Our Photographers

I am very excited about our wedding photographers: my aunt Marie and my very good friend Emily.  They both have an eye for beautiful shots and I am so excited to see the stunning work they'll produce! 

Here is a great picture of Tim that Emily took a week or so ago. Gorgeous!

January, February and Beyond.

The month of our wedding is here! The big celebration is a mere 24 days away.  3 weeks! And there is still so much to do! I'm just getting over a terrible stomach virus that both my mom and my sister had - so hopefully all illnesses are now out of the way for February 28.

We still need rings, Tim's suit, lots of songs for our playlists. BUT we did accomplish other pressing things like.... booking our honeymoon and getting my dress alterations. 

Last month we also celebrated my 25th birthday as well as our one year anniversary. Very exciting. Here is a picture from the day's festivities (with Reese doing the wave? and Tim sporting the look of the Amish):

We've also got a good head start on setting up the apartment before the big move-in day, and have even planned a trip to IKEA with some friends this weekend to pick up a few odds and ends :) 

Today is a HUGE day for Tim and I - Ray LaMontagne, the apple of my musical eye, is finally coming to Cleveland and thanks to Tim's new found love for NPR, we got in on the presale and have awesome seats to his show in April!!!! I can't even begin to describe how thrilled I am!! If you haven't heard this guy, you're missing out. 'Empty' is by far our favorite song.

Woo! We're even dancing to one of his songs for our 'first dance' as a married couple :)

lauren.

Hair.

As some of you may or may not know, a (strangely) significant thing leading up to the wedding has been the growing out of my bangs and whether Tim will trim his ever growing beard. 

Truth be told, Tim loves his beard (I like it too, but I also like the close-shaven look) and would let it grow into a full blown Civil-war looking thing if allowed. Here's what it currently looks like:

I on the other do not love being without my bangs (and I can't wait to get them back!) but I vowed not to cut them until after the wedding. Tim would love it if I let them grow forever, but ..... mmm not sure about that. Here is a picture of me and my beloved bangs in all their glory:

Our First (Real) Shower.

Yesterday we spent a wonderful afternoon with the women on Tim's mom's side of the family.  

I love those ladies! They are so fun! I was so touched last month when I was invited to their annual cards night, and they all made me feel so welcomed and comfortable and a part of the family. So it was lovely to see them all again, and to grow in my anticipation of getting to know everyone better in the years to come. I was also glad to have some of our close friends there, as well as my mom and oldest sister. I was especially excited that Tim's sister Katie made the trip down - in very cold driving conditions nonetheless - from college to be there.  

While Tim spent most of his time upstairs (no guys allowed) he did come down when it was time to open gifts (as well as when it was time to eat :D ) which was a lot of fun. It was very exciting to see all the various things people had picked out from our registry to bless our home with. We can't wait to decorate and use all of our lovely things! 

I feel like there aren't enough ways to say thank you. Being at the receiving end of such endless giving is .... well, its a humbling experience. We are continually blessed and beyond grateful for the outpouring of love and generosity from those around us in support of our marriage. Thanks and appreciation especially goes to Tim's Aunt Kim and Aunt Pam who hosted the shower, and to both of our mothers who have given of themselves in the most incredible way to make our wedding day a special one.

Only 40 days left until its official!

Can't wait,

lauren.

Nesting.

Ever since getting engaged (maybe even a little before that) Tim and I have been collecting odds and ends for our future home. The first few pieces we found were from the huge church garage sale my mom helps put on every year. My favorite is a tiny little cupboard that we keep some games in. 

We recently went to an antique mall about 30 minutes from where we are and picked up some more vintage christmas balls as well as a pair of salt and pepper shakers (a nick-nack with character I've been wanting to find for a while). I'll try to post some pictures for added interest next chance I get. 

Yesterday I had my first experience as a craigslist.com buyer: we've been wondering what to do about a dining table as we can't afford anything brand new. We've both had our eye on the counter-height/pub style tables but again, they all seem to be quite pricey. Well praise be to God, I found one (with all four chairs included!) that we'd seen at Target of all places that a couple in east-Cleveland were selling for half the price of what we found in stores. It was an interesting interaction - to just go into a strangers home and take their table (after paying of course). I guess it's the same as a garage sale, but anyways - it was a blessing to find something so affordable. Here is a picture of what it looks like:

Tim and I have been good about keeping our heads on and not going nuts trying to buy all new stuff, especially since we know that material things are not what makes a happy home. But we do enjoy adding our personal touches to the space we live in - and its been a lot of fun so far getting things started :)

Happy New Year!

The year of our wedding is finally here!!!

We are so excited that in just under 8 weeks we will be a married couple :) Plans are all coming together nicely, though I'm only just beginning to realize that time is of the essence and that things like dress alternations and floral arrangements need to start happening SOON! 

My mom and I went out last week to look at a few options for flowers and it was a pretty successful mission. As much as we both love fresh flowers, the cost can get a bit out of hand so we are keeping things fairly simple and aside from the hand held bouquet(s) we are going to do two silk arrangements that will (hopefully) look very similar to the arrangement above, though not quite as extravagant. We also got a quote on what my bouquet would cost and it was very reasonable which was exciting. I'm going for a classic, "1940's" feel to the wedding and staying with the traditional rose arrangements - although we'll see if that theme truly translates the day of!

We also had dinner with Tim's family last night to go over wedding invitation designs and layouts. Susan tweaked her original idea just a tad and they are even more stunning than before. I'm very excited for everyone to start receiving them!

Tonight Tim and I are having a bit of a date night which we're both very excited about. We'll be ordering in from Aladdin's - our favorite restaurant - and watching a movie. Nothing fancy - but definitely one of my favorite ways to spend time with my amazing guy :)

54 more days to go!!!

lauren.

Christmas!!!!

So, I have been politely (albeit sternly) informed that it is my turn and responsibility to post on the site. At least I get the easy topic of telling you all how our Christmas was.

We started our morning nice and early at Lauren's house. Lauren and I got up and exchanged our gifts to each other first. She got me some awesome guitar equipment that I really wanted and am VERY excited about. She also got me a CD, a sock monkey, some trail mix, and some awesome christmas ornaments. She also got me the Office season 3 and a really hard to find Muppets/Sesame Street/Fraggle Rock christmas movie that I watched when I was a kid. She did a great job!

I got her some scarves, a purse and wallet, some shoes, Aveda hairspray (so she'll stop "borrowing" her mom's), some lip gloss stuff, and the big thing was a bunch of paints and new really nice paint brushes and some blank canvases. She is an awesome artist and I'm excited for her to get back to painting and paint some cool things for our apartment once we move in!!

So after that we gave her parents their presents and got some nice things from them. Then we headed over to my mom's house for christmas morning. The kids were all ready and waiting in the living room for us when we got there so they could start opening their presents. Katie and her boyfriend Dustin were there too which was really nice. It felt like a great family christmas, it just would have been a little better if Chris would have been able to be there. So we opened all our gifts and then had mom's traditional HUGE christmas brunch. Sausage, bacon, hash browns, egg casserole, raspberry bars, cinnamon rolls, fruit salad.... needless to say, I ate waaaaay too much. It was totally worth it.

After brunch we watched the christmas movie that Lauren had got me and then after a quick stop at the Bradford's to drop off a present, we packed up and headed back over to Lauren's. Her sister and brother-in-law were over with the kids and we had a very nice christmas dinner. Judy made one of the biggest turkey's that I had ever seen. There is TONS of it left in fridge which is good for me because that means turkey sandwiches and turkey soup for a nice while :)

After that we watched some basketball for a few hours, including a nail-biter Cleveland Cavs game (which they won) and then settled our brains for a nice christmas sleep.

So... that was the very first christmas "Tim and Lauren"-style. The first of many to come. 

I can't wait.

-Tim