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

      

Friends, Family, & Fiance

New Adventures

Life.

     With the start of the new year we have both started our routines for the year including workout schedules, clean eating habits, school, testing, work, and making time to enjoy this exciting year!

    The past few weeks have been pretty crazy here in Austin! I have gotten back into the FULL swing of work after the holidays, which keeps me pretty busy. Zack has also started back up with school soooo we will stop seeing each other again pretty soon ;) haha I have also signed up to take the last two of my licensing tests in April, which means that I will be hitting the books soon myself! I wanted to make this a personal goal so that I can be completely licensed by the time my name changes! Eeeek!! :)

    We are very excited to start the wedding celebrations in about a month! I have been blessed with great work friends that have chosen to throw Z and I an engagement party, which will be here in Austin. This will be a great way to have a chance to celebrate with friends that will not be with us on our wedding day. We cannot wait to see those who can come and are thankful for Rosalyn, Natalie, Katie, Kaylyn, and Mika for thinking of us and our families! Since this is my first shower I have now had my first experience in shopping for hostess gifts for these ladies as well- and boy let me tell you it can be a lot of pressure! I am a perfectionist, so that does not help me ha ha, and having friends who are different from each other makes you think creatively ;) I have had a lot of fun searching for these items and putting together something to thank them each for their time and friendship; I hope that they enjoy it! 

    

Wedding.

    Updates on the wedding plans include finding my shoes, one small step for woman and one giant leap for woman-kind! This was so much harder than I thought it would be, but being a Railey we want to get things on sale instead of full price (thanks blood line), so I hit the Nordstrom "Half off Annual Sale", of course! I have also been able to set the date for my second fitting now that I have them, because my seamstress was not too thrilled that I came to the first fitting without them- until she found out that I had found the dress the day before- ha ha! I will travel back up in the middle of March for this and to celebrate Henley's 22nd birthday!!! How did that happen??!!??

     Another detail that has started is the HONEYMOON!! :) Zack has taken this under his wing so that it can be a little surprise, although we are looking at a beach! We started to look into Europe but knowing myself I might A. Not ever come back, B. Spend way to much money trying to "go see it all while we are over there." soooo we decided to put that trip off for a couple years after Z graduates so we can save up! 

I am excited to see where he picks, but I am more excited to just start our first adventure together! I will admit that planning a trip out of the country for the first time with out your parents makes you feel like a 2 year old again- "Mom what do I look for?", "Is this good?", "But Trip advisor says this..." haha 

    I am thankful for my friends, family, and fiance!

 

    

The "I Do"s and I Don'ts so far

This week has been a little less wedding planning and a lot more work so we have only figured out a few more details, and with that...

"To Do" or not "To Do"...

     This is our question! We have just begun on the planning front and for only being engaged for a month I feel like I have exceeded the timeline that websites like The Knot and Southern Brides has laid out for me -  #OverAchiever. The speedy time line is my own fault because I have a goal to have most of the big things figured out by the end of this month because I am studying for my licensing test. Actually I found out this week that I passed my first test!! I am applying for the next two to take in April so (hopefully) I can be fully registered by the end of the summer & more importantly before I change my last name! ANYWHO back to the reason y'all read this thing hehe.

     Colors.

     We have chosen our colors! We are going for classic and elegant in our "theme" 

     The main colors will be gold and white, but to give a little depth we are adding indigo/dark navy instead of black for a modern twist to the classic pallet. We would love to have not only a wedding reception but a celebration into the new year with our closest :) We would like a black tie wedding for a more formal feel and true NYE traditions-- BRING ON THE SPARKLES!

The Reception.

     I am currently on the hunt for a caterer for our reception. We are looking into a small cocktail hour while we are taking pictures at the church so that our family can get to the lantern House and enjoy each others company while Zack and I are finishing up the group family photos and a few of us as a newly married couple (yay!). I am hoping that we can get the separate family photos before the ceremony so that we can get to our reception without making everyone wait too long! I don't know a lot of what we want but I do know some things that I know we can live with out:

Don'ts

1. Cake- We will not be having a traditional brides cake. I don't particularly like cake, especially wedding cake so we will be doing something different for the traditional cutting of the cake. This is not to say that there will be no dessert, that's just silly! We will be doing something that we both like for a little sweet ending to the night.
2. Stuffy wedding food- I am hoping to find something that is either with a caterer there in Denver, or a restaurant that we like so we don't have to have the normal steak, chicken, asparagus, and mashed potato dinner.
3. Come one Come all- to keep the numbers down we are not inviting the whole family on either side. Although neither of us have a large families we do have large extended families, and as I said in a previous post, to make sure that we are sticking to our gaol of 50 people we will not be extending invites to everyone. 
4. Bridesmaids & Groomsmen- Zack and I will only have two people standing with us during the ceremony, I have chosen mine to be my sister Henley and Zachary is still choosing which person he wants to stand by his side. 

Do's

1. Family style food- We are thinking of having a more family style serving for dinner more than the buffet or plated dinner. This way those who don't know each other can mingle a little easier, although I feel like most of the people will know each other pretty well :)
2. Breakfast for dinner- This is something that I have been considering the past week or so. Zack and his family have big breakfasts when everyone comes together and gathers around the table to talk. I think that it would also be a nice change from the traditional holiday dinners!
3. Toasts and Dances- I would love for our night to consist of people telling stories or saying what they feel and dancing into the new year. Zack is not the biggest fan of this part of the ideas, something that him and my father are way to similar in, but I am hoping that he will come around. 
4. Love. Laughs. & Light- This is just what it sounds like, I believe that if we focus on these aspects of the day there will be only memories of what a magical night that we all share.

Stay tuned for news and updates on #TheRoadToRoberts