Monthly Archives: February 2009

Meagan and Ryan’s Valentine’s Day Wedding at Mirror Lake Lyceum

Dad has been looking forward to Meagan and Ryan’s wedding since their engagement session.  They were one of the nicest couples you will meet and lots of fun to hang out with!  There are couples you meet and know they are going to make it, and then there are couples you meet and know they are going to do more than just make it; they will be one of those old couples who hold wrinkly hands every where they go and gross people out by kissing even when they have no teeth left.

Meagan and Ryan’s wedding was on Valentine’s Day at Mirror Lake Lyceum.  Meagan had Darla Stafford there for hair and makeup and Flawless Occasions was the couple’s wedding planner.  Beth and Shawna were so nice to give dad some tiny pink tee-shirts as a gift for when the new baby comes.  Thanks!!  The DJ was MJ from Junction 88 Productions and dad enjoyed working with him for the first time.

Meagan’s pretty smile:

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A dozen bridesmaids (and a flower girl too!)

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When mom saw the flowers hanging on the doors, she asked dad where the “Mrs” was.  Dad looked at her funny and told her they stood for Meagan and Ryan.  Geesh mom!

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Beautiful love quotes surrounded by candles decorated the site.

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This is one of mom’s favorite pictures from the day.  Meagan is signing “I Love You” to Ryan as she walks down the aisle with tears in her eyes.  So romantic!

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As part of their ceremony, Meagan and Ryan had a box covered with images from their engagement session (Meagan made it herself!)  They each wrote each other a letter and placed it in the box along with a bottle of wine.  They promised each other they wouldn’t open it until times were really rough or until their 25th anniversary.  At that point they would sit with each other and drink a glass of the wine as they read each other’s letters.

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Showing off her new wedding ring:

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The guest book had pictures from Meagan and Ryan’s engagement session too.  Dad loves it when couples use their engagement images throughout the wedding!

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First dance:

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Dad said this wedding was just what a wedding should be, an emotional combination of tears and laughter.

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Gettin’ down:

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The newlyweds left through a sparkler send off and got on pedicab from Retro Star Pedicab.  Mom thinks it should be called a bicycle cab or pedal-cab instead of pedicab but either way it was a unique way to leave.  Meagan and Ryan made time in their itinerary for bride and groom pictures after the wedding ended.  Dad claims that it was an accident when he handed Meagan and Ryan the “We Do” letters like this…

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While they were walking around, a very drunk man approached Meagan and Ryan to congratulate them.  Stumbling and slurring, he talked about how he could not find his car and needed to find it so he could drive home.  Meagan made sure to tell the man that he should definitely not be driving!  Though this man was not a guest at the reception, mom loves that the couple had a sign on the bar at their reception asking people to be responsible and listing a couple local taxi service numbers.  We hope this guy was too far gone to find his car after all.

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It was wonderful for dad to spend Valentine’s day celebrating love.  Meagan and Ryan, you two are truly good people, and you fit so well together!  You will have a beautiful life together.

Shoes and Dresses and Cakes and More!

It has been a while since we had a blog entry just for fun so Valentine’s Day seemed like a great day to do one!  We hope everyone had a fun Valentine’s Day full of love and romance.

Mom loves looking through wedding websites and blogs to check out all the latest beautiful fashions and ideas.  We thought we’d share some of the favorites that she’s collected.

A great website for wedding ideas is Casando Ideias.  Mom doesn’t understand most of what it is saying but it has great pictures of gowns, shoes, details, and links for wedding stuff.  Two of the best pictures on the Casando Ideias blog are in a “Loving” entry. They are pictures from our own blog!  One is from Nicole and Mike’s wedding and is of Nicole’s hair done by the talented Darla Stafford.

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The other is of the vintage pink Cadillac from Katelyn and Lucas’s wedding.

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On a different “Loving” blog post mom found an awesome grooms cake that was a giant doughnut!  The original picture was taken by Brooks Weddings.

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Another unique wedding idea shared on the blog was a Save the Date personalized handkerchief made by Lucky Luxe for the wedding of photographers Alisha Clarke and Luke Walker.  It is a romantic gift to send your guests and perfect for a vintage themed wedding.  The pictures were taken by Alisha Clarke, the bride herself.  It must be so fun to work in the wedding industry and be planning your own wedding!

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Yellow and black look great together as wedding colors!  When mom saw the display with yellow candles and lemons in a blog post about table set-ups she loved it.  It would be pretty set up at cocktail hour or with lemonade before an outdoor ceremony.  The picture originally came from the D. Filipa website.

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Table settings create the look of a reception and can really dress up an entire room.  Mom originally saw the pink and green table setting by Eddie Ross on the Casaando Ideias blog but she really loved the yellow, green, and black place settings on Eddie Ross’s blog itself.

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Also on the Eddie Ross blog in a post about a “fairy tale wedding” was this cake with detailing that looked like pearls.  Mom thinks pearls are such a romantic touch for wedding accents.

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David Tutera is an incredible event planner and designer who has been on several TV shows including his own show, My Fair Wedding on WEtv.  His website has a gallery with pictures of unbelievable events.  One of mom’s favorites was the “Contemporary” wedding with white fabric draped down the aisle:

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The “Bling” wedding had bright colors and a fabulous dance floor:

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Though most people won’t be able to afford a wedding like those done by David Tutera, you can be inspired by the themes and details and scale them back to make them your own.

On Casando Ideias was a blog post about wedding gowns that “Float” with a picture of the back of a dress that mom thought was so beautiful.  The original picture was taken by Natasja Kremers.

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Mom likes looking at the bridal gown designers’ websites too.  In our blog post about Kendra’s bridal session we shared a link to Kendra’s Jim Hjelm gown.  She wore style JH8814 and looked perfect in it.

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Jim Hjelm has so many gorgeous gowns.  Mom’s favorites are the ones covered in lace.  It is part of that romantic wedding look that she loves, like the pearl accents.  Here is Jim Hjelm style JH8763:

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and very similar to that is Jim Hjelm style JH8851:

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Jim Hjelm also has a gown with a low rhinestone strap over a draping back.  It is Jim Hjelm style JH8905:

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The Paris Vogue website has a selection of Elie Saub gowns from the Spring-Summer 2009 collection that mom liked.  This one might not be a wedding gown but mom thinks it is fantastic!

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The way the material crosses and gathers is what makes this gown.

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On the Sassi Holford website is this classic gown, the Anouska.  The back of the dress is mom’s favorite part.

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Dolly Couture is a website for short, vintage inspired wedding dresses.  Mom thinks the chiffon flowers on the “Milan” are pretty for a summer wedding outdoors.

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Kate Halfpenny is a London designer and has many lacy, flowing gowns that makes mom’s heart flip.  She absolutely adores this look!

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And one more Halfpenny gown in blue that is seriously beautiful:

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Many brides talk about how hard it is to find bridesmaid dresses for their bridesmaids who are pregnant.  Mom found a pretty maternity dress for bridesmaids on the Simple Silhouettes website.  It comes in a variety of colors and fabrics.

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To complete your wedding look, you need the perfect shoes!  Freya Rose in London has some great choices.  One is the Aide Bridal, with a cute floral detail:

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The Sonrisa looks very bridal:

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Though mom has trouble walking in them, stilettos are sexy!  Badgley Mischka makes bridal shoes with a tuxedo bow on them and they are sold on the Perfect Details website.  They are even dyeable if you want to get them in a fun color to poke out of the bottom of your gown.

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Saks Fifth Avenue has a fabulous pair of Christian Louboutin satin d’Orsays.  The side bow is mom’s favorite part.  Of course, the shoes cost almost as much as some gowns but they are fun to look at!

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Luella’s Boudoir in London has lingerie, jewelry, hair accessories, and shoes for weddings.  For some bling, check out the Aruna Seth Cerise shoes which has rhinestones all the way up the heel and under the bow in the back.

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If you haven’t heard of Etsy by now, you don’t know what you are missing!  People sell handmade items and you can even have people custom make items for you.  For events like weddings or a new baby, it is a great place to get something meaningful that you can then pass down to future generations.  That is especially true if you are like mom and have no talent for making these things yourself!

The Casando Ideias blog had a post with a hand sculpted and painted cake topper made by Red Light Studio on Etsy.  They have many cake toppers with a look that is very “in” right now.

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On a blog featuring just cake toppers, Wedding Cake Toppers, mom saw these vintage choices.

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Also on that blog was a post showing a bicycle cake topper, but what mom liked was the cake itself!  It had a black tree with red leaves, which are great colors for weddings around Valentine’s Day.

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Dad said he wished him and mom got a custom cake topper made in their likeness just like those made by Lily’s Design.  They can be made to show your hobby, profession, or anything else.  The toppers look awesome!  Here is an example showing a bride and groom who sent in their pictures and wanted a Cubs theme:

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The Just Cake Toppers store has a section of exotic toppers and humorous toppers.  Mom thought it was funny that this “Sexy Rhinestone Rings” topper was in both:

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We hope all of this gave brides some ideas, or at least was fun to look at!  Now mom can finally clean out some of her saved pictures and bookmarks:).

Rachel and Chris’s Engagement Session

On Sunday dad met Rachel and Chris for an engagement session.  They chose a park in Pinellas that dad hadn’t been to before but he thought it was pretty cool with lots of variety.  It was also fun that Rachel and Chris brought their puppy, a cute yellow lab, with them for some of the pictures.  As they walked around for the session dad got to hear about Rachel and Chris’s plans for their wedding this September.  Dad was so excited when, at the end of the session, Rachel and Chris booked dad for their wedding as well!  They were a wonderful couple and he is happy to be part of their day.  Thanks Rachel and Chris!

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Our Big Ultrasound!

Tuesday was such a fun day!  Mom had an appointment for an ultrasound and we were able to find out if we were going to have another brother or a sister!  Since I am the biggest brother mom let me go with her and dad.  They put some goop on mom’s belly which I thought was sort of gross, and then on a big tv screen there were these dark shadows of a baby.  I got to see the baby’s face and hands and toes and all the baby parts!  Here is the baby waving at us (the picture is of the arm and hand):

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And the baby’s profile:

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After hearing that everything looked good and the baby was healthy, we couldn’t wait to find out if the baby was a boy or girl.  I told the ultrasound person that I was hoping for another boy and dad said that though he was going to be super happy either way he was hoping for a girl.  Mom couldn’t make up her mind because she saw lots of good things about both, but she said having a girl would be a different and fun.  The baby cooperated and we got the big news!

When we left the appointment we picked up little brother so we could spend the rest of this special day together as a family.  Mom had been holding onto a Babies R Us gift card she got for Christmas so we headed there to buy something for the baby.  Mom and dad have let me be the one to share the news with other family members and I am excited to make our announcement on the blog too!  Our Babies R Us purchase can share the news for me…

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WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A LITTLE SISTER!

Though I said I wanted another brother I am getting more and more happy about having a little girl in our family.  We are all ecstatic but mom doesn’t understand why some people think we would have only been excited about a girl.  They say that they are happy that mom and dad “finally got their girl” but mom says she loves having boys and would have been just as happy with another boy so it doesn’t seem like a “finally” type of thing.  It is going to be a wonderful new adventure though!  Thank you God for the blessing of a healthy baby girl to join our family:).

First and Last Kiss

Tiffany and Eddie have a beautiful love story.  They met when they were ten years old and were each other’s first kiss.  Life took them in different directions until a few years ago when they ran into each other again and soon fell in love.  They were each other’s first kiss and will be each other’s last kiss.  That became the theme of their wedding.

They were married on Saturday on the beach in Clearwater.  Tiffany looked beautiful in her mantilla veil carrying a bouquet of shells.  It was an emotional ceremony with both Tiffany and Eddie in tears.  Dad said that Tiffany’s mom was wonderful!  After emailing with her, it was great to meet her at the wedding.  She looked so happy for her daughter.

Thanks for having dad share in your wedding day!

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Eddie proposed right around this same spot on the beach.

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Gorgeous bustle!

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