Tuesday, April 19, 2011

pretty proofs!

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our full set of wedding proofs for a couple of weeks now- literally waking up every morning wondering if today would be the day that I'd get to see them. Well, today was finally the day!

To say that I was thrilled is a huge understatement! I've already mentioned how much fun and how stress-free it was to work with Brandon and Stacey, but the final product that they produced just reaffirmed that we made the perfect decision.

For anyone interested, you can see the photos from our special day here:
Gresham Photography
Click "Clients".
Password to our gallery is "hughey".

pride

This week I'm back on the road working in Baldwin County and staying here:





Unfortunately, I left my camera at home and cannot entertain you with pictures of our wonderful weekend in Tuscaloosa. However, lucky for me, Alabama has been in the news quite a bit over the last week, so there's no shortage on UA-related pictures in the media.

Like I said, this past weekend "the group" and I had a blast at A-Day! We hit our normal spots: the Bear Trap, the Houndstooth, El Rincon, Rounders, etc. It was a great weekend spent with great friends, and everytime I go back to visit, I'm reminded of how great those four years spent at the Capstone were. As hoped, the Tide-faithful showed up and we surpassed 92,000 fans yet again!




In addition to the spring scrimmage, a couple of other exciting things were going on around campus:


The Coach Saban statue unveiling



2010 Season Captains Greg McElroy, Mark Barron, and Dont'a Hightower left their hand and footprints at Denny Chimes (a longstanding tradition)



Also in Alabama news:


Our very own Mark Ingram was just announced as the cover boy winner for the NCAA Football '12 game!



The Bama gymnastics team won its 5th national title!


Enough school pride for one post- RTR! :)

Friday, April 15, 2011

back in time part 1

In an attempt to hit the hit points during my blogging hiatus, here's a very quick January rundown!

The new year started out full of fun by rining in 2011 at the Hats and Horns New Year's Gala.




Later in the month, we enjoyed a wonderful engagement/dinner party at Cottonwoods Lodge with some of our closest family and friends.






Additionally, Candace, Calley, and Sarah joined forces to throw us a wonderful couples shower! You can read about it HERE.


That pretty much sums up our main events in January. The rest of the month was filled with me working in Orlando, other good times with friends, and more wedding preparations.

Which brings me to the wedding recap portion of our programming...

As a result of frequent wedding blog browsing, I became a HUGE fan of custom and vintage cake toppers. I decided a year or two ago that I definitely wanted one for my wedding cake and knew that afterwards it would be a keepsake I would cherish for years to come. I searched countless sites and communicated with many sellers on Etsy. One day, I happened across Bthanari's shop and instantly fell in love. I worked with Brandi over the next month or so to create a cake topper that resembled Clint and I and mimicked my dress and veil. To say that I was please with the outcome would be a MAJOR understatement. I am so thrilled to have this beautiful cake topper as a memory of our special day and as a family conversation piece in the future.

These are the up-close shots taken by Brandi:







And here's the topper on the Big Day!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

THE dress

When it comes to getting married, we all know that it begins and ends with the dress, right?? I'm kidding. In reality, marriage is about so many more important things, but the dress is still pretty darn important. Doncha agree?

What I knew going in:
- I've known for years, literally since I can remember, that I wanted a lace dress.
- I've never been a ballroom, princess gown type of girl, so I knew that I wanted a more fitted silhouette.
- Although not entirely opposed, I wanted to try to stay away from strapless dresses.

Aside from those things, I embarked on dress shopping with a very open mind. My mom lives in Mobile, AL, so naturally that's where the dress shopping originally started. We visited a darling shop there called Something New. For any brides in the Mobile area- I loved this store and highly recommend it! I found a Priscilla of Boston gown there that I absolutely ADORED! It was gorgeous and so romantic. Although it was not lace, the shop owner convinced me to try it on because it had just arrived in the store that day. I loved it so much that I was thisclose to purchasing it! However, something was holding me back- maybe it was the fact that it was not the full lace gown that I envisioned myself in. I'm not sure what it was, but in hindsight, even though it was a gorgeous dress, I'm glad I did not jump the gun. I decided to do a little more shopping before making a final decision. After visiting Something New, Mom and I hit up quite a few more stores, but nothing really excited me or screamed "This is YOUR dress".

A few weeks later, Clint's family came to Birmingham to visit. His mom, his sister, his grandmother and I set out on another all-day dress shopping trip. We visited several stores on this trip, too, but most notably was Ivory and White. At this shop, I met Lauren, and little did I know that this would be the first of many meetings. I tried on several dresses at this boutique- all gorgeous gowns. At some point, I tried on a gown that Lauren had selected for me based on my description of what I liked. Wow. The minute I put the Liancarlo gown on, I knew it was THE dress. It was everything I had envisioned since I was a little girl and EXACTLY what I wanted. It happened to be strapless, but I was so in love with the dress that it did not matter. I sent my mom pictures and she loved it as well. The measurements were taken, the order was placed, and that was that. I officially had THE dress!


My dress was created by Liancarlo- an AMAZING designer out of Florida. Here is a sketch from his most recent collection- inspired by Natalie Portman's character in "Black Swan".




Here are a few photos of the adorable boutique Ivory & White located in Crestline Village (also HIGHLY recommended). Be sure to ask for Lauren- she rocks! :)





This photo was taken during lunch at Cheesecake Factory on the day I found my dress.




And finally, last but not least, here are my first photos taken in MY dress!




Note: My veil also came from Ivory & White. They carry a line called Mayra's Veils- absolutely gorgeous creations!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

femme fatale



If you haven't picked it up, stop what you are doing and head to the closest Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc. You must have this in your music collection NOW! Such a fun album with plenty of tracks that you can sing-along and dance to! It's quintessential Britney, and I can't stop listening!

praise

Before I get started full-steam ahead with wedding recap posts, I wanted to share a couple of wedding picture previews. Our photographers were Brandon and Stacey Gresham of Gresham Photography in Birmingham.

Hands.down.our.favorite.vendor.

Not only are they SUPER talented, but they are a dream to work with! Brandon could have a second career as a comedian, and Stacey is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful people I've had the pleasure of meeting. So without further ado, check out these blog posts featuring a few of our wedding photos!
Wedding Post 1
Wedding Post 2

who's the worst blogger in the world?

It's me! It's me!

In my defense, life has been a little hectic since my last post on New Year's Day. Most obvious was the fact that I was in the final stages of wedding planning. In addition to being time-consuming, there's also a fine line of how much you want to share about your wedding plans. If you share everything- there will be no surprises! That being said, it was just easiest for me to take a blog break. I'm happy to report that Clint and I had an absolutely perfect wedding and honeymoon, and now we are back in the real world and settling into married life. In the coming weeks, I plan to recap some wedding-related things, mostly as a way for me to remember how special the time was for Clint and me. After the wedding recap, I suppose the blog will transition into more of a scrapbook for our newlywed life.

That being said, not all of the first part of 2011 was centered around wedding hoopla! In addition to a new husband, 2011 also brought another handsome little guy into my life. Meet my "nephew" Tate Andrew Strickland (born Feb. 15, 2011):




Isn't he a cutie??