10 Days

Guys... I get married in 10 days! It's kind of surreal, really. I've been waiting almost 15 months for my wedding day, and now it's just 10 short days away! Crazy.

Anyways, I'm sure you can only imagine how busy I've been these last few weeks... Sorry little blog! You've been neglected. But I wanted to update y'all on some things... A lot has happened since I got my wisdom teeth out. Mostly just pictures of my dogs, and preparations for the wedding.

• See, pictures of my dogs! Gotta love a Melvin montage. Mac kinda got snuffed on this post. But I did get him looking emo in the middle.

• I took my bridal portraits! 
• I celebrated Easter

• I watched Scott work on his smoker. Can't wait for the puppy to be done! 

• Went to Aly's wedding. Gah, she made a beautiful bride. We've been planning our weddings together ever since we got engaged last year. It's been so much fun! Her wedding turned out so beautiful too. 

Props, surprise, ugly face(I won that one), and normal...

I stole this picture from Aly's facebook. I can't believe I didn't manage to get a picture of her! But seriously, how gorgeous is she!?! Isn't her dress is amazing?!

• Made my rehearsal bouquet... Ok, I didn't make it, but my aunt did :)

• Made my escort cards.

• Ordered a canvas from Costco for half the price at Walgreens. Success in my book!

I can't wait to share more wedding updates with y'all. Be looking for my bachelorette party post in the near future.

I have to link this post up with Shanna today because it's REALLY random!!! Whoop Random Wednesday!

Bridal Shower

Hello friends, I am back and ready to share my bridal shower with you! I finally got the pictures back, sorry they weren't taken with a fancy camera, but they're pictures nonetheless!

Let me tell you, my friends and family know how to make a bride feel loved/blessed/special... Like I'm overwhelmed by the love these ladies showered me with last Saturday. We made memories that I will cherish!

The day went something like this...Everyone arrived between 2 and 2:30. We munched on yummy chips, veggies, dips, taquitos, nuts and wraps oh and I can't forget the sweet bundtini's (pictured below). We played a few games, one of them being "Guess how many" and the other "How well do you know the bride" quiz. Some of the answers were hysterical. My MOH scored the highest with 10/15 right. Needless to say, it was pretty tough! We then went on to opening gifts, my bridesmaids being first. They scored custom hangers for the day of, and coach purses...They were upset they didn't get two piece velour suits, but a purse would suffice. Then it was my turn to ascend the mountains of gifts set aside for me. It took quite a bit of time, but I'm oh so grateful for them. Our house is starting to look more and more adult with all of our new matching goodies! Matching silverware, dishes, drinking glasses, wine glasses, and list goes on. SO MUCH FUN!

Ok, now are you ready for a boat load of pictures? Here you go!

Me and my bridesmaids with our dress of hangers. Isn't it funny how Bailey and Anne are wearing pretty much the same thing?! Down below is me and my mom and my two grandmas, maw maw and mee maw! I love those ladies.

Pictures of my bridesmaids opening their gift from me and some other shower guests... Love baby Elliott!

Some highlights: hot plate, "Scott & Brooke Hamilton" wall hanging, white wavy bowl, "Austin" apron, Butter dish!, "Hamilton" tote!, and antique bracelet. 

 

My rehearsal dinner dress, a new bathing suit for the honeymoon and a VS gift card ;) and much much more!

Last but certainly not least, pictures of me with the shower hosts.

My mom, Aunt Sally and Aunt Kim put this shower together for me and I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out. From all the little details, to the special gifts I received. Speaking of which, I wanted to share two special things I got, that I will be wearing on my big day.

First being diamond stud earrings. Let me give you some back story. I chose my date to be April 20th, because I wanted April, and a Saturday, and it also my Aunt and Uncles Anniversary. I thought it would be special to share our Anniversaries. This was the note I got with the earrings:

"I am so happy you have found such a wonderful man to share the rest of your life with. As we go forward and share our 'Anniversary Day' I'm sharing with you a gift that I received from Uncle Jeff many years ago on one of our Anniversaries. I hope you love them as much as I do. I wish you health and happiness and a little 'sparkle' for the future!" 

I can't come up with the words for how thankful I am. I was completely shocked when I opened these up. and yes, there were tears shed when I read this to everyone...It made me quite emotional!

That's not the only piece of jewelry I opened up... My mom passes her 150 year old antique bracelet down to me. It was given to my grandma from her cousin when she was little girl. It was then given to my mom for her wedding and my Aunt Kim used it for hers. I adore this heirloom bracelet, and will wear it as my something old on my wedding day.

Wow, sorry for such a long winded post. If you stuck around, I thank you! It was oh so fun reliving that day!

Weekend Shenanigans!

This weekend was a blast, to say the least! I am counting my blessing on this Monday morning. I saw/felt/gave so much love over the weekend. Let me recap!

Friday started off by catching up with my BFF, Bailey. She came into town for my bridal shower, so it was fun giving her all the deets on the wedding plans thus far. We also took a surprise trip up to iFly for her Boyfriend's Belated Birthday celebration! It's an indoor skydiving facility(seriously, what will they think of next?!) If you're in Austin, I highly recommend it. Scott and I didn't get to do it this time, but watching them was hysterical! I can't wait to try it myself! Lord knows I won't be doing the real thing!

 

How awesome is that?!

Afterwards, we went to our neighborhood hole in the wall, and it was like a high school reunion! So fun running into everyone there, just like old times.

Saturday I celebrated my good friend Aly, at her Bridal shower. I love that girl! We've been planning our weddings together ever since we got engaged and I can't tell you how awesome it's been to share advice, struggles, celebrations with someone else going through the same thing you are. It was great seeing her and all of our friends together.!

Later that day, it was my turn! We had actually planned our showers on the same day, imagine that! They were at different times, so it worked out nicely. My shower was hosted by my mom, Aunt Kim, and Aunt Sally. They did such a great job! I was so surprised with how everything turned out. But more on that later this week. I can't wait to show y'all the pictures and share some special gifts I received. The ladies in my life  really know how to make me feel loved!

Just a preview of the little bunt cakes that we had. They were so yummy!

Sunday I witnessed my in-laws beautiful vow renewal. It was their 40th Anniversary. What inspiration! I'm going to do a special post on that too!

I hope y'all had a fun weekend as well!
I'm linking up with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans!

Wedding Update

I started this blog shortly after I got engaged and realized I haven't posted any official updates on how wedding plans are going. Sure I've posted here and there about wedding related things, but not a full blown out post. So if you're interested, stick around. With only 72 days to go, we've gotten quiet a bit of things done. hallelujah

When is the wedding? April 20th.

We've been engaged a little over a year and one month. I seriously can't believe how fast the time has flown by! Each new day closer to becoming Mrs. Hamilton.
The great thing about this engagement is that it has been, relatively speaking, stress-free! I only say this because we booked probably 80% of our venders in the first 1-2 months of being engaged. Only now have things started to pick up.

We picked our wedding venue first, just as every wedding guide says to do.We went with Green Pastures, an Austin original. It's a beautiful Victorian house that sits on five acres of land tucked away in a neighborhood off of South First Street. It's well known for their delicious cuisine, beautiful and historic estate, and the peacocks! This place really is a gem! I couldn't be more happy to be getting married here.

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Photographer: Allen Doberenz, hands down, was our first option for our photographer. Since it was over a year out, we were able to book him and we are so glad we did! He's easy to work with, reasonably priced for his amazing work, and he's personable and makes you feel comfortable. We had no idea how our engagement pictures would turn out, because heck, it's a little awkward having someone take pictures of you for three hours. But he's magical or something because they turned out awesome! I posted a few pictures from our engagement session here. I recommend Doberenz Photography for any of you Austin brides. He's the bomb!

Ceremony & Reception: we’re having both our ceremony and reception at Green Pastures. They offer multiple locations for the ceremony. We wanted it to be outside because we are both pretty "outdoorsy" so we went with a great big area underneath oak trees. The reception is inside their great room.

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Colors: soft pink and navy blue. Originally, I want just soft pink, but my MoH talked me into throwing a splash of navy blue in the mix. I am loving this combo too! I've actually seen these colors a lot lately, but someone is always going to have your color combo, no matter what it is, so you just have to deal with it.

Flowers: I had the HARDEST time finding my florist and finally hit gold with Exuisite Petals. For some reason, every florist I called never wanted to contact me back. I guess they didn't want my money? Oh well, it all worked out in the end. This is an example of what I like. Lots of spray roses, garden roses, and peonies! Love the lambs ear too.

Caterer/Cake: these are both included in your reservation with Green Pastures. Have you ever eaten there? If you have, then you would know that you wouldn't want any other caterer than GP. And holy jackpot, they make both the bride and grooms cakes!! Whoop! I love the simplicity of this cake. I'm hoping they can recreate it for my wedding :) I'm not sure what I want the grooms cake to look like yet, but they have a lot of options to pick from at GP.

Rehearsal dinner: we’re having our rehearsal dinner at Z'Tejas down on 6th Street. There is a separate house next to the restaurant that they rent out for parties, which is perfect for this occasion. I plan on making a picture slide show to play during the dinner. The Hamilton's are hosting. :)

Save the Dates:We used Wedding Paper Divas for all of our stationary so far, including our save the dates! We went with the postcard style, which saved us from stuffing envelopes and a little bit on postage, score!

Invitations: I finally get to show you what our invitations look like! We sent them out at the end of January, so it's safe to show everyone here :) At the beginning of planning, I found these invitations(on wedding paper divas) and they've been stuck in my head ever since. When it was time to pick them out, we came across a few contenders, but I still loved the first ones the most, so we went with them.

Wedding bands: we have yet to actually purchase mine, but we already picked it out. There is a matching set to my engagement ring, which makes things much easier. We plan on getting it later this month. As for Scott, he will be wearing his grandfathers wedding band. When he tried it on this past summer, it fit perfectly. On the inside it is engraved with his grandparents names and wedding date which is so SO special. I love that it's a family ring. It's a plain white gold band, which is what he was going to pick out anyways. Plain perfection :)

Wedding dress: there's not much I can share about this, but I will say that it's a Tara Keely dress, I got it at Blush bridal, and it's white :). I also posted about it here. I have purchased a lot of other accessories to go with my dress so far too, which include: veil, hair comb, earrings, shoes, and garters.

Wedding party: we wanted a fairly small wedding party and that's just what we got! We each have 2 bridesmaids/groomsmen and my maid of honor and his best man. We are also including our friends Thane and Amy as members of our wedding party because Thane so graciously agreed to marry us. He is on the ball and already got certified to be our officiant. We couldn't be happier. It's definitely more our style. Oh, the bridesmaids will be wearing this dress, and the groomsmen will be wearing khaki colored suits.

Honeymoon: we’re going to Roatan, Honduras!!! This is actually the first time I'm announcing this to the public! I know you're probably like "what, Honduras?" BUT omg it's beautiful there. I said from the beginning that I wanted a beachy honeymoon with adventure in the mix. Honduras will provide both of those things and more! I want to expand on this topic in a separate post, so be on the look out for that!

A rather lengthy post, but I hope that helps some of you future brides in planning. I have enjoyed checking all of these things off our growing list of things to do. Some of these topics I will be expanding on after the wedding ;)

One year of Engagement

Happy New Year everyone! While most of you will be celebrating the new year, I will be celebrating one year of engagement!

Last year we went skiing and were here for New Years. We were cooking dinner(chili) and getting ready for our drive home the next morning. Before we sat down to eat, Scott popped the question! We drank at least two bottles of champagne and ate our chili dinner. We told ourselves that we should make it a tradition to eat chili and drink champagne on New Years day from now on. SO we are sticking to our word, and cooking chili tonight and drinking champagne. I love this tradition, as weird as it sounds!

We are still in Angel Fire, skiing our little butts off. Yesterday it was 19 degrees and it snowed all day long. This Texas girl can't really hang in those conditions. I made 3 runs and called it a day.

Today I'm taking it easy, while Scott hits the slopes. We got to sleep in a little bit, ate cinnamon rolls, and now I'm just catching up with the online world. Later, we might go tubing, and sneak into the resort for some hot tub action!

2012 has been such a wonderful year, I wanted to recap some fun things that have happened.

• Most importantly, Jan 1st we got engaged!
• I started blogging!
• I got a new job in July.
• We went on three great getaways: New Mexico in June. East coast in August. Angel fire in December/January.
• We planned the majority of our wedding.
• Saw Aaron Freeman of ween in concert.
• Went to a TCU game.
• Grew our family with our new addition Melvin!!!
• Jammed out that the ACL music festival
• Our first wedding shower was thrown for us. It was a tea party theme which was adorable!
• We saw the F1 races!
• Made new friends.
• Grew in my faith.

2013 came faster than we could have imagined but I couldn't be more excited to become a wife this year. Also, I'm not one to make new years resolutions, but I do plan on continuing to live simply and try to live in the moment more. This is going to be a great year!

Happy New Year!

BHLDN

aka...Beholden

What is Beholden you might ask?

Beholden is a store that carries bridal accessories, dresses, crafty doodads for your wedding day, and lots more. I wouldn't say it's for just any bride though. It's definitely got a unique style and vintage feel.

Is anyone fan of Anthropology prices stores? Well you are in for a treat! The creators of anthropology came up with Beholden, which means this store has the latest fashions, and the most unique designs. Their motto in creating this store was to help brides get unique ideas for their big day that will reflect their personalities completely. 

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Their dresses are just stunning and SO different!!!

But there is a catch! These stores only located in two places, Chicago and Houston. You can always order things online, but a wedding dress...I don't think so, at least I wouldn't!

Sooo call me crazy, but my friend Anne and I took a trip up to Houston on Friday. We were invited to attend a three hour floral and design event by Ashley Bailey of Byrd Collective hosted by Beholden! We were super pumped. We did realize we were driving a total number of six hours for a three hour show but it was SO worth it!!! I would recommend anyone to go visit beholden, bride or not. They had regular dresses there that were so freakin cute. Also, if anyone needs a florist, Ashley travels. She is based out of Austin, but can go pretty much anywhere. 

The chairs with our names...we felt important :)

Ashley gave me this flower for my hair right when we go there. I'm thinking about doing a tutorial on this hair style because a lot of people compliment me on it when I wear it like this. It's funny because I do my hair like this when it's wet and I don't want to do anything else with it. It's SO easy! :) 

I hope some of you find this helpful! If not, at least go to the store if you're near the Houston or Chicago area, you won't be disappointed! 

XOXO Brooke

hobby lobby, garden, m&m, sticks mirror

Howdy y'all!

I'm just now getting a chance to update life thus far. It was a busy weekend for me. And yesterday was definitely a Monday...Has anyone else tried to get their passport lately? I decided it would be a good time to go get it yesterday finally. I have been putting it off for a couple weeks and now I know exactly why. It is such a hassle, and expensive! But I managed to get it taken care of ($157 later) and I also got my car inspected. It was a day of chores for me but I can't complain because my weekend was so great! It was a fun time spent with family and friends and a little bit of shopping in between.

I got to go to my favorite store to pick up some lovely frames to display some pictures for the engagement party. I just love Hobby Lobby, they always have 50% off frames. I got some good deals. The pictures are a nice addition to the bachelor pad. Slowly but surely the house is becoming more feminine :)

I did a bit of gardening, but sadly this is probably our last harvest for most of the food this year. They just can't take this Texas heat, and watering them is almost pointless. I'm happy with the progress I've made this year though. Check out the HUGE onion that has been growing since last year. The stocks on those bad boys looked like something out of Dr. Seuss. I'll do a full post on gardening to show you what I mean. Also, that was our first tomato! But the critters got to it first :( Bring on more tomatoes!

Some pictures from our engagement party! We had an amazing spread of yummy food. Scott's parents hosted the party and were they prepared or what? We had mini sandwiches, quasadillas, cheese trays, cake and super cool custom m&ms! I saw them the minute I walked in the door. I thought they were so thoughtful and sweet and they added a nice touch to the party. The last picture is our first gift as a couple and a new addition to our entry way... It is kind of blurry but it's a sticks mirror! I am in LOVE with it. You should check out the website. Every piece is unique to how you customize it. The top reads "Go out for adventure, come home for love," written under the mountains, which is perfect since we got engaged in the mountains. :)

These are two pictures that some friends took of us. Scott's mom, Jan thought it'd be fun to practice cutting the cake... practice makes perfect, right?... And the other is a picture of the entry way, yes, we're getting married 4-20-13! I like the date because it only includes numbers from 0-4. Kind of a neat and quirky observation. The real reason behind the date is that it's also my Aunt and Uncles wedding anniversary(it will be there 28th)! I'm so happy to be sharing their special day. It will be such a great celebration. 

I hope your weekend was as good as mine! I'm excited to get back to business this week! Lots to do before next week :x!

*Brooke*

Engagement Celebrations!

Hi y'all! Happy weekending! 

I realize it is 9:20pm on a Friday, and yes I am blogging!  I just got home from a fabulous time spent with some dear friends of ours. We went over to Chris and Amelia's house for some grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. The food was delicious, but the company was soo much better!!! Chris is a long time buddy of Scott's and is also going to be a groomsman in our wedding in April! Amelia is his very talented wife that has given us so much advise on different wedding vendors, ideas, etc. She's a professional wedding photographer and really knows what she's talking about. Did I mention they have the CUTEST boys ever! They played in the pool most of the night while we all hung out and talked about life. It's so funny watching kids be kids. I love seeing Scott interact with them, it's very sweet! Scott, believe it or not, actually volunteered to babysit one night soon! I actually can't wait, it will be a lot of fun! (no turning back now, it's in writing!)

So speaking of Amelia, she actually referred us to our wedding photographer, Allen Doberenz! They frequently shoot together and I knew I could trust Amelia's judgment on anything wedding related! We just received some "teaser" Engagement photos today and I am so excited to share!!! 

We went all around the downtown/south Austin area for the session so here are a few from that day!

 

Ahhh I'm in LOVE!!! I can not wait to see the other 70 pictures!

This weekend we will be celebrating our Engagement with some of our closest friends and family. We are going to have a casual party on Sunday, and I can't wait to display some of these pictures! I am overly excited for this weekend!!!

I hope you have a super great weekend!!!