Wedding Wednesday - Pre-Ceremony

I know, I know.  It's been forever.  I have been a BUSY little beaver, and have completed lots of projects around the house.  I have documented most of it and will be posting about that soon.  Meanwhile, it's time for another installment of Wedding Wednesday.  Today I'll show you pictures of the pre-ceremony.

The morning of the wedding, some super sweet ladies prepared a wonderful breakfast for my bridesmaids and me.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that, but it was such a fun time! After the breakfast, we split into three groups--some of us went to the reception site to check on the decorations, some went to the church to see what the florist had done the night before (she had to go out of town the night before the wedding so we hadn't seen anything that she'd done at the church), and some went back to my mom's house to start getting ready. My sweet sister and amazing cousin (who, by the way, was over 8 months prego at the time!!!!) took on the task of doing everyone's hair and makeup.....they worked their BUTTS off and then only had about 15 minutes to get themselves ready!!

I love this picture!  This is my cousin, Marci, who was over 8 months pregnant.....that's sweet little Tucker in her belly!

One of my sister's beautiful creations!! Ashley Rose has A LOT of hair so this was quite the task, but my sister has some serious skills!!

Sooooo, due to a little mis-communication, there were no pew markers at the church when we went to check it out the morning of the wedding.  My super-hero cousin was not only my resident makeup artist, but she was also our emergency florist!

True to fashion, I started getting a migraine the morning of the wedding so my sweet Aunt Deb rubbed my neck and back and saved the day!

This picture makes me laugh so hard....and is another reminder of the most memorable bachelorette party ever.  Less than a month before the wedding, we went to Kansas City for my bachelorette party. We had been there all of 30 minutes and my finger gets slammed in a window and we spent the rest of the night in the emergency room! Not only had the window busted through my acrylic nail, my real nail, and cut my nailbed to the bone, it also broke my finger! So, due to this unfortunate accident, I had only 9.25 fingernails on the my wedding day and had to resort to press-on nails....how classy is that?! ha!

This is my great-grandmother's cameo pin that I pinned on my bouquet to be my something old.  This was really special to me because I never got to meet her.  She died when my grandmother was only 16.  I've heard she was an amazing seamstress--I like to tell myself that this is where I got my love for all things crafty!

Daddy, if you're reading this, PLEASE don't kill me!  I just couldn't resist putting these pictures on here!  I gave my dad his gift right before the ceremony, and my photographer caught it all.  I gave him an antique handkerchief that I had embroidered with a sweet message. It said:  "Daddy, you'll always be the first man I ever loved.  Love, Erin"  It is such a true statement and I wanted him to know that, even though I was getting married, I would always be his little girl.  I gave my mom a charm bracelet with an engraved charm that said "All that I am, or ever will be is because of you," and it had my wedding date on the back. Unfortunately, I had given that to her earlier in the day before the photographer was around so I don't have any pictures, but she really liked it.  My mama is the strongest, smartest, hardest working woman I know, and she has always been there for me no matter what. I love her dearly!

My bridesmaids made me write my full maiden name one last time.  It was so weird to think that that was the last time I would write it and it still be my name!

My mom and sister (my Matron of Honor) helping me with my dress!  Love them both SO much!

Putting on the veil...one of my favorite parts of my dress!

 

 

 

I know, I know....I had the CUTEST flower girls ever!  Stella (on the left) and Presley Kate (on the right).

This is my sweet Aunt Deb putting the sixpence in my shoe. The sixpence was my something borrowed, and it was SO very special.  This was the exact same sixpence that my grandaddy put in her shoe on her wedding day.  My grandaddy passed away when I was only 15, and it was nice to think that I had a little piece of him there with me.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to wedding planning extraordinaire, Mrs. Ashley Rose Rausch!  I was one lucky bride because one of my best friends and bridesmaids is a certified event planner, and she is DANG good at it!  Ashley, I cannot thank you enough for everything you did!

My Maid of Honor (and bff) ,Morgan, putting my garters on for me. Morgan worked her little fingers to the bone the weekend of my wedding, and was the best Maid of Honor I could have ever asked for.

I love this picture.  Both of my flower girls were in awe of my wedding dress that day, and it was the cutest thing ever. I may be a little biased, but I was kind of in awe of my wedding dress too!  =)

....and I leave you with this....my handsome Daddy!  I love this man.

Well, that's it for today's edition of Wedding Wednesday.  See you all soon.

Wedding Wednesday

I realize that my one year anniversary is just around the corner, but I still consider myself a newlywed!  My wedding day was one of the happiest days of my life and the wedding itself was more than I could have ever imagined. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to do a "Wedding Wednesday" section to share the details of all of my wedding festivities.

Today, I want to share pictures from my rehearsal dinner.  My mother-in-law and some of her friends did an absolutely wonderful job putting this all together.  The dinner was held at a place called Lee's Catfish and Steakhouse.  I know, I know....it sounds awfully redneck, but it was absolutely perfect!  Lee's is a great low-key, laid back, restaurant that has great food, a large banquet room, and live music.  Carey is your typical outdoors man so my mother-in-law chose a fishing theme and decorated accordingly.

Galvanized buckets with the favors.

These are the adorable cookies that were given as party favors.  Obviously, I'm from Texas and Carey is from Arkansas.  Can you see the little silver beads located in Northeast Texas (where I'm from) and South Arkansas (where Carey's from)?  Now, do you see the yellow heart in Northwest Arkansas?  That represents Fayetteville--where we met and fell in love.  How.Cute.Is.That?!?!?!

My new family!  Terry (my mother-in-law) is on the right, MawMaw (Carey's grandmother) is in the middle, and Janet (she doesn't have a formal title, but she's Carey's mom's very best friend and is a HUGE part of our lives--she and her husband, Jim, are the absolute kindest souls you will ever meet!).



A nice shot of how the tables were set up and some of the decorations.

My mom and dad!  Love them soooo much!

Carey with his Dad (Pat) and his step-mom (Mandy).  I love how happy they look in this picture!  It's just proof of how wonderful this entire weekend was!

I love his picture of my sister (Whitney/Sister/Sissy) and her husband (Nate....aka: Nater, Brother, but he's known to most as "Sweet Nate").  Don't you love candid photos that catch such sweet moments?

Yes, I realize that this is a MOST unflattering picture of me, but that pretty much sums up my emotions for the entire night.  Carey and I took a moment to thank everyone for coming and this was the moment when I was trying to thank thanking my parents for everything that they had done for Carey and me, and for making my wedding so special.....buuuut, as you can see I barely made it through my speech without losing it.

Another amazing candid my photographer caught.  I absolutely love this picture with my parents in the foreground looking at Carey and me.

Yes, you don't have to tell me....CUTEST.PICTURE.EVER....I know!  This is Carey holding one of our flower girls, Presley Kate.  She loves her "Cousin Carey" and my amazing photographer caught them in action.

Well, that's all for the rehearsal dinner.  Next time on "Wedding Wednesday" I'll feature pictures of the actual wedding day!

Toodles,

Erin

My Dirty Little Secret

I have a confession to make.....I, Erin Antoon, am addicted.  I'm addicted to torturing myself.  Let me explain.....

....I torture myself by online window shopping for things I cannot afford!  I do this for a lot of things--clothes, shoes, home decor, jewelry, and even makeup!  Clothing is where I spend most of my "window shopping" time so I thought I would share with you a few of my current obsessions.  I just want to clarify that I do not spend a lot of money on clothes.  Those of you that know me, know that I am an EXTREME tight-wad and very rarely have on an outfit that isn't mostly from Forever21 or Target.  I love a good bargain!  BUT, I also appreciate beautiful designer clothes--a girl can dream, right?!

I have an extreme love affair with Rebecca Taylor. While I do not own a single piece of clothing from her line, I consistently find myself drooling over her things online.  Here are a few of my favorite pieces right now (all of these images are from www.shopbop.com and you can click on the images to view or purchase!)

Seriously?! How cute is this dress?!? I would totally rock this to a wedding or a fancy party with a great pair of strappy heels.

Capes are huge right now and this cape is beautiful!  I love that it has that military look to it (also huge right now) and my favorite part is that it has the belt that can cinch in your waist.  While I love the cape trend, it can sometimes make you look larger than you really are....the belt on this cape would totally remedy that.

I have the luxury of being able to wear jeans to work everyday (don't be jealous!) and my go-to wardrobe this winter has been skinnies or jeggings with boots and a flowy top.  This would definitely fit in to my rotation of flowy tops!

Ohhhhh Rebecca, how you torture me!!!  The color, the cut, the ruffles....what's not to love about this coat?!?  Oh yeah, the ridiculous price tag! ha!

What a perfect little dress.  Not only can it go from casual to dressy with a shoe change, but it can also go from spring (with a cardigan), to summer (no cardigan), to fall/winter (with tights and a jacket).  I'm picturing it on a fun Saturday lunch date with the girls with strappy gold flats, a neutral palette makeup, and flowy waves. OR, throw on some fun wedges, darken the eye makeup a little and give your hair some bouncy curls and you have a great outfit for date night with your honey. Got a wedding you need to go to?! No problem...grab your go-to strappy metallic heels, give yourself a great green-black smokey eye, and pull your hair back into a soft, curly up-do. All you need are some banging earrings and you are good to go!

Sooo, my apologies if I have now gotten someone else hooked on this, but I felt like I needed to confess my little secret.  Maybe one day I will be able to afford these beautiful clothes, but until then, I will rock my thrifty outfits with pride!! 

Toodles,

Erin

Our First Home

The hubs and I officially became homeowners on December 10, 2010 and it was such a great day!  We had decided to wait until Summer 2011 to start house hunting, but the interest rates got so low we thought it wouldn't hurt anything to go ahead and start looking.  We had been looking for a few months and were about to give up when our realtor took us to this house. As soon as I walked in the front door, I knew I had to have this house!

This is definitely a house that we will be in for awhile, and start our family in.  It's four bedrooms, and three baths--one of the bedrooms and bathrooms is a bonus room above the garage.  It has beautiful hardwood floors and wonderfully tall ceilings.  There are a few things that we want to change over time, but for the most part, it's perfect!  So, here's a tour of our house--these pictures were taken before we painted and moved any furniture in. I will definitely be posting more pictures as I finish decorating the rooms, but it's a slow process and each room is only partly finished.

Me and the Hubs on closing day!!

For some reason, the only picture I have of the entire front of the house is the one I took this week after it snowed.

This is the view of the living room as you walk in the front door. I'm thinking about changing the tile around the fireplace eventually....who knows....I'll probably change my mind 100 times before we actually get ready to change it.

The view of the dining room and front door from the corner of the living room.

Kitchen!  We plan on replacing the counter tops with granite and putting a great glass tile on the back splash. We've also been throwing around the idea of glazing the cabinets.  This isn't happening anytime soon, but it's definitely on the list of "Things to Change in the Future"!

Looking at the breakfast nook from the kitchen--please excuse the horrible picture quality.

Master Bedroom--this picture doesn't show it very well, but it's actually a pretty big room! I love it!

Master bathroom.  Yes, this room was FOR SURE painted before we moved in. This room is also the next room on our "To Do" list--we plan on changing out the brass fixtures. 

Guest bathroom....and me in the mirror. Ha!

Another picture of the guest bathroom.  At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about the wallpaper, but it's grown on me and I'm liking it more and more everyday.

One of the guest bedrooms downstairs.  This one has two closets in it, which you can see in the picture above.

This is the closet on the left in the picture above this one--the closet on the right has the hanging bars and a few more shelves. This picture doesn't show it very well, but this is actually a huge closet--I fit a full size desk in the bottom of this closet. It has officially been declared my "craft closet" and I could not be more excited to put it to use!

The other guest bedroom is the same size, but with just one closet.

This is the bonus room that is upstairs above the garage.  Since Carey works from home this is his office and it is also our workout room. 

The back deck (with the previous owners' furniture and grill still out there, ha!)

And, finally, the back yard!  No, that's not our dog....we took this picture and the one above during the inspection when the previous owners still lived there.

This is our dog child, Bradi:

Well, I hope you enjoyed our house tour.  Until next time....

Toodles,

Erin