We are going to the COURTHOUSE

YUP! That's right! BUMP all this planning...we are just going to get married at the courthouse!!!

SIKEEEEEEEEEEEEE lol

Okay for real! We are getting married at the Old Courthouse on the Square. It was founded in 1823 and served as the community gathering place. Today it continues to be the focus of festivals and special events, and serves as the heart of the community.

On August 27th it will serve at THE spot for our wedding! :)

I'm sooo excited and fall in love with the place more and more everyday!!!!!!! :) I couldn't imagine regrets or anything.

8 months...LET'S GO!!!!!!!!

E=DC2

Shoe Remix

OK...  Here we go!  I LOVE crafting.  It makes me happy!  I ADORE shoes, they delight me as well.  So... my latest idea is meshing both of my loves together, so I am really at a blissful state!  I have been looking online at shoes for quite some time.  The first shoe that I noticed online that caught my eye was on Etsy. 

I... yes, the frugalista herself, was going to splurge and purchase some shoes for over $100!  But, I kept looking and started finding some other links that caught my eye that involved my favorite 3 letter acronym... DIY!   

So, it appears that SOME folks have lost their ever loving mind.  Not only do they purchase some shoes that are between several hundred and thousands of dollars, but they also watch fashion shoes to see that Christian Laboutin (might be misspelled, I can't commit the proper spelling to memory) likes to modify his shoes for the runway.  He calls the process 'strassing', in my world, we'd call it bedazzlement (ha!).  Sometimes he will make them for the world, other times, he does not provide his fans a way to purchase the items.  So, they purchase his VERY expensive shoes, then purchase some VERY expensive crystals to put on the shoes in order to create their own duplicate version of his product.  WOW

So, I have studied the blogs, videos, etc to see if I can do something similar based on my own tastes, purse, and style.  Here are a few examples of what I have located:

Cute... right?  There are tons more ideas.... those are just a few!  So, I have been studying for weeks and finally decided to go ahead and hop in the water and test it out for myself!  I checked out DSW sale racks:

I decided to use this shoe as my first example because it was such a simple design.

Plain top View

Plain Side View

Point of No Return...

Side View

Top View

Another Angle

Together

Not bad for a first time,I had a blast doing them! I can't wait to do another pair,I think I've started a habit!  After all of that, just moments before Christmas, I have finally decided the ONE GIFT that I want!  This magical tray that makes all of the rhinestones to go right side up with a simple shake of the tray.

Save The Dates...

Yay! Our Save the Dates are out... I am hearing that folks have received them in the mail, I am so excited! There are still a few address discrepancies, so there are a FEW that still have to be resolved, but once I go on vacation this afternoon, I'll get right on resolving those little snafu's! There is a website link on the save the date, so a lot of people are checking out the website, which has a RSVP feature. Some folks are trying to RSVP for the wedding already, but the link isn't active. The RSVP link will be going active on 2/28/2011 until 4/15/2011.

Caterer Search is ON!

I was talking to someone a few weeks ago and they were talking about how much they like Memorial Day and look forward to it being the first big cookout production of the summer.  I was all excited like.. yeah, me too!  Then, I remembered that I was getting married on that day, so I would not be going to a cookout and got a little sad about it.  THEN, I thought about it... WHY NOT?  I mean, no.. I am not going to cookout in my wedding dress, but why can't the wedding reception be a big ol' HUGE cookout?  But, we just don't have to do all of the work, it will be a catered affair.  Of course, we aren't just gonna slap some dogs on the grill and give everyone a side of coleslaw (but, if the budget happens to get that tight... we could, 'eh), I'm far too Hampton (read: sedity) for that! So, Mr. RoBo & I have launched out a full-on attach to find the best BBQ in the Greater ATL area!  I am SO excited!

Everyday... Learning More

Considering that I have been on this Earth for over 32 years and have had the pleasure of being with me each and every day (it seems like regardless of where I go, I can't get rid of myself), one would think that I would know myself by now.  But, I find daily that this journey that I am on has me learning more and more about myself through others.  The last several weeks, Mr. Robo and I have been working at getting our Save the Dates (I refuse to call them STD's so as not to cause my pal to itch).  This has been a lesson in extreme patience, sacrifice, and just plain old compromise.  Always wanting to link myself to greatness, I nearly felt like President Obama who has had to reach across the aisle in compromise on the tax cuts.  Yes, it IS silly to give a 2% tax cut to the richest of the rich Americans who are not feeling the pinch of this recession, but in order to get the ultimate goal that hes expressed a desire to reach, he is going to have to find it within himself to reach a compromise with those who go against what he claims to want the most.  I really, really want to have a rock solid plan with this whole wedding thing.  I want for it to all be just as I envision it to be.  But, at the end of the day, if all I am doing is planning a wedding by myself or those who are most in tune with my beliefs, what am I really winning?  So, he may take MONTHS to obtain the telephone numbers, email addresses, real names, spouses and kids names of the folks that he wants at our event, BUT...  eventually we will get there.  Yes, I may have wanted the mailing to go out exactly 6 months to the date before our wedding date, but is the sun going to fail to shine simply because it didn't happen until a few weeks later?  I could just say 'forget it' and do it myself.  I could just decide that he really does not want for them to come, so proceed without his part of the list.  I could even just start to scream and holler until he starts to ask all of the questions that I want for him to, call all of the people that I want for him to, and not stop working until I decide that we are where we should be.  But, what would that prove? 

This is a journey that is not meant for the faint of heart.  It is not going to be won by the swift.  Despite what 'they' say, it is possible to reach across the aisle to compromise with the other side, if it isn't benefitting the common goal, then it really isn't worth having. 

*SIGH... the save the dates are finally in the mail, 20 days later*

TRUNK SHOW

My bridal party had an official TRUNK SHOW for me.

What's a trunk show you ask???

Well it's where a designer presents some of their collections to a store and have the dresses on a tremendous sale.

Ohhhhhhhhh you mean what's a TRUNK SHOW in OUR case??

Right.........LOL So one of my bridesmaids (SHOUT OUT TO S3) decided to give all the special women in my life a preview of me in the dress. YEAH...I think we made this up, but still it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! :)

They made brunch and invited all the ladies over. My fiance's mom was also able to make it. And we ALMOST made it out of there with NO TEARS! LOL!!

I tried on the dress (AND IT STILL FITS)

Here are some pics! NOOOOOOOOOOO GOWN PHOTOS! HA!

The gave our mother's poinsettas...AWWW! :)



Some of my bridesmaids



Love these women! :)

Sipping a mimosa and standing next to the sign for the TRUNK SHOW lol

Me and my future mother! :)

 Such a wonderful time!!

E=DC2

Caterer Possibly Found

FOOD!!!!!!!

One of my FAVORITE things! LOL!!

I was finally was able to meet up with a caterer that I've had to schedule and reschedule meetings. We LOVED the food. It's so funny how you taste all these things that you possibly won't even eat the day of. I know for sure chances of us eating the appetizers on that day are SLIM to none!!! LOL But I'm looking out for the guests! :) And of course, they promise to pack goodie bags for us! THANK GOODNESS!! Me not eating?? Oh that will NOT be a pretty site!

What are some key questions do you all think should be asked of the caterer? All help greatly appreciated?

E=DC2

Engagement Party

I am STILL flying high on cloud nine!!! I really have the best bunch of friends ANYONE could every ask for. They are some special ladies and I'm so glad to be able to call them FRIENDS!

Our engagement party was at the Cheesecake Factory. They reserved the room. It was all decorated in cream and green. They were DRESSED in cream and green and all. They gave all the women corsages!! They gave everyone a pictures of us as favors. It was just soooooooooo nice!! Pretty much everyone was there. Our families FINALLY got to meet. It was great!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE my friends!!!

E=DC2

Wedding Website LAUNCHED

I just want to thank Nicole of Visual Evolutions for creating our wedding website. Goodness! I didn't even have a clue how much work would go into it. I thought it would be EXTRA easy. But oh no...it forces you to have all your ducks in a row and KNOW what you are going to do!

I love the site and I'm so glad that it's finally FINISHED!!!!!!!!!! :)

Check us out  http://www.donnicaandedward.us/

E=DC2

I'm BACK!!!!!!!!!

Okay I'm back and ready to go! Let's get to planning! Birthday over and now it's time for the important things to take place!!! Sooooooooooooo where do I start??? Ummmmmmmmmmm anyone?? Anyone?? LOL

Well for one I'm excited about our engagement party coming up this Friday! I mean like SOOO excited. Our family will be in town and they finally get to meet each other! Oooh this is going to be great! And shout out to TEAM GREEN that has been amazing in putting it together. I didn't do anything but give a guest list. Can a girl BE so lucky???

I'm sure I'll update on how that went!

E=DC2