We've got Smock on lock!

Yeah, that's right... I'm rapping about our invitation selection! We chose to go with Smock Press, and I am so incredibly happy! The design is called Rhon, and I'm in love with it! I feel that it's so important to choose an invitation which is accurately representative of your wedding and the message you want to send. The invitation clearly communicates the message we hope to send... a wedding that is beautiful, traditional but with a modern flair, all things elegant and sophisticated, the opposite of ordinary... truly an extraordinary celebration for a monumental occasion.

Enjoy.


(The yellow will be lavender, and the wording will be eggplant. The edges will be painted gold.)

I don't think I've ever felt so beautiful...

Today I went with my mom and Athena, one of my two maids of honor, to Dallas for the first fitting of my actual wedding dress!! We had a super fun lunch at Taco Diner in the West Village Plaza in Uptown, which happens to be right across the street from the Priscilla of Boston boutique! We had a fabulous time chatting, eating, and sipping mojitos for about an hour, then walked across the street at 2:00pm to the fabulous home of my stunning dress.

We were greeted warmly, of course, and directed to a huge fitting room with several chairs, floor to ceiling mirrors, a vanity, and it's own private pedestal for alterations. My dress was brought in by the seamstress, who helped me into my gown and proceeded to examine the fit. She and I both were shocked at how perfectly it fit! The only alterations required would be at the hem to shorten the length, and of course, adding hook and eyes to allow for the train to be bustled during the reception. She told me that my gown would look best with a French bustle, which basically means that the fabric will tuck under to create the bustle, instead of tacking on top. She pinned the entire hem, and then pinned one side of the train and one of the streamers to mark where the bustle hooks would be.

Then came the fun part... after she was finished pinning everything, I put my hairpiece and veil in my hair, then walked out to the three-way mirrors to admire the most beautiful, breath-taking gown I have ever seen. I can seriously say that I felt absolutely stunning in my gown. The hairpiece and the veil totally took it to the next level and it absolutely achieves the look I was hoping for. I couldn't wipe the cheesy ear-to-ear grin off my face the whole time. I can't imagine how much better it will be when my hair and makeup are all done up, and I have the proper jewelry... not to mention walking down the aisle to Eric! I am SO anxious for him to see my dress!!! It's SO annoying not being able to tell him about it or show him the pictures!!

Thankfully Eric is the only person I have to keep the pictures from, so below is a sneak preview of my bridal attire after my first fitting. (Unfortunately the pictures aren't fabulous because the camera battery died after these two... but something is better than nothing!!)

I'll be returning to Priscilla's in 4 weeks (Friday, March 5th) for the final fitting of my dress. Shortly thereafter I will be taking my bridal portraits... and obviously I'm waiting VERY excited and impatiently! haha!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my gown and accessories. They're perfectly me.

Slowly but Surely...

Well things kind of came to a halt during the holidays since I have been working about 70+ hours per week... but now that's all over with and I have time to brrreeaatheee!! YAY!!

I designed the image for our Save the Date a while back and had a company transfer the design onto a magnet. HOWEVER, when I received the magnets, the coloring, centering, and clarity were horrible! I called the company to see what could be done about fixing this major problem. Long story short, I edited the design and they are re-printing them for me... not completely free, but I'll take it. I revised the design using a larger canvas and made sure to convert the image to CMYK (which somehow slipped my mind previously, which explained the horrid orange tint to the images after printing). Anyway, below is the design that I am hopeful will be the last. I REALLY like the way they look on the computer... I just hope everything comes out this nicely when they are printed... we shall see!

(This image isn't the actual size... the magnet will be 4x6)

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Eric and I had an Engagement Announcement run in a newspaper for the very first time yesterday! It ran in the Elgin Courier, which is the local newspaper for Eric's hometown. I inquired about being in the Sunday paper because I figured more people would read that one, but then I learned that the paper only prints on Tuesday... so Tuesday it was!


Here is the online version of our article:

I didn't feel that it was necessary before, but after a couple shocking complaints, I will go ahead and add that there were some people left out of this announcement because of the size of my family. This was only the first announcement published, but there will also be announcements running in The Southlake Star, The Dallas Morning News, and The Fort Worth Star Telegram, so my other grandparents will be mentioned in one of those papers. (Grandma Dottie Lorenz & Grandpa Joe Sandavol, Grandma Adria & Dick Krull, Grandpa Bill & Grandma Mary Toon, and Albert Haggerty). Additionally, Michael Toon is my step-dad. My biological dad is Troy Haggerty.

Hopefully that clears up any confusion!

Op·u·lent: Characterized by rich abundance

Today Eric and I decided on a bakery for our wedding cakes! Eric has been unable to accompany me to any of the tastings thus far, but he was able to make it to this one and it ended up being the most important! We chose Opulent Cakes of Colleyville for our cakes, and I feel so good about this decision!! Donna, the owner, is so hospitable and her designs are beautiful!! We taste tested 6 different flavors and we decided on Amaretto Liqueur (the best I've ever had) with 3 layers of butter cream filling for the bottom 2 layers of the bride's cake, and Chocolate Liqueur with 2 layers of caramel filling and one layer of chocolate mousse filling for the groom's cake and the top 2 layers of the bride's cake.

This is what the bride's cake should look like (I photo shopped the original photo to look lavender). It will also have a crystal monogram cake topper.

Groom's cake: The TCU Stadium!!

We liked these the least (which is still very good! haha)

These two were good... but not the winner.

The winners!!! SOOO amazingly yummy!!!

The end!

Save the Dates, Calligraphy, and Invitations... Oh My!

As I'm sure everyone is aware, I am SO excited about the success of our engagement pictures!! What everyone might not be aware of is the fact that I was waiting on the engagement pictures to complete the Save the Dates. I'm actually designing them myself and having the design put onto a magnet. I have designed 3 similar versions of the Save the Date using 3 different engagement pictures so we can send everyone a Save the Date with the picture we feel they will prefer. My designs aren't completely perfected or 100% final, so I'm not posting them yet... but I will definitely post the designs when they're completed!

On another note, I visited an adorable stationery shop in Fort Worth called Byrd + Bleecker, which is conveniently located only about 2 miles from my house, to see in person some wedding invitations that I have been scoping out online. I think I have narrowed down the selection to 2, but the problem is that I love each of them for very different reasons. They are comparably priced, so I can't really use that as a deciding factor.

Here are my two finalists, accompanied by reasons I love them...

Picture this: Where the peach color is there would be lavender and where the red color is there would be amethyst.

• I love this design... The peony design is so elegant, timeless, and rich with southern flair. I love the Parisian elements as well.
• All pieces are beautifully letterpressed.
• Lots of font options.
• Free envelope printing for return address.

Picture this with the yellow flowers on the bottom (as pictured), but with amethyst colored text, and lavender edge painting (although you can't see the edges in this picture).

• I LOVE THE PAPER!!! That sounds silly, but a sorority sister of mine (Katie "Glonek" Day) used Smock Letterpress for her wedding invitations and the recycled bamboo paper is super thick and feels so rich and amazing. It was unlike any invitation I had ever seen when I received mine from her.
• I LOVE THE FONTS! Smock has 2 fonts available which are designed after the hand calligraphy of a famous calligraphist, therefore the letterpress text on your invitation makes people double take on whether it was done by a computer or if it was hand scribed and then pressed.
• EDGE PAINTING! This is such a fabulous option, in my opinion! The edges of your invitation can be hand painted a color that compliments your invitation (since the paper is pretty thick and the edges are wide enough to notice if they are a different color). I remember receiving Katie's invitation and thinking how unique and truly different it was that the edges of the invitation were a different color... I also pondered for quite a while how that was even achieved! Beautiful touch!
• I guess the main thing I don't like as much about this invitation is the design... I like the Parisian Peony design better, but I love all of the little detailed elements that this company has to offer.
  

Decisions, decisions!
I'm going to talk to my mom about her opinions on each of them also, so I will keep you posted on the decision making process!

Engagement Photos!

Eric and I couldn't be more pleased with our engagement pictures... they are amazing and EXACTLY what we hoped for. Joseph and Stephanie from JosephMark Photography are truely the most talented photography team I have ever seen. I am SO thankful to have such wonderful people capturing these important moments which will turn into memories that last for the rest of our lives!

Below are some of my favorites from our engagement shoot...