Sneak peek....kinda!

The day had finally come to take my bridal pictures.

I spend the whole day getting ready for my "dress rehearsal". I got my nails done, hair done, make up done-it was a blast. It was so much fun getting to put my dress on!

My photographer and I decided that Brazos Bend State Park would be our backdrop and I am SO glad we did. It was amazing! It had exactly what I had wanted. Fields, whimsy trees, Spanish moss, alligators, and so much more.

Not only was the park amazing, my photographer and friend is the absolute best! Jennifer at JMP is just amazing. She is so much fun and really makes it a fun experience. 

I cannot wait to see the rest of them!

Next up-my birthday and THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!

15 days y'all!

With love,

Deidre'

Since I've been gone...

Wow!

Here I am, almost 6 months later...

I cannot believe how fast time has gone by. 

In the past 6 months I have:

Seen family I hadn't seen in almost 10 years

Finished my 1st job in a classroom

Got an official teaching job

Planned a wedding 

Crafted my summer away

Found a wedding dress

Celebrated Corey's 25th birthday

Made my debut appearance on my favorite website theBerry

Gone through an amazing marriage prep 

Registered for our wedding

Sent out Save The Dates

Gone to WICKED

Gone to 2 TEXANS game

Began my official 1st year of teaching in a Life Skills Classroom

Gone to The Book of Mormon

Gone to Miranda Lambert with my soon-to-be sister

Sent out invitations

Had 3 wonderful bridal showers

Made it through my 1st 9 weeks of school 

I'm so thankful for all that has happened and I'm getting more and more excited each day for what's to come.

Next up-Bridal portraits with the most amazing photographer JMP!

Only 34 more days until the best day ever!

With love,

 Deidre

The ring!

 This is my first time linking up, so hopefully I'm doing this right, Whit! 

I couldn't pass of the opportunity to brag on my ring that I've had for 2 months (tomorrow). 

Absolutely obsessed, y'all...

When C got down on one knee and opened the box to pop the question it was like system overload. All I could think about 'yes, yes, yes!' that I didn't even take a good look at my ring (not that it matter at that moment). I just wanted that baby on my finger! Once we settled down a bit and got to where there was some light I couldn't believe it. He had picked the most perfect ring I had ever seen. I can be a picky person, but man, all I could do was 'ooooh' and 'ahhhh' over it. I couldn't believe he picked it out all on his own (and received confirmation from his sweet momma).

We had never look at rings together or really ever talked about them, so you can understand my aw. Goes to show how well C knows me and what I like.

I stare at it constantly and remind C how perfect it is quite often. He's pretty proud of himself, as he should be. It's so exciting that I get to wear it forever. 

Here is my Vera Wang LOVE collection ring!
(It also has 2 princess cut sapphires below the diamond on both sides which is the signature to the collection and a symbol of faithfulness and everlasting love)

With love,

Deidre'

Forgive me...

...because I know the past couple of posts have been wedding related and my future posts (for the next 7ish months) will most likely be wedding related.

Actually, #sorryimnotsorry, because I'm loving every minute and am really wanting to soak up all the little (and big) moments of being engaged and wedding planning. I can't wait to look back on all of these and remember what a special time it was. 

This week will mark Week #3 of our marriage preparation sessions at the church we will be married at. I don't know if many non-Catholic couples have gone through their own version of this process, but it is amazing and such a blessing.  We have had the best meetings with the sweetest Deacon. Every time we leave a session I get even more excited about marrying C. It has really called us to humble ourselves and be really honest about, well, everything! It's amazing to hear some of the things C says about/to me. Anddd it's not too often that I can get through something I'm saying without getting emotional.

What can I say....

"I have found the one whom my soul loves" Song of Solomon 3:4

I look forward to this amazing journey we're on in our marriage prep and so excited for what it has/will do for us as a couple. 

Thanks be to God for giving me someone who will love me (get me) to heaven.

In the past couple of weeks we've also spent some time taking some engagement pictures. You can never have too many right?

My sweet sister-in-law-to-be/best friend took some amazing bluebonnet pictures of us a couple of weeks ago. When you're from Texas, a bluebonnet picture is always a must. And yesterday we had our engagement pictures taken with Christine and Amanda at Christine Meeker Studios in Sugar Land. I cannot say enough great things about them. They are a blast and really make it a fun experience. I can't wait to see our pictures next week. In the meantime, here are some sneak peeks we got today as well as our amazing bluebonnet pics!

With love,

Deidre'

Time flies!

I've been engaged for 3 weeks y'all!

Time flies! 

3 weeks of being engaged and we already have a date set!

During spring break (Week 2 of being engaged), my best friend, Steph, and I decided we'd go out and start looking for wedding fun. Needless to say, it got me super excited and ready to start making some decisions. Thankfully C was on the same page. Whew! We both decided we didn't want to have a super long engagement, sooo the wedding planning began. All throughout spring break we researched venues and churches in Sugar Land/Richmond area and found out that these places get super booked and quick. It was a little hectic trying to find reasonable places with the right look, but thankfully we found it and we're in love! It's pretty perfect. Not only was finding a place difficult, but so was timing. We didn't have very many choices and we were still determined to be married before the end of the year. Just this past Friday we made the date official. 

November 30, 2013

And we also get to share that day with my soon-to-be sister-in-law, who's birthday is the same day. So thankful she is excited about sharing her day with us (and she said getting her new sister will be her birthday present :)). Love you, B!!! 

In the midst of wedding craziness we've had some fun too. I spent the majority of my spring break with Steph and we explored Old Town Spring, which is about 30 mins from us. Perfect day! Then, Corey took me to the horse racetrack in Houston for the first time. It was a blast! Cannot wait to go back. We went on a day trip to a few small towns did some antiquing and good eating. We also went to Top Golf not once, but twice this weekend. If you've never heard of it, you need to. It's amazing and the perfect hang out spot. It's basically a 3 story driving range with a ton of other fun stuff.

Now, I'm in the process of getting trying to get organized before the serious wedding planning begins (aka narrowing down my pinterest ideas). I'm trying to start up a binder and then I'll go from there.

Get ready for picture overload...

Celebrating our new Pope!!!

Hangin' out in Round Top

PIE HAVEN!

The pie

After the pie

Sneak peak of the outside of our reception venue!

Can't believe I get to marry this man!

With love,

Deidre'

I said YES!!!

Yep, it's true! It happened!

Corey purposed and I said YES! 

We're ENGAGED!!!! 

It all started (for me) on Friday, March 1. It was our 2 year anniversary and we had been planning on going out to a nice dinner to celebrate.  After I got home from school, I showered and got ready. I had found the cutest little black dress at Charming Charlie that ended up being perfect (love it when that happens). Not long after Corey got home and changed it was time to go. Our reservations was at Perry's Steakhouse at 6:30. I'm not going to lie, I complained a little because I thought 6:30 was too early and, to my knowledge, we didn't have any specific plans after. 

The restaurant was really nice and really dark. The fancier the restaurant the darker it is inside (haha)? Since it was a Friday during Lent, we both ordered fish and it was some of the best samon I've ever had! It was so yummy. It was really special to enjoy a nice dinner with Corey. Every time we go somewhere really nice we always joke about how we're not very fancy and how we always make a mess. Nonetheless, I'm so thankful that he's sweet enough to take me to nice places occasionally; it definitely is fun. So, we finished up our dinner and headed out. 

We walked around Sugar Land's town center for a bit (it's a really nice area to hang out) and then headed to the car. Next was the "surprised". He drove me around for 30 mins! At first I didn't think much of it, but after I realized we were going around in circles I started to get anxious. Finallyyyy, we pulled into the River Pointe parking lot (C's church) and he said he had to "run an errand". By this time I had no idea what was going on, so I just went with it. 

We started walking to the back of the church property where I noticed a path of candles. As soon as I saw that I went weak. I got so nervous and new this was it. From that moment on it all seemed dreamlike. We walked down the half lilt walkway (it was ridiculously windy) to a heart made out of candles close to the water (there's a large pond-like thing behind the church). Poor Corey. It was so windy and the candles wouldn't stay lit, but I was ordered to stand inside the heart and close my eyes. After a couple of minutes of Corey going through the bag that was on the ground, I finally heard him in front of me. When I opened my eyes he was down on one knee! Of course, tears came immediately. He said the sweetest things and said the words ever girl wants to hear, "Will you marry me?" In my mind I was thinking, omgomgomgDUHHHH!!! but I went with a tears streaming down my face "of course." He put the ring on my finger and, I swear, I have never seen anything so perfect.

We held each other for a few minutes and I continued to cry in disbelief. I'm pretty sure I kept saying, "is this reeeeeal?" After a little bit, out popped my sweet sister & brother-in-law to be. Brittany and Ryan were so awesome. They set everything up for us and took pictures. Oh! And remember I mentioned that paper bag? Corey had ordered some paper lanterns (like from Tangled) and couldn't find the lighter the first time around. So after we had calmed down some, we attempted. It was super windy, but we finally got it going and it was so perfect. A heart shaped lantern taking off in front of us. Perfect! 

We helped pick up all the candles and headed back to Corey's parents house where surprise #2 was. As we pulled up the street was lined with cars and when we got out and started walking towards the house I could hear lots of people. Once we reached the back yard a flood of tears came again! Our friends and family were there waiting for us! It was so special to get to celebrate with them. Corey's mom and sister did such an awesome job decorating and setting everything up. It was amazing. (Thank y'all so much. I can't even begin to explain how much I loved it) Of course, soon after, I asked a million questions and found out the real reason we met up with my family the weekend before and that basically every single person around me knew what was going to happen. Good job, y'all. Good job.

To our sweet friends and family: We love y'all so much. Thank you for everything you did in helping or being apart of this awesome experience. We can't wait to continue this journey with y'all.

My heart is overflowing. It's amazing to feel feelings you've never felt, yet waited your whole life for. I am so blessed that I met such an amazing man and even more blessed that God has called me to him for the rest of my life. 

Corey, you have made me the happiest girl in the world and I can't wait to marry you!

Thank God for loving each other. 

And now....the PICTURES! 

Before dinner

After dinner

With love,

Deidre'