weddings

The boy behind the blog.

| cheriarmour

You guys every wonder who my man-friend is?

You can lie and say you don’t, but the truth is that I can see everything that you google to find my blog, and one of ya’lls nosey selves has been googling to find out what my relationship situation is.  And typically, I won’t talk about him a ton, but this is Austin, the man I’m set to marry in a few very very short months.

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A little bit on the boy behind my blog.

  • We met in grad school, when we both were working at NC State’s Department of Campus Recreation.  He was a cycling instructor, and I was a Zumba instructor.  I was dating someone else when we first met.  It didn’t work out, and I like to tell myself that Austin jumped at the chance to ask me on a date.
  • Our first date was at the Rockford in Downtown Raleigh.  On this date, I ordered a burrito without chicken and he ordered one with.  They gave me that burrito with chicken and we didn’t notice til I ate about a quarter of it.
  • Austin is stupid smart.  He’s very math-minded and analytical, and these are really really useful skills for me to learn and to have, since I’m all artsy and loosey-goosey.
  • Austin likes to eat everything in sight.  EXCEPT mayo.  If someone brings him out a sandwich with mayo, he gets really really sad.
  • Austin pretended to like the Real Housewives of Atlanta for a short time when we were first dating.
  • Austin loves the NFL to the point where we scheduled our wedding so it wouldn’t interfere with his fantasy draft.
  • I once hit Austin’s car when I was rushing off to do something and he barely go mad (probably because my car got jacked up, and not his).
  • Austin want for me to feature him on the blog for eating disgusting items off fast-food menus, and then writing about it.  He wants to start with Taco Bell breakfast I think.  He also makes a habit of trying fish sandwiches from fast food joints, and then comparing them in-depth.

And that, ladies in gents, is the boy behind the blog.

Wedding Wednesday!

| cheriarmour

I really can’t believe it’s Wednesday, and I’m kicking myself trying to figure out where the time is going.  Is anyone else feeling like the time is seriously rocketing past us?  I will be middle-aged before we know it, and you’ll be there reading, and I’ll be sitting here writing about how it is to be working out as a middle-aged interracially married woman.

That will be fun.

Anyhoo, let’s chatty chat because it’s HUMP DAY.  Woop woop!  Sike, I’m kinda done with that joke.

Okay, so where are we in this Wedding Wednesday process?

Well, for starters, the fact that I started linking up with Kristyn, who is unfortunately taking a break from blogging has really kept me accountable for some of the things that I need to get done because I don’t want to show up on a Wednesday or a Tuesday night with nothing to show you guys. It’s not cool!  Also Kristyn,  I will miss ya girl, but hopefully you’ll be around and giving a lot of commentary!

So where am I with wedding stuff?

I’m at a really really good place where I’ve actually started to get stuff done and schedule some appointments that we’ve really been needing to have.  Weddings Bands:  For starters, tomorrow, me and Austin are going to go get our wedding bands tomorrow.  I’ve shown you guys what I’m planning to get…

photo (9)Ignore the fact that my nails were not painted for once, and check out my ring(s).  I’m doing two rose gold eternity bands, and they look amazing either on their own or with my wedding band.  Austin is wanting to go with a tungsten carbide ring, which I think is impossibly sexy, and I like it a lot.  I kind of want to see what a rose gold band would look like on him too!  So the appointment for that is set tomorrow at 4pm and then we’re going to sushi.  Best. Evening. Ever.

Save-the-Dates:  A newly-married bride friend of mine told me about inkinvite.com, a service that allows people to log in, put in their addresses, and for you to be able to easily and quickly compile them into an organized space.  It’s cool because I’ve had to do minimal hounding to get people to give me their addresses because it’s so easy!  Thank God for a service like this.

And finally….

The invite list:  This has, by far, been one of the toughest parts of the planning process.  So our venue can only hold 150 people, which sounds like a lot, but it really really isn’t when you include your family, his family, and then the friends and things you might share.  I’m terrified that I’m leaving someone off, or that someone may get insulted by not receiving an invite.  I assure you, it’s (mostly) not personal with anyone, and I really want to have every single person I’ve ever seen in my life basically at my wedding, but we’re not made of money, and the venue literally can only fit 150 people.  What that boils down to, is people we care about and people who are special to us.  No more, and no less.

::Deep breath::

How’s your Wednesday going?  Any brides out there doing the same thing as I am? 

 

 

Diamonds Direct – “March” of the Brides.

| cheriarmour

I think I told you guys last weekend that I’d have to stop with these epic posts, detailing how awesome my weekend was, but I really, really can’t help it.  I have had a really beautiful set of weekends, and a beautiful new camera to photograph them on, so how can I not share them with you?

So, I’m not sure I told you guys but we got my beautiful engagement ring done by a beautiful local jeweler, when I could not find exactly what it was that I wanted at a lot of local stores, so in a large sense, I completely overlooked Diamonds Direct Crabtree.  But, I went ahead and signed up for their “March” of the Brides event on Saturday, and was picked for what ended up being a total fun, hysterical blast, and ended up being a really good way to network with other girls who were going through a lot of what I was going through.

“March” of the Brides

So after a ton of us brides in the area entered, 25 of us were selected to compete in the “March” of the Brides, which ended up being like a giant field day full of bridal themed activity with the potential of winning tons of free stuff for the big day!  Here are some of the amazing things we did that day!

DSC_0064We were greeted by breakfast, that was fully catered.  I didn’t go for anything much more than the fruit and water because my tummy was a little nervous about what we were about to do.  But not to worry, everyone was really, really super nice, and I really had nothing to worry about.

DSC_0065Funny enough, I ran into two friends (who are also getting married) there who had also gotten into the competition.  Laura, on the left, attended Elon University with me, and Kim, on the right is super fit, and teaches classes at the Y with me, and is a frequent shopper at Fleet Feet Raleigh.  Her husband is so so sweet, he carried my bags at one point when Austin was running around and taking photos for me.

DSC_0075Don’t we look positively bridely here?  That’s not a word, but I made it up.  The first even I did?  We had to fill up these champagne flutes and carry them across a finish line, kind of like a relay.  Everything was going really really well for me, until I dropped every single flute on top of myself.  Oh well!

DSC_0082Covered in water after my spill!

DSC_0089The second contest involved me dressing a mannequin fully in a tux and carrying him across the finish line.  I actually won this challenge.  And check out how good my little tush looks out in my Nike tights!

DSC_0095This one (and I absolutely adore this picture) involved us circling the differences between the two photos.  Heads up for the brides that get into the competition next year.  This one is probably the hardest one there is because our awesome photographer that organized this event is a whiz with photoshop and made the most subtle differences.  She was really sweet though!

DSC_0104The ring toss was cool, and the aim was to toss the rings into squares that would earn you the most points.  I did okay at this one, but the girl who went first beasted this event.  There’s gotta be a strategy to this…

DSC_0110Erica from a local morning show gave me a little time on the mic.

DSC_0114So I was laughing hysterically in this shot because the sweet bride from JMU threw her bouquet into the wind and it went the wrong way.  I laughed at that for literally 5 minutes.  I rocked this one, as did my friend from JMU.  I also found out that Peonies are $15/stem during their off season, so I’m gonna go ahead and let you know that we’re not going to have a single Peony at my wedding.

There was a cupcake eating contest.

DSC_0129 DSC_0130 DSC_0131 DSC_0132I approached this saying that I would not eat a cupcake because eating contests are gross and I ha to teach a Zumba class after, but my competitive spirit got the best of me and in 30 seconds, I successfully consumed 5 mini-cupcakes from the Cupcake Shoppe on Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh.  They actually were really good, and I taught my class and ran yesterday without throwing up, so I’d consider that a win.

The verdict? 

There is nothing bad I can say about “March” of the Brides.  Diamonds Direct treated ups like VIPs, and the event was well-organized, and for those of use who weren’t familiar with certain vendors, it was a really nice treat to get familiar with photography services, flower shops, and food vendors around the area.  Plus the brides were really really nice to talk to and vent our wedding frustrations to.  Sign up next year, brides-to-be!