A Teaser...

Here is a quick little teaser...

I Love Phil's face in this video (far left)...it is PRICELESS!
I believe my sister confessed to me that Philip talked in phrases and song like our minister for the rest of their trip.

"Rehearsal" Dinner

Old Lahiana Luau

On Thursday, April 1st, the night before the BIG DAY, we gathered everyone together to celebrate family and the upcoming festivities with an authentic Hawaiian Luau.  This was our way of thanking everyone for taking the time to make the flight, spend (and pay for) a few days in paradise, and be there for us on our special day. 

During my previous visits to Hawaii, I had experienced 4 other Luaus.  The Old Lahaina Luau was by far the best in overall atmosphere.  The only thing missing was the fire dancers :(  Those are pretty cool to see.

Ready to celebrate, with good food, good drinks and great entertainment.

 Love our Amazing families...so glad that they were there to celebrate with us!  Missing out on a few important people, but we know they would have loved to have been there with us if they could.

The Dahl's

Ken, Liz, Justin, Jami, Andy, and Kaylyn

The Stowe's

Aaron, Jami, Jeff, & Susan

 

The Yahn's & Seston's

Phil, Bri, Justin, Jami, Sandy, and Bill

 

The McMullen's

Justin, Jami, Gram, and Jim

 

 The Luau was located right on the water...with a beautiful sunset, as always!

Justin & Jami and Phil & Bri

 

Once the sun had set, and our tummy's were full of delicious Hawaiian food, it was time for the entertainment!

What a great night spent with our families!

Girls Just Wanna Have FUN!

For my Bachelorette weekend we headed down to the beautiful city of Portland.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves :)

Evening at the Nines Hotel: $ 250 

" Dance" Lessons for 6: $150 

Small Bottle of Hypnotic: $15 

 In room Spa: $ ? 

Can ALWAYS count on Steph to get goofy with me :) 

Don't you love the RAD (Random Acts of Dancing)? 

Sleeping on this Bench: Priceless

Thank you girls for a wonderful weekend.

But next girls weekend...I am drinking less...and sleeping in a bed!

Showering me with Love and Generosity

My sister threw me one amazing shower!  It was a wonderful day to sit back, relax, and be surrounded by loving family and great friends.

The day we met, and fell in love... Me and My DRESS that is :)

The story of "The Dress" and my smokin', hot bod!

I had known for quite some time, that when it came My time, I was without a doubt wearing a Maggie Sottero Dress!  I love her dresses!  They are so beautiful, and so well made.  I really respect her as a designer and think that she knows women and weddings well!

I would spend hours at night browsing her website looking for the dress that was perfect for me.  Even though I knew I was having a beach wedding, I still wanted a dress with more of a traditional feel.  Don't get me wrong, I love the look of "beachy" Chiffon dresses...but I still remember the first time I put one on.  Let's just say all I can remember thinking is clearly these dresses are made for skinny girls with smokin' hot bods :)

While browsing the website I thought I would take a look under the trunk shows tab.  So here I am crossing my fingers while I right mouse click on the tab, hoping and praying for one coming up in WA.  No such luck!... Well I mean...actually there was, I missed it, it was the weekend we got engaged...What was I thinking going to Hawaii :) Ha Ha. So I thought... Oregon maybe?  YES!!!!  I am so thankful for a mother and sister willing to make the trek to another state in search of the perfect gown!

So after printing off the gowns that I had fallen in love with on the computer screen, hoping that they would be present at the trunk show, we hopped in my car...OREGON bound!

We arrived at Bridal Exclusives in Clackamas Oregon right on time.  The gal that helped me out was Amber, she was nothing short of amazing.  She had such great tips and advice for choosing the right wedding gown it really made my job so much easier.  She didn't act like she was trying to just "sell" me a dress...which I HATE.  She was very honest with her opinions, in a sincere and warm way... like I said... A-mazing.  In fact, she has even had me pondering career paths.  I could totally see myself enjoying a job like that.

Anyways, we waltzed in there, print-offs in hand, and happened upon racks and racks of Maggie Dresses.  It was as though the heavens parted ways and a beautiful light shone down upon them.  After showing Amber the dresses on the print outs, she had an idea of what I was looking for, but at the same time new I was open to many ideas.  Really, it was all about finding the dress that I loved...that made my not so skinny body look like a smokin' hot bod ;)

She had me browse the racks and pull a few, she did the same. Now it was trying on time.  I never knew how much work that would be...but I was worn out by the end of the experience!

Meet your judges!
Bri Seston- My beautiful, smokin' hot bod of a sister, who was married two years earlier in a Maggie Sottero wedding gown.  Also a wonderful sketch artist (as she sketched all of the ones that I didn't have printouts for) and amazing photographer.
Sandy Yahn- My amazing mother who was married approx. 34 years earlier in a long sleeve all lace gown and approx. 23 years earlier in hot shorts and a crop top =) Yowza!  I knew she would be the perfect judge once the tears started rolling when I had found "The one".

So after trying on dress after dress... I would love to show you them all, but you could only take pictures once you had decided and signed on the dotted line...I finally found the one!  One that, believe it or not, was not on any of my original printouts.

Meet... Allison Marie

Do you see how excited I am as Amber is lacing me up!  That is how you know when you have found "The One"

Even though the color of this dress was beautiful and would also look amazing on a beach...I still wanted white, I had earned white, I was wearing white...so it was hard to imagine what it was going to actually look like in white.

I Loved the sweetheart neckline (which I had absolutely NOT wanted), the ruching, the way that it hugged my body all of the way down to my hips (who would have thought that would look good on me?), the beautiful flowers, and most importantly... I Loved how it made me feel like I had a smokin' hot bod!

 Did I mention I Loved my hair on this day too!  Yay for a good hair day!

When my dressed arrived, it was stunning, and I was as much in love with it as the day I had tried it on.  I was so excited to wear it on my wedding day!

And the last reason why I love Maggie Sottero...

On her website she features REAL "Maggie" brides... you can see what the gown will look like on a REAL body, not just the smokin' hot model body, and get a real testimonial, from a real bride.
After I purchased my dress I went back to this website and looked at the one and only REAL Maggie Bride for my dress, Lisa Cowen-Fenimore.  We became instant facebook friends...got to see many beautiful pictures of her wedding dress on her wedding day and then again a year later...and she even offered up her flower stole (that comes with the dress, but costs extra) for me to borrow but it wasn't in the same dress color :(  Such a nice, fun gal, from a completely different part of the country.


Now, there are many more Real Maggie Brides for Allison Marie.
Here we are...

So there you have it!  The day that Allison Marie and I met and fell in love ;)