The dress...es

So last week mom and I went to Michelle Renee's to talk about bridesmaids dresses. She told us that we need to get the girls in and fitted, and dresses ordered within the next week.....AAAAHHHH!!!!

Seeing as how I'd been completely indecisive about bridesmaids dresses since the beginning, and I still didn't really know what I wanted, I saw this as a bit of a problem. But I buckled down, went to the alfred angelo website, sorted through the dresses and picked a variety for my girls to choose from. All of them, being the wonderul girls they are, got right back to me with their decisions and we got all the dresses picked out.

The plan was for them to meet up at Michelle Renee's at 1 o clock on Saturday to get fitted and order their dresses. I had to work 11-5 so I wasn't going to be able to be there. Then in an odd turn of events, my dad got sick the day before, I got sick the day of, called into work and ended up dragging myself to the appointment with camera ready.



Sarah looking through dresses



Madison...haha



Miss soon to be Katie Rose PEDERSEN!!!!



Jenny O and one of the many kids she babysits.



My wonderful thither


So anyway, they all found the dress from online (all except for Sarah, but we got that sorted out)

All these will be in Alfred Angelo's grape.



Sam's dress



A couple of the other girls with dresses in hand



Jenny's



Haha Madison's. (get the camera out of my face!)
NEVER!!!!



Katie's dress



The two Hadallers :)



Not Sarah's but cute none the less :)



ordering



YAY THITHERS!!!



So the dresses get here about two weeks before the wedding....


*faint*

Our Venue: part II

So you remember the blog where I posted pictures of my Aunt Teresa's parents' property where we were going to do the ceremony.

Well...things have changed.

Don't worry. We're still having it up there. But instead of here:




We're getting married here:




Only a hop skip and a jump away.

Now I know that the first choice with the trees looks prettier. But trust me. If you were there in person, you would agree with our decision. I was hesitant at first but then Mike helped me realize something else. With the first location, we could only invite a fraction of the guest list (the rest would have been invited to the reception) but with this location, we can invite everyone. That's right. All 365 people!

Check it out.



THERE'S SO MUCH SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!

And this is what our guests will be facing.



Beautiful ain't it?

:)

So I let Mike do all the technical math. haha







I'm really excited now. This morning I was laying in bed just daydreaming about the big day :D

AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!



and a few extra photos for the heck of it.


Of course uncle roger had to break out the quad.




And of course Mike had to give it a go :)







Haha Aunt Teresa is such a nerd






YAY

The Mike'smen

Get it? Mike's the groom. The groomsmen.....Mike's....me.

Anyway.

I know I said a bunch of sweet stuff about each of my bridesmaids but in all honesty, here, I don't know Mike's guys (besides his brother and my brother) to really say much...so I'll do the best I can...okay. First up.

Best Man
Danny



This guy is awesome. He's so funny. Mike told me that he considers Danny his best friend. Hence the Best man thing. Uh...YAY!!!!!

Groomsman
Kyle



This is the guy that steals Mike from me every so often. Just kidding, Kyle. They see each other Saturday nights. My time to…iono. Do stuff without Mike. Anyway, Kyle has been a big part of Mike's life for several years now. Six? Seven? I don't know. I do know, though, that Kyle has been a major good influence on Mike and, for sure, he wouldn't be the man he is today if Kyle hadn't come a long. And for that I'm really grateful And also CONGRATS ON THE JULY WEDDING KYLE AND KATIE!!!!!!!!!!!

Groomsman
Alex



Kyle was the good influence, this is the bad influence. Just kidding, Alex. He went camping with Mike and my family this past Summer, and let me tell you, he kept us pretty entertained. The kid's got a gift, that's for sure. He and Mike would sit by the campfire and serenade us for a couple hours at a time. Oh man. Good times.


Groomsman
Tim BRUTHER!!!!!!



Tim and I have gotten really close over the past couple of years. I think it started right before he left for Nashville and our friendship has gotten stronger ever since. Before Mike, and before Katie, the two of us would hang out just about every day. He was my mentor in a way and I looked to him for spiritual guidance and just guidance through life in general. He's always been there when I need someone to talk to (I know that sounds cliche but it's true!) And I have loved watching he and Mike grow closer as brothers (cuz let's face it, Mike's already a part of my family)


Groomsman
Gerry



I know the least about this guy. All I know is that Mike went to youth group with him. They've been really good friends for a long time. And the entire Uhri family is dear to Mike's heart :)


So there you have it. Our complete wedding party in two blogs. Fun stuff right there.

I never know how to end these things.

....the end.

And now introducing...

THE LOVELY LADIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know why I'm just now deciding to post this but, I am...so just go along with it.

Before Mike proposed to me I already had my bridesmaids picked out. Actually I had them picked out like....halfway through last year :P I know, I know. Give me a break, I'm a girl.

So, first up. My matron of honor, and big sister

Sam



She has already been a really big help to me during my wedding planning :) Even before Mike proposed, she was sending me awesome pictures as inspiration for my wedding :P She really has become one of my best friends over the past couple of years and I can't wait to have her by my side on my wedding day :)


Maid of honor
Jenny



Jenny and I have been best friends for about six or seven years (I don't even remember, Jenny!) I know that our friendship is strong because we have been with each other through some of the hardest and craziest times of our lives. From deaths in the family to break ups and everything in between. And, as far as I can remember, we never got into an argument that couldn't be settled in a matter of minutes. That's what I love about her :) and the fact that she is seriously one of the most selfless people I know.


NEXT UP!!

Bridesmaid
Sarah :)



This is Mike's GORGEOUS sister :) She's pretty freakin amazing :) Her laugh is contagious and her heart for worship is inspiring to me. I love her and I can't WAIT for her to be my sister :)


Bridesmaid
Madison



My emo muffin :) Madison and I became friends in tenth grade and by twelfth grade, she had become one of my really close friends. Her brother too but this isn't about him. She seriously is one of the funniest people I know and I LOVE HER TO DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Madison, on my wedding day you gotta rock your pageant smile haha.


Bridesmaid
Abby

Here's where things get a little complicated.



Abby's story is similar to Madison's. We met in tenth grade and grew closer as the years went by. She is so supportive and has the sweetest and strongest heart for God. In saying this, she went on a mission trip to Haiti a couple months ago and absolutely fell in love with the place. She informed me that she was hoping to go back this Summer, but would be back in time for my wedding. I was very excited for her :) Then yesterday she told me that she had gotten an email from the mission basically saying "see you this Summer!" So she gets to go! But, she said to me, that if it's possible, she feels that she should stay there longer. If that happens, she would have to miss my wedding. At first I got sad but then I thought about it. Would I rather her standing with me or helping people that really need it right now. So I told her, if she feels she needs to be there, that's where she needs to be. She told me, to go ahead and get another bridesmaid, because even if she can't stay there longer, she doesn't want me to have to wait for a month before she's able to find out. So thank you so much, Abby. I love you and if you can be here, I still want you to be a part of my wedding in some way.

Which brings me to my surprise fifth bridesmaid.

THE LOVELY KATIE HADALLER!!!!



When Tim met this girl, it wasn't hard to figure out that the two of them would get together. I absolutely love her by the way. After Mike proposed to me, Time and Katie had been dating for two months...I think. And I had already figured out my bridesmaids otherwise Katie would have been a part of it right off the bat. Then when I got the news from Abby, I immediately texted Katie and popped the question (so to speak) and she said she'd love to be my bridesmaid :)
I can't say enough how blessed I am that Katie has become a part of this family. It feels like she has been here all along! She's so friendly and genuinely cares about people. And I can't WAIT for her to be my legal sister :) cuz right now she's my sister, the law just doesn't know it yet haha.


So there you have it. The dream team. Shannon's angels. My bridesmaids :)

Epic E-pics

Bahaha I'm so clever :D

*crickets* .......anyway..

So a few weeks ago Mike and I got our engagement pictures done by the lovely and talented Jessica Lemmons. I love her :) We (or at least I) wanted her specifically because A: she shot my senior pictures, and B: she shot my sister's engagement pictures AND wedding. Therefore, I know she rocks at what she does.

Anyway, some time last week we got the cd with all the pictures on it and I KNOW I'm just now making a post about it (come on, Shannon, you've had the cd for a week!!) but I've been busy......okay I lied. Really I've just been lazy >.< bad Shannon.

Without further ado.

A few of my faves.

CAUTION: lotsa kissing :) may cause jealousy (I mean, look at him)




















bahaha I just had to throw this one in there.






YAY!!!!!!!

Tea Time: DIY project numba three

For my sister's wedding favors she ordered a buttload of orange MS bracelets in honor of our grampa who died just a couple years back of MS. I've heard of other people doing little treat bags or like keychains or something but for our wedding, I really wanted something different.

One day I was just kind of surfing the web when I came across this really cute idea for favors. Personalized tea bags :) I love tea, and Mike, his parents being southerners, drinks tea (iced tea) all the time so this was a great idea (in my opinion). That was about three months ago...

FINALLY!! yesterday, Mike and I were bored and just kinda browsing around Walmart (while waiting for some film to develop) we started looking at stuff for our wedding and future apartment. We totally bought towels :) Anyway, the idea struck me to look and see how much tea bags would cost. I figured we would need about 350 or so. Sure enough there were giant 100 pack boxes of Lipton tea. So we bought four. Then we went to Michaels (fail) and then Joannes (much better) and got a couple pieces of purple and yellow paper. We headed back to my house, where we started creating a template.

My uncle's birthday party was last night so we had to cut our designing time short and head over to my gramparents' house. I brought the tea bags, glue gun, paper, flash drive with template, and...I think that's it.

So after dinner and after we got the templates done and printed (and after going BACK home to get the paper cutter and MORE PAPER!) I recruited the wonderful ladies in my wonderful family (as well as my wonderful fiance) and we got an assembly line going.





My mom and Aunt Teresa worked on taking the lipton paper tags off each teabag so my gramma and I could glue our new ones on.




My gramma and I were in charge of the hot glue guns.




Aren't they cute?!

After a while, Mike told me to just start putting the teabags back in the boxes and he took over my job of hotglueing (it also might have had something to do with the fact that I kept burning myself)



He's such a goof.




And also CONGRATULATIONS TO MY BROTHER AND NEW FUTURE-SISTER-IN-LAW! I love you both :)