Our website!

I have mentioned how awesome the website www.theknot.com is and so I thought I should share with you our wedding website that I created for Nick & I.

http://BrooksAndPugh.ourwedding.com

I hope you enjoy our wedding website!

Kerri Photography!

There are hundreds of different photographers out there to choose from but one that caught my eye was Kerri Photography. Kerri Photography is run by kerri Salow who is actually originally from my hometown, Earlville. She now lives near Des Moines. What caught my eye about her was the fact that she did my cousin's wedding photos a couple years ago and I fell in love with her work. She has great creativity and her pictures are so eye-catching. There was no doubt in my mind that I had to have her for our wedding!

I contacted Kerri about a month ago to get information from her regarding her photography and she gave me the following:

• Website: www.kerriphotography.com
• Blog: www.kerrisalowphotography.blogspot.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kerri-Photography

I highly recommend you check out her blog, it is filled with amazing pictures!! And you will learn a thing or two about Kerri, she is awesome!

Also check out her facebook page!

2 weeks...

I graduate exactly 2 weeks from today so wedding-related-things are not necessarily on my mind at all right now. Things that are on my mind right now are:

• Finals
• Lining up a job for after graduation
• Moving out of Coe College
• Last minute get togethers with friends
• Studying, studying, studying...

There is a lot going on these last two weeks of college so my mind is far from thinking about wedding plans as sad as that is to say. I know that once these two weeks are over though, that the wedding plans will pick up right where I left off!

Unfortunately, since I am so busy these last two weeks of school, that leaves me little to no time to see Nick. :(  That is probably one of the hardest things to deal with in our relationship, the long periods of time apart. Nick knew, getting into this relationship that he was going to have to deal with me living in Cedar Rapids most of the time while he lives in Manchester (nearly an hour apart). In reality, an hour is not that bad. When we go weeks without seeing each other though, it is taxing on our relationship. It creates tension sometimes, not because we want to be mad at each other but because we are striving to see each other so badly.

I am praying that these last two weeks do not create any tension between the two of us but brings us closer. I also pray that my finals do not stress me out too much.

Advice to Couples

The Knot

At the time, wedding plans are very slow right now due to graduation being less than two weeks away and since I am job searching right now for after graduation. Even though I am not making any major wedding plans right now I have found some GREAT websites to use for when the wedding plans to pick up.

Currently, my favorite site is The Knot! I encourage you all to check it out. I also joined their weekly newsletter that gets sent out to all brides who sign up for it. I also get a countdown from this site for when my wedding is. Hope you all love the site as much as I do, I highly recommend you check it out...I could easily spend hours on this site myself :)

Save the Date Ideas...

This summer Nick and I will be getting out engagement pictures taken and shortly after that we will be sending out our "Save the Date's". Now, there are many unique ideas for Save the Date's these days. Putting your Save the Date on magnets is a very popular trend right now and a great keepsake at that!

There are so many ideas out there, and it's really fun to make your Save the Date resemble the theme of your wedding or show the uniqueness of the couple in some way. Below are a few ideas, my favorites that I have found (thanks to pinterest!).

This one is my favorite and Nick and I will probably
use this format for ours because the dates of our
meeting and first date and engagement are all very important
to us :)

Do the Math=very simple and unique!

If I could get Nick to be in on this I think it could be VERY cute!

Very simple and to the point, my mom would probably prefer this,
money saver for sure!

I would love to do this to showcase more of our
engagement photos

PUPPIES!!!!!!

9 months into our relationship, Nick got a puppy for me, which we named Zoe. I have always been a lover of Huskies; Zoe was a 3 month old husky when we recieved her, with one blue eye and one brown eye. I fell in love with her from Day 1. Since Nick and I did not have a place of our own yet at this point (with me being in college and all), Nick's parents graciously let Zoe live out on their farm until Nick and I move in together. This gave Zoe all the running space she wanted.

A little over 2 years of owning Zoe, we were surprised to find out that she was pregnant. Thanks to the nearby neighbor dog, Zoe was going to be having puppies.

Sunday morning as I sat in church taking in the word of the Lord from our pastor up at the pulpit, I glanced down at my cell phone which sat on the pew between my mom and I and realized that I had a text message from Nick. Luckily I left my phone on silent; eager to see what he had to say I opened the text discreetly and it read: Zoe had her puppies this morning. If I had not been sitting in church I would have screamed out in excitement. I kept my cool but quickly shared the text with my mom. At this point in the church service I had completely missed the point of the sermon but was so enthralled in the good news that Zoe was a mommy that I didn't really care.

Now, a month later, the puppies are growing so quickly and I play with them every chance I get when I am home. Unfortunately, there is no way we can keep them so now we are eager to sell them. Although, I am hoping to be able to keep at least one of them :) We will have to see about that...

The only 2 that are not all black. The one on the left looks like a
mini-Zoe and the one on the right looks like a german shephard.

All 6 of Zoe's puppies in one take!

St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick’s Day has never been that big of a deal to me. My favorite part of the holiday was just going to the local St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dyersville (literally a 10 minute drive from home). While I have been living in Cedar Rapids, attending Coe College the past four years I haven’t had the chance to attend or even celebrate St. Patrick’s Day back home. Well, for the first time in a long time I had it off this year so I decided to go home and celebrate it with Nick.

Nick is Catholic, so for him this is an important holiday (or so he says). I think he just likes the opportunity to go out with his buddies at night and get all decked out in green. The Saturday of St. Patrick’s Day is when the annual Dyersville St. Patrick’s Day parade is held so Nick and I made plans to go together and meet up with some of my cousins that were going to be there. Before Nick made his way to my house to pick me up, he went to pick his nephew, Dominic, to bring him along to the parade. The parade was a surprise for Dominic, he had no idea where we were going.

Boy, did we have a fun day together, just us three! Dominic loved the parade, except for the loud sirens from the fire trucks L Every time a fire truck drove by Dominic would stand behind Nick or sit on Nick’s lap and make Nick cover his ears until they were completely past. Aside from that ruckus, Dominic loved the surprise! Nick and I had a good time too J

PS! Something new I learned this year is EXACTLY why we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! Check it out if you honestly have no idea! St. Patrick’s Day celebration

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Me trying on my Mother's wedding dress

My mother's 70's style wedding dress fit me to a T. As my mom pulled it out of her closet, the smell of "old" filled the room. The dress seemed very long on the hanger, too long for me. "Can I try it on?" I asked my mom as we glanced at the long ivory dress together. She took it off the hanger and handed it to me. I pulled it on and it felt very frail as I pulled it up over my petite body. I slipped my arms through each arm hole; the sleeves were so thin, my dark complexion shone through them. After adjusting the shoulders my mom zipped me up in the back. Not too tight, but not too loose. I turned around to let her get a glance and sure enough it fit me, just the way it should.

I was in disbelief that my mom was once at the exact same size as I am. "You could wear this for your wedding." my mom announced, jokingly, "all I would have to do is get it cleaned for you." I laughed and said, "I think it's a bit out-of-date for me, but thanks!"

A Little Girl's Dream

Many little girls dream about their wedding...I was one of them. This picture proves it:

As a little girl I dreamt about my wedding day. I dreamt about every little detail, I just didn't know who was going to be playing the role of the groom. That was to be decided. Now that I have a ring on my finger I can finally put all these dreams and ideas to work. I have found the perfect man to play the part of the groom; together we can dream about our wedding day...

Disagreement: Mustang or not?

It is pretty common to have disagreements between couples. If we were all the same, life would be pretty boring. Even though having a disagreement with Nick can sometimes be frustrating, it ends up bringing us closer and I know I appreciate the disagreements because it means we are both different and that is what makes us so special.

Our latest disagreement was, of course, over wedding plans/ideas. I am a lover of Mustangs...

Any color, any kind, I love them all! So, ever since I started falling in love with Mustangs (which was before I fell in love with Nick) I have always wanted to drive away in a Mustang at my wedding. Last weekend, Nick and I were spending time at his parent's house and talking about wedding plans. I asked what he thought about using his aunt's mustangs (his aunt owns 6 Mustangs....I admire her for that) and he asked, "Why can't we just use a party bus?" I was confused; I thought he knew that I always wanted Mustangs for our wedding "get away" vehicle. I explained how, when we drive away after the wedding I want it to just be the two of us for that moment (not the entire wedding party surrounding us). I guess he disagreed because he was okay with the thought of leaving the wedding as a group. I thought it would be pretty cool to have each of the bridesmaids/groomsman leave in a different one of his aunt's Mustangs. Nick came back with, "Who do you expect to drive these Mustangs?"...well I have been thinking about this for quite some time so I knew my answer right away, "Our uncles..." I said simply. I have 2 uncles that live nearby that I know would love to help by driving us around before the reception and Nick has more than enough that would be willing to help. We never did settle the issue....It's still open for debate. There are ups and downs of each idea: using a party bus vs. different Mustangs for each couple.

Another reason I really want to drive away in a vehicle (Mustang) with just the two of us is because I always dreamed of this:

The sound of aluminum cans hitting the pavement, colorful strings flying in the air, and my veil blowing out of the window as we are driven away. And the last thing you see: "Just Married" on the back of the MUSTANG