House Hunters: Real Life Edition

So- after a year of renting Adam & I decided to buy a house. Still cannot believe I am old enough to do that.. I remember deciding what Barbie I wanted to spend my birthday money on!?!? We have been looking {casually} at houses for a few months now. We began our hunt my making a list of 'must-haves.' I highly recommend anyone house hunting to do this! Prioritize what is important for you & your family. Our list was:

• At least three bedrooms
• Den or bonus room
• Backyard
• LOCATION: we only were willing to look in a particular part of town

We also wanted a house that we could put a little work in and then make money off of that work... not a complete renovation.. just some basic cosmetic work.

& with that.. we began our hunt. We were blessed to have a good family friend that is also realtor. But make sure that you are comfortable and trust your realtor to guide you through this experience! They should be knowledgeable about the area and process! We chose to find houses on our own & then ask the realtor to schedule appointments to view the homes. {However, a lot of people leave this up to their realtor.} After we found a house in our price range & with the qualifications we required.. we drove by and checked out the property. A lot of houses we crossed off the list as soon as we saw it in person.

Doing this we narrowed our list to 5 houses we wanted to view. Fortunately, we LOVED one of the homes & put in an offer......

engagement rings

Girls, you know it's hard enough finding that perfect black or brown boot, little black dress.. or pretty much any other staple piece for your wardrobe.. so what about your engagement ring. Something you are to wear on your hand for the rest. of. your. life. Seriously? It's hard enough to find a cell phone case I don't get sick of in a month, but a ring.. forever..? And on top of that {traditionally} you aren't even supposed to pick the thing out yourself! Trust your boyfriend to pick out a ring.. you will wear.. forever.. I mean I can't get Adam to match his pants & shirt on a regular basis.. kidding! {but really}.

Well even Adam wasn't comfortable with this. So after we started talking about getting married we began the search for a ring. Orginally, I wanted a diamond band- simple, but fun. Adam on the other hand wasn't a fan. He thought it would make him look cheap since I didn't have some blingin' diamond. ha. SO the search continued. All I knew was I wanted yellow gold.. & something somewhat unique. Adam proposed the day after my birthday with this ring:

I loved the ring and was so happy.. until after a week when the centerstone all but fell out- Like I could literally pop it out. Well at this point we look at the paperwork {you know men, of course he hadn't looked at it yet} and realized the salesperson had lied about sevaral things about the ring.. when we went to Kays they pretty much said nothing about the ring and just asked if we would like to return it. Really? Not oh we'll fix this? Nothing. So, we returned it. I was devestated I wouldn't have the ring that Adam got down on one kneed with and asked me to be his wife. But we knew this was for the better. We didn't want to invest so much money into a ring I will be wearing the rest of my life.. that broke after a week of wear. We immediately went to McKenzie & Smiley, a local jewler in Clarksville, TN. The staff was AWESOME. We got to design the ring together and make something that we both loved. I got to pick out the shank- whick is the band; the prongs {did ya'll realize how many types of prongs their are?!} and the diamond! This is what we created:

Although it was a little more stressful than we expected it to be- we both love how it turned out. I am so excited about how unique it is! I think with a diamond wedding band it will look great! ...&even though it's not the ring Adam proposed with.. it was still special creating it together!

So girls, did you drop some hints to your fiance about the type of ring you wanted or did you give him full reign???? Did this end up working for you.. or do you regret it?? 

wedding planner- necessity or option?

Upon getting engaged I instantly knew I would not be hiring a wedding planner. I just knew I was too much of a "Type A" personality to hire someone to do something I would ultimately feel more comfortable doing myself. ..well that & I knew any planner would quit because I would drive them crazy!

For me it has been a lot easier since we have so much time to plan. We got engaged August 2, 2013 & will be getting married September 6, 2014- 13 months to plan. I have had plenty of time to meet with several florists, caterers, rental companies, etc at my own pace!

Their are 2 main concerns I have to not having a wedding planner. {1} Staying organized & on top of planning everything I need to & {2} Keeping order and pace on the big day. 

Luckily I quickly found an answer to my first concern- The Knot! If you are engaged.. or know you are going to be engaged any time soon a Knot account is a must. My favorite features- the "To Do" List and the free wedding website. You can even download The Knot app so you will have your "To Do" List on your phone or iPad to haunt you wherever you go! (; This has really helped me to keep on pace as to when I should have certain vendors scheduled or things ordered.

Now on to find some solutions for the second concern- pacing the wedding & keeping order on the big day? I'm thinking a family member, bridesmaid, or musician announcing when things are to be done? Any suggestions?

Even though I chose to opt out of a wedding planner, I have wondered what reasons compelled others to hire one.. or may to also choose to not??