Christmas Time is Here

Since I've been slacking on the blog...

• Andrew wrapped up his first quarter of Chiropractic school today! He's on his way home and should be here around 1:00 am. I am so proud of all his hard work and amazed by his motivation to do what he's doing.
  
  
• I've been done with school for a week now and have been enjoying every moment spent at home. My dad shares my coffee addiction and always has a pot going for me. My family has a list as long as Santa's of Christmas traditions and we have slowly been working through them. It's so exciting that Andrew and I will be starting our own family Christmas traditions next year!
  
  
• I got my wedding shoes in the mail last week. My mom's two cents was that they look like Dorthy's shoes from the Wizard of Oz. I still love them.
  
  
• Tuesday I had my second and hopefully final surgery on my arm. If you didn't know, there has been a concern with a tumor I developed in my arm. God has blessed me with healing and I'm happy to move on from the situation!
  
  
• As of last night I'm finally done working for the calendar year. This week will be spent celebrating Christmas with the Peasley family and finishing up our last minute Christmas shopping/crafting!
  
  
• Remember the Reason for the Season this Christmas. Feliz Navidad!

The Beginning and End of Dress Shopping

As previously mentioned, my mom and I have had a difficult time finding a bridal shop that is still open for business in our area. Thankfully, we finally tasted success yesterday! Nevertheless, failure comes before success. We found a shop located in a quiet downtown area where very little seems to be going on. When we walked in the door we were greeted nonchalantly and were basically told it was useless being there without an appointment. Understandable under most circumstances. However, this little shop had no other customers and two people "working" (they were chatting with each other and found it an inconvenient road block in their conversation to have to deal with me). Somewhat frustrated, we decided not to waste any more time and headed to Grand Rapids.

In Grand Rapids we found a cute little boutique with superb service and selection.   I have a very refined, simple taste so about 90% of the dresses were an immediate "no". I quickly selected five dresses to try and the very first one I put on was THE ONE. I was a little freaked out to be happy that fast so I tried on the rest and even left without my dress. We thought it best to try one more shop just to be sure and to enjoy the experience a while longer. However, the entire way there I was thinking "why did I leave my dress at that shop. I'm never going to find anything else and I'll be miserable for months if it sells out." 

The third shop was also nice but every dress I tried on just wasn't right. From the overdone beading, to the fact that they weighed as much as I do, they just weren't for me. Panic set in when the realization that we had wasted an hour driving and looking at this shop and the boutique where my dress resided was going to close in 30 minutes. We frantically called them hoping they knew of a faster way to get back to the boutique. The owner insisted that it wasn't a problem for them to stay a little bit later for me and gave us detailed directions how to get back. Thrilled, we drove back to the boutique, attacked the Keurig machine, and bought my wedding dress!

I had been dreading wedding dress shopping due to the fact that I thought I would never find anything I liked within the constraints of my budget. My dress was actually UNDER my initial budget, imagine that! I'm still somewhat shocked that I bought the very first dress I tried on. It was basically love at first sight. The instant my dress was pulled off the rack, I knew I was going to love it. Obviously, I'm not going to give any hints to what it looks like since Andrew and I share this URL space. What's another 336 days when I've been waiting almost 21 years to see what my dress would look like. :)

          

We Have a Winner

It's official, we have a reception hall and a date! Our absolutely for certain wedding date is November 17, 2012! The reception is going to be held at the community church in town. It's a very nice facility and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to use it. We decided to have both the wedding and the reception in Lakeview to make traveling easier for our out of state guests. Now we can finally move forward with all the other planning.

Andrew and I had a flawless Thanksgiving weekend together! It was so nice to finally spend some time together since we've been engaged. We had a great time with both of our families and I even got him to go Black Friday shopping with me this year. Only three more weeks until Christmas break!

That's right, the wedding is just one year away! 365 days from today I will marry the man I never thought I'd be fortunate enough to find. The man that God designed with me in mind. I don't want to wish time away, but I can not wait to start our lives together!


- Anxious to drop the "future" in Mrs. Peasley

First of all I would like to Praise God.  Without him in my life there is no way I would find myself where I am today.  In one year, I will be marrying a woman who is the absolute love of my life.  She challenges me to be a better man everyday, and I want to be better.  The reason is simple; she deserves it.  I believe God is preparing us for marriage with one another in ways we don't even realize right now, but patience and perseverance are two lessons we are right in the middle of.   We are trying to be patient for the day to come in one year, and persevering through this time we are apart (as we are immersed in school).  I could not be more excited to spend the rest of my life with anyone other than Brittany.  


-Andrew

It's 11-11-11 and only 11 more days until Andrew comes home!

We got the o.k. to have our reception at the hall we've been strongly considering! Since Andrew will be back soon, we're going to wait to make any decisions until he can see it. We are super excited that this hall is an option for us.

It's 11:11, make a wish!

Wedding Shoes?

I was hoping to get my first dose of wedding dress shopping this weekend. Unfortunately, it appears that all three of the bridal shops in Mount Pleasant have closed. Bummer. On the bright side, I may have located my wedding shoes - shoes before the dress...I know, I know.

I was first drawn to these TOMS by their visually appealing texture and color. I knew I wouldn't be matching my shoes to my dress and chances are, I will have a white dress. Therefore, gold should be a safe bet. Gold is also one of my wedding colors so I'm keeping it all coordinated wonderfully. ;) After thoughtful consideration, I decided that the functional benefit of providing comfort for my feet the entire day outweighs the option of suffering in heels. Lastly, with the purchase of these shoes I will not only be providing for my wedding day "needs" (although I will definitely be wearing these again after the wedding) but I will also benefit a child who is actually in need! (For more information see: Toms One For One Movement). Needless to say, I'm sold!

Planning the Marriage Before Planning the Wedding

We are currently at a stand still with wedding planning. I'm hoping we'll find a reception hall soon so we can start knocking out some of our to-do list. Until then, I'll spend some time discussing what else is going on in our lives.

Andrew and I have always enjoyed reading relationship based books together. We started our first book after we had been dating for around a year and have tried to continue ever since. Earlier this year we began transitioning out of dating books and into premarital books, which was very exciting. We are currently working our way through Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married by Gary Chapman. Gary Chapman is a Christian premarital counselor along with being a husband. We enjoy his insight and advice dealing with common marriage issues. This book is a quick read and only deals with the nitty gritty details, which is great for a couple like us that has little time for extra-curricular reading.

So far the book has covered topics ranging from how we may have a different way of giving and receiving forgiveness, to how being in love is not an adequate foundation for building a successful marriage. Our goal is not to have everything figured out before we get married, (we know that's not possible) but to save ourselves some headaches by learning as much as we can from the experiences of others. In at least a couple of the books we have read about how couples spend so much time planning for the wedding day, that they kind of forget about planning for their marriage. Of course this sounds silly because marriage is a commitment lasting the rest of their lives, so one would think that this is where the greatest amount of preparation would be. Our goal is that when we are driving away after the wedding we are not thinking, "Holy crap we are married...now what do we do." As we continue to be apart through the course of our engagement, we find joy in knowing we are working on our marriage before it starts.

-A & B

Reception Hall Hunting

This weekend my parents, mother-in-law and I started looking at reception halls. Naturally we will have the ceremony at the church my dad pastors at in Lakeview since he will be holding the service. That was a no-brainer. Finding a reception hall, on the other hand, is quite the task when the ceremony is being held in a small town that isn't close to much of anything. We visited two reception halls, one in Lakeview and one 15 minutes outside of town. Neither of them especially caught my attention. I then began making phone call after phone call in hopes of finding more leads. Before long I came across an orchard that I instantly fell in love with. However, this cute little orchard came with one fat price tag. I was quickly reminded of my modest budget and made the difficult decision to let my orchard dream go. Fortunately, there are always more people to talk to and I've since ran across a few more options. The hunt will continue...

If you're an HGTV lover I'm sure you've seen these deco balls displayed in bowls for decoration.
I snagged some for cheap at TJ MAXX yesterday and am hoping to re-produce some of my own. They fit in well with the wedding decorations I already have and I can save them for our house later on. Double score!

The search for a reception hall will begin this Friday! Brittany will be tackling the task of sifting through reception halls until she finds the right one, and I know she will. We have been brainstorming ideas about what we picture the wedding being like; I'm glad we have over a year to work everything out! Only 393 more days, time is flying by! I'm sure the wedding will be here before we know it.

-Andrew

Adjusting to the time apart is just how I had anticipated - not fun.

Andrew and I are slowly approaching our one month date of being apart. Sadly, it feels like over double that length. The reality of the length of time we are going to be apart is becoming more and more real. I've thought through every possible option to graduate sooner and unfortunately had to accept the fact that I'm already pushing it leaving CMU one semester early. Of course I know that this is a growing process for both of us and we will survive the next year. The time apart will only strengthen our relationship with each other and with God. However, that still doesn't mean it's enjoyable. :-)

This is where procrastination lives

I'm over my head in projects and upcoming exams, but I just couldn't resist doing an engagement ring photo shoot with the gorgeous setting sun.

The Planning Begins

I know the wedding is over a year away but I figured I should take advantage of the time I have and start planning now. I've begun getting ideas and making a few small decisions.


As far as the style of our wedding goes i've been torn between a very sophisticated, classy and clean style or a more creative, organic style. I think I'm on my way to finding a good balance between the two.



I'm planning on a very neutral color palette. The colors i'm considering are Gold, Cream and Brown with a Copper accent for the decorations. These colors would keep everything very classic and elegant while still giving autumn a nod.

I found this gold basket in my parent's basement today and am very excited to put it to use as a card holder for gifts.

September 23, 2011
Justin Peasley and Lauren Carson's wedding day! It was a gorgeous wedding and Andrew and I were thrilled to be a part of it. Later that night Andrew Peasley proposed to ME and we are now happily engaged although living 800 miles apart! =)

Andrew and I set a tentative wedding date of November 17, 2012! Only 417 days away!