The Suttons are having a baby!!

Theme

2009-05-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

The wedding theme came together beautifully. I was very pleased. I think it was ovious without being tacky and cheap. I think I was able to maintain the sort of elegance that a wedding deserves. I tried to pay attention to the details and I think that is what truly payed of in the end.

The teapots on the tables worked beautifully

A girl at work even painted on for me as a wedding present

( AMAZING!)

My friend Mark also came through with hookas just like the catepillar. He even lit them up for us later in the night.

The favors evolved some after the initial idea but I think we ended up with something even better. They were all personalized with the guest names. I used the same general idea that I mentioned in a previous post with the dominoes and magnets I just changed the look. instead of the classic Alice in Wonderland Pictures I made them look like playing cards.

They were all Hearts cause it was a wedding after all. (and the queen of hearts! it all works)

They were laid out on a card table that I borrowed from my grandmother. It was a bout 3 weeks before the wedding when I was trying to figure out the logistics of the favors when I realized I had a card table cover of my Grandmothers (my fathers mother) that was PERFECT!

The cake.....Oh my goodness the cake!! We had a cupcake tower. When we met with the baker we told her about the theme and I told her I wanted some of the cupcakes the say "Eat Me" (just not make anyone grow or shrink) and the rest to have flowers on them (we wanted it to be pretty and not just a tower of bossy cupcakes) Well she delieverd just as we asked on the cupcakes. Then we told her we wanted a little 6 inch cake on top so we could have something to freeze for the first anniversary. We told her that we didn't really care how she decorated it. We had seen her work, we trusted her to do something pretty. Well she took the theme and ran with it and we were BLOWN AWAY with what we got!!!!

I also made wine markers and read "Drink Me" to identify drinks as people got up and dance but also to help bring home the theme. And I also tied tags around the programs that said "Read me".

All in all I'm super pleased with how it turned out. It was the exactly as I had imagined it, maybe even better.

But more important than anything I have commited myself to the love of my life. My wonderful Husband!

Married!

2009-05-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Yay the wedding is over and We are Newlyweds. The wedding was everything I could have hoped for and more. The year of planning and prepping and crafting paid off in leaps and bounds. Not to mention I married my best friend. Life could not be sweeter.

I thought I'd be sad that it's all over, but I'm not. It was wonderful but it's nice to have my brain back to focus on the day to day stuff. It's like I woke up from a fog. All of my creative energy is not being directed to one task so I can spread it through out my life. (of course this means more projects around the house much to Chris's dismay)

Here is a slideshow of some pictures from the wedding put together by our fabulous photographer.

Invitations

2009-03-03T20:49:00.000-08:00

I have to brag for a second.

Our invitations and RSVP cards were specially designed just for us. We even have our own logo

One of my co-workers husbands is a graphic designer and for the last year I have been giving him free massages in exchange for this design work and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out!

He is quite accomplished and very talented. www.thedara.com

He has done design work for several bands including Paramore and Panic At The Disco. (A shirt he Designed for Paramore is currently being sold in HotTopics everywhere)

Go to his site and check out somemore of his stuff.

2 MONTHS!

2009-03-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

It is so close! I can't believe that we are in the home stretch. Keeping up with a blog and planning a wedding at the same time are not easy things.

The invitations have gone out. We've already gotten a decent amount of RSVP's back. We are getting a little nervous about space issues. We invited a few more people than we mean to acctually have there. I know a LOT of people you invite don't come but so far everyone is coming to ours and a few people are bringing people we didn't invite, dates mostly. Now I'm for a good party the more the merrier I say but at the same time this is costing lots of money. My mother has always strictly adhered to the "if your name isn't on the invitation you aren't invited" rule of edict. As I learned through my friend Mark's wedding and am learning again now...most people either don't know that rule or choose to ignore it. I'm afraid this may lead to a few uncomfortable phone calls in the coming weeks. But for now I will just believe it will all work out in the end!

The honeymoon is booked. We found a great deal on a cruise to the Bahamas. 4 days 5 nights with stops in Coco Cay Bahamas and Nassau. We are leaving from Port Canaveral and we are flying down a day early and staying an extra day on the other end mainly so we don't have to stress about making flights or missing the ship, but it also means we get to play in Orlando. We are thinking we will do Sea World one day.

We have had two showers already and they were both very different and perfect in their own right. We have the last shower the Sunday with Chris's family and friends.

The Bachlorette party is in the works. I don't know if I know everything thats planned or not but I do know it will be a BLAST!

Other than that my mind never stops making lists and stressing over possible disasters and oversights... I don't see that stopping till April 26th

check out our wedding website www.chrisandcarrie.org

Slight frustration and good advice

2009-01-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

So I had a stressed out panic yesterday. My spa had booth at the Bridal Show yesterday and as I stood there and looked around at all of the brides and wedding stuff I just kept thinking about things I need to do and how we were exactly 3 months away.

So as soon as I got home, even though I was exhausted and had a killer headache, I decided I had to get some stuff done. I started to work on the wedding favors/place cards. If you look at an earlier blog post I put up pictures of an early version of the magnets. Well the plan has changed slightly. Now they all look like playing cards and will have inviduals names on them and double as place cards. I had not figured out the best way to execute this and decided that last night was going to be the night I figured it out. I took pictures of different versions I had worked on and sent them to my mom. She helped a little but more than that gave me good advice she said "It doesn't sound like you're having fun anymore" I said that I wasn't I was stressed and had been looking at them too long so I couldn't make a decision. She told me to stop and pick it up in the morning. I maintained that I had to get it done and so she told me to enlist the help of my Matron of Honor. I sent her the pics and she gave me her opinion and helped talk me through the other desicions that needed to be made.

As soon as I get a few made I will post some pics.

Now on to finding shoes for my bridesmaids. That is the next task that is causing me stress but already Dryden and Megan and Carmen have stepped up to help look for something.

I'm waiting to hear from my designer for a proof on the invitations. If I don't hear anything this week then that will be the stress I freak out over next.

Next up Showers....

Crunch time!

2009-01-23T18:33:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything. The holidays happened and well life happened. Now we are in wedding planning a prep full tilt. Things seem to be trucking right along but I am very good at deluting myself. We've crossed off a lot of things this week...

We purchased my wedding band. It's a simple white gold band that tucks right up next to my engagement ring. We bought it at Wright's Jewelers. They are the ones who did an amazing job fixing my engagement ring so we have stayed loyal.

We ordered the gifts for our bridesmaids and groomsmen. We got a great price on those and once they get here we just have a few minor finishing touches to add.

We have met with the Gordon Lee Mansion to finalize the menu and various details. The ceremony will take place on the front steps of the house and the reception will follow in the formal garden. The menu consists of heavy hourderves and is as follows:

Sliced Roast Beef with assorted breads and cheeses
Mushroom caps stuffed with a crab stuffing and a swiss cheese and wine stuffing
Fresh fruit array
Finger sandwiches: chicken salad sandwiches and Cucumber Sandwiches
BBQ chicken Drummettes
Mini Quiches
Vegetables and dip

Drinks will include a mock champagne punch, sweet and unsweet tea, water, beer, and wine. We will have real champagne for toasts.

More to come over the next few days...

Engagement Pictures

2008-10-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

Chris and I go to have our engagement pictures taken on Wednesday. I've gotta say I'm really nervous about it. I don't pose for pictures well I get uncomfortable and silly and laugh a lot. Not to mention I have NO idea what to wear. a dress? dark blue jeans and cute top? a cute top and a skirt? What should Chris wear? jeans and a polo? kahakis and a button up? AHHH!! I have to stop over thinking these things.

Save the dates!

2008-09-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

My wonderful friend and Matron of Honor Lindsey Evans Rivers has designed my Save the Dates for me.

They are so cute. I'm having them printed now and can;t wait to send them to a select few of my guests.

Centerpieces

2008-09-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

I've started collecting teapots to use as centerpieces for the reception. I found these at my favortie antique mall The Sugar Plum.

Only 10 more to go. I'm also looking for tea cups to turn into candles.

The Cake!

2008-07-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

We have chosen a cake designer/baker.

I just got back from family reunion and I have a cousin who makes wedding cakes. She is amazingly talented. Not only are her creations stunning but they taste AMAZING!

We discussed what I had in mind. I am thinking that I want a small 2 tier cake for ceremony puposes. It will give Chris and I something to cut and feed each other and a tier to freeze and save. Then it will be a tower or petit fours. I love petit fours, they are tasty and te perfect size portion. The petit fours will read "eat me" to keep in with the Alice theme. She suggested yellow cake with rasberry filling and that sounds amazing!!

If you'd like to see some of her cakes you can go here!

The grooms cake is still be decided
Some ideas we've talked about are:

a cake that looks like a putting green
a bunch of pecan pies
a bunch of different pies
a stack of krispy kremes
a stack of twinkies

we shall see!

Antiques fall apart...

2008-07-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

So my engagement ring has held up for 85 years. I get it for 4 months and lose a diamond! I was on my way home from work and noticed a hole in my ring. I looked in my purse which is where I kept it, I turned around and went back to work where I found Natalie was tirelessly looking for it. I crawled around on my hands and knees looking for it. So far no luck and I'm not holding my breath. Lyuckily I dont think it will be too expensive to replace. I'm not wearing it till I get it fixed. I couldn't bear to lose another one. So in it's place to symbolically maintain my engagement it has been replaced with a fake one.

Hey if I gotta go fake for a bit I might as well go for the bling

Wedding Crafts

2008-06-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

I have begun my crafts for the wedding.

I have always wanted my reception to have an "Alice In Wonderland" theme. I've talked about it since high school so it was not inspired by Ashley Simpson. In fact I'm pretty sure she got the idea from me.

The theme goes perfectly with the location since we are having a garden wedding.

The first craft was the wine markers. I wanted tags on the wine glasses that read "drink me" I've decided it only makes sense to use them as wine markers. Guests can write their names on one side of the tags so they don't lose their drinks.

The next craft I've been working on has been the favors. I wanted something practical that I could pull of fairly inexpensively. so I made magnets.

I took classic Alice in Wonderland images and modgepodged them to dominoes and attached magnet strips to the backs. I wrote the wedding date in the extra space on the dominoes.

The photographer

2008-06-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

We have found and booked the photographer!

I must say I think we got an AMAZING deal!

You can look at some of his work here.

His name is Jamie Jones and his company is August Exposures.

Chris and I have decided to go with the Traditional Wedding package which includes:

Full day coverage of the wedding and events by two photographers (there is a chance he will have hired a third photographer by our wedding which we will get to use at no extra cost)
An engagement session which includes 10 5x7 prints from the session
A bridal session including $150 worth of prints from session
A traditional wedding ablucm with 24 pages of prints
a dvd slideshow of our wedding day photos

all for $1650!

The Wedding

2008-06-26T20:41:00.001-07:00

We have set the DATE!! We will be getting married at 5:30 pm on April 25th, 2009.

We will be having an outdoor ceremony and reception at The Gordon Lee Mansion in Chickamagua GA.

I've included some pictures of other weddings there. If you want to look at some more pictures you can go here.

Here's a little history on the mansion:

The Mansion is the only structure left standing that was used during the great Battle of Chickamauga. It was built in 1847 by Mr. James Gordon, who purchased 2500 acres, in 1836, from settlers who had won it in the Cherokee Land lottery . Approximately 800 feet from the house is Crawfish Springs, which had served the Cherokee Nation as one of its division courthouses. In February of 1863, Mr. James Lee (the son-in-law of James Gordon) owned the house when it served the Union Army of the Cumberland's General William Rosecrans as his headquarters prior to the Battle of Chickamauga (September 16 - 19, 1863) and the site of seven division hospitals during (September 19 & 20, 1863) the Battle. It also served the Confederate Army as a hospital (September 20 - 30, 1863) after the Battle. A cannon battle took place on its grounds. In 1889 the Mansion's grounds became the birthplace of the oldest and largest Civil War Battlefield in the United States.

The Engagement

2008-06-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

Chris proposed to me on my 27th birthday. We were in the living room getting ready to head out to my birthday dinner. Chris asked me if I wanted my present before we headed out and I said sure. Out of his pocket he pulled a little red heart shaped box. He said it was just another ring that he thought I'd like (refering to the one he gave me for valentines day). I opened it and inside was my great grandmothers engagement ring. I squeled as he took the ring out of the box and said "and I was wondering if you would marry me?" he slide the ring onto my finger as I said "yes of course!" We hugged and cried.

We went to his parents house to tell them first since they lived on the way to the resturant. They were thrilled and welcomed me to the family.

we stopped by my parents house on the way home from the resturant and of course I called mom to make sure they were awake and she asked "do you have some big news for us!?" Cause lets face it Gina knows all. They were thrilled as well and welcomed Chris to the family.

The ring belonged to my Great Grandmother Carrie Bond. She left it to me and I have always wanted it as my own engagement ring. It has 6 small diamonds surrounding another small diamond in the center. The setting is intricate filagrie. The ring is about 85 years old. Chris had to have it sized and the jewler wanted to buy it off of him.

Our Story

2008-06-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

It's funny. Our relationship feels like it deserves so grand fairytale story. "We saw each other across the smoke filled room and our eyes locked..." or "We were in Starbucks and he picked up the change I had dropped and when his hand lightly brushed mine..."

But that isn't our story. Our story is of the times. Our story is about two shy people who didn't know how to meet people in the real world.

We met each other online. It's cheesy and uncomfortable. We've gotten use to telling people that when they ask how we met. But we don't ever offer up that information on our own. When we do tell people how we met they never know how to react. They are shocked and disappointed. They don't want to know "that couple" any more than we want to be "that couple". Everyone then realizes that their faces reflect their thoughts and they are quick to express how open minded and accepting they are of it.

No matter what I'm thankful we have a story. It is a fairytale love. We laugh constantly. I'm completely myself around him. I don't edit any of my thoughts (which is scary) I don't fight any urges to sing or dance around spastically to the music that is only in my head. I play make believe and slip in and out of reality. And he simpley joins in with me. I'm a very social person but I have the most fun when it is only Chris and me.

It didn't take long for us both to realize that we had found our lobsters. Even now we have only been together for a little over 7 months and we've been engaged for 3 of those. It has moved fast and I didn't think that I would ever be part of such a fast paced relationship but it feels right.

We are both a bit older and I hope that translates into a bit wiser. He is 30 and I am 27. But our engagment will be a long one so maybe that balances out.

I know that he is the one for me. We are annoyingly happy. Happier than we ever thought was possible.