I found the one and now I found THE DRESS

Okay so I am so sorry it has taken so long to blog about this, we are having camera issues with finding the cord to get the pictures on the computer. But trust me I am still just as giddy about this dress as I was the day we found it!!

So let me start my rambling and tell you all about the special day... first of all we went to two different bridal salons, we started out at Anya Bridal in atlanta, i highly recommend some of their dresses, and they have great prices. My best friend (Maid of Honor) got her dress here!! I tried about 8 dresses on there and found 3 "favorites". I then went to Davids Bridal and tried on another 8 or so... but didn't really have any favorites that day.

One thing about Davids Bridal is they do not like you to flip thru the dresses, they want to get them from you so if you dont already have some picked out, your at the mercy of your bridal consultant to get to know your style and find what you would like. But anywho, I decided to go home and come back again a week later to try on the favorites and see if anything else jumped out at me... so I did, a week later after my mom returned from Jamaica we all went again.... we started off at Davids Bridal and were blessed to have the BEST bridal consultant ever, she really got to know me. But most importantly, the second I walked in the door my eyes were glued to this dress on display at the front... and the rest is history...

I fell inlove. Everyone talks about that "moment" where it hits you and you cry, and everyone with you cried. I have always that wouldnt happen because I put so much pressure on myself with things like this.. but it happened. I walked out and honestly couldnt feel my legs. I tried so hard not to cry but i did, and then seeing 3 of the most important women in my life crying as well, I definately couldn't fight the emotions.

There was just something about walking out in that dress and seeing myself, seeing what Wesley would be seeing as I walked down the aisle. I got some emotional thinking about walking down to him, I cry just thinking about it so I dont know how I will handle it the day of. He truly is my prince charming..and I cant wait til that moment when I see him for the first time.. Oh gosh, i cannot wait!!

So after going thru the process of shopping for THE DRESS, here is my advice to give if anyone wants to take it...
1) Consider who you bring with you. I am a very easily persuaded person when it comes to things like this and my biggest fear was that if someone said something or acted like they didnt like the dress that I actually LOVED that i would give in and agree, so I just respectfully told the ones coming with me that unless I looked GOD AWFUL in the dress or it was just hideous to not say that. I wanted their honest opinion but I needed to make my opinion first.
2) Dont try on 9,000 dresses!! If you dont know what you want in the beginning, try on several dresses that are completely different. I tried on mermaid dresses, i tried on the Princess Kate dress, the ballgown, the A-line, everything. And doing that it will help you narrow down what your style is, and then the consultant will bring out those dresses only from now.
3) Always try on a veil and shoes with each dress, it really makes a different and puts everything together.
4) Wear little to no makeup, some girls buy their dresses off the rack and you dont want getting stains on what could be someones dream dress. Plus, it makes coming in and out of dresses better.
5) Wear "whole butt undies". Lol your going to have someone seeing your in bare essentials so dont wear anything you wouldnt feel comfortable with a stranger seeing you in, alot!
6) Come first thing when they open or on a week day, it worked for me. I didnt want there to be 900 other girls tryin on dresses at the same time.
7) Be honest! Dont feel pressured to like a dress because the consultant was so excited about it and just knew you would love it!
8) Dont eat a full three course meal before trying on dresses, yes its a time to enjoy time with your loved ones but the appetizer, meal and splitting dessert with my mom and nana wasn't worth it when trying on dresses ha
9) Have fun!! I had the best time ever on this day and wouldnt change a thing!!
10) Last but not least, take LOTS of pictures!!
And now here are some of the pictures I can show you.... by the way, I have decided to not show anyone pictures of my dress, just another way to surprise people. :)

(apparently the mint in my mouth wanted in the picture lol)

(i'm possibly the luckiest girl in the world to have these ladies by my side thru all of this!!)

(3 Generations)

 

(so here is perfect evidence that I am not a professional blogger, but after reading all i wrote its probably a great time to stretch and twist your head to the side, ya know just for good ergonomics posture )

 (my best friend, mother and role model)

(the lady who made us who my mom and I are today!! I love you Nana)

(so blessed to have such a wonderful future MIL. love her!!)

:)

(This picture is for my Wes only lol)

(the only "picture" you'll get of THE dress)

 (Me controlling the camera, wanting pictures of my beautiful mother purchasing my dress!!)

 (The wonderful Ms. Ann!)

(They are so fun!)

Okay so wedding planning is what I live, eat, dream and sleep. So ANY advice or suggestions would be soooo greatly appreciated. I am currently in the process of choosing how I want to do invitations, videography, photobooth?, florist, bakery for cake....

<3, brittany

Pinterest has captured my interest...

So if you have not visited Pinterest.com yet then you are missing out big time. I feel like I am officially addicted. It is a website full of different photos. Photos of weddings, DIY projects, recipes, seasonal decorations... just everything. And you can make your own account, so that when you find cute ideas you can save them :) Here are a few of my favorites from today...

This is my dream master bedroom, my favorite is the chandelier. Could I put this on mine and Wesleys gift registry? hehe :)

I think this is the most adorable recipe. I will try it soon!!

Love these wedding shoes!!!!! Not sure if I would be able to walk in them all night but they are gorgeous!!!!

Would love to replicate this for our first child someday... in about 4 years!

Speaking of babies, my dream is to have a little Wesley someday. I love his beautiful red hair and I would love to have a little mini-me of Wes running around.

Last but not least, my favorite find of the day. This would be a great Christmas gift, birthday gift or just because? ;) Isn't it beautiful!!!

Thanks for reading!! All these pictures are from Pinterest.com. Check it out!!! And find me on there so we can follow eachother!! Goodnight :)

<3 Britt

Bridesmaid REVEAL

Ahh I am SOO happy to finally be able to tell the girls who will be standing beside me on the most important day of my life who they are. It was never any doubt in my mind who I wanted to share the special day with but I wanted to make it special for THEM so I have waited until the time was right, although I know for some it seemed like forever ;)

I have been so blessed with such amazing friends and if I could I would have everyone of them in my wedding. But this blog has been a long time coming because I have been soo ready to tell them but I just had to wait.

So first let me announce the girls...

 This is the wonderful Brittany Mullins. She is one of the best things that happened to me in dental hygiene school. We met the first week of class and hit it off from there. We were inseperable. Ask any of our teachers and friends, wherever "Lemons" was "Chapman" was also!! (Lemons is going to be her new last name in a month when she gets married!!) Brittany means the world to me and thats why I chose her to be my Maid of Honor (MOH as the cool people say). Friendship is not about the time you have known someone, its about the depth of your friendship and Brittany will always be a part of my life, no matter what. 

  And here is Miss Katie Watkins, I have known Katie since highschool. Katie has always been the girl I can go to when I need someone to really confide in. She has been there for me through some of the most difficult times of my life and you know you have a true friend when I can go weeks and months without seeing her but when we do we haven't missed a beat.  There have literally been times in my life where I know talking to Katie will solve all my problems. I just love her. Also, she is in nursing school and hopefully will someday help in delivering my babies!! I love my 'italian girl' and am so excited to have her with me on the big day!!

  My Marg, I love this girl. This is Margaret Turner. I have been friends with Margaret for the longest, I believe she is my soul sister. We have grown up in church together. I dont think there is anyone out there with such a beautiful heart as Margaret. We have grown up praying for eachother and sharing in the good and bad times this life brings us. But having her as my sister in Christ has been the biggest blessing. I thank God for this girl everyday. There is nothing I wouldn't do for her, I love her so much!!

  Miss Rebecca!! This here is Becca Noone. God blessed me when he placed this girl right next door to me in my first place. I moved out my last year of college to live in Athens. It was a growing experience for me in general but also a chance for me to meet some lifelong friends. I moved into "2200" not knowing Becca but quickly becoming super close. If you need a laugh, call 1-800-NOONE because this girl keeps me laughing constantly. We have shared many moments crying together, laughing together or just dancing to our 90's music. I love her so much and am so glad that despite the craziness of our house, I found a true best friend!!

  My Holly!!! This is Holly Blissitt, better known to me as my "Lylas" (Love ya like a sister) I met Holly as well when I moved out on my own to Athens. I always knew of her but had never met her. Sweetest girl EVER!! She is precious, I dont think there is any other way to describe her. She has the sweetest heart and has been such a shoulder to cry on. We both date red heads and we think they are the most adorable things on earth. We are soo alike its not even funny so we rely on eachother alot since we understand how the other thinks and feels. I am so thankful God placed her in "2200" as well!! He knew what he was doing thats for sure.

  My not-so-little sister, Tiffany Chapman. She is growing up way too fast. I look at Tiffany and I see me in so many ways. Not only the fact that we resemble eachother tremendously, but we have both had the same struggles in life and we both got one of our Daddy's best traits, a big heart. I love this girl so much and there is not a day that goes by that I am not proud of her, proud of who she is already and proud of what I know she will be someday. She is a tough cookie, like her sister, and she wont let anything stand in her way of living the life God has blessed her with. I am so excited to have my little sister standing up there with me. I hope I can always be the big sister to her that she deserves. I love you Sis!!

 Sweet Lindsey!! This is Lindsey Zottarelli. I met Lindsey in highschool and we hit it off immediately. Thru going to college together, to our trip to the beach, to working together at bath and body works, Lindsey is my girl. She always lends an ear when I am in the mood to ramble and returns the favor and rambles back :) We have such a fun friendship but I know that I can always come to Lindsey when times are hard and she will be there. She may be small but she has a huge heart and I love her so much. Someday she will be on CSI Atlanta doing some crazy investigator stuff. You go girl!!

Aren't they all so beautiful???? And the best part, they are just as beautiful inside as out!!! God truly blessed me with each of these girls, they have been such great friends (and sister) to me and I can only pray that they feel the same about me. These girls never gave up on me when I was being hammered with the stresses of dental hygiene school or when I thought I would die if I didnt spend every second with Wesley and tended to miss out on hanging with just the girls. They have loved me from day one and I have loved them as well. I cannot wait to do all the fun bridesmaid stuff with them. AHH I am so excited!!

Okay so back to tonight, so here is how it all went down, it seems to me that wedding planning is all about the bride and everything she wants but the bridal party doesnt get the attention they deserve. I know I may have gone a little overboard (Wes even asked me once if I thought I was a Kardashian ha hes so cute!!).  So Wesley had already told all of his groomsmen in his own "manly" way but I wanted to take a little time to make my best girl friends feel special. I know that I am not royalty and its not about how lucky they are to be in my wedding, its how lucky I am to have them in my life and share my special day with me.

So several weeks ago I messaged each of my bridesmaid individually asking them to please pencil me in for September 2nd @ 6pm. I was very to the point and didnt provide alot of details. Luckily they all said they would do that and actually stuck to it! Since then I have gotten texts saying "umm so where are we going?" or "is it only us?" or "what should i wear?". Trying to lie to these girls has been hard because I didnt want them telling eachother that they were hanging out with me tonight cause then they would know somethings up so I told them to keep it a secret, and that they did!! I was very proud to know none of them spilled to the other one that they were hanging out with me (congrats Katie and Lindsey!!). So I kept putting off their questions with just saying "just show up :)!!"

Meanwhile at home, my Mom and I have been making their cards and preparing their gifts. I bought them all a silk make up bag that had "Bridesmaid" or "Maid of Honor" in rhinestones. Also, I made a card with all the wedding colors with a poem that goes as follows:

The day, the dress
The bride, the groom
The joy, the tears
Will all come so soon

Confessing true love
To my husband-to-be
With family and friends
All watching me

I hope the sun will
Be shining down,
Keep your fingers crossed
That I'll fit in my gown…

But there's just one more thing
that there needs to be…
and that's to have you
Standing with me!


Will you be my bridesmaid?

Of course I forgot to get a picture of the final product, but I'll get one of the girls to send me one and I'll update later :) But here are the pics from the work in progress..

Also, I decided to order some delicious cupcakes from Ms. Pam Reagan (who also has a super cute blog going so check it out here).So this morning I met her to get my cupcakes and couldn't have been more pleased. Why this lady doesn't have her own bakery (or show for that matter) beats me!! Check out her work.

Adorable huh? And on top I added these..

 So the girls all showed up to Italian Oven and probably were a little shocked to see that I had place cards with their names on them at the table and that it wasn't just them there. To keep it a secret I kind of told them it was just them :) So I know as people kept showing up they must've been figuring out what was going on, but I waited until everyone was there and passed out the bags.

In the bag was their cosmetic bag that said bridesmaid on it and a card with that poem above on it asking them to be my bridesmaid. After that, it was all fun and games because I no longer had to lie to them!!

Yay. These girls now know how special they are to me!! We had such a great dinner and I enjoyed the laughs :) Also, thanks to my beautiful mother who payed for our meals, I love you so much!! So glad you were there to share these memories with me. After dinner we enjoyed our delicious chocolate brownie cupcakes!!

 I love these girls... being silly as always. Now here are a few more pictures from tonight..

 This next one we call the "Wes"... gotta love him!!

Thank you girls so much for accepting my request :) I love you lots and am very excited about  what the next 260 days have in store for us..and also what the future holds for each of you :) :)

Thanks for reading this blog, be on the look out for my next blog about THE DRESS. Yes, yes I found it!! I have just been so busy this week preparing for tonight I havent had time to write yet... thanks to my "followers" for making this blogging experience even more fun!!

Love you all,

and

GO DAWGS!! Show em whats up with our awesome new uniforms!!