Smitten Whittens: My Best Wedding Planning Advice

We’ve all heard the advice: enjoy your first few days of engaged bliss, and then, when you’re ready to take on wedding planning, the first thing you should do is talk budget.

Now, I’m here to tell you this is fabulous advice (heck, I talked about that with my parents a little before John and I got engaged… Curiosity got the better of me one day when I had a feeling a wedding might be in the next couple years!), but I’d like to give you even better advice. Don’t just have a budget talk; have a numbers talk.

A “numbers talk” includes budget, but it isn’t limited to just money, because for me, budget has not been the trickiest part of wedding planning. The real thorn in my side has been the guest list.

Now, you should know I’m a total planner, so I wanted to get down to business ASAP. However, I didn’t want to freak our families out a few days after our engagement by sitting them down, and asking them to help create an estimate guest count. I also wasn’t worried about just families; I was worried about John. He is not a huge fan of awkward conversations, and a conversation where you’re essentially asking your parents how much they’d be comfortable contributing and how many people they’re thinking of inviting versus how many you’re hoping to invite is, well, awkward. 

Now, in hindsight, I say embrace the awkward, because ultimately, it will save you a lot of stress, guilt, and frustration. You’ll go into venue-shopping with a clear idea of capacity requirements, and you won’t want to cry when you think about how much more the catering (and bartending, and linens...) will cost than you anticipated. Let me tell you how I can say all this with confidence...

Like I said, I didn't want to force awkward on everyone, so I decided, “No need to freak everyone out! I will just create a ballpark guest-list myself!” (Can anyone else tell how terrible of an idea this is already? Yeah? I thought so.)

In my mind, the guest list was great. It included all of my family, all of John’s family (plus a handful or two of question marks where great-aunts and second cousins would naturally go), plenty of family-friend spots, and John’s and my closest friends.  The list was right around 150. So, when John and I found out our dream-venue maxed out at 200 people? That’s fine! We aren’t expecting any more than 140 people to actually come! Our favorite venue was the perfect size, so we signed the contract immediately!

I later realized I was way wrong. I asked for a guest list from John’s family, and went through my family’s address book. I told my parents I was being “cut-throat,” and my poor, selfless parents just nodded and let me decide which of our family-friends made the cut, even though they were the ones footing the bill. I was determined this celebration would be about John and me, and it only made sense to invite people who would be in our future. Will they be on our Christmas card list? Nope? Well then, they're off the list. 

Now, when I received the guest list from John’s family, I realized how selfish I had been- John and I couldn’t just decide who was important enough to invite to our wedding. Our family's opinions mattered too. After understanding my embarrassing mistake, I went back to my parents, and apologized. I had been overly aggressive when I was trying to keep the guest list small, and I didn’t even consider whom my parents wanted to invite.

Ultimately, when all was said and done, our guest list was a little over two hundred people. Yikes. I had sorely underestimated our guest count, because I shied away from a numbers talk with our families.

Now, obviously there are people who won’t come, but a lot of my guests are family (both of my parents come from bigger families) and a lot of John’s guests are family-friends who live nearby, which means lots of people will come. And we are so, so excited about that and very blessed to have so many loved ones! We are also very thankful we are right at our venue's limit and not way above it!

Whew. That was a lot, but I just wanted to give y’all our story, so you’d understand why it’s important to have a numbers talk! Now here is a short list of how to have a productive numbers talk:

1. Come in with grateful heart. No matter what your parents can contribute, they should have some say in your wedding. I don’t care if they’re renting out Disney World or cannot contribute financially. Either way, they have supported you since you were born, and they will give crucial emotional support leading up to the big day. If you go in with no expectations, you will be delighted with whatever comes!

2. Come in with an open mind. Know that what you think is a reasonable guest list and what your parents think is a reasonable guest list might be two totally different things.

3. Have the same talk with both families. Don’t do what I did and be super strict on one side and not even address the other! If you are truly going in with no expectations, no one should feel offended that you brought this up; it's just part of wedding talk! 

4. Do what makes you happy. Yes, I've been saying to be flexible and open-minded, and while I had to learn to do all this, I never gave up my vision for what John and I wanted: an intimate, casual yet classic, Southern wedding about the marriage. Thanks to my mother’s great advise she’s given me for a long time, I’m a firm believer a wedding should be what you and your groom want. So if you are set on a certain venue that you know has a capacity constraint, or you are dying for a small, intimate wedding, go for it!  However, make sure you’re clear about this during your numbers talk so everyone is on the same page with how many guests to invite!

Is anyone still with me? I know it's a long post, but I promise, doing this will make you the happiest bride-to-be in all the land! I also promise my future wedding posts won't be nearly as wordy or boring! Next up: music. 

Three Weeks 'til Wedding

Okay, technically, it is less than three weeks.  What?! I mean, WHAT?!

People (and by people, I mean the two to three sweet friends who optimistically check my blog on occasion in hopes of there actually being a new post), that is just crazy. No, I have not been a good blogger, but by golly, I've been busy with the following: -Student teaching - Falling in love with with my kindergarteners during said student teaching -House hunting - Buying a house (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) - Applying for jobs - Getting a job (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) - Graduating - Wedding planning - Beginning to set up my classroom - Trying to get in shape for said wedding Now, we obviously have a lot of life to catch up on! I've decided that every day, for the next three weeks, I will blog. And I mean it. Unlike the last several times I did the whole, "I'm back!" thing for a good post or two and then disappeared into the abyss that is real life (which can get a little cray-cray).  Tomorrow, you'll read a post I wrote in February. I thought it was my best wedding advice then, and after re-reading the post, I would agree with February-Chelsea. Except for when June-Chelsea gets stressed about the devilish details and would say the best advice is to just hire a wedding planner! ;)  Here's to three weeks of Whitten Wedding posts, so I can document this amazingly fun, time-consuming, and emotional journey that has led (and is still leading) up to our wedding- maybe with a dash of other stuff in between, because I'm pretty darn excited about the whole "job" thing. :) 

Picking Our Wedding Theme (and Colors!)

If you're reading this, congrats- you've made it past Hump Day! The past 12 days I've been away from the blog have just flown by, thanks to several big assignments due for practicum teaching and full social calendars on the weekends. However, don't think I've forgotten about filling y'all in on wedding updates! I still haven't shared our wedding theme and colors with you!

You should know by now I'm obsessed with weddings. I'm also the most indecisive person ever at times. This makes for a bad combo when picking out wedding details. One thing I knew: there would be pink. Lots of pink. I know pink is probably cheesy to some, but I am one of the pinkest people I know, and I know looking back, I'd be mad at myself for worrying about what others thought, and not going with my favorite color.  This summer, I wrote down my three main theme ideas for our wedding. Here they are, in the same format I wrote them down months ago: 
Sweet, Romantic, Southern - Blush, black, and white - Mercury glass - Blush pink peonies  - White anemones - Checkered dance floor

To view my inspiration board on Polyvore, click the image. 

Classic, Bold, City-Meets-Southern - Pink, black+white OR navy+white - Patterns (stripes, trellis) - Thick grosgrain striped ribbon bouquets - Some patterned table linens - Peonies, hydrangeas (mini), dahlias - Kate Spade vibe - Gold accents

To view my inspiration board on Polyvore, click the image. 

Cheery, Bright, Southern - Baker miller/ hot pink, white, gold, khaki  - Bright pink and white peonies - Milk glass, hobnail style - Peaches and peach baskets - Hydrangeas, tulips, ranunculus  - Colorful flowers - Gold accents
(Side note: I fell IN.LOVE. with this wedding featured on Southern Weddings! It's seriously my favorite Real Wedding post, and hopefully you'll see why if you read it. That wedding inspired my peach obsession, as well as my attention to small southern details. Bonus: I later realized the gorgeous bride works at Southern Weddings, so I can still keep up with her newlywed life!)  

To view my inspiration board on Polyvore, click the image. 

I know this looks ridiculous, and I'm so silly, but dreaming like this helped me visualize things better. I still love all three of these general looks, but I had to decide which best represented John and me. I knew anything too fancy just wouldn't fit us as a couple, or our outdoor venue, for that matter, so the first was out.  Easy enough! Now moving on. 
I was seriously so obsessed with the idea of incorporating peaches into our wedding, since one of our hometown's most adorable traits is its Peach Stand! Plus, peaches would definitely be a cheap and yummy centerpiece on some tables, and they just scream summer in the south! However, let's remember, I wan lots of pink at our wedding, because I'm a pink girl. Not a coral girl, not a peach girl, but a true-pink girl. On top of the dilemma, I realized it would be hard to walk the fine line of southern without being kitschy, which is definitely not my style, so the third was out. 
That leaves us with style 2, or what I'd originally thought of us "Classic, bold, city-meets-southern." Now, while I love the black and white stripes, bold and bright Kate Spade vibe, I leaned more towards the navy and white. I can't quite explain why, but I just thought it was more "us." Navy and white has a classic, preppy feel that I love. 
Ultimately, I decided to combine aspects from all three styles: the checkered dance floor from the first (because, swoon), the stripes and colors from the second, and the southern details of the third. We're still figuring out details and making lots of little decisions, but here's the overall look we hope to achieve:

To view my inspiration board on Polyvore, click the image. 

Our venue (bottom right picture in the board above) obviously calls for southern details, but not bushel baskets like the peach theme. Antique silver and julep cups are my dream flower vases. The picture of a dinner jacket is just because I adore men in dinner jackets, especially just the groom, because it feels so Rhett Butler to me! Alas, John doesn't feel the same way, so all tuxes it is. Luckily, he's handsome in anything, and I guess settling on a tux isn't too bad... ;)

My one concern: how bad do will navy and white stripes be in contrast with the black and white checkered dance floor and the groomsmen tuxes? I appreciate honesty, so tell me what y'all think! Be back on Friday- I'm hoping to have a special picture to show y'all (possibly from our engagement shoot....!)! 

Picking a Wedding Style

Ideally, one of the very first things a couple decides on when wedding planning is a wedding style. However, John and I may have done things a bit backwards, because we didn't really intentionally hone in on the overall style we wanted to achieve until after picking a venue (which definitely affects the style) and setting a date (which obviously determines the season, which affects the style).  
The date, my parents' anniversary, was obviously super important to me; it was kind of a no-brainer for us. Okay, technically, it was a no-brainer for me because of the anniversary thing... Honestly, John just wanted a summer wedding because he wanted to get married before football season started... Yep. 

Hehe.

The venue was almost as easy to choose as the date. When we visited Vesuvius Vineyards for the first time, we knew we'd found somewhere special. You can read more about how we picked our venue here. 

Simple yet grand house in black and white- the two most versatile colors ever- plus naturally pretty grounds? It doesn't get much better than this!
Even though John and I weren't intentionally thinking about our wedding style when we picked Vesuvius, we picked a place that spoke to both of us- a place that fits the combination of our tastes. It's the perfect balance between down-home Southern charm and Old South swank. 
Obviously, our venue inspired us while we thought of our wedding style, but so did all the weddings we went to this summer. We were able to go to weddings, see what we loved, and make mental notes of those things. Seeing other weddings got us asking questions like, "When we get married, will it be a big party, or a small celebration? Will it be modern or traditional? What kind of dancing will there be?" 
Obviously, there is a lot to decide on when planning a wedding. Here are the basics we decided on together:

• We want the whole day to be a joyful celebration with our closest friends and family. Our list quickly grew with big families and fabulous friends, and it wasn't easy, but we finally settled at 200 invitees. 
• We want our ceremony to reflect our genuine love for one another and our beliefs about the meaning of marriage. 
• We want everyone to have a good time. To John, that means lots of food and drinks. For me, that means lots of dancing and cake. 

More than anything else, I knew the style of our wedding needed to be classic and southern. I cannot even explain how many times I've used those words to describe my vision to people. Here's my position on wedding trends, no matter how cute and genius they are: fads may come and go, but pictures are forever. I know it's inevitable that one day our wedding will look outdated, but I am attempting to avoid trendy and cheesy at almost all costs... Minus sparklers. John has warned me they're definitely trendy, but I just can't get enough of 'em! I love love love sparkler exits, and I have such happy memories of sparklers with John, so they're definitely going to be our exception to the rule. 
Figuring out our style has been an interesting process, but the bigger challenge was (and still is!) nailing down a specific theme.... Stay tuned for that, but expect a Five on Friday post first! That's right- everyone's favorite Friday linkup is back, and I can't wait to join in! One sleep until the weekend, friends!

Creating a Wedding Hashtag

Yes, the entirety of this post will be about hashtags. No, I do not blame you if you leave now, because hashtags kind of get a bad rep. (I highly recommend you click that link, if you love Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon, and laughing.) However, you should know that wedding hashtags aren't a stupid trend. They are useful, and here's why: they help document the wedding from the guests' perspective.  Our photographers are going to be AMAZING (seriously, they're fab, and I cannot wait to share more info on them soon!), but I'll be honest... I can be a bit impatient, and to get the gorgeous pictures we want, we'll have to wait a while for the end result. Having our guests take pictures on their phones and then using our special hashtag will create an archive of wedding pictures for me to pore over before we get our professional photos back. Although I know some people don't use the hashtag-searching-feature (or whatever the technical term is) on social media, I love it! I love knowing John and I, along with our family and friends, will be able to search for all posts with our hashtag and see everything documenting our wedding. So, now that I've convinced you that hashtags are indeed useful, it's time to talk about the actual hashtag itself. It has to be at least semi-original, because if we were to use the popular hashtag #whittenwedding, we would see the 314 pics with that tag on Instagram already.  My first thought? Something simple without a lot of room for spelling errors. #whittenwedding, #thewhittenwedding, and #whittenwedding2015 were already taken, and no one else seemed to be okay with just doing #weddingwhitten (it's just #whittenwedding backwards!) so I was kind of out of luck.

Second thought? Something witty. My best friend (and MOH!), Kara, liked #gettinwhittenwithit but that breaks all kinds of rules in my book. 1. Room for spelling errors ("Is it gettin' or getting?"). 2. John's last name, Whitten, does not even kind of rhyme with jiggy- the actual word in the Will Smith song, so I don't really think that counts as clever. I told her we could use that for the bachelorette if she really wants! ;)

So, I felt pressure to come up with something funny or cool, but that just wasn't in the cards. I mean, when it comes down to it, it's just a hashtag. Want to know what John and I decided on? 

From now on, this chica will be using #smittenwhittens to document any and all wedding planning leading up to next June 27th! Is it the most creative hashtag ever? Probably not, but John and I both like it- we'd like to think it describes us pretty well! (Well, technically, it just describes him well- I'm not a Whitten yet!) 

We hope our guests like the idea of using hashtags on social media as much as we do, but we also hope they understand our wishes for an "unplugged" ceremony. More on that later! 

Setting a Date

I kind of posted a little out of order when I told you our venue before our date... Oops! Normally, I'd say venue should be first priority and then setting a date based on availability. However, a couple months ago, I realized something: my parents' anniversary falls on a Saturday next summer.   I had an inkling a summer wedding might be in the books for us, so in my mind, that anniversary date was my "dream date." A couple of things on this: I'd checked the calendar to see when John's parents' anniversary was too, because they had a summer wedding as well, but theirs fell on a weekday, so it was out of the question. Obviously, once John and I got engaged, we talked about the date. At first, John was worried we might be stealing my parents' thunder by sharing their anniversary, but I thought it was, if anything, a good way to honor them. 
Thankfully, when we went to Vesuvius Vineyards, the date was still available, although they warned us several other couples were thinking about it. John and I took a big breath and committed.
We are officially getting married on June 27th, 2015. 
Eeek! With the contract signed, we could start planning everything else! My next concern? Talking to Pastor Steve Morgan. He's the man who married my parents and baptized me. He's been a part of my family's lives for a long time, despite moving before I was old enough to get to know him. Thankfully, I met him by chance on a church mission trip in high school, and I feel like our paths have crossed too many times to ignore. I'd had visions of him marrying my future husband and me for years, until he retired last year. I resigned myself to being open-minded about our officiant, until John and I picked that special anniversary date... I just knew that I'd kick myself if I didn't ask him to officiate our wedding then! 

A blurry photo of my first ceremony with Pastor Steve: my baptism. (Is it just me, or does this resemble the beginning of the Lion King?)

Thankfully, he was thrilled I'd asked, and his answer was "YES!" He and his wife are traveling in England right now, but John and I are looking forward to premarital counseling with Steve next year. 

I don't know when I got so sentimental, but it warms my heart thinking about these special details of our wedding. After all, these are the most important things about the wedding! Without a minister, we couldn't get married, and without a date, we couldn't start booking everything else... And I couldn't update y'all with our wedding countdown- only 318 days until I'm John's wife!

Location, Location, Location: Picking a Venue

When I was younger, I thought I'd get married at The Dairy Barn in my hometown of Fort Mill, South Carolina. I was a junior bridesmaid in a gorgeous wedding there twelve years ago, and I've been in love with its magical southern charm ever since. 

However, The Dairy Barn has grown in popularity since then. In fact, before John and I got engaged, he already knew he'd be a groomsman in a wedding taking place there next summer! Now, John and I aren't "hipsters" in the slightest, but we weren't exactly crazy about having our wedding somewhere a few weeks after our friends. Plus, let's face it: John and I are southern, and we wanted to incorporate that into our big day, but I'm not at all a rustic girl. 
I was determined to find somewhere beautiful yet reasonable- a combination that is trickier than it may seem. Here were my thoughts about our potential venue: 
- I don't really care if it's indoors or outdoors. - However, if it's indoors it cannot. have. hideous. carpet. - Also, no hideous wallpaper or decorations. The plainer, the better.  - It must not be ridiculously priced.  - It must be beautiful. 
Now, I looked at a few places online, including:  The Ballantyne Hotel

The Ballantyne is gorgeous, and it's in Charlotte, which is a big bonus. I loved that it was very clear on its website what was included (like chiavari chairs- swoon!) and pricing. I also loved that it was a hotel for convenience for our many out of town guests, but at the same time, I hated that it was a hotel for carpet. Yes, I realize this is probably stupid to most, but not to me. Ultimately, I realized a ballroom just wouldn't be our thing, so the Ballantyne was out. 

Pretty, but... Not us. 

The Cliffs at Glassy

I really loved The Cliffs website when I saw it for the first time. And the second time. And the third time. This place was gorgeous, especially this chapel: 

I mean, who wouldn't want to get married there?!
Obviously, lots of people want to get married there, since they do three ceremonies each Saturday and you don't get to pick which of the three time slot you get... This seemed a little nuts since you'd be paying lots to rent it, just for an hour or two, and on top of that, still have to rent a separate Cliffs clubhouse for the reception. It was definitely out of our budget, and in hindsight, the small chapel would not have held all of our guests.   Vesuvius Vineyards

I don't remember how I found Vesuvius; my best guess is WeddingWire, but I'm not quite sure. Regardless of where I found it, when I read about it for the first time, I thought, "Why am I just now hearing about this place?!" It turns out, this venue has only been around for a few years, even though the gorgeous plantation style home is the oldest in the entire county. That may be why it just oozes southern charm! I fell in love the instant I saw Vesuvius in pictures, and it was even more beautiful when John and I went and saw the estate in person. Although the actual vineyard on the property is small (and the grapes haven't produced wine yet), there is so much else it offers. Sprawling land, a gorgeous home to get ready in, and a lovely reception pavilion that gives the best of both indoor and outdoor worlds- the indoor comforts of restrooms and ceiling fans and the beauty of the outdoors, which means less decorating is necessary! 

John and I really clicked with the two owners of Vesuvius, and it didn't take us long to realize we wanted to work with them. I was ecstatic we'd found such an incredible place that fit all of our requirements (and then some!) at our very first venue we toured. While it's forty-five minutes away, I think it will be well worth our drive. What do y'all think?!

One Month Check-in

Hi, friends! I know, I know... I said a while ago I was going to get back in the swing of blogging. I had the best intentions, too! However, this past month has been a bit jam-packed with fun, and I've been the best kind of busy. More specifically, I've been the "newly engaged" kind of busy, and I adore it. I've been trying to get as much "planning" done as possible before school starts next week (say it ain't so!), which means if I've been on the computer, it's been to look up flowers and tablescapes and letterpress vs. thermography. I have always had a passion for all things wedding, so this extreme-planning has been a blast, but I've missed the blogging community!

Still just as happy as I was our engagement weekend! 

I think John's and my one month engagement-versary (because that's a thing, right?) is the right time for me to get back into blogging. Now that I've really used this time to soak in being engaged to my fiancé for exactly one month, I can share all this joy with y'all! In order to catch you up on planning and life in general, I'm going to post each day this week, sharing bits and pieces of what I've planned so far. Here's to a fun week of posts! 

Friday Bride Day

Y'all, the struggle is real today. And by "the struggle" I mean "the struggle to keep a rational head and remember my grateful heart while trying to make wedding decisions." Yeah, I think I'm transitioning into stressing-over-nothing-for-no-reason mode.... Which is stupid, because I have so much to be thankful for, and stressing over something so minute is selfish. 

My dad reminded me of this the other night, as I lamented about limiting our guest list and the process of registering...  If these are my only worries, I am lucky. I mean, yes, these things like flowers and entertainment are EXPENSIVE so I want them to be just right, but ultimately? This wedding is one day. The family John and I are creating, along with the family we already have, is forever. 

Just because I'm keeping perspective doesn't mean I can't share my planning successes and lamentations with y'all! Here's a list of things we've done so far:

• Decided on a budget
• Picked and secured a venue
• Set a date
• Found and secured our officiant 
• Found photographers
• Found and booked videographers
• Found entertainment
• Started our guest list
• Created wedding website

Honestly, even though I feel like I've gotten so much done, there's a bazillion more things left, and I am determined to get the majority of the big things done before school starts! Here's what's happening in the next week:

• Meeting with photographers to sign contract
• Meeting with potential caterers
• Meeting with a potential florist
• Insure ring (!!!!!COUGH JOHN WE HAVE TO DO THIS LIKE YESTERDAY COUGH!!!!!)
• Checking out the venue again- John's already seen it, so he's probably going to stay home while I go with my mom and cousin. I can guarantee an excited post with pictures after that!
• Dress shopping!!! There's a designer consignment bridal shop near our venue, so I have an appointment after looking at the venue! So excited for two of my favorite women to be there!
• Blocking out hotel rooms- Not as glamorous as the first two things we're doing while we're in the area, but it's a necessity! 
• Pick out a color scheme- I can assure you: all three of my top ideas heavily feature PINK! ;) 
• Skyping with potential DJ- You can definitely expect a full post on my DJ vs Band thing soon... I never thought I'd end up leaning towards a DJ, but this guy seems great! 
• Finalizing the guest list- I'm kind of cut-throat, surprisingly... Not family? Haven't seen or talked to you in years? Very little chance we'll keep in touch after the wedding? Probably not number one on the list... (Kidding, sort of.) 
• Finish asking wedding party- one flower girl, ring bearer, and bridesmaid (well, kind of two...) to go!
• Registering- Can't. Even. Talk about it. Seriously, this is what stresses me the most. 

Basically, anything and everything on this list will get its own post. I love reading about other people's planning journeys, and I certainly find it therapeutic to write out mine! As overwhelming as this to-do list seems, I'm going to remind myself that while it may suck figuring out the guest list, you know what doesn't suck? Having so many (healthy!) friends and family who support John and me.

Do y'all have fun weekends ahead?! I sure do! My cousin and her precious baby are visiting from Michigan, and I cannot wait to squeeze them as soon as I get home this afternoon!

Whirlwind Week and a Warning

Y'all, I've been wanting to blog for days now, but it's been such a crazy week, I just don't know what to start with! I guess I'll start with this whirlwind week thing! Last week, I attended a PLL viewing party, went to Carowinds with John and two precious Clemson couples, had dinner with my family and two other families I've known forever, attended a surprise birthday party in Charleston, celebrated a wedding in North Carolina, moved out of my old Clemson apartment, and celebrated my cousin's tenth birthday.  Whew! Here are a few pictures of said fun events:

Birthday girl Sandwich with Christine and Leslie- the other two in the Early Childhood Three Amigas!

If the beautiful birthday girl looks familiar to you, it's probably because she's a blogger, too! Christine started her blog Seashells and Magnolias this summer, and it is as precious as she is. Christine's mom texted me a few months ago and asked if I could come to Charleston and surprise her on her 21st birthday, and I've been looking forward to it ever since! Her mama is adorable (which should come as no surprise, because Christine had to get it somewhere!) and she and her husband, Christine's dad, planned the whole evening perfectly. 

We surprised Christine and had dinner at High Cotton- a beautiful and delicious restaurant downtown. After thanking her parents for such a generous dinner, fifteen to twenty of Christine's friends and I headed to the bars. I think my favorite was the Pavilion Bar on top of the Market Pavilion Hotel. I mean, look at this gorgeous view: 

See that pretty white building? That's the Customs House! I just love Charleston's history.

I left early the next morning to get back for two of my dear friends' wedding, which was held about an hour away from home at the beautiful Dennis Vineyards. I've known the groom since we were kids in Sunday School together, and the bride was my freshman roommate at Wofford. Knowing how genuine these two are apart, and then seeing how genuine their love for one another is... Well, let's just say the waterworks were flowing that night. 

Since the bride and groom graduated from high school with John and me, we got to experience a little class reunion! So fun! 

On Sunday, it was another early morning. John and I drove to Clemson so I could move all my stuff out of my old apartment. Like most people, I hate the process of moving. So tedious and annoying. Thankfully, John's dad helped move all the big stuff, like my couch and bed! Yay for future in-laws! :) 

After successfully getting everything into my storage unit, we headed to Spartanburg and celebrated another birthday- my cousin's tenth! His party was Hunger Games themed, and wow was it thorough! Everything, from the food to the tables were labeled and themed! I love how dedicated he is to party planning; even when he was little he loved to go "all out!" 

Most of our "cousins club" plus our significant others! 

If you've made it through that recap, I applaud you! Gosh, it wears me out just thinking of all that! Thankfully, I've had a bit of a slower week this week, so I've had time to work on wedding stuff... 

Which leads me to my warning! After lots of contemplation, I decided I'm definitely going to keep y'all in the wedding loop! I read one of Sarah's posts where she mentioned this post from Kay, and everything clicked. 

I wouldn't be my authentic self if I didn't post about wedding stuff; I LOVE weddings! Gosh, now that John and I are planning our own, I need to seize this opportunity to talk about weddings and not sound crazy!!! In fact, I'm actually connected to a community of wedding bloggers, through Southern Weddings, AKA my favorite of all favorites. 

So there you have it. Expect a lot more wedding posts in the super-near future. About how John and I have picked a venue, set a date, and found our ceremony officiant. (All of that? True stuff. Told ya I've been busy!) 

Oh Hey Friday!

When I found out Five on Friday, my favorite linkup, was taking a break, I was pretty bummed. Thank goodness for Karli and Amy's new linkup, Oh Hey Friday! Don't let the farmer thing fool ya- these women are stylin' and profilin'.  Let's do this thing, shall we?!

1. I'm still engaged. What what?! 

In case y'all somehow forgot, John and I are engaged! It's officially been a week now, and I still can't believe it. So weird, in the best way possible. Cannot believe I get to spend my life with this man. 

Ow oww! Hottay! 

2. Our proposal was featured on How He Asked!

If you love proposals like I do, you need visit this site! Like, yesterday. 

I was just a little excited to see our proposal up on How He Asked! It's pretty much the story I told here, but if you're new around here, it could be a good introduction to how John and I met, since that was part of the post! 

Just a couple of HowHeAsked's tweets about us! So glad everyone gets to see John's thoughtful proposal!

3. I died and went to preppy heaven. 

Maybe you noticed one of those tweets from HowHeAsked tagged Lilly Pulitzer... The people at Lilly Pulitzer noticed, too. Yep, that's right! They retweeted that tweet to their followers, and then FOUND ME AND GAVE ME A SHOUT-OUT. 

Then, because my life wasn't already made enough, this happened:

Lilly Pulitzer follows me on Twitter. Excuse me while I squeal forever and always. 

I've been a Lilly lover since I was introduced to the brand, because it is the epitome of everything I love: southern, stylish, sweet, sassy, and colorful. To get well wishes from them was pretty priceless! Lilly Pulitzer times infinity, basically. 

4. An inner dilemma on blogging wedding stuff. 

I'll be honest: if any of the blogs I follow starting posting wedding stuff, I'd love it. For example, Robyn at Living Colorfully is engaged, and I adore her blog all the more now! I've always loved hearing about love, proposals, color schemes, tablescapes... All that good stuff! However, I know not all people are wedding fanatics like I am, and I don't want people to get annoyed with my blog if I post too much about it. I know it's my blog, and I can write whatever the heck I want, but I don't want to seem obnoxious, ya know?!

5.  Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. Holla! 

It's here, y'all! Yay for the biggest Nordstrom sale of the year! Maybe later I'll post my favorites, but for now, I'm just scrolling through like a mad-woman. Hope y'all have a fab weekend- it's a busy one for this girl! 

The Proposal

In case you missed my post on Saturday, I shared some kind of sort of SUPER exciting news....

John and I are engaged!

If you're anything like I am, you love a good proposal story. Seriously, most little girls dream of their wedding day. I dreamed of the day I got engaged. I can tell you that truthfully, this surpassed all my fairytale hopes and dreams. 

For the majority of my life, I insisted that one day, my fiance would propose to me at Disney World in front of Cinderella's Castle. However, when I dreamed of that photographer-documented, fireworks-filled proposal, I didn't really ever consider who the mystery man proposing would be. Until I fell in love with John. And I realized that proposal would not even kind of be "us." Now, I won't lie: I still dream of going to Disney World with him, because I adore the place. However, I slowly let go of my original proposal fantasy and started a new dream: somehow becoming engaged to my best friend.

Luckily, John likes the idea of forever with me too. Enough to research diamond specs, buy a ring, and talk to my parents about marriage before our weekend getaway to Harbor Island. 

Because I have a special place in my heart for proposal stories, I can guarantee mine will be painfully detailed and a bit long-winded... Just a warning! Now, let's start on Friday morning, when John and I left for Harbor Island. Harbor Island is about twenty minutes away from the charming coastal town of Beaufort, SC. It's a small, private barrier island, and it was the perfect place to escape reality for a couple of days. 

My mom insisted on getting a picture of us before we left... Our last picture as boyfriend and girlfriend!

Once we arrived, we decided to check out the beach. Very normal, because it's a beach trip. I brought John's super awesome camera out with us, which worked well into John's plan. This is, once again, very normal, because a. I'm a blogger, and b. I'm my mother's daughter, and that woman takes pictures of everything (hence the picture of us taking my luggage out to John's car). John insisted on bringing the big cooler with us. A little less normal. Especially since we had a smaller cooler, and this was our walk out to the beach: 

It was a loooong walk across these pretty dunes...

Past this soft sand, which John had to carry the cooler across...

 And down the beach a suspiciously long time... (Our last picture before he proposed!) 

Like I said, things got a little fishy. I knew normal John hates walking like that for no purpose, and he seemed to be on the hunt for a certain location. I later realized he was. He had looked at the satellite view of Harbor Island on Google Maps, noticed a big sandbar, and made that his spot. He then researched the high and low tide schedules, because in high tide, it would have been impossible for us to get to the sandbar without getting wet. (John knows me well enough to know there's no way I'm getting my clothes gross!) 

Here's a picture of "our spot" we took the next day from the top of a lighthouse! See that little sandbar in the center of the picture? That's where John popped the question! 

Once John saw his destination, he suggested we park our cooler and go check it out. I was game, since I saw some pretty pelicans and herons hanging out on the sandbar (and also because, hello, I thought my boyfriend was about to propose to me!). We waded across some shallow water to the island, looked around, and then John asked me if I knew how long we'd been dating. I kind of smiled and told him the rough estimate (two years and a few months), and he told me the exact answer (two years, three months, and fifteen days, for those of you who care). After that, he said a bunch of sweet things that he'd memorized but also written down on a notecard in his back pocket, in case he got too nervous. At some point while he held my hands, spoke to me, and looked at me while doing his adorable I'm-laughing-so-I-don't-tear-up thing, I started crying. I wish I could be a pretty-crier, but I'm definitely more of a Kim Kardashian in the tears department. 

Honestly, this surprised me since I'd braced myself, and I never saw myself crying in that moment. However, with just the two of us on the sandbar, the moment was so incredibly intimate and precious, and I just could not believe this was real life. Before I knew it, John was down on one knee, pulling a box from his pocket, and asking me to marry him. After bending down to give him a kiss, I managed to say yes before he put the prettiest ring I have ever seen in my life on my finger. 

First of many ring pictures I took that weekend.... Sorry! 

I tried to stop crying, but it took a while... I think I finally stopped when we got back to our cooler and I realized we hadn't even taken any pictures together yet! 

Our first picture as an engaged couple!

 I love my fiance (and I love calling him that!). 

 We celebrated together with a special bottle of champagne John brought, which explained his insistence on bringing that particular cooler with us.

How lucky am I?!

So sweet. 

I about melted when I saw this.

It started sprinkling, so we sipped on our bubbly while walking to our condo (after a couple of "Cheers!").  I'm so glad John and I chose to spend a few hours soaking in the excitement with just the two of us; it gave us time to celebrate and time for me to ask a billion questions, like "What did my parents say? What did your parents say?" and exclaim how beautiful my ring was, over and over again. It also gave us time to get ready for dinner; we were both pretty yucky after our long and humid walk on the beach.

After a fabulous dinner at Old Bull Tavern in Beaufort, where the entire staff was incredibly helpful in making our evening special, we sat on a swing by the water and called and texted all of our closest family and friends.

I love this picture. So much happiness!

Once we got back, we took a deep breath, and posted the news on social media... It was out there for the world! I absolutely adored getting excited, supportive messages from my sweet friends, like Christine. 

When I read this snap, I broke out into a smile. Can't even believe I get to be Mrs. Whitten! 

We ended the night cuddling and eating Ben and Jerry's Half Baked ice cream. If that isn't a fairytale ending, I don't know what is.