Showered

After a decade of hosting showers it's a totally surreal experience to have a shower thrown in your honor. It's really special. Something tells me it's a tiny preview of what the wedding will be like: Most of your favorite people all in one room coming to celebrate you. Wow. Humbling, exciting, overwhelming, etc., etc. I have had two showers so far and have another one this weekend. I can't wait. Here are a few photos from the first two showers, just for posterity sake. I wish I had the hours to do individual posts for these special showers, but let's be honest. I am in wedding overdrive mode. 38 days to go. Pure madness.

My first shower was thrown by sweet work (and former work) friends. It was a vintage desperate housewife theme. I loved it. I was too nervous/excited to get a single picture, but here are some from one of the hosts. Speaking of the hosts, they all wore pearls and aprons. Perfect.

me and one of my bridesmaids, stacey

esther, one of the hosts, and i

sweet friends and family

The second shower was hosted by my aunts and it was lovely. The brunch was held at an antique tea room and my colors (peach, gray and ivory) were splashed everywhere. Beautiful. I did manage to take a few pictures of the special morning the second time around.

 cousins!

my aunts

me and my grandma (Bebe)

Our sweet flower girl (and niece)!

my favorite gift so far.  a vintage bride's book from my mom. it's from the 40s!

For the love

Disclaimer: The following post was written by a stressed-to-the-max bride. Read at your own risk.

My name is weird. I get that. I've endured 29 years of it being misspelled, mis-pronounced and even mocked. It's truly cruel to have the last name Whiteman when my legs are white as a ghost year-round, no? I'm mostly desensitized to it all at this point. That is until Justin and I got engaged and I became a bride-to-be. I just don't understand how people continue to get my name wrong. Especially when I send them emails with my name on it and then they see it again in my signature line. It's not that hard people. It's happened numerous times over the last five months from several different individuals and I just.can't.take.it.anymore. Last week someone got my name wrong on a shower invitation. Not even misspelled, but flat out wrong. As in, it looks like Justin is marrying someone else. Really? I'm struggling to find grace and forgiveness in all of this. I know it's necessary. I know that I've done far worse things in my life. I know people can be careless and mistakes happen, but shouldn't people go the extra mile to make sure the bride's name is right? I think yes.

And that, my dear blog friends, concludes my rant of the day.

Our invitation suite

Our invitation suite is one of my very favorite things about our wedding planning so far. I've been in public relations for almost a decade now, and prior to that spent four years at Baylor studying the profession, so I think that has a little something to do with the time and energy I poured into these little guys. That, and it's just really fun to throw a party and I am of the personal belief that the invitation sets the tone for the whole thing. We're throwing one heck of a party in September and I hope that our guests knew that from the moment they saw their invitations in the mailbox.

I've been waiting to share these with you, so without further adieu...

Virtual proofs:

virtual proof of the "pocket" with invitation sticking up

invitation

rsvp postcard (that's the church)!

back of the postcard. it's been fun getting the song requests back.

accomodations card

for more info...

The real deal:

i love that they are hand sewn. (not by me of course)!

i also love that we were able to hire a calligrapher. that was super important to me and they turned out beautiful!

I just happened to stumble upon a fantastic vendor on etsy. (After weeks of searching mind you). Kirsten has been wonderful to work with! She worked with me to create my dream invitation suite, designed our website, thank you cards, fan programs and guest book. I adore her work!

Wedding Website

We finally have our wedding website up and running. I've been nit-picking working on it for almost three months. Ridiculous? Yes. A reflection of my perfectionist, OCD, pr person? Absolutely. Nonetheless, here it is blog friends.

http://justinandashleigh.com/

I think I'm going to move my little blog over to this domain after the wedding. The site is a bit cleaner and much more professional. Proof that paying a professional for these things is generally worth it. I'm also excited to share our invitation suite soon. I'm so pleased with how they turned out and it makes my heart go pitter patter to hear all of the sweet compliments from our guests! Thank you!

Hope everyone had a fantastic fourth. God Bless America!

Then and Now

I'm way overdue for an update. I've got several swimming in my head and just need a second to sit down and put the pen to the paper. Er, the fingers to the keyboard? In the meantime, here are a few fun then and now photos.

Robert and Kelly Pacleb, one of our very favorite couples who also happen to be the two responsible for setting J and I up, joined us for a fun double date on Saturday night. This wasn't just any date night though. Our sweet guys decided to surprise us and recreate our second double date from almost 2.5 years ago. We had the best time. We enjoyed a fantastic meal at Taverna downtown followed by an even better evening at the Scat Jazz Lounge. Thank you for a fun night boys!

Then:

And now:

I think we're getting better looking with age. Or maybe that's just the instagram filters...

Mother-Daughter Trip

Mom and I made a little trip down south last weekend. South on I35 that is. The main objective was to be in the audience for my dear friend Natalie's dance recital in Waco. She owns the studio. We're so proud of her! We left early Saturday morning for Salado to meet with my wedding coordinator and talk to some local vendors that we are including in our welcome bags. The wedding is 82 days away in case you were wondering! Squeal! We got a lot taken care of, and being in Salado got me that much more excited for the big day if that is even possible.

After all of our meetings we headed back up I35, checked into the hotel and then booked it over to Baylor Ballpark to watch my Bears play in the super regional tournament. No one ever said I wasn't a dedicated Baylor fan. Mom however, is not the biggest baseball fan and Baylor is definitely not her favorite team, but she was there cheering in her BU visor. In 100 degree heat. With no wind. Oh my word it was blazing H.O.T. We couldn't stay the entire time because of the recital, but I'm not sure we would've lasted anyway. We made it to Hewitt just in time for the show and we enjoyed seeing all of Natalie's hard work on stage! It was fantastic.

mom and I before the first pitch

after the show

The next day we ate at my favorite breakfast spot in Waco, armed ourselves with an arsenal of things to beat the heat a little bit better and headed back to the ballpark for game 2. It was hotter, but more bearable thanks to the nice breeze and our spray fans. And my lemon chill. And a million $3 bottles of water. We stuck it out for nine innings only to see my beloved Bears crumble. They're playing in game 3 tonight. I'm having an internal struggle of whether to watch the game or the Bachelorette. Decisions, decisions.

part of our arsenal for game 2

I had such a fun, packed weekend full of all of the things I love most: Family, friends, Baylor and wedding planning ;) Thanks mom.

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

We spent last weekend where we usually spend Memorial Day weekend, at the lake. My grandparent's lake house on Lake Quitman to be exact. It's one of my favorite places on this earth. Something about the familiarity of it all, the wonderful memories I have there, being on the water, being with family, etc., etc. As the family gets larger it gets a little more crowded, but I love it. You might get a different response from my hubby-to-be if you asked him. He spent a couple of nights on the couch and was woken up one morning by my our three year old niece who needed help going to the bathroom. Sweet, sweet Justin. He's a good man.

My brother and brother-in-law were the only two missing. Adam recently landed a coveted summer internship at a law firm (he just wrapped up his first year in law school), and my youth minister BIL had work obligations he couldn't get away from. We missed them! I personally enjoyed a little R&R and a break from wedding mania. We're closing in on 90 days to go and I just can't wait!

A few photos from our weekend. We lived in swimsuits and sunscreen all weekend and I didn't touch makeup, a blow dryer or a curling iron for three days. Bliss.