Engagment Photos!!

Last weekend we had our Engagement session with my sister who owns After Midnight Photography and she took wonderful pictures of us. So, as promised, here are the photos from our session. Enjoy!

Engagement Photo Session!

We had such a great weekend! We were able to get together with my sister (Dani) and she did our engagement photos for us! We went up to Redmond High School where Michael has played baseball many times and we were so lucky that the fields were empty. The weather turned out great (It got up in the 90's!) and we had a lot of fun goofing around while my sister captured those cute moments. We don't have the photos back yet, but we were able to get a sneak peak of what to expect... Enjoy! There is more to come!

Wedding Update!

Over the past few weeks we have been planning like crazy! As you all know, we have our location all picked out, but now we have our DJ too! He actually was the DJ at Chris and Alicia's wedding (Michael sister and brother-in-law) and he is going to DJ Bret and Hilary's wedding (Michael's childhood friend and her fiancé). He is so full of energy and he really helped us start to think about ideas of what we want at our wedding for music. Hope everyone is ready to dance and have a good time!

Also, this coming Thursday we have an appointment with Alante Photography and we think they might be the ONE! Their pictures are so artistic, but also intimate. It's the perfect combination of fun and romantic. I've included a link below so you can preview what we are seeing!

http://alantephotography.com/

We of course would've loved for my sister who is a photographer to do our wedding, but she is the Maid of Honor, so that's out of the question! She needs to be IN the photos! Although, she will be bringing her camera to get those few shots that the photographer might not get. ;)

Next weekend we will be having our engagement photos taken as well by my sister! I'm so excited to get some updated professional photos of us and to get our save the dates ordered with one of the photos. :)

And the most exciting event coming up is DRESS SHOPPING!! It's every girls dream (or at least mine) to dress up like a princess in a bunch of different gowns. My bridal party Dani (my sister), Alicia (Michael's sister), and Carly (my childhood friend) along with Michael's mom will be going with me to Cinderellies Closet in Edmonds as well as La Belle in downtown Seattle towards the end of September! Hopefully I will find my dress on that day with all of these special women around me!

We also have decided that my aunt is going to be our Officiant! When we had started to think about who we'd want to do it, she was the first person I thought of. I didn't want it to be a stranger, rather someone who can make the ceremony something a little more special.

So, in short everything is falling into place! I'm so lucky to have everyone helping me out! I couldn't do it without every person in my bridal party as well as Michael's mom.

Our Engagement Party

So, I have been slacking on posting! What a busy summer planning a wedding and attending all of the fun events that our friends and family have had for their weddings, birthdays and celebrations!

We had our Engagement Party a few weeks ago and we had such a good time! Michael's parents and sister helped us to get everything set up which gave us time to spend with the friends and family who drove out to come see us. It was at Kayak Point in Stanwood and the day turned out to be beautiful! I was a bit weary the day before as it had dumped rain! I thought for sure everyone was going to be all huddled up under the undercover area we had rented out. Instead it was in the upper 70's, blue skys and perfect to dip your toes in the water! We even got to practice cutting our cake!

Michael's sister Alicia was nice enough to pull us aside before everyone got there to take photos of us down by the water. Michael was even a good sport and didn't complain.. at least not until about 10mins worth of photos. Pretty sure that's a record! :)

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate this special time with us. It truely made it a day to remember for the rest of our lives together!

Sarah's New Job!

I was officially offered the Order Management position that I applied for about two weeks ago! I had my first interview at the end of June and then my 2nd interview was just on Wednesday. They kept saying I was their "top candidate" over and over during the interview. Well, guess they weren't joking! I will start my new position in about two weeks, but I get to see my raise affective now! How cool is that?

Now.. we just have to keep our fingers crossed that Michael is offered the inside sales position. He's been working so hard to get his name in that department! Lots of change for the both of us, but all for the better!

We found our Venue!!

After looking at about 4 venues (that were all jokes!), we finally found the one we've been waiting for! On Saturday Debbie (Michael's mom), Michael and I all went down to Seattle to look at the The Harbor Club. When we walked in, it took our breath away. We both knew the minute we walked in that this was the place! We were grinning from ear to ear and taken away by the gorgeous view of both downtown and of the water. We hadn't picked a date until we found the place we wanted. We had initally spoke about a Saturday wedding, but after some discussions we settled on a Sunday date. We didn't have a preference until the wedding coordinator at the venue stated that the 22nd of July was open and the weekend before Seafair, so there'd be less traffic. Instantly we said yes because that date is very special as it was Michael's grandma's birthday. Since she recently passed he has missed her so much. We felt that doing it on the 22nd was the perfect way to celebrate that date and to have his family and my family all together. We are SO excited to share that special day with everyone.

Trip to Eastern WA

We just got back from our trip over to Eastern Washington. What a fun time! We went over to see Michael's childhood friend Conner get married. We stayed at the Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane and it was absolutely gorgeous!

Before arriving, we drove the long way to Spokane which goes through Leavenworth, a cute little Bavarian town. Michael drove through here so we could go wine tasting! We went to 3 different places. The first was Willows Crest, then Patrick Ryan and finally Icicle Ridge. Michael sipped the whites while I fully indulged in the whites, rose, reds, and dessert wines. Good thing Michael was driving!

We drove through beautiful scenery and then arrived in Spokane. We got up to the room after walking through the gorgeous hotel and rested up. Soon after we walked down to have dinner at the Safari Room which was decorated with elephants, tigers and monkeys. The next day, we woke up after sleeping in and walked down to the mall which was only a few blocks from where we stayed. We were shocked to see how big it was!

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and got ready for his friend's wedding. Michael put on his full suit and looked incredibly handsome! I even made him pose for a few pictures in the lobby. After driving for 2hrs trying to find the venue (which was only 20mins away from the hotel) we were both frustrated with getting lost, but the minute we saw the happy couple we knew it was worth it! Michael caught up with all of his old buddies and even asked me to dance 3 times! He even spun me around and dipped me! It was the highlight of the trip.
To see all the pictures of our trip go to the link below. Enjoy!

https://picasaweb.google.com/105562950769294746974/TripToEasternWAConnerAndMirandaSWedding?authkey=Gv1sRgCKu2prKbg-3fqwE#

Love & Respect

We finally started our first Growth Group together through Eastlake Church! We are reading a book called Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires and The Respect He Despirately Needs. The group is for engaged couples and we are so excited to jump into this book and start growing together! We plan to take some time aside at night before we go to bed to read to one another. The group is great because we are able to meet new friends who share our values and who are also going through the hectic wedding planning that we are as well! This is Michael's first Growth Group and so far it's proven to be the best one that I've been a part of. The leaders Justin and Shelby Sampson (we also play softball with them) are so organized and are excited to share tips with all of the couples in the group. I'm sure we will learn at lot from them both.

We also received a book as a gift from one of our friends at work called Keys to a Successful Marriage by John Gottman. The author is actually from here in Washington State and has observed couples and how they fight and interact with one another. The book is supposed to teach us how to communicate with one another better. I keep wanting to start reading this one, but I'm going to try and keep it to one book at a time to not overwhelm Michael! ;)

We're so thankful for the wonderful support we have from friends and family and the great resources that are being laid out for the two of us! We are always open to any suggestions for us to continue to better our relationship!

Blog World

All right! We gave into it and decided to start a blog! With so much going on, we figured this was the easiest way to keep in touch with everyone with updates on our wedding planning and of course pictures!
So, thanks for setting out on this new journey through the blogging world with us!