Ceremonial Details

I fully intended to recap our wedding in a more timely manner than I clearly am, but we've spent this week learning to be cohabitating spouses. We didn't live together prior to getting married, which I'm so glad about. This week while the hubbers works late, I've spent time preparing our condo to be a home - organizing, sorting and decorating. As much as I loved the honeymoon, I've loved this week even more.

So, back to the recap... the most important part of our wedding to us was our ceremony. We wanted to begin our lives as husband and wife in an incredibly worshipful setting. We got married at a gorgeous old church and filled our ceremony with scripture and worship music. After my bridesmaids walked down the aisle to a strings trio playing "All  Creatures of Our God and King," I followed to "Hymne Vangelis." I couldn't take my eyes off my groom at the end of the aisle. He looked amazing in his gray suit and pink bow tie.

We had two of our lovely resident worship leaders from our church sing "Hosanna" and "Jesus at the Center" (both by Israel Houghton) during our ceremony and had loved ones read from carefully chosen scripture selections that we wanted to use to define and set the tone of our marriage.

Ephesians 3:14-18

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

Ephesians 1:17-19a

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,  and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 2:1-4

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any

common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 

Proverbs 24:3-4

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled

with rare and beautiful treasures. 

Pre-Preppin'

The Luncheon:

The Rehearsal:

The Rehearsal Dinner:

Date Night!

A Missus

We are fully and completely honeymooned. We are fully and completely wed. And we are fully and completely joyful, happy and overflowing with blessings.

I can't wait to recap the past two weeks in the coming days!

The Night Before

It's the night before our wedding. In so many ways it feels like it's taken an eternity to get here, and in so many other ways it feels like it would never get here. It felt almost like a dream during tonight's rehearsal... like we were playing pretend wedding. I have never been so sure of anything as I am that D is the man for me to spend forever with, and I can't possibly put into words the emotions that I'm feeling tonight. Thankfully, the emotions I'm not feeling are stress, anxiety or worry. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that things will go poorly tomorrow. I know there will be things that I wish I could change, but I also know that tomorrow will be utterly perfect, because, after all, we will drive away as husband and wife.

On Sunday morning we depart for a week in Costa Rica, something that my soul is itching for. Not just the opportunity to bathe in the sun, explore the beach and rain forest, and, um, you know... but for us, it will be the first time traveling alone together and the first real time that we've ever had to completely disconnect from the rest of the world and just... be. What a gift it will be to spend those days together as a married couple without the interruptions of the daily world. Tonight we slipped away together after the rehearsal dinner for a few precious moments over a glass of wine reflecting on the week and discussing what tomorrow may hold. I so cherish this man that understands me, cherishes me, and values the life that we will have together. So, dear friends, the soon-to-be Mrs. Polka Dots & Protein Bars, bids you adieu for the next week.

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Well, you know how I think I'm a yogi? Friday night I tried to show my mom and baby sis (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TINY SISTER) how well I could crow. I was wearing a dress and chunky jewelry and got too much forward thrust going into the pose. I fell forward as my necklace was flying up and got a resulting bloody cut on my forehead. 8 days before the wedding. The only upside was that I happened to have a box of sequin Cynthia Rowley Bandaids on hand (thanks, couponing!) to close up the wound. I've spent the past few days marinating my injury in Neosporin, and now, 4 days out, I'm nearly healed. But. Still. Le sigh.

A Ring-Lift

Yesterday was a great day. I had a little breather in the eye of the Easter hurricane, so I had the opportunity to spend the evening with the fella running some errands, purchasing our toasting glasses (Waterford Colleen Essence champagne flutes) and cake cutting knife (Kate Spade Bow Dessert Set), completing a hot yoga class together (his first... and he swears he loves it... and I finally purchased my own mat, so I didn't have to continue battling the elbow-herpes-rashes I got from borrowing the Y's mats) and polishing off some open-face-egg-vocado-cheese goodness. Perhaps the most exciting part of the day was getting my engagement ring back! We decided several weeks ago that we'd like to have the ring reset. It's his mom's, which we love, but it was a set that included an engagement ring, wedding band, and anniversary band. So we took the top and bottom band off, rest the center stones and purchased an actual wedding band. I'm so thrilled with the results. It looks fresh and delicate, and now the fella can slip a band on my finger at the alter. Single digit countdown now, people!

Ring Before:

Ring Now:

A Beautiful Mess

I've been craving hot yoga. So weird. I don't know that I've ever enjoyed a workout more than I do those sweaty sessions. I've been going once or twice a week with cardio and strength training in between, and I feel tight and toned and pleasantly sore.

This week we're in final countdown mode to Easter. Working for a church, Christmas and Easter are our craziest time of year, and this year is no different. Add in the fact that I get married in 10 days, and I'm feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Not in a bad way at all, even though it's probably showing up in the form of tension and general irritation. In fact, I'm happier and more excited than I've ever been. Still, stress is stress, and maybe that's why I'm loving the hot yoga so much.

After last night's class I was craving something hearty, warm, delicious and healthy, so I swung by my friendly, neighborhood Harris Teeter and picked up eggs, asparagus, Muenster cheese, avocados. Oh, and sugar free pudding. Seriously, I was in the grocery aisles complete overcome with a craving for pudding. I don't know either. A few cracks and crackles later, and I ended up with a concoction that included mashed avocados atop an open-faced English muffin, coated with cheese and then topped with an egg-over-easy and accompanied by some sauteed asparagus spears. Y'all. It was every bit as delicious as I hoped.

After devouring that goodness, I spent the rest of the night printing labels and using them to secure bags of pink and gold sequins - what we'll have our guests shower us with as we leave our reception (one of my favorite details of the night). I learned some important lessons about sitting on a bed and transferring sequins into small, clear plastic bags. And I spent much of my time cleaning up the beautiful mess that was created.

This morning I decided to recreate the open-face-egg-wich for breakfast and put it on whole wheat naan instead of the English muffin in lieu of my typical naan with natural peanut and fig butter. As I started eating it on the way to work I realized three bites too late that eggs-over-easy are not very car-without-utensils-friendly. So. That happened. At least it was scrumptious.

A letter from the fella

A hijack of sorts! Surprise, I really do exist! Hello all! I’ve actually convinced the glitter, rainbow, sewing queen to give me her password and write a little hello to you all. First off, some well known facts! Girls are smarter that boys at spelling and grammar so please over look my inability to sound coherent! If it weren’t for spell check I would be a Neanderthal, dragging a club, grunting, looking confused and scratching my butt in public. To be honest, I haven’t evolved much!

Ok! Something else you all have to know! Caroline is a words of affirmation person. Words of encouragement and praise, questions about her life really mean a lot to her! I keep up with her blog and love how she has keeps a running tally of events from her life! (sometimes it includes me) I always check the comments to see what people say! So here is a great big THANK YOU to everyone who leaves comments.

Caroline is very special to me! I love her dearly and am so blessed by God to have her in my life! She does special little things for me….like…if you all have been keeping up on our current events. I got a fantastic promotion!! Chef de cuisine! Or as she calls me Davey de fiancé or chefy de fiancé! (ignore spelling). Anyway! The day I was offered the position, that night I got home from work at the other restaurant and was greeted by a big paper sign with PINK GLITTER CROWNS and a sweet note on it! I got a big smile on my face and thought it was cute. Oh Wait! It gets better! I opened the door to the condo and something scraped across the door. I could see something on the floor!?! I reached around the corner and flicked on the light and……the entire condo was decorated with streamers, Gold and Silver Balloons all over the floor, Poster boards on the wall with cute and corny phrases!!! I stopped dead in my tracks! I have not had anything decorated for me with streamers and balloons since high school!! Now! she did a great job on my Birthday! But, this was totally unexpected!! I couldn’t walk in! I had to look at everything and take it all in. She did this for me! I was so touched and surprised! I was already having a great day! I worked hard that night and was still on cloud nine, but to come home and find this! I was reminded of what a wonderful lady Caroline is!!

She’s special!

I love you Caroline! We will be married soon and I can’t wait to start our lives together!

Ok! Perhaps she’ll let me do this again!

P.S the jobs is going great!

In Stitches

Remember how last week I told you that I started sewing again? I am so, so glad that I got back into it. I have immensely enjoyed decompressing behind the machine. Sure, I have 2.5 weeks to finish our wedding planning, but for whatever reason I'm much more interested in churning out a few skirts for our honeymoon. Maybe I need to re-evaluate my priorities for the coming weeks? No? I didn't think so either. Here are a few things that I've created in the past few days...

Snippets

This week has been full of small snippets of my favorite things, and I'm so grateful for these tiny moments of bliss.

1. I started sewing again. It has been weeks - nay, months - since I cut into fabric and started creating a piece of apparel. I've been justifiably too tired and busy to add anything else to my plate, so Hems & Hers fell by the wayside. My enjoyment for it this week has proven to me that I need to keep those creative outlets as part of my life. I can't wait to post pictures of what I've been working on.

2. Bubble baths, magazines and chocolate wine. I've been doing this combo late at night, and good gracious, is it ever rewarding. If you haven't found chocolate wine yet, it's a must.

3. Long walks. The fella and I work opposite schedules that allow us only an hour or two each night to interface and pour into each other. Instead of collapsing on to the couch in front of the TV, we've been really intentional about taking that time in stride - literally. We've been taking long strolls around our neighborhood late at night, often with a glass of wine in hand. Not only is it great for burning a couple calories (truly not that many since we're consuming the liquid variety while we pace) and keeping us focused on each other. It's one tradition we both want to hold on to.

4. Frozen yogurt. TCBY has been a huge part of our relationship. Not only did we spend our first date consuming the frozen treat, but it's become a go-to for long chats, a quick treat and decompression. For the fella's first day at his new job this week I made sure to swing by and have a little something waiting for him in the freezer when he got home.