The Honeymoon...it's going to happen ;)

Where are we going to do it? This is the question on our minds. Where are we going on our honeymoon? Because we want to do it some place that is fun. And we want to do it somewhere we've never done it before. And we want to do it somewhere it is affordable. Other criteria include a large bed, beautiful room, fluffy bath robes and slippers, jacuzzi bath tub, and room service 24 hours a day. Isn't that what a honeymoon is all about...rest and relaxation?

Get your mind out of the gutter!

We have actually already booked our honeymoon. My parents gave me a week to use on one of their time shares for Christmas (awesome present. I cried. A lot.), and we could pick where ever we wanted to go! It was so nice of my parents to give us that. Seriously, basically free vacation. Brad and I went through the resort book really closely and finally decided to head to the Northwest coast. And thanks to my mother's superior booking abilities, we booked in Seattle, Washington! WOOHOO!!! I am very excited to head to Seattle to sight see, take a ferry to Canada, and EAT! It's a food town. How could this not be the perfect vacation for two self-described foodies. I have been on the website for "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" a lot to try and find places in Seattle. If you know of any great eateries in Seattle, let me know! I'm looking forward to going to Pike Place Market, Starbucks, the Space Needle, eating fish and chips at Iver's (thanks for the tip Grandma), and hanging out by the pier. Can you really ask for more on a honeymoon?

Get your mind out of the gutter!

It was a good day

Yesterday may have been one of the more exciting and happy days I have had in a while. (Except for the day Brad proposed. Nothing can beat that excitement.)

On Saturday, I went dress shopping with my family, my mom, grandma, future mom in-law, two future sisters in-law, and future niece. It was really fun and a bit overwhelming. Finding a dress is a lot of hard work. I was exhausted by the end of the day. I went to a total of three bridal stores. I know this may seem like a small number, but as mentioned before, I get very overwhelmed really easily. Feel free to ask Brad about this. I was stressing about our wedding before we were even engaged. It's a problem. I know. But I tried on a lot of dresses. We went to Danielle's Bridal, David's Bridal, and Gateway Bridal and Prom. I would recommend Danielle's and Gateway Bridal and Prom to anyone. Their service is fantastic and their dresses are the most beautiful. David's Bridal was described by my future mother in-law as "the grocery store of wedding dresses", and it's true. There are so many dresses in that store and WAY too many brides looking for their dress. Now, I am usually not one to judge, but there were some girls there trying on some UGLY dresses. And some of those ugly dresses managed to slip into my pile of dresses I tried on. Seriously, one dress made me look like I had a baby bump I was trying to hide. Hideous. Absolutely hideous. I guess it's the process you have to go through to figure out what dress you want. After trying on all of the dresses and having a million pictures taken of me in those dresses, I had all day Sunday to think about it. To be honest, the hardest decision was choosing what "look" I am going for. But once I decided on the look and my elimination criteria, it was a little easier to narrow down my dress options. So yesterday we went back to Danielle's Bridal and I tried on the dress I had in mind plus some other ones. The other ones didn't compare. I feel absolutely amazing in the dress that I chose. I feel really beautiful, elegant, sexy, skinny, and gorgeous in my dress. It makes me feel like I'm floating. Take my word for it, it's beautiful. My mom and one of my best friends Lorraine were there to see me pick out my dress. It was awesome. I can't believe I have found the dress that I am going to be married in! AHHH!!!! So exciting! The vision of our wedding is finally coming together for me and I cannot wait for Brad to see me in it!

Meet the Parent

Yesterday was a big day for me and Brad...our parents met. Well, to be more exact, his parents met my mother. My mom has graciously given up hours of her study time (she's back in school) in order to come and help me pick out my wedding dress (See previous blog). Thanks Mom for not studying for two whole days to help me out! She's a nerd. Now I know where I get it from. Unfortunately, my father had to stay back in Colorado. Boo. I miss you Dad. I hope the foot of snow and the 60 degree weather doesn't keep you in the house. Gotta love Colorado weather. Sorry, I digress, back to the story...so yesterday morning I fetched my mother from the airport and we were going to have lunch with Brad and his parents. It's always a little nerve racking having your parents meet. I know my mother is great and I know Brad's parents are wonderful, you just hope that they like each other. I mean, lets face it, we're each becoming apart of the other person's family. Brad will be the first "son" in my family. My poor father has had to put up with really dramatic and high maintenance women his entire life. He's gotten pretty good at tuning us out, and I don't blame him, so Brad is a welcomed addition to my family, especially for my dad. He now has more testosterone in the family to help balance things out. I will be the first and only daughter in-law on Brad's side of the family. Luckily, Brad's parents have plenty of experience with girls, they have three of them. I am super excited to be apart of their family and cannot wait to get to know them better. Again, I digress...sorry. So Brad's parents came over to my apartment (our future apartment), saw the place and met my mother. I wish it was more dramatic, like the skies cleared and a rainbow came bursting through the clouds as the birds sang outside the window. Unfortunately, that did not happen. (Although, another side note, I really wish life were like a musical and lovely things happened like that all the time. Better yet, I wish life were like the television show, Glee. More on this later.) Anyway, they met, we went to lunch, it was lovely. I am so excited that they have met each other, and they like each other! I'm really excited for my dad to meet them in May for graduation. That will be awesome.

Well, I'm T-minus one hour until we're on our way to find a wedding dress! Keep your fingers crossed!

In preparation for dress shopping

My mother is coming on Friday, yay!, and we are going to go dress shopping! We will also be joined by my grandmother, my future mother in-law, and two of my future sisters in-law, maybe my future niece, and some of my closest girlfriends in the world. Ahhh! I'm mostly excited and slightly nervous. Besides my gorgeous engagement ring(pictured below), there is not any other tangible item that says, "Hey, I'm getting married", except now I'm going to buy the dress I am going to be married in. Talk about pressure.

The dress is so iconic and so symbolic to any woman. Most women have thought about what they want their wedding dress to look like since they were little girls. I, on the other hand, have not. Because Brad reads this blog on occasion, I cannot go into full detail about what my ideas for the dress are, but lets just say, they are vague. I don't know have a clue what I want to look like when I walk into the Old Meeting House. Although, now that I think about it, I want two things to happen...to take Brad's breath away and to make him cry! Not a hurtful cry, but a "oh my goodness, that is my wife walking down the aisle and I just can't contain my emotion anymore". Sorry babe, but I am determined to make you shed a tear at my shear beauty!

Now, because my mother is coming on Friday and we start dress shopping on Saturday, you'd think that I would be living in the gym trying to get rid of a few pounds before I go try on wedding dresses....WRONG! I am so flipping hungry! Seriously, I can't stop. I want to. I need to. But I can't. I think I'm stress eating a little. I really wish I was one of those kind of people that when they get super stressed, are too stressed to eat...yeah, only in my dreams. I am a stress eater. I even took a survey in my stress management class that told me I was a MAJOR stress eater and that's how I deal with my stress. Oh, well, I can lose 15 pounds before Friday, right? Haha! Oohh, more jelly beans!

Wish me luck!

Pick a color, any color

Who knew that planning a wedding was completely immersed in the smallest details? I didn't. I thought it was about the bride, the dress, the groom, and the food (yes, in that order)(just kidding Brad, I love you!). Maybe it is, but with all of those things comes 1,000 details you have to sort out. As I started to comb through these details in my mind, I realized that most of them hinged on one thing...the color! The color dictates what the bridesmaids will wear, what the flowers will look like, table linens, tuxedos, invitations, the cake, centerpieces, the favors...the list goes on and on. How on earth do you pick a color? Not really a color, but the color. I would like to think that I am not a bridezilla with evil intentions. I want everyone in my wedding party to feel great about themselves and look good. What's the fun of getting all dressed up if you have to put on a hideous dress afterwards? No fun at all. The other tricky thing about picking a color is that it usually represents the bride and her personality. If it didn't, then there wouldn't be such a thing as pepto- bismol pink as a color for a wedding. Ugh, completely hideous. Anyway, back to the thrilling color story...I know you're intrigued. I wanted to choose a color that looked great on everyone and was also a color that I loved. I came up with...drum roll please...eggplant/plum and pale yellow with accents of gray. BAM! I am super excited about this. Just in case you are wondering what to wear at my wedding, here are a few examples...

This one is from David's Bridal

Dillards

Ashley to the rescue!

Next to having a husband on August 5th and my dress (lets face it, it is all about the dress), photography is one of the most important things to me on my wedding checklist. I have to admit, I was displaying bridezilla-ish tendencies when it came to getting a location and photographer. Okay fine, I was freaking out. All of the good places and all of the good photographers are booking up NOW for wedding season. I NEEDED to reserve my photographer, and fast! I went to a thousand websites and cruised through thousands of pictures, and to be honest, they all start to look the same after a while. I was getting desperate, and I think Brad was seriously thinking about locking me in a closet when he suggested his friend Ashley McKnight. Oh, it was as if the clouds opened up and a dove descended from the clouds...ok, not that dramatic, but you get the point. I looked at her blog and website almost every day. I love her photos. They are fresh, colorful, young, and candid! I love candids. And the best part...we could afford her! WOOHOO!!! So we scheduled an appointment up in Logan to meet with her this past weekend. It went great and we hired her! YAY for an awesome photographer who is sweet, talented, and definitely NOT a treky!
Things are coming together. Up next on the 'to do list'- the dress. (dum, dum, duuummm!)

Check out her website at: http://www.ashleymaephoto.com

Nothings free

So, this is how I know that Brad loves me. We live in Utah, and weddings are a big business here. Lets face it, the Mormon culture definitely contributes to the amount of weddings that take place every year. And with that, every year, at the beginning of the year, there are TONS of wedding shows here in Utah. Seriously, they are like every weekend. It's a good place to start looking for venues, DJs, photographers, bakers, bridal stores, tuxedo shops, decorators, jewelers, everything and anything wedding. And because I have no clue how to plan a wedding or even where to start, I decided to drag poor Brad to a couple of these bridal shows. See, he loves me. What other man would willingly go to a bridal show with his fiance where he basically ate samples and held all of stacks of paper that were given to me? Again, he loves me. A major component of these bridal shows is entering drawings. Lots and lots of drawings. Anyone who knows me, knows I am always on the lookout for a bargain. Why pay for something full price when I can wait 5 weeks and get it for 50% off? So I entered every drawing I possibly could. Even if it was something I didn't want, I entered. I wanted to win...something, anything. It worked! I WON!!! I won a studio session for my bridals at Inkley's Portrait Studio. Awesome, right? That's what I thought. Well, it is awesome, except the photographer is, well, um, a creeper. To be more exact he's a "treky". You know, those guys who go to Star Trek conventions once a year? Yeah, that's the photographer that will be taking my bridals. I'm a little scared.

Brad went with me for the "consultation" with this photographer, and it was interesting, to say the least. I felt like I was on a used car lot and the salesman was trying to sell me everything but the kitchen sink. This guy was literally throwing everything at us, a photo book for free, extra pictures, more time at the wedding, his first born child...everything he could possibly think of for us to book with him. Well, there were two problems, first I didn't like their style. It was very old fashioned and just not what I was looking for and second, I would probably end up killing him by the end of the day. I think Brad put it best as we left he leaned over to me and said, "Yeah, that guy is definitely not invited to our wedding."

I guess nothings free.

Location, Location, Location

It's all about the location, right? It's hard to find a good location though. Does it have decent parking? Is it easy to find? Is it beautiful? What accommodations do they provide? And of course, what do they charge? Finding a location is, well, hard. Brad and I went to a total of four locations. The first was Le Jardin. This is an indoor garden center with lots of tables throughout the garden. I have parents and grandparents with allergies, and everything was really spread out, it's really pretty, but just didn't fit what we had in mind for our wedding. So, it was onto our next location. We went to The Woods on Ninth. It is a beautiful house that has been renovated into a reception center. It's pretty trendy. Unfortunately, Brad and I are not that trendy. And the price was, uh, out of our price range. Onto our next place, Eldredge Manor. Admittedly, I fell in love with the place the second I saw it. Beautiful architecture, amazing accommodations, beautiful gardens, a great location. It had it all. I wanted our wedding to be there, but there was one problem, the price. Darn those beautiful wedding venues that know they are beautiful and charge you an arm, a leg, and your soul. Oh well, we finally went to our last and final destination, The Old Meeting House. The Old Meeting House has everything we could have wanted, beautiful architecture, it's easy to find, great accommodations that include all our centerpieces and a decorated buffet table, our cake, a pianist with our ceremony, and again, it's beautiful! So YAY! We have a location and a date. August 5, 2010 at The Old Meeting House, we will become Mr. and Mrs. Bradly Harris. SO EXCITED!!!!

Let me introduce us!

I have never been a fan of blogging before. I know some pretty incredible bloggers (shout out to: Lorraine, Amy, Kirstin, Liz, Madison, Alisha), and I feel quite inferior in my writing and blogging skills. But, I decided I needed an outlet to describe/document my journey in planning my wedding. I honestly thought that I would be a lot older when some poor guy decided that I was the only one for him, or his last option, and got down on his knee to ask if I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life with him. Gratefully, this is FAR from the case! I have met the most wonderful man in the world, Brad, and he willingly got down on his knee and asked if I would marry him. I am so incredibly excited to marry him on August 5th...but before then, there seems to be a lot of wedding shenanigans that we have to get done. I must make one confession before I get started...I have never really seriously thought about my wedding. I have no idea what I want my dress to look like, flowers to be, colors, music, favors, food, etc, etc. I know what you're probably thinking, you are a freak of nature, and you would be correct in your assessment. But that is what makes planning this wedding so much fun, I have no idea what I want! It's a bit overwhelming and pretty hilarious, which is why I am going to blog my little heart out!

Before I get too caught up in divulging all of my wedding details, let me introduce us...see the picture? Yep, that's us. (Aren't we cute?)

Basic info on Brad:

• Business management student at the University of Utah
• Loves to cook
• But loves to eat more
• Currently, his favorite show on hulu.com is Lost...I do not understand this
• Has an amazing smile
• And he loves me

Basic info on Jordan:

• Health Promotion and Education student at the University of Utah (graduating in May, woot woot!)
• Love to eat...maybe a little too much
• Currently, my favorite shows on hulu.com is Modern Family and The Marriage Ref...hilarious. You should check them out!
• And loves Brad...a lot!