Stamps, stamps, and more stamps.

We are currently in the stationary stage of this whole wedding process and while my wonderful friend and bridesmaid, Leslie, is designing my save the dates and invitations, I am working to figure out the details like postage, envelopes, and address labels.

Of course, I do not want to take the time to address a million invitations and write our return address on all of them. SO I have been researching alternative methods for getting this stationary put together....

#1- Hire a calligrapher.
While this would be nice and make the invitations look great, paying a calligrapher to write for us is just not in the budget. Strike out this option.

#2- Order invitations that have address printed on them.
Like I said, Leslie is designing the invitations so I don't think this is an option. Plus, it would probably be a lot of work and more money to pay someone to print them. Strike two.

#3- Print addresses on labels.
Ding, Ding, Ding! We have a winner. Right now, we have already printed out the addresses on the labels for the save the dates and all we have to do is stick them on the envelope once we get them stuffed and ready to go.

#4- Buy a return address stamp.
SO FUN! I was really excited when I came across this online and when I found out that personalized stamps are affordable. Here are a bunch of options I found on Etsy. These are all designs by lovetocreatestamps












































































I really wanted to get the first circular option with the Last Name in the middle but as my mom pointed out, we are not the Bessingers yet. Sad day. BUT once we say I do, I will be placing an order for a "Bessinger" stamp :)

Since we couldn't get a stamp that had a last name on it, I settled for the one below. This picture was taken with my new i-phone BTW... LOVE IT!

















Something else I really wanted but again, it was out of our budget, was the return address embosser. How cool is this?!? Another problem with the embosser is that technically the wedding invitations would be coming from my parents so it would need to be their address on the embosser. Maybe someday, I will buy an embosser just to have it....

HGTV Emily Style

Recently, I decided to change some stuff around in the apartment. Swap out some pictures, move around some knick-knacks, and take on some home improvement tasks...

Task #1: Paint the ugly hunter green bar stools in the apartment.




















These bar stools were painted a boring hunter green color and the paint was chipping all over the place SOOOO I decided on an impulse that they would be much prettier and brighter in a nice, simple white.

A quick trip to Home Depot and $15 dollars later, I began taping and painting! Here are some of the in process pictures:


































And now the finished product:





















A few dollars and some elbow grease and the chairs have made a big difference in the kitchen/living room. Of course, I do have dreams of newer, more modern bar stools one day. But for now, the newly-painted white stools will do the trick :)

E-shoot Sunday :)

This past Sunday, Tyler and I got to do that fun thing that many engaged couples do before their wedding- Brides look forward to it and grooms despise it...... Engagement pictures!!

On Sunday, we drove to Henry Co. to my friend Leslie's house... Well, actually her parent's house (Leslie and her husband, Mark, have a gorgeous home up here in Atlanta). Anyways.. we went to Henry Co. so Leslie's dad could take our engagement pictures.

Leslie did some brainstorming with her parents and they decided we should go take our pictures at Heritage Park- a small park in Henry Co. that has several cool buildings, old barns, bridges, etc. It was the PERFECT place to have a variety of really awesome backgrounds and scenes.

So we started taking pictures and at first it was somewhat awkward, but after a while it got easier-- well, for me at least. After about 10 pictures, it started to become a very painful process for Tyler. But as I kept reminding him, this is nothing compared to our wedding day. Plus, when we get married he will be in a suit which will make it 10x more uncomfortable!

Anyways, they went well and we had fun. Leslie is now hard at work (LOVE YOU LESLIE)editing the pictures and making them beautiful. I can't wait to see them!

Leslie did post this picture on facebook to show off her dad's huge Mac desktop, but if you pay attention, there are some pretty cute and familiar people on the screen :)
Enjoy!

Busy, busy. busy.

Just FYI- I have not forgotten about my wedding and the planning process.. It has just been a busy weekend and will be a busy week. A post will come soon!! Promise.

Power of the scanner.

Two weekends ago, Tyler and I went ahead and started the process of registering. While it ended up being pretty time consuming, it was also a lot of fun. I mean you get to take a scanner gun and scan gifts that you want other people to buy for you. How fun is that?! Now, I'm not writing this to sound selfish and say that I want or expect our friends/family to buy us lots and lots of gifts, but I'm just saying it is fun to have that power in your hands! I loved getting to scan things! I even let Tyler have the power when we went to Macy's. He won't lie. He enjoyed it.

We still haven't finished registering because we haven't been to Tena's in Washington/Elberton/Athens yet or picked out our fine china. But for the most part, we have picked out just about everything we could possibly need.

One of my favorite parts of registering was picking out our everyday china. I knew I wanted white and that I really liked the square plates, but I couldn't figure out exactly which brand I (we) wanted to go with. I thought about the Martha Stewart place settings, but Tyler and I really did not want square bowls so we crossed that one off of the list.














We ended up finding White Everyday China at Bed, Bath, and Beyond that does not come in place settings but is sold individually by piece. I must admit that I went a little crazy in the section and scanned just about every accessory piece possible. Here are some of the things we registered for:


























































































Fun, right? I can't wait to have a kitchen full of dishes that actually match! We also registered at Macy's and Crate&Barrel. Here are some of my favorites from C&B:

Cinderella.

I'm starting to think about music possibilities for the ceremony and reception. This video below is definitely in the running for the Daddy&Daughter dance. I love this song and it reminds me of dancing with my daddy when I was little. Love him :)




Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman. Enjoy!

Lindsey+Chap

Tyler and I went to Lindsey and Chap's wedding on Saturday afternoon. Needless to say, Lindsey looked beautiful and Chap was very handsome. An added bonus was that we got to see Laura Ann, Amanda, Courtney, and Thorne :)

Here are some pics to recap the night..







Besides celebrating with Lindsey and Chap, I was also taking notes at the ceremony and reception of things we could do for our wedding. I definitely have a better grasp on centerpieces and some other ideas for the reception. Lindsey's wedding was beautiful and I hope ours will be just as great in September!!

Lobster+Cheese+Noodles

So we are back from a great weekend full of weddings and decisions about weddings, but right now let me share a little about the tastiest part of the weekend..

Ever heard of Lobster Mac -n- Cheese? Well yeah, me either.. UNTIL about 330p today at our Tasting at Trumps. I'm not sure if I can quite express the deliciousness that is Lobster Mac -n- Cheese but I will try.

First of all, I love Macaroni and Cheese. It is one of my favorite things to eat (besides bread). I love box Macaroni and Cheese. I love homemade baked Macaroni and Cheese. I love crock pot Macaroni and Cheese. I love Macaroni Cheese.















Something else I love is seafood. In particular, crab meat and lobster meat. Delicious. Now, imagine taking amazing Macaroni and Cheese and combining it with glorious pieces of lobster meat. This give you Lobster Mac -n- Cheese.

This may have been the easiest and most important decision Tyler and I have made about this wedding. After one forkful of this superb creation, Tyler and I agreed that this will definitely be on the menu for our reception. So, if you are invited to our wedding.. You're Welcome. If you aren't, sorry. I would recommend you have an event with Trumps Catering or crash one of their events and steal a plate full. Just make sure it isn't the Wilson-Bessinger wedding on the 24th of September :)



And now that I have tasted this incredible joining of two already fabulous foods, I plan on one day learning how to make this dish. But until then, I will just get excited to have it at the wedding.. or after the wedding when we finally get a chance to eat.

This was another decision T and I have made. We do want to taste our food and our cakes so a picnic basket for after the reception will definitely be made!

Busy weekend.

We have some fun wedding stuff planned for this weekend..

On Saturday, we will be stopping by I do I do Bridal in Athens to look at a possible tux for Tyler and his groomsmen. Of course, I am carefully observing him to make sure he doesn't try anything funny and end up in something like this....
















Also on Saturday, we get to go to the wedding of my college roommate, Lindsey, and her soon-to-be-husband, Chap! I am so excited for them and know that attending a wedding will make me even more excited for ours to get here!!!
















Lindsey is the beautiful one in blue, second from the left. Other good friends in the picture include: Hannah- Lindsey's sister and maid of honor in yellow, Claire- another college roommate in pink, Laura Ann- my best friend in green, Jason- my best guy friend in peach, and ME in brown :)



On Sunday, we are going to a tasting at Trumps (our caterer). I'm SOOO excited to try their food and some of their cakes.. I'll try to take some pictures to post later.

We also have to work on getting addresses for the guest list this weekend...

Warning to all future brides: The guest list is the worst part of the whole planning experience. When you start making the list you think it will be easy to stay in your designated number to invite. No. It won't. As you continue to work on the list, you realize that you have a lot more family and friends than you originally thought. Who knew you were popular?!? Just kidding... It really adds up because you are combining three sets of people- friends of the bride's parents, friends of the groom's parents, and most importantly, friends of the bride and groom. The numbers add up quickly... trust me. You end up with a guest list that looks something like this...

Decisions so far.

So let me start catching you up to speed on what we have decided so far with the wedding..

#1. It will be in Athens.. Love it!

#2. We will get married at the beautiful Athens First United Methodist Church in downtown.














#3. The reception will take place at the historic Georgian hotel in downtown with the delicious Trumps catering.














#4. I found my dress! :) More on that later.

#5. We are staying at the Georgia Gameday Center condos... EVERYTHING is Georgia Bulldogs from the artwork to the doorknobs. Perfect.


















#6. We have booked a photographer. Very important part of it all. You should check him out! He has beautiful pictures :) Christopher Helm Photography.


#7. My dad won't be officiating the ceremony but he will have a special part in the service (besides walking me down the aisle).

















These are not all of the things we have decided on for the wedding but it's a start. More to come later!