Relay For Life

I will get back to regular wedding posting soon, lord knows there is a lot to post about but for now there is something more important coming up.  I am participating in the Relay for life this weekend.  I am doing this in honor of my grandma, who passed away from lung cancer in 2008.  I was one of her primary caregivers for the almost year she was fighting cancer.  It was one of the hardest but also one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life.  I however don't want anyone else to ever have to go through that so I am doing what i can to fight cancer.  Would you please help me and donate to the relay for life.  If you do donate and do it in honor of someone who has or is fighting cancer please let me know and I will dedicate a portion of my walk to them.  I want this to be one giant group effort, lets help get rid of cancer together!

Here is the link to my page so you can go and donate. donate to relay for life

And because no post is good without pictures here is a picture of my lovely grandma whom I miss dearly every day.

don't know

I don't know whats going on with me, but I feel blah. I don't have a job even though I have sent out what feels like hundreds of applications.  I have an interview at Target on Monday, it's not what I want to do with my life, but at least for now it would be money coming in.  Now I just hope I get it, I want to be working, I want to feel like a productive member of society, I want to have money, even though it will all be going to paying back student loans that are pretty much worthless to me now. I wish I would have been able to speak my mind before I started school, then I wouldn't have these freaking loans.

Sometimes I feel about as tall as an ant. I feel worthless, I feel stupid, I feel like a lump.  I know I am not the only one, and I know I'm not it just sucks that it's so hard to come out of this funk.  Any advice, what do you do when you get like this? I think I am going to go have some wine.  Tomorrow is the St. Pat's parade, maybe that will help pull me out, some good time with friends.

Mentor Couple

If you will recall from one of my previous posts one of the requirements to get married at my church requires us to meet with a mentor couple a few times before our ceremony.  We had our first meeting with Bill and Debbie last night.  I was so nervous going in, I was afraid they were going to tell us our problems were so bad we shouldn't get married.  I was shaking and having a hard time breathing, Mark had to calm me down before we rang the doorbell. 

When they let us in we sat down and just talked for a few minutes and it really calmed me down.  They made us a YUMMY dinner of salad, ravioli, and brownies with mixed berries on top. During dinner we just got to know them a little better and talked about us a little.

After dinner they gave us a little survey to fill out, about what we really want to talk about ranging from communication, finances, conflict/resolution, god, and sex.  They said we weren't much different in what we wanted to/felt we needed to talk than different couples they have met with.  And they said they have never recommend a couple not get married. WHEW! We started talking a little about communication and conflict resolution last night.  Just from the few minutes we discussed it last night I can tell this is really going to be a positive for us and our relationship.  I am looking forward to where this is going!

Flowers, photography, dresses oh my!

Holy cow.  This wedding stuff is stressful! Earlier this week I was ready to say lets go to the courthouse and screw all this planning shit.  Bridesmaids dresses have been more difficult than I originally thought they ever would be.  I have it narrowed down to two choices. I know which one I like I know which one each of my girls like.  I also know which one my mom likes, his mom likes, my dad likes, he likes, my aunt likes, my uncles likes, and anyone else within a 5 person connection to this wedding likes. UGHHHH I don't want your opinion if you aren't wearing it you don't matter to me.  Now I am stuck trying to decide which dress to get and I don't know.  I'm thinking of just pulling one out of a hat and saying ok, thats it. This is the dress, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I'm sick of the stress from it!  Anyway I have uploaded pictures of the two dresses I am trying to decide between.. What's your opinion, I know I said I didn't want anyones opinion if you weren't wearing it but your opinions will be different to me than family.  Not as pushy and do what I want blah blah like it often is with family and weddings.

Now onto flowers, I had no clue what I was looking for in flowers.  I knew I wanted red, orange, yellows, and greens. I met with a florist yesterday and she was amazing.  She took the colors I wanted and made a gorgeous bouqet for me, the girls, moms, and my grandma.  The bouts were amazing.  I am so much more excited about flowers now that I ever thought I would be! I can't wait to hold them on my wedding day!!

Photographer, we met with a photographer we absolutely adored, he works with a videographer who is also amazing..  And even the price for his most expensive package, including an album, 2 photgraphers for all day, videographer, full copyright of all images including retouching, 3 copies of the DVD from the videographer and unlimited number of places for pictures. All this for less than most others starting prices! I was so shocked and happy. We have seen his work and we like it and he used to work for the post dispatch as a photgrapher so you know he is good.  I am so happy to have these decisions made and it's something else to mark off the checklist.

This weekend I am dog-sitting, going to the funny bone to celebrate birthdays, and going to the bridal show at Busch Stadium.  It's going to be fun! What are you doing this weekend? Anything fun or exciting? Heck even sitting home with a bottle of wine and a movie marathon? That sounds good too!!

Church requirements

Mark and I are getting married at Faith Lutheran Church in Oakville, MO.  My church has a long list of things you need to do in order to get married there.  First if one of you isn't a member of the church you have to attend the starting point class, which basically just informs you of the practicies and beliefs of the church.  It's 4 hours long our head pastor leads it and you get a free meal.  I was not looking forward to this class but it actually was much more interesting than I thought it would be.

The next requirement was to attend a marriage conference, it was a 2 day long event at the church where we watched a video and then had discussion time afterwards on what was introduced in the video. It was all based on the book of the bible "The Song of Solomon" I was shocked by how much there really is to learn about love from the song of solomon book.  I would recommend this study to anyone.  It really teaches you a lot about conflict resolution, intamacy between you and your spouse, how to communicate, and even courtship.  There were many things in this study I wish I would have known when I was younger and dating. If you ever get the chance to attend this conference I highly highly recommend it!

The last thing we have to do is meet with our mentor couple 4-5 times.  This is a couple who has been married for a while and want to help young couples in the church have a long, healthy, lasting relationship.  We will meet them at their house and make dinner together, relax and just talk.  The main marriage care director assigns you with a mentor couple based on your needs and their background.  We met our mentor couple at the conference and they are wonderful, fun, and I think we are going to get along really well!

We also have to attend at least 75% of services in the year leading up to your wedding.  Basically I am very pleased with the way church is handeling this and trying to make sure the marriages they perform there last.  I wasn't looking forward to any of this before but now I wouldn't give it up. I would recommend any of this to anyone looking to get married.

If any of you have questions about any of this let me know!

more planning

I am sure by the time September 24, 2011 comes around all 3 of my readers will be so sick of hearing about my wedding. I am going to apologize now for that because I am not going to stop posting about it!

In my last post I had a request to post the picture of the bridesmaids shirts. Here is a picture of one of my bridesmaids with her shirt and me wearing my "bride" shirt.
Tomorrow 3 of my bridesmaids and I are going to look at bridesmaids dresses, I think I know which one it is going to be but I am not positive yet so I am going to hole of on posting a picture of it until we are sure!

The reception hall is booked, and I am so exited about it! They have amazing food and the best car of all the reception halls around. The DJ is also hilarious and fun so I am excited to be working with him also!

I have my limo company narrowed down to a few, and I am meeting with a photgrapher/videographer next week. It's all coming together and I am excited. I was really stressing earlier this week about all of this because I had no clue what to be looking for and asking these people. I eventually just sat down and went through every known limo company and photographer in St. Louis and looked at their websites. I picked a few I liked based on their website, pictures, customer reviews, and not going to lie prices. Showed them to my mom she narrowed it down to a few and we are meeting with all of them. This is not an easy happy go lucky process it takes time and patience. So if you are going through this too don't let it get you down it can be done!

I'm working on another post about stuff we need to do in order to be married at my church. Be waiting for that!

bridesmaids

To ask my matron of honor and bridesmaids to be in my wedding I bought pink t-shirts and then got black with white polka dot iron on letters and made each a shirt with either matron of honor or bridesmaid on them. I then made homemade cards and wrote a special note to each inside and asking them to be in my wedding. Then I mailed them off. The last girl got hers today and they all said yes! I am so excited that's another thing done and now we can start looking at bridesmaids dresses! it's going to be so much fun!

In other wedding planning news, we have the church booked, we know which hall we want just need to sign the contract and such. I have my dress, and my appointment for alterations. Marks
mom is making the save the dates and they look amazing! She is also making our invites and I can't wait to get started on that. I haven't looked at florists or photographers yet, that'll happen. It's finally happening!!!