TWO FAMILIES BECOMING ONE

This weekend (notice this has been in my drafts for quite some time), Joey and I had our engagement luncheon.  It was really just a meet and greet for our family.  Given the distance, some have never met. So, on Saturday we celebrated our love with our families at Harvey's.  I did NOT expect this to be a crying occasion, but boy was I wrong!  We are truly blessed to have such loving family and friends.  They are genuinely happy for our union and most importantly, the continue to pray for our journey to forever.

It honestly felt like one big happy family.  Everyone was laughing, crying, talking, and eating! Now, that's a good time!  I am so thankful to marry into such a Christian family, and I think I can speak for Joey in saying that he feels the same.  To make a long post short, we are truly blessed.  I could not imagine my life with anyone other than Mr. Joey K. Sanders. He IS my forever.

Delicious "Sanders" cookies made by Leslie Neal!

My siblings, mom, and future husband

My FAMILY and Joey with his groomsmen minus one

Us with Shane and Tina (my uncle and aunt)

Silbings, grandmother, cousin LOVE!

TWINS! My future sister-in-law (Deana) and her daughter (DeAnna)

Soon to be Mother & Father-in-Law...I should add that they are THE best EVER

My other soon to be sister-in-law (Gayle) who matches my crazy

Dad and my brother-in-law

My soon to be niece (Gabby)...Gayle's daughter

xoxo, 

Future Mrs. Sanders 

What do YOU want?

I've listened to many brides...soon-to-be-brides...mothers..grandmothers...friends...etc. All have said "This is YOUR wedding. Do things the way YOU want." Hmmmm...is there truth to that statement? For me, yes.  So many women sacrifice the wedding of their dreams to satisfy parents, in-laws, friends, and [some] people that probably won't matter 10 years from now.  So after my initial "planning session" (which involved scribbling my likes and dislikes on a sheet of wide ruled paper) I asked myself a few questions:

1. Who is paying for the wedding? Although our parents may or may not be helping with the wedding it's ultimately OUR wedding.  I take all ideas and suggestions into consideration, but it's my choice.  I'm thankful that our parents want us to have our day as WE see fit. If you're not contributing, your suggestions should be minimal. Harsh? Ehh maybe, but just my opinion.

2. What is a "traditional" wedding? I think people just like saying that word...traditional. Ahhhh let's all meet up on highway 12 and burn the word traditional!!!! I want to look back and say there was nothing traditional about my day.  So what if I don't want elaborate centerpieces? Is that going to affect my marriage? I highly doubt it!

3. Who should we invite? I think the guest list ranks as the #1 cause of heart attacks. Please hear me out and don't get offended.  We are very appreciate of those that are genuinely happy for our union.  Joey and I have a ton of friends.  Therefore, if we invited every.single.person. we would have a guest list of 10000000 people.  Honestly, I don't see 100000000 people fitting in our budget.  SO, we ask that you respect our intimate ceremony. We do plan to have family and close friends.  But I highly doubt that I'll invite all of my facebook, twitter, and instagram friends ...sorry y'all.

With that being said.  When "obstacles" come my way, as I'm sure there will be plenty.  I will ask myself one question. "Will it ultimately affect my marriage?" If my answer is no, well............don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya :)

xoxo
Future MRS. Sanders

Oh! I have to plan a wedding!

This post is my attempt at answering the "How's wedding planning going?" question.  Ummmm...it's going....as much as it can go 1.5 months into our engagement.  Taking into account that our wedding is less than 1 year away, planning now is a must.  We have a date, a venue, color scheme, photographer, and our wedding party.  That's enough for right now, right? I mean, I'm following my little timeline on THE KNOT, and in my Ultimate Wedding Planning book sooooo.....yea....  We will [hopefully] soon nail a videographer and a caterer; those are though ones.  Next weekend our families will gather together for a Meet & Greet and my first bridal appointment is next month! Yup, I'm pretty excited about that...I wish you could see the look on my face. It looks a little something like this....

Everything is going well at the moment.  I would love to have "most" things in concrete by Christmas break, giving that my work schedule picks up heavily in the spring. Oh, one more thing...a honeymoon! We haven't picked a honeymoon location so I welcome all suggestions.  I consider myself very organized, but I may be in for a treat once the planning gets hectic.  Check with me in about 4-5 months...I'll probably look like this...

So until then I'll be makin my list and checkin it twice because the countdown to June.TwentyONE.TwoThousandFourteen. is on!

xoxo,
Future Mrs. Sanders :)