January has been filled with small, but many wedding planning milestones! 

• Armed with some friends & my mother, I went to another bridal fair. This time I had a better plan of action and so I gathered lots of venue information.
• We put together a rough draft guest list…it’s no where near correct but it was great to get an initial idea!
• Paul & I started looking at venues. Open houses are fantastic!!! Free dinner, desert & drinks! As well as DJ’s, photo booths, etc. And obviously it’s a great way to get a feel for how the venue will be set up for an event. Unfortunately the 1st & 2nd venue were too small (we’re estimating 125+ ppl) but the 3rd one is a potential.
• I We have settled on colors and a theme. Colors: Red, Black & White/Silver. This quote has inspired our theme: “You Are What Happened When I Wished Upon a Star!” Not only do I love the quote, but it will be a perfect way to integrate stars, which I have always loved!!!
• We’ve continued to work on our marriage counseling with the church & will have our first ‘class’ next weekend. We are right on track with everything we need to take care of. There is a lot of steps so it is nice to check a few off.
• Finally, while I haven’t really done any extensive searching, I’ve found at least one dress that I really like! I could see myself buying it because it’s incredibly flattering and has a lot of the elements I was looking for. I’m going to keep looking so that I know it’s the best before I buy anything. But it feels REALLY good to know that I have found at least one option that I love!

***Props to my bridesmaid Kat for finding this quote on Pinterest!!! It’s going to set the stage for our entire wedding :)

PS Follow me on pinterest to get a better idea of my vision & ideas thus far: http://pinterest.com/katestar86/

MY 2012 RESOLUTION IS……TO PLAN AN ENTIRE WEDDING!

And hopefully a darn good one!!! We’ve been engaged for a full 3 months now and we’ve just been enjoying engagement bliss.

So my 2012 will be consumed with everything wedding. My resolution is the plan the wedding, but not let it take over my life. To spend money on the things that matter to us, and not going into extreme debt just to impress people. At the end of the day, we want to look back at our wedding and now that we were able to celebrate our love for one another with family & friends and as long as we get to do that, that’s all that matters. Well that and that I have a pretty dress :)

So to recap…we’ve picked our church, colors & bridal party. We’ve got venues, cake testings, dress shopping, bridesmaid dress shopping, flowers, dj’s, center pieces, menu, tuxes, dieting/exercising, photographer, wedding bands, invitations, and about a million other things left to do. Good thing I have a year, right?!

2012—-may you bring creativity, organization, money & energy…because I am going to need it! And bring patience for Paul, as he’ll likely need it with me!!!

Going to try on wedding dresses for the first time this evening! I’m pretty excited because it’s really the only thing I’m looking forward to with the wedding planning (besides the whole, marrying the guy of my dreams/best friend part). The dress matters big time to me….all the photos and memories will be tied to what I’m wearing so it’s a very big deal.

Helping me decide will be some very important women in my life. Including my mother, sister and a few good gal pals. So the question will be…if, who and when the first person to tear up will be? Me? Mom? Sis? Friends? No one? I’ll have a full report later this week.

It’s bound to be exactly like Say Yes to the Dress at Kleinfields….right?!

And they fell in love! And he surprised her with a midnight proposal on her 25th birthday! And they lived happily ever after :)

Here’s the story of my Friday night last week (forgive my tardiness on my last smile Friday post).

9/30/11: I worked during the day and snuck off of work around 4 to meet my roommate Jenny to get our nails done. I debated and debated on what color to get but finally settled on a bright coral orange. It was wonderful to sit and relax with her and get pampered! The nails took a little longer than I thought so I scurried over to Paul’s house so we could leave for dinner.

We headed to my sister’s house where she put together an amazing party! We had appetizers and drinks and then ate dinner. My Dad made lasagna (my request) and Shelley made garlic bread and valeri salad (family recipe).

Then I got to open a huge stack of presents. Two friends were able to come and meet up too so that was awesome! I got so many cards and gift cards from my and Paul’s family, totally unexpected! My parents gave me a waffle maker & crock pot. My Mom was amazing and put together a ‘cook book’ of my favorite of her recipes. She put amazing touches in it too. One of my favorites-enchiladas:

Follow directions on package (McCormicks/Fry’s) for making enchiladas. Call Mom & invite her over for dinner. I’ll make the nachos. :)

She also included the recipes for each of our birthday cakes. The ingredients for my birthday cake include:

1 Big dose of Hugs & Kisses & Love from Mom

There are so many yummy recipes including several for my crock pot that I can’t wait to cook myself! Shelley gave me a pillow to match the quilt she made for me several years ago and Bridesmaids DVD! My friend Theresa gave me a huge crock pot cook book which I can’t believe there are that many things you can cook in a crock pot! And my grandparents gave me Nebraska Cornhusker magnets to put on my new car (btw, I named him Herbie, for Herbie Husker). 

The card I got from Paul was extremely beautiful!

Someday, years from now, when we’ve been together a long, long time, we’ll know each other so well- You’ll finish my sentences, and I’ll know where you left your glasses. You’ll forgive my bad habits, and I’ll ignore your little quirks. And just when our life seems safe and predictable, you’ll surprise me, for there will always be a part of you that remains a wonderful mystery to me.

Someday, years from now, other people might look at us and see an old married couple, but I won’t. Every time I look at you or touch you or kiss you, I’ll see the same amazing person I fell in love with long ago.

After presents they put candles on my cake and I made my wishes (I figured I could have more than one since I’m 25 now!) Everyone said their goodbyes around 11:15 and my two friends, Paul & I stayed around chatting with my sister. By 11:30 she was tired & ready to go to bed, but Paul said “Oh it’s almost your birthday, lets just stay here till it’s your bday!” But around 11:45 we decided to go. We took the presents outside and were standing on the sidewalk. I was supposed to drive with Kat because she didn’t know how to get back. But Paul was persistent about waiting until it was officially my birthday, so that’s what we did. He counted down, 12 minutes, 9 minutes, 6 minutes, 3, 2….and about one minute till he asked if I wanted my birthday gift now. Of COURSE I said yes! He walked towards the drivers door and I eagerly followed. With excitement I closed my eyes & put out my hands but when he didn’t put anything in them I opened my eyes.

Paul had a big smile on his face…and a small box in his hand. Before I knew it, he spoke:

“Happy Birthday Katie. I wanted to make this a day you will never forget. So I want to know, will you marry me?”

I said “YES” and wrapped my arms around him. I’m sure there were several OMG’s thrown in there too. The ring was gorgeous and I put in on my finger as soon as I could.

(You can see the tears of joy in my eyes)

My friends stood in shock on the sidewalk and I ran up to show them the ring. It was seriously SO pretty!  Paul told me that my old roommate Ann helped him pick it out. I couldn’t believe it! He said she’s actually seen it which confused me because she lives in Chicago now. But then he told me he picked it out with her FOUR MONTHS AGO! Haha I don’t know how he or she kept it a secret that long! I was also really excited that I had my nails done, Ann would be so proud! Later found out she had tipped Jenny off and told her to take me to get them done…sneaky girl! But so glad she did because don’t my nails look great with the amazing rock on my finger?!

(Can you tell how excited I was? I couldn’t even keep my hand still for a good photograph).

After I settled down some, I knew that I needed to go wake my sister up! I had to fib to her and tell her I thought I left my phone so she needed to come answer the door. She let us in and I showed her my hand…it took her a minute to realize what it was! haha. We sat around and chatted excitingly. Turns out Paul had asked for my parents permission when we were in Omaha and they took him to the airport. It had thrown them off but they both said yes. They knew he would propose over my birthday but wasn’t sure when. We called them on the way home and they were very excite and happy for us!

The rest of my birthday was a whirlwind of phone calls, facebook messages and texts from loved ones. Everyone wishing me a happy birthday and an even bigger congratulations! We had a tailgate at the ASU football game (WE WON), just like I had done during my first college birthday and then went to mill after. We went to the Big Bang and they sang Happy Birthday and brought Paul up on the stage. It was a wonderful way to cap off my 25th birthday!!!!

To my fiance Paul…..congratulations! You accomplished your goal, as this was a birthday and a moment I will NEVER forget! Thank you for making it so special for me. I love you the most!!!