Coming to a mailbox near you!!!

The invitations are done and mailed!! Ohh how sweet that is to type!!! Now Jen and I are super excited to check the mail everyday to see if we get any RSVP's!! The Farmer just better be glad I have a Wedding Fairy! Honestly he really has no clue what I have been going through but poor Jen does!! I'm contemplating having Jen give the Farmer some Husband lessons! She is the best!! She cooks for us, cleans (she is such a neat freak), she lifts heavy (and even not heavy) stuff for me, she takes endless pics of me when I don't like how I look in the first 15 takes, she makes me go to the gym, she goes to the buffet with me when I've had a bad day, she makes sure I get right back on my diet after the buffet disaster, she turns my light off for me if I'm all cozy in bed already, she helps me with endless wedding projects, she even makes emergency necklaces for me when I need something to go with a particular outfit!! Seriously the Farmer could learn soo much from her...hehehe!! I will miss her soo much when I move out...ok I'm just not gonna think about it!! On a much less sad note, we are finalizing our music for the wedding ceremony this weekend! The Farmer's Aunt is our official organist, we are going to go over all the music and pick out songs for everything!! Soo fun!! Then maybe I can get the programs done...ohhh joy, another project to take over the kitchen...and just when we got it cleaned again!!!

one of the two boxes of invites!

yes, I could have lifted these myself, but I am having a VERY casual Friday and didn't want any photographic evidence!!

Finally at the Post Office!! Woohoo!!!

Magnolia!!

No, this isn't about the beautiful Magnolias we are using in the church (that I still need to find!) This is about our new 7 week old corgi puppy!!! I have to tell you that she went through quite the identity crisis for the first day of us owning her! We could not decide on a name...among the options were July, Boots, Brindle, Prissy (my personal fave!) Bourke (our first corgi's name was Dooney, she got ran over a few months ago, soo sad), Sippi, and Tex...we settled on Magnolia and will call her Mags!!! She is sooo adorable and loves her belly to be rubbed!! Lets just hope she doesn't get possessive of the Farmer like Dooney did!! She is actually Dooney's sister, so the chances are slim! We took a detour on the way home from New Orleans and picked her up!! She is living at the farm, so I will only get weekend visitation until August 1st :(

helping navigate!

precious!

don't you just love the Farmer's cut off shorts...hahaha!

I have a Sister-In-Law!!!

My brother's wedding was truly gorgeous!! The whole event was very traditional/formal and really beautiful! I kept expecting to see a Platinum Weddings camera and crew to pop up and start filming!!

The Farmer and I left early (4:00 am) Thursday morning heading down to New Orleans, where both my brother and his new bride live. She was born and raised there and my brother moved there about 4 years ago. We arrived about 10:30 that night and only had a few minor spats the whole way...mainly regarding my wanting to sleep the entire trip and his chitty chatting on the phone when I was trying to sleep! He did have his first Moon Pie on the way down there, but wasn't as impressed as I wanted him to be!! On the other hand he was extremely impressed with the cuisine in New Orleans! He sampled everything you could imagine. Catfish, Crawfish Etouffee, Shrimp Remoulade, Gumbo, Banana Nut Bread Budding, The Famous Port of Call Burger, and Cafe Du Monde's Beignets. Most of these yummy dishes were at the Rehearsal Dinner that was held at Tujague's in the French Quarter near Jackson Square. We had a fabulous 7 course meal and were seated at tables named with famous Streets in the French Quarter, ours was Esplanade (Esplanade runs from the Mississippi River front to the intersection with Carrollton Avenue just past Bayou St. John, and the entrance to City Park. In the 19th century it was important as a portage route of trade between the Bayou which linked to Lake Pontchartrain and the River. Many 19th century mansions still line the street; it functioned as a "millionaire's row" for the Louisiana Creole section of the city!) The balcony was reserved just for us...wow, what a view!!! After the Dinner, The Farmer and I took a romantic Carriage Ride back to the Hotel. The tour guide asked us where we were from, we told him Iowa and he said he had a special place to show us! The Cornstalk Hotel! It was the coolest thing ever!! The hotel is set behind the iconic 'cornstalk" cast iron fence. There is a lovely story of an early owner who brought his young bride to live in New Orleans far from her native Iowa. To soften some of her loneliness for the waving fields of corn back home, he caused a cornstalk replica to be made in graceful iron so that from her front gallery she could forever see something of her native land. Soo sweet!! I asked the Farmer if he was going to build me a Cotton field to remind me of Mississippi and he said nah, but I could visit whenever I wanted!! :)

We stayed at and the reception was held at the Historic Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter. It was unbelievable, everything was soo lavish and extravagant...of course being the clumsy gal that I am, I felt very much like a small child in a china shop that could break everything at any second!! We were greeted with a bag of New Orleans goodies...Maps, A List of the Bride and Groom's favorite places, The official guide to New Orleans, Cajun flavored Chips, and some Apple Pies that the Farmer devoured before I ever saw them! The morning of the wedding, all the girls got ready in the Bridal Suite. It was sooo nice! There was hair and make up and all sorts of tasty snacks! After we were all dolled up we took pictures in the suite, then headed to the church in Limos with a police escort...we were all pretty excited about this!! :)

The Bridal Brunch was held on Friday at the Court of Two Sisters. The brunch was incredible..all you could eat seafood and salads...mmmmm!!

The reception had tons of yummy food too! I only tasted a few things since there were a ton of people there that I had not seen in ages and it felt like I was running around all night! The Farmer said there was rack of lamb, turtle soup, a pasta station, gumbo, and a ton of hot and cold hors d'oeuvres! Yes, he tried them all!! I did have some kind of vegetable thing that was in a martini glass with a yummy sauce!

It was such a fabulous weekend! Now I have got to get on the ball with my own wedding!! Invites must go out this Friday!!! YIKES!!!!

Enjoy the pics!!!

The Court of Two Sisters!







Adub, JayKay, Me, Erin and Momma at the Bridal Brunch!




Bridal Brunch

flowers!!



I have been wating for them to meet, just so I could take this picture!!!



The Happy Couple!





On the balcony at the Rehearsal Dinner


On our carriage ride!



The corn stalk!!



My Momma looked soo gorgeous!!

With our new Sister!

All the girls!!

I did her hair!! Soo fun!

The bride and the Flower Girl!

Me and my fabulous Sister!




The cake pull!

I got the Horse Shoe!! I will be Lucky in Life...so far, so good!! :)

Me and My Daddy!

Me and The Farmer!! His tie went soo perfect with my dress!! See how excited he is that we matched :)

My Brother's Cake..he is the Ultimate LSU Fan!

Sleeping Beauty!

Me and my two favorite boys!!!

Me and my Cousin!!

The Farmer in New Orleans!!

Cafe Du Monde

Beignets!! basically a deep fried doughnut!!! Soo yummy!

We stopped in St. Louis on the way home so I could see the Arch!! It was cold and raining..this is the best pic...haha!

Framed!!

I finally found a frame and mat for the "Guest Book" Picture! All our guests will sign this picture instead of a guest book, I think it turned out great :)

I'm a Tulip Festival Fool!!

I wish they had one every weekend!! This time the Festival was in Orange City and I got to go to the Parade! It was fantastic!! The Band marches in wooden shoes, and they had Dutch Dancing that some of the Farmer's family participates in! It was sooo neat to watch! And we got popcorn!! WOOHOO!! :)

Raylee, You will have to come experience the Orange City version next year!!! :)

marching band in wooden shoes!

First the Town Cryer comes down the street and proclaims it too dirty for the Queen...

So the boys get buckets of water and dump them on the street!

Then the girls come through and sweep the street!


The Pella Tulip Time Queen

The Orange City Tulip Festival Queen

The Farmer's Cousin Dutch Dancing!

The little dutch boy and the dam

Hair!!!

I went for my trial run hair-do on Friday and I am sooo happy! I think I will wear the tiara and veil for the ceremony then just wear the flower for the reception!! Sooo excited!! Now I just need to decide what I am going to do with my hair this weekend for my Brother's wedding!!

Dress Fitting!!!

This morning was my first (and hopefully only) dress fitting! All i needed was the bustle to be put in. The length is perfect and it fits like a glove! So they pinned in the bustle (french, so fabulous) and added some chest enhancements!! Woohoo!!! I truly love my dress more each time I see it!! This was the first time I had the entire package on...veil, tiara, earrings, lime green crinoline, and lime green shoes! It is sooo gorgeous all together..I wish I could post pics, but I don't want to ruin the surprise! I will leave you with this sneak peak!!!
I am having my trail run on my "wedding hair" tomorrow morning!!! Stay tuned for updates!! :)

Progress!!

Things are coming right along! I almost have 100 invites complete! I really only have 5 nights left to work on them, if I want them out by the last week in May! since we are leaving next week for my brother's wedding in New Orleans!! I am just pretty excited that my bridesmaid dress fits!! It is a lilac Vera Wang gown (pictured below in gray). I do not look like this model...haha! Thanks to the Farmer's amazing aunt, it fits perfectly!! Woohoo :)

The Farmer has never been to New Orleans, or Mississippi for that matter, so it should be fun! I am really looking forward to the trip down there...I like to have his full attention and when we are in a car for 12+ hours he has to listen to me, haha! Now if I could just get him to leave his phone behind...no chance! I'm soo excited to see my Family again! We are planning to stay with my sister when we arrive, an evening of Wii and board games with the niece and nephew is a must!

Now back to the invites! Here are some snap shots...thank goodness we never eat at the kitchen table because it has turned into wedding central!