This is lainasis's Blue Wedding!

I have one bridesmaid with her dress completely ordered and paid for. And it took long enough! I have been on my "girls" for 2 months to get their measurements done and into the shoppe... And they needed to be done by the end of this week, but it looks like it'll be next week. The shoppe told me that it'll take 2.5 to 3 months to get the dresses in. So, ordering them beginning Nov -- delivered by beginning Feb -- gives them 2 month to get alterations if needed. I guess thats enough time...

And I'm a little worried that the shoppe doesn't carry the exact suit that I want to use... and that they won't have it in child sizes for the ring bearer. I've tried to call a couple of times, but with no success to get those questions answered.

And the flower girl / jr. bridesmaid dress details:
The jr. bridesmaid dress will be cornflower blue like the bridesmaids w/ a ivory sash and the flower girl dresses with be ivory with a cornflower sash.

And all the girls wearing silver strappy heels. And a similar silver sandal for the flower girls and jr. bridesmaid.

Maid of Honor:
Nicole - my sister

Bridesmaids:
Jackie - our friend & my co-worker
Tina - our friend
Rachel - my friend since middle school

Jr. Bridesmaid:
MaKenzie - his niece

Best Man:
Jeff - his friend since high school

Groomsmen:
Paul - his friend from college
Lee - his friend (although we did both knew him in high school)
Jason - his friend (although we did both knew him in high school)
Steve - his brother

Ushers:
Les Taylor - his friend since little league
Brandon Blake - his friend (although we did both knew him in high school)

Flowergirls:
Payton - his niece
Gabrielle - my cousin

Ring bearer:
Austin - Jackie's son

We'll be getting married in Pensacola, FL. We both grew up there and both our parents still live there with lots of family near by.

Date: April 18, 2009
We got engaged in February, so a spring 2008 was out of the question. A summer wedding in Pensacola is craziness! I always wanted a autumn wedding, but Jarrod and I are HUGE college football fans... GO GATORS!!!!... and so are a ton of our friends, so I wasn't going to put our wedding anniversary in the middle of college football goodness. A winter wedding would be nice, but along with the holidays, Jarrod's mother's birthday is Nov 26... Jarrod's neice, sister-in-law, and his birthday are in Dec... and his dad and other neice are in January. And I didn't want to plan the wedding around the engagement date. So, April it is!

Church: Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
We are both Catholic and neither of our family churches really work with our "style". My church is far from everything and his church isn't really all that pretty. We looked around and felt that this one worked the best.

Reception: Museum of Commerce
A very cool place. It is an old warehouse in Historic Downtown, Pensacola and they took the inside and set up along the walls like a street from the early 1900s! They have an old trolley car and the first stop light (still working).

And that's all I have to say about that.

The proposal was on February 15, 2008 (see, I'm a little late getting started)
Jarrod and I were driving from Birmingham, AL (where we live) to Pensacola, FL (where both our parents live) to get our taxes done (or so I thought that's all we were doing...)
I was reading a book and as we are entering town, "our" song is playing and he tells me that he wants to take a small detour. We have to drive past our high school, so taking a detour to drive on the grounds is nothing new. And, yes, we went to the same high school and I actually had a crush on him our sophomore year.
As we were driving in, we were talking about where our parking spots were and Jarrod drives around and stops the car and tells me that he wants to show me something. I see a pile of trash and jokingly ask him if that's what it is... he was not amused...
I'm getting out of my car and notice Jarrod reaching for his jacket in the back seat (he's never cold and I was ok with just a long sleeve shirt on... fishy...)
As I'm going around the front of the car, he reaches into his pocket and throws some dog treats at our dog (she's a minature pinchser). And he walks me a few steps away from the car and starts his very sweet prepared statement. Now, of course, it can't go exactly as planned because in the middle of it, we hear a loud clanking noise. And I turn around to see some high school baseball players throwing their bats into the back of their truck. I turn back around, apoligize, and he looks at me and says, "yeah, saying something important here!" (sarcastically and lovingly)
Then, he reaches into his jacket pocket (makes sense why he grapped it now), gets down on one knee and opens a small box with a ENGAGEMENT ring!!!!
I squeal and say yes!!!!!

And the short version of everything else...
I call everyone and ask those to be in the wedding. Rush to our parents houses and tell them (his parents knew and so did my dad). And then we go out to dinner.