Got that done...got that done...

So this past week, Daniel and I have gotten a lot accomplished wedding wise. I am soooo proud of us!! My list used to be SOOO long, but we get to mark a lot of stuff off of it and I couldn't be more happier!! On the 13th of August, Daniel and I went to look at tuxes and picked some out. I am sooo excited!! His is going to be a black coat with cream tie, undershirt, and vest and the groomsman are going to be a black coat with the same color red as the bridesmaids. I am SUPER excited!!! The groomsman are going to be wearing cream flowers, and daniels flower will be red. I am SOOO excited!!
Then on the 24th, we went and talked to the cake lady and ordered our cake. It is going to be 4 tiered and all pretty decorated on the side, plus Daniel ordered a Groom's cake, but I am going to keep that secret as to what it is cuz he may want it to be a surprise. But it was all SUPER cheap which makes me SUPER excited!!
We also turned in our passport information to the post office, so we should be getting those soon as well.
And we got a hold of the DJ and got our date reserved which was a HUGE relief since I had tried to call them like 3 or 4 times plus left 2 email messages and no reply!!!
and other HUGE news...WE GOT OUR VERY OWN PLACE!!! We signed the lease the morning of the 24th!! It is a townhouse practically right down the road from his parents, and I LOVE it!! We move in on the 5th!! Which it will mainly be me there by myself until we are married, but I am SOOO happy we got a place!!! YAY!!
And lastly, this week I have been dedicating every waking minute to invitations. Trust me, they are VERY time consuming!! I first tried at my sister's house, but her computer wouldn't coopoerate. Then on the 26th, I used Daniel's parent's computer to start making them. It took FOREVER to get the margins right and to get it to print where it needed to print. Then on the 27th, I spent 8 hours...NO JOKE...printing them all off and adding jewels or bows where needed. Oh and getting addresses and addresssing them all!! Well not all, for I have a stack of about 30 with no addresses on them. But then on the 28th (yesterday), I took them to the post office to get them weighed to see how much stamps would be. One cost 1.05 plus the 44 cent response card and the other one was 64 cents with 44 cent response card. So I spend $116 just on freaking postage!!! And then this morning...I set my alarm for 9...got up...which was super hard for me to do since I had been up till about four adding stamps and licking envelpes and putting on the last finishing touches...but I got about half of my invites mailed!! I am SOOOOOO freaking excited!!! This is A LOT of work!!!
So tonight, I took the night off. The only invitations I have left to do are people that Daniel's parent's invited that they don't know their address. So I got to relax tonight. It was SOO nice! But things are really coming together, and it is really a great relief!! I need to make a shout out to Donna...for she again gave me her bonus check which paid for both Daniel's and I's passports and all the postage. So thanks SOOOO much Donna!! You are the best in-laws a girl could ask for!! I know how hard you work for that money!! So I do really appreciate you giving me it!! Also, I need to make a shout out to my momma for paying for the cake!! You are the bestest mommy a girl could ask for!! I thank you soooooo much!! I love you both sooooo much!!
And now, I go relax some more :)

Wedding Stress

I went to my oldest nephew's wedding over the weekend. And all I have to say is that it was the most beautiful wedding I think I have ever been to. Despite the fact that it rained all morning long, and it was an outside wedding, it managed to stop raining just in time for the ceremony to start!! The wedding has given me ideas's on what I want at my wedding, and now I am SUPER excited for my wedding to get here. Although, on the drive home (which was a six hour ride) I looked at some wedding magazine's that Christi (my nephew's NEW wife) passed down to me and came across a wedding checklist, and well there is A LOT more that I need to do than I thought!!! Here is a list:
-Find a DJ
-Pick out music
-Find a back-up photographer and videographer
-Register for gifts
-Get my flowers
-Get Ring Bearer tux measurments (lives in St. Louis)
-Cake
-Print Invites
-Write vows
-Get ALL the tuxes
-Do a run through of the hairstyle and maybe get my make-up done
-Gown Fitted, Taken in, and Bussles (Spelling??) added
-Wedding Party Gifts
-Sand for ceremony
-Newspaper announcement
-Wedding favors

And as of right now, that is all I can think of. I officially became EXTREMELY STRESSED!!! Plus I have felt super fat and ugly lately!! It sucks being a girl!! Daniel has it SOOOO easy!! I wish I was a guy!!

I have been looking at wedding magazines and getting some pretty cute ideas, so that is cheering me up a lot!! Thank you Christi so much for ALL the magazines!! And congrats! Your wedding was absoulutely beautful, as were you!!!

Stay tuned to see how much of my list I can get done in the next couple weeks!!

Wedding Dress fiasco!

So the other day I was home cleaning up my "apartment" and my bedroom. I was really making things look nice, and I kept looking up at my dress, hanging on the back of my door, just dreaming of the day I would get to wear it. Well....that day was sooner than I thought it would be, for I decided to take it down, look at it, and try it on. I forgot what it looked like!! I forgot how BEAUTIFUL it is!!! I had all my stuff on, even put on my jewlery. I tried to get my sister downstairs to walk in and see me, but she never got my text. So I decided to take my dress off and well...the little string thing that you use to hang it up with got stuck in my zipper. I thought I was stuck in it for forever!! Lucky for me, I had a pair of scissors in my bag, so I got them out, and cut the string, and pulled it out of my zipper. PSHEEW!! I was safe...then I got out of my dress, hung it up, and put it in it's bag for safe keeping. I can't wait to get to wear it ALL day long!!!

Wedding favor ideas

I found this site and there is a bunch of cute things on it. I found where you can get a deck of cards with the Eiffel Tower on it and personalize it with your own message. Do you think that is a good idea??? I need your input people!!

http://www.americanbridal.com/personalized-playing-cards-dseb2033.html

Here is the link if you want to see them. I will have them in red and black. I don't know what I will have them say though. Any ideas??

This next one is super practical. It is a pizza cutter!! How cute is that!!! Again, here is the link if you want to look at it.

http://www.americanbridal.com/pizza-cutter-favors-dska13015na.html

I liked these on Oriental Trading. These too are cute. These are the mint tins that say "mint to be" with heart shaped mints in them.

http://www.americanbridal.com/bride-groom-mint-tins-dska19002.html

I think these are cute as well. Who doesn's need sticky notes!!

http://www.americanbridal.com/notepad-favors-dska28012na.html

So there you have it...four different ideas. Let me know what you think!!! The pictures are all at the top. I couldn't move them to the right spot. Sorry!!!

Wedding shop-a-pa-looza!!!

My Mother-In-Law-to-be gave me her bonus check two days ago to put towards the wedding and I took it upon myself to spend most of it today!! But don't fret...I got LOT'S of stuff...and I still have about $90 dollars to spend!! My sister Kristi (along with her 3 2-year olds and her five year old) went to Decatur to shop at Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby has to be my most favorite store in the whole wide world!! I could spend hours upon hours in that store!! Unfortunately, with the triplets and Kadence, I didn't have as much time as I would have wanted. But I still got a TON of cool stuff!! So here is all that I got today!!







These three will be up at the head tables. The cake will also say "Live, Laugh, Love" as well. Soooo freaking cute! I love them!!



These will be Daniel's and I's toasting glasses. You probably can't see it...but the say Mr. and Mrs. on them.





These are the invitations I picked out. I couldn't pick a kind I liked...so I got two different styles!! I hearted them both!! They are soooo pretty!!



Here are some awesome candles that my even awesomer sister found! These will be up at the head tables as well.



And these are the plates that the candles will sit on. I fell in love with these candles!



These are the bridesmaids flowers. Obviously they aren't put together yet. But when we are done making them...we hope to have them look like...



THIS!! Isn't this pretty?? And they will stick out so nice and pretty with the red dresses they have on!!



And this is basically what the head table will look like. Well minus all the junk you see in the background!! LOL!!


A special thanks goes out to Donna, for without you, none of this would have been possible!! Also, a big thanks goes to Kristi for driving me to Decatur and dealing with her kids in a store that is most definately NOT built for kids!! I love you both so very much!!!

The Countdown!

Countdown Clocks, Wedding Countdowns at WishAFriend.com

I'M DOING IT!

Okay, so my last post was about me crying and boo-hooing about how I wanted to make myself look better and feel better and well...above most....look skinnier!! Well, you should be happy to know that this past Wednesday (4 days ago), I, Ashley Donaldson, joined a freaking gym!! I have gone 3 times now, and my oh my does my body hurt!! I've also been counting my calories. I've been consuming around 1300 calories a day. Which some days I have a hard time reaching that amount while other days, I want just a LITTLE bit more. I have been getting bored of my regular food choices, so I googled different fast food places to eat. So I hope this will help someone else out!!

McDonalds
Hamburger-250 Calories
Cheeseburger- 300 calories
Ranch Snack Wrap (grilled)- 270 Calories
Ranch Snack Wrap (crispy)- 340 calories
BBQ Snack Wrap (grilled) - 260 Calories
BBQ Snack Wrap (Crispy) - 330 calories

Chicken Nuggets
4 piece- 190 calories
6 piece - 280 calories
10 piece- 460 calories
BBQ sauce-50 calories

Salads
Premium Bacon Ranch W/Grilled chicken-260 calories
Side Salad - 20 calories

Fruit 'N Yogurt Parfait - 160 calories
Fruit 'N Yogurt Parfait with no granola - 130 calories
Apple Dippers- 35 calories
Kiddie Kone- 45 calories

Wendy's
Side Salad - 35 calories
Grilled Chicken Go Wrap - 260 calories

5 piece nugget - 138 calories

Grilled Chicken Salad - 200 calories

JR. Cheeseburger - 270 calories

Deluxe Garden Salad - 110 calories

There is two places for you!! I also looked up Subway and Taco Bell...but McDonald's and Wendy's is about the two most popular places!!

I got a McDonald's cheeseburger tonight and a side salad. I took off the bottom bun and used my own dressing at home. The packet they gave me had about 170 calories in it. I used 10!! I get the salad dressing in the spray bottle. My two favorite (well, the only two I have purchased) are the cesasar dressing and the vineggrette one!! MMMMmmmm!!! They are SOOO good!!

Okay, that is all for now. Wish me luck on my weight loss!!

Food is my enemy!

Sooo...Like any other normal bride, I want to lose lot's of weight for the wedding. I want to look really good in my dress...the only problem is...I'm a fat kid through and through. I LOVE sweets and I love carbs. And I like to walk, but right now it is just too cold to walk outside. So I just sit inside, eat, and get fatter! It is SOO stressful!! I want to lose some weight, but not so much that it will cost me an arm and a leg to get my dress altered. That's what sucks with having the dress already!! It's like I'm stuck at this weight!!! Actually, I hope that I can still fit into my dress!! But here is the problem...I don't have a home right now. Okay, so I do, but I am only there like two days out of the week if that. The rest of the time I live in town with Daniel and his parents. So I don't get the chance to eat healthy when I stay at his house.

Also, I read in a magazine that carbs curb depression. It's true!! Carbohydrates increase the amount of a certain chemical in the brain that makes you happier! The only problem I have with this is I get depressed, eat carbs, get fatter, get even MORE depressed! I am very down lately. I think I am still adjusting to the move back home. It is sooo tough going to see Daniel every day seeing him every once and a while. Plus, I got so used to sleeping with someone, that it's hard to sleep by myself.

Another tidbit that I read is that mashed tators help ward off stress!! When your body is stressed (which planning and PAYING for a wedding is super stressful), your body sends signals that it needs a constant supply of energy. Feeding your body high-fat and high-sugar foods tells your brain that you can relax, that you have enough energy to keep going.

I envy my sister so! She is one pound away from losing 30 pounds! *enter applause here* GO HER!!! I wish I was that strict and had time to eat healthy and work out!

So there you go, just an FK wishing she was skinnier!

My wedding shopping spree!

I went shopping last Thursday for some wedding stuff, and I got a whole bunch of things to use at the wedding. I was so excited shopping around for stuff, I had a blast!! I got a call from Wal-Mart to come in and interview on Friday, so it was kind of my treat to myself to go out and buy stuff, even though I really don't have money!! But you will love the stuff I got...Cuz I sure do!! So here is all the stuff I got!!!

I have yet to conquer how to put the words above or below the picture...so for now this will have to work. I got this cute little book where your quests can write a little message to you and then you can put all the little messges into a book and read them.

I got my shoes to wear under my dress, just pray they don't hurt my feet!

I got red plates and red napkins. (Thank goodness for Valentine's day!)

I got three different colored rose petals that I will use in my flower girl basket and just as decorations.

I got a candy mold of a double heart. I am going to make little chocolate hearts and put them into bags and use them as my wedding favors.

Some red cutlery.

My ring bearer pillow.

And lastly my flower girl basket. I love the basket and the pillow!!

Some cute ideas I found for wedding favors

Now for favor ideas..I haven’t yet decided what I want to give as gifts at the receptions, but I found a LOT of cute ideas!! So here they are!

For heart shaped tins, or other heart shaped sentiments you can fill with candy and attach a note that says “Thanks for sharing our special day with us”, or “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts”, or “a hearty thank you to all who shared this day with us!.”

Another cute idea is having little wedding bubbles on the table and attach a Hershey kiss to them and put a note on it that says “blowing kisses.”

If you are going to do candle favors, you could add a note saying “the light of your love will always burn bright”, or “our love shines like an eternal flame.”
I really liked this saying. I thought it was very cute!! Here it is:
It doesn’t matter where you go in life…
It matters who you have walking beside you.
Thank you for sharing our wedding day.

I thought it would be cute to have a cookie cutter shaped angel and either leave it as a cookie or turn it into a magnet or ornament and have it say:
Something old
Something new
Here is an Angel
To watch over you

I really thought this was a cute saying also: It was written in the stars, they were meant to be. (Then we can have our wedding date and names on it.)

This is REALLY cute and VERY inexpensive!! Have suckers at the tables and put “Suckers for each other”.

A cute quote “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

Some more cute sayings:
The bride was showered with gifts, that’s true,
But this little favor is just for you!

Wishing upon stars is what people do…
When I wished upon a star, I wished for you.

Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live

Live your life to its fullest
Laugh at all the things that don’t matter
Love with all that you have and more

I really like the last idea because that is what I want on my wedding cake. But I don't really know what to put that saying on!!

Cute Ideas I found online

I was browsing the internet looking for wedding ideas and I found a lot of interesting things. At one site, I found a place where you can get your ENTIRE vows engraved onto your wedding ring!! I thought this was cute, but the words would be sooo little that it would be hard to read it. But how cool is technology!! I want to get the rings engraved, but not with our entire vows though!!

Another idea that I found is a gift for the flower girl. I was having trouble with this idea. I didn’t know what I should get my niece Kadence for being the Flower Girl at my wedding. I wanted it to be cute, and something she would remember. I thought that I could get a lot of little things, and a shirt or bag or something that has the words “flower girl” on it. Well, I found the PERFECT idea!! I am going to get her a bridal Barbie!! What better gift could I find for her!! She is going to be sooo decided, and then when I play Barbie’s with her, I can reenact my wedding day!!!

I really want to use something other than just a book for my guests to write their names in. I sort of want to have a book with pictures of Daniel and I throughout it, and they can sign and leave a message throughout the book. (I kind of stole this idea from one of my sister’s blogs. Thanks Stephanie!!) Another idea is having a picture frame with our engagement picture in it and having people sign the actual picture frame. I don’t know, I like these ideas better than an old smelly book that will be put into a closet and forgotten about!!

Also, I came across a cute idea for the older couples at the reception. I will have a list of songs for the DJ to play, and the first song he plays will be for all couples, then the second song will be for married couples, then for married over 5 or more, then 10 years and on and on until the oldest couple is on the dance floor. I love old people and it just makes my heart smile to see people that have been happily married for over 50 years!!!

I envy those who get married merely months after their engagement. For the last couple weeks, I get bored at night and decide to work on the wedding stuff. There is absolutely nothing for me to do right now! I want to plan everythign out and have everything in order, but I'm stuck! I go to google search and type in "wedding stuff" just to simply try and find somethign to do. I found a list of things that you are supposed to do from the beginning, 9-6 months from the wedding, 6-4 months from the wedding, and so on until the actual day. Well so far, here is the list I can do so far..
1. Share the news with family and friends. Alright, I am doing that. Don't really know who else I know that doesnt know!
2. Discuss finances. Ok, so I havn't actually asked everybody, but I guess I assume if they want to help out, they will! I hate asking people for money!
3. Set the date and location. Done and done. October 24th at the New Hope Church with the reception in Stewardson.
4. Meet with Pastor. Actually, I still need to do this!! Daniel and I have to take a class before we get married. So I guess I will get moving on this one!!
5. Make guest-list. Alright, I started this like the day after Daniel asked me!! Currently Ihave 112 people invited. I am still waiting for my mom's list and my soon to be mother-in-law's list as well.
6. Think of style and theme. Alright, kinda classy with the colors being red and black with a Paris themed reception.
7. And lastly, start shopping for a dress. I already have my dress, plus my bridemaid's dresses!!

So now I have to wait until crunch time before I can do anything else. I think in the next week or two I will have my reception decorations picked out. Other than that, I don't really have much else to do other than food, dj, and cake. That is about it. October is SOOO freaking far away!!

Chicken Soup

Last January, before Daniel and I moved to Florida, I had purchased a Chicken Soup for the Bride's Soul book. I know, silly me, I wasn't even engaged yet! But somehow I knew he'd ask me soon enough. I hid the book until after I moved back and just started reading it like a month or so ago. I am a sucker for Chicken Soup books, but seriously, I think I've gotten teary eyed in all the stories I've read which is right around 50 stories!!! I am going to be such a mess on my wedding day. I am going to have to have touch-ups on my make-up like every 30 minutes!!

I'M A WINNER!!!

So I got a message today from a lady that works at American Prestige. She was calling to let me know that my name had been drawn for a prize at the Bridal Expo. I was excited, so I wrote down her number then went outside to my car to call. (Kristi has NOO reception in her house!!) So I waited on hold for like 10 minutes and a lady informed me that I had won a free trip plus 1,000 dollars in grocery coupons!!! I was excited...but not like over the top excited. I figured something wasn't right. Well she gave me a conformation number and told me that me and my husband to be needed to go to the Hilton Garden Inn to talk to the representatives there and they would discuss different options of where we could go. So I came inside, went straight for the computer, and they are a HUGE scam!!! So now, I have to call tomorrow and tell them that I will not be there on Friday due to the fact that they are trying to rip me off. So this should be fun!!! Wish me luck!!

The Bridal Expo

Daniel and I went to the Bridal Expo at Thelma Keller Convention Center today. We actually had fun!! We walked around to lot's of different booths and signed up for a couple of different things and talked to lot's of different people. There was SOOO many people there, it was insane. And it was like 90 degrees in there, so that wasn't much fun. But we got to eat some good food and eat LOT'S of cake. I really liked the strawberry delight and dreamsicle cake. The chocolate chip cake was really good also. Mmmm...I wish we could just get cake to eat!! It was sooo yummy!! But I think we are going to get our food from IGA and I think we got a DJ for around $375. So I am SUPER excited!! Now all I need to decide on is where to get my cake done. Also, I still need invitation's and wedding program's. So much to do!!

On a different note, after the bridal expo, I met some of my friends at wal-mart and we got some food and candy. Then went to see the movie Bride Wars. It was a good movie and I had fun hanging with my girls!! We ate enough popcorn to feed a small army though!! We were all soo sick from the popcorn after the movie. But it was really good!! And extra buttery!!

Wedding aholic

So now whenever I flip through the channels on the television and see anything that has "wedding" in the title, I feel that I have to stop and look at it and take notes or see if I am doing things right. Some shows are kind of interesting, while other shows are very insane!! I actually sat through an entire show lastnight and it was interesting and crazy to me at the same time. It was on one of the baking channels, and the title was something like Outrageous wedding cakes. It dealt with 3 or 4 bakeries around the world, and their attempts to make the "perfect" wedding cake. People that have that much money to spend on those cakes are just insane!! These people actually spent days...no WEEKS to put these cakes together!! And while they were making them, I just couldn't get over the fact of all the edible things they had to find to make these cakes "perfect". They had paint, and laquer, and spray paint, and glitter, and blown sugar balls, and bows, and all this stuff that just doesn't seem right!! The wedding cakes were BEAUTIFUL when they got done with them, but after they spent all that hard work on it, how could you just take it to the destination knowing it was just going to be eaten!! That has to be a hard job!! And if it was my cake...I would preserve it and not eat it. It's like a freaking work of art!! I'd be happy with a confetti cake from walmart with homeade red iciing!! It would be nice to have all the money in the world to spent $5000 dollars on JUST my wedding cake...hmm...a girl can wish I guess!

Here are some more of my ideas for the big day!!

This is my cake topper. I think it is just freaking adorable!!

I saw these invitations online and thought they were cute.
They open up to look like a flower and inside is the
invitation. Of course mine would be red and black!!














I also really liked these invitations. I thought they looked really classy and cute.















And this is an invite that my sister made for me a while ago. I really like the look of it!!

So I have been working on some planning for a little while now. I have a lot of pictures on my MySpace, but I decided to post them here so you can enjoy them and then everything can be together!! So enjoy all the pictures!!



This is the cake I fell in love with. I am going to have red flowers on it istead of white to bring out more color. Plus, my colors are red and black. I hope I can find someone in Effingham that can make this cake!!













I really like this bouquet. I am going to look at other options soon, but I like the full deep red one! I think it looks pretty!

The last three pictures are from the place I am gonig to have my reception at. It looks kind of blah now, but after me and my crew get done decorating it...it is going to look SOOOO pretty!!

This is soo exciting!

So before when I heard that people had their own blogs for their wedding, I thought WOW!! WAAAAY too much time! But now, after looking at other people's site's, I think it is fun and thrilling to write stuff!! And to share to the world (well, a select few I guess) what our ideas are and the places we are getting married at and stuff. So bear with me, because I am new to this whole thing, but I hope you will enjoy it!! Soon I will have pictures and videos and ideas on there and you can comment away!! I am soooo excited!!!