This is seshelz's Red Wedding!

So we have our church, I am so relieved. I was so worried that our date wouldn't be available. We will be married in Tabernacle United Methodist Church on Sandbridge Rd. The Church is perfect, and we are so excited!
The only thing now will be finding an organist or someone to do music, which is not provided. We can decide to just use an Ipod with preselected music to play on the sound system, has anyone ever done this? I'm thinking it may be risky to trust someone other that a professional to handle the music at the ceremony;)

So, I'm a beach girl and it was important to me to incorporate my love of the beach and of seashells into this wedding. I found the best hand tied shell centerpieces at the Shell Shop on the Pier. Imagine a lace doiley, but made out of beautiful seashells. I'm topping each with an 8" hurricane globe, filled with white sand and a white candle. Each Hurricane globe has real starfish attached.

My sweetheart table will have 2 hurricane globes, but with bigger, brighter shells, starfish and sandollars and staggered candles as well as flowers.

I got all of the centerpieces, everything included, for about $40! Keep an eye out for bargains because table centerpieces don't have to break the budget!

So, living in Virginia beach, there aren't a lot of options for a somewhat formal reception unless you have a much larger budget than Chris and I do for our big day. Thank goodness for Shifting Sands! We are having our reception in the fireside room with full open bar and stationed buffet, including many hot and cold hors devours. The Mariner's Buffet is a great value and includes a champagne toast for all guests.

Chris doesn't know, and I hope he doesn't see this, but I've arranged for us to have an ice sculpture shot luge for the bar with the Alaskan Stars engraved into the ice. He's gonna love it! He was born and raised in Juneau, AK and will really appreciate the ice shot luge.
( I'm sure everyone else will too! Yummy:)

The room is great, but only Accomodates 105 people, which we'll definitely have. it's gonna be tight but It's going to be a great time!

Ok, so tell me how my fantastic life saver of a Matron of Honor/BFF (haha) was able to get 150 invitations, with RSVP cards and 100 save the dates (which all match) for $61.00? Garen Ridge has a great sale and the invites etc were 50% off! All we had to buy was ribbon to tie on the invites. Niki really should look into becoming an event planner because she's awesome. The sample invites she made me are perfect.

The invites themselves couldn't have been more perfect eithe, their white with a half inch or so silver border, which goes with the silver I'm incorporating into the wedding.

Thank so much for everything Niki, I love you soooo much!

So, the bridesmaids dresses I've had my heart set on for the last few years are too long! To hem them they'd have to cut at least a foot off of the length adding 30 plus dollars to the gown. It's ended up being cheaper to find new dresses. My Maid and Matron of Honor dresses are perfect, Carole Lee will be wearing tangerine instead of canary but other than that everything is as planned.

Back to the drawing board, I just hope Alfred Angelo has the same Apple color!

I found my dream wedding gown today and had to order it. It's exactly what I've always imagined since I was a little girl. Growing up I always loved my Grandmothers wedding gown, she must have had a 15 foot train, it was a royal train times 10:) I always knew I wanted a Cathedral train and today, I got it. I can't post any pics because I don't want Chris to have any chance of seeing it before the wedding, but it is a strapless Oleg Cassini gown with a slight sweetheart neckline with beaded embroidery, It has a super poofy pick up ball gown skirt and a six foot long train. I've added a super poofy skirt underneath to make the gown extra full, it's absolutely gorgeous! Finding the perfect gown is the best feeling and it's so true that you know when you find "the dress!" The french bustle looks phenomenol and only adds to the gown. I can't wait for September 26th!

So, I've got my bridesmaids! My Maid of Honor is my baby sister Carole Lee, I am so excited for her to be such a huge part of our wedding. My Matron of Honor is my best friend Niki Weatherly. She is the best ever and I don't know if I'd be able to plan this whole wedding without her! My bridesmaids include my very good friend Amanda Brown and my brother's fiance Cassie Nunn. The girls will be wearing beautiful apple red cocktail length strapless gowns, Carole lee, my maid of honor will be wearing a shorter flirtier dress in canary yellow, and Niki my Matron of Honor is wearing the shorter dress in Apple. The Bridesmaids Bouquets consist of 12 roses, 3 red, 3 orange, 3 yellow and 3 pink, which look beautiful with the red dresses. I love the fact that the wedding is so early fall that I can use bright, bold colors. I'm thinking I may incorporate a sunflower into each of the bouquets as well, we'll see:)

Thursday February 5th 2009 started off as just my 24th Birthday. Chris had convinced me to take the day off of work so we could have a relaxing day together. We got to sleep in and spend the whole lazy today together, it was such a relaxing day!

That evening he suprised me with a romantic dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which was so fantastic. We talked about our life and how much we meant to each other and how we couldn't believe that last 4 1/2 years had passed so quickly! Oh, and how 24 seems a lot older than 23 somehow;)

After dinner we went down to Sandbridge, and parked at the very end past Little Island Park. It was 19 degrees outside! Of course I had to take my heels off to walk in the sand which was fine at first, but after a few minutes my feet were ice! I started running off to get my shoes when Chris laid his jacket on the sand for me to stand on, and then he gave me his shoes, since he said he had really warm socks;) By the time I had his shoes on, he was down on one knee with the ring I've wanted for the last 2 years. I dropped to my knees in shock and pure happiness and of course said yes! We cried and I couldn't stop screaming "is this real!!!"

The whole experience was so surreal and one that I had dreamed of for so long, It was the happiest moment of my entire life!

A few years ago I was at a jewelry store with my best friend getting her wedding rings cleaned and inspected when I spotted the most beautiful engagement ring I have ever seen. From that moment I knew that I wanted that ring to be my engagement ring and I made sure Chris knew exactly which one it was! It took 2 or so years to get it, but it is even more beautiful than I remember it.

The ring is 14 karat white gold, with a 3/8 karat cushion cut diamond centerpiece with incredible sparkle. The center stone is surrounded by 32 round prong- and channel-set diamonds making it 2 karats total weight. This ring is absolutely covered with diamonds!

This ring was made for me:)