Happy Birthday and New Blog Intro!

 

One year ago today, I started this blog to chronicle my marriage preparations for my wedding last summer! It was SUCH a great opportunity to share with friends and family, make a record that will last for a lifetime of my wedding experience, AND a great chance to network and connect with other brides and vendors!

One of my favorite things was being a Bride Blogger for Ashley's Bride Guide! It was a great experience that helped me meet a lot of my favorite vendors! And Ashley herself is amazing AND can throw a great party!! :)

The BEST  of the BEST you can find here:

Cakes by Shara   -    blog
Bledsoe Photo    -    blog
Designs in Paper-    blog

All of these people went above and beyond and made me feel more like a friend than a customer! They were all AMAZING!!

This isn't the end of this blog, but it probably will be a little less frequent (not that it wasn't sporadic to begin with!). I still have lots of ideas on sharing about my newlywed life, and it's possible that I will be helping to plan a wedding this summer, so that will give me lots of great wedding stuff to continue blogging about!

Today, on the anniversary of this blog, I am unveiling a BRAND NEW BLOG!!!!

 

You all know I was a "Bride on a Budget," and now I am a "Wife on a Budget!" Saving money is in my genes! My grandmother and mom have always been great deal seekers, and it's pretty much come naturally to me!

Around the time I started planning my wedding and got introduced to the world of blogging, I started discovering not only wedding blogs, but money saving blogs! I discovered SOOO many ways to save money using coupons and other great deals you can find online.

I've had so many people ask me about how I do it, that I decided to create my own blog to help! :) This blog will be updated OFTEN, hopefully daily! Visit my welcome page for an intro and visit the rest of the blog  for great ideas on saving money!

One of my weekly topics is "Wedding Wednesday," where I'll share great ideas for saving money while planning a wedding, or for attending (gift, travel ideas, etc!) I'm excited to be able to tie this blog to my new one in this way!

So, check out the vendors (even if just for ideas if you are far away!) AND be sure to check out and bookmark my new blog!

Full Wedding Recap!

Finally, the recaps are complete! Here's a more convenient way to read through all my recaps if you are just now catching up! Click on the links below each representative picture to get the full scoop on our wedding!

Pre- Ceremony

The Ceremony

The Cake Reception

The Dinner Reception

Dance Fever- Dinner Reception Part 2

Hope you enjoyed! Thank you all for being a part of it, whether in presence or in thoughts and prayers! It truly was an amazing day!

 

Happy Feet!

My photog has loved taking pictures of our feet since the very beginning...and while some people have crazy phobias of feet...I think they're pretty cute! (usually!) Here is a collection of cute feet and shoe pictures Shanell took, from our engagement on through the wedding!

Engaged Feet

Not quite ready for feet!

Two Shoe Bride

Nervous Bride Feet

Bridesmaid Gear

"Is it time yet?" feet.

Little girlies feet patiently watching the ceremony

Maids in a row

First Dance Feet

Tappin Toes

Where are the feet that belong in all these?

Funny that I never even noticed how many people were shoeless towards the end! But I have been to many a wedding where I've shed my own shoes! That's why *this* bride wore flip flops!! My feet were actually still HAPPY at the end of the night! My maid's shoes were pretty comfy themselves, but they weren't flip-flops, so some of them eventually came off!

Dance Fever!

Although my new hubby is NOT a fan of dancing and 3 dances was all I got out of him, it was more than I'd thought I'd get! Everyone else however, danced like crazy! The kids were hilarious! During every official dance and otherwise, kids were galloping and waltzing all over the dance floor! It was a blast!! I got in as much dancing as I could when I wasn't otherwise distracted with pictures, talking with guests, trying to take it all in, etc! It was during the dancing that my the hubby disappeared quite a bit to avoid having to get out there!

Apparently there was even a lot of dancing going on before Ray and I even made it to the reception...I LOVE these pictures of my little girlies swirling around! My photographer had a great time with them! (and don't their dresses look cute! Made by the two little twirlers wonderful mom!)

 

And now the wild boys! (video of the boys is much funnier than these pictures! Ray's groomsman's son, my cousin's and nephews were dancing kings- and they knew it!)

Did you see the beads around the boys necks?? I had tons of stuff laid out on the kid's tables, spilling out of sand buckets...games, jewelry, toys, lots of stuff to keep them entertained. Most of the beads, ended up on the BOYS - Mardi-gras style! I'm just hoping they didn't steal them from the girls Mardi-gras style!! Ha!

My bro Craig and my good friend Josh were my DJ's. Josh has known my family for years, so they did a great job picking out tunes! His wife was also my lovely coordinator! So of course, they picked out a very fitting song.

Their most obvious choice was "Stacey's Mom." Oh yes....it was a requirement and yes, my mom does have it goin' on! The groomsmen dragged her out on the floor and they along with myself and my bridesmaids loudly serenaded her through the whole song! Now, my mom-- is NOT a music listener! I don't know that she'd ever even heard of the song before- except for the time I played it for her on my phone to show her it was her ring tone! They tried to get Ray to help serenade her out on the dance floor, but it didn't happen!

It seemed like every time I tried to dance with my maids, I got pulled away, but we still had a blast!!

Betcha can't guess what song we were dancin to here! I thoroughly protested against group dances, but for some reason they're always requested at weddings! So, I just went with it! As long as the YMCA wasn't on the playlist!

But....ummm....what exactly is going on here? Can't say I remember this moment, but it kinda looks like the YMCA?? Or was it "Shout" and everyone is "throwing hands up?" Oh no!

However, I am ok with the dance line! It's always funny!

My grams requested a special song for us to dance to...although I pretty much hate the song, I'll do just about anything for her! After all she's 85 and can still get down, so let her have her fun! She requested "Achy Breaky Heart." Yes, you read that right. Supposedly in honor of a certain student I used to teach (since Grams is a little too old to actually know any of her songs, but knows her dad's! Ugh!)

She grabbed me and a couple of my youth girls and created her own "line dance."

And these pictures pretty much express how crazy things were all night!

 

Did you notice who was missing from all of these pictures?? He didn't get back in the action until our last dance! Since he'd told me he wasn't dancing after our first and the one with his mom, I didn't pick out a last dance song.  No worries, plenty of people to pick that out for me....let's just say a little Marvin Gaye was going on....and I'm glad that I was married because it would've been embarrassing dancing to THAT in front of my guests! Hehe!

Then it was time to take off for our bed and breakfast in our balloon filled car! The guys had to beg my dad for the keys to the rental so that they could do something! I know I'm particular, but I did NOT want to drive off in a car with dirty things written all over it, so that's why we got a rental! That, and driving away in a Mustang convertible on your wedding night is just pretty darn amazing! Besides, I've already ridden with Ray in a car with filthy stuff and condoms hanging everywhere. Last year when my BFF got married they decorated BOTH their cars not knowing which they'd use and we had to drive her husband's truck!

 

THE END!

(or at least, the end of what you get to know about!!)