Formal Wedding Shots

First sighting shots- we are trying to sneak up on Ian... which is relatively difficult to do when you have 5 girls in heels walking on wooden planks!
One of my favorite pictures of us from the first shoot!
So sweet. I loved the variability of background for pictures at the lakehouse!
Ian being super patient waiting for me...
Me and the veil. I was the 22nd bride to wear this veil in the Keelty-Smith family!
Full view of my dress and veil! My train was about 5 feet long... and the veil was something like 12 feet long from top to bottom! Luckily, the veil laid perfectly on the back of my train so I didn't have to worry about destroyin the end of the veil!!!
Our parents! Aren't they just wonderful!!! Note my mom is in a dress!!!
With my handsome daddy! He chose to wear his Tulsa Fire Department dress uniform for my wedding! I am very proud of my daddy and what he does for complete strangers in Tulsa!
With my momma! I am so pleased that she wore a dress! That was probably because she was threatened that if she didn't wear a dress she was going to have to stay at the hotel!
With my parents while Ian was back in the building...
Family photo with both families...
Ian with his parents.
Us with his parents

Us with Ian's parents and his sister Kelly and her husband Jack

With my parents
With Syrina. She is happy to have Uncle Ian in her life!
McKenzie, my little princess and mini-me with me and Uncle Ian! She was so excited that we got married! She said to me on our wedding day, "I can call him UNCLE Ian now!"

Going back to the lakehouse when it started to sprinkle on us!!! Whew! My dress gets to be bustled now!

I love this shot with the veil! The veil is absolutely gorgeous!!

All the guests with us after the ceremony!!!
With the boys. It was Rod's idea for the boys to hold me up, and notice, Rod is the one standing to the side looking on... hmmmm... how did that work out?

With the girls.

Ian and the boys

With my nieces... They are such a blessing in our lives!

The bridal party!
One of my favorite silhouette shots!!! Super cool! Love the clouds and the coloring!!!

KISS!!!! Love this shot! Hard to "dip" when you are in a dress like mine!

It took all the energy he could muster to pick me up for this shot!!!

Ian with the girls... Kenzie just thinks it is funny that they are going to take a picture of them kissing him!!!

Not sure what to think...
It started to sprinkle again near the end of the night so our photographer set up the lights and had us come outside for some fun shots!!!! I love how my hair looks!

TWO!!!

Our wedding is a mere 2 weeks away... well now 13 days and something like 22 hours... but still... It is crazy to believe that we are only 2 weeks away from something that we have been planning since September! This past week I set out on the task of completing the bridesmaids and mother's bags... they were from the "Sew Easy" Projects and were pretty easy to make... My friend from work (one of the few friends I had at my previous job) allowed me to come over to her house for two afternoons and take over her kitchen table and sewing machine. Karin had no idea how scared I was of using the sewing machine... I hadn't used a sewing machine since before my grandma passed and using it now made me afraid I would cry! Karin was super patient with me and assisted me in making not 3 but 8 bags... and one of those 8 we made smaller for my youngest niece.

Once that project was complete, I set out to make wedding favors at home, and on my own... This was the majorly daunting part of the process... using my grandma's sewing machine, on my own... I locked myself in the basement for about 3 hours while I cut fabric, ironned it and then sewed it together. After 3 hours I had made all the bags that I could out of the fabric that I had. The hardest part was turning the tubes right side out... I went to a feed store and bought 50 pounds of millet, a small grain that is easier to manipulate than whole kernel corn. I also bought more fabric from the fabric store across the street. After another afternoon in the basement and a few hours the next day, I found out that a 50 pound bag of millet would fill 50 corn sacks... 20 tubes (all about 22" long by 2-3" wide) and 30 bags (various sizes ranging from 5-8" wide and 6-10" long). I now need more millet to finish the project. I am very proud to say that I only have like 25 bags left to fill and that should be a breeze now! (Now that I figured out that I could use my sewing machine to finish the seam that I left for filling rather than hand stitching each and every one!)

Other projects going on that are wedding related. We ordered the guys gifts this week and I am so excited to get them soon! I can't say what they are since there is a chance that one of the guys reads my blog (highly unlikely but you never know)- but I will say that since we have thrown tradition and seriousness to the wind with the wedding this gift will define whimsical and fun...

I also ordered the willow for our center pieces and the sand for our sand ceremony portion of the wedding. Those should arrive early this week! Centerpieces finished... YES INDEED!!!

The last project that we have to complete is assembling the bags for guests at the hotel. We ordered labels for water bottles, neat blue plastic gift bags, and stickers to put on candy last week. These should be at our house the end of the week! Once my nieces get here with my parents we will have them help us to remove labels and replace them with our custom labels, placing them in the bags along with various snacks (with wedding related stickers on them) and a cute label on the bag with ribbon. And we will have them help us to put cute instructions on the favors... I am so glad that we will have help with these projects!!!!

On other news, I am as calm as a cucumber... I know that I will more than likely cry during the ceremony and definitely during our vows... I can't even watch a silly wedding related show without tearing up during the vows! Ian is starting to get a very small case of the nerves in relation to the ceremony. Hopefully meeting with the minister this week to go over the ceremony and etc will help ease his mind! We also have a walk through with the caterer and venue this week as well to determine placement of tables and such.

Here's to a wonderful 2 weeks... filled with appointments, house projects, cleaning house and traveling!!!!

Livin' on Tulsa Time... Briefly...

Last week I finished school on Monday (June 6) and loaded up my car to head home to Tulsa early on the 7th. I had a phone interview scheduled with Jeffco Schools at 11:15 am, so I had to plan my trip wisely so I would have phone signal when my interview time arrived. I left my house just before 9 with the intention of being in Burlington, Co for the interview. I passed the time practicing what I was going to say in response to the questions that they had sent me and listening to my awesome new playlist on my ipod from Tracy. My interview came and I answered the way I had practiced, forgetting a few details that I really wanted to kick myself for forgetting and the interview ended... 20 minutes... no idea as to how it went... I called my mom and while talking to her (about 45 minutes later) I had a call come in that was a 303 area code so I took the call... only to realize that it was the area Sped Director calling me back offering me a job!!!! Uh yes I am interested I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs for all to hear!!! So... I left Denver at 9 am (MST) without a job lined up and arrived in Tulsa at 7 pm (CST) with a job in place with Jeffco Schools!!!

The 7 days I was in Tulsa were a blur! I honestly feel like I didn't stop moving or sleep while I was home, but the trip was a success!!! I was home the 8-14th... during which time, I had a hair appointment, meeting with the seamstress to alter my dress for the Tulsa reception, a first "fitting" with the veil and Ian's mom, a final "fitting" with the veil and Ian's mom, two bridal showers, a dance recital, dancing with my little brother, a bbq, two hair run-throughs with my mom, dinner with Jason's family and a movie, shopping and time with my nieces!

The wedding details are coming along super smoothly! Regina Banks of Arjaybi's Stationary in OKC (and one of my good girlfriends) brought me the thank you notes and programs for the ceremony! They are amazing and beautiful and I couldn't ask for a better person to create our invitations, thank you's, programs, etc than Gina! She was super patient with me and shared ideas with us to make our stationary one of a kind!

The first bridal shower was hosted by the McMahon/Thomas families and Emily Renberg. I have always looked up at Carolyn (McMahon) Westervelt, Mary (Thomas) Trotter, and Martha (Thomas) Cobb as aunts and their children as my cousins... Emily has been like a cross between a second mother and an aunt... and Ms. McMahon, another grandmother figure in my life. These ladies are beyond amazing. The things they have done for me since I was born, I will always be indebted to them for their love and compassion, as well as role models for how to live throughout my life. We received some awesome gifts and I had a great time seeing these women that I have called family for the last 31 years.

The second shower was hosted by my "grandma" Glenda and my mom at the church where I was raised. This shower was mainly high school friends and co-workers. It was great to see so many of my Hornet girls!!! I had a lot of fun catching up with everyone. I will post pictures later as Tracy Smith took a few cute shots of her, me and Regina...

The week also brought McKenzie and Syrina's dance recital which I was beyond cloud number 9 to be able to attend! Both the girls looked AMAZING on stage and performed their routines without error! To think both of my girls are shy!!! Ana got to go with us to the recital to see Kenzie, which was fun for both girls!

Mom and I got our dresses ready for the wedding, took Kenzie's back to be re-altered and corrected the error with Syrina's dress. I am looking forward to seeing them all dressed up, and my daddy in his dress uniform for the fire department!

I also spent 2 different times with Sherry, Ian's mom figuring out how to place the veil in my hair! I am so excited about this veil!!! Not only will I be the 21st (that is unless there are other bride's whose pictures are missing from the album) bride to wear the veil since 1934, the veil is going to be a perfect fit for my dress!!! Words can't express how beautiful the veil is, or how honored I am to have been asked to wear the veil! I can't imagine NOT wearing the veil in the wedding!

I drove home on Wednesday just before Oklahoma and Kansas were hit by thunderstorms all day on Thursday! Thursday, my first day back in Co wasn't the most relaxing... it seems like it should have been... a mani/pedi in the morning... spray tan at noon... lunch with my bestie Ilene, drop off and pick up wedding dress from the dry cleaners, pick up jewelry for bridesmaids, pick up flowers for my practice bouquet and bridal portraits and finally relaxing time with Ian... Friday we got up before the sun (or at least before the sun in summer) and had Buddy at the clinic by 8 am for his surgery... came home, took a brief nap (thank goodness I did this!), started doing my hair, finished my hair with Ilene, had a 3 1/2 hour bridal portrait session in Boulder, drove back just in time to start our jewelry party at my house!!!

I can't wait for the wedding! 22 days until we say I DO!!! Until then, we need to order the willow, finish paying the caterer, schedule our final walk through of the venue with the caterer and event coordinator, write thank you notes, clean house, and pick up our flowers to make the decorations for the wedding!!! No stress here!!!

46 days... and counting

Well fans... we are in the final days until THE WEDDING... 46 days to go... or rather 1 month, 14 days, 21 hours, 21 minutes and 50 seconds to be exact... but who's counting right?

In the next 46 days, I have 4 more days of teaching (I'm taking tomorrow off again), 1 day of moving my stuff home, 2 days of nothing but driving to/from Tulsa, 1 day of bridal portraits, 3 days with my nieces, 7 days in Tulsa, 2 bridal showers and a lot of last minute details!

I'm not getting nervous or scared. All we have left to do is put the ribbon on our programs when we get them, write thank you notes from the bridal showers, create our photo slideshow, set up our play lists for the ceremony and reception, order our flowers and other floral items for the center pieces and show up! Everything has been so coordinated that I honestly feel like we will be stress-free the week leading up to the wedding!! This would be awesome since my parents and nieces will arrive early in the week and the rest of his family will arrive the end of the week!

It is looking like we will have about 55 people attending the wedding. Which makes for a really intimate event, right up our alley! We wanted to have an event that wasn't so big that we felt like we were unable to see our guests. We are hoping for clear skies the night of the wedding so that the ceremony can take place outside on the deck overlooking the lake in view of the mountains!

We finally had our engagement photo shoot last weekend. I have only seen one picture but I know they will be awesome! If you would like to see the "teaser" shot you can go to http://www.elipowellphotography.com/theblog/ . Our photographer is a lot of fun. He is getting married the end of June so he is well aware of the stressors in our lives as well as what couples are looking for in their photos! I am looking forward to my bridal portrait session in June when I come back from Tulsa!!!

Other exciting news in my life... I got my engagement ring 2 weeks ago! It is SOOO beautiful!!!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers- Ian is waiting to hear back from the company he had a second interview with last week and I will know something by Friday as to whether or not I am being offered a job with Denver Public Schools. I have applied to several other districts in the area, I would LOVE to be contacted by 2 that I can think of off hand!

Wedding Updates

Hey gang! A lot has transpired over the last month since I last blogged... since we announced that we were engaged on Sept 5, 2010 we have made a lot of plans for the wedding!!!

Engagement ring/wedding set: selected, stone paid in full...

Date set: July 10, 2011 - my grandmother's birthday in her honor

Location: Evergreen Lake House, Evergreen, CO

Colors: Serene (slate blue), silver with pewter accents

Bridal Party selected: Maid of honor- childhood friend Sasha Trantham

Bridesmaids: Kelly Titchner and Syrina Barnes, Ian's sister and my niece

Jr. Bridesmaid: McKenzie Barnes, my niece

I can't post the Groom's party yet as they have not been asked personally... their names will be posted soon...

We have set up consultations with a florist/decorator and have ideas for our flowers already... Have some awesome ideas for our cake, just need to schedule a consult with the company we like... And have narrowed the caterers down to two already... the hard choice is going to be the photographer, which we have narrowed down to 4... We have found that there are several hotels in the Evergreen/Golden area all of which we need to check into for room rates and etc...

Now we have to find a place to have a reception in Tulsa for the family members that are unable to attend and the friends that we are regretfully unable to invite to the wedding due to financial restraints and occupancy at the location.

I am thrilled that we were able to order our dresses for the girls before the color (serene) was discontinued by David's Bridal... found out the hard way that the color that Ian and I fell in love with was going to be discontinued on Nov.1... I am SO glad that everyone was able to get their dresses ordered in time so we didn't have to change colors!!!!!

Thanks for all the loving support and continue to keep up to date with our wedding plans and adventures here on this blog and also on www.theknot.com couple search either of our names and you will find our webpage on theknot and also our other webpage!!!