"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

      

While [Everyone Else] Was Seeping

So if you haven't noticed I have kinda been MIA the past few months... and if you actually have not noticed then we need to talk about my writing hooks ;)

Anyhooo.

The explanation 

     I have been studying what little tooshie I have off people!! A year ago I decided that I was going to start my licensing exams and go as far as I could; and Monday I took my final test! I am proud of myself for accomplishing this goal and hope for good news in a couple months. This step up would be rewarding for me on a professional level, and also on a personal level by helping to "launch" zack and I into a more stable future as I support him though the rest of his school.

     I have put most of our wedding plans a side- I know I said it- but it was for a good reason! We have both been planing for our futures:) Dispite taking a break from planning for the better part of four months, I have stuck gold a couple times along the way! I was able to sneak away and even have my second dress fitting!!!! I will go into this a little more in another post, but to answer everyone's question of whether or not I would have dress envy.... I did not and I am sooo happy! I got to spend the weekend with my parents and it even snowed- go figure!!

     I also need to throw a HUGE shout out to my future hubby. He is officially 5 semesters done with his DOCTORATE, and also makes me a priority; for those of you who, like me, have had no experience with a doctorate's degree it is so not easy. I have willingly been the third wheel to that relationship and know how much time and work goes into it (not to mention his part time job). With all of this he still makes time for a weekly night dinner with me, and has planned his whole break around our wedding. I'm telling you, I'm the lucky one!

     During my absence from our blog we have settled on a wedding day caterer, florist, and photographer.  I will be posting separate about all of these and hope to talk about a special project that Zack and I got to be a part of a week ago real soon!

Thank you for reading and venturing down the Road to Roberts with us!

Stay tuned :)

Engagement Party

The Engagement Party

Exodus 23:14 - "Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me."
 This is a verse that has stuck with me for a couple weeks now because it proves that He created the seven festivals for the people to observe each year to celebrate. He loves celebrations! "It was His idea from the very beginning, and when we come together to celebrate what God is doing in our lives, it brings him joy"- Leah DiPascal, Proverbs 31 Ministries

02.13.16

     This weekend we were blessed to have been thrown an engagement party by some of my wonderful work family. About a month ago I was asked if it would be something that Zack or I would want to do, and my first reaction was that I did not think it was necessary and that Zack would not want to have something "all about him". After some talking we both agreed to accept the very nice offer! At the beginning of January Rosalyn, who spear headed the whole thing, asked for a list of our friends and family that we would like to celebrate our engagement with; of course I wanted it to be EVERYONE but knew that was not possible and the hard part of "who was put on the list" would start. In the end Zack and I decided that we wanted to invite the people who would not be attending the actual wedding, so that we got to celebrate with all of the people that we love.

   

     The start of the list included family and friends that we have grown up with, and from there we started adding friends that we have acquired over the years. After we decided "who", we knew that there would no way that everyone could come but we still wanted them to know that we loved them and wanted them to be a part of the celebration. This is one of the things that I would also CAUTION all future brides on because, I am not certain that I handled this correctly... Make sure that your hostesses and you have the same number of invitees in mind**** so that there are no surprises for your hostesses or down the line with the location (more to come on the latter in a bit).

     I have been blessed with some amazing work friends, actually family, and would like to brag on them for just a minute. All three of these gals are older than me and married but have always been some of the biggest supporters of our engagement and new life together at what some consider a young age. Each offer words of advise about the wedding, the honeymoon, the first year of marriage, the good and the bad- they never lie and are always available for a freak out/ vent session/ or sappy talk! I love these girls and am so very grateful for them in my life! 

Our Hostesses
Mika, Rosalyn, and Katie

     After the invites went out the RSVPs really started to surprise me! We had invited people from states away and college friends that no longer lived in the same city that said that they were so excited to come, soooo going back to the **** earlier of making sure that you and your hostesses are all on the same page. The reason for this part of the story is because I seriously had no idea that there would be so many "yes's". The party was set for February 13th, 3 months after Zack and I got engaged, at Punch Bowl Social for 25 people.    

     Last Sunday the final count was 40, so we all had to quickly relocate. I am so very grateful for my hostesses that made sure that I did not do something silly like cancel the whole thing- don't worry it only crossed my mind a few times ;) These girls swooped into action and made everything so much better than I ever expected! Luckily we were able to find a restaurant that would let us make a reservation for a very large group, the Saturday of Valentines Day weekend. Thank you so much to The Brick House Tavern in Austin for allowing us to take over with our group! 

    The night was perfect! Great friends, great food, great drinks, and so much love! Zack and I both know now how hard it is going to be to talk to everyone on our wedding night haha. Thank you to everyone who offered us sweet tidbits of lessons learned over their past 30 years of marriage to those who only had 30 days of marriage, each of you gave us so much to take to heart! I am not one for Valentines Day but I can honestly say that it was probably my favorite way that I have ever spent the weekend leading up the the holiday! 

Thank you for everyone who came to celebrate with us! I wish I had a picture to capture you all!

Tammy and her best friend Kristi Porter

Henley and Molly

The Weedens, Mindy & Lukas

Sandie and a few of her best friends
Debbie Combes and Polly McGuire

Zack's PT Crew: Emily, Kristen, and Ben

* Stay tuned for all the adventures on TheRoadToRoberts*