Wedding Week...

The week of the wedding, I only worked through Wednesday.  Kevin worked through Thursday.
My Thursday was spent getting my rings cleaned, eyebrows threaded, picking up some new clothes at the mall, shopping for gift bags for our wedding party and packing those gifts, grabbing my pea coat from work...that I had forgotten on Wednesday, forgetting to pick up final stationary from Melody and racing as fast as I could to her house to grab that (two hours late)...scarfing down a Chick-fil-a sandwich on the way back to the house...frantically cleaning so Christi could comfortably stay in the guest bedroom.  And then waiting for the bridesmaids to start arriving!
Oh...and my internet went out, which aided in my lateness to Melody's (because I wasn't getting her e-mails saying, "are you still coming?" "You're an hour late.") and forced me to walk around the block checking e-mail on my iPhone.  I was down the street, doing just that, when Jamie arrived first with Hayden and Nolan in tow...then came Christi and Ashley.  The four of us went out to Cheesecake Factory for a last dinner before the wedding action really kicked into gear.

Dinner at Cheesecake Factory

Then we returned to my house where my sister and Allyson arrived and the girls surprised me with a bag of gifts. 

Bag of goodies!

I was able to do my last minute "inspection" of the girls in their dresses and shoes!  Seriously, planning a wedding when your bridesmaids are so far apart, in different countries, is pretty difficult and this was the first time they were all in the same place with their wedding gear!  And they looked great!

Bridesmaids in one place!!

Then came arranging my "bouquet" for the rehearsal and hanging around a bit before I sent everyone home!

Bouquet making!

My girls!!!

Friday, I woke up with a bad headache and a stomach ache to boot!  I don't think I got out of bed until over in the afternoon.  I was a wreck!  I wanted to run away and cancel the wedding!  The added pressure came when family started calling to say they were in town.  I was still in bed and I didn't want to have to "be on" and deal with anyone.  Maybe I just needed a day to wallow in my pity and feel bad for myself while I was feeling sick, but that's what happened.  Kevin finally convinced me to shower and try to pull myself together and I managed to stomach bits of a baked potato to have some nourishment!  Thank goodness Christi was staying at my house because she was able to field calls and just hold the fort down while I wasn't feeling good. (Thank you so much Baby!  You saved the day!)  The break in the day happened when my mama called and said she was on the way to Raleigh to pick up Kevin's groom's cake in Cary.  That was fine and dandy, but then I got a follow-up call with her saying that the cake wouldn't fit in the cooler she had brought along.  Obviously, I couldn't put a surprise cake in my fridge with Kevin and his family coming over, so she came to get me and I jumped in the car and off we went to Gravy to see if they would keep it for us.  And they did!  Thank you Lord!

And then on the drive back to my house, I thought, "better call the church florist and just make sure everything is good for the alter flowers."  So, I did and that's when I was forced to transition from "sicky, feel sorry for myself, girl" to..."you better not mess with me, I'm getting married in 2 days, bride."  So, Saturday, the day of our rehearsal at the church...there was to be a memorial service scheduled about 3 hours before our rehearsal.  They had asked to have flowers at the memorial service, so our wedding flowers were to be set up around noon on Saturday and stay through the church service on Sunday and on to our wedding that afternoon.  Well...when I called the florist to make sure she knew we wanted autumnal flowers, she proceeded to tell me that the flowers were light pink and light blue for the memorial service and that's what would stay for our wedding.  WHAT?  Who the crap orders light pink and light blue flowers for a fall wedding.  Definitely NOT THIS BRIDE!  I was livid and I let the flower lady know.  In her defense, she said she hadn't gotten the message about fall flowers, but the memorial service folks had called her and specifically asked for pink and blue....the only problem...I was paying for the flowers, not the memorial service folks.  They were just getting flowers on the alter because of me.  So...I proceeded to call the flower lady's contact, who didn't know anything about the situation, but said she hoped she hadn't messed anything up.  Well, someone had, because the memorial service folks were just steam-rolling everyone else!  I finally got her to understand that my money was paid and the flowers on the alter for our wedding needed to be reds and oranges and yellows and greens...and NOT light pink and blue.  She said she'd figure it out money-wise and for me to just make sure the flower lady would agree to make another arrangement for our wedding.  That call went much better!  She was more than happy to make another arrangement, she just wanted to make sure she'd get paid....and I told her she would be.  Ahh...and that shook me out of my "sicky" mode.  When you have a crisis and you're the only one that can save the day, superhero clothes have to come on and you just have to get it done!

I returned to my house to find Kevin and about 15 other people (family and friends) gathering to go to the NC State Fair!  It was loud in the house, but all was well.  Crisis averted!  We all hung out for about 30 minutes before splitting up into cars and driving over to the fairgrounds.  I still wasn't feeling so great...probably because I'd only had a few bites of a baked potato all day...so I was ready to hit the food.  However, we had about 15-20 people that wanted to stick together the whole time...impossible!  By the time we made it to "the best corn booth at the fair", I had smoke coming out of my ears and I was about to pass out from hunger.  The rest of the night went okay.  I still had my headache, but we ate (corn, ham sandwich, fried cheese), we walked, the guys played games and won prizes...Kevin won me a bear...and we made it out with everyone in the same group!  I went home and went straight to bed around 9pm!  Sleep was necessary!

Games

Bear Kevin won!

Saturday morning I woke up headache free, but feeling a little sick on my stomach.  That I recognized!!  Just the normal anxious tummy I've had my whole life.  (Seriously!  It's a curse!  I used to have it in elementary and middle school so badly that I had to take anxiety medicine so I was able to eat in the morning, or I just wouldn't eat all day and the stomach pain would continue all day because of nerves and an empty stomach.  I even managed to give myself a stomach ulcer in middle school.)  I proceeded to take my special anxiety medicine, prescribed just for the wedding, and then climbed back into bed to write all of my thank-you notes to my bridesmaids and my card for Kevin for the wedding day.  It was really relaxing and felt good easing into the day.  But, then it was "go" time.  I showered and got ready, packed the car and Christi and I hopped in and drove over to my mama's best friend's house.  Sue hosted a bridesmaids brunch for me and all of the bridesmaids, my mom and Kevin's mom, and wow did she roll out the red carpet.  Not only is her house like a museum...just so beautiful and everything in it's place...but she had thought of every detail.  We had mini muffins and juice, complete with "V" napkins.  Then, we sat down for the main meal.  Salad and quiche and baked apples and a wonderful chocolaty dessert.  Sadly, my stomach wasn't quite strong enough to handle the full meal, but I did the best I could and really enjoyed the meal.  I so wish I could eat it all over again today.  I'd clean my plate!

Sue's beautifully decorated table!

Girls at bridesmaids brunch!

Me and Mrs. Sue!

After our morning at Sue's, we headed to Cameron Village for manicures and pedicures...

Cameron Nails!

...checked into the hotel...and changed for the rehearsal.  The day just flew!  By the time we changed clothes, we were already running late for the rehearsal.  We arrived and made it through the entire ceremony, with some difficulty.

The only picture I have from the wedding rehearsal (Thanks Leah!)

Figuring out communion was tricky and nothing was made clear at the end of our time in the church.  Oh well, we had a deadline for when we had to arrive at Gravy, so we headed out.  By the time we all arrived at Gravy, I was ready for some food and thank goodness we chose Gravy because it was amazingly great food!  We had an awesome time relaxing with family and the bridal party and really enjoyed ourselves.  There was food and drinks and passing out gifts and the thumbprint tree and then dessert.

Bridesmaids and their dates at the rehearsal dinner.

My mama putting her thumbprint on the tree!

My girls know I LOVE purple, so they all dressed for the occasion.  No planning involved here!

We left and I headed back to the hotel with my girls, where we stayed up a bit just figuring out last minute details for the next day.  That, too, was relaxing and by that point, I was excited, but tired, and it really didn't seem possible that the very next day I would wake up for the very last time as Miss Victoria Elizabeth Ewing.  I headed to bed around 10pm and slept pretty well in the King Bed by myself.  My only wish is that I could have gotten a few more hours of shut-eye.  I think I run best off of at least 9 hours. :)

Our Wedding Vendors

You've already met Priscilla and Orangerie Events, but there were quite a few other people that made our special day happen.

This is Priscilla setting up our candy apple station and being cute!

The weekend after we were engaged in Charleston, SC, we hit the ground running looking for a venue.  I think we saw 6 venues in one Saturday afternoon and basically fell in love with The Stockroom, which you know from this post was only available October 14...and we had our date!

Kevin in The Stockroom on the day we were looking for venues.

The church HAD to be the church I grew up in...Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.  I was basically born in the back pew...I was baptized there, had first communion there, was confirmed there, my dad's funeral was there, my mama and Don were married there...you get the point!  The stained glass alone was reason we had to get married there...so that was booked.

Then came the fun stuff!

I was looking for photos of The Stockroom online...just to refresh my memory of what the room looked like...and the only photos that popped up were from a website called Luster Studios...I looked through those shots and then started reading every single piece of information Craig Carpenter, the owner, had put on his site.  Having not heard of him before, I wasn't sure about him at all.  However, at that point, I had narrowed photography down to Azul (who did my best friend, Jamie's wedding) or...umm, that's it, just Azul.  And after seeing Craig's website, I was bound and determined it had to be him!  We really didn't "interview" anyone else.  We had a phone conversation with Craig, met at his place just to have the formality of being in person and we signed the contract that day.  Done!  When you see good work, you just know and photography was our #1 most important aspect of the day.  I had heard too many horror stories of couples whose wedding photos didn't turn out at all...or they waited months to get them...or they decided to not spend as much money on photography and weren't happy with anything they got back.  I pretty much live and breathe photos...have since I was little, so I was not going to be one of those sob stories and you can see from the engagement photos and the wedding photos, that are to come shortly, that we made a really good decision!  Craig kind of fell into my lap like Priscilla and I don't think it was an accident.  Why are there no other photos of The Stockroom online?  Because I was meant to stumble upon Craig's website and we were meant to book only him for our wedding.  I don't think it was chance at all!

Craig hard at work on the wedding day (Thanks Jamie/Billy for photo)

Umm...next was my dress...with a 7 month engagement, I knew that was one of the first things I had to purchase because waiting for dresses to come in can take 9 months or more.  I didn't have that kind of time!  Back in the day (like 7 years ago) I worked at Victorian Rose Bridals on Glenwood Ave (which...word to the wise, don't shop there...they treated their customers poorly and only cared about pushing sales...despicable!), and so I had a good idea, based on the dresses we sold there, what I wanted.  I was in love with Pronovias, a designer out of Italy and I HAD to have a dupioni silk gown.  Dupioni silk is lightweight and really elegant looking.  I also had a budget in my mind of what I wanted to spend...no more than $300.  Because, it's a freaking dress people.  You wear it one day in your whole life!  I don't get how people spend so much money on one dress.  So, my mama and I started our search out at Carolina Bridal World in Smithfield, NC.  I'm sure I tried on 50 dresses or more and nothing looked good.  Nothing.  The very next weekend, we went to Lana Addison Bridal in Cary, NC, which I had read carried Pronovias...and that's where I found my dress.  By Amy Kuschel, an American designer from San Francisco...buy American folks!  My dress was from last season, so I was able to buy it off the rack and get a crazy good discount...even though I did ending blowing my own budget...and though it wasn't dupioni silk, the fabric was something called Mikados silk and was very similar to dupioni and was lightweight and perfect!
Funny thing about my dress...I had pictured wearing a lace gown with some sort of straps...I did not want strapless, because I look naked...and my Amy Kuschel gown was everything I did not want, yet it worked!  Since it didn't have lace, I opted for a beautiful long veil with 2 inches of lace around it.  Gorgeous!

Jacqueline-my dress (from Amy Kuschel's website)

Me in my dress on the day we purchased it.

 After meeting with Priscilla in person for the first time in late March, I knew the other gaps I needed to jump on in terms of vendors...

Stationary was next and Priscilla introduced me to Melody Zanation of emDOTzee Designs...who was the woman for the job!  I met with her the very next week to get started on our "Save the Dates" and our programs...and I already felt like we were pushed for time...we needed to get rolling!  My first meeting with Melody was at a Starbucks in Morrisville and I had had a migraine that day, so I literally got myself out of bed and drove to meet her and I was a hott mess!  And then because of my migraine, I was obviously having a hard time concentrating, making decisions, and making sense in general, so I know she thought I was a mess!  The initial designs were pretty easy though!  I knew purple had to be our theme color with lots of fall colors added in!  And I had decided last Christmas that our theme was going to be leaves...but not just any leaves.  An oak leaf to represent me and my growing up in the south.  In Raleigh, the City of Oaks, and Four Oaks, NC, where my grandaddy lived.  Oak trees have been a big part of my life!  And a maple leaf, to represent Kevin and his growing up in Vermont with maple syrup and maple sugar and everything maple.  And I wanted to show the two leaves coming together (Kevin and me) to form a union (marriage)...so placement on the invitation was key!  The maple leaf coming from the top and the oak leaf joining it from the bottom..also representing where NC and VT are geographically.  Melody did an AWESOME job and made us the most amazing custom stationary!  Everything was personalized and perfect!  The only thing stopping us from getting the "Save the Dates" out at that point was our engagement pictures, which we took the very next day after Melody and I met.

Invite in the pocketfold on the day I was assembling them all!

Bridesmaid dresses were After Six Dresses and my sister and Jamie tried them on and helped decide which dress we were going to get.  Actually, Rebecca tried them on...Jamie was 8 months pregnant and there was no way she was fitting into a dress! :)  Ashley, another bridesmaid lives in York, England, so she couldn't try them on...Christi lives in the Seattle area, so we sent her the style number and she was able to go to a store and try it on, but not with us.  And Allyson, was also pregnant at the time.  So, Rebecca was the dress model!  I think the dresses were awesome!  The prefect color (African Violet), really reasonably priced, and comfortable...they even had pockets!  So, dresses...check!

Bridesmaids dress in African Violet

Priscilla introduced me to Belle's Catering and Brides and Bouquets also!  Belle's was awesome from the start!  They're a catering company based out of The Big Easy in Cary, NC.  So, the food is done by the chef at The Big Easy!  Brooke Everhart manages Belle's Catering and they are great!  She's so young and hip, so she was able to see our vision and really get what we wanted from the start!  Sorry to all of our guests for the massive amounts of food you got...it was so inexpensive that we decided on three meats per person...I know you're all really upset! :)  The tastings at The Big Easy were phenomenal!  I have to say..if you're booking a catering company and you don't even get the chance to try the food...there's a problem!  Belle's went out of their way to prepare all of the dishes for us and we were not disappointed.  It also made up for the fact that even though we did get a chance to eat at the wedding...we were able to enjoy the food undisturbed at the tastings! :)  And...because Belle's works out of The Big Easy...we had the location of our cocktail hour solved.  This could not have been a coincidence either.  We were looking at Busy Bee or Isaac Hunter's or Raleigh Times, but The Big Easy was suddenly the obvious choice...and two doors down from The Stockroom!

Gregg from Brides and Bouquets, Cary NC is amazing also!  We met once in mid-April and pretty much planned everything flowers and then I didn't meet with him again until the week of the wedding.  From the start he was impressed with me coming in with pictures of what I envisioned and what I wanted.  I was shocked that that's not the norm.  I was also surprised with the amount of questions he had for me in terms of wedding details...as a florist, he really needed to know about every aspect of the wedding!  I had no clue!  In the end, I was over the moon impressed with the floral pieces he gave us!  Everything was amazing!  We also used Gregg to get our table linens from CE Rentals...one less vendor I had to work with!

One of our gorgeous table arrangements

Next came cake!  Priscilla suggested Cakes by Chloe and we popped over to the wedding show at the NC State Fairground one Sunday afternoon in late April to try the cake at the show.  It seriously was a 10 minute pop-in and Chloe Lee was booked!  The cake was FANTASTIC!  We tried a few at the show: lavender cake with cream cheese and lemon curd; chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and a thin layer of raspberry preserves; coconut cake with cream cheese and a thin layer of boysenberry preserve...I was in LOVE with the lavender and lemon.  So, if you came to the wedding, you got that and almond cake with mocha buttercream.  We had an official tasting at Priscilla's office in early June and that's when we told Chloe what we wanted the cake to look like...fall leaves on a white cake with some small scrolls.  Simple, but very autumnal!  The cake she gave us was PERFECTION!  And since we only got the small bite we fed to each other on the wedding day, I'm really looking forward to next October 14th when we can eat the one in the freezer!

Our AMAZING cake!

DJ...who shall we pick as our DJ???  Priscilla suggested Joe Bunn (Thank you Priscilla...you'll notice she suggested everyone and that saved us a LOT of time and money!  Do yourself a favor and just book a wedding planner already!)  We met with Joe in mid-May and just got a feel for who he was, what he could offer, etc.  I think we pretty much made up our minds right then and there that he was booked!  The things we liked about Joe was he didn't have a phony DJ voice..he was relevant and this wasn't just a side gig he does...he's been DJing his whole life, pretty much.  And for good reason...he's pretty phenomenal!  I don't think it's any coincidence that Joe is the DJ that the school I work for chooses to do their events!  It was late August and Saint Mary's was having it's annual back to school Picnic in the Grove and who is DJing the event?  Joe Bunn himself!  After hearing him do that event, I was 100% confident we hired the right guy!  Once again...no coincidence here!

Joe at the wedding (Thanks Jamie/Billy for the photo)

What was left?  Suits for the guys from Kohl's!  I wanted brown suits with the purple and fall colors...something warm...and black wasn't going to cut it.  We looked everywhere, Men's Warehouse, Jos. A. Banks, Belk's, Penny's, Macy's, the random suit store in Cary Towne Center that even sells red suits and we couldn't find anything.  Then...I was randomly searching Kohl's online and there it was.  We ordered one for Kevin just to try on and see if he would like it and it was perfect!  Suits were complete.

Kevin in his suit...being crazy!

We met with the pastor for Premarital Counseling.  Rev. Thom Nelson is my Godfather.  He pastored at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church when I was a baby and then moved to Christ the King Lutheran in Cary, NC.  So he knows me, I know him, but we did the required 3 classes and took the personality test to make sure he deemed us compatible and able to marry.  Then it was just planning out the service and making sure we had the readings that we wanted.  It was interesting for us to see how emotional he got at the wedding.  He and his wife, Darlene, were never able to have children, so I've always been like their kid and I think that was apparent in Thom's emotions on our wedding day!

In early September I met with Martina Barnett and booked her as my make-up artist.  I couldn't believe the prices of the other people I called compared to her and others said they didn't even have a full make-up set, so I would have to provide my own make-up and they would just apply it.  Not my kind of deal.  Martina provided it all!  I'm so glad I did a trial because I was able to see how it would look and then proceeded to do my Insanity Workout in full make-up to see what I'd look like after sweating profusely...just a little glistening, make-up was still in place!  Martina wins the prize!  She too was referred to me from Priscilla...she had done make-up for a wedding Priscilla was organizing and apparently made the mother of the bride more beautiful than Priscilla had ever seen.  That's good enough for me!

Our rehearsal dinner was booked at Gravy...downstairs in their private dining area!  #1, the food was phenomenal...everyone was happy and stuffed!  #2, the staff was very attentive and awesome! #3, we got a discount at The Stockroom because Gravy is part of the same group of restaurants that manages The Stockroom.  Win, Win, Win!  I got Kevin a grooms cake from Blue Moon Bakery in Cary, NC as a surprise...so he had a Canadien's cake to eat!  It was yummy!

Dinner at Gravy!

Cake from Blue Moon at Rehearsal Dinner

I think that's about it!  I do want to thank Susan Lohr for playing piano at our wedding.  She is so talented and we were honored to have her and be able to use a piece that her husband wrote for their son's wedding.  It was a treat to be the second bride EVER to walk down the aisle to a piece composed by Tom Lohr himself!  Thanks also to Jamie Davis for directing the wedding and keeping us all straight!  Your insight before the wedding was very helpful!

I guess that leads me to my final "Thank You"...It was in print on the insert of our wedding bulletin, but I don't know if any of our vendors saw it and without all of you, we wouldn't have had such a kick-ass wedding!  You people made it happen!  And looking back, I think I'm most blown away that we worked with THE people!  Most of you have staffs and because of your crazy busy schedules, you send other staff members in your place to fulfill all of your bridal bookings, but we worked with YOU...the owners of your respective companies and I think that was a big reason for the quality of our wedding.  Seriously, THANK YOU!  From the bottom of our hearts!  We'd do it again in a heartbeat and we'd book every single one of you again.  No questions asked!

The Wedding Show

So...I registered Kevin and myself to attend a wedding show at the Raleigh Convention Center for January.  You really know you've lost your mind when you sign up for these things and you're not yet engaged and you have to put down that you're "Thinking about October 2012" and instead of them giving you a "Bride to Be" sticker, you get "Future Bride".  Kevin wouldn't even wear his sticker.  I don't blame him!

I actually knew what I was getting myself into as I had worked a wedding show in Durham some years ago while interning for a wedding planner, who is no longer in this area.  I knew it would be booths set up beside each other and it would be loud and every person would be trying to book you on the spot and there would be lots of "drawings" to win something, so I'd be giving out personal information.  And I also knew that I wanted to gather information about the vendors, but didn't necessarily want to put anything in stone.  It was more of a window shopping deal for me.  And if we won something, perfect!

In the weeks leading up to the show, I checked the website multiple times at work to get a look at the vendors and check out their personal webpages...doing my research.  I was looking at the wedding planners that were featured and saw Orangerie Events.  Crazy thing is, I had seen a flier of theirs up in the break room at work and I would look at it everyday while I was heating up my frozen dinner for lunch.  I ran to the break room to make sure it was the same company and after returning to my desk with confirmation, I spent the next hour perusing the website until it was time to go home.  This must have been a Friday, because I literally spent 5 hours the next day, on the couch at my house, reading every word of the blog that owner, Priscilla Erwin, had written and vowing that SHE would be my wedding planner!  No questions!  Why would I even want to meet or work with anyone else?  She was too cute.  Like seriously, you just want to put her in your pocket and take her with you...not in a creepy way, but I knew she could potentially be my best friend!  I liked her writing too!  She wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, she blogged about real things and my mind was made up!  This all happened before the wedding show, so on the day of the show, my goal was to talk to Priscilla and make this thing happen!

We I arrived at the wedding show after walking over from work and proceeded to wait at least an hour for Kevin to join me.  Ugh!  I'm a pretty patient person, but I really wanted to get in there and meet Priscilla and the waiting was just killing me!  When Kevin finally did arrive, we went in and started at one end.  There were department stores trying to register us for china, and formal-wear shops trying to lock us in to get tuxes with them.  There were DJs and videographers and photo booths and cake bakers and photographers and venues and we had already covered 2 aisles out of 4, and there was still no Priscilla.  And then on aisle 3, we found her!  The cutest booth.  Shabby Chic with pastel colors in creamsicle and mint green with splashes of yellow and a cute table and the sweetest bike and a backdrop of cloth streamers.  It was amazing!

Photo stolen from Orangerie Events facebook page.  Not sure who took it!
And this is from August, so the January show was a little different, but the same concept!

Kevin had warned me when I met her to not be creepy (because I was so excited), and so I got really scared and I was sweating and it was a little warm in the room, and I turned red, because that's what people with see-through skin do.  And then I knew I was red and I tried to back-pedal and it didn't work and I got more red in the face!  I pretty much pretended that I knew nothing about her at all and tried to ask random questions that everyone else would ask and wound up with some answers, but as we walked away, I felt like I had been like "yeah, I'd like to work with a wedding planner", when what I was really screaming in my head was, "you could be my new best friend and this is the coolest booth ever and you're booked".  I think I told Kevin that I was upset because I had blown it and I felt like a phony and it didn't go how I wanted it to go at all.  And then he was like "Oh, was that her."  Totally oblivious!  And I wanted to lose it and be like, "yes, that was her and that's why I'm red from embarrassment and acted like a creep".  And Kevin's response was, "well you could have acted like you had read her blog, I just didn't want you to be creepy."  I was done.  The rest of the show didn't matter to me at all.  Priscilla would remember that first impression of me and she would never want to work with me.  I had blown it.

However, I'm me, and I can't just let things go, so I went back for round 2.  Yes!  You heard that right.  If you thought I was embarrassed the first time, imagine going back and saying, "umm, I wanted to come by again because I know all about you and I read your entire blog and I want to work with you...he just told me not to be weird, so I was acting like I didn't know you at all, but it was all wrong and I'm sorry." While still blushing and sweating profusely!  Diarrhea of the mouth!  (if that made you feel awkward, you have no idea...imagine how I acted around boys in middle and high school...it wasn't good, hence the fact that I never had a boyfriend...thank you Jesus for Kevin!)  And Priscilla, being the essence of perfection, didn't even bat an eyelash at the circus standing in front of her, but just had me write down my contact information and was too sweet!  We left and I was still beating myself up for ruining everything.  Kevin, in his infinite wisdom, finally said, "She's probably flattered that you read her entire blog.  After-all, she writes it to get business, and you saw it and read it and now want to book her.  It worked, so she's probably pumped."  And the truth will set you free, folks!  At least after Kevin said it, it became my truth and I won't believe anything else!

And there started us working with Priscilla.  I didn't contact her again until March when we were engaged...and she did remember me, but again, she's so sweet that she may have been making herself completely forget that I had been the freak at the wedding show!  Regardless, it made me feel like I mattered and like our wedding was important to her!  That's all I needed! 
(It's funny too, because I've asked her about the flier that was hanging in the break room at work and she has NO idea how it got there...it must have been fate because I had been looking at it for months on a daily basis.  We were meant to cross paths and I will be forever grateful!)

Scheduling the Day We'd Get Married

I'm still waiting on wedding photos to come back from our photographer and I wanted to show those before moving on to the honeymoon, but I'm feeling the urge to write, so I'm going to give you a few posts about how this wedding came together, the people involved in making it happen and the days leading up to the BIG day.  You'll probably also learn a lot about me...how I tick, the crazy things I think about, and what a SAINT Kevin is for loving me through it all!

Poor Kevin!  He planned the proposal just in the nick of time, because boy was he was on a tight deadline!  Many factors were involved in the timeline of our wedding.  I know this is silly, but I was initially planning on a 2-3 week honeymoon in Italy and my passport was set to expire in August of 2013, so I told him there was no way I was going to renew my passport with my maiden name on it, only to turn around after we were married and order a new passport with "Brosseau" and pay the $110 fee again and fill out the paperwork again, etc., etc.  So, we HAD to get married and travel by that deadline...and I think they say you can't travel 6 months before your passport is to expire, so that narrowed it down a bit too! 

I also had an issue about WHEN our wedding was.  "Special" days are really important to me and all of the big ones we celebrate need to be evenly spaced out.  Here's our year in a nut-shell: February 14-Valentine's Day, May 13- Our Dating Anniversary (and I know you say, "you're married, why will you celebrate that?" and I will answer, #1 because if we had never dated, we'd never be married and that's the day it all kicked off, and #2 because I'm Type-A and I know that's when it was and I HAVE to celebrate it or else I'll get a crazy twitch or something...maybe not, but I can't NOT celebrate it.  True Story!), July 25- Kevin's Birthday, December 25- Victoria's Birthday.  So, you see, there was a BIG gap between Kevin's birthday and mine and it needed to be filled with our wedding date so that throughout the year that was equal opportunity for celebration.  (I told you I'm Type-A!)

October wasn't really important.  It could have also been September.  However, it could NOT have been November or December because then you get into Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations.  And, you see, December is REALLY too much for me.  With my birthday being on Christmas, it's like all of the excitement of the entire year culminates on one day and then it's over and post-party depression sets in.  Maybe that's why I'm so adamant that everything be spaced out!  You know how all of you "normal birthday" people think about what you want for your birthday and what special activities you may want to do on that day and you might make a list of birthday gifts you'd like?  Well, I only do that once and it includes Christmas gifts as well, so it's only one time in the whole year.  AND I don't get to do anything special on my birthday because all of you "normal birthday" people, who I also call friends, are with your families and you don't have time to come celebrate me...and no restaurants are open...and...you get the point!  My whole life has been a series of 1 celebratory day per year (Christmas) and then nothing for the next 364 days.  Except for Valentine's Day...but you don't celebrate that when you're alone.

So...Kevin brought with him to the relationship Valentine's Day and our dating anniversary and now I had control over an additional day (our Wedding Day) that I could schedule anytime I wanted to, to REALLY even things out!

Then there's the fact that Kevin's birthday is on the 25th of July and mine is the 25th of December, so we have double 25s going on.  Ironically enough, 25 is each of our "lucky" numbers.  So, with our dating anniversary being on May 13th, I thought, WOW, October 13th, which was a Saturday this year, would be PERFECT.  Like seriously perfect!  Then we'd have double 13s and it would make remembering the day easier for Kevin!  I like to help him out! :)  (It would also mean our anniversary could fall on Friday the 13th one year, which wasn't a plus for me.)

Well, it was not to be!  We fell in love with our reception venue and it was booked every Friday and Saturday in September and October.  And every Sunday in September and October, except for October 14th.  UNTIL 2013 folks.  And that couldn't work out with the passport schedule.  Plus, why be engaged for more than a year if you love each other now and want to get married now and the reception location you love is available October 14th (a Sunday).  So that did it.  We were locked in and ready to roll and I was super happy because now I get to celebrate something big every couple of months (3 months max between celebrations = one VERY happy Victoria)!

Now if only I can place our kids birthdays in-between our other special days, we'll be set.  And by place, I mean conceive 9 months before and plan it all out so their birthdays don't fall in a month where we're already celebrating something else.  Good luck to me right?  HA!  It's official, I'm a nutcase!

Ummm...and again poor Kevin because before he had even proposed, I was sure it was going to happen soon (because I had placed him on a timeline after-all) and so I was already getting in the wedding mode and making plans without a ring on my finger.  And I booked us for a wedding show....dun, dun, dunnnnn (cue doom, gloom and destruction music!)..in January.  More on that next post!

Engagement Photos!

We had our engagement pictures done on April 4, 2012.  We spent 5-6 hours and numerous outfit changes on our day.  The weather the day of our engagement photos was crazy!  It was hot and about 90 degrees, then started storming out of nowhere and the bottom FELL OUT!  It eventually turned sunny again and we got a beautiful rainbow out of the whole deal.  (I finally got the rainbow I wished for on the day we got engaged!!!)  My hair was a hot mess after the rain, but we made the best of it and got some great shots!  Thanks Craig for your hard work!  We had a blast!



We loved this photo so much, we blew it up and framed it to display at our reception.  It's now hanging in the stairwell in our house! I just love looking at it!





My FAVORITE photo overall!



Here's the link to Craig's blog and some additional photos!! http://www.lusterstudios.com/raleigh-engagement-photography-boylan-heights/

Kevin's Proposal

We couldn't have had a wedding without an engagement...so here's how that went...

Kevin suggested in early February that we take a fun little trip to Charleston before he had to start traveling a lot for work.  I booked us a hotel the same day and we were set to go down on February 29 (leap day) and come back March 2.
In the weeks leading up to our trip, I talked to all of my close friends and told them that I thought he might propose, but I wasn't sure.  I didn't want to psych myself out.  I also overheard a strange conversation between Kevin and his brother Daniel.  It was really vague but it made me think maybe something was going on.  I heard Kevin say something about Charleston and then "yeah, what we talked about"...
The afternoon of February 29th was finally here!  We packed up the car and headed out to Charleston.  A few weird things happened on the way down and in retrospect, I now know he was checking the ring or preventing me from seeing calls and texts that were coming in, but at the time, I just thought Kevin was being weird!  About 50 miles outside of Charleston, I realized that Kevin had forgotten his laptop at the house.  I asked him to just make sure and he started cursing.  I didn't know it at the time, but Kevin had brought the ring over in his laptop bag and for a split second, he thought he had forgotten it and the whole trip was ruined.  I didn't know.  I just thought he cared more about work than me and I was thinking, "Great!  Here I think we might get engaged and all he cares about is doing work."  I was really disappointed!  I was still pouting when we got to the hotel.  We checked in and went to bed.

Our hotel

The next morning, Kevin was up at the crack of dawn.  He said he couldn't sleep.  I was exhausted, so I told him to go away and I went back to sleep.  I didn't know it then, but he was so nervous about the proposal and just couldn't sleep and he used that time to plan out our day so he could surprise me!  I finally got up and we had breakfast on the rooftop terrace and then got dressed and ready for the day. 

The Carriage Ride Company

Our first stop was a carriage tour.  I had mentioned wanting to do one in the past and after going down to Charleston about 5 times, I had never been on one.  Kevin was excited about it too and kept suggesting a private carriage for just the two of us.  That was fine with me, I just thought the price was excessive and I didn't see the problem with riding with other people.  It was rainy and there weren't may people waiting for carriages.  We walked around the Market to discuss it and I had a fleeting thought that maybe he was going to propose on the carriage and I didn't want to dash his plans, so I gave in and told him he could do whatever he wanted.  He booked the private tour and we had to wait an hour for the horse to be ready, so we went back to the Market to walk around an then went back to the barn to get on our carriage.  The carriage ride was great!  Kevin was acting a little weird again, but I was just sitting back and enjoying the ride and our tour guide.  At one point, I looked over and Kevin looked like he was shaking.  He said in a really weird voice, "Aren't you going to take pictures?" I do normally take pictures of everything, but I was enjoying myself and hadn't thought it was important.  He was just acting so strange that I got my camera out and started snapping pictures of everything!  I once again thought, it's going to happen...but it didn't.  An hour later, we were back at the barn and there had been no proposal.  That's when I started thinking that I was just crazy and we were just down there for a fun trip and I was just over-analyzing everything!


With our horse "Scout" after our carriage ride!

It was raining harder now, so we put our umbrellas up and ran to lunch at Poogan's Porch.  Lunch was great and we had a relaxing time just talking and relaxing out of the rain.  At the end of lunch, I just couldn't take it anymore and I said, "Look, I kinda thought we were coming down here to get engaged.  I told all of my friends and it just hasn't happened and I'm a little bummed out!"  Kevin started laughing and just would NOT stop.  He assured me that it wasn't going to happen on this trip and that I needed to be a little more patient.  He asked me what I was going to tell my friends when I got back and I said, "That I freakin went to Charleston and had a great freakin time." Again, all he did was laugh.  I said, "I just thought since this was the first place we went on vacation as a couple, that you would think about that and it would have just been perfect."  His response was just that he would have never thought of that and I give him way more credit than he deserves.  I was bummed, but it was out there and now I was ready to enjoy the rest of this trip and go explore more things that afternoon.  We left lunch and headed back down Meeting Street, following the same route the carriage had taken us.
 We stopped in front of a church where the basket ladies were making baskets and selling them.  I had wanted one that we saw in the Market, but they were just too expensive.  These ladies had a really small one that held like two Hershey's kisses at most and was only $10.  I still thought that was expensive, but she suggested that we could use it as a Christmas tree ornament and that was PERFECT!  We bought that and she threw in a rose (made with the basket grass also).  We headed back out on our route and stopped in a few open gardens at historic houses, just to walk around.  Apparently, Kevin asked to hold the bag with the basket in it because he wanted to put the ring in the basket.  I didn't know this and apparently ruined his plan because I said "no, I got it."  However, I think if he really wanted it, he could have gotten it and for the record, I don't think it ruined anything!!! :)



One of the gardens we stopped in


We finally made it down to the Battery and I was just taking pictures of some of the houses our carriage ride guide had pointed out.  One of those houses was the "Washington" house.  The story is that the house was built around 1770 and is the only pre Revolutionary War house on South Battery Street.  Col. William Washington, cousin to President George Washington, met his bride-to-be here on his way to the bloody Eutaw Springs battle.  He had no flag for his command and Miss Elliott (his future wife) made one using her mother's damask curtains in that house.  The flag became one of the most cherished possessions of the Washington Light Infantry.  After the war, when Col. Washington had won all of his battles, he came back to Charleston and married Miss Elliott.  Our guide just wrapped a bow around it saying that if their love could last through the war, it could last a lifetime.


The side of the "Washington" house


I had just taken a picture of the house and we crossed the street to the Battery.  I think I must have been pouting again and just convincing myself that the engagement wasn't happening.  I was standing up on a ledge and Kevin was on the ground, so we were about the same height.  I had my arms around his neck and we were hugging.  I suddenly realized his heart was beating just so fast!  I commented on it.  I think I said something like, "babe, your heart is beating so fast...what is wrong with you?  Don't you dare go dying on me."  I never in that moment wondered WHY his heart was beating so fast...if it was for a particular reason.  Never even crossed my mind then.  He started messing with something behind my back and I thought he was opening up his chapstick.  I even thought, "REALLY??? This is a tender moment and you're worried about putting on chapstick." But I didn't say anything.
All of a sudden he was down on one knee with the ring and my waterworks began.  I wasn't just crying, I was sobbing.  I can barely remember him getting down on one knee.  I definitely don't remember a thing he said.  I was so overwhelmed just thinking, "This isn't supposed to be happening, he just told me at lunch it wasn't happening."  It was so surreal, I couldn't wrap my head around it.  I was completely surprised and overwhelmed! Apparently, according to Kevin, I wouldn't look at him, I just kept looking out at the water and I just kept crying harder and harder.  He said he had to stop what he was saying and stand up and ask me if I was okay.  I don't remember that, I just remember I was crying so hard that I couldn't see anything.  I know he had a ring, but I couldn't see it.  He thought the crying and me not looking at him meant I was saying "no".  That wasn't the case!  I can't remember him asking me if I would marry him and I can't remember saying "YES!"  I was overwhelmed, people!  But, the next thing I knew, the ring was on my finger!  We were both so excited, but we both kept saying that it just happened so fast. 


Red nose from crying, grass rose and my RING!!!


Apparently Kevin wanted to drag it out so it would last longer, but my crying was just messing up everything!  It was still rainy and cloudy and there was no one around.  We had to wait until a little lady walked by and we told her we had just gotten engaged and asked if she would take our picture.  She was really sweet and took a few for us.  I was so excited!  I wanted to scream "I'm ENGAGED." And, I almost did when a large carriage tour went by, but then I didn't want to be too distracting.


Thanks for taking our picture, little lady!  We're ENGAGED!!!


We called my mama first, then Daniel, and Kevin's parents, but other than my mama, no one would answer.  Kevin's phone had died and we were calling from my phone, but no one would pick up.  We wanted to scream our excitement and we had no one to tell.  We ended up walking over to the sound and got some hot chocolate and coffee and just sat in the swings on the dock/pier and talked.  We spotted a school of dolphins and spent awhile following them and trying to take pictures of them.  That to me, with the rain, was a sign of good luck!  We headed back to the hotel and the sun came out.  I kept saying, "now all we need is a rainbow."  That would have made it perfect.


Down at the waterfront


We spent the remainder of the afternoon/evening contacting family members.  I was exhausted.  I don't know if it was just because of the range of emotions I had gone through during the day, but I had to take a nap.  When I got up, Kevin had made us dinner reservations at Magnolias.  I had wanted to dress up for dinner and even packed a pretty dress to wear at dinner (where I initially thought he would propose...I wanted to look good for it), but I just wasn't feeling like wearing it, so we just put on comfy clothes and went to dinner.  It was an amazing dinner and we were able to keep our wine bottle so we'll remember it forever.  We got back to the hotel and changed our facebook status to "engaged" just to make it official!  We were both exhausted and so happy and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow!


Engagement Dinner at Magnolias


Kevin really did surprise me!  I later learned that he did want to propose on the carriage ride, but thought I would expect it, so he wanted to save it for when I wouldn't be thinking it was coming.  He knows me TOO well!  I would have been thrilled, but I don't know if he would have completely surprised me on the carriage ride.  It's funny because I imagined how our engagement story would be and this is NOTHING like I thought it would be, but it's SO MUCH BETTER.  This is OUR story and I love every single detail of it!  I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with Kevin and he does deserve the credit I gave him at lunch....he did remember how sentimental I am and planned the perfect proposal in the most perfect location!


Down at the Battery the next day to take re-do pictures of the engagement in "pretty" clothes!