The 2nd day of shopping for "the perfect dress"...

Today we visited Bella Couture in Mt. Laurel, I have never been to this side of town but its an absolute adorable side of town!!!

We walked into the store at 12 noon before I had even introduced myself to the owner I saw "the perfect dress" it was across the room hanging on the end of one of the racks in the room!! After realizing that I was just standing there staring at "the dress" I introduced myself to the sweet owner. I told her I wanted to try the dress on b/c I knew that's what I wanted. This store had a great variety of dresses and really they were all so gorgeous. I picked out about 7 dresses but I wanted to try on "the" dress first. I put it on and fell in love with it, I tried on 2 other dresses and this started to confuse me b/c I loved different parts of the other 2 dresses. Its so hard for me to make a decision but after trying "the dress" back on I told my mom that this was it!!! She started crying :) We took a couple of pictures, took my measurements realized I needed to loose 5 pounds and ordered the dress!!! This are moving ahead so quickly... tomorrow is cake tasting day!! YUMMY

1st day of shopping for "the perfect wedding dress"!!

Monday August 3, 2009 me and mom started out early this day we drove up to Hartselle Alabama. Its definitely a very small town but has so much character it is adorable just driving down the street. Mrs. Judy (chads mother) keeps me updated on the new wedding dresses in the windows :) We went in and worked with a sweet girl melissa that day, I think I tried on about 30 dresses that day, this was a great day b/c it helped me figure out the kind of style of dress I wanted! After a couple of hours I was overwhelmed so we headed out for a quick lunch in the town and then headed back home. I needed to go home and think.....

The first 6 weeks of our engagement!!

My life over the past 43 days... Chad & I got engaged June 29, we spent the rest of the week in St. Augustine/Panama City. We got home July 5, I started right away looking up venues, we visited several that week including: B&A warehouse, Canterbury united Methodist church (I absolutely love this church but it was booked), The tutwiler & The Club. I spent hours emailing, researching and calling different locations. On July 11 we visited Gabrella Manor & by July 16 we had Gabrella booked for may 8, 2010. This was a very exciting day knowing exactly where the wedding was going to take place made me feel relieved. I just knew Gabrella Manor was "the" place, we walked around the house and when I saw the exact location of where I would be standing I had chill bumps I knew it was meant to be. I just love the place!! I stayed busy working over the next couple of weeks but my next goal was to find a photographer after emailing, researching prices and calling several photographers I was definitely frustrated but its so crazy how things work out. A quick email to a friend Sunny Sheppard made things fall so quickly into place. I looked up Kellenjacob.com and once again the chill bumps came, after scrolling to the wedding photos and coming across Rachel Mann Aldridges (aka one of my best friends in the world and also one of my bridesmaids) wedding photos I picked up the phone calling her telling her I wanted Kellen as my photographer I think I made her call his wife to see if may 8 was available. Lets just say I was having a hard time focusing at work that day, I was so excited. Monday July 20 we went to kellens home, he was cooking pasta for his family!!! We just sat down and talked to him and decided that night to go ahead and book him for the date. The following week I left for Connecticut well that is another crazy store in itself... I luckily made it home safely after a night in a micro hotel in Atlanta Georgia. I finished work that week and was counting down the minutes until I got to start my 7 on 7 off shift, this was another blessing that came at the perfect time. I worked my first week on last week, it was tiring and very different from day shift but a lot less stress which is so helpful right now....