1 Year

Our wonderful baker doesn't believe in freezing cakes, so she made us a deal... if we gave her professional photographs of our cake from the wedding, she would re-make the top layer of our cake for our anniversary.  It's just a delicious as the first (which we ate when we got back from our honeymoon... never frozen)!

I can't believe it's already been a year.  We're still loving married life and looking forward to many more years and all the adventures those years may bring.

Personal Craftsmanship

As a wedding present, my parents decided that my Dad would make us something to house all of our DVDs.  (We currently have a little over 300 DVDs that didn't fit anywhere).  My Dad sat down with us and talked it out... what started as a DVD cabinet eventually became a fabulous, custom Entertainment / Storage Center.  Given the design, build, and transportation, it came a bit after the wedding - etiquette rules only say you're supposed to give the gift within a year of the wedding, so it's not actually late in that sense.

Before...

After...

Now all our DVDs can hide away!

It's a beautiful piece of furniture and it fits the room perfectly.  My father, the engineer, added some great features too:

• All the sliders lock - planning ahead for curious little ones.  ;)
• You can only open 2 sliders at a time (1 on each side), so it won't tip over.
• The selves have dividers to keep the DVDs from falling over, but those can be removed.  If physical media is obsolete in 10 years, we can use the sliders to hide other things... like toys... or anything less than a foot wide.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

What a Whirlwind

It's been an amazing 2 weeks... I'll blog in more detail in the next few posts, but for now, here's a bullet preview of my last 2 weeks:

• We're married!
• Beautiful Beaches
• "Cookie" birds
• I ate Half a Salad
  
• Family and Friends with lots of love
• "Nobody likes you, Mossy Rock"
• Red and Green make Christmas... there is no Christmas at my wedding (well, almost none)
• Broken camera
• The Hansen Family
• Apparently, it's rude to ask you to actually pay for your dinner
• I hear Miami is nice this time of year
• Really big rock caves
• Cottage by the Beach
• Jerk Chicken is yummy
  
• "Please welcome Mr. and Mrs. John and Marleta Hansen!"
  

Old, New, Borrowed,and Blue

A lot of wedding traditions seem silly, or even annoying, to me, but there are a few traditions that I think are cute and fun. 

Tosses and Almonds
We won't be tossing a garter or my bouquet.  There are many reasons for this:

• I don't want to wear a garter
• I want to keep my bouquet nice and not destroy it
• Neither John nor I have ever really enjoyed being pulled into the mass of singles trying to catch "luck" or whatever that's supposed to be... though, I did catch the bouquet once about 2 years ago, but I don't think it sped up the process for me and John
• We're not so much a fan of John going under my dress in front of a crowd of people.

However, we have a sort of replacement.  In Greek tradition, there is a silver tray of almonds at the front of the church during the ceremony, and after the ceremony, each single woman gets an almond.  She puts the almond under her pillow for three nights after the wedding, and on the third night, she supposed to dream of the man she'll marry.  We'll have a tray of almonds.

Almonds are also in another Greek tradition.  Each guest gets a bag of an odd number of almonds as a sort of favor.  These have some neat wedding related symbolism that we'll have explained on the menus at the reception.

The Dress
This one has been hard for me.  I love my dress, and I want to ramble to John all about it.  But I haven't.  I got the nice bridal portrait print yesterday and put it in a frame.  It looks sweet!  It's hard not to show it off.  I didn't though.  I taped a paper over the front of the frame, so John can't see it.  I look good in the picture, so I'm excited to show it off to John after the ceremony.

Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue
This was fun, and I like my selections:

• Old - A necklace of my grandmother's that she left to me when she died.  It's a very pretty necklace, but it's gold.  I mostly wear silver jewelry, so I haven't had many occasions to actually wear the necklace.  I'm excited to remember my grandmother by wearing it on my wedding day, and I decided to do that before I ever even found a dress.  Now that my whole look has come together, I also know that it goes perfectly with the look I'm going for and with the dress.
• New - The veil and the dress are both new.  There's nothing sentimental to say about them because they're new, but they are both gorgeous and make me look gorgeous too.
• Borrowed - A bracelet borrowed from my Mom's side of the family.  My Mom, her sister, and my Grandmother have all worn the bracelet.  My Mom and my aunt both wore the bracelet in their own weddings.  It, like the necklace, is also gold.  The bracelet is a bit old and faded, but still looks very nice in my bridal pictures.  It's neat to know the journey it's been on with my family and now with me.
• Blue - My Alpha Delta Pi pin.  It is silver and lined with blue stones.  I will wear this under the skit of my dress, so no one will actually see it, but it will be there.  I got this idea from another ADPi who did it.  Every single one of my bridesmaids and house party is an ADPi sister of mine.  I love that sisterhood and that I can share this special day in my life with them.

Only 7 days... 1 week, and then, I'm getting married!

Two Weeks

• 1 Fortnight
• 14 days
• 336 hours
• 20,160 minutes
• 1,209,600 seconds
• 2 weekends
• 8 days of work
• 2 days of PTO
• 1 major holiday 
• 1 rehearsal and rehearsal dinner
• 1 Bachelorette evening
• 1 Bridesmaids Brunch

I can't believe that's all that's left between now and my wedding!  WOW!

Busy Busy Busy

After the shower last Saturday, I went with a bridesmaid to pick out shoes and we planned out other accessories.  Then on Sunday, I had a trial run with my hair dresser for the wedding... that was up in Highland Village. With my hair done up all fancy like, my Mom and I drove down to Dallas, to the Cooper Aerobics Center, and had a 3 hour bridal portrait session. (Which was a lot of fun, but also exhausting)

On Monday, my Mom headed back to Houston, I went back to work, and John was off to work in LA.  Monday night I wrote Thank You cards for all the shower gifts.  Tuesday, I addressed envelopes and worked on menu cards for the Wedding.  Wednesday evening John was home again, but I was working on Wedding programs and table numbers.  On Thursday, I shot off several emails to vendors and sent in confirmations due by 2 weeks out (which is tomorrow BTW), and I worked on the program and directions from the ceremony to the reception.

And... tomorrow, we're going to pickup our wedding bands and I'm going shopping with another bridesmaid to pick the rest of the bridesmaid's accessories.  Lots of little things to do, but I'm Super Excited.

Only 15 more days!

Bridal Shower: Take 2

On Saturday, one of my bridesmaids and her mother threw me a shower in the Dallas area.  It was a tea at a French restaurant in North Dallas.  I don't think I've ever been to a nice tea like that before.  It was a perfect little setting with finger foods, hot tea, and a fun atmosphere.

Tea Time!

We had a great group of people from several areas of my life including my Mom, my Mother-In-Law to be, 2 of my cousins, 3 of the 4 bridesmaids, a friend from church, and 4 friends that I met because their husbands are friends of John's.

My Mom and Mother-In-Law to be

Most of the group.  So glad you all could make it!

Just like the week before, I left with a car filled with goodies and a heart filled with gratitude.  It's so exciting to get together with some of my favorite people and celebrate the fast approaching "Big Day"!

The hostesses

After the shower, one of my bridesmaids from out-of-town stayed for the night, and we made decisions about bridesmaid accessories, shoes, and hair.  It's time to start checking those last few things off the To Do list!

Dinner for Two

We can now officially have dinner for 2 on formal dinnerware.  In total, we have 8 flatware sets, 6 china sets, and 2 glasses.  The glasses just arrived today, completing the set for a Dinner for Two.  I had some fun setting the table for 2 even though I'm not cooking dinner tonight and I still don't have china keepers, so the china went back in their boxes... after I took a picture, of course.

I'm proud of how it all goes together because that's all me.  The china is Waterford - Lisette, the crystal is Vera Wang - Classic Platinum, and the flatware is Oneida - Icarus.

Yea for place settings... hopefully, I cook something for them soon.  :)

Houston Shower

Last weekend I drove down to Houston with John on Friday night, arriving at my parents house at 12:30 in the morning.  After a few hours rest, we had a busy day including going over some wedding details with my Mom, a trip to Hobby Lobby, a stop by my cousin's house, and the reason for our trip: our first wedding shower.

The shower was delightful.  I got to see several folks that I had not seen much in recent years, and I enjoyed chatting and catching up.  Also, I feasted like a queen - Best Shower Food EVER... complete with candy to fit with my fruit colored wedding.  :)

Me with the Hostesses, my Mom, and my Grandmother

Thanks to my hostesses (Cathy, Laura, Lynn, Melissa, Sharon, Penny, Karen, and Glenna) for a really wonderful day!

Presents

Along with the fun time spent with some great people, they sent us headed back to Dallas with a car full of goodies including: baking utensils, several serving pieces, storage and mixing bowls, towels, and some kitchen electrics (including a Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer! - Thanks to the hostesses)

Wide Shot of the Group

It was a fast and full trip - less than 48 hours in total, but it was a good time.  Now I'm looking forward to round 2.  My Mom is coming to Dallas this weekend for the Dallas shower and Bridal Portraits this next weekend!

26 Days to Go!

The Mail

The mail services have been quite exciting recently.

I don't think a single mail delivery day has passed in the last 3 weeks that we haven't gotten at least 1 reply card.  I think the most for one day was 5.  It's a little adventure. Every day when I get home from work, I walk out to the mailbox before I go inside, and there's reply tucked in the mailbox telling me if one of our friends or family will be coming to the big day.  (Though, despite the many reply cards, the reply rate is only at about 50% right now... and the reply by date is next Friday!)

We've been keeping the package services busy too.  The wedding is still 38 days away, but we've already gotten 6 wedding presents!  Most of it has been china... I need to go get china keepers soon, so we can get the china out of the boxes because the boxes are stacking high in my closet now... so high that they've reached the bottom of my veil that's hanging above where I'm storing the china boxes.  :)

The china pattern we selected - It's Lisette by Waterford

I feel blessed by the generosity of our friends and family.  I knew we'd get gifts because that's traditional, but somehow in starting to actually receive them I just feel that the Thank You cards hardly seem to cover how appreciative I am. - By the way, so far, I'm doing quite well on Thank You notes.  I've written them all and sent them on their way! 

I suppose our mail will probably stay busy for the next month or so... Here's to nice little surprises that greet me as I get home from work each day!

In 42 Days

In 42 Days...

• I can end my career as an amateur event planner.
• I get to wear a beautiful dress and have my hair done up all nice like.
• I get to spend the day with 6 of my best friends... 4 of whom I hardly ever get to see because they live in other cities (3 in other states).
• I will enjoy one walk as Daddy's Little Girl and another as a grown woman.
• I get to play dress up with my friends.  It will probably be the first time my many fashion advisers have to take my advice instead of the other way around... I hope they taught me well.  :)
• We will enjoy the company of our family and friends from all over the country (all over the world in John's case).
• I will eat cake!
• I get to see the vision I've been planning for 8 months come to life.
• I will walk down the isle barefoot, like I've been insistent on doing since I was about 8 years old.
• I'll be 2 days away from an island beach vacation with my best friend.
• I get to be queen for a day.
• I will laugh, and knowing me, probably cry.
• I will be in a LOT of pictures.
• I will marry a funny, intelligent, tall, dark (haired and eyed), handsome, kind, genuine, and loving man.
• I will be Marleta Hansen.
  

The Plan

If you would have asked me 3 weeks ago where we are going on our honeymoon, I would have said, "Belize, but we still don't have anything booked."  Then, you, like everyone I've said that to, would exclaim, "Wow, sounds fun... you really better get on getting that booked.  You're cutting it close."

I'm not sure exactly what was holding us back from booking things, but this past weekend, we finally got flights and hotels booked...

We're on our way to Tortola in a mere 45 days.  Yep, that's right, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.  Maybe the problem was that, deep down, we didn't really want to go to Belize.

A beach on Tortola

Based on the recommendation of a friend from work, we look started looking into Tortola about 2 weeks ago, and booked our trip last weekend.

 

To get to Tortola, you have to go through a US Virgin Island or Puerto Rico, and then, you fly into Beef Island, on the far right of the map above.  Beef Island is connected to Tortola by a bridge.  

We'll spend our first 3 nights in Road Town, the capital city of Tortola, which is highlighted by the white box above.  From Road Town, we can island hop to Virgin Gorda (another island with some neat sites) and take a snorkeling tour around the island.

After some more active days in Road Town, we're going to move to the beach at Cane Garden Bay.  On the map, that's directly West from the top of Road Bay (where Road Town is).  Cane Garden Bay is considered the best beach on the island.  We're staying in a cottage that's a 30 second walk from the beach for the latter half of our trip.

The cottages we're staying at.  We get a whole cottage, complete with kitchen, to ourselves.

The beautiful clear blue waters of Tortola.

This is the beach front restaurant operated by the same people as the cottage we're renting. Photo is courtesy of Trip Advisor.

It's really happening now!  I think booking the trip really boosted my excitement about how close the wedding is getting.  That seems like the last big thing to plan; now we just have to get the details in line.

A Picture of Inspiration

Most of my wedding design decisions are done... here are some pictures that give a little of the design inspirations.

Swatches from the 4 bridesmaids' dresses

Classy in the front... a little unconventional around back.

This is the the actual pomander for the flower girl.  Thanks to a friend of my Mom's. - So Pretty!