Places to Stay in Bryan during Wedding Weekend

Rooms have been reserved at the La Salle hotel in downtown Bryan.

The LaSalle Hotel by Magnolia Hotels
120 South Main Street • Bryan, Texas 77803

Toll Free Reservations: (888) 915-1110

Phone: (979) 822-2000 • Hotel Fax: (979) 779-4343

Reservations by Email
lasalleres@magnoliahotels.com

Hotel Ammenities:
- Complimentary American Breakfast Buffet (weekdays 6-9AM, weekends 7-10AM) consisting of eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, muffins, breads, cereal, coffee, milk and juice
- Complimentary evening reception including domestic beer, house wine and soft drinks (5:30-6:30PM)
- Complimentary Bedtime Cookie Buffet (8-10PM)
- High Speed Internet
- In Room Dining

www.lasalle-hotel.com/byan-college-station.aspx

Best Western Atrea at Old Towne Center
1920 Austin's Colony Pkwy Bryan, TX 77802

Phone: 979.731.5300
Toll Free Reservations: 1.888.884.3774

Ammenities Include:
- High Speed Internet
- Complimentary Breakfast
- Pool
- Fitness Facility
- Pool
- Pets Allowed
- Hot Tub

A Glimpse of Devony's Journey

12 Weeks and Counting... Counting DOWN that is!

Last weekend I had the chance to sit on the patio of Devony and Andy's new home in Elgin and watch one of the best fireworks displays ever! Homeowners in Elgin really do Freedom celebrating up big! Who would have thought? Perhaps it wasn't just the great fireworks making this experience timeless and unforgettable. Maybe the great company, a sense of accomplishment, celebrating freedom and the soon to be "Arrington's" first humble abode compounded yet again, another great July 4th holiday!!

Devony and Andy closed on their new home early July and with some GREAT assistance from Jan and Gary have been working to make it move in ready! Meanwhile, Marty and Doug chauffeured Dev and myself all around Austin while we worked diligently to cross off pending items on the wedding to-do list. What happens when you fuse an internship, a new home, family from Dallas, family from Houston, two bridal showers, a wedding in Bryan, a reception, college classes and a cute cat named Gracie? My answer would be a lot of Whiskey and a much needed vacation! HA! But all jokes aside, Devony and Andy's wedding and new life plans seem to be falling in place just as God would have it! Counting Down to the day - October 2nd, we're 12 weeks away!

With all my Love,
Candy

First Attempt

First inspiration board! Built on stylemepretty's website (my favorite blog... check it out at http://www.stylemepretty.com/ ).

I am beyond excited that this actually worked!! Behold the wonders of technology! :)

Much love to you all... (more to come on this lazy Sunday)

I survived...

... the National Board exam (NAVLE)! And I'm still alive! It was a little touch and go there for a minute, but I made it out with a very tiny piece of sanity left intact.

As I'm sure all of our loyal readers have noticed I've been slacking in the wedding-planning lately. Studying took its toll. My vacation from school is upcoming, though (1 more week) so I'm hoping to make some sort of progress at that time.

I received my invitation in the mail to my dear friend Kellie's wedding today - so excited! There is so much change ahead for all of us for 2010. Its going to be an exciting & eventful year.

I hope the Thanksgiving holiday found you all well. It found me as it usually does, blessed & thankful. The reminder at holiday times of loved ones we've lost leaves a tinge of sadness, but renews appreciation for those still in our midst.

Black Friday found me with a new $40 pre-lit Christmas tree (yay!) that will be going up in the house tonight. I'll be sure to post pictures soon!

I'll conclude with a few pictures of inspiration I found trolling the blogs random nights during my externships... (hm, I can't figure out how to make the picture go at the bottom. Formatting tips, anyone?) Anyway, LOVE that WINDOW. Need to find one of those. NEED. haha :)

Best seats in the House

Hi. I know I've gone missing, but you all can cancel any ransoms you might have promised. I've escaped momentarily from the craziness of life and will do my best to be better about updating this thing as we go along on our journey.

As it is, though, this post is better suited to talk about those that, as Andy aptly put, will have the best seats in the house at our wedding. Four of them are from my family of origin; both sets of my grandparents passed away when I was young. I was closest to my maternal grandmother, whom we (the kids) nicknamed "Dean" (I still have no idea why - but, quite cleverly, her full name then became Dean Martin... sweet!). I had thought until about a year ago that I was around 7 years old when she died, but after visiting her grave realized I had been only four. Its strange how vivid memories can be from such a young age. I remember coloring with her (stay inside the lines!), I remember watching Golden Girls with her sitting on the edge of her bed, I remember sitting at the kitchen table putting rollers in her hair. I remember her at our house on Christmas morning (I think thats the year I got my big plastic kitchen from "Santa") making cookies for the family. My memories of her from so long ago give me comfort today for Kinley (and maybe even Avery)... I hope they'll be able to guard those few precious memories of their great-grandfather and what a wonderful man he was.

I don't have many memories of my paternal grandparents, and my maternal grandfather died before I was born. Though my time with my own grandparents was short, I was incredibly blessed to be enveloped into a great relationship with Andy's living grandparents. When I was younger I did the obligatory dreaming about my future husband, but I can say I never gave a thought to the second family I would gain when I married. And now, I often wonder how it is that I got so lucky to stumble into such love (all the way around - parents AND grandparents - not to mention the future husband himself). Though I didn't get much time with Andy's Papaw, that time was sweet. I was aways met at the door with a hug and and a smile, with kind words, sweet stories, jokes and laughter soon to follow.

I spent a lot of time awake by myself last night, as I've been on a night shift at school and have adjusted somewhat to that schedule. I have so many great memories, which funnel themselves into thoughts about the fleeting nature of time on earth and my abundant gratitude to the God whose seen fit to bless me beyond measure. You see, by any doctor's estimation, I shouldn't have even had the privilege of meeting Andy's grandfather. He had been battling prostate cancer for 18 plus years; near the onset of that fight he was given an 18 month survival prognosis. That is not to mention the plant accident he was involved in when his two children were young that nearly claimed his life. Not only did I get to meet him, I got to love him. And for that I am thankful.

-

Bearing witness to the passing of a wonderful person gets you to thinking about all of the other wonderful people in your life. So, I send my heart to my mom, whose endless guidance and love has made me who I am; to my dad and Doug who contribute botomless support, love, and hugs(Doug); to aunt Nita & uncle John who I am ever-thankful for as you conquer your own health struggles; to my cousins with whom I've shared countless good times and look forward to those ahead (I even love you for those times I got blamed for the stuff you did at my house, ha!); to my stepbrothers who can make me laugh and push my buttons all in the same sentence (but in good humor, of course); to all of Andy's family who have welcomed, loved, and supported me for years already - I'm so glad and proud to call you family!; to all of my friends without whom I simply could not make life work (there truly aren't words for how fantastic each of you is); and lastly, to my love... you have made my life more beautiful, more rich, and I look forward to experiencing all that life has for us, together. May we experience a love like theirs.

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Were a star quenched on high,

For ages would its light,

Still travelling downward from the sky,

Shine on our mortal sight.

When a good man dies,

For years beyond his ken,

The light he leaves behind him shines

Along the path of men.

--Alexander Russell Main

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Cheers, in celebration of wonderful lives lived to the fullest. If you're reading this, know that you are loved this day & always!

To Dean, Maxine, Charles, Sonny, Papaw, and Mr. & Mrs. Knight: we miss you and love you, and the best seats in the house will always bear your name.

My Much-Awaited Debut

Hello? hello? Is this thing on?

Ah, ok, that's better.

Groom-ish guy here, chiming in with a tip: Don't tell a prospective bride she's stressing out, particularly when it happens to be true.

Everyone says planning a wedding is a big job, but the fullness of that reality doesn't really sink in until it begins. I thought planning the engagement was going to be the end of the hard part, and I didn't really have any anxiety about that at all. At least not until we got to the place, I put my hand in the bag, grasped the velvet box, and at that moment my mind went blank. To my credit I did manage to form intelligible words, but all of the suave and romantic things I had planned to say were gone as if they had cought the last helicopter out of Saigon. Fortunately, the event had the intended end result so I guess what I said was good enough.

As we basked in our newly-engaged glory a truth hit me: That was not the end. Fifty-seven months of dating does not culminate in an engagement. There is a wedding after that and someone has to plan it. Most grooms (still a strange sounding word to self-apply) are happy to be let off the hook and let the girls take over at this point but I figure hey this is my one chance to see what a wedding looks like from the other side (unless we consider reality television, which I rarely do) so I thought it would be fun to take a more hands-on approach, within reason. Also someone needs to make sure that there is a sufficient supply of refreshment at the reception, if you catch my drift.

We've only been doing this for three weeks now but plans have shifted to and fro so hopefully we are nearing a point where the basics are settled on and the big aspects can be addressed. We've looked at a few venues so far and are thinking outdoors but keeping options open at this point. Yesterday we went and checked out the tres fabuleux 7F Lodge in Wellborn, and when checking with the lady in the office about available dates I said something to the effect that we hadn't decided on a date yet but it was a ways off, next summer at the earliest. She matter of factly noted that that wasn't "a ways off" at all, and it became immediately clear to me that next July in a wedding planner's eyes might as well be next Tuesday. It's a completely different mindset.

So far everything is going well, but searching Google for wedding resources can be like drinking from a firehose. Weddings are a huge industry and the amount of stuff out there is a bit overwhelming. It reminds me a bit of a recent discussion I had with a customer about painting, and he was nonplussed at the lack of availibility of White Paint. Sure you can go to Lowe's and look at 387 different shades of neutral blankness. What you can't do, however, is buy White.

I'm beginning to think that planning a wedding is going be a bit like trying to buy White Paint, but if everyone out there will just remember my earlier advice I think we'll be ok: Don't tell a prospective groom he's stressing out, particularly if it happens to be true.

That is what I said, isn't it?