Wedding Sneak Peek: The Dress

I can't say much because I'll say too much, but I love my wedding dress!

Here are some images to give you a little preview...

There is something that I can show you though,

my rehearsal dinner dress!

Can't wait to wear this on Friday!

Ain't No Party Like The Bridal Party...

Introducing

The Ladies...

Jake's Sister

Why We Love Her: Taylor is intelligent, creative & loyal...

we can always count on her!

Tobi's Sister

Why We Love Her: Tah is a ball of energy who is always

up for an adventure! She's got a heart of gold

& an attitude to rival it!

Tobi's Fraternity Brother & "Great Grand Big" & Jake's "Big Sister"

Why We Love Her: Ann couldn't be smarter or more loving.

Plus, she's the one who introduced us!

Tobi's Fraternity Brother & "Big Sister"

Why We Love Her: Brenda is a lot of personality & creativity

in a little person with great hair!

Tobi's Best Friend from High School

Why We Love Her: Emily is all sunshine and positivity.

Being around her is a breath of fresh air.

Tobi's Fraternity Brother, Sorority Sister & "Little Sister"

Why We Love Her: Megan is the life of the party! She's also a great

friend who is always there when you need her.

Tobi's Fraternity Brother

Why We Love Her: You couldn't find a better friend than Sara.

She's loyal, charismatic & a great listener.

The Gentlemen...

Jake's Brother

Why We Love Him: Nick is an understated genius and quite the ladies man!

He's everything a little brother should be... lovable & a little obnoxious.

Tobi's Brother

Why We Love Him: You can never tell what's going to happen next when you're

with Logan. He would never tell you himself, but he would

do anything for a good friend or family member.

Jake's Sister's Boyfriend

Why We Love Him: Joe is our resident scientist & trekkie. He has a

passion for learning & is always engaging those around him.

Jake's Fraternity Brother & Tobi's "Little Brother"

Why We Love Him: Kris may not be quiet, but he is always there

to bail out a friend in trouble or cheer you up.

Jake's Fraternity Brother & Jake & Tobi's "Little Brother"

Why We Love Him: Mario is loyal and dedicated... he also gives

great fashion advice.

Jake's Fraternity Brother

Why We Love Him: Who doesn't love Scotty!? We don't think this

Pismo native even knows the meaning of the word "serious".

Jake's Fraternity Brother & "Little Brother"

Why We Love Him: Steven is down to earth and trustworthy. He is always

ready and willing to strike up a good conversation!

Orange County Couple's Shower

This past weekend, Jake and I made a whirlwind trip down to Orange County for an amazing couple's shower put together by my aunt Alana and aunt Christine. My whole family pulled together to put on a beautiful afternoon of elegant monograms, close family friends and a ton of cake pops! They used my wedding theme to decorate and even gave me some great ideas for the big day! I don't get to see my family as often as I would like, so I'm looking forward to seeing them again in just a couple of days. What a great trip!

We played a few games, including one that I've since entitled "find your lover's legs"...hilarious to watch and much harder than it looks. Luckily, we both guessed right!

My favorite attendees are always my SUUUUPER cute cousins. These two are my flower girls!

Wedding Sneak Peek: Cake vs. Pie

The battle of the desserts has been raging during our wedding planning...

Originally, I thought it was all about the pie. Flakey crust, gooey apple innards, perfection... right?

I thought wedding cakes were all prissy, hard fondant and tasteless.

Recently, my aunt Alana (a mean homemaker and mother of six!) has helped me see the error of my ways.

Wedding cake doesn't have to be stale wedding obligation...

Her cake is rich, soft and delicious and luckily, she's our baker!

We've come up with a top secret and awesome solution to the Cake vs. Pie debate and we can't wait to show you!

Vote for your favorite in our poll on the right hand column!

The Legacy Pin

Last week, Jake insisted I plan a Greek family photo session "for his graduation". I didn't think very much of it because we've been meaning to do it for a long time and graduation is a pretty good reason to get the whole family together. Lots of people won't understand what I mean when I say "Greek family", but its a great tradition that has meant a lot to us. When you pledge a fraternity or sorority, you are given a big sister or big brother to be a mentor to you and to guide you in the values of the fraternity. Later on, you can choose a big brother or big sister of the opposite gender if you choose to... it's usually someone you look up to as well. Eventually these relationships form a whole network of bigs and littles and grand bigs and great grand bigs and "sibs" (other littles of your big) and "twins" (other littles of your big that pledged at the same time that you did). It can get complicated, but thats not the point... the beauty of all this is that these people become your college support system. They are often the people who know all the weird things about you and still bail you out when you are in peril. You rely on them, fight with them and love on them just like family. Well, between me and Jake our Greek family has gotten pretty large and pretty awesome. Many of them are even a part of our bridal party...Check them out!

What I didn't know is that Jake was planning on using our photo shoot as an opportunity to give me my wedding gift! Half way through, he pulled me up in front of everybody and presented me with an ΣΑΕ legacy pin! It was exactly what I was hoping for! Legacy pins are such a beautiful tradition and I'm a sucker for old school romanticism! Basically, when a fraternity man gets married he can present his new wife or fiance with a jewel encrusted version of his fraternity pin. This pin becomes a family heirloom. The wife will hold onto it and protect it until their children go to college. If they have a son, he will be considered a "legacy" of his father's fraternity and if he chooses to join that same fraternity, his mother will pass on the pin given to him by her husband. He will in turn give the pin to his wife to hold for their son and the chain will continue (even if it skips a generation or two). Our fraternity experiences have been so influential to me and Jake that I'm pretty confident that we will eventually have an ΣΑΕ son or grandson! I got a little emotional, but I'm so glad our close friends could be there to share the moment with us. Now I have my "something borrowed" and my "something blue"!

Wedding Sneak Peek: Inspiration

There are only 16 days until our wedding! Can you believe it!? We can't either...

We thought this would be a good time to give you a couple fun previews of what we have planned for the wedding. Let's start at the very beginning:

INSPIRATION

California

Jake and I managed to find each other even though we are from the opposite sides of a state that more than 38 million other people call home! When you think about it that way, you have to get a little bit excited about how great God is, right? We certainly do. I may have thought that picking San Jose State was my choice back in 2006, but I have no doubt now that the Lord was paving the way to my joyful future and the man of my dreams.

Since then, we have taken quite a few trips up and down this beautiful coast of ours and pinky promised to be die-hard California kids forever (even if we end up moving to Oregon). Golden grasses & wildflowers, Highway 1, rocky beaches, Craftsman-style houses, sunsets, and road-side fruit stands. We are so inspired by the beauty of this state and we want all of that to be a part of our big day!

Brentwood Bridal Shower

On May 1st, wedding season officially began with a beautiful Bridal Shower that my Maid of Honor, Taylor and soon-to-be Mother-In-Law, Lita threw for me! There were old friends and lots of brand new (to me) friends, too. Between the teal color scheme and the super-cute shower games, this shower got me pretty excited!

Taylor has a knack for making things look pretty and the details of the shower were beyond adorable: hand-matted engagement pictures, a chocolate fountain, a delicious cupcake tree, Martha Stuart "poofs"and tasty favors. Everyone was thrilled when Jake made an appearance via a pre-recorded video quiz and I did a pretty good job answering the questions word-for-word. Ladies were able to place bets on the quiz and face off in a round of shower gift bingo. Later on, we snuck out to the back to take pictures of all the bridesmaids and together in one place for the first time!

Emily, Sara, Taylor, Tobi, Tah, Brenda, Ann, & Megan