Long Time, No See

I haven't posted on here in ages! I had a crazy semester in the fall, and my second day of school for this semester is tomorrow. I'm already tired of school! On the bright side, I have a photography class on Tuesdays and Thursdays! Photography is a huge passion of mine and I can't wait to find out more about how to use my camera in order to take even better photos.

Another thing that I'm excited about is THE BACHELOR. It is one of my favorite shows, and Sean Lowe's season looks to be very exciting.

Am I the only one that gets cracked up by Tierra?

I bought a dress!

The most important purchase of a wedding ceremony has been purchased! I took my mother, two sisters, best friend, and niece to Wedding Wonderland on Saturday and tried on many different dresses until I found the one. I wish I could describe it on my blog, but I don't want my fiance to have any idea what it looks like until the big day! I feel so relieved to have that out of the way. I was worried that picking out a dress would take up more of my time than it did. Thankfully, I knew exactly what I wanted, and didn't waste my time on dresses that I didn't see myself getting married in.

I wish I could write more, but I have lots to do tonight!

Love,
Jayna

Saying Yes to the Dress?

At this time on Saturday, I will be wedding dress shopping. I am so excited! I know that my wedding is three years away, but there are a lot of sales in bridal shops right now, and I intend to take advantage of that. I'll get a dress a couple of sizes bigger than I am now and have it altered closer to the wedding date, just in case. I've been browsing the internet for hours today, finding some of my favorite styles and specific dresses so that I'll know what I'm looking for when I actually go shopping. I may not even find the one I'm looking for, but it never hurts to look. And for those of you who think that the styles will be different in three years, you may be right. However, I am not the type of person that wants a wedding dress in the absolute latest fashion. I've known what type of dress I want for a long time now, and I am sure that whatever I pick will still be beautiful three years from now.

I'm not taking a ton of girls with me to go dress shopping. I don't want too many opinions, and I only want the females in my life that I am closest to. Because my wedding date is three years away, I haven't picked all of my bridesmaids just yet. I don't want to ask someone to be my bridesmaid, and then barely talk to them by the time the wedding rolls around. I may have many different friends by 2015. However, I have asked my best friend of over ten years, Alex, to be my maid of honor, and my two sisters to be bridesmaids, as I know that these are three women that will be with me for the rest of their lives. Tadd has not picked his groomsmen except for his best man, his brother.

Another thing I have done today is look up different photographers in the East Tennessee area. Our budget is only $10,000, and some of my favorite wedding photographers cost half that much for a wedding session!! Maybe I should get into the photography business myself...

Love,
Jayna

Wedding Madness

I'm that type of girl that LOVES organization. I mean, loves. Like, really loves it. Which is why my wedding planner binder, The Pink Book, is absolutely made for me. It has printables for absolutely every aspect of the wedding you could think of. However, I keep finding other worksheets to use for wedding planning on various blogs and wedding websites all over the web. Anything I find that I don't already have in my Pink Book, I print. While this is going to help me cover all the bases when it comes to planning the wedding, it is also making my wedding planner very, very full.

I realize that planning a wedding without the help of a wedding coordinator can be stressful, but here are a few reasons that I can (hopefully) handle it.


1. I have a three year engagement.
I wish I could get married tomorrow. I really do. I long for the marriage more than the wedding. However, due to the fact that Tadd and I are both in college and don't have careers yet, three years is the soonest that we can do it and it be financially acceptable. Three years gives me plenty of time to gather ideas, find sales, and do all sorts of do-it-yourself projects.

2. Blogs, blogs, blogs.
Many of the ideas I have for my wedding I found online on various blogs. The internet really is an engaged girl's best friend. I don't have to look at bridal magazines anymore. I can simply type in anything I want in Google and find thousands of ideas for my wedding while sitting on my couch. How sweet is that?

3. Extremely helpful fiance. 
Tadd wasn't too thrilled about the whole planning process at first, but I convinced him that this is OUR wedding, and I want us to plan it together. I don't want him to be surprised on the day of the wedding with the color scheme, the menu for the reception, or our first dance song. We've actually had a lot of fun planning the wedding, and he has been very helpful with figuring out ways to do this ourselves.

I'm praying for wisdom in this planning process. I hope to not become one of those Bridezillas, even though Tadd is already teasingly calling me one. Well, I hope he's teasing...

Love,
Jayna

So tired...

This past year had been a roller coaster ride when it comes to my sleep schedule. I don't really know what it is, but for some reason I am always sleepy when I shouldn't be and always awake when I should be sleeping. I never sleep the same hours. For example, I woke up at four this morning and haven't been able to go back to sleep. I don't have to be at work until 8:30, so I've been sitting around doing random things. Isn't that horrible? I wish I could just sleep when it is dark outside and be awake and chipper when it is light out.

Oh, well.

On the bright side, maybe after work I'll be able to get some wedding planning done. Tadd and I are still trying to figure out a color scheme, as I'm not going to purchase anything without a definite color in mind.  I'm trying to be budget-friendly!

Love,
Jayna

Here It Goes...

I've never had a blog before, and I don't expect this to be successful. I've tried to write in a diary or journal, but I get bored quickly. That will probably happen here as well.

My fiance and I have a three year long engagement, which is amazing and horrible all at the same time. In a perfect world, I could get married to him within six months. However, as we are both in school, three years is the soonest we can get married without it being financially irresponsible and extremely hectic. Hopefully, Tadd will be off to law school after our summer wedding, and I will be working on my Master's degree. Of course, a lot could change in three years. I try to remember that I don't have it all figured out.


It's hard to remember that all of this stress will be worthwhile, but I keep trying to remember that God knows every plan He has for me, and that those are sometimes not at ALL what I had planned for myself. He knows best!


-Jayna