Unabridged Bride

Over the weekend, I gave my blog a little face lift.
Can you tell?
Do you like it?

Well, over on the right sidebar, I've also added a little button/badge.
"Are you an Unabridged Bride?"
Yes, ma'am, I am!!
Thanks to Liza Hippler of Maiden to Married and Marie McKinney-Oates of Nashville Marriage Studio.

At the workshop, we covered many things - both useful and fun!
The first night we talked about ourselves and the wedding.
It was definitely an eye opener and made me rethink a lot of things - but in a good way!
The second night we got down to it with a Kettlebell workout.
We also learned how to create a stylish wedding on a budget with CJ Dickson and talked photography with Mandy Whitley.
The last night we got to bring our fiances along.
We learned how to quickly resolve conflicts, why life insurance is important, to talk about everything [including finances!!], and to relax with reflexology [i.e. hand & foot massages].

We also had a bit of homework, which I love,love,loved doing!
I came up with who I wanted to be as I planned my wedding and what I wanted our wedding to be.
Mr. GrapeJuice and I talked about our expectations for ourselves and each other as husband and wife.
And, now, I will share them with you!

As a bride, I want to be intune with my relationship as we plan of our lives, and I want to be relaxed while enjoying the journey to wife.

I want my wedding to be personal as well as a celebration of all the love and family around us while having/enjoying a great party!

Mr. GrapeJuice's Expectations of himself as a husband and me as a wife:
Husband: support wife [includes financials as well], love wife, cherish wife, protect wife, reproduce with wife
Wife: carry children & care for husband and children, stay truthful to husband, work together to efficiently run a family, be like your mother

My Expectations of myself as a wife and him as a husband:
Wife: support husband in everything, help around the house, be cook and maid most of the time (expect him to help some too), do little things to help make our lives/his day easier/happier without complaint or expected praise
Husband: be the man, kill the bugs, take care of the lawn, stay by my side in good and bad, get up at 4am to get the baby or sick child, support my dreams and the realities

Prioritizing the Wedding

Sunday night, Mr. GrapeJuice and I sat down to prioritize our wedding. I've been meaning to do this and trying to convince him to do this for a while now! And, we finally did. The best part about it though is that I had gotten a Priority Scale from CJ Dickson of Williamson County Weddings and CJ's Off the Square while at the Unabridged Bride Workshop this week! It made it so much easier to do. I made a copy of it and handed it to Mr. GrapeJuice. We sat down and each filled one out.

Here are his results:
1. Wedding Ceremony - 10 [the most important; 1 is the least important]
2. Wedding Reception - 9
3. Floor Plan/Flow - 3
4. Atmosphere/Lighting - 4
5. Music - 7
6. Table Decorations - 3
7. Flowers - 4
8. Cake - 6
9. Food - 8
10. Dress - 8
11. Photography - 7
12. Invitations - 5

Here are my results:
1. Wedding Ceremony - 9
2. Wedding Reception - 9
3. Floor Plan/Flow - 3
4. Atmosphere/Lighting - 1
5. Music - 7
6. Table Decorations - 5
7. Flowers - 4
8. Cake - 9
9. Food - 10
10. Dress - 10
11. Photography - 10

12. Invitations - 8

We agreed on the following:
Wedding Reception
Floor Plan/Flow
Music
Flowers

After discussing our priorities and why we chose what we did, we decided to figure out what the top 5 important factors are! This is what we've decided on:

1. Reception
2. Attire
3. Photography
4. Cake
5. Invitation/Flowers

I think it was a very fantastic and productive Sunday night! :) Photo

The First of Many

::I apologize for my lack of post yesterday. I was caught up in the world of GLEE.::

Last night, I dreamed about my wedding. Do I remember what I dreamed? Of course not!! But, I did. And, it was my first wedding dream. {But I'm pretty sure it won't be the last...} I can say that it was a pleasant dream though! :) I just hope all my wedding dreams are pleasant, and that I don't have nightmares about someone not showing up or the cake being ruined. Knowing me though, I will probably have those dreams too!

And, in other fun news, I'm heading out to aLoft Hotel in Cool Springs tonight for Night One of the Unabridged Bride Series! :)

Don't worry...I'll tell you all about it!

(source)

Becoming an Unabriged Bride

Throughout the month (give or take a little bit) that I've been blogging, I've come across a lot of great ideas, inspirations, and topics. One that I found particularly interesting was The Unabridged Bride workshop. It happened back in July, and I read many great things about it on other blogs. I specifically remember someone saying something about it being so wonderful that they wished they'd had it earlier in their wedding planning. After reading that, I decided that it had to be something valuable and something I needed to do.

Well, today, I got home from work and was doing my usual Internet routine of checking things - Gmail, Facebook, Google Reader, My Blog Stats, and Twitter {{and yes, in that order}}. While on Twitter, I noticed a post from @mckinneyos. It said, "Nashville Brides should check out http://unabridgedbride.com Only available in Nashville and the only workshop of its kind!!" When I saw it, alarm bells went off in my head!! I got so excited. :) I totally want to do this. After checking out the website - The Unabridged Bride, I knew it was going to be worth it - my time and money.

But first...

What does every future bride have to do?? ... Ask the fiance! I mean, I wasn't going to sign up for something that involved him on Day 3 without asking him if he would join me. {{See? I'm a considerate wife-to-be!!}} And do you know what he said [via facebook, of course]??? "Sure babe, i will do it for you if you want me to."

So, now, do you know what I'll be doing tomorrow? Besides putting my paycheck into the bank? I will be registering for the workshop! The workshop I've heard so much about! Can you tell I'm excited? Yes, I know my wedding is 23 months away. But, I like to do as much as I can in advance because, eventually - if I'm being totally honest, I'll procrastinate in some way. That's just how it goes. You can ask my late night and all nighter papers that were left until the day before they were due. :)

After my extremely long and overly verbose post, I'm going to become an Unabridged Bride in September. I'm going to register tomorrow...which will also land me entries into three different contests.

If you are interested in also becoming an Unabridged Bride, please check out their website! The dates for the workshop are September 10th (7-9), 17th (7-9), and 23rd (7-9:30). It's at the Aloft Hotel in Franklin, TN.

Hope to see you there!
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