Big News, Venues, Menus, & Wedding Shoes

OF COURSE, I have to blog about my upcoming wedding. I have been meaning to for quite some time, but with recovery and things being so crazy busy I decided to wait until after Christmas. At the end of November I asked Logan and Aubrey to be the two girls by my side at my wedding. Logan will be my Maid Of Honor. I purchased a special invitation for them, written by me. I presented these invitations to them at Up Your Alley Chophouse in downtown Aiken, while my mom photographed.

Personalized invitations for the girls! 

We all exchanged hugs and tears! 

After lunch Logan and Aubrey tried on the samples of their dresses for the big day. I also showed Aubrey my dress for the first time. She was speechless and in tears! I purchased my wedding shoes prior to asking the girls to be in my wedding. This was the only item I was able to take home. Save the dates were ordered, except now I will have to keep them. The date has changed, so I will be going straight to the invitations. 

My wedding shoes :)

Aubrey's Reaction to my dress: 

I told her to keep her eyes covered until my dress was clipped. 

Aubrey was crying again at this point! 

Mine and Chris' wedding has been put on hold due to this surgery. We were actually supposed to be married on October 27 of this year. We decided to give things some more time and rescheduled the wedding for August 29th, 2014. August 29th fell on a Friday and I was SO EXCITED. This was the day Chris asked me to date him when we were 14 years old, in 9th grade at Silver Bluff High School. Everything has seemed to fall into place and we were able to get our first home sooner than we planned. I decided to move the wedding up to Spring. Our new date is April 26th, 2014.

Our first Save The Dates. I made these myself on Photoshop! These were for the original October wedding.

Our second round of Save the Dates. These were for the August 29th wedding. These were ordered from Etsy, and I will most likely use the same Etsy Shop for my invitations!

I have also met with our florist in 2012 shortly after Chris and I were engaged. We have rescheduled another meeting. She is Miss Tammy from Dyson's Designs and I love her work. I have recommended her to other brides. She is FANTASTIC! We have decided on a venue and will be meeting with potential caterers soon. I will disclose that information in the next blog post! I will also be featuring photos from our new home after the paperwork is finalized!

(WE WILL HAVE OUR OWN HOUSE, FINALLY!) 

OUR STORY

I was new to Silver Bluff, I was actually zoned for South Aiken High. I wanted to attend a smaller high school after attending a quaint Christian school along with homeschooling my middle school years. I saw Chris for the first time at our Freshman Orientation in the gym. He had his hat on backwards (he still wears them like this) and had on plaid shorts. Yes, they were in style back then in 2007! I thought he was cute, but I was busy trying to find my classes and meet my new teachers. I went to my 7th period class, which was Geometry and picked a seat in the middle of the room. Chris walks in and sits next to me, pretending he didn't notice I was sitting there. We didn't say anything to each other, which wasn't surprising. I was focused about my future in Geometry, so I didn't pay Chris too much attention. The only thing that stuck in my mind was "Wow, where do I know him from? He looks vaguely familiar..."

Later on that week, Chris and I would arrive to school around the same time. We still didn't speak to each other. We had 7th period together everyday and we continued to walk past one another without a word. Finally, I decided to sit at a different table during lunch. It was the end of the school week and I worked up enough courage to ask Chris where he went to middle school and where he was from. You were either from Jackson or New Ellenton if you went to Silver Bluff, with a few exceptions. Some friends and I were from Aiken. Mine and Chris' conversation didn't even last five minutes, and it was extremely awkward. My friend Colleen was sitting beside me so I talked to her during lunch until the bell rang. When I got home that day, I checked my Myspace. This was the social media site we all used in 2007 before Facebook became popular. I had a notification alerting me  of a new friend request from Chris Rautio. His profile picture was a "selfie" in a Pepsi shirt. I'm pretty sure I was the first one to comment on his photo and send him a message. Chris isn't much for conversation starting. We hit it off on Myspace messaging, since that was less intimidating for the both of us. Shortly after I was invited to a bonfire. I decided to go after Chris shared with me on a Myspace message that he would be there. I had a good time, but I only talked to Chris for about ten minutes before I left. He pretended to ignore me the whole bonfire. We eventually got our own "first selfie" that night, which went on my Myspace page when I returned home. Three days later on August 29th, 2007 in front of my locker, Chris asked me the one question I had been waiting for, "Are we going out now or what?"..... Well it wasn't exactly how I pictured it, but that was Chris for you.

Our first "selfie" before the "selfie" was a thing ;) 8/26/07 

Our first SBHS football game as a couple. 8/31/07

We continued dating throughout high school and I liked to call us the "Silver Bluff Soap Opera". We were even nominated "Most Likely to Never be Single" our senior year for superlatives. Our relationship was so dramatic and still is. Now we have Haiden and we are getting married. Everything is just so surreal.

"Most Likely to Never be Single" Senior Superlative 2011 SBHS.

Chris and I have a history and we know each other so well. Our story is what makes our relationship so special. We have grown up together and Chris has TRULY been my best friend. We are more in love now than we ever were. We have learned through the good times and the bad, almost 7 years worth! We have a son who is the perfect mixture of us both who has brought us closer together. I am looking forward to our upcoming wedding and sharing it with our friends and loved ones.

12/28/13

Be on the look-out for wedding invitations! We have decided on an "intimate gathering" style wedding.  Chris and I did not want a big wedding and wanted to invite those who have been there for us throughout the years. Our wedding theme is going to be centered around "Our Story". 

Have a Happy New Year and stay tuned for more details!