Dear 2012

Dear 2012,

Wow, what a year you have been! You were a year I had been anticipating for so long in so many ways. There were big life changes made this year and I can't believe I actually made it through alive and well. Now you are almost over and I can't help but reflect on how blessed I have been this last year.

I spent my first true semester in a classroom and fell in love with a group of kids I never imagined myself teaching, even in my wildest dreams. It's amazing how things work out, isn't it? Little did I know I was hand picked for that group of kids. God knew exactly what he was doing when he placed me in that classroom. Those kids were perfect for me and I can say in confidence that I was perfect for them. We got to dive deep into slavery, war, and civil rights together but I know I learned more from them than they learned from me. It was exhausting, irritating, frustrating, and perfect in every way. I was forced to take a good, hard, look at myself and am a better person and teacher because of it.

After four seemingly short years I graduated from the University of Georgia with my degree in Middle Grades Education. Every year at UGA passed more quickly than the one before it and I wasn't ready for it to end. I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am for the opportunity to start and finish at such a wonderful institution. My dad has always been quick to remind Haley and I not to take our education for granted. We know there are so many people who would have loved to attend UGA but couldn't for different reasons. My education is one thing I will always be thankful for. Athens and UGA will always hold the most special place in my heart.

I finally got to walk down the aisle and marry my best friend after seven and a half years together. The date had been set for nearly four years but when it finally arrived it felt like it couldn't be here already. We aren't old enough for this, are we? We worked day and night for over a year to make sure everything was perfect for our day. It felt funny to sit back and have everything done for us that weekend, but that's exactly what we wanted. We wanted to enjoy our time with our friends and family and enjoy we did! The week we spent in Jekyll will always be the best week of my life. It's been six months and it still feels like yesterday. Is that how it will always be? I can only hope it is because I never want to forget that feeling.

Now, here's where I'll be honest. This is one change I wasn't happy about in 2012. Getting through the wedding was my main focus and I didn't let myself think about what would happen after it was over. I didn't want to think about leaving Athens. Somehow I kept pushing that to the back of my mind and pretending we could find a way to stay. Like so many others, I love Athens. Like, serious love. As in, it took me two months to move my things after the wedding... And, if I'm being totally honest, it's only because my sister had to find a roommate. If that hadn't happened I can guarantee you that my room would still be the same. I didn't want to leave Athens, UGA, Hilsman, my friends, and especially my sister. I don't do well with change; I am a creature of habit to the extreme. Moving to a totally new place didn't sit well with me, but over time I have adjusted and am learning to love my new home. Marriage isn't all fun and games! Especially when a certain someone gets a fantastic job they love and drag you away from everything you've ever known! But, in this scary time I couldn't be more thankful for my husband and his job. We're getting there!

Along with moving to a totally new place came working in a school system I knew nothing about. I started substituting in Dalton so I could get a feel for the area and the schools. I am so thankful for the work and to be back with the kids. I spend most of my time in the same Elementary school and I absolutely adore it. Never in a million years did I think I would love those kids so much. I have learned that I can teach something other than middle school and that feels pretty darn good. I hope to be more settled next year and find a teaching job, but only time will tell!

We've got some exciting plans I can't wait to share with you when the time comes. This has been the best year yet but life just keeps getting better! The best is yet to come!

2012 - You have been so good to me and I am looking forward to what 2013 holds!


Love,

Wedding Weekend

Well, the wedding is over and the bride and groom are headed to paradise! And I'm still tired. You don't realize how tired you are until it's all over and done! I wish I was hopping on a plane today, but I'll settle for bundling up and watching the Pioneer Woman. 

Since the wedding was Friday evening, we had the rehearsal on Thursday. We had dinner at The Attic before heading to the Church. The mother of the Groom did a fantastic job on the rehearsal dinner decorations and the food at The Attic is always good! The cheesecake was to die for. After dinner we headed over to the church to practice before setting up. After a few hours at the Community House we hit the hay!

Thankfully, the wedding day was pretty uneventful. No major mishaps or trauma! All the girls were happy that it wasn't quite as cold as the day before, especially when we headed outside to take pictures in our strapless dresses. We all got ready together at the church while enjoying some pizza and Spice Girls! The Bride and Groom saw each other before the ceremony so we were able to knock out the majority of the photos. It was nice to just be able to relax for a bit between the Ceremony and Reception!

Here are a few photos taken on my iPhone. Enjoy!

Beautiful rehearsal decor

Love these two! CAN'T WAIT for May!

Blurry Bride and Groom at the Rehearsal Dinner

Decor at our table

There's nothing better than candles!

Getting all prettied up!

Pre-dresses

Love those beautiful windows

Excitement!

Boys + Flowers

My handsome date

LOVE this girl! 

Sister pic

I wrote, "I hope you always love each other as much as you did in high school, and as much as you do today!"

Old school! Love you girls

The beautiful church after dark

Veil shot

First dance

So happy for you two! 

It's Wedding Day!

Emilee and Kelsey's wedding day is finally here! It seems like it was just yesterday when we were putting a note on his truck at the ball fields! I couldn't be more excited for them and am so happy to be a part of their special day! I'm getting ready to head to the church now so y'all pray I don't ruin the wedding by falling on my face. Can't wait to tell you all about it!

Love,

Style Me Pretty!

via

I am so so excited to share with you guys that our wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty Georgia today! Our wonderful vendors submitted their fantastic work and it was chosen! I couldn't be more excited for them. I am so thankful to have worked with such amazing people and I love that others get to enjoy their beautiful work too! 

When I first got my photos back I was talking to Hal about putting some of them on Pinterest. It felt kind of strange putting my own wedding into cyber space. Then, Haley reminded me that's what Pinterest is made for! If it weren't for new ideas it wouldn't have gotten so popular. When I started planning a couple of years ago I had a difficult time figuring out exactly what look I was going for. I knew immediately I wanted to use my milk glass but I couldn't find any photos of what I wanted. There's a lot more out there now but still not a lot of my wedding style. I wasn't going for the rustic look, but more of a clean, cohesive look and I really think I achieved that. I hope that someone gets some inspiration from our Style Me Pretty feature! 

How did people plan weddings before the internet?

Check it out here!

Blogged

Y'all. This shows just how crazy I've been lately. Our lovely photographer blogged some of our wedding photos and I didn't even know it! That is very unusual for me! I'm pretty on top of my social media! Of course you all have seen these before but just for record's sake here you go:

JEKYLL ISLAND WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY: CARI AND CHRIS

Happy Tuesday!

ps, Stay tuned tomorrow for something extra exciting :)

Missed

My sweet Meme went home to the Lord two years ago today. It is unbelievable that she has been gone this long and we miss her just as much now as we did then. A day doesn't go by that I don't think about her or want to pick up the phone and call her. Every time I buy some new clothes I immediately want to take them and show her! The woman loved nothing more than a new outfit!

As we watched the longest of the wedding videos a couple of nights ago, we all laughed about how much she would have loved to be there. She would have absolutely loved riding the golf cart around The Club and would have waved to everyone as if she was the Queen of England! Hopefully she would have left the decorations alone this time though, right y'all?

Meme adored Chris and couldn't wait for us to get married. Mama used to get onto her for asking us when it would be when we were still in high school! She's the one who gave me the idea to be married on Grandpa's birthday, June 3rd. We decided that would be the perfect day almost four years ago and she was so excited! She promised me he'd make sure we had a beautiful day and she kept her promise! She loved my Grandpa more than anything and loved seeing her granddaughters find that same happiness. She would have thrown Amanda and I under the bus for Matt and Chris any day!

The older I get, the more I appreciate my grandparents. I didn't get as much time with any of them as I would have liked, but God knows what he's doing and I'm thankful for the time we did have together. I am glad that I only have wonderful memories of them all to cherish forever. Each of them has contributed to who I am and I can't wait to share memories of them with my own children someday. I was so lucky to witness a fairy tale first hand in my grandparents and will always believe in true love because of them.

Do me a favor - if your grandparents are still alive, call them up and listen. Listen to the same stories you've heard a hundred times because one day you will cherish them! Take all the photos you can because you will never have enough. Lastly, learn from them. No matter how you feel about your family, you wouldn't be here without them. They are important. Learn about where you came from and be proud. You never realize how much you love someone until they are gone! Take it from me!

My Best Friend's Wedding (Shower)

My beautiful best friend, Emilee, will be married in 54 short days! I remember how it seemed like I had so much time but at the end it absolutely flew by. The closer it got to the wedding, the more I had to do! Yesterday was five months since the wedding and it seems like time is flying by faster than ever! 

Yesterday Mom and I went to one of Em's showers in Habersham and I must admit, I'm loving how the tables have turned! It's fun being on this side of the wedding chaos! This is the only photo I took yesterday as my phone was not cooperating and I discovered my camera was dead...

Today the bridesmaids hosted a shower in Gainesville at 2 Dog Restaurant. We had eighteen people and the food was delish! The shower was "Around the clock," so guests brought gifts that corresponded to morning, noon, or night. We played the purse game, had delicious cupcakes, and had a great time celebrating sweet Em (and you too Kelsey!). I can't wait for the big day in December! I was there when Emilee fell head over heels for Kelsey and I couldn't be happier for them! They are the most perfect couple I know and I'm glad it's finally their time to tie the knot! Here's a few of pictures from the shower:

Welcome table

Table

Menu, favor, and spoon for marriage advice

Beautiful Bride to be!

Grandma Ruth writing her advice

Beautiful ladies - love you girls!

Such a wonderful time! Love you to the moon sweet friend!

Thankful Thursday!

I posted yesterday about getting our Engagement Film but I never thought our Wedding Film would come the very next day! I substitute taught all day today so I missed Artworks posting the film on Facebook earlier today. As I was looking through their Vimeo page tonight I saw our silhouettes and almost screamed! Okay, confession: I did scream! I screamed a "Meme scream!" My family knows what I'm talking about! I'm so excited for you all to watch it!

I posted the video to Facebook, but for the few of you who don't have Facebook here's the link:

Our phenomenal Wedding Film!

We couldn't be happier! I am SO thankful to have our day on film to watch for years and years to come! Artworks absolutely blew us away and we can't wait to see more! I am so thankful for their unique talent. I am thankful for my wonderful husband who works so hard to support us and who paid to have our beautiful day caught on film just for me. We are so thankful for our sweet friends and family who traveled to celebrate with us. We are especially grateful to our parents for supporting us and giving us this special day! Blessed!

Love, 

Four

Yep, you guessed it! Today marks four months since the wedding. Time is absolutely flying by! Can you believe we are in October already? Where has the time gone? I think I've posted my share of wedding photos so I'll spare you this time. However, I will direct you to the new pages I added to the top of the blog. If at any time you decide you'd like to look at our marvelous photos again just click on My favorite day and you can browse the photos whenever you'd like! I also added an "about me" tab of sorts for anyone that doesn't know me very well!

We received a sweet surprise to mark our four month "anniversary" today! Our fantastic cinematographers Artworks Wedding Cinema posted our "Engagement Film" on Facebook. Until I started shopping for a videographer I had never even seen or heard of an engagement film. It is basically the same thing as engagement photos but they capture you on film. When Artworks came to us about doing one for them we jumped on the chance! No one can resist the beauty of Jekyll Island! Chris and I are seriously awkward, ya'll but we had fun shooting the film! It shouldn't be much longer and we will have our much anticipated wedding film in our hands and I am so excited to see it. We struck gold with Artworks and highly recommend them! I hear they are booking faster than ever so jump on it!

Keep an eye our for our Wedding Film

Click below to watch our Engagement Film: 

Chris & Cari's Engagement Film  

PS, Although it's small, this is my fiftieth post! Hooray! I am enjoying blogging and hope anyone who is reading is too! Celebrate the small things, my friends! Until next time. :)

More Wedding Bells!

This weekend was a whirlwind! We were so busy running around that it was one of those weekends where you were exhausted by the end of it! Saturday night Chris's best friend was married at the Hiawassee Trout Lodge. Y'all know how much I love weddings! Of course it's even sweeter when it's your friends! I know y'all are glad to see someone else's wedding instead of my own for a change, right?

Chris worked Thursday night so when he woke up Friday afternoon we packed up and headed out! The rehearsal was at the venue in between Hiawassee and Helen so we decided to head straight there from Dalton instead of going home to Habersham first. It took us about two and a half hours to get there and we were only two minutes late! Pretty good for us, right? Everyone rehearsed, ate dinner, and we headed out. 

The wedding was outside on Saturday afternoon. Thankfully the rain held out until after the ceremony and after the photos were done! The reception was covered so it was all good when the downpour happened. It was the first time that it's really felt like fall to me and I loved it! I'm loving the weather this week and can't wait to head over the mountain to Gatlinburg in October. But first, we are heading to Myrtle Beach in SIX DAYS! I can't wait! Because of my sun allergy my days of laying out are essentially over. I'm excited to go this late when it won't be so hot I can't even breathe. Stay tuned for photos from Jasper's first trip to the beach! :)

Enjoy some photos from the wedding:

Best Man + Groom

Table Decor

Bird Seed favors

Bubbles for the exit

Grooms cake

Delicious Cake

Loved these

At the ceremony

Obsessed with my handsome husband

Humidity = shiny

Ceremony

Vows

"Who has the ring?" Not funny, boys!

First kiss!

Love it!

Love him!

Sweet girls and the groom

Mother-Son Dance

Super sweet

Chris rehearsing his speech just before showtime!

SO proud of him!

Bouquet toss

Garter

Program

Happy Monday, y'all!