Hey friends! Sorry for my longer than normal delay between posts. We’re finally getting a bit settled into things and blogging has had to take a backseat for a few days. But I’m back and at ‘em! Throughout these next few posts, I’m going to continue recapping all the events leading up to our Franklin, TN wedding celebration:

After an amazing wine-tasting and dinner, the girls and I all headed back to my house for dessert, drinks and gifts. (We sent Dad and Philip to Philip’s parents house for the night.)

MOH Jill and the bridesmaids had all kinds of fun-ness planned. They had a table full of sweets that included all the treats a girl could wish for. This table o’ treats also included a chocolate fountain with assorted fruit, marshmallows and pretzel sticks and an amazing chocolate chip cheeseball made by my mom. (Yes, my Mom took part in all the bachelorette festivities! She’s cool like that.)

Clearly, I was excited about the chocolate fountain.

After enjoying dessert, it was time for “panties on parade”. That’s right folks. This is where the clothesline of lovely panties comes into play.

Each of my lovely bachelorette guests was asked to bring a pair of panties that reflects her style and/or personality.  One by one, I remove each pair from the line and try to match it with the party-goer. Incorrect guesses called for consequences such as a jell-o shot, stick of gum, marshmallow…I’ve heard of it being played numerous ways. Such a fun game! I had a good time trying to match each pair with my girlfriends and even more fun realizing each pair was mine to keep!

After “panties on parade”, Jill asked everyone to take a glass of my favorite drink, pineapple upside-down cake…and my guests raised a glass to toast our friendship and my future with Philip.

After the toast, we all returned to the living room for a quick session of Carmen Electra’s Aerobic Striptease. HUH-LARIOUS. That’s all I can say. Thanks to bridesmaid Megan for bringing these DVDs!

We all worked up a sweat.  Kudos to all my girls for workin’ it with some serious moves!

Next we all grabbed a seat and I opened gifts.

Girls, I can’t thank you enough for all the little pretties you chose for me! You each made my bachelorette party an absolute blast. It was perfect in every way and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with each of you.

XOXO

Love, Mrs. Dial

After Wednesday’s full evening of preparations and last-minute paper crafts,  Thursday morning we all awoke to a delicious homemade breakfast by Momma Farmer and some tasty, perfectly balanced coffee via our new French press.

It was a productive day! Philip and I got our marriage license. (Which miraculously took only 10 minutes.)

Picked up some flip-flops for the beach. Bought a few last-minute gifts. Started packing for the honeymoon.

And one by one, my beautiful bridesmaids began arriving for the evening’s festivities!

As Megan and MOH Jill began hanging up the clothesline for “panties on parade”, I told Dad and Philip they may want to pack up and head out for the evening. It was starting to get VERY girly in there and I had no clue what else my girls had up their sleeves. The guys stayed at Philip’s parents home for the evening.

Our first stop for the evening was Arrington Vineyards, which is just outside of Franklin, TN, out in the country. It’s a beautiful winery owned by Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn fame. (Sorry gals. No Kix sightings that night.)

(Here I am with a few of my lovely bachelorette gal pals…and my beautiful mother!)

(And here I am donning my lovely bride-to-be sash from the bridesmaids. )

See gals. I was smart about this. There wasn’t much they could do to embarrass me way out here in the sticks. (Not that I don’t trust my bridesmaids and gal pals. I TOTALLY DO.) I’ve heard about some horribly embarrassing bachelorette events involving t-shirts and lifesavers, dares with bar-goers and so on. Thankfully they know that’s not my thing, so I really wasn’t in fear of being terribly embarrassed.

Arrington was a superb location for the vibe I was going for. As my guests arrived, clusters of 3-4 girls stepped inside for the wine tasting. Once everyone completed the tasting, we stepped back out to the large covered porch and enjoyed a delightful dinner together. We had beautiful weather and blue skies as far as you could see with a sun that was slowly setting behind the trees. During dinner, we played TableTopics…which was a brilliant move on behalf of MOH Jill. Many of my guests didn’t know each other, so this gave everyone the chance to get more connected and have a central topic to discuss.

Once our delicious dinner and discussions were finished, we snapped a few photos:

I opened a few gifts from the gals who couldn’t come to round 2 of our evening.

Then we took a group photo and packed up to head to our second destination for the night’s bachelorette events – our home.

Thanks to all my beautiful gal pals who joined us for a lovely evening at the vineyard!

The rest of the evening’s events will be saved for tomorrow’s blog post – Wedding Week/end, part 2.5.

Our wedding and honeymoon. I blinked and they were gone! I’m going to rewind a bit to catch you all up on everything!

Thank goodness for the many kind hearts and helping hands that have helped us through all of this.

On Wednesday, June 9, the weekend’s events got VERY real. That was my last day at the office before the wedding and also the day my wonderful parents and amazing MOH (aka my fantastic first cousin) Jill arrived at my place.

What a time we had. While I did my wedding hairdo run through with my stylist friend Lindsey, Mom and Jill completed a few shopping trips and helped me cross a few things off my to-do list. That evening we made yet another trip to Target, cut out hearts for our wedding wish jar and folded, cut and glued wedding programs.

Here we are with our paper crafts:

Not only did we have a fun time with these little DIY projects, Dad and Philip enjoyed getting acquainted with our new Canon Vixia HD video camera!

See, Dad pulled another trick over on me. He is VERY good at this. Earlier that week, Dad plays like he and mom are going to get a new video camera and wants to know the best, top-of-the-line camera out there. He asks me to talk with our videographer and everything. So I get the best of the best from Esteban (our amazing video guy) and share with Dad. Little did we know, he was doing research to get an incredible video camera for US! Dad’s one sly, smart cookie.

That Wednesday was a late night. We were trying to get all these paper crafts finished so we could (somewhat) relax and enjoy the next day to prepare for the bachelorette party! SO FUN! I’ll spill all those details tomorrow. Until then…love much!

Mrs. Dial. XOXO

Philip’s cufflinks came in last week. There’s a pretty neat story behind them.

According to the Kent Wang website where he purchased them, the buttons are made of glass and came from a shop in Bohemia that sold buttons to high couture designers in France. Apparently the shop was seized and shut down by the Germans  when the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939. The buttons had been in storage until Keng Wang acquired them.

How COOL?! I just love that this little piece of history will be a part of our wedding.

Oh Philip. *sigh* You’re so stylish. And I’m so lucky.

Thanks to Faccio Bridal here in Franklin, my beautiful bridesmaids will be outfitted in a lovely dress by Lazaro in a deep purple concord shade. (Not shown below. Color shown is raspberry.) With a perfect v-neck, beautiful ruched fitted waist and hidden pockets (!), I want to order one for myself!

The dresses were ordered right before Christmas and, according to Faccio, the lovelies should arrive in early Spring. Can’t wait to see them on my gals! Stay tuned for more bridesmaid bios. Read about my maid of honor here.

On the weekend of August 29, 2009, my first cousin, Miss Jill Farmer happily said YES to being my Maid of Honor.

That was her birthday weekend and my parents’ anniversary weekend, so it was a perfect time to pop the question. Philip and I were home, in Illinois, and Jill had come over for dinner that evening. All afternoon I’d played out in my mind the different ways to ask her. While dinner was being finished, Jill and I had decided to take a quick stroll on Facebook. Then came the perfect opportunity.

Jill had gotten up to take a quick phone call. While she was up, I opened Google Documents and opened up the word processor. In big, bold letters I typed…

Jill…It would be an honor…if you would be my maid of honor…?

I saved the page and clicked to a different browser tab. Once she returned from her phone call, she sat down and asked “Now where should I click to get to Facebook?”

Here it was…the moment I’d been waiting for…

“Here. Click that one,” I said, strategically pointing to the other tab I’d cleverly disguised. When the Google Document page appeared, she seemed confused for a moment, then I could see she was reading the whole sentence…then a hand went over her mouth as she turned quickly to me, smiling, and said “Really?!”

“Yes!” I said, as we both leapt to our feet and embraced as a happy tear or two ran down our cheeks. This was such a cool moment.

Thankfully she accepted my invitation and has since proved to be the BEST Maid of Honor a girl could ever imagine.

Jill and I have been close nearly as long as I can recall in my memory. Of course, as with every relationship, we’ve had our ups and downs. I attribute any of our not so bright and shining moments to adolescence. Thanks to age, maturity and experience, however, we’ve never been closer…and our bond has continued to strengthen over the past several years.

Jill, thank you for being the sister I never had. I’m so blessed to not only call you family…but also a best friend. I’m grateful our parents raised us both as strong women and I look forward to sharing many, many more significant life events with you. Thank you for being you. I love you.

Jill and Krista through the years…

I have all kinds of exciting wedding updates! We’re definitely making some progress in our wedding planning. Yay! Here’s the latest…

Invitations

We found them! Perfect colors. Amazing price! Check that one off the list.

Photography

Wow, Nashville is full of AMAZING photographers. Seriously. Go over to Google. Search “Nashville wedding photographer”. You will find oodles of incredibly talented, cutting-edge local photographers. Each will have a unique style, as every artist does. You’ll fall in love with one photographer’s portfolio, return to Google and then fall in love with the next.

We’ve finally whittled our list down to two and we’re hoping to decide this weekend.

Bridesmaids

My five beautiful bridesmaids have graciously accepted my invitation to be a part of our big day! These five fabulous females are each incredible ladies. Clearly. I will have full introductions of each one coming soon. I will first introduce Jill, my Maid of Honor, who has ALREADY been in contact with the other bridesmaids. They’re already exchanging details about a bridal shower and the bachelorette party! These girls are WITH it! So thankful for you gals.

Attire

I’ve already announced I’m wearing my mother’s wedding gown – which I think is just darn cool.

Last weekend Jill (MOH) came down to Nashville and we drove allll around town looking through dresses at our local bridal salons. I think we went to seven or eight…can’t remember. We browsed dresses from 10 am – 2 pm and I’m pretty sure Jill tried on about 20 dresses. Little did we know we could’ve stopped at the very first salon we visited. Pretty sure we’ve found the perfect bridesmaid dress! Don’t want to give away too many details yet…all I’m saying is Lazaro. It’s lovely. And comfortable. And knee length. And made of tissue taffeta. Agh! Can’t wait to share.

After a long day of running around playing dress-up, Jill and I went to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens & Museum of Art in Belle Meade for free day. (Many Nashville attractions have free days throughout the year…which is awesome!) Cheekwood is a beautiful historic estate that attracts many visitors and families throughout the year. It’s also the backdrop for many weddings and large events. They were actually setting up for a wedding in the back lawn when we were there. Here are some photos we took at Cheekwood:

Stay tuned for bridesmaid introductions!

(aka Family trip to New Orleans, part 2)

If you’ve read my previous posts, you may recall that my parents and I traveled to New Orleans a few weekends ago. While we were there, I was taking note of all the possibilities New Orleans offers a bride and groom.

Yes, we’re having a Nashville wedding, but since Philip and I have been engaged and I’ve been out of town the past three weekends, my mind has been racing with ideas and I’ve been gleaning inspiration from everywhere I traveled in that short amount of time. I wanted to share my findings here for those of you who may be looking for a great place to have a wedding celebration.

We took the Amtrak passenger train from Carbondale, IL to New Orleans, which took about 14 hours. Whew! The great thing about a train, however, is you don’t have to worry about directions, restrooms or food stops. Everything is on board! I really enjoyed the ride.

You have a variety of options for getting to New Orleans from Nashville. If you’re interested in taking the train, drive three hours down to Memphis and then board at the Memphis Amtrak station for an easy 8-hour train ride. According to Google Maps, it’s about an 8-hour car ride from here or if you prefer to save some time, Southwest Airlines can get you from Nashille to Nawlins on a 1.5 hour nonstop flight.

New Orleans offers all the amenities a wedding party needs to throw a perfect, fun celebration. The city offers a multitude of outdoor activities, historical sites, boutiques, antiques, music, food and more!

A location I can specifically recommend for a wedding party is the Bienville House – a beautiful boutique hotel located in the French Quarter.

The Bienville House is a Three Diamond hotel that was voted the Best Boutique Hotel by City Search in 2007. It occupies two 18th century warehouse buildings and is located in the heart of the French Quarter, only three blocks from Bourbon Street and 20 minutes from Louis Armstrong International Airport.

I felt like royalty during our entire stay at the Bienville House. From my experience, their staff is amazingly attentive and keenly focused on serving your every need, expectation and desire. Looking for a good coffee shop? They can help you get to the closest one. Need your clothing pressed? They’ll get it taken care of. They offer a complimentary continental breakfast with Starbucks coffee every morning, but if you want a delicious, hot breakfast, they’ll make a reservation for you down the street.

Not to mention, my room was beautiful, spacious and very comfortable. With its high-ceilings and comfy, complimentary robes (Free to use, not to take, of course.), I can only imagine how luxurious their suites are! Here are some pictures of one of their suites:

If we were having a New Orleans wedding, you bet I would call on their Director of Sales and Marketing, Erin Boreros, to help with the planning. I have no doubt that Erin and her team at the Bienville House would make my rehearsal dinner, honeymoon accommodations or reception a huge success.

Erin, thanks for making us all feel very welcome and comfortable. You certainly have my business on our next trip to your beautiful city.

Have questions about my experience in New Orleans or at the Bienville House? Leave a comment here or email me – becomingmrsdial | at | gmail | dot | com.

Want to get in touch with the fine folks at the Bienville House? Call their front desk at 1-800-535-9603 or get more info by visiting their website here.

I’m definitely looking forward to visiting The Crescent City again soon.

Our wedding date and location are confirmed!

Philip and I will exchange vows on June 12, 2010 at our church home, Journey Church (aka Building 8) at The Factory in Franklin, TN.

Journey is the perfect venue for the unique, warm atmosphere we’re looking for for our wedding day. Here’s a little peek of a few other weddings that have taken place at Journey. (Just to give you a glimpse of the space.)

Before:

After:

I love the wrought iron candle decor. They use these each Sunday at church, so I’m pretty sure we’ll get to use these too.

I’m thinking deep royal purple and baby mint green for my colors. I think these colors will look beautiful in this space. Thoughts?

Liza, a Nashville bridal coach and top blogger over at the Official Maiden To Married Blog, just shared this video of an incredibly unique bridal party entrance. I love it!

I’ll admit. This video put a gigantic, teary-eyed smile on my face. I’m definitely showing this to Philip to see what inspiration we can draw from it.