Lessons from Lincoln

Over the holiday weekend I took my first trip to Nebraska for one of my cousins’ wedding. Overall it was a good trip with lots of quality time with family that I don’t see all that often. I was also pleasantly surprised by Lincoln, not that I really knew what to expect from Nebraska.

Here’s what I from the trip:

• Italian charm can turn an hour and a half restaurant wait into 10 minutes!


• Nebraska is apparently a Pepsi state (thank goodness for The Cookie Company, it’s the only place I found that sold Diet Coke).
  
• The Cookie Company makes a wonderful oatmeal raisin cookie (and after a quick Google search I discovered there is actually a location in Colorado, woo hoo!)
  
• Lincoln’s Farmer’s Market is awesome! It really makes our local Farmer’s Market look kind of sad.

Thanks to my fiancé for the Farmer's Market pictures; I forgot my camera at the hotel.

• At the Farmer’s Market I discovered one of the best things ever…Mocha Almonds! There will be an entire post on them later this week.
  
• Bridesmaid dresses with pockets are super cute! You couldn't even tell the dresses had pockets until the bridesmaids put their hands in them. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of the bridesmaid dresses, but of course I got pictures of the cakes (each table had their own cake in addition to the wedding cake and groom’s cake/cupcakes)!
  
  
  

Table Cake

Wedding Cake

Groom's Cake & Cupcakes

365

One year from now I will be walking down the aisle…to my best friend and love.

I can’t wait!

Blessed

As we shared the news of our engagement in January, my fiancé and I received many congratulatory comments and well wishes from friends and family that were just as excited as we were.

Some even sent us cards.

It was so sweet of them to acknowledge our engagement. I very much love receiving ‘fun’ mail rather than junk mail.

We are very thankful to have so many great family and friends to share this special time with; we feel very blessed.

Lots of Ideas

A while back I showed you the large stack of bridal magazines I had received. At the time, I’d barely gotten started.

Now, I’m happy to say, I’ve read through every single one!

Lots of ideas!

No Need to Rush

I came across a blog post tonight from Blue-Eyed Bride about contentment and not always looking forward to the ‘next big thing’ or being in such a hurry to get the ‘next checkmark’. It was a great post, and it really hit home for a lot of people (some amazing comments were left).

Lately I’ve been stressed out trying to finalize a date and location for our wedding. Yes, I’m a planner, and yes I like nailing things down, but I think the biggest reason I’m stressed about not having a date finalized yet is because that’s what EVERYONE always asks you.

Even when we first shared news of our engagement people responded with, “So when is the big day?” At the bridal show every vendor kicks off with, “When’s the wedding?” Friends start conversations with, “So do you have the date yet?” Vendors ask, “What is the date of your event?” And every time I have to answer, “I don’t know yet” it drives me crazy.

So I really wanted to have a decision made by this weekend. I wanted to check it off the list and move on to everything else.

It is now narrowed down to two possible locations with two very different dates. Each has its positives and negatives. Some people are more favorable to one than the other. I’m torn between the two.

But after reading the post from Erin on Blue-Eyed Bride, maybe I don’t need to rush quite so fast to check this off the list. Maybe I can take a couple of days to take a deep breath, relax a little, and then make the decision.

Bridal Show

So much to take in…a lot to process.

This is everything I had to look at and read before the bridal show (they were all gifts).

I’m enjoying looking through all of them, but as you can tell I’ve only fully gotten through a few of them (since only a few of them have post-it note tabs sticking out the edges). I need to find more reading time!

We went to a bridal show this past weekend. It was fun, a little smaller than I expected (and not as many caterers or bakeries, which meant not as many food samples as I’d hoped).

But we got some good information and a few ideas. Here’s all the new information I have to go through.

Not to mention all the wedding blogs out there that are so addicting (not in any particular order):
Style Me Pretty – The Ultimate Wedding Blog
Snippet & Ink
Southern Weddings
The Bride’s Café
Polka Dot Bride
Elegant Engagements
The Wedding Chicks
The Bride’s Guide – Martha Stewart
Bella Vita
Married and More with Michelle
Once Wed
A Practical Wedding (helps keep things in perspective)
A $10,000 Wedding (she’s no longer posting, but I got a lot from her journey)
The Ritzy Bee Blog

Next up on the agenda… visiting venues.

Hopefully in the next month or so (or sooner?) we can pick a location and date. I think I’ll feel better when I actually have an answer to the #1 and #2 questions people like to ask when you get engaged…What’s your wedding date? Where is the wedding going to be?