This is emaria's Chocolate Wedding!

It's definitely becoming real considering our friends are coming in this week (some are already here) and tomorrow is my 2nd bachelorette party with sandra, meaghan and lisa (apparently i have a whole outfit of some sort and penis accessories but that's all they'll tell me). I have so much to do and we're still in the process of getting the house in good shape for our guests but it's been tons of fun. meaghan, sandra, matt and sandra's boyfriend ryan and i all drank last night and had our own little house party. it was definitely pretty funny! it's fun to see family and friends and it's also fun to sneak peeks at my registry! It's been great so far and i can't wait marry to my matthew :)

i'd like to thank my parents who made all of this possible. and to the academy...

ok well it's not exactly the one in the pic lol :) but it's just as nice in my opinion! my parents bought a house on the water on padre and totally gutted and renovated it with top of the line everything and now we're going to buy it! i can't tell you what a relief and excitement this is! i was worried we'd be forced out onto the streets (ok a decent hotel but whatever) after the wedding but now we have a home we'll be able to share with our children (puppy children but children none the less). i don't have pics right now because i'm in arkansas spending two weeks in a perpetual alcoholic haze with my matthew but i'll be heading back saturday with all of our crap and i'll be sure to take pics when i'm home. and now you may discuss wedding related information...

jonathan gave me a disk that had a majority of them on there but he's still working on some...these are just a few from the disc. let me know how gorgeous i look. it's hard to hear it all the time but go ahead :)

my mom also picked up her dress...it will be in truffle (chocolate) brown.

these are just a couple more that i found my photographer had on his website - i mean we are on his home page and in the section marked "images" there are at leat four big pics of us. i think i've found a new career. engagement modeling.

yay i figured it out!

my aunt and cousin threw my shower in little rock so i was able to see a lot of family and family friends that i haven't seen in awhile. not a lot of my close friends could come (2 live in new york, one is doing her masters in texas and the third lives 3 hours away from LR and is a nursing student) but it was definitely nice to spend time with family. i got lots of stuff to get us started so all i need now is house to put all this stuff in. just one little 'ol house.

i went to hobby lobby because they were having a half price sale on frames...i got six frames (one for each reception table) to use as table name holders. I'll have a picture of the island i like and each table will be named after a street on the island (names like caravel, gypsy, aquarius, white cap) and the frames will be positioned longways. one of the frames (the 2nd pic) seems to have a piece broken off so when i return from my shower in little rock (which i'm leaving for tomorrow!) i'll come back and exchange it. plus i've added a pic of the bags i redid for my girls...i decided to make all of the bridesmaids the same and keep the original bags i made for the flower girl and my cousin who will be handing out programs and manning the guestbook.

we went to macy's today and bought my toasting flutes and my bridal heels. my mom will be buying the waterford cake serving set i have on my registry as a shower gift so i'll be using that at my wedding. i've also posted the pics of the votive screen i bought (and i totally stole this from someone else who posted it on here - i don't remember who but thanks for posting it...i'm going to use it after the wedding to furnish my nonexistant house).

i'm going to use this post to keep an update on who shall be attending the most extravagant event of the year...my wedding:

13 yes's
4 no's

woopeeee

first some wedding news...

RSVP UPDATE:
3 yes's
3 no's

my wedding shower is march 29th in little rock (my aunt's throwing it and none of my friends can come because they're either in new york, texas or three hours away in nursing school...of course my aunt's freaking out about this, for what reason i have no idea)

my 2nd wedding dress fitting is april 4th at 12:30 so i'll finally have pics of me in my wedding dress to post

i've been registry peeking and someone bought me my corningware, plus there are other things bought like graters, scrub brush (for dishes), and then of course the things my mom has already bought me so yay for that!

and then of course rocco pictures, ones where he isn't making out with his sister.

ok so this is what the centerpieces will look like minus the chocolate table cloths, and the four white vases that will surround the mirror and be filled with white calla lilies and roses (a pic of the white vase is posted lower down in my blog). but i am happy thus far...

i placed my two puppies in this position and when rocco woke up he was like "what the hell mom?" classic.

we'll have to wait for the rest :(

so matt and i had our engagement photo session yesterday and had a blast! i knew i loved my photographer's personality (his ability to keep track of time and dates not so much) and i knew matt would really like him too. we had so much fun. our photographer is the only one worth hiring in corpus and is nationally recognized (most of his weddings are in LA and Chicago) but since he is based in Corpus it's hard for him to stay well known. while he was at a convention this past week in Vegas he met with the editior of Theknot.com who loves him and wants to publish him (mind you buying an advertisement on the knot for your photography services is around $50,000). so he was saying if he gets any good shots would it be okay with us if he sent pics of us to the knot.com? um yeah i think that would be exceptionally reasonable :) and i have to tell you we both look hot in the few pics we saw which is saying a lot considering matt and i are the hottest unphotogenic people you'll ever meet. he's sending me some examples today through email so if i get them i'll post and let you see but i won't be able to post a good amount until a month when he's done editing all of them. but a very good ending to what could have been a horrible situation!

matt and i went and registered at men's warehouse today for the tuxes. we got black calvin klein one button tuxes. he will wear a white vest/tie, the groomsmen and ushers will wear an ivory vest/tie and our dads and my grandfather will wear a chocolate vest/tie. we also went by the salon so i could make appointments for the wedding and my engagement session for this saturday and i also bought my outfit for the engagement pics...that being said...

i got an email from my photographer saying that he didn't realize that sunday the 22nd is easter and that he won't be arriving home until saturday evening from a convention so if we could do the pics monday that would be great. what???? first of all sunday is the 23rd and we've had saturday the 22nd set in stone for forever now and he originally told me he'd be coming home thursday evening not saturday from the convention!! i sent he him a rather curt email stating the above. matt has to leave sunday and won't be here for pics on monday. so if he doesn't figure this out then i'll go ape shit on him. and no this isn't a bridezilla thing lol. i've always been extremely conscientious of times/dates and always managed to arrive at least fifteen minutes early for all of my classes so i could be the first one to turn on the lights (my craziness just keeps getting crazier). i think being late and not being aware of other people's schedules is one of the most blatantly rude and irresponsible things a person could do and i believe it reeks of laziness. i pride myself on being none of the above. and now i am carefully sauntering off my soap box as to not trip and fall straight on my ass...

i got my wedding band back from being engraved and i wore it with my engagement ring while at the mall much to my grandmother's chagrin. i don't care. i'm in love with it (oh and with matthew). i got the phrase "team me" engraved on it along with our wedding date. matt's already got his done and has been wearing his ring so when his friend asked what "team me" stood for matt said "well, i really don't see it as an ericka and me thing...this wedding is really all about me and what i want." his friend was like um ok. obviously he was joking :) our initials our m & e so early in our relationship we used to preface everything that we did together with "go TEAM ME!" like i've mentioned before we're both extremely mental.

now for another topic..we already sent out half of my invites and will be sending out the other half tomorrow. matt's coming in this week so i really would like to get all of the tux stuff figured out (register at men's warehouse), give our priest our Pre-Cana certificate and get our marriage license and perhaps buy a house. no biggie.

here are the bridesmaids bags i did with fabric pens, the accomodations insert and the stamp i did on the back and the invitation envelopes with the stamp i added. while everyone else is making super cool computer generated newsletters, ericka's learning to draw on canvas and not herself.

today i bought:

the stamp & ink pad for the envelopes
the chocolate pen to address the invites
the canvas bags and fabric pens for the bridesmaids totes

just a crap load more to do...yay.

i'm using these chargers from save on crafts. i'm going to have choclate brown table toppers and my centerpieces will have a lot of ivory and white so i think this is the perfect amount of red to have on the table.

the charger plates arrived today so yay!

I'm leaving friday for padre with my parents and all of our puppies. we're starting our business down there buying and renovating real estate so i'm psyched but so sad to leave matthew. we've been apart before (about three months when he had training through the air force rotc program at school) but i wish he could be with me so we could do all of the planning together. he's bummed too because he feels like he's being separated from our little family (us and the little puppy or more appropriately known as our daughter). he will be coming up the week of march 21st (our 3 year anniversary!) for engagement photos so we'll be able to be together for a couple of days but of course we'll be camping out at my grandparents for the time being so no being in the same room for an inappropriate amount of time lol. and then i'll be up in april for his senior banquet in the chemical engineering department and then he'll be home in may! i know he has to be up here to graduate but still, it really really sucks! i'm done being a baby for now :)

this is the basket i'd like to put my programs in...

i downloaded a program fan template off a blog and i think i might actually try and do them myself now that i have some guidance and not pulling it out of my you know where.

And they're only 69 cents each! I'm going to purchase the natural color and pretty them up with paint pens in red and chocolate...I'm going to put their names and maybe their "position" (MOH, bridesmaid, flower girl, etc.). I'll then fill them with flip flops (for the reception), an assortment of snacks, bottle water and a couple of travel packs of advil (hopefully they won't be necessary!). I think I might even put some chocolate tissue paper in them when I first give them to my girls! (I'll be giving their other gift and card at the rehearsal dinner).

these are diff. ideas for makeup. i'd like to keep my hair down and a little wavy. hopefully it will grow a little longer by may!

my invitation envelopes are white instead of chocolate brown like I had originally wanted. i decided to use this stamp w. chocolate brown ink on the lower left hand corner of the envelopes. i like how the flower details in this stamp and how they mirror the details in my invitation.

these are the holders i got for the three candles i'm going to place at the cake table. i'll fill them with sand and decorate the table with river rock.

I bought the cufflinks for Matt and also ordered 3 lily bowls to fill with sand (instead of water) to decorate the head table - the bowls will hold three ivory votive candles each. I'm placing two of the vases at each end of table and will place one of the white vases filled with white roses and calla lilies on each side of each vase. I'm going to leave the center vase by itself except for placing river rock around its base. I got a package of 12 votive so for the last 3 votives I think i might use to decorate the cake table and add some river rock...i don't want too much going on for that table. I'm also thinking about purchasing tulle to wrap around matt's and my chair at the reception. i've also added pics of the toasting flutes i like. there are a lot of flutes on macy's website that i like. i don't really like any that i've seen on wedding sites because they seem a little too ornate or cheesy to me. and now for doing more productive things...

i've been looking for patriots cufflinks but all of them were blue, red, white enamel and i wanted silver...but i found a pair of titanium patriots cufflinks online that i'm psyched about. woohoo!

i bought both of our rings last weeks so that's a check off the list...

the things i've yet to do
DIY PROJECTS
-wedding bell favor tags
-thank you notes to tie to the napkins
-favor cookie jars (decorate with sticker and fill with cookies)
-table name cards instead of table numbers (i'm going to glue a white sheet of paper that has the name of an island in texas and its picture to brown card stock and will glue champagne and deep red ribbon in between the island's name and its picture.
- make ceremony programs (3 vellum sheets connected together with a bow)
-make black and white copies of family wedding pictures and frame them for the guest book table

things i have to figure out
-figure out how to decorate the head table, the cake table
-should i buy toasting flute?
-should i buy cake serving set?
-do i need a unity candle

things i have to get done:
-dress fitting (remove straps on dress, bows on shoes, and get my dress fitted till i can't breathe)
-buy matt's gift (cufflinks or something of the like, perhaps something that has to do with the patriots)
-marriage license
-buy the rest of the bridesmaids gifts
-buy groomsmen gifts
-register at men's warehous
-mail photographer's deposit (which mom's doing tomorrow)
-pick up invitations/send them
-pick ceremony music
-choose reception music
-finish placing flower order

...and tons of other things i'm sure i'm missing...

I've decided to forgo setting my grandma's diamond into my band because i hear that diamonds set that way often fall out. so a new plan...make a diamond pendant to wear on a necklace on my wedding day. this means i'm removing the spaghetti straps from my dress so it will be strapless. now i don't have to do that but i hate when there's too much going on so i decided the straps have to go. i'm happy about this considering i set out looking for a strapless wedding gown in the first place. all right. that's my neurosis for now...


ok changed my mind while writing this (an all time low). i'm going to go ahead and put the diamond in my band but keep my dress strapless...hmmm should i look for a necklace anyway? oh the torture.

I ordered the band today from Gordon's. It's 4mm white gold comfort fit and it was on sale so woohoo! I've also been stirring up trouble on the knot boards recently. A lot of women write in and comment about how bad their relationships are and then they post questions asking other anonymous posters what they think of them. It reminds me a bit of grade school when kids passed around notes that said "do you like me? check yes or no." So I posted a question myself asking "who gives a flying f*ck what anonymous people on a message board think of you. Is it me or should there be a line drawn between reality and time wasted on a wedding website?" someone actually posted that the last time she checked reality was the same thing as spending time on a wedding website. Oh boy. And they asked why I care so much...oh I don't know maybe it's because we share the same gender and I really don't feel like associating myself with a bunch of spineless women who do nothing but stuff cheetos down their faces while bullying others from the comfort of their computer chair (I mean you should see the stuff they post when replying to women who actually need advice...very very cruel). Not only that but I've had to school a few of them on the ways of the Catholic patriarchy (apparently nobody knows a thing about ecumenical councils anymore) So needless to say their panties were collectively bunched and I spent the evening laughing it up with my fiance and puppy.

Things I've accomplished today:

-Went to the post office w. Matthew and took care of our passports
-Ordered my attendands gifts online (I decided to buy them all chain bracelets and bought a different charm for each girl from James Avery instead of the gifts I had originally planned). And I ordered the ivory organza bags that I'm going to put their water bottles, snacks and mints in for the wedding day.
-I bought a garter. Ugh. And get this...the tossing garter even has a little bit of blue on it. There ya go Samantha. I'm now a fan of the blue garter. Shame on me. But the garter I keep has a palm tree charm. Very cute!

Things I need to do (along with a billion other things):

-Buy Meaghan's Jo Malone perfume and lotion set
-Buy thank you cards for all of my attendants
-Buy wedding bands and get them engraved
-Have Matthew purchase his groomsmen gifts
AND SO MUCH MORE TO DO!!!

Oh and a side note...I'm in the double digits!!!!

So Matt and I went to Padre this weekend for our Pre-Cana (marriage counseling in the Catholic Church). We went and stayed with my grandparents (stayed in separate rooms of course even though Matt and I live together). We went to the marriage counseling which lasted seven hours and consisted of several speakers including two who were strong advocates of Natural Family Planning. I'm Catholic but I'm not that Catholic. Anyway the day was fine until the end when we were forced to look into our significant other's eyes and read aloud either the Bride's Prayer or the Groom's Prayer. This is where I had the problem. The Groom's prayer was about making your relationship stronger with God in order to run your household. The Bride's prayer, not so much. It was more about serving your husband and taking care of him because he is, after all, the only provider of the family. Um, this is where the problem occurs. How does the church know that I'm not the provider of the family...Matt works hard, don't get me wrong, but I'm betting the day I publish my novel and am making millions chatting up Oprah, I believe at that point I'd officially be named the provider. That being said, as I was forced to look into Matthew's eyes and speak these fallacious words, I decided to change the rules. Through the whole prayer I said the word "banana." Matt wasn't too thrilled considering Father was nearby and was probably aware what I was saying but I didn't care. It went against my principles. But we still got our certificate and I can cross that off my list. Plus more good news...I've been sending everything I've ordered for the wedding to my grandparents because we'll be moving soon and they live in Padre anyway. I went through all of my stuff and everything I ordered was not only there but in perfect shape. Even the vases I ordered were larger then I expected and I was extremely pleased. Also, our real estate agent on the island said we can use her boss's red classic car as our wedding car. Apparently they only use it for parades but it's supposedly in pristine condition and very very awesome. So yay! And on a completely different note I'm so happy for my dad...he's writing a book and he has had some interest in it...one guy who works for either Fox or MGM (I forgot which one) wants to turn it into a screenplay for a movie so we shall see how that pans out but yay for my dad! Hopefully that good luck rubs off on my novel...one can only hope.

Meaghan - MOH, I've been friends with Meaghan since the eighth grade. We delight in making others feel uncomfortable in embarrassing situations.
Sandra - Bridesmaid, I met Sandra at a church group at college. I think we were the only ones in the group that drank excessively. Woops.
Makayla - Junior Bridesmaid, Makayla is Matt's sister and my future sister-in-law. Isn't she adorable?

So I have this thing where I never age. When I was a senior in high school our neighbor was under the impression that I was in junior high and when I corrected her she was still skeptical. I'm sure this problem won't suck in the future when I'm older (in fact I know it won't because my mom enjoys being hit on and mistaken for my older sister at the ripe old age of 47) but right now it's no fun. I might scan the photo later just to show you how pathetic I am just in case you haven't figured it out for yourself as of yet. My name is Ericka, I'm 22 and I suffer from little girl syndrome.

I found these ivory organza bags that I'm going to make up for my bridesmaids..I'm going to put their gifts in the bags, a thank you card, and a smaller brown organza bag filled with a water bottle, pretzels, grapes and a tin of mints. For my flower girl I'm giving her the smaller brown organza bag with her gift and a thank you note and for my cousin who will be tending the guest book, I'll also be giving her a brown organza bag filled with a thank you note and a gift.

Favors for now: the glass jar pictured to the left, the sticker in the next picture (the one on the left except in chocolate), and the cookies. always the cookies.

I'm going to have my make up airbrushed so that it lasts the whole day. I actually found a lady who officially does the make up for the Miss Oklahoma Pageant. What she's doing on an island in Texas I have no idea, I just hope I don't come out looking like a Barbie doll...have never really been much of a fan of Barbie dolls but that's neither here nor there. Anyways, I have an appointment with her in March for my engagement photos so I'll know if a refresher course in baton twirling is in order...

I'm still going to give my bridesmaids jewelry from James Avery but I was thinking of adding red rose perfume from Jo Malone. It's a bit pricey but I'm hoping that because my mom practically pumps the stuff into her veins she won't be opposed to the idea.

Because of you


There was this hard line in my palm, a break,
A fissure, a long way down from the tip
of my finger to the heel of my hand.
It could stand a million points of pressure,
the pinch and pull of every day use,
the slow grounded whisper of winter time
Wind. In my skin lay the road work,
the very foundation of a long, brittle
break and every chance I chose to take
ripped the seam that much wider.


Fighter, what you could call me, or coward,
Take your pick. I could shove the whole damn thing
in my pocket, fingers and nails dug deep
In a denim cave. And I’ve always behaved
like nothing itched, nothing irritated,
like nothing enflamed the soft of my skin.
It took till the third act, till my head no
Longer lifted and my eyes glazed wet
with worry. The third act, the longest…one
troubled foot placed in front of the other.
If only I had known the toll was paid
for you.


Do you remember the party, the one
Where we drank ourselves into a stupor,
Till the lights hung low then burned out completely?
It was a lost dark, all was lost, except
us, hands held tight and I remember that night
as the one where my palm took to mending.
Bending then breaking, the splitting, the healing.
My scar remains and I am grateful
that it’s all because of you.

COPYRIGHT: Ericka Fortson
and yes i had to add that simply because this is gold...solid gold

So we originally planned to skip our honeymoon to save up for a couple of weeks exploring Europe (as you can imagine the Ritz isn't cheap, and yes the Ritz is my idea of exploring...) but we're thinking of taking an additional honeymoon earlier (within a week of getting married). We're thinking of a 5 day cruise to the Western Caribbean or Mexico. I've been on cruises a couple of times but Matt's never been so I think it would be a fun thing to do. It would also be our first official vacation as a couple!

We'll be taking the Carnival ship the Conquest out of Galveston. It hits Montego Bay, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico and lasts for seven days. It has a sushi bar, cigar bar, wine bar, martini bar...pretty much all of our favorite bars! Can't wait!

WE BOOKED OUR CRUISE!!!!!!!!

Ok so no, that's not my dress and the bridesmaids will be carrying ivory flowers, not champagne and the flower girl will have a chocolate brown basket with ivory petals in it but it's close enough. My dress is similar...it is an A-line dress with a sweetheart neckline but with spaghetti straps, an empire waist and very sparse beading underneath well, to put it frankly, my boobs and on the spaghetti straps. it's discontinued so I can't find it online anywhere but i suppose that's a good thing. it'll look original :) the boys will be in tuxes with champagne/ivory vests and ties but matt will wear a red rose while the groomsmen wear white calla lilies.

it's from david's bridal...i had written about it in my first post in a rakishly witty way but i was sure someone out there would have taken it the wrong way and assumed i was nothing but a snobby bitch (wouldn't be the first time...). hence the new post. it's white, it's gorgeous and when i have pics of me in it i will be sure to post them!

by the way i put it on and showed matt. i'm not one for tradition but i was wondering what everyone else thought about that particular wedding rule...