Preparing for Our First Dance!!!

Believe it or not, y'all... I've got Ben dancing!!!

A few birthdays ago, Ben bought me some gift certificates for ballroom lessons and we finally used one of them a few weeks ago! We went to the dance studio and met up with an instructor that Ben really seemed to click with when he first came in to buy the gift certificates.

We chatted about our first dance song, went through the basics of moving together, and learned the basic step that we will be using.

A very fancy studio embellishment!

Ben did a great job picking up all of the information... there really was a lot! Our instructor would use about five different explanations or metaphors to get each point across, which was really helpful but a lot to take in!

After our first dance lesson together

We went out for dinner afterwards and enjoyed chatting about the lesson. My sweet guy is such a trooper! :)

I was so excited about learning together that I made an instructional board to get the basic step into muscle memory!

(Please ignore the lamination catastrophe... it seemed to be going so well!)

Questionable construction, I know!

I'd say we are off to a good start on our first dance!

Save the Dates - Scripted, Sealed, Delivered!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm so excited to share that our Save the Dates have been scripted, sealed, and delivered! After lots of preparation and plenty of drafts, I finally settled on a design and just did the darn thing!

I featured our slate blue accent color and drew a floral frame featuring flowers that either held significance to us as a couple or had a symbolic meaning that is important to us: honeysuckle, violets, thyme, yarrow, edelweiss, and chamomile.

I carefully scripted our names and "Save the Date" in a fancy, flourishing script and used a more standard script for the rest of the information.

I'm really happy with how they turned out!

Then came the envelopes!

I practiced a TON and developed two different modern style scripts to use for these special bits of paper!

The first was a bouncy, modern style in my homemade Wendy Script. These have a more whimsical feel to them, and I really like the effect of bouncing past the baseline of the letters!

For spacing and legibility, I also did some of the envelopes in a similar script with a more clear baseline. The form of the letters themselves are essentially the same, i just don’t dip down below the baseline unnecessarily. This gives the envelopes a more structured, formal feeling, while still being modern and flowing.

I got some pretty floral postage stamps...

And got to use our custom address stamp plenty of times!

It was fun stuffing the envelopes and I even included an information card with our wedding website and a link to this blog!

It was such a full and fun process and I loved every minute of it!

It was really fun and meaningful to craft these special bits of paper myself! Now on to the invitations!

Cake Tasting Round 2!

I'm so excited to share that we have found our cake baker! We met up with a sweet, local-business owner slash southern baker and did a cake tasting. We were blown away by her skill, sweetness (no pun intended), and willingness to accommodate all of our cake-based needs!

We met at a coffeeshop down in Brentwood in the evening to talk through logistics and try a few bites!

She brought box full of cupcakes and frosting flavors and we enjoyed tasting different combinations and flavors.

Ben was super involved and interested in putting in his two cents about what the cake should taste and look like... The cake is probably one of the things he has been most enthusiastic about!

I'm so relieved to have another one of the major details of our big day figured out! On to the details and paper goods now!

Happy Thanksgiving 2017!

This year, Ben and I weren't able to make it to either of our families' homes for Thanksgiving. Ben actually ended up having to work the day of Thanksgiving itself, so we celebrated the day after in our sweet little home!

I braved the grocery store early in the week and managed to be in and out within the hour. Our little kitchen was well-stocked!

Even though it was just the two of us, that didn't stop us from cooking up a storm! I was able to get LOTS of prep work done while Ben was at work on Thursday. ALL of the chopping, grating, and portioning was complete by the time he arrived home that evening.

First up, breakfast! I made the traditional holiday sausage pinwheels that we have every year on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Served with jam and French press coffee, these little rolls are a great way to start off any celebration!

Next, I got the beverages brewing. I made some mulled wine for myself as well as some spiced apple cider for Ben. They were kept cozily warm throughout the day in a duo-powered crockpot station. I felt very pro-FESH!

The day before I'd prepared both a tart cranberry sauce and a rich gravy, so two items were already out of the way!

We queued up some fun Thanksgiving tunes and got to cooking!

Ben brined and stuffed the turkey with aromatics and spices and we put our little bird in the oven very early in the morning.

Our dinner menu in full consisted of...
- A turkey, of course, brined and roasted
- Garlic parmesan mashed potatoes
- Gravy
- Homemade Cranberry Sauce
- Sautéed corn with bacon, onion, jalepeno, and a touch of cream
- Roasted Brussels sprouts
- Apple "Crippler" (crisp + cobbler) with vanilla ice cream

We made everything from scratch, but with all of the chopping and portioning already done it was really easy to toss everything together. I felt like I was able to manage prepping all of the dishes simultaneously, even in our tiny, not-so-well-equipped kitchen! In the end, we had quite the spread prepared!

Ben did a great job of styling the dinner table...

And we enjoyed a delicious meal together!

After several hours of resting and digesting, we also enjoyed dessert: the Apple "Crippler" recipe I got from one of Ben's sisters.

Even though we weren't able to make it home for the holiday, it ended up being a really fun, relaxing, and special day! Cheers to the first of many Thanksgivings together!