Some of my favorite shots

One of my bridesmaids just asked me - "HOW are you going to choose which pictures to include in your wedding album?" And she is totally right!  Jack Looney gave us over 1200 pictures, I posted about 300 on facebook, but there were hundreds more I adore!  Maybe our wedding album will have multiple volumes?  Anyone know where I can find an XL Photobook? :)

Here are a few more of my favorite shots from the BIG day:

(Photobooth!)

What I love about the way Jack shot these pictures is that he was able to capture SO MUCH emotion!  Sure Adam and I took some "staged" pictures (like the one of us along the fence) but so many of the ones I adore are the candid ones that really seem to grasp all the amazing things we were feeling throughout the day! There are tons of other pictures I could post here - especially of the photo booth!  If you are contemplating having one at your wedding (or even a party) DO IT!  They are a blast to look through :)

*all of the above photos were snapped by Jack Looney Photography! 

Back as a MRS!!

As you can tell, it's been a little busy lately and this blog got the short end of the stick!  I'm back now from the pre-wedding craziness, the wedding itself (which was ahhh-mazing!!!), and our splendid honeymoon in Costa Rica!!  I want to recap all of them, but first here are a few sneak peeks from our wedding photographer:

Jack Looney's Blog: http://jacklooney.com/blog/?p=2641

Erin McDermott White (the creative chick who made our b'maids earrings!): http://erinmcdermott.com/bridal-jewelry/blair-adam-at-king-family-vineyards

it was seriously the BEST BEST time! starting the moment we left work on Wednesday May 4th, all the way through the honeymoon.  We felt so much love and support and EXCITEMENT from everyone!  Sure a few things went wrong, and there were definitely some nerves before we walked down the aisle, but at the end of the day we were married!!  And we couldn't be happier! :)

Fancy Plates

I am so looking forward to this upcoming weekend (yes, it is only Monday!).  My "entertainment" themed wedding shower is Saturday night (hosted by 3 of my momma's friends), and during the day Saturday we're taking engagement pictures with one of our friends!  She is building her photography-portfolio and needs to take shots of couples- so we happily agreed to help her out ;)  And the weather seems to be cooperating! 60s & 70s by the end of the week, yeehaw!  And Sunday is going to be a whirlwind trip of wedding to-do's in C'ville... but that's for a future post :)

But let me get back on topic!  The topic of fancy plates (aka China!).  Adam and I went back & forth on whether or not we wanted to register for china.  My mom breaks out her china for big dinners (parties, birthdays, holidays), and I love hers (gold rimmed with fruit on it).  Adam's parents have a few sets of china, so they were on-board with us registering for it, too!  So off we went to Bloomingdale's (who has one of the best registry systems, if you ask me)...and there we spent the next three hours....

Yep. Talk about indecisive.  The first pattern we chose is so hideous I'm not even going to describe it.  I'm not even sure how we talked ourselves into it?!  Gag.  We were totally lost!  Luckily my mom was able to meet us up at the store and gently guided us to some patterns that weren't so hard on the eyes.  We ended up combining 2 patterns - one is blue & white and the other is gold & white.  I think they will be super versatile, and both of our moms signed off on the patterns :)

One tradition I've heard about recently is doing china Sundays.  I think it would be so fun to have an immediate excuse to use our nice dishes!  Not sure we'll do this every week, but perhaps once a month is a good goal? :)

Oh! And some of the RSVPs are coming in!! So fun to get them and see the sweet/funny/loving things people have written on them.  

Our Summer Whirlwind

My two weeks in Greece were absolutely blissful!  It was a great time to relax, recharge, and think about all that has happened (and will happen!) this year.  I guess you could call it "soul searching," as I was also able to reflect on some of the this summer's "milestones."  This summer has been a whirlwind - starting with our engagement party, family trips, selling my car, and now, another huge step - starting a new job!!  When Adam and I first got engaged, I decided to put my job search on the shelf.  I thought I would be CRAZY for planning a wedding AND getting adjusted to a new job all in one year!  However, an opportunity arose that I just couldn't pass up!  The timing was just right, and taking this job seemed like the exact right thing to do. I will have a solid 8 months in my new position before the wedding.  Honestly, it feels like getting a new job was the last piece to my frantic-summer-puzzle!  And now that I've completed my job search, I can get back to the wedding :)

I'll admit - we've all but taken the summer off!  Theknot.com tells me I've completed 99% of the things I needed to do 12-9months before the wedding (yippie!).  But we're creeping up on 8 months... which brings with it A LOT!  My original goal was to have our STD's out by Labor Day (ehh...maybe that'll happen?).  But seeing that we haven't finalized the guest list (well not entirely!), asked all the wedding party (...crickets...), finalized our colors (we're SO close!), taken engagement pics, we've got a few obstacles in our way :)  We know what needs to be done, and I'm really excited about all the planning we have left to do and I'm trying to savor every moment of our engagement!

Travel sans the hubs-to-be

This weekend, my sister and I will be embarking on a most awesome adventure - WE'RE GOING TO GREECE (!!).  It's a trip we've been planning since we were in elementary school (no joke) with our best friend (and one of my b'maids).  She's Greek and has been to Greece pretty much every-other summer since we've known her.  Since we were 8 years old, we said "we'll go to Greece after high school graduation!" and that didn't work... then we tried after college graduation!... And that didn't work!  So finally, after our dear Greek friend graduated from Law School (she's taking the bar exam right now...GOOD LUCK!!), we're taking the trip we've been planning for almost 2 decades :)

What's funny for me now is that I'm engaged, and it feels a little weird to be going somewhere without Adam! Sure, we've traveled a bunch of time without the other (family trips, work trip, boy/girl trips, etc.), but now is there some sort of expectation what we should ALWAYS travel together (I think most of the Real Housewives of OC would say YES, but should they really by our role models? hahaha)?  I'm in the boat that taking trips separate from each other is actually a GOOD thing!  As much as I will want him in Greece with me and I'll miss him a lot (we were thinking of Greece as a h'moon destination!), I think having some time apart will be just fine & dandy :)  Actually, he's got a boys trip already lined up for a few days while I'm gone!

Also: I'm due to post pics from this month's Wild & Wonderful West Virginia wedding, this weekend's Cville Wedding (wahoowa!!), and of course, GREECE :)

Til then...I'll be sitting on the Greek beaches drinkin ouzo ;)

One more for today...

Here are a few pics from Puerto Rico (hint! It's where we got engaged :) ), and from our "unofficial engagement party" Mere put together! Hearts and stars!