We're married!

All of my pictures of the rehearsal and wedding day are from all of you! I'm certain you've already seen the ones I have, so I apologize for the repeats - but thank you for the pictures ;)

The morning of the rehearsal, my Aunt Holly and mom were so kind to host a breakfast for the women in our family. It was one of the first opportunities I had to spend some time with a lot of our family that came from out of town. It was so thoughtful and a lot of fun!



My Aunt Holly and Colby made little gift bags for anything you may need on the day of the wedding (tissues, sunscreen, granola bar, etc). My sister had the sweetest idea to pass around notecards for everyone to write either a piece of advice, thought, prayer, or recipe on for me. I loved this idea and honestly can't wait to read them all.





The actual rehearsal went by quickly - we had a lot of people to wrangle. The flower girls were the stars of the show and did SUCH a great job. I was so proud and impressed (Chris was the silent superhero that weekend with the girls). It was the first time our nieces met each other and it was so sweet to see them laughing and playing together all day.









On my drive home from the rehearsal, I had a little mishap getting rear-ended. But as many people pointed out, if that was the worst that happened that weekend - we were in good shape! I honestly have no pictures from the rehearsal dinner other than the one below, but it was such a good time. Eric's parents did such a great job putting it together and it was so nice to visit with everyone before the big day.



Then it was time to get to bed and rest up for the wedding day! Again, the only pictures I have are the ones from all of you. I won't bore you with too many of the same pictures you've probably already seen, but here are a few I've found circling around. I plan to post more pictures once I get the professional ones back from the photographer :)

I started and stopped this post a couple times. I think if I tried to capture it all in words, the post would never end. I have so many feelings/emotions about it all. About becoming husband and wife, about our incredible family and friends, about how everything came together the way it did, about how blessed and thankful we are. To save you guys from my endless rambling about it all, I will keep it short and let a few of the pictures speak for themselves.

It was honestly a more beautiful day than I ever could have imagined. Eric and I had the most amazing time with everyone. It went by so fast! We are still in awe of how so many people came together and were willing to go to such great lengths to make our day so special.

























It's such a strange feeling having so many people we love travel from all over to support us, but then to be so busy that we don't get a lot of time with each of them. Luckily, everyone was very understanding and warned us it was to be expected. Needless to say, we are very grateful and humbled by everyone's love and support. It was a day we now have amazing memories from that we will never, ever forget.

https://vimeo.com/207146795/0a5f4c2091

We have been home from our honeymoon for a week and are thoroughly enjoying getting back into a "normal" routine. I'll post more on our trip soon. I also can't wait to share more pictures from the wedding when we get them back!

Wedding Week - I was spoiled!

Hello!! It's been a while but I'm back! I had all intentions of blogging up until the wedding but February was a blur and sped by so fast. Eric and I are MARRIED! We just got back from our trip to Costa Rica on Friday and have so much to catch up on.

February was full of final meetings with our vendors, DIY projects, and putting all the last-minute pieces together for the wedding. Midway through the month, Eric headed down to Florida for a trip with some of his friends. It gave me a chance to get a lot done. When he got back, I headed to Leesburg the week before the wedding to begin celebrating with family!

My mom and Aunt Janet took me out to get my nails done on Thursday. It was so relaxing and a lot of fun.



We got comfy robes and took our time picking out colors.



We sat back with drinks in hand while getting pampered.





Can't complain about the view either.



Thank you so much mom and Janet!! My nails were all ready for the wedding :)



Then I got to spend some quality time with my mom, sister and her girls, my aunt Janet and uncle Terry before more family started arriving on Friday.



The weather was absolutely beautiful and in the high 60s leading up to the big day.



Everyone was so ready to roll up their sleeves and help out in any way they could. It was truly amazing and humbling to see so many people willing to go out of their way for us. The linens proved to be a more difficult task than we thought!

On Friday my sister had a whole day of activities planned for me and some friends. I honestly can't express enough how incredible she is and how amazing the day was. She went out of her way organizing and setting everything up with me in mind. It was literally the perfect day for me and SO needed! We started off the morning doing hot yoga. Let me tell you - it's one of the best ways to start your day. We felt completely refreshed and energized afterwards. Something I will definitely look into doing again. After lunch we went to Escape Room. This was SO much fun. I could have spent the whole night there solving all of their rooms.



Everyone worked so well together - definitely want to do this again too!



After Escape Room we went to The Art Station. I love anything art-related, whether it's painting, drawing, crafting, etc. There was an instructor that walked us through our paintings while you could sip on wine and have snacks if you'd like. I've heard of these before and have alwaysss wanted to try it! It was so fun to see everyone's paintings. I could definitely use some more lessons ;)





I think they turned out pretty great :) We finished out the night going to dinner and talking/laughing together until the restaurant closed.



The whole day was so much fun and got my mind completely away from the wedding. It still blows my mind Katie was able to plan it all while working, taking care of her family, and trying to coordinate girls from all over the country. Needless to say, I had the best maid of honor a girl could ask for ;) Thank you Katie!

Walk Through at Meadowlark

Last weekend we had our 30 day walk-through at the venue. I can't believe the wedding is less than a month away. I don't think it's really going to hit me until the day of. There's constantly something to be thinking about or remembering to do - I can't imagine a time where it will all be done!



Originally just my mom and I were going to do the walk through. It just so happened that Eric's Aunt Diane was in town all the way from Alaska for the inauguration. She hadn't spent time in the DC area in many years. The only free time she had was the same day we had our walk through. Luckily, she seemed very interested in coming with us to check the place out!



It ended up being a bigger group with my mom and I, Eric and his parents, and Diane.



There were so many details to go over. It was great to have a lot of input for some of the things we hadn't thought of.



The venue had another event planned that afternoon. During our meeting, the entire place was transformed around us as tables were being set up.



It is SUCH a beautiful place. I remember seeing it for the first time with my mom and trying to contain how much I loved it until we knew if it was a real possibility. It's so surreal to see it all becoming a reality. I can't thank our families enough, especially my mom, for making this day so special for us. We are so excited for the day to finally be here, to be marrying each other(!!), and to be celebrating in such a memorable place with the people we love. <3

Odds and Ends

Despite the wedding planning, January has felt somewhat quieter compared to the craziness of the holidays. Which means we've had time to check a few things off our to-do list, and try out a couple new recipes.



Eric finally picked out the guys' tuxes for the big day. They are going to look sharp!





I made these crunchy roasted chickpeas recently as a snack. They were super easy and turned out better than I thought - a great snack if you're craving chips/something crunchy.


Crunchy roasted chickpeas

We're trying to find some alternatives to always making chocolate chip cookies anytime there is a chocolate craving in the house (*cough* Eric). We tried pudding (throw back to our childhood) but for some reason it just didn't turn out right; we may have to try that one again.
Then I remembered Eric's mom had brought us home some Mexican Chocolate last time she got back from San Antonio. I wanted to try baking with it and found a great chocolate muffin recipe. They were so delicious, and a step up health-wise from cupcakes. If you have any other ideas please let me know!


Mexican chocolate muffins

We finally did get a little bit of snow (less than an inch), but it was nothing compared to what Virginia got a little further south.



And finally, after one failed attempt - we got our marriage license! The first time we tried to go (after specifically taking time out of work), we got to the courthouse and it was randomly closed for the day. We're officially able to get married now!

Birthday

I can't believe we are already well into January, just about 5 weeks away from the wedding..! Now that the holidays are over, wedding planning is back in full swing. At this point it's all the little details that we're trying to work out. And on top of that, my birthday was this past Wednesday!

I had planned on going out to Leesburg to see my mom last weekend, but after some very last minute changes she offered to come out to Alexandria to help me put some favors together. It was sooo nice of her to come all the way out here, and was a HUGE help. I was pretty much burnt out on working on favors and she was a machine. She didn't want to leave until they were as close to done as possible.



Even though it was an extremely last minute, unplanned trip out - she somehow still showed up at the door with a couple birthday gifts and cupcakes :) Moms are the best.



A while back Katie had showed me some ideas for favors, including a super cute idea of hot chocolate in little test tubes. It was definitely the most economical idea and I always love something homemade. Thanks for the idea, Katie!



While we were working on those, Eric was grilling up some chicken for dinner. We took a break from the favors to eat dinner and watch some football.



My mom had brought over red velvet cupcakes - the best! They didn't last long at our house.



Thank you so much for coming, mom! Your visit was a valuable birthday gift in itself!



On Tuesday Eric and I went over to his parents' house for a little celebration. They go all out for birthdays! When we walked in, they had decorated with streamers and balloons everywhere.





We got to spend lots of time visiting and FaceTiming with his sister's family which was a lot of fun.





His mom had made the cutest and most delicious cake. I even got all the candles out in one try ;)



And gifts too - they are way too sweet to me. I lucked out on getting to marry into a pretty awesome family. Thank you for everything!



Wednesday was my actual birthday. I knew I was going to have to work late that day and would be pretty tired when I got home so we didn't make any big plans. When I got home Eric had decorated the house in streamers and balloons as well. It was so sweet. That night we just got comfy and were lazy on the couch the rest of the night. It was perfect :)



Thank you to everyone who made my birthday so special. All the calls and texts and love - I have some pretty amazing people in my life. I'm very excited for everything the next year may bring!

In his element

Happy New Year!! I would give you an update on our crazy New Years but it was very low-key. Eric was still getting over being sick so he actually ended up falling asleep around 9:30. I got some stuff done around the house and woke him up at 11:59 to watch the ball drop :) Welcome 2017! I'm certainly never against a quiet night in. I hope you all had a safe, enjoyable New Year!

Over the holidays, my mom and I told my brother to let us know about his hockey schedule to see if we could make it to a game since he's finally back in the area. Since most of his games don't even start until around 10:30-11 PM, we knew we probably wouldn't be able to make many of them. Luckily that week, one of his games just so happened to be rescheduled to 8:40 PM, which is pretty much unheard of. So we definitely took advantage to meet up at the ice rink to watch him play.



I actually realized I hadn't seen my brother play hockey in probably 10-15 years. It's such a big part of his life, it was so fun to see him in his element!



He's number 11.



I remember going to so many of his games when he played inline, and then spending so much time at the ice house for games and practices when he started playing ice hockey (and I only went to a fraction of his games/practices). He would play on multiple teams at a time, practically living on the ice outside of school. It was very nostalgic to be back watching him play.





It was also really nice to get to spend some time with Holly, Mark's wife. Mark and Eric play on the same team again now, but they've been friends for 20 years. I remember them playing hockey on roller blades back when we first moved into my mom's neighborhood, so to see them on the ice still playing together now is pretty cool.



I hope many, many more of his games get pushed up to a time I can actually make it to! I loved watching him play again.