╰☆☆ 𝐻𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑜, 2019 ☆☆╮

Well, here we are…2019!

It’s always so refreshing to start off a New Year by going over goals, dreams and passions. I like to look back and see all the amazing good (and yes, even the unfortunate bad) that has happened – and see how it will shape how I can grow in the new year to come.

– Focused on Having a Godly Perspective –

Something that’s even more vital that the external ambitions around us that deserves great attention is the internal. Something the Lord has been teaching me recently is priorities from His perspective. Do I truly put Him first in all I do? Am I allowing my “to-do” list to get in the way of relationship with the King? If we’re truly honest with ourselves, speaking from my own experience, I’m embarrassed to say that doesn’t always happen.

Thank God for His grace. Thank God that when I choose Him, He embraces my imperfections and sees me as I ought to be.

– True Peace –

A good way for me to know if my priorities are in line with a Godly perspective is this: I experience His peace. Human peace will change based on circumstance. Godly peace is fixed because of what Jesus did that allows me to walk in true freedom. If I become anxiety-driven over circumstances, I am forgetting who I am in Christ. How do I know who I am in Christ? Spending time in His Word. If I am experiencing Godly peace, I am quick to use His Word to confidently tackle the trials.

It’s quite simple, really. We’re the ones who complicate it.

– Looking Forward –

So, as I look at my goals for the year ahead, I commit to checking my heart’s motives: Allowing God to clean anything that isn’t beneficial to my relationship with Christ, and allowing grace to continuously cover me if I need correction.

Remember that God loves you very much and wants only the best for you. I encourage you to let Him to be your “priority planner” for this beautiful new year ahead. ❤

“…But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:13-14

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Our Wedding (Part I) – Preparation

APRIL 22, 2016: THE DAY I MARRIED MY FOREVER LOVE.

"Our Wedding"  ❤  A Five-Part Blog Series

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• Part I – The Preparation
• Part II – Our Ceremony
• Part III – Our Reception
• Part IV – Our Honeymoon
• Part V – Photo Favs (a collection of my favorite wedding photos)

I am excited to finally share details to our wedding day (and details leading up)! For this particular blog, I focus on the pre-wedding preparations and parties.

There are many other "pre-wedding" items that were obviously done before the wedding, but they will be saved for the upcoming posts. 

I hope you enjoy! :-)

❤ Christie

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PART I: PREPARATION

Note: Extended vendor reviews will be at the end of each blog for my "engaged" readers!

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ENGAGEMENT PARTY

Overview: The engagement party was an absolute blast! I recommend any couple getting married to have an engagement party. Remember – this is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of a celebration in your life. You can make it as elaborate or simple as you want!

Preparation: I made an informal postcard invite with photos from our engagement to both in and out-of-state family and friends. True, we weren’t expecting those in other states to fly out to the engagement party, however, it did open an opportunity for us to show them pictures of the proposal!

Engagement Party Postcards - details were added on the back

Final Product:  We had simple finger foods in addition to the ice cream and chocolates (the key to my heart)! I wore a dress from Macy's, and the location was in the clubhouse in my the condominium I was living in at the time. It was perfect for the number of guests we had, and also offered an outside patio area. We had a photo area in addition to a dear friend of ours who took photos for us (shout out to Ruben!). My brother gave me a selfie-stick to use for the night!

One of my favorite moments: The "proposal re-creation" hands-down won me over (shout-out thank you to my beautiful mom and her decorating talent)! Bryan put a lot of creativity, love and time into making it a very special moment (and complete surprise), and it was important to share that with our friends and family (as the proposal was in Ohio). We also did a live "performance" of the proposal from both our perspectives for a glimpse into the proposal. Good times! 

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FIRST ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS & SAVE THE DATES

Overview & Timeline: My dream was to have the farm-feel field look that was light and airy, fun and cute. Well...we got that moment! We didn't have an exact wedding date set at this time, so our save-the-dates went out about 5 months before the wedding. I love how they all turned out!

Save the Dates

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INVITATIONS

Overall: I am VERY pleased with how the invitations turned out! I am also very proud that I did what many decide to never attempt to do: DIY projects!! Yep. I am so excited with how they turned out, and have my parents to thank as they helped me with the assembly line in helping me put them together!

Timeline: This was an ongoing project, as the original one was not able to be printed without going over budget AND looking elegant and professional. So, the new design went out to guests about 1-2 months before the wedding.

Preparation: I went back-and-forth with this design, but finally came up with it. Elegance, sophistication and a touch of our personalities were the goals. The EKG heart represented Bryan: His passion for people (as a paramedic/firefighter and in general). The music heart represents me (my passion for music and heart for worship).  

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CEREMONY PROGRAMS

My brother was the brains behind the final design of our ceremony programs. I sent him an idea I had that would be too costly and timely to do at the time, and he was able to simplify it and piece together our final product. Thank you, Robert, for your time and effort to make our ceremony programs so special! ♥

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FINAL ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS

I was excited to utilize Rizalde and his wife for a final engagement session. We ended up using a lot of the photos for items within the ceremony, reception and activities. I absolutely LOVE how they turned out! Enough chit chat...see for yourself  ♥ 

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 WEDDING EXPOS: DO THEY WORK?

I attended a number of expos, and overall I'd say they were helpful, but more of an "experience." It's fun to go with your bridal party or group of girls! We took advantage of photo booths (see example to the right :-)...) Expos help give you ideas of what you like or don't like...and, you get FREE SAMPLES!!! From the expos I went to, I only used one vendor that I met initially there (my emcee - I’ll review his services in a later blog).

My favorite part about the wedding expo? Being able to model wedding dresses! Ok, maybe it wasn’t related to my actual wedding shopping, but that was my favorite part about the expos! :-D A huge thank you to Kim Horn (she's a wedding planning extraordinaire) for her gracious heart to allow me to have these modeling opportunities! If you're in need of a wedding planner, her professionalism and way she treated us as models is enough for me to know she takes care of her brides! Contact her today!

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WEBSITE

We had a wedding website setup to help give more information for our guests. You can take a look at ours by clicking HERE. It was basic and made through a free website maker called Wix. I paid for a domain name as I liked it to be personalized, but that was it!

Click photo to see our full wedding website!

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BRIDAL SHOWER

Here's a showcase of one of the gatherings leading up to our wedding: the Bridal Shower! Thank you to my Maid of Honor, Bridesmaids and family members for putting this event together! :-)

• Attire: I loved the light pink skirt I found paired with my lace crop top (both found at Charlotte Russe)! Best part? My shoes! I found them at David's Bridal, and KNEW I had to find an outfit to match them :-)
• Activities: The afternoon was filled with a lot of good-times: amazing desserts, opening a collection of wonderful gifts, a "how-well-you-know-the-Bride" game put together by my MOH Aimee, sharing a photo book of a photoshoot I did in my mother's wedding gown, a "dress guess" game where everyone cut out a wedding dress from a magazine of their favorite and what they thought my dress would look like, and all-around good time with family and friends.
• Decor: The colors were soft and light with cut-out hearts, a wedding gown pop-up amongst other display items, a Bridal chair personally decorated and re-done by my MOH, and creative signage! The desserts I would also categorize as "decor" as they were so cute and personable!
• Parasol Umbrella: This was something past down from my Great-Grandmother that I absolutely loved having around as a special item of decor and memories...cherished moment ❤
• Desserts:  Jennifer (one of my bridesmaids) made adorable hand-crafted treats like the "wedding cake" cookies and rice crispy engagement rings pictured below! I'm a girl always ready for good desserts, and that we certainly had! :-D

Photos taken by Danitza Schmidt.

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WEDDING PLANNER

For some brides, it's not fun to plan. For me, it was what I always wanted to do! To know that I had an opportunity to utilize my gifts and abilities to make our special day one that we can look back at and feel special and personalized was totally worth it. I wanted to take time to plan out all the details to our big day, and I enjoyed the opportunity. Creativity is my passion, and what better way than to be able to than on our wedding day! :-)

With that, the wedding would NOT have been what it was without the sincere help of so many! You know who you are, and know that you contributed to make our wedding memorable and special. We had everything from family members (including my aunt that took the time to FLY OUT to Arizona to help), to the full bridal party and amazing friends. A HUGE shout-out to my (now) husband who was so supportive of everything going on every step of the way – especially during some of the most emotional roller coaster rides along the way. It was so encouraging to have a wonderful support team. I also appreciate the venue coordinators as well as my aunt's assistance on the wedding day, so that was a wonderful thing to have. Thank you, thank you...THANK YOU!

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Coming up next... OUR Wedding (Part II) – Ceremony

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VENDOR REVIEWS

 

[ Danitza Schmidt – First Engagement Photoshoot ]

My dear friend, Danitza Schmidt (SDS Photography) did a fabulous job capturing our first engagement session in Coolidge, AZ. She also has always been so amazing at making her clients feel comfortable in front of a camera!

• Product Itself: Very Pleased
• Customer Service: Excellent
• Costs: Reasonable
• Overall recommendation: 5 ♥/ 5 ♥

 

[ Rizalde Sherwood – Second Engagement Photoshoot ]

We had the absolute pleasure of working with Rizalde and his wife for our final engagement shoot! We ended up using these photos taken for additional elements within the wedding, and thoroughly enjoyed his services. I would highly recommend him to others (and already have)!

• Product Itself: Very Pleased
• Customer Service: Excellent
• Costs: Reasonable
• Overall recommendation: 5 ♥/ 5 ♥

 

[ VistaPrint – Save-the-date printing ]

We ended up using two of the engagement photo chalkboard photos (PS, Danitza ^^ does chalk art as well)! I did the additional designing you see and sent it off to www.vistaprint.com.

• Product Itself: Very Pleased
• Customer Service: Excellent
• Costs: Reasonable (when you find coupon codes that knock the price down)!
• Overall recommendation: 4 ♥/ 5 ♥

 

[ Invitations (Project Elements) ]

• Main Invitation: Sheet Music from a second-hand store, EKG strips, cardstock from Paper Source and Michael’s, and ribbon from Paper Source and Hobby Lobby. 
• RSVP Card: One side had the RSVP, while the other was a photo from our first engagement shoot.
• Wedding Rehearsal Card: I printed on shimmer paper and pink sparkly cardstock (not shown on the above photo, but was added for extra shimmer).
• Printing: Kinkos/Fed-Ex Office (Fun fact: Bring your own paper, and it will save you a little money)!
• Envelopes: The calligraphy for the envelopes was done by a combination of my friends Christina, Kim, and even my dad! Christina is, yes, a friend of mine, but equally does calligraphy as a business. If you'd like her to help with your project, contact her at chrissy7776@yahoo.com! I didn't post photos since there are addresses on the envelopes, but take my word: AWE-SOME!
• Overall recommendation: 5 ♥/ 5 ♥  ( But I'm a little bias... :-) ...)

 

[ About Love Studios – Wedding Day Photographers ]

We had our photos taken by About Love Studios. Our photographers took wonderful and beautiful photos (as you will clearly see even more when I post day-of wedding photos)! We did have customer service issues, and eventually one of the specific situations was discussed and brought up with them. Even though the communication wasn't at a level we were expecting based on the reviews read, I am glad that the photos were so gorgeous and captured so many of the priceless moments created that day! In the end, we love our captured memories that will last us a lifetime.

• Product Itself: Excellent
• Customer Service: Fair
• Costs: We hired them through a benefit event, so our costs were different than regular prices.
• Overall recommendation: 3 ♥/ 5 ♥

[ The Story Is Told – Wedding Day Videographers ]

Our videography was provided by The Story Is Told (Abbey and Morgan). They were so amazing! I loved working with this husband/wife team! I was on the search for the right videographer, and if anyone knows me, they know how picky I am in this category (being that this is part of my personal career). I’d watch a wedding video 5 seconds in, and be able to tell it was a “no" immediately. When I ran across their company, I was instantly in tears over a STRANGER'S wedding! I knew they were the winner. :-)

Her attitude during a specific incident that happened I will forever appreciate – she was professional, calming and a definite smile when needed! Even my mom made a comment about how amazing they were. My husband equally commented on how he enjoyed their services and presence at the wedding. Believe it or not, I haven't even watched only but a few of the clips but still believe in their services (we bought just the raw footage at the time, and I don't want to see it until it has been fully edited to preserve the moment as a whole)! With that, I'm still comfortable doing this review without even watching their work in full.

• Customer Service: Excellent
• Product Itself: Excellent
• Costs: Reasonable
• Overall recommendation: 5 ♥/ 5 ♥