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. It’s to die for. It’s gooey, it’s chocolatey, it’s banana-y, and it has beautiful swirls of white chocolate on top.
Soby’s is a fine Southern restaurant that is conveniently located across the street from the Westin Poinsett hotel, where our reception is located. Soby’s also serves our favorite pie, the White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. When I asked Todd what kind of groom’s cake he’d like to have we threw around a few ideas; Jimmy Buffett parrot head cake, chocolate and strawberry cake, Gamecocks cake, law books, or scales of justice. These were all fine, but none of these really captured the devine dessert that we were looking for. Our wedding cake will be white cake and white butter cream icing, my favorite kind of wedding cake, and there will also be a surprise layer of red velvet cake. We wanted something fluffy and Southern for the groom’s cake, so we chose Soby’s White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. It’s honestly one of the things I’m looking most forward to about the wedding.
We’re serving miniature pies that will be 3″ a piece. Practically bite-size! We decided to display them in these giant brass scales of justice that I got from my mom’s best friend. We’ll have two very large pies in the scales (one heavier than the other) and 200 miniature pies arranged on the groom’s cake table.
I advise coming to the wedding just for the pie. Unless you don’t like bananas.
by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 18, 2008
I’ve just returned from a wonderful trip to Dallas and Ruston! The whole five days was great and I was so happy to see so many friends and family and to get to eat such great food! 
I picked up my dress on Thursday after Todd’s mom and I got to Dallas. I had my hair done on Friday morning in Dallas, then we were all off to Benton, Louisiana to meet my photographer, Kelly Moore, for the bridal portraits. It is always such an adventure with Kelly and I couldn’t be happier about my photographer choice. We were in true Louisiana areas for the pictures and I was only slightly scared that my dress was getting dirty! I can’t wait to see her work.
The next day, we had the shower at the Ropp Center on the Louisiana Tech campus. The shower was hosted by three ladies that I grew up knowing and loving and these women are dear friends of my parents. So many of my college and childhood friends were there and it was great to catch up. Two of my friends brought their babies and it was so much fun to see them for the first time! Here are some pictures of the really fun shower!
Rachel, Hudson, and me
PC and me
Jennifer, me, PC, Lisa, and Maisie
like sisters– Jennifer, me, and Kate
me, Lisa, Blair, and Maisie
After the shower, my friends, family, and I went to Cajun Cafe for some boiled crawfish and then I knew my trip home was complete!
My favorite college professors and their daughter gave me this adorable little sign that said, “Ruston: My home town.” While it wasn’t something on my registry, it was by far my favorite gift. I love that place!
by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 12, 2008
A big thank you to Abby at Style Me Pretty for featuring my inspiration board that I created for Catherine’s Arkansas barn wedding on her blog. Style Me Pretty is my favorite wedding blog and always features so many great vendors, ideas from brides, and beautiful real weddings. I’m so excited to be on her blog today!
by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 11, 2008
I told my friend, “LeCorn” that I was looking for an all-white, modern chandelier and hadn’t been able to find one. She told me to check out Wisteria.com and she was right! I found the perfect chandelier for our bedroom. We have really classic and traditional features of our house, but the pendant fixtures in our kitchen are really modern and I really want to modernize our master bedroom. We picked a really traditional bed, but chose really modern fabric. I moved my blue and brown living room accents up to the bedroom and will have a blue and brown bedroom with white accents.
Isn’t this chandelier perfect? It’s also perfectly expensive.
Todd and I have basically created “dream lists” of items for the house that we’d love to have some day and we’ll just have to add this one to it. It’s definitely going on my “Must Find at Market” list for July 2008 in hopes of finding it at wholesale price.
by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 11, 2008
We’ve officially entered the throws of wedding party central. We had a couple of engagement parties and showers that spanned 5 or 6 months, but we’re into every weekend now and it’s so much fun!
Last Friday, a couple of Todd’s coworkers and one spouse hosted a really fun engagement cocktail party at their beautiful home. It was fun to catch up with all of Todd’s colleagues and eat great food. I also got hooked on Guitar Hero because of the children in the house. This weekend, Todd’s mom and I are headed to Dallas and staying with my parents. I’ll pick up my dress, get my hair styled, make a bouquet, and head to Shreveport to meet Kelly Moore for my portraits. We’ve got a shower in Ruston on Saturday morning and I really can’t wait. Three of my bridesmaids will be there and it will be so nice to hang out with them on Saturday afternoon and Saturday night– and get some crawfish, finally!
This shower is being hosted by the ladies that worked in the Louisiana Tech Admissions office with me and a lot of my college friends will be there.
It’s fun celebrating with friends every weekend and it definitely keeps the stresses of the actual wedding at bay.
I didn’t take any pictures at last weekend’s fete, but promise to this weekend.
by Blue-Eyed Bride on March 11, 2008
My mom and I have had a lot of fun planning out the welcome packages to leave at the front desk of the two hotels. One of the items that is going in the bags that we’re most excited about is the Shrimp and Grits mix from Gullah Gourmet.
We wanted to include something to represent all of the places that I’ve lived and represents the different areas that the guests are traveling from. We’re including tiny bottles of Tabasco for Louisiana and a yummy, spicy trailmix that is made is Texas.
We’re including weekend itineraries for everyone that will be customized for the different events that they all need to attend; the bridesmaid luncheon, the dessert and champagne party, the golf outing, the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, the farewell brunch, and of course the wedding ceremony and reception.
Is anyone else doing anything to welcome their guests? Any suggestions for other items to include in the bags besides water and candy?
