One Month

Well, today Paul and I have been married for one month! I can't believe our wedding day was a whole month ago. Time is flying by so fast! I'm sure before we know it, it will be our 1 year anniversary! It still hasn't really sunk in that we are actually married! I'm still not use to my new name either. It's so hard to remember that my last name is Spates now! Referring to Paul as my husband and Paul referring to me as his wife still sounds strange too, but at the same time I love the sound of it! Tomorrow is my 28th birthday and I still haven't decided where I want to go out to eat! We hardly ever go out to eat, so it's a really hard decision for me! I'm leaning towards Olive Garden at the moment, but who knows, I might change my mind again before tomorrow night. Paul also keeps asking me what I want for my birthday and I have no idea what to tell him. There are a few things that I would like to have, but at the same time, I'm thinking that there are so many things that we still need for the house, we need to put the money towards that. Maybe I'll think of something that I would really like to have that we also need for the house.

Our Wedding

A few more Honeymoon Pics

These are some pictures off of our Disney Photo Pass CD. Still, no professional wedding pics yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have them by this weekend!

A Few Wedding Pics...Professional pics will be here soon

We are Married!!

Well, Paul and I were married on May 23! Despite all the rain it was absolutely perfect! I was shocked that we had so many people show up! Mom and Dad estimated that there were around 140 people there! Melaney, our harpist was wonderful! The music she played was beautiful and set a perfect tone for the ceremony! I loved our photographer! We used Jimmy Cox with About Face Photography. We haven't seen the pictures yet, but he was so easy to work with! Our cakes were some of the best cakes I've ever had! The bride's cake was 3 tiers; 2 chocolate pound cake with chocolate buttercream icing and 1 vanilla pound cake with chocolate buttercream icing. For the groom's cake, we had 2; a 2 tier cheesecake, made by my aunt Diane and a red velvet cake shaped like a bag of golf clubs. The bride's cake and red velvet groom's cake were made by Diane's Mother-in-law, Ms Jackie. I didn't get much food at the reception, but the couple of bites I had were delicious! I still hasn't sunk in that we are married! Referring to Paul as my husband is the weirdest thing, but I love the sound of it! Now I just have to get use to signing my new name! I'll post some pictures when I get the disc from the photographer! For right now, I'll post a few Honeymoon pictures! We spent a week at Walt Disney World and had a blast! It was Paul's first trip ever to Disney World, and he absolutely loved it! We are already talking about planning our next trip!

Last post as a single woman....

This will be my last post until after I'm back from my honeymoon! I'm working today, tomorrow and Wendsday and then I will be off until June 1! I so do not want to be at work! I keep thinking of a million things I could be doing to get ready for the wedding. Everyone is still asking if I'm getting nervous, but I'm really not. I've started to get a little stressed about everything getting done and hoping we won't forget anything and I'm really excited and can't belive that the day is almost here...but not nervous at all! Over the next three days I've got to finish getting my house cleaned up and I've got to get Paul and I packed for the honeymoon! Then on Thursday the real fun starts, because that's when the tent is going up and all the decorating will begin! Hopefully the next three days will go by fast!

It's almost here!

This time next week, I will be off work for a week and a half and in hyper-speed wedding mode! We have a very busy week ahead of us! Mom is off all next week, so she will be doing things like getting everything together that we need to set up for the wedding, printing our program fans, and anything else that can be done before Thursday when the guys at Rental Center will be coming out to Mike and Pennie's to set up the tent and deliver the chairs and tables! I am getting more and more excited as the days go by and Paul is actually starting to show some excitement too! Paul and I went and met with Rusty last night about what we wanted for our ceremony. I love Rusty! He is so down to earth and easy to talk to. I was a little nervous before we got there, but as soon as we sat down in his office and started talking to him, I was completely put at ease. As he said, he's just a country preacher who likes to give advice, but only when asked. We had a wonderful talk with him. He told Paul and I that there are three things to keep an eye on in a marriage to keep it strong. One being faithfulness to each other, one being debt and the other being our relationship with God. He explained it like a three legged stool with our marriage sitting on top; if one leg gets week then the other two have more pressure on them and are not as steady and can make the marriage unsteady. What I really loved about talking to him was that it was more like Paul and I were sitting down and having a conversation with a friend instead of sitting and feeling like we were listening to him preach at us about marriage. Paul and I both decided after we left that we really need to get back in to church on a regular basis. Unfortunately, Paul has to work this Sunday so he can be off next Friday and the whole following week for the wedding and honeymoon and next Sunday we will be on our way to Disney World, so we won't get to go for the next two weeks.
After we got done talking with Rusty we met Mike, Pennie and Lark at Belk to finish getting the guys' suits. They now all have suits and I am so relieved!
Mom, Dad, Paul and I will be going out to Mike and Pennie's this Saturday to see what all we can get done out there before next Thurday. I would really like to have planned out exactly where everything is going before they set up the tent on Thursday. I cannot wait to see everything set up! It's going to be so pretty in the tent! Paul is going to have his final hair cut as a single man with Michael on Monday. I'm going to have my nails done on Tuesaday. Melaney, our harpist, should be contacting me either Wednesday or Thursday to confirm times for the wedding day and Jimmy, our photographer will be coming out on Thursday afternoon to get a look at the site and check out the lighting for pictures. Like I said, the people from Rental Center will be coming out sometime on Thursday to deliver the tables, chairs and set up the tent. We will spend Thursday night and all day Friday setting everything up how we want it. Rehearsal will be at 4:00 Friday afternoon. On Saturday, Michael is coming out to do my hair at 2:00, Jimmy will be there at 4:00 to start pictures, the ceremony will start at 6:00 and the reception will follow, of course. Sunday we will get up and drive to Disney World and will be there until the following Saturday! Wow that is a lot of things to do! I'm feeling a little overwhelmed just typing it, but I know everything will go well and will be over before we know it!

It's May!!!

May is finally here! We can officially say that we are getting married THIS MONTH! WooooHoooo!

3 weeks and 2 1/2 days

Paul and I went today and got our Marriage License! In just a little over 3 weeks we will be married! It is coming up so fast and I cannot wait! Everybody keeps asking me if I'm nervous. I haven't been nervous at all and really don't think I will be. It really hit me on Monday how close it is and I started to stress out a little about getting everything done, but that lasted all of about a couple of hours. My mom and I are going on Friday to order the flowers and do some other odds and ends things for the wedding and I have another dress fitting next Tuesday. After those things are done I don't think there is anything else to do until the Thursday before the wedding when they come to set the tent up! The next three weeks will go one of two ways: really really fast or really really slow. I'm really hoping for the first one!

I just realized that I didn't post about the shower that my coworkers had for me last Friday! I got some really good stuff! A Cuisinart 2 qt ice cream maker, a 3 piece set of Pampered Chef Stoneware, a pretty picture album, a Southern Living cookbook (from my aunt, of course!), a really cute cheese serving plate and spreader set and a set of mixing bowls. I'm sure I'm leaving something out. I realized last night that I have gone through my whole box of thank you cards! That was 50 cards! It made me realize how truly blessed Paul and I are to have so many people who care about us and are just as excited about us getting married as we are! I don't have many pictures from the shower. All I have is food pics, and oh what a spread it was! My Aunt Diane made the totally cute fruit boquets.

1 month to go!!

Today is April 23, which means exactly one month from today Paul and I will be getting married!!! With the dress fitting and hair trial this week it's really starting to sink in that I'm really getting married and I'm getting really excited! I went for my second dress fitting Tuesday night. I absolutely love my dress and after seeing it with the bustle I love it even more! They are having to let it out some at the top because it was really squeezing me around the ribs and it was a little hard to breathe. Apparently I have gained a little weight since we bought the dress back in November. :( I was a little upset about them having to let it out. I've always been really sensitive about my weight, especially lately with the wedding coming up, but them having to let the dress out didn't upset me as much as I thought it would. I would love to lose about 20 pounds, but at this point it's too late to lose it before the wedding, so I'm just not going to worry about it. I had a little meltdown the other week about my weight and my wonderful soon to be husband ever so sweetly reminded me that he is not marrying me because of how much I weigh! How sweet is that?! I am so lucky to have found Paul! He is so supportive and encouraging when I am down about something. He has never once made me feel stupid for being upset about something as silly as my weight or anything else equally as silly that I should not really be worrying about. He can always tell when something is bothering me, even when I try to deny it, and always tries his hardest to cheer me up. No matter how down I may be about something he always manages to make me smile! I truly believe that he is who God put on this earth to be my husband and I have no doubt that we have many many years of happiness ahead of us!

Bridal Shower

This past Saturday was my Bridal Shower. Three of my aunts, Robin, Joan and Diane, and my Grandmother hosted it. It was so much fun and Paul and I got lots of good stuff! I spent all day Sunday trying to find places for all of it! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful group of family and friends!

Yummy Food!

Yummy cake and punch!

My beautiful Flower Girl and her Mommy.

Me and the Hostesses (My Mimi, Robin, Joan and Diane)

Taylor, Me, Momma and Tiffany

Me, Grandmama Helen and Momma

My Future Mother-in-law, Judy, Me and My future Sister-in-law, Pennie