Four richer, Four poorer: FOUR MONTHS LEFT

Most intense countdown of my liiiife!

The days/weeks/months seem to be ZOOMING by as I'm scrambling to stay above water. Between my crazy work schedule (as an event planner), planning a wedding of my own, and trying to keep y'all (my faithful followers) in the loop - I can barely make heads or tails of what the heck is going on!

I've tried my wedding dress on 3 times now, and fall deeper in love with it each time (even though one of my grandmothers told me it looked better on the Charlize Theron-esque model from the website). We're heading to St. Louis next week for an engagement party/4th of July party with my future family. To-do items are slowly making their way into the 'done' category, but I still feel like there is SO much left to do.

Even with all these mountains being moved to make this wedding a success, it still doesn't feel real to me yet. I have to pinch myself when I think that in just 4 short months I will be someone's WIFE. Holy crap, I can't even keep my bedroom clean, and I'm about to be someone's wife?! It's going to be an adventure I can't wait to begin.

Up next: We're booking our honeymoon this week, so I'm drafting a post now designed to make you all wish you were going with us. ;)

Bring on the Pusharatas!

Picture taken from Old Biloxi Recipes Facebook page.

Last night my mom and I crossed off a very important "to-do" on our ever-growing list.

We ordered THE pusharatas (pronounced push-uh-rot-uh) for the wedding reception. Now I realize this is not a big deal for some of you, well, probably most of you. Even if you're from the South, unless you hail from the very southernmost area of Jackson and Harrison counties in Mississippi (or know someone here), then you probably have never heard of these yummy treats, or more importantly - you haven't eaten one.

And for that, I feel SO sorry for you. After all, it's not your fault you haven't had these yummy Yugoslavian pastries. God just doesn't love you as much as He does us coastal Mississippians, that's all. I'm totally kidding, God really loves you, I promise.

For as long as I can remember, the women in my family have told me that there was no way I was going to get married and not have pusharatas at the reception. I know I'm going to screw up this history lesson, but here's what I know about the pusharatas (and what I've found from their very limited internet presence). When the Croatian/Yugoslavian folks emigrated to the East Biloxi area of the MS Gulf Coast, around the time of World War I, they brought with them many yummy recipes. As time passed, the wives of this group formed the Slavonian Ladies Auxiliary. Each Christmas, they sell THOUSANDS of pusharatas as their annual fundraiser. The pusharatas themselves are kind of like a doughnut hole, but filled with fruity goodness (think raisins, oranges, apples, lemons), then deep fried (the Croatians fit in well in the south) and then dipped in a sugary glaze. It seriously takes the better part of a day and multiple sets of hands to make these treats. Not to mention, you HAVE to take the weather into consideration, if it's an unusually humid day, you can forget about your glaze setting right. I've done it twice in my life and I'm here to tell you, they're well worth the $7 per dozen we pay to buy them from the sweet Slavonian ladies.

Up close and personal

So we gave a call to the lady who calls us every November to confirm our order for Christmas (yeah, we're on THE list). We were shocked to find that she is over 80 years old and said she doesn't make them for wedding orders anymore. After talking with her for a while, she decided that she just couldn't let me not have them at my wedding (especially when I told her the groom is not from here and he absolutely loves them). So she's agreed to do them for us, along with another lady she's been 'training' using her Croatian mother-in-law's original recipe.

Wanna know why it takes droves of women to make them? One batch of the recipe makes 42 DOZEN pusharatas. I'll help you out with the math, there, that's 504 little pieces of heaven. Now, while I know my guests will love them, I don't think we need that many, so we were able to order a half batch of only 21 dozen...

Here's a recipe I found online, but I bet it's not the super secret recipe they use. Gather up 85 of your best friends (or 3) and have a blast making these or just support them at Christmastime and order some from the Slavonian Ladies Auxiliary.

Monograms are a Southern Girl's Best Friend

Before the trend in popular wedding decor, Southern girls have always loved their monograms. As babies we have blankets and pillows bearing our initials, all through high school, my cheerleading duffle bags were embroidered with them, and of course, when I went off to college, my pillow cases and towels were labeled "MINE" by three little letters, SHM.

This is a different font than ours will be,
but you get the general idea. 

So it should come as no surprise that when a Southern girl gets married, it's a coming-of-age of sorts to start getting things in her new initials. Now, I loved having SMH plastered all over everything growing up, so it will take some getting used to seeing SMK (still trying to decide if I should use SHK).

For all things wedding-related, however, I've chosen to incorporate mine and Mr. Groom's new, joined, initials. Our "wedding logo" will incorporate this monogram. I'll unveil it shortly, it's still being edited by my wonderfully talented graphic artist bff and matron of honor, Laura Maxcy.

I have been dreaming of ways to emblazon our wedding monogram all over the dang place at the wedding and reception. I found a nice, glorious way of doing this in the form of an 18-inch wooden cut-out of our initials. I've ordered it and soon it will be mine, all mine, to do with what I please... If you're a monogram loving fool like I am, you should give Southern Proper Monograms a look-see. They will slap a monogram on just about anything and they have reasonable prices. Check it out!

For my fellow Southern ladies, tell me where else you used your monogrammed initials for your wedding or in your homes? Also any advice on choosing SMK vs. SHK would be great! I love my middle name, but I also would like to still use the H for my last name as well?

So... Shoes?

Alright, followers, I'm so sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've gotten caught up in doing and have been negligent with my writing. My apologies!

In the beginning it looked like I'd need to wear flat shoes with my dress, as it was the perfect length. As I've lost more weight, my dress has gotten longer...

So... I need some advice on shoes. I want some sort of comfortable wedge and I'm not strict on needing white/ivory either. I already have two pair of flats I am considering, one glitter and one gold...

I am the queen of online shopping, but just haven't found THE pair of wedding shoes yet. HELP! Tell me your secrets about finding perfect wedding shoes. And.... GO!

Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet...

Hehehehe

If you think Say Yes to the Dress bride or bridesmaids is bad, then oh honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet. If TLC began airing SYTTD: Mother-of-the-bride, I have no doubt it would be the be-all-end-all of television drama.

In my world, there are few ladies as opinionated as me - and one of them is the one who helped make me this way - my mama. I love her oh so much and I'm slowly becoming more and more like her (yes, I am becoming my 13-year-old self's worst nightmare). Trying on over 30 gowns to find my own was an act of God and we made it through, but now that it's her turn - cue the melodrama. Perhaps I'm being just a little unfair, we've only been to two different shops. But it's becoming a battle of what I like the look and color of, what she thinks looks good, and what she's actually comfortable in - it turns out, that's three different dresses.

She really wants to look her best, and I want her to, too. If anyone has any advice on finding that perfect mother-of-the-bride dress, bring it on! We're trying to complement my colors (see David's Bridal's peacock and sangria) by bringing in navy or I could also see a nice pistachio-ish green or even gold. Think jewel tones. As far as dress style, we're looking for full-length and definitely not strapless. We welcome (with open arms) any suggestions or links or gently used options.

More photobooth fun at an event at
Bliss Wedding

Photobooth fun at a Bridal event
the week after getting engaged

While we still have a little over 4 months (inner freak-out happening just typing that) til the day, she is working with a short timeline considering some companies have an 8-12 week ship time. Not to mention, mother-of-the-groom is anxiously waiting for mother-of-the-bride to make her selection.

My mama is being incredibly patient with my many moods and the occasional bridezilla moment, especially since we're also living under the same roof again - OY! I love her so much and feel so thankful to be sharing this experience with her, I can only imagine how I'll miss her once I'm living off
 somewhere as Mrs. Groom.

First wedding gift!

When I got home from work this afternoon, I had the sweetest surprise waiting for me at my doorstep. These two packages from Amazon, that I knew I hadn't ordered, had me puzzled. I quickly opened them to find that I'd received my first two wedding gifts from our registry! A while back my sweet groom set up a registry on Amazon and we got two items from there!

The first gift. :)

My awesome cousins in Louisiana (Richard, Kim, and the girls) sent us a set of margarita glasses and the salt rimmer to go with them! A very cool first gift, especially considering our love of margaritas! Getting these gifts today really made it feel SUPER REAL that I will become someone's wife in a matter of months!

I'm glad I'd already stocked up on Thank You notes early on in this engagement, so I'm ready. :)

I am hoping to use this rainy weekend to tackle some wedding to-dos (especially since the groom is out of town for a bachelor party).

Happy weekend everyone!

Save the Dates: MAILED

Save the Date post cards ready to be mailed!

These puppies were sent out (FINALLY) Friday so our local peeps started receiving them Saturday. Our Missouri, Michigan (we both have family in Michigan), and beyond friends and family should get them within the next few days. Between moving from my apartment to my parents' house, to having to wait to have engagement photos taken, to then being hospitalized with blood clots, my wedding planning schedule was thrown for a loop. 

These Save the Dates SHOULD have been sent out at the 6 month mark in April. But I went with Bernard Baruch on this one, 

“Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.” 

Right? 

Our invitation list was no joke. It seemed like it kept growing and growing and my list that started at no more than 150 is now at 200. I did a quick analysis of our guest list and we've got invitees from 20 different states in the U.S. 

The largest percent comes, of course, from my home state of Mississippi. After the Magnolia State, our largest numbers come from Missouri, Michigan, and Alabama.  

The rest of our guests will be coming from: California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

If you received your Save the Date and are here because the wedding website told you this was where to find the juicy details, let me know! I am so excited because I felt like sending the Save the Dates was another step in making it really feel real!

Leave a comment and let me know what you thought of them!