Will You Be My...

We officially have a bridal party, y'all! We are so happy to introduce to everyone our ladies in waiting:

Natali as our Maid of Honor

AND

Savannah and Nicole as our Bridesmaids

Read more about the ladies here!

This past Christmas, these ladies were given a couple special gifts from Judy. As an early Christmas present, each lady received a chunky envelope which sat on top a larger package. The chunky envelope had asked to be opened first:

Inside the envelope, was a sparkly, jingly Christmas tree ornament with their initial on the front. On the other side of the ornament, the beginning of the question had been asked:

Next, the ladies were to open the larger package. Inside were cookies iced with question marks which laid atop a glass plate. (Each lady received a different patterned plate that Judy felt would be suitable to their respective tastes.) The ladies would then remove the cookies, revealing the surprise ending to the ornament's question:

Fortunately, they all said "Yes!" Be sure to check back later to specifically find out how Judy popped the question, step-by-step. In the meantime, get to know our bridal party!

Gettin' Crafty!

While Aaron has been away on a field trip (to the Bahamas, that jerk!), Judy has designated our dining room as crafts central. Welcome home, honey! ;)

What's she making? Well, we want to keep that a surprise... For now! Check back in a couple weeks for the reveal and comprehensive DIY steps. Get excited, y'all!

International Love! ♫ ♪

Know that song "International Love?" Well, get acquainted for we are planning not just one, but TWO overseas trips to celebrate our union! You read that right, folks. We are planning on visiting Norway, along with Indonesia! This can probably go out without saying, but Judy's fresh-off-the-boat parents are definitely elated that their daughter is able celebrate her marriage in their respected countries.

Instead of celebrating New Year's Eve in Norway for our honeymoon as originally planned, we may travel during the summer. We are planning to have a big engagement party with her Norwegian family and friends whom she hasn't seen in ages. Bali will actually replace Norway as the destination for our honeymoon. Not only will be able to celebrate married life surrounded in paradise, but Judy will finally see her Indonesian family, whom she hasn't seen since she was a tiny little nugget!

(Yes, our actual wedding is still going to happen in Houston next year. And please, do not forget to wear your party pants...)

We'd also like to give a big shout out to our great friend Stacy on landing a j-o-b! She has been a friend of ours ever since she and Judy became best friends while studying abroad in Spain. (Can this post get any more international or what?!?!) You can read all about her latest chapter in life here!

She Got it From Her Mama!

If you've ever met Judy's mom, you know she's quite the fire cracker. Something you might not know is that she is also a contract florist in Houston, and of course, she'll be doing our flowers for the wedding. We are truly lucky!

She doesn't just stop there though. Below is a picture of Judy's mom showcasing a fascinator she recently made for fun. Looks like we know who'll be custom making Judy's fascinator!

Time to Create the Save-the-Dates!

Aaron is purchasing the whole Adobe Creative Suite (mostly for his poster presentations and partially for Judy's nerd life), and once Judy gets her mitts on Adobe InDesign, she'll be able to finally create our Save-the-Dates. Just in time for our trip to Houston this Thanksgiving, where we'll print them from her parent's fancy printer. Being a bride on a budget is easy when you have the resources!

Judy's been browsing the interwebs for some unique ideas to incorporate into our Save-the-Dates. We wanted to be sure not to use something too common, since our wedding won't be. Don't get us wrong . . . we're going to have a standard wedding, but it will just be more of a party for our friends. Nothing too stuffy! And we definitely wanted to exhibit that in the Save-the-Dates, invitations, and what not.

Another thing we have to keep in mind is hoping you like them. After all, you're the ones that have to look at 'em!


PS: TODAY IS OUR FOUR-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

To-Do's Before the I-Do's!

Judy's good friend Mindy shared this gem with her today. It's a nice general timeline for any bride-to-be. Easy on the eyes and well-organized, too. According to this, we're actually on par with our planning process. Guess that's a perk of having a wedding date so far away! We definitely have loads of planning left to do, but this guy is making things seem a little less daunting:

If you have some free time, you should definitely browse through Mindy's blog! Lots of good stuff in there - creativity in the advertising world, quirky images she finds from her tumblr, and plenty of cool stuff in general.

Fresh New Layout!

Judy's creativity juices have been overflowing lately, and she has used some of that to update the look of our blog. If only she could use that zeal toward some wedding planning! So much left to plan, but we think the pieces will start fitting together whenever we officially decide which venue to use. Once that's settled, we can actually begin to tackle the other aspects of the wedding planning. Of course, we won't be able to shop around for venues until we are back in Houston for Thanksgiving break. Until then, we can use this time worrying about that darn guest list.

The Engagement Photos!

In our previous post, we mentioned we would use the travel time to the photo shoot as a reflection period. Now that we have our little list of wedding ambitions, we can tailor our wedding-planning to ensure we have a great time at our own wedding. Lots of good shtuff on that list, but we'll keep it to ourselves. ;)

The photo shoot location was stunning. Who knew West Texas had such a landscape? We definitely need to return, and maybe spend a night at one of the camp sites. As for the engagement photos, we could not be any happier with how they turned out. Much thanks to our amazing photographer, Amanda!