Sweet sparkle

{via EAD}

Love to grow

How great is this idea… such a fab way to get everyone involved and participate in our union of LUURRRVVVVVVVVVE. 

I worry I'd probably kill the plant though... But anyway, do you love these pictures? ME too! Check out this awesome husband and wife duo of photographers. Gorg. Oh and if you are creative you could enter this sweet contest to get them to come to your wedding and *shoot* your special day! Love it. 

Swoon.

Brooklyn Bridge Lovefest!

P is for photo

How great are these pics! True to themselves and oh so adorable! 

And can we drool over her GORGEOUS necklace!? Such an unexpected and fabulous addition.  

via {here} 

The send-off

I love these pictures capturing the bride and groom's send-off!

Confetti.

Sparklers.

Bubbles.

Ribbon wands.

Silly String. Ahhhhhhhh! :-)

Back attack

I loooooove the back of her dress. Featured on Grey Likes Weddings.

My choice

So I am just going to put it all out there… I mean, you are going to find out one way or another. Actually I just told Nater last night but it's really my choice now isn't it? Are you wondering what I'm talking about? Lemme back up. If you fell off the planet for a few days: I'm engaged to the spectacular Nater. Yep, sure am and now that we are engaged we are thinking about getting married. Go figure. Wait, wait, wait… Lemme go back a little bit more. I was raised Lutheran and Nater was born a Jew. This has never been an issue - obviously. On our first date, we discussed religion (yes, very taboo) and I told him this really funny thing about myself; I've always believed I'd marry a Jew one day. No joke. I even told my ex that I was confused why we were together because I always thought I'd marry a Jewish guy. I couldn't even tell you why I thought this. I've never even dated a Jewish dude before the Tot so why would I think I'd marry one? Beats me. Surprisingly he didn't think I was a whackjob and now guess what? I'm marrying a Jew, my Jew. :)

So what does this mean? Well, I'm planning to convert to Judaism. (How very Charlotte of me, huh?) Not only do I want to because I respect and cherish the Jewish traditions but also there will be a time when Nater and I will have children and I want my children to be Jewish. You must read this post on the Wedding Bee because like the author Hot Cocoa, it wasn't a nagging mother-in-law (Nater's mom embraced me from the start and never asked if I was going to convert which I very much appreciated) but more for the fact that Judaism has played a very important role in the Tot's life. And like Hot Cocoa's husband, Nater met some of his closest friends in Hebrew school, at Jewish summer camp, and traveling to Israel. I want our kids to experience those wonderful things just as much as he does.

I'm not saying this decision was easy nor will the conversion process be but I know it's right for me. Nathan has been nothing but supportive and is going to help me in whatever way he can. That's why I love him. Well, one of the many reasons I love him I guess.

Of course with my whole family being "non-Jews" we will have spoiled children who get to enjoy both Hanukkah and Christmas.
I bring this up now as I am looking forward to incorporating some wonderful Jewish traditions into our wedding (the chuppah, breaking the glass, dancing the Horah etc) so there will be talk of this (and probably stuff about my conversion too) on the bliggity-blog from time-to-time. Take it or leave it.

I leave you with some beautiful moments captured at some fantastic Jewish weddings:

Ketubah time!

Circling.

Mazel Tov. 

Hava nagila

Wedding palette

Just *thinkin* A LOT and enjoying the wedding eye-candy by the fab Jasmine Star. 

Love the deep purple.

Maybe I'll get to see a tear or two from the tot?

Pom Pom heaven.

Fringe-y goodness.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Okay, enough screaming… I'M ENGAGED!!!!

Shut the front door.

Girl, I know.

Our first pic as an engaged couple. Love.

It happened Saturday morning and I couldn't have been more surprised. Sneaky bastard. Though I couldn't have imagined it any other way… I think I'll let him tell you the story… Without further ado my fiance the Tot:

Over a month ago, Bunny and I went to look at rings.  At first when I looked for rings, I shopped by myself and found a few, but found the task to be a bit stressful.  Then some friends told me that it would be more beneficial to bring Ashley along for the search.  At first I was hesitant, but that feeling soon subsided when I saw her excitement each time she tried on a different ring.  We visited four or five jewelers looking for a winner.  There was one, in particular, that Ashley seemed to like more than others.  At Tivol, we found it – halo, round-cut diamond, antique crown look, with the “upside down Eiffel Tower” band.  This was for sure the one, but I had to determine when would be the right time.

Still reading?  You can always skip a few paragraphs if you just want the proposal….

I began discussing logistics with the jeweler but still hadn’t fully committed to the ring.  Funny thing, during a discussion, the jeweler mentioned that since Ashley had seen the ring, she would now be expecting it by the end of the year.  I joked that she was wrong and said we could get engaged later in 2011.  A few weeks passed, and I dropped talks about it, but every once in a while, Bunz would make comments about a ring.  Once I came home with chocolates – “I have a surprise for you,” I said - only to hear her asking if it was a ring!  Um…yeah…..the joke was on me, she was ready.

The order was placed and I was told it would take 3-4 weeks.  Since this was to be stealth, nobody could know.  This meant a few fibs so that she wouldn’t find out what I was up to.  I even faked a Friday night meeting that caused Ashley and me to be late to Chuck’s birthday dinner.  So I waited and waited. 

Still reading……thanks for listening to me babble.

Finally, it was the fourth week and no ring.  I called the jeweler and was told it would be there by Saturday at 9am.  We had planned to visit Chuck’s family and Bunny’s dad, Tom (and fam), in Iowa, but we were to leave early in the morning.  It was time for one more little fibster.  I told her that I had some work to do early in the morning and we would need to leave a bit later.  She wasn’t too happy.

Ok, if you are looking for “The Proposal”, you’re here!  See below.

I left to pick up the ring-a-ding and then came back home.  To my luck, Ashley was in the shower.  I knocked on the door to make sure she knew I had returned.  Then, having no real plan, I improvised.  Nobody tells you how it feels to propose and nobody can explain the feelings because there are so many – confident, yet a bit scared, happy, excited, pumped, weird…..etc….you get the point.  So I assumed the position in front of the bathroom door, on bended knee and waited.  It seemed like a freak’n eternity before the doorknob started to turn.  Bunz opened it and…….ok, here is where the question is asked, “Was she naked?”.  Just for fun, you make up whatever dress you want, but if you are a parent reading this one, she was wearing a robe.  Anyway she came out of the shower, looked at me as if to say, “What the hell are you doing down there?  I’m confused.”  But then, she noticed the ring, screamed, cried, and ran back into the bathroom.  When she calmed down to sniffles, I told her the gushy stuff (you probably don’t want to hear) and then she asked for me to put it on her finger.  It fit, we drank some champagne, and the rest is history.  Oh, and I think she said yes.

Yes, in true Nater fashion I was shocked and in awe of it all. Best gift EVER.

No dates, no talk of weddings (okay, maybe just a little bit ), we'll get to that later. But in the meantime I think I'll be posting a ton more about weddings. Don't worry if you hate wedding-talk there'll still be fashion and photography posts to ogle too.

xo,

The future Mrs. Nater-tot