Shopping for SHOES!

Bees, I LOVE a good deal. And in my mind, the only thing better than a good deal is free.

Ever since I bought my wedding gown, ideas for shoes have been dancing in my head. I've been dressing up for college debate stuff for years now, and I interned in a law firm for two summers, so I love a good, classy pump. But ever since I started teaching, flats have been the name of my game. It will really do a number on you to try to walk around a classroom in heels for eight hours straight. I learned that the hard way. 

Here's my outfit from my first day as a teacher. Those yellow wedge sandals were a mistake. // Personal Photo

But since I wear heels so rarely now, I think my wedding is the perfect day to dress my feet up a little! The only question, of course, was where to start my first attempt at wedding shoe shopping.

Enter the "free" part of this post. I've had a Rack Room gift card taking up space in my wallet for almost a year now, courtesy of my mom. When I buy shoes, I get really attached to them, so I don't shop for them unless I really, really need a new pair. I decided to see what I could on the store's website by way of wedding shoes. I wasn't expecting to find much, if anything, but I was pleasantly surprised to come across two styles that I loved and found on super-super sale. I decided to order both so I can try them each with my gown. Yay to new shoes!

Madden Girl Propose in Mint // From RackRoomShoes.com

This first find is called the Madden Girl Propose, and comes in four colors. I decided to order in the mint, since our wedding palette includes mint and lilac. I LOVE wedding pictures where the bride is showing off her fun, colorful shoes, so I really hope these will work for me. And they were on sale for a serious steal.

Minty wedding shoes inspiration // From InspiredByThis.com

I am not sure how these shoes, with the low heel and the texture, will look with my dress though, so I decided to look around a little more before choosing. I am the kind of girl who always likes to have a back-up plan! Enter these pretties. 

LFL Elektrik in light Nude // From RackRoomShoes.com

This style is called LFL Elektrik...I know, I know. The spelling is making my English teacher heart wither up and die. But I thought the lace was SO pretty, and I can see these shoes looking really nice with my dress and many other styles of bridal gowns. I also like the height on the heel a lot. I'm 5'2", so I need something with some height. Plus, I have always been partial to a pointed toe, even though I know some ladies hate them. 

These shoes come in tons of colors, including gold. The colors are a little bit confusing, because they have two color swatches listed as Nude. This is listed as Nude, but they also have a darker color swatch that is a true patent-looking nude color. These were on sale, too, so you guessed it, I put them in my shopping cart as well. 

Both pairs should be arriving in the mail sometime in the next few weeks, and I will definitely try them both with my dress! Who knows, maybe I'll even wear one pair for the ceremony and the other pair for the reception!

Which style do you think is cutest? How did you find your wedding shoes?

We're the Blue Moons!

I can't believe this day is here! I have been dreaming about being a Weddingbee blogger for many years, ever since I first met my fiance and figured out that he was the one. Weddingbee is a place that I have always come to for inspiration and advice on everything from etiquette to recipes to sharing my excitement, and the excitement of other new brides, over our engagements and other milestones. It's a great community to be part of, and now I get to be a blogger in it! Call me Miss Blue Moon- nice to meet you!

My fiance and I from our engagement shoot // Photo by Aimee Aver

I am engaged to Mr. Blue Moon, a truly extraordinary man that I feel so lucky to be marrying this coming July. We met in high school, where we were both super-nerds, after he joined the debate team that I was captaining at the time. We were friends for the longest, but somewhere between the late nights researching, travelling too much on charter buses, and kicking rival-debater butt all over the state of Tennessee, where we're from, we started to fall for each other. Our first date was to O'Charley's, where we split an appetizer plate because we were broke teenagers. I was seventeen and Mr. Blue Moon was just shy of his sixteenth birthday at the time. The rest was history! 

Us at Don's senior prom // Personal Photo

Since I am a year older than the fiance, I graduated first and decided to attend Mercer University, a growing school in Georgia and six hours away from my hometown. While couples all around us in similar positions were breaking up, Mr. Blue Moon and I stubbornly held on, and when he graduated the following year, he chose another university in Georgia about an hour and a half north of me. 

So that's right! We have essentially been long-distance for five of our nearly six years together, though we were able to spend every weekend together after Mr. Blue Moon moved to Georgia. Some of our friends don't understand how we have held it together so long, but what we tell people is that distance means so little when someone means so much! 

In college, we pursued some different activities, but we both continued to debate. I was representing my university's team on a scholarship, and Mr. Blue Moon started a team at his university. This meant that we were frequently competing AGAINST each other. In one notorious debate round, we competed against each other for the state title. On Valentine's Day (I won). 

Folks, if your relationship can survive that, it can survive anything! :)

My career goal throughout college was to be a teacher, something Mr. Blue Moon has always supported me in. When I told him just months prior to my graduation last May that I wanted to join Teach For America, an organization that places teachers in low-income and high-priority communities throughout the United States, he didn't bat an eyelash. I'm telling you, he's a keeper. Ultimately, I was accepted into the program and got placed in rural Mississippi. Now, I'm a middle school teacher here and Mr. Blue Moon and I are super-long-distance again. 

Mr. Blue Moon basks in my glory at my graduation ;) // Personal Photo

He's still here, every weekend, helping me plan our wedding, fixing things around the house, creating amazing vegetarian dishes for me to sample (we've both been vegetarians since 2013), and generally keeping me sane during this first year of teaching. He's seriously the GREATEST. 

With our two cats, Juno and Jensen, during our first Christmas in Mississippi. // Personal Photo

The two of us are planning an amazing wedding this July for our closest family and dearest friends. After the wedding (and his graduation in May!) Mr. Blue Moon is joining me here in Mississippi, where he hopes to pursue graduate school studies in public health somewhere nearby. The long distance can be rough, but together, we're an unstoppable team and I can't wait excited to say "I Do" this summer! I am also SO excited that you're following our wedding journey. I hope to share lots of my ideas as a young bride on a budget, and get tons of ideas from all you lovely people! 

Are you and your significant other in a long-distance relationship? What do you do to make each other feel appreciated and supported from a distance?

We Have a Flower Girl!

For New Year's Eve, my fiance and I usually go to the beach with his family and their good friends, who own a gorgeous beach house in Seacrest, Florida. This year, they were renting out their beach house to vacationers, but we decided to all meet up for a New Year's party anyway at their regular place. I miss the beach, but it's always good to be with friends no matter where you are.

Part of our New Year's tradition is to exchange our Christmas gifts between our families after our midnight countdown. Since we are all doing separate family stuff on Christmas day, we carve out this special time to exchange gifts between dear friends. Our friends have a precious daughter that Don and I knew we would want to be in our wedding from the day we got engaged. We were in high school during their pregnancy, and have really watched their kid grow up. The only question was finding the perfect time to ask Blue Blossom to be in our wedding. We decided to do it after the gift exchange last night.

Aside from her regular Christmas present, I picked out a flower girl basket and wrapped it up with a pin that says "Flower Girl" and a little poem that I found online and modified. It goes like this:

A little lady carries flowers

in a basket or bouquet

She helps us as we celebrate

a joyful wedding day

She is a princess in her gown

A picture come to life

She brings such joy in helping us

Become husband and wife

We want you to stand with us

So, graceful and so tall

and help make this special day

The very best of all.

Will you be my flower girl?

Personal photo

Courtesy of Blue Blossom's mommy

We let flower girl Blue Blossom unwrap her basket with Aimee, who read her the poem. Blue Blossom happily agreed to be in the wedding, and informed us that she has already been the flower girl once. We're so excited to have a pro in our wedding! As you can see, she is super excited and already practicing for her walk down the aisle. It will be great to have such a precious girl, as well as her parents who are good friends, as part of the wedding day!

Will you be having flower girls or ring bearers as part of your special day?