Addition to the registry (Scroll down for more important information)

Hey everyone! The wedding planning is coming along very well. We're stuck right now between booking the cake lady and the caterer but I'm sure it will come very soon. I'm talking with both right now and nailing down the details. When we have them booked, the wedding will be complete. Do you realize we've basically planned our entire wedding in a month? And, even better, we found all of the vendors we wanted to use in a week? That's pretty amazing to me.
Any who, after all of that is finished, we'll be on to the part I was waiting for. The details. See, I've always wanted to be a DIY bride and I'm finding some amazing ideas on the internet from various forums and from friends. For example, we won't have a guest book so instead, Bryan and I will be building Adirondack chairs and our guests will be signing those instead. That way, we can put them in our new home and admire them. These are the things that make my skirt fly up. Speaking of which, that is why I'm writing today.
Last week, Bryan left me to go to D.C. for the ESRI Federal Users Conference. While he was there, he got to play with this

 This, my friend, is a Nikon D3100. Needless to say, I was instantly jealous. Bryan, being the wonderful person he is, brought this magical piece of technology home for yours truly to play with. O........M..........G. It was love at first shutter. I knew I needed to take advantage of this amazing camera so I started easy. You know, pictures of the dog.

But of course I didn't stop there. I needed more pictures but I needed them in a different light. Something brighter and something to focus on very closely. So I used my ring. I figured I don't really have any good pictures of it and this would be the perfect object to take pictures of to get the detail I'd like to see.

And there was happiness in all the land. Of course I wasn't finished there. The next thing that popped into my head was my mom's dog, Charlie. She is a chocolate lab and is GORGEOUS!! She's also the most photogenic dog I've ever laid eyes upon. She would be a perfect test subject.

What a diva. She didn't want to look directly a the camera. Either way, I have fallen in love and I wanted to tell everyone about it. I am adding this camera to my registry. Yes, it's a little pricey but I'm ready to have a big girl camera that will take amazing pictures of all the places Bryan and I want to go. I'm not going to open up another account with another store just for this so I'm just telling you. If you want me to love you forever, you'll buy me this camera. Or maybe not. I'm not a hater. 

I also wanted to inform everyone of the simplicity of this wedding. A few of my family members have been getting calls about the wedding and how detailed everything is going to be... THIS IS A BEACH WEDDING. I'm sorry to say it but there will be no unity candle or sand, you won't have anyone serving you dinner, we will not be eating on fine china, you will not be drinking out of wine glasses, no one will be wearing a suit or tux (it's July in Florida people, not winter in Michigan), you will be eating hors d'oeuvres for dinner, there will be cake, there will be cornhole games, horseshoes, and ladder golf. The reason we are having this wedding at the beach is to have the wedding we truly want. And what we want is basically a beach party. I had my dress fitted without shoes on and I don't intend on ever wearing them. This is a time for us to celebrate our love for each other with our closest family and friends. We want everyone to feel comfortable and relaxed instead of looking at their watches to see when they can go back to the hotel and take off their panty hose. I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion and  questions you may have had. Keep a watch for the save-the-dates!

Whitney

Last Night's Revelation

Hey everyone!

I know this site is supposed to be for wedding updates and planning information but I wanted to give you an insight as to why I'm so excited to get married. It all started last night.......

Picture it, Cumming, January 16, 2011 (name that show and character), I was sitting in bed reading my book. Bryan, my love, was fast asleep on my right, dreaming about being stranded on an island with Jennifer Anniston. He was probably in the process of impressing her with his knowledge of GeoPDFs and spatting off all the file extensions he knows. Bonnie, my... well... I'll think of her purpose later, was sleeping soundly on the floor on my left. She was probably dreaming about catching that pesky squirrel at my parent's house that's always tormenting her. Or maybe she was dreaming about a world where there is no stranger danger, vacuums, and water dishes that "glup glup glup" when she drinks from them. Any who, I was reading a book that I'm hoping to have finished soon so that I can really begin reading for class. The book is House Rules and I suggest EVERYONE read it. I was in the middle of finally finding out if Jacob was going to be able to stand trial when I heard it. It is the most dreaded sound that can be heard throughout the Burns/Evans household. This sound, when heard, will make Bryan and me look at each other in fear and run for another room in the apartment. Let me remind you the apartment is only 1,100 sq.ft. so there isn't much room to run. This sound is referred to as the Bonnie Atomic Bomb, BAB for short, and it is her farts. I'm not sure what we feed this crazy animal that makes her have such horrible gas. I'm thinking of entering her in a competition... Classy Gassy maybe? 

When she was a puppy we took her for first vet visit. You know, the one where the vet sticks her finger up your dog's butt, draws her blood, and does a full body assessment. Then she charges you $500 just to tell you that your year old puppy doesn't have heart worms or worms and all you originally wanted was a rabies shot? Yeah, that one. I mentioned she was gassy and the vet assured me it was "stress gas"...... SERIOUSLY?!! I'm the queen of being stressed and I never have that problem.

Any who, when I heard that tiny air bubble escape through Bonnie's furry butt cheeks, I immediately looked over the side of the bed to give her the death stare and what do I see? Bonnie covering her own nose with her paw. No kidding. She knows how bad it is but yet she still does it!

I giggled a little and began to think of the crazy things that happen in our house. Believe it or not, it's the little things like this that make me love Bonnie and it's the little things like when Bryan comes to me and asks "Hun, have you seen my (insert personal article here)?" that makes me love him too. I may not live a glamorous life, but I love it and I can't wait to make this permanent. 

I know this isn't a story that would make anyone want to run out and get themselves a GIS analyst and coon hound but to each their own, right? It works for me.

- Sophia Petrillo

P/S: We booked the rental company and the honeymoon flights!

Snow Day

I think Whitney and I had our first true test of marriage this past week. We received 7 inches of snow Sunday night, followed by half an inch of sleet, freezing rain and 5 continuous days of temperatures that never reached above 28°. I'm happy to say that the wedding is still on and we both have roughly the same amount of hair now as we did Sunday morning!

Engagement Pictures

This past Saturday (Jan. 8) we drove to Athens and met with Justin Moore to take some engagement pictures. We couldn't have picked a colder or more windy day to try and take our first formal pictures together. Bryan and I were both nervous while we were getting ready because these pictures are going to be the ones that hang around for a while. We were worried our clothes would look bad together and our smiles would be cheesy. We get over our nervousness and head to Athens. When we get there, we are slapped with a big gust of wind and then I remember that my hair doesn't like the wind. The wind, water, heat, dry weather, hair gel, hair elastics with metal clasps, flat irons, layers..... well, you get the picture. I instantly began to worry and stress over how I would look because let's face it, you can dip Bryan in a vat of molasses and then roll him in feathers and he'd still look good. We walk to the Arch and meet up with Justin. He cracks a joke and my worries quickly flutter right out of my head and vanish. I was so happy Bryan and Justin clicked so well because that made for more relaxed and fun pictures. Our pictures are from areas around north campus, the Tate center and a few from the train tracks behind the stadium. All in all, we had a blast and couldn't have asked for a better photographer. We will definitely be using him for the wedding. I've posted 10 of the pictures that he has given us so far. He took around 170 pictures and we will be getting those later. I may post a few more when we get the rest so stay tuned. Have a great snow day!
Whitney

Wedding Planning

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday. Bryan and I spent much of ours running around trying to visit all of the families but we were able to carve out a week after Christmas to plan the wedding. With me being in nursing school, there isn't much time throughout the semester to get things figured out.
First, we booked the reception site. There is no need for a ceremony site because, as you already know, we are planning to have our toes in the sand while we say our vows. We chose the Beachcomber's Gulf Green because the area is big enough to fit our guests, it's outside, and it has a great view of the sunset. We also think this will help keep everyone entertained seeing how it sits on the beach. This area is going to be PERFECT for our reception. This isn't a great pictures but the gates stay locked so we couldn't get in.

Next we booked the flowers which was a pretty easy task. The only flowers to be used in the wedding will be white calla lilies for the bride and bride's maids. The men won't have boutonnieres because of the shirts they will be wearing. I'll post more about that when we have made our decisions. But just to give you a preview, this is kind of what the bouquet will look like:

 

The callas in this picture are about the right size to what mine will look like. We are also using the lily grass but I think mine will be looped around the callas instead of pointing outward. I'm super excited to see what Kelly comes up with. She seemed like a super nice person but what made it better was her husband is also going through nursing school so she knows exactly what Bryan is going through.

We've looked at the cake and the rental company for tents but I don't want to post that until we definitely have them booked. Don't want to jinx anything. Stay tuned for more!

Whitney