Our Last Dateiversary

Since I recently got a job, our plans to go away for our 7^th and last dateiversary/ my birthday had to be rescheduled. So we changed out hotel reservations, and headed to Atlantic City for an early celebration. We had a few wonderful and relaxing days. The first day we spent some money in the Harrah’s casino where we stayed and then headed over to Caesars and Bally’s. Mr. ATC actually lost his phone in Bally’s, which sucked, but he is pretty much over it since his phone was broken anyway. We went back, but it was already gone and the lost and found was closed for the night. When we went back the next morning lost and found didn’t have it. 

A Long Distance Dress

Dear Mr. ATC, if by any chance you took an interest in reading my blog, I hope you can tell by the title of this post that it is not for you. So please stop reading now, unless you want to read details about my dress. Okay? Thanks. Love, Miss DNA.

In the 200's

Finally less than 300 days til the wedding! I can't believe how quickly time is going. I remember looking at the countdown when there were exactly 395 days to the wedding, and now there is 298! where did all those days go?

For the most part, we have been on track with what the typical wedding timeline has said. Our next task is going to be finding a florist. Having our wedding a few hours from where we live definitely makes this difficult. Add in that Mr. ATC never has the same days off and I'm starting a new job working the midnight shift and our planning just got a whole lot more difficult. I feel as overwhelmed as I did in the beginning when I first looked at a wedding timeline and tried to keep everything straight in my head. : /

Engagement Session (no pics yet)

So as I mentioned in my last post, last Saturday we headed up north a few hours to meet with our photographer for our engagement shoot. I would like to say our photographer is amazing. He went to the agreed upon place early since neither of us had been there before, and scoped out some places to shoot. We went to the Catoctin Moutain Park and hiked on a really long and difficult trail to get to the waterfalls. But I’m hoping the shots we got along the trail made it worth it. Then we ended up by the lake at sunset. Again, our photographer is awesome and put up with us for well over 2 hours!

Amidst the Wedding Planning

As I mentioned in this post, my busy week not only involved stealing rings, starting traditions, continuing traditions, finding a DJ, and registering, but I also ran around town to 2 different interviews in 2 days! The first was the major one, the really important one, the second with the same company (they felt bad and had to give me the job). The second interview was a part time job I applied for just to have some income. It has almost been 6 months since I graduated from college. Granted, only 3 of those months I actually spent job hunting, the others were spent traveling. But that grace period for my loans was about to end, and there is this small party Mr. ATC and I are trying to plan and save for, for next summer too. Needless to say, we were both really stressed since we only had one income. Well as my luck would have it, I accepted the part time job the same day as my interview (wednesday) and got the job offer for the other job on friday!

Such a perfect way to start the weekend! And had us both really happy for our engagement shoot that we had the next day!

So while I am really thankful to have found a job in this economy, I am kinda sad that I won't be able to plan our wedding full time as I have been since we got engaged.

Was anyone else able to plan their wedding full time? The whole time, or maybe just for a few months?

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P.s Shout out to our friends Danielle and Richard who are getting married today! I hope you both have a fantastic day! <3

Sip and Scan

A few weeks ago, I received an email from the knot informing me of a sip and scan event at Macy's for wedding registries. I got really excited because I knew we had to do this and how cool that they would provide refreshments and food!?

Well last Wednesday we headed to the mall and I am so glad we ate dinner first! They had 2(!) different passed hors d'oeuvres and some weird drink that I didn't even try. I was a little disappointed, but it didn't matter, we were there to register for everything we could think of. They provided us with a list, but this bride cam prepared with her own. Yeah, I got lots of comments on that, but I like to be prepared and organized! I know what we need better than the generic list they give out.

Duff's Cake Tattoos

Seriously!? How cool is this!?

 duff.com

Hey Mr. DJ!

Put a record on, I wanna dance with my baby!

Continuing Fall Traditions

Last Sunday we continued the tradition trend and used our apples to make a pie. I think it was a nice addition to the apple picking tradition. I let Mr. ATC pick out the recipe online and we headed to the store to pick up everything we needed for the pie. Here is the recipe from Here

Starting Traditions

Last Friday night, when Mr. ATC got home from work he asked me if I wanted my Christmas present early. He told me I would probably want it now. I told him no that I wanted to wait because he said I wouldn’t have anything to open on Christmas. But he kept teasing me and finally I gave in and opened the box. To my surprise it was a Canon Rebel! With all the accessories I needed. I have wanted a SLR for a long time. We were even in Best Buy recently and he told me that he didn’t like the rebel. He was just throwing me off! I was soooo excited. I took a few pictures around the apartment and was even more excited about Saturday now.

With This Ring

So what exactly has kept me away from blogging? Well many things, but 2 little rings had me really, really excited.

One day while Mr. ATC was at work, he sent me a few links of rings on clearance at Zales. While this would not be my first choice to look for wedding bands, Mr. ATC has a lot of experience shopping the Zales website and has used the clearance section before to score some great birthday and Christmas presents for myself and his sister and mother. The man has some serious taste in jewelry! :) 

Well of course I checked out the links he sent me and I really liked one of them. And it was 70% off! I hesitated because it could only be ordered in one size, and I wasn’t sure how thick/thin the band would be. Those online pictures can be deceiving!

Oh Man, We've Been Busy

So much to blog about, so little time. This past weekend we were super busy, and I had 2 job interviews already this week. But I promise to add some posts about what we've been up to and the progress we've made in wedding planning :)

Til then,

Miss DNA

To Change or not to Change

My name that is. There has definitely been many articles and posts by other bloggers read about why or why not they are/are not changing their names. In the beginning, as in before I started planning this wedding, I always thought it was an easy choice for a wife to take her husband’s last name. Boy was I naive.

I did grow up with a mother and father with the same last name even though my parents ended their marriage when I was 5. I know that my mom kept my father’s name because she formed a work identity with that name and because my sister and I were still young and having a different last name could have potentially caused problems.

epic drama

ha! Just realized that could be read two different ways. Well since this is a wedding blog it is definitely related to engagement pictures but could also be epic.

Just wondering if I am taking this seemingly small engagement task too seriously. I am searching for the perfect outfits, clothing, shoes, accessories, props. Wanting to get my make-up done and hair blown out.

However, Mr. ATC thinks this is a little much for a little get together with our photographer.

A Conversation About Reception Lighting

The other night was a regular weeknight for us. A quick dinner followed by the TV series of the month, which happens to be Dexter. We are only on season 3 so no spoilers, Please!

Well in between episodes, Mr. ATC got up to check his email. He was standing over his computer and must have noticed the light that was on his shelve above his desk. It is a runway light from the airport he used to work at. These lights would be at the end of the runway indicating where the runway is, so the pilot knows where to land. No worries though, he didn’t steal this one, it was trash. But he saved it in hopes of putting a blub in it one day to make a pretty neat lamp. Well it is sort of shaped like an insulator. And my mom happens to collect these antiques. Of course Mr. ATC knows this.

The Online Wedding World

Wayyy before Mr. ATC and I got engaged, I became pretty obsessed with crafting blogs. I still follow a few to this day for DIY inspiration. Well this is where I learned that I would definitely (def, def, definitely) take on wedding projects. The idea of personalizing our day with crafts and projects that we (well mostly I) put our heart and soul into really touched me. And I hope it touches our guests in the same way.