E-Pics, part 1

Despite the snow, sleet, and freezing temperatures, Andy and I were able to take some pretty sweet engagement pictures last weekend. They were originally planned for Saturday, which turned out to be bitterly cold and full of snow. So we crossed our fingers and ventured out on Sunday. I can't say we had high hopes that they would turn out good; it was pretty overcast and only in the 40's. But Sarah Pence worked her magic and gave us a great set of pictures. First off, let me just say how much fun we had taking these. Neither of us know what to do when a camera is pointed at us which is where Sarah's expertise came in. I love how a lot of the pictures are candid moments of us just laughing and being ourselves. I think Sarah really did a good job of getting our personalities in the shots too. Sanchbro made a guest appearance as well! We let him sprint laps in the field for 5 minutes straight before trying to grab him for a picture. He's so purty :) The little white church you see in the first half of the pictures is about 5 minutes outside of Searcy in Smyrna. Sarah suggested we take some shots out there and we loved it. Unfortunately it was too cold and cloudy to do a lot of the other ideas we wanted so we're going to wait for a beautiful Spring day and take a 2nd photo shoot! A little excessive? NEVER! You're only married once! Go big or go home, right? So go to Sarah's FB page SarahElizabethPhotography, "like" her business, and stalk all of our pictures! We're going to use one of them for our Save the Dates so be on the lookout for those (sometimes in the near-ish future). Also, leave a comment if you like and tell us which picture is your favorite!

E-Pics!

SATURDAY!
"What happens on Saturday?" you ask yourself.
A beautiful engagement picture session!
My beautiful, talented, awesome friend Sarah Pence is going to take the pictures for us here in Searcy. This is her blog. Do yourself a favor and check it out because she's fantastic :) Sarah Elizabeth Photography . We have been doing a lot of brainstorming and have some really cute ideas for props and locales and stuff. Here is some inspiration....

Weird how both of these couples are Asian, right? They make pretty couples though! Well, We have a couple of other cute ideas that we're going to experiment with and I can't wait to see how they turn out. Be looking for the pictures soon!

So on Saturday and Sunday, Andy and I attacked his local Target, Kohl's, and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Other than finding a dress, it was the most fun we've had so far! I felt like a kid in a candy store; anything and everything was fair game. "You're pretty", scan, "I like you", scan, "You cost $200", scan. I think we both got exactly what we wanted, with a fair amount of compromising along the way. And if you thought that Andy would be bored and miserable, you are wrong. I've never seen a guy get more excited about juicers than this kid. If you didn't know this, Andy is pretty nifty in the kitchen. So naturally he nearly cried when he saw the KitchenAid 7 cup food processor of his dreams. Now, I know that all brides are supposed to have their future house designed in their mind, with a central theme and color for each room, and matching everything picked out....well, I guess I didn't get that memo. Our selections are kind of all over the board. Especially in the kitchen. We looked at 10 different colors of FiestaWare, couldn't decide on a single or even two-color combo, so we decided to get all of them! They were just all so pretty! Now I've talked to several girls who have said that registering with their fiance was when they had their first real fight. Luckily for us, everything went so smoothly and we had a great time. I think we learned a lot about the other person's taste and how to compromise to find something we both like. Andy is more naturally attracted to things that are darker, sleeker, clean lines, more modern, etc. I like things that are colorful, floral, fun, and so on. So naturally we were drawn to different styles. But it worked out great in the end because he would pick out something and then I would pick out something, or we just kept looking til we found something we agreed on. But we didn't just register for kitchen/bathroom/housewares. No no no, we picked out some fun stuff too. For example

• a 2 ft. long bone for Sancho (Andy's dog)
• the board game Quelf
• Mexican Train Dominoes
• Little Big Planet 2 for the PS3
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii
• an HP photosmart printer/scanner/copier
• a tent, lantern, ice chest, and propane grill
• His and Hers Shakeweights (if you don't know what it is.....look it up)
• LOST - season 6

So again, we're registered at Target, Kohl's, and Bed, Bath & Beyond. You can look up our registry under Rebecca Carter or Andy Sawyer.
******Also: Gift cards are gladly accepted!!

back to work

• August 06, 2011

• Hot Springs, Ar 
• Garvan Woodland Gardens

We're working on Save the Dates right now and plan on sending them out in about a month. Other than that, we've been busy getting back into the swing of things. I'm starting my last semester at Harding and Andy is working hard in Little Rock making magic on the computer. We're excited about registering soon, probably at Kohl's, Target, and maybe more. Also on the agenda soon: engagement pictures!!                         

FOUND IT!

Guess who found a wedding dress? Did you guess Rebecca Carter? Because that's it! On Friday morning, my Mom, Dad, and I went to a dress shop here in Angleton and bought a dress! And it's "gorge"! It's simple but elegant and it has POCKETS!! I knew it had to be the one when I found the pockets. Now, you might be thinking, "Why in the world would someone put pockets on a wedding dress?" Good question. My answer: Pockets are fun :) And who knows? Maybe I'll get hungry during the ceremony and need to munch on some Skittles or something? I'm sure Andy won't mind ;) But all joking aside, it really is a beautiful dress and I can't wait (the 16 weeks!) until it comes in.

Now you may have read that the dress search was an extensive/intensive process. I tried on A LOT of duds. Since I'm not wearing any of these, I'll show you some of what we went through to find the "one".

Needless to say, we tried on pretty much every style out there. Now of course I didn't put my dress on here. Something has to be a surprise!

Say Maybe? to the Dress

I blame too much TLC for my current dress decision dilemma (try saying that 3 times fast.....OK, that's actually not difficult to do at all). One of my favorite shows to watch is Say Yes to the Dress. If you've seen the show at all, you know what I'm talking about. They follow 4 or 5 women at a high-end bridal salon called Kleinfeld's in New York. You sit in your living room and try to tell the girl on the TV to pick the second dress; it's figure flattering and within her budget. But she will inevitably pick the fourth dress (a sparkly princess gown that's $3,000 over her budget).

So, when I began my own dress search I imagined the same experience: try on 5 or 6 dresses, try on "the dress", everyone starts to cry, purchase and leave. Not what happened. I took my Mom, brothers Ryan and Clint, and sister-in-law Kelly with me. We have been to 3 bridal salons. Tried on more than 30 dresses. Progress? More confused than when I started :( The number of styles, designers, colors, fabrics is mind-boggling!

The dress I have in mind is form fitting to the hips and then flares out. Something without a lot of beading or lace. A more modern look, perhaps. Ultimately, a fun dress that looks like "me" and won't break the bank. I go back out on the hunt on Friday with Mom and Dad. I know my dress is out there! Dress, if you can hear me right now, please jump off the hanger and onto my body so I can wear you on my wedding day. Thank you in advance,


Love, a dress-less bride

Location x 3, part deux

So clearly we are looking at more than one venue, right? Let me present....An Enchanting Evening. I know the name is a little cheese ball-esque, but once you get past that, it is a beautiful ceremony and reception site! It's located 20 miles west of Little Rock, but it feels like it's out in the boonies. This huge stone and log "cabin" was built by a retired couple and faces Mt. Pinnacle and Lake Maumelle. This is the ceremony site....

pretty huh? We loved it! This was actually the first place we looked at. Here is another picture from the opposite view.

Unfortunately, one of the concerns with an outdoor wedding... what to do if the skies open up and pour on us? I guess that's just the risk you take with having an outdoor wedding. They do have a possible indoor ceremony site, but I don't think they can do an indoor reception. PLUS, we wanted this place because of the outdoor setting. Decisions, decisions! Do you like it?