{ Packages, Boxes and Bags }

So the past few weeks have been a blur. Our semester at UVU is winding down and Cole and I have been studying non-stop, writing papers, trying to plan the wedding and fit in time together. Some days, I feel like I only see him for like a half hour in between our hectic schedules. Thankfully, it's almost over and we have the holiday break to look forward to! 

So here's the latest wedding update! I got the best deal on Shutterfly during black friday/cyber monday weekend! Our guestbook was like 40% off and I LOVE how it turned out! Take a peak! 

Oh! and Cole's wedding band arrived! It feels like Christmas came early with all these fun packages arriving this week. But, I won't post pictures of his ring because Im trying to keep it a surprise from my boy who hates surprises. hahaha. 

I think it turned out great, if I do say so myself. I had a lot of fun designing it. Shutterfly made it really easy to do. 

In other wedding news, I have sadly made the decision to go with a different wedding dress. As much as I LOVE my Sottero and Midgley gown, I had been second guessing it since I brought it home. Mainly because it took up a big chunk of our budget, and I was feeling guilty about having spent so much on it. My mama taught me to be frugal and this definitely was a big purchase. 


After going back and forth about it, I found another dress that is equally as gorgeous. It also arrived this week! There has been a package, or box at our doorstep like every day this week haha. I am absolutely in love with this new dress. It has all these beautiful details and was less than my original gown, which means we have more money to put towards our honeymoon fund. Am I the only bride who questioned her choice in gown after purchasing it? I bet not. Am I the only bride who has bought TWO wedding dresses? Maybe. haha. 


It was seriously such a crazy hard decision and I felt like I lost quite a few nights of sleep over it. But, I'm feeling relieved now. I have my first dress listed on several sites, including Tradesy, preownedweddingdresses.com, oncewed.com and ruffled blog. I'm praying it sells quickly with all that exposure. 

Well, that's all for now friends. 

XXO, 

Natalie 

{ I can hear the wedding bells...}

EVERYONE has been asking about how the wedding planning is coming along. Here's what we've figured out so far....

We booked our venue in the first week we were engaged. I already had my heart set on a place here in Lindon, Ut called Wadley Farms. It's a beautiful historic farm with acres of gorgeous gardens and vineyards. We will have our ceremony in the gardens, and a reception there later that night. Here's the link if anyone wants to check it out. Wadley Farms 

We decided on wedding colors. All neutrals with a touch of gold accents. So, my bridesmaids will be in all neutral colors- champagne, beige, nude, gold, etc. Im letting them pick their dress with my approval, of course. I found this on Pinterest, of course, and this has been the inspiration. 

We booked our photographer. Most of you have seen our engagements we did with Aubrey Taiese. She was great and I cant wait to do our bridal session.

My dress came in! It's hanging in Cole's old bedroom at his dad's house so, that he's not tempted to look at it! I'm so paranoid he's already looked at the pictures I have of it on my phone. It's gotta be a huge reveal when he finally does see me in it.

 Im still working on my shoes and jewelry but, I did buy the Allure bridals belt that I tried on at The Brides' Shop. It's to die for. So gorgeous.

          

We've got our bridal party selected. Cole has one Best Man and six dudes and I have one Matron of Honor and six bridesmaids. Big party, I know! I wanted to do something cute to ask my gfs to be in the bridal party and I found THE cutest cards that I sent out to all my girls asking them to be next to me on our big day. Seriously, how cute are these? They were a total hit with my girls. Here's the link to the Etsy store I ordered from. They were shipped fast and great quality. I'd definitely recommend them. They had other cute cards too, like Thank you cards, etc.  

I think I have my hair and makeup artist selected but haven't booked her yet. 

We also booked our videographer. I am probably most excited about this. I really really want to do a "First Look" video where you have someone film the bride and groom before the ceremony and the reaction to seeing the wedding dress. So we are going to do that, as well as, film our ceremony and our reception. 

                                  I love the look of this bouquet

We have our florist, who is a friend of mine. Megan Warner. She and I worked together at Center for Change and she has a great eye for the art. I HAVE to have peonies in my bouquet because they are my favorite. On our one month anniversary back in February, Cole paid a crazy amount for a bouquet of them and had them shipped here all the way from California to surprise me. Peonies only bloom in the spring so, it was the cutest gesture.  

We are waiting to get Cole's suit because he works out so much, that I just want to wait til the wedding is closer. If we bought one now and had it fitted, he may gain more muscle and get bigger and then, we'd have to get it altered again. So we are just gonna wait. But, he's going to be in charcoal grey suit and his dudes will be in the same color suit pants, but not full suits. It's more of a casual groomsman look. 

SOOOO many details! We are having a rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding. Possibly at Thanksgiving Point but, still deciding. I have a pretty good idea of what I want our centerpieces to look like but, I'll be working on that with Megan, our florist. We have a bakery in mind for our cake, but not booked yet. We are doing a dessert buffet for the reception. We are still working on honeymoon plans, as well. 

Well, hope everyone is doing well. I love you all! 

Xoxo, 

Natalie 

{ looking back }

For as long as I can remember, I've been dreaming about the day I get married. As a little girl, I used to sit and cut out wedding dresses out of bridal magazines and kept them in a box under my bed. I'm a girly-girl to the MAX, always playing dress-up, changing my outifit 5 times a day and spending hours playing with my hair and makeup. I've always been a hopeless romantic, who believed in fairytales and true love. The girl who wore her heart on her sleeve, who fell hard and fast. As I've gotten older, and had my heart broken a few times, I've been more cautious about dating and even at times, closed off my heart because the idea of having it not work out again, was just too painful. 

When I met Cole, I was in this place of not really even wanting to date because I just felt exhausted from putting myself out there and not finding what I was looking for. But, after Cole and I went on our first date, I knew there was something different about him. We had this instant connection that I wanted to explore. I was so scared that I'd have my heart broken again but, I knew that I'd regret not giving this a shot. It's hard for me to admit but I fell for him quicker than I think I even realized. It was so refreshing to be with someone who was looking for the same things I was. We both wanted to be in a relationship that was meaningful and fun and fulfilling. I wanted someone who wanted to be committed to JUST me, (most the boys I had dated in Utah had one eye open for the next best thing!). Someone who valued me, someone who was willing to be there when things got tough and didnt run off at the first sign of trouble. Someone I just couldnt get enough of. Someone who would love me for me and that I didnt have to put on a show for. Cole was all of these things and more. He was sweet, kind and thoughtful and constantly, going out of his way to show me he wanted this to work between us. (he still does the cutest little things for me all the time). Cole helped allow my heart to be open again and I felt safe with him. I didnt feel like I needed to prove my worth to him. He made it easy to fall in love with him.

Anyway, Im totally rambling, but its November! The month of gratitude and giving thanks for all the blessings in our lives. Ive just been thinking about how grateful I am for the way things have worked out in my life. Our choices determine the course our lives take. Ive thought about this a lot. I know if Cole and I had made just a few different decisions in our lives, we may have never met. But, I couldn't be happier right now, planning the wedding I've been daydreaming about since I was a little girl. But, more importantly, that I found a man who is everything Ive ever wanted. The man I'd been searching for since I heard my first fairytale, my prince, my true love.

XOXO, 
Natalie 

{ Our Love Story }

As I've been planning our wedding, I found the cutest idea on Pinterest. I'm obsessed, btw. I've gotten SO many great wedding planning ideas on Pinterest. Here's the link to my boards if you want to follow me for more wedding ideas.  

 How cute is this?! A sign displayed at your reception with a timeline of your relationship. 

PC: http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexlovesny/30-swoon-worthy-engagement-party-ideas-ioyl#.tb1lzpGJG 

With this idea in mind, I wanted to share our love story. Here's the backstory first. I moved to Provo from Salt Lake to go to Utah Valley University in the fall of last year. I was so not looking forward to leaving my friends, my nanny job that I loved and the city. But, I knew it was a smart choice to go back to school and finish my degree. I was fortunate to have a job lined up before I moved and found housing quickly.

I had a gym membership in Salt Lake and was considering just canceling it when I moved and trying out a new gym in Provo. But, I decided I should, at least, go to the local branch in Orem and check it out before canceling my membership. And boy, am I glad I did. 

After going to the gym several times, I noticed the cute trainer at the gym. He was so good-looking. Tall, muscular, piercing blue eyes, the cutest dimples and a great bod! There was something about him that intrigued me. I found myself going to the gym more and more, and found myself scanning the gym for him every time I was there. 

After several months of just watching him from across the gym, sounds like I was a bit of a stalker doesnt it? haha. Anyway, after several months of crushing on him from afar, my gf scolded me for not being more bold and just going over to talk to him. Normally, I'd have no problem doing that. But, there was something about him that made me so nervous and intimidated. Little did I know, Cole was doing the same thing. He was crushing on me as long as I had been crushing on him. We'd often catch eyes as I was leaving and we bumped into each other several times but had never really talked. Cole told me later that he was sure I was taken, so he didn't approach me. 

January 6, 2015-I finally gathered up the courage to talk to him. We sat and talked fitness stuff for awhile. I remember that I could barely get my words out, I was so nervous. I was just drowning in his icy blue eyes. I was smitten, for sure. It was pretty much love at first sight for me. 

January 8-Cole came up to me while I was doing my cardio. He was off his shift and asked if I wanted to work out with him. We spent about two hours working out, and we just clicked right away. It felt like a first date. We talked about everything from our childhoods, our families, our jobs and friends, etc. After our workout, he told me that he sometimes texts his clients workouts if they cant come in while he's on shift and handed me his number. Smooth, right? 

January 12- Our first DATE. After another workout together, Cole asked if I wanted to go grab food. We went out to my car to put my gym bag away and I locked my keys in my car. Classic Natalie thing to do. So, we sat in his car to keep warm and he called a cop friend of his to have him come open my car. After an hour or so, we got the keys out and then, grabbed Cafe Rio and took it back to my condo to eat. We stayed up really late talking and I remember Cole saying something along the lines of him wanting me to give him a chance  because of our big age gap. Im so glad I did because he's changed my life for the better in so many ways. We've been inseparable since our first date.  

January 13- Our first KISS. It was perfect. 

January 26- OFFICIAL- after I went on weekend trip home to Ca, Cole asked me to be his gf. Absence DOES make the heart grow fonder! 

Feb - August - LOVE- a blur of fun, planned and spontaneous dates, working out more than I ever have, a cruise to Mexico, late night talks about everything and anything, netflix marathons, eating our weight in oreos and snowcones, trips to Ca to meet my family..... we fell in love like you fall asleep, slowly and then, all at once.

August 1, 2015 -he asked me to spend forever with him 

April 30, 2016 -Our Forever Begins! 

 

[ Lovebirds at Snowbird ]

This weekend, Cole and I went with his family to Snowbird Ski resort for a weekend getaway. His family has a timeshare up at the Iron Blosom Lodge on the resort and every year, they all go stay up there for a few days. I had never been there before and was blown away by how gorgeous the resort is. The resort is tucked away up Little Cottonwood Canyon, near Sandy.  It was such a nice little, relaxing spot hidden in the mountains. 

The room we stayed in had a kitchen, two beds and a private balcony and there was plenty of space to have everyone over. The mountain views from our balcony were UN-real. I love the mountains, but being from California, I have always been partial to coastal, beach landscapes. Let me tell you, it was so gorgeous up there that I totally get why people would want a timeshare up there. It was a lil' slice of mountain heaven. We had such a great time just being with family and, of course, being together and making more memories. We played some fun games, had amazing meals all together as a family and walked around the resort's lil shopping area. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful future in-laws who have opened their hearts and welcomed me into their family with nothing but love and support for Cole and I. Hope you all had a great weekend! Xoxo

[ my wedding dress ]

OMG! I can barely contain my excitement! My wedding dress came in 2 months ahead of schedule. I ordered it several weeks ago, and was told that it was going to arriving around mid-December. But, I got a call saying it came way earlier than expected. Im not complaining tho! 

I made Cole come with me and he sat in the car and waited, of course, while I went and tried it on at The Bride's Shop in downtown Salt Lake. All the consultants who have helped me made this such an easy and wonderful process. Being in the bridal industry, myself, I know how nerve-wracking choosing a wedding dress can be. So, I am very grateful to the girls at The Bride's Shop for their help. We made sure that the dress is the right size and that everything looks ok, initially. I still have to do alterations to take it in certain places and get it hemmed. Im planning on wearing heels, but Im so tiny that I'll have to take a lot of the hem.

So Im not going to post pictures, but I will say that it is from Sottero and Midgley's Fall 2015 line and it is all drama, drama, DRAMA. I needed a WOW dress and this, for sure, has that wow factor I was looking for. I cannot wait to wear it and see Cole's reaction! Having my dress makes it feel more real and I cannot believe how lucky I am. April 30 cant come soon enough! 

{ Our Engagement Photos }

A few weeks back, Cole and I took our engagement photos. A lil early, I know. But I didnt want our photos to be super fall looking or worse, have it snowing. YUCK! I hate the snow. Utah weather can be unpredictable during the winter and early spring months, I figured the sooner, the better. My mom also brought up how funny it would look to send out fall or winter-y engagement pictures with a spring wedding invitation. So we got them done and let me tell you, Aubrey Taiese is SO talented. She shot my girlfriend's wedding back in May and I just loved her so much. When we got engaged I knew I wanted her to do our wedding. We went up to Silver Lake, up big cottonwood Canyon and the location was incredibly beautiful. She was so easy to work with and was great at posing us. The leaves and trees all around us were just starting to go golden and the lighting was amazing!

Here are several of our favorites. Poor Cole was feeling feverish the whole time. He was such a trooper through it all. I seriously was dyingggg when Aubrey sent these over to us! I love being in love with him. 

my favorite place to be is together.

 PC: Aubreytaiese.com 

{ The Proposal }

When I posted our engagement announcement on FB, I wrote a quick summary of how Cole asked me to marry him. But, I was given great advice from one of my girlfriends, who advised me to write it all down-Everything I can remember and how I felt. Because years from now, time will fade those memories and I want to be able to look back and recall this amazing night. 

First of all, my mom had been given my great-grandmother's diamond ring, who is also my namesake, and she had been waiting to give it to me when I met "the one". This made my ring so incredibly special to me and my mom. I took Cole to California over the summer to celebrate my birthday and to meet my family. While we were there, Cole asked my parents for their permission and blessing. Such an old-school tradition but, I knew my parents would appreciate it. 

So, we came back from California with their blessing and my ring! I was beyond excited. It needed some repair work done, naturally, being from 1915 or so. Upon getting back to Utah, we immediately took my ring to Cole's uncle, who works at a local jeweler here.

For the following weeks, Cole told me multiple stories to throw me off, like his uncle called and said it wouldnt be ready for a month or so yadi-yada. He was so good at throwing me off on the timing of the proposal. Even faking a fight with his Aunt about her not ordering something he asked her to and being all upset about how that was throwing off the date he wanted to propose. So funny looking back now and realizing these were all little lies he was telling so that I had NO idea when it was happening. 

The day of the proposal ended up being the most perfect day. I had spent the night with one of my best friends up in SLC. We had a super fun girls night! We went to dinner at one of our fav spots, painted our nails and watched a chick flick. I had made several appointments at local bridal shops the next day to try on dresses. I was PRACTICALLY engaged right?! So we went dress shopping and spent a lovely day together. Little did I know that Cole had called her and filled her in that he was proposing that night. He made sure that my bff had me paint my nails the night before because he knew how important that was to me, that my nails were, at least, painted. Hes so perfect, right?! He is unreal, sometimes.

The night of the proposal, Cole and I had been planning on visiting his family who was "visiting from out of town" for s'mores and a movie. NOT the truth. His whole family was in on this lil secret. The whole drive up to his aunt's cabin at Sundance, he is going over names and the last time he saw them, etc. We pull up to the cabin and there are lights strung up everywhere, which I didnt think anything of. I get out of the car and we start walking over and I still didnt put two and two together! There was a lil pathway of stairs leading down and over a bridge, which Cole had lined with lil lumineers. It wasnt until we were down two or three steps and I saw the bridge was covered with lights and a canopy was set up on the patio and saw of one his best friends, Sky with a camera that it finally hit me. I looked at him and gasped, OH WAIT! THIS IS FOR ME!! 

We walked under the canopy which was covered in lights and balloons that each had pictures of us hanging from them. He took my hands and said some amazing things that made us both tear up and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. As soon as I said yes and we kissed, his whole family came spilling out of the cabin to congratulate us. They all had helped decorate and made this a night I will never forget. there was even candy "S'mores" to keep the charade going of the lie about S'mores with the family. I was so surprised and it was everything Ive ever dreamed this moment would be like. Dream proposal to my dream man!