Blue Moons on the Beach: Our Engagement Story and E-Pictures

Mr. Blue Moon proposed on April 14, 2014, during a trip with our good family friends, Aimee and Mike, to Seacrest Beach in Florida. Our friends own a beautiful beach house and were kind enough to invite us to spend a long weekend with them soaking up some sun and relaxing before our exam weeks at our respective universities rolled around.

On our last day of our trip, Mr. Blue Moon and I went to explore a nearby state park, Camp Helen, which was originally developed as a recreation area in the 1920's. It is a beautiful, secluded place to visit and we had a completely private proposal with Mr. Blue Moon writing "Marry Me" in the sand. 

We got a passerby to take our first photo as the future Mr. and Mrs. Blue Moon on our hike back through the park. It was such a lovely proposal, and Mr. Blue Moon could not have done a better job planning it...even though he was so nervous to pop the question!

Personal Photos

When we were planning another trip to the area the next summer, Aimee offered to take our engagement pictures for us on the same beach in Camp Helen State Park where Mr. Blue Moon proposed. She had dabbled in wedding photography before, and we already knew her as an amazing photographer because she had taken very pretty prom pictures for us in high school for years. 

It was towards the end of July. The beach was a mile's hike through this park. The three of us had the wisdom to go barefoot because all of the walking is through sand. It was 107 degrees. 

There were no tears, but there was definitely sweat, and even blood from some blistered feet on that hot, hot sand, and it is a testament to our friendship that Aimee still carried on with taking our engagement pictures and even managed to make us look like we were not sweating buckets and totally miserable. Even after all my make-up melted off and my naturally curly hair EXPLODED in the humidity, Aimee kept my focus on the wonderful man I'm marrying. And it was super fun!

Here are some of my favorites:

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Mr. Blue Moon is so handsome. How did I get this lucky?

 I wore these shell earrings that we had bought the same day Mr. Blue Moon proposed. 

 This is probably my favorite of all our pictures. Mr. Blue Moon had just said something completely hilarious. 

Aimee captured this surprise picture after we had been romping in the ocean to cool off.

All photos by Aimee Aver.

What was your engagement shoot like? Did anyone else use a friendor for their engagement or wedding day photography?

The Perfect Reception

Sorry for the short hiatus, ya'll. You might remember that I'm a middle school teacher, and with state tests coming up in seven weeks, things are starting to get hectic around here.

Since Christmas came and went, Blue Mom and I have been searching high and low for a reception venue near our church. The church we chose is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, so reception options are kind of limited.

 

New Hope Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tennessee // Personal Photos

The very first place we looked at is called Homestead Manor, and I LOVED this property. It is an antebellum home just down the street from my parents and about ten minutes from our church, and they recently added a big events barn to the property with a fireplace, beautiful chandeliers, and a pond in the back.

 

 

Photos by Kristyn Hogan Photography via HomesteadManor.com

The venue also has a beautiful bridal suite inside of a re-purposed schoolhouse, and groom's quarters on the second floor of the house. Everything about it seemed so perfect, but Blue Moon and I decided to look around some more before we decided. We needed something closer to our budget, which is $15,000, and something that is not too big for the number of guests. The Manor's equestrian barn seats a ton of guests, and I was so worried that it would swallow our small reception. 

The second venue that we looked at, and went as far as penciling our date in with, was a restaurant just off Main Street in our hometown called Franklin Mercantile Deli. Though I have never seen them listed on a wedding website or anything like that, Blue Mom somehow figured out that they will do wedding rehearsal dinners or receptions for an extremely reasonable price. For under $10,000 and with the ability to seat around 85 guests, they will do a dinner with two appetizers, bread baskets, and two main courses with sides. The owner will also arrange the tables and chairs however we want and include white table cloths, twinkle lights across the ceiling, and some basic arrangements, like candles, on the tables. As you can see, it is already beautifully decorated inside.

 Decorated for a dinner // via Franklin Mercantile Deli on Facebook

I was honestly so in love with this venue, and definitely in love with the price. I only had two major concerns. The first was that the restaurant is twenty minutes from our church. Even though I know that's not a very long time in the grand scheme of things, we do have a lot of guests coming in from out of town and I was hoping to keep things closer together. Secondly, though I love the intimate feel to this place, I was worried about fitting our guests into here. I hope the final number of people coming hovers around 85, but we are inviting 107 total at this point. There's no way that many would fit inside! So Blue Mom and I decided to look around just a little bit more.

Meanwhile, there was one venue that I have had in the back of my mind almost since Mr. Blue Moon and I first got engaged. It's called Graystone Quarry, and it has been in construction for many, many months. It was not supposed to be ready in time for our wedding, but I kept dreaming about it because it was only four minutes from our church and looked like it would turn out so beautifully in the pictures. 

 

A couple in front of the quarry wall during their engagement shoot // via Leah Michelle Photography on Graystone Quarry's Facebook page

 

The grounds at the quarry are so lovely and will make beautiful pictures. // Via Graystone Quarry's Facebook page

 

 

  

Sketches of some of the buildings that are being constructed // Via Graystone Quarry's Facebook page

 

I had reached out to the owner of the quarry a couple of times to check on its progress, but it really seemed like it would not be ready nearly in time. So imagine my surprise when she reached out to me right after the holidays to say that we might be able to work something out! 

It turns out that the smaller of the two buildings, which will typically be used for ceremonies while the larger building is for receptions, will be ready in time for our wedding! And though they are not booking couples until October, when the entire facility is scheduled to open, she let us book because our guest list is small enough to have a reception in the small building. It will look something like this inside: 

Via Graystone Quarry's Facebook page

I think that the wood beams and chandeliers will be so beautiful, and they are using rock from the quarry to do the walls and the rock wall outside. I never dreamed that we would be able to score such a beautiful venue, but Graystone Quarry has been great about helping us stick within our budget and answering all of our questions. Though the search was long, I think we really found the best option for our wedding! And I am so excited for Mr. Blue Moon and I to be the first to use the venue.  

What was your thought process as you picked a reception venue? Are you going all-inclusive, or picking your own vendors? 

 

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?

Finding The Dress

DON, DO NOT READ THIS POST OR YOU WILL SEE THE DRESS AND DAMN OUR MARRIAGE FOREVER!!! #superstitious

Seriously, do not ruin this moment. Take your nosy self on out of here. ;)

Ok, ladies, now that he's gone...I have a VERY curious groom, ya'll. I have been keeping him posted on my dress shopping progress, and he is super excited to see me in my dress and super jealous of everyone who has seen it when he knows he can't.

Anyway, I found my wedding gown in near-record time. I was really hesitant to shop, because I have packed on the pounds as the stress of my first teaching job has gotten to me, and as awful as this sounds, I really did not believe anything would look good on me. Brides, if any of you are feeling like I did, calm down. You will be beautiful on your wedding day, and find a gown that feels like it was made especially for you.

It only took two shopping trips for me to find my dress, and both were at David's Bridal. I hear good and bad things about David's, and I was honestly not expecting to find my dress there, but when you find the one, you can't question it.

Our first shopping trip was on Black Friday, and let me tell you, it was a bust. My consultant was trying to help me and two other brides, and she did not pull a lot of dresses for me. Since she was so busy, she did not put me in a long-line bra and slip, just a regular strapless, and that made a lot of difference in how the dresses were fitting me. I found two that I felt ok in, but neither were really right, so Mom and I left without buying anything.

David's Bridal Style 9V9743

My mom actually really liked this dress, especially the train. For some reason, the train really reminded me of Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala costumes from Star Wars. Yes. You can't unsee it. I also did not like what this dress did to my hips. The consultant kept putting me in empire waist dresses because she said they would flatter me, but I wasn't feeling it. 

David's Bridal Style 9WG3707

This dress was my favorite of the day. I really loved it because it had pockets. However, it was going to be quite heavy for our July wedding, and the cleavage was a little over the top for me. Neither of these dresses made me feel like a bride.

For our second appointment, I asked for a different consultant, and the lady we got was wonderful. She immediately put me in the right type of undergarments, and pulled some dresses. She put me in some of my mom's picks and my maid of honor's picks. Finally, she decided to put me in a dress that she thought would flatter me. 

Drum roll please...

This is David's Bridal Style 9V3587. I hated it on the model on the website. I hated it on the hanger. Neither of those things did this dress justice. As soon as I saw myself in this dress, I started to tear up. I was definitely having one of those moments. This made me feel beautiful, and I did not want to take it off at all! The lace appliques were exactly what I wanted, and the blingy belt options kept my mom happy. I am so freaking excited for my fiance to see me in this dress. It truly took my breath away. We bought it on the spot, in solid ivory. It is shown here in champagne and ivory. 

We even picked the bridesmaids' dresses while we were at it. All in all, a very productive day! And I couldn't be happier with my choice!

How long did it take you to find your gown?

Love, 

Linds

Groom Guest Post: From One Groom to Another

As excited as I am to plan this wedding, my excitement pales in comparison sometimes to Don's. Since I promised to involve him in the process in every way, I asked him to do a guest post here for our readers. He asked me what he should write about, and I told him to write about whatever's on his heart. Without further ado, here are Don's words from one groom to another. 

I am getting married! Needless to say, when I wrote, “marry me?” in the sand, I was not expecting a barrage of questions from all of the women in my life. 

Some grooms like to be told when and where to show up and that is the end of it, but I knew from the beginning that I was not like that. I’ll be honest, like most guys, I have never had a dream wedding planned out, but I still wanted to be involved because a wedding is our day, not just mine or hers – despite how it sometimes seems from my mother, her mother, and even my fiancée. Especially in the South, the role of a groom is greatly reduced to just showing up, and even if I weren’t in the South, I imagine my struggles are similar to other grooms elsewhere. With that in mine, here are some tips for being an involved groom without being over bearing.

Communicate!

This is really relationship advice 101, but the same is true for the wedding. I cannot explain how many times we were looking at a venue and then when asked if we like it, we have competing views. That is totally OK! The two of you will disagree on things, and that think you thought was really cool might be completely tacky or look terrible. Look at the pros and the cons of everything, and you will see that you and your fiancée have some opinions in common. Talk around what you like, not what you disagree on otherwise the conversation will always turn negative – sell something, don’t bash it.

Mothers really liked being brides

Your mother was probably a bride and if she wasn’t, then she thought about being a bride. Everything she thought was cool in 1991 is still cool to her today. On top of that, Pinterest and other blogging sites exist, so now you have an amalgam of 1991 and the hottest, trendiest wedding innovations. Unfortunately, those two often don’t mix well. You have to think from the perspective of your mother (or Mother in Law). Just like your future wife, she had a billion wedding ideas floating around while she was trying to plan, and your father or her mother probably shot them down. She may be trying to live vicariously through your wedding. Secondly, wedding etiquette was ingrained in her and she probably has very specific ideas about what is expected from a wedding.

How do you cope with this? You might need to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with the mothers. It is not 1991, and it is not their wedding. Moreover, etiquette is nice, but we have to have our wedding, and really making our day special is more important than making someone else happy. That being said…

My parents on their wedding day

Lindsey's parents on their wedding day

Etiquette matters

I know I just said etiquette doesn’t matter. For the most part it doesn’t, but it is not worth it to upset your grandmother over it. There are certain expectations around weddings. Does this mean you need to follow all of them as though you are Emily Post? Nope, you don’t. Etiquette is actually great at providing some structure and advice as to what you should be doing. It should not dominate your wedding though. My advice: get an etiquette book and read up on what you should be doing. Some of it will seem strange, but do it. If you see something you find absolutely awful (like some wording on an invitation), then change it. It isn’t the end of the world, and if someone doesn’t come to your ceremony because the etiquette was wrong, they probably didn’t really want to come anyways and they’ll probably send a gift anyways since they love etiquette so much.

Be Happy and Get Excited

You always see people frantically scouring Pinterest or trying to figure out the perfect way to do something. As someone who likes to be precise, I can appreciate all of that, and I have scoured Pinetrest trying to make some DIY crafts. People get into arguments over all sorts of crazy wedding things. Literally any part of the wedding is up for debate – and this is not just because my fiancée and I were debaters. Everyone will have an opinion and it is overwhelming and at times annoying when you really disagree with someone but you’re trying to be nice. At the end of the day, on July 9^th, I will be marrying the love of my life. That is the fact of the matter regardless of how much arguing happens. You are getting ready to start your life with someone that you love and cherish and she loves and cherishes you too. I always tell Lindsey, “I’m so excited to be marrying you!” and I don’t do it because I want to seem excited, it is because I genuinely am excited. You have to take a step back from all of the inevitable drama that is a wedding and realize that what you’re about to do is incredibly special and something to be excited for.

Everyone is pushing both of you a million different directions. Listen to them and if you disagree, then you disagree. If you see something tacky, speak up. In the same breath, realize that you probably like something tacky, so be ready for criticism. The Mothers and the bride will bicker, just try to make your opinion known without seeming overbearing. Most of all though, enjoy it and get ready to marry the woman of your dreams!