The First Dance

I have been thinking about the first dance for a long time, maybe even before I got engaged. I have been looking for a few good dance classes in the metro area so if anybody out there has any good recommendations please pass them along.

Now, I found this dance on YouTube when I was looking for some fresh ideas. I think this would blow my family away...what do you guys think? :) Click the link below to view the video!

Click Here To View The YouTube Video

Possible Wedding Songs

So I want the music to be fantastic during the reception. Here are a list of songs I have been thinking about...

• Aretha Franklin "You're All I Need To Get By"



• Tim McGraw "My Best Friend"



• Al Green "Let's Get Married"



• Nat King Cole "Unforgettable"



• Ben E. King "Stand By Me"



• Rod Steward "Have I Told You Lately"



• Elton John "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"



• Billy Joel "Just The Way You Are"



• Billy Joel "Shes Got A Way"

Oh there are tons of country songs that would be perfect...but that's for another blog post :)

It's All About The Bling- The Engagement Ring

So when my HTB and I started looking at engagement rings we were so overwhelmed. Everybody seemed to have really good advice for us. I had a jeweler that I had worked with in the past and I of course went to him first. We worked with Guvens Fine Jewelry. This is a family-owned jewelry store with a large and beautiful assortment of rings to choose from.


I remember walking into Mr. Guven's store at the Mall of Georgia with this awesome feeling...I felt special and like a one-of-a-kind bride to be. Mr. Guven worked with us to find the perfect setting then gave us a wide array of options for the stone. I picked two settings that I loved for their unique designs and then picked out two different cut of stones that I liked for each. I let the HTB do the rest at another time.


It was really fun to go ring shopping together, and I really recommend it to all the gals out there. This is a piece of jewelry that you will be wearing for the rest of your life, it only seems appropriate that you would help pick it out. (This is my practical side talking, not the romantic one). We did visit other stores and learned more about the pricing of diamonds because we wanted to make sure we were getting a good quality stone for our hard earned money.


So here is some of the knowledge that I learned that may help some of you out there when looking for your diamond...


The 4 C's

• Cut: This is the shape, proportion, and cutting style of the diamond. What you are looking for in a good cut is a stone's "fire" meaning that there is a lot of light and brilliance in the stone. If a stone is poorly cut it will appear to leak color out the sides, and will not show the stone's natural color. It will appear dull and lifeless.


• Clarity: Clarity is the degree to which a stone approaches perfection. Keep in mind that stones have natural flaws. Internally they are called inclusions and externally they are called blemishes. There are eleven grades in the Gemological Institute of America's scale that range from flawless (F or FL) to stones where inclusions can be seen with the naked eye (I).


• Color: Color, like clarity, is rated on a scale. A perfect diamond has no color and would be given a "D" on the scale. Diamonds with the most yellow or brown color would be rated on the scale at a N-Z rating.


• Carat: Carat is a unit measurement for a diamond's weight. One carat weighs about the same as a paperclip.

Diamonds are rated and priced with the consideration of the 4 C's. A diamond with a carat weight of one can be considerably more expensive it has very little color and has a near perfect clarity than another one carat diamond.

Breaking The News-- When it doesn't go smoothly...

OK breaking the news doesn't always go as smoothly as you hope...

While all of my family was on-board and excited that we were engaged I had a bit of a hang-up with an old friend...

My friend (we will change the name to save the innocent hehe) Sabrina and I had been friends since elementary school. We moved away from each other and slowly over the years grew apart. Although I still consider a friend, we are certainly not as similar as we had once been. We have different friends, different lifestyles, and different dreams than when we had been so close as children.

I called her a day after we got engaged to let her know the big news...the response I got was..."I had better be your Maid of Honor!". Okay that was not what I was expecting...she had met my HTB once and we had dated for four years! I was in shock and immediately I got defensive and froze. I didn't know what to say so I managed something to the effect of "Wow! I hadn't even thought about that yet". She went on to share her pessimistic outlook on my relationship which made me find a reason to get off the phone fast! Looking back I wish I had attacked the situation head-on and explained my true feelings instead of letting it go for so long.

Today, almost a year after that conversation, I have only texted with her once or twice and have avoided the wedding conversation all together. I have already chosen the girls that I want to stand next to me at my wedding, and breaking that news to my old friend will be really hard. Today I will be calling to get her address for the save the date that I am sending out...ohhh boy!

Setting the Date

My HTB didn't have a lot to say about the actual day that we got married. We were not attached to a date like a dating anniversary or the date that we got engaged and were wide open to suggestions for the perfect date.

One very unique thing about our engagement is that the day that my HTB proposed we had been dating for 1, 234 days. The joke in our family is that we will have a huge celebration when we hit 5,678...ok cheesy but strange at the same time :)

My mom, The Mother of the Bride (MOB), did have plenty of suggestions as to the date that we would be married. We chose September 5th. This is the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. Any native Atlanta resident knows that we generally have awesome weather this weekend, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for pristine weather since we are having an outdoor ceremony.

The reason that the MOB wanted this weekend is to help accommodate our large number of out of town guests. Much of our family lives on the West coast and the extra day off from work will make travel easier. The downside of this is that hotel rooms and flights tend to be a bit more expensive. To help our family with this we made sure to let them know right away that our date would fall on a holiday weekend and to start booking early.

These are some holidays to perhaps think twice about before committing...

• April Fool's Day
• Christmas
• Father's Day
• Friday the 13th
• September 11th
• Superbowl weekend (HTB would flip if I messed up his TV viewing pleasure!)

Breaking The News...Our Engagement Party

So I am at that point in my life where a lot of my friends are getting engaged or married. My HTB (husband to be) and I did things a little less traditionally than some of our other friends. We announced to my parents that we were thinking of getting engaged, then suddenly we were thrown into full planning mode. HTB and I were purchasing a home before we knew it, and hadn't gotten engaged yet!

I tend to be a more practical gal, but I did want an element of surprise to my engagement story. After all you will tell this story for the rest of your life (and countless number of times for the two weeks following your engagement). Being a good HTB, I got a great story and a great ring and we were off to the races.

My future mother in-law (FMI) threw us a great engagement/going away party since we would be moving into the new home together prior to getting married. (this was a sticky subject with some of our family, but I have to say living together before marriage was a personal choice and it has worked for us). We didn't use a formal invitation for our engagement party, just a general word of mouth to family and friends about a month before the event. My FMI is a great cook and prepared a huge spread of yummy rolled tacos and appropriate side dishes. (she is Hispanic, and I just happen to LOVE Mexican food) The rolled tacos were perfect because they were hand held and contained...in other words they weren't messy and didn't spill! Many of our guests stood and mingled (because we had a house-full). We of course had chairs for those who wanted to sit.

I did of course ask my HTB to give a toast to thank everybody for coming together and sharing the special time with us. I know he was nervous about this so I showed him this website to help him put together a great toast. Click Here To Visit The Love To Know Site.

All in all, our engagement party was just what I wanted, a gathering of friends and family and really good food. It was less formal than others may want. Here are some ideas to make your engagement party perfect...

• The guest list should be limited to those who you will be inviting to the wedding. If you are unsure of your guest list for the wedding play it safe and invite family members and close friends.
• It was traditional for the couple to greet their guests at the door as they arrived at the party. This can make people feel uncomfortable and also create a long line at the door. Today, I would recommend creating name tags for each of your guests. The tags should include the guest's name and something like "Susie's college roommate" or "Steve's co-worker". This will help your guests mingle.
• You should consider activities to bring guests together. If you are having a backyard BBQ consider lawn games. You can also create a quiz about the couple to test guest's knowledge of the couple's history.
• Consider hosting the party at a restaurant. Many restaurants in our area have separate dining rooms for large gatherings. You can talk to the restaurant ahead of time to create a specialty menu to help minimize cost. Guests also appreciate a specialty menu as it alleviates any concern for their choice of dinner entree.

My Two Dads...At the Engagement Party

My HTB and FMIL (Future Mother-In Law)

One of My Besties (as in best friend)

I'm Engaged...Now What?

I am a local Atlanta resident and guess what...I just got engaged! Well...not exactly, I got engaged almost a year ago, but I am just now getting around to planning my wedding.

I am an only child, and my mom has been dreaming of the perfect wedding for me since I was five years old. The stories have varied from a Snow White wedding walking down Peachtree Street in Atlanta with the release of live doves. The most recent story has helped shaped my actual wedding which will take place over Labor Day Weekend this September.

This September the guests at my wedding with experience a near perfect Italian celebration of two people coming together to celebrate their love. (cough...it sounds a little mushy). This blog is all about the questions I have or had in getting to the alter. Anybody out there in cyber space is welcome to contribute or ask questions!