happy happy happy

I need to share my own personal wedding-related list of things that are overwhelming me with joy:

1. We officially have a chapel- Downtown Presbyterian Church's little blue chapel
2. We have a venue sight held for us! Cannery Ballroom. How legit is that?! It's gonna be such an awesome party.
   
3. I HAVE A DRESS!!!!! I'm obsessed with it. The dress-shopping process was a complete blast. I had my mom, my sister, and 4 of my best friends with me. I couldn't have asked for a more special day. I thought I found "the one" early in the day, but later I came across a dress that was even MORE of "the one"..... it seriously had everything I wanted... mature, elegant, sophisticated yet simple, womanly, feminine, beautiful, and NOT sparkly. =)
4. We have photographers! They're a wonderful, talented, sweet married couple named Josh & Amber Ulmer (www.Ulmerstudios.com). They've already been extremely helpful & encouraging, and we're SO excited to get to work with them & have them capture the most important day of our lives.
   
5. We have a DATE. Obviously an important detail. But it's more than just a day. My grandpop died this year, so it's been a really tough year for my mom & granma. My Grandma has also had some trouble adjusting, and we discovered she has alzheimers, which has put even more stress on my mom. My family is really important to me, and my mom's parents have taught me SO much about life & love. It seems fitting to be getting married on their wedding anniversary, June 3rd. I feel so honored & blessed to be able to marry the man of my dreams, with whom I have the privilege of spending forever, on the day that my grandparents married each other. And, to add to the family history, my mom & dad actually got married on my mom's grandparent's wedding anniversary. So I feel like I'm carrying on some sort of tradition. I also plan to have a yellow rose in the center of my bouquet so I can have a piece of my grandpop with me the whole day (there were yellow roses on his casket, and I still have one dried yellow rose from that day).
6. I have the perfect man. Really, I'm constantly amazed that I was able to find Nathan this young. I'm going to be married at 22, and, though many people think that's a bit young, I couldn't be more excited and sure of this. Maybe I'm going to miss out on "fun times" and my "youth".... but if that means giving up random hookups, partying, and misdirected passion, then I'm FINE with that. I want my "youth" and "fun times" to be shared with the person I love more than anyone in the world. I want to grow in my 20's, and give back to my community. I want to be invested in something and seriously care about my actions. I don't want to spend all my money partying & having a carefree time. I want to make my life something seriously worthwhile- not just for myself, but for others. So, that to say, in no way do I feel like I'm "too young" to be getting married. I think I'm at an age where I need to begin acting responsibly & maturely. And that means that I should recognize the blessing I have in Nathan Dryden, and commit myself to be totally and overwhelmingly his & him mine forever. It's not going to be easy & always super fun, but we know that. And loving each other is more important than being constantly comfortable. Marriage won't always be comfortable. But it will be meaningful. And I, somehow, get to marry Nathan Dryden. I almost can't even believe it. There will never be words to express how deeply I love this man.
7. I'M GETTING MARRIED IN 293 DAYS!!!!! (but who's keeping count??)

Also, I *might* be crying a little (out of joy) while writing this post.'

PS- To my extremely supportive friends: I will never be able to tell or show you how much your friendship and support means to me. I LOVE YOU ALL. (Steph, we'll send you confidential pics of my dress..... just gonna say, it's kinda hot.)

Goin' to the chapel

Big news----

We officially have the chapel booked!!!! June 3, 2011 I become Mrs. Rebecca Dryden!


Now we just have to get our reception site booked. We visited Traveller's Rest and we just really didn't love it. We want something more "us", and that isn't so far away from Downtown Pres. So, we're back at Plan A- Cannery Ballroom!!! It's a super cool Nashville spot with lots of character & charm, and they have a really great rental policy & price. We should be able to book it early next week. They haven't filled June 3rd yet, and they said they could hold it for us!

Things are finally coming together. And tomorrow,

DRESS SHOPPING!!!!!!

Africa is too far away...

On her 20th birthday, at my old apartment on campus

Yesterday @ 3pm, my best friend Stephanie left from the US to Tanzania, Africa for the biggest adventure of her life. I am SO excited for her, but my heart aches for her return. She is one of the most fabulous, brave, talented, kind, compassionate, intelligent, determined, beautiful women I have ever known or even heard of, and I can't believe that I get to call her "bestfran".

A couple years ago at our friend Chelsey's engagement party

I know she is going to have such an amazing time in Africa. It has always been her dream, and I am so proud of her for working so so hard and saving up the money to go. I'm seriously impressed. I definitely don't have the guts to do that.

On her 21st birthday! Drinkin her pomegranate mojito

It's weird to see her on my speed dial and know that I can't call her for over 4 months, but it sort of makes me happy because I realize that she is getting to live out one of her biggest dreams. I'm so excited to see her and hug her in 4 months, and listen for hours about all of her adventures and how it impacted her life. But right now, all I can think about is how long 4 months seems. It's totally different living in different cities for a couple months over the summer, but knowing I can drive a few hours & see her, or call her whenever I want. But she is on the other side of the world right now, and that's just a bit too far away for my comfort.

Beginning of Junior year

All I have to say is, when she gets back we are having one hell of a party!!!!! =)

I love you Steph. Be safe in Africa. Don't get too close to wild elephants (remember that show we watched!!!!). Find a hot foreign dude, and bring him back to the US with you. Oh, and don't forget to bring us all back some African music (sung in Swahili, of course!). We expect you to be fully fluent in Swahili when you return. We also expect you to be a lot more tan. Just saying.

I LOVE YOU STEPHANIE CREASY!!!! and I already miss you.

All of us girls, back during Sophomore year

Happy Post

I've had a great couple of days!

Yesterday was a perfect day. I worked in the morning & made some good cash. Afterward I took a lovely nap before eating dinner with 2 of my best friends (Sarah & Amy) and 2 other wonderful ladies. We went to Sweet CeCe's after dinner, and then Sarah & Amy & I stood around talking for a while. I can't express how much I love then & love spending time with them.
Next, I went to Taco Mamacita to hang out with some of my coworkers & have some sangria (it's half off on Sundays!). We had a meeting at about 10, which was basically just our managers rewarding & praising us. I got a gift card & a lottery ticket (I won $10!!), and we ALL get to go down the Harpeth River together!!! I love my job.
The whole Taco Mamacita family then went to Mafiaoza's together. It was wonderful. I really like the people I work with. Nathan came too, so everyone got their chance to tell him congrats! haha. We had a lot of fun.
Today, I've had some serious wedding successes!!! I have a hold on a reception site, and Nathan & I are going to go visit this week. We found photographers and have a coffee meeting with them in a couple days! And, I sent in our application for the chapel & talked to the secretary... we should hear back from them by the end of the week. =)

Things are seriously falling into place. We are so close to having a wedding date! We're hoping for June 3rd, which happens to be my grandparents' wedding anniversary. It would be really neat for me to marry Nathan on the same date that my grandparents got married years & years ago.

The only thing that will make this week better is when I can finally take Corduroy's BiteNot collar off of her. She hates life right now.... but at least she isn't ripping out her stitches, right?

Here We Go

Nathan & I have been engaged for a little over a week, and we've started digging into the planning process. Already, we've come across some major barriers, leading to a stressful week. It seems that 10 months actually isn't enough time to plan the perfect wedding.... mainly because everything is already booked.

In order to remedy this problem, we seriously might have to consider doing a Friday ceremony. This worries me because I know it will make it difficult on people coming in from out of town. The way I see it, though, the people we really want at our wedding are the people willing to take the afternoon off work to experience the biggest day of our lives with us.

Currently, we are really in love with Downtown Presbyterian's beautiful little blue chapel. If we can get the chapel officially booked, I'll feel a little bit more at ease. We have a reception venue on our radar, and they are available on Fridays in June. Hopefully we can go check it out sometime next week. We also have found some great photographers, and should be meeting up with them to chat next week!


Things are *kind of* coming together, but it's very stressful. I'm not sure that everyone will be totally on board my Friday idea, but the way I see it, I'd rather have a Friday ceremony with a reception than a Saturday ceremony without a reception.

Plus, as much as I want to please everyone else, I realize that this wedding is not about all these details or making other people happy, it's about the love that Nathan & I share. It is about being together with our closest friends to make a life commitment to one another, to be husband and wife forever, to ceaselessly love one another, and to dedicate ourselves to a loving and healthy marriage. That is what our wedding is about; not the "right" day for a wedding or the "best" venue. I'm trying to keep this in mind as I approach tough obstacles to planning our wedding & reception.

wedding.

Can I just skip all the planning & go straight to the "being married" part, please?

Eloping suddenly sounds really appealing...