Doctor Who Wedding Vows

This is purely a teaser/spoiler for the rest of the media that will come forth in the next few weeks (hopefully).

Travis's vows:




Words:

Hello my Love!
He who takes a companion takes the Universe.
Well good news, cause guess what!

Except look at you,
standing there in that dress,
It's really very distracting.
Could you please stand still for a minute because
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

Now the question of the hour is, 'Who takes this woman'?
Answer: I do.
Next question: Why do I choose her?
Well look at her!
Beautiful smile, very smart, brilliant personality...
Oh and something else she has
my all.

So if life comes along
with it's silly little hardships
and it's silly little problems,
and it has plans to get in our way -
I vow this day to stand with you always.

I vow to remember every
white day God will give us.

And then
Aaand THEN

I will do the smart thing -
I will choose you first.
---------------

Original speech from Doctor Who (contains spoilers for the series):

Why no pictures, Mrs. King?

So we throw this awesome steampunk wedding in Cincinnati, OH and then refuse the share pictures? How cruel!

And how not true!

You see, I want to wait to receive the images from the photographers. It may take a couple of months, actually, since there were three of them taking pictures the entire night.

I just received the video, which I'm going to possibly being editing soon. However, this also will not be shown until the pictures are ready.

Once I get these images, I will choose several of my upmost favorites. Those will be in a post, along with the edited video.

I've chosen this process for a couple reasons:

1. While there are pictures of the wedding already that I've retrieved from Facebook, I want your first impression to be perfect. There are a few great ones via Facebook, but a professional camera still captures the magics more than a cell phone :)

2. I'm not going to show the video until you have gotten a chance to really see my dress. I only have a few images from FB that showcase my dress at all, and you will want to see details. Trust me on this one!

After the initial post, I will be updating with several posts that focus on a single topic (i.e. the dress, the flowers, the cake, etc...)

Depending on how the video turns out, I may also upload bits and pieces that were edited out of the main video.

However, in a few minutes I will be uploading a video to youtube of Travis preforming his vows. You will get a glimpse of my dress from the back. I will update with a post (probably tomorrow) describing why his vows are so special that I would bother uploading them before the "big reveal".

For now, I'm not giving a link. You'll have to search for it in a half hour or so. ;-)

EDIT: ok, make that video a "tomorrow-night" thing completely. I want to import the file as best quality as I can, and that is taking awhile. So! Bedtime for me! ^_^;

The Honeymoon, Day 5

So where did I leave off? Tuesday? Day 3?

Yes. We ended up not renting bikes that day. Instead, we went to a local mall and then to wal-mart to pick up a few things, like food so we're not spending $20 a meal, haha.

Wednesday we rented bikes and hung out at the beach for awhile. However, it was extremely low tide so the shore line was rather dirty. We didn't get in the water, but flew a kite and enjoyed the beach for an hour.

We had lunch at a little cafe that had a really good roast beef panini, then rode our bikes around for awhile before retiring to our hotel room for the night.

Thursday we turned the bikes in and headed up to Savannah, GA for the day. As much as we have been telling people that we want to move there, neither of us have actually visited the place.

It. is. beautiful.

We were instantly amazed at the architecture and landscaping.

If you don't already know, Savannah is home to the Savannah College of Art and Design, one of the most prestigious private art colleges in the nation, and Travis and I both want to attend. So naturally, our first stop was their gift shop. After looking around, we asked the lady for advice on where to eat. She directed us to a great burger place about 4 blocks down the street. She was right, it was amazing!

After that, we noticed all of the trolleys running around town full of people, so we decided to join in! Though a tad expensive, we got two tickets for two trolley rides - one that involved a historic tour of the history of Savannah and another later that night that was a ghost tour.

I'm so glad we did the tours - it really sealed the deal for why we want to move down to that city! Beyond the beauty, the history would have me walking around for weeks! I just want to take pictures of the entire place! I mean, really, the two main districts are the "historical district" and the "victorian district". Not to mention the "colonial district" area. There just really isn't anything I don't like besides the lack of jobs in my field that are open. And the cost of living is a bit high.

We did a lot of shopping in between the tours, and a lot of talking about how soon we can move down there.

Today and tomorrow are mostly chill-out days. We did finally visit the lighthouse across the street from our hotel, which was beautiful! However, I've experienced really bad vertigo around heights (not including roller coasters) ever since I saw a girl fall to her death from about three stories high during a Christmas play. So I didn't stay up there that long.

 
We then had lunch at Southern Soul, which has been featured on a number of programs - including Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives! And for a good reason! Their BBQ Pulled Pork was AMAZING!

Then Travis and I went to Moo Cow Ice Cream, which has unique flavored homemade ice cream. I got a Pumpkin ice cream sundae (hot fudge, caramel, nuts, whipped cream, etc...) and Travis got a Guinness ice cream milkshake! The literally take an extract of the Guinness Beer and add it to the cream! AWESOME!

We've spent the rest of the day at the hotel, watching TV and starting to pack a bit.

Tomorrow we're going to take a trolley tour around St. Simon's Island and then finish packing before heading back home on Saturday!

On a side note, I did lose my ID and it was recovered at the Cincinnati Airport. However, that means we are going to have to deal with some stuff going through TSA in the Jacksonville airport.

I miss home, and I'm especially looking forward to eating Chipotle when I get back. That is one of the only issues regarding us moving to Savannah - there isn't a Chipotle within 100 miles of the city :'-(

The Honeymoon, Day 3

Forgive me for not updating every single day, but I'm sure you can assume that I'm slightly distracted by how sexy my husband is :)

The Bed & Breakfast we stayed at the night of the wedding was beautiful! I hope I get to stay there again for a longer period of time! We didn't actually get to enjoy the group breakfast experience because of how early our flight was, so the lady and gentleman of the house made us a take-away breakfast (in a cute lunch bag!).

We almost forgot the marriage license, which we needed since my name appeared as "Brittany King" on the airplane tickets. Apparently our minister accidentally ran away with it, haha! But, some magic was worked and Travis and I got to see our parents one last time before heading off to St. Simon's Island!

At the airport, we got through without any problems at all. Travis spotted this adorable hat and I fluttered my eyes a bit... so it's mine now :-D

About an hour and a half later, we were in Jacksonville, FL. We got our rental car (which is the coolest green-gold ever!) and headed off to the island (stopping at Cracker Barrel for lunch first).

Once we got to our room, we were amazed by the fantastic view of the lighthouse and the ocean!


We settled in, discovering that our suite was awesome. Everything from the fridge and microwave, to the shower, to the surround-sound, to the complete media setup, was simply amazing! I only wish there were more electrical outlets. We're kinda technologically-driven people, so we need charging areas, haha.

After that we decided to check out the local terrain. I knew from my previous research that we were right next to a pier and very popular street - full of different kinds of shops and restaurants.

Since it was Sunday night around 6pm, we found that a lot of the stores were closed. We checked out a sweets shop, took a look at an expensive salon and said "no" (I'm looking into cutting and dying my hair), and then decided to eat at a place called "Iguana's". It's a seafood restaurant known for it's fantastic shrimp. Our waiter gave us the full story on why their shrimp tastes the way it does (something to do with where they feed and how it filters out all of the bad stuff, giving them a nice, sweet taste). Since it was the first night of our honeymoon, we splurged a bit. I got a shrimp meal that came with a crab cake, hushpuppies, coleslaw, and green beans. Travis got a different, cheaper shrimp meal and also a side of crab legs.

It. was. amazing. Honest-to-goodness, I may never eat at Red Lobster again.

Then the place had free ice cream. Yummy ^_^

By then we were too tired to do anything else, so we headed back.

That's when I discovered that my phone takes panoramic pictures.


And that is the end of day 1.

Day 2 we went shopping at a mall, which was dead, and mostly hung out in our room. We did go back and get cupcakes at the sweets shop we went to on Day 1. Their Pumpkin cupcakes were fantastic!

Today is Day 3, we plan on doing a bit more shopping and then renting bikes. We did visit the beach for a minute yesterday and the water was cold, but not freezing... just takes some getting used to... so we are planning on riding over there to try swimming a bit.

I'll let y'all know how that goes!

The Day Before

I have no interesting pictures for you right now, but I do have a re-done video! It's basically the same as the engagement video, but with more pictures and some different songs. I needed to make it longer for the wedding.

I got a job Tuesday and will be starting as soon as I get back from the honeymoon, haha.

Today I had a trial-run of my makeup, a dress fitting, and the rehearsal dinner. There have been a few concerns regarding the dress(es), but I have absolute faith in Stephanie. Also, from what I've seen, it will be fantastic :)


I just hope I'm pretty enough for the dress, haha.


The rehearsal dinner was lovely, everything seems to be working out just fine. The few hiccups we've had have all been worked out. There are finishing touches that need to be done, but for the most part everything is going according to plan!

So this will be the last post I share with you before the wedding!

I should be able to post something during the honeymoon, and then I will certainly post pictures and video from the wedding as soon as I can when I get back! However, keep in mind that getting the pictures back might take awhile, and I will be starting up a new "big-girl" job, 8:00-5:00, M-F. I'm not used to that AT ALL! So the video might take awhile for me to edit.

However, I am SO GLAD I have friends in the Electronic Media & Broadcasting (EMB) major! Having them do the video is super cheap for me and gives them good experience :D Plus, that gives me the option to have full control over the end product. I LOVE it!

I would never have just a friend do it, however, if they didn't actually have experience in the field. My parents had a friend photograph their wedding and their pictures were all pretty terrible.

Anyways, please keep checking back for more pics and updates!

It's Sexy

I've taken off the bow and little gem since the picture was taken

If you're a fan of Doctor Who, you know why it is extremely appropriate for me to have the TARDIS as a part of my wedding outfit.

For the rest of you - a small explanation:

TARDIS stands for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space". It is the Doctor's Time machine, a living organism, and is bigger on the inside. This particular TARDIS is old - an antique according to the Time Lords (the race of the Doctor). However, she is also new in the way she continues to change. The interior gets updated with almost every regeneration of the Doctor, which is just a part of it.

The Doctor "borrowed" this TARDIS from the Time Lords (sometimes he will go so far as to say he "stole" it, since he now has no intention of returning it).

Not all TARDIS's are blue police boxes. Normally, there is a function called the "chameleon circuit" which allows the TARDIS to change form in order to blend in with it's surroundings. However, this circuit has been broken (or possibly disabled) by the Doctor, and while he is perfectly capable of fixing it - he prefers the big blue box. He calls her "sexy".

Without giving any spoilers, there is a wedding that occurs at some point in the shows history. At that wedding, the bride mentions that the TARDIS is "something new, something old, something borrowed, and something blue". You can easily figure out why all of that fits into one object simply by the description I just gave.

As much as I would love to have a real-sized TARDIS at my wedding, this little creation of mine will just have to do.

Now only if it came with the Doctor.... oh, hi Travis.

The Bachelorette Party - A Doctor Who Murder Mystery

If you're anything like me, you will be jealous when I tell you what my Maid of Honor, Myra (and so many other people that showed up) pulled off for this shindig!

First off, I began having no idea what we were doing. It was a complete surprise. All I knew is that I was asked to begin wearing my steampunk outfit, to bring a comfy change of cloths, and to bring my PJs. Also, my Lantern (a NRETNAL my steampunk persona uses to travel through time and dimensions) and my sonic screwdriver (River Song's from Doctor Who). And to bring a snack if I wanted, but I didn't have time to make or buy anything.

I drove to pick up Alys and bring her back to my house, since she had foot surgery in August and can't walk without crutches still. Sam would be picking us up when we got back to my place.

I live in the West Side of Cincinnati. We drove to Alexandria, KY - maybe a 40 minute drive, to a winery/vineyard.

This is where the fun began!

It was a Murder Mystery party and a wine tasting party all in one! I was given a character sheet, which was, of course, my steampunk persona, Lady Eleanor Gentry Vesper, and apparently I was at my engagement party celebrating my marriage to the Doctor. As in, Doctor Who, "The Doctor". Google it. British sci-fi show that's been on since 1963 with 11 different actors playing the Doctor (10 is my fav, followed by 11 in a close second).

So we ate, then the wine tasting began. I ended up buying a bottle of "Raccoon Red", which is a sweet red wine - which I am enjoying right now as I type. It's almost gone.

Me, Taylor, and Shane (sitting down)

We began the murder mystery portion by introducing ourselves. There was a good 14 people in attendance, so there were a lot of characters to go through. Caleb and Abby had been playing up their characters of Bonnie and Clyde the entire time.

We get to the end and Myra says something like, "I think that's everyone!" Unbeknownst that I was suppose to say this (as it seemed like I was), I said, "Aren't we missing someone?"

Suddenly, Taylor stumbles out of the dining area of the cabin (thing) and falls on the ground. He ended up tearing a hole in the elbow of his shirt, and he was holding my sonic screwdriver (which I had given Myra previously). Since he fell near me, I helped him up. Shane, whose character was Jack Harkness (Doctor Who, google it), started saying things such as, "Doctor? Is that you? Is this really the Doctor?" While I was all like, "No, no, didn't you see the pictures on the table in there? This looks nothing like the Doctor."

The pictures were of Travis and I. Travis was originally suppose to be at the party and play the Doctor, but because of lack of/mis - communication he didn't ask off of work.

So I looked directly at Myra, "Seriously... you're gonna make me do this?" In a sarcastic, funny way. Thus, Taylor was my temporary fiance for the duration of the day.

Turns out a machine from Torchwood was stolen/lost in a time rift and was operated in order to kill the Doctor. However, it causes them to loose the victim's memories first, and since the Doctor isn't human, he regenerated to avoid death. So apparently either Matt Smith turns into Travis who turns into Taylor... Or Matt Smith turns into Taylor...

In any case, awkward. Funny, but awkward, haha. :)

So the "Doctor" doesn't remember who he is and we have to figure out who at the party operated the machine that caused the situation. As we are going through the first "phase", several people start asking to see my Lantern, especially Clyde - saying he wanted to see all of the pretty lights. I told him someone was holding it for me.

My friends are BAMF

At the first "event", Bonnie and Clyde attempt to kill myself and the Doctor in order to get to my Lantern. Alien "lawmen" (that the Doctor and I had fought before, alongside Bonnie and Clyde) had forced the two to steal my lantern and give it to them or else everyone would be destroyed.

The thing is, I picture the actual
people/actors in my head. And it's
AWESOME!

I'm not use to my close friends pointing guns at me, even fake ones, haha. Especially when they are actually pretending to threaten my life. It was fun :)

In the end, Jack (Shane) stopped the two and reassured them that once we figured out how to get the Doctor's memories back, we could save the day.

I actually said to Clyde, "Have you ever seen an episode of Doctor Who?! It all gets fixed at the end of the episode!"

Sam and Jake

Jake was Detective Sloan, who was interrogating people. Him and Sam's character ended up confessing their love for each other in the second "event". Also, Myra was a Pirate Queen from Scotland who had worked with Jack as a Time Agent.

Squee and Ivis's characters were sisters with a disconnection. I missed a lot of this storyline, I think. Ivis's character hated the Doctor for taking Squee's character away, I think... but there was an excuse for it, so they made up in the end.

Sara

Sara was the future President of the World. She was just fun - there was probably more to it, because she was inquiring about my Lantern at one point, but it didn't get much further than that for me.

Alys was a friend of mine that traveled from the World of Steam with me. She was going back to take the herbs we collected and was trying to get me to go back with her.

Mallory was another friend from the world of Steam, she had left our group when she fell in love. She was also highly into explosives.

Renee was a high schooler who was on a mission to kill Myra, I think.

Several things happened either fast or at the same time, so following every detail and retaining it is a bit difficult, haha. Especially since we all had some wine in us.

Myra - Renee Standoff!

In the end, Clyde and Jack (Caleb and Shane) I think were the ones who guessed right. I didn't guess at all because I felt like I didn't know some peoples' stories.

It was Alys. The whole time. Her character was trying to get the Doctor "out of the way" because she wanted me to come back to the Steam World with her.

So that was the FIRST part of my Bachelorette party! :)

The second part I'm not going to go into too much. It was a Pure Romance party - which Shane and Taylor stuck around for, which was amusing. Normally men aren't allowed, but they're special, haha.

Not sure, but it's cool lookin'!

So that was a great time! Things happened, things were talked about, Shane got an unusual bruise on his forehead, and I got a few presents :)

After that, Mallory and I had picked out some movies out of the local Redbox. We were sad they were out of "Hocus Pocus", so we got "I love you Phillip Morris" - which was nothing like what I was expecting when I picked up a Jim Carrey movie. Then we watched "Arthur" with Russell Brand.

I then slept over and haven't gotten much sleep since. So I'm going to do that now :)

Final Cake Flavors

I'm sure the top issue on everyone's mind isn't

"I wonder what the dress will look like!"

"Is there going to be food? Is it GOOD food?"

"Do I really have to buy them a present... I mean, I don't know them that well..."

or

"Why the heck is it a cash bar? Who does a cash bar anymore? Open bar for everyone!"

REALLY the main question on your mind is -

"What are the cake flavors!!!"

Because of course, the cake at the engagement party was SO DELICIOUS!

Well, you will be happy to know that Travis and I had a consultation with our super-awesome cake lady over at Incredible Endings and have decided on several things, including cake flavors.

I can't tell you too much about how they are going to look because it involves some details in my dress, but the flavors are free to know!

So first off we have a repeat of the fantastic Raspberry Chocolate cake with White Chocolate Mousse filling! This was featured at the engagement party, but a special addition this time will be an actual layer of raspberries on the cake! I ate leftovers for a week, haha!

Next is a not-surprising choice of mine: Pumpkin. I'm a huge fan of anything with the word "Pumpkin" on it (specially desserts and Starbucks... which is also a dessert). Withheld between the layers of this cake is a Butterscotch Toffee filling. Warning to those who need it: THIS CAKE CONTAINS ALMONDS.

And is going to be fantastic!

Lastly, some guests will be presented with a more traditional White (Vanilla) flavored cake. The twist is the Caramel Liquor filling! Since it's a cash bar wedding, Travis and I wanted to give you all a little extra kick with this one!

So there you have it! A chocolate cake, spice cake, and vanilla cake - all with twists and turns! Everyone should have at least one that they enjoy!

At the reception, the cake will be served to you. The caterers will cut the cakes in the kitchen and bring them out, scattering the flavors amongst the guests.

If you are allergic to almonds or simply want a specific flavor, feel free to switch with anyone or ask for it specifically.

Feel free to try bites of the cakes surrounding you as well, so you get a little taste of all of them!

Also, if you ever have any cake needs - head over to Barb at Incredible Endings! She does amazing work, and her cakes rank among the best I've ever had! She uses an Italian Buttercream frosting which is to die for! She's a real incredible talent, and I'm glad we found her in our Cincinnati Wedding Guidebook!

Cake Table

We picked up the cake table earlier this month. This is a HUGE thing for me, but if you don't know why, here is a refresher:

Back in the fall of 2009, Travis and I had been dating for maybe 9 months, we were talking about what would happen if we ever got married. This is the very moment when Travis introduced me to Steampunk and how it would be a cool theme for the wedding. He Googled it and showed me pictures, articles, etc... on the topic. I fell in love.

With Steampunk that is, I was already in love with Travis!

After this new-found love was formed, I sketched. I suddenly became my favorite fashion designer. I really haven't stopped "fashion designing" since, whether that be Steampunk outfits or something else.

In the midst of these dresses and tuxedos I was drawing up, I drew this:

This is the cake table design that I drew. It's crude and pretty terribly sketched, but it got the idea across.

I never thought it would really become a reality. I would toss the idea around in my head with all of the ways I could create it, the people I could talk to, where I would get materials, etc..., but I honestly had tossed it aside as an actual possibility.

Until I was proposed to, was getting married, and then told my mother about it.

In the beginning of the wedding process, we decided to meet with a potential wedding planner. While we decided not to use a wedding planner at all, she introduced us to a woodworker who was willing to make the table for a fraction of the price we thought it would be.

Thus, my dream had come true and the plan was in motion. Now, the table is finished and it's sitting in our garage. It has 5 platforms on it, 4 of them rotate in place and one is completely stationary. It also looks as if it is being run on a small steam engine. The wood frame is painted to look like an antique and is designed as a Queen Anne coffee table.

William (the table-maker) tested each platform's performance by placing 50lbs of weight on each and running it for 4 hours. The cakes are incredibly heavy.

Here is a little bit of a preview: *Drumroll please*

I probably shouldn't show you that, but since I love you so much - there it is!

Bridal Showers pt.2

After a full weekend of Bridal Showers, my cheeks are hurting from laughing and smiling so much!

Saturday featured my girlfriends' shower while Sunday held the shower thrown by many of my mothers and mine shared lady friends.

The girlfriends' shower was hosted by my lovely friend, Myra, who is my Maid of Honor, at her apartment. All of my bridesmaids and many of my great friends were there, including Shane who happens to live in the apartment as well. Since he had nowhere to go and he's a pretty awesome guy, we let him stay, haha.

The presents were great! I can't wait to use, read, or wear everything!

The punch was awesome, the food was fantastic, and the company was most enjoyable :D We played a Project Runway game where the girls(and Shane) were divided into three groups with Myra, myself, and Sam being the judges. The groups then designed and created an outfit using toilet paper, magazine cut-outs and various accessories. It really was super fun ^_^ Then it was a guessing game to see who knew the most about me, but it was difficult to find good questions since I've been friends with most of them for nearly 5 years at least.

My teacup, which turned out to be an entire set!

At the shower on Sunday, it was another Tea Party. This one was different, however. Every lady who came brought a tea cup and saucer, which I was then given at the end of the shower. Pictures of these tea cups are spread across this post! Plus, the tea cup I was using turned out to be an entire set of 6 cups/saucers, a little sugar jar, a small pot for creamer, and a teapot! It was really funny - during the "teatime" we all made comments about how beautiful all of the tea cups were, but how the one I was using looked really Steampunk. I loved it! Plus, it's smaller, like more for expresso. Cute! So Carrie was very excited to know she picked a good set to give me, which was great!

Again, a ton of simply lovely presents! Between the tea, coffee, and wine accessories and items, Travis and I will certainly never go thirsty, haha!

We played a word-scramble game, which I was absolutely terrible at :). Then we had the "teatime". Debbie made some unique deviled eggs with avocado, then cherry tomatos stuffed with goat cheese, and cucumber sandwiches (yay!). Everything on that dish was green-colored, so obviously I made sure it sat in front of me ;-). The tea choices were Pumpkin Spice, [something] Chocolate, and another one that was a coffee-flavor (something something latte?) - I tried them all, but had two cups of the Pumpkin Spice ^_^.

Another dish involved almond-covered goat cheese balls, which I figured out tasted GREAT when eaten together with a strawberry! There were also ham salad and chicken salad finger sandwiches, which I thoroughly enjoyed as well :-D. Not to mention the AWESOME mini-finger-cake creations that Sky helped concoct! Oh gosh, I don't really like chocolate that much, but goodness there were ones that tasted like freshly homemade chilled hostess cake! And better! Then the red velvet, and the chocolate-covered strawberries... it was just all around a fantastic meal :D

After "teatime" we played another game - similar to Saturday's, it was "Who knows the most about Brittany". My favorite question was probably "What is Brittany's special talent?" and since no one really knew, I gave the hints "It doesn't involve and movement" and "A police officer might ask you to do this". Which, of course, ensued laughter and the awkward things that could possibly entail.

Obviously, it's that I can say the ABC's backwards, which they had me demonstrate.

Then it was present time, which of course I can't say enough thank you's to really cover how I feel. It's just a surreal experience to be surrounded by so many ladies I respect and for them to show their love and support for Travis and I. Every single one of them is a Godsend.

Lastly, there was a craft. My mother and my mother-in-law (mom^2) had taken several spoons from their relatives' china collections that were sterling silver and had the ends of the handles punctured to create holes. They also had a tin watering can with several holes around the top edges. We tied the spoons to the end of hemp string and then strung several brown, tan, blue, and orange beads until they were at a good length to be tied to the holes in the watering can.

So, the watering can hung upside-down now has 13 strands of beads with sterling silver spoons on the ends of them (there are the china spoons and also a few decorative spoons with lovely sayings on them) and a single heavy knife that was tied in the middle (hanging from what would be the "bottom" of the watering can).

If you haven't figured it out yet, it's a Wind-chime. And oh my goodness does it make a beautiful sound! I will post a picture and a video when I can!

So, needless to say, with one more shower to go in a couple of weeks, I'm completely overwhelmed with generosity, love, and kindness. God has always been a big part of Travis and mine's relationship, and I can see Him clearly in the people we are surrounded by.

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU, everyone!











(I will post pictures and anything else when I get them from other people ^_^)

Bridal Showers

Last weekend I had my first Bridal Shower with relatives from my father's side of the family. It was lovely! It was High Tea themed, so everyone was wearing fancy hats and picked out what tea they wanted.

Have I mentioned how much I love cucumber sandwiches? Travis's Grandma actually turned me onto theme, haha.

The presents were amazing, and we are grateful for every single one! We've already used the toaster, spice rack, George Forman Grill, and look forward to using the picnic basket! With this weather, I might try to steal Travis away for a trip to the park!

Also, Travis's mom bought us a wonderful 6-seating dishwear set that we look forward to using when our kitchen table gets set up! As soon as that all gets done and things calm down after the wedding (barring that I have a job at that point), I'm going to be inviting people over like crazy so I can cook!

The watering can is sitting on our bookshelf in the living room and looks great with our current decor - hopefully I'll be able to actually use it for gardening someday! The coasters will be great once the cake table becomes our coffee table!

My mother bought us a pot used for soups (and other things, which I'm looking forward to exploring, haha) and martini glasses.

All of the Gift Cards will be put to good use as well!

I'm really sorry if I missed anything so far, we're really super grateful for everything and will be sending everyone a thank-you!

I have another Bridal Shower later today with my girlfriends (steampunk themed), and then another one tomorrow afternoon with a lot of friends of my mother's and mine. Then in a few weeks we are having a "couples" shower with both Travis and I.

I won't deny sneeking peeks at the registries to see what items have a number under the "bought" column, haha.

We're so blessed to have so many people around to support us! It's really moving, and it just reassures us that no matter what happens, we have each other and we have a ton of people around us to keep us going. God bless, everyone!

Invitations

I took a bunch of pictures of what our guests can expect when they receive their invitations!

Just know that I threw the gears and clock pieces on there as decoration, haha. They won't actually be in the invitations :) A bit of a steampunk touch, if you will.

July Updates

There hasn't been any big news for awhile now, but a few things happened today that I am allowed to share!

First off, we are doing a sand ceremony in the wedding - this is much like the unity candle ceremony, but instead of lighting candles, the bride and groom pour vials of sand into a central container. In our case, we have an hourglass, which we just purchased from T & K Young.

Why an hourglass? Well, first - I have a thing for them. Something about the elegance, history, aesthetics, sound of sand falling - not to mention the more nerdy aspects (i.e. "time in a bottle", time travel, the Time Tuner from Harry Potter, etc...).  In a more romanic sense, it symbolizes that we are combining our God-given time here on Earth because we feel He has brought us together to further His Kingdom as a couple.

We are capable of getting both ends engraved. We are suspecting that we might engrave one side with our names and the wedding date and the other end with Jeremiah 29:11, which has been my favorite Bible verse for the majority of my life.

"For I know the Plans I have for you," Declares the Lord,

"Plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

Plans to give you hope and a future."

It was that verse that really spoke to me in the times when I was lowest. More relevantly, the times when I thought I would spend the rest of my life by myself. Wondering why I felt so unloveable, ugly, different, and unwanted. Now it reminds me that God comes through, and while I felt that way about myself, it wasn't true at all. It will stand to support us as a family, as we fully understand that the rest of our lives won't be gumdrops, rainbows, and unicorns.

The other thing is that I bought my shoes, but that's really not too big of a deal. I mean, "Wow, I have something to wear on my feet, everyone!" Bought from Bethany's Pageant/Tux/Dance Wear.

I have the sketches of my dress and the bridesmaids dresses in my possession along with a couple of swatches of the fabric/colors. However, that is something for me to know and the majority of you to find out when you see the pictures, haha.

I need to update the wedding site a bit, since I realized that I don't have a link to this blog at all. We will also be updating it with directions. Those will also be available in the invitations - which I will upload pictures of those when they are done.

My mother is in Florida right now with a friend who is sick, so we will be finishing the invitations when she gets back.

We visited the Photographer, Jen at Essenza, again the other week, which was lovely since I hadn't seen her since the beginning of this journey. I feel like she is just as excited about the wedding as I am, haha!

Speaking of which, publicity. Jen has said that she will already be blogging and sending pictures to magazines from the wedding. My steamstress, Stephanie at Vintage Modiste, has informed me that the curator of the Bridal Dress Expo at the Cincinnati Art Museum is sad she couldn't have my dress for the event (which Travis and I went to see, it was absolutely lovely and I would have been honoured to let my dress be apart of it!). My mother said she will be calling local news stations, and apparently a lady in Pennsylvania is working on getting it national attention(?). There was something else, too, I think... but I don't know. It's just kind of crazy, and I'm really honoured that so many people are interested in my wedding.

I owe a lot of the thanks to my mother, who has given me so much. This wedding really is as much for her as it is me, but I still feel that she has kept it 'my day'. Thanks, mom, you're really the best!

Only 3 months to go. For over a year now people have been telling me "it will be here before ya know it" to the point where I want to take that sentence away from humans. Maybe rocks will start saying it to me then. Creepy. Anyways, they are right. It still seems so far away... like I totally have time to lose 50lbs, haha. 

I wonder if this blog will skyrocket in views after the wedding? That will be interesting.

I should make a legitimate vlog soon... not one of those 3am things that I seem to keep doing where I look like I've just rolled out of bed, haha.

Also, Travis has been making some awesome chainmail stuff lately! Be looking for a link to wear you can buy it!