Its almost that time!

With the wedding only a few weeks away, we (and by we, i really mean I!) have been feeling the pressure to get things finalized, and decisions made. Ive been pretty good at sticking to our budget, and doing most things myself, however I would've never imagined how ridiculously expensive ALL things wedding are! It seems by simply being in the "wedding aisle" at Michaels, things become over priced. Ive managed to get away with doing things on a reasonable budget, by trying to stay away from the cutesy wedding stuff, and going a little less traditional. Today I made the decision to not use flowers for bouquets. Am I crazy? Maybe. However, I refuse to spend obscene amounts of money on something that will only die two days after the wedding. Plus, I don't even really like flowers to begin with, so i'm quite happy with my decision. So, stay tuned to see what untraditional idea we come up with for the ceremony ;)


On another note, Have I mentioned how unbelievably excited I am that my brother will be here for my wedding?!?!?! My brother has always been my protector, body guard, dad, and advice-giver. He was the one that yelled at me when I did something wrong, the one that bought me my first car, the one that got me my first job, etc. My brother is the most important man in  my life (besides Rony of course) and having him there will only make my wedding day complete! And to add the icing on the cake, he's bring his beautiful girlfriend with him! I am so excited that they're going to be a part of our special day, and cant wait to see them!


And on that note, I leave you all with some wedding advice a friend of mine sent me :)


For the Groom:
Never let her go to bed angry - you're defenseless when you sleep.
Don't let her know that you think your couch is comfortable - or you'll be sleeping on the patio.
If she says, "Do whatever you want to" - You'd better figure out what it is she wants you to do.
The best gift a man can give his children - is to show them how much he loves their mother. 
The second best gift he can give them - is his time.
Don't ever criticize your wife in public - the world should know that you believe she is perfect.


For the Bride:
When he asks if he can change channels - no matter how you answer, it sounds like "yes".
Men don't spend money on expensive toys just to make you mad - it's genetic, they can't help it.
If you ask his opinion, and he says "I don't care", or "I don't know" - he really doesn't care, or know. (Ive learned this one with Rony!)
Let him pretend he's in charge. It may take him 5 or more years to figure out that he isn't. By then, it's too late.
Don't ever criticize your husband in public - the world should know that you believe that he tries really hard.


And for BOTH: 
Don't fight or argue over the little stuff. It's never worth the effort.


Happy Leap day...39 days to go!!!!

Where is the time going?!?!

Sorry its been so long since our last update, and I wish my excuse was "Ive been busy with all the wedding plans" but in a reality, life has just been crazy all around, lately. Both Rony and I have been crazy busy with work, and to add to the madness, im also getting ready to take my TEAS to (finally) apply to the nursing program, so needless to say all wedding plans have taken a back seat to our everyday life. However, with the wedding so close now, Im finally feeling the pressure, therefore I promise I will be getting this wedding done and over with even if it kills me!

One great accomplishment we had this month was FINALLY getting a caterer for the wedding! Some of you may know how much work this has been for us, after having to deal with several disappointments, so I am feeling very relieved that we are able to cross this off our list!

We've had several friends and family members ask us recently if we were doing a wedding registry, and I would like to address the topic: Rony and I have everything we need, and really don't feel the need to ask for anything else. As cliche as it may sound, our only wish for our wedding day is for our family and friends to be there, and enjoy the day with us! However if you MUST give us something, theres a VW Bus that my darling Fiance has been wanting! :p

Check, check, check!

If someone would've told me years ago, that one day I would be going to a bridal store and trying on beautiful wedding dresses, I probably would have laughed in their face. Ive never been the girl that dreams about weddings, or being the princess for the day. In fact, up until Rony actually proposing, I thought we would fly off to Vegas when the time came to get married! 

However, yesterday I had an appointment at a bridal store to try on some wedding dresses. I went with 3 of my good friends/Bridesmaids, which I think made the moment so much easier for me. As I walked into the store, I immediately felt overwhelmed. My friend Natalin asked me if I was nervous, to which I simply replied "yes", as I secretly tried not to have a panic attack. So many dresses...so much tulle...so many options! I would just like to add, I am the WORST at making decisions. Something as simple as what to have for dinner becomes an issue for me. Thankfully, with the help of my bridal consultant, Brooke, and my amazing bridesmaids, I found my perfect dress. Its everything I wanted and more, and as embarrassing as it is for me to admit, I may or may not have called Rony gushing about it as soon as we left the store, lol. Now I just need to find a good hiding place for my dress once it comes in, because Rony has been trying to figure out what it looks like! 

After we found my dress, The girls and I headed to the mall and found the perfect bridesmaids dresses! I am so glad they found dresses that were affordable and beautiful at the same time! I also ran over to the wedding venue and put the deposit for our wedding date, which means whether we like it or not, Rony and I will be getting married in April! On top of all the wedding excitement, I am officially done with finals for the semester! I'm not sure what I was more excited about, finals being officially over, or finding my wedding dress! 

The wedding is slowly but surely coming along...and we are very grateful for all the help from our friends. Now that things are falling into place, we are more anxious to share our special day with our family and friends! 

-Ileana

Engagment Pictures!

Yesterday Rony, Harley and I had the our engagement pictures done by Jacqueline Nicole Photos. She was so much fun to work with, and made the whole experience very easy and comfortable. As many of you know, Rony isn't very fond of having his picture taken, so i'm very grateful that he put on a brave face and went through the whole process with a smile (and a few jokes here and there!).

When Jacqui and I first spoke about what we wanted for this shoot, I told her we wanted something outdoors and funky, and I sent her a few pictures that I wanted to recreate. We had so much fun taking the pictures at the locations she picked, that we totally forgot to get any pictures of the engagement ring! So, now we get the pleasure of working with her one more time! I'm so excited to see all the pictures!!!

Here are a few she sent me last night! :)

Location, location. location?!

One of the biggest question Rony and I have been facing since getting engaged is the location where we want to get married. Not necessarily the place, but what city and even what state! Rony's parents live in Georgia, my parents live in Bradington...about 2 hours away and we have siblings spread out too, including my brother that lives in Italy. So as you can see, deciding on a general location has been a challenge. We would like a spring wedding, and because spring is rapidly approaching, we really need to decide this soon. Our main concern is our family and close friends being able to attend, without it being a huge hassle for them.

Another problem with the location is the two different "visions" Rony and I have. I, because I hate all things fussy and dramatic, would like a simple outdoor wedding, maybe in a park, or by a big oak tree. He, because he loves all things quirky, wants a ranch or farm wedding...with horses. Yes, I said horses. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a ranch style wedding, but I do not love the price tag attached to it! It seems ranch style weddings are pretty popular lately, so people feel the need to dish out thousands and thousands for this day. Yea, not this girl!

I would just like to take a moment and say, I am not a typical bride-to-be. I do not go to bed dreaming about tulle and flowers, and wake up thinking about china patterns. In fact, I hate flowers (most of them) and tulle, and refuse to revolve my life around this wedding. I'm excited about starting my life as Rony's wife. I'm excited about our future and our marriage. That, I can totally go to bed dreaming about and definitely want my life to revolve around my marriage and family. However, I am your typical girl and want that day to be special as any girl would. I just want it to be practical, laid back and a fun day for everyone! I do not see the point in spending thousands of dollars (that most people cannot even afford to spend in the first place!) on a day where the bride and groom are stressed all day, invite people they barely even know, and go home exhausted. That is the opposite of what we want our wedding day to be.

So where are we getting married? Well, I guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out! What I will tell you is that Rony and I have many wonderful plans for after we get married, and none of them include wedding debt. So as of right now, eloping sounds pretty appealing to me! Kidddddding! :)

The question everyone has been asking..

What better way to begin this blog, than by telling the story of how we got to this point to begin with? Many people have been asking how Rony proposed...so I will try to capture the moment as best as possible, without getting into too much detail, as to not bore you guys! For the record, Rony is much better at telling this story than I am, I was too busy freaking out to really recap the night! But, I will try anyways!

As you may know, Rony and I went on a cruise to celebrate our 1 year anniversary, the weekend of November 18-21, 2011. We arrived at the port early, so we had plenty of time to explore the cruise, and get settled in. After a few hours of exploring, lunch, and reluctantly saying goodbye to the internet and FB (ok, maybe that was just me) we decided to go back to the room and relax for a little while. We laid down to watch a movie (The Green Lantern, which we proceeded to watch over and over all weekend, by the way! Am I taking too long to get to the point? Ok, Ill try to hurry it up! 

After watching the movie for a little while, Rony got up and went to the safe (I later figured this out, obviously I didn't know this at the time.) and laid back down to watch the movie. He begins to talk to me about the past year of our relationship, how happy he is and how much he loves our life together. He asks me if I remember what he said to me when he asked me to be his girlfriend. (Of course I did! His exact words were "I want you to be my girl.") He then goes "Well, I want you to be my girl, forever. Thats why I want to give you this." and he takes out the ring box! I had a freak out moment and didn't even know what to say, So Rony had to remind me to open the ring box, and see the ring, lol. I opened the ring box, and he finally says "Will you be my wife?" And then I officially freaked out! I think I asked him a dozen times if he was serious, lol, After a few minutes of me freaking out, Rony finally asks "Ok, is that a yes or a no?" I was so caught up in the moment, I had totally forgotten to answer him! Of course I said YES!!!! We had a nice mushy, emotional moment, but ill spare you guys the details, lol. 

Once the moment was over, I gave him a gentle "slap" on the arm, and told him how much he sucked for proposing on a cruise, knowing I wouldn't be able to share my excitement with anyone for days! He had strategically planned it this way, so we could enjoy our engagement just the two of us, before coming home and dealing with all the congratulatory excitement from everyone else. And as much as I hate to admit it, his timing was perfect! We got to enjoy the rest of our cruise weekend, as a newly engaged couple! :)

The proposal was perfect, the ring was GORGEOUS, and the weekend was just amazing all around. I cannot express how happy I was, and how happy I am to be marrying my best friend and love. 

Well, there you have it! Hope this didn't make you too nauseous, and I was able to capture my total happiness of the event!