We carved this into the stairs of the tower where he purposed!

On June 8^th, Scott asked me to be his wife! I immediately said yes, and there began the craziest year of my life.

The west lookout in Brown County where he purposed!

Within a week, I had my wedding gown. I planned a girls day to officially ask my bridesmaids to be my bridesmaids. We made a stop at Alfred Angelo just to try on some dresses and get a sense of what I wanted. I knew we were having a fairly casual wedding, but I had no idea what I wanted in a dress. I tried one on . . . loved it, but they hated it so I knew it couldn’t be right . . . tried two on, and it was too blingy . . . then I found it. I knew it was perfect. However, I would not recommend getting your dress that early. I stressed big time over maintaining my weight, and I fell out of love with it and questioned my decision MANY times. In the end, I still loved my dress, and I think it’s very classic so I’m sure I’ll feel the same in 20 years.

Two months after we were engaged, we had a lovely engagement party at my parents’ house. It was on a Sunday afternoon, so we just served dessert foods, and a theme of love is sweet!

Love is Sweet

The next few months were planning the wedding like crazy, and doing normal stuff . . . ya know, like the holiday season and our birthdays so no time for any other big parties . . . then at the end of March we hit the home stretch. On March 30^th, my maid of honor, Elizabeth, held my bridal shower in the piano room of the Downtown Indianapolis Marott Apartments. She had the theme of Kentucky Derby Garden Party, and everyone wore big hats! Along with some finger foods and champagne punch, she had just two games that had everyone interact together and created some conversation, which was what I wanted more than anything. I had ladies from church, my bridesmaids moms, my aunts, and friends most of whom had never met each other so the conversation starters where exactly what we needed!

Elizabeth had her friend Kayla play some songs on her guitar for me!

my mom and grandma

A month later was my bachelorette party, which was AMAZE! Elizabeth and my bridesmaid Rachel got everyone together at a hotel downtown where we got ready together and had some girl time. Then we headed down to Buca Di Beppo Italian Restaurant and had a delicious meal! Then we headed out for dancing and fun, and then back to the hotel for some more girl time, and of course some greasy food to end the night right!

elizabeth had these made for each of us!

me and my ladies

Scott had his bachelor party exactly a week before the wedding. His best man and brother, Jon is in the Army so it had to be that way in order for him to have leave for both. He had a big group of friends go out bowling and to a concert together. The next Wednesday Scott, his brother, and our friend Ralphie went sky diving. Yup, I let my fiancee go sky diving 3 days before our wedding. I made sure I was his beneficiary on everything important before the wedding so I wasn’t worried 😉

Scott and his boys

in the air

The week before the wedding was basically finishing any last minute items, and helping my parents get the backyard ready (that’s where the wedding was). Thursday I spent the day to myself getting everything primped and primed to be sure I was all ready for the wedding. It was awesome to have a day to myself that close to the wedding and just relax! That evening my lovely cousins came in from West Virginia so we all had a big steak dinner to spend quality time together. I’m so happy they were able to come up and spend time with us.

cousins!

 Friday I spent the whole day with my sister running last minute errands ( I actually went to the dr for a check up the day before my wedding  . . . who does that?!) Besides a vendor delivery almost interrupting the rehearsal, it went by quickly and smoothly. We had a basic ceremony that only lasted 20 minutes so the only thing we had to rehearse was timing our walks down the aisle to be sure the full songs played (that was important to me).

‘i do . . .

After our rehearsal, Scott’s parents had our families and the bridal party up to Holly Hock Hill for dinner.  HHH is a awesome, local, family style restaurant that serves fried chicken, mashed potatoes, apple butter, ice cream for dessert, and much more! I of course could barely eat, but everyone says it was delicous. Afterwards, Scott went home to hang out with his groomsmen for awhile while my bridesmaids and I got a hotel room for the night. I spent the evening by the pool with my flower girl and a glass of wine . . . trying to calm my nerves for the next day . . .

our family and bridal party

our last picture as a ‘single’ couple

at the pool with my favorite girl

To be continued . . .