It's Not Offical until it's Facebook Official!

It seems like ages ago that Kyle popped the question so lately I have been re-living the moment by reading cards from close friends and family, looking at pictures and uncovering photos I didn't know I took! I am so grateful I somehow thought to take these (although somewhat cliche and cheesy) to document those little things so I could relive those special moments! This first picture is the meeting request my boss sent me with information regarding the "student recruitment meeting with the Chancellor!" Everyone went the extra mile to convince me (good thing I'm somewhat gullible and aim to please when it comes to my job).

My Outlook is always utilized..even for a secret proposal!!

The "made up" details my boss came up with so I would have no doubt I was going to meet the Chancellor.

Like every social media guru or obsessor knows..it's not official until it's on Facebook, right? Well either way, I made sure to get pictures of our "official" engagement!

First the request...

Then His...

and Hers!

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, Facebook official! If I come across anymore fun (yet again cliche) pictures I'll make sure to upload them, but for now I'm blogged-out. I have a lot of check's off the to-do list so there is definitely more to come of Bridal Bliss in the future!

Engaged....check! Now what?

So what is a girl to do after just getting engaged?? Well besides perusing every bridal magazine, website and blog, what else but to gather some girlfriends and hit up the bridal extravaganzas! There just happened to be a Bridal Fair in Lubbock not long after the engagement, so I called up a few of my best girlfriends in the area and made the plans. Getting through a week of work was not the easiest with my head churning with ideas, but a sweet surprise Monday morning at work kept me going...

 

I have the most amazing co-workers (or as I like to say, extended family!)

Finally the week came and went and the Lubbock Bridal Fair was upon us. Molly Swanson and Amanda Kuhns, two great friends accompanied me to the much anticipated day at the Overton. First order of business, mimosas!! Next check in and on to the festivities. Despite popular belief, I had never been to a bridal fair and have to admit was a little taken aback by the mass amounts of vendors, people, flowers, giveaways, etc. And of course one of the first things we laid eyes on was the OBVIOUS choice in decor for my January wedding...

Only kidding!! Let's just say some of the items featured gave us a little laugh here and there and were definitely suited for someone else's taste. I did find some inspiration that I believe will be a recurring theme in my wedding...branches. I know it might sound a little under-whelming, but these have been popping up on a lot of bridal websites for any season wedding and with my winter theme I think they will go perfectly!

About halfway through the fair I had plenty of ideas as well as rather annoying amount of business cards and gimmicky giveaways, but I made sure not to be selfish and found some ideas for Kyle as well!

Groom-themed candy bar with cigars and beer candy display..think again Kyle!

Hilarious, but probably not!

 As soon as my bridal goodie bag began to weigh me down, I had answered the "When's your date" question enough times for a million brides and we had entered an excessive amount of giveaways, we made the executive decision to reward ourselves with happy hour! So the celebration continued across the way to Ruby Tequila's where a much needed cocktail greeted us.

Molly, Amanda and I enjoying our girl day!

It was all about the VIP Bride Bracelet!

One thing I learned during my first fair experience is be ready to answer the same question a million times, and if you have a longer engagement get ready for the shocked expression when you tell them your far off date! Despite how exhausting the day was, it was great to have a bridal fair "under my belt," and to have some of my best girlfriends by my side!

A Little Old-fashioned Romance...

Kyle has always been the kind of man to work a little romance into the picture, but this time he outdid himself! Just when I thought all the engagement celebrating was over, he surprised me yet again. Like I mentioned, Kyle had been interning in Conroe all summer so I thought surely he had to return home for work on Monday. Well it turns out that he had been done with his internship for weeks and we were headed to San Antonio the next day and then to a cabin he rented! I was ecstatic and looking forward to time together to digest everything that had happened the last 24 hours! Let me just say this is the only time when packing consisted of me attempting to fit every bridal magazine into the car instead of every pair of shoes I own.

Beautiful bridal magazine basket from the engagement 

That Sunday we headed to San Antonio where we did some more celebrating with my parents as the newly engaged couple. We went to our absolute favorite place for happy hour, Houlihan's and recapped the weekend and all of Kyle's planning.

Our friends at Houlihan's gave us champagne and strawberries!

Our next and last stop before heading to the cabin was a new restaurant Costa Pacifica which is OUTstanding! Kyle and I love to try new foods so when my parents said it was "different" we were on board. The best way to describe it is Mexican tapas with a twist, but they have main entrees as well. And of course we can't forget their famous mojitos, so of course I had to try the rasberry!

Probably the BEST mojito I've had!

But enough of my foodie talk (maybe a food blog is in my future). We drove a few hours outside of San Antonio to the Montview Cabin Kyle rented for us. We love the mini cabin vacations (he took us to another one for one of our anniversaries) so I was excited to see this one! It was such a quaint cabin, but much more modern and updated than the last. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely a city girl, but there's something about having a weekend without the distraction of e-mail, phones, tv's, etc and just having time to slow down and talk.

Such a cute place!

My wonderful fiance unloading :)

View of the bar and living area

Ok there was a tv, but we didn't use it THAT much!

Cute reading area in the bedroom

I had my agenda for the weekend...wedding planning!

Hallway to the bathroom and kitchen

We even had visitors during our stay

While I was busy roaming around the cabin and taking way too many pictures, Kyle set up a little surprise...

Cheers!

There really is nothing that can compare to a quiet weekend with your best friend, love of your life and of course a little old-fashioned romance!

On to the After Party!

I can't remember exactly when, but at some point I made an effort to play 20 questions with Kyle to figure out how he pulled everything off. I found out that both our families and some very special out of town guests were literally put under house arrest at our friend Drew's (otherwise known as "headquarters") so that they wouldn't be seen by me before Saturday. Apparently, though there were several close calls which I'm sure sent Kyle into a panic. One of those close encounters included Kimberly (my future sister-in-law), her boyfriend Patrick and a trip to the mall. They were picking up champagne flutes for that night and Molly had convinced me to go to the mall so she could find an outfit for her "date night" that evening. I would find out that night that obviously there was no date night, Kimberly and Patrick barely missed running into us and Kyle was definitely sent into a panic! 

The champagne flutes to toast at the Jones!

Leaving the Jones for "headquarters"

After many toasts, crying, laughing and mingling we all made our way to "headquarters" for a homemade meal, cake and of course more champagne! It was the perfect evening just surrounded by the people in our lives that mean the most (sadly some couldn't attend, but we definitely missed them being there!).

Kyle and I with our parents and my Grandma Robare

Law school cohorts!

Grandma was the hit of the party!

Future Sister in Law!

Panhellenic sisters and Katie, our honorary PH sister

Calling all Chi O's

Partners in Crime

Probably my favorite picture of the night, so much fun!

Delicious red velvet cake!

Beautiful engagement wine glass from Mrs. Crowl

As a little gift and memory from the evening our parents had everyone sign a frame around our favorite picture! Thank you to our family and friends for celebrating one of the most amazing nights of our life and making every moment so very special! We love you all and cannot wait for the big day.

A Meeting with the Chancellor...

It was the week of July 5th and after a relaxing and fun week with one of my good friends Jessie in Ft. Worth, I was looking forward to a short work week and relaxing and quiet weekend. Kyle had been in Conroe all summer interning for a judge and wouldn't return to Lubbock until August, so any way the weeks could go by faster was welcomed! That Wednesday at work, my supervisor asked if I would help recruit a family whose daughters were interested in Texas Tech and Greek Life. Chancellor Hance would meet me on the football field with the family at 7:30pm Saturday before heading up to the Tech Club for dinner. My job was to charm the family, sell them on Greek Life and head home. "Of course I don't mind," I hesitantly replied, after all I couldn't turn down the Chancellor! So on my Outlook it went....

Saturday, July 9th came and the day was spent with my best friend, Molly. Little did I know what kind of evening I had in store. After lunch, being lazy, discussing what I would wear, how to wear my hair and commenting on my nails for my meeting (not suspicious at all Molly!) and ironically buying a new wedding magazine, I was left to get ready to meet Chancellor Hance and the family. Upon arrival at the Jones for some reason my nerves set in and I timidly began walking down the southwest ramp (if you've never walked down there, it's a pretty intimidating situation!). I could see the field getting larger and larger as I made my way down. Expecting to see the Chancellor with this family I was surprised that there was absolutely no one in sight at the bottom of the ramp. Then I was able to get a glimpse of half of the football field, when I saw him!!!!

Right smack dab on the 50 yard line of the Jones AT&T Stadium was the love of my life, Kyle.

At this point I had pretty much lost all feeling in my legs and began to make my trek across the field to meet him. My legs were shaking and my quivering voice repeatedly shouted "Are you serious right now, Is this for real?!" After the longest walk of my life I embraced him with a huge hug and the question, "What on EARTH are you doing here?" (He told me that week that him and some friends were going to Houston for a boys trip so I was pretty surprised to see him here of all places!) I still can't remember exactly what he said (don't worry he wrote it down) but the next thing I knew he was down on one knee asking me to make him the happiest man alive by being his wife!

Of course the answer was YES! All I could hear in that moment was the snapping of a camera and cheers coming from up above us. (I'm so glad my name tag made it in the picture!)

Apparently the restaurant below had watched Kyle pace back and forth for 45 minutes, so they were happy when I finally said yes!

Kyle had somehow pulled it off! He had kept the proposal a secret since that past January, he was able to hide our families and out of town friends for a week in Lubbock without me knowing (ok put them under house arrest is more like it) and even had my office on board! I was in shock and completely beaming from ear to ear, but there was no time to waste, it was time to celebrate....

Coming off of the elevator, greeted by our families and friends!

There were plenty of smiles and tears!

Kyle's dad made the sweetest toast :)

It meant the world to be able to share the moment with our amazing friends and family, I couldn't have asked for more. It goes without saying he amazes me each and every day. I am truly blessed to be able to marry the most wonderful man and best friend a girl could ask for!