Update- Wedding Planning and Welcoming Baby Nathan!

Baby Nathan
Tara holding Nathan for the first time!

Mommy and Nathan

So I haven't done a very good job of updating this blog to reflect all of the wedding planning madness that has gone on in the past couple months so I'm going to try to update in one long post! Everything has been happening so quickly that we focus so much on what is left to do and haven't looked back on everything that has been accomplished! All of the big stuff fell into place with the help of lots of researching friends and family. I feel so lucky that when I had an idea I could take it to my mom or a friend and they will have already researched some information for me. Without this help Michael and I would NEVER have been able to plan a wedding in 3 months!

Michael and I originally wanted to have something very very small. We looked into any kind of park you can imagine in the area. We had envisioned a casual ceremony with a cookout to follow. THEN we started putting the guest list together and realized it would be impossible to keep it as small as we had wanted. We both have fairly large families and a lot of friends we wanted to have share our day with us. After making a list and aiming for a group of 100 people that were made up of all of our parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and first cousins, and a few close friends and co-workers we went to visit a banquet hall to see if it would be a good fit. We wanted to have the wedding and reception at the same place since our friends and families would be traveling so far to come together and the Marquise in Wilder could offer that. We wanted them to provide all of the food and drinks so our families wouldn't be working the whole time and the Marquise could offer that. We wanted a place where we could see ourselves getting married and picture all of these people we love in one place having a great time... and the Marquise helped us see that. SO we went ahead with it!

Next came finding a DJ, florist, photographer and of course THE DRESS. All of this happened in a matter of a week or two. The DJ will be from DJ Butlers, Music By Request, the florist is Fort Thomas Florist, the photographer is the amazing Izabela Mroczko (Jara Photography) who has worked with friends in the past and will also be shooting Tara and Matt's wedding in January. The dress shopping was a little overwhelming. I picked with I felt was "The Dress" and then it took a little time to convince my mom that it was the one- after she was on board the dress was ordered and another thing was checked off the scary long list!

The next step was dealing with invitation trouble and planning the details of the ceremony. I've also had 3 wonderful showers. Libby was the first to throw a shower for all of my work friends. It was a gorgeous day and Libby was a fantastic host as always. The food was great and it was fun to have everyone together. Next was my family shower that my Aunt Connie and cousin Susan threw at Susan's house. The games were SO much fun and the food and cake were yummy. I love my family so much and am very thankful for everything they have done for me! Most recently was my friend shower/bachelorette party that my friend and Maid of Honor Kim threw for me with the help of my other friend and bridesmaid, Tara. They did a fantastic job and we all laughed so hard that my cheeks were hurting! Stephanie and Kennetta both drove a very long time to be with us, Kim planned every detail fantastically and had some great games, Tara took care of the desserts that were INCREDIBLE! I'm really looking forward to Michael's family shower next weekend!!

All of our gifts are finally making Michael's house feel more like a home. It's going to take him a while to feel okay with actually having STUFF around. All of the love and support we have been shown from everyone has been so wonderful.

Michael and I are nervous about the big day but very, very excited to be married! We are also looking forward to the cruise!

This weekend Kim was in town for another wedding so we were able to have final fittings for the bridesmaid's dresses with Tara. They are looking great. After dresses the three of us were able to go visit Tom and Valerie in the hospital because baby Nathan was born on Friday May 14th! He was so perfect and it was fun to hold a tiny baby just a few hours after being born. Valerie and Tom are such wonderful parents to little Leah and I'm so happy that Nathan has completed their beautiful family! Congratulations guys!!

And now I'll leave you with a promise to update more often! I hope everyone has a great week!