The Hipp

Today, we put the deposit down on our reception site, the Hippodrome State Theatre. Their basement is available for rentals, and it's such a pretty space. All neutral colors and just big enough for our family and friends. Here's some pictures from thehipp.org:

Some history on "the Old Post Office" (also courtesy of their website). Construction began on the building in 1909 and was finished in 1911. It was first used at the post office, court house, and office space for other city things. It was placed on the national registry for historic places in 1978.

Bobby and I are really excited about the space, and finally having a set-in-stone date! Now we just need to find a caterer, a dj, make decorations, find transportation, send out save the dates.... so many fun things to do!!

The Dress

Here's the story of how I found my dress:

Early in the summer I decided I was done being frustrated at Bobby not asking the question yet. I knew it was going to happen at some point - we had gone ring shopping, and I knew neither of us wanted anything except for being together. So, instead of focusing on when he was going to ask me, I started thinking of wedding ideas instead. (I really hope this isn't that uncommon...)

Anyways - multiple google searches later for any combination of "Gainesville" "Wedding" and "Florida", I found a few awesome websites and blogs, including Gator Bride. From there, I found another awesome blog, Kee to Your Heart. Both of the Gainesville authors were sharing their wedding planning experiences, and I was quickly hooked on checking every day for updates! Kari (from Kee to Your Heart) posted her wedding recap a few months ago, and while admiring her pictures, I noticed someone familiar in her bridal party. Sure enough, it was my friend, Ilana! (I never knew Gainesville was such a small town!) I confessed to Ilana that I was a facebook stalker (since the wedding pics also popped up in my news feed) and a blog follower, and she shared the story with Kari. Kari is actually a consultant with Solutions Bridal, and offered to help me find a dress!

Only maybe a week went by after I told Kari a little bit about what I was looking for and explained my pretty limiting budget when she told me about this awesome dress! A Mikaella sample was being sold at a price that couldn't be beat, but I had to go try it on ASAP. So, I made plans with Ilana and we went to Solutions the very next day. The dress was the first I tried on, and I knew right way that it was The One. And the awesome sale made it even better (if that's even possible....). To make the day even more fun, Kari was so much help, and is a total sweetheart! All of the other ladies at Solutions were so sweet and full of positive energy. I guess it would be hard to not by happy when your job is to help a bride find her dream dress!

Here's a badly photoshopped picture from the day - not the best one that was taken, but I don't want there to be any chance for Bobby to see pictures. Not that he couldn't just go look in the extra bedroom closet if he wanted to.... but the less temptation the better!

Ilana and I are sharing the bottle of champagne to celebrate the dress, and there's Kari's reflection in the mirror!

Maybe I can work on some better editing of the better photos and you all can see the big smile that wouldn't leave my face after I tried that dress on :-)

Non-wedding stuff

I am waiting. Patiently. Well, maybe not that patiently. We are finalizing our reception site tomorrow. I should be getting my bridesmaids dresses this week. And, I need for school to calm down a little bit so I can start on my wedding crafts! So, even though I feel like I accomplished alot for wedding stuff this past week or so, I don't have much to say about it at this point. Instead, I will share with you how I wasted some time over this past weekend.

I got a super long weekend, thanks to Gator Homecoming and my classes being cancelled. Bobby and I were able to spend quite a bit of much needed relaxation time together. On Saturday we wasted maybe an hour or so searching on youtube for 80s and 90s cartoon intros. Here's some of my favorites (get ready for the awesome flashbacks, and feel free to sing along. You know you know the words still!)










These last two are probably my favorite intros of all time - they just make me happy whenever I hear them.

a (somewhat) productive weekend

This weekend was very productive for the wedding part of my life, but not so much for school. Oh well, tomorrow is Monday, and then I will feel bad if I don't work on my homework a little bit.

As for wedding stuff, firstly and most importantly, I FOUND MY DRESS! Due completely to a random chain of events, I found a dress that I never would have found otherwise. More on this soon, I promise.

I also spent alot of time working on the layout of my blog... and after a few non-successful html editing sessions, I finally just decided upon importing a picture as my header. A collage I made from my Hawaii trip. Maybe I'll be able to figure out some more complicated html stuff soon, and get my blog even prettier!

Oh, and I almost forgot. Tomorrow Bobby and I have an appointment to go look at the Hipp for a possible reception site. This has been one of my top picks for awhile, and they have our first choice day open! There will be so much to talk about!

excited

I am going dress shopping tomorrow!!

How Charming

Last year I started to notice all of these women with silver bracelets overflowing with these little silver charms. How cute, I thought, it reminded me of the charm bracelet I had in middle and high school. Then I discovered it was Pandora. And I fell in love. Knew I wanted one. Then, around graduation time I decided that I was going to buy one for myself as a graduation present. So I did.


(Sorry for the choppy narrative... I will form more complete sentences for the rest of the post).

My first charms were Bobby and my birthstones and a little heart spacer. Then, I added the pink ribbon for Breast Cancer awareness. Most recently I was looking for a charm or charms in remembrance of my trip to Hawaii and my engagement. I thought I was going to end up settling on the Pineapple and the Heart, when my lightbulb moment came. (Bobby proposed while I was packing for the trip, and asked if I had any more room in my luggage, remember?) I bought the Suitcase! It's even got a palm tree and a pineapple engraved on the side. So perfect. The "awws" from the lovely ladies at LilyPad definitely reaffrimed my decision.

Now the question is, which life even am I going to remember by another charm? Maybe an H for my new name?

My Bridesmaids

A little something about my bridesmaids, since I am procrastinating this morning and don't feel like heading to campus yet.

The wonderful girl who first entered my life was Lauren, who I met in high school. From what I remember, we decided on a whim, that it would be a good idea to be roommates at UF, and it turned out to be fabulous. We both learned so much from eachother, and helped eachother become the amazing people we are today.  Lauren is currenly smack dap in the middle of the adventure in achieving her dreams. I truly admire her for knowing exactly what she wants, and going for it. Vet school seems more intense than any other academic program, and even though we don't get to visit much, I am so very happy that she's still in Gainesville!

 

An old-ish picture of Lauren and I. Lauren is also a little responsible for the duo that is Bobby and I.  Which could be a post on it's own, so I'll save that for a little later!

Elyse is who makes my trio of wedding-day friends complete. We became friends during our Au.D. program. In Elyse, I found someone to be crafty with, some one to study with (which usually just turned into talking about other things...), and someone who would become a life-long friend. It was a sad day when she moved back to south Florida to work after graduation. Gainesville is the not the same without her. Luckily, she lives close enough to Bobby's parents that we can usually arrange a dinner together on those South Florida weekend trips. Elyse is such a kind soul, and her relationship with her husband, Eric, is one I hope Bobby and I will continue to have.

 

 

Elyse and I on her wedding day - 05/06/07. I tried to find a wedding date that was cool like that. But no such luck.

I feel so lucky to have these 2 wonderful people, in addition to my sister, to play such an important role in my wedding day! And, to plan a bachelorette party. It will be a party to remember. I have so many wonderful things to look forward to in this next year!