A real life fairytale

It was finally here! The week of our wedding, the week we had been counting down to. It was torture working Monday and Tuesday, but fortunately my family made up for it by flying in Wednesday, along with one of my fantastic bridesmaids Sarah Swanson. We had some fun girl time Wednesday night (watching the "Last Song" at the theater ;)) and began the festivities Thursday morning. We started with a bridesmaids luncheon at Mimi's Cafe. LOVE this place! 

After brunch, we headed to Baldwin park to get manicures and pedicures. Mom deemed the experience "so nice it feels sinful" :) We did thoroughly enjoy the hot rock pedicures we got, all while sitting in the massage chairs. Just what we needed to relax and rest up for an eventful next two days!

Jessie, Darcy and Melanie made their way into town as us girls continued to run a few errands before heading to frostproof tomorrow (who knows what the boys were doing at this point, most likely sleeping ;)) We had a practice run with make up, and then it was time to get ready for the evening's festivities of the bachelor/bachelorette party. Anthony and Jodye had arranged for Kyle and I to basically have the same party, just reversed, ha. Us girls headed to cowboys first for some line dancing, then downtown, while the boyswent downtown then out to cowboys.

Friday morning, the girls rose bright and early (while the boys slept) and packed up all we needed to head to frostproof, to start setting up the reception site and getting ready for the rehearsal dinner. I am so blessed to have such good girlfriends who did so much work to help make this wedding amazing :) Once we got to Noah's ark, we set about our task of getting things just right. 

Once things were set up the way we wanted, we went and checked out "spook hill". Much to our dismay, we were not "spooked". After checking into our hotel, and   meeting up with the boys, parents and family, we headed over to the church for the rehearsal. The theme of the evening was a more relaxed, country feel, with the girls wearing dresses and cowboy boots, the guys in jeans. 

After running through things a few times, we were all ready to eat and head over to Leslie's for our rehearsal dinner. I was so excited to finally see how it was decorated! I had been hearing for a few weeks about how much time and effort was being put into this dinner, and couldn't wait to experience it for myself. I was not disappointed! Everything looked like an ad straight out of Southern Living, from the mason jar candle lights, to the covered picnic tables, right down to the name card place settings. Thank you so much to everyone who pitched in and made the rehearsal dinner so wonderful! And let's not forget Uncle Rick's amazing cooking! The food was delicious, with the mac 'n cheese being a bit hit :)

 Another big hit of the evening was the armadillo cake, straight out of Steel Magnolias. Red velvet cake inside, just like the movie! Rylee was enamoured with the cake, although requesting to eat the head :)

After dinner, we headed out to the corral for a bonfire and a little line dancing :) Ever since Jessie got married two years ago, and had her bridal party perform a line dance to "here for the party", it has been a staple at all wedding receptions. Our wedding was no exception, so Jessie set about to the task of teaching everyone the dance, even our flower girl Cheyenne, who eagerly learned the steps. 

We ended the night by heading back to our hotel and trying to get a good nights rest for the big day tomorrow! :)

The day started with breakfast and heading over to the Smith building to get our hair and make up done. Our photographer, Sean Wells, came bright and early to start on the photos, and asked if he could take my dress out of the bag to take some pictures...and it's a good thing he did, because it was a wrinkly mess! Tracey Brock did an amazing job of calling around to find some way to get the dress steamed. Fortunately, Tiffany, the hairstylist, actually had an aunt in town who owned a steamer, and brought it over...crisis averted :) 

It was finally time...and I think I speak for Kyle and myself when i say we had a few butterflies in our stomachs (but definitely the good kind :)) Everything was perfect, from my Dad walking me down the aisle, to Kyle looking incredibly handsome at the front of the church, the music sung by Josh, the ceremony by Danny, and promising the rest of our lives to each other in front of our family and friends. 

After the ceremony, we took our family pictures at the church. Then the wedding party headed to the nearest orange grove to take a few fun pics before going on to the reception. 

At the reception, we had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends. We ate, we danced, we cut the cake, we threw garters and boquets, and we left a married couple :)

It was the best day of our lives. :) Just the beginning...

Planning a Wedding

I had no clue how much work and time it takes to plan a wedding. And how many decisions need to be made! We picked out the weekend of April 3rd (Easter weekend) for a few reasons...1. My spring break was the following week, perfect for a honeymoon, and no need to take days off of work :) 2. April is a much more pleasant time of the year in Florida than June or July, temperature wise 3. We just didn't want to wait that long to start our new life together! :) So once the weekend was picked out, we started in on the process of picking a location, church, reception site, photographer, food, flowers, dresses, bridesmaids, groomsmen, attire, invitations, programs, transportation, honeymoon details, etc. Thankfully we had so many people helping us, which was a huge blessing. The first thing on my list, was dress shopping (obviously :)). And I'm just now realizing as I'm writing this that the dress I picked was actually the very first dress I ever tried on! ha, they say that all the time on "say yes to the dress" (i still love watching that show). The dress was a gorgeous Alvina Valenta, and despite being on major sale due to it being a floor sample, it was still out of my price range. So Jodye and I checked out a few more places and dresses ;)

(This dresses skirt was so large it took up the entire fitting room!) So maybe we had a little fun just trying on some dresses, even ones we knew I wouldn't choose :) But in the end, it all worked out, and I got the dress of my dreams (despite it being an off-white color ;))

Once the dress was picked out, we decided on a photographer. We knew Sean from a mutual friend of mine from college. We liked his work and couldn't beat his price, so we enlisted his photographic skills before someone else could. We headed downtown to shoot engagement photos. Sean was so laid back and easy going, he made posing for a hundred pictures kinda fun :)

After the engagement photos, things seemed to go pretty quickly, visiting Frostproof to visit the church, and view potential sites for the reception. We thought we had narrowed it down to the Ramon Theater in downtown Frostproof for the reception, but Leslie thought of one more place to check first, and I'm so glad she did! We visited Noah's Ark, and knew immediately that it would be perfect for our reception. 

I could go on and on about all the other details it took to plan this weekend, but really, all that matters is that God provided everything we needed to make our wedding day a day we won't soon forget... :)

An important question...

My birthday weekend is always a crazy weekend. Every year our school hosts a volleyball tournament call "The tournament of Champions". This past year (2009) the tournament started Friday night, October 23rd. Our team was seeded first in our pool, even though we had a rough start to our season. We finished the evening winning our pool, ready for a few tough matches the next morning. Saturday morning, October 24th, we started things off well again, beating two teams to get to the championship game against Bishop Moore, currently ranked #1 in the Orlando super six, and unbeaten by any Central Florida team. 

Kyle was there to cheer us on (such a sweet boyfriend :)) We had decided that since the tournament would take most of the day, we would celebrate my birthday on Sunday. Kyle had mentioned that after church Sunday, he would need to take me home first, to "get a few things ready" first...which of course got me thinking (and secretly hoping) that what he was getting ready would be some sort of engagement ring ;) While on a break at the tournament, he asked if I wanted my present tonight, instead of tomorrow (which was his way of throwing me off the trail, very clever Dawes). I said no, still secretly hoping my present was that ring. But I did mention, just on the off chance that I was right, that if he ever did ask me to marry him, he'd need to ask my Dad first, haha, making sure I covered all the bases ;)


After that break, our girls went on to beat Bishop Moore, winning our tournament and beating a very talented volleyball team! It was a great birthday present!

As planned, we went to church Sunday morning, Kyle dropped me off at home after, and went to get "whatever he needed to get ready" ready :) I took a nap, and awoke to Kyle saying I should have been ready, and we had to go! So we jumped in to the truck and headed west...when Kyle finally told me that we were going to the beach to have a sunset picnic. How romantic, i know :) All the while, i was talking myself out of a proposal, saying that no matter what happened that evening, we were going to have an awesome time together, and it was already a great birthday because I got to spend it with Kyle. 

When we got to the beach, we set up our picnic and ate a delicious dinner of chicken salad sandwiches, hummus, veggies and i think a pickle? ;) It was actually really chilly at the beach, and I was wishing I had worn a sweater, or at least a long sleeve shirt. Kyle noticed, being the chivalrous gentleman he is, and asked if I'd like to open my present. I eagerly said yes, but was secretly a little bummed when he handed me a bag to open. It was an awesome white sweater that I had wanted from J.Crew, and perfect for the moment since I was freezing! We sat together for a bit, watching the sunset, when Kyle asked if I wanted another cookie (he knows the way straight to my heart!). I said sure. He got up and handed me a cookie from the picnic basket behind him. I turned it over, and it was a cookie in the shape of a heart, that said "Will you Marry Me?" My heart stood still. I kept thinking, this better not be a joke! By the time I finally looked up from the cookie, Kyle was down on one knee, with a ring out, telling me how much he loved me and would I spend the rest of my life with him. I couldn't say yes fast enough :) 

We called our parents to share the good news, and then headed back to Kyle's to see his parents and grandparents who had just returned from a trip to North Carolina. Perfect timing! :)

How it all began...

I guess I should give a little background information first...:) I moved down to Florida 3 years ago this August. My wonderful Dad drove me down with the few belongings I had and helped me unpack them into an adorable little house with two roommates, only one of which I had briefly met before. Fortunately for me, God is an awesome provider, and Jodye, Ashley and I became fast friends. (Possibly due to our mutual love of free things :))


The following summer,(around the beginning of May 2008) I was going on my 4th trip to Nicaragua with Ignite International, to take a volleyball team and compete with their national team, as well as host a number of volleyball clinics in cities across the country. Being that it was my 4th summer in a row going there, I was finding it difficult to raise the funding I needed to get there. My wonderful roommates had the brilliant idea of throwing a cinco de mayo party, as a fun way to raise some extra money for the trip. It was at this party that it all began ;) A friend from our small group brought along two friends...who quickly became very important parts of our lives. 

And so began the start of a beautiful friendship...which for Kyle and I, turned into more than friendship :)