We are married!

On 9-12-09 we had the most beautiful wedding! It was perfect in every way! Now, we're on our honeymoon at Triple Creek Ranch in Montana and are having a blast!!!! Here is a video or two (if they work) of the helicopter tour we took today in the Montana Rockies.
And here are some teaser pics from our wedding and honeymoon! More to come in a couple weeks when things settle down!g

A little tribute to Bre's Dad

Today we took some time to drive to Quantico National Cemetery to visit Bre's dad's grave and leave some flowers...


It was a nice time, and the cemetery is so beautiful (I know it sounds weird to say that a cemetery is beautiful) but military cemeteries are so full of history and honor that it can be a beautiful thing.


Since we're getting married on what would be Bre's father's 69th birthday, we wanted to make sure we got to go down and pay our respects before our big day and his birthday. We hope he's smiling down on us and will be a good source of strength for Bre on her big day! I know she'll be missing him dearly, and there will be some bittersweet moments.

Here are some of the pictures I took while Bre was walking around...

We also know that Jim (bre's dad) was definitely smiling and laughing when we got back to the car and saw what our dog Mocha had gotten into...In the several minutes we spent outside of the car, Mocha had managed to bite about 80% through Bre's driver side seat-belt. Luckily, we have repaired it with heavy duty nylon thread and hours or sewing, but her little teeth are sharp! We were really mad, but had to laugh...because...well, life's too short not to!

After we yelled a little, the whole ride home she turned around like a little kid when daddy or mommy yells at the, and they are embarrassed. She faced the back of the car like this the 20 minute ride home...what a silly dog.

Anyway...it was a nice day! 5 more til our wedding day...crazy

-Matt

Some recent pictures

Some funny pictures for you all!

Here are some pictures of the (amazing) concert last night (and a video too!) and some other pictures of the latest happenings.

Enjoy!

One week until the Rehearsal, 8 days until the BIG DAY!

Our last (dating) anniversary!

Today marks our 3 year anniversary! Next year, we'll be celebrating our first wedding anniversary! About 5 months ago, Matt bought me Jimmy Buffett tickets for his annual labor day concert in the DC area (the venue is only 6 miles from our house!) and it's tonight!

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved Jimmy Buffett--my parents and brother and sister were always fans, and I remember our road trips and summers spend on Seabrook Island in SC listening to Jimmy (who coincidentally has a house there as well). In fact, I remember in kindergarten, my teacher Mrs. Fallon asked all of us to draw a picture about our favorite song...and mine was "Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffett and my picture (at 5 years old) was of a man in a light colored hawaiian shirt eating a big cheeseburger holding a margarita. All of my classmates had pictures of barnyards, nursery rhymes, kittens and dogs...I remember my teacher laughing and showing all the other teachers and they loved it!

I've been to a couple Buffett concerts, and they are the most amazing ones to go to. The people are friendly, funny, and there to have a good time. PLUS the outfits that some of them wear are hysterical! Matt bought his hawaiian shirt last month, and I have my sundress, lei, and coconut cup to drink from! With all of the wedding stress and 9 days to go--we can really use this night to unwind!

We'll take some pictures and definitely post some pics tomorrow!

-Bre

Changes

Hello everyone this is Matt. Sorry it's been so long since we have updated the blog, but thing's have been a little hectic. I don't know how many of you know this, but I was laid off of work about 2 weeks ago. Not really the greatest thing to happen when your planning a wedding.

Well, turns out that it was a blessing in disguise. I have had more time to get things ready for the wedding, and to spend with my beautiful bride-to-be. Oh yeah, Mocha really loves it to. We are almost completley set with the wedding, just a couple of tiny things left to solidify. We are both getting pretty excited, and Mocha has no idea what is going on.

The big day is getting close, and we are just counting down the days. Well until next time, and I promise it won't be that long, so long.

One month to go!

One month to go!

I can't believe it! In one month we'll be Mr. and Mrs.!

We've been so busy it's hard to explain! Meetings nearly every weekend and many weeknights, our amazingly fun bachelor and bachelorette parties, getting the marriage license, my first dress fitting, all of the wedding decorations and programs made, all RSVP's received and only 30 days until the big day!

We are starting to get really excited, and also that nervous feeling trying to coordinate everyone and answer everyone's questions! Honestly, we both can't wait to see our big day ideas come together, and of course to say our "I do's" and especially our honeymoon. We both can use the vacation!

My "something blue"

"Something Blue"

Here is my creative and somewhat different "something blue" for my wedding day. This is, of course an example it will say my name and Matt's name and our wedding date, as mine is being created as we "speak"! My seamstress will sew it in when I have my first fitting on the underside of the dress...

(Thanks to etsy seller DianaMarieCreations at etsy.com)

We're baaaack!

Plannin' the honeymoon....

Hello there readers...sorry we've been MIA and not posting lately--we had so much going on (and it's still 2 months before the wedding!)

We've had two amazing wedding showers, with lots of friends, family, and generosity! We are in the home stretch now with just a little over two months to go! Can't wait! Our checklist has only about 50 things left (started with around 600) and now we're on to one of the most fun parts--our honeymoon!

We started to map out our tentative route for the drive out to the ranch in Montana and from the ranch back to our lovely home in Virginia...

The towns we plan on staying in/visiting on the way out are: Port Clinton OH (Put-in-Bay Island), LaCrosse WI, Sturgis SD(Biker rally and Mt. Rushmore), Gardiner MT (Yellowstone National Park)

After the 5 day stay at our luxury ranch honeymoon location, we will be going to: Salt Lake City UT, Rifle CO (Coulter Lake Guest Ranch where Bre vacationed as a kid with her dad), Amarillo TX, Fort Smith AR, Memphis TN, and Nashville! We plan on stopping along the way of course to see plenty of touristy things and also to eat at some of the places Matt has found in Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives!!

We can't wait! We decided to really "do it up" and stay in fancy shmancy hotels on our first night of the honeymoon in Port Clinton, Ohio and our last night, in Nashville, Tennessee...We can't wait!

Also, at the ranch in Colorado where I (Bre) used to go, the new owners mentioned my name to the old owners and they told them all sorts of stories of my Dad and I and the girls I used to go with! They emailed me today and said they were kicking in a complimentary and special honeymoon twilight horseback ride and dinner on the mesa. I can't believe their generosity and how special it will be to share Coulter Lake with Matt!!

Here is a little glimpse into our first night of the honeymoon trip to Port Clinton, Ohio and Put-in-Bay --- we'll be arriving at our hotel suite and then walk across the street to the ferry to take us across part of Lake Erie to Put In Bay (Dubbed the KEY WEST of the north) to dine on the waterfront!

Our hotel: Island House Resort - Port Clinton Ohio

Put-In-Bay Ohio in the middle of Lake Erie

"Key West of the North"

My thoughts and prayers go out to those who were directly and indirectly affected by the metro collision today in DC...

It's scary to me when it's the metro line that I ride, and so close to my office and makes me thankful for what I have...and hope the worst news is over...

Something to look forward to...

A guy at work told me about this show he saw on tv and told me to look into it for our road trip honeymoon. I did a bunch of research, and told Bre, and now we can't wait! It sounds so fun

On our way out to our honeymoon destination, we're going Sapphire Mining!

http://www.sapphiremining.com/index.php

100 days to go!

Til the wedding!!!

Tomorrow we're in double digits...

Photo inspirations!

"Must-take Wedding Photos"

Our photographer asked Matt and I to put together a little packet for her of some photos we want to make sure she tries to capture (besides obvious ones)...so much fun to find them!! Here are a few of them...

Memorial Day Weekend

(the small lake in the middle left of the picture is where we're getting married!)

We decided to go to Bluemont Vineyards, to do a wine tasting. Bluemont is owned by the same people that own Great Country Farms, where we are getting married in September. From the vineyard, there was a beautiful view of the Berry Barn, where our wedding will take place, and a great view of the Blueridge Mountains. It was a beautiful day to go wine tasting, and we got to bring Mocha along.

We enjoyed the tasting very much, they have some great wines. The strawberry dessert wine was really good, also we liked the vidal blanc. Mocha had a good time also. She likes to meet new people, and there was quite a few people there. Also, Friends of Homeless Animals were there. They brought several dogs up for adoption with them. So Mocha was excited to see other dogs there.

After the event was over, we headed home. The weather was still beautiful, and we got some great pics of the sky as the sun was going down.

Happy Memorial Day!

-Matt

Our new wedding monogram

Thanks to my [awesome] brother, Josh--we now have a wedding monogram/crest to use for our invitations, address labels, etc! I'm so excited! Thanks Josh!

Homemade Wedding Cupcake Stand

How we made our Wedding Cupcake Stand

Since we are serving cupcakes at our wedding, and also have an 8'' cake for us to cut on top, we needed to find a cake stand to fit all these. Not so much, as the ones we found were too expensive (over 200.00) and our cakemaker only rented theirs out (again an unnecessary cost)...So, we decided to go to Michaels and Home Depot and create our own.

For a 5 tier cupcake stand (holds approx. 100 cupcakes and a 6-8'' cake on top) you will need:

1. 4 cans of food of approx. same height and different widths (biggest to smallest from top to bottom). We used an empty Gatorade tin filled with sand for the bottom one--worked great!) = $0.00 (in our pantry)

2. Spray paint for cans (or wrap with wrapping paper or ribbon to go with your wedding colors)= $4.00

3. White paint for the base wood (I recommend gloss paint if you're expecting to wipe it after)=$3.50

4. Round "pre-cut" base wood from Home depot (in their ready-to-assemble table section in lumber)=$15.00

5. 4 White Plastic Scalloped edge Separator Plates (we got ours at Michaels in the cake decorating aisle -by Wilton-, you need: a 16'' one, 14'' one, 12'' one and a 10'' one)= 9.99, 7.99, 5.99, and 3.99 respectively: total: $23.00 with Michaels 20% coupon!

6. A strong glue--we used Gorilla Glue= $4.00

Total cost: $49.50

Directions:1-Spray paint or decorate your tin cans
2-Paint Base wood
3- Apply Gorilla Glue to bottom of biggest can, attach to center of wood base
4-Apple Gorilla glue to top of biggest can, attach the 16'' separator plate
5- Apply Gorilla Glue to top 16'' separator plate, attach next can, apply glue, then the 14'' separator plate...and so on.
6-After all the cans are glued, you have yourself a 5-tiered beautiful cupcake/dessert stand!

You can use something other than glue, you can leave it up to chance and not attach it, either way--you saved a bunch of money!

This Post has had a lot of hits, so we decided to post an "After" Picture of our homemade cupcake stand from our wedding day on 9-12-09!

DIY day

We are Do-It-Yourselfing a cupcake tower/cupcake stand for the wedding! It's shapin up to be coooooool. Check back later.

The thought of buying a stand to fit 100 cupcakes for a huge amount of money ($200.00 + !!!) is not the way to go...we have come up with a much better solution. (And one that we can use again someday)

Check back tomorrow and I'll have step by step directions and pictures!

4 Months from today i'll be a Mrs!

Groomsmen' Gear

Groomsmen's ties:

For our wedding, we nixed the Tux idea (I've never liked the look, and neither does Matt) I much more prefer the Khakis and Navy Blue blazer look on men--plus with our nautical theme it works wonderfully. We actually decided against the blazer, and Matt's groomsmen and best men are wearing Khakis. Light Blue Oxford Shirt, and a nice tie. Which brings me to the ties...These are the ones we are deciding between...we're going to hit up the Memorial Day Sales in 2 weeks to get them! I love living near the outlets!

Here is a picture of the Tie matt is wearing with his tan suit (red with navy stripes):

Girls are wearing Navy Blue strapless knee-length silk shantung cocktail dresses with light blue and white flowers

(pic from DCnearlyweds)

(I want the guys to both go with our navy/white & nautical theme but complement the girls and also Matt's tie)

Here are the ones we are deciding between:

(Ties images: In order: LandsEnd, Joseph A Banks, Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren, )

Which one do you like? (Comment below...)