Tag: southern bride blogger

Wedding Wednesday: the little things

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It has been a crazy time with school right now, y’all, so forgive me if my posts are lacking lately.

This weekend my mom, aunt, cousin, and MOH went to an open house at my lovely venue, Vinewood Plantation.  I was super bummed that I couldn’t go with and even more bummed that I’ve barely had a spare moment to talk with them about their experience and their ideas.  But let me just say that I am SO thankful to have such patient, encouraging, supportive, and WONDERFUL people by my side during this stressful time.  Everyone has been encouraging as I struggle through my last few weeks of this spring semester, and I could not be more thankful for that.  I promise that I am thinking of you and thankful for you during this time.  I can’t wait to sit down on Skype and talk with everyone!  I know that everyone is so excited, and I can’t wait for this semester’s stress to be lifted off of my shoulders so that I can be excited too! (I mean, I am obviously excited about the wedding, but it’s hard to show it when I have 2 large papers along with several other projects and major finals here at the end of the semester.)

Another little thing: On Monday night, Cason and I stayed up SUPER late (like 2am, late) to see the lunar eclipse.  It was ah-mazing.  We mostly stayed inside and went outside every 10-15 minutes to see the progress (mostly because it was rather chilly outside).  Well when we went back out right after 2am (when the eclipse was complete), not only did we see an awesome red-colored moon, but we also saw a SHOOTING STAR.  It was incredible! It literally looked like it was shooting right towards us.  I was so excited! Apparently some other kiddos in the neighborhood thought it was pretty neat too, because we could hear them cheering in neighboring yards.  What a cool experience.  I absolutely cherish those little moments in time that cause us to pause and take it all in.

Oh, and today is mine & Cason’s first day of pre-marital counseling, eek!  We were supposed to start last week, but I think our counselor was out sick.  So here we go!

Also, I was going to add the pics that I received from the open house, but as of right now, that may or may not happen.  Check back soon!

wedding wednesday: relationship inspiration

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Skinny Mom started posting daily inspirations to encourage others to #sharemorelove, which inspired today’s Wedding Wednesday post. After all, what relationship doesn’t need more love?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about new/better ways to show sweet Queso** how much I love him. With me going to school full-time and working part-time and him working full-time and going to school part-time, our schedules stay pretty packed; it’s easy to get stressed and to let that stress seep into the relationship and expand. So lately I’ve found that the best way for me to combat this is to stay positive, be encouraging, and pray a whole lot! That’s why I chose these sweet quotes to display for today’s WW.

Hopefully they serve as reminders for us to be kind to our significant others, whether we’ve just met, been dating for a while, are engaged, or have been married for what feels like forever. They’re the one, right?  Let’s strive to love them best (after God, of course), and treat them with love and kindness.

Can you tell that I needed a gentle reminder in this area this week? I’m by no means perfect or even good at it, but I believe that life is a process–we must continually seek truth and goodness and strive towards that.

**That’s what I call Cason about 40% of the time. It’s ‘Case’ about 50% of the time and Cason only about 10%–usually when I’m upset!

wedding wednesday: a new name & monogram

Published on by Jess Stone1 Comment

By now, I’ve probably read every article there is about getting married and changing your name.  Who knew it could be such a process just trying to decide what to call yourself.
Do I drop my middle name, keep my maiden name, and add his last name? (Apparently this is the Southern thing to do.)
Do I drop my maiden, keep the first and middle, and add his last name?
Do I forego the name change altogether?–um, no.

Well, after plenty of thought (and maybe too much), I’ve decided what I’m going to do.  I decided to share it here for two reasons: the first being that EVERYONE has asked me what my new name & monogram will be, and the second being that it’s Wedding Wednesday, and well…why not? So without further ado:

  • I’m keeping all of my names.  Yup! All of them.  I go by my first name–can’t get rid of that.  My middle name is unique–not doing away with that one.  And there are no more boys to carry on my maiden name–so I’m keeping that one too.
  • Then I will get a wonderful, new last name!  Yes, I’m taking Cason’s last name.  No, there was never really a debate about that.

ikatmonogramSo here’s the question: what do you do with your monogram when you have FOUR names?
Well, I decided that I’m just going to use my first, middle, and new last name in the monogram.  I don’t really have a good explanation on this one, besides the fact that it’s just easier to switch the “big letter” than to move all of the letters around.  So there it is!

How did you change your name & monogram when you got married?

wedding wednesday: our wedding website

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Header BecomingtheStones

Hey, it’s Wedding Wednesday again!  This week is the official debut of our wedding website, becomingthestones.com.  Yes, we are super cheesy and we love it.  Feel free to click the banner above and head on over to the site.  We would love, love, love for you to fill out the online guestbook so we know you stopped by and checked things out.

Just a quick post this week, but I do hope you’ll hop on over to the wedding website and let us know what you think!

wedding wednesday: engagement photos

Published on by Jess Stone3 Comments

For my first Wedding Wednesday post, I present to you, our ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS, done by the lovely Sammie Culpepper!  It was so much fun working with her, since all we had to do was be ourselves!  We are so thankful for the memories and the photos that we now have to share with our family and friends.  If you haven’t yet, check out Sammie’s website, and look forward to meeting her at the wedding in January!

A few things to note:

  • I was having a really, REALLY good hair day, if I may say so myself.
  • Cason was the cutest, sweetest, funnest Cason on this photo shoot.  Had I not started getting hungry/grumpy, I could have taken pictures with him all day.
  • You can click on an image to make it larger–then you should be able to scroll through the larger versions of the images.

Family & Friends: If you would like to see the full album or order photos, feel free to text/email me for the link!

sweet tea society

Published on by Jess StoneLeave a comment

“I want a marriage more beautiful than my wedding.”

SweetTea2

This week in all of my wedding planning, I came across the most recent volume of Southern Weddings Magazine.  I was so thankful for their view on weddings and their belief that, “planning for a wedding means planning for more than just one day; that there is nothing on this earth more important than family; and that while details are nice, true love always, always wins.”

Throughout this planning process, I’ve found it difficult to express how important planning for our marriage and joining our families is to me, and it is nice to see that people understand.  People get it.  And while we may get caught up in the wedding planning as a process, I’m thankful for understanding friends and family who know that marriage is beautiful and sacred–that a wedding is a tiny glimpse into the joy that is to come.

I’m thankful for this week of planning with my friends and family.  I’m thankful for sweet vendors and wonderful wedding planners.  But what I can’t forget is that I’m also thankful that when I fly back to Texas, I have a loving fiancé to celebrate life and family with.  I have someone who gets me and wants to grow with me–beyond January 3, 2015.

I believe the path God set before us did not start with an extravagant wedding day, nor will it end there.  However, that day will give us a time to gather with friends and family and celebrate the work that God is doing in our lives together.  So while I continue to plan and prepare for that day, I will also continue to plan and prepare for my marriage.

The Sweet Tea Society is comprised of a network of brides, wedding planners, vendors, and Southern Weddings Magazine, united in the belief that marriage is about more than one day–it’s about life and family.  For more information, click here.