Merry Christmas to you and yours!
I promise I'll be back sometime soon to finish up my recaps =] Hope you all have a great holiday season and enjoy time spent with family and friends.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Ornament Swap 2010
Okay guys, I promise I'm still around and reading the blogs...I just haven't had a chance to finish my recaps lately! My fun little part time job, has turned into a full time, 45 hours a week job and I'm loving it..but not so much the lack of free time. Pair that with packing (more on that later) and I'm just running out of time!
I'll be back soon, promise! But for now, I have a fun little something to share with you all.
On of my favorite bloggers from the beginning, Laura over at The Luckiest In Love (some of you might know her from her first wedding blog, Lucky in Love) is hosting an Ornament Swap this year. Basically, if you head over to her blog and sign up quickly, she'll pair everyone with a partner and you mail each other a cute Christmas ornament. She has set a $10 limit, but there are definitely some gorgeous ornaments out there for less. You can either buy it or make it. Then mail it out to your partner before December 4th, and wait for your own package to arrive as well.
I think it's a fun way to celebrate the holidays, and who doesn't love getting fun packages in the mail?!
So head on over now and get signed up!
I'll be back soon, promise! But for now, I have a fun little something to share with you all.
On of my favorite bloggers from the beginning, Laura over at The Luckiest In Love (some of you might know her from her first wedding blog, Lucky in Love) is hosting an Ornament Swap this year. Basically, if you head over to her blog and sign up quickly, she'll pair everyone with a partner and you mail each other a cute Christmas ornament. She has set a $10 limit, but there are definitely some gorgeous ornaments out there for less. You can either buy it or make it. Then mail it out to your partner before December 4th, and wait for your own package to arrive as well.
I think it's a fun way to celebrate the holidays, and who doesn't love getting fun packages in the mail?!
So head on over now and get signed up!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
$35 CSN Stores Giveaway Winner
Most of you are aware that I was hosting a giveaway for a $35 gift certificate to CSN Stores. This was probably my largest giveaway turnout to date. There are 30 new guys floating around out there now. That's just amazing! I hope you'll like what I have to say. I'm trying to plug along and get my wedding recaps done, and then it's time to get into some real life stuff! Haven't decided yet what that will be, but I've got a couple ideas up my sleeve.
But enough rambling...I'm sure you'd all like to know who the winner is. There were 63 entries this time around, and thanks to the help of random.org
The lucky winner is number 35....kenziesmum!
Congratulations! It looks like she's planning on buying some stuff for her kitchen =] I've already sent your email to my contact, so she should be getting in touch with you shortly about how to use your gift certificate.
Thanks to everyone who entered. Make sure to stick around, I think I have another giveaway up my sleeves in the near future.
But enough rambling...I'm sure you'd all like to know who the winner is. There were 63 entries this time around, and thanks to the help of random.org
Congratulations! It looks like she's planning on buying some stuff for her kitchen =] I've already sent your email to my contact, so she should be getting in touch with you shortly about how to use your gift certificate.
Thanks to everyone who entered. Make sure to stick around, I think I have another giveaway up my sleeves in the near future.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Happily After All: Bridal Party Portraits
Okay, this should be the last boring post. These are going to be the formal pictures we took of the bridal party and a few of Mr. T and I. You may or may not agree with me that they're boring, but I'm not a huge fan of posed, forced pictures. I promise there will be more fun ones of us all a little later on.
We attempted to take a few pictures with the flower girl and ring bearer. But at this point, they were hot, tired and ready to go home. Ella was being a little crabby so Mr. T took it upon himself to cheer her up a little.
After she hung upside for awhile and got a smile back on her face, we took some pictures with the two of them. We didn't get one of them actually looking at the camera, but they're still cute all the same.
We only took a couple with the entire wedding party, instead of doing individuals here. Those come in a later post, and are much cuter than they could have been standing in this church.
We added in the ushers for this second picture.
Then we did a few pictures of Mr. T and I and called it a day. For this part anyways.
First up, my handsome husband.
And a couple of me.
And then us, husband and wife!
And that's that! All of the church portraits are finished. Hope you made it out okay. The pictures to follow are some of my favorites so make sure you stick around for those.
We attempted to take a few pictures with the flower girl and ring bearer. But at this point, they were hot, tired and ready to go home. Ella was being a little crabby so Mr. T took it upon himself to cheer her up a little.
After she hung upside for awhile and got a smile back on her face, we took some pictures with the two of them. We didn't get one of them actually looking at the camera, but they're still cute all the same.
We only took a couple with the entire wedding party, instead of doing individuals here. Those come in a later post, and are much cuter than they could have been standing in this church.
Then we did a few pictures of Mr. T and I and called it a day. For this part anyways.
First up, my handsome husband.
And that's that! All of the church portraits are finished. Hope you made it out okay. The pictures to follow are some of my favorites so make sure you stick around for those.
Next up: Bride and groom portraits...but good ones!
Unless otherwise stated, all pictures are by Brandy Swartz of Photography by Brandy.
In case you've missed anything...
Unless otherwise stated, all pictures are by Brandy Swartz of Photography by Brandy.
In case you've missed anything...
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Happily After All: The Family Portraits, Part Two
Sorry if I bored you all yesterday with part one of the family pictures. I know it can be kind of boring to look at a bunch of pictures of people you don't know. But part of the reason I write this blog is for myself and to be able to look back at our wedding, and this is an important part of it.
So you'll only have to put up with two more boring family picture post today and then we'll get into some more fun stuff!
Today we're going to focus on our immediate family pictures, and turn the bridal party portraits and some formals of Mr. T and I tomorrow.
We'll start with some pictures of my family. First we did pictures with just me and my family, and then we brought in Mr. T.
First me and my mommy:
And my dad:
With both of my parents:
And then with my sis:
My mom and her girls:
And my dad and the two of us:
And the four of us:
We hadn't taken a family picture in ages, so it was nice to have this one.
And of course we had to get Mr. T into the family picture, since he was now technically a member.
Then it was time for Mr. T and his family. I haven't seen a recent picture of them all together that wasn't at least 5 years old, so I'm sure his mom will be very glad to have these around.
Mr. T and his mom:
And his dad:
With both of his parents:
Then a picture of the boys:
His mom and her sons:
His dad and his boys:
And the whole gang:
And then I jumped in, as the daughter they never had.
We also took a couple of Mr. T and I with both of our parents. They're so cute, they get together all the time without us now that they're back in IL without us.
So you'll only have to put up with two more boring family picture post today and then we'll get into some more fun stuff!
Today we're going to focus on our immediate family pictures, and turn the bridal party portraits and some formals of Mr. T and I tomorrow.
We'll start with some pictures of my family. First we did pictures with just me and my family, and then we brought in Mr. T.
First me and my mommy:
And of course we had to get Mr. T into the family picture, since he was now technically a member.
Then it was time for Mr. T and his family. I haven't seen a recent picture of them all together that wasn't at least 5 years old, so I'm sure his mom will be very glad to have these around.
Mr. T and his mom:
We also took a couple of Mr. T and I with both of our parents. They're so cute, they get together all the time without us now that they're back in IL without us.
Next up: Bridal party portraits
Unless otherwise stated, all pictures are by Brandy Swartz of Photography by Brandy.
In case you've missed anything...
Unless otherwise stated, all pictures are by Brandy Swartz of Photography by Brandy.
In case you've missed anything...
Family Portraits, part one
Friday, August 27, 2010
Happily After All: The Family Portraits, Part One
After our grand exit, we made an announcement for all immediate family and the bridal party to join us back in the church for pictures. Everyone else hung around for a little while and then made their way back into town. To this day, I'm still not really sure what everyone did in between since I left so much time before the reception. I'm sure some of them went back to their hotels to freshen up, and I think my parents actually left our garage open with some drinks and chairs if anyone wanted to stop there for awhile since it was on the way.
If you remember, I put an insert into the back of our program that outlined a plan for our pictures.
And while we kind of followed that order, it actually was a little more spur of the moment. First we started with our officiants, and then we moved on to the families. It actually went pretty quickly, and without a hitch. I got all of the pictures that we wanted too, which surprised me. I went about it in a pretty methodical method. I started with my mom's side of the family and called out each individual family to come up and take a picture with us. I made my way through all of my aunts and uncles and then at the end of them all, I called them all back up for a large group photo. Then I went on to my dad's side. After that, I called up my godparents to get pictures with them. Then we proceeded through Mr. T's sides in the same manner.
It ended up working really well, even though I was shouting orders throughout the whole ordeal, everyone said it was nice and organized and was the best way to approach the situation.
Oh, and just a warning...I have the most awkard forced smile which will make an appearance in some of the pictures.
First the officiants:
My dad's side of the family:
Unless otherwise stated, all pictures are by Brandy Swartz of Photography by Brandy.
In case you've missed anything...
If you remember, I put an insert into the back of our program that outlined a plan for our pictures.
And while we kind of followed that order, it actually was a little more spur of the moment. First we started with our officiants, and then we moved on to the families. It actually went pretty quickly, and without a hitch. I got all of the pictures that we wanted too, which surprised me. I went about it in a pretty methodical method. I started with my mom's side of the family and called out each individual family to come up and take a picture with us. I made my way through all of my aunts and uncles and then at the end of them all, I called them all back up for a large group photo. Then I went on to my dad's side. After that, I called up my godparents to get pictures with them. Then we proceeded through Mr. T's sides in the same manner.
It ended up working really well, even though I was shouting orders throughout the whole ordeal, everyone said it was nice and organized and was the best way to approach the situation.
Oh, and just a warning...I have the most awkard forced smile which will make an appearance in some of the pictures.
First the officiants:
My dad's side of the family:
My dad's parents.
My dad's sister and her husband.
With her two sons and their grandson, our ring bearer.
My dad's brother, his wife, and their son. Their oldest son couldn't get away from school. He's in the middle of his PhD in physics or something ridiculous. It seems like he's been in school forever!
This is my Grandma's sister, my dad's aunt. It was so nice that she was able to make it, we don't see her very often.
The whole group on my dad's side. We make a pretty small family!
My mom's side of the family:
My mom's mom. My grandpa passed away when I was in 8th grade.
Her oldest sister, her husband, and their three daughters. The one on the left just got married a year ago and their son was almost a month old then. On the right in the orange is with her fiance. They got married a month later =]
Her younger sister and her husband. They live in Vegas and we hardly ever get to see them.
Her third sister, her two kids, and her boyfriend.
And the baby of the family, her younger brother.
And the whole group. You'd think with her having four siblings, we'd be a little bigger. But not all of them had children, so now we're filling in with husbands and grandkids =]
My godparents:
My dad's brother, and my mom's sister.
Mr. T's dad's side of the family: (the relations will all be to his dad)
His parents.
His brother and three kids. The oldest daughter wasn't able to make it.
His sister, her husband, and their two boys.
His other sister and her two girls. Her husband wasn't able to make it.
His oldest sister, and her boyfriend.
The whole gang. They're all located within 40 minutes of us here, so it's nice to have people to visit when I'm feeling homesick.
Mr. T's mom's side of the family: (all relations will be to her)
Her parents weren't able to make the trip.
See if you can follow along on this one. This is her husband, his wife, and their three children. On the right is their oldest daugher, her husband and their two kids. On the left is each twin son with their respective girl. The blond son has a girlfriend, and the other has a fiance. They're getting married in October!
Her other brother and his wife.
Her sister. She has two sons. One lives in Ohio and wasn't able to make it. The other lives in Arizona with his wife and daughter. They're expecting a son around December. They couldn't make it either, unfortunately.
Her other sister, husband, and son. They also have two daughters. One is married and they had just left for the Peace Corps in Fiji. The other is married but was almost popping with their first son so they couldn't make it either.
The whole group. Even with so many people missing, it's one big family! They're also all within 40 minutes of us, so we have some great get togethers from time to time.
Mr. T's godparents:
His godparents are his two aunts on his dad's side.
And that's probably enough pictures and confusing family connections for one day. Tomorrow we'll do our immediate families with parents and siblings, and then also the few we got of the bridal party.
Next up: Family portraits, part two.
Unless otherwise stated, all pictures are by Brandy Swartz of Photography by Brandy.
In case you've missed anything...
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