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| Today is the Big Day! |
| Saturday, November 29, 2008 |
Yep thats right....I'm getting married today. So why am I on blogger?! (I'm downloading some music for the reception).
I promise to post pictures when we get back from Cancun!Labels: My Wedding |
posted by Stephanie @ 8:19 AM  |
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| Go Hotwire! |
| Saturday, November 8, 2008 |
No, this isn't a paid post...I haven't been paid to write on this thing in a long time! But I have to tell you my hotwire experience. We have been trying to find hotels for Damian's family the week of the wedding. They will be staying in Atlanta, because they have family there, and come down on Saturday for the wedding. This is great for me, because it means they won't stay too long. (he he)
No really, the only reason I was worried about that is because Damian's aunt called and said she was not content just seeing us for 2 hours at a reception, so we better plan to stay and visit afterwards. I was concerned that the visit would turn into an all night event and Damian and I would have to head straight to the airport the next morning, never having been to our hotel. So, knowing that they have an hour and a half drive after the wedding makes me think they won't stay too late.
Back to Hotwire (hense the title). Damian's grandmother called me yesterday, and told me she booked the Weston Hotel for $49/night on hotwire! These rooms are in downtown Atlanta, and usually rent for $215/night. Now, I for one have always been hesitant about Hotwire because they don't tell you the name of the hotel until you pay. But Damian's grandmother figured, you can't go wrong with a 4-star hotel so she took the leap of faith. The cool thing is now the rest of the family booked too. What an awesome deal!
So I'm going online today to see if I can get us just as awesome of a deal without having to stay at the same hotel. Cross your fingers!Labels: My Wedding |
| posted by Stephanie @ 10:14 AM |
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| 37 Days....Holy Crap! |
| Wednesday, October 22, 2008 |
I looked at the calendar to put the countdown as my title...I didn't realize it was only 37 days away. Now I'm panicked. Way to go Blogger. I was just fine up until about 37 seconds ago.
 I have come to my senses and realized that after 3 weeks of dieting, if I still don't fit in my dress it is time for alterations. I'm okay with that though...it beats the alternatives (i.e. starvation, buying a new dress, or exercising ha ha) Okay, really I am going to start exercising, but I don't need the last minute stress of worrying if my dress will fit, so I will just go ahead and have it altered. All will be well. We have also found a solution to our problem of wanting a sunset wedding, but not wanting to pay to feed 200 people. We are going to have a "pasta buffet." So everyone will still get fed, but it won't cost us a fortune. Thank goodness! I'm making the invitations myself, and they need to go out as in 2 weeks ago, so I better get on the move. It's gonna be a busy weekend. I also have to meet with the florist to pick out flowers, and finalize the cake choices. Oh, but in 37 days it will be all worth it! And, on a totally unrelated topic...I paid $2.56/gallon for gas today. I didn't even need gas...had a 1/2 tank. Got it anyway because it was so cheap!
Labels: My Wedding |
| posted by Stephanie @ 5:45 PM |
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| Walking Blindly |
| Thursday, October 16, 2008 |
6 Weeks - $6,000.
I keep checking outside, but it still isn't raining $100's yet.
Where will it all come from?Labels: My Wedding |
| posted by Stephanie @ 10:03 AM |
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| Why Pineola? |
| Sunday, October 12, 2008 |
I decided I would tell the story of why we picked Pineola Farms here in Georgia instead of going to the beach as originally planned. First, we cancelled Florida when I kept having to downsize the wedding cutting out more and more of my friends. So we decided to stay here in Georgia. BUT the only way I was having a Georgia wedding was if it wasn't your traditional church wedding. (Nothing against church weddings, but I don't want one. It's my day, and I want it to mean something to me. I love my church, but it is far from beautiful.)
So last Saturday, we got up bright and early and headed to Thomaston, GA...about 45 minutes away...we thought. :) It ended up taking us about an hour and a half to get to the Auchumpkee Covered Bridge (our destination). When we got there, we found nothing like what we were told. (Meaning, the "parking area" was non-existent, and my personal favorite...the "picnic area" was A picnic table...meaning ONE!) Anyway, it was nothing like we had hoped. We turned the car around and headed back, tired and defeated. When we got home, we jumped on the internet looking for other "cool" locations within an hour radius.
Sunday after church we took our comprised list, and began riding around Macon...no luck. We drove to Warner Robins...are you kidding me. Well, what about the park in Perry someone told us about...RIGHT!?! Again, we got home around 5:00p.m. tired and defeated. Damian says, you just might have to have a church wedding...Um, excuse me?!
So I hop on the computer again, and decided to try the chamber of commerce. Low and behold ONE single listing under "weddings." We checked out the website...beautiful, but we had already been deceived by a website more than once. We called the number...no answer. We googled the location and hopped in the car...about 14 miles down the road in good ole Fort Valley. (For those of you not from Georgia...Fort Valley is not a town known for much of anything other than maybe's its school, but even that is mostly just a local fame.)
We pulled up to Pineola Farms and The Cotton Barn....BEAUTIFUL! We loved it. Then my phone rang...it was the couple who owned the place...they were on their way, and would meet us there, but the bad news was, they were booked through the end of the year. We would have to wait until next year. (I hope you are kidding, I have already bumped this thing back 3 times.)
We toured the place with them, and fell more in love with it minute by minute. Paul and Delise (the owners) were great! We clicked right away. That's when she told me that technically she didn't have anything booked November 29th, and she had told numerous couples she couldn't do a wedding that weekend, due to conflict. But when she called me, my ring back tone on my cell phone was her favorite song (Chris Tomlin's 'Amazing Grace'). She said she felt like God told her to open it up to us, so she was.
But even better, when she pulled out the price sheet, and we saw it was the amount of our entire budget, we knew we couldn't afford it. That's when she told us that the house (an old 1836 Farm House) needed the front porch painted. She wanted Damian to do it for her, and she would do it as a trade on the wedding!
I know that God opened this up for us, and I'm so excited to see things fall into place. Everyone around me seems to be stressing, but not me. Labels: My Wedding |
| posted by Stephanie @ 7:30 PM |
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| Wedding Update |
| Thursday, October 9, 2008 |
We have a date:
November 29, 2008 We have a location:
We have a photographer:
Haley Bartlebough I have a dress: (but no picture of the dress) That's all we have so far....oh, we better hurry!
Labels: My Wedding |
| posted by Stephanie @ 10:59 AM |
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| Oh the Stress! |
| Monday, September 29, 2008 |
Why didn't someone tell me planning a wedding is so stressful!?! Okay, so you really did, but why didn't I listen? In 8 days I have changed the wedding date 4 times! First it was 11/8, but mom couldn't make it. So then it was 11/15, but his mom couldn't make it, so then it was 11/22, and that seemed to work for everyone...until mother nature struck (early) this weekend, lining me up for another crinsom wave on the 22nd, so now it looks like it will be the 29th (as in 2 days after Thanksgiving). And well, quite honestly, that is if we have any financial help. Otherwise, we either have to post-pone or downsize. How do you downsize a small wedding?
I did the budget this weekend, and picked out colors. The color will be green, and the budget is $6,000! Not bad, but we still don't have it. Of course $2,000 of that $6,000 is the honeymoon, so that just may have to be scaled down too.
I already have a dress (thank God!), and found him an AWESOME suit at Express. I hope he gets it; he really liked it too...(except this one is in grey, and the black one looks better). What do you think?  So Damian is making phone calls today to see if his parents can help us out. I'm going to sit down with my mom one day this week, show her the budget, and ask if she thinks they can help too. Otherwise, I'm cancelling the whole thing...and Damian, Madi and I will have a private ceremony. I'm just not putting this off over money. Nope, not gonna do it!
Labels: My Wedding |
| posted by Stephanie @ 11:34 AM |
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| And Now the Ugly Side |
| Tuesday, September 23, 2008 |
Little sister, if you do read this, please do not get offended. I still love you!
I wanted to let everyone enjoy my celebration for a few days before sharing with you "the other side of the story." So now you get to hear that side.
Damian did the very respectable thing, and went to my parents on Friday evening to ask for their blessing to marry me. Their blessing is NOT what he got. Though they were cordial, they told him that they do not agree with interracial marriage. They would not treat us any different, but they needed him to know where they stand. They said they would not "disown" me, and that they would come to the wedding, but they would not have choosen HIM to marry me.
Needless to say, Damian left with his spirit crushed. Its very hard to explain how a guy whose parents were not good role models, and put him in harms way often growing up, have been so receptive of us, and my family who gave me a story book raising have been so "unreceptive" (to say the least.)
I'm proud of him for going to talk with my parents even though he knew there was a good possibility that it wouldn't be all hugs and giggles. I'm VERY PROUD of him for holding his tongue when he heard things other than blessings. To me, the fact that he asked makes it all the better. But it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. It hurts to know that someone I idolize as much as my parents are responsible for such hurtful words. It hurts to know that the people who should be the most happy for me, are the ones who are least happy.
I made a point to individually call or see my family to share my news with them, before posting anything on the internet, and emailing and texting my friends. So it was also disheartening to hear my family dodge telling me "congratulations." I got "thanks for calling", "When?", and other polite responses, and I even got some congratulations from some family members...those I am grateful for. It was just very apparent that my friends definately "celebrated" with me more than my family. So as I plan a small beach wedding, it is hard for me to imagine cutting out my friends who were SO happy for me, to make room for a family that seemed less than thrilled.Labels: My Wedding |
| posted by Stephanie @ 5:03 PM |
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| We interrupt this blog to bring you this important update |
| Sunday, September 21, 2008 |
I'm getting married! .JPG)
Damian proposed to me last night, well technically this morning at 1:00 a.m. No date has been set, but you can be sure that you will know every detail as it unfolds!
Of course, I know you all want to hear the proposal story, since the only 3 questions I have heard all day is "When did he do it?" "When's the date?" and "How'd he do it?" Since I already answered the other 2, I'll tell you how he did it, and how I almost ruined it.
I arranged for Madi to spend the night with my sister Mandypoo and brother-in-law so that Damian and I could have a "date night" since he has been back for 3 weeks now, and we haven't had a single childless night. Damian made reservations for us at The Red Tomato (one of my favorite restaurants, which we rarely visit due to the $30 plates). We had dinner with friends (Matt and Ashli) and then went to see Lakeview Terrace. **(Um, anyone who has seen the previews knows its about a cop who does not like his bi-racial neighbors...anyone but Damian, who was clueless to this until about 3 minutes into the movie...great pic!)
.JPG)
On the way home we chatted about a few things included quick stab at the fact that I had given up on all hope that we would ever get married. (I'm sure he was just laughing inside.) Once we got home, he went into the guest room and I went to my room to get my pjs on and hop into bed. He walked in like "what are you doing?" He said I thought we were gonna talk. So I looked at him and said "talk" while patting the pillow beside me. (Not how he had envisioned it.) So he kneeled beside my bed and asked me if I had a good time tonight. Then he asked if it would make my night any better if he told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. So he asked me to marry him, and pulled out the most beautiful ring! I said yes! Let the journey begin!
 Labels: My Wedding |
| posted by Stephanie @ 3:12 PM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Stephanie
Home: Macon, Georgia, United States
About Me: Holy Crap I will be 29 soon! My friends and I are creating a before we turn 30 bucket list...hmmm what to add?
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