Tweethearts

So where did Matt and I meet and fall in love? You'll never, ever guess. Well, unless you read my first post, lol.

Twitter! That's SO not us, is it? *giggle*



We were friends for a very long time and both of us were in marriages that had not been working for some time. We had decided independently of each other that we had given it our all and our marriages were irreparable.

I did not tell him this and vice versa, so those decisions were reached without any outside influence, but when we did finally confide in each other (I was praying hard for his marriage to work and did not tell him about my problems until I knew there was nothing more I could do), we gave each other the courage we needed to end our marriages.

So did we move on because of each other? No. Could we have moved on in spite of each other? I don't know. And that's as detailed as I'm going to be on that subject out of respect for my ex whom I am on good terms with, and for our children.

In between the time that I knew my marriage was over and when I confided in Matt, I thought a lot about him. I greatly admired the man that Matt was. The dedication he gave to a marriage that was never going to work. His faith. His love for his children. His positive outlook on life and his love of fun. And the more I thought about that, the more I began to develop feelings for him.

I clearly remember there were three songs that made me think of him: "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon. "Falling for You," by Colbie Caillat. And "You Belong With Me," by Taylor Swift. (You'll probably find in reading this blog that music is very special to me and I have always used it to express my feelings. And those three songs definitely expressed my feelings perfectly!)







I had no idea that Matt had been feeling the same way about me, but once we opened up to each other, a beautiful relationship based on love, respect, honesty and trust began to blossom. Matt makes me happier than I have ever felt in my entire life. I feel loved, complete and cherished. He filled all the empty spaces in my heart and has healed my wounds. He is my dream come true. My everything. My "tweetheart."

To be continued...

The Song I Will Be Walking Down the Aisle To

Flowers and Pictures and Music, Oh My!

Thanks to the FANTASTIC work of Marie Russell, our wedding planner at Bordeaux Events, we are narrowing down our list of vendors very quickly. We only have four months to plan and Marie has bravely taken on the challenge!

In just a few short days, Marie narrowed down our choice of venues and vendors to who was available for our wedding day (September 17!!!), has helped us come up with a budget, has mapped out a detailed "to-do" list, has given us tips and ideas...she has basically been a lifesaver for this busy couple that doesn't have time to do the legwork that she is doing for us. And she does it so cheerfully and with a smile. You can't beat that!



We will be traveling to the Outer Banks on the 26th of May to do some tastings, work on decor and design, and make our final selections as far as vendors go. Marie has set up our itinerary for us so we don't have to worry about anything other than showing up!

It will actually be a bit of a challenge since we may have to pull an all-nighter for our first meeting at 9 am since Matt doesn't get off of work until 11:30 p.m. the night before and it's a six hour drive, but we'll make it work. We always do! And we'll be live Tweeting and Twitpicking the whole day so you can join us virtually and help us select our cake, food, decor, etc.

I'll also need your help deciding on which wedding dress to choose. Pictures will be coming soon and I will put up a poll for voting.

In the meantime, here's what we DO know. We know where our ceremony and reception will take place. We will be staying in a large, 9-bedroom, ocean-front home for the week of our wedding. The ceremony will be on the beach in front of the home and the reception will be pool-side at the house.

And guess who is invited? ALL of you! Yes, we will be LIVE STREAMING our wedding so that those of you who can't come (we're limited to 50 guests after all) can watch the entire event live online. More details to come.

So who have we chosen thus far? Well, there's Marie of course, our wedding Fairy Godmother. Here's the rest:

• Photographer: Neil GT, who shot the cover of the current 2011 Outer Banks Bride Magazine. Isn't he amazing?!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Florist and Designer: Renee Landry Style. Just look at her site. Are words even needed? It's like someone took all of my style, love of fun and taste and made a replica of me into a florist named Renee. She. Totally. Gets. It.
  
  
  
  
• Entertainment: This is MY wedding so there'd better be dancing!! If you've been a reader/friend of mine for awhile, you know about my deep-seated love of music so this vendor was crucial. We selected SoundWavz Entertainment, Inc. to be our DJ and they know how to get people moving. To quote Ke$ha in "Blow"..."DANCE!" That's an order! Ke$ha says so, so dance you must!
  
  
  
  
• Venue: As stated above, we have selected a gorgeous ocean-front house but the details on that will be kept a secret for security reasons until after the wedding is over. You WILL see pics during our stay, though, so be sure to vacation with us as we count down the days until the the big event starts!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Dress: I am down to two choices but may add some more into the mix. Right now I have a maxi H&M dress from their Conscious Collection and an American Eagle dress. We will not be dressing formally, nor will we have a wedding party so we want relaxed, casual, beachy wear. I am marrying my guy barefoot in the sand! We wouldn't have it any other way! Better pics will be coming, along with the poll, to help us decide which dress is best.

So there you have it! I'll share more information on our vendors in detail as the planning moves along and I'll be sure to report which ones we choose the day of our trip to the Outer Banks. (we still need a caterer, baker for our wedding cake, and a videographer)



And last but not least, be ready for uushy-guushy, lovey-dovey posts that are all about our love story. I'll be sprinkling them into the mix here and there and you won't want to miss them! Especially if you have a vomit bucket on hand. ;) As the Boy Scouts say (and clearly they have this exact situation in mind when they say it), "Be prepared!"

Fine Print: So here's the part where the FCC or some other bureaucratic agency makes me tell you that I have received discounts from some of our vendors due to our writing about them here. What you really need to know, however, is that each vendor selected was chosen BEFORE any discounts were discussed. This is our wedding and we want the best for it and these are the best in our opinion. Discount or not, we would've chosen each one without hesitation. So there, FCC! :P

Welcome!

I am so excited to start a new blog in the "So a Blonde Walks Into..." franchise, especially since this one is all about starting my brand new life with my fiance Matt!

Over the course of the next few months, I'll be sharing the story of how we met and fell in love, photos from our life together, how Matt proposed, our wedding plans from start to finish and of course, the big day itself (which is looking to be mid-September).

Stay tuned as our first in-depth consultation with our wedding planner, Marie Russell from Bordeaux Events, starts tomorrow!

In the meantime, you can follow Matt on Twitter here, and myself here. (Twitter is where we met and fell in love, by the way!)

Thanks for following along as we begin our journey towards our happily ever after!