as promised...

well, i got a really great early christmas present.  the wedding pics are up and ready!  jessica pierce of jessica lauren photography is a wonderful photographer.  each moment of the day was captured in such a special way.  i adore the pictures and find myself re-looking at them over...and over...and over again. check out her work here. obviously i am partial to our venue and participants, however, she has some very creative shooting sites and beautiful models.  go see!  BUT before you do, keep scrolling.

here are a few of my favourites.  please take a few minutes to soak them up.  they are so very precious, and i hope that you see the intimate details that came together.  i would not change a thing.

enjoy!

Dad and me on our walk

I adore my parents.  This makes me smile every time I see it.

Love him.

The men.

The women.

 The stud.

oohh it's me.

Mom, Sarah, and me

 Our guests signed rocks as a guestbook.  What a treat to read all of our notes!  Our friends are creative.

 Beyond blown away by the beautiful flowers!

Details, details, details....not one dull space.  I wanted to see all of the things that my mom came up with, so I got a sneak peek the morning of...

Gran's hands.  I love her.

Marriage is simply the best.

Hope you enjoyed these.  Come share coffee with me and I'll show you all 400+ of them. :)

Holy Moly - the month has flown by!

A month ago we were celebrating with a few details...

table arrangements, florals, and pumpkin cheesecakes (photo courtesy: DeAnna Masella)

it's been a little over a month since my last post, but a month ago TODAY we said "I DO" at 10:06 am. what a wonderful day it was!!

for my friends who know me well,  they could tell you that the last month has been an amazing time for chase and me.  honeymooning in mexico, moving into our first home, remodeling our first home, decorating our first home, watching TTU beat TCU :( but celebrating TCU beating WVU, celebrating 2 other weddings and getting to see so many family and friends in 4 weeks has been so exciting!  for those of you who peek in every once in awhile (or hey, wait around for a post), here's the update- we are doing great!

the wedding details:
we woke up to the coldest day of the season (the high was 51 degrees)
the wedding started on time
our guests stayed warm
the rain refrained from coming down
dennis married us and it was beautiful
we listened to our amazing friends sing, and my heart swelled with joy
the food was delish
we had cake, handmade by my friend, Kate
the guests ate pumpkin cheesecake
claudia caught my bouquet
cody caught my garter
we rode off in austin's F-150 and we had ribbon wands cheering us on

my groom (photo courtesy: DeAnna Masella)

the back of my dress (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

yahoo! (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

the garter throw, caught by Cody Ray (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

look at my beautiful momma (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

trying to climb my way into austin's truck (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

it was so much fun, y'all! (photo courtesy: DeAnna Masella)

More photos to come, promise.

things the guests didn't know:
we rented tents two days before to make sure that all was covered during the ceremony and reception
my parents and closest family and friends spent probably over 50-60 hours the week of the wedding preparing, hauling, setting stuff up for the big shin-dig
mom forgot her shoes
dixie saved the day!
our friend forgot to leave the keys in our getaway car, so austin and james took us to sonic happy hour before we headed back to the venue to truly say goodbye!

things i've learned along the way (yep, i am already wising up):
1. boys really are messier than girls.
2. i'm trying to not spoil my new hubby too too much with homemade meals every night, but gosh, it's easy to please a non-picky-always-compliments-the-chef eater.
3. sleep after a wedding is needed.  sleep after a wedding and during a remodel is essential.
4. our friends and family are amazing movers and completely irreplaceable when it comes to finishing out challenging projects.
5. friends are needed to encourage you to get to the gym (insert: thank you Abbi and Stacy) - when you are tired, tired, tired (see 3 above)

i have many more to come...i will wait :)  Happy Month to us, and Happy Voting Day to the rest of the world.  :)  It's a good day.

8 days and counting....

SO, we are now 8 days away.  Writing "it is hard to believe" is quite an understatement.  We have had such an amazing journey through this engagement period.  Chase and I have met with and been encouraged by more of our friends than any other time in our relationship.  It's been so wonderful.

Chase and I met with some of our soon-to-be-engaged friends for dinner and a game of Settlers the other night.  They had several questions about pre-planning, what to do during an engagement period, who should they get counseling from, what counseling should consist of, and much needed advice on buying their first home.  Of course, we enjoyed answering the questions with confidence (now that we are pro's, of course).  However, it led me to my thoughts about the counseling and wisdom that we have received throughout our engagement.
**Side note**Friends, we have some dearly loving and wise people in our lives.  Now, more than ever in my life am I realizing what a Christ-like family looks like, acts like and how being involved with imperfect people, yet who love and model a perfect God, are irreplaceable.

At the beginning of the year, Chase proposed the idea of choosing 5 couples each that we admire and respect, meet with them over coffee, lunch or dinner, and ask them questions about what a Christ-centered marriage looked like to them at the beginning and now....

Some examples:
When did you know that you were ready to be married to him/her?

How long were you engaged?

What is your advice about sex?

Do you believe in date nights?

Out of the ten couples, we met with 8. Yes, our spring was busting at the seams with double dinner dates.  The responses we got were challenging, exciting, filled with laughter and even tears.   As an almost married person, I feared pre-marital counseling.  Would it bring out some creepy monster inside Chase or me?  Would big life decisions change our minds about marriage all together?  None of that happened. Glory! We are still engaged and more ready than ever to walk down the aisle.  Praise the Lord!  He is so good at revealing Himself.

After those sessions with our wise folk friends/family members, I am excited to one day sit across from newly engaged couples and say, "what I am about to tell you is not the perfect story of marriage, but I guarantee that Christ as the center will make all those other imperfections complete dissipate and in the end, you and your soon to be husband, will see Christ.  Standing in all His glory, He will make known to you that you were in His perfect will all along.  Here's how he has and is showing Us.

To my friends and closest family members,
We love you.  We thank you.  We are praying for you.  We want you to realize that what Christ is doing in his body of believers is coming to pass and that you are part of it!  We praise Him for you.  We want to celebrate with you next weekend, not because there will be cheesecake or the fact that my dress is amazing, but because we are family and Saturday Chase and I will become one.  Celebrating with you all will be our greatest delight.

Busy weekend and week ahead.  As a reader, whether you know Christ or not, I pray that you might be touched by what the Creator is doing.  He has made known to us the paths of LIFE; He will fill us with joy in His presence (Ps 16:11) :)