I Need an STD!

Quite obviously not a Real STD! But a Save The Date! I've technically missed my window to send a Save The Date, which are generally sent six months prior to the wedding, But I figure if I jump on it now, No one will notice that they are really being sent out 5 months before the wedding!
I had really hoped to have decided on invitations at this point, so that my Save The Date could coordinate, but again, sadly I have not...I'm really slacking on all of this wedding planning!
I knew I wanted a Save the Date magnet, which helped narrow the field, but then came the decision of whether to have a picture or no picture. Since Zach and I have yet to take our Engagement portraits, I've been waiting till there are leaves on the trees again, initially I thought it would be best to stick to a STD with no picture.
I found this Damask Print Magnet on the Magnet Street Website which I thought carried some of the theme and the basic colors of the wedding.
However in the end I decided that this magnet was a little bit to formal for my outdoor reception wedding and looked a bit too stuffy for our personalities...
Then I came across this STD From the Website Pioneer Color which I felt like was much more whimsical and "Us" and super cheap, less that a dollar each, with envelopes included!
But the issue was that this magnet has a picture! The only pictures that I really have of Zach and I, while numerous, are taken at football games, fraternity parties, and at bars...Not really the capture the moment romantic picture that I feel like I should feature on the refrigerators of every person attending our wedding...With no time for engagement photos, and a Fiance out of town for the next three weeks, and on a time crunch, I had to make due with the pictures I have...I ended up choosing a picture taken in front of Zach's Fraternity house before a Georgia Tech football game. Its a good picture of the both of us, but took alot of work trying to edit out the beer cans in the background!
I should be getting a proof soon, which I'll post as soon as I get it!
The next question I encountered was whether I should do a details card in with the Save the Date, to let our guests know where we have reserved a block of rooms and where we are registered. The sample magnet on the website featured the couples website, which reminded me that I too have a Knot wedding web page! So I ended up going back, and doing some more work to it so it could be more of a resource for our guests. Our Website.
While the website will be able to be a resource for most of our guests, there are still a few who are not quite "up" on computers, so for those people I have decided to go ahead and order a few details cards to include in their STDs. Only including the details cards in the STDs of our computer illiterate family and friends and depending on everyone else visiting the website ended up saving about $200! See I am budget conscious!

Those Aren't Jingle Bells, They're Wedding Bells!

So I have finally taken the time to load my pictures from my Holiday Bridal Shower on December 7th! This shower hosted by five of my Lovely Theta sisters was held at this ADORABLE little Tea House in Anderson, SC, Ooh La Lolly...not too far from our own Clemson University Campus.

The front of Ooh La Lolly from Anderson's Main Street

How the girls found this place was kind of a funny story. My Maid of Honor, Laura, knew she wanted to host of Holiday Shower right before the end of school, but hadn't quite found a place that was ..."Me"... So another one of my Bridesmaids, Amanda, randomly went to lunch with one of her co-workers at Ooh La Lolly. She walked in and immediately thought that this place was super cute. Claiming to be "a little bit of Paris...a little bit of Anderson..." Amanda knew I would love it since my fiance and I had studied abroad together in France two summers ago. However it wasn't until she talked to the owner, and realized that she too was a Theta, that she knew having the shower here was destiny. Three days later the girls went back for Lunch, and set the date!

A view through the Tea Room of all the vintage wedding gowns hung about for the occasion!

The Venue was perfect, and was transformed into a Wedding Winter Wonderland for the shower, complete with vintage Wedding dresses and veils hung in the windows and all around the restaurant. Thirty~five of my sorority sisters, mom and two best friends from high school were able to enjoy the fantastic food including a selection of petite sandwiches, petit fors, chocolate covered strawberries, scones, quiches and their own specialty spiced tea, that was perfect for this late afternoon tea.

Sampling of the foods!

Also, each of the guest were sent home with a drink koozie with the phrase "These aren't Jingle Bells, They're Wedding Bells" printed on them and filled with mint Hershey kisses! I thought the idea of giving all the guests a little something to remember the occasion was such a great idea, and Koozies are one of my favorite things!

Myself, and the wonderful hosts: Laura, Meredith, Melissa, Kate, and Amanda behind the wedding dress gift table!

Before I head out for the evening, I just wanted to thank my wonderful friends and sisters, Laura, Meredith, Melissa, Kate, and Amanda for all they're hard work they put into throwing me a fantastic shower that I'll always remember! Theta Love!

Reception Location

With the Ceremony on Lock-down, I turned to the reception. The Church never crossed my mind. I realize that for convenience and cost sake that would be the most logical, however in favor of the great outdoors and alcohol, I turned my sights elsewhere. In keeping with my Oak Alley fantasy I focused my attention on Civil War Era mansions in Knoxville.

One of the first places I visited was the Maple Grove Inn, a Georgian mansion built in 1799.

The front of Maple Grove Inn

The facilities were beautiful...but the house was located nearly 30 minutes from the church. Since most of the wedding guests will be coming from out of town...we felt like that might not be the best option for us...

My second favorite location was another Ante Bellum mansion, The Confederate Memorial Hall, or better known as the Bleak House. Its beautiful grass terraces cascade down to the Tennessee River and would have been the perfect location.

The Front of Bleak House

View of Fish Pond at Bleak HouseHowever, it couldn't hold a candle to my favorite location. Despite having very similar facilities and locations...ie practically next door to one another, Crescent Bend had been the place I had wanted to get married ever since I was a little girl.

Every Saturday in the fall, on my way with my family to UT football games, I would longingly stare at the house as we sat in traffic. The front yard was always immaculantly kept, and I knew the back was terraced with formal english gardens all the way to the Tennessee River.

I had only two worries about the grounds. First I had heard that if you had more than 300 attending, you had to rent porta-potties. There is no way one of my wedding guests will be using a porta-potty. Never. So I made the decision to cut the guest list at 300. No Porta-Potties in my future. The second issue is that while the terraced gardens a breathtaking, one of my closest friends and bridesmaids is currently in a wheel chair after a car accident two years ago Caroline Can!. Would she be able to enjoy the party if confined to one level? However this ended up being a non issue. My wedding coordinator at Crescent Bend (yes I choose option 3) told me that wheel chairs can use the same ramps that the lawn mowers use to get to each level, so Caroline will be able to navigate throughout the lawns! I was sold...and we signed on the dotted line.

Crescent Bend's First level (which we will be tenting)

View of the Second Level (Seating and Dance Floor)
Third (Round Fountain) Level

Fourth (Rectangle Fountain Level)

I can't hardly wait to see the way this beautiful venue transforms for the wedding!

Ohhhh! And today I had my Holiday Shower, thrown by my wonderful Sorority Sisters... Pictures are soon to follow!

6 months till D-Day

Thats right. 6 months until D-Day, or rather the big day, which just happens to also be June 6th.

I've been planning my wedding since I was approximately 10 years old, so needless to say I have already put many of my ideas into go mode, but I still want to blog about them and hate that I wasn't on top of all of this blogging business earlier!

Today I think I want to talk about finding the perfect location for our wedding.
Both my fiance and I are from the same hometown, so choosing Knoxville was an easy decision. Finding a happy medium in the ceremony and reception site was a whole different ball game.

I have always dreamed of getting married outside...Something truly picture perfect, exchanging vows at sunset, 'neath a vast magnolia tree in the backyard of a southern plantation home... Think the Oak Alley Plantation, http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/, right outside of New Orleans.


The FH, who has been pretty ambivalent about everything wedding related, however was adamant that we get married in a church. Wanting to respect his wishes and beliefs, and realizing that in the greater scheme of things is this really something that I want to fight about? I decided to give into his request, and we will be getting married in his church, First Presbyterian Church, in downtown Knoxville.


I am very excited about our ceremony site, it is the oldest church in Knoxville, and truly beautiful...except for this massive crucifix hanging in the sanctuary.


I feel realy sacreligious saying this but...Maybe we can cover it with a drape? Large flower arrangement? Ask them to take it down? It is Jesus...maybe I should just leave it alone.

Its really the end...

The last day of classes...ever.
The last outing with all my Sisters...for a while
And today will begin my last weekend jaunt to the ATL.

It's all Sad, but I'm distracting myself with plans for my upcoming shower that my Sorority sisters are throwing for me this weekend. More importantly, what I'm going to wear...
It's a Holiday themed shower, so I'm obviously thinking I want to wear red.
I bought this Kristin Davis Jeweled Dress from Belk this week. Thematically its perfect. However, despite being in South Carolina, it is freezing here and I feel kinda stupid wearing a sleeveless dress when its 40 degrees outside. So the thought is the wear a shirt under the dress to give it that very layered JCrew look...White has been ruled out in fear of looking too much like Mrs. Claus, and since the stones are brown, I'm thinking about wearing a chocolate brown turtleneck underneath.
Right now this is my option unless I find something else in my journey to Atlanta this weekend...I'll keep you posted!

I've Reached that Point

I bought Milk today, and it expires on December 18th. What does that mean? you may ask...
It means that on the day I graduate from college, the day that I have to actually step out into the real world and start fending for myself, that this half gallon of milk, will still be good. This doesn't distress me because the milk will last that long, but instead, that my Collegiate career will end before the milk...

I'm not really ready to step out into the real world. I have enjoyed College far too much. I enjoy classes. I enjoy my friends. I enjoy the independence. And soon, in time before milk will spoil I will have to graduate and leave all this behind.

I'm leaving it all behind, for what? I'm not going on some amazing trip to help poor people in Africa, or a three month bender in Europe. I don't have a fantastic job, I don't even have a not so fantastic job. I'm not even getting married...yet. I am going to go back home, to my mother, father, two golden retrievers and a cat for the next 6 months before exchanging those vows.

I feel like that song by Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You"...wondering what it is I should do. My time back home is temporary...Hopefully only lasting until my wedding day, but my future is very uncertain. The only thing I know for certain is that on June 6th I'll be wearing a big white dress, but that's about it. My FH (Future Husband for all you non sorority girls) is graduating this December as well, and will be heading to Law School in the Fall of 2009 - which seems so far away despite only being 8 months... We've gotten only one acceptance letter so far, in our hometown, and I'm not quite ready to make that a permanent location again...Only time will tell where we will head, and thus where I should begin my own job search. However, despite knowing where to look for a job, this really doesn't narrow down the list of potential jobs for me, for I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what I want to do...