Bachelorette Weekend

I'm Wiggin' Out!

   

I cannot believe that it has been months since I spent the weekend with a group of my favorite ladies & in one month we will be in Denver for a wedding!!

     My sister and 8 of my favorite girls took me on a weekend trip to Fredericksburg, TX for a weekend of wine and girl talk for my bachelorette party. Although we were not in Vegas all the rules still apply so don't think I'm going to spill the beans on what went on *wink wink*!

Molly, Bre, me, Allison, and Ashley  

     The weekend started out with my wonderful future sisters who were able to come into town early & start the party early! They took me to brunch at the cutest restaurant, Goodall's Kitchen located in Hotel Ella in Austin, with my longest friend Molly and my college best friend Bre.

    All of the girls had different times that they were able to come into town so this was a great surprise. We had the best time talking & drinking a little bubbly to get the weekend started off on the right track! I recommend this restaurant to anyone who comes into town-- great drinks and wonderful food!!

     After brunch we headed back to my apartment to pack up the cars and to head to Fredericksburg. The trip went quickly as we kept ourselves busy by singing and car dancing the whole way there ;) One we got the keys to our cabin for the weekend, we unloaded the cars and welcomed each of the other girls as they arrived.

     Friday night we spent dancing to Spice Girls, drinking wine, eating pizza and nachos, and playing all sorts of games. I could not have asked for a better group of girls in my life or to spend a weekend with!! Each of these girls brings out a different part of me that I am so grateful for :)

Cutest little weekend cabin

     Saturday we spent the day on a wine tour tasting wine from five wineries and enjoying the beautiful weather!! (It was supposed to rain all weekend but never did- yay!) We headed back to to the cabin about 5pm to get a little more dressed up. We chose to make the weekend a little more fun by wearing wigs out to dinner, this confused the people around us but we had a blast! ha

A special little note to my girls...

Henley- Thank you for being my perfect opposite! You bring out my carefree side that constantly makes me what to be more spontaneous and explore all that life has to give. I could talk forever about all that you have taught me being your older sister but I would need another blog for that! I cannot explain what it means for you to be apart of this time in my life :) 

Ashley- Thank you for showing me how to be a wonderful wife. Watching you and Justin start your lives together and build a strong union is such a blessing, especially when our generations view relationships as disposable. Thank you for being a wonderful older sister to look up to!

Allison- Thank you for being the big sister I never had. I prayed that when I found my husband that I would find my second family and the day I met you I knew that I had found it! Zack calls me your twin at times and getting to know you over the past 9 years I couldn't agree more :) Thank you for making me another sister.

Molly- You are the one who taught me how to be a friend! I cannot explain what you mean to me & what your friendship has taught me. I would not be able to build strong, lasting relationships without having the one I built with you!! Thank you for 24 years of unwavering love and a second family!

Mindy- Thank you for teaching me how to love someone and grow with them! Our friendship has lasted through the hardest times in life- full of constant changes and stress. I would not have wanted to go through the last 12 years with anyone other than you, I love you so! Thank you for always placing me as a priority in your life; walking the journey of "wife" will be just another step in life we get to take together :)

Bre- Thank you for showing me that life is too short not to enjoy every day to the fullest! I'm not sure how you somehow create more hours in the day in order to make time for everyone but you do! I could never have imagined that our bonding over the hatred of studio would lead to our friendship, but I am so grateful it did. You are the best thing that I gained at UTSOA... you know... besides the whole education thing. Thanks for always being there for me, love you!

Rosalyn- Thank you for showing me people come into our lives at every stage of life! You have taught me so much about myself and been a wonderful confidant though some of the toughest times in my adult life. Thank you for bringing out my strength and teaching me that there is always backup in your tribe! 

Katherine- Thank you for showing me that life is what you make it, not what you were dealt! You are the hardest worker & happiest person that I know! You and Everett have shown me that if you place your spouse & marriage above everything else you will go to bed happy and blessed every night.

I am so thankful for each and every one of you! 

     

(Top) Ashley, Allison, Bre, Molly, Katherine
(Bottom) Henley, me, Mindy, Rosalyn

Welcome to The Main Event

Invitations.

     Designing our invitations proved to be more of a struggle than I thought it would be! 

     Keeping time and cost in mind I started to think about what I wanted our invites to look like. I knew that I would not have time to completely design the suite with my work and study schedules like they are... unless we wanted to make it NEXT December... just kidding... kind of... So I started looking around online and comparing prices and time lines. I knew that it would not make sense to have anyone special make the suite either- because no matter how beautiful they are, they are still only invites, and they will be thrown away-- this realization lead me to Minted and Wedding Paper Divas. 

     These sites allow you to customize the majority of an already designed invite suite- right up my alley! After looking at all the different options I narrowed down the selections to something that spoke to us & our wedding- simple, clean & traditional, but also have modern undertones- I know that almost sounds like a description of wine doesn't it?? I also wanted Zack's opinion on the invites so I ordered in samples from both sites so that we could both touch/ look/ compare the differences. When the sets arrived Zack's favorites were the letter pressed, simple designed, & rectangular invitations. This differed from my original thoughts to the suite but I am so glad that he said something because it lead to what we have now- which we BOTH love :)

     Once we decided on the suite I started to customize; slowly and surly I saw the design take life, but knowing me I had MULTIPLE people in on this- from the wording to multiple spell checks! One of the options that we chose was to print our guest's addresses and also our return addressing on the envelopes, which made assembling the invites SO much easier for me!!! If you are looking for invites for ANYTHING I strongly suggest Minted and this option.

     Once you purchase you are able to email back and forth with designers on the Minted team to add/ change/ review all of your information and options before you send them to the printer. Each revision I was given two versions of each the invites, the directions, and the RSVP card that they would send to select which version I approved based on feedback I gave. Being type A I went through multiple revisions, so I appreciate that the team putting up with me haha!!

     Once our invites came in I noticed that there was one small issue... They had printed the wrong version of or invites. It was a very minor change-when I mean minor I mean that it said "and" not "to". A change that most people would never notice as my mom said, she even showed a few family friends to prove her point... but me being type A I sent it in for a change. Zack says  that I am now Type A+. Minted was great and sent all new invitations within a week, which was great timing because Zack's bachelor party was coming up!

     

     While Zack was gone at his bachelor party last weekend I put our invites together while drinking wine & watching chick flicks- you know the proper way! I would write a post about his weekend but he went to Vegas & we all know what they say sooo that wont be one I write. I will say that he had a great time and I am thankful that Mike and Jason took the time to go and celebrate with him!!

     Today we sent out our invites! We cannot believe that in 17 weeks that we will have all of the people that we sent invites to surrounding us as we say our vows & start our lives together! Our count down has officially started so that means that my blogs will start to rev back up after a summer of slow planning! 

     Stay tuned for all the inside scoop on my bachelorette party, my bridal shoot, meeting and planning out our florals, wedding ring shopping, the bridal shower, our engagement anniversary, and the holiday countdown to the wedding!!

     I hope that everyone is enjoying these posts as much as I like sharing! 

Wishing you a blessed and safe Labor Day weekend!

"And If Not..."

I have struggled with the thought of this post because it is not exactly wedding related, but it has been on my heart for the past 3 weeks, so I feel a small conviction to continue.

"And if not..."

     I usually try to start each blog post with a bible verse, especially if I feel like it pertains to the subject of the post. This one will be written about a bible verse instead. The phrase above is daunting at times to me... and if I am being honest it is because I know that if it comes to that I am no longer in control, and for a type A+ person that is not something easily let go.

     Recently I have found that this statement can also be a question, and this question can be answered. For me this answer usually comes in the form of a plan B..C...D...E when it should really come from Daniel. Daniel 3:18 to be exact. This verse reads:

  "And if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

      Although I am not having to refuse to worship an idol like in the story, I do place things {voluntary idols} before God. I find myself all to often praying that MY hopes and dreams line up with Gods instead of the other way around. 

     Having goals that you push yourself to achieve, like for me it was passing all of my licensing tests this year, is NEVER a bad thing. I  believe that God truly wants us to succeed in all things that he places on our hearts to pursue... "and if not..." or we happen to not succeed the first time, we have to remind ourselves that God is still good. He is worthy of praise. Praise that you might have to search for after a set back but it is there. It rests in the fact that He helped you get to the point of applying yourself, to give yourself the chance to succeed, and in time, in His perfect time, you will find your success.

     I hope that his resonates with someone else and helps you find the silver lining of your first attempts!

Delaney

To Chase the Light

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised.

Psalms 113:3

Light Chaser | Photographer | Friend

     From the day Zack and I started to talk about our life together the bride in me started dreaming of our wedding. This wedding in my head has changed about 10 times over the years too- but who is counting?? One thing I knew needed to be at the wedding, besides him and our immediate families of course} was THE photographer. This stemmed from stories my mom told us of their wedding day and how their photographer showed up to their wedding completely drunk.... their wedding album now holds only 20 photos that capture their beginning, and I decided that a wonderful photographer was my first to find. 

     My search actually started by Instagram oddly enough; I figured that the fastest way to get some names would be to search a platform based on pictures. After a couple days of searching through hashtags and looking at who the photographers follow themselves for inspiration, I started to reach out and connect with a few. 

Picture taken from Ashley's Website

    

     One of the few I emailed reached out to me within a couple of hours. Her name was Ashley Sawtelle. Over the next couple of days we emailed back and forth connecting on nothing other than... Austin! She actually grew up here, but moved to Denver with her husband 8 years ago, so we knew that she was a step above the others just from that ;)

     We continued to email, call, and Facetime over the next week, where she showed me her love for expressing beauty and nostalgic intimacy through photography; she also expressed how the light can showcase everything, "always find the light." Ashley probably does not know this to this day, but she was also our ray of light where things were starting dim. She was the first vendor we talked to that was willing to work with us to create something that would work for our day.  

     After a month of talking we met for coffee at Denver's Union Station and from that meeting I just knew that she was meant to be a part of our wedding! Ashley was the first contract that we signed and I counted the days until we got a chance to work with her. This day came in April, but will be told another day.

     Ashley, I have no idea if you will ever read this blog post but I would like to say, from the bottom of my heart, that I know that God put you into our lives for a very special reason. You have not only became a great friend but also a teacher. You have shown me how the light you seek in your photos is a physical manifestation of beauty in the words "I do." At turning points in the day, just as marriage is a turning point in life, your perspective has to change in order to embrace the beauty that lies in the new {and possibly even scary unknowns} of the future. Both of these have to allow change in order for a new world to be created; from day into night and from two into one.

Forever grateful | Delaney

* Stay tuned for all the adventures on TheRoadToRoberts*

   

April showers bring.... Wedding flowers!

Florals 

     If you are like me then you have NO idea when it comes to flowers, especially specialty flowers like wedding flowers...(!!) You might even be more like me and think that they are not even all THAT necessary. I do admit that I like the idea of the some flowers but they should not cost more than your catering or dress.

Just sayin'.

     We lucked into a wonderful florist who was willing to work with our "lower budget" in traditional wedding costs, through our photographer Ashley Sawtelle. Her name is Nora Case. I fell in love with the architectural and artistic way that she arranges her pieces. We talked though some of the ideas that we both had that fit with the season and the look that we are trying to achieve and settled on a couple of ideas- for now. A million times over thank you to both of these ladies for what they have already done for Zack and I.

The Vision.

     Although I have no concrete plans to what we will have for our wedding day, we are looking into something similar to the ones that you see in this post. Nora and I will make a date in the fall to go shopping for all the beautiful things in her world.

     This actually reminds me more of the scene from "The wedding planner" where Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Lopez are walking around a flower mart picking up flowers and castrating statues... who knows we might have the same outcome ;)

     White flowers with a good deal of greenery is what I feel looks most natural, especially in the winter months. I believe that this will make everything look clean & elegant with a modern twist on classic.




      The church we are getting married in is very simple in design, and I would like to enhance that aspect. As all girls these days my pinterest is filled with all of the  possibilities that this means- don't worry most of these are on a secret board so that others following me do not think that I am crazy. Okay, well completely crazy. We are all a little crazy, aren't we?

     I know that whatever actually comes about that I will just adore everything. I cannot wait to talk all of these ideas through in the next 6 months!!! Its still amazes me that it has already been 6 months and that is how long we have to go!! I am so thankful for everyone who has been a part of our process; the love and support that have come from all over is still overwhelming at times.

Thank you for reading and venturing down the sappy road every week :) 

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day 

Special post for our two moms, Tammy and Sandie. 

     We cannot thank you enough for all that you both have done for us, separately and individually. Over the course of our relationship we know that the love that we share would not be as great without you both; you showed us how to love each other by the way you raised and loved us since day one. Last but not least we want to thank you for creating the other half of our hearts; we have the greatest examples of love for our future children in the two of you and also for each other the way you love our dads!

We love you so much!

      To all the moms out there I hope that this weekend was extremely special. This year Mother's Day and Father's Day are extremely special to me and makes me really reflect on the past nine years. I will officially gain a mother and father- although I have had them for years! I am so very lucky that I have the relationship that I do with my in-laws (to be) and wish the same for everyone. 

Cheers to all the moms, you make it look so easy!

To Have & To Buy From This Day Forward

              The Registry

     This weekend was the first few days of Zack's two week break from school :) YAY! This also coincided with the end of my licensing tests so we actually had a free weekend; the first in 4 months to be exact! I was surprised to get the suggestion from my better half to spend this weekend registering and wedding band shopping. Yes you read that correctly, I did not suggest or force Zack to go with me hehe :)

     A couple months ago we decided that we would probably not register because we will be combining two house holds into one and we pretty much have everything... but after talking with our friends & family, and taking inventory of what we already have together, we decided that replacing our cookware would be necessary within the next 5 years anyways (thanks target but sometimes you just do not hold up for more than a couple years!)

     I never thought that registering would be as difficult as it was!! Honestly I was uncomfortable the whole day and will probably be uncomfortable throughout the whole process, but I have never been good at gift receiving so that does not surprise me. Zack had fun though and watching him talk about, "'We can use this when we have people over for football games!... and...'We can use this when I cook on the grill!'"made the whole thing so much more fun. He plans our future in ways that he does not even realize :)

     

     We learned all sorts of things while registering, like how much we both miss cookies and can not wait to be off of a wedding diet ;) We also learned that we have been holding knives all wrong while cooking. Who knew you "pinched the blade"?! What I liked most about registering is thinking about being able to start cooking as a family!

     After we registered at a few stores we went to go look at some band choices, which is where we swapped positions. Zack is having a hard time deciding what his style is, and what he would like to wear for the rest of his life- this put me in a better mood thinking of placing that on his finger in a little over six months!!!!!

     We got to relax the rest of the night with friends drinking wine and celebrating life, love, and all the possibilities that the future holds for all of us. We are praying for the housing fairy godmother to shine a light on us in the next couple of months so that we can find a place that will be where we start our lives--- and a place to put all the things that we registered for--- :)

     One thing that is for certain is that we will appreciate every gift that we receive more than you will ever know, God bless and thank you!! ~ Delaney & Zack