Wedding Preparations: 106 Days!

Summer is moving quickly. My phone reminded me this morning that we have just over 100 days until our big day! When Raymond proposed, we picked a date over a year out thinking that was plenty of time to save and plan. Funny how time can play tricks on you...

In the last couple months we attended two very important graduation ceremonies (both siblings), took fabulous engagement photos thanks to Jade Street Photography, and I was promoted to the Marketing and Development Director at the Museum of World Treasures. This has been an exciting year of change and opportunity.

Raymond will tell you I spent weeks planning our engagement session. We've been very low-key and relaxed about all of the other wedding plans so far. I wanted this session to be creative, show our love of travel, and convey the joy and happiness of our wedding adventure. We were thrilled with our photographer and I'm excited she will be shooting the wedding as well! See the rest of the photos in our album here.

That's us, always dreaming up a new adventure.

I absolutely adore this red bike!

Raymond bought me this parasol at the Japanese Festival in St. Louis the day he proposed.

Where in the world will we go next?

We agreed early on in the planning process that we want a small, intimate, and affordable wedding. This means the guest list is almost exclusively family. We wish we could invite everyone who has touched our lives and our relationship (hundreds!), but we hope you understand our decision to be financially conservative about the day. It's very important to us to start our marriage in a healthy financial place instead of thousands of dollars of debt. Still, we would love to share the wedding fun with you through photos and updates. If you would like to know more, please visit our wedding website here.

Until next time --
XOXO
Rachel

Midwest Christmas Marathon and Wedding Planning

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and crazy January!

Raymond and I were lucky to get out of Wichita for a few days over Christmas and surprise his family in St. Louis. His mom had no idea we were coming until we walked through the door. It was wonderful to relax and explore for a couple days before we drove on to Branson and Silver Dollar City.

Raymond had to work on his birthday but we had a nice dinner and cake! New Year's Eve was relaxed with a few friends. It was exactly what we needed. I went back to work expecting to ease into January and was blown away by such a busy schedule. Immediately I jumped into a banquet space renovation project, worked the bridal expo, finished rental pricing changes, and much more.

I'm thrilled to see the space renovations coming along both professionally and personally. Our wedding reception is planned at the Museum! Here's a sneak peek at the new paint color:

Stepping backwards (for an important reason), in December my dad was given an Honorary Degree from Newman University. It was a big day for my mom and family. My dad always wondered if someday he would have given enough time and love to Newman to be considered for such an honor. Unfortunately he was not here to see it happen. We missed him terribly, but my mom gave a fantastic acceptance speech; I'm so proud of her! If only things were different, and he had been here to celebrate and be his usual humble self.

Wedding plans are coming along. Do you have a reasonably priced DJ you would recommend? Please leave me a comment if so! Choosing a caterer led to some tasty research. I was thrilled to pick and order my dress a couple weeks ago at The White Dress.

#Runningfordad 5K Dash+Dine

We're winners! Not really, but we did both finish the 5K Dash+Dine race this morning to benefit United Way of the Plains, so we consider that winning. A group of Museum friends joined us for a great morning.

Think the shirts were bright enough? This was just past the finish line!

Go Team Ivan! Dillon Noller placed 3rd for his age category (impressive!).

This was Raymond's first 5K and I'm so proud of him. We've been making our way to the gym on a regular basis for about four months now and feeling great. We're a team, and we want to be a strong and healthy one!

Raymond: "I did it! Whoop!"

Finish line of his first 5K!

After graduation we created healthy goals to work towards together. Finishing a 5K together was one, and we've been trying to make more meals at home and eat less sugar and fat. After the first month we started to really feel the difference and more energy. I've been #runningfordad since April.

The cooler weather makes me want to go run around and do everything outside, so I'm glad we had the chance this morning while supporting United Way. They're a great organization in Wichita, and taking donations for their annual campaign right now.

Go team Ivan!

I said yes!

Well, he must of liked it.. because he put a ring on it!

That's right, much to my (and everyone else's surprise) Raymond proposed last weekend while we were visiting his family in St. Louis. If you know anything about us, you know that of course I said YES! He picked the ring and I could not be more thrilled with the new bling on my hand or my husband-to-be.



The only people around to take a picture took a blurry one, so... engagement selfie!

I know what you're asking. Do we have a date? No, of course not, he only just asked last week. There's a lot that goes into planning a wedding, and the first thing is to establish a budget. We're still working on that part before we make any decisions. The only thing I have picked is my dress, and that's because I worked in the bridal store for a couple years.



He picked it! I LOVE it, plus he got it at outlet prices -- so proud, I taught him to sale shop!

For any recently engaged gals, the most useful planning website I have found (other than Pinterest -- follow me here) is theknot.com. TheKnot allows you to set up a planning profile, and even has an app to help track check lists and budget sheets. I know this is going to be very helpful throughout the planning process, especially being able to log all wedding-related expenses via iPhone.

He proposed at the St. Louis World Fair Pavillion, and yes, he did get down on one knee! Are you married? We would love to hear your best planning tip or suggestion in making ours a life-long, happy marriage. Please leave a comment!

Yep, my ring looks great with a TREX! Here we come IVAN!