Drop a note!

Hello everyone!

The actual wedding ceremony is months in the past, but I notice that this blog is still getting visitors, and a lot of our visitors seem to be from outside of the United States!

So if you are visiting this blog, I invite you to either sign the guest book and/or leave a comment here and let us know who you are, where you're visiting from, and how you found our blog!

Thanks!

John and Tamara

The Big Event

Now that Tamara and I are married, and our joyous celebration has passed, this will most likely be the final blog entry here. But I did want to post one final entry just to sum up what a great time it was.

For me, I kept thinking it was one great extended weekend, even though things really began on Wednesday with the Bachelor Party, continued on Thursday at the Rehearsal Dinner, then of course the wedding on Friday, and a party for in-town guests on Saturday.

Several of my groomsmen and ushers were old high school buddies, and it was just so incredibly wonderful to have them around for those 4 days. We hung out, we joked, we told stories, we had a blast. I'm so glad that we have remained close through the years, and I wish we could hang out like that more frequently.

Several close college friends were around for some or all of the festivities as well, and catching up with them was awesome. They made our special day even more special.

It meant a lot to me to have a very large contingent of present and former colleagues from my school at the wedding on Friday, and Tamara had a rather large group as well. These are our local friends, and they are the people we love to hang out with on a regular basis.

The Big Day was just a teensy bit stressful. The wedding was scheduled for 6:00, and around 4:00, it started raining pretty heavily in Arlington. This rain only got heavier, and it, combined with accidents on seemingly every major highway in the metroplex, made a LOT of our guests arrive late. Fortunately, ironically, surprisingly, annoyingly, luckily (whichever word you choose to apply) -- the priest somehow thought the wedding was at 7:30, and did not show up on time. As a result, nearly everyone WAS present before the ceremony began.

The reception afterwards was incredible. The food was great, our dj was awesome, the cakes looked and tasted beautiful, and we had a fantastic time. My only complaint was that we didn't get to dance to every song we had given to the dj, because we were too busy greeting and talking to guests! (Especially House of Pain's Jump Around. When I heard that come on, I almost gave myself an aneurysm, mentally WANTING to go dance, but rationally KNOWING that I had to stay and continue the conversation.) There were a few people I would have liked to dance with, but hey, them's the duties of the bride and groom.

We exited the reception hall to an archway of sparklers, fitting on the 4th of July weekend, and we hopped aboard a horse and carriage, which thankfully had not been exposed to Beefarino. I was expecting the guy to take us right across the street to the hotel, but instead, he took us on a 20 minute leisurely tour of downtown Ft. Worth. The rain had stopped, there was a little bit of a breeze, and the people out walking around the stores and bars called out "Congratulations!" as we passed. It was pretty darn cool.

And now we're married! Aside from the rings on our fingers, nothing physical has changed, so it's still a bit surreal. But it definitely feels warm and fuzzy inside, so we've got that going for us.

We leave soon for the honeymoon!

Didn't make the cut

After our meeting with the DJ the other night, there were a few songs that unfortunately got left on the cutting room floor.

Here are a few songs that you should enjoy now because they (sadly, in some cases) will NOT be featured at the shindig.




While this song would seem to embody one of our lives, it doesn't really lend itself to slow OR fast dancing (Donny Osmond's efforts to the contrary).



First, most of the lyrics are unintelligible. Second, the few lyrics you CAN understand are "Licky boom boom down."




This song would seem to fit our "Love" themed sit-down dinner. However, we don't want people vomiting said dinner all over themselves. Thus, Barney gots ta go.



A holiday classic. That holiday just isn't the 4th of July, so we shelved it. Had our wedding been in December or January, though...




This song is just plain stupid.




See "White and Nerdy."



While this song would no doubt have everyone up and dancing and shouting the answer every time RP Jr calls out the classic question, we just didn't want to scare anyone who might think there are actual ghosts in the Depot.



Why did this one get cut? I got nothing.

Dog days of summer

Here we are, less than a month til the wedding, and summer vacation has begun! John is fully moved out of his house and into the condo, the wedding plans are almost fully set (though we are still waiting for the rings to come in), and early gift packages have been arriving nearly every day!

Tonight we are meeting with the DJ to finalize a few things.

Any suggestions for dance songs?

Just point and shoot

We just got back from registering at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and that was a lot of fun. Tamara had already registered us at Macy's and Williams-Sonoma earlier, but she had done it all online. Today, we went out and walked around the store while we picked out things for our wish list.

John of course insisted on holding the scanning device (or as he calls it, the "magic gun").

Now that the invitations have gone out, our registries should be just about in proper order. We are registered at Bed, Bath, and Beyond; Macy's; and Williams-Sonoma.

It's only a shame that we can't register at the Macaroni Grill...

A school shower

The good folks at John's school threw us a shower yesterday after the kids had gone home. There was a lovely cake, snacks, and punch, along with several of John's co-workers.

They gave us some truly lovely gifts -- a crystal serving platter, some candles, a wall sconce -- and plenty of gift cards. Gift cards are always great because they can be used on various items, AND they don't take up any space, which is especially valuable now that we're going to be sharing Tamara's condo for a while until we can find a new house.

Thank you to everyone who so thoughtfully contributed to our shower!

Engagement Photos

This afternoon, we spent some time and had some professional photographs taken. A lot of time and effort went into the planning, the staging, the costuming, and the locations. Here is a sampling:

Actually, we are joking -- we took these ourselves (could you tell?). The true engagement photos looked pretty amazing, but they are not available yet. Jess Graham was a joy to work with, and we can't wait to see the pics. She took over 500!! Thankfully, she is going to narrow down the available options, or we might want to order them all!

UPDATE!

A sampling of the engagement pictures are up and viewable at Jess's blog. They look great (in our very unbiased opinion).

2 Month Update!

We are at the 2 month mark and we are so excited. I had my 2ND dress fitting today and was very excited to see it was perfect and will be ready for pick up this week. My 2ND mom, Marsha will be keeping the dress nice and safe for me till the big day. I was also surprised, but happy to find out that I have lost an inch in all areas of measurements. Surprised, since I have done nothing different with my eating habits or workout(I don't do it). The only thing I can credit this to is my new Shape Up Sketchers!
John and I are still looking for houses since he will be closing on his the end of the month. We are still not sure what we want or where exactly we want to live, but we will get there!
Sunday we are taking our engagement pictures. We are going to start out at Fountain Place, where we got engaged, then to wherever the photographer takes us.
The following Sunday I will be taking my bridal portrait. My mom and hairdresser, Delia will be coming up for the day to get me all ready.
We have May 21st off from school, so I am taking a trip to NYC to see my friend Trent and Collin who will be doing my make-up for the wedding. We always have so much fun together, and many laughs will be shared.
By the end of the month we will be packed up and moved out of John's house and probably into a storage unit until we find our house!
Well, that's what May holds for us. I'm sure it is going to fly by!

Worst Case Scenario

Today, the kids I was watching during the TAKS test were done pretty quickly, so I found myself with some time on my hands. I decided to start reading a book that my friend Stacy sent me as a birthday present back in February. This book is called The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Weddings.

I only wish I had started to read this back in December, before Tamara's mom offered to pay for the wedding, because this book starts with some very handy tips for raising money for the wedding, including:

--Holding a raffle, giving guests a chance to ride in the limo to the reception or even to join the honeymoon.

--Speculating which items from the registry would be bought as gifts, and selling them in advance on ebay.

--Procuring sponsors -- This dance is brought to you by Elliot's Hardware! Now it's time for the vows, presented by Domino's Pizza!

--Selling naming rights for first children, preferred seating at the reception, and/or dances with the bride and groom.

I also know now not to worry if any of these situations occurs:

--The DJ's equipment breaks down -- we can always get a few wedding guests to become a jug band.

--Someone starts to give a bad toast -- I'll just act drunk and call the person "Uncle Morty" as I grab the mic from them.

--Excessive flatulence -- in that case, I'll just do what I always do. Blame my brother.

So worry not, folks! No matter what happens on July 2nd, we will survive!

Thanks, Stacy, for the great gift.

Food, glorious food!

Friday night was the big food tasting at the Ashton Depot, where the magic is going to happen on July 2nd.

So at the very least, we can now say that, no matter what else might happen that evening -- family drama, cold feet, poor dancing, electrical blackouts, hail of locusts -- no matter what, we will be eating GOOOOOOOOD in the neighborhood.

We were presented with several different menu items -- appetizers, salads, entrees, and hors' d' ouevres. All of which were awesome, but we had to narrow the selection down. It was hard to choose, but we ultimately accomplished our goal, and had fun getting stuffed while doing it.

To all of you who are coming to the wedding, just be prepared to do a LOT of dancing, because you'll need to, just to work off all that food!

We Are Registered!!!

For those curious minds who are dying to know what these two crazy teachers might want, go check out Williams Sonoma and Macy's. These are the places we are officially registered.

UPDATE (May 15): We are also now registered at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

If you don't feel like leaving the house, just go to their websites.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/

http://www.macys.com/

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/

The honeymoon is set!

Our destination is secured! We will feel as if we are going on one leg of The Amazing Race as we tour scenic Turks and Caicos!

Not to be confused with Turkey, Turkmeinistan, or Turducken, Turks and Caicos is a lovely little island SE of Miami and north of Haiti. Tamara and I hope to be total bums and just soak up the local atmosphere.

This will be my first time to an island other than Treasure Island at Disney World!

We Are Down to only 3 Months!!!

Tomorrow is officially 3 months to go till the big event. Over spring break me and some very special girls headed to the Big Easy for some BIG FUN! So it is a little early for the Bachlorette party, but it's my party and I can do what I want to. I will not tell what happened down there, but hurricans were drunk and plenty of yummy food eaten.

Also big news, my dress has come in and I have had my first fitting. The dress was a perfect fit. I only needed the length taken up and the bustle put in. Sorry no pictures of that. Can't let John see.

4 Months To Go!!!!

So last week was a huge success! Mother and I were able to pick out all the linens and decided on a date for our big food and drink tasting at the Depot. It will be a big event since my dad will be attending and he has not met John's family. John's dad talks quite a lot and my dad, not so much. Mix in the martinis we will be trying and it could get very exciting!
Mother and I were also able to get our florist. She was a suggestion from my future sis in law, thanks Heather! I have even managed to begin our registry. It started out as putting a few things online, and now we are pretty much registered. How did we do anything without the internet?
John is continuing his second career as a house painter, and I am continuing to be his little helper between naps and time on the computer! We are getting his house ready to put on the market. Then we can begin our search for our perfect house together in Dallas.
Last night we went to see The Phantom of the Opera. It was my Christmas gift from John, and I loved every minute of it. Thanks Baby!!!

What do I do Now?

We are about 4 months out till the wedding. The planning is pretty much done, and I'm antsy. I want July to be here now. My mom, Tamara's mom, Angie is coming in this weekend and we are picking out linens and florist. The next big thing will be the food and drink tasting at the Depot in April or May and that is us sitting down and saying what we like and don't like.
Of course my dress won't be here till April, but I did get my shoes in yesterday. I had to track those babies down all the way from California!
The planning of this wedding really has been a joy for me. Everything has fallen in place and John has been very involved with me doing everything, although I might have gotten a little annoyed with how many places he wanted to go to taste cakes. Other then that there has been very little to pretty much no stress on us or our families. As I told John's parents back in November, how hard could this be? They said they are going to stitch that one on a throw pillow for me:)
I am just so excited for the happy day and can't wait to share it with all of you.

Location, location, location

For those of you looking to book a room near the reception site for the days around the wedding, look no further! Here is the link to the Ft. Worth Sheraton, and this link will take you directly to the page that offers the discounted rate and puts you with the Pearson/Smith wedding block of rooms.

Notice the cool little countdown clock to the wedding date! I might have to research how to get a clock like that here on the site!

Snow day!

Today, we didn't have school due to the 3-12 inches (depends on who you talk to) of snow covering Dallas.


So we just had to take advantage of the Winter Wonderland!

Engaged Encounter

So this past weekend John and I attended our engaged encounter. I had really no idea what I was getting myself into and was not happy about going, just ask some of my co-workers! All I knew was we would be going away for the weekend, staying in a dorm like setting, and sharing feelings. For people who know me, I'm not a feelings sharer and I sure don't like dorms! You get the idea of how I felt going into the weekend.
The weekend was filled with feelings, but I actually had a good experience. I didn't like getting up at 7 am every morning. However, we did pick a great weekend to go since we had Monday off and were able to catch up on sleep. Overall it really was a great time for John and I! The relationship got stronger for me and I just can't wait for the wedding in July!!!!

We oughtta be in pictures

Another major milestone on the road to marriage down...

We have our photographer! We met with Jess over Christmas break and really liked her (it didn't hurt that she and Tamara both went to Baylor and formed an instant bond). Her pictures looked great, and she seems like she will be really fun to work with.

Here is her site:

Jess Graham Photography

Save the Date!

Though neither of us is particularly happy about going back to school tomorrow, we both feel that we DID get a lot accomplished over the Christmas break. Most notably, we got our save the dates made up and sent out!

We opted to go for a simple bookmark to represent marking a new chapter in our life. Thanks to my sister-in-law for designing the bookmarks and to the rest of my family for helping to put them together!