Our Engagement!!

So I feel like I jumped the gun heading straight into talking about the venue without talking about the engagement!! So here is the scoop!

I was in the Bahamas over Aaron's birthday, so I had suggested we plan a full day of fun festivities to celebrate when I got back... it turned out due to my friend Kendra's wedding, we had to delay the day of celebration until June 23rd. We settled that we would head out of town and get away from the heat. Aaron decided we should rent a convertible for the day and we went up to Sedona! Our first stop was Sunset point outside of Phoenix, I had collected gifts for Aaron along the way and his first gift was a nerf gun :)

Then our next stop was a winery outside of Sedona called Page Spring Cellars. Such a cute spot! We did a wine tasting of Arizona wines and Aaron suggested we buy a bottle to drink later on a special occasion. We then sat out on the patio for a little bit overlooking the vineyard. It was absolutely gorgeous and such a fun spot. We then went inside and enjoyed a delicious lunch. Seriously suggest you all check this place out if you are looking for a little bit of class here in the desert!

After the wine tasting we started our drive through Oak Creek Canyon between Sedona and Flagstaff. It is one of the most beautiful drives in the country and one of my favorite places in the state. A little ways into the canyon, Aaron suggested we stop by the creek and stick our feet in for a bit. As we sat with our feet in the water, in the shade of the trees and canyon walls, we took out a scrapbook he had made for me. I could hardly breath! I flipped through the pages of pictures of he and I from the time I was 13 years old until the week before at my friend's wedding. It was beautiful! Aaron says I raced through each page hardly paying attention... I had a pretty good idea of what was coming, so I was in a hurry to get to that part. As I turned to the last page, there it was. The most beautiful ring I had ever seen tied to the last page. Of course I started crying and then he asked me - "I've waited a long time, and I hope you won't make me wait any longer... will you marry me?" YES!!! We then slipped the ring on my finger and it was official. I get to be this man's wife! I get to spend the rest of my life with the man of my dreams. The man I prayed I would marry when I was 16 years old. I cannot believe how blessed I am!

The fun wasn't over though because waiting for me two hours away back in Phoenix was a huge party of our friends and family back at his parents' house. I had prepared myself for the endless phone calls and driving across town to my parents' house to tell them in person (even though Aaron had already asked my dad to marry me). But to my surprise I walked into his parents house to near 25 people cheering and celebrating!! Best day ever!!!

Check out my mom's blog about the party. Click here!

My Sweet Journey down the aisle...

Oh my gosh... It has been a long time since I have posted on this thing. How am I supposed to bring you all up to speed with my life? Actually it might be pretty simple - I started dating the most amazing man in the world, I fell in love, he asked me to be his wife, and now I'm getting MARRIED!!!!!

As I have begun planning the day I have dreamed of from the time I was 5 years old and plan to marry the man I have dreamed of marrying since I was 16 years old, I would love to take you along for the journey... please excuse the moments where I gush about how awesome my future husband is, or how incredibly lucky I feel. Please excuse me if I go off on a tangent about floral arrangements or the crafting details of the centerpieces. I will try to keep things interesting and fun to read... and of course include what everyone wants to see anyways... pictures!

I also will try to ride the fine line between inviting you into my planning process, but also keeping some things a mystery for the day of! I want you to be surprised when you see things all come together either in pictures or in person :)

SO!!!!!! Here we go!!

FIRST OFF - (and excuse me, this is where I gush) I cannot believe how easily this is all coming together!!! Aaron and I keep looking at each other and knowing that the stressful moments will come soon enough, but we are determined to ride this easy streak until its done. We found our venue and settled on a date as well as locked in our minister and photographer all within a week of getting engaged!

We decided early on that we wanted a short engagement and I was a stickler on not having our wedding too close to my birthday, so we pretty much had to get married in October or the beginning of November. Unfortunately our pastor, who has been close to both Aaron and I for most of our lives, was only available two weekends. So we had to find a venue that was available either of those Saturdays. We scoured the web (luckily both our jobs are slow right now, so we had moments here and there to look stuff up online). We found venue after venue that was beautiful, but not available... or available, but not what we wanted. Poor Aaron is marrying a girl who thinks her wedding is a huge deal and so the venue had to be perfect... or at least close to perfect. I went to look at a couple places, but was starting to get really discouraged and had given up that we would have to settle for something less than my perfected vision, when my friend suggested I contact a couple at our church who's parents have a big house with a big backyard... I mean I wanted a backyard style wedding, but never thought a backyard would actually fit our spacial needs! I got in touch with the right people, got the information I needed and praise God it fit our guest list!! Then Aaron and I went to take a look at it and within about 10 seconds Aaron and I were ready to sign and lock it in! It literally was everything I dreamed! Strung in a million twinkle lights, overgrown trees, a large lawn, and a patio that would make a great dance floor! Since it was a backyard, it also was significantly more affordable than we were expecting for a venue! Aaron kept saying after we left that he was so certain that God had that place picked out all along...
So much of our wedding planning feels like we are just stumbling into God's plan for us! Like he has had this whole thing planned all along and we are slowly discovering all the many amazing gifts he has in store for us!

So venue - check, minister - check, my beautiful and talented friend Kelsie of Pinkerton Photography is doing my pictures, so photographer - check! Date locked in - November 3rd, 2012 - CHECK!! All within a week!!! amazing!

sneak peak of the venue:

Note: Also within a week of finding the venue I also found my dress... but those details will have to wait until November 3rd :)