It's getting close and we're tying up some loose ends!

So, here we are not too far from the wedding. I am getting more and more excited and more and more nervous all the time! I'm not at all nervous about who I am marrying, but I am nervous about everybody watching me and having to talk in front of that many people, while probably crying (but hopefully not the "ugly cry"!!! Y'all know what that is.....scrunched up face, squinty eyes, snot....sorry, had to throw that in there)!!! It just makes me, well, nervous!

Anyways, one of the issues I have had with this wedding the entire planning process is the ceremony music. Adam and I are trying to "budget", cut corners where we can. We were going to just use an IPOD for the music and have one of the video guys he works with control it during the ceremony since they have a lot of technical experience. Well, this has never really settled well with me and it has never been set in stone that they would do this. It has always kind of been up in the air. I don't find IPOD's that easy to use when you have to be so precise with it, such as fading in and out songs, finding the right song right away, starting and stopping on point. So, after much uneasiness, we decided to go with a string trio. You can check them out at briandeyo.com. We are really excited. It is not your normal string trio in that there is a classical guitar thrown in rather than two violins or a violin and viola. So, it consists of the violin, classical guitar, and cello. I liked that this was a little different from the mainstream, but still beautiful and classic. I am feeling much more comfortable about it now!!!

Adam and I hope to have the invitations out next week. I love that I keep saying "Adam and I". Y'all know I mean "I". LOL.....he just hasn't had much time to help, although, when under the gun, he did come through with FINALLY getting the addresses he needed to get together. So, for that I am happy. I do plan on putting him to more work after Sunday when the season is over!!!

We have many showers scheduled in January. I believe it's at four now!!! We are so blessed to have so many friends and family who want to help us out during this incredible time in our lives. We feel so honored!!! God has truly shown us how caring people can be and for that we are so grateful.

Until next time.............WHO DEY!!! :-)

WOW!

Sorry I haven't updated lately, but I will do better, I promise!!! I do have a bit more news to share, so I will do that when it is not 11:30 pm and I do not have to get up at 5:30 am!!!! But, just wanted to say that the wedding is two months from today! How times flies! I am so excited to marry my best friend. He is truly an amazing man. AND, he will get to help me with wedding stuff more in one week! He had his last away game today and the last game of the season is next week, so our time together will not be so sporadic and filled with him falling asleep! I can't wait!!! :-)

More updates! Can you believe it?

So, things just seem to be moving right along now! I have a few more updates for y'all. We went to Men's Wearhouse Monday night and picked out the tuxes! We are going to do a classic, two button tux with vest and tie. No bow-tie, just tie. Adam's vest is ivory, has a bit of a paisley pattern on it (very subtle) and a striped ivory tie (again, very subtle). The groomsmen are going to be in basic black vests with "watermelon" and black striped ties. The watermelon color is like a fuschia. That's just what they call it. I love progress!

We also picked out Adam's ring and I will go pick it up tomorrow. It is tungston (I have no idea if I spelled that right) and kind of a muted steel looking color. It's got dark gray around the middle, too. I like it a lot. It looks very.....modern, plus it holds up well against scratches and what not.

The hotel for the night before the wedding (where my girls and I will stay) and the night of our wedding is booked! This is one of the perks of Adam's job. He knows people who have connections to all kinds of people. So, he asked one of the Bengals guys if they could help him on getting good rates on hotels and he came through! We are staying at the Westin downtown. The suite we booked for the night before is a very expensive room that we got discounted A TON! I mean A TON! So, that was good news. They also got us a great rate for the night of the wedding, so we are pretty excited about that. It is always great when we can save some money!!!

Finally, I believe we have finally decided where we are going on our honeymoon! We are about 95% sure we are going to Sarasota, Florida. Siesta Key, Turtle Beach, etc. are all around there so that will be nice. Also, the Reds first spring training game is on February 25th, so we will go to that. I told Adam we could go to ONE game. I'm not trying to spend my honeymoon at the ballpark as much as I love my Reds! Oh, by the way, we are driving!!! I am TERRIFIED to fly, although I've done it a number of times, but I am just not feeling it. So, the Sunday afternoon after the wedding we are heading south, probably stopping over in Atlanta and then driving in to Florida! We will get there Monday, leave Friday sometime, get to Louisville Saturday, stay in Louisville, go to the Louisville basketball game Sunday afternoon and then go home! We won't be tired, right?! We love road trips, though, so I am sure it will be awesome!

I will give more updates as they come!!!!!

I'm a Slacker

Yeah, so I obviously haven't been updating like I should! I'm gonna try to be better about this. Really. I am. :-)

So, let's see. Do I have any updates? To be honest, the major things are done. We already have the venue, the dresses, the cake, the flowers, the photographer. Oh.....there you go. Cathy and Mark Lyons are going to do our photography. For those who don't know, they have been friends of our family for years. She did my senior pictures and recently took family pics of all of us. I really like their work and am really excited that they agreed to do this!!!

I am currently in the process of trying to find some good "wedding" shoes. This seems to be much harder than I originally thought because I don't want silver, gold, or clear. I want a very subtle off white and I don't really want strappy because it's going to be February. I have gone all over......Macy's, Von Maur, Off Broadway, Nine West, on and on and on. I guess I will just have to have a shoe day and shop all day!!!

I did buy the earrings for my girls. We are going with gold. I am happy with them. They are pretty simple, but have a little bit of "funk" to them. So, the earrings will be gold, the dresses black, shoes black or gold (their choosing), and almost fuschia flowers for them with probably gold ribbon around the stems. Yay!!!

Also, Adam and I headed out to Louisville this weekend where Jack and Gail Jeffries live (more friends of the family). Jack is a graphic designer and he helped create our invitations, RSVP cards, envelopes, and also is going to make our programs. We are so thankful that he is doing this for us so a HUGE thank you to him. As always, it was really good getting to see them and anytime I get to head out to the Ville it makes me happy. Go Cards!!!

Well, I better get back to work! I'm on my lunch break, but I will try hard to update more often!!!!

Update: Progress is being Made!

We have booked the florist! Woo-hoo! We (well, I...lol) have decided to go with Katie Elfers (Inspired Floral Designs, LLC) as our florist for the wedding. I LOVE her ideas and how she worked with me on a budget. It was far less expensive than I thought it would be and I am getting what I want! PINK ROSES! I love pink and I love roses, so the flowers will be various shades of pink. We are not having a lot of flowers (too expensive for decorations and centerpieces), but what we are having is going to be beautiful. My bouquet will be about 23-25 pale pink roses. My girls will have pink hydrangeas with 3-5 hot pink (fuschia) roses. The moms and his grandmother are going to have pale pink wrist corsages and the cake will have kind of bubblegum colored pink roses on it. I love it and can't wait to see how it turns out! I decided to have the guys go with pink pocket handkerchiefs instead of boutenniers to save some money. I know this sounds like a lot of pink, but the pink will only be in the flowers, handkerchiefs, and ties. The bridesmaid dresses are black and I think I want the groomsmen to wear black vests and then just have the pink tie (between bubblegum pink - fuschia....I'll have to see how it looks) and then the pocket handkerchiefs. Very exciting!

Oh, and we also finished registering. We went to Kohls last night and registered there, although we didn't really register for much. I felt like we did but we didn't ever register for 50 things there. Oh well! I am just done with the whole registering thing.....it's a bit overwhelming. There is so much "stuff". So, I feel like we picked what we needed (and just wanted) and we are now done. I had fun with it, though. I thought it was a good time and Adam didn't complain too much. :-) Until next time........

It has begun...........

So, the season has begun (well, preseason) and my time with Adam has gotten considerably less and less. In fact, we really haven't gotten to see much of one another over the past few weeks and won't see too much of one another throughout August. It is pretty much "training camp mode" this whole month and then regular season mode which means a TON of hours worked for Adam. This is gonna be a tough time for us (it already had been....absence really does make the heart grow fonder) because we are so used to seeing one another, but I'm sure the wedding will seem like it is here in no time!!!! It pretty much happens right after the season is over!!!! I have definitely found that I am so blessed to have found him. He is such an amazing man and person and always makes me feel loved no matter where he is. I couldn't ask for more. I love him (so good thing I'm marrying him, right???!!!)!!! Look for him on TV and, as always, WHO DEY!

This is gonna be a lot of fun!!!!!

And I hope you can sense the sarcasm in that statement. I kinda debated posting this or not, but I thought, hey, why not? Maybe this will help motivate me even more! I have officially started the wedding weight loss program. Basically this program is a diet, nothing more, nothing less. It started this past Monday and so far so good! I am limiting myself to 1300 calories or less per day and I am going to try to work out four times a week to start out. I think I will only be able to work out three times this week, but I don't want to make this something that stresses me out. We actually started a competition at work.... a weight loss challenge. I fully intend to win, as I am very much the competitor, but even more than that, I want to feel beautiful for my wedding day. So, I am letting you all in on this journey with me! Now, for the record, if you see me on Sunday at a restaurant or if you happen to go out to lunch with me on Sunday at some point, I am letting you know upfront....I will be eating whatever I want. That will be my cheat day. I have to have a cheat day or I would go crazy. I'm sure you all understand. Anyways, hopefully this blog will hold me even more accountable! Wish me luck!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

We booked the wedding cake tonight!!!! Yay! We are very excited. We went to the cake tasting to see if we would like this lady and the cakes she makes and let me just say, they are very good. So, we decided to just go ahead and book her for the wedding! It is Tres Belle Cakes. I would highly recommend her if you know anyone else getting married or just anyone that needs a cake for an event. She does all kinds. I'm not going to put up a picture of what the cake will look like cause I want it to be a surprise, but I will tell you the flavors. The first layer is going to be white cake with raspberry filling. The second layer is chocolate with oreo cream filling (Adam's choice!!). Third is the strawberry cake with cream cheese filling, and the final two layers are lemon poppyseed with almond filling. Sooooooooooooo good, especially the white cake with raspberry. That made me happy. So, things are just moving along how they should. So far nothing has made me freak out....well, I take that back. Thinking about money has made me freak out, but that's a wedding for ya!!!! I hope y'all like my cake when you try it!!!!

Yeah, you guessed it!

We registered! We had to do it early because Adam will not be in town much once the season starts. So, we headed out to Bed Bath and Beyond this weekend and got started on our registry! We were there for quite some time, but, much to Adam's surprise, it was fun! We registered for everything from cookware, to shower curtains, from garbage cans, to picture frames. We both felt like we had scanned a ton of stuff, but evidently it was not that much because they told us we had a ways to go!!! We did not register for any bedding because they didn't really have anything we liked in the store. We may have to do that online or register somewhere else for that. But, I did really like the things we did register for, especially our dishes and bathroom items. If you want to check out what we registered for you can just go to bedbathandbeyond.com, go to bridal and gift registry, give a gift, and then type in my name, hit go, and then click on our names. That shows everything. I hope you all like it!!! There is one random plate that we didn't register for, however. We don't know where those came from. They are the accent plates that have the black, white, and red flower like things on them. Also, for the record, the lady that helped us did all the stuff with the dishes while we were scanning other things, so there are a lot of things that I don't really think I will need, so I will edit that stuff out. And she said we need twelve of all the dishes and that just seems like a lot of dishes to me! Do you all think I will need that many? I don't know how all of this really works!!! She kept saying I would need that for when I have Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I'm thinking, when am I gonna ever do that? But, ya never know! Maybe in several years when we will actually get a house! Anyways, check it out if you want!!!!! :-)

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

What to do and where to go?

So, Adam and I are in the process of trying to figure out where to go on our honeymoon because it is always better to book way in advance (cheaper prices, etc.). We have discovered that, due to our finances (or lack thereof....lol), we are probably going to have to make this a honeymoon close to home. When I say close to home, I don't mean too close to home, but someplace within the United States. Hawaii is an option and is what Adam has wanted to do from the beginning, but I am not sure how affordable that will be for us. Do you all have any suggestions for a honeymoon within the continental United States? I was thinking Santa Barbara or Palm Springs or someplace like that. He really wants to go someplace warm, so if we stay in the US, our options are very limited since it will be February. I am open to other places so any suggestions would be helpful!

Say Cheese!!!!

So, I am trying to figure out the whole photography thing right now! I am looking at different websites and talking to different people about possibly photographing our wedding. There are so many different types of photographers, types of pictures, different kinds of styles, etc. I am finding out that I really like the black and white styles, especially when they are all black and white and have maybe the flowers in color. It's very pretty. I have been reading in different books and magazines, though, and it seems like I have a while to get it all straightened out.

On a side note (this has nothing to do with my wedding, but I just need to vent): Have you ever had someone that you loved more than life itself who continually gets hurts over and over and over again by things people say that they THINK are true, but in reality have really no truth to them at all? Yeah.... I have. And then this person gets broken down so much and it is so hard for them to crawl back when all they are trying to do is the right thing? It is horrible. There is only so much a person can take before they just can't do it anymore and things take an EVEN MORE serious toll on them. I just wish it would stop.

Again, nothing to do with my wedding, just my thoughts!!!

Ugh.... I want Chad Johnson to go away!

So, it has nothing to do with my wedding, but....

I got a new job! Yay! No more retail! Really, it was just the idea that Michelle was quitting and I couldn't bear the thought of not working with her anymore. LOL. So, my last day at Motherhood is May 7th! I start the new job May 12th. It's at a law firm in downtown Cincinnati and I will be an attorney assistant. I like the administrative aspect of things, so this will be good for me. The best part? No nights and weekends! FINALLY! This will also be really good for my relationship, too, because now Adam and I will be on more of a balanced work schedule, at least until the season starts! Just wanted to share cause I am super excited!

And just because it's my blog.....

GO REDS!!!

Dresses, dresses, dresses

I think I have found my bridesmaid dresses!!!! My best friend, Carrie, and I went dress shopping last week when I was in Louisville. We went to a few different places and at the last second we thought we would just run into David's Bridal to see if they had anything. I am not a huge fan of David's Bridal, but, wouldn't you know, that is where I found what I think will be my bridesmaid dresses! I tried to put the link for the site showing the dress on here, but it wouldn't work so I will just tell you how to view it if you want. Go to davidsbridal.com and click on bridal party. Click dress collection under bridesmaids. The dress is the first one in the second row. Just click on that and it will pop up. Be sure to select the black swatch cause their dresses will be black! I think I will have them wear gold shoes and accessories. I like black and gold. Enjoy!

BIG NEWS!!!

I bought my dress today!!! It was totally unexpected. Mom and went to Benson Street in Reading just to look around and get some ideas. We ended up at Bridal and Formal. I had absolutely no intention of buying anything. I tried on about 15 dresses and was really having no luck up until I tried on "the one". I instantly fell in love with it. Here is the gist of it.....without giving too, too much away.... it is by a Spanish designer, Pronovias. It's strapless with a scalloped neckline, ivory, and somewhat fitted all the way down until it gets to the bottom where it kind of trumpets out a bit. It has a lace overlay all the way down and it is beautiful. I also bought the veil to go with it! Only thing left now is to HIT THE TREADMILL! This is so exciting! It is everything that I wanted and I feel like it will have that dramatic effect that I want, too! Yay!!!!

And now introducing....

Here are some of the groomsmen. Starting from the top going down... Neil, Adam's older brother and best man; Nate, Adam's roommate; Brian, one of Adam's friends who worked for him at Lids a few years back, and; Brandon, Adam's best friend who he met when he interned for the Reds. I didn't have pictures of all the groomsmen, but these are four out of the six. Adam's friend, Justin, and his other brother, Scott, will also be in it.

Introducing....

My bridesmaids!!! I love them all sooooo much and I am so excited that they are going to be up there with me!!! From top to bottom they are: Jackie, my sister-in-law; Alyssa, my friend from NKU; Leah, my friend from Louisville... she goes to Douglass Hills C of C, where I went when I lived there; Stephany, my friend from work. She is so much fun and we always have a blast together. She has also converted to being a Louisville fan! Woo-hoo!; Jessica, my friend from Christian Academy who is one of my best friends to this day. She, too, is a ton of fun and a HUGE Cardinal fan!; Carrie, my matron of honor. She is also a best friend from high school, my former roommate, and a HUGE Cardinal fan, as well! We have a lot of history together, so I am so glad that she is going to be a part of this!

OK, are they serious????

What are people thinking?

OK, so my big thing right now is flowers. I keep looking at flowers in all the magazines and in books. The problem is, I feel like I have a pretty clear vision of what I want for my bouquet, I just can't really find it in any of these magazines or books. This could very well be that maybe I don't really know what I want, which could mean that I will be indecisive about many, many things during the planning of this wedding. I already envision trying on hundreds of dresses and not being able to decide. OK, maybe hundreds is a stretch. This is hard, though!

One thing I do know is that my bridesmaids dresses will be.... black. I want them very sleek and classy. I do think that I want their flowers to "pop", though. I want them bright and colorful. I'm thinking bright pinks and corals. It is going to be Valentines month, so it would be appropriate. And maybe we'll do strappy gold stilettos or strappy black stilettos for their shoes. They are so gonna hate me after this! :-)

P.S.....

You are all definitely on the list!!!! Oh, and the wedding will definitely be indoors! It will be in the east hall and will overlook downtown Cincinnati. The room is HUGE and will be big enough for the ceremony and reception. They also keep the club level open so our guests can go look at the stadium while we get our pics taken, etc. Yes, I will be freezing when we get the pics taken. A lot will be indoors, but they allow you to take pictures out on the field, so I am just gonna have to suck it up and suffer in the cold! I guess I can pretend I'm on America's Next Top Model and suffer to get the right shot. LOL. Should be fun!!!

You asked for it.....

Here is a pic of the ring! The actual wedding band is like the band of the engagement ring with the smaller diamonds going all the way across. I am thinking of adding another band to go on top of the engagement ring, too, so there would kinda be two wedding bands on either side of the engagement ring. I don't know if Adam will go for that one, though! :-) We'll see if I can talk him into it.... :-)

New to the blogspot!

Hey, y'all! I have decided to start a blog kind of documenting my wedding planning process!!! So, my blog is gonna be called "Knollman Nuptials". Knollman is Adam's last name for those who don't know. I talked to Michelle (Woolf) and she said she likes "Knollman Nuptials" so we're gonna go with that for now. Anyways, so the very beginning process of planning has begun. I have my guest list and he has his. I am now working on down-sizing my massive list (his is fine). Ya know, when you're a preacher's daughter, you meet a lot of people over the years! But, anyway, the wedding is officially going to be February 21, 2009. We had a very small window to work with. For those who don't know, Adam got his dream job. He is now the assistant equipment manager for the Cincinnati Bengals. No more selling hats! Woo-hoo! He will be working crazy hours (especially during the season), of course working all of mini camp and training camp, will travel with the team, etc., etc. Should the Bengals go to the playoffs or Superbowl (don't laugh), the season could go into early February. Then the players come back at the end of March. So, our wedding window was very small. It's all worked out, though. We're trying to come up with ideas for where to go on our honeymoon. He wants tropical. Any suggestions? Oh, by the way, the wedding and reception is going to be at... where else?... Paul Brown Stadium. I'll keep this updated as the planning comes along!