Now Everyone is Acworth Knows we are Engaged!

Here is our annoucement that appeared in the January Issue for Around Town Acworth! The publication remembered us from our first apperance in the magazine last March in the Birthday section with Me, Shane and Rudy Poo!

Operation: Kristen is a Winner!

I WON!!! A free session with Operation Bootcamp ( http://www.operationbootcamp.com )! I entered into a raffle at the Bridal show last week and they just emailed me today! I am so excited. I think I am going to do my session in March at the Swift-Cantrell Park in Kennesaw. I just got my new Nike Plus' from the Big Peach Running Company. ( PS they are awesome they map your feet and they film you walking to fit you for the best shoe for your needs. Check them out! http://www.bigpeachrunningco.com/ )

We are also starting to get a small group together to start walk/running and eventually participate in some races. Let me know if you are interested in joining us!

The Lucky Bouquet!

In the past several years Shane and I have gone to and participated in many wedding. I will admit catching the bouquet was not my strong suit. Shane thought that I was intentially trying to avoid the bouquets becasue he coudln't see why somone as tall as I am was having such a hard time. Well I finally caught one, the lucky bouquet that predicted our now pending nuptials was at my cousin Eric's wedding! It was only a matter of time from the fateful night until our engagement.

Photo Booth Fun!

This was the photobooth from the bridal show. It took 6 picture and you could customize the center strip!

My friend Keri had a photobooth at her wedding and i thought it was the coolest thing ever!

You actually create your guest book out of it but having your guest take picture and then glue them into a scrapbook and signing next to them!

They also have a prop package your can rent... so fun!

http://www.wowphotobooth.com/

We Go Bridal Weekend- Jan 24 & 25th

We had our first full blown Bridal Weekend and it was glorious!

Saturday morning early.... really early we all converged in Decatur, Georgia for our first site tour for a possible location for the wedding.

We were at Houston Mill House and the Emory Conference Center.

I had fallen in love (through pictures) with the Houston Mill House. It is a beautiful flagstone house with awesome gardens. But, once we started to look around it became very clear to me that this space was not ideal for the kind of party I wanted to throw. it would have been very disjointed and cramped into the different rooms of the house. The Back patio was nice but it was just a patio. I am glad I went to see it, but it did not make the "short list".

This is me in front of the Mill House!

http://www.houstonmillhouse.com/

Then we walked across the bridge to the other side of the street to tour the Emory Conference Center and the different spaces it has. I likes this tour better it definitely had more options, but it just didn't feel special, unique, different ( i could go on) It just felt like a conference center, and then when Uli (the coordinator that we were meeting with) told me that she has put on 5 different wedding in the same day in the conference center that was the deal breaker. Yes I am a diva and I want exclusivity at my venue.

Here are some pictures of the different ares that the conference center had to offer:

This was an indoor option that was awesome! I loved the windows. But it was very small and I don't think everyone would have fit to wathc the ceremony.

This is the outdoor patio/terrace area where they do a lot of their outdoor ceremony. It is ok, it did not WOW me.

Then we headed back to the northern suburbs of Atlanta and decided to swing by

"The Gardens at Kennesaw Mountain" across the street for the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield park. This place was quaint, there was not much to it. It looks like it would have a pretty spring outdoor ceremony with crepe myrtles in full bloom but then the reception hall was pretty standard. Mom did not like this particular location because of the surrounding, there was a railroad close by and also looked like industrial park type area nearby.

This is the reception hall... nothing to write home about. (www.gardensatkennesaw.com/ )

That night I went to Jen's house for some wedding talk and we watched Miss America. Fun Times.

That was the end of Bridal Saturday.... now onto Bridal Sunday.

We went to the Chic Occasions Bridal show at the Marietta Conference Center. It was SO much fun. We met lots of great vendors including the photographer that did Ice T's daughter's wedding (gangsta!) and another photographer that was hired by one of my parents friends. We tasted cake, we tried out the photo booth (loved it!), we talked to Operation Boot Camp, and a lot of other vendors. We also saw a fashion show that was fun. I saw a couple of dresses that I really liked a lot (pictures below)

This is the dress that I fell in Love with! I thought it had great lines and also it looked good on the model who has a similar body type to me. ( and yes I had a tiara on! don't be jealous). This dress is at New Natalies that is on my list to visit anyways.

I liked this dress a lot too and it had an adorable matching flowergirl/Jr.Bridesmaid complement.

Dad was very quiet, I think he was just taking it all in ;) !

It was a fun weekend and a great way to kick off wedding planning with Shane and my parents.

Next on the Docket:

• Make an Appt. with the Carter Center (http://www.cartercenter.org/about/facilities/weddings.html)


• Make an Appt. with Anthony's (http://www.anthonysfinedining.com/weddings.htm)


• The Great Bridal Expo/ Feb 1 (http://www.greatbridalexpo.com/)