The Time has Come to Weddify!

What is weddify might you ask?  Well, tonight ladies and gents I finished my LAST class of grad school.  That's right, no more teachers, no more books...  I have been working on my masters in counseling for two and a half years and I am d-o-n-e done!  Chris completed his second round of boards tonight (only one more, yay) so when he arrives into town from St. Lou we shall partake in ice cream to celebrate. 

Since I am finally done with school, it is time to allow myself to be more wedding minded.  I am sure it will still be somewhat subdued during the holiday season, but I am pumped nonetheless.  I hope to share some traditions Chris and I hope to have during this festive time of year throughout the month and continue to share some fun things about the big day as well as what is to come after.  So, get excited! (imagine someone saying that in a Kentucky accent, love me some Buggs)

First item on the to do list... crafting!  I completed my final summary on Sunday evening so after hitting up Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Dillon's, and Walgreen's on Monday night, I celebrated with a craft project.  My dear friend Danavee shared with me this idea and I jumped on it.

The problem with the candy cane look is I am not sure how to hang it, hence the "hanging by a string" look.

Not the best picture taking, but I think you get the gist.  Question now is with or without the white candy cane look?  I am leaning towards without.  If you would like to make your own, go to Danavee's site, she has all the links.

I love organizing and making things, but time has been obsolete for the past two and a half years.  But, not now!  And what better resource to put my craftiness desires to work than a wedding =)  I have ideas abounding and supplies already bought and in my spar-um (spare room).  Very ready to weddify!

On an unrelated note, I decided on a white mixer.  Still old fashioned looking but simple enough to match with anything.

Our Kitchen Needs a Vote

A few years back when my sister was married, my Grandma and Grandpa Arnold gave my sister a KitchenAid mixer.  Both of my grandmas love these mixers and feel they are timeless, so what better gift.  When Chris and I got engaged, my Grandma asked if that is what I would like.  I immediately said, YES!  I have always loved the look of these and I love to bake.  I find myself having these domestic like dreams of having an apron on and cooking a yummy dessert regularly and let's not forget some mashed potatoes.  While I know this is probably unrealistic, they are a nice focal point to a kitchen.  (I will be cooking, Chris will not starve, don't worry)

While I am excited to add this to my counter top come June, the color of my infamous mixer stands to be unknown.  I just can't decide.  Do I go with something that will always match everything, such as white or silver?  OR do I go with something more old school like aqua or pear?  I have no idea what our future kitchen will look like, and I know this mixer will be with us for years to come, but I just can't decide.  I am not the type that will match my entire kitchen around this one appliance.  I don't care if it doesn't match, to me that's half the fun. 

Therefore, I need some help.  Chris doesn't care, I promise I have asked him several times.  We do hope to have stainless steal appliances throughout the kitchen someday (i.e. several years from now).  What do you think?  Go bold or go home?  Or stick with something simple and classy?  So... here are some options:

I only included the silver, but the simple could be white, nickel, stainless steal, you get the picture.



Making Memories

One of the greatest things about our relationship, in my opinion, is how much we love spending time together and we have been able to do a lot of great things throughout our dating/engaged relationship.  Larger things, such as a trip to Orlando or Tennessee, rank just as high as the small things, ice cream dates and sushi take out.  A little while back, Chris and I were able to have a great weekend which I am sure will go down in the record books of memories to hold onto. 

Chris is in optometry school and they hold an annual "Eye" Ball to celebrate the fourth year students.  I was able to go last year and had a blast and this year was even better.  This is his fourth year, so the night was all about them.  They have all been separated since May for their rotations, so it was a blast to see them all together again.  I wasn't around for his undergrad years, but am blessed to have met so many great people from his grad school.  The girls have been so sweet to welcome me in and the guys are just hilarious.  Chris has great friends from high school and undergrad and now optometry school.  These are the people he will call when he gets a freakishly strange case at work and I have no clue what he is talking about, the group we will hopefully get to meet up with when an annual meeting comes up for the MOA, and let's never forget the golfing trips. 

Anyways, enough with the mushy and back to the "Eye" Ball.  It is always fun because we get to dress to impress.  It kind of feels like prom, only without the drama and I wasn't a fan of high school.  I won a free pair of frames and lenses (YEAH!) and Chris won a pair of sunglasses (something he doesn't need, but they were free so whatev).  Next time we are all together again, it will be graduation.  Crazy to think that I met this guy when he was just in his second year.  He has worked so hard and I am so very proud of him (and all of his friends for that matter). 



Jordan, Mark, and Chris



The great Laura



The Buggs, love them!

 After the "Eye" Ball, we headed back to the Bugg's house to get some shut eye.  We woke up pretty early the next morning and packed up his dad's SUV to move him home, another great memory.  We have had a long distance relationship from the get go, and it is just fun to have him here for 10 weeks!  It is going by fast, but it has been great to watch TV together during the week, go running, hang out before 8:30 on a Friday night... just great. 

Once the SUV was loaded up, we set forth to Columbia for the MU, OU game.  Chris is a crazy fan, seriously.  We don't miss games and I can be assured that through the entire game, his phone is glued to his hands and text messages are streaming in from his friend down in Texas, Andrew.  Making play by play comments and screaming the things via texting that I am sure I would hit him for if he said them to the TV.  The game did not disappoint and we were able to see his good friend Ryan and his wife Whitney in the process. 

So, as you can see, our weekend was chopped full of friends, fun, packing, dresses, and laughter.  Loved it.  As the count down to the wedding continues, it has been very nice to not have a life that revolves around a wedding.  Don't get me wrong, I am loving looking at blogs and dreaming and all that jazz, but its been nice.  School is wrapping up for me, only three more classes and a final before I am complete.  Which means, my list of blog ideas should be taking form sooner than later!  I will try to convince Chris to do a few guest post, we shall see.  Now we are off to a day of, what else, watching the MU game, cleaning my house (I am crazy excited about this) and putting up the Christmas decorations while eating some take out sushi (a new tradition we are trying out). 

Hello Out There!

Long time no blog, eh?  Sadly, not much has changed on the wedding front since the last post.  We do have our DJ booked, however this post will come later with a full blown survey of what you feel would be great music for our wedding.  So, be thinking about all those fabulous songs you can't help but dance to.

There is big news that is semi wedding related however...  Chris will be moving back to Springfield in a mere three weeks time!  Hip, Hip, HOORAY!!!  Friends and family are familiar with the bellowing I, Ashley, have broadcasted about being long distance for some time now.  Chris and I began dating in December, 2008 and every bit of it since than has been long distance.  It has been fun going up to St. Louis and getting away on weekends, as well as counting down the days until Friday when Chris would be driving home... most of the time.  But, I am SO excited to have a normal, in the same town, get to eat dinner together, sit and watch TV during the week, kind of relationship.  It will be saweet. 

I have been singing Annie to Chris for several weeks now (you know, "Together at last!  Together forever.  We're tying a knot, that nothin can sever").  Ten weeks of having the fiance at home sounds pretty swell.  Then, he heads off to KC for 16 weeks to finish up his rotations and I get to enjoy seeing my aunt, uncle, cousins, grandparents, and a few besties when I head up to visit.  YAY!

So, hopefully within the next few weeks I will have more time (2 months until graduation, thank you baby Jesus) to put into our little wedding bloggio.  Lots of ideas, lots of pictures, lots of sharing. 

Can you SEE the excitement!?!?!

Come and Get It!

I remember specifically the night of our engagement, when all is blissful and full of excitement, Chris made it quite clear that we would have GREAT food at the wedding.  Not good, great.  We will not be the couple who is so wrapped up in saying hello to everyone that our belly's are growling by the time we leave for the evening (we will be social, but have full intentions of enjoying the meal).  Chris and I want to sit and help ourselves to a good old, stick to your ribs kinda meal.  I threw out an idea to Chris that evening which he wrapped hold of and we contacted our caterer within the following few days.

Our wedding will be catered by Catering Creations!  Jason Conover, co-owner of this fine business, has catered several mouth watering meals at our church.  Pulled pork, chicken, green beans, salad, rolls, mmmm good.  Basically, our food will fit right in with our backyard wedding, bar-b-que!! 

Side note... our venue has a dinner bell which will be used at our wedding, this makes me smile.

CAKE!!!

I was ALL about picking out a cake lady for our big day.  I could eat wedding cake every day of the year and be oh so happy.  I quickly contacted two of my fine friends who I have held onto the memory of the taste of their wedding cakes.  Both of them used the same cake lady, so I took it as a green light to book her!  Our cake (actually cakes, we have six of them) will be made by the wonderful Sonja from Celebrations by Sonja. 

Her work is as delicious as it is beautiful.  I was so sad when I went to my appointment with her, however.  I had promised Chris we would go together for the whole trying out wedding cake experience, so we are holding off until November when he is in town and we can pick out some flavors then.  This didn't stop me from sitting down with her and sketching out my ideas and I must say, our cake table will be perfect.  I have begged my mom to purchase more than is needed because I want left overs, so we shall see.  The great thing is, Sonja throws in your cake topper for free so you are sure to have your dessert for your one year anniversary.  Just writing this post makes me want to convince Chris to order a cake for no good reason at all before our wedding, just because I love it that much.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

Within the past five years or so, when people I actually knew were getting hitched, one of the first questions after the engagement always seemed to be, "Who will photograph the wedding?"  Technically, my first project was to tackle was the venue, but only because I had a good idea of who would be our photographer, it was just a matter of booking.  I became familiar with Sarah Carter's work via some friends at work who were having their family shots done by her and my friend Danavee had her wedding shot by Sarah.  After showing her web site to Chris, my parents, and Chris' parents I had the go ahead and we had her booked!

We were fortunate enough to have our engagement pictures taken by Sarah and she did not disappoint.  It was great to become comfortable with how she worked.  While she banters back and forth with Whitney, Danavee, and myself via facebook, when it comes to picture time, she means business.  You could see her constantly looking around for perfect lighting and placement, trying new things, catching shots of us while we were just being casual, it was fun. 

I am very excited to see our photos from our wedding already.  If you are looking for a great photographer for your family, wedding, or if you just feel the need to see yourself on paper, I highly recommend Sarah Carter.