Wedding Showers

     Mr. K and I were lucky enough to have three showers thrown for us during our engagement to celebrate our coming marriage.  The first was in Texas with my parents and their friends...we will refer to the as The Village.  The Village got together and had a little gathering and sadly enough, I can't find the stinkin' pictures from.  I've been searching for days and I could have sworn I uploaded them to the computer, but I have three empty memory cards and no pictures on my computer.
     The party was great though!! Mr. K wasn't able to be there with me, but we received tons of gift cards, which was really nice, because I had to fly back to Florida and I don't know how well multiple gifts would have fit in my carry-on!!  The host of the party got a "gift card tree" and had it set up with everyone's gifts.  It was so sweet of all of them!  One of the best things they had were these petit fours from a local bakery....omg they were to die for!  I love cake and to have these tiny single serve bites that were so moist and flavorful...wow!!

     The next shower was in KY where I'm originally from.  I went in for a friend's wedding and one of the bridesmaids for my wedding had a small shower for me at her house!  It was great to have all my closest friends and family in on location!  We did manage to capture a few pictures that evening.

 

Ms. Lauren B! 

 

 

 

     Our last shower was in FL where we live.  Mr. J's family wanted to do something special for us, so I suggested doing a Jack and Jill gathering type thing so Mr. J could invited more of his family and friends.  I wanted to try and get him involved as much as possible.  We had a great evening!!  My mom made her way back in and came to the shower.  Things are always better when momma is around.  We played some games, opened some gifts, and drank some sangria :)  All-in-all, the evening was perfect and very special!

 

       For everyone that was there to celebrate our future together, thank you!  We appreciate all you do and have done for us and all the support and love.  You are all such huge blessings and we couldn't do it without you!  Love you all!!

Engagement shoot...

Mr. K and I decided we wanted to do a little session for engagement pictures.  It wasn't anything elaborate, but just something to capture the moments before we were man and wife.  We passed through the unique streets of Winter Park, walking down Park Avenue admiring the old buildings and bright colors and the fact that there were way too many sweet shops on one stretch of road.  I think we counted 3 candy stores and 2 ice cream shops in a two block radius!!  But it was so much fun!  I am always the girl behind the camera doing make-up for shoots, but this time I got to be front and center with the man I love!!

Mr. K and I gallivanting through the old train stop...

Jokes make for the best pictures!

Enjoying the weather and each other

A dress to make the princess...

     So let me tell you this...I'm not the kind of girl that gets all caught up in the dress.  I really wasn't too worried about it...I was actually more concerned with making the "whole picture" beautiful and by whole picture, I mean I love the decorations!  So when my dad said I needed to get on finding a dress, I was a little la-zay-BLAH about it....the only thing I was happy about was the fact that my mom was in town.
     We headed out to David's Bridal to get an idea of dress shapes I might like.  I had it stuck in my mind that I would have some type of empire waste, fluffy gown that made me look oh-so-princess like.  I was obsessed with pockets and in love with Amsale.  The dress from 27 Dresses was going to be mine!!!

    
     The escapade was lackluster to say the least.  You know how you expect to have this moment...this little emotional moment when you find THE dress???  Well I didn't have it.  I was more frustrated than anything.  I didn't see anything I liked, I looked like a cow in the Amsale knock-off, and my mom didn't even shed a tear.  The day was a bust.
     The days went by, my mom headed back home, and I was left on my own to hit the battlefield.  I put on my big girl panties and off I went.  I decided I would hit up one more store and I would find a dress there or I was getting married in my birthday suit!
     After consulting with my favorite computer software, ahem... google, I found a little shop downtown called Minerva's.  That was it.  That was my store, my new best friend.  So I hopped in the car with my mapquest directions and was on my way.
      The store was in the middle of nowhere...What had I gotten myself into and where in the heck was I?!?  I didn't want to have made the trip for nothing, so I parked, took a deep breath and headed for the door. 
     It was a sea of white and tulle...holy moly!  And guess what...I DOVE RIGHT IN!!  I was up to my elbows in bling and sequins, but there she was...my trusty steed!!  I had found the one!  Of course I tried on everything I touched, but I saved the best for last.  And this folks is my wedding dress...

    
     This isn't the best picture and the front makes the whole dress....but I want to wait to show you the rest of the dress when I'm in it!!  It is so true when everyone says you end up with the dress that you least expected.  I would have never thought I would be walking down the isle in an little mermaid number.  But it looked oh so good and I just knew that Mr. K would love it!!  Woop woop!!
     This is my little Maggie Sottero...Guys this is Destiny.  Say hi, Destiny!!  Don't you think she might need some cowboy boots to go with??!!! 

It's been a while...

     Hello my lovelies!! How have you been? Life has been completely turned upside down for a while now...hence my absence...but I'm on this little organizational frenzy and writing in my blog is part of that! I feel so guilty that I started this blog to document my wedding planning process and the start of my new life, and I made it a whole 3 posts....that's pitiful! I need to step it up and work on my commitments!
     So here we go...I'm going to be filling you in on the wedding along with stories of everyday life and hopefully you stick around :)
     I've got a little song playing in my head via Kelly Clarkson...SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE....Let me start from the beginning. The first two weeks after being engaged, I was on the fast track. I started searching out dress shops and venues and dates, oh my!! I had yet to hear from the college I applied to on whether or not I'd gotten into nursing school, but by golly, I was going to plan around it just incase. So class started May 16, so planning a wedding in less than three months was out of the question. The other options were 2 weeks in August, a month in December, two weeks in May (all three being in between semesters) or waiting until after graduation....so guess which one we picked...!!!
     August it was, and we had to get things rolling because I figured I wouldn't have much time to plan during school....man was that an understatement. We wanted to make sure we had time to go on a honeymoon and that I wasn't overwhelmed with finals, so Mr. K and I chose August 13, 2011. Did you add that one up??? February 21, 2011 to August, 13, 2011....that's 5 months and 23 days to plan a wedding...BAH HAHA!!!
     So it was on like donkey kong...Mr. J and I started looking at venues and I went out looking for dresses. Both were found in the beginning of March...something else equally as important happened in that time frame..... I actually got into nursing school!! So all my planning was worth it. Thank goodness.
     So, I'm sitting in class now, and I should be paying attention...so I am off for now, but I will leave you with this....

     We had a quick engagement shoot that turned out pretty awesome!!  I'll share the rest soon!  Love you all!!